Comments 541

Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends Z-A Is The Creepiest Entry Yet, Not In A Good Way

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@UltimateOtaku91 Ah, thanks for the info. I've been pretty unplugged from the wider Pokemon franchise for a long time now.

I think the best solution would be to decouple the other arms of the franchise from the games.

They already did that with the anime, right? Like didn't they finally break the pattern of having to have Ash visit the new region? And didn't the last season with Ash also kinda break the pattern by having him visit lots of past regions? And I remember back in the early days, they had that entire "filler" with the Orange Islands, which had nothing to do with an actual game region.

And even in the TCG, they were always coming up with gimmicks in lieu of having content from a proper new mainline game. Things like Dark Pokemon, Trainer's Pokemon, Light Pokemon, Delta Species, etc...

Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends Z-A Is The Creepiest Entry Yet, Not In A Good Way

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@UltimateOtaku91 Yep, agreed. Pokemon being a massive multimedia franchise is really a double-edged sword. The mainline games have to release with certain frequency to provide content for the rest of the franchise.

But the funny thing is, these Legends games, while considered "mainline," aren't really new generations, so I don't think they are expected to push the rest of the franchise forward the same way the traditional generation mainline games are. But despite this, they still have extremely tight deadlines and low budgets.

From a quality standpoint, I just don't think their current business model is working anymore.

Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends Z-A Is The Creepiest Entry Yet, Not In A Good Way

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@UltimateOtaku91 So uh...why does the largest, most profitable multimedia franchise and fourth best selling game franchise have such a small budget for its mainline games? We know they have the money, why not invest that in the games to make them better?

This is exactly the problem. TCPI and Game Freak don't put in money or effort cause fans will slurp up whatever slop they churn out. Why invest more money to make a better product when it'll sell the same regardless?

Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends Z-A Is The Creepiest Entry Yet, Not In A Good Way

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@Fazermint Don't you think it's a bit of a shame that the new game from the largest, most profitable multimedia franchise and fourth best-selling game franchise is "upper mid tier at best?"

Most of the people actively complaining about these games are doing so out of their love for the franchise and desire to see it live up to its full potential.

Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends Z-A Is The Creepiest Entry Yet, Not In A Good Way

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@w1p3out There was an interview several years ago where programmer and director Masayuki Onoue from Game Freak said that they have two different production teams and basically admitted that their Pokemon projects are lower priority:

There are two different production teams here, simply named Production Team 1 and Production Team 2,” Onoue explained. “Team 1 is fully dedicated to Gear Project, while Team 2 is for the Pokémon operation.

What that means is that Game Freak as a company is prioritising Gear Project, which is production team number one, more than Pokémon in general. We are always trying to create something that is equally exciting, or more exciting than Pokémon.

I'm assuming their Team 1 is working on that ambitious Project Bloom game. I don't think modern day Game Freak is really passionate about Pokemon. So they just phone it in to get a pay check to fund the projects they really care about.

Re: Nintendo Reportedly Increases Switch 2 Production To 25 Million Units For Year 1

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@jsty3105 I mean, they gave devs more choices on Switch 1. On Switch 1, they had 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB carts. Why not replicate those options at least? Why not literally just use existing Switch 1 cartridges to hold Switch 2 binaries? Sure, some games will need faster read speeds, so a new cartridge design is necessary to accommodate that, but why force non-demanding games to use that if they don't need it?

And they've already made it more complex for developers since apparently the Switch 2 cartridges, despite being faster than Switch 1 cartridges, are noticeably slower than micro SD express cards. So devs are already needing to theoretically* consider read speeds when considering whether or not to use a Switch 2 physical cartridge.

*In practice, we all know that the devs are just opting for GKCs cause they are cheaper so they make more money off each sale.

(Btw, I appreciate your measured response.)

Re: Feature: "We Have Absolutely No Intention Of Neglecting Her" - Persona 3 Reload Devs On FeMC And Porting To Switch 2

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@Ziondood Hey Zion! Thanks for the followup and the transparency! Glad you asked the question.

I'm guessing their PR instructed them not to engage in any discussion about GKCs. They probably know that if they're honest and say it's just a business decision to increase profits it would make them look bad. And if they tried to add weird spin like NISA did ("We decided to release this title as a Game-Key Card on the Nintendo Switch 2 as we believed it was the most beneficial option for our customers."), it would look even worse.

I guess their refusal to respond at least tells us that they know people hate GKCs, but rather than attempting to control the narrative, they're just hoping it eventually blows over.

