nhSnork

"Expect improved FPS, load times and more" of the game to have installed?👀 After five times the previous size of No Man's Sky on NS2, I'm almost scared to imagine how much Waframe would weigh despite the devs' recurrently demonstrated compression sorcery, and even the comparatively useful faster load times can struggle to justify that increase by themselves, not to mention the glorified extra frames per second.

@BLD frankly, FEH has never bothered me with its "PvP" or "meta" aspects, partly because, like you said, most of the multiplayer remains asynchronous and partly because there's nothing at stake but various resources you can eventually get elsewhere. My own PvP activity is pretty much just Grand Battles (one battle per day for the event duration), Aether Raids (same until gathering all five "participation" rewards per week) and a weekly 5-win streak at the Arena to farm the summon tickets (plus a few placement rewards as I keep bouncing between tiers 17-18). The bulk of the game is the single player story content from the main campaigns to the fun crossover interactions in the likes of Forging Bonds and Tempest Trials; those are mainly responsible for this game still ranking high among my freemium routines since I installed it in early 2020. I'm hoping for more stuff like that in Shadows as well, even though its crossover cast appears to be native counterparts rather than isekai'd originals - not that games like Tales of Crestoria (RIP) haven't had a field day with the latter approach as well.

As for Nintendo, I have an impression that they've only cared so much for the mobile front even after reluctantly expanding there. They officially said more than once that such games' main purpose is to drum up extra attention towards the respective console franchises, which is likely why Dragalia Lost (itself a Cygames collab at the end of the day) remains their only original IP in this medium and, AFAIK, never really expanded beyond it (compare Fire Emblem where Engage DLC got Veronica from FEH and Echoes had previously received a couple DLC characters from some spinoff card game).

@BLD I expect so little from tutorials and such that I barely even touch demos these days - looking up a gameplay video from a later point in the game tends to paint a fuller picture, especially as it's the mid-journey routine loops that can sometimes make or break lasting engagement with a playthrough. Like I added above, my own doubts about the game largely stem from my highly on-and-off history with online multiplayer games (which has shortened my experience with a lot of mobile titles including otherwise amusing bingo sims - honestly, how hard would it be to simply "bot" those? - and the recent trend of real time strategies that all come to focus on synchronous guild raids), but depending on how this one is structured and what it may offer down the road, it could end up being an exception.

...although in any case, I still have to sideload the game first. Something tells me QooApp is not touching this one after all.

The longevity of Bamco freemiums is becoming a bit memetic...

EDIT: shows what I know/remember, it's actually a retail game. Granted, if a $20 game outright promises to become unplayable where its NSO-originating predecessor at least offered a leftover mode or two (albeit with the latter's own pricetag), then this correction may not necessarily make the news sound any nicer.😅

@Simu001 I'm 38, gaming since 9 or so and don't seem to be growing out of anything, so it may be more about personal burnout or somesuch. And I make use of customization features on the platforms that have them but have never found them indispensable - perhaps because I never even owned a console with any semblance of home menu (as opposed to just requiring you to turn it on with a cartridge inserted) until NDS (purchased in 2010), so like with many other Gen 5-8 things comparatively younger gamers have had time to grow bored stiff of, the novelty of even the most "barebones" stuff has yet to wear off on me.

As for themes and such, I already said it above - Nintendo likely just decided to trim things all the way down at launch and then never had a reason to expand back (shockingly enough, fandom buzz on social media doesn't reliably amount to one). Even folders have seemed like an update padder, unless they had statistics of psycho accounts like mine with a four-digit eShop receipt history and figured the feature might finally come in handy after all.👀😆 Themes and music peaked during Gen 8 when Nintendo found their hardware, especially 3DS, to be in competition with smart devices which also begot cameras (already tried on NDSi), menu stickers and even a social network of a sort (Miiverse). But none of that helped 3DS replicate the predecessor's runaway success regardless, and Ninty apparently lost interest.

Belarusians:

@Simu001 Nintendo omitted customization in favour of a snappier home menu on Switch and the latter is one foot on the console bestseller podium top, so they're evidently lacking an incentive to bring said customization back. As for the folders, they were added ages ago.

