@aaronsullivan I think the matchmaking makes DotA 2 vastly superior to the original. It was such a hassle to deal with all that toxicity, lag, disconnects and what have you.
@ShadJV For instance, in previous games, I would often stockpile ranged weapons, that wait for 'static' boss, e.g. one that protected a field you had to capture. Then I would use my tanks and healers to make the boss deplete his ranged weapons. Then my low-level and most vulernable troops I wanted to level, would be equiped with said stockpile of ranged weapons and they got to "grind" the boss for xp. That XP was in exchange for other limited ressources though, and that very process took foresight and planning, you had to come prepared, bring the right units, bring the stockpile etc.
This is just no longer "at thing" in FE games, this whole layer of consideration is entirely gone. Ah well ... nuff said :-/
Anyways, just dito on AW! I loved those small differences between COs as well, esp. since if really exploited to their fullest, they could really turn the tide of battle in your favour. Dual Strike did that pretty well.
Honestly, all in all, I miss these games and I would gladly forgo Doom and such games on Swtich in favour of some classic NDS style games, I'm thinking AW, Contact, Lock's Quest, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow, Nights in the Nightmare, Yggdra Union and tons more.
Doom I can play on PS4/XBOX and PC and there are tons of games similar to it. Even with indies, and you rightfully mentioned the brilliant wargroove, there is very little like these games mentioned. Not nothing, but not nearly enough. I mean, Hollow Knight was just pure bliss, I honestly like it more than any Castlevania game I played, it is borderline perfect, but I would still love to get some more of the classics as well, that have their own charm, and its not like they could not evolve as well ...
I guess, I just miss "handhelds". I always had high hopes for a hybrid system and it seemed like logical next steep, but I was also always afraid, that a more console like, portable expiernce would negatively impact those more low-budget games ... and with a few exceptions aside, the fear has turned out to be true, sadly.
PS: NL just told me, that my post was "too long" and "not concise enough". I am not loving that to be honest. I know this is the Twitter age and proper conversation and exchanges of ideas and experiences is strongly discouraged (why bother, you could just as well instagram your breakfast, right?), but a comments section should have room for more than banal exchanges.
@ShadJV Totally agree on what you're saying about FE. In fact, I stated much the same over the years on each successive FE game after Awakening. I was honestly deeply disappointed with Three Houses. I would have been fine with a "casual" mode, if there had been an optional "hardcore" more that was not just 'tougher enemies' but also no grind, or at least grind but with severely limited ressources and a constant drain of them, forcing you to weigh the value of XP vs Gold (and items, which you could buy, but not the high value ones).
It is odd to me, because this is what I would call "meaningful choice", which is what games are typically all about. The part that makes it even more dreadful, that these were "meaningful strategic choices", because they had longterm effects. You stated absolutely correctly that you could paint yourself into a corner in previous FE purely by making really bad strategic decisions, even without messing up once WITHIN any given mission.
I loved that aspect. It was a take on min/maxing for sure, but a lot more compelling one than purely breeding babies and grinding them for min/max'ed stats. That is what every RPG does in one way or another. Fire Emblem was (almost unique) in terms of having this sRPG perspective on things. I still enjoy the series, but I don't love it anymore, which in a way realy breaks my heart. I also loved Three Stones, but really my heart is all with PoR these days. I want that one on Switch soooo bad.
I think many FE "fans" never played anything before Awakening. They ... they are ignorant due to no fault of their own. They don't know that FE could be an amazing story, with loveable anime characters your root and care for, but also have deep combat mechanics and really compelling longterm strategy implications. I can't really talk about this, as in some ways it really drives me insane.
We could have the most amazing games, instead of just 'very fine' ones ... I just don't take the nearly the same kind of joy from succeeding in Three Houses that I take from succeeding in previous games.
Looks lovely, and I love interesting takes on anything TD related. I have a weak spot for TD ever since WC3 Customs blew up there.
Also, this reminds me of "Lock's Quest", one of my favourite NDS games of all times. Definitely going to take a closer look and consider backing, even though I haven't backed anything in years.
@Apportal Why is Kickstarter crap? As long as you make informed decisions as to where you "invest", it can be quite the blessing. Sure, it has it failures, but honestly, most of them feel into the "sounded to be good to be true ... was too good to be true" category.
Sure, rub in the salt ... 🤨 I would much prefer we talk about AW in terms of an AW game, not about some cosmetics in a game totally unrelated to AW except for the existence of tanks.
@ShadJV If I may chime in here for just a sec. I think an important differentiation between FE and AW is the distinction between strategy and tactic:
Clausewitz - and I am shortening and paraphrasing here of course - argued in "Vom Kriege" that tactics is essentially the science of deploying units on the field of battle, whereas strategy is in essence the art of the utilization of such battles for the purpose of warfare.
I think this is useful in the sense that AW is almost entirely concerend with tactics. FE is also very much concerned with tactics, but the longer you go, the more your strategic decisions, (read: who you deployed and you did with the gains from individual battles) matter and becoming a deciding factor.
Sadly, that strategic aspect has been entirely undone in recent FE games by making ressources, be it XP, gold, items or support levels (the spoils of battles), basically infinite. Any mistake you may have made along the journey, any less than optimal decision, can be overcome by grinding. Thus I think the moniker of "s"RPG has unfortunately become meaningless.
All that really matters now is tactics and your endurance to repeat battles over and over again ... ☹ As much as I like Awakening, and how it saved the franchise, it also paved the way for killing the games unique appeal.
My 10 year old self would have loved this, and the lack of another pointless card (it's probably going to be like a gig or two anyways) is a plus in my book. Not having kids and only so much free space, I don't think I'll pick it up though, maybe at a discount at some point. It's a really, really neat idea, that I hope works well in practice. Kids all around will love this if it does. Hell, I might still pick one up for my niece in a year or two when she is old enough to appreciate it!
Sounds good, I'll put in on to-get-list. I'll pick it up on a different platform though. No point in having to deal with framerate issues if there are alternatives.
@UmbreonsPapa You are not wrong, but the term 'filler' just as 'cliffhanger' in itself is predicated on a particular format of heavily serialized story telling.
That is not the entirety of TV, in fact as a heavy focus it is a very recent development. Just look at what used to be the most watched show on Netflix ... Friends! I am not big on friends, but there is no denying is all encompassing success. What happens if you missed an episode of Friends? Well, most likey nothing at all, you just go on to watch whichever episode is up next.
The same goes for Disney+ ! What do people watch over there, consistenly in the Top10? Well, Simpsons. Same thing there, virtually no serialization to be found.
You could say the same for a ton of popular shows, be it Seinfeld, Cheers or even Stark Trek TNG to a large degree, not to mention Law & Order
In a way I feel like TV was for the longest time predicated on NOT being bingeable. While this still exists, it is rather rare as far as streaming originals goes. We are currently undergoing a historical shift in what "TV" bay and large means, and I am only talking scripted here of course.
That is somethat needs to acknowledged. I love bingeable stuff, and for the most part, I actually prefer it, but there is no denying that there was and is huge value in formats like Seinfeld and Simpsons. There a reason many consider these show timeless cult classics. Meanwhile, will anyone remember "Cursed" a year from now? Hardly. It's a fantasy-binge-show amongst an ocean of fantasy-binge-shows.
People will remember Game of Thrones probably. That was bingeable as well, but it's episodes were clearly designed to be be small stories unto themselves, leaving the viewer satisfied enough and with enough meat to keep them mindful for an entire week.
@BulkSlash Normally, it is more the other way round but we shall see. I was not as pleased with the 2nd season as I was with the 1st, but I still enjoyed it very much. Cyberpunk is my jam and there is very little of it on both the big and the small screen. Hell, if you count anime out, there is barely anything worth bothering
@Beaucine Mad Man is good example. It's indeed exactly the type of show I find hard imagining Netflix every putting any serious money behind. It was unique in more than one ways, and really the opposite of binge-able, just as you said. It was often bordering on a quaint meditation on 'how things used to be' rather than a show about anything in particular. That also meant it was not necessarily a 'crowd pleaser' which is a whole other thing: Netflix is very much in the business of crowd pleasers these days imho.
@UmbreonsPapa The "adapting" part is what worries me. That said, I am more worried about the cliffhanger thing, or rather the combination of both. Great shows can be made with 10 epsiodes seasons. That said, a 22 episode season does not have to be filler bloated. It runs a higer risk, sure, but neither is a given no matter the length.
@nessisonett I think this runs much deeper than that though. Afterall, they are setting industry trends all around. Some of them for the better, some of them ... definitely not. I think this balance is far more important long-term than good vs bad show. I am not sure that as things stand the balance still continues to tip in their favour here overall.
Just for instance, Netflix is hugely invested in the whole binge-watching-approach. Sideeffects: Each episode has to have a cliff hanger that leads into the next, which also means very few episodes can stand on their own. This is also a big part why they fail so miserably at creating any good sitcomes, where basically all episodes are stand-alone pieces, that loosely fit into a grander theme. Aside form BoJack, I don't think they made anything worthwhile in that regard, amazing as BoJack was/is though.
