UltimateOtaku91

25 hours in so far and having a blast, it's definitely catering to more mainstream as it has a similar world design to popular anime gacha games. It has seemed to have lost its "whimsical charm" that the earlier entries had and has a lesser focus on actual alchemy. This game is more about exploration, base building and quests with a new battle system which is quite fun and battles are quicker than ever.

@darkswabber Nintendo never bought them, they have worked on multiple Mario Sports games but they are still independent.

I'm going for Center, for the cursor on mouse mode so you can re center it in the middle of the screen.

Not gonna lie for new announcements it was probably the worst direct I've seen for the Switch. Metroid and Pokémon look good and Raidou looks really intriguing but apart from that nothing really wowed me.

So it's a 5/10 from me, you can tell the Switch 2 is right around the corner.

If he is teasing something then my guess is it's either a Kid Icarus Remaster or one final wave of Smash Bros DLC.

Something Fire Emblem related would be good, would love a remake of some of the 3DS games like maybe Fire Emblem Fates Ultimate with all routes included. Maybe even a new Warriors game based of Engage.

Other than that I hope we get Metroid Prime 2/3 Remasters and Dragon Quest X Offline.

But a part of me thinks it's going to lean heavily of third party games and a few games we already know about like MP4 and Pokémon Legends Z-A.

@Ulysses You might be right, announced as a cross gen game launching the same day as the Switch 2, similar to how Breath of the Wild was as it also launched on the WiiU.

Tbh I'd be disappointed if it was MK9 as I don't really play racing games, but depends on what it shows it may tempt me.

Quite interested to see what they show tomorrow with this being it's last dedicated direct and with the majority of games going forward being made for the Switch 2. Hopefully there is one last big surprise game to send it off in style.

@TerribleTerabytes I think that's a different studio, Spike Chunsoft made and funded those games and own the IP. Too Kyo games have only solely developed a few games, Master Detective Archives and Worlds End Club and a mobile game called Tribe Nine.

I have both Xenoblade Chronicles X and Assassins Creed Shadows and both are brilliant games, but neither are pulling me fully away from Atelier Yumia. It's a shame Atelier isn't more popular in the west as its such a great series and is improving with each new entry.

I have this game, Atelier Yumia and Assassins Creed Shadows coming this Friday and the reviews for this game have persuaded me to start XCX first.

The new Fantasy Life launches May 21st and the new Rune Factory the week after, so if the Switch 2 was launching May 15th then why not have those two games as launch day releases with one being an exclusive.

My money is on July, it's summer break for most of the world so kids are going to want something new to play. And what's better than a brand new console and a new Mario Kart to go with it.

I think that not only will it get a Switch 2 release it will also get Switch 2 specific features.

Would be amazing if they announced a shadow drop of Prime 2/3 Remastered after Prime 4s release date trailer.

Please include a toggle to turn this off, I've seen a few examples on YouTube of this making games look weird and ugly, not all games will be effected but I'd still rather it be an option and not mandatory.

The way people have been talking about X lately I thought it would have been higher than that, atleast higher than the DLC's but oh well still mega hyped for it.

@nhSnork I can't speak for all the games you mentioned but I have completed Rune Factory 5 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. For XC2 I didn't notice any performance issues infact it's one of my favourite games of all time but Rune Factory 5 definitely did have bad performance, the framerate would tank lower than 20fps for a few seconds whenever leaving a building and when there's quite a few enemies on the screen. But overall it's not unplayable and is still quite an enjoyable game. I just think people like to nit pick too much and fixate on the minor issues rather than hours of fun they can have with the rest of the game. It's the same on PS5 as well as people constantly complain about games being 30fps yet it's never been a problem the previous gens and these games from critics get good scores but some how people just get fixated on little issues and convince themselves because of that it's a bad game.

@gcunit In Europe it's been confirmed it won't have a physical version for the Switch and Xbox one. The only ones getting a physical version are PS4, PS5 and Series X, although I believe you get a physical Switch version if you buy the overpriced limited edition but that could just be a code in a box.

Hopefully the tariffs only bump up the American price, don't see why us Europeans should pay more as well.

For me the series has got better with every new entry, but even then I'd still rate 1-3 all 10/10. I never got round to playing X originally so I'm really looking forward to playing it next week.

The series as a whole is in my top 3 JRPG series along side Persona and Dragon Quest.

They tried taking on Playstation and lost so now they are stepping into Nintendo's territory and will soon find out that's a losing battle as well. Without exclusives it just isn't going to sell many units, most PC players will just stick with the steam deck as the the Steam OS is so much better to work with than Windows. This handheld from Microsoft will just be for the hard core xbox gamers which who's numbers seem to be dwindling daily.

I voted for Tears of the Kingdom, for me it's one of the best games I've ever played. There is so much to do and explore, I can probably spend 20-30 hours just by exploring all of the depths.

