Honestly, shared EXP among party members is a general quality of life improvement for any RPG. The problem with its implementation in Pokemon since it's introduction gen 6 is that the games still somehow aren't designed with it in mind. This is less forgivable since it has been the only option for years now.
@Wexter I'll just reply more about the competitive aspect as that is less subjective:
Gen 5: Broken sleep mechanics where sleep turns reset upon switching out (including if forced out). Dominance of permanent weather in all tiers where it was much more niche outside of ubers in gen 4. Element gems added an element of complete unpredictability and were eventually banned on Smogon. So, a major gimmick/mechanic of the generation that was ultimately unhealthy and banned.
Gen 6: This one wasn't so bad, but some mega evolutions were so ludicrous and took far too long to get banned. Overall, I'll admit I played a lot of gen 6 and enjoyed it mostly, but again, when several aspects of the new gimmick have to be banned, I wouldn't say that is healthy. Mega Rayquaza made an entire new tier.
Gen 7: Z-moves are awful in much the same way as gems in gen 5. Not much to say other than this is a much worse version of gen 6.
Gen 8: Dynamax is bad for the same reasons as gems and z-moves, and was even more powerful. It's a brainless mechanic that dumbs down fights for both players. Ultimately was banned. Zacian is another example of absurd power creep and latest mon sent to "Anything Goes" jail. Gen 4 remakes being separate and adding nothing to the competitive scene is not a good thing, and is a major reason why there are next to no players even playing it on simulators. Then of course there is the fact that in the gen 8 games, you can't even use all of the potential mons from throughout the series.
@Axecon Seeing that Smogon banned dynamax, and Zacian had to be banned from Ubers and moved to the "Anything Goes" tier, makes me highly inclined to disagree with that statement.
Competitive Pokemon peaked in generation 4, just like how the main series was at its peak then.
A dog with a candle for a ghost type would be welcome if Pokemon didn't already have a candle themed ghost type, and a large number of other canine species.
Overall, not terrible, but the lack of creativity shows.
"This happened because importing, animating, and balancing all 900+ Pokémon became too much work for Game Freak."
Stop reporting lies.
The outrage over Dexit wasn't overblown at all. The models in Gen 8 are exactly the same as previous generations. The outrage is because the standard level of content in a Pokemon game was cut, and there was nothing given in return. Graphics were ugly, animations underutilized at best, and downright embarrassing at worst. Game balance was completely broken by the time you reached the first gym.
@Pandy-the-Panda Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on Gamecube is great. It is the definitive 3D Sonic game.
No idea how the later versions (PS3, Xbox 360, Steam) hold up.
Sonic has had some serious blunders, but still some games ranging from decent to great. I'm in the camp that would rate Unleashed and Generations very highly, Sonic Heroes as a generally good game, and Colors as decent.
Honestly the past several years have seen really big highs and some pretty disappointing lows from Square Enix. Still, there is plenty to look forward to, and my main beef with them is that I wish their games would come out faster, and release before they announce 20 other projects.
This will never be anything other than a he-said-she-said...
As someone who has never liked Kit and Krysta's bits... I put slightly more stock into their side story though. I can see why The Pokemon Company would take issue with nuzzlockes, unfortunately...
Joe Merrick's tweet is worthless. Him regurgitating a statement from the Pokemon Company doesn't prove anything either. But perhaps he feels he must jump to his daddy's defense lest his large fansite be next on the chopping block one day.
As a huge fan of these games, that is both expected and tragic. Why should we expect Nintendo to sell an inferior product though? Blatant cash grab.
The games might still be worth it for the novelty, or playing the minigames with friends.
But seriously trying to do the single player content will be horrendous. The rental Pokemon in Stadium 1 aren't great, but in Stadium 2 they are downright unusable. If memory serves, the fully evolved starters all have the lowest damage dealing moves of their types. So, Blastoise has water gun, while Squirtle has hydro pump. The end result is that nothing is usable.
@Wexter The beauty of well designed JRPGs is that grinding is an option for the player to brute force through the game when they are otherwise not skilled enough to.
I fully understand that there are plenty of games with difficulty spikes and poor balancing, where grinding is pretty much required. Pokemon HGSS are not examples of those though. If you struggled at any point in HGSS and could do nothing else but resort to grinding, you just missed something.
No shame there. I did the same thing when I beat the original Silver version as a child that could barely read. Had pokemon at the end of the game with terrible moves and not a solid enough understanding of the game to even know what I was doing.
100% I knew it would be something dumb like this. Not really 3 stories so much as 3 threads of the story, perhaps more isolated than in previous generations.
Game Freak truly is king at hyping small changes up as something new and exciting. I still remember when everyone was raving about how fresh and different Alola trials were compared to gyms, and I thought I was taking crazy pills for pointing out they are 90% the same.
When I think multiple stories, I think more along the lines of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games (the good ones). Those had clear jumping off points in the story where there was a satisfying conclusion and game's worth of content, but then a new story arc started. Of course, those games weren't made by Game Freak...
Why do you insist on using outdated naming conventions for FF6?
Why remake a Mario Kart game instead of just putting the tracks in a new game?
Pokemon Crystal? For all intents and purposes, HGSS is a remake of Crystal. There is nothing good that is exclusive to Crystal version and isn't in HGSS. And honestly, while I would actually like another gen 2 remake because it's been over 10 years and HGSS are actually closer to the original GSC games than the current date... It wouldn't turn out nearly as well with how Game Freak is now. HGSS will simply never be topped, and it would be crushing to see gen 2 get remade again, but be worse than already existing games.
@russell-marlow You're crossing into some dangerous territory with that, but I'll bite.