Another example: If Netflix has it's way, we are about to enter world of 10-episode-season, and shows that will be lucky to hit 4 seasons all-in-all. That basically translates to roughly 40 episodes per show, which used to be just about 2 seasons or less for major shows. In other words, the next Buffy is just about as unlikey in this world as the next Wire, OZ, Sopranos or what-have-you. Not unless it can be condensed down to 30-40ish episodes ...... each with their own cliffhanger.
As someone who loved these shows, who loves shows in general, maybe even more so than movies, this is deeply troubling. That takes nothing away from the fact, that Netflix made amazing shows like BoJack.
So basically they turned RE into a Post-Apo-Zombie/Monster-series. Why bother with the license then? Cannot have been cheap. I might still be good, but I'm more than sceptical now
Netflix is really producing a ton of stuff these days, and only very little of it is actually worth a damn. They have become obsessed with NEW content every week. If that means it's cheap content, fine, if that means show 2 season 1 gets made instead of show 1 season 2, that is fine too ...
Reminds me of Marvel and DC: 1st issues/volumes sell best, hence let's stick with rebooting stuff every couple issues/volumes. It's a brilliant and not at all shortsighted strategy.
@BulkSlash Also, thanks for ruining my day (well, making me aware it is ruined at least).
@Shamrock Why? 4K is pointless. I had a 4K OLED for 3 years now and the harsh truth is that in real-time use (without digital forensics) it is virtually indistinguishable in motion from 1440p and up. In fact, there even usecases where smart "upscaling", like A.I. reconstruction with something like DLSS 2.0 can make for better picture quality, not to mention a fraction of the run-time cost.
Don't get me wrong, there are H_U_G_E gains for 4K OLEDs vis-a-vis e.g. (what were) state-of-the-art plasma, but these come down to a) HDR as the by far biggest gain in display techology since, well, HD as a standart and b) anything intrinsic to the display technology, like perfect black/ infinite contrast, instant pixel response time/ low input lag, low energy consumption and so on and so forth.
Point being, all this could be done with a 1080p display as well. The only issue is that with fewer pixels, OLEDs will also generate less light, which is a drawback of the technology.
That said, I would pay totally pay $450 for a Switch with a 1080p OLED HDR screen, as long as it has a thinner bezel, thus maintaing the current formfactor, as well as better or at least equal runtime to the current Switch 2.0.
4K itself, esp. on that tiny screen, has zero benefit by itself.
@graysoncharles Raji looked more mechanical interesting to me than Spiritfarer, plus the mythology seems very compelling, not something we see explored in games that often (compared to say Greek mythology or something that is). I also got a few Prince of Persia vibes, which is always appreciated.
I did not really love the visuals though. They looked a bit cheap, basically like all indie games that go for a more sharp 3D look, without much stylization. Some of the backgrounds and architecture looked quite nice though.
Gorgeous game, not sure if it is for me, and I don't have the time anyways, but definitely interest to see some reviews on this one to possibly pick it up down the road at some point. Also, from the looks of it, this game really has that "cozy" vibe going, like that word popped straight into my head a couple of seconds into the trailer and it's not even my native tongue ^^
Fantastic game, one of two I bothered picking up on Epic store (using that $10 coupon while on sale). Definitely willing to double-dip on this. Supergiant and Klei are some of my favourite developer right now, just delivering time and time again!
@Lord I'd expect them to push out a NewSwitch (or whatever it will be called) late'ish next year. That should give them a fair bit of breathingroom for a true successor maybe in like early'ish 2023. Who knows how much Corona has thrown all of this off though ...
As for Prime, 2 years seems very, very optimistic - even without Corona. I would think and hope they turn it into a "next-gen" project for the Switch successor. It would make a good launch title along side a Mario game for instance.
@TheFullAndy I'm personally most interested in PS5 as well, as I - at least these days - prefer Singleplayer games to multiplayer ones, and as far as narrative driven AAA sp-games go, nobody is currently at Sony's level as far as quality and quantity goes.
They could definitely have pushed Series X as hard or much harder even than Sony. We can't forget that Microsoft is one of very few trillion dollar companies on the planet But that may also be the reason why they decided against pushing Series X as their mainplatform. Their big money maker these days is Azure. They figured - that would be my guess at least - that they were already big into cloud business, so why not use that experience, knowledge, trust and infrastructure for other ventures. Owning the Xbox brand combined with the fact that video- and musicstreaming are already super crowded, have been for years of course, gaming must have seemed like a logical choice.
The console business is a steady up and down and not exactly risk- or recession-proof. It also has literally physical limits whens it comes to producing, shipping and selling these boxes.
Streaming games to just about any device on the planet (eventually, it will also directly stream to your TV without any additional hardware involved besides a controller) makes for a virtually limitless market in the long run.
Also, you don't have to cut in the actual producer, the logistics companies, retailers and all that. Basically all revenue goes directly into their pocket.
As for 3rd-party, I think it will be the same as it is currently with TV: They won't have much of choice. They will obviously try and pull their games out, and try their own streaming platforms. People won't tolerate a dozen platforms though, esp. with some of them most likely not performing near the level of what a global megacooperation like Microsoft can offer, and will be forced to put their product where the customer is.
Granted, this is a ways off for the time being, and I am certainly not looking forward to that brave new world, even though it might be cheaper even and certainly more convient, but from a business perspective, I still think it makes ton of sense.
That said, nothing is certain, and games are the most fickle customers I know. The rules of the movie, tv or music business might not apply here. We shall see!
@electrolite77 Well, for the forseeable future it is still the best way to get people unto Gamepass, so in that sense I agree. I am not really that sure that they will bother with rolling out a new "generation" in 2027'ish though. They might, it is not out of the question, but they might also not. Or it might be like a "developing world"-box or something along those lines, for regions where streaming is not an Option and PCs are uncommon
@TheFullAndy Microsoft is clearly not interested in consoles anymore beyond their ability to bring people in their ecosystem and make them Gamepass/xCloud/XLG subscribers.
I don't think they will go 3rd-party. They'll turn their most profitable IPs into platform titles, starting with Halo Infinite, as they've already officially confirmed, followed by the next Fables and of course Forza. These games will go to Gamepass, among hundreds of others.
Having deep pockets Microsoft can subsidize Gamepass to the point where anyone on PC, mobile or Xbox (I doubt Sony will have them on their system), who is even remotely price sensitive - and who isn't at that these days? - will almost be forced to subscribe.
Once they have reached critical mass, and once they have priced any competition out of the market, they will begin making their money back: Expect slow but steady price hikes, and of course monetization becoming for prevalent and aggressive in their most popular platform titles like said Halo, Fables and Forza.
Business-wise it seem pretty smart to me. Similar approaches worked wonder for Music and TV/Movies already. That does not make it a given for games, which are still different beasts, but from what I hear, Microsoft is doing good work with xCloud for instance. I think they are on the right track as far as their longterm bottom line is concerend.
What choice to they really have? They have spend a decade proving that they cannot compete in terms of quality content, this is only once more reinforced by the delay of Halo now. Their studios are poorly managed, to the point of having to cancel three major titles last gen. The only possible exception being Turn10 and Playground Games, that have been consistent in quality and on time. The Coalition is also getting there in think. Other than that though ...
That said, I am not a fan of what they are doing as it will have a bunch of unpleasant longterm sideeffects on the industry. But it is what is, and ultimately it is up to consumers. I doubt most will be able to resist the value and convenience of Gamepass for long though, esp. once xCloud is widely available and running on Series X hardware, no longer capped by 720p streaming and such.
It's going to take to change the marketplace, but unfortunately, I think it is going to work in the end. It's worth noting though, that Mirosoft is going to great lengths here to make gaming more accessible than ever before. For that, they do need to commended.
I consider Rare to be dead. The talent that once made up the company is mostly gone. They have not produced anything I found remarkable since 2005, that's 15 years ago. I had high hopes for Sea of Thieves, but ... it was just not for me unfortunately. Maybe Everwild will be a return to form, I hope so, but I am sceptical to say the least.
I will always love their N64 output though, and even some NDS games, Kameo on the 360 and such. Rare Replay is a gorgeous blast from the past and I am more than excited to see Banjo Kazooie in 4K + HDR with the new Series X, that is going to ... something very special to me, I feel.
Nintendo should have a program in place to grant a small discount to owners of the WiiU games. Nothing extensive like Microsoft's BWC, put just like a 50% discount or something. That still amounts to like $90 for one game basically ... not too shabby.
From what I understand, nobody actually accuses him of any illegal behavior, but that he might be an ***hole, that uses his influence to possibly extract some sexual favours from female fans and upcoming female writers. Although most of what I read seemed to suggest he kind of had a bunch of mistresses over the years, which understandbly is unpleasant, but hardly a crime.
