Princess_Lilly

First update will be a single hairstyle for female avatars

A girl enacting punishment for sa? Very good advertising, I'll definitely put it on my wishlist

You don't jump on the sinking ship

While western gaming had its moments (Morrowind, Disciples, Sacred, Pirates! and many more), it can't even compete with Japanese games. No amount of budget can fix the wrong attitude at the blueprint level. 50% on marketing 49% on graphics, 0.1% on music and 0.9% on partying (story is 0.0%, it is written on the last day on a lap in a tram by a guy who was late to work most times). It just doesn't work, paraphrasing the well known saying.

While I kinda understand people who say Palworld "stole" something from Pokemon (although I do not agree with it, there were games that "borrowed" much more, like Genshin took literally 95% of BotW [I still love both]), I have to point out that gameplay mechanics being patented is VERY dangerous to the industry. Especially when companies with money/connections for winning patent wars are not always the ones that actually came up with the idea, and people who actually made the games are not always the ones who profit from them.

@Manah yeah, I know. German versions are always heavily modified. IHNMAIMS depicts the concentration camps in a very graphic way (although not even close to what really transpired there) so I assume this falls under this trend.

What I struggle to comprehend is that this kind of censorship is actually counterproductive. Why would anyone erase such things from the public? Why not show the atrocities committed in the name of a completely lunatic vison that essentially devolved 2 nations to animals in a manner of years? It won't magically make the underlying cause go away. It just rewrites the history for the next generation so that they won't know what happened.

As George Santanaya said "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it". And acting like nothing happened is not a good way to learn. Funny thing is, the quote was in a Call of Duty trailer, which showed, among other things, the photos from the massacre at tiananmen square. The CCP "government" said to remove it and Acti instantly cut it from the trailer. Peak irony.

@Manah didn't know that. Also weird that the German version didn't have it

@MSpudley You mean AM

Now this is technology used right

That being said, I'll probably turn it off after playing with it for a couple of minutes

@Mirage-5x5 how so? I saw it on PlayAsia and 1 more site (import)

It's already 11/10 in my heart

looks like we'll have wait for my review.

Performance is irrelevant

I want it, I don't know what it is yet, but I still want it. I hope it's Magical girls update with Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Saint Tail, Pretty Cure, Mermaid Melody and Tokyo Mew Mew! Chances are slim but it's 2025, weirder things happened

@fabiop it is and we love it

Great, fantastic! I'll definitely check it out!

I am so glad that Atelier series is now full mainstream, earning its place among the best of the best and most popular RPGs. It is a series about putting an effort first and slowly building skill to make something wonderful, after all.

I can't wait to hear the music, Atelier music is always brilliant, it is on par with Nobuo Uematsu, and I know the weight of this statement

I like the animal characters, I hope Wild Blue has a female MC as an alternative. Too bad the internet corrupted something so fun.

@WhiteTrashGuy Wildblue Wildblue Wildblue!

@SillyG I just noticed that all of the games are like that, what a coincidence

Fix only level scaling. Leave the rest untouched. Allow players to choose the level scaling system (new/old).

This is all we ask.

I love interiors of the Oblivion houses, btw. I don't know why but they are just insanely cozy.

@Samalik I was referring to this sentence: "gradually shifting towards a modern model of game development that doesn’t place importance on the creators’ individuality,"

The phrase "Modern model of game development" reeks of stunts Actiblizz, EA and Ubi try to pull off and fail time and time again. And if platinum shifts towards low quality, it's gonna be the next ubi.

Individuality of creators is paramount for a game to succeed. Nobody wants a bland mix, video games are art pieces, a medium through which creators communicate with the players.

Hideki makes more and more sense every day

not conforming to making the tasteless low quality "product" in search for the mythical modern consumer? Ground control to major W

I just feel terribly sorry for the victims. Girl Power

I skipped on fur squadron because of no female characters, I hope Wild Blue will do better

You cant put my morning stroll to shame, I do not move more than 20m away from my bed

Great piece. I would add that the bad ending is impactful because we, as the player, get to see how everything turns to dust, how people are starving (the healing machine that heals you but says "but the hunger remains"), how you see the world devoid of life and have to actually get through a portion of it, this experience leaves a lasting impression. It has been done in some other games, but Chrono Trigger did it perfectly

Lena Raine has pretty distinctive pieces, you either really like them or dislike them, nothing in between. There is such presence in her creative process though, I can't explain it well, but I really "like how I don't like it" as in I can't say they are bad, Lena just doesn't try to cater to everyone.

What I just wrote doesn't make sense

Keep it coming Clover, we got so many memories thanks to you. We gained so much.

just keep in mind that we are holding you to the 00s standard

I thought it was about a patent case lost against Palworld

those visuals are mesmerizing

I want it

I want this world to come back

@cedarhyped True, but the games from 90s and 00s are unmatched in what they are set out to do. They were exceptional and novel. If Suikoden deserves 8/10 today, what does the new Assassin's Creed or CoD deserve today - 3/10? 4/10?

