Thoughts on Nintendo Switch

I’m sure we’ve heard about the Nintendo Switch and other announcements in the Nintendo Direct last week. There’s been a lot of talk and thoughts floating around.

I have the Neon Joycon Switch bundle on preorder myself. I’m not 100% sold on it with that being said. I grew up with Nintendo like most people, but I feel like the past few years they’ve fallen in many ways. One of my biggest complaints about them is not really addressing stock issues very well; I’m in the camp that they know their items are in high demand and release them in such limited stock for that reason. Of course, limited means just that but I don’t think the rush and having to wait in line or refreshing a website is a good thing.

Okay, enough rambling.

The price 

$300

I think that price tag is perfect, honestly. People say it should have been $250 and I wholeheartedly disagree. The PS4 was $400 when it came out and I believe the Xbox One may have been more than that. The slim PS4 is $250 currently and the PS4 Pro is $400(I actually do think the pro is overpriced, but I digress.) Nintendo has always priced their systems fairly, imo; Aside from when the 3DS was initially released, because $250 was way too steep! Especially when the PS Vita was the same price at launch with superior hardware.

Launch Titles 

I think the pricing of some of their launch titles is a little bit off, but Breath of the Wild is a good day one game. Arms following up later in the month is a good call. I think they should’ve had Splatoon 2 on launch to push systems out. I think they have enough to get people to buy systems on launch.

It’s not the best launch I’ve ever seen, but I haven’t seen a truly impressive launch in a long time.

Accessories

Accessories, accessories. This system has a LOT of them.

I think the Joycon are overpriced. $80 for a set? That just seems like too much to me. The Pro Controller is $70, which is honestly a bit overpriced as well. I’m going to be picking up a pro controller day one because I absolutely need one but I’m not thrilled about spending that much for a controller.

They have a wireless charging accessory you can buy that pretty much matches the one that comes with your system for your joycon. You can only charge your Joycon by docking them, but if you buy the accessory you can charge while you play. It’s priced at $30, which is an okay price. I don’t think I’ll pick this up immediately, just because the Joycon last for 20 hrs and I don’t game for long stretches of time with no breaks.

The messenger bag they’re releasing is very stylish and I definitely intend to pick it up. I’ll probably end up using it for other things as well.

The System itself

Honestly, I’m not 100% sold on the general design. I like the idea of a console and a handheld in one, but I also….don’t know how it’ll go. It feels strange to see part of my system slide right out and able to go along with me. A part of me wishes Nintendo would quit with these innovative ideas and just have an ordinary console with an ordinary controller.

The Wii U didn’t have a particularly strong library because of the lack of third party support. I know they say they’ve got all these companies backing the Switch, but I hope that holds true in the coming years.

PS4 Atelier Sophie [Review]

Hi, hello hello.

Today I want to talk about Atelier Sophie, the PS4 version. I’m not a Atelier veteran per se; I’ve only been playing since the Arland series was introduced. I’ve played every title since then. I feel like I have enough experience with the series to put a review out, though.

The Atelier series is a game series that, mostly, follows the story of a young female character that’s learning to become an alchemist. The game mechanics involve going around gathering materials and crafting items; Of course, you also have turn based battles and bosses like an ordinary JRPG. The only twist is that you have a time limit. Gathering? Crafting? Traveling? Battles? All these things take in-game time & days. What this means varies from game to game, however.

Sophie doesn’t have limitations on time, however. You no longer have to worry about completing your tasks within the time allotted to you. There are in-game days, but they really don’t matter too much. Certain characters appear and do things on specific days and that’s about it.

Many veteran Atelier fans might disagree, but I think this a great entry in the series. In the past, I’ve never 100% an Atelier game because I wouldn’t be able to do so without a walkthrough which isn’t much my style. So far in Atelier Sophie, I’ve gotten every character event and have been able to explore as I please. I think JRPGs are meant to be explored and enjoyed in that sort of way. With that being said, I think the time system is a fun concept and makes the game hard in a way it wouldn’t be without it.

The story on Sophie starts out rather light hearted, but quickly becomes something I felt interested in. It took me awhile to truly become invested in the characters and story, though. After playing it through, the characters from Sophie have quickly become some of my favorites! I was a big fan of Escha & Logy from the Dusk series, but I didn’t actually like every single character like I do for Sophie.

The character designs & OST are just the same as always; Incredible. I’m never not taken in by them. I always feel like I have to buy every Atelier artbook just because the art is so vivid and unique. I could probably play an Atelier game just for that.

Overall, this game has had a lot of changes from some of the past entries. Final Fantasy suffered from going too far from the original concept of turn based battles, but I think Atelier does a good job of keeping the game mechanics fresh while still feeling and being an Atelier title. It still feels like the series I started playing with Rorona.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix [Review]

Nintendo essentially, out of nowhere, dropped Rhythm Heaven Megamix as a e-shop only title during E3 in 2016. I purchased it roughly two months later and have been playing it off and on since.

It’s a shame that Nintendo did nothing to promote this game and by making it digital only… sent it out to die. The Japanese cover art is really beautiful and would have looked great on my shelf, but I digress. I’m just happy we were able to get this game at all.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix takes  mini-games from across the Rhythm Heaven series and puts them into one game. Each world has four mini-games you have to pass in order to move onto the next area and progress in the story.

