WackerJr

The Brodie Lee news was shocking, and I was so impressed with the outpouring of support and stories from his peers. He was so well-liked and respected by those that worked with him, it is so tragic. The AEW tribute was so well done, and the emotion shown by those involved was heartbreaking, and many of those only got to know him over the past year. Seeing Erik Rowan / Redbeard make an appearance with that sign & then embracing others in tears in the ring broke me 😢.

Okamiden (DS) can finally be crossed off my backlog. I can see it being impressive in the DS-era and is a fully fledged 20+ hour Action-RPG. While it is kind of open world it is very linear in that there’s little to do if not following the storyline, and even then isn’t always clear where you should be going. Like Okami before it, the gesture based combat and abilities are used throughout and are identified well when specific shapes are drawn on the touch-screen. The distinct visual design actually works well on the handheld and helps the game stand out. Ultimately though, I got a little bored with the game, finding it too repetitive for my liking, combat lasting a little too long (boss battles especially seemed to last forever!), and I was just wanting to get to the end of it hours before the credits finally rolled. Maybe just a product of it’s time, being nearly 10 years old!

I’m roughly halfway through so far, and I have enjoyed hearing some of that random news I hadn’t heard about. Updating Swapnote / Letter Box really is a peculiar decision. Although I admit to being one of the few still playing my 3DS regularly. More so due to my backlog for it (thanks mainly to store sales trying to get rid of their stock in the last couple of years). Not Letter Box though since, as you say, what’s the point? The Nintendo / Game scent thing? Hearing your news it’s apparently being made minutes away from me, and I wasn’t aware of any perfume makers in the area?! I’m not sure who is actually making the stuff unless it is Game staff themselves?? 😬 Anyway, with the hecticness of Christmas Eve I’d just like to wish you all (podcast presenters, N-E staff, all forum users) a good Christmas. Whatever your situation, hope you make the most of it & have a good time.

I’m always understanding that others may not share the same opinion, so glad you posted it. I watched through the full three hours of cutscenes of 358/2 Days and still had no clue what was going on! 😂 I agree with you about the simplicity of the story in the first game. I admit to struggling with the storyline throughout the series, whether that’s me or the lack of clarity in the game I’m not sure! Probably me!

Congratulations! I agree with those that mentioned the Wii U ports if you haven’t already played the Wii U versions. For the non-1st party games, with so many games in your list, Nintendo regularly hold eShop sales. So if you’re not in a rush to play specific titles then it may be worth waiting for them to get discounted through one of those sales. Do you have easy access to local co-op in your household? There are a few good games for that without the need to buy an additional controller. Saying that, I recommend a Pro Controller. They’re still a little pricey, but for me it’s been so much nicer to use when playing on the TV.

So I’m a little late to the party, but I finally decided to try the KH series. After playing through 1.5 + 2.5 I was still left wondering what the fuss was all about (I gave up on Re:Coded) as it seemed to be a great concept that hadn’t quite reached my expectations. KH3 was by FAR the best game in the series! It built on the better aspects of the previous games, added so many variety throughout the other worlds, the trophies were easier to get & I was happy to explore and grind to get to level 99. It looked lovely throughout too, as if you really were in a Pixar film. I’m glad I persevered through the series - great game!

Lego The Incredibles (Switch) Played through this almost completely in Co-op after trying to find a game my wife & I could play together. As a co-op experience it was fun, not being particularly complicated destroying enemies and much of the surroundings made up of the hugely popular little bricks. If you die you’re immediately plunged back into the action only being penalised with losing a few bricks from your total haul. The typical Lego humour is inserted throughout, although much of it comes off better if you’ve seen the movies. I did have a few major issues with the game though. It is incredibly buggy. It froze and had to close on over half a dozen occasions, usually at the end of a level which was a real frustration. We also managed to get ourselves into inescapable situations on a few occasions, such as being stuck on the rails of the train track (normally causing the character to die & spawn back on the train) so when the game wasn’t freezing we had to quit a level manually. I also found the objectives were not always clear. Both in the overworld and in levels, besides destroying things we weren’t sure what was going on or where we were supposed to be going on a number of occasions, even with two of us trying to work it out. I also found that the load times are looooong (over a minute to load a level). I don’t know if these problems are rife in other Lego games, and it’s a shame as it really affected our experience with the game, in what could have been a much more enjoyable co-op experience.

