The Remaster Of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Won't Support Local Multiplayer

I was waiting for this news to hit this site. As a four switch household who buys basically every wireless local play game....this sucks.

Alright, so I won't get it. As easy as that.
More money for other games XD

Well this is crap. I was hoping for couch co-op because I’m not made of money and requiring a Switch each is crazy in this current economic climate.

For me, this has changed from being a 'day 1 purchase' to a 'not buying'. Local multiplayer is the only reason to play this game.

Not buying this. Unacceptable.

All of my imaginary friends are devastated, it's hard for them to afford a Switch Online subscription when they don't exist..

That's like making a Pokemon game, and removing the ability to trade and battle locally. Absolutely insane and Square deserves to lose sales for such an obviously stupid decision.

Aren't they doing a mobile phone version of this remaster too? I imagine they want to boost the download numbers for that, and are hoping that the free version being able to play the whole thing with someone who owns the full game will help keep complaints down.

My issue though is no local wireless play. That means no back seat road trip multiplayer sessions. That also means if you are visiting a friend who has less than ideal internet you are stuck with that less than ideal internet even if you are literally in the same room. Granted, these aren't typical situations for me, but they are things I think about.

Well, there goes 90% of the people planning to buy it who played it back in the day, myself included. That's like if they made a new Mario Party that was online-only. This game was built SPECIFICALLY FOR LOCAL CO-OP. You take that element away, you may as well just cancel the game.

@Kaibo - same for me, was planning to buy and play it with my kids. Now there’s no appeal any more

A shame. Not sure why this wouldn't have been more of a priority to make happen during development.

Yep, I'm out too. Was on the fence anyway and this massively tipped the scales.

@the_beaver this. I like you.

Unbelievably stupid.

Well, couch multiplayer was the reason I was looking forward to this. This bumps it way down the list so far that I'll probably never end up getting it now.

Nothing against online for those that will use it, especially now with the world as it is, but this should have both. This is like stripping out couch play from Mario Kart, Mario Party or any fighting game ever.

I'm fine with no couch co-op, but I feel like no local is a huge disservice. What happens in a decade when Square decides to end online support for the game? Odda are by that point most of us will have long moved on from this game and it'll likely be inaccessible, but I don't like those odds.

I'll be buying multiple copies for our Switches and just play online. I was a fan of the GC version but I am fine with this direction.

Boo, that's the nail in the coffin for me. Oh well...

this does not affect me as I would only be playing online, however this seems like a major oversight by Square as I imagine a majority (or at least a large portion) would like to only play this way.

They had a chance to port this game to Wii U last gen and purposely choose not to. Yeah don't bring a game that required a second screen for released on a console that featured a second screen. Imagine playing FFCC couch co-op with the Wii U tablet controller and three 3DS wirelessly, oh such a miss opportunity indeed.

Someone should mention that they are releasing a free version of the game so people can play multi-player with others that bought the game. Kind of like the "download play" for certain DS games (triforce heroes comes to mind)

Well this basically guarantees not enough people will buy it to even make online play work. I might as well just emulate the GameCube version and play it by myself.

I was going to play this online anyways, but they should have communicated this from the outset. Guess they're carrying on the game's legacy of being an absolute pain to play with friends in the same room.

From the square enix site:
https://square-enix-games.com/en_GB/news/final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles-remastered-edition-lite

"Can Lite users play online with owners of the full game?
They can indeed - and they can play beyond the opening three dungeons.

If one player has the full edition of FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES Remastered Edition, they can invite anyone with the Lite version to join their caravan. While connected, that party will be able to journey through up to 13 massive dungeons.

In other words, you only need one full version of the game to play online in a party of four. "

@nessisonett @Pablo17 You don't need to buy multiple copies. Buy one copy and download the free lite edition for everyone else. See my comment above.

I'll still probably play it online (I'm moving to a new city, so this suits me), but those sure are dumb choices. Couch co-op makes this game.

So the GameCube version is still the definitive version huh?

