Hand of Fate Shines because of Aesthetic

Hand of Fate is the first, and currently sole, game developed by Defiant Development. A mishmash of action, roguelike, and choose-your-own-adventure, I've been playing the game a bit recently and have really been loving it. But the more I played of the game, the more I began to wonder, why did I enjoy it so much?

The combat is nothing to write home about. If you've played any of the Batman: Arkham titles, you've seen it before. Enemies crowd around. You wait for an attack. Counter with proper timing. Go in for the combo. Rinse and repeat. Some twists, like uncounterable attacks and ranged attacks, force slight change but ultimately don't amount to a huge difference. It's fine, but also lacks the polish the combat had in the Arkham titles. There isn't the nice flow between animations you saw in those game. In the Batman games, a lot of care was done to make sure the different actions transitioned without being jarring. It looks like how a fight would go, with punches going to counters going to rolls smoothly. Hand of Fate, however, snaps from one animation to the next. You punch, and then you're rolling in a jarring change.

The other main portion of the gameplay, the non-action events, tend to get repetitive after a while. Your first encounter with the disguised goblin Mr. Lionel, or finding a weapon at the bottom of a ravine, or receiving aid from an elven maiden, are all intriguing given the ways they can go right, or wrong, and how you can handle them. Your second encounter? Third? Fifth? Eighth? Sixteenth? Less so.

What I think really works about Hand of Fate is the presentation. A man sits before you, with wide arm gestures and passionate exposition, extolling the difficulties and impossibility of the task you've chosen. It's bombastic, it's creative, it's expressive. It's a lot of the qualities fans of tabletop role-playing games would say is essential to be a good game master! And beyond the qualities of the man himself, there are the cards floating in front of him, dramatically swirling, there's an ornate case he has besides, there's subtle music providing ambiance for your next game...everything comes together to feel like if a game of Dungeons and Dragons could be taken that one step further.

Would Hand of Fate be anywhere near as good were it's presentation more drab? If the man merely laid the cards in front of you, and directed the action, would the game be nearly as good? Absolutely not, but this much is obvious. No game can survive without that bit of panache. Just this year, these sorts of flairs can be seen in Persona 5, Gravity Rush 2, Yakuza 0, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, all leverage their aesthetic to go from good to great. But Hand of Fate makes it abundantly clear that your ability to pull off the look and feel of what you're trying to evoke can make or break your game, determining whether it's an enjoyable game or a forgettable mess. Aesthetic can make all the difference, and in the case of Hand of Fate, it absolutely did.

Splatoon 2 Global Testfire Impressions

Stage 1 - Denial

It's the morning of March 24th, approaching noon, and I've gotten my nice new Nintendo Switch out to play some Splatoon. Starting soon, the Global Testfire will start, and as a huge fan of the original Splatoon on the Wii U I'm looking forward to seeing how things have changed. The supers are all brand new, there's a new kind of weapon in the Splat Dualies (which allow for rolling, how fun!), and the maps are all new.

The hour rolls around, and I boot up the game. A tutorial lets me get the hang of the controls, which seem largely unchanged from the original game, and I'm quickly shown the weapon select. I select my old standby, the Splat Roller, and the test starts connecting me to the game. Or, it tries to, at least. After a little bit, a connection error message pops up, and I'm booted back to weapon select. I try again, and the same thing happens. Try again, same thing. I look up information online, certain this must be a widespread issue, but...no, most everyone else has gotten in, enjoying themselves.

I find a few scattered reports of issues, and I try their suggestions. I restart my Switch, no dice. I double- and triple-check my internet connection, and it's green across the board. There is, as far as I can tell, no reason that I should be unable to play the game. Yet, I still get booted out. I post a joke on Twitter, complaining that there's no Squid Jump to distract me like in the original game, all while continuing to try, fruitlessly.

The hour ends, and with it the test, but my hopes remain high. The server tests for the original Splatoon were rough at first as well, but by the next time I was able to connect no problem and start splatting. I look forward to the next test I'll be able to join in on.

Stage 2 - Anger

It's 4 AM, the following morning, March 25th. I got home a few hours ago from a pretty rough shift at work, my feet still hurt, and I'm still a bit annoyed at some stuff I won't go into. But that's all in the past, and now I'm about to jump into the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire, which is about to start another hour of testing. I hop in, pick my weapon, and...the same thing happens. Can't connect.

I go through all the same motions as last time, restart the console, check the internet, everything's good, everything's working, why the fuck can't I play this game? I start trying different weapons to see if somehow my choice of the roller is preventing it from working, no luck. I'm already tired and annoyed, and now I can't even play this goddamn video game. Great. I post into a group chat that I want someone to complain to about this, but it's four in the goddamn morning, nobody's around. I go to sit next to our router, get as good a connection as I can, but nothing works. Around this time, I notice that it's always around 2 measures of music, the same two measures of music, before I get booted around, but it's never the exact same amount of time, always ever so slightly off.