I was going to follow with a semi-sensible answer, but not sure I can follow the last two comments! 😂 Ultimately, like others have said, most of my multiplayer gaming is so much more enjoyable being able to be sociable & talk & share the experience. Nintendo absolutely needs some simple way of being able to talk to others. I enjoyed the few times I was able to join in a N-Europe Mario Kart session in the past, but only being able to share & see the experience others were having afterwards through forum comments wasn't quite the same as being able to comment & say things in the moment. Local multiplayer remains my favourite multiplayer experience. The downside, besides difficulty of arranging it, is also the lack of screen space. When you’re used to having a while screen to yourself, I’ve always found it takes a bit to get used to then only having half or a quarter of your usual screen-size.

The activities look like a great idea to keep people occupied and engaged (did Miyamoto’s app hint at 70 keys?). Like already mentioned though, how easy these are to do in a park full of people remains to be seen. No footage of the Mario Kart ride still. It’s a shame that there aren’t more rides, as so far it’s more like a giant playground than a theme park. It looks amazing though and really keeping the style in line with the world as we’ve seen it in the game. @S.C.G you make a great point that it must be an incredible feeling for Miyamoto to have this all brought to life. Those blocks are going to take one heck of a beating though aren’t they?!

I softly wept... Although I then realised it still leaves spots open for Phoenix Wright and/or Professor Layton! 😃

After Zero and then seeing that Rare again weren’t the developers I held back on my enthusiasm for this one. Reading up about the team developing it does make me a little more confident about how it might turn out. I don’t like the sound of the ‘seasons’ rumour, and as always it would be nice to see some actual gameplay.

I think the FFVII remake will have done a lot to revitalise Sephiroth’s popularity. I haven’t played either version of FFVII, but remember reading game character popular contests at sites like GameFAQs years ago & I was surprised at just how popular he was (along with the likes of Chrono, Cloud, Mario & Link). Does he quite hold the same popularity today? I don’t think he quite does, but there will surely still be a large fanbase for him which will only rise when / if the next part of the FFVII remake comes out. I think he’s a great addition to the roster. I don’t know if it makes it more or less likely for Sora to appear, but it’s good to see Nintendo continuing to work with Square-Enix. I expect the presentation next week will also include some Mii outfits to dash hopes of some of the wishes-for characters appearing.

Yeh Sora must be a nightmare to try and get it through the Disney-Square-Enix loops (I can only imagine James Bond being tougher, especially as rumours are Sakurai did want him in one of the earlier games), but I would love to see Sora. I’ve read the mention that it’s Doom’s anniversary today? Is that right? People love to reach, but it’s a possibility. Like already mentioned, surely a 3rd party character going by the audience for the announcement. My guess is Crash, which isn’t my preference but better than a Fortnite or Overwatch character imo.

I was hoping for this, after Joker a couple of years ago. You’ve got the audience Nintendo, please make the most of the opportunity! Let the speculation commence again.

Good discussion at the end, and good question @Hero-of-Time I’d forgotten about the Spyro Trilogy actually only containing one game on the disc & you having to download the rest, so even when you think you’re buying a physical copy you’re not always!

I wondered why my parents were so excited to give it to me one Christmas, yet none of my friends had ever heard of it!

I’m in a similar position where I’ve managed to avoid all spoilers so far. I got the game as a gift back in July, but haven’t gotten around to playing it yet. I expect you all playing it & talking positively about it will get me to finally get around to playing it! 😀

I hadn’t thought of that but it seems a really good point for those of us that enjoy playing older games. In regards to day one purchases, I very rarely pick up a game on day one. I used to find it really exciting, but now I’m so wary with so many publishers seeming so much more keen to simply hit a date as opposed to getting the game right. One example recently: the XIII remake, still in development for Switch with the original on GameCube. Released recently on other consoles in such a shambolic state that the publisher had to apologise. The apology itself frustrated me though. While they apologised for the sheer volume of bugs, they proceeded to blame it on the pandemic: “Pivoting to home working for the teams has added unexpected delays in the development schedule and the QA process. We hoped we would be able to provide a Day One patch fixing all the issues but the development of this update is taking more time than expected.” If it wasn’t ready then why release it!? To me this reads that it was deliberately released in such a poor state because it could be patched up. If this is the philosophy of publishers now then it puts me off so much from getting something new & exciting on day one. While Nintendo used to be frustrating when it came to delaying games, they often got it right when it came out. Shigeru Miyamoto famously quipped “A delayed game is eventually good, a rushed game is forever bad”. I’ve always liked this & would like more publishers to have that philosophy nowadays. I still have a number of games to get through so my urge to buy on day one is also incredibly rushed. Thank goodness for my backlog! 😄

Great news! I wasn’t sure what the reaction was going to be on the forum, but so glad to see others excited by this too! While I play the Switch version, I enjoyed the DS game and so pleased to hear about this.

