N-E Café Podcast

[Ealdst]

On 17/02/2020 at 3:43 AM, londragon said:

We’re going to hold a predictions Podcast this week, for the inevitable Direct happening this month, or March, or whenever. So, thought I’d ask all of you listeners what your one major prediction would be. Just keep it to one though, and you can make it as outlandish as you want.
I’ll mention them all on the podcast and get everyone’s reactions to your Nintendo gaming desires.

N64 games included for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Probably more wishful thinking on my part but with how slow the updates to the NES and SNES apps have been plus I remember reading something about Nintendo stating they needed to find a way to add value to the service as not many people were renewing their subscription, I think this could happen sooner rather than later. I also predict it will launch with only around 5 games (Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, Kirby 64 and Pilot wings 64) and almost never be updated with new games again!

[Fierce_LiNk]

I'm only passing through this thread briefly. I don't listen to any podcasts because I don't tend to have the opportunity to do so. I'm not sure my group of 10 year olds would appreciate me listening to discussions about games when I'm trying to teach them about sex education. 

The only thing I'm going to add is... @Hero-of-Time plays a lot of games. A LOT. Certainly more than anyone that I've ever come across. The obvious thing to do here would be to get him involved in the podcast in some sort of capacity, or at least maybe some sort of segment so that he can pass off his knowledge on to others. There are tons of games that I ended up pursuing because he tipped me off that fence and tempted me enough to purchase whatever it was that he was playing or talking about at the time. Seems like everyone is missing a trick here.

What will keep people coming back is that they know that they'll be gaining something every time they visit. If they listen to the podcast and decide that they like the interplay between the commentators, then they'll come back. If they like the discussion being had, they'll come back. If they know that they'll listen to a podcast and get at least one decent shout of a game suggestion that they had no previous knowledge of (or were on that fence), then they'll come back. 

These best of lists are boring as fuck now, tbh. Everybody is doing them and it just becomes "oh, which important game did they leave off this time?" kinda stuff. Plus, it becomes contrived, because a gamer will have needed to play x amount of games in the first place to make it worth while. You're better off having multiple categories but then choosing one game per category. E.g. which game made us want to break our controller in 2019? 

[Londragon]

These best of lists are boring as fuck now, tbh. Everybody is doing them and it just becomes "oh, which important game did they leave off this time?" kinda stuff. Plus, it becomes contrived, because a gamer will have needed to play x amount of games in the first place to make it worth while. You're better off having multiple categories but then choosing one game per category. E.g. which game made us want to break our controller in 2019? 

Funnily enough, any future lists of best of the year, I’ve already devised a list of awards ceremony style categories, instead of going with Top 10s. So, look forward to that next year, [emoji23]

[Nicktendo]

11 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

The only thing I'm going to add is... @Hero-of-Time plays a lot of games. A LOT. Certainly more than anyone that I've ever come across. The obvious thing to do here would be to get him involved in the podcast in some sort of capacity, or at least maybe some sort of segment so that he can pass off his knowledge on to others. There are tons of games that I ended up pursuing because he tipped me off that fence and tempted me enough to purchase whatever it was that he was playing or talking about at the time. Seems like everyone is missing a trick here.

This is a great idea... @Hero-of-Time, it's your call. I'd love to do something like this is you're up for it. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

1 minute ago, londragon said:

Funnily enough, any future lists of best of the year, I’ve already devised a list of awards ceremony style categories, instead of going with Top 10s. So, look forward to that next year,

It's more fun for everyone that way. It's more fun for the people creating the awards because there are no preconceptions about what the awards have to be for. You are literally in charge of your own destiny with that one. You can be as outlandish as you want or can be more conservative with the award titles. I think the quirkier the awards, the more fun the viewer will have with it and the more likely it will make you stand out, as opposed to just a straight forward top 10 list. There's already a sea of podcasts out there, with every sucker becoming a youtuber or thinking that they can do it themselves, so it's all about having that something different. N-E's strength is its people and it's community-feel, so it makes sense to harness that in some way.

[drahkon]

You should talk about Slay the Spire.

