Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

Yeah, I liked Shining Resonance Refrain, but it definitely was a grind fest on Normal (I think the entire purpose of the Grimoires was just a way to make grinding sessions more interesting, since they figured you'd have to do it so often, lol).

The most annoying part came in the late game (enemies were level 60-70), and I was forced into a battle where I just happened to be stuck with just the two characters I never use (one level 34 & the other 15, because unused characters don't gain any exp, unlike most other modern JRPGs).

@KratosMD Valkyria Chronicles is a fantastic tactical JRPG set in a fantasy WW2-esque setting. You command an increasingly large squad of mostly civilian recruits as you fight back against a militaristic empire that is attempting to invade your country. The units you command all have identities and personalities, and their character traits will actually come into play in battles, because they impact how the unit behaves in various situations (a unit who is afraid of men, for example, might suffer accuracy drops when she's around male units; on the other hand, if she's, say, a bit foolhardy and hot-blooded, she might gain additional anti-infantry strength when rushing a nest of enemy units; there are many dozens of personality traits that affect how units behave in the field). The gameplay is a fusion of real-time and turn-based elements: you can move your unit around freely (well, until your stamina depletes), even giving yourself an advantage by aiming intelligently and/or flanking the opponent but, when you stop to actually fight, time freezes and math takes over. It's a smart combat system that rewards both player skill and smart character builds.

The games are also filled with fun character banter and unlockable optional missions that flesh out side characters.

So far, I'd say VC4 is probably the best game in the series, but the original is also an absolute classic and an utter steal at its current price on the Switch eshop.

@KratosMD No difficulty levels. They're not really needed, as the game is mostly forgiving enough that most people could brute force their way through the campaign. There's permadeath, but only if you don't rescue a critically injured unit. You can save anywhere in battle. You can use skirmishes and replay other maps to grind EXP. The challenge comes from A-ranking maps.

There are difficulty spikes. Usually in levels with high-level boss characters, which can be annoying (same issue I have with Fire Emblem games, actually).

Never played Revolution. I imagine a lot of Valkyria fans haven't, for the same reason a lot of Metroid fans snubbed Federation Force.

@KratosMD Yep. VC4 does pretty much everything the first game did, plus new mechanics and features. You can save every turn, and even create multiple save files, like with a PC game. So you could totally scum your way through a mission if that's what you want, but it's a lot more rewarding to quickly clear a mission and get the bonus EXP/gear unlocks that go along with that.

The one exception is (imo) an improvement. Instead of paying money to unlock sidequests like in the first game, you have much more Fire Emblem-ish "Squad Stories" that unlock when you deploy certain characters together over and over. The game tells you which other characters each unit likes, so it's easy enough to unlock quite a few of them. It also, unlike the first game, is giving me a good reason to rotate my squad members and use everyone.

@KratosMD I liked the game, but I have to admit I gave up on it due to the difficulty spikes, which made me dread playing the game at all.

Still: game looks great, story is enjoyable and the battle system is unique. So I really enjoyed most of my time with it, maybe I'll pick it up again someday.

So how hard is it to work through the story in Dragon Ball FighterZ for a more casual fighting game fan?

I love DBZ, but while I really enjoy playing around in fighting games, I'm definitely not a hardcore player. I've worked through the story in Dead or Alive Dimensions, and can clear arcade mode in Street Fighter II & Super Street Fighter IV 3D on easier difficulties. Also cleared the story/arcade mode in games such as Soulcalibur III/IV, DOA4, SNK VS Capcom, & Tatsunoko VS Capcom, but it's been awhile since I played any of these so I don't know if I was playing them on easier settings or not. I do know all of the SNK fighters I've ever tried have kicked my butt even on the easiest difficulties (Samurai Showdown II, Garou, & KOFXII), so I'm just wondering where DBFZ fits on the scale.

