@Pokester99 I think the series peaked at ‘Twisted!’. ’Smooth Moves is pretty interesting and Gold was solid, but I think all the highs were hit pretty early on in the series.
It’s a shame the didn’t compile both Aladdin’s and make more a “documentary” style release about all the Disney titles from the era. I also hate how we’re losing the “losing” console’s histories. Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin for Turbografx-16 would be awesome inclusions too (maybe more appropriate for the Saturday Afternoon collection, but still).
@nessisonett There’s a video somewhere about how the designed the stages to combat people beating the game in a “rental” period. Either a dev video or maybe AGDQ couch talk.
@Luigisghost669 I think I got you. I don't know why I find it so interesting haha.
"Modern 2D" is a tough needle to thread for me. I find games that do the pinned joint "puppet" style animations to be very unappealing and if the art look too clean they — ironically — can feel very cheap, like mobile or flash Newgrounds games.
I think Hollow Knight is a great example for me of a title I though looked terrible and uninspired until I started playing it and all the detail in the animation shone through. I'm wondering if there is an inverse example like that for you, like a Katana Zero or Star Renegades where there is a very pixelated style, but everything about the look oozes "modern" and could not really be pulled off on any hardware before a PS3/X360.
We probably both agree something the upcoming Eiyuden Chronicle looks gorgeous, and I'd really like to see more "128-bit" pseudo-generation 2D games like that, where we can look back and forward at the same time.
@Luigisghost669 Where would something like Celeste land for you? It’s a low-res pixel aesthetic but very modern with it’s camera, UI, and game design.
Also, Monster Boy/Wonder Boy has two good examples. Dragon’s Trap is almost literally and old game with a new coat of paint and Wonder Boy is a modern remake.. where do two those land for you, and how would you define either as modern?
Graphics look really good... reminiscent of Init Creates pixel art with a Western indie color palette. Gameplay seems nice and chunky. Will keep an eye on this one!
@Luigisghost669 “Of you only looked at the switch eshop games you would swear it’s still the mid 90s. Who needs a switch pro when 90 percent of new games are 16bit.”
Are you saying this as if that’s a bad thing? Personally, I went on from the MEGA DRIVE/32X/SNES era begrudgingly, and when Saturn died that was nearly the death of 2D gaming.
Now it’s like we have an alternate branch on the timeline where 2D gaming got to continue on and “level up” rather than “evolve” into 3D (or fail to)... and we get to play both <3
@russell-marlow I think it’s a joke. Water also “makes me sick” so I drink seltzer or add lemon or flavors to it. I’m sure he’s not cooking with coke zero haha.
@MrChippyPancakes @nessisonett I have it on a decent PS4 Pro level PC and it’s not that great there either performance wise. The engine really struggles with forests and other environmental geometry.
It boggles my mind that you can do a low-poly game and not just absolutely nail the performance. I was hoping a low setting optimized for Switch would iron the frame rate out at whatever sacrifices, but it seems not to be the case.
@Specter_of-the_OLED I use a wired Gamecube controller for Smash, a wired Pokken controller for old-school and some indie games, a wired Hitbox for fighting games, and a wired XBox One controller on PC because I’m not ponying up for the wireless dongle.
@Axelay71 I think your looking at the wrong end of the telescope on some of these titles. Dead Cells, for example, uses roguelite/like and Metroidvania elements to craft an experience that much closer to the classic Castlevania games than what you would believe of an eye-rolling description like “Rogue-like Metroidvania Indie”.
I LOVE the old school too, and I hate to think you or anyone are missing out on all the ways that indie developers are smuggling those great game sessions of the past into the modern milleu.
@RetroOutcast All great points, and we agree broadly. The only point I would argue with is the first. Structure can inform gameplay — and can be just as important if not more — but it doesn’t necessarily have to.
“Hand-crafted” games have RNG too that can spoil a session or make the player resort to save scumming. Fire Emblem is notorious for it (and also has permadeath).
Hand-crafted linear platform era can have “lives” or “energy bars” or instant re-spawn. We don’t call them “Energy Bar” games or “Lives + Continue” games. I think that kind of poor description what we’re doing with the RLs today. Celeste is gameplay is anchored to it’s respawn system, and plenty of people hate Lives and Continues, but not enough to warrant slapping the label on the box so people can dismiss those games wholesale.
Games like Subnautica and Remnant From the Ashes can be played as RLs. It can be completely quarantined from all the gameplay mechanics and systems and be modes. This can probably be done for most games — not that they should, but it strengthens my point that they can.