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, drahkon said:

You should talk about Slay the Spire.

I think you do enough talking about that particular game for everyone.

[drahkon]

30 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I think you do enough talking about that particular game for everyone.

It's been a "long" time, though  

[Hero-of-Time]

There's a lot to unpack here...

2 hours ago, Vileplume2000 said:

Are there any (gaming) forums out there that still have in-depth discussions about games? My general feeling is that people just don't talk at length anymore on forums. I have been active on a couple of forums (this one, plus two music forums) and they all suffered from the same.

Resetera is very active and you could post about an old game over on there and still get a decent conversation. The problem is the baggage that comes with visiting that place. Most threads turn into a political discussion and if you aren't part of the hive mind then you end up in trouble. For example, I was reading the Snack World thread over the weekend and instead of it being about the game the points of discussion were about the translation and how there are Donald Trump references in the game.

I can see why we lost members to the place though and why current members post more over there. If you want to have a discussion about gaming news or games you are playing then it's far easier to do so over there purely because of the sheer amount of people who populate the forum. I think the likes of Era, Discord and Reddit became so big that they sucked the oxygen out of every other place, forcing many smaller sites and forums to close down due to members migrating elsewhere.

2 hours ago, Vileplume2000 said:

The reason why I think is a combination of factors. We grew up with online forums but now have a fulltime job, less gaming time in general let alone time to put whole epistles on forums. The new generation is all about short and snappy, use other media and in general have a much shorter attention span so online forums don't do it for them (hence the lack of new members). They prefer bitesize video content, or a few short lines on Twitter or a Facebook group that hopefully give confirmation to their opinion.

I do agree it's a generational thing. As you said, younger people would rather watch a video or look at a Tweet rather than read a well written and thought out review. I think a lot of the reviews that are published on on this site are fantastic and very well written but they won't get half the coverage that a hot take on Youtube would. Last year the likes of NintendoLife and PushSquare started publishing mini reviews which are awful. They are a few paragraphs long and I assume they are made in order to put content up and generate clicks and yet people seems to like them probably because attention spans are shot and people don't actually want to read. It's why I dislike scores at the end of the review because lots of people go straight to that instead of reading the content.

2 hours ago, Vileplume2000 said:

 Finally, seeing topics end up in personal feuds sometimes just makes me think, why bother?

I can understand where you are coming from and it baffles me that these incidents still happen. We are all adults now and should be able to have a discussion and respect each others points of view. The bickering and point scoring that goes on at times is ridiculous.

2 hours ago, Vileplume2000 said:

For this forum personally, I also feel like I don't always have much to contribute. 

I quite enjoying reading people's thoughts on games, no matter when they are played. I often find that people who play games outside of the zeitgeist can have a different perspective on the game because there is no hype cycle around it. 

2 hours ago, drahkon said:

To be fair, you plow through each game in a matter of hours while others take months  

 

2 hours ago, londragon said:

But, 120

I only mentioned this to highlight that it doesn't matter how many games I could get through, I think it would still be hard to get a conversation going on here about the games i've played.

2 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

I'm honestly surprised you didn't play Pass though. Definitely my sleeper hit of 2019. So good, in fact, that I had it on my GOTY list 7 times. Better than Fortnite, that's for sure. 

I'll definitely get around to playing it this year. I've heard the graphics are mind blowing. I just wish it had VR support.  

2 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

Forums are already dead to be honest, the way I see it. Sure big ones like Reset survive, but that's because the big ones still have a place among some specific circles. I'm glad to be a part of this one and don't plan on leaving any time soon. The podcast (coupled with increased YT output) was intended to be a way of trying to bring new people into the fold, but that's a very slow process and growth takes a long time. It's also heavily dependent on quality and consistency, which is something we have to be aware of and keep working at, so any feedback, positive or negative is always welcome and we'll take it on board.   

I honestly don't see it happening. As you said, forums are dying off and as I mentioned earlier, other places have a habit of sucking people in quite quickly and social media and youtube allows people to try and make a name for themselves rather than joining a community. We haven't been able to retain members for a fair few years now, never mind bringing new people into the fold. People like Julius are a rare. Just how in the hell did you end up finding out about this place anyway, @Julius?

