It’s funny, I own a switch and I would have bought the game (and I probably will still if the technical and QoL issues get resolved) but I’m emulating it better than the hardware can run it right now.
I like it more, but I’m a fan of the more classic Zeldas. It’s good, but it’s marred by the same technical issues that plagued the LA remake, and the lack of some basic QoL features like a Quick Select or Favorites wheel is bringing it from ‘great’ to ‘good.’
I actually really like the SNES game, it is objectively not great though. You can’t even save, so emulation is a must unless you can dedicate an 8-10 hour sitting to it.
Particularly that it switches between top-down outdoors and a pseudo-FPS indoors, and the claustrophobic interiors and darker music give it a lot of charm.
I mean, let’s not forget that the early consoles had their own pitfalls, a period of gaming that spawned tropes like ‘Nintendo Hard’ and ‘Guide Dang It’ in order to, among other things, pad out the length of what we would consider an otherwise barebones game, and to sell time on their hints and tips hotline. I do feel like there was less bullshit in the past, but it definitely still existed.
I preferred the switch lite with a protective case that gave the grips a little more body, made it way more comfortable to hold. At least until I picked up a Steam Deck, which ended up being pretty much everything I wanted out of portable gaming, and waaaay easier to emulate on.
I wonder what happens when the last whale has been milked dry. With the number of shitty cash grab games out there with heinous monetization, surely the ecosystem reaches a tipping point where there literally just isn’t enough money to go around, both because the whales themselves run out and the remaining number gets spread too thin among too many Clash of Clans, FIFAs and Diablo Immortals. Do you think we’re going to start seeing real effort in those spaces to appeal to players again, or do they just implode because nobody wants to serve a declining market?
Feels like an understatement - this was the game that killed Arkane, because a majority of the team decided they’d rather fuck off than work on whale chasing live-service nonsense. And like, good on them, but it means no more Dishonored, no sequels to Prey, no chance of Arx Fatalis II, and it fucking sucks to see enshittification strangling good talent. I hope they’ll find success outside of MS’ looming shadow.
I don’t know if I could call it good, exactly, but one unique concept that I haven’t really seen captured anywhere else was the Dungeon Maker series on PSP, that allowed you to build dungeons that you would then explore/fight/loot, to give yourself funds to build out further/deeper, ad infinitum. It was clunky, controlled pretty stiffly and basic as ARPGs go, and after a certain point you kind of went on autopilot, but there’s a certain je ne sais quoi to it that I really quite enjoyed, especially if you planned out your builds. I think a similar title was released on the DS but it was turn-based and not particularly well-executed.