theconstellationiris

@somnambulance Sure would be one heck of a way to celebrate it, eh? Might be too much of an ask to get it done and sufficiently marketed by then, but I'd be surprised if they didn't at least announce a release date for it around that time. On the other hand, I'm sure Square's also probably very ready to get the whole thing done with, too.

@somnambulance 30th anniversary of the original FFVII is early next year...

Between the fact that there was a moment in the Direct for Paranormasight where the screen was black but there was a clock ticking sound, and then this being HD-2D and featuring travel across time....c'mon Square, you're just toying with us now.

It looks like a PS4/PS4 Pro-ish version of Rebirth, but on my preferred Nintendo system. That's all I hoped for. June can't get here fast enough.

What a monster comeback from the Wii U (a console I loved at the time, but sadly the rest of the gaming world did not). What an incredible answer to all the pundits calling for Nintendo to exit the hardware market entirely, and publish on other platforms (may as well tell Nintendo to not even be Nintendo anymore, at that point). Looking back, the only thing I wish could be different is that Iwata should have seen it.

I love books like this, and this definitely sounds like one that shouldn’t be missed. Thanks for reviewing it! I’ve preordered a copy.

@PinderSchloss I was curious about this, so I did a quick count; by that count, of the ~79 posts or updates on the site over the past week, I counted 6 dedicated specifically to FFVII Remake or Rebirth (so far), or around 7.5% of the total output. Your criteria may differ from mine, but it strikes me as hardly a site takeover for what is arguably a milestone third-party release for Switch 2 (and a new benchmark of what’s possible for other third-party releases on the platform). To each their own, though.

(That being said, I fully agree that more coverage of indies is always a good thing.)

@aresius I agree that it’ll definitely run better on Switch 2, no doubt about it at all, but DLSS isn’t a catch-all. Remake is great overall on Switch 2, but there are still occasionally sections that noticeably struggle, especially in handheld. I’m confident it’ll be enjoyable either way, just curious to see it in action.

Considering the optimizations they made to Remake, I feel pretty good about where they’ll land with Rebirth. Comparing how Remake runs on Switch 2 versus Steam Deck has also given a pretty good idea (where Remake runs fine on the latter but is handily outclassed by Switch 2, and Rebirth on Deck is technically playable, but runs pretty poorly).

There’s really only one section of the game that I’m a little worried about, and that is the Gongaga region, before you get to the abandoned reactor, because that was pretty rough even on a base PS5, at least back when I had one.

In any case, fingers crossed for good news soon!

@JTurner It's a classic, both those scenes and the music. Speaking of the latter, if you've never heard it before, there's an awesome version of it that was put together some years back for OCRemix: https://ocremix.org/album/46/final-fantasy-vi-balance-and-ruin

@JTurner That's awesome! That one's been my favorite since it came along. You picked a great start.

@TerribleTerabytes That's so cool that it's your first FF! Welcome to the series. It's a good one.

I've been floored by how good it looks and runs on Switch 2, especially in handheld. Can't wait to see Rebirth on it (as well as Part 3). It feels like a very triumphant return for Final Fantasy on Nintendo platforms (not that there's a huge shortage to play already). Hoping to see FFXIV and FFXVI get ports, as well; I would be thrilled if that happens this year!

It is also proving to be a desirable platform for me as a player. As in I desire more hours available to me in the day to play my Switch 2.

While this normally wouldn't really be my type of game in a general sense, I couldn't be more thrilled to see a more inclusive approach to character creation and dating sim preferences, so I'm interested in it now in a way that I wouldn't have been before! I hope this is a trend that continues for Nintendo.

I don't really see this as "Capcom is offering this, but not a physical cart for the game". This isn't a Capcom product, it's a licensed tie-in product from Powin. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't really affect Capcom's bottom line very much. Sales of the game, be they physical, GKC, or digital, would; while I'm firmly in preference of physical carts as much as possible, the reality is that they aren't as much of a money-maker for publishers as digital (and/or apparently GKC), so while I'm dismayed by the lack of physical carts for Switch 2 games, I'm also not surprised.

I'm also old enough to remember the Nintendo 64/PlayStation days, when many publishers skipped the Nintendo 64 entirely in favor of PlayStation due to the limitations and constraints around cart releases at the time, and I think both Nintendo and the vast majority of its players would rather avoid that scenario again.

Wow, I am bewildered by simultaneously feeling sentiments of "wow, it's been 15 years!" and "wait, it's only been 15 years?" Fond memories of the campaign for Operation: Rainfall, and the triumphant victory of being able to pick up copies of Xenoblade and The Last Story (that I still have to this day; never did pick up Pandora's Tower, though, and don't want to know how much that's running for nowadays). Really wish Mistwalker and the companies they partnered with back then would be open to porting/remastering their older releases, but I'm glad that they at least managed to get ports done for Fantasian. Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are basically the only games I keep an Xbox lying around for.

Fingers crossed for a Clair Obscur port soon!

Final Fantasy VI in all of the top 3, with the SNES/SFC original in the top spot. I don’t care what anyone says, y’all are alright.

I do think Nintendo is in great hands today, but it is bittersweet to see more of the “old guard” reaching their well-earned retirements. There’s still something that’s irreplaceably magical about the classics they’ve worked on. Thank you for the memories.