I think you make great points but I feel my main one still stands: calling everything a roguelite/like as it’s primary genre doesn’t make sense anymore, and if my prediction that it will continue to dilute into design patterns in every genre, it will make even less sense in the future.
I appreciate you being fair to the other side of my argument so I don’t have to be, because I agree with you a lot but I think the point I’m making deserves to be considered.
I don’t mean to be passive-aggressive, I mean to be aggressive-aggressive against the idea that a poorly representative label should define so many experiences, and how much it disconnects us from future games we may love, as well as the past.
An example would be Dead Cells. Is it a Metroidvania? Not really. Even if it uses those elements — branching paths, upgrade to open new paths, etc. they don’t serve the same function in Dead Cells as the do in a Metroidvania — it doesn’t play out like one at all. A Dead Cells run plays out much more like a classic Castlevania game — particularly III and Rondo — than it does the later IGA-vanias.
Not only is that fact completely lost by the poor application of the label, that distinction is STILL preceded by the fact it’s a rogue like/lite.
Genre and sub-genre classifications should be descriptive, not reductive.
A 720p background image would be @140k compressed, 401k lossless, plus you don’t have to write to the full screen so probably ways to optimize. I think backgrounds are really about controlling the visual aesthetic. I can’t imagine Nintendo allowing custom images, and if you can’t do that, what could you do? Branded themes by companies to skin your OS? I doubt Nintendo wants that either.
I don’t know why they wouldn’t do official themes like they do for the avatars, so maybe there are some technical issues or optimizations that make it not worth it, or they think it’s not worth it to do at all.
I think you can get some insight into how fast (or slow) Switch OS Folders can be if you play with the sorting in the all games Library. ‘By Playtime’ and ‘Most Recent’ are almost immediate, and the lag is probably a set delay for good UX (actually being instant would be jarring), where ‘By Title’ and ‘By Publisher’ (why?) take significantly longer. So there’s 4 different sorts but the latter to are doing something different for whatever reason. We can assume a Folder would be using one or their other. If it was the second category of sorting, it would feel significantly more sluggish than the presentation now. If it could sort with the method they use for the former, it would feel instant. I don’t know if or why it would have to be one or the other, but if it’s the second, you would be more right, and if it was the first, I would be more right. I don’t know how to find out.
@Holyfire The OS blasts images all over the screen all the time... change your library settings from Recent to Most Played to see how not a strain it is to do something dynamic with reading metadata, let alone a static background.
I really think it comes down to a philosophy of capturing and retaining attention, which explains most “baffling” decisions pretty well if you just think about it for a moment. Folders and Backgrounds are time spent in fiddling around in the OS, not in a game. Netflix is time spent staring at the Switch, not playing with it. There are no ads (only recently they put the NSO icon on menu), there are.
If you’re saying (and agreeing) that there might be some performance trade-off somewhere: probably, but I think it’s negligible, and I think even if it was significant, people would think they would accept the trade-off for folders and themes and Nintendo would be right to stick to their UX concept.
Personally, I think folders are a dumb feature. It’s an OCD impulse that there’s no way after setting up and continually categorizing saves time overall, unless you have a small enough library to make it even more pointless. Folders make sense when there are multiple operations you can do on multiple kinds of files thar need to be accessed by different users/programs. They’re not “folders” on consoles, they’re “buckets“. No operation can be done to them or with them that aren’t folder maintenance, they’re all being accessed by a single source. It’s inelegant and a symbolic gesture for PC GUI users.
I flattened and deleted folders in Playstation library (over 100 games installed and 400+ on store) when I realized it was just neurotic tidying up and so couldn’t actually find anything faster. Half the time I had to look it up from the A-Z sort because I couldn’t remember if, for example, Thumper was tucked away in “Arcade/Rhythm” or “VR Games”.
@Teksetter I don’t know about consumer’s rights, but it seems subscriptions are doing the opposite of what you’d expect for creativity. The subscription model mitigates a lot of risks if you can get on them.
@OldManHermit Odallus is so good. If half the people who groaned about Konami would buy Odallus, it could make the waves needed to resurrect the franchise properly.
I’ve been dying for a good Card-based RPG since the Gamecube heyday (Lost Kingdoms, Baten Kaitos), and this sounds really interesting, but I gotta ask myself:
How anime is too anime?
Might have to wait until after SMTV raises my tolerance level due to prolonged exposure.
Only played for a little while, but I have a feeling this game is special.
Most racers steer into sim, “extreme”, or arcade sensibilities, and I think this is the first “zen” racing game, which rally racing lends itself to really well. A ton of love and reverence for the sport as well... not some goofy take at all.