I go back to my computer and am quite surprised that someone has in fact joined voice chat. I take a moment to remember that it's not 4 AM everywhere, then hop in and start my complaints. They lend a compassionate ear at my understandable frustrations. They tell me what they thought of the game, which doesn't annoy me as much as I was afraid it would (though I still make a sarcastic comment). Apparently Rollers have some momentum now where they take a second to roll at full speed? That's weird, and feels super unnecessary, but so did making the Kraken super in the original Splatoon completely useless by the time they stopped updating it, so who knows.

We shoot the shit about the original Splatoon, and our likes and dislikes about it. We both agree that skills shouldn't be tied to equipment anymore, so we can just be stylish, and that Nintendo will likely keep that stuff linked to equipment anyway. The entire time I keep trying to connect to a match, but no luck the entire way through. Eventually, the hour ends, and I've still put absolutely no time into Splatoon 2. I thank my friend for lending me their ear, and go to bed, setting my alarm for before the next test starts. I end up sleeping through it anyway.

Stage 3 - Still Anger

It's 8 PM that night, and guess what, the same shit happens. Can't connect. Earlier today a friend of mine who lives on a rock with bad internet and doesn't own a Switch tweeted about how they were playing Splatoon 2, which definitely wasn't rubbing it in my face but also definitely felt like it a little bit.

I spoke to the same friend earlier and apparently Bill Trinen, Senior Product Marketing Manager and notable public face of Nintendo of America, noted issues related to Comcast, the same ISP which I am unfortunately bound to. I check, and he is able to connect just fine to the current one. He is now tweeting about college basketball, and I guess I hope the team he was rooting for did well.

My thoughts wander to the worst case scenario. What if this is just how the game is gonna be? I feel like I'm one of like 7 people on the planet who can't get in, what if I'm considered an acceptable loss and Nintendo just doesn't do anything because hey, most people aren't having an issue? Splatoon 2 was one of the reasons I spent 300 dollars on this, what if that's just not feasible? I tweet to the official Nintendo of America account asking what work is being done between sessions, but I might as well scream into the void. The void does not scream back.

Stage 4 - Acceptance, And Definitely Not Anger Or A Different Kind Of Denial

It's 4 AM on Sunday, March 26th, and there's another hour of testing, the last hour of this group, but who cares honestly. Splatoon wasn't that great anyway, I guess on a floundering system like the Wii U it was alright, but it was overrated in retrospect. Who cares about the sequel to it? Even if you did, it all looks the same, they haven't changed anything, so you might as well just play the one that actually fucking works instead of this new piece of garbage.

You know what game is better than Splatoon 2, probably? Nier: Automata. This game is rad, and I'm starting my second playthrough, and it's already pretty crazy. I'm still trying to connect to the Splatoon 2 servers, but not because I wanna play it, I just feel like I have to, if I want to be able to speak with any sort of authority on video games I should play all the games I can, even if I don't care about them even a little bit. 

You know what else is definitely better than Splatoon 2, which I know because Splatoon 2 is dumb? Persona 5. That's coming out in like, a week or something crazy like that, and I still need to beat Nier: Automata like 4 more times or something before it comes out so I can see all the endings, which are apparently all pretty amazing. Who has time to play some dumb multiplayer paint game, that I just checked again and nope still no connection shit, when I have to beat a game that many more times in a week? Not me.

Definitely not me.

Impressions from a 1 week Switch owner

Note: Apparently I forgot to post this last week. This post was intended to be up on March 11. I apologize for the error, and will post two articles some week in the future to keep up my once per week schedule.

Hey so remember back in January when I said I wasn't going to get a Switch "anytime soon" because of how thin the launch line-up was? Yeah, oops, I own a Switch now. Last Saturday, one day after the Switches release while everyone was scrambling to find one, while spending time with a friend, he mentioned that a local Amazon Books had a lot of Switch's in stock. I called them, and apparently they still had "about two or three hours worth" of Switch's left, which struck me as an odd way to quantify it. We headed over, and when we got there we saw...this:

That picture depicts, by my estimate, several dozen Nintendo Switch consoles, and probably well over 100 copies of the main attraction, so to speak: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

So I got one. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say. After about a week of it, I can at least say that I don't regret the decision.

Very Itch-eresting, Vol. 1

Valve, the gaming corporation behind the PC gaming platform Steam, recently announced that Steam Greenlight, the current method for non-traditionally published games to make their way onto Steam, will soon be phased out in favor of a new system, called Steam Direct. Rather than the complicated and obtuse method of combining votes, money gathered via crowdfunding, apparent quality, and a host of other reasons which Valve somehow used to determine what did or did not make it onto Steam, they will instead simply charge a fee. If you pay, you get on. The actual amount of the fee has yet to be determined, but Valve says they are asking developers for their thoughts and have received recommendations ranging from 200 dollars, twice as much as it took to put your game onto Steam Greenlight, to 5000 dollars.

5000 dollars, it should go without saying, is a lot of money, and would most likely prevent many smaller developing studios, and especially solo developers, from being able to get onto Steam. Some don't see this as a problem, however: if the game is worthy of being on Steam, the largest and most visible PC gaming platform, then 5000 dollars should be easy to recoup. If they don't happen to have a spare 5000 dollars just lying around, well there are other places to sell their games, such as perennial weird-game favorite, Itch.io.

