Comments 1,123

Re: Round Up: The First Impressions Of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds 'Closed Network Test' Are In

Seacliff

I've played it. I think it's fun. I think the game is currently at a crossroads with it's customization elements being undermined by the chaotic items. If they want more depth they need to ton down the chaos, if they want chaos the depth feels like wasted potential. Of course, they can have their cake and eat it too with some simple lobby options not unlike Smash 3DS/WiiU.

Re: Sonic X Shadow Generations Continues To Show Love For Sonic 06

Seacliff

One of the things I found refreshing about the original release of Generations after the franchise been so self deprecating and irony-poisoned throughout the 2010s was the sincerity to it's source materials regardless of perceived quality. Sonic 2006 sucked, but instead of making jokes about it and forgetting it, they worked with what they got and took the most iconic elements of crisis city and created a new level and an entirely new Silver boss fight out of it. I'm glad that mindset still seems to be there for Shadow Generations.

Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Announced, Coming To Switch In 2025

Seacliff

@Bobb Except Pokemon is infamous for sticking with hardware for as long as they possibly can. Emerald's International Release, Black2/White2, and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon were all released on consoles after that console's successor released. I think "Fourth time in a row" is a more reasonable assumption than "First Pokemon launch title ever", when it seems very likely the Pokemon Company's priorities are very different from Nintendo.

It seems like a massive stretch that people are taking this as a psedu announcement for a console not even formally confirmed by Nintendo with a code name.

Re: Sega's Executive Director Wants Sonic Games And Movies To "Surpass Mario"

Seacliff

The problem with this is that Sonic has a fractured fanbase with dozens of sectors with very different opinions on what's considered a good Sonic game and what Sonic should even be.

Bring up Mario 64 within any Mario discussion and most will agree it's a good game. Some will say it's aged, others will say it's still the best game ever made, but overall the reception will be positive. Even if you don't like the game or even think it is a bad game, it's still very likely it introduced multiple elements to the Mario franchise you do like.

Bring up Sonic Adventure within any Sonic discussion and you will get every opinion possible on it. Some people will say Sonic has or never will work in 3D, other people say it did a better job at translating Sonic into 3D than Mario 64 did for it's own franchise, some people enjoy the extended cast while others want to see Big the Cat rot in hell.

There is admitably a couple of Mario games that will bring comparable reactions, namely Sunshine, but the problem is that's the case with almost EVERY Sonic game. From Advance, to Rush, to even '06 and Mania. Each Sonic fan has their ideal Sonic game and it's going to look wildly different from another's.

This problem doesn't end with the games, the extended media exacerbates this issue. I have seen people who are very vocal about liking or disliking SatAM, Archie, Fleetway, IDW, X, Boom and Prime. Each piece of extended media has it's own take on the world and characters of Sonic, and each fan has very different preferences on what the Sonic games should be the most similar to.

The commercial of Frontiers at least shows SEGA is in better touch with it's fans that it was about a decade ago, but the fanbase being so fractured does put a ceiling on how popular Sonic can reasonably be at any given time. It's not impossible for SEGA to make everyone a fan of a specific incarnation of Sonic, but they are unlikely to make everyone a fan of the same Sonic.

Re: Review: Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection - Divine Dungeon Crawling But Not Definitive

Seacliff

@Wexter "Classic" mode in the Untold games are not the original DS games. It's pretty much a different EO altogether with similar flavorings to the original.

Think how New Super Mario Bros has a lot of the same level themes as Mario 3, but isn't actually Mario 3.

If it gets a port, it'll be its own separate thing. It's not something you can just "mod in" the original DS release.

Re: Review: Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection - Divine Dungeon Crawling But Not Definitive

Seacliff

Expecting Untold content in the DS versions of the game is like expecting FF7 Remake content in the PS1 version of that game.

The Untold games border on reimagining as opposed to remakes. Skill changes have classes performing entirely different roles, the entire dungeon layout is entirely changed, and enemy skills and foe patterns change. They are practically new games altogether, and I hold the opinion it's not all objectively better than the original.

Re: Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Multiplayer Mod YouTube Videos Are Getting Copyright Strikes

Seacliff

What Nintendo is doing is awful, but let's not ignore how terrible Youtube is as a middleman in this situation.

Their policies are based on "Guilty until proven innocent". I think Youtube itself has a lot to blame because they are a terrible middleman in these situations. They only hear one side of the argument, this being the big corporation that is Nintendo, and is willing to throw their content creators under the bus to satisfy their demands.

Even though I doubt Nintendo's and Youtube's relationship would hardly be damaged if they simply ignore or even compromise their requests. But Youtube isn't going to do that when they save so much money through automation.

Re: Review: Clive 'N' Wrench - A Banjo-Kazooie-Style Throwback That Hits All The Wrong Notes

Seacliff

As weird as it is to say it, I was turned off by this game as soon as I noticed it has a Double Jump.

I've noticed it a ton in indie 3D platformers and don't understand why. Especially when Mario has never performed a double jump in a platforming-centric game. A double jump works great in a game that has the player do a ton of stuff that's not platforming, like Ratchet and Clank or Sly Cooper, but in a platforming-centric game, it's an absurdly powerful technique that can suck all the commitment and satisfaction out of platforming. Every platforming challenge is handled with the same technique.

There are a few games that get it right like Crash 4. But with the frequency I see this ability in games, the presence of the double jump comes off more as a level design crutch than an interesting ability to design a game around.

Re: Over A Third Of Devs Still Interested In Making Switch Games, According To GDC Survey

Seacliff

@Bizzyb Oh for the love of... Just because people critised your asinine conspiracy theory that a Switch successor would release in May doesn't mean those same people aren't aware of the current issues of the aging tech.

There's a very clear line between wanting and predicting. No need to shove additional labels such as "they just got a switch" because you are struggling to understand that.

Re: Talking Point: So, When Will Nintendo Announce Its Next Console?

Seacliff

@Bizzyb I'm not a part of the business side of the industry any more than you likely are, but I'm trying to rely on existing patterns over stating baseless claims such as:

-The company is going to fall out of relevancy only three months after the release of its most anticipated sequel.

-Claiming the delay was only for a successor, not explaining why Nintendo would change Tears of the Kingdom's release date to match a new console's release when console release dates tend to be planned further in advance than game release dates.

The latter was done for BOTW, but in your own words, the Wii U was dead by the Switch's announcement. This is not the same status quo.

This isn't even considering other things, such as releasing a console 1 month before E3 is probably an atrocious idea when E3 has historically been the place to announce new titles that will launch with a console.

Your own Headcannon is not very consistent.

Re: Talking Point: So, When Will Nintendo Announce Its Next Console?

Seacliff

@Bizzyb Nothing isn't evidence of something. This isn't the first year where we start January knowing virtually nothing throughout the year.

Us knowing about Tears of the Kingdom and Prime 4 years before their release are outliers. Most Nintendo titles tend to get announced within a few months of their release. Last year alone Xenoblade 3, Pokemon SV, Nintendo Switch Sports, Fire Emblem: Three Hopes, and Mario Strikers Battle League were all announced the same year they were released. All of these announcements were in February, almost all of which were the 2/9 direct (Pokemon had its own trailer later that month).

As for hardware, Nintendo tends to publically announce the project titles of their hardware about two years before they actually release. We knew about the Switch as "NX" since June 2015, the Wii U as "Project Cafe" since early 2011, the Wii as "Revolution" since 2004, etc.

We don't even have a hint about a successor from an official source. And when we do, chances are it's going to be at least a year until we actually see what ever codename project they go with actually looks like.

Re: Talking Point: So, When Will Nintendo Announce Its Next Console?

Seacliff

People who think that Zelda: Totk will launch alongside a proper Switch successor are setting themselves up for disappointment. They are not going to announce and release a new console in the span of four months.

Sure, that was the timeframe between the Switch's announcement and release, but that was two years after the 'NX' was publically known, and this comparison still only works if the Switch's successor is announced this week.

Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Dragon Quest Treasures

Seacliff

I highly respect this game for purposefully not including expected RPG QoL features like instantaneous fast travel that would impede the gameplay loop. If some reviewers even a smidge of tension "tedious", then so be it.

Despite the game's low difficulty, not being able to instantly return to safety for free has me actually thinking about where I should go and interact with the level design.

I'm glad that the old Dungeon Crawling loop isn't completely dead to the eyes of bigger publishers like Square.

Re: Review: Lunistice - A 32-Bit Platforming Dream That Gives Sonic A Serious Run For His Money

Seacliff

@Funneefox Agreed. The comparisons to Sonic also exist in Steam reviews, which is confusing, as this game doesn't play anything like Sonic.

I guess it's the Grind Rails? I mean, that was a thing half the 3D platformers were doing by the early PS2 days, but that's all I can really think of.

Just recently got the true ending on this title though and it's a fine game. Definitely worth it's its asking price.

Re: Review: Lunistice - A 32-Bit Platforming Dream That Gives Sonic A Serious Run For His Money

Seacliff

I'm enjoying it, but seeing 9/10 levels of praise of it is confusing.

I think "Tough but carefully balanced difficulty" is the part I disagree with the most. Every platforming challenge is solved with a Double Jump. There isn't particularly much depth with the platforming. The difficulty is mostly only increased by making platforms smaller.

Love the visuals though. So many games tout a "32-Bit" look, but this one actually does manage to give that aesthetic justice with a better understanding of the hardware limitations of those consoles.