Gaming Smack My Switch Up: The Nintendo Switch Discussion Thread (was: NX)

Ok, so I guess I will choose among these three: Witcher, Zelda and Xenoblade.
I might go buy one of them this afternoon. I'm torn, deeply undecided.

Perhaps I should watch the gameplays in some YT video, but I think that the opinions of those who actually played the games like in this thread are the best source of info.

 

I'd still cross reference some YouTube videos if I were you, those are pretty different feeling games IMO.

 

Yeah, I just had a look.

They all look insanely good for different reasons.

My first naive impression is that Witcher looks like the most typical, I mean it's the one with the most familiar atmosphere. You're the hero, and you're in this medieval world, and there is the blacksmith who makes you the armor and there are side quests etc etc.
Xenoblade looks like it is set in a more futuristic world, and you control a team rather than a single person, it seems.
Zelda I haven't understood it yet but I'm shocked by how beautiful the world looks, from few images I had.

Tough choice.

 

Honestly I wouldn't start with Breath of the Wild. It gives you very little direction and kinda assumes you will know a lot of gaming tropes and systems.

 

I was just looking at IGN's best 25 Switch games, and Zelda is numero uno.

 

I don't mind feeling lost at the beginning. I mean a certain direction might be needed but I'm more worried by the risk of too much direction than too little.

 

Which Xenoblade are you looking at?

 

I know nothing so I guess I'd ask you what's the best one I should look
I think the video I just binge watched was the number 2. There was an interesting looking factory in production, and huge monsters and a woman with very few clothes.

 

As a minor desire, when I die I would like to find myself somewhere and go ahead with the adventure rather than being forced to go back to the last time I saved the game.
So, possibly I prefer when it's never "game over"
I find it very frustrating to go back, but OK, in some cases that's inevitable so this is, indeed, a minor desire.

 

Reason I asked is that XC1 is one of the best JRPGs I've ever played, but haven't played XC2 as it's Switch exclusive and very different.

One thing both games appear to have in common is unique world design. Sounds hyperbole but it is true in this case.

Soundtrack for the first game is excellent too.

In terms of punishing the player, XC1 was quite forgiving - you end up somewhere you shouldn't be, get killed by high level enemy, you get revived at the last signpost.

 

Yeah what I meant is that if I get experience/weapons/money and then they kill me I don't want to give everything away and go back to, say, 40 minutes of game before. And generally speaking I don't like to feel forced to save the game every time I make a small progress.

The design of the world looks, indeed, quite unique.

There's not much to say. I'm at a critical point in which I am about to make the decision among these 4 games (I still include fire Emblems among the options) but I think that my choice will mostly be dictated by the freedom of exploration, the coolness of the design, and the intrigue of the plot.

I might go to GameStop around 5, if my ideas will be clear by then. So far I have the feeling that I could get obsessed with any of the 4.

 

On most JRPGs frequent saving is good to do. For XC, definitely do so if it allows it.

 

Xenoblade games are epic.

 

If it's available it will be Zelda.

They praised it so much that I doubt I could be disappointed, and the first thing they highlight in the wiki page is that the player has freedom to do what they want, so it will likely be my cup of tea.

If they don't have it in GameStop I think I'll go for Xenoblade 2.

 

If you don't mind no guidance and little story, Zelda is great.

 

Now, I typically love Zelda games and I love open world games but I loathe BOTW.

 

As someone who’s at least dabbled in three of the four (Fire Emblem being the exclusion):

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - I played this one for ten hours or so before I bounced off of it. I loved the concept of the game taking place on the backs of gigantic Titan creatures, and I remember the story being fine, nothing too memorable. The gameplay though, woof. There’s a lot to it, and it’s constantly introducing you to new systems. It eventually became too much for me to want to deal with, and when the game stops being fun, that’s when I stop playing. A lot of people enjoy that kind of thing, but I’m not into it.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - One of the great games of the last console generation. I’m one of the many Ramza alluded to who started out with this game as my first experience in the franchise, and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. The world definitely felt lived in, and the characters clearly had histories that I wasn’t yet privy to, but it didn’t feel like a detriment to my enjoyment of the game. If I remember correctly, there are difficulty levels in this game, so you can opt to make things easier or harder on yourself depending on your play style. I almost always pick the easy option, and I don’t remember having a lot of trouble with the gameplay. It gives you a clear indication of when you’re facing enemies who are a lot stronger than you, and you’re usually able to get out of there before you bite off more than you can chew.