It's also worth pointing out that several of the women that came forward, were explicit in stating that they don't want to see him "cancelled", but that they want to see a conversation happening and changes to underlying structures. It's also worth noting that Ellis did help several women break into the industry, and make a career for themselves, which is no small feat in comics. That does not give him license to create "a harem" for himself obviously, but I am still hard pressed to believe that a large part of this is not just a fan being infatuated with an idol.
@jump "allegedly" is apparently enough these days.
@Blizzia Society has to be able to sanction illegitimate behavior as well. Not everything legal is legitimate. The state could not and should not regulate and police every tiny piece of human behavior, because that is a recipe for utter disaster. Maybe with technological progress, we will get to the point of "could" (just look at China's social credit system), but that would STILL NOT mean we should!
We've had $60 games for a generation now, like roughly 15 years. I dunno about the rest of you, but the rest of entertainment cost has not been frozen in 2005. Even with a imaginary 0% inflation rate, I now pay more at my local cinema because - for instance - many movies drop in 3D, which comes at a premium. Do I want/need to see all those 3D movies in 3D? No, some benefit, most don't and some are worse for it. It is still a fact.
Do I want/need all my games to have a massive open-world? No, some benefit, most don't and some are worse for it. It is still a fact. The list goes on, games that would come be played and be done with, now have to have tacked on multiplayer version barely anyone ever plays. None of this is free and most PS2-era games were not burdend by it.
Also, on PSN, it's already 70€ mostly last I checked. Obviously, I have been using PSN US since ... PSN came online way back then, but for fairness sake, I would not mind it all that much. That is easily a -depending on exchange rate- like a 15€ price difference for ... well, nothing. Ofc, as a collector, I am aware that being a 2nd class global citizen means paying a premium, but it is still annoying.
Excellent news, this Mini Direct whatever is giving my what I was craving for years: more mainline SMT Good news, without reservation. The faithful got once more rewarded.
Not interested. Tons of charm and attention wasted on what seems utterly mechanically unengaging. Like a Pixar movie without humor or fellz. They should either rethink the core gameplay loop, or focus their ressources elsewhere. A shame really.
@Slowdive I don't think it is up to Atlus. Given the fact, that until recently, Peronsa mainserie game never strayed off of Sony platforms, it seems pretty certain to me, that some kind of deal is in place there. Also take note of the fact, that P4G made it to PC around the same time a first major Sony Studios exclusive, aka Horizon, made it to PC as well. Could be a coincidence ... could also be not a coincidence. If not, I feel a P6 announcement is not as far away as we might have believed.
As for P5 on Switch, I'm very sceptical - at least for the near future. If I had to bet, I would say it is not happening. But again, no idea what that deal between Sony and Atlus looks like, so ... it is not impossible. I don't think however that "demand" as such is going to do much either way. There is little reason to assume that P5 would not perform well on Switch given the chance.
Not gonna lie, I'm delighted with this for two simple reasons:
1) I cannot remember why "everyone" was hating on her a while back. I obviously managed to forget. As long as I am not going senile, that is just plainly a good thing, because I am positive it was equal parts inane and pointless to begin with - no matter what it was.
2) Brie seems to be in good spirits and just genuinely nice. These days that is something I find to be in exceedinly short supply. I also liked here in Free Fire, Room and Captain Marvel. While not my favourite MCU Film (that's GotG, as anyone with taste already knows), I'm a big enough dork and all-things-cosmic-Marvel-fan-since-1992 (Operation: Galactic Storm ... obivously ^^) to appreciate just anything that does at least some justice to cosmic Marvel content.
What are you doing Nintendo? Seriously? You have a good thing going, why tell consumers it might not be around forever. Nothing is around forever ... duh, that's neither news nor insightful. Also, what's with the marketing-speak language in general. If the point was to come off as just another soulless corporate entity, well, then mission accomplished.
Kinda baffled by that whole paragraph to be honest. Takahashi needs some professional help in terms of dodging an issue without opening a whole nother can of worms.
got for $5 on Xlive. Looks stunning on XBX and drives really well. Unfortunately I hated the open-track concept - HATED it. I'd see enemies for 20 secs and the rest of time I was alone ... no takedowns nothing. I still play Burnout Revenge to this day, but this though: an hour and never again - not for me, 5/10 for visuals, performance and handling, but -5 for being structurally broken. Worst Burnout by far - barely Burnout at all.
@Order2Chaos Absolutely based on visuals first and reporting second. Since the game has been on Gamepass for a while, I did indeed have a chance to play it on substantially more powerful hardware and this without a doubt colors my view of the Switch version.
It's the age old question basically: Is each game it's own thing, to be judged on it's own merits and only on those ... or ... is it part of a larger conversation, thus subject to comparison to other "comparable" games.
Obviously, if we go with the latter - which I do for sure - this must absolutely hold true for different version of one and the same game. You say the game's vibe is very much intact. While I agree to some respect, like the humor for instance being not impacted, the vibe of the game goes beyond that by some pretty large measure. This is not a(n) (audio-)book after all. It's a VIDEOgame.
The first thing that struck me about the Switch version is the lack of vegitation. This gives many if not all the outdoor areas a very, very different vibe from every other version of the game. The lush outworld'ish ^^ vegetation is turned into what largely comes across to me as a desert. I'm not saying we went all the way from Avatar to Dune ... but something along those lines - sadly.
Of course, the level of detail in the world's texture, or more to the point the utter lack thereof, takes away a large part of the game's artistic vision, which beside the writing and VA, is what brings it to life in the first place and sells it as an actual alien place.
To me, and this is particularly true for an RPG of all things, these aspects matter a great deal.
I haven't played the Switch version, so I rather not comment on the combat, but based on the footage I have seen, the performance will time and time again drop to a degree where it will definitely degrade the combat experience. We are not talking sensitivity to "mere" frametime spikes, but actual FPS dips into the teens for an action-heavy game.
The texture pop-in to me would be frankly an issue so severe unto itself, that I would have a very rought time feeling immersed into the world, as the world as such rarely exists at all and is in a constant stage of loading. I can think of few things as distracting to a world's sense of place than that.
Finally, I don't think I RECOMMENDED it as a last resort. I think I said, that I am unsure whether this can be recommended as a last resort, and if it would not be better to hold out for access on a more powerful system in the future. "Last resort" strikes me as the absolute best case for this game. I do think a more powerful Switch is one the way, and really, with XSX/PS5 around the corner, current-gen hardware can be had for a bargain price. That won't give you portability, sure, but the trade-off here, such as they are, really strike me as obscene.
@Vexx234 I dunno about it being a "bad port". At least not in the way, that phrase is commonly used I think. It's pretty impressive that they got the entire game (structurally) running on the Switch in a more or less stable fashion. MAYBE some other studio could have done a better job, but really ... there are limits to what the hardware can do, and it just won't play nice with any kind of content thrown at it.
If the game was mainly a corridor shooter and if they had more tailor-made assests for the Switch ... this would probably be a very decent port all around without much of the technical aspects being changed actually.
As it is, it is a last resort for RPG fans desperate for a Fallout-type game on the Switch without ANY other avenue to access is.
@mesome713 I haven't been paying attention to be honest I know what the game is -it's been on Gamepass for a year now I think-, so all I cared about was the port. And as far as that goes, the footage online seems to tell a pretty straightforward story.
@mesome713 He is an icon? How so? Oo Genuine question.
I suscribed to him for most of last year, but unsubbed once I noticed that his videos were becoming more and more clickbait'y with 2-3 minutes of "content" violently drawn out to surpass the 10+ minute mark, with constant repetition through-out. What pushed me away most of all, was his unwillingness to properly edit his stuff. After the 20th video, where he failed to cut out takes that went wrong (he misspeaks, forgets his trail of thought and so on), I felt strongly that if the didn't care enough about his own product, he properly did not care that much about that of other folks either.
Last but not least, there are more likeable, knowledge and professional youtubers out there, so ... yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat.
The fact that the underlying game is worth playing, is not in dispute btw. The question is: How much of that game is left to experienced on the Switch?
I've been wondering for a while how much further the Switch can go when it comes to accommodating an array of (more or less) amibitous current-gen games. With this one, it seems the Switch has hit a pretty hard and ultimately insurmountable ceiling.
I don't want to get into pixel-couting, and I'll even ignore the frame rate -though there are serious issues from what I can tell to be found in either aspects- but instead focus on what is argueable way more important: the game's integrity ... not just as a commercial product (is it technically playable? by all accounts it is that), but is still true to what it's designers intended it to be?
Of course, the answer will be subjective, but to me it is a resounding no. Parts of the world looked barely intelligible, the mood of many sceneries looks radically changed, and the atmosphere seems often gone entirely. The fact, that the game features all these areas with wide drawdistances and was build around HD assests to invoke a certain aesthetic and crucially, sense of place (hence the name, duh...) cannot just be sampled down at will. Technically, it can yes, and it does kinda worked (again, there are obviously still plenty of technical issues as well), but the core experience does not remain intact.
