Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

New tracks in MK8D are great. As I generally like the more urban set courses like "Toad's Turnpike", the real world inspired courses like "Paris Promenade" & "Tokyo Blur" endeared themselves to me pretty quickly (and they're made much more interesting due to the alternate routes). "Ninja Hideaway" has a ton going on & is great itself though.

Graphically I think they look fine. They've definitely gone with a bit of a simpler style than the base game, but as someone who has had played Tour a few months, I think the lighting and added textures make them fit here just fine. I even jumped between core game tracks & the new DLC tracks from time to time, and the difference (while there) wasn't enough to feel jarring to me. I think "Shroom Ridge" was probably the most noticable in this regard, but once I got racing it wasn't a big deal.

@HallowMoonshadow Pokemon Legends Arceus is much like a racing game, or sports game, or even some shooters or RPGs.

More fun to play than watch.

@HallowMoonshadow That's the primary reason why I didn't buy Arceus. I've played so many Pokémon games (including Shining Pearl which came out three months before Arceus) and I'm just so tired of catching Pokémon and filling your Pokédex, which is the main objective of Arceus. Not to mention you have to catch a certain amount of Pokémon, catch them without being detected and all these boring objectives. It's simply not for me. The upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet look much more interesting to me as it's an open world with the mainline games' formula of going to cities, battling trainers, gym leaders and so on.

But yeah, ironically, the one part of Pokémon games that I'm absolutely fed up with is the process of catching Pokémon. It's just not fun catching the same ones over and over in every game. Battling is fun though, I just don't want to catch many Pokémon. I've even stopped catching legendaries because what's the point. I'm never going to use them in my team and there's no reason to show them off to others as everyone will catch them.

@HallowMoonshadow Considering how bloated the series has become over the years, I think the choice to streamline the pokemon experience and refocus it on the pokemon themselves was brilliant. The moment-to-moment of it is extremely fun, and the reason it works so well is because the traversal and catching mechanics are smooth and intuitive. Also, filling in the pokedex by catching and using pokemon actually incentivizes the player to swap out pokemon constantly, catch multiples of the same type of pokemon, etc. That sort of incentive is what was missing for me in previous games. It also helps that this is the easiest it has ever been to fill in the pokedex, since trading isn't strictly necessary to do so.

Not to mention convenience/qol changes that are all over the place. If I want to rename my pokemon, I can just rename it. I don't have to go to a sage deep in the mountains who specializes in renaming pokemon. I can actually customize my pokemon's move loadout instead of needing to permanently sacrifice moves. And so on.

The game itself isn't a technical showpiece, but the low-res textures work with the art-style, and the game runs well on the hardware, which wasn't the case with SuMo or SwSh. The pop in can be a bit much at times, but, again, it's an improvement from SwSh, despite the much denser and more detailed open environments.

Of course, it doesn't make for interesting watching, but neither do other gameplay-driven products with a streamlined approach to game design. It's the sort of game you need to actually play to enjoy.

Not a GOTY contender, but, for me, the best the series has been in a good decade or so.

@Ralizah I agree. For me, it’s the best the series has been since Black 2/White 2. It actually has a focus and executed that relatively well.

It appears the Nintendo Switch OS is finally stable enough to support folders. Rejoice!

Checked out the update yesterday and I'm honestly not finding the folders to be as useful as I want them to be. The fact that you have to go to your library of games in order to access the "Groups" is cumbersome. On PS4 e.g., you have the folders in the main menu, so they're easy to access. But having to scroll to the library, choose Groups and then choose the Group you want is not the most optimal approach. At that point I might as well just scroll through my games in my library!

But we'll see, maybe I'll find it more useful down the line. At least it's better than nothing. Can we also please get more themes now Nintendo?

@LtSarge When on the Home Screen, press left once. Suddenly you'll be at All Software. No scrolling required.

Granted, this is a nice feature that actually isnt that important, just like PS4 Folders that took...6? years or so. At least we have expandable storage out of the gate on this one, and its not proprietary (Looking at you Xbox).