Your sidekick for a good chunk of the game, 9S, does indeed look to be modeled after a young man. I'd say his appearance looks pretty typical of a teenage boy. If he looks androgynous to you, I can only assume that you are used to seeing more masculine looking women. 9S certainly is no Superman, but I'd say he looks very reminiscent of early western comic hero sidekicks like Robin, a similarly young, slender, teenage boy who also wore short-shorts...
If you have some personal issues or stigmas with Japan, I'm not sure why you bothered coming here asking what the game is like to begin with.
In my opinion, the game is great. It is 100% fact though, that the game is not just "UWU sexy anime girl beats bad guys ohmygosh so kawaii my waifuuu". It is exactly 0% of that.
"Oh yeah, girls with absurdly curvy figures and huge busts."
You mean, like a good chunk of Western media too? Pushback against this in Western media only happened in the last decade or so.
@russell-marlow I somewhat agree, but I really can’t emphasize enough that Nier Automata is not that.
Sexuality is a part of humanity. 2B is clearly a sexualized design, but it is done purposefully. Without going into any spoilers, the game does expect the player to recognize that 2B is a sexy android from the perspective of the person playing the game. This causes the player to make some assumptions about character motivations at one point, which turns out to be a twist.
The exploration of religion too is not an attack on religion. Rather, the game uses it again as an example of something giving humanity an identity.
I would argue the genius of Nier Automata is that it does initially come across as “that game with the sexy robot girl” but it very quickly takes your initial expectation and uses that to create a thought provoking story.
Even putting the story aside, the game is just plain fun.
Would love for an English dub since DQ11's was so good, but realistically would be fine with no dub and just English translation. It would absolutely be a day 1 purchase.
@russell-marlow Story wise, it's a very philosophical game. You get this impression as soon as you start it, with 2B narrating "We are perpetually trapped... in a never ending spiral of life and death". The story explores various philosophical themes like, "what is the meaning of life?", "what does it mean to be human?", "what is the purpose of religion?", "what is free will?". The game handles these themes surprisingly well too and seemingly goofy things early on turn out to be tied to those themes later on. Yes, that includes the fact that you play as a female android wearing a leotard showing ample amounts of her rear end.
Gameplay wise, the game somehow weaves various gameplay styles together in a way that feels fluid and purposeful. 3D action, 2D action, platforming elements, shooter, bullet hell, RPG levelling and progression, etc.
It's a really, REALLY, good game.
The main criticism many have is that there is a point where they want you to replay much of the game so far with another character. The other character has different tweaks, and there are additional cutscenes and fun differences, but this part of the game can feel a little lame. But there is a payoff later on.
Never heard of this before but this review would definitely turn me off. Then I watched the trailers and was sold.
Maybe I'll come back and edit this if I end up not liking it, but until then I'll just say this:
Too often are Nintendo fans unwilling to try other games. It is hard to match Nintendo's level of quality sometimes, but if you claim to enjoy a particular type of game I just can't see how you would be satisfied with only playing a new one every 5-6 years at best.
The most recent 2D Zelda, a remake, came out 3 years ago.
A Link Between Worlds was nearly 9 years ago, and is arguably a remake as well.
The last truly new 2D Zelda, a game that was new from the ground up, was Spirit Tracks.
Nearly 13 years ago.
"Breath of the Wild still felt like a Zelda game."
lol.
Sorry... I meant, LOL.
But seriously, it's 2022. Nintendo-only gamers still comparing every open world game to Breath of the Wild is just cringe, and really shows how few games they've played. BoTW was innovative in its physics engine, the runes, and the resulting interactivity with the world.
It was absolutely not innovative in its overworld design, art, or sound track. Implying that BoTW was some key player in the popularization of grassy fields in high fantasy games, or soft cinematic sound pieces, requires of level of mental gymnastics I could only attribute to a psychotic disorder.
Despite my many gripes with the series the past few years, there's no denying the thesis presented here. Pokemon is definitely growing and touching and increasing number of people around the world. I think a large part of that though is the pervasiveness of the franchise, and much less to do with the traditional games.
Pokemon Go is (somehow) still popular, and revitalized a lot of interest in the series. The cartoon being readily available and on Netflix makes it an easy show to put on the for the kids at any time, as opposed to strict TV slots of the 90s and 2000s.
Ironically, it could be those are the things that are bringing down the quality of the real, main games. Pushing to release new Pokemon and characters so they can be incorporated into the franchise, marketed, and then sold is the goal now. There is no need to invest more resources into making a more proficiently made video game, much less one that is made with any kind of passion or respect for the series.
Was turned off from the initial reveal and the full trailer now does not change that. Everything looked really weak.
As much as I want to be excited by 4 player co-op, I don't see it being that enjoyable if the base game is devoid of passion. Does adding more participants to a bad game turn it into a good one? I suppose the answer is yes, sometimes, but I can't help but feel I don't want the Pokemon IP to become a champion of the "it's so bad it's good" approach.
As an aside, I'm especially appalled by the depraved reactions from the fanbase over "hot professors".
Very weak trailer. The highlight is definitely co-op in the game, but how it will be implemented can greatly affect how much mileage that feature actually gets.
Designs are OK. Nothing terrible, nothing great. Region environments seem very plain, with several shots looking outright ugly.
A step up for SwSh, but a long ways away from anything I'd be proud of.
The IP will be better without him at the helm. Much of my (past) respect for Masuda was as a musical composer.
While I consider this a positive change, there is still much work to be done to improve Game Freak and Pokemon as a whole. I'm not sure the current talent is up to par either. Pokemon games the past few years have had many glaring flaws and stupid oversights that were clearly made by people with little knowledge or experience in the industry, and even less about history of the series.