Besides the traditional JRPG salad (Xenoblade, Atelier, Persona, Tales, Rune Factory and Castlevania with a few other odds like Crisis Core, Fuga and Star Ocean on top) and a range of roguelites (Little Noah, Tallowmere 2, Skul, Riddled Corpses, Zombie Rollerz and Children of Morta), the hybrid pool is expected to include stuff like Carto, Doom 3, Cyberpunk, Layers of Fear 2, Deliver Us the Moon, Skyrim, Bastion and No Man's Sky, plus perhaps some subscribed retro in the form of Mr Driller 2, Chibi-Robo, Metroid Zero Mission or Super Mario Kart. Deck may join the fray with more Tales and Final Fantasies as well as Watch Dogs, Fallout 3, Nights of Azure or Nioh, while the handheld consoles are beckoning with more Gran Turismo, Gravity Rush and God Eater in the dual screen company of Chase Begins, Etrian Odyssey Untold and Shadows of Valentia. Speaking of shadows, I also consider trying the new freemium (screenshots showing battle passes and such suggest that the initial "free-to-start" format a la SMR was misreported), but I'll have to dig up a functional installer first.

@nessisonett well, I also know her for Raya and the Last Dragon which is also damn good.😉

@Hinade along with the rest of the Eternals in my case. One of MCU's best, don't @ me.

@NotASockPuppet because it's the people actually playing the motherlode of already released games instead of constantly chasing the new short burst doses of unhinged anticipation thrill who are "sitting on their hands".😅

Gnosia in my Fire Emblem?! Sounds unironically interesting but is yet another Nintendo freemium skipping Belarusian Google Play, and even if it didn't, the latter's current ban on all payments outside existing subscriptions (which makes it a wowser that some new releases still actually bother showing up here) could well obstruct its otherwise more user-beneficial free-to-start model - first time since Super Mario Run, isn't it? Now these are the two Big N mobiles I'd be honestly more enthused to see cross-release on Switch than many a Pokemon entry of the kind.😆

EDIT: screw it, I may chance a sideload after all. Fire Emblem finally getting CENTAURS (after mere decades of Shining Force's head start) is not something to easily ignore.

@LastFootnote the news date back several years to the point I might be hard-pressed to dig up the exact links, but I'm confident I didn't just Mandela'd Capcom acknowledging the new entry's eventual advent. The game seems to have been in development for the better half of last generation, although the Destinies/Spirit director reportedly left Capcom in 2020 which may or may not have slowed things down. Nonetheless, seeing as the company has seen fit to bring the entirety of the series to the modern platforms by now (with today's update on top), they clearly maintain their faith in it, and the staff interviews circa GAA/Investigations ports have been unanimously and coyly dodgy about what's next in store for Phoenix & Co.

I mean, we ARE getting a new game, we just don't know when.

I'm certainly interested in the games, but the peripheral requirement remains a concern - I'm not even confident I've ever seen Labo on local shelves, and here we seem to be talking stuff a potential importer would need an NSO subscription for even one copy of. The thing risks being either nonexistent in Belarus or priced high enough that those already complaining about the default $100 would choke at the sight of the converted tag. The only foreign storefronts humouring our custom service with electronic shipments (read: AliExpress or its Russian analogues like Ozon/Wildberries) might come up with an even cheaper knockoff, but the latter prospect instills proportionally less enthusiasm in someone who doesn't even normally buy third party joycons. Only time will tell.

Xillia preordered and several more wishlist items moved to backlog - Splasher, Traditional Tactics Ne+ and Billion Road among them... and THEN I check Delisted Games Calendar to learn that the latter is actually expected to go poof at the end of the month?😳 On that note, the same fate and deadline awaits Star Trek Prodigy Supernova I got earlier this year and already befell Goosebumps The Game last month after a generous two week heads-up I missed out on🙄 Anyhoo, all these library updates and other discount temptations from Demon Gaze Extra and SMT V Vengeance to Dead Cells and Unicorn Overlord keep my greedily brim-filled storage spaces a topical concern, so besides the already cleared space from another cleared playthrough (namely the 241 Mb and 15 hours of Suguru Nature!😎 Hey, the latter was more fun than the sound of it, especially as my first experience with this puzzle format), I consider dedicating some of the weekend session to other stuff with a finish line in sight like Little Noah, Carto, Layers of Fear 2, Regency Solitaire and Doom 3 (argh, I keep forgetting that the latter reportedly has another campaign... but nonetheless) on both hybrids. Does it mean no distractions from various other stuff like XCX/Azuma/Yumia, Cyberpunk, Hammerhelm, RE0 and the new NMS expedition along with various Tales, Personas and Castlevanias? Or other platform backlogs from Final Fantasies, Gran Turismos and Watch Dogs to Etrian Odyssey, The Chase Begins and Payback?

