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This Week in Games - Octo Paths and None of Them Lead to Upgrades

(Though it would be nice if Atlus remembered their old IP's outside of their RPG input. I still miss Power Instinct/Goketsuji Ichizoku. ;-; )

There are quite a few games I bought second copies of for my Switch, partly for the portability, but mostly to build up a nice collection of physical games. And an awful lot of those games were published by Square-Enix. Just off the top of my head, I know I've got Switch copies (that I wouldn't otherwise have purchased) of Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10/10-2, 12, Star Ocean 2, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Final Fantasy Tactics, Octopath 1, 2, The World Ends With You, Dragon Quest 3, 12, and probably a couple others that I'm forgetting.

Those are an awful lot of games that I might've been willing to spend a few bucks on a Switch 2 update for. Oh well.

And, of course, this whole ordeal makes me significantly less likely to buy any Sqaure-Enix products in the future, especially for a console. Do they not realize that they need the goodwill of their fans?

I used to characterize Square-Enix as being ashamed of making RPGs (arguably a cloud that's been hanging over the company since The Spirit Within, at least); now I'm starting to think they're actively resentful of their own audience. I can't really understand why they say what they say or do what they do otherwise.

To be honest given how I see some Switch fans talk about collecting games being more important than playing them I think companies do it on purpose because they know Switch collectors will double dip again to pay for a new box to fill out their shelves. I think the same is true when you get releases where the digital version comes out a month or few before the physical release and they're probably hoping impatient fans will buy it again to have the physical case on their shelf. That's probably the future of physical games is being a collectors focused thing with encouragement to double or even triple dip in some cases.

That's not not a factor. People really like having complete Nintendo libraries (moreso than other publishers, for some reason). And sure, a lot of it is just people who want to pad out the shelves in the background of their Youtube room, but the fact of the matter is that physical copies can be cheaper.

See, I could understand SE being antsy about offering upgrades for their smaller titles. But not only did they up and give a freaking Romancing SaGa remake an upgrade path, they don't do it for some of their biggest franchises. That's what gets me. I love SaGa, sure, but the money you leave on the table by not offering upgrade paths for the HD-2D Dragon Quests?! At a time when those games need all the help they can get in America? Madness.

FinalVentCard wrote:

That's not not a factor. People really like having complete Nintendo libraries (moreso than other publishers, for some reason). And sure, a lot of it is just people who want to pad out the shelves in the background of their Youtube room, but the fact of the matter is that physical copies can be cheaper.

You know, I've noticed that, too, but even as someone with most of my physical collection consisting of Nintendo games, I couldn't really tell you why. Maybe part of it is that Nintendo libraries tend to be smaller? Like if you want to grab all of your favorite Gamecube games, that's a pretty achievable goal -- and one that won't demand too much shelf space. Want a similar collection of your favorite PS2 games? That's a proposition of considerably more magnitude.

As for people wanting a collection purely for a "youtube shelf" (or I suppose display purposes more generally) I can't imagine that's a very big percentage of collectors. Especially given how much easier (and cheaper) it is to just buy the empty cases, sans games. If you're not actually going to be playing anything, there's no real reason to have physical copies of the disks of carts themselves -- the plastic case and paper cover art alone will suffice.

I know with me on the Switch at least it was that I straight-up didn't trust Nintendo's digital storefront to have any sort of longevity or carry-over. At least they can't remove access to a cartridge.

P.S. I saw you mention Henry Stickmin (one of my favorite series) in the post. Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume that was used as an example of a simple premise being done properly, which if so then you're absolutely right.

I hadn't actually considered it as an example of well-executed simplicity, and you're actually quite on-the-money there. Rather, I meant it in the rather literal sense of "this is a game where the aesthetic is nothing but literal stick-figures." Provided: I think it's a sign of absolute mastery on that game's art team's behalf that they could make such simple stick figures as animated as they were.

Still, that's my real point. They were able to demonstrate that kind of captivating art with sticks. People love those stick figures. So what's the excuse of the proselytizers?

I hadn't actually considered it as an example of well-executed simplicity, and you're actually quite on-the-money there. Rather, I meant it in the rather literal sense of "this is a game where the aesthetic is nothing but literal stick-figures." Provided: I think it's a sign of absolute mastery on that game's art team's behalf that they could make such simple stick figures as animated as they were.

Still, that's my real point. They were able to demonstrate that kind of captivating art with sticks. People love those stick figures. So what's the excuse of the proselytizers?

You raise another good point re: people getting harassed to release physical copies, especially indie devs. A lot of major AA games get the "indie" label (I'm still mad about Dave the Diver), but a lot of those actual indie devs don't have those resources! This is why it's such a problem when established studios try to co-opt "indie" branding: it muddies the water when it comes to the kind of stuff actual people doing this stuff in their garage can do! The former Vanillaware-guy who made Witch of the Dark Castle likely couldn't get a physical release off the ground, or at least won't until word of mouth spreads a bit further for the game. I can see a limited run release (as in, from a boutique label, not from LRG specifically--heaven forbid!).

Smarter people than myself have said it best, we shouldn't lose the forest for the trees. This discussion shouldn't end just at stuff being physical by default, it should also involve us having proper ownership over our digital goods that ensure we can access them if these services go down.