It's a thread! (Games discussion, etc.)

[JG]

Though I can't figure out why some characters (Rex, Pyra, Nia) are anime-style while others (Vandham, townsfolk, the bad guys) are rendered naturally.

Found out Monolithsoft contracted various artists to supply character designs, so they'd have a wider variety of character designs.

Including everyone's favorite VIPER-related artist, Takahiro Kimura of V16 Rise, F40, and GTB fame.  Yesterday I acquired Perun, one of the blade characters he designed. How neat that all this stuff comes full circle.

[Moge]

Been a bit busy, but i finally had time to finish my 2017 GOTY list. What a great year it was! Can't remember the last time i bought so many new games on day 1.

10. Aim for the Ace! -- B
9. Rayman Origins -- B
8. Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap -- B+
7. Dead Connection -- B+
6. Bravely Default -- B

5. Zero Team -- B+
4. E.V.O. - The Theory of Evolution -- C+
3. Breath of the Wild -- A
2. Splatoon 2 -- B+
1. Mario Odyssesy -- A+

Can't find much fault with Mario Odyssey. From top to bottom its incredibly polished, which isn't a word i usually associate with open world games. Exploring every nook and cranny felt compelling and the countless nods to Mario's history left a big smile on my face. Definitely a game i will return to.

[JG]

Latest Nintendo Direct pros & cons.

I'm not much for the series but Super Smash Bros should excite some folks. I think we kind of knew this was coming though.  Switch was going to need one, its due for a new edition, and Nintendo needed something for the November-Christmas timeframe anyway, so.. yeah. Curious if it'll have a new 3DS port though like the last game.  Inkling Boy and Girl would make excellent additions to the cast, as would some new heroes/villians introduced since the last games like Lana & Cia from Hyrule Warriors, Rabbid Mario & Peach (forget Luigi & Yoshi), Rex from Xenoblade 2, and maybe even Captain Toad.

Boos, confusion and disgust that Nintendo is skipping the best in the series, Partners in Time, to move ahead to the third game in the Mario and Luigi series for the next remake. Bowsers Inside Story in my opinion was also the worst of the five, so I'm much less enthused about this game. A new sixth entry would be more welcome.

Better Boos (and of a different type) for the Luigi's Mansion remake.  When they made Dark Moon I kind of wondered if a remake was on horizon because its what, 15 years old now?  This one has me interested, though as I recall its not a very long game, 10 hours or so at most, so that has me a bit concerned. (I'd really like to see Super Mario Sunshine remade on 3DS though.)

Good to finally know when Octopath Traveller arrives.  Maybe I'll finally be done with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 by then. (XC2 is far and a way the looooongest game I've ever played. I'm closing in on 300 hours and still haven't finished it.  Good but too damn long and way too much micromanaging in the menus.)  The all black case with off white lettering is eerily reminiscent of the Bravely Default games though.

I hope Captain Toad for 3DS is effectively same as the Wii U/Switch games are.  Had eye on Wii U version for a while but never dropped in price so I kind of moved on and quit caring.  It seems like the kind of game that would be better on 3DS than on TV console anyway.  Not encouraging that it comes out the same day as Octopath Traveller though (July 13)

I don't want a second remake of Hyrule Warriors. Ok if you missed it first time around on Wii U or second time around on 3DS, but would prefer a sequel to another port. I get what Nintendo's doing (or rather KoeiTecmo), porting underappreciated Wii U stuff to Switch, but as a standalone game it seems a little dry at this point.  Generally not so good to upward port without something new to offer either.  Maybe if it were packaged free with a sequel though, like the similar Dragon Quest Heroes 1 & 2 were (both games in that series being released since Hyrule Warriors was, as well)

Still no word on Dragon Quest XI for either Switch or 3DS.

[Moge]

Incredibly happy with the Octo expansion announcement as a diehard Splatoon fan

The second game had a paper thin story compared to the first, so i'm quite eager to dive in and hopefully get more answers about the Splatoon universe (which takes place after the fall of mankind much like Pikmin).