Intact to me means that this I feel is not one of the cases where better-played-on-the-Switch-than-not-at-all can hold true. While visuals are not the end all and be all of games, they are a key part in bringing these worlds to life. To me at least, Outer Worlds feels wasted on the Switch. It's like watching some sh**y free 360p stream of "Into the Spider-Verse" on your phone ... sure, you will get the gist of what is happening, but a large part of what makes the thing ... the thing, will not register with you. You might look beyoned the visuals, but with a visual medium, you are still stuck at surface level then as far as the artistry is concerend.
No, I wasn't aware there was one to be honest, but yeah, upon checking for a flip-through just now, I gotta say it looks quite good. My only gripes would be that it is still in Japanese without any translated notes, which is a shame, and that it is rather light on environmental art, which personally tends to be my favourite part with any artbook.
Still, really nice for a CE pack-in and certainly much better than I would have expected. Might have to pick it up 2nd hand at some point.
I'd love a flip-through of the artbook. I'm a real sucker for a great artbook, but I've never bothered buying an actual CE for one before, mostly because those artbooks tend to be "lite" versions at best. Also though, because I prefer digital games and the rest of those CE's is just a waste of space. The last one I bought, if memory serves, was actually the original World of Warcraft
I doubt I would have gotten around to watching Sonic, if not for a global pandemic raging outside. Honestly though, to my utter surprise I did not end up regretting it. Maybe it was my personal lack of any attachement to Sonic as a character or the IP as a whole, but I found the movie enjoyable and entertaining coming to it with an open mind and zero expectations one way or the other.
Yes, there are leaps of logic abound, plotholes big enough to drive a container ship through, the ending makes little sense and the product placement is ... not subtle (then again, there are not even an Olive Gardens on my side of the pond, so what do I care really?).
Point is this: the movie looks and sounds great!
The revised CGi Sonic is well animated and very much likeable with some strong voice work giving him a relateable personality. The action is on point and feels surprisingly not-utterly-floaty, as CGi so often does. The "humans" are all acted competently, which can not have been an easy task given the movie's main protagonist is a virtual character. I always liked James Marsden and he delivers with this one, coming across as genuine, caring, decent and - once again - likeable. That's not much you may say, but it is really what was needed here, and that he delivered in spades.
Standout moments here clearly - and as expected no doubt - are delivered by the one and only Jim Carrey, who does what he does best: Finding a place beyond the sunset of serious acting, settling down there, building a DIY-type giant catapult and then launching himself into space all the while laughing madly for his own amusement. If you've seen any of this 90s "classics" and liked what he did there, well, this is it. He was a great fit for Ace Ventura as well as the Mask at the time and it sure as hell is a great fit here and now for Dr. Robotnik.
While I have no qualm with someone saying that Det. Pikachu is a better movie and a better game-to-movie adaption, I have to say that purely in terms of fun-factor, I did like Sonic better. Sonic was just better paced and more lighthearted, which ... surprise surprise is a better fit for the material at hand. Det. Pikachu took it self rather serious at some points, and while that was backed up by some actual meat on its' bones, it did not really make it substantial viewing in my opinion. It had little new or interesting to say ultimately. That's fine of course, but for me, it actually made the whole experience of watching the actual thing a tad more tiresome than I had to be, as some parts just dragged a fair bit.
Sonic doesn't even bother taking itself seriously. It's just a brisk, well paced, family-friendly adventure, which sounds and looks fine as hell in 4K HDR. Kids should have a blast with it and anyone looking for 90mins of mindless but easy-on-the-eyes fun will equally find merit here.
Don't go in expecting anything more though, that is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
In short: I'm very much down for the sequel - bring it!
Yeah, I dunno, glad that this exists, but I am not sure that I need to play this once more. Fantastic for 1st-time players, yet still a game that fell pray to design imperatives of the time, which still plague us today.
I don't cherish the game for it's sidequests for instance. Those were unnecessary, added little value (just playtime) and the tracking was just flat-out poorly implemented.
To make this super-short: I still like Baten Kaitos much better. Simple as that. It gave me much, much more bang-for-the-buck in terms of hours invested and it was and still is also more unique.
I do in no way begrudge anyone for loving and getting this, but I do feel that Nintendo should go back and give some love to said Baten Kaitos as well.
It's just that Xenoblade is a more recent game, was made for a much much more popular console, is playable on the WiiU, has a remake for the N3DS already ... Baten Kaitos is basically inaccessible for a broad audience in 2020. Xenoblade is not. It did not need this remake.
This brings back some memories. Really loved the cartoon back in the day, and even bought and read the trade paperbacks for a while. Might have to pick this up if it turns out any good!
@Kalmaro Yeah, it's on Gamepass alright! Definitely check it out some time if you like these kind of western tactics games. I can also recommend Gears Tactics, which is also on Gamepass. You don't really need any prior knowledge or experience with the series to enjoy it either. It's also a much more focused experience than X-Com, and actually ... like really really good. I'd say in some respects, it clearly surpasses X-Com. The presentation is very strong and there is a gut-punchiness to the actual action. That is kinda compelling to me, because it makes the very static turn-based nature of these games feel way less ... static and turn-based and more action'y. It's an illusion for sure, but what are games if not illusions
How is Troubleshooter? I've seen it on Steam when it was still Early Access, but kinda forget about it, since I don't do Early Access anymore.
@Kalmaro I quite liked Mutant Road Zero. It got an interesting world, some decent characters and banter and a pretty straight-forward tactical style of play, with some interesting twists, but most crucially, it's NOT overloaded with non-essential systems. Everything, from skill-trees to upgrade-systems is kinda basic, but also easy to grasp and in tune with game's length.
If you have not played it yet, you might find it quite enjoyable.
I would actually like for Konami to give Lords of Shadows another go. Both games had their issues, but they also had undeniable strengths.
I think the 2D-Castlevania cravings can well be sated with some rather brilliant alternative these days. You know your Hollow Knights, Dead Cells and Blasphemous to name but a few.
I can't speak to Bloodstained, because I really hated the aesthetic of that game (kinda the polar opposite to LoS then) and the gameplay really looked ... I dunno, vexingly slow and cumbersome to me. I will freely admit though that my favourite 2D-Castlevanias were actually the NDS ones, maybe that is why - I dunno.
Anyways, point being, there is no real shortage of 2D games scratching that itch and while you think 3D action games are a dime dozen, there are actually rather few that do what LoS did.
This on the other hand is way to retro for me unfortunately - like I said, I favour the NDS ones anyways, not just because of visuals, but also not despite them
Comments 2,303
Re: Dwerve Is A 'Zelda-Inspired' RPG With Tower-Defense Combat, And It Hopes To Launch On Switch
@aaronsullivan I think the matchmaking makes DotA 2 vastly superior to the original. It was such a hassle to deal with all that toxicity, lag, disconnects and what have you.
Re: Random: World Of Tanks Dev Would "Love" To Do An Advance Wars Collab
@ShadJV For instance, in previous games, I would often stockpile ranged weapons, that wait for 'static' boss, e.g. one that protected a field you had to capture. Then I would use my tanks and healers to make the boss deplete his ranged weapons. Then my low-level and most vulernable troops I wanted to level, would be equiped with said stockpile of ranged weapons and they got to "grind" the boss for xp. That XP was in exchange for other limited ressources though, and that very process took foresight and planning, you had to come prepared, bring the right units, bring the stockpile etc.
This is just no longer "at thing" in FE games, this whole layer of consideration is entirely gone. Ah well ... nuff said :-/
Anyways, just dito on AW! I loved those small differences between COs as well, esp. since if really exploited to their fullest, they could really turn the tide of battle in your favour. Dual Strike did that pretty well.
Honestly, all in all, I miss these games and I would gladly forgo Doom and such games on Swtich in favour of some classic NDS style games, I'm thinking AW, Contact, Lock's Quest, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow, Nights in the Nightmare, Yggdra Union and tons more.
Doom I can play on PS4/XBOX and PC and there are tons of games similar to it. Even with indies, and you rightfully mentioned the brilliant wargroove, there is very little like these games mentioned. Not nothing, but not nearly enough. I mean, Hollow Knight was just pure bliss, I honestly like it more than any Castlevania game I played, it is borderline perfect, but I would still love to get some more of the classics as well, that have their own charm, and its not like they could not evolve as well ...
I guess, I just miss "handhelds". I always had high hopes for a hybrid system and it seemed like logical next steep, but I was also always afraid, that a more console like, portable expiernce would negatively impact those more low-budget games ... and with a few exceptions aside, the fear has turned out to be true, sadly.
PS: NL just told me, that my post was "too long" and "not concise enough". I am not loving that to be honest. I know this is the Twitter age and proper conversation and exchanges of ideas and experiences is strongly discouraged (why bother, you could just as well instagram your breakfast, right?), but a comments section should have room for more than banal exchanges.
