As for pre-orders in general, while they’re mostly only good for the publisher/seller, I just wanted recognize that there are exceptions where preordering might be better. The examples that come to mind are for niche games that only see limited release in a person’s country (preordering can help you avoid missing out entirely), and instances where one can take advantage of a given seller’s deals/rewards to get themselves the game for less than the day 1 price. Other than that, there’s really no reason to preorder, as all it does is encourage all these shady practices; review embargoes and bugged launches included.

One thing I have seen an increase of (just as a gaming enthusiast) is that there has been (seemingly) an increase in review embargo’s that end on the day or release or the day before making it impossible to find reviews of the particular game so you can find out more about it and if there are any outstanding issues that would dissuade people from purchasing it (as we have seen recently with the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight which for the most part a unplayable mess unless you have a top-end computer and even then there are problems).

This is why I firmly believe that a boycott of pre-ordering games could and should be applied. I am not suggesting we deprive ourselves of the games completely but rather we take a sensible approach to our gaming, if it is a developer or publisher that has in the past been known to put out games that are absolutely terrible on first day, then instead of pre-ordering the game you wait a week or so till after the release date and see if there has been any fixes/patches to repair whatever problems there are with the game.

Also maybe this will go part of the way to address the increasingly annoying culture of ‘Limited /Special/Collectors’ Editions of games that for the most part offer little more than paying extra money for in-game content (that has been put behind a pay wall to be sold as DLC) which is so exclusive that within a month or so most of it is usually available for download or on whatever platforms it hadn’t been previously exclusive to

Not sure that answer helps any (or makes sense)…watching videos of XC battles might help demonstrate things better, but it’s totally worth seeking out the game to experience it for yourself.

At least we’ve got Yooka-Laylee coming out next year. You’ll at least get to enjoy that style of gameplay again.

Though I’m not done with Xenoblade Chronicles, I can’t recommend it enough. I was really worried at first that infrequent play would lead to problems, but it hasn’t been as bad as I would have thought. It does take me a few minutes to get used to the gameplay every time I start up, but once I get reacquainted with everything, it’s smooth sailing. For a big JRPG, it’s pretty easy to pick up and put down.

Honestly though, I love Reyn as a fighter, but his commentary got old pretty quick. Now I’m rockin’ Dunban and Sharla on my team. Sharla is probably my fav as well. And thank goodness “Sharla” doesn’t rhyme with “time.”