spiderman0616

Easy 9 or 10 for me, and I wasn't even all that in to Breath of the Wild by the time I finished it. This one is getting me hooked early in a way that game didn't. All the little touches and refinements and layers that have been added to what was already a solid open world RPG though--I guess this is what I needed BOTW to be because I am absolutely loving it so far.

@Dr_Lugae Because people don't know how to calm down and just be. As soon as the next Nintendo hardware comes out, people will be pining for the next one because of all the things the new one did wrong that they're mad about. Everyone has their own personal checklist of things that the hardware is supposed to have. Never mind all the amazing games and consoles that are currently available. Better, faster, more all the time.

Honestly, in my opinion, this just reads like another sour grapes “Switch is underpowered” article. I’m excited about a new model too, but does that mean we have to bag on the old one ad nauseum?

Is it weird that I pre-ordered the digital version a long time ago and basically stopped thinking about it until it pre-loaded itself on my Switch last week?

Nah. Still having a blast with the Switch 6 years later and the OLED model just made it feel fresh again. I’m anxious to see what’s next but the wait will be fun.

Oh good—then there’s still time to get a new voice actor for Mario!!!

Honest question: Does anyone even play these "SP" versions? I still don't think I fully understand what they're for.

I dismissed the Switch for the first couple of years of its existence and have regretted it since. There are two or three Switch exclusives that are now firmly in my top 5 games of all time on any system (namely, Super Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Mario + Rabbids. I'm sure Metroid Dread will have a place on that list too.)

Metroid Dread, to me, is a perfect handheld game. I don't know why. I like playing it on the TV too, but something about playing it handheld makes it feel more special. Maybe just my OG GameBoy Advance nostalgia?

@Pokester99 Aren’t you kind of part of the problem too though? You’re only ever here to troll.

@steely_pete I think that's a legitimate concern. Mine is more general, but is along the same lines: The existence of the Switch Lite just kind of dilutes the most attractive trick that the Switch does: switch! It makes it seem like an optional functionality, when really that's the whole reason it even exists in the form factor it does.

That's not to say I don't think the Lite is great. I had one briefly before exchanging and going to a normal Switch, but my son has one now, and I think it's a rock solid piece of hardware on its own merits. I just think they should have maybe called it something else?

@Pokester99 You need to check your math, because you put 2 and 2 together and somehow came up with 5.

@Pokester99 You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s common practice for large companies to bet on themselves and buy shares. This is a strategic move and happens all the time. It’s legal, smart, and benefits shareholders.

@OldMcGroin I'm sure this is all accurate. I guess my point was that I'm almost level 12, have been having a blast with the game, and have felt no need to spend any real money yet. In my last ranked round I think I got 15 kills with Ninetails, and I think my highest item level is something like 13. I realize after a couple more months I won't be able to score a single point in any matches, and that's probably when I'll delete the game.

I still stand by my original thought though--so far this game does not seem nearly as pushy about spending money as a lot of other MOBAs I've played.

@twztid13 I get it—and you are right. I’m just saying this game is probably the least predatory MOBA (or free-to-play in general) I’ve ever played, which does greatly contribute to my enjoyment of it. I spent years playing VainGlory and spent actual money on it often enough that I’d expect something ultra rare to eventually come up in a loot box, and it was always the same useless stuff and skins I’d already gotten before. I got bored with LoL Wild Rift pretty quickly but it was shaping up to be the same way.
Unite doesn’t feel like that at all.

The turn-off in Unite’s system for me is how valueless it is. The ease of leveling up, at least through lvl 20, makes “gems” pretty useless, yet of course they’re offering to sell you gems anyway.

At one point though, I will throw some money into this game. It’s fun to play and more or less ad free, so why not throw them a couple of bucks for their effort? I never mind doing that for free games that are actually good. But I’m not a kid with zero self control either, and that’s who they’re really after.

I love this game so much, and haven't spent a dime on it yet. There are countless videos on YouTube explaining how this is more of a "pay to skip levels" game than a "pay to win" game and I agree with that analysis. If you do the math, it's spot on. There is absolutely no need to spend money on this game, and not doing so will not cause you to miss out on anything.

