Grazza

That reminds me, does this game have the "Intimidate" feature? Also, don't the enemies run away from you if you're too strong?

Oh yeah, it looks great! I'm seriously thinking of getting a PS4 for this and Dragon Quest XI. I played Spider-Man 2 (excellent) and Ultimate Spider-Man (not so good), and wasn't quite sure if any of them after that did the concept as well as Spider-Man 2. Climbing round the city was an experience I haven't matched again with anything else. Those were the ones (Tobey Maquire's first two) that nailed it most, in my opinion, and that's not my judgement on the individual actors; just that they were the best in terms of storytelling and all-round entertainment. However, I do think the nature of this character and his foes is more suited to a high-budget TV series. Which is one reason I like the look of this game, actually - that it fits in all the (sometimes overlooked) villains.

I very much agree with what @Shorty is saying. Not that I think the game looks bad (quite the opposite), I just think people are very compliant and defensive over things they have already emotionally invested in. Haha, that was great. I can still hear the song in my head. Something about "It's swingtime…!"

I vividly remember buying the first issue at Liverpool St. Lethal Weapon 3 cover with a free Game Boy keyring.

I've spent the last few days pretending to be a rabbit rescuing carrots! >Ninjin< Clash of Carrots Thanks, as ever, to @S.C.G.

Nice to hear your thoughts on Shantae, @Jonnas. I was a big fan of the series (not sure I still am), but agree the first game is rough around the edges. I couldn't play it without Restore Points, so well done if you did! Risky's Revenge and Pirate's Curse are fantastic, so you're in for a treat with those.

Do you know of a good place to level-up? I don't think I've found any caves that are greater than level 55. Assuming you really need to be level 99 for the post-game boss, that's a huge discrepancy.

Nice going, @Glen-i. Some of that surprised me a great deal, especially the job combinations you came up with. Does it really take that long to get to the boss, even if you flee battles? Personally, I completed everyone's Chapter 4 a while ago and am tinkering around in the post-game. I could really do with a better place to grind now, so I suppose I had better unlock the final dungeon. How I actually do that is another matter! One question - can you steal the stat-boosting Nuts anywhere? I want to use the ones I have, but don't want to waste them until I can see what everyone is like at level 99.

Oh wow, that was a surprise! I love LizardCube and like to see them reinvent anything retro.

This takes me back. Basically, in the early '90s, Mean Machines was the best games mag about. I suppose Nintendo noticed and gave them the official licence, hence the split into Nintendo Magazine System (which presumably was the precursor to NOM?) and Mean Machines Sega. Mean Machines Sega was slightly more like its predecessor, although neither matched the original. I remember being absolutely furious with Mean Machines Sega after they gave away a free Saturn demo disc, which wiped the save data off my Saturn memory card. I was so angry I phoned them up and berated one of the reviewers! They printed an apology in the next issue!

Sounds like I've got a similar problem (one of the analogue sticks dragging downward). Very often I turn on the Switch and it scrolls down through menus... could be eShop, System Settings, anything, but it scrolls down until it gets to the bottom of any list I'm on.

Wow, today's announcements were better than E3!

BRILLIANT! I've always wanted to play these! I actually had the chance to play one of them (whichever one was on a Sega console - I forget), but was going through a weird, teenage phase where I didn't want to invest time in RPGs. Hopefully I can put that right.

But really, what's the point in that if we know it's not the formula for a perfect Zelda? They take a long time to make, and generations go by without Nintendo achieving as good a result as they did on the N64 and GameCube. Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker - arguably their two best - were a result of evolving the formula of the previous game, and very few people consider those three (LttP, OOT, WW) too similar to each other. Yes, that's a good point. Hyrule could be better, but perhaps not on a grander scale. I would prefer the whole thing to be more intentionally designed, rather than have these densely-packed towns which, again, are similar to those in an open world RPG. I can't get away from the idea of key features - ie. dungeons - being important to the landscape, such as Goron Mines being accessible from their city, or Catfish's Maw rising up out of Lake Hylia. It's important to have space inbetween, of course, but I do think having slightly less of it would focus the design.

