Rummy

It's sounding to me as if this might be cracking enough in its writing etc to really keep up with the series. The writing/humour has always been the absolute pinnacle of all Mario RPG based games imo - absolute definition of tongue-in-cheek on Nintendo systems. I felt it was a bit weaker in Dream Team(the game on the whole felt a bit longed out and I gave up) but this seems to go back to what I'd expect of it all. Still...I do feel like it's not something I'd want to drop more than £20-25ish on, which I feel bad about. I must admit I'm generally fussy/miserly when it comes to gaming experiences, but considering how reluctant I am to use my Wii U now it's just got to be at a lesser price for me. As much as I loved Sticker Star it was helped by being portable, the idea of sitting down at home to play this or something else kinda knocks me; though that's why I'm particularly excited about NX if it's fully realised as a hybrid as I think it'd get me playing stuff a bit more really. I've still got lots of unplayed Wii U games to go - maybe I'll try and pick this up for a go at some point if the price comes down.

Why, that may be extreme enough in combination with my previous post for you, Ronnie, to admit that even I might be right sometimes

With the lack of anything, I'm starting to wonder if we could actually make a boat that provides a better experience for gaming fans than Nintendo are at this moment.

Yeah it ramped slightly as I continued after that post(doh!) but it's still not an exceptional challenge...yet. I haven't gone too deep down the stats etc - I'm mostly attempting to go for elemental advantage/balance, high attack, and leader skills that lend themselves to that too(for leader and helper, currently using an earth knight leader that boosts dragons, and stuck the dark, fire, water dragons in alongside some healing light animal thingy, think called Kururu?). Need to get my head around this egg thingy too - I'm presuming the thing to do is hatch all ??? eggs but then use all eggs after than to boost monsters? Are there any secret egg combinations/types I should be aware of being better than others(maybe spoiler a response though, not sure if I want to know know yet)?

Did you read JBS's review on the main site? Tbh from that and what I've seen of the videos etc I'd take it that if you were a Sticker Star fan then this is probably not a bad punt at all. Not played it to give a fully informed comment though, but I imagine if you liked SS this would be good enough to tick the boxes too.

So I've cracked on a bit - gone with P&DZ as advised and not touched Mario yet. Can't say I'm feeling terribly challenged so far(died once in a special rune dungeon thingy) - think I just defeated the first big big boss thing otherwise. I haven't gone too heavy on DEF - though tbh I've always been a bit more offensive/recovery based than defensive so I'm quite happy seeing that sort of balance of option of the two so far. Some of the story/writing is fun, some very basic and pun based jokes but I'm a sucker for that so it's all good to me lol. Its Match 3 nature in that it isn't straight swaps is kinda cool and interesting, adds a little extra layer of depth/thought to it that I'm enjoying as I work out new things/tricks. It does sometimes feel kinda blind-luck-esque too though(not that I'm complaining). Need to get my head around the levelling/upgrading a little bit more - just unlocked the third machine in the base but not played with it yet; might give me a few new thoughts to consider!

You seem to pose this argument regularly - but I don't think it holds. If you ask me, even though I played it much later than when it came out, Super Mario RPG was actually pretty graphically stunning for what it was when it was imo. However - does that mean you'd still take a game in that visual style now? What if there's something that looks MORE fantastic? What if there was something that looked MORE fantastic at the time? Very little of any of this is really as static as you seem to think. Or maybe it is and you should just go buy a Gameboy and SML or something, iono. It was amazing at its time, right? Why bother to ever push any harder? Absolutely agree. Nobody's really trying to say Nintendo have super shit visuals or capabilities as far as I take it - but just that they ARE arguably behind the competition. Now, if you're manufacturing a game and go multi-platform and you develop with a certain level of graphical fidelity easily achievable on Xbox or PS, yet it's not as easily achievable on the Nintendo system - that's a barrier. Maybe it's not related to the raw power of the Nintendo system, or higher achievable power squeezing out efficiencies, but maybe it's just difficult in its architecture and design that porting the code is tricky. Obviously if it ISN'T up to scratch on the visual fidelity capabilities due to hardware, it's for a different reason but it's still the same barrier in essence. That's the sort of thing that then causes problems(apply the same to online systems rather than graphical capabilities, if you wish, and maybe even then beyond!).

I've actually heard it's quite a large passenger ship capable of carrying equal to if not even possibly more than its competition's number of passengers for some pretty impressive feats, but it actually also has a smaller speedboat attached to it that you can use for smaller journeys out and about. Of course it all depends on how well they maximise their use of space to really get the most out of it and to also consider whether or not passengers really want to take a trip on it. All very tricky territory really. On the subject of ports though I heard that it is very likely to be dockable either way at least.

