Tuulenpoika

I'm more than fine with the original specs. Current Switch specs allow me to get the kinds of experiences I need in my life perfectly adequately. And if it ends up lowering the price of the console in the future, all the better. I want to see Nintendo get back into the zone they were in with 3DS, a cheap handheld gaming device with awesome selection of different games.

What I would like to see more of is competent optimizing on Switch games.

EDIT: And also, my original model has had drift, and that's been its only issue. It doesn't have scratches or any sort of "battle damage" after having been played since the launch day.

You can go to the Japanese website of the game https://www.jp.square-enix.com/shinsubarashiki/ and listen to three full tracks, including the one present in the first trailer but with actual vocals in the sections that used to be dubbed over with voice acting.

They're all beyond incredible.

The rhyyythm's gonna set me free~

And also this game is going to set my wallet free of its MSRP amount of money.

Can't wait. I've been listening to the trailer so many times just because of the kickass music I'm really hoping to get to see and hear more. My most hyped upcoming release of this year alongside Rune Factory 5.

I bloomin' saw that Doshin face you hid there, Alex.

I was never that much of a fan of Asterix, but man do these sprites look good and animate well. Points for them.

I have no problem with variety, but the overall quality, art style and the nature of playable content are some of the factors that decide which games I end up buying. Of course these things are subjective, but it is what it is. I haven't got into Stardew Valley, but I have liked Story of Seasons games and I absolutely love and adore the whole Rune Factory series. I would lose so much comfy gaming content if the amount of series would be artificially reduced.

Let devs make what they want to make, the audience is what ultimately decides what is worth their time and money.

They have no right making these kinds of statements after letting something like Sticker Star happen.

Eagerly waiting for Omori.

He shouldn't have apologised.

@UndercookedBacon When taking into an account the context of the statement, I think it's completely justified, no matter what actions people outside the person who sparked the conversation decide to take. This conversation is about video game development practices, not some general morality issue where it would be sensible to weigh which things are "actually" deserving of directed anger.

@UndercookedBacon He's brave because he is in a kind of position where people listen to him due to his merits, something not many people outside the industry can't say for themselves. Saying out loud things like this make him a target for people in the industry who happen to disagree with him, or regard these kinds of things as inciting "gamer rage."

"Encouraging gamer rage"... what an absolute joke. Demanding transparency and honesty instead of knowingly lying and building the hype on false promises is now apparently somehow gamer rage. If anything, consumers have all the right to expect devs to not lie about their product.

Mahler is really brave to have these kinds of takes, but it's really important if we want to purge all the bad stuff that exists in the gamedev space nowadays. It might not be the number one problem, but it's definitely something worth bringing up.

I really need more info about the EU release and release dates. The premium box of Rune Factory 4 Special was really cool and I hope this one would survive its way on this side of the globe.

I would definitely be down with the kind of approach Shovel Knight had for its additional content; free updates for everyone who have already bought the game, and increase the base price of the game as more and more content becomes available. It encourages early adopter mentality and makes you feel like you've made the right choice buying the game early instead of waiting for a sale.

If the game is made well, even grinding can be fun. If it offers ample opportunities to use the game's own in-built mechanics (super exp enemies, multi-battle multipliers, etc.) it can be incredibly enjoyable to just mash away and get a good amount of levels before continuing. Also if the game offers additional rewards outside your basic level-ups, it helps a huge ton. If it's a required roadblock you need to clear, it can definitely hamper the enjoyment, but it's even worse when the combat is cumbersome or boring.

Some great examples from the top of my head are Disgaea games, Dragon Quest 8 (especially on 3DS since you can actually see and specifically hunt for Metal Slimes) and Bravely Default/Second.

To have a sizzling hot take, grinding, by default, is never a bad thing, it's what's around it that decides if it's good or bad.

I'm kind of disappointed to see so few outlets mentioning Blue Shadow / Shadow of the Ninja when it comes to games that resemble Cyber Shadow, since even the developer himself mentioned that game as a major inspiration. It's way closer to that game than any of the Ninja Gaiden games.

But hey, the game is great!

One really big thing against this physical edition is the fact how you still need to log in with a separate Ubisoft account to unlock all of the features included, specifically online play and Knives as a playable character. It's bad enough that online play has its natural course when it comes to availability, but having content that requires an online service unlock that's already present in the game requires anyone who wishes to get access to said content to open up the game, make the account and do the required proceedings to get access to all the content.

Just in case someone would want to keep it sealed and think that they got the whole game safe and sound, for some reason.

