u/redDKtie

It's just not fun at all spending an hour memorizing a hyper specific button combination.

I'd love the cards, but I have neither the time nor the energy to get good.

I've been a die-hard DK fanatic since I got my Super NES Donkey Kong set back in '96.

Unfortunately none of this is from my childhood. All accumulated over the past 5 years. But it makes me happy nonetheless.

Some of my favorite pieces:

- in the bottom corner by the PLAY IT LOUD poster is a stick I found. It reminded me of Cranky, so I brought it home 😆

- the DK mask that sees all.

- somewhere buried among the amiibo is the original VHS promo tape for DKC. I must've watched that video 1000 times as a kid.

- big squishy banana

- the big Nintendo NY bag hanging on the door is a funny story. I found myself in NYC in 2022 or so, and was hype to finally check out the Nintendo Store for myself. To my dismay, at the time DK merch was basically non-existent. I got a keychain and jokingly expressed to the cashier that DK was absent from the store. He goes "... Hold on a second" and proceeded to put my tiny keychain in this huge DK themed bag. I know it's not much, but the cashier was so cool for that. Shout-out to my homeboy wherever he is 🍌

Edit: also shout-out to the token Star Fox display that I didn't have room for anywhere else in my room 😆

Today we start vibing

I beat the story of Fallout 4 yesterday (I didn't want to but I just got Splatoon Raiders and I only have time for 1 video game in my life at a time).

For context, I played a crap load of Fallout 3 when it came out. But didn't touch 4 or 76. I picked up the Anniversary Edition on Switch 2 recently, sort of on a whim.

Because it has been sooooo long since I touched Fallout, it did feel like I was going in blind. Especially since I had no connection to the fanbase or what was going on with reviews or anything.

So when I found out that people didn't like the story I was sort of confused because I found the central story to be quite compelling. With some difficult interesting moral delemas along the way. Particularly because of how scattered I was with my playthrough. I felt like I was REALLY pushing the limits of where I was "supposed" to go early in the game. I died a lot. Lol. But I enjoyed the feeling of survival more than being an all powerful insta-kill warlord in the late game.

I had done so many side quests and so much of the DLC that by the time I got around to finishing the story that taking out the entire Brotherhood was a cake walk. I was one-shotting power armor with my shotgun. Lol.

The closest thing I can compare Fallout 4 to is my experience with Borderlands. Which might be why I actually liked the story, because I actively HATED the story in Borderlands 3.

So, basically overall it's like a 9/10 for me. Nothing really slowed me down or made me feel like giving up. Partially because of just how much content there is. If I got stuck I would just chock it up to not a high enough level and go to something else for awhile. The world was constantly calling to be explored.

Performance on the Switch 2 is impressive. I rarely saw any stuttering, and the game looked gorgeous at 60 fps. It crashed a few times.

A few things did bug me. Top of my list is the settlement building.

FAR too often I found wild inconsistencies between where I was and wasn't "allowed" to place stuff. Roofs and floors in particular. Retrofitting an existing house felt nearly impossible, which is a real shame because it lent itself to some interesting design choices. So I always ended up just making square buildings from scratch and they looked boring.

I'm sure there are mods that fix all this, but I'm playing on Switch 2... So...

The other QOL improvement I would've loved to see is a way to build and equip "loadouts" faster. Certain scenarios lent themselves to particular armor, weapon, or aid choices that were sort of a pain to switch around and keep track of.k

Also why no Mouse Mode on Switch 2?

Anyway, I had 200 hours of absolute escapist bliss with this game and I just wanted to share.

Cheers!

My choices:

\- I sided with the Railroad. Killed the Brotherhood and the Institute.

\- In Far Harbor I blew up the Children of Atom (lord they were annoying as heck). I'm not sorry.

\- In Nuka World I played about half of it, then just killed all the raider gangs because they were also annoying.

Tl;dr: Overall I loved it, even the story. I had minor nit-picks about settlement building.

I played Fallout 3 on PS3 almost 20 years ago. And I've been a fan ever since. I'm mostly a Nintendo gamer now since getting married and having kids, so I wasn't able to play 4 at launch.

I've never been a person who chases performance/graphics, but even as a casual fan, this game looks and runs incredibly well on Switch 2. I've run into the occasional glitch, usually when switching to settlement mode it'll freeze for a good 20 seconds before letting me play. And the game has crashed on me 4 times. But I think for a Bethesda game, that's par for the course. And even Nintendo 1st party games crash once a blue moon.

The game has me absolutely hooked.

The crafting mechanics in particular have me min/maxing, constantly in search of gears and adhesive, seeking the absolute perfect feeling firearms. It gives me Borderlands vibes. But unlike Borderlands, I'm not cringing at dialogue every 30 seconds, or rolling my eyes at the story.

Far Harbor has to be one of my favorite bits of DLC of all time. Such an interesting story with a bunch of branching choices and unique enemies. I had to pause and laugh my ass off at the "hermit crab in a trailer" lol.

The settlement building is really neat, if a bit flawed. It feels like the game is WAY too strict about which pieces are "allowed" to fit together. They should've let it be more freeform like fusing in TOTK. I have cool ideas for what I want to build, but searching for parts and working with the landscape has me mostly building walls around settlements and building prefabs. Which isn't the end of the world, but it could be better.

