Community MetaSteam | August 2024 - What a peaceful moment in the countryside

[STHX]

Thanks for the tips! Will consider them, since many I actually didn't play back in the day,

I did try Chrono trigger, but at some point didn't know what to do and after trying to go everywhere I just kind of fell off it. Same with Symphony of the Night.

I am limited to games that can be played with digital controller, since there are no analogue sticks.

If you want to play a RPG without the need of a guide, you could try something with a linear progression like Fire Emblem. Each stage follows the previous one in a linear way
However Fire Emblem also features unique gimmicks like permadeath, and has quite a lot of optional missable characters (and optional stages). It also has many playable units so it's easy to suffer choice paralysis while picking which unit to deploy. So, I'll add an additional suggestion: a GBA "Fire Emblem-like" game without permadeath (which also means the whole cast partecipates more in the story), where most of the stages lets you deploy all (or most) characters, while still having some secrets (but mostly extra weapons or units, not characters, and the only secret stage is the true final boss).

Wow, how unexpected. It's Super Robot Wars! Who would ever thought!
This one is also convenient for not having any licenced series, meaning you don't need any previous knowledge to play it. You can easily get 40/50 hours out of this game

 

[lashman]

 

[Blu]

Out now


English update is out for Natsu-Mon

 

[lashman]

 

[dex3108]

Exclusives doing wonder

 

[ezodagrom]

Exclusives doing wonder

Taking into consideration this report is about the period between april 1st and june 30th, the only games they released in this period were SaGa Emerald Beyond and the Steam version of Kingdom Hearts, I don't recall anything else they released in this period.

(Though naturally this also includes copies sold from previous releases during this period.)

 

[dex3108]

Taking into consideration this report is about the period between april 1st and june 30th, the only games they released in this period were SaGa Emerald Beyond and the Steam version of Kingdom Hearts, I don't recall anything else they released in this period.

(Though naturally this also includes sales from previous releases during this period.)

Exclusivity period for both XVI and Rebirth are over, and this is more about issue of them not building up their userbase on other platforms and relying on exclusives. This is not just about last quarter, sales would be much bigger if they started building their userbase on other platforms with Remake for example.

 

[lashman]

 

[STHX]

Square Enix moment incoming

 

[yuraya]

It really is the year of Square Enix huh.

Rebirth
Dragon Quest Builders on Steam
Kingdom Hearts on Steam
FFXIV expansion
Visions of Mana
FFXVI on Steam
DQ3 remake

All this but company financials are still in the toilet and future is uncertain too.

 

[Derrick01]

Exclusives doing wonder

You got in trouble for this on era because you were making this about rebirth when the fiscal report covers april to june, outside of rebirth's launch period.

Now if you want to say it had no legs well that's true but that would have been the same on PC because that's just how 99% of jrpgs work. Even yakuza 8 sales flatlined after its first month and that's on every platform. A PC version of rebirth would have helped the previous quarter's numbers and for this quarter it would have boosted the HD games segment from 0.5% to maybe 0.6 or 7, unless this hypothetical PC port defied all genre expectations and kept selling hundreds of thousands of units in the last few months.

 

[lashman]

 

[Derrick01]

It really is the year of Square Enix huh.

Rebirth
Dragon Quest Builders on Steam
Kingdom Hearts on Steam
FFXIV expansion
Visions of Mana
FFXVI on Steam
DQ3 remake

All this but company financials are still in the toilet and future is uncertain too.

Rebirth deserved to sell spiderman 2 numbers because it's one of the most special and unique AAA games ever made but we live in an unjust world. I honestly don't care anymore, all I need is for them to stay the course with part 3 and get it out and I don't care if it sells 5 copies because at that point the entire journey is complete and I got what I wanted out of it.

 

[Yoshi]

Humble Choice for August 2024

Store Pages:

Sifu
High On Life
Gotham Knights
BLACKTAIL
Astral Ascent
This Means Warp
Universe For Sale
Diluvian Ultra

 

[fantomena]

Rebirth deserved to sell spiderman 2 numbers because it's one of the most special and unique AAA games ever made

Lol, there is nothing unique about Rebirth afaik, played it and finished it on my Ps5.

