burninmylight

@edgedino I've the original on Wii ever since it first came out. As long as you have friends or family to play with (I'd say at least two other folks, but it supports up to four), you will have a blast.

Even though Normal Mode and Battle Royale are there, the Story Mode is the only real way to play. Normal Mode is the most like Mario Party, where you have a set number of turns, but Dokapon is best enjoyed over a LONG run... I'm talking days or weeks over multiple sittings. Don't let that daunt you, it makes sense. The game really is just as much an RPG as it is a party game, meaning you have a ton of growth and customization of your character, able to choose their stat growth, weapons, and skills.

And "Story" is pretty light, there is practically no lore, worldbuilding or characters to learn, just objectives. But it's like D&D in that you and your friends make your own from the template it gives you.

Now, being a port of a 16 year-old game (no, it's not a remake, them's some PS2 level graphics with a widescreen hack) with added online functionality makes it a bit overpriced, but if you go look at prices of the game on Wii and around the Internet, a whole lot of people would be glad to pay "only" $50 for this game, lol

@DiamondJim Between the games always having one save file per cart/console and GameFreak not allowing you to make backups of said file on your 3DS like any other game, it absolutely should have been free.

I had no idea that it was going free soon. I was groaning about having to possibly login to Y and Ultra Moon to pull down hundreds of mons so I wouldn't lose them forever.

@TheBigBlue I'm playing through FE Awakening now (thanks to being forced to start it earlier than I wanted because of Nintendo's asinine decision to close the eShops and Intelligent System's asinine decision to lock DLC behind progress), and I've had to soft reset on Chapter 11 in this game so many times, lol

"A difficult game is fine, but one bad turn spiralling into a complete wipeout just isn’t good design."

How did you ever make it through Fire Emblem?

When this "remaster" was announced, I was annoyed because I paid a premium for the GCN version years ago, then wound up with a PS3 where I got that version since it would be easier to play on a modern television. Up until this review, I was wondering if I should just stick with what I have or splurge once again for a possibly superior version, but that's no longer a problem since this ain't that.

@OrtadragoonX I haven't played Arise, but that's exactly how I feel about Graces f. Loved the combat, hated the characters (except Sophie and Malik) and writing.

@HotGoomba The poster said they don't like furries, not that they hate people into them. How is that hating on a whole community?

I don't like realistic racing sims, doesn't mean that I'm going after people that do.

@HotGoomba It was pretty clear you don't hate furries before you edited your comment, for going after someone who doesn't care for furries.

Times must be a 'changin when the people who AREN'T into racy animals are the ones accused of being edgy Internet dwelling deviants.

Any tactical RPG gets a serious look from me, but that trailer with the amateurish announcer sounding bored out of her mind and the overly dramatic presentation combined with the Flash/mobile game style were not points in its favor. I don't mind anthropomorphic characters as long as they aren't sexualized (see the comments above), so as long as the game plays well, reviews well, and wouldn't make me ashamed to play in front of other people, I'll give it a fair shot.

@tseliot Toad should have came up with some better material when he noticed he was losing his audience instead of relying on being edgy with the use of the word "Blooper" to try to get a reaction from the crowd

@Ryu_Niiyama This is the game for you then, because there is a weapon to punish men with sagging and baggy pants, lol.

@invictus4000 That is the most apt description of the main character possible. Every time I see that ridiculous wig, I'm taken straight back to the 90s.

My enjoyment of this game will go up immensely if there is an option to change the hair color to something far less distracting.

@WallyWest How often does this happen from a game that gives you several dozen hours of gameplay?

@Rainz @Mario500

I come from a place where some of the locals say "Murica", lol

@HeadPirate That's not very well thought out at all; it's actually pretty reductionist and self-centered. Unless I'm drastically miscalculating the amount of people that happen to have working Dreamcast and/or GameCube units lying around, connected to CRT televisions in 2022, that is. And these people have enough disposable income to pay three times as much as the normal MSRP of a new Switch release for a used copy of a 20-year-old game.

And yes, there are ROMs, but:

a) piracy is the answer to everything if someone wants to go that route, and the people who simply use emulators to play games probably aren't the same people port begging for something they don't have any access to

b) not all of us have the means, know-how or desire to go that route. I personally have a laptop that could probably handle a Dreamcast or Dolphin emulator, but a lot of people don't. And why the heck would we want to use a jailbroken smartphone to play a hacked ROM of a game designed to be played with a controller from two decades ago? You really can't comprehend why someone would prefer an official release designed for modern consoles over that?

c) for many of us, piracy = stealing. It's easier to justify something like SoA where the game literally has not been made available in any manner whatsoever to legally play on a modern device in decades, but we'd prefer to have an actual, officially approved copy that is guaranteed to run on the hardware it was meant for. It can be asking a lot of a company like Sega to make a game that runs well, but others are better about pulling it off.

