The Closing of Telltale Reinforces Why I Hate Episodic Games

The Walking Dead - The Final Season has been removed from digital storefronts. 

Although the title of this blog says that I hate episodic games, I guess I should say that I hate the episodic format.  I actually really enjoyed the Walking Dead games, although I only played the first two seasons. I never got around to playing the others, but if I did and was further invested in the series, I may never get a chance to experience how it all ends.  The closing of Telltale brings to light some problems with the video game industry. 

Telltale was not the first company to make games in episodic format.  Wikipedia actually sites the first episodic game as far back as 1979, but it wasn't really a popular thing.  The first big game that I remember adopting episodic format was Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which is why I never bothered with the game.  I didn't like the idea almost immediately, because I hated to think that I could only play chunks of a game at one time and have to wait for the rest of the game to be made. 

Hitman was one of the largest franchises that I remember adopting episodic format, which I thought was strange, because it was usually smaller games and Telltale style games that were made this way.  To take a AAA franchise and chop it up like that really confused me until I realized that it provided an opportunity for the publisher to make more money.  Why spend years and millions of dollars making one game when you could split it up and start telling the first part of it right away, dragging the carrot in front of your audience until the next chapter arrives. 

Then several years ago, Square-Enix announced that the upcoming Final Fantasy VII remake would be released in episodes, and that raised a lot of red flags with people.  No one wanted to play just the first episode of the Final Fantasy VII remake only to have to wait again for the second part and yet again for the final part. Yet, SE said it wouldn't just be small pieces of content like most episodic games; they would be full games.  Still, the idea did not sit well with a lot gamers.  Last I checked, however, rumors are pointing to a 2023 release to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the franchise, and this should provide SE with enough time to release the game as one complete title. 

So, the problem with episodic games is that if you become invested in a title from the onset, you're at the mercy of the developer/publisher to release the remaining chapters.  Most companies usually are committed to the project to see it through to completion, but as we saw with Telltale, that didn't happen.  There's been a history of issues within the company that eventually led to the closure of the studio and now whether or not people will see the conclusion of The Walking Dead - The Final Season is unknown. 

Their closing also illustrates the problem of the Season Pass.  Season Passes are promises that publishers sell you for more content.  Just like the episodic format, you're under their mercy but with the season pass, they've got you're money outright.  The season pass was already being sold for The Final Season but now gamers are out 20 bucks.  They'll more than likely get their refunds but almost not likely at all to get the rest of the game they paid for.

This isn't how gaming should be.  You shouldn't have to play just a part of a game and then wait for the next part to come out.  You shouldn't have to pay for a full game that isn't complete and then hope the studio doesn't go under, leaving the game you were invested in unfinished and having to go through the hassle of getting your money back.  You should have the peace of mind in knowing that when you buy a game, you have the entire game to play through at your leisure.  Your dollars and your patience should not be toyed with. 

What does that say about us as consumers, though?  Can we really not wait until a game is completed to play it?  Are we so eager to throw our money at companies that we don't even care about having a finished product delivered to us?  Hell, look at early access games.  We are PAYING companies to test THEIR games!  We are PAYING for unfinished products!  We need to readjust the way we look at games like these, because we shouldn't ever have this happen to us again.

It Has Begun Yet Again: Sony PlayStation Classic

So that happened... With the success of the NES and SNES Classic, it was only inevitable that Sony would follow with a mini version of their own console.  After all, Sony has just as much of a legacy as Nintendo does when it comes to old school games. 

What we know so far:

• It will release Monday, December 3rd of this year
• It will contain 20 games, including Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Wild Arms, Tekken 3 and Ridge Racer Type 4.  The rest have yet to be be announced
• It will come with two original controllers, not Dual Shock controllers
• It will come with HDMI and a USB cable for power supply.  
• USB A/C adapter sold separately
• It will retail for 100 dollars US

Will we see a repeat of the feeding frenzy that ensued with the NES and SNES Classic? Well for starters, it hasn't been that bad yet.  I checked Best Buy almost 12 hours after the news was announced and was able to pre-order one.  GameStop was also still selling them last I checked yesterday and at the current time of this writing, they're the only ones with pre-orders still available. 

Had this been a Nintendo mini system, this would have not been a case.  You wouldn't be able to go to any site two days after the announcement and find them still available.  We all know the pre-order fiasco for the SNES Classic was even worse than the NES one, selling out in mere minutes after pre-orders went live, and that was with Nintendo having more stock of the SNES versus the NES.

There's several reasons why the PlayStation Classic hasn't sold out yet.  One, the news is still fresh.  Sony started selling them almost immediately after it was announced versus Nintendo making the announcement for their mini consoles months before.  Everyone was primed to immediately bombard store sites the moment sales went live. Two, it could be that Sony has made a far more considerable amount than Nintendo did and they simply haven't run out yet.  Three, it could just be that the nostalgia isn't as strong as Nintendo's.  Lastly, the price factor and the lack of a fully announced library is what's holding some people off for now.  

I expect GameStop will soon sell out of their allotments very soon, and then the rest of the people will have to resort to camping out at store fronts overnight or early in the morning, but I have a much better feeling that they'll be a lot easier to find than the NES and SNES Classics.  Still, that hasn't stopped some PlayStation Classics from already being sold on eBay.  One went for 360 dollars!

That's nuts.  People are already scalping them, which isn't surprising, but they're still available in a couple of places (or were depending on when you read this)!  This is scalping culture.  This is how we're conditioned now.  We automatically assume that they're already sold out, we don't even bother to try to see if they're still being sold.  We have no problem spending hundreds of dollars on something provided we have the peace of mind in knowing that we'll get one.  This has to stop.  We as consumers should have the right to know that if we want to buy something from a company, that company should have that product to sell to us.  We shouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg via a middle man who can make two to three times the profit just to get one.  So hopefully, Sony, you keep these well stocked so the scalpers don't benefit. 

