The Nintendo Thread

lr-hr-rh

It's that company. There must be something about that company.

Honestly, I'm not as invested in XC2 either, but the world looks just as alive and beautiful, so I still truly respect that. I'll just watch foo play it though, he's the nerd =3

I can't tell if company incompetence (or at least strange business practices) is a reason to be hopeful or fearful of the likelihood that XCX will get a sequel :blink:

And yeah the world design's what's getting me too. I'm a sucker for running around gawking at beautifully designed game worlds (glares at BotW), but the fiction parts I've seen aren't really grabbing my interest. Unless of course we're given the option to engage in properly epic slug-fests with some of these world titans…

Perhaps I'll just piggyback on your plan: Foolio plays it, you watch him play through it, and then the two of you can tell me if it's worth playing :ninja:

KaizokuJinbei

I think I'm most excited for Octopath Traveler love the way that game looks

Halfmetal-lich

Octopath Traveler (Omg just call it that lol) looks great.

I might cave and get the switch before Fire Emblem.

lr-hr-rh

I also second the requests for any info or impressions on Octopath Traveler from those who have the demo. It looks pretty damn interesting (I still need to play Bravely Default too >.< )

maxterdexter

I… Didn't like octopath. Is like square going "look, we can do indie look better than indies!!" And then they make sprites with minimal animation.

RoboBlue

@maxterdexter:

I… Didn't like octopath. Is like square going "look, we can do indie look better than indies!!" And then they make sprites with minimal animation.

I have to agree. It could be a good game, but the art style didn't do anything for me.

KageKageKing

I just realized something.
[hide]
Grand Dad is canon

[/hide]

maxterdexter

@RoboBlue:

I have to agree. It could be a good game, but the art style didn't do anything for me.

It's not that the art style is bad, and that weird mix of textures does look amazing. Is that they are steeping on the terrain of indie games, and that bothers me.

Like an professional baseball player going to an amateur league.

Wagomu

The worst part of the art style by far is the characters. They look like RPG Maker defaults. This is an RPG, so the main characters should stand out, and their concept for this game is to allow you the choice of 8 distinct heroes, so why do they all look like unimportant NPCs?

Beyond that, it comes off as disjointed. The styles for the characters, enemies and world are all different, and I think mostly undermine each other. I guess the enemies benefit a little from looking way more badass than the MCs, but the 2.5D makes them look like cardboard cutouts.

RPGs live and die on their worldbuilding, and art style plays a large role in that. Octodad's Adventure doesn't look all that inspiring, and I think that's an issue.

That said, I've only seen the trailer and not played the demo (I don't have a Switch), so maybe there's some redeeming qualities. I really hope so.

RomanceDawn

I like how in the direct the narrator talks about how Smash Bros fans should take notice and be excited by Samus Returns. Then they go on to hype some big secret enemy that will surely be some form of Ridley.

The seeds have been planted for a new age of Smash speculation.

MetaMario

Lol, the amount of "where's smash???" and variants was ridiculous
Such a game would overshadow the rest of the year's releases, and IF Smash 4 deluxe is a thing, they'd save it for e3, or early next year.

maxterdexter

A smash 4 deluxe would be e3 launch, a smash 5 would be a 2019 release.

And those are the optimal times, with the team being formed just after smash 4.

I personally wouldn't mind if they go splatoon with the next smash and start with less content, but keep on releasing the characters for free.

tatermoog

Most important question, when does Golf Story come out?

Nekketsu

I find Octodad a really gorgeous game. I never cared about graphics, it's all about the gameplay for me, so the combination of 2D character sprites and 3D scenarios makes for a thrilling experience. I'll play the demo and, most likely, end up purchasing it.

Sander

@maxterdexter:

It's not that the art style is bad, and that weird mix of textures does look amazing. Is that they are steeping on the terrain of indie games, and that bothers me. Like an professional baseball player going to an amateur league.

I'm not sure I agree with that perspective. Throwback 2d pixel art isn't some exclusive domain of indie studios. Indie games can look like anything, from something ultra-simplistic to a multimillion dollar budget monster of scale and graphics that allegedly can't even run on consoles ( Star Citizen). If indie games can be anything then the same is true for publisher-backed games.What I'm trying to say here, is that I see no implicit attempt to show up the indie scene in them choosing this style. Hell it's not even some gargantuan studio doing it. This game is from the studio that makes those wacky Way of the Samurai games. It also probably doesn't have that big a budget. Octopussy here is kinda like those Ubiart games or even Squares own Tokyo RPG Factory games. If anything, big publishers should publish smaller games more often. We need more variety and games that aren't a failure if they sell "only" a million copies. Square in particular could use more games that don't take a bazillion years to release.

