Lets face it, the service isnt as bad as some people are making it out to be.It's not the best online service in the world, but it dosent seem to be exactly bad.So lets go point by point on why I think thats the case.
First of all, It should go without saying that the service is not without its flaws.For one is still dosent have a system level messaging service, and all is relaid to the horrible smartphone companion app, in which you have to use in order to message your friends, set up lobies, and to have voice chat, if you dont choose to go for a third party solution such as Discord.They probably thought it would be a better idea given the portability nature of the system, and thus make for a more effective proposition for that aspect of the online infrastucture, but its simply not.Its a horrible idea thats poorly implemented that shouldnt have happened.Oh, and for friend codes to actually be the most effective way to find friends you dont have on social medias..... Ugh.
But outside of that bad aspect, the service offers some nice perks for whoever decides to purchase it.Probably the most compelling one down the road, alongside of being able to play games online, is the acess to a library of legacy games with added online functionalities.As it stands now, its just 20 NES titles that are admittedly not that much exciting, but seeing that Nintendo plans to add more as time goes on, both from the NES and other consoles they made, this library a year from now could become very compelling.
Other aspect of it that could be counted as beneficial are features that other systems already have, such as cloud saves and special offers for those that are subscribed to the service.Just because others have already done that some time ago dosent diminish the positive effect these add-ons might have.It also should be noted that, in theory, the online infrastructure of games that use such aspect should be improved.Yeah, there is always the possibility that Nintendo might screw up this part, but as long as Im proved otherwise, Im counting this one as happening, because thats the whole point of the service:Of giving a better online experience.
But the best part of this all, and what actually makes this into a good proposition, is the pricing.Everything I have pointed out as positives so far has either already been done by the competition, or it has been done better or those said competitors have even more features in their own services.So in order to make the service competitive in comparison to those other propositions, Nintendo offers their services at a much smaller pricepoint.While PS Plus and Live cost around 60 dollars and lasts for a year, Nintendo Online cost a third of that price for the same period of time, and thats not even counting the Family Membership option, which might make the cost even lower if you split among friends/family members.This part, coupled with the myriad of bonuses like a growing library of legacy games, special offers and cloud saves just to name a few, makes for a compeling offer.
Ill not sugar coat it:Its not the best service Nintendo could have offered.There are some glaring flaws that Nintendo could have easily fixed, and they could have made a better preposition by offering more NES games, and actually having Super Nintendo games at launch for example.But the low price point makes for a compelling argument for the service, and for a worthwhile investment.
My (locked) thread about how difficulty should be a decision for the developers, not the gamers.
https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=241866&page=1
