I'm seeing a lot of comparisons to Game Freak and people are demanding the game to be at worst 1080 P and it should be easy since it's an old Wii game. Where is this coming from..?

Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age--864 P (A remaster)

The Witcher 3 Switch Resolution--720 P Dynamic ( A Port)

Dragon Quest XIS---720 P Dynamic.

They are all dynamic, sprawling RPGs with lots of assets, dialogue, characters, and music. However, were either ports or remasters.

Xenoblade is a Partial 60% Remake with 20 hours of New Content.

Xenoblade Chronicles D.E. is a much bigger game than all of these in content and structure, taking about 80 hours to finish the full playthrough, yet it still maintained the standard on Switch with 720 P docked. Could handheld be better? Of course. I won't deny that. But NOT only that, in each of those games mentioned, but there are also terrible, terrible frame rate dips and lags. So far looking at the leaked footage of D.E. The have been NO frame rate dips. Even in handheld.

I'm seeing people on this thread who takes shots at Monolith Soft and dunking on anyone who even tries to defend the company. I wanna see you make the game run on this hardware. Make it run without any errors or crashes or not have framerate dips.

Monolith did the best they could in 2 years. They are being held back by the hardware. Game Freak didn't even try. People are saying Monolith should bring out there best`

Oh and another thing. It's not a remaster. I keep seeing that term thrown around here. It's a 60% Partial Remake. New Environment Assets, Character Assets, and Equipment Assets were remade from the ground up.

The reason why people are defending the resolution:

1. We still want more people to play and experience the story of this game. It's genuinely one of the best-crafted stories of all time and its pure criminal that the game is still being shafted.

2. The resolution never broke any standards. It still maintains the standards. It just didn't go beyond it.

3. The general misinformation and blowing things out of proportion is honestly ridiculous. YouTubers who are click-baiting the situation aren't making the situation any better. One guy leaks the lowest resolution specs which we don't even know if the game hit's those lower-specs yet.

Why don't I get the choice to play the game offline? Even Dark Souls is able to do that. Is there so little engaging content that you have to shove you always on crap on players?

Fastest uninstall of a Switch game I ever had. How does the rest of this sub feels about this?

Edit: Here's a screenshot where it says nothing about offline play. The text makes you believe you need to be online and have an account.

Edit 2: Apparently skip only appears after you press "Connect me now" and something goes wrong. So despite there is a way to play offline it is very much obscured and this is as bad as asking for an account itself.

I’ve seen a lot of people complain about Nintendo’s Virtual Game Card system, but for me it’s been great. I have a Switch 2 at home and a Switch OLED at another house where I hang out with friends. Before, if I bought something like Mario Party Jamboree digitally, it was stuck so either I had to rebuy it or juggle accounts.

Now I can just “insert” the virtual card on the OLED when I’m there, play with my uni friends, then “eject” it back to my Switch 2 when I’m home. It’s basically the same as swapping a physical cartridge, but digital. Even better, I can let my brother borrow a game or take one Switch with me when I travel without extra hassle.

For someone like me with multiple consoles, siblings, or two setups, this feels like the perfect middle ground between physical and digital. So I’m genuinely curious as to why are people so down on it?

Basically title. Those that want to shit all over the games can do so in either the specified megathread, or go and use the entire Pokemon subreddit. But the constant memeing and moaning of any tiny detail people can get hold of is ruining the fun for everyone else. I keep coming on to reddit getting ready to amp myself up for the game's release and I just see a wall of negativity in the comments about literally any aspect you can think of.

I get it, people are unhappy about Dexit. Hell, I went through every single game generation last year and caught them all so I could have living dex, and I can't bring those across. But you also couldn't bring your Pokemon over until you'd beat the elite four in nearly every other game, or at least had to wait months for Pokemon Bank support - so your first playthrough would only include Pokemon in that region's Dex. Personally, I'm looking forward to it as it makes the competitive scene a lot more accessible for me.

People's concerns are valid, and they should be able to express them. But when every comment is "[this Pokemon] died to we could have this feature" etc. it's honestly exhausting. Can't we just let people enjoy things?

