San_D

GRID Autosport and Three Houses for me. The hard mode of Three Houses seems way better than the normal mode, which was kinda too easy for me.

Why can't we have streaming release for the BOTW OST?

Difficult to choose between Realmadrid (how lazy can you get?) and Virtual Chess 64. Great article btw!

@mcpedwards Highly unlikely, as buying the vouchers gave the gold points anyway. You have effectively got a discount of $12.5 already; I doubt Nintendo will give out another 5-6.

@rjejr Interesting points, and I tend to agree to most of them (especially on the dock). Also this kind of a VR headset absolutely needs straps, no doubt about that. The best solution would be to place the Switch tablet into the VR adapter/headset and having the Joycons in wireless mode - just think how real games like Arms could feel. But one thing puzzles me in your comment; I believe I have seen this in your earlier comments too - you just can't spell Nintendo correctly. Is that a deliberate running gag?

Started Super Mario World.
Finished the first playthrough of Fire Emblem Three Houses during this week, but don't want to let it go just now, so maybe will start another playthrough with a different house.
And Tetris 99. That mobile game mechanics of earning daily tickets/coupons sort of brought me back to it.

I used to maintain a spreadsheet with the games I'm interested in. Nintendo has made maintaining that sheet impossible. From this year's releases, I believe I'm super interested in getting two - Dragon Quest XI and Witcher 3. But I have a ton of games/DLC-s in the second tier. And now that eshop hosts a lot more sales, what am I going to do!

The DKC series is my most wanted in the SNES library. Hope those games turn up on the service sometime. As for the games already there, I'm looking forward to Super Mario World and Link to the Past. My upcoming long flight already looks entertaining.

Where did @Trickson go? That brand of casual trolling is really enjoyable!

• ... Tetrimo designs...

I hate to be that guy but isn't it supposed to be Tetromino?

Dang would love to get an autograph but not on that game case . I like to keep my stuff as pristine as possible.

@Iacobus I don't think it is possible to absolutely differentiate between mass-produced goods and handcrafted ones. For example, if Pokemon co. launches a similar product with similar quality for $60, will you pay 5 times for this? Even if you do, would you pay something in the range of $1500 for this (should the creator think it is worth that much)? I am not demeaning the art and dedication behind the product, but if you are selling something, you may as well price your product competitively - that's how the market works. From the consumer's point of view, everyone has a tolerance range beyond which an article becomes prohibitively expensive for them, no matter the art involved. Your tolerance range may be high, but for someone else it might be even higher. For most people in this thread, it seems lower. So this can not be a justification that something should be sold at multiple times the perceived market value of a product, irrespective of whether it is handcrafted or mass-produced.

Square Enix is actually setting a very good example by releasing demos for all of its major games - Octopath, DQB 1/2, Oninaki, and now this one. It is so comforting to see such a huge gaming company actually working in a pro-consumer way in an age of predatory practices. Respect.

Lol @ EA, a company which was relevant in the 90s and 00s. To be honest, I bought FIFA 19 on Switch and it was just above average. I won't buy another $60 FIFA unless they improve it drastically, which they won't do. And their other titles don't interest me. They have pretty much turned into a slot machine company, so let them be that. And since they are not interested in a Nintendo platform, do they deserve the coverage here?

DQB2. Haven't booted up another game for 4-5 days. Don't know what happens next week though, having pre-purchased Fire Emblem. Scary, in a good way.

@AlternateButtons Did Nintendo already call you to thank you for all your shilling efforts? Or are they slow in acknowledging your efforts as well, just as they are slow in acknowledging this.

By the way, I am not a Nintendo hater; in fact, I would be the first person to defend their Blue Ocean policy, just that selling flawed hardware isn't the best of practices, so can't support that as a consumer. And yes, I use my Switch indoors 90% of the time, my room is clean enough, and I don't chew on my joycons when I'm hungry.

And also, those saying that they have 5/more pair of joycons and never faced this - probably none of your pairs have been used enough to manifest the defect? And maybe not many have that kind of money?

@AlternateButtons Please do one thing. Continue to take care of your joycons. Why are you bothered about some people suing Nintendo? Your arrogance in this thread is laughable. And keep the Switch out of dust? Isn't it meant to be portable and played outside? Or are you saying people living in dusty areas should not buy a Switch? And please don't forget to take care of your joycons.

