Full FeedOpinion: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King DLC due for a price-cut
Just recently, I began playing Square Enix’s WiiWare game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. Yes, I know, I’m late to the party. Pretend my invitation got lost in the mail. (I was waiting for Wii Points cards to go on sale.) I was fairly sure I’d enjoy the game, as a friend recommended it and, when I’d seen her play it on her console, it seemed like a lot of fun.
Before breaking ground on my first kingdom, I decided to peruse the downloadable content menu. I know that the extra buildings, quests and costumes aren’t essential, but I had 900 points left over to squander, and decided to window shop.
Initially, the prices didn’t really phase me. 100 points for a costume, 200 points for some dungeons and 300 points for one additional race didn’t seem all that bad. I eagerly decided that the 100 point Luxurious Houses were essential for a prosperous playthrough.
It’s only when I considered the ethnic diversity of my kingdom that the prices really hit me. Each extra race is 300 points alone, and 800 points to purchase them all at once. I understand that the multi-race pack is a better deal ($1 cheaper/100 points cheaper), but I couldn’t get over the fact that the same points could go towards a full Virtual Console or WiiWare game. It just seemed ridiculous that, for the price of an extra game, I’d get a small add-on to an existing game.
As a Sims 2 fan, I can understand how hypocritical I may be sounding. After all, I’ve purchased expansion packs for that which, on their own, cost as much as a cheap DS or PS2 game. But, I rarely bought the expansions when they were new. Instead, I’d wait until the inevitable price drop.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King is over a year old. It originally debuted on WiiWare May 12, 2009. I understand that, with digital distribution, companies feel they never have to discount their product. However, with games like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years coming soon, you’d think Square Enix would do a temporary price drop as a bit of an incentive to pick up an older game.
Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, but it’d be nice to see a company drop prices, even temporarily, to get players more interested.
As for me, the next time I find a cheap Nintendo Points card I’ll probably cave. The lure of a town filled with Clavats, Selkies, Lilties and Yukes living happily together is too much to resist.
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As much as I wanted to play My Life as a King, I couldn’t swallow that a good portion of the game had to be purchased for a more rounded experience. It’s a big turn-off when it can’t simply be bundled altogether for one price instead of making it look cheap by splitting it up into different parts. The Sims expansion usually added a good amount of content while I can’t justify paying extra for ugly alternative outfits for characters with designs that simply irk me in the first place. A smart move would be to offer a physical copy with both My Life as a King and My Life as a Dark Lord all on one disc. That would be smexy.
When I heard about Little King’s Story that’s should be releasing soon, it seems like a much better experience that has almost the same formula of My Life as a King mixed in. I’ll definitely purchase this hidden gem as soon as I can grab a copy.
on June 8, 2009 at 09:43 PM - LINKI agree that Squeenix DLC is just too expensive to swallow. I was really excited about FFIV: The After Years, but after seeing the cost of the DLC, I have pretty much decided to forgo the game altogether sadly. I want the full experience, but not for $37. It’s true that if the game were sold in hard copy form for that much I would probably buy it, but boxed games have the added value of being collectible in a way that digital games can’t be, plus hard copies have resell value. I just can’t justify it for a game that will only exist on a memory card.
on June 9, 2009 at 08:55 AM - LINK@ Sythlia: You’re right, a disc with both games would be awesome. I too am considering Little King from Xseed since it sounds like the same thing, only minus extravagant add-ons.
@oliemoon: I totally know what you mean about FFIV: The After Years. I went for the first two parts, but I’m thinking the only other part I’ll get is Edge’s and the final chapter. Of course, it was probably more expensive when originally released on cell phones, but still. I may also go for Palom or Porom’s tales. I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll collapse and get them all. >.<
on June 9, 2009 at 11:09 AM - LINK