Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

I know I said it'd be awhile before starting up another 100+ hour game after finishing XC2, but I just couldn't help myself and started up Breath of the Wild today!

Even though I've just started to dabble in it (just finished up the first shrine), it's already clearly a different beast than any Zelda that's come before. Not much to say on it yet, though I'm not so sure how I feel on the abundance of magitech. I know it's had a small place in Zelda for quite some time, but this is quite a changeup!

In Mario Odyssey has anyone successfully done the Jump rope challenge in New Donk City or the volleyball? I have an arthritic condition and cannot physically press the button that quickly to jump or throw the cap. I did the basic challenges easily enough but the genius jump rope one can go where the sun don't shine.

Playing Mario in handheld mode I get about 2 1/2 hours out of the battery which is honestly quite crap. Is this the average for more graphically intense games? It will seriously impact the portability of the thing. I get the same out of my 3DS but to be fair that is nearly 7 years old.

@RR529 I don't mind the futuristic malarkey but it is quite different. Lanayru was the coolest area of Skyward Sword though and it kinda reminds me of that. I'm going to start Breath of the Wild at some point in the week. I did get quite far on the Wii U version but rather than finish that I'm going to do it all over again. 😅

@mookysam 2.5 hours for big games like Mario or Zelda.

And yeah, I hate those challenges too.

@mookysam I've heard some people use the motor scooter for the jump rope challenge due to its weight. No idea how useful that will be but I feel your pain...literally.

Of course you can always skip it. There is a post game feature that lets you hit the Moon quota in game without doing everything.

Regarding battery life, 2.5/3 hours for huge games is the norm, especially ones that run at full resolution on the screen and have a lot of processing to do in terms of loading/spawing/calculating various things, and with Zelda being quite physics heavy and wide open, as well as Mario having very dense areas, it's quite a strain on any battery.

Plus, if you open the Switch you will see inside the little thing there is actually no free space at all! which blows my mind. They couldn't physically put a larger battery in there without making the system less portable, namely bigger than it already is, which some feel is too big to be portable.

They could maybe use a higher capacity battery but that leads to an issue of too much in too small a space, which led to stuff like the Note 7 incident. Too much power in a small package with today's sadly stagnant battery industry isn't a wise move, as it just leads to overloading and swelling.

They could have used the Tegra X1 with Pascal architecture, which would if nothing else for performance, get a little more out of the battery life, but at that point it would probably not be worth it.

@mookysam For the jump rope genius moon, after the rope stops speeding up, try throwing your hat at the apex of your jump. It'll allow you to get to 100+ jumps without having to press the button as quickly, thanks to the delay caused by the hat throw.

As for volleyball, switch to 2 player mode, position Mario in a corner of the court, and use cappy to hit the ball. It's WAY easier.

@RR529 Yeah, BotW is bordering on science fantasy at points. It's an incredibly interesting change for the series.

Do we think Wind Waker will make it over to the Switch? I haven't played it since it came out on GameCube, I'd be very interested in buying it again..

@KratosMD Hmm maybe. I dunno, if it's made and ready to go (and they perhaps didn't sell many copies on Wii U) would it be tough for them to bring it over to Switch, even if it's download only?

@kyleforrester87 Wind Waker HD was a quick project. I think it took them only 6 months to make. And let's be honest, all the game needed was an increase in resolution. The addition of bloom and gradient shadow is another thing, but I don't think it made the game look better. The million+ sales on the Wii U was essentially free money. No porting required either, since the Wii U runs GameCube games natively.

The best case solution is that they make their old games available on the eShop at some point. Up to N64 can be emulated. Not sure about GameCube and Wii games though, they may need to be ported, which requires a lot more resources...

Still plugging away at Mighty Gunvolt Burst, So far I got all the hidden items in 4 stages and working on a few challenges (basically this games versions of trophies). Still can't believe how much content this game has for the price. Definitely a must have for Switch owners.

@Kidfried Fair enough, it's a bit of a marmite game for sure. I just let it suck me in and explore without worrying about silly concepts such as "making progress"

@Kidfried yeah that's pretty much it really. I think it helps if you can set aside some of your hang ups from past experiences playing other games, in particular how you quantify progress and reward for your effort. But still I can see why not everyone is going to love it. In that case you just kind of need to say as great as it may be, it ain't for me!

@Octane Wind Waker HD made a number of useful improvements to the base game, though.

The swift sail, item management on the GamePad screen, and changes to the triforce shard quest near the end make it a vastly more enjoyable experience, in particular.

@Kidfried I felt the same way with Breath of the Wild. As a Zelda fan I really wanted to enjoy this but for the reasons you pointed out I just didn't. I have been playing Assassin's Creed Origins the past few days and it makes me think if only they did Breath of the Wild like this it would be so much better.

While it's not a bad game it just feels incomplete.

@Tasuki @Kidfried Feel the same way about BOTW.
Last thing I remember I left Link on top of a mountain picking up lightning arrows...that was 6 weeks ago.

I love the attention to detail, but I just find the game boring.
I'm still going to finish it one day, but it's fallen WAY down the pecking order.

I can see why some people might not like Breath of the Wild. A lot of people have been throwing around the word "revolutionary" and other such superlatives, and it really isn't. It's revolutionary if you've only played Nintendo games for the last ten years but practically everything in it has been done elsewhere. In many ways it's just another open world game. But I think it does a lot of the stuff so much better than other games. The combat is a bit button mashy and I've already talked about why I hate the weapon degradation, but otherwise I think it nails it. Once I started it I couldn't put it down.

@Kidfried Im gutted you have just posted this. We have similar tastes in games and Im about to buy BOTW

Ive said it before but ARMS is the only switch exclusive game which has retained my interest. Im hoping botw gels with me as at this point I cant envisage buying any more games as the reviews so far dont match my experience of any of the games. I think as a game fan and avid reader of gaming websites, the fact Yakuza zero, HZD and statik were overlooked last year in favour of Mario Odyssey and Rabbids kingdom battle is actually ridiculous. If botw is similarly wet then Im just sticking with PS purchases and listening to the pushsquare team for advice as I cant trust the overblown scoring on the switch exclusives from multiplat sites.

@themcnoisy It's overrated, and not a good Zelda game IMO. But plenty of people will tell you otherwise. It's best to try yourself I think.

@Octane Thanks bro. I will do just that!

@themcnoisy Knowing you I'd probably bet against you really enjoying BOTW, but you never know. A game so highly acclaimed should be given a chance by any dedicated gamer in my opinion, even if you know you're taking a risk.

It's like Mario Oddysey and Fez, there is a lot of fun to be had exploring the environments without much direction just to see what is there. You might not get a conventional "reward", you might not tick some boxes on a quest list, you might end up worse off in terms of equipment but occasionally you'll stumble across something great, like a guy waiting for his true love next to a pond shaped like a broken love heart. Then a bit later you might find the unbroken love heart pond that he clearly should have been at instead. And you just sort of go "Naww." And thats it lol.

@kyleforrester87 Im taking that bet. It cant be any worse than my experience with mass effect andromeda or everybodys golf so heres hoping!