themightyant

@Rooty @Vordus Thanks for the added info, I fell off Undertale before I got that far, assumed it was the normal kill everything. I know Pacifist you have to go way out of your way to make it happen too.

...talking of ...vania's most Castlevania's and Metroids are filled with music that slaps hard!

RE: Megalovania and "it only plays right at the end of a Genocide Run when you take on Sans in the final battle"
I think the reality is that unless you follow a guide, or have heard spoilers, most people would do a genocide run as it's just normal RPG gameplay isn't it? Pacifist run is the irregular one that you kinda have to know about, the game doesn't tell you. EDIT: I'm wrong see below

@RaZieLDaNtE I was so frustrated I never played Soul Reaver 2. Or any LOK game again. (despite loving the series before that)

YOU were so frustrated you came out of Nosgoth and undulatingly merged with Sparda

A few off the top of my head.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver: To be continued...

...that's basically what the game did at the end. Raging

Kena: Bridge of Spirits: I tried playing on Master mode. It has to have some of the most unreasonably cheap and unbalanced difficulty spikes in any game ever. Boss jumps into the air, you roll away... and he tracks you midair and kills you in one or two hits. Brutally unjust. One of the few times i've ever given up on a game through sheer frustration.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: To be fair it's not the fault of the game design but I got to near the end of the game and then found my save had deleted, a known bug... 25+ hours lost. Thankfully it was a good enough game I played it again. On second thoughts perhaps the sequel frustrated me more through disappointment.

Sure there are many others i've purposefully blocked out of my mind.

EDIT: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (or any game with bad RNG) spending hours apon hours trying to get the last Blades through farming and then gatcha style RNG. Never got them.

Yes. For several reasons.
1) the hardware is struggling to run many ports
2) worse many ports are no longer even attempted or cloud versions offered instead
3) even some first party games or high end third parties look ROUGH. Pokémon, Bayonetta 3 etc.
4) the hardware is struggling with faults like joycon drift, joycons that come off rails etc.
5) steam deck shows what is possible for a handheld/docked hybrid. Frankly since I got my Deck the switch has been gathering dust for all but a few platform exclusives not least Steam won’t try and resell me the game in the next few years

Stunning! Still a wonder that this runs on Switch. Artistry and game play is more important than hardware power, but sadly few games hit near this high.

“Well exuuuuuussse me Princess”

Reminds me of the mostly awful 90s cartoon.
If they were to redo an animation I hope it would use any other style

@Benjamin_K Thanks for the info, appreciated.

So if the $245 is in refunds to customers, where is the $275 million penalty going?

@sanderev That's always a shame. Though typically older games are less likely to work, but not always.

As you said proton support is increasing, and at a rapid rate.
Currently 2,665 games 'verified'. 6,976 games 'playable' with many more added daily.

Though I wouldn't always take Steam Deck 'verified' or 'playable' as a marker of if it will work, i've played many just fine that are marked as unsupported, but that too is a work in progress.

@sanderev I'd love to agree with you... but then we'd both be wrong. /jk

As a alternative to the Switch, a device that ONLY plays games this device IS a viable alternative, it plays games just great. The fact it does other things is beside the point.

@sanderev I'm well aware of that, but that's an entirely separate argument, it doesn't change the fact for gaming it's an "alternative to Switch", which is what I was responding to as you incorrectly claimed that was misinformation, it isn't.

True it doesn't play some of the same games - those the cross over part of the Venn diagram is going to be pretty large - but as a portable device that plays games it absolutely is an alternative to the Switch, that ISN'T misinformation.

Though as other have said I wouldn't look past the £349 Steam Deck, best bit of hardware i've owned in years and basically everything I hope the Switch successor will be.

Frankly the Steam Deck has relegated the Switch to exclusives only.
This has highlighted how little I have played my Switch in 2022.

Still the Steam Deck makes me excited for the Switch successor and what could be achievable.

Mostly I've been catching up on Xenoblade DLC before #3 so my most played are:

1) Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (For Torna which I didn't play at launch)
2) Xenoblade Chronicles 1 DE (For Future Connected)
3) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (only just started then got waylaid)

@nessisonett While amibo are just more plastic tat to me - who needs more clutter, or expense - I’m aware other people still love them. They will fly off shelves.

Great controller, terrible quality control. Almost every time it's mentioned people will chime in about how X/Y/Z broke and they are on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc.

For the few who got through unscathed though, I agree.

Impressive collection. Might even have mine beat, or pushing it close. Few too many dupes though

@zander_dale I sold my Wavebird a few years ago boxed for almost £100. Whilst it was a great controller and I liked having it that was too good an offer to pass up. Great piece of gaming history though.

Deserves every bit of praise for the millions of people he’s given so much joy.

Happy birthday Miyamoto-sama

"So long gay bowser" gravity hammer hit on the camper has me rolling. Well done.

Must have been an exhilarating search...

Wii U actually used around 32W in use on a TV whereas the Switch uses just 12W / 7W / 6W (og, revision, OLED). Benefit of designing around mobile use meant efficiency was key.

For comparison an Xbox Series X uses about 7.4 in rest mode and 170-200+W in use when gaming.

If LEGO wasn't so crazily priced for these tie in sets i'd be on board. But Horizon at £80, Bowser and the NES at £230 it's a hard hard NOPE.

A Link to the Past. A timeless classic.

