Shame that they could not include both voice tracks. Seems like they went for a rather bare bone "remaster". That said, I badly wanted this for the better part of two generations and would have been absolutely fine with mere re-release port. As long as it looks and sounds decent, it plays smoothly without any bugs or such (we've seen our fair share of broken "remasters" in the past after all), this is a Day 1 for me. I still have not given up hope on a third entry.
Something else besides Xenoblade would be a welcome change of pace as far as a I am concerned. Baten Kaitos had such a unique tone and flair!
@Doomcrow Really depends on what you are into. Mechanically and in terms of map design, Engage is vastly superior in my book. Later on it also feels way better paced, as the "months" at the Monastery could really start to dragg later on. On the flip side, the plot and characterisation are much closer to "classic" FE in it's simplicity and generic'ness.
In that regard, Three Houses was largely an outlier though.
Personally, I vastly prefer Engage, as the gameplay makes up for narrative shortcomings to me, while Three Houses vice versa did not, but I do feel a fusion of the strength of approaches should be the goal going forward.
All in all, I do hope they keep the more streamlined approach of the Somniel of the constant management and slice of life aspect of the Monastery.
I have been saying for a long time though, that if done right, FE can support two branches, just like there is "vanilla" SMT and Persona, mechanically similar yet very tone and focus different (not account for all the other SMT spin-offs of course).
@Ryu_Niiyama I second that! Been waiiting for this pretty much since the first Switch Direct.
I would have even been fine with straight ports, but an HD collection is truly a dream come true. Absolutely getting this Day 1. Have such fond memories of Baten Kaitos and this era of Nintendo in general.
It's funny how the GC "aged" like fine wine in particular. Now, the only "disappointment" to me here was the lack of the other collection I really, really, really wanted and that was the objectively best FE: Path of Radiance (and Radiant Dawn).
After Engage featuring both protagonists as Emblems, I really had high hopes they would take advantage of that momentum and give a whole new generation of fans the opportunity to fall in love with Ike and his gang in his original appearance.
Still think it's coming, but it would have just made sooo much marketing sense to have that collection come out soon and do crosspromotion with FE Engage.
Similarly, I am baffled by the fact, that neither of the GBA Fire Emblems are available now, when "everyone" is wondering who these Emblem characters are and where they came from. Again have FE and Sacred Stones available here today, would have made tons of sense in my book to further booster FE Engage.
Anyways, kudos to BigN, Baten Kaitos seemed like a pipe dream 24 hours ago and decade before that ... they made it happen. I am happy, and I will give them the benefit of the doubt, that they will do the GC FE Duology justice in due time as well!
I'm big TMNT fan, but also the first to admit, that most of the games over the years very pretty much meh to okay. Shredder's Revenge seems to be a peak effort, but then again - speaking only for myself - I am not super into sidescrollers, never have frankly.
My big gripe though is the focus on the 90s Wolf Cartoon. It is not my favourite incarnation of the heroes in a half-shell, not even close. I would love, LOVE to see IDW current TMNT universe being adopted into a AAA video game. If we could get Insomniac to do it, it would be pure gold for sure.
The 90s cartoon has been done to death, let's move on, nostalgia be damend. If it's not the IDW universe, again the abosolute TMNT peak so far for my money, I'd also take the 2003 or 2012 cartoons or the original Mirage comics as a basis over more 90s TMNT.
Sounds amazing, but they picked like the worst release spot imangineable for this. It'll be a good long time before folks - myself included - will be done with Elden Ring ... There is just no way I am going to put that one a side anytime soon. No matter what else comes along 😎
Still, Triangle Strategy might be right up next on my agenda. I hope it does good business for Square, despite the inane naming they stubbornly stuck with and the aforementioned horrific choice of release window.
I wish we could get some new FE games in HD-2D and without all the DLC and grinding stuff of recent entries. Basically retro FE in new clothing, but no remakes. SE and Nintendo should team up on this.
Even by Ubisofts standards that is one hell of blissfully ignorant and at the same time stunningly condescending statement to make.
It's also a nonsensical state. Even assuming there is a demand for a resell avenue, it is simply silly to fall back on NFTs for such a usecase. We've had "action house" and the likes for years and years. It's inane to operate a blockchain for the purpose of "trading" virtual gaming goodies.
The game does not just need a better name, it also needs a face to associate with. I'm very much looking forward to it, but that is because I am not the average Joe. That is not meant in a derogatory manner. The average Joe does not pay the same kind of attention to the medium I and most of us here. The saying goes to not judge a book by its cover ... that saying exists precisely because that is the base mode of operation most folks operate by. Whether that is ignorance, laziness or a long days work is besides the point.
People tend to buy a) what they know or b) what looks appealing. Forgetable names and no clearly defined product avatar is hardly the way to go.
Not even a Sonic fan myself, but I really enjoyed the 1st one, hence looking forward to the sequel actually. James Marsden feels like Paul Rudd's younger brother in terms of generally likeability 😎
The Dolby Vision/Atmos version is currently 5 bucks on iTunes btw.
And here I was debating whether to jump on it, wait for the RT-patch for consoles or for my next PC build entirely ... it all depends on perspective, I guess 😅
Probably neither to be honest, but I will probably upgrade my laptop later this year. While I like the idea of the Steam Deck, I think there are to many compromises involved here: size, weight, battery life, screen, possibly thermals, being reliant Proton support and so on and so forth.
It's basically a cheaper but also severly more compromised version of any gaming laptop out there. I'll say this though: the pricing is really competitive - no argument there. When I play something on I mostly to do it for mouse support anyways - certainly not for touchpads.
The Switch OLED is kinda tempting because it might finally offer a real option for playing outside, which the shoddy Switch screen always turned into a chore due to low contrast ratio and glare. But I figure the next iteration in two years or so, will offer the same benefit + beefier hardware 😅
No brainer if you are in the market for a Switch now, but as an upgrade it is a different story. Would have love something like this at launch ... 😢
Still, given the tons of smoke we got the last like 2 years for a Switch Pro with an OLED screen, it seems super obvious that this is just a stop-gap measure until the supply situation on the chip market changes sufficiently for Nintendo to feel confident pushing out actual new hardware.
