What are you playing on your Switch 2: Play Harder

Balladeer wrote:

The Prime Thingummies Hunt is an area where I'd say you can use a walkthrough without shame.  If you can manage it without though, and without getting too fed up with the backtracking (and the Chozo Ghost battles), you'll feel like a king.  I don't know whether I'd call it a "sci-fi shooter" though, what with aiming mostly handled for you by the lock-on (thank God).

Think I've said it before back in the day, I bought Prime thinking it was a sci-fi shooter like Halo etc and I can get one of those on my GameCube, but it wasn't, and I thought it was garbage like you couldn't even aim to shoot the enemies.

And that was basically the only time I played Metroid till the Switch (though Wii a blackspot for me in general, Wii U didn't have one and Samus Returns on 3DS after Switch was out right?) where Dread was excellent that made me open to the series which I've since played Fusion on GBA NSO+ and Prime Remastered, and certainly be keen to play Zero Mission when/if it comes to GBA NSO+ and the other Prime games though if 2&3 are ports they might be aged a bit.

Does make think if they're other games that I thought were pants worth giving a go again, first the comes to mind is Fallout 3 but did play for 10+hrs, so think I gave it a fair go and haven't played a Fallout game since, yet I liked Outer Worlds (I know Obsidian but close and New Vegas) and Starfield.

Mas wrote:

and the other Prime games though if 2&3 are ports they might be aged a bit.

Maybe visually they will be a bit of shock after the Prime remaster but I think their gameplay will hold up just as well as the first game. Oh and you might like 3 since it's more linear/action focused.

I was thinking more in terms of controls and any other QoL improvements that Remastered had that ports likely wouldn't.

I've all but changed my 6 games since page 23, so I'll post a new list:

Tunic - Okay okay.  But, I played a little bit of this during the bank holiday weekend!  It's still really good!  It's just also hard!  This absolutely has the feel of something I'll eventually acknowledge was an 8/10 or better, some time in 2026.
qomp2 - 9/10 in Nintendo Life.  Play as the ball from Pong, destroying (if the first boss is anything to go by) sentient paddles.  Good, but minimalist, and (since for some reason I've decided to go for all the collectables) crushingly hard.
Worldless - 8/10, this, and not as randomly sexy as that art makes it look.  Turn-based Metroidvania of a sort, but this is a vibes game first and foremost.  The spacy mysterious feeling that embraces your character, in the 20 minutes I've played anyway, is immaculate.
Unicorn Overlord - Pretty and easy enough for me to overlook the fact that it's turn-based strategy.  Andy hates this.
Baten Kaitos 1 - Thought I'd try out what MonolithSoft did before.  It feels very old.
Lair of the Clockwork God - Indie title that's trying a little too hard to be funny, but that deserves plaudits for mixing platformer and point-and-click with some level of success.  Looks and sounds nice too. Still though.  Leave the fourth wall alone for a moment will you, lads?

I'm also still playing Mario Wonder with The Lady, and we've started It Takes Two two.  Er, too.  It's very strange.  The pop-in and plastic hair are expected on Switch, but the uncanny valley kid's face is common to all versions, and the book makes me want to eat antimony.  The platforming's decent, the first boss was better than that, and the way you finished him off was... a thing. What an oddity.

Literally every other person I've ever heard talk about It Takes Too has sung the praises of the book specifically

What really?  I've only ever seen negative responses to the book, he/it is awful.  Some terrible attempt at what I think might be aiming for an Indian accent, and a generally obnoxious demeanour.  Belongs in a fire.  Who have you been talking to!?

Like . . . one or two podcasts and an Andy?

That makes sense, Andy probably has him on mute.

He's definitely going more Latino than Indian, but he is a wonderful force for chaos.

I'm curious to see if your take on UO stands, it seems to me like it's going to be real tough in the second half (or maybe 2/5ths, whatever maths you fancy)

masofdas wrote:

I was thinking more in terms of controls and any other QoL improvements that Remastered had that ports likely wouldn't.

If they pull from the MP trilogy it will at the very least have pointer controls.

The_Jaster wrote:

The last last level is great though.............just don't be me and miss the top of the flag pole twice.

I wasn't happy with the invisible section being so far away from the flagpole - this felt too much like guesswork, and annoying to have to get back there (past the springy one which is also something I never felt I could consistently get)
I never seem to have enough time to have a reeeallly long go to finish it (and I can't believe the Mario game is the inconvenient one in 2024!) so I have parked Super Mario Wonder for now; but I still loved it and would say it beats all them "New" ones

Aye, after I missed it the first time I left it and went back the next day.

tip for the invisible section (only use this if you're really stuck):

I also wasn't consistent at the spring part either, but I've always been bad at that timing in platformers, like where you need to boost the height of your jump off a bounce pad or something similar.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I'm curious to see if your take on UO stands, it seems to me like it's going to be real tough in the second half (or maybe 2/5ths, whatever maths you fancy)

Hm, that maths might actually be quite important! If I get decently over halfway without hating the game and myself, then it's probably got its hooks into me and I'll keep going. If I go 'gah I've still got basically half of this thing left to do' I'm much more likely to give up. We'll see!

can someone come round to my house and do metroid primes half pipe bits for me please

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

can someone come round to my house and do metroid primes half pipe bits for me please

Thoughts and prayers my friend.... Thoughts and prayers...

