MindBullet

I was going to just write it off as GB fans being weird, but as a Hololive fan as well I realize now that that's just kind of how these things go sometimes.

I'm glad the Nextlander gang are at least open to talking about it, even if people aren't going to take their words at face value. I do believe in them, and what they're trying to do. I enjoyed their E3 coverage, and I was glad to see the post-GB streams crossing with them collabing with Waypoint.

Ben's advice was really fun as well, and I wonder if hearing him say "it doesn't get better" affected any of the Nextlanders significantly. Looking forward to more from them!

I think you could argue that Game Pass is as much a mascot for Xbox now as any character they've ever had. The rise of indie games and the shifting nature of exclusivity has put characters as a focus behind making specific games or franchises being available on your platform a bigger selling point.

I'm sure Microsoft would love it if everyone really fell in love with the Starfield protag or w/e and began associating them with Microsoft instead of Bethesda, but they'd likely slap a Game Pass sticker on their face as soon as possible. Master Chief has kind of been grandfathered in as the Xbox mascot, but it feels like with every game that comes out the more distance they want from him.

Really, I'd say that Nintendo is the only one of the "Big Three" that cares about mascot characters, and that's only because they've built their entire brand around them. Sony may try to go down that path, but it'd be more about The Uncharted Series Available Only On Playstation and less about bringing out Nathan Drake for another adventure.

What is up with Nintendo's insistence on murdering their characters in Smash trailers?

Has Mario Party been such a hit that we really need so much of it? I mean, I liked the ones they're remaking, but also I was like 10.

New Metroid seems neat, but it is kind of weird that Dread is coming out so soon and we still have nothing for that Prime game they announced so long ago...

New Wario Ware is cool. Mario Golf looks cool. Totally down for Princess Mononoke But Zelda.

As someone who has bounced off the series pretty hard before this, I'm really enjoying my time with it. I don't know if it's purely the visuals or what, but this could end up being the cipher key I needed to understand what people see in these games.

For what it's worth, the only bug I've run into so far is a UI element sticking around on the menu screen for a bit longer than it should have.

As someone who jumped into Nioh 2 and almost completely bounced off it before falling in love with the game... I get it.

As others have said, the game does a terrible job of introducing and explaining itself. I'd say the opening hours are harder than the rest of the game, as things get significantly easier to handle as you unlock more of what is considered the "baseline" gameplay experience.

What I learned from powering through:

-If stance and weapon switching is overwhelming, you definitely can just find a weapon/stance you like and stick with it until you feel comfortable with experimenting. I will say my first time through I pretty much only used Mid stance Tonfa and made out okay. The combat really opens up and gets far more interesting once you get comfortable with switching, though.

-Burst Counters are a pain, but the game is going to force you into using them. Once you unlock different Guardian Spirits, try to find a counter style you like and stick with it until you get comfortable with how the system works.

-Use Yokai abilities. Don't hoard Anima waiting for the "perfect" opportunity. You also don't have to agonize over Soul Cores too much at the start. Just find and equip the ones that give the best stat bonuses and keep moving forward.

-You can pretty much ignore most of what the Blacksmith offers for most of the game. Sell/Dismantle excess items, maybe mess around with Tempering to see if you can roll a rare skill, but you'll be finding enough gear that you probably won't need to mess with Forging or Soul Matching until much later in the game.

-Use Onmyo and Ninjutsu when you can, as they level up with use like weapons and there is some legit useful stuff as you progress down those trees.

-Don't be afraid to use ranged weapons to get rid of enemies before they can engage you. You'll find plenty of arrows and bullets.

-There is an Enemy Sensor skill that you can find on equipment sometimes that is incredibly helpful when going through maps the first time. It'll mark enemies on the map for you, and since this game loves ambushes it can make your life a lot easier. I'd definitely recommend equipping something that has it, at least until you get more confident.

-The Hut gives you to option to view previous cutscenes, but more importantly the descriptions it gives on those scenes are where the game actually explains it's story... In case that ever becomes a problem.

I didn't think there was anything CDPR could do to damage it's Godlike status among capital G Gamers, but damn if they aren't trying.

Also,

There are a lot of fights, but that's always kind of been the case in Yakuza. At least they're pretty quick, and the goofy Dragon Quest homages spice it up. It can take a minute to get used to stuff like the timing and lack of movement/camera control during combat but the actual combat system does a decent job of mixing the Action elements of previous games with JRPG battles.

I don't think it's any more of a grind than previous games, but I haven't gotten too deep yet. You do have a character level and a Job level, as well as multiple characters so I can see that being the core of those complaints later on.

People have been digging into some of the math on a bunch of things involving rewards and the like and finding that some things don't really add up. Currently there's a joke about getting more primogems from maintenance from actually participating in in-game events, as well as an art contest where the reward is worth approximately $5 USD.

There's also been some doubts about the Gacha system's actual rates and how the pity system works as well as time investment and EXP/Mora/etc earned, and how the only stat that seems to matter for most situations is base ATK. It's possible that MihoYo is still figuring things out, but there is definitely some stuff that feels pretty off the more players look into it.

Genshin Impact is kind of a victim of it's own success. There's a huge marketing campaign going for it, and now you've got streamers and gaming news sites covering this thing and gushing over it. There is likely a lot of people who are coming in because of the hype and/or comparisons to BotW who have never really interacted with Gacha games before.

I mentioned earlier that if Gacha isn't your thing than I won't fault anyone for turning their back on Genshin Impact, because ultimately the problems with Gacha people have are... Real. Genshin especially seems to have some kind of shitty systems tied to it and I really don't want to argue against something I agree with.

The other side of that coin is that Gacha games are essentially a genre unto themselves. It may not be for you or me, or even our society, but it seems undeniable that there is a huge market for these types of games and everything that comes with them. It's not just the gambling aspect, but the limited resources, the daily grind, all that. I think that's why a lot of people who are familiar with Gacha games just kind of shrug it off. It's not that any of that stuff doesn't suck, it's just how these types of games are. There are a lot of these things, and some of them are crazy huge in China and Japan especially.

Genshin plays at having this free-to-play co-op BotW thing going for it, and does it at least acceptably enough that people are wanting more of that and less of what Genshin actually is: a Gacha game with a pretty and inventive face. Mihoyo did some pretty interesting stuff with their previous game, so it's entirely possible that Genshin does offer a lot of the experiences people are clamoring for down the line, but the aspects people are complaining about now are probably never going away.

If you look at it as a free to play Action-Adventure game, I think it's honestly kind of amazing. I say "amazing" in comparison to other games like it, but it also comes with the understanding that you're getting Zelda INSPIRED elements, not Zelda QUALITY elements.

I have yet to see what the actual endgame loop looks like, but so far the open world takes the right lessons from Breath of the Wild when it comes to exploration, and the combat at least makes an honest attempt to replicate the elemental aspect as much as a game about collecting characters can.

Speaking of, the Gacha element is... There. Either you're cool with that or it's an automatic turn off. Aside from a horrendous rate for SSR characters, the real money aspect seems surprisingly subdued, but... Like I said, it's a Gacha game. You're going to get(or buy) currency that you exchange for other currency and use that to gamble for better/more characters and weapons and it's okay if that isn't your thing.

I think it's a great podcast game, for what it's worth. I'm also of the opinion that more games should look to BotW for inspiration, and seeing this makes me hope more studios go for something similar.