Mercenaries 3D saved files are permanent

[Smiley]

It's true Stu (lol I made a rhyme)....... I mean, It's true yes that I have not played Mercs 3D.

You see the game's already out and I've been judging my analysis based on the following:

Capcom's promotional coverage on the game.

Gamer feedback.

Game play videos from Japan.

The game is already out in Japan so I've had enough time to take in footage from that release and weigh it in with what my expectations were when I saw what the game has to offer. My conclusion: Had potential, but falls in line with "bare minimum".

Why do I say rushed? Well Darkmoon provided an excellent quote from Kawata on the matter which was later followed by Iwata during the interview when he said"You chose the genre that would be easier to pour a concentrated amount of content into in a shorter period of time."

Basically it boils down to -Well we're working on Revelations, but we want a RE title to out near the 3DS so let's scrape one together with what we have-

Sure you can argue I'm looking too hard into it, but actually it's very easy to see for your own eyes all the "content" or rather "lack of content" Capcom provided.

They admit Revelations is the one that was moving along first. That is a game that isn't even coming out till 2012. The fact that in between they managed to come up with and release mercs 3D already shows the amount of time and effort wasn't given to it as with Revelations.

But let's look at that content shall we. If I took out RE3's merc characters and enemies (since no one cares about any content that game has to offer :/ all about RE4 and RE5) then thus far there's only eight characters out of the lot with Claire being the only actual new one. You say I can't hold a game accountable until DLC is actually announced or released. Sure I guess not. I'm basing that off past history combined with lack of content. You have Capcom who is known for re-releasing products to include playing through new stages or as additional characters. Then you look at a game like Mercs 3D and say? Where's the rest of the RE4/RE5 stages? Where's Leon? Ada? Sheva? creatures like the reapers? etc.

Apparently adding a nigh time filter makes for having a new stage. And I guess we can all joke along with Kawata that Leon was too busy in Operation: Raccoon City to make the cut into Mercs 3D despite the fact that Claire is in both titles. I really doubt Capcom decided to keep Krauser, HUNK and Claire yet leave Leon out for any reason other than re-release or future port. This was the company that held off Jill and Shuma Gorath (two playable characters in MvC2) when it came time to make a third one so they can release them at $5 dollars a pop for DLC bonuses. It's pretty clever really. If they had all the good main playing characters like Leon, Wesker, Jill and then released DLC of say this guy..... It probably wouldn't make as much sales as opposed to taking out a popular main character and leaving him out for future content.

So uninspired stages with the only new ones being added nighttime ones. Check. Lack of characters. Check. How about unlockables?

From what I've seen the default ones are the Revelations cast which are Chris, Jill and HUNK. Makes sense. You get to unlock the rest and their additional outfits later in the game. And what are they?

Spoiler:

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Oh....Wait a minute!

Anyway let's look at another pict.....
Spoiler:

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Oh.....

Well at least the ladies have it going I mean what can go wron......
Spoiler:

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Oh.....
Spoiler:

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GIVE ME A BREAK!

It's pretty clear where some of these designs came from. Lord knows not every costume is original in this series, but when your latest game has a lackluster lineup that is reminiscent of the previous entry's lineup it makes you look cheap.

About the only thing positive I could say about mercs 3D is that mercs on the go sounds like a great idea. And the modes and upgrades they've looked into could offer plenty of game time. They've even gone out of their way to make the controls more fluid by having you walk and shoot or walk and reload. Problem is that the enemies were designed around the limitations of the past controls. And they've hardly been changed. I've seen too many vids where you can dodge the axe man and cause damage by simply walking back and shooting at the same time as he readies and lowers his axe into empty space.

They've even made it so that you have an indestructible amount of time to heal in the process of running through an axe or chainsaw to avoid a tight spot.

All in all....

Spoiler:

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The animation and lack of limitations make the game easy to play.

And then there's this save issue. I have no loyalty to Capcom. I have enjoyed and been disappointed by them in the past with their products. They are a company that you have to keep skepticism towards and have made every attempt to earn that reputation.

[Stu]

Yeah i'm not reading all that. I got a bit into it, then just got really bored. I basically summised that your view is based on youtube videos and gamers who haven't even played it to any extent yet. Sorry.

and this is guess work I admit

BINGO.

None of that speaks of a massive budget, in terms of cash or man hours.

