The Nintendo Switch

i don't know where anything actually is anymore due to watching/playing too many randomizers

moldorm is the most frustrating part of the game i think.

w allowances made for all the stuff lttp invents i do think link's awakening is better, but it is also hideous and lttp is gorgeous; hard to get around that.

don't think fgti has forgotten anything; iirc the cool hidden things in LTTP are mostly the bottles (one in partic is in a place it was plain rapture to discover existed at all)

well and heart pieces obv. some neat stuff w them and the whistle.

i think i'm down on lttp's visuals compared to most people, there's too much poopy brown in the overworld. its not very colorful or attractive outside of a few areas

Link's Awakening has been delightful so far. I think I'm a little more than halfway through. One thing about it that has charmed and frustrated me equally is how opaque it can be

this goes better with this game than with others. there's a genuine eerie tug to e.g. discovering the inscriptions on the wall in the desert. the frustrations and fits-and-starts of an action-adventure like zelda (where u are always very free to move around and not always given clear direction, but also almost always need to be doing something very specific next) are better suited to LA's weird psychoanalytic vibe than to an alleged breakneck hustle to save a princess.

I don’t remember games I played once decades ago very well —but from reading about this remaster and watching the full trailer that came out recently I am flooded with fond memories (of what I can remember). I think part of the reason I rank LA below LttP is because I played it 2nd and beat it quicker. If this is your first 2D Zelda game then the length should be pretty decent. All the item/puzzle concepts are new territory and will take longer to solve.

It’s time for Nintendo to make a new top down Zelda game.

Minish Cap is reasonably good, as is A Link Between Worlds!

There is one place I've never been able to reach in LttP. It has never stopped bothering me. In the escape from Hyrule Castle, you pass by two bombable walls. But you don't have any bombs at this point. How to get in? You cannot. And: I have not been able to figure out how to access this area again, after you make it to Sanctuary. Maybe I'm just an idiot.

https://cdn.wikimg.net/en/strategywiki/images/1/1e/LoZLttP_Sewer_B1.png

It's that area with the 300 rupees and the arrows etc.

you can re-enter that part of the sewers once you have bombs. forget if it's via the palace, sanctuary, or the graveyard tho.

it's the graveyard. you need the power glove.

it's so bad.

lol I just rewatched that dlh

my dude Kyle or whatever doesn't even use the powerglove at Video Apocalypse or whatever

Video Armageddon, sorry

many things do not add up at video armageddon

the child hunter in that movie is something else

Got stuck pretty early in Link to the Past. I have all the things I need right now, I think, and even came across a conspicuous book in the library, but apparently I have to use my ramming speed power to knock it down? Psh. I never would have tried that. Once I get that book I believe the rest of the game will open up.

i don't know where anything actually is anymore due to watching/playing too many randomizers

― ciderpress, Tuesday, September 24, 2019 5:55 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Same!

I was in GAME yesterday eye-ing up the different Switch bundles. Last time I bought a new machine, it was a SNES in 1995 and I have NO IDEA what I'm doing,but I'd probably get a Zelda bundle because I like JRPGs. That said, I'm worried about buying a Switch and then regreting not having got a PS4 instead. I like the idea that it's portable, but as is sometimes a critique of Nintendo, the games on offer felt a little bit kiddy on the whole, and there seemed to be less choice and range. That said, I'm far from an experienced gamer and I can imagine Zelda alone lasting months for me.

I wouldn't really call Zelda a JRPG (I *love* Zelda and don't much care for JRPGs); it's more of an action-adventure series with some light RPG elements. I can confirm that Breath of the Wild will last you months; I sunk about 250+ hours into it over a span of half a year.

as is sometimes a critique of Nintendo, the games on offer felt a little bit kiddy on the whole, and there seemed to be less choice and range

you're not wrong on both counts exactly, but i guess the counter-arguments are that 1) even if they do tend towards an all-ages aesthetic, nintendo games tend to be exquisitely-designed and are usually very, very good, and 2) while you do have more to choose from on ps4, an awful lot of what you can choose from is shit

xpost I am also not a particularly experienced gamer, but I think I can give you an honest opinion. I own both a Switch and a PS4, and I can say without question that the PS4 is clearly superior. It plays better, it has a better catalog of games, the variety and quality of those games is better, prices on those games are soooooo much better. In fact, the reason I bought my PS4, having never played anything but Nintendo systems in the past (starting with the original), is because I was relatively disappointed with the Switch. Because I'd only ever played Nintendo games (in the post Atari/Colecovision era), everything I see on Playstation just blows my mind, even games that are several years old. However, and this is a big however, while I think the Switch catalog is kind of kid-oriented and pretty thin on essential exclusives, some of those exclusives - MarioKart, Breath of the Wild, a couple of others - are so good and so much fun they just about justify the Switch by themselves. Therefore I can also honestly recommend the Switch as a great *supplement* to the Playstation, a way to play a handful of those must-have exclusives (portably, if you want) and also a great machine for all those indies out there. If Switch were not portable I don't think I would play it as much, but because it is I think I've put more hours into the system than I have into any of the other Nintendo systems I've owned since the original (GameCube and Wii, specifically). So in summary, if you can swing it, get both! If you can only get one but your time is at a premium, consider the Switch. If you can only get one, and you have more time to sit on the couch, PS4.

xpost There is sooooooo much shit on the Switch, too! Check out the eShop lately? Even if you stuck with PS4 exclusives, like Last of Us, God of War, Bloodborne, Uncharted series, Spider-man, Horizon Zero Dawn, and so on, you're good for probably a few years' worth of quality entertainment, at least (at least at my pace, lol). And that's not mentioning all the stuff that's available on all systems *but* the Switch, if they are your thing, from the most recent Resident Evil to Tomb Raiders to Dark Souls, and so on. Almost all available for practically pocket change.

so much stuff that I want to play on Switch and haven't got the time to

Got stuck pretty early in Link to the Past. I have all the things I need right now, I think, and even came across a conspicuous book in the library, but apparently I have to use my ramming speed power to knock it down? Psh. I never would have tried that. Once I get that book I believe the rest of the game will open up.