 

[Gintaro]

Humble Choice for August 2024

That's a pretty good month. Almost all the game is in my wishlist that I haven't bought yet

 

[yuraya]

Also I don't think Square just stealth drops XVI.

They announce it soon like in Gamescom or TGS.

And then being the arrogant assholes that they are...they release it in October so to make everyone choose between Metaphor, XVI and The Veilguard.

Its probably why Obsidian delayed Avowed. They saw this shit and said nah....see you early next year.

 

[ezodagrom]

Also I don't think Square just stealth drops XVI.

They announce it soon like in Gamescom or TGS.

And then being the arrogant assholes that they are...they release it in October so to make everyone choose between Metaphor, XVI and The Veilguard.

Its probably why Obsidian delayed Avowed. They saw this shit and said nah....see you early next year.

With Romancing SaGa 2 remake and the new Life is Strange in late October, and Dragon Quest 3 remake in mid November, it would be a very Squeenix move to release FFXVI PC around that time as well... :|

 

[Derrick01]

I doubt it's a shadow drop, even SE isn't THAT stupid. This isn't some crappy DQ spinoff like infinity strash this is a mainline entry in their biggest franchise.

I do see it being a relatively short window between announcement and release though. Like probably a month or two.

 

[Durante]

All this but company financials are still in the toilet and future is uncertain too.

Their lack of a consistent platform strategy and vision, and their dumb exclusivity decisions which are part of that, keep biting them in the ass while companies like Capcom thrive in no small part because they realized early on the value of having their franchises consistently available on all important platforms, both for the sales of new releases and in order to build a catalog audience.

Comparing financial report of Capcom with SE really puts into perspective how much better the former's current leadership know what they are doing.

 

[FunnyJay]

by artist 'Puuung'.

Swedish speaking people be like: "What did you say the artist was called again???"

 

[toxicitizen]

Humble Choice for August 2024

Store Pages:

Sifu
High On Life
Gotham Knights
BLACKTAIL
Astral Ascent
This Means Warp
Universe For Sale
Diluvian Ultra

Damn, first month in a while (years, actually) that's good enough for me to resub. In for Sifu and High on Life but I've also been getting back into Batman comics lately and was thinking about giving Gotham Knights a shot. Reading Batman stories has made me realize how much I miss the Arkham games.

I doubt it's a shadow drop, even SE isn't THAT stupid. This isn't some crappy DQ spinoff like infinity strash this is a mainline entry in their biggest franchise.

I do see it being a relatively short window between announcement and release though. Like probably a month or two.

Didn't they pretty much shadowdrop FF7R on Steam? IIRC the announcement was like the day before. They are absolutely stupid enough to do it.

If the port is pretty much ready, I don't even expect a month. Kingdom Hearts only got about 3 weeks between announcement and release, and that was for the entire series, not a single game.

 

[Derrick01]

Their lack of a consistent platform strategy and vision, and their dumb exclusivity decisions which are part of that, keep biting them in the ass while companies like Capcom thrive in no small part because they realized early on the value of having their franchises consistently available on all important platforms, both for the sales of new releases and in order to build a catalog audience.

Comparing financial report of Capcom with SE really puts into perspective how much better the former's current leadership know what they are doing.

It's funny that everyone likes to compare them to capcom when the only jrpg that capcom has put out, the battle network collection, sold pretty much in line with other jrpgs (about 2 million). They are no different from anyone else in that regard, jrpg as a genre is a genre that mostly peaks at 2-4m outside of a very tiny handful of IPs.

The games capcom has seen success with are open world GaaS co-op action games like monster hunter and action/horror games like RE. I'm not sure if people consider dragons dogma 2 to be a jrpg or not but even that game doesn't seem to be having the typical legs that capcom are used to. They announced 3m sales (technically they framed it as arisen but lets just say sales) in late may and the picture I saw posted last week had it at 3.08m just below SF6's current sales. That could be from really poor word of mouth too though. But my point is that these are two entirely different companies. Capcom mostly makes games that work very well in the current streamer age we're in, SE doesn't.

