NA eShop Deals (1/9): New Year's Sale and more

[Deleted member 13101]

I liked it a lot. I suck at fighting games usually but this one is very accessible, and it looks great.

Click to shrink...

It's fun to play, I suck at this game and other fighting games too. I knew this game was super legit though when at E3 a couple of years ago the creator of ARMS played the winners of the tournament that was held there, and completely dominated them.

 

[Megasoum]

Have they ever patched Mark of the Ninja since release?

I think I remember them saying that they couldn't really fix the performance issues without redoing major parts of the game or something like that?

 

[gblues]

I picked up Mana Spark on a "eh, it's a buck, why not?"

I'm having lots of fun with it.

Keep in mind it's low-budget so there is a healthy amount of jank. But it's got phenomenal music, a fun core gameplay loop, and a lot of charm.


Gameplay
Imagine playing Diablo as the Rogue class except your bow is only semiautomatic, and the dungeon layouts kinda resemble Zelda 1/ALTTP.

The dungeon is quasi-randomly generated. Each room is hand-built, but the layout of rooms on each level is randomized, so different runs feel fresh without random difficulty spikes thrown in by RNGsus.

The floors are organized by theme as well, so as you progress you'll get a consistent level order.

You'll encounter "strange rooms" which provide QOL features:
- power ups you can buy with dropped coins
- a safe to hold your mana shards
- a place to save & quit mid-run

Mana shards
These are the main things you're looking for, like souls in Dark Souls.

- If you die, you lose any shards you have on-hand.
- Shards deposited into the safe are kept permanently (making it relatively painless to farm them)
- when you die, there's a "try your luck" option that lets you start a new run with a few random benefits, one of which is to keep your shards

basecamp
Your base starts empty but you can bring in more people, who provide services in exchange for mana shards.

AFAIK there are no permanent upgrades, but you can add items to your repertoire and upgrade them (ie a totally-not-estus flask that can be upgraded for multiple uses).

Anyway, it's a buck on sale, and I think you'll probably get way more than a buck's worth of enjoyment out of it.

 

[Illusionary]

Have they ever patched Mark of the Ninja since release?

I think I remember them saying that they couldn't really fix the performance issues without redoing major parts of the game or something like that?

Click to shrink...

It runs at 30fps, but performance is perfectly fine.

 

[xxracerxx]

It does, kinda. I don't think you can do it on a single switch (split screen), but this past holiday while I was home visiting friends, we played via local wifi - him being on the TV using his switch, and me playing handheld on my switch.

Click to shrink...

That is most definitely not couch co-op, but sounds fun.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Wait...does the eShop not have a cart system? What the hell?

Click to shrink...

Welcome to Nintendo ;-)

 

[Agamon]

I use my wishlist as a cart replacement. Yeah, not the same thing, but it works well enough.

 

[moogan]

lego city undercover
or lego marvel superheroes 2

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

The new deals from the past few days:

Switch Pre-orders
Ember - $14.99 - 25% Off - Ends 2/3, Out 1/21
Hypercharge Unboxed - $17.99 - 10% Off - Ends 1/30, Out 1/31
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition - $22.49 - 10% Off - Ends 1/28, Out 1/28
Music Racer - $5.94 - 15% Off - Ends 1/29, Out 1/29
SpeedRunners - $11.99 - 20% Off - Ends 1/23, Out 1/23
SpeedRunners: Deluxe Edition - $21.59 - 20% Off - Ends 1/23, Out 1/23

