Reused assets from Setsuna and the game's price

[Ravel]

So for me the game costs twice as much as Setsuna. Ranting in 3, 2, 1...

I realize that pricing of any game in general is a debatable topic. But we've seen many games for 10-15$ which have 100$+ value with countless hours of unexplored content. Let's be honest, many people, even those who's really liked Setsuna (including me), consider its price steep for its content: lacking story and far from perfect gameplay.

Sekai (or Lost Sphear in the west) is not a triple A game to demand this kind of price from people who have generously supported the first game, despite it being a nonamer and an average experience objectively; grindy gameplay, samey art-direction and story leaving much to be desired. Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls came out recently and is 30$. Port of an old game or not, it's an undeniable hit for its niche market. Sekai is 50$, yeah.

After watching Lost Sphear's >>>15<<< minute gameplay video, you can easily see they've reused A LOT of old animations and models, especially npc and enemy models like penguins from Setsuna. Even the bath house you see shortly in IGN video is straight out of Setsuna with the same layout. If it's a "spiritual" sequel it doesn't mean you can sell the same game twice. And who knows how similar this product turns out to be in the end. Gameplay and art-direction aside, maybe it doesn't even improve on the script. If Sekai turns out to be as average for common player as Setsuna, it will sell even less copies.

I wish I could support the devs, because nothing warms my heart like a good jrpg story. But as it stands now, the game doesn't meet my expectations to justify the pricetag.

P.S. Julienne is the best character in Setsuna.

[Broso]

Yeah, I have no idea where the ♥♥♥♥ they are pulling these numbers from. Considering the price, this game should offer at least 20% more content than I am Setsuna. Somehow though I doubt that.

Anyone who wants to play a good JRPG and hasn't done so yet, get the Legend of Heroes titles. They are awesome and none of them is priced as highly as this. Not even the Trails of Cold Steel port which is being released today.

[One Sharp Reaper]

Well, I reckon Aeterna the best.....It's a pity she vanished at last.

[A.m.a.t.x.D]

setsuna didn't sold much even at a much lower price, i really don't understand the thinking behind this pricing, square enix as always, killing games

[Zunnoab #931]

Well it's a hard decision for them I'd imagine. Unfortunately this genre is more niche now. So if they sell at a lower price and not many buy it, they have spent far more money making it than they make back. If they charge a higher price and people interested in these games are willing to pay more per game purchased, it might make projects like this viable.

I remember when I played Tales of Graces f I thought how much I didn't mind so many NPC models being minor variations or even copies of others if it meant the game world could viably be as large as it is in that game, in contrast for example to the NPC-barren world of Final Fantasy XIII.

I will probably pre-purchase this, but Secret of Mana was an instant buy for me. I need to hold off and see what my spending looks like and then make a choice. Still, I want to support this genre.

I'm not saying I encourage this pricing, but the fact is it might be necessary to pay for the game's development.

Edit:
My resolve to hold off pre-purchasing lasted less than a half hour...

Still, I'm happy to support projects like this. My reaction to the last few weeks has been how E3 used to be for me. I went from not having many "must buy" games to Biomutant, Secret of Mana's remake, Final Fantasy XV, and now learning about this all coming to the PC. And then there's FFXII's remaster which will likely come.

Suddenly 2018 is looking insane as far as my gaming tastes goes.

[Daikatan]

Originally posted by A.m.a.t.x.D:

setsuna didn't sold much even at a much lower price, i really don't understand the thinking behind this pricing, square enix as always, killing games

Maybe they think "if few people bought it, so we should raise the price - same people will buy it again so we ll have more income without selling more copies"

[Broso]

Originally posted by Daikatan:

Originally posted by A.m.a.t.x.D:

setsuna didn't sold much even at a much lower price, i really don't understand the thinking behind this pricing, square enix as always, killing games

Maybe they think "if few people bought it, so we should raise the price - same people will buy it again so we ll have more income without selling more copies"

OR they could lower the price and sell more copies as a result. It doesn't matter, anyone smart enough not to buy into these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pricing politics should just wait for the inevitable 50+% discount.

This game does look interesting but it's nothing anyone would need to play right away, especially since there are plenty of other good (and similar) games out there right now.