Recent Posts

21

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 964: It's Bokoblin Time

« Last post by jarodea on February 24, 2026, 09:22:01 AM »

The AI chip crisis is the main reason I have a Switch 2.  There is nothing on it or announced that really interests me, the top thing being GCN games on NSO but I already own most of the announced ones I'd want to play (the only Switch 2 game that interests me so far is Pokopia and I don't really know what it is). 

When it got to the point that Samsung stopped allowing its phone division long-term fixed contracts for RAM it was clear Switch 2 (or anything electronic) will only increase in price if there is a change.  I also wasn't going to pay $80 for Mario Kart World and the bundles were running out.  I picked one up last October and have done little with it since. 

EDIT: It seems the Samsung RAM decision was announced a month after I got a Switch 2.  Ah well, it was clear what the voracious AI capex monster was doing to the prices and availability of everything silicon long before that.

22

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by broodwars on February 23, 2026, 05:59:48 PM »

I don't think I get the reference, so uh, thanks, I think...?

Perhaps this one will make more sense.





As for the video linked in your post, I've never cared for Dunkey. I've always found his routine perpetually unfunny.

Meanwhile, looks like I'll be done with the 2nd area of Nioh 3 pretty quickly, as it's about half the size of the Warring States era map and most of it is platforming over instant-kill water. Got my first permanent Amrita loss from a bad platforming section, so that's just great.

23

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by Mop it up on February 23, 2026, 04:36:57 PM »

I don't think I get the reference, so uh, thanks, I think...?

Slowly working my way through Nioh 3

Here's the extent of what I know about Nioh.

24

NWR Feedback / Re: Connection Problems

« Last post by Mop it up on February 23, 2026, 04:19:47 PM »

The same thing has been happening to me sometimes. I thought it might be something on my end.

25

TalkBack / Re: Pokemon Fire Red And Leaf Green To Release On Switch February 27, Pokemon Presents Announced

« Last post by Mythtendo on February 23, 2026, 12:22:51 AM »

On one hand it's really odd that this isn't part of the Nintendo Only GBA titles.

If they DO add Pokemon Home support, it makes sense. If it was on NSO, it would have rewind and save states, which could make it easy to send as many legendaries as you want to Pokemon Home

26

NWR Feedback / Re: Connection Problems

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 11:03:39 PM »

So, what's going on with the site now? Thing seems to crash 4 out of every 5 times I try to load a page.

27

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 10:13:38 PM »

Season 3 of the Librarians is pretty bad. No wonder this is the season I originally ducked out of the show, as this whimsical adventure show about magical doodads and creatures...tries to be serious as it indulges in cliches. We went from a magical cult lead by a former Camelot knight in Season 2 to Prospero from The Tempest trying to rewrite his own story...to an ancient Egyptian God trying to bring about...*sigh*...



...as part of a grand war over the Balance between Good & Evil. 

Plus, at least 3 of the season's 10 episodes are about romance, which just gets tiresome, especially the endless "will they-won't they" between Flynn and Baird. Between that and a triple-cross Liar Revealed storyline...bleh.

Well, at least it's over and on to Season 4.

28

TalkBack / Re: Xenoblade Chronicles X Gets Surprise Switch 2 Edition Today

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 01:40:33 PM »

So apparently this "upgrade" has some major issues because it makes the game visually worse, especially in handheld mode.

https://mynintendonews.com/2026/02/22/nintendo-offering-refunds-for-poor-xenoblade-chronicles-x-switch-2-upgrade/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvMtsLXxXMM&t

29

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« Last post by broodwars on February 22, 2026, 12:49:58 PM »

Sometimes I like to relax and play a game with no violence, okay?

Slowly working my way through Nioh 3 after I just kinda lost interest in Trails in the Sky: First Chapter (I'll get back to it at some point, but there's just something about that game that gets old fast. Maybe it's the mediocre soundtrack). The game's good, but I definitely prefer the level design, boss design, and gimmicks of the previous 2 Nioh games. This shift to Open World works better than it should, but it also means that you see an awful lot of the SAME level design since what used to be distinct levels now have to fit together coherently.

It was cool to run through a random cliff-face cave at point point and suddenly end up in a stormy seaside shrine area with a giant Yokai chucking boulders at me, so I had to run from cover to cover to get to a safe area. More of that, please. Less cool was triggering a lengthy sidequest after entering a cave, only to end with a combat encounter against a boss that's been re-used since early in Nioh 1 and who is STILL using her entrance CGI cutscene FROM Nioh 1 AND 2. Team Ninja should be up there with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for an environmental impact award due to their dedication to recycling.

I'm in the 2nd main area of the game now. I'm really mixed on how they've separated out the weapons into "Samurai" and "Ninja"-exclusives. The weapons that are now in the "Samurai" class basically function how they've always done in the series, but the Ninja class can't Ki Pulse or stance change and it's really throwing me off. It's also really annoying that my primary weapon in these games, the Kusarigama, is relegated to being a Ninja class-only weapon and you have to do a bunch of button and stick inputs to do moves with it that used to be relegated to stance changes. It also means I no longer have my whirling buzzsaw of death I got so used to annihilating enemies with in Nioh 1 & 2.

On the upside, Ninjutsu has never been more useful than it is in Nioh 3, since there's now a dedicated form for it and it refills by attacking enemies instead of having to run back to a shrine. On the downside, Omnyo Magic has never been more worthless. It's all tied to equipping magic cores like in Nioh 2 that you acquire via random drops, and enemies are pretty good at dodging it in 3 compared to the previous games. Sloth has been neutered to the point of basically being worthless, and that was a key part of my combat kit in the previous games. You basically use Omnyo Magic to kill enemies with high physical defense now, and that's kinda it. Even Ninjutsu is typically better at killing flying enemies since those projectiles have tracking.

I see that Nioh 3 also continues from Nioh 2 in the story being absolutely an absolutely pointless sea of forgettable names, as well as being another time travel story because that's what Nioh 2's DLC did. I'm not sure there's a setting with less aesthetic point to having a time travel gimmick than feudal Japan. Yes, the 2nd area has snow. Take away the snow, and it looks exactly the same as the Warring States map.

30

General Chat / Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe

« Last post by NWR_insanolord on February 22, 2026, 11:25:26 AM »

What a game. The hype of a potential U.S.-Canada matchup in the Olympics has been building for over a year and the game somehow lived up to it. Connor Hellebuyck had one of the greatest goaltending performances I've ever seen.