The Witcher III’s world is enormous, so if you like a ton of question marks on your map and checking those off one by one, you’ll definitely love this one. You’re free to tackle the objectives as you choose, opting for the main story or tackling side quests in whichever order you like. The side quests in this game are pretty highly regarded, as a lot of them are unique with interesting characters and storylines, unlike many of the RPGs that came before it where most of the side content primarily consisted of bland fetch quests. The voice acting and the writing are excellent, and the story is full of great, believable characters. After this game, I went back and read through the entire series of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher novels, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Either way you go here, I do recommend you check this one out eventually. It’s great. And if you like it, there are two excellent downloadable expansions as well.

The only caveat to this one I can think of is the quality of the graphics/performance on the Switch. This game originally released on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and the graphics are stylized realistically to take advantage of that hardware. I never heard anything overly negative about the Switch port, which is about as good as you can hope for these days, but still check YouTube videos, specifically for Switch footage, to see for yourself.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Again, I could wax poetic about this game all day long. I linked you to my review so I won’t waste too much more time here, but I will say that this game is a touch more difficult than the Witcher III. Personally, I think the difficulty is overblown. As someone who, like I said before, prefers his games to be on the easy side, I never got frustrated with BOTW. I thought it struck a perfect balance between accessible and challenging. I think the reason for this, and one of the best parts about the game, is that everything works like you think it should. You kinda have to train yourself to not think about it like a video game, because most games don’t let you do the things that BOTW does. In a shrine and trying to figure out how to lower that bridge? Pull out your bow and arrow and shoot the ropes holding it up. Boom. I was stuck in that shrine for an embarrassing amount of time because I was thinking in video game terms, trying to find a solution that I’d seen before, and not thinking practically. There were so many instances where I thought “Okay, I see what the game wants me to do here, but I wonder if this will work?” And 99% of the time it does. The game is just brilliantly put together, with a world so meticulously designed that no matter which direction you travel, you are going to find something interesting. If something catches your eye in the distance, go there, because I guarantee it won’t be a waste of your time. There are no icons on your map to tell you where to go unless you put them there yourself. The world is yours to discover, and you are constantly being rewarded for doing so.

Having said all that, if you’re looking for a deep story, there’s really not one here. The world, while gorgeous and extremely dense from an environmental standpoint, isn’t very inhabited unless you’re in a town, and there’s not much freedom of choice when it comes to your character and how you deal with NPCs. There are flashbacks to be found, but you have to go out of your way to see them, and the only hint you’re given is a photo with a landmark in it to give you a clue as to where to go. I found this part of the game fun, but again, if you’re looking for a game where the plot drives you forward, you’re probably better off with the Witcher.

Anyway, I could keep going on, but my break at work is over and you’ve gotta get to GameStop. You can’t go wrong with the Witcher or Zelda, IMO. Both are well worth your time and money. Enjoy!

 

Thank you Reynar for taking the time to write down this complete review, I don't exclude to sooner or later play all of them one by one.

So, I am now in possession of Breath of the wild. I will update you all about my emotions ITT.

I just hope not to get too addicted to this one because Let's go Eevee hasn't been very healthy from that pov lol.

Concerning the plot aspect, we'll see. Usually when I don't listen to Ramza I end up regretting it, but maybe this one will be an exception.

 

To be fair I harbor no specific ill will towards Breath of the Wild, I just never got around to dumping in enough time to have a comprehensive opinion beyond "I'm not wild about this inventory system," a complaint I could level against so many games I feel like there is actually some game design book somewhere I should actually be directing my ire at rather than a bunch of individual titles.

 

Hahaha I feel you so much on this. I'm also often ranting about how the tools are organized in the games I've played. The most recent thing that bothered me was the world map, that was just left there together with the other objects rather than having its own quick-to use folder.

 

Definitely look up some tip videos for BotW. It helped me a lot. I just like story so I prefer other Zelda games more..but gameplay wise it's a great one.

 

I spent the first three minutes moving a cube for 10 minutes and throwing barrels around. Nobody told me to do it. I just did it because I realize I could.

Btw quite insane that you can just climb whatever a human would realistically climb with no restrictions. And well, useless to say, everything looks pretty gorgeous.

I also like the use of the right analogic command to move the camera. It's rather user friendly.


(Edit: I'm talking with an old man now. I wonder whether I can just throw myself into the fire and burn to death. I feel like they'd let me do it, but I won't try for now)

 

I don't have a Switch but I know it's the flagship game on that system, so you chose wisely. Plus if you have a Nintendo console you need a Mario and a Zelda.

 

Witcher 3 is a far superior game to BOTW. I can see the game in BOTW but it's just hidden deep.

Mario Kart is excellent but in all honesty, I very rarely play my switch these days. It's a glorified Gameboy and I use it for FF7,8,9,10 or mario kart when I'm travelling for work (which explains why I've not used it in over a year)