Solaine

@rockodoodle same, i actually love it for a lot of multiplayer gaming. sad that most games did not fully realize the potential i think. However, these were still great games so no wonder most of them get ported now

@KishinLink old comment but have you tried the bayonetta games? They are quite similar to Astral Chain after all.

Since you don't have too much time, you might wanna try:Crypt of the Necrodancer(since you played Cadence), Katana Zero, Fury, Hyper light drifter, Undertale, Ori and the blind forest, Hollow knight for a slightly longer experience. I feel like these short indie title are really fun and don't take too long, plus they are really cheap.
You might also wanna try Animal crossing, i havent played it but you can put in loads of time but don't have to be too invested in it, meaning you can play it pretty casually i guess.
Since you played botw, maybe you like Xenoblade 2 or 1 as well, although i would recommend 1, since it is a lot easier to get into and like than 2 in my opinion. Its a very long game though and the combat takes time to get used to, meaning it is not an action adventure like zelda.
Hope those still help

@TheWingedAvenger okey, this is an old comment and i cannot speak for most of these games but i would consider botw to be more button mashing than the actual Xenoblade.
Xenoblade is just harder to get into, but the combat in botw is spamming the b button in flurry rush or spamming the b button after you hit the enemy with your sword, of course it is also not a pure button mashing game but xenoblade requires you to select the right move in its right order and combine it with many other abilities.
If you get into the combat though, it does feel rewarding if you know what you are doing and well... not button mash every attack without knowing what it does. You are not alone, cause it adds to the strategy, it makes the combat more complicated yes but also more deep.
I can see why xenoblade 2 is poorly regarded combatwise because you still get some tutorials after 40 hours in the game, but it really is no button mashing

Would have loved to have a two player Mario64 with Luigi when i first played the game

@batata While i absolutely love Xenoblade and am still playing through it, it is still a remaster for sure, same as Crysis and Catherine:Full Body, they are great for me since i have not played them but the only actual new games are paper mario and animal crossing.
this year is not over yet though, Nintendo could still have something big for Christmas and some various smaller things beforehand

@Dodger It is pretty fun, especially since you can view the topic under many different viewpoints(e.g. sales, personal opinion, disappointments and so on)

@Ultrasmiles Although i also don't think that 2020 is not that bad we gotta be a bit more realistic... Xenoblade is a remaster as good as it is, shin megami tensei is set for 2021 and Metroid 4 is in development since 2019 after it got initially scraped, zelda botw 2 would also be quite the shadow drop if it still comes this year(very unlikely for zelda).
Not saying that those games cannot happen, it just does not seem too likely

@rushiosan guess we really can just hope for the best, but don't be too pessimistic. Bravely default 2 at least was pretty much confirmed in 2020

@LilMuku I am not sure if ACNH not being big before is a good argument, it is big now so it is a major selling title this year right?
Also, one may argue that Tokyo mirage sessions may not be a big franchise compared to paper mario as well.

On the flipside, if we only go by games that have released that year without looking at its quality, yeah we also got a new paper mario, a new fire emblem, a new metroid, a new mario party and a new Star fox in 2016 so it is probably really gonna be much better than 2020. It might depend more on personal opinion than i initially thought

Lastly, i guess the year is only halfway over, so does it really make sense to compare these two years, especially with all that silence right now?

@rushiosan since you mentioned all the games i would recommend this year seems to be very grim for you... but they might still release something, probably hollow knight: silksong and bravely default 2 if you are interested. there must be at least one other first party game right?

@BenAV did you forget donkey kong country returns or is that in decent releases? other than that i probably have to agree: 2010 was not really too exciting

I would only pay that much for the Nintendo flagship games like Zelda botw or a really long game like xenoblade where i know i actually use the time... even then i might wait for a price drop unless i really want it now

These numbers are really good for switch games, i didn't expect them to be this good. Especially Mario kart 8 deluxe is crazy, considering this game released 6 years ago for the first time(base game i mean)

mhhm i wonder: should i get this game next, Furi or Katana Zero. Anybody in for a little subjective rating?

@OorWullie same sadly... which made 2016 even worse. But i just saw that Fire emblem Fates released 2016 at least

Still gotta finish Xenoblade chronicles, then its Catherine time

When did a Nintendo live action movie actually ever work out to be great?

