OpheliaDynamight

@michellelynn0976 so let me see if I'm following the logic here.

I post a comment saying that I think Nintendo develops games based more on what their developers want to do and can think up, not on what sales numbers are, so we might see a Prime 5 even if sales numbers aren't great (which is still to be determined).

I speculate (openly calling it speculation) that the 18 year gap may have been because the developers didn't have a new mechanic or direction they wanted to take the series in yet. Clearly, since Prime 4 exists, they found that new mechanic/direction.

You list a bunch of new things in Prime 4 and demand to know if I played it.

I agree they have new things in Prime 4 and that I haven't played it.

You call me uneducated.

I said I was literally defending Prime 4 as having new things.

You say I'm a troll.

Are you not seeing how this is a very confusing interaction for two humans to have?

@michellelynn0976 I don't understand the question so I'm just going to answer it straightforward.

No. I am not psychic.

@michellelynn0976 I'm not sure you're following along with what I was saying.

I said they didn't have any new mechanics 18 years ago that they wanted to try out for a Prime 4. Then, over time, they gathered some ideas and eventually started development on Prime 4, which is now filled with those new gameplay mechanics.

You're being very aggressive about a comment that wasn't at all a criticism of Prime 4.

@michellelynn0976 My comment was that the gap was longer because they didn't have a new gameplay mechanic, not low sales.

That would then mean that they started developing the game once they brainstormed some new mechanics organically, which seems to be the case from your list of new mechanics in the game.

That said, no, I haven't played it and I doubt I will. I suck at anything first person. I'm glad you're enjoying it though.

@ROMhaiku I think it was more to do with them not having a new, innovative game play mechanic for a Prime game than the sales numbers.

Don't get me wrong, if it sold 50 million units, yeah, they'd probably have put some more resources into figuring that out, but I don't know that the low sales were the biggest factor in that gap.

This is all speculation on my part though, so feel free to disagree.

@Johnny44 I think this was always the fairest criticism of the pricing model on games. Will the extra 10 bucks net out against the folks who pass because of the extra tenner?

I guess it still remains to be seen, but I'm more in your camp at the moment.

@the_beaver in good news, Nintendo doesn't always seem to base their decisions on the sales numbers. If this were a Sony or Ubisoft or EA property? Yeah, I'd be concerned. But Nintendo seems to lean more towards listening to what their developers want to do as opposed to what the market says will be a home run.

That said, I look forward to the same DoomTubers that said Pokemon sucked, ignore the sales numbers, pointing to these sales numbers to say Metroid sucks, look at the sales numbers.

@Truegamer79 "I don't buy outside America," says man on fan site for famously Japanese company.

@Mando44646 just wanted to say thanks for writing criticism in a level headed, non judgmental way. I didn't realize how refreshing it could be to see a critique that didn't immediately try to call anyone deciding to purchase it a fool/shill/horrid person.

Maybe the Internet still stands a chance!

@OmnitronVariant this is a really good point that I hadn't thought of.

@ShadLink I'm starting to think @kal_el_07241 is just a somewhat clever troll.

The physical PC thing is what got me.

@JohnnyMind I'm always highly impressed by your huge list of games you keep in rotation.

Meanwhile, I might play a few hours more of Bravely Default, a game I've been playing singularly for months!

As a grown man, I went to my first ballet in my 30s. It was (stereotypically) The Nutcracker. I was vaguely interested in going, but mostly it was just a thing to do as a date with my wife.

I found myself somewhere in the middle of it completely overcome with emotion. Something about the idea of a Russian man hundreds of years in the past writing something that would be performed in modern day Kentucky for a grown man who had no interest in ballet really resonated with me on a human level. I just sat there with tears streaming down my face.

I'm feeling that same odd sense now. That someone in the UK, driven by a love for a video game company, would create a site that's become a Kentucky dude's daily routine is very human and very connecting.

Congratulations on the success! I hope it continues!

"This isn't 60 fps so I'm not having fun."

