greengecko007

@blondeandy Long comment warning, but only because you asked for it. Bracing...

Original release of Legend of Zelda - not much to say here as it's the starting point for the series.

Zelda II Adventure of Link - as the title suggests, this is a direct sequel. Ganon was defeated in the original, but elements in this game suggest that Link's defeat would be used to resurrect him. Also important to note that because of the NES limitations, story elements had to be kept small and relegated to manuals.

A Link to the Past - As the title suggests, this is a prequel to the NES games. With the advanced technology of the SNES story become much more involved. The first thing you see when starting the game is a story cutscene, detailing past events in Hyrule, AKA building up a lot of lore for the Zelda universe. This is the game that introduced sages, the sacred realm turned darkworld, and NPC characters being more important for the story.

Ocarina of Time - This game is filled with lore. It gives a creation story of Hyrule very early in the game, and is full of cultural lore for all of the different races present in Hyrule, like Volvagia being an ancient enemy of the Gorons, which makes Ganondorf placing it in their sacred Fire Temple all the more significant, rather than just a random boss. The story easily places it again as a prequel to all previous games as it explains the origins of the villain Ganon as well as how he came to be sealed in the sacred realm, which leads directly into A Link to the Past.

Wind Waker - Starting the game, immediately get a story/lore cutscene just like A Link to the Past. Again, full of cultural lore throughout the game. The sacred trio guardians speak in a fully realized version of Hylian which can be translated. Story elements detail how the game takes place long after Ocarina of Time, and the world map matches up largely with the world map from OoT if you imagine it flooded.

Skyward Sword - Starting the game, immediately given a story/lore cutscene. Story and lore explains how Skyloft even exists, the origins of the master sword and the perpetual cycle of hero, descendant of the Goddess, and hate is mentioned by Demise, which easily places it as another prequel to the rest of the series. We learn that Link is the first humanoid/hylian to obtain the triforce. Zelda is a reincarnated deity who sacrificed her own form as part of a greater plan.

Then direct sequels like Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Majora's Mask fit within their places in the timeline and offer their own lore about the worlds they take place in, such as the demons and spirits from the new land that Spirit Tracks takes place in.

Other games though are harder to place in the timeline (without Hyrule Historia forcing them to exist somewhere), even though they offer plenty of lore. Games like Twilight Princess are full of references to other games, but the lore and story events make it harder to place beyond some time after Ocarina of Time. This is because despite the series being very developed by this point, a lot of lore elements aren't explained well, if at all, so we have things like the hero's shade, a ruined temple of time that both houses the master sword (OoT reference) and is in a forest far away from Hyrule Castle Town (A Link to the Past reference) and more.

@blondeandy If that's the case you simply haven't been reading the text for the majority of the games since the NES days. It's not like an Elder Scrolls amount of lore, with some hundred years of detailed history, but there's a sizable amount of story content that links the games together and even more that simply serves to better flesh out the world of their respective games.

@Dpishere "These games were never intended to be direct sequels, or prequels to each other"

I have a hard time believing that is true. Zelda II The Adventure of Link is titled an awful lot like a direct sequel to the original and the story elements portray it as occurring closely after the events of the original. The title A Link to the Past suggests that there clearly is some sort of timeline in order for their to even be a set of past events, and seems like an obvious prequel to the NES games. Then the story of Ocarina of Time easily places it again as a prequel to the other games as it explains to origins of the iconic villain Ganon. I could go on, but it seems to me like there are many games which put emphasis on the order of their events in a set history. It just also seems like Nintendo hasn't done the best job at maintaining that history or even caring about it.

The Legend of Zelda series has been beloved for over 30 years and Nintendo still can't be bothered to come up with consistent lore for it. That's fine on it's own I guess, but it really highlights how much of a sham Hyrule Historia is.

I do think that having lore makes the games better though, so I suppose it's no coincidence that Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword are my favorite entries in the series and each of them added substantially to the lore for the series through their storytelling.

For me, Breath of the Wild was a decently fun but mediocre game. In the new year I'd like to find time to replay it and see if my stance changes. Obviously comparing it to other open world games I played this year caused me to want/expect similar things from Breath of the Wild that simply aren't there. So I guess I'll see if Breath of the Wild actually offers a different kind of experience, or if it really is as shallow as my first experience with it.

It's hard for me to accept this reasoning. Not every dungeon needs to be super long, but the shrines in BoTW rarely even took up that 10 minute target time. There are a few shrines I completed in around a minute, and then of course there are the numerous combat trials which are basically the same. The divine beasts were mostly quick and easy too.

