eldersnake

@rallydefault I don't think that's entirely fair. I'm one of those more forgiving on frame rate too (hell, I played through all of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound on Switch 1 in all its 30fps 'glory' ), but when a lot of people are used to 60FPS and beyond for one reason or another (especially the newer generations I'm guessing), I can see 30fps being quite jarring to them.

Oof, a couple of those Switch 1 screen grabs of the game almost look like Gamecube graphics

I won't get into arguing. Just suffice to say that personally, if a game is GKC, I ain't buying it.

The way things are going, I'll likely just be buying Nintendo's own games (fully physical) and GOG on the PC side of things. They are digital only but you get an offline installer so can make your own physical backup if you so wish. No fancy boxes or anything obviously, but I'm not so much a collector as just someone who likes having the freedom to preserve how I want to.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED. Well, not that shocked.

PC for sure, but nice it's an option for Switch 2

@FX29 yeah I'm forcing my way through Hollow Knight at the moment, but I'm unsure how far I want to go. I understand the game is meant to get better as it goes, but I'm not feeling the same enjoyment I get from a Metroid game. I think it's the same problem I encounter with Souls games - I can brute force my way through the difficulty with enough determination, but the world just feels kinda depressing and empty, so it doesn't always feel worth it.

Still, I'll give it more of a chance, just feels like a chore at the moment.

@JohnnyMind It's also interesting to me that they chose to just nerf certain areas/enemies (as I understand it, I haven't played the game) rather than just offering a difficulty choice. The former is more likely to inflame some of their difficulty loving fanbase, while the former caters for everyone while still keeping the original game/difficulty. Interesting decision, but maybe it was just easier to code in.

It's a pass from me, at $30 something AUD. I was hoping it might have at least been part of the Online subscription, but nope. Nintendo being a little of their signature greedy.

Very much wait and see.

I think the open, biking thing will be to some extent a gimmick and not the meat of the game. As long as it doesn't detract too much from the game that's all that matters to me.

Someone at the company should take Randy's social media access away, he just can't help himself.

Sure, give me an offline installer to download / archive like GOG.com does and I'd happily accept that argument of digital lasting longer.

But alas...

@Medic_alert yeah I'll be honest, as someone who doesn't have big portable gaming needs (unless you count the journey to the couch), and if not for Metroid Prime 4, I'm not sure I'd even have my Switch 2 anymore.

Sure Bananza is great, but I probably wouldn't spend $700+ AUD on a console just to play it. At this point it's all about MP4 and I guess any new flagship Zelda games in future.

Most anything else I can play on other platforms.

Looks great, and Zelda looks both badass and majestic at the same time which is perfect IMO

All I ever wanted was an MP4 release date and I got that at least. For some reason they chose some of the worst looking footage I've seen of the game. It's looked great in everything I've seen before, but this motorcycle open world thing almost looked like it was just slapped in as an after thought and the overall game visual fidelity looked unusually low.

Nintendo being Nintendo I guess. Still have high hopes for the game, cautiously.

Are we sure it isn't a horror game? Given our (Aussie) wildlife?

Kinda looked like the trailer was the Switch 1 version, but could be wrong. It was very brief.

Anyway just glad to finally have a release date!

@Pillowpants indeed, and it's always going to be increasingly hard to find truly original ideas anyway (goes for almost in anything in the world), most of it is gonna be inspired by other things or an iteration of other ideas.

If there's a reasonable hint, fair enough. If there were none at all, it would just be mean spirited.

@SirVick agree, great for those that only have a Switch 2 of course, but I'd go one of the platforms that can play it cranked up in details otherwise. Wonderful game.

If MP4 doesn't get a release date, I going to be a very sad panda

This is no good, at all. The system is broken when it comes to stuff like this.

@HeldHero yeah I've noticed that, you see it a lot in the Dark Souls community etc. It seems a bit like insecurity or something, there being an easy mode isn't going to take away from their fun and sense of achievement, if thats what they're so worried about.

I don't see how adding accessibility options would alter any game's artistic vision. You would have the standard game, then the other options for those that need them. Seems obvious to me.

I liked the way Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound handled it, with the difficulty/accessibility options it had. Surprisingly, I never had to use any of them (I'm not the best gamer) and I pushed through the game even though some bosses touched me up badly, but it was nice to know the option was there if need be.

I'm no fan of Ubisoft, but fair play on the work on this.

I don't think there's anything wrong with demanding more on a platform that demands so much from one's wallet. Yes there are compromises we have to accept on a hybrid vs dedicated system, but only so much. Ports like Outlaws should be the norm, not... this.

