breach187

Pokemon is basically just Pro Bass Fishing without the water. Change my mind.

X&Y is in my opinion where things started going from great to just good.

I really don’t like rewards being locked behind competitive multiplayer. I hate pvp because it brings out the worst in me, so I avoid it wherever I can.

This feels like damage control because everyone is wising up to Xbox’s death spiraling. Microsoft will likely be just fine since most the world (at least the general workforce) runs on Windows, but the Xbox brand as a hardware company is toast, unless they pull some really magical innovation out of their butts for the next console. Just copying others isn’t good enough here.

I suppose what I’d like to see out of the Xbox hardware is more of a blurring between console and pc. Give people an easy-mode PC building. Go the Framework route with your console.

I picked up the game a little earlier than expected due to the high praise I’ve seen it receiving and I immediately ate my words. I made the mistake of ‘trying it out’ to see what it was like before I finished Sword (I’m going back and playing the ones I missed) and couldn’t put it down. I had to force myself to take a break.
It’s not without flaws, but it’s really damn good.

I can’t wait to see the documentaries in 5-10 years on ‘Xbox to Ex-box: What Went Wrong?’
But for now it’s frustrating watching the death spiral and denial in action.

But hey, there’s always Atari making a comeback (ha).

Just want to say that I’ve been pretty critical of the game in the comments of the various articles published by NintendoLife, and while the game does have its share of shortcomings, I was wrong about the overall game itself.
I sat down and started playing it this weekend and could. not. stop. It’s hands down my favorite Pokemon game in terms of gameplay and presentation so far. They fixed so many long-running series’ shortfalls. I really want this to be the direction of Pokemon going forward.
There are still gripes I have about the game (lack of voice acting in cutscenes, it doesn’t get out of its own way soon enough, the city isn’t alive enough), but the things they do nail, they nail.
I’d encourage anyone sitting on the fence on this one to just go ahead and take the plunge.

Anybody getting SEGA dejavu here?

This doesn’t affect me as I’ve been boycotting EA since around Mass Effect 3’s release. I encourage others to follow.

@Xeno_Aura There was something someone said one time many years ago that stuck with me. I’m afraid I don’t remember the source so I can’t attribute the quote to anyone.
“The internet always routes around damage.”
Web search companies are no longer trying to provide the best results for the user. Instead they’ve bungled up their search with sponsored results, fake results, and scam results. So users are going to use whatever alternative to find what they’re actually looking for, which happens to be AI.
The users are not to blame here, and many companies aren’t either, but this is a case of “this is why we don’t have nice things.” Too many bad actors INCLUDING GOOGLE have messed up the Internet ON PURPOSE in pursuit of profit.

@kal_el_07241 That sounds amazing. Thanks for the heads up.

I still have concerns, reservations, and criticisms, some of which won’t change, and some are rightly deserved, but I’m glad to see the general public sentiment is that it’s a really fun game. I’ll look into picking this one up once I’ve finished with Sword.

Edit: I only started playing Sword recently, which was right after I finished Legends Arceus, which was right after I finished Scarlet, which I only even bothered with once the performance issues were mostly fixed on the Switch 2.

@Lord some people genuinely hate it because they hate it, but a lot more people are just disappointed because we know they can do better but just don’t apply themselves. We want to see it be the best thing it can be because we love it.

@LastFootnote Xenosaga Ep 3.

@MoldyPasta This would be like giving your entire development team the pink slip. Ain’t no way Pokemon would return to Gamefreak after Monolithsoft made one.

@SlamDunk22_
This was my immediate reaction as well.
I know Pokemon games don’t have voice acting, but something about this one felt especially jarring.

This is why Nintendo prices the way they do.

@TitanSix Gamefreak is notorious for not respecting the player’s time. They add so much unnecessary time-wasting fluff to their games. I usually have a book near me to read during battles (for other Pokemon games, I haven’t played ZA) because there’s so much down time between turns.

They need to do something for the original Dragon Ball.

It’s 2025 and Pokemon is the most profitable franchise in existence. There’s zero excuse for this, especially when the anime manages to be fully voice acted.
I don’t even care if they only voice the cutscenes. Those at the bare minimum should be voiced. I’d even accept an Animal Crossing style audio for dialogue. It just needs to be something other than a complete void of sound.

@AgentGuapo I’ve been disappointed with every Asus product I’ve purchased in the last 10 years. I expect this would be no different. I have no intention of buying Asus anymore.

I’m waiting for reviews and general public opinion first. I’ll probably pick it up eventually though.

I could see a case being made for locking individual buttons, though I don’t know why anyone would lock the + and - buttons. The problem is that I want to lock SOME of them, not all of them. I don’t use GameChat and accidentally pressing this button is disruptive to gameplay for me, so I’d love to lock it, but not the rest. In fact, I use + and - regularly, so locking all of them isn’t saving me any time or frustration.
Now if they could be locked individually, that would be different.

