tsdenizen

Review doesn't really feel like it's meeting the game on its own terms, some of this straight up reads like "this is a point-and-click and I don't really like those."

@Browny You have to do a couple of the earlier stages but the later stages are optional. It's almost always a traditional DQ story boss that gates progression. The lion's share of the game is 18 large-ish areas each with a story quest and boss. The first "boss" is a low-rank colosseum battle: the enemies hit like wet noodles and it's basically impossible to lose. You have to revisit a couple times but not many but it's basically the same deal. These don't get tough until they're optional. You do get some good items from them but they aren't essential. If not having absolute control at all times is a dealbreaker, yeah steer clear. But, the AI is pretty good if you take the time to customize it (you can increase/decrease move usage move by move or even shut off moves you don't like). If you're good at building teams, you'll probably only have to repeat A and S rank: everything lower is a breeze.

@Browny No, the colosseum battles are minor. Only a couple are mandatory and they're piss easy. The game largely has traditional DQ bosses and you have control in those. Although if the DQVIII stuff frustrated you, this is about the same level, though you do have more control over the AI.

@Browny You can select individual orders, except when in the colosseum battles. For those, you can select broad tactics and you can alter frequency of move usage from your main menu, so it's pretty customizable. But 95% of the game, you can pick your moves directly turn by turn.

@gcunit I liked Scarlet despite its issues. But yeah: this is better in most areas imo. Like I said, the performance isn't good, but it's better than Scarlet. The battle system is more complex, monster customization is more in-depth, seasonal changes make exploration more varied, the story is has fomulaic progression but the actual narrative is good. It's a little weird to compare them I guess (there's the Pokemon/Nexomon/Temtem style of monster collector and there's the MegaTen/Cyber Sleuth/DQ Monster style) but yeah. No it doesn't "dethrone" Pokemon but some will prefer this. I do.

@gcunit The Pokemon franchise has more money and resources. This game also doesn't randomly crash all the time (I can't speak to the reviewer but I've not had a single crash and I've had 9 in Scarlet) or have you clipping through enviroments or anything. It just looks old and has some frame-stuttering (fine for a turn-based game if mildly disappointing).

Fair score. I wouldn't blink at anything between 7 and 9 after playing it: the core gameplay (monster collecting, synthesis, and battling) is way too good and substantial to go lower, but whether the visuals and performance (muddy and rough but not outright broken like a Scarlet and Violet) and the story (good, but told in a pretty formulaic progression) are sticking points will vary.

@UltimateOtaku91 I'd say you wanna fight bosses with direct orders too, and mobs sometimes so you're not wasting MP or if you're training weaker monsters. I understand the want for harder mobs (they should've added a hard mode) but considering how much you have to grind to make the best monsters I also understand the decision to not make it an ordeal.

Probably inflated but if you look past the technical polish the amount of content is crazy. I know people were putting like 20 hours into the demo and there are tons of monsters and synthesis and skill tree inheritance and size variants and shinies and online multiplayer. Also voice acting and seasonal changes and the story seems to be a really solid prequel to DQ4. Game's not pretty but all that should still net it decent scores: 7 or 8 is probably accurate.

These are always dumb because they always ask and then willfully ignore their base. It's like a game for them. ATLUS is gonna ATLUS and I've stopped pretending my input maters haha.

Good news and generally deserved. The game's far from perfect but the quality difference with 4 was wildly overstated and it's still wicked addictive even with the technical shortcomings.

Very weird/bold move from a band with one single to their name (that was played at the Game Awards for I guess a now known reason). I am gonna be the jerk that shouts "industry plant" at this but it's a unique marketing strategy.

Arceus not being here while all the mediocre Pokemon titles are is... a bummer but unfortunately not surprising.

Big fan of the booba on a personal level, but with Xenoblade, I'm not quite a fan of the Path of Absolute Weebness the series has been on starting in 2. Maybe it'll at least be a step back from collecting Big Titty Anime Sword Waifus like Pokemon and the weird Jar Jar Binks Furby and his sex robot, but I was hoping for a true return to form.

Best 3D platformer on the system, and maybe ever.

No, I didn't stutter.

Hey guys, I love the Switch but guess what? Pretending this game isn't going to rule doesn't really accomplish anything. Elden Ring looks amazing, BOTW2 will probably be amazing. Both things can be true. Looking forward to getting absolutely mauled this weekend.

Interested for sure, but $100 for the physical is a really big ask.

Expected, particularly in the West.

Could've told me sooner, Nintendo.

Now it's too late. I thought it was fine.

This works in the sense of imagining VGC with datamined abilities I guess, but there are too many unknowns and a Legends: Arceus tierlist would be very different (Braviary is cracked for example because Esper Wing is stupid as hell and "speed" doesn't matter as much as "action speed"). If Esper Wing is priority in VGC, Braviary is still stupid, if datamined abilities are placeholder, etc. Too many unknowns.

@RubyCarbuncle the damage output and extra turns are due to new changes how level ups work. When you get your starter, you'll notice that they have WAY higher stats than a level 5 in the other games. They basically smushed the floor and ceiling closer together, meaning each level is less impactful. You get your biggest bumps from grit items as well which replace EVs, so if you're not using those, there are tons of additional stat points you got in past games that you're missing out on. Action speed and its interaction with the speed stat are interesting. Each move's individual action speed is more impactful than anything else, and even if you increase yours and decrease theirs, they can still double up turns, it will just be less frequently and later, plus they'll have to resort to agile style more often to keep up, which means sacrificing power. It's kinda convoluted for sure but it's all ultimately still math.

