Jonnas

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!! Ok, so. We did get a rerelease of the best Fire Emblem AND of the best Wario Land. I really can't complain. Only one point completely wrong. Pretty good prediction, if I say so myself! Baten Kaitos Collection makes me really happy. It's so great to see some quirky classics resurface; Advance Wars resurfaces! What an unbelievably bumpy road; The datamine for Fire Emblem Engage was right on the money. Hector looks more baby-faced than I'd like, but Soren and Veronica look excellent; GHOST TRICK!!!!!!!111!!!!1!! Pikmin 4 looks lovely. Not sure I like the dog, but I do love the Ice Pikmin; Layton returns! Respect; There were two detective games with RPG battles, and I don't think I'm feeling the genre fusion; I REPEAT! GHOST TRICK!!11!! GB and GBA games on the NSO was superb. Finally, a good reason to subscribe to the service; Metroid Prime shadow dropped? Mo'like mah jaw-dropped, amirite? Great to see one of the best games ever, returning in good form like this; Tears of the Mononoke Kingdom be looking great. I actually like Ganondorf's voice, it matches the various gruff, evil laughs we heard from him throughout the decades. So yeah, I really liked this direct. Packed to the brim with a lot of exciting content for me personally, and also not for me personally! EDIT: In the middle of all this excitement, I even forgot something that's also exciting: We Love Katamari

I am so happy right now. Baten Kaitos Origins finally comes to Europe! I've been itching to replay the original game for a while now too, this is such a treat! Regarding QoL changes, I only ask that missable cards are made easier to get or recoup in some form. BK was particularly obnoxious about that. God, I remember a playthrough I did where I was carefully trying to collect all cards, and then I ended up missing some anyway because a character left the party temporarily, and when they came back, a few cards from their deck had evolved twice, which means the middle stages were permanently blank in the Collection. Infuriating.

That cover is beautiful. So nostalgic. The trailer itself as well. All these years later, and I still recognize the attacking animation from those Space Pirates. The most significant change I noticed was the lighting and colours/contrast. There was a different "feel" to several rooms and cutscenes (like how some formerly dark blue enemies look so much brighter in the remaster). Other than that, everything looked pristine and accurate. You're in for a treat!

Well, well, well... You finally convinced me, Nintendo. This will surely convince me to get the subscription... as soon as I find time to game When I do, I'm interested in Alone in the Dark and Kirby. I'm also very happy with Wario Land 3 getting priority, impeccable game. Pokémon TCG was also a cracking surprise, it's such a good one. Finally, they're going to add best Fire Emblem for a wider audience to play, so I'm very happy with this initial roster.

I'm afraid I'm lost on this sentence. I get that the CMA has found the acquisition to be harmful and borderline monopolistic... But what does this part I quoted actually mean?

Finished watching it recently. The discussion side of things felt a lot more succint than usual, what with there being fewer allies than last year. Still the best GOTY ceremony you'll find anywhere. Even their sillier categories actually feel like they're looking to evolve how the medium is discussed. A lot of gaming outlets insist on repeating what the film industry does ("Best Direction" is one that pops up often, despite nobody being able to tangibly define what that means in a videogame), instead of trying to reframe things properly. Like, why are EZA the only outlet to put forward a "Best Boss" category? It's such a no-brainer for this medium! Anyway, sorry for the tangent, EZA did a great show as per usual. Love the quirky reads from Brandon Jones as well.

Well, well, we meet again, Nintendo Direct TM... Hopes and Dreams Still waiting for that Advance Wars release date... ...and maybe a remaster of Baten Kaitos and/or Skies of Arcadia? Definitely not a Mole Mania entry, that series prefers to stay underground. Translated versions of the SNES Fire Emblems New Wario Land! Realistic expectations I expect FE Engage DLC to be officially revealed. Its contents have been datamined, and if they're correct, I'm excited to see it in motion. On a similar note, no DLC whatsoever for Three Hopes. Doesn't sound like they ever had a DLC plan for that game. Pikmin 4: the first real look into the game Tears of the Kingdom: an in-depth look. 5 minutes at most. Miyamoto: "The Mario movie is almost out! Super Nintendo World is already open! Bye!" (further) Roadmap plans for Mario Kart, Switch Sports, and Splatoon 3 And that's it. Keeping expectations low... ...but man, that intriguing, exact choice of words is hard to ignore.