Basically, I still expect a similar device like this, just branded something like "New..." with a similar screen, maybe 1080p, and a beefier SoC from Nvidia, maybe some DLSS stuff as well, hopefully HDR - which is the reason I am not getting this Switch. OLED is nice, but to really make the most of it's potential for contrast, HDR is the way to go.
Still way too much bezel, if they were going for an Apple style design. I would have bought that at launch, gladly paying a premium for dat OLED screen, as I'm really used to OLED TVs by now, but upgrading now .... I dunno, feels like a cop out.
@Why_Do_I_Exist I'm feeling entitled enough to express at least my disappointment about them not even yielding on BT audio-support ... like a $350 portable device with an OLED screen that does work with BT headphone without an additional adapter in 2021, that makes it no longer fit into it's loading bay. Even by Nintendo's standards this would have been an incredibly low bar to pass. Hell, it would have been a low bar with the 3DS. It's underwhelming, nothing else.
@BionicDodo Glad to hear it! If it's anywhere near as filled with passion as the cRPG one, I think it's going to be a perfect companion piece! 👍 Where did you buy it from to already have a copy btw?
After SF0 I'm kinda okay with letting sleeping dogs lie. Granted F-Zero was never this prone to being Nintendo'S guinea pig, but ... yeah, no, I'm good for now. Some day they might pull a Metroid Dread on us, but I'm in no rush there ... no reason to jump at any opportunity just because it is F-Zero related.
@BionicDodo @Fighter_Hayabusa Same here, the cRPG book was worth every penny, just a boon for everyone who ever enjoyed one of these games back in the day - or even today. Some of the articles not only gave those warm and fuzzy nostalgia vibes, but also sent me straight to my GoG library and then playing 😍
Definitely need to get this, love MinMin, but I really wish they had gone easy on that pure resin or whatever there to hold her ... maybe they should choose more vertical poses instead of such horizontal ones that don't find the amiibo "stand".
@KingMike It was a hypothetical. I was just pointing towards an elephant in the room (one of many). Of course videogame CEs are not necessary goods. Conversely, this does not mean that non-necessary goods like these should be open to abusing the allocation mechanism, we all (implicitly) agree on. It's the principle of the thing and has really nothing at all to do with games, other than these being consumer goods as well 🤷♂️
Point being, just because you CAN leverage certain ressources, be it technology or good old mammon, to construct a monopol or oligopol shouldn't mean you are allowed to do just that - vaccine or not.
I don't think there is much to be done about buying something for the sole purpose of reselling it as that is basically how trade works, but using bots to mass-order limited quantities of end consumer products from actual retailers should be adressed by legal means.
This has nothing to do with faciliting free trade and enterprise but creating defacto monopolies on a product to drive up the price. It's so blatantly obvious, that tolerating it makes you wonder what the point of all this talk of free markets is all about.
I almost wish some billionare had bought up all the vaccine in the planet and would have held the world hostage with it. At least then we would have had a common and reasonable cause to debate the merits of the Darwinian market, and would - hopefully - come to the conclusion that ultimately freedom of all is contigent on the limits placed on the individual - be it person or company.
@MisterMan Yeah I think it's fair to say, Hades is more demanding, as the screen gets really busy regularly with tons of effects flying left and right, and precision being in high demand, so framedrops are even more obvious.
Anyways, thanks for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind. It's something for the wishlist once it goes on sales anyways - so it's no rush to decide, not to mention, that if I really like the game - like say Hollow Knight for instance - I'm totally okay with doube-dipping to show my support for the game! 😎
Looks really good, but noticeable framedrops are kinda a dealbreaker in anything action-adjacent when there are superior versions available. Seems like a great fit for the Switch, but I just might grab the PC version and play on my Laptop - less compromise this way. That Switch Pro would have really come in handy by now 🤷♂️
Finally! I'm old enough to stand ony my virtual lawn and tell the youngsters to get off of it. That Gen Z is worst .... isn't it! 🤷♂️😅🤣
And no, I don't get what VTubing is all about, I barely got Twitch and such as it were. Too be fair though, if they use the old Sonic from the 1st version of the movie, with those teeth, well, then I am interested. Unintentional horror ain't an easy thing to pull of consistently, but VT Horror-Sonic could do it, I guess.
@RoguePirate It's true that Mario and Pokemon always sell, even if it's just a barely upgraded rehash (something both franchises love to do), but I think Pokemen managed to turn it into an artform. Hell, Pokemon even gets ways with 0.0 zero effort on the 3D-visuals-front.
IF Silksong is anything like the original game, I'd be totally fine with $70-80 for it. The $60 price has not moved in over a decade, which is insane unto itself.
The playtime can only be consideration among many though. I mean, Dead Cells is another fantastic Metroidvania, but by it's nature as a roguelite it's also very scaleable in terms of playtime. Someone might be "done" after 20 hours, someone might not be "done" after 200 hours. In general I loath to judge games this way, because the last 10 years have given rise to absurd amount of padding in games. It always existed (Hi! Why not grind another 10 levels before you can beat the final-final boss, huh?^^). But studios like Ubisoft made it an art to pad their sandbox game with inane and boring content to make them look big and fulfilling when in reality, any content of substance burns down to like two or three dozens hours at the very beast. They magic here, I think, is to roll it all into one neat package, so that player struggles to discern what is actual content and what is just padding.
It kinda disgusts me if we are keeping it real, as in my book, it makes games worse. A great 90 mins movie, can be become a downright slog if some suit decides it needs to be 2 hours long because ... that's just how long movies have to be now at the very least. The same goes for games.
Hell, by now I am kinda relieved if a game has an actual ENDING. That's a thing now to me: be thankful for a game to actually end. Didn't used to be a thing in 99% of the games I played, now it's something I highly commend. Restraint is not a strength many developers posses these days.
I should know, if I had little restraints with textwalls and such, but I don't do this for money 😜
Personally, I want to see the actual game before I make that call. It might be a $20 game. It might be a $40 game. It might be a $60 game. I couldn't even begin to guess about this right now, with the minimal amount of information we've got. The fact that it is "2D" really doesn't factor into it for me. I've seen plenty of 2D games that visually trounced 3D competitors, not to mention other aspects of game design.