Now, let's talk about the known games so far. 

I kind of feel like this is Square's Mario or Skyrim. It's been released on everything.  Of course this would be one of the titles included on the PlayStation Classic.  After all, it's the defining game of PlayStation's era.  It broke a ton of records and also, it was the one Nintendo game that got away.  Had it not been for Nintendo's stubbornness, The Final Fantasy franchise may very well still have been exclusive to Nintendo.  There's a lot of history to this title that some people don't realize.  

With all that said, though, I'm not sure I'll be investing the time to play this again.  FFVII is no NES game.  It's long.  My backlog is also rather long, and I can't even keep up with most current games today.  Hell, I still have yet to beat Octopath Traveler.  I really would love to play this again, because I just loved everything about it.  The battle system, the variety of mini games, the music.  Honestly, though, by the time I'm ready to play this game again, the full remake will have been released. 

This was an odd selection to be honest.  It's one of the first games I got for my PlayStation, but I don't really remember having that much fun with it.  It was one of the first games that I remember moving in full 3-D, however, and jumping really high up and seeing the world below did give me a sense of vertigo.  I'm actually kind of interested in seeing just how well this game did or didn't age (most likely the latter) and I also know without dual analogue support, it's going to be rough....

This was one of the games I owned.  It would be nice to have it again, because I really enjoyed it. It was a role playing game that also had a bit of a western theme to it.  I really don't remember much else about it since it was so long ago.  I just remember really enjoying the combat system and equipment, finding better "Arms" and having a decent story.  Just like FFVII, though, I need to find some time to replay it.  RPGs are just so long!

This was when the Tekken franchise really started to get good.  I loved playing Tekken because it was such a fast paced and hard hitting fighter.  It makes me wonder, though, if they'll put any other Tekken on it as it was one of the more standout fighting franchises on the system.   

This one I'm looking forward to because I never played it.  I played a lot of Ridge Racer games, but only the first one on PlayStation.  The rest were V and after.  Just like Jumping Flash, though, this should be pretty interesting to play without analogue support.  I wonder what the announcer will sound like, though... "Riiiiiidge Racerrrrrr!"

So, what will be the remaining 15 titles? Here's just some I'd like to see:

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Wild 9
• Metal Gear Solid
• Final Fantasy VIII (just because it got left out of every single version of the rereleases)
• Ape Escape
• Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 
• Parasite 1 and 2
• Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
• Tomb Raider 1 and 2
• Mortal Kombat Trilogy
• Crash Team Racing
• Resident Evil 1 and 2
• Gran Turismo 1 and 2
• Parappa the Rapper
• Suikoden 1 and 2
• Chrono Cross
• Silent Hill
• WipEout
• Einhander
• Twisted Metal 1 and 2
• Intelligent Cube
• Soul Blade
• Dino Crisis 1 and 2
• Syphon Filter
• Driver
• Spider-Man
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Wow, that list grew long and fast.  I'm sure there'd be a lot more games that I'd want on it.  Honestly, I wish there'd be more than 20 but even then, 20 games would give you a lot of quality time with it. I just hope that the next 15 they announce are great ones. 

With One Game, Nintendo Has Sold Me On Nintendo Switch Online

Nope, not Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.  Nope, not Pokemon.  This.

I know I've already brought this up a couple times, but Super Dodge Ball is my all time favorite NES game.  Yes, it even ranks higher than Super Mario Bros. 3.  I don't think I've ever played a Nintendo game more than I have with this one.  I played it after school every day for at least a year.  When it came out on Wii U's eShop, I bought it day one.  I crushed all my friends at it, so sadly, I spent most of my time just playing by myself.

Ever since the Switch was announced, I was waiting and hoping that this title would be included when they brought over the Virtual Console.... but the VC never happened.  I knew that Nintendo was bringing over a select few titles for their Nintendo Switch Online service, but I never expected that this would be one of them!  I read an article today about all the games that were planned to release for the service so far, and there it was!  Super Dodge Ball!

I said a while back that's all it would take. I can imagine Super Dodge Ball being the PERFECT game to play on the go, find a person and pass a controller to.  I can't find any confirmation of whether or not the game will be playable online but if so, that's even better.  I could actually go online and try to find someone who's as good as I.  I hate saying that I wasn't going to buy into the service, and then caving, but everyone has that one game that sells them on a service.  The one game that they NEED on their platform.  This one just so happens to be it. 

Oh yeah, and then there's this one as well.

This was another game I played a lot as a kid.  Being able to play this again on the Switch would be awesome and if it's online, even better. 

Now, I'm just hoping that Nintendo dedicates themselves to regularly updating their library with new titles, because I'm sure there will be other games I want to play on it.  It's still no substitution for a true Virtual Console that allowed you play old games from so many other systems that weren't even Nintendo's, but who know what Nintendo has in the future.

Also, with the announcement of Animal Crossing for Switch, this would be the only Switch game that would force to me finally buy into Nintendo's service.  Online play is an essential component of Animal Crossing games because of being able to go to your family and friends' towns and interact and I simply cannot imagine playing an Animal Crossing game without them.  Smash, Mario Kart, Splatoon... I can take them or leave them, but Animal Crossing would simply be a must. 

I guess it was inevitable.  As much as I told myself I wouldn't be buying into this, Nintendo found a way to get me.  And, I have to say 20 dollars a year really isn't that bad, 35 if you want to go for a family plan.  It certainly is far more affordable than PSN or XBL, which I refuse to pay for anymore. So as it stands now, I believe there will be enough there for me to get my money's worth.

Oh, and thanks Nintendo for STILL not announcing a new F-Zero!