Nintendo direct tomorrow morning pray for some kind of animal crossing news.

[Shan O 123]

Oh I love that Pokémon game. It does remind me of the DS.

[Bluie]

Alright, I'm past my 'post Fire Emblem reveal' high. I still can't believe I was complaining about a Three Houses and not wanting a definitive edition and instead got a sequel. It's been wild reading the all the responses on the Reddit community. It's very 'NO, I DO NOT WANT THIS' to 'YESSSS THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!' with really no in between. Personally, I'm glad for more Fire Emblem, period. Having more than one FE in the same/related setting is nothing new for this franchise, so I'm not sure -why- people are upset we're having another duology when the series is known for doing so.

Anyways, the other stuff that interested/disappointed me:

- Dinkum coming to Switch is a good idea - it's got the vibes that hit a lot of players in the sweet spot. I'll probably pick it up myself.

- Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream coming out early next year is great - I can see myself spending a lot of time on this one.

- Dragon Quest VII Reimagined really has me scratching my head - we JUST had a DQVII remake on 3DS, and it's not unusual for DQ to get more than one remake, but this seems really out of no where (AND DRAGON QUEST IX NEEDS ONE MORE - IT'S STUCK ON THE DS!).

- Switch 2 version of Stardew Valley is very much appreciated.

- Pokopia looks pleasant - and it may very well be 'Dragon Quest Builders 3' with a Pokemon coat of paint due to Koei Tecmo being involved (It would not be the first time their devs aren't allowed to make another entry and just apply it somewhere else (see: Toukiden and Wild Hearts)).

- The Pokemon ZA DLC right out the gate is... odd, but it's not like other companies don't already do this - though I won't be buying if I don't absolutely love the game.

- Monster Hunter Stories 3 coming out in March is nice - and Navirou is GONE (thank goodness).

[Kikki]

Pokopia DOES have the look of DQB, but...it can't be as good. DQB is full-blown JRPG, really...no way this is gonna be. Seems like all you do is build appropriate habitats for pokemon. No sign of a story. I couldn't be satisfied by Minecraft...I don't think I can be by this.

I'm interested in it, but I don't know if I want it. The story was crucial to the fun of DQB and DQB2, ime.

I already own Dinkum on Deck, so I've no reason to buy it on Switch, but it's a good spot for it. I own Final Fantasy VII Remake already, too, but am glad to see it's going to Switch 2 as well. Wonder if I can convince my li'l bro-in-law to buy it? He's been resistant, as he COULD have gotten it on PS4 but never did. Maybe because they swear so much? But I don't know if he even knows that part...

Hades II...I'm not sure. I liked the first game, and did play to escaping the underworld, but...I didn't play a single run past that, and there was still story left in that 'post-game' period. I don't know if I'd even get that far in the sequel. I do love Supergiant and their stories, though. I'm glad it's finally getting to Switch.

And...I think that's it, for me? I'm not really a Fire Emblem girl. I played the one with Chrom in, and I played Three Houses, and that's it. They were both 'okay'. (I only liked one of the three MCs of Three Houses so I only ever played one route, and even his wasn't overly satisfying, I don't think? Hard to remember, now.) I don't particularly like the chessboard gameplay.

The Donkey Kong demo was very chintzy. Half an hour to do 'whatever you want', but you can't really get a feel for the game in that amount of time. You also don't get to meet Pauline. You just play the very intro, then suddenly when you get through to the world...uh, is it UNDER where you start? Did I misunderstand, or perhaps the skipped portion misled me, because...how can there be SKY in an underworld?? Anyway...suddenly Pauline is on your back but you never hear a word from her, she's just THERE.

And in half an hour, all you get a feel for is that you get to smash lots, and lots of bananas and banana slices and a few apples and lots and lots of golden clumps fly out and you collect and/or eat them. I hate that A is jump! B should always be jump in a Nintendo game. A is the action button!

Anyway, I played it, but even after that, there wasn't enough to tell if I'd like it. I doubt I'd like it enough for it to be worth $100.

EDIT: Age of Imprisonment. I will ONLY get this if it is canon. REAL canon, not Aonuma's fudged canon. He vaguely indicated that Age of Calamity was canon. It was in a different dimension (I think those were his words) so it wasn't part of the MAIN canon, but...still canon!

Uh...no. Aonuma is full of nutty fudge and just wants to sell games, so he says what fans want to hear. (It's why we even have a timeline for the series. Just telling fans what they want to hear!) I HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE alternate universe/diverging realities. Hate hate hate hate. I will wait until others have played this, find out if it really IS believable as actual TotK canon...no diverging timelines, no alternate realities...and THEN I will consider getting it. I don't love Warriors gameplay but I don't hate it, either.

[Bluie]

Pokopia DOES have the look of DQB, but...it can't be as good. DQB is full-blown JRPG, really...no way this is gonna be. Seems like all you do is build appropriate habitats for pokemon. No sign of a story. I couldn't be satisfied by Minecraft...I don't think I can be by this.

Yes, I completely understand 100%, with my situation being with Toukiden and Wild Hearts. I love Toukiden, it's by far my favorite video game series of all time, and I've been waiting and hoping for Toukiden 3 for nine years now. The devs expressed wanting to make a third entry, but were never greenlit, and then came Wild Hearts - same team, sameish setting, similar concept, but lacking all the characters+artwork+music+story+soul from Toukiden. I still haven't played it because I'm so disappointed. I'm sure on a surface level I will like it (I have the Switch 2 version in my wishlist), but it will never be Toukiden 3. I think the same thing happened with Dragon Quest Builders and Pokopia, which is really disheartening for you as, like me, you really just want that third entry and not whatever this is... but have no choice but to begrudgingly accept its existence. So, so frustrating.