Playing on PC and I anticipate performance issues on Switch... I’m getting frame rate drops in wooded areas... wait for reviews but keep an eye on this one!
I can hear the groans in the comments from the headline haha.
People read way too much into “rogue-lite/like”. It defines almost nothing about of the gameplay and just the structure of your progression and in a meta- sense, your gameplay sessions.
Is everyone so addicted to concrete linear narratives for every single genre and velvet-rope tours through plot points? When boiled down, how often does the linear narrative add anything to the gameplay really? Sure, say TLOU2 is hung on the skeleton of it’s narrative, but why aren’t we criticizing it for how it’s mechanics would fail to engage in a roguelite/like loop?
As the concepts and designs mature, roguelite/like designs are going to permeate every genre, like how RPGlike/lite has done this last decade, running the gamut of brilliant to insipid progression systems in games.
Either we should be talking about this completely differently, or every game should be labeled by it’s sub-genre, i.e. Sunset Overdrive is an RPG-lite platformer, God of War is a Metroidvania-lite action/adventure, etc., so we can roll our eyes and groan and the other trends that permeate the hobby unnoticed.
@MajorasLapdog Often times companies request that press not publish certain gameplay aspects or story points to not “spoil” things. Media who follows those guidelines have those vague kind of write-ups. Really lame practice but they very likely played the game.
I’d kill for an XCX2, or even a strong XCX port. Direct sequel to XC2? Pass. It was such a step backwards from both the previous games in every way for me. Take another crack at it with a brand new story, characters, and please turn the anime dial down.
Good effort, but wasted on a game that nailed it’s art direction 100%. Looks great if it was adapting Link’s Awakening Remake look to a new 3D game, but don’t mess with success.
Smash Bros. Ultimate “Battlefield”. I wish tournament legal stages with no transitions were available in solo queue, but they ain’t. “Small Battlefield” is an ok consolation.
“Warehouse” in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1. Why even make other stages?
If they don’t fix the performance on Switch, I have to hope there’s a version elsewhere with the Enhanced Edition update. Hindi VO definitely makes me wanna check out the new version, and any improvements to the gameplay are welcome. The vibe and aesthetics are top notch, but everything else fell flat for me in the demo.
Surprised to see the love for Wind Walker HD. I loved the original, but the remake fell flat for me. Some of the novelty wore off and the formula was well worn, but the I think the graphics were a downgrade, adding bloom and more lighting killed the flat cel-shaded look, and not being able to invert the Y-axis (yes I’m one of those) drove me insane. Glad they cleaned up the Tri-Force hunt, but I don’t remember minding it that much in the first one.
Ocarina of Time on 3DS is the best remake in my mind. I loved the 3D effect, and the QoL additions made some dungeons, especially Water Temple, a better experience. Majora’s is probably up there too, but I didn’t buy it.
I am deep into Subnautica (pun intended), and playing Guilty Gear Strive, also popping into Smash Bros. Ultimate now that all the random Kazuyas are gone.
I also recently got a replacement monitor that can swivel around to a vertical orientation, so I’ve been playing Downwell in Tate Mode pretty regularly. An all time great arcade-style game in my mind.
@SMH88 Here here! As much as I love the look of Strive and how they've managed to make the game "feel" like a sprite fighter, I miss that look. Resolution aside, everything since SFIII, KOFXIII, Garou, etc., feels like steps backward.
Put me in the “two flavors that don’t work together” category. Besides having two opponents on the screen, they’re about a different mechanically as fighters get. Adapting MK zoning to SF style play sounds like a miserable game, and what about the block button?
Burying the lede... Third Strike being the most popular classic SF should inspire fighter devs to take more chances with the story and mechanics of their games. Street Fighter IV felt so cowardly to me at the time, regressing the story and bringing back decades old characters. Rumor was the original roster didn’t even have Ryu and Ken!
@Isle_Delfino_Man I can see that, but there’s also a case to be made that Animal Crossing is the only deserving nominee for a 2020 game of the year. It’s certainly the Game of the Pandemic. No other title maybe ever paired so well with the real-world needs of gamers across the globe in it’s time. It’s a weird accomplishment as it was by circumstance, not the game’s design, but if we’re not talking about games in the context of their time, what’s the point of having yearly awards, right?
@inenai Nothing wrong with that! Everyone finds some of the games on that list overrated. It’s one thing to not like a game — overrated means to say everyone else is wrong in their opinion. What about the game didn’t work in your view?
