spacemanspiff00

@bigsocrates @bribbins Heh, I suppose I should have accounted for your lot as well. I guess the overall intent is those games that you lose sleep over.

I see Brotato, and my mind is still like Balatro?

Alright 3AM crew, what's got you burning through your oil reserves just a little longer?

I played more FF7 Rebirth yesterday than I'd care to admit. Even at 4AM I had to willfully put myself to bed. I'm sure we'll all talk about it in a future discussion.

Anything delighting your senses and destroying your REM cycles?

One thing that I don't think gets brought up enough is how prominent the handheld market has been for Nintendo. Up until the Wii, which I argue sold so well because of the gimmick, their home consoles were on a steady decline. I was surprised to discover the Gamecube only sold like 22 million units. And the Wii U was actually a pretty neat little machine with some banger titles, even if it very much feels like a precursor to the Switch. Though I will say the extra gamepad functionality for stuff like the Zelda HD remasters was excellent. I'm (Mario)wondering if Nintendo is holding those back because they intend to implement a similar experience on the next Switch. Besides the obvious we just released TOTK and you should buy it notion.

The 3DS install base was around 80 million. I am convinced that this is one of the reasons they ditched that market in favor of unifying their whole platform since they couldn't necessarily bank on their home consoles. Which leads them to the island they live on now. And its worked out exceedingly well for them. Even if the more home console focused folks aren't as happy with it. I expect this is just what Nintendo is moving forward. You've got all your customers in one place and you don't have to develop for separate platforms. Win-Win.

The Switch may have also been a perfect storm of consolidation and timing. Many folks that were gaming in the 90's are having kids and are buying them Switches while also getting back into it themselves. We've heard countless mentions of how the Switch has given people their gaming time back because they can take it anywhere. The Switch 2 or whatever its called is going to be a huge indicator of the future for Nintendo. I think that's why they're reluctant to mention it. I'm very interested in seeing how it fares in comparison. But I do think the handheld market alone is going to boost it significantly.

Its kind of hilarious that it came out when it did. I mean, I certainly didn't think it would be competing with Helldivers 2, yet here we are. The general consensus seems to be "play HD2, its cheaper and better than S&B.." Did not see that coming. Quite the unfortunate turn of events for Ubisoft.

I still think I'll keep an eye on it. I like the ship battles enough to maybe check it out in the future.

I've felt largely the same about anime these days. I've started a few things and fallen off pretty early on. I was actually quite enjoying PLUTO but only watched the first few eps and haven't returned. Been thinking about trying out Jujutsu Kaisen again since it seemed a little more interesting than most of the action stuff out today. I really need to be in the mood these days to watch anime. And I agree wholeheartedly about the current state of it. There's still gems here and there. I kind of like to check in once a year or two and see what's caught on.

As for One Piece, yes and no. You may have seen my posts in a couple threads awhile ago how I started it then stopped it and then started binging the crap out of it. Its still sometimes a background show since it does drag and some of the arcs are just less interesting. Weirdly enough I stopped right in the middle of the Marineford arc, which is arguably the best arc in series. I tend to agree so far. I did watch a ton at a time to get that far so I think I was just a bit burned out. At least when I return I'll get to jump back into some of best stuff. But ya, the mood fell off hard.

It still wild to me that there is gonna be a reboot of One Piece. I sorta wish I hadn't started the old show but I'm too far now to care to wait.

Sidenote: I did really like Blue Eye Samurai, even if it isn't an actual anime. (Peaches? lol)

@therealturk: NANI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

In regards to what the dev said: It sounds like dressed up fetch quests. Alternatively, isn't that what pirates do? I stopped playing the game right about when you get your first real taste of that. As I said, I'm gonna play more later since I loved AC4 and I am curious enough to see where this goes for awhile. I'd like to fight a sea monster since that dream didn't come true in AC Odyssey.

You're absolutely right about the Singapore involvement. I guess some devs had full time work for a solid decade so there's that.

Just finished a couple hours with the Beta. Hard to believe its actually in our hands. Its impossible to not notice how dated this thing is. And since its a live service game, it manages to be less interesting than its inspiration and pedigree, while hilariously showcasing the classic GaaS formula. Granted, I didn't finish the content available, and its surely more involved than what I did play but its hard to imagine it getting much better. There are more weapons and such that I didn't get to experience in my short adventure, however it doesn't seem like they would add a great deal of other options. The first thing that got me was how the ships have glowing red pieces on the side that you can shoot for more damage, not unlike the purple bits in Suicide Squad, and that gave me a chuckle.

The fact that you cannot board ships in this is easily the biggest glaring issue I have when comparing this thing to AC4. Even if the added weapons you get as you progress offer a few more combat options its difficult to reconcile this omission, which is likely due to it being a MP game.

The sailing itself is pretty much the same as you remember, albeit with a more zoomed out view unless you're doing certain things.

Exploration has been a pretty big letdown. You sail towards a ? and the most I found was another little village with more merchants and stuff you find in the main village you start in. Any other island I landed on had very little to find or engage with. When you happen upon a ship wreck or a resource, you are greeted with a lock picking minigame that simply requires you to hit X when the meter hits the green portion which either simulates you breaking locks to get loot from a wreck or chopping multiple times to get whatever material it is. There is also materials and loot strewn about the water as you navigate around that you can gather. Then there is ship storage that you don't want to let get too full or your ship will not be able to drop full sails.

One thing that returns from older games is the ability to hunt in the water with harpoons like AC4. I actually quite enjoyed that part in Black Flag, so its a shame that its dumbed down in this. You don't get dragged around at all by sharks or anything. Though, the sharks look kinda cool jumping out of the water. I'm curious if there are ship wrecks underwater, but I won't be surprised if its not an activity in this.

I find it hard to imagine what the real pull to keep playing this game will be. Looting is boring and the story and characters haven't enticed me in the slightest. The ship battles themselves are fun enough, but I just can't imagine it sustaining long term interest. Especially when I think about it not having the same team mechanics as Sea of Thieves. Roaming the sea's with some pals is likely to elevate the whole experience as per usual but the restrictive nature of everything leaves a lot to be desired and really highlights how long this game has been cooking. It does run pretty smooth so that's a point in its favor.

I don't think I'm done with the Beta quite yet. I'd like to see what else it has to offer since I loved AC4 so much and its kind of scratching that itch. But its not quite hitting the spot. Maybe if it were 2017.

@ben_h: Next time I see my cousins kids I will have to ask them how much this stuff has permeated on their playgrounds. It must be worse, right? Unless anime managed to pass over huge swaths of gen z.

@eccentrix:I can't say what type of confidence one must have to step out like that.

@sombre I can't go super saiyan. But I can super saiyan shirt this bitch.

@brian_: As a big DBZ fan, who might have been the same age as you then, I would have at least cheered, maybe joined. I don't quite remember where my hormones were at then.