The Closing of Telltale Reinforces Why I Hate Episodic Games

The Walking Dead - The Final Season has been removed from digital storefronts. 

Although the title of this blog says that I hate episodic games, I guess I should say that I hate the episodic format.  I actually really enjoyed the Walking Dead games, although I only played the first two seasons. I never got around to playing the others, but if I did and was further invested in the series, I may never get a chance to experience how it all ends.  The closing of Telltale brings to light some problems with the video game industry. 

Telltale was not the first company to make games in episodic format.  Wikipedia actually sites the first episodic game as far back as 1979, but it wasn't really a popular thing.  The first big game that I remember adopting episodic format was Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which is why I never bothered with the game.  I didn't like the idea almost immediately, because I hated to think that I could only play chunks of a game at one time and have to wait for the rest of the game to be made. 

Hitman was one of the largest franchises that I remember adopting episodic format, which I thought was strange, because it was usually smaller games and Telltale style games that were made this way.  To take a AAA franchise and chop it up like that really confused me until I realized that it provided an opportunity for the publisher to make more money.  Why spend years and millions of dollars making one game when you could split it up and start telling the first part of it right away, dragging the carrot in front of your audience until the next chapter arrives. 

Then several years ago, Square-Enix announced that the upcoming Final Fantasy VII remake would be released in episodes, and that raised a lot of red flags with people.  No one wanted to play just the first episode of the Final Fantasy VII remake only to have to wait again for the second part and yet again for the final part. Yet, SE said it wouldn't just be small pieces of content like most episodic games; they would be full games.  Still, the idea did not sit well with a lot gamers.  Last I checked, however, rumors are pointing to a 2023 release to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the franchise, and this should provide SE with enough time to release the game as one complete title. 

So, the problem with episodic games is that if you become invested in a title from the onset, you're at the mercy of the developer/publisher to release the remaining chapters.  Most companies usually are committed to the project to see it through to completion, but as we saw with Telltale, that didn't happen.  There's been a history of issues within the company that eventually led to the closure of the studio and now whether or not people will see the conclusion of The Walking Dead - The Final Season is unknown. 

Their closing also illustrates the problem of the Season Pass.  Season Passes are promises that publishers sell you for more content.  Just like the episodic format, you're under their mercy but with the season pass, they've got you're money outright.  The season pass was already being sold for The Final Season but now gamers are out 20 bucks.  They'll more than likely get their refunds but almost not likely at all to get the rest of the game they paid for.

This isn't how gaming should be.  You shouldn't have to play just a part of a game and then wait for the next part to come out.  You shouldn't have to pay for a full game that isn't complete and then hope the studio doesn't go under, leaving the game you were invested in unfinished and having to go through the hassle of getting your money back.  You should have the peace of mind in knowing that when you buy a game, you have the entire game to play through at your leisure.  Your dollars and your patience should not be toyed with. 

What does that say about us as consumers, though?  Can we really not wait until a game is completed to play it?  Are we so eager to throw our money at companies that we don't even care about having a finished product delivered to us?  Hell, look at early access games.  We are PAYING companies to test THEIR games!  We are PAYING for unfinished products!  We need to readjust the way we look at games like these, because we shouldn't ever have this happen to us again.

It Has Begun Yet Again: Sony PlayStation Classic

So that happened... With the success of the NES and SNES Classic, it was only inevitable that Sony would follow with a mini version of their own console.  After all, Sony has just as much of a legacy as Nintendo does when it comes to old school games. 

What we know so far:

• It will release Monday, December 3rd of this year
• It will contain 20 games, including Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Wild Arms, Tekken 3 and Ridge Racer Type 4.  The rest have yet to be be announced
• It will come with two original controllers, not Dual Shock controllers
• It will come with HDMI and a USB cable for power supply.  
• USB A/C adapter sold separately
• It will retail for 100 dollars US

Will we see a repeat of the feeding frenzy that ensued with the NES and SNES Classic? Well for starters, it hasn't been that bad yet.  I checked Best Buy almost 12 hours after the news was announced and was able to pre-order one.  GameStop was also still selling them last I checked yesterday and at the current time of this writing, they're the only ones with pre-orders still available. 