But here's my copium conspiracy theory: what if the reason they didn't wanna talk about it at all is cause they already have a full physical LRG release planned and it'll be announced next week at LRG3 and they don't wanna spoil the surprise?! One can dream...

Re: Feature: "We Have Absolutely No Intention Of Neglecting Her" - Persona 3 Reload Devs On FeMC And Porting To Switch 2

topsekret

I appreciate Zion asking a hardball question with the question about the frame rate issues in the demo. Hopefully they are true to their word and iron it out eventually.

Though I'm disappointed Zion didn't also ask about their decision to use a GKC for this game. Kinda surprised he didn't considering he made an entire video back when the port was announced lamenting it being on a GKC.

I'm hoping they eventually work with LRG to make a complete physical version with all the latest patches and DLC. That's the only way I'd ever buy this on Switch 2. It seems like a possibility since they worked with LRG in the past for physical releases for P3P and P4G. And Sega isn't opposed to re-releasing more complete physical versions of older games through LRG (they did this with Valkyria Chronicles 4).

Re: Two More Switch Games Have Received Compatibility Updates On Switch 2

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@AG_Awesome Thanks for the tip about the Joylocks. I was eyeing those, but wasn't sure if you could use them without that shell. I'm not too keen on their shell cause then it forces you to use their special dock.

While not perfect, the Switch 1's ergonomics allowed me to play it in handheld for long periods of time with no issues. But unfortunately, the Switch 2 really doesn't feel comfortable for me to hold for long periods of time.

Re: Two More Switch Games Have Received Compatibility Updates On Switch 2

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"The source also notes how this latest fix is an "interesting development" as it appears Switch games can be fixed for the Switch 2 at "any point"."

I'm assuming this just means that the devs released patches for these specific games to fix their Switch 2 issues, as opposed to Nintendo releasing fixes for their Switch 2 BC layer as part of a firmware update.

Anyways, glad to see that these games got fixed. I'm still really hoping for fixes for several other games:
*Raiden III
*Raiden IV
*Strania
*NieR Automata
*Trails from Zero
*Trails to Azure
*Tokyo Xanadu

I also wish Nintendo had an up-to-date central list of all games with known BC issues. As an owner of hundreds of Switch games, it sucks having to type in each game I own one at a time to see if there are issues or not.

Also, as the Crossbell Trails games demonstrate, there are games with issues outside of the issues that Nintendo officially acknowledges.

I really hope they keep working on BC till all issues are fixed.

Re: Poll: Is It About Time Game Freak Added Voice Acting To Pokémon?

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@chriswashere313 Who says they need to have a voice track for each text language? It's fairly common for games to support less voice languages than text languages. For example, all the Fire Emblem and Xenoblade games on Switch only have Japanese and English voice options and many additional languages for text. That would be a perfectly acceptable starting point for Pokemon.

Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

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Nope, I haven't bought a main series Pokemon game since Shield and this doesn't look appealing to me in the slightest.

I'm pretty much done with Pokemon now. It's clear quality is not a priority for TPCi and Game Freak.

Probably the only new game that could get me to throw some money at the series again would be a new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I'd trust Spike Chunsoft to do a good job with that.

Re: Switch 2 Named One Of The Best 'Entertainment & Gaming' Inventions Of 2025

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@Member_the_game Hey bud, thanks for the response! I'm glad you appreciated my comment and understood my intentions. When I read the "toxic" part of your original comment, I (incorrectly) assumed you were lumping people like me in with obvious trolls or fanboys of other console who do actually wish to see Switch 2 fail just cause they're loyal to another console manufacturer or whatever. Gave you a <3 as well!

Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Pokémon Legends: Z-A

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@Vivianeat I'm sure Monolith Soft would do a way better job than Game Freak, but I'd rather let Monolith Soft stick with their own IP and continue making artistic games than waste their time and talent doing cleanup on a corporate product in a children's multimedia franchise.

Re: Switch 2 Named One Of The Best 'Entertainment & Gaming' Inventions Of 2025

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@Member_the_game On PS5, the discs do still at least contain the actual game most of the time. Though I agree, being forced to install is definitely a downgrade from true plug-and-play traditional physical releases. Still, I think that's a better compromise for cost/read speeds than GKCs. While storage space is still an issue (though less so on PS5 since storage is cheaper than on Switch 2), at least you do still own the games and are not dependent on a server to re-install them to your console in the future.