Is it shady to try to get people to spend money on it in general? I guess the specific tactic is just as slimy as any other "free to play" title, but they don't get in your face about it. I haven't had stacks of 10 splash screens come up before every session trying to get me to buy things or tell me about "deals" on gems or anything like that. I haven't had any spam about the game other than Nintendo telling me to download it. It's pretty harmless as far as the pay mechanics. Case in point: My 11 year old hasn't bugged me one time to buy him anything from this game, and he plays it CONSTANTLY.

@PerishSong I have to admit that I'm playing more and more Pokemon Unite every day, even after I originally thought I would be tired of it by now. It's a solid, if not a little too simplistic, MOBA with a really easy point of entry. All the addictive elements of MOBAs are still there, while a lot of the annoying elements of most MOBAs are mostly not there. I still don't think we've seen what Tencent REALLY has in store as far as micropayments and gacha and all that stuff, but I hope it in no way resembles VainGlory's system, where 99.99% of the time, the risk is not worth the reward.

@hyperballad Yep—they do seem to care what players think of the game. I was very impressed by the breadth of the questions.

@PerishSong Valid points. And I was really encouraged by the questions on their player survey. I’m willing to stick around a while and see how things “evolve”. (See what I did there?) It really is a pretty fun game, but I still think of it as more of a MOBA Lite.

It has the same problems I had with VainGlory and League of Legends. I love MOBAs, but they're designed to make you want to pay for things that really have no real world worth, and I have sunk a not-insignificant amount of money into both.

Pokemon Unite is actually a fun game, but I can't see being engaged with it super long. It's very stripped down as far as MOBAs go.

@mariomaster96 Definitely true, but I still think that's only part of the story. Without the hardware shortages, sales would look a lot different for sure, but I still think the Switch would be selling like hotcakes either way.

At this time last year, I was worried that the PS5 and XSX were going to steal all of the Switch's thunder. So far, that hasn't really happened.

@TheFullAndy Gotta bait those clicks though!

I really love seeing this device and its ecosystem doing well. There's always room for improvement, but I'm absolutely obsessed with the Nintendo Switch. They've really struck gold this time around.

Any hardware updates to the Switch will be a day one purchase for me. This is the best console I’ve ever owned in my life.

@RupeeClock I just started Xenoblade a few days ago too! So I’m going to let my 9 yo play first and then by the time he’s done, I’ll be ready for it.

@Savino That I can agree with. The multiplayer was so good. I seem to remember playing it quite a bit.

@Kimyonaakuma That's the other thing--it wasn't that great of a game in the first place. Much like the original FarCry, it started out great, but you could tell they either ran out of gas or ran out of time at the end. Crytek was never great at their game endings.

I built a gaming PC specifically to run Crysis back when it first came out. I maxed out everything. That PC was a screamer. It still completely choked on Crysis, especially toward the end. Pretty crazy that any version of this game will run on Switch.

40 hours into Dragon Quest XI and still going. Every morning is Animal Crossing, every night is Dragon Quest. Trying to decide if my next game (besides Paper Mario) should be Xenoblade Chronicles DE or Fire Emblem Three Houses.

Just give me Battletoads. Other than that, I couldn't care less about anything Microsoft has to offer. I'm pretty sick of Sony at this point as well.

Our pair from the original launch Switch that I got for my kids started drifting within a year and had to be repaired. I bought myself a Switch Lite and it had a weird dead spot on the right stick within the first month. I exchanged it for a standard Switch and also bought a backup pair of JoyCons.

So far the repaired pair have worked great and we haven't had any issues with the two newer pairs or the Pro controller. Also, I do like that the repairs are free and only take a week to complete.

However--it's a real shame that Nintendo hasn't fixed this. I like that they're fixing the controllers for free, and the Switch might very well be my favorite console of all time, but it's so ridiculous that they didn't at least fix this for the v2 hardware.

