@Altun You can just choose to ignore the bonus XP at camps. This keeps you from going massively overlevelled while still being able to sidequest a tonne. Source: I did a tonne (I'm shooting for 100%, I mainly just have the Rampaging Arduran equivalent mission to go) and only levelled up at camps once when the enemy was significantly a higher level than me.
@somnambulance Without spoilers, there's a standout section in the later stages of the story that genuinely made me feel things. And in terms of gameplay, once you begin to master and understand the chain attack system, the game flows a lot smoother. Having more classes also opens up the option to build a very smooth, freeflowing set of arts that keeps up the constant engagement.
@Sonos Play XC1, then XC2, then XC:TornaTheGoldenCountry, then this. XC3 is playable without knowledge of the other two, but it doesn't truly shine, in my eyes, without playing them.
@ShadowWeaver421 As far as anyone can tell, yeah. Legendary/Mythical Special Research subjects have historically been "catch one" only.
This does mark the first time Zarude has been available legitimately in a Great Ball, an Ultra Ball, or a regular Pokeball, and the first time it's nicknameable though!
Obviously I'm not the writer, and I don't wish to speak for them, but I don't view his sentence as anywhere near a statement of "everyone hates the Chibnall era", but instead an opinion that he, personally, considers it better than anything written in the Chibnall era. It would be different if it was a sweeping statement, like "as anyone can agree, it's better than anything put out by Chibnall", which I would agree would be a bit over the line, but as it stands, there's nothing wrong about a personal opinion.
@nessisonett There's parts of Moffat's run that I do like, and parts that I don't. Revived Season 7b, and fair chunks of 8, I personally find to be pretty awful across the board. Generally, I'd say his time as showrunner was my preferred period of the revival era, but I can very well see how someone would dislike it.
I completely agree how the abuse that Jodie got when she was announced was utterly disgusting, especially the amount of hate before she was ever actually on air; and I think it set the scene moving forwards. It's an issue of intolerance, really. Some people refuse to listen to any criticism, as they've conflated it with the personal attacks on Jodie, and others refuse to accept that there are any good parts of the show, because they're allowing their inability to get past their own hatred.
I perfectly stand by my opinion that I think the average standard of writing on the show has slipped, particularly in their inability to trust in the children in the audience not to need every last detail spelled out (something that my young cousin gets rather frustrated at), but I'm equally able to appreciate the good that does come. Demons of the Punjab is, to my mind at least, a well written and put together episode, and all but the last 5 or so minutes of The Haunting of Villa Diodati is fantastic.
I just wish opinions on both sides weren't mired with intolerance.
I mean, without wishing to delve too off topic (the game, at least the steam version, was enjoyable for what it was), there's also a significant number of people, myself included, who think that the standard of writing for the show has slipped since Chibnall took over. You're perfectly entitled to your opinion on it; if you enjoy it, more power to you, but equally Stuart is perfectly entitled to his opinion on the matter. Just because you like it, doesn't mean he's not allowed to voice his opinion on not liking it.
It's a review anyway, much of what is written is an opinion about whether he thinks the game is good or not.
@BloodNinja Kinda. I just really don't like repeatedly hitting select on a SNES pad. ^^; Too awkward and cumbersome for my taste. Or maybe I've just got small thumbs.
@BloodNinja Yeah, I can agree with Lumo. Should really have been a toggle. Never really had an issue with space jumps, but wall jumping in Super always felt a little too strict with the timing. Like once you've felt out the timing; 95% of the time, you'll perform it fine, but that remaining 5% can be a bit annoying. Maybe that's just me.
Played them all, after recently finally getting round to finishing ZM.
From the best downwards;
Prime is fantastic, lean, and manages to effortlessly update the series to 3D with only one or two notable hiccups. It's what I think of when I think Metroid. Super has more flaws than most people would like to admit, which is why Prime ekes out a slight win in my heart, but tbf, at that point, you're nitpicking incredibly small things. (Mainly grumbling about the lack of a damn toggle.)
Light Agon Wastes massively lets Prime 2 down, (and I think put off a lot of players) but the rest of the game is as lean and slick as Prime 1.
Fusion works best when its not your first Metroid game, and does play with the formula well, but is still a little frustratingly handholdy at points, even if I understand why it's doing it. Hunters and 3 are pretty much equivalent, with Samus Returns and Zero Mission flying just below. Metroid 1 and 2 suffer from several major issues that make them difficult to fully love in the modern age, but they're still fun if you take them as products of their time.
Metroid Blast, which you criminally missed off your list, slots right under here. It's fun to grab a few buddies and just shoot some Geemers.
I'm not a pinball person at all, but Prime Pinball's fun enough, even if you don't quite get what you're doing, but I don't know enough about pinball games to know what makes a good pinball game, and what makes a bad one.
Other:M I admire more for what it tried and failed to do, than for what it actually achieved. It's still very weak, with multiple issues (the forced search sections whilst refusing to resort to a walkthrough, which defeat the point of Metroid games imo) but a game that's got some vision, but is technically flawed is still more interesting than a dull one.
Speaking of; Federation Force is the only one I consider to be bad, and even then, it's a competently made game, it's just so thoroughly dull, with so little of the great atmosphere that makes a Metroid game present.
Personally, I had no problem with the motion controls, but I know some people did. The compromise they came up with is honestly the best they probably could have made on any console with a "standard button" layout. Messing around with shoulder buttons for angular strikes like some elsewhere have suggested would be a bit fiddly. Not incorporating the fully directional swordplay would have been a bit of a design headache for certain sections and items, and honestly would lose some of the charm this game has.
I think this change is honestly more significant than most people give it credit for. A lot of people have said that they hated Skyward Sword because they had immense frustration with the controls, which is a fair criticism, and it's why I love that ninty are giving people a choice to go back to buttons. The joy-con motion controls seem fairly solid enough, and I have faith that they'll be as responsive as I found the motionplus to be.
Locking the "instant return to the sky" feature behind the amiibo is a bit frustrating, but honestly, it's not as big of a deal as some are making it out to be. There's only one or two sections where you're both a significant distance from a Loftwing Statue, and would desperately need to get back into the Sky for one reason or another. It is a nice QoL change if you buy the Amiibo, but it doesn't ultimately change much.
Assuming they've toned down Fi's handholding a bit, and changed the "item description displays after every restart" issue a la the TP remake, that'll alleviate most of the actual problems I would expect them to fix with a HD version. They weren't exactly going to restructure the entire game to make it non-linear (which I would argue would lose the essence of the game anyway), and whilst it might have been nice to get a Loftwing speed upgrade, like WWHD's swift sail, it's not that high on the priority list that I'm too miffed about not getting it.
Yes, SS is linear, and very much a product of its time, but it's an interesting partner to Breath of the Wild on switch, as the two represent two very different takes on what a Zelda game can be. Skyward Sword is a run romp, with lots of charm that deserves another chance in the sunlight. And if it's not your cup of tea, it's only another year till BotW2 (probably), so you can just wait for that one.
They'll do the same as what they did in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and make them button inputs.