Hmm. Wasn't something I was considering necessarily just kept thinking recently with the 3DS one out why there was never one on the Wii U as surely Mario Party was a perfect fit for gamepad usage - then I realised it did exist and wondered why I never heard its gamepad usage talked about on the same level as that of some of the Nintendoland games!

I'd say they certainly sold it to me, though maybe I was a sucker for them at the time. The most disappointing thing is that I just did not feel as if they subsequently supported it with similar to the promises they made WHEN they sold it to me.

Another super boomp on my part. Out of interest as I never played this(tbh I forgot it exsited til this question came up in my mind) - how good was the Wii U gamepad usage for this, especially in terms of asymmetrical gaming experiences such as like in Nintendoland?

More so Wii than anything; but I got talking to someone at work about the BMJ's general Christmas articles and in looking for the one I was after I came across this one that rather amused me; http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7267

They have to be careful devaluing themselves with it - though I guess with plans to stop production(did this already happen?) it might not be a risk by time NX comes out. Flameboy's just bought one, and there's a decent amount of good content on there if arguably not a wealth of it - I think taking a £100-150 run on it possibly isn't a bad idea but right now I worry it eats into their NX potentials. Bit of a rock and a hard place really. Whilst I agree the wireless was pretty pitiful @Clownferret, I think the Wii U was mostly let down by its lack of parity in terms of online features with the competition, a lack of diversity/wealth/breadth of software and support, lack of very specific Wii U-centric asymmetrical experiences, and its general pricing over time. All easy pitfalls for the NX too(maybe not the asymmetrical gaming experience, but more utilising full potential of whatever approach they've opted to take) if they aren't careful with it. Despite saying all that it has some solid bits to it in places which has made it all the more frustrating as a constant contradiction. Nintendo really is that annoying ex you just can't seem to stop going back to.

Z sounds pretty cool/fun as you describe it. How much difference/similarity would you say there is in essence between the two other than what seems to be a difficulty curve? Kinda sounds strange really that it ended up that way round(tho I'm going mostly on your opinion admittedly). I caved and just grabbed it in Argos earlier so I'll get the other eBay copy shifted once I have it; hopefully gonna check it out this eve as I have an hour or two to kill between work and popping out later! As said I have played Puzzle Quest before which could be a bit mean at times(though generally easy enough/grindable) but I'll take your advice on it and try and start out with Z over Mario later on; will let you know how I go!

Thanks lol, wasn't sure if the joke would come across when everyone's so tense for information. Just seems to be so many people calling it on all sorts of different angles and revising after every time it doesn't happen that I find it quite amusing now I've given up even trying to imagine when it'll be and just waiting for the content of it when it happens. I think the real nail for them here is going to be pricing as I mentioned in the last post - Sony and MS were smart going more off the shelf for the cost reductions it's afforded them over time; it leaves Nintendo in a difficult position of being 'between generations' yet still needing to price competitively. To come back to it - you asked a few posts back if the Wii U ever had an official price cut? I don't know the answer to that, but if you consider it hasn't and(as also mentioned by others in the thread recently) - the PS4 old stock just had a huge retailer-wideish price deal of £199.99 with Fifa 17 or something. Even if you didn't get that deal - if Nintendo come out with something not matching at a higher price than £250-300(taking into account solid handheld/home console hybridity, and not too many half versions on the go) can they really expect to compete, especially with a post-xmas March time(presumed) launch? £300 really seems, to me, like the ideal mental limit for a handheld/home console hybrid from them unless they manage to really show people how it's going to be both a 3DS and a Wii/Wii U for them and hence worth the higher pricing. There's a lot of apprehension/watching waiting approach to Nintendo by many now too - whilst it's not all doom and gloom it is something to certainly be aware/mindful of. Back to that quick point of a Wii U push tho - even at £150 I don't feel it's good enough right now. £100 for the console, maybe £180-190 for the console and 5 premium games(the players choice or whatevs they call them) maybe. It just isn't something I feel generally really worth the price looking at the larger market right now for gamers.