Man, the fact that the "Final Season" turned out to have 4 cours is hilarious. Still doesn't match to Dragon Ball Z (the Z stands for "Final Letter") being twice as long as its predecessor, but it stands out more.

Agreed. Possibly the best co-op game I've ever played.

I have a handful of games I'm planning on getting in February. I also should get going and purchase the Fates DLC.

I felt the same way, back when I played it. It's a shame, I was actually enjoying the gritty crime drama with the rough detective, but it clearly wasn't a full game.

Yeah, but the numbers on display don't change, right? Because we don't know the exact bonus, the actual hitrate is often more generous than the concrete number you're given. Though granted, it is obvious that this is the case. For some reason, I remember it being subtler.

Maybe not the series... but in this RWBY-looking game where everybody can turn into Emblem Power Rangers, the Saturday morning cartoon vibes are likely the intended tone. This message was sent during a Saturday morning.

I'm pretty late to respond, but I'm glad to see you finally gave SOVa shot! Knew you'd love it. To my knowledge, the original Gaiden did not have this. I'd be mighty surprised if Swap, Reposition, etc. already existed in Gaiden, but I don't think they did. Whatever abilities items gave, they already came with them. A side-note regarding this: the battle preview in this game still lies a little. The displayed percentages don't take supports in consideration (or even innate supports bonuses, which are invisible), and because of those, the battles tend to work out in your favour more often than not. This is more relevant in the late-game though, as early-to-mid don't feature enough supports for this to make much of a difference. Also, I think FE Fates Conquest also decided to use True Hit... But don't quote me on that. Dammit, man, I could've told you that. The grinding maps are the same as in other 3DS FEs, with the maps themselves being fairly boring. But grinding has miniscule returns in this game, so it's extra pointless. The rest of the DLC was at least more experimental, with all of the overclasses bringing new, fun animations, and the extra characters from Cipher... but those are very niche extras. The story DLC was better, I found. The maps themselves were fine (not excellent, but fine), but it's the extra cutscenes and supports that contain the most value (Lukas being a cold badass in one chapter, and Fernand being a thicc lover, were definite highlights). Still, 20€ is a considerable asking price.

Thank you for mentioning the dungeon design, which is one of the things I hated about Abyss & Symphonia 2. Review outlets never notice that for some reason, despite it being one of Symphonia's strong points (and an important aspect of the genre in general).

I mean... by all means, this sounds far more like the 3DS era. The GBA era was almost entirely devoid of skills and base activities, the GCN era had a much grittier aesthetic, and the DS games really toned down on plot and characterisation for the time... and of course, the Somnium stuff is right out of Fates. But I really hope it's good, and that folks enjoy it for what it is. I'll wait on this one, due to being a tad saturated on new FE games, but I'll be paying attention.

That only happened once, right? In Ocarina of Time? Every other instance, Ganon is getting killed in the final fight. It's the revival rituals that keep bringing him back. There's also at least two other unrelated villains who turn into a suspiciously pig-shaped demon by the end.

Skyward Sword and the DS Zeldas have significantly different control schemes from the norm. One can also argue that Link Between Worlds significantly alters the usual structure just enough to feel different. Outside of those cases, "Every Zelda game plays vastly different" feels like hyperbole.

