@carlos82 It's not really anything new. Pokemon has always tried to manipulate players into spending even more money, and just like every other time, people will give this stuff a pass just because it's Pokemon.
@carlos82 It's kinda stupid TBH. But so is the limited time Meowth, even if I'm getting the game before the event ends. I just don't agree with the principle, time-exclusive stuff, save-data exclusive stuff, etc. But that's Pokemon unfortunately. The games thrive on version exclusive stuff, and I've always found that the worst part. I'm glad that it's easy to mod the older games so you can get the version exclusives in the other version as well.
Upon further reflection, Astral Chain is sort of rehashing Evangelion's plot, at least on a base level. Major spoilers below.
Spoilers start.
The world is attacked by Chimeras (Angels), and due to "corruption" most of the world is inhospitable. They are largely immune to conventional weaponry.
Neuron (Nerve) is the organization created to combat the Chimeras, by, for a lack of a better term, "reverse engineering" Chimeras as Legions (the Eva), complete with robotic like armor plating.
As it turns out, the whole ordeal is part of a process of rebirth for humanity. Rather than stopping the process & saving humanity as it is, Yoseph (Gendo) and the other string pullers behind Neuron want to control or guide how this rebirth will take place.
I guess this would make Akira the stand in for Rei, as due to their high compatibility with Legions, Yoseph makes countless clones of them, and through a series of multiple Akiras merging with their Legions, and then further merging with each other before being merged into Yoseph, it will create a single entity, a single consciousness for all humanity with Yoseph at the helm. His plan ultimately falls apart, in part, due to the Akiras abandoning him.
It even has some Biblical termanology, with humanity's main last bastion being "the Ark", and the merged form of humanity Yoseph hopes to create being "Noah".
@RogerRoger I know I’ve derailed the “Latest PS4 Purchase” thread enough so I moved it here — but I do wonder if Nintendo has any plans to join the next gen consoles and if so, when? The Switch seems to rely enough on the eco-system it’s created and the specific core audience that flocks to the Nintendo-esque games, but obviously there is a fledgling market for multiplatform ports as well. Those will dry up probably for the most part as the next gen marches on with its 4K Ray Tracing [insert blah-blah technobabble specs terms] unless more early PS4/XB1 multiplats get ported in the meantime like Witcher 3 has and Skyrim, etc. At some point the Switch release library will all be exclusives only. Not sure I’m making sense here, but I was just wondering what you think Nintendo’s long term plans might be. Obviously with the Switch Lite they are doubling down in the portable market, so maybe that’s it.
@Th3solution Nintendo does have long term plans and they have stated them.
Switch will have a 7-10 year life. We are heading into year 4 once March comes. So lets say 2022 for a successor.
They also recently at an investors call announced that their strategy to reach that point is to rely on install size being too big to ignore.
Take for instance how PS2 kept getting ports long after PS3 came out. Or Xbox 360 and PS3 kept getting games for two years after their consoles came out.
What you will see is any publisher worth a damn doesn't just drop the previous install base. God no. That's 140m across PS4 and Xbox One. It was 160m the previous generation. Games will as is tradition be cross-generational because both PS4 and Xbox One, and Scarlett and PS5, are X86. Games are made on PC first, then scaled for PS4 and Xbox One, and will be scaled for PS5 and Scarlett.
Assuming developers dont suddenly decide their workflow of scalability is stupid and drop it, games will still be made to run on PS4 and Xbox One for a good while.
Further to this, you act as though PS5 and Xbox Scarlett existing will detour these large AAA developers from making Switch games.
You forget that those very developers aren't making Switch games. Was DOOM made by Id? Skyrim by Bethesda? Diablo or Overwatch by Blizzard? Was Witcher 3 done by CD Projekt Red?
No. They were outsourced to Saber, Shiver, Panic BUtton, Virtous, Iron Galaxy...THEY are making Switch games.
The actual developers of these games aren't learning about Switch hardware. I can put money down that they dont know how to do it. They outsource it in a contract to someone else to do the work. They aren't making the games for Switch, someone else is.
So on one hand, the future of Nintendo systems is bleak, because the actual companies making games aren't learning about these systems. But on the other hand, the games aren't going anywhere, because they just outsource them.
And their publishers aren't going to turn a blind eye to 140m sales opportunities just because a very expensive shiny new machine exists, their games will keep coming because they like money, on PS4 and Xbox One.
Which means the games will be scalable, which means if they find the money to do so, they'll ring someone up to do the scaling they can't be bothered to do, and you've got a nice Switch game too.
Now Playing: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Crash Bandicoot 4
@Th3solution I don't think next-gen will have much an effect on what games the Switch is getting. It's not like it's getting AAA games in general as it is: look at how much of an event it is when something like DOOM or The Witcher 3 is ported to the system. Smaller games will easily scale back to fit the system's specs, and are often designed with the Switch in mind, because that seems to be the console best fit for indies and AA games these days (Sony is reinforcing the attitude, sadly already prevalent in the gaming community, that only AAA blockbusters are worth supporting and getting excited about, in my opinion).
