Mighty Number 9 is the real answer and everyone knows it. Below not turning out super well is a shame, but fuck Mighty Number 9.
Is Below the biggest indie flop of this generation?
- Thread starter Vire
- Start date
Mighty Number 9 is the real answer and everyone knows it. Below not turning out super well is a shame, but fuck Mighty Number 9.
Below was one of my most anticipated indie titles of this gen, alongside Inside. Sadly, after four and a half hours, I realized this game is not for me and dropped it yesterday. But it's not a flop, it's a good game with solid mechanics, great sound design and magnificent art style.
Sadly, given the talent behind it and its fantastic soundtrack, Where The Water Tastes Like Wine was a massive disaster and should probably be included if you're looking at flops sales-wise
I'll be honest, I completely forgot this game existed until I saw this thread. And I was pretty hyped when it was initially announced cause it looked cool. Never thought it would take so long to release.
A) "Flop" generally taken to mean sold badly
B) Even if you disagree with that, No Man's Sky completely recovered itself with 4+ insanely substantial updates - Below doesn't seem like the type of game to function as a "living" game like that
NMS is not a valid candidate in this convo.
Sure I don't disagree. I just disagree that he his this con man that purposely lied to steal our money which is a bs narrative.
Did he lie? Yes for sure but he was just a terrible PR person that should notbhave been the face of the game not an evil guy out to get us like many who seem to have never played the game keep saying.
Even after 6 updates the main game loop is the same from launch and all those additions he was crucified for are not really changing it. They've added to game and updated it a lot but the thing plays the same as it did day 1.
I feel the need to defend the guy because people still drag him through the mud even though this games has given us 6 free and huge content updates, a thing that no one else has done this gen. If that is not the best make up apology in gaming ever I am not sure what is.
Why? Things are not black and white in this world.
Did he lie? Yes.
Did he lie because he is a con man out to get our money? Fuck no.
He lied because he was a terrible PR person.
I am not dancing around the lies it is you guys that create this narrative that this guys is some evil mastermind and this game is a massive flop when it is not.
He is plain and simple a developer that shouldn't have been the PR guy too and he screwed that up.
They have since made up with 6 free expansions. Something no one has ever done ever.
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People saying that NMS wasn't financially a flop are cheap because NMS wasn't a flop thanks a HUGE marketing campaing provided by Sony, Below hasn't have that so unless you are comparing a media flop, comparing unit sales without taking into account $$$ in marketing makes little to no sense.
People keep talking about how much NMS sold without factoring how much was spent to get there in marketing and how below hasn't had any of that.
In terms of critics, for me the flop is similar except that expectations set by the developper for NMS were way higher than for below, making it for me a way bigger flop.
People keep talking about how much NMS sold without factoring how much was spent to get there in marketing and how below hasn't had any of that.
In terms of critics, for me the flop is similar except that expectations set by the developper for NMS were way higher than for below, making it for me a way bigger flop.
I took this more at further proof that reviews are useless and gaming journalists don't know how to review games.
Launch NMS was an absolute atrocity, Below is just a not a very good game because it has many design decisions that work against it. But it shouldn't be below (sorry) a game that despite being even worse at launch was a broken mess even.
Unless that MC was revisited after the NMS updates.
That's what I'm wondering. Tacoma may check those boxes, but it doesn't have the recognizable title. Maybe if it was released as exactly the game it is today, but with a different title, things could've ended up different for it.
no mans sky, even in vanilla form, was still a much more innovative title than below could ever have hoped to be. it may not have been the game that was shown in some marketing materials, but what it was doing was and still is incredibly impressive.
OP laid out why he thinks it's a flop and it's entirely seperate from his own disappointment
and he adresses that too.
why does this matter? it didn't flop so it shouldn't be in the discussion of biggest flop.
Loved below a lot, great game
This review captures part of my experience well: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...elow-the-most-when-im-not-actually-playing-it
This review captures part of my experience well: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...elow-the-most-when-im-not-actually-playing-it
or people have different tastes. i didn't like nms at launch but i downloaded below yesterday and i liked it even less.
OP uses a middling metacritic and little buzz as a metric for the game being a flop, when no metric is currently available, then goes on to explain why he/she is unsatisfied with the game.
Apparently having a lot of attention and then coming out with little fanfare is tantamount to a flop. I stand by the comment.
OP doesn't really address the numerous indie games other than trying to say they mean falling from such high levels of attention. I feel as though they're referring primarily to high-profile console indie games.
It's all pointless to discuss anyway as we don;t have sales numbers and MS don't release them. If it didn;t end up being what some people wanted that's fair enough, but to label it a flop is both unfounded and unfair.
It matters the moment you try to put NMS out of the conversation by referencing sales without taking into account how those sales arrived.
