I think the run back is fun for some people and I think the game should deliver the best version they can for those people. For me, it’s just not fun. The reward is smaller than the frustration it causes.

It took Silksong coming out for me to identify why I wasn’t a fan of Hollow Knight, and it’s touched on in this video.

It’s the runback.

The Dark Souls series of games have the same “problem”, and it’s why I don’t enjoy them either.

I’m a huge fan of Celeste, Super Meat Boy, the Ori series. When I fail at these games, I’m right back in the action.

I’m not against having to learn boss patterns, I really enjoyed Cuphead because after I’ve failed I’m right back in the action.

And while it’s an easier game by comparison, Shovel Knight was a fun game. The checkpoints were plentifully and I could increase the difficulty by destroying them.

But when I played Hollow Knight I reached a point where I was just running to the boss and dying. Then again. And again. And again. I wasn’t getting better. And the time it took to get back just took too long and wasn’t fun. It wasn’t a rage quit. I was having fun at one point… But then the game wore me down and eventually it wasn’t.

I don’t think the game needs to change. Although I think adding difficultly modifiers would be a good idea. I played through Metroid Dread on normal difficulty and after beating it was having so much fun I immediately played it again on Hard difficulty. If there were a mode with more checkpoints in Hollow Knight and Silksong I might give them a shot.

We’ll just deflect it with another ball of garbage.

True, but this book is the best thing Microsoft has made.

who needs the web?

Generative AI that’s who. For it to spit out information, it needs information. The argument may be that it is better at collecting all that information in one place and returning an answer, although we know it hallucinates responses. But to even begin a response it needs data, it needs the web.

I did some digging.

First, this is not the standard “cowsay”, this appears to be from the NPM version of “cowsay”. (npm install -g cowsay)

Second this is the “meow” cow, so cowsay -f meow "hello" . Also called “A meowing tiger?”.

Third, the fortune is available in the, now commonly removed, fortunes-off, package. I know Debian removed it, I think others did too. But you can install it manually.

And finally the source of the quote seems to be “Jester’s Condescending English Dictionary”.

Meanwhile, Bobby’s outside playing in the tall grass pretending to be a Rattata.

Assuming a single game, Minecraft. It should be a kids museum style where you can build things. You can make each room a different biome or structure.

Pfft, I just eat the entire loaf in one sitting.

Excellent. I was thinking, I don’t know of any Hershey’s issues, but I’m confident someone else will.

Of note KitKats made in the US are made by Hershey, not Nestle. As I understand it’s a legacy licencing deal and Nestle makes no money if you buy a US KitKat.

That being said Hershey’s chocolate is what it is. American’s are used to it, but it’s not great.

I get that Doom or Sonic 2 or Goldeneye or other 90s games aren’t guaranteed a place every year

FWIW Sonic 2 was the game that kicked things off this year.

But also I think the goal should be either showing off new tricks or showing off new games. Older games are going to have fewer new tricks. Obviously sometimes a barrier is broken or a new category is put together that has interesting gameplay, but in general we probably will see fewer old games.

That isn’t to say that old games should go away completely, but if there is a bias towards newer games, it makes sense.

But you are not buying a game, you are renting it.

I absolutely agree that companies shouldn’t be able to say they’re selling you a game. They should make it 100% clear that you are renting it.

I’m also onboard with requiring p2p/LAN functionality for multiplayer.

When I pay to see a film in a theater, I don’t own the film. I don’t get to watch the film again after it leaves the theater.

While I pay to see a concert, a play, or a musical, I don’t own those performances. I don’t get to see them again. They generally aren’t recorded (Although that is changing in some limited cases.)

I do think a game dying is terrible and I do think games should be clearly labeled (so people can make an education decision if they want to rent the game).

You also have to keep track the site and how you spell it. For example is it “Microsoft” or “microsoft”?

And keep track of the current name of the site vs the old name. For example am I signing into Microsoft or Live.com or Xbox?

And keep track of my username. Is it my email? Which email? Which username?

I understand the concept but I think if falls apart fast.

…because the author is an investigative journalist?

We all know it’s a scam, but it’s their job is to prove it. To prove it you have to (attempt to) buy it.

I agree any actual people trying to buy it are morons.

I suppose the reason I’m so forgiving of the online features, is that I don’t use them. They’re a nice little addition for sure, but I do not see them as core to the game.

I think it’s embarrassing that they’re sooooo far behind. Definitely if they’re a thing you’re expecting, it’s going to sour your view of the game.

Performance is a personal thing.You’re not alone, it’s a common complaint, I won’t deny that. I’ve played all three of those games, Kirby, Zelda & Mario but never remember having an issue. I’m sure I did, but it never stuck with me. I remember Arceus looking like an GameCube game. But I also remember completing the Pokedex 100%.

I was burned by Super Mario Party, so that franchise is dead to me. Maybe others will burn me too.

I think the Switch 2 launching with just Mario Kart was a huge mistake. No Mario. No Zelda. I can’t remember the last time that happened. Donkey Kong is coming soon, and it’s supposedly similar to Oddessy… But we’ll have to see. There are great DK games, but he’s no Mario and it’s been a while.

Oh I absolutely agree there are plenty of criticisms about the company itself and their other offerings, but the games are absolutely top tier.

Their online is miles behind, games from Smash Bros to Mario Maker to Mario Kart could all be improving with better online, but since they were terrible at online I never used them, but those games were still excellent.

A lower powered system or poorly optimized game has some frame rate dips or stuttering, but never in a way that gameplay was affected. I know people will disagree but I’ve never had an issue with it.

Yes, joycon drift is a real problem. But that’s a hardware problem. We should absolutely give Nintendo shit for hardware problems.

Suing fan projects or being aggressive about YouTube/Twitch take down, all fair. Fuck Nintendo for all that.

But all of that is different from their games being solid. I don’t blame people who choose to emulate their games, they’re awesome games.

I’ll give you that Sony might be competitive, I don’t see Xbox/Microsoft anywhere close. I think Valve and the SteamDeck are probably 4th in the race, but Valve has to actually make a game. They made great games and should continue to do so.

Nintendo gets away with it because their games rarely have a discount. An $80 game today will be $80 in a year. After several years you sometimes get a limited discount for their best selling games. A bundle or a voucher can be a small loss leader, usually if you buy one of something you buy another.

The other thing of course is that Nintendo makes absolutely top tier games. The fan base is earned. You can buy a Mario or Zelda game, knowing nothing about it, and it’s going to be good. Pokemon is the obvious exception here, the mainline games are fine, but would be nothing without the brand. (I also won’t forgive them for Super Mario Party, that was a $30 game, not $60.)

I don’t expect $80 games to go away, because as long as someone will pay it, it’s free money. But if sales slump too much in the long run I do see quick discounts, possibly even for Nintendo games.