Super boomp! I suddenly remembered this game existed, thought I'd look at prices and turned up a rather handy £10.95 delivered from TheGameCollection via eBay. Wish I'd bought it sooner really as I'd only have probably paid pounds of difference if that, prices haven't shifted too much. Got to thinking my 3DS has seen barely any action in the last year or so barring a Master Quest playthrough and a fair bit of Pokemon shuffling at the earlier part of the year - so I thought why not pick this up to get the full on Match 3 fix!! @Glen\-i I presume you still stand by your advice of playing Z rather than Mario first? I'd obvs prefer the Mario brand side of things for familiarity etc, and I'd be tempted to go for it first at the odds of burning myself out(ha!) on the Z side and taking a break after, but I'll still take advice on board before it arrives! I played Puzzle Quest quite a bit, on DS iirc actually, and didn't get too worn out on grinding up as a Warrior there - so maybe I'll survive both of these. EDIT: Gaaah bloody google shopping! It leaves out Argos for reasons I can't fathom! Cheaper by 96p there for a tenner - should have checked first, doh!

And next week too just in case, right :p? Maybe each other week of this year too? Yeah the currency differences are a bit of a shitter - but really they can't go too hard on the price here with the competition being offered by the PS4/XBone; especially with a post-Christmas release. I just don't think they have enough pull to keep people holding their money for it unless they do something absolutely remarkable with this system(such as top value for money, as one example). One thing I do wonder with a falling pound though - are there any potential advantages to it for them? I mean not having a domestic UK arm(as far as I'm aware) makes it a bit rougher, as still going via Germany to here puts the Euro against the GBP; whereas if they'd had more setup over here keeping/using money inside would have been of some better benefit no? Maybe even a good time to take some advantage of the weaker £ to contemplate setting up something even... Of course Brexit might have a harder impact to make it not sensible; but also Brexit might also even possibly necessitate it of them eventually? I don't know either way, free flowing speculation just spilling out as I type atm.

Dammit @Hero\-of\-Time! You've made me torn. Really enjoyed your review @Kaepora_Gaebora, and I felt it was balanced enough in explaining the flaws that it made me more of a £20-30 movement on this. Yet reading Hero's post has thrown me back in the other direction! Whilst I don't know if I'll be too bothered with arbitrary painting completion if it isn't too extensive then I could possibly be convinced by it. I think my real concerns are the same highlighted by the review, and the similarities to Sticker Star and some of its flaws(which I actually still rather enjoyed nonetheless). Never finished Dream Team and subsequently never touched Paper Jam - wondering if this might be the one to get back on board with. (Really do want to see them move back to the Mario RPG/Paper Mario levels of production and style with NX though) EDIT:Unrelated - though mentioned in the review- the complete lack of effort in attempting to change the name to the British spelling strikes me as either strange or just sheer lazy on Nintendo's part.

Welcome to the joys of buying/selling and property law

I think my minimum/most wanted thing is a decent online infrastructure and system at an OS level on par with MS/Sony's current systems. That includes cross-buying between systems etc. Also having sales and monthly offers etc. I wouldn't be abject to paying for an online service and getting free games/free game pick off VC. Obviously with this - needs to be games offering an online experience too. I reckon Splatwoon would go down a treat within the first 18 months - they gotta also work on the aspect of finding games and friends in that too though. Next up would be a sensible level of 3rd party support, hopefully from the bigger studios. I'm presuming Nintendo will court 3rd party indies - but they need to work harder at that and get more common/popular titles too. 1st/2nd party wise - they need to innovate some of their titles/franchies/create new IP. I feel a certain level of franchise fatigue due to not enough innovation between titles; hopefully they'll really work to mix up the next rather than milking the NSMB formula or something similar again. Decent price. I realise it's a hybrid, but you can't quite charge the price of a home console+handheld on a single approach in Nintendo's current situation. Given the dual nature, I think £300 is the highest I'd go but tbh that's still sour in my mouth for Nintendo - maybe £200-250.

Besides which Alak already kinda beat you to that punch yesterday :p AND besides which didn't this get brought up recently by someone else in the thread? Having said all that I never even played BG&E but it does seem likely/true this might be coming to the NX which I guess can't be a bad thing; I understand it was a rather well received game.

I see! Thanks for the reply! I never played Minecraft so don't know to compare the building style - once I got used to this it was quite easy(as you say, double-stacking and moving with the build buttton down easily lets you do a line of bricks without too much fiddling). I'm not sure it's something I'll be picking up at full-price due to general budgets atm, but I'm gonna keep my eye on it and maybe get it around xmas depending what it's going for then - I've still got plenty to play for my PS4 plus a heavy SNES hankering atm(not to mention one of the PS4 titles is Dragon Quest Heroes too).

OK yeah that's amazing to be discovered just now. Presumably intentionally programmed in rather than being a glitch of some sort - love little things like that coming to light ages later!

The Blue Coins felt like a real cop-out disappointment to me. Never bothered with them at all and didn't feel too fussed - as you mentioned Nando too many of them just felt a bit obscure really. Was just too many of them I'd say maybe.