Nintendo Direct 2.17.2021 Impressions

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I’m running a bit behind, but still want to post something about Nintendo’s first Direct of the year. Not to mention their first big one for some time now (COVID-19 sucks). I was originally going to setup a link for the video and break down the announcements. Fortunate for me, Nintendo did a much better job then what I was likely going to try putting together.

If you happened to have missed Nintendo’s Direct they hosted on February 17th, here is a link to their site that has the video and a very nice break down of all the announcements below it: Nintendo Direct 2.17.2021.

Now, what are my thoughts. Having been a bit devoid of major announcement for a while, I think it was a decent Direct. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m slightly bummed that they had nothing new to announce for The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 and they didn’t even hint at anything Metroid. However, I think they did what they needed to do and had a little of something for everyone. So here are my big highlights:

  • Pyra/Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicls 2 will be the newest fight/s added to the Super Smash Bros Ultimate roster. To be clear, they are technically the same fighter in the roster. Similar to the Dragon Quest Warrior, you can switch between the two characters during a fight fairly seamlessly, and form the looks of it, intentionally to string together some interesting combos. Seems really interesting.
  • Mario Golf Super Rush has been announced for the Switch. I love me some Mario Golf and so excited I’ll be able to play it on the TV again.
  • Splatoon 3 has been officially announced and is giving me a Wastelands/Borderlands vibe. Should be interesting. Might be time I finally pick up one of a Splatoon game.
  • Project Triangle Strategy (working title) is a new tactical RPG being worked by Square Enix. While still very much a work in progress, Square Enix released a playable demo for the game already. I already downloaded it to give it a go. First off, don’t expect the game to go easy on you and don’t expect to understand what is going on. Damn near messed up my first encounter getting used to the mechanics; but even with me fumbling around, I definitely see potential here. Also loving the art style reminding me of very much of Octopath.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is going to release on the Switch soon. While not one of the best Legend of Zelda games in my honest opinion, it does have it’s moments and I think it is very much worth playing for LoZ fans who haven’t yet played it. If you were a huge fan of it and plan on getting again, more power to you. Now, they did mention they did work on improving the motion controls to fit the regular Switch side controllers (hopefully this improves the sword combat response which never worked well for me); but they also mentioned adding full button control support for Switch Lite players, so motion controls aren’t required! Woot!
  • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity DLC releasing this year. Included in the Expansion Pass DLC will be a purchase bonus that will add new weapons and outfits for Link, there are two bigger releases that will spaced out throughout this year. Across each wave they will be adding some new playable characters (no details yet who), skills for existing characters, stages, weapon types, and challenges. While I’m still working through Age of Calamity, I’m looking forward to seeing what they add as I’m getting close to full completion at this point.
  • Animal Crossing New Horizon Super Mario Themed decorations and outfits are coming soon in an upcoming free update. I’m not one to really decorate my island yet, but I thinking it is time to make an exception. And yes, there are enough items to basically make your own Mario course on your island complete with warp pipes, coins, blocks, and flag pole, all while looking like a Mario character.
  • Plenty of new third party title announcements. To many for me to really dig deep as I don’t have much on them yet. However, I do want to call out the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection. Includes Ninja Gaiden 1-3, need I say more. I’ve already beaten the hell out of all three, but if you missed these and are looking for challenge, highly recommend checking it out.

So yeah, no BotW 2 or Metroid Prime 4 news, but I think an overall solid Direct. Definitely giving me some good vibes about 2021 for Nintendo. Just remember, it is still February, so there is plenty of time for Nintendo to drop some more big news. Heck, for all we know, BotW 2 and Metroid Prime 4 could be launch titles for Nintendo’s new system I keep hearing about. Either way, this is already shaping up to be a nice year for Nintendo.

Resident Evil Showcase Aftermath

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Okay, watched Capcom’s Resident Evil Showcase, so now, the aftermath. As to be expected, Resident Evil Village was the highlight of the event. While the story is still being kept in the dark somewhat, we know that our main protagonist, Ethan Winters, is looking for his infant daughter. Similar to Resident Evil 7, this game will be played in first person and still looks creepy as hell. As to be expected, there will be plenty of puzzles and surprises; but it does look like combat is getting a little revamp from RE7. Definitely looks like there will be more of a focus on combat with this one that is reminding me very much of Resident Evil 4. Namely, you will encounter multiple enemies at a time, but you won’t be mowing them down. You’ll have to be smart and take advantage of weaknesses and the environment. Also helps that Village has an inventory system inspired by RE4’s; and they are bringing back the merchant who is called The Duke. Definitely hitting all the right notes for me.

