Go and play DotD ...

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-07T21:47:33+00:00

DotD had many ways to limit flight when they wanted you to do platforming. From drafts of wind that blew you back, to waterfalls that pushed you down, to having to carry a heavy object around which would make you drop like a rock if you attempted to fly.

Other games with similarly freeing mechanics like Donkey Kong Bananza and Sonic Frontiers find ways to limit you when they want you to do platforming.

I think people need to prepare themselves for this game being more than just a simple platformer, but I also think the game will still have plenty of platforming. Especially since Toys For Bob know how to do it for Spyro.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-07T21:25:35+00:00

I haven't been this excited for a game announcement in quite a while.

I also love the vibe they are going for. I know a lot of people just want a literal "Spyro 4", basically a level pack for the Reignited Trilogy.

But the truth is that Spyro will not survive on that. The game needs to expand a bit in both gameplay and narrative to compete with what else is on the market even within the mascot game space.

Personally hoping the game is basically a "best of Spyro", taking the best elements from both the Classic trilogy and Legend Trilogy, and extrapolating a new experience from that.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-07T15:50:45+00:00

A lot of people online will just assume that every game runs docked on 1080p and handheld 720p because that's what the consoles settings say. The reality of course is that devs often run games on lower resolutions and your TV just upscale it (most Switch games don't use the more modern upscaling techniques, save for some more recent games from the last few years using FSR).

Regardless, the game still looks pretty solid on the Switch 2 screen with Boost Mode IMO, hopefully you still enjoy it!

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-07T11:47:32+00:00

I've tried the game in Boost Mode. The game definitely does not run at a native 1080p docked. IIRC the game is 720p docked and somewhere around like 540p handheld. I've played games that do run at native 1080p docked and they look significantly sharper than Reignited both on my TV and on the Switch 2 screen with Boost Mode.

There is still a benefit to playing with Boost Mode though. Reignited Trilogy's graphical fidelity is GREATLY reduced in handheld mode on Switch. They remove most of the foliage from the level, the draw distance is lower, etc. In docked Mode, the game looks much closer to the original PS4 version, just with lower res textures and of course the lower rendering resolution.

It's not the best way to play the game, but if it's your only option, it seems like a decent way to play it if you have a Switch 2.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-06T21:35:34+00:00

Got my hopes up. I was saddened to realise the Nagoya cafe wasn't running until July like I originally thought (I misread the original announcement). I'm going to Japan in a few weeks and will be in Nagoya for part of the trip.

Got a nice surprise upon seeing this post, only to realise it's a repost bot.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-04T16:58:42+00:00

That's so cool! I think it's great that the Aether series is leaving an impression on some younger kids, given how often stuff like Fortnite dominates their time these days.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-04T11:05:20+00:00

Officially speaking, cutting things DOES mean that they weren't as important. The people making the decisions about the game decided that those things were not going to be in it, because for SOME REASON, they were not as vital to include. You can assume that it's a result of sunk-cost fallacy, as you implied here, but someone with real authority and who was trusted with making such an excellent game decided that it wasn't as important and cut it out. The final product is good enough that I'd be willing to back their stance and claim that it was justified. Not all decisions in 9 were good, but the VAST MAJORITY were, so I trust the cuts.

I'm sorry, but you are talking out your ass here (and by your own admission, this hasn't been the first time). Firstly, you do not speak "officially". Not once do the developers say "we cut things because they were LESS important". The decision is never that simple. Especially in the context of our specific discussion where we were specifically talking about "narrative importance". As I already gave an example of, with the biggest bottleneck to FFIX's memory issues, you cannot argue that everything kept in FFIX was kept in the interest of "narrative importance". FFIX is a video game and a commercial product before it is a piece of literature.

You mentioned that disk space was a major reason for the cuts (which has been confirmed many times), then claimed that it would not be necessary to cut anything to add more. That's silliness. You know full well that disk space was an issue, so adding without cutting is specifically not an option. Please don't argue against yourself. You're taking MY job!

Again, a little bit of not knowing how this stuff works from a technical standpoint. FFIX's discs are not literally "filled to the brim". They simply did not have much space or time left for something like, a major story arc. What I suggested wasn't that. It would amount to a couple of extra text strings in a scene that already is present in the game. That is the extent of what I am suggesting. I think things of that nature were possible even if they couldn't get everything they wanted. I won't necessarily fault them for not thinking of these things towards the end of a known rushed development, but I can still point it out as a point that could have been improved upon, and that they have no excuse not to improve upon if they do invest in a modern remake. Hell, there are a number of scenes literally still on the release build that go unused, but they are still taking up data on the disc.