I'd much rather have quality over quantity. I stand by the belief that Breath of the Wild would have been a much better game with a smaller world size and more focused content. Exploring a world is only fun when there are lots of exciting things to uncover.

Watched the video to see if I could be convinced, but it looks like I'll be skipping this. Just like the base game, there seems to be some interesting ideas but there's just not enough actually there to make it worthwhile. The master cycle would've been brilliant if not for the fact that I've already explored and traversed Hyrule. Doing it again on a bike would only be fun for 5 minutes at most.

@vonboy89 And yes, Pokemon files themselves are incredibly small. I have pk6 files on my computer from creating Pokemon and injecting them into the generation 6 games, and each individual file is 1kb. So yeah, at most you're storing 3mb of data on Nintendo's servers. Such a huge amount s/...

@vonboy89 Haha you're right! I have no idea where the 30 boxes came from.

So much agreement about fast traveling. Use it for convenience, but you will discover so much by using it only sparingly. There are so, SO many potential encounters out while out in the overworld.

A big tip I will give is that higher weight of weapons corresponds also to slower swing speed. Something else to consider is the range of weapons, like the length of the blade of a sword, are also different across weapons. Bows in particular have to be aimed slightly differently depending on the model.

Overall there is a lot to figure out about the combat system, but it is very rewarding once you do. Odd animations aside.

@Chandlero The Pokemon Bank service is arbitrarily capped at 30 boxes. It doesn't store held items, so if you wanted to start over on a game or even just to transfer you mons to the newest version, you will have to grind for your held items again, including mega stones. It only allows for transferring up to new generations, despite the service clearly being fully compatible with generations
6 and 7, and both of those generations using the same formatting for the pokemon file data.

That's why the service sucks. Additionally, it's the only method of transferring Pokemon, when simply saving the Pokemon files to something like an SD card, which comes with pretty much every 3DS model, would work just as well.

Also, comparing paid online storage to the cost of the game and DLC is silly, especially when that online storage is sub par.

Well Pokémon Bank is utter crap anyways. The service sucks, and even more unforgiving is that the only method of transferring to newer generations is behind a paywall.

Not sure how you can criticize Skyrim's voice acting and combat while hailing Zelda Breath of the Wild in the same piece of writing, but ok. Then again, all of the criticisms that are used to repeatedly peg Skyrim as an old game are also present, if not more profound, in the more recent open world games also presented in this review.

Skyrim is still the peak of open world RPGs. This review wouldn't exist if it wasn't still such a relevant game today.

Score aside, poor review. Reads more like a sales pitch or a list of features than thoughts on the game and its systems.

Dumping all the old legendary Pokemon isn't really that enticing unless you're just now jumping back into the series, which if that's the case, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon hardly look like great points of entry. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire did the same thing 3 years ago.

Got Until Dawn recently from the PSN Halloween sale, so I'm gonna finally jump into that. Horizon Zero Dawn is still fun and I'm stoked for the expansion in a little over a week.

On the Nintendo side I've been feeling a Shovel Knight itch again, so that will be another chance to fire up the Wii U again after recently completing the Satura campaign for Runbow.

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that Breath of the Wild has basically no structured story content despite most of the series being praised for its story telling, while SuMo and USUM are offering a lot of structured story content despite most of the series being praised for not taking itself too seriously and being more about personal adventure and monster raising?

Am I the only one who thinks they got the design philosophies backwards? Because that's how it feels to be a Zelda and Pokemon fan lately...

Steady releases of quality software is definitely a good thing. Even if something isn't a "must have" game, just knowing that it's there and ready to play when the time is right is so much better than the alternative of waiting months just to have anything new that you would be interested in to play.

It's not the Zelda game I wanted at all, but I had expected this was the case after we got most of the information around E3 2016. Breath of the Wild is more of a huge sandbox game than anything else, with the toys being all the interactivity that comes from the physics engine. Spiderman-ing over any surface in the overworld no matter how absurd, paragliding off mountains and cliffs, chopping down trees, starting huge fires that spread, etc.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any interest in that type of gameplay. What I like most about any Zelda game is the dungeons. I really felt that 120 shrines didn't cut it. Most where hit or miss with me, with several being outright poorly designed. There was also a lot of recycled content between them, with the combat trials being the biggest offender, even though they were fun.

Overall I'd say it's a decent game. As bad as it sounds though, while I'm normally supportive of people liking different things, I'm worried that the astronomical amount of praise the game has received could influence the design of future Zelda games, and I'd hate to see what was once my favorite Nintendo IP be morphed into a kid friendly version of Just Cause.

