1
TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Of America Announces Black Friday Deals Including Dates For Digital Sale
« on: November 23, 2025, 08:00:29 AM »
Just FYI, the games in this announcement are currently $30, not $40. Much better deal.
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
2
Nintendo Gaming / Re: 2025 NWR Forum Awards
« on: November 20, 2025, 01:19:58 PM »
No one's going to vote for them, but I feel like these games should be on the Multiplatform list:
- Tormented Souls 2
- Robocop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business
- Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
- Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
- Trails in the Sky: First Chapter
I've played all but that last one, but I've been hearing people singing praises for that remake so it would feel weird for it to not be there.
Edit: Oh yeah, add Dispatch, too, to Multiplatform. Haven't gotten to it because it's kind of expensive for what it is, but the people who have played it seem to love it
- Tormented Souls 2
- Robocop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business
- Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
- Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
- Trails in the Sky: First Chapter
I've played all but that last one, but I've been hearing people singing praises for that remake so it would feel weird for it to not be there.
Edit: Oh yeah, add Dispatch, too, to Multiplatform. Haven't gotten to it because it's kind of expensive for what it is, but the people who have played it seem to love it
3
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 17, 2025, 07:00:36 PM »
I wonder where the franchise would be now if Nintendo hadn't shut down Retro's original idea for Prime 3: Samus actually being a goddamn Bounty Hunter for once and roaming the galaxy capturing bounties on remote planets. It certainly would have shook up the formula, maybe too much so.
It happens every once in a while, most notably in Demon's Souls where there's an NPC questline where every time you run into him he's ambushed and you have to save him. He's a capable enough fighter, but not in a 1 v 10 scenario. It's not game-ending if he dies, but you do lose out on his storyline and an end game equipment upgrade material. Solaire in Dark Souls 1 can die at multiple points before the end of his questline unless you save him, though even that doesn't have a happy end.
Quote
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Soulslike have an escort section, which sounds like a level of hell I’d rather not engage with, but I do see the point of density/deliberate interaction that is being raised, here.
It happens every once in a while, most notably in Demon's Souls where there's an NPC questline where every time you run into him he's ambushed and you have to save him. He's a capable enough fighter, but not in a 1 v 10 scenario. It's not game-ending if he dies, but you do lose out on his storyline and an end game equipment upgrade material. Solaire in Dark Souls 1 can die at multiple points before the end of his questline unless you save him, though even that doesn't have a happy end.
4
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 16, 2025, 09:00:19 PM »
Side note about the topic title:
Considering the player spends a fair amount of time roaring across a desert wasteland in a motorcycle, I feel like the TC missed an opportunity to go...Beyond Thunderdome?
Considering the player spends a fair amount of time roaring across a desert wasteland in a motorcycle, I feel like the TC missed an opportunity to go...Beyond Thunderdome?
5
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 16, 2025, 07:59:12 PM »
OK, I'm going to try to make this quick. It's been a long day helping a family member move, and I'm not in a good mood.
1. Regarding "rants", Glass Houses, dude. You do it all the time, usually in defense of public perception of a $100 billion company that could not care less about you.
2. It's not goalpost-moving to point out that you're willfully ignorant when it comes to a franchise you've clearly never played, which you were and are. You know nothing about how those games play or how its fans play it, which is somewhat baffling when Dark Souls Remastered was on the Switch. You could have experienced it for yourself.
The number of NPCs is irrelevant. What matters is how the game uses them and how they impact the player. That is a crucial component of a game's atmosphere.
Let's say I'm going to an expensive restaurant. I pay full price for a good meal based on an old favorite. I'm told that it might have some of the tastiest food I've ever had...but every so often I'll have to eat **** because it's a local delicacy and certain patrons adore it.
I'm not going to eat the meal, because I don't want to eat ****.
Yes, and I most likely watched it before you did. Look at the comments, where I called him out for building an entire video around the same strawman you're using rather than the issue people actually had with the NPC shown so far: the writing.
He even admits in a pinned comment that he ignored the writing complaints because he didn't want to deal with talking about it without more context. That's his choice. It's his video, but he's also basically ignoring the entire point of the online mockery so I found the video somewhat pointless.
1. The Metroid Prime series was already concluded with 3. I enjoyed 3, but the sub-series' ideas were already starting to stagnate by that point. I was fine with a 4th mainline game existing, but sometimes it's OK if a franchise ends when it's said everything it has to say.
2. There are currently 17 Metroid games, and before Roguelikes took over the Metroid format was the one most shamelessly copied by every other Indie game. The spirit of Metroid would live on without the franchise itself.
3. Yes, if a franchise I love for one thing becomes something I despise just to continue existing, then I'm happy with it no longer existing. Or to put it another way...
Once again, I'm hoping this IS all much ado about nothing. It might be nice to play an actual Switch 2 game on my Switch 2 for once. But I will wait and see for the videos and impressions once the game is out. The game lost the "blind faith" purchase.
rant
You can move the goalpost all you want, but at the end of the day there's only 5 NPC's in Prime 4, compared to dozens in the average Souls games. Complaining that NPC's ruin Metroid's sense of isolation is beyond silly, when Metroid games are still some of the most isolated games in the entire industry.
1. Regarding "rants", Glass Houses, dude. You do it all the time, usually in defense of public perception of a $100 billion company that could not care less about you.
2. It's not goalpost-moving to point out that you're willfully ignorant when it comes to a franchise you've clearly never played, which you were and are. You know nothing about how those games play or how its fans play it, which is somewhat baffling when Dark Souls Remastered was on the Switch. You could have experienced it for yourself.
The number of NPCs is irrelevant. What matters is how the game uses them and how they impact the player. That is a crucial component of a game's atmosphere.
And once again, all the previews show the part with Miles should take the average player between 10-20 minutes to complete, then the rest of the game goes back to Samus by herself. Even if the other NPC have similar sections, that still equals less than 5% of the game has you interacting with NPC, over the course of a 30 plus hour experience.