― Josh in Chicago

That seems like something I got stuck at on my first play through.

it's true that the most realistic murder simulators aren't available on switch, but you can still be satisfied crushing a lynel's head with an monstrous axe in BOTW

[MT. TAMARANCH THEME]

lol I have a tremendous backlog on both systems. But yes, if you want shooting and stuff - or I dunno, want shooting and stuff with no blood, MCU-style - then Switch is for you. Unless you want shooting and blood, in which case there are plenty of Switch options, too.

Thanks JiC. Yes, I'm far from an experienced gamer. I've really loved having a SNES Mini to go back to my youth and replay old games, but I've exhausted it and I want to get into the 21st century. I have a terrible secondhand television with bad sound and a lousy living room that I don't like being in, which is why a portable device is appealing. My favourite games on the SNES are Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, but especially the first two and I like the idea of games that absorb you into a story, a bit like a playable book I guess?

i have played maybe 10 minutes of games on my PS4 since i bought a switch last year, and that was only because the joycon was in for repairs

ive been struggling to finish ps4 games that i enjoy just because i never want to turn it and the tv on when my switch is right there

i'm not really into dark/violent/shooting/fighting games any more. i also don't have the time or energy to deal with huge complex games (though i beat breath of the wild). the switch just fits better with my preferences. though i'll probably get around to red dead redemption 2 someday because i loved the first one.

in other news i got uchikoshi's new game, will report back re: whether it's as good as zero escape

it takes so long to load a ps4 game relative to switch, ugh

I sold octopath traveler for 40 € a couple weeks ago, which is what I'd paid for it originally. so ps4 games are cheap on sale on digital, but counting resale of a switch game, they're just as cheap. if you're miserly about your entertainment €s.

lol load times. Again, these games are all so fast to load, hiccups and all. We're just more impatient.

xxpost I agree with some of that as well. To reiterate, I missed several generations of AAA computer and console games, so everything I see on PS4 leaves me almost in a state of awe, as far as graphics and gameplay goes. But I would definitely play my PS4 more if it were portable, and at the same time would not have beat Breath of the Wild if it were *not* portable. (I should stress that I do not find turning on the tv a terribly onerous ask.) I think if you are not an experienced gamer and have likewise missed a few generations of games (I mean, I had never played any iteration of Doom!), Switch will be plenty impressive. It's just that PS4 is more impressive, and features (imo) more of those playable storybook sort of games. Granted, many of them are bloody and violent, but so are movies, in many of the same ways, and in that sense PS4 games are more like playable movies, even if admittedly sometimes just playable blockbusters.

current gen load times are bad enough that the ps5's big marketing sell point is going to be no load times

Again, it's pretty relative, especially for us who grew up (before the) age of dial-up modems. Like, in my experience, we're still talking seconds not minutes. And Switch certainly has those problems, too. Loading up Doom on Switch takes as long for me as loading up anything on PS4, for example.

Thanks JiC. Yes, I'm far from an experienced gamer. I've really loved having a SNES Mini to go back to my youth and replay old games, but I've exhausted it and I want to get into the 21st century. I have a terrible secondhand television with bad sound and a lousy living room that I don't like being in, which is why a portable device is appealing. My favourite games on the SNES are Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, but especially the first two and I like the idea of games that absorb you into a story, a bit like a playable book I guess?

― frame casual (dog latin), Thursday, September 26, 2019 10:39 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I had my friend help me hack my mini and the thing has so much more life now once I added the essentials it was missing!

games in the age of dialup modems did not have to dial someone up to promise them you weren't a criminal every time you turned them on

console games in the age of cartridges effectively did not have load times

they also all ran at 60fps

tbh even on pc i swear load times used to be better provided you were within system requirements; it's one thing to say well we're very advanced now you know there's quite a lot to load you see, but god knows what you're waiting for in e.g. pillars of eternity. which is on switch by the way! you might enjoy that as a storybook dog latin.

just ordered dq11, I get that it's basic but I'm basic

re load times, my son's been playing terreria ON IPAD for years, but just got it on ps4 also, and the load times on it are silly long, whereas ON IPAD it's instantaneous.

Weird. I guess everything feels long compared to instant right?

I mean, yeah. As a programmer this is a big deal, anything other than "instant" in many tools is agonizing.

I hear about 150GB AAA games and I'm like "I don't need the games to look that fancy or have all this non-union voiceacting!"

idk the PS4 and XBox One are generic objects you can play video games on, the Switch is a delightful platform that makes me happy and excited to touch and play games on, whether on TV or handheld. My TV takes longer to start up than the Switch does.

Again, just from personal experience, as someone who has never had a high-end system, I have had more complaints, loading or otherwise, with my Switch than I have with the PS4. And Switch problems sometimes take a long time to resolve with patches. For example, Bloodstained was a mess on the Switch, but apparently plays well on all other platforms. They had years to develop it, it's been weeks since it's been released, and it hasn't been fixed yet. But Control on the PS4, in less time it's already been released and apparently fixed.

xpost lol my TV takes about as long as my PS4 to start up. I do like the Switch interface and system a lot, I'm just very aware of it limitations.