Thursday, June 16, 2016

Nintendo e3 2016 Recap

Hello and Welcome to Dillians Nintendo at e3 2016 Recap

Well it was a good e3, far better than I anticipated. And even though Nintendo announced beforhand that they would concentrate on the new Legend of Zelda Title, which they did, we also got some other announcements along the way. So without further ado let's dive in.


Paper Mario Color Splash:



We start with the most controversial Nintendo title of this years e3. It seems as if the fears of many fans have been justified, because Nintendo themselves call this game a successor to Sticker Star. While I haven't played a Paper Mario so far, and think the outrage over this is blown out of proportion, I also can see why some fans are upset about some of the things, and it's not the battle system itself. Honestly the battles look quite fun. The small tactical component of managing your Paint and deciding how much you want to use to paint your cards and make your attack stronger, looks like it could be fun. But what disappoints even me is the fact that there seems to be no kind of leveling present. You don't gain Exp from fights. This is a big motivation killer for me and many other people.

Also the fact that the World in a RPG is segmented into different levels with a world map in between feels just wrong. The levels themselves look great and in fact I think the graphics are one of the strongest points of the game. Still Paper Mario Sticker Star feels more like a Mario Jump'n'Run with some twists, than the RPG it should be.

However we can all find out about the Quality of the title for ourselves when Paper Mario: Color Splash launches on 7th October 2016 for the Wii-U.

If you want to take an extended look at the newest Paper Mario here is the recording of the Treehouse Segment for the game.



Mario Party: Star Rush:



Surprise there is a new Mario Party on the way. Well that in itself may be not surprising, but it launches for the 3DS and that is quite the surprise. Many, myself included, thought that the next installment of the series would release for the Wii-U, probably to help with holiday sales, but no one thought about the 3DS. Normally handhelds only get one Mario Party title and Island Tour had already filled that quota. But Nintendo thought otherwise and brings us a new Party to Go.

Like its predecessor Island Tour Star Rush ditches the car of the console Mari Party titles and lets each player move around the game board by themselves. And while in Island Tour the boards were one way paths to the goal this time they return to being actual game boards. And another new addition is that all players can now move at the same time, so there is no need to wait for the others to finish their turns before you can role the dice. This speeds up the Gameplay by a lot and also makes it beautifully chaotic.

While the classical Mario Party Mode will surely be present in the final game, at e3 Nintendo concentrated on a new Game Mode called Toad Scramble. Here several ideas from previous Mario Party titles are combined. The player takes control of a Toad and moves around tile based boards without predetermined paths. On these maps you'll find Mushrooms or other helpful items, as well as known characters like Mario or Peach. These will help you in your quest for the Power Stars. These are held by several bosses dotted across the game board, which you'll have to defeat in special Mini-Games. As for know normal Mini-Games don't seem to be a part of this Game Mode, but as I said, I'm sure there will also be a standard Party Mode.

While I'm not a fan of the Mobile Mario Parties (I think these games need to be enjoyed with a couple of friends, beer and pizza on a couch) all of you who are can look forward to the 7th October 2016 when the game launches on the 3DS.



Ever Oasis:



Well that was a surprise. Out of the blue Nintendo announced a new RPG IP for the 3DS on the second day of e3. Ever Oasis is developed by GREZZO, who you may know as the guys who did Majoras Mask 3D and Ocarina of Time 3D and I think some influences of Zelda can be seen in this newest adventure for the 3DS.

The game takes place in a huge desert and your main character Tethu (which can be either, Male or Female) is the leader of a small Oasis. Your job is it to grow your Oasis into a good place to live. To do this you must venture out into the desert and it's countless dungeons to gather materials and dew, which serves as the games currency.

The bigger your Oasis becomes the more people from across the desert will visit it and buy in your shops. These People come from varying tribes, all with different abilities and strengths. You can recruit some of these people to help you explore the dungeons. It's necessary to have Teammates to beat the dungeons and the boss monsters hidden in the deepest corners of them. A great help is the fact that you can switch between your group members with one button click. This way you can approach each situation with the optimal tools at your disposal.

The game looks very promising and I'll definitely keep an eye out for further information. The mixture of Zelda like exploration and Animal Crossin like Management of your Town looks like a lot of fun. It mostly reminded me of the Rune Factory series, which was great. Hopefully Ever Oasis can deliver the same fun gameplay.

Ever Oasis will launch in 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS.



Pokemon Go:


Some new information about Pokemon Go also surfaced. There have been mostly shown Pokemon from the first generation in Trailers and Screenshots so far and this has a reason. When Pokemon Go launches it will only contain the first 151 Pokemon. More Pokemon will later be added. This decision was taken because they wanted the game to be ready for the 20th anniversary of the Franchise and it felt right to concentrate on the Pokemon from the first three games on that occasion.