Speaking of 2D, visuals and Metroidvania, you'd probably already own/played them, but my personal favourite right now bar none is Hollow Knight. It's excellent in every respect. Ori 1+2 are also excellent choices, alot more heavy and challenging on the platforming though. I think Hollow Knight was severly underpriced to be honest. Quantitiy and quality of content was there in abundance in every aspect of the design.
Nobody would expect a 2D Mario to be sold at $20 just because it is 2D. That would be utterly absurd. Going by sales numbers, people actually vastly prefer 2D Marios ...
Just saying that it might very well be the case that Metroid Dread is priced perfectly well and it's just that all those other options available to you are actually underpriced. At least I could not objectively justify the reason why Hollow Knight out to be priced at a 1/4 of the price of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for instance.
Ton of great games here. No genre benefited from the Indie boom more. Hollow Knight is actually my favourite now, it's just an improved upon remix of the best-of Metroidvania 😎
Strongly dislike it 🤷♂️ If they go 3D the least they could have done is take advantage of that. Dial up the details, give the units some personality, give us weather effects or time of day effects. I dunno ... just something.
@checkr911 KInda relative though, the Witcher 3 has the best combat out of the series, but it's definitely trash combat to 3D action games at large. At the same, few games have equally involved quests and certainly none with the same level of quality as far as "sidequests" go. I'd go sofar to say, that Witcher 3's best sidequests can probably top any jRPG quest line ever.
But yeah, definitely not my favourite series and I agree on Cyberpunk. Looking at all the issues with the Witcher games, it was insanity to think they could pull-off a vastly bigger game, with vastly more complex mechanics and an all-around super 3D combat-system. It was never going to happen 🤷♂️
It's also true though, that people love Witcher 3 and love to believe into what they like. I had friends droning on about Cyberpunk for years ... it got on my nerves, but you learn to deal ^^ Part of me gets it though. I love love Cyberpunk as a setting and genre and only very few pieces of media really take advante of it succesfully.
I cried a little on the inside when I saw the live-action version of Ghost in the Shell for instance. I did expect it to suck. I did not expect to not hit one note of GitS successfully, completing the impossible task of not-getting-it-at-all. I still went and saw it, as I badly wanted for it to not be horrible - even knowing it would definitely be horrible. The only good thing about the movie was the artbook. The only aspect the film - at times - got somewhat right. Not as right as the concept art, but you take what you can get.
Glad to see 2D Metroid being shown some love, not just by Nintendo but also by the consumer. I'd really would not expect for this to translate into massive sales for 2D games (by Nintendo's standarts) and thus a big Metroid revival though.
@Ryu_Niiyama I wouldn't get too excited. 3D Metroid (Prime) games don't sell that well. I'd blame the GC, if it wasn't for the fact, that they were all also on Wii and that this also holds true for Mario games (2D sales > 3D sales).
@RoguePirate You sure have range when it comes to favourite games! 😉
For those even considering this, what's the appeal to you? The art book to me seems the only thing remotely of value with this SE, though I am positive that at some point Udon, Dark Horse or Titan Press is going to put out a far, far, far superior art book on the 'Metroid' games. It's only a matter of time.
The amiibo I do understand, although personally the whole Portal X General Grievous design is not something I've found myself in love with just yet ...
Kinda surprised they went with a trailer like that. It barely told us anything about the game, there were so many quick cuts that forming a proper opinion on "what" it is actually going is impossible and I don't think it showed us that "wow"-factor we all expected, given that this game obviously reuses tons of BotW assests, is evidently built on the same engine and has been in development for years now.
I'm also profoundly confused by the parts of the trailer, that suggest that we will at least to some degree go back to the overworld we have already spend hundred(s) of hours exploring. I kinda just assume that forms those sky islands, will also reshape the surface, but why would it make key locations or shrines of "re-exploring".
Maybe I am all wrong about this, but the idea of offering up an entire open-world Hyrule for exploration always seemed like a one-off thing. That's why I was kinda intrigued by the initial teaser, because it suggested - to me at least - that we were headed underground, which I mentally associate with some of the best parts of games like BG2, where you go to the Underdark and deal with the Drow.
I figured that pushing that exploration and SURVIVAL theme even further with a complete dark underworld to Hyrule would be insanely cool! 😍 But apparently that is not what they decided to go with or only a very small part of it. So yeah, very curious to see how they'll make the BotW Hyrule feel fresh and new again 🤷♂️
Xenoblade is the obvious one for me. It eventually ran out of Steam for me, the questing was a chore, but I did love the exploration and the mechs obviously. Not sure, but it might be my favourite of the series.
Gonna grab a few DLCs, as they rarely go on sales. The other "discounts" on 1st party games are - as always - not really enough to make something I don't already own a must-grab of sorts 😅
Kinda shocked that Wayforward's best take on "remastering" the games visuals is this homage to Paw Patrol 😲 I kinda liked the 2D character portraits though, that felt kinda right and fitting. Had the whole game looked that way, I would have probably quite liked it. But this 2D and 3D stuff just doesn't gel for me and the 3D stuff itself ... yeah, Paw Patrol and Bob the Builder are still my primary associations here, definitely nothing war-adjacent.
@bluemage1989 I'd pose that question for several of the titles shown yesterday. Many of them would have been perfectly fine in their own Mini- or an Indie Direct 🤷♂️ I know next to nothing about this game, so I am not ready to call it forgettable, but going purely by the trailer, I do agree insofar as there was little to nothing to distinguish it from a whole host of other, very much similar games. That goes for pretty much everything on display, the name, the music, the art style and certainly the battle system, as it was laid out. Might be still be a perfectly fine game though, just nothing that feels like it needed to have a spotlight put on it.
@PlywoodStick Agreed! The option for skipping animations (as well as cutscenes on replays) should readily available, just as random battles should be a thing of the past. No argument there.
What you call glitz and glamour to me is just the games visual expression of what it wants to convey at any given time. You can do that in a various of ways, but to me it is key that all relevant information being relayed to the player, while also making it visually enganging during the battle no. 1 and during no. 10.000. I'd also believe that the player should spend as much time as possible interacting with the game as directly as possible, meaning that menus need to be kept to the necessary minimum, as they are a crutch.
