Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

@Ralizah I genuinely doubt that there's no level scaling in Scarlet/Violet considering how much they emphasised being able to go anywhere and tackle gyms in any order. Game Freak would receive so much backlash from the fans if that turned out to be true though as that would render the freedom aspect of the game pointless.

@KilloWertz I think that while some comparisons could be made between God of War and The Last of Us, I don't feel like God of War 2018 was put in some kind of mold. Quite the opposite to me actually. If anything I'd say that the original God of War trilogy has been very influential in shaping PlayStation Studios than the other way around.

Also, I love Atreus.

@Ralizah I completely agree that it's unfortunate that Sony doesn't take an approach more similar to current Nintendo. Their game output is fine, but they seem to be very fragile, in trying to remain center of attention. And it's weird, because current Nintendo is acting like Sony ten years ago and vice versa.

@Kidfried The original trilogy was, but the 2018 game is much more like the rest of Sony's games nowadays than the previous God of War games. I know series evolve sometimes, but it was more disappointing for me to see a series I thought was fantastic be turned into yet another game in their current mold. It is what it is, and obviously I'm in the extreme minority as that is many people's favorite PS4 game. Also, I can't fault Santa Monica's effort from a technical perspective, as I would say that and The Last of Us Part II were probably the two most impressive games technically of the previous generation.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but good for you. My opinion could never change on Atreus in the first game. I do expect him to be just fine in Ragnarok though now that he's grown up some.

... I accidentally closed the page and lost everything so I've had to write this damn post twice 😅

Huh. I don't know what to make of that line-up of characters to be honest. I can see why some might be annoyed as it seems like quite the jump in tone (Though I admitedly don't know what the cast of characters is like in the first or third).

It probably doesn't help having a gatcha mechanic for party members for no good reason either.

Ahhh ok then. Good to know. Sounds a bit like an MMO or what the "turn" based mode in FF VII "Remake" is supposed to be like (At the fundamental level at least).

I wish JRPG's did this kinda practice more often. I kinda hate DLC to be honest as they're often super short experiences lacking in meaningful content and not really worth the effort of going through them...

Oh! I didn't realise from the previous post that you were booted back to human form after staying in Ouro form too much. Makes sense. Should've realised that. But thanks for extended explanation!

It is a better way to do a transform/switching mechanic... But I wouldn't change DDS either

I liked Counterattack quite a bit but Engage The Enemy was pretty good too.

They didn't really come off as cutscene tracks to me though. Like The Weight Of Life I still say they sound more like battle tracks! Like a more personal boss battle or something for sure... Probably would help seeing one of cutscenes in question where these play to get better context but as someone just listening I doesn't seem like it should go where you say they play. They seem a bit too lively ya know?

@Kidfried Fanbases evolve over time to match the attitude of the manufacturer, and that in turn causes the manufacturer to double-down on their approach. Sony's internal fixation on AAA prestige blockbusters has cultivated a fanbase full of people who only want to play "big" games, which has caused sales of indie and AA releases to suffer as a result. This, in turn, is pushing Sony to double-down on a smaller number of first-party releases that'll net them higher metacritic scores, which means less genre diversity in terms of their offerings (especially considering games belonging to niche genres will generally suffer more critically).

Nintendo has become a company that heavily pushes and publishes a larger variety of small and mid-tier games that don't tend to score as highly, and you also see that with much healthier sales for pretty much everything in that range. A number of games that would probably struggle to sell a few hundred thousand units on PS5 are cracking the million copies sold threshold on Switch, and, in general, it's the healthiest console space for smaller developers. On the other hand, AAA ports tend to not do amazingly well on the platform, which is why I think, regardless of how powerful their next console is, you won't see some massive influx of third-party AAA multiplat support.

I haven't heard much of anything good about game sales on Xbox outside of Game Pass, which is what happens when your brand becomes synonymous with a game subscription service, I imagine.

@KilloWertz So, the prepubescent child was annoying in God of War, but you reckon he'll become LESS annoying and hard to be around when he's subjected to a surge of hormones as Ragnarok is taking place?

That's a mighty optimistic outlook you have there. I like the cut of your jib!

Played through wave 2 of the Mario Kart 8 DLC and it's easily the best pack so far! I like pretty much all courses.

• New York Minute was a cozy stage.
• Mario Circuit 3 may feel pretty lackluster to most people but I remember it from Mario Kart Wii I believe and I have fond memories of it from that game, so I liked it.
• I was expecting Kalimari Desert to be just like it was before, i.e. just driving around three times but they actually changed the course so you drive on the rails and through the tunnel in the second lap, which is freaking cool! That definitely made the course much more interesting.
• Waluigi Pinball looks so much more vibrant and colorful now compared to before. And obviously, it's a favourite among Mario Kart fans for a reason. It's such a good course.
• Sydney Sprint, holy crap I did not expect to like this course as much as I did! The course itself is really good with a cozy tropical theme and lots of places to race through, but what made me fall in love with it was the music:
  Such an awesome track! I genuinely can't stop listening to it.
• Snow Land, I wasn't expecting much from this course since it's a GBA one but they did a good job remaking it. It feels like a brand new stage in all honesty. And the music is great as well:

• Mushroom Gorge, another one from Wii that I absolutely love. Although I felt like it was kinda hard making the jumps on the mushrooms in this version. But maybe I'm just rusty. Still a great track.
• Finally we have the new course Sky-High Sundae. It looks nice with the ice cream theme but the track design isn't that interesting as it's just one big oval. Still liked it overall due to its simplicity.

So all in all, I absolutely love wave 2 of the Mario Kart 8 DLC. I doubt any of the later packs will be able to top this one.

