Spiders

Missing Monster Train.

@StarPoint I was thinking that, but there are some pretty heavy stuff in the environments, like foliage. Might just be more cost effective to do a cloud version than a port.

In for Yasunori Mitsuda, but please Lord have Japanese VO, or a mute option.

@Clyde_Radcliffe Families come in all shapes and sizes guy! They don’t all have young children in them the whole time haha.

@AgentGuapo Why?

@BlackenedHalo @Octane_st1m It’s up for download. Did it manually from plus menu.

@Sagator It’s available now. Downloading as I type!

Still nothing in NA.

@CharlieGirl Why should you? I only made solid points from a broader perspective. Better to dismiss people who don’t agree with you than talk it through and test your reasoning.

@CharlieGirl Also, “a bad game is a bad game full stop”... and who decides what’s bad? Mitch Vogel?

I’ve played Bloodrayne, and tons of other games that have been re-released, and honestly I just want to know if it’s a good port. I’ve already played the game I don’t really care what someone else’s opinion on the content is, and that has to be assumed to be enough of the audience for these games to address those issues first and foremost in the review of a re-release.

@CharlieGirl Totally disagree. Re-releases of old games need to be put in both contexts, the initial time period and the modern. If a reviewer can’t do that, by dint of being too young or poorly versed in gaming’s past, we’ll, you get a poor review.

Bloodrayne is interesting as an early attempt at the melee/gunplay 3D action game, it’s interesting as a proto-Bayonetta “third wave” female character that’s “empowered” while being sexualized, it’s interesting in literally all the things it does wrong, yet has hung on as franchise for two decades.

Even if you judge it harshly — which is totally fair! I have no idea why this game was remastered, as much as I got a kick out of it — there should absolutely be a baseline of “is this a competent port of a known quantity”.

@OldManHermit If you liked those games you might actually enjoy it. It’s not on par with those games at all, but an interesting relic from that era of experimental action games, like SEGA’s brilliantly awkward Gunvalkyrie. I loved Gungrave and Shinobi!
I though Bloodrayne was dumb then, but I got addicted to the slice on the Xbox Magazine Demo Disc and eventually grabbed a used copy for $10. I’d say that’s a good price if you’re up for stroll down memory lane. If you can mess with Shinobi, you might enjoy BR on Hard mode, where the mechanics and pacing shine a bit brighter than the default setting.

@BlackenedHalo Couldn’t agree more. At worst, Bloodrayne is a very interesting artifact from the end of the era where developers were still experimenting in the “AA” space, before indie games broke. Bloodrayne was flawed then, but it was still quite fun despite that.

I think streamers will get a lot of value out of it, and maybe help put the game in context for today’s audience.

Just like movie watchers have the ability to hold a “bad movie, fun watch” position, gamers and game reviewers should too. It’s a disservice to have an arbitrary number score and not use it to make these distinctions.

Bloodrayne is a “bad game, fun session“ game. To say it’s not worth someone’s time is really silly. Who are you to say? Maybe someone is sick to death of all the pseudo-stealth action with crafting games, or the open world “follow the yellow brick arrow” OCD-inducing checklists and just want to be a kick-ass vampire lady eating Nazis for lunch for a few hours.

I think a “3” is very harsh for a functional game you simply don’t enjoy or appreciate. Had it been a “5” - which is appropriate for the copy, or a “6” (which I think it ought to be on the NL scale if the port is competent), I think you would have done the job of deterring those who thought this might be some old classic, and not seeming completely out of touch with ideas from older generations that got boiled off in the homogenization process of the last two generations that killed AA development in the West and consolidated AAA into less than a handful of design templates.

Ironically, the best version of this game’s ideas came about in Devil’s Third (aka “not a ‘10’, but a ‘perfect 6’”), which was also torn apart by critics for sport that completely missed the point and possibly the ultimate “bad game, great fun” title.

Shin Megami Tensei V owns my soul. 50 hours in, it’s almost all I can think about, and am already considering a second play through on Hard (or Maniax if that’s a thing.)

Deus Ex on PC. I started playing games on PC this last year, but they’ve all been console ports I can play with a controller. I am trying to play “PC” games and learn KB+M controls. This was an awful choice but I always wanted to play it and hopefully the magic gets me.

@Cathousemaster You’re a bold person! It’s definitely the easiest default MegaTen game — I think you can get a lot out of a Hard play through if you stick with it. I rarely use all the tools I have on default.

@BlackenedHalo It is a very exploitable system, which also reminds me of the Xenoblade series. I‘ve barely used Essences unless MC is vulnerable to a boss and upgrading the Proto-fiend abilities.

I was thinking about your comment and I think I’ve landed on something: SMTV is the least oppressive title of the main series (I-V, plus Strange Journey). Just listening to the SMTIV soundtrack this morning and I feel haunted by moments in that game.
Different flavors and maybe this is meant to be more accessible to newbies and Persona people. I’m loving it but totally see your issues from a veteran perspective. Maybe Maniax mode in the future?