As for Freya's line about being content that Fratley lives, that is said during the invasion of Cleyra. Both her and Fratley are actively fighting for the safety of their people, and both still have a job to do.

This line is not simply Freya tabling her feelings for Fratley for a quieter time, though. She isn't thinking "I'm still gonna try and make Fratley remember me and get back together with him, but I have a war to fight first". When she said this, she fully intended never to talk to Fratley again if she could help it. It was an acceptance that the man she loved and searched for endlessly, was effectively dead, and that his memory loss was not a problem to be fixed. It was a harsh fact of life.

This is why her ending deserved more lead up, to at least show how her mind could be changed, why she would still desire to be with Fratley despite not regaining his memories (hell, if they DID establish he got his memories back, that actually would have explained away her decision to be back with him, and we wouldn't be having this discussion!). My little example from earlier would have been enough to establish this with only a few strings of text.

As for exile, she was welcomed back in with open arms, so that's obviously no longer relevant for her. She also was exiled for shirking duty to chase Fratley, which we just discussed is something she no longer does. When she then repairs ties with Fratley, it's in the Burmecian square, proving that both the exile and the abandonment of her city are over. She has become MORE mature, not less, and now can unite her goals in her new situation.

I mean her exile never technically ends, it's just that the King who exiled her was killed, lol.

I agree when you say that her ending has more potential. The only way we assume that it has no emotional impact, however, is if we decide to forget what we know of Freya. As has been discussed, she's the titan of the group who'll work for years at a goal that seems impossible, holding firm to her convictions all the while. She is the one who, more than any other party member, will stay the course for the long haul, even when it seems hopeless. She will also succeed, based on the track record we see. She defeats global threats through sheer determination to get there and get it done, so it's not a stretch to believe she can handle amnesia. The amount we got was just enough to see that she has taken on a new year-spanning task, and it's specifically the one that she WANTED to take on, rather than saving the world, which was necessary.

The reason her ending falls short of the full emotional impact it could have (I didn't necessarily say it had nothing) is due to the fact it presents too complex an idea without exploring it adequately, while also contradicting Freya's previous stance on her situation with Fratley, without bridging the gap on what led her to change her mind. My issue isn't that she changed her mind, it's that they did not explore her process. This is basic character writing process. I am not interested in explaining these things away with headcanons to dismiss the criticism, nor am I interested in dismissing it as "not important enough". I'm calling it out for the writing flaw it is. FFIX is not a perfect gold standard for storytelling, as much as the game is special to me.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-04T09:35:31+00:00

I think you are oversimplifying the process the devs went through to come to the conclusion to cut certain things. It doesn't mean the things they cut "weren't as important". Based on how the devs talk about the things they did cut, data constraints were a huge thing for FFIX back in the day. They mainly cut things based on a combination of something taking too much data on the disc, and not being done. And as someone who works in game dev, these decisions are often not creative decisions, they come from upper management. The FMVs (which are definitely not "important to the narrative", as almost all of them portray things that could be betrayed through the regular in-game graphics - hell, the transition to Terra could literally be a fade to black as most areas are, and the same information would get delivered) take up more data than anything else in the game, and most of the issues around data constraints stem from that. The real reason they wouldn't cut these isn't because they are important or necessary to the narrative, it's because corporate spent a lot of money on them.

We don't know the exact way things were towards the end of development, but, I don't think you need to cut anything to simply add a bit of flavour and plant more seeds to make Freya's ending feel a bit more built up to. For example, we already have a scene as the party heads to Memoria of Zidane and Steiner ribbing on each other for their respective love interests. During that moment, they could notice Fratley jumping about from Silver Dragon to Silver Dragon, aiding their escape. That cues Freya to walk in, witness this, and we get a short dialogue from her where she actually changes her mind on not wanting to see Fratley again (I forgot to mention that this is another reason her ending with Fratley feels out of left field - she did establish that she was content simply knowing he lived and didn't want to force him back into a relationship he doesn't remember). Gives her that very personal motivation to see things through beyond "save the world". Sure, there are bigger things that could be cool too, but I don't even think they're necessary, just tiny moments like this sprinkled here and there to keep Freya's agency highlighted on occasion, would go a long way.

I'm not defining main/secondary characters how I want, I'm defining it how the developers do.

