darksnowman

I fell off it at the end of the second planet, I think. Can't quite put my finger on why because I was enjoying it. The personality of the Rabbids works for me—like Rabbid Peach going "let's start our healing journey" and whatever else. Funny seeing the others do their thing on these planets too. Thought the exploration was good, the only thing I would like improved is the camera as it feels a bit too focused on showing me my characters rather than the general area...? So I'm not exactly sure why I dropped it. Yeah, it's technically a bit rough around the edges but I can get past that. Could be that the encounters aren't very satisfying? Kind of just want them over with so I can get back to looking around. Wonder if you reach a point where you automatically defeat low-level enemies without needing to enter battle.

Bingo. Full circle.

I'll need some time before I report back on that, then. I've Rebel Rising (a Rogue One-era novel) on the shelf. Got it from the clearance bin years ago for £1 or 50p but haven't got around to it because I don't actually expect it to be a good read. Ooh, Wheel of Time is in relation to that. Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe because of Andor/Endor it's easy to get your wires crossed? And no, I haven't read "Endor's Game" either.

Games mentioned in the video: Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, Illusion of Time (!) and FF VI. Now I want to replay these.

No. Barely read anything so far in 2023 tbh. Should I give it priority?

They could reskin whatever Minions stuff they've got in the pipeline into The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 + Rabbids.

Done. Just me or is Andor the best Star Wars series? That would sort of check out since Rogue One is the best film outside the first three. Biggest surprise came for me in the first episode or two (could well have been known from Rogue One and I'd forgot): Ord Mantell getting a mention was a rare reference that made me sit up. Imagine a Shadows of the Empire series done like Andor. Even with that, Andor didn't seem to be packed with "remember this?" stuff. Imo, that worked in its favour because if you took the Star Wars out of it and it was just a UK crime series with Stranger Things music, it'd still be strong viewing. Other Star Wars shows and films should take note—come up with a good idea first, then add the Star Wars trappings later. I think it was at the end of episode 6 that I thought well that was a good watch, only for there to be 12 episodes in total and the second half kept the quality up. I'm not too bothered about Cassian himself since we know he will survive until Rogue One and be a tool at the start of that, so it was fine by me that they parked him up to show us what other characters were up to. For some reason I expected the ending to mirror the Aldhani bit more. It seemed to be set up similarly. The house droid is possibly second only to Johnny 5.

Oh, yeah, of course. I expect young Link already had his mind made up about skipping the carnival and moving on, it just seemed a bit cold the way they ushered him off with no invite or suggestion he stick around.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day. Managed to get all the masks then finished it off with 18 hearts. Spent a while on the couple's mask, getting down where to be and when, though I kept nipping off and missing appointments so I ended up having to put blinkers on and exclusively stake out the main players until I got it done. Totally worth it as the Fierce Deity mask reduced playtime with the final boss to a triviality. More games should have rewards like that for people who want to put in the effort. Nothing really to say about the final stretch. Took my breath away the first time I got there on the N64. The unexpectedness, the stillness. When you think you've seen everything MM has to offer, it has one last surreal place to take you. Bit harsh after it all that Tatl or Tael was like "well the carnival'll be starting now so you can be on your way." I should have been the guest of honour! If only the inhabitants of Termina knew how long those three days leading up to it had really been. Top game. This playthrough has further cemented it among the very best of what Zelda has to offer. I've played it on N64, Wii VC and now NSO. Next time I meet with this terrible fate will be on 3DS thanks to some wheelin and dealin with @EEVILMURRAY... and it should be just the tonic after TotK.

*uses nasty medicine on thread* Picked this up recently and flew through it in 22h on the dot. A very good game with spades of charm that I barely scratched the surface of over the course of the main game. There's tons left to do in the form of yo-kai collecting (I got about 40 of over 200), quests (I maybe did a dozen...) and a postgame that, realistically, I don't see myself getting around to. For about 18 of those 22 hours, it lured me into a false sense of security as I hardly resorted to using items and equips were little more than an afterthought. In the early running, I stopped off a few times to do some levelling (mainly to get to grips with the flow of battles) and those gains stood me in good stead for quite some time. Until what was the final run of three bosses, actually. That's when it spiked for me. I ended up using all my exp orbs and had to put in some time levelling on top of that to see it out. The last battle of the three took the fewest retries, and after changing out some equips, I was able to get it over the line. I have some gripes that would likely be footnotes and distant memories if I was sticking with it for the long haul of the postgame. I would have liked fast travel sooner, fast battling sooner, a more zoomed-out camera because those streets were all so samey. I see what they were going for with making you expose bosses' weak points, but it needs some streamlining, imo. And as brisk a game as it is, there were quite a few times when it ground to a halt to send me off on fetch quests—main offender here was every time it forced me to rank up the watch! Bosses took more and more time as the game went on but that could have been down to me not being clued up on item usage and not swapping in high-rank yo-kai as I got em (or even trying to seek any out). Generally speaking in battle, I just watched to make sure I was healing quicker than I was being damaged and unleashed soultimate attacks as they became available. Notwithstanding any of that, I've had an overall positive time with Yo-kai Watch. By and large, it was right up my alley. Had I got it a time when I was going to put in the hours, I could see it stretching out beyond the credits now and becoming a game I think back on very fondly indeed. Shall try not to leave it too long before I get into the second. Looking forward to seeing how they fine-tuned it.

Nice to read this is still seeing updates as I just picked it up at the weekend.

