Zippedpinhead
Member
I think one way heroics lasted until Sunday as well
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Limited Run Games - Putting digital games into your hands
- Thread starter dallow_bg
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I think one way heroics lasted until Sunday as well
Olengie
Member
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/828401966/blasphemous-dark-and-brutal-2d-non-linear-platform
I'm down for a LRG release
I'm down for a LRG release
We actually landed an interview with the Limited Run Games team for a feature doc on physical media's future & locally owned video game shops, for anyone interested in taking a look.
We're going to be talking with them about the demand for tangible copies of these games later this year.
We're going to be talking with them about the demand for tangible copies of these games later this year.
Omega Labyrinth's logo is an embarrassment xD
I wouldn't say they need games as much as they need events to show they're existing ^^
True, it's a matter of perception -- particularly when you bend over backwards to see it a certain way
This isn't nuance. It's ex-post rationalization of a haphazard, flawed, ill thought-out third party strategy.
You know, Nintendo's MO for more than 2 decades.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
Secret best LRG release.
foobarry81
Member
I mean, I'm assuming we're talking successful in the traditional 60-80m range? Considering Vita ended up at 15m, it'd take some major investment to turn that around (and the games Sony publishes or would need to buy to get it to that number isn't gonna be cheap
Sony didn't even try to continue first party support after like the first 1.5 year or so. There seems to be a big gap between the "billions" you were talking about, and what they ultimately invested in the platform.
Tssk. No need to go full-on relativism. Ok I "think" they're not super indie friendly, and I "think" they haven't become much indiefriendlier since they advertized they'd actually become indiefriendlier.
I don't feel like writing walls of text to argue anyway
I'll be hoping LRG eventually manages to do business with them, though.
My first post on the subject in this thread already said it's a matter of perception.
I totally get that gaming enthusiasts expect Nintendo to allow all their favourite indies to release their games on Switch cartridges. But that was never what Nintendo said they would do. Doesn't mean they're "shitty with indies" either. It doesn't have to be one way or the other if you're reasonable.
If you mean by "full-on relativism" that I tried to give people dreaming out loud in here a wake up call, then sure. Lots of dreamers among gaming enthusiasts. Nothing wrong with that, btw, but in the end you're talking dreams, not the economic reality that says those dreams aren't profitable endeavours for a whole lot of the players involved. Those companies want to please their shareholders. And that includes Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft alike.
Well, sure, let's hope for LRG they can do that at some point. Because the way it looks right now Microsoft isn't a viable alternative, and I can see Sony drop Vita support entirely in the near future, which would leave them with just the PS4 (and the PC) to publish games for.
True, it's a matter of perception -- particularly when you bend over backwards to see it a certain way
This isn't nuance. It's ex-post rationalization of a haphazard, flawed, ill thought-out third party strategy.
You know, Nintendo's MO for more than 2 decades.
We get it, you hate Nintendo's guts. Sony rulez.
You like having the last word I see. Here you are, I give up.
Still 10% for each version of RoR. I really don't get it... but maybe the two Mutant Mudds and the full-price Dariusburst drained a few wallets and prevented people from being here this week ? I was really not expecting this, that's for sure.
Still 10% for each version of RoR. I really don't get it... but maybe the two Mutant Mudds and the full-price Dariusburst drained a few wallets and prevented people from being here this week ? I was really not expecting this, that's for sure.
foobarry81
Member
No, I like to be convinced by rational arguments. I haven't seen any that do. You brought some good stuff to the table, but nothing that screams "Nintendo is shitty with indies", which was the original statement I reacted to.
Well, I bought Risk of Rain from LRG, but if I'm being honest I had never heard of the game before LRG decided to release it physically. I think it being something of an "indie blockbuster" as some on here suggested may have been slightly exaggerated. Someone posted a screenshot of Steam ownership and RoR being on top of a list. Well, if a game is part of a Humble Bundle at some point for example (and I believe RoR was) that could severely boost sales numbers. Also it being the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign can typically help a lot "marketing wise". Backers are generally deeply invested in the projects they support and word-of-mouth marketing does the rest over social media. As a result you could end up with a small but vocal minority heavily promoting and loving the game, whereas the rest of the people out there who bought it being fairly indifferent towards it.