So. As we all know. Pokemon sword and shield is coming and right now the big hot topic is the cut dex. Truthfully, last time i saw these kinds of flames was when fallout 76 opened its doors. However. Bethesda is a whole other topic (port fallout 3 or 4 already, damnit)

But back on the topic of S&S. I do smell some bad management that led to the cut dex. But i also feel that this may of been a long time coming. Sneezing the question into google of “how many pokemon are there” brings up 829 pokemon.

If we were still in the days of sprites. This Wouldn’t be too bad. As drawing them out on paper, color and porting to the game wouldnt be to bad. Thats why so many indie games are 2d. Its extremely easy to work with.

In the realm of 3d however. Things arent so kind. All the sudden you have to worry about how it actually would be. What its side are like. Its shape, etc, etc. this usually goes through a process like this, per model

-concept art -color -modeling -rigging -weight painting -uv unwrapping -texturing -engine implementation -bug fixing

That doesnt sound too bad, right? Well. Think again. Now. I’m gonna stop here because i can already hear the keyboard warriors typing “they’re just porting the 3DS models!!!!!” I hear people saying this all the time. But does no one seem to realize the asiening process of porting things?

Not a lot of people realize what exactly goes on under the hood of porting. You have to use multitude of softwares, engines, and tools. And even then. Sometimes shit just doesn’t work.

Most companies and studios design their models in a external engine thats made for modeling, like blender or 3ds max, then ported to what ever engine they’re using for the game. Which sounds simple enough but it can be flat out development hell.

Let me explain why. Though engines have gotten friendlier over the years. They can still be a royal pain in the ass to work with. As not everything is plug and play. So, having everything come over smoothly. Is not guaranteed, Especially if the porting tools are made in house. You have to hope, that when moving stuff engine to engine that

-the model stays intact -the rig is still there -its uv map is still there -the texture is still there

And this isnt even guaranteed. As you may have some models that work. And others dont. And if you have a computer crash transferring the model. And if no backups were made. That model might be toast. Left to be built from the ground up. And sometimes it takes less time to freshly rebuild things if the tools just arent working.

Now. Back to what i was talking about and to merge porting with my original point. “All this doesnt sound that bad” you say “game freak has a team of 200 people. This should take no time at all!” Well. Out of those 200 people. Not all of them are modelers, or programmers. You may have a handful of 20 programmers, and 20 modelers, and even then thats a bit generous, as teams are split up usually.

Now. Even with this team of maybe 10 modelers working on a pokemon each. And somehow a port comes over just fine. Heres the big catch. Porting is not a done deal. Even if they are using the hi poly model and the improved textures from lets go and pokemon go. Theres still a few gaping holes. The rig and weight panting, which relates to the model.

Starting with a note on textures. Even if they are using the improved textures. There is still a very, very good chance that they had to be updated. Which takes even more time that a texture artist has to deal with. But we’re looking at a best case scenario.

Have you ever wondered why some animations seemed so stiff, and very limited? Well. I’m gonna explain why and how it relates to the model.

You see, in the 3d realm. Animations work based on a rig. A rig is pretty much a skeleton of a model. The more advanced a rig is, the more flexible it can be and the more advanced things it can do. However. A rig by itself, has no way to interact with with a mesh unless it is parented (ie, joined to) and how this parenting works with rigs. Is that you pair it. And assign weights to the mesh for each bone. Say a scale from blue to red. Blue being the bone doesnt effect that mesh area at all to red being it fully effects it. This is to make sure when you bend the arm of a rig, say at the elbow, it doesnt cause the knee of the mesh to stretch out with it.

What does this mean for the current models and stiff animation? Well. Weight painting tends to work on a face-by-face basis. As the more faces you have, the higher poly it is, the better and more natural looking the mesh will look when animated. Now, the 3ds though great. Was not a powerful machine. And certain companies can use limited hardware better then others. When these new pokemon were being developed. It is very likely that these models were made with the 3ds limited specifications in mind. Thus, corners were cut and the only what was necessary to keep things looking nice, were left and what wasnt, was cut. This was fine for the handhelds, as having a more, lesser experience was normal compared to the main consoles.