If it's "development reasons" then just delay the game and get it sorted.

I would have still bought this with local coop but online only is unacceptable. 2020 just keeps taking more and more.

What a strange choice. Maybe once things have calmed down with covid they will implement local multiplayer later? Hm.

I've enjoyed Wolfenstein Youngblood's 'buddy pass' system, playing with my brother on another continent, so I will probably still pick this up if the price is right. Wish more games supported that model of play, though local would have been nice too. Thankfully doesn't damage my use case

@ATaco I mean, GameCube version requires GameCube, 4 gbas and 4 connection cables, doesn't it? Or can you local coop with regular controllers? Never played, so don't know.

Did they take out co-op because Nintendo didn’t foot the bill for development again? (Look up Fund-Q.)

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Not buying it.

Anytime something doesn't support wireless co-op I’m annoyed. It’s one of the best featureson Switch. I’m still interested in this game but less than I was before.

Probably I'll skip it. I could buy with wireless play and I DEFINITELY would buy if it has something like DS DirectPlay (1 game, 2 consoles), but not this way

PLEASE UNDERSTAND!!

Went from day 1 buy, to hard pass immediately after reading. What a shame

@NotoriousWhiz Sorry, I’ll just go fetch my butler and get him to buy me 3 more Switch consoles. Might get some Beluga caviar and white truffles while I’m at it, I clearly have loads of money if I’m willing to spend a grand just to play the one game with 4 players.

Well, playing 4 people online with only one copy is great, isnt it?

This has been delayed like 6 times and now this. Square are super incompetent.

My interest in the game just went down a bit.

I saw this coming. I knew the remastered version wouldn't support local multi-player. The way the trailer showed the game and how the UI looked, it wasn't happening. Plus, given that everything is done online these days, local/couch co-op is a thing past. Sad but true.

Aight, Imma head out. Will save my money for other titles

Aww gosh darn

@graysoncharles Single player mode yes but multiplayer mode required each player to use separate GBAs and connection cables. I know this cause me and the family just play it recently on the Wii. In single player mode the moogle will carry the bucket for you but in multiplayer mode at least one player had to carry the bucket so to progress in the game.

@retro_player_77 Dude I’ve been saying this same thing since the Wii U. Let us wirelessly connect our 3DSs and give us another Four Swords and a true FFCC Remaster. I will literally throw money at them to make this happen. With the connectivity between the U and 3DS, why did this never happen!??

@NotoriousWhiz

Nice.

@graysoncharles That's cause the game purposely made it a chore that way, it's best to just play single player. By playing multiplayer with just 2 person, one player will always had to carry the bucket to progress becoming a substitute for the moogle. Had it play more like the DS games where there are no restriction on multiplayer it would had been perfect.

@Panopticon Cause Nintendo was stupid during that era, they never made it happen so third parties follow and never bother trying it either. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U already proved that you could use 3DS as an alternative controller for the game. Heck I believe if Nintendo want they could even make the 3DS compatible with the Switch as well, all they had to do was make a similar connectivity app for the Switch to do so.

I do wonder, will it support multiple console local multiplayer? Like connecting multiple Switches.

Why are people falling over the no offline co-op thing? You can still sit next to eachother in a room and play together with the online co-op function.. I really don’t see what the big deal is. Everything is still possible only in a slightly different way.

@Ricowtje Not everyone could afford to buy another Switch just to play multiplayer ya know.

Oh dear. I was looking forward to us having family gaming sessions with this one. I do hope they'll consider a patch for at least the Switch version. Of course, SE and the obvious course of action are seldom seen in each others company...

@Ricowtje That's works well if you are at home. The portability of switch means I would want to be playing it away from internet connection. This isn't a deal breaker for me but just a bit of a pain in the arse.

Worst of all.os the Irish voiceovers are gone.

Here's another headline:
Customers not buying due to "disappointment reasons".

@Beermonkey @retro_player_77
Didn’t they also announce seperate from the normal local co-op there would be local co-op with people who own the light version?