2 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

My backlog is intimidatingly large, which can also be a problem as I often don't know what to stick on. The case can be that I'll shuffle through a few games before finally settling on something. 

This is something I noticed when listening to the podcast. You seem to be enjoying a game and then for whatever reason you drop it and start something else. If you're enjoying it then why not continue playing/finish it before starting something else? I suppose some games do require you to be in the right frame of mind to play. Plus, if you do have an online go to game to play ( like Rocket League) I imagine that can pull you away from single player experiences.

1 hour ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

These best of lists are boring as fuck now, tbh. Everybody is doing them and it just becomes "oh, which important game did they leave off this time?" kinda stuff. Plus, it becomes contrived, because a gamer will have needed to play x amount of games in the first place to make it worth while. You're better off having multiple categories but then choosing one game per category. E.g. which game made us want to break our controller in 2019? 

The guys on Sacred Symbols do something like this for their E3 show. Everyone else is doing the standard predictions show and they end up doing something weird or goofy instead, purely because, as you said, everyone and their mother is doing an E3 predictions show.

1 hour ago, Nicktendo said:

This is a great idea... @Hero-of-Time, it's your call. I'd love to do something like this is you're up for it. 

Thanks for the offer but...

1. You guys have a good back and forth and I wouldn't want to disrupt that.
2. People tend to dislike the Geordie accent. It would be like When Cheryl Cole went over to the US for X-Factor and got sent back because people couldn't understand her.  
3. Don't you guys record at stupid o' clock at night? I usually turn in around 10pm as i'm up early doors for work.
4. My knowledge of Wave Race wouldn't be up to the standards that the podcast requires.
5. Finally, and this is the most important one, I don't like any of you.

50 minutes ago, drahkon said:

You should talk about Slay the Spire.

I think there should be a Slay the Spire podcast special with drahkon as a special guest. 

[Dcubed]

On the topic of in-depth per-game discussion, because I think that's an interesting subject that @Hero-of-Time has brought up...

 

I do agree that there is a lot less discussion surrounding individual games than there has been in recent years.  To be honest, I only really find myself doing it in the Your Gaming Diary thread and the Retro Game Discussion threads these days.

 

Personally? I am actually not playing much new these days anymore.  There's precious little coming out these days that I find myself really genuinely enjoying and sticking with anymore; even for games that are genuinely good.  Part of it is just a disillusionment with the industry in general and part of it is just me not wanting to play super long games anymore.  I find myself just unable to stomach 50 hour+ RPGs anymore; I have Octopath Traveller sitting on my Switch, numerous Fire Emblem games on 3DS and Switch, Dragon Quest 11 & Xenoblade 2 and such and I just can't bare the thought of starting them.  I don't want to play 100 hour+ games anymore.  I don't want to play games that are all about grinding anymore.

 

I also don't want to play online multiplayer focused games either; it just doesn't interest me (The MK8 NE-League being the exception of course!).  I have no interest in GAAS and I despise open world games & everything they stand for.

 

I want to play games like Luigi's Mansion 3, Link's Awakening and Yooka Laylee & The Impossible Lair; games that are tightly designed, intricately crafted and designed to deliver an amazing experience that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.  These kinds of games are becoming increasingly rare though (and even then, the grand majority of those kinds of games that are actually still coming out are remakes of games I've already played dozens of times).  They are precious to me, but they are a dying breed.

 

As such, I've been largely turning to retro gaming to play the games I really want to.  I've actually played through quite a few over the last couple of months, like Castlevania Bloodlines (yes, again; but in Hard Mode and with Lecarde this time!), Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Pulseman, Donkey Kong Country (SNES and GBC!), Stunt Race FX, Star Fox 2, Super Mario Land SNES (The fan-made remake for SNES!), Super Mario Land 2 DX (the fan-made GBC remake!) and the Super Metroid Randomiser for SNES.  I am planning on doing writeups for these in the Your Gaming Diary thread at some point soon; and hope to get a bit of discussion going (in particular, I'm really keen to hear what @Hero-of-Time thinks of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, considering that we would've both have played it fairly recently!).