Let's say I'm going to an expensive restaurant. I pay full price for a good meal based on an old favorite. I'm told that it might have some of the tastiest food I've ever had...but every so often I'll have to eat **** because it's a local delicacy and certain patrons adore it.
I'm not going to eat the meal, because I don't want to eat ****.
Plus did you even watch John Rairdin's video that I already posted above before freaking out at my Souls comparison.
Yes, and I most likely watched it before you did. Look at the comments, where I called him out for building an entire video around the same strawman you're using rather than the issue people actually had with the NPC shown so far: the writing.
He even admits in a pinned comment that he ignored the writing complaints because he didn't want to deal with talking about it without more context. That's his choice. It's his video, but he's also basically ignoring the entire point of the online mockery so I found the video somewhat pointless.
So you really want the entire Metroid Prime series to die because you might have to occasionally deal with interacting with an NPC for 10 minutes every few hours?
1. The Metroid Prime series was already concluded with 3. I enjoyed 3, but the sub-series' ideas were already starting to stagnate by that point. I was fine with a 4th mainline game existing, but sometimes it's OK if a franchise ends when it's said everything it has to say.
2. There are currently 17 Metroid games, and before Roguelikes took over the Metroid format was the one most shamelessly copied by every other Indie game. The spirit of Metroid would live on without the franchise itself.
3. Yes, if a franchise I love for one thing becomes something I despise just to continue existing, then I'm happy with it no longer existing. Or to put it another way...
Once again, I'm hoping this IS all much ado about nothing. It might be nice to play an actual Switch 2 game on my Switch 2 for once. But I will wait and see for the videos and impressions once the game is out. The game lost the "blind faith" purchase.
6
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 15, 2025, 04:43:31 PM »It is rather funny how for years people kept saying Nintendo needs to make games like the rest of the industry, and yet when they make a game that's has things that would be considered normal in any other video game, people freak out and act like the game is now ruined. If the part with Miles is apparently suppose to be game breaking, then that makes about 95% of all videogames ruined.
1. Welcome to the Resistance.
2. This is seriously, like, the Darksyde Phil of answers: "You guys kept telling me to do this for 10! YEARS! Now I'm doing it, and where is the support?!!!"
Maybe people got tired of waiting, and the time to do it has passed as people's tastes changed.
Games that are about pure isolation with no character interactions are super rare outside of the indie scene. Hell, even many of these indie games that are suppose to be about isolation still end up having NPC's you interact with as well. Even the Souls games which I keep seeing many point to as the perfect example of isolation done right, are literally filled with NPC who talk to you. Some of them are even comic relief characters that kind of sound like Miles. That's why I always laugh when some people point to the Souls games when people say Metroid could be more popular, when it's like, half of the reason for the success of Souls games is the multiplayer social aspect where many people work together to help over come bosses, or be dicks and kill other players. Plus even many you just play single player will use summons so those varies NPC's they've meet can help them during the game as well. So much of the success of the Souls games is the complete opposite of isolation.
Luigi Dude, have you ever...you know...played...a Single-Player Souls game? I've played them all, and this take is dumb and shallow.
1. None of the NPCs talk like rejected Borderlands/MCU characters interviewing for a cameo in High On Life.
2. All of them have very under-stated/depressing dialogue delivery.
3. All the dialogue for a given NPC throughout the entire game could be printed, double-spaced, on a cocktail napkin. They do not generally have much to say, but what they do say has meaning. Or sometimes it doesn't and they just softly laugh. There's a reason that's something of a meme with FromSoft.
4. Outside of the general hub areas, you will rarely see an NPC, maybe once every few hours or so, and you will spend maybe 30 seconds engaging with them before they jump cut to their next quest point or back to the hub area.
5. The player is rarely required to engage with ANY NPC. Even Soul Level 1 runs are an option if the player wishes to never engage with the maiden character who levels them up. And when they DO engage with them, it's of their own choice.
6. No NPC barks at the player. They only talk when spoken to. It is a choice, not a requirement.
7. If the player hates an NPC, the game allows them to kill them and remove them from the game entirely. In some games like Elden Ring or Dark Souls 3, this is actually a viable way to gain access to their inventory early.
8. Regarding Summons for boss fights: summons generally do not engage with the player and outside of the beginning or end of battle they do not talk, assuming they even have battle cries. They are mindless meat puppets where it does not matter if they live or die in the fight.
9. A substantial portion of the Souls community prefers to not use Summons. I prefer to use them because the balancing in modern Souls games is practically nonexistent, but many don't. They are an option, not a requirement.
10. Same with multiplayer: many, if not most, Souls players choose not to engage with it. I despise Invasions, myself, as it introduces an online troll to my solitary experience. I also prefer not to play these games with other players, as I value *my* experience as the developers intended it. It is an option, not a requirement. It's even an option in boss battles that USE multiplayer, as you can simply go offline to fight a different version of the boss.
11. Side note: while isolation is a strong appeal to the Souls-style format, it actually was created to foster cooperation. Miyazaki was inspired to make Demon's Souls from an experience where he was in a line of cars trying to get up a hill. Each driver would help the driver ahead of them make it up the hill, and the process would repeat. This is echoed in the games via both the online messages on the ground that players can CHOOSE to engage with as well as the summoning system. Yes, it is rather ironic that the "Git Gud" crowd actively disparages people that use these systems. I never claimed to LIKE the Souls community.
The problem isn't that Prime 4 has NPCs. So do a lot of games that value the solitary experience. This year's Hollow Knight Silksong has NPCs. The issue is the writing and the fact that the player is actively forced to engage with something they might find utterly annoying, as I do with what we've seen of Miles.
Now, I realize you seem to only engage with the Nintendo fanbase, but outside that little bubble people find characters like Miles incredibly annoying. Characters that never shut up was a common complaint with Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War: Ragnarok, to the extent that the devs patched in options to MAKE the characters talk less often. The most frequent complaint about the Borderlands games is that the humor is cringe and nobody shuts up. Miles is even painted in that lovely shade of Flourescent Yellow that everyone finds incredibly condescending these days.