"as you can probably tell from the gameplay video up top, EA Sports FC 26 is locked at 30fps on Switch 2"

All I can tell from the gameplay video up top is that the port looks good and you're making "first world problem" sound like a borderline diagnosis. Due credit with the spotted bugs, at least.

@Telcontyr well, we balance each other out nicely, as everything available on NS1/NS2 is usually a priority port for me above any other. As for FIFA/EAFC, the only thing that prevents me from "funding this garbage" is my comparatively low interest in football games, to the point where my four-digit Switch library only has a couple to date (Behold the Kickmen and Captain Tsubasa... well, and SoccerDie if that one tangentially counts😆), plus the OG Mario Strikers on the current gen sub. If I'm in the mood for the franchise in question, the FIFA 14 card I got enclosed from my Vita's previous owner tends to scratch the itch just fine.

@Nintendo4Sonic with even polygonal graphics hitting their pragmatic ceiling over a decade ago, Gen 9 itself showed the redundancy of the majority of stationary platform "features" supposedly pressing Switch's hardware against the wall. Now, we have an even beefier dedicated hybrid machine - and while I agree that its specs would have been better off making up for the crunched optimization cases at the tried'n'true 720/30 instead of chasing frixels with all the impression longevity of flavoured bubble gum, there is nothing more advanced to expect in a few years from the industry that has already spent the better half of last gen struggling to fill wowser specs with wowser meanings. Deny it to the delight of TV set makers all you will, but the reality is that we live in the age of absolutely excessive hardware resources for the creation of an outstanding video game, let alone the oft-stigmatized but just as experience-rewarding "middle ground" of less ambitious stuff. At least unless/until there's a legit full-fledged Aincrad, NWO or OASIS to accommodate.

As for looking like "on PC with details on very low" in 2025 AD...

"But for now the old tried and tested means of grabbing this from the Japan eShop (or importing from your purveyor of choice) will have to suffice for big fans who just can't hold out"

And who can read Japanese, you mean. Or does this release actually contain an English text over there? Otherwise, I'm kinda out of breath to hold since the first Baroque graced Japanese Switches almost five years ago. We already seem lucky to have got Sting's Riviera & Co here in the west (sans Knights in the Nightmare, stuck in Japan since 2022 as well).

Mr Driller 2 was probably the first GBA game in my experience (as a rare one my Qtek G100 could decently emulate at the time😅), and it was enough to sell me on the franchise I proudly continue to suck at to this day.😏 More Klonoa on Switch is always welcome as well, even if my acquaintance with the character remains limited to Namco x Capcom for now.

A somewhat hectic weekend coupled with the proverbial storage space juggling requirements on both hybrids suggests that the latest Switch batch (a fairly wide range from Railgrade, Into the Breach and No Straight Roads to Gris, Lovecraft's Untold Stories and Raging Loop) may all stay in the figurative drawer for now despite the almost radiated temptation, but time will tell; some shuffling will be in order next month or so at latest anyway (in pursuit of pre-installing my Roughly Estimated™ 1900th Switch game aka Tales of Xillia👀), so I might as well ponder the necessary adjustments in advance. For now, what session time I'll ultimately manage to squeeze in is likely to be spent on the familiar lengthy playthroughs encompassing the familiar Xenoblades, Rune Factories, Ateliers, Personas, already installed Tales and their genre brethren/neighbours from Skyrim and EoW to Ys Origins and Shalnor Legends, plus other itches to potentially scratch like Powerwash, Train Life, Regency Solitaire, Layers of Fear 2, Tumbleseed and Pocket Card Jockey. NS2's native Cyberpunk alongside not-so-native Carto, Doom 3 and Pillars of Eternity are in this bingo ball machine, too, as are options on the other platforms like Dishonored, Pokemon Gold, God of War, Luigi's Mansion and Virtue's Last Reward.