Who was talking budget? I've been saying for months there'll be minimum effort put into this, and very little money...that doesn't mean it's rushed at all.

People who buy games and then trade then in once they're done might be less interested if they're told the game they buy for £30 is only going to be worth a third or less of that traded in again, even if they bring it back next week. Since this seems to be an intentional move on Capcom's part, for whatever reason, they do not want to cost themselves sales.

So it's still fuck all to do with them, irrespective of why they're saying it. It's value in the second hand market, is absolutely nothing to do with Capcom. Nothing they say will have any influence over what the retailers say.

[Smiley]

Yeah i'm not reading all that. I got a bit into it, then just got really bored. I basically summised that your view is based on youtube videos and gamers who haven't even played it to any extent yet. Sorry.

Actually you're half right. Youtube videos and gamers who have already excelled all it can offer in a short amount of time. Case in point: The last link I provided would have given you some indication.

But if you got nothing to say then that works just as well. Best not to waste your time trying to argue against something painfully obvious.

I've been saying for months there'll be minimum effort put into this, and very little money...that doesn't mean it's rushed at all.

Actually it does. And it shows laziness and cutting corners. The things you sought to find. Funny how you've been looking for it and when provided you brush it off your shoulders. I mean it's no big deal, but ironic nonetheless.

[Darkmoon]

BINGO.

I assume you think it's been cunningly planned for the last two or three years or so years then? Look, if you have a better theory, go for it. As it stands, there isn't a jot of evidence it hasn't been rushed out of development in time for the 3DS launch. Feel free to prove to me that it wasn't.

Who was talking budget? I've been saying for months there'll be minimum effort put into this, and very little money...that doesn't mean it's rushed at all.

I simply mentioned it because, well, it's relevant. Budget = Number of Man Hours that they can put into the project. With a low one, it means you have a small team, which means less can be done.

So it's still fuck all to do with them, irrespective of why they're saying it. It's value in the second hand market, is absolutely nothing to do with Capcom. Nothing they say will have any influence over what the retailers say.

Let me give you an example, and yes, I know, it is not totally perfect in every way. Cars are not video games. It's just to give you some idea why capcom should, and apparently does, give a shit. You're going to buy yourself a car. The maker of a certain model announces that anyone who wasn't the original owner will not be supported - they're not allowed access to technicians trained for that model, you can't buy spare parts they've made, etc. It's a pig to maintain if you weren't the original owner.

Would you buy that car, knowing that selling it on, if you're of a mind to sell it, will be a massive issue and you won't get much for it? Only if it gives you a unique experience, instead of, say, being the cobbled together bastard child of two vehicles your customer may well already own.

Of course, some people will buy it out of brand loyalty, and some will buy because they don't care about resale value. But a significant chunk of people will care about resale value may well decide not buy your car, and go get a different one.

Again, yes, not perfect, but you should get the idea. Capcom give a crap about resale because there customers give a crap about it, and anything that might hurt sales will interest Capcom.

On the plus side, I should be getting a chance to play this tomorrow, so I can find out how horribly wrong I am.

[Dracarys]

I understand that Capcom is a business and their goal is to obviously make money. As well as the fact that they see no profit from used sales. However, rather than cheat me out of a used copy, they should make a game worthy of it's full price. Let's face it, Mercs is looking pretty rushed, several reviewers said it themselves, and the character roster is pathetic. They said themselves in that Iwata interview that the game was developed rather quickly.. It's just not worth the full price in my opinion.. If this game was, lets say, $20, I'd have no problem buying it new!

..But I'm not saying the game won't be fun; I'm sure it will be. (I just don't think the amount of "fun" is worth my $40. ..)

If you want to buy it used because you do not believe it is worth full price, instead wait for a price drop on a new copy.

That way you still get what you want (the game for less money, without someone elses save data) and Capcom get what they want (ANY money).


If you want to buy it used to spite Capcom because you disapprove of the games lack of new content or character or some such then the fact you want to buy it and play it still voids any merit behind the idea, since Capcom clearly did make a product you want to play.

The block of text suggests it's rushed because they were developing Revelations, realized it wouldn't be ready for release at the same time as the 3DS part way through, and decided to make this instead. Which, if nothing else, shows it's had far less development time than Revelations has. It was started after and completed sooner. Which certainly sounds somewhat rushed.

