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

[Moge]

These days, most AAA releases are sent to store shelves as incomplete products requiring a day one patch. I doubt journalists playtesting the game would have made any meaningful difference. What's shows up on the show floor are curated experiences, so they're never gonna get the complete picture until review time.

I have a hard time mustering up hype for BG&E2 when it's an online multiplayer experience. Ubisoft last year published their own take on Breath of the Wild (Immortals Fenyx Rising). Wasn't this supposed to be Beyond Good & Evil's role originally?

It's amazing that Microsoft has been able to coast on by without a single defining game on the Series platform, but that just highlights how strong GamePass and the Xbox's expansive back catalog truly are.

Street Fighter V is on its final season of DLC content. I'm not expecting a reveal for VI until Capcom Cup in December or possibly next year. Besides SF VI, i would very much like to see Capcom iterate on either Marvel vs Capcom or Darkstalkers. It would be nice if they could go back to having more than 1 fighter in the spotlight.

Rumors of Valve possibly releasing a direct competitor to the Nintendo Switch deeply intrigues me. Nintendo has a firm grasp on the marketshare of indies on console, so what happens when Valve enters the ring, considering they dominate that space on PC? They certainly have the resources to pull it off.

[JG]

But those hands-on experiences do help identify weaknesses for day-one patches. Not expecting perfection at E3, but it can't be a total smoke and mirrors show like Cyberpunk was last year. At the very least it would have given people a chance to see the differences between PC, Xbox One, and PS4 versions. They would have seen the PC look better and certainly perform better, and maybe not been so hasty to award it PS4 awards it didn't deserve.

Immortals Fenyx Rising looks like the Kid Icarus Uprising sequel I'd been wanting Nintendo to make. I haven't played it but it really does look like Kid Icarus in a BotW-like world. I'd always thought Kid Icarus would translate well to a Star-fox style 3D (and it did), and then thought it would translate to open-world just as well if Nintendo had got that far (and Ubisoft effectively proved it would have.)

Unfortunately Microsoft's back catalog isn't as strong as Sony's or Nintendo's. If they ever got their act together and effectively copied what Gamepass does instead of these half-assed attempts they could bury Microsoft. The one thing Microsoft has they don't is crossplay with PC and seamless switching between the two (assuming a powerful enough PC), but the larger game libraries could probably overcome this.

Next year likely brings the next Mortal Kombat and Smash Bros announcements (Smash Bros is nearing the end of its DLC run, too). If Capcom wants to get in before them, then I guess that Capcom Cup is the place. They could really use a Versus type game between now and then though. A wider array of games would help, too. They've been running on sequels for many years now - almost everything is an Ace Attorney, Mega Man, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, or one of their fighting game franchises. The Ghosts 'n' Goblins "remake" is an oks tart, but its  looks more like a repackaging then a total refresh. Back in the late 80s early 90s they had some major hits like DuckTales, Bionic Commando, Strider, and Code Name: Viper. Excepting the Disney games, they have a decent catalog of original material they can pull from and reinvent. (There's a rumor they will reboot MegaMan again this year or next though. I think Bionic Commando or Strider would make better choices.)

I'm not certain Valve has retailer magnitude. I've seen some Steam redemption cards on "a" shelf, but its not like they have full shelves to themselves like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft (who basically took Sega's shelves.) And a heavy focus on indie games didn't at all help things like the Ouya or Shield break into the gaming market. You need several exclusive releases each year (or in the case of Microsoft, deep pockets and half a lifetime)

[JG]

Also, the controller countdown, best to worst. I haven't played a lot of things enough to give an opinion (original Xbox and PS3 for example), but I almost exclusively use first-party hardware rather than third-party stuff. Also not counting cameras (Kinect) or Keyboard and Mice (something that Saturn and Dreamcast felt were needed add-ons) since they are too similar to standard PC hardware, even though some games are playable with these. I am only considering proper controller devices.


Xbox 360 Controller - My personal choice for best. Its perfectly sized, with an appropriate weight, ergonomic contours on the grips and thumbsticks, solid buttons, responsive shoulder triggers in the right place, and built-in rumble. It even clearly shows which player you are with the light up ring. Its only drawbacks are that the d-pad is a little wobbly and corded models tangle up easy thanks to poor coatings.

Xbox One Controller - A step backwards. A little smaller and smoother and the battery pack sticks out so much to be annoyingly in the way of my fingers as they curl around the backside.

N64 Controller - Effectively two controllers in one, with its normal or pistol grip middle controller. The first first-party controller that gave us a proper trigger, which have since all moved to shoulders though shoulder placement is less gun-like (one of the features that made Goldeneye so amazing.) It feels a little too lightweight for its size though. If they'd invented internal rumblers by this time, putting them inside the case would have made for the ideal controller. Instead it had the rumble pack addition, which was still superior to what Sege and Sony offered. Putting the memory card into the same controller slot was a solid idea, too though if rumble was built into the controller it would have been better to plug in the memory card to the base unit. N64 also invented the concept of a different color controller for each player.

GameCube Controller - I miss the pistol trigger but otherwise a very good controller. It's large central button and three smaller around it were innovative and well-used for Nintendo's own games, but the third party games that had ports to Xbox or Playstation had trouble with it so I can see what it never caught on.

NEO*GEO Arcade Stick - The closest we've ever got to an arcade stick in home gaming. Its drawbacks were it's huge size and the fact the control sticks constantly clicked and made springy sounds when moved. Fine in a noisy arcade, not so great in a quieter home environment. But still pretty cool to play with an arcade stick at home. (Yes, Nintendo had made the Advantage years earlier, but it didn't quite look arcade-ish.)

