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TalkBack / Re: Splatoon Global Testfire Succeeds Even With Restrictions

« on: May 11, 2015, 12:00:55 PM »

My only real gripe with the game after playing the beta (other than the friend matching mess) is no Pro Controller support for online multiplayer. Displaying the map that's on the Gamepad onscreen shouldn't be an issue, and you can use the D-pad (or some other input) to cycle through choices of which teammate you want to jump to. Maybe have the map expand and take up more of the screen when you're doing that so it's easier. Playing with the Gamepad was fun and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I feel like I'd have a better time with the Pro Controller.

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TalkBack / Re: Splatoon Is Nintendo's Big Online Gamble

« on: May 07, 2015, 09:29:11 PM »

The odd decision to hold regular friend matchmaking back to August might be an attempt by Nintendo developers to have a more level play field in the first 2-3 months of the game.

They have a ranking system that's supposed to take care of that though and you need to be at a certain level to get into ranked matches. If you want to keep it "even" in the beginning, you can do random teams in the regular battle mode where you have to get up to level 10 (even though I don't agree with that either). There's still no reasonable explanation for why they're doing this in ranked battles though.

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TalkBack / Re: Splatoon Is Nintendo's Big Online Gamble

« on: May 07, 2015, 05:34:23 PM »

With the lighter focus on solo and offline play, the online content needs to be spectacular or else the entire experience will fall apart. We’ll get a taste of how the online will work this weekend with the Global Testfire, but at a glance, it seems like a layer of abstraction might harm the online experience at launch. You can pair up with friends, but then you’ll be randomly sorted into teams when you find a full eight-player match. After each match, the teams will shuffle, seemingly nixing any sense of camaraderie you might feel with random players online.

My concern isn’t regarding the lack of voice chat (which is still a major disappointment); rather it’s the lack of companionship. In my time with comparable online games ranging from Halo to Call of Duty, I’ve had great times regardless of voice chat or friends. Part of that was because I’d develop rivalries and friendships with other players by teaming up with them or squaring off against them in a series of matches. That can still happen with Splatoon’s random player swap setup, but it just appears to be another barrier to developing a player-vs.-player relationship. This is the equivalent of Nintendo chewing their online game for players like they were all a bunch of baby birds.

My thoughts exactly. This is going to be a major sticking point for a lot of people (myself included) and they aren't going to take this as lightly as the lack of voice chat where there was an obvious alternative. There's no obvious workaround for this. If you've got two friends with you, what are you going to do? Keep backing out of lobbies until you end up on the same side? They didn't even make it clear whether or not you'd be able to play on the same side with two or three friends in all multiplayer modes after the August update, or if you'd be limited to the one 4 v 4 multiplayer mode if you want to play with friends (which would be atrocious).

It's baffling that they'd do something like this for a game that, yeah, you're basically buying only to play online. Even if it's only till August. You can make a semi-coherent argument for no voice chat (and even that argument would have major flaws), but there's no defending this decision. I'm excited to play the demo tomorrow and on Saturday, but I'm a lot more skeptical about this now than I was last night, which is obviously the opposite impact this Direct should have had.

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TalkBack / Re: First Post-Launch Splatoon Content Includes Matchmaking, Custom Games, Weapons and Gear

« on: May 07, 2015, 11:54:43 AM »

The update will add friend matching to all multiplayer modes, allowing you to force matches with friends on the multiplayer modes.

Will it? If so, that's a huge relief. What I got out of the Direct was that friend matchmaking will come in August in the form of a completely separate online mode, and even then you'd need four friends (no mention was made of what your options were if there were just two or three of you). I certainly hope it's coming to all multiplayer modes and allows you to play on the same side if there are only two of you as well.

If not, that's... well, dumb as ****, to be succinct. They'd be outta their friggin' mind if they didn't include this.

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TalkBack / Re: NWR Super Smash Bros. Playoffs Semi-Finals

« on: May 05, 2015, 01:07:50 PM »

That second match in PGC vs. RFN... is that what justice feels like?

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo of America Issues Statement on Amiibo Supply Issues

« on: May 05, 2015, 12:55:26 PM »

Nintendo's been doing a lot of "talking" about fixing the Amiibo supply problem since the first wave, and so far the situation's only gotten worse. Meanwhile, Wave 4 sold out in 15 minutes here in the states while simultaneously taking down the website of the biggest dedicated gaming realtor. I lucked out that one of the staff here found several stores with full shelves of Wave 4 figures in Australia that I was able to procure a Ness; Lucina; and Robin, but that raises questions of its own as to where Nintendo's allocating their resources. I'd like to acquire a Shulk; Ike; & Marth someday, but given the current state of Amiibo that is nowhere near a reasonable expectation.