@BlackenedHalo Hopefully it’s the camera FOV;)

I haven’t played Nocturne since it’s PS2 release — will probably play that next. SMTV almost feels like Strange Journey by way of Xenoblade/Breath of the Wild. Strong emphasis on exploration and exploits. I think it’s a lot easier by default as well, especially for series vets.

This might be my favorite in the series. I hope it clicks for you.

Haven’t gotten to the part getting patched, but options for the brightness and camera are a nice bonus.

I would have loved a real-time camera zoom like Xenoblade series, a photo mode (although the game is technically wanting the art direction is gorgeous), more granularity with the camera speed (default is a bit too slow and the next one up is a bit too fast for me).

This is a top 5 all-time (or at least “modern”) JRPG for me and I highly recommend to anyone interested in the genre.

@Meteoroid I applaud Nintendolife for giving indie games proper scores. It was decades of the other way around... handheld games got penalized for not being on big screens, and even now I think that AAA games get their scores goosed, if not by outright corruption, than just the plain insecurity media has to justify their scores and own existence. You can literally subtract a point from every AAA release and the copy makes just as much sense. With indie games, there’s still a stigma around pixel art vs. CGI for example, and we just got through the debacle of Metroid Dread being “2D”, thus not worth $60 (to morons with bad taste).

This just dropped on Gamepass. If you have a Pc it’s a $1 trial.

That’s a lot of processing power to make BOTW look bland and average.

@DiggleDog Who defines “work” and “in the game”? The contracts they signed stated those terms plainly. Nobody is even making a case that their work should‘be counted as far as MercurySteam’s definition, just that it isn’t fair.

In movies what “work” counts is defined by labor unions. There is no such thing in games and the whole thing is arbitrary. That this got any heat at all is because of media outrage clickbait practices.

@arrmixer Did you read the source? There was hardly poor working conditions. They were part-timers on another project that asked to be transferred over to Dread in the final stretch and didn’t receive credit (as per their contract), and didn’t feel as prioritized as the full-time staff — and why would they be. There was no “crunch” or poor working conditions.

@Filidecht Hahaha it’s one of my two Platinum trophies, the other being After Burner Climax on PS3 hahaa

Nintendolife should pick up the Nintendo angle.

Smash Bros Daddy Sakurai says 13 Sentinels a must-play:
https://www.dualshockers.com/masahiro-sakurai-praises-13-sentinels-aegis-rim/

@KBuckley27 500k for a visual novel with many delays, zero marketing, and against Avengers and Genshin Impact is pretty solid. It’s going to do great on Switch if they nail the pricing ($29.99-39.99).

@MrHonest Sure, but you’re still talking about a handful of games from less than a handful of publishers. There’s a reason so many games have been Switch/PC over the last few years; for the majority of the industry that isn’t making cinematic-AAA, Switch prints money.

@Mattock1987 No not at all!!! I’m playing SMTV too and loving it... just wanted to makes sure it was on your radar.
13 Sentinels is almost all story, but there is a ton of suspense and I really enjoyed the themes and trying to figure out what was really going on. I guess they’re both dark, mature, and play with tropes and expectations.

@Bentendo1609 They’re trying to “elevate” the medium, and, unfortunately that’s the playbook. But let’s be honest: that is the playbook in all gaming media and even among it’s fans. Just look at the reaction to Metroid Dread as a GOTY nominee. How many people don’t think it’s worth the price because it’s “2D”?

The hobby has a rift in it around AAA and “cinematic games”. I think it’s rooted in a deep insecurity in the medium. The Last Of Us II “makes sense” as an example of a great game, ironically, because people who don’t play games can wrap their heads around the appeal of it.
How do you make sense of truly sublime gaming experiences like for example Downwell, that eschews the visual cortex almost altogether and downloads itself into the parietal lobe?
Or the game that should have won last year, Hades? There’s a reason TLOU can translate to an HBO show, while Hades innovated with a beautiful narrative trick that could only work in gaming.

This year, Metroid Dread, Death’s Door, Returnal or Forza should probably get most if not all the accolades, but they are all too unapologetically games for the mainstream.

@Specter_of-the_OLED I would happily pay $50 for Muramasa HD with all the DLC on Switch.

@Mattock1987 If you like a mind-warping story, yes. I wouldn’t call it a JRPG but it is definitely in the vin diagram for many JRPG fans. Amazing, amazing story, super fun RTS-lite battle system, and gorgeous art.

Have you played Shin Megami Tensei V yet? For a JRPG fan, it’s the goods!

@The-Chosen-one Half sci-fi visual novel, half real-time strategy. It’s really amazing game — the best sci-fi story since Steins;Gate.

@Low It actually sold pretty well by Vanillaware standards — 500k worldwide — and will probably double that with a good price and solid port to Switch.

@SpacedDuck Totally disagree. Geoff works so hard to bring the hype and celebrate gaming. He hasn’t had the clout to do everything he wants, but in retrospect, he put on the best show this summer (save Nintendo).

I think the actual awards of the Game Awards are a bit of a joke, but it could reach a tipping point where he has the clout to secure great trailers and then make a stronger awards show around it.