It looks sparse? Compared to which contemporaries? It looks miles better than Pokemon, for sure.
It looked very full of things to interact with at high speeds to me. Of course I'm not saying the game will be amazing. I would like for that to be the case, but Sonic Team has a lot to prove. We will see if they can deliver.
But nonetheless, interesting to see this criticized while other games get praised...
Having played and 100% Extinction, I can attest the game is great.
Monster designs are solid for the most part. Story is surprisingly engaging, and I was completely hooked during the 2nd half. Legitimately good humor. Good world design with interesting towns and locations. Good art and music.
I appreciate using different mechanics and systems than Pokemon, and I like the ideas overall, but I feel some could have been implemented better. Having an overall stamina meter and moves costing different amounts is an idea I like, but the starting stamina seems quite low. At least, stamina becomes a problem because battles generally take longer. Rarely do you one shot enemy Nexomon, even with type advantage, unless you are much higher level. Again, just makes stamina more necessary by virtue of attacks needing to happen more often.
This whole article is such a stretch I'm left wondering if its actually just satire. The table showing 1st party releases is laughable. I'll give that Sony and Microsoft are both doing no better, but painting the long list of games under Nintendo as something to be proud of is pretty cringe.
Metroid and Kirby are great. There's a conversation to be had about if they're worth $60 given the amount of content though.
I'm sure Pokemon SV will sell millions to the masses this holiday, and that's great for business, but when has that ever been the metric for a good game worth being proud of?
I guess some of us would rather keep playing BoTW, the first ever open world game (all others are copies) and the only one that matters, until BoTW2 comes out. Sometime... soon?
2023?
2024?
Just keep playing the only open world game 6 years. Then when BoTW2 comes out there will be 2 open world games! That's double! Might have to quit my job to play all these games.
Glad someone mentioned the Wii U. As someone who loved the Wii + DS era, the Wii U hype was real. Analysts were predicting the console would be sold out for months and difficult to grab for a long time just like the original Wii. And the deluxe model was in even higher demand.
Turns out the console is cheap crap, Nintendo dropped the ball hard on development delaying important games, and the main selling point quickly became irrelevant and underutilized. Some good games, but a lot of wasted potential and resources.
Japanese looks a bit... off... Could be because they used 2 separate illustrations and slapped one on top of the other. Link does not look like he belongs in that background at all, and having Link already wielding a sword, with the master sword in the background seems odd.
Gamecube and GBA era was the peak. Perfect combination of beloved IPs getting healthy sequels, and lots of new IPs and good 3rd party support.
Wii and DS era are not far behind. Motion controls, when implemented well, were fun to use, and immersive. This era gets criticized for the amount of shovelware that appeared on wildly successful platforms, but there was no shortage of gems either.
Wii U and 3DS was largely crap. Some good titles, but many bad, anti-consumer decisions, and Nintendo's own stubbornness made this hard to live through. Felt like taking a bullet for Nintendo.
Switch era is ironic and full of duality. Simultaneously lots of good games and also lots of rehashed games. 5 years in and I still do not feel I am missing out by not being a Switch owner.
Extremely disappointed, for a variety of reasons. The pandemic since 2020 obviously impacted much of the world, and nearly all aspects of our lives. Things had do slow down and societies had to adjust. Still, this delay hurts, and only reinforces my opinion of late that Zelda is simply mismanaged by Nintendo.
As someone who thought BotW was good, but not great, I'm not even looking forward to the sequel. If anything, the delay is most disappointing because it means a potentially longer wait for Zelda to return in a form I strongly prefer.
Nothing will ever beat the Johto starters. Simple, but effective designs, with each offering very different gameplay experiences from the beginning.
Cyndaquil is fun for a speedy, powerful playthrough. Chikorita is fun for a more tactical approach. Totodile is more balanced and comes with early advantages and challenges.
This has all the marks of a mediocre game at best, propped up by the Pokemon IP.
More realistically, the game looks outright bad compared to similar games out currently. As a long time Pokemon fan, even the IP fails to provide much interest when most of the new regional variants spit in the face of the original designs. Alolan and Galarian forms were generally pleasant remixes. Hisuian forms look like abominations birthed from the game Spore...
Interesting bit about the same artist as Pokemon Sun and Moon.
I respect how the character designs push the envelope a bit, but feel most of them miss the mark and end up looking too off-putting. Same opinion I had for SuMo's characters too...
@Arawn93 I don't think that strategy is even remotely viable in any Pokemon game. You can't buy max revives, and full restores are available late game, and are expensive enough that only players that were already doing well and saved tons of money could afford a hefty supply of them. That's speaking nothing of the technical aspect that these items require a turn to use in battle, and do not help if you are knocked out in one hit.
I agree that Pokemon has never been particularly hard. I also agree that the EXP share should have been a quality of life improvement. Most other RPGs share EXP between the party in some way, which encourages party members to serve different roles other than just dealing as much damage as possible.
The problem though is that Pokemon has not been designed with that level of thoughtfulness with the EXP share. In every game it has been utilized so far, it has only allowed the player to become vastly overleveled.
To put it simply, by not changing the trainer levels in BDSP, but changing the way EXP is distributed the whole game, BDSP suffers a major issue with progression and balancing.
@Danondorf The games used to be made by a team with passion. They used to be made by people who wanted to make the best game possible.
Now they are made as a chore.
This is from an "Iwata Asks" interview with Morimoto and Ishihara, who worked on HGSS, which are still regarded as the best Pokemon games ever.
Iwata: So it’s not simply a remake of Gold and Silver?