Mumbo

I think if they replaced the nearly indistinguishable, pixellated character sprites with hand drawn sprites that look like the official art it would go a long way. The fact that you can't really tell what a character's face looks like completely undermines what is otherwise a gorgeous looking game.

Noqanky

I've gone through part of the Octopath demo (an hour or so of Primrose), and what bothers me is the fact that there's soooooo much exposition to the point where it feels extremely slow. I mean, there is some voice acting that is alright, but a lot of these characters and themes are so trite by this point that it becomes truly difficult to take anyone or anything that seriously.

And yea, it doesn't help that the art-style looks… well, cute. It's hard to be invested in the danger of certain characters if they just look like cute little avatar sprites.

Design-wise, the combat is probably the most interesting part to me, and even that so far feels conveniently broken or easy, with flashiness to make you feel strong but no real danger in anything. Perhaps it's the demo being kind to younger players? But then why are there themes of abuse and revenge? Maybe there's more difficulty onwards in the demo.
Which leads to my other issue. The two characters in the demo are tropes I could not care less about. In that sense their stories just fail completely at hooking me, and instead I just worry the game is inevitably short due to the expectation you'll play it eight times with different people. I have yet to see exactly how much difference there is in the story though.

Sander

How would the Smash community react to Doomguy in Smash?

Please don't shoot me with a BFG.

MrBits

@Noqanky:

And yea, it doesn't help that the art-style looks… well, cute. It's hard to be invested in the danger of certain characters if they just look like cute little avatar sprites.

I'm not following you here. How is that any different from any other oldschool (or oldschool style) RPG?

Noqanky

@MrBits:

I'm not following you here. How is that any different from any other oldschool (or oldschool style) RPG?

Not sure which ones you are thinking of in particular, but I'll give an example.

Mother games manage to elevate the villains to a level of creepy through things like discomfort and how dissonant they are in tone with the rest of the world. Take Earthbound, where everything is mostly cheerful and adorable and then the end area and final boss are extremely creepy in art-style, sound, behavior, etc.

Now, it may be just because it's a demo, but Primrose's segment so far has been entirely about building up two (arguably 4) characters as villains. One set of three villains is described in the story as having crow tattoos, and they do something evil and the only thing we know about them is the tattoo… but because of the art-style, there is NO WAY for the player to be walking around or watching a cutscene and notice that tattoo in order to realize the implications. Instead, the player has to trust and wait for the UI cue that describes them as "right/left-arm person", based on where they have the tattoo.
So that's one example of the artstyle failing to convey what the story wants to.

The other villain seemingly being set up is essentially a caricature of a pimp. It's a character that has no subtlety in his ways, and if anything reinforces that there's a lot of amorality in the specific town you are in. But then because of being such a caricature and being 99% talk, again, due to the artstyle failing to convey any action, it all kinda lacks impact.
Other things that annoyed me included throwaway characters being dicks for no reason all looking the same ("I guess that's the 'asshole' sprite template") and then random ass ally character that appears randomly for no reason other than needing to set up some positive motion for the main character.
In a way the voice acting does help a lot. I will say that the english VA for Primrose does an excellent job of capturing the emotion of the character. But that aside, it's just like you're watching this little diorama of a novella on your switch, which looks cute, but the emotional investment just is not there at all for me.

Basically, even in their simplicity a lot of 16-bit games manage to sell character through actions. This game's demo so far fails at that.

Foolio

Personally I was really turned off by the art style. It just isn't my thing. And that whole thing about calling it "HD 2D" is pretty dumb since that's not at all what they're doing. They're taking shitty low-res 2D sprites and mixing them into a sort-of-nice-but-not-really 3D environment. Like yeah pixel art can be neat but this presentation doesn't jive with me. And yeah I just have zero interest in "I am manly man who challenges everyone to a duel" and "I'm an assassin slut who objectifies herself to control people."

MrBits

Okay, I think I get what your talking about now. I still haven't played it yet (haven't had video game time since the direct), but yeah that sounds kind of annoying.

maxterdexter

Do the sprites even move their arms or hair when they move?

Demon Rin

Yay! My Special Edition copy of Samus Returns shipped!!

Should be here tomorrow! Whoooooooo!!

RoboBlue

@Sander:

How would the Smash community react to Doomguy in Smash?

Please don't shoot me with a BFG.

Only if BJ Blazkowicz can come too.