Not saying that that is the case here. Maybe people are a bit tapped out right now as you said. Maybe more and more collectors have stopped going for full sets and preserve their disposable incomes in stead for the more "special" releases LRG or other vendors have in store.
Personally, I don't believe the 2 Mutant Mudds have anything to do with it. If anything, I'd expect people to skip those rather than Risk of Rain, no? Maybe there were just more other, regular new releases out there in late April and May compared to previous months? People aren't going to pass on Fire Emblem Echoes just so they can still afford Risk of Rain.
Probably a combination of all those factors, and potentially others I fail to see right now.
foobarry81
Member
Or: scalpers' profits from some of the more recent LRG's releases have plummeted, or the games take too long to sell, so a good deal of them have lost interest?
Come on I didn't say they were shitty with indies ! They're not.
I just said I haven't seen any major shift indicating they got much easier to work with recently, is all. They're still notoriously inflexible and oftentimes discouraging.
Now they do what they want to do, and I'll still love first party games anyway
I suspect it is better known on PC than on PlayStation's environment.
I submitted the list. Indeed it can be skewed by Bundles in a way but it's the case of every major game. It still has vastly more owners than Thomas Was Alone which was featured for sure in a litteral ton of bundles. And for people to be considered 'owners' they'd have to redeem the bundle code, so that still means something (a lot of bad games are never redeemed and fall in the backlog of doom).
Kickstarted games may be skewed by the backers a bit, but I don't think that would account for so many owners...
I really think it was a hidden blockbuster among LRG games.
Yeah, comparing to Mutant Mudds sales, it's weird.
Could be Fire Emblem haha, I'm playing it myself and I'd understand the appeal ^^
I mean, I'm assuming we're talking successful in the traditional 60-80m range? Considering Vita ended up at 15m, it'd take some major investment to turn that around (and the games Sony publishes or would need to buy to get it to that number isn't gonna be cheap
Forget software, a major part of Sony didn't even try to advertise the thing. I know you live in Europe where SCEE actually made an attempt, but SCEA did not bother at all in North America. They released 0 TV ads for anything Vita related after the 2012 holiday season, outside of an endcard on MLB 13 ads (which was immediatedly switched to a PS4-only one the next year). They essentially abandoned promoting the thing less than a year into the platform's life. In fact, due to an incredibly stupid mandate SCEA issued to third parties to list all platforms under a blanket PlayStation moniker (despite the competition getting listings for each platform), Vita's name wasn't even present in the few multi-platform games it had that got TV ads.
Sucks that Nintendo isn't playing ball. If anything I imagine it's the aspect of selling worldwide from NA that they don't agree with. Do LRG print PEGI/CERO/Whatever versions of cases or anything?
Got to say though that if you want to be treated like the big boy companies you need to act like them a bit more which means not going on twitter and whining as soon as you hit a roadblock. That won't win you any friendships.
Kresnik258
Member
This situation with RoR is bizarre. I've seen Doug tweeting that in future they'll be looking at only having bigger games and stuff, but I would have thought RoR is plenty big enough as a title not to have been selling like this.
Makes me wonder just what exactly constitutes a 'big' title for LRG release.
I'm... not quite sure how that strengthens your point. If you're talking about Sony making Vita a mainstream success and they only developed for the first 1.5 years or so, then it's anther at least 3.5 years worth of support; plus aggressive price drops and probably things like removing their crappy proprietary memory cards on the Slim revision; plus actually advertising the thing like Takao says.
Perhaps billions plural was a bit much, but I don't see why that won't add up to something crazy over a normal console lifespan.
