The cynic in me sees the cliche “look at how *responsible* we are in managing our costs as we make employee expenses go down” that makes stock market wonks go “yes this is a responsible company, we need to buy more stocks”/etc to make stocks value rises etc.

Honestly though... what you describe re: exploration is why I’m glad they’re not going with that art style. Like... it’s the art style of Sword&Shield and imo there are Reasons.tm Sword and Shield is the one game where the exploration aspect has nigh-disapeared.

Like if anything, the chibi artstyle of the games we ARE…

Plus you can clearly see it’s from one of those folks who still haven’t digested the removal of Mega-Evolution gimmicks the moment you see that Garchomp.

And like... I could be wrong but from trailers thus far I get the feeling this game is going to go for a full remake “as people recall it” rather than “oh we’ve put…

Honestly yeah. I know it’s not neccessarily the “rule” re: “white 25-50 years old for Sony/Microsoft... but it does feel at least like a “trend” whereas a lot of the fans of the Switch I know do seem to be very spread wide accross very diverse communities and groups including not just women but also queer folks of all…

Tbh that possibility is why I ended up making sure to just.... make up a backup gear set if that was to ever happen to me.

Better start from not-scratch thanks to foresight, grind some other immediate needs and then plan the trip to corpse when actually ready than go through that.

Even if it’s lower tier it’s better…

I’d feel like Subnautica with specifically it’s thematic of being shipwrecked on an alien planet where food/thirst SHOULD indeed be kind of core concern for someone away from civilization and specifically.... on their own(as opposed to most other survival games that theorically can be played alone but really are…

Yeah! I saw the lorestone about greydwarfs myself and it led me to deploy campfire/torches around my mining spots to successfully deter them a lot of time.

I’ve also found a torch to be a decent weapon against them in a pinch when lacking anything else(such as when trying to recover my corpse/etc)

This this this.

I think this is the massive bit where ultimately Valheim figured why hunger/thirst systems don’t make sense; they are way too short mechanically and thus(ontop of the lack of RL tactile sensations) feel that much more disconnected from immersion.

Valheim making it’s mechanics more about preparations…

Honestly having been burnt out similarly by survival game and finally having dipped my toes I can confirm Valheim might be that gem.

Like... it removes all that’s “meter-based” in other games. Starvation is gone, thirst is gone. Food is purely ingredients that give you buffs with your only worry being renewing the buff…

The funny thing is the copper thing I found myself finding a workaround by preparing my mining site: the game often threw me the lorestone about Greydwarfs that mention their fear of fire.

Meanwhile a previous mining attempt had shown me how my pickaxe would always attract them when mining in the Blackforest.

So I ended…

Depends if they continue with the traditional gen system. It’s not been said if Pokemon Legends: Arceus is truly a new “side franchise” or perhaps what we might expect of new “main” titles. If the later, it could potentially mean a massive upset of the old “generations” system considering how it’s going back to a…

Honestly while that new rumor with the screen thing(though it’s noted that talks of “up to 4k support” might just end up meaning “more reliable 1080p” rather than trying to stretch performance to “4k but... uh, performance still suffer”) seem semi more solid than others... again, I suspect a possible “Switch Pro”....…

Same.
You always see some hardcore fans going “But when will I get my 4k support!” but honestly like... that’s the very last thing on my mind right now. Like... the console is STILL selling boatloads which is telling me that support for “the HDest of HD” graphics is perhaps not THAT important in the mainstream.…

Tbh one thing I’m noting is how these people are blowing their fuse over microtransactions in “free-to-play” games and the amount of money they spent on them “without getting what they wanted”.

If anything this just imo further add to one of the skeevy things I feel about games designed(to the point some companies even…

I dunno but in an open world game with no fixed routes and thus no “mandatory trainer battle ambush”(as now you could just go around them if they even exist at all) that would have required me in the past to focus on optimized battle teams all the time...

... i think I wouldn’t mind a return of “utility” overworld…

No but with a plot where there is no mention of gym battles anywhere, let alone seem to *be* cities in the kind of presence to support it(for all we know there might be only the single hub city) and thus more on pokemon collection(which we’ve been teased already ways it can be done before even initiating combat at…

From the title alone it sounds like it and... honestly.

It was damn time. Like I understand -why- mythicals exists the way they did but I feel like the concept aged poorly.

I dunno... it’s not the impression I’m having so far from people?
Like a lot of “never in my wildest dreams was that on my bingo card” but all said in a positive fashion.

Like this went out of it’s way to show the open-world and way things change(being able to actually sneak to a pokemon and capture them before even…

And honestly that’s the thing. They didn’t just give a random cryptic teaser for Legends Arceus. They showed straight off the bat bona fide gameplay. Immediatly showing direct hints of how the more involved open world environment could be use(notably by using the very environment to sneak around unseen by pokemon and…

Tbh as long as it doesn’t drop in the 10s or single-digit... “open world pokemon”(and I do note the environment avoid, in general, the kind of plains-wide grasses found in stuff like BoTW instead keep to more traditional pokemon grass “patches”) is a kind of thing the mainstream(if not the hard core) will likely be…