Topics created by Axel

@mbun Yeah I get that the appeal is supposed to be the open-world exploration, and I would be excited about that... if it didn't look just as basic as the Wild Area in Sword and Shield. It may be larger, but that's it. Maybe they're really bad at making trailers, but nothing they've shown tells me that there's anything to see in this barren world except for sparse roaming Pokémon. Traversal itself doesn't seem particularly interesting, sure you'll have ride Pokémon but are there any areas that are challenging to reach in any way? Morrowind had a more interesting open-world 20 years ago. In a post-BotW world, it's not enough to just say "We're open-world!" So anyway, I hope it turns out more interesting than it looks so far, I'd buy it day one if they gave me one good reason, but I don't see it yet.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (3DS) + [Finished]: Very glad I got to finish this! This is definitely a highly regarded game that has earned that type of love. Very well crafted gameplay mechanically and structure wise. Fallout: New Vegas (PC/Series X) +: After playing The Outer Worlds in 2019, wanted to dive into another Obsidian game! Metroid Prime 2 (Wii) +: Would enjoy finally finishing this trilogy to lead into Prime 4! Metroid Prime 3 (Wii) +: Same as Prime 2! Banjo Kazooie (Switch w/NSO) + [Finished]: A very jolly time all the way through! Gruntilda is a fun villain and her rhyming throughout the game was a fun time to figure out what she would rhyme and whatnot. Fun worlds to explore and the music was grand! Final Fantasy VII (Switch): This was FFVI on the GBA, but realized I want to finish FFVII as well. If the Pixel Remasters do get announced for other than PC, I will gladly play those and add FFVI to this list next year, but do want to finish FFVII before Remake Part 2 comes out. And getting an Analogue Pocket eventually helped this cause as well. Final Fantasy XV (PS4): I got this for Christmas in 2017. This year better be the year to actually prep for XVI. Outer Wilds (Xbox One) + [Finished]: My PS4 copy is bugged, so thankfully Game Pass saved the day in this regard. But, this game is just as amazing as Isla said and I am glad I didn't skip it! Paper Mario (N64/NSO) +: Another early stalwart of my N64 recollection that I would like to finish. Probably will play it on the NSO at this point. Yakuza 0 (PS4): Paused it last summer and would like to return to it this year because I loved my time with it in those first few hours! God of War: Ascension (PS3) [Finished]: In July, I Platinumed the entire God of War Greek saga except for Chains of Olympus as I finished that last year. Ascension was a fun game. Nothing great or anything, just fun times. Mega Man Legends (PS3) [Finished]: Really enjoyed this game a lot even for how it's aged. The music is fantastic. The vibes are grand and I do love the Bonnes. Onto Mega Man Legends 2 soon! Persona 5 Royal (PS4) + [Finished]: Finished my playthrough at hour 162. And I could've probably hit 200 and still loved it at the same level. This is one now easily one of my favorite games! -- Six games out of 13. Not too shabby I would say. Very slowly working my way through Paper Mario as I just got to the Desert area. The desire to play Final Fantasy XV is growing to beat that before XVI comes out. Same thing with Final Fantasy VII with Crisis Core Reunion coming out soon. But also, the clock is ticking for Metroid Prime 2 & 3. I did start Fallout New Vegas two months ago and played for an hour. Then realized I shouldn't be playing two giant RPGs together as I was playing Horizon Forbidden West during this time as well. So, one day!

@shoulderguy Totally forgot about those, thanks for the reminder :)

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/20/eastward-review-zelda-meets-earthbound-15283877/ Perfect review for the game. After playing it for 7-8 hours I can say this: TOO MUCH DIALOGUE! It's not what expected at all. If you are curious about it and want to give it a try, remember this: You won't play a beatiful looking fluid action-adventure but instead beatiful looking dialogue heavy, light action old school RPGesque indie. I would be really happy if they showed this side of the game while promoting it instead of the ''adventure'' vibe they usualy went on the trailers. I heard it's getting better after chapter 3 so I might give it a little bit more while I am at it but after that probably won't see the finish line if it's going to continue like that.

@yoshi That is how opinions work.

