LogFAQs > #959089299

Flappers posted...

All I need to know is that I can play my file of ACNL or Pokemon Diamond on any DS system so long as I have the cartridge.

Are you thinking of Wild World? New Leaf was the 3DS one, and I'm fairly certain that its saves were stored on the system and not the cartridge (though I bought it digitally, so I'm not 100% sure).

Flappers posted...

I don't understand why they decided that was okay.

The same reason they "decided it was okay" for every single disc-based system that's ever come out: read-only media provides a lot of advantages in terms of just how much game you can fit into the medium. That carries the disadvantage of requiring external saves, but that problem is quite easily solved by using either memory cards or some manner of internal storage on the system (which has the advantage of allowing you to keep your save if your copy of the game is lost/damaged, to borrow somebody else's copy without worrying about overwriting their saves, or to have a potentially infinite number of save files). Like discs, 3DS and Switch carts are read-only, so saves have to be stored somewhere other than the cartridge.

Flappers posted...

They even recognized this was an issue and tried to patch it by offering Cloud saves -- but not all Switch games support that feature.

Characterizing it as a "patch" isn't particularly accurate. Cloud saves are a specific service that they started offering. It's not a matter of adjusting code, it's a matter of building and running servers that will automatically copy your system's data. Similarly, games not supporting cloud saves isn't a bug, technical limitation, or compatibility issue, it's a matter of Nintendo specifically deciding to exclude those games, usually under the pretense of preventing cheating in online games (which is a pretty flimsy excuse given how little effort they put into stopping other forms of cheating, but that's Nintendo for you).

Flappers posted...

Anyway, I don't think it is something they can fix -- it's just how they programmed the console.

Oh, they absolutely could fix it. The system has an SD card slot and several USB ports. There's no reason they couldn't push out a firmware update that would allow us to save a backup file on that SD card or an attached external hard drive, which could be copied to any computer storage as desired. They choose not to for the sake of making NSO's cloud saves more appealing. That is something worth criticizing them for.

Flappers posted...

I probably just got angry and failed to get my point across in the right way. In fact, I'm positive this is my fault because this is literally the only time I've ever stated this opinion and gotten backlash to this degree.

It's more that this is just a really baffling opinion to have in 2021, especially when you're using it to single out one particular system. The fact that the GBA and DS stored save data on their game cartridges instead of using memory cards or internal storage was very much the exception, not the norm, and the DS hasn't been contemporary for 10 years. Starting in 2001 with the GC taking over from the N64, every single home console used discs, as did the PSP (I don't think we need to count the N-Gage as a relevant part of the mid 2000's handheld market). Heck, even before that, the Saturn and PS1 both used discs as early as 94, with the N64 being the only console to hold out (and even then, several of its games didn't have space on the cartridges for saves and required an external memory card). If we want to toss PC's into the mix, they've literally never had any system other than saving files locally, since writing to external media has always been slow and impractical compared to using their hard drives.

If you were making this post 20 years ago, or possibly even 10 if you were focusing specifically on handhelds (though the Switch can be expected to lean toward more demanding games due to also existing in the console market, so treating it entirely as a handheld isn't entirely reasonable), it might make sense. As it stands, though, you're complaining about something that has been the norm for a very long time as though it's unique to the Switch, and that's just weird. The Switch should have the option to back up saves without needing an NSO subscription, yes, but there's absolutely no reason to expect saves to be stored on the game cards themselves.

Flappers posted...

I haven't gotten ACNH yet but I really want to.

I just want to wait until I have a stable job and am comfortable with paying for the Cloud saves.

For what it's worth, they hang on to your cloud saves for something like 2 years after your NSO subscription lapses, so if you aren't comfortable paying a full $20 for a year of the service, you can pay for single months for $4 and that will create a backup of all of your saves as they are at the end of that month. It's not perfect, but you could potentially exploit that to create snapshots every few months without spending as much as a full year would cost.

Also, AC isn't compatible with the regular cloud saves, but it does have its own backup feature that still requires an NSO subscription. Just FYI.

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