Re: Random: World Of Tanks Dev Would "Love" To Do An Advance Wars Collab
@ShadJV Totally agree on what you're saying about FE. In fact, I stated much the same over the years on each successive FE game after Awakening. I was honestly deeply disappointed with Three Houses. I would have been fine with a "casual" mode, if there had been an optional "hardcore" more that was not just 'tougher enemies' but also no grind, or at least grind but with severely limited ressources and a constant drain of them, forcing you to weigh the value of XP vs Gold (and items, which you could buy, but not the high value ones).
It is odd to me, because this is what I would call "meaningful choice", which is what games are typically all about. The part that makes it even more dreadful, that these were "meaningful strategic choices", because they had longterm effects. You stated absolutely correctly that you could paint yourself into a corner in previous FE purely by making really bad strategic decisions, even without messing up once WITHIN any given mission.
I loved that aspect. It was a take on min/maxing for sure, but a lot more compelling one than purely breeding babies and grinding them for min/max'ed stats. That is what every RPG does in one way or another. Fire Emblem was (almost unique) in terms of having this sRPG perspective on things. I still enjoy the series, but I don't love it anymore, which in a way realy breaks my heart. I also loved Three Stones, but really my heart is all with PoR these days. I want that one on Switch soooo bad.
I think many FE "fans" never played anything before Awakening. They ... they are ignorant due to no fault of their own. They don't know that FE could be an amazing story, with loveable anime characters your root and care for, but also have deep combat mechanics and really compelling longterm strategy implications. I can't really talk about this, as in some ways it really drives me insane.
We could have the most amazing games, instead of just 'very fine' ones ... I just don't take the nearly the same kind of joy from succeeding in Three Houses that I take from succeeding in previous games.
Re: Dwerve Is A 'Zelda-Inspired' RPG With Tower-Defense Combat, And It Hopes To Launch On Switch
Looks lovely, and I love interesting takes on anything TD related. I have a weak spot for TD ever since WC3 Customs blew up there.
Also, this reminds me of "Lock's Quest", one of my favourite NDS games of all times. Definitely going to take a closer look and consider backing, even though I haven't backed anything in years.
@Apportal Why is Kickstarter crap? As long as you make informed decisions as to where you "invest", it can be quite the blessing. Sure, it has it failures, but honestly, most of them feel into the "sounded to be good to be true ... was too good to be true" category.
Re: Random: World Of Tanks Dev Would "Love" To Do An Advance Wars Collab
Sure, rub in the salt ... 🤨 I would much prefer we talk about AW in terms of an AW game, not about some cosmetics in a game totally unrelated to AW except for the existence of tanks.
@ShadJV If I may chime in here for just a sec. I think an important differentiation between FE and AW is the distinction between strategy and tactic:
Clausewitz - and I am shortening and paraphrasing here of course - argued in "Vom Kriege" that tactics is essentially the science of deploying units on the field of battle, whereas strategy is in essence the art of the utilization of such battles for the purpose of warfare.
I think this is useful in the sense that AW is almost entirely concerend with tactics. FE is also very much concerned with tactics, but the longer you go, the more your strategic decisions, (read: who you deployed and you did with the gains from individual battles) matter and becoming a deciding factor.
Sadly, that strategic aspect has been entirely undone in recent FE games by making ressources, be it XP, gold, items or support levels (the spoils of battles), basically infinite. Any mistake you may have made along the journey, any less than optimal decision, can be overcome by grinding. Thus I think the moniker of "s"RPG has unfortunately become meaningless.
All that really matters now is tactics and your endurance to repeat battles over and over again ... ☹ As much as I like Awakening, and how it saved the franchise, it also paved the way for killing the games unique appeal.
Re: Even At £100, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Doesn't Come With A Game Card
My 10 year old self would have loved this, and the lack of another pointless card (it's probably going to be like a gig or two anyways) is a plus in my book. Not having kids and only so much free space, I don't think I'll pick it up though, maybe at a discount at some point. It's a really, really neat idea, that I hope works well in practice. Kids all around will love this if it does. Hell, I might still pick one up for my niece in a year or two when she is old enough to appreciate it!
Re: Review: Raji: An Ancient Epic - A Refreshing Experience That Leaves You Wanting More
Sounds good, I'll put in on to-get-list. I'll pick it up on a different platform though. No point in having to deal with framerate issues if there are alternatives.
Re: Netflix's Resident Evil Series Has Been Officially Confirmed, First Details Released
@UmbreonsPapa You are not wrong, but the term 'filler' just as 'cliffhanger' in itself is predicated on a particular format of heavily serialized story telling.
That is not the entirety of TV, in fact as a heavy focus it is a very recent development. Just look at what used to be the most watched show on Netflix ... Friends! I am not big on friends, but there is no denying is all encompassing success. What happens if you missed an episode of Friends? Well, most likey nothing at all, you just go on to watch whichever episode is up next.
The same goes for Disney+ ! What do people watch over there, consistenly in the Top10? Well, Simpsons. Same thing there, virtually no serialization to be found.
You could say the same for a ton of popular shows, be it Seinfeld, Cheers or even Stark Trek TNG to a large degree, not to mention Law & Order
In a way I feel like TV was for the longest time predicated on NOT being bingeable. While this still exists, it is rather rare as far as streaming originals goes. We are currently undergoing a historical shift in what "TV" bay and large means, and I am only talking scripted here of course.
That is somethat needs to acknowledged. I love bingeable stuff, and for the most part, I actually prefer it, but there is no denying that there was and is huge value in formats like Seinfeld and Simpsons. There a reason many consider these show timeless cult classics. Meanwhile, will anyone remember "Cursed" a year from now? Hardly. It's a fantasy-binge-show amongst an ocean of fantasy-binge-shows.
People will remember Game of Thrones probably. That was bingeable as well, but it's episodes were clearly designed to be be small stories unto themselves, leaving the viewer satisfied enough and with enough meat to keep them mindful for an entire week.
I just hope that we don't end up loosing that.
Re: Netflix's Resident Evil Series Has Been Officially Confirmed, First Details Released
@BulkSlash Normally, it is more the other way round but we shall see. I was not as pleased with the 2nd season as I was with the 1st, but I still enjoyed it very much. Cyberpunk is my jam and there is very little of it on both the big and the small screen. Hell, if you count anime out, there is barely anything worth bothering
Re: Netflix's Resident Evil Series Has Been Officially Confirmed, First Details Released
@Beaucine Mad Man is good example. It's indeed exactly the type of show I find hard imagining Netflix every putting any serious money behind. It was unique in more than one ways, and really the opposite of binge-able, just as you said. It was often bordering on a quaint meditation on 'how things used to be' rather than a show about anything in particular. That also meant it was not necessarily a 'crowd pleaser' which is a whole other thing: Netflix is very much in the business of crowd pleasers these days imho.
Re: Netflix's Resident Evil Series Has Been Officially Confirmed, First Details Released
@UmbreonsPapa The "adapting" part is what worries me. That said, I am more worried about the cliffhanger thing, or rather the combination of both. Great shows can be made with 10 epsiodes seasons. That said, a 22 episode season does not have to be filler bloated. It runs a higer risk, sure, but neither is a given no matter the length.
Re: Netflix's Resident Evil Series Has Been Officially Confirmed, First Details Released
@nessisonett I think this runs much deeper than that though. Afterall, they are setting industry trends all around. Some of them for the better, some of them ... definitely not. I think this balance is far more important long-term than good vs bad show. I am not sure that as things stand the balance still continues to tip in their favour here overall.
Just for instance, Netflix is hugely invested in the whole binge-watching-approach. Sideeffects: Each episode has to have a cliff hanger that leads into the next, which also means very few episodes can stand on their own. This is also a big part why they fail so miserably at creating any good sitcomes, where basically all episodes are stand-alone pieces, that loosely fit into a grander theme. Aside form BoJack, I don't think they made anything worthwhile in that regard, amazing as BoJack was/is though.
Another example: If Netflix has it's way, we are about to enter world of 10-episode-season, and shows that will be lucky to hit 4 seasons all-in-all. That basically translates to roughly 40 episodes per show, which used to be just about 2 seasons or less for major shows. In other words, the next Buffy is just about as unlikey in this world as the next Wire, OZ, Sopranos or what-have-you. Not unless it can be condensed down to 30-40ish episodes ...... each with their own cliffhanger.
As someone who loved these shows, who loves shows in general, maybe even more so than movies, this is deeply troubling. That takes nothing away from the fact, that Netflix made amazing shows like BoJack.
Re: Netflix's Resident Evil Series Has Been Officially Confirmed, First Details Released
So basically they turned RE into a Post-Apo-Zombie/Monster-series. Why bother with the license then? Cannot have been cheap. I might still be good, but I'm more than sceptical now
Netflix is really producing a ton of stuff these days, and only very little of it is actually worth a damn. They have become obsessed with NEW content every week. If that means it's cheap content, fine, if that means show 2 season 1 gets made instead of show 1 season 2, that is fine too ...
Reminds me of Marvel and DC: 1st issues/volumes sell best, hence let's stick with rebooting stuff every couple issues/volumes. It's a brilliant and not at all shortsighted strategy.
