Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

@KilloWertz

lmao

Yeah, musou gameplay can take a while to get used to. In general, the smaller enemies are there to kill in large numbers so you can build up special attacks and whatnot to use against more powerful enemies. I forget how AoC plays it, but these games typically also heavily emphasize area control elements. Three Hopes actually lets you command other units on the field, so you're given a lot of control over how to approach a sprawling battlefield.

The thing is that what counts as a spoiler is different from person to person, so companies tend to include stuff in their advertising if they think it'll sell the game.

Although they're generally a little more conscientious than they used to be. Did you ever see the commercials for FF7 from the 90s? One of them blatantly spoils the game's most shocking moment.

@Ralizah "A story of a love THAT CAN NEVER BE"....

Oh wow, that really is serious spoiler territory!

@CJD87 As Cloud is holding her lifeless body, no less. I think even showing Sephi sticking her with the sword would be less spoilery.

@Ralizah Agreed, showing the stabbing would at least provide some ambiguity as to whether or not she survives. (vs. showing footage of Cloud essentially holding her corpse)

I've done well so far to avoid any spoilers for XC3, albeit I understand something massive and game-changing occurs in chapter 5! Luckily I have zero idea what this might be. Looking to pick up XC3 this weekend, but wanting to find a good deal on £££ if possible.

@Ralizah Yeah, I'm not sure if that was my first experience with the genre or not, unless games like Ninety-Nine Nights back on the Xbox 360 qualify. Three Hopes sounds a bit more grounded then in a sense.

I never did see that. Technically at the time, people wouldn't have known how integral Aerith was to the story, but that's still quite awful. I know what they were going for, but they could have still accomplished the same thing without throwing that in there. That is as bad as some of these small movie studios spoiling the ending to their movies in the trailer for no reason. I really hope they don't kill her off in the "remake".

@CJD87 Ch. 5 of XC3 is probably my favorite stretch of story, gameplay, and music in the entire series. That's all I'll say. Run away screaming from anyone who tries to spoil it for you.

@KilloWertz There's some level of default goofiness you have to accept from musou titles in general. The whole 'devastating hordes of ragdoll enemies with powerful combos' thing is pretty much a defining trait of the series, although given Nintendo's open embrace of more cartoonish aesthetics for some of their properties, it's possible that element is even more pronounced in their Nintendo crossover titles.

But Fire Emblem's fantasy settings are more grounded in the muck of earthly human existence in general than the wistful high fantasy of your average Zelda game, and I'm sure that extends to these titles as well.

@Ralizah If I end up loving Breath of the Wild (and possibly Three Hopes if I get to that before AoC), then I'll go back to the demo for AoC and give it a proper trial to see if I'll like the genre better. Honestly, other than a small first impression, I don't think 15 minutes or so can really be enough time to get a proper impression.

You haven't played Three Hopes? I would have assumed you did, but your last sentence makes it seem like you haven't. I will be fine with the fantasy setting of Zelda games, but it did take me a bit off guard with AoC since I went in expecting something more along the lines of games like that Ninety-Nine Nights games I mentioned. Oops.

@KilloWertz Warriors games are... odd, and require a bit of an adjustment period, IMO. They're utterly unique, and essentially their own genre, sort of like how Dark Souls effectively created its own action-rpg subgenre.

Never played Ninety-Nine Nights, but looking at some footage, I can see why you made the association. Both seem to heavily involve slaughtering gobs of enemies on the field.

I'll get to it eventually (Three Hopes). The demo was long enough to give me a good idea of how it plays, though. These Switch exclusives I want to play are coming out faster than I'm able to process them.

@Ralizah Yeah, I'll probably get a handle on them eventually. Like I said, I plan on giving AoC's demo a better chance at some point. I never played a Dynasty Warriors game on PlayStation either.

That's fair. They are coming out fast, and obviously some of them can be consuming obviously. That little game called Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for one.

Finally bit the bullet - XC3 is ordered and due to arrive mid next week.

Timing will suit, as I’m basically close to making my ‘perfect set’ in Sunbreak + unlocking the A5 quests. (Currently I’m A-level 75 and you need 81 for the unlock I believe)

I’ll likely still do a couple of hunts a day, but ready to throw myself into XC3! Really looking forward to it, I’ve not actually dabbled in a JRPG since FF7R.

@CJD87 What? We'll actually see you playing something other than Monster Hunter Rise? Is hell freezing over?

@KilloWertz Haha! I'll be ice skating through hell very shortly...

I love Sunbreak for a lot of reasons, but mainly just how 'pick-up-and-play' it is. I've done a lot of meaty games this year (GoT / Elden Ring / Nioh) and its been nice to just play something more arcade-y, albeit with some nice RPG/build scope.

But for sure mate, I'm ready to sink into something big! How's XCDE coming along? Hit the halfway-mark yet? Someone told me recently that Melia is voiced by Jenna Coleman (!) I had no idea

@CJD87 Nothing wrong with that. I just can't help but poke a bit of fun because of the fact it's all I've seen you play since I got my Switch.

It's coming along good. I didn't play too much of it this past week mainly due to some personal things at home, but I was able to get back to playing it for several hours yesterday. I'm at the beginning of Chapter 9 now and at around 45+ hours, so a little over halfway I believe.

I wasn't really aware of who Jenna Coleman was until I looked up the voice cast. I never watched her time on Doctor Who even though I should, I've never watched Victoria, but it is kind of funny that I am now watching The Sandman, so I will see her in that once I get deeper into the season. Melia is one of my favorite characters in the game.

It's interesting to hear that someone who's had the PS1 as their number one favourite console for a long time now likes the Switch more. Usually people who have older consoles as favourites are more reluctant to having their minds changed by new systems.