MetaMario

Mario Party Top 100 will have boards. Whether it's a stadium version, the OG greatness, or the annoying car, is unknown.
http://nintendoeverything.com/mario-party-the-top-100-site-indicates-that-boards-are-returning/

Either way it's better than being just minigames I s'pose. The boards add context.

maxterdexter

Star fox zero used for 16 EUR. Tropical freeze for 24. The new metroid at e shop price. Decisions…

RoboBlue

@maxterdexter:

Star fox zero used for 16 EUR. Tropical freeze for 24. The new metroid at e shop price. Decisions…

Get Tropical Freeze. It's probably the best of the three, and Metroid will almost definitely go on sale at some point anyway.

MetaMario

Lol I'm watching the Japanese direct, and I noticed Japan doesn't get Mario + Rabbids until Jan. 18. Still a Western made game I guess XD
and at least in the trailer, Mario's voice clips directly come from Mario 64??

Green_vs_Red

@MetaMario:

Mario Party Top 100 will have boards. Whether it's a stadium version, the OG greatness, or the annoying car, is unknown.
http://nintendoeverything.com/mario-party-the-top-100-site-indicates-that-boards-are-returning/

Either way it's better than being just minigames I s'pose. The boards add context.

Silly meta don't you know you don't need context to screw your friends over or get get screwed over yourself in Mario Party.

KageKageKing

Mario Party, ruining friendshipes since 98.

Ruin

The blurb also mentions adjusting turn count, and as far as I know, the car games didn't have that since they were all point A to point Z

Johnny B. Decent

They can re-use boards from past games, if need be. I'll take what I can get.

Cyan D. Funk

I can't wait for Giant Bomb to re enter Mario Party Hell.

Wintermute

Good luck everyone in Europe trying to get the new Amiibos. My brother and I had to import the Bayonetta amiibos and the Metroid from Japan. I'm glad they're on the way.

New Samus? Forget it.

MetaMario

@Ruin:

The blurb also mentions adjusting turn count, and as far as I know, the car games didn't have that since they were all point A to point Z

couldn't that also mean turns for a minigame competition or something?
:thinking:

Ruin

@MetaMario:

couldn't that also mean turns for a minigame competition or something?
:thinking:

this explains it better than I could

MetaMario

@Ruin:

this explains it better than I could

nah I saw that.
If there's the original boards this might slide into a purchase….

Noqanky

I actually would buy that game… if it were on the Switch. Much easier to play with other people on that, whereas with the 3DS there's hardly a reason I could expect anyone but me to be carrying one.

Oh well.

MetaMario

Yeah that's still the draw of it all isn't it >_>

shadyagent

Can anyone recommend a fast (Reading and writing) micro SD card for the switch?

RoboBlue

So… with the SNES classic coming out soon, there's a question I'd really like answered: Will the former Argonaut staff who worked on Starfox 2 be paid anything for it?

It's a moral issue that I'd hoped would have been resolved months (or really, years) ago, but sadly Nintendo appears to have stayed completely silent about it.

@shadyagent:

Can anyone recommend a fast (Reading and writing) micro SD card for the switch?

I use a generic class 10 32gb and it works fine.

Green_vs_Red

@RoboBlue:

So… with the SNES classic coming out soon, there's a question I'd really like answered: Will the former Argonaut staff who worked on Starfox 2 be paid anything for it?

It's a moral issue that I'd hoped would have been resolved months (or really, years) ago, but sadly Nintendo appears to have stayed completely silent about it.

I would think they were paid originally when they worked on it, the issue here seems to he with royalties which I honestly don't know a whole lot of how they work in the video game spectrum.

maxterdexter

After a search, the company was dissolved, if they hold any right to the game, to whom are nintendo going to pay? The chip is a more interesting case, who owns that patent?

RoboBlue

@Green_vs_Red:

I would think they were paid originally when they worked on it, the issue here seems to he with royalties which I honestly don't know a whole lot of how they work in the video game spectrum.

As far as I know, Argonaut wasn't paid anything at the time. They were pretty pissed about it.

KageKageKing

Son of a bitch!

Superstar Saga remake spoilers

Green_vs_Red

I honestly don't remember that in the original game…...or the movie theater lobby.

RoboBlue

@Green_vs_Red:

I honestly don't remember that in the original game…...or the movie theater lobby.

It was easy to miss. I never encountered it either while playing.

maxterdexter

Is the wiiu VC of DK64 good?

Jarhead

@maxterdexter:

Is the wiiu VC of DK64 good?

It is a very collecta-thon heavy game with certain elements being weird or in certain cases, broken but as a whole it is passible.
There is also much backtracking, especially when you want to complete it fully.
Banio kazooie and it's sequals are better in any case.