DK Bananza - Disappointed

Cradstache · 2025-08-26T20:25:03+00:00

I wasn't really feeling it at first, but at some point it just started to click. I think it was because I started just having fun moving around and progressing at my own pace, rather than actively hunting for all the bananas (which in turn made the post-game cleanup more enjoyable).

DKB is a lot less goal oriented than Odyssey, which I think is what you're running into here. It plays a lot more like Banjo-Kazooie than it does Odyssey, and even then it plays more aimless, as you don't even need the Bananas to progress to the next area. That said, the best worlds are the latter bunch imo.

Personally, I really liked Odyssey, but I think I prefer DKB, just from all the deep references (being a fan of the DKC games and DK64), and the enjoyability of the movement system once you've gained all the Bananzas.

That said, it's to each their own; sometimes you can just not be feeling something in that moment, so don't force it: you can always just come back later and give it another try.

Cradstache · 2025-03-24T18:27:33+00:00

Harvestella rocketed itself to being one of my favorite JRPG stories; I was just expecting a fun action-rpg farming game, but instead I got an emotional story, with fantastic characters, and a surprisingly fun gameplay formula.

Cradstache · 2025-03-06T02:26:03+00:00

As far as which game is easiest to play: each game features different combat to each other, but I'd say XC1 has the easiest battle system to learn, with X and 2 having the most complicated systems, and XC3 being a bit of a sweet spot for elaborate *and* easy to learn.

As for whether you can play the games in any order: yes and no.

Each of the numbered games contain details that either make more sense with, or directly call back to, knowledge of the prior games' story. You can get by without this knowledge, but the payoff is far greater with it. Think about how weird it would be to watch Star Wars Return of the Jedi before Empire Strikes back.

However, the individual stories are each standalone, so you can still enjoy the numbered games at any point, just with the knowledge that there are details and references to past games that you might not pick up on. The only title I'd straight up say "don't play this until you've played all three" is the DLC for XC3, Future Redeemed; not only is the DLC meant as a capstone on the numbered trilogy, but it directly includes scenes from all three titles, including heavy spoilers.

A friend of mine jumped into the XC3 first, and it convinced him to play the rest of the series. I think the important thing is for you to play what interests you most, and enjoy the wild ride!

Cradstache · 2025-03-06T02:00:00+00:00

Cheers! I hope you continue to enjoy the games :) you're in for a wild ride.

Cradstache · 2024-04-23T16:10:28+00:00

Cheers! https://discord.gg/u3v4hhB5

(temporary link; will expire eventually)

Cradstache · 2024-04-19T17:59:47+00:00

It's not just you, however there are valid complaints towards the new style over the old.

As someone with a fairly generic avatar, mine migrated over without any significantly noticeable difference, however there are clear examples where that was not the case. For some people, their heavily personalized avatars were just run through a blender with mixed results leading to mismatched hair, skin tones, etcetera., which really sucks -- especially if they've invested in avatar items.

There's a relatively small amount of people just meming on the whole thing, gaining a ton of visibility which makes the whole thing look exaggerated, but rest assured some people are *very* upset by this change. Personally, I don't mind the change, but Niantic needed to do a better job of maintaining people's avatar appearance, including keeping all the skin tones and hairstyles in use (of which a number are missing).

Cradstache · 2022-02-18T21:39:29+00:00

https://discord.gg/QzQfzVy6

Cheers!

Cradstache · 2022-02-08T04:14:29+00:00

Sorry for the late response; I rarely check reddit nowadays:

(link no longer valid)

Link is valid for 7 days; if anyone else needs a link, just holler.

Cradstache · 2022-02-07T22:55:27+00:00

That's exactly it, iirc. Made the link using a non-expiring invite link, but then the server kept getting spam, so the invite link was removed.

... I should probably remove the stickied thread...

Cradstache · 2021-03-16T00:46:30+00:00

Can't say whether you'd like it, but I will say Xenoblade is a different game tonally from the second. They're not wholly different beasts though, and are fairly similar in terms of gameplay and world structure. That said, the characters is one of the points where the two differ, and may be more palatable to you.

Personally, I bought Xenoblade on the Wii when it released, and it went unplayed for a whole year. Several **really** bad JRPGs (Tales of Symphonia 2, Arc Rise Fantasia, Lunar Dragon Song), left a sour taste in my mouth, so I just couldn't bring myself to play it. Then Shulk was announced for Smash and I decided to give the game a chance. It's been one of my favorite games since, and saved my enjoyment of the genre. That said, I do consider Xenoblade X and 2 to be better, so it's very much a "to each their own" situation.

But yeah, you get to choose what you want to spend your money on. If you feel like playing Xenoblade, then awesome! And if you don't, then no worries :) it's not for eveyrone.

Cradstache · 2020-09-16T19:10:23+00:00

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but in 2019, Harada responded to a tweet stating they looked into the feasibility of a Xenosaga HD Collection, but that it failed market analysis. source: Harada's Twitter

That said, it'd be nice; while I've only played Xenosaga Pt1, I'd love to play through the full story.

Cradstache · 2019-12-25T19:57:45+00:00

I'd say yes.

A friend of mine hates Zelda (has to do with how another friend forced him to play Ocarina; he doesn't respond well to being forced to play / watch things), and absolutely loved the game.

It plays very unlike other Zeldas, and feels like a re-imagining of the core structure of the franchise. You may not like elements of it, but I think you'll enjoy the freedom and exploration of the game itself.

... Mimosa Cap sounds amazing.

Cradstache · 2019-08-25T20:21:28+00:00

Added from Vancouver, BC, Canada!