Had this been a Nintendo mini system, this would have not been a case.  You wouldn't be able to go to any site two days after the announcement and find them still available.  We all know the pre-order fiasco for the SNES Classic was even worse than the NES one, selling out in mere minutes after pre-orders went live, and that was with Nintendo having more stock of the SNES versus the NES.

There's several reasons why the PlayStation Classic hasn't sold out yet.  One, the news is still fresh.  Sony started selling them almost immediately after it was announced versus Nintendo making the announcement for their mini consoles months before.  Everyone was primed to immediately bombard store sites the moment sales went live. Two, it could be that Sony has made a far more considerable amount than Nintendo did and they simply haven't run out yet.  Three, it could just be that the nostalgia isn't as strong as Nintendo's.  Lastly, the price factor and the lack of a fully announced library is what's holding some people off for now.  

I expect GameStop will soon sell out of their allotments very soon, and then the rest of the people will have to resort to camping out at store fronts overnight or early in the morning, but I have a much better feeling that they'll be a lot easier to find than the NES and SNES Classics.  Still, that hasn't stopped some PlayStation Classics from already being sold on eBay.  One went for 360 dollars!

That's nuts.  People are already scalping them, which isn't surprising, but they're still available in a couple of places (or were depending on when you read this)!  This is scalping culture.  This is how we're conditioned now.  We automatically assume that they're already sold out, we don't even bother to try to see if they're still being sold.  We have no problem spending hundreds of dollars on something provided we have the peace of mind in knowing that we'll get one.  This has to stop.  We as consumers should have the right to know that if we want to buy something from a company, that company should have that product to sell to us.  We shouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg via a middle man who can make two to three times the profit just to get one.  So hopefully, Sony, you keep these well stocked so the scalpers don't benefit. 

Now, let's talk about the known games so far. 

I kind of feel like this is Square's Mario or Skyrim. It's been released on everything.  Of course this would be one of the titles included on the PlayStation Classic.  After all, it's the defining game of PlayStation's era.  It broke a ton of records and also, it was the one Nintendo game that got away.  Had it not been for Nintendo's stubbornness, The Final Fantasy franchise may very well still have been exclusive to Nintendo.  There's a lot of history to this title that some people don't realize.  

With all that said, though, I'm not sure I'll be investing the time to play this again.  FFVII is no NES game.  It's long.  My backlog is also rather long, and I can't even keep up with most current games today.  Hell, I still have yet to beat Octopath Traveler.  I really would love to play this again, because I just loved everything about it.  The battle system, the variety of mini games, the music.  Honestly, though, by the time I'm ready to play this game again, the full remake will have been released. 

This was an odd selection to be honest.  It's one of the first games I got for my PlayStation, but I don't really remember having that much fun with it.  It was one of the first games that I remember moving in full 3-D, however, and jumping really high up and seeing the world below did give me a sense of vertigo.  I'm actually kind of interested in seeing just how well this game did or didn't age (most likely the latter) and I also know without dual analogue support, it's going to be rough....

This was one of the games I owned.  It would be nice to have it again, because I really enjoyed it. It was a role playing game that also had a bit of a western theme to it.  I really don't remember much else about it since it was so long ago.  I just remember really enjoying the combat system and equipment, finding better "Arms" and having a decent story.  Just like FFVII, though, I need to find some time to replay it.  RPGs are just so long!

This was when the Tekken franchise really started to get good.  I loved playing Tekken because it was such a fast paced and hard hitting fighter.  It makes me wonder, though, if they'll put any other Tekken on it as it was one of the more standout fighting franchises on the system.   

This one I'm looking forward to because I never played it.  I played a lot of Ridge Racer games, but only the first one on PlayStation.  The rest were V and after.  Just like Jumping Flash, though, this should be pretty interesting to play without analogue support.  I wonder what the announcer will sound like, though... "Riiiiiidge Racerrrrrr!"

So, what will be the remaining 15 titles? Here's just some I'd like to see:

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Wild 9
• Metal Gear Solid
• Final Fantasy VIII (just because it got left out of every single version of the rereleases)
• Ape Escape
• Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 
• Parasite 1 and 2
• Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
• Tomb Raider 1 and 2
• Mortal Kombat Trilogy
• Crash Team Racing
• Resident Evil 1 and 2
• Gran Turismo 1 and 2
• Parappa the Rapper
• Suikoden 1 and 2
• Chrono Cross
• Silent Hill
• WipEout
• Einhander
• Twisted Metal 1 and 2
• Intelligent Cube
• Soul Blade
• Dino Crisis 1 and 2
• Syphon Filter
• Driver
• Spider-Man
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Wow, that list grew long and fast.  I'm sure there'd be a lot more games that I'd want on it.  Honestly, I wish there'd be more than 20 but even then, 20 games would give you a lot of quality time with it. I just hope that the next 15 they announce are great ones. 