Switch
Aborigenus - $1.99 - 60% Off - Ends 1/30
AeternoBlade II - $26.99 - 10% Off - Ends 1/23
Air Mail - $7.49 - 25% Off - Ends 2/3
Back to Bed - $2.49 - 50% Off - Ends 1/28
The Bug Butcher - $3.99 - 50% Off - Ends 1/28
Bury me, my Love - $0.99 - 80% Off - Ends 1/22
Defend Your Castle - $1.49 - 70% Off - Ends 1/20
Demolish & Build 2018 - $12.74 - 15% Off - Ends ???
Dimension Drive - $1.94 - 85% Off - Ends 1/28
Doom & Destiny - $9.59 - 20% Off - Ends 1/24
Event Horizon: Space Defense - $3.49 - 50% Off - Ends 1/20
Fight'N Rage - $15.99 - 20% Off - Ends 1/16
FunBox Party - $0.99 - 50% Off - Ends 1/20
Gurgamoth - $0.99 - 90% Off - Ends 1/21
Hive Jump - $0.99 - 90% Off - Ends 1/17
Inferno 2 - $2.49 - 50% Off - Ends 1/28
Island Maze - $1.49 - 50% Off - Ends 1/19
kuso - $2.99 - 40% Off - Ends 1/20
Love - $1.99 - 33% Off - Ends 1/20
The Low Road - $4.49 - 70% Off - Ends 1/20
Mad Carnage - $0.99 - 80% Off - Ends 1/20
Mecha Storm - $9.99 - 50% Off - Ends 1/26
Miner Warfare - $6.39 - 20% Off - Ends 1/24
Monkey Business - $1.99 - 80% Off - Ends 1/30
Mushroom Quest - $1.49 - 50% Off - Ends 1/30
Neverlast - $1.99 - 80% Off - Ends 1/30
Nidhogg 2 - $6.74 - 55% Off - Ends 1/29
Pine - $19.99 - 20% Off - Ends 1/16
Planetary Defense Force - $3.49 - 30% Off - Ends 2/3
Pulstario - $0.66 - 33% Off - Ends 1/20
Puzzle & Dragons Gold - $9.99 - 33% Off - Ends 1/31
Spirit Roots - $2.49 - 64% Off - Ends 1/19
Super Meat Boy - $8.99 - 40% Off - Ends 1/16
Swaps and Traps - $1.79 - 80% Off - Ends 1/19
Sweet Witches - $2.49 - 50% Off - Ends 1/19
Tactical Mind - $0.99 - 67% Off - Ends 1/20
Technosphere - $10.49 - 30% Off - Ends 1/22
Teddy Gangs - $1.99 - 80% Off - Ends 1/30
Zomb - $1.99 - 80% Off - Ends 1/30

 

[hyouko]

Which Etrian Odyssey game is the best out of Untold 2, V and Nexus? I have the other ones already.

Click to shrink...

Honestly depends on what you're looking for.

If you're going for bang-for-buck, Nexus has just a silly amount of content. It's a great nostalgia trip through some of the prior games in the series that it sounds like you've played. It has a "greatest hits" selection of classes and tons of options for customizing your team - though some, like subclassing, unlock really late. I found that it started to drag part-way through but did make it to the post-game.

Untold 2 fixes a lot of the problems with the original Untold in both classic and story mode. In story mode, I liked the characters and plot better generally, and the party setup is more interesting than what you get in the first Untold. In classic mode, some of the balancing that was thrown off by having an inaccesible side dungeon is fixed since you can go visit it now. The dungeon designs are all new for both modes, so if you've played the original EO2 there's still new stuff to do here.

EO5 has some of the best gameplay and some classes I really love (I <3 the Pugilist class), and some really clever ideas (branching choices for class paths, explicit mini-adventures you can encounter in the dungeons that feel kind of tabletop-y). The gameplay stayed strong throughout, but even the little bit of plot that's there in the start peters out halfway. I couldn't help but feel that it was a tad rushed.

Of the three I think I had the most fun with EO5, but I put the most time into Nexus (like I said, it's looong). Can't really go wrong with any of them.

 

[Rran]

Buy it! That's the cheapest it's ever been. I was debating on buying it on PS4 or Switch and ended up going with the Switch version because it just seems like a great game to have in a portable form. So far I haven't even played it in docked mode and have just been playing in bed in portable mode. I've put a good bit of hours into it so far, beaten it once and gotten the first stem cell to increase the difficulty, and haven't had any issues with performance or slowdown.
You won't be disappointed!

