Yep, Psychonauts 2 and 12 Minutes for me - currently going through Psychonauts for the first time in preparation, really looking forward to both.

Sorry, been on vacation, will do this tonight.

Prior Pop-Tart's (Q1 - Returnal, Very Good) (Q2 - New Pokémon Snap, Solid)
Prior Toaster Strudel's (Q1 - Riders Republic, Undetermined) (Q2 - Mario Golf: Super Rush, Middling)

Pop-Tart
Death's Door - Cute crows.

Toaster Strudel
WarioWare: Get It Together! - I see this struggling with reviews.

@oscillator Conversely I don't think I've ever been as sick of sports as I am right now, I'm an NC State grad. To those unaware, our baseball team was just eliminated due to Covid protocols while on the brink of reaching the national championship. Gut wrenching.

@yoshi I'm not really sure you're grasping the argument, but that's fine. You could apply a similar argument to a ton of different games if you choose to. This isn't the first, only, or last.

I don't give a damn about Final Fantasy VII so I'm not sure if that's supposed to cut at me, it doesn't; I also think it's crazy how they're treating that rollout but that's a whole different thing.

I'm taking this literally, and when I see the word shown, its hard for me to even think of five. There were fun teasers, games I'm excited about, games that will be great and already know about, but almost none of those were due to their showings at the conference. That being said, the clear winner for me would be Forza Horizon 5; it looked and performed great for a cross-gen game.

@Yoshi

Pricing it at $60 implies the game is more special than its counterparts that were released at half the cost and lower for the past ~10 years. If you don't have higher expectations for a cheeseburger priced at $20 than you would if it was priced at $10 or $5, then I don't know what to tell you.

@mbun said in Metroid Dread thread:

I believe it does for multiple reasons. First of all, you have to try and understand the developer's intent with the project. I've already gone into this above and listed multiple reasons why the game might look as it seems to. Beyond that though, I really feel like people who just played something like Ratchet & Clank are bringing those next-gen, high-end modern hardware expectations into a game that's being designed to run smoothly on a 4+ year old glorified handheld.

There's not really examples of games that do what Metroid Dread is trying to do on the Switch that look much better, despite all the talk of "competition". The closest is probably Ori, and I've already touched on how that game sort of performs what it does, as well as technical hiccups I've run into while playing Ori you definitely wouldn't want to feel with an E.N.M.I. chasing you down.

I also believe the focus of this game to be the atmosphere and the story, instead of the pure graphical punch. Samus Returns came out about 4 years ago on the 3DS, so even though this game has been conceptualized off and on for ages, that definitely doesn't mean it has been in technical development for this time. There's no way it even could have been, given the Switch is only so old itself. Samus Returns was presented as a stop gap until Prime 4 when it was revealed, and I have to imagine, to some degree, Metroid Dread shares that fate of them wanting to quickly get a new entry out once they knew Prime 4's development needed to be restarted. That's not to say I think it has been rushed by any means, but I'm sure they didn't want to linger on the project too long after the storied history around it combined with Prime 4's situation. The fans have waited long enough.

Their intent seemed pretty clear from the trailers and commentary, they wanted to bring back 2D Metroid and continue the story. I don't want to, nor should anyone, compare the fidelity of this to a PS5 exclusive, that would be silly. Sad to hear you've had issues with Ori, I feel like I've mostly seen only praise for the Switch version - I'd try it myself but I'm not big on double dipping. I would be curious to know just how much of this game was hammered out prior to the completion of Metroid: Samus Returns, either way I doubt development time was a serious issue here, I don't think it was rushed or anything.

I don't agree with that, except in the very basic sense of them both being Metroidvania, Metroid games. If you look back at Samus Returns, the level of detail is greater than what we're seeing with this game, mostly to accent the 3D effect of the 3DS, although that's hard to witness without playing the game on the hardware itself. If you just look at videos of the game, things will look very flat with low resolution, pretty basic lighting / textures that reflect the 3DS's limitations.

Not an insult, this is just a natural extension of what was a seemingly good looking 3DS game.

