Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

Adventure Mode and Spirits Mode both look quite fun. I love how spirits can be managed (upgraded, sent off on real-time quests, etc.) like the blades you've resonated with in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Ultimate looks to more than make up for the lacking single-player content in Smash Wii U/3DS.

@KratosMD I watched it over at Nintendo life. The meltdown of some of the users there (who were hoping for Banjo) was majestic. And, I'll admit, I kinda believed/hoped the leak was real. I might not even have watched the Direct live otherwise.

So, compares to my hopes, the Direct was a letdown,but that isn't to say there wasn't anything good at all. And after all, I'll still be playing this game over the holidays, if not a bit earlier.

I thought the adventure mode looked good by the way. But personally I was always more a fan of the event fights, so it was good to see these make a comeback in the form of the Spirit Board.

I didn't care at all for the Spirits. It honestly felt a bit like grinding for grinding's sake. As someone who's not going to play this on the road, I also think it may just not be made for me. Reminded me too much of mobile games. I can see why some people like it, though. The real time thing just isn't my thing; would have rather it be set to a certain number of fights.

As one of the few people who was into trophies way too much I will probably enjoy collecting those spirits.

The today announced characters didn't do anything for me. And announcing Isaac and Shadow as Assist Trophies felt like an arrow to the knee from Nintendo.

Last thing: the soundtrack. I thought the theme with vocals was alright, but I'd rather see them go with the Brawl tune, which I thought was so fetch

Completed the story mode in Dragon Ball FighterZ (Switch) yesterday.

It was pretty good, but to be perfectly honest, and I'm sure I'll be lambasted for this, I actually much preferred Xenoverse 2 (Note that I'm specifically comparing them as singleplayer experiences). While the character interactions in FighterZ were absolute gold, the story mode itself was a big grind, with the numerous clone battles feeling like padding, and then there's the fact that you essentially play through the story three times (albiet in alternate scenarios). As long as you're okay with playing a game where you get to be a player in the world of Dragon Ball rather than play as the main heroes, Xenoverse 2 just has much more to offer from a singleplayer perspective.

Unlike FighterZ, Xenoverse 2 does however suck as a multiplayer game, with a horribly unbalanced roster that makes the versus mode utterly pointless, and thus you have no real option to play around as your favorite characters. So while I do like FighterZ and understand it's strengths, I just have no one to play multiplayer with, lol

Yep, that's the part.

Anyhow I decided to to take the plunge on Hot Gimmick: Cosplay-Jong (one of the Psikyo arcade ports/remasters), and it's addicting as heck.

I've never played a real Mahjong game before (only the Solitaire variant you usually see), and this has been a real learning experience. I lost a lot early on, but I was so intent on learning what I was supposed to be doing that I wound up losing time playing late into the night (something normally reserved for big adventure games like Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade Chronicles 2), and found myself looking up the rules online while I played. I'm at the point now that I can beat all the opponents, at least on easy (and only need to use powerups on the last 2 or 3).

As for the fan service aspect, I understand it's definitely not for everyone, but you do have the option to skip out on the feature (and, I won't say what, but you are rewarded with a surprise if you do skip out on those scenes).

@KratosMD Please post your impressions of Pokémon Let's Go when you get to playing it. I'm tempted to ask for it as a Christmas gift because I fancy something colourful and not-too mentally taxing. I'm quite looking forward to Smash Bros. as I skipped the Wii U one.

I'm also interested in hearing impressions of Pokemon Let's Go! I usually buy Pokemon games at launch, but... I dunno. The $60 price tag and changes to the core gameplay are putting me off this one a bit.

Good call. Truth be told, the Wii U version was terrible. Terrible netcode. Terrible single-player modes. I played my 3DS version of the same game far more.

World of Light and Spirits Mode look to be really meaty single-player offerings for those of us who don't play online very often. Heck, I got a ton of mileage out of the relatively basic Smash Run mode in Smash 3DS, and these modes look to offer WAY more gameplay depth.

€60 would be fine for a Pokemon game if it had new Pokemon, new characters, a new region, etc. Maybe next year!

@Ralizah 60 dollar.. ouch. Actually didn't know this.

Switch has been a great way for Nintendo to sell their handheld games for home console prices.

@Kidfried Even their re-released Wii U games have been launching at full retail. But people keep buying them, so they'll keep doing it. I bought MK8D at launch, as I've always wanted a portable version of that game and feel like enough was added to make it worth the price (including an actually functional battle mode, all the DLC, new characters, and some changes to the gameplay).

Pokemon Let's Go!'s pricing is particularly painful when you look at the reduced price point Sony has been launching its remakes at.

At least Captain Toad kept its bargain pricing.

@Ralizah Yeah, I know about the Wii U stuff. But my mind just went Pokemon = handheld = 45 on day one. Just now that I realize the price hike.

Oh well, wasn't planning on buying this game anyway.

