A Talking Pigs Thoughts on the Nintendo Switch

So I've had some time to let my hype...and hatred for the switch calm down so I wanted to leave my thoughts on the whole thing...complete with Dr who gifs!.

To give the TLDR version, I think it's gonna be great but in typical Nintendo fashion it has major issues.

 

 

To start off with I'm surprised by the price point, I was expecting something far more for what Nintendo is building here,  and I feel it's a very fair one, I'd of been willing to pay more for it if it was a bit more powerful but I understand why others wouldn't. 

Also on a small note no region locking! I'm celebrating but honestly this is something Nintendo should've had ages back.

 

Now I'm just gonna get my thoughts on the online out early,  fuck Nintendo, paid online is one of the biggest cancers in gaming and I hate how Microsoft made this into a thing, I don't give two fucks how many "free" games are offered to me I shouldn't have to pay for the privilege of playing a game I bought online, with my internet connection which I also paid for, the online should come as part of the goddamn console.

This is made worse by how badly almost parody like Nintendo have approached it, while I hate PS plus on the principle of paying for online, I think the idea of a game subscription like that is pretty cool and I might've even been willing to go for it if online wasn't locked behind it, however Nintendo is offering a mere "free" nes or snes game a month...wow so much value!. 

But wait there's more, you can only keep this game for the month then it's gone, Nintendo have always overvalued their old games but this is a whole other level of ridiculous, a subscription service like netflix for virtual console would be pretty neat but given Nintendo's ways it'll never happen at a fair price.

To make matters worse the console apparently doesn't come with voice chat, you have to use a smart device for it, so let me get this straight Nintendo you want me to not only buy the console, buy the game but then pay for your online subscription for the privilege of playing the entire game AND for being able to use my own device with your console for voice chat...

 

 

So yeah, I think I made my thoughts on that pretty clear... now to move onto the mechanics  of the console, I think the joy con idea is neat, I've always liked Nintendo's "gimmicks" the wii u gamepad is one of if not my favorite controller and the Wii remote while it caused issues for a lot of games due to it's low button count, it was still an impressive piece of tech with really fun uses. 

This all being said, I do not believe this console needed motion control or a touchscreen, Nintendo is working with a portable console here, they needed all the budget they could for power, yet they are wasting it on some motion controls and a touchscreen which most likely will barely get used, it reminds me of the PS4 touchscreen a pointless piece of tech which might've honestly been there just to boost the price of the controllers.

1,2 switch looks like fun but it's a tech demo plain to see... the joy con motion controls is a cute idea that should've been it's one separate toy unrelated to the switch entirely.

 

That being said, Arms looks like a lot of fun, it's an interesting mix of Nintendo's love of these kinda controls and wii boxing mixed with a competitive game, it  looks fun to play with the joy con  however one game does not justify a controller feature and apparently it can be played with regular controls, I can't see the joy con motions lasting long and I hope they release controllers without it included. 

Touchscreen was barely touched upon and it has multi touch ..for whatever reason, this entire thing reads of Nintendo trying to have it's cake and eat it too, they are trying to build a handheld that can keep up with home console gaming while keeping the price low and adding all their typical Nintendo features, while I believe the switch will be supported due to being easy to port to, I'm worried about long term support if the games become too difficult to run on the console in a few years.

 

 

 

So Lets get onto the real meat of the console, the damn games.

Most of the noteworthy ones were already known which I think disappointed a lot of people that being said I was not expecting Splatoon to be a sequel, I for one can't wait I didn't get enough time to put into the original and I'm hoping I can this time, despite my constant bitching at Nintendo I legitimately think Splatoon is one of their greatest achievements in their history possibly even one of the best shooters of all time, I loved the world the weapon variety and it's cute change up on the shooter formula's we've all gotten used too.

And speaking of weapon variety oooooh boy I loved that trailer, dual wielding sold me so much.

Have I ever mentioned twin pistols are some of my favorite weapons, I don't think I'll be able to let go off the damn things, gonna run around Devil May Crying up that shit...and probably fail because I suck at shooters. I also loved the look of the jetpack, plus they have promised free updates like the original which was a system I really liked, all in all it's more Splatoon whats not to like.

Only thing that could be a massive issue to the game is of course...paid online, ugh.. I hope it blows up in their face so badly that they scrap it.