The problem isn't that the game has NPCs, it's that what we've seen of the writing is obnoxious and the player is FORCED to engage with it. Always with modern games it comes back to terrible writing. You can't ignore Miles because you get a Game Over if enemies kill him. Meanwhile, he's spouting the blatantly obvious. You potentially can't even ignore him once he's left at a base or whatever, because radio chatter is a thing. And this is just ONE of the NPCs we know about. Who knows what the other...what...5 are like in-game?
Could all this be overblown? Absolutely, and I hope it is. Hell, it PROBABLY is, because I refuse to believe Retro is stupid enough to not learn from the lessons of Other M, but if Borderlands Light is the only way this series can "appeal to a wider audience", then I'd rather it be dead.
7
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 14, 2025, 10:45:21 PM »Ah, but of course. No longer being on the pulse of gaming discourse has foiled me, as I’m sure there’s plenty of discussion of the previews in other waters. Ah well, the curse of not being in the loop constantly.
To its credit, the IGN Preview is hopeful when, after a point in their demo, the helper left to camp out in a particular area, so they were back to the usual Metroid rhythm. I just wonder "for how long" when it comes to that sort of thing, and while the character was with them they WERE responsible for keeping that NPC alive so it was an escort mission of sorts.
I'm hoping the game is good. Dread was alright, but 2D Metroid really isn't my thing and it's been a very long time since Prime 3. I'm just going to wait and see if we have an Aloy/Atreus 2.0 situation going on here.
8
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond [Insert thinly veiled Back to the Future reference here]
« on: November 14, 2025, 09:13:14 PM »
I had a preorder on the Switch 2 version, but cancelled it after the footage IGN released of all the (bad) hand-holdy, cringy NPC dialogue that kinda betrays the game's age as having been announced in 2017. I'm just not in the mood for that nonsense in my Metroid experience. The hand-holding was bad enough in Fusion, Other M, and even Dread to an extent without having persistent NPC helper characters as well. I get enough of that annoying **** in every Sony game made these days. I was also extremely uncertain about the whole "large desert hub area" as it was.
Maybe I'll change my mind once the reviews hit, but I have other games to play right now anyway. I'm working my way through Xenoblade 3 right now, and the physical version of Yooka-Replaylee comes out in a month.
Maybe I'll change my mind once the reviews hit, but I have other games to play right now anyway. I'm working my way through Xenoblade 3 right now, and the physical version of Yooka-Replaylee comes out in a month.
9
TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Of America Announces Black Friday Deals Including Dates For Digital Sale
« on: November 12, 2025, 06:41:38 PM »
Disappointing to not see Xenoblade X in this list, as I still need to circle around and pick that up at some point as I work my way through Xenoblade 3. Might pick up Princess Peach Showtime, and Echoes of Wisdom might be a good pick for a Christmas request.
10
TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Legends Z-A Mega Dimension DLC Opens December 10
« on: November 06, 2025, 06:42:58 PM »We know what this and the DK DLC are. They were released so soon after the game's release that you know they were at worst almost finished when the base game launched. A lot of DLC is just taking a chunk of the game out and charging extra for it. But Nintendo can be a little more clever about this and not make it so obvious. Have some patience and wait at least six months. "We made some more content for that game you love" is such a better sell than "We held back on this to make you pay extra for it."
I wonder why Nintendo seems to have backed away from the "Expansion Pass" model, where they would dribble out minor additions over a course of time for the main game with a major expansion right at the end. Seemed to work out well for the Xenoblade games.
11
TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Legends Z-A Mega Dimension DLC Opens December 10
« on: November 06, 2025, 02:07:27 PM »
I'm getting increasingly tired of Roguelike modes seemingly being Nintendo's go-to strategy for DLC. It's bad enough that those seem to be 90% of Indie games these days.
12
TalkBack / Re: Previously Japan Exclusive My Nintendo App Comes To West With Nintendo Store Branding
« on: November 05, 2025, 07:02:21 PM »That's intentional. Separate apps mean easier development, maintenance, and deployment. If everything was on a single app, code changes could break existing functionality in other parts of the app requiring a ton of regression testing before release. As separate individual apps, Nintendo can roll out bug fixes and improvements much faster.
TL;DR: You should want separate apps. If one app fails, it won’t take the other functionality down with it, and it's much easier to fix.
*shrugs*
I get what you're saying but my home screen has room for 1 app, and I prefer the convenience of doing everything I need to do in one app. It's frankly presumptuous for Nintendo to think it has a right to more than that space. Just saying, the PS App has its issues, but I can buy from PSN; manage my downloads; managed my screenshots and videos; and manage my online profile all in one place. Hell, when PS Stars was still active I could manage that there, too, and so long as PSN itself is operational it works just fine and has for years.
13
TalkBack / Re: Previously Japan Exclusive My Nintendo App Comes To West With Nintendo Store Branding
« on: November 05, 2025, 08:42:52 AM »
Ok, Nintendo splitting up all these functions into separate apps is starting to get annoying. Is there a reason this couldn't have just been combined into 1 Switch App?
14
TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Shifting Development Focus To Switch 2
« on: November 04, 2025, 11:09:03 PM »
It's a weird world we live in where a company can put out a new console but not shift its development focus TO that console until it's been out for 5 months already.
Oh well. Sony refused to commit to the PS5 for years after launch and Microsoft basically never did stop supporting the Xbone via the Series S, so that's an improvement here at least.
Oh well. Sony refused to commit to the PS5 for years after launch and Microsoft basically never did stop supporting the Xbone via the Series S, so that's an improvement here at least.
15
TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Results For Second Quarter Of 2025-26 Fiscal Year
« on: November 04, 2025, 07:03:55 PM »Water is wet. In related news, Nintendo fans buy Nintendo ****, probably literally if it was in a box and was marked as a limited time offer.
