Chai A Day

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 *screams in Mario* I'm so so so excited for Mario Maker 2!! So excited I missed the bulk of the announcement and had to watch it over again because omg there's so much to be excited about here - slopes! switches! the themes! Luigi! It's coming out in June!!! I love the original Mario Maker, though I admit I didn't play all that much of it. I'm... not that good at old school Mario. I get through the games, somehow, but I'm definitely below the average skill level. Or at least I feel like that. It doesn't take away that I love the games though, and more then playing Mario Maker I love watching truly skilled players play it and the sound of it is sort of comforting? So I've fallen asleep to Mario Maker more times then I can count, and I'm looking forward to doing the same with Mario Maker 2. Fingers crossed for thwimps!

That Marvel game is mildly interesting, in that they spent so much time highlight Captain Marvel - it seems like a gesture of confidence in that movie, and that's promising. It's something similar with Joker in Smash - they aren't showing much of him, which is interesting because there's a big Persona 5 announcement planned for March. If Joker being in Smash is part of Persona 5 getting a switch release then it sort of makes sense to hold back. Yeah I'm pulling for a switch release of Persona 5, and I'm more hopeful for it after seeing the push for hardcore games. I hate that term, hardcore. The games it describes aren't necessarily harder than other games, and the easy games aren't any less core to a system's library. But what else do you call those games? Anyway, after seeing that sort of games, the Final Fantasy, the Dragon Quests, the Assassin's Creeds, the Hellblades, and even strong rumors of the Kingdom Hearts games? I feel confident in having some hope for Persona 5.

 I love that Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is getting some love, because I'd really like to see a sequel to that one - there's so much more they could do with that concept and I'd like to see it. I have that one on the Wii U, but if I had the cash to burn on buying a game I already own? I would. 

Bloodstained looks amazing. The Castlevania games are one of the gaps in my gaming experience, as I've only loved them from a distance, but I'd love to dig into Bloodstained. It looks like all the best parts of the SoTN style games, but polished and with a female protagonist.

I'm not really a fan of the series, but I've heard such good things about Dragon Quest 11 I can't help but be excited for it. I'm always down for a solid jrpg experience. Because of it's release window I imagine it's going to be my birthday game. I suppose it shows my age as a gamer that I can't quite escape the console wars mentality, and oh does it feel like a coup to have the definitive version of the game be on a Nintendo console. That's one of those good signs about the Switch and big games.

Oninaki looks beautiful. Again, I'm a sucker for pretty jrpgs. 'Deep, single player campaign' is my ultimate catnip, and I am Setsuna has been on my radar for forever. *sobs over empty wallet*

I of course downloaded and played through the Yoshi's Crafted World demo immediately. It's a delightful game, and I don't know why I'm surprised about that because of course it's a delightful game! Epic Yarn and Woolly World were delightful games so how could Crafted World be anything else? I love games that just give me a mode like Mellow Mode, so I can chill out and play a game, and it's not like it strips the challenge out of the game like some people might think. The end of March is awfully close, I need to start saving...

Fire Emblem isn't my game at all, but I have to admit on second viewing of the direct Three Houses is kind of sucking me in.

Like everyone else I downloaded Tetris 99. I'm... not great at tetris, but it's more fun to lose then I thought it would be. A nice little distraction game.

Final Fantasy VII on the switch is just.... *vibrates with excitement* FF7! Portable!! Final Fantasy IX too! I still wonder what the deal is with Final Fantasy VIII being missing in action. I'll have to look into that when I've got a spare moment.

Astral Chain is a game that at first game I wouldn't be in to - actiony, not much there to hook into. But made by Platinum Games? *hearteyes* *hearteyes* Bayonetta 3 still happily in development? *HEARTEYES INTENSIFIES* thank goodness they said something, I imagine if they didn't there'd be an uproar because of the uncertainty after Metroid Prime 4 getting restarted out of the blue. I buy the theory MP4 got handed back to Retro because Retro is finished with whatever they were working on and I'm dying to know what that was. A rerelease of the Metroid Prime Trilogy? Donkey Kong? Something new??

With a lineup like this it's hard to say they saved the best for last, but they certainly saved some strong hype for last. Link's Awakening!! I knew it was that the moment I saw the waves, just.... *screams in Zelda* That artstyle(I typo'd 'heartstyle' there, and honestly? yes!!!), that music! *buries face in hands and happy cries* Every time, it's like coming home. I don't even like that high bloom, out of focus edges graphical style, but it looks good here and I will follow Link any where.

Not part of the direct, but I the news about the Hollow Knight sequel is intriguing. Again, aren't played Hollow Knight - too poor - but the style is beautiful and I don't need to play to know the gameplay is excellent. Silksong looks like more of the same, but better and with a female protagonist. Makes me wish I'd backed the kickstarter to get in on both of these games.  

You know what I love EVEN MORE then narration in video games? When the developers take in to account area size, movement speed, and sound mixing so you can actually hear the entire narration without stopping dead so it doesn't get cut off or overlaps with itself!

Seriously though, if the entire dialogue can't play out uninterrupted while I'm going full speed* between point a and point b then it either needs to be rewritten, worked into a cutscene, or contain NOTHING of importance. Like... no critical path plot information, worldbuilding, or characterization.

I deeply appreciate that Transistor nails this small and simple but often overlooked detail.

*not speedrunning, not even holding down the run button, just keeping the thumbstick pushed forward.