Nice tip. I'm checking comparisons, and which art style is better seems to depend on the character. I remember when I played the demo, Raynie had a ridiculous chest (as in, the proportions and perspective were laughable), but in the older art style she looks much better. Meanwhile, Stocke seems to look much better in the newer portraits. There's also an evil-looking bloke in red armour who looks much better in the older style. If Eruca is the blonde princess, then she just looks like a completely new character in the newer one (in a vacuum, not better nor worse). So yeah, I think I'll get that one as well, it'll be interesting to compare them further, especially if the new ones still come up in menus.

Usually, when I grow disillusioned with a series, I come to find that it's usually just the most recent entry (as it once happened with Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, or Fire Emblem Fates)... but there have been cases of a series entirely falling off my interest: Final Fantasy - I mean, I'm just not a fan of the look and aesthetic of the mainline series since... maybe 10. Thankfully, spinoffs and rereleases keep its classic charm alive, but the only mainline entries to ever grab my interest have been FF14 (which is a genre I dislike) and FF16 (tentative. The game isn't out yet) Tales series - Symphonia is excellent, and I enjoyed exploring the rest of the series at the time... but the sheer apathy that the series has for the West pissed me off. Furthermore, Abyss turned out to be a vapid game, and from what I've seen, the series has doubled down on being Abyss-like ever since. Not only have they moved away from so many things that made Symphonia great, they barely understand them, judging from how they routinely mooch off Symphonia without doing something interesting with it. Soul Calibur - Kinda. I thought the series was diminishing its quality ever since II (and the ever-changing movesets didn't exactly help), so this would qualify if it had stopped at V... but then VI came around and revitalised it with a much-needed shot in the arm by a passionate team. If they ever release a VII that keeps the momentum going, I can cross this one off the list. Kirby - Mostly because this should be a light, relatively cheap series, and it rarely is. The games aren't bad, it's just that they aren't as accessible as I'd like them to be Pokémon - Since Ruby&Sapphire that my friend group hasn't cared for Pokémon. I still like the spin-offs, but the main series is pretty unattractive for me outside of the social aspect. Sonic - *siiigh* I just don't like 3D Sonic (even if I liked Unleashed, and might like Colours and Generations as well). 2D Sonic is great, but the company isn't interested in exploring that. There is currently an interesting Pokémon-like in development called Cassette Beasts. They had a temporary demo on Steam a few months ago, and I was quite impressed with what I played. The release is planned for 2023, though I'm not totally sure which platforms they're aiming for. I recommend you keep an eye on it, at any rate. Good luck on finding a monster-collecting RPG that scratches the itch you're missing.

I remembered @V. Amoleo Google sheet from earlier in the thread, and I checked: no playtime required before getting to purchase the DLC (I asked because I wanted to buy it before the deadline). On a similar note, any recommended DLC for Radiant Historia?

Is that "Messiahs in the Diamond Realm"? Looks to be cheap, might take it, especially considering the main appeal of the series. Also, is there something on the main quest that needs to be done before I'm allowed to purchase things? Like in Fates, where you can only access DLC after Chapter 7?

I don't keep tabs on yearly statistics, but I can tell this was a weird year for me. First half was quite busy for gaming, but I slowed down my playthroughs considerably in the second half (partly due to new real life relationships, partly due to the growing activity of the local Smash scene). I expect any future progress to be far more sporadic. And hopefully cheaper. Regardless, my Top 10 games of the year were: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 Katamari Damacy Steamworld Dig 2 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call Ever Oasis INMOST Donkey Kong Land III Defenders of Oasis Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Streets of Rage Top 3 replays Wario Land 3 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin [Richer Mode] Chiki Chiki Boys Best Game that I couldn't finish: This War of Mine

The end of the 3DS eShop approaches, and when that happens, I'll have to purchase every game and DLC on my wishlist. Before I do, I have a question: is the DLC in Shin Megami Tensei IV (and Apocalypse) worthwhile in any form? Like, I think they're just items and equipment? Incidentally, if anybody has any questions about Fire Emblem DLC, feel free to ask. I'm well informed on the DLC of all 3 games.