Comments 381

Re: Opinion: Resident Evil Requiem Needs To Solve The Series' Villain Problem

brakeman90

Good article! That said, I wholeheartedly disagree, haha. I actually prefer the approach of more recent series entries, as the recurring villain arc of Wesker outstayed its welcome during the middle era of the series. The earliest games are more similar to current ones, with RE1, 2, and 3 respectively featuring Wesker/Tyrant, William Birkin, and Nicolai/Nemesis as their primary villains. Wesker's recurring period coincides with the series' weakest entries, as he was a pretty consistent fixture from Code Veronica to RE5 (semi-excluding RE0 and RE4, which only reference him). Truth be told, I'd like to see the series continue to offer a unique antagonist in each entry that gets fully - or mostly - destroyed by the time the credits roll.

Re: "I'm Running On Fumes" - Digital Eclipse Is Scrambling To Address Issues With Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection

brakeman90

As a person who's pretty sensitive to input lag (looking at you, Mega Man X Legacy Collection!), I don't find it to be very noticeable in this game on Switch 2. Apparently it varies across platforms, with PC being best and PS5 being worst IIRC, but I play these games at the arcade a few times a year and don't notice a big difference in the Switch 2 version. I'll concede that it could be my lack of expertise, or maybe it's more prominent in games I haven't played yet (UMK3, MK4). If you're a relatively casual fan like me, though, I'd still strongly recommend this collection - it plays a heck of a lot better than any other home release of these games.

Re: Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection Update Announced, Here Are The Patch Notes

brakeman90

I've only played through MK1 (arcade/Game Gear/Game Boy) and MK2 (arcade) so far, but they match my experience with the games at local arcades. I'm not surprised there are small emulation issues, as that's just the nature of running something - especially something as notoriously tough to replicate as classic Mortal Kombat - on non-original hardware. I wouldn't dispute that folks with a lot more expertise are noticing more issues than me, but it's an excellent collection for the more casual fan.

All that said, the patch sounds great! Ironing out the little issues while giving a few quality of life features (one-button fatalities? yes please!) is rad.

Re: Review: Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (Switch 2) - A Killer Kompilation, But Online Is A Mess At Launch

brakeman90

Picked this up yesterday and I'm absolutely loving it! I played through MK1 Arcade already - only doable for me with rewind, haha - and then dove into the Game Gear MK1, which is charming in its own right (and which I'd never played before). Having grown up with these games and long lamenting their absence from modern platforms, this collection is an absolute treat. If I was into online matches, I'd be bummed by the issues identified above, but luckily that's not my use case; for fellow single-player/couch multiplayer folks, I'll echo Ollie: this is a must-buy.

Re: Review: Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (Switch 2) - Rounds Out The Erdrick Trilogy In Style

brakeman90

Woooo, cool review for a cool game! I've been eagerly awaiting this, having enjoyed DQ1 and DQ3 in their excellent Game Boy Color guises but avoiding 2 after finding it pretty rough - sounds like SE delivered the definitive version of that game here, sanding off the rough edges. As for performance, 60fps is definitely appreciated in a Dragon Quest even if 30 would be acceptable - the NES and GBC versions seem to run at 30, so it's cool that they upgraded it for the remake.

Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

brakeman90

I'm very interested, but some financial belt-tightening and a way-too-long backlog of games I've bought and am waiting to play mean that I won't be picking this up tomorrow. I sometimes buy smaller releases just to support the studio at launch, but I think Z-A will do just fine without me! All of that said, I like everything that I've heard about it.

Re: Review: Yooka-Replaylee (Switch 2) - Feels Like The Game It Was Meant To Be, Finally

brakeman90

@betterman Funny enough, I'm the exact opposite! I have a hard time with 3D platformers at 30fps (as a guy who grew up on the smooth 2D platformers of the early 90s, the shift to choppier 3D action games in the N64/PSX era was pretty jarring). Different strokes for different folks, of course!

All that said, great review - I was interested in this game back in 2017, but the issues kept me away. Having loved Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair, I'm eager to snag this one on PS5. My physical copy is already preordered! Also, kudos to Playtonic for shipping an actual, honest-to-goodness Switch 2 cartridge. Seems like a quality studio.