Which means crossplay?

Yes the portability on switch is an issue then when wanting to play together if even that doesn’t work. But buying a switch is not a necessity because it will be released on mobile phones too (and I imagine tablets will work then too).

@nessisonett you don’t need switches either. The game works on your phone and or tablet, which I’m sure most people in your house hold have. Also there is cross play with PS4. Literally this means nothing.

As others have said, this means I'm not buying it.

@RadioHedgeFund that's about 70% of the charm! Apparently her name is Donna.

I can't imagine playing this game without the ability to speak to the other player. And solo is fun, but not engaging enough to fork over all that money again (I got it for fifteen bucks, and that's exactly what I think the solo part is worth! )

It's a shame, this would have been fun!

@Ricowtje It allows for co-op yes. Local co-op not so much if they have said they have taken it away altogether in favour of online play.

Just a quick edit this would be me and my wife playing on switchs away from home.

Wow. What a joke. Guess I’ll just keep my $60 then.

Aha, so they have the chance to make up for the not accessible nonsense they did on the gamecube with the GBA adapters, and f*** it up all over again!?

@ATaco no. They’ve delayed the game, what, 3 times? I sure as heck don’t want to wait even longer for this!

I didn’t understand how couch co-op was going to work anyways, given the entire gimmick requiring GBAs in the first place - secret missions for each player, which score points used to determine who gets first dibs on that dungeon’s treasure (literally the only form of character growth in the game). The competitive co-op nature was a pretty big part of the original, and I’ve yet to see someone suggest how that could’ve worked if everyone shared a screen.

That being said, I’m surprised they dropped local co-op entirely but not upset. As someone who grew up with the game, I am now an adult and the friends I once played with are all in different cities. This was always going to be online only for me. Guess it sucks for those who actually had local friends they planned to play with on one console but... eh? Online subscriptions are free and you can even play in the same room through the internet. It’s backwards, sure, but I’d rather this than another delay. Wouldn’t be surprised if this was due to the pandemic affecting the tail end of development. I see some people complaining this will affect the number of players to play online with, but as far as I know it was friends only anyways, so all that matters is if your friends are still getting it. I’m still trying to figure out which friends I’m playing with because, at this point, I know too many people getting it and wouldn’t want more than one character of every race (assuming there’s even is 4 save files). Either way, given it’s even releasing on iOS, I doubt it’ll be that hard to find people online who will be looking for people to play with.

For a game that featured couch co-op as it's main gimmick that even required additional hardware, this is...disappointing...
Personally, i'd much rather take another half year delay than missing out on the one thing that made the original what it is.

Now, it's most definitely not a full price purchase anymore for me.

I was looking forward to buying this and playing through it with the family but Square can keep it. Plenty of games out there doing it the right way.

That's almost literally as if they'd make another Four Swords Adventures but strip it of its local multiplayer... With the difference being that FSA had a more enjoyable single player mode in which the most boring task (carrying that chalice or what was it called again?) wasn't 100% assigned to the one, lonely player (I don't really remember whether the moogle could carry it). I was probably not going to get it, since the dogs aren't that good at multiplayer videogames, but now it's a no-brainer no-getter.

No local MP because of “development reasons”.

Yeah the reason is they didn’t develop it! Lol

Square Enix announces they don't know how do make games anymore.

This is something devs were able to do literally generations ago. There's no excuse for these. It's either laziness or incompetence.

Couch co-op was the REASON for this game back in the day!

@garfreek And in real life shes australian!

https://voice123.com/donnaburke

@sixrings Does minecraft local work offline, or do you need wifi?