As for Smash, well, the series lost me after Melee. Weird as it may sound but i much prefer to play my fighters on a dpad, and Smash doesn't have a good dpad control scheme (its very gimped compared to using the standard analog control).

Missed on a lot of great games in the twilight years of the Wii U as well as the 3DS. Captain Toad and the Bayonettas are absolutely on my play list.

I played thru Luigi's Mansion for the first time a couple years ago. Doesn't look like there are any significant graphically upgrades, so i'll pass. Very delightful game that i regret passing on cause it wasn't the Mario launch game i wanted.

Absolutely salivating to play Octopath, but before that i feel compelled to play Bravely Second before jumping on that game. They're not connected but there's a lineage there after playing thru the Octopath demo.

[JG]

(which takes place after the fall of mankind much like Pikmin).

Really? I interpreted it as humans were around, but where Olimar landed humans just didn't pay much attention and don't know pikmin or one inch tall aliens were around. (Kind of like Nintendo between Pikmin 2 and 3 - way too long a series hiatus between those two.)

If human's were gone, they sure weren't gone for very long because I seem to remember batteries, paper objects and other elements that would decay very rapidly (<15 years) after humans left them.

[Moge]

Looks like i was wrong. The newest Pikmin game on 3DS states that humans have moved to a different planet. Prior to that Miyamoto was quoted with saying humans have gone extinct.

I completely forgot about 3DS Pikmin game. Need to play that sometime.

[Moge]

Mario Tennis Aces testfire was great! Wasn't planning to get the game, but i'm convinced after thoroughly testing the demo. It fulfills that fighting game itch i've had for a while that DBFZ didn't quite satisfy for me.

Some folks say the game has too much depth with all the new mechanics, but i always found the series to be quite lacking due to the nature of tennis as a sport. There's only so much you can do compared to Golf.

[JG]

E3 thoughts so far.

Good to see Microsoft finally coming out of the cold. Its been a rough two years with very little to get excited about, but dropping both Halo (due for its three year checkup) and Gears (a year early) certainly helps.  Halo 6 needs to be better than 5 though.  Bringing the Halo artifacts back into it is a good start.  I sure hope they don't screw up either or make them exclusive to the X models.

I haven't really checked in on Sony yet.  I presume this is the year we'll finally see the Final Fantasy 7 remake? Maybe? Everybody thought so last year, too though.  It's been touted for over 2 and a half years now so its time to deliver or risk becoming a Vaporware title.  September release of Dragon Quest 11 makes me happy though.  I'm not so upset by loss of 3DS version but think Square should have brought the Switch version to Japan by now to make up for the cut.

Is Nintendo keeping all the 3DS stuff for tomorrow? Only game they've noted as 3DS is Captain Toad, even though they've already said Luigi's Mansion and Bowser's Inside Story remakes are on the way. No Metroid Prime 4 preview yet either, which we all expect is coming.

I'm less enthused about Super Smash Bros Ultimate than I thought I'd be. I'm not that into fighting games but curious to see what Nintendo does with each SSB release.  This one seems a little.. meh. Having every former character return (including the ones I didn't think we'd see again, like Snake) is pretty cool, but only two new character forms (Inkling and Ridley) makes it by far the lightest upgrade over previous edition, character-wise.  Adding Daisy makes three if you want to count her, even though she's a copy of Peach.  Seems like either a missed opportunity to add a lot of new characters, or a very clever plot to add a bunch as paid DLC. Some of the characters I was expecting this time around still show up as assists, but deserve playable treatment. For example, Waluigi, Bomberman, and Midna. I also noticed Riki (from Xenoblade Chronicles) in there as well, who would make an interesting second character from the Xenoblade series, but not as interesting as Fiora from XBC1, or a Tora/Poppi combo from XBC2. Also rather telling, license-wise, that they couldn't bring in Lana and/or Cia from Hyrule Legends as they'd make great characters (particularly Lana.)  In similar fashion, Rabbid Peach would make a hilarious addition.  Still no Animal Crossing characters except Villager? (I don't really care for Animal Crossing series, but its got a huge number of characters from which to draw.)  And not a single character from ARMS? (Someone from ARMS has almost certainly got to be DLC though. I also expect to see Rex from XBC2 as DLC.) I also would like to see Luigi distinguished from Mario by pairing him with the Poltergust vacuum as his attack weapon, making him an odd cross between Mario and Kirby.  And eight colors of Inklings but only green Yoshis?


