|OT| MetaConsole | Here we can talk about anything regarding consoles

So I’m playing Bayonetta 3 on Switch and I’m just not feeling it.

Bad graphics and performance notwithstanding, the gameplay just isn’t as engaging. Enemy designs are actually rather boring. Level design is terrible and visually it’s just very bland.

The camera sucks big time. You can hardly see what’s happening for a good 40% of the action. It’s horrible.

I don’t like the Demon Slave mechanic - it doesn’t really add much value to the game and I’d prefer to have more intense character action battles than be forced into sluggish Demon Slave mechanics for nearly every fight.

I really think Platinum have lost their way with this one. It’s not a bad game, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Bayonetta 1 or even 2.

Less a knock on the game and more on Nintendo itself, but their ass-backwards button layout does my freaking head in. I’m always getting A/B and X/Y mixed up unless I think about it, and the fact that I have to think about it slows down my reaction time.

And then don’t get me started on L/ZL and R/ZR. Absolute senseless layout and naming of the buttons. At this point I think they’re just doing it on purpose.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arc, Cacher and lashman
I finished God of War: Ragnarok. The second half of the game is a big step up from the first half and there are some really good narrative beats. It's exactly what I wanted from a prestige AAA game. This is most likely recency bias striking, but I think I enjoyed it more than Elden Ring. ER is probably the better game, but I had a better time with GoW.

As a tangent, I finished The Last of Us 2 for the first time this year and after I finished Ragnarok I had to compare the two stories. Ragnarok's story plays it safe, but it gives the audience exactly what they want instead of spiting them s0 the writers can feel smart. I'm down with media that challenges users, and TLoU2 has some interesting ideas, but it executes them so poorly that I kind of hate the game.

C-Dub said:
So I’m playing Bayonetta 3 on Switch and I’m just not feeling it.

Bad graphics and performance notwithstanding, the gameplay just isn’t as engaging. Enemy designs are actually rather boring. Level design is terrible and visually it’s just very bland.

The camera sucks big time. You can hardly see what’s happening for a good 40% of the action. It’s horrible.

I don’t like the Demon Slave mechanic - it doesn’t really add much value to the game and I’d prefer to have more intense character action battles than be forced into sluggish Demon Slave mechanics for nearly every fight.

I really think Platinum have lost their way with this one. It’s not a bad game, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Bayonetta 1 or even 2.

Less a knock on the game and more on Nintendo itself, but their ass-backwards button layout does my freaking head in. I’m always getting A/B and X/Y mixed up unless I think about it, and the fact that I have to think about it slows down my reaction time.

And then don’t get me started on L/ZL and R/ZR. Absolute senseless layout and naming of the buttons. At this point I think they’re just doing it on purpose.
Click to expand...
Bayonetta 3 is a massive disappointment. There are some good parts, but it's buried in a mountain of garbage. The visuals look muddy (and you can't blame the Switch for that since Bayonetta 1 and 2 looked more vibrant), there are too many annoying minigames and the story is a trainwreck. Viola is not fun to play as at all and Jeanne got the short end of every stick possible. Frankly I would say it is a bad game.
 
Arc said:
Bayonetta 3 is a massive disappointment. There are some good parts, but it's buried in a mountain of garbage. The visuals look muddy (and you can't blame the Switch for that since Bayonetta 1 and 2 looked more vibrant), there are too many annoying minigames and the story is a trainwreck. Viola is not fun to play as at all and Jeanne got the short end of every stick possible. Frankly I would say it is a bad game.
Click to expand...
That’s a shame to hear. I’m only a few chapters in so I’m not evaluating it definitively, but first impressions have so far been disappointing.
 
Lol, my PS year in review consists of Ragnarok 105 hours (save file says nearly 40 hours, so lot of afk), Horizon 2 26 (I think it was) hours, Returnal 7 hours, Onrush 2 hours, Stranger of Paradise 0 hours.

Not much lol.
 
Impressive new Sega Saturn tech demo showing an all new homebrew engine running some retrofit Unreal content. Pretty sweet all things considered, it would have been crazy to have more games like this back in the day (well, Unreal PC came out just as Saturn died out in the west) even with the drops to ~10 fps.
 