Playstation DualShock 4 - The best of Sony's so far. Its still got lousy ergonomics that dig into the palms, but its better than previous generations thanks to contouring the palm areas. Its touchpad is the best controller innovation since shoulder triggers were added. It effectively gives you a built-in mouse and extra button - I'm sad to see so few games make good use of it. Its big light bar is rather annoying too, though its understandable why it was done this way (so the PS Eye camera could identify each controller.) It has a good rumbler inside too, but too weighted to right hand side. I'm not a fan of the hard to press Options and Share buttons, or the glued on serial number label on the back which comes loose after a few hundred hours of gameplay.

Zapper Gun - The first and only gun attachment worth its salt. Duck Hunt became an instant class thanks to the Zapper. It didn't seem terribly accurate but it was a blast to play. Not a fan of the springy sound it made when trigger was released though.

Jaguar Controller - Well sized and decently ergonomic. Atari really hit on a good idea by providing a host of new buttons between the wrists, with slots so each game could provide a little card that fit into the slot to provide descriptions of what each button could do. Not as many buttons as keys on a keyboard, but enough that game controls nearly impossible to pull off on the other systems were possible on Jaguar. I really haven't seen anything like it except for a funny Xbox add-on that provided a tiny keyboard for texting during games (quickly replaced by voice exchange)

Dreamcast VMU - Tiny, Simple, Cute. These plug ins to the base controller took the N64 idea for memory cards, and added a screen, dpad and pair of buttons so it was effectively a mini-Gameboy. it was small enough it put in your pocket and take with you (unlike GameBoys which were too large for pockets.) It was such an innovate idea that Nintendo came back around to it with the Tingle adventure in Wind Waker using a GameBoy Color as the controller though the Game Boy Adapter device. Sadly, it was one of the last good ideas Sega had.

3DS XL, New 3DS XL, 3DS - All three of these are similar. I prefer the XL's larger size so my hands are placed a little further apart though. Original XL was better than the New version. The New is surprisingly heavy, too smooth on the reverse side, and the New's 3D stick is basically a tiny eraser head that is difficult to move, especially give its placement right against the hinge.

Virtual Boy Controller - I remember the hand grips being nice and curvy and with a d-pad and buttons on each side it allowed lefty-righty parity and some new game concepts. You can really see how the GameCube controller is derived from the Virtual Boy's with similar slim but curvy grips and a second thumbstick for right hand. Its drawback was the heavy battery case (something Xbox still struggles with.)

SNES Control Pad - Perfect for its time, its since lost some luster thanks to newer technologies. It introduced shoulder buttons and the common 4-button diamond format right hand button placement, which practically all controllers now have. Its drawback was the shoulder buttons could be fragile - enough gameplay and they would wear out. We had one where a shoulder button snapped off near the hinge and had to open it up to superglue it back together..

Wiimote & Nunchuk - Innovative for finally bringing proper motion control. Quite the learning curve to get used to if playing with standard controllers, but easy for novices to pick up. Aside from my brother and I begging our mom to try out Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt not long after our parents had bought us the NES, I never saw her play another video game until trying Wii Sports Tennis. All she had to do was wave the stick, making it about a simple as Duck Hunt. (I don't think she cleared 1-1 in Super Mario Bros. My dad on the other hand was exceptionally good at Tetris.) Its a shame they had to make an add-on and a deluxe model of the Wiimote to get fine enough gyroscopic control for some games though.

Switch Pro Controller - A solid controller, which appears inspired by the Xbox series. Its well sized and weighted and its sticks, buttons and triggers are all responsive, with a decent rumbler inside (not as strong as Xbox's though.) The one thing I really don't like about its that its translucent charcoal black. You can't make out which button is which. I get minus and plus backwards all the time. I wish the buttons were colored in such a way to stand out more.

Genesis 6-button Control Pad - Sega really found a winner here with a control scheme that perfectly matched Street Fighter II, which was the hottest game at the time. And it felt really good in the hands - way better than anything else until the N64 came along. But its shoulder buttons were rather weak with hardly any response to whether being pressed or not.

Wii U Gamepad - A bit of good and bad here. Control-wise its not bad, on par with others from the 2010s. And the full sized touch screen is really neat stuff. It had better gyroscopics than the Wii so you could finally use it like a steering wheel without that silly Mario Kart wheel add-on that didn't really work. But its rather heavy, and the sound that comes out of it wasn't always synced to the TV. Clearly the predecessor to the Switch though. Many games also had the problem of requiring you to look down at the controller screen too often for "pause screen inventory management" instead of keeping eyes on screen as most games do - in this respect the screen could be detrimental.

Saturn Controller - An update to the Genesis 6-button controller. Size and shape wise it was nearly perfect. Sadly it wasn't made well, with a resistant d-pad that was harder to press than other controllers (like Nintendo's) and shoulder buttons that rattled around.

NES Max - More comfortable than the normal NES controller. The thumbpad was something to get used to though as it felt like it slid around all over the place with the lightest of pressure. It sort of became the "expert's controller" - after you could beat a game with the normal one, switch to the Max to see if you can tackle it there with its harder to control thumbpad.

Playstation 2 DualShock - A little better than the first thanks to the addition of the thumbsticks, but still badly designed in the palm grips with big fat nubs that press hard into the palms, and smooth so it slides around in them too easily.

GameBoy Color - I wouldn't say badly designed (like Playstation), just small. They didn't get it right until changing the form factor from screen top to screen middle with the DS, giving more size for hands. I liked my GBC, but couldn't play for long before my hands would cramp.

