Spiders

@Bret Thanks I must have missed that.

@RubyCarbuncle I agree.

@PtM What do you mean? That people who buy into GaaS feel entitled to what they are promised?

Games as a SERVICE.

@JR150 You sure about that?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/esports/bobby-kotick-will-remain-as-activision-blizzard-ceo-during-microsoft-merger-despite-controversy/ar-AASUanY

@Desrever I don't think the judgment here is what he invested in — a Pokemon card — it's that he defrauded the United States government.

"It is claimed that the individual made 'false statements about the number of individuals his company employed and his company's gross revenue'"

If a company wants to invest in Pokemon cards, that's fine, but the CARES Act has stipulations and requirements for how that money is allocated.

What's worse is while we're laughing at this guy getting nailed, there are corporations all over the country that were able to misappropriate funds from "COVID relief". I know of one personally — a national chain — that was able to levy COVID relief into executive bonuses (including funds going to overseas executives) and liquidate the business down anyway.

@RubyCarbuncle He didn't cost any lives besides his own. It's not even clear if he had employees, let alone a legit company. He's just a low-level scam artist, and this is just the kind of rinky-dink prosecution to make it seem like the authorities are doing something while we are all still dumbstruck having witnessed the largest upward transfer of wealth in human history.

It sounds a lot like River City Ransom but I haven’t heard anyone make the comparison for some reason. Must be missing something. Will have to play for myself.

Heads up, game is on Gamepass too.

@DreamlandGem I don’t understand, but I appreciate you offering an appropriate avenue to express my frustrations with the moderation on this site of late — it’s your house, your rules.

I’d like to point out the irony that, this was from replying to @Arkay ‘s comment that only certain people are allowed to voice their opinions and everyone else gets silenced.

This is the first time I’ve seen the “discussing moderation” removal so I’ll consider this my warning.

What did we SRPG and strategy fans do to deserve this boon!!!???

@Mr_Fox Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is the only SPRG I can think of with an exploration/dungeon component.

@Kiz3000 lol

@Arkay You must be new here.

@Olmectron I think both opinions are very valid and don't need to neutralize each other.

I think both your and @CharlieGirl points speak to something true though... that 1) "representation" is very valuable, but 2) ultimately, it cashes out as a personal issue rather than a moral one.

Take the virtue signaling out of the comments and it's just two valid and worthwhile opinions floating around.

It does suck a little more if you're invested like CharlieGirl is, and being Mexican-American I a very good reason to be invested.

It also is not a requirement of having Mexican heritage to be invested.

The energy from @RBRTMNZ and others to make to Olmectron's opinion "invalid" for not conforming to their 'right think' is beyond bizarre, and I personally find quite hateful and alarming, though the comment wears the clothes of tolerance.

Olmectron, you took the bait here, but rather than summoning the white knights of the commentariat, we should be talking about the more interesting conversation around representation, especially what happens when it disappoints.

@twicesmt An outlier in that most reviews are either 5/10 or 6/10 with one 7/10... still early doors.

@CharlieGirl Here's a positive review...

https://www.thexboxhub.com/aztech-forgotten-gods-review/

I think if it means that much to you, and 5-10 points. Games are places we go more than anything, so if it's somewhere you really want to visit, who cares if some blogger at NintendoLife got bored with more games in the queue to review for deadlines?

“ While this is just one example of a 3DS game cancellation following Nintendo's recent announcement, we're sure this isn't necessarily an isolated case.”

It is absolutely an isolated case, unless other home brew projects want some free attention and “cancel” their 3DS game releases.

The price bit steep but I do love this series.

@JaxonH I think because they’re intimately knowledgeable about Metroid by way of AM2R. Considering the level of some of the critique in the comments, I do think it’s more worthwhile coming from a developer. I think they’re wrong but at least it’s a more thought out take than most.

On the other hand, Jonathan Blow’s critique of Breath of the Wild was embarrassing — and more relevant, on David Jaffe’s critique of Dread was a meme-worthy mess.

@shgamer Have you tried the demo? Dread is a better game than Sami’s Returns and even if EMMI turns you off it’s not that big a part of the game to hold you back.