Re: Digital Foundry Delivers A Technical Breakdown Of Switch 2's DLSS

brakeman90

@WheresWaveRace Sure, I don't slow games down either, but that's a pretty disingenuous depiction of Digital Foundry; they're doing very close-read tech analyses to describe what's going on behind the scenes in the absence of studios/manufacturers being explicit about their technology. It's educational not because it represents the everyday use case, but because it explains what's going on in the background of our everyday use case.

Re: Yooka-Replaylee Runs At 30fps On Switch 2, Team Investigating Performance Mode

brakeman90

Damn it, I preordered this based on the (unfounded but reasonable) assumption that an update of a 2017 game could easily run at 60fps on Switch 2; I don't normally preorder, but wanted to be kind to Playtonic in light of their recent layoffs. Going to be canceling that and going with a PS5 version, as I really don't like 3D platformers at 30fps. What a bummer. Hope they can build in that Performance Mode prior to release.

Re: Nintendo Is "Acting To Protect The Industry" With Switch 2 Game Key Cards, Says Ex-Capcom Composer

brakeman90

The Ubisoft representative made an interesting point that I hadn't considered, but Sugimori's argument doesn't hold water. As a person who has worked for over a decade in the field of digital archives and recordkeeping, the idea that digital artifacts are inherently more preservable than physical ones is simply false.

They can be, but only when (a) their format is a broad industry standard that's existed for a while, (b) there are no ownership/licensing/rights issues surrounding them, and (c) they can be freely duplicated across multiple repositories while carefully maintained to prevent the loss or introduction of data. All of that is directly contradictory to what's going on with key cards, where a purchase is linked to a specific account on a specific commercial platform, a steady internet connection is required, and you have no ability to store multiple backup copies.

I don't think Sugimori is being malicious, but I think he has more faith in digital preservation than the last thirty years should give someone.

Re: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Patch Adds 60fps Mode, But There's A Catch

brakeman90

@WaveBoy Yeah, I find myself pretty flexible. 30fps on sidescrollers or really anything 2D is tough for me, as I grew up with the SNES/GEN era where games that "looked like that" (barring obvious modern enhancements like resolution and animation complexity) were often running at a smooth 60fps. 3D games - again likely because I just got used to lower framerates during my introduction to them - look better at 30fps than their 2D counterparts, though it really needs to be a steady framerate; Death Stranding 2 and Final Fantasy VII Remake both looked excellent running at 30fps and I retained those settings, but other 3D games don't fare as well. First person games, similarly, give me motion sickness at a lower or unsteady framerate. The sweet spot for 3D games, where it's available, is 40fps or 45fps, which look very similar to 60 for me, but they depend on having specific hardware and I accept that it's not going to be a development priority.

Re: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Patch Adds 60fps Mode, But There's A Catch

brakeman90

@Truegamer79 As someone who started playing games in the early 90s, framerate differences were noticeable back then, even if we didn't have the standardized language to address them. It's the reason why games seemed so much more sluggish when we went to 3D, as so many SNES/GEN titles ran at 60 and N64/PSX ones struggled to even hit 30. It's part of why the PS2/XBOX/GC era was cool, as we started to get 60fps games more frequently again. Framerate issues aren't new, and we definitely noticed them in the past. As to why a pixel-based 2D game can't run at 60fps on Switch when it was the standard for games of that style in the past, you've got me - a lot of more recent 2D games inexplicably struggle on Switch.

Re: The Force Isn't Strong With Star Wars Outlaws On Switch 2, Initial Impressions Suggest

brakeman90

This and Elden Ring make me wish it was more profitable for devs to focus on bringing PS4/XBO/PC games from the 2010s to the Switch 2. Titles that hit performance issues on the PS5 and XSX are bound to disappoint on a weaker machine (much as I love my Switch 2, playing it more than my PS5 or XSX). I'd love to get good ports of Assassin's Creed Odyssey or the Dark Souls Trilogy than bad ports of more recent games.