I understand it may be a bummer for some, but I can't imagine it being a dealbreaker for me. Couch multiplayer is a rare opportunity for me anyway (especially for the last few months), so if my friend and I fancy playing this, him joining up via mobile (which he bought a gamepad for anyway) sounds like an ironically likelier option. But in general, this here isn't Paladins or Mario Party, this is a JRPG with its world and story to explore, and that's what I intend to do on my own by default. My introduction to this series came through Ring of Fates and Echoes of Time, the DS gems that married the gameplay of Secret of Mana (also capable of couch co-op - but who ever deemed it unplayable otherwise?) and Landstalker, games I certainly couldn't imagine playing even online because I got my first DS Lite around the time its sole supported WEP protocol became obsolete even in Belarus. Now I can finally experience the beginning of this subfranchise on Switch, and I certainly have no reasons to look elsewhere anymore.

As for the commenters who "aren't rich enough to get extra Switches for an allegedly proper experience"... well, no buy from you, got it. But it's not like getting a working GameCube and several GBAs with their link cables seems all that cheaper these days, at least for those who don't have all of that stashed away already.😅

So they delayed it to work on it more, and then can’t even make it function the way most everyone was planning on playing it? Terrible.
This was an exciting day one purchase, and now I have absolutely no interest.

This was the one thing I was hoping to get out of the remaster as setting up local multiplayer was such a hassle back on the NGC. Way to go SE ... For some reason I cannot help but think that this is connected to the mobile version of the game and they were too lazy to make adjustments for the console versions. Well, saves me money I guess ...

I had this on gamecube and it was "alright", it got very tedious in the harder levels carrying the bucket during boss battles which required mobility.
For a local co op game to drop it's local co op (that ran on one system) is very odd. Does the online (and free download version) actually require NSO? Or do you just need NSO for cross play features? The Switch is 100 times more powerful than GameCube so same system play and local wireless co op should not be an issue. At this stage Square might as well give it away free with NSO (if required) to make the service more appealing. A total mess to be honest.
It was like the odd decision to take out 2 player in MH3 U when in fact Capcom could have doubled down and had two hunters per system, each with a screen...

Lucky me I still have the original on Gamecube and can use my hard earned money to buy another games instead of this remaster =]

So it's a "demaster"?

And maybe they're hoping nostalgic fans will coerce their friends into also buying the game, as to sell more sell more copies?

Wasnt this entire game built arround the local multiplayer aspect originally?
Now it just sounds like it will be half baked online focus like really it's a remaster dont remove major elements.
Like why cant I at least play with couple of friends and switches with one copy and no subscription to online

Also let's just have 4 swords as it was the best of these link gba gc games and could easily work

The way it's worded, sounds like it was planned and then they ran out of time. Disappointing, why not just delay it and make it the best it could be. It's not like the game is gonna sell massively well whatever the case, but at least attempt to please the fans of the original. The Crystal Chronicles series as a whole, just screams missed opportunity.

The world of Crystal Bearers is really well designed, but again it's a game that needed 6 months more in the oven.

Well it's a hard pass from me without the local co-op. This game was not very fun single player, and online co-op does me no good.

Boo! I was looking forward to seeing how they'd do local co-op. Online only and not even local wireless is a big disappointment.

Well as this isn't 'The Pokemon Company', if the uproar remains horrific, they may well go back on it and re-implement (causing a delay to release).

Having said that, wasn't the release of this already delayed from it's original release date?

This is so sad. I'm sorry, but now I won't buy the game. Is as simple as that.

This game is archaic. Can't believe they're even bothering with it.

@nessisonett Only one person needs a copy and everyone else can use android or PS4. Hopefully local comes in a patch.

"Development reasons"

Really? Wow. Local multi-player was like a core mechanic to the game. That should have been the first thing to figure out before worrying about cross-save/cross-play.

This is like the Overcooked of Final Fantasy games - best played with friends...locally.

at least one or two years after being first announced (a remaster) and it doesnt have the main feature that would make it enjoyable, square sucks.

Square disappoints Switch fans. Film at 11.

I honestly didn't expect (but was hopeful that) this would have local multiplayer on one system. So the news that you have to be connected online, while weird, didn't affect my buying choice. But the crossplay with the lite version on mobile definitely has affected it. I'm now leaning towards getting it, since I won't have to buy more Switches.

@nessisonett Yeah. I'm sure your butler never gave you 4 game boy advances for the original either.