@jojobar It’s true, but it’s improving the internet in a small way. I can now use ChatGPT as a general quick and easy web search for general information without having to deal with pages of garbage SEO ad delivery sites. Basically fixing all the problems that Google and other search engines have failed to address. It’s doing for search now what Google originally did back when it took over.
Sure sometimes the answers aren’t always correct, but the same could be said about normal web searches too.

@IronMan30 Maybe comparing it to Mario Kart 8 isn’t the best idea. As to get the best experience with that game you had to buy a whole new console and the game again.

Additionally, it has just as much potential to be like Super Mario Party as well; not receiving a single content update. People have to judge the game based on what they get at the time, not what unrealized potential it has.

I think a lot of the hate is because we know what Pokemon COULD be, but it continuously fails to achieve it. We know how much better it has the potential to be. It’s like watching the smartest kid in class constantly get low grades because they don’t apply themself.

@abe_hikura It’s a good case to see whether the powers that be put more value in money or established law. Or perhaps more aptly, what is their selling out price?

Are you telling me I could have just implemented an opt-out policy on copyrighted content and I’m free to infringe as much as I’d like?

This game seems like one of the perfect cases to justify the mouse functionality and would be preferable to motion controls, and yet they make this decision among other bad decisions.

And it’ll still sell ridiculously well, so what’s even the point of complaining? I guess there is none.

I hope the new president is fun like Reggie.

@Shepdawg1 I don’t hate the existence of Game Key Cards. I think despite all their flaws, they do have tangible benefits.

I HATE that they replace the all-on-card option.

It took the same amount of time from announcing the remake to this preview as it did to release the entire original series of 4 games plus a spinoff.

I have to agree with the letter about difficulty, challenge, and self-nerfing.

When power ups and boons are presented in game to you, it’s the developer telling you “this is an acceptable tool to use for this game’s difficulty.” That is the difficulty level the developers designed to be the default challenge level.
We all played Super Mario Bros and got the super mushroom, even though it makes the game easier by giving you an extra hit and letting you take some shortcuts. Nobody thought “oh this makes the game too easy.” While there are instances of no-power-up playthroughs, it is widely accepted as the default game experience.
Meanwhile, there was a lot of negativity towards later Mario games where they give you a struggling powerup like the golden P wings or similar power-ups that invalidate the challenge. While it’s great for very young and very new players, it should not be the default experience for everybody. Likewise, not every game needs to be the Dark Souls of that genre.
Being able to let the player choose their preferred difficulty level and thus challenge is preferable. I’m not even opposed to being able to change the difficulty mid-game without starting a new one. When you select your difficulty level, you’re saying these are the rule sets you wish to play in, this is the appropriate level of challenge for me. It gives you the satisfaction of overcoming a challenge without game-breaking “we’re sorry you’re struggling” boons.

Players will always find a way to make a game more challenging by implementing their own custom set of guidelines for a playthrough, even outside of the developer’s intentions. While it’d be cool for developers to include player-made challenges like ‘nuzlocke rules’ as an option, it’s not necessary. But having a simple “easy”, “normal”, “hard” choice at the beginning is much more desirable than throwing in a godmode power-up at the start of a level when you fail too many times in a row. The onus is not on the player to create their own challenge level, even if they’re free to tweak it.

How does this all apply to DKB? I can’t really comment on that because I haven’t got that far in the game to run into any difficulty spikes or anything. But I can say if the tools are presented to me, I’m going to use them since that’s what the developers intended for the default challenge level for the game.

I like the idea of the replica system that works with the Switch 2, and I like that they offer a cheaper alternative, but I still don’t like that I need to buy a new peripheral for the new console I just dropped a pretty penny on, and a subscription that I have to pay a higher tier to get access to the games.

If they made it so you can play the games without the stereoscopic 3D, without an extra peripheral, I would be far more appreciative and excited for this.

Should just plop the original games on the Nintendo Classics emulators and add Pokemon Home and Internet support.

I will never not be annoyed by Vanillite. If we’re speaking strictly in evolution terms (scientific, not game), what evolutionary survival benefit would a creature gain from adopting traits that make them look like actual food items? The whole point of evolution is to increase survival chances, and turning into a literal food item runs contrary to that. You’re literally asking to be eaten and to go extinct.
At least Trubbish I can understand. Disguising yourself as disposed garbage would increase your survival, because nobody wants to mess with that.

Days of our Lives: Mentions a video game once and everyone loses their minds.
Big Bang Theory: Mentions a video game every episode and everyone thinks it’s annoying.

In addition to my previous comment, I really want to see a full-fledged fighting game based on the Project X-Zone games.

It could be the biggest crossover fighting game since Smash Bros (If you exclude MUGEN)

I cannot express my desire enough for a new SNK vs Capcom (or vise-versa) game. I don’t care if it’s 3D style like the current City of the Wolves and SF6, or if it’s a traditional sprite-based game of old. Just gimme a new one!