Final Fantasy XIV and Anti-Anxiety Repetition

Check the supply and provisioning log. What do I need to craft today? What do I need to gather? Get a list of the things I need.

I don't respond to stress particularly well. I get angry, I get frustrated, I need to walk away even when it feels like the last thing I should be doing. The best solution, I've found, is to find something quick and repetitive to do to take my mind off for a bit. And as I've found recently, MMOs are the perfect fit.

Crafting is easy, but annoyingly luck based. Start the crafting: Activate Great Strides now, so you can take advantage of any possible condition changes; Use Basic Synthesis to increase the progress; pay attention to the durability so I don't waste this stuff; raise high quality chance as much as I can, and hope for the best once it's done.

Once everything is crafted, time to move on to gathering. Look up the location of the requested botany and fishing items. Go to where the botany item is, and gather 10, always 10. Figure out the right bait and location for the fish I need to gather, then cast my line. Then fail, and cast it again. Then fail again, and cast it again. The fishing always takes a while.

My poison of choice, for a while now, has been Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I'm well into endgame, at the moment, and eagerly await the upcoming expansion pack Stormblood. But right now, world being as it is, I'm thankful for a place to go with plenty to do when I need it.

All the crafting and gathering is done. Turn it in to the Storm Sergeant,  he'll give me experience and currency. Time to do work for the Beast Tribes; the Vundu, bird people; the Vath, bug people; and Moogles. I'm getting close to having the quest lines for all three finished, and once I do I can get a new quest line and get a cool new dance. It's nice to have a goal to work towards.

The variety of things available in the game, as far as repetitive stuff goes, is impressive. Maybe it's nothing special for people who have sunk time into MMOs before, but as a relative noobie it can be overwhelming sometimes. Every 18 hours, I have to check in with my retainers (NPCs who can hold items, sell items on the market, and do odd jobs for you) and ensure they're still working on ventures, along with searching for treasure maps that can contain valuable crafting materials and currency. Every day, I have new Supply and Provisioning missions, where I need to craft and gather items for one of the three PVP factions; I don't participate in PVP at all, but joining a faction is required for the story and being a part has other benefits. I can also do Beast Tribe quests every day, which can provide experience or endgame currency, or do Duty Roulette, which will have me running a dungeon for bonus money and experience. And every week, the game’s Challenge Log resets, which has tons of different objectives within which can provide experience, money, and some of the special currencies such as faction seals and Gold Saucer Points.

With the Beast Tribe quests finished, I run a few dungeons; one of the roulettes picks from the two most recently added dungeons, but for some reason more people seem to be running the one that isn't required for the story. And in the roulette of the rest of the dungeons, the Aetherochemical Research Facility is almost always where you end up: it gives the most Allagan Tomestones of Lore, a currency which is probably going to be phased out once the new expansion hits, but is still valuable right now. Running the dungeons is a little rote, but sometimes the other people you get grouped with are fun to talk to.

In all honesty, it can take me hours to complete everything on my plate any given day, if I even bother to try finishing everything. But sometimes I need a few hours. Sometimes I only need like 30 minutes. Sometimes just hearing a familiar tune, a calming melody, is enough to put me in the right state of mind. To be able to face a tough day, as days tend to be lately. Just something to stop anxiety and panic attacks.

The dungeons are finished, and with it my entire daily routine is exhausted. But there's still a ton of classes and jobs I could level up, and I still need to finish the Scholasticate questline, and I still need to get my Relic weapon up to date, and finish all of the Alexander raids, and the new Dun Scaith raid, and I just saw an advertisement for a player-run club that I could check out as a goof, and...

I used to hate this stuff: it was repetitive, it was boring, it was what weird people did when they ran out of real stuff to do in the game. But now, when I need something simple and easy to do, something I can lean back on, I appreciate this stuff as more than fluff. It's the same, over and over, and it's the exact relaxation I need.

Sonic Adventure 2 is Bad

I won't lie: I couldn't think of something to write this week. I wanted to play Yakuza 0 and maybe try to write something about that, but I wasn't able to get my hands on a copy until two days ago, and while I've been playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn nearly constantly, I'm at a loss as to what I could write about it. Instead of missing a week, I'm writing something quick that isn't original or good but is mostly something that I want out so I can stop thinking about it. Therefore, to fill the void: A List of Reasons Why Sonic Adventure 2 Isn't A Very Good Game.

1. Knuckles stages suck now

For those of you unfamiliar, Knuckles (and Rouge) stages in the Sonic Adventure series are based around finding three items scattered around the level, with a radar at the bottom using a cold-hot scheme to indicate when you're getting close to an object. Many maligned the Knuckles stages in the original Sonic Adventure, being a somewhat frustrating and plodding treasure hunt around open levels. Personally, I thought they were really fun. I loved getting to know the places these levels take place in, and despite length complaints I never found the levels took too long, at least not frustratingly so. In Sonic Adventure 2, however, one simple change makes Knuckles levels, and by extension Rouge the Bat levels, unbearable.