But in this case, I do have to agree that the combination of great hardware design (being able to play on the TV or on the go) coupled with an extensive library of games has made the Switch one of my favourite systems as well. Unfortunately, I haven't played as many games as I would've liked on it. But I still find it to be such a convenient system with tons of compelling titles to play, both old and new.

Personally though, my number one favourite console is easily the PS4. I've spent a countless amount of time playing games on it. It has everything from niche JRPGs to ambitious first-party titles to the latest third-party games. I mean, I have like over 200 physical games on PS4 so that alone should be enough for anyone to see that I like it the most. Even on the Switch I have maybe less than 1/4th of that amount, but that's mostly because Switch games are in general more expensive compared to PS4 titles.

@LtSarge Dope. I've actually made this point before, but I think a lot of people who are increasingly making up Nintendo's modern fan base are older Playstation converts. There are loads of us who primarily loved the PS1 for its diverse library of exclusives and phenomenal Japanese RPGs, and Nintendo has been catering to this crowd pretty hard so far this gen.

Switch, PS1, 3DS, PS2, and the PS Vita would probably be my top five, in that order.

@Ralizah If they made a Switch that was Vita sized then I’d be set for life. I just don’t really find it very comfortable to play in bed, even the Switch Lite is a bit on the large side for me. That’s the only reason I’ve not taken to it the same way as I did with DS, 3DS and Vita. In terms of ease of use and such, I’d probably put PS5 pretty close to the top these days, I use it an awful lot and everything just works. Library wise, I can live with putting PS4/5 together when taking the PS5 into account, I do the same with 3DS instinctively because I was still buying both regularly. Maybe once my backlog of JRPGs on the Vita dies down then I’ll appreciate Nintendo’s output this gen a bit more!

@LtSarge I watched that video yesterday a couple of hours before you posted that coincidently. While I just recently subscribed to his channel, his videos are usually pretty good. He definitely gave plenty of very good reasons why he switched.

He was thinking about naming the PS4 his new favorite, but ultimately the Switch won out. I just got my Switch a little over 3 weeks ago, so I can't really rank it at all, but it's hard to argue with his points.

@Ralizah Yeah, unfortunately their library isn't anywhere near as diverse as it once was. I'd say they still had quite a diverse lineup with the PS3, which probably would be my favorite console because of how special my experience with it was. It introduced me to a lot of PlayStation's franchises of that time. I had a PS1 and a PS2, but I didn't play either enough to really rank either as highly as I probably should. I was a big Sega guy, and they were just killing their presence in the console business with the Sega Saturn right around the time the PS1 came out. I passed on the Dreamcast because of how quickly they killed a system (the Saturn of course) I paid a fortune for at the time, but even in the PS2 era I started playing primarily sports games when I gamed. I did play some others of course, but I was far from the type of gamer I am today.

If I wasn't a big Sega guy, things would probably be a lot different too. I probably would have just continued with Nintendo since obviously the NES was out well before the Genesis, but the latter killed any interest I had in the Super NES, and the rest is history. I never bothered getting back into anything Nintendo until now, and I obviously missed the vast majority of their most beloved games and franchises because of that. Maybe the Switch would be amongst my favorite as well if I got it much earlier, but regardless, I look forward to the experiences ahead of me while not completely shoving PlayStation to the side.

@nessisonett Sony really wants me to buy one of those things. I've received three "invitations" to buy one to date. I'd get a lot more mileage out of a GPU upgrade, though. And even then, very little that I want to play would benefit from a stronger card. I'll look at maybe grabbing a stronger card when FFVII Rebirth comes to PC. I was going to upgrade for Cyberpunk, but I don't get the impression that game is worth upgrading any rig for.

The size of the Switch doesn't really bother me, since I've never been the type to shove handhelds in my pocket, and it's not particularly heavy. What did bother me a bit was the cheap feel of it, but the SWOLED solved that issue. The metal frame and gorgeous glass screen make it the most premium portable console I've ever used. It just feels nice to use, like the Vita did back in the day. And the improved colors look so nice that sometimes docked play feels like a bit of a downgrade now.

What Vita games are still on the list?

@Ralizah Due to the ‘expanded’ nature of my Vita, it’s a combination of actual Vita games, PSP and PS1 games, with the odd GBA game that I keep meaning to go back to (Golden Sun especially). I never did actually finish Persona 4 Golden, I got to Heaven and then my memory card died so there’s that, along with Eternal Punishment PSP and the FeMC route in 3 Portable. Then there’s Jeanne D’Arc as well as a couple other Squeenix games I missed out on the first time round like Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve/The 3rd Birthday etc. Vita-native wise, there’s still Digimon Cyber Sleuth 1 and 2, Utawarerumono and I do need to go back to Dragon’s Crown.

@Ralizah This has actually been my thing too. I grew up with a PS1, and a Game Gear, Saturn and Mega Drive too. Didnt have a Nintendo system until the GBA, but I used my PSP more. Then I got a DS which was a Pokemon machine really. Then a Wii....then a PS3.

And man, it was when the PS4 hit that I just realised....yeah I'm not vibing with most of Sony's output now. So I kinda dropped from gaming bar the odd Wii U/PS4 game. Then March 2017 happened.

I have a PS5 for Ratchet, and thats it. I'll probably pick up Spider Man 2, I did enjoy the Remaster after all. But man, I look at Sony's rather glacial output and think wow, on more than one level a lot of these games are very similar in scope and style, and thats not something I liked in the PS4 days, so I think the company's output just isn't for me now.

Plus, my newly upgraded beast of a PC is outpacing the PS5 in performance so......whoops I guess.