Ishihara: We were very greedy with the features we put in.
Morimoto: Yes, we were incredibly greedy with the features this time round! (laughs) We basically included all the game elements that had been in Diamond and Pearl26 and Platinum27.
A remake should bring the source material into the modern era.
While I enjoyed ORAS immensely, it missed a few big opportunities to make it the definitive Hoenn experience.
BDSP, while I can appreciate some of what it offers, is in many ways a regression to an outdated game, not new life for a beloved classic.
The gutting of fan favorite classes hurts a ton. I understand it takes work to make and animate the new 3D models, but if that was the cost, it wasn't worth it.
Sonic Adventure 2 is the perfect example that a "bad" game can be carried to "great" status just by being fun. As consumers, we shouldn't have to choose, but if I had to, I'd pick a fun but messy game over something more technically proficient but sterile.
PS360 Unleashed is great too. Yes, even the night stages.
@roy130390 The simplest answer is that the people complaining about it have never played the game. Mostly likely because they only own a Nintendo Switch.
I had the same experience as you with Odyssey. Still need to go back and do the DLCs one day...
@Ulysses It's hilarious that you use Breath of the Wild as an example, because it is among the worst games with microtransactions. Many armor sets are locked behind amiibo functionality.
You could easily argue these assets should be unlockable by just playing the game. Even funnier, you can unlock the cosmetics in Ubisoft games by actually playing the game anyways!!!
Black and White started the drop in quality of the series. Shorter generations, cut features, and worse gameplay.
The story is terrible. Not sure why so many give it a pass. Putting the emphasis on a bad story and characters is not preferable to a minimalist story that at least isn't intrusive.
These games were obviously intended to be a reboot. But the premise of that always confused me because Heart Gold and Soul Silver were hugely successful and very well received. Usually reboots occur when a franchise seemingly needs one due to a poorly received release...
I'm thinking/hoping that this doesn't hold up and doesn't actually go anywhere. Unless the discord users were employees under an NDA... even then it seems to me like TPC is attacking this from a copyright infringement angle and trying to say that caused damage to the company.
@imananjidesuka You don't recall any controversy because your post is factually incorrect.
All of the GBA games have all of the Pokemon coded in. Pokemon Firered/Leafgreen and Colosseum all came out in early 2004. You also didn't need to own those games to get the Pokemon, as you could technically just get someone to trade with you.
Why bother making a list when there's only 3 games in the genre even worth playing?
Personally I'm in the camp that Sonic and CTR are both better than Mario Kart 8. CTR continues to get so much content through updates, and Sonic is by far the most balanced, fair, and nuanced of the three.
Mario Kart 8 is the best pickup and play game, and has the best roster.
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Re: Feature: 30 Changes We'd Like To See In The Next Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Update
Ah yes, forced EXP share.
Honestly, shared EXP among party members is a general quality of life improvement for any RPG. The problem with its implementation in Pokemon since it's introduction gen 6 is that the games still somehow aren't designed with it in mind. This is less forgivable since it has been the only option for years now.
Re: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Pre-Orders Are Already Breaking Records In Japan
@Wexter I'll just reply more about the competitive aspect as that is less subjective:
Gen 5: Broken sleep mechanics where sleep turns reset upon switching out (including if forced out). Dominance of permanent weather in all tiers where it was much more niche outside of ubers in gen 4. Element gems added an element of complete unpredictability and were eventually banned on Smogon. So, a major gimmick/mechanic of the generation that was ultimately unhealthy and banned.
Gen 6: This one wasn't so bad, but some mega evolutions were so ludicrous and took far too long to get banned. Overall, I'll admit I played a lot of gen 6 and enjoyed it mostly, but again, when several aspects of the new gimmick have to be banned, I wouldn't say that is healthy. Mega Rayquaza made an entire new tier.
Gen 7: Z-moves are awful in much the same way as gems in gen 5. Not much to say other than this is a much worse version of gen 6.
Gen 8: Dynamax is bad for the same reasons as gems and z-moves, and was even more powerful. It's a brainless mechanic that dumbs down fights for both players. Ultimately was banned. Zacian is another example of absurd power creep and latest mon sent to "Anything Goes" jail. Gen 4 remakes being separate and adding nothing to the competitive scene is not a good thing, and is a major reason why there are next to no players even playing it on simulators. Then of course there is the fact that in the gen 8 games, you can't even use all of the potential mons from throughout the series.
Re: Feature: Every Pokémon Starter Evolution Trio, Ranked From Worst To Best
In terms of pure aesthetics:
Gen 2 > 4 > 1 > 6 > 3 >>>>>>> 7 > 5 > 8
Johto's designs are simple but effective. The greatest of "early" Pokemon.
Sinnoh's final starters have the perfect level of complexity in design while still looking organic and believable as creatures.
Galar and Alola's final starters are just people in fur suits. Absolutely hideous.
Re: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Pre-Orders Are Already Breaking Records In Japan
@Axecon Seeing that Smogon banned dynamax, and Zacian had to be banned from Ubers and moved to the "Anything Goes" tier, makes me highly inclined to disagree with that statement.
Competitive Pokemon peaked in generation 4, just like how the main series was at its peak then.
Re: The Newest Pokémon In Scarlet & Violet Is A Spooky Little Puppy
A dog with a candle for a ghost type would be welcome if Pokemon didn't already have a candle themed ghost type, and a large number of other canine species.
Overall, not terrible, but the lack of creativity shows.
Re: Check Out 30 Minutes Of Lovely 'Dragon Quest Treasures' Gameplay
DQ11 came out 4 years ago and is one of the best JRPGs ever, with amazing visual presentation to boot.