@Mr-Fuggles777. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts after you play it. Hades is really more of an anti-rogue, in that it turns the progression structure upside-down. The loop is how you progress, as opposed to how the player is punished.
@SolBlazer You might be right. I’m miffed because it seems ad hominem attacks are ok if they’re couched in the “correct” political views.
I might be reading too much into it, or I’m reading it correctly and @Rin-go is calling everyone a racist who doesn’t believe what they believe about critical race theory.
It’s a problem that one side of the argument has this trap built into it. That’s more than a difference of opinion.
I don’t want to see any comments banned or blocked. I think a warning is fair enough for sensitive people and they have a valid desire not to see things they don’t like and they shouldn’t have too, if it can come without an expense to everyone else.
I value different opinions too — I like reading these articles!!! — but that doesn’t mean we should let moderators tilt the table to favor some opinions over others.
IRL I have friends from all walks of life... super-woke to conservative, old and young, straight and gay. The common denominator is that they’re all good people, so I know when we disagree, it’s worth listening and taking it on and re-examining my thoughts.
I wish internet discourse could work more like that.
@SolBlazer @BloodNinja ‘s attitude is so chill hahaha. We’ve gotten into it and we don’t always see eye to eye, but he’s a good dude even if he doesn’t see the world exactly the way you or I do.
Comments 1,194
Re: Wah! A Free Demo For WarioWare: Get It Together Is Now Available On Switch
@Pokester99 I think the series peaked at ‘Twisted!’. ’Smooth Moves is pretty interesting and Gold was solid, but I think all the highs were hit pretty early on in the series.
Re: 'Disney Classic Games Collection' Gets Rated For Switch, Now With Added Jungle Book
It’s a shame the didn’t compile both Aladdin’s and make more a “documentary” style release about all the Disney titles from the era. I also hate how we’re losing the “losing” console’s histories. Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin for Turbografx-16 would be awesome inclusions too (maybe more appropriate for the Saturday Afternoon collection, but still).
@nessisonett There’s a video somewhere about how the designed the stages to combat people beating the game in a “rental” period. Either a dev video or maybe AGDQ couch talk.
Either way, it’s a nasty piece of work!
Re: Flynn: Son Of Crimson Is An Action Platformer To Watch In September
@Luigisghost669 I think I got you. I don't know why I find it so interesting haha.
"Modern 2D" is a tough needle to thread for me. I find games that do the pinned joint "puppet" style animations to be very unappealing and if the art look too clean they — ironically — can feel very cheap, like mobile or flash Newgrounds games.
I think Hollow Knight is a great example for me of a title I though looked terrible and uninspired until I started playing it and all the detail in the animation shone through. I'm wondering if there is an inverse example like that for you, like a Katana Zero or Star Renegades where there is a very pixelated style, but everything about the look oozes "modern" and could not really be pulled off on any hardware before a PS3/X360.
We probably both agree something the upcoming Eiyuden Chronicle looks gorgeous, and I'd really like to see more "128-bit" pseudo-generation 2D games like that, where we can look back and forward at the same time.
What did you think of Octopath?
Re: Flynn: Son Of Crimson Is An Action Platformer To Watch In September
@Luigisghost669 Where would something like Celeste land for you? It’s a low-res pixel aesthetic but very modern with it’s camera, UI, and game design.
Also, Monster Boy/Wonder Boy has two good examples. Dragon’s Trap is almost literally and old game with a new coat of paint and Wonder Boy is a modern remake.. where do two those land for you, and how would you define either as modern?
Re: Flynn: Son Of Crimson Is An Action Platformer To Watch In September
Graphics look really good... reminiscent of Init Creates pixel art with a Western indie color palette. Gameplay seems nice and chunky. Will keep an eye on this one!
@Luigisghost669 “Of you only looked at the switch eshop games you would swear it’s still the mid 90s. Who needs a switch pro when 90 percent of new games are 16bit.”
Are you saying this as if that’s a bad thing? Personally, I went on from the MEGA DRIVE/32X/SNES era begrudgingly, and when Saturn died that was nearly the death of 2D gaming.
Now it’s like we have an alternate branch on the timeline where 2D gaming got to continue on and “level up” rather than “evolve” into 3D (or fail to)... and we get to play both <3
Re: Elements, A Breath Of The Wild-Style Open-World Adventure, Aims For Switch In 2022
The art style and tone is brutally generic. I hope the gameplay elevated the package.
Re: Random: Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai Really Likes Coca-Cola Zero
@russell-marlow I think it’s a joke. Water also “makes me sick” so I drink seltzer or add lemon or flavors to it. I’m sure he’s not cooking with coke zero haha.
