Gaming Bravely Default -or- "What is futureproofing?"

[SplendidMaChao]

With Bravely Default 2 on the horizon, i thought i'd take the original for another spin.
This time on a big screen via emulator since it's much more comfortable with my deteriorating eyesight.

And man, this game is so not futureproof, it's not even funny...
On paper, it makes "good" use of some unique 3DS shenanigans...on paper.

Missing Sleep Mode, the games "Bravely Second" mechanic is already out of the question.
Same goes for any feasible means of using the games Colony Builder effectively.
Even worse, a lack of Streetpass and, well, general server connectivity worsens the issue even further.

Heck, without network connection, you can't even complete all of the games "Tutorial Quests", since one of the earlier ones expects you to "Invite Friends" via the internet....

Sure, some of these things are the price to pay for my convenience. Granted.
But with the 3DS not being the mainstay in everyones pocket anymore and the inevitable shutdown of the servers down the road, this game, much like, say, Dragon Quest IX before it, will lose a huge chunk of its content. (Yes, you can still build the village...it just takes an insane amount of time when played completely isolated).

Thank the heavens that you guys worked hard to offer workarounds and tools to mitigate most of these (future) issues (Btw. if someone knows how to clear that one quest mentioned above in citra or vial editor, hit me up.).

What's your opinion on games that fall apart once they are cut off from the net?

 

[yuyuyup]

Growing up, paying attention to electronics, lots of innovations just simply become lost, like they never happened. That's capitalism. I posit the 3D monitor would have been a household standard, if the public wasn't sick-to-death of all the TV upgrades before it (480p/i, 720p/i, 1080p/i, etc.) And look what was lost in the mean time from going from CRT to LCD; sure, a higher resolution was introduced, but the beautiful perfect blacks became much less brilliant. The beautiful black color is reintroduced with OLED, but oh goody, it's a streaky mess. How many more years till we can get CRT-quality blacks on a monitor???

 

[SplendidMaChao]

Absolutely fair point. Then again, i'd differentiate between necessary/unavoidable hardware concessions and, well, "planned" obsolescence or even a lack of caring for failsaves.

While the things lost in a hardware switch are often irreplaceable, games can be moderately easily be patched.
If a shutdown is imminent, release a last minute patch.
Items lost in games like Demon's Souls or Dragon Quest IX could be added to the general Item pool, Bravely Default could add villagers based on the internal clock etc.

Imo, it's a problem that doesn't necessarily need to exist.
Sure, while they're active, they are nice, unique gimmicks that give these games character. But all good things come to an end, and i find it sad that so few (if any) devs actually care to preserve their works in their entirety anymore.

 

[Clydefrosch]

well, the alternative would have been to not have any of those things in the first place

 

[BORTZ]

I have a similar feeling about games that sell themselves as a "service". Growing up, games were eternal. Something you bought or got and it was yours. That's it. If you lost the game it was on you. Now, there are games I have spent thousands of hours with. Maybe I don't want to play them anymore, right now. But maybe I will want to in 7 years. There's a good chance I just... won't be able to.

 

[SplendidMaChao]

well, the alternative would have been to not have any of those things in the first place

I'd say not quite. You simply don't implement them into core gameplay mechanics that, if lost, break the entirety of the game.
Take the aforementioned Souls series. Sure, if they get cut from the net (Like Demon's Souls) they lose quite a bit of appeal, but the single player experience is almost untouched, minus a few items here and there.

Dragon Quest IX lost, what, 60-70% of its content? Bravely Defaults Colony Building will require several hundred hours to be completed, the Quest system isn't completable anymore etc.

I have nothing against using these mechanics in general, don't get me wrong, but losing them is not a question of "if" but "when", and it's a shame that devs don't have enough foresight to prevent these games form breaking down like that.

 

[lone_wolf323]

I'd say not quite. You simply don't implement them into core gameplay mechanics that, if lost, break the entirety of the game.
Take the aforementioned Souls series. Sure, if they get cut from the net (Like Demon's Souls) they lose quite a bit of appeal, but the single player experience is almost untouched, minus a few items here and there.

Dragon Quest IX lost, what, 60-70% of its content? Bravely Defaults Colony Building will require several hundred hours to be completed, the Quest system isn't completable anymore etc.

I have nothing against using these mechanics in general, don't get me wrong, but losing them is not a question of "if" but "when", and it's a shame that devs don't have enough foresight to prevent these games form breaking down like that.