Anyway, I've probably managed to drag this off topic enough now, especially since I wasn't one of the people pointing the finger at Nintendo and saying "bad support of indies" anyway, just that I don't see how you can say in this particular field of indie support (physical releases) Sony aren't easily leading the field.
Makes me wonder just what exactly constitutes a 'big' title for LRG release.
I'm... not quite sure how that strengthens your point. If you're talking about Sony making Vita a mainstream success and they only developed for the first 1.5 years or so, then it's anther at least 3.5 years worth of support; plus aggressive price drops and probably things like removing their crappy proprietary memory cards on the Slim revision; plus actually advertising the thing like Takao says.
Perhaps billions plural was a bit much, but I don't see why that won't add up to something crazy over a normal console lifespan.
Anyway, I've probably managed to drag this off topic enough now, especially since I wasn't one of the people pointing the finger at Nintendo and saying "bad support of indies" anyway, just that I don't see how you can say in this particular field of indie support (physical releases) Sony aren't easily leading the field.
This looks incredible
otaku-asia
Member
To be honest, I've never heard of RoR before. Maybe it's a big title in terms of sales, but I'd say it's not the kind of genre that's popular among collectors.
Regardless, people should put this into perspective. Moving 8000 copies over a weekend doesn't even come close to commercial failure.
foobarry81
Member
Exactly. Sony is doing this particular part well. Don't think I've claimed otherwise, right?
But, I assume Nintendo and Microsoft must be doing something right as well in other areas, because you still have indie offerings on their platforms as well. Otherwise indies would all flock to PlayStation platforms, wouldn't they?
The reason I brought up Sony's first party Vita support is to show that they aren't saints either, as some on here seem to think. Sony doesn't have a stellar track record in treating third parties or more specifically indies in all possible fields either. Remember the PlayStation Mobile service? That was a great platform for smaller indie devs. And I understand why they didn't further commit to it after it failed, but Sony never even bothered rolling it out in but a few select markets for starters.
I love LRG and what they're doing, but the fatigue is real. It's a balancing act for sure, and I think they've went a little to far for some complete collectors this last couple of months. It started to feel like I had to choose between keeping up with their constant releases and give up buying other games that interested me or start to be more selective with what they're selling. For me and quite a few others that have commented Mutant Mudds was the turning point. If they hadn't been split into 2 releases on 2 platforms, I might still be buying it all. I can understand their reasons given, but in the end, it was just too much for me. To be honest, I feel better about things now, I had been buying titles on both platforms that I normally wouldn't have even bought on one. It's nice to ease off on the addiction and regain some semblance of control.
I'm not even going to comment on quality, as we all like different things, but I do think there is a danger to flooding your small market and I agree with you that if there is a weakness felt in the resale of many recent titles, they could find themselves facing a serious downturn if the resellers move on to items with greater returns. Like them or not, they are an important part of their business.
Kresnik258
Member
Last remaining percent on both platforms. Then : sold out
Yay \o/
It's a bit of a bummer they took so long but if stock is gone, then I'd still consider it a successful run.
They are still gonna sell out. I am not sure why people are complaining about their wallets getting drained from having to buy every release. Obvisoiously you don't have to. Decided which ones you really want to have. Don't worry about getting a complete collection. It will be less stressful for you and your wallet.
Hey, that's a really good list
-Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru is excellent and would be a great fit for LRG. It features all the good parts of the original trilogy but also tells a new story with no connection to the old games, so it's the perfect introduction into the series.
-The 2017 Kamaitachi Remake isn't bad either, but after some changes during the opening part the game is almost a word for word retelling of the first game which already was released in English. And the new artsyle doesn't work as well as the classic Kamaitachi silhouettes imo.
- Ukiyo no Roushi. I played the PS3 counterpart and liked it, it was a pretty good late-gen game in the vein of Way of the Samurai with fun interpretations of historical figures, creative visual touches and a kick-ass soundtrack. I've heard good things about the Vita version but never played it.
- Kenka Bancho Otome. This is the otome game that won the SpikeChun poll over 428, right? So there might be chance SpikeChun is already working on it as we speak.