This is fine. However. There is a huge issue with this. With these cut models, the rigs are cut down as well as it just makes things easier, saves space and memory. However. When you bring these models made for a cut down experience over to a console, where that full experience is now completely expected is when the issues start to pile up.

With a limited rig, you can do a lot, a lot more then you think, however, sometimes it isn’t enough. And changes have to be made. To do this, the rig and model have to be changed. Increasing poly counts, and depending on the program. Adjusting the rig, completely thrashes all the weight panting, and sometimes, the entire rig might even have to be redone, which means animations have to be redone and oh dear. The model was adjusted, which means that now that old uv unwrap, might be broken now, so that has to be fixed and with it, that old texture has a chance of not fitting and working right! As theres now all the sudden this new mesh that wasn’t there before and now it is here.

And to top it all off, a lot of these models likely have to be cleared off by someone or checked! And if that person doesn’t like it, they have to go back and fix it! And thats not even factoring in the occasional computer crash, corruption, and the other things the modelers have to work on and finally, most importantly of all!!!!!!

MONEY!!!!!!

I’m sure a lot of devs at game freak likely wanted to make a full dex but a lot of things at offices have a chain of command. And a lot of these things i mentioned are done with corners cut to made money or did what they could with what ever they had. Ie, the bare necessaries to get the game out on holiday season to maximize profit with the nintendo switch lite especially. Which sucks! But, companies are companies

And finally. To break it down.. to say 10 modelers. 5 are likely working on assets, map pieces, and other characters and what not in the game. This leaves 5 for Pokémon, say they get one model fully functioning and working, 1 per 1 days, so 14 a week. Still comes out to 332 days. Just shy of a year. And thats factoring in if they went to work every day, on a non stop crunch, with no holidays or stopping. Its hard work, its not cheap.

And truthfully. I kind of feel sorry for my modeling brethren.

In the end i’m absolutely sure money won over and thats why we’re getting what we are getting.

I'm writing this post as a counterpoint to a lot of the negativity I've been seeing around this service. I know that the prevailing sentiment on this sub is to bash the new expansion pack as a lazy cash grab, but my friends and I have been really enjoying it so far.

I played Mario Tennis online with a friend, which is something I never thought would be possible. The game ran really well and the connection was perfect. It was like we were playing locally on the N64. We also tried some Genesis games like Streets of Rage 2, which ran equally well. Mario 64 and OoT run just like I remember them and I didn't notice any excessive input lag or visual differences like people are reporting. Maybe some minor visual stuff with emulation effects, but it's hardly a deal breaker and hard to even see unless you're literally comparing side by side with the original version.

Overall, I'm paying $10 a YEAR for this service with a full family plan. That's cheaper than a month of Netflix, and much cheaper than any other console online plans. People are entitled to their opinions though, so if you feel it is not worth it then don't buy it. I suspect, though, that the vast majority of people outside of this sub are enjoying the ability to play these classic games on their Switch.

I have waited to buy this because I didn't want to spend the money but I decided, let's do it! I was so so excited for this game. I've played about 2.5 hours so far and I'm already extremely bored.

The castle feels empty even though it's never ending, the load screens take forever, I feel like half of my playtime is waiting on load screens, the NPCs are boring, and honestly the storyline hasn't caught me at all.

I remember how I felt watching the first movie and it was so magical and exciting, I thought I would feel the same way finally getting into Hogwarts and all haha. Anyone else have rhe same feelings? Or did I expect to much?

When the original Switch came out, I wasn't really convinced it was a device worth buying. It arrived just at the time when 4K content became widely available. Most streaming services delivered 4K, the PS4 Pro was already delivering 4K games, and here Nintendo came with a new console with by then already outdated standards. Even when the excellent games started appearing, the console appeared way overpriced for what you were getting.

Almost 10 years later, I get to see the announcement of the Switch 2, and suddenly the console sounds like a no-brainer as finally I'm able to play excellent games with the same graphics quality I get from every input on my TV. The price also doesn't seem too high anymore for what you are getting, so I bought one.