We will surely agree that those sales didnt happen thanks to media/public reception.
And that is only for financial flop, if you talk about reception then its totally in the conversation.
Ii was going more off of the interview I linked to which was done in the context of the launch window sales. It's sold more since then yea, if nothing else it's been included in bundles.
people were very hyped about it when they first showed it off at the game awards. i'm sure it would've done okay even without the sony promo. but all of that doesn't matter because it didn't flop and thus shouldn't be discussed in a biggest indie flop thread.
This is becoming a bigger problem with indies, they're presented with such stylish and vague trailers, filled with promises and then it's very hard for the teams to fulfill the initial vision and live up to the hype
This game is amazing and tells one of the most important stories/themes of the year, the fact that the gaming media didn't really attach to it and build it up is saddening.
Even setting aside the game's quality (it's fantastic), it probably comes from the most diverse set of writers ever assembled for a video game, and is meticulously steeped in forgotten Americana tall tales, and no one cared. I'd say it's a game we needed more than ever now that America is currently going through a major identity crisis.
Not sure if it was revisited after updates but look at the score for the XBO version of NMS, 77. I think that kind of of points to how it recovered since it launched. The user score is way better on the XBO version too.
Seriously, regardless of what you or I think of the gameplay of (launch) NMS or how it set pre-launch expectations (which, for the record, was not OK), it's not a flop by any stretch of the imagination, using the commonly agreed on definition of the term.
In fact, when it comes to independent games with that kind of development team size, it's the type of success people dream of.
Below, on the other hand? Regardless of its actual quality (which I can't talk about, not having played the game), well, it certainly doesn't seem like a smashing success given the development period and sale indicators available to us.
In fact, when it comes to independent games with that kind of development team size, it's the type of success people dream of.
Below, on the other hand? Regardless of its actual quality (which I can't talk about, not having played the game), well, it certainly doesn't seem like a smashing success given the development period and sale indicators available to us.
When you make up new definitions or personal interpretations of words, you confuse everyone.
Lmao at all the dumbass NMS mentions. Y'all don't even know what a flop is if it hit you in the back of the head with a baseball bat if you think NMS was a "flop."
Below was released with half this thread not even knowing about it and is prety much forgotten with nowhere near the sales of NMS.
Below was released with half this thread not even knowing about it and is prety much forgotten with nowhere near the sales of NMS.
It's only slightly less than the install size of the game. In comparison, GTA V install size is over 60 GB, and it doesn't cause memory errors when trying to load. (As a side note - actually runs okay with no additional manipulation past turning all graphics options down to minimum. I am extremely surprised by this, given that I only have an iGPU.)
It's the same thing as the inflating install sizes. Hardware power goes up, developers suddenly forget what optimization is. I swear, at this rate we'll someday ditch codecs and just store and run uncompressed raw video because exabytes of storage and terabytes of RAM won't be "that much".
It was a flop though. It sold like gangbusters. Yeah there was vitriol over what multiplayer meant but it was no way a flop. Just because something is highly anticipated and doesn't score in the 80s-90s doesn't make it a flop.
Also this place and the old place has made it pretty clear that even a one point difference in meta score in significant. See the BotW 97 vs OoT 98 arguments as well as on is in the 79s the other is in the 60s. So right there is a visual difference and that is all it takes to skew perception. As we all know, perception is reality.
I was so hyped for Below. Loved the style. Love Capy.
"it's a great dungeon crawler and rogue-lite that's full of garbage survival mechanics"
:(
"it's a great dungeon crawler and rogue-lite that's full of garbage survival mechanics"
:(
Basically my exact feelings on it. Maybe it'll click with me later, but after a few hours I dropped it
I literally cannot play it because the camera is zoomed out too far, and from what I've seen adds very little to the experience.
I do not think that the game is a flop, it is just not for everyone. The hunger/thirst mechanic is killing the game for me. If they tune it down or add a story mode without it i would buy the game in a hurry. I have no problem with the other game mechanics in the game like the one shoot traps.
Oh wow it's finally out?? Awesome, love most of Capy's stuff and visually their games are always a treat
I do own Xbox/Gamepass so I'll definitely try it this w/e but it's weird I didn't notice it also considering I live on these boards lol
I do own Xbox/Gamepass so I'll definitely try it this w/e but it's weird I didn't notice it also considering I live on these boards lol
Man, that's really disappointing. I knew Tacoma obviously hadn't done that well, but did not know it had sold so poorly. I've just recently bought it in a PSN sale (£4 instead of £16) and finished playing a few nights ago, and I loved it. Up there alongside Everybody's Gone to the Rapture as my favourite walking simulator.
Mighty No. 9 is a better game than Below and gets unfairly shit on due to its bad graphics. Level design isn't amazing, but the mechanics are fun and it is still a good time.