Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

Please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't "high-end console market" (ignoring Nintendo resulting in just Xbox and Playstation) a construct created by Sony to avoid arguments about how Switch is the 3rd best selling console of all time (only PS2 and DS are higher) despite not having a single CoD game?

Then regulators agreed to using that approach.

@Grumblevolcano I guess? I can't remember if Sony pulled the card first or not.

And then Xbox played them at their own game and said "Well by that logic you have 98% of Japan" and now they can't really argue it.

Honestly the whole thing has just been one big game of chess and it's almost as telling of Sony than the Epic V Apple case. Almost.

@RogerRoger The 3DS was white successful I thought.
For me personally, it was a game changer for what it was. And I’d argue it falls under the VR umbrella now with pure 3D. Same with the Wii’s motion stuff. Really, a lot of “stupid” gimmicks are now beloved by anyone who enjoys VR and had their start elsewhere.

But for me what really made the 3D special on the 3DS, was the way it drew my eyes in. It focused me in so the small screen didn’t matter. It didn’t feel small because of the 3D. I think people really underestimated the 3D on it and how cool it was.

@Grumblevolcano I mean, to be fair, it’s been a separate category for a long time now, and isn’t super relevant for the CoD discussion. The landscape is very different, and MS’s is using monopoly tactics that affect Sony completely differently than Nintendo.

The high end console phrase was most likely cooked up by some suits to try and conveniently over look Nintendo when bringing up CoD, as when some governing bodies passed the deal they pointed out that Nintendo have managed OK without it for the Switch so far.

Totally agree with this. Playing Ocarina of Time on the original 3DS was definitely one of the best 3D experiences I've ever had!

So, yeah, this was the trailer I wanted all along.

Absolutely looks like a proper sequel.

Can't wait!

Glad it’s won over some of the doubters, it’s looking awesome. To be fair I wasn’t too excited a few weeks ago, I knew it would be good but I just wasn’t feeling the commitment. But now I am all aboard, choochoo.

It's nice to see that enormous, terrifying bosses are back. Including Gleeok, who hasn't starred in a console entry since the NES original.

A weirdly large emphasis is being paid to battle companions as well. Some returning icons from BotW, but also some just... ordinary people? Makes me wonder if they're just around for setpiece battles, or if there's some sort of fleshed out system behind this.

There's a lot of non-field environments being shown off, which initially makes one think of dungeons, but looking at the footage, they could also hint at an explorable underground realm of some sort. Which would be interesting, since the game would then feature three open world layers: the sky world, the surface, and the underground.

Actually, while people have noted this looks almost identical to BotW visually (because it does), the scope of the world is becoming increasingly impressive. This might end up being one of the densest games ever made. And it's running on piddly 2017 tablet tech.

Also, the vehicles they showcase seem to get more outlandish with every trailer. Presumably, like every other vehicle in the game, you can fuse it yourself, which makes me wonder what the limit is on how crazy the player can get with their designs. Presumably there's some sort of hard cap on the number of items you can attach.

This game looks bananas. At this point, the only announced title that seems like it could rival it in 2023 is Starfield, and my faith in Bethesda is on the low side after Fallout 4. Although I'd love for Microsoft to get at least one W this year.

@Ralizah I may never play this as I never finished Breath of the Wild, but one of my main complaints about that was how empty the world always felt. If there really is a big emphasis on what you said in your second spoiler, then that would hopefully go a long way into remedying that problem and you wouldn't feel so alone out there most of the time.

Like I said, the first one never clicked for me, but I will admit that was a really good final trailer. If I was a fan, that would have upped my anticipation for the game.

@KilloWertz I'm guessing the bulk of the game is still solitary exploration/puzzle-solving/etc., but it'd be cool to go into battles against encampments with some homies I made friends with. Of course, it's heavily possible that battle partners will be confined to battlefield setpieces.

NPC density will probably still be light overall compared to something like Skyrim, HZD, etc., though. Despite misconceptions, BotW was always more akin to something like Minecraft than it was open-world RPGs like The Witcher and Fallout, and it feels like they're doubling down on that aspect of the experience.

