It’s always a good day when a new Fire Emblem game comes out. Bright-eyed and hopeful, I went to GameStop last Friday for Shadows of Valentia with that mentality. In fact, I was even considering getting the amiibo pack (and I might have if they weren’t sold out by the time I arrived). I brought the game up to the register and the otherwise indifferent employee’s voice dropped a few octaves and she raised an eyebrow as she asked me if I wanted the season pass for the game. Knowing that the season pass costs more than the game itself (albeit by $5, but still more than the base game nonetheless) I said no, but followed it up by asking if anyone else had got it yet. She laughed and said no.

It’s no longer news that the Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia season pass costs more than the game itself. On top of this, the trailer and information revealed about it haven’t been particularly inspiring, and with its price tag, leaves much to be desired. Even now, many fans are still resentful about it–including myself. If there’s one thing we Fire Emblem fans know anything about, it’s over paying for Fire Emblem. Unfortunately, even when the game is new, not a 3 part game, not a rare collectible, or a lovable money hole of a mobile game, Intelligent Systems apparently wants to uphold that tradition in Shadows of Valentia through DLC and the amiibos.

Worst part is, this is the average price.

What frustrates me about this are 2 things: First and foremost, no season pass should cost more than the base game itself. Period. Season passes that cost more than their base games are indicative of one of 2 things: Either the DLC itself is over priced or there’s so much content that the developers should’ve either left a fraction of it in the base game or, if it’s story/mini-game content, then they should’ve made it a separate game entirely (but, just to reiterate, that’s only if it’s making it more expensive than the base game).

Second, even if you do decide to buy the season pass, you still don’t have all the content that this game has to offer. For the cherry on top of your content sundae, you need to buy the Shadows of Valentia amiibo 2 pack. It grants 2 more dungeons (one for each amiibo) and illusory heroes of Celica and Alm. In other words, for 100% of the content Shadows of Valentia has to offer, you’re paying a staggering $110 (or $130 if you got the special edition). That’s essentially triple (or more than, if you got the special edition) the price of the base game. That’s absolutely absurd.

via rpgsite.net

“For 100% of the content Shadows of Valentia has to offer, you’re paying a staggering $110.”

I will give Intelligent Systems points where they’re due, though: They are allowing players to either buy the DLC in packs or, as the site is currently leading us to believe, singularly. In other words, if you’re just interested in the prequel story in the DLC, you can buy those maps in a pack. Or, if you just want one or two extra maps, the official site lists individual prices on them so it’s reasonable to believe that they’ll be able to be purchased singularly. This doesn’t excuse them for this whole debacle, but admittedly, it does alleviate the issue since it shows that they’re at least somewhat aware that asking the players to pay $45 for the season pass of a $40 game is not only risky, but PR suicide.

The decision to make such an expensive season pass is surprising–not just because extra maps in Awakening were so reasonably priced, but because this game is coming through Nintendo–a company that’s only recently stepped into the realm of DLC and has been otherwise fair about pricing it and finding a good balance of how much to leave out for DLC. Part of me therefore wants to believe that perhaps this is their or Intelligent System’s way of experimenting with how much fans are willing to pay for DLC and what their attitudes are toward it. Unfortunately for them, if that is indeed the case, they likely won’t be seeing the results they were hoping for.

Numbers as of 5/23/2017

The only other reasonable explanation for the prices I could think of is Intelligent System’s trying to hold to the 28-map-tradition that’s in nearly every Fire Emblem game. By making DLC maps, they’re effectively keeping to tradition (a wise idea, since this is, after all, a remake) while offering the fans additional content. The addition of dungeons and exclusive classes might just be their way of putting icing on the cake, if this is the case. This might have been a better idea if the lackluster map designs weren’t perhaps the lowest common denominator among reviews for Shadows of Valentia.

Regardless of the reason, the bottom line is, Intelligent Systems made a frustrating decision by dividing up the additional content for Shadows of Valentia so poorly. What I think would’ve worked better for them is utilizing the amiibos more–perhaps adding a pack of the DLC currently in the season pass on each amiibo–therefore allowing the season pass to be about half its current price, and perhaps just being the prequel story with an extra dungeon or two. As for the exclusive classes, those should’ve been left in the main game. Extra maps and a little extra story is one thing, but classes for characters shouldn’t be exclusive to players who throw extra money into the game. It’s not just a scummy thing to do, but also downright unfair.

Issues with its pricing and content distribution aside, I truly am having fun with Shadows of Valentia so far–which only makes it more of a shame that these aforementioned problems are so prevalent. Although alleviated by the fact that they can all be purchased separately or singularly, it’s still no excuse for the fact that 100% of the game’s content is triple the price of the base game. I sincerely hope that Intelligent Systems and Nintendo learn from this–especially if Binding Blade really does end up getting remade next. I love Fire Emblem, I really do, but I don’t relish the idea of paying more than a hundred dollars on a single, complete game (unless it’s .hack//Quarantine, apparently, but that’s a whole other story).

via brcde.vg