This game, visually, looks horrendous.
Re: Feature: 8 Unanswered Questions We Have About Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
"This happened because importing, animating, and balancing all 900+ Pokémon became too much work for Game Freak."
Stop reporting lies.
The outrage over Dexit wasn't overblown at all.
The models in Gen 8 are exactly the same as previous generations. The outrage is because the standard level of content in a Pokemon game was cut, and there was nothing given in return. Graphics were ugly, animations underutilized at best, and downright embarrassing at worst. Game balance was completely broken by the time you reached the first gym.
Re: Sonic Frontiers Offering Free Sonic Adventure 2 DLC To Newsletter Subscribers
@Pandy-the-Panda Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on Gamecube is great. It is the definitive 3D Sonic game.
No idea how the later versions (PS3, Xbox 360, Steam) hold up.
Sonic has had some serious blunders, but still some games ranging from decent to great. I'm in the camp that would rate Unleashed and Generations very highly, Sonic Heroes as a generally good game, and Colors as decent.
Re: Talking Point: What On Earth Is Going On With Square Enix?
Honestly the past several years have seen really big highs and some pretty disappointing lows from Square Enix. Still, there is plenty to look forward to, and my main beef with them is that I wish their games would come out faster, and release before they announce 20 other projects.
Re: Random: Kit And Krysta Claim They Were Nearly Fired Over Nuzlocke Pokémon Run
This will never be anything other than a he-said-she-said...
As someone who has never liked Kit and Krysta's bits... I put slightly more stock into their side story though. I can see why The Pokemon Company would take issue with nuzzlockes, unfortunately...
Joe Merrick's tweet is worthless. Him regurgitating a statement from the Pokemon Company doesn't prove anything either. But perhaps he feels he must jump to his daddy's defense lest his large fansite be next on the chopping block one day.
Re: Switch Online Versions Of Pokémon Stadium 1 & 2 Won't Support Transfers
As a huge fan of these games, that is both expected and tragic. Why should we expect Nintendo to sell an inferior product though? Blatant cash grab.
The games might still be worth it for the novelty, or playing the minigames with friends.
But seriously trying to do the single player content will be horrendous. The rental Pokemon in Stadium 1 aren't great, but in Stadium 2 they are downright unusable. If memory serves, the fully evolved starters all have the lowest damage dealing moves of their types. So, Blastoise has water gun, while Squirtle has hydro pump. The end result is that nothing is usable.
Re: Review: Temtem - An Innovative Pokémon-Like, With Depth And Grind In Equal Measure
@Wexter The beauty of well designed JRPGs is that grinding is an option for the player to brute force through the game when they are otherwise not skilled enough to.
I fully understand that there are plenty of games with difficulty spikes and poor balancing, where grinding is pretty much required. Pokemon HGSS are not examples of those though. If you struggled at any point in HGSS and could do nothing else but resort to grinding, you just missed something.
No shame there. I did the same thing when I beat the original Silver version as a child that could barely read. Had pokemon at the end of the game with terrible moves and not a solid enough understanding of the game to even know what I was doing.
Re: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet's Three Story Paths Have Been Revealed
100% I knew it would be something dumb like this. Not really 3 stories so much as 3 threads of the story, perhaps more isolated than in previous generations.
Game Freak truly is king at hyping small changes up as something new and exciting. I still remember when everyone was raving about how fresh and different Alola trials were compared to gyms, and I thought I was taking crazy pills for pointing out they are 90% the same.
When I think multiple stories, I think more along the lines of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games (the good ones). Those had clear jumping off points in the story where there was a satisfying conclusion and game's worth of content, but then a new story arc started. Of course, those games weren't made by Game Freak...
Re: Feature: 12 Nintendo Games That Deserve An HD-2D Remake
This list is straight up terrible.
Why only one of the Oracle games?
Why do you insist on using outdated naming conventions for FF6?
Why remake a Mario Kart game instead of just putting the tracks in a new game?
Pokemon Crystal? For all intents and purposes, HGSS is a remake of Crystal. There is nothing good that is exclusive to Crystal version and isn't in HGSS. And honestly, while I would actually like another gen 2 remake because it's been over 10 years and HGSS are actually closer to the original GSC games than the current date... It wouldn't turn out nearly as well with how Game Freak is now. HGSS will simply never be topped, and it would be crushing to see gen 2 get remade again, but be worse than already existing games.
Re: Shovel Knight Dig Launches On Switch In September
That trailer(?) is super cringe, and I say this as someone that enjoys The Completionist's content...
More Shovel Knight is always welcome. I still think I'd rather have a more direct followup in terms of gameplay style, but I won't say no to this.
Re: Horizon Chase 2 Brings A New Arcade Racing Experience To Consoles In 2023
So happy to see this. Definite day 1 purchase on PS4.
First game was phenomenal but the lack of at least local multiplayer was frustrating. Beautiful art, music, and fun drive through the world.
Re: Combat Android 2B Stars In New NieR: Automata Switch Trailer
@russell-marlow You're crossing into some dangerous territory with that, but I'll bite.
Your sidekick for a good chunk of the game, 9S, does indeed look to be modeled after a young man. I'd say his appearance looks pretty typical of a teenage boy. If he looks androgynous to you, I can only assume that you are used to seeing more masculine looking women. 9S certainly is no Superman, but I'd say he looks very reminiscent of early western comic hero sidekicks like Robin, a similarly young, slender, teenage boy who also wore short-shorts...
If you have some personal issues or stigmas with Japan, I'm not sure why you bothered coming here asking what the game is like to begin with.
In my opinion, the game is great.