@Th3solution No, I think I derailed that other topic; I've been doing it elsewhere recently, too. Need to remember to ask myself "What would Taskui do?" more often!
What's interesting to me about Nintendo is, because of that in-built, unique core audience of gamers (like my partner, who doesn't play videogames but totally buys every single Nintendo console and its major exclusives) they often don't mind being "late to the party" or otherwise out-of-sync with the competition. That's also the case with their third-party games; remember when the Wii U launched with late ports of Batman: Arkham City and Mass Effect 3, well behind the competition? And we've only just seen The Witcher III arrive on Switch. I think a lot of these examples are icing on the cake for Nintendo's core audience, for whom the current technology is more than enough to render a cute-looking Mario, ray tracing be damned.
In fact, I remember talking about all this to a Nintendo gamer ex (weird; I only ever seem to fall for the enemy...) and he confidently asserted that "graphics never need to be better than what the GameCube is capable of" because he was part of that target market, somebody who played more cartoon-esque or otherwise stylised games and who therefore didn't even wanna try and cross the Uncanny Valley. And y'know what? If that's how people see games and wanna game, then great. There's obviously a market there, and so as long as people still get excited about these long-term, much-loved IPs (Mario, Zelda, etc.) then hey, Nintendo have something that works. They'll cater to that market when they see the Switch's momentum start to slow (and why should they beforehand? Look how long they made the 3DS last, devoid of any meaningful competition).
You and I might scroll through the Nintendo eShop and go "What the heck is all this shovelware?!" but you and I are perhaps looking for something different from our gaming experiences. That's not to belittle indie titles, simple games or anything cartoonish (heck, some of my favourite PS4 palette-cleansers have been exactly that, and I'm glad Sony recognise that there's a market for that stuff on their console as well) but gaming is a very, very broad church.
To corrupt an old marketing slogan, Nintendo does what Nintendoes. It doesn't want to try and match specs or otherwise get involved with the Sony Vs. Microsoft console battle, otherwise it'd be reducing the impact of that "I have a PS4 and a Switch" fill-in-the-gap market.
So I reckon it'll wait and see what shape the next generation will take, before it knows where to position itself and fill in said gaps. And that's pretty neat of them, when you think about it.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@LN78 He has MS and therefore doesn't have full motor control over his right hand. He's a lifelong Nintendo fan and used to play Nintendo consoles when he could, but now I play them for him, taking direction from him as to where to go, what to do next, etc. because he's still a big fan of Mario, Zelda and the like and therefore wants to be a part of Nintendo's ongoing ecosystem.
But even if he could play the games himself, he wouldn't call himself a "gamer" or a fan of videogames; he just likes Nintendo. And that speaks to the passion and dedication of your average Nintendo supporter, I think. There's a broad "play everything" type of gamer, and then there's a "I like this and only this" mentality which can be useful for maintaining a specific market. Kinda like everybody's mothers wrinkling their nose at the idea of gaming, but then totally staying up late playing Candy Crush on their smartphone; it's their corner and they're happy in it.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@LN78 In principle, I agree with you. Having recently had to play several of the Switch's biggest titles because of circumstance, however, I've come to realise that Nintendo gaming isn't really "for me" in broad terms. Each time I've played a game with / for my partner, I've kinda disliked it. That doesn't mean that I'm prepared to make sweeping judgements about the entirety of Nintendo's catalogue, but it has made me more susceptible to more generalised statements about their output, as well as given me an appreciation for those who do wanna compartmentalise themselves away.
So if Nintendo are gonna be uniquely Nintendo during the next console generation, then that's great because they have managed to create this consistency with their output and third-party offerings, and it's obviously working for them. But you're absolutely right, their influence was all-powerful after the videogame crash in the 80s, and so they'll always be a part of the conversation going forward. That's such a strong legacy, with such an in-built multi-generational fanbase to maintain it.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Most people don't yearn to taste everything the market has to offer and only seek to play a few, very mainstream titles ever year. Usually sports games and mp shooters.
People who own multiple consoles and are willing to try most genres and seek out hidden gems and smaller titles are the minority, by far. It's one reason I actively try to support smaller publishers and games I like with launch day purchases and/or preorders, when possible.
Assuming developers dont suddenly decide their workflow of scalability is stupid and drop it, games will still be made to run on PS4 and Xbox One for a good while.
Further to this, you act as though PS5 and Xbox Scarlett existing will detour these large AAA developers from making Switch games.
You forget that those very developers aren't making Switch games. Was DOOM made by Id? Skyrim by Bethesda? Diablo or Overwatch by Blizzard? Was Witcher 3 done by CD Projekt Red?
No. They were outsourced to Saber, Shiver, Panic BUtton, Virtous, Iron Galaxy...THEY are making Switch games.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. I didn’t know about the long term Nintendo plans to keep Switch for another 3-6 years, nor about the fact that the Switch ports are outsourced ... uh, thus my asking the question. I ask out of genuine curiosity, and here on the Nintendo thread of a PlayStation site since I really don’t know much about the current state of Nintendo. I expect if I asked the question on NintendoLife that I would be laughed and ridiculed off of the internet, but I figured it would be a safe place here to show ignorance and seek information and opinion. I hope my inquiry didn’t come across as antagonistic or condescending. I’m honestly curious about how the Nintendo world is planning to integrate with next gen, that’s all.
