* Nintendo Switch *

Phate · 14 Sep 2018 at 19:13

There might be a grace period yet. Would seem a bit beyond harsh if there wasn't

Plainsong · 14 Sep 2018 at 20:21

Yeah I've never used a cloud save either but the way that it works in Splatoon I'd be pretty disappointed if I had to go back to the start. The online sub is worth it to me because of the amount of time that I spend online.

McPhee · 14 Sep 2018 at 20:58

fez said:
Good to see Nintendo continuing their complete **** ** of their online service. If you stop paying for the online service at any point your cloud data is deleted. Not just unavailable until you resubscribe, they will delete it. Lose your console or it breaks and you don't get a new one for a while? Better make sure you keep paying for that online subscription or your save data will just be gone. The mind boggles with Nintendo sometimes. There are so many little things they could do to generate some positive feeling towards themselves and they just refuse. The amount of storage these cloud saves will take up is minuscule. It would cost Nintendo pennies every year for the storage space.

The best part of this is that when Nintendo look at the number of people paying their £18/year they will be able to pat themselves on the back and say "look guys, we have made an amazing service, look at all the people using it".

Would any of you pay for this if it wasn't for the cloud saves?

That's my mind made up. The service has "farse" written all over it.

I play offline single player or multiplayer games almost exclusively. I'll just back up my saves using another method and accept the online ban if/when it comes.

fez · 15 Sep 2018 at 10:49

megalomanic said:
That does sound silly if true, seems odd there isnt some kind of grace period. I think on PS4 it's 6 months.

As above, I play a fair bit online (330 hours in Splatoon) so that's the primary reason I'll subscribe.

I don't think I've ever made use of cloud saves on any platform before, once I'm done playing a game I really don't care what happens to my save file. I generally play 1 single player game at a time til I'm done with it.

Ironically, Splatoon2 is probably the only save I really wouldn't want to lose so abit disappointed it can't be secured, that's a general issue with how Nintendo handle save data for online multiplayer games though and not really an issue with the cloud save system itself.

I would do a bit of reading on that. I don't think splatoon 2 will support cloud saves.

megalomanic · 15 Sep 2018 at 14:57

fez said:
I would do a bit of reading on that. I don't think splatoon 2 will support cloud saves.

Yep I know, that's why I said I'm a little disappointed.

I think you misread my post.

fez · 15 Sep 2018 at 16:37

megalomanic said:
Yep I know, that's why I said I'm a little disappointed.

I think you misread my post.

I did, entirely!

b0rn2sk8 · 15 Sep 2018 at 19:29

I was in Argos today and spotted they had Octopath in stock if people are still looking for a physical copy.

You can also pre-order Pokemon Let's go with the Pokeball for £80 in Smyths (in store only), £10 cheaper than everywhere else (inc. Amazon).

Cavallino · 15 Sep 2018 at 19:45

fez said:
Good to see Nintendo continuing their complete **** ** of their online service. If you stop paying for the online service at any point your cloud data is deleted. Not just unavailable until you resubscribe, they will delete it. Lose your console or it breaks and you don't get a new one for a while? Better make sure you keep paying for that online subscription or your save data will just be gone. The mind boggles with Nintendo sometimes. There are so many little things they could do to generate some positive feeling towards themselves and they just refuse. The amount of storage these cloud saves will take up is minuscule. It would cost Nintendo pennies every year for the storage space.

The best part of this is that when Nintendo look at the number of people paying their £18/year they will be able to pat themselves on the back and say "look guys, we have made an amazing service, look at all the people using it".

Would any of you pay for this if it wasn't for the cloud saves?

How is this service different to say the Xbox or PlayStation equivalents? (I assume they are pay for services too?)

Phate · 15 Sep 2018 at 19:53

Cavallino said:
How is this service different to say the Xbox or PlayStation equivalents? (I assume they are pay for services too?)

Uh-oh.

Cavallino · 15 Sep 2018 at 20:04

Ah **** I got trololololed into that one.

Phate · 15 Sep 2018 at 20:09

Cavallino said:
Ah **** I got trololololed into that one.

It's more you're gonna get some who are really angry at Nintendo spitting feathers at that more than anything

McPhee · 16 Sep 2018 at 02:51

Got Cities: Skylines today

No touch screen support, which is disappointing. Playing it with a controller is... interesting. It gets a bit frustrating when you need to be precise about where you put things.

Also, there's some performance issues. The game slows down and stutters quite a lot. And putting the console to Sleep seems to break the sound.

Still a decent game. But I'd suggest waiting for it to be patched. And it's not worth £35.99. Maybe £20, at a push.

fez · 16 Sep 2018 at 11:09

Cavallino said:
How is this service different to say the Xbox or PlayStation equivalents? (I assume they are pay for services too?)