Shin Megami Tensei V. What a beautiful, strange journey.

“...and so creatively as an engineer, that was a creative problem for me.”

What a quote. The word ‘creative’ shouldn’t go anywhere near this guy.

And honestly, shouldn’t creativity be used to solve problems, not run from them?
Is it any wonder that so many of the franchises, ideas, concepts, and mechanics that have stood the test of time are from decades ago, when the limits of what was possible drove the engines of creativity in tech and design?

@ModdedInkling Good timing! This is the best entry point into the series.

Glad to hear we get a little post-launch love. 25 hours in, and unless it takes a crazy dive in quality, this is the best MegaTen game (including Persona and other spinoffs) ever. It moves away from the traditional dungeon crawler in interesting ways. It really feels influenced by Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Monolith’s Xenoblade games with these amazing open areas to explore.

Could easily be GOTY if I wasn’t such a Metroid nut and my favorite JRPG (so far) on Switch over DQXI, Octopath, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

@Meteoroid Agreed, the story is not as strong as SMT IV, but literally everything else is a cut above (except both have amazing soundtracks).

@Savage_Joe I think it works more like Schroedinger’s Cat: it’s not a stance until you open the box. Activision had the same stance “in the box”, as does every legally operating business in the West, for all the good it did.

You could argue it’s a stance now that it’s leaked — I’d still disagree, but at least it makes sense. I think arguing everything is intrinsically a stance is, well, it’s politicization. To that mindset, everything is a stance and we’ll just keep going around in circles.

@Savage_Joe I know what words mean. The context is completely being ignored. 1) Having a stance in private is not having a stance... this was an internal memo. 2) It’s a company policy they’re legally obliged to have. Calling it a “stance” to mention it or agree with it or enforce it is disingenuous.

Is a time clock “a stance against tardiness”? Is paying your employees “a stance against poverty”? Is the on-campus cafeteria “a stance against world hunger”?

Yes, but really, truly, and deeply, no.

@Purgatorium No. A stance would be delisting Activision Blizzard games. They’re probably furious this got leaked.

@Pod Who are they “signaling” to? Their employees? This wasn’t a tweet. It wasn’t even meant to be public.

@Pod It’s an internal memo. Unless you can prove Nintendo had this leaked on purpose, there is no virtue signaling here.

@Purgatorium They didn’t take a stance. This is an internal email that got leaked.

@Kirby_Girl I love the line drawn from Sekiro to Kirby. I was just thinking about how, if the release timing is right, this would be like a perfect companion game to Elden Ring for me. Dark ichor with a pink puffball chaser. Yes please!

Rooting for Metroid just to shake things up. It’s amazing how much of a stigma it has being a fixed “2D” game. I’m literally on my fourth play through just because it feels so damn good to control Samus that my hand-mind craves the feeling of it like an addict.

@Friendly Hopefully these are not the “metacritic” awards and the user vote’s have some pull. I think for a “lackluster” year there’s actually some great games on the list, and more variety got to make it through the usual, predictable buckets of big-budget cinematic slop.
Really though, if the Oscars were the Game Awards, Marvel movies would win Best Picture every year. It’s kind of a joke. I wish it had the guts to look away from the “box office” like the Oscars do and actually set the parameters of the conversation around what is “award-worthy”. Our hobby is so juvenile in this regard.

@Klump_Soul The DQXI downgrade on Switch was appropriate to the hardware, and the game also made its way to other platforms... it IS the definitive release everywhere you can find it.

I agree it’s marketing nonsense, but remember you were defending Rockstar’s restraint, as if saying “Definitive Edition” is not a bold claim and promise to the consumer.

Again, I’m glad you are enjoying it — as many people did with Cyberpunk as well.

@Klump_Soul I'm glad you're getting a lot of fun out of it, and have a more tempered take than most, but we have to be honest... "definitive" is, well, definitive. You can't be definitive in some ways and not in others. They could have called it "Grand Theft Auto Collection", for example.

@Klump_Soul: they were restrained in their marketing.

Rockstar: definitive edition

@Mrpiccolo. You know what’s worse than complainers? Corporate defenders. Nobody is criticizing the games, it’s the re-release. By all accounts they are significantly worse than the originals.

Wow, I was JUST thinking about Wall Street Kid for NES yesterday! Will have to keep an eye on this one.

@anoyonmus @PeteW I’d agree with “never buy Day 1”, because reviewers have a long and storied history of running cover for developers, from PS3 Skyrim to Cyberpunk 2077. Gamers will definitely let you know, reviewers might.

You have the twin problems of 1) publishers having 1:1 direct relationships with review outlets so a bad review or two will cut off access, and 2a) metacritic.com doesn’t allow updates to reviews; the first score is locked in, plus 2b) many developers bonus on metacritic scores.

Both of those problems could be fixed: media outlets and youtubers could organize to secure review codes and the publishers have no idea who gets what, and if metacritic changed there policy, reviewers could punish publishers who release unfinished and buggy games and incentivize them to fix with higher scores.