Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: Nintendo Switch 2

I can usually find valid points in most arguments

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The newest news in the Nintendo world is that the Breath of the Wild, ah…remake? No, Just the Switch 2 version will be ten dollars more than the $60 on the Switch. If you already have the game, then you just pay for an ugrade (which I’m assuming it’s ten bucks) because it’s anothre ten bucks on the Switch 2. And, apparently, the sequel, which is seventy bucks, will also have the ten dollar upgrade to the Stwitch 2.

Guess what is not included? The DLC. I have included another video by TopicArlo (I had a video by him in yesteday’s post as well.) The DLC is twenty bucks. And, as TopicAlo pointed out, Nintendo very rarely has sales on their games. They never go on steep sale, apparently. Again, I don’t know because I don’t have a Switch and am not planning on buying a Switch 2.

Here’s the thing. I’m indignant about the prices because all of this is not morally right. I can’t emphasize enough that I have no skin in this game. I was not going to get a Switch 2. I am not going to get a Switch 2. In other words, it doesn’t affect me personally. But I can look at it from afar and not be happy about what is going on. I wrote about how tired I am of both sides just bunkering down, stuffing their fingers in their ears (Initially, I wrote eyes. Ha!), and singing, “La la la la I can’t hear you.”

The thing that has struck me is how Nintendo is nickeling and diming everyone to death. The other big to-do is how they have a welcome tour video/game for the Switch 2–and it’s ten dollars. A welcome tour that introduces you to the new hardware is $10 extra. Are you fucking kidding me? Sony included ASTRO’s Playroom as a PS5 seller for free, and it won game of the year last year. TopicArlo has a video on this welcome tour video/game which is here. The one I included below is his measured rant on the price of Breath of the Wild.

He started off by saying he was…fine with the price of the Switch 2 ($450, but probably will be more because of the tariffs), fine with the new Mario Kart game being $80, but he wasn’t really. It was ‘fine’ in the sense that he was still going to buy both the Switch 2 and the new Mario Kart game, but  I could tell that he was really not happy about it.

This is the problem, though. They will buy whatever Nintendo sells them because it’s Nintendo. I want to say once again that I don’t have any Nintendo hardware/software. I had a 3DS for a hot second because Ian gave one to me–and I hated it. It felt terrible in my hands, and the controls were shit. The screen was too small, and everything about it just felt wrong. I did appreciate him giving it to me, though! That was very nice of him.


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Nuance is not a four-letter word

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I’ve been loosely following the drama surrounding the Switch 2, otherwise known as the SwIItch and a bunch of other cute names. I was never going to get one because one, I don’t do consoles*, and especially not hand-held ones. I do all my gaming on a PC, which is so much more comfortable (to me). Then came the news that the next FromSoft game which nary a word was breathed** was going to be a Nintendo exclusive and my heart dropped to my stomach.

I’ve reacted to it already, but I have more to say. Not so much about the game (though I will touch on that), but on the discourse about the game. Which, funnily enough, mimics the discourse around the Switch 2 itself.

The opinions are so divided, and you can’t stake a claim somewhere in the middle. Either it all sucks and is the end of gaming, or it’s the best thing ever and shut up with any/all of your criticisms. As a species, we tend to do go to extremes, but it is just getting worse and worse. In the Discord I’m in, there are a few guys (and, yes, all guys) who make these really declarative statements and discourage others from speaking up. I know they don’t think they do that, but it has that effect. I’ve seen other people get shut down and just never come back.

I’ts not about the opinions, but the fact that there’s definitely an in-crowd who dominate the discussions. I am not part of that in-crowd, by the way. I’m on the fringes. I’m not an outsider, but my voice is not important enough, loud enough, or male enough to be influential.

The conversation/argument/debate over the Switch 2 is not where I’m going to jump in. First, I’m not buying one. Second, I just don’t want to get into the arguments when both sides are camped firmly in their opposing viewpoints and won’t budge. It’s not a discussion; it’s a drawing of sides. I have no interest in that, and I don’t want to put my neck on the chopping block–especiall when the subject isn’t something that affects me.

When it comes to The Duskbloods (FromSoft), though (and, yes, I know I said I was not writing another post about it, but I had more to say), I have so many thoughts on it. I was watching a video by TopicArlo, someone who is torn about the game in much of the same way I am. For whatever reason, I decided to look at the comments. I normally don’t look at comments because they are so toxic, but I was curious–I don’t know why.


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More to say about the state of FromSoft

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I’m getting pretty sick of people saying you can’t criticize The Duskbloods if you’re a “real” fan of FromSoft. First of all, don’t tell me what I can and can’t criticize. Anything is fair game. Nothing is sacred and nothing is perfect.

I’m not mad about the fact that the game is multiplayer. Well, I am, but that’s because I don’t play multiplayer games and the fact that they are also doing Nightreign–which is also an MMO. I will play that, but I have a hunch that I’m not going to love it. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post (or maybe the post before), people have said that there’s an emphasis on quick responses. This is not within my wheelhouse.

I’m listening to Krupa and Gav talk about it in their weekly podcast, and I find myself saying repeatedly, “It’s a Nintendo exclusive” as to why “some people” (me) are not happy about it. If it was not a Nintendo exclusive, I would have zero qualms about it*. They didn’t even mention that at all or the fact that the The Switch 2 is pretty fucking pricy. The American price right now is $450, but will probably go up. The game will be at least $70 if not more, and the online you have to get is, surprisingly (in a good way), $20 a year for an individual.

I have included a video by TopicArlo below in which he muses about his conflicted feelings about The Duskbloods. They mirror my own thoughts, and I appreciate I am not the only one with mixed feelings. He’s late to the FromSoft games, but he has become very enamored with them. He’s always been a Nintendo fan, by the way, so he was going to buy this console/handheld, regardless. He describes how he went from elated to bewildered to ‘huh, what?’ and everything in between. He’s very much not a competitive player (or an online player), so he felt very deflated when he found out this was PvPvE. He was displomatic about it, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

Everyone is harping on how very Bloodborne-y this trailer looks, but it’s not Bloodborne. I feel like I’m the crazy one because I have never though there would be a seqouel to Bloodborne (at least not one done by FromSoft). One of my weirdest points of pride is that when everyone was so sure there would be a BB2 trailer at E3 and/or GeoffCon (2018 I think?), and I was as sure as I could ever be that there would not be–nor would there ever be a sequel to that game.

There was a From Soft trailer that year, and people convinced themselves it was BB2. It was not. It was Sekiro. And people were deflated (while also being elated that a new From game was announced).


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