Tuulenpoika

I had to log in just to give kudos for that absolutely wonderful article subtitle.

The fact that this version of the game is the only one that actually manages to run worse than the very original Wii game is, frankly, inexcusable. They released Vesperia on Switch and it ran incredibly well, only compromising the overworld map travel and some more active town segments, which are excusable when the performance matches the PS3 version that port was based on. This porting job is so far below that level that it's astounding, really, especially when all the other versions manage to run fine and are the definitive version of this great game.

I can only hope they would patch this version to include some kind of performance mode to make it match at least the Wii original and the later PS3 port when it comes to performance, but I'm having my doubts since I contacted the publisher immediately about this issue when the initial frame rates were revealed, they gave a cookie cutter "anything isn't final yet" answer and here we are, nothing was changed.

I loved this game on PS3 and would have really wanted to have a similar stellar port job of it on Switch like they did with Vesperia, but this is another Symphonia-level blunder, just only on Switch. Which makes it almost doubly more unfortunate.

@GameOtaku Thanks for pointing out the account system, this is one of the points I have been trying to point out for a good while now. I bought my first PSOne Classic for my PSP in 2010, and I still have access to it on PSP/PS3/Vita/Vita TV in its original form with no additional payment required because the purchase has been tied to my account, not my console.

Why Nintendo didn't make any one-time Virtual Console purchase carry over to future platforms even when they made the account system is just because they felt like they can charge for the same game multiple times. Or even better, keep people paying time and time again just to get access, not even own it, but access the license to play it.

I hope they will stick with the high school setting for Persona, it just feels right and I'd be always more than OK with having more of it. If they'd ever want to explore alternative settings, having a whole separate spinoff series around such might be interesting.

I would absolutely love getting this, but that price is set way too high for a remaster of an older game. It's going to be a tough sell for the general market due to how it handles things very differently when compared to your usual JRPGs, and the fans who already know it probably already own it in some capacity, so the overly high pricing when compared to all the other existing remasters on the market is a disservice to pretty much everyone involved, including the developers and publisher themselves.

Seeing the amount of people vehemently shaming people who actually care about choice western sensibilities changing Japanese games honestly makes me very disappointed. Not surprised, but very disappointed.

At one point character customization options are all well and good and nobody should care about them if they're not going to use them, but suddenly when it comes to this particular game and a "boob slider" it suddenly becomes an issue that should be removed and stay that way, even when it was present in the original Japanese game? The amount of hypocrisy and double standards regarding these cases is incredibly apparent and I have no idea how so many folks are totally fine ignoring that fact.

You can call the folks who want the original vision and content to stay untampered anything you want, but by shaming them you are not fixing a problem, you are the actual problem.

It's easy to demand artistic integrity when you're using someone else's money to make it.

If a publisher decides to invest money into your artsy game project, they are expecting it to make the money back and then some. If it doesn't, it failed to find an audience. Simple as that.

If you want to keep complete creative control and make games as an art form and not a business, fund it yourself or find folks who are willing to give you money out of their good will and not expect to get it back.

Very weird to have a faithful translation of the original's text as a negative.

More than ready to just wait for all the remaining games coming out for Switch, hoping for those final titles that would showcase the power of the platform by taking absolutely everything they can out of it. Metroid Prime 4 is looking to be just that, and I hope there would still be a few more surprises left. The backlog for me is absolutely massive still, so in terms of not having anything new to play I'm in no rush whatsoever.

Too bad the eShop is getting increasingly frustrating to browse through due to the sheer amount of low-effort slop that is seemingly coming out nearly every day. It's an unpleasant thing to admit that Switch's eShop's legacy will probably be mostly about the poor performance and the lower quality control.

Apparently this assumed worry over the preservation doesn't reach Europe, because once again it's digital only treatment for us like it has always been with Ace Attorney and Mega Man.

This game is the first one since the remake of the first game for the DS to receive a European physical release, and I'm more than glad about it.

I absolutely love the 2D character art, and even though the in-game 3D graphics aren't anything too special, they look very charming. I can't wait to get to see more of it. Day One buy, definitely.