Everything is sold out, another successful run.
Thank you for your impressions! Looks like Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru is better than I thought.
Hey, that's a really good list
-Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru is excellent and would be a great fit for LRG. It features all the good parts of the original trilogy but also tells a new story with no connection to the old games, so it's the perfect introduction into the series.
-The 2017 Kamaitachi Remake isn't bad either, but after some changes during the opening part the game is almost a word for word retelling of the first game which already was released in English. And the new artsyle doesn't work as well as the classic Kamaitachi silhouettes imo.
- Ukiyo no Roushi. I played the PS3 counterpart and liked it, it was a pretty good late-gen game in the vein of Way of the Samurai with fun interpretations of historical figures, creative visual touches and a kick-ass soundtrack. I've heard good things about the Vita version but never played it.
- Kenka Bancho Otome. This is the otome game that won the SpikeChun poll over 428, right? So there might be chance SpikeChun is already working on it as we speak.
Thank you for your impressions! Looks like Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru is better than I thought.
I really liked it and thought it was a well-written mystery story with a twist i didn't see coming for a long time, a good deduction mechanic, interesting characters and a tense atmosphere that's helped by a very moody soundtrack. One of my favorite VNs actually. (edit: not groundbreaking like Fata Morgana, Stein;Gate or 999/Ever17, but very solid genre fiction)
It's been a while, but I think one of the main points or criticism from Japanese fans was the new cast without any returning characters. But the original trilogy got more and more into supernatural territory towards the end and there was a lot of retconning in 2&3 so I don't know how they could have continued that series with a 4th game after the long break between 3 and Shin.
Shin is just a very good mystery game that anyone can enjoy without having played any other game in the series while longtime-fans will appreciate how it plays with your expectations of certain characters.
Curious - how long did Risk of Rain last?
I haven't been following - I'm still considering Darius Burst Vita so I'm trying to estimate how long that will last?
And do they normally put the games up for sale at the same time every time?
We actually landed an interview with the Limited Run Games team for a feature doc on physical media's future & locally owned video game shops, for anyone interested in taking a look.
We're going to be talking with them about the demand for tangible copies of these games later this year.
This looks great! I'll keep an eye out for it.
otaku-asia
Member
It's hard to compare one game with another. Darius Burst is a shmup, I think it will be a lot more popular among collectors than Risk of Rain.
Risk of Rain lasted around 48 hours I think. The games are usually put up at the same time yes.
Yep I feel like Darius Burst will probably be more popular, given its legacy and also LRG seem to think its going to be a pretty big title.
Did a bit more research and seem like the games go on sale from 10AM Eastern which makes for a pretty decent time where I am to buy it.
I think it's hilarious that the "featured" tier at the top is the one without the physical copy.We actually landed an interview with the Limited Run Games team for a feature doc on physical media's future & locally owned video game shops, for anyone interested in taking a look.
We're going to be talking with them about the demand for tangible copies of these games later this year.
2 minutes, if your lucky. PS4 version sold ou in about 45 seconds.
Hey, it's a forward thinking film!
IrishNinja
Member
any updates on Wonder Boy III: Dragon's Trap? i'm confident it'll be sold before i can order one, but wanna know about it & the LE all the same
Hey, that's a really good list
-Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru is excellent and would be a great fit for LRG. It features all the good parts of the original trilogy but also tells a new story with no connection to the old games, so it's the perfect introduction into the series.
-The 2017 Kamaitachi Remake isn't bad either, but after some changes during the opening part the game is almost a word for word retelling of the first game which already was released in English. And the new artsyle doesn't work as well as the classic Kamaitachi silhouettes imo.
- Ukiyo no Roushi. I played the PS3 counterpart and liked it, it was a pretty good late-gen game in the vein of Way of the Samurai with fun interpretations of historical figures, creative visual touches and a kick-ass soundtrack. I've heard good things about the Vita version but never played it.
