Off Topic Nintendo

[Rob]

That looks beautiful.

See you next year?!? 😅

[zaangie]

2 hours ago, Nucleus said:

This is why physical comes first @Rob! Look at the box art 😍

Im about to lose myself in a 100+ hours of pure gaming heaven

Gotta love Akira Toryama! Can't wait to order mine in a month. 

[Ashez]

Link's Awakening made bank! It sold over 3m units in 8 days, even at £50! Absolute madness! 

Talking of that game I'm right near the end so I'm looking to finish it this weekend, then I think I'll wait for Pokemon. I was getting the Lion King remake tomorrow but with Black Friday approaching I'm hesitant to buy anything so I'll work on my backlog while I wait. 

Anyone get Luigi's Mansion 3?

[zaangie]

31 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Anyone get Luigi's Mansion 3?

I still don't know. It's not my priority. Maybe in a sale. 

[Ashez]

28 minutes ago, zaangie said:

I still don't know. It's not my priority. Maybe in a sale. 

Yeah it's just not my type of game, the review scores seem high yet the reviews I've seen while decently scored never came across as that high in reading. 

[Ashez]

What I've Been Playing 

October

Switch 

Fire Emblem Three Houses - It took a smidge under 51 hours but my first play through of Three Houses is complete. In the last update I revealed I was playing the Blue Lion's route and I was basically at the half way point. After chapter twelve and a big battle the game jumps forward five years, I'll admit the way they justify the time jump is a tad cliche but it's pulled off so well as all the characters have aged, their characters have developed, as has their appearance and now the story mainly focuses on Dimitri (house leader) instead of on the bland main character who's story basically ends at that mid point. Basically one of the other houses from the beginning has gone evil and started taking over, during this five year period they've taken control and it's up to you to save the kingdom. However Dimitri by this point has basically had a mental break down and is hell bent on revenge and tbh his character is bloody fantastic and completely gripping, his arc is just extremely well done as they show hints of it in the first half then by the second he's entered full bloodlust mode. And for good reason as the story is full of twists and turns to keep it engaging until the end, granted some are fairly predictable but the game is full of gut punches that make you want to see it through. I will say however the final chapter did feel a little odd, but the ending was dark and justified. One thing I really liked is it hints at stuff and shows glimpses of stories which you don't see on this play through but stuff you'd see in the other routes, for example Dimitri starts the second half with an eye patch with no reference or real acknowledgment shown to it but apparently it's revealed how it happened in another path. Admittedly this leaves me with a fair few unanswered questions yet it's also gave me a reason to play the other routes to see what story elements I missed as they all come together to create the whole story. I said i wasn't completely sold on the school stuff during the first half of the game due to how much of a time sink it is, thankfully however this aspect is a tad more streamlined in the second half mainly due to only having to deal with your house instead of the three but as the story got more gripping I did still find these sections annoying at times, like I said before it's a double edged sword as I do agree it adds so much personality, back story and emotion to every character yet at the same time I do want a battle focused Fire Emblem, so basically I hope the Echoes series continues on the Switch so we can have the best of both worlds. Another area I criticised was the normal difficulty being a little too kind and this continued throughout the remaining chapters as very little gave me any course for concern, during my entire play through I only lost one character and that was in the final battle and it was one that was under levelled as i'd
hardly used them previously, admittedly the rewind feature saved me a few times but normal difficulty was approachable and a tad easy. All in all I did absolutely love this game and I do intended to return at some point to play another path, I'll admit the time sink-ness of the school stuff is the only thing putting me off another play through but from what I've read there is a new game plus mode which streamlines the experience more, however you do have to play the first 12 chapters which are the same each time which sucks tbh. I'm sure I can get through them quicker than I did on my first run but I can't say it's that appealing tbh. I've since took in some spoiler content on the game and thankfully I managed to actually avoid most spoilers while getting a better idea of what the other stories contain, from what I've gathered I want to play the Black Eagles route in the coming months but the Golden Deer route doesn't sound that interesting. I also learnt of a fourth hidden route which i didn't see coming at all haha, anyway the Black Eagle route looks to be the best after the Blue Lions and the one that fills in the gaps of the story I've seen. I had high hopes going into Three Houses and it basically delivered on everything I wanted, this game consumed me during the play through and I loved it, admittedly the school stuff does ever so slightly hold it back in my opinion but the incredible story and characters make this game an awesome experience, it's not everyone but if it's for you you're in for a treat. 