I do think Wario ever being playable in a mainline mario game again is a bit of a stretch. Ninty seems to view him like Donkey Kong. A part of the Mario Universe, but his own separate thing, and given the failure of Game and Wario, and the mediocrity of Warioware Gold, I think it'll probably be a while before Wario gets time back in the spotlight.
@Uncle_Andross
I mean, with the install base for the Switch, and the install base for the Wii U, for the vast majority of Switch owners, this is a new game. I mean, I'm a Wii U owner, so it's not new for me, but from Ninty's perspective, it's a much better revenue stream to have small teams work on an expanded Wii U port, where the majority of the userbase haven't played said games. Honestly, I'm excited for the Pikmin 3 rerelease, more because it means that the series wasn't killed after the travesty that was Hey Pikmin. (And also because if it's profitable, and there's a new market for Pikmin games on switch, they might invest resources to make Pikmin 4.)
I had a longer answer written, but I exceeded the comment length by a country mile, so I'll try and be concise.
Speaking as a shiny hunter; Yes, Maybe and No. It depends what part you're talking about.
As much as the "wow" factor of randomly coming across a shiny is a great thing, the odds being as low as they were makes any attempt to actively search for them futile. 1 in 8192 is ludicrous odds for base Gen 3 rates. I think when people talk about "the shiny rate doubling", they forget the actual numbers involved. The highest you can get the base rate in Gen 8 is arguably 1 in 512, after beating 500 of that Pokémon's species, and having received the Shiny Charm. (But it's slightly more complicated than that, and is effectively less.) That still puts your odds as fairly remote for any given encounter, and that's with a single species of Pokémon. (Let's Go offered better odds, but could be a pain to shiny hunt in.)
I've personally hunted every non-mythical non-shinylocked forme of poke as shiny, using the best in-game methods I could, and it still took over half a year to do. Getting a living shiny forme dex is not a trivial matter, but it's actually a realistic measure now. (And ChainFishing, PokeRadar and other methods make it so much more enjoyable than relying on random encounters, or soft resetting. SRing has never been fun, and should not be looked at with nostalgia goggles.)
GO's mentality of making players expect a dozen shinies every community day is not healthy though, and maybe those shinies have become too common, more for the sake of fuelling over-expectancy than anything else.
What has become too common, is hacked shinies. They've been decently common since Gen 6, but exploded in SwoShi. (And no, I'm not talking about the Raid exploit. That's just a form of Pokemon RNGing, and can be done completely in-game with only a calculator needed.) All the ones with website links in their names, and all the ones without. It's a minor miracle to wondertrade off a box of breedjects without hitting one. GF have made a lot of advancements to their game over the years, but their hack-checking system is abysmal. Community groups have proved time and time again that they can successfully hack-check Pokémon to filter out a large chunk of the offenders, without misregistering legit pokemon, so Game Freak don't really have an excuse.
So, yes, fix your hacked shiny issue GF, no, main series in-game hunting is still not trivial, and maybe GO needs to lay off the shiny expectancy a little bit.
@RunGMhx They wiped most of the egregiously hacked raids out with the patch about a month ago, and banned a few of the people running them. Almost all of the online raid system is now working as it should do. If the Gmax Melmetal was since the most recent patch, it's very much in the minority, and shouldn't exist.
I suspect this crackdown will also only affect Pokemon that have blatant and fundamental hacks, so as not to run the risk of removing any legit pokemon. Legality's always been a bit of an issue with the games. GF are slowly getting better with it, it's just taking some time.
Machamps.com shinies, and pretty much anything with a website/twitch channel Pokemon nickname or Original Trainer name are almost guaranteed to be hacked, though. They're "legal", in the sense that someone could theoretically have obtained something almost identical, given the time, but not "legit". They also semi-regularly have things wrong with them, especially those that have been in circulation for a while. I keep deleting them whenever I get one through wondertrade. The amount in circulation is definitely on the up, though. :/
I agree entirely with Rupee's post above. It's genuinely quite predatory behaviour against people who just read the in-game news, and buy Boxes, thinking they will have a strong chance at pulling two or three Deinos.
The other issue is the fact that players should not have to rely on outside sources to get information about what is and is not in eggs at any given time. I'm fairly active in my local community, and a majority of the families that play, and occasionally turn up to raid, don't read online guides about it. Why should they have to?
The information about what is and is not in eggs at any given time should be readily available in the game. If a young player really wants an Archen, for example, and knows that they were in 7km eggs two months ago, they may be desperately trying to hatch 7km eggs because they think there is still a chance for an Archen. I use that example because it's actually something that I've encountered, and I had to explain that sometimes the pokemon moved about between egg colours, and that they would have to try and hatch 'the purple eggs', and not 'the yellow ones'.
There is literally no excuse for not divulging egg contents. Fire Emblem Heroes does a... slightly wordy, but functional version of this, and it owns up when it makes mistakes. Without the statistics, Niantic is free to change the egg rates as they choose, and by watching the research groups, they very clearly did change them due to backlash. This isn't the first time they've done it either.
Shiny rates are a different matter, but the actual hatching rates should be public knowledge. It still counts as a lootbox if you have to buy a 'key' (Incubators) to unlock them at a faster rate.
So much yes. This'll be my third time playing it, having tracked down a copy for Wii, and then buying the NN3DS version, and boye does it look damn pretty. I'm so looking forward to what they put into it. If it's just putting Bionis' Shoulder (Which was the area in the end shot, at least going from what I've seen of the datamines), then so be it, but I'm rather hoping they redo out some of the end and postgame quests, just to tie up a few loose ends.
Whilst XCX would be nice, I kinda feel like that game needs to have some fairly hefty work done on it to make it feel more... complete? The pacing of the end segments feel rushed, especially the exploration of Cauldros, and the cap at 60 also feels really off. The online segments could also do with some work, as they also feel bizarrely separate. (And let's not forget the audio issues...) I just get the feeling the whole game suffered from some serious time constraint issues, and it would be much nicer if they took their time, built on what they had, and improved upon it to be the experience they intended. We're only 2.5 years into the switch anyway. There's still time for XCXDE, XCX2 or XC3 to be done up before the Switch breathes its last hurrah.
@LordGeovanni Just throwing my own two cents in the ring, it's far easier to make an easy game harder for yourself than it is to make a hard game easier.
Whilst I enjoy the challenge of Classic Hardmode FE games, sometimes it gets annoying enough that I really just want to put in a Casual mode, like the newer entries have done, and better enjoy the journey. You can emulate Classic mode in Casual, but you can't emulate Casual mode in Classic.
With the hundreds of items now in Pokémon, and the widespread online game, an inventory limitation feels cheap. Part of the charm of online is being able to come up with some unorthodox strategies using lesser-used items, and it would just feel wrong for the bag to be limited in such a way. However, if you so chose, you could self-impose an inventory limitation, which would up the difficulty mildly. The point is now you are being given the option to, rather than having no say in the matter.
The save anywhere mentality is more of an intelligent design for modern handhelds. You could quite easily whip out your GB/GBA/DS/3DS and play through a small amount of a game on a bus, being able to keep your progress when you get off. Not everyone has long chunks of time to spend battling all the way from one savepoint to another over a short break, and if they're frequent enough to allow for that, then what's the point in it not being save anywhere anyway? If you want to save everywhere, then go right ahead, but if you only want to save in "safe spaces" in games, then you are equally at liberty to do that.
