darksnowman

Link's Awakening is an all time great, imho. The remake juxtaposes the chilling storyline with a charming lick of paint. And if you liked past Luigi's Mansions you'll know what you're in for with 3—and fwiw, probably has the best graphics on Switch. Two games that should be in everyone's collection and might be extra lovely if you're playing that OLED in portable mode. Did you play Skyward Sword on Wii? I didn't rate it (nothing to do with the control scheme) so wouldn't really recommend prioritising the HD version. As for Dread... try the demo and see if it's your bag.

It's interesting to see your pickups, probably because you've already played (better versions of) third party stuff elsewhere. Here's how I'm rating it: Must-haves: Mario Kart 8, Mario Wonder Say no to: Metroid, TotK, Mario RPG Have I missed anything? What else you got in your sights?

First game this year: N64. Great start! Games played: 54 Total time: 774 hours Most played: Splatoon 3 : 133 hours. P3P : 85 hours. N64 : 72 hours (and counting).

You play as the princess several times in Paper Mario 64.

Mario has had a hammer since day one. Agreed that Mario RPG is significant as a first foray for Mario and co into RPGs but the two or three that came after render it obsolete.

Is that so? Would have sworn one of those yellow text pop-ups prevented me from it in the demo. Dodgy memory. Roughly how far are you? I've been getting through battles on autopilot so far. The boss at the Infernal Gate got one of mine down to 1HP (Capischum I've incidentally got on healing duty) then we finished it on the next turn anyway before I got the heal off. G ranked party here. Don't want to hit an impasse but wouldn't mind having to put some thought into it.

That's still one I want to get. Think it came out around the same time as something else I went for instead. A few more things to add to those impressions. On the point of synthesis, you need monsters that are lvl 10+ so I've looked at it but haven't committed to anything as yet. It tells you to prioritise gold monsters and I've spotted a few golden slime variations I will probably go for though I'm not certain what happens to the monsters you use—like, can you buy them back like SMT or do you need to go scout them again—which is holding me back from depleting my stock too quickly at the moment, as my monsters that are eligible for synthesis are the ones in my party. You carry eight monsters with you (four in the active party and four in reserve) so I've started swapping out the inactive four to level a greater spread for potential synthesis, or make them viable party members. Noticed the monsters in the paddock are closer to lvl 10 than I expected so it looks like they gain experience whether they're with you or not? Would be a cool bit of streamlining if that's the case. I'll see how it goes because often the biggest hurdle for me in these kinds of RPGs is to resist becoming loyal to the early monsters. Got past where the demo stops you, meaning I've encountered the other character from the cover who seems a twerp though I'm sure he'll come good by the end. And peeked into the fourth area where my first monster encounter offered to join me. Score! Even better is its above lvl 10 so it looks like synthesis options will be easier to come by. I will say, entering and checking the immediate area, panning the camera was pretty choppy. It seemed to find its footing but I'll be keeping an eye on the Switch in case it starts sparking under the immense pressure of rendering these bleeding edge visuals. Sad that Treasures and this don't have the level of polish they deserve. Well, at least this has an increased monster roster.

Even with the three hour time limit, I didn't shirk any encounters as I intentionally wanted to get a feel for them. They seemed to take care of themselves so I wasn't really able to get much of an idea of what to do (not that I want the demo or the game to have me under the kosh at all times). Especially when you get the second party member, you're in an out of battles before you've barely had the chance to participate. Thought it was cool it's action combat because I wasn't expecting that.

Yep. Took two weeks but I got around to treating myself to it. You should try the demo if you're on the fence. Demo progress doesn't carry over (though you get access to whatever you wrangled) so I've to redo the opening hours. The demo prevents you from taking on the cyclops in the first area so naturally I made a beeline for it last night then promptly fled after it OHKO'd one of my monsters. I will take great pleasure in beating and scouting it later on. There's a WiFi shop and online battling that wasn't in the demo. Couldn't afford anything in the shop and tried the battle mode that autobattles you through thirty encounters. My fledgling party won 1/30. I'll take it. Looking forward to getting to some synthesis. I remember before I played DQM on DS, synthesis sounded daunting because I imagined it as splicing creatures together to produce monstrosities like those fossil Pokémon in Sword and Shield. Actually glad to see there is some DLC as it's something I want(ed) for Treasures. Provided it's worthwhile, it's nice to know there could be something to eventually come back for. Just wish DQ IV was a bit fresher in my mind. It's been many years so some of the finer details might be lost on me.

Haha, no way. Thought there must be an Irving buddy in Sonic or something!

1 2 3 4 5 Temples to unseal so come on let's ride Noishe and scrap across Sylvarant The teach says check the ruins But I really would rather Demon Fang Desians and Read some skits cos the skits are deep We got Colette, Genis, Kratos and Raine And as we continue, you know we getting Sheena

Loved the three hour demo! Haven't picked up the full game as I haven't seen it around so I should probably just get it ordered.

Well Switch U to you too. What better way to see the year out than further embarrassment. Already looking forward to you live blogging it on here. Might not exist in the hands of the consumer now, but just give it 20 days.

Hook, line and sinker.

You've gone to deep into the rumours.

Extreme-G! ...apparently comes under the futuristic racer category.

Got a watermelon (score of 2,700+) and did a few more rounds anyway. I suspect a few more will be had before the close of play on the 11th.

Totally. Easy to understand, difficult to master. I'll count it as a win if I can make one suika before the trial period is up.

Thanks for the triple threat tonight.

The Suika Game is the current game trial. Trying it was a mistake—I'm going to be dreaming about it.

Did 20 mins or so in 4-player last week. Even with no contact it wasn't pretty. It was a laugh but much longer would have been painful. Fun for all the family indeed.

He must have skived off.

Big Ange amassing quite the backlog of replays. Ha, didn't see that. Must have been having visions of the barrage of criticism they were about to receive yet again. Howard Webb will have some more explaining to do. Should have been a boring, routine win with the only talking point his new hairdo.

Tried out classic mode too and was wondering where the better players were because I cruised to a 2nd then 1st by ~7 seconds. Or maybe classic is too pedestrian for people in comparison to 99? Not complaining as I was glad to see all those years on the SNES game bring me some joy in this version.

Yeah those last two goals went in in the space of a minute. Sounds like the ref helped Spurs out again in their match this evening.