 

I also got my hands on original carts for Lufia 2 and Terranigma recently; and I'm looking forward to playing them for the first time on my shiny new Super NT! (Which I'm probably gonna do in March when I have a bit of time off work).  I also recently got my hands on a Mega SG recently and am planning on playing through some of the Mega Drive games that I have had for a while, but have never actually played before (like Phantasy Star 4); so I'm sure I'll have some interesting thoughts coming up that our resident SEGA fans, like @S.C.G, will be keen to hear  Now that I have a Super NT and a Mega SG (as well as Everdrives for the GB/GBA/N64), I'm looking to get into the games that were never released on the Virtual Console; and delve a bit more into SEGA's library of classics (Also the myriad of fan hacks, randomisers and homebrew awesomeness available for these older consoles!).

 

Maybe I can even do some video reviews of sorts for some of these older games if I find the time/energy to do it? That'd be fun I'm sure!

But yeah, I am not posting in the Switch game specific threads because there's almost nothing coming out that I am actually really interested in anymore.  It's a sad world where I see an upcoming Zelda game and feel literally nothing for it; and where the most exciting upcoming games are ports of Wii and Wii U games I've played to death  

Edited February 18, 2020 by Dcubed

[drahkon]

46 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

There's a lot to unpack here...

That's what I always tell the ladies.
 

Wait, what is this thread about again?

48 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I think there should be a Slay the Spire podcast special with drahkon as a special guest. 

Sure thing. I'm German, though, so there will be ABSOLUTELY NO HUMOR WHATSOEVER.

Other than that, yeah...I think I could talk a little bit about Slay the Spire, the quintessential rogue-like-deck-building-game that surpassed all other games in past, present and future existence.
The insane amount of polish that went into balancing each and every aspect of the game is astounding. Every card, relic, potion serves a purpose and it's up to you to evaluate whether it's useful. That decision, however, is influenced by so many variables. To name a few: Does it help my deck short-term? How about long-term? Is the detrimental effect worth the buff? IS IT DEAD BRANCH AND YES I WILL ALWAYS TAKE DEAD BRANCH?! 

Variables...probably the most important word in Slay the Spire. Having to constantly evaluate the importance of certain variables no matter where you are at in a run is what makes this game so special. Especially in higher diffic...

[Nicktendo]

@Hero-of-Time, I think there are still like-minded people out there who would find a place in this community and would want to put the effort in to take part in the discussion. I'm not even talking in the 10s of people, but single digits. @Julius is a prime example of a new member joining and breathing new life into some areas of the forum. Thanks for that, BTW. Your posts are always a pleasure to read. Even one person can make a big difference. 

Man @Dcubed, your post has put a lot of stuff in perspective for me. Gaming has changed so much, and much of it has passed me by without really noticing over the past 5-6 years. That kind of complete, tightly crafted game experience really is a dying breed, and there's so much online-integration that has really changed how games are made and played. Thinking about how many F2P games I've downloaded simply because they were "free", only to find them frustrating, a waste of time, or simply a time-sink where nothing is really achieved. Think I need to change my approach to gaming a little, and I certainly feel where @nekunando is coming from when he turns his Switch on and nothing really grabs his attention. 

I still love me long RPGs though, just wish there were more hours in the day and more tools to speed up the slow bits. 

[S.C.G]

11 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Episode 7 (Top 10 games of 2019) was a REALLY hard listen for me. Greg didn't seem bothered by the whole thing, Sam was listing games that had only been played a couple of hours each (was shocked to hear that his top game didn't even get played at all) and it seemed Nick hadn't played much on the Switch from 2019. I actually want to know what the game named Pass is because he kept selecting that as his top games.  It really should have just been Lee's Top 10 Games Of 2019 as I think he was the only one who actually had a list of games he had played, finished and enjoyed. However, I did respect Nick not putting games in his list that he hadn't put enough time into. With his list I think it would have been fine to actually add the games he played that weren't released this year. Provided that it was the first time playing through the game, I do think their is value in listing and discussing games that didn't get released in the year and I certainly would have liked to hear his thoughts on them.