Octopath Traveler still looks neat but I maintain it seems like it would have been better for the 3DS.  I'm still concerned its eight stories of 100+ hours each, which is too damn long. Each story needs to be 50 hours or less, which may be limiting these days.  Will need to try out the demo for greater clarity.

I'm not sure I'm up for another 300+ Xenoblade story so soon.  I thought it was going to be a side chapter or DLC worth 20-50 hours, but they're releasing it as a whole separate game.  The idea as a prequel featuring the Torna War with Addam and Lora as the heroes is the perfect setting though and has me more interested than I thought.

A new Mario Party is not very surprising.  Rebooting the series instead of another version increment is though, and a welcome change. It was getting to the point that each new version didn't really distinguish itself enough from the previous one. (Beware of following suit, Mario Kart.)

I want more Mario+Rabbids, but I'll have to see how they price the DLC. $10 maybe. $20 or more, I think I'll pass.

Not sure the "Lets Go" titles for the new Pokémon games are all that exciting. Are they mainline games or one-offs? If mainline, why aren't they named something like Pokémon Adjective-Color-Letter-Gemstone like all the previous ones?

No Animal Crossing sequels on the horizon. I don't care, but I read an article a few weeks back that pointed out the last one was 2013. The series seems to have gone the way of F-Zero and Kid Icarus.

Really hoping for some 3DS surprises tomorrow. Super Mario Sunshine is my longshot hope. We haven't had a true Mario series title on the 3DS since.. New SMB 2 in 2012 believe it or not. I don't count Mario Maker as its a totally different style. To be honest, a New SMB 3 game that was bundled with New 3DS systems would certainly help keep the sales going a bit longer.  If the 3DS slate turns out to be just Luigi's Mansion, Bowser's Inside Story, and Captain Toad (all remakes) then I think we can nail the coffin shut on the 3DS.

[Moge]

Nintendo's E3 this year was a disappointment, but i'm over it. My biggest concern still remains unanswered, and that has to do with the soon-to-launch online service for the Switch; I honestly can't tell how serious Ninty plans to go in on this. Giving us some old roms is nice, but as a Splatoon 2 player who has poured over 800 hours into the game, what i want the most are dedicated servers and a hacker detection system. Not too much to ask for given the wild success of the series (especially in Japan).

Sony's Press Conference was okay. Was very kooky at first but it eventually panned out. The animation from The Last of Us segment was absolutely insane for how natural and lifelike the movement was.

Microsoft delivered the goods and then some. Not too many exclusives, but its gnarly they're releasing a Halo and Gears sequel in the same year. There was a lot of buzz around Cyberpunk in the media. Been quite a long time since i played a good game with a cyberpunk, so i'm really pumped up for it. Biggest surprise for me at that conference was lil indie game called Tunic. Such wonderful music and a cool graphical style wrapped up in (classic) Zelda-like gameplay.

Here were my top 5 games at that E3 in no particular order:

- Resident Evil Remake 2
- Tunic
- Soul Calibur 6
- Smash Ultimate
- Beyond Good & Evil 2

[JG]

Big N had a lot to show for Switch, but the only video they ever showed for 3DS was Captain Toad, and only because it has a Switch version, too. Even several days after E3, there were no videos or even screenshots of Luigi's Mansion of Bowsers Inside Story, as if they didn't even exist.  Clear indication to me that N is ready to move on from 3DS series and focus solely on Switch. I'd love to see a new Toon Zelda or Mario game on the 3DS sometime in the next year or so, but no longer think it likely.