$70 for two Gen 7 classics with some new bits is even worse than one new $80 game now?🤔 Who's the last in line for whatever this article and comment section is smoking? The first Metroid Prime, a Gamecube title, got recently remastered for $40 as well. And everyone "remembers back on Virtual Console", but Virtual Console's demise last gen ultimately compels one to wonder how many people actually used to put their money where their current nostalgia is. As for me, I'm on the fence about the first Galaxy courtesy of 3DAS ownership (I'll need to see the extent of the storybook's expansion and overall importance in the game) but $34 certainly doesn't sound like too much for a curated hybrid console experience instead of a dolphin-drawn emulated playthrough to alchemize manageable Deck controls for.

If not for a couple mood whiplashes (Popucom looks like an awesome action platformer mixed with Zuma legacy but is limited to multiplayer, and the wham return of the Virtual Boy library - over half of it! - threatens to lock me out with a required peripheral I can't be certain to see on local store shelves despite VB emulators and the feature-succeeding 3DS hardware making the 3D effect optional), I'd have rated it a solid 10, but even in the end I was eating good. SMG2 is finally happening, native REVII/VIII ports are finally happening with the equally cloudless Requiem on top, Fire Emblem's Echoes-style revisits have yet to resume but we're getting a whole new game with seemingly yet more ties to 3H. Fever is going "Tennis Story" with its adventure mode, Pokopia looks like an almost overdue Pokemon mine'n'crafter with vague Echoes of Wisdom vibes (on top of a couple more sims like Lynked and Human Crossing: Down Under Horiz- I mean Dinkum), Yoshi & the Mysterious Book just looks gorgeous but also promises a fantasy wildlife research expedition of sorts. Project Zero 2, Danganronpa 2 and even DQVII are all getting even more upgraded releases before I binge my way towards the previous ones... including the already purchased Goodbye Despair on Switch, but the new content sounds like a double-dip after all - and speaking of new content, there are a couple Gen 10 "upgrades" that also tempt some adjustments in my eShop wishlist (no, "more enemies" in Pirate Warriors 4 and "mouse mode" in Stardew Valley weren't among those). Add some more promising bits like Storm Lancers and a couple extras like Mega Man Star Force pack or the rest of FFVIIR subseries targeting NS2 - and bon appetit.

Yes, please. Skimming through Wikipedia, it seems like Switch will be only left missing the Legends subseries (1/2 and Tron Bonne) and a handful of spinoffs including the tactical Command Mission and the offline-revived X Dive. Hardly unrealistic to suppose Capcom could bundle both later down the road as well.

As some allege/report, the MAJORITY of these patents gets ignored (especially in Japan) and is created with as much in mind. It's doubtful Nintendo will need these anytime soon either, seeing the multitude of "other developers" they've welcomed and even published on their consoles. This whole case looks like a legal chess counterflex against a specific sassy instance of "pfff, OR WHAT?" from someone not even based in the usual suspects like the CIS or China.

@Ashfordwasp TD2 on SNES was a blast, and there's no such thing as too much first person driving on Switch(es).

@sixrings as far as production vectors go, 1440p is "straight down the budget drain", not "above and beyond".

I'd prefer Thursday where I have the slot free, but it's not like the stream won't be around to catch up with later. This year has been on a roll for my go-to Direct wishes like XCX and Xillia despite them ironically getting announced outside the thing, so I don't plan to reign in my gluttony for this one either.😈 Final Fantasies like the Gran Pulse saga, Type 0 and XV, everything Dishonored and other Arcane stuff like Prey, Eternal Sonata and Scarlet Nexus, Code Vein and Nioh series, Just Cause 4 and GTA V, NFS galore and the long-awaited TDU Solar Crown, the equally long awaited Genshin and the upcoming Neverness, the missing or previously clouded stuff from various Capcom and Ubisoft franchises, some first party hopes from Project X Zone 3 and Jugdral remakes to the anniversary-themed justice for Galaxy 2 and the Sin & Punishment bundle, the formerly proverbial opposites of first party like Gravity Rush games or even something MotorStorm, more revisited oldies like Clive Barker's Undying or pastgen-skipping indies like Starbound...