And I didn’t mean to insinuate that there would be a sudden loss of interest in providing multiplat ports to Switch (whatever random developer or hired outsource company it may be), once the PS5 and NexBox are released, what I was wondering was whether the multiplats for Switch will dry up due to technological limitations. It makes sense that there will be 3 years or so of ports trickling in from the current gen and maybe even some of the cross gen titles. I’m not sure what kind of magic they are going to be able to do to pull something like Cyberpunk, Assassins Creed Odyssey, or FFVII remake over to the Switch, but maybe something like Borderlands 3 or Sekiro could be modified enough, I don’t know. Heck they got Skyrim and Witcher 3 on there, so maybe it can be done.
Which means the games will be scalable, which means if they find the money to do so, they'll ring someone up to do the scaling they can't be bothered to do, and you've got a nice Switch game too.
I have no idea how much these games can be scaled. I haven’t a clue about the technical aspects of game development, but I’m sure smaller sized games with just high graphical qualities can be scaled for porting, but some of the enormous worlds and complex interactions and mechanics will be running into a downscaling “wall” eventually. Not to mention the backwards compatibility aspect of the next gen is going to change the whole cross gen landscape. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Will we get a Last of Us Part 2 Remastered like we did for the first game when PS4 came out? Or will the upscaling occur as a downloadable update and add Ray Tracing and all that jazz?
Anyways, it seems Nintendo is comfortable to keep relying on first party, AA and indies, and the occasional downscaled port if there is no plan for Switch 2 in the next 5 years.
And thanks to @Ralizah and @RogerRoger for your thoughts as well. And I agree that the core Nintendo audience is perfectly welcome to continue enjoying what they enjoy, as are the PC gamers, the XBox gamers, and the retro gamers. Just not the mobile phone gamers. They should be gathered together and drawn and quartered for the travesties they have brought upon this hallowed hobby. 😉
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I'll probably nab an eShop title to hold me over until my next paycheck, and was wondering what everyone's thoughts on Devil May Cry are?
I've been getting into more straight up action titles this year, but at the same time I'm not ready to jump into something Ninja Gaiden/Souls like difficulty wise, and am wondering where DMC fits on the scale.
For refrence I've played & really enjoyed God of War 2018 (on "Give me a Balance"), Onimusha Warlords (on the standard difficulty), and Astral Chain (on "Pt Standard") this year.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
I take it you're on about the first Devil May Cry @RR529?
Haven't played the switch version but I've played the PS2 original. Very fun.
Can't compare it to any of those you referenced... But Onimusha is by Capcom too I believe and not too far off DMC gameplay wise?
Like most Devil May Cry fans I'd say the third is the best (and a prequel so you could play it first with no worries)... But I don't think that's on Switch yet.
I don't hate 2 either unlike most though and tbh after hearing the development it went through we're lucky we got it or any others at all.
The story in DMC is a bit campy, goofy and runs on a boistrous rule of cool.
Gameplay is a touch stiff compared to later titles in the series too but it's still very satisfying with some nicely designed set pieces and bosses.
Plus an easy mode is unlocked if you die too many times (I'm not ashamed to say I used it once or twice) I think it was mainly cus of the panther enemies from mission 5 or so that are a bit tough to deal with initially.
I'd certainly reccomend giving it a whirl if you can
Maybe take a look at the first mission to see what you think too?
I expect if I asked the question on NintendoLife that I would be laughed and ridiculed off of the internet, but I figured it would be a safe place here to show ignorance and seek information and opinion.
lol
Did a gang of rabid Nintendo fans bully you as a kid?
I've been active on NL far longer than I have here, and the forum regulars are pretty friendly, for the most part.
I figured it'd probably in the same ballpark as Onimusha (which I didn't have too much problem with), but I just wanted to make sure. I'll look a bit more into it, but I'll probably get it.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@Ralizah Ha, ha! No, but I have heard that they are a passionate bunch at NL. Isn’t it like an enemy battlefield laden with land mines over there? 😜
Nah, I’m sure they are a decent bunch, but on the few visits I’ve had over there I do feel like I’m a foreigner visiting a different country. They speak almost a different language and have a different culture.
...And everything is red. It creeps me out.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I can't play the majority of mobile games. The predatory monetization models almost physically repulse me. And I hate touchscreen-only controls.
Pretty much the only ones I make an exception for are console ports.
It's a pity how quickly Nintendo's mobile output turned predatory. It started off well with Super Mario Run, but people decided a well-constructed auto-runner was less worth their money than the obscene gacha mechanics of something like Fire Emblem Heroes because it came in a bulk sum. Now here we are.
@Th3solution Only in the comment sections under articles, where the fanboys live. Sort of like here.
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