The red and blue joysticks which came with my Switch drift pretty frequently, but more so on some days, to the point of becoming unplayable. I have had the Switch for just over a year, and mostly play at home. I haven't bought additional joycons, but I have a pro controller which I use more or less 40% of the time. But what's more annoying than Nintendo's silence is some shills trying to downplay/dismiss the problem as user fault. If more or less anyone I follow online has it, it can't be just a user fault or exceptional case.

Dragon Quest Builders 2. I'm 5-10 hours into it and that super-addictiveness is back! And took a break to unlock the Tetris 99 theme.

@EchoNemesis this. Plus the original Switch used to get charged while playing in docked mode. Switch still remains the best QoL based hardware I've ever seen. Only if Nintendo produced better quality joycons.

@Agramonte I'm not arguing the Switch's lack of horsepower leading to studios outsourcing the games for optimization. My point is if that outsourcing was not profitable enough, these companies would not have bothered, just like they didn't bother with the Wii U. And the hyperbole about Just Dance doesn't work as Nintendo's games are way way more sophisticated than those and not really comparable.

Your opinion about custom engine in FIFA is pretty limited too, as EA managed to generate enough sales of 18 that they did 19.

And the actual profit is a worthwhile metric, not just active player base, and if they weren't making enough profit selling microtransactions (on the other platforms), why won't they stop or at least acknowledge the harmful effects even when coerced by governments? Because they make a lot of profit from there, may not be billions but sizable enough for them to take on these governments.

@Agramonte It is a top 10 selling list, 3rd parties not making it does not imply that they are doing badly or not making a profit. Otherwise, Bethesda would not have made the effort to bring Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein Youngblood after the earlier entries. And no one is saying they are not good in absolute terms. But are they better than BOTW or SMO? A very few may be, but mostly not.

The point I was trying to make is, most of the western AAA developers don't want to invest on something like BOTW. Or even if they do, they will try to design the mechanics to encourage microtransactions. This is not something only Nintendo fans are bickering about. Predatory practices are a problem, not just a gaming problem but a social one too.

And finally, talking of EA and legacy editions, this is a company which is really out of touch and nothing will ever be viable for them unless the customers are spending 500 bucks a minute on getting "packs".

@Agramonte I did, and given your statement that licenses cost these companies and the relative sales screenshot, it appeared to me that you are implying that Switch isn't a viable platform for these companies. My argument is, these companies (2K/EA) do not want to invest in developing a good game and are more interested in pushing their cash grab surprise mechanics. Now feel free to put a counter-argument.

@sixrings Why will it be the purchaser's fault? If western AAA developers can only think of surprise mechanics to bleed people dry and a section of gamers refuse to waste their money in that fashion, is it the customer's fault? And if a customer does want to participate in that circus, nobody is stopping them to buy a PS/Xbox and pay hundreds of dollars for a Neymar card.

@Agramonte an annual microtransaction-laden game not doing well on the Switch? Who could have thought?

Dang if this happens then Witcher 3 and DQ11 releases in the same week! What a time for RPG lovers! Switch is a monster machine and I love this monster machine!

@beazlen1 pretty much the same case with me.

@WiltonRoots exactly, right now the indies are the key innovators in this industry, and Nintendo has done well to embrace them, while Sony keeps pushing them away. This actually gels well with Nintendo's less powerful hardware as well. And talking of the long game, the format change to homeheld has raised my hopes for Switch become a continuing platform (like Steam) instead of console generations, thereby allowing to play the same games 10 years from now, on the latest Switch. Since the homeheld is such a unique concept, it would be very difficult to go back to a system which is not portable/not pluggable to a TV, and if following the same form factor, why not keep the library going? One can only hope.

People saying third parties don't sell on Nintendo platforms are conveniently ignoring the fact that a steady stream of news point at indies sales on the Switch surpassing PS and Xbox combined. 3rd party games will sell if there is value in those. Western 3rd parties have better agendas these days - how to grab more cash and layoff more people to feed the CEO and his limbs. EA, Activision, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Blizzard, 2K, Rockstar - every one of those companies have something controversial/shady going on as we debate. I am not saying that Nintendo's mobile policy is any better, but in the console space, the Switch being a portable console has become a boon, as in live services (read microtransaction mechanics) do not work that well. That is the primary reason these AAA 3rd parties are not doing well/not interested.