No, every new remake does not cost us a new game. This is another reductionist and hot-takey argument that doesn't hold up when one actually takes a moment to think about it.

M2 is a studio that specializes in remaking/remastering old games, both beloved and obscure. It's also not under the thumb of any publisher telling it what to do. How often does it make new games? All M2 does is release the definitive edition of older games, because that's all M2 wants to do. What about the port specialist Virtuos? Point me to the original game that Virtuos has put out or has in development. Remember Tantalus, the team that did the HD versions of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword? They've made some original games like Funky Barn... and Pony Trails for the iPhone... yep, the world sure is missing out on their original efforts.

OK, maybe I was wrong on that. Games that people actually want, like HD Zeldas, RiME and Sonic Mania should take a backseat to Funky Barn and mobile games.

No I did not reply to you by mistake. As you can clearly see in my first reply, I separated my reply to the other person with another name drop. If that's the best you can come up with while ironically stating that one should just ignore opinions they don't agree with (with zero self awareness), then your argument looks pretty weak.

@HeadPirate Can't people who either weren't around or didn't have the means to play a 20-year-old game desire to play a great 20-year-old game that they still don't have the means to play?

There are hundreds of development studios and publishers out there, God forbid a few of them take the time to make classics available to a modern audience for the sake of QoL changes in line with modern standards, or just simply for the sake of convenience of playing on consoles compatible with modern televisions and game preservation.

It's not like Sega taking the time to remaster this game means that we'd be missing out on a potential masterpiece elsewhere.

I can't imagine being so jaded and cynical at the world that reading a few comments from a vocal minority online is enough to declare an entire industry and art form broken because of it. I can imagine how much better your life would be if you would lighten up a little.

@theModestMouse Yep, remasters and updated rereleases don't have any gameplay. Guess we should all go play modern AAA live service gacha crap full of MTX and roadmaps that never get completed. Welp, I'm off to go pour thousands of dollars into the latest game that released half broken but wants me to keep paying for a shot at getting something that's not promised to me, that sounds like a fun gameplay loop!

@NCChris I downloaded SMRPG for the Wii VC, so you're right about it not being a matter of Square being unwilling to comply.

@ChHa Nephinee would be perfect for this game. The most bland character in PoR meets the most bland artstyle in modern FE.

Nephinee is like Landorus in Pokemon. You know that no one is using them because they actually like the character; they're just dealing with their boringness or ugliness to get to the broken stats and ability combo.

Haar's cool though.

@NielsNL Because it's in the eShop NOW, as opposed to having been pulled until the developer and pub can sort things out. People interested in the game will be looking for a review NOW, not later. Therefore, they deserve to know how the experience is NOW, not later.

@Fizza If you like PM64, just wait until the day you somehow get your hands on PM: The Thousand Year Door (another one of the GameCube exclusives Nintendo hasn't yet saved). Then you'll see what we've been begging for since.

@MeloMan Totally agree with you, but it would be nice if the reviewer or someone on the site just threw in a small paragraph at the beginning or end of the original review mentioning this substantial patch with a link.

Anyone who isn't aware of this game at release or forgot about the patch weeks, months or years later will naturally gravitate toward the review and there's a good chance they'll miss any further info about the game. That could be a deciding factor on whether they take a shot on it.

I can think of a handful of times I was going to pass on a game with middling reviews or that had serious technical problems, but learned that a later patched fixed many of them, so I decided to go forward with buying.

I've seen a let's play of this game that was either a demo or Early Access on Steam, and if the rest of it lives up to that, then count me in.

@Xiovanni Lol, ever heard of Bart Simpson?

@Ralizah Hit it right out of the park. Funny that the person above you put in a GIF of Woody, another poster boy of a fictional character who was forced to stick around longer than he should have been (albeit one movie instead of more than two decades).

Let these young aspiring Pokemon masters of today have their own character to attach themselves too instead of sticking them with a stale character with mountains of baggage. Let us crusty old farts (and the one that is somehow not nearly as old as us) finally have our day and see/hear that the guy we started our journey with achieved his dream.

@HandheldHaunter @alexybubble

Thanks for the info, y'all. I don't have a PSP, so it's either the GBA or DS version, and it sounds like there are enough differences between them to justify playing both (whenever that may be; the backlog is years long at this point).

Now I wish I would have downloaded The After Years on WiiWare, but at the time I was like, "How and when am I ever going to play FFIV?" Lol

@rwalsh6882 You know what would be even more unlikely, because it makes all the sense in the world?

Making a game music streaming service part of your NSO subscription.

Just checked my Word doc to see which FF games I have, and it turns out that I have them all except FFV across GBA, DS and PS3.