@jdincinerator said in Your Pop-Tarts & Toaster Strudels for Q3 2021: Now both my pop tart and toaster strudel for this month both turned out to be pretty damn good, I can't help but feel that I should've given my toaster strudel to Far Cry 6. Far Cry 6 is coming out as part of the upcoming quarter, so you'll have the chance to make it your toaster strudel in the next thread (which I'm about to make) ;)

@jdincinerator Maybe I came on a bit strong. Give it a go whats the worst that can happen. Its definitely not as challenging as Forest, its a much better game all over. If you enjoy challenging but fair platformers can't see why anyone wouldn't like it.

@mbun I’d argue a game like Ori pushes the boundaries of depth and camera composition for a side scroller whereas Metroid just looks flat on and common. It goes way beyond just sci-fi vs fantasy. No matter where you are standing in Ori, and even Hollow Knight to a lesser extent, there is a fantastic sense of depth between the FG, MG, and BG where every layer of the composition works to build the world and be aesthetically pleasing. I guess that attention to detail is why I wonder how a Nintendo game doesn’t really hit that bar. Metroid Dread doesn’t look horrible but when the competition is on a whole other level, you’d think the AAA publisher would try to reach it too.

THE Q&A has been published, with some interesting additional tidbits: Many new software titles will be released this fiscal year, starting in the first quarter, which we think will help continuously expand the range of consumers who play Nintendo Switch to include those who haven't played Nintendo Switch in a while or are completely new users. Yes baby, bring on E3!

@sazime Hmm well you can always send me your votes anyway, and if they only affect games not revealed yet I could still count them, otherwise I won't because we'd have to restart the countdown :)

My pop tart (Deathloop) got delayed and my toaster schrudel (Knockout City) did pretty well, so I'm wrong on all fronts here.

im excited. I wish they had cross buy so i can play with my switch and pc

Axel's submission in the March showcase: Youtube Video – [39:25..] I think Jones mistaken Episodes from Liberty City with Liberty City Stories, lol.

@dipset Working a quick video of it, will probably have spoilers as I'm just gonna use mercs footage.

@mbun I still need to read the reviews for Bravely to see what they think about the story/characters, as that was my biggest worry. I'm sure the combat and systems are good, they always have been, but I'm not playing through another "Chosen one saves the world through the power of crystals" plot ever again.

And that's a wrap! Stay tuned for the top 20 reveal!

@E_Zed_Eh_Intern @Axel - Thanks fellas! You're too nice. Per The Wire vs The Sopranos, I'm definitely in team The Sopranos but they are different enough and achieve such different things in their own right. I think The Wire rightly gets so much praise for being the first and possibly only show to actually tackle the intrinsically complicated nature of power, race, policing, and capitalism all through the lens of a believable scenario. But I really think The Sopranos doesn't get enough credit for its extremely tight and simple storytelling. Watching an episode is like watching a 40-60 minute play with its own beginning, middle, and end. There aren't any gimmicks with this show. It doesn't pull a Breaking Bad where every episode ends with, "Are they gonna catch Walt next week?!" It just has strong characters and New Jersey as a back drop and that's it. Take in the fact that they use 4:3 aspect ratio and the storytelling still feels intimate and cinematic. Just sit that camera on a tripod and watch the scenes play out. Another thing I love about The Sopranos is that it isn't always dangling some cliffhanger ending over your head about what's going to happen next. Every episode has it's conclusion and the next episode is rarely connected to the previous episode. There is a bit of connecting tissue like Big Pussy working with the FBI, or the FBI building a case on Tony, but those are more like things in the background as opposed to the inner workings of the plot. Both series ask some hard questions, and again, I think The Sopranos gets overlooked for having some deeper themes. Things like men's mental health, family roles, interracial dating in a conservative family, depression, how religion affects relationships. As an Italian Canadian, I've personally seen religious hypocrisy in my own community, where people will look down on divorced families, but then live trapped in miserable marriages themselves. So the show is almost cathartic in tastefully showing these inner challenges without finger wagging. In the grand scheme of things those questions aren't as hard hitting as The Wire's exploration of policing and gangs within cities, but both series are super challenging without being on the nose about it. -- I only want to do my rewatch of the series because A) it's the best and feels like a warm blanket, and B) the prequel film The Saints of Newark is releasing in March 2021, so I may as well lead into that with a full head of steam. My expectations for the film are pretty nonexistent, but it's written by David Chase so it's probably solid.

That was really cool :)

Wow the Switch top 10 software sales have even better sales numbers than even the Top 10 selling titles that the PS2, a console that sold almost 3 times more than Switch, sold. Youtube Video