  • Gib
  • Like
Reactions: Panda Pedinte, Pommes and lashman
Do we know what Sony has in store for 2023 on console ?
Just trying to gauge the interest of a console purchase. Not furiously interested, but it's always good to have a better picture.

On the other hand, what the fuck is MS planning ? Off the top of my head there is the Bethesda RPG and maybe or maybe not Redfall who may or may not have been delayed. Something else ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cacher
Spidey 2 (basically confirmed for 2013 by the devs), Factions (most likely coming to PC day 1 as it is gaas), TLOU Part 1 Director's Cut (should also come to PC at some point).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Li Kao
Many local stores are doing year-end sale and I was close to get a PS4 Pro for Gravity Rush, Sakura Wars (again) and some other PS4 exclusive. Happy that I was able to stay cool and walk away because no way I will have time for them.
 
Me when playing Bayo 3 via Ryujinx and the performance is actually pretty good.

giphy.gif
 
  • Toucan
Reactions: C-Dub
fantomena said:
Me when playing Bayo 3 via Ryujinx and the performance is actually pretty good.

giphy.gif
Click to expand...
That's how I played Bayo 3 and Xenoblade 3, and how I will most likely play Zelda TotK. Native Switch performance is just too outdated to not do it, even if I have to deal with some emulation issues.
 

Fire Emblem Engage

In a war against the Fell Dragon, four kingdoms worked together with heroes from other worlds to seal away this great evil. One-thousand years later, this seal has weakened and the Fell Dragon is about to reawaken. As a Divine Dragon, use rich strategies and robust customization to meet your...
www.metacritic.com www.metacritic.com

FE Engage scores are quite a bit lower than Three Houses. Most of the criticism appears to be due to toning down social elements and less interesting cast. I don't care too much about the story and characters in Fire Emblem so I won't be as upset. I mostly care about interesting maps and mechanics.



I never played Baten Kaitos, but I think some people might be interested in this.
 
  • Gib
Reactions: Cacher
Arc said:
toning down social elements
Click to expand...
This is actually a plus in my book. I haven't played Three Houses yet because I know all these social stuff would drive me crazy.

I still remember the Baten Kaitos' trademark application in 2021. The game wasn't released in Europe but they applied it there. Looks like it is finally happening! I am always open to more games from Monolith Soft.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arc
Cacher said:
This is actually a plus in my book. I haven't played Three Houses yet because I know all these social stuff would drive me crazy.

I still remember the Baten Kaitos' trademark application in 2021. The game wasn't released in Europe but they applied it there. Looks like it is finally happening! I am always open to more games from Monolith Soft.
Click to expand...
I did one run in 3H that took about 50 hours and the social stuff is fine for a first playthrough, but I'm afraid it'll get tedious if I ever play through it again. I was thinking of replaying 3H at some point (especially since I bought the season pass but never played it) but it will have to wait until after Engage.

Also Best Buy wasn't able to deliver my copy of Engage tomorrow so I am going to try to go to town to buy it. I try to get as many physical games as possible for Nintendo systems since I don't trust their online stores to stay up for an extended period of time. I'm almost certain my Steam account will be around in a decade. Can't say the same thing about the Switch eshop.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cacher
Arc said:
I did one run in 3H that took about 50 hours and the social stuff is fine for a first playthrough, but I'm afraid it'll get tedious if I ever play through it again.
Click to expand...

I beat 3H 4 times (basically I played the 4 routes), I'm glad you can buy back some stuff from previous playthroughs, otherwise I would have stopped there. Even then at some point I just sped through most of that, it got annoying that said, you can skip all that and go straight to the next main story event.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cacher and Arc
I've played about 5 hours of Engage. The combat mechanics are top notch. The maps so far have been nothing great, but nothing awful. The story is TERRIBLE. It's exactly what I expected. I'm having fun and crossing my fingers for more engaging (sorry) maps in the future.
 