Honestly though the whole Switch generation has been a joy to be apart of that theres a lot of games I couldn't go without playing. BoTW, Pikmin 4, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Pokémon Legends Arceus, Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem Engage, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Splatoon 3 and Metroid Prime Remastered are the ones that had a lasting impression on me.

More hardware to flop then, they are entering the handheld market which hasn't really took off apart from the Switch and that's because it's an hybrid with exclusives and simple design. This Xbox handheld won't be an hybrid, won't have exclusives and if it's running windows then it definitely won't be simple to use.

@sanderev I think the game has online co op as well but I don't know if that also makes the screen split screen or not.

Now you can stream cloud games better which means Switch 2 will likely get more cloud releases.

Due to the competitive side of the main Pokémon games I can't see turn based disappearing. But I'm liking this new battle style, hopefully they can evolve it further for the next legends game so we can control the Pokémon directly, similar to Ni No Kuni 1.

@darkswabber @wanghosom But Monster Hunter Rise launched to 19 million Switch owners in Japan. Monster Hunter Wilds launched to 6.5 million PS5 owners. So Monster Hunter Wilds has an higher attachment rate.

It doesn't matter how powerful the Switch 2 is Pokémon will always look outdated, Switch 2 could have PS5 hardware and Scarlet/Violet for example would still look and run the same. It's because Gamefreak are rushed to put out Pokémon games and so are kept simple and easy to make. But to be honest I'd much prefer them take 5-6 years between games and have a AAA budget so they are the best possible games they can be visually and performance wise.

@Rob3008 That's if it can run it, the steam deck can't even run Monster Hunter Wilds.

Scalpers is why I've gave up collecting Pokémon cards, it started with Surging Sparks I just can't ever find any booster boxes in stock and when a new set drops it's sold out everywhere within hours. To get anything you have to pay ridiculous amounts which makes it even more painful when you don't pull anything.

@Joker1234 I think there will be a separate direct just for games a few weeks later, and a press report stating the internal specs after the direct. But for the direct itself on the 2nd April will mainly be about the features and Apps, an in depth look at Mario Kart 9 and a release date with price. Just my gut feeling, but hopefully I'm proven wrong as I'd love to watch a long 40 minute blown out with a lot of cool games shown.

I don't expect a full blowout, I think they will announce the features, the release date and price, Mario Kart 9 and maybe a couple of third party launch games but they won't show the UI, announce the specs or any games coming later this year.

The last 8 years I think have been the best Nintendo have had, so many great games and many many sales records broken for most series. On a personal level this gen was the most I've spent money and time wise on a Nintendo system and I hope that continues to grow with the Switch 2.

Meanwhile, internal test players had given the game harsh evaluations, making it clear that major revisions were necessary

That doesn't sound good, are major revisions doable in 12 months or have they left some of those problems in the game and aim to fix it later. I may need to see the reviews before purchasing this now.

@Fiskern Yes but to get pokemon to use on the battle app you need to send over pokemon from your switch games, so you still need to spend money. Also to get good pokemon to use you will most likely be far into the switch games anyway so online battling would already be unlocked.

@Mariotag Underneath it says "and other games from the pokemon series", they are are just using scarlet/Violet images as they are the latest games.

So basically you can do what you can already do in the main games and battle random people 🤔, if you need a Nintendo switch anyway to send over pokemon then why not just use your switch to battle people online.

I think we all know what will be top next week.

So like yo kai watch watch 4 or Ni No Kuni 1?

If so then my hype just shot back up.

@Serpenterror Yeah maybe I'm being a bit too unrealistic with my expectations, I enjoy the Pokémon games for the exploration of the different biomes and Pokémon types that match those biomes. But with a city it all looks the same (wild areas) so far, hopefully there's some kind of seasons so there's parts where is snows or rains etc which then changes what Pokémon appear.

Give me an abandoned hotel full of ghost pokemon and il be happy. Chikorita will definitely be my starter as well.

5/10 from me, nothing that stood out and grabbed my attention. Little disappointed with what I saw of Z-A but will still get the game on release day as with Pokémon games.

If the whole game is based in one big city then my hype has dropped off a cliff.

If there's one thing I've learnt over the years it's that the better hardware/specs become the more ambitious developers get and in return the longer the development takes. So no, I don't think Nintendo will stick to releasing a game every month, maybe every two or three months and third party fillers in between.

I will be watching just for any game reveals, hopefully there's more than just a Legends ZA trailer. I would love to see a Black/White Remake or even the return of the Ranger series, which would work great with the Switch 2 joy con mouse compatibility to circle around the Pokémon.

Anything to pass that PS2 milestone lol
Seriously though with the Switch 2 so close I don't get why anyone would buy this knowing that.

It should go onto NSO, no way I'm paying £50 for ports of 3DS games.

I honestly think Legends ZA will be a Switch 2 launch title as well so I think nows the time to start showing gameplay and get people excited.

Well that's no digital purchases on the Switch 2 from me then.

Nintendo just made Playstation Stars look good 😅

@SigmaNoire It's confirmed on Gematsu, they say it's now a digital only release in the west.