Hawkwing

I suggested the idea a few years ago, but a game about rebuilding a taguel warren. It would be a combination of underground base building, Fire Emblem, and King of Dragon Pass as you fend off attackers, handle diplomacy, and rebuild a culture from the ground up. It's a unique combination I haven't seen before, and I believe it would actually work extremely well mechanically. It would also be a good opportunity to give more lore to the taguel, as they didn't get enough in Awakening. Fire Emblem at the Olympic games More seriously, I would like to see a Heroes of Might and Magic styled game using Fire Emblem mechanics. I am very curious to see how Fire Emblem's gameplay would hold up when units are more expendable, you're allowed to lose fights, and battles aren't on predetermined maps in a linear order. It would also be interesting for weapons and classes to be unlocked by building up cities and resources and to have different factions with unique elements to them.

Completed the mainline quest for the Rito yesterday. While the dungeon itself was smaller than a typical Zelda dungeon, getting there was an (fun) ordeal, so I didn't mind. I hope that the odd flying trampoline boats appear throughout the game. They're a fun and helpful way to traverse the sky islands, which aren't always convenient to navigate, and I'd be disappointed if they're relegated to a single region. Anyway, I'm greatly enjoying my time with the game. They kept the strong sense of exploration and discovery from Breath of the Wild alive and expanded upon it with a ton of fun new mechanics. While the overall map is the same shape, the area's themselves are far from 1 to 1, and they clearly put a lot of effort into making these places familiar while being entirely new. As for my thoughts on the new abilities: Ultrahand: Easily the games biggest selling point. I had fun creating even the simple contraptions allowed early on, and I expect that you'll be able to create even wilder inventions later down the line. I fully expect to see compilations of the wildest things people have come up with soon, as well as compilations of looney toons moments of inventions failing in the funniest ways. Recall: An overall awesome ability. Reversing time so that enemies projectiles return to their thrower never gets old, and I greatly enjoyed the few puzzles I've encountered so far that utilize the ability. I really, really hope they get wild with the puzzles Recall allows. Ascend: More of a quality of life ability to save on climbing time, though some of the puzzles I've encountered utilize it well. This will probably be the ability I miss the most if I get back to playing Breath of the Wild. Fuse: I need to experiment more with this mechanic and I don't know whether or not I like it at the moment. I appreciate that it gives a purpose to items I usually just saw as sidequest or upgrade fodder, and I love that it consistently rewards out-of-the box combinations. At the same time, I fear that the game may have some option bloat, as time spent looking for a specific material to throw or attach to an arrow could add up, and there may be fuses that are funny but functionally useless outside of some niche situations. I also don't think the weapon limit meshes well with this mechanic, as I'm not allowed to get as crazy as I want since I have to keep that limit in mind. There are some smaller things I enjoyed. I'm glad they increased the enemy variety as that was my biggest critique of the previous game, and the news towers shooting you into the air does make exploration and travel quick than having to climb/warp onto a tower and fly off. I haven't seen enough of the story to comment on it yet, though I do appreciate that it is more involved and active this time around and I do find the mystery intriguing Really, my biggest criticism of the game is that they kept aspects of Breath of the Wild I wasn't fond of. Korok seeds and the compendium were fun the first time around but quickly became busywork, and both are back in full force. I also could have gone without the "you start with pitiful health and armor and some attacks can kill you in one hit" schtick that I didn't find fun the first time, and it's just as frustrating here. My biggest disappointment is that they gave more tools for combat but left the system itself unchanged, which I believe was a big mistake. Combat in far from bad, but it is flawed. Your defensive options aren't as quick or tight as they should be for group fights, which make up the majority of encounters. The targeting system and dodging works well against singular opponents and bosses, but against multiple enemies, your shield doesn't cover every angle, you have to put some weapons away to even access the shield which while quick isn't immediate, you have to hold down a button to dodge which also snaps the camera behind you which isn't always helpful, and it's all too easy to get sniped from behinds. This isn't terrible, but the sheer amount of damage you take and how some attacks kill you instantly really highlight flaws of this combat systems, and I was really hoping they would improve upon that. (Doesn't help that I played Sifu before getting this game. That game is very difficult and punishes players who don't know what they're doing, but it's defensive mechanics are quick, tight, and responsive) Overall, I enjoy the new abilities and exploration is still a ton of fun, I just could have gone without some repeats of Breath of the Wilds more annoying elements. Depends on what you liked or didn't like about Breath of the Wild. I talked with a friend who didn't care much about Breath of the Wild but is having a ton of fun with Tears of the Kingdom. The new mechanics are what sold it for him, particularly fuse and ultrahand. I know that won't be the case with everyone, though.

