if its staggered content release = physical not definitive?

Thanks for info.  though it's a shame it seems like it will be pressured to launch before all the planned modes and kickstarter content are included.  incomplete, it would get a lower metacritic score, lower review score, and lower first impressions.

On the flipside, content sprinkled over time post launch, can get people to come back to it for the stuff added, and sort of extend Bloodstained hype longer,
though I dunno. it was already messed up PS1 SOTN launched as is with cut content, the only fully realized SOTN was NITM and perhaps the DXC version of SOTN, though it lacked NITM's extras and exclusive to the Saturn.

yes in this day and age, online is somewhat accessible and available in households, though still, Bloodstained would be a more precious masterpiece with al lthe kickstarter content included physically, and even digitally, everyone as one download would be more valuable and consumer enticing to get.

so yea, it's a double edged sword. some might think another delay might harm morale, but launching with modes/features added later, could make its launch lukewarm instead of hot.

So it's a pretty dicey circumstance. and yea, they could make up for it with a definitive version later, like some other games tend to do. some people double dip on physical definitive editons if the later edition includes all the content physically and stuff. though first impressions of the game and all its components as a whole, are really important to a lot of people.

so no matter how well it sells at launch, all the kickstarter listed content will be added later anyways if not included?

I'm really hoping that our "names in the credits" make it on disc. I mean they would have to be right? Any base game needs credits, but the list will be very long and I hope the full version of the credits make it on disc so I can feel good about my name being on every physical copy. Anyone know?

"Complete" edition are a thing if the game releases additional PAID content post launch. Nowadays, the digital market is more than a thing and nobody will bother to press a "definitive edition" when every vanilla copy will get all the modes by default (because sooner or later the Kickstarter modes will be available for everyone to download if not present from day one which I think and hope not).

What I really don't get about this discussion, and I'll repeat it every time it will be brought up, is why ot seems like we can't consider a game complete if the content is not "all on disk" from day one. It will be complete for everyone eventually, why is this such a strange idea if the digital market, patches, free updates and dlcs/expansions have been a thing for years? Not to mention the absolute decadence of physical editions nowadays, their one and only advantage is to save the time of the download and to be a "collector's fetish" (not saying that in an offensive way, I try to go for the physical edition of console games I'm really interested in, though I continuously find them to be disappointing, and I backed Bloodstained for the physical copy). Moreover, I paid and supported a new IGAvania experience. I paid for a complete IGA game, with the staple modes like boss rush and NG+. That's what I want at launch. The other modes, the prequel games and so on are extra we achieved and are nice to have but they're just that: extra (and also, I'd like to play a polished and complete CORE EXPERIENCE as soon as it's ready. I wouldn't be happy to wait let's say three months to get the game after it's finished because a completely accessory and separate mode like the roguelike isn't finished).

As for the extra modes not present at launch potentially hindering reviews, I don't think that's even remotely possible. As long as you don't obviously cut content from the game to release it later, nobody has ever criticized Shovel Knight for the lack of Plague and Specter campaigns or challenge mode because the main game at launch was all there and that's what you review.

It's the opposite for me. If everything is included in the game at launch, I'm much more likely to try a mode that doesn't seem too interesting. If it's seven months later and I hear such a mode is going to be released, I'm not going to stop playing whichever game I've moved onto just to try that out.

I think that's really common too. It all just depends on the person and how they view the game. Some people will 100% Bloodstained in less than a week and never touch it again, others will prod through it bit by bit over a long period of time on multiple files. Some would stay on this forum and follow the fandom/developments of the game after release, some would leave, some join, etc.

I'm definitely not a binge and done kind of guy with anything (not saying you guys are, it takes me forever to finish something lol), hoping to savor this over a long stretch, and new things coming over that span would keep things more exciting for me. It'd be kind of a downer actually if the whole package came at once and we had nothing else to hype us up and speculate. That's definitely a selfish thought though.