In terms of overworld encounters, I honestly don't think it's a bad thing for players to be able to skip out on encounters. It allows for low-level runs, which test ingenuity, without the tedium of running from every fight. The random encounter system also has it's merits, allowing the player to see more of a game's bestiary, but can lead to issues when actively searching for a specific monster for a quest, and being besieged by low level bats. It's personal preference, really.
Speaking more on topic;
I personally love a challenge to videogames, but Pokémon isn't really where I go to get that. I'll self-impose a few rules (like set, not switch), but I haven't lost an in-game battle since Gardenia back in Gen IV. Even then, I think I've only seen about 3 'blackout' messages throughout every Gen. Pokémon has never been a hard game, so them streamlining some aspects is going to do very little. I'd assume shinies are still going to be as rare as before, and all that's really changed is people reloading areas to look for the shiny glimmer rather than jumping in and out of patches of grass. It's not exactly going to change much. Heck, the new go mechanics might actually make mid/lategame catching more enjoyable, as, let's face it, once you have access to quick and dusk balls, all you need to do to catch something is quick ball it, see if it catches, false swipe it, and spam dusk balls until it clicks. It's a nice change of pace, and I'm interested to see where they go with it.
@SmaMan The amount of times I've heard it referred to as "Oh, right, it's that old shooty thing with the Metroid guy in it" by friends makes me cringe.
@SmaMan I think you mean, "the protagonist, Samus Aran" Let's not continue that misconception.
Honestly, I dunno what I'm hyped for more, Xenoblade 2, or this. All the jokes can go away now. The two biggest "reveals", this and a mainline pokemon game on switch came and went so fast.
Also, this comment has taken ages to write... Too many other hyped people around. XD
I love it, it's absolutely fantastic. The pixelart is spot on, but I actually think the way they've incorporated the display. is better, because it makes it feel more... I dunno. Xenobladesque
@ReverandJames AAI is very good. Personally, the way the Phoenix Wright stories are for me is virtually the same as @MarcelRguez, although I'd say that both JFA and TAT's third cases deserve to be miles below everything. I've heard good things about AAI2, but there's only a fan translation of that unfortunately.
Without a little game called Sonic Rush Adventure, and the Sonic X series, I wouldn't be a gamer. So thanks, Sonic, for making sure my first gaming experience was a good one, and even if you do fall flat on your face every now and then, I'll choose to ignore it, and remember the good times, like playing Sonic Adventure for the first time, or the first time I got around to playing the original Green Hill, or trying desperately to get an S on Eggmanland on Sonic Unleashed, so, Sonic, and the decent cast too (I'm referring to anyone from Sonic CD and before. Oh, and Shadow, sans the gun. He's not too bad.), look forward to another bite at the cherry this year. Hopefully this time, we'll get a good slice of platforming cake.
Iwanko looks pretty cool. I'd be happy to add that to a team, depending on any evos. I guess the starters' final evos are getting megas, and that's the 'secret'. Could be something else, I guess, but it'll prolly be megas.
@Dogorilla I'd disagree with you there, on a personal level, I actually quite like Genesect. I think it's one of those things with being the 'Last Pokémon' in the (at the time) National Dex. Plus, it's Steel-Type, which generally produces some of my favourite mons.
I'm glad to see the Eeveelutions on there. I have a soft spot for them after Eevee landed itself a place on my Platinum team, the first Pokémon Game I actually owned (I then went backwards, Gen wise to experience Gen III.) and then my Eevee evolved, as if by magic, into Glaceon when I least expected it.
I'm sure Greninja, like Lucario before it, will enjoy large popularity, but will step away from the spotlight after this gen. It'll still be pretty popular though.
Well, it's a start, at least. I still think that some of the Blasters need slightly less 'homing' capability, as it's a little cheap when you get shot from round a corner, or over the other side of the tower. None of the weapons really interest me to play, but I am dreading facing off against those Splash Wall Chargers...As if Sniping was bad enough already. XD
@Grumblevolcano Sigh EDIT: Wait, yes I did. Completely forgot about that as well. Might as well go and preorder one or the other of the normal editions.
Sigh This is getting ridiculous now. I headed into my local game store yesterday to see what was what, and they didn't know. I think they should've had some stock allocated for retail release.
I'm just hoping it comes up on Amazon at some point, else I've missed both chances by very slim margins...
Nintendo UK should really have forseen this, and put it back on one per person...
Just looked on Ebay, and lo and behold, several listings already up there for highly inflated prices. I wouldn't even mind so much if they added a very small amount onto the price, to turn a small profit, but it's just ridiculous how much they're inflating it...
Rhythm Heaven, how I both love and loathe thee. I love your quirky charm, catchy music, and everything about Beat the Beat. But Rhythm Rally, I hate you so much. XD
Rhythm Rally, RR2 and Remix 8 (DS) are still the only games i haven't perfected. I broke my Ds lite screen trying. XD
@Kirigherkins Possibly, it hasn't explicitly been stated, but don't forget it also needs to be localized into French, German, Italian and Spanish(?), so Localization would have easily taken twice as long, more likely three times as long.
@Shani Yep. It looked from the info given that each selected weapon would get either a sub change, or a special change, to shake the sets up a bit. Dunno how much they'll keep to just changing one of the sub/special, but I'm hoping for some nice new rollers. XD
Thank goodness. I was beginning to think that NoE had just forgotten about this. I understand why the localization has increased the time of release, but not giving it a release date at all? That was horrible, NoE. I'll just be ticking off the time till May 20th then.
Just give me FE:Fates release date, NoE. It's all I want. I don't care if it's 2 minutes long, just as long as they give me a release date, and confirmation of the Special Edition in Europe.
PW6 would also be nice, but I'm more concerned about FEF's release date.
HeartGold/SoulSilver I completely understand, those two are very good games. Interesting that SoulSilver came out on top though.
@GloverMist. Uh, HG/SS ARE Gen IV. XD I know what you mean, but those two are still technically Gen IV.
I'll be interested what this list looks like in a few years' time. X and Y are among the newest games, so they'll be the games that the majority have played recently. XY was ok, but, I dunno quite what it is about them, but the Kalos region feels... emptier? I guess? Less fine-tuned than ORAS or Gen V, certainly. I know some rank it as their favourite, (evidently. XD), but it never rose above good for me. I'm evidently missing something. XD
I went backwards (I played Gen IV first, before going back to older games), so I have to go with the game I started with, Platinum, which is probably the Rose-Tinted spectacles working overtime (but hey, who isn't nostalgic about the first game in a series they played) , and the two games which I think are the best, HeartGold and SoulSilver, which have been the best games to my mind so far.
Whilst I agree that Nintendo would be foolish to not hand out Dev Kits, certainly to developers who they've worked with in the past, the whole point of Nintendo as a brand is to be different, so it's understandable that they would want to keep their secrets on what they're developing within a pretty close circle. If the Dev kits haven't gone out yet, I'm sure they will soon after the reveal (which hasn't happened yet, so this whole discussion is hypothetical)
And really, we know nothing about NX, or how far through development it is. Those Devs who'll be at the top of the pile (Major players like Capcom, Ubisoft, Platinum, and the like and even indie developers like Wayforward, who have worked closely with Nintendo on previous occasions), may have their Dev kits, they may not. Who knows?