If you have an internet connection, there is literally no difference between this and the original. The original required multiple game boy advances. This one requires multiple Switches but phones, tablets, or a PS4 can be used instead of a Switch.

And yes, your 8bitdo controller or even Switch pro controller will work on your phone / tablet.

And you only need to purchase one copy of the game to enjoy the whole thing with 4 people.

No, you can't play in the back of van.
No, you could not play the original in the back of a van.

There’s no reason they couldn’t patch it in later on. Something tells me they didn’t bother implementing local wireless play simply because the PS4/XB1 don’t support wireless play, and heaven forbid they go the extra mile to implement an exclusive feature that would make the Switch version a bit more appealing. I have no desire to play this game online. It’s the kind of game that plays best with other people present, and now that everyone will need an NSO subscription, it’s going to make it a bit more complicated than I am willing to deal with. The original was fun, but way too complicated and required a ridiculous amount of extra tech and set up. I was hoping this version would finally right that wrong, but it doesn’t seem to be there yet. I’m disappointed they couldn’t find a way to make it possible to play multiplayer together on a single system. I would’ve jumped at that in a heartbeat. No worries. They just saved me some money on buying it.

Rather play Wasteland 3, Captain Tsubasa, Madden or Project Cars 3 in August before yet another rehash port anyway.

First concern should be they actually spend time optimizing the main game before release. Publishers barely doing the basic stuff with these ports.

So, pay twice the price to play it on console, and still need to pay online subscription (NSO or PS+) to play it with others.
And if you want to play it outside with your Switch, you need a phone to connect to the internet.
Why not just get the cheaper smartphone version?

well it's over

@NotoriousWhiz does it say if each player needs an active NSO sub? The Lite version is free, but not being able to use just one Switch for co op or individual Switch's for Local wireless is baffling when the Switch "could" run the game nearly 100 times over at 480p with 4 players/controllers.
Square are essentially saying you now need 4 GameCubes (1 each) a possible Online Sub (1 each), an internet connection (which we likely already have fortunately) and one copy of the game. It's practically the same as the requirements for the original release(1 GC, 4GBAs , 4 cables and 1 game), which defeats the whole point of a re-release. They may as well have not bothered. A compilation of all the CC games with this silly requirement might have made slightly more sense. This isn't that.

Played the original with 4 GBA's with my cousins. A lot of fun in local,though I always much preferred Zelda Four Sword Adventures.

Does is this require NSO subscription? Not having local kinda defeats the purpose of this rerelease.

Is PTP online an option at least so multiplayer isn't at risk of being gone forever when they stop running their servers for it?

Ugh that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I was really looking forward to this, now it's a hard pass

I'd love FFCC: My Life as a King 2 with more than just one town to develop.
I didn't care much for the other FFCC games, though FFCC: Echoes of Time was a vast improvement over this one.

You only need one person to own the game on a platform and everyone else can use the lite version which unlocks everything as long as you are playing with a full version person hosting the game.

So to play local multiplayer I’ll have to buy both the PS4 and Switch versions and play “online” with my wife right next to me? Sounds like they would work, but that’s lame that it isn’t just a built in function.

@imgrowinglegs I don’t think you have to buy both versions. There is a “Lite
“ version” that’s free. And from the website it sounds like you can try it for free and then I’d you like it, only one of you needs to upgrade. That last part I’m foggy.

But that’s how the old one was with needing gameboy advances.

Well let’s just cross that off the list.

@Shade_Koopa tell that to Diabo III, Mario kart/ party, super smash bros, star link, overcooked, rocket league, unraveled 2...

@sixrings with four Switches you should be ok! You can buy a copy for one and then grab the freebie version for the others.

In a single Switch household like mine this is an absolute deal killer. I mean, we could grab it free for phones/tablets.. but I wouldn't inflict those touch controls on my children!

New for 2020: World of Warcraft: Offline Edition!

@SirKero switch pro controller and 8bitdo controllers both work on phones / tablets.