I apologize for the stream of consciousness. This isn't a review or anything, but coming back to the series with this game on Switch 2 has been a blast so I just wanted to share my experience in case anyone was interested in picking up the Switch 2 version and on the fence.

Cheers!

So for context, It's been kinda weird trying to get this book in the US. Some online stores said they had it, some said it was out of print. But I was never able to nail one down.

A new locally owned book/board game store opened in my town and I wanted to support them. So I bought a few things and on a whim asked if their supplier had the book. To my surprise they said they had it in their system and could order it!

They said it's coming from Europe so it could be a while. Which is fine, I'd rather support local. And I've had no luck otherwise.

... That was in December. Lol.

I went in a few times since then to support them and asked about the book, but all the info they had was that the supplier had the order.

Then I kinda forgot about it. Until yesterday when they actually said they got the book!

And it's real! In my hands!

I'm playing through all the Starfox games leading up to The Switch 2 game. Having a blast. And luckily most of the games are short for just a single playthrough.

I played Command when it came out in 06 and I have fond memories of it, but I haven't played it since. And as of right now this game has me stumped and frustrated. So I'm wondering if I'm missing something or doing something wrong.

Getting off Corneria was easy enough. I wanted to go back and rescue Peppy, but that option was locked for some reason. So I went ahead to Fichina.

Before I get ahead of myself... Is there no way to just do normal controls in this game without the touchscreen? It feels terrible trying to fly the Arwing. Why did they map everything to touch gestures? Can I set my d-pad to boost/break/roll?

Anyway, Fichina... I must've attempted this planet 6 times before I got the "right" strategy with the paths to both prevent Great Fox destruction AND get enough cores to complete the level without running out of turns. Which kinda feels like BS if you ask me. Why do I have limited turns? I thought this game was going to let me sort of explore but apparently it's more about doing the exact right strategy. Pretty frustrating if you ask me.

On that note, is there any flying in this game that isn't just "destroy X number of enemies within the time limit?" I thought there were some on-rails sections of this game but maybe I'm misremembering.

So I finally beat Fichina, I feel accomplished and I'm ready for the next challenge. Then Star Wolf shows up and now for some reason the game thinks I'm ready for a 3 on 1 dogfight, with limited time, and infinite bombs everywhere.

After several tries, I ran out of lives and just closed the DS.

Hopefully I'm missing some big obvious detail that will make the game more fun, because I'd like to play it, but as of right now it kinda sucks.

Tl;dr - Can you remap buttons or change the control scheme? Is there a difficulty setting? Why does this game hate me?

Unless you've been living on another planet, you've experienced the wide divide on Fox and company's new look. Especially within the fanbase.

I'm here to pitch what may not be that crazy of an idea, but I haven't seen it discussed yet.

That Nintendo chose this design explicitly because it would be divisive.

Point #1: The best marketing is word of mouth.

Marketing is expensive as heeeeelllll. So if you can get people talking about your thing, that's both free and (usually) more effective than throwing a wide net. And history has shows us that a negative headline is better for sales than no headline at all. Being note-worthy, whether it's positive or negative, gets attention. Which is in short supply. So from a marketing perspective it makes sense to present a slightly off aesthetic that will get people talking, even arguing. Because it will stay in the conversation. Studies show that people might tell 1-3 other people if they had a positive experience at a restaurant, but if they had a negative experience, that number skyrockets.

Point #2: Nintendo's designers aren't blind.

We've all seen the posts. Amateur photoshoppers slightly redesigning Fox and the crew to be more appealing. Do we actually think the professionals at Nintendo didn't know what they were doing? No. They presented several options and intentionally chose the one that would create buzz. Again. Even negative buzz is advantageous. Especially when it's something as inoffensive as "how Starfox looks".

Point #3: Starfox at it's core.

In my humble, 40 year old, fan since 1997 opinion, the MOST important thing about a Starfox flight game is the feeling of the Arwing in your hands. It's what separates a 29 year old game from the countless indie attempts since. It's why I have trouble playing Starfox 64 on anything other than an original N64 on a CRT. (I'm not saying that's how you have to play it, I'm just saying that what I prefer. You do you. More power to you. I ain't no gatekeeper). The primary complaint about Starfox Assault, as much as I love that game, is the on-foot and Landmaster controls. And let's not get started on Zero again.

All that to say, nobody is actively choosing to NOT buy this game because of the aesthetic. Flying in this game looks like a euphoric dreamscape to a Starfox fan. Everything else is toppings on an already delicious orange sorbet. And that's exactly why Nintendo did this. They CHOSE the controversy. And it goes without saying that Starfox games have a history with controversy.

Tl;dr - Nintendo intentionally chose a slightly off artistic style that would in no way hinder gameplay so that they could control a "controversy" which would keep people talking about the game without hindering sales. Which is a form of free, word of mouth marketing

Edit: This came off more cynical than I intended. Lots of great points in the comments. I certainly had a negative reaction to the reveal, and have since softened on it. Though I don't think I'll ever get over fox let's with human arms 😅