Slaz

Slaz

Roast as you make toast!

Comments 310

Re: Guide: Pokémon Go Raids, Raid Bosses, Raid Rewards And Much More Besides

Slaz

I fought and captured a raid Quilava and Magmar on my own. Both were easy to solo, yet not really good IV's compared to, say, a hatched Magmar I already had. I still see some players showing up in my local area and all gyms are still actively maintained, be it with Mystic dominance.

To be honest, this new gym system works pretty well but the raids only get interesting when Tier 5 shows up. Dataminers have already found sprites for the Legendary Egg and Legendary Raid Pass, so it's only a matter of time.

@nayfz I suppose they meant to point out the weaknesses for what you should use. This article worded it in a confusing way indeed, but Raid Bosses don't change their type!

Re: Pokémon GO's Raid Battles Are Live, But They're Reserved For Master Trainers

Slaz

The level 35 requirement is just temporary. They'll lower the requirement early july (according to Pokémon email newsletter).

Since raid battles are meant as an 'end-game experience' of sorts for established players, I'd assume something like lvl 25 will be the requirement, or maybe even lower.

Dataminers have found data for Legendary eggs and Legendary raid encounters, as well as Legendary raid passes. So expect this to be the means of obtaining these mons in the future!

Re: Pokémon GO Cheaters Get A Nasty Surprise In The Latest Update

Slaz

To me, cheating is literally a no-GO here. I don't live in a highly populated area either but through perseverance and playing in trips & vacations, I did complete the Gen1 living dex in about a year (minus legendaries and regionals).

Basically, just try to play the game as intended, or stop playing. At home, try playing Pokémon Sun & Moon instead of spoofing GO, as that's way more fun anyway!

Re: Video: Unboxing and Testing the New Nintendo 2DS XL

Slaz

@AlexOlney As someone with hands-on experience with the New2DS XL, do you perhaps know if the screen contrast is any better compared to the New3DS & New3DS XL?

Ever since I 'upgraded' to the Ambassador N3DS offered by Ninty themselves, I felt a little bugged by the lower contrast of the screen. Apparently they had to change the screen to support Super Stable 3D.. But everytime I startup my old launch day black 3DS, I feel amazed at how colorful games were on that thing!

If the New2DS XL has better contrast, I'm willing to consider 'downgrading' and give up on the cool yet hardly nowadays supported 3D effect.

Re: Something Big Is About To Happen To Pokémon GO's Gyms

Slaz

@FatAlbert1 @Roam85 Yes you can still tag-team with multiple friends to take down a gym, even if your friend is of the other enemy team. I tried it last week.

A succesful team attack should show you the friendly Pokémon animating in the background.

Re: Feature: Is Tokyo's Arcade Scene Really Dying?

Slaz

Arcades are far from dying in Japan, among some other places. True 'video games' are indeed harder to find every year. Besides Tokyo, there are some good arcades in the other big Japanese cities too people tend to forget. I highly recommend:

A-Cho in Kyoto, about 5-10 minutes from central station by bus. Games are 50 yen, personnel is helpful, and the game selection is a good mix of classics and modern games. No crane games or gambling-oriented stuff, just video games. No smoking inside, and they also have a recording system and YouTube channel, uploading fighting game competitions and friendly matches on request among other things. Their classic game cabinets don't have multiple games ready, but ask a personnel and they can swap the game on request! http://www.a-cho.com/

Monte-50 in Osaka. Very similar to A-Cho but has more floors and several more types of games. Also 50 yen per play and fighting game oriented, but also has more shmup cabinets ready on the 4th floor. Atmosphere among players is fun, also good personnel, and many cash exchangers. The smoke is VERY bad here though. http://www.monte50.com/

Re: Poll: What Did You Think of the Pokémon Direct and Its Big Reveals?

Slaz

The virtual console releases are good, the rest is pretty meh. I liked Pokkén in JP arcades, didn't really like the D-pad controller, and got my fix on Wii U. Not sure if I double-dip even though it bugged me why they never added the new arcade (support)characters as DLC on Wii U.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon either have to be on Switch or really, really special in order to have me travel around Alola again. Still enjoying the endgame on regular Moon.

@IceClimbers It wasn't much about being Stars, but rather about being on Switch. If US and UM are formally announced for Switch, people will quickly feel more positive about the situation.

Re: Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Confirmed for 17th November Release on 3DS

Slaz

Very, very disappointed with this announcement! I thought of the Alola region as a nice little tradition breaker giving variety to the Pokémon series, but don't see myself going through it again be it a different route and/or different trials. They really need to turn things around to let me regain my interest!

@LegendOfPokamon I played White 2 only because I didn't play the original B&W after coming back to the series since X&Y. I don't expect myself buying a sequel unless it's really, really special. This announcement seems very dry on that regard. They could've teased some cool new features..