Look at the content of Mercs 3D versus Revelations. Ok we cannot look at Revelations directly but it is a full RE story game. Mercs 3D is a mini-game collection effectively.

Having less content than a full RE game would obviously mean less dev time especially when re-using stuff from other games. This doesn't mean rushed, it is just less work to do so finished sooner.

[Mr. Spencer]

I'm giving this is a miss as I don't have a 3DS, think I'll wait until Capcom decides that they want to port Revelations to the Vita.

[Borman]

Just throwing it out there, having bought the game, but it is certainly rushed. The sound effects, specifically the voices, are low quality. The guns lack that oomph. Graphically, it looks okay, until you see the distant enemies moving at half the frame rate. There are 5 sets of missions, plus EX missions after the credits to do your score attack, the first 5 sets of missions taking me only a few hours.

Yes, the game is fun, but it is exactly what Capcom claims it to be : A title pushed out so that they can say they have SOMETHING out there on the 3ds.

[Darkmoon]

Look at the content of Mercs 3D versus Revelations. Ok we cannot look at Revelations directly but it is a full RE story game. Mercs 3D is a mini-game collection effectively.

Having less content than a full RE game would obviously mean less dev time especially when re-using stuff from other games. This doesn't mean rushed, it is just less work to do so finished sooner.

True, at least to some extent. Mercs would certainly have a much simpler development, since the majority of the game simply needed modifying for the 3DS, not made from scratch as Revelations is. Which would certainly speed things up significantly.

I do still think it was somewhat rushed. The lack of additional content such as new characters or maps combined with them outright admitting it was made purely to have SOMETHING to throw out when the 3DS hit really makes it feel like they were straining, at least to me. I could, obviously, be very wrong, but you'd think even Capcom would twig that a couple of new levels, even just other areas in the games they hadn't already used as Mercs stages, would be a strong selling point. At least some people are going to go, 'Eh, why bother, got most of it already. And I can play that on my 50 inch HD TV.'

[aris13]

I don't understand why people are particularly upset about this.

[Archelon]

I'm giving this is a miss as I don't have a 3DS, think I'll wait until Capcom decides that they want to port Revelations to the Vita.

Granted, this is Capcom, so anything is possible, but when one of the main selling points of Revelations is the 3D, I'm not sure I see them porting Revelations to the Vita.

I think it's much more likely, at this point anyway, that they moved Resident Evil Portable's development over to the Vita and will be focusing on that instead.

[Humor Tumor]

I don't understand why people are particularly upset about this.

Neither do I

[Dracarys]

Capcom has never really done that sort of thing to combat used games sales, in fact they've done nothing I can recall, they seem to milk anything they can as DLC (disc locked content) instead. This was likely an oversight because it is a weak as hell form of fighting used sales.

Called it.

Post by Snow on CU.

Hey everyone! Someone finally sent me over the official statement:

"In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset. The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability, encouraging fans to improve mission scores. The game’s save mechanics cannot remove any content available for users. Secondhand game sales were not a factor in this development decision, and we hope that all our consumers will be able to enjoy the entirety of the survival-action experiences that the game does offer."

[Humor Tumor]

How much you bet people are still going to bitch about it?

[Archelon]

Called it.

Post by Snow on CU.

Hey everyone! Someone finally sent me over the official statement:

"In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset. The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability, encouraging fans to improve mission scores. The game’s save mechanics cannot remove any content available for users. Secondhand game sales were not a factor in this development decision, and we hope that all our consumers will be able to enjoy the entirety of the survival-action experiences that the game does offer."

If you believe that, I've got a tropical island in the Pacific I'll be happy to sell you.

[Borman]

The issue is, anyone who buys it used (which admittedly doesn't matter to Capcom), or borrows it from friends or family, won't get the full experience. Beyond just unlocking stuff, there are also skills that level up, and other little things to unlock. For a game with so little to do in it in the first place, Capcom should have been maximizing all potential value and avoiding this issue all together, as it would have taken no effort at all.

Instead, they realize that the game is short, and people are going to trade it in quick in a lot of cases, with their thought being "Hey, someone who has read about it would rather buy it new to get the whole experience," rather than the fact that people are going to wait until the price drops to buy it real cheap, thus they lose money anyway.