Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

It would be interesting if in Ni no Kuni overworld spells could be drawn with the touchscreen. In the Wizard's thingymajig in the PS3 original it always felt like that was something that had to be cut compared to the DS.

@Ralizah Nintendo's approach to legacy IP is baffling. They have so much they could harness either with virtual console releases or revivals. I wonder if Kid Icarus Uprising underperformed and put them off reviving ancient IP.

@Octane It's thanks to Smash Bros. that I know that that's The Mysterious Murasame Castle.

This is the single best show I've ever seen at E3. There are so many huge announcements that I have trouble even keeping up with them.

BotW2 looks fantastic. Really creepy. I'm so happy they're returning to that world.

I can't believe The Witcher 3 is getting port. LOL.

Panzer Dragoon!

Plenty to look forward to on Switch, although not a lot i’ll necessarily jump on day one aside from Links Awakening and of course BOTW2 which I am SO happy about. Up there with Skyrim as the only open world game really worth playing IMO! (XBC2 isn’t open-world, I’ve decided!)

@Kidfried I own a PS4 and PC, and I'm buying this port.

Portability of the Switch version > 60fps on my PC

I thought you weren't feeling Link's Awakening's artstyle?

Great Direct!

As far as announcements go, BotW 2 looks fantastic, and I'm excited for the new Smash fighters (though I'm in the minority that's more excited for the DQ Hero than Banjo). The Trials of Mana & Panzer Dragoon remakes look cool too, though I'll likely nab them on PS4 if they're multiplat.

Still looking forward to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Astral Chain, Link's Awakening, Daemon X Machina, Pokemon SS, and maybe Luigi's Mansion 3.

I have to say, Nintendo is great at getting me hyped in a way the others don't (maybe it's because they tend to show more pure gameplay than the others, who tend to have either more pre-rendered footage, or show off some gameplay, but in a more cinematic moment without as much full character control). Square Enix was pretty good too, though.

EDIT: Also, it sounds like they went above & beyond to polish up Daemon X Machina! At least based on the feedback improvements video they put up.

I was already a fan of the demo, but it looks to be shaping up into something great. Too bad it launches in the same month as Link's Awakening.

@Kidfried Hmm. The two aren't mutually exclusive, though (portable mode vs. comfort of your own home). The great thing about portability is that you aren't tethered to a TV. Want to play while you're watching the laundry? You're good to go. Want to play under the covers of your bed? Ditto. Toilet? Yep.

Certain social situations are ideal for it, too. Long car ride where conversations aren't a feature? It's great. You can play it during breaks at your job. If you happen to be waiting somewhere for extended periods of time.

Even if I only play in situations where the game assumes my full attention, it's still vastly more convenient for me to not be tethered to a TV when I play.

So, while it sucks that games often look somewhat worse than they do on more powerful home consoles and PCs, I find that the additional comfort of the arrangement makes up for it.

The price difference will be a bit much to swallow, but it's not a huge deal for a game I might spend 100+ hours playing.

I was never a fan of the aesthetics of GB-era Zelda titles, personally. The sprites were squat and kind of ugly. Which might be a funny thing to say, growing up with the Gameboy myself.

This remake, though? It's beautiful. It looks like little toys are moving around. It makes me happy just watching it. And, since you live in Europe, you might want to check out the special edition, which has a steelbook that looks like a phat brick Game Boy. It's also very nice looking.

Not sure about full retail for such a short game, though. If the dungeon creator aspect is fleshed out, it might very well be worth the price, though.

I'm amazed they have got The Witcher 3 running at all on Switch. Can't see it perfoming well in portable mode though.

Was the new Metroid game not mentioned?

Link's Awakening is one of my favourite Zelda games. I wasn't particularly in love with the visual style after the initial reveal, but think I've been won over based on the E3 footage. It looks so cute! Nintendo really need to learn to tier their prices more because £60 for a remake of a Game Boy game is a lot.

Breath of the Wild 2 will no doubt be excellent, but it was really only a tease. Surprised that it's a direct sequel, possibly in the same world. If they reuse assets to speed up development we hopefully won't be waiting too long compared to the usual Zelda wait.
I'm hoping for a return of proper dungeons, which is an aspect I missed in BotW. Not sure what changes there will be in the overworld. Breath of the Wild's world is massive, so Nintendo need to make it compelling enough for people to want to explore the same map again if that is what they're going for. It looks like it will be a lot darker in tone; the teaser was a little scary!

Animal Crossing is basically Animal Crossing, so I'm happy with that. Next March means I probably won't get it at launch because of Final Fantasy VII Remake. The latter could well be delayed anyway!

I actually came away most excited by the Smash Bros. DLC. The Dragon Quest heroes look great and I love that they can use spells from a menu. Banjo-Kazooie is hugely exciting given it's owned by Microsoft. I'd love to see classic Rare games released on the system. How big is Rare Replay? Would it fit on a cart?