I'm tired of Nintendo's excuses and empty promises. It feels like all Nintendo's done since the Wii U launched (if not much earlier) is make excuses for whatever latest way they've ****ed up.

When the Wii U GC adapter mess happened, they promised more of those later. They were up pretty much daily on Amazon and EB/GS for a two week stretch last month, so they definitely delivered on those. I know at least two scarce Amiibo (Shulk and Marth) are/have gotten restocked in the States and Meta Knight is rumoured. Just this morning I saw Marth, Ike, and Meta Knight got restocked in Australia. Three other rare Amiibo (Captain Falcon, Little Mac, and Villager) very recently got restocked in Japan as well.

They screwed things up majorly (and continue to do so), but to say they're only making empty promises and not trying to remedy the situation in any capacity is unfair.

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TalkBack / Re: New Details Emerge For Fire Emblem if

« on: April 29, 2015, 08:59:46 PM »

If the reviews out of Japan (and the people who import) are good, I honestly can't see a similar release structure slowing down the franchise too much in the West. The thing about "niche" titles (which a lot of people are always quick to label this franchise) is that the majority of their fanbase is entrenched. As long as the content and gameplay is there, I'll pre-order the limited edition bundle the minute it goes up.

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TalkBack / Re: Frustrations Of A New Fire Emblem Fan

« on: April 26, 2015, 04:09:23 AM »

My issue with the "2 games" argument is that if a Western dev did this with something like Skyrim (splitting 2 story paths into 2 separately-charged releases) people would be livid.  But because this is Fire Emblem and because this is Nintendo, people should apparently just be happy about it and accept that Nintendo chose to break a large game up into 3 pieces to be charged separately.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not necessarily happy that Nintendo did this. I'm just not willing to throw them under the bus before people have even had a chance to play the game and see how this is going to work in practice. In the end it's going to come down to how much (unique) content is in each of those campaigns and how independent they actually are. Right now we're way too light on details to say that it isn't justified. If the two main campaigns do end up being that big and are truly standalone, this is a much better way to handle it than forcing both on everybody with a $55 or $60 price tag and losing sales in the process.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 426: Connoisseur of Chaos

« on: April 26, 2015, 02:15:17 AM »

The New 3DS XL's topscreen was changed from a TN to IPS LCD, while the New 3DS' topscreen was not. It actually does make a pretty big difference; I noticed right out of the box that the top display looked much better on my New 3DS XL (I only found out about the specifics of the switch later). So I think it's got a pretty legitimate claim to best designed 3DS over its smaller variant.

what advantages do those changes bring.

The thing that stood out to me right away was that the colours looked a lot more "rich" and vivid. There's also a pretty stark difference in how the display (and colours) hold up when you're looking at the screen from an angle. Words don't really do it justice though. Here are a couple pics from a neogaf user:





Those are both the New 3DS XL, so evidently not every XL came with an IPS screen for some reason. Seems very strange and I'm not sure why this hasn't gotten more attention.

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TalkBack / Re: Frustrations Of A New Fire Emblem Fan

« on: April 26, 2015, 01:56:27 AM »

The other story shouldn't be a DLC and you shouldn't be locked out of one part of your game.

They are essentially making more than one game. There is no reason for them to price it as one game. If the game included both routes but cost $60 no one would complain, but because it is $40 plus optional DLC people get upset. It makes no sense.

Two games that share the same 1st 6 chapters.

Right, but the point is that's factored into the price.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 426: Connoisseur of Chaos

« on: April 24, 2015, 01:13:49 PM »

The New 3DS XL's topscreen was changed from a TN to IPS LCD, while the New 3DS' topscreen was not. It actually does make a pretty big difference; I noticed right out of the box that the top display looked much better on my New 3DS XL (I only found out about the specifics of the switch later). So I think it's got a pretty legitimate claim to best designed 3DS over its smaller variant.

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TalkBack / Re: Staff Sez: The Smash Ballot

« on: April 24, 2015, 09:58:57 AM »

I really hope Sakurai sees the strong anti-Goku sentiment and puts him in for that very reason. Or alternatively: "Alright, I heard you guys, no Goku. Here's Vegeta."

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TalkBack / Re: What Happened to the Wii U GamePad’s Potential?