I'm neck deep in Horizon Zero Dawn again, so most of my gaming time this weekend will be that.

As for Nintendo systems, I'm also working on the Satura adventure mode in Runbow on Wii U. Had the game since launch day, but I'm late to party for the DLC content. So far it has been very good. Lots of neat ideas for platforming.

It could come to Switch eventually though, right? More platforms means more potential money, if the port for Switch isn't too costly. The game looks great so hopefully it can be enjoyed by many people.

Another first party title with poor opening sales on the 3DS. I know Nintendo used to get crap about abandoning old systems immediately after releasing new hardware, but this really seems to illustrate that people would rather wait for good games on the Switch than buy a game for a system they already own. It's kinda bizarre when you think about it...

Hyrule Warriors was a crap musou game. Poor performance and butchered co-op and other other modes that were pretty staple for the series. The best thing about the game was that it had Zelda characters.

Fire Emblem Warriors could potentially be much better though.

The performance isn't a dealbreaker, just another excuse for people who were never going to buy the game to begin with to spew. Whether or not the game will be any good depends on a multitude of other things.

@Pokefanmum82 Uh, yeah, that's exactly right. The trailer showed traveling through the wormhole to Ultra Space, and then appearing in a hallway that lead up to the Ultra Beast. If you think Ultra Space is going to be some fully realized alternate region, you will be gravely disappointed.

@Pokefanmum82 Just calling it like I see it. What they showed were hallways leading up to a fight with the ultra beast at the end. There were no paths to explore, no wild pokemon or trainers to fight in these areas. The Pokemon Company can market their game however they want, but that's all it is.

The new locations in Ultra Space that they showed look like nothing more than pretty hallways. I don't see any room for exploration. It's just a tunnel that you walk through like a side attraction at a theme park.

It looks like they're just adding fluff to the game to call it new. Not a first for the series, but something that I did think they had abandoned years ago.

Never understood the stigma some card games have with their learning curve. I've seen so many people freak out over the concept of energy cards in Pokemon, yet it's by far the easiest card game that I've learned. Meanwhile things like Yugioh have the reputation of pick up and play, but in reality have tons of obscure rules on priority, and using too many terms that are close to synonyms yet have different effects entirely like negate vs destroy.

The best way to enjoy casually playing with Pokemon is to just by a starter deck that has Pokemon you like it, and have whoever you plan on playing with to pick a deck from as close to the same series as possible.

@shani I'd definitely say it's a good game, so if you're still interested I'd say go for it. It's not like it's a $60 game anyways, so on the off chance it's not your cup of tea, it's not a huge loss.

@shani Sounds like those writers haven't played many games then, and I mean that without trying to sound elitist, but it's just a fact that when you haven't played many games, you have less experiences to compare other games too. Rime could only be considered similar to Zelda in a very superficial way that has nothing to with how the game actually plays.

I'd strongly recommend watching the Easy Allies review of the game. It's only about 5 minutes long.

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

@shani Mario Odyssey is definitely taking a more sandbox approach with level design, but I meant the Mario series as a whole. Super Mario World has puzzles in it. That doesn't make it comparable to Zelda Breath of the Wild.

I would also dispute that Mario Odyssey is taking any notes from Breath of Wild. Fans have been asking for a Mario game with large scale and open levels since the Wii U era. Odyssey is an evolution of the Mario 64 design.

Gen 2 is the best there ever was. The remakes are the gold standard for how to remake beloved games, but the originals are still worth playing too. I for one am a sucker for the sprite work in these, and thought it was neat how both versions had different Pokemon sprites. Not having to worry about natures and EV distributions is also very nice.

@shani All that paragraph really describes is the setting, which is pretty far removed from the actual gameplay. Zelda Breath of the Wild is a huge open world game with a focus on diverse action oriented combat, inventory systems, and upgrades, with progression fueled by open exploration that leads to better loot and puzzle based shrine dungeons.

Rime is a linear puzzle game that takes you on a trek like journey across and through the island as you progress from each puzzle based obstacle.

Sure, there's some degree of light similarities. Both games are colorful. Both feature puzzles, and male protagonists. But that description easily applies to Mario too, and I doubt you'll find many people who would readily claim that Breath of the Wild and Mario have very similar gameplay.

@shani Forgive me if that was intended as a joke, but this game is nothing like Zelda Breath of the Wild...

Goood sales number for Pokken considering it's a rerelease and I'm sure was inexpensive to port. Just straight profit for Nintendo.

Good lord so many plush dolls. Keep me out of that store lest I bankrupt myself.