@dartmonkey Good to know, thanks! I don't mind waiting, as long as it's him doing it.

The reviews overall haven't been singing the highest possible praise (regrettably), but I'm just incredibly happy to be able to get a new version of my second favorite game ever on Switch with Japanese voice acting intact and additional content. I'm glad they kept it very close to the original, so that the risk of trying to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with was lowered as much as possible.

Also, big kudos for taking into account the overall level of aesthetics and performance when compared to RF5. The rock-solid performance and the lack of load times do wonders for the overall gameplay feel.

A question for the editorial team: Is Zion going to be making a video review of this one?

@DrGonzo What deep discounts? The game has been out only for some time, and the only discount was a launch sale, which was a very fair thing of them to do for the early adopters. After that the price has gone up to its regular level, and there hasn't been a single sale for it after that as of now.

Capcom really dropped the ball by not giving this one a European physical release. The quality of the compilation seems very solid, but I just don't want to give my Day One money to a company that doesn't deem my region as worthy of a proper physical release.

Has there been any news regarding the physical release ever since the initial confirmation of one being in the works? I would really love to get one if I could just get it from a regular game store, or at least a proper European physical release in some other way.

@-wc- I'm talking from a general consumer's perspective, who would have to pay for the game in order to play it if they'd want to get the game the legitimate way.

Of course there is a way for someone to get access to the game without paying for it, but that is missing the general point. The point being, if people would fill the survey by the rules set by the publisher, the people with the most issues with the release to the point of not wanting to buy it would be excluded, basically leaving a good chunk of the potential customer base with guaranteed negative feedback unaccounted for by design.

If this survey's goal was to find out what went wrong with this release, leaving out the segment of potential buyers who flat out refused to give them money for it after finding out about the state of the end product would work against said goal.

@-wc- I'm sure me and many other fans would very much have feedback to give on why they decided not to buy the game.

They aren't even willing to take feedback if you haven't played the game, AKA haven't already given them money for it.

Have fun trying to figure out why the sales weren't good, then.

Just a reminder that the ports of Persona 3 and 4 were 20€ each, while these remasters of original DS games without the added content of the Untold versions charge double that for a single game. You were able to buy both Untold 1 and 2 from the 3DS eShop in Europe during the last few weeks for 4€ a piece. And yes, I know it was a special sale but it was far from the only one, they were regularly being sold for under 10€ for years.

The reason for why this package is the price it is is because they dare to ask that much for it. If you're not okay with this pricing, do not buy the games until the price goes down. I am a fan of Etrian series, but that's not an excuse to give them a free pass for being this greedy over ports of DS games.

Would really like to know if they're planning to have a physical release of this game. I would love to support it with a Day One purchase, but I would rather pay extra for the physical right off the bat instead of having to double dip afterwards.

I knew of this game a long time ago, but it wasn't on my Day One radar. I wasn't particularly into the western animal cartoon character designs, and it just seemingly wasn't triggering any "need this ASAP" alarms in my brain. That was until I stumbled upon a video showcasing all the different ways you could get a Game Over. This is something that was incredibly amusing in older point and click adventure games, and the way this game handles them feels very deliberately paying homage to it; there wouldn't be a whole separate section for listing all the possible Game Overs if it wasn't so.

As I watched along I was really impressed by the amount and quality of the voice acting. Every bit has it, including around ten different variations for failed attempts to use or combine items. Then I found out about all the different endings, how many puzzles have different solutions and how combining the whole beat'em up thing with your point and click gameplay actually contributes to the whole "brain VS brawn" concept. From a game design perspective I think it deserves way more credit than it's been given. It gives the game a whole another level of discovery when you can find additional dialogue and event paths by disrespecting your surroundings even when there's no particular need to do so.

Combine all that with a very smartly designed UI for Switch's controls, very solid 60FPS framerate, a really in-depth in-game artbook and a whole separate section for fan art, and you get a game that clearly feels like a labor of love and one of the fresher offerings point and click genre has had in a while. So much care was put into this game to make it work like it does, and it truly shows.