 

[fantomena]

I still can't believe Square scammed Sony for Forspoken and Foamstars. Gotta give Square respect for that. They love monehats more than the people playing the games.

 

[curi0usBystander]

They are no different from anyone else in that regard, jrpg as a genre is a genre that mostly peaks at 2-4m outside of a very tiny handful of IPs.

Then, one should wonder if making high budget JRPGs is a good idea

 

[Ascheroth]

jrpg as a genre is a genre that mostly peaks at 2-4m outside of a very tiny handful of IPs.

I am in the JRPG audience and I get my fix from gacha games these days tbh.
Anecdotal, of course, but I do wonder how much of that is a factor.
They are basically JRPG-ish in nature, are available almost everywhere and have no cost of entry...

 

[dex3108]

You got in trouble for this on era because you were making this about rebirth when the fiscal report covers april to june, outside of rebirth's launch period.

Now if you want to say it had no legs well that's true but that would have been the same on PC because that's just how 99% of jrpgs work. Even yakuza 8 sales flatlined after its first month and that's on every platform. A PC version of rebirth would have helped the previous quarter's numbers and for this quarter it would have boosted the HD games segment from 0.5% to maybe 0.6 or 7, unless this hypothetical PC port defied all genre expectations and kept selling hundreds of thousands of units in the last few months.

Thread was on the troll side but issue is in not small part thier focus on exclusives and just one group of consumers. And as I said my comment wasn't just for Rebirth. Between their exclusivity stupidity and pricing of their games and not putting them in sales of course they see sharp drops in sales after release. Add to that mediocre post launch support and you get no sales month after release.

With multiple platforms not only do they have bigger audience, but they have more opportunities for promotions and sale events.

And regarding JRPG sales, when they can't outperform much smaller IPs in day 1 sales on PC you know that issue isn't genre but something else.

But more importantly

 

[Knurek]

It's funny that everyone likes to compare them to capcom when the only jrpg that capcom has put out, the battle network collection, sold pretty much in line with other jrpgs (about 2 million). They are no different from anyone else in that regard, jrpg as a genre is a genre that mostly peaks at 2-4m outside of a very tiny handful of IPs.

I'm sure a GBA ROM collection cost as much (if not more) to develop as FF7 Rebirth did.

 

[dex3108]

And i somehow managed to make XMP work for my RAM XD I am back at 4000MT/s

Also

Additionally, EA says the PC version - which Digital Foundry called "the worst PC port of 2023" - will be recieving an update "in the coming weeks". This promises "enhancements to the game's technical performance, controls and more", as well as various quality of life improvements.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gets September release on PS4 and Xbox One

A little over a year after confirming a last-gen release for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was in the works, EA has announce…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Line]

It's funny, but I remember that not that long ago FF7 Rebirth came out, sold like crap at launch (oh, sorry, "met expectations" from Monday to Tuesday night at launch in Andorra and San Marino so it's technically not a lie and very real PR), but that it was so amazing that it would continue selling well just like the other FFs did before.

But now the copeaganda is that it's normal for AAA JRPGs to sell like shit at launch and never pick up sales after, and maybe it's Sega that should be worried about their JRPG series Yakuza anyway because they only beat their own records with every new game.

 

[Derrick01]

I'm sure a GBA ROM collection cost as much (if not more) to develop as FF7 Rebirth did.

So you're saying the entire jrpg genre should just be lazy ports from now on then? Since they're not going to sell more than a few million.

Then, one should wonder if making high budget JRPGs is a good idea

I don't really care if it's a smart decision when we get a game like rebirth which actually did things no other decent sized jrpg has been able to do since the ps2 days, actually design a full world spanning journey with towns that aren't a few square buildings. It's always weird to see people actually ask for less ambition and be satisfied with games that still look and play like they did 20 years ago.

I am in the JRPG audience and I get my fix from gacha games these days tbh.
Anecdotal, of course, but I do wonder how much of that is a factor.
They are basically JRPG-ish in nature, are available almost everywhere and have no cost of entry...