@TheExile285 Great minds and all that, heh.

Wow, the bad news just keeps coming, doesn't it? Nintendo really should have just stopped making its own hardware and focused on being a publisher, especially on phones.

Encouraging, but I'm not very worried after seeing both the demo and some time I spent on the full game this morning. Even with a couple hours in handheld, to me it seemed to perform at least as well as any handheld PC on the market right now (definitely better than Steam Deck), and barely made a dent in the battery life (and of course I couldn't hear any fan spinning whatsoever). Square's porting efforts here are truly outstanding, I hope more games that we haven't had on the Switch product family yet start flooding the gates soon.

Absolutely legendary career, he has been all over so many of the greatest and most well-known games of all time (and many of my personal favorites). A very well-earned retirement indeed, thank you for all the memories.

Congratulations to you and your family, Alana! This was such a delightful read, and so relatable. Raising your child with games — both that you love and, later, sharing in the ones that they love — is immensely rewarding. I hope in a few years' time or so, we get to read about what you and your kiddo are enjoying!

Feeling that same feeling when the original VII finally launched on Switch; a sort of “vindication” of all those years after Square jumped ship to PlayStation way back when. Can’t wait to start playing this all over again very soon! Hopefully Rebirth isn’t very far behind.

@MamaSymphonia The times are dire. An increasing amount of players, chained to our Switch 2s, frozen in fear of having too much fun. How did it come to this in such a short amount of time?!

I’m so happy I got in on this doomed console. The end of Nintendo has never been so sweet.

@MamaSymphonia Making that even better is how all of those were just the first 6-7 months in. If that isn’t a monster launch year lineup of first party titles, I don’t know what is. A lot of people seem to have seen no new core Mario or Zelda games on day one and summarily wrote the whole thing off as a failure. 😂

Not bad for a floundering console that’s just been gathering dust on store shelves everywhere.

This is amazing! Definitely lifts my spirits, I love how it was also a way to connect with her grandson before becoming her own thing. I’m going to remember her every time I start falling into the trap of thinking I’m getting “too old” to enjoy/collect video games anymore. More power to Jan! Thanks for sharing this.

The wholesome content we need in times like these. Love to see it.

I had just been thinking the other day that it was weird how little publicity Kevin Afghani has had so far, despite being the new voice of Mario, so it’s nice to hear he’s getting more time to be the voice of Mario. He’s done a great job riffing on Charles’ iconic work, while not trying to be a carbon copy.

“I'm the second guy who's doing Mario.”

Some of us of a certain vintage might take umbrage with this, but I digress.

Limited Run announcement in 3…2…1…

Fun will now commence.

We're barely six months in. Switch 2 will be fine. People are expecting the world from it in less than a year and with practically unprecedented constraints on the entire gaming industry.

Delightful news, hello and welcome Mai!

@The_Nintendo_Expat Co-signed. I appreciated that TOTK article at the time, and I appreciated this one as well. My only “complaint” would be that I don’t think we see enough articles on major news sites discussing inclusiveness (or the lack thereof) in the games we play, especially from the world’s biggest developers and/or publishers.

Ohhh, Battletoads is about to get a lot of multiplayer love in my house. Great additions all around.

At a time when there is much discussion around whether or not physical media will even continue to be around in another generation or two, it’s nice to see something like this.

Whoa, whoa, whoa…I was already a lock-in for buying this anyway, no need to sell me even further on it.

Brie Larson is delightful, I'm excited to see her take on Rosalina.

@Pillowpants Mine is basically a desk ornament at this point, but honestly, it’s still pretty fun. The animations are cute, and the hourly chime is a nice reminder to get up and move about, rest the eyes a little, etc. I do wish I could pair it with my phone or something, though, if only just to give it read access to my calendar.

@ShadLink And that I totally get, just still seems funny to me. It looks like a fun set of gear otherwise.

@Oldstalk True, the native DLSS does a lot of heavy lifting. Outlaws has been a lot of fun on Switch 2. I don’t know yet how much I trust Square’s optimization efforts, though, ha. It’s a game that looks pretty rough on a base PS5 a lot of the time, too.

Since it’s originally a PS4 game, it looking good on Switch 2 in docked mode doesn’t surprise me. The real tests will be Rebirth and whatever “Re” suffix Square uses for the third game. The former looks like garbage on Steam Deck, but surely Switch 2 will be at least a bit better.

Where’s the poll option for “I play them on several of these options”? Ha. But yes, a mix of original hardware when I feel nostalgic, as well as NES Classic, NSO with the NES controllers, or FPGA when I just want convenience.

At that price, you can also pick up an actual NES, a CRT television, and a solid handful of games, too. I couldn’t get into the LEGO NES for that same reason.

This is the first time I can remember in a very long time that Nintendo have not only apparently exceeded expectations for a new console, but also have met (or even exceeded) demand with considerable supply. Stories abound that Switch 2 hasn’t been selling well because stores have had plenty of inventory available, showing how we’re not used to thinking of a Nintendo launch year where supply actually meets demand, even when that demand is incredibly high.

@Don IIRC, Europe has a Final Fantasy VIII Remastered release for PS4.

[laughs nervously]