I no longer give them my money. I would rethink this if they made the games available for PC or something more open. But the more I hear the less likely I am to start buying anything they produce.
But they really love trying to squeeze every cent and milking their customers to a point where it's disgusting.
My partner purchased a the latest Zelda and I can't even play it on my account on the same device: I need to buy another copy of the game (which obviously will never happen).
Usually most people only have one Switch so this never is a problem. However, if you've switched consoles and you didn't do System Transfer, you need to manually switch over the home console in order to get your offline play rights back.
Alternatively your partner may have explicitly set their home account to someone else's system. There's a mildly pirate-y[0] thing you can do with a friend where you log into your account on their system and they log into your system with their account, and then you have a shared game pool. In order to be able to play on your own account you need to swap the home console associations around so your friend's Switch is your home console and vice versa. But if you do this you can never play your own games on other accounts, since your friend's the one who took that half of the license.
[0] As in, it bends the rules of the DRM in ways Nintendo probably does not intend and thus probably violates a license agreement somewhere
Don't buy digital, it's never worth it.
There have been other games where this has been problematic (Animal crossing I think limited some features per device instead of per account).
If they are linked to a different Nintendo online account they need to buy their own copy of the game?
Maybe I'm wrong about that...
They are a lot more permissive with their digital copies than I expected, honestly.
Nintendo does a lot of stupid shit but this is one of the few things I think they have been really good about.
I recently fired up the original NES Zelda game and it was fun. I also got a switch and BoTW and the original is more fun. There is so much filler and repetitive game mechanics that don't add to the game at all in BoTW. Game companies keep adding stuff to lengthen game play loops and this ends up in tedious, repetitive gaming sessions which after some point I don't find enjoyable.
Its art though so to each their own and in my opinion you shouldn't be allowed to patent art.
Yes, they use the same IP's for decades but they remain relevant because they do new things with those IP's. BoTW completely bucked the Zelda formula. ToTK was so successful because they didn't try to just ride off the success of its predecessor - they did a lot of new stuff.
A far better comparison to Fast N Furious would be Madden.
I like how with Batman and Joker movies different directors/actors have a different take on the characters or setting (gritty vs campy humor, etc.) and I don’t mind similar story elements being re-used. I don’t like that in most video games for some reason. Horizon Zero Dawn was awesome, same with Last of Us (game), haven’t looked at a sequels, they look like more of the same. Its okay for me to not like that in this art form and its okay for you (or others) to like it.
But "Link, the hero of time saves Zelda from Ganon, the great evil" is the whole point of the story in the Zelda games, that these three fates are intertwined for eternity and meant to constantly dance their dance.
>I like how with Batman and Joker movies different directors/actors have a different take on the characters or setting
Zelda does this massively, there's multiple interpretations of these characters because they are different living beings in the same lineage or whatever. Consider the toon games, where "Zelda" is a pirate girl with zero "Royal" character attributes.
I don't know what you are expecting or asking for. Hell, BoTW is ALSO another re-interpretation of the story and characters
Maybe the difference for me is with a movie, I’m just along for the ride and have no input into anything, but with a video game I’m playing the main character and when I’ve played that same exact main character with that same overall story arc I just don’t find it interesting. The other element I think is my age, I’m finding less consumable media (tv, movies, games, books, sports) enjoyable as I get older. There are things I still really enjoy but genres of them that I used to and now I don’t find interesting.
Nintendo is very sparing in how often they make mainline games in their IP (besides Pokemon). Mario has had one main 3d game in a decade. Zelda had 6 years between BoTW and ToTK, and 5 years between BoTW and it's predecessor. Everyone of those (Mario and Zelda) until ToTK was completely different, with a different feel and different mechanics.
Go play the original Super Mario Bros, then Mario N64, then Mario Sunshine, then Paper Mario (wii edition), then Super Mario Galaxy, then Super Mario Odyssey. Sure all those games have Mario in it, but they’re only the same in the sense that the Mandalorian takes place in the same galaxy as Star Wars Ep 4. I would never compare this franchise (or Zelda) with Fast and Furious or even something like CoD. And I don’t know how you can call the IP repetitive when the only constant in all the games I listed is Mario. It’s not like FIFA that updates every year with a new roster and the exact same game.
The reason I love playing these game is because they do innovate and create completely new games even if it’s the same franchise.
Apparently, though, their corporate culture is VERY Japanese and kind of crappy. I know someone who negotiated with them directly and although the gentleman was and remains a massive fan of Nintendo, the experience put a bad taste in his mouth.
Wish Nintendo would also listen to fans and give some of their lesser IP a fresh coat of paint. Can't believe it's been nearly 20 years since a new F-Zero, and probably over a decade since we've had a decent Star Fox. Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong, Metroid and Earthbound could all use some love, too.
Nintendo games are rated highly by other Nintendo gamers, but people from the outside see things significantly more clear.
Funny how these gaming faction war posts haven't changed one bit from 15+ years ago when I was a preteen arguing about Xbox vs PS2 vs Gamecube on NeoGAF forums.
I just hope anyone continuing the tradition on HN are no older than that.
All of those claims are extremely valid.
Everyone I know who loves games has a Switch in addition to at least a PS5/Xbox if not a gaming PC, and they play everything. Nintendo games are unique. They're a legitimate reason to still buy a six year old console, and millions of people do.
2021 was the first year that _half_ of households own at least one game console -- how many of those households owned just the one?
There is something special to folks on HN who don't realize the bubble they live in.
https://www.cta.tech/Resources/Newsroom/Media-Releases/2021/...
Somebody isn't seeing things clearly, that's for sure.