Not a film for the ages—it felt like a sting of cutscenes that was missing in between progress bits, but I thought it was solid enough for Godzilla fans like us who enjoy a good old Mario romp with stuff in the background to nerd out over while nice renditions of series music play. The blue Luma for best newcomer? (Provided it is a newcomer and they didn't yoink it from something I haven't played/ don't remember...?) Final confrontation seemed reminiscent of the finale of the Sonic movie...?

Nintendo UK vid (not private). Haha, yes I had that with Majora's Mask at the start. I can do okay with things like Mario Tennis but overall the N64 controller is better than the pro controller imo because of the stick. F-Zero X with the pro controller is too responsive.

Saw this among the trailer reel at the cinema. Definitely one for the small screen...

It's as easy as that to summon you??

Yeah, looks like Switch must have had it for the FY. DQ III will receive a blow-out and imminent release as soon as I get the current III off the eShop. I could easily have been through it and be fresh again for the remake by now. Ooh, I'll take it!

Figured it'd be announced this summer, after a year on Switch. Anything coming the other direction...? Be sure to let us know what you think. Thought I'd be up for a replay after letting the dust settle on it but it still feels too soon.

Looks like I have enough gold coins for Chrono Cross but I think I'll leave it for another sale as I wouldn't be playing it immediately if I get it now. Still toying with getting it off play-asia sometime. Perhaps with EO? Not going to bombard you with a list, but if you haven't played it, DQ XI is up there with the best of them. If nothing else, check out the demo and see what you think! FF VII is also well worth a look on Switch if it's new to you as it has some added benefits like speed up and full heal at any time so you can rip through it at ease.

I put the demo on for about 45 mins. Could see this being a decent enough game, but man is it a bad demo. Because it's the first 10% of the game (trusting @Glen-i on this), it means the demo is the opening of the full game which doesn't exactly throw you into the thick of things. It wasn't long until I was hammering through text and dialogue because I just wanted to get to gameplay—I'd care about story if I was digging into the entire game, from a demo I just want a taste of what's on offer. The glimpse I got of the two-character gameplay seemed cool. I can imagine there being some solid puzzling as the game goes on. If I ever want to get into Bayonetta I'd definitely consider starting here.

That'll be provided through bunny hood amiibo.

Gave it a watch. Yep, that looks like the sequel to BotW. Hopefully, the ascend ability has ALOT of use cases to cut down on time spent climbing. Potentially quicker to do that, then slide down hillsides to points of interest. Fingers crossed. Trying to keep an open mind on the fusing (and game in general) but I fear it'll just add busy work. At least it's quicker than collecting things and going off to craft them. Best thing I can think of is perhaps the sky islands can be approached as their own self-contained things. Not feeling any anticipation for this at all. Oh they're in all right. You just have to gum them together yourself. Use the rewind ability to undo. I reckon reviewers will love it. Can see it equalling or surpassing BotWs scores. Chances of it scoring significantly lower are extremely slim, imo. @Ronnie pre-emptively rubbished that in the post directly above yours.

So is that the ruleset you want to enforce in Smash.

Finally got around to watching the first episode of Andor at the weekend. Initial impressions are that it seems okay, especially after Obi-Wan. Should be able to get through it in the next week or two.

If you wouldn't mind just sitting in the one spot instead of going around the stages...

Went out with a whimper, didn't it. Hard to believe it's gone. I wasn't really thinking much of it until this morning and I can feel the weight of everything that's just not available any more. The dual screens, the 3D, the gimmicks. It's harder to get my head around than I expected. I'm already wondering if one day I'll get a dingy secondhand 3DS to jailbreak and have access to everything that can no longer be bought. Feel like there's a gap in my gaming options now. Yeah, that's right. The updates I was getting were in UTC so shoppers across the globe had to adjust accordingly. Pretty sure Doug had nothing to do with it. Looks like you got sorted anyway. --------------------- I'd been following the weekly sales and held off until the last minute in the hopes of a final clearance that never materialised. Got: Kid Tripp (free) Digger Dan DX (free) Then on Sunday this dozen from what was still on sale: Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D The Legend of Kusakari Fairune 80's Overdrive 4x Japanese Rail Sim 3D () Retro City Rampage DX Stella Glow Mighty Switch Force 1 + 2 Severed was off sale by this time. Sorry @Jonnas. And with that, they stopped accepting my card for payment! So I added a gift card. DKC Trilogy Mario Maker (because it has 100 built-in levels with objectives... but isn't 3D.) Luigi's Mansion 2 Lylat Wars 3D Mole Mania (You're welcome, @Jonnas!) 3D Classics TwinBee (worthy of the classic moniker!) Gurumin 3D: A Monster Adventure — I'd earmarked this as it had been £3 in March but was back to full price by the time I was buying. I got it anyway because unlike Severed, it's not on Switch. Attack of the Friday Monsters! Left me with £1.10 balance which I'll spend on the Switch eShop sometime. Hopefully, they'll start accepting my card again by the time Sea of Stars comes out...? There was still plenty I wanted and while I considered adding another gift card last night, ultimately I put it out of my head. Perhaps eventually they'll release a family of "3DS minis" (but not miniature!) with various selections of games built-in, like a 3D Classics machine, etc? Or the successor to Switch will flip open when undocked? Or something. With Level-5 making a comeback I'm at least somewhat hopeful of a Guild compilation seeing the light of day. Surely the VC stuff will end up on NSO. If they don't and this is where it ends, I'm going to miss the 3D effect. Got a bunch of demos as well then picked up some physical games from the bargain bin today too: Yo-Kai Watch 1 + 2 New Style Boutique 1 + 2 Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers The boxes need a clean. There are some free themes available! If you open your system the themes icon will have the dot to draw your attention.