Nothing super exciting, but some stuff nonetheless.
Cadence of Hyrule DLC Rogue Company (online shooter) WWE 2K Battlegrounds Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster - Spring 2021 Shin Megami Tensei V - "2021"
I question the concept of putting this stuff in a Direct. I mean, outside of the SMT trailer, the rest of this is just normal game news you'd see pop up at any random ol' time. Like the kind of thing you'd scroll past on GoNintendo or something.
If they wanted to have a short Direct, they could've just shadow-dropped it instead of announcing it at, like, midnight last night (??). I dunno, from a marketing perspective, it just felt like a janky idea altogether.
What's more concerning for me is that this is the first Direct we got after E3, which makes me feel like regardless of coronavirus, 2020 was going to be an "off" year for Nintendo anyway. Que sera sera...!
I'll grab the Cadence season pass today for sure, gotta vote with my dollars for more Nintendo-indie partnerships. I'm mainly just looking forward to the new Skull Kid story mode, but the new characters and soundtracks might be fun to play around with. (Except for Aria, she was way too hardcore for me in CotN and looks the same in CoH.)
Apparently each DLC pack will be $6. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but...maybe less? The base game is $25 and the Octavo character DLC was free, so $18 of paid DLC is more than I would have guessed. EDIT: The season pass is now listed as $14.99 on the eShop, so a slight discount.
EDIT 2: Oh wow the story DLC is $10! Maybe it's more substantial than I expected? Also makes the $15 Season Pass a fairly legit discount from the $22 you'd normally spend on all three packs (or even the $16 for the story DLC and one of the other two).
For my money, the Japanese Direct Mini was way more interesting!
Most notably because of the game they opened with, Sakuna of Rice and Ruin. Looks a bit like Rune Factory mixed with Muramasa, and it's going to be just $39.99! Dunno why they didn't showcase this game in the US Direct; it's coming over here and looks fantastic. Would also help push that Direct up to 10 minutes. :p
Well like you said, I would have scrolled past this stuff if it was just random blurbs on a website. In a Direct, though? They got me to watch, and I felt a nice contented feeling that Directs always bring, even if there was nothing for me here (which there was not). So I'd much rather we get a little 8 minute Direct every month or so than just "oh here is a random announcement you won't even notice." More Directs = happy me.
I beat Zero to the punch by 3 minutes, but everybody posted in his thread any way :'(
I'll just repost what I said over here.
Hoh said:
I didn't see anybody talk about this. Did anyone watch this 8 minute "partner presentation". It's kind of funny how Nintendo feels the need to tell us the direct is gonna suck ahead of time.
Anyway, we got DLC of Cadence of Hyrule, an Overwatch-ish game, SMT 3 and 5, and a WWE game. I wonder if Nintendo felt pressured to put something out to quiet down rumors of a summer direct. Because these seem like the sort of things they'd casually upload to the Nintendo youtube channel.
Semi related, but where are the first party titles? Of course COVID has put a damper on things, but you would think that we would at least know of some games that are in development. Like, we know Metroid Prime 4 and Breath of the Wild 2 are coming at some point. But outside of that? I can't name anything.
I saw yours first, but you seemed to have already locked it!
I was going to say, there, that Nintendo seems to have transitioned now to a "we will announce a new game a few months before releasing it" methodology. They were already kind of leaning that way, but with E3 cancelled and COVID doing its thing, now that appears to be the new normal for the Big N.
I expect we will hear about the possible Mario All Stars dealio shortly before it releases. It will probably release in November and be Nintendo's main holiday title, which means a September/October announcement is the most likely, I'd say. Until then, I don't expect anything but these mini directs. Nintendo is simply in too strong a position at the moment, especially with sales of Animal Crossing, and there's little need for them to do more right now (from their perspective, I mean. From ours, I WANTZ GAMES).
They had a Treehouse segment for Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin last year:
It's a bit odd that it was left out for the US direct to remind people this game is coming very soon.
I am excited for the SMT3: Nocturne remaster. Never got too far in the original but hopefully with the new portable version I will be able to finish the game.
I definitely get this strategy from a business perspective. Why announce a game up to years ahead of time and go through the effort and fortune required to market the thing over the course of months. Interest will inevitably lull, and you'll have to have to go through the trouble needed to get people excited all over again. And even if you succeed, people probably won't be as excited as they were when the game was first announced.
Instead, why not announce a game a month or so ahead and ride that initial wave of hype without needing a months-long marketing campaign? I think Cyberpunk 2077 would be a good example with this. Imagine if they had that big E3 spectacle with Keanu Reeves showing up and becoming a meme, only for the game to come out a month later? Instead, the marketing for that game has become a meme and passed, interest in the game peaked a year ago, and it's seemed like an uphill battle to build excitement ever since.
Good points, I agree. While I love a long-burn hype, the truth is it just isn't needed as much in our "games are coming out daily" world. As you say, better to have a beautiful marketing explosion for 30 days, ha ha.
This Direct was short and sweet, and oddly enough, the title a buddy of mine and I are talking most about is that WWE game. I'm not really into that uh..."sport" but he definitely is. And since we had N64s back in college, I had a lot of exposure to the WWF games on the system. I won't lie, those were actually a lot of fun! This new game looks like it could take that fast, arcadey, over-the-top, pyrotechnic action and crank it to 11. Might be fun?
You are the only other person on the internet that I've seen say something positive about the wrestling game. It had pretty janky visuals and the trailer itself was silly, but I agree that the over-the-top arcade gameplay looks pretty fun!
Oh yeah, the art direction is ugly as sin, I can't help but assume that's intentional?! For some reason?! Maybe it will get tightened up as the release date nears, but it certainly didn't impress. Kinda reminds me of Clash of Clans or something like that from five to ten years ago (on phones).
But yeah, the gameplay itself looks like it could be a blast!