I'd forgotten the Nintendo online service bits.  You're right that they didn't give much details, though it bothers me less than most gamers as I much prefer solo play to team or online.

Also, no details about that Nintendo 64 classic that is almost certainly on the horizon but I'll give them credit for being tight lipped about that and keep focus on the new stuff.


Microsoft may have a big year in 2019, but might be back to idling again in 2020.  The problem is a new Halo game should have come along already, with Gears the following year, as has been the schedule so far.

Sony has a real blockbuster on their hands with Last of Us 2. The first so exceeded expectations its sort of become *the* poster child for the PS4. But beside that and upcoming Dragon Quest, I'm a little meh on its upcoming selection right now.


Outside of consoles, Prime Day earlier this week kicked me into gear to build a new workstation PC. I don't play much on my PC, but trying the new BattleTech game on Steam in April showed me how far behind the times my hardware is.  I was lucky to get a puny five or six FPS out of it, even with lowest graphics settings available. Effectively unplayable so time for upgrades.

[Moge]

Not playing DQ 11, JGOO?

[JG]

Very soon. I've been meaning to tackle the BotW DLC first, for which I'm about half done, and finish BATTLETECH, for which I'm at the final planet.  I'll probably start DQ11 this weekend to get a taste but don't want to get hooked until Zelda and BT are out of the picture. (I'd also like to get back to StarFox2 since getting that SNES Classic but that's been on hold, too.)

And of course, Star Control drops in a few days, complicating matters further.

[Moge]

Wowzers Can't believe you got 600 hours between BotW and Xeno 2

I'm surprised you're not exausted from playing all these massive games

I'll probably get Smash. Honestly i'm not too big on the gameplay of the series, but it doesn't hurt to try again i guess.

[JG]

Well I kept getting bogged down in the Zelda late game with non-game junk and started over a few times, most recently again to see if doing certain tasks, particularly freeing the beasts in a different order, had any outcome on story.

And Xenoblade is just too damned long. I stopped somewhere in the 300-350 hour range and still didn't finish it.  Nintendo sent me some bonus items lately to promote replaying for the Torna prequel/add-on/DLC/something-or-other (I'm not really sure how to classify it.) Maybe if those 15 legendary crystals finally get me the rare blade I'm missing I could finish it off this winter. I'm maybe 90, or 95% there, but the game mechanics screw you over for trying to 100% certain things like a full rare blade collection and the subsequent extra quests and storyline development. Everyone wants to full blade set and to play all the quests, and it used to be reasonable to do so but they patched the game to make it extraordinarily difficult (making the last rare blade need from like a 1% chance to obtain down to a 0.02% chance.)


But DQ11 is on my plate first. I've got 15-20 or so hours into it this week and without divulging any spoilers, I've reached the port city in the south after passing through the desert area. I have to say though that I'm not all that impressed story-wise. Compared to the excellent DQ8, the story is flat, straightforward, not all that funny, and the characters are relatively uninteresting and underdeveloped, with exception to why the mage/sage character is so young. The thief and jester haven't revealed much about their pasts that wasn't already obvious, and the healer/cleric hasn't provided any substance yet.  At this point in DQ8, you've heard all the character's backstories, helped them resolve some issues, and moved on to the goal at hand (and a bit of fan service from Jessica to boot.)  Been several years since DQ9, but I'm certain it moved along much faster, too. The environment really looks pretty though and as always I appreciate the naming puns and cultural oddities present in each town you visit.  My favorite so far is a village where every local resident speaks in haikus. Right now I give it a D+ but there's plenty of time for it to improve.

[Arizona]

Aha! Here I am, again, a year and a day after my last post! How exciting! My illustrious return after December 17th, 2017 surely means good tidings for the internet on the same day, being...