I, for one, would be perfectly fine to see these guys making new games and remaking old ones, if they manage to output the same level of quality they put on display with Wonder Boy remake and Streets of Rage 4. I absolutely love how at least some artists are still using strong outlines to give that awesome comic feel to things, I've had it up to here with the "minimalistic abstract shapes with no outlines" graphics, in the end they end up looking so soulless and samey, whereas a strong outline around sprites give such a nice impact to the visuals.

Of course it needs to be said that SNK's spritework is pretty top tier, itself.

Just played through the game, really liked it since I loved the original, but seemingly none of the marketing mentioned that you need to make and log in with a separate Ubisoft account if you wish to unlock Knives. For some reason they excluded her from the default lineup and put her behind that kind of wall. Of course it's not impossible, but for a "complete" edition you pay for adding any additional obstacles like that sure makes it feel like you've been deceived.

For people who are strong with simple mathematics, this concept is incredibly cool. It's too bad that with a little more original aesthetics this would have been REALLY cool. Now I'm cautiously optimistic.

I see the appeal of doing simple equations as similar to why some people like puzzle games.

@BulbasaurusRex Publishers have the right to do what they want for the game in order to maximize its potential sales for as large of a potential group of customers as possible, but compromising the original product's contents and artistic vision for a chance of a few more extra sales sends a certain kind of message. And they really shouldn't be surprised when people get mad when changes like those are exposed.

And like you said, in this game's case, there's next to no reason to demand changes in content due to the reason stated above. When conscious adults are involved, reasons like "cultural differences" really don't hold water in my opinion. Either you understand that some games come from different parts of the world, by people with their own backgrounds and opinions and that the games they make reflect on those factors, or you can cry about how you think some game is "offensive" or "problematic" or in some other way not like you think it should be. This, I think is one of the more worrying directions of the last few years, especially in case of Nintendo games like FE Fates and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Those games are not directed exclusively to adults, but the original creators' product is still compromised just because some people are overly sensitive towards things that don't happen to align with their world view.

Let's take this a bit further: Censorship is never, EVER, 100% mandatory. Age rating systems exist for a reason. If you somehow think some content in some game is problematic, that's on you.

This is some free goodwill points for the publisher, although it needs to be acknowledged that they are small enough to not suffer major backlash for making statements like this.

With that being said, this is a stance many, many other publishers should really be taking. I'm sick of seeing companies censor games for pretty much any reason. If this medium wants to be taken seriously, that kind of stuff really needs to frick off already.

I just want more varied color variants for Switch Lite. All the ones available now are way too pastelly.

@Lordplops "Rude it is to assume so, that my trait ain't status quo. Bear and bird they know this jam, 'gruntled' is the way I am!"

If this game looks even remotely interesting to you, go and pick it up. This Shiren represents the absolute pinnacle of mystery dungeon games, and it hasn't aged one bit since its last release on Vita.

The main story itself can take a sizable amount of time for a newcomer, there's a huge amount of optional tutorials to show you the ropes, items have many different ways of using them, and the difficulty level is appropriately harsh and cruel to encourage learning about the many possibilities you can use to survive long enough to reach the next floor. The post-game dungeons and additional challenges up the play time by a whole lot, and take things way further than the basic run through the story. Basically, if you are the patient type and want to actually feel the satisfaction of outsmarting a game with its own mechanics, Shiren is an incredible pick. It's a wonderful game to get even if you just want a game that's made with love and integrity. It's incredibly unforgiving, but immensely rewarding when you succeed.

And now it's even sold for half the price it was used to be sold a few years ago, something some companies aren't exactly willing to do. So that's another plus for this one in the current market.

@Dizzymario Because actions in one part of the community affect the reputation of the entire community as a whole. The several allegations that have happened recently have only fueled the trash fire that was already there burning bright. This current situation has little to do with what Nintendo's stance in the past would have been, right now it has everything to do with how people who know of the allegations view the Smash community as of now. Which is, in a negative light.

And this latest stunt really didn't help things, as we can now see.

So... you guys are aware of the reputation of Smash competitive scene and how much Nintendo has not wanted to be part of it in the past, right? How does something like this come as a surprise to you?

Really glad to see this. The soundtrack to TWEWY is one of the few I've actually imported due to how incredibly awesome it was.

Yeah okay GOTY 2010 contender coming through

To be honest, I find it difficult to get hyped for this as much as I would have when I was younger, waiting for over ten years for this to happen kind of does that. But I'm happy to see it looking and sounding this cool. Minamimoto making a return as a player earns a huge amount of fanboy points from me.

WiiU is the only console I bought that I sold away. Nuff said.