I'm currently on the fence about Children of Morta. A Diablo-esque rogue-lite sounds awesome but the fact that it has an ending and no New Game+ with a harder difficulty is a little upsetting. I like Dead Cells because it has endless replayability since it doesn't really have an "ending." I guess Children of Morta could be a good "other game" to play along with Dead Cells though, since it does seem to have a pretty in-your-face story where Dead Cells takes the Dark Souls approach to story telling where you have to glean what you can from loading screens, random events in areas, and the world itself as you travel through it.

Anyone else pick up Children of Morta and enjoy it?

EDIT: Another thing I love about Dead Cells is no matter what happens on your run, you'll probably end up getting more cells to put towards unlocking something new or upgrading something so you never feel like you just wasted a run. I like HARDCORE rogue-likes and rogue-lites like that but I also like feeling a sense of progression in abilities and power, not just my own skill of learning enemy attack patterns and things like that. Rran from your avatar I'm assuming you loved Hollow Knight so you'll absolutely like Dead Cells. It probably won't reach the difficulty level of Hollow Knight until you get to like 3-4 stem cells though. I'm getting my butt handed to me with just 1 and having to take it off to grind out cells to upgrade my health flask, unlock weapons, and things like that though so I can even last in the 1 boss cell runs. I never finished Hollow Knight because I hit a brick wall at a boss that bursts through a stained glass window and that game doesn't have too much leeway when it comes to grinding for more power and health like Dead Cells or even Dark Souls.

Click to shrink...

You just sold me, and the game's downloading now :0

 

[Pau]

I picked up Mana Spark on a "eh, it's a buck, why not?"

I'm having lots of fun with it.

Keep in mind it's low-budget so there is a healthy amount of jank. But it's got phenomenal music, a fun core gameplay loop, and a lot of charm.


Gameplay
Imagine playing Diablo as the Rogue class except your bow is only semiautomatic, and the dungeon layouts kinda resemble Zelda 1/ALTTP.

The dungeon is quasi-randomly generated. Each room is hand-built, but the layout of rooms on each level is randomized, so different runs feel fresh without random difficulty spikes thrown in by RNGsus.

The floors are organized by theme as well, so as you progress you'll get a consistent level order.

You'll encounter "strange rooms" which provide QOL features:
- power ups you can buy with dropped coins
- a safe to hold your mana shards
- a place to save & quit mid-run

Mana shards
These are the main things you're looking for, like souls in Dark Souls.

- If you die, you lose any shards you have on-hand.
- Shards deposited into the safe are kept permanently (making it relatively painless to farm them)
- when you die, there's a "try your luck" option that lets you start a new run with a few random benefits, one of which is to keep your shards

basecamp
Your base starts empty but you can bring in more people, who provide services in exchange for mana shards.

AFAIK there are no permanent upgrades, but you can add items to your repertoire and upgrade them (ie a totally-not-estus flask that can be upgraded for multiple uses).

Anyway, it's a buck on sale, and I think you'll probably get way more than a buck's worth of enjoyment out of it.

Click to shrink...

I really enjoyed Mana Spark - to the point that I actually wrote a guide for it. $1 well spent. It's not particularly hard, especially once you figure out which attributes work best together, but it was a nice way to ease me into the genre.

 

[talkingood]

Has anyone picked up Sword of Ditto on Switch? I seem to recall hearing it had pretty mixed reviews but I am absolutely crazy about the art style, and it seems like it might be a fun if simple little game!

 

[mrmoose]

Has anyone picked up Sword of Ditto on Switch? I seem to recall hearing it had pretty mixed reviews but I am absolutely crazy about the art style, and it seems like it might be a fun if simple little game!

Click to shrink...

I picked it up, but haven't really played it that much.

Keep in mind that after the game released, they put out a patch that got rid of permadeath, which I think was one of the main complaints.

