Glen-i

Is it the stupidly long password that's stopping you?

Wait, is that how you get them? I've been wondering for ages why I haven't gotten any. I still have that Rocket Poster in my house despite Rocket never setting foot on my Island. Gotta get one of my current favourite villager, Cranston. As well as Fang. The rest can suck it though. Not worth it.

I've never been so offended in all my life!

That's a strong start, almost better than the 3DS entries. We'll have to see whether it can actually top the original versions 5.85 million. That'd be mad. Also agree with @Hero-of-Time's sentiment that Pokémon SW/SH doesn't deserve to batter so many better entries. Just a case of right place, right time, I suppose. It's still the best Pokémon game since Black 2/White 2 though.

Mario Kart League reminder for @BowserBasher, @martinist, @S.C.G, @Jayesse, @viceview51 and @RedShell Apparently, the UK's lockdown will start getting a bit more relaxed from Monday. I'm hoping that visiting family will be more relaxed so that I can return to my League duties. Can't have you lot getting too used to Player's Choice, after all.

Yep, that's the name. What were his parents thinking!? As for your point about the optionality of most of the asterisk holders. You'll be happy to know that Bravely Second does exactly what you want. Any asterisk holder that is part of the main plot is fought in the main plot, with some optional side stories rewarding you with optional jobs. The mad thing is that Second's mandatory asterisk fights are all new jobs not seen in Default. And some of them utilise some really cool mechanics.

Dude, that's the only way I can even stomach Fire Emblem. Grind everyone until the point where I can get through a fight with no deaths. Strategy? Nah! I just need to get stronger. On an unrelated note, my favourite FE is Shadows of Valentia.

Any Xenoblade game without Adam Howden just isn't Xenoblade. Which is why he's in all 3 games. And anyone who actually believes English Reyn and Riki aren't a million times better than the Japanese versions are people who must not be trusted. Also, I like to always point out who Melia's voice actress is most well known for. If the Wii version came out a few years later, she'd be way too expensive for that niche project.

I would cancel Metroid Prime 4 in a heartbeat for that Boo game. Even if it was a DS game. Especially if it was a DS game. Especially if the actual title was "Boo Game" The world is a sadder place for not having it. EDIT: Man, if the Boo Game pitch was from 15 years ago, then Donkey Kong Country Returns is forever ruined because Boo Game died for it.

I got the true ending. Everyone is happy. Except for the bad guys. They mostly dead. Not Dario though, he gets the last unconvincing laugh. As for your second question, I got both. When I fail, I fail hard. I seriously hate that mirror boss.

I've seen the credits roll on Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, a DS title that came out some time. Not sure when, I'm typing this while I have no internet connection. It's one of those Metroidvania-style Castlevania games. You play as Soma Cruz, who has to stop this cult from reviving a "Dark Lord". It's probably Dracula. Soma has to travel to their evil lair and prevent ol' Draccy from coming back again and maybe then, I'll finally be able to pull off that 9.9 Simon route on Smash Ultimate. The general gist of this kind of Castlevania game is to explore a big area, killing all kinds of demons and gaining sweet experience points to level up and not die as quickly. There's also all sorts of equipment to find and a variety of different weapon styles to suit your playstyle. I liked the Katana, because it was quick. Like the Metroid part of it's genre namesake, there's also a number of abilities that you get from bosses to help traversal and open up new areas to explore. But these abilities aren't just from bosses. Upon beating an enemy, there's a chance that you'll absorb their soul, and when you do, you get a new ability based on the enemy you got it from. There's more than 100 of them, so there's loads of room for experimentation. Keep in mind though, that most of these soul abilites use up MP, so you can't spam them. Being a DS game, Dawn of Sorrow has surprisingly little touch screen utilisation. What is there is really superfluous. The main use is drawing magic seals at the end of boss fights to seal them away. It adds nothing, yet I still enjoyed drawing those symbols. Felt strangely satisfying. The game would probably be better without them, but I don't care. It appeals to the childish part of me. The bosses are a lot of fun, apart from two certain bosses that I think are weirdly out of place, considering how difficult they are. Good ol' memorisation through failure until you get it right. Graphics are nice enough, Soma has a ridiculous power walk like any good Castlevania protagonist. He even leaves afterimages for some reason. He's not remotely fast, so it kinda looks silly. Soundtrack is pretty good too. Some catchy tunes. There's also some voice clips for certain bosses, which suffer from what I like to call "Eggman Syndrome" They serve to give a heads up that a certain attack is coming your way, but end being unnaturally repetitive. Dario's laugh is a particularly funny case because it doesn't really sound like a laugh. So yeah, this is the first Castlevania game I've beaten (I never bothered with the True Ending of Aria of Sorrow because of the RNG involved) and I certainly enjoyed it, might have to play more in the future.

Earthbound is an RPG that's unlike any other. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on your tolerance for some old-school RPG shenanigans. The game is rough while you just have Ness in your party, it gets a lot more manageable once he's not alone. Might as well get Xenoblade HD at this point if you want a super long RPG. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn gets a real bum rap. It's not as good as the first two, which should be played before even thinking of touching Dark Dawn. But it's a perfectly serviceable game with some weird pacing issues. It takes about 3 quarters of the game to get the plot going and then it abruptly ends in a pretty unsatisfying way. Gameplay is fine though. I'd go Earthbound.