For me, it helped that the NPCs I met were generally likeable or funny. Souls games always felt sort of empty and isolating to me, since the few people you met generally liked to babble cryptic nonsense (although Elden Ring improves on this aspect a bit). Same issue with SMT: Nocturne, where everyone you met was either a demon or becoming increasingly insane over the course of the game.

@Ralizah True since the Switch wouldn't be able to handle the load of a lot of NPCs. I'm not overly worried about it since I won't be playing Tears of the Kingdom of course.

Since I only played a small portion of Breath of the Wild, I can't comment too much on the actual NPCs, but the old guy in the beginning was good. That was all I ran into though. I will never play a Souls game as I don't find that genre to be fun at all, and I got that impression too from what I've seen of some of the games.

@KilloWertz You run into a lot of weirdos across Hyrule. Some of the NPCs have extensive side content associated with them, actually, but even the one-note characters you stumble across can be pretty memorable, like the crazy lady who beats you up if you keep stepping on her flowers (which are unhelpfully planted around a shrine, as I recall).

It's funny, because despite the game's wildly gameplay-centric focus, I remember WAY more of the characters than I do from most other open world titles. Only The Witcher 3 beats it out in that regard, because, obviously, that game made a point of having an incredibly well-developed cast.

I read elsewhere someone speculating that it is both Tears in terms of crying and a rip. At the end of the game a multiverse tears open and all the other Links from previous games show up.

I did groan when I saw that. But it would be a baller move by Nintendo but very unlike them.

@Kidfried Yeah, so much of the countryside is devoid of human life in BotW due to the apocalyptic circumstances of the game world that it's fun when you meet a real character. That human element is important and helped me to maintain a sense of connectedness to the world and what my character was fighting for. Although I tend to like the cast even in comparison to other Zelda games. It's an underrated but important element of the series, and is also one reason why I like Majora's Mask so much in comparison to Ocarina of Time.

Although it obviously loses out to a bunch of RPGs. Honestly, I wouldn't trade the extended cast of just Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for the entire multiverse of Zelda characters. Even Dragon Quest XI beats it to a pulp in that regard. And certainly Final Fantasy VII.

I've played the majority of modern open-world AAA titles, but will freely admit RDR2 shamefully passed me by at the time, and I just never seem to find the motivation to grab it. I really need to change that.

@JohnnyShoulder Oh sweet jesus, that would be awful. My tolerance for multiversal hijinks is at its limits. I think Zelda: No Way Home might actually kill me.

@JohnnyShoulder Please anything but that 😂

I hate the fact there are some developers still treat Nintendo Switch like a trash by releasing their games in code in box / streaming only / partial download for Switch version but full game in disc for PlayStation and XBOX version.
If they don't want the Switch version then don't release their games on Switch with code in box or streaming only or partial download.
That's a direct insult toward gamers.

@Anti-Matter Blame Nintendo for their expensive cartridges. Third-party developers shouldn't be expected to pick up the slack on costs associated with the storage format.

@Ralizah Honestly though, they can't be that much that it would literally kill their profits of the games. That's basically the publisher literally smacking fans in the face presenting a digital code as a physical copy, especially when you may not know it ahead of time. If that's the case, then just release it digitally and it would be less of an issue.

Nintendo's greed seems to be at an all time high though with the Switch's success though unfortunately.

I will say one thing though, @Anti-Matter, Xbox wasn't the best example. So many of their physical copies are basically coasters that include a small fraction of a game even when it's a small game that could easily fit on a Blu-ray. That and Microsoft's refusal to use UHD discs like Sony has done with the PS5 make owning physical copes on the Series X a complete waste far too often.

@KilloWertz I'm pretty sure games have large messages on the box when partial or complete downloads are required, so it's not really a matter of tricking consumers. They just don't want to shave their profit margins to accommodate a (vocal) minority of consumers.

shrug

Most of the time, there's a small cartridge with some data on it, which should at least preserve the resell value of the game, since the license is still tied to the cartridge.

It's not really an issue I run into very often, since Nintendo and several Japanese third-parties typically ship their games with extremely up to date builds (the exception being live servicey stuff like Splatoon). Aside from Capcom, the primary offenders are Western publishers, and Western AAA multiplats typically aren't attractive purchases on the system anyway.