It seems 2019 is the year where I hit a new low for not really playing any games, it was all I could really do in order to contribute to the conversation or at least feel like I was adding something to the discussion, but I do understand as it's not really a good thing to do... ranking games you haven't even played; in my case I was going off what I'd seen from the game and how good I think the game would end up being for me and all I can say is that it's not good enough, I know this but I wanted to do my best to fit in with the format though I can see now that it does come across as forced. 

I will say that it was still fun though, both the Top 10 on the Podcast and the one we made for the main site which I think was more representative of what was played overall, we even added some honourable mentions at the bottom of the article, most of it seems like it's my backlog just from the past year.

With all the games which are out at the moment, I don't even find myself wanting to play them 'right now' even though I know I should, games such as Dragon Quest XI are on my list but then again, it's the time it takes to play each game which is a huge factor and so I end up just playing something else from the backlog or just playing Phantasy Star Online yet again because it's the one game I can rely on and it has a fantastic community spirit which goes along with it.

Community spirit is very important, part of me thinks that if I wasn't in the position that I'm in now, maybe I might have sidelined gaming alltogether... even though that seems unlikely, I do think about it but then I snap out of it and realise that it's just where I'm at right now which is making me think that way because I do have games which I want to play but I also have other things which I want to do as well; there's always plenty to do on the site even when it seems like there isn't in addition to stuff to do around the house and I think a lot of it is a case of somehow managing time a lot better which is easier said than done... but I think I just need to do more stuff rather than talking about it, this is something which I am working on.

On the bright side, I did finally start Doom (2016) the other night, properly, after bumping the difficulty down from Nightmare... I actually made it past the introduction this time it's a small thing but I have to start somewhere and I'm not going to list all the games which I haven't played any more because that's all I seem to do these days inbetween site stuff (aside from today as the electric was off in the area for a bit plus no internet) so instead I'm just going to focus on what I have played and see where things go from there.

Back to the podcast though, it's a really excellent show which I'm proud to have been a part of, either on select episodes or just helping out with music suggestions every now and then... (yes, it was me who suggested the music for this week because I just love that OST) and I hope there are many more episodes to come, which is why it's always great to get that all-important feedback from the N-E community.

TL;DR - 2019 is gone, looking forward to 2020, more games to play, many more podcasts still to come and much more content and discussion on N-Europe with any luck.

This place might not be anywhere near as active as it once was, but we've all got plenty to offer and I'm looking forward to seeing what this year will bring in terms of gaming, community spirit, interesting discussion, thought-provoking features and above all just playing games for the love of it.

And if another year goes by and I somehow don't clear any games... well 2021 might be the year of selling most of my games, except for GameCube of course, playing Phantasy Star Online on repeat and rambling on about how games have never been as good since that era and probably never will be... *grumble* *grumble*

[Jonnas]

Were "tightly crafted game experiences" ever a thing? I have the AGES remaster of Sonic the Hedgehog on my Switch, and the multitude of options and settings, alongside the fact that I can't find the one that most closely mimics the one I experienced growing up (the slow 50 Hz PAL version), leads me to believe otherwise. There are also cases like Street Fighter II and its dozen or so rereleases (before it settled on SSFII Turbo... until the HD and Ultra versions came out), World of Warcraft (there's a reason Classic is practically considered a different game), or the likes of Sims and Civilization (which saw considerable amounts of expansions before the term "DLC" was ever coined).

I digress: If a simple classic game like Sonic can feel like such a different experience depending of when, how, and where we play it, I think we should reconsider what "tightly crafted" means. If settings are superfluous, and all that matters is story, levels, and/or base roster... I would argue that a lot of games out there fit the bill, both AAA and indie titles alike.

But to argue that these types of games are dying because "games as service" models also exist is false, I think. One doesn't invalidate the other, even if F2P brings more money right now. That's just a matter of recent popularity, and trends change (remember when mobile gaming was the future just because Angry Birds existed?)