NES Control Pad - Not really impressive. The d-pad and buttons were amazingly responsive for its time, but those 90 degree corners were terrible. We all got used to it, but looking back on it, WTF was Nintendo thinking? Sharp corners in kids hands? When Nintendo released the NES Classic, I think they made a big mistake by not providing the dumbbell shaped controllers, and instead gave the rectangular models that clearly weren't up to 2016 ergonomic standards.

Dreamcast Controller -  Pretty much everything wrong with the Saturn 3D Control Pad, particularly the inward curving shape. The Start button though is totally unreachable by either thumb without releasing the hand. But it looked better and had that open spot for the VMU's screen to show though. In fact, it even gave two slots for VMUs or memory cards after learning from Nintendo's mistake of making games that could use either a memory card or rumble pak, but not both at once.

Genesis 3-button Controller - The original model Genesis controller was nothing special. It only added one button to the NES/Master System layout. And while it did angle them, it didn't angle them properly so that A, B, and C were in a line that your thumb would draw when holding the controller. So you kind of had to play with right hand holding the controller a little loosely. On the plus side, it was massive compared to the NES and SNES controllers, and more curvy, so for big-handed folks like me it felt more appropriate.

Saturn 3D Control Pad - What a step back. While the normal dream cast controller was just fine. Adding a thumb stick seemed to mess around with the design too much. Its no longer a comfortable feel with the thumbstick too high and the new rounded shape being inwards at the button for an odd palm position. it also had a lot of bare space on its face that could have been used for something: more buttons, turbo mode switch, something.

GameBoy - The original game boy was heavy and, like its Color followup, the form factor demanded hands that overlap behind it. On the plus side it introduced the angled button format later adopted by everyone else (except NEC, see below)

Switch Joycons - While I understand the purpose behind them to be removable from the Switch screen these things are horribly tiny. And as a result, they don't have full sized buttons or shoulder triggers. They have lights to indicate which player you are, but its not as clearly indicated as the Xbox 360 controllers were. Outside of a few games (1-2-Switch, Arms, and upcoming Skyword Sword) the Joycons haven't really been utilized well at all. The built-in function of the Switch Lite kind of crippled their use. I almost always use the controllers that come with the set, but the Joycons are so bad that the Switch is the only one where I've had to invest in the Pro Controller to get a comfortable enough feel.

Power Pad - The grandfather of later dance pads, the original pretty much sucked. It felt like the games would randomly decide if you'd pressed the button or not. And ultimately, most games that used it (like Track and Field) were more easily beaten by rapidly smashing your fists into the Power Pad than running in place with your feet.

Playstation Controller - Ugh. Sony's 20+ year ergonomic nightmare in its earliest form. Totally uncomfortable palm grips (not fixed until PS5), smooth palm areas (not fixed until PS4), shoulder buttons that are placed on nubs that extend too high (progressively better each version), and missing the thumbsticks that were by this time common (fixed in PS2)

Turbo-Grafx 16 Gamepad - Like everything else about the TG16/PC Engine, its basically an update to the NES. Similar rectangular controller, though it corners are softened a bit. While it added built-in turbo buttons, its actually worse than the original NES controller because the placement of the d-pad and normal buttons are so low on the controller that your thumbs had to twist backwards to reach. Very difficult to both hold and control effectively. The worse of the standard controllers.

Super Scope - While the Zapper was fun, this was absolute garbage. Its was way too big and its bazooka style meant you weren't looking over the barrel to aim anymore, so your accuracy was terrible. It gave sights, but only useful for aiming if your head was the size of a baby's. Just bad design all over.

[JG]

My E3 2021 Thoughts:


Best in Show:

Rocksmith+. I don't play a musical instrument, and probably won't start, but this finally gets it right using cell phone microphones after the error made 10 years ago requiring custom instruments and amps. And as a subscription service, they can keep providing content (and new songs) for years to come. Of everything shown at E3 this year, this is the thing most likely to stick around for 5-10 years.



Other things I liked (in decreasing order):

Verizon's "The Reset" commercial. A close second to Rocksmith+ for scope, the commercial perfectly captures what's wrong with network gaming right now and why fast, less laggy networks are desired. Chances are you missed it Monday morning, but its truly awesome and worth two minutes of your time to watch. (Consider blowing it up the video to full screen to see all the detail.)

Harold Halibut - Sort of a mystery game, but what really caught my eye is that every element in the game was created for real, using dolls and built sets like a stop-motion movie, but captured with a 3D camera. A rather novel (but expensive and time consuming) development process, but it gives it a very unique style.

Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life. The Pirates of the Caribbean crossover with Captains Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones is a strong hook. The game is a few years old now, but exactly the thing it needed to reinvigorate interest. Even I'm mildly interested in the game despite having zero interest in it before. And its releasing soon, June 22, so there's not a months-long wait for it.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn't really care much for the Avengers or Ironman VR game when they came out, but I liked the banter going back and forth between the characters during the preview. All the bickering seems to perfectly capture what we know about this eclectic mix of superheroes. Also due this year, October 26.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. This game is badly overdue. The first is so good, both in quality and blowing way past sales estimates, that it demanded a sequel, and its a shame it took this long. Also a shame it's not arriving until 2022.

Tinykin. PC Gaming Show gave us this little gem that looks very much like a 3D Pikmin game with a mix of cartoon animation. Its the only PC game that I wishlisted in Steam. Sadly, it too doesn't arrive until 2022.

Rider's Republic. I'm not really into this game but that's a lot of variety for outdoor sports racing (bikes, snowboards, skis, squirrel suits, parachutes, jet packs - I even saw a hot dog cart!), and massively multiplayer (64+ riders at once) all running the same map regardless of what they're riding/using to get down the mountain. It looks really sharp and made Microsoft's outdoor sports game look terribly uninteresting by comparison.