That's what my friends and I were always saying back in the day while playing SM64.

And then we would complain about the numbers in the latest quarterly reports from Nintendo.

@SBandy1 RE4 was insane when it was released and definitely worth getting scammed to try and get!

Those were indeed happy days, when I didn't even know what it would mean for Nintendo to acquire a developer.

Heck, I didn't even say developer, I just said "oh yeah, Capcom made this."

@SBandy1 thankfully I did! It took a local rental shop doing us a favor, but it was so sweet once I got it.

And that's why as an adult Stardew Valley is easily my most played game.

@SBandy1 not relevant to this topic, but Body Harvest made trying to acquire Harvest Moon 64 in rural Appalachia a nightmare.

The number of times I talked to people on the phone who said, yes, they looked, they have Harvest Moon, it's here on their shelves, only to be met with Body Harvest after begging my mother to drive me there was STAGGERING.

@SearchingS this comment really brought the childhood memories flooding back to me.

I sunk so much time into Red Alert and Tiberian Sun back then. I enjoyed AoE as well, but didn't play it quite as much.

@Kroko children don't tend to care if a game is a rock solid FPS or if the textures on a building aren't varied or super realistic.

Just because a game is bought by adults as well as children doesn't mean it's not for children. The intended audience is still children. For some reason, a lot of adults seem to think Pokemon has to grow up because they grew up. That wasn't a promise Pokemon ever made.

And at the end of the day, it sold like 5 million copies out of the gate, which is a pretty big indicator all the whining and moaning by some adults is out of touch. Unless of course you think you're that much smarter or better than 5 million+ people.

@OmnitronVariant this. The arrogance on display for "not being satisfied" with a children's game is wild.

And I don't even really like Pokemon.

Some folks choose odd things to feel superior about.

It's a game about collecting fake monsters and fighting with them. It's not that important or that serious.

If you're that riled up about fake people not moving enough and a digital picture not being high quality enough, go play something else. Not everything needs to be a rallying cry to take on some grand cause.

It's just a game. Go have fun doing something else. You'll live longer and be happier.

@Samalik isn't that just the same as all the centuries of work that woodworkers, machinists, and mechanics lost to automation?

I'm not saying I'm pro generative AI, but as someone from a poorer area of the US, there's just something very elitist about the outrage over it. Every time I see someone posting about art "making us human" I feel a small bit of indignation. I'm pretty sure the guy honing a cylinder block was pretty human, but he was told robots did it faster and he needed to go get a "smarter" job by going back to school. I don't think you're more human than that guy just because you can use a pencil.

Why did he get shoved to the side, but now we all have to clutch our pearls because a painter had a machine learn from his work?

Like I said, I understand all of that rambling from me is emotional and not necessarily logical, but it still irks me and I felt a need to express it.

@sixrings no worries! I'm fairly positive about them in their current state, but obviously they're not perfect and I can understand why others don't approve of some of their decisions.

Hopefully they take a turn you'll enjoy more in the future, but if not, hopefully you can go back and still enjoy their "oldies but goodies."

@sixrings I'm not really sure why you're being aggressive in your response, it seems a very unhappy way to converse with others.

I have no idea who should be credited for Kirby's DLC. I didn't purchase it or the base game. For what its worth, I didn't purchase it because I didn't see the value in it for myself. I also never claimed by purchasing a Nintendo game you were supporting a charity.

All I did was point out that pricing strategies have to take into account the overhead of producing a game. For Nintendo/HAL, that is a different equation than for a team with a very small team comparatively. As a consumer, you can also take a look at that and view it as your purchase supporting the wages, insurance, and retirement of a large group of people or a few.

I'm not making a judgment on anyone one way or another, choose to spend your money how you want and enjoy what you want to enjoy. I'm far more likely to end up with Silksong than I am Kirby, by the way.

Either way, despite the unpleasant tone in your discourse, I hope you have fun with whatever games you're playing this weekend!