"Gameplay is king"!
Absolutely, if you have broken systems at play, it does not matter how you present them. A polish turd is still a turd after all. Many a AAA game of the past years can easily attest to that.
I'm hard pressed to point to SMT though as the most engaging combat systems in jRPGs to day - or even in 2003 for that matter. It's not broken, it's mechanically sound. It's also super basic and really never goes anywhere in terms of depth. It just becomes a stat game, that is slightly evalted by a growing number of skills/effects you need to be aware of/prepared for.
In fact, the rules are easy to grasp and with a properly prepared party and fight is a breeze. (Which is also probably where that Auto-Battle comes in, I guess).
I don't want to sound condescending, but I would really suggest trying (if you haven't) a variety of games like Grandia? If not, I would at least suggest "Star Renegades", a little indie gem talking strong inspiration from Grandia repacking it into a modern jRPG'esque game. Other ideas that have seen much love in the last 30 years (!?) like FF's ATB system, Brave Default's Boost System, timed hits like Super Mario RPG/Lost Odyssey/Shadow Hearts and so on and so forth.
And yes, my favourite is still Resonance of Fate, since it not only looked amazing, it demanded awareness of a 3D space, tacking in account aspects like line of sight within said space, accounting for positions of three party members and several enemies, while thinking at least two or three moves ahead, plus account for different types of damage and much more.
Every battle demanded precision and thought. Stats alone got you absolutely nowhere. It was such a grindy game, with mostly a nonsensical story, and thus a prime example of a game that basically lived and died by the design of it's systems and the way they were presented (making the Matrix look kinda lame at times ^^).
All of this WITHIN the strict constraints of a turn-based system. You can mix and match these ideas, expand upon them and introduce entirely new ones of course.
Would I want something LIKE that in a game, that has me already absorb with its world and story and amazing creature design? Yes, please! Some of the responses I get here, sound like this is a kind of mad request. Like SMT could not possibly be SMT without battles that feel ripped straight out of the 90s. That's insane to me, but whatever ... maybe people play SMT for nostalgia then, who knows 🤷♂️
Edit: Just to be clear the games referenced above are but a small selection, dozens and dozens of other games like Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve and on and on went to creative and often very engaging places with what at heart still was a very basic combat formula!
@Kirgo Read into my comments what you want. I will not deny for second that I would really enjoy a changed combat system, if only for the fact, that I already spend hundreds of hours with the exciting one. What I was actually writing about though, and obviously, I was really unclear about that (?), is the game to AT LEAST obfuscate the fact, that the system is positively ancient, was never that deep to begin with and can grow stale really fast.
Hard, hard, hard no on "a completely different game". But I said as much already. SMT is very unique in it's tone, tackling of philosophical and religious themes and symbolism, it's approach to post-apo-fiction and much more.
If you want to really narrow it down: I played SMT IV and IV/A despite the combat. I certainly lost interest in combat after a dozens or so hours, precisely because it is shallow and I have played almost identicial systems for an ungodly amount of time before. It's everything else, as mentioned above, that kept me going.
If you enjoy the same basic combat over and over and over again, that is fine, but I just don't. Again, I feel moving significantly beyond something from 2003 is not that tall an order.
I remember how much I HATED combat in Witcher 1, how Witcher 2 tried to make it bareable and Witcher 3 finally succeded without every making it particularly enjoyable. Everything else about those games was enough to keep me going despite that though. I just wish SMT would half as hard at improving a stale and uninspired part of it's package 🤷♂️
Comments 2,303
Re: Retro Studios Wasn't The Only Dev Working On Metroid Prime Remastered
Makes me wonder all the more if we're even going to see MP 2 or 3 any time soon if ever Oo
Re: Baten Kaitos Remasters Have Japanese VO Only, Frame Rate, File Size Revealed
Shame that they could not include both voice tracks. Seems like they went for a rather bare bone "remaster". That said, I badly wanted this for the better part of two generations and would have been absolutely fine with mere re-release port. As long as it looks and sounds decent, it plays smoothly without any bugs or such (we've seen our fair share of broken "remasters" in the past after all), this is a Day 1 for me. I still have not given up hope on a third entry.
Something else besides Xenoblade would be a welcome change of pace as far as a I am concerned. Baten Kaitos had such a unique tone and flair!
Re: Nintendo Details New Emblems And Additional Storylines For Fire Emblem Engage DLC
@Doomcrow Really depends on what you are into. Mechanically and in terms of map design, Engage is vastly superior in my book. Later on it also feels way better paced, as the "months" at the Monastery could really start to dragg later on. On the flip side, the plot and characterisation are much closer to "classic" FE in it's simplicity and generic'ness.
In that regard, Three Houses was largely an outlier though.
Personally, I vastly prefer Engage, as the gameplay makes up for narrative shortcomings to me, while Three Houses vice versa did not, but I do feel a fusion of the strength of approaches should be the goal going forward.
All in all, I do hope they keep the more streamlined approach of the Somniel of the constant management and slice of life aspect of the Monastery.
I have been saying for a long time though, that if done right, FE can support two branches, just like there is "vanilla" SMT and Persona, mechanically similar yet very tone and focus different (not account for all the other SMT spin-offs of course).
Re: Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster Polishes Up Two Cult GameCube RPGs For Switch
@Ryu_Niiyama I second that! Been waiiting for this pretty much since the first Switch Direct.
I would have even been fine with straight ports, but an HD collection is truly a dream come true. Absolutely getting this Day 1. Have such fond memories of Baten Kaitos and this era of Nintendo in general.
It's funny how the GC "aged" like fine wine in particular. Now, the only "disappointment" to me here was the lack of the other collection I really, really, really wanted and that was the objectively best FE: Path of Radiance (and Radiant Dawn).
After Engage featuring both protagonists as Emblems, I really had high hopes they would take advantage of that momentum and give a whole new generation of fans the opportunity to fall in love with Ike and his gang in his original appearance.
Still think it's coming, but it would have just made sooo much marketing sense to have that collection come out soon and do crosspromotion with FE Engage.
Similarly, I am baffled by the fact, that neither of the GBA Fire Emblems are available now, when "everyone" is wondering who these Emblem characters are and where they came from. Again have FE and Sacred Stones available here today, would have made tons of sense in my book to further booster FE Engage.
