Well I screwed up and this posted before I could write anything. I left myself an outline of games to write short notes on but thought I had set to post tomorrow. Oops!
So… after filling in the outline, here are some games I’ve been enjoying on my Nintendo Switch.
Splatoon 2
This game is fun team shooter, with a few others modes. It’s got crazy over-the-top weapons, short (3 minute) matches, and is generally pretty fun.
The goal is to paint more surface than your opponents. NOT get the most “kills” (splats, in this game). Repeat, mostly for myself because I’ll get caught up trying to splat my opponents – the winner of the match is the team that COVERS the most surface area, not the team that racks up the most kills/splats.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I’m a fan of the Fire Emblem series, which are turn-based tactical RPGs. The storylines differ, but the combat game boils down to positioning your units on the battlefield, and wiping out the enemy. I started the series with Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS, and also have Fates, Echoes, and now Three Houses on the Switch.
I’ve found the series to have an odd tension where I wind up avoiding using my strongest units in order to level up the others. The tendency is to keep using the more powerful units, since they do more damage and can take more hits, but then they get most of the available xp and level faster than the laggards. Having a few units powerful enough to carry the rest of the team works for a bit, but eventually always fails.
In this game, I started with Edelgard and the Black Eagles but decided to restart and join Claude and the Golden Deer. I was already having runaway character issues with the Black Eagles – Edelgard and myself were several levels higher than everyone else after just a handful of missions. This time, I’m careful to keep closer and distribute the action to the point of avoiding using certain characters. Even still, 3 missions in I have 3 characters at level 5, 1 at level 4, the rest at level 3 or 2.
You get some experience for an attack and some for defense (essentially, get a bit of xp for taking a hit) and a lot for defeating an enemy. So I’m trying to have my tougher characters soak up hits and let the lowbies do most the attacks and get most the kills.
I’m enjoying it but this game does have way more extra maintenance than the other games – due to quests, exploration, teaching, and in general all kinds of ways to increase standing among a cast of ~25 characters plus raise skills over the 8 or 9 in your house.
A good reference for all things Fire Emblem is Serenes Forest.
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
You know how boss fights in MMOs are fun? How raiding revolves around the craziness of the boss fight and its mechanics? What if there were a game that was all boss fights? That’s how I’d describe Monster Hunter franchise.
There is more going on than just boss fights of course. Crafting is major part of the game, actually crafting is nearly everything. You don’t level, but your gear does. The gameplay loop is: kill huge monster for stuff to craft better gear to hunt even bigger monsters.
The weapons are giant, anime-style oversized swords, axes, blowguns, etc.
It’s fun if a bit obtuse. Just using the equipment the game gives you can be tricky (various traps or paint guns to mark the monster). I refer to pages on Kiranico for info.
Diablo 3
I’m late to the Diablo 3 party, having avoided it on PC due to hearing the massive groaning about the original auction system. Years go by, I still don’t dip my toes in. But recently the game was on sale for 50% off on Switch and I figured what the heck. It’ll be portable plus come with the expansions.
I haven’t played much, but so far its fun. The game does a great job making you feel like an unstoppable hero, mowing down the hordes left and right. I’m experimenting with various classes, my favorites in the bit of Act 1 I’ve played have been monk, demon hunter, necromancer.
I do like this style game and fire up Grim Dawn on PC every now and then. I’ve tried Path of Exile a few times but lose interest pretty quickly… not sure why.
I find great info about Diablo 3 on Icy Veins.
OK, I’m going to add some screenshots and double check future posts aren’t going to sneak out on me. 😉
MMO Juggler 