@LilMuku but the year is not really done yet and even by your list 2020 and 2016 seem to be at least the same level of bad

@OorWullie unless you lived in japan that time, there was no tokyo mirage session for you though, as far as i know it released 2016. I agree though that overall 2016 was much worse

@LilMuku I actually don't think those were that bad. 2010 we got Mario galaxy 2, Pokemon black and white, donkey kong country returns, metroid other M if you like and xenoblade. 2011 was maybe a bit thinner with mario kart 7, super mario 3d land, Zelda skyward sword... personally there was the last story too which i love

@TheFrenchiestFry looking back at the lineup i probably wholeheartedly agree with you. The only game which was interesting for me that time was Pokemon Sun. Color Splash was mediocre at best, Star fox zero was a disappointment, Metroid prime Federation Forces was a joke, don't even remember Mario party Star rush anymore... I was probably too hyped about the breath of the wild trailer that time.
This makes me not want to complain about this year anymore, especially when it is not even done yet.

@fortius54 i agree, though i presume that you mean 2020

@NinChocolate thanks, people would probably be living behind the moon if they didn't know that and read it here now tho

@XenoShaun It looks alright, what would you say are its best features?

@TheWingedAvenger you are very welcome! I was getting that information mostly from the reddit thread of genshin impact

The Shin megami tensei reveal was very nice. It is still next year though so it was definitely underwhelming. I expected axiom verge 2, hollow knight:silksong or bravely default 2. At least some interesting third party game before christmas? I get that there are still more to come but its still a shame big sigh

@nhSnork i see, that might be it. Thankyou very much

Why didn't they just show this to us in the western direct?

I mostly don't know many of the lesser known indie titles and just check out the sales, then if something strikes my interest i check for it online and if i like it i buy it. Its very rarely that i actually wait for a game to go on sale.

@INKT that is one explanation i can live with

@e-love are you.... making fun of this directs HIGHLIGHT!!!

That is a shame, the style of game i actually like. Being a mod who controls the chat messages and seeing how the story plays out. Maybe let us play the game first and then decide how bad or good it is at least? It is a modern topic after all and there are countless movies and games that can be labelled questionable if this can

Then if i may, i am gonna be second now

@SyFyTy I am not sure how good you can compare those two. First of all: There is more to a game than story, there are also mechanics, which are usually more the focus of many games and even setting, atmosphere, music and direction of it all. Also there have been attempts at putting proffesional novel authors behind a games story like in Fire emblem fates and the story was hated a lot. Big authors like Steven King of course would also need to want to participate and they might need to adapt to suddenly writing an rpg story, along with several constrictions for the age rating. There are still some good stories in games every now and then and there can just be good directors as well like yoko taro(Nier Automata). Finally, the market for good stories is not that high actually, most people wanna have a good time after all

i can get behind that list Octopath and the mana games were all pretty fun, Xenoblade was amazing as well as FF9 which i never played before. I really want to try Ni no kuni and Alliance alive next

The japanese direct featured a few more games hahaha. Anyways, would have liked to see some news for Hollow Knight:Silksong, but since there are more showcases, nothing to worry about here. SMT is awesome, can't wait though! Still hope for a bigger direct soon or at the very least some news about their first party games

Loved the game to play with a friend, the third DLC sounds interesting as well

Where are the First party directs though? Anyways, still waiting for axiom verge 2 and Hollow knight: Silksong so i hope those get mentioned in another partner showcase soon

@TheWingedAvenger That may be true, ultimately we will see how it plays out i guess. I just heard some stuff about really bad Gacha and personally i just dislike the free to play system where you can buy in game stuff later on. I am willing to pay a one time price even if it is steep or maybe even a monthly subscription but this will always feel shady. On a sidenote: I have never heard of Golden Axe Warrior so thanks for bringing that up to notice!

Can finally get into the SMT series with this, although rest of the direct was not really anything worthwhile to me.

More xenoblade! Then future connected and when i am some day dome with that... i guess catherine full body

Ohh i loved Okami, never played the old one but the artstyle was gorgeous enough to keep me hooked on the go

@scoobdoo loved torna too, don't understand how xenoblade chronicles can be a letdown though, this game is absolutely beautiful.

@TheWingedAvenger looking forward to gods & monsters, genshin impact is probably just gonna be a gacha cash grab tho