@FargusPelagius I would hope NSO isn't a requirement. I don't believe its a requirement for fortnite or other f2p games.

@FargusPelagius and I disagree that the barrier to entry removes the purpose of it. It definitely sucks for one Switch groups who were hoping to play together. But in my case, and I'm sure many others, the same people I played with on the original, I can play with on this one over the internet. If my kids want to play, we've got a Switch lite and 2 tablets.

We've gotten remasters with much less.

@NotoriousWhiz I am hoping it isn't a requirement either as that pretty much kills it for me. I didn't bother renewing this year as I have barely played Switch online this year. I only occasionally play Warframe on it ( but started playing that on Xbox again). My point is the Switch is capable of running this game as a local co op and wireless.Phantasy Star online on GameCube was a great local co op game and didn't fanny about, the hardware was capable so players had the choice. Really seems a foolish thing to do.

@SKTTR yeah Echoes was the best one. Surprised they didn't go for a compilation of all the CC games as the DS/Wii ones would have benefitted from a remaster to get them to the first games graphics. People would be more willing to forgive the local wireless sillyness too I bet. Surely if you each have a copy you get local wireless? Partially understand just with the free lite version.

@NotoriousWhiz I suppose I did need an excuse to buy more 8bitdoohickeys, now that you mention it! ;D

Doesn't that... defeat the entire purpose and appeal of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles?

That's like announcing "This year's new Call of Duty won't have online multiplayer, only bots."

Bummer, guess I won't be buying it after all.

@FargusPelagius Phantasy star online was definitely a great splitscreen experience. They should have done the same with this. Maybe they'll patch it in later? I haven't looked into the remastered game play enough to know how important having your own screen is. At a minimum though, it really shouldn't require an online subscription for the lite version (the full version probably will). They should at least make the extra effort to get local wireless to work too.

God, this has gotta be one of the stupidest decisions a developer has ever made. Local multiplayer is the point of Crystal Chronicles!

@ShadJV that's what I was wondering on the first place, that's what made me so curious how they would fix this!

I'd say use a point based system of dealing damage etc. And then give out the treasures based on that..

@RadioHedgeFund that's extra impressive, she did an amazing job back in a time vg voice acting wasn't common!

Just removed these from my Wanted/Maybe Lists. Great, I'll get another game, then.

It doesnt affect me too much. My brother and i no longer live in the same house anyway, so we will get our own copy. But i can see the issue for other players.

While I will play it single player 90% of the time, I was looking forward to play it with my cousins in person whenever the opportunity comes. Don't know if I'll purchase it on release day.

So annoyed and disappointed about this news. I've been waiting months and months this game should have came out already. With all these delays what were they doing if not working on local Co op?

@NotoriousWhiz if they patched it in that would work, but this has been delayed several times so it baffles me why they are struggling with porting a GC game to much more powerful hardware. I can understand some problems with the Android and IOS versions but PS4 and Switch should be able to handle it. The GBA screens showed different information like the map or an objective so it needed you to be in the same room to communicate. The remaster will just give every player the info, otherwise the online aspect would make it unplayable without mic chat...

Sucks that it's not an option, but I only planned on playing this online with a friend, so I'll still buy.

@sixrings
Apparently they are releasing a free version that can be used in conjunction for multiplay.

@garfreek that both changes the way the mechanic functions heavily while also making it unbalanced for different “roles”. Having no secret missions means players directly interfere with each other’s goals, increasing the competitiveness a lot and encouraging more “sabotage”. Having it based on damage dealt gives Lilties an unfair advantage on stages with enemies that have low defenses (given their higher attack power) and gives Yukes an unfair advantage on stages with enemies vulnerable to magic (given their great magic stats and abilities). Selkies would suffer noticeably, given their stats are lower and they favor evasion, while Clavats would suffer even more, having average stats and focusing more on defense and survival. The artifact system, being the main source of growth, once again rewards players with the most points by letting them pick first, giving them the best treasures. This proposed system means that, right from the getgo, Lilties and Yukes would have a head start and the other races likely would never catch up as those two grew in power (which would be better depends on what stages get played most). Not to mention it discourages wasting artifact choices on healing, as it gives party members yet another stage to focus on power and get a lead there.

