#and it was a hell of a lot more interesting than anything they joycon does

[kyriathanatos]

it is so fucking funny to me every day that nintendo marketed controller vibration as a new, exciting feature by giving it a dumb name and EVERYONE bought into it.

I distinctly remember watching people go "woaw i can really feel the HD RUMBLE™... so cool..."

[lightringstars]

Nothing like a 50 minute direct to stave off the fear of freezing to death

I was not expecting Pyra/Mythra in smash. My main thoughts on the matter was “So Chuggaaconroy was right about Rex...Sorta”

All my knowledge of that game comes from his let’s play and I’ve determined I probably would not like that game much due to its sheer mechanical complexity so I don’t have much to say.

Although it was cute seeing Rex be a supportive if slightly confused boyfriend to his girlfriends getting into smash. 

I’m sad for the lack of RF5 news, but I wasn’t expecting any to begin with.

I’m interested in Samurai warriors 5. I liked Hyrule warriors and the warriors game series as a whole. Will I need to understand anything about the other Samurai warriors games to understand this one? Does anyone know?

Maybe I should try monster hunter. The new game looks cool.

I don’t care about Mario Golf but the concept of “Speed Golf” makes me hysterical for some reason.

TRIANGLE STRATEGY LOOKS SO COOL that was my favorite part of the direct. I love Octopath Traveler (still need to finish it tho...) and this looks so cool! I need more tactical RPGs in my life (Stella glow I will finish you one day I promise)

“Triangle Strategy” is also a better name than “Octopath Traveler” but the game studio still needs a new title creator

I hope Purah is put in in the AOC DLC.

A skyward sword remaster! And it has button controls! Cool! And pretty joycons!

My nephew really likes Miitopia so I’m happy about the switch port for him. The horse thing is also cool.

I have no thoughts on Splatoon3 beyond “How does an ink bow work?” That’s all.

All and all a pretty alright direct. Didn’t do as much for me but there was a lot I could see other people enjoying. Plus it was a good distraction to the hell that is Texas right now.

[elligames]

i’m still out here playin’ games, but more importantly, i’ve changed the way i play them

so, animal crossing came out at just the perfect time. it was a game that gave me a task when my job wouldn’t. it set a schedule up for me, and allowed me to have a space where i could exist outside the anxiety of the world around me. it was incredibly therapeutic, and i don’t know how i would have fared without it.

a year on, i’m just now starting to put it down more often. i played it a lot longer than most of my friends, because i really did enjoy having that cemented as a thing to do each day. it was relaxing and freeing. and in these past few months, i have finally started to pick up other games.

of course, i’m always playing something, vaguely, but one significant game that i started playing this past winter was hollow knight. i had always been interested in the metroidvania genre - i mean, how could i not be? the genre-defining games are about vampires in sick as hell castles and badass women in space. but i admit i watch metroidvanias more often than i get through them. they don’t hold your hand, and that can often intimidate me. i wasn’t used to games that nudge you into the deepend of relying on just your wits and skill.

so i don’t know why i thought, “hm, think i’ll fuck around and pick up hollow knight today,” as it is one of the most notoriously difficult metroidvanias out there. but hollow knight presented me this unique and wonderful gameplay that, while i had the tendency to put down, i couldn’t. i was really hooked. so much so that when joycon drift affected gameplay, i came up with several creative solutions to keep playing.

after animal crossing and hollow knight, i’ve started to notice something has changed in how i play games. it’s a little indescribable, but it boils down to this: i’m here to have fun and enjoy things fully, and it does not matter how bad i suck.

now, i watch a lot of kaizo streams. so i should know better than to feel down about dying constantly in video games. but before hollow knight, i thought if i died or messed up, i couldn’t be a real fan. like sure, i enjoy it, but i’m not good like other people, so i couldn’t allow myself to admit i was a fan until i got to a certain threshold. 

but hollow knight just forced that to let me go. you are constantly dying in this game. and in animal crossing, it literally does not matter if you get All the Items Right Away. the items come back, in one way or another, and the primary objective is to enjoy yourself. there is no need to rush yourself in either game - in hollow knight, you start to trust that you will learn the enemies, and in animal crossing, you trust that things come back.

