crispy4000

I’d actually say no to that. There’s been a lot of good new platform fighters lately with solid fundamentals and creative additions. It’s also become a litmus test that their input latency and netcode should be better than Nintendo’s. If it was all about copying Smash, they’d have lower standards. The missing piece has been the budget. Most of the good stuff is still indie. I’d actually be more worried about WB flubbing the fundamentals than throwing enough money at this. It’s surprisingly hard to get right if you don’t understand the genre and just throw in a hodgepodge of ideas. (see: PSABR)

About as good as I'd expect a cross gen open world Halo to look. I think they finally redeemed its E3 showing.

Already own SC6, but the others might be good enough to bite. I want Slap City and KI at the least.

Figured this much when Nintendo hadn't mentioned it in so long.

Looks fine to me for a port of a last gen game. Maybe a bit more shadowing around the character could help, but it could just be the scene lighting.

Saw that you edited this in… No, I don’t believe it should factor into how we value these subscriptions. Instead, it should factor into buying their hardware to begin with, and what games you do. Because it’s a platform level problem. The need for a fix goes beyond the value of a subscription service. That’s as true for Nintendo’s online ineptitude as it is for the paywalls across the big three manufacturers. I don’t feel it’s weird to evaluate online services on the value and merits they add, instead of what ground-level features they block out for others. Most of us already made a decision on accepting or rejecting the latter. But with a good enough subscription library, hold-outs can be swayed regardless. That’s the difference. Again, I’m glad Valve is stepping into the ring. They won’t just make Nintendo look bad.

Probably a reaction to others saying Nintendo is overcharging them. I’ll just say if you want a great subscription service, you gotta pay a good bit more than what they’re asking. On consoles at least.

To clarify, I’m not saying they’re bad in totality. It’s just the value of them as subscription libraries aren’t that great. Microsoft and Sony both have other services to upsell you on. Nintendo making this a $30 upgrade to a plan that’s still cheaper than Gold/PSN is not all that bad in relativity. Mileage will vary, of course. And really we should be looking at them as such, for the libraries and that appeal. Not from the angle of how they’re a ‘service’ that makes you pay for would-be standard features, but do it oh so well. So when people say “yeah but Nintendo’s online sucks,” it’s true. But it doesn’t somehow make the other paywalls appropriate by comparison. It’s the same scheme with a few more fucks given. I’d say the same about early releases for games if you have particular subscription. It’s not additive. It’s detractive for everyone else. You can’t convince me that’s ‘value.’

Imagine thinking that they needed a subscription to afford to do it right. They could take away the paywall tomorrow and it'd still be no excuse. They could even charge $60 a year for online play like their competition and probably still get away with it. Let's be real, no one playing online on the Switch is comparison shopping.

This has been one of the better years for PSN and I still feel like it's something I'd question paying for. Especially with them making many multi-platform games PS5-only redeems now. Live isn't bundled with Games Pass. At standing pricing, it's bundled into Games Pass Ultimate for the same price it'd cost separately. You shouldn't have to pay for Gold, PSN or Nintendo Online. Fantastic online or flawed, they're ripping us off by not letting them just function as subscription libraries. The Deck will perfectly illustrate that, but we already knew it. If there's any positive to this news, it's that Nintendo might have to work a little harder for that extra $30 if they want it. Because it's not tethered to the same bullshit. It actually has to sell on its merits.

Paying any more than $0 for those things is a total rip off. It should be free as online play itself should be. Nintendo only proved that people will pony up regardless if a multiplayer paywall is put in place.

What <$60 subscription isn’t? That’s the part of the conversation that gets lost IMO. I think PS+ qualifies, kinda. But only if you own a PS5 and didn’t own a large PS4 library of exclusives. Otherwise, it’s seeing diminishing returns after a generation of mediocre support. I could see Nintendo’s library of 4 retro consoles being worth $50 annually to some people whereas Gold and PSN’s half-baked support isn’t. Value is subjective anyways. I’d say Epic consistently gives away more valuable games free than any of those services make you pay for.

Sorry, I'll get in line. *ahem* $50 a year, what a rip-off! Who would even pay that much for a bunch of games no one wants. It's a scheme to get us to fill their pocketbooks. Nintendo is so alone in this.

So still $10 cheaper than Xbox Live Gold.