Welp, I'm in trouble then. Like most reviewer questions that pop up, I'm gonna use this good old example. The PMD series is notorious for getting low review scores from critics, yet are continuously received quite favourably by fans. I put it down to a lot of these reviewers just not liking the genre. Which is a valid opinion, but would it kill them to find someone who actually likes a traditional turn-based roguelike to review it? Fans are also more likely to actually finish a game as well, which is very important. I don't see a non-fan taking the Link's Awakening remake, beating it and then typing up a review in less than a day. *cough* Humble Brag *cough* So yes, I think some reviewers should be fans. Otherwise, the fans that are interested in a game won't know what to expect. And I'd lose my reviewing gig here.

I wonder if they got the voice actor for the older Tiki that shows up in Awakening to do younger Tiki's voice as well? Because it does smack of an adult trying to do a child's voice. I know @Dcubed is not a fan of that voice as well. I do find it quite funny when you play as her and turn into a dragon, she's constantly shouting "Rarrrgh" like a kid pretending to be a monster.

Yep, tonight is Mario Kart. Reminder for @S.C.G, @BowserBasher, @RedShell, @Jayesse, @viceview51 and @martinist. 8pm, UK time.

Well, that's because technically, it is. The mechanics building this up are great. Commanding your allies to tackle something while you're busy with your own task adds a much needed sense of strategy and the weapon triangle works brilliantly. My massive issue with this game is that most of the characters aren't as fun to play. And when you take away all the clones, you're left with a really bare variety compared to Hyrule. Comparing the base characters from the WiiU Hyrule Warriors really shows Fire Emblem up. Hyrule had 13 characters, all completely unique. As well as that, some of them had multiple types of weapons, which may as well be different characters. (Link had 3 extra weapons, Lana had 2, while Impa and Zelda had 1) A free update shortly after release also added 3 more characters and another weapon for Link. So 24 different ways of playing. Meanwhile, Fire Emblem has 15 unique styles of characters, but the roster is built up of a bunch of clones in an attempt to make it feel bigger than it actually is. And not a lot of them are very imaginative. Out of all of them, I'd say only Tiki, Ryoma and Lyn were enjoyable for me to play as. The rest bordered on middling to boring. And holy hell, Troubadours are useless. Meanwhile Hyrule's duds for me consist of Ruto, who sucks, and Midna, who has one amazing move that means you'll be using nothing but that, which quickly becomes dull. The rest are wacky and imaginative. And then we get to the DLC. Hyrule's brought even more mental movesets like Tingle and Zelda's Dominion Rod while Fire Emblem decided to bring 5 more clones alongside it's 4 characters, which just feels rubbish. Don't get me wrong, Asura is decent, but when it brings along a 4th bloody archer, it sours the experience. Bring in the 3DS characters for Hyrule and Fire Emblem's roster just looks sad in comparison. Especially as FE really narrows it's focus on three games in the series. Lyn and Celica were blatant afterthoughts, seeing as they're clones of other characters. Hyrule has 8 different games making up it's selection! You can play as Marin! She can summon the Wind Fish to body slam enemies! It's great fun! There are loads of classes in Fire Emblem that are left out in Warriors, where are the Knights? How about Awakenings Taguel class? Bow Knights spring to mind as well. Berserkers? I'm still playing Hyrule Warriors on Switch, almost 100% now. The characters carry this kind of game for me. Fire Emblem may be the better game, mechanically speaking, but Hyrule lets me run over stuff with the train from Spirit Tracks, and that's just great!

Speaking of animals you hate, remember that rabbit Mira you instantly took a dislike to on my Island? Yep, leaving tomorrow.

Woah, creepy! My shop has that today as well. That price is proper bananas though!

Did somebody say Beardo? I've got him on my Island. Anyway, good to know that @drahkon is too cheap to buy 500 bell medicine for his neighbour. How has that bear got brown chest hair when he has blue fur everywhere else? It's Bowser's green face, yellow body all over again. At least his house is pretty swank.

All you need to do is add @BowserBasher as a friend on your Switch and then show up next Thursday at 8pm (UK Time)

Heads up for @BowserBasher, @S.C.G, @viceview51, @RedShell and @martinist for Mario Kart tonight. You try messing with the size settings on the phone, see how you like it.

Silver lining for me not getting updates currently, I suppose. Anyway, started raining when I woke up at 5am. 167 fish baits later, no Blue Marlin. 5 Tunas though.

I'm glad you took the time to read D's Journal. It's definitely one of the most intriguing aspects of Bravely's plot. Obviously won't comment on your thoughts because spoilers. But I will say that you ain't seen broken yet. Not by a long shot, you wouldn't believe the insanity that you can pull off with some job combinations.

OK, I might have gotten 100% completion, but even I didn't level everyone to 150! Just Tiki, she's the fastest to level up due to constant XP bonus from all the Awakening Mode she does. You madman!

I am all over world map creator! Shame I can't recreate all of my WiiU ones, which were somewhat designed with a gradual progression in difficulty.