@Ralizah Yikes the toilet?! I've never taken my Switch out the house for fear of being robbed. 😂 For me personally being portable isn't inherently enough to make me want to get the Switch version of a game over the PS4, but it depends very much on the title. Many games - mostly third party - do not run very well in handheld mode and that's admittedly a big turn off. A game like Witcher 3 has alarm bells ringing, but I would be massively impressed if they do get it running at a decent resolution in handheld mode.

@JohnnyShoulder No Metroid this year. If the only started from scratch earlier this year we could be waiting a looong time. :-/

@mookysam Original Zelda game that takes up to 100 hours to complete: €60.
Remake of old Zelda game that takes around 10-15 hours to beat: €60.

That's Nintendo.

Sony and Microsoft have their share of budget titles. State of Decay was only like €30. SOTC, Ratchet & Clank, Gravity Rush Remastered, Tearaway Unfolded, Wipeout Collection, etc. all were €40. Link's Awakening feels like a €40 game too IMO.

@mookysam I'd say Nintendo know exactly what they are doing with their pricing to be honest. The games are expensive, they are rarely if ever discounted but regularly hang around in the charts.

@mookysam 540p in handheld mode for The Witcher 3, apparently. Not fantastic, but not the end of the world, and, if the framerate is reasonably stable, it's a massive accomplishment.

I don't care too much about tech downgrades in Switch versions of games as long as it doesn't harm the gameplay. I only get irritated with lesser performance on my stationary systems, as they're not offering me anything in exchange for the lessened performance. TW3 on PS4, for example, only runs at 30fps at best, versus 60fps on a decent mid-range rig. Unlike the Switch, which offers full portability, this would be a much bigger deal to me on PS4.

I have my limits, of course. Any game that consistently goes well under 30fps isn't good for me. Also, the occasional game, like Xenoblade 2, is optimized incredibly poorly for handheld play.

Otherwise, it's not a big deal. Portability is so inherently valuable to me that, more often than not, not only will I opt for the Switch version over a PS4/PC version, but I'm willing to pay more as well. Like $60 for TW3 on Switch versus $15 on PS4/PC.

I did go with the PC version of DOOM, though. The framerate is actually really important to me with that game, and the real clincher was that gyro aiming with the DS4 on Steam can be customized to be more responsive than the gyro in the Switch version!

Oh wow, that Yunalesca fight absolutely sucks (Final Fantasy X).

I actually cruised through the first two phases without much trouble, but with their first move of the third phase they launched a spell that took out my entire party in one hit (and this was even with Yuna under the effect of Lulu's Focus, and her own Shell spell). I had managed to refrain from using anyone's overdrives, so I was planning on absolutely crushing the boss my next turn...

I'm trying to decide between celeste and cuphead in the Nintendo sale, any recommendations for either from folks who have played both? Both look great and I think I'll get them both at some stage but only have money for one at the moment.

@R1spam Obviously they're both amazing games, but I would easily recommend Celeste over Cuphead. Celeste has a beautiful blend of gameplay, music and one of the most affecting video games stories I've played, which is shocking considering it's simple art style and short length. Cuphead is a ton of fun and the bosses show a huge amount of creativity, but overall it just hasn't had the same lasting impact as Celeste. Both are very difficult and have the same "just one more go" mentality, and both are top class indie games, but the difference between Cuphead and Celeste for me is the difference between a 9/10 game and a 10/10 game

@R1spam Haven't played Celeste, but if you dig unique art-styles or like classic Run'n'Gun-style gameplay, Cuphead will become one of your all-time favorite games. It's simply a masterpiece of that style of game design. The aesthetics, controls, bosses, music; everything is creative, polished, and superb.

@BranJ0 @Ralizah thanks for the replies!! I think I'm going to go with celeste just now and then cuphead later (hopefully Nintendo does a black Friday sale). I'm really drawn to the hand drawn animation of cuphead but I'm a sucker for story!!
P.S. Ralizah it's cool you got the gyroscope working for ds4 on PC, it's a feature I love on the switch and I'm hoping an option for ps5. Though Liam did an article on it a while back and I think I'm in the minority!

@R1spam Yeah, the PS community worships at the altar of pure dual analog, unfortunately. The combo of twin stick and customizable gyro really is brilliant for shootie games, though. I set it up on Resident Evil 2 to activate whenever I squeeze the aim button, for example, so getting precision head shots is a breeze.

I got some eShop vouchers for fathers day so now have Cadence of Hyrule, The Messenger and My Friend Pedro (preloaded for Thurs) stacked up and ready to go. Of course, with my current backlog, I will get to these in a few months.

I did manage to finish the rather short (but fun) Ape Out at the weekend which I highly recommend. So probably my two fave games of this year are Devolver digital titles. Will see if My Friend Pedro makes the grade too.

@Rudy_Manchego Ooooh let us know what you think of The Messenger, I've had my eye on it for ages now.

@JohnnyShoulder Will do but prob won’t get to it for ages. I have heard great things though.