@Kidfried I don't mind paying full retail for full HD Pokemon games that offer the usual amount of gameplay depth the series is known for. I usually get 40 - 60 hours out of these games anyway, which is far more than you're likely to get out of the average AAA full retail release. Switch being a hybrid also means Pokemon will be fully stepping out of the handheld ghetto now.

@Ralizah If Pokemon 2019 is a for the Switch ground up made Pokemon RPG, that's of course a fair price to ask. If it's just a reskinned Pokemon Sun/Moon, the price will become an obstacle for me.

I'm optimistic though and suspect the former.

@Kidfried Sun and Moon's character and Pokemon models actually look surprisingly good upscaled to higher resolutions, which is one reason so many of us were surprised that Pokemon Stars turned out to be a false rumor.

I'm reflexively pessimistic about Game Freak, considering how lazy they tend to be with this series and how reluctant they were to bring the games to Switch in the first place, but I'd be thrilled if the series got a significant visual boost on Switch.

@KratosMD Have fun when it arrives! The only Pokémon game I've ever skipped buying (barring spin-offs) is Ultra Moon. I might start Platinum soon as it has been on my shelf for a long time. Once Pokémon went annual it was hard to find time to play it and I didn't want to get franchise fatigue.

@Ralizah To be honest I was put off by the lack of single player content in Smash Bros. Wii U, so Ultimate is looking a lot more appealing. I like that it has all the DLC characters from the previous games.

The high price of Switch games compared to Wii U and 3DS ones is a little offputting. Wii U games could often be found for little over £30, and I never paid more than £35 for a 3DS one. That's quite a massive leap.

Yeah, it's a game by game thing. It's weird to see that a 4-5 hour Kirby game is priced the same as something like Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. Nintendo used to differentiate between those titles, some were full price, some only €40. People always speak of ''Sony arrogance'' when talking about the PS3 launch price, but Nintendo does a similar thing with its games on the Switch. I'm sure it's a case of people buy anything, so no reason to offer it at a reduced price, but I do find myself missing out on a lot of games on the Switch, simply because they're quite expensive for what they offer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitchDeals/

www.cheapassgamer.com

I find both of these to be great resources for getting good deals on Switch games. It also helps if you go digital.

For example, MSRP for Smash is $59.99 in the States. With double gold coins for the purchase on the eshop, though, you get $6 in eshop credit back for your purchase. I also nabbed $20 in credit for $18 on raise.com and took advantage of a Walmart promo that netted me $35 in credit for $25. So, with very little effort, and assuming I spent the remainder on other digital Nintendo content, I just saved $18 on Smash Ultimate, making it a $42 game for me.

@KratosMD That sounds about right. In Salmon Run, you're doing temp work in game, so the game only lets you work during certain shift hours. I think the actual reasoning behind this is that you work in teams cooperatively with people during this mode, so they want to make sure they funnel people who are interested in it to that mode by only making it available during certain periods of time, increasing the likelihood that you'll find other players quickly.

Splatoon 2 is an incredibly fun multiplayer title hampered a bit by its limited matchmaking options and on Nintendo's own insistence on curating your online experience to the degree that they do.

I think this weekend is a splatfest, if you're interested.

Octo Expansion is definitely extremely cool in terms of what it adds to the SP campaign.

@KratosMD There's a bit of depth to the gear customization. You can buy loads of gear in the game and use sea slugs you win from events and splatfests to re-roll the abilities and buffs they give you and add ability slots so you can gradually create your perfect battle outfit. You wear an outfit, shoes, and some sort of headpiece, and they all have abilities and buffs that can sometimes dramatically impact how you play.

You're also gradually leveling up your character. If you win multiple matches in a row with a particular type of weapon, a sort of combo meter will increase that sees you gain additional EXP and probably money with every battle.

I believe they patched it a while back so that you can change your loadout in the lobby between matches.

The netcode is pretty good, and I've very rarely had issues with maps terminating. The biggest threat used to be playing with people who didn't know what they were doing or got distracted and stopped playing. Nothing worse than a team multiplayer game where one guy is just lingering around the base not doing anything or shooting the walls. That might have changed now that it's NSO subscribers only who have access to the online portion of the game.

Back when I was actively playing it, matches would find players and start extremely quickly. I don't know if that has changed since the introduction of NSO.

Nintendo gradually updated the game with new maps, modes, etc. over the first year or so of release. I don't think they have much more to add to it, but there's a full game's worth of content there, and they're still running splatfests.

Anyway, it's a Nintendo game, so the likelihood that it'll get a deeper price cut isn't great. At least, that's the way it is over here in the States. They're still selling Wii games for $45+! I've gotten around 65 hours of playtime out of it so far, and I'm not even a huge fan of multiplayer games. I think it's worth it, personally. Especially if the lack of matchmaking options aren't going to drive you up a wall.

There's also a bunch of ranked modes that are radically different from turf wars that I've barely delved into.

Google is your friend.