I only know about PSN but on a basic level

£18 vs ~£35 for a year
NES games vs potentially AAA games (albeit usually a bit older) every month
Cloud saves for most game vs Cloud saves for all
Saves are deleted immediately vs kept for 6 months on subscription lapse
General online features that would have been poor in 2010 vs full fleshed out online with such marvels as proper voice chat and usernames instead of friend codes

Im sure there are more but its safe to say Nintendo are simply using this as another way to make a lot of money instead of seeing it as an opportunity to serve their customers better and offer a modern online experience.

It is what it is but people being happy with it just encourages Nintendo to deliver the bare minimum required to keep selling their products

Cavallino · 16 Sep 2018 at 11:20

Fair comments fez.

I guess the fact that they the service is substandard maybe reflected in half the price?

Like with many things, there is always going to be people who will pay for this...

Will I pay for it? Not thought about it, but honestly spoken the only online game I play or played was Mario Kart and that's pretty thin at the moment....

Whatabout you?

fez · 16 Sep 2018 at 11:26

Cavallino said:
Whatabout you?

Its sub-standard to the point of being rude in my view but hey ho.

I will get it purely for the cloud saves.

Phate · 16 Sep 2018 at 11:41

Thing is. The saves are still saved locally to your switch, but backed up to the cloud. I hope people aren't reading it as, if you cancel your subscription your saves are gone? It's just the backed up copy to the cloud. You still have your local saves.

Cavallino · 16 Sep 2018 at 11:54

See Im curious why are cloud saves important to some people exactly?

I really don't get this personally.

For me its the online play but again like with many things with the Switch, making people pay for something which exists on other platforms like PC... just really irks me...

Rereleases of Civ6, Cities Skyline, Diablo 3... all games you can get for half the price or more on the PC and play online for free....

Its really amazing how the video games business model has just evolved (devolved?) over the past 3 decades....

Phate · 16 Sep 2018 at 12:36

Its important because its a mobile device. Therefore the chances of it getting broken by being dropped or stolen etc is considerably higher than an XBO or PS4. Which I think makes cloud saves more important. Its the same as a phone, everything is backed up to the cloud, therefore if you lose or break it, its no real drama. Or rather, its reassuring that your data is saved so once the device is replaced, all good.

Also I think your statement is a bit incorrect "For me its the online play but again like with many things with the Switch, making people pay for something which exists on other platforms like PC... just really irks me..."

Well, correct me if I am wrong here, but the only platform you don't pay to play online is PC? Otherwise you pay for PSN or XBL. So surely that must bug you for those platforms as well? :confused:

So its not the Switch which is specifically at fault here

its paying to play online in general, regardless of platform?

As always has been the way with consoles though, and likely always will be.

McPhee · 16 Sep 2018 at 12:47

Cloud saves aren't absolutely important.

But the Switch launched with no sensible methods for backing up and transferring user & save data. It still has no sensible solutions, and cloud saves are looking to be an equally flaky mess. If there was one sensible, reliable method, none of this would be an issue. Even something as simple being able to set the SD card as the preferred location for save data would do. But seemingly the reason why that cannot happen is because it would allow cheating in online games; all player data is stored locally.

I like the Switch. But it really is a badly designed mess.

Cavallino · 16 Sep 2018 at 12:51

Phate said:
Its important because its a mobile device. Therefore the chances of it getting broken by being dropped or stolen etc is considerably higher than an XBO or PS4. Which I think makes cloud saves more important. Its the same as a phone, everything is backed up to the cloud, therefore if you lose or break it, its no real drama. Or rather, its reassuring that your data is saved so once the device is replaced, all good.

Personally I am not fussed about this, if it gets broke then cest la vie. You lose save games.
I guess Im not Nintendo (or Sony/MS) target market in that respect.

My phones are not backed up to the cloud also. If I lose/break my phone (which touchwood so far I have not done), simply setup and start again.

Also I think your statement is a bit incorrect "For me its the online play but again like with many things with the Switch, making people pay for something which exists on other platforms like PC... just really irks me..."

Well, correct me if I am wrong here, but the only platform you don't pay to play online is PC? Otherwise you pay for PSN or XBL. So surely that must bug you for those platforms as well? So its not the Switch which is specifically at fault here its paying to play online in general, regardless of platform?

Yes that's exactly correct. I didn't mean to single out the Switch (I own a Switch and a PC by the way, but not the other two, hence the reason why I simply omitted due to not owning them

)

My statement encompasses them all for sure.

As always has been the way with consoles though, and likely always will be.

Yep absolutely, and again this just peeves me off, but not only online games but also re-releases of the same games like Civ 6, Cities Skyline, Diablo 3, and to pay around double (or thereabouts) to play the same game (which actually maybe inferior to the PC version).

But again there is "portability" side of the argument. And, like the online features, if you are willing to pay for that convenience, knock yourself out.

But for me, I cant justify paying again for a game which I already own on another platform.

*** Nintendo Switch ***

* Nintendo Switch *