Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

@Ralizah you're very right about the balancing, I didn't think about it but it could become an issue. The Japanese voice option is there in the demo so we can hope it's in the final version as well!
About the characters I am being fussy: what I mean is like I could describe the attitude and habits of, say, P5 or FFXV party members, while in OT I coukd only tell what every character is going through. The stories seems nice and well thought, though.
I am very probably going to play OT and like it...I don't wanna sound overly critical. Just making considerations/predictions.

Decided to get back into Kirby: Star Allies to mess around with the new Dream Friends, and started a new "Guest Star: Star Allies" with Marx. Not sure if I'll bother completing it before Ys comes in (I still need to play the new Octopath demo), but he's very unique & fun to play as (apparently some of the rooms are tweaked a bit to accommodate his skill set).

I also noticed that the lighting in this game is surprisingly detailed. If you're standing underneath one of those platforms that are made out of a bunch of "tubes" (they have a lot of "gaps", if you don't know what I'm talking about) and make a dust cloud (easy to create with the Cleaning ability), the shadows of the "tubes" above it cast on it. Also, enemies near lava have a yellow glow cast on them from the direction of the lava, and Marx's myriad of colors that emit from his wings can be seen on the ground or wall if you get close enough (at least on dark surfaces).

I wonder if the lighting system and the more detailed environmental textures are why the game is only 30FPS rather than DKCTF's 60FPS (not that it bothers me personally). Even the end stage goal game (which runs in 60FPS rather than the game's standard 30FPS) has noticeably plainer textures than what are seen in the stages themselves.

@RR529 I think Kirby Star Allies is a rare instance of a Nintendo studio dropping their 60fps sensibilities simply to see how far they can go. They did it with Breath of the Wild in favour of a very large minimal loading world.

In Star Allies, they opted to go heavy on advanced lighting and shaders, and it pays off because the game is gorgeous, but at the cost of 60fps.

Actually you can see this in Splatoon 2 as well. The single player has different textures and shaders for ink than the multiplayer, but still runs at 60fps with a dynamic resolution, like multiplayer does.

Multiplayer ditches those additional effects and shaders, due to the dynamics of an online 4v4 match, again with a dynamic resolution at 60fps.

But then look at the plaza, the hub area. It's 30fps. Not just that, it's locked to 1080p, and has very heavy use of anti-aliasing.

The cost of all these graphical effects is obvious. They keep experimenting and seeing how far they can push each engine in each use case.

@KratosMD yeah the ending to Mario was pretty great I thought. The post game stuff is a lot of fun too.

I've just now gone back to Odyssey to try out the Luigi Balloon thingy. It's actually pretty addicting. It has a few draw backs, as after awhile you start realizing people tend to hide the things in the same general spots, and apparently they haven't fixed the issue with people placing impossible to reach balloons(?).

Still, it's a good way to grind coins (I'll probably go back and buy all the costumes I haven't yet bought).

I haven't ran into the adult profile picture thing yet, so maybe they've fixed it, or it's relatively rare.

This looks acceptable. Nothing more, nor less.

Hard to tell given most of the trailer isn't actual in-game shots...

That's one way to get it running on the Switch, just turn off the AA.

@Octane That's one feature I never actually notice, even in comparisons. It's hard for me to see, and in motion its even harder because....you're moving...obviously.

But yeah. It looks....fine? Same frame rate, if not worse, than PS4. Maybe same resolution, probably dynamic 900p like loads of other games.

Problem is...barely any of that trailer is actually gameplay XD

Crash Bandicoot looks fantastic on the Switch.

Too bad the games themselves are still mediocre.

Spyro on the Switch, though? That would be bliss.

Finished up my Marx run in Star Allies. He's actually pretty OP, and has a diverse move set. There were a few new rooms too, so it wasn't totally rehash.

Thanks to Luigi's Balloon World, I've obtained the most expensive costumes in Odyssey (the Skeleton & Race Car uniform), as well as the Knight, Baseball, and Luigi costumes. Not many left now.

Also Amazon has notified me that my copy of Ys VIII will be arriving on Wednesday!

This is probably the thing the most make me want a Switch for myself. There's a lot of shmup love heading the systems' way - and this is perfect:

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2018/06/25/crowdfunded-switch-accesso...

Dark Souls is no longer lusted on the UK eShop.

Also Labo works in Mario Kart now. The cardboard wont die

Don't worry, I still lust for portable Dark Souls.

Lusting for it is one thing. Actually getting the damn game is another.

I like how their official reason for the delay was "The nature of causality".

Because apparently "The Universe Willed It So" is a valid excuse now.

In related news of "Why is this a thing God?", what absolute pinhead thought that:

A) Agitha was a good idea in Hyrule Warriors

and more importantly,

B) Said yes, give her very low damage, pitiful range, long wind up and cool down on basic attacks, low speed and special attacks that also don't do much damage with terrible defences and that annoying as hell hit sound.

@Knuckles-Fajita Considering very playable builds of the game exist, I can't imagine it won't release. But the way the Switch version kind of... disappeared off the face of the Earth IS very strange.

@Ralizah

Timeline for you:

January 11 2018 - Dark Souls Remastered is announced in a Nintendo Direct, May 25th release date.

March 8 2018 - Dark Souls Remastered Network Test confirmed for a near launch time, Solaire of Astora amiibo confirmed to release alongside the game. May 25th release date.

April 5-8 2018 - Dark Souls Remastered on show and fully playable at PAX East in the Nintendo booth. Gameplay was recorded, ran at 30fps and players found the experience perfectly fine. May 25th release date still stands.

April 17 2018 - Dark Souls Remastered delayed, only on Switch. Pushed to Summer 2018. No reason given beyond "Due to the nature of causality".

June 12th 2018 - Dark Souls Remastered featured in Nintendo Direct E3 2018. Summer 2018 date still stands.

June 26th 2018 - Dark Souls Remastered removed from "Coming Soon" on UK eShop, where it had been since reveal, even updated to say Summer 2018.

Got Ys VIII and have been playing it for a while. Other than the weirdness with the tree shadows and a shimmer from the foliage, the game looks pretty good. Massively better than the Vita version, at any rate. I started this after coming off the PS4 demo, and the framerate drop, while obviously noticeable, is hardly a big deal. The action is still enjoyably fluid and fast-paced. I'll be playing this a lot more on Switch than I would have on PS4.

@KratosMD Just bought the DK expansion myself. Hope you have fun with Mario + Rabbids. I found it to be an awesome little game.

@KratosMD I've always been more of a portable gamer, and don't like to have to sit in front of a TV or monitor to play a game, but the Switch has also given me a newfound appreciation for TV play. Simply put, I'm finding that, since I'm not forced to play these games on a TV, I'm actually enjoying the docked gameplay experience a lot more as a result.

It has also been interesting to notice how my docked/undocked time changes from game to game. Some games I play almost exclusively on the dock. Some games I play almost exclusively in handheld mode. With some games, like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I found that both modes shined during different parts of the game. Docked was inarguably better when I wanted to appreciate the view, or when I wanted to progress the story. Handheld was great for when I just wanted to lay around and explore, grind, do side-quests, etc.

But yeah, I refuse to buy almost any multiplat on PS4/PC if it has a Switch version, and I'll actively avoid buying games on those platforms if I suspect a Switch version is in the works. Because I really value the flexibility of the hardware, even at the cost of performance (so long as the game still feels good to play overall, like Ys VIII).

I was wondering when this would happen...turns out almost exactly 16 months in.

Has anyone played Hollow Knight using the Pro Controller? Probably me but it feels more sluggish then using the joy cons detached.