Comments 95

Re: More Switch Games Have Received Compatibility Updates For Switch 2

metaphysician

@Thomystic

Actually, yes: on the XBox One, which involved essentially doing backward compatibility on an almost game-by-game basis for the 360.

The reason you might be used to the idea of BC as "effortless", is that historically most systems achieved BC by literally including the prior console's hardware in the new console. When a DS played GBA games, it did so by literally running them on the chips of a GBA contained within the DS. Likewise, the original model PS3 had an entire PS2 stuck inside it. This makes the BC simple. . . the problem is its increasingly difficult to actually do at an affordable price. Nintendo certainly was never going to be able to put a Switch 1 SoC inside the Switch 2.

Re: Opinion: Who Needs Link? This Top-Down Metroidvania Is The Best Zelda Game Of 2025

metaphysician

While conceptually I don't have a problem with the idea of a "top down metroidvania", I would agree its silly to use such to try to describe what is otherwise a bog standard Zelda clone.

That said, I would advise against falling into the trap of assuming that a game can only be part of a genre after that genre is "invented". . . because genres aren't invented in the first place. Genre labels are created, when there are enough similar games to bring about the need to create a label to describe them. That means basically every genre label is only created well after the games that form that genre have existed for some time.

TLDR: Yes, Metroid 1 is part of the metroidvania genre, just like Doom 1 is part of the FPS genre despite predating the name for many years, too.

Re: "A Really Good Experience" - Digital Foundry Dives Into Switch 2's Final Fantasy VII Remake Demo

metaphysician

@Nonchu

While demos are a 100% good thing for consumers, and really should be pushed as an expected standard. . . be aware of the flipside: yes, in this case a demo sells you on buying a game. However, a demo can just as easily unsell someone on buying a game. Not even just because it reveals a game to be bad, but because it can accurately reveal to the potential customer that what the game offers isn't for them.

From the developer/publisher perspective, demos are a comparatively risky and expensive form of marketing. Which is why, if you want more demos? You need to embrace and encourage skepticism about all other forms of marketing, that don't involve playable copies of the game in user hands.

Re: Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Updates Planned For Switch Platforms

metaphysician

@Oppal21

Please explain how to make the Switch 2 better, without:

1. Causing the price to skyrocket to the point that no one buys it

2. Causing it to grow too big to be in any way portable

3. Causing its battery life to plummet until it is useless

Because if your going to claim that "Switch 2 is bad hardware", you really should be able to offer a practical alternative. Otherwise your just pushing lies.

Re: Review: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Switch 2) - A Hard Pass For A Great Game

metaphysician

@MitchK

While I absolutely understand the sentiment, and am not exactly a 40K superfan myself. . .

I can't help but note the irony that, surprisingly enough? Rogue Trader is actually way less nihilistic than the 40K cliche. It generally supports making "decent human being" choices, and even has a Golden Ending for which the name isn't a cruel joke. Which is why Rogue Trader would be top of my list of "40K recs for people who aren't 40K fans", at least assuming they are fans of WRPGs.

Re: Your Nintendo Switch 'Year In Review 2025' Won't Arrive Until Next Month

metaphysician

@Tyranexx

This is why the VGAs should also be held in January, if they were actually intended to be about praising excellence in games as a medium. As opposed to providing a pre-Christmas marketing push.

( Actually, in a perfect world, the VGAs and similar awards like the Oscars should only be presented at least five years later, so as to filter against recency bias and provide at least a mild test against lasting significance. . . )

Re: New Divinity Trademarks Filed Ahead Of The Game Awards

metaphysician

Random crazy idea: "Infinite Divinity", a new game in the Divinity series set thousands of years later in a spaceborn milieu. Distantly follows up on one of the Original Sin 2 endings ( you can maybe guess which one ). Is very very loosely their take on Rogue Trader, vis a vis "superpowered gonzo high fantasy space opera".

Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's N64 Library With Two Classic Platformers

metaphysician

@krogp

1. Because Nintendo doesn't own the majority of the ROMs, and so can't add them without contractual signoff and payment. Which could be either impossible or too expensive to be worth it.

2. Because releasing every game at once would greatly reduce the value of each individual game, as 90% or more of them would be overshadowed.

3. Because Nintendo doesn't want to face endless years of "NSO is worthless trash!" complaints from fans angry that no new games are being added. . . because it already has all the games.

Re: Nintendo Switch 2 System Update 21.1.0 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

metaphysician

@Automated_Unit_4937

Probably a mix of reasons. One is that many updates are not "customer-facing" in any way, and so to their mind its not relevant to inform the end user. Another is that a fair number are related to piracy and jailbreaking, and they don't want details of those changes to be public, for obvious reasons.

Basically, Nintendo is not a computer company, and so don't feel the need to provide computer-like update information.

Re: "My Staff Have Had Customers Threatening To Rip Their Heads Off" - Retailers And Collectors Tell Of Pokémon TCG Woes

metaphysician

There is no magic solution. Either there is enough supply to match demand for a product, or else there will be resellers.