so when i picked up a rhythm game i played years ago, i immediately noticed the difference in my approach. suddenly it was so much more fun. i started to trust that i would learn the combo breakers, and i’ve enjoyed it so much more than i would have if i did not learn these lessons. you don’t have to be good at a game to get something out of it. you will get better and better, and someday, you might think about that game again, and you will be better than you could have imagined, because you already did the legwork of learning the basics. it also does not matter how anyone else plays the game - it is entirely how you want to spend your time.

i’ve noticed this with a lot of games. even super meat boy, famous for the inevitable death, is more fun. that’s maybe the one exception before 2020, where i did not mind dying, but now i notice that maybe i still kind of did.

it is easy to slip into the mentality of trying to be perfect no matter what, but at the end of the day, your playtime is for you. it’s a fun hobby. i love it. and i feel like, before these games, i mostly excelled at games where i could grind - which, don’t get me wrong, i still love the kind of therapeutic grinding in jrpgs - but now, i feel so much more open to so many more games because death in a video game is fine! it’s literally fine! you will learn and you will grow. and maybe some sections in some games won’t be great, but you will tackle them.

i don’t know if this makes sense, and i’m not saying i wasn’t on this trajectory anyways, or that i just never enjoy video games or anything like that - i’m just saying that we all have those games that will make us noticeably better players, and for me, i’m not sure that includes an all-or-nothing mentality to being “good” anymore. sometimes, even difficult games are more about losing yourself in the experience.

[scicraft]

Nintendo home consoles ranked by how effective they are as a weapon

note: I will only bring up controllers/add ons if i think they can be criticized beyond the console. handhelds not included bc this post is already long

Color TV-Gamer: 3/10. small, so you can do a lot in maneuvers against your opponent. but it’s obscurity(only available in japan) and lack of interesting strategy drags it down

NES: 2/10. this thing is so bulky that attempting to do anything beyond smashing it over the person’s head is futile. the flimsy cord means that you can’t swing it either

ROB: 0/10. while his smash counterpart is stunning in combat, his real life counterpart suffers much more from limited mobility, and frankly, i feel bad using him as a bludgeoning tool.

Power Glove: -5/10 this makes you look like a loser and youre going to hurt yourself more trying to punch with it

NES Zapper: 6/10. this doesnt shoot bullets but it DOES serve as a decent tool for jabbing and plastic pistol whips, so like, mad props for that

SNES: 2/10. suffers the same combat problems as the NES.

Super Scope: 7/10. improves upon the zapper by being Larger, and therefore can be used more as a bat as oppposed to a run of the mill gun. both ends of this thing are very good for attacking

SNES mouse: 5/10 hell yeah finally a weapon you can swing around reasonably. 

Virtual Boy: -100/10 this thing only inflicts damage to yourself

N64: 3/10. this design disturbs me, the smooth sides making it difficult to grip without modification. once again, this wretched machine is cursed with not having good combat capabilities, but the controller offers more than the NES or SNES iterations in terms of jabbing.

64DD: -8/10 this thing serves only to make lofting the N64 around more difficult, and adds absolutely nothing other than weight.

GameCube: 10/10. box design means that it's more compact, and the handle is convenient for swinging. i once got detention in 2nd grade for hitting a classmate with this bad boy, and then my parents gave away my gamecube to my babysitter's boyfriend who was a jobless gamer man who stayed home all day. im still mad about that one

DK Bongos: 1/10. the weapon of the bard, therefore, kinda shitty.

Wii: 4/10. frail as the main console may be, the Wii-mote and nunchuck offer mobility not previously seen, and the locking mechanic means that the wire connecting the two can make it effective for tripping and other activities in combat. additionally, the different plastic bits you can attach to the wii-mote for various sports also offer some flavor. the wheel still sucks tho

WiiU: 5/10. the main console is a viable weapon, finally, and the gamepad can come in handy since there's no need to charge it.

