Wait...so Pokemon as an IP should somehow independently drop the studio that created it, one of the most globally successful and beloved gaming franchises that is still received very positively by the vast majority of fans and sells like hotcakes after a quarter century, because...the graphics could look better? Okey…

Interesting that Elden Ring is nominated for Best Narrative when, like the other Souls games, that stuff is buried deep and very subtle, and XC3 isn’t nominated there as well.

I’m not a Genwunner or anything, but this set of Pokemon lines up with basically all of the generations as far as I can remember in that I only really like maybe 25% of the designs and the rest are fine or forgettable. I think maybe the first two gens (largely due to nostalgia) and Sun and Moon are the only exceptions…

I still can’t believe that Sega didn’t look at Platinum’s Vanquish (a game they published!), go “oh shit, that’s what we should do”, and either bring Platinum on to consult on a game or just straight up give them the license for a game. Sonic should be a nimble glass cannon who can accelerate in an instant and be able…

Sonic endures as a character in spite of his own franchise, it seems. 

I had completely forgotten that God of War had a crafting system at all - like most action games, I just tend to ignore that nonsense when possible. If I went to the smith and happened to have the right pieces for an upgrade, great; if not, no big deal. Also, I can’t imagine Kratos himself bothering with something…

As I mentioned in the original post, I absolutely agree that Square should do so much better in terms of representation. My concern is their track record and whether they are capable of positive representation of minority characters with their current creative teams, writers, and leadership - effectively, I’m…

Must be hard being a Sony fanboy these days considering the number of franchises they support keeps consolidating. I miss the old Sony and their wild ideas, not this “hope you like photorealistic third person open world action-adventure games, half of which are set in a post apocalyptic world” nonsense.

Hoo boy. I don’t really want Shephard to return, as I’d prefer a new trilogy tread new ground instead of being focused on ‘hey, remember all of your friends from the good old days?’ The only scenario here that sounds appealing is the idea of Liara finding hints over her long lifespan that Shephard may not be gone, and…

Great points - I didn’t even think about the fact that Mario Odyssey handles all of this so much better. Part of the issue might be that Nintendo famously spends as much time as they need getting the core movement / controls / feel of a game right, then build around that. Certainly doesn’t seem like the case here…

It’s an impressive little device. My understanding is that FFVIIR runs well on it, albeit with a bit of slowdown when fights get really chaotic (I’ve heard similar things about other recent AAA games like God of War as well). Elden Ring runs incredibly well and looks gorgeous on High settings, same with Persona 5…

I mean, even a 7/10 3d Sonic game is a goddamn masterpiece compared to most of the series’ history. And it’s interesting to hear that the reviewers are matching up with my impressions from the trailers - this game has felt rushed and taped together in most gameplay trailers, with fans wondering if it should be delayed…

*pops champagne* Oh thank god - as a recent Steam Deck convert with basically zero interest in a PS5 (only XVI and VIIR Part Deux were tempting to me), only having to wait (and avoid spoilers) for six months feels much more doable than potentially a year or more. Here’s hoping that the next chapter of VIIR has a…

On the one hand, absolute yikes on Yoshi P’s reasoning. On the other, Square’s shown over the past decades that its Black characters often succeed in spite of much of their design or basic characterization. Barrett’s initial impression is of a large, brash, constantly angry Black man with a quick temper. Sazh dresses…

HA. I say this as a lifelong Square fan - there is no game company more adept at disappointing you in new and confounding ways.

I’ve actually wondered if it’s because a couple / few years ago they had a statement or announcement where they said they wanted to better utilize their back catalog, so my theory is that they started a bunch of similarly-sized projects at the same time, and instead of doing the simple and logical thing of spacing the…

Add to the list:

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLL

On one hand, who on earth at Nintendo was like “oh yeah, this RPG guy should make the music for our mini-game competition”? But then again, around the same time you have Yoko Shimomura killing it on everything from Super Mario RPG to Street Fighter II to Final Fight, etc etc, and while she’s a goddamn legend, it’s…

All great points. Definitely agree that Microsoft feels much more consumer friendly in most aspects. The fact that they’ve decided that their expensive console itself is an optional part of the experience opens up gaming to a much wider range of people at a much lower barrier of entry. Heck, I own an Xbox but usually…