Anyways, kudos to BigN, Baten Kaitos seemed like a pipe dream 24 hours ago and decade before that ... they made it happen. I am happy, and I will give them the benefit of the doubt, that they will do the GC FE Duology justice in due time as well!
Re: We Might Get A Brand New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game In 2023
I'm big TMNT fan, but also the first to admit, that most of the games over the years very pretty much meh to okay. Shredder's Revenge seems to be a peak effort, but then again - speaking only for myself - I am not super into sidescrollers, never have frankly.
My big gripe though is the focus on the 90s Wolf Cartoon. It is not my favourite incarnation of the heroes in a half-shell, not even close. I would love, LOVE to see IDW current TMNT universe being adopted into a AAA video game. If we could get Insomniac to do it, it would be pure gold for sure.
The 90s cartoon has been done to death, let's move on, nostalgia be damend. If it's not the IDW universe, again the abosolute TMNT peak so far for my money, I'd also take the 2003 or 2012 cartoons or the original Mirage comics as a basis over more 90s TMNT.
Re: Poll: C'mon Then, Did You Predict The Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 Delay?
After ER it was probably a given. It's a brand new day in a brand new age.
Re: Review: Triangle Strategy - Square Enix Plots A Total Tactical Triumph
Sounds amazing, but they picked like the worst release spot imangineable for this. It'll be a good long time before folks - myself included - will be done with Elden Ring ...
There is just no way I am going to put that one a side anytime soon. No matter what else comes along 😎
Still, Triangle Strategy might be right up next on my agenda. I hope it does good business for Square, despite the inane naming they stubbornly stuck with and the aforementioned horrific choice of release window.
Re: Square Enix Is Looking Into More HD-2D Remakes Of SNES Classics
I wish we could get some new FE games in HD-2D and without all the DLC and grinding stuff of recent entries. Basically retro FE in new clothing, but no remakes. SE and Nintendo should team up on this.
Re: Ubisoft: Players "Don't Get" What Makes NFTs So Beneficial
Even by Ubisofts standards that is one hell of blissfully ignorant and at the same time stunningly condescending statement to make.
It's also a nonsensical state. Even assuming there is a demand for a resell avenue, it is simply silly to fall back on NFTs for such a usecase. We've had "action house" and the likes for years and years. It's inane to operate a blockchain for the purpose of "trading" virtual gaming goodies.
Re: Talking Point: Triangle Strategy Is A Bad Name, Which Hopefully Won't Matter
The game does not just need a better name, it also needs a face to associate with. I'm very much looking forward to it, but that is because I am not the average Joe. That is not meant in a derogatory manner. The average Joe does not pay the same kind of attention to the medium I and most of us here.
The saying goes to not judge a book by its cover ... that saying exists precisely because that is the base mode of operation most folks operate by. Whether that is ignorance, laziness or a long days work is besides the point.
People tend to buy a) what they know or b) what looks appealing. Forgetable names and no clearly defined product avatar is hardly the way to go.
Re: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Movie Poster Revealed Ahead Of A First Look At The Game Awards
Not even a Sonic fan myself, but I really enjoyed the 1st one, hence looking forward to the sequel actually. James Marsden feels like Paul Rudd's younger brother in terms of generally likeability 😎
The Dolby Vision/Atmos version is currently 5 bucks on iTunes btw.
Re: Review: Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cloud Version - A Disastrous Way To Play A Great Game
And here I was debating whether to jump on it, wait for the RT-patch for consoles or for my next PC build entirely ... it all depends on perspective, I guess 😅
Re: Deck-Building Card Battler 'Monster Train First Class' Is Out Now On Switch
Brilliant little game, esp. you enjoyed the likes of Slay the Spire obviously. I'm okay with my Steam version though!
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting A Switch OLED Or Valve Steam Deck?
Probably neither to be honest, but I will probably upgrade my laptop later this year. While I like the idea of the Steam Deck, I think there are to many compromises involved here: size, weight, battery life, screen, possibly thermals, being reliant Proton support and so on and so forth.
It's basically a cheaper but also severly more compromised version of any gaming laptop out there. I'll say this though: the pricing is really competitive - no argument there. When I play something on I mostly to do it for mouse support anyways - certainly not for touchpads.
The Switch OLED is kinda tempting because it might finally offer a real option for playing outside, which the shoddy Switch screen always turned into a chore due to low contrast ratio and glare. But I figure the next iteration in two years or so, will offer the same benefit + beefier hardware 😅
Re: New Trailer Showcases The Falconeer's DLC Expansion, 'Edge Of The World'
@Dirty0814 😯 Maybe I should boot up my X1X and give it a try first.
Re: New Trailer Showcases The Falconeer's DLC Expansion, 'Edge Of The World'
Been interested in this for a while, but I think I'll grab it on PS5 instead - more content is of cos always welcome! 👍
Re: Round Up: Here Are The First "Hands-On" Impressions Of The Nintendo Switch OLED
No brainer if you are in the market for a Switch now, but as an upgrade it is a different story. Would have love something like this at launch ... 😢
Still, given the tons of smoke we got the last like 2 years for a Switch Pro with an OLED screen, it seems super obvious that this is just a stop-gap measure until the supply situation on the chip market changes sufficiently for Nintendo to feel confident pushing out actual new hardware.
Basically, I still expect a similar device like this, just branded something like "New..." with a similar screen, maybe 1080p, and a beefier SoC from Nvidia, maybe some DLSS stuff as well, hopefully HDR - which is the reason I am not getting this Switch. OLED is nice, but to really make the most of it's potential for contrast, HDR is the way to go.
Re: Gallery: Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) In All Its Glory
Still way too much bezel, if they were going for an Apple style design. I would have bought that at launch, gladly paying a premium for dat OLED screen, as I'm really used to OLED TVs by now, but upgrading now .... I dunno, feels like a cop out.
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
@Why_Do_I_Exist I'm feeling entitled enough to express at least my disappointment about them not even yielding on BT audio-support ... like a $350 portable device with an OLED screen that does work with BT headphone without an additional adapter in 2021, that makes it no longer fit into it's loading bay. Even by Nintendo's standards this would have been an incredibly low bar to pass. Hell, it would have been a low bar with the 3DS. It's underwhelming, nothing else.