Switch: 2/10 none of the parts of this are worth weaponizing and the joycons are too small to actually do any sustainable damage with. the carrying case works better than the console as a weapon bro

[kiyotakamine]

oh right there were other things announced during the direct too so here’s my  thoughts on them:

pokken DLC was really unexpected considering they left the wii u version completely dead and didn’t even bother giving it the arcade fighters LMAO... that being said, aegislash and blastoise are both solid choices for fighters. mimikyu/mega rayquaza and mew/celebi sound like fun support pokemon too. idk if i’m going to actually buy it because i haven’t played pokken much (tbh i just found myself enjoying ARMS a whole lot more) but it’s neat. the price point is apparently $15 for both packs combined and ehhhh

i was completely zoning out during kirby because i was still too distracted from the first game they showed off lmao... rewatching it now and star allies is looking really cool. the artist ability looks... more gimmicky than practical to use but it also looks fun. yo-yo has always been my favorite copy ability and in general i like lightning elementals, so the zap yo-yo obviously looks sick as hell and i’m excited to use that. ?? kind of confused about friend throw but i just find it amusing how the announcer goes “TOSS YOUR FRIENDS AND MORE!” 4 player co-op looks fun but... a) i’m fine with my pro controller + joycon set so i don’t have a desire to really get a 4th controller and b) i don’t ever really have an scenario where i’d need more than 3 controllers because i just don’t have people that’d want to play video games over the house that often? i still only have 3 gamecube controllers. “AN UNKNOWN DEEP SPACE THREAT!” as if that isn’t the antagonist of every single kirby game when it isn’t dedede. oh i missed the first time around that march 16th was confirmed for the release date, so that’s good. i’m excited. i never got around to playing return to dreamland for whatever reason (that being it was too late in the wii’s lifespan probably) so yeah

wasn’t exactly expecting a hyrule warriors port/definitive edition but ok sure whatever

i’m actually interested in mario tennis aces? literally the only mario sports game i’ve owned is tennis power tour for the GBA, which the direct does outright reference as the last time mario tennis had a story mode... shrugs, we’ll see how many RPG elements it has ‘cause that’ll determine how interested i am or not. doesn’t seem like we’re getting player characters though and the story just revolves around mario himself...

i have absolutely no idea what ys VII is....... i’m typically not interested in action RPGs so i’m not too interested but i’ll keep my eye on it i guess?

i’m wondering how many people saw “FREE ODYSSEY UPDATE” with luigi and immediately assumed he was playable and then got trolled.... rip. the balloon thing does look really neat, but i put my 40 hours into odyssey and got 500+ moons and felt content so i’m not sure how much i’m willing to pick it up again. i’ll have to try this mode out though

fe and celeste do look neat. don’t really have anything more to say but i’m interested

i don’t care about the DKC series but... obviously porting tropical freeze was an obvious one, but that seems a bit weird that they’re not bundling it with DKCR? shrugs

and... dark souls? that’s it? where’s FE like i don’t even care about FE at all but i’m very confused like i just assumed that would be the title that makes the most sense for nintendo to reveal now. seriously, mario tennis was the only new first party game that wasn’t a port or DLC that got announced here??? w/e oh well

[beardycarrot]

Nintendo E3 Hopes and Dreams

It’s probably dumb to actually hope for...anything, BUT HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS DAMNIT. Nintendo will have a twenty-five minute video spotlight, presumably showing off trailers for new games, while Treehouse Live will be going more in-depth with gameplay.

Nintendo’s big game this year is Super Mario Odyssey, which will be playable on the show floor, with Treehouse Live probably showing off some levels not available to the public. This is pretty much all we know for sure; anything else is just speculation (and wild hopes) on my part.

No Arms

Rebel that I am, I decided to start my list of things I want to see with something that I don’t want to see. Arms is coming out just three days after Nintendo’s presentation, and the reviews are already in. Anyone attending the event who would be likely to put out good press has already reviewed the game, so there’s not much point in making it playable on the show floor. I can see Treehouse Live dedicating a few minutes to showing off the game and maybe teasing some of the free DLC that will be coming out, but I really hope that’s the only focus this game gets. The spotlight video is only twenty-five minutes long, so they’d better not waste time on Arms.