- Kenka Bancho Otome. This is the otome game that won the SpikeChun poll over 428, right? So there might be chance SpikeChun is already working on it as we speak.
I haven't played any but looking at the images, I believe the ones i would like the most will be Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru and Kamaitachi. Look very very good.
Kresnik258
Member
I appreciate you coming up with all these suggestions, but at this point I feel we need to knuckle down and concentrate efforts on one or two titles rather than just scattergunning everything.
Fata Morgana worked because it was one game that everyone got excited about (plus all of Aokage's work getting communication set up between the creator and PQube/LRG).
My suggestion would be getting communications set up between LRG & Spike-Chunsoft again, but I'm not sure all of these titles have small enough word counts to make them viable.
foobarry81
Member
Or maybe you would have bought the game on one platform, but for under $10 or something.
For me personally, the impulse buy price point for many of those "popular and critically acclaimed indie titles" is quite low. I can appreciate the effort put in those games, and am willing to support young/small/indie game developers where I can (I backed some gaming Kickstarter projects and have double or triple dipped more than once on video games). But at $40 shipped I've - and this is what my gut tells me - severely overpaid for some of the games that LRG put out so far. Some I'd value at maybe $1 or $2 digital games at best. They're physical releases, so that obviously counts for something. But maybe not for a 20x to 40x multiplier on that digital impulse buy price point.
I don't know how other people feel about that obviously, but I guess at least some people think similarly about it.
As for Mutant Mudds. Not even going into whether it should've been on one cart or not. I paid $65 to get those 2 games (Vita releases) shipped to my door. Meanwhile I paid $62 shipped for SD Gundam G Generation Genesis, which to Vita Standards is a triple A game that comes on 2 Vita carts and with a cardboard sleeve. That doesn't feel entirely right.
As a retro game collector, I'm used to paying fairly steep prices sometimes for collectible items. But you still want to have that feeling of getting good value for money, right? That you got something relatively extraordinary in hands. Either something has to be super rare or desirable, and in that case it's sort of ok when the game is perhaps of questionable quality. Or else the game simply has to be good/entertaining to be able to demand a premium price. Now, some of LRG's releases have over 40 listings on eBay, often at very decent prices too. I own several games that on any given day have zero listings on eBay, and only pop up once in a while. So even with the limited quantities, as a collector, not all LRG purchases feel all that "special". One's basically picking them up for the sake of it, for completionist reasons, not because those games are "desirable".
For LRG, as curators so to speak, of which projects they take on and which they don't, I can imagine it's not an easy task to do. But they need to protect their brand. If it becomes the people's perception that you are flooding the market with relatively undesirable products (again: in the eyes of the people), that will reflect in sales.
Anyway, we're not there yet. LRG still sells out, even though it may have slowed down a little here and there. Selling out still means they estimate demand quite correctly.
Gonna be interesting to see how some of the upcoming releases perform.
Almost 2 months since Astebreed shipped and almost 1 month since Dariusburst CS shipped and I have no news or updates of them. Support said they'd try to contact the shipping company to get an update, but that was some weeks ago and nothing. My previous package (last year) got to me in 2 weeks after shipping, so I don't know what's going on. It makes me really wary of purchasing more games, if they aren't going to actually reach me.
My copy showed up at my doorstep on Saturday. Never got a shipping confirmation from SRG- they never sent me anything via email, in fact. I didn't even realize that the Steam code they added was on my account page on their site.
Just my two cents, but I like what Shizuka has been doing with those lists. Theres a surprising amount of Vita games from all kinds of genres that LRG might be able to localize and it will probably be a while before they pick their next game (maybe dependent on sales of Fata Morgana or whatever their first localization will end up being).
We're still in the spitballing-phase right now, a couple of games like Net High, Uppers and Kamaitachi have attracted interest and eventually we could have a GAF LRG poll to see which games GAFfers are interested in the most (besides the inevitable "Thor 2: The Dark World: The Visual Novel" of course
After that, we can try to do the same thing Aokage did so successfully with Fata Morgana.