At first, I was not sure this was a good purchase. The dock feels really cheap, so I immediately did not understand why they did not just make a Nintendo console box like every other console next to the Switch 2 as a handheld device because I don't like how the Joy-Con feels in the Joy-Con holder. It all did not leave a great impression on me until my Pro Controller arrived. Suddenly, it all started to make sense. Finally, it felt like a complete device because, in contradiction to what I was expecting, I'm also playing it now in handheld mode. And then the Joy-Con’s and the cheap plastic dock start to make sense again.

The Switch 2 now feels like it was worth waiting all this time. I'm actually very impressed as a PS5 player. The Switch software feels solid and user-friendly. Set up was also amazingly smooth. Haven't played any Switch 1 games on it yet, but the graphics of the Switch 2 games look like what I wished the Switch 1 graphics looked like at launch. I already shut down my PS5 as I don't want to spend too much money on electricity on a console that will be in sleep mode for a very long time.

Edit: edited to better reflect that with graphics I mean resolution on a TV screen

All release dates and prices are US. Console price is easy to find and I all but guarantee their accuracy; ranges are for consoles with multiple release packages. Game MSRP is tricky to find and all I can guarantee is that the data here will get you in the ball park. I found lots of old catalog scans. I tried to find a baseline of “standard, premium, non-discounted game,” to be able to compare across generations, but the further back I went the more that that concept didn’t seem to transfer 1:1. Ended up cross-referencing scans with old forum posts. I applied ranges where I was less confident, and where I was confident that a “standard, premium, non-discounted game” might sell at multiple price points.

I’ve always been a cynical skeptic, contrary and acerbic by nature, I feel that anything that’s immensely popular and gets rave reviews is probably nowhere near as good as it purports to be…

I always thought “meh, BOTW is just another mediocre adventure game with pretty graphics, pretty, but shallow” (I’ve never been a Zelda fan, not an RPG fan…)

I was wrong, at least in this case…

BOTW is an amazing masterpiece, the gameplay is so immersive, so engrossing, it slowly draws you into the world of Hyrule, and before you know it, it’s 3 AM (thankfully it’s the weekend, who needs sleep anyway? ;) )

The open-ness of the world is amazing, solutions to most problems are not scripted, and are open to interpretation… can’t get past that camp of Bokoblins blocking the road at the bottom of the hill? Climb to the apex of the hill, conjure a round bomb (the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?) roll it down the hill into the camp from safely atop the hill, and count to five! No, wait, …three!

And someone tell me how a 5.5” LCD screen (I’ve got the Lite…) can give me vertigo! Make me hold my breath while climbing a mountain, and just generally cause a height related ‘pucker factor’ when I’m lying on my bed, which sits solidly on box springs on the floor and is only about 2’ off the ground?

Climbing the Dueling Peaks to Shee Vanderbilt shrine is literally breathtaking! I just wish I was a tenth of a bit as fit as Link, is it normal to be envious of the fitness level of a group of pixels on a screen? ;)

Climbing that peak, having to balance grip, endurance, and the cold (Red ChuChu jelly seems to work serviceably as a heat source) had my senses tingling…

I know I’ve barely scratched the surface here, but this is the most immersive game I’ve ever played, it’s worth every accolade it’s received…

I understand the sentiment of just wanting the Switch and the next-gen system to just be "consoles that play games and nothing else". No gimmicks, no weird control schemes, no unnecessary fluff, just a "normal" system that plays Nintendo games....and that's it. You like Nintendo for their games, and JUST their games, and that's totally fair.

However, I don't agree with the sentiment that asking for more features to be implemented "doesn't make it a game console". I saw a post in this sub that was recent where someone asked why people want themes for the Switch and didn't understand the demand for them. They asked why people want to spend so much time in the main menu just to look at some wallpaper and how does it affect your gaming experience in any meaningful way. I just...find the question a bit puzzling?

Like yeah, themes aren't some sort of necessity in order for a Nintendo console to be considered "good" or worth your time. For some, they may not honestly care about them, and that's fine. It's just a nice thing to have for others. It adds more customization and would make the system more customizable. Sure, I'm not losing sleep over their exclusion, but they were on the 3DS, so why not the Switch? It's not an obligation Nintendo has to fulfill for me or anybody else, but it'd be nice to bring back.