@Jujuman “if you don’t like it, don’t buy it”

Also

“If you don’t buy our bad games you may not get the good ones you want.”

Also

“[Game] sales underperformed.”

If you’re going to come into a discussion being intentionally obtuse, don’t get mad when people call you out on it.

@Jujuman “There are no issues with [product]. Here are two positives and I’ll conveniently ignore all of the negatives. What’s the big deal people?”

@Purgatorium I think there would be a LOT less pushback on a digital-only ecosystem IF (and only if) consumers had any kind of guarantee that the IP owner couldn’t just arbitrarily remove it from you. This is where digital ownership rights need to massively play catchup.

Look at Steam. PC gamers generally accept Steam as a positive force for gaming and games purchasing and distribution. Why? Because it doesn’t matter if you bought Half Life 2 back in 2004 for a Pentium 3, 256MB RAM, Windows XP, GeForce2 computer, or Half-Life Alyx in 2020 for a Core i5-7500, 12GB RAM, Windows 10, GTX 1080 computer, you can still buy, download, and play both on modern PC hardware.

Meanwhile, I may be able to still download Mario Galaxy 2 on my Wii U and play that on my Wii U, but I can’t still buy it on Wii U, or play it on my Switch 2 (without purchasing it all over again). I can’t play the 3DS games I bought on my Switch 2. I can’t even buy Mario 3D All-Stars anymore digitally. I can’t play all the dozens of Nintendo classics I purchased on Wii/Wii U. I have to buy a reoccurring subscription to access whatever Nintendo has decided to make available again.
So companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo haven’t built a foundation of trust in their storefronts. Why should gamers trust they’ll do right by us this time? Why should we switch to an all digital format when the next console may not let us play those games?

That isn’t to say the PC is the perfect platform for digital marketplaces. Just look at Games for Windows Live. Can you still access those games you purchased? (Genuinely don’t know, but I suspect not)

@JohnnyMind I wish, and I’d expect the fervor over the subject to be significantly reduced, if the Game Key Cards were a third option.
Example:
You can buy physical on-the-cartridge games for an elevated price.
Or you can buy digital download-only games for a reduced price.
Or you can buy a Game Key Card for somewhere between the digital and physical prices.

This would put the power in the hands of consumers to choose what is most appropriate for them, and not forcing consumers to choose between two options they don’t want.
You make the physical ownership people happy they have the option to keep buying physical media (albeit perhaps grousing about the price, but that’s the trade off), the digital convenience people happy they can continue to buy things the way they prefer, and the inbetweeners that don’t care about digital or physical games and just want to share with their friends or family or resell if they want to later.
Can even still do the code in a box as option along with the others.

I think a lot of people are upset because the decision is being forced upon us by people who don’t care about us.

@JasonJayPower Indies are treated differently and held to a different standard than AAA Publishers who are worth millions. While I can’t say nobody has ever been upset at indie devs choosing not to release physical products, the general sentiment is that indies get a pass.

@AverageGamer I think this is pedantry. Digital doesn’t necessarily last longer in how it matters to consumers and ownership.

Sure the digital file can last longer than physical just through natural wear and tear, but the longevity of the file integrity doesn’t matter when it’s removed from marketplaces and/or download availability or your license is revoked.

Also as you stated, the preservation efforts don’t match, such as the case with the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster where Square-Enix themselves stated they didn’t preserve the original files. Thankfully there are still ways to play the original and even download digital re-releases (like on Android).

@mangaTom Yes, I do think an industry where the biggest name players are driven entirely by greed and have PSYCHOLOGISTS ON STAFF just to figure out new ways to exploit players into paying more money would do something like this for greed. Let’s not forget this is an industry that does stuff like:
Multiple expensive tiers of collectors editions
DLC announced before game releases.
Macro-Microtransactions
Season Passes
FOMO events
Loot boxes
In-game advertisements
Cross promotions (like
Mercedes Kart)
And a multitude of other increasingly demanding spending methods.

So yes, greed is the order of the day.

“Digital products last longer”

Tell that to P.T. Or any number of other digital products you can’t legally purchase anymore because arbitrary reason. They CAN last longer, so long as the publisher or developer decides to allow it. THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

Wealthy out-of-touch industry insiders defending themselves from legitimate criticism. Nothing unexpected here. It would have been a bigger story if they agreed with consumers that it’s the worst solution.

Just want to remind people that the reason there isn’t a way to trade used digital games is because they don’t like it, not because it isn’t possible. In fact, the whole virtual game card thing Nintendo has done this time around specifically proves it’s possible to transfer digital games while maintaining ownership.

And to be fair, this isn’t entirely a one-party issue, so developers and publishers aren’t entirely at fault here, nor Nintendo, but they also don’t have to bend so far backwards to defend it. They are at fault for going along with it though.

I sure hope thing thing doesn’t “talk on their own” at 2am.