In the original Sonic Adventure, the radar worked with all three items at once. If you got close to any of the three items, it's radar would start flashing and beeping, allowing you to find the items in whatever order you wished or found them in. Sonic Adventure 2, on the other hand, limits you to one radar at a time. If you're relying on the radar to find the items, and you are unless you've memorized every possible location the items could spawn in, you have to find the first item first, then the radar for the second item will unlock, and only after finding that item will the radar for the third item unlock. It's the most subtly aggravating thing I think I've experienced in a video game. It's possible to wander the stage for 5 or 10 minutes before finding the first object, then wander around again only to discover the second object is back where you were searching for the first object originally. Then, you can wander around again and find the third object is near where you found the first! It's the oddest design choice, since as far as I can tell the only way you can see the change as beneficial is if you want a bunch of frustrated players. If that is the case, it worked: I was definitely frustrated when a level in Sonic Adventure 2 too me over half an hour to complete.

2. So do Tails' stages

In the original Sonic Adventure, Tails stages were races: you raced against an opponent, typically though not always Sonic, to the end of a shortened, speed-oriented version of levels from elsewhere in the game. In Sonic Adventure 2, however, Tails (and Dr. Eggman in the Dark campaign) takes the place of E-102 Gamma, with combat from a robot you're piloting being a major focus. The problem is that the combat sucks, literally just holding down a button to trigger auto-aim and releasing after you've managed to target a few enemies (this is also part of the reason why Gamma's stages weren't combat-focused but time trials, racing against a clock you could extend by defeating enemies).

Tails also has a health bar rather than the typical Sonic health of "If you have rings you lose them, if you don't you die". This sounds fine except it takes a ton of rings to refill your health bar after getting hit, and later levels especially will use the health bar as an excuse to throw more difficult and, at times, entirely unfair enemies at you who will whittle health down over time without providing enough rings to heal you. Combine this with the annoying whine that accompanies the auto-aim weapon, and Tails stages are frustrating beyond belief, especially once the levels become longer towards the end of the game

3. Nothing about this terrible story works

I'm not gonna sit here and claim Sonic the Hedgehog has some deep lore that is disrespected by the quality of story in this game, but even compared to its predecessors Sonic Adventure 2 tells a bad tale poorly. Let me try to recap: Sonic the Hedgehog is being pursued by GUN, a government agency which does...something, because they think he's the only barely at all similar Shadow the Hedgehog, who has been stealing Chaos Emeralds. He's doing this to help Eggman for some reason, who is trying to power a doomsday device his grandpa made so he can force the President of the United States of America to give him land to make Robotnikland I guess? Also Tails is helping Sonic and Knuckles is looking for the pieces of the Master Emerald again because it was broken during a conflict with Rouge the Bat who is a treasure hunter who is also working with Shadow and Eggman because she's secretly an agent of GUN and also Shadow is the "ultimate lifeform" except maybe he isn't.

That was confusing to read, and it's also confusing to remember and understand while playing the game, not helped at all by the baffling direction of the cutscenes in the game: Shots will cut from one place to the next during important scenes (such as the destruction of the Master Emerald, where in one shot it's fine and in the next it's exploded), and voice lines play over each other causing them to be muddled and confusing, assuming the sound mixing in that particular scene isn't so quiet that you can't even hear them. Again, it's not like we were expecting amazing things, but the game fails to cross over a bar that is basically on the ground already.

4. City Escape is a bad song

It is. It just is. I'm sorry you had to find out like this.

5. I Don't Have Nostalgia

I'm not stupid. I know the real reason a bunch of people love this game even though it holds up absolutely terribly: they played it when they were kids, they have good memories associated with the game. I'm in the same boat with the first game, actually: Sonic Adventure was one of the first games I ever played, and that is entirely the reason I'm still fond of it. It definitely isn't the controls, which are wobbly and imprecise at the best of time. It isn't the glitches, which are varied, constant, and new every time I play. Given the benefit of retrospect, Sonic Adventure isn't a good game, it's a game that's alright at best and typically much worse, popular in the moment but almost immediately starting to age. It wasn't the story, which may be told better than Sonic Adventure 2's but is nonetheless a confusing cross-section between "Eggman is trying to make Robotnikland" and "There is an ancient evil which will destroy the world".

My experience playing Sonic Adventure 2 for the first time was uniquely terrible. I tried to beat it just to say I did, and I ended up with an incredibly frustrating week and two separate existential crises. I don't see what people like about it. But some people don't see what I love about the first game. And that's fine. I'm allowed to like my bad thing, and other people are allowed to like their bad thing.

Sonic Adventure 2 is worse, though.

The Familiar Feeling of Thumper

Before finally getting a chance to play it this week, I'd been hearing things about Thumper for a good long while. It's freaky, it's fast, it's "Rhythm Violence". It's barely even a rhythm game, it's all about getting into the flow of things. It'll stress you out. It'll make you sweat. It's not like other rhythm games.