That Altaria plush though. Might still have to find a way to obtain that.

I'm thinking part of the reason why it looks so bland is there is a lack of "stuff" filling out the level like you typically see in 2D Sonic. While mixing the forest and casino themes sounds good, there's not actually that much decoration and flair present. Most of the vegetation is in the background, and you've got some lights... The result is seeing a lot of blank and generic looking brick texture, which is pretty unattractive.

The worst part is the actual level design looks good. The typical casino themed obstacles are smartly implemented, and there seems to be multiple routes like we'd expect. The real crime is just that a seemingly good level leaves so much to be desired in terms of visuals.

So much salt and revisionist history. This isn't Sony blaming consumers, and they didn't stop supporting the Vita after a few months, it got first party titles for over 2 years.

The reality is that the Vita didn't bring anything that was really wanted by a lot of people, and their idea of console fidelity games on a handheld wasn't feasible back then. When you have an idea that doesn't really work and isn't desirable, it's unsurprising to see it underperform. See Nintendo's Wii U.

Expanded wild Pokémon could be good, provided they aren't restricted to 1% encounter rates in only one precise location of the overworld, which was a huge problem in the original Sun and Moon. Don't really care about a photo mode or surfing minigame.

Meh game. Risky Boot's campaign was laughably lazy. For something that they decided would be paid DLC, I expected something at least to the quality YCG gave to the alternate Shovel Knight campaigns. Instead they decided to reuse everything and didn't even try to come up with good context for it.

When Destiny launched on on PS4 in Japan with 50K sales the stance was that it had disappointing sales. So Metroid launching on the 3DS with 30K sales is definitely not "modest", it's pathetic. Yeah, historically the series hasn't been that strong in Japan, but it doesn't change that the sales are horribly low. Hopefully it goes on to sell quite a bit more, or more realistically, performs much better in the West to prove that there is an audience for Metroid. It's just not in Japan.

@BensonUii Because initially Nintendo made it seem like it was going to be forced product placement through an update, rather than something you could choose to download off the Eshop. There's a big difference.

I prefer Blue to Yellow, as I don't really care about getting all the starters, and prefer the version exclusives offered in Blue like the Meowth and Sandshrew line (Persian was insanely good in gen 1).

Crystal version brought a lot of QOL changes that were really impactful, and had arguably the best animated sprites in the series. The focus on Suicune didn't seem all that special to me, and it's entirely possible to still miss it. I often forget about it entirely. The only big issue this has compared to the originals is how annoying it is to get Ho-oh, with Crystal version requiring you to catch all 3 legendary beasts first.

Emerald and Platinum are just straight upgrades for me. I was gutted when ORAS released and didn't take as much from Emerald, especially with moving team Magma's base to a more sensible location.

Judging by the score attributed, the game is very enjoyable. The majority of the text for the review however reads more like a list of features rather than impressions of how good it is.

@sillygostly Tediursa would definitely get me into Build-A-Bear.

Still looks underwhelming, but a large part of that is from Sun and Moon themselves being disappointing. A revision on them likewise is going to be more of the same, even with the added content, and more Sun and Moon is just not what I want.

Game looks fantastic, although I'd be surprised to see it stay Switch exclusive for more than a year or so.

I think it's perfectly commendable for groups to encourage diversity and try to be fair to a diverse audience. But I feel that in the pursuit of fair representation, people forget when and where it is significant.

A committee of Smash Bros. players isn't a national government, or board of executives for a business. Whereas these scenarios can benefit from diverse representation as a means to hopefully ensure certain cultures and needs aren't being overlooked (for the simple reason that people don't necessarily remember to consider things that aren't relevant in their own lives), I fail to see how a person having girly parts changes how they fundamentally view playing Smash Bros. competitively in any way that can be similar to how a woman with 2 kids would view a company proposing new mandatory overtime and weekend schedules post hiring.

To put short, I fail to see how the benefit of this. I could be wrong though.

Quite a lot of praise for the game. I'm curious how it will perform in the West, as it tanked pretty hard in Japan.

@DerangedSpaniard From videos that many people have done, including Gamexplain and IGN, the graphics are much closer to the Special Edition version of the game, as you can see what looks to be the same (or close enough to it) versions of the completely redone shaders and effects which they showed off in comparison videos when the Special Edition was first coming out.

As for load times, they seem pretty short, even if they are longer than the PS4/XboxOne/PC versions. Gamexplain's video had a loading screen for about 9 seconds while it loaded the dungeon they were going into.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTjRZ__-278

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ySEbEvJn0I