Oh, speaking of updates, this also adjusted how the Bluetooth audio works on the system, which reminds me that when the Switch came out everyone complained it didnt have Bluetooth audio, so, myself being an idiot assumed this was a normal expected thing on a console (Given everything everyone else moaned about was also "Standard") and to my surprise....its actually not.

The nice thing about this take on folders is that games can be included in multiple categories at once. Makes it super simple to track down games you want if you organize properly.

My Switch is too far gone for folders, at least I thought so. Managed to get it organised so at least every game is in a folder now.

If I can be bothered or if I get time I might make it so the same game is in multiple folders.

Would be good to be able to click on a game and see what folder(s) it is currently in. Or just to click on it and have the option of "Add to folder".

The system they've implemented is just a bit cumbersome, not very user friendly and needs a bit of work/extra features.

Finally tore myself away from Mario Kart 8 long enough to play Triangle Strategy, and I'm really happy with it so far. It remains to be seen how meaningful the focus on weighty moral choices and ideological alignments is, but the game absolutely nails the drama of it all. Something about dense, serious storytelling works really well with the PS1 stylings of these HD-2D games (which is why it was such a shame that Octopath completely whiffed the chance to combine the character stories in meaningful ways). This is a Suikoden/Final Fantasy Tactics-tier old-school JRPG in 2022. At least, it will be if it continues along like it has.

Music is fantastic, too. Like, this is just the theme that plays when you're setting up your units and preparing for a battle:

I've heard people complain about the storytelling-to-gameplay ratio, but it's really not bad. Beginning is a little talky, but there's a lot of worldbuilding and character relationships to set up, so that when events really start popping off, you can appreciate the full gravity of what's happening.

Some comparison shots of Tour & MK8D. Keep in mind the track variant I was playing in Tour was reversed, so while the shots show the same areas, they're from different directions.

Sky Garden (Tour)

Sky Garden (MK8D)

I finally setup my Switch again after letting it collect dust for a long time.

Playing Super Mario Odyssey right now, and will eventually fire up Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

I've only played through the first 2 worlds so far, but Kirby is an absolute delight.

It's a triumph aesthetically, with the standard elemental world themes elevated by the ruined civilization aesthetic (which reminds me of the mechanized transformation they were infused with in Planet Robobot) & each level feels unique even within a world (within the just the first world you'll traverse the streets of a city overgrown with foliage, travel through a dilapidated tunnel, & explore an abandoned mall).

Otherwise it's just fun to play with the traditional Kirby gameplay translating brilliantly to 3D (the first proper 3D game in the series), and I'd like to give a shout out to the bosses which feel much more like something in a character action game like Astral Chain or Ninja Gaiden (though naturally not in the same realm difficulty wise), with the game encouraging you to dodge attacks at the last second to enable a "bullet time" style slowdown with which you can bring down the pain. When it's all said & done I wouldn't be surprised if it has my favorite set of boss fights in a first party Switch game (outside of maybe Metroid Dread).

Zelda was delayed to Spring 2023. Sad, but there's plenty of stuff to play this year on the system as is, and the new window is a little more believable now that they've attached a season to it.

I wonder if it'll launch alongside a new model?

@Ralizah That seems likely actually considering the first BotW was delayed in order to coincide with the release of Switch. Perhaps BotW 2 is done now but they're spending the coming year porting it to Switch 2.

@LtSarge MAYBE the mythical Switch Pro everyone was so concerned about, but I'm more inclined to think it'll be one last revision of the current line before they reveal the successor next year.

Maybe a special edition BotW 2-themed OLED model. I'd probably give in to temptation if that's what we ended up with.

I think they played Elden Ring and got some ideas.

I heard about Zelda BOTW 2's delay, hopefully the game will just be less buggy and more fleshed out.

A tad disappointing that Zelda was delayed, though as Xenoblade 3 will likely take me a few months to complete I'm not particularly worried.