If you're even the slightest bit into point and click adventure games and you still haven't given Brok a look, I'd highly recommend doing so. It's an incredibly well made game.

The Switch version was even worse than I anticipated. Increased load times when going to the world map, the battle transition effect simply not being there and replaced with a blank white screen, bringing up the main menu makes the screen outside of the menu itself go black. It's frankly quite shocking how much of a lesser version this is when compared to even the original PS3 port job, which was already weaker than the original due to the sloppy job they did.

And they did not include the sequel and asked more money than they did eight years ago. It is an absolute disgrace for a game that would have deserved so much more care.

I really hope they have a Switch port of Final Fantasy Tactics in the works, hopefully in the same style as Tactics Ogre Reborn; just take the PSP port and its contents and make it run flawlessly. The PSP version had some serious slowdown during spell animations.

This pricing level is absolutely ridiculous when ports of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden were released just under one month ago for 20€ per game. These are ports of older DS games that are by no means indicative of asking double the price of the Persona ports in any way whatsoever. Withholding the physical release to Japan only makes it even worse.

Just as a reminder, you could get the 3DS entries during sales for 5€ a piece. Even now you can still get IV and the first Untold game for 10€ a piece in the European eShop, and they're still an incredibly good deal for what you get for that amount of money. You can even get the physical versions of said games for the price they're asking for one digital-only remaster of the original version without the added content.

Compared to that this pricing level feels like highway robbery and just flat out exploitative. I was ecstastic during the initial reveal, but seeing how they're planning to release these killed all the hype for me. Beyond disappointed to see the series make a return like this after years of absence.

@Zeroo Don't worry, that's because it is. Taking a nearly nine years old port, removing the second game from the package, hiking up the price and not even bothering to improve the technical performance is what I would call low-effort cashgrabbing, and it's something that's definitely not going to see my money.

You'd think that a well-loved JRPG that has scarce availability and high prices in the second-hand market would be a dead ringer for an easy port job with sensible pricing that would make the game more available for general public and would bring money to the IP holders, but I guess Sega doesn't get those memos.

Really glad to see this being changed, the original always stuck out and not in a good way.

Now I really hope that they have also added a support for single joy-con multiplayer for most of the games, that was the most baffling omission.

Finally a proper release of this game. I remember the controversy back in the day and it led me not wanting to get it, knowing I would receive a lesser release when compared to the Japanese original. Thankfully we've seemingly moved past those times at least when it comes to some publishers, and games can be made available as intended for interested gamers outside of Japan, as well.

I really like how they made a conscious choice not to go with HD-2D with this one, since the original PSP version looked fine as it was and this ensures that it's going to look and also run good on Switch. The HD-2D treatment is now always needed, and should Chrono Trigger on Switch ever happen I hope they would take this approach with that one, as well.

This was easily my favorite part of the whole show. Rune Factory 3 is one of my absolute favorite games of all time, and getting it on Switch running on the same engine as Rune Factory 4 Special with all the same style of extra content is straight up godsend for me. Incredibly hyped and looking forward to getting this and hyping it up for anyone who might be even that slight bit interested in it.

A disclaimer: for some reason this game does not support single Joy-Cons as controllers, despite all the games available easily being playable with the amount of buttons on them. It's a shame, I had to cancel my co-op evening plans because of this since I just assumed all simple multiplayer games would support them on Switch, especially a package like this.

I'd love to see some kind of additional cel-shading outlining option to be added later down the line, I think it's the main thing that I wish this new version would have to make things have that certain "edge" in the graphics department that seemed to be present in the originals.

@Magician For objectivity's sake it's good to know the other side to this story, as well.
https://nichegamer.com/report-zoe-quinn-allegations-over-alex-holowka-abuse-claims-now-seeming-doubtful/

No doubt all this stuff affected any plans for any further releases of the game, and personally I don't blame them.

Agreeing with other folks here about the price, the two earlier games were way cheaper and still offered a lot of content for the price, and even though World clearly has seen an improvement when it comes to production values, paying over double of the launch prices of the original ones feels a bit much. Also the digital version is large enough to the point I'd probably prefer to wait for a physical release, especially since paying a little more for one doesn't feel too bad.