With One Game, Nintendo Has Sold Me On Nintendo Switch Online

Nope, not Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.  Nope, not Pokemon.  This.

I know I've already brought this up a couple times, but Super Dodge Ball is my all time favorite NES game.  Yes, it even ranks higher than Super Mario Bros. 3.  I don't think I've ever played a Nintendo game more than I have with this one.  I played it after school every day for at least a year.  When it came out on Wii U's eShop, I bought it day one.  I crushed all my friends at it, so sadly, I spent most of my time just playing by myself.

Ever since the Switch was announced, I was waiting and hoping that this title would be included when they brought over the Virtual Console.... but the VC never happened.  I knew that Nintendo was bringing over a select few titles for their Nintendo Switch Online service, but I never expected that this would be one of them!  I read an article today about all the games that were planned to release for the service so far, and there it was!  Super Dodge Ball!

I said a while back that's all it would take. I can imagine Super Dodge Ball being the PERFECT game to play on the go, find a person and pass a controller to.  I can't find any confirmation of whether or not the game will be playable online but if so, that's even better.  I could actually go online and try to find someone who's as good as I.  I hate saying that I wasn't going to buy into the service, and then caving, but everyone has that one game that sells them on a service.  The one game that they NEED on their platform.  This one just so happens to be it. 

Oh yeah, and then there's this one as well.

This was another game I played a lot as a kid.  Being able to play this again on the Switch would be awesome and if it's online, even better. 

Now, I'm just hoping that Nintendo dedicates themselves to regularly updating their library with new titles, because I'm sure there will be other games I want to play on it.  It's still no substitution for a true Virtual Console that allowed you play old games from so many other systems that weren't even Nintendo's, but who know what Nintendo has in the future.

Also, with the announcement of Animal Crossing for Switch, this would be the only Switch game that would force to me finally buy into Nintendo's service.  Online play is an essential component of Animal Crossing games because of being able to go to your family and friends' towns and interact and I simply cannot imagine playing an Animal Crossing game without them.  Smash, Mario Kart, Splatoon... I can take them or leave them, but Animal Crossing would simply be a must. 

I guess it was inevitable.  As much as I told myself I wouldn't be buying into this, Nintendo found a way to get me.  And, I have to say 20 dollars a year really isn't that bad, 35 if you want to go for a family plan.  It certainly is far more affordable than PSN or XBL, which I refuse to pay for anymore. So as it stands now, I believe there will be enough there for me to get my money's worth.

Oh, and thanks Nintendo for STILL not announcing a new F-Zero!

No Virtual Console Still Bothers Me

Yeah, you know, I really wish I could?  I really, really wish I could... But I can't.  The lack of a proper Virtual Console (not to be confused with whatever classic games Nintendo decides to bring over with their Nintendo Switch Online "service") still really bothers me.  I want to play Super Dodge Ball on the Switch.  I want to take it to work with me, stare at somebody on my break and then challenge them to a game of dodge ball by passing them a controller.

Ever since the movie Rampage came out, I've been in the mood to play Rampage again.  Again, I would love to pass the controller next to someone and have them join in.  And then eat them when they turn back into a human.  Lord knows if we'll ever see Rampage brought to Nintendo's online service.

But, I'd really just not like to wonder anymore about whether or not a particular NES game (or SNES game or any game for that matter) will show up on this online service.  I want access to an entire catalogue of classic games, because I want to give Nintendo my money.  Apparently, they don't want me to give them my money.  I am literally the Fry in this meme here.

"Just buy a Classic NES or SNES and hack it."

Well, there is that.  I did buy an SNES Classic last year and an NES Classic this year and although my general status on hacking is that I'm against it, every day that there's no Virtual Console brings me a little closer towards wanting to do it.  Jim Sterling actually did a video on the morality of downloading Nintendo ROMs and I have to say... he's really not wrong.