I'll be starting Dread tomorrow. So for Samus Returns, I'll add some of my own thoughts ontop of what @Nokt said. IMO, the game's biggest weakness is still the repetitive Metroid-killing part of the design. It gates you from moving on artificially, which I suppose is better than locking things behind you (a la Fusion, parts of Other M). You can turn your brain off for finding secrets once you're close to a Metroid. They don't hide any power-ups in rooms with them, which is a huge missed opportunity. I think it's really cool how early the Spider Ball is introduced. They deserve some chops for still making the power-ups interesting after that point. The Aeon stuff was a brilliant addition that reminds me of the Prime games, oddly enough. That robot boss was awesome for me, except for the final form, which is straight up bullshit to get that final hit. But I agree that the last few big encounters are awesome, sometimes in unexpected ways. In those final moments especially it feels bigger than a 3DS game, and I can't wait to see how they follow up to that with Dread. The map design also deserves some major cred outside of the Metroid rooms. It's really good stuff, and like Zero Mission, feels almost like a brand new Metroid game in the vein of Super. Only problem is that the palette and music changes don't do quite enough to delineate. It gets a better later on, but you still get a sense of deja vu too often. Maybe some of that was inevitable with needing to adhere to the Gameboy game in spirit. There's some minor balance stuff I'd change, like the ice beam slowing the game to a crawl for a time, with how many shots it takes to kill anything with it. The counter thing didn't bug me nearly as much, especially when it helped rectify that pacing issue. Overall, it's a fantastic game, in the upper echelon of 2D Metroids. The only major thing it lost by being on 3DS was not running at 60fps, when the rest of the series does. If the game ever gets an emulated patch or Switch re-release that does, bump my score up a half a point. 8.5/10 2021 games Hades - 10 FFIX - 9 (8 without speed boosters) Captain Toad - 8.5 Minit - 7.5 Yoku's Island Express - 8 Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5 Oxenfree - 8 Shadow of the Colossus (remake) - 9 Hat in Time Seal the Deal DLC - 7.5 Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - 7.5 Bad North - 8 Metroid Zero Mission - 9.5/10 Metroid II: Samus Returns - 8.5/10

Eh, I stopped a few hours in, might continue it at some point. Buy I’d be more excited to get back to Origami King, tbh. Undertale is more essential.

Probably wouldn't 'fix' it without a patch to do so. And considering Samus Returns still runs at 30fps emulated, I wouldn't hold out hope. ... Got too many chores to start Dread. But I hope to get on it mid-week.

I loved the puzzles personally. I did resort to a guide once or twice near the end where it gets a little obtuse, but it never felt groan inducing like the Witness. Art style is the hodgepodge you might expect from a one man developer using UE4. But considering that, what's there is super impressive. The closing credit song is literally from his cheesy German polka band, lol. It's endearing.

Slay the Spire Yoku's Island Express Supraland Hades

900p docked at 60fps is acceptable. Hoping to get around to it this weekend.

Wife is a teacher, she paid exactly 3 months on students loans before the pandemic pause. We make roughly the same amount. I just ran a PSLF calculator online, and we'd have nothing forgiven. We could file separately and get some forgiveness after 10 years... but that still wouldn't even cover all the accumulated interest. None of the principal would be forgiven. And we'd lose out on joint tax benefits. It's the school teachers with 6% loans in states that pay 40k salaries that could come out ahead. Otherwise, the math doesn't really check out. PSLF could help some single parent households make ends meet, but relying on it when you don't need it probably isn't optimal. (and with how much of a shit show it's been, I don't think I'd trust the government to honor it years from now) Will be killing our student loans in February, as planned. Whatever the government won't forgive by that point. It feels doubtful we'll get anything extra: not the 10k for individuals, or the extra 5k per year for public servants. Biden will probably tout the PSLF reforms and loan forgiveness from scam universities as a job well done.

Mechanically speaking, they could have placed the Varia suit upgrade on a pedestal in the same room Adam 'unlocks' it for you. It'd be the same difference. I get much more frustrated with doors that lock behind you. A remnant from Fusion, though not quite as commonplace Other M. You're actually allowed to backtrack much of the time.

My motherboard (Z170 Pro S) doesn't allow for supported CPU's, in spite of having TPM support and some of the 7th gen intel processors working with dev builds. That's okay. Really would want Auto HDR, but it sounds like there's some performance snags already with Windows 11. Might be best just to resort to a dev build of 10 for that.

Reviews for this definitely reflect a bias towards fan service ahead of fun gameplay. Not that the devs weren’t asking for it with the license and budgetary limitations. Sounds like another TMNT Smash Up in that regard. I’m sure it’ll sell okay, but the licensed platform fighter is a poison pill for critics, especially after Ultimate.