But to the same degree, Mahler represents the company as a whole, not just himself as an individual. His point could just as easily have been made much more... professionally.
Commiserations to Reds, but certainly here in the EU, the Reds were variable at times. There were some absolutely amazing teams that gave us a close run (One game went to a 0.5% victory), particularly later on, but equally some rather weak teams that we spawn camped.
I guess it's mainly down to where the majority of weaker players go that decides it. People on here are generally fairly strong, so lengthy win streaks on both sides are to be expected.
This conversation is surprisingly depressing. Y'see, I still wouldn't write Nintendo out just yet. People were ready to say that the Gamecube 2 would be the last console. And look how that turned out. I'll be more than willing to say that I enjoy Wii U games far more than the console, but there's a saying of not counting chickens before they're hatched.
Nah, that's brilliant. The opening was more to see which exits people normally go for. There's supposed to be a little tell, but I can't remember whether I deleted it or not. Thanks for the feedback, hopefully I can improve in the future.
This is when Sakurai turns round and delivers something that no-one expects. Either multiple characters, or a character that no-one ever expected. He is still the king of teases.
I think the bad reaction to this will die down, eventually. I think if it had been called Federation Force, or 'From the world of Metroid: Galactic Federation Force', then the reaction would have been much more positive. Yes, there still would have been some backlash over not showing a 'true' Metroid game, but I think fans would have taken it more positively. Even Metroid: Federation Force would have created less anger. I'm willing to give Next Level Games the benefit of the doubt here, as, I'll admit, I wasn't best impressed by the show, in the direct aftermath, but having slept on it, I'm feeling much more positive. There's still hope for a Wii U Main series Metroid yet.
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Party, on the other hand... Well, no rebranding of that would have helped it. It looks like a cheap, £10 max Eshop game, and I really hope they brand it as that. I do however, have a theory, that the two Animal Crossing spinoffs will feed into a main game in some way. It just seems a bit weird, with the timings of them...
I'm waiting until the end of my exams, when I upgrade my internet, sadly... My current internet isn't brilliant, and keeps randomly cutting out. What little I have played of online is great, and seems pretty solid, and whilst the single player mode is short, it's also pretty fun. I'm really going to struggle when I start properly in a few weeks, so I've taken to practising on the maps (Which doesn't break my internet) and getting a couple of strategies for when I finally do play.
I really hope my first proper match isn't against a team of Level 20s...
@linforcer ah, cheers! Well, at least Electric types won't be such of a pain. Also, I just thought of something... If they run the Charizard competition next, unless they add some basic game megas, it will be heavily biased in favour of those who won the Mega Blastoise... So, we're not just playing for this competition, but future ones as well...
I kinda imagine Professor Layton to have a weird moveset like the villager's. I think his normal attacks would be his fencing moveset, but his specials would be something a bit less... mundane: The Dog from Curious Village as a drone-like attack, A giant hint coin as a projectile, a Hanglider (from multiple games - seriously, where does he get those from) as his recovery, and Oh, I dunno, the Painting from Curious Village or the Sticker Book from Lost/Unwound Future as a blocking move.
His Final Smash would have to be him drinking some tea, and ramming his opponents with the laytonmobile a la Captain Falcon.
I think matchsticks could play a part somewhere, they always seem to turn up in the puzzles. Or saws. How else does he cut all those planks of wood?
I originally read it as the top 10,000 players in the world.
I nearly cried.
Anyway, I'm 4000 something currently, but we all know how long that's going to last...
@Sanicranfast same, I plan to level them up for one last push on 1am on Monday
EDIT: Oh yeah. Just fell about 500 places since I tried an hour ago. (I only recently got the EX pokes, so they're pretty low levelled...)
And on an interesting note, Electric types will always be a pain, because they're unlikely to do any ground type megas with the current megas (All ground-type megas are secondary typed...) I just hope they release Groudon with a Red Orb. (But please, no more competitions... My competitive side cannot deal with the constraints of not spending any real life money...
It's really interesting to see the divide over KI:U Personally, I quite like the control scheme, but, hey, that's just an opinion. Once you're used to it, it works like a dream. With the exception of MK 7, which is good, but not 'must-play', I agree with the list. Especially FE:A. That really broadened my strategy game horizons.
And all this debate can only be a good thing, right? The 3DS has had so many good games that we all feel the need to mention more essentials.
Comments 47
Re: Soapbox: Yes, You Really Should Do All Of Xenoblade Chronicles 3's Sidequests
@Altun You can just choose to ignore the bonus XP at camps. This keeps you from going massively overlevelled while still being able to sidequest a tonne. Source: I did a tonne (I'm shooting for 100%, I mainly just have the Rampaging Arduran equivalent mission to go) and only levelled up at camps once when the enemy was significantly a higher level than me.
@somnambulance Without spoilers, there's a standout section in the later stages of the story that genuinely made me feel things. And in terms of gameplay, once you begin to master and understand the chain attack system, the game flows a lot smoother. Having more classes also opens up the option to build a very smooth, freeflowing set of arts that keeps up the constant engagement.
@Sonos Play XC1, then XC2, then XC:TornaTheGoldenCountry, then this. XC3 is playable without knowledge of the other two, but it doesn't truly shine, in my eyes, without playing them.
Re: Zarude Arrives In Pokémon GO This Week, Here's How To Get One
@ShadowWeaver421 As far as anyone can tell, yeah. Legendary/Mythical Special Research subjects have historically been "catch one" only.
This does mark the first time Zarude has been available legitimately in a Great Ball, an Ultra Ball, or a regular Pokeball, and the first time it's nicknameable though!
Re: Mini Review: Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins - The Best Doctor Who Game Ever Made
@lighteningbolt79
Obviously I'm not the writer, and I don't wish to speak for them, but I don't view his sentence as anywhere near a statement of "everyone hates the Chibnall era", but instead an opinion that he, personally, considers it better than anything written in the Chibnall era. It would be different if it was a sweeping statement, like "as anyone can agree, it's better than anything put out by Chibnall", which I would agree would be a bit over the line, but as it stands, there's nothing wrong about a personal opinion.
@nessisonett There's parts of Moffat's run that I do like, and parts that I don't. Revived Season 7b, and fair chunks of 8, I personally find to be pretty awful across the board. Generally, I'd say his time as showrunner was my preferred period of the revival era, but I can very well see how someone would dislike it.
I completely agree how the abuse that Jodie got when she was announced was utterly disgusting, especially the amount of hate before she was ever actually on air; and I think it set the scene moving forwards. It's an issue of intolerance, really. Some people refuse to listen to any criticism, as they've conflated it with the personal attacks on Jodie, and others refuse to accept that there are any good parts of the show, because they're allowing their inability to get past their own hatred.