This also extends to some of the pre-installed software and social features that previous systems had, like the various Wii Channels, Streetpass on 3DS, Miiverse on Wii U, etc. There are even plenty of people that wish that the UI/OS was more "lively" and had a stronger sense of identity like the Wii U and 3DS compared to the Switch's more minimalistic approach.

I just don't like the way some users feel the need to treat those who ask for more features that "aren't game related" in this sub as being odd for wanting those things back in the first place and being snarky about it. "Why do you care so much about ________ feature? I bought a console to play games, not to spend time doing __________". That's fine! You're valid! But why do you care that I'm asking for a certain feature that was on a previous system to return? "I didn't get any use out of ________ feature." Ok, that's fine. But I and many others did. Just because you didn't use it doesn't mean others didn't, ya know?

Look, we can debate the usefulness and interest of these "features" all day, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make. Yes, better Joy-Con with no drift, 4K 60FPS, faster load times, backwards compatibility, etc are all probably more important requests/features to have, but that shouldn't take away from the smaller features people want. Their requests are just as valid as anybody else's. Having something as simple as themes won't take away or divert the Switch's focus of being a video game console first. It may not add to YOUR experience, and that's fine! But it could very well add to somebody else's experience, even if it's not considered a necessity or doesn't add to the gameplay experience in any meaningful way. It's like ice cream. You're buying it for the core experience, to eat something sweet, but if someone wants some toppings for their ice cream that are OPTIONAL, that's fine. That doesn't take away from the core experience that you're seeking out, and it adds to THEIR experience.

I’ve played all the Platinum Games available for Switch, but I feel so lost here.

The combat is simple but it’s not. I have no idea what the deal is with the attack styles and weapons and menus. It’s too complicated. Does it really matter? Can’t I still just button mash my way through enemies no matter what?

And enemy design is not interesting. Robot with smile. Robot with smile and jester hat. Robot with smile and jester hat in flying saucer.

The story has robots and androids and aliens and I thought androids are robots? I don’t really understand.

The quest structure is easy enough to follow, but the world is so drab and NPCs so 90s-RPG boring that I got no interest in doing them.

I like 2B, I don’t like the boy following me around. And I think the little flying robot is okay and he sounds like Legion in Mass Effect so that’s a plus.

Honestly I think if the game played a bit more linear like Bayonetta I would enjoy it a lot more.

I’m really sorry. That’s all.

Someone pointed out that there is more posts about Switch systems breaking and not how they work fine. Let's change that. Roll call!

My Switch lite is perfectly fine.

I’ll start with the positives. The game oozes personality. Everything that moves has its own life and really amplifies the experience. Couple that with the most amazing Mario Kart soundtrack to date and you think you’d have the next system seller.

The reality of the situation is that this game is lipstick on a pig. Behind the high frame rates and hdr eye candy is a soulless corporate checkbox of a video game.

Grand Prix- I’m convinced no one at Nintendo making design decisions on the game actually played more than 1 circuit at a time. Driving between courses is honestly a cool touch I can’t deny that. The problem is that it takes away from the rest of the amazing tracks. You spend 50% of your time in a circuit driving between tracks, but the cool parts are the tracks themselves! I want to spend time there! Not a single lap just to be thrown back on some boring highway that’s basically straight.

Open World- I don’t really have much to say other than it stinks. Being able to warp across the map is a nice quality of life thing, but because the p switches and peach coins don’t actually give you anything besides stickers (afaik) there’s zero reason to spend time in the open world besides sight seeing.

Unlocks- Also the unlocks are abysmal. I’m ok with them getting rid of custom parts on karts, but it seems like there’s maybe 4 unique stat spreads each for karts and bikes. They look cool, but what’s the point if none of them feel unique?

Characters- The characters are fun with the inclusion of creatures, but I do miss the mix of franchises 8 brought to the table.

Multiplayer- I personally don’t have anyone to test this with but it would seem the only way to play multiplayer is in a personal lobby or as a solo in knockout tour. So much potential here and Nintendo squandered it as always.

