Ralizah

@themightyant @J_Mo_Money Triangle Strategy is another good game if you don't want an insanely bloated campaign. If you want to see all of the endings, unlock all of the maps, extra characters, etc. it can easily last 100+ hours, but a single run of the game itself generally lasts 25 - 40 hours, depending on how much side content you engage with. I think that's probably the main reason I've already replayed it in order to get different endings.

If the leaked chipset turns out to be what's in the successor, there probably won't be that big of a difference in power between the next Switch and something like the Xbox Series S. It'll be a very potent hybrid platform capable of running the majority of third-party games reasonably well, so CoD ports would make a lot of sense. Especially consider how well third-party games have sold on Switch compared to previous Nintendo consoles.

@NEStalgia Goldeneye and Banjo-Kazooie on NSO as well. Microsoft and Nintendo have been on pretty friendly terms as of late.

Game looks and runs worse on a weaker console. Shocker.

A little disappointed there's no PS4 analysis, from the looks of it. That's the version I'm most curious about, considering how less capable it is than the others.

Just Starfield for me, although that depends on how well it manages to run on my aged GPU.

I might play Silksong someday... on my Switch. Not the sort of game I want to sit down in front of my monitor to play, unfortunately.

If you buy a multiplatform game on a weak console, you take what you get as long as it's playable. It should be common sense that if you buy a platform with a weaker GPU than the Xbox One X, some compromises will need to be made.

With that said, why not offer a performance mode with an adaptive resolution in order to keep performance locked?

@Dezzy70 Of course the Series S version of a game takes up some development time. Enough to significantly delay the release of most games? Probably not. You might not want to hear this, but despite being in third place, Microsoft has only remained as competitive as it has because of the Series S. Take away the Series S, and Microsoft would be selling only a fraction as many units as they are currently.

Microsoft's focus on GamePass and inability to turn out a consistent stream of excellent AAA first-party exclusives is not the fault of the Series S.

It's fine if the Series S isn't for you and you don't mind paying more for a more powerful console, but that's simply not going to be true for everyone. It's fundamentally smart for companies to keep budget consoles out there on the market, especially around the holidays. It's important to remember that not every product needs to be targeted at you to be relevant.

@bpomber Well, to be fair, at present neither modern Xbox console is the one that most people really want. PS5 has consistently outsold it, and Switch continues to be an unstoppable sales juggernaut. Maybe that'll change when Microsoft finally starts releasing games this gen. We'll see.

"Yeah my point is 100% unfalsifiable but so is yours." Which part? That Series X probably would have sold better initially without the supply constraints? I agree, that's unknowable. What we do know is that the Series S saved Microsoft at retail. How it continues to fare now that Series X is much more available remains to be seen, but I'd be shocked if it doesn't constitute at least half of the total Xbox console sales this gen, given it'll be heavily flogged on holidays and will likely appeal more to casual gamers who buy all of their games digitally regardless and don't notice or care about the technical aspects that enthusiasts tend to obsess over.

@bpomber That's fair, but also unfalsifiable at present.

IMO, without supply constraints, Series X would have sold better initially (since early adopters tend to be enthusiasts), but you'd likely see sales of the Series S pick up steam over the course of the generation as Xbox caught on more with casual gamers and/or people who only want one to play a couple of games not available on PS5/Switch.

There's a place on the market for the device, even if isn't something that makes enthusiasts weak in the knees. Aside from people who bought SS early on because of SX unavailability, they're broadly targeting different demographics.

It may not be your device of choice, but it is both a very good deal for the price as well as a legitimate option for modern gen gaming in its own right.

I'd grab one if it had a disc drive, or if I didn't already have a somewhat comparable PC build. $250 is an insane value for the hardware.

@bpomber "it's what people (such as the parent with multiple children, in your example) settle for when they can't afford what they really want."

I mean... yeah. It's a budget console. Of course people would go for the Series X if they were close in price. But they're not, and a lot of people will find it easier to justify investing in new gaming hardware if it's hundreds of dollars cheaper.

It's pretty rich to say "nobody cares" about this console when it constitutes roughly half of the current gen Xbox consoles on the market and almost single-handedly helped Microsoft remain viable at retail during the worst stretches of the pandemic-era supply shortages.

I'd love to see something as atmospheric as the original Gears of War again. Even as someone who isn't a big shooter fan, I enjoyed that game's campaign quite a bit.

The sequel really disappointed me, though, and I never got around to 3 - 5.

They need to revise the design of the Series X, then. Switch consoles have never sold at a loss, and Sony has revised the design of the PS5 so that the disc-based $500 model isn't selling at a loss now, either.