The disdain of gaming discussion was really interesting & good to hear the experiences of others. I used to feel similarly, that gaming was very much looked down upon. I have to admit though, that I haven’t experienced this anywhere near as much as I thought I would in recent years. I’ve had children I coach speak to me about gaming without seemingly bothered that I was an adult, and then I’ve discovered many of the people I work with, coach with, and socialise with, have admitted enjoying gaming. I admit I often find it hard to start a topic about gaming if I don’t know the other people are interested. I did have the whole “well I bet you can’t go a week without playing” on a few occasions. I’ve usually accepted the challenge and after doing so, when asked if I felt better(!?) I admitted that I hadn’t really and in most instances found activities I’d done instead to be less enjoyable. With the popularity of gaming still increasing and it being seen in the mainstream media more (along with stories about prize money in e-sports) I feel the stigma attached is getting less. Sadly from your discussion it’s sad to hear it does still exist.

For the first time in, possibly ever, we’ve actually started planning what Christmas presents to get people in November (as opposed to the December last minute panic! 😃). What we actually do for Christmas or how we see our families is still very much tied into how many people will be allowed in a household. We’re going on the assumption that it will be a maximum of 6, so this will be at least three trips to be able to see all close family members. Nice tree though @Will 👍🏻

I love this idea for a thread @Cube and a few games sprung to mind, including Geist as you mentioned. Great shout on Epic Mickey @Dcubed Pandora’s Tower (Wii) I really enjoyed the Wii game, with the risk-reward concept of getting far enough into a level to still leave you enough time to get back to ensure you could feed your curse-laden companion to ensure she didn’t turn into a monster. That concept alone, along with trying to build a relationship between the characters and your interactions affected this, was engaging. I’d like to see this with HD graphics for starters, mainly to help with actually being able to see items and platforms clearly and not because you’d really see how gruesome a monster Elena would seen to be turning into (although appreciate some people would enjoy that grotesqueness!). Eternal Darkness (GameCube) The story was dark, twisted and clever. Sometimes the psychological effects were really well done. I know that a failed successor, Shadow of the Eternals, was once touted, and that Denis Dyack’s reputation isn’t what it once was, but in the right hands I think there would be enough interest to warrant bringing back one of the GameCube’s underrated gems. Ideally with more & surprising insanity effects to catch players off guard. Space Station Silicon Valley (N64) I loved this quirky puzzle platformer & would enjoy seeing its bizarre but laugh out loud brand of humour make a reappearance. Like virtually all games from the N64-era it looks a little rough now (ok it looked a little rough back then!), but the gameplay of killing creatures to take over their bodies & use their unique skills to overcome puzzles is still very much viable now. There must surely be potential to come up with many more puzzles based on this design. (Plus if it could be released without bugs preventing you from completing it 100% then that would also be handy! 😃).

Wow, so just lead my first couple of Zoom fitness & conditioning sessions for members of our club and I have so much more respect for anyone else that has been hosting / leading any exercise class virtually. It’s a very strange experience when you’re giving instructions but can’t hear anything back, so it’s just your own voice bouncing around a room! I think they went ok though, and everyone was doing the exercises (better than me!) so my demo-ing / instructions must have at least made some sense!

I’m glad to hear about Pikmin 3 in Japan. While I don’t want Nintendo to just continue with ports and not new games, I would like to see them continue with the Pikmin franchise. I was a little worried with news on the low initial UK sales figures (although that was only of physical copies).

I’ve never played the Mass Effect games but heard great things (especially for No.2). This sounds as though it could be the best way to play the series. With the age of the first one, I do wonder if they’ll put more effort into updating it, as I can imagine others that have played it agreeing with @Mandalore that it needs an overhaul.