I'm not so sure. On top of the basic Metroidvania type game formula we're used to seeing, they've clearly put more budget into the presentation, which becomes apparent during more action focused parts of the game. When Samus gets caught by an E.N.M.I., is charging her powered up charge beam, or is performing special attacks against bosses, the perspective will shift to something akin to a cutscene, except seemingly running in-game, with much more detailed visuals. This is something games like Ori lack entirely, on top of the other reasons I've previously presented for why Ori on Switch definitely is not the shining example people seem to think it is. I could honestly go off on an entire rant about how unpolished that game seems on multiple fronts, given I happen to be playing it currently.

I'm really curious about your issues, that sucks. I remember a thread which complained about the game on ResetEra and it ended up being something related to the physical version, because there were a lot of people attesting to the quality of the port. Regarding the presentation comment, I'll just say I disagree; everything is actively happening, I don't need to be pulled away from the action in those moments for it to feel like there's production.

They've made Metroid games in the past 15+ years. They just haven't continued the story of Metroid (much) in that time, which none of your complaints seem to be focused around.

100%, I'm just going off their presentation where they billed this as 'Metroid 5' and the 'first new 2D Metroid in 19 years.' When I say sitting on it for 15+ years, I'm alluding to making new games. They can sit on it for as long as they want, I don't care, but they're treating it like a big deal and that is part of the pitch.

It is very high up there on Amazon's best sellers. The Special Editions and amiibo sold out basically instantly. I'm not going to pretend there's not others like yourself complaining about the look of it right now, but end of the day people seem just fine paying $60+ for this game. Value isn't determined solely by graphical fidelity. The game appears to run silky smooth too, so from a technical standpoint it isn't bad either.

I don't want to wade too deeply into this, because I agree value isn't determined by any singular aspect of a game, I also think some the games this will be compared to may have been underpriced at launch. On the other hand, something selling well doesn't mean it merits the cost. We all know why those are sold out, and it isn't just because people think it looks good.

Yeah, I understand. Honestly, it is frustrating with how Nintendo games are with sales, because normally I'd just tell you to wait for a sale if it doesn't appear to be worth the $60 for you. I guess you can try your luck down the line on the second hand market. Personally, I'd prioritize how the game runs, feels, and nails the atmosphere it is going for over how dense it is visually, but I do expect the full game to have at least some chambers / caves you walk into that just immediately wow you with whatever is going on in there. Still I'm personally holding off on condemning the visuals before we get the full product, because we really don't know yet what they're saving for release. They only showed the very beginning.

Its really hard for me to concisely explain my feelings regarding Nintendo. Personally, regarding this game, its very possible I will buy it at $60, knowing full well it may be overpriced compared to the competition. I've bought a number of games for the Switch I think are priced terribly, and in some cases I can reasonably rationalize that; it just gets tiring for that to feel constant knowing full well no other publisher could for that exact product. Please don't take my comments as some final verdict, I just thought I would be more impressed at the jump given the heritage, price, and pitch.

@El-Shmiablo Yea, I think it's great they're returning to it, I hope it delivers for fans.

@mbun I have never made or published a game, and don't think that matters in regards to this conversation. There's arguably nothing wrong with how it looks if this was any game, but its being billed as a best in class return for a franchise, and I don't feel what was shown matches that expectation. This looks like an upscaled Metroid: Samus Returns, a $40 3DS game. Just from what they've shown, its hard to warrant a $60 price tag for this when something like Ori and the Will of the Wisps, a game developed by an indie studio over five years for Xbox launched at $30. It doesn't add up, the only difference is this is an iconic Nintendo franchise they've sat on for 15+ years, so they feel they can launch it however they please and people should just accept it. Again, its just a value proposition issue for me, it can be great and I hope it does, but I feel it has a lot to do to warrant the asking price.

As someone with almost no emotional reverence for the series, but who respects its status and place in history, my issue is the value proposition just doesn't line up with the competition which should lead to higher expectations. Now, this isn't something exclusive to Metroid, it is a common issue for me with a lot of Nintendo titles. This is a new, $60 entry in an esteemed franchise which is going to be compared to great games that released at half the cost, or lower. There has been a flood of these games over the last 5-10 years trying to satiate fans who love this style, and this is asserting itself as the best of the best by just naming it Metroid Dread. While I don't expect it to have an art style similar to Ori or Hollow Knight, it should damn sure look better than this - to act like it shouldn't is crazy.