I know in japan that's absolutely the case. It's why ps5 sales are pretty good but no one buys any software over there, they're all playing f2p stuff. F2p live service games in general are the biggest threat facing the entire industry not just jrpgs.

 

[STHX]

So you're saying the entire jrpg genre should just be lazy ports from now on then? Since they're not going to sell more than a few million.

It's too hot here to start an argument about comparing a collection of GBA games from 19 years ago versus a newly released PS5 AAA title, but I'll say this: lets wait and see how Metaphor does this fall before talking about the death of JRPGs, talking about sales ceiling, or talking about how important is to be multiplatform day one

 

[Knurek]

So you're saying the entire jrpg genre should just be lazy ports from now on then? Since they're not going to sell more than a few million.

Get back to me when Rebirth PC turns out not to be a lazy port, like FF7R did.
But also, no? How hard is to understand that if you put $200M into a game that has a predicted, optimistic LTD sales of 3M, and then torpedo chances of even seing that by making stupid, boneheaded business decisions, your profit margin will be non-existant?

 

[Derrick01]

It's too hot here to start an argument about comparing a collection of GBA games from 19 years ago versus a newly released PS5 AAA title, but I'll say this: lets wait and see how Metaphor does this fall before talking about the death of JRPGs, talking about sales ceiling, or talking about how important is to be multiplatform day one

Yeah we'll see, I honestly have no idea how it'll do. People seem to be expecting some out of the gates 10m seller like it's persona 6 or something but I tend to be a lot more cautious there. Both yakuza 8 and P3 were day 1 multiplats and as far as we know neither have hit 2m yet despite having "record breaking" launches. Pretty sure even persona 4 having a nearly 10 year late port did more than that.

 

[curi0usBystander]

I don't really care if it's a smart decision when we get a game like rebirth which actually did things no other decent sized jrpg has been able to do since the ps2 days, actually design a full world spanning journey with towns that aren't a few square buildings. It's always weird to see people actually ask for less ambition and be satisfied with games that still look and play like they did 20 years ago.

The point is if you can't make your budget back (and then some) you have to scale down (or expand your audience). So they either solve the problem or you won't see games like that.

 

[Durante]

Get back to me when Rebirth PC turns out not to be a lazy port, like FF7R did.
But also, no? How hard is to understand that if you put $200M into a game that has a predicted, optimistic LTD sales of 3M, and then torpedo chances of even seing that by making stupid, boneheaded business decisions, your profit margin will be non-existant?

Yeah, I wonder if this time around they'll manage to make a competent PC port. I really would love to know how much they spend on these -- either they are massively overpaying or the budget they allocate to it is utterly laughable compared to the development budget of these games.

 

[STHX]

Yeah we'll see, I honestly have no idea how it'll do. People seem to be expecting some out of the gates 10m seller like it's persona 6 or something but I tend to be a lot more cautious there. Both yakuza 8 and P3 were day 1 multiplats and as far as we know neither have hit 2m yet despite having "record breaking" launches. Pretty sure even persona 4 having a nearly 10 year late port did more than that.

I don't know if Yakuza 8 and Persona 3 Reload can be defined as high budget (which makes 1 million for one of them have different weight compared to 2/2.5 millions for Rebirth), and they surely aren't a "world spanning journey with towns that aren't a few square buildings" (but arguably, how many actual japanese games, not just RPGs, fit this description?). I still think the comparison with FFVII Rebirth is weird as in both games the scope is completely different, but don't you think the fact there is even a discussion comparing Yakuza (a series that almost risked becoming japan only) or Persona (a very anime series filled with tropes that usually scare away the average gamer) to Final Fantasy speaks a lot about the issue with SE and the FF brand at large? Like the idea that an Atlus game could somehow outsell a mainline FF game was unthinkable not even a year ago, and let's be serious these recent results have happened after both series started to take multiplatform releases more seriously
Similarly, if there is an issue with PS5 users playing too much Genshin, Fortnite, Honkai and other f2p games, then wouldn't that mean there is an even bigger incentive in not making PS5 exclusives? Even Helldivers which is as gaas as it can did better on Steam, and that game is not f2p. During this gen it has become clear that Steam users have no issue with spending money on normal full priced games, so targting Steam is a good business decision, especially as budgets grow endlessly. Hell even Ubisoft is accellerating their steam ports this year and they are the last holdout for launcher exclusivity. People aren't arguing SE is failing because they release too many exclusives (which isn't true, XVI and Rebirth are exceptions, not the rule), they're arguing that their highest budget games among all of their releases are the exclusive ones, and this is obviously limiting their sales potential. Sales potential that for all intent and purpose should not be limited at all

