Ah! Yes, agree. Discovery is an important part of botw.
1 Like
That first playthrough is really magical. I wish I could do it again for the first time.
1 Like
Ive made a brief detour playing Monster Hunter Rise and keeping Zelda a bit on the shelf… And god damn it’s a really cool game. The big monster battles are very challenging in the right ways, you have to manage your potions and stamina buffs… it’s a lot of fun.
I love Zelda’s open world, but I also love games with a lot of gear options and ways to upgrade and what not…
2 Likes
Yeah Rise is awesome. I love the MH series in general. Monster hunter world on console was my sole game for like a year when it came out.
1 Like
Before BotW, Okami was my all time greatest video game experience ever. Yes, you’re only getting started after you’ve reached what did feel like a proper ending.
For ref, other titles that have competed for my number one spot has been the first Metroid Prime, Beyond Good & Evil, the first Ninja Gaiden Xbox release and Resident Evil 4.
1 Like
I still have a GameCube version of this game in my closet… I have really fond memories of it. I remember not expecting it to be as good as it was, definetly a sleeper hit.
1 Like
Yeah I kinda found myself thinking the same as you, it’s an unbelievably beautifully well made game but I just couldn’t be arsed with cooking, weapons breaking all the time, watch towers, etc, speaking to folk… all of it couldn’t really be arsed with. Busy work…zzzz.
I don’t think it’s the game as everything in it is made to perfection I think it’s just open world gaming, same mechanics, same stuff, just either done better or worse depending on the game.
I used to love open worlds, gta3, fallout, far cry 2, assassins creed 2, red faction 3 etc but now I find them boring and formulaic. Think that’s why elden ring is so lauded - I’ve not played it as it’s open world but does sound interesting as finally someone’s not just copied same open world style.
I was the same with turn based rpgs back in ps1 days and now come full circle. Maybe few years time I come back to finish it and enjoy it.
4 Likes
Yeah, in my heart of hearts I don’t care for open worlds or soulsborne games. Oddly enough, combining the two and I can kinda enjoy it. Its like escape from punishment positive conditioning
1 Like
Yeah i get you….can see how that would work…. makes me want to get the game now…
My only thing… as I get older… game rage hits me… seems to get frustrated so easily now…… I’m sure I never used to have it… so I try steer away from games that might give me it… I don’t get it at all playing multiplayer games with my mates but on my own I can go bananas lol.
Or maybe I always did but now I’ve a wife who comes in to tell me to keep it down and grow up… then again she says the same when I’m synthing out…
2 Likes
Not sure Elden Ring is the best thing for gamer rage but honestly thats your issue more than the games…lol. That said, the cool thing about Elden is if you hit a wall, you can go do infinitely other things before coming back to that boss, due to the open nature of the game. I mean, it’s crazy how many side areas there are. And what is cool is when you come back to area that used to be hard and just steamroll them since your characeter has better weapons and stats now.
4 Likes
Well, you’ll definitely get some rage from Elden Ring.
Especially when you’re actually doing well on a boss and they kill you after you got them down to a pinch’s health. Or anything under 40% health i definitely let loose an audible frustrated sigh
2 Likes
Somebody brought a bunch of Switch games to my book shop and I took Pikmin 3 Deluxe home with me. Immediately after that I got this horrible flu and now I’ve been at home sick, playing Pikmin every day for a week. What a great game.
7 Likes
I’m currently 10hrs into Mario & Rabbids - Sparks of Hope and I’m quite pleased with it. Compared to turn based strategy games I used to play on Windows it is completely dumbed down, but for the kind of casual gaming I occasionally need after work it’s just perfect. I also started The Last of Us Part 1 on PS5, but often I find it too distressing before going to sleep. I guess I’m getting old. That aside it’s a beautiful remake of an already excellent game.
3 Likes
Finally caved and bought a switch. Realised I’m not alone when I played Mario Kart online and all the Mii’s had beards, grey hair and wrinkles.
Thanks for recommendations everyone 
7 Likes
Thinking about getting the new Fire Emblem Engage even after vowing not to buy another Fire Emblem game after Three Houses, which I did not like the social school time suck aspect … I want to play the strategy game and not manage a cheesy social sim. But the new Engage game is supposed to play similar to Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS … so I dusted off my 3DS and apparently I did buy Awakenings years ago (and only played it for 30 minutes according to my save spot … the Switch must have came out and it was lost to time).
Awakenings does let you get to the strategy game pretty quick in chapters by plowing thru the dialog.
I also now remember how bad the ergonomic of the 3DS are … it hurt by hands ten years ago and now father time has only made it worse. But seems OK to play sitting on a table with the pen for a turn-based game.
So I will probably be getting Engage once my new memory card arrives. Hopefully this will tide me over until (hopefully) Advance Wars Re-boot comes out.
1 Like
I felt the same way about Three Houses, ive restarted about 3 times now, though I just don’t enjoy the social aspect. I do feel like I am missing out though because everyone seems to rave about the game.
I’m playing Live a Live at the moment, fantastic game, looks beautiful on the OLED switch and I like that each story is only a couple of hours long. The stories feel very 90’s in a good way, music is also amazing. Highly recommend.
I also have Tactics Ogre and Triangle Strategy waiting, such a great console for RPG’s.
1 Like
This was my exact problem with both Three Houses and Persona 5. I love turn-based RPGs, so I was stoked to get P5, but the social aspect of the game is beyond draining imo. Everyone seems to love this game, and I want to love it too, but I just don’t enjoy having to plan hangouts with other characters and read all the extra banter. I just wanna wander around dungeons, fight weird monsters, and optimize my characters’ loadouts.
3 Likes
The interconnectivity between the dungeons and the social aspect was pretty cool(at first) at some point when I played if I just fast forwarded past it.
Still, I generally like P5. It has an amazing style that make fast forwarding past the social elements worth it.
After reading people saying P5 is nothing compared to P4- tried playing that and ALL of the cool elements of P5 are gone(the awesome music, the story fluctuating from future to past, the intricate dungeons). I ended up watching a YouTube video to detail the story and it the games actually share the same story beats for the most part
2 Likes
FEE is very much streamlined compared to FETH. Auto-advance talking is way faster and if you wish to not talk to anybody at the end of a battle, you still get the bond-fragments. Support “conversations” are often just one sentence and can be completely skipped for the story and background (though you need to have the conversation before being able to advance to the next level). Meanwhile battle is interesting from the start and quickly gets harder. Only one linear storyline instead of a multiverse is also a good thing in my book.
It will be months before it inevitably gets its 30% discount and by then it will be known what the DLC actually includes, but I pre-ordered with the DLC and am happy.
2 Likes
Got Ring Fit Adventure for taking breaks from sitting on my work-from-home days - just something different from simply taking a walk in the neighborhood, which I’ve continued doing.
The fantasy adventure game is cute and fun. But I’m having the most fun with the mini games. The only fail for me is the Thigh Rider game because you have to sit to play it, which defeats the purpose of taking a break from sitting, and the ring controller pops out too easily.
2 Likes