Honorable mentions:

Shredders: Maybe the best graphics shown for how powdery and lifelike the snow appeared. Sadly it looked slow, empty, and dull compared to Ubisoft's Rider's Republic and is released later.

Forza Horizon 5. Another graphics showcase for Microsoft. Other than the player vs player online games, I can't figure out what the goal is. It seemed overly focused on recreating the artistic representation of Mexican towns and locations, but I just can't see much game behind all the visuals.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. This looks remarkably like the movie. Probably not a great game but its got the right visuals.

The Outer Worlds 2. Though they didn't show any preview or gameplay, just a title, their presentation perfectly mocked all the others in good humor.



What I didn't like (a lot, in no particular order):

The Intellivision Amico's price. Watching the presentation, I was mildly intrigued and thought, "this could be a nice first console for kids, like my nephew, and young families if its priced right". They never said so in the presentation (probably a good idea) so I went to the webpage and got blown away. I was thinking somewhere in the $50-$100 range would work, like the NES, SNES, and Genesis classics released not too long ago. It's $250! That's more than a Switch Lite. More than PS4s. More than Xbox Ones. So the others can all do pretty much what the Amico aims to do, but at even lower cost, better support, and a much larger library of cheap indie games to give the same experience Amico wants to do. I appreciate that its got a sensitive d-pad, personal touchpad screens with haptic feedback, and connects to mobile phones for use as extra controllers, but its priced well outside competition range.

Microsoft's presentation. Too many games in too little of time, having to rush through many of them. And Halo Infinite appears to still be in dire straits. Microsoft strongly hinted that while Halo Infinite Multiplayer (even repeatedly using that title) would come in December, it seems the campaign will not be ready by then, and we saw nothing of it besides some cinematic video. No Fable or Elder Scrolls VI either that have been rumored. If it weren't for some pretty graphics, in Shredders, Flight Simulator, and Forza Horizon 5, and the fun-looking Sea of Thieves crossover, this would have been a disaster. Didn't help to spend two minutes advertising the Xbox Mini Fridge at end of presentation when that time could have been used on games.

SquareEnix's presentation showed only a mere six seconds of Forspoken, none of it new. And only a few seconds of Final Fantasy XVI as well (no gameplay.) No release dates for the DQ stuff announced in late May. Marvel really bailed them out with The Guardians of the Galaxy IP and bringing Black Panther into Avenger's DLC. I wanted to see more of Legend of Mana but they spent so long covering Guardians, Avengers, and Life is Strange that they didn't save any time to cover it.

Capcom's presentation gave absolutely nothing unexpected. Yes they had a data leak a while back, but they still could have come up with something, anything different to say Monday. With Resident Evil Village, Monster Hunter Stories 2, Monster Hunter Rise DLC, and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles all out by end of July, they didn't say anything about what they're doing between August and E3 next year.

Nintendo's weak presentation that only announced two new exclusive titles that weren't remakes (and a third exclusive, Shin Megami Tensei V was announced some time back). I guess WarioWare: Get It Together is fine, but its overshadowed by Mario Party Superstars (a remake/recollection of earlier game stages and minigames). The other is Metroid Dread, which isn't the Prime 4 people wanted. Ending with some more gameplay video of the BotW sequel was good, but no title, and "hoping" to release in 2022 is very unencouraging. It was anticipated for this year's Christmas season, and "hoping" makes it sound like next year's fall/Christmas at best. Yikes.

Blizzard Entertainment. They presented Diablo II Remastered instead of Diablo IV which everyone wants. Probably pissed off a lot of fans when the news leaked they were showing a new Diablo game at E3.

Rainbow Six Extraction. Liquid monsters shouldn't be killed by bullets. Totally ruined the experience early on day 1 (and questionable if it ever recovered)

Far Cry 6. Not because of the game, but E3 demands a preempt for language and they didn't give one (F-word used four times, and S-word once more in the roundup.)

Starfield. No gameplay for Xbox's monster 2022 title. And it's STILL 17 months away. Why lead the show with something not coming until after next year's E3? Save that for the "One Last Thing" if you want, but don't lead with it.

Party Animals. Looks like a complete ripoff of Gang Beasts.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl and Chernobylite... two games set in Chernobyl. And once again the Xbox game is the second to release.

Lemnis Gate. Everyone had been hyping what a turn-based strategy first person shooter would be like, and while the game was tagged with an August 8 release date and showed some of the FPS aspects, it didn't answer how the two modes blend. Even the aftershow presenters were still confused by how its going to work and were disappointed the video didn't answer it.

Contraband. It's preview video gave absolutely no idea what type of game it is. Presumably something to do with thievery/heists but couldn't tell much else.

Gigabash. As a King of the Monsters fan, this looked like it had the right spirit to start, but the camera panned so far away its hard to get a sense that destroying the city as the kaiju's fight is of any concern (or helps earn you more points toward victory)

Phil Spencer. Still cocky despite running a distant third. And a poorly timed presentation where he said "showed 30 titles today" while an onscreen graphic simultaneously showed only 19 titles, and only 12 of those titles were actually shown, with another 7 releasing in 2021 but not at all covered. Exactly what I've come to expect from the Microsoft gaming division: total disorganization.



Best Named Game (for something I obviously won't buy):

Definitely Not Fried Chicken. Apparently you're making narcotics in your restaurant's kitchen but have to keep the secret from your customers, who unknowingly consume some of it and wreck the city while high. Ahh.. indie games.

Close runner up to Moo Lander, where mutant Martian cows attack space travelers.



Company Grades:

3D Realms. A+. They didn't even have to show up to win! Since Ubisoft did not give any news on Beyond Good or Evil 2, it means they and Duke Nukem Forever are now officially off the hook for longest game development hell. Not having that hanging over them anymore is celebration-worthy for Duke fans. Never thought the day would come. And never expected Ubisoft to let it happen, but here we are.