Here's the first article I found in a search:

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-swords-of-ditto-has-a-massive-free-update-that-removes-permadeath/

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Best story or lore heavy games in this sale?

Already played Transistor and Bastion. I was tempted to pick up TW3, but I have it on PC so it's probably not prudent to pick this up at only 30% off without regional pricing.

Don't know what else is of note.

 

[Denamitea]

Best story or lore heavy games in this sale?

Already played Transistor and Bastion. I was tempted to pick up TW3, but I have it on PC so it's probably not prudent to pick this up at only 30% off without regional pricing.

Don't know what else is of note.

Click to shrink...

Divinity Original Sin 2 is on sale if you haven't played it already

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Divinity Original Sin 2 is on sale if you haven't played it already

Click to shrink...

I've not, I'll keep that in mind, thanks. How's the Banner Saga?

 

[Denamitea]

I've not, I'll keep that in mind, thanks. How's the Banner Saga?

Click to shrink...

I've never played them but my girlfriend really enjoys them and the stories in them. They're supposed to be great games, anyways.

They're also the kind of games where you're characters/ story/ choices carry over from game to game which is an appealing aspect to me personally.

 

[VonGreckler]

God, so many games on sale.
A few I want to grab, but my backlog is already gigantic. Think I will just hold off

 

[Agamon]

I've never played them but my girlfriend really enjoys them and the stories in them. They're supposed to be great games, anyways.

They're also the kind of games where you're characters/ story/ choices carry over from game to game which is an appealing aspect to me personally.

Click to shrink...

Agreed. If you like turn-based strategy with heavy lore, the Banner Saga series is excellent.

 

[Terror-Billy]

Is this ending today? Is there an specific time for it?

 

[DiscoPizza]

Honestly depends on what you're looking for.

If you're going for bang-for-buck, Nexus has just a silly amount of content. It's a great nostalgia trip through some of the prior games in the series that it sounds like you've played. It has a "greatest hits" selection of classes and tons of options for customizing your team - though some, like subclassing, unlock really late. I found that it started to drag part-way through but did make it to the post-game.

Untold 2 fixes a lot of the problems with the original Untold in both classic and story mode. In story mode, I liked the characters and plot better generally, and the party setup is more interesting than what you get in the first Untold. In classic mode, some of the balancing that was thrown off by having an inaccesible side dungeon is fixed since you can go visit it now. The dungeon designs are all new for both modes, so if you've played the original EO2 there's still new stuff to do here.

EO5 has some of the best gameplay and some classes I really love (I <3 the Pugilist class), and some really clever ideas (branching choices for class paths, explicit mini-adventures you can encounter in the dungeons that feel kind of tabletop-y). The gameplay stayed strong throughout, but even the little bit of plot that's there in the start peters out halfway. I couldn't help but feel that it was a tad rushed.

Of the three I think I had the most fun with EO5, but I put the most time into Nexus (like I said, it's looong). Can't really go wrong with any of them.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! They all sound so good. lol

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

Reminder that the New Year's Sale stuff ends at 11:59 PM PT/2:59 AM ET tonight.

 

[Nabbit]

Is this ending today? Is there an specific time for it?

Click to shrink...

See Captain of Outer Space 's post just above this one. Also check in the OP for specific games since some end on different dates.

 

[Proteus]

Reminder that the New Year's Sale stuff ends at 11:59 PM PT/2:59 AM ET tonight.

Click to shrink...

I guess that's a few extra hours than I was expecting. I thought everything would flip at noon EST today.

 

[Rran]

Buy it!

Click to shrink...

just wanted to say thank you for ruining my Saturday... I've spent all day on this f'n game :0
Soooo addicting. Marvelous gameplay loop...

 

[FatalT]

just wanted to say thank you for ruining my Saturday... I've spent all day on this f'n game :0
Soooo addicting. Marvelous gameplay loop...

Click to shrink...

Bahaha yesss! I'm glad you picked it up. I ended up snagging Children of Morta myself and it's been a blast.