Weekplay 202608
When *takes deep breath* Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition was announced earlier this week, I kind of perked up a bit. I'm not the biggest Xenoblade fan, but I am a big Sawano fan. Sawano? Yes, Hiroyuki Sawano. The soundtrack composer for anime like Kill la Kill and Attack on Titan, Japanese broadcasters and, crucially, Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Off I went to look for a cheap copy, only to discover I already bought the previous Switch version cheaply last year and had completely forgot about it. Oops. I likewise discovered I apparently also own Bravely Default II, despite having no memory of doing so and kind of low-key not liking the demo I do remember playing back when it came out. Way to go, Vince.
Anyway, 5 euros later I gave XCX:DE-NS2 (now that reads like a Sawano track-title if I ever saw one) a spin and yup, can confirm, this has the same floaty, uninvolved MMO-style combat from the other instalments. It just also has a banger soundtrack playing over it.
It's not that I'm regretting past Vince's buying habits, but yeah, the way Xenoblade games have this tendency of layering auto-combat with stagger state upon stagger state upon stagger state is just bizarre. There is a numbers-go-up style satisfaction here (hell, the first enemy I encountered immediately dropped a better piece of gear to swap into) and that in itself can get you through.
I should know, as I've spent more than 100 hours on the first Xenoblade Chronicles despite it having the same issues. Having to time special attacks in order to get a minimal time window to have those attacks do more damage with little to no noticeable impact on the feel of combat itself, is really aggravating. All build up; no release.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition update is pretty though, even though it still can't remove all of the Wii U original's issues. And of course that soundtrack is just excellent. Especially when Sawano hits you with a dose of completely unrelated and often inappropriate rap intermezzos. Ah yes, the good stuff.
I got my first personal computer back when I was a teenager, complete with a black and white VGA monitor. One of the games I played a lot in those early days, was a little shareware title called EGA Trek. Itself based upon the computer game Star Trek out of 1971(!) and the many iterations that came after. It was a simple game without much graphic fidelity, but the interface and the implied navigation, trading, and combat was utterly engrossing.
So it's with a certain kind of joy that I started the Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown demo on Nintendo Switch 2 and got hit by a wave of Star Trek Voyager and EGA Trek nostalgia. Yup, this pretty much is yet another iteration of that very first Star Trek game, but with a license and graphics. Not too many though, wouldn't want it to become a AAAA title.
You still issue commands to do the same things as in EGA Trek, but it uses the opening episodes of the Star Trek Voyager series as your tutorial and contains a fancy Fallout Shelter-style overview of the starship to manage and maintain. I assume it'll keep following the series as you continue, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Regardless, the way it follows the series' characters also leads to roleplaying style decisions complete with dice rolls (that are just fancy gauges here). Funny detail: during the tutorial I ended up with Kim and Torres searching for Paris and Chakotay instead of it being the other way around. Imagine that.
And to me this is brilliant. It has the implied trappings of EGA Trek with just enough design and artwork flair to sell the Voyager theming. The tick-based decision making also means you can play this rather casually and pro tip: stick on either Nintendo Switch 2 or Steam Deck, because it's just perfect for portable play. The one nitpick I have is that its interface is a bit too tiny.
Of course, if you're a new Star Trek fan, this might be utterly devoid of the pew-pew action and forced comedy the current series seem to indulge in, but if you are a '80s/'90s kid, this might just be your one-way ticket to the Delta Quadrant.