I think it's because you never know what they're going to drop in the next game - the magic meter in Twilight Princess, a linked-up overworld in Skyward Sword and general dungeon/plot progression formula in Breath of the Wild. I think Twilight Princess was the most overreacted-to Zelda, mainly because expectations were so high at the time. It was a good game, but the wolf bits were unnecessary and the move to Wii tarnished it. Whilst I don't find myself longing to play Skyward Sword, it did at least achieve what it aimed to in the way of motion controls. I remember the multi-armed boss being great fun, with you being able to pick up its giant swords. Breath of the Wild impressed me more, and it did finally have a fluid, linked-up overworld. However, it does lose that sense of plot progression as you move through a landscape. It is also a case of Nintendo being overly influenced by a popular genre - open world - rather than setting the agenda themselves. Breath of the Wild isn't just big - it has all the trappings of the open world genre, such as cooking, hundreds of (minor) sidequests etc, so much so that it lost the thrill of getting a significant, permanent item halfway through a dungeon such as a Mirror Shield or Flame-resistant tunic. If the game doesn't know you are going to take a certain route (ie. eight dungeons), it can't structure anything very interesting or worthwhile. That's a good point. They can't really do a grander Hyrule, so are going to have to think alternatively for a bit.

I used to be absolutely desperate for one so I could play Shinobi, Double Dragon etc. They had that advert with the TV set being really depressed and wanting to have a Master System plugged into him!

"Do me a favour - plug me into a Sega!"

I'm at the point where I have access to the Advanced Job bosses and the Chapter 4 bosses. I have found both much more difficult than the gameplay in the routes to them, and to honest I thought I was stuck, but I'm pleased to say I've just beaten Olberic's Chapter 4 boss. He had approximately half the HP of one of the Advanced Job bosses, so if anyone is curious, I'd say Chapter 4 is designed to be done first. Oh, and another thing, switching passive skills for boss fights makes a huge difference. It's a shame you can only have four! Olberic's Surpassing Power is essential, as otherwise you can only inflict 9,999, but just now I was doing about 25,000. Why there's a limit on it in the first place I don't know!

Thanks @Hero-of-Time. Seriously can't wait for this one! The EO games just keep getting better and better, in my opinion, and this looks like a celebration of all that's come before.

"To be this good takes ages. To be this good takes Sega." "Sega does what Nintendon't." New connotations to those!

I completely agree with this, and would also like to see more events that happen in the environment, as though a story is actually progressing as you play the game. There could be a canyon where Ganon's army ambushed you, for instance, like how there was a bridge duel in Twilight Princess.

That's completely out of order. I can't think of anything that justifies such a design. Personally, I've completed Chapter 3 for everyone and have really hit the point where I would like my less-used characters to be of a higher level (as you have been saying). I've found one of the optional bosses and want to beat them all before I tackle the Chapter 4 towns. Trouble is, I'd prefer to employ some of the characters I haven't used much. In something like Etrian Odyssey this wouldn't be a problem, as your resting characters get a lot of EXP in the later games, and even if they didn't all you need to do is slot them into a party, have them Defend and get the others to defeat some high-level enemies. I'm not sure I could do that in this as, like Bravely Default, it has a strange system where battles are extra long and you need to use very specific, long-winded tactics. It's a good game, but its shortcomings are becoming clear.

I don't think anyone's mentioned Actraiser yet. It's half sim, half 2D action game, and certainly one I used to play a lot.

Not knowing much about this myself, how does this work - 35mm in 2.35:1 and 70mm in 16:9? Personally, I'm much rather filmmakers started switching to 16:9 as standard. It looks so much better in the home.

After 30 hours and getting Olberic to level 40, I think it's time to start one of the Chapter 2 stories! I haven't even been grinding on purpose; just getting stronger by going in the beginner areas' secret caves. My overwhelming thought at the moment is that money is too tight in this game and it costs too much to keep everyone well-equipped. Furthermore, because there are eight characters, it doesn't follow that each new town you enter will have better equipment than the last. Just in the first eight towns, for example, there is one that sells the best shield, one that sells the best axe, etc. Of the two Chapter 2 towns I've found, neither sells a better coat than one of the Chapter 1 towns. Thus, it can be confusing and you can even find yourself wasting money.