Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

Final Fantasy just might break me on game key cards.

@rallydefault I’ll probably grab it digital I suppose. Not sure just yet. Any type of bonus for preordering digital vs physical?

@NintendoByNature
I have to check it out, to be honest. GameStop usually does something for physical preorders, but I don’t recall game key card releases getting anything noteworthy.

The digital pre-order comes with the OG FINAL FANTASY VII. Not exactly super exciting but if you don't already own it, it's something.

I'm all digital but do double dip if games are fully on-cart. I will, however, make an exception for Final Fantasy. Just like my physical cartridge for Overwatch on Switch imported from Asia, which was just a launcher with download required for the full game.

Will also make an exception for Monster Hunter Stories 3, and any future Monster Hunter titles. Other than that though, digital is just more convenient. Unless you wish to sell in the future, I advocate digital.

@rallydefault @FishyS yea I already own the original. I’ll see if there are any price breaks for ordering physical or digital.

@JaxonH I agree digital is just way more convenient. All I gotta do if I want to play something is grab my controller turn on my console and load up a game. I dont have to get up and fiddle with discs or cartridges. Don't have to worry about the disc getting scratched or lost. And I have found the sales and pricing for digital games to be alot better. Mind you I do have the odd physical copy like Shredder's Revenge for Switch because of the collector's edition goodies that came with it. Or Suikoden HD Collection on Series X because I found a good sale on Amazon for it but overall I have just gone digital these last two gens.

And its not just video games. I have even recently started to go digital with my TTRPG books. Heck 99% of my Dungeon and Dragons 5th edition stuff is all digital. I believe I just have physical copies of the 3 core books.

Overall there is no right or wrong in physical vs digital a lot of people like Anti-matter for example just want to start an argument for no reason expect to start an argument. If you prefer physical over digital that's cool and if you prefer vice versa that's cool to.

I'm planning on getting Final Fantasy digitally. It being $40 makes it an easy purchase too. Getting RE Requiem and Pragmata digitally too.

@Tasuki
Ya, it's good people have the choice. As someone who was staunchly physical only for many years I can relate to both.

But I do think key cards have had a positive effect galvanizing the community of Nintendo gamers who are so vehemently against the digital future. Like ripping the band-aid off- had to happen sooner or later.

I think the bad decisions from Nintendo helped keep Sony in check for next gen. We saw how quickly Microsoft jumped on the $80 games and PS5 Key Discs train following on from MK World $80 and the abundance of Switch 2 Key Cards respectively with it massively backfiring so you'd hope Sony would learn some lessons from this when it comes to the PS6 generation.

Looking at a different scenario, it feels like the lesson Sony decided to take from the downfall of the Xbox platform was to stop bringing their single player games to non-PS platforms. I'd have liked to have played stuff like Ratchet & Clank, Sackboy, Returnal, God of War and Uncharted on Switch 2 but it makes sense why they wouldn't do it.

It's worth remembering that Sony's ports of games to PC generally come only after a while and require a high hardware spec that's typically a fair bit above the equivalent of what's in a PS5, at least if you want to play them without compromises in performance, because they'll never be quite so well optimized.

As such, ports to the Switch 2 were never really on the cards for them and having to give feature parity for the Series S would probably rule out Series X ports too, had they even considered that.

@Matt_Barber The PC side of things is why I think plans have changed. Astro Bot released in September 2024 and there's no PC port yet. So rather than the old setup of everything going to PC after a certain timeframe and select games coming to other platforms (e.g. Helldivers 2 to Xbox, Patapon/Everybody's Golf/Lego Horizon to Switch), it feels like the new setup is that the live service games stay varying levels of multiplatform meanwhile the single player games are fully PS exclusive permanently.

Eh I just ordered ff7 on Amazon for $40. Not a bad deal, just not crazy about it being a keycard

@Matt_Barber
That's not really true though. I can basically run all their games on Steamdeck, and it's not even as powerful as a Switch 2.

But even if they stopped bringing games to PC, they've already dumped the bulk of their library that matters. It'll be another 10 years before they even begin to build up an actual compelling exclusive library again, and that's assuming they quit porting to PC full stop. Whether it's The Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Spiderman, Days Gone, Ghosts of, Horizon, etc, all these are on Steam already.

Not that it matters. I don't think PS has ever really sold on the power of their exclusives. And the evidence is the fact their sales didn't slow by porting them to other platforms. I mean they certainly help to some extent but, their consoles sell based on big mass-appeal multiplats with shiny graphics. And there's always gonna be a market for that in a relatively lower cost easy-to-use console format.

@Grumblevolcano
2024 wasn't that long ago. I wouldn't rule it out. But it may be they just don't see it as financially viable. Their big blockbusters did well at first but the sequels they ported struggled to even crack a million. How well would a game that didn't even cross 2m in the first place do? It could be they don't see the juice as being worth the squeeze.

