Topic: The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Service Thread

@FaeKnight

I know all those. I still can’t think of any that locks your save to the system and doesn’t give you another option without paying. I know cartridges were an issue but it wasn’t system locked. You could have as many PS1 and PS2 (and GameCube, DC etc) Memory Cards as you wanted for example. OG Xbox and the 360 used HDD and memory Cards, PS3 had external HDD etc. Saturn and N64 had Memory Cards etc.

This is a proud industry first for Nintendo.

@FaeKnight

“The technical availability of an option isn't quite the same thing as "you always have the option".”

It’s a lot better than not having the option!

“Switch at base also has some options you can use. They aren't good options, but they are there. You can have multiple SD cards that you assign to the Switch.”

Eh? The whole issue is you can’t copy Save Dsta to an SD Card.

@FaeKnight It really doesn’t matter if you take the sd card out from the switch. Game saves are on the switch itself.

I agree the olden days they were saved to the cartridge and if they went you had to start again which is fun. Example I play super mario 64 every year with out really worrying about saves but 2018 should have the option to at least back it up on the sd card without homebrew methods

@Moshugan that part is obvious.

Ok, it's time for the first impression of yours truly about Nintendo Switch Online.

Now first things first: with the exception of the prices, Nintendo needs to go back to the drawing board about its online service because look at like/dislike ratio on it's YouTube video. About 70% are dislikes and about 30%. That sums it up the feelings towards the service. The most things that were talked about was the voice chat and cloud save features. I have said multiple times that Nintendo should implement console voice chat instead of the blatant smartphone app because the app aren't available in most countries of the world and it's also complicated to watch the phone and play at the same time. If Nintendo keeps doing what they're doing now, then I'm afraid that they'll be facing a huge backlash, not just from its respective fans, but by gaming media as well until they reverse their decision. If anything, they should learn from Epic on how the voice chat is done correctly. Cloud save, probably one of the reasons that Nintendo initially got it right until it says that some will support this feature. I get that some games like Splatoon 2 isn't supported to prevent save scumming, but the fact that it gets deleted upon subscription expiry is something that Nintendo should reconsider. At least Nintendo should give the ability to back up on SD card and watch people become happy. NES games are a good bonus for me, and if I remember correctly, they're yours as long as you're subscribed to the online service, which is something that I won't mind. Special offers is something that Nintendo should have given us more details about it on the direct instead of waiting an extra period of time until the services launches.

Overall, I'm disappointed in Nintendo for the first time ever. Nintendo had more than 10 years to do research on creating infrastructure that would satisfy at least its long-time customers. Yes, Nintendo is making steps toward it, but it's backwards more than forwards. Enough backlashes would make Nintendo think twice about bringing the service to the people.

@Azooooz As I mentioned multiple times already, while the Direct's section said nothing new about the Online Service they did update the website with all the information they hadn't released in the Direct. This includes what initial Special Offers are. One of which they did mention in the Direct. We aren't being forced to wait until the service launches to get information. We were just forced to wait until five days before it launches to get any information

And doesn't Sony also delete your cloud backups if you end your PS+ subscription?

I agree that the app is a horrible solution for having voice chat. But it might have been required for first party titles due to those titles not having a central game server. Which is a whole other topic of discussion, and I can understand the reasons behind the decision.

One thing I will say is, having the phone on loudspeaker is genius. I bloody hate wearing headsets. It's unhygienic for the ears and you look like you're taking orders in a drive thru.

@Azooooz They could have made a service better than anything the others offer, but the fact that people are still going to pay for something that used to be free for a long time is going to negatively taint the perception of every little thing about it. The only way they could have completely avoided backlash now would have been to start charging sooner.

Even then people would have taken offense because "this use to be free". The system it's self warns you that online will be becoming a paid service in the future when you first set things up. Yet people are now taking offense that they'll have to pay.

Paying for online on a closed system is industry standard. I'm happy we had so long for free! If the console lasts 7 years, we got a quarter of it's online life for nothing!

That's what I've been pointing out repeatedly in response to the "It's free now, it should be free, it must always be free" crowd.

Man, why put so much effort to defend the shortcomings? We should always be pushing Nintendo as well as the others to be better, not trying to convince people they're "good enough".

@MisterPi You better be ready to fork over more cash then.

Do you think Nintendo will delay the online service because of the complaints(cloud saves going after subscription ends, nes games requiring a connection to the internet every seven days)? I think the service offers enough.

Nah, there's no way. People think it can be better but I don't see nearly enough people outright angry for them to care.

My theory is that the only reason the paid service got delayed till this month was so the Switch could build up a library of games people would want to play online before they started charging for it. I could be wrong. It could just be my cynicism speaking. But that's my theory.

And I am not "defending the shortcomings". I will freely admit to them, and mock them mercilessly. But I'm also a cynical realist who understands that Nintendo charging for online play was inevitable, and has been since Microsoft first showed people will pay to play online with their home console.

I expect the service will improve over time, just as Xbox Live and Playstation Network have improved over time. But expecting a company who's been barely dabbling in providing an online network to have the same level of online network as competitors who have been refining their services for close to twenty years is kind of foolish. That's like expecting a new video game developer to know all the tricks and techniques of a well established development studio that's been doing it for decades.

I wouldlove tosee Youtube on the Switch. Glad it is not going behind the online service. I thought Ninteno would do that.

I'm not against paid online subscription, but Nintendo better improve their offering. The gaming media is already saying that NSO is embarrassing.

The only thing I'm salty about having to pay for online is the fact (as far as I know) that games like Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 and Arms are still going to be peer-to-peer. They should start implementing dedicated servers if they're charging us.

@Moshugan Wouldn't that interfere with the ability to do local wireless multiplayer when there's no internet connection? Which is one of the selling points for those games.