Ubisoft. B. Rocksmith+ gets music instrument learning right. Mario + Rabbids is much needed. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is getting another year or support, instead of the normal Ubisoft procedure of trying to make a new Assassin's Creed every year. Sadly, still too much focus on Tom Clancy team soldier games (three of them.) Of course, they now have the Beyond Good & Evil 2 anchor weighing them down, too, so a mixed bag. But compared to the others, they had a better showing. Some years it might be a C grade, but this year they were the clear best at what they set out to do.

Sony. C. A total no-show again, but maybe the best decision to let others (like Ubisoft and SquareEnix) speak for them, and let their competition fail on their own. But they should still be there to promote their hardware, developers for games on their hardware, and the fans that support them. A pass for Covid-19 concerns, but next year they better have a presentation.

Square Enix. C. Guardians of the Galaxy looks genuinely fun for a super hero game. Too much time spent on it, the Black Panther DLC, and especially Life is Strange: True Colors, giving only seconds on games like Final Fantasy Series Pixel Remaster, Legend of Mana, and Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. For how much they had to show their presentation needed to be longer or less time spent on Guardians and True Colors.

Microsoft & Bethesda. D+. A lot to show, but too little of it got more than a cursory review. Once again, heavy focus on the graphics rather than entertaining gameplay. Party Animals has the stink of a blatant knockoff. And while the Shredders snowboarding game had excellent snow effects, it looked pretty dull compared to the absolutely wild Rider's Republic that comes several months earlier. Wasted time at the end showing off a Mini Fridge. I'd have rather seen an extra minute a piece of Somerville and Eiyuden Chronicle. They need a Treehouse equivalent to show off some of these games in more detail because with 23 studios and 30 games, and hour and a half just isn't enough time. The real kick is having both the presenters and Phil Spencer repeatedly calling it "Halo Infinite Multiplayer" (and giving a graphic showing it as such), casting serious doubt on the story campaign's readiness this year. Master Chief just can't sit out yet another Christmas season.

Nintendo. D. They rehashed a lot of things they covered already (like Mario Golf Super Rush) or had others cover for them (Monster Hunter Stories 2, Life is Strange, and Two Point Campus). And a lot of remakes and ports of stuff already out: Life is Strange, Monkey Ball, Worms Rumble, Mario Party Superstars, Cruis'n Blast, Dragonball Z Kakarot, Danganrompa, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Strange Brigade, Advance Wars, Skyward Sword, and the Zelda Game & Watch. Very little of it was new, and of the four games everyone wanted to see, Breath of the Wild sequel, Splatoon 3, Metroid Prime 4, and Bayonetta 3, only the BotW sequel made an appearance but pegged so far out as to probably not see much more of it until next year's E3, which likely puts Splatoon 3 and Metroid Prime 4 even further off (and Bayonetta is just entirely MIA and already well overdue). And no idea what they've got in store for Christmas. (It can NOT be Metroid Dread, Too scary for kids, and I don't think Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot is strong enough to carry the system.) And no hardware new either. Usually they ace the E3 presentation and blow us off our feet, but this year is one to forget. The one redeeming note was that there would be more news, at least about Smash Bros' new character, Kazuya, on June 28, so we'll probably see the next Mini Direct then.

PC Gaming Show. D-. Not much quality here. Didn't really describe Lemnis Gate's gameplay to anyone. Tinykin got my attention though. Too much focus on the presenters and the silly PC rig building vote: in 80 minutes they managed to show only about 45 minutes worth of games.

Future Games Show. D- Even less quality than the PC Gaming Show, with two more presenters more interested in their own banter than the games. On the bright side, they gave a couple of minutes to properly cover that enchanting Harold Halibut game.

Capcom: F. Nothing unexpected, nothing for the future, and annoying kept switching camera views on the presenter.

Indie Games. Ungraded. I didn't see but more than a few minutes of it. I just saw a recap of the games.

WB and Bandai Namco. Ungraded. I have no interest in WB's Back 4 Blood or Bandai Namco's House of Ashes games, let alone 30 minutes coverage of them. That's a lot when some games are getting mere seconds.



Overall, E3 was a D-minus this year, with very dull presentations overall and a lot of stuff that should have been shown were simply absent. I realize 2020 was a hard year for developers, but some of these games (Halo, BotW2, Bayonetta) have been in the oven for several years now and its time to show off more than a few teasers, if anything. As a result, the vast majority of games covered that I'd want to play are all coming in a very crowded 2022, with little of interest in 2021.

[Moge]

This year's E3 was more or less what i expected out of the big publisher space, meaning very few surprises and lots of big titles being noticeably absent. Despite being lukewarm in the big publisher space, i have to say i came away very impressed with a lot of the indie titles surrounding E3/Summer Game Fest; pretty much carried the show for me.

My E3 Top 10 --

10. Cruise 'n' Blast
9. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
8. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp

7. WarioWare: Get It Together!
6. Breath of the Wild 2
5. Unbeatable

4. Walk (from KazumiStudios)
3. Metroid Dread

2. Varvarion -- From what i gathered from the trailers for Varvarion, it is both a 3D beat 'em up and an arena style fighting game. The animation in the game is truly impressive; reminds me a lot of Street Fighter, where there's an emphasis on hit impact.

 1. Metal Slug Tactics -- I never expected to see a new 2D Metal Slug, one that doesn't heavily recycle sprites from previous entries. Despite not being developed internally, the game is quite the looker and has all the charm of the original in spades. While i don't play too many tactics games, the last one i played, Into the Breach, was so addicting that i beat the game multiple times. I'm hopeful the new Metal Slug will turn out good as well.