[Kikki]

Pokopia DOES have the look of DQB, but...it can't be as good. DQB is full-blown JRPG, really...no way this is gonna be. Seems like all you do is build appropriate habitats for pokemon. No sign of a story. I couldn't be satisfied by Minecraft...I don't think I can be by this.

Yes, I completely understand 100%, with my situation being with Toukiden and Wild Hearts. I love Toukiden, it's by far my favorite video game series of all time, and I've been waiting and hoping for Toukiden 3 for nine years now. The devs expressed wanting to make a third entry, but were never greenlit, and then came Wild Hearts - same team, sameish setting, similar concept, but lacking all the characters+artwork+music+story+soul from Toukiden. I still haven't played it because I'm so disappointed. I'm sure on a surface level I will like it (I have the Switch 2 version in my wishlist), but it will never be Toukiden 3. I think the same thing happened with Dragon Quest Builders and Pokopia, which is really disheartening for you as, like me, you really just want that third entry and not whatever this is... but have no choice but to begrudgingly accept its existence. So, so frustrating.

I wouldn't mind at all if they made a DQB3 in a different skin, like Pokemon...but it'd have to be otherwise the same. Like, with a compelling story to build alongside. As far as I know, no Pokemon game ever has had a compelling story, and I doubt this cute build-Pokemon-habitats game will.

Not that I'm not willing to TRY it, if continuing info reveals prove to be appealing, but...yeah. I don't think it can be DQB3.

Sorry you lost your series A shame both Toukiden and Wild Hearts have such bad reviews on Steam...I wonder what's wrong. Maybe it's why the series didn't continue? Poor sales or bad reception? DQB was received very well, but it's niche for someone working on Square Enix's level, so...I guess they just don't want to concentrate on anything that won't get Final Fantasy-level sales numbers.

Fooey.

Well anyway, after a few days reflection, while the Direct was fun enough to watch...it was a bit disappointing for the first real Direct after the release of a new console. (Meaning the Switch 2, of course.) It doesn't feel like the S2 has all that much momentum.

[Shan O 123]

I’m just going to post this here.


Okay so it’s not animal crossing buuuuuuutttttt it looks really good! I’m really excited.

[Kikki]

It could be good. Right now I'm not very hopeful that it will be enough for me, as it looks too simple. A game has to have Animal Crossing level of things-to-do, to get me interested when there's no story to draw me along. So far this has no signs of a story, just game mechanics. (Meet pokemon, make habitats for them, do some crafting, decorate.) If it has as much as AC in terms of things you can buy/craft/collect, maybe then.

I kind of doubt it will, though, because no AC clone has ever had as much in it as AC itself.

[PSI_Nightshade]

The Direct was fine. Nothing that blew my mind but I also am content right now as I feel everything I wanted in a realistic wishlist already happened or is confirmed on the way so I always tackle showcases now as "What else do you have to offer?".

People losing their mind that the Direct was going to be an hour long weren't aware of the Super Mario Bros. anniversary so it was really a mini-Direct for this topic combined with a regular one. With that mindset, the time length made sense. As far as the Mario stuff go, I'm good with skipping most of it. I'll probably see the movie somehow at some time of my choosing (the last time I ended up seeing it because my place had no power for 3 days and I had to figure out something to pass time). I might give the new Tennis game a shot if it looks more promising than what we got with Mario Tennis Aces. The Yoshi game actually speaks to me and that's coming from someone who normally is neutral at best with Yoshi games. I will keep an eye open for it.

The Virtual Boy NSO is nothing short of amazing. I know a few people in my entourage who would love to mess with that. It feels pretty niche but I hang out with people who really are into this kind of nonsense.

I got nothing to add about Pokemon stuff. I'll have to see more about Pokopia before deciding if I try it or not and I was planning to get z-A anyway.

I expected a new Fire Emblem game because it felt like we were due for now at this time. It looks neat and you can see that it is taking things from Three Houses but I'm hoping that it doesn't go overboard with the whole calendar nonsense. It's the main thing that made me not want to go back and do other playthroughs of Three Houses. As far as the teaser, people keep saying it's a sequel to Three Houses but personally I think this is a prequel and by that I mean like how technically speaking, Fire Emblem Awakening is a sequel to Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. Same timeline but so far away time wise that only the long lifespan characters have a chance to show up. In other words, I don't expect to see any returning characters from Three Houses except 3, maybe 4. In any case, this is just a reminder for myself to go finish Fire Emblem Engage. I'm like 2 or 3 battles away from the end. I finished all the DLC. I was literally just stalling to finish getting all my Support conversations.

Everything is fine? Nothing in there was "I must have this" to me. Hades II looks cool but I should probably be done with the first Hades before considering it.

As a bonus, I then found out that the japanese Nintendo Direct also featured the announcement of the Mega Man Star Force Legacy collection and NA decided to go for the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection instead :V. Like, I get it. Star Force didn't do so well on this side of the world but I have my allegiance lol. Anyway, this means that once this one comes out, there will one series left to cover. Part of me still doubt that's going to happen, but also I didn't expect them to re release the second Ace Attorney Investigations game and yet they did. We'll see in 2 years.