So where were these 10 million plus Nintendo fans during the Wii U's first 4 months? Or the 3DS first 4 months when it started struggling so bad they had to make a massive price cut? So you've gone from all Nintendo consoles had a good launch so the first month sales are meaningless, to apparently all Nintendo systems keep selling well after launch, so now all numbers are also meaningless.
Congrats on finding the exceptions that prove the rule, both of which are over a decade old. Would you like to go back to the Virtual Boy as well? Oh wait! Nintendo already is!
The Wii U is an especially odd example to bring up, considering how successful pretty much its entire library was on Switch, proving that they probably would have sold well on Wii U if the hardware itself was the least bit desirable and didn't have the Game Pad albatross weighing it down. Besides, we both know the Wii U was sent out to die, as Nintendo was already devoting all its resources towards saving the 3DS before the Wii U even launched. Very Virtual Boy of them, now that I think about it.
By and large, Nintendo fans buy Nintendo games, including a lot of lazy crap like 1-2 Switch; Welcome Tour; or MP Jamboree S2. That was never the question. What was the question was whether the more casual audience would join in, and if EITHER of them would buy anything OTHER than Nintendo games on Nintendo consoles.
The jury's still out on that one, and the Key Card situation Nintendo created isn't helping matters there.
MK World is a pack-in game. Its numbers are artificially inflated by the console numbers. I think that's a grain of salt that should be taken with these numbers, but the numbers are still good despite the game's issues.
You do realize people can buy a Switch 2 without the Mario Kart World bundle right? If Mario Kart World was something people didn't want to play, why are they spending an extra $50 to play it? If the price of the Switch 2 and it's games was suppose to be such a huge deal that would make the systems another 3DS at best and Wii U at worst, then why are all these price sensitive consumers buying a more expensive version of the Switch 2 with a game they don't even want?
OK...
1. "Do I realize people can buy a Switch 2 without the MK bundle?"
Quote
Personally, I'm happy to continue not owning World, as there's little about that experience I want to see. My Switch 2 right now is my Switch 1 backlog machine, and I'm ok with that.
Gee, I dunno. Do I?
2. When people buy a new console, they want a new game, especially if they had to sell their old console + games to afford it. Nintendo severely overpriced MK World at $80, but it's $50 if you get the bundle. So yeah, if you want a new console getting the bundle is an obvious choice if you don't care about actual ownership and you think you have any interest in a new MK. I don't and I bought my S2 to play my neglected S1 library, so I didn't.
It's worth noting that the only other Switch 2 1st party game worth a damn, DK Bananza, does not have a bundle so it hasn't enjoyed the inflated sales the inferior game received despite being a cheaper standalone game and being as close to a Mario platformer as the Switch 2 has.
Just saying, dude, you're taking rage bait from (so far, unnamed) online personalities a little personally.
16
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober VI: Curse of NWR
« on: November 04, 2025, 03:53:32 PM »
On the subject of Blasphemous, the creators of that series made the recent Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which is excellent. I highly recommend it.
Nothing really to add for this last month in terms of horror games. I got wrapped up in a bunch of other games like Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (also a very good game), the 2 Mario Galaxy games, TMNT: Splintered Fate, and Xenoblades 2 & 3 (I'm happy to say my 8 year Odyssey with the underwhelming Xenoblade 2 is finally over). I also knocked out a few more endings in Silent Hill f, which feels like an increasingly frustrating and pointless endeavor.
On a positive note, I'm very happy with Xenoblade 3 so far. It's basically what I wanted and didn't get from 2.
.
Nothing really to add for this last month in terms of horror games. I got wrapped up in a bunch of other games like Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (also a very good game), the 2 Mario Galaxy games, TMNT: Splintered Fate, and Xenoblades 2 & 3 (I'm happy to say my 8 year Odyssey with the underwhelming Xenoblade 2 is finally over). I also knocked out a few more endings in Silent Hill f, which feels like an increasingly frustrating and pointless endeavor.
On a positive note, I'm very happy with Xenoblade 3 so far. It's basically what I wanted and didn't get from 2.
.
17
TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces Results For Second Quarter Of 2025-26 Fiscal Year
« on: November 04, 2025, 02:55:59 PM »It took the Wii and Switch about 9 months to sell 10 million copies and both were treated as a huge accomplishment at the time for doing it so quickly. The Switch 2 just did that in around half the time. Nintendo's own forecast now has the system doing 19 million by the end of March which will not only put it well over the Wii U, but very close to the GameCube's lifetime total, all within it's first 9 months.
Oh and LOL at all the people that said Mario Kart World is not a killer app. Yeah the sequel to a game that sold close to 70 million units is something nobody wants to play alright.
Once again this just goes to show how much of a bubble the online gamer sphere truly is. All the negativity and outrage that has been manufactured for clicks, that many gobble up and repost all over the web, even when said information has been proven false, has no impact on the real world whatsoever. Majority of the people who play videogames, want to do just that, play the games. If you grew up playing Mario Kart and Donkey Kong, and still enjoy those games, and want to play the newest installments, you're going to buy a Switch 2 to continue playing said games since you can't play them anywhere else.
You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with other people online thinking negatively about the Switch 2. This isn't your first post complaining about the online discourse.
Water is wet. In related news, Nintendo fans buy Nintendo ****, probably literally if it was in a box and was marked as a limited time offer.
MK World is a pack-in game. Its numbers are artificially inflated by the console numbers. I think that's a grain of salt that should be taken with these numbers, but the numbers are still good despite the game's issues.
Personally, I'm happy to continue not owning World, as there's little about that experience I want to see. My Switch 2 right now is my Switch 1 backlog machine, and I'm ok with that. Pity the apparently good new Sonic Racing game forces you to play as Sonic characters on Sonic-themed stages, or I'd have more interest in it.
18
Movies & TV / Re: All Things Netflix! Coming Soon: The Netflix Experience, Live and In Person!??
« on: October 26, 2025, 09:47:15 PM »
Alright, let's cross off 2 more Netflix shows off the never-ending list, starting with an anime, Delicious in Dungeon.
