vanguard333

I don't know about ideal, but I'd like to see Fire Emblem experiment with a playable version of the monster mechanic from Three Houses; essentially making a transformation mechanic where the limitation doesn't come in the form of a gauge or a limited-uses stone, but in the character taking up multiple tiles when transformed.

Welcome to the Forest. It's nice to meet a fellow aspiring writer.

Future Game of the Year (Industry) - Depends on what you mean by "industry"; the game that gets the most acclaim? The game that gets the most "game of the year" awards from out-of-touch award shows? In any case, probably Elden Ring. Future Game of the Year (Personal) - Breath of the Wild 2 if it releases this year. If not, then probably the Blossom Tales sequel. Future Worst of the Year (Industry) - No idea. Future Worst of the Year (Personal) - No idea; I try to avoid bad games and I listen to reviewers. Biggest Sales Flops - Edge of Eternity: a JRPG that's been in early access for multiple years and has had almost no marketing whatsoever. Biggest Controversy - NFTs, assuming that it counts as a controversy since "controversy" implies argument, and as far as I can work out, the only people supporting NFTs in games are either people with stake in NFTs or the game companies trying to push for NFTs in games, so it's not an argument. Better than Anticipated - Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I have not seen such low expectations for a game in quite a while; expectations for any Pokémon game have been below rock-bottom; they've been planet's inner core level of low. But, I've played Legends: Arceus, and it's been pretty good so far. It isn't by any means the most amazing game ever made; not even close, but I cannot see a game being even more "better than anticipated" than this, simply because anticipation was just so low for this game. Most Disappointing - Industry or personal? Either way, I have no idea. I would say Dragon Age 4 for "industry" if it wasn't already a given that Bioware is basically dead. Your Most Anticipated - BOTW2 obviously, if it releases this year. If not, then probably Blossom Tales 2. Game/Franchise You Most Want Announced - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games Remake that includes the cancelled third game. Unannounced Game You Expect - Fire Emblem Echoes: Genealogy of the Holy War. Your Safest Prediction/Low Hanging Fruit (Can be about anything) - Dragon Age 4 will be a shell of a game.

I haven't played Samus Returns or Zero Mission, but I know that, when it comes to music and the Metroid games, it's Super Metroid and the Prime games that have the good music. Speaking of which, you should probably try those games. Super Metroid is very much a product of the SNES era but it otherwise holds up, and the Prime games are pretty good.

@joevar I see. I don't know too much about the series as a whole, but I'm going to guess that the thinking behind VC4 probably had to do with diminishing sales numbers/audience reception, since the series doesn't exactly sell very well. Anyway, I started playing Pokemon Legends: Arceus. I created a topic specifically for people to post their first impressions of the game, so I'm not going to say too much here (then again, I haven't said much in that topic either because I created that topic before I bought the game...) One thing I can say is that I've been enjoying it a lot; the gameplay loop of going out in expeditions, exploring and catching a lot of Pokémon is quite fun. The new combat is also fun, but I'm not a fan of how it sometimes seems to lie to the player: it'll say that the move order is your Pokémon will attack once and the wild Pokémon will attack once, only for the wild Pokémon to get to attack twice even though they don't have access to swift-style moves or anything that would raise their attack speed.

Fire Emblem has always had a problem with its avatar characters. Fixed protagonists and custom protagonists have different strengths and weaknesses, and FE avatars are usually an awkward mix of the two that doesn't really utilize the advantages of a custom protagonist. In the case of Byleth specifically, the combination of a fixed character and dialogue choices makes Byleth come across less like a custom protagonist that is our insert character, and more of a fixed character that we are guiding, like Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher games or Toon Link from Wind Waker and its sequels. The obvious problem there is that Geralt and Toon Link are brimming with personality; taking advantage of being a fixed character, while Byleth is the exact opposite.

Funny; I too had to stop about 3/4 of the way through the game; in my case, it was because I moved, and by the time I got everything set up, my schedule became very busy. I wouldn't know about that comparison to VC3 though; I've only played VC1 and 4.

…What? …/10

It honestly depends on the game. There are a number of games with postgame content that I enjoyed (the Mega Man Star Force games come to mind); I just rarely find that to be the case for Fire Emblem games. I did play the trial maps of Path of Radiance a few times, but I grew bored of them, and Path of Radiance is my favourite Fire Emblem game.

I almost never use either, so I'm not sure which one I would prefer.