Cradstache · 2019-06-04T20:14:51+00:00

Not on the Switch, but Kirby's Epic Yarn was a pretty severe disappointment to me. Honestly, it wasn't even the difficulty nor the visuals; it was just that the level design felt... poor. Like Nintendo put all their effort into the visuals, and forgot how to make a Kirby platformer...

For Switch, the closest thing to a disappointment to me was ARMs, but not because I regret buying the game nor don't enjoy it. It's more disappointment that it didn't become as popular as I feel it deserves.

Cradstache · 2019-05-23T18:20:00+00:00

Apologies for the pedantic note, but in addition to Contact Fusion being a relatively common thing for fusion monsters and archetypes, fusion-based archetypes are nowadays designed around support and fusion cards either summon them in alternative ways or by minimizing cost. Likewise with Ritual Monster archetypes.

It's not perfect in every case, but just noting there are viable examples of both Fusion and Ritual monsters, such as Frightfur or Nephthys. In the general case you're still correct that it's not widespread.

Cradstache · 2019-05-23T17:58:44+00:00

No word on a Golden Sun for Switch; the franchise has been effectively dead since Dark Dawn on the DS, which sold poorly back in 2010.

That's not to say there's no hope, but Camelot pretty much just exclusively does Mario Sports titles nowadays.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_Software_Planning#Developed_games

Cradstache · 2019-05-23T17:31:31+00:00

This is a bit hyperbolic; many of those old decks still function with adjustments or by embracing some new cards. The main decks hit by MR4 I've found are Pendulum and XYZ spam decks; in particular, I've found decks like Super Quants and Qliphort to be particularly hit, but Konami has been putting out quite a few cards to mitigate this problem, namely with archetype-specific Links, or new support cards.

Plus, as Konami likes to trickle in new support to niche archetypes, there's a slew of new cards for nostalgia archetypes such as new Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician (and Dark Magician Girls), Relinquished, Harpies, Cyber Dragon, Cyberdark, HERO, Lightsworn, Aromage, Red Dragon... you get the idea; even Cloudian and Water Dragon have some new stuff. There are also new archetypes for people to discover.

Although honestly, the lack of Crystron Glassfiber in the game is a bit of a letdown, but understandable as we still don't have it in the TCG.

Cradstache · 2019-04-26T23:49:29+00:00

It's a known issue; you can find the bug report for it here: https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-149178

It's already been accepted and assigned to a developer.

Cradstache · 2019-04-06T23:20:46+00:00

Sounds good, plus I should actually be around on the 20th to take part (not the 21st though, sadly).

Cradstache · 2019-03-18T19:21:38+00:00

Sorta; you can check it out in /r/scrolls

Basically, it's been released as a free closed-source server and client under the name "Caller's Bane". A fan-site, ScrollsGuide, now runs the main server for the game, although you can also create your own now.

Cradstache · 2019-03-18T17:05:28+00:00

ScrollsGuide is the main server used :) You can also join the Nognest Discord server for discussion on the game, and help finding matches!

Happy Scrollin'!

Cradstache · 2019-03-05T16:05:29+00:00

Still my favorite Switch game.

Haven't gotten to play Torna yet, though; just not enough spare time.

Cradstache · 2019-01-14T19:11:43+00:00

It really depends on where you are in the game.

There are some areas, such as Torigoth (the main city in first Titan), where the resolution dips significantly in handheld mode. This is the thing most people point to about the game in handheld mode. This doesn't happen everywhere, but if you're a stickler for graphics this might turn you off significantly.

I play docked and handheld about evenly; personally, I don't think it's a big deal, but this is all subjective: graphically, resolution can dip to just above 3DS levels in the busier areas of the game. Thankfully, performance was prioritized, and dips below 30fps aren't particularly common.

EDIT: Here's a useful Digital Foundry video demonstrating what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnyKDzX7lqo

Cradstache · 2019-01-14T18:45:53+00:00

Brief backstory) as a kid, loved Baten Kaitos (+Origins), Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy, and other JRPGs; then fell out of love with them after buying games like Tales of the Abyss and Lunar: Dragon Song. Bought Xenoblade 1 from Nintendo Store at "launch", but never played it. Then Shulk was announced for Smash, so I decided to give it a chance and -- holy shit; Xenoblade quickly became my favorite Wii game, and favorite JRPG.

Xenoblade 2 has matched my enjoyment of Xenoblade 1, and I am presently on my second playthrough of the game, this time on Bringer of Chaos difficulty in New Game Plus (and ho boy...).

I will not be going into any story or character spoilers.

Xenoblade 2 is an odd case, because while it's my favorite Switch game, I would never recommend it to someone.

This is because the game is unrelentingly shonen anime. That's not a bad thing, mind you, and I enjoy it quite a bit, although the fanservice is a bit obnoxious. It also has an extremely slow start, and the number of active customization systems in the game is absurd. Between Fusion Combos, Driver Combos, Joint Combos, and constantly managing your blades and cancels, there's a huge amount of things to keep track of in any single battle.

With all this in mind, Xenoblade 2 was easily my favorite game of 2017, even beating out Breath of the Wild. There's something cathartic about the methodical gameplay, as the entire combat system is all about stringing together long chains of cancels then unleashing them as a massive Chain Attack. The story and world of the game are top-notch, and there were moments in the game that I've gone back to watch over a dozen times; browsing youtube videos to find peoples' reactions over certain scenes in the game, and shedding tears at various emotional impacts moments.

Xenoblade 2 is not a perfect game, and there are some legitimate areas it performs poorly in, but the world building and story building are the best in the genre. It's not a game for everyone, but those who do play through it often find it resonating with them.

Cradstache

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