That was an exciting trailer that this game seriously needed! I had to rewatch it a few times to really absorb everything new they showed off, and I have no doubt there are several details I still missed. They seemed to have addressed most of the issues I had with Breath of the Wild. I'm expecting several of the large structures they showed off to contain/be dungeons, they cranked up the enemy variety, and the fusion mechanic is a double whammy of giving weapon durability more out-of-the-box workarounds as well as giving the various resources you can nab some much needed utility. Link may also be able to interact with NPC's in more interesting way this time around, as there were some villagers fighting in the background, Link built a carriage to transport some of them, and he has a partner in some scenes (potential multiplayer? I don't know exactly how it'd work but I'm down). I'm very glad to see that they seriously shook up the world. I was concerned that they would reuse the same map with some floating islands being the only real additions, but no. The ground level has a ton of new structures, and the sky has a ton of creative new mechanics and set pieces. I wouldn't be surprised if the $70 price tag comes from having to use an expensive cartridge just to store the whole thing, as this is easily the largest game Nintendo has ever made. I hope that Ganondorf has more of a presence this time around. While his actions clearly had an effect on Hyrule in the previous game, Ganon himself was really just there. I hope the story as a whole sees some improvements. Breath of the Wild's plot was fine, but it was very minimalistic and I could summarize so many cutscenes as "stop Ganon". I did enjoy Links interactions with several of the characters in that game, but the Divine Beast quests were pretty formulaic. I hope that Tears of the Kingdom seriously shakes things up this time around. As excited as I am, I'm not going to lie that I wish we got a trailer like this earlier. The previous trailers gave off the impression that it was "Breath of the Wild with more stuff to do". It took until Aonuma gave a gameplay demonstration of the new mechanics for Tears of the Kingdom to really show if how unique it would be. As cool as that video was, I could have easily seen those mechanics being introduced in a far interesting and exciting manner. I just say this because I've seen some people call this the best trailer they've ever scene, and I can't say I agree. I personally would have been more hyped for this game if these details weren't revealed a literal month before the game comes out. That aside, this trailer was still awesome, I'm looking forward to Tears of the Kingdom, and will likely pick it up as soon as I can.

Thank you. I'll keep this in mind the next time I see the game on sale. Looking forward to the Total Warhammer 3 writeup, however long that will be.

I'm a big fan of Mandaloregaming, and his Total Warhammer reviews are some of his largest videos, as he covers not only the general gameplay and presentation, but each faction individually. Needless to say, it was very interesting to read though your summaries and see were your opinions lined up nearly word-for-word, and were they differed so sharply I almost wondered if you two were playing entirely different games. I suppose that's the joy of a game with so many asymmetric components. Speaking of Mandaloregaming, I've enjoyed almost every game he's recommended (and even the ones I didn't, I'm still glad I played) and I've had my eye on Total Warhammer 2 and 3 for a while now (The Lizardman faction having playable dinosaurs were enough to sell me on the games. The Skaven also sound incredibly fun, and the Tomb Kings are pretty much Necrons and I fucking love the Mechanicus game so of course I'm interested in them). How "RTS-Noob" friendly would you say they are? I've played and enjoyed a handful of RTS games in the past, but it's not my go-to genre and I make no claims to be good at them. Is Total Warhammer fine for a newcomer to jump into or does it expect that you already know what you're doing?

