It’s another Party Crash weekend in ARMS. Got to level 10 or so last night, and level 30 tonight, because tomorrow is set aside for a bunch of life stuff. So, it’s time to say...

tigersgogrrr wrote:

ARMS is such a good game. Criminally underrated.

That.

Great machine. Can’t see it being dropped at all. Very successful with great range of Ninty originals plus great indie games. And GOAT in Slay The Spire.

Matt_82 wrote:

It would also be the first time I've ever bought a console this far I to its life cycle.  Has it been successful enough to avoid being dropped like that last one? Is there anything I should be aware of going in? I've heard that controllers etc are pretty expensive and we're a single income family so cant break the bank on cool shit.  Do the games tend to have micro transactions these days?

It's been very successful and isn't likely to get dropped anytime soon, even if it's possible that an enhanced version is on the way. Edit: And if you're interested in smaller, indie games they're very well supported.

You can certainly make do with the joycon controllers that come with it. They're a little cramped for bigger hands but still do the job. I haven't bought anything else yet, although it may be something I do eventually, more for dpad focused games than anything.

Perhaps the one thing to consider is that the big games don't go down in price in the same way as they do on other formats. With a PS4 now for instance, you could pick up most of the AAA stuff for very little. With Nintendo, a Zelda or a Mario will still cost you £40+ and will rarely be on sale any cheaper.

I can definitely loan you BOTW, Matt.

My top tip is get a Pro Controller. They're not cheap but damn they are good. Also, a big mSD card but I'm sure you've plenty of them kicking about!

I’ve got Toad I can lend out too.

Right that's good stuff and thanks to Gav, boris and Elf for that. The child will be especially handy when I have shit to do and need to put the controller down. You'll need to provide food and drink, though.

Well that's pretty much me sold on it. I had got excited about the virtual console until I found out they haven't brought that over. Hopefully that's something that's on the cards as I'd love access to that back catalogue. Didn't have either Wii so the whole thing would be a novelty.

Switch is the best, I could probably not have a PS4 anymore and still be dead happy with just the switch. I have never played it on the TV, and never bought another controller (I did buy an adapter on amazon that allowed me to use my old wii u pro controller and fight pad though, but again would require me to use the dock...)

Only reason to get anything extra is when something breaks - I’m looking into more joycons as I’m getting drift from the left stick running my characters off cliffs randomly

But yeah, amazing console and incredible game selection.

Looking at the eshop what is the architecture of the switch as there seem to be loads of pc games ported...

Ho hum

Andy wrote:

What's your tolerance for JRPGs in general? I'm a big fan of DQXI, but wasn't keen on Xenoblade, so i'd be happy to give some thoughts based on your tastes, if you'd like?

I bought Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation because of the reviews, and never played more than a few hours. Never been a massive fan of RPGs in general, less so JRPGs, but my tastes have been changing the last few years. I can’t really explain my attraction to XC2 or DQXI.

Ok, fair enough. I'm not one to push people to play games just because I really like them, so I'm just gonna go through what I like about DQXI and be honest about why I like it, but why others might bounce off it, and you can decide if it has appeal to you. 

Also, as a reference point for where I'm coming from, I do like JRPGS...I think. After FFVII, which I loved, I tried to get into a load more JRPGS and hated them all, so for a while I thought that I actually didn't like JRPGS and that final Fantasy was just the exception. However, then Persona came along, and I finally found a niche of JRPG that I liked - breezy, fun, character-led JRPGS with turn-based combat and decent scripts which didn't require huge amounts of grinding and had a pseudo-open world with linearish progression. If a JRPG had action-based combat like the Tales games, I was out. If there were too many fights and I was unable to enjoy the flow of the game world, like Skies of Arcadia, I was out. If it was really sloppily written and acted stuff like the Star Ocean games, I was out. If it had a nasty hybrid system like Ni No Kuni, or was overly tutorialised (also like Ni No Kuni) I was out. 

So, I'm picky with JRPGs, but I do fundamentally like them unlike, perhaps, you. So, bear that in mind.

I think if i had played Dragon Quest XI 5 or 10 years ago I would have hated it. It's kinda twee and, if you go through areas choosing to get into fights, really quite easy. 

At the beginning of the game you'll hear thick west-country accents and see monsters that have slapstick animation sets. You'll either like that or you won't. I ran though the game using the dash button in order to avoid unnecessary fights, but I would still get into fights with new monster types I saw. Why? Because every time I saw a new monster, there would undoubtedly be something so charming about its animation or moveset that I couldn't resist seeing it. Again, would that appeal to you? You either find the idea of a cactus with thick purple eyebrows jumping from foot to foot charming or you don't. I did, and I can't explain why. It was just so...nice.