TLOZ Link's Awakening - I had a few hot takes on Link's Awakening born out of pure frustration and I have to say I think I was a little harsh in those outbursts, however those rants did allow me to see past the issues more and just accept what the game is. I just wasn't prepared for the cryptic original Zelda bullshit which plagued this title at times, I guess I just assumed/hoped that shit wouldn't be in the game, I've actually spoken to a few people I know playing through the game and they both got tripped up in most of the same places I did, it's one of them where if you know what you're doing it's simple and fine but if you don't it's incredibly frustrating. Don't get me wrong the last thing I want in any game is my hand holded throughout the adventure but at the same time I don't want to be aimlessly wondering around, I've often said most my issues with the Zelda series in the past was I don't think it respects the players time which I think is valid here. For that reason I think I'll need to replay the game at some point which the knowledge of it's secrets to see how that changes my opinion as by all accounts those that love the original love this remake, I just think I mistakenly went in forgetting the time period the original released and the gameboys limitations. The fact I'm thinking of replaying it however shows I found enjoyment in this title even if I do have a few niggling pet peeves, for example I'm still not keen on the over world but those concerns almost disappeared once I could warp and had ranged weapons, but I still think Link moves incredibly slow which is frustrating in general movement but especially in combat when it comes to avoiding things. I also absolutely hate the jumping item as it's incredibly inconsistent and feels like it doesn't work every time, that's one problem I do remember having with the original as well though. Anyway the concept of the game is Link is shipwrecked on the island and tasked with finding the 8 instruments to play to wake the Wind Fish, so in typical Zelda fashion you find the eight dungeons (+ a bonus one) to claim the items while the dungeons also include your typical Zelda items like the hookshot and swimming flippers. However not all key items are found in dungeons as the bow and bombs need to be bought from the shop and another item comes from a side quest. The dungeons like in most Zelda games are the highlight of the game though as they start off simple but soon get very clever and rewarding to problem solve, while it annoyed me in the over world I enjoyed hitting my head against a wall in dungeons as that's their entire point. Alot of the puzzle rooms were smart, the pacing mostly felt right, the boss battles were all unique and a decent challenge and I found myself constantly wanting to get to the next dungeon just to see what else the game could offer. The story has a well known and potentially hard hitting twist which I won't spoil now just in case anyone doesn't know the games secret but the story didn't have the impact on me that I expected, everyone I've heard who loves this game always mentions the story which to be honest is basically none existent, you get a little at the start, a little in the middle and then at the end and it just felt incredibly over rated. Obviously you can't expect much from a Gameboy remake but I did think there would be more here in general, however if you do love the story I can see how this remake hits the nostalgia hard. The main appeal of Link's Awakening for me anyway had to be the art design as graphically the game is stunning, I adore the toy like design of the world and the characters but I can see why people say this makes the game emotionless which I think I agree with, while it is stunning and a joy to look at eventually it does wear off but it never gets old. Personally I never had any issues with the reported frame rate or if I did I didn't notice them at all, I thought the game ran fine with my only performance based annoyances being tied to the inconsistent jump and the screen blur which was a design decision I just didn't like. In conclusion I'm pretty mixed on Link's Awakening as when I loved it I was in the game 100% but a little too often it pulled me out of the experience, maybe some of my issues were the way I played as I could go days without playing the title which might have meant I'd forget some of the small hints play session to play session but I also didn't hang around as I beat the title in 9 play sessions across 15 days totalling around 15 hours (I did put some time into heart container searching). I think Link's Awakening will end up being a game I'm just generally not the biggest fan of, I'll admit I didn't like what I played of the original but I thought my issues came mainly from the poor item management yet the remake just missed the mark for me. I'll say it can be excellent and experiences will vary but I do come away thinking Link's Awakening is a game of it's time that's gotten over rated by nostalgia, personally I'd say A Link To The Past and A Link Between Worlds are much better examples of top down Zelda. 

Minecraft - I don't really have alot to say about Minecraft as Minecraft is Minecraft and I'm sure everyone already knows what it's about lol. I also haven't played that much of it as yet as I've only really tested that the online worked as I wanted it to, for the reasons explained below. It's turned out that scheduling time when everyone is free isn't as easy as we all anticipated lol.

Demo's 

Ape Out - Ape Out sees you play as a Gorilla who's just escaped from some kind of facility and you basically go on a killing spree. The demo consists of the first 4 stages which sees you grab and throw enemies to have them explode into awesome piles of blood, while the AI have guns and remote mines, with the end goal of reaching the end of the level, it's like an action puzzler as you can't tank many hits before dying. It's main selling point imo is it's art style and sound design as it's so unique and excellent, I was actually taken by surprise at how awesome the package felt to play. The camera is from a top down perspective, with striking contrasts in colours to just make the game pop. The demo gets pretty tough after the first tutorial section but it was tough in that very moreish kind of way. At the right price I could see myself getting this but I would recommend the demo as it's stupidly fun and potentially enough for some, as it might be for me. 
 

