SwitchVogel

@thehoppypoppy There is an easy difficulty; I didn't play the originals so I don't know if that's new, but it is there! There's also a hard mode, if you really wanna punish yourself.

My theory here is that Atlus knows how niche these games are, so they priced the games highly because they know the fans will buy it anyway. Then after the launch period, they can discount it down to the price that everyone else will buy it at.

Even aside from the price, I wish more love went into this collection; Capcom showed how to do a portable re-release collection right with the MMBN collection last month.

Finally, the Switch is getting a farming sim! Critically underrepresented genre.

@Olliemar28 AYAY-AYAY CAPTAIN!

@BenAV You got it, Wildfrost is top tier!

@Ralizah The thing that bothers me about this is that there's no indication on the eShop page that this is still in early access. You're told this after you've given them your money. I'm not against the idea of early access games on switch, Risk of Rain 2 is a good example of a success there, but I think developers should go to every length they can to ensure people know what they're getting into. Not everyone who looks at this game on the eShop will have the sense to dig deeper into its history, especially when all the screenshots and descriptions give the impression this is a finished game.

If anyone wants an idea of what this game is like, here's the game jam version: https://deepnight.net/games/nuclear-blaze/

It's a rougher cut, but the core mechanics are there!

@JaapV In addition to the recommendations of the above poster, I would highly recommend you give Chained Echoes a shot. It's the epitome of an indie gem, absolutely nailed the feel of 16-bit JRPGs while still feeling modern in many respects.

@Narwhalnut To my knowledge, we didn't receive a review code, but I'm not usually the contact who receives them direct from publishers or developers. All the same, I just bought it myself, it looks pretty cool to me!

@somnambulance Just wanted you to know that I ran this suggestion up the flagpole, but editorial decided to pass on us covering it. I think I might scoop it up myself though, this looks like a cool platformer! Kinda gives me Alwa's Awakening vibes.

@Tyranexx Lol no, they didn't fix the typos. I kind of prefer the script being a little rough tho, I think it adds to its retro charm.

@Anti-Matter Can't speak for PS4, but I didn't notice any frame issues whatsoever on Switch. And you can have the play area fill the screen vertically, but there's always little borders on the sides because these games maintain the same resolution as the GBA screen.

Clearly what they really meant by that 10 to 20 years comment is that it would take them roughly that long to make this game! This is the most significant news we've heard about DQXII since it was announced.

I think burning the goodwill of your fanbase is also unsustainable long-term, Niantic.

@jump Andy Serkis, in his most thrilling mo-cap role yet

@BeefSanta That may have been the sequel to this! He went ahead and made the game anyway, it's called Kraino Reanimated and the game is a 16 but Metroidvania. I hope this does well enough that he ports that over too, I've heard good things.

Daring today, aren't we, Nintendo?

@Poodlestargenerica The 3DS and Wii U eShops died today. This being posted today was just a coincidence, but it is an amusing one!

@Beefcakeyamato Yeah, all the DLC adds to the base experience. Some update contents are focused on the early game and some are only encountered later, but basically everything is just there to expand your options and give you greater choice each run. The Castlevania stuff has two entry points, one in the first biome and another one about halfway through a run.

give us Mega Man X9, you cowards

@Andee That example was definitely the most egregious, but there are still more times where the only hint you're given to progress the story is 'go deeper in the dungeon' or something. It definitely lowered my opinion; I'm big into the Etrian Odyssey games and I never felt like I was at a loss for what to do next in any of those, but there were a few times here where I had to use a guide.

@Ooyah That's entirely up to you. I never played the first one, but from what I can gather, this was an improvement in nearly every way. Personally, I'm of the opinion that newcomers should always play the best releases in a series before going to older ones if story is irrelevant, but some disagree on this.

@UltimateOtaku91 Without spoiling anything, it definitely earns the rating; alongside cursing, nudity, and violence there's a later plot twist that gave me some big Yoko Taro vibes.

@johnedwin Typically, yes! We were actually going to pass on reviewing this, but I pushed for it because I thought this deserves a spotlight. However, I also did the reviews for both Tales of Symphonia and Octopath Traveler II, and those took first priority, so I didn't have time to dig into this until later in the month.

...So it'll be 400p portable/720p docked and struggle to hold 20FPS.

It feels like their efforts to stamp out the dev room are just helping broadcast its existence and contents to more people.

I mean, what else was he supposed to say? "Mario? Yeah, sorry 'bout that, we've got absolutely no projects in the works right now. Please understand."

@Ryu_Niiyama Yes, there is a final chapter that brings them all together, though I can't share any further details!

@somnambulance I'd say it's longer than the first, substantially so if you really do everything and follow all the side quests to conclusion.

@Rossoverde Not at all, this game is set in its own world. I'd recommend starting with this one, I think it's the better game.