Which means the non magic solution is "Retailers must be willing to treat the merchandise as valuable goods, and punish abuse." Would you tolerate someone opening up boxes of TVs in the electronic section? No. . . and similarly someone breaking open boxes of Pokemon cards in the TCG aisle should similar result in the offender getting kicked out, possibly in handcuffs. Likewise, the result of abusing staff should be an immediate escort off the premises by beefy security dudes with billy clubs.

( Sadly, this requires actually caring about the wellbeing of your staff, the the "customer is always right" meme has long gone metastatic. . . )

Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"

metaphysician

Regarding the ridiculously high aggregate rating for Other M, I have a theory: some of its features made it disproportionately "critic friendly". Specifically:

1. Being fairly easy and relatively linear made it simpler to rapidly play for review.

2. Its plot may have been terribly written, but for anyone with low media literacy its "allegory about PTSD and motherhood!" created the surface veneer of 'depth'.

Re: The First Review For Octopath Traveler 0 Is In

metaphysician

The issue with key cards is simple: they are digital games, masquerading as physical games, yet offered as a substitute for physical games. In all substantial ways they share the properties of digital games. . . and digital games are fine. However, digital games are not interchangeable with physical games, and pretending otherwise is the problem. If a publisher is unwilling to go to the hassle and expense of making a physical release, they already have a solution: do a digital release. Keycards do not solve any actual legitimate problem, they exist purely so a publisher can lie and claim they 'totally have a physical release', despite. . . not.

Re: Jennifer Hale Says She Was "Thrown Under The Bus" Amid Bayonetta 3 Casting Controversy

metaphysician

@JohnnyMind

Its not even really a matter of waiting for evidence. A journalist shouldn't wait for evidence, they should investigate and find said evidence. Or at least ask question, research public data, and be ready and willing to draw intelligent inferences.

Made all the more infuriating because the very initial statements don't pass the sniff test: that Sega fired Taylor because they were too cheap. . . and instead hired the most famous and expensive voice actress in the business. That alone should have had every person reporting on it going "Wait a second. . ." But that would require actually caring about diligence and the truth, which would get in the way of selling an easy and lucrative narrative of "Evil corporation won't pay worker".

Re: Legend Of Mana: The Art Of Mana - 30th Anniversary Edition Is Getting An English Version

metaphysician

Hot Take: part of why Legend of Mana feels weird and is unpopular, is that its not actually a JRPG at all- its a WRPG. Think about it. Avatar characters with no personality or story of their own, used by the player to freeform explore a world full of systems and quest lines, where which quests they take, and how they turn out, are dependent on player decisions? Sure sounds a lot more like Elder Scrolls than Final Fantasy.

Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Difficulty Settings Revealed By Nintendo

metaphysician

@Ralek85

I strongly suspect that Nintendo takes the philosophy that all "hard modes" are effectively intended for "New Game+". They aren't "harder for people who want a challenge", they are "harder for people who have already mastered the game". Implicit in this being that the player has actually mastered this game.

Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Meet The Team

metaphysician

@Bobobiwan

I hadn't considered that, but depending on how things play out that could be a possibility. And even if you definitely know that Sylux is someone separate from these companions. . . doesn't mean he couldn't disguise himself as one. Imagine finding out partway through the game that Sylux killed and replaced one of the NPCs. . . but not knowing who.

Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Difficulty Settings Revealed By Nintendo

metaphysician

@ear_wig

The simple truth of the matter: A player who chooses too high of a difficulty, and finds the game too hard, is more likely to lambast the game and cause bad word of mouth; versus a person who finds the difficulty settings too easy. Thus its much more important to avoid the former situation than the latter.

Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong's Latest Update Is Now Live On Switch 1 & 2, Here Are The Patch Notes

metaphysician

@JonBoyJ

How, exactly? God Mode works in Hades because damage and HP totals are high enough that a percentage damage reduction can work easily enough. Silksong. . . does not have that. Both HP and damage values are tiny, which means there is no margin for gradual damage reduction. Unless you did it as a percent chance of ignoring a hit, which. . . my instinct is to say "eww".

I'm not opposed to the idea of easy modes; I think they should be more common and more accepted. I just think people who say "Silksong should have an easy mode" should stop and contemplate how to actually do that.

( My own best guess for an idea? Respawn at start of current room, with the same stats and resources as when you entered. This doesn't make any given fight or platforming sequence easier, but it does mean you can retry it without any runback. )

Re: ICYMI: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Estimated Switch 2 And Switch File Size Revealed

metaphysician

@Giancarlothomaz

Most likely answer? Compared to even the spiffed up Prime 1 its probably a much larger game, with a higher baseline resolution. Thus, more art assets that take up more space each. Plus voice lines for the NPCs, audio files can add up surprisingly quickly.

Ditto versus Dread, except with the added factor that being in full 3D means the art assets and level design can't "cheat" nearly as much. So while Dread only needs full resolution assets for things the player actually gets to see up close, Prime 4 needs that level for nearly everything.

Re: 50 Best Super Nintendo (SNES) Games Of All Time

metaphysician

@Pillowpants

I don't actually think this is true, is the thing. Rather, SMW ranks so high because its the most uncontroversially-good title with the most universal exposure. Competing titles that are arguably better, either have less exposure or take more risks ( and thus generate stronger negative feelings from some ) or both. Whereas SMW is a launch title, and also Mario.

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