 

[Arc]

Steam :: Steamworks Development :: Now Supporting Larger Store Graphical Assets

New, larger sizes of all store banners now accepted; previous sizes still accepted for now

steamcommunity.com

Now Supporting Larger Store Graphical Assets
New, larger sizes of all store banners now accepted; previous sizes still accepted for now
We've just updated our banner image templates and specifications to new, larger sizes for many of the assets that Steam requires in order to show off your game in the best light in the store, library, and community. These new assets will allow us to better serve customers on high-res monitors and devices including Steam Deck OLED.

Updated Templates and Specifications
For most required store graphical assets (and one library asset) we now have larger templates that are 2x the size of our previous templates. These assets are:

• Store small capsule
• Store header capsule
• Store main capsule
• Store vertical capsule
• Library header capsule

The latest templates can be found here: Steam Graphical Asset Templates.

The latest specifications can be found here: Graphical Assets - Overview Documentation


Previous sizes supported until November
While our specifications and templates have moved to these new, larger sizes, we don't want to disrupt any developers that are in the process of building and shipping games. So, we will continue accepting uploads of the previous size assets until the beginning of November. After November 1st, we will fully switch to the new templates and no longer accept uploads of the smaller dimensions.

Use of new assets will roll out over time
Use of the new high-resolution store assets will be rolling out in the coming months, as we start enabling higher resolution capsules for players browsing Steam on higher resolution monitors. One of the first places you are likely to see these in action is on Steam Deck OLED since the higher-dpi screen makes some of the smaller assets quite noticeable.

Reminder: Important rules for graphical assets
make sure you are familiar with our rules for what can and cannot be included in graphical asset banners on Steam. See: Graphical Asset Rules for more details.

If you need to temporarily display information about an update to your game, you may use an Artwork Override to upload a secondary set of capsules to display for a limited amount of time. See: Artwork Overrides for more details.


Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Do I need to update the assets for my previous releases?
A. You are welcome to upload higher resolution assets for your previous releases, but it is not required. We plan to continue supporting past uploaded capsules.

Q. Can I still upload the previous sized capsules?
A. For now, we'll continue accepting uploads of the older templates sizes, so as not to disrupt any game releases in progress. However, by November 1st, we plan to stop allowing new uploads of the smaller resolutions.

Q. Why are banners referred to as 'capsules' on Steam?
A. Great question. We've asked ourselves the same thing, and looked into it with the hopes of digging up an inspiring backstory from Steam lore. Alas, it's simply that all those years ago when we first started selling games on Steam we had to invent and name a bunch of things in a hurry and someone on the team said "um... capsule?" and we all must have replied "good enough!" And now it's embedded in our code for all of time.

Good change, especially as store assets are frustratingly blurry when using Steam Deck docked.

 

[didamangi]

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gets September release on PS4 and Xbox One

A little over a year after confirming a last-gen release for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was in the works, EA has announce…

www.eurogamer.net

EA says the PC version - which Digital Foundry called "the worst PC port of 2023" - will be recieving an update "in the coming weeks". This promises "enhancements to the game's technical performance, controls and more", as well as various quality of life improvements.

Hoping for the best but not expecting much.

Q. Why are banners referred to as 'capsules' on Steam?
A. Great question. We've asked ourselves the same thing, and looked into it with the hopes of digging up an inspiring backstory from Steam lore. Alas, it's simply that all those years ago when we first started selling games on Steam we had to invent and name a bunch of things in a hurry and someone on the team said "um... capsule?" and we all must have replied "good enough!" And now it's embedded in our code for all of time.

