mr_somewhere

Saw this earlier, sincerely hope it's not the real thing. I was never much of a Fire Emblem fan, I liked the odd game. Awakening was fun even if the story was threadbare. Shadows of Valentia was a great time even if it was occasionally held back by being too faithful to its Famicom origins and Three Houses is still, in my mind one of the best games on Switch.

This looks like a major step back.

A terrible shame. Hopefully his friends and family are doing okay after this loss , or, I should say doing as well as they can. I hope too that they find some solace in how genuinely well liked he was for his performances. He came across as a really nice guy.

@Lizuka I am going to be so upset if they are relegated to DLC again! But hey, if it means we get a semi-sequel to the DLC storyline I wouldn't be too mad.

Couldn't disagree more. They added a unique flavour to the game and never overstayed their welcome. They built on each other so that they remained novel throughout the adventure. Sure, they aren't as anxiety inducing the third or fourth time through, but once you get into the speed running they present a break from the normal game that you can still appreciate.

While I don't think a mechanic like this should be as central a feature in future instalments I think it would be neat if the EMMI returned for a one-off encounter.

As much as I dig this you can't improve on perfection.

@SwitchVogel My thoughts exactly. I've long suspected this would wind up being a cross gen release. To be honest, although I'd be happy if it came out sooner I think it'd be great promotion for the game itself if it were cross gen. After Dread I will be reasonably sated for some time.

Soul Hackers is a pretty neat game and a contemporary follow up could be potentially very interesting, alternatively a more beefy remake as opposed to the basic port job the 3DS version got could also be neat. It's not my favourite game in the series but it's a worthy interesting.

Have finally gotten around to Age of Calamity last month. Had a blast, and wondered if they'd do the same for Three Houses, I am very happy with this announcement. I have enjoyed Fire Emblem before but it never clicked with me properly until Three Houses. This'll be a day one for me.

I only got around to Age of Calamity this year and I had a surprisingly good time with it so I'm definitely on board for this, especially given how much I enjoyed my time with Three Houses. I do have one issue so far, mind, where is Male Byleth?

I'm sure he'll be in it, I just find his design much better.

@Chubby_Man_X True, we're only seeing their true colours I suppose.

I have already beaten the game five times and now Dread mode is going to make me come back for a sixth. It's going to be hellish but I really love this game, any excuse is good enough for me.

Not to sound like the gamer equivalent of a boomer but I miss when people just made games rather than factories intended to squeeze as much money out of your pocket as possible.

If Nintendo go down that path I'm down with them, simple as.

Good on them, don't back down!

@Wexter I get that feeling as well, but, to each their own if that's how they feel about it. Just a little saddened about the changing vibe I get from this place. It's entirely possible it was like this before and I missed it.

Is it just me or is the comments section on this site becoming increasingly edgy and contrarian? Every time I wade into an article about an apparently beloved game I see it frontloaded with such comments.

I thought I was done with Sword and Shield. I didn't hate them, but they were underwhelming, as were the previous games I played, for every step forward they took they lagged behind the competition by several more. However, I might just have to give this a go.

Genuinely shocked the game seems so divisive, at least on this page. It can grow a little irksome during some of the more difficult encounters but the charm and (usually present) polish of the stage design kept me coming back. Greatly enjoyed the variety too and the wild turns the narrative kept taking which persisted right up to the final hours.

The faux Alice in Wonderland section alone was worth it for me.

This is why billionaires are cool and normal. It's great having people so rich they can buy up reporting to editorialise it in their favour.

The digital age should be an age for opensource innovation and lead to opportunity for all but that's bad for business, business requires supply and demand and current day business is all about inflated and often invented scarcity — thus, the NFT. NFTs are nothing but invented scarcity for the digital age they are something that should not exist, a misnomer in concept.

I have no interest in this game but I honestly hope this update fixes it. It's nice to see a creator turn things around.

If I recall the plot is immensely contrived, self-serious and deeply silly. Not worth a look.

You have to give it to Konami, just when you think they're at their very scummiest they always find a way to be even scummier.

@GannonBanned Thanks for the info... it's certainly tempting! Will wait and see if it happens to pop up on sale early next year, that might make me bite the bullet.

Cool. I am ashamed to say I only watched the original this year. Really holds up.

Also, I haven't actually played this. There's no way it'd run on my laptop, hoping to upgrade to a desktop next year. How's the Switch port?

Pretty disappointing patch to be honest. Can't see any of these changes really making a difference.

@Matl Yeah, patching is only going to do so much. Ridley's down air is always going to be a bad move. Fingers crossed this patch is more substantial. Mac and Doc got some decent changes in the last patch but it also comes down to the fact that, at the end of the day, the engine and system is going to favour particular characters, not sure how you avoid that and Ultimate is decently balanced to where I can do decent as Ridley and I'm never going to touch the pro scene.

