Pokémon Shuffle (Nintendo Used Pay Day!)

This is more a news topic, but it's 3DS news specifically, so. Nintendo's first venture into microtransactions certainly seems to be more generous than EA's Dungeon Keeper Mobile: you have initially have five hearts that regenerate at a rate of one every thirty minutes, and 100¥ (about $1) buys five hearts, with varying levels of bulk discounts.

It's still worrying, don't get me wrong. A success could mean more punitive pricing in future, or just more of this sort of game, which isn't great in my book.

Anyone more optimistic about this than me?

Not me. I can't see myself playing this at all. I am always sceptical about 'free-to-play' games and always will be.

There are few f2p games that work as most are either like Dungeon Keeper which is like pay to move a space or they feel more likely pay to win.

But Nintendo have shown with Steel Diver that it can be done and even from there DLC with Kart that Nintendo can take a good idea and make it work well.

So I will try it but doubt I will play much of it because of Puzzle & Dragons coming.

That screen looks exactly like Pokémon Link: Battle! to me. Whilst I'll probably play it to find out the differences, it's a dangerous route to go down. A lot of Nintendo's innovations recently have been to get as much money out of the fans as possible and it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Is a bit similar, isn't it? As for your discomfort, I haven't felt squeezed by Nintendo's recent offerings: the HW and MK8 DLCs have both been really worthwhile. This is the only thing that makes me feel uncomfortable.

But by golly, does it make me feel uncomfortable.

I literally have a pile of great Nintendo games at my disposal. Why would I want to play this free-to-play dross? Amiibos were the first Nintendo thing to make me feel uncomfortable if I'm honest; this is the second.

Originally I thought this game was okay in principle, since it appeared to only rely on wait timers -- so you use up a premium currency to keep playing, or wait to keep playing. That's actually fine, since the game is pretty upfront over what you're getting into, and what you may be paying for, and for an addictive puzzle game (Zookeeper Battle also has them) you'll probably thank the game for asking you to put it down for a bit.

But it seems the folk at Genius Sonority have also integrated pay-to-win items into this, which is certainly not okay, and I do wonder whether its source content - Pokemon Link Battle as Zero Jones pointed out - has been retooled to nudge you into using the items. Or it could just be like Bravely Default where they are optional, but in a game that costs nothing upfront would they balance it in such a way that you have no incentive at all to pay for the optional items?

There's another game which uses modern business models, I'll make a thread about it now...

It's meant to be out today for download in the Jap e shop so once it's up I'll get it and see what it's all about

shanks wrote:

It's meant to be out today for download in the Jap e shop so once it's up I'll get it and see what it's all about

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll give it a go too on my JP 3DS.

It's out in the UK now too, if anyone's interested. Mas?

Aus won't get it until Friday I'm willing to bet

Stu_the_great wrote:

I literally have a pile of great Nintendo games at my disposal. Why would I want to play this free-to-play dross? Amiibos were the first Nintendo thing to make me feel uncomfortable if I'm honest; this is the second.

You can add 3DS themes and faceplates (full disclosure: I have one of both of those ) to that list, for me.

As Balla mentioned, the game is out now in Europe, too! I've just got through the demo and, superficially, it is very similar to Pokémon Shuffle, although there are a few differences, like only fighting one 'mon at a time, or a move having to make a match (or it'll be undone). Anyone with patience will be able to play through it without spending any money, I reckon.

Yeah, seems we (I?) were (was?) wrong about it being a retooled Link Battle, it's pretty different underneath, with all that fun Panel de Pon realtime tile arranging to catch falling blocks gone.

As Zero Jones said, you could easily get through this without paying a thing, and the game is fairly generous with free jewels. My issues with it extend to how the monetisation has clearly made it a more boring game to play mechanically, there are several things put in there which are made to nudge you towards spending help items, like the Great Ball, or replenishing your moves mid-game.

These exploit "loss aversion", something within the field of behavioural economics, where humans value potential losses more than gains. So if, like me, you've *just* failed to beat Mew in an epic 20-moves game, you'll be more inclined to spend the coins and get 5 extra turns, than wait 30 minutes *and* have to sit through the whole thing again. The game's pretty smart about putting you in situations like this, too...

I don't like that!

Cheers for that assessment, Fronk. Sounds like I'll be taking a wide berth.

Yeah, fronky's given a great assessment there (and bonus points for using far fewer commas than me! ). It also sounds like he had the exact same experience as me, trying to catch Mew. Ruddy game.

Yup, you certainly won't be missing anything with this.

Its also a lot less interesting of a puzzle game than Link Battle, which had a finite number of puzzle blocks to clear periodically, letting you have fun sliding around blocks mid-combo,. You can't do anything once you've made a move here due to the strict move limit, so you just have to sit back and watch a combo unfold through no smart planning of your own. That the playing field only takes up one screen instead of two makes success feel even more arbitrary, it's only really possible to plan out the first stages of a combo, the rest being down to luck. That 10+ combos happen quite regularly through sheer luck doesn't give me motivation to play the game smartly either...

Downloaded this because of the 50 Club Nintendo points.... but.... I think I'll stick to Pokemon Link Battle. I hate games riddled with IAPs.

Still haven't caught Mew..

I'm trying to build up the coins to make catching Mew a certainty. A while, it will take. [/Yoda]

I am actually enjoying it. I mean it is free, so it gives a bit of daily fun. I can ignore all the prompts it gives me to buy stuff and just play what it offers.

ZeroJones wrote:

I'm trying to build up the coins to make catching Mew a certainty. A while, it will take. [/Yoda]

Yeah I'm doing the same while failing to catch other Pokemon.. It took me 3 tries to get Kangasthan

I have Mew! Also, it looks like there are 159 stages to play, so hopefully I can be finished with it by the end of March.

I still haven't caught it, only thing I've managed to do is get another Mega stone

Yesterday I successfully grabbed the Sablenite... but I've yet to grab Sableye. It feels odd to start a 3DS playing session with Shuffle but the more playtime it gets, the less it'll get in the way in the future.

I have managed to the the Mega Kangaskhan, and missed a few along the way. I have wasted some coins as I get used to it, but I do enjoy the 10 minutes a day playing it, leaving me looking forward to the next.