Post Script
Building expectations through crowdfunding and Early Access
Faced with epic sagas that can last anywhere between 40 and 100+ hours, RPG players are a patient lot. The time between Edge Of Eternity’s announcement and launch may not be a record-breaker compared to the decade-long development of Final Fantasy XV, but from its Kickstarter campaign in February 2015 and Early Access release at the end of 2018, it’s been a long haul for Midgar Studio, which has surely been working towards this ever since the studio’s foundation in 2008.
Despite the game’s shortcomings, for a team consisting originally of just four people, and having only grown by a mere handful since, to have shipped a game of Eternity’s scale and ambition should be considered a victory in itself. It’s certainly more than you can say about the ongoing development of the Kickstarter-funded Star Citizen, or some MMORPG scams that shall not be named.
It’s perhaps because of this underdog scenario, especially in a genre still often derided for being niche and antiquated, that the reactions from Eternity’s 4,000+ backers and the majority of the 2,000 Early Access reviews were positive. Of course, any review ahead of full release speaks more of the hope of its potential. It’s why, despite the regular PR communications over the years, we had been reluctant to make a start until the development team pushed out version 1.0.
Our verdict is hardly an outlier. Since launch, Steam reviews have taken a downturn under the cold scrutiny of consumers expecting a polished final product that could fill their play time in lieu of a mainline Final Fantasy this year rather than an indie studio’s rough-edged homage. So why the disparity between early adopters and the wider public? We can probably look to the tens of thousands of fans who backed Shenmue III and were simply happy that Yu Suzuki’s unfinished saga had another lease of life regardless of the outcome, even if the end result felt a little out of time when judged by modern standards.
Old-school JRPG fans who backed Eternity presumably understood they had invested in a modest team with huge ambitions, while receiving regular updates showing a game that was making steady improvements generated goodwill. (If you think those final character models look ropey, you should have seen how they looked prior to the Early Access phase.) Being part of this warts-and-all process of development can indeed help set expectations of what a developer is able to do within its limited means. Compare that with building early hype via ‘target’ visuals and promising the world before ultimately cutting features, delivering an inevitable compromise, and then bracing for the impact from consumers.
That doesn’t completely excuse the rough state of Eternity’s launch. Its undercooked systems and bugs suggest the game is still in beta, all the more so when Midgar’s roadmap, stretching into 2022, doesn’t just outline bonus post-game content but features that were promised with the original Kickstarter, such as Nekaroo breeding and summons. While we doubt these elements would fundamentally improve the core of the game, rushing out a v1.0 expecting to build more on top feels more in step with an MMORPG than a singleplayer RPG.
Yet for its early supporters, who have been happily playing a new chapter episodically over the course of the past few years, it probably does feel like an MMOG, each new improvement and update another excuse to stick around in Heryon, even if the only people benefitting from these fixes have to play through the adventure again. For those wanting a polished and feature-complete RPG on the first playthrough, you may want to wait until Midgar has delivered on its roadmap. The old Miyamoto quote about rushed games may not hold as much water today, when any game can be patched and updated, but we can only assess what’s in front of us at launch.
Q