Why are people seeing ANY ads on their console's home screen? That honestly seems pretty insane to me.

@Gamingforlife "Hentai games" aren't being sold on consoles in Japan, either.

It has seemed fairly obvious to me that Microsoft will jack up prices on GP once they're done aggressively gaining market share in the home console space (as well as gaining ground in the PC marketplace).

I don't see hardware prices increasing any time in the near future. I don't think the Series S would even exist if they cared that much about profiting off the hardware.

Silent Hill 2, obvs.

Although the original PS1 game is, far and away, my favorite. Such a raw and scary game. Utterly without peer that gen in that regard.

@Dr_Luigi The original trilogy is up there with some of the greatest games ever made, but the franchise has been abused and/or neglected ever since. We'll see how these new games fare, although I'm not confident about Bloober Team's ability to do justice to the second game.

Really wish something like had been patched into RE7.

The dual launch requirements for the two modern Xbox consoles might make more work for developers, but it's still far better than the alternative scenario, where some modern Xbox games don't work on a modern Xbox console. What a mess that would be! And especially disastrous considering the Series S is probably largely responsible for Microsoft remaining competitive in the home console scene this generation.

@SplooshDmg Elden Ring is weird. My GPU sits just under minimum requirements (have a 970, but it wants a 1060; I think the 1060 is just ever so slightly more capable), but I was able to run the game on high settings at 50+ fps without issue the majority of the time.

But then you hear horror stories about vastly more powerful cards struggling to run the game, lol.

@BBB If you only game on consoles and framerates lower than 60 make you feel sick, you must have had a miserable time these last few generations, lol.

I'm a Nintendo fan. I play 30fps games all the time. They're fine.

It's more that the current-gen home consoles are clearly capable of running these games at higher framerates. Going by the Steam requirements page, you can play this at 60fps on PC with fairly old hardware. If you can play this at 1080p/60 with a 1660 Ti, you're not going to convince me the PS5 and XSX aren't up to the task. Even if the Series S is the weak link here, just target a lower resolution for that particular platform.

@Notoriousmakavel Me too, actually. 40fps is catching on with gamers on Steam Deck. Why only there? The only console game I recall seeing that as an option for was the recent Ratchet and Clank game.

Glad Sony's death grip on this series is gone. I tend to prefer mainline SMT, but P5R fixes most of the problems I had with previous games in the series. Definitely one of the best JRPGs in recent years.

I get the sense Microsoft has been hesitant to associate with PlatinumGames since the fiasco with Scalebound, and I'm sure that hasn't helped strengthen their pre-existing relationship.

They seem to work really well with Nintendo, though.

If Microsoft was willing to put GP on its main competitor's platform, why do they still intend to not publish games like Starfield on PS5?

I really don't understand the approach here.

This is just getting stupid now. Sony has long relied on platform exclusive content in third party games to drive sales without anyone uttering a word. Hell, just look at that upcoming Hogwarts game! Gimping what the competition has access to through underhanded deals is how they've always remained on top.

They can't seriously expect Microsoft won't give preferential treatment to consumers who play the versions on their own hardware.

Apart from Star Fox Zero, they've done consistently good work with Nintendo, so I'm not inclined to lay the failure of Scalebound entirely at their feet.

But yeah, best to let this project rest.

I'd rather they follow Sony's lead and sell an optional disc drive that'll work with the Series S.

I don't need 4K, but I also don't want digital only. Give me a third option, MS!

@SplooshDmg I'm a tad salty that the screenshot functionality on the Xbox controller seems to be exclusive to Windows 11 so far. I'm not ready to upgrade my OS yet, but hitting a two key combination any time I want to take a screenshot is a bit of a pain.

GP PC is surely getting bigger over time. I'd heard the implementation was flawed at the beginning, but during my trial period, it seemed to work extremely well. I'll definitely sign up again at some point when I'm not constantly distracted by new releases on other platforms.

Can't wait to play this game at a cinematic 20fps on my increasingly aging PC!

Really curious to see what the Steam Deck performance is like as well.

My problem is that, by the time I know if I'll really like a game I'm unsure about, I'm far enough in that I won't want to switch platforms.

So if I started a game on Game Pass, I'd probably be inclined to continue playing it on Game Pass.

There are some games I'd just prefer on Switch, though, even if they went to Game Pass. Like Omori. Didn't even bother downloading that, since I know it's a game I'll want to play on my SWOLED. But I also have issues paying more than $30 for something that's freely available on another platform. So I end up just not playing it at all.

I guess, in that sense, it has sort of the opposite effect on me.

I really like what I've heard of Jack Black's Bowser. The teaser does a good job of establishing him as an intimidating presence as well.

