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Media Create Sales: Week 40, 2012 (Oct 01 - Oct 07)

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
are DQX servers still packed?

The servers were never really packed after they went and added more. Since only the "popular" ones were crowded, but a lot of the others were pretty much "empty" so to speak.

I havent played in a while now, mainly due to the lack of any feel of adventure. Hanging out in the same zone killing the same pink ball of fur all while attempting to save up $$$ was getting old. So basically quit for the time being. Unless they change up how the game plays, dont think Ill go back either.

The Risk vs. Reward balance with enemies just was not there when I was playing.

Im sure muu will have a pretty accurate breakdown of the current situation on how the game world is, if he decides to chime in seeing as hes still playing.
 

muu

Member
They've gone through a major overhaul of exp structure -- Pink momons / Tombrello exp was cut drastically (~30%?). Higher-level mobs now give like 2x what they used to, and also have 10-30% bonus depending on the monster's level vs yours. You also get a medal for killing any mob 100 times, which is a start for diversifying the type of mobs you hunt.

Kinda wish they kept the exp the same for those two though, since personally I found other places much better for exp. was killing アイアンクック over by the dwarf shop for nearly the same exp and great loot pre update, for example. DQ may be online but many people are treating it no different from other DQs, and hence doing no thinking for themselves and heading to the "GOOD EXP COME HERE GOGOGO" spot that a few strategy sites post. It amused me how they never posted the real good spots...

Since we don't know real server population counts we can only go by Square's 3-level system, and while population def went down pre-update it never got barren. Post update servers were pretty much packed, this weekend it was bad enough that the chat servers and parts of the gameworld succumbed to the load. Paid customers have supposedly seen a constant increase. Dunno if this will continue, as the update was somewhat of a disappointment. The exp adjustments were welcome, but they are definitely lacking in endgame content (all they added was a 'hard mode' for the 5 castle bosses).

Also wonder how the hell they're gonna balance this thing w/ passives getting out of hand. I now have 250HP on any job ~50, even at lv1 I got 130 or so just from the bonuses.
 

extralite

Member
Since only the "popular" ones were crowded, but a lot of the others were pretty much "empty" so to speak.

In the evening you won't find any "empty/すいてる" servers, but during early morning hours when people are asleep most of them become empty (but even on an empty server you rarely are really alone in the cities and even in some level raising spots). Also since people switch to less "popular" servers from the crowded ones any server can become crowded (こんざつ) from my experience. In the evening to night hours most of them become crowded.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
こんでる means crowded, but I don't know anything about DQX so I don't know if that's as high as it goes or not.
Thanks :) I see that extralite mentioned こんざつ above here, i think that is the exact word being used in this case.
 

smbu2000

Member
Finally had a chance to visit the two biggest(?) stores around me, Bic Camera and Sofmap.
Both were sold out of Bravely Default.

They both have "sold out" of Wii U Premium system pre-orders as well. They're only taking Basic pre-orders now.
 

Vinnk

Member
About 1 year after the DS game hit the Love and Berry bubble burst. No arcade machines since about 2007. And with no arcade machines it means no cards (they were disposed from the machines or at nearby vending machines). So now the DS game also cannot be played because while you can get a copy of the game for around 500 yen, you can't get the cards needed to play it anymore. There are serveral acade machines with a similar card mechanic but they almost exclusively target boys. No one currently in the L and B target group (ages 5-9) has even heard about it.

The question is kind of like "hey! Dragons Lair series was a big hit, why don't they make more LaserDisc games?" Fad is over. Too bad for SEGA. And I think Love and Berry was on Naomi Hardware too...
 

Kenka

Member
About 1 year after the DS game hit the Love and Berry bubble burst. No arcade machines since about 2007. And with no arcade machines it means no cards (they were disposed from the machines or at nearby vending machines). So now the DS game also cannot be played because while you can get a copy of the game for around 500 yen, you can't get the cards needed to play it anymore. There are serveral acade machines with a similar card mechanic but they almost exclusively target boys. No one currently in the L and B target group (ages 5-9) has even heard about it.