Re: Hardware Review: Datel Go-tcha For Pokémon GO

Slaz

@GauBan I too ordered one from Nintendo's online store when stock got up. I use it several times a week when I'm walking while not wanting to get distracted. I don't want to check my phone all the time when I walk the dog, as I want to spend that walk with the dog! Same for shopping etc, where I like to let the extra KM's count and obtain some items and mons without distractions.

Currently lvl32 and still playing at least once a day, the Go+ sure helped me with that!

Re: SNES Classic Edition Gets Name-Checked In Xbox E3 Survey

Slaz

In the followup questions in this survey, Microsoft is asking about whether you have a Switch or will get one, how interested you are in each brand of console, and even what you find the most interesting features of the Switch.

Clearly, the Switch got Microsoft's attention as they like to know what their Xbox customers (those who joined their reward program) appear to like about the Switch.

Re: Hardware Review: Datel Go-tcha For Pokémon GO

Slaz

@Damo @GauBan After looking it up again, I suppose it was this post: https://hackaday.io/project/12680-pokemon-go-plus-diy/log/52137-pokemon-go-plus-reverse-engineering-write-up

I think this confirms that I misremembered it, as the post about the certification process doesn't refer to server side stuff but rather about how the app and smart device establish communication with each other.

Still, I'd be careful buying this device just in case. If I didn't already own a PoGo Plus, I'd have considered it an option though.

Re: Hardware Review: Datel Go-tcha For Pokémon GO

Slaz

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't every Pokémon GO Plus connect attempt being 'handshaken' through a series of unique ID's before being succesfully connected and acknoledged by the app's servers?

If that's the case, all Go'tcha's probably share the same dumped PoGo Plus firmware and it'd be relatively easy for Niantic to ban all of them server side including the one PoGo Plus it was dumped from.

Re: Minecraft Running At 720p Docked Isn't Due To A Lack Of Switch Power, Says Microsoft

Slaz

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Game engines based on big open worlds that need to swap a lot of visual objects in and out of memory tend to have problems switching resolution on the fly. That's also why Nintendo themselves didn't do 1080p docked for Zelda, but did do it for Mario Kart 8.

I'm not saying that it isn't possible for Mojang/Microsoft to do, but calling it lazy may be one step too far from a programmer's perspective. I agree on the lack of GamePad inventory management for Wii U though. Either they were lazy or really wanted to uniform the different Minecraft versions with passion.

Re: Nintendo Badge Arcade Receives Its Last Set of Badges in Japan Later This Month

Slaz

@sillygostly I fully agree here! I too played Badge Arcade for over a year until I got all the (non-pixel) Pokémon and most of the Super Mario Bros. I never started anything other than Mario or Pokémon just to protect myself from the urge to collect them all. It's expensive, and really silly if you think about it. I did pay about 3 times for a few themes and for the pixel console sets for my menu's VC folders.

Pokémon Shuffle at least has actual gameplay and is pretty fun, but even though I played a few 100's of hours on that too, I stopped playing daily a few months ago after feeling 'cheated' again and thought it'd be the last time!! I still boot it up on occasion but don't aim on getting all Pokémon anymore. The winking Pokémon are one of the cheapest additions and the latter stages are often kind of rediculous.

Re: Nintendo Confirms Its Plans for E3 2017, Including Playable 'Sandbox-Style' Super Mario Odyssey

Slaz

All my hopes are on Super Mario Odyssey being good and some Rayman Legends Definitive Edition news. I don't really mind the rest of the biz.. I have high hopes for Mario turning out alright after playing Zelda BoTW!

And 3D World wasn't really a bad game, but it sure felt as the most generic of all 3D Mario's. It stood out best for it's local multiplayer, which they translated to 3D very well!

EDIT: Oh I forgot, Ubisoft is rumored to show off Beyond Good & Evil 2, likely coming to Switch and maybe (yet unlikely) even exclusive. I'm interested in that game too!

Re: Bitmap's SNES / Super Famicom Visual Compendium Kickstarter Ends With Almost £225,000 In The Bank

Slaz

@NEStalgia I think so, yes. The only comparison I can think of is Rayman 2. I remember playing it back then on a primitive PC (at least pre-directx) as well as playing a rented N64 copy from a local video rental, and the PC version did look more in place as far as my memory goes.

Bottom line is, it took the game industry years to let 3D games slowly match up (artistically) to 16/32 bit era games. But back then we were of course amazed by the mere existence of 3D gameworlds which overshadowed artistic value.

Now people adore pixel art by itself, it's more popular than ever. And therefore classic 2D games have awakened more nostalgia than classic 3D games.

Re: Bitmap's SNES / Super Famicom Visual Compendium Kickstarter Ends With Almost £225,000 In The Bank

Slaz

@NEStalgia True. The biggest problem with early 3D games is it's poor lighting & shading models. Basically, the artist would draw the textures for both characters and the 3D environment as if it were pixel art and often applied shadows and other such details into them. When the designers applied these textures, a lot of the colors in these textures seemed way darker when rendered than they look on their own.