Ocarina has aged quite poorly in many ways.

Breath of the Wild can make the other games seem worse. lol

Work done for them. Would be churlish not to include on the ground advice from an industry luminary.

Mixed bag and poor pacing, but plenty of good stufftoo .

• FAR too much farming (SIX announcements, though individually some of them looked good).
• The new Fire Emblem looked weird (OK can't get past that awful character design).
• But then there was Pikmin 4, finally!
• Bayonetta 3 and it's coming next month
• Octopath Traveller 2
• Mario + Rabbids 2 (again after Ubi showing)
• Ports of It Takes Two, Tunic, Tales of Symphonia
• and of course Zelda. While the trailer (if you can even call it that) was exceptionally light both the name and date were all we needed... even if it's a whole 8 months away. (it was initially unveiled way back in 2019, so it's been a long long wait)

His YouTube channel is such a simple, brilliant concept. Short, informative, to the point videos about game design. Very well deserved.

Brilliant, brilliant game. Hopefully it plays well on Switch.

Looks lovely but 2024 is a looooong way off.

@infernogott 5 year old hardware? The hardware was almost 5 years old when it released

While they don't break this down specifically on their investor briefings of supplementary documents they're definitely making a tidy profit on each unit and have been doing so for a long time.

@Orokosaki This isn't Sony or Microsoft who do usually sell the console at an overall loss (including R&D, advertising etc. not just BOM) but then make it back on the software. Nintendo typically makes a profit on hardware too.

Honestly I think if you are reaching the limit of 2000 games you might want to rethink your life balance. I play far too much and have less than that across PS, Xbox and Switch.

How do you even find time to play that many?

Great to see Xenoblade doing so well. Like FromSoft and Elden Ring Being rewarded for years of top games. You love to see it!

I would have been interested for a complete package but splitting it like this and making each overprices is a simple hard pass!

I would have been interested at the right price/package. But splitting them in two is just a cheap move. HARD PASS!

Only dipped my toes in so far as have too much IRL stuff to be getting lost in a JRPG right now. But what i've played has been wonderful. Looking forward to delving in properly soon.

@Friendly Didn't hear anyone complaining every time Ryu went "Hadouken" or "Shoryuken" every 2 seconds. lol

I've only played a handful of hours but already the voices repeat a LOT. Surprised they didn't just add more lines of dialogue, there aren't that many characters and it wouldn't have been much effort. Doesn't bother me much though, really feeling it so far.

“you will know the pain and suffering you caused the emperor and FIORAAAA!”

Shulk is usually quiet and well natured but part of what I loved about him is his passion when things got serious. When it was fight or flight this mild natured, kind character stood his ground and fought for his friends and loved ones. A well written and balanced protagonist, not your typical cool hero, and so much the better for it.

@UltimateOtaku91 @johnedwin There is no such thing as a perfect videogame (except perhaps Tetris), there is ALWAYS room for improvement, which would make the review scale 1-9 by your reckoning.

10/10 has never meant a game is perfect, ever. Just as a 5/5 review for a film does not mean it's flawless. 10/10 just means it's one of the best games they've played and deserves exceptional praise.

BTW It's not NintendoLife, over 10 reviews have given it top marks.

@Reyren The Eurogamer review says "is the most approachable in the series to date; indeed, it seems tooled towards an audience who've never played a Xenoblade game before, or maybe even one that's not touched a JRPG before." Because there is a 'very easy' mode.

My copy just arrived 3 days early! Sadly I have too much IRL stuff to be getting on with and it will have to wait. But glad to see reviews are phenomenal. 89 on MC right now. Love Xenoblade.

@Roibeard64 Perhaps. I'm on the other end of the scale where this has highlighted that I have DLC I need to buy. If it hadn't been singled out i'd be none the wiser. Guess they win some, lose others.

@Roibeard64 Re: FE:Fates. You have to play up to the end of Chapter 6 and then select if you want to play the other starter game (Birthright or Conquest) or the concluding game (Revelation). It seems they are giving people a month to get to that point and decide if they want to buy the rest as DLC.

Pong I think, or Space Invaders. I was pretty young.

Though I remember staring endlessly at a Pac-man table at a pub my family used to go to when I was a kid. I was already hooked.

Lovely article @KateGray combination of two of my favourite hobbies, lots of great books here to recommend. Many of these games are better the more you know on the subject matter. Hades in particular was a joy the more you knew about the various gods and demi-gods.

Tip on the wine: when they give you a sample, you’re actually just meant to be checking if the wine is corked (i.e. spoiled) and not if you like it. Just smell the wine in the glass (or the cork if at home) if it smells like wine you’re all good if it smells acidic or vinegary then send it back! No need to taste it. At least you’ll look like you know what you are doing!

Not a fan of adding extras characters and skins 6-8 months after launch but i'm looking forward to the story expansion.

Loving the diversity of the tracks announced so far. One of the things that made the first Xenoblade Chronicles so good was having multiple composers each with their own style. It meant you had sweeping, adventurous open world tracks like Guar Plains but also rock, metal and electric guitar tracks when the action heated up.

Remains one of the best soundtracks of all time

@Kogorn733 Sadly absolutely nothing. Platforms like eBay are more interested in money and a mass blacklist for who? There's always going to be people willing to pay. Sad but true.

Great games. Stone cold classics both.