@Mr_Persona lol

I have one Nintendo game voucher and am currently torn between this one and Dragon Quest XI. Difficult time to live.

@Mr_Persona hold on there, this game came out 2 years and a few months ago. O_o

I have bought a pair of vouchers and plan to redeem those for Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Dragon Quest XI. I'm very much interested in getting Fire Emblem and Link's Awakening too, but don't have that much time/money.
P.S. Also getting Virtua Racing in July.

@darthstuey These so called grown up AAA games are pretty much on rails stuff these days. Even the writing is not mature enough if you compare it to Hollywood stuff (and everyone knows Hollywood isn't the most mature film industry). The only mature stuff in these games is the blood and gore.

When Sony say they target a more mature audience than Nintendo, that proves that they are not doing their homework properly. Do they seriously think Nintendo are targeting 5 year olds to create Mario Maker levels or 3 year olds to scream on Tetris 99 matches? And really, what is this age divide? Is this 1999?

@harouhiko with the DLC you can play offline. It is 9.99 $ though, not free.

@harouhiko Tetris 99's DLC is essentially classic Tetris with 150 and 999 line Marathon modes.

Probably this mobile game will charge a dollar for an I block when the player is about to die and 5 dollars for kicking out an opponent on your behalf. Enjoyment is upon us.

@Sean161 I believe the online play is pretty much the same but the biggest benefits are cloud saves and Tetris 99. Cloud saves are absolutely fine except the handful number of games which don't support the feature. NES is also a plus if you are into those games. There's also the game vouchers they announced which is good for getting discounts on digital games on day 1 or before.

I'm super hyped about Dragon Quest Builders 2 so definitely getting the demo. Maybe Virtua Racing too but maybe later. The next few months will be really excruciating for the wallet.

@harrystein what you need is a Super Mario 3D World game . This game is meant to be a level creator with Mario assets and whatever story mode it has is actually a bonus feature.

I'm relieved that I'm not a Pokemon enthusiast, so I can just watch the drama unfurl.

Please open an Indian eshop, the games are kind of insanely expensive here.

Tetris 99 and Final Fantasy IX. Maybe some Crypt of the Necrodancer (the original one ) too.

@Sim1 I'm afraid I haven't tried CPU Royale, but can try in some time. I bought the DLC to play Marathon as it was cheaper than getting Puyo Puyo Tetris, and I don't really like the Puyo Puyo aspect of the game at all. If you are after Marathon, this DLC is an easy recommendation.

@carlos82 Yes but that's just one country. Where I live (India), Nintendo's mobile game releases are never aligned with the international release (Fire Emblem released a few months ago). Baffles me.

Is there any particular reason this can't be released at all places? Literally hundreds of mobile games are released worldwide every month. I believe only Nintendo does this, region locking mobile games - as weird a practice as possible.

@Lordplops @Bunkerneath I have the DLC and have almost stopped playing the online matches since then. The marathon mode is what Tetris is for me.

Was a bit on the fence for this one, but this is one huge negative in my opinion.

@Trajan
Of course a piece of hardware may limit the smoothness of gameplay and maybe the resources visible on screen, but that stifling the artistic vision is too much of an overstatement. That kind of translates to someone attempting to make BOTW but could only manage OOT. And if that is indeed the case, then maybe the designer is in the wrong era/platform. There is no "standard" in terms of what is sufficient to create something. BOTW would have benefited if it were being made for say PS4 pro but who knows? Even then, it might have been limiting for the designers who might have preferred PS5/PS6 grade hardware.

@hihelloitsme lol your post is literally an example of fanboyism. Also, game development is a commercial process; developers put their games into platforms where they believe the money is/will be. On top of that, artistic vision does not equate to technological power (Breath of the Wild says Hi). And even if it did, no game would ever be made, as even 4k-60fps is not real enough to create something lifelike.

As for this game itself, the demo for this game on Switch was a great option to have. Tried it and disliked it. The narrative style didn't resonate with me, and the episodic narrative reminds me of a mobile title. Also the lack of proper narrative connections between the characters... UGHHH! 60 dollars saved. What I would like though, is a new Final Fantasy on the same engine, or maybe a remake of Final Fantasy VI on the same engine. One can only wish.

Yesssss! This is one of my most awaited games!