---

As for forums dying out... yeah, that I see. I think it has less to do with "the youth" having lower attention spans (seriously, most video reviews have even longer scripts than the average review of old) and more to do with how easy it is to get information right now. What initially draws us to forums like this is information and opinions about games we haven't played, and we stayed for the community. Right now, we get all of that on Google, Reddit and/or Youtube... but there's no community there.

Ultimately, I think forums might retain popularity if the discussion and articles are good quality. Initiatives like the N-E Top 10 and the podcasts are certainly a good step in that direction, as they project many of our hot takes into the wider web. Our best stuff is in the Gaming Diary thread, too.

(On a sidenote, what kids these days use to talk about gaming isn't videos or reddit: it's Discord and Whatsapp. And those have more similarities with the likes of MSN Messenger or the even older IRC channels. This cyclical shifting of media is hilarious to me, and gives me confidence that some forum-like alternatives will be back in vogue before we know it )

[WackerJr]

Wow there’s a huge amount to take in over the past couple of pages... so I’ll keep my post short!

Prediction: Metroid Dread is alive & well and will be released as a 2D platformer before Pikmin 4, despite our flowery friends having been rumoured to have been finished years ago!

In regards to people discussing their ‘Best of’ lists: I enjoy reading / listening to other people’s views, and often hearing them talk lavishly about a game I enjoyed makes me remember just why I enjoyed it so much.  Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions and it’s fun to agree or disagree with them, and usually are easy topics to discuss.

[Hero-of-Time]

17 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Personally? I am actually not playing much new these days anymore.  There's precious little coming out these days that I find myself really genuinely enjoying and sticking with anymore; even for games that are genuinely good.  Part of it is just a disillusionment with the industry in general and part of it is just me not wanting to play super long games anymore.  I find myself just unable to stomach 50 hour+ RPGs anymore; I have Octopath Traveller sitting on my Switch, numerous Fire Emblem games on 3DS and Switch, Dragon Quest 11 & Xenoblade 2 and such and I just can't bare the thought of starting them.  I don't want to play 100 hour+ games anymore.  I don't want to play games that are all about grinding anymore.

Given your recent posts on Era, I would never have guessed. 

The second point is a one I have trouble understanding. There was a topic on Era the other day about the same thing, with the OP stating how he can't bring himself to start long games anymore. To me, if the game is good and you are enjoying it then surely it being a lengthy adventure shouldn't be an issue? It just means that you are playing one game instead of playing through several. 

17 hours ago, Dcubed said:

I want to play games like Luigi's Mansion 3, Link's Awakening and Yooka Laylee & The Impossible Lair; games that are tightly designed, intricately crafted and designed to deliver an amazing experience that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.  These kinds of games are becoming increasingly rare though (and even then, the grand majority of those kinds of games that are actually still coming out are remakes of games I've already played dozens of times).  They are precious to me, but they are a dying breed.

As such, I've been largely turning to retro gaming to play the games I really want to. 

This is something i've been experiencing recently, hence me delving back into the DS library. It's been a breath of fresh air playing through Kirby: Mass Attack, a game that can actually be finished without the need for patches and doesn't have the constant stream of updates and DLC in an attempt to try and keep players coming back. It's nice knowing that once the credits have rolled I can safely pop the cartridge back in the box and it's done.

17 hours ago, Dcubed said:

But yeah, I am not posting in the Switch game specific threads because there's almost nothing coming out that I am actually really interested in anymore.  It's a sad world where I see an upcoming Zelda game and feel literally nothing for it; and where the most exciting upcoming games are ports of Wii and Wii U games I've played to death  

About Switch software not really doing anything for you, I do get the impression that is a feeling shared by others, both on here and elsewhere. There were a few posts on Era back in January where a few people said the same thing and that Nintendo is slowly changing and the Switch software doesn't feel up to scratch when compared to previous generation games. With it being Era, obviously these people were hounded out of the topic but I feel some good points were made when said people were allowed to speak. Is it something you agree with, that the software isn't as good as it once was?