Game Of The Year
 

Spoiler

 

New Releases

1. Fire Emblem Three Houses 
2. TLOZ Link's Awakening
3. Tetris 99
4. Reigns Game Of Thrones
5. Dr Mario World

I'm extremely excited to see if Pokemon takes the top spot next month, I'll be heartbroken if it doesn't make the top two at least. 

First Time Played This Year

1. Starlink Battle For Atlus
2. Mario + Rabbids Donkey Kong Adventure
3. In Between 
4. The Way Remastered 
5. Super Mario Party

 

Recent Pick Ups

Digital 

Bastion - £2.19 - I used my gold points to grab this steal as Bastion was available for 80% off! I've never played Bastion before but it's a game I've known of for years, it's one of the first indie games to really take off and made people take indie games seriously. For a couple of quid I'm more than willing to see what the hype is about, especially as I love the art style used. 

Transistor - £3.09 - My remaining 9p in gold coins needed a cash boost as I also grabbed Transistor which was also 80% off, Transistor is actually the second game released by the Bastion developers. I looked into this one more before purchasing and it appears to be an action RPG with some strategy elements as you can freeze time and plan attacks or something. In truth it turns out this is the one I'm more excited about from the pair as this game feels a little special from the outside looking in, both games reviewed really well with 8.5/9's everywhere but the soundtrack especially in Transistor caught my attention. 

That's not all though as I've finally used the last of my US eshop credit (okay I have 3p left lol) and I managed to stretch the $2.47 to buy 3 games!! 

Castle Of Heart - $1.49 ($14.99) - Another one I've had my eye on for a while but with such little cash left on the account I held off until I could make it stretch which I finally could. This is an auto runner hack and slash exploring type game which looks pretty fun but it's apparently pretty tough. Iirc you're always losing health as you're turning to stone so you're always running to looking for health or something. This got me 7 gold coins leaving me with $1.05

911 Operator - $0.99 ($14.99) - @Nucleus actually bought this game to my attention, it's a simulation game where you play as a 911 Operator and it's up to you to decided how to dispatch your available units, I've played a game which was pretty similar before (This Is The Police) so for $0.99 I'll give it a whirl. This added 5 gold points leaving me with $0.11 

Membrane - $0.09 ($9.99) - Membrane is a puzzle game with the bizarre premise of you playing as a signal inside the body which is trying to move a hand to swat a fly, utter madness. It's been this cheap a few times (9p on US store, 99p on UK 😠) and the reviews seem pretty mixed but what else am I going to spend 11 cents on lol. 

All in all a decent month but let's look how far I managed to stretch this free $10 credit. 

Spoiler

 

Crypt Of The Necrodancer - $4 
In Between - $0.99
Ninjin Clash Of The Carrots - $0.99
A Robot Named Fight - $1.99
Castle Of Heart - $1.49
911 Operator - $0.99
Membrane - $0.09

Not a bad haul imo. I've only actually played In Between and the demo for Ninjin so far though so I really should try and get to these soon, I do have slight buyers remorse for CotN though as that games difficulty terrifies me after trying the Zelda versions demo 😂. I do however think it might be time to ignore the Eshop for a little while lol. 

 

Physical

Minecraft - Switch - £20 - Back in the day I used to play Minecraft with my brothers on the 360 and to be honest I had my fill of the title but we had a blast playing together, however it was a game I wanted a physical copy of due to its impact on gaming and all the updates, but I was never in any real rush to get it. That changed though as my one brother recently picked up a Xbox One (my other brother already had one) so they could play Fifa online. One day I over hear them discussing their previous nights Minecraft adventures and I was like cheers for the invite, which baffled them until I told them Minecraft is cross platform (Sony aside) and that we could all play together if I grabbed a copy of the game, which I obviously did. £20 for a game I wanted and hopefully a good time playing with the family was a complete no brainer in my eyes, I've always loved Minecraft but it's always been one of those games I'd rather watch than play due to the time investment and my lack of creativity/knowledge but family time is family time. 