For starters, many old NES games aren't available at all outside of emulation.  Sure, Nintendo has resold the Marios and Zeldas, Metroid, Ice Climbers, Balloon Fight, etc. several times over, but there are still hundreds that just never get to see the light of day anymore.  They had an opportunity to fix this with the NES Classic by allowing it to connect to the internet and download from their eShop.  They also could have crammed it with more games than just 30 (and far more than 21 on the SNES Classic) considering it has enough storage to hold the entire NES catalogue (which is why it's possible to even hack the things). 

NES and SNES games are also generally regarded as being too expensive with today's pricing.  Usually 5 dollars for an NES game and 8 dollars for an SNES game, it really does add up if you want to buy these games all over again.  With that said, I really don't have qualms with paying 5 here and 8 there for games that I REALLY want to play again, and the sting of having to pay those prices on the Switch is alleviated just from the basic fact that I can take them with me wherever I go.  That's the main problem why hacking Classic consoles and downloading free games on it isn't as appealing as having the option to buy the games on the Switch, and I really wish Nintendo would wake up and realize this. 

Right now, Nintendo is going after large emulation sites and scaring others off, such as emuparadise.com.  But what they don't seem to get is that Nintendo is the reason why most of these emulation sites exist.  One of the best ways to fight crime is to stop criminalizing what you're fighting.  It's why the state of Colorado earned 1.5 BILLION dollars from the sales of weed in 2017. Sure, you could buy weed cheaper from dealers, but what people found out is once you stopped making it illegal to buy, people bought more of it more often and at higher prices.  Legality entices customers.

It won't stop piracy in general, because people just love free shit.  But I'm willing to bet that if Nintendo made their legacy games readily purchasable on the Switch (which has the makings for the largest eShop platform of any Nintendo system), they'll see a lot less of it.  Nintendo has every right to protect their games,  but what I always love to say is that just because its their right, it doesn't make it right. Nintendo has definitely rubbed some people the wrong way with their practices and policies, and they're also hurting themselves in the process.

Again, Nintendo needs the Virtual Console.  The enhanced games released on Nintendo Switch Online just isn't a good trade off.  It's the most frustrating thing in the world to have to watch Nintendo build up their online catalogue of games again for the FOURTH time.  Let us have our damn games and you can have our damn money!

By the way, I'm not buying into Nintendo Switch Online until I get my Virtual Console.  That, or if they add Super Dodge Ball with online play.

A Not-So-Yellow Brick Road: The Flaws of Octopath Traveler

If you have a Switch and enjoy RPGs, then there's a high probability that you're currently enjoying Octopath Traveler.  In fact, there's a good likelihood that any of your Switch friends are also playing it.  It's been one of the most anticipated non-Nintendo published Switch games since the system's announcement almost two years ago and it's finally here.  So far, everyone that I've personally talked to absolutely loves the game and for good reason.  It has a fantastic art style and terrific gameplay... yet I've rarely heard anything outside of praise being said about it.  Well, I'm going to take a moment to talk about some things that I feel detract from the game.

To start, the biggest flaw in the game is capping your party to four members.  I feel the game's combat could have been that much richer and encounters much more engaging with a full entourage of eight people.  I can understand the design choice behind it being that maybe the developers felt eight people would be too many to manage, but any hardcore RPG fan would immediately hark back to the days when we had games like Suikoden giving us at least six.

Then, there's having to manage them outside of combat.  Whenever you enter a village, you'll have to swap out characters in order to use their path actions.  If you don't know what these are, they are abilities that allow you to interact with townsfolk in different ways.  You can glean information from them to find hidden items and get discounts at inns and shops (speaking of shops, you can only see what equipment can by used by members currently in your party, so you'll need to be swapping out your reserves if you want to see what works for them).  You can steal and purchase items.  You can challenge townsfolk to battle and recruit people to be summoned into battle.  If you want to do a thorough pass through the town using all your path actions, you'll have to swap at least one person out at the bar and then visit everyone again.  It's a bit inconvenient.

You'll also come across shrines that allow you to bestow a secondary job to your characters so they can use the abilities of someone else along with their primary skills.  The upside to this is that it allows you to become considerably stronger because you also get a stat boost.  The downside to this is that you can't make use of path actions related to these jobs meaning you still need to swap people out at bars to use those actions and talents.  This means if you find a particular situation that requires the skill of someone you don't have, say, a locked chest that only Therion can open, you have to go back to town and make changes at the bar then head back out.  It's more inconvenience.