12 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

@Hero-of-Time, I think there are still like-minded people out there who would find a place in this community and would want to put the effort in to take part in the discussion. I'm not even talking in the 10s of people, but single digits. @Julius is a prime example of a new member joining and breathing new life into some areas of the forum. Thanks for that, BTW. Your posts are always a pleasure to read. Even one person can make a big difference. 

Totally but, as you said, it would be a rare find to get a new person jump on board now. For me, I think it's more about retention. Trying to keep people who visit here coming back but also getting them involved more in forum discussions. Going by the members list/who's online at the bottom of the forum, we do have a lot of members visiting the place but not actually posting. I think it would be good to know why people do feel like visiting but don't want to post. Is it a question or having nothing to say and just wanting to read what others have posted or is it something a little more serious, like Vileplume mentioned, where arguments happen so they don't want to post? I'd love to know why others moved on. People like Andylini, darksnowman, Talizo and McjMetroid moved over to Gaf/Era and never came back. No doubt it was due to the lack of banter on here but it would be good to know exactly why. Poor darksnowman got a few day banned on Era the other day for apparently speaking out of line. I should really PM him and tell him to get back here, to a place where he can says what he wants.  

Thanks for the reply @S.C.G. I'll respond via a PM.

 

[Londragon]

 

'N-E Café [015] It’s Coming, Isn’t It?' is now live on all podcast providers (see opening post).

The 15th N-E Café Podcast is jam-packed with Lee Davies and Nick Lone.  As always we talk about the recent Nintendo News; games we’ve been playing, featuring Super Mario Maker 2 and Bomb Chicken; and this week’s Topic of the Week, Predicting 2 Non-Existent Nintendo Directs.

This is episode 15 of the N-E Café Podcast, an N-Europe Podcast. Enjoy!

 

 

[Glen-i]

23 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

About Switch software not really doing anything for you, I do get the impression that is a feeling shared by others, both on here and elsewhere. There were a few posts on Era back in January where a few people said the same thing and that Nintendo is slowly changing and the Switch software doesn't feel up to scratch when compared to previous generation games. With it being Era, obviously these people were hounded out of the topic but I feel some good points were made when said people were allowed to speak. Is it something you agree with, that the software isn't as good as it once was?

I can't speak for him (although I'm sure he will agree with that), but I certainly think so.

I look at the big hitters of the Nintendo's Switch output and we have BotW, which was the first Zelda game where I actually fell asleep at one point. Mario Odyssey, a game that feels fun to control, but not much else and Pokémon Sword/Shield (Yeah, I know. Not Nintendo), that shows promise but blatantly annexes features from previous games for the sake of selling you a mobile app subscription or for no reason whatsoever.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses lost my interest pretty quickly because of the large focus on non-battle gameplay and Xenoblade 2 was quite enjoyable, but mired in a crappy plot and unlikable characters.

I look at the first party offerings I did enjoy and there's a noticeable trend with them. There's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a WiiU port of a fantastic entry to the kart racing series, Tokyo Mirage Sessions still holds up well (Is that first party? Ah well, it might as well be, that's never coming out on another console) and Smash Bros. Ultimate is a masterpiece of a game, but it's built from the WiiU version. (Not a dig, given the sheer scope of the game, corner cutting is expected)

It goes to show that the 3 Switch games I'm looking forward to most are Animal Crossing, Xenoblade Chronicles, a remaster of a Wii title and PMD: Rescue Team DX, a remake of a GBA/DS title.

Edited February 20, 2020 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

37 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Xenoblade 2 was quite enjoyable, but mired in a crappy plot and unlikable characters.

Really? I thought Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had a great set....

...of characters.  

Seriously, though, I did enjoy the cast in the game. I loved them and from JRPGs in recent years I rate them second only due to the fact that Tales of Beseria had an amazing cast.

[Hero-of-Time]

Speaking of Xenoblade, are this weeks tunes from Xenoblade Chronicles X?

[Nicktendo]

10 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Speaking of Xenoblade, are this weeks tunes from Xenoblade Chronicles X?

[Londragon]

I forgot to mention at the end of the podcast, that I think we’ll see some Paid DLC for Mario Maker 2.