All that being said, my point is to just counter what you originally said. Nintendo may have given use "exactly what we wanted" in many ways, but there are a lot of catches, like the aforementioned loss of physical media for the majority of 3rd party games.

Another catch I really dislike is the mess of how upgrades are being handled for cross gen games. Many 3rd party games aren't offering upgrade paths and are forcing you to rebuy the game at full price if you want Switch 2 benefits (like Sonic X Shadow Generations or Suikoden I & II). While many new games are giving you an ultimatum between true physical ownership (Switch 1 version) and performance (Switch 2 version), as we see with Raidou, No Sleep for Kaname Date, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D, Octopath Traveler 0, etc... Forcing me to double dip wouldn't be as bad if I could at least get the game complete on cartridge, but the only way I'd get on board with digital in this case is if I can get an extremely cheap (or even better, free) upgrade pack for my Switch 1 physical version.

There's also the technical shortcomings of the console. Like the screen not being able to do "real" HDR, or how the screen has a lower response time than even the Switch 1 screen. Not a good look for what is supposed to be a "premium" console with a premium price point. The battery life is also a noticeable step down from Switch 1. And despite the improved tech specs, we're still seeing lots of 3rd party games with performance issues, even with games that you would think would run at a locked frame rate on the hardware like P3R or Shadow Labyrinth.

The backwards compatibility improving framerate, resolution, and load times in certain games is my favorite feature of the console. But it's very disappointing how many of the games I own have bugs when running on Switch 2's BC, and Nintendo refuses to acknowledge some of the bugs and is not being very communicative about if/when they'll address the issues. It's also disappointing how games with 720p handheld modes on Switch 1 get stretched up to 1080p on the Switch 2's screen. Seems like there should at least be a pixel-perfect option to keep the games at 720p in a smaller portion of the screen. Or, as many other people have requested, the ability to force games to play in docked mode when in Switch 2 handheld mode in order to get higher resolution for games without a patch.

IMO, there's plenty of valid reasons for people to be disappointed with the Switch 2. Not everyone that has a complaint about the Switch 2 is a hater or a troll.

Re: Community: 32 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You

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@Zaruboggan Yeah, I agree that the $70 price for digital feels a bit steep. I believe the original Dear Days was actually the first $70 (standard edition) Switch 1 game, beating Tears of the Kingdom to the market by a few months.

But I think the physical version is a steal at $46. I've played for nearly 100 hours so far and I've barely scratched the surface in terms of the card pool. I'm choosing to experience the cards in roughly release order, so I'm currently just focusing on the first 4 packs and trying to build decks for all the Vanguards in those packs. I'm having so much fun just doing free battles and learning the nuance of the combat system and deck building!

Re: Community: 32 Switch Games We Missed, As Recommended By You

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@Zaruboggan Hey, I'm the guy who recommended Cardfight Vanguard! If you like the classic Yu-Gi-Oh GBA games and Shadowverse (the Cygames TCG on Switch), I think you'll like Vanguard as well! It's definitely on the budget side though, so unfortunately there's no 3D world to walk around in (like in Shadowverse), it's more like a lot of the old handheld Yu-Gi-Oh games where between fights, you'll see an overhead map of the town, and there will be points of interest that you can select on the map to see a visual novel-style event scene, usually accompanied by a fight. But don't let that deter you, the core TCG gameplay is extremely fun!

For this next bit, I'll also loop in @LEGEND_MARIOID since they also expressed interest in Vanguard. There's actually a free demo for the original Dear Days on the eShop that you can check out to get a taste of the gameplay.

And if you're interested in purchasing Dear Days 2, something to keep in mind is while its $70 USD price tag on the eShop is a bit high, if you're comfortable with importing games, you can get the physical Japanese version (which has English on the cartridge) for only around $46 USD from Video Games Plus!

Finally, I'll link this 10 minute tutorial video that does a good job explaining the basics for how to play the TCG.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Re: Final Fantasy VII / VIII Remastered Twin Pack And IX Switch Physical Releases Confirmed For North America

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I already imported the Asian physical several years ago. Not only do they have English on the cartridge, but the box art is also in English! In a way, the box art is even better cause it's completely free of a rating logo!

Only thing that would tempt me to get these again, would be if they put the most recent patch on the cartridge. If not, I'm perfectly happy with my Asian versions.

Still, appreciate Square Enix making the physical version available for a wider audience. Will be a sad day when Switch 1 finally dies and 3rd party physical releases like this become a thing of the past on Nintendo platforms.