It is 100% fact though, that the game is not just "UWU sexy anime girl beats bad guys ohmygosh so kawaii my waifuuu".
It is exactly 0% of that.
"Oh yeah, girls with absurdly curvy figures and huge busts."
You mean, like a good chunk of Western media too?
Pushback against this in Western media only happened in the last decade or so.
Re: Combat Android 2B Stars In New NieR: Automata Switch Trailer
@russell-marlow I somewhat agree, but I really can’t emphasize enough that Nier Automata is not that.
Sexuality is a part of humanity. 2B is clearly a sexualized design, but it is done purposefully. Without going into any spoilers, the game does expect the player to recognize that 2B is a sexy android from the perspective of the person playing the game. This causes the player to make some assumptions about character motivations at one point, which turns out to be a twist.
The exploration of religion too is not an attack on religion. Rather, the game uses it again as an example of something giving humanity an identity.
I would argue the genius of Nier Automata is that it does initially come across as “that game with the sexy robot girl” but it very quickly takes your initial expectation and uses that to create a thought provoking story.
Even putting the story aside, the game is just plain fun.
Re: Video: Square Enix Releases New Official Trailer For Dragon Quest X Offline
Really, really want this in NA.
Would love for an English dub since DQ11's was so good, but realistically would be fine with no dub and just English translation. It would absolutely be a day 1 purchase.
Man can dream...
Re: Combat Android 2B Stars In New NieR: Automata Switch Trailer
@russell-marlow Story wise, it's a very philosophical game. You get this impression as soon as you start it, with 2B narrating "We are perpetually trapped... in a never ending spiral of life and death". The story explores various philosophical themes like, "what is the meaning of life?", "what does it mean to be human?", "what is the purpose of religion?", "what is free will?". The game handles these themes surprisingly well too and seemingly goofy things early on turn out to be tied to those themes later on. Yes, that includes the fact that you play as a female android wearing a leotard showing ample amounts of her rear end.
Gameplay wise, the game somehow weaves various gameplay styles together in a way that feels fluid and purposeful. 3D action, 2D action, platforming elements, shooter, bullet hell, RPG levelling and progression, etc.
It's a really, REALLY, good game.
The main criticism many have is that there is a point where they want you to replay much of the game so far with another character. The other character has different tweaks, and there are additional cutscenes and fun differences, but this part of the game can feel a little lame. But there is a payoff later on.
Re: Review: Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince - A Cute Zelda-Like Adventure That Lacks Fresh Ideas
Never heard of this before but this review would definitely turn me off. Then I watched the trailers and was sold.
Maybe I'll come back and edit this if I end up not liking it, but until then I'll just say this:
Too often are Nintendo fans unwilling to try other games. It is hard to match Nintendo's level of quality sometimes, but if you claim to enjoy a particular type of game I just can't see how you would be satisfied with only playing a new one every 5-6 years at best.
The most recent 2D Zelda, a remake, came out 3 years ago.
A Link Between Worlds was nearly 9 years ago, and is arguably a remake as well.
The last truly new 2D Zelda, a game that was new from the ground up, was Spirit Tracks.
Nearly 13 years ago.
Re: Former Nintendo Employee Claims He Saved The Company From Repeated "EVO Embarrassment"
Even without even Smash Bros. the lineup of games is very strong. And if I'm being honest, Smash Bros. often isn't exciting to watch.
Looking forward to these for sure:
Street Fighter 5
Fighter Z
Skullgirls
Granblue Fantasy Versus
Re: Talking Point: Should Sonic Frontiers Be Delayed? We Discuss Its Bizarre Debut And Fan Reaction
"Breath of the Wild still felt like a Zelda game."
lol.
Sorry... I meant, LOL.
But seriously, it's 2022. Nintendo-only gamers still comparing every open world game to Breath of the Wild is just cringe, and really shows how few games they've played. BoTW was innovative in its physics engine, the runes, and the resulting interactivity with the world.
It was absolutely not innovative in its overworld design, art, or sound track. Implying that BoTW was some key player in the popularization of grassy fields in high fantasy games, or soft cinematic sound pieces, requires of level of mental gymnastics I could only attribute to a psychotic disorder.
Re: Feature: How The Quintessential Essence Of Pokémon Games Inspires Gen After Gen
Despite my many gripes with the series the past few years, there's no denying the thesis presented here. Pokemon is definitely growing and touching and increasing number of people around the world. I think a large part of that though is the pervasiveness of the franchise, and much less to do with the traditional games.
Pokemon Go is (somehow) still popular, and revitalized a lot of interest in the series. The cartoon being readily available and on Netflix makes it an easy show to put on the for the kids at any time, as opposed to strict TV slots of the 90s and 2000s.
Ironically, it could be those are the things that are bringing down the quality of the real, main games. Pushing to release new Pokemon and characters so they can be incorporated into the franchise, marketed, and then sold is the goal now. There is no need to invest more resources into making a more proficiently made video game, much less one that is made with any kind of passion or respect for the series.
Re: Poll: Has The Latest Trailer Convinced You To Buy Pokémon Scarlet & Violet?
Was turned off from the initial reveal and the full trailer now does not change that. Everything looked really weak.
As much as I want to be excited by 4 player co-op, I don't see it being that enjoyable if the base game is devoid of passion. Does adding more participants to a bad game turn it into a good one? I suppose the answer is yes, sometimes, but I can't help but feel I don't want the Pokemon IP to become a champion of the "it's so bad it's good" approach.
As an aside, I'm especially appalled by the depraved reactions from the fanbase over "hot professors".
