okay okay so overall impression of the direct: massively disappointing tbh. a slow start with rhythm heaven (a game i am fine with on principle, but one that we already knew about. do we often open directs on previously announced titles? usually only for something like mario or zelda, right? happy for fans but like. i think we’re gonna see a recurring theme here) & then like. so many more of the trailers immediately after that were 3rd party, and often games previously announced, some of them even announced this week at other events
(again, fine on its own, but a) seems like the kind of thing that would usually be shown halfway or 2/3rds the way thru a direct? or even in a sizzle reel? and b) is normally shown off to supplement first party nintendo reveals, not replace them?)
new switch sports? or whatever it was? like, good for fans ig but it’s not exactly a tentpole release, and as one of the few new first party reveals this direct it kind of leaves a weird taste in my mouth, especially with them spending extra minutes on a gameplay demo of thumb war?? (also, koizumi-san why would u show urself *losing* the game?? do another take maybe idk??)
also makes me wonder why they didn’t just hold off on the star fox reveal til now if they really don’t have much in the way of first party releases?
and to clarify, i’m not “mad” bc a lot of the games aren’t my thing, genuinely i think a ton of the games look great even if i have no intention of playing them. fe: fortune’s weave, rhythm heaven, might not even play splatoon raiders idk cuz splat3 honestly kind of killed my enjoyment of the series for unrelated & probably petty reasons. (i want to rekindle my love for that series someday….) and honestly i’m very happy for deltarune fans as well. it’s just that, we already knew about most of them previously. especially when thinking abt nintendo first party games.
now……. ugh. xenoblade. xenoblade genesis. i honestly probably could make a whole separate post just for this, but….. well. i guess i’m just gonna say that i’m keeping an open mind until we learn more but honestly i’m like. ridiculously disappointed by what we’ve seen so far. xenoblade is one of my favorite series of all time and like. honestly, this is Not It for me. genesis doesn’t seem to have any of the usual things i love from xenoblade, not the sci-fi/fantasy blend, no unique and interesting world design. and not to say that i’m not open to new interpretations, but this trailer just looked so overwhelmingly generic anime fantasy to me. like. a magic school?? really??????
i just. honestly. like i would NEVER play it if it wasn’t xenoblade. and it’s not like i’ve liked everything xenoblade series has ever done previously, i obviously have my own opinions on various parts of the franchise, but it’s never *really* steered me wrong before with its storytelling, characters, and worlds, not overall, and so to see this different take is just. jarring, i guess. i’ll still play it, i hope i love it, but it looks generic and disappointing and i do agree with the people calling it xenoblade 3 houses because by zanza it does really look like fe3h 💀(and sadly to me that is Not a good thing, fe3h burned me out so badly on fire emblem to the point where i still don’t want to play a new fire emblem for a good long while)
anyways uh. i am genuinely excited for kh4 as well, wasn’t expecting a kh trailer during the nintendo direct but i’m really looking forward to the game, even tho i don’t think quadratum is a very interesting area visually. but i’m sure it’s just the starting world so it’ll probably be fine lol
and then, yeah— oot remake!! while admittedly i would’ve been MUCH more excited abt it if ppl hadn’t been talking abt the rumors for months, i’m still really excited that it’s real, and it seems to be exactly what i was hoping for from a potential remake, in that i want to see a reimagining of the game. like— to me— the original game already exists & it’s obv great & we’ll always have that. so i want to see something different. like, if oot were to be made now, what would the game be like? and this seems like that kind of game. i like the visuals (tentatively optimistic i guess i would say?) for the most part, bc i think the tapestry intro at the beginning is gorgeous, i love the redesign for link’s tunic & it gives me a lot of hope for the kinds of new details they could implement that i haven’t ever even thought about. however, the one thing that i will say is that i understand where ppl are coming from when they say link’s model looks too much like those “realistic” unreal engine fan concepts of a modern oot. i *do* think it’ll look better once we see the character in motion, but if i had to pick one gripe it would be that.
(i do wish we’d seen more than just a teaser trailer as well tho, given that the game is slated for 2026 release it makes me wonder (and fear) that they’re just going to drop subsequent trailers on the nintendo today app, my most hated way of them trying to announce things, & that i’ll end up spoiled on the surprise of the new info from ppl’s social media posts. but that’s more of a problem for another day ig)
anyways ah. i guess like, overall, it wasn’t horrible, but it was disappointing, and imo badly paced. particularly because we haven’t had a direct since september of last year, and because so far the switch 2 lineup has been really underwhelming for a company who allegedly wants to sell ppl on their new console. cuz again, most of the first party/exclusives they showed today were previously announced titles. imo, they’ve needed games, and after today, i still think they’re gonna need games