Experience points also are not earned by people not in your party, so you'll need to rotate people in and out regularly if you want everyone to be around the same level.  If you're like me, then that means you won't keep the best people in your party at the expense of keeping others underleveled, so you'll have to endure some less fun fights that'll last a bit longer.  What makes matters worse is that whomever you chose to start the game with is stuck as the leader, so you can't just swap out people four for four; the leader will always be pulling ahead in experience points.  It can be a boon, though, as your higher leveled leader can carry your underleveled party members.

But it's not just managing the eight characters that's a problem.  It's the very nature of their positions in the game.  Octopath Traveler is a game that has eight people supposedly traveling together across the world, yet it never feels like you're all traveling together.  Since you're only allowed four in the group, you always have to leave four people behind and this breaks the immersion for me.  I know I'm supposed to surrender myself to video game logic, but I have a very hard time that while four people are traveling the road to one town, the other four left behind have taken some completely different road and arrived at the same town before you did.

This impacts the story as well.  There's no actual writing behind the characters' interactions with each other aside from a quick intro and occasional exchanges of banter.  Instead of a cohesive unit of adventurers sharing each other's stories, it instead feels like a disjointed telling of eight individual stories with only a few characters at a time along for the ride.  The individual stories themselves are interesting and well told, but nothing's bringing them all together.  There's no common goal or nemesis to rally against.  To be fair, I'm just now getting to everyone's second chapters so this might change later in the game, but I haven't really heard much from other people to suggest that it will.

Now that I got that out of the way, the other problems I've had with the game seem much more minor, even nitpicky, but I'll mention them anyway.  One problem I have with games is when they give you side quests you're entirely unprepared for early in the game.  I get that you can always come back to them, but I'm not one to make mental notes to return to towns to finish side quests I couldn't do earlier.  I'm of the mindset that if you're there and you can accept the quest, you should be able to do it.  There are instances in this game where you're sent to areas of a level far higher than you're currently at.  For instance, when I finished Ophilia's first chapter, one such side quest took me to a cave that was level 25.  Ophilia's level at the time? 10.

So yeah, let's not do anymore of that.

I guess the only other complaints I have about the game can just be chalked up to preference.  I know this game's appealing to RPG fans' sense of nostalgia, but I feel that in this day and age, RPGs shouldn't have random encounters anymore.  It's a relic of the past that should stay dead, even when making an old-school style of game.  It really is quite frustrating to be interrupted during your dungeon crawling with random encounters when all you want to do is check just that LITTLE bit of dungeon off to the right of the screen only to find out there's nothing there.  Then, as you're coming back, BOOM! Another random encounter.  It's also frustrating when you're being interrupted by these encounters by low level monsters you can flick away with your finger.  Cyrus does have a support skill that lowers the encounter rate, but then again... 

"This means if you find a particular situation that requires the skill of someone you don't have... you have to go back to town and make changes at the bar then head back out."

And while it's never been much of a problem for me as save points are always close by, I'd just like to see the abolishing of save points in games entirely.  I really would love to be able to save my game at any point just on the offhand that the game crashes (and several Switch games have crashed on me before).  Also, some items you can steal with Therion have a very low success rate so that means I go to a save point, save, try to steal, fail, exit to title, continue and try again over and over and over again.  Even with save points in every part of the towns, it's still a bit frustrating to have to walk over to the person I want to steal from a million times.  I guess games like Oblivion and Skyrim have spoiled me.  But seriously, save anywhere should be a standard and there's no excuse not to have it.

It does seem like I've gone on some time with negatives about the game, but they're hardly incidental to the overall enjoyment that I'm experiencing.  I really do love the battle system and the graphic style is unique and the artwork is just wonderful.  I just wanted to get this out there, though, because I honestly feel that Octopath could have been that much better if these issues were resolved.  I really would have loved a full party of eight first and foremost. but who knows?  Maybe more people like myself spoke out and Square might make another without any kinds of limits and restrictions.  Here's hoping.

Grinding for Gear Really Grinds My Gears

So I just quit a game for the second time (yeah, I have a hard time quitting addictive games), but this game wasn't even a real game.  It was one of those mobile RPGs called Darkness Rises.  It had just enough action and story to be considered a game, but it was all a veil to hide the fact that it was just another gacha game to sucker people into spending real money for virtual items. 

I actually enjoyed it for what it was and what helped was that it had an Auto-Play feature that basically played itself.  I'd start the mission, the character would go off on its own until finished.  I'd reap the rewards and start again.  But once I neared the level cap of 60, I got extremely tired of it and then I realized there's nothing left to do in the game but continue to grind for gear.  You leveled up you gear by enhancing it with other gear.  This lead to a nonstop grind and around level 60, it became harder to gain anything worth of note. 

Characters are rated by power levels, which is a general value of the sum of their characteristics.  I've been playing the game pretty much nonstop for a little more than a month, and by the time I quit, my strongest character's power level was around 1,200,000.  The last time I checked the strongest character in the game, their power level was around 3,800,000.  We all know how that person got to be so strong. A fool and his money are soon departed. Fortunately, I can report with pride that I didn't spend a single dime on that game. Even if I was the kind of person to spend money on mobile games, the prices in this particular one was insulting.  You can buy ten gear chests for 3,000 gems and to buy 3,000 gems I believe was somewhere around 40 dollars.  FORTY DOLLARS for 10 pieces of gear!  INSANE!  Of course, you're constantly being bombarded with adds to buy their gems.  Honestly, I'm surprised I put up with it as long as I did.

But it's not just mobile games that employ these tactics.  MMORPRGs, MOBAs, battle royales, and of course the one game that blew up this controversy was Battlefront II.  All of these types of games have one game mechanic in common that keep people playing, and paying: loot boxes.  Most of the time, you get gear that doesn't even enhance you that much.  But it's seeing an incremental gain in your character's stats that keep you wanting to play.  You see that stat number go up, and you just want to keep pushing that number higher and higher.   But how high does that number have to be for you to get tired of the game and move on to something else? Are you already tired of the game but just want to see how much further you can raise that number?  Is your worth in life tired to a virtual representation of yourself?

The constant feedback loop of spending time/paying money to see a bit of a reward is dangerous.  Games that employ these tactics prey on gamers with addictive personalities and might actually create addictive personalities in people who never had problems with video games before.  I had a major problem with Final Fantasy XIV for a couple of years, because I was always trying to improve my character.  I wanted my character to be as strong as he could because I felt inadequate if I went into a dungeon and I wasn't as well equipped as everyone else in the group.  It took me several times to quit until I thought I finally had it beat, but of course, I got pulled in one last time. 

This time, however, I had a different frame of mind.  I no longer played it for grinding purposes.  I only did the bare minimal to keep current with story-based content.  End game content, where the real grind was, no longer interested me.  Now, I only play for about 30-60 minutes every night just to gain a level on a job and slowly build my character back up to where I had it before.  Being able to manage my play time helped me enjoy the game again.  I can't imagine spending every moment of my free time running the same dungeons and the same raids over and over again for that one little glimmer of hope of me not only getting a drop, but getting a drop I need.  That time is far better spent for me playing games that have genuine substance, or doing something else entirely like reading a book. 

Games that have you grind and grind for the best gear are cancerous if you ask me.  They chain gamers to the same game and prevent them from being able to enjoy other games.  It closes down their minds and not only that but influences the industry so more companies make similar games.  Just look at PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite. Look at how many companies want to make battle royale games now.  Hell, even the upcoming Black Ops 4 will have battle royale at the expense of single player.  It seems all these kids want to do these days is to grind for better gear for their avatars.  And what, ultimately, are they getting out of it?

E3 2018: Nintendo Press Conference Impressions

Nintendo began the show with a trailer for a fantastic looking mech game. It featured beautiful graphics that looked like they were cell-shaded.  The battles featured huge weapons and giant enemies. The game is called Daemon X Machina and it will be released in 2019.

The next trailer is for a game set in the year 3564 in country of Coeia.  Everything's Japanese, subtitled in English. I caught something about a Titan and the destruction of Aegis.  When they finally started showing the game, it's an open world RPG and then I recognize it to be Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It's the DLC Torna Golden Country and it will be available in September.

Reggie Fils-Aime appears and talks about the Pokemon games Let's Go Pikachu and Evie that were announced a couple weeks ago. They can now interact with Pokemon Go so what you catch in Go you can transfer to the Switch Pokemons.  There's also the toy Pokemon Plus that will have an exclusive Pokemon (don't remember which one) and will let you move Pokemon around with it.. Nov. 16.

The next video shows people coming together to play something. Then they reveal the game and it's SUPER MARIO PARTY! It shows one of the new mini games involving two Switches being placed together to form a larger map.  That's pretty cool. All the other mini games look like fun, too.  It releases on October 5th.

A trailer begins to play showing a map of a world followed by some anime cutscenes. The game is revealed to be Fire Emblem: The Three Houses. The gameplay seems to be a mix of turn based combat and real time action. It looks like it could be the biggest Fire Emblem yet. It releases in the Spring of 2019.

The next trailer was for Fortnite and it announced that it's available to download today for free.

Reggie appears again with some fluff talk. He shows off some quick trailers for Overcooked 2.  It looks to be greatly improved over the first and it will release August 7th. The next trailer he showed was for Killer Queen Black. It's an arcade style multiplayer game, but it didn't really grab me.  It will be available later this year. The next trailer was for a game called Hollow Knight and is available today. The game's a side scrolling platformer and it looks like the kind of platform that I really enjoy.  I might have to check it out.

A quick teaser for Octopath Traveler (and I'm upset that I didn't get anymore from this game either, thanks to nothing really being shown at SE) announces its release date for July 13th with a new demo available on June 14th.

A rapid fire video began playing showing off a lot of games.  What I caught was Starlink, Arena of Valor, a Minecraft expansion, Sushi Striker, the Donkey Kong expansion for Mario+Rabbids, Pixark, Just dance 2019, DragonBall Fighter Z, the Splatoon 2 expansion, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker,  Crash In-Sane Trilogy, Ninjala,  Paladins,  Dark Souls. SNK Heroines, Monster Hunters Generations, The World Ends With You, Megaman 11, and Mario Tennis Aces.  To be honest, I grow tired of these montages because I feel like there should be time dedicated to talk about the games they're showing. 

Masahiro Sakurai appears to talk about the new Super Smash Bros. game titled Ultimate. He started off by showing the fighter roster video. I actually was trying hard to list all the characters that were appearing, but he really could have save everyone a lot of time by just saying that every single Smash fighter from the franchise will be here. Yes, every one of them. *begins deleting a huge block of text* Your roster will start small, just like the first Smash game. There will also be eight player battles.

Next, he talks about how fighters have changed. Mario will have his Odyssey suits. Link will be the Breath of the Wild variant.  Ike has two costumes and both versions are independently voice acted. There will be a female Pikachu  with a heart-shaped tail. Fox will be based on Star Fox Zero. Ryu will now always face his opponent when on-one-on. Samus can now charge in mid-air. Marth has a faster Dancing Blade and is now fully voiced in English. Snake has returned with his Shadow Moses Island stage. King Dedede's Final Smash is a cage fight. Zelda's design is from a Link Between Worlds. Sonic's Super Sonic Final Smash is now more chaotic. Pac-Man got a speed boost. Pokemon Trainer now has a female variant. Captain Falcon's Big Blue stage returns. Cloud will show his limit gauge. There will be eight versions of villagers. Mr. Game and Watch looks more like the original version. Wolf is based on Star Fox Zero. Kirby has a copy ability for every fighter. Shulk has easier access to Arts. Ganondorf's design is from Ocarina of Time. There Mii types have more tweaking for different styles. Zero Suit Samus's power suit fires a laser for Final Smash. Olimar's helmet now cracks when he takes damage. Bayonetta has both 1 and 2 costumes. Wario's Wario-Man Final Smash will be completely different. Donkey Kong will be more expressive. Wii Fit Trainer has a new face. Mega Man's stage now has all the hazards from both the Wii U and 3DS stages.  R.O.B. has a gauge to show hovering energy.  I then lost connection so I don't know how much else I missed.  When I got it back, I saw that the Squid Sisters are an assist trophy for the Inklings. Assist trophies are used to call in help. Bomberman will be one of over 50 trophies in the game.

The next video showed off all the stages, so many I couldn't keep up. I did see a tower level from Breath of the Wild, though.  I'm basically assuming that if there was a stage in any Smash game, it would be in this game.  Of course, all older stages have been graphically improved. 

The next segment talked about techniques.  Directional air dodges have been improved. Dodging too much leaves you vulnerable, something about a perfect shield... and then I began zoning out.  The next segment after that revealed that Super Smash Brothers Ultimate will be compatible with the GC controller. All Smash amiibo will also be compatible, even if characters are from different series.

The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate segment ends with a trailer showing Samus, Mario and Megaman walking down a catwalk in a giant facility. Something begins attacking them and then we see Ridley from the Metroid games.  Ridley has been revealed to be the new character for Ultimate.

And.... that's all...

*takes glasses off and begins to pinch bridge of nose, then tosses glasses aside*

Your typical complacent fanboy that laps up any bone Nintendo throws their way will have called Nintendo the winner of E3 just because of the overwhelming amount of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate information they bombarded everyone with.  For me, though, that's exactly why they lost (to the big 3, not in general).  This wasn't an E3 press conference.  This was a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct with a few other games shown off on the side.  It's bad form. Again, great if you really love Smash and don't care for much else, but for me, really bad form.

"Cool, we got a lot of Smash info!"  Where's my fucking F-Zero?  "But, we got Smash info!" Where's my fucking WaveRace? "But Smash.." WHERE'S MY FUCKING PAPER MARIO?! WHERE'S ALL THE OTHER GAMES?! Where was the new Yoshi they showed off last year? Oh, cool, we got Overcooked 2 coming.  How about showing off more of the WarioWare game they teased? Oh cool, more ports of old indie games.  Any more news about the new Metroid?  Nope, just another video of already confirmed games that are coming out this year. Supposedly, there's some article that explains why Nintendo has been so reserved.  Basically, they could have have shown off more but decided not to because they wanted to focus on this year's launch window. So translated, "We have nothing ready to show off anytime soon."  Microsoft has been showing Crackdown 3 at every E3 since 2014 and you couldn't share a shred of information about Metroid Prime 4, a game you teased LAST year? If you weren't ready to show anything off, you shouldn't have even teased us with it last year!

Do I sound salty? Hell yeah, I am.  And I admit, I'm being unfair.  They did start the show off with a new mech game that looks pretty damned good. It reminds me of Zone of the Enders.  There was the Super Mario Party reveal.  We finally got a closer look at the new Fire Emblem game, and a montage video that shows plenty of other games coming out this year.  So, why am I so bothered so much by an in-depth look at the new Smash Bros. game that took up almost half of the show?  Because I view that game as waste. I was expecting a brand new Super Smash Bros. game but instead, I got an amalgam of all the other games.  I'm sure there's going to be new characters.  We did get Ridley, after all. But I'm getting tired of rehashing.

We got a brand new Zelda and Mario last year, so why can't I just be happy with those two?  I HATE that fucking rationale.  That's apologist attitude that's kept Nintendo complacent for decades and I refuse to give Nintendo free passes for this shit anymore. I should have been this upset over Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but the thought of playing MK8 on the go was so appealing, I forgave them but truthfully, we should have had Mario Kart 9 by now.  I get that the Wii U didn't sell, so Nintendo is recouping by bringing port after port to the Switch, but enough. Fuck Tropical Freeze. Should have been a new Donkey Kong.  Fuck Captain Toad.  Should have been a sequel. Fuck Pokken Tournament DX.  Should have been a Pokken 2. Fuck all the Wii U ports.  Should have been new games.  Fuck Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Should have been a brand new Super Smash.  And where the fuck is Story?  If there's no Story Mode, I'm canceling my pre-order.

I'm angry with Nintendo, but do you know why I don't get angry with the other companies?  I get disappointed with them, sure, and am disappointed with both MS and Sony to some degree over their shows.  But when I'm disappointed in Nintendo, I become angry.  I love them more than any other company.  I see greatness in them at times and we've seen just how well they can do with last year's Breath of the Wild and Odyssey, so I EXPECT that level of commitment from them. At all times. You ALWAYS expect more from people you love the most and when you don't get it from them, you get disappointed enough to become angry. Cool, you gave us over 20 minutes of Smash info, but that should have been its own Direct.  We needed - I - needed more from you.  I need you to commit MUCH harder to the Switch than you are now.  Fuck this drip feed that everyone dangling their tongues out for is so happy with.  I'M NOT!  Open the floodgates, Nintendo. MS and Sony dropped the ball this year and still did better than you. 

Overall rating: D