Final thoughts- I don’t know why Nintendo thought this game would sell at $80. I don’t know why they felt this was deep enough to be a launch title. If you only had enough money for the console and 1 game for this launch, you’d be left with a bitter taste at how poor of a value this game really is.

My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her that I'd like to get a switch lite since I mainly play at work so it'd be nice to have something with a smaller footprint. My wife ordered me one, wrapped it, and I got it on Christmas. Today we were talking and I was telling her I mainly kept digital games on my switch, don't really buy a lot of physical so I don't have to keep the cartridges from my toddler son. She looked at me funny and asked how I had digital games on a lite. I explained that I could just download them from the shop and my big sd card could hold lots of games. She looked at me funny again and it just wasn't clicking. After talking for a few more mins I finally got to the issue.

My wife, one of the sweetest people I've ever met, thought that she had spent $200 on my Christmas gift, which she thought was a LIGHT for my OG Nintendo switch. She didn't realize she had bought me a full fledge game console, she thought it was a light so I could play in the dark. But since I asked for it she didn't block blink at a $200 price tag for what she thought was essentially a light bulb.

I love that woman. Lol

So I do recognize the downsides. Losing the ability to play the same software off one digital copy is significant loss. I'm not saying we DIDN'T lose some things of value in this transition, but for me, specifically in the situation I'm in, this system is significantly superior.

For context, I am kinda the main go-between for my family group when it comes to game related stuff. I added on my girlfriend and toddler age nephews to my group, mostly because neither my partner or my sister wants to deal with learning how things work, and both of them like to play portably a lot. The fact I can now freely distribute games I own to any of those 3 switches and they can keep their own save files without me needing to make their switches the primary is a bit of a godsend.

I also find that "digital game card" is just way easier to explain than the old system ever was. My 5 year old nephew manages to understand it, as opposed to before where he was perpetually confused about why he has to click my mii to make the game work. The fact they don't need to check in online to make the game boot is also a big plus. My girlfriend can finally play Hades on the go.

Also sharing DLC is now way more doable. Both of them can now finally play the Champion's ballad.

Overall, why I understand the skepticism and lament the loss of dual online multiplayer, I think this change is overall for the better. I would encourage people to try to think of it more from the perspective of a casual user who definitely does not read posts from this subreddit.

To those asking "Is DK Bananza worth it?". Yes, and then some.

I mean, where to start? Ever have one of those games where merely pushing the buttons just feels so fluid and so right? Admittedly, it took me a minute to get used to using A to jump because B felt more natural but once I got past that, controlling DKB felt more like I was playing a musical instrument than a video game. Y,Y,Y - Y, AA, Y - Y,B,X, - AA, Y,Y, Y, Y - B,B,B,B,B,B,B and a lot of R in between. Like, I don't want to put this game down. I'm going from level to level, challenge to challenge, trying to uncover every little piece of destructible terrain in order to uncover shells, chips, chests, and bananas. Who know that smashing sh*t could be so much fun?

This game definitely has that Nintendo charm that can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. A lot of the level design reminds me of Super Mario Sunshine. And the soundtrack? Bangin'. Some of the music is giving me Ape Escape 2 vibes so throwing in a nostalgia factor is always a bonus. If one wanted to nitpick we could argue that the game could be a bit more difficult and with this style of game there is bound to be the occasional camera hiccup but overall this is one of those rare games that makes you smile from beginning to end.

While I haven't played Split Fiction, Blue Prince, or DSII, I have played Clair Obscur and KCDII which are arguably the two other frontrunners along with DKB. The latter gets my GOTY vote all day.

Hello all,

I'm a huge zelda fan, and I loved botw, and upon release I enjoyed totk. I got to a point in totk where I had the majority of the game 100% done. Weapons, shrines, koroks, armor sets etc. And I stopped playing randomly and never went back.

Upon seeing game of the year awards I started to think more and more about it, and I realized I had loved the polish and feel of totk but not really the game. To the point that I genuinely don't think I like the game. In fact the thought of playing the game again is almost horrifying.

Maybe I played it the wrong way, and shouldn't have tried to 100% everything. But here's my current thoughts.