Hollow Knight - Switch - £8 - I saw Hollow Knight was on sale at Game for £20 which I thought was the perfect opportunity to trade in my spare Mario + Rabbids copy for £12. I've wanted the physical copy for a while but I thought £30 was steep considering its been around £5-6 a few times on the Eshop so getting the physical copy for basically £8 was the ideal compromise. Anyway Hollow Knight is a beautifully animated metroidvania which is meant to be brilliant yet pretty tough but in a fair way so we'll see how I get on with it, the difficulty was another reason why I was reluctant to risk the £30 tbh as I've heard it's pretty brutal. How much did you play @zaangie?

[zaangie]

@Ashez I played like 20 hours. I have no idea how far I went. It's so confusing because of back tracking. I got stuck in a boss and never touched again. The game is awesome and beautiful. Might try to finish it later. 

[Ashez]

38 minutes ago, zaangie said:

@Ashez I played like 20 hours. I have no idea how far I went. It's so confusing because of back tracking. I got stuck in a boss and never touched again. The game is awesome and beautiful. Might try to finish it later. 

You played many Metroidvania type games before? That's kind of the point lol, however I do believe Hollow Knights mapping is a pain in the arse which obviously doesn't help. 

20 hours in could be pretty deep into it if that's making progress for most of it as I think it's around a 30 hour game. 

39 minutes ago, zaangie said:

. I got stuck in a boss and never touched again.

That's what worries me 😂😂

[samhardy]

Can't you start putting some effort into these reviews?

[zaangie]

10 hours ago, Ashez said:

You played many Metroidvania type games before? That's kind of the point lol, however I do believe Hollow Knights mapping is a pain in the arse which obviously doesn't help. 

20 hours in could be pretty deep into it if that's making progress for most of it as I think it's around a 30 hour game. 

That's what worries me 😂😂

First time actually. But I was enjoying the game. But the bosses are hard as hell lmao. It only cost me 4 euros. Can't complain 😂

Edited November 2, 2019 by zaangie

[Ashez]

2 hours ago, zaangie said:

First time actually.

It's a genre I ignored for years and years but now it's one of my favourites, I'm not even sure why but I enjoy them so much lol. SRPG's and Metroidvania's are the two genres I'm surprised at how much I love. 

I'd strongly recommend giving Super Metroid ago on the SNES online mate, that game blew me away with it's atmosphere and gameplay when I first played it 5 odd years ago now. 

2 hours ago, zaangie said:

But the bosses are hard as hell lmao.

They look it from what I've seen! 

2 hours ago, zaangie said:

It only cost me 4 euros. Can't complain 😂

I've nearly got it for around that price a few times but I'm glad I waited

[Nucleus]

Have you moved onto X-2 yet @zaangie? I’ve still not touched that game on my copy. It was so daunting to do so after racking up over a 100 hours on the main game lol

[zaangie]

52 minutes ago, Nucleus said:

Have you moved onto X-2 yet @zaangie? I’ve still not touched that game on my copy. It was so daunting to do so after racking up over a 100 hours on the main game lol

Not yet. I'm catching some monsters so I can start grinding to fight dark aeons and omega weapon. 

[Ashez]

What black Friday games are people hopeful for? 

[Nucleus]

2 hours ago, zaangie said:

Not yet. I'm catching some monsters so I can start grinding to fight dark aeons and omega weapon. 

Nice, have you made moves for that Don Tonberry trick I told you about?

49 minutes ago, Ashez said:

What black Friday games are people hopeful for? 

Not looking for anything in particular, I’ll see what comes up on the day though! What are you hoping for?

[zaangie]

@Nucleus yes, only got 2 weapons with triple ap. Still need some monsters to get the item to add overdrive - > ap

@Ashez Pokémon Shield, Dragon Quest XI, Astral Chain and Fire Emblem 

[Nucleus]

55 minutes ago, zaangie said:

@Nucleus yes, only got 2 weapons with triple ap. Still need some monsters to get the item to add overdrive - > ap

@Ashez Pokémon Shield, Dragon Quest XI, Astral Chain and Fire Emblem 

Grinding for the weapons is the hardest part tbf. After getting them it’s all downhill!

[zaangie]

8 hours ago, Nucleus said:

Grinding for the weapons is the hardest part tbf. After getting them it’s all downhill!

Yeah. Constantly beating that one eye and hoping for the best lol

[Nucleus]

1 hour ago, zaangie said:

Yeah. Constantly beating that one eye and hoping for the best lol

I think that whoever deals the killing blow has a higher chance to get their own personal weapon as a drop. I read that on one of the forums

[Ashez]

Hopeful for but I don't see happening - Skyrim, Doom (waited years for a good sale), Smash, 

Potentially could happen - Lion King/Aladdin (I'm all in for 20-25), Yugioh (I think it didn't sell well), 

Could be tempted by at right price - Spyro, Astral Chain, Bloodstained, Saints Row, FF10 is already discounted so if it goes lower I might see what all the fuss is about lol. 