Re: 'The Entire History Of JRPGs' Is Available Now From Bitmap Books
@BionicDodo Oh okay, I only ever saw it as "Coming soon" over there so far 😅
Re: Video: Are 2D Games Worth $60? Jon, Alex And Zion Share Their Own Thoughts
This is the kind of discussion you only find in gaming 🤷♂️😅
No matter the "argument" anyone could provide on this, the fact, that is an actual topic wins out on the Spock'ian Fascinating!-scale.
Re: 'The Entire History Of JRPGs' Is Available Now From Bitmap Books
@BionicDodo Glad to hear it! If it's anywhere near as filled with passion as the cRPG one, I think it's going to be a perfect companion piece! 👍 Where did you buy it from to already have a copy btw?
Re: We Could Have Had A New "Ultra-Realistic" F-Zero On Switch, But Nintendo Turned It Down
After SF0 I'm kinda okay with letting sleeping dogs lie. Granted F-Zero was never this prone to being Nintendo'S guinea pig, but ... yeah, no, I'm good for now. Some day they might pull a Metroid Dread on us, but I'm in no rush there ... no reason to jump at any opportunity just because it is F-Zero related.
Re: 'The Entire History Of JRPGs' Is Available Now From Bitmap Books
@BionicDodo @Fighter_Hayabusa Same here, the cRPG book was worth every penny, just a boon for everyone who ever enjoyed one of these games back in the day - or even today. Some of the articles not only gave those warm and fuzzy nostalgia vibes, but also sent me straight to my GoG library and then playing 😍
Definitely going to get this jRPG one as well!
Re: Min Min amiibo Tease Confirms Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass Vol. 2 Figures
Definitely need to get this, love MinMin, but I really wish they had gone easy on that pure resin or whatever there to hold her ... maybe they should choose more vertical poses instead of such horizontal ones that don't find the amiibo "stand".
Re: Scalpers Set Their Sights On The Shin Megami Tensei V Premium Edition
@KingMike It was a hypothetical. I was just pointing towards an elephant in the room (one of many). Of course videogame CEs are not necessary goods.
Conversely, this does not mean that non-necessary goods like these should be open to abusing the allocation mechanism, we all (implicitly) agree on. It's the principle of the thing and has really nothing at all to do with games, other than these being consumer goods as well 🤷♂️
Point being, just because you CAN leverage certain ressources, be it technology or good old mammon, to construct a monopol or oligopol shouldn't mean you are allowed to do just that - vaccine or not.
Re: Scalpers Set Their Sights On The Shin Megami Tensei V Premium Edition
I don't think there is much to be done about buying something for the sole purpose of reselling it as that is basically how trade works, but using bots to mass-order limited quantities of end consumer products from actual retailers should be adressed by legal means.
This has nothing to do with faciliting free trade and enterprise but creating defacto monopolies on a product to drive up the price. It's so blatantly obvious, that tolerating it makes you wonder what the point of all this talk of free markets is all about.
I almost wish some billionare had bought up all the vaccine in the planet and would have held the world hostage with it. At least then we would have had a common and reasonable cause to debate the merits of the Darwinian market, and would - hopefully - come to the conclusion that ultimately freedom of all is contigent on the limits placed on the individual - be it person or company.
Re: Review: Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights - A Metroidvania With A Stunning World To Discover
@MisterMan Yeah I think it's fair to say, Hades is more demanding, as the screen gets really busy regularly with tons of effects flying left and right, and precision being in high demand, so framedrops are even more obvious.
Anyways, thanks for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind. It's something for the wishlist once it goes on sales anyways - so it's no rush to decide, not to mention, that if I really like the game - like say Hollow Knight for instance - I'm totally okay with doube-dipping to show my support for the game! 😎
Re: Review: Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights - A Metroidvania With A Stunning World To Discover
Looks really good, but noticeable framedrops are kinda a dealbreaker in anything action-adjacent when there are superior versions available. Seems like a great fit for the Switch, but I just might grab the PC version and play on my Laptop - less compromise this way. That Switch Pro would have really come in handy by now 🤷♂️
Re: Rumour: Sonic The Hedgehog Is Reportedly Set To Become A VTuber
Finally! I'm old enough to stand ony my virtual lawn and tell the youngsters to get off of it. That Gen Z is worst .... isn't it! 🤷♂️😅🤣
And no, I don't get what VTubing is all about, I barely got Twitch and such as it were. Too be fair though, if they use the old Sonic from the 1st version of the movie, with those teeth, well, then I am interested. Unintentional horror ain't an easy thing to pull of consistently, but VT Horror-Sonic could do it, I guess.
Re: The First Review For Mario Golf: Super Rush Is Now In
Rough score for 1st-party Nintendo game with Mario, is it not?
Then again, scores are pointless anyways.
Re: Metroid Dread Tops Amazon's "Best Sellers" Chart
@RoguePirate It's true that Mario and Pokemon always sell, even if it's just a barely upgraded rehash (something both franchises love to do), but I think Pokemen managed to turn it into an artform. Hell, Pokemon even gets ways with 0.0 zero effort on the 3D-visuals-front.
IF Silksong is anything like the original game, I'd be totally fine with $70-80 for it. The $60 price has not moved in over a decade, which is insane unto itself.
The playtime can only be consideration among many though. I mean, Dead Cells is another fantastic Metroidvania, but by it's nature as a roguelite it's also very scaleable in terms of playtime. Someone might be "done" after 20 hours, someone might not be "done" after 200 hours.
In general I loath to judge games this way, because the last 10 years have given rise to absurd amount of padding in games. It always existed (Hi! Why not grind another 10 levels before you can beat the final-final boss, huh?^^). But studios like Ubisoft made it an art to pad their sandbox game with inane and boring content to make them look big and fulfilling when in reality, any content of substance burns down to like two or three dozens hours at the very beast. They magic here, I think, is to roll it all into one neat package, so that player struggles to discern what is actual content and what is just padding.
It kinda disgusts me if we are keeping it real, as in my book, it makes games worse. A great 90 mins movie, can be become a downright slog if some suit decides it needs to be 2 hours long because ... that's just how long movies have to be now at the very least. The same goes for games.