Also, I just completed Dragon Quest Builders last night. Won't go into too much detail since my tablet's battery is about dead, but I'll bring up my thoughts later.

According to DF, Dark Souls on Switch isn't the Remaster at all, since it lacks all the visual improvements outside of a dynamic 1080p resolution. All effects are the same as on 360 or WORSE and audio quality got degraded heavily.

And the performance can go as low as 20fps.

And this was delayed for months why?

I got the info I needed about DBFZ over on NL, so I think it'll definitely be my next physical purchase.

Anyhow, while I wait on that, I got Mighty Gunvolt Burst to tide me over.

Bought Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon on a whim this past summer & really enjoyed that, so I decided I'd give this a whirl as well.

@Knuckles-Fajita According to DF the game is only 3.9GB, that's suspiciously close to 4GB, like very close, as if they did everything they could to fit it on the cheapest card. No extra download = no complaints, right? But the downside is that you have to deal with a lot of compression.

@Octane The cheapest card is 1GB. Then 2, then 4. So they missed a trick there.

@KratosMD What was happening there? I feel like he should have been impaled or getting his head twisted off or something with that much grunting. I mean holy ceap man. Were alien insects trying to kill him from the inside while he fought them with stomach acid?

@KratosMD I imagine it probably sounds better in Japanese. A lot of Japanese media puts an emphasis on pauses, moans, grunts, and other vocalizations besides speech (in addition to the often common use of aizuchi), and this can come across as somewhat awkward in English. Granted, it's not usually a full half-minute of JUST that, but you get the idea.

@Knuckles-Fajita Getting it down to 1 or 2GB would probably mean sacrificing too much, if they're not already doing that.

There was an argument on NLife about optical media becoming obsolete; but when I see things like this, I still think it's going to take a long time before we see the benefits of game cards. As long as they're more expensive, you can expect other companies to cheap out; either through excessive downgrading or by offering only half the game, turning it effectively into a digital unlock key.

I am now pretty much absorbed into Skyrim on Switch now. It took me two goes to get into it but I must say, I think the port is pretty good (notwithstanding standard Bethesda bugs).

As for Dark Souls, I waited for the Switch version before deciding which platform but played on handheld at EGX and it wasn't great. The joycons are just not designed for games like Dark Souls and the performance was not great. So I think I will go with the PS4 or XB version. Prob PS4 as I still have Dark Souls 3 unplayed.

Vampyr i coming to Switch!

It ran like crap on PS4...oh dear.

And its late...oh dear...

So I got a.quick question on the Switch itself. Is there anyway to charge the tablet without the dock?

I ask cause next month I have to go out of town for work for a few days. I was thinking about taking my Switch but I don't want to take the dock along as well.

@Tasuki ….My obvious response is "Think about how the console works", but to explain it for you.

The console has a USB-C port on the bottom right? That's where it connects to the dock.

That therefore is how it is charged, via that port.

The cable you put into the dock is also USB-C.

Use the charger that came with the system, or a power bank with a USB-C cable. Easy.

Edit: It's actually kinda cool your brought that up, reminded me I need to nab a powerbank at some point.

@Tasuki Just plug the USB-C AC adapter directly into the Switch; the one that's normally plugged into the dock.

@KratosMD You know, I need to pay more attention to Switch news, but I don’t. I should have Ultimate ore-ordered, but it’s hard after the dissapointing of SMbros Wii U. Ultimate looks to fix it though.

The Direct was ok. Ken, Incineroar and the freaking Plant are not exactly the hypest reveals. DLC is optimistic though but the list of assist trophies basically rules out everyone people wanted like Isaac and Skull Kid.

Which leaves very little Nintendo owned stuff that can show up as one of the 5 fighters.

Plus, Spirits look cool but...basically just Stickers from Brawl and Custom Moves combined, and the Adventure mode looks fine.

Basically you get a lot of fluff attached to your fighting game.

I suppose at least this one comes with 74 characters out the box.