Ronnie

Once I'm finally done with Zelda in a few weeks, I'll concentrate on Snipperclips and Fast RMX, then Shovel Knight's new campaign. After that Snake Pass with a bit of Graceful Explosion Machine every so often. Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, Arms will keep me busy over Summer, and then there's things like Rime, Binding of Isaac, Stardew Valley, Steamworld Dig 2, Fire Emblem, the new Sonic game(s), and whatever they announce at E3, for Q2 and Q3. Oh and a likely second GOTY contender in Mario Odyssey fast approaching. Throw in some Street Fighter 2, Redout, Runner 3, Hollow Knight, Pocket Rumble and plenty more and yeah, I won't be putting my Switch down any time soon.

Now I know why I've been avoiding this thread. Great to know what the power you get from the Rito is called. Lovely. Adios.

Unlikely with E3 two months away and them saying the Direct focuses on Splatoon 2 and Arms

Battery life. Constantly pinging wifi every ten seconds would drain an already mediocre battery life

Simple:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/295330/Sony_going_commercial_with_PlayStation_VR_after_making_slow_progress_with_consumers.php Probably a smart move given consumer interest in VR seems to have fallen off a cliff, especially without any truly great software to show it off. Maybe some will start to agree now that a bit more time has passed.

Too much focus on narrative I agree with, especially the complaints about BOTW, but a lot of issues about this game are to do with the gameplay.

Basing a game exclusively on nostalgia, without modernising the formula at all was always going to be risky. I can't say I'm surprised the reviews aren't great.

Standard Jim.

Just did the Gerudo divine beast, spent most of the past few hours with my mouth open, amazed and enthralled. The dungeons being mechanical beings you have to twist and contort is such a clever idea. It's really surprising to read so many people down on this in here, I often wonder if we're playing the same game. I just can't put into words how incredible I think it is.

Really great, I enjoyed it a lot more than the last EGX in September. Rime looked absolutely beautiful but the controls were a little floaty, for lack of a better word. Switch had a dedicated section. Steamworld Dig 2 looks even better than the first, only got to play the tutorial level though. The dev said it was an easy decision going back to another Dig game after Heist. Levels aren't procedurally generated since they hired a trio of designers. Gonner was ok, quite weird, the devs didn't seem too interested in talking to players and walking them through things. There was also Fast, Snipperclips, Flipping Death, Pocket Rumble (which looks great and plays brilliantly) and a couple of others. Probably the two highlights for me though were Figment, gorgeous hand-drawn puzzle adventure game that I suspect you might like and Planet Alpha a 2D puzzle platformer/adventure similar (ish) in structure to Inside. Art direction was beautiful. Edit: I've just google image'd Planet Alpha, there's a ton of new content that must have been just-revealed at Rezzed because the latest build looks far better.

Lost count how many devs at EGX Rezzed added 'and just recently, Switch" when I asked where their game was releasing on.

Agree with this. Horizon looks technically stunning but I prefer something with a bit more style and character, like Zelda, something that won't look dated in a few years. I'm constantly stopping every minute or so to take screenshots. Otherwise, for best looking game of the gen, I'd suggest things like Inside, Firewatch, Paper Mario Colour Splash or No Man's Sky. All games that look beautiful and will stand the test of time. Uncharted 4 and The Order are great too though, and have more of a style than Horizon IMO.

You've hit the nail on the head here. This game is about making your own story, having your own unique adventure and sharing that adventure with others. I genuinely find it to be as social a game as Pokemon Go was, everyone's talking about their own unique playthroughs and experiences. It feels like what happens to you, happened to you alone. The sense of discovery, not just of the expertly crafted land itself, but of gameplay quirks is quite wonderful. The systems and physics based simulation is absolutely top notch. You talk of Nintendo being behind the curve compared to the competition? Shoot a fire arrow into a body of water in Horizon and the flame will burn on the surface of the water just as it does on land. Use a fire rod in Zelda and the fire will not only (obviously) extinguish on contact with water, it'll keep you warm in cold climates. One example in many of how this game is ahead of the competition. With respect to those who finished the game in two days, I'm not sure that's the best way to experience it and especially judge its merits. I've been jotting down pages and pages worth of fun little experience quirks in my 60+ hours to date, and I've only seen a third of the map. I've seen better graphics in other games, I've seen better voice acting, I've seen more cutscenes, but I've never had this much fun playing a video game.

I think that's a little presumptuous and unfair. Most reviews I read mentioned the endgame. Personally I think the game is pure magic. I think it's funny how a couple of years ago we were all talking about how Zelda had a lot to live up to after modern games like Witcher and Fallout. Now I'm thinking future openworld games have a lot to live up to to be as good as Zelda. Not so much in terms of the nitpicks like Shrines all looking the same, or controls but on the world design and the systems and physics based gameplay. You can say people are being over generous because of it being a Zelda but there are plenty of people knocking the game down likely because of the hype

His Zelda review was painful to watch. He should stick to what he's good at, commenting on the state of the industry, not critiquing games.

Yep. Has Jim's head gotten so big he thinks embargoes don't apply to him?

[TWEET]844217178719174661[/TWEET]

The chime only happens when you discover a new recipe, I can't explain the difference in effect though.

I really wouldn't suggest mapping out all the towers in one go. I think it would completely ruin the experience. Also I don't get stronger by going into Shrines necessarily, I get stronger by exploring and finding chests with weapons and elemental arrows.

I'm quite similar to you 55 hours, one beast, 35 shrines, only a quarter of the map uncovered. Explored the area east of Lake Hylia, the humid steamy area, so cool. The lizalfo ambush towards the end of a sidequests there was cool.

I'd like to find more of the memories but most seem to be grouped together in a particular spot by hyrule Castle which I'm nowhere near exploring

As most people have been saying, the controls are fantastic once you get used to them. Gyro aiming is far more accurate than analog aiming once you've worked them out.

The ability not to change weapons in-game is a design decision.