@RubyCarbuncle shiny charm will help. Outbreak odds are still good without it but you'd still need to roll like 10 times to hit odds. Sometime you go over, sometimes under. If you're not going back to Jubilife on your resets, you're not rerolling as well, so that may or may not be an issue.

@RubyCarbuncle are you using and resetting outbreaks? And do you have the shiny charm? Also alpha shiny Eevee almost makes up for the lack of shinies, damn. I just hit 20 shinies but have yet to see an alpha shiny.

@semolous I don't understand why you need it, shiny hunting is incredibly easy in this game. I've gotten 15 so far and like 10 of them were just random.

Arceus is probably my #3 after B2W2 and HGSS and just ahead of Emerald and Platinum.

Crazy hype for this, seems like the Switch has its first truly great Pokemon game. Now I have 2 days to decide between Rowlet and Cyndaquil.

I want a No More Heroes comic series more than I want a Suda Deadpool game tbh.

As someone who loves JRPGs, there are far too many great, long ones to spend 40 hours on a mediocre one.

@delt75 Not really. Base game is free on PC, it's really short and has no replay value, and it's largely a one-trick pony. I won't say how, but it plays with meta-narrative in a way that may seem interesting to those with minimal experience with it, but ultimately it's pretty shallow. It became popular because it was free, so tons of people played it and then viral memed it because it took them by surprise, not because it's particularly great.

The fact that only half of this list is actually new, full games is confusing.

eShop sale has my wallet reeling but I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaants.

Real solid batch honestly. Service is far from ideal but these help.

If Nintendo CONSISTENTLY adds one excellent N64 game a month, I'll quit my bellyaching. Here's to Majora's Mask in February hopefully.

Anybody calling It Takes Two "woke" clearly hasn't played it, considering there's a whole level dedicated to traumatizing your daughter so you can bathe in her tears.

@Markiemania95 it's at least harder than XY and SS for sure, and probably a bit stiffer than most others. People forget Pokemon's always been super easy, it's just been to varying degrees. My mom and aunt play and they've never wiped in those games but they did wipe to Maylene's Lucario here. Grand Underground also doesn't crack the game as hard as Battle Chateau and Exp Candies did for those games.

@Screen it definitely has the hardest post-game. If you go straight into gym rematches after credits, you might get curb stomped. Base campaign is still damn easy, though I know some people had trouble with Maylene, Fantina, and the Elite Four/Cynthia. Was also refreshing to go back to some of the longer non-linear dungeons. Right now I'm changing my entire teams sans my shiny Houndoom in prep for final rematch Elite Four.

Nothing quite like "[insert Pokemon] got a critical hit, wishing to be praised" constantly popping when you're trying to catch Pokemon. That said, some of that crap helped in the post-game rematches because those teams are pretty cracked. Taking a Facade from a competitive Flame Orb Guts Heracross while all of your Pokemon are junk because their spreads and IVs are all jank from playing the campaign changes a man.

"Let's underpromote a sequel to a decade-old niche handheld JRPG and expect it to sell gangbusters."

Makes sense. Probably didn't help the general consensus was "it's good, but it's not as good as the first game, which SquEnix didn't port well to home console and turned a bunch of people off of the concept of console TWEWY".

Got a shiny Houndoom, first encounter, full odds. Shiny hunting seems super good in this game in general though, might be the biggest draw tbh.

Only got one, but wanna get more once they come back. Couldn't really justify it for just Star Fox (don't see myself touching the other multiplayer games since the Switch has better versions of most of them) but as more games come, having extras will be nice.

As someone with multiple people on a family plan and over 400 hours in Animal Crossing, and who is very excited to play Sin & Punishment, Star Fox 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Paper Mario, and Majora's Mask with an N64 controller again, yeah, I'm getting my money's worth for sure. The all-or-nothing is the issue. If you don't care about nearly EVERYTHING the service entails, it's way too much money.

FINALLY HOLY BALLS it took way to long for them to get to this one.

Atlus are one of, if not THE, best developers in the world, but their business practices in general absolutely suck. I think they may be Nintendo fans.

Looking like another game worthy of the MegaTen franchise aka Thee Greatest Franchise in Gaming. Managed to snag a premium edition, that demon book is basically an SMT fan's wet dream.

@Dr_Lugae Are you serious? Pokemon Sword and Shield isn't a novel, it's a video game. Not even one focused on narrative, it's more or less just a gym challenge. Forms aren't major plot points and historically the crucial ones have been shown before release. They hid them this time because they didn't have confidence in the quality of those designs. They even falsely advertised other aspects of the game (that whole thing about cutting Pokemon to work on models and animations only to not do anything and sell the Pokemon they cut as DLC). This isn't a TLOU Part II situation.

Honestly stupid. I mean, leakers should know what could happen by now, but defending The Pokemon Company is also super gross. What's the argument? The leakers cost them money by showing prospective buyers... what the game is? Some advice: if you make a good game, you won't have to hide how bad it is.

I feel bad for @KateGray moving from one disappointingly un-cozy iyashikei game to the next, forever searching...

Floaty as hell lol.

@TheWingedAvenger I don't entirely disagree, but there has been good writing in video games. Breath of the Wild certainly isn't an example but DQXI has decent writing if a bit basic. And recently, stuff like 13 Sentinels, Disco Elysium, and Kentucky Route Zero have raised the bar. But yeah, this didn't do anything to draw me in.

Ima be honest, this is not doing it for me. Not a fan of the artstyle, don't need another side-scrolling RPG, the world/lore sounds pretty dumb so far, and if whoever did the voice-over in that trailer is actually voicing a main character? Yikes. Happy to be proven wrong but not a good first impression.