@Dom_31 No. The Crossed Paths really help spotlight their relationships through those storylines, but this is still about eight individuals, not one party. I personally love that approach to storytelling, but I think fans are gonna be just as divided on the story here as they were on the first.

@GrailUK Fair point, they've done pretty good work with all their existing emulators on Switch! I just don't get why they stopped at the N64. My theory is that the Switch simply isn't powerful enough to emulate GCN games at an acceptable performance level. Maybe they did test it already and it just wasn't working out.

You'd think Nintendo would realize there's a market for this. Think of the countless work hours that went into getting this emulator running and to its current state, all from people who just want to play GameCube games again and allow others to do so, too. I imagine it would be several orders of magnitude easier for a Nintendo team to execute an official project for this, but they just... don't.

@BranJ0 For what it's worth, the Switch version currently has a 73 over on Metacritic; I'm still on the high end, but not by much. As I was scoring this, I suspected reception would be mixed, but I think that's just because 3D platformers that aren't Mario tend to draw more criticism. In my opinion, anyone who liked BFBB will probably like this one more, but I'm curious to see how players respond over the next week or so.

@Fizza Lol that's what I was thinking. That was the squeaky wheel that needed the grease!

@Bunkerneath This actually makes me think: is there any rule against a third party developer releasing their own web browser on the eShop?

@Lukeim64 If you've already played 4 and 5, I think 3 would be worth it, but play the FES version if you can. P3P is good but not great, and it lacks a lot of content that was in FES.

@Arawn93 There's a rumor going around that Atlus is working on a proper remake of P3, though I don't know how true it is. I thought it was pretty weird that they chose P3P instead of FES for the modern remaster; aside from manual party control and the female route, that game doesn't have much going for it compared to FES.

@a_brave_new_geek I think there will be DLC; I noticed the version number for this game on Switch is .4, which is something I've never seen. It's only one developer, but perhaps he'll continue working on this more throughout the year.

I'd think this is at least partially a consequence of their sales model. I haven't bought an Ubisoft game new in years because I know I can get it for around half off or less six months later--their games always seem to drop in price the fastest.

@Ziondood I'm certainly onboard; I have literally every puzzle piece and I'm sure there are plenty who have a few left uncompleted!

Zion didn't say it, he declared it!

@galaxidion I actually went back to play a bit of Golf Story while I was reviewing this and, yeah, I would probably score it a little lower if I were to review it now. That's not because the game has gotten any worse, but my tastes have changed slightly over the last five years and the same goes for the broader industry at large.

This is why I think it's important to always take a score's time period into account, as interests and tastes change over time. Consider that Golf Story came out two days after Fortnite debuted its battle royale mode on early access; the industry and the gaming landscape was a very different beast in fall of 2017.

That said, I still think Sports Story is a lesser game. This feels to me like a victim of scope creep, they simply tried to do too much and ended up fumbling the ball. If they built up to this game after having established good mechanics and design across a few games like 'Tennis Story' or 'BMX Story', I think it would've gone much better.

Feels like this is one of those that'll get a fanmade English patch later like DQMJ 3 got not too long ago. That particular instance always makes me wonder why Square didn't just kick some money their way and make it official.

After the failure of this, babylon's fall, the first soldier, and the avengers, I hope square has learned its lesson that people don't like these shoehorned GaaS games.

@SuperCharlie78 I'd believe it, Plague Tale had ten minute loads for me sometimes. I guess there's no way to know for sure, but I don't think it's a wifi issue, I think it's related to the cloud tech.

I hope Square didn't have ridiculous expectations for this one. It was never gonna be a million-seller, but I think they have something really good on their hands that could be pretty great if they stick with it.

Ugh, finally! Nintendo really needs to speed up their lotcheck approval process.

@PtM Some companies build that into their games, any screenshots you take are immediately branded with it.

@Aerona While playing this, I was wondering myself if Square has plans to bring FF7R to Switch someday. Given that this uses so many assets from that game, I think it would be completely possible.

@ModdedInkling Yeah, unaltered story here. I think that was the point, so audiences would be more familiar with Zack's story ahead of his involvement in Rebirth.

@Controller-Drift Though I can't speak for other games, the embargo for the Switch version of this only lifted today; it was separate from the other versions.

@mereel I wouldn't say so. You'll obviously get more out of the appearances of FF7 characters, but this tells a narrative that's completely self-contained.

@blindsquarel Ideally, they'd put that bit in a series of overwritten novels that would later be declared non-canon anyway.

Still better than important plot information in Star Wars exclusively appearing in Fortnite

@Daniel36 It's almost exactly the system from Half-Genie Hero. Distinct levels, but you visit each of them repeatedly to uncover new secrets and pathways with upgrades you get later. Definitely not Metroidvania, but I'd say it's a lot more open ended than a mega man level. Feels kind of weird to me, though, I think it would make more sense to go with a full connected map.