Kolzig

Nintendo 3DS

Recommended Posts

I had a go on the Hey! Pikmin! demo on the way to work this morning. I really like the core Pikmin games so I wasn't expecting much from this at all, but actually...I really quite liked it. The basic concepts of those games have been carried across rather well, albeit in a highly simplified form; there's no longer much in the way of exploration and RTS-style resource gathering, but what you get instead is a sort of simple metroidvania with some light physics puzzling.

 

Unfortunately, it runs really poorly on my 'old' 3DS XL. I'm not a person for whom FPS means much, but I would guess this is sub-30, at pretty much all times. It's so bad it's enough to make me wonder if this was a New 3DS exclusive at one point that's since been released for all platforms. (It also doesn't have 3D at all; presumably that was another concession to performance.) 

 

I've been thinking for some time about upgrading to a New 3DS XL -- and this is kind of making me want to do it again? The trouble is, of course, that I have no idea for how much longer I'm going to want to play 3DS games, especially as I'll probably buy a Switch within the next year or so. The New 2DS XL is extremely tempting -- but I actually really enjoy the stereoscopic 3D feature on my current console, and I don't want to go without it... 

 

Oh and I also played the demo for Ever Oasis. That game runs very well and looks very nice. Another solid addition to the 3DS stable of simple action-RPG/offline MMO type games. It's probably a bit too much of a grind right for me to appreciate right now but it's certainly charming, if you like that kind of thing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

This looks like a really intense rhythm game, great music track in the trailer. Apparently from indieszero, the creators of NES Remix and Electroplankton. :peace:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You tricked me by calling it a rhythm game! It doesn't look like one at all. >_> Puzzle action thingy with cool music, sure, but if there's a rhythm, it's separate from the track. Granted it is a trailer so might be desynced from the music, but before you saying rhythm I only ever heard action puzzle thingy.

 

Fuck I'd love a rhythm game with that music, though. Argh it'd fit right into a new EBA/Ouendan so perfectly. ARGH!!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I kind of was interested in getting the Metroid 2 limited edition set, but of course it is sold out everywhere two months before the actual release. Why does Nintendo always manufacture like five copies globally about these sets?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

They are limited editions! It's in the name! And limited editions of things people actually want tend to sell out!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, compared to the latest Fire Emblem's limited edition that is in every Finnish shop's shelves unsold because nobody wants Shadows of Valentia. Metroid stuff is wanted items.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Basically, yeah. Metroid (besides FF) hasn't come out for ages. Fire Emblem comes out six times a year!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, uh...after twiddling my thumbs over whether or not to buy one in my last post, I bought a New 3DS XL in the Momazon Prime day sale. It wasn't a huge discount (£150) but I haven't seen it so cheap elsewhere. I still play 3DS games enough for it to be worthwhile: I'm still finishing the third campaign of Fire Emblem: Fates (don't look at me like that) and I want to get around to Majora's Mask and Shadows of Valentia at some point this year. And then there's Metroid, and Pikmin. I might even pick up FE: Warriors, if the port isn't awful.

 

In a rush of enthusiasm I downloaded a bunch of demos from the eshop, one of which was for Etrian Odyssey IV. I have no experience at all with this series, but man, that's a really interesting little-big game. I haven't played a first-person dungeon crawler since maybe Eye of the Beholder on the PC but the combination of thoughtful turn-based combat with exploration and drawing a little map on the lower screen seems so clever and compelling. Plus it can be had from the EU eshop for a little over £7 (with a My Nintendo discount) which seems absurdly cheap.

 

Oh and the other benefit of buying a new console is that my girlfriend has inherited my old 3DS. I pressed it into her hands with my copy of Luigi's Mansion 2 and I've barely seen her since... 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Get LANDS OF LORE: THE THRONE OF CHAOS on the PC. Just find it, maybe it's on gog or whatever, and play it. It's good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Has anybody gotten the Zen Pinball and Little Acorns game that are available for 50 gold coins? Are they any good?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have got both, but can't say much about either yet. I have played the Zen Pinball 3D game just for 10 minutes or so. Can't form opinions about it yet, except that the 3D is nicely done. Little Acorns has got great reviews back when it was released, but that one I haven't even started to play.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I've now finished all three of the campaigns for Fire Emblem: Fates. (I'm also pretty sure I've done all the DLC maps, because I'm an idiot.) It took me something like 200 hours. Birthright I did on Hard, the other two on Normal. Permadeath on throughout. I regret it somewhat!

 

Okay, I don't regret it that much. But I'm not sure I can recommend it, either. FE: Fates is clearly a very good version of what was already a very good game in Awakening. I still find these games immensely satisfying and charming to play. I think they are maybe my favourite portable game experiences ever, in fact. The presentation on 3DS is outstanding; even if they rerelease some of these games on Switch, I'm not sure it'll be the same,. I'm not sure I would want to see these games in HD, if that makes sense: they already feel perfectly scaled to the capabilities of the 3DS.

 

But I also think the variety across these three campaigns was somewhat oversold. I'm not sure I could honestly recommend playing more than one of them, unless you really like Fire Emblem. There's just too much of 'haven't I seen this before?' in the maps and situations, even if they are sometimes presented in a slightly different format. 

 

So my recommendation would be: play Conquest, then if you really liked it and want more, play Revelations. I like Conquest because I think the cast of characters is just more fun (the Hoshidans are a rather self-serious bunch by comparison) and because the mission design is a little more challenging. You can still grind for XP if you really want to, but in Conquest you really have to think about how you want to invest in your team in each chapter. That's a huge part of the Fire Emblem experience for me - it's not so much about the permadeath (I am one of those maniacs who compulsively smashes restart if anyone dies) - it's about building a team which feels like it is uniquely your own.

 

Revelations adds some neat mechanical variations which mix things up a bit, and it lets you play with the best of both casts - and you can make them smooch, which is obviously very important in healing the Nohrian/Hoshidan divide. To be honest, the story isn't great in any of the campaigns, but Revelations probably has the most satisfying ending (and best endgame levels) out of any of them.

 

I wonder what the next full-fat FE game on the Switch will look like. It'll have to be in a new engine, I think, and I wonder if it'll crib some of the open world aspects from Shadows of Valentia/BotW/SMOdyssey. My main hope is that the plot is a bit more character-driven than Fates. The question of how to unite the actual plot of the game with the character-smooching aspect seems to me to be the biggest question that the 3DS games have raised thus far...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Tank Troopers is one of the latest My Nintendo discounts starting today. I'll take it, 5.59€ with the discount seems reasonable.

 

I also have received the birthday discount and can choose from 22 3DS or Wii U games. Seems to be much more on the list than last year. Still no Switch discounts...

 

Fire Emblem Shadows of Valentia or Kirby Planet Robobot will be my choice for the birthday discount.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now