[JG]

3. Metroid Dread

I got to say, this is going to be the first mainline Metroid game I don't buy since the original 2 (because I had no GameBoy at the time and it was given no DX color port like Tetris and Link's Awakening.) Maybe later when its discounted, but not in 2021.

I really disliked Return of Samus changing the gameplay from a tactical distance shooter to requiring the melee attack mode to defeat some enemies. Its not only returned in Dread, but is now Samus' primary attack, something the Treehouse gang repeatedly harped on. Sure she still has a blaster and missiles, but the Treehouse players were mainly using them to open doors and meleeing all the enemies they came across, on the basis that its faster to do so than shooting them. And the sense of having to rush all the time to avoid the EMIIs is also not a gameplay style I desire - I like to take my time, at least on first playthroughs. I feel like they've taken the Metroid formula and replaced it with Sonic the Hedgehog's.

Much as I'd like to see how the story "ends", it just doesn't look like its of the same ilk as the Metroid/Metroid 2/Super Metroid/Fusion style.


Also, how are you faring with Dragon Quest II Reprise? DQ2 is the hardest in series, especially at the end game so hopefully you've been leveling up (or if playing on an emulator, cheating a bit to increase EXP gains)

[Moge]

Mercury Steam games have been middling at best in the previous two generations. If Nintendo has enough confidence to designate Dread as Metroid 5, then i'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I will agree it is weird to see Samus doing melee attacks, but i figured i'll grow accustomed to it eventually much like when they removed her floaty jumps (which oddly are still in Smash Bros).I really love horror games where there's a stalker in pursuit, so the game is right up my alley.

I finished DQ2 a month ago. The game is incredibly mediocre, and now i can see why no DQ fan ever talks about the game. I had a double XP booster the entire time, so the grinding wasn't too bad. Since DQ III HD remaster won't be out for another year, i'll probably either play DQ Builders or IV as my next DQ game.

[JG]

i'll probably either play DQ Builders or IV as my next DQ game.

Both get high marks for me.

DQ4 is probably the best story of the series. If you can get the DS version, it more properly translates from the Japanese original, adds an extra chapter following the main story, and uses the 'modern' element of assigning a different dialect to different regions. The extra chapter may be in mobile versions too but I'm not sure. I don't think you're missing anything by only playing the five original chapters, but the proper translation, dialects, and other QOL changes would make DS or mobile superior to any NES or SNES ROM.

DQB1 on PS4 is both cheaper and the more challenging version. They scaled down the difficulty for the chapter challenges for the Switch version.

[Moge]

The one thing that was holding me back from playing DQ4 is the lack of party chat in the DS version. Thankfully, it seems a generous hacker in the past few weeks was able to insert the party chat text from the mobile version into the DS game.

I noticed the first DQ Builders isn't on Steam. Gonna have to play the Switch version then.

[JG]

I noticed the first DQ Builders isn't on Steam. Gonna have to play the Switch version then.

It is not. SquareEnix developed the first on their own, but turned it over to KoeiTecmo to develop the second (with story written by SquareEnix). KoeiTecmo wants to port games all over the place so they invested the time to port to Steam (and later Xbox which is practically a PC)  So very unlikely DQB1 ever gets a Steam or Xbox port.

Same base game for Switch and PS4, but the chapter challenges are a little different. PS4/Vita version required you to complete the chapters in a specific number of game days, which is hard even if you're good at it. For example, complete chapter 2 in 30 days or less, though the minimum possible is something like 26 so you have very little time to explore or mess around. Switch version has a much tamer 'collect X different items' with no time crunch so its considerably easier, though it retains the most difficult challenge: defeating the final boss without wearing armor or a shield. The challenges give you items to use in the free build area, such as equipment to let you double jump or never go hungry.

You'll probably want to go with the Steam version for DQB2 though, since it includes all the DLC. Watch for it to go on sale - it does periodically so paying full price isn't advised. (Right now its pretty cheap at 35% off with the summer sale. $32.49 is the cheapest its ever been per https://www.exophase.com/game/dragon-quest-builders-2-steam/prices/ )

[JG]

That feeling when you finally do something in a video game that you tried to do in the past and gave up on.

Replaying Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and managed to finally draw the KOS-MOS blade character (the rarest in the game). Four years ago I spent about 100 hours farming the cores that give a chance to randomly get this character, and instead only drew the common stuff and it just bothered me so much I gave up and didn't even finish the game. But managed it this time, thanks to the bettrer preparation (not wasting important stuff during earlier gameplay) and the Save Cloud function of a 7-day Switch Online trial, which I signed up for specifically to retry until I got her. The exact odds I had were 0.326% per attempt, or 1 in about 307, but I'd only have five chances at this rate, before it dropped off significantly to .192, or 1 in 521. The game doesn't give you this many through natural play, so you either have to farm them and keep trying, or simply cheat and reload from save data cloud. The game is obnoxious and forces a save before each attempt, and Nintendo's continued refusal to allow backup to SD card meant that before save cloud became an option, only about 25-30% of players who completed the game would do so with a randomly acquired KOS-MOS, with another 5% or so farming madly in an effort to get her (like I was) due to her very low probability, which could easily push the game past 300 hours (its already in the low 200s range, as I'm at 197 now, so its plenty long enough without farming.) Of course I had to reload from cloud several dozen times, but finally got her after only a few hours of work and can now see the story elements that were locked out by not having her, as the game has story segments and quests specific to each rare blade character.