Having played it, I'm inclined to disagree. Not to say the game isn't an odd duck, it definitely has its own idiosyncrasies. For instance, in a genre which typically maintains a shorter playtime on songs, around 2-4 minutes, to avoid overwhelming the player, Thumper gleefully has levels which reach over 30 minutes in length. In relation, the game doesn't really seem to expect you to memorize the levels the way you would memorize note charts in other rhythm games, given how it'll give additional sound cues ahead of time for the notes and also how 30 minutes is a ludicrous amount of time to memorize. Most importantly, in my opinion, the game’s soundtrack isn't catchy, or listenable, or even rhythmic: I often found myself completely incapable of finding a beat, only hitting notes by listening for the sound cues or looking carefully ahead. The soundtrack is more like a horror movie soundtrack, like John Carpenter's The Thing: The point isn't to be melodic or catchy, it's to set an unnerving and eerie mood.

But, ultimately, it's still a rhythm game. Let's compare it to a more recent release: Hatsune Miku Project Diva: Future Tone! There are the obvious similarities: You're still hitting buttons and directions in time with a rhythm. The music is a focus, though for different reasons. And, interestingly, there's a lot of visual noise behind the important, gameplay-focused notes and paths: Thumper has writhing limbs and flashing backgrounds, while Hatsune Miku has its music videos, which vary from unassuming fake concert footage to 3D animated music videos.

For me personally, the biggest similarity is what many people seem to think separates Thumper from the rest of the genre: stress.

Thumper revels in the stress it causes players: The long levels mean you can't feel "finished" with a song in the same short period of time as a typical rhythm game, and of course the Lovecraftian look of the game is incredibly unsettling. But the sweaty palms, the tense shoulders, the cursing at mistakes...that's not a new feeling for me when I play rhythm games. When I play, I want to get a perfect score. Any difficult part of a song, any tricky pathing...my shoulders tense up. My toes involuntarily flex. Every part of my body acts as if a moment of great exertion is happening.

That's what rhythm games are to me: stressful. A fun stress, not unlike what horror fans get out of their chosen genre. I don't dislike the Hatsune Miku games for that reason: Project Diva f 2nd is still a mainstay in my Vita, which I come back to periodically to try and do a bit better on songs that are always frustrating me. Ultimately the thing I'm there to do is overcome that tension and do my best. Thumper revels in it like few others do, sure, but it's not particularly novel in that respect. Thumper extends that stress out over 30 minutes, but the spikes I've felt playing through, say, Close and Open Demons and the Dead on Extreme difficulty easily match that stress, if not exceed it (though to be fair, I'm only about halfway through Thumper.)

My palms may be sweaty, my shoulders may be tense, my tongue may be sticking out to focus, I may be cussing a lot. But that's rhythm games for me. Thumper isn't an outlier; it fits comfortably, if oddly, among the rest.

Nintendo Switch Presentation: Recap and Thoughts

With January 12th come and gone, Nintendo has finally held their big Switch event, explaining more about their next game console and finally giving everyone more information regarding pricing and launch titles. I wasn't able to watch it live, since I work late shift, but having seen it I definitely came away slightly cooler than I would have hoped.

Pricing, Online Services, and Region Locking

Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima was the first on stage, with the most pressing announcements of the night: The console, which will officially launch on March 3rd, will be priced at $299.99 USD. A fair price, but I won't deny being slightly disappointed since many people (including those leaking information ahead of time) were saying it may be only $250 at launch, which would have made it a much easier sale for me. It's still a good price for a brand new console, though.

What was less good was the following announcement: Nintendo would be following Sony and Microsoft in limiting online play on their hardware to those who pay a subscription fee. After a free trial lasting until this fall, users will have to pay to access online play and the ability to use an app for voice chat. I should note that the voice chat is specifically listed as an 'app', implying that it's a smartphone function that isn't included in the console itself. Subscribers will also gain access to exclusive discounts, similar to subscribers of Sony's and Microsoft's online services, and access to a free game each month. But as announced online after the presentation, not only are these free games only available for free for that month, unlike rival services which treat the games as purchased, they will apparently only include games from the NES and SNES periods: no new games will be offered with the service, though these old games will apparently be updated with online multiplayer support.

Combined with the removal of Miiverse, a legitimately fun online service available on the Wii U for sharing screenshots, drawings, and messages, this all sounds like a terrible value proposition. While this is a perfectly sensible business decision from Nintendo, who are of course spending money keeping the online servers running, that's also the case with their competitors, who offer a much better deal with free games that are not only free forever, but also aren't twenty to thirty years old. We don't know the pricing on this service, but if it ends up comparable to Playstation Plus or Xbox Live Gold, it'll be easily the worst of the three.

This portion of the presentation also announced the removal of region locking, which prevented players from using software imported from countries the hardware was not purchased in. Or, to be more exact, they announced that their software would "tend to" not be region locked. This is a long overdue decision on Nintendo's part, being the only company of the three to still prevent imported games from being played on their consoles, but the "tend to" leads me to believe there are situations where they may still make use of it. I have no idea what situations those would be, but it's something to keep in mind. It also leaves the door wide open for third party developers to region lock their games, which would be an odd thing for them to do since they get money regardless of where the game was purchased, but it's still an option for them.

