Dufniall

I haven't started sorting yet as I'm not that far in the game, but in previous games I would sort them by type, and a separate box for legendaries and favourites. I finished the first gym yesterday. The challenge is a nice mix up, and the battle in the stadium feels more epic than regular gym battles especially thanks to the soundtrack. Had some fun in the Wild Area before that, and I really like the mix they have now between Pokémon walking around and random encounters. Stuff like Surprise Trade is nice as well, especially when someone decides to send you a Sobble. For the rest it feels really linear. And the constant roadblocks are bloody annoying. I prefer the HM method a lot over this "you can't go this way because of X reason". So far better than Ultra Moon, but I have a feeling this will be my almost least favourite entry in the series. But to be honest I think one of the main reasons is that I just feel the series has gone stale and I am done with it.

I got the game on Saturday but yesterday evening I finally had some time to play it. I've only put about 2 hours in and the game is charming, but also has it's flaws. No voice acting as mentioned before is really a miss. That opening sequence with the guy talking in the stadium, at first I really thought the audio was missing as the mouth kept moving. It just looks silly. I know it's impossible to voice everything but they could have done it at least for the cutscenes. Another issue is the same I had with Ultra Moon's opening. You can't take 2 steps without someone healing you as @Hero-of-Time also mentioned. As if the game is afraid to give you any bit of a challenge. I really like the bit where the starters are playing around before picking one. I hope there are more moments like this in the game, it's so charming and really adds character to the 'mon.

A set of three new posters is up on the Dutch My Nintendo site (so I'm guessing in all EU sites since they ship from Germany again): Mario Kart, Metroid and Zelda. 300 platinum coins plus postage, same as they had with the Splatoon ones. I'm gonna skip on these but the quality of the Splatoon ones are good so if you fancy them grab your chance. Edit: and you can also bet 10x 20 platinum points in a raffle to win an SNES Mini. That's kind of weird.

Listener question: I was looking at the list of 2020 games and there is not much confirmed yet, only a couple of big titles like Animal Crossing and Xenoblade HD. Realistically, which games do you expect for 2020?

On it, should be up in a couple of minutes

Honestly who keeps that many clothes on in the sauna? Some waifu fans will be deeply disappointed by that!

And here is the official introduction, all up in the main site: https://n-europe.com/features/introducing-n-e-cafe-an-n-europe-podcast I've listened to the podcast and it's awesome. Some great bits of banter there!

I already proposed posting it on the main site in the staff section, so I can get to that tonight with a nice introduction plus the first episode. I can always embed the SoundCloud, but I think in the end you want it on as many outlets as possible so I would definitely put it on the NE YouTube. I don't have that access but I'm sure we can find someone who has. Anyway, awesome. I'll give it a listen soon!

For everyone who is still on the fence, why not give @Josh64's review a read?

Damn, I think I sold my copy back in the days for 10€... Being a poor student and a gamer was a bad combination, I've sold quite some valuable stuff for dirt cheap back then...

Luckily the game runs great in handheld so you could just keep playing while in the chair with someone digging around in your mouth. I wasn't thinking about getting this game as I've never played a LM game before (I know!), but man this all sounds quite convincing. I may pick up the LM remaster first as I've seen it for around 20€ new on 3DS and continue from there. In fact I have LM for the GameCube at home borrowed from a friend but never got around to playing it.

And it's not like they didn't market it. It was in a bunch of the Directs, they put Hero in Smash, and the 10-hour demo. I think the timing is just bad. If they released this in the barren first half of the year instead of now it might have sold a lot better. What always held me back of starting a DQ game was the fact that it's called 11 (or some of the earlier ones on 3DS). It makes me feel like it is an ongoing series and I'm missing out not having played the first 10 parts. Which is nonsense, as it is a standalone story, right?