I loved the EMMI encounters. I think people who struggled with them tried the slow, stealth approach (how I started) and people who enjoyed them realized you can maneuver around them pretty fast (how I ended).

It should look like (85% Sanic and 15% Solid Snake to get out of a tough EMMI route placement).

@Spinal I feel the opposite. I can read a lot faster than they can talk and the voices are more of a distraction than anything.

I guess it’s just growing up in the 8-bit era or just preferring to read fantasy over watching it.

@the_beaver SwitchUp has a pretty high curve for reviews, but they also have an unabashed enthusiasm for games that I share so I appreciate their reviews over the more critical for the sake of it sites.

Really looking forward to picking this up.

My only issue with the demo is how long it can be between gameplay segments. I had the same issue with Persona 5 and Valkyria Chronicles 4... some days I only have 20-30 minutes to play and some sessions I feel like I did nothing but press ‘A’ and watch story.

I can get through a whole island on Into Thr Breach in 20 minutes!

Still, will get someday and just hope it can hold my attention over the slow days.

Looks dope! Like a lost 16-bit era Castlevania meets Valis clone. Will keep an eye out for a sale.

@Webheadd If I HAD to buy and start playing today, would you recommend PC over PS4?

@Evenmoresteve Final Fantasy Tactics was made my Matsuno and people from Quest who made Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre.

@Corum Right? This in humane torture sounds like a common eye exam.

Nintendo life serving up the nothing burgers.

@Webheadd Have you fired up Elden Ring in the PC yet? Is the stuttering as bad as they say?

@OldManHermit I really wanted to make it a “next-gen” experience for myself and get it on PC but it seems there’s some pretty bad issues and I don’t know if I can hold out for a patch haha. Thanks for the info!

@Troll_Decimator I actually really like most of the levels but I hate the overworld where you have to "find" the levels... when I can get into a match in seconds I don't have the time to putz around looking for the stages. Octo Expansion does a really good job getting you right into the action and has tighter level design and hopefully Splatoon 3 considers this.

1,200+ hours in I've literally only played the single player in Splatoon 2 when I had internet outages and have been very lucky:)

@Ristar24 How is the performance on PS4?

@Clark2k It’s one of the most elegant designs for both mechanics and resource management in modern gaming and for all of Splatoon’s success and popularity it still doesn’t get enough credit from that perspective.

It has more depth than any shooter I can think of, particularly with movement, and pulls 95% of it’s actions off with two buttons.

@Troll_Decimator Shame.. Splatoon 1 has one of the best final bosses of all-time.

The Mii was oddly ahead of it’s time, and now that the rest of the industry has caught up (emojis, mobile avatars, VR, AR, etc) it’s become dated. There was that Mii app on mobile where people could share silly pictures that came about as close as it becoming a ubiquitous “thing”, but ultimately the most used platform with best cross-compatibility will win the avatar war.

I think this in an interesting conversation. @Rykdrew adjusted his position and introduces the idea of a pejorative “port”, and I think @westman98 should back up a little bit trying make disqualify “port” as a knock on releases to similar to their predecessor because it “could discredit everything”.

Just like “shovelware” has grown beyond it’s definition of cheap knock-offs and ports to all low-budget, low-effort seeming games, maybe there is a case for “port” expanding as well.

Splatoon 2 and Smash had this problem, and though I thought it was unfortunate because the rumors were that they were actual Wii U ports caused a lot of confusion, ultimately, it maybe it should be up to the players (and good couplets) to decide wether a game has done enough to distinguish itself from it’s predecessors to be worthwhile.

So while I think I actually agree with @westman98, I think their losing the value of a really good point by @Rykdrew in trying to win an argument.

I think “update” is a better term than port because it has less meaning already, but there should be some kind of pejorative to games people feel are low-effort, low-change cash grabs that are in some fuzzy way “ports”.

@BloodNinja It’s decent! Very solid old school title that reminds me of NES Rygar and Simon’s Quest, very of that era. (The Ninja Gaiden comparison in the review seems way off to me).
It’s not much of a looker but great soundtrack and has some intangible “stickiness” that makes me want to keep playing... can’t quite put my finger on it yet.