Sure, party members can theoretically cooperate entirely and save certain artifacts for each other, but at that point you may as well remove the system entirely. The secret missions were a feature that really set the game apart from other cooperative action RPGs. I still see no way to properly implement it in couch coop and stand by my opinion that they’d be cutting a key component of the game out if they removed it.

@ShadJV I never played the coop, I think you're totally right. That's probably why the devs stopped trying too.

They probably should have thought of that in the first place, less of a PR disaster that way xD

Still, cross play across multiple platforms is really neat, so they're definitely doing their best here!

Guess Ill just play the original again. I have the whole setup for 4 players!

@ATaco the fact that the original version supports local mp and this for some unknown reason doesn't is really a strange decision really, there is no reason for it.

Isn't this LITERALLY THE REASON THE GAME EXISTED TO BEGIN WITH

For 4 player co-op

@sixrings You can just buy two digital copies and gameshare it across four systems and play online, but locally.

Actually, isn't there a free download option on the eShop to play with people who own the game? So I think only one game is needed.

I don't get it. This seems better than the original. With the original you needed 5 Nintendo consoles for 4 people to play (Gamecube and 4 gbas). With the new version you need 5 consoles but the users can use tablet, ps4, switch, switch lite and use the free lite client to connect. Many homes have that already. No special cable! As for the people that want local offline multiplay, my condolences, but I seriously doubt that the target market here is people sitting in the back seat on a long car trip.

@SirKero all my switches will need a NSO subscription.Thats crazy talk. I barely get the value out of one subscription... I'm not buying three more to play. Also what happens 10 years from now and I want to play. Local wireless would have taken how long to implement? a day? two days? figure it out.

Id rather buy 4 copies and play local wireless then buy one copy and pay for four NSO subscriptions.

@TG16_IS_BAE I sure hope they do add local co-op in a future update. Or just delay the game so that they can have it on it's release

@Naoto-chi Yes!!!

Whelp, I can take this off the radar. "For development reasons."

I don't know if it translates to, "the team was not capable," or "the team doesn't care."

Disappointed either way. Missed out on this the first time. Thought that was gonna change.

Major company can't figure it out but overcooked developers can. That makes sense

@garfreek I mean, it’s no excuse to cut out local multiplayer, which they also did, so I’m not entirely convinced that was the reason they cut those features. I just don’t never thought couch coop would work. That being said, I’d rather they release it without local multiplayer than deal with ANOTHER delay.

@Naoto-chi the game was already delayed, what, 3 times? We should’ve had this a year ago. Delaying it again to please the small percentage of people that would use local multiplayer is a slap in the face to those that have been waiting through the delays and have Nintendo Online anyways. And I already thoroughly explained why couch coop wouldn’t work without cutting out a key mechanic.

@ShadJV I understand feeling impatient, but honestly, there are a LOT of people who want it to have local co-op. Not a small percentage. The original game was built for it, and it is easy to see when you can compare single player to multiplayer on the gamecube.
Also, seing as the original had couch co-op I don't see any key mechanic that they have to cut out.

What I don't understand about the switch is that it's defenders keep telling me it's a portable console. But if that were fully true shouldn't most of the switches game include wireless local play. What if I'm in a room with a switch lite beside another friend with a switch lite. I can't exactly play multiplayer on the one switch lite screen. Ok so why don't you just play online? What if there is no Wi-Fi around or you don't have a NSO account. It makes more sense that games include the local wireless play in their games to facilitate this problem. Rather a lot of these companies are treating Nintendo's multiplayer like it's a console where everyone at all time is connected to the internet.

@Naoto-chi the original had couch coop because there was a method for every player to have a private screen. See me other comments if you don’t realize which mechanic I mean.