@Matl Didn't the last patch elevate quite a few low tiers, though? I mean it remains to be seen whether or not it will actually have an effect but it feels like they've been fairly good at knowing who to buff if not always why.

@Thaliard speaking frankly, for me, the resistance these games put up is part of the fun, I find the gameplay loop and challenge of the Ghosts very rewarding, but at the same time I wouldn't begrudge anybody who finds that off putting.

The way I see it is like this: Does the addition of these options actively take anything away from the game? I think the answer is clearly no, especially considering this was a patch after the fact. The core game is still there and hopefully, when the player is better adjusted, they'll give that a go. I understand how you feel I used to think the same way especially back when this conversation came up when Dark Souls originally released but reflecting on it later I think that if these options are designed around the game and will allow people to adjust themselves to the experience it can only be a good thing, it's an invitation for those who may well never have otherwise experienced something they would like. I hope that makes sense.

I'm glad they added this, especially if it means more people get to enjoy the game. Accessibility features should be mandatory, people play games for different reasons. From what I've seen a lot of people just enjoy the atmosphere and pace of these games so they can enjoy that without being forced out. But hey, if they also wanted to add another extra higher difficulty after Nightmare I'd be pretty happy with that too...

The voice has been parodied to hell and back but there's a reason for that. Martinet's voice is iconic, it's hard to separate the character from his voice. There's also a reason so many people were upset when Chris Pratt was announced for the voice.

So disappointing. Been very unlucky and still waiting for the special addition to arrive (should be today, fingers crossed) but I have to say stuff like this really can reflect on the game. I'm sure I'll love it, but the games industry needs a major shift. If it wants to be taken seriously then it must take its staff and artists seriously too!

I really don't care. The base service is not good. I accepted it for the base price but asking any more for it is really a joke, I'd go without if this was the base.

I just assumed the bundle gave you permanent access to the DLC along with a year of the service as a thank you — but I suppose I was expecting too much from Nintendo.

Not paying any more for their garbage service.

Finally! My Ridley amiibo has a function beyond punishing myself in Smash!

Going in expecting another Pokemon. I should add I wouldn't be disappointed. I'm more than happy with the cast, so many characters I wanted in got in. At this stage I'm more hopeful for possible Ridley buffs in the update than the character themselves.

For any Metroidvania fan this is worth it for Aria of Sorrow alone. I've played that game so many times I've lost count. Easily among the top 3 Castlevania games.

Dracula X is uh... not good. Certainly one of the worst trad Castlevania games but, hey, I'd mostly only be buying this for Aria, which is way up there amongst the very best in the series.

Well, this was an odd comment thread.

Man that soundtrack is really coming around.

@Strumpan You've hit the nail on the head right there. It's a little bit like the ign review where they complained: "No More Heroes 3 feels like a punk band playing on busted amps duct-taped to hell".

Exactly! That's kind of the point. Are the dropped frames intentional? Probably not. But, if you're going into this expecting AAA polish and sheen you are playing the wrong game.

Suda's games are rough around the edges but full of charm, heart, fun and ridiculous violence that lead on to earnest often melancholy scenes and discussion. It's an acquired taste.

@sanderev Me and you both. Last game I missed out on from the Wii U now that Fatal Frame is getting the re-release.

Some great reviews all around for this one. Managed to snag a copy of Travis Strikes Again very cheap so I'm actually going to play that through first but as soon as that is done I am diving straight into this!

@EVIL-C I thought it looked a bit off, the design on the web page very much looks like the download codes for sale I used to see in convenience stories back in Japan.

I'm really disappointed too. I'm still hoping there's some kind of physical edition, I'll still give it a shot regardless as I loved the series and even if this one is apparently fairly divisive I am more than willing to give it a shot.

@EVIL-C Oh no, really? Yeah I could be wrong but the title is:

"ダウンロードシリアル"

Download serial.

@EVIL-C This would unfortunately appear to be a download code and not a physical edition. Can't find anything to suggest that there is any English support here either, but my kanji is very rusty and I didn't notice any comments on language, to be fair.

Punk costume is pretty rad but mostly these are fairly bland. Don't quite make up for the loss of the licensed Nintendo outfits.

Remember the Mario & Luigi costume in the remake of 2? That was wild.

Awful scummy of Epic, to be honest, awful scummy. Would it have killed them to at least give them some kind of credit, even a wink and a nod? I mentioned this in the last article and they've said it themselves but would it have killed them to do something different? Anything?

Cautiously optimistic about this one. But even if it disappoints Monster Hunter Stories (while yes a very different game) has completely filled the gap left behind by Sword & Shield.

@Entrr_username

Or, if you had actually paid attention to what I said I asked what this added, which, so far as I can tell is nothing. Doom Clones tended to iterate on Doom, same goes for the games that followed Street Fighter.