Forum - View topicThis Week in Games - In Which We Discuss a Nintendo Direct
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2545 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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To be fair, Heidi's not the first person I've seen online to seemingly forget that the DS remake of the original Front Mission actually did see an English release back in 2007. Still, great to see the first two games be given the remake treatment, so maybe I'll finally give this series a try, because it's always looked really cool. As for the whole Intellivision Amico story, my favorite part of the most recent information was the revelation that one of the loaners managed to actually get a payback deal in which he was set to receive $100 back for every Amico console sold, until his $675,000 loan was paid back in full... by December 2021. How the hell no one at Intellivision Entertainment noticed that kind of absurd clause when negotiating the loan is just astounding. |
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JustMonika
Posts: 962 |
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Portal Companion Collection was the only exciting announcement for me besides Loop8 which was shown in the Japanese show. Still know announcement for Alan Wake Remastered, Rewrite+ or A Sky Full of Stars. Also need localization for Air and Summer Pockets.
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Hal14
 Posts: 667 Location: Heart of africa |
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Looking at the Amico and the games it will supposedly have; the whole thing reminds me of those in-flight video games I touched once or twice before watching movies for the rest of the flight.
Anyway, the direct was fun. Good pacing, except for the Switch sports demonstration which was a little painful to watch. Wii sports was fun to play but rarely fun to see people play. Never heard of Live A live before, but from what I'm now hearing it sounds like what I wish octopath traveler had been instead so I'll check it out. I've played the new Triangle strategy demo and am glad to see some of the feedback was addressed. Overall a good presentation, especially if you're an RPG fan. |
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wolf10
 Posts: 905 |
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But what a great Direct, overall. Kirby, Klonoa, a ton of Squaresoft, er, Square-Enix announcements. Had to look up what the Metroid DLC was and it's just difficulty modes that should have been there at launch, but still good to have. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2444 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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While I'm personally happiest about Fire Emblem Warriors (I just finished the Golden Deer route of Three Houses and immediately launched into New Game+ with the Black Eagles), Klonoa, and Chrono Cross, if I take my JRPG fanboy hat off and try to be objective, I think the most important announcement might actually be MLB The Show 22. One of the most glaring weaknesses of the Switch lineup has been simulation-style sports games, particularly with EA locking down the NFL and NHL licenses but declining to make Switch versions of those franchises. So now of the five major team sports in the US, Switch has three covered: soccer (EA's FIFA), basketball (2K's NBA2K), and now baseball, with football and ice hockey still lacking.
One other thing I can't help but notice is that of two PS1 games I played back in the day, Klonoa looks great, and Chrono Cross… really doesn't. Chrono Cross appeared to be in 4x3, with a sub-30fps framerate, enough to make me wonder if it’s being run through some kind of PlayStation emulation. After all, the various ports of the Final Fantasy games from that era are reportedly based on the code of their PC versions rather than PS1, and I don't think there was a PC version of Chrono Cross, so maybe Square was stuck with a severely platform-dependent codebase (assuming they even maintained the source for 20 years), and in that case, short of rewriting the game from scratch with modern languages and APIs, what do you do? On the other hand, being able to turn off random encounters suggests they have enough control of the codebase to make a significant gameplay change like that, so who knows what's going on? One other note: the JP Direct had a segment for 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, with a trial version available on the JP eShop. I downloaded it and I'm happy to report that, at least for the first 15 minutes or so (including the first battle), it's indistinguishable from the PS4 version. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4426 |
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Mario Kart is no surprise. They keep selling more Switches, and many of those result in a purchase of Mario Kart 8. Nintendo is getting a lot out of what was originally made for a prior system, so why not load it up with revamped tracks from prior games? The DLC being part of the online expansion pass is no surprise either. The initial reaction to that pass was that it was too costly for what was offered. History suggests that Nintendo's approach will be to leave the pricing alone and add content here or there and over time, it will hit a point where different customers will decide it is worth it.
At best, Mario Kart 9 will be something that shows up with a successor to the Switch. Even if it is in development, it probably holds more value as a future system seller, so they could sit on it until then. |
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1175 |
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I know there were a lot of major titles announced in the Direct, but I have to admit I find it really weird ANN seems to have totally ignored the new SD Gundam game.
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AQuin1904
Posts: 264 |
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The RPG announcements are really exciting, although I despair of ever having time to play any of them.
Cautiously optimistic for FE Three Hopes. The first FEW had some fun ideas, but the mechanically lopsided roster (in terms of weapon types) got in the way on a number of stages, and the story was distractingly abysmal—a hodge-podge of scenes lifted verbatim from their source games and bland original content that didn't mesh with them at all, centered on redundant original protagonists who didn't contribute anything. A game focused on a single set of characters should hopefully deliver a more satisfying narrative. (Fingers crossed that it's not a pure retread.)