Chris Pratt as Mario, though... not convinced, at all. Still seems like bad casting to me.

@mousieone Is the framerate locked? The previews I looked at said it dipped in some busy areas, like the PS4 version did. Although I could see it being more stable in general than that version of the game. The company that is porting this says it's targeting 720p/1080p, but I'm still... extremely skeptical about that. They said the same thing about The Outer Worlds, and that ended up being the usual 540p/720p split. tbh I'm expecting the same with NieR.

And looking at the footage, there's definitely some big cutbacks to texture resolution, shadow quality, foliage, lighting, etc.

But, y'know, it's still a very playable and moderately attractive version of NieR Automata on the Switch. A game people swore to me would be unworkable on the platform for the longest time. It continually impresses me how much juice developers manage to squeeze out of this particular lemon.

If it does end up being more stable on Switch, which would be hilarious, it wouldn't even be the first time that a Switch conversion upstaged the original PS4 release. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on Switch is apparently lacking in the framerate stutters that cropped up in the original version of that game as well.

@Dusk_Actual Me too. It's why I didn't grab it on PC. Repetitive arcadey time wasters like this are best on portable consoles.

Woah Dave! on the Vita sort of occupied the same niche for me for years. As a quick in and out arcade game, it was addictive, but I'd have barely touched it if it required dedicated screen time, y'know?

I guess if it never gets ported, it'll be one more reason to eventually pick up a Steam Deck.

Still the Viva Pinata games.

@mousieone Sales aside, it also just makes sense to design around the weaker piece of hardware. It's the more inherently limited device. You can just scale up performance, visual settings, and resolution on the device with higher specs, after all.

Yeah, we also keep getting PS4 versions of games that were previously next-gen exclusive, or were supposed to be. And, I mean, there's a reason for that, right? Aside from Switch, which still has a lot of room to grow technologically, we're at the point now where there's very little that can't be done on modern hardware with a little bit of optimization.

Of course, console gamers are still stuck in this elitist generational headspace where cross-gen games must be somehow 'holding back' development on newer platforms, as if modern games aren't designed to work across a variety of specs on PC to begin with.

It's the same attitude with the Series S.

Also, like the new Soul Hackers 2 avatar, lol.

@Dezzy70 It's one of Microsoft's modern systems. Actually, tbh, it's probably the modern system of theirs that has sold the most at the moment, making it their primary hardware model. I should hope developers are giving Series S versions of games their full attention, and aren't just developing with the specs of the Series X in mind.

Not a fan, but it would work well visually alongside the PS5 and launch model SWOLED with the white joycons and dock.

@wiiware To be honest, this is probably the best anime they've produced since Kill La Kill back in 2013. Their output is really inconsistent. But I've watched four episodes so far, and this has been fantastic. Hope to see more quality work from Trigger in the future.

@NEStalgia

""why not just play FE instead?"

Vastly better level design in its maps, including some really well-integrated gimmicks.

More well-balanced combat.

Grounded political storyline that gets pretty gripping as the game progresses.

Branching story routes, post-game unlockable characters, post-game optional battles, it being very easy to skip previously viewed cutscenes, etc. make it a very replay-friendly experience.

I love Fire Emblem, but this scratches a different itch for me. Battles take longer, but you actually have to strategize and consider how you're going to tackle level objectives. Units aren't just barfed out on an open field.

@SplooshDmg Triangle Strategy is superb. Definitely my favorite of the Team Asano HD-2D series to date. It feels like a lost PS1 classic.

@mousieone I can't speak to anecdotes. Early impressions seem positive, and pre-release footage of the End of YoRHa edition looks solid as well.

https://youtu.be/IBVBPefUOLI?t=1989

@mousieone

https://www.thegamer.com/nier-automata-nintendo-switch-preview/

https://www.rpgsite.net/preview/13274-nier-automata-the-end-of-yorha-edition-is-one-of-the-most-impressive-nintendo-switch-ports-ive-played

You're misinformed. Early previews seem to be calling it one of the best ports on the system.

They're both new (for the player base) Platinum games featuring action combat releasing in October. One is also an open world RPG, sure, but it's still Platinum competing with itself.

@NEStalgia I mean... when were they supposed to release it? It's not launching near a comparable type of game from Nintendo. Nobody is going to not get this because Splatoon and Pokemon are releasing soon.

The worse timing is that NieR Automata is also releasing on Switch in October. And at a cheaper price point, to boot.

YES

This sort of thing is exactly what has been missing from Xbox for me.

@NEStalgia Astral Chain sold well, and despite taking a while, Bayo 3 seems to be shaping up nicely. If anything, their relationship with Nintendo could be stronger than ever at this point.