It should be pointed in this article that this is, in fact, not the first time Squeenix has tried to pull a stunt like this. Many years ago, they used this exact same kind of countdown site with the same timer and the same track, and people were hyping a long overdue sequel. It turned out to be the mobile port, which left a sour taste to many mouths. Even years later, this stunt brings back sour memories from the time when we still were naive enough to believe an actual sequel would come out.

So, in case you see some people being overly pessimistic about this one, now you know why.

It's sad and kind of telling that we even need to have an article like this.

These deals have been a thing for over three months now, with no new software deals having been made ever since. This has lead me to believe that My Nintendo is really on its last legs, since the platinum points are next to worthless and Gold Points have a defined function on Switch eShop.

They really dropped the ball, but at this point I'm expecting to see it shut down very soon.

To anyone basing their purchase decision on this review, please don't. The first game especially is so much better than this review indicates. As someone who bought both of the originals for PSP, Prinny's mechanics easily outweigh something akin to Ghouls & Ghosts and the like, despite their very apparent nod towards them. And the soundtrack is incredible, probably the best I've ever heard in any 2D platformer.

When it comes to this Switch port, I have to admit that the lack of effort they had with the graphics is disappointing. But if you can get past that, the first game offers an incredibly memorable platforming journey. The second game does tend to slip towards the more unfair end when it comes to challenge, but I'd say it's still worth playing.

Yeah, no. Not feeling it at all.

These poll results and this sentiment present here despite all the facts regarding this release are a living proof that, ultimately, the game companies are only half to blame for the current state of the industry. Maybe even less than a half.

It was a shock to see Disgaea jumping ship over to Nintendo's side after mostly being a Sony series since its beginnings, but seeing how the handheld market has changed and how many of the series' fans have started to skip the original releases just to wait the inevitable enhanced handheld port, this kind of move makes more sense than one would initially think.

I'm gonna miss the 2D sprites, but the 3D models aren't bad by any means, they look cool and especially do the special attack animations, as well. Day One stuff for me.

The best part of the whole Direct, no contest. I loved seeing Disgaea 6 announced, but nothing beats Rune Factory.

Beyond hyped to see this happening, the character models look comfy as hell and all the essential elements are present. Can't wait to see more and buy Day One!

I took my favorite GBA games and "transferred" them over to my Game Boy Micro when I finally got it. I enjoyed playing games on it tremendously, despite owning the golden Zelda SP. It had that special feeling to it. The screen was incredible, despite its little size (or maybe because of it) the pixel graphics really stood out to their best ability on it.

Don't remember having that many hand cramps with it, but I do remember playing a ton of Final Fantasy Advance games on it. Always had a soft spot for this one, and still have.

The digital rewards haven't been updated in a month over on the EU side, and they used to do that every two weeks. I believe My Nintendo is going to be killed off when the year changes.

@Sinister Yep, it feels incredibly calculating on Nintendo's part, and I'm really not a fan.

So, does someone want to explain why is a Mario remaster package going to be a timed, limited retail release instead of a normal one?

Tanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great, he rolls like you, only faster~

@Ventilator Image&Form rose to fame and glory due to their efforts on 3DS eShop with the original SteamWorld Dig, and has mostly been known up until this point as the company who has always released their SteamWorld games first on Nintendo hardware and later ported the games elsewhere. So I think it's perfectly justifiable to cover this story over here.

I really wanted to get this game Day One, but all the info tidbits revealed only days before the release date have effectively killed my interest in this. It's a shame, I was really looking forward to giving this a chance, but if Squeenix isn't willing to do it for this game, they can't really expect the customers to do the same.

With that price I'm more than ready to wait for a physical release. But definitely interested in this, one of the more impressive games shown today. A whole lot of comfy animation present there.

Had Rune Factory 4 not been on this list I might have had to resort to extreme measures.

But hey, it was there, so it's all fine!

As much hate as Kemco stuff seems to get, I'd like to point out one exception on this list: Marenian Tavern Story: Patty and the Hungry God.

It's a spiritual successor to Adventure Bar Story, which was developed by RideOn and published by Kemco. Adventure Bar series was one of the shining exceptions among all the budget RPGs, bringing the kind of comfy vibes and quality not present in the other games. If you still play your 3DS and haven't bought either Adventure Bar Story or Adventure Labyrinth Story, I'd highly recommend giving them a shot since right now they're both only... oh, the sale ended last week. They were available both for under 2€, which would have been absolute steals for games of that level of care put into them.

But yeah, if anything above piqued your interest, try giving Patty a shot.

Let's put it this way.

Had all the following Paper Mario games followed the formula of the first two games, how many people would have had problems with it?

I can see many people might have accused the series of getting samey, but at least it would be charming and funny kind of samey with solid gameplay and battles that would actually be worth battling.