@Grumblevolcano I always just assumed that Astro Bot would remain exclusive as PlayStation itself is so core to its identity.

As for the games already on PC coming to Switch 2? I just don’t see it happening as Sony, for the most part, doesn’t seem interested in bringing major IPs to other consoles. I think we’d much sooner see Xbox IP on the Switch 2.

@JaxonH Right I can relate too as it took me awhile to accept digital purchases. But it's the way the industry is going no matter how much crying you do about. I mean I get people love their physical but just to say a console is not worth it because it has digital as well while also spreading false rumors. I mean what's the point.

@Tasuki
Ya! I remember that actually! You were a very staunch supporter of physical games back in the day. As was I.

What flipped the switch for me was when I modded my 3DS to run Virtual Boy in glasses-free 3D and install the old Fire Emblem games with English translations, I learned I could dump all my physical carts to install digitally. So I did.

And ever since I had my entire shelf of 3DS games in my pocket with me, there was no going back.

I started double dipping on Switch games to buy both physically and digitally. God only knows how much money I spent doing that for the better part of a decade. Eventually I decided to make the switch full stop, but wanted a clean break.

So with Switch 2, I vowed to go digital only. Cause once you start buying physical you feel a compulsion to continue. It's hard to just stop mid-generation, where half your games are physical and half are digital.

And I'm so glad I did. Having my entire library accessible at any time without having to get up, or take cartridges out of cases and put them back in, or pack a bunch of carts to take with me, is so convenient I could never go back to physical again. I just couldn't.

@Tasuki
I've been nearly all digital since PS4 Pro & Switch. I only have like 5 physical switch games(Donut Dodo, Jim Power & the Lost Dimensions, The Ninja Saviours, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and Batsugun), and they're not even on display, nor do I even use them since i rebought them digitally. Conveience wins. Plus I don't even display my games.

It does feel far more satisfying though to get a physical copy, as long as the cover art is great, and overall is substantial enough to make that tangability worth while, unlike PS5 physical media/game cases which are an absolute eye sore.

I'd rather go physical, if modern physical game media was more unique, attractive and substantial. As is, it typically leaves a lot to be desired. They're not even trying anymore unless you go LimitedRun.

Sigh. I'm tempted to pick up physical copies of Blazing Chrome, Curse of the Moon, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind, Rugrats Adventure in GameLand, DOOM+DOOM II, just to name a few. And i would have if they released day one alongside digitally, but most of the above receivered physical editions several months later through LRG, and are now nearly $100(CAD) a pop on eBay.

I think that digital conveience truly matters for titles like Smash Bros, Splatoon, Mario Kart & the like. Games with endless bounds of replayability vs the plenty of one and dones. But eh. I'm not preordering something, then having to wait several months to get in the mail when the digital version has already been accessible months prior. Ultimately, it's about the experience. Besides, video game physical media loses it's magic after a while. The thrill and excitment fades over time, and you ask yourslef, do i really need this stuff any more? Especially if it's already accessible through digital.

Physical can be a lot of fun, but it eats up space(I don't want multiple bookcases stacked full of games _or DVD/Blu-ray/UHD spines), it's not convenient with 'modern' video game set ups compared to siting just a few feat or so away from our 25-27" CRT TV's in the late 80's & early 90's with a pile or stack of cartridges beside us all in reach along side our NES, SNES & Genesis, combined with Zero UI-stuff or loading times, and Wired in controllers that never had to be recharged.

I always used to shout to the heavens, "Physical forever" back in my mid 20's. But at 41, it's like...Whatever dude. lol Maybe if video game box art was as rad, wild, zany and creative as it was back during the NES days. Instead we get corporate bland Logo's & Banners with CGI-stock art work, legal text agreement slathered every with boring mini logo-only carts or vanilla no-frill Discs. Modern Physical video game media, in most cases, no longer feel like piece of art or treasure.

@JaxonH Yes, you can run the games on a Steam Deck, or indeed any other PC that's below the minimum specs, but you're going to have to accept levels of performance at times that are a fair bit less than the developers intended.

That might be OK for handheld PCs where practically every other modern game also has minimum sepcs above what it can offer and juggling settings and ultra-low mods is the norm, but it's probably not going to work for a console release where people would approach it with the expectations that it will be fully optimized for the hardware out of the box.

Most Switch 2 ports of AAA games so far have been handled by studios that specialize in such, and maybe Sony could approach one of those if they're interested, but it might just be that they've weighed up the pros and cons and decided against it entirely.

@Matt_Barber
Idk man, almost all those games released on PS4, which is about as powerful as a Steamdeck. I can crush all their games with my 2080 ti, which is several years outdated at this point.

Because of diminishing returns, the difference in visuals between low-medium settings and high-ultra are fairly negligible. And even then you don't need some super high end rig to run their games at high settings.