A new batch of info about the games will be shared tomorrow:

Cheers! Yeah, exciting and slightly stressful times are ahead, but after the first weekend of redecorating (read: thrashing the place) I feel like we are still on schedule. If I never need help I know where to find you Sam (for the site, not for redecorating ). And I'll fill in your schedule soon @LazyBoy, just need to figure out when I have an hour off where I can both play and talk.

I saw my name mentioned a couple of times in the other thread, and I never replied there so I'll just go ahead and shout out here. First of all I love that you are considering putting this under the NE brand and are effectively helping making the site and forum a better place. That's always very welcome! I'm liking the hybrid idea between playing games and a discussion. It's a safe way to have a fallback in case the discussion goes stale, and it should lead to not having to edit different takes in the end like you have with normal podcast discussions. I think there are some difficulties to tackle first. One is getting good audio input from all the talkers and get that recorded, getting the Smash games recorded and syncing that up. For audio you could go for a Skype or discord session and record that. If you want really good audio though the best way is to record everyone individually and then merge the different tracks. That's really time costly though, plus everyone needs a recording option. For video I think the best thing is to get someone who can record be the spectator, that way he can mess around as well. Ideally you need someone who can hook up the Switch to a PC or a standalone capture card. How do you record gameplay @RedShell? Then there is getting the group together. 4-6 people is a lot, especially on a weekly basis. But I think the key is to start easy and from there build up your quality. So start with recording the Skype session and syncing it with RedShell's recording. If that is doable you can start thinking about an intro and an ending graphics, and maybe some extra overlay in between. That's my take on the technical side of things haha. I have some experience with video editing but not for this site. I can always help with social media posting, managing the YouTube and stuff like that. I would also love to be one of the talking members although it really depends on what day it would happen. Finally I just bought a house (:D) but that means I have absolutely no time until Christmas to do a lot for this (:().

Cheers @Shorty, it works and I can now access the site on my work's wifi!

I was expecting a shredding version due to the thumbnail haha. But it sounds great, a really good cover @ArtMediocre!

...except the Labo VR glasses.

I've got a question about the accessibility of the main site. When I type in N-Europe.com by default it goes to http://. When I go to the forum it goes to https://, so the more encrypted route. The case is my work WiFi started blocking http websites, so on my work WiFi I can access the forum but not the main site. I can manually type in https://www.n-europe.com but that is not loading properly. I also read that in the future Google Chrome may start blocking http sites or elements completely. So the question is: is it possible to make the main site also encrypted through https? That way it may be a bit more future proof.

After finishing Case 5 I think it is time for a verdict so far. I'm loving this game. The graphics and artstyle are really well done, and the typical humour really makes for some more light-hearted moments. The pacing is good as well, with the mix between exploration/detective work and action. I know Platinum Games mostly from Bayonetta, and it amazes me how many mechanics are in this game. Starting with a racing bit, then there is the detective work, chasing people, combat, side missions, just a lot of different things going on. The only two things that bug me are that the controls really get complicated when you have a couple of Legions at your disposal. Stuff like switching to the Sword Legion to cut a link between two enemies when I was doing something completey different makes me panic a bit. And then there is changing weapons, using items, using specials from your Legion etc. I usually end up just binding enemies and whacking them. But the worst thing is the movement of mouths in dialogue. Jesus, it just does not match at all and that's really disturbing!

Cool! Well I'm available all evening, so say around 7PM UK time?

That's insane! Is that something you can get by playing in-game or do you need to spend some money to get the tree to grow? It's a fun game to play every day for a bit. Right now I'm around level 21 so I'm just steadily working my way through it. Like @Hero-of-Timementioned in the Gaming Diary thread, online is a mess. What an absolute lagfest and I can't see how Nintendo cannot get simple games like this or SNES online to run smoothly.

Well, it happens I am available tonight and tomorrow afternoon for this! If you have time that is.

Not one but two 3DS themes are available now for only 100 platinum coins each! Is anyone even still putting effort in collecting these platinum coins?