I perfectly stand by my opinion that I think the average standard of writing on the show has slipped, particularly in their inability to trust in the children in the audience not to need every last detail spelled out (something that my young cousin gets rather frustrated at), but I'm equally able to appreciate the good that does come. Demons of the Punjab is, to my mind at least, a well written and put together episode, and all but the last 5 or so minutes of The Haunting of Villa Diodati is fantastic.
I just wish opinions on both sides weren't mired with intolerance.
Re: Mini Review: Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins - The Best Doctor Who Game Ever Made
@lighteningbolt79
I mean, without wishing to delve too off topic (the game, at least the steam version, was enjoyable for what it was), there's also a significant number of people, myself included, who think that the standard of writing for the show has slipped since Chibnall took over. You're perfectly entitled to your opinion on it; if you enjoy it, more power to you, but equally Stuart is perfectly entitled to his opinion on the matter. Just because you like it, doesn't mean he's not allowed to voice his opinion on not liking it.
It's a review anyway, much of what is written is an opinion about whether he thinks the game is good or not.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Metroid Game?
@BloodNinja Kinda. I just really don't like repeatedly hitting select on a SNES pad. ^^; Too awkward and cumbersome for my taste. Or maybe I've just got small thumbs.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Metroid Game?
@BloodNinja Yeah, I can agree with Lumo. Should really have been a toggle. Never really had an issue with space jumps, but wall jumping in Super always felt a little too strict with the timing. Like once you've felt out the timing; 95% of the time, you'll perform it fine, but that remaining 5% can be a bit annoying. Maybe that's just me.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Metroid Game?
Played them all, after recently finally getting round to finishing ZM.
From the best downwards;
Prime is fantastic, lean, and manages to effortlessly update the series to 3D with only one or two notable hiccups. It's what I think of when I think Metroid. Super has more flaws than most people would like to admit, which is why Prime ekes out a slight win in my heart, but tbf, at that point, you're nitpicking incredibly small things. (Mainly grumbling about the lack of a damn toggle.)
Light Agon Wastes massively lets Prime 2 down, (and I think put off a lot of players) but the rest of the game is as lean and slick as Prime 1.
Fusion works best when its not your first Metroid game, and does play with the formula well, but is still a little frustratingly handholdy at points, even if I understand why it's doing it. Hunters and 3 are pretty much equivalent, with Samus Returns and Zero Mission flying just below. Metroid 1 and 2 suffer from several major issues that make them difficult to fully love in the modern age, but they're still fun if you take them as products of their time.
Metroid Blast, which you criminally missed off your list, slots right under here. It's fun to grab a few buddies and just shoot some Geemers.
I'm not a pinball person at all, but Prime Pinball's fun enough, even if you don't quite get what you're doing, but I don't know enough about pinball games to know what makes a good pinball game, and what makes a bad one.
Other:M I admire more for what it tried and failed to do, than for what it actually achieved. It's still very weak, with multiple issues (the forced search sections whilst refusing to resort to a walkthrough, which defeat the point of Metroid games imo) but a game that's got some vision, but is technically flawed is still more interesting than a dull one.
Speaking of; Federation Force is the only one I consider to be bad, and even then, it's a competently made game, it's just so thoroughly dull, with so little of the great atmosphere that makes a Metroid game present.
Re: Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Will Have "Various Quality-Of-Life Enhancements", Nintendo Says
Aight, time for some positivity.
Personally, I had no problem with the motion controls, but I know some people did. The compromise they came up with is honestly the best they probably could have made on any console with a "standard button" layout. Messing around with shoulder buttons for angular strikes like some elsewhere have suggested would be a bit fiddly. Not incorporating the fully directional swordplay would have been a bit of a design headache for certain sections and items, and honestly would lose some of the charm this game has.
I think this change is honestly more significant than most people give it credit for. A lot of people have said that they hated Skyward Sword because they had immense frustration with the controls, which is a fair criticism, and it's why I love that ninty are giving people a choice to go back to buttons. The joy-con motion controls seem fairly solid enough, and I have faith that they'll be as responsive as I found the motionplus to be.
Locking the "instant return to the sky" feature behind the amiibo is a bit frustrating, but honestly, it's not as big of a deal as some are making it out to be. There's only one or two sections where you're both a significant distance from a Loftwing Statue, and would desperately need to get back into the Sky for one reason or another. It is a nice QoL change if you buy the Amiibo, but it doesn't ultimately change much.
Assuming they've toned down Fi's handholding a bit, and changed the "item description displays after every restart" issue a la the TP remake, that'll alleviate most of the actual problems I would expect them to fix with a HD version. They weren't exactly going to restructure the entire game to make it non-linear (which I would argue would lose the essence of the game anyway), and whilst it might have been nice to get a Loftwing speed upgrade, like WWHD's swift sail, it's not that high on the priority list that I'm too miffed about not getting it.
Yes, SS is linear, and very much a product of its time, but it's an interesting partner to Breath of the Wild on switch, as the two represent two very different takes on what a Zelda game can be. Skyward Sword is a run romp, with lots of charm that deserves another chance in the sunlight. And if it's not your cup of tea, it's only another year till BotW2 (probably), so you can just wait for that one.
Re: Super Mario 3D World Is Coming To Switch, Along With "Bowser's Fury" Expansion
@whodatninja
They'll do the same as what they did in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and make them button inputs.
I do think Wario ever being playable in a mainline mario game again is a bit of a stretch. Ninty seems to view him like Donkey Kong. A part of the Mario Universe, but his own separate thing, and given the failure of Game and Wario, and the mediocrity of Warioware Gold, I think it'll probably be a while before Wario gets time back in the spotlight.
@Uncle_Andross
I mean, with the install base for the Switch, and the install base for the Wii U, for the vast majority of Switch owners, this is a new game. I mean, I'm a Wii U owner, so it's not new for me, but from Ninty's perspective, it's a much better revenue stream to have small teams work on an expanded Wii U port, where the majority of the userbase haven't played said games. Honestly, I'm excited for the Pikmin 3 rerelease, more because it means that the series wasn't killed after the travesty that was Hey Pikmin. (And also because if it's profitable, and there's a new market for Pikmin games on switch, they might invest resources to make Pikmin 4.)
Re: Super Mario 3D World Is Coming To Switch, Along With "Bowser's Fury" Expansion
Nah, the most exciting element is this part, from Nintendo.com's website:
"Work together locally* or online** with up to three other players to reach the goal…and to see who can get a high score."
"online**"
That's probably what's going to get me to double dip; being able to play through the game online with my friends across the pond.
Re: Talking Point: Are Shiny Pokémon Too Common These Days?
I had a longer answer written, but I exceeded the comment length by a country mile, so I'll try and be concise.
Speaking as a shiny hunter; Yes, Maybe and No. It depends what part you're talking about.
As much as the "wow" factor of randomly coming across a shiny is a great thing, the odds being as low as they were makes any attempt to actively search for them futile. 1 in 8192 is ludicrous odds for base Gen 3 rates. I think when people talk about "the shiny rate doubling", they forget the actual numbers involved. The highest you can get the base rate in Gen 8 is arguably 1 in 512, after beating 500 of that Pokémon's species, and having received the Shiny Charm. (But it's slightly more complicated than that, and is effectively less.) That still puts your odds as fairly remote for any given encounter, and that's with a single species of Pokémon. (Let's Go offered better odds, but could be a pain to shiny hunt in.)