@Ralizah Well, him and Kratos finally seemed to be on the same page by the end of the first game, so he's probably gotten the annoying stuff about gods out of his system now. Plus, he may be a bit more mature now given the fact that he's older (how much older, I don't know). Regardless, he can't be any more annoying than he was in the first one for me anyways.

@LtSarge What is your friend code? I may not be playing anything online for quite some time since I've only been an owner of a Switch for a week now, but still looking to add some people here and there. I will probably get Mario Kart at some point.

Agreed. These are pretty solid. I still wish they would have done a better job with the textures- they just don’t pop like they did on the Mk8/MK8D courses….

@HallowMoonshadow It's a definite shift in tone. The first and third games are more straightforwardly serious most of the time, and what comedy there is tends to be sporadic, versus the semi-frequent light-hearted detours through XC2's first half.

Yeah, people have frequently used the term "offline MMO" to describe the series for a number of reasons. The Wii U open world spinoff, Xenoblade Chronicles X, actually went so far in that direction that you could play with others online when clearing certain side missions. The entire game felt very PSO-ish to me. The mainline games, to be clear, are 100% single player affairs, though.

I rarely bother with DLC, but a few high-profile Switch exclusives have enjoyed substantial DLC expansions this gen. Another favorite was Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion, which provided access to a lengthy and difficult second single-player campaign designed for people who mastered the base game. I've not bothered with DLC that just adds stuff to the game I already played, though, because once I'm done with a game, I'm done.

In fairness to you, the cutscenes those tracks play in usually feature someone fighting and/or dying, so you're half right.

Here's some context.

(wanted to just link the short first cutscene in the second video, but I can't find a separate one to link that doesn't feature a major early game spoiler in the title)

@KilloWertz I've added you, I have the same username as on PSN.

Didn't see that you've gotten a Switch. Hope you'll enjoy it!

@rockodoodle Yeah that's a shame. But still, I like the fact that the game is receiving so much DLC considering the original game came out almost ten years ago now. As a person who's been actively playing it since 2014, I'm just happy that I get to experience new courses at all. And a lot of these are some of my old favourites, which is great!

Whenever I meet a kid I think they're annoying, but given enough time I always find they're not the worst. Atreus was the same for me, making him very true to life for me. 😅

Also, I bought Monster Hunter Rise yesterday. It's my very first Monster Hunter game. The game's theme (hunting) always opposed me, and still does. But on the other hand I was really interested in the game's mechanics.

So I just started the game, and spent yesterday evening with the character creator and trying weapons. I decided that I needed a good night sleep before settling upon a weapon. Any of you have any favs?

Also, I'm playing Card Shark on the Switch. It's a novel concept, but it's nothing GOTY-contending yet. I'm probably past the halfway point now, and the plot has picked up a pit, so hopefully they keep that going!

@LtSarge I understand that it was and still is making a ton of money. It has been a leading seller weekly, which is remarkable. I think the tracks are pretty cool, but like you, I have been playing since 2014. It really needs a refresh. Talk about stretching it out. They are even stretching out the release of this DLC for nearly two years! I don’t know if I can say I like the direction the series is going. Hopefully the next entry brings in a lot of the cool customization like in tour and incorporates other series….

@LtSarge Alright, cool. I'll add you as well whenever I'm on later.

I'm enjoying it so far. My first game is Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. While it took a day or two to adjust to the downgrade in graphics from playing on the PS5 so much, I've enjoyed the game overall. The story has definitely been a highlight. I know, while they did a solid job of upgrading everything, it is not the best representation of the Switch graphically either since it's a remaster of a 12 year old game.

I've been wanting to play it for years but kept holding off on buying a Switch because I felt it would be daunting to jump into Nintendo now since I haven't played anything from them since the NES. There's a lot to play, but now I'm actually excited to finally try Zelda, Metroid, play the latest Super Mario game, etc.

@Kidfried I'm currently playing through the Sunbreak expansion, and loving it! MHRise was my first entry to the series, and honestly I found it quite overwhelming at first - with a ton of mechanics and systems to learn.

The best advice I could give would be to try out a few weapons you like the look of and then try and just stick to one, learning it the best you can. Watch some beginner YT videos etc, which tend to be really helpful.

Good beginner weapons are probably dual blades, sword&shield, longsword, greatsword, hammer. (S&S I hear it quite easy to pick up).

Are you playing online at all? I'm more than happy to jump in a few hunts mate, add me - my switch ID is SW-6657-2171-6029

@Kidfried I was a Hunting Horn main during the main game, but, with Sunbreak, have expanded out to both Longsword and the Switch Axe.

The Hunting Horn used to be an incredibly technical weapon that wasn't ideal for single-player hunts, but they massively refined it with this entry, making it much easier to use. I'd absolutely recommend it, although you should probably test out all of the weapons first to see what fits with your immediate playstyle. You can always expand out in the future.

I also recommend checking out weapon tutorials online from youtubers like Arekkz Gaming and gaijin hunter.

Monster Hunter is an incredible franchise. With that said, if it's your first one, even this super approachable entry can be daunting, so don't neglect to ask questions if you have them.

btw, don't forget to eat dango before you hunt. Every. Single. Time. It provides boosts to defense and stamina that you'll want, and you'll be able to stack spiribird buffs on top of those.

@Ralizah Switch Axe and Hammer are the only weapons I’ve used since the 3DS days! Still need to unwrap Rise from the clingfilm but I’ve been binging the old Pokémon games on Vita and I’m engrossed in Emerald. Although I’m not really playing much on PS5 so maybe I’ll actually play the Switch on the TV for once!

@nessisonett I used Longsword and hammer in the 3DS games, but plan on eventually mastering all of the weapons in Sunbreak over time. I'll be giving myself more time to learn the Switch Axe for the moment, though.

New HH feels like a hammer that buffs you, so the hammer is low on my priority list with Rise.