The question is kind of like "hey! Dragons Lair series was a big hit, why don't they make more LaserDisc games?" Fad is over. Too bad for SEGA. And I think Love and Berry was on Naomi Hardware too...
That's just bad. The magnitude of its impact on DS lead me to believe it would be the equivalent of Hokuto no Ken for SEGA; that is, a successful franchise throughout the ages. Really a shame.
 

saichi

Member
MH3GU will be fun to predict; what with Wii U having no install base at all at launch, it will be a shot in the dark, btw imo this could turn out to be one of the best selling launch Wii U games.

That would be a given. It's like saying NSMBU will be one of the best selling launch Wii U games. It's a no brainer.

Now if you are saying MH3GU will be THE best selling Wii U launch game on launch week, that would be interesting but that's not gonna happen.
 
That would be a given. It's like saying NSMBU will be one of the best selling launch Wii U games. It's a no brainer.

Now if you are saying MH3GU will be THE best selling Wii U launch game on launch week, that would be interesting but that's not gonna happen.

In fact I must admit that my statement was pretty vague but, to put it in another way, I don't know how MH3GU will be performing in comparison with MHP3HD; on PS3 MH3P HD port didn't put the charts on fire, more so I don't think we could realistically expect this one to sell much more than that on Wii U, if we consider it's a launch game, therefore with low expectations.

On the other hand, in the best scenario it could benefit from being a launch game, that's to say with less competition to distract early adopters, and sell more than 100k/200k - I'm rooting for >500k, but that's a different matter altogether -, still other launch window games others than NSMBU may sell similarly or even more than that, such as W101, Nintendoland or WarioWare.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
That would be a given. It's like saying NSMBU will be one of the best selling launch Wii U games. It's a no brainer.

Now if you are saying MH3GU will be THE best selling Wii U launch game on launch week, that would be interesting but that's not gonna happen.

It could, depending on the MH 3G HD bundle amount.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
On the other hand, in the best scenario it could benefit from being a launch game, that's to say with less competition to distract early adopters, and sell more than 100k/200k - I'm rooting for >500k, but that's a different matter altogether -, still other launch window games other than NSMBU may sell similarly or even more than that, such as W101, Nintendoland or WarioWare.

I think it is a lock to sell much more than 100/200K. It is going to be the only real hardcore high profile game for months on the platform.
 

zroid

Banned
Nintendo Land is definitely one I see going either way. It could be absolutely huge, or a huge disappointment.
 

Vinnk

Member
How about NintendoLand?
That has bigger chance to be a big seller than MH3GU imo.

In the long run sure, NintendoLand might sell forever the same way WiiPlay did. But I think more early adopters are gonna grab MH and in the launch window it will be the bigger title. NintendoLand have potential for long legs though.

My theory will be wrong is Nintendo has a lot of stock at Christmas and people not preordering/camping at gamestores can get the system easily. Casuals will pick up NintendoLand with their Mario U.
 
Don't think 'no online' on a party game is going to affect sales much.

I mean with the control configurations. Its a costly upgrade to get all the benefits of the party game quite frankly. Online would have helped there is all I mean.

It should have nice legs though if successful, just I'm not going to predict its launch numbers.
 

DrWong

Member
Nintendo Land is definitely one I see going either way. It could be absolutely huge, or a huge disappointment.
I would bet on huge because it seems to be a brillant game (from what I know and tested), with lot of content (just the Zelda game comes with 16 levels and 3 modes), strong brands/universe, big push.
 
In fact I must admit that my statement was pretty vague but, to put it in another way, I don't know how MH3GU will be performing in comparison with MHP3HD; on PS3 MH3P HD port didn't put the charts on fire, more so I don't think we could realistically expect this one to sell much more than that on Wii U, if we consider it's a launch game, therefore with low expectations.
I don't think a direct comparison between 3GU and P3HD works, since the latter was an obviously shitty port job and the former adds online play, of which 3G did not even have a tunneling solution for.

