crispy4000

Working on the last boss of NSMB Wii right now, I'll be done with it soon. I've heard Deluxe is better?

I'm all for free Switch games, but these look pretty trashy tbh. Worse than similar giveaways in previous years, which were already suspect.

Bacon said the first Zelda that forgoes dungeon specific items is a 10/10, so excuse my skepticism. Not really, considering how scaled back the divine beasts were from normal Zelda dungeons. TotK came a bit closer. Plus I think a lot of the side quests in these two games are bad filler as opposed to more memorable secrets like you’d find in other Zelda towns. Not to mention a lot of what makes BoTW/ToTK what they are revolves around Shrines for hearts/stamina, vs hidden heart containers. I still enjoyed them a ton, but there’s no doubt that there’s some big shifts beyond just the scale of the world. Skyward Sword is a notable exception, and is probably the best 3D Zelda combat has been all said and done. The only major hurdle, really, was learning to parry guardian lasers in BotW. And perhaps Lynnel attacks, although it’s pretty easy just to avoid them. I appreciated the challenge compared to other 3D Zeldas regardless, but i don’t hold the combat itself to high standards, outside of the flashy but needless ways to get creative with it. All the attacks have this kind of slow heft to them, which works well enough with the physics, but isn’t to my liking. I want them to change it up again a bit, especially after two games feeling the same.

It’s the best feeling, and better than LTTP. Dungeons were mostly forgettable outside of the light in darkness one though, IMO.

Went ahead and grabbed it. I loved the old Rocket Knight games, was always wanting to give it a shot.

It's ironic that the Zelda team spent years trying to spice up the formula with new overworld ideas, transformations, weapon leveling, breakable shields, stealth kills, downplaying the dungeon items, angled swings, parries, stamina meters, etc. It finally took until BoTW for many people to say it was beyond the pail. That's precisely when all the critics said Zelda was cool again. I kind of don't believe it when people say they want old-style 3D Zelda, when its hard to peg what that is exactly. Twilight Princess is the game you get when Zelda is designed to be about the basics, but even it has its quirks. Maybe everyone should be saying they want a Zelda like Majora again, or Wind Waker, etc.

I can't imagine that happening without resorting to survival mechanics. Or making the world 3x the size of ToTK. Or something equally stupid/bad. They already pushed the limits with ToTK. Time to rein it in a bit IMO. I'm super glad the building stuff is one and done, it's not something that needs to be iterated on further.

The deals expire, but that's part of the fun for me. (bring back the holiday flash sales please, Valve) It really depends on the game. For example: Tinykin is $6.69 on CD Keys right now. Fanatical has it for $6.99 bundled with one other game. And there's some more than decent second options. (ie: To the Moon pack, Teslagrad 2, Bad North, Bestheda games, etc)

Fanatical sells Steam keys. I made a thread when it was $1 a year ago Maybe pay attention to Fanatical a bit more. Quite a few of those were cheaper there at some point, then resold on CD Keys for a profit. Either that or from Humble Choice.

It’s been a buck on Fanatical before in a bundle, free on EGS and Amazon as well.

Tinykin scratches that N64-era collect-all-the-shit itch so hard, more than any 3D platformer I've played since Mario Odyssey. I'm a fan so far. Just wish the NPCs had more charm to them.

Okay, that makes me much more hyped now. I thought Shinobi looked alright, but maybe not quite as fun looking as the Double Helix one. (nevermind, that’s Stryder )

I just want to run around in this game's world. They captured the spirit of the series perfectly in the environments at least.

Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio games looked solid. The rest... eh... the Golden Axe game looked suspect. Feels like Sega probably trotted most of these out too early.

BG3 gets GOTY, Alan Wake 2 gets Game Direction, TOTK gets Action Adventure. I'm surprised it worked out that way considering these are just vote tallies, but everyone should be happy their game got something. Except Spider-Man 2 peeps.

Just catching up on all the trailers now. I think this might be the best collection of announcements and trailers Geoff has ever presented.

Still going in as dark on this as I can.

Hell yes. Looks way better than the last 3D game they made.

Last of these until after the Epic giveaway and Steam Winter sale probably. Spent $13: Humble Choice ($6) and Tinykin / Teslagrad 2 ($7 Fanatical). Really looking forward to trying Tinykin after all I've heard about it.

Wind Waker has the presentation and story elements down pat. I found the rest of it to be underwhelming. The sea is proto-Breath of the Wild but sucked dry of any fun. At least half of the dungeons are far too much of a cakewalk, and the dungeon items lack creativity. Combat either boils down to spamming items or waiting to press A when prompted. The handling of random knick knacks and do-dads is probably the worst of any Zelda. I still love a lot about it, but its definitely the worst of the 3D ones to me. SS and TP are both flawed games as well. They both have pacing issues most notably. I found that even still, there was more to be engaged by them moment to moment. Disagree that SS isn't good outside of dungeons. Parts are much better than others, but the return to Lanayru in particular is one of the most brilliant sections in all of 3D Zelda. High-highs and low-lows in that game, you never know what you're going to get next. I'm much more willing to bat for SS with its warts than TP, if that says anything. But I still enjoyed TP a lot more than WW on the whole. Even when its combat leaned in harder to the button mashing.

You're not going to get that from The Game Awards, lol ALBW is great, but was the best Zelda since Skyward Sword at the time. From someone who speaks so highly of old Zelda, I thought you'd prefer better dungeons. WW's are only a notch above BoTW's, and still a step below ToTK's. And its combat is much worse.

Everyone's already waiting on a Bloodborne remaster, to be fair. Sony's rolling out their library selectively, but judging by the rushed job on TLOU1, I wouldn't want them to speed up the process just to be faster. They've acquired Nixxes, let them do their thing in time so that we actually get good ports.

I'm happy/surprised to see Pikmin 4 placing high up on some charts. It's great in what I've played so far. Definitely seemed like a game that would be lost in the shuffle, like Sparks of Hope last year.

Said one of the best holding up visually. The original Halo is more simplistic looking than other shooters that generation (it was a launch game), but the art style and lighting model they employed looks a lot cleaner today than many games later in the generation. Only real knock I have against it was that it wasn't 60fps. Other shooters that gen got there, but also didn't have the same focus on open environments.

Indie boomer shooters are plentiful. But you’re right about the AAA space lacking those sort of shooters today. You can join those of us wanting more AAA 3D platformers and arcade sports games.