The Legacy of Nintendo Consoles

Following Kimishima was Shinya Takahashi, who holds a variety of positions at Nintendo but most prominently is in charge of the "Entertainment Planning and Development Division,” which means he's in charge of all software developed by Nintendo. He started his portion of the presentation with explaining how the Switch has "inherited DNA" from every piece of hardware the company has developed over the years. He proceeded to name every aspect, ranging from the obvious (the Game Boy was portable!) to the incredibly forced (The Gamecube had a handle so you could carry it easily!) to the newly officially announced (The DS had a touchscreen!), though I'm forced to notice the Virtual Boy was conveniently forgotten.

This portion also further pushed how Nintendo was selling the console: This is not a handheld you can connect to your television, and it's not a handheld-console hybrid. It is a home console which you can take with you on the go. This distinction may seem minor, but it's important considering news announced slightly later. Before that, they also officially stated what could be seen in the first announcement video of the console: It can be played as a home console connected to a TV, using the portable screen as a small television by propping the screen up with a kickstand in the back, or as a handheld by connecting the controllers (referred to as 'Joy-Cons') to either side of the portable screen. They also mentioned the ability of the Joy-Con controllers being usable as separate controllers for multiplayer games.

The ball was dropped slightly with the announcement made during this portion: when used on the go, the console's battery will last anywhere from a decent 6 1/2 hours to a terrible 2 1/2 hours depending on the game being played. This seems to be the only thing holding it back from being a decent handheld in its own right: In an age where "portable" means "fits in a backpack", the Switch fits the bill, and they're certainly focusing on that ability. But such meager battery means this thing will have to be connected to a wall more often than not. It's not going to last you long flights without charging, but it should last for commutes, and since it's a standard USB charger this time around, you can at least attach a battery pack to the console to improve time as well.

The touchscreen on the portable screen is capacitive, meaning it's more accurate but requires special styluses or direct touch to activate. The system also has Wi-Fi capabilities, allowing for multiplayer games to be played online, and up to 8 consoles can be connected locally.

The Joy Con controllers, and HD Rumble

Next came Yoshiaki Koizumi, General Producer of the Nintendo Switch, who showed off the Joy Con controllers. The Joy-Con controllers, which have specific left-side and right-side versions, are made to be able to be connected to a variety of products, such as the special Joy-Con Grip controller, which can also charge the controllers, and the portable screen of the console as mentioned above. They can also be used when not connected to anything, with one in each hand or as individual controllers as mentioned above. It was also noted that the left Joy-Con has a 'Record' button, allowing screenshots and (eventually) videos to be posted to social media, and the right Joy-Con has the Near-Field Communication sensor, necessary for amiibo support, located underneath the analog stick. This location seems a bit odd, but there isn't a ton of area on the Joy-Cons and amiibos needed to be usable when the Joy-Cons weren't connected to anything, so I suppose it works out.

It was also confirmed that the Joy-Cons have accelerometers and gyroscopic sensors, meaning motion controls like what was seen in the Wii line are possible. Any hopes that Nintendo would be leaving behind motion controls in favor of a "typical" console control scheme are lost.

Besides this, L and R buttons were shown to be on the section of the Joy-Cons which would be connected into a dock, which makes sense if they're supposed to work as independent controllers. Koizumi used this to say the console comes with two controllers, but not every game is going to be playable with only six buttons and an analog stick, so I'm not sure that claim really holds up. Some of the games they showed off even require both for a single player, but we'll get to those. Koizumi also claimed the Joy-Cons "Fit in the palm of your hand, just right." I'm unable to confirm the comfort of holding it one way or another, but given my huge mitts I'm inclined not to believe him.

Koizumi then lounged on a couch for a moment to show off how lazy you're able to look while holding the Joy-Cons, which honestly was the biggest sell for me personally.

In a video package that was then played, it was shown that the Joy-Cons will also have color variants, with Neon Red and Neon Blue being available alongside the typical Grey. Presumably others will also be released later in the console's lifecycle, but nothing regarding additional colors was mentioned in the presentation. In addition, the Joy-Con wrist strap was shown, which actually seemed very smartly designed. Not only does it attach to the Joy-Cons in a similar manner as the Joy-Cons would connect to the console, they also shape the Joy-Cons so they don't have sharp right-angles right where you're resting your fingers, and more prominently shows the L and R buttons. It's a really smart design, and seems like a good thing to attach when using the Joy-Cons individually even if you're not interested in the straps. Grips which match the special colors of Joy-Cons were also shown.

The right Joy-Con has an IR camera in its bottom, which can detect the shape and distance of objects placed in front of it. Koizumi claimed it would lead to new and unique control methods, but like with most things Nintendo releases that would lead to new and unique control methods, I'm betting Nintendo will use it for a few games and everyone else will completely ignore it. It's neat, but doesn't seem particularly useful or compelling for control schemes.