This one had some Anime of the Year talk going around about a year ago, and having watched all 24 episodes of the current season I just have to ask..."really?" This show is repetitive as hell, with Every. Single. Episode. of the show's first half having your standard D&D crew discovering a monster, killing it easily, and then eating it. It's always an easy kill, and the food is always great. Nothing ever goes wrong.
At the halfway point in the season, the show tries to change things up and introduce a longer ongoing story, but IMO it's just too little too late. I'm not into food porn, so this show really isn't for me. I need some actual stakes.
Speaking of, I'm now fully caught up on Stranger Things, having completed the 4th season. This season got a lot of hype as the one that "saved the show" after how "terrible season 3 was", and while I don't agree with the sentiment towards Season 3 I do think this is the best season since the first...mostly. It's certainly the most creatively-shot of all 4 seasons. I think the show completely fumbled the ball at the end, but for the most part this was a good season. Once again, all the characters had something to do, though the basketball team and Russian subplots wore on my patience. Aside from attempting to retcon Hopper back into the plot, I just didn't see the point of the Russian subplot. We didn't learn anything we didn't already know from Season 3, and it makes ABSOLUTELY no sense how Hopper got where we was considering we saw the US army storm the mall at the end of Season 3. SOMEONE would have seen him.
Something I really appreciated about this season is that the individual characters got to actually make major contributions to the plot. Eleven wasn't used as just the usual instant-win button. Characters live and die based on the actions of normal characters, as it should be. Eleven even got a bit of a "training arc" so she could jump in to contribute when it was appropriate for her to do so.
And wow, they really wanted to get their money's worth out of licensing Kate Bush's "Keep Running Up that Hill." Funny...despite being a child of the 80s, her version of that song isn't the one I'm familiar with and honestly I don't care for it all that much. It's just too..."pop" for my taste. I first heard the song when the band Track & Field covered it for an extremely memorable season finale of Warehouse 13:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGbi6lYFO8
Minor quibbles about song preference aside (I understand the Kate Bush version is the original and is the only one that makes sense in this time period), I really liked how that song was used...the first time they did a big epic climax with it. Then the writers got greedy and tried to perform the same trick twice in the finale, and it just didn't hit the same way.
But yeah...that ending. Not a fan. I see that Eleven continues to only need a sensory deprivation tank when the plot decides she does. Let's just disregard all the hand-waiving the show's done with her mental location powers the entire show. And hey, I guess we're just going to throw out altogether the fact that the atmosphere in the Upside Down is supposedly to be so incredibly toxic that characters in earlier seasons were running around in Hazmat suits. I don't like what they did with Eddie, who is an extremely likeable character who just turns into a dumbass at the last minute...because they wanted to give Dustin some pathos. And what they did with Max was a total cheat. And HOW is anyone even ALLOWED to still live in Hawkins by the end of the season considering what happened? The military should be quarantining the **** out of that city.
Overall, yes it was good, but man does it drop the ball in that last episode. I still think Season 2 is by far the worst season so far. The show wasn't originally supposed to use the same cast from season to season, and you can VERY much see that with Season 2, where characters just wander around in circles making stupid decisions to pad out the plot while recycling most of the general concept from Season 1. It's boring, and aside from introducing Max very little of Season 2 had ripple effects on later seasons. Season 3 at least attempted to change the status quo, even if it did have to introduce the incredibly idiotic Secret Russian Base plot line, something Season 4 would have to spend a considerable amount of time resolving.
This one had some Anime of the Year talk going around about a year ago, and having watched all 24 episodes of the current season I just have to ask..."really?" This show is repetitive as hell, with Every. Single. Episode. of the show's first half having your standard D&D crew discovering a monster, killing it easily, and then eating it. It's always an easy kill, and the food is always great. Nothing ever goes wrong.
At the halfway point in the season, the show tries to change things up and introduce a longer ongoing story, but IMO it's just too little too late. I'm not into food porn, so this show really isn't for me. I need some actual stakes.
Speaking of, I'm now fully caught up on Stranger Things, having completed the 4th season. This season got a lot of hype as the one that "saved the show" after how "terrible season 3 was", and while I don't agree with the sentiment towards Season 3 I do think this is the best season since the first...mostly. It's certainly the most creatively-shot of all 4 seasons. I think the show completely fumbled the ball at the end, but for the most part this was a good season. Once again, all the characters had something to do, though the basketball team and Russian subplots wore on my patience. Aside from attempting to retcon Hopper back into the plot, I just didn't see the point of the Russian subplot. We didn't learn anything we didn't already know from Season 3, and it makes ABSOLUTELY no sense how Hopper got where we was considering we saw the US army storm the mall at the end of Season 3. SOMEONE would have seen him.
Something I really appreciated about this season is that the individual characters got to actually make major contributions to the plot. Eleven wasn't used as just the usual instant-win button. Characters live and die based on the actions of normal characters, as it should be. Eleven even got a bit of a "training arc" so she could jump in to contribute when it was appropriate for her to do so.
And wow, they really wanted to get their money's worth out of licensing Kate Bush's "Keep Running Up that Hill." Funny...despite being a child of the 80s, her version of that song isn't the one I'm familiar with and honestly I don't care for it all that much. It's just too..."pop" for my taste. I first heard the song when the band Track & Field covered it for an extremely memorable season finale of Warehouse 13:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGbi6lYFO8
Minor quibbles about song preference aside (I understand the Kate Bush version is the original and is the only one that makes sense in this time period), I really liked how that song was used...the first time they did a big epic climax with it. Then the writers got greedy and tried to perform the same trick twice in the finale, and it just didn't hit the same way.
But yeah...that ending. Not a fan. I see that Eleven continues to only need a sensory deprivation tank when the plot decides she does. Let's just disregard all the hand-waiving the show's done with her mental location powers the entire show. And hey, I guess we're just going to throw out altogether the fact that the atmosphere in the Upside Down is supposedly to be so incredibly toxic that characters in earlier seasons were running around in Hazmat suits. I don't like what they did with Eddie, who is an extremely likeable character who just turns into a dumbass at the last minute...because they wanted to give Dustin some pathos. And what they did with Max was a total cheat. And HOW is anyone even ALLOWED to still live in Hawkins by the end of the season considering what happened? The military should be quarantining the **** out of that city.