@Tharsman Honestly, after the ghastly PSP remake of Silver Star Story, I just hope Lunar is left alone. Even if a remaster preserved the story pacing and dungeon design of the PS1 original, it'd still probably lack Working Designs' charming localization.

@SplooshDmg Glad to hear you're enjoying XC2. It's flawed, but, all the same, I liked it considerably more than previous Xenoblade games. Torna and XC3 are arguably even better, so you have some good times ahead of you.

You have a really nice setup for your rig! I guess the benefit of splurging on a really powerful card is that you don't have to worry too much about tinkering with settings, right? Most games should be able to manage max settings with little issue.

For myself, I just find that most games I play don't require powerful hardware, so upgrading my PC further just feels a bit needless at the moment. And with how large my backlog of low spec games are, I don't really see that changing any time in the near future.

The lack of DQ ports on modern systems is annoying. It feels like Square-Enix keeps finding ways to re-release the first three and thoroughly ignores the existence of the popular middle games in the series. They need 'pixel remasters' of all the DQ games, frankly, instead of just doing an HD-2D version of the third game.

@SplooshDmg Yeah, as much as I loved it, I'm not in a massive rush to go through VC4 again. Still need to play the second and third games. Still need to play through a bunch of Atlus JRPGs. Still need to play that sequel to AI: The Somnium Files. Still need to play 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and Sakura Wars. Still need to that Grandia HD collection I bought on sale. I have gobs of games in my backlog. Still need to check out those title updates for MHR: Sunbreak. Still need to see Triangle Strategy's Golden Route. Rain Code, Fire Emblem Engage, Pikmin 4, and Fatal Frame 4 will be releasing before too long. etc etc. I kind of envy those people who see the riches of modern gaming and decide they have absolutely nothing to play. I'd sure have a lot more expendable cash!

lol I upgraded the rest of the components in my rig back in 2020, but my GPU is still the ancient GTX 970 I got in 2015. More shockingly, it's still up to the task of running almost every game I want to play! Cyberpunk pushes it a bit harder than I like, but I believe that has a dynamic resolution option I can enable that'll make a higher framerate easier to hit.

Years ago, I felt like I needed a new card, but now I mostly want to replace it eventually because I don't know how many years it has left in it.

VPN isn't really necessary for old ROMs, IMO. Maybe for newer games. There is a non-zero chance of Sony banning your account for modifying the system, but it almost never seems to happen with Vita hackers and pirates.

@SplooshDmg By the time I got to the endgame, I'd played it for about 80 hours. I thought about doing absolutely everything, but I decided I'd probably want trophies to go along with that exertion and moved on to other games. Anyway, it gives me an excuse to revisit the game on another platform.

Heh, yeah. I mean, I won't say higher framerates don't feel better. They obviously do. But... I dunno, people get so hung up on the technical aspects of the medium that I think they forget to just chill out and enjoy playing games. I think it's fine to enjoy the "inferior" version of something. Do people really lose their mind when they have to watch a film on DVD instead of 4K Blu-Ray, I wonder?

A hacked Vita is amazing. Basically a full on retro gaming machine + access to all PSP games + being able to mod/patch the censorship out of specific games. And, like with the SWOLED, the screen looks amazing.

@mousieone At least we're talking about a JRPG.

@SplooshDmg I'm probably gonna repurchase it on Playstation at some point when the complete edition goes on sale again. Not only for the trophies, but also so I'll have access to the DLC, which obnoxiously never goes on sale on Switch.

I thought about grabbing it on Steam, but I realized I don't actually care about the framerate all that much. These games look and feel fine running at 30fps.

I really, really liked how they changed the side stories in this game compared to the original. It gave the game a... Fire Emblem-ish quality for me, and encouraged me to actually use the entire squad.

I actually have 2 and 3 ready to go on my Vita. Ever had the opportunity to play those?

Dragon Quest XI S
Final Fantasy VII
Lost Odyssey
(soon) Persona 5 Royal
Valkyria Chronicles 4

@SplooshDmg Bless you.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 is AMAZING. My favorite game of 2018, easily. It deserves more love.

Makes sense. If you're behind and fighting to regain market share, it doesn't make sense to make your product less affordable for the average consumer.

Also, the smaller profit margins on Xbox hardware aren't as big a deal to a company as wealthy as Microsoft is. It's a hit they can afford to take.

Also, ultimately, Game Pass is the product, not the hardware itself. If your goal is to bump up those subscription numbers, it doesn't make sense to throw up unnecessary roadblocks.

This is a calculated risk Sony is taking in regions where they think they can remain the home console market leader by default. You'll notice they didn't bump up the price in NA where the Xbox is actually competitive.