« on: April 14, 2015, 02:31:59 PM »

What possible selling point does the Wii U have besides the controller?  All of its other improvements over the Wii are things the competition offered years before.  So you have a controller where Nintendo is hoping inspires cool ideas, even though the exact same concept already failed to do so before, and this controller is the sole selling point for the entire thing.  If the controller fails, the console fails.  And Iwata thought that was going to work?  How does this guy still have his job?

People buy video game consoles to play good video games (!), not fidget around with a really nice controller. Most are far more likely to play good games with a mediocre controller than play mediocre games with a good controller, and it becomes a complete non-issue when you consider the Pro Controller is completely viable and compatible with the majority of worthwhile titles. If they made it necessary in almost every capacity to enjoy the system, I'd get all the hate the Gamepad gets, but again, turn it off and go use the Pro Controller if you don't want the Gamepad. It's more of an add-on to me than anything, and as an add-on it's still pretty cool.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo News Report: The Great Amiibo Wave 4 Tragedy

« on: April 10, 2015, 12:17:56 PM »

Tragedy? It sounds like Nintendo has already sold out the whole Wave 4 Amiibo stock before it even hit the shelves. That's a victory! A triumph. They are making bank and this stuff is clearly a hit! I hope the live report is done in the spirit of a party with everyone celebrating the good times for Nintendo right now and not the dirge and funeral rites you're making it sound like. Why must every bit of good news for Nintendo be turned into a negative story?

It would be a huge "victory" for Nintendo if they cornered the mobile gaming market and abandoned dedicated gaming platforms altogether because they were making so much money in the mobile sphere. That doesn't mean it'd be good for us, or something that would (or should) be celebrated. That's the difference between being a consumer/fan and a shareholder.

Maybe it could be. In this day and age, everyone cares a phone and most use smart phones. Now instead of having to buy a new console or new handheld all the time, one only needs to own their phone to play Nintendo games. With mobile games being pretty inexpensive, think of the dough you'll be able to save by just playing Nintendo games this way. Heck, Ian Sane might be able to finally buy a smart phone because of the savings! Plus, Nintendo seems to be getting better and better at the free to play style of games judging by the reviews on this site of the various titles they've released of this sort. With this stronger and stronger understanding of how the mobile market works and their smart game design philosophy, it could turn out to be a great thing for all gamers, giving them a platform far greater than any console released so far (aside from a PC) and it could make them tons of moolah. But again, you, like everyone else it seems, view any potential change as doom and gloom and negative instead of thinking about how positive it could be. The game is rigged and Nintendo can't win.

The obvious reason why mobile games are so inexpensive is because they can't hold a candle to the quality of console games. Getting vastly inferior games to play on a vastly inferior device (at least as far as gaming on it is concerned) doesn't sound all that great to me. And true, they are getting good reviews for their F2P stuff, but it's in the context of being a F2P game. If you stack it up and compare it to something like Fire Emblem or ALBW, no one is going to call it an amazing game or a masterpiece.


I don't think it's entirely fair to say that everyone views any potential change as doom and gloom. Voice chat in online mode across the board would be a change for Nintendo and one most people would get behind. They're changing their account system, and I'm excited as hell for that, as are a lot of other people. Nintendo can certainly win. When it comes to Amiibo, find a viable way to produce enough to meet demand. If you can't in the short-term, don't introduce ~40 different variants in half a year and focus on making an adequate number of a select few instead. I don't even consider the shift in their philosophy and entry into the mobile market bad news or doom and gloom. The way they intend to do it now sounds like it's great for everyone. Console gamers will still get their console games. Mobile gamers will get some (hopefully) quality mobile games. If all goes well, Nintendo makes more $$$. But if they abandon console games, I (and millions of others) who have no interest in mobile games just got left in the dust. I don't see any realistic scenario in which that isn't a disastrous change.

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TalkBack / Re: Join Us Tonight For Nintendo News Report: The Great Amiibo Wave 4 Tragedy!

« on: April 09, 2015, 11:21:29 PM »

Tragedy? It sounds like Nintendo has already sold out the whole Wave 4 Amiibo stock before it even hit the shelves. That's a victory! A triumph. They are making bank and this stuff is clearly a hit! I hope the live report is done in the spirit of a party with everyone celebrating the good times for Nintendo right now and not the dirge and funeral rites you're making it sound like. Why must every bit of good news for Nintendo be turned into a negative story?

It would be a huge "victory" for Nintendo if they cornered the mobile gaming market and abandoned dedicated gaming platforms altogether because they were making so much money in the mobile sphere. That doesn't mean it'd be good for us, or something that would (or should) be celebrated. That's the difference between being a consumer/fan and a shareholder.