Overall, yes it was good, but man does it drop the ball in that last episode. I still think Season 2 is by far the worst season so far. The show wasn't originally supposed to use the same cast from season to season, and you can VERY much see that with Season 2, where characters just wander around in circles making stupid decisions to pad out the plot while recycling most of the general concept from Season 1. It's boring, and aside from introducing Max very little of Season 2 had ripple effects on later seasons. Season 3 at least attempted to change the status quo, even if it did have to introduce the incredibly idiotic Secret Russian Base plot line, something Season 4 would have to spend a considerable amount of time resolving.
19
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober VI: Curse of NWR
« on: October 17, 2025, 07:51:25 PM »Good to know since I did have some interest in this game. I've never played a Silent Hill game so the lack of connection to the rest of the series wouldn't bother me, but weapon degradation/breaking is one of my biggest gaming turnoffs.
What's weird is that Silent Hill keeps trying to make weapon degradation a "thing", despite players universally hating it, and yet the series keeps doing it. It was a thing in Silent Hill 4; Origins; Book of Memories; and Downpour, and now it's a thing in f as well. We didn't like it then, we still don't like it now, and yet I expect we'll continue to see it in future games...because.
20
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober VI: Curse of NWR
« on: October 16, 2025, 10:17:35 PM »
Alright, let's talk about Silent Hill f. I've completed 2 of the game's 5 endings (the 1 ending you have to get on your first playthrough + the UFO ending), and...I find this game incredibly frustrating, and in the end I think it's a game I respect for its boldness more than I actually like. In fact, I kind of hate the game as an overall package.
Let's start with a familiar issue to anyone who played the Silent Hill 2 remake from last year: the combat is incredibly annoying and way too prevalent for how kind of bad it is, especially as the game nears its end. Even on the game's lowest difficulty, enemies hit like a truck and take way too many hits to down considering how fond the late game is of siccing 2-4 of them on you at once. The combat system, like those of the Souls games, is very much designed for one-on-one encounters with an emphasis on watching for enemy tells and countering. Unfortunately, enemies move extremely erratically and each type only has one move you can actually parry (and the parry indicator only appears if you are actively not doing anything), which to me made waiting for the parry an extremely unreliable strategy. Enjoy getting stun-locked and losing half your health when you misjudge an attack. I ended up just sticking to charging up a heavy swing on the axe and bashing enemies from a distance, but even that stopped being effective halfway through. There is a Witch Time-esque "perfect dodge" mechanic, but because enemies move so randomly I usually found myself activating it more by accident than by intention.
And all your weapons are breakable, so you're heavily encouraged to not even engage in combat until the game forces you to, as it pretty much does the entire second half of the game. And the game's 2nd half introduces an (I kid you not) honest to god Devil Trigger/Rage of the Gods mechanic that feels REALLY out of place in a horror game like this.
The game's atmosphere and exploration are truly exceptional (and the puzzles can be downright evil), but hampered by your character having an absolutely pathetically low inventory limit, which you can expand over the course of 2 playthroughs but still feels way too low even at max carrying capacity (especially since Med Kits take up an entire slot and you WANT those). What this leads to are many, MANY runs back to the nearest save shrine to sacrifice what you can spare to free up space and up your Faith currency.
By far the most frustrating thing about the game, though, is its story. Without getting into details, this game was written by an author that loves time loop stories, and accordingly you are only allowed to hear part of the story on a first playthrough. You HAVE to play the game AT LEAST 3 full times before the game will allow you to actually experience the full story with all the context left in. Other games like Nier have done this, but in Nier's case the gameplay didn't require nearly as much sheer commitment as this game, and even Nier only made you replay the 2nd half of the game multiple times (you literally skip the first half on NG+ runs).
To be frank, the way this story is setup and executed made me feel absolutely no emotional connection to the characters, especially with the story events set in this game's take on the traditional Silent Hill "Otherworld". As a first time player, you'll watch your character do some really bizarre, stupid **** in these Otherworld segments in a really cold, detached way. Yes, as someone who's beaten the game and knows what the game is doing, I get the message they're delivering. I still think those segments are cold and incredibly boring, and I don't give a damn about the player character.
Many people have and will complain about the overall message delivered in the first playthrough as a prohibitive strike against the game. Between the story beats and the monster designs, this may be one of the least subtle games in the series. I personally find the message of the game incredibly offensive, but if I found the story engaging and the characters compelling, I would be willing to meet the game on its own terms. But with the way the game plays keep away with its plot for the sheer purpose of padding out the lifespan of the game via multiple playthroughs, I just can't recommend it. Game developers are asking a lot these days for players to even finish one playthrough of their game. Not just expecting but demanding 3-4 playthroughs of a long game like this is just pure arrogance, especially when the player has exactly zero agency in that first playthrough.
That said, I kind of have to respect the commitment to the bit, and that first ending ends in a really unexpected way.
I'll pick away at the game just so I can see the full story, but I'm finding this game extremely unsatisfying to experience and frustrating to play. I also have severe doubts that this game was originally conceived as a Silent Hill game. The links to past games are tenuous at best.
Let's start with a familiar issue to anyone who played the Silent Hill 2 remake from last year: the combat is incredibly annoying and way too prevalent for how kind of bad it is, especially as the game nears its end. Even on the game's lowest difficulty, enemies hit like a truck and take way too many hits to down considering how fond the late game is of siccing 2-4 of them on you at once. The combat system, like those of the Souls games, is very much designed for one-on-one encounters with an emphasis on watching for enemy tells and countering. Unfortunately, enemies move extremely erratically and each type only has one move you can actually parry (and the parry indicator only appears if you are actively not doing anything), which to me made waiting for the parry an extremely unreliable strategy. Enjoy getting stun-locked and losing half your health when you misjudge an attack. I ended up just sticking to charging up a heavy swing on the axe and bashing enemies from a distance, but even that stopped being effective halfway through. There is a Witch Time-esque "perfect dodge" mechanic, but because enemies move so randomly I usually found myself activating it more by accident than by intention.