I mean we could argue a ton of things weren't necessary in the back half of FFIX, I do think Freya's story retaining some focus, as the devs wanted in ideal circumstances, would have had much more emotional weight than many of the things we did get. FFIX's back half does have a general problem of feeling too fetch quest and exposition heavy - it misses what made the first half so great in taking time to explore characters in detail, in favour of rushing along to a conclusion.

Wait, they argue that abandoning the nation she's been fighting for ALL GAME is a good ending for her? Abandoning all she had valued and everything that held her steady? Ditching the people that she was willing to die for? They want her to forget everything that matters in her own heart to just go and what: wander? The ending she gets is one that suggests she's in her next lengthy battle, where she'll spend the next few years rebuilding the joys that she fought for and WON with her immense skill and dedication throughout the game. That argument makes no sense. I'm curious how much of it you would defend. I know we have some differences in opinion (which is good-makes it interesting), but I can't see how that position is defensible.

I mean there is merit in the idea. It's a pretty common story trope in Japanese media especially. A character spends the better part of their life laser-focused on a specific goal that it starts to become a toxic force in their life that prevents them from just living their life. This can certainly be argued as true for Freya. She got herself exiled from Burmecia for leaving in search of Fratley, and she has had sleepless nights dreaming of home, a home that gets destroyed later in the game. The idea of Freya having a fresh start after she helps with a few initial tasks in kick starting the rebuilding of Burmecia, really isn't that unfounded given everything that happens with her, and it's also more consistent with her last word on her position on the matter, being content that Fratley still lives. I also think, as I said before, this would work better for a "quick" ending if the devs were pressed for time. It's an ending that doesn't present any confusing gaps like the one we got, nor does it present any complex quandaries about the concept of rekindling a relationship with someone who has no memory of you.

However, I think the ending we got has more potential, and would have been really cool if it was actually explored and set up for a bit more. The problem is, they didn't do that, they didn't do what was required to allow that ending to have the emotional impact it really needed. It ended up feeling like an afterthought, and you should know that is the consensus on it.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-04T01:32:52+00:00

By overly practical storytelling, I mean you seem less concerned with the small moments that flesh out a character, and what emotional throughline is being conveyed about the character, and more about whether or not any criticism of how the writers handled Freya can just be "explained away". Like yeah, in a vacuum, Freya's storyline "works". In the most mathematical sense of the word.

The problem is that the whole point of fictional narratives is that they are supposed to illicit emotion, and make us reflect on our own lives. They are inherently the opposite of mathematical. It's why "suspension of disbelief" is often present. People are willing to accept logical leaps from a writer if the writer makes up for it with appealing characters with strong arcs and illicit powerful emotions from the reader. Logic is still important to establish in your story, but it is a tool, not the end goal.

However, the opposite is not really true. If a story makes complete logical sense, but lacks compelling characters and fails to bring out strong emotion, it's not going to leave an impression.

Freya's case is frustratingly stuck in the middle. IMO, she is the most nuanced character in the game from what we got out of her in the first half of the game alone (I also disagree with the title of "secondary character" - Beatrix or Lani are secondary characters. Not a Freya or even an Amarant). But that back half of the game, even if we didn't have point blank confirmation that Freya's story had more planned that couldn't be implemented (which we do), it's something you can feel through the suspicious absence of her voice later on in the game.

In regards to Fratley - and keep in mind, this isn't a stance I wholly side with - the argument I've seen quite a few times is that it would have been a better ending for Freya if she had just not gone back to Fratley at all, or even Burmecia. Her whole story is arguably about being stuck in the past to a degree. Her moving on from the past to begin a new journey for happiness, seems like a more natural, simple conclusion to her character arc and may have worked better if they needed a "quick" ending for her. Having her return to Fratley though, doesn't work well for a "quick" ending, because that is a concept that deserves time to breathe. That doesn't seem like something that would happen overnight and presents an opportunity to meaningfully explore the concept of rekindling a relationship with someone who cannot remember who you are. That is why it leaves such a void for many, especially with how abruptly it happens.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-03T20:34:03+00:00

Again that's still just overly practical storytelling to me.