How Village ties into Resident Evil 7 is still unknown, but I’m perfectly fine with that. Would rather play it and find out for myself, which won’t be much longer. Resident Evil Village will be releasing on May 7, 2021 on PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with pre-orders starting today.

Now, Resident Evil Village wasn’t the only item discussed. Also coming out soon is RE: Verse, a pure multiplayer game featuring just about every iconic character across the RE franchise duking it out. This includes both human characters and the bioweapons like Nemesis. I’m not a big fan of multiplayer, but I admit that even I’m curious about this one. More importantly, if you pre-order Village, you will get this for free. No mention of cost for those that don’t pre-order Village though.

They also announced Resident Evil crossover event with The Division 2. Going on from February 2nd to February 15th, you will get Leon Kennedy’s police outfit from RE2 just for logging in. You will also be able to collect other RE outfits and weapons through what I’m assuming will be in-game events as well. I’m going to have re-install The Division 2 now.

Honorable mention, they briefly covered the new Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness animated movie releasing on Netflix that will feature Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield as the main protagonists. They also clarified that this movie takes place after RE4 to help put into context with the series. Unfortunately, no mention of the live action miniseries or the movies.

In case you missed and want to watch it, here it is:

Resident Evil Showcase

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In less then 48 hours, Capcom will be hosting a Resident Evil Showcase. The main highlight being the latest entry into the Resident Evil series releasing this year, VII.I.AGE Resident Evil (pardon my attempt at recreating that in text). So far Capcom has only really shown of teaser videos, so really looking forward to getting more of a deep dive into what Capcom has planned in this next installment. I’m also guessing they may share some new details on the upcoming RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness Netflix animated series, the Netflix Live Action miniseries, and the reported movie series reboot. Not banking on these getting covered, but would be nice to hear more on the later two.

As a longtime Resident Evil fan, I’m very much looking forward to this. If you want to catch the showcase, it goes live on Jan. 21, 2021 @ 2:00 PM PST | 22:00 GMT. Here is a link to the YouTube live feed that is already up. In the meantime, take a look at the Showcase teaser to get ready.

Twitch Streaming Update

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Okay, really need to finish out my Diablo III playthrough; but I think my first go at streaming was a decent success. While my average viewers never peaked 2, the fact that I streamed in the first place is a huge success for me. I think what helped somewhat was not every stream went as smooth as I would have liked. Some technical issues I had to figure out with audio and lighting, but things I’m at least learning. Knowing I had some rough streams, helped me feel like I got that out of the way. Nothing else to do but improve form this point.

While I’m basically working off of a “budget” streaming setup, I’m at least figuring out where best to focus future purchases. Case in point, while my camera is decent, it is an older HD Logitech camera I wouldn’t mind upgrading. Before that though, I really need to get better lighting. I don’t have a dedicated streaming space in my house, so lighting isn’t the most ideal. However, I decent light behind my display will make a world of difference. Next up, a decent dedicated mic. Started off using my headset mic, but found out it was way to quite. Didn’t matter what I tweaked, I couldn’t boost it and it was just way to soft. For now, I switched to my camera mic, but started doing some research into desktop mics.

Finding out both of these aren’t going to be cheap with what I would like to get, I feel like I’ve at least gotten my current setup to work as best as I can. Could likely make some additional tweaks like finetuning my audio streams, but I’m happy where it is at. To be completely honest, the NVIDIA Broadcast app and Soundtrack by Twitch have a lot to do with it. NVIDIA Broadcast does exactly what it says and does it very well. I don’t have a greenscreen and don’t plan on getting one, and I can get only myself in the stream without any of my background. The noise filter works perfectly. My wife’s computer is close to mine and she games also. I’ve been amazed at how well it filters out her games. If you have a GeForce RXT 2060 or higher, I definitely recommend giving it a try. Soundtrack by Twitch, while not a necessity and as a new streamer, it is nice to be able to add some music to my non-gaming scenes without having to worry if what I’m playing will get me in trouble or not. Not something I want to deal with as a new streamer though.

I’ll likely try to pickup Diablo III within the next few days as I’m so close to beating it. Once I beat that, I got to think about what I’ll stream next. Thinking about streaming a bunch of the games in my backlog I’ve never gotten to. Figure that is a good way to at least play them and maybe even help introduce them to other gamers. Not sure if I’ll do any other full game playthroughs necessarily, but we shall see. Remember, subscribe to my Twitch channel or follow me on Twitter to see when I’m streaming. No schedule yet as my real life schedule is fairly sporadic.

