VGFreak1225

Between these and the Pixel Remasters, what is it with FF and late western physical releases? Has Squeenix ever explained why they take so damned long?

Maybe this was just a one-off, but I wouldn’t mind more of it. “Pikmin getting into shenanigans with humans that inadvertently make their live better” sounds like a cute idea for a series to me.

I have to wonder if we'll get a re-upload a week from now, but all the Pikmin are suddenly rendered visible. Not sure why we would need something as cryptic as that, but Nintendo gonna Nintendo if that's the case.

If it's just a standalone short film, where are the credits? I can only assume there will be a follow-up in some capacity.

Now that he has arrived to the modern era, I feel like there is a very important question that must be answered:

Is Chibi-Robo a Cozy game?

This was available on Steam right after launch. I don’t understand why SEGA dragged its feet releasing it everywhere else. We’re still missing the newsletter skins from Frontiers and Superstars on consoles, but PC players are good to go. Weird.

Unless you don’t already have it, I see no reason not to wait until they fix the issues and/or it hits $30. Just not worth it.

@MirrorFate2 Probably not. This is likely just their way of covering their backsides if something went wrong. “We tried to warn you.”

"It's a shame, but it seems clear at this point that this is now Nintendo's standard practice regarding remasters and ports."

Is it? Not trying to condone this of course, but I can only think of two other instances where this happened: Metroid Prime Remastered and (I think) Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Switch. Are there more that I'm not aware of?

@rjejr You explicitly said that the IGN acquisition impacts DF. I’m pointing out that John Linneman says otherwise.

@rjejr No, actually. There isn't. https://x.com/Wario64/status/1792960705530044472

@BugCatcherGarl Not when the gap between the two install bases is as big as WiiU-Switch. I guarantee you that the percentage of people who will insist on using Pretendo over NSO will be a rounding error.

@edhe Right now Pretendo only works for a handful of games and with limited features. XCX is not ready yet, but the team does intend to restore it. I don’t know for certain, but BLADE Reports may work through Pretendo’s Miiverse replacement, “Juxtaposition”.

@Yosher To get in, you have to register with Pretendo and use their own account system.

@LadyCharlie Worth mentioning that modifying the DNS of a Wii U using official firmware is likely fine, but Pretendo’s original method requires console hacks, which violate the DMCA in the United States. I’m honestly not sure they’re completely in the clear, legally. Granted, they’re not enabling piracy, so Nintendo may simply not care.

Rerelease the old games/add back in the elusive missing ending for MGSV. I don't know what else the fans could really care about at this point, outside of maybe an MGR sequel. Not even the MGS3 remake seems to be getting everyone particularly excited.

Well, Nintendo's announced that all online services except the eShop and Pokemon Bank are getting completely shut down. Still up in the air as to whether they're really prepared to kill the rest. Clock's ticking.

"There are those words again, though - "foreseeable future". Given that Nintendo initially said the same thing about its online services back when the 3DS and Wii U eShops closed, we might surmise that "foreseeable future" translates to "roughly one year" in Nintendo's books. We'll have to wait and see."

It's worth mentioning that the Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop are still both online with the ability to redownload purchased content, so it's impossible to tell when Nintendo plans to fully pull the plug on this. One hopes that even they would rather not be the company to find out the consequences of having the first major console/handheld digital download service to go offline completely.

My money's on a complete online multiplayer shutdown announcement for Wii U/3DS before the end of next year, but it's good to see Nintendo still sees at least some value on keeping the lights on a little while longer.

Can't help but feel like we'd all be happier if people who don't care about review scores just ignored the number at the bottom, played what they think they'd like, and we could all move on with our lives.

I played Ghost Trick when it hit iOS and it was freakin' delightful. Glad to see the game getting another chance to get its due.

Conceptually, I don't hate this as a $5 addition on top of Side Order, but we won't know for certain whether or not that's actually a fair price until SO launches. If it's on par with Octo Expansion in terms of substance and quality, then I'll pick it up when the time comes.

@GreatCrippler The Fates CE includes all three main storylines on the cart, but there were a handful of free and paid DLC packs (around $25 worth in total) that are only acessible after Chapter 6.

@GreenTea I've seen the interview in question. I just think that a re-imagining like the one I described in my previous reply might alleviate some of XCX's original problems. It's been seven and a half years since the game's Japanese release, and it was only Monolith Soft's second attempt at that kind of game, first attempt if you consider the game's heavy exploration and community focus separate from XC1's more narrative-driven structure. Now it has a fanbase big enough that they might actually be able to improve it and maintain interest longer if they decided to give it another shot. If they really want to go the remake or sequel route I'll be there, but I want to see it get a second chance.