There’s also a multiplayer mode that doesn’t require your pals to have the game; You can use download sharing to do challenge mode with your friends. Essentially, harder versions of the mini-games.

I was extremely pleased with my purchase and it’s a huge plus being able to play it with friends despite them not owning it. I can’t think of another rhythm game that really brings in multiplayer like that, in a non-competitive manner.

Rhythm  Heaven is one of the most difficult rhythm games, in my opinion, because usually there are no prompts for timing. You literally have to go with the rhythm of the song.  I struggle with some of the mini-games, but the soundtrack is stellar and incredibly fun to play.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity [Review]

This game gave me very mixed feelings.

It’s priced at 19.99 on the US PSN and I feel that the game could have been better if it was more fleshed out. It’s an action RPG with light bullet hell elements as you would expect from a Touhou game. The areas are relatively linear with the enemies you encounter not varying too much.

I want to talk about some things I think the game did correctly. You can play as two characters( Remilia & Sakuya ) ; The areas you go through are the same, but the dialogue is different. You’re basically seeing the game from two different perspectives. It being a relatively short game, this is definitely a plus. I don’t think I’d see it as worth the MSRP if it wasn’t for the fact that it has reason to be replayed.

The boss fights are pretty enjoyable. I didn’t think they were difficult, but I wasn’t bored, either. The reason I found them to be, not particularly, difficult is because they have health pots scattered around the boss areas. The last boss doesn’t have them, which actually makes her mildly irritating.

I think this game is worth a purchase, But I wouldn’t go in expecting it to be difficult or engaging.

 

Genei Ibun Roku ♯FE Wii U Fortissmo Edition Bundle

Hi, hello! Today I’m here with a unboxing of the Japanese Wii U Bundle + #FE Fortissmo LE. I’ve been wanting to get a Japanese Wii U for awhile because TAIKO and I’m a big fan of #FE.

So let’s start with the LE

• #FE OST
• #FE Artbook
• #FE Game

Inside the game box is two dlc vouchers & a Weiss card.

The Wii Bundle also came with some exclusives.

• 6 postcards
• two sticker sheets( I have no idea why they are the exact same?)
• DLC Scenario

 

Tales of Hearts R [screenshots]

I took a LOT of screenshots for this game. Not as many as I did for Dangan Ronpa Shooting but close. I really enjoyed this game overall despite the translation being pretty odd at times.

It didn’t have any english audio which I found to be shocking considering Tales of games usually do. But I prefer japanese audio over the english pretty much always. There’s very few exceptions to that. Even with my anime… I threw a fit the other day on Crunchyroll when I was watching the second arc of Durararax2 and the next episode was in english.

The gameplay for this game was beyond good. It’s probably one of the best battle systems of any Tales of I’ve played. Xillia has one of my favorites but some of the others…. like Graces F….. I was not a big fan of. I liked the point allocation system in specific. It was well done, imo.

The story had a lot of normal Japanese tropes. But I felt the characters had good development. Some may disagree with me but I felt Kohaku was a strong female protag. I’ve actually quite grown to love the characters for this; Not as much as Xillia, but pretty close.

Steins;Gate El Psy Congroo PS3 LE (UK LE)

I received my EPC LE in the mail yesterday. It’s a UK exclusive LE as far as I know. I ordered the PS3 ver despite usually preferring vn’s on portables or PC.

Contents Include:
PS3 game
Artbook
Metal Upa
Two pins

I’m overall reallllly pleased by this LE. Everything was really quality and well made. I played a little bit of the game tonight and the translation seems solid as well.

I snatched this up mainly because I really wanted a metal upa. I would have ended up with the PC ver otherwise.

Shinigami Kareshi [Yoru]

Some of my favorite scenes from Yoru’s route. ; u; This was definitely my favorite one. Syun was originally my favorite but I absolutely fell in love with Yoru during his route. There were a lot more romantic scenes in this route, as well compared to Shun’s. Which is probably partially why.

Even just looking back on them I feel all aflutter, ahhh. I’m so glad I have a yoru mousepad……

Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo Dangan Ronpa[review]

I took way too many screenshots of this Dangan Ronpa, however.

This is probably my favorite dangan ronpa game of the three. When I first started I thought it was going to be a little more on the non-serious side due to the whole kids thing. However, I actually think in some ways this is more fucked up.

But my favorite part of this game is that Fukawa had immense character development, imo. By the end of the game, I REALLY loved her and Komaru’s relationship. I kinda hope they do another shooting game… I just enjoyed Dangan Ronpa more in this setting than a visual novel.

I was so glad not to have to do those obnoxious trials, too.

I kind of wonder if this game will be localized because quiiiite a few of my friend’s want to play it but don’t understand Japanese. The first two seemed to have done well enough for them to at least be considering it.

All in all, I absolutely loved this game as much as I previously thought I would.

Dangan Ronpa 1&2 Reload[mostly screenshots]

My very small collection of Dangan Ronpa Reload screenshots. I didn’t really have a lot I wanted to take; mainly because this game has been out for awhile.

I think the second game was definitely significantly better than the first one. Although, I have an attachment to the characters from the first more, I think.

My favorite shot was the one in the movie theatre. I love the teaser for Zetsubou Shoujo. I assume this was in the original Dangan Ronpa 2, as well, which just amuses me even more.