...December 17th, 2018...the day all porn is removed forever from Tumblr...

... ._. ...

...well...um...I guess I'm...playing Dark Souls II...and stuff...

[Moge]

Demon's Souls was my game of the year once. I should find some time to play another game in the series.

Did the new Star Control sequel lived up to your expectations, JGOO?

Thought i would enjoy the new Smash more but i still can't stand the controls; i absolutely prefer using a dpad for fighters, and unfortunately Smash doesn't have any good options for digital controls.

[JG]

Sorry I'd been away for holidays and no chance to respond.  I didn't play too many games this year, but here is my yearly countdown and thoughts:


8. NES Classic, D-
I anticipated this being more fun, but its not.  The hotsave/reload feature is clunky, so those hard bits of Battletoads are still practically impossible. I wish it came with a cheat panel, from which you can select a few cheats to make a game easier, perhaps by advancing to certain levels or accomplishing tasks in games to earn tokens to buy cheats. (I.e, complete SMB1 to earn 100 coins to spend on driving invincibility mode in Battletoads.) High quality emulators beat the NES Classic every time, unless you really want to play with the rectangle controller. Design issues like too short of a cord exist as well, increasing cost by demanding an extension cord.

7. SNES Classic, C-
Certainly better. Longer cords and two controllers in the box help, as do a higher quality selection of games. The presence of a hook, Star Fox 2, that is practically unemulatable, gives it a selling point that the NES version doesn't have. Emulators still better for the RPG games included, but for the action games like Super Metroid, the SNES controller is a nostalgic joy. If only it didn't have that funny fold down panel in the front for controller jacks that ruin the visual appeal.

6. Star Control Origins (PC), C+
Good and bad at same time.  The game itself seems quite solid, and on its own it would be really good game. But its built in a universe that had established so many facts in prior games, that retconning them all seems wasteful. As far as I could tell, only humans (obviously) and the Arilou carryover from old game to new.  I appreciate the new aliens, and thoughts about how alien species behave (like colonies of "space fish"), but Star Control 2 is still the gold standard for these types of games some 25 years and change later. Good call trying to reinvent the game, but reinventing the history and universe was a cheap shot. I'll give it credit for being equally as hard - I had several points where I didn't know what to do and just had to fly off in one direction endlessly until I discovered something of note. If you want to buy and play it fine, but you'd still be better off downloading the free Ur-Quan Masters remake of SC2. It was game of the year in 1992 for many damn good reasons.

5. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch), C+
I had reviewed this last year when it first came out, but most of the playtime was the first few months of this year. This is either great, or terrible, and I can't decide which. I lean a little bit towards great becuase it's a gigantic world, lots to do, hundreds of side quests, and an engaging story, but if you're going for 100% (or something close to it) then it can be a most evil game. Pray to the RNG gods becuase some of the Blade character spawn rates are as low as 1-in-500 (though you can improve the odds to about 1-in-120 though various means.) That means hours upon hours of grinding for that last one or two Blades needed to unlock a few final sidequests. Thus, the game is monsterously long, in excess of 350 hours. That really is just too long. Fine if you want to devote a couple of months to it, but if you don't have that kind of time, pass it over for something else. (They released a Torna prequel/sequel this year, but its just too soon to devote yet another couple of months to that one.)

4. Burnout: Paradice City: Rebooted (XBox One, also available for PS4), B
In my continuing quest to find a spiritual successor to BugBear's hilariously enjoyable FlatOut series, I gave this a try when it dropped to just $8.99 on XBox Marketplace. It nails the competitive, blow-your-enemies-off-the-road, racing, and throws in ample amounts of both stunts and "landscape remodeling", but doesn't quite have the demolition derby feel I was looking for. It's the closest I've come since BugBear went bankrupt, though. Rebooted contains all the DLC, including the second island of race tracks and all cars - including the DeLorean Time Machine, letting you play out the race from Ready Player One (minus King Kong.) This wins my Cheap Thrill award of the year, as I paid less than $10 for it, and you can get a new physical copy for $20 or less for either XBox One or PS4.