  • Sad
  • Like
Reactions: Cacher, DeleteMe and ExistentialThought
I was today years old when I found out the Saturn 3D Control Pad used hall sensors for the triggers and stick. Dreamcast for all its issues followed suit. We're only seeing this as custom kits or premium gamepads now when back then Sega just saw it as an elegant, practical way to bring analog controls at home :shrugblob:
Saturn_HSS-0137.jpg
DreamcastPressDisc4_Hardware_CONTROLLER_VM.jpg
 
  • Gib
  • Like
  • Sad
Reactions: undu, lashman and C-Dub
C-Dub said:
Nice! I didn't think much of Blue Dragon, but Lost Odyssey feels like the Final Fantasy XIII that never was.
Click to expand...
Yes I agree. I actually got all the achievements on my old account on the 360 years ago. Lost the account as well as the copy during a move (yeah I have never connected my lost 360 to Xbox Live...) so this is going to be a replay. I can still remember some of those short stories and of course those brutal load times. Can't believe that I withstood them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: d00d3n and C-Dub
Cacher said:
Managed to grab a physical copy of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey for my Series x. Ohhhhh boy I am excited!
Click to expand...

I actually enjoyed Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey both quite a lot. Blue Dragon has an amazing OST, as does LO. LO being the more compelling story with a killer ending IMO.

Also I marveled over the graphics at the time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: d00d3n
low-G said:
I actually enjoyed Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey both quite a lot. Blue Dragon has an amazing OST, as does LO. LO being the more compelling story with a killer ending IMO.

Also I marveled over the graphics at the time.
Click to expand...
I just launched and finished the opening warfare sequence of Lost Odyssey. The pre-rendered cutscene is still mind-blowing and the real-time rendering also looks amazing even today. I also put my earphone on so the whole sequence is extremely immersive and epic. Damn this is a good day.

Edit: And this game is 15 years old. WHAT
 
  • Like
Reactions: d00d3n
Cacher said:
Yes I agree. I actually got all the achievements on my old account on the 360 years ago. Lost the account as well as the copy during a move (yeah I have never connected my lost 360 to Xbox Live...) so this is going to be a replay. I can still remember some of those short stories and of course those brutal load times. Can't believe that I withstood them.
Click to expand...
Did you play the JP version at the time ? I vaguely remember the global version being better on the loading issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: d00d3n
Li Kao said:
Did you play the JP version at the time ? I vaguely remember the global version being better on the loading issue.
Click to expand...
Asia/Chinese version. Not sure if there was version difference and loading was atrocious, to say the least lol.

This comparison has loading times from the three xbox eras.
 
  • Like
Reactions: d00d3n

IGN understands that Nintendo and Xbox were initially interested in having a presence at the event, but that both had to pull out for reasons unrelated to the show itself. VGC has since reported that Nintendo opted not to take part in the event due to a light second half release schedule not justifying the event space — information that IGN can corroborate.
Click to expand...

Looks like Tears of the Kingdom might be the Switch's last hurrah? I've seen rumors that it is the final "big" Switch game.

Li Kao said:
Fire Emblem Three Houses or Engage ?
Click to expand...
I need to replay 3H at some point, but I'm loving Engage. I'm on the final leg and the tactical combat is superb. The Emblem rings add a lot of spice to the gameplay, and you can make some hilariously strong lineups. The main story maps are good, but the paralogue fights are the highlights. They can feel kind of gimmicky (and I had to outright cheese Leif's map), but it's all very fun. The story still isn't good, but it isn't as annoying as when I first started.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Li Kao and Cacher

That's a lot of copies of Pokemon. All the online complaints about bugs did nothing to hurt its sales. I'm probably waiting for the inevitable complete edition that has all the DLC.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: ExistentialThought, Pommes, fearthedawn and 2 others
Game is mysteriously "sold out" on every retailer. $70 is definitely happening, nintendo likely told them to pull it.

Wouldn't even be that shocked that the most anti consumer company in gaming found another way to outdo everyone else in the industry.
 
  • Toucan
  • Shrug
Reactions: ExistentialThought, Arc and Alextended
When I get my paycheck this month I'll go ahead and buy Where the Heart Leads, the first game I've bought on Playstation since Ragnarok.

