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Lens of Truth

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Posts posted by Lens of Truth

  2. Posted

    Looking beautiful in handheld mode! Rather enjoying the nostalgia-service, but it feels artificial unlocking abilities in this way after Odyssey and BOTW basically dropping you in a playground and saying "GO".

    Dialogue is funny and I think they've pitched the knowingness just right. There's just way too much text!

    Seems to work perfectly as a portable game.

  3. Posted · Edited by Lens of Truth

    When I first completed this I thought it was in the good-not-great category... The more I go back to it and explore every mountain, every enclave, the more I experiment, the more I discover, I've come to think of it as a true masterpiece. This is all in spite of the fact that I'd have (like many) preferred a more detailed story and full blown dungeons with different themes.

    Taken as a whole, what the game achieves is astounding. Even now, after about 120 hours, I'm finding new things and the subtlety of the lore and history of the world is phenomenal. It's the closest Nintendo have ever come to realising the freedom and vision of the original Zelda concept.

    Playing Xenoblade 2 I'm constantly feeling desperate to climb rocks, branches, walls, zoom up waterfalls and glide over the landscape! I can understand some changes not being to everyone's taste, but you have to applaud the willingness to chop up and change up the Zelda formula and the sheer technical accomplishment (only played on Switch). Visually, I find the limpid 'plein air' stylings to be a perfect fit and perhaps the most accomplished look in the series - it has the otherworldly cartoonyness of windwaker, with a necessary level of detail and 'physical' realism to the world. It's like playing in a flipping Studio Ghibli film!

    The gentleness of the game's overall message and quiet philosophical inflection is something totally at odds with the sword wielding, monster killing adventure genre, and a kind of balanced sensibility that could only have come from Japan.

    (As an aside - Skyrim felt terribly clunky and soulless after this and I traded it within a couple of days!)

    What time is the game awards?? Can't wait :bouncy:

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

    1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

    Well that answers my question then!

     

    In for MM9 and MM10.  Don't care about the rest as long as they're crappy Digital Eclipse ports like on other systems...

    I'm looking forward to this but haven't been keeping up... what were the issues with the Legacy ports?

  5. Posted · Edited by Lens of Truth

    1 hour ago, liger05 said:

    From Digital Foundry :

    Undocked:
    - Dynamic resolution, very low, down to 368p at its lowest and up to 552p;
    - Worst image quality in a Switch game in portable mode;

    That's unacceptable. 368p is ridiculous. Wasn't sure about this game but the handheld performance really keeps me from getting this.

     Can't believe they couldn't do stable 540p minimum. 

     

    Wow. I was wondering if I was experiencing mental hyperbole in thinking at times it reminded me of 3DS resolution... turns out I wasn't :shakehead

    The low res isn't even the whole problem with some sort of 'sharpening' applied across the board making it a complete mess akin to a heavily compressed jpeg!

    I'm a little shocked that they got X running a stable 720p on the weaker Wii U. Quite why they went ahead implenting a whole bunch of extra lighting etc if it meant it displays like this is beyond me. Aren' they supposed to target handheld spec and then allow the extra grunt docked to bump it up?

    The sad thing is the game is absolutely wonderful - a lot more accessible than the previous two entries, with more than enough depth. Story and chatacters have a wonderful freshness about them. Docked also looks great and the art style reminds me of Tales of Symphonia.

    Hoping I haven't completed it by the time the patch is out!

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    Only a couple of hours in and very impressed with the sheer confidence and brio on display here - the sweeping orchestral music, beautiful visuals, direct storytelling, humour and streamlined gameplay. Surprised I actually find the English voices a lot more charming and in keeping with the cheeky style than the genero Japanese cast of stock characters.

    One negative so far - they simply MUST turn off the horrible sharpening filter applied to handheld mode. Performance is otherwise great. I'd sooner have it a little soft than an edge enhanced mess with artifacts and halos around every character. What were Monolith thinking?! Havent seen this sub-amateurish attempt to 'soup up' the undocked display on any other switch game... thank goodness docked mode looks superb! Until they patch this out I'll only play handheld for grinding purposes.

  9. Posted

    Not being one to prejudge a game but...