Just my two cents, but I like what Shizuka has been doing with those lists. Theres a surprising amount of Vita games from all kinds of genres that LRG might be able to localize and it will probably be a while before they pick their next game (maybe dependent on sales of Fata Morgana or whatever their first localization will end up being).
Were still in the spitballing-phase right now, a couple of games like Net High, Uppers and Kamaitachi have attracted interest and eventually we could have a GAF LRG poll to see which games GAFfers are interested in the most (besides the inevitable Thor 2: The Dark World: The Visual Novel of course
After that, we can try to do the same thing Aokage did so successfully with Fata Morgana.
Just want to remind you last time there was a poll Kenka Bancho Otome ended up beating 428, a game I think most people at GAF would want.
If your mailman is enough of a gamer to know what LRG is, befriend them and get them on your side.
haha, you're not wrong. It's definitely a trade-off between picking a game that will definitely do well financially for LRG (e.g. some Anime fan-service game) and one that's well-reviewed but might do worse for them while being better for their reputation as a quality publisher (e.g. Fata Morgana).
But I think a poll might be good at some point to winnow it down to games that people on GAF are really interested in and just like the SpikeChun poll, there doesn't have to be just one winner. We're getting 428 after all while otome fans made it clear that there's a real appetite for those games in the West.
Kresnik258
Member
Just my two cents, but I like what Shizuka has been doing with those lists. There's a surprising amount of Vita games from all kinds of genres that LRG might be able to localize and it will probably be a while before they pick their next game (maybe dependent on sales of Fata Morgana or whatever their first localization will end up being).
We're still in the spitballing-phase right now, a couple of games like Net High, Uppers and Kamaitachi have attracted interest and eventually we could have a GAF LRG poll to see which games GAFfers are interested in the most (besides the inevitable "Thor 2: The Dark World: The Visual Novel" of course
After that, we can try to do the same thing Aokage did so successfully with Fata Morgana.
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm really not trying to diss what Shiz iz doing, he's come up with some great suggestions of games that I would have completely forgotten about otherwise.
It's just... I dunno. We're talking about LRG, a company who have never localized a videogame ever, who may or may not have their first title lined up which consists of buying an already-done translation and likely hiring the original team to handle a bit of extra content. And then we're suggesting games like otome visual novels with reems of text that would be a massive undertaking for even an experienced publisher.
Maybe I'm wrong and that's exactly the kind of challenge LRG are looking for, just to hire an external translator and pay them to handle a game that they can negotiate the licence of. But it seems a bit much.
And aside from that, Fata Morgana was a passion campaign. Aokage loved the game. Shiz loved the game. I'd read scores of fantastic feedback for it and genuinely want to play it on the Vita. It was easy to get behind. Listing tonnes of possible localizations of very variable quality (Idol Death Game TV is supposedly kusoge of the highest order) seems a bit less passionate.
Not that I'm asking him to stop doing it or anything, just throwing in my thoughts after all.
We're seeing this from different points of view. I'm listing developers/publishers first to show which games they can sign if they get one of them onboard. If they get in touch with Marvelous, they could sign one of the games I listed. Same for Spike Chunsoft and 5pb. I'm not focusing on specific titles because at this point, LRG needs to establish connections with as many companies as possible, and if they secure one partnership, they'll know how many titles they can localize from that developer/publisher.
Totally see where you're coming from, I just think there's no harm in doing it since LRG put out the call asking for suggestions on twitter and I wouldn't have thought of many of the games he listed either.
And I think we can all agree that from a quality perspective, Fata Morgana would be an amazing get for LRG while that Idol Death Game might not the best choice (even without a poll
It's Prototype's turn, I decided to choose Taisho x Alice: All in One (one of the best otomes not localized - I'll forever deny the existing english release), Flowers (one of the best yuri available, localized by JAST USA), Clannad (needs no introduction, localized by Sekai Project) and Himawari (localized by Mangagamer):
- Status