Cyberpunk 2077 Thoughts

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So…, Cyberpunk 2077 released last week. To be expected, the pre-orders and consecutive players the evening of release were as sky high as expected; however, the extreme fallout post launch wasn’t. For those not aware, Cyberpunk 2077 had one of the least successful cross generation releases I have seen in a while. Those who got it on PC and next gen consoles, while experiencing rough glitches and bugs, seemed to have an overall “better” experience from what I’ve read. Still a mixed bag, but PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions seem to be a whole different story. So much so, Sony was reported to begin offering refunds for PlayStation players; and now CD Project Red officially confirming they messed up and are also offering refunds (there seems to be some backtracking on the refunds at this point though). To be completely honest, this has me severely bummed as I’ve lucked out issue wise and have been really enjoying the game.

In my case, I pre-ordered my copy of Cyberpunk 2077 for my PC though Steam, specs below:

  • Intel Core i7 3960X
  • 2 x 8GB DDR3-1600 Memory
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super
  • Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB

With the exception of the SSD and 2060 Super, this is almost a 9 year old rig. Not to mention, I’m still playing on a 24″ 1080 display, which helps. Not sure if this is just the game defaults for everyone, but it set everything to high, with a few set to Ultra, including RTX. Figured what the heck and left it alone except for setting DLSS to Quality. Honestly wasn’t expecting it was going to run as well as it did, but all I can say is that this game is absolutely gorgeous. I can’t think of a game I’ve played recently that has me more distracted looking at the environment then playing the game. I’ve keep crashed my vehicle from time to time because keep looking at the environment. The use of Ray-Tracing is absolutely amazing in my opinion. I can only image what this game would look like in an even higher resolution with everything maxed.

As for the gameplay, it is fairly much what I expected. A dystopian future FPS/RPG with a compelling story, interesting characters, fun side quests, and a unique enough combat system that I look forward to each encounter. After just recently finishing The Witcher 3 (finally), I expected I was going to enjoy the storytelling. While the main quest line is not as long as The Witcher 3 in comparison, it has kept me engaged the whole time. I’ve hit the point of no return and stopped for the time being to knock out some side quests, but it kept me engaged wanting to keep going to learn more. The interesting story telling doesn’t just stop there to be honest. I’ve been having a blast with the side quests, both one-off and quest chains. They never seem to go as expected and that’s the fun part. Each one makes an interesting twist that just sucks me in. The characters are what make them interesting. The characters I’m supposed to care about, I do. The ones meant to be one-off, I want to learn more about them. Then there is the combat, with a mix of melee, guns, and hacking (this is like the game’s magic system essentially). I’m having a blast changing my approach to each encounter just to see how they go. Use a few quickhacks to weaken the enemies or cause a little chaos, start picking them off at range with my guns, and then finish off anyone who comes close with my mantis blades (katana before that). Overall, this game has just been a blast so far.

Should you play it? Absolutely yes. Should you buy it now? Maybe not. Yes, the game has issues, so did The Witcher 3 when it was released. Why I’m not extremely concerned about the issues, CD Project Red had a fairly decent track record for addressing those issues with Witcher 3. I expect they will do the same with Cyberpunk 2077. They did release patch 1.04 which did help with the PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 versions. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions are still in a very rough state. Based on their Twitter post I linked in the first paragraph, they do have patches slated for both January and February to specifically address the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions. I would expect they will likely release additional patches for the next gen systems during these times as well. May not be as big, but I expect they are working hard on them.

Final thoughts, if you have a decent PC with current GPU, you will likely be fine. There will be issues and you may have to tweak your settings a bit to get the game running smooth, but PC is probably the safest bet at this time. Next gen console owners, the general gist I’ve read is that patch 1.04 really helped make the game noticeably stable, especially on the PlayStation 5, so you are likely okay. Previous gen console owners should hold off until January or February at the earliest in my opinion. If you already have it, hold onto it as I feel the game is worth it, just really bummed the experience has been so sour. Ultimately CD Project Red should not have released the game as is, or at least not a same day cross generation release. If they felt they had to release something, release on PC first, maybe next gen also, but delay the previous gen at minimum. Either way, gamers would have been bummed, but it would have been an overall better experience in the end. As long as CD Project Red continues to do what they can to fix the game on all platforms so everyone can enjoy them, that helps in my mind. It just won’t erase this dark cloud over what to me is still a very good game at its core.