If you play Xenoblade Chronicles 2, be prepared to have Switch Online handy around chapter 8 or 9, even if its the 7-day trial. Trying to get all the rare blades through normal play could easily cost 100 hours or more of real time like it did for me a few years back.  The first Xenoblade Chronicles didn't have such an annoying gacha feature, and is better for it.

[Moge]

That sounds absolutely insane to me that XB2 has gacha mechanics to unlock story bits. I've had my fill of RNG with Splatoon gear abilities and grinding for Monster Hunter armor in Metal Gear: Peace Walker. With the first Splatoon specifically i had to revert my save to get another chance to roll the dice for gear abilities.

If and when i ever do play XB2 i'm just gonna use cheats to get all the blades.

[JG]

Maybe by then they'll have a XC2 Definitive Edition that fixes some of the problems, most notably being the Gacha system. Even being able to trade Common Cores for Rares, or Rares for LEgendaries, maybe at 5:1 or 10:1 ratio each would be a huge help. Game gives you some 800-1000s Commons, and about 120 Rares, but perhaps 20 Legendaries. Mathematically, Rares are 6 times as good as Commons, and Legendaries are 12 times as good as Commons, and you can't open every Common Core anyway because of a roster size limit so you end up selling the vast majority of them. Swapping them up to get a better chance at the rare blades would still make the Gacha system annoying, but much less so by giving the players better chances. Odds for an individual chance doesn't change, but having more high probability chances, and reducing all the low probability and nearly worthless Commons is a good place to start.

But its bigger problem overall is the insane amount of time you have to spend in the menu to constantly be switching out Blades, putting items in your pouches to help boost Trust levels, having to open a blade's Trust screen just to get the rewards of a new unlocked ability or trust level, and the never ending Merc Mission screens. The game runs 200+ hours, but its not a stretch to say its 100-120 hours of content, and another 100+ hours spent inside the menu (which includes the gacha system.) XC1 forced you to stop gaming every 15-20 hours or so and spend  an hour or two refining items into better versions or for more profitable sales (something I've heard maybe fixed or lessened in Definitive Edition) but XC2 is just always stopping you. By chapter 6 or so, its just after about every battle or two that you have to open the menu for something because you're managing so many blades at once and have Merc Missions completing in minutes, rather than half hour to hour plus that it took earlier in the game. If it would just handle most of the minutia by itself, and not require you to open the menu but every 20 minutes or so, rather than every 2 or 3 minutes, it would be a much better game. XC2 might have the better story and more fun battle system, but the heavy need of menu management tasks weighs it down so much that XC1 is the far better game.

[JG]

For the first time in many years, Xbox actually outsold Playstations in the US last month. The E3 presentation is of course to thank for the healthy bump in sales, since the Sea of Thieves / Pirates of the Caribbean crossover on the 22nd and The Ascent on the 29th were the only two uniquely Xbox offerings for the month that I could see. Xbox basically banked a lot of sales for upcoming games or what already exists.

This is why Sony needs to come to E3 2022 - or at least provide a recorded video presentation. They need to show off what PS5 can do, support their hardware, and (more importantly) support their developers. Otherwise they should get used to this odd feeling of being in third place - somewhere they really haven't ever spent much time. E3 is pretty much free advertising and Sony will likely now have to pay out of pocket to provide the same volume of attention.

Personally I'd still buy a PS5 before a Series X due to more exclusives, but I totally understand people being wowed by the E3 marketing and having a clear idea of what's coming down the pipeline for Switch and Xbox while the Playstation forecast remains much less known. Those Playstation exclusives may not be as commonplace as they were in the PS4 days if folks like SquareEnix are moving toward offering their games across multiple platforms with same launch date.

[JG]

So apparently Ubisoft's CFO says Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still under development, and "progressing well", but won't be ready until at least the company's fiscal year 2024 (May 2023) or later.

So Ubisoft, that puts it at sixteen years of development, four years past anticipated release date (last shown at E3 2018, which would have made it expected by end of 2019), you've lost the creator and lead writer who finally gave up on the company's sluggishness, and now its going to be several more years before its even ready? This is not what any sane person would consider "progressing well".

The only reason the CFO is being asked about it (and not CEO or development leads) is because its become a huge money sink - Ubisoft has thrown millions upon millions of dollars into BG&E2 and still hasn't got anything to show for it except for one (disliked) E3 video, and basically said they're going to throw many more millions into it over the next two-plus years. This is likely making it one of the most expensive video games ever produced. Assuming it has a development cost per annum similar to Ubisoft's Watch Dogs (around $70 million over about 4 and half years), that's averaging $15.5 million per year. So the expectation is that Ubisoft will be spending at least $30 million between now and whenever it eventually launches, and may ultimately spend upwards of $250 million total in development, which would well exceed the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Star Wars: Old Republic. It almost has to be game of the year to recoup those kinds of costs.

[Moge]

I have to wonder if there are any BG&E fans that care about the sequel.

It's so far removed from the original's vision, which was a single-player romp with a cast of whimsical characters.

[JG]

Well, that's what happens when you spend 16 years and multiple different development staffs go through it. It gets so far off track its basically only sharing the name and not the spirit of the original.