@BulkSlash Also, thanks for ruining my day (well, making me aware it is ruined at least).
Re: Rumour: New Switch Model Launching Early 2021, According To Taiwanese Newspaper
@Shamrock Why? 4K is pointless. I had a 4K OLED for 3 years now and the harsh truth is that in real-time use (without digital forensics) it is virtually indistinguishable in motion from 1440p and up. In fact, there even usecases where smart "upscaling", like A.I. reconstruction with something like DLSS 2.0 can make for better picture quality, not to mention a fraction of the run-time cost.
Don't get me wrong, there are H_U_G_E gains for 4K OLEDs vis-a-vis e.g. (what were) state-of-the-art plasma, but these come down to a) HDR as the by far biggest gain in display techology since, well, HD as a standart and b) anything intrinsic to the display technology, like perfect black/ infinite contrast, instant pixel response time/ low input lag, low energy consumption and so on and so forth.
Point being, all this could be done with a 1080p display as well. The only issue is that with fewer pixels, OLEDs will also generate less light, which is a drawback of the technology.
That said, I would pay totally pay $450 for a Switch with a 1080p OLED HDR screen, as long as it has a thinner bezel, thus maintaing the current formfactor, as well as better or at least equal runtime to the current Switch 2.0.
4K itself, esp. on that tiny screen, has zero benefit by itself.
Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of The August 2020 Nintendo Indie World Showcase?
Shame nobody seems to care about Grindstone, but I guess lot of folks have Apple.
Re: Surprise! Spiritfarer Launches On Nintendo Switch Today
@graysoncharles Raji looked more mechanical interesting to me than Spiritfarer, plus the mythology seems very compelling, not something we see explored in games that often (compared to say Greek mythology or something that is). I also got a few Prince of Persia vibes, which is always appreciated.
I did not really love the visuals though. They looked a bit cheap, basically like all indie games that go for a more sharp 3D look, without much stylization. Some of the backgrounds and architecture looked quite nice though.
Re: Surprise! Spiritfarer Launches On Nintendo Switch Today
Gorgeous game, not sure if it is for me, and I don't have the time anyways, but definitely interest to see some reviews on this one to possibly pick it up down the road at some point. Also, from the looks of it, this game really has that "cozy" vibe going, like that word popped straight into my head a couple of seconds into the trailer and it's not even my native tongue ^^
Re: Roguelike Dungeon Crawler Hades Hacks 'N Slashes Its Way To Switch This Fall
Fantastic game, one of two I bothered picking up on Epic store (using that $10 coupon while on sale). Definitely willing to double-dip on this. Supergiant and Klei are some of my favourite developer right now, just delivering time and time again!
Re: Retro Studios Reminds Us It's In Need Of A Lead Producer For Metroid Prime 4
@Lord I'd expect them to push out a NewSwitch (or whatever it will be called) late'ish next year. That should give them a fair bit of breathingroom for a true successor maybe in like early'ish 2023. Who knows how much Corona has thrown all of this off though ...
As for Prime, 2 years seems very, very optimistic - even without Corona. I would think and hope they turn it into a "next-gen" project for the Switch successor. It would make a good launch title along side a Mario game for instance.
Re: Nintendo Is "A Jewel" In The Industry And Has The Best First-Party Pedigree, Says Xbox Boss
@TheFullAndy I'm personally most interested in PS5 as well, as I - at least these days - prefer Singleplayer games to multiplayer ones, and as far as narrative driven AAA sp-games go, nobody is currently at Sony's level as far as quality and quantity goes.
They could definitely have pushed Series X as hard or much harder even than Sony. We can't forget that Microsoft is one of very few trillion dollar companies on the planet
But that may also be the reason why they decided against pushing Series X as their mainplatform. Their big money maker these days is Azure. They figured - that would be my guess at least - that they were already big into cloud business, so why not use that experience, knowledge, trust and infrastructure for other ventures. Owning the Xbox brand combined with the fact that video- and musicstreaming are already super crowded, have been for years of course, gaming must have seemed like a logical choice.
The console business is a steady up and down and not exactly risk- or recession-proof. It also has literally physical limits whens it comes to producing, shipping and selling these boxes.
Streaming games to just about any device on the planet (eventually, it will also directly stream to your TV without any additional hardware involved besides a controller) makes for a virtually limitless market in the long run.
Also, you don't have to cut in the actual producer, the logistics companies, retailers and all that. Basically all revenue goes directly into their pocket.
As for 3rd-party, I think it will be the same as it is currently with TV: They won't have much of choice. They will obviously try and pull their games out, and try their own streaming platforms. People won't tolerate a dozen platforms though, esp. with some of them most likely not performing near the level of what a global megacooperation like Microsoft can offer, and will be forced to put their product where the customer is.
Granted, this is a ways off for the time being, and I am certainly not looking forward to that brave new world, even though it might be cheaper even and certainly more convient, but from a business perspective, I still think it makes ton of sense.
That said, nothing is certain, and games are the most fickle customers I know. The rules of the movie, tv or music business might not apply here. We shall see!
Re: Nintendo Is "A Jewel" In The Industry And Has The Best First-Party Pedigree, Says Xbox Boss
@electrolite77 Well, for the forseeable future it is still the best way to get people unto Gamepass, so in that sense I agree. I am not really that sure that they will bother with rolling out a new "generation" in 2027'ish though. They might, it is not out of the question, but they might also not. Or it might be like a "developing world"-box or something along those lines, for regions where streaming is not an Option and PCs are uncommon
Re: Nintendo Is "A Jewel" In The Industry And Has The Best First-Party Pedigree, Says Xbox Boss
@TheFullAndy Microsoft is clearly not interested in consoles anymore beyond their ability to bring people in their ecosystem and make them Gamepass/xCloud/XLG subscribers.
I don't think they will go 3rd-party. They'll turn their most profitable IPs into platform titles, starting with Halo Infinite, as they've already officially confirmed, followed by the next Fables and of course Forza. These games will go to Gamepass, among hundreds of others.
Having deep pockets Microsoft can subsidize Gamepass to the point where anyone on PC, mobile or Xbox (I doubt Sony will have them on their system), who is even remotely price sensitive - and who isn't at that these days? - will almost be forced to subscribe.
Once they have reached critical mass, and once they have priced any competition out of the market, they will begin making their money back: Expect slow but steady price hikes, and of course monetization becoming for prevalent and aggressive in their most popular platform titles like said Halo, Fables and Forza.
Business-wise it seem pretty smart to me. Similar approaches worked wonder for Music and TV/Movies already. That does not make it a given for games, which are still different beasts, but from what I hear, Microsoft is doing good work with xCloud for instance. I think they are on the right track as far as their longterm bottom line is concerend.
What choice to they really have? They have spend a decade proving that they cannot compete in terms of quality content, this is only once more reinforced by the delay of Halo now. Their studios are poorly managed, to the point of having to cancel three major titles last gen. The only possible exception being Turn10 and Playground Games, that have been consistent in quality and on time. The Coalition is also getting there in think. Other than that though ...
That said, I am not a fan of what they are doing as it will have a bunch of unpleasant longterm sideeffects on the industry. But it is what is, and ultimately it is up to consumers. I doubt most will be able to resist the value and convenience of Gamepass for long though, esp. once xCloud is widely available and running on Series X hardware, no longer capped by 720p streaming and such.
It's going to take to change the marketplace, but unfortunately, I think it is going to work in the end. It's worth noting though, that Mirosoft is going to great lengths here to make gaming more accessible than ever before. For that, they do need to commended.
Re: Rare Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary
I consider Rare to be dead. The talent that once made up the company is mostly gone. They have not produced anything I found remarkable since 2005, that's 15 years ago. I had high hopes for Sea of Thieves, but ... it was just not for me unfortunately. Maybe Everwild will be a return to form, I hope so, but I am sceptical to say the least.
I will always love their N64 output though, and even some NDS games, Kameo on the 360 and such. Rare Replay is a gorgeous blast from the past and I am more than excited to see Banjo Kazooie in 4K + HDR with the new Series X, that is going to ... something very special to me, I feel.
Re: Image & Form's New Game Required Power The Switch Didn't Have, So It Did A Deal With Xbox
@jobvd How so? I think it looked quite intruiging for the little that was shown. And I really like I&M, they've delivered with every game so far.
Re: Video: The Switch Is A Wii U Port Machine, And That's A Good Thing
Nintendo should have a program in place to grant a small discount to owners of the WiiU games. Nothing extensive like Microsoft's BWC, put just like a 50% discount or something. That still amounts to like $90 for one game basically ... not too shabby.
Re: Rumour: Warren Ellis Might Not Return To Netflix's Castlevania Beyond Series 4
From what I understand, nobody actually accuses him of any illegal behavior, but that he might be an ***hole, that uses his influence to possibly extract some sexual favours from female fans and upcoming female writers. Although most of what I read seemed to suggest he kind of had a bunch of mistresses over the years, which understandbly is unpleasant, but hardly a crime.