Hell, by now I am kinda relieved if a game has an actual ENDING. That's a thing now to me: be thankful for a game to actually end. Didn't used to be a thing in 99% of the games I played, now it's something I highly commend. Restraint is not a strength many developers posses these days.
I should know, if I had little restraints with textwalls and such, but I don't do this for money 😜
Re: Metroid Dread Tops Amazon's "Best Sellers" Chart
@RoguePirate I was, yeah, guilty as charged! 😅
Personally, I want to see the actual game before I make that call. It might be a $20 game. It might be a $40 game. It might be a $60 game. I couldn't even begin to guess about this right now, with the minimal amount of information we've got.
The fact that it is "2D" really doesn't factor into it for me. I've seen plenty of 2D games that visually trounced 3D competitors, not to mention other aspects of game design.
Speaking of 2D, visuals and Metroidvania, you'd probably already own/played them, but my personal favourite right now bar none is Hollow Knight. It's excellent in every respect. Ori 1+2 are also excellent choices, alot more heavy and challenging on the platforming though. I think Hollow Knight was severly underpriced to be honest. Quantitiy and quality of content was there in abundance in every aspect of the design.
Nobody would expect a 2D Mario to be sold at $20 just because it is 2D. That would be utterly absurd. Going by sales numbers, people actually vastly prefer 2D Marios ...
Just saying that it might very well be the case that Metroid Dread is priced perfectly well and it's just that all those other options available to you are actually underpriced. At least I could not objectively justify the reason why Hollow Knight out to be priced at a 1/4 of the price of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for instance.
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Metroidvania Games
Ton of great games here. No genre benefited from the Indie boom more. Hollow Knight is actually my favourite now, it's just an improved upon remix of the best-of Metroidvania 😎
Re: Video: Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Switch Vs. GBA Comparison
Strongly dislike it 🤷♂️ If they go 3D the least they could have done is take advantage of that. Dial up the details, give the units some personality, give us weather effects or time of day effects. I dunno ... just something.
To anyone feeling like pixelart can't be gorgeous in 2021 watch "Replaced": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvOY4eI_mk
Re: Metroid Dread Tops Amazon's "Best Sellers" Chart
@Ryu_Niiyama Fair enough. Didn't mean to kill the mood, just some ... well, expectation management maybe 😜
Re: Metroid Dread Tops Amazon's "Best Sellers" Chart
@checkr911 KInda relative though, the Witcher 3 has the best combat out of the series, but it's definitely trash combat to 3D action games at large. At the same, few games have equally involved quests and certainly none with the same level of quality as far as "sidequests" go. I'd go sofar to say, that Witcher 3's best sidequests can probably top any jRPG quest line ever.
But yeah, definitely not my favourite series and I agree on Cyberpunk. Looking at all the issues with the Witcher games, it was insanity to think they could pull-off a vastly bigger game, with vastly more complex mechanics and an all-around super 3D combat-system. It was never going to happen 🤷♂️
It's also true though, that people love Witcher 3 and love to believe into what they like. I had friends droning on about Cyberpunk for years ... it got on my nerves, but you learn to deal ^^ Part of me gets it though. I love love Cyberpunk as a setting and genre and only very few pieces of media really take advante of it succesfully.
I cried a little on the inside when I saw the live-action version of Ghost in the Shell for instance. I did expect it to suck. I did not expect to not hit one note of GitS successfully, completing the impossible task of not-getting-it-at-all. I still went and saw it, as I badly wanted for it to not be horrible - even knowing it would definitely be horrible. The only good thing about the movie was the artbook. The only aspect the film - at times - got somewhat right. Not as right as the concept art, but you take what you can get.
Re: Metroid Dread Tops Amazon's "Best Sellers" Chart
Glad to see 2D Metroid being shown some love, not just by Nintendo but also by the consumer. I'd really would not expect for this to translate into massive sales for 2D games (by Nintendo's standarts) and thus a big Metroid revival though.
@Ryu_Niiyama I wouldn't get too excited. 3D Metroid (Prime) games don't sell that well. I'd blame the GC, if it wasn't for the fact, that they were all also on Wii and that this also holds true for Mario games (2D sales > 3D sales).
@RoguePirate You sure have range when it comes to favourite games! 😉
Re: Of Course Scalpers Are Already Flogging Metroid Dread's Special Edition And amiibo
@Giygas_95 @Meteoroid Appreciate the feedback folks! 👍
Re: Of Course Scalpers Are Already Flogging Metroid Dread's Special Edition And amiibo
@kducky11 Definitely not, in fact I could not unsee for the entirety of the trailer! 😁
Re: Of Course Scalpers Are Already Flogging Metroid Dread's Special Edition And amiibo
For those even considering this, what's the appeal to you? The art book to me seems the only thing remotely of value with this SE, though I am positive that at some point Udon, Dark Horse or Titan Press is going to put out a far, far, far superior art book on the 'Metroid' games. It's only a matter of time.
The amiibo I do understand, although personally the whole Portal X General Grievous design is not something I've found myself in love with just yet ...
Re: Video: Let's Dissect Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2's E3 Direct Trailer
Kinda surprised they went with a trailer like that. It barely told us anything about the game, there were so many quick cuts that forming a proper opinion on "what" it is actually going is impossible and I don't think it showed us that "wow"-factor we all expected, given that this game obviously reuses tons of BotW assests, is evidently built on the same engine and has been in development for years now.
I'm also profoundly confused by the parts of the trailer, that suggest that we will at least to some degree go back to the overworld we have already spend hundred(s) of hours exploring. I kinda just assume that forms those sky islands, will also reshape the surface, but why would it make key locations or shrines of "re-exploring".
Maybe I am all wrong about this, but the idea of offering up an entire open-world Hyrule for exploration always seemed like a one-off thing. That's why I was kinda intrigued by the initial teaser, because it suggested - to me at least - that we were headed underground, which I mentally associate with some of the best parts of games like BG2, where you go to the Underdark and deal with the Drow.
