[Let’s Talk] Fire Emblem Heroes impressions
Nintendo’s next mobile game, Fire Emblem Heroes, arrived this past week. It’s the debut appearance for Fire Emblem on smart devices, and the company’s first real attempt at a “gacha” game.
How many of you have downloaded Fire Emblem Heroes and tried it out? What are your thoughts thus far? If you have anything to say about the game, be sure to share your thoughts with us below.
Highlights from last week’s topic: The future of 3DS
atarixe
I do think the future of the 3DS will be bright if Nintendo wants it to be, after all, they are marketing the Switch as more of a console rather than a handheld. They’re probably doing that so it doesn’t infringe on 3DS sales
Nintendo should make the 3DS’s successor (AKA the 4DS) a companion to the Switch. Give it a name that compliments the Switch brand, like “Switch Mini”. The 4DS will have a better battery life and be smaller so you can play it in a long car ride. The 4DS can play 3DS, DS, and Switch games, so there will be 2 different cartridge slots. Let the two go hand-in-hand with all the same configurations that can be shared, like online play and a cloud service.
So if I want a more immersive experience, I’ll dock my Switch. If I want a more social experience, I’ll undock my Switch, put it in tabletop mode and take it to work, family gatherings, parties, etc. If I want a more intimate experience, I can use that same cartridge and play my game.
Edit: I hope they keep the 3DS as sort of a back-up plan in case the Switch doesn’t do well (Which it’s not, according to the overwhelming response from the internet).
I would expect the 3DS to less than 2 years. After that Nintendo will most likely announce their next console/handheld/hybrid
hi v3.0
I believe that this is the final year for supporting the 3DS. By early/mid 2018 first party support for 3DS will stop. Nintendo is going to focus on Switch 100% next year. 3DS will live for 7 years by then and that’s a great time to end the console’s lifetime ! C’mon we all know that Switch is going to be super successful in Japan with the 3DS and Vita market combined !
Velen (Not WoW)
Considering how strong the 3DS still is in the market, I don’t really see it going anywhere for a while. Besides. The 3DS and the Switch offer two very different gameplay experiences.
R.Z.
My personal opinion is that the 3DS NEEDS to die if the Switch is ever to be succesful.
The past few years have proven that Nintendo isn’t capable of making enough quality software to support two widely different hardware propositions.
Another aspect is that I don’t think Nintendo can make a succesful dedicated home console anymore. Western third parties are too big on that market and getting their full support (partial support is of no use) doesn’t seem to be possible given the clash between theirs and Nintendo’s philosophy.
Plus let’s face it, the Switch isn’t attractive at all as a home console only.
Finally the 3DS has really gotten technically indigent these past few years. No other portable device has screens with such lousy resolution, and as much as I actually love the 3D screen and the Dual-Screen concept, it seems devs both within and without Nintendo have forgotten about them.
So long story short, if the Switch doesn’t take over Nintendo’s handheld segment, I don’t see it working, and Nintendo needs to drop the 3DS ASAP to fully concentrate on Switch.
Now for the reality check, Nintendo has factually confirmed its support of the 3DS for 2017 at the very least and third parties are still there too. No wonder given the console’s install base.
The Switch is also pretty expensive for now, and way beyond the entry price to the 3DS family, so dropping the 3DS would cut Nintendo from a pretty big market.
As much as I would like Nintendo to abandon the 3DS right now (which actually means they should have dropped it over a year ago given dev times etc.), it would be extremely risky.
So the 3DS isn’t going anywhere in the short term, even though you can see development of new software slowing down. It will vampirise the Switch throughout 2017 at least and a bit beyond probably.
In conclusion, I think We are in a transition period between the 3DS and the Switch (while there has been no transition between the WiiU and the Switch) and I think it will be pretty delicate for Nintendo because the longer it lasts the longer it will jeopardize their new “home” console’s attractiveness which I consider is mainly reliant on Nintendo’s handheld offer.
Now it’s fully possible that the Switch in its current form is not destined to take over the entirety of the handheld market that the 3DS covers. It is possible that Nintendo will release a dedicated handheld at a lower price range to cover the 2DS segment. But I believe (and hope) that even if such a piece of hardware is to be released it will be completely integrated within the Switch ecosystem and share most of its software library.
jbmindtrick
Personally, it has been very difficult financially to support 2 systems. As I imagine it would be difficult for Nintendo to maintain 3 teams-Switch, 3DS, Mobile (I know DeNa is taking most of this on) I would love to see the 3DS stick around in ’17/18 and by then Switch should have enough user base to sustain the transition to Switch and mobile. In late ’18 or 19 I think you would see an upgraded Switch 2/+ etc.. which would be like they did with all of their systems to date. I also think that by the end of ’17 they will give Switch owners access to their mobile games-easy as it has a touch screen.
««H3©TöR»»
3DS support is still fairly strong, but it IS showing signs of slowing down, which is why I predict it will largely die off this year. It’s ending off with a bang with the new Fire Emblem remake in May and FE Warriors on New 3DS. There’s still a few games coming to it, but I don’t think we’ll see anything major for 3DS after this year. I’m betting that online support for it (and possibly Wii U) will die off somewhere between late 2018 to early 2019.