I go in every day--usually sometime in the morning--and grab all my new fossils, make a lap or two around the island for fish, clean up the beach, sell all my stuff, visit everyone I want to to visit, etc. I may or may not play again later in the day, but usually I do.

To me, this game feels like a security blanket. I can always pop into my island and goof around for a while and feel a lot more relaxed when I'm done. I still haven't done as much terraforming stuff as I want to, and there are a lot of untouched areas on my island. I'd like to pay off my last loan and get a little more creative with the layout.

I am predicting by the end of summer I might be a little sick of this game, but who knows?

Always Animal Crossing every day, but I’m also super engrossed in Link’s Awakening. Finally picked up the remake last week. Reminds me of the good old days playing the old version on my GameBoy Color.

My 12 yr old gave up Fortnite quite a while ago, but my 9 yr old still plays it almost daily. I can see the appeal of the game for that age level--my problem is how it makes him act. My wife and I get very tired of listening to him yakking at the top of his lungs the whole time he plays it.

However--it does give him a way to socialize with his friends and his cousins, especially now while we're all stuck at home. I have strict screen time limits on his Switch and iPad, so it's not possible for him to stay up all night playing. I wish more parents would explore their options with that. Many people don't know how to do it or that it's even possible.

It's a hard balance to maintain, since I'm a gamer too. The key is getting into a routine and sticking to your guns when they want more screen time.

I bought my v2 Switch literally less than two weeks before my state went to shelter-in-place. I appreciate having it every single day.

I've had days during this stay-at-home order where I've played AC for hours on end, thought I was done for the day, and then got back on that same night and was right back at it. Any momentary feelings of boredom with this game don't seem to last more than 5 minutes after I turn the Switch off. There have been slower days, but the game seems to know exactly when to add in the right amount of stuff to pick the pace back up again.

@Francema Yep—sometimes they play together and cooperate on jobs, but usually they play at separate times.

My kids share an island on one Switch and I have my own island on my own Switch. I’m not sharing resources with those fiends.

I don't understand some people's thinking when it comes to this console war stuff. The Switch certainly doesn't exist in a vacuum and Nintendo needs to keep their eyes on the competition at all times, but I'm only becoming more and more convinced over time that Nintendo knows exactly what they're doing here.

The two big cash cows for Nintendo have always been their in-house properties like Mario, Zelda, etc. and their handheld hardware. They've had hugely successful TV-connected consoles too, but to me the bigger sales story always seems to be the GameBoy/DS sales.

Now they have the Switch, which is all their strengths wrapped up into one machine and only accelerates in sales even as customers know there is new hardware coming down the pipeline in a few months. I think the Switch is just the more interesting machine to a lot of people, and it has the advantage of being the only machine that plays Nintendo games.

The missing piece of the puzzle here is what the new software is going to be this year. I don't believe for a second that they don't have big plans to fight off any slowdown in hardware sales due to next gen machines coming out.

@IceEarthGuard I only had $5 down on it, so I told them to bank it in my account for my next game.

My GameStop called me tonight to let me know they’re still open tomorrow morning and I can still come in and get my pre-order for Animal Crossing. I told the guy I would not be coming in to get it and had downloaded it from eShop instead. He said something along the lines of “It’s good to hear you’re being safe and doing the right thing.” I’m thinking GameStop employees are not super happy they’re still open.

@DennisNOR So crazy--I had the exact same change happen to me just this last year or so. For reasons I could not explain, I no longer had any desire to play my PS4/VR anymore. It was sitting there collecting dust, even with my backlog of games to play.

Somewhere along the line I started playing my kids' Switch and something clicked in my brain--these games were such high quality and so much fun to play. I couldn't believe I had ignored the Switch up until now. It was making me happy, which is something console games hadn't done for a long time.

Before I knew it, I had my own Switch so I could stop fighting with my kids over theirs. And I've been burning through games like crazy to make up for lost time. For me, the Switch is an absolute revelation. And yes, just like you, I also game on iOS a lot, which I had also been doing a lot more than playing PS4 lately.