I've personally hunted every non-mythical non-shinylocked forme of poke as shiny, using the best in-game methods I could, and it still took over half a year to do. Getting a living shiny forme dex is not a trivial matter, but it's actually a realistic measure now. (And ChainFishing, PokeRadar and other methods make it so much more enjoyable than relying on random encounters, or soft resetting. SRing has never been fun, and should not be looked at with nostalgia goggles.)
GO's mentality of making players expect a dozen shinies every community day is not healthy though, and maybe those shinies have become too common, more for the sake of fuelling over-expectancy than anything else.
What has become too common, is hacked shinies. They've been decently common since Gen 6, but exploded in SwoShi. (And no, I'm not talking about the Raid exploit. That's just a form of Pokemon RNGing, and can be done completely in-game with only a calculator needed.) All the ones with website links in their names, and all the ones without. It's a minor miracle to wondertrade off a box of breedjects without hitting one. GF have made a lot of advancements to their game over the years, but their hack-checking system is abysmal. Community groups have proved time and time again that they can successfully hack-check Pokémon to filter out a large chunk of the offenders, without misregistering legit pokemon, so Game Freak don't really have an excuse.
So, yes, fix your hacked shiny issue GF, no, main series in-game hunting is still not trivial, and maybe GO needs to lay off the shiny expectancy a little bit.
Re: Pokémon HOME Will Introduce New Anti-Cheating Measures To Address Hacked Pokémon
@RunGMhx They wiped most of the egregiously hacked raids out with the patch about a month ago, and banned a few of the people running them. Almost all of the online raid system is now working as it should do. If the Gmax Melmetal was since the most recent patch, it's very much in the minority, and shouldn't exist.
I suspect this crackdown will also only affect Pokemon that have blatant and fundamental hacks, so as not to run the risk of removing any legit pokemon. Legality's always been a bit of an issue with the games. GF are slowly getting better with it, it's just taking some time.
Machamps.com shinies, and pretty much anything with a website/twitch channel Pokemon nickname or Original Trainer name are almost guaranteed to be hacked, though. They're "legal", in the sense that someone could theoretically have obtained something almost identical, given the time, but not "legit". They also semi-regularly have things wrong with them, especially those that have been in circulation for a while. I keep deleting them whenever I get one through wondertrade. The amount in circulation is definitely on the up, though. :/
Re: Pokémon GO Players Call For Niantic To Disclose Loot Box Odds
@Eel
I agree entirely with Rupee's post above. It's genuinely quite predatory behaviour against people who just read the in-game news, and buy Boxes, thinking they will have a strong chance at pulling two or three Deinos.
The other issue is the fact that players should not have to rely on outside sources to get information about what is and is not in eggs at any given time. I'm fairly active in my local community, and a majority of the families that play, and occasionally turn up to raid, don't read online guides about it. Why should they have to?
The information about what is and is not in eggs at any given time should be readily available in the game. If a young player really wants an Archen, for example, and knows that they were in 7km eggs two months ago, they may be desperately trying to hatch 7km eggs because they think there is still a chance for an Archen. I use that example because it's actually something that I've encountered, and I had to explain that sometimes the pokemon moved about between egg colours, and that they would have to try and hatch 'the purple eggs', and not 'the yellow ones'.
There is literally no excuse for not divulging egg contents. Fire Emblem Heroes does a... slightly wordy, but functional version of this, and it owns up when it makes mistakes. Without the statistics, Niantic is free to change the egg rates as they choose, and by watching the research groups, they very clearly did change them due to backlash. This isn't the first time they've done it either.
Shiny rates are a different matter, but the actual hatching rates should be public knowledge. It still counts as a lootbox if you have to buy a 'key' (Incubators) to unlock them at a faster rate.
Re: Shulk Gets Another Encore In Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition For Switch
So much yes. This'll be my third time playing it, having tracked down a copy for Wii, and then buying the NN3DS version, and boye does it look damn pretty. I'm so looking forward to what they put into it. If it's just putting Bionis' Shoulder (Which was the area in the end shot, at least going from what I've seen of the datamines), then so be it, but I'm rather hoping they redo out some of the end and postgame quests, just to tie up a few loose ends.
Whilst XCX would be nice, I kinda feel like that game needs to have some fairly hefty work done on it to make it feel more... complete? The pacing of the end segments feel rushed, especially the exploration of Cauldros, and the cap at 60 also feels really off. The online segments could also do with some work, as they also feel bizarrely separate. (And let's not forget the audio issues...) I just get the feeling the whole game suffered from some serious time constraint issues, and it would be much nicer if they took their time, built on what they had, and improved upon it to be the experience they intended. We're only 2.5 years into the switch anyway. There's still time for XCXDE, XCX2 or XC3 to be done up before the Switch breathes its last hurrah.
Re: Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu And Eevee Demo Reveals How Shiny Pokémon Will Be Found
@LordGeovanni Just throwing my own two cents in the ring, it's far easier to make an easy game harder for yourself than it is to make a hard game easier.
Whilst I enjoy the challenge of Classic Hardmode FE games, sometimes it gets annoying enough that I really just want to put in a Casual mode, like the newer entries have done, and better enjoy the journey. You can emulate Classic mode in Casual, but you can't emulate Casual mode in Classic.
With the hundreds of items now in Pokémon, and the widespread online game, an inventory limitation feels cheap. Part of the charm of online is being able to come up with some unorthodox strategies using lesser-used items, and it would just feel wrong for the bag to be limited in such a way. However, if you so chose, you could self-impose an inventory limitation, which would up the difficulty mildly. The point is now you are being given the option to, rather than having no say in the matter.
The save anywhere mentality is more of an intelligent design for modern handhelds. You could quite easily whip out your GB/GBA/DS/3DS and play through a small amount of a game on a bus, being able to keep your progress when you get off. Not everyone has long chunks of time to spend battling all the way from one savepoint to another over a short break, and if they're frequent enough to allow for that, then what's the point in it not being save anywhere anyway? If you want to save everywhere, then go right ahead, but if you only want to save in "safe spaces" in games, then you are equally at liberty to do that.
In terms of overworld encounters, I honestly don't think it's a bad thing for players to be able to skip out on encounters. It allows for low-level runs, which test ingenuity, without the tedium of running from every fight. The random encounter system also has it's merits, allowing the player to see more of a game's bestiary, but can lead to issues when actively searching for a specific monster for a quest, and being besieged by low level bats. It's personal preference, really.
Speaking more on topic;
I personally love a challenge to videogames, but Pokémon isn't really where I go to get that. I'll self-impose a few rules (like set, not switch), but I haven't lost an in-game battle since Gardenia back in Gen IV. Even then, I think I've only seen about 3 'blackout' messages throughout every Gen. Pokémon has never been a hard game, so them streamlining some aspects is going to do very little. I'd assume shinies are still going to be as rare as before, and all that's really changed is people reloading areas to look for the shiny glimmer rather than jumping in and out of patches of grass. It's not exactly going to change much. Heck, the new go mechanics might actually make mid/lategame catching more enjoyable, as, let's face it, once you have access to quick and dusk balls, all you need to do to catch something is quick ball it, see if it catches, false swipe it, and spam dusk balls until it clicks. It's a nice change of pace, and I'm interested to see where they go with it.