Much like the PS4, there's a knack to it. That doesn't make it any better until you learn that knack though.

Boost as you get to the bottom of the half pipe.

Just finished Advance Wars 1 on the switch remasters (highly recommend btw) and have decided to finally get to Bravely Default 2 after this weekends Splatfest!

Question for you all, as obvious as it sounds, what are you all playing at the moment and is the Switch still your main source of video games enjoyment?

EofGizmo wrote:

Thoughts and prayers my friend.... Thoughts and prayers...

Balladeer wrote:

Much like the PS4, there's a knack to it.  That doesn't make it any better until you learn that knack though.

The_Jaster wrote:

Boost as you get to the bottom of the half pipe.

I sussed that out eventually, and I’ve got used to it now.

I’ve reached the point where I’ve just found the Ice Beam. I’ve used a walkthrough every so often. Most of the time I don’t think it’s hard to follow along with and figure out, but sometimes I can get lost. I’m a bit short on energy capsules and missile upgrades too, I think I might need to get a guide to find more of those eventually. I knew ahead of starting it that there's a big focus on scanning for everything, I hope I've not missed anything that's crucial later on.

Going to be honest: my view of my playthrough so far has consistently stayed at a very medium-spiced ‘eh, this is pretty good’.

EofGizmo wrote:

Question for you all, as obvious as it sounds, what are you all playing at the moment and is the Switch still your main source of video games enjoyment?

I'm trying to get Metroid Prime Remastered done before Endless Ocean and Paper Mario come out next month, and, aye, the Switch is definitely my main source of video games enjoyment. I'd estimate that it's about two thirds of my gaming time, with the rest going on retro. Right now, that's especially on DS and PS2.

I really struggled not to use a guide the whole way through MP remastered! Good game but I think modern hand holding has made going back to games like that much more difficult!

Niiiiiice, was curious what people's current Switch thoughts were, obviously Mas is the person I talk to the most and he is kinda done with it.

I'm playing mine now arguably more than I have since launch, it's been fun catching up on stuff via sales n promotions and I am pretty looking forward to Paper Mario n LM2HD.

Awesome, what retro stuff have you been playing? I had a month of OG Xbox stuff not that long ago and did enjoy returning to simpler times!

EofGizmo wrote:

obviously Mas is the person I talk to the most and he is kinda done with it.

Don't we all know it. You've got to remember, Giz: Mas (a) seems to have a lot more time to churn through games than many of the rest of us, and (b) is the sort of person who'll buy a PS Portal.

My list of currently playing games is further up the page, except I've ragequit Qomp2 and started on Pepper Grinder, which is a little bit of fun. While I'm not expecting anything cosmic from this year, I'm far from done with my Switch. My wishlist is healthily full of games I'll turn to when I'm done with my six single-player options and my two co-op ones. (And I am looking forward to TTYD.)

Balladeer wrote:

Don't we all know it.  You've got to remember, Giz: Mas (a) seems to have a lot more time to churn through games than many of the rest of us, and (b) is the sort of person who'll buy a PS Portal.

Honestly it's wild the amount of stuff Mas can smash through without a thought

Just wait until he buys yet another VR headset....

Then Andy comes along and makes me look like someone normal with the amount I play.

Yeah! if it wasn't for the Portal then Switch might gotten some more use with games like Unicorn Overlord or Penny, as I would have bought on Switch not PS5.

Yet even so Nintendo's output not great this year and after Endless Ocean nothing for me till Pokémon Z-A announced. That's why I say I'm pretty much done with it, not because of the Portal.

I've gone back to this little known game called Tears of the Kingdom thanks to the influence of Hyrule Field Report, I want to get all the shrines done at the very least but reckon I'll end up trying to finish all the side quests and Treasure maps in the process.

EofGizmo wrote:

Question for you all, as obvious as it sounds, what are you all playing at the moment and is the Switch still your main source of video games enjoyment?

Still got plenty to play on the switch but I am always going back and forth between that and ps5.

EofGizmo wrote:

I really struggled not to use a guide the whole way through MP remastered! Good game but I think modern hand holding has made going back to games like that much more difficult!

Now, I don't blame folk for using guides at all (done it myself in the past) but I played some Jedi Outcast recently and I loved going back to an older game that had less obvious sign posting. The biggest thing is does the game do a good job teaching you the rules of the world? Obviously there's exceptions but I think a lot of old games do.