Good change, especially as store assets are frustratingly blurry when using Steam Deck docked.

 

[hersheyfan]

Yeah we'll see, I honestly have no idea how it'll do. People seem to be expecting some out of the gates 10m seller like it's persona 6 or something but I tend to be a lot more cautious there. Both yakuza 8 and P3 were day 1 multiplats and as far as we know neither have hit 2m yet despite having "record breaking" launches. Pretty sure even persona 4 having a nearly 10 year late port did more than that.

Not really sure what youre trying to drive at here. Yakuza 8 is certainly a much lower budget game than Rebirth was; if they only sell "a few million" as far as we know, across three different platforms, how does it make any sense at all to keep investing a much larger budget into games that sell 3 mil at launch then fall off a cliff sales wise?

I love JRPGs, but I also accepted a long time ago that their time as a viable "AAA budget" genre has long since passed. There's great new output still at the AA and indie level, and I'm totally OK with that.

I'm sure that part of Square's present reorganization is addressing the budget bloat thats crippling their margins. The FFXIV money wont be around to keep them afloat forever, so they need to find ways to makenew releases from Final Fantasy (and their other IPs) in a more sustainable way moving forward.

 

[Alexandros]

Not sure how much value there is in discussing Square Enix's business strategy again since the company itself came out and said "yeah, we were wrong and we will reverse course". We'll see if they actually go through with it but for now the matter is settled in my opinion. The people who claimed that Square Enix was making dumb decisions were right and the people who claimed that Square knew what it was doing were wrong. If they do day 1 multiplatform releases and their games sell the same or worse then we should have a new discussion on the topic. Until then it feels kind of pointless to repeat the same arguments ad nauseum.

 

[yuraya]

Hate to laugh at stuff like this but...

Its really hilarious to see a PC patch get announced for a game that came out 16 months ago.

And its an announcement for a patch too

Must have been an awful port wtf

Respawn should have stuck to Source.

 

[Le Pertti]

Hmh did they change the rarest achievements showcase to show less achievements? I had level 3 on it and it showed much more before.

 

[STHX]

Hmh did they change the rarest achievements showcase to show less achievements? I had level 3 on it and it showed much more before.

Something similar happened to me last year, but I think it was a bug caused by a game getting new achievements. One day I noticed the showcase suddenly lost the third row and the last two of the middle row, but it fixed itself after getting a new achievement

 

[Le Pertti]

Something similar happened to me last year, but I think it was a bug caused by a game getting new achievements. One day I noticed the showcase suddenly lost the third row and the last two of the middle row, but it fixed itself after getting a new achievement

Ah yeah that sounds about right, probably that!

 

[ezodagrom]

 

[lashman]

 

[Kyougar]

You got in trouble for this on era because you were making this about rebirth when the fiscal report covers april to june, outside of rebirth's launch period.

Now if you want to say it had no legs well that's true but that would have been the same on PC because that's just how 99% of jrpgs work. Even yakuza 8 sales flatlined after its first month and that's on every platform. A PC version of rebirth would have helped the previous quarter's numbers and for this quarter it would have boosted the HD games segment from 0.5% to maybe 0.6 or 7, unless this hypothetical PC port defied all genre expectations and kept selling hundreds of thousands of units in the last few months.

Everyone piling on Dex in otherforum, accusing him of reading the report wrong, while the "defenders" of square read the report "wrong"

What has the out-of-launch-period to do with the profitability of a company?
Shouldn't the profitability be UP outside of the Launch? Wouldn't that be the period where your investment in single-player games is DOWN and your profit would be UP because you sell an already finished product without much costs?
Your 99% argument is nonsense, that would mean, in the launch period that the single player segment had 99 times more revenue than the MMO segment.

 

[Arc]

I received an invite to play Deadlock even though I haven't signed up for it. Maybe Valve is gearing up for a formal announcement soon?


When I got the email I was hoping it was for Mecha Break which I did sign up for am far more interested in.

 

[lashman]