Kid Icarus: Downfall

That title is completely made up, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel to Kid Icarus: Uprising. Sakurai is working on a new game, which probably isn’t just the Switch port of SSB4. I can totally see Sora and Platinum collaborating on a new Kid Icarus game for Switch. Maybe this time with an option to keep in the Japanese voice acting? It’s a crying shame to dub over Minami Takayama.

Mo’ Like NOkémon

Yeah, I, uh... I don’t want to see any of the stuff from this week’s Pokemon Direct in the Nintendo spotlight. That trailer for Pokken Tournament was great and really showed off the potential of the Switch, but it’s a game everyone expected to see a Switch port, and we already know everything important about it for the time being. I’m okay with Treehouse showing off some of the new content, but I don’t want it in the spotlight. Same with Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. A trailer wouldn’t be useful to us at this point, so just show some gameplay during Treehouse Live and explain what the game is there. Speaking of Pokemon, I hope that we’ll finally see an English release for Detective Pikachu, though I don’t know whether that’s really worthy of showing during the spotlight.

Golden Sun 4

This is a long shot, but a friend recently reminded me of the cliffhanger ending to Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Unfortunately, that game wasn’t great, and didn’t sell well, so it’s entirely possible that nothing will come of the sequel bating. Which sucks, because the first two games in the series were fantastic. Since Dark Dawn, Nintendo’s just had Camelot working on bland Mario Sports titles... but with the latest one, Mario Sports Superstars, they’ve finally brought all the Mario Sports games (...and... horse racing) together into one package! They had the team from Namco that worked on Mario Super Sluggers helping out, so maybe the extra man power meant they were able to divert some resources towards a new Golden Sun pitch? I mean, with five sports games in one coming out just a few months ago, there’s no need to release another in the near future, so that totally opens them up their schedule, right? Right? Please, Nintendo, even just a teaser image showing silhouettes of the four Djinn types will do. PLEASE?

Retro Studios 2D Metroid

I know what Nintendo was trying to do with Metroid Prime: Federation Force. They knew that there was a big market for online gaming, and Splatoon’s unexpectedly huge success encouraged them to push ahead. Tri Force Heroes was... less, of a success, but people clearly liked online play and were clamoring for a new Metroid game, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, this is one of the few instances where Nintendo’s “develop a gameplay concept and then choose a Nintendo franchise to use it in” approach didn’t work. People seem to thing that Nintendo doesn’t care about the Metroid series, having done nothing special for its thirtieth anniversary... but bear in mind, Federation Force DID come out during the anniversary month. It just... would’ve been nice if they’d actually acknowledged it. ANYWAY, while Metroid isn’t nearly as popular in Japan as it is in the US, Nintendo DOES care about the series; it’s their only franchise in the Metroidvania genre, and it’s bad business to leave a market untapped.

All that said, Retro Studios has been quiet since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze came out three years ago. They apparently didn’t like working with Kensuke Tanabe, and his role as a producer on Retro games and point of contact with Nintendo was supposedly filled by Yoshio Sakamoto, the director of the Metroid series. Considering Retro’s history with Metroid and their recent foray into 2D platforming with the Donkey Kong Country games, with or without Sakamoto, their secret project definitely feels like it must be a 2D Metroid game. When they finished working on DKC:TF coincides with when Nintendo should’ve started really thinking about the next Metroid game, and the silence on both the Retro and Metroid fronts is telling. It’s gotta be time to reveal what Retro’s been working on, and all signs point to it being Metroid... and a 2D one, I hope.

Zelda Maker

Somehow, it’s been over a year and a half since Tri Force Heroes, and three and a half since A Link Between Worlds. That’s not too soon for them to be far enough into the next handheld Zelda to at least tease it, right? Tri Force Heroes was barely even a game! Okay, maybe it’s too early for the next main series Zelda game, but they could definitely show Zelda Maker. It would need a lot more variation in visual styles than Mario Maker so that every dungeon doesn’t look exactly the same, and a ton of items and interactive elements so that people can make original puzzles, but I think it can be done. Realistically, I don’t think Zelda Maker is likely to happen... but this isn’t a “realistic expectations” list, it’s a HOPE AND DREAMS list!

Ice Climber. Wait, what?