Speaking of interesting but probably underutilized, "HD Rumble" was given it's own section. Koizumi claimed the rumble was so precise, that if meant to replicate a glass, you could tell how many ice cubes were inside, and feel it being filled with water. Again, it's cool tech and I can see the possibility for someone doing something cool with it. But I imagine most developers only using standard rumble.

This will probably not be your experience with the Switch

Finally, The Games

It is at this point that we finally touch on the games which were announced. First up is 1, 2, Switch, a mini game collection which aims to use the many features of the Joy-Con controllers. The games, which are designed to be playable with one Joy-Con and while focusing on your opponent rather than the screen, vary from a quick-draw wild-west shooting game, to a milking game, to a samurai game, to a sandwich eating game, and many others shown off in the video. It seems like it's intended to be the console's Wii Sports or Nintendoland, showing off the various unique functions of the controllers. Unfortunately, it's not being offered as a pack-in like Wii Sports and Nintendoland were, and the game costs a whopping 50 dollars, so I can't see it taking off the way it needs to. Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, defended the position in an interview with Gamespot, claiming the wider variety presented in 1, 2, Switch meant it wasn't slight enough to be a technical showcase pack-in title. But without it, they're asking a lot for a game that doesn't feel like it's going to be pulled out except to show off the system.

Next was ARMS, a behind-the-back fighting game. The main difference between ARMS and a more typical fighting game of its type, like Pokken Tournament, is the heavy focus on distance combat, given the characters’ spring arms. It also controls by using the Joy-Cons as virtual joysticks, holding them upright, tilting left and right for movement, pressing the triggers on top of the Joy-Cons for jumping, dashing, and special attacks, and physically punching to punch in-game. If you tilt the Joy-Con after you punch, it'll turn. This all sounds cool, but the "twist fist to turn punch" thing means your punches will be less "really fighting" and more "rock 'em sock 'em robots." Not to mention, if there's no non-motion control with this thing, they'll have to really nail the motion stuff. Still, ARMS looks cool, I dig the cartoony style, and Nintendo has certainly proven they can succeed in genres unconventional for the company thanks to 2015's Splatoon.

Speaking of, Splatoon is getting a sequel on the Switch! As excited as I am, being a fan of the original, there isn't that much to say. A new weapon type exists in the Splat Dualies, there's a wide variety of new supers and stages, and you can customize your characters hair. Very cool, but pretty standard as far as sequels go. It also won't be a launch title, instead releasing this summer.

Afterwards, we finally got out first look at the new Mario title, Super Mario Odyssey. It was explained that this game will have large sandbox levels, more akin to Super Mario 64 than newer, rigidly level-based titles, but it was hard to think about how neat that might be when Mario went to a normal-ass human city with normal-ass human beings inside of it. Yes, any perfectly reasonable belief that Mario is just what people look like here went out the window as we saw him next to normally proportioned people in New Donk City, which seems to be a Donkey Kong reference but sounds incredibly silly. Besides this, Mario also has a sentient hat this time around, which he can throw around to attack enemies or use as a temporary springboard. It all looks neat and like a new direction for the series, but it's also very far off, not releasing until Holiday 2017. Considering there were reports that the game may be a launch title, it was a big hit against the console in my opinion.

Games from the Rest

A slew of non-first party titles were then also shown. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was briefly shown, though only in the most minor of ways: a handful of running shots, combined with some cutscene footage. I've only played the open-world spinoff Xenoblade Chronicles X, so I have basically no attachment to the mainline, but it certainly looks pretty.

Quickly afterwards was Fire Emblem Warriors by Tecmo-Koei and Team Ninja, a game which had literally nothing shown of it except the titular Fire Emblem and a shot of Chrom's sword from Awakening. This shows two things: One, it's probably going to be another musou game, in the style of Dynasty Warriors or Hyrule Warriors. Two, Nintendo is still milking the FE: Awakening cash cow SUPER HARD.

Taking a break from showing stuff off, Koizumi took the stage again to assure everyone of the consoles third party support. According to him, there are 50 companies working on games for the Switch, with over 80 titles currently in development. How many of these companies stick around, and how many of those games come out, remains to be seen. Remember, Nintendo passed around a similarly impressive list when the Wii U was being released, and not much ended up coming from that. It's easy for a company to talk about how they're planning to support a console before it's released and they learn how well the thing sells.

Koizumi reaffirmed that the Switch will be receiving both the new Dragon Quest XI, and the MMO Dragon Quest X from Square Enix in Japan (no official word on English releases for either), and also mentioned that a Dragon Quest Heroes 1&2 pack will be released on the Switch as well. Atlus showed a teaser for a new Shin Megami Tensei game, which reportedly "just started development" so we won't be seeing it for literal years, and a brand new Square Enix RPG only known currently as Project Octopath Traveler. The game looks pretty slick, with a 3D environment made to look like, and populated by, 16- or 32-bit spritework.