Re: Random: Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai Really Likes Coca-Cola Zero
@Friendly Well, now we know it ain’t Pepsiman...
Re: Mini Review: art of rally - Stylish Driving With Plenty Of Substance
@MrChippyPancakes @nessisonett I have it on a decent PS4 Pro level PC and it’s not that great there either performance wise. The engine really struggles with forests and other environmental geometry.
It boggles my mind that you can do a low-poly game and not just absolutely nail the performance. I was hoping a low setting optimized for Switch would iron the frame rate out at whatever sacrifices, but it seems not to be the case.
Fun game when it’s working though.
Re: Hades Is Getting Its Very Own Power-A Switch Controller
@Specter_of-the_OLED I use a wired Gamecube controller for Smash, a wired Pokken controller for old-school and some indie games, a wired Hitbox for fighting games, and a wired XBox One controller on PC because I’m not ponying up for the wireless dongle.
Wireless controllers are for casuals;)
Re: Hades Is Getting Its Very Own Power-A Switch Controller
Zagreus for Smash?
Re: Critadel Mixes 2D Run-And-Gun Action With Roguelike Elements
@Axelay71 I think your looking at the wrong end of the telescope on some of these titles. Dead Cells, for example, uses roguelite/like and Metroidvania elements to craft an experience that much closer to the classic Castlevania games than what you would believe of an eye-rolling description like “Rogue-like Metroidvania Indie”.
I LOVE the old school too, and I hate to think you or anyone are missing out on all the ways that indie developers are smuggling those great game sessions of the past into the modern milleu.
Re: Critadel Mixes 2D Run-And-Gun Action With Roguelike Elements
@RetroOutcast All great points, and we agree broadly. The only point I would argue with is the first. Structure can inform gameplay — and can be just as important if not more — but it doesn’t necessarily have to.
“Hand-crafted” games have RNG too that can spoil a session or make the player resort to save scumming. Fire Emblem is notorious for it (and also has permadeath).
Hand-crafted linear platform era can have “lives” or “energy bars” or instant re-spawn. We don’t call them “Energy Bar” games or “Lives + Continue” games. I think that kind of poor description what we’re doing with the RLs today. Celeste is gameplay is anchored to it’s respawn system, and plenty of people hate Lives and Continues, but not enough to warrant slapping the label on the box so people can dismiss those games wholesale.
Games like Subnautica and Remnant From the Ashes can be played as RLs. It can be completely quarantined from all the gameplay mechanics and systems and be modes. This can probably be done for most games — not that they should, but it strengthens my point that they can.
I think you make great points but I feel my main one still stands: calling everything a roguelite/like as it’s primary genre doesn’t make sense anymore, and if my prediction that it will continue to dilute into design patterns in every genre, it will make even less sense in the future.
I appreciate you being fair to the other side of my argument so I don’t have to be, because I agree with you a lot but I think the point I’m making deserves to be considered.
I don’t mean to be passive-aggressive, I mean to be aggressive-aggressive against the idea that a poorly representative label should define so many experiences, and how much it disconnects us from future games we may love, as well as the past.
An example would be Dead Cells. Is it a Metroidvania? Not really. Even if it uses those elements — branching paths, upgrade to open new paths, etc. they don’t serve the same function in Dead Cells as the do in a Metroidvania — it doesn’t play out like one at all. A Dead Cells run plays out much more like a classic Castlevania game — particularly III and Rondo — than it does the later IGA-vanias.
Not only is that fact completely lost by the poor application of the label, that distinction is STILL preceded by the fact it’s a rogue like/lite.
Genre and sub-genre classifications should be descriptive, not reductive.
Re: Switch Takes Japan's Entire Top 30 Software Chart, The First Console To Do So Since 1988
@Axelay71 Minecraft, Among Us, and Apex Legends are all very popular in Japan, and Metroid and Zelda are way more popular in the West.
I get what your saying but it’s becoming a less useful generalization than it used to be.
Re: Switch Takes Japan's Entire Top 30 Software Chart, The First Console To Do So Since 1988
@Holyfire We’re probably both right.
A 720p background image would be @140k compressed, 401k lossless, plus you don’t have to write to the full screen so probably ways to optimize.
I think backgrounds are really about controlling the visual aesthetic. I can’t imagine Nintendo allowing custom images, and if you can’t do that, what could you do? Branded themes by companies to skin your OS? I doubt Nintendo wants that either.
I don’t know why they wouldn’t do official themes like they do for the avatars, so maybe there are some technical issues or optimizations that make it not worth it, or they think it’s not worth it to do at all.