Game key card, dang. Thankfully it is on GOG though, so I could consider the PC version if I decide to get the game. I've been watching a bit of a let's play of the game, and all I can say is the devs must be cat lovers! Which I can appreciate.

Anyway great atmosphere and narrative indeed.

It's okay. Getting there, slowly but surely. My opinion will likely be even more complimentary when we finally get Metroid Prime 4!

@kmtrain83 not too sure sorry, I guess the answer would be no as far as users go, but if devs really wanted the option for their physical cartridge to be "install to system memory" I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for Nintendo to add. Like it was mentioned above, it would be like the other consoles where games are installed from Bluray discs, just from cartridge.

I'd personally prefer that over game key card any day. We'd still get a cart containing actual game data, but installed to the system where I/O performance is best.

Unfortunately, that does make sense. A compromise though, if you could fit the data on the cartridge, is still have a fully physical release that just installs/copies to the system memory.

Holy hell, I somehow only just learned that Team Cherry are Australian (my country). Wow, fair effort guys!

@Dr_Awkward people have a right to protest things they don't like, especially as good paying consumers. You don't like it, just scroll on by instead of being toxic/flaming.

As for the game, I'm glad it turned out well, though as a GKC I also will pass. I'd consider a discounted digital only purchase, depending on if there's a difference in how the purchase is counted (I.e if I was sure it would be counted differently from a GKC purchase, which I honestly can't remember). Anyway, glad to see another big third party title where they seem to have mostly gotten performance decent!

Was never a game I was interested in, even being a Star Wars fan, much less the fact this would also be a game key card, but nice I guess that the platform has another fairly notable third party game and for those that want some Star Wars action on Nintendo.

I appreciate the subheading personally, so I know instantly what to put in my S2 "won't buy" category. Thank you Alana.

Probably not the version I'd get (I'd rather it running in full glory on my PC on the living room TV) but that would be awesome for many if so!

@michellelynn0976 I don't really have a horse in this race, but that isn't correct. You buy the game on Steam (PC), you can play it either on PC or Deck, which is a handheld PC essentially.

A shame this isn't on GOG.com like Ragebound was, that's my preferred storefront when buying PC and/or not buying Switch cartridges. Looks like a great game though.

Guess we'll wait for a DF tech review to know precisely how bad it is. Not really that surprising though, it's never been amazingly performant on any platform.

@AussieMcBucket depends for me. If an indie game is digital only, than I can accept it, especially if its on GOG.com because at least you get a DRM-free offline installer to keep. If there's physical I'll generally prefer that of course. Game key cards are absolutely off the table though.

Really depends on the game for me re: 30 vs 60 FPS.

That said, surprisingly, I played through all of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound on the Switch, a game where almost anyone would demand the smoothest highest FPS possible, but I got used to the 30FPS and didn't have any issue with it. Surprised even myself.

Anyway yes, stability first and foremost is important.

@OmnitronVariant that is an interesting point. Suggests maybe FromSoft has struggled with the porting and optimization going from PC x86 architecture to the Switch's ARM architecture. Hopefully there's plenty of room for improvement.

Well Mr Darril, you'll have my sale.

While I'm undecided on the game itself, that is great news.

Hollow Knight as while I technically played at least the start of it way back in 2018, I don't think I got very far and it somehow went by the wayside. So it's almost like a first playthrough. Might as well give it a good shot now Silksong is around the corner.

Otherwise more DK: Bananza, not sure how far through I am exactly but I only just got the Zebra Bananza form.

That looks amazing. Putting that on my wishlist.

@Solomon_Rambling fair enough, it's each to their own. I've only just started playing it, since Silksong comes out soon, so we'll see how I find it. I generally haven't played much in the way of metroidvanias except for... well, the Metroids.

@roboshort Not the first party Nintendo games, more some of the third party games (not including Cyberpunk) and the ones upcoming like Borderlands that have to omit certain features and lock at 30fps.

I think there's a bit of an adjustment period but should hopefully improve later on when devs get more of a handle on the hardware. As long as they aren't lazy that is.

@Solomon_Rambling why was that, out of curiosity?

I think people will be surprised what the Switch 2 can do once you get actually properly optimized and developed games for it down the line.

We're going to have some rough ones for now it seems, again more on optimization by third party devs than anything. Perhaps also the lack of dev kits doesn't help? I don't know what the situation is there, but maybe the reported lack of dev kits doesn't help.

It looks good, the question I have is how much will a largely solo player get out of it I wonder?