Re: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Releases 18th November
Very weak trailer. The highlight is definitely co-op in the game, but how it will be implemented can greatly affect how much mileage that feature actually gets.
Designs are OK. Nothing terrible, nothing great.
Region environments seem very plain, with several shots looking outright ugly.
A step up for SwSh, but a long ways away from anything I'd be proud of.
Re: Junichi Masuda Leaves Game Freak For New Role At The Pokémon Company
The IP will be better without him at the helm.
Much of my (past) respect for Masuda was as a musical composer.
While I consider this a positive change, there is still much work to be done to improve Game Freak and Pokemon as a whole. I'm not sure the current talent is up to par either. Pokemon games the past few years have had many glaring flaws and stupid oversights that were clearly made by people with little knowledge or experience in the industry, and even less about history of the series.
Re: Sonic Frontiers Gameplay Showcases A Pretty, But Sparse Open World
It looks sparse? Compared to which contemporaries?
It looks miles better than Pokemon, for sure.
It looked very full of things to interact with at high speeds to me. Of course I'm not saying the game will be amazing. I would like for that to be the case, but Sonic Team has a lot to prove. We will see if they can deliver.
But nonetheless, interesting to see this criticized while other games get praised...
Re: Nexomon + Nexomon: Extinction: Complete Collection Is Heading To Switch
Having played and 100% Extinction, I can attest the game is great.
Monster designs are solid for the most part. Story is surprisingly engaging, and I was completely hooked during the 2nd half. Legitimately good humor. Good world design with interesting towns and locations. Good art and music.
I appreciate using different mechanics and systems than Pokemon, and I like the ideas overall, but I feel some could have been implemented better. Having an overall stamina meter and moves costing different amounts is an idea I like, but the starting stamina seems quite low. At least, stamina becomes a problem because battles generally take longer. Rarely do you one shot enemy Nexomon, even with type advantage, unless you are much higher level. Again, just makes stamina more necessary by virtue of attacks needing to happen more often.
Re: Talking Point: In An Age Of Endless Delays, Nintendo's First-Party Flow Is Extraordinary
This whole article is such a stretch I'm left wondering if its actually just satire. The table showing 1st party releases is laughable. I'll give that Sony and Microsoft are both doing no better, but painting the long list of games under Nintendo as something to be proud of is pretty cringe.
Metroid and Kirby are great. There's a conversation to be had about if they're worth $60 given the amount of content though.
I'm sure Pokemon SV will sell millions to the masses this holiday, and that's great for business, but when has that ever been the metric for a good game worth being proud of?
Re: Don't Worry, Genshin Impact Is "Still In Development" For Nintendo Switch
I guess some of us would rather keep playing BoTW, the first ever open world game (all others are copies) and the only one that matters, until BoTW2 comes out. Sometime... soon?
2023?
2024?
Just keep playing the only open world game 6 years. Then when BoTW2 comes out there will be 2 open world games! That's double! Might have to quit my job to play all these games.
Re: Feature: What's Your Biggest Nintendo Launch Day Regret?
Glad someone mentioned the Wii U. As someone who loved the Wii + DS era, the Wii U hype was real. Analysts were predicting the console would be sold out for months and difficult to grab for a long time just like the original Wii. And the deluxe model was in even higher demand.
Turns out the console is cheap crap, Nintendo dropped the ball hard on development delaying important games, and the main selling point quickly became irrelevant and underutilized. Some good games, but a lot of wasted potential and resources.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel #92 - The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
North American is great.
Japanese looks a bit... off...
Could be because they used 2 separate illustrations and slapped one on top of the other. Link does not look like he belongs in that background at all, and having Link already wielding a sword, with the master sword in the background seems odd.
Re: Feature: Which Is The Absolute Best Nintendo Console Generation?
Gamecube and GBA era was the peak.
Perfect combination of beloved IPs getting healthy sequels, and lots of new IPs and good 3rd party support.
Wii and DS era are not far behind.
Motion controls, when implemented well, were fun to use, and immersive. This era gets criticized for the amount of shovelware that appeared on wildly successful platforms, but there was no shortage of gems either.
Wii U and 3DS was largely crap.
Some good titles, but many bad, anti-consumer decisions, and Nintendo's own stubbornness made this hard to live through. Felt like taking a bullet for Nintendo.
Switch era is ironic and full of duality.
Simultaneously lots of good games and also lots of rehashed games. 5 years in and I still do not feel I am missing out by not being a Switch owner.
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 Delayed To Spring 2023
Extremely disappointed, for a variety of reasons. The pandemic since 2020 obviously impacted much of the world, and nearly all aspects of our lives. Things had do slow down and societies had to adjust. Still, this delay hurts, and only reinforces my opinion of late that Zelda is simply mismanaged by Nintendo.
As someone who thought BotW was good, but not great, I'm not even looking forward to the sequel. If anything, the delay is most disappointing because it means a potentially longer wait for Zelda to return in a form I strongly prefer.
Re: Feature: 7 Reasons For Picking Starter Pokémon, But How Do You Pick Yours?
Nothing will ever beat the Johto starters. Simple, but effective designs, with each offering very different gameplay experiences from the beginning.
Cyndaquil is fun for a speedy, powerful playthrough.
Chikorita is fun for a more tactical approach.
Totodile is more balanced and comes with early advantages and challenges.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Arceus Is 'Exhilarating' And At Times 'Surprisingly Difficult' According To Japanese Media
This has all the marks of a mediocre game at best, propped up by the Pokemon IP.
More realistically, the game looks outright bad compared to similar games out currently. As a long time Pokemon fan, even the IP fails to provide much interest when most of the new regional variants spit in the face of the original designs. Alolan and Galarian forms were generally pleasant remixes. Hisuian forms look like abominations birthed from the game Spore...