I think you can get some insight into how fast (or slow) Switch OS Folders can be if you play with the sorting in the all games Library. ‘By Playtime’ and ‘Most Recent’ are almost immediate, and the lag is probably a set delay for good UX (actually being instant would be jarring), where ‘By Title’ and ‘By Publisher’ (why?) take significantly longer. So there’s 4 different sorts but the latter to are doing something different for whatever reason. We can assume a Folder would be using one or their other.
If it was the second category of sorting, it would feel significantly more sluggish than the presentation now. If it could sort with the method they use for the former, it would feel instant.
I don’t know if or why it would have to be one or the other, but if it’s the second, you would be more right, and if it was the first, I would be more right. I don’t know how to find out.
Re: Switch Takes Japan's Entire Top 30 Software Chart, The First Console To Do So Since 1988
@Holyfire The OS blasts images all over the screen all the time... change your library settings from Recent to Most Played to see how not a strain it is to do something dynamic with reading metadata, let alone a static background.
I really think it comes down to a philosophy of capturing and retaining attention, which explains most “baffling” decisions pretty well if you just think about it for a moment. Folders and Backgrounds are time spent in fiddling around in the OS, not in a game. Netflix is time spent staring at the Switch, not playing with it. There are no ads (only recently they put the NSO icon on menu), there are.
If you’re saying (and agreeing) that there might be some performance trade-off somewhere: probably, but I think it’s negligible, and I think even if it was significant, people would think they would accept the trade-off for folders and themes and Nintendo would be right to stick to their UX concept.
Personally, I think folders are a dumb feature. It’s an OCD impulse that there’s no way after setting up and continually categorizing saves time overall, unless you have a small enough library to make it even more pointless.
Folders make sense when there are multiple operations you can do on multiple kinds of files thar need to be accessed by different users/programs. They’re not “folders” on consoles, they’re “buckets“. No operation can be done to them or with them that aren’t folder maintenance, they’re all being accessed by a single source. It’s inelegant and a symbolic gesture for PC GUI users.
I flattened and deleted folders in Playstation library (over 100 games installed and 400+ on store) when I realized it was just neurotic tidying up and so couldn’t actually find anything faster. Half the time I had to look it up from the A-Z sort because I couldn’t remember if, for example, Thumper was tucked away in “Arcade/Rhythm” or “VR Games”.
Re: Switch Takes Japan's Entire Top 30 Software Chart, The First Console To Do So Since 1988
@Holyfire eShop only started poorly performing when they started queuing up video previews on hover. It used to be blazing fast.
It’s definitely a design decision, not a technical limitation. 3DS had folders.
Re: Konami's Castlevania: Grimoire Of Souls Rises From The Dead
@Teksetter I don’t know about consumer’s rights, but it seems subscriptions are doing the opposite of what you’d expect for creativity. The subscription model mitigates a lot of risks if you can get on them.
Re: Konami's Castlevania: Grimoire Of Souls Rises From The Dead
@OldManHermit Odallus is so good. If half the people who groaned about Konami would buy Odallus, it could make the waves needed to resurrect the franchise properly.
Re: Switch Takes Japan's Entire Top 30 Software Chart, The First Console To Do So Since 1988
@Holyfire You don’t think Switch can run UI folders and backgrounds? That’s hilarious
Re: Review: Shadowverse: Champion's Battle - Switch's Best Card Battling RPG Yet
@Ralizah Please!!! Pokémon TCG is my favorite Pokémon game.
Re: Review: Shadowverse: Champion's Battle - Switch's Best Card Battling RPG Yet
I’ve been dying for a good Card-based RPG since the Gamecube heyday (Lost Kingdoms, Baten Kaitos), and this sounds really interesting, but I gotta ask myself:
How anime is too anime?
Might have to wait until after SMTV raises my tolerance level due to prolonged exposure.
Re: Art Of Rally Arrives Today With New Kenya DLC Included
Only played for a little while, but I have a feeling this game is special.
Most racers steer into sim, “extreme”, or arcade sensibilities, and I think this is the first “zen” racing game, which rally racing lends itself to really well. A ton of love and reverence for the sport as well... not some goofy take at all.
Playing on PC and I anticipate performance issues on Switch... I’m getting frame rate drops in wooded areas... wait for reviews but keep an eye on this one!
Re: Critadel Mixes 2D Run-And-Gun Action With Roguelike Elements
I can hear the groans in the comments from the headline haha.
People read way too much into “rogue-lite/like”. It defines almost nothing about of the gameplay and just the structure of your progression and in a meta- sense, your gameplay sessions.
