Topic: Nintendo Switch Online started good but its now sad...

@sixrings I think it depends on whether you have expendable income, are the retro game type or you really like Animal Crossing and/or Tetris. Otherwise, I don't see it as too interesting to you. Thankfully, those qualities fit me to a tee so I'm quite satisfied with my purchase.

@Fizza
I'm sorry, honestly I am, but if we're gonna start applying the "expendable income" trope to a 20-dollar-a-year service, I think we've all gone mad.

If anyone out there is having true hardship spending however many cents per day to have cloud storage and access to online matches, not to mention the classic games access, they may want to reconsider their purchase of a 300-dollar machine in the first place.

@rallydefault I gladly spend $10 every week buying hamster ACA games. But that wild spending has made it so I can no longer afford internet. I mean I’m typing this at my local library on their wifi. That’s how poor I am. Me, my four switches, my lan party room and hamster arcade games. Too poor to afford NSO.

@rallydefault Sorry, I was talking about it as if you were part of the EP. Sorry for the confusion!

@Snatcher The meme shares exactly my thoughts. Since when is paywalling online multiplayer is a good thing? Most of us pay for it to play retail games online, cloud save, and the NES and SNES stuff is bonus.

I find it ironic that most free-to-play games don't need NSO, yet some of them have chat systems in place for free. I was playing World of Tanks Blitz with a friend, and we were messaging each other. Yet, I can't do that via the Switch itself.

Maybe it's just me, I don't see why we should pay for online multiplayer, especially when I bought the game. I also play PC games, so maybe that's why I have strong opinions not in favor for NSO, or even Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus. Most PC online multiplayer is free, just pay for the game and play. The way it should be.

Worth noting, I'm usually positive about games, really I am. Paid online is one of the very few things in gaming I'm not positive about.

Not sure if you intended this as satire, but it's pretty much the picture people try to paint: Woe is me; I have this 300-dollar luxury purchase with (probably) dozens of 60-dollar games, but NOW they want me to pay 20 dollars a year for cloud saves, free games, and online matchmaking? That is a bridge too far!

@Sunsy At least if we're going to pay for it, can it be good at the very least? I would like it if we didn't need it at all, but at least make it a good service.

Couldn't agree with you more.

@Snatcher Agreed, it would be nice to have basic functions like messaging, or something if we're paying for it. I wanted to play some Super Mario All-Stars (honestly, the only time I got excited for a NSO SNES offer) with a friend, I had to call him via phone, even though he was online on his Switch and I could have sent a "would you like to play Super Mario All-Stars" message.

@Sunsy IKR? Why in the world aren't there messages? Sony has them? mostly anything that has a friend feature has them? "Oh but what about harassment" I hear nintendo saying, just add a block feature, or turn off chat for anyone but best friends, Its not that hard.

Whilst we're on the topic of online here, I was reading the article on Legends Arceus getting datamined (I haven't seen any spoilers so please be civil) and I saw that apparently it's the first Nintendo published game to use their new servers after Monster Hunter Rise first employed them. Somewhat ironic then that the first game they use their fancy new servers on... is the one mainline Pokemon game on Switch without online battling. I know it has online trading and Mystery Gift but still, that's pretty hilarious.

@Snatcher Exactly, that was the worry with animal crossing stuff and they easily fixed that with friends and best friends, just do that but with N Online, it just seems dumb to entirely exclude it.

@FroZtedFlakerZz Nintendo annoy's me sometimes.

@Fizza Really? That would be funny if thats true.

It not a good deal….but it’s not a bad deal….I would like to see them do what App,e is doing for $5-$10 a month…

Let ours lapse after the first year and haven't been compelled to resub since. Value just isn't there compared to other services for us

It’s a bad deal if you buy a individual plan. It’s a too good to be true fantastic deal if you buy a family plan and share the cost with 8 other people.

@Rambler The next game should be revealed tomorrow if the pattern continues. Paper Mario released on December 10th and that day was also when they announced Banjo-Kazooie for January. Banjo-Kazooie releases tomorrow so that's perhaps when they'll announce which game comes in February.

The dripfeed is really bad though.

@Grumblevolcano I'm going to put my money on the line and say it's Snap. If it comes out near the middle/end of February (like the 2 games before it), that lines up perfectly with Pokemon Day and it would also be a big crowd pleaser as well. People would also be very interested in how it runs, given that Snap emulation on PC is difficult as is from what I've heard.

It was never a good service. Virtual Console and free online from the previous gen was far superior.

The lack of clarity on release dates, what's coming and when to expect it is the main problem for me. Seems completely disorganised at the moment.

On another note...
January 20 they said for Banjo Kazooie. It's the 21st here about 9am and still no sign of it showing up. Nintendo Aus/NZ could at least provide that information to its subscribers. Piss poor stakeholder management here. They'll charge some exorbitant amount for membership, but their relationship through mass communication at the very least with the customers needs serious work.

I also own PS5 and Xbox Series X, and the PS Plus and Game Pass crap all over NS Online. And Game Pass trumps them both for value. My NS Online sub runs out in October and it's going to take something pretty special for me not to let it lapse without a second thought.