Just got home from the theater after watching the movie with my siblings. Overall it was a lot of fun and I greatly enjoyed it. However, I will say right now that it is very much a Mario product and very much a family film. I think it's very important to set your expectations accordingly before going in. The animation is great and this is easily the best looking film Illumination has made. Not just from purely visual standpoint, but from how well they integrate various aspects of the Mario universe into the film. The movie is littered with easter eggs and references, but it goes beyond "I recognize that!" to being intertwined very naturally with the action scenes and world as a whole. Every era of Mario is referenced, and you can tell the artists and animators were very passionate about the games and getting the look just right, and I would say they succeeded. It is easily the best aspect about the movie. The plot and comedy are fine, if nothing to write home about. It's extremely by the book, but thankfully it knows it's by the book and doesn't waste your time. The movie is incredibly fast paced, so any scene that may comes off as cliché doesn't last long enough to be annoying. Also, there are no fart jokes (and only one burp joke that's quick and actually kinda funny) which immediately puts the film above several other family movies. My only legitimate plot critique was that I wish Mario and Luigi had more screentime together, as they bounce off each other extremely well and establish a very believable bond in a short amount of time. It's refreshing that Peach wasn't kidnapped this time and it makes sense that Mario would go out of his way to rescue his sibling, but I can see a version of this story that has the two brothers working together the whole movie. The voice cast was good. Maybe not my first pick for these roles, but no one gave a bad performance and I quickly bought everyone as their respective characters. The Charles Martinet cameo was clever and much appreciated. The original soundtrack is AMAZING... which makes me wish there was more of it. I don't hate the pop songs they selected, but I do think the film would have been better off without them. I can kinda see why the handful of critic reviews I've seen were all over the place. If you know nothing about the Mario franchise and/or story is king no matter what, then the movie offers very little. If, on the other hand, you wanted to see a celebrations of all eras of Mario and weren't expecting a noteworthy story in the first place, then I think there is a lot to enjoy. I recommend this movie, especially watching it on the big screen, but I would also say to do so when it's convenient for you. It's a fun film, but not something you should go out of your way to see. I am very curious to see what the future holds now that Nintendo has dipped their toe into the moviemaking business. The purchased Dynamo Pictures last year, which leads me to believe that they'll want to make more movies in-house. I've seen a number of people say they want a movie about Luigi's Mansion, Metroid, or Star Fox, and I can see each of those working. We could possibly be in for a string of movie adaptations of videogames that manage to be high quality while remain faithful to the source material in the near future, which should be very interesting.

A fairly interesting set of challenges. The amount of mileage people get out of Super Smash Bros never ceases to amaze me.

Wonder who nearby was a vampire, since he seems to be absorbing their soul.

ROOK'S CAMPAIGN DAY 3: We Never Had This Hilarious Conversation Replies: Update:

In regards to gameplay, Camilla is a strong and reliable unit with a straightforward and useful personal skill. She can handle a lot of what Conquest throws at you without being an automatic "I win" button. I'm not a fan of the developer favoritism the royals got, so I tend to use the retainers more than them (with the exception of Elise and Sakura, as I'm not saying no to an extra healer), but when push comes to shove, I have no qualms deploying them during the harder levels. My main critique is Camilla's lack of a personal weapon, which applies to all the female royals across both games. The dudes legendary weapons are fun to use and are a big part of their gameplay identity, and it's a shame they're limited to already strong units. I'd be down with being able to forge the female royals legendary weapons as part of the games story, so you could have the choice between, say, giving Camilla a powerful axe or devastating tome. I'm not a fan of Camilla's characterization, though I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in seeing how she would be handled in the alternative universe where Fates was competently written. While I found almost all of her dialogue to be creepy, I got the impression that it was the result of a messed up backstory that twisted her perception of the world. Had this been further developed, I may still have found her character disturbing, but that could have been more intentional, with potential layers to her character that could be interesting to dissect. As is, while there are glimpses of depth, a lot Camilla's actions and dialogue come off as the writers being horny. Complaining about Camilla's outfit is a dead horse at this point. It's still one of the worse designs in the entire series and I don't get the impression they even tried to make it look like "armor". The cutscenes focusing on her chest and behind just give a shallow impression of her character. I have to enjoy Fates in spite of these aspects. I agree that it is annoying how much attention Camilla gets in side material and how many alts she has in Heroes. There are plenty of other characters that I would say are more deserving of the spotlight. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect with how much attention Camilla gets is how little they do with her character. They've had multiple opportunities to make her more well rounded and give her more depth, and they keep squandering it in favor of giving Camilla yet another outfit.

Favorite: I'd say Shadow Dragon. I love the aesthetic they went with, and all the information is readable at a glance. It's not perfect, as I wish they had the purple outline for enemy ranges that future games went with and having to manually keep track of the stats Dragonstone affects isn't fun, but as a whole it's the UI I have the least issues with. Runner-up is Fates. I appreciate how it manages to organize so much information onto a single screen, but I was wish there was another option that sacrificed some visual flair for providing text as to what each weapon and skill did. I wouldn't say I ever got annoyed by having to constantly touch the bottom screen, but the option would have been nice. Otherwise, It did a surprisingly good job of keeping things coherent considering how many variables you have to keep track of in the Fates games. Least Favorite: Three Houses. The style is fine, but I'm not a fan of how many menus you have to swap between if you want the full picture. It's not unbearable, but the time spent hopping between menus in and out of battles does add up and contributes to the games overall slow pace.

Killer