The Nintendo Switch

YOU LEASED

YOU LEASED

YOU LEASED

Haha. Dark Souls is an absolute masterpiece of a game that qualifies for ~Video Games as Art~ imo but it really isn’t for everyone. I don’t know if I’d say “if you like Zelda, look at this” even though I proselytize for it as much as I can. It is, by design, abstruse in mechanics (+ story/lore, it’s all intertwined) and will make you suffer. But the thrill you get if you stick with it is pretty unparalleled.

If you’re worried about long stretches between checkpoints and how annoying poison darts might be before you even play it... might not be your thing.

lol @ YOU LEASED

i haven't played the Switch DOOM but from the sound of things the main issues come from it being a brand new game and them having to push the hardware to get it to work at all. DOOM was designed so you could play it on a brand new PC with resolution cranked. DS is an older game that was designed with the lower res and framerate in mind (in fact if you unlock it to 60fps the world physics break somewhat).

dark souls is the greatest game of all time

i never really understood the idea of video games being a "power fantasy" because i've never felt powerful playing them. to me, i was still just controlling a triangle shooting blips at squiggly circle asteroids or whatever. with the souls series "it's no one's fault but your own" philosophy of game difficulty, a certain level of abstraction was removed between myself and the avatar. MY skills were being put to the test in the game. and when i got to a certain level of confidence to be able to face up to a 50ft tall wolf with a 100ft sword without hesitation, it was a feeling i've never experience before in a video game.

xp the switch dark souls is gonna be the remake though, they rebuilt the entire game in the DS3 engine apparently. so it won't necessarily run like a game from 2011 would

What else are we hyped for, anyone jonesing for Mario Tennis?

lots of stuff! celeste next week, bayonetta 1&2 next month (i've played some of 1 but obv never got to play 2), then hyrule warriors, donkey kong tropical freeze, and dark souls ports in the spring. still waiting on a release date for octopath traveller too, i suspect that will be in the "real" direct that inevitably follows the mini direct soon.

i'll certainly play mario tennis too but not as hyped for it as i would be for a new mario golf

oh also i've been putting off playing hollow knight for the switch version so hopefully that comes through soon

Yeah, looking forward to Hollow Knight. Pre-ordered Kirby, Tropical Freeze and Dark Souls (all of which work out to be maybe $35 a piece, which is fair). I heard really good things about ... Kentucky Route Zero? Fe? Would totally buy Sexy Brutale if a patch was released.

Don't see the appeal of Tennis, tbh. All the (at least cartoony) sports games, they bug me because so much is out of your control. And mea culpa, I totally shop for games like I'd shop for a car! No joke. I want to see what would give me the most fun for the best price with the best value. So (for example) a lot of people like Binding of Isaac, which offers tons of gameplay, but didn't seem like something I'd have fun playing, especially for the price. Or Doom (which I've never played) seems like it would be fun, but not for $60 (especially with reported performance issues). But Dark Souls for less than $40 (and yeah, I know I can get all these things used), seems hard and may ultimately not be for me, but I like the idea of it and am intrigued, plus (as a fan of this system) I want to encourage more ports like that (assuming it is a good port). The Shovel Knight package is such a good deal all around: fun, good content, good price, free DLCs. Otherwise, like I said I'm going to take advantage of the library to try a few things out first.

Test drive, if you will.

Oxenfree is £4 right now on uk eshop

I bought that one when it was on sale here, looks pretty cool, waiting for the right time to play it.

Josh! all in on dark souls, and I like it. I'm going in for that one as well.

Well, the way I look at it, difficult, not difficult, frustrating, easy - they're all just video games.

life is just hell though

is kentucky route zero on switch? i assume they're doing a console release once the final act comes out? it's one of the best of the story-based gameplay-light indie games that i hate calling 'walking simulators'. oxenfree is v similar in style but is more horror where KR0 is more fantasy/weird fiction.

yeh they announced a PS4/Xbone/Switch release of Kentucky Route Zero to coincide with the final act release on PC in “early 2018”, that was a few months ago though

Shovel Knight sounds good - is it a sideways platform game, or a Metroid exploring thing?

Outside of, er, Jet Set Willy, I've never had patience for 2D platform/exploring games, probably born from the childhood trauma of playing Jack The Nipper II.

(But like, sideways Mario/Ghosts and Goblins-type things are my favourite sort of game.)

Shovel Night is a linear, level-based platformer.

yeah it's a megaman, not a metroid

Shovel Knight is really charming in its simplicity. I'm still enjoying it a lot.

Splatoon 2, I'm confused. Can I play this at home with the kids - like, does it divide up the screen like Mario Kart? - or is this one of those games you basically play with strangers online?

you'd need two switches for local multiplayer. game devs don't seem to do that sort of split screen stuff much anymore

good to know, saves me a purchase. or library take out, for that matter.

Splatoon is an online multiplayer game yeah. it's one of the best but if you don't do that thing there's no way you'll enjoy it

otoh, i never do that and i fuckin loved splatoon

So you played it single player?

no, online!

Squadron 51 looks sweet

http://nintendoeverything.com/squadron-51-coming-to-switch-later-this-year/

That looks awesome. The wave of great looking Indie Games alone is enough to keep me happy with this thing for months.

Two new games out now on digital that I'd like to play:

Sidescrolling runner Shu; only $10 and the art style and platform physics look delicious

http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/shu-switch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7fbVR_eMdI

New Squenix old-school RPG Lost Sphear; less value priced at $50 but the turn based battles in the trailer sure seem like they'd scratch an old school itch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xejat0lBlZ0
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/lost-sphear-switch

Might want to beware on the rpg - kotaku had a quick first thoughts item on it today that was pretty negative

hm, thanks!

shu looks great

It does, but with Hollow Knight imminent I don't want to OD on platforms.

lost sphear is made by the crappy squenix retro team, their last game I Am Setsuna was a pretty big dud. the good team is the ones that did bravely default and are making octopath traveler now. id wait for reviews on sphear.

Other hyped retro-y platformer coming up: Owlboy

yeah that ones on my list too, forgot about it

Saw that Wolfenstein II is coming to Switch, too, at the end of the year. Not to go back to Doom, but I'm wary. With Doom, some people say it's great, others say it's a mess on Switch. I don't know who is right, but I do know Bethesda concedes a lot of the bugs, which range from audio dropouts and weird sounds to game freezes and crashes. It's unclear if that's due to the Switch and its limitations or due to Bethesda/Panic Room rushing the port.

from all accounts I've heard doom switch is fine and about as good a port as is possible given the hardware

i've been buying Bethesda games since like 94 or 96 and they've always had a reputation for bugs iirc

Bethesda and id Software operate (pretty much independently) under the Zenimax umbrella, shouldn't be conflated.

Not sure who worked on the DOOM port

Panic Room?

Oh, missed that.

the important thing is that the new wolfenstein games are both great and everyone should play them

xpost Same people that did Doom, and the problems I hear about Doom go way beyond Switch limitations. Like, reduced resolution, that makes sense. Audio drop outs, crashes, slow-downs ... people have real issues with these. Bethesda even has an official reddit bug discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/7bmk8o/doom_for_nintendo_switch_faq_known_issues/

Kind of sad how many issues can only be resolved by restarting.