Thoughts on the recently completed Skyward Sword HD:

Some control is better, some worse. The left joycon certainly has a better gyro than the nunchuck, allowing it to properly recognize the upward movement to raise Link's shield. You can properly guard in this game and use the shield bash technique, which was maybe a 50% chance of working correctly with the original. Right joycon is effectively no better than the Wii Motion Plus, but better than original Wiimotes. In other words, you still don't know if your sword strikes are going to go in the diagonal direction you want, or go horizontal in error and let the enemy counterattack you - meaning the first boss is STILL by far the hardest and longest fight in the game. Joycons also don't feel anywhere near as comfortable as the Nunchuck and Wiimote, introducing handcramps after an hour or so of playing, which is why it took me over 2 weeks despite the game only lasting 37 hours. And it still doesn't recognize "up" as lifting the Master Sword high enough to charge for a Skyward Strike, which was a bug in the original not fixed this time around (it still demands about 10 degrees off vertical, though this doesn't match the on-screen orientation.) Also, selecting a tool on the right hand side of the tool circle pushes the joycon to sense hard right position, such that as soon as you release R to choose that tool, you start spinning right at about 30 degrees a second. Given the Beatle is one of those tools on the right, and the one that must be selected the most in the game, you're constantly having to reorient the gyro's centerpoint after a selecting the Beatle. Surely this over-sensitivity or lack or automatic recentering after selection was experienced in playtesting, and Nintendo apparently decided not to do anything about it, leaving players to constantly adjust for something that was fine in the original. So its a push: left joycon is considerably better than nunchuck, but right joycon is considerably worse than Wii Motion Plus remotes.

I guess the graphics are a little better, given that its upscaled to 1080p from 480p, but its not jumping off the screen. Its actually rather disappointing that a lot of the sharp-edges on objects weren't rounded off or higher quality textures used (especially in the dungeons). It looks like a game that's 10 years old because that's exactly what it is - a direct port rather than a remake or remaster. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess look like they had at least a little bit of effort put into improving some graphics - Skyward Sword looks like its had none.

About the only things that have been done is change the control scheme to joycons and add Switch Pro controller mode, use joycon/Pro controller button labels for on screen prompts, improve haptic feedback when dowsing, and enable the Sheikah Stones to speak in English instead of Hylian on normal mode (you previously could only understand them in the New Game+/Hero Mode), though this last bit is a good thing as they give hints that help new players more than advanced players. A Sheikah Stone between the school and training dojo has disappeared from the HD version though - maybe others but I distinctly remember the location of that one.

Overall, I'm very disappointed in how little Nintendo put into this. Between this and the very lackluster Mario 3D Collection, it appears Nintendo has gone minimalist, doing little more than porting old games to new hardware rather than remastering them, and in both cases it looks like stopgap measures to put something out during the anniversary year, given new games weren't ready in time. Link's Awakening at least had whole new graphics and added Dampe's dungeon building stuff. But Skyward Sword just doesn't have anything new to warrant paying for it if you have the Wii original. I was hoping for an extra dungeon or new collectibles to find on your journey - nothing. It is effectively the exact same experience. So just bust it out of the closet or pick up a used copy if you feel the need to play it. Its rare for me to give a Nintendo game a "Don't Buy" recommendation, but it deserves one if you have the original or can get it cheaper. Either version is still well worth the play if you haven't tackled it though: I find it to be one of the better Zelda games overall, despite all the flawed controls, and its story really establishes the mythos created by earlier games like Link to the Past (a Golden/Shadow Realm), Ocarina of Time (time travel, the Three Goddesses, why the full power of the Triforce can't be used by the unbalanced), why the Master Sword (and only it) smites evil, and and why Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf keep being revived in multiple ages. Breath of the Wild, while being an excellent game, is really light when it comes to connecting to the mythology of the other games.


On the other hand, Super Princess Peach is just lovely. Well worth the replay. Easy enough to not get frustrated by it (except the Guardian Thwomp in some of Bowser's Villa's stages) but enough to do that its hard to put it down. So badly needs a sequel. It occurred to me that if they make one, they should include all four of the series' ladies in it: Peach returning with a parasol, Daisy with a giant flower (which turns Piranha Plant in Rage mode), Rosalina with her story book and Luma retinue, and Pauline with a microphone stand. Super Princess Peach & Co. would be a smash hit.

[Moge]

Just learned Jade's voice actress passed away in 2018 

I quite like Skyward Sword overall despite its rough edges. The first battle with Ghirahim in particular is the biggest hurdle for any newcomer. From what i've heard it doesn't sound like they didn't do anything to smooth out the huge difficulty spike there.

I didn't play the Twilight Princess remaster but i don't recall there being any drastic changes graphically to that version.
 I'm
Super Princess Peach has been very enjoyable. I love all the animation flourishes to the character, like when she runs she holds up her dress. I'm putting off the game temporarily to wax some nostalgia with the Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Remaster.

[JG]

Another Nintendo Indie World Showcase coming Wednesday. I'd rather hear what the hell they've got planed for November and December because right now its completely bare outside of the decided non-kid-friendly Metroid Dread and Shin Megami Tensei V and a metric ton of kid-friendly remakes (Pokemon, WarioWare, Mario Party, Sonic Colors, Advance Wars, Monkey Ball, and Lego Star Wars)

Of course, same position last year and got Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, so not counting them out yet, but a Christmas line-up missing new Pokemon, Zelda, Mario (main-line), Splatoon, or Metroid Prime isn't putting the scare into Sony or Microsoft. (Of course, five of those series are all due new games next year, but that doesn't help this year's bottom line.) Excellent time to whip up something we've not seen in a long time (Kid Icarus, Princess Peach, F-Zero, Pikmin, etc.)

[JG]

1. Metal Slug Tactics -- I never expected to see a new 2D Metal Slug, one that doesn't heavily recycle sprites from previous entries. Despite not being developed internally, the game is quite the looker and has all the charm of the original in spades. While i don't play too many tactics games, the last one i played, Into the Breach, was so addicting that i beat the game multiple times. I'm hopeful the new Metal Slug will turn out good as well.

Looks like you're going to have to wait a while on this one. Its in the new Nintendo Indie World video, but not arriving until 2022. Steam and the game's website both have had it as just "TBA", but now we know its not a 2021 date.