It's also worth pointing out that several of the women that came forward, were explicit in stating that they don't want to see him "cancelled", but that they want to see a conversation happening and changes to underlying structures. It's also worth noting that Ellis did help several women break into the industry, and make a career for themselves, which is no small feat in comics. That does not give him license to create "a harem" for himself obviously, but I am still hard pressed to believe that a large part of this is not just a fan being infatuated with an idol.
@jump "allegedly" is apparently enough these days.
@Blizzia Society has to be able to sanction illegitimate behavior as well. Not everything legal is legitimate. The state could not and should not regulate and police every tiny piece of human behavior, because that is a recipe for utter disaster. Maybe with technological progress, we will get to the point of "could" (just look at China's social credit system), but that would STILL NOT mean we should!
Re: Shin Megami Tensei III Remaster Is Getting Some Limited Edition Goodies In Japan
@Anguspuss Yesss .... but also noooo, oh all dat double-dipping Oo
Re: Talking Point: Are You Prepared To Spend $70 On The Latest Games?
We've had $60 games for a generation now, like roughly 15 years. I dunno about the rest of you, but the rest of entertainment cost has not been frozen in 2005. Even with a imaginary 0% inflation rate, I now pay more at my local cinema because - for instance - many movies drop in 3D, which comes at a premium. Do I want/need to see all those 3D movies in 3D? No, some benefit, most don't and some are worse for it. It is still a fact.
Do I want/need all my games to have a massive open-world? No, some benefit, most don't and some are worse for it. It is still a fact. The list goes on, games that would come be played and be done with, now have to have tacked on multiplayer version barely anyone ever plays. None of this is free and most PS2-era games were not burdend by it.
Also, on PSN, it's already 70€ mostly last I checked. Obviously, I have been using PSN US since ... PSN came online way back then, but for fairness sake, I would not mind it all that much. That is easily a -depending on exchange rate- like a 15€ price difference for ... well, nothing. Ofc, as a collector, I am aware that being a 2nd class global citizen means paying a premium, but it is still annoying.
Re: Shin Megami Tensei V Is Getting A Simultaneous Global Launch On Nintendo Switch Next Year
Excellent news, this Mini Direct whatever is giving my what I was craving for years: more mainline SMT Good news, without reservation. The faithful got once more rewarded.
Re: Review: Paper Mario: The Origami King - A Puzzling Battle System Can't Kill This Funny Adventure
Not interested. Tons of charm and attention wasted on what seems utterly mechanically unengaging. Like a Pixar movie without humor or fellz. They should either rethink the core gameplay loop, or focus their ressources elsewhere. A shame really.
Re: Atlus Says Persona 5 Scramble's Sales Exceeded Its Expectations
@Slowdive I don't think it is up to Atlus. Given the fact, that until recently, Peronsa mainserie game never strayed off of Sony platforms, it seems pretty certain to me, that some kind of deal is in place there. Also take note of the fact, that P4G made it to PC around the same time a first major Sony Studios exclusive, aka Horizon, made it to PC as well. Could be a coincidence ... could also be not a coincidence. If not, I feel a P6 announcement is not as far away as we might have believed.
As for P5 on Switch, I'm very sceptical - at least for the near future. If I had to bet, I would say it is not happening. But again, no idea what that deal between Sony and Atlus looks like, so ... it is not impossible. I don't think however that "demand" as such is going to do much either way. There is little reason to assume that P5 would not perform well on Switch given the chance.
Re: Random: Brie Larson's Boyfriend Said She Was Taking Super Mario Galaxy Too Seriously, So She Threw Him Out
Not gonna lie, I'm delighted with this for two simple reasons:
1) I cannot remember why "everyone" was hating on her a while back. I obviously managed to forget. As long as I am not going senile, that is just plainly a good thing, because I am positive it was equal parts inane and pointless to begin with - no matter what it was.
2) Brie seems to be in good spirits and just genuinely nice. These days that is something I find to be in exceedinly short supply. I also liked here in Free Fire, Room and Captain Marvel. While not my favourite MCU Film (that's GotG, as anyone with taste already knows), I'm a big enough dork and all-things-cosmic-Marvel-fan-since-1992 (Operation: Galactic Storm ... obivously ^^) to appreciate just anything that does at least some justice to cosmic Marvel content.
Good night.
Re: Nintendo Says Directs Are 'Incredibly Effective', But They Might Not Be Around Forever
What are you doing Nintendo? Seriously? You have a good thing going, why tell consumers it might not be around forever. Nothing is around forever ... duh, that's neither news nor insightful. Also, what's with the marketing-speak language in general. If the point was to come off as just another soulless corporate entity, well, then mission accomplished.
Kinda baffled by that whole paragraph to be honest. Takahashi needs some professional help in terms of dodging an issue without opening a whole nother can of worms.
Re: Random: Suda51 Acknowledges Unfortunate No More Heroes 3 "Gameplay Footage Leak"
Must be exhausting to be so ... meta all the time! Stay fresh Suda
Re: Review: Burnout Paradise Remastered - Thrilling Open-World Racing Tempered By Blurry Visuals And A High Price
got for $5 on Xlive. Looks stunning on XBX and drives really well. Unfortunately I hated the open-track concept - HATED it. I'd see enemies for 20 secs and the rest of time I was alone ... no takedowns nothing. I still play Burnout Revenge to this day, but this though: an hour and never again - not for me, 5/10 for visuals, performance and handling, but -5 for being structurally broken. Worst Burnout by far - barely Burnout at all.
Not to mention that it killed the series ......
Re: Sneaky Stealth Title Invisible, Inc. Just Surprise-Launched On Nintendo Switch
Woot? Amazing! Been asking for this for years. Not only my favourite Klei game, but one of my favourite tactics games - period!
Super-duper highly recommended people
Re: Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
@Order2Chaos Absolutely based on visuals first and reporting second. Since the game has been on Gamepass for a while, I did indeed have a chance to play it on substantially more powerful hardware and this without a doubt colors my view of the Switch version.
It's the age old question basically: Is each game it's own thing, to be judged on it's own merits and only on those ... or ... is it part of a larger conversation, thus subject to comparison to other "comparable" games.
Obviously, if we go with the latter - which I do for sure - this must absolutely hold true for different version of one and the same game. You say the game's vibe is very much intact. While I agree to some respect, like the humor for instance being not impacted, the vibe of the game goes beyond that by some pretty large measure. This is not a(n) (audio-)book after all. It's a VIDEOgame.
The first thing that struck me about the Switch version is the lack of vegitation. This gives many if not all the outdoor areas a very, very different vibe from every other version of the game. The lush outworld'ish ^^ vegetation is turned into what largely comes across to me as a desert. I'm not saying we went all the way from Avatar to Dune ... but something along those lines - sadly.
Of course, the level of detail in the world's texture, or more to the point the utter lack thereof, takes away a large part of the game's artistic vision, which beside the writing and VA, is what brings it to life in the first place and sells it as an actual alien place.
To me, and this is particularly true for an RPG of all things, these aspects matter a great deal.
I haven't played the Switch version, so I rather not comment on the combat, but based on the footage I have seen, the performance will time and time again drop to a degree where it will definitely degrade the combat experience. We are not talking sensitivity to "mere" frametime spikes, but actual FPS dips into the teens for an action-heavy game.
The texture pop-in to me would be frankly an issue so severe unto itself, that I would have a very rought time feeling immersed into the world, as the world as such rarely exists at all and is in a constant stage of loading. I can think of few things as distracting to a world's sense of place than that.
Finally, I don't think I RECOMMENDED it as a last resort. I think I said, that I am unsure whether this can be recommended as a last resort, and if it would not be better to hold out for access on a more powerful system in the future. "Last resort" strikes me as the absolute best case for this game. I do think a more powerful Switch is one the way, and really, with XSX/PS5 around the corner, current-gen hardware can be had for a bargain price. That won't give you portability, sure, but the trade-off here, such as they are, really strike me as obscene.
Re: Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
@Vexx234 I dunno about it being a "bad port". At least not in the way, that phrase is commonly used I think. It's pretty impressive that they got the entire game (structurally) running on the Switch in a more or less stable fashion. MAYBE some other studio could have done a better job, but really ... there are limits to what the hardware can do, and it just won't play nice with any kind of content thrown at it.
If the game was mainly a corridor shooter and if they had more tailor-made assests for the Switch ... this would probably be a very decent port all around without much of the technical aspects being changed actually.
As it is, it is a last resort for RPG fans desperate for a Fallout-type game on the Switch without ANY other avenue to access is.
Re: Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
@mesome713 I haven't been paying attention to be honest I know what the game is -it's been on Gamepass for a year now I think-, so all I cared about was the port. And as far as that goes, the footage online seems to tell a pretty straightforward story.
Re: Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
@mesome713 He is an icon? How so? Oo Genuine question.
