The Nintendo Switch

the story in celeste is good, too. it's weird to die 4 trillion times on a level, finally make it through, and then get treated to a little cutscene making a surprisingly subtle commentary on depression, and being unable to tell if that other voice in your head telling you not to do something is laziness or the voice of reason

yeah this is legitimately one of the best platformers ever made and has a generous amount of bonus/secret/postgame content after clearing the main story, similar to mario odyssey. $20 is a very fair price.

Celeste now #2 on eshop best sellers, 1 spot ahead of evergreen Stardew Valley. The formula/time window for this ranking is obscure but it’s definitely hitting with people.

Someone start a Celeste thread we don’t deserve it all to ourselves on the Switch thread.

this is going to be GOTY for some people, for sure. can't recommend it for everyone because it's definitely in the Extreme Platformer category. but it is a cut above games like super meat boy imo. it has a softer edged humanity that balances really well with the crazy-ass feats of platforming that you're required to pull off to progress. in the tim rogers video above he cited someone else calling it "the dark souls of mario", and that's kind of right

Celeste! ♫ the best a game can get ♫

started Celeste today, already bewitched

Best Buy had Rayman Legends at 50% off! I know buying too many games is a bad strategy, but that's a great deal.

buying too many games is a bad strategy

*citation needed

Well, it's too easy to fall behind, imo, and not give the games the time and space they deserve.

Speaking of which, dipped into Celeste. It's really hard and meant to be hard, and the controls take some getting used to, but I'm approaching it (and I think it's meant to be approached as - a series of puzzles, with each level/screen offering its own distinct challenges. And it's really challenging, too, with death after death after death. But it's still pretty gentle with the deaths, helped by the fact that you're not, I don't know, a hunk of meat being shredded into a bloody pulp. The deaths are fast but regeneration is almost instant. I can imagine spending a few minutes on it at a time - baby steps - rather than hours hammering away at the relentless difficulty.

By the way, the Switch Pro controller must feature some sort of magical battery, it holds a charge super well.

this is so awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBAukVbwTxQ

I was already stoked for this game but it sounds like they're going out of their way to make it as user-friendly as possible.

By the way, the Switch Pro controller must feature some sort of magical battery, it holds a charge super well.

I think I'm getting a little sick of the firm "SNES/NES sprites + gorgeous fantastical settings" art style. It just seems too blatantly like nostalgia bait to have one element arbitrarily look so familiar and retro vs the rest not necessarily adhering to those design guard rails at all. It's scans as pandering. Obviously some pull it off better than others.

seems like it would only be suspicious if such games were developed by large, well funded teams. otherwise, it seems more necessary than arbitrary.

unless I misunderstand which types of games you mean

oh, I guess you were talking about project octopath traveler? I thought you were after celeste

octopath looks pretty unique to me idk. the backgrounds are also in the style of old jrpgs, just given depth

Celeste I was just thinking yesterday is a good example of using “pixel art” in a way that isn’t at all “retro”

yeah there's nothing NES or SNES about Celeste to me, it's just pixel art

i'd even go as far as saying it's closer to ori and the blind forest in aesthetic than it is to an explicitly retro platformer like shovel knight

Octopath got me thinking about it yes. Their sprites seem to be straight out of Chrono Trigger and the worlds they are in are 3D models/not 16 bit. I'd have to look around for other specific examples.

I just feel like I keep seeing trailers featuring simplistic character sprites in front of intricate backdrops and that dichotomy seems designed to make geeks in their late 20s-30s drool.

the environments use the 16 bit textures but with modern lightning effects which works out to a kinda unique effect but yeah it's definitely going for nostalgia on some level.

First Steamworld Dig is out on Switch. Loved the sequel, do I want to original? Most consider the 2nd one an improvement. How about Night in the Woods? Do I want that?

haven't played the first dig but have been told that 2 basically obsoletes it i.e. it doesn't do anything that 2 doesn't also do but better. so I'm passing on it.

Night in the Woods is a well written but depressing story-based game with themes of mental illness and small town American decay and young people coming to terms with the fact that they've inherited a broken world.

Overcooked is really fun, if really stressful.

We've played Overcooked a few times, and I still can't tell if it's good or bad for our family.

It is the Sunday IKEA trip of video games.

Haha Overcooked is a major argument starter. Get out of the way!!! WHERE ARE THOSE BUNS I ASKED YOU FOR!!!

Indeed, I would not recommend weighting allowances and birthday/holiday gift budgets by Overcooked performance as I've done in my family.

Octopath has an early 2000s 2D-on-3D aesthetic, reminiscent of Golden Sun's battle scenes and the original Ragnarok Online. Don't think I really like it, tbh.

i think it looks way better than e.g. lost sphear which is made by squeenix's other retro studio and has the most generic look ever

I like that kind even less - the low-poly style early 3D look aping the PS1/N64 generation (and rehashed for so many DS/3DS-era/mobile ports), but point taken

https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/01/nintendo-labo-hands-on/

Is Golf Story any good? I see it's on sale, but as the owner of Stardew Valley (which in retrospect I can't imagine playing) and Thimbleweed Park (possibly ditto) ... I dunno. Thimbleweed ... I mean, I grew up playing King's Quest and Space Quest and Police Quest, but this didn't seem like that, the little I played.

Anyway: Golf Story?

thimbleweed is more like a lucasarts game than a sierra game

i liked golf story but i never figured out putting

Golf Story is a bunch of fun

golf story is alright, the golf itself isn't as tight as the game boy mario golf games that inspired it but it's still worthwhile

anybody getting dragon quest builders? i've had my eye on the ps4 version

owlboy's out next week

Labo looks like expensive cardboard

And makes me feel like there's always a moment every few years when Nintendo is no longer my friend and is trying to trick me

The early labo reviews and previews have been pretty positive. I mean, it's not for me, but if I were a kid or someone with younger kids that might be appealing.

Owlboy, I've been looking forward to that one, but I keep reading how it's all style and no substance, looks great and sounds great but the game itself is kind of so-so. True? I am more excited about Hollow Knight.

i will buy owlboy and hollow knight sad to say. still flailing at celeste

Thimbleweed Park is worth persevering with, it's really fun. The difference from when I was a kid is that, I just don't have time to play as consistently, so if I take a few weeks' (or months!) break, I always forget where I am in the story. I'm sensing this with Zelda a bit, too.

And makes me feel like there's always a moment every few years when Nintendo is no longer my friend and is trying to trick me

The issue I had with Thimbleweed was its repetitiveness. You have your person on the screen, and at the bottom you have things they can do or say. So you read all the things they can do or say and choose one, then the character says or does that thing, or both. Which feels redundant and takes forever. Tbf, I played it for maybe 10 minutes, but it felt a bit like watching paint dry. But at some point I'll give it another shot.

Still really like Thumper, when I play it, btw.

i got thimbleweed on steam and tried it for a few hours and found it dull

i thought the first half of thimbleweed park was good and then it went off the rails. so if you're already not into it at the start then i'd say bail

anybody getting dragon quest builders? i've had my eye on the ps4 version

i played the ps4 version when it came out. rentals aren't a thing anymore, i guess, but it would be the perfect rental. i was really into it for several hours, i built up my base, collected some key items, took down the first big boss...and then i never played again. part of it was confusion: the game vaguely told me that i should head "over the mountain" (or something like that) to access the next stage of the game, and after several journeys looking for the destination, i just gave up. but also, i knew that once you go to the next area, you essentially start over from the ground up, and i wasn't looking forward to that. i dunno, ymmv, but it was one of those games where it was really fun until suddenly it wasn't at all and i just left it behind.