And all your weapons are breakable, so you're heavily encouraged to not even engage in combat until the game forces you to, as it pretty much does the entire second half of the game. And the game's 2nd half introduces an (I kid you not) honest to god Devil Trigger/Rage of the Gods mechanic that feels REALLY out of place in a horror game like this.
The game's atmosphere and exploration are truly exceptional (and the puzzles can be downright evil), but hampered by your character having an absolutely pathetically low inventory limit, which you can expand over the course of 2 playthroughs but still feels way too low even at max carrying capacity (especially since Med Kits take up an entire slot and you WANT those). What this leads to are many, MANY runs back to the nearest save shrine to sacrifice what you can spare to free up space and up your Faith currency.
By far the most frustrating thing about the game, though, is its story. Without getting into details, this game was written by an author that loves time loop stories, and accordingly you are only allowed to hear part of the story on a first playthrough. You HAVE to play the game AT LEAST 3 full times before the game will allow you to actually experience the full story with all the context left in. Other games like Nier have done this, but in Nier's case the gameplay didn't require nearly as much sheer commitment as this game, and even Nier only made you replay the 2nd half of the game multiple times (you literally skip the first half on NG+ runs).
To be frank, the way this story is setup and executed made me feel absolutely no emotional connection to the characters, especially with the story events set in this game's take on the traditional Silent Hill "Otherworld". As a first time player, you'll watch your character do some really bizarre, stupid **** in these Otherworld segments in a really cold, detached way. Yes, as someone who's beaten the game and knows what the game is doing, I get the message they're delivering. I still think those segments are cold and incredibly boring, and I don't give a damn about the player character.
Many people have and will complain about the overall message delivered in the first playthrough as a prohibitive strike against the game. Between the story beats and the monster designs, this may be one of the least subtle games in the series. I personally find the message of the game incredibly offensive, but if I found the story engaging and the characters compelling, I would be willing to meet the game on its own terms. But with the way the game plays keep away with its plot for the sheer purpose of padding out the lifespan of the game via multiple playthroughs, I just can't recommend it. Game developers are asking a lot these days for players to even finish one playthrough of their game. Not just expecting but demanding 3-4 playthroughs of a long game like this is just pure arrogance, especially when the player has exactly zero agency in that first playthrough.
That said, I kind of have to respect the commitment to the bit, and that first ending ends in a really unexpected way.
I'll pick away at the game just so I can see the full story, but I'm finding this game extremely unsatisfying to experience and frustrating to play. I also have severe doubts that this game was originally conceived as a Silent Hill game. The links to past games are tenuous at best.
21
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober VI: Curse of NWR
« on: October 12, 2025, 03:28:56 PM »
I quite liked Bug Fables, though it got a bit long in the tooth as it got near its end. Regarding the shoetage of party members, it was a crowd funded game working on a shoestring budget. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bug-fables-an-exploration-rpg-full-of-bugs#/
22
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober VI: Curse of NWR
« on: October 12, 2025, 01:23:26 PM »Dana Gould is also probably his most annoying in the entire series in this entry.
I only know Dana Gould from writing on the Simpsons. I haven't actually seen his stand up or know his voice that well. Is it a case of bad writing, bad performance, or both?
It's the Bubsy problem, a typical issue with platformers of the day. He just never shuts up. As for the performance, I find it hit or miss in all the games.
23
General Gaming / Re: Shocktober VI: Curse of NWR
« on: October 12, 2025, 10:21:19 AM »
Well, I completed Gex; Gex: Enter the Gecko; and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko from the Gex Trilogy release, and after some consideration I decided to count them as Shocktober games. For one, a huge chunk of all 3 games are taken up by the Horror Channel (or horror-adjacent 3's Egypt and ghost cowboy-filled Western Channels), probably at least 1/5 the content if not 1/3. For another, in Gex 2 and 3 Gex is wearing costumes themed to the channel, so it's in the Halloween spirit.
I never played Gex 1 before now, and it fucking sucks. It's an absolutely wretched experience, between the gotcha deaths; slippery controls; the long, labyrinthine levels (with no indication of where to go, naturally); and the hidden bonus stages you HAVE to perfectly complete in order to unlock the final world. This game is basically unplayble without save states and rewind, which this collection has. It is kinda neat that Gex can stick to walls and ceilings both in the foreground and back, but it's just not enough to make this game remotely enjoyable to play. Dana Gould is also probably his most annoying in the entire series in this entry. How? How in the world did this spawn a franchise?
Gex 2 was a game I played a ton of back on the N64, and it's still a pretty enjoyable game now. By far the game's biggest issues are a stubborn camera (typical of the era) and repetition. There are 6 themes spread out across 13 levels, each level having up to 5 remotes to find (3 of which will send you out of the level), and that's not counting the bonus levels. You just see way too much similar content, but what is here is still fun.
And no, this release is based on the PS version, so you don't get the N64-exclusive levels, though they are present in the collection in video form so they weren't forgotten.
I never played Gex 3 back in the day, and playing it now I'm torn on whether I like it more than Gex 2, as it does some things better and some worse. On the bright side, there are 11 levels, and they're each a unique theme. No theme gets re-used, outside of the bonus stages. The game also adopts a bit of the Banjo-Kazooie hub world structure, with levels accessed from themed areas instead of just generic TVs in a generic hub.
