Mike A's Console Adventures

[Mike A]

Okay. So I am all setup now.

I bought CupHead to see what all of the fuss was about.

I like the look and the sound of it. The difficulty is reminding me that I am very average at video games. I like it so far.

I bought Hollow Knight. I have not played that yet.

I was a little surprised at how much I liked playing the Switch in what they call hand held mode. I imagine some games are more suited to this than others.

I am going to take Opt's advice and get a different base for TV mode. However, I am going to build my own. That will be a project for after Christmas. I still have a few cutting boards to make.

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to owning a physical copy of a game as opposed to just downloading it?

What about Nintendo's online service? Is that just so I can get murdered by Russian twelve year olds or does it serve another worthwhile purpose?

[KenToad]

The Switch is an incredible console. Cuphead was good, but I felt like the way it handled multiplayer by more than doubling the challenge was less than ideal. I also got tired of the Gunstar dice-inspired section near the end.

Hollow Knight looks amazing, but the brutal platforming, mantis enemies, and punishing economy annoyed me after a few hours.

I recommend Towerfall and Rocket League for some easy to play/difficult to master fun on the Switch (or other consoles/Steam). Both games are fun by yourself, but get even better with more players.

I tend to prioritize physical copies games, especially if I can find a deal on a used copy. Otherwise, digital is more convenient.

I haven't tried Nintendo online, never appreciated playing against anonymous people. I have too many games to play and things to do IRL to bother with online gaming.

[Howard_Casto]

The advantage to buying digital is obvious, you don't have to carry around cards when you are on the go.  The disadvantage isn't....  Nintendo seems to have a scorched earth policy when it comes to their eshops and online services.  Pretty much immediately after the Wii became irrelevant they started shutting everything down.  If your downloaded copy ruins and you need to re-download... sorry for your luck. As bad as the Wii was, the Wii U was even worse.  The Switch is doing great so I doubt anyone will have to worry about that for quite some time, but if you like actually owning your games you should buy physical whenever it's practical to do so. 

Nintendo Online is like this: 

"Hey we realize that we only have four popular games that actually use online play so here are some random NES and SNES games to play.  We know you'll subscribe for Tetris 99 anyway."  It's cheap so most people have it, but if you aren't big on Mario Kart and Smash you probably won't get a ton of use out of it. 

[bigster]

Nintendo online is a must for mario maker, and if you want to play zelda in mario 1 levels, then it is worth the price of admission.

Physical is good for collectors and resellers.  I tend to go physical because I can actually resell my games for near or more than I paid for them.  At this point in my life, I have no time to keep replaying games I beat, so I sell when I am finished.

If you have not played cave story in the last decade, try that one because it is wonderful on the switch.

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[Titchgamer]

I always get physical if I can, I never liked the idea of companies being able to just take my games away when they decide that they no longer want to run their online service.

That and you can actually hold, re-sell etc.

[Mike A]

How practical of a concern is that?

Can companies yank a game that I purchased, or does any online functionality just cease?

Do modern downloaded games have some kind of key that needs to be unlocked online every time you play?

[Mike A]

So I started playing Hollow Knight. It is a fun game so far.

It seems to be in the style of game that I remember.

I liked some of the old PC games where you just started playing. There was no big preamble. There was no internet so you had to figure things out for yourself.

It doesn't hold your hand too much and it doesn't over explain everything in the beginning.

Some of the games I watched my son play had tutorials that seemed to last forever.

The only complaint I have is combat is a little too easy.....so far.

[Titchgamer]

How practical of a concern is that?

Can companies yank a game that I purchased, or does any online functionality just cease?

Do modern downloaded games have some kind of key that needs to be unlocked online every time you play?

I am not sure about the Switch specifically but the PS4 for instance requires you to have online verification for some games and wont allow you to play without.
So yeah once the service ceases to exist you are screwed.

If the game downloads to your memory card and you can play offline then its fine unless the software gets corrupted or the memory card fails etc.

The real daft thing is I have noticed most big games are actually more expensive to buy digitally than hard copies!

Oh and dowload yaself a copy of gunlord x for switch, Thank me and rant at me later

[Mike A]

Thanks. I have two games to work my way through right now. I will put that one on the list.

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