Is everyone so addicted to concrete linear narratives for every single genre and velvet-rope tours through plot points? When boiled down, how often does the linear narrative add anything to the gameplay really? Sure, say TLOU2 is hung on the skeleton of it’s narrative, but why aren’t we criticizing it for how it’s mechanics would fail to engage in a roguelite/like loop?
As the concepts and designs mature, roguelite/like designs are going to permeate every genre, like how RPGlike/lite has done this last decade, running the gamut of brilliant to insipid progression systems in games.
Either we should be talking about this completely differently, or every game should be labeled by it’s sub-genre, i.e. Sunset Overdrive is an RPG-lite platformer, God of War is a Metroidvania-lite action/adventure, etc., so we can roll our eyes and groan and the other trends that permeate the hobby unnoticed.
Re: Review: Axiom Verge 2 - A Fantastic Follow-Up To A Classic Metroidvania
@HamatoYoshi So if you don’t like the first one, the second isn’t changing your mind? Got it!
Re: Review: Axiom Verge 2 - A Fantastic Follow-Up To A Classic Metroidvania
@MajorasLapdog Often times companies request that press not publish certain gameplay aspects or story points to not “spoil” things. Media who follows those guidelines have those vague kind of write-ups. Really lame practice but they very likely played the game.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Rumours Intensify
I’d kill for an XCX2, or even a strong XCX port. Direct sequel to XC2? Pass. It was such a step backwards from both the previous games in every way for me.
Take another crack at it with a brand new story, characters, and please turn the anime dial down.
Re: Platinum's Retro Sequel 'Sol Cresta' Gets New Trailer
Tate mode or riot
Re: Zelda: The Wind Waker Reimagined Inside Unreal Engine Is A Sight To Behold
Good effort, but wasted on a game that nailed it’s art direction 100%. Looks great if it was adapting Link’s Awakening Remake look to a new 3D game, but don’t mess with success.
Re: Switch's Calculator Is Outdone By 'Battle Calculator', A New Competitive Multiplayer Game
Is this Numberwang?
Re: Soapbox: Playdate Sold Out In 20 Minutes - Is It Time For A New Nintendo Handheld?
If there was a left-handed version I’d probably bite.
Re: Talking Point: What's Your Switch Game Of 2021 So Far?
@Dpishere I just finished Subnautica and totally agree. I don’t know the next time I’m going to enjoy exploring a world as much as I did in that game.
Re: Poll: Can You Still Find Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. And Super Mario 3D All-Stars?
Well, that was a big fuss over nothing.
Re: Talking Point: Which Game Stage Have You Replayed More Than Any Other?
“Walleye Warehouse”, “Blackbelly Skatepark” - Splatoon + Splatoon 2. Perfect “regulation” stage and alternative.
Smash Bros. Ultimate “Battlefield”. I wish tournament legal stages with no transitions were available in solo queue, but they ain’t. “Small Battlefield” is an ok consolation.
“Warehouse” in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1. Why even make other stages?
Re: Raji: An Ancient Epic Enhanced Edition Coming As A Free Update To Switch
@OorWullie I have it in my Gamepass queue! Now I’m waiting/hoping to see if it gets the Enhanced Edition update as well.
Re: Raji: An Ancient Epic Enhanced Edition Coming As A Free Update To Switch
If they don’t fix the performance on Switch, I have to hope there’s a version elsewhere with the Enhanced Edition update. Hindi VO definitely makes me wanna check out the new version, and any improvements to the gameplay are welcome. The vibe and aesthetics are top notch, but everything else fell flat for me in the demo.
Re: Talking Point: Every Pre-BOTW 3D Zelda Now Has A Remake, But Which Is Best?
Surprised to see the love for Wind Walker HD. I loved the original, but the remake fell flat for me. Some of the novelty wore off and the formula was well worn, but the I think the graphics were a downgrade, adding bloom and more lighting killed the flat cel-shaded look, and not being able to invert the Y-axis (yes I’m one of those) drove me insane.
Glad they cleaned up the Tri-Force hunt, but I don’t remember minding it that much in the first one.
Ocarina of Time on 3DS is the best remake in my mind. I loved the 3D effect, and the QoL additions made some dungeons, especially Water Temple, a better experience. Majora’s is probably up there too, but I didn’t buy it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 24th)
@Rainz I’m excited for you! I’m literally firing it up right now haha. Any questions I’d be happy to help as spoiler-free as possible:)
I highly recommend headphones for immersion, or not headphones if you’re terrified!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 24th)
@Rainz I played on PS4 and PC, and seen a fair share of bugs. Mostly minor, nothing game-breaking. Not sure if Switch is better or worse.