I figured that pushing that exploration and SURVIVAL theme even further with a complete dark underworld to Hyrule would be insanely cool! 😍 But apparently that is not what they decided to go with or only a very small part of it. So yeah, very curious to see how they'll make the BotW Hyrule feel fresh and new again 🤷♂️
Re: Potential Switch Port Round-Up - The Wii U Games That Haven't Come To Switch
Xenoblade is the obvious one for me. It eventually ran out of Steam for me, the questing was a chore, but I did love the exploration and the mechs obviously. Not sure, but it might be my favourite of the series.
Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of Nintendo Direct At E3 2021?
Can't hate on a show that had Metroid, Zelda and SMT. Given that two of those three had already been announced, it was no blowout either 🤷♂️
Re: Round Up: The Switch Games Revealed During Nintendo Japan's E3 2021 Direct
Super Robot Wars 30 looks fun 👍
Re: Nintendo's Digital Deals Sale Is Now Live, Up To 75% Off Hundreds Of Switch Games
Gonna grab a few DLCs, as they rarely go on sales. The other "discounts" on 1st party games are - as always - not really enough to make something I don't already own a must-grab of sorts 😅
Re: Shantae Developer WayForward Is Making Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
Kinda shocked that Wayforward's best take on "remastering" the games visuals is this homage to Paw Patrol 😲 I kinda liked the 2D character portraits though, that felt kinda right and fitting. Had the whole game looked that way, I would have probably quite liked it. But this 2D and 3D stuff just doesn't gel for me and the 3D stuff itself ... yeah, Paw Patrol and Bob the Builder are still my primary associations here, definitely nothing war-adjacent.
Re: Astria Ascending Gets A Release Date And Stylish New Trailer
@bluemage1989 I'd pose that question for several of the titles shown yesterday. Many of them would have been perfectly fine in their own Mini- or an Indie Direct 🤷♂️
I know next to nothing about this game, so I am not ready to call it forgettable, but going purely by the trailer, I do agree insofar as there was little to nothing to distinguish it from a whole host of other, very much similar games.
That goes for pretty much everything on display, the name, the music, the art style and certainly the battle system, as it was laid out. Might be still be a perfectly fine game though, just nothing that feels like it needed to have a spotlight put on it.
Re: Shin Megami Tensei V Is A Switch Exclusive Launching This November
@PlywoodStick Agreed! The option for skipping animations (as well as cutscenes on replays) should readily available, just as random battles should be a thing of the past. No argument there.
What you call glitz and glamour to me is just the games visual expression of what it wants to convey at any given time. You can do that in a various of ways, but to me it is key that all relevant information being relayed to the player, while also making it visually enganging during the battle no. 1 and during no. 10.000. I'd also believe that the player should spend as much time as possible interacting with the game as directly as possible, meaning that menus need to be kept to the necessary minimum, as they are a crutch.
"Gameplay is king"!
Absolutely, if you have broken systems at play, it does not matter how you present them. A polish turd is still a turd after all. Many a AAA game of the past years can easily attest to that.
I'm hard pressed to point to SMT though as the most engaging combat systems in jRPGs to day - or even in 2003 for that matter. It's not broken, it's mechanically sound. It's also super basic and really never goes anywhere in terms of depth. It just becomes a stat game, that is slightly evalted by a growing number of skills/effects you need to be aware of/prepared for.
In fact, the rules are easy to grasp and with a properly prepared party and fight is a breeze. (Which is also probably where that Auto-Battle comes in, I guess).
I don't want to sound condescending, but I would really suggest trying (if you haven't) a variety of games like Grandia? If not, I would at least suggest "Star Renegades", a little indie gem talking strong inspiration from Grandia repacking it into a modern jRPG'esque game. Other ideas that have seen much love in the last 30 years (!?) like FF's ATB system, Brave Default's Boost System, timed hits like Super Mario RPG/Lost Odyssey/Shadow Hearts and so on and so forth.
And yes, my favourite is still Resonance of Fate, since it not only looked amazing, it demanded awareness of a 3D space, tacking in account aspects like line of sight within said space, accounting for positions of three party members and several enemies, while thinking at least two or three moves ahead, plus account for different types of damage and much more.
Every battle demanded precision and thought. Stats alone got you absolutely nowhere. It was such a grindy game, with mostly a nonsensical story, and thus a prime example of a game that basically lived and died by the design of it's systems and the way they were presented (making the Matrix look kinda lame at times ^^).
All of this WITHIN the strict constraints of a turn-based system. You can mix and match these ideas, expand upon them and introduce entirely new ones of course.
Would I want something LIKE that in a game, that has me already absorb with its world and story and amazing creature design? Yes, please! Some of the responses I get here, sound like this is a kind of mad request. Like SMT could not possibly be SMT without battles that feel ripped straight out of the 90s. That's insane to me, but whatever ... maybe people play SMT for nostalgia then, who knows 🤷♂️
Edit: Just to be clear the games referenced above are but a small selection, dozens and dozens of other games like Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve and on and on went to creative and often very engaging places with what at heart still was a very basic combat formula!
Re: Shin Megami Tensei V Is A Switch Exclusive Launching This November
@Kirgo Read into my comments what you want. I will not deny for second that I would really enjoy a changed combat system, if only for the fact, that I already spend hundreds of hours with the exciting one. What I was actually writing about though, and obviously, I was really unclear about that (?), is the game to AT LEAST obfuscate the fact, that the system is positively ancient, was never that deep to begin with and can grow stale really fast.
Hard, hard, hard no on "a completely different game". But I said as much already. SMT is very unique in it's tone, tackling of philosophical and religious themes and symbolism, it's approach to post-apo-fiction and much more.
If you want to really narrow it down: I played SMT IV and IV/A despite the combat. I certainly lost interest in combat after a dozens or so hours, precisely because it is shallow and I have played almost identicial systems for an ungodly amount of time before. It's everything else, as mentioned above, that kept me going.
If you enjoy the same basic combat over and over and over again, that is fine, but I just don't. Again, I feel moving significantly beyond something from 2003 is not that tall an order.
I remember how much I HATED combat in Witcher 1, how Witcher 2 tried to make it bareable and Witcher 3 finally succeded without every making it particularly enjoyable. Everything else about those games was enough to keep me going despite that though. I just wish SMT would half as hard at improving a stale and uninspired part of it's package 🤷♂️