The game absolutely isn't grindy, despite its popular reputation as a grindy RPG. Previous installements could be quite grindy, for sure, with VII and IX being the most recent examples in the series to require some decent grind, but XI really isn't like that. I avoided a lot of fights, as mentioned above, and reached the bosses somewhat under-levelled but was still able to overcome them by understanding the powers and skills at my disposal. Bosses often get 2 moves per turn, which can feel cheap, and are often capable of one-shotting party members, which can also feel cheap, and are also often capable of incapacitating multiple party members at once, which can feel cheap, but they can all be overcome without grind and without trying something 100 times in a row. I didn't wipe once until the final boss of the game, and even then I managed to do it the second time. So again, what are you looking for? A mechanical challenge? If so, you'll be waiting 80 hours for that to kick in. A complete breeze? Then you'll wanna get into battles along the way and arrive at bosses at the "proper" level.

You kinda have to set your own difficulty. There's "draconian" settings you can activate with a new game to add modifiers to your adventure but, to be honest, the only one i really like is shypox and i know that it would put 99% of people off. Shypox is a modifier where occasionally your character will do nothing during that turn because he "remembers something really embarrassing he did 10 years ago" or something similar along those lines. The actual lines for delivering your character being inflicted with shypox are incredible and made me laugh every time but, again, it'll be an acquired taste and randomness isn't fin for everyone.

The post-game is a different story. 

Tim rogers really nailed his thoughts on DQXI and he said that Dragon Quests often contain their own sequels - they're less like playing a single game, and more like watching a boxset of a TV show. Dragon Quests XI structure is long, winding and episodic, and you could stop at multiple points at the game and say you completed it. The post-game is where I finally had to grind a little, but until then I didn't have many issues.

Another thing Tim Rogers talked about, and an area where I agree again 100%, is the auto-battle system. Use it. It just handles all the run-of-the-mill combat for you. That can seem dull, but it isn't like turning the game into a clicker game. It just means if you really quickly wanna level up a couple of time, or you don't wanna get involved with low-level monsters you let the game handle it for you. I feel the same way about it that I do the FFXII gambit system, which automated battling. So, if you're looking for a battle system which feels complex and involving every time...this may not be the game for you.

What type of story do you like? Dragon Quest XI has all the complexity of a saturday morning cartoon - it's bright and colourful and charming. Or, if you bounce off it, it's thin, shallow and far too twee for its own good. Occasionally it'll throw curveballs, but this is not the game for a massively involving overarching narrative. The best stories here are the character stories, or the stories you find when reaching a new city or location. Those are the stars of the show. As far as great narrative hooks go for the overall story....you'll be waiting dozens of hours. Buy if you're ok taking the story slowly and treating it like a long running TV show...you might get something from this.

There's also a crafting system. If you're someone who likes to grind materials and make items - this is not the game for you. It's not a collectathon. The material requirements are generally pretty low - usually just a handful of a particular material - and there's no randomness in terms of buffs. Some people like that, some don't. For me, DQXI's crafting system was perfection.

The best thing way I could describe DQXI, as I did recently to a friend, is as a hot cup of cocoa. Just sip it every night, take your time and snuggle up. There's no need to rush. Just enjoy the sights and sounds and colours. If you're desperate to find that hook or need some mechanical brilliance to grab you, you'll bounce off. But if you go in wanting to like it, if you click with the voices and characters, engage with the ridiculous sidequests - there's a good chance it might work for you.

This is the most JRPGy of JRPGs. There's so little here that's modern - just a few UI improvements. But it really doesn't care about trying anything new.

I’m quite looking forward to trying final fantasy 8. While 7 is the iconic one I feel like I know the aspects of that too well through osmosis and it just feels unattractive. I feel like it’s going to be a cleaner job to try ff8.

Wookienopants wrote:

cosmicjellybean wrote:

Only reason to get anything extra is when something breaks - I’m looking into more joycons as I’m getting drift from the left stick running my characters off cliffs randomly

You too? Mines started in the last week and it’s driving me nuts!

And me! Somehow my Son puts up with it, but I've taken to Pro use only until I have moye to replace it.

I've got two sets of JoyCons on the way out - one with drift problems and one with a borked analogue inner circle (#techtalk).  It's annoying on menus, but it's worse when the main character in Wandersong jumps whenever he fancies it.  

What's probably even more annoying is the fact that I'll have to replace them as I mostly play undocked.  I've got more than enough pads for 5 player TowerFall already, having bought the 8bitdo M30 after posting a picture of it last week.

My case doubles up as a stand, so even when undocked I'll have it propped in the case, on my knees, using the pro

The JoyCons are neat little things considering what they do and how well they work when they're new, but they're not built to last.  Which is a sorry state of affairs considering how much they cost to replace.  #DWTSOT