We always say that JP monhan players don't care about HD graphics or online. This is a pretty good chance to test that assertion.
 
Another candidate to sell possibly better than MH3GU on Wii U could be Black ops, seeing how previous iterations sold pretty well on PS3.

I suspect this will be the game to get a 'launch bump' from people looking for a new experience. But a lot of that will come down to what Nintendo maybe pushes.
 

zroid

Banned
I would bet on huge because it seems to be a brillant game (from what I know and tested), with lot of content (just the Zelda game comes with 16 levels and 3 modes), strong brands/universe, big push.

I'm pretty excited for it personally, but it has a lot of things going against it, unfortunately. I'm just not sure if it's going to really strike a chord with any audience, outside of the particularly open-minded Nintendo faithful.
 

DrWong

Member
I'm pretty excited for it personally, but it has a lot of things going against it, unfortunately. I'm just not sure if it's going to really strike a chord with any audience, outside of the particularly open-minded Nintendo faithful.
Which ones?
 

zroid

Banned
Well...

1. It's a mini-game collection which may not instantly appeal to the broader Nintendo fanbase the included brands are targeting.

2. Unlike Wii Sports, for example, several of the games (and, apparently the best ones) require local multiplayer. In some cases, even two players isn't really sufficient for the best experience.

3. The games aren't all instantly understandable and non-/casual-gamers may require an "in" before they are able to partake.

4. (building on earlier points) If Nintendo Land were packed in with the console, as it is outside Japan, that "in" might be easier to come by; any gamer who purchases the system will instantly have Nintendo Land to show to their friends and family and possibly win over their interest. Because it's a mini-game collection, it's likely the hardcore crowd will pass on the game entirely, since it's not a pack-in.
 

extralite

Member
Thanks :) I see that extralite mentioned こんざつ above here, i think that is the exact word being used in this case.

Actually both are used. こんざつ is even worse than こんでる which already means crowded. I appears in a different color (orange) in the ingame server list and basically tells you to avoid those servers.
 

donny2112

Member
1. It's a mini-game collection which may not instantly appeal to the broader Nintendo fanbase

I don't think that's accurate.

2. Unlike Wii Sports, for example, several of the games (and, apparently the best ones) require local multiplayer. In some cases, even two players isn't really sufficient for the best experience.

There are tiers. Some are single-player, some are two-player, some are more. Wii Sports was best with > 1 person, and it didn't hurt it apparently.

3. The games aren't all instantly understandable and non-/casual-gamers may require an "in" before they are able to partake.

* Miis
* NintendoLand
* Major pushed game at launch, similar to the Wii Sports positioning. (Don't see it being as easily understandable or as popular as Wii Sports, but it could sell 2m and still not be as popular as Wii Sports.)

4. (building on earlier points) If Nintendo Land were packed in with the console, as it is outside Japan,

Only in the DX version (just in the U.S.?) that is going to be near impossible to find before Christmas without preorders. Also, Wii Sports was never packed in with Wii in Japan, either.

Because it's a mini-game collection, it's likely the hardcore crowd will pass on the game entirely, since it's not a pack-in.

That's great. Nintendo's going for both groups, especially in Japan with MH3GHD, so it's fine if some of the Wii upgraders want similar games to Wii Sports and some of the non-Wii owners just get it for the core offerings. Probably going to be some interesting overlap between the groups, too, which tends to be a feature of the best-selling consoles historically.
 

zroid

Banned
Don't get me wrong -- as I said before, I think Nintendo Land has a good chance to succeed, not only because it actually looks like a quality product, but for the reasons you mentioned.

I just find it particularly easy to play devil's advocate against it. I worry that the stars haven't quite aligned for it the way Nintendo believes.
 
Don't get me wrong -- as I said before, I think Nintendo Land has a good chance to succeed, not only because it actually looks like a quality product, but for the reasons you mentioned.

I just find it particularly easy to play devil's advocate against it. I worry that the stars haven't quite aligned for it the way Nintendo believes.

Well this is Nintendo's own doing. They haven't advertised it one bit.
 
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