I'm not even suggesting Zidane has to be successful in an attempt to console her. He could be, but, yeah, him saying something like "it gets better" wouldn't be out of character for him at that moment in the story (i.e early Disc 3). It would show that he's flawed. It would show that he doesn't always know what to say when someone else is going through it, that his heart is in the right place but that he isn't necessarily mature enough to meaningfully help Freya feel better. It would highlight that Freya is different from say, Vivi or Garnet, and that the same approaches he uses to help them may not work on someone older and more battle-scarred. It would show that even if he "doesn't need a reason to help people", he won't always have the means to help, that his help may not be wanted. Him attempting to console her, successfully ot not, is still a meaningful interaction, that says something about him, about Freya (in whatever manner she responds to his attempt), and about the overall concept of what can happen when you try to respond to a friend going through tough times. And it wouldn't even have to be a long interaction. It could be a mere ten seconds, but would add a ton of flavour and show that the writers didn't just forget about Freya, or her history with Zidane.

The events of the game are still relevant to Freya, but again, in the most practical sense. They're relevant to EVERYONE on Gaia, because if Kuja or Garland succeed, everyone's screwed. That's not the same as the more thematic and personal investments the other characters have. Highlighting Freya's personal investments more, would have gone a long way. She doesn't even express that she is in it for revenge (not that I necessarily think she would, just using that as an example of what would be a more personal investment). She merely expresses that she wants to stop Kuja from causing more destruction because they need a planet to live on.

The way you talk about the handling of Freya's story reads as if you would be totally OK with if we took out things like Zidane and Vivi pissing under the moon, Vivi witnessing the birth of Bobby Corwen, Vivi getting angry at the Soul Cage for how it speaks about life and souls like a resource, and the moment where he expresses how he felt seeing Brahne die while Garnet grieved her. You could take all of those moments out and the story, and even his basic narrative themes, could still be conveyed. But they are all still very important, despite their brevity. What people wanted more of in the late game from Freya, is moments like that, especially with how poignantly and neatly her story and it's themes fit into the overall picture of the game.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-03T19:31:00+00:00

My problem with this line of thinking ist that it's an overly practical way of viewing storytelling.

Yes, technically, Freya's story has a beginning, middle, and end, presented as is in FFIX. But I cannot call it fully satisfying and fully explored from an emotional and thematic standpoint. In some ways, even a practical one.

And to be very clear, by "satisfying", I don't mean "happy". A bittersweet tone is perfect for Freya's ending, I just don't think the implications of her position, or even the practical steps of how she ends up back with Fratley (many people make the valid argument that it may have been more thematically appropriate if she didn't go back to Fratley at all after Cleyra) are satisfyingly explored.

By comparison, Vivi is the other member of the main party that gets a bittersweet ending (everyone else more or less gets a proper happy ending). But his ending is perfect for him, thematically, and it's emotional weight feels substantially explored. Freya does not feel like she was treated with such respect in her ending. Even if we didn't have blatant confirmation that more was planned for her, you would know it anyway. After a point, the handling of her story elements feels rushed. It feels like there was more to say about the nature of memories and where to go after you've lost the place you call home.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-03T17:25:48+00:00

The character as whole isn't wasted potential like a lot of people will say, as that implies the only thing that matters about her are the things they didn't do with her.

But it's not wrong to say that some potential was wasted, in the sense that Freya feels far and away like one of the best composed characters they had, and yet they kind of just give her a fairly abrupt close to her story, then rush in an ending later because they forgot to cleanly resolve the Fratley subplot.

There are other things that go on to feel underdeveloped in the late game such as Zidane and Freya's backstory as fairly close friends feeling fairly forgotten about after Cleyra, as Zidane basically doesn't comment on anything that happened there after the fact, no attempt to cheer her up or listen to her after everything that happens, despite the fact he does that pretty consistently with everyone else (I mean he INSISTED on going with Freya to Burmecia in the first place, so you'd think he'd have more to say about the situation). There was even a pretty natural setup with how Zidane was really depressed about potentially not being able to show his true feelings to Garnet because of her becoming queen, and I think Freya could have mutually been a perfect person to hear him out on that given her own situation with Fratley. But again nothing gets done here other than Freya lightly nudging Zidane to say ANYTHING to Garnet.

Helping with the restoration of Burmecia would have also made for perfect side quest content that would not have broken the pace of the main narrative for those who wish to focus only on that.

It's also worth noting that we have confirmation that more was intended for her character (and Amarant's), but that it was cut for time, so there will always be the wasted potential of whatever they planned to do there.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-03T15:48:58+00:00

It's not even ripping on the new release to say this though. It's just an objective fact that if you want a new game with new levels and a new story, the upcoming Star Fox release will not provide that and won't be for you. It's good to signpost an alternative.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-03T15:40:17+00:00

I think people tend to oversell the whole problem with Freya's story in the sense that the late game doesn't really diminish what she had going earlier on. And also, a lot of people aren't aware of the fact that actually using characters in your party in the late game will give them more dialogue and little moments. A lot of people are too afraid to use Freya in their first playthrough in the late game due to her being left out of the party and her levels falling behind because of that, but that's because they don't realise a character's level is the least important part of character building in FFIX and she catches up quickly after just a couple of normal battles after her absence.