3. BATTLETECH (PC), A-
A very good translation of the 31st century tabletop warfare game to PC, much more inline with the canon universe than the silly MechWarrior series. It takes some liberties, and the rarity of certain 'mechs isn't realistic (nor is the absence of certain very common 'mechs that resemble Robotech designs) but its not bad. I wish it allowed your team to be larger than 4 'mech's though - I'd love to play out company-sized (12 'mechs) battles. Despite a good story, set in a mostly canon-wise version of the universe, the game itself tends to devolve into "how can I beat this group of 'mechs without losing any of mine" types of skirmishes. When pressured for time, this can be frustrating as losing one 'mech out of four can be catastrophic for your chances of success (as well as expensive to repair), but when given a chance, the fights end up being long range missle exchanges. So the battles aren't as replayable as they should be or as balanced as the tabletop game, but it was a welcome relief for Battletech fans like me that have waited along time for a proper game treatment like this.

2. Dragon Quest XI (PS4), A-
The Enix side of SquareEnix continues to show why they still make good RPGs, while the Square side generally puts out uninspiring titles. It had been along time since DQ9 arrived so DQ11 had a lot to live up to, and delivers on it. It starts rather slowly, but once it gets going its quite enjoyable, with a great story. Arguable whether its better than games 4, 5, or 8 in the series, but is one of the better ones and worth the 150 hour or so investment for RPG fans. I may have graded it higher had the story progressed to an interesting level earlier, and some of the characters were more useful than they are. (Serena being the obvious dud of the bunch.)

1. Dragon Quest Builders (PS4, also available for Switch), A-
While I don't know if its any "better" than my other two A- graded games, this has hooked me more than the other two. Its just plain fun. While Minecraft is for kids and focused so much on just mining and building things, DQB has quests and objectives to advance the storyline, too. Breaking it into chapters and requiring you to start over from scratch in each chapter makes it four smaller games in one. In fact, I rather wish there was DLC for additional chapters, becuase once its over you wish for more. Using the world of Alefgard, the setting for the original Dragon Quest (and parts of DQ2 and DQ3) was a very nice touch, and brought back memories of things like the golem guarding the town of Cantlin or named objects like Galen's Harp, Sunstone, and the Staff of Rain. I am very interested to see what they do with the upcoming Dragon Quest Builders 2 later this year.




The Grades:

Nintendo, B
While not the utter domination they displayed in 2017, they continue to roll along. Smash Bros of course is the big game but I'm not into fighters. They get a high grade for finally solving some availability issues: NES Classic, SNES Classic, and Switches are everywhere now, so if you want one, you can get one no problemo. I am concerned over the recent trend of remakes though, as opposed to new games. Mario and Luigi have got the remake treatment twice, as have several Wii U games. The saving grace for 2019 may be promise of a new Zelda game though. That's higher priority for me than any Metroid Prime 4 or Pikmin 4 that have been rumored for way too long with little to show for it. Despite some uncertainly over the 3DS platform, at least Nintendo knows where they've been and where they're going in 2019 and beyond.

Sony, B-
A fair year, but its obvious they're now playing second banana to Nintendo in both general popularity and sales. The God of War reboot doesn't seem to have been the hit they were hoping for but I've heard they nailed it with the Spider-Man exclusive. Sony's biggest worry is whether they've got too many variants right now between the normal PS4, PS4 Pro, and the PS VR. The VR seems to be struggling to catch on and may be dragging down the other two a bit. A very poorly received PS Classic didn't help matters. Maybe we'll hear more about the PS5 next year.