 

Moving onto Mario Odyssey at first I was turned off by the new York world however once he got to another one I got the point and it clicked, the weirdness of him in this new york was intentional and I think it'll be fun to see him in a different environment for once.

The world variety looked so diverse, I loved the world based on the day of the dead festival and the world with all that veg that looked like that one episode of Space Dandy.

I'm also overjoyed that we're going back to the mario 64 and sunshine style, while I loved 3d world and it's focus on zany co-op and courses I've missed the open world exploration ones so much, not only do they allow you to find stuff on your own initiative but they allow for so much world building.

Those kinds of platformer's died out quickly and I don't know why...with Yooka Laylee also around the corner I'm hyped as fuck for their return and I hope it's sticking.

Other things I liked, the platforming looks like a lot of fun,, though of course I'd need to play it to know for sure, I also loved how expressive Mario is in this, also Bowser looks dapper as fuck in that suit.

 

Xeno was also a nice surprise, I never played the first but I loved the idea of it's world and I've always wanted to give it a shot, Fire emblem warriors is also cool and Mario kart deluxe looks like a decent enough port.

I'm intrigued by their announced games but I think we need a few more, plus the lack of games at launch is annoying that being said let us not forget Xbone and Ps4 were in a similar situation at launch quite frankly them two are still not impressing me with the games currently out barring multi-platform games so Nintendo is already doing better by me even with these games being far off.

 

 

 

 

Moving onto third parties and there's not much to talk about yet, unless you're a JRPG fan. Nintendo switch seems like it'll be heaven for JRPG's which is a very good sign, Nintendo really needs this to sell to the Japanese audience who mostly play portable games. The third party JRPGs announced were shin megami tensei 5, Octopath traveller and 4 dragon quest games.

 There was also Suda 51 doing an adorably awkward announcement for a new no more heroes game, I've always liked their games it's just that it always feels like there's something missing, the heart is there but it feels like they need more practice as game developers and they just aren't getting something right, I hope no more heroes 3 or whatever it's called gets it completely right this time.

 

There was also EA promising a few popular games which I droned out off and Sega announcing....something, they said we're getting sonic mania after the presentation so that's cool.

Assuming Nintendo isn't bullshitting us there's apparently 80 odd games in development for the switch and I hope thats true, given what we've heard of how easy it so to port too but so far it seems like third parties are keeping it at arms length.

I do like the look of some of the indie games though such as redout and whatever that other adorable co-op game was though.

 

Of course there is Skyrim as well, no shock there I think that'll be a system seller for a lot of people, for me it's cool that it can be played on the go but you'll never get me away from my mods. No offense Nintendo you just can't drag me away from my sexy Khajiit harem, underground dungeon and futa Aela .......you didn't hear any of that.

 

 

And one last thing...Holy fuck balls I want Breath of the wild so bad now, the story is looking like it'll be great, I was worried about the lore and story in this given that it's 1 an open world game and 2 given the response to Skyward Sword I was wondering if Aonuma might give up on expanding on the lore as much, the new trailer had so much to theorize about though and story wise there was some fantastic emotion, I still have mixed feelings about Zelda doing voice acting but it's at least good voice acting.

It also appears to be bringing back the great deku tree, with a real good hint towards us being Ocarina of time link and also the king of hyrule himself one of my favorite characters in all of gaming, though I'd assume this is a different one with a similar design, while I adore the king of hyrule his ending in wind waker was one of the most beautiful endings I've ever seen to a game and I'd hate for them to ruin that with his return.

 

Gameplay wise it's blowing me away, not only does the survival aspects actually look fun as we knew before but the boss battles look gigantic, this looks like it could be a sorta sequel to shadow of the collossus in the boss department and I for one cannot wait, I could do an entire blog gushing over this trailer honestly.

 

 

So as a summary, I do like the look of the switch a lot, I'm holding out for a while due to the lack of games at launch but it's already doing more for me then the ps4 and xbone, I'm worried about long term third party support but I doubt even if they drop it that it'd do as bad as the wii U Nintendo seem to be dropping the 3ds and merging the console and handhelds so considering the rate at which they crank out games and the third party following of their handhelds, I think it'll do well regardless, that being said I obviously have a few issues and in general I still despise Nintendo's business practices recently.

 

I suppose in a way it's typical Nintendo to me, as usual they've managed to impress and piss me off at the same time but I can't deny I'm excited regardless.

 

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