Re: Video: Our Best Worst Switch Games - Part 3
Interesting bit about the same artist as Pokemon Sun and Moon.
I respect how the character designs push the envelope a bit, but feel most of them miss the mark and end up looking too off-putting. Same opinion I had for SuMo's characters too...
Re: Here's How Diamond & Pearl Remake Sales Compare To Pokémon's Past Switch And 3DS Launches In Japan
@Arawn93 I don't think that strategy is even remotely viable in any Pokemon game. You can't buy max revives, and full restores are available late game, and are expensive enough that only players that were already doing well and saved tons of money could afford a hefty supply of them. That's speaking nothing of the technical aspect that these items require a turn to use in battle, and do not help if you are knocked out in one hit.
I agree that Pokemon has never been particularly hard. I also agree that the EXP share should have been a quality of life improvement. Most other RPGs share EXP between the party in some way, which encourages party members to serve different roles other than just dealing as much damage as possible.
The problem though is that Pokemon has not been designed with that level of thoughtfulness with the EXP share. In every game it has been utilized so far, it has only allowed the player to become vastly overleveled.
To put it simply, by not changing the trainer levels in BDSP, but changing the way EXP is distributed the whole game, BDSP suffers a major issue with progression and balancing.
Re: Best Pokémon Games Of All Time
@Danondorf The games used to be made by a team with passion. They used to be made by people who wanted to make the best game possible.
Now they are made as a chore.
This is from an "Iwata Asks" interview with Morimoto and Ishihara, who worked on HGSS, which are still regarded as the best Pokemon games ever.
Iwata: So it’s not simply a remake of Gold and Silver?
Ishihara: We were very greedy with the features we put in.
Morimoto: Yes, we were incredibly greedy with the features this time round! (laughs) We basically included all the game elements that had been in Diamond and Pearl26 and Platinum27.
https://www.pocketmonsters.net/content/Iwata_Asks_HGSS#We_Were_Greedy_With_The_Features
A remake should bring the source material into the modern era.
While I enjoyed ORAS immensely, it missed a few big opportunities to make it the definitive Hoenn experience.
BDSP, while I can appreciate some of what it offers, is in many ways a regression to an outdated game, not new life for a beloved classic.
Re: Review: Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny - A Series High Point, Just Not For Performance
The gutting of fan favorite classes hurts a ton. I understand it takes work to make and animate the new 3D models, but if that was the cost, it wasn't worth it.
Re: Best Sonic Games Of All Time
Sonic Adventure 2 is the perfect example that a "bad" game can be carried to "great" status just by being fun. As consumers, we shouldn't have to choose, but if I had to, I'd pick a fun but messy game over something more technically proficient but sterile.
PS360 Unleashed is great too. Yes, even the night stages.
Re: Australian Rating For Immortals Fenyx Rising Reveals "In-Game Purchases"
@roy130390 The simplest answer is that the people complaining about it have never played the game. Mostly likely because they only own a Nintendo Switch.
I had the same experience as you with Odyssey. Still need to go back and do the DLCs one day...
Re: Australian Rating For Immortals Fenyx Rising Reveals "In-Game Purchases"
@Ulysses It's hilarious that you use Breath of the Wild as an example, because it is among the worst games with microtransactions. Many armor sets are locked behind amiibo functionality.
You could easily argue these assets should be unlockable by just playing the game. Even funnier, you can unlock the cosmetics in Ubisoft games by actually playing the game anyways!!!
Re: Anniversary: Pokémon Black And White Are Now 10 Years Old
Black and White started the drop in quality of the series. Shorter generations, cut features, and worse gameplay.
The story is terrible. Not sure why so many give it a pass. Putting the emphasis on a bad story and characters is not preferable to a minimalist story that at least isn't intrusive.
These games were obviously intended to be a reboot. But the premise of that always confused me because Heart Gold and Soul Silver were hugely successful and very well received. Usually reboots occur when a franchise seemingly needs one due to a poorly received release...
Re: Review: Nexomon: Extinction - An Interesting Pokémon Clone That Doesn't Quite Stick The Landing
Was wondering if this was reviewed here.
So Sword and Shield gets an 8/10 and this gets a 6/10? Happy to see not much has changed with Nintendo life LOL.
Re: Talking Point: What's Happened To Switch's NES And SNES Games, Nintendo?
LOL so now they don't even care about trying to hide the fact that it's a scam.
Re: The Pokémon Company Is Taking Legal Action Against Sword And Shield Leakers
I'm thinking/hoping that this doesn't hold up and doesn't actually go anywhere. Unless the discord users were employees under an NDA... even then it seems to me like TPC is attacking this from a copyright infringement angle and trying to say that caused damage to the company.
Re: Guide: Pokémon Sword And Shield Gen 8 New Pokémon List - Full Galar Pokédex Including Returning Pokémon
@imananjidesuka You don't recall any controversy because your post is factually incorrect.
All of the GBA games have all of the Pokemon coded in. Pokemon Firered/Leafgreen and Colosseum all came out in early 2004. You also didn't need to own those games to get the Pokemon, as you could technically just get someone to trade with you.
So yes, Johto Pokemon were available.
Re: Feature: Best Nintendo Switch Kart Racing Games
Why bother making a list when there's only 3 games in the genre even worth playing?
Personally I'm in the camp that Sonic and CTR are both better than Mario Kart 8. CTR continues to get so much content through updates, and Sonic is by far the most balanced, fair, and nuanced of the three.
Mario Kart 8 is the best pickup and play game, and has the best roster.