Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

@Ralizah In Elden Ring, the grass actually takes a visible couple of seconds to appear on PS5 😂

Played through two levels in the new Kirby demo on Switch and so far the game seems great! It's basically Super Mario 3D World but Kirby and it feels refreshing. The controls have translated well from the 2D games and I love the amount of variety. Definitely looking forward to playing the full release.

Anyone who knows the plot of the first game will understand why it was delayed, but still, this sucks.

Hope the delay isn't too significant, considering this was already delayed a half-year from its original release window.

@Ralizah Yeah, it’s a shame but I’ve played the original, I absolutely understand why they’ve done it. Think the series is cursed though, the original came out September 10th 2001 😬

@nessisonett Considering the plot, the timing really couldn't have been worse.

I guess this is extra incentive to really dig into Triangle Strategy. Assuming I don't pump another 50 hours into Elden Ring, that is.

EDIT: BTW, at least one of those Square-Enix RPGs in the SoP have been confirmed for Switch (the SRPG with the weird name), so you definitely weren't off about them not looking like PS5 releases!

@Ralizah My comment about them looking like Switch games wasn’t a slight on their graphics, more just that Squeenix’s B tier games have found a home on Switch!

Started playing Mario + Rabbids today as I've been having trouble finding games to stick with but M+R has been really compelling for me since I've been craving more tactical games to play. This is my third attempt trying to play through this game and I think this will be the one where I manage to finish it, for two reasons. One, I have a different approach to this game now compared to before. After having played Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones last year, I've started playing tactical games more cautiously and I've already noticed how more satisfying the battles are for me now. Two, I've been simply craving a single-player experience on Switch for a long time now. Most of the games I have are JRPGs and so I haven't played anything worthwhile on my Switch for quite some time since I need variety. So hopefully these reasons will keep me motivated enough to get through Mario + Rabbids since I'm enjoying it a lot right now.

I'm genuinely shocked that Hogwarts Legacy is apparently releasing on the Switch. Can't wait to see what that version looks like.

Played the new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC today as a friend of mine bought it and you can experience the courses for free if at least one of your friends own them. Overall, I absolutely love the new courses! The ones from Mario Kart Tour are new for me since I never played that game and they're so refreshing! They genuinely feel like brand new courses. The returning ones are great as well, my favourites are Choco Mountain, Coconut Mall and Sky Garden. Choco Mountain in particular has seen a major overhaul and I'm all for it, the environment feels much more varied now.

I just can't express enough how happy I am that MK8D is finally getting new content. As a person who's been playing MK8 regularly since the Wii U release in 2014 (i.e. for 8 years!), it's so nice to be playing new courses. Very happy with the first wave and I'm looking forward to the next ones!

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.

I know I obviously haven't played it when I say this (which could very well completely transform the entire experience) but I've watched 4 different streams in regard to Pokémon: Legends Arceus ... I do not get the hype/love for this title at all.

It's just... so uninteresting to me. Catching Pokémon over and over again just bored me to tears. The battling seems like a bit of an afterthought as well from the look of it if I'm being honest. The battles against the enraged boss pokémon (Like the new Scyther evo... Kleavor?) look especially dull.

... In fact I even fell asleep watching one of them which is pretty bad as I typically never fall asleep whilst watching something 😂

Plus it does look rather horrible for the textures. The models look nice enough for humans and Pokémon... But that's about it.

I'm definitely not all about 'dem graphics as I played through Digimon World: Next Order whilst I was away (and that's primarily a Vita game) but it doesn't look anywhere near as bad on that front!

@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.