Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

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.

I was always expecting Zelda to drop back into next year so I'm fine with it. I am giving very series consideration to ordering Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. I know my backlog is like.... but you know... I just want it.

@johncalmc I'd wait until the next $40-$45 sale that includes Bowser's Fury.

@Bentleyma Same here! Having alot of fun, just beat King Dedede for the first time.

Looks like I'll be balancing Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Kirby, and Triangle Strategy for the foreseeable future (assuming I play TS more than once, which seems highly likely at this point).

@johncalmc The SM3DW port is terrific. Best thing about it is the speed boost characters enjoy compared to the slightly sluggish Wii U original.

"HAL" room anyone? (Kirby Easter Egg spoiler)

@RR529 I just completed that level recently, it was a very cool easter egg they included!

Especially since they don't tell you in-game that it's reachable.

@KidBoruto, yeah, nearly every main Kirby game has a hidden "HAL" room (I think either Robobot or Star Allies had 2).

Another HAL room (& a clue how to find it).

I finally beat the main story for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, focusing now on all the post-game content that has become available.

Btw, here's a video that shows the 3 secret HAL rooms and 3 other hard to find areas.

@KidBoruto, I discovered three of those on my own, and was apparently close to a 4th (I can't believe I didn't notice that window was open).

Anyhow, I completed the post game world, with the final arena cup being the last major milestone left (though with how tough some of the post game world bosses were I'm not going to push myself to do so. I'll certainly give it a try, but I'll probably move on if I can't do it after a few tries).

You gonna go back and find the other secret areas? That's my next goal when I resume playing.

Yeah that final world cup looks tough as heck, will probably need to max out all your copy abilities to full power first.

That's what I plan on doing before I tackle the post-game worlds.