I suscribed to him for most of last year, but unsubbed once I noticed that his videos were becoming more and more clickbait'y with 2-3 minutes of "content" violently drawn out to surpass the 10+ minute mark, with constant repetition through-out. What pushed me away most of all, was his unwillingness to properly edit his stuff. After the 20th video, where he failed to cut out takes that went wrong (he misspeaks, forgets his trail of thought and so on), I felt strongly that if the didn't care enough about his own product, he properly did not care that much about that of other folks either.
Last but not least, there are more likeable, knowledge and professional youtubers out there, so ... yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat.
The fact that the underlying game is worth playing, is not in dispute btw. The question is: How much of that game is left to experienced on the Switch?
Re: Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
@mesome713 Jesus ... once you are typing out RGT85, you should know better than pressing "Reply".
There is plenty of footage online by now, people can draw their own conclusions.
Re: Review: The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Fallout-Style RPG Is Worth A Look On Switch
I've been wondering for a while how much further the Switch can go when it comes to accommodating an array of (more or less) amibitous current-gen games. With this one, it seems the Switch has hit a pretty hard and ultimately insurmountable ceiling.
I don't want to get into pixel-couting, and I'll even ignore the frame rate -though there are serious issues from what I can tell to be found in either aspects- but instead focus on what is argueable way more important: the game's integrity ... not just as a commercial product (is it technically playable? by all accounts it is that), but is still true to what it's designers intended it to be?
Of course, the answer will be subjective, but to me it is a resounding no. Parts of the world looked barely intelligible, the mood of many sceneries looks radically changed, and the atmosphere seems often gone entirely. The fact, that the game features all these areas with wide drawdistances and was build around HD assests to invoke a certain aesthetic and crucially, sense of place (hence the name, duh...) cannot just be sampled down at will. Technically, it can yes, and it does kinda worked (again, there are obviously still plenty of technical issues as well), but the core experience does not remain intact.
Intact to me means that this I feel is not one of the cases where better-played-on-the-Switch-than-not-at-all can hold true. While visuals are not the end all and be all of games, they are a key part in bringing these worlds to life. To me at least, Outer Worlds feels wasted on the Switch. It's like watching some sh**y free 360p stream of "Into the Spider-Verse" on your phone ... sure, you will get the gist of what is happening, but a large part of what makes the thing ... the thing, will not register with you. You might look beyoned the visuals, but with a visual medium, you are still stuck at surface level then as far as the artistry is concerend.
Re: Guide: Where To Buy Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition For Nintendo Switch
@Kidfunkadelic83
No, I wasn't aware there was one to be honest, but yeah, upon checking for a flip-through just now, I gotta say it looks quite good. My only gripes would be that it is still in Japanese without any translated notes, which is a shame, and that it is rather light on environmental art, which personally tends to be my favourite part with any artbook.
Still, really nice for a CE pack-in and certainly much better than I would have expected. Might have to pick it up 2nd hand at some point.
Really curious about the Xenoblade one now!
Re: Guide: Where To Buy Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition For Nintendo Switch
I'd love a flip-through of the artbook. I'm a real sucker for a great artbook, but I've never bothered buying an actual CE for one before, mostly because those artbooks tend to be "lite" versions at best. Also though, because I prefer digital games and the rest of those CE's is just a waste of space. The last one I bought, if memory serves, was actually the original World of Warcraft
Re: It's Official: The Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Is Getting A Sequel
I doubt I would have gotten around to watching Sonic, if not for a global pandemic raging outside. Honestly though, to my utter surprise I did not end up regretting it. Maybe it was my personal lack of any attachement to Sonic as a character or the IP as a whole, but I found the movie enjoyable and entertaining coming to it with an open mind and zero expectations one way or the other.
Yes, there are leaps of logic abound, plotholes big enough to drive a container ship through, the ending makes little sense and the product placement is ... not subtle (then again, there are not even an Olive Gardens on my side of the pond, so what do I care really?).
Point is this: the movie looks and sounds great!
The revised CGi Sonic is well animated and very much likeable with some strong voice work giving him a relateable personality. The action is on point and feels surprisingly not-utterly-floaty, as CGi so often does. The "humans" are all acted competently, which can not have been an easy task given the movie's main protagonist is a virtual character. I always liked James Marsden and he delivers with this one, coming across as genuine, caring, decent and - once again - likeable. That's not much you may say, but it is really what was needed here, and that he delivered in spades.
Standout moments here clearly - and as expected no doubt - are delivered by the one and only Jim Carrey, who does what he does best: Finding a place beyond the sunset of serious acting, settling down there, building a DIY-type giant catapult and then launching himself into space all the while laughing madly for his own amusement. If you've seen any of this 90s "classics" and liked what he did there, well, this is it. He was a great fit for Ace Ventura as well as the Mask at the time and it sure as hell is a great fit here and now for Dr. Robotnik.
While I have no qualm with someone saying that Det. Pikachu is a better movie and a better game-to-movie adaption, I have to say that purely in terms of fun-factor, I did like Sonic better. Sonic was just better paced and more lighthearted, which ... surprise surprise is a better fit for the material at hand. Det. Pikachu took it self rather serious at some points, and while that was backed up by some actual meat on its' bones, it did not really make it substantial viewing in my opinion. It had little new or interesting to say ultimately. That's fine of course, but for me, it actually made the whole experience of watching the actual thing a tad more tiresome than I had to be, as some parts just dragged a fair bit.
Sonic doesn't even bother taking itself seriously. It's just a brisk, well paced, family-friendly adventure, which sounds and looks fine as hell in 4K HDR. Kids should have a blast with it and anyone looking for 90mins of mindless but easy-on-the-eyes fun will equally find merit here.
Don't go in expecting anything more though, that is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
In short: I'm very much down for the sequel - bring it!
Re: Review: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - A Timely Update Of One Of The Greatest RPGs Ever
Yeah, I dunno, glad that this exists, but I am not sure that I need to play this once more. Fantastic for 1st-time players, yet still a game that fell pray to design imperatives of the time, which still plague us today.
I don't cherish the game for it's sidequests for instance. Those were unnecessary, added little value (just playtime) and the tracking was just flat-out poorly implemented.
To make this super-short: I still like Baten Kaitos much better. Simple as that. It gave me much, much more bang-for-the-buck in terms of hours invested and it was and still is also more unique.
I do in no way begrudge anyone for loving and getting this, but I do feel that Nintendo should go back and give some love to said Baten Kaitos as well.
It's just that Xenoblade is a more recent game, was made for a much much more popular console, is playable on the WiiU, has a remake for the N3DS already ... Baten Kaitos is basically inaccessible for a broad audience in 2020. Xenoblade is not. It did not need this remake.
Just saying....
Re: Captain Tsubasa: Rise Of New Champions Scores August Release Date On Switch
This brings back some memories. Really loved the cartoon back in the day, and even bought and read the trade paperbacks for a while. Might have to pick this up if it turns out any good!
Re: Feature: XCOM 2 Collection Port Specialists Virtuos On Bringing The Series To Switch
@Kalmaro Yeah, it's on Gamepass alright! Definitely check it out some time if you like these kind of western tactics games. I can also recommend Gears Tactics, which is also on Gamepass. You don't really need any prior knowledge or experience with the series to enjoy it either. It's also a much more focused experience than X-Com, and actually ... like really really good. I'd say in some respects, it clearly surpasses X-Com. The presentation is very strong and there is a gut-punchiness to the actual action. That is kinda compelling to me, because it makes the very static turn-based nature of these games feel way less ... static and turn-based and more action'y. It's an illusion for sure, but what are games if not illusions
How is Troubleshooter? I've seen it on Steam when it was still Early Access, but kinda forget about it, since I don't do Early Access anymore.
Re: Feature: XCOM 2 Collection Port Specialists Virtuos On Bringing The Series To Switch
@Kalmaro I quite liked Mutant Road Zero. It got an interesting world, some decent characters and banter and a pretty straight-forward tactical style of play, with some interesting twists, but most crucially, it's NOT overloaded with non-essential systems. Everything, from skill-trees to upgrade-systems is kinda basic, but also easy to grasp and in tune with game's length.
If you have not played it yet, you might find it quite enjoyable.
Re: With Konami Refusing To Do A New Castlevania, Lords Of Exile Might Be The Next Best Thing
I would actually like for Konami to give Lords of Shadows another go. Both games had their issues, but they also had undeniable strengths.
I think the 2D-Castlevania cravings can well be sated with some rather brilliant alternative these days. You know your Hollow Knights, Dead Cells and Blasphemous to name but a few.
I can't speak to Bloodstained, because I really hated the aesthetic of that game (kinda the polar opposite to LoS then) and the gameplay really looked ... I dunno, vexingly slow and cumbersome to me. I will freely admit though that my favourite 2D-Castlevanias were actually the NDS ones, maybe that is why - I dunno.
Anyways, point being, there is no real shortage of 2D games scratching that itch and while you think 3D action games are a dime dozen, there are actually rather few that do what LoS did.
This on the other hand is way to retro for me unfortunately - like I said, I favour the NDS ones anyways, not just because of visuals, but also not despite them