This is completely out of left field, but... new Ice Climber? Nobody’s asking for it, nobody wants it, but I think they could do something with it on Switch. Y’know, a competitive co-op mode to make use of the Joycons? There are plenty of developers this could’ve gone to... Next Level, Sora... maybe a even Namco or Capcom? This game is probably never happening, but if it ever does, I can see it as a Switch eShop title.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

A Mario/Raving Rabbids crossover RPG was rumored months ago, and while there wasn’t really anything to support it, it seemed too weird of a concept for someone to just start a rumor about. Then, a few weeks ago, what appear to be internal materials from Ubisoft regarding the game were leaked... and then the Brazilian ratings board issued a rating for the game, pretty much confirming it. It’s unfortunate that all this was leaked, as this game was probably going to be one of Nintendo’s big reveals at E3. I don’t imagine the leak will impact their plans that much, so this will probably take up a good portion of the spotlight.

Fire Emblem Warriors

Nintendo’s been all about the Fire Emblem lately, and while I don’t expect any details on the next major game in the series, Fire Emblem Warriors is supposed to be coming out sometime this year. The reveal trailer told people pretty much everything they need to know, but I expect it to show up in Treehouse Live, and at the very least in a sizzle reel during the spotlight. Assuming the only sizzle reel isn’t indie developers, which it might be.

Animal Crossing Something-Or-Other

Switch is a great console for Animal Crossing, and I’m excited to see what they do with it. They’ve already announced some kind of mobile Animal Crossing game, which is another perfect platform for the series (assuming it’s not some weird Animal Crossing-themed puzzle game or something). If Katsuya Eguchi’s been working on the mobile game he probably hasn’t had time to work on one for Switch in addition to everything else he’s been involved with... buuut, if they originally started development on Wii U, the game could be close to release by now. Either way, I’m hoping to see something Animal Crossing in the spotlight.

amiibo-Centric Games

I love amiibo, but I’d like to see more games (other than the ones they’re made for) that use them. amiibo Tap is basically just demos of NES and SNES games, and I don’t know anyone who played that Mario vs DK-type game that uses amiibo. The best use of amiibo I’ve seen is in Super Mario Maker, where scanning an amiibo unlocks that character as a skin, and Breath of the Wild, where every amiibo gives you random materials (and Zelda ones give you special items). Codename STEAM also has playable Fire Emblem characters unlocked via amiibo of those characters, which is... random as hell, but still pretty cool. I want Nintendo to put out some games that make use of amiibo in a cool way, something like Skylanders or Disney Infinity.

Switch VR

I’m not all that interested in VR... at least, not as it currently stands. The Switch, however, seems to have been designed with VR in mind. Sure, the main appeal is that it’s a home console that you can take on the go and even has portable multiplayer... but it could also easily become a portable VR system as well. I mean, the unit is a screen with two detachable motion controllers; all they need to do is release a headset to mount it in. I think the screen on the Switch may be kind of a low resolution to use for VR, but it’s definitely a much more attractive solution than other platforms that do VR and nothing but.

Monster Hunter XX

I’ve been waiting for another console Monster Hunter game, and it’s finally coming to Switch with Monster Hunter XX! Currently it’s only announced for Japan, but the series is also incredibly popular in North America, so I’m sure we’ll get it. C’mon, Capcom, give us a date! Also, while you’re at it, work things out with Arthur Conan Doyle’s family (or just ignore them, they have no legal claim to early Sherlock Holmes stuff) and release Dai Gyakuten Saiban here!

RPGs! JRPGs! ARPGs! SRPGs!

I want Japanese role-playing games. We’ve seen enough of Ever Oasis that if it’s in the spotlight it will only be part of a sizzle reel, and... I’m really not sure what’s up with Octopath Traveler, but hey, weird lighting engine aside it looks pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of it. I feel like they’ll finally be showing off the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI, though I expect it to be close to the PS4 version. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is pretty much guaranteed to make an appearance. That’s all nice and good, but I want more. I want the Switch version of Dragon Quest X to come out in North America. I want Slime Morimori 3 to finally come out here. Hell, Nintendo and Namco have been working together a lot recently, how about a new Tales game? A NEW MARIO & LUIGI GAME WITH WARIO AND WALUIGI PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE.

