XSEED, release the game's demo before or at the game's launch!

[SpaceDrake]

And while a demo may seem like a good idea, remember, if you make part of the game available for free, a lot of people will be satisfied with just that -- they'll download the demo, enjoy it immensely, but then never buy the game because hey, they already had their fill! Especially if the demo is really long and full-featured, as a lot of demos are these days.

As a counterpoint, at last tally (which was this very month) Recettear's "demo conversion rate" - that is, the number of people who downloaded the demo and then went on to purchase the game - stands at around 40-45%, from the data we have from our distributors. And that number's only gone up over the year and a half the game's been available.

A strong demo for a good game can entice a lot of people to buy - if it's something they want to play, they'll pay for more of it.

[Lonesteban]

I agree that a strong demo can help sales, but just creating a strong demo costs money,without getting into the time you need to get it ready for submission, coordinate it with the distributor, etc. The Japanese demo isn't particularly great, so even readying it for an English-speaking audience, while not prohibitively expensive, probably wouldn't translate into that many sales.

[Waltz]

As a counterpoint, at last tally (which was this very month) Recettear's "demo conversion rate" - that is, the number of people who downloaded the demo and then went on to purchase the game - stands at around 40-45%, from the data we have from our distributors. And that number's only gone up over the year and a half the game's been available.

A strong demo for a good game can entice a lot of people to buy - if it's something they want to play, they'll pay for more of it.

That game was for pc though if I am not mistaken and nowdays a lot of people have computers but a Vita is another thing. I understand where you are coming from and what you are saying has a valid point but it's really up to Xseed to decide if its worth it or not. I hope nobody here is waiting to see if a demo comes out or not to decide to pick it up. If we get a demo or not I would still be grateful to Xseed for deciding to bring this title over and I for sure would do my part to get the word of mouth of and as a matter of fact I have already started.

[Shizuka]

A demo is always worth it, if you ask me. If someone doesn't get a game because the demo already fulfilled him/her, the demo was poorly designed, or the person wasn't getting the game on the first place.

[PandAkuma]

Demo is short for demonstration, if you get full off of a demonstration you're doing it wrong. Nuff said.

[Shizuka]

And that's not Ragnarok Odyssey's case.

[bahamut zero]

I hope the demo be released soon so that more user's will know that this game exists

[Zeruel]

I can see XSeed benefiting from a demo. A while back when I first started sniffing around these forums, I was pretty interested in RO. Shortly later, I went through the huge hassle of acquiring the JP demo. I was floored and hooked! It only features 3 classes and 3 missions, but it had me locked in and craving more. That's where the full version comes in.

Since playing the demo I've showed my friends, wrote many blog posts, made several youtube videos, and preached to people about how Xseed will be granting us a great game.

Don't tell me people get satisfied with a demo. A demo is the gateway drug for more awesomeness. And I think the JP demo did it right.

[Shizuka]

You gotta do it before the game is released, XSEED!

[Shizuka]

From the PS Blog comments:

And since you like demos, you’ll be happy to know we’ll have a demo for Ragnarok Odyssey! It might be coming out shortly after the game’s release, but we’re still ironing out the details there. We hope you enjoy it!

It should be as close to launch as possible, IMO.