WiiWare Final Fantasy to charge for downloadable races (Joystiq)

[R.O.B.]

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Online, RPGs

We've known for a while that Nintendo's just-launched-in-Japan WiiWare service would require an additional fee for some downloadable content. Little did we know that content would include a pretty fundamental part of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

SiliconEra is reporting (via Square's Japanese web site) that players who pay 1,500 Wii Shop Points to purchase the ridiculously-abbreviated FFCC:MLaaK will only have access to one of the game's races. Players wishing to recruit any of the other three races will have to spend 100 to 300 Wii Shop Points to construct a home for them. Players will also be able to lay down real money for new character costumes, which don't seem to have any effect on the gameplay.

Given the controversy surrounding the pricing of additional gameplay content for Lumines Live, we can't imagine Wii owners will be happy shelling out 1,500 points for what's essentially an incomplete product. Then again, the wide variety of Final Fantasy collectibles suggests a fan base willing to shell out whatever it takes to get their dose of apocalyptic, Japanese RPG goodness. We'll see soon enough, we suppose.

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[Spore]

Pretty lame. Nickel and dime us will you, WiiWare?

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

Glad I already didn't want this game. But I know WiiWare won't be hurt by this. And with it being the Final Fantasy name + on the Wii, lol. You better believe they'll be money in the bag for ol' Nintendo and Square tonight.

Slow growth for Nintendo coming? Yeah... Keep projecting that… WiiFit, Brawl, WiiWare, Mario Kart, Dragon Quest IX…

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Very lame use of microtransactions.

[The shoemaker]

At least it's a way to get rid of those spare 200 points.


It's still cool that wii finally got DLC.

[Ginta]

I think Final Fantasy fans are willing to spend a lot of money on it. That can be seen as every original and remake of almost every Final Fantasy sell very well for something with a typically same plotline.

[ICEknight]

Originally Posted by The shoemaker

At least it's a way to get rid of those spare 200 points.

Last time I checked, people don't want to "get rid" of their money.

[Firebrand]

Square has been getting on my nerves lately. Endless remakes, charging extra for DS games, lackluster support of the Virtual Console. Now they're doing micro transactions. Someone needs to knock them off their high horse.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Firebrand

Square has been getting on my nerves lately. Endless remakes, charging extra for DS games, lackluster support of the Virtual Console. Now they're doing micro transactions. Someone needs to knock them off their high horse.

The worst part is, their supposed "saving grace" (Final Fantasy XIII) looks terrible.

It's sad that they use Nintendo systems as a dumping ground for their odd money-grabs (remakes on the DS, throwaway mini-games on WiiWare).

[Firebrand]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

The worst part is, their supposed "saving grace" (Final Fantasy XIII) looks terrible.

It's sad that they use Nintendo systems as a dumping ground for their odd money-grabs (remakes on the DS, throwaway mini-games on WiiWare).

Square is way too arrogant. I'll go with Atlus if I need an RPG fix.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

The "arrogance" of a corporation doesn't really affect my purchasing decisions. Corporations are corporations. If they release good products, then I'll patronize them. My complaint isn't with Square's corporate attitude, but with their product quality. FF:CC on WiiWare looks like crap, and it's further crippled by lame microtransactions. Their next flagship game looks terrible. I have no interest in portable remakes. But by contrast, I thought FFXII was a good game and was happy to pay Square for it. So for me, this is purely an issue of bad product.

[Firebrand]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

The "arrogance" of a corporation doesn't really affect my purchasing decisions. Corporations are corporations. If they release good products, then I'll patronize them. My complaint isn't with Square's corporate attitude, but with their product quality. FF:CC on WiiWare looks like crap, and it's further crippled by lame microtransactions. Their next flagship game looks terrible. I have no interest in portable remakes. But by contrast, I thought FFXII was a good game and was happy to pay Square for it. So for me, this is purely an issue of bad product.

Well if a company is putting out a great product then they've earned the right to be arrogant as far as I'm concerned. I don't complain about Nintendo charging an extra $5 for the odd DS game like Phantom Hourglass or New Super Mario Bros. because the game is usually worth it. Square's FF:CC for the DS is not worth extra $5 as far as I'm concerned. I don't know what the big deal is about FF: CC on WiiWare when FF:CC on both the GameCube and DS were such disappointments.

[Flamin Skull]

Originally Posted by ICEknight

Last time I checked, people don't want to "get rid" of their money.

I usually end up with 1-400 points and find myself wishing for some solution to this but this isnt what I wanted!

[Firebrand]

Originally Posted by Flamin Skull

I usually end up with 1-400 points and find myself wishing for some solution to this but this isnt what I wanted!

Why not save the extra points to use towards an import VC title?

[Flamin Skull]

thats what I usually do because I got no choice. but I am also thinking of not buying FF:MLAAK because this is a blatant attempt to nickel and dime us... I was hoping for 1 or 200 point atari games...

[Firebrand]

Originally Posted by Flamin Skull

thats what I usually do because I got no choice. but I am also thinking of not buying FF:MLAAK because this is a blatant attempt to nickel and dime us... I was hoping for 1 or 200 point atari games...

From what I've read, Star Soldier R leaves a lot to be desired too.

[hippiecrite]

Who launches a game with downloadable content? DLC is all well and good when it's used to get some replay value out of an older game (such as new maps for Halo 3, new songs for Rock Band etc.) but you don't launch a game for $15 and then have additional content available with it. All this DLC SHOULD be in the game from the get-go.

[Spore]

Originally Posted by hippiecrite

Who launches a game with downloadable content? DLC is all well and good when it's used to get some replay value out of an older game (such as new maps for Halo 3, new songs for Rock Band etc.) but you don't launch a game for $15 and then have additional content available with it. All this DLC SHOULD be in the game from the get-go.

The problem with this game is that when you buy it you have one class to play as. That is a half-assed shell of the game. If you want to have an actual good time you have to shell out more money than the flat fee. With Halo the DLC is extra stuff. With this game, the DLC is a necessity. Of course, since my main games side with Valve, I get all my extra content FREE. HA! That is the other reason PC gaming is just that great.

Anyway, you get my point. DLC is extra in most games so the price is acceptable. You still get a full game even if you don't buy it. This crap though... You know. Lucky for me I wasn't eyeing it anyway. If this is how Wiiware is gonna go down though, you can count me out.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

I'm kind of glad that Dr. Mario is the only WiiWare game I'm interested in. Unless they've made the red and blue pills DLC only, so you can only kill the yellow guys until you shell out more $$$...

[Firebrand]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

I'm kind of glad that Dr. Mario is the only WiiWare game I'm interested in. Unless they've made the red and blue pills DLC only, so you can only kill the yellow guys until you shell out more $$$...

I wonder if they're going to pull DLC with WiiWare Tetris.

[Spore]

Originally Posted by Firebrand

I wonder if they're going to pull DLC with WiiWare Tetris.

Straight tetromino? That'll be 5 bucks.