Just look at games such as Zelda BoTW and Mario Kart 8 and see how they got their vivid colors back. It's not that all games have to look bright and colorful, but older 3D games often just look dark in places they weren't meant to be.

That said, I know there are people drawing characters like Mario in N64 style and Cloud in PS1 style, so there's definitely nostalgic charm to some.

Re: Video: Nintendo Switch Controllers All Have a Power Button Hiding in Plain Sight

Slaz

@Agent721 @Angelic_Lapras_King @manu0
Exactly the same for me! I have a Switch, Wii U, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 on a HDMI Switcher and ever since the Switch is on there, it 'switches' to it at random times whenever I play another console. I guess it really likes to 'switch' more than is needed, lol. The HDMI Switcher box tries to prioritize the latest input that powers on and automatically changes to that, so that means the Nintendo Switch dock strangely sends a rogue signal through the cable at times.

Re: Super Mario Run Close To 150 Million Downloads, But Has Earned Less Than Fire Emblem: Heroes

Slaz

@Switch81tch But of course I do agree with you that Nintendo made a dumb move on nearly every aspect by putting a paywall on a 2016 mobile game and making it a whopping €10. Mario Run was meant to bring Mario back to the masses, with everyone joining in, as it was clearly demonstrated by their Pokémon GO-ish advertisement.

A company like Nintendo should've seen it coming, even though they're new to the mobile game market. Also, the way Race Tickets are bombardedly distributed in the game makes it clear that it was a last moment decision to include a paywall. All elements for microtransactions are there.

Re: Nintendo Download: 27th April (Europe)

Slaz

@Marios-love-child The only Switch retail game i bought digitally was Zelda BoTW, and that was for the unusual reason that the Switch version of that game was sold out at all known online stores in The Netherlands. Even in the store where I bought one of their last 2 Switch systems there was no Zelda.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will be my first physical game then.

Re: Rayman Legends Will Support Co-Op Across Two Separate Nintendo Switch Systems

Slaz

@Not_Soos That's an existing level further into the third world. I don't recall it's name, but I'm certain it's there. So far the available footage didn't show any new content, it's just words about how co-op is going to be handled on the Switch.

That said, as someone who used to top 50 the wordwide cup rankings on Wii U with over 200 diamond cups and 300+ hours into the game, I sure hope they'll bring new variations to the Challenge mode and fix a few of the glitches.

Especially the little input loss on the Infinite Tower after reaching several 1000 meters is annoying, as well as the loss of background in the Endless Pit. It's probably just a few dedicated players that saw these glitches but I sure hope they take this opportunity to fix them.

Also, in terms of single player, I sure hope the Murfy touchscreen levels are optional now. Don't get me wrong, it's great that Ubisoft actually understood the Wii U's assymetric gameplay and it worked really well in co-op. But in single player you were just guiding a poor AI character while being teased by all the platforming you could've done for HALF THE GAME. They already made an AI Murfy on the non-Wii U versions so I hope they'll bring that option to Switch!

Re: Fresh Data Shows That Four Out Of Five Pokémon GO Players Have Given Up Hunting

Slaz

I'm still playing daily. Not actively, but whenever I stroll outside I always have the app on and catching:

1: New Pokémon or those that I still need to evolve.
2: Pokémon with a type that I don't have a gold medal for yet.
3: Pidgey and Weedle to do occasional Lucky Egg evolves for XP.

I rarely attack gyms anymore, but usually have 1 or 2 Pokémon stuck in a local group of gyms. But besides all that, there's definitely interest and activity left in the game among my friends.

Re: Review: Has-Been Heroes (Switch eShop)

Slaz

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Well well.. Has Been Heroes is at least something representing a game, a game that next to nobody likes, but still a game. Let's first wait for the day RCMEDIAX and Skunk Software make the switch.

Re: Nintendo Switch eShop Adds Charts Listing to Show What's Hot in the Download Store

Slaz

Snake Pass is not exclusively on Switch but it's a new game with nostalgic ties to the N64/Collect-a-ton era that's also easy to pick up and play for a relatively broad audience. Also, the price tag is considered pretty fair compared to stuff like 1-2-Switch and Bomberman. So no wonder many early adopting Nintendo fans are picking it up.

I also downloaded Snake Pass, along with Blaster Master Zero. I like having both a relaxing game and an energetic game to alternate with!

Re: United States Appeals Court Rules In Nintendo's Favour In Tomita Technologies 3DS Patent Case

Slaz

@NEStalgia I somehow recall reading that Toshiba 'invented' the glasses-free 3D screen used in the 3DS. They also made a 3D-TV themselves using the same technology.

Whoever had Nintendo as a customer regarding the 3DS upper screen, it's indeed clear that it has no relation to Tomita at all. And I'm happy that Nintendo got it settled the right way after that rediculous case from 2013.