And the best part? Even if NONE of these show up, my NSW/NSW2 wishlists and eventually backlogs are pretty much guaranteed to grow bigger yet anyway. As the last eight and a half years are our witness. Here's to the same effect on everyone else's wishlists and backlogs, too!🍻

@Filthy so what are you waiting for? You have less than two days to splurge out on the Xenosagas!😸

Another weekend where I could slot a home console session (to check out the recently added Viewfinder or idly dip a toe into the otherwise naturally eShop-wishlisted Stardew Valley from the same IGC batch) but find myself more tempted by the bottomless portable backlogs. No telling if or how much the latter will grow this fortnight (although I am weighing my budget against a handful of discounts like Gris, No Straight Roads and Into the Breach), but what time I'll get to spend gaming is bound to feature the already engaged playthroughs - be it one/multiple Xenoblades/Personas/RFs/Ateliers/Tales (plus accompanying gigs like Borderlands 2, Hammerhelm, Bastion, Echoes of Wisdom, Outer Worlds and/or Layers of Fear 2) on Switch, more Tales alongside some Watch Dogs, Payback, Nioh and Morrowind on Deck or a mix of yet more Tales (the looming advent of Xillia will do that to you😆), Ciel Nosurge, EOU, Neptunia and Endless Frontier across the handheld consoles. Buggy (in a good way) metroidvanias to commemorate the release of their sequels? It's definitely a thought, but I have yet to decide what I'd be willing to bench for the needed ~5 Gb on either hybrid, and my "spotlight disk tray" of soulsvanias (comparatively smaller because I suck at them more😅) remains dominated by Ender Lilies.

I've already long restarted the game as The Legend Returns after even more time racked up on NDS prior, so the odds of a new investment and another restart (not holding my breath for save data compatibility here) will very much depend on the brand new content in question.

I'll refrain from an "outstanding" vote for now, keeping the tier for the Switch library which has long and truly reached it by now, but despite a fair bit of marketing focus on frixel-boosted crossgens and upgrades (not that the latter haven't included appreciably tangible examples like No Man's Sky, Kirby or the upcoming Disgaea 7 Complete), the new generation already shines, offering more compact adventures and grand time sinks alike. Cyberpunk, Bananza, MKW and Star Wars Outlaws alone could easily make one's backlog for the rest of the year (the term I'm already generously shortening down from my own tendency to comb through such games for even longer😆), and there's so much more where that came from (the range I'm already excluding crossgens from). The followup is off to a great start and only promising to go uphill from here.

Would have been even cooler to see it debut westside like a fair few other oldies did on NSO in the past, but it's always a much taller order with RPGs. The game did get patchlated elsewhere IIRC, though, and its NDS followup Magical Starsign was released in the west officially.

@ancientlii I think they had a spirit there, yes. SSBU gave a bit of spotlight to an appreciable truckload of games like this.

Me when a game runs at "what seems like 30 fps":

The description sounds kinda like a mix of Typoman and Baba Is You. Hardly the most confusing thing I've ever read.

"who, despite revealing that Ubisoft allowed no direct-feed capture or over-the-shoulder recording during the preview, assembled his thoughts into a YouTube video"

Well, that was one story to preface with a whole paragraph about the lack of Ubisoft's own promo footage.😅 Sounds like a bunch of "early impressions" to take someone's word for... and considering that a recent PAX video filming a handheld Elden Ring session still left me struggling to detect the very frixel woes it was intended to showcase, "there might be a good reason for that"©

Back home and back to backlogs, potentially just portable ones for now since the rest has to be hooked up and there's too much stuff I've been itching to revisit in the former field. Switch sessions will likely revolve around the familiar RPG/actventure salad of Xenoblades, Personas, Zeldas, Ateliers, Hogwartses, Rune Factories and Cyberpunks with more where that came from (like 8Doors, Astria, Bastion, Eiyuuden Rising, Iconoclasts and/or Skyrim) on top; stuff like Layers of Fear 2, Powerwash, Deliver Us the Moon, Bioshock 2, Carto and NSO's recently added Chibi-Robo are in the pool as well. The other platforms may see some FFXIII/XV, Eternia/Zestiria/Arise, Watch Dogs and Gran Turismo (both the PSP one on Vita and OG on Deck), Luigi's Mansion and Ever Oasis... a new academic year ahead means a naturally busier schedule to keep up with it all afterwards, although that's still where the proverbial portability comes in to improve the odds.