As for the standards lowering, I am looking at the best games of the era. Sure, there are some fantastic games (mostly Indie and Japanese), but looking at the Western gamemaking for example, it's an almost vertical slope down. Someone who has no memories of the 00s wouldn't even believe that the Western AAA scene was once proficient enough to match the Japanese/Indie games.

But it was true. There were fantastic Western games back then. Morrowind, Jade Empire, Planescape Torment, Myst, Populous, Sacred, Disciples, Schizm, to name a few.

Coming back to the best games of the era - The top games from the 10s and 20s still pale in comparison, at least in the AAA sector. The stories are uninspired and written just for the sake of something being there. Most writers do not have anything to tell, they are just tasked to connect some places and characters and that's it. Gameplay has devolved, too. Progress is guaranteed, checkpoints await at every 2nd step, most games have autoaiming at the opponent so that everything you need to do is click one button to win. It's disheartening to see.

But that gave rise to countless Indie marvels, which is truly a sight to behold. I believe we are looking at what could be the 2nd Cambrian Explosion of Gaming, with all the novelty and integrity of what once made the medium great. The clear hegemony of Japanese games will probably be untouched, but to be honest, I do not pity the Western AAA studios. They reap what they sow

@dew12333 Keep it well preserved, it's a bit of gaming history:)

@Wisestfool like when many people remember something correctly?

@dew12333 it was the most hilarious part tbh

I played like one, without the prospect of going Andrew Tate on anyone

As much as I dislike Nintendo's practices, I have to admit - they are the only creative company out ther in this rotten industry where everyone tries to leech off everyone.

@gcunit I hate to say it but probably not long

@Olliemar28 oh yeah, that's what you meant. I didn't even notice his attempts to hide his intentions, so he did not do a very good job
@97alexk well he did initiate violence

"trying to block the kiosk without making it seem as though he's committing any kind of physical assault."

It's absolutely clear that he was committing physical assault

If it was a great game in the 90s, it should get at least a 12/10 by today's standards, where unremarkable cash grabs get 8-9/10.

@cedarhyped while it is certainly true that it has aged well, being given a similar score sounds kinda off. The standards have lowered significantly in the last 20 years. I guess this is the problem with X/10 scores, comparing them brings you to very random conclusions

Rise, our glorious creation!

For a moment I thought mar10 day is in May and was looking at the calendar frantically

I need coffee

This is an important game.

If anyone wants to delve deeper into our medium, this is the kind of games they should behold.

What bothers me is how reviews are raising points like not applying modern "standards" to landmarks of the past. Those games do not need to be watered down and simplified. They are perfect as they are.

On Your Tail and Atelier Yumia for me, this is going to be a fun month!

@BinaryMessiah I think there are valid points for both ways. Saying that there are 50 best games to play on Switch and not including FF 7 or 9 for instance would be pretty weird too <GAAAAAZEEE>.

Switch is a weird console because many games were straight up ported from Wii U, including Zelda BOTW, so I guess 2 lists would be in order

Turns out I can't leave Momodora, it keeps calling me back. Well then, I shall once more dive into it. I hope it's not as sad as the previous ones

Also why does NL pretend that Phantom Brave, one of the major 2025 releases doesn't exist? I know this section is for digitals only but it's sort of amazing we didn't get a single article about that one particular game, let alone a review, this is a Goty candidate

Both. They're jsut iconic

KAtamAAArIIII DamacYYYYY

gimmiegimmiegimmiegimmiegimmie

It's absolutely marvelous

Short version to the people not versed in Japanese - the MC was trying to find the sender of the letter with the yellow tuft, which turned out to be the kid. The kid wanted to give the letter by the end of the day as it was his father's birthday, but MC knew it wasn't possible. Dragonite came and made it possible. When the kid was reading the letter aloud (are you well, we are well, the're doing our best etc.) MC recalled that the letter she received from Dragonite when she was a kid was birthday wishes from her grandparents along with the bracelet she was wearing the whole time. Dragonite ate cake.

"but it also makes me wistful for that era of Konami. Lane mentioned Capcom, too; the PS1 and PS2 era felt magic for those two developers"

I felt that

As a major RPG fan I bounced off DQ series twice, but who am I kidding, I'll give it a try someday

You know it's for lolz when the original Red/Blue are placed 11 (even placing them outside the podium would be kinda weird)

Dayum Typhlosion really got hit with that latest drama

Guitar Hero is such a treat

I have a working guitar but I'm still thinking about the blueberry one

@wildesttimelines true, but honestly it's pretty tame by 2025 standards of weird

The Bubble Bobble artbook is calling me...

@Whirlwound True. Whenever I see a shady company (and I often check before buying on Steam for instance), it 90% is a chinese company, but I guess some other countries are just as troubled. Could be that Moldavia devs just make shady games that didn't pique my interest

Backpacks backpacks come get your backpacks

Can't even trace the country of origin of "COOL DEVS S.R.L", only one mention of it that it could be Moldavia. I'm half sure it's gonna be owned by some chinese publisher, as per tradition

It's so bad they even have AI in the cover of their other games. Wow.

Even the legendary plagiarism game "Limbo of the Lost" had only assets stolen, not the whole game

I want rich story. The girl who steals time, the titular protagonist probably has some lore, and we need stories from people who have something to tell