Late last year, I decided to try the Metroid series, starting with Super Metroid. I then played Metroid Dread after that. Both were fun. I heard a lot of good things about the Metroid Prime Trilogy, so I bought the trilogy on my Wii U for $20 and decided to give these games a try. Finally, I have completed all three games in the trilogy. I'm going to put my thoughts in spoiler tags in order to keep this from getting too long, but in the Prime 3 section, there are some actual spoilers. Preface: One thing I should say right away to bear in mind is that I am really not a fan of first-person games. I don't like being unable to see where the player character is standing, I don't like the lack of peripheral vision, and I don't like the focus on ranged combat that usually involves guns. When a game called Kingdom Come: Deliverance was announced, it sounded almost perfect for me: a historical fiction RPG set in late-Medieval Europe with combat inspired by actual Historical European Martial Arts. Yet, when the game released, what kept me from buying it wasn't the survival mechanics or the game being a buggy mess on release; it was the game being entirely first-person outside of dialogue that made me choose not to play it, as I knew I likely wouldn't enjoy it. So, with that in mind, what did I think of the Prime Trilogy? …I really enjoyed it. The Trilogy as a Whole: Prime 1: Prime 2: Echoes Prime 3: Corruption Obligatory "Which Game I liked Most" Section: I'm sure there's even more I could say about this trilogy, but I'll leave it at this for now. What do you think? Probably that nothing I said is anything new as these games are over a decade old.

I don't know about SEGA, but one thing I am certain of is that not even being bought would stop Capcom from releasing their games on multiple platforms.

Okay. But my main point was that, if this industry is allowed to become an oligopoly, the quality will degrade.

It's true that it cannot last long-term, and ease with which indie games have risen is a good sign. I'm more concerned about the damage these companies will do in the meantime before and during their fall.

I think it would've been funnier if, at the end, it showed someone catch up to them almost instantly just by walking casually.

The show that opening was for, Golden Kamuy, is actually really good and I'd recommend it. As for this video... it's... odd. I'd give it an odd/10

I really hope not. There's a word for that kind of consolidation: Oligopoly. If the industry gets consolidated down to just a few companies, they will stop competing and instead divide up who has which turf; basically creating all the problems of a monopoly. Prices will skyrocket and quality will degrade even further. This one will be even worse because it's the console manufacturers consolidating the game companies.

EDIT: I finally got the game and just started playing it today. My very first impression: this game, at times, looks absolutely gorgeous. Yes, the textures are dated and the pop-in is very noticeable sometimes. But, when you stop and look around, the game looks fantastic.

There's a thread specifically for posting ideas for fighters and what their movesets could be. Granted; you did go further than that and come up with a classic mode and such, but I can't help but feel that this should be posted in that thread.

I think the names for the Pokémon stats are pretty good. What they lack in sounding "organic" they make up for in being clear as to what the stat does. Attack/Defense for physical moves and special attack/special defense for non-physical moves makes sense. I was going to say "because there's already a move called 'clear mind'", but I double-checked and the move I was thinking of was called 'calm mind'. Still; it's close enough that there probably would be confusion which is also the name of another move.

Yeah; it is sad. It's also doomed; it might last them in the short term, but it's just not going to work long-term.

1. One story that doesn't have too many branches. The last two main FE games (Fates and Three Houses) have been about huge branching narratives, and both of them show signs of overambition/biting off more than they could chew. I hope, for the next game, they focus on telling one story rather than telling three-to-four stories, and telling that one story with the same level of care and ambition as they put into Three Houses' four stories. 2. A smaller base, and more than one base. Let's face it; they're going to reuse as much as they can from Three Houses; they put in all that work, and they're not going to scrap it after one game, and one of those mechanics is the explorable base in the form of Garreg Mach Monastery. One thing I think most people can agree on is that exploring Garreg Mach is initially fun, but it gets very repetitive and it's probably too big for its own good. To that end, I'm suggesting that they do something in-between Three Houses and the Tellius games in terms of the base mechanics: the base is explorable like in Three Houses, but it's very small and it changes with the different chapters, like in the Tellius games. 3. Varied Maps and Map Objectives. Again; take the, for lack of a better word, grandiosity of Three Houses, and apply that to maps with the kind of quality and variety seen in the Tellius games.

@Use the Falchion I see. Just one question:

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has now officially released. What are your impressions of it? Please make sure to put anything that wasn't revealed pre-release in spoiler tags.