Microsoft, F-
Two years in a row I've given MS the worst grade possible. They are totally lost in the desert and have gone yet another year without any exclusive games of note. They may finally be emerging from self-inflicted hibernation with both Gears 5 and Halo 6 on slate for 2019, but its probably too late to save the Xbox One. Neither is expected in first half, and if Sony is announcing PS5 then Microsoft needs to be ready as well. Announcing two big games and a new platform at same time is a recipe for disaster, as we saw the Breath of the Wild effectively kill any remaining interest in the Wii U. Microsoft really needs to get these games out the door (at least one of them by E3) so they aren't overshadowed by the next generation hardware. Or screw the hardware and let Sony win the year, and come back in 2020 with an even better idea. At this point though I'm ready for Microsoft to leave the market, and release their second-party game developers to produce stuff unique to PC or for the PS4 and Switch. Xbox has practically no presence in Japan anymore, and trying to compete worldwide with Nintendo and Sony without the help of Japanese game companies just won't work.




Most Memorable Gaming Experience of 2018:
When the characters started talking about the golem in the first chapter for Dragon Quest Builders, and it was becoming obvious it would be the big baddie of the chapter, I got that happy nostalgic feeling inside. I just wish you had a flute to put it to sleep.



Gaming Experience I'd Most Like to Forget from 2018:
Grinding for 100+ hours trying to unlock the final Blade in XC2. I never did get her and that was alot of wasted game time.  Maybe I'll revisit someday, but it just pissed me off after two or three weeks of trying. I was to the point where I'd have actually paid for DLC to unlock her rather than continue grinding, were it an option.



Games I thought I'd play in 2018 and didn't:
* Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U) - Not only did it never go on sale, its not in stores anymore (very little Wii U stuff still is.) I can get it online, but its moment has passed. Maybe it will be another Switch remake though.
* God of War (PS4) - Dragon Quest Builders hasn't left the PS4 drive since going in. Sorry Kratos. You can escape Tartarus all you like, but you can't get out of the BluRay case without my help.
* Octopath Traveller (Switch) - The more I saw of this, the more I realized I could just replay Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger for a similar visual experience, and less investment of time or money.



Most Looking Forward to in 2019:
* Dragon Quest Builders II. Yes, yes, and more yes.
* The new Zelda game. Assuming it even comes out 2019 or is just teased at E3 for 2020 launch.
* Metroid Prime 4. Need to see more first though.
* Pikmin 4. Switch seems like an ideal device for Pikmin games (just as Wii U was.)
* The Last of Us 2. I'm sure we'll see more at or by E3.

I'd love to hear an announcement of Mario+Rabbids 2 some time in 2019. That was a surprise hit from 2017 and isn't so technically demanding that a sequel would be difficult to develop. On the other hand, I've stopped caring about Beyond Good and Evil 2 - I don't care if what we saw in 2017 was real or not. The fact that it hasn't appeared yet tells me it was all staged and that the game isn't really under development, or just doesn't have any real future.



As an aside, my brother got me the book Console Wars for Christmas. It details the history of Nintendo and Sega's rivalry in the 90s. I'm only a fifth of the way through it but its a very enjoyable read so far. I recommend it for those times when your controller's batteries need recharging.

[Moge]

I'm surprised you decided to play DQ Builders after snubbing the PS4 demo some years ago. Been a few years since i played a building simulator (Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King), so this might be right up alley since its got an IP attached that i'm somewhat familiar with (still have yet to finish a DQ ).

Gonna type up my top 10 soon. Stay tuned.

[JG]

I'm surprised you decided to play DQ Builders after snubbing the PS4 demo some years ago. Been a few years since i played a building simulator (Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King), so this might be right up alley since its got an IP attached that i'm somewhat familiar with (still have yet to finish a DQ ).

I didn't snub it - I just never got around to it.  I think I was wrapped up in other games like DQ7 for 3DS or Star Fox Zero at the time. Then the Switch came along and Breath of the Wild took over for a while. I just kind of forgot about it until DQ XI came along and rekindled my interest in all things DQ, including Builders.

That said, I followed some hints I found online today to set up a second PSN account to access the Japanese PS Store and download the DQB2 demo. I'm looking forward to trying it.

