tankymctankus

why is it that pokemon games in particular seem to suffer from the opposite of recency bias? Scarlet/Violet so low on the list is insanity - especially below the gen 4 remakes. time will be kind to the popular opinion of those games - especially as more people play a more stable version - but just as they have done with Black & White, Sun & Moon etc etc etc

the whole launch was atrociously bad. you needed a direct link for many of the new items (no way to navigate to Destined Rivals via the site apart from a banner for the ETB on the homepage iirc) which meant you probably had to be botting or wait for links to be shared on social media to be able to order anything. the queue had people waiting hours to be able to access the site and traffic broke the site for a lot of people at the top of the queue. awful experience. i've only gotten back into buying the cards in the past couple years but buying new sets has only gotten worse and worse - especially since Surging Sparks.

not surprised - there's hardly anywhere to browse physical games in the UK anymore! i'd either have the option of click & collecting at Argos/Smyths or hoping that the game i want is big enough to be stocked at Game (although visiting there vanishingly less recently).

i've been following the reporting on Game on this site and it really paints a picture of a company in steep decline. they have the unfortunate burden of being one of the only outlets left for new, physical games in the UK and recently they've just not been up to the task. staff treated poorly and products sidelined in favour of selling Arena time, slushies and Pop figures.

such a shame. the 'Arena' area in my local seems to be doing well and i've always collected pre-orders in person but you can tell they've been spiralling as there aren't anywhere near enough staff to deal with the Arena stuff and the till at the same time. i don't blame the staff there at all - they've been really lovely but just seem overstretched and under-appreciated at the minute.

will there be a Dragon Quest Monsters review? assuming codes were sent out late as there don't seem to be any reviews out!

Onion Games's Stray Children was in the JP direct as well - super excited for that! highlight of the announcements yesterday for me

£40 for a virtually unimproved experience and with multiplayer cut out is bonkers

really want to play Bomb Rush Cyberfunk but it's £36 which is a bit too much for me right now. will probably change my tune come pay day!

i bought RDR and a PS3 cheaper than the cost for the new port a few months ago so it's a hard pass from me! didn't think it was very good anyway to be honest but now working through a bunch of other PS3 games i'm really enjoying!

it would be amazing if there was a new Mythical Pokemon reveal before the Worlds next week. hoping for a DLC release date and not expecting much beyond that though.

funny and bizarre that internet consumerism is at the point that there are lego leak accounts now haha
not a criticism of people that get excited for new sets, just not something i've come across before

@SonOfDracula i might be wrong but i think it's just switch that's expected so far - although i could see this coming to other platforms as i think octopath and dq11 have done well by doing so

@Vyacheslav333 worth noting that two different writers reviewed this game and Bayonetta 3 - not really fair to use another writer's work as criticism against this piece, even though i think that you make a good point about the way reviews can be written. i agree with @Shambo though, if there wasn't a significant performance issue hindering enjoyment then it's probably not worth writing about, especially in a review of an undemanding indie game

i remember really enjoying the original Crisis Core but FF7R didn't really do anything for me so a bit trepidatious about this. the new coat of paint does, admittedly, look really nice.

heck - not heard that name in a while! i remember when it was still slated for ps vita haha

@nimnio
you're correct that the review score isn't a mathematical formula but it is still a point-based review system with the length of the game being listed as only one of two 'cons'. in the case of Elechead, the length was the only 'con' listed and it scored 8/10. i feel you're being pedantic with the language i've used in my comment when the overall point is that the short length of the game is being represented as a shortcoming. i'm not under the illusion that the score under these reviews is calculated but having a bullet-pointed list of 'pros' and 'cons' above a review score implies that those qualities had an effect on the weighting of the score from the reviewer, no?

between this and the Elechead review, what's with points being docked for the games being short? most people don't have time for multiple games that span many hours - i'd go as far as to say that it's a positive for me that it won't take a terribly long time to play through the whole game

honestly - it's just nice to know that they're working on something!

i don't really care for a couple of the names but the designs are spot on, the pikachu-a-like for this gen is so flipping cute

i love how hard square have been going in on their SaGa games.. such a strange series to champion here in the West when the FF Pixel Remasters are still unavailable on console but i love to see it regardless

i think the 3 series in the banner picture (Zelda, DQ & Pokemon) should be treated differently but i think that the overall shape and battle system of mainline Dragon Quest games have been the same fundamentally enough that it is pretty easy to start from the first game on Switch and work your way through the series. in fact, i think it helps develop a better appreciation for the series seeing how they return to similar ideas, themes and stories throughout the games and expand them/riff on them. particularly in the case of the first three games, playing them in order is so gratifying - but it definitely does come with the caveat that you need to have the patience for quite archaic NES JRPGs.

i am so excited for more dragon quest. dq viii on ps2 was a childhood favourite so i've had the immense pleasure of growing up with that game and discovering all the ds re-releases and now this second wind of worldwide popularity with dq xi. what a wonderful time to love those games!

i'm really excited to play the games (and actually have enjoyed all of the switch entries barring Let's Go, which i haven't gotten round to yet) but i hope they polish the character designs for the trainers before release - they seem a lot plainer than the designs in previous games, particularly having come after Sword & Shield which had great character design, loved how people looked in that game.

i absolutely loved In Other Waters, don't really have enough friends to play a TTRPG though. Citizen Sleeper looks great!

seeing pocket rumble in the header image is a trip! never been able to play that with anyone

@tanaka2687 it's called nominative determinism!