Since everything points to the Steam version being cancelled to the the Meta acquisition, Im starting to get worried they will delist it from the PS Store. I loved the PC demo so I really want to play it and the price in Norway is equal to 15$, so not bad.
 
My chatlog while watching it live:


Pikmin 4 looked much like 3 to me. Been years tho maybe need a fresh comparison. Doubt it's diff though.
Ho hum so far nothing much. Indie game, casual game, xenoblade expansionstuff...
Ooh, ghost trick remaster looks nicely done.
This anime police thing looks almost good but hate the char style. Is it Level 5 or something.
Ok that looks like a nice full on JRPG. Want.
Bayonetta origins looks meh.
Splatoonstuff, kay.
Disney platform thingie looks okay. A bit too zoomed out for a portable isn't it? Makes sense for TV coop but on portable seems like it'll be 2 small.
Fire emblem contentstuff #care
Don't nod adventure looks, Idk, but clearly low budgetstuff.
Octopath 2 kay.
Katamari kay.
Sea of stars looks good but idk, think had enough of these retro indie jrpgs like solar pier and what not
Omega strikers meh. wannabe f2p windjammers.
Etrian odyssey 1-3 remasters, neat.
There were 6 though, should have them all rather than probly separate to another bundle.
Advance wars remakes kay
Lol, been a while since the last Deluxe game I guess. Kirby's return to dreamland, kay.
That was actually a wii game, not wii u. Looks pretty nice considering.
Should be ending soon... what will they hit with
Sigh, gameboystuff for online service?
They rly need to go back to the VC format for this shit, online service just makes them so... temporary.
Guh move onnnn
Metroid Prime remaster lol, not even the whole trilogy.
Oh. That looks quite involved remaster. Though not quite remake.
Good stuff though.
Weird, digital out now, physical march.
Master detective archives raincode looks okay, kinda persona-ish.
Baten Kaitos remasters look alright.
Much like square remasters of ffx-xii etc.
Fantasy life k.
Ooh what's this. Layton!
Aw just a tease
Mario kart morestuff...
Scraping the bottom of the barrel there surely game can go die already :d
So many courses they all blend together surely
More indiestuff, some nice.
What will they end with? tears of the kingdom? prime 4?
More retrostuff...
Ho humm random stuff.
It's ending finally!
Tears of the kingdom it is.
Ok that looked great. But I mean, it's BOTW with newstuff!
May 12!
Lol 69.99 bump for tears of the kingdom confirmed, price back on the official site.
 
Last edited:
  • Gib
  • Like
Reactions: lashman and Cacher
$70 and a 6 year wait and that was the most expansion-looking sequel I've seen yet. Like I normally am very against calling these things expansions but that really did look like one in the trailer. The botw expansion pass gave us the motorcycle and this just looks like they added a couple more vehicles and messed the map up a bit.
 
  • Toucan
Reactions: Alextended

TotK for $50 ($45 if you can find a discount on eShop gift cards) isn't too bad. The downside is you're at the mercy of Nintendo's online service and their inevitable sunsetting of the Switch eShop in 10 years or so.
 
  • This!
Reactions: undu and ExistentialThought
Rex became the megachad who is able to wield Pyra and Mythra at the same time. Holy shit.
FoemNh4WAAEV5Ub



Also Zelda's price is not that bad in Japan. It's 7,900 yen while Soul fricking Hackers 2 is 9,878 yen here.
 
Arc said:

TotK for $50 ($45 if you can find a discount on eShop gift cards) isn't too bad. The downside is you're at the mercy of Nintendo's online service and their inevitable sunsetting of the Switch eShop in 10 years or so.
Click to expand...
This is literally why I don't buy digital stuff at Nintendo platforms. I don't trust them in that regard. The only times I've spent some money have been with Hades and FFVII after I was gifted a 25€ card. Money I would've probably spent in SNES games because I want to "own" them, not have them be part of a subscription service. Same with GB and GBA games now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arc
603 More Posts...
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom