Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

@skywake
Idk if we'll ever see an Astral Chain 2 unfortunately. It barely sold a million copies. Like Bayonetta 2 and 3. Wonderful 101 did even worse. And those are 4 of the absolute finest.

I'm just greatful we have hybrid handheld versions of Bayonetta 1-3, Astral Chain, Wonderful 101 and Nier Automata. Ninja Gaiden 4 was leaked also. And Switch 2 ensures they all look and run as good as possible (Bayo 3 does look better outputting docked on a chipped OLED screen but Idk if it can hold 60 that way. It does for lighter sections but I haven't really stress tested it yet. Just not having dynamic resolution drops alone makes it look acceptable on NSW2.

But ya, too many Nintendo fans that just want Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, MarioKart and Smash, Mario Party and Splatoon. The 15m sellers and up. If it sells single digit millions they snub their nose at it.

Even Metroid, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade draws ire from these Mario casuals, as I call them (not that Mario isn't amazing but I can't stand fans who only focus on the big double digit selling mega franchises). Such games get ridiculed and results in long sighs of disappointment. Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, one of the best games on the GameCube, and its barely sold 2 million copies. Mario Rabbids games were insanely good- don't think they did much better. What's wrong with these Nintendo fans? Bayonetta and Astral Chain should be sitting at 5 million copies sold. But nope. Gonna stay inside that mega-mainstream box and never dip your toes into anything that doesnt have a recognizable Nintendo IP representing it, and even when it does, it better not be turn based or require strategy, or try anything outside the established mainstream series, cause that's just not how mainstream Mario casuals roll.

Its frustrating. Because we should be getting a sequel to Astral Chain. But because the fan base of mainstream Mario casuals doesnt support action games, even when they're GotY caliber, such new IP die off. 3x more people bought 1-2 Switch than Astral Chain. Think about that. Actually don't. It'll just get you upset.

Its like the PS fans that only buy 200-300 million dollar AAAA games with Hollywood actors and realism, but ignore games like Astrobot (which I hear only sold around 1-2 million?). Like... seriously? That game's better than any of the stuff they've been churning out over the last decade, yet nobody buys it. Resogun was amazing. Poor sales. Returnal wasn't my thing but I acknowledge its a great game. Not even sure it cracked 1 million sold. PS has its mainstream Naughty Dog casuals just like Nintendo's mainstream Mario casuals. Same for Xbox. If it ain't Halo, Forza or Gears they're not interested. Games like Lost Odyssey or Ori... meh. Who cares.

Or the 3rd party mainstream Fortnite casuals. All they play is live service and F2P crap. Those people exist everywhere. Seems all 3 platforms suffer from the same symptoms, the same type of majority that never tries anything new, never plays anything that isn't mainstream, and has no interest in exploring new genres and experiences.

Where's Switch 2 updates for the Xenoblade games? I'd love to be able to replay these at higher resolutions handheld.

@OmnitronVariant
Who knows. Its only been 3 months. NSW2 updates will be spread out over the generation so it could be 2026, or 2030, we just have no way of knowing.

Xenoblade X and Xenoblade 3 look good in handheld (good enough anyways). But the first two I recommend waiting for an upgrade (don't hold your breath though- it could be years away) or playing on a chipped NSW1 OLED and outputting the 720p docked image on the handheld screen. I can confirm they look insanely good that way. As does Immortals Fenyx Rising.

In the meantime I recommend Trails In The Sky 1st remake. Even the NSW1 version of the demo looks terrific- I can only imagine how much better itll be with the NSW2 version upgrade for $1. That and Persona 3 Reload via the demo. Both let you transfer your save into the full game BTW. I hear Trails demo is 7+ hours of content and Persona 3 is like 3 hours of content. That's a lot. With Trails releasing Fri you could get the Prologue knocked out before the game releases.
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Its also the perfect starting point for the Trails series. But Persona 3 Reload is also very good. You clearly like JRPGs so Im trying to come up with recommendations in the genre.

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core looks amazing on NSW2 and ties into FFVII Remake which drops in a few months. There's a good option, if you haven't played it before. Ni No Kuni 2 is really good and runs at 60fps on NSW2. So does Monster Hunter Stories 1 and 2. Might be good to play before MH Stories 3 drops in March. Not that I think it's required because I'm pretty sure it has a separate story. Unicorn Overlord is a unique recommendation. Very few have played it. Or dig into the bag of classics with Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4.

@JaxonH I'm not talking about upgrades or changes to the games, I just mean an update that increases the resolution ceiling, maybe uncaps fps up to 60. The kind many games already have, like Mario Odyssey, Pokemon Violet etc. This should not take a lot of time.

@OmnitronVariant
Im not arguing itll take a lot of time to do, Im saying it may not be priority. They like to space these things out. So, even if it took five minutes, that doesn't mean it's going to release tomorrow. It could happen years from now. Because they want their improved games to be spread out over time.

But my guess is, they're not just going to increase resolution, they're going to increase framerate also. Maybe they release as NSW2 Editions for $10 upgrade, maybe they release as free upfrades in a 2nd batch. Point is, none of us know. If it's a free upgrade, it could happen within the next twelve months. If it's a NSW2 Edition it could be years away.

I would think if the Xenoblade S1 games get updates, it'll probably be right before the first Xenoblade S2 game comes out.

These huge RPG franchises like to release/re-release their back catalog games right before the newest one comes out. Like we all have hundreds and hundreds of hours to sit down and play back through Xenoblades 1-3 a month before 4 comes out lol

@rallydefault
Id buy em again if they were NSW2 Editions but I wouldn't play them again. What I would recommend instead is every RPG gamer get into the Trails series. People talk about Persona and Xenoblade like it's the best JRPGs ever, but Id rank Trails right up there with them if not above them. And we have nearly ten different games in the series to dive into. With Falcom remaking the original trilogy which the first entry has a 7+ hour demo that transfers to the main game. And its possibly the best battle system of any JRPG I've played in my entire life. It's absolute fire. Real time combat but you can press Y to go into semi turn based at any time, and if you stun an enemy first and then do it, you get an advantage. Stats like speed and how long it takes to cast a spell/art will affect the order of who attacks next, but you can freely move around on your turn to target various enemies, or as many as possible. Since some attacks are in a straight line, so you try to position yourself in such a way that the straight line passes through three or four enemies, or a circular AOE attack, and you position to hit as many as possible. Plus there's seven different elements.All with strengths and weaknesses for different monsters, not to mention your craft arts and building up CP taking and dealing damage, with your ultimate that uses all your CP, theres follow ups and chain attacks similar to Persona, theres overdrive like in Xenoblade... it's so easy for a beginner to jump in and play.But the skill ceiling is through the roof for those core gamers that really want to master the strategy.

And the game respects your time- it's not an easy game. Even on normal difficulty, I died several times in fights. But when you do, you get to start the fight over again right away? And even asks you if you'd like to fight the enemy again but with them being a bit weaker... so you're never going to be stuck or feel you have to leave to grind and come back.

And since they are remaking the entire trilogy, you get the whole story. Then the Crossbell duology is already on Switch with Trails From Zero and Trails To Azure. The 4 part collection of Cold Steel games is also all on Switch, though 1 and 2 are JP exclusive. But I skipped those and jumped right into the third and I was perfectly fine, especially since the main menu provides you with a very thorough backstory of the events which occurred in the prior two games.

Then Trails Into Reverie ties those 4 Cold Steel games and Crossbell into a nice bow, and a new arc begins with Trails Through Daybreak 1 and 2. And we have Trails Into the Horizon on the way.

But just playing the original Sky trilogy- that's all people need to worry about right now. By the time you finish those games, you will be so in love with the series, I won't have to convince you to play the rest of them. You'll do it on your own accord. Heck, Just playing the demo for Trails In The Sky 1st Remake will hook you in the series. Its that good.

And I adore Persona. I've been waiting for the NSW2 version of Persona 3 Reload since BEFORE Switch 2 was announced. But Trails in the Sky... its better.

@JaxonH
Yea, for me, the Trails world pulled me in immediately. Xenoblade just never really appealed to me, and I've tried a few of the games. Trails just has that more classic steam punk vibe to it whereas Xenoblade goes pretty full scifi.

FYI Sega says there WILL be a $10 upgrade for Sonic Racing Crossworlds NSW2 Ed. So you can safely buy on NSW1 and upgrade in a couple months (December) when the NSW2 version drops. A new single player demo is out now and its terrific. The physical NSW2 version is 2026 and all on cart btw.

@rallydefault
Nice! So have you been playing the demo?

It looks and runs fantastic on NSW2. There's a report that the NSW2 version doesn't hold 60fps but it advertises 4k 30 or 1080 60, so maybe there's an update on day one for it. Showed its visually superior but load times are actually fastest with the NSW1 version running on NSW2. Running on NSW1 its slooooow and the NSW2 Edition is fast but a second or two slower than the NSW1 edition on NSW2, probably because its loading much larger texture files.

Im gonna hold off upgrading to the NSW2 Edition until I know whether its getting a day one update to offer that 4k 30 or 1080p 60 (the early copy had no options to choose from).

Just an FYI. Id honestly be happy with this version on NSW2 though. I think it looks great and certainly runs excellent.

@JaxonH
Oh yea, I put 10 hours into the demo and was so sad when it was over!

I’m just getting the S1 physical and rolling with it.

Edit: and my copy just came in the mail! Woo! I’m off to resume my adventure!