Re: Thank Samus, Metroid Prime 4 Has Been Confirmed For Nintendo Switch
@SmaMan The amount of times I've heard it referred to as "Oh, right, it's that old shooty thing with the Metroid guy in it" by friends makes me cringe.
Re: Thank Samus, Metroid Prime 4 Has Been Confirmed For Nintendo Switch
@SmaMan I think you mean, "the protagonist, Samus Aran" Let's not continue that misconception.
Honestly, I dunno what I'm hyped for more, Xenoblade 2, or this. All the jokes can go away now. The two biggest "reveals", this and a mainline pokemon game on switch came and went so fast.
Also, this comment has taken ages to write... Too many other hyped people around. XD
Re: Art: Xenoblade Chronicles Demake - Going Back to the 16-bit Era
I love it, it's absolutely fantastic. The pixelart is spot on, but I actually think the way they've incorporated the display. is better, because it makes it feel more... I dunno. Xenobladesque
...Makes me wish for more Xenoblade now...
Re: Review: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS eShop)
@ReverandJames AAI is very good. Personally, the way the Phoenix Wright stories are for me is virtually the same as @MarcelRguez, although I'd say that both JFA and TAT's third cases deserve to be miles below everything. I've heard good things about AAI2, but there's only a fan translation of that unfortunately.
Re: Anniversary: Sonic the Hedgehog is Now 25 Years Old
Without a little game called Sonic Rush Adventure, and the Sonic X series, I wouldn't be a gamer. So thanks, Sonic, for making sure my first gaming experience was a good one, and even if you do fall flat on your face every now and then, I'll choose to ignore it, and remember the good times, like playing Sonic Adventure for the first time, or the first time I got around to playing the original Green Hill, or trying desperately to get an S on Eggmanland on Sonic Unleashed, so, Sonic, and the decent cast too (I'm referring to anyone from Sonic CD and before. Oh, and Shadow, sans the gun. He's not too bad.), look forward to another bite at the cherry this year. Hopefully this time, we'll get a good slice of platforming cake.
...But no more Big the Cat. Ever. Please.
Re: Two New Pokémon and Fresh Zygarde Formes Revealed for Pokémon Sun and Moon
Iwanko looks pretty cool. I'd be happy to add that to a team, depending on any evos. I guess the starters' final evos are getting megas, and that's the 'secret'. Could be something else, I guess, but it'll prolly be megas.
Re: Japan Has Voted For Its Favourite Pokémon, And It's Not Pikachu
@Dogorilla I'd disagree with you there, on a personal level, I actually quite like Genesect. I think it's one of those things with being the 'Last Pokémon' in the (at the time) National Dex. Plus, it's Steel-Type, which generally produces some of my favourite mons.
I'm glad to see the Eeveelutions on there. I have a soft spot for them after Eevee landed itself a place on my Platinum team, the first Pokémon Game I actually owned (I then went backwards, Gen wise to experience Gen III.) and then my Eevee evolved, as if by magic, into Glaceon when I least expected it.
I'm sure Greninja, like Lucario before it, will enjoy large popularity, but will step away from the spotlight after this gen. It'll still be pretty popular though.
Re: Upcoming Splatoon Update to Include Stage and Weapon Tweaks Along With Sheldon's Picks
Well, it's a start, at least. I still think that some of the Blasters need slightly less 'homing' capability, as it's a little cheap when you get shot from round a corner, or over the other side of the tower. None of the weapons really interest me to play, but I am dreading facing off against those Splash Wall Chargers...As if Sniping was bad enough already. XD
Re: Win The Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition New 3DS XL and Limited Edition Game
@CrimsonTadpoles That would be one odd Fire Emblem game. XD
Re: Nintendo's Official UK Store Opens Pre-Orders For Fire Emblem Fates: Limited Edition - Rapidly Sells Out
@Grumblevolcano Sigh EDIT: Wait, yes I did. Completely forgot about that as well. Might as well go and preorder one or the other of the normal editions.
Re: Nintendo's Official UK Store Opens Pre-Orders For Fire Emblem Fates: Limited Edition - Rapidly Sells Out
Sigh This is getting ridiculous now. I headed into my local game store yesterday to see what was what, and they didn't know. I think they should've had some stock allocated for retail release.
I'm just hoping it comes up on Amazon at some point, else I've missed both chances by very slim margins...
Nintendo UK should really have forseen this, and put it back on one per person...
Just looked on Ebay, and lo and behold, several listings already up there for highly inflated prices. I wouldn't even mind so much if they added a very small amount onto the price, to turn a small profit, but it's just ridiculous how much they're inflating it...
Re: Splatoon to Arrive on 3DS Under the Name "Splatoon Legends"
@Crimsontadpoles Yeah, I mean, they only have a few more minutes for the UK's April Fools.
But seriously, nice try. I'd have gone with Splat2n, but a port works equally well as a joke.
Re: Rhythm Heaven Megamix Dancing onto 3DS
@EarthboundBenjy
I know. I was so relieved when I saw the Japanese version had gone back to buttons. I don't want to demolish another touch screen. XD
I may have to just perfect Rhythm Rally first in vengeance though. XD
Re: Rhythm Heaven Megamix Dancing onto 3DS
Rhythm Heaven, how I both love and loathe thee. I love your quirky charm, catchy music, and everything about Beat the Beat. But Rhythm Rally, I hate you so much. XD
Rhythm Rally, RR2 and Remix 8 (DS) are still the only games i haven't perfected. I broke my Ds lite screen trying. XD
Re: Fire Emblem Fates Finally Has a Release Date and Details for Europe
@Kirigherkins Possibly, it hasn't explicitly been stated, but don't forget it also needs to be localized into French, German, Italian and Spanish(?), so Localization would have easily taken twice as long, more likely three times as long.
Re: Splatoon Updates to Continue Into 2016
@Shani Yep. It looked from the info given that each selected weapon would get either a sub change, or a special change, to shake the sets up a bit. Dunno how much they'll keep to just changing one of the sub/special, but I'm hoping for some nice new rollers. XD
Re: Fire Emblem Fates Finally Has a Release Date and Details for Europe
Thank goodness. I was beginning to think that NoE had just forgotten about this. I understand why the localization has increased the time of release, but not giving it a release date at all? That was horrible, NoE. I'll just be ticking off the time till May 20th then.
Re: Splatoon Updates to Continue Into 2016
This is awesome! They just can't let Splatoon DLC go.
I'm actually more interested in the 'Matchmaking, Splatfest and Ability Balancing', which will affect everything, rather than just specific weapons.
Re: A Wii U and 3DS Nintendo Direct Is On the Way
Just give me FE:Fates release date, NoE. It's all I want. I don't care if it's 2 minutes long, just as long as they give me a release date, and confirmation of the Special Edition in Europe.
PW6 would also be nice, but I'm more concerned about FEF's release date.
