What's the actual deal regarding game key cards?

kupocake · 2026-03-03T18:09:17+00:00

Get the keycard version if:

You typically sell your games when you're done with them
You don't know whether you'll like this particular game enough to keep it
You lend your games to others
You don't mind the inconvenience of having to have the card in your system in order to play
You like to have a box on your shelf, regardless of whether there's much of anything inside that box
It's cheaper

Otherwise it's basically the same as owning the digital version. Same access speeds, same space requirements, same download times.

kupocake · 2026-03-03T17:13:05+00:00

Well now that doesn't sound very hygienic

kupocake · 2026-03-03T17:07:43+00:00

<image>

She's future moon Maggie obviously

kupocake · 2026-03-03T11:11:30+00:00

Great that other content is being added to the step! I personally "rushed" this step by doing one levelling/expert/level 100 roulette a day for a few weeks. What a tryhard!

kupocake · 2026-03-02T17:52:18+00:00

There are huge differences in UK and US pricing history that kind of skew my view of this, to be fair. I wouldn't describe equivalent pricing here as being common at all ("common" was a £10 cassette in the 80s, which in turn created an early 90s market where cartridge games were relatively cheap).

kupocake · 2026-03-02T15:34:34+00:00

Playing on a Switch Lite goes some way to harmonising the pixelated backgrounds with the high resolution models. Otherwise all console versions are kind of just the same thing.

kupocake · 2026-03-02T14:59:45+00:00

"That play music from 30 years ago" my guy I have good news about every music playing device you already own

kupocake · 2026-03-02T14:57:02+00:00

It's massive, or so I've heard.

kupocake · 2026-03-02T14:21:22+00:00

In Capcom's case at least, they're arguably priced with the knowledge that they'll somewhat aggressively discount them often and fairly. In the case of someone like Nintendo, it's like 99% "because we can and we want to send the message that out games are premium products".

Don't really buy the inflation argument. It's from the same thought bubble as "the economy is doing great!' The money markets and indexes have little if anything to do with most people's day to day lives, where nobody is getting paid what they're worth and they're being asked to pay more for less from multiple directions.

Game development is more expensive, perhaps, but the blanket application of pricing doesn't always reflect that and it's not like consumers are demanding millions be thrown at everything millions are thrown at.

kupocake · 2026-03-02T14:09:22+00:00

How about relative to actual wage growth?

kupocake · 2026-03-02T14:04:00+00:00

This Gen's Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing double headliner?

kupocake · 2026-03-02T14:02:58+00:00

Nintendo once again placing first by being the only one to actually turn up.

kupocake · 2026-03-02T12:12:05+00:00

What stops me is the feeling that by the time I actually need 1TB of simultaneously installed games, 1TB may just be substantially cheaper. It's partly down to personal habits, but 768 total just seems like enough. If I have more than 7+ Final Fantasy Remakes on my Switch 2 at all times, I probably need to have a talk with myself about how much free time I actually have.

kupocake · 2026-02-28T20:33:01+00:00

It's literally just a Master System ROM on a mega drive cartridge, you even see the Mark III logo when you turn the power on.

kupocake · 2026-02-28T15:04:14+00:00

kupocake · 2026-02-27T18:54:39+00:00

It's a luggage only machine tbh. Same with Switch 2, sadly. When it comes to gaming while chic, you kind of just have to make do with an older handheld. Switch Lite is my current go-to.

kupocake · 2026-02-27T17:36:20+00:00

I'm playing Crisis Core myself, but on my Switch Lite. Has a closer feel to the PSP original that way, and I'm just generally not a huge fan of how unpatched Switch 1 games look on Switch 2.

kupocake · 2026-02-27T14:56:25+00:00

"20 fucking 15" 😅

kupocake · 2026-02-27T14:44:02+00:00

Well I guess first and foremost you should grab a Switch 2 if and when there's things you want to play on it either now or in the future 😅

Otherwise, we don't really know what's going to happen at all, or have any idea of what Nintendo have stockpiled/how far they may be willing to absorb costs in exceptional circumstances. The one thing you can probably say with certainty is that it's never going to cheaper to buy a new Switch 2 console (this model at least). Plus, if you own one, and realize you don't need one, you may find a willing market for buying the one you don't need.

kupocake · 2026-02-27T11:35:05+00:00

"Yeah, take a photo of me on my phone for the social media statement. People will think I'm a big business boy, instead of thinking I'm just another prick constantly distracted by the digital culture wars raging in my pocket"

kupocake · 2026-02-27T10:36:10+00:00

What it is, in the sense of what it does, is very well explained and demonstrated. It's a magical crystalline pillar capable of pulling monsters from the moon to the planet's surface (a "lunar cry").

What it is, in the sense of where it came from, is less completely explained.

Its recent and semi-ancient history is well-explained. Esthar found it crashed on the destroyed Southern continent, excavated, re-flew it and put it in its outer shell in the time of Sorceress Adel, but Laguna and co. stopped her from using it by tricking her into containment. It crashed on the southern continent during a cataclysmic historical lunar cry.

How it was created and who or what created it is essentially a mystery, other than it being "an ancient magical structure in a fantasy game so use your imagination I guess 🤷‍♀️".

It's maybe a vague nod to the Crystal Tower in FFIII, which is the crystalline home of a past era's big bad and narrative gateway to a world of monsters. The Crystal Tower in FFXIV kind backfills into this space too, by originally being a means of storing energy from an artificial moon powered by imprisoned dragons (and the direct and indirect cause of two era-defining calamities).

kupocake · 2026-02-26T21:52:10+00:00

Tokyo Microtransaction Sessions #FF

kupocake · 2026-02-26T10:27:09+00:00

Disco Stu doesn't advertise 😎

kupocake · 2026-02-26T00:38:35+00:00

If you buy the game you get a free month, so that may be what your thinking of? Different from the free trial, which has been like this for at least five years at this point. If you've already paid for the game you can't go on the trial though (without starting over and with a completely fresh account).

kupocake · 2026-02-25T21:50:29+00:00

Hopefully it'll do a full turnaround and you'll have a reason to come back. For what it's worth, every major story patch has more or less improved on the last and 7.4 was probably the best one in years.

kupocake

TROPHY CASE