Local coop is only relevant to players who don’t have online and are in the same room. It’d be one thing if this game wasn’t delayed over a year from its original release window. At this point, just release it. They can add local coop later if there’s enough demand for it, but a vast majority of multiplayers games are played online nowadays. No matter what you think, a vast majority of the players were already going to be playing it online. Local coop players were a minority. A delay to cater to those fans is just screwing over the other fans who have been waiting through all the delays for a feature most players won’t touch, especially when it could always be added in earlier. Just let them release the game.

@ShadJV I have no problem with them patching local multiplayer in post launch but it should be promised to come in a future update like Grid. Otherwise there's no reason for someone like me who intends to only play this game by local wireless play to pick up the game at launch.

@ShadJV Well, I'm not saying that they must delay the game I just want them to add the local co-op one way or another. If they release an update for it later I am fine with that as well. But not all of my friends have NSO, and I still want to be able to play with them.
Also, I think we might have misunderstood each other a bit. Local co-op doesn't mean just playing on one system. It also means playing together on separate systems in the same room, just not using the internet.
I want to be able to play the game offline with my friends like in Monster Hunter.
But I wouldn't mind if they made a similar system to the old one but just let people use their phones instead of a Gameboy Advance in order to let people enjoy that experience. Which it sounds like they will do something similar to at least.

So to be more clear: I don't think that they must have local co-op on it's release or that they must delay the game for it, I just want them to add it as there is no reason to force people to use NSO.

@Naoto-chi precisely why I say COUCH coop doesn’t work - all sharing one tv and console with different controls. I’ve repeatedly said in my comments that local coop COULD work, I’m just not in favor of delaying the game to add it - a feature like that could always be added after release.

As for NSO... this isn’t a Nintendo exclusive game, it’s cross platform. Any players that want to play online can do so on iOS for free - they don’t even need to pay a cent, as there will be a free version that only requires one player to own the full game. NSO is only $4/month, so I don’t really think Square has any obligation to cater to players just for that... especially since local coop would only be relevant to Switch players. PS4 wouldn’t be capable of that and it’s redundant for iOS. This is what I mean by local coop being only applicable to a minority of their potential players. It’s a portion of only one platforms users. Even if a third of all buyers end up being Switch consumers, and even if half of them wanted local multiplayer (which I feel is very generous estimates), that would be 1/6th of the consumers. Delaying the game for local coop would be delaying it on multiple platforms for a feature only used the Switch version that only some of those players would even use. Leaving the other option to just delay the Switch version, which also pushes away consumers. There’s no realistic reason to delay the entire game just to add local play.

As I said, I’ve nothing wrong with them adding local play later. Any additional support for the game post-release is appreciated, even if it’s not features I’ll use. I’d be surprised if they do add it later, as I don’t think they’ll bother to add on a feature just for the Switch version (especially when I’m sure Square is banking on the iOS version for the most income, just looking at the mobile trend), but I am not in the slightest against adding the feature later on. Only delaying an entire multiplatform game to add a feature to one version of it.

This is hugely disappointing. I finally have IRL friends to play wirelessly with! In-person wireless play will always surpass an online experience.

I genuinely feel utterly deflated in my interest for this game.

@sixrings you absolutely should not buy this game at launch if you don’t plan on playing it online. Even if they did promise to add local multiplayer, I wouldn’t take a chance until the feature was released. I doubt local multiplayer is entirely off the table, but I also doubt it’s planned at this point. They’re focusing on getting the game out on multiple platforms, and given how long they’ve been taking to get this slightly updated port out, I don’t think they’re even giving Future updates a thought. I do agree anyone that was planning on only using local multiplayer should pass on this game though, unless something changes.

I still plan to buy this game as looks fun. What grinds my gears, and this is just the way it is, is that Nintendo never allows discounts on their games as a whole. I can literally walk across the isle at some stores and get same game flash-sale 35% off for some random sale event bash. I am sure this game will be cheaper within 3 months on other platforms.

Incompetence galore I see. The world has way too many moronic developers out there sadly.