@moodycat
I'd argue sticking with just the original Japanese voice acting is a better way to go.

Visual novels are already quite a niche genre, and the people who actively want to support them are often particular about getting the translated games as close to the originals as possible. Not bothering with English voice acting for Japanese visual novels saves time and costs for the localization company, and offers an experience as close to the original as possible without having to compromise the intelligibility, assuming all the voice acted dialogue represents the text on-screen and doesn't include ham-fisted localization changes.

Now with western companies making their own visual novels, then the inclusion of full voice acting is at least commendable.

I, for one, am all in for this level of graphical fidelity if it means the game runs smoothly, the framerate during that first trailer looked positively awful. Based on this trailer it does look like they've fixed that part pretty well, at least when there isn't a huge number of models on screen at the same time.

I really can't remember any part of the game that I could consider "problematic". Some of the characters were just more insufferable by their nature than others.

Definitely worth playing, though, just like the sequel.

I was so mad over this version not being localized that it has actually affected my enjoyment of the Switch version to the point it's nowhere near my priority list anymore despite being a nice enough game. I really, REALLY wanted the 3DS version next to 7 and 8 on my 3DS shelf. I vastly preferred the graphical style of the 3DS original, as well.

It really was regrettable they never brought this one over here. I already kind of lost my hope when the localization announcement came and they never specified which versions would be included, that's usually a sign that some versions are not gonna make the cut.

Despite its memetastic name, this one really nails the aesthetics and atmosphere. Highly interested in this one.

I, for one, am glad they specifically included the original Link's Awakening. The 3DS had the DX version but not the original, so I think it's cool they chose to have the original version with this one. Of course, had the original version been already available on any other modern platform, it might not have been as cool.

In no way can I see the subscription worth it when it's a continuin payment for something that an Animal Crossing fan could just buy outright and have without the need to continue paying for it.

I want to believe that Nick "so I booked a trip to Japan" Robinson's efforts played a part in this.

NEO: The World Ends with You. Easily.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I was thinking the same thing. And now it makes perfect sense — to sell the original music back for the ones who remember it and want it back. Really scummy.

I can't help but feel that charging additional money for original character models and original music in a remaster is really scummy. These things used to be included by default in re-releases like these.

I had to pay 60€ for a physical World's End Club in Europe. That was its regular asking price. For a game that was mostly available in the Apple Arcade previously.

I don't mind the low budget feel, because I was massively intrigued by the character designs, setting and the creative minds behind it, but had it been only a little bit less interesting for me, I would have never paid that much for a game of that nature.

I get where the article is coming from, but for me it's kind of tough to ignore all the

A) big company moneygrabbing tactics spreading over the entire AAA industry (and having trickled down on the lower levels of budgets, too) including base price hikes, locking content behind paywalls and increasingly moving more towards games-as-service models

B) the gaming community being more divided than ever, with several operators trying to define who is and isn't part of the so-called "gaming community"

C) moral guardians wanting to determine what is OK to be included in video games and especially what isn't, this matter was universally laughed at (deservingly so) when it was around in the early 2000s, but nowadays the situation is way worse and divided, very much due to the reason B

D) scalpers hogging all the limited releases and selling them at inflated prices on eBay and how Nintendo especially has the habit to more or less knowingly contribute to the matter.

In a way, it feels way worse to be around gaming discourse than it has ever been for me. But when it comes to the amount of games, the variety and options people have when it comes to what games to play, I think we're living in a good timeline. There are still some things that would need improving (especially on that C part) but overall when you know what you want, what you DON'T want and know how to find/avoid said things, from a purely game-centric viewpoint things are pretty alright.

Mostly.

The evolution Clive 'N' Wrench has seen is crazy, it's looking genuinely charming and enjoyable now.

"Did your parents ever force you to choose between sustenance and interactive entertainment? Be sure to let us know in the comments."

Had a good chuckle with this one, thanks.