Another interesting information was the confirmation on how you'll evolve your Pokemon. This is not done by training and leveling them, like in the original Game, but by capturing Pokemon of the same species. For example if you capture 25 Squirtles you'll get 25 Squirtle Candy, which you can use to evolve a Squirtle into a Wartortle. Let's hope they don't make this aspect of the game to grindy, because I don't want to capture 100 Charmeleon to get a Charizard.

We also got some more information on Pokemon Go Plus. This gadget helps you capture wild Pokemon even when you're not on the Phone. It works quite simple. When the button blinks green a wild Pokemon is nearby. You then can decide if you want to capture it. If the button blinks in rainbow colors you were successful and if it blinks red you failed. And while we are on the topic of capturing wild Pokemon. Of course some Pokemon will be rarer than others.

For all of you who can't wait to capture Pokemon in the real world the good news is that Pokemon Go will launch for Android and IOS at the end of July. And it will also be compatible with Sun and Moon, but Nintendo hasn't exactly specified how this will work.



Pokmeon Sun and Pokemon Moon:


The first hour of Nintendo Treehouse dealt with Pokemon Sun and Moon and while I like what I saw, there wasn't anything truly new.

Pokemon fights have been overhauled and the whole interface is now much more newcomer friendly and easy to understand. Information about the Pokemon you're fighting, which attacks are effective against it and more are now easily accessible through the touch screen. So you'll have important information always available to you a the tip of your finger.

Another interesting new addition is the Battle Royal Game mode. Here four trainer fight against each other in a Free for all battle until the first Trainer runs out of Pokemon. Then points will be assigned to the surviving participants and a winner is decided.
This Mode looked like a lot of chaotic fun, but I won't advise you to play it with friends, because it will almost always end with three persons ganging up on one, poor, unfortunate soul.

Apart from that we got a good look at the start of your adventure in the Alola Region, but nothing to exciting happened. Still I'm looking forward to my next big Pokemon Adventure which starts on 23rd November 2016.



The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:



Ok there is so much to talk about here that I won't cover it all in this Post. But don't worry a more detailed Post for this game is already in the Works and this Weekend I'll release a Trailer Watch for the announcement Trailer. But for now let's stick to the facts.

Breath of the Wild marks a new era for the series. This time Hyrule is a truly open world, where you can go anywhere at anytime... if you survive. You can even head directly for the final boss and fight him with only a pair of underwear and a stick. Of course you'll need to know how you do this, but for Speedrunner or a second playthrough challenge this is great news. This won't be an easy challenge of course. After all this time Hyrule is 12 times as big as the world of Twilight Princess and the huge area players got to test during the e3 demo only contains 2% of the entire worlds size.

This Zelda puts a much stronger emphasis on survival. Because of this Link needs to adjust to his surroundings. He needs to wear warm clothing in cold environments. His weapons and Shields can break. He can cook to create food, which will heal or even buff him temporary. Also in this vein Link can now sneak to ambush his foes from behind and he can even jump.

Also this time the world itself will be the Star of the Game and, because of that, be much more interactive than before. Link can climb nearly everything as long as his Stamina doesn't run out. He can chop down trees to create bridges or gain wood. The grass can burn and wind will fan the flames. The dynamic weather system will also force you to adapt to always changing circumstances.

And while we don't know who the mysterious voice is, who awakes Link from his 100 year slumber in the beginning, The Legend of Zelda producer Eji Aonuma has confirmed that several important characters in the game will have voice acting. Link however will remain silent.

Generally this game goes back to the first Legend of Zelda on the NES. There is barely any hand holding. Apart from some breadcrumbs at the beginning you're completely free to explore Hyrule and the Story for yourselves. Over 100 challenging Shrines await you. These are Mini-Dungeons, which often consist of one puzzle and reward you with optional upgrades or consumables. Of course there will also be full fledged dungeons as we expect from a Legend of Zelda game. 

And of course there will be villages and towns. There was some confusion because of the complete lack of them in the e3 demo, but Nintendo has assured us that they will be present in the final game. They have been left out, because Nintendo didn't want to spoil anything story related. So in the final game you will find towns full of NPCs to talk to.

Anyway this game looks amazing and single-handedly made this e3 worthwhile. I hope you're as excited as I for this next step in the Zelda franchise because that means you'll also have to suffer till next year when The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild finally releases for Wii-U and Nintendo NX.


While this introduction is ok, I would advise you to take the time and enjoy the uncommented Gameplay of the title done by GameXplain. This truly captures the vibe and spirit of the new Legend of Zelda perfectly.



That was all for this years e3 from Nintendo. Have you enjoyed it? Are you looking forward to the upcoming games? Or were you disappointed? Let me known

and as always

thanks for reading

Source: Nintendo

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