I've had Sedna on Switch for ages, but starting the respective franchise binge toward it was a different matter... which just became a fair bit easier.🍻

@The_Nintendo_Pedant I haven't dealt with many RC vehicles IRL but I credit Mike Posehn-sensei for what "tank controls" prowess I do have.😄

Pretty much my top fave in the series so far. The blend of eras in the setting, the cast, the gameplay - all summing up to an unforgettable ride.

Sounds interesting, like having a DIY version of Warframe's orbiter, although I do hope the update comes with an expanded cap for ship storage (I mean, beyond what freighters are already said to add) which can seem pretty challenged courtesy of various expedition rewards alone.😅

A free upgrade is certainly appreciated (although I don't have the game yet anyway), but the listed features don't really entice me to go for 28 Gb instead of ~9,6.

Welp, one of my most portbegged Switch releases over the years is finally happening.🍻 No sequel yet, but here's hoping it won't get ratatosked either.

Well, if the wording is literally "Nintendo consoles" (which it should be because who says "a game coming to Nintendo" in the mid-2020s?), then it sounds like a cross-gen indeed, and the series might be considered a bit too "niche" to target a 6 million userbase instead of a 153 million one. By default, I'll be aiming for the Gen 9 version in that case, too. Wish the first two games would show up as well (I haven't tried them on Deck yet and lack confidence after attempting a playthrough on an Intel HD laptop yilded actual bad graphics as opposed to what spoiled gamers like to mislabel as such😵😏), but far be it from me to look the gift horse in the mouth for now.

5 p.m. here... well, I should still be within semi-decent mobile coverage, so I'll try to catch it. The announcement has been officially summer-bound for a while and presents the umpteenth excuse to hope for Xillia dilogy on Switch even though it's more likely to be one game and more probably one of the other franchise milestones like Phantasia or Abyss. In the end, provided properly portable access (which last gen's Tales re-releases were appreciably consistent in), I'll be in the market for any of them.

This being the tail end of the streak I mentioned last time, much of the lineup remains unchanged as well, although certain items like Yumia, XCX, P5R, Cyberpunk, RE0, Azuma and Palia may get particular playtime on Switch while the likes of Lies of P, Wolfenstein New Order, Payback, Watch Dogs, Horizon, Valentia and a bunch of Tales are likely to make up the bulk of activity on the other platforms. Still got a shot at finishing Super Mario Kart and Doom 3 as well, although the former might make way for more Speedstorm (with the unlocked tour nodes to mop up because the season will estimatedly end right before I get back to the hobby in late August) while the latter still has a reported followup campaign of sorts, so I probably won't be done with it just yet anyway.

@larryisaman and games on PS5 (itself a five-year-old pastgen machine) tend to use a tenth of its power on meaningful features, so there's arguably plentiful room for compromise.

@Shade_Koopa "BL 3 skipped switch"... except it didn't. The Legendary Collection also runs fine and birdflips allegations of comparative inferiority with actually contributive stuff like motion aiming - while its optimization reportedly involved the contracted studio's proprietary tech that facilitated UE 2.5/3 game ports on Switch in general.

Never heard of the game until until this IW, but it seems to have only taken 34 (or, on Steam, 33) years for an Action 52 done right.😄

I'd prefer the ability to catch up with the previous entries first anyway (including T7 I briefly tried on PS4), but please tell me what would make porting a fighting game to a machine with NS2's already borderline excessive specs "a lot of work" is the ability to make waffles and do taxes, not 8K perspiration on the fighters' faces or crunched optimization procedures. This frixel craze has been enough of a toilet bowl to flush budgets and efforts down that even the past transition to HD graphics has long stopped seeming worth the snowballing tradeoff. This bubble is bound to burst one day, and when it does, I don't envy anyone in close proximity.

@kal_el_07241 sounds like a worthy successor to "N64 trees in Pokemon Sword". And I'm not sure if equalling NS2 to PS3 (which even the first Switch predictably ran circles around) validates one to label other people's statements as jokes either.😅 (unless Poe's law strikes again here, which I'd rather hope it does)

My schedule says I won't be trying it until the 29th at earliest, but neat nonetheless. With Wind Waker still awaiting its turn in the franchise queue, this will be the first freeroamer in the lineup that I could earnestly dig into.

It's on my radar, but sports tend to be elbowed out by other genres in terms of wishlist priority, and I have yet to clarify if it offers enough/any single player content.