@CasualTalkRadio I'm not sure who you are quoting with "at the end of the day," and I'm not really looking for any respect from anyone here, just talking video games.

And the fact is the price tag is for the game, not the medium it's delivered on.

Personally, I've not been gouged on any games I can think of. I wait for sales.

@seinfeldfanatic https://na.store.square-enix-games.com/octopath-traveler-0

@CasualTalkRadio I'm a fairly intelligent person, so I'm not sure suggesting otherwise does anything to help with your argument.

I'll just point out again that your pricing strategy would hit the Internet meat grinder and be spit out into 80 billion misinformation videos and headlines almost immediately. Charging multiple different prices for the same product will always be more confusing to consumers than charging one.

Also, once again, you're paying for the game, not the medium it's delivered on.

@sixrings I get this point, but at the same time I also feel like it gets lost in the sauce that Nintendo has over 8,000 people on staff and Team Cherry has...10ish?

While it might be easy to say, "not my problem," it is worth thinking about how many people your purchase is supporting.

This isn't a knock on Team Cherry, by the way. It's just something to think about.

@DiamondJim yes because they can choose not to be. They can not buy the product.

@CasualTalkRadio this would fail terribly in the market place from the sheer confusion alone. You're paying the same price for the game, not the medium that it's delivered on.

People couldn't even keep pricing straight on a single Mario Kart World game. Imagine trying to announce this one?

@LastFootnote that's fair and I'll hear someone out on that one.

@Medic_alert I found myself thinking about this the other day. My most fond gaming memories were with StarCraft and Diablo on a laggy Internet connection. I didn't even know what frames were back then.

@DiamondJim they've let everyone know ahead of time so the customer can be informed. Nothing about this is anti-consumer.

Bad business? Maybe? That's up to each individual, but I don't think it's anti consumer.

The Game Key Card people are starting to remind me of a dragon hoarding gold and jewels. It isn't about enjoying the games, it's about saying you "own" them.

@Axecon My wallet feels good after buying it. And quite a few games from this direct confirmed that for me as well.

@SpontaneousOutburst Raising prices isn't anti-consumer, especially when they're making a big announcement letting everyone know they're doing it.

If you wanted to argue raising prices is going to price people out, that isn't anti-consumer, its just bad business.

@Pat_trick Switch 2 probably won't come close to Switch 1 sales, but that's more to do with the fact Switch 1 will most likely be the best selling console of all time.

PS4 isn't going to sell as many units as PS2, but I'd hardly say that makes it unsuccessful.

I'm not sure why fans are stuck in the Wall Street mindset of "numbers must always go up!" for this console.

@RemyMartin I disagree.

But I also remember the first 3 months of the Switch when it really only had BotW. I mean, I loved "I Am Setsuna," but I don't think it was moving a lot of units.

And even then, I'm not sure BotW had MKWs attach rate.

@WhiteUmbrella The 1.27 million is as of June 30th, since that's when the fiscal quarter ends. I assume the "storming past" 1.5 million used the publicly available Japan sales data.

Not everything is a conspiracy to make Nintendo look good.

I think I need to move on from this site and comments in general. I thought the direct was pretty good and I'm excited. Yet everywhere on the Internet insists I not be. It kind of seems like the obvious solution is to cut out the Internet part and just enjoy what I want without judgement or expectations.

@axelhander this site has been highly critical of Welcome Tour being a paid game. Alex had a video on their YouTube channel talking about how it was fantastic to play, but still ended on the note that it shouldn't be a paid game.

Maybe your past posts were less to do with their feelings on Welcome Tour and more to do with your treatment of those who want to purchase it? For what it's worth, I'm not one of those people either.

That said, I hope you don't get permabanned and have a pleasant rest of your day! And happy Father's Day if that applies!

@DennyCrane this was a really thoughtful and well done post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm looking forward to finally playing TotK!

@USWITCH64 that got a literal "lol" from me. Thanks!

@nessisonett hey, I hope things get better for you soon. Money troubles are so soul crushing. Sorry to hear you're having them.