Re: Feature: Nintendo Life's Favourite Pokémon Games - 20th Anniversary Edition
HeartGold/SoulSilver I completely understand, those two are very good games. Interesting that SoulSilver came out on top though.
@GloverMist. Uh, HG/SS ARE Gen IV. XD I know what you mean, but those two are still technically Gen IV.
I'll be interested what this list looks like in a few years' time. X and Y are among the newest games, so they'll be the games that the majority have played recently. XY was ok, but, I dunno quite what it is about them, but the Kalos region feels... emptier? I guess? Less fine-tuned than ORAS or Gen V, certainly. I know some rank it as their favourite, (evidently. XD), but it never rose above good for me. I'm evidently missing something. XD
Re: Poll: Vote for Your Favourite Main Series Pokémon Games - 20th Anniversary Edition
I went backwards (I played Gen IV first, before going back to older games), so I have to go with the game I started with, Platinum, which is probably the Rose-Tinted spectacles working overtime (but hey, who isn't nostalgic about the first game in a series they played) , and the two games which I think are the best, HeartGold and SoulSilver, which have been the best games to my mind so far.
Re: Ori and the Blind Forest Director Criticises Secrecy and Lack of Access to NX Devkits
Whilst I agree that Nintendo would be foolish to not hand out Dev Kits, certainly to developers who they've worked with in the past, the whole point of Nintendo as a brand is to be different, so it's understandable that they would want to keep their secrets on what they're developing within a pretty close circle. If the Dev kits haven't gone out yet, I'm sure they will soon after the reveal (which hasn't happened yet, so this whole discussion is hypothetical)
And really, we know nothing about NX, or how far through development it is. Those Devs who'll be at the top of the pile (Major players like Capcom, Ubisoft, Platinum, and the like and even indie developers like Wayforward, who have worked closely with Nintendo on previous occasions), may have their Dev kits, they may not. Who knows?
But to the same degree, Mahler represents the company as a whole, not just himself as an individual. His point could just as easily have been made much more... professionally.
Re: The Pokémon Splatfest Results Have Been Confirmed
Commiserations to Reds, but certainly here in the EU, the Reds were variable at times. There were some absolutely amazing teams that gave us a close run (One game went to a 0.5% victory), particularly later on, but equally some rather weak teams that we spawn camped.
I guess it's mainly down to where the majority of weaker players go that decides it. People on here are generally fairly strong, so lengthy win streaks on both sides are to be expected.
Re: Nintendo May Monetise Miitomo Through Outfits, and is Still Aiming for New Styles of Smart Device Games
This conversation is surprisingly depressing. Y'see, I still wouldn't write Nintendo out just yet. People were ready to say that the Gamecube 2 would be the last console. And look how that turned out. I'll be more than willing to say that I enjoy Wii U games far more than the console, but there's a saying of not counting chickens before they're hatched.
Re: Blastburn Factory
Nah, that's brilliant. The opening was more to see which exits people normally go for. There's supposed to be a little tell, but I can't remember whether I deleted it or not. Thanks for the feedback, hopefully I can improve in the future.
Re: Rumour: Fresh Sources Suggest Shovel Knight Is Indeed Digging His Way To Super Smash Bros.
This is when Sakurai turns round and delivers something that no-one expects. Either multiple characters, or a character that no-one ever expected. He is still the king of teases.
Re: Metroid Prime: Federation Force Producer Explains Why Samus Aran Isn't In The Game
I think the bad reaction to this will die down, eventually. I think if it had been called Federation Force, or 'From the world of Metroid: Galactic Federation Force', then the reaction would have been much more positive. Yes, there still would have been some backlash over not showing a 'true' Metroid game, but I think fans would have taken it more positively. Even Metroid: Federation Force would have created less anger. I'm willing to give Next Level Games the benefit of the doubt here, as, I'll admit, I wasn't best impressed by the show, in the direct aftermath, but having slept on it, I'm feeling much more positive. There's still hope for a Wii U Main series Metroid yet.
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Party, on the other hand... Well, no rebranding of that would have helped it. It looks like a cheap, £10 max Eshop game, and I really hope they brand it as that. I do however, have a theory, that the two Animal Crossing spinoffs will feed into a main game in some way. It just seems a bit weird, with the timings of them...
Re: Poll: Early Impressions on Splatoon and That All-Important Online Multiplayer
I'm waiting until the end of my exams, when I upgrade my internet, sadly... My current internet isn't brilliant, and keeps randomly cutting out. What little I have played of online is great, and seems pretty solid, and whilst the single player mode is short, it's also pretty fun. I'm really going to struggle when I start properly in a few weeks, so I've taken to practising on the maps (Which doesn't break my internet) and getting a couple of strategies for when I finally do play.
I really hope my first proper match isn't against a team of Level 20s...
Re: Mega Blastoise Event Launches in Pokémon Shuffle, as Free-to-Play Title Passes Three Million Downloads
@linforcer
ah, cheers! Well, at least Electric types won't be such of a pain.
Also, I just thought of something... If they run the Charizard competition next, unless they add some basic game megas, it will be heavily biased in favour of those who won the Mega Blastoise... So, we're not just playing for this competition, but future ones as well...
Re: Poll: Which Characters Do You Want to Win the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot?
I kinda imagine Professor Layton to have a weird moveset like the villager's. I think his normal attacks would be his fencing moveset, but his specials would be something a bit less... mundane: The Dog from Curious Village as a drone-like attack, A giant hint coin as a projectile, a Hanglider (from multiple games - seriously, where does he get those from) as his recovery, and Oh, I dunno, the Painting from Curious Village or the Sticker Book from Lost/Unwound Future as a blocking move.
His Final Smash would have to be him drinking some tea, and ramming his opponents with the laytonmobile a la Captain Falcon.
I think matchsticks could play a part somewhere, they always seem to turn up in the puzzles. Or saws. How else does he cut all those planks of wood?
Anyone see anything I've missed?
Re: Mega Blastoise Event Launches in Pokémon Shuffle, as Free-to-Play Title Passes Three Million Downloads
I originally read it as the top 10,000 players in the world.
I nearly cried.
Anyway, I'm 4000 something currently, but we all know how long that's going to last...
@Sanicranfast same, I plan to level them up for one last push on 1am on Monday
EDIT: Oh yeah. Just fell about 500 places since I tried an hour ago. (I only recently got the EX pokes, so they're pretty low levelled...)
And on an interesting note, Electric types will always be a pain, because they're unlikely to do any ground type megas with the current megas (All ground-type megas are secondary typed...) I just hope they release Groudon with a Red Orb. (But please, no more competitions... My competitive side cannot deal with the constraints of not spending any real life money...
Re: Feature: Ten Must-Play Games for the Nintendo 3DS
It's really interesting to see the divide over KI:U
Personally, I quite like the control scheme, but, hey, that's just an opinion. Once you're used to it, it works like a dream.
With the exception of MK 7, which is good, but not 'must-play', I agree with the list. Especially FE:A. That really broadened my strategy game horizons.
And all this debate can only be a good thing, right? The 3DS has had so many good games that we all feel the need to mention more essentials.
'Tis very good.