Phantasy Star Universe lost about 90% of its entire content just cause the online servers were shut down and they didnt make the content something of a expansion pack to buy and download. A great game which was lost. It happens, and will happen again, get over it.

 

[SplendidMaChao]

It happens, and will happen again, get over it.

Getting over what? That keeping non-MMO games playable for longer than their shelf life due to arbitrary shenanigans and a lack of foresight becoming a community effort? Nah, i don't think i won't anytime soon.

 

[Plasmaster09]

With Bravely Default 2 on the horizon, i thought i'd take the original for another spin.
This time on a big screen via emulator since it's much more comfortable with my deteriorating eyesight.

And man, this game is so not futureproof, it's not even funny...
On paper, it makes "good" use of some unique 3DS shenanigans...on paper.

Missing Sleep Mode, the games "Bravely Second" mechanic is already out of the question.
Same goes for any feasible means of using the games Colony Builder effectively.
Even worse, a lack of Streetpass and, well, general server connectivity worsens the issue even further.

Heck, without network connection, you can't even complete all of the games "Tutorial Quests", since one of the earlier ones expects you to "Invite Friends" via the internet....

Sure, some of these things are the price to pay for my convenience. Granted.
But with the 3DS not being the mainstay in everyones pocket anymore and the inevitable shutdown of the servers down the road, this game, much like, say, Dragon Quest IX before it, will lose a huge chunk of its content. (Yes, you can still build the village...it just takes an insane amount of time when played completely isolated).

Thank the heavens that you guys worked hard to offer workarounds and tools to mitigate most of these (future) issues (Btw. if someone knows how to clear that one quest mentioned above in citra or vial editor, hit me up.).

What's your opinion on games that fall apart once they are cut off from the net?

It's bullshit.
But it's a necessary bullshit, because there would be no reason to have unique and innovative gimmicks if games couldn't even use the simpler stuff.
*laughs in Switch*

 

[SplendidMaChao]

It's bullshit.
But it's a necessary bullshit, because there would be no reason to have unique and innovative gimmicks if games couldn't even use the simpler stuff.
*laughs in Switch*

So far, most major Switch games seem to avoid making the Switch's gimmicks (3D Rumble, detachable JoyCon motion controls, that...infrared...thingy) the main attraction like the plague. For better or for worse.
Heck, even the touchscreen has seen almost no use so far.

So far, it's a pretty good track record of supporting gimmicks, but not relying on them.

But yeah, i'm with you here. Like i said, on paper, it's a great idea to use a systems unique features, i just wish devs would at least implement safety nets for stuff that is de facto finite (server connection).

 

[Plasmaster09]

So far, most major Switch games seem to avoid making the Switch's gimmicks (3D Rumble, detachable JoyCon motion controls, that...infrared...thingy) the main attraction like the plague. For better or for worse.
Heck, even the touchscreen has seen almost no use so far.

So far, it's a pretty good track record of supporting gimmicks, but not relying on them.

But yeah, i'm with you here. Like i said, on paper, it's a great idea to use a systems unique features, i just wish devs would at least implement safety nets for stuff that is de facto finite (server connection).

imagine someone trying to emulate freaking nintendo labo
it'd basically be physically impossible without an actual switch, the actual labo software and actual labo crud or all the stuff needed to build it yourself
also, it's a pain in the ass even now to emulate any proprietary multiplayer methods
I think we've figured out how to emulate link cable and download play but idk
also there's really weird stuff that's both tiers of futureproofing like the super mario party minigames relying on the motion and position detection in the switch itself... that require multiple switches.

 

[MeteoXavier]

My fatalism takes the reductive approach of "It's going to be lost and eaten up by the sun sooner or later anyway, there's not much more you can do to preserve this shit than our best".

I'm still amazed, 25 years later, that emulation has survived and thrived for media preservation as it has. But it all ends sooner or later, then get reincarnated back into a different form, then dies out again, etc. etc. that is the foundation of all things in the universe.

 

[skyluigi2]

Thankfully unlike DQIX, Bravely Default doesn't really lock any content behind connecting to the network; at worst you're losing the ability to use Bravely Second (which I honestly don't think I used a single time during my playthrough) and items from Norende. It sucks, sure, but what games these days don't have some kind of content only accesible if you play/connect online? That's just kind of how games are nowadays, unless they're rereleased, they're only really designed to be playable for a few years after release (not that I'm defending this, it's not great for consumers). Whether you want to see it as shortsightedness, or just companies trying to make their products expire faster so they can get people to buy new products is up to you.