I think that’s about all I’ve got. I really don’t know what they’ll have time for in a twenty-five minute spotlight, but there will supposedly be announcements made during Treehouse Live as well. Hopefully the trailers for things we already know about will be short and most of the new stuff for them will come from Treehouse. I really don’t want ten minutes of the spotlight to be taken up by Super Mario Odyssey, Mario + Rabbids, and Xenoblade 2.

[breegullbeakreviews]

Summary: Nintendo puts its fancy new controllers to the test in a brand new IP where extendable arms turn the art of boxing into a game of aiming and evading. Does Arms have the reach needed to become a mainstay in the Nintendo pantheon? Can these fists go the distance, or do they just get tangled up?

Overall: Of all the Nintendo games to not include support for those who aren’t very good at games, the lack of it here is the games downfall. If you want a game exclusively for partying than this is something to look into, but if you can’t get use to aiming punches than this game is a colossal miss.

Characters: As of the writing, Arms has 12 characters. The game launched with 10 including Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, Master Mummy, Mechanica, Min Min, Helix, Twintelle, Byte & Barq, and Kid Kobra. Since launch Max Brass and Lola Pop have been added in as part of free updates. Each character has a default set of 3 Arms as well as a unique ability. For instance Ribbon Girl can jump repeatedly in the air and Master Mummy heals while blocking. These abilities are unique to each individual character, but all Arms can be unlocked for all characters. Each has four costumes that can be selected from or applied automatically when multiple people select the same character.

I really like the character designs here. They’re all unique and strange. Each has their own backstory that isn’t really delved into outside of the introduction to the Grand Prix. Personally I mainly use Ribbon Girl for her endless jumps, but it’s not as refuse to pick up the other characters.

Stages: The stage count is exactly matched by the character count, and it looks like the plan is to keep things that way. Due to the over the shoulder auto locking movement of Arms, stages are generally pretty flat in design. Hell a whole stage is literally a staircase and another is a bowl. The most crazy and unique is the Snake Park which has rideable platforms that lead too much faster and more frantic horizontal movement. The various settings of stages are really varied, but sadly this variety isn’t brought over into some of the other modes where combat isn’t the main goal.

Control: Now let’s tackle the combat, and sadly this is where the game struggles and succeeds for much the same reason. Arms supports every controller configuration: Handheld, split Joycon, Pro-controller/Joycon grip, and paired Joycon.

Let’s get the worst method out of the way up front: under no circumstance should you ever play with a single Joycon. In one-on-one matches you have to use every button which doesn’t seem that bad, but even with reworked button configurations you can’t remove the biggest blunder, and that’s that the R and L buttons are used, not just the SR and SL buttons. By default this is the switch target button which minimizes its impact, but constantly accidently hitting a button was a common occurrence when I was playing with a friend using this mode. Playing one on one was fine, but as soon as we faced off against another team we got crushed because we were constantly switching targets by accident.

Now let’s cover Handheld and Pro/Joycon support. These solve the issue of too few buttons, but now we hit another problem that is a pretty big issue that will make sure that these will never be competitively viable: you can’t independently control your arms. One of the biggest features of Arms is how each punch can be controlled separately . By tilting the Joycons you can control the direction of the punch on the fly which turns the simple left and right punches into something that can support a full fighting game with enough depth to keep things interesting. Despite a second analog stick, your punches can’t be controller separately which means wide grabs and attempting to throw off opponents with two punches going in different directions isn’t possible.

Now we reach the split controls, the thing the game is sold on. Using the shoulder buttons almost exclusively (D-pad is used to switch targets when needed), everything outside of jumping, dashing, and using Rush is done entirely through motion controls. You tilt both Joycons together to block and tilt them in the same direction to move. Punch forward to throw a punch and twist that first in the desired direction to aim the punch.

Now we hit the games fatal flaw. Something that due to the design of everything I’ve yet to cover, makes this game damn near impenetrable to those who want to go beyond the most basic of punching. Aiming punches is insanely hard no matter the control method. When done via analog stick you have more control, but you lose the ability to control fists separately, something that the CPU never does. CPU and challenges are all designed around the fact that you can use your arms independently which pretty much shuts down everything but motion control, and that’s not any better. Maybe with a lot of practice I could master the art of aiming a punch using motion controls, but as it stands this is a brick wall I can’t get over.