@impurekind oh damn! i stopped following this project somewhere around the 'Winter 2014' release date period so pretty incredible to see that they're still working away! wonder how different the final product will be now.

looking forward to having a crack at pokemon snap while i (not so) patiently wait for umurangi generation to come out on switch - otherwise before i forget looks great! really enjoyed the interview too

this is the probably the most "mother 4" looking earthbound-inspired game - a really clean look

amazing news! i'm so excited!!!

@Abweegee to be fair it's an optional 'premium' package but you need it to store more than 30 pokemon online and to transfer pokemon from older games. a real shame because many of the same services used to be free in their games so it was odd getting back into pokemon on switch and transferring pals up from my ds games and then suddenly having to pay for pokemon bank on 3ds and the Home premium on switch to bring them across

very silly given many features simply aren't available through the switch app. can't afford a new phone and certainly wouldn't upgrade to continue using Home so i suppose it's time to cancel that subscription!

it's sad because i understand that the trouble around the release of this game isn't in any way the fault of the developer but i won't be re-buying this at all. paid full price for the original on launch day and put the game down due to some of the issues i imagine the patch is made to address. i'm looking forward to christophe's next game (which is looking lovely) but just feeling very burnt by this

was really looking forward to this, shame it's not available on the uk/eu eshop still. fingers crossed!

looks like a silly amount of money for a game this old, honestly

praying for any great ace attorney news!!

@Nico07 oh damn! i'd need the patience of a saint to wait for something i'd paid for last year! the analogue pocket is a very beautiful looking handheld though

give us faselei you cowards

great list! had the GBA bug in a big way recently so this will only add fuel to the fire

@CartuneCartune I played the studio's second game, Lost Sphear, which I understand is similar to I Am Setsuna in a lot of ways, and found the whole thing very flat. didn't play it for very long before I gave it up but, that being said, the story in I Am Setsuna looks a lot more interesting than it ever did in Lost Sphear. their battle systems are quite similar to Chrono Trigger but not quite as polished but worth giving a go if you liked the battles in that - can't think of much else that does the same!

thinking of giving romancing saga a go, never played a saga game before and they look unique enough to be worth the price tag. really wish square enix would stop with the garish mobile menu interfaces in their console ports though, screenshots from the originals are so much easier to look at.
shameless plug for the dragon quest games for anyone that hasn't played them, DQ II is a lot more enjoyable (imo) than many would lead you to believe and DQ III is a classic. can't go wrong when they're that cheap!

I'm very excited to check this out soon as my funds will allow - something about the aesthetic of this game looks so sleek but still very.. 2000s? I can't quite put my finger on it but either way it looks really cool. Game I'm most excited to get round to along with Umurangi Generation whenever that finally drops on Switch.

Level-5 seem like they've fallen far since Dragon Quest VIII/IX, Early Layton games etc with the sharp decline of Yo-Kai Watch and the Inazuma Eleven game trapped in dev. Really hope they find a way to come back swinging - maybe Yo-Kai Watch 4 will finally be the kick the series needs in the West? (if it ever comes out here)

I'd love the later Ace Attorney games (4-6, Investigations) to get a fair shake somewhere other than 3DS and mobile - hopefully the Switch trilogy did well enough for Capcom to port the others. I love playing Ace Attorney on the DS/3DS but seems a great shame to keep them tucked away on older systems for too long, the later games deserve a second look.

Can't say I wouldn't want the 3DS Shin Megami Tensei games to come over to Switch either! A IV/Apocalypse double pack seems like a no-brainer really.

would LOVE to see UFO: A Day in the Life and Chulip get a re-release, Moon Remix RPG was such a delight last year.

i finished playing this yesterday.. i agree with much of this review, but don't necessarily think that the repetitiveness of the gameplay is too much of a bad thing. i actually found improving my camera setup night by night quite exciting for a good while, although it is a shame that the biggest change-up in gameplay doesn't really come until the second to last chapter. if more of the game had been like that i would have enjoyed it a lot more. also quite disappointed that a game based around taking photographs/snapshots of wildlife didn't seem to have any way for you to save your pictures? quite a strange decision as i would have loved to spend more time messing around with my cameras in such a unique looking game.

can anyone tell me if it's possible to buy the Hitman 1&2 levels in-game? I haven't played any of them before and I'd rather play the earlier levels before playing this one but finding all the information online incredibly confusing.

love digital for the (often) cheaper prices and frequent sales, loathe it for stories like this. the game's only been out for 5 years and it's going already? Physical prices are going to skyrocket and this is going to be another one of those games collectors sell on eBay for tens of £££

worth mentioning Dragon Quest 1, 2 + 3 are all on sale.. unfortunately picked these up a week or so ago :') would absolutely recommend (at the very least) 2 and 3 though, still very enjoyable, if antiquated, JRPGs.

@Reprise Thank you! It's going for £24.99 in Argos too.. might just bite the bullet at that price