[Ealdst]

4 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

A little idea - can you use spoiler tags when revealing a transition tunes answer? I now know the answer before I've had a chance to listen to the episode

[Nicktendo]

19 minutes ago, Ealdst said:

A little idea - can you use spoiler tags when revealing a transition tunes answer? I now know the answer before I've had a chance to listen to the episode

Yeah sure, we can ask everyone to do that from now on. Or PM Lee or myself and we can see if multiple people get it. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Episode thoughts...

• Play Skies of Arcadia! Seriously, the game is one of the best JRPGs ever created. The soundtrack, cast of characters, battle system, story and ship battles are all fantastic, as is the limited voice work. "Moons, give me strength!" "Cutlass fury!" "Fire consume my enemies!" Classic stuff. 
• City Connection lets you run over cats? I'm in! 
• Nick is now saying SNES the correct way. You see, complaining about things does make change happen.
• The selection of SNES games is a bit weird. There are some heavy hitters missing from the line up at the moment. Sure, they may arrive at some point but given how slow these games are being drip fed to us we may be waiting quite a while for some of the more standout games to appear on the service.
• This whole thing of Japan getting extra games and free games is really starting to annoy me. Every region is paying the same price for this service but once again Nintendo seem to be favouring Japan and leaving the rest of us out in the cold.
• The DICE Awards lost all credibility when they gave that award to Mario Kart Tour. Absolute shambles. 
• I watched a technical video on Warface and it does look pretty rough. I seen @RedShell playing it the other night ( really weird seeing him play a gritty FPS) and he hasn't been on it since. I assume he didn't enjoy it? It baffles me that there are no good standard FPS games on the Switch. Activision could make a killing if they released a Call of Duty on the platform. I'm honestly surprised they haven't ported their mobile version of the game over.
• The Metro collection is something i'm not really fussed about but i'm happy that the ports seem well made and that the price of them seems to be spot on. £30 for both of them and with a physical release is the kind of thing you want to see from publishers.*looks at Capcom*
• Biomutant was announced a couple of years ago now and the reveal made the game look quite good. We have a topic about over in the other section of the forum. HERE
• The supply issues in Japan are certainly already a thing. After the news broke about the virus effecting shipments, the Switch sales for the other week shot up as people were afraid they weren't going to be able to get one for when Animal Crossing gets released and started to panic buy the hybrid. In this weeks Japanese charts the sales seem to be at a more normal level.
• Yeah, Crash is definitely a difficult platformer. They get easier as the games go on but the original can be really punishing. If you are struggling now just wait until you have to do the bridge levels....
• Out of Crash and Spyro the latter is the better of the two, IMO. I just find the Spyro games far more fun and charming. They have more in common with the N64 style platformers than what Crash does and maybe that's why I gravitate to the Spyro games more.
• I also found Mario Maker 2 to be a big disappointment. Granted, I only really bought it for the campaign but what was there wasn't really worth playing. I was hoping for some challenging levels like we seen at the Nintendo World Championships but instead all we got was a glorified tutorial. To be fair I have real beef with the series. In my eyes these games will stop the production of any new 2D Mario games. I'd much rather have Nintendo's own stages to play than some random persons on the internet.
• Bomb Chicken is a fantastic game and I loved it to bits. I quite enjoyed the change of pace as the levels went on and the challenge it offered the player but I can see why Lee did find it frustrating.
• I love Lee's idea about GB/GBA games being in Animal Crossing. It makes too much sense! Sadly, i'd be VERY surprised if it were to happen given that they could use such titles to sell their subscription service.
• They do need to start adding value to their service, IMO. I'm sure we were promised discounts when the thing first launched but we've yet to see anything like that. I love how PS+ and Xbox Live give substantial discounts on new games to members. I think Nintendo could easily follow suit in this regard, especially when their own games very rarely drop in price. 
• I enjoyed the predictions section and I agree....no games for Greg. To be honest I think that should have been the name of this weeks episode.  

24 minutes ago, Ealdst said:

A little idea - can you use spoiler tags when revealing a transition tunes answer? I now know the answer before I've had a chance to listen to the episode

Will do.