If you're still looking for a DQ to try, go with 8. It's still my favorite, it hooks you quickly, moves along at a good pace, and has two of the best characters in the entire series in Yangus and Jessica. XI is also good but starts very slowly and it can sidetrack you on quests a bit too much. 4 and 5 are also great, but they're older games and might not be your cup of tea these days (particularly the need to level grind several times in 4.)

DQB makes no requirement to know the characters beforehand (unlike the two Heroes games which somewhat hinge on your familiarity with them.)  DQ1 only has a few characters of note anyway: the legendary hero Erdrick, the player hero, the princess, the king, and the Dragonlord. Its actually of more benefit to know the map of Alefgard and the general order you visit the towns in DQ1 moreso than the characters (becuase its the same towns in DQB, except they're provided in the reverse order, as in Cantlin first and Tantegel last.) Of course, DQ1 is so ancient and poorly balanced (way too much grinding) to advise playing it just for the benefit of DQB. Maybe the one thing to really know about DQ1 before playing DQB is that when you finally reach the Dragonlord in DQ1, he gives you a Yes/No choice to join him and split the world between you. (It's a trap: 'Yes' ends the game and sends you back to the start screen.) - DQB follows the "alternate history" path in which the player hero had chosen Yes and the Dragonlord goes on to seal away the power of creation from humankind. It borrows the idea from Zelda Historia about some of the games belonging to a path in which Link failed to defeat Ganon.

DQ2 takes place 100 years later in the same world as DQ1, but I'm not sure if DQB2 will follow the DQB world or not. Evidence is leaning towards a different take on the story than alternate history though, since the big baddie in DQ2 is named Shidow in Japan (Malroth in USA/Europe), and you conveniently get a partner in DQB2 named Shidow who has hair that is pointed like horns. Its kind of obvious there's a connection. Whatever the reason for this, I don't really want to find out until I play the game.

[JG]

Microsoft is continuing to astound me by bad business decisions regarding Xbox.  If you'd not heard, the latest is that a driveless, download-only version of Xbox One S (rediculously named "Xbox One S All-Digital Edition") will be coming in May.  It will undoubtedly be cheaper and help fight for the bottom rung of gaming below the Switch's and PS4's price point, and push more players toward their Game Pass subscription, but driveless systems have historically sold very poorly. Only tablets and cell phones have bucked the trend, and that's because they can do a lot more than just being hooked up to a TV all day. (Something Nintendo realized.)

The major problem regarding Microsoft's lack of interesting, unique game titles is a failure to engage Japanese studios. Did you know the Xbox One isn't even sold as a gaming system there? Its sold as a Blu-Ray player, capable of playing imported games. They don't sell hundreds or thousands of systems a week like Nintendo and Sony do, they sell mere dozens a week. They're not going to gain interest from Japanese producers selling only a half crate of units per week, and lose whatever little interest there is if they change the system design to ensure they sell none. I'm not sure what Microsoft can do to fix their image problem in Japan, but I'm quite sure taking out the one piece of the hardware they do like isn't it. They started with this grand idea of making the Xbox One the ultimate set top box, and every decision since release has peeled off a layer of that vision. They dropped the Kinect, dropped the microphone, and now are going to drop the drive. Systems like the Wii U and Vita didn't pan out, but at least the original vision stayed intact. (Anyone else old enough to remember the public outrage when Sega dropped the headphone jack from the Genesis redesign?)

Halo Infinite and Gears 5 better both be blow-your-socks-off game-of-the-year quality stuff or Microsoft is in deep trouble and will end up finishing a very distant third behind Switch and PS4 in this generation (and may yet still.) They've already announced the late 2020 consoles will be yet another performance improvement stepup of the Xbox One console hardware, as the Xbox One X was in 2017, which delays any next generation architecture until at least 2022 or 2023. I don't think they make it that long relying only on digital stuff you could get for either of the other two systems or on moderately powerful Windows machines.