Combat: Combat is at its best when it’s one-on-one. Due to the auto lock on based control, anything more than two combatants leads to complete chaos where the winner is almost always the one who stays out of the fight and isn’t double or triple teamed. What I like about Arms is that unlike most fighters there are no combos. Sure you can aim punches, but that’s it. It’s a simple concept that offers depth without a crazy move set you need to memorize with. It’s why outside Smash I’ve never got into other fighters.

Fighting is frantic and fun. It’s as much about movement as it is about punching. Since smaller faster fists can be stopped by heavier slower fists you need to manage the distance between you and your opponent. You can block a punch with a basic block, but you can’t block a grab in the same way. That needs to be dodged or deflected by punching the grab. This system means that frantic punches will often leave you defenseless and open to attack. This is where each characters special ability will end up getting matched to how you play. I throw punches like crazy and use my endless jumps to keep moving. Before each round you get to select between 3 fists for both arms. You can unlock more than each fighters default 3 fists, but you can only select between 3 before each fight which can be set in the games main menus.

Combat is also limited to 99 second rounds which keeps the pace fast. Higher level combat has obviously smarter opponents which means randomly throwing punches isn’t going to be effective. You can manage, but it’s going to be a crap shoot.

Modes: Numerous other modes exist. Hoops has players performing grabs to toss each other through hoops to score points until someone gets 10 points or the timer runs out. Volleyball has players punching an explosive ball back and forth over the net until it explodes.  First to 5 wins or whoever has the most points when the timer runs out. And then there is Skillshot. Skillshot’s removal from this game would be a major improvement. It’s all about hitting targets and hitting more than your opponent. This is all about aiming and therefore I am absolutely garbage at. There are other modes, but these 3 are the only ones I’ve played, and I’ll get to why later.

Online/Multiplayer: This is what made me fall in love with the game. That initial test punch is probably where I spent most of my time with this game. Party Mode is incredible. Casually throwing punches with random people is super fun. This game excels when you aren’t worried about the outcome. Ranked mode was previously locked to those who could manage beating the Grand Prix at a certain difficulty level, but as of now seems to be open to all challengers, just doesn’t seem like fun. If you have someone to play this game with you will have a great time.

Single Player: Well this is where it all falls apart. This is where those who can aim and those who can’t have a vastly different experience. Grand Prix is 10 fights with a final battle against Max Brass. Even on high difficulties you’d think this could be managed since there is infinite retires. This is where the modes come back in. Rounds 3 and 6 will be one of those 3 modes. V-ball is fine. Hoops is fine. Skillshot is impossible. The inclusion, or more appropriately named intrusion of this mode in particular has made it impossible for me to complete this singe player mode on anything higher than 2. Difficulty goes up to 9. I’m not good at the game obviously, but at least in a fight I might get lucky. In a mode entirely dependent on if you can aim, Nintendo created a brick wall that made me stop playing the game.

Unlockables: You start with all of the characters and stages, but the fists you need to unlock. How do you do this? Well instead of flat out buying them using the currency you build up by playing the various modes, you play Skillshot for a limited time that you purchase with a currency you unlock by playing. A currency that is incredibly slow to earn on lower difficulties. Yeah there is a reason I stopped playing.

[dandelliongirl]

Breath of the Wild

and Dragon Age extravagance.

So yeah, it’s BotW time in our little house. My guy also finished playing DAO - finally after 3 years. He’s started out DA2 with Axel Hawke and is super excited about it. I challenged him into completing DA2 and DAI before he leaves for his exchange year, we’ll see if he actually does that. He’s mainly just happy to be done with DAO. It was a real struggle for him since he prefers stuff with more action.

Last week I had a bit of a deadline panic until I realized I had marked it a month too early. Turns out that instead of a week I still have a month to finish the assignment. Phew. I did a lot of work on my MA thesis and finished our game studies groupwork assignment. The group report was hell and the stress from editing/proofreading and not having people contribute to a huge group assignment until the last day probably made me lose 5 years of my life and caused a huge stress breakout on my face. At least it’s handed in now, although no amount of credit is going to be worth this effort. The sources are a mess and it’s missing a proper conclusion! My perfectionist ass that loves writing research assignments is super ashamed at the results, but what’s done is done... In any case my game design essay got approved for 5 credits and I won’t have to do anything extra for it either, so I’m super happy for that.