I hope you enjoy it! It’s really an amazing game.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 24th)
I am deep into Subnautica (pun intended), and playing Guilty Gear Strive, also popping into Smash Bros. Ultimate now that all the random Kazuyas are gone.
I also recently got a replacement monitor that can swivel around to a vertical orientation, so I’ve been playing Downwell in Tate Mode pretty regularly. An all time great arcade-style game in my mind.
Re: Random: Ed Boon Responds To Mortal Kombat X Street Fighter Requests
@SMH88 No but I’m watching videos now. Sprite work is really nice and I love these character designs.
Re: Random: Ed Boon Responds To Mortal Kombat X Street Fighter Requests
@SMH88 Here here! As much as I love the look of Strive and how they've managed to make the game "feel" like a sprite fighter, I miss that look. Resolution aside, everything since SFIII, KOFXIII, Garou, etc., feels like steps backward.
Re: Random: Ed Boon Responds To Mortal Kombat X Street Fighter Requests
Put me in the “two flavors that don’t work together” category. Besides having two opponents on the screen, they’re about a different mechanically as fighters get. Adapting MK zoning to SF style play sounds like a miserable game, and what about the block button?
Burying the lede... Third Strike being the most popular classic SF should inspire fighter devs to take more chances with the story and mechanics of their games. Street Fighter IV felt so cowardly to me at the time, regressing the story and bringing back decades old characters. Rumor was the original roster didn’t even have Ryu and Ken!
Re: Hades Scoops Yet Another Game Of The Year Accolade At The GDC 2021 Awards
@Entrr_username Why shouldn’t they have indies with AAA? They’re not the Biggest Budget Awards.
Re: Hades Scoops Yet Another Game Of The Year Accolade At The GDC 2021 Awards
@Isle_Delfino_Man I can see that, but there’s also a case to be made that Animal Crossing is the only deserving nominee for a 2020 game of the year. It’s certainly the Game of the Pandemic. No other title maybe ever paired so well with the real-world needs of gamers across the globe in it’s time. It’s a weird accomplishment as it was by circumstance, not the game’s design, but if we’re not talking about games in the context of their time, what’s the point of having yearly awards, right?
Re: Hades Scoops Yet Another Game Of The Year Accolade At The GDC 2021 Awards
@inenai Nothing wrong with that! Everyone finds some of the games on that list overrated.
It’s one thing to not like a game — overrated means to say everyone else is wrong in their opinion. What about the game didn’t work in your view?
@Mr-Fuggles777. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts after you play it. Hades is really more of an anti-rogue, in that it turns the progression structure upside-down. The loop is how you progress, as opposed to how the player is punished.
Re: Soapbox: Indies Lead The Way But Nintendo Shows Progress Representing People Of Colour
@SolBlazer You might be right. I’m miffed because it seems ad hominem attacks are ok if they’re couched in the “correct” political views.
I might be reading too much into it, or I’m reading it correctly and @Rin-go is calling everyone a racist who doesn’t believe what they believe about critical race theory.
It’s a problem that one side of the argument has this trap built into it. That’s more than a difference of opinion.
I don’t want to see any comments banned or blocked. I think a warning is fair enough for sensitive people and they have a valid desire not to see things they don’t like and they shouldn’t have too, if it can come without an expense to everyone else.
I value different opinions too — I like reading these articles!!! — but that doesn’t mean we should let moderators tilt the table to favor some opinions over others.
Re: Soapbox: Indies Lead The Way But Nintendo Shows Progress Representing People Of Colour
@BloodNinja Respect. I value that too!
IRL I have friends from all walks of life... super-woke to conservative, old and young, straight and gay. The common denominator is that they’re all good people, so I know when we disagree, it’s worth listening and taking it on and re-examining my thoughts.
I wish internet discourse could work more like that.
Re: Soapbox: Indies Lead The Way But Nintendo Shows Progress Representing People Of Colour
HEY NINTENDO LIFE! If comments like @Rin-go ‘s above — if talking to each other like that is ok — what the hell is getting banned!?
Is moderation to keep discussion civil, or to enshrine an ideology?
Re: Soapbox: Indies Lead The Way But Nintendo Shows Progress Representing People Of Colour
@SolBlazer @BloodNinja ‘s attitude is so chill hahaha. We’ve gotten into it and we don’t always see eye to eye, but he’s a good dude even if he doesn’t see the world exactly the way you or I do.