@TalSet_11 Exactly. In a five part story, there has to be some exposition, so while this episode is "slower," I think the overall story is better off for it.
@pip3dream I feel like the recaps at the beginning of each episode do a pretty good job of reminding me what happened as well as what decisions I made in the previous episode. I may not remember some of the finer details of the previous episode, but going into the next one isn't so bad with the recap.
@psuedospike I just wrote something about this. I think it's unfair to judge a series based on each episode's individual merits rather than looking at what each episode adds to the overall story. These games are unique because of this, so yeah, they shouldn't be reviewed like any other game (at least by episode).
@DeusGladiorum At it's announcement at E3, Nintendo really struggled to identify exactly what it was. To many (myself included) it seemed like just a controller add-on for the existing Wii. That combined with Nintendo's previous struggles in bringing in good third party content really hurt it. At launch, all I could remember seeing/hearing about was all the ports of previously released games that were launching with it (Arkham City, Mass Effect 3, etc.)
Totally with you on all of these points, Danny (no pun intended). Nintendo have been too busy taking crazy risks with their hardware to focus on the stellar software they're known for. As a result, the software has become stagnant over the past few years.
I'm of the belief that Nintendo should stay in the hardware business, however, they should look into the mobile market for some of the more stagnant franchises they have. Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Kart and some of the other IPs that haven't really evolved much over the years could potentially sell really well on the App Store or Google Play. Plus, there are already millions of people who have bought in and own devices that access those marketplaces.
I still think they should keep exclusivity on Zelda, Pikmin, Smash Bros., 3D Mario releases (the only Mario games that really change from iteration to iteration) and others to move their home consoles, but those alone aren't enough to spark interest in the Wii U or any other console Nintendo would release. They ultimately need to come up with either some totally new IPs, or more creative and original uses of their existing ones.
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