@Goofonzo I think a direct port is probably unlikely, but an XC1-style definitive edition with fresh content, some rebalancing and quality of life improvements, and expanded co-op functionality? I could see that. It'll probably have to be on the Switch 2 and I get that they're worried about cost (and maybe I'm talking out of my backside on this), but Xenoblade 3 already doubled XCX's sales and XC2's lifetime sales nearly tripled them. I'd like to believe there's still a chance.

I get that the likelihood of it happening this year per se is low given that XC3's big narrative expansion is scheduled for it but with the Wii U eShop about to close, we still need Xenoblade Chronicles X on a modern Nintendo platform. Maybe we have to wait until '24 or '25 but if it's gonna happen, it probably needs to happen soon.

As a fan of the series since its inception, it's genuinely frustrating that Taylor feels like she was offered a bad deal and I hope that her allegation going viral moves the needle towards better pay for voice actors going forward, but boycotts historically don't work with games like this and if Amazon is any indication, commercial interest in the game has only gone up since then. If the possiblity existed that a boycott was still feasible and would get the results that Taylor wanted, i.e. a voice actress who broke NDA finding some sort of reconcillation with her previous employers, I'd be willing to wait it out until that happened. But right now it just looks like the only reason to choose not to buy the game would be solidarity, and solidarity isn't going to pay Taylor's bills.

@rjejr Don't worry, the clock doesn't move in real time. If anything, it seems like one of the most common criticisms I saw of the demo was that time passed too quickly, since traveling between the farm and the nearby town and combat environments sped it up. Didn't bother me all that much since actions that could be taken were still pretty limited this early, but your tastes may vary.

@rjejr There is an in-game calendar, but much of the demo was focused on traditional combat and dungeon crawling, so completing the story will likely be the main objective, while growing the farm will act as a secondary objective to support that goal.

@Sequel Previously the highest rank was "King/Queen" beyond Champion. They've now changed the rank to gender-nonspecific "Ruler" and added the ability to keep ranking up, i.e. "Ruler +1", "Ruler +2".

@Royalblues It's in the west as well. https://twitter.com/platinumgames/status/1547216944470069248

I have no idea whether this game will be good at this point. What truly baffles me isn't the game's quality right now, it's SEGA's marketing. Part of the reason Sonic fans keep getting disappointed is that nearly every game in the series always looks good pre-release. SEGA has nailed making bad Sonic games look great since the early 2000s, but all that seems to have gone out the window this time.

@Fizza
The original series was a loose adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and Curse of Darkness, so Nocturne will almost certainly be adapting Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night and be within the same canon.

At this point, I tend to limit my pre-orders into two categories:

1) If there's a pre-order bonus and only once the reviews hit so I know that I'm going to want the game at launch

2) If there's a special edition or if it's a niche title that might only have a limited run so that I have the security of knowing that I'll have it beforehand

Elsewhere, I've tried to cut back a bit. Feels like we've had too many high-profile games come out unfinished or disappointingly. Thankfully, the publisher that I find my tastes line up with the most is Nintendo and at least they rarely release games that fall into the former category.

Genuine question: Is there a business or security reason why Nintendo can't include the option to purchase the games that are already on NSO? There's, what, 100 or so games available to subscribers, but no options for a permanent purchase? Why not let customers buy the games that are already installed on their console? Any extra games sold this way would likely just come from people who didn't want to subscribe in the first place.

@GravyThief For what it's worth, the fact that the Wii U/3DS storefronts use the same account system as the Switch eShop means that they might not need the redownload servers to run the appropriate license check, but I don't believe that has ever been made clear by Nintendo. If they really are planning a short remaining lifespan for the servers but the license check remains online, then maybe you could argue that you could back up your games and keep them legally accessible indefinitely. Of course, this would only work until they shut down the current Switch eShop, then we might be back to the same problem if Nintendo doesn't take the appropriate steps to let us keep our purchases.

EDIT: Okay, just looked it up and it looks like purchases are tied to your console. Maybe Nintendo could offer some sort of migration system with a final firmware update to make the check work beyond the server lifespan, but I wouldn't bank on it.

@GravyThief Even if you can, it won’t change the fact that you would need to log in to your account to verify your licenses in the event that you needed to reformat your hard drive, which can be necessary during a repair. If the servers are gone, that becomes impossible.

The most likely scenario, assuming this isn't nothing, is that the first two games come to NSO. That probably sounds a little disappointing, but I'd just like to point out one thing: Up until now, the Earthbound/Beginnings rereleases have been on consoles with limited install bases. IF there exists a timeline where Mother 3 finally gets an official localization, it's probably the one where the Switch effect kicks in and those games get a surge of interest. Worth keeping in mind, I think.

@Thoughts The clock doesn’t carry over extra time when you reload a checkpoint.

Tetris Effect was supposed to be transcendent with PSVR. Could we throw this into Labo VR and replicate the effect?

This aged like fine wine.

Can we get an option for, "Grabbing one, might grab the other if I like it'?

(But knowing my tastes, I'll probably end up getting both.)