After this, representatives from a variety of companies were brought out on stage. Toshihiro Nagoshi, Corporate Director of Sega Games, stated that Sega is developing games for the console but didn't announce or show anything concrete. A video of Todd Howard, Executive Producer and Game Director at Bethesda was shown, where he confirmed that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was coming to the system which you'd think was confirmed when it was shown in the first look trailer of the Switch released last year, but whatever. Also, despite the fact that Skyrim is over 5 years old at this point, the port isn't going to be releasing until this Fall, and honestly I can't imagine any reason to buy the game again if you already own it.

AND FINALLY. WITH THE BIGGEST SHOCK OF THE PRESENTATION. Suda51, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture, announced that No More Heroes 3 was in development for the Switch. Again, nothing concrete was shown, only teaser art of main character Travis Touchdown wearing a shirt that says "Travis Strikes Again." But as a fan of the series, I'm shocked and excited at the prospect of a third game in the series.

(Also, a quick note: Many have been quick to criticize the translator for Suda51's segment of the presentation, who seemed less confident, quick, or coherent compared to the rest. I would like to point out that the other translators were dealing with people in suits who were sticking to the company-line script, and that Suda51's translator was dealing with a man who made a game about a cheerleader who fought zombies with a chainsaw with her boyfriends head attached to her hip. Make of that what you will.)

Finally, Peter Soderlund, Executive Vice President of EA, announced that FIFA would be coming to the switch. This would be surprising if FIFA didn't come to every console ever. He also mentioned that it would be a specific, Switch version, which implies that it won't be a port, or rather not a port of the PS4 or Xbox One versions of the game. This makes sense, since the Switch isn't as powerful as either of those, but the lack of features in older versions of the game may be worrisome to some fans.

Hardware Configurations

At this point, Tatsumi Kimishima retook the stage to talk about the physical components of the Switch launch. The system comes with the console itself, the dock for charging and connecting to a television, power cord, HDMI cable, a left and right Joy-Con, a Joy-Con grip, and two Joy-Con wrist straps, basically as you'd expect. A pro controller, which more closely mimics the look and feel of controllers found on competing consoles, will be available separately. Two variants were also announced: One with standard grey Joy-Cons, and one with a blue left Joy-Con and a red right Joy-Con.

This is all well and good and to be expected, but I have a few issues. First of all, there's no game pack-in with the console at launch, meaning you'll have to pay full price for a game alongside the 300 for the console itself. This is less "bad" as it is "disappointing," but you'd still expect the console to give you something to work with, as it has led to some of the most well-received games for Nintendo in the last few systems.

In addition, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the price of all these items if purchased individually, which was announced after the presentation. Lose a Joy-Con? That's 50 bucks for either a right or a left Joy-Con, and a whopping 80 bucks for a pair. Want an additional dock for multiple TVs? Dock plus HDMI plus Power equals 90 dollars. A pro controller for more traditional gameplay? 70 dollars, thank you very much. It costs more than a game does! It's completely ludicrous, and I have no intention of buying any of it at full price. It's the one major mistake I can pinpoint from this presentation.

One More Thing...

To close out the show, brief videos of Satoru Shibata, president of Nintendo of Europe, and Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, were shown. These were mostly to promote events which will allow folks to check out the Switch in person, but Fils-Aime was also joined by Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and others, and Eiji Aonuma, series producer and manager of the Legend of Zelda franchise, to tease the impending announcement of the release date of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild, which Kimishima quickly confirmed would be a day-and-date launch title for the Switch, releasing alongside it on March 3rd, and showing a trailer for the title to close out the show.

Breath of the Wild looks fantastic, by the way. I've never been a huge fan of the series, but Breath of the Wild honestly has me a bit excited. It looks stellar, with a wide variety of fantastically rendered locales, and while using the "See that mountain? You can go there!" line in 2017 is a very Nintendo move, a true open-world Zelda more akin to the original game on the NES than the more guided modern games has the potential to be very cool. The trailer also prominently featured the voice acting, a series first which honestly doesn't feel as weird as I figured it would. We also got our first peek at Breath of the Wild's Princess Zelda, who is more fitted out for adventure than a royal party this time around. Gita Jackson over at Kotaku wrote an excellent piece on why the outfit works so well, but suffice to say I am very into it. The other characters shown in the trailer, including the mountainous Goron, a number of the fishlike Zora, and even a Rito, one of the bird people introduced in Wind Waker, also look fantastic. The combat in the game looks to be fairly standard Zelda fare, though the variety of weapons you can find and equip may change that somewhat, and that combat mostly works anyway.

Closing Thoughts

Like I said, I'm a bit cooler on the Switch now than I was going in. To be fair to Nintendo, that's partially due to some of the rumors floating around beforehand, including that the system would be priced at $250, and launch with Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey alongside the new Zelda. If that were the case, the console would have been a day-one purchase for me.

As it stands, it's still a neat thing. The games shown, while mostly still a ways off, look very cool, and a lot of the tech is interesting even if I don't think anyone will make use of it. But the pricing of the peripherals and controllers is preposterous, and there isn't much to entice a day one purchase. I definitely plan on getting one eventually, but not anytime soon.