On the downside, the levels are surprisingly long for what they are, and while hidden remotes are gone this time the collectible remotes have gotten more annoying than they should be. You could just blast through levels in Gex 2 if you knew where you were going, but Gex 3 is a very plodding game by comparison. Instead of collecting just a set number of collectables (but not all of them) for a remote, there are 100 fly coins in each level and you have to find them all. This includes coins dropped by enemies, and there is no wiggle room. They're basically the notes from Banjo now, because everyone loved collecting those. -_-
If you're going for all the remotes, it just makes the game a slog. I ended up just giving up at one point after the particularly awful Mythology level (which is different than the N64 version that came later) and just skipping the final 4 levels, going straight to the final boss.
Overall, Gex 2 and 3 aren't the most amazing games, but I had a decent enough time with them.
Currently playing through Silent Hill f, which is...different. I'm not sure yet whether I like it.
I never played Gex 1 before now, and it fucking sucks. It's an absolutely wretched experience, between the gotcha deaths; slippery controls; the long, labyrinthine levels (with no indication of where to go, naturally); and the hidden bonus stages you HAVE to perfectly complete in order to unlock the final world. This game is basically unplayble without save states and rewind, which this collection has. It is kinda neat that Gex can stick to walls and ceilings both in the foreground and back, but it's just not enough to make this game remotely enjoyable to play. Dana Gould is also probably his most annoying in the entire series in this entry. How? How in the world did this spawn a franchise?
Gex 2 was a game I played a ton of back on the N64, and it's still a pretty enjoyable game now. By far the game's biggest issues are a stubborn camera (typical of the era) and repetition. There are 6 themes spread out across 13 levels, each level having up to 5 remotes to find (3 of which will send you out of the level), and that's not counting the bonus levels. You just see way too much similar content, but what is here is still fun.
And no, this release is based on the PS version, so you don't get the N64-exclusive levels, though they are present in the collection in video form so they weren't forgotten.
I never played Gex 3 back in the day, and playing it now I'm torn on whether I like it more than Gex 2, as it does some things better and some worse. On the bright side, there are 11 levels, and they're each a unique theme. No theme gets re-used, outside of the bonus stages. The game also adopts a bit of the Banjo-Kazooie hub world structure, with levels accessed from themed areas instead of just generic TVs in a generic hub.
On the downside, the levels are surprisingly long for what they are, and while hidden remotes are gone this time the collectible remotes have gotten more annoying than they should be. You could just blast through levels in Gex 2 if you knew where you were going, but Gex 3 is a very plodding game by comparison. Instead of collecting just a set number of collectables (but not all of them) for a remote, there are 100 fly coins in each level and you have to find them all. This includes coins dropped by enemies, and there is no wiggle room. They're basically the notes from Banjo now, because everyone loved collecting those. -_-
If you're going for all the remotes, it just makes the game a slog. I ended up just giving up at one point after the particularly awful Mythology level (which is different than the N64 version that came later) and just skipping the final 4 levels, going straight to the final boss.
Overall, Gex 2 and 3 aren't the most amazing games, but I had a decent enough time with them.
Currently playing through Silent Hill f, which is...different. I'm not sure yet whether I like it.
24
Movies & TV / Re: All Things Netflix! Coming Soon: The Netflix Experience, Live and In Person!??
« on: October 09, 2025, 08:36:46 PM »
Had a lot of family stuff going on lately so haven't had the energy to play much since finishing Xenoblade 2 earlier this week. Figured i might as well go on and continue with Stranger Things: Season 3.
...Really? THIS is the season of the show that's universally hated? THIS one, the one where **** actually happens; everyone actually contributes to the story; there are actual consequences to the things the characters do; and Eleven isn't just an instant win button for once? Really?
Yeah, I thought this season was pretty alright. Granted, it had a bit of a slow start with teenage love bullshit and you have to accept some really stupid plot contrivances (i.e. everything about the Russians, *redacted* not getting dissolved into meat several times throughout the season when so many others were; etc.), but in general i thought it was well-paced. Refreshingly, while characters would act recklessly, they weren't generally weren't acting STUPIDLY like they were in Season 2. Yeah, the nostalgia key jangling was a bit excessive both at the start of the season and the end, but in general I thought that was a decent watch. I'm not sure why people hate this season so much.
...Really? THIS is the season of the show that's universally hated? THIS one, the one where **** actually happens; everyone actually contributes to the story; there are actual consequences to the things the characters do; and Eleven isn't just an instant win button for once? Really?
Yeah, I thought this season was pretty alright. Granted, it had a bit of a slow start with teenage love bullshit and you have to accept some really stupid plot contrivances (i.e. everything about the Russians, *redacted* not getting dissolved into meat several times throughout the season when so many others were; etc.), but in general i thought it was well-paced. Refreshingly, while characters would act recklessly, they weren't generally weren't acting STUPIDLY like they were in Season 2. Yeah, the nostalgia key jangling was a bit excessive both at the start of the season and the end, but in general I thought that was a decent watch. I'm not sure why people hate this season so much.
25
TalkBack / Re: Yooka-Replaylee (Switch 2) Review
« on: October 08, 2025, 10:32:50 PM »
I'm surprised to read that someone actually used that World Expansion system in the original game for its intended purpose. In my original playthrough of Yooka-Laylee, I always expanded the worlds before I went in for the first time, so for me they were ALWAYS way too big for what little there was to do in them. I was hoping this remake would have fixed that problem.
My biggest concern with this remake from everything I've read and what I saw in the demo was where the sense of progression was going to be when all of your moves (minus Flight) were unlocked from the beginning. Kinda removes the mystique of a puzzle if you know going into every single one of them that you already have the solution.
My biggest concern with this remake from everything I've read and what I saw in the demo was where the sense of progression was going to be when all of your moves (minus Flight) were unlocked from the beginning. Kinda removes the mystique of a puzzle if you know going into every single one of them that you already have the solution.
The entire contents of this Web site, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright © 1999 - 2012 NINWR, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ™ and © for all products, characters, and indicia related thereto which are contained herein are owned by the companies who market or license those products. This Web site is not endorsed, sponsored, nor otherwise affiliated with Nintendo. It has been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and knowledge. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form without consent from NINWR, LLC is prohibited.