I see several people saying the ports on the GBA and DS are superior thanks to the extra content, so I'll stick with the plan of getting to those one day.

However, can someone tell me if the DS version of IV is superior to the GBA outside of the obvious (extra screen, better hardware for graphics and sound)? Like does it have extra content and QoL features that the GBA version doesn't?

I used to play Monster Hunter on Wii with an USB keyboard in my lap so I could quickly type messages in multiplayer (I used a Classic Controller for actual gameplay). I've been asking the same questions EVIL-C said ever since then. The more options, the better.

Special shout outs go to Clanker and the giant pink/purple eel from Super Mario 64, but there is a clear number one for the moment that filled me with terror more than any other Nintendo game.

Star Fox 64... final level on Venom, you're already on a desolate planet with a blood red sky, scorched earth, and an all-around creepy and unwelcoming atmosphere. Then at some point, you leave your teammates behind and fly solo through dark, ominous tunnels while the final boss of the game taunts you on your radio. Up to this point, you haven't seen this guy in person, only his head in portraits and on your radio. Then you enter his pitch black chamber, and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZh5gFHQATA

The first time I met Andross "face to face", I paused the game, got up and turned off the console and TV, and didn't touch it again for two days. I wouldn't play again until someone else was in the room with me, lol.

@Shepdawg1 That part absolutely sent chills down my spine too, but the initial meeting with Andross didn't faze you? ~_~

@Tandy255 I don't think GCN is going to happen for the NSO. When Nintendo finally remembers GCN games, they will be sold as spruced up remastered versions at a $60 price tag. Nintendo thinks modernizing control schemes and adding widescreen support justifies selling 20-year old games for the same price as modern ones.

@mike_intv This is the best response/take on this issue, period. So many factors we don't know, so to take a side is just to show your bias.

I'm sorry for the lady, but I really do need more details before I'd go so far as to boycott the game.

@Browny Hopefully this gives American employees in the business more courage and motivation to unionize and take steps toward a healthier working environment and conditions.

It's not much, but they have to start somewhere.

Nintendo is my favorite video game company, but I will always side with labor when the labor didn't do anything wrong. I think the former playtester wasn't compensated enough.

@Shambo Don't hold your breath for too long on that WIi U port...

I know you meant Switch; just giving you a hard time ~_~

But back on topic, anything from PG + good quality title is an insta-buy from me, no waiting for a sale. Even better that it's already reasonably price for a port (see that, Nintendo and Bethesda?)

@fenlix I'm pretty sure it would have been a disaster regardless. The game was fundamentally bad, not merely a bad port.

Still, all the more reason why it would have been awesome for Sega to let Nintendo develop the game since it was Nintendo-exclusive.

@sketchturner I'm i the same boat. Every time I see the combat in this game, with it's lack of feedback when attacking enemies and all-around clunkiness, I get entirely turned off. And the story and lore is absolutely grand, but it feels like if you weren't there for previous installments, then you will be completely lost or a lot of things will fly over your head.

@SpaceboyScreams I don't smile when I play any video game, no matter how much fun I'm having. I'd imagine that the more fun I'm having, the less I'm smiling because I'm too into the game to use the muscles in my face. Remember when Nintendo's commercials used to feature families or a diverse group of friends in their socks in an unnaturally sterile room playing games while laughing and smiling like they just inhaled Joker gas? Talk about uncanny valley.

That being said, Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles were all genuinely great games. I would feel that way if were playing them for the first time today as I did decades ago.

I wish Sega would have let Nintendo give Lost World or Boom to one of its internal teams or Retro Studios to develop. The games were exclusive to Nintendo consoles, so it's not like there was anything to lose. Imagine a Sonic game with the polish, creativity and attention to detail from the folks that gave us Mario Galaxy and Odyssey.

Sega would have gotten some great PR for Sonic and actually had its mascot's face out of the dirt for a few years, and Nintendo would have actually gotten a GOOD Sonic exclusive.

@Doctor-Moo Now you got me wondering how much my sealed copy is worth!

I was planning to get around to it one of these decades, but if I can get the price of a Switch for it, then I'll just do that and emulate the game, lol.

@MJF same thing, got those games during a Black Friday or Christmas sale, then got 8 and 9 a couple of years later for the same thing. Had no idea they'd fly up in value that much at the time.

@Coffeemonster I'm seeing Catgirl Space Harrier, and hearing (and seeing from :30 - :45) Cowboy Bebop.

Seriously, go watch the opening for Cowboy Bebop on YT and tell me you don't see the influence. The song in this trailer sounds like a mix between Tank! and Chicken Bone, the intro for CB and the song that plays during the in-universe bounty-hunter show.

The gameplay is... not on point, but if the rest of the soundtrack is like the song in the trailer, then the music is at least!