Would get at right price - DQXI & DQB2 but I don't see it happening, Darksiders 1+2, Sphinx, South Park (if it drops to 16-18 again). 

Not expecting any of these to really happen or be super tempting though as the Switch has never had killer deals :@. I wouldn't mind grabbing a few to keep me going though, either way the only thing I'm buying before it is Pokemon just to be safe lol

 

[Ashez]

This is the best video YouTube has recommended me in years!

 

[zaangie]

5 hours ago, Nucleus said:

I think that whoever deals the killing blow has a higher chance to get their own personal weapon as a drop. I read that on one of the forums

Really? I have to try it then. I got tidus and Yuna weapon. 

[zaangie]

@Ashez there's a store in here that usually makes pay 2 take 3 sales. So I'll probably pick at least 3 of 4 from my list and save like 60 euros. 

[Ashez]

6 hours ago, zaangie said:

@Ashez there's a store in here that usually makes pay 2 take 3 sales. So I'll probably pick at least 3 of 4 from my list and save like 60 euros. 

I remember deals like that on the PS2, can't say I've seen many in recent years and when I have they've been very limited choice wise. 

Tesco recently had 2 for £70 but I had everything worth getting or I didn't want it but Smash and now they have 2 for £60 with Luigi's Mansion on it but again nothing else I want. Even if they had stuff I wanted their stock is always shocking as it's in store only, it's odd Luigi is on the deal but Smash and Witcher aren't even though they're older and cost the same lol. 

[zaangie]

Just order 3 games with that sale of take 3 pay 2. Pokémon Shield, Dragon Quest XI and Super Mario Maker 2. I wanted Astral Chain or Fire Emblem as third option but they're sold out already. So I went to Mario as my wife also likes. Still awesome deal. I'll wait now for black Friday, maybe I'm lucky and I get one of those two. 

[Nucleus]

6 minutes ago, zaangie said:

Just order 3 games with that sale of take 3 pay 2. Pokémon Shield, Dragon Quest XI and Super Mario Maker 2. I wanted Astral Chain or Fire Emblem as third option but they're sold out already. So I went to Mario as my wife also likes. Still awesome deal. I'll wait now for black Friday, maybe I'm lucky and I get one of those two. 

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on dragon quest!  

[Ashez]

13 minutes ago, zaangie said:

Just order 3 games with that sale of take 3 pay 2. Pokémon Shield, Dragon Quest XI and Super Mario Maker 2. I wanted Astral Chain or Fire Emblem as third option but they're sold out already. So I went to Mario as my wife also likes. Still awesome deal. I'll wait now for black Friday, maybe I'm lucky and I get one of those two. 

That's immense, I'm super jealous right about now 😂

I've seen some American Black Friday Switch game sales that are decent offers, hopefully some of them appear over here 

[zaangie]

@Nucleus 2 hours of the demo was enough to fell in love. Stopped there so I won't spoil the rest of the game. Wanna start over instead of carrying the save.

@Ashez it is an awesome deal. And this store does this sale a lot of times.

I wasn't expecting playing Pokémon since day one. But now I can't wait to beat your ass 😁😂

[Ashez]

1 hour ago, zaangie said:

@Nucleus 2 hours of the demo was enough to fell in love. Stopped there so I won't spoil the rest of the game. Wanna start over instead of carrying the save.

@Ashez it is an awesome deal. And this store does this sale a lot of times.

I wasn't expecting playing Pokémon since day one. But now I can't wait to beat your ass 😁😂

I'll be ordering Pokemon in the coming days, what version have you got? Amazed we didn't get a trailer today! When are we learning about the starters! Yeah I'm aware everything has leaked but I'm trying to avoid unofficial stuff. 

Annoyingly found out I'm working next Thursday and Friday, so my release day hype has been dampened lol. I'm in on cover as the lad I work with booked it off for Pokemon 😂. He's also got the Saturday off so there is a chance I'll be needed then as well, then I'm in Sunday-Tuesday anyways 😠

[zaangie]

@Ashez Pokémon Shield. We got a trailer this week about EVs and nature chances. Did you watched?

That sucks but I know the feeling 😂 that's why I don't like when games come out at fridays. Most of the times I only get the games the next Monday or Tuesday.