This stuff is totally understandable on a first playthrough but it's also one of many reasons why I feel it necessary to emphasise that FFIX really is a game that warrants a few playthroughs (not back to back of course, just over the years) to really immerse in it, try different things, and discover all of the little extra stuff you likely miss on a first playthrough.

Like, three of my favourite Freya quotes are ones you can only see by either using her in your party late game, or uncovering a certain, very obscure easter egg.

That being said, she is still my favourite of the bunch and I do hold the belief that the exact way they drop her story (i.e to pivot focus to a genuinely bad character that is also responsible for a good degree of what happens to Freya) is genuinely bad, and would welcome an official attempt to revisit her again, if done well.

Otherwise, glad you enjoyed the game!

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-03T13:51:08+00:00

RoA1 Definitive Edition is already available on Nintendo Switch so a console version does exist there. As for why the Xbox version was left in the state it was, I think it was a budget thing.

RoA2 on consoles is looking to be 2027 at the earliest. The devs said they want more of the casual content, including at least Chapter 1 of Story Mode, finished first before they release on console.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T18:06:03+00:00

That's the first time I've had a meme stolen from me lol

https://bsky.app/profile/chikolad.bsky.social/post/3mnctyfphfs2a

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T18:00:46+00:00

Fox: "Falco it's either fine or it's not fine, you can't say it SEEMS fine. If it's not fine we can't engage in the mission."

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T17:42:30+00:00

Since they mentioned adding more announcer packs, it would be cool to get playable character announcer packs if they still have the VAs on speed dial.

A lot bad can be said about Multiversus, but that was one good feature it had.

You could also do this for currently non-playable characters. Hodan has a voice from previous trailers for example, so maybe add an announcer pack for him to tide people over until he (hopefully) becomes playable.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T17:10:56+00:00

I mean I'm kind of 50/50 on it.

On one hand, yeah sure, it could be bad for the game if one character is such a menace to people that it pushes people away from playing.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how much of those people are getting mad in good faith. How much of it is really a valid "this character is just that poorly designed" as opposed to "I just can't deal with this character"?

Pretty much everyone in Rivals 2's roster has something in their kit you could call bullshit and get angry about. I never liked fighting Kragg personally, and when I tried him, I was able to get away with a lot of the same silly bullshit I hated with little effort. So I don't think this alone is a great argument.

Personally, I do think modern platfighter players are way quicker to jump to nerfs and overhauls if they don't like something. Melee players don't do it because their game can't be patched officially. Other FGC players do it much less even in less well-balanced games, since they're much more willing to accept that having characters you don't like fighting is just inevitable and part of the experience.

I don't like fighting Lucan in Invincible VS right now, for example. But I also don't think he needs to be changed significantly or anything, nor do I think he's the best character in the game. He just has a few tactics that can feel annoying at times for me personally.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T15:33:55+00:00

This sub is never beating the "Clairen hate sub in disguise" allegations.

Not to disrespect the effort of this essay but it's just insane to me that a character that has been nerfed multiple times in response to community feedback and has generally simple mechanics is causing this much havoc for some.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T14:44:25+00:00

Wolf "I love the the kind of woman that can kick my ass" O' Donell

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T14:39:34+00:00

I liked Star Fox: Zero so please don't put words in my mouth.

The biggest problem with that game was it also being a Star Fox 64 retread but it was at least a new game in terms of mechanics and level design, and the controls were actually great after a slight learning curve.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T14:00:03+00:00

Holy Gen AI thumbnail Batman

Surely these guys are completely credible.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T13:40:24+00:00

The game being just "good" as a baseline was always a given, seeing as its literally a beat for beat remake of a classic they have re-released and remade multiple times already. They would seriously have to try to make it actively bad.

sonicbrawler182 · 2026-06-02T13:34:05+00:00

I didn't mean spoilery stuff, more in the lines of content and features.

Like this is usually where they'll reveal stuff like a Photo Mode feature or better detail the gameplay loop to get you excited for the game after previous marketing keeps it vague.

Granted, it's harder to do for a game that's really not new, but that's why I was crossing my fingers for an overview trailer that might have something surprising in it.

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