    Following the beauty, spirit and attention to detail of Sonic Mania, this looks, sad as it is to say, rather shameful for Sonic Team. Seemingly all the worst elements of modern Sonic, badly implented, with poor to non-existent level design, haphazard aesthetics, dodgy controls, 'serious' tone and returning characters such as Silver and Shadow, who are practically calling cards for jankiness at this point.

    Why do all this gunk and then try to square the circle with 'avatar' customisation?

    Christian Whitehead and co understood that Sonic is about joy, colour, charming characters and replayability. Forces' take on noughties epic emo 'tude looks conversely more dated than a pixelated 90s throwback. :blank:

  12. Posted

    Speedrunner testing out Mario's movement and controls:

     

     

    Aside from what looks to be the most fluid, tight and versatile moveset since Mario Sunshine, there are so many things to love about this game! They've really embraced the whimsical collison of elements that's always been a part of Mario's core iconography (Italian plumber vs mushrooms and turtles...). It looks absolutely beautiful and the music is top notch (though that's par for the course now with Mario). Also, very pleased you don't get booted out of a world on collecting a moon!

     

    Agree with the Sega comments above. It's as if Nintendo have taken on some of Sega's freewheeling imagination and design from the Dreamcast era, with things like this, Splatoon and Arms. Now to summon up the will to go on a blackout till release... :shakehead

  13. Posted

    Fantastic review @Grazza ! You should write for the main site :)

     

    Just off the back of completing this and I have to echo all the prase. This is a series I always admired from afar, having only played the Monster Lair arcade game in the early 90s. Eventually, I got round to this and the Megadrive entries on Wii VC and fell in love.

     

    Lizardcube have lavished it with just the right level of polish to allow the original core game structure to shine. I'm pretty stunned by how fun and captivating it is, given it's almost unaltered mechanically! That's a testament to the quality of the art - even little touches in character animation seem to clarify hit points and movement, making it more playable. The music is superbly arranged with real intelligence and flare as well.

     

    Now to collect the remaining items and charm stones. I think I have a new favourite indy developer :love:

  14. Posted · Edited by Lens of Truth

    Out of mild curiosity I tried the Puyo Puyo Tetris demo yesterday and, my god, if it hasn't left me gagging for the full game!

     

    First time playing Puyo (never did get to Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on the Megadrive) and it's very addictive figuring out how to get combos. Still, Tetris is the main draw for me. Having a mix and match of the two works surprisingly well, but for some reason the Tetris AI is a lot tougher.

     

    I'm even loving the simple cute characters and retro sound effects. If, like me, you approach the Switch as a potable with benefits, then this seems like a must. Bit annoying that it's out the day before MK8 though and costs £35!

  15. Posted

    The lack of anti-aliasing has been throwing people off (and the swirling vortex of negativity that is neogaf). I wasn't expecting such a clear upgrade from the Wii U version!

     

    Sold out at both base and argos as well. Tempted to get an order in with shopto...

  17. Posted

    Also from the Kickstarter email update:

     

    Due to time constraints, the orchestral soundtrack, 64-bit shader and dev commentary will be added to Yooka-Laylee post release.

     

    Glad Kirkhope is still getting the chance to record with live players! It's clear he's written this in a more nuanced style similar to the masterful Viva Pinata. The synth/sampled strings and brass in Glitterglaze Glacier don't do his writing any justice.

  19. Posted

    Regarding the game, the 8-bit mode has really surprised me, in terms of how accurate the remaster must be if you can just switch back and forth. All cleaned up though, so even if you opt for 8-bit, it'll be better than the Master System.

    The impressive thing is that somehow it seems to transcend a simple reskin job!

     

    I love the idea of being able to flip between 8bit and modern both visuals and music (and independently). They've really refashioned the whole look, giving it a nice sketchy quality.

     

     

    And again, the music isn't simply a case of 'upgrading' the chiptunes with dodgy samples or whathaveyou - each track has been developed with a special character of its own, perhaps only implicit in the original (and recorded with live musicians).

  24. Posted

    Don't often post these days, but have to say I find the reaction to Ronnie's pretty mild comments and occasional sarcasm to be utterly disproportionate.

     

    To me it mostly reads as an attempt to root for the underdog and counterbalance certain pervasive attitudes here and elsewhere. Why the need for all the smug superiority and 'my blanket statement is better than yours' rubbish.

     

    What happened to the notion of individual taste? It's really sad to see this place descend into such clubby nonsense.

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