@GannonBanned I don’t know about that. Arcade Archives and similar re-releases still hang around that 8-10 dollar mark, plus the fact that Wii VC transferred to the next generation (Wii U) and you’re only way to play on Switch is renting with apparently worse emulation and features, I think it was priced appropriately.

Also, Wii can hook up to old CRTs which I’m pretty sure modern systems can’t without some expensive adapters. I think that’s adds value as well.

Wii U VC also added GBA which is still absent from Switch. How much was the Castlevania Advance Collection just released for?

I think your “overpriced” is subjective, but if you look at the market over time, it’s ended up being a pretty good value objectively.

@BloodNinja Yes, there is an option to make minimize screen flashes under Accessibility.

@MS7000 I disagree as far as the value of Gamepass — it’s too good — but I think it’s crazy that we’re ignoring how much better the Wii Virtual Console was from a consumer POV for most everything on NSO.

@Burning_Spear It’s an interesting comparison, but I think it breaks down because there’s not a programming schedule, or, at least on on a half-hourly basis. You can see exactly what you’re getting before you sub, and it’s easy to map the value or to cancel.

I use Gamepass on PC so it’s a bit of a different perspective: I had Infernax on my radar, and it’s cheaper to sub a month on Gamepass that to grab it anywhere else. So I’m getting what I want plus.

PS is your name a reference to the artist Burning Spear? All-time favorite of mine in regular rotation.

“ Sol Cresta offers no continues, which is a good thing...”

My man.

Great write-up. Sounds like my cup of tea. Is there TATE mode?

Just went up on XBox Gamepass today.

Great write-up.

I bash a lot of the retro/remake/remaster reviews for reviewing in a vacuum (and only looking at the past through the lint bag), so I also wanted to give credit where it’s due.

I wish more media could acknowledge the concept of things can get better with age. This is especially the case with experimenters, pioneers, and those dead branches killed by the market and not the concept.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter would be a great example. Now that we’re saturated in rogue-ish elements in so many games, it really looks like a game waaay ahead of it’s time, and since today’s players have been acclimated to it’s ideas, now is the time to talk about it and drum up some interest.

Games like Tail of The Sun sure looked like a dead end in 1998, but there’s more open-world survival sims succeeding on the market in 2022 than 3D Mascot Platformers or whatever the trend was then.

There’s so much amazing past to dig up. The fans and the enthusiast press should be driving the market for remakes more. Where’s all the Saturn weird Saturn-era innovators? When Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 tops the charts, where’s the write-up for SNES’s Uniracers and petitioning Nintendo to add it to NSO?

I know clickbait and FOMO are the tools of the trade, but there’s always an opportunity with an audience to create culture. DieHard GameFan from back in the day is a great example of being tastemakers and conversation starters rather than dubious critics and more dubious journalists.

/rant

Strongly prefer the Japanese in Xenoblade, but as an American I like the British and UK accents. Fantasy here has always been tied to medieval England and the accent feels appropriate.

@TheRedComet That’s fair, and I think it’s appropriate for “cinematic” games that borrow from movies.

Maybe I’m just old school but I prefer to read in games — especially RPGs — and voice acting really kills my immersion. Some game’s presentation make sense to have voice relay information while you play, but even more cinematic games I like to change the language like Control (French) and The Witcher 3 (Polish) to stay immersed.

Brave Fencer Musashi was the first game I stopped playing because of the VO. It was so obnoxious it ruined the experience.

I think the Mass Effect series were the only game I preferred in English, or something like Dark Souls where there’s so little I don’t mind and it’s really well done. I think the chances of it souring a game is far greater than it adding to it, especially in a game like Advance Wars, that already has too much dialogue for what it is.

@Rob13 A 4:3 aspect ratio at sub 30 fps is unacceptable in 2022 for a paid re-release I’m sorry. Especially when it looks fantastic on emulators.

I was waiting for the reveal from the original 4:3 to widescreen remaster the entire clip.

No complaints though... never like Chrono Cross besides the OST (GOAT) Front Mission and Live-A-Live are the best surprises I could hope for:) Bahamut Dragoon 2D-HD and Einhander HD remakes next!!!