Sora96 pointing out that the DS port of Chrono Trigger sold poorly reminded me to make this topic

 

Games aren't sold on quality. There are many factors that can lead to a game selling well, but the quality of the game is pretty far down the list

 

Here's an example: How many of you own the best game on the Wii?

Not many, because Little King's Story only managed to move 50,000 units

 

How many of you bought, or even know about Radiant Historia, one of the best RPGs of the last decade or so?

 

Who bought Okami on the original PS2?

 

Who liked Majora's Mask before the internet made it cool?

Same question but with Earthbound

 

Hype sells games, word of mouth sells games, youtubers sell games, fancy trailers sell games, pretty graphics sell games

But something pretty low on people's priority list is buying a game on the simple fact that it's good.

It's not irrational, and it's not a flaw, I'm just as guilty of this. Games are expensive, so people want games they're excited about to be good, rather than unknowns. It's basic risk reduction

 

But it's something worth keeping in mind, the best games will be remembered post mortem. The games that were popular will simply have their problems glossed over

 

Then we need to market harder for KH3 then...

 

fancy trailers sell games, pretty graphics sell games

So, is that why FFXIII sold well then?

Then we need to market harder for KH3 then...

finally that underground series can get its chance

 

So, is that why FFXIII sold well then?

partially

brand loyalty was a big part

finally that underground series can get its chance

 

partially

brand loyalty was a big part

I didn't expect you to say that...

 

Anyway, IMO it comes down to what someone likes.

 

Are Tetris and Super Mario Bros considered great games? I didn't like either of those one bit.

its all about the launch week sales numbers pretty much. hype up a mediocre game so as to ensure as many sales as possible before word of mouth spreads about the games mediocrity, game sells well, company makes money, boast amazing sales figures, people discover the hyped up game is not as good as the company said it would be, company "apologizes" and promises to do better with the sequel that they have been working on since they finished the first game. Or maybe they don't apologize and just flaunt their sales figures and convince themselves the game was good because its got big numbers. 

I didn't expect you to say that...

 

Anyway, IMO it comes down to what someone likes.

 

Are Tetris and Super Mario Bros considered great games? I didn't like either of those one bit.

Mario is an important game, Tetris is a perfect game

your views on it may vary, but we're not talking about an individuals, we're talking about general reception

Mario is an important game, Tetris is a perfect game

your views on it may vary, but we're not talking about an individuals, we're talking about general reception

But isn't that the same thing but opposite? I mean, replace Tetris with Little King's Story and most people don't care for it while you're one of the few who do. Just like I'm one of the few who don't like Tetris.

 

Honestly, I don't care. I buy games that I want to buy, my reasons are my own, and I love most of them. I don't care what people define as "good" or "great", especially since it is a purely subjective term in the first place, and there's no true way to agree on a "universally great game". One person's Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded could be somebody else's Majora's Mask. It shouldn't matter what other people think of it, it should really matter what you think of it, and how you express your feelings about it to others.

 

But isn't that the same thing but opposite? I mean, replace Tetris with Little King's Story and most people don't care for it while you're one of the few who do. Just like I'm one of the few who don't like Tetris.

 

 

it's not the same situation at all. Tetris is a puzzle game that is mathematical perfection. Little King's Story is a game that was well recieved, but veyr few people knew about. It's not a matter of not caring for something, it's the fact that something was deemed excellent by a wide variety of sources, but people didn't buy it for one reason or another.

the point isn't about any one person's subjective feelings, it's the fact that quality alone doesn't sell a game

Interesting thoughts. What do you make of a series like Pokemon that breaks its own selling records with each release? Is it just a  bandwagon game or is it actually quality?

Interesting thoughts. What do you make of a series like Pokemon that breaks its own selling records with each release? Is it just a  bandwagon game or is it actually quality?

the games barely change with each release, however pokemon was built from the start to be addicting, that's why they have two versions of it each time

The games themselves are definitely not poorly made or anything, but I doubt any but the hardest core of fans would say any specific new entry was AMAZING

the games barely change with each release, however pokemon was built from the start to be addicting, that's why they have two versions of it each time

The games themselves are definitely not poorly made or anything, but I doubt any but the hardest core of fans would say any specific new entry was AMAZING

I can agree with that. I never played a Pokemon game and went like "wow, that was an amazing experience", I had fun yes, but wasn't blown away.

I wish you weren't right about this....but you are. And it's sad really, because it allows deception to take place with terribly made "AAA" Glitchfests that for some reason, word about their mediocrity and brokenness is stifled by the Developers boasting about the sales numbers or false promises.  

Then we need to market harder for KH3 then...

That we do, Javelin, that we do.

 

And Square need to as well.

You can't really know the quality of a game until you play it so naturally it would be all those other criteria that sell games.

 

A lot of people liked Majora's Mask before it was cool, though (heck it was my favourite game for many years from when it came out.) It got rave reviews at the time of release and sold 3.36 million copies worldwide. Not as much as Ocarina of Time but whatever. Still very good. About the same as all the other modern Zeldas.

 

EarthBound was marketed in a really silly fashion so no surprise it didn't sell well.

 

I played Okami, didn't really like it. Might give it another chance at a later date.

 

Atlus has always been a niche company, which is a good thing because it forces you (with a few exceptions, all companies have duds here and there) to make a good game when you don't have the budget to hide behind fancy graphics and cinematic cutscenes and all that jazz. 

 

Admittedly I haven't played Little King's Story but that's because it's just not a genre that I'm really into.

The quality of a game is debatable,so you can't really say that people don't buy great,its all a matter of preferences. Earthbound is a great game,but my cousin played it and he didn't like it,but he likes other RPGs and I'd say the Halo series is boring,but I'm sure someone could give me hundreds of reasons why Halo 2 is a great game.