Last Thursday me, mum and dad visited granny and grandpa. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on the 16th ♥ Dad made smoked salmon and granny had made a cake. Mum bought granny and grandpa a magnifying glass for their craft hobbies. It was a sunny day and it felt great to spend time with granny and grandpa. My uncle’s mental health is deteriorating fast and we’re all scared of what’ll happen to him but there’s nothing we can do right now since he can’t be forced to seek treatement. We just wish he’d stop bothering grandmum since her heart can’t handle the stress for much longer.. Anyway the day was still precious and made for some great memories.

My guy went on an excursion from Wednesday night until late Thursday, and so I got two nights to myself. I went to bed at like 9pm and watched videos on YouTube/blogged the night away from my cozy bed. I loved it ♥

On Friday me and my friend from ballet class went to buy me some new pointe shoes. Having tried on new ones I realized how soft my old ones are getting, and how that is a very big contributor in why I’ve struggled so much en pointe lately. I’m so bad at blaming external conditions, I always assume I suck and the fault is mine I would’ve never realized it was the soft shoes.. Anyway, I got the Bloch Dramatica II shoes with a split sole, TMT and stretch satin - and they are gorgeous! When I started to break them in though the sole broke almost immediately, and I was really stressed since I wasn’t sure I was going to get a replacement pair. I’m glad I bought them from an actual store rather than order online because the lady who works at the dance store went out of her way to make sure I’ll get new ones tomorrow. It was an obvious structural flaw since the sole isn’t supposed to snap in half just from breaking them in by fingers. Anyway hopefully I’ll get to use my new shoes by next week. Shows are coming up real fast and I’m desperately trying to learn our Ocean and Pearls variation in my livingroom.

This weekend I did absolutely nothing. Well we did go buy groceries on Saturday, made some pizza and washed a load of laundry, but other than that it was just me and my guy - for the first time this year - playing Breath of The Wild and DAO. So far I think Zelda’s VA in BotW sucks, and not being able to charge the joycons while playing in home console mode is a major design oversight. Well, I guess you can if you buy the pro controller but holy hell people should by default be able to plug their controller in and continue playing without going to handheld mode. Anyway BotW is a great game so far, I’ve just not yet made up my mind if it’s a good Zelda game. It’s an amazingly intricate and polished game with a dynamic environment like I’ve never seen before, as well as visually gorgeous. It’s a breath (heh) of fresh air in video gaming for sure and I love that about it. Can’t wait to find out more about the story.

So after yet another relaxing video game weekend (I could make video game weekends with friends a habit) I’ve come back to school and work stuff. I calculated my study credits and decided I can scrap one course from my plans. My spring will be easier and I’ll have more time to dedicate to methods and MA thesis. I watched my Chinese contemporary history lecture, visited the library for some method books, went to a work meeting, came back to eat some soup and worked on my thesis. My high school friend and my guy worked on their physics hmwk while I played ACNL and made a macaroni casserole. Then I went to work and got back to play some DA2 with my guy.

Going to watch a video lecture and work on methods stuff tomorrow. I’m also picking up my replacement pair of pointe shoes and going to the office to do some work. Ballet class in the evening. I can’t believe ME Andromeda launches tomorrow in the States... I hope it’s a good game, and that they’ll release a lot of patches by the time I get to it. I hope I fall in love with Jaal..

I’m doing really well right now. Very little stress and my schoolwork is moving ahead on schedule. It’s also really enjoyable, rewarding and it’s stuff that actually interests me. My guy’s finally playing Dragon Age again and getting to explore the new Zelda with him is cool - it’s like we have hobbies and something in common again! Woow. It’s also been really sunny and nice lately, which is a large contribution to my happy mood. I hope it lasts - the sunshine and the happiness. ☼ I can’t wait for summer, it’ll be a lot more relaxing this year, even though I have my MA thesis to work on.