I thought we got the DS release of FM1. (Unless I'm misremembering and actually played the JP version of that, or it was some weird deal where it was in English but not actually released in English-speaking countries.) Still hyped for that and 2 with a graphical facelift. I remember there being parts of some maps where it was hard to see what was where with the original sprites. Gun Hazard is still the FM game from that era I'd most like to see return in some form, though. Did they say anything about whether the Chrono Cross remaster will include any kind of accessibility options? I seem to remember that game being a massive middle finger to the colorblind, and I know at least one person who tried to play it and couldn't for that reason. |
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Vanadise
 Posts: 494 |
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It's interesting how it seems like public perception of CC has changed over the years. I remember when it first came out, I was incredibly hyped for it -- then when I actually played it, I was pretty disappointed. I decided to give it another try and replay it a few years later, and it ended up just making me angry. It seemed like that was a pretty common opinion among my circle of friends, too; the few people who liked it were people who hadn't played CT first. But it seems like somehow, the internet has rehabilitated CC over the last several years. I see people raving about it on Twitter all the time, and it's got a ridiculously high score on Metacritic (94!), even higher than Chrono Trigger's (92). My opinions on games don't always line up with the mainstream, but I can usually at least understand why people like things. I'm not a fan of Final Fantasy 7, but sure, I can see the appeal. But Chrono Cross? I just don't get it. Seeing that a remaster is coming almost makes me tempted to give it another chance, but I watch the trailer and nope, all the jank is still there. I guess this is good for the people who like it, though! Now, Live A Live and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, that's what I'm excited about. Both of those look fantastic. |
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Bvick00
 Posts: 37 |
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Thanks Heidi for talking about the Intellivision Amico console. So they messed up the console launch huh? And here I'm wondering what the heck happened to that console?Making families the console's core demographic was actually a nice thing and some of the games looked promising for kids to play with at least (but now that Switch Sports is a thing I guess this console maybe dead on arrival even if it does eventually release). The only thing that truly bothers me about this console is that Earthworm Jim 4 is exclusive to it, so if the console never releases we might never get to see or play the game (unless they decide to release the game on other platforms)
Speaking of the Direct,what the heck was Nintendo thinking not developing Switch Sports for the Switch when the console came out 5 years ago. Like this game should have been a no brainer for the console, but I guess it's better late than never. Also how the heck has Mother 3 not been officially localized yet till date? I mean if Live A Live and Radical Dreamers can finally get officially localized after nearly 20-30 years later, surely a 16 year old game that fans have been clamouring for years can be given the same treatment? Aside from these things the Direct was great - old games get a new lease on life,new games look promising, Kirby is getting a much needed comeback and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is looking to be amazing with the combined aesthetics of the previous two main games. |
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Dumas1
Posts: 75 |
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Really excited to finally get a chance to get my grubby paws on Live A Live, along with "free" Mother and Earthbound, even if I'll probably never get around to playing them. Front Mission also looks great, I always have room for mech games, if no actual playing time.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes makes me wonder if Fire Emblem would fit better with the playstyle of the Dynasty Warriors Empires sub-series, or something more similar to Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Nobunaga's Ambition games. Those could offer enough roster space to accommodate multiple Fire Emblem games' worth of officers without being hurt too much by archetype overlap (insert Blue-Haired Guy With a Sword crack here). |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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Best direct ever, I even get a much needed Front Mission 2 remake, because it's hard to replay the original, due to gameplay that's slower than molasses. Also SD Gundam Battle Alliance is a day 1 buy due to the gameplay being similar to Gundam Breaker.
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Zero-chan
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 32 |
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This is the Mandela Effect in action, because nobody I talked to immediately post-Direct remembered that existed. Squeenix did kinda drop it without much fanfare, so it's amazingly easy to overlook. Also re: SD Gundam... man, I watch these directs like 2 or 3 times scribbling notes throughout and when it comes time to write the summary I still manage to have stuff slip my mind. I just noticed I didn't put Taiko in either, d'oh. That's the problem with Directs: there's just so much! |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2204 |
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Wednesday was...a lot. Anyway.
-Amico: I was just talking about this with an acquaintance and HOODAG, is it a mess. This is like if the Ouya fiasco was even worse and it's clear these guys put the cart before the horse. Their latest bit of crowdfunding had to disclose the amount of debt they hold and it's a LOT. It's possible this thing never even ships -Three Hopes: Not surprising we have an FEW with Three Houses though I wonder if this is an alt timeline or showing what happened in the five years between the end of the first have and the beginning of the second. -Mario Kart: 48 courses boosts the current count to 96. And considering how the roadmap is going to 2023, my guess is that's also them saying "Yeah, no Switch successor for awhile." As for the NSO thing, I'm here and there about it. I wouldn't be surprised if expansion passes are free to NSO expansion users. It's not a bad idea, but it's effectively paying a subscription for DLC. Still, I've seen worse implementations -Kirby: This is absurd and I love every second of it -No Man's Sky: Apparently they were working on this for two years, often wondering if it was even possible before someone managed to work it out. For all its launch drama, Hello Games have made good on their promise to keep supporting it and adding new stuff, making it the sandbox it was advertised as. -Front Mission: Oh, glad to see this back. Let us never speak of Evolved ever again. -Chrono Cross: One of my favorites and getting Radical Dreamers is just icing on the cake. -Live A Live: Of ALL the games to remake, they pick this oddball. I'm not complaining though considering its pedigree (Takashi Tokita's directorial debut, and the first Square title Yoko Shimomura ever worked on). The Japanese voice cast is also stacked, Tokita having chosen the cast himself, with Megumi Ogata, Tomokazu Seki, Akio Ohtsuka, Hiroya Ishimaru, and Norio Wakamoto. And I must say, THIS is how I want a lot of SNES and PS1 era titles to be remade. It helps update the games, while keeping their unique, off-kilter charm. They should remake FFIV-VI, Chrono Trigger, Treasure of the Rudra, and FF Tactics with this. -Xenoblade 3: That trailer has a lot of "It CAN'T be, but it HAS to be." in it. Really looking forward to this and to see what madness Takahashi is going to unleash on us. -Platinum: We need people to be better at translating if we're going to continue talking about Japanese titles. This is ridiculous |
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pikabot
Posts: 168 |
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I can think of two plausible reasons. First is that based on comments by the developers of the fan translation patch, the game sounds like it would be a nightmare to port to other systems. It sounds like a total mess under the hood. So localizing it would be a relatively expensive endeavour. The second can be summarized with a single word: Magypsies. |
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