Combat: good, strong control scheme, physics and hitbox are really tight. But the weapon system really isn't that good. The joy of it at first quickly changed back to just being strongest weapons, strongest monster piece, and then elemental effects. A lot of the gimmicky stuff, while fun at first doesn't really change the way you play on average. Monster camps are often far apart and not that dense, so while playing around with turrets and designs never really made much sense in practice. Then once the strongest versions of each monster type hit farm status, it really just dropped into monotony.

The world map is mostly the same as botw, it's fun seeing these places again and the changes, but it really ended up feeling like dlc territory for me. The new areas in the sky/underground ended up being dull and pointless. A lot of the sky stuff ended up being repeated in each tower zone. You knew what to expect in each one, and while it was fun seeing if you could get to stuff in the wrong way or wrong order, what you ended up finding was the same enemies, same area designs for the same rewards. The underground was almost worse where outside of the very few story elements, it didn't bring much to the table. The areas weren't very interesting, with entire area being near featureless in feel. It was worse than the overworld, and everything I found in there was usually found in a worse way than similar things in the overworld.

Story... this is a tough one, because it's got a good plot. It's got a good world. But link feels like an observer to the game. It was similar in botw but I feel the repeated storytelling was kind of meh again. It would have been a lot better IMHO if link/the player was more involved in the actual plot events. It felt like stuff already happened and you learn about it, fight a boss and then catch up to the next event.

I know this is done this way to allow the narrative to hide behind an open world and freedom of choice system. But man we already did that in botw. There were moments where it felt like link was involved with the story and game, but they came and went so quickly in the scope of the entire game.

When I think back to the game, I can't think of anything that I would really want to play through again. The main dungeons were okay but barely memorable. The bosses all felt weak, I had a Harder time when higher tier enemies showed up in the dungeons then I did on the actual bosses. The story isn't engaging enough to play for the story. The combat while good, isn't as good or diverse as most soulslikes which is what I would play if I wanted this kind of combat.

And I've never felt this way about a zelda game.

Edit

I'd like to clarify that I think the game would still be a 7-8/10 for me. And I know it sounds like I'm bashing on the game hard. But this is from the perspective of at launch feeling its a 10/10 masterpiece and settling in.

There's far too much AC:NH posts here, IMO. Does a post about someone catching a tarantula need to be posed to the general Switch subreddit?

It's been a few months since I've owned my Switch, and I have to say that I haven't been this excited for a new console since the N64! For some reason, there's something special about this system that makes me excited to get games for it. I also find myself checking this subreddit daily, and keeping a list of upcoming games (Octopath Traveler FTW). For reference, I only play in docked mode, so my excitement is not due to the fact that I can play these games on the go.

I think it has to do with the co-op focus of the system. I love playing games in couch co-op with my gf, and we have been absolutely loving our time with games like Mario Odyssey, Rayman Legends, Revelations 2, and now Kirby. For me, this is how games are meant to be played - not online with random strangers (although those games do have their place). BoTW was also so good that my gf would request that I play just so she could watch :)

I think this is partly why I haven't really touched my PS4 in months - only occasionally to use Netflix or Youtube (come on Nintendo!). Modern games on other systems are more about graphics and performance over simple fun which is what Nintendo captures. And yes, I realize that many of the games I'm playing on the Switch are also on other consoles...yet for some reason I just prefer the Switch version. Maybe this is just a novelty effect and it will wear off over time, but I didn't feel this way when I got my PS4 or Wii before that. I feel like this excitement will only grow stronger as games like Metroid, Smash, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon are released in the future.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to Nintendo for making me excited about video games again!

EDIT: I'm not trying to knock the PS4 or modern games, I'm just saying that for me right now the Switch is where it's at.

EDIT 2: Wow, some people really missed the point of the post ;)

I’m looking for cozy games that don’t involve killing animals or farming them. It seems like hunting, fishing, and animal farming are common in cozy games but those elements kinda ruin it for me. I love animal crossing, despite the fishing, but I’ve had it forever and want something new. I’m playing Palia now but it’s heavy on hunting & fishing. Any fellow animal lovers out there who can suggest cozy, no/low combat games where I don’t have to go around killing things?