Nintendo Direct/Indie World/Treehouse/Showcase Discussion Thread - Directly 2 You

Why I did use "best" as really it defined by you what the best year is for you, like most would say 2017 is the "best" didn't do much for me, but last year however it had Pokémon Snap, SMTV, Monster Hunter Rise, Metroid Dread to name a few, so maybe that is the "best" year for me.

Yeah I get you on that. For me, 2017 had Spla2n and ARMS, both of which I got well into, so it isn't just Zelda and Mazza, which I think is how people remember it.

Yeah for me 2017 was just Spla2n and Mario Odyssey, so not a great year.

Why took me a while to warm to the Switch.

I keep forgetting all about Spla2n and ARMS.

The one thing I would really love in a Mario Kart is a campaign mode of sorts.  Theoretically they could add that through DLC, but they won't.  Also I have faith in Nintendo making Mario Animal Racing a rip-roaring success.

Meanwhile, reading Nintendo Life's review, it looks like Konami have Konami-ed it up yet again with GetsuFumaDen.

Still going to wait for a few more reviews but if it is a dud then at least that's one less game to buy.

Well Miss Rodgers was right, and we have an indie showcase tomorrow at 3pm.


Now waits for everyone to be disappointed when Silksong isn't shown.

I'm sure there will be two or three games which I'll wishlist or buy and then never play.

Decent little show, a few things caught my eye which a few are out now but no like huge wait that's coming to Switch game or a date for a Neon White.

I thought this was an absolute duffer of a showing. There's a handful of games I could take away happily enough, but just in terms of things like how it was laid out it stank out the joint. Ending on a sizzle reel!?

Out of what was shown I was immediately interested in Ooblets (and had been for a while) and intrigued by the design of Silt. After some reflection and reading other people's views, I could be persuaded regarding OPUS 3 and ElecHead, and Cult of the Lamb would have got my attention if I hadn't seen it before. So there are a couple of things in there. No big name though: Ooblets was probably closest, and that's been out elsewhere for ages, albeit in early access.

I've bought OPUS Echo, so will late you know about it after I play more.

After 2+ years nice that I'll finally have Ooblets 1.0.

Balla wrote:

I thought this was an absolute duffer of a showing. There's a handful of games I could take away happily enough, but just in terms of things like how it was laid out it stank out the joint. Ending on a sizzle reel!?

I think they need to be more ruthless in what games they pick to be shown, all these indie directs just end up feeling like I've seen them before.

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Anyhow, the games I liked the look of were:

Elechead - heard good things about this through twitter.
 
Gunbrella - I enjoyed Gato roboto & this looks like it had some fun mechanics with the titled gunbrella.

Another Crab's Treasure - I normally hate when a game is pitched as a "souls-like" but this looked quirky enough to let that rule slide.

I also just downloaded the Card Shark demo which I'll probably give a go tomorrow.

The three Jas mentioned are the same three that really caught my attention, and as Balla said Ooblets is something I've had my eye on for a while.

That's four games I'm dead keen on, which should be a success. Unfortunately, I just think the presentation is awful. From the overly scripted faux-natural banter to the fact that "indie" in this context doesn't mean "independent and interesting" it means a very specific vibe and aesthetic.

I know what you mean Buska but sooner have the certain vibe (games looked interesting to me), as what is independent? As you could have likes of CD Projekt Red (they even publish themselves) turn up and I personally wouldn't want that.

Maybe need to look at like indie music or film and Devolver is a indie label, who'll publish games of a certain vibe.

Devolver do have a pretty varied output though & I think that's all folk are after in a show called 'Indie world' show us the off the wall ideas & not just what's popular.

I thought this was quite dull. I thought Elechead, Card Shark and Another Crab’s Treasure were the most interesting games of an uninteresting bunch.

It’s all the usual problems on display. That “feeling like you’ve seen (everything) before” smacked me in the face. “How it was laid out stank out the joint” right enough, and I owe that to the “overly scripted faux-natural banter” which was absolutely “awful”.

I’m sure there was a really boring-looking game that was described as “an emotional rollercoaster” and “sure to pull at your heartstrings”, or something close to that. You’d have got a Full House on your Indie World bingo card right there and then. Overused pish.

masofdas wrote:

I know what you mean Buska but sooner have the certain vibe (games looked interesting to me)

Some of those games look interesting, but there is a whole bunch of other interesting stuff being done in the indie space than just pixel platformers and pastel story games. Where's the spotlight on experimental shooters, dark horror experiments, weird mechanical puzzle games, racers, etc? Inscryption was one of the most lauded games of last year, but if it were released on Switch I don't think it would fit in with the way these nindies are presented, and that's a shame.

Wow, I was worried that I was going to get flack for being too negative about the showcase. Nope! I didn't mention the "overly scripted faux-natural banter" only because all indie showcases these days have it, and it's always bad, so that felt like it had to be my baseline. Even compared to that, Wednesday's showing fell very flat.

I do agree that there's a specific type of game that gets too much fanfare in these things as well. This wouldn't have been everybody's cup of tea, but why couldn't Nintendo have revealed it? It would've been more interesting than almost everything they presented.

Balladeer wrote:

I do agree that there's a specific type of game that gets too much fanfare in these things as well.  This wouldn't have been everybody's cup of tea, but why couldn't Nintendo have revealed it?  It would've been more interesting than almost everything they presented.

This is exactly what I'm talking about; that seems very cool and interesting and would have broken things up.

I suspect the reason they don't do what you and I are asking for is because they deliberately want this to be something that gets shared around as a cozy, wholesome, here are some nice games for tough times thing by people looking for that. I just wish it were called something more specific so we could also get the Nindie Showcase: Murder Edition next month.

Agreed, they used to have 'wholesome Directs' that the rest of us could have ignored for precisely that purpose. Also Oxenfree 2 doesn't feel like it fits that bill, so it seems even odder than that!

Card Shark and Cult of Lamb were in the latest Indie World, not sure if wholesome games.

No, but still fit the aesthetic.
Like I said, there were games up my street in there, just also a lot of stuff missing and I think it's to fit a vibe which doesn't appeal to me.

Cult of the Lamb was definitely creepy-cute rather than creepy. I still found it one of the best things shown, even if there's a decent chance I won't buy it because strategy.

All I remember is another game being described as "heartfelt" in its own trailer. Again, you don't get to decide how wonderful your own game is.

To be fair, that's what trailers are. Is it so different to saying