SwitchVogel

@mjharper Same, I played for a little over two years almost daily and then finally got tired. I think they could do an incredible action RPG on Switch if they wanted to, but now it seems like that might not happen.

@Mopati At this point, it's really just splitting hairs. My understanding is that a rogue_like_ has to explicitly be a game that is like the original Rogue, which is basically just the Mystery Dungeon games. Anything else that doesn't play like that is technically a roguelite. But the two terms are used so often together that they're essentially interchangeable.

@FishyS I'd say just to go with 2, as it's basically a more polished and feature rich version of the first.

As much as I really liked this, I'd still say I prefer roguelikes with some kind of meta-progression between runs like in Hades or Rogue Legacy. Just something about appealing to that monke brain need for bigger numbers.

It's all over, I knew this day would come. Nintendo is gonna close.

This actually sounds pretty great. I hope Fabraz's new game shows up, Slime-San was awesome!

@Noisy_neighbour Agreed. That Battlefront 2 nonsense was their nadir, but I think they've been doing a pretty good job since.

I'm imagining one of those stadiums they pack for the League championships, but the people play Stardew instead. I want that future.

@60frames-please Quake 22 sounds like the next battle royale experiment from Nintendo.

Never got into these old shooters before, but I'm really liking what I've played so far. Great blend of action and exploration. Also I'll bet you anything they're making a Doom 2016 style new entry as we speak. Hopefully it comes to Switch!

@Stubborn_Monkey Huh, you're right! I kinda just blocked that game from memory, totally forgot that feature.

Glad to see that they're adding in a Metroid version of pieces of heart from Zelda!

@moodycat Good luck, I think you'll really like it!

@BakaKnight The rewards apply to both. As far as I've seen, the rewards are mostly cosmetics (like card sleeves or emblems) with a mixture of extra rupies and card packs thrown in. You get positively showered with rupies and card packs in the main game, enough so that I wouldn't say the Battle Pass is pay to win. It's just yet another abundant source for that stuff.

@NoLife Not really, no. You can play it standalone, there's just some things that will have more meaning if you played the first.

@Crockin That's false. There are bosses, the main difference is you can now fight them or run away whenever you feel like it. Kinda like lynels in BotW.

@HammerKirby Lol so true tho! There is absolutely no excuse for the performance problems there.

I'd believe it. Xenoblade may not be the best-selling franchise, but it definitely has a growing niche and I'm sure Nintendo didn't intend on XC:DE being the last project. I'd also guess that they'll bring X to Switch in the next year, considering that there's plenty of demand for it and they've basically exhausted all the Wii U games they can port to Switch.

I know the story of XC2 was a lot more middling, but I'm looking forward to them continuing the gameplay ideas they introduced there.

I admire the passion and agree with their stance, but I don't understand the belief that a boycott will effect any change in Niantic's thinking. Pokemon Go just passed $5 billion in gross revenue, how much of that do you think came directly from these influencers or the people who signed the petition? They of course contributed, but Niantic's primary focus has been and forever will be the most significant part of their audience, which is the millions of casual players who are completely oblivious to this 'issue'.

My point being, Niantic clearly wants this game to be one that requires you to go out to play, and their main audience probably wants that, too.

Absolutely spectacular game, I can't wait to see the sequel! I know everyone loves to fawn over Hollow Knight, but Axiom Verge is the superior example of the genre as far as I'm concerned.

@RupeeClock Agreed, I just got a N3DS that happened to have IPS, and the color contrast is no joke.

I'm glad that they're at least building the model around the fancy new screen. It was kind of annoying with the N3DS how it was just a lottery whether you got an IPS or TN display.

Might pick this one up on sale then, I could use a new twin-stick shooter. Then again, I really should get around to completing Assault Android Cactus...

@Scarko Well, I think the Three Houses story was much better than in Echoes, so it's definitely better there. You still don't have a ton of units on the field at once, though, so maybe this series just isn't for you. Nothing wrong with that!

@Scarko D
That depends, what didn't you like about Echoes?

If you take it outdoors, can you ride it?

I'm hoping this is the year that they show off the next major project, whether that's a new game or another 'Echoes' remake of one of the Japan only games. I really liked the dungeon crawling aspects of Echoes, hopefully they can bring that back in some fashion with whatever they do next!

@Onion Have you gotten Fred yet? I ran into a few situations where I thought I had soft locked, but Fred can teleport you back to the tank if you select him in the menu.

Brilliant stuff, great to see how well they've turned things around after spinning their wheels so hard in the 7th gen. Now if only they could get around to announcing that Mega Man Battle Network compilation...

Where's my J E L L Y B O Y special edition, Nintendo?

I'll pick this up right after I get through the 100+ hours I have left in Fire Emblem Warriors...

Love this, I think Amaterasu will finally replace the golden retriever armor I've been rolling with this whole time.

Great to see this turned out well! I think the art and atmosphere of the original perfectly captured the general vibe of 00's tween culture in a way that few other works of the time managed. I always thought it'd be a one-off; here's to hoping Square sees a good return on this entry.

Man, that little green light was always a nice surprise; I used to get a ton of hits. I'm proud to say that I actually finished every puzzle.

Really wish Nintendo would bring the idea back someday on future hardware, that was such a cool idea.

Decisions. I want to buy this and see what the fuss is about, but I also have a feeling this update will prompt them to put the game on sale in the next few days. Gah...

EDIT: I caved and bought it. Now watch it go on sale tomorrow.

Nintendo is like that well meaning grandma who found a few games in the bargain bin at Kohl's and gave them to you for your birthday.

What a bizarre take. I honestly don't understand their logic at all, it sounds like they actually aren't sure people will want to play these on console. Maybe they wouldn't sell insane numbers, but it's ridiculous to assume they wouldn't at least recoup the minimal cost of porting them over.

I'm excited to see what they have in store, though part of me is sad to see the coming changes. Dragon Quest was the last bastion of no-frills, turn-based combat, but I get that's not a terribly popular type of gameplay these days.

This thing is gonna run Breath of the Wild better than the Switch.

@River3636 Of those three, I'd get MH Stories first, then this, then SSHD. Stories is a great follow up to the 3DS entry and builds on that foundation well. Likewise, I'd say this is a decent sequel to Ys VIII, although you could make a strong argument that VIII is the better game. SSHD I'd say is the most skippable, as it appears to be nothing more than a bare minimum remaster of an old Zelda game.

I think it's pretty obvious that it doesn't exist. A lot of noise got passed around enough until it became 'fact', when the reality is that this is the fabled upgrade that was due. A beefier unit in the future certainly isn't out of the question, but let's not pretend like the dream of a 'real' Switch Pro is still alive.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi I don't know if I'd call it laziness, I'd say it's more an issue of inexperience and poor prioritization. The fact that a game like MH Rise can load quickly, barely drop any frames, and do it all while displaying in a decently high resolution shows me that the issue of poor performance on Switch is fundamentally a choice being made somewhere. Of course, not everyone has the development resources of Capcom, but there's really no good reason for a relatively simple game like Ys IX to be chugging as much as it does.

@suikoden I'd maybe give it a 9 then, although I still liked the setting of Seiren more than Balduq.

@suikoden It might just be me, but it feels like a lot more of the games I've been playing and reviewing over the last year or so have had more noticeable issues. Switch games have always had middling performance, but I think it's becoming more commonplace than it used to be.

@Tom-Smo There are, even on the Pro and PS5, so this is really an issue of poor optimization on Falcom's part. Even so, I'd only recommend getting it for Switch if you have no other option or really want to play it in portable mode.

@the_beaver One was announced, but it still hasn't gone live for some reason.

Looks kind of interesting, but with the genre being so crowded these days, this is really going to have to be something special.

@Mando44646 To be fair, why should they? Switch has sold 80M+ units so far, and software sales are extremely strong. The market dictates this sort of thing, and clearly they've learned that most people don't care that much about performance.

@Screen No, they didn't; Lite models are just as susceptible to the problem. New Joy-Con, too, but fortunately they're free to fix if you live in the US.

All the talk about 4k did seem pretty lofty, but it's hard not to be a little disappointed here. I was hoping it would at least be a bit more like the N3DS and have a bit more power.