@Serpenterror I recently got around to finally playing Legends of Ys Books 1 I & II a few months ago, and just last week I finally had to have a pep talk with myself and admit it's time to abandon and move on. I could live with the ramming into enemies, but the story (granted I didn't get much further than finishing the second dungeon) didn't grip me at all and clearly had its roots in 80s/90s archaic design and storytelling.

No character in the game gives you any reason to attach to or even remember them, and if a game requires me to have a guide on hand at all times to figure out where to go and what to do outside of dungeons, then I'm probably not having any fun.

I'm in agreement with so many people here about a shorter length RPG being a good thing. I have so many super-long RPGs (to say nothing of all of the other games) in my backlog that I don't think I'll be able to play them all in my lifespan.

A game that doesn't overstay it's welcome is absolutely a selling point for me these days. I'm not a kid that only gets maybe two new games a year anymore.

"This site & in general...I'm seeing quite a few people excited for this game who have shown no interest in the past..."

It's OK, you're forgiven. We all make mistakes.

@uptownsoul I'm excited for the game despite showing no interest in the past... because I had never heard of it prior to the Direct.

Mission accomplished?

It is so ingrained in our society that anyone working a minute less than 40 hours a week must be lazy and/or unproductive, but how many people do you really know that spends every minute of their time doing their job nonstop?

We all take coffee breaks, many of us take bathroom breaks where we just go sit on the stool to catch a breather, we sit around and shoot the breeze, we pull out our phones and play games, you name it. Most of us don't spend every single second grinding away because that would drive us all crazy, from the lowliest employee all the way up to the CEO. How much of that time would be better spent away from work, and then how much more motivated and refreshed would we be when we came back?

@Dr_Corndog Obviously the boss doesn't think his employees were working a reasonable number of hours, and he said that he hopes an extra day every week will increase productivity.

@PanFriedSoup I'd gladly take a port of the Vita version of Muramasa.

@RushDawg The Switch port of Phantasy Star I contains QoL improvements such as options to make the game easier and faster, guides for items, spells, and monsters, the FM soundtrack, hiragana support, and a dungeon auto-mapping feature.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/08/phantasy_star_joins_the_sega_ages_range_in_japan_next_month_new_features_revealed

Would be nice if we could get the SEGA AGES version of PS2 on the Switch as well.

@Joeynator3000 If the game had the English voice talent and translation team that was responsible for the couple of seasons we got on Adult Swim back in the early 2000s, I would eat this game up with no questions asked, just for the comedy.

@Silly_G I've been wanting special animations for moves missing or Pokemon dodging them since Stadium back in the N64 days; I thought back then that when we got better hardware capable of better graphics and animation, they'd eventually come, but nope. Pokemon just stand around like, "Durr, I'm sure glad that Fire Blast didn't hit me even though I'm a stationary target!"

That game STILL has better animations than anything GF has done, by the way....

There was a game on Wii called Dokapon Kingdom that had a very basic battle system similar to Pokemon. Whenever a move missed a character, you got a short dodging animation that changed based on the character's class, along with a sound effect. Even that much goes a long way to adding flair and liveliness to battles. Seeing things like Flying mon take to the sky, Ground mon dig, or ones known for speed dodge/run/jump out of the way would add so much personality to each Pokemon.

@YoshiF2 I'd say the text stats look like an idea from when the games were on 8-bit monochrome hardware 25 years ago that had simpler coding patterns and limited ability to convey information onscreen. Now that we have game engines more capable of complex algorithms and sharing things visually, some of those tedious and archaic ways of giving feedback to the player should be modernized.

@Serpenterror The only games that come to NSO are games that the publisher doesn't deem worthy of a reboot/remake/rerelease any time soon, like ActRaiser, the Scarlet SaGa series, Dragon Quest, and so on. RPGs are especially susceptible to this.

OB64 (and TO: MofBQ) is exactly the kind of game that would get the celebrated remake treatment, likely in HD-2D a la Live-A-Live. Therefore, I don't see them coming to NSO until Squeenix decides what to do with them, and an NSO release pretty much tells us that no remakes are coming and that's the most we'd be getting for a long, long time.

Personally, I'd prefer remakes over NSO ports, but something is better than nothing.

EDIT: Decided to go look up some info on OB64 and learned that Nintendo published the original game in Japan while Atlus published it in the West. Square Enix might not have any publishing rights to it. It may be completely on Atlus.

@Pungu I hope this means that Ogre Battle 64 is close to finally getting a remaster as well!

Maybe that will change after I play this game, but OB64 has the deepest story and most well-written dialogue I have ever experienced in any RPG, and it would be nice to play something that's not entirely in the same vein of Fire Emblem/FFTA. That game could use so many QoL improvements as well.