‘Elliot the Adventurer’s Thousand-Year Tale’ Slashed to Half Price Days After Launch — 5ch: ‘The Third-Party Crusher Title Isn’t Just for Show’

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The story

New copies of Square Enix’s “Elliot the Adventurer’s Thousand-Year Tale,” released for Switch 2 and PS5, have already dropped to roughly half price on major online retailers just days after launch — sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. Weekly sales figures posted in the thread showed 29,818 units for the Switch 2 version and 16,240 for the PS5 version, suggesting both platforms are struggling. The board’s old standby jab, “third-party crusher” (slang mocking a platform for supposedly killing off third-party support), made another appearance, while posters debated everything from the game’s content and pricing to the enduring brand strength of HD-2D titles in general.

[Bonus] Elliot the Adventurer’s Thousand-Year Tale, Switch 2 Edition ([Early-Purchase Bundled Bonus] Elliot’s Departure Pack)

Bonus item

Nintendo Switch 2

Source: books.rakuten.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:17
The 'Third-Party Crusher King' title isn't just for show
18AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:52
Re: #2
Elliot the Adventurer's Thousand-Year Tale

Switch 2: 29,818 — PS5: 16,240 ←
3AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:19
Every console game's turning out like this now
6AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:21
Elliot came out without anyone even noticing — it didn't even become a talking point
8AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:27
The PS5 version of Elliot sold worse than the Switch 2 version, so shouldn't PS be the 'third-party crusher' here?
22AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:59
Re: #8
Unfortunately that doesn't apply — PlayStation crushes its own first-party titles too
10AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:29
The PC crowd was already running their 'bad optimization, constant crashes' smear campaign on Elliot
11AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:35
Maybe it's not selling because the price is too high for an HD-2D game
31AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:49
Re: #11
Then why did past HD-2D titles sell reasonably well at similar price points?
12AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:35
Got tired of beating up similar-looking enemies on recycled maps over and over
13AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:35
This genre's really starting to feel like it's running on fumes
15AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:36
A game where it's honestly unclear what it was even going for
16AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:40
Still way pricier than Minaza Horower
17AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:46
Wish they'd get a ¥980 used-game bin like PlayStation has
Probably never gonna happen though lol
19AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:56
HD-2D — that garbage tech that only Square Enix thinks is impressive
20AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:57
The most generous impression I could find was about this level:

'It wasn't boring, but not something I'd really recommend to people'
21AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:58
Everyone was saying it'd flop hard, and yep, called it
Though for some reason only the Square Enix faithful believed it was selling well
23AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:09
Too slow…
Wanted it and went to buy it, but it was already sold out
I've got a huge backlog anyway, and since it's Square Enix the digital version will probably go on sale eventually, so guess I'll wait
26AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:22
Re: #23
Amazon ('Ama') is still dumping it at half price
Though once the Rakuten sale ends, Amazon's price might automatically bounce back too
27AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:32
It's fiscal closing season, so they probably just want to clear inventory
28AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:37
I played the demo and took the time to write detailed feedback,
but they only fixed the easy stuff and ignored the important issues, so I didn't buy it
29AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:40
It's the kind of game you can skip entirely with zero regrets anyway
32AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:50
The Switch fanboys ('boo-sans') have really let their anti-HD2D thing spiral out of control
53AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:33
Re: #32
As always, Square Enix loyalists retreat into fabricating console-fanboy wars whenever things get inconvenient for them
43AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:12
Switch/PS Multiplatform Showdown 2024

Switch Version Wins:
Football Manager 2024, Prince of Persia, Ace Attorney 4-6, Touhou Luna Nights, Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash, Gunvolt Record, Genjitsu no Yohane, Seifuku Kanojo, BAR Stella Abyss, Unicorn Overlord, Irem Collection Vol. 1, MACROSS -Shooting Insight-, Dragon Quest X Online, DQX Ver. 1-7
Winning Post 10 2024, Doukyuusei Remake (console ver.), Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, SaGa Emerald Beyond, Library of Ruina, Chibi Earth Defense Force 2, Kiri no Senjou no Verdina, Tokyo Psychodemic, Kyukon no Kuon, Wise Man's World Retry, Touhou Spell Carnival, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, Mushoku Tensei

PS Version Wins:
None

Switch: 27 wins — PS: 0 wins
(*PS4/PS5 sales combined)
(*Judged by cumulative sales)
49AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:20
HD-2D was never really popular to begin with, honestly — the Dragon Quest III remake is probably the one to blame
51AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:28
Re: #49
If it wasn't popular it wouldn't be a steady 'slow-burn' seller like this (lol)
77AnonymousSep 26, 2026 13:07
[Wall Report] Beast of Reincarnation, 70% off at ¥2,693 just a month and a half after launch, lolololololol
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1790249482/

This thread is so salty it's crying 'Switch third-party crusher' about a game whose own PS5 version sold worse — hilarious
81AnonymousSep 26, 2026 13:18
Re: #77
And on top of that, this one's even cheaper, lol
84AnonymousSep 26, 2026 13:40
Still, the HD-2D brand's pulling power is something else — it's selling like crazy even with quality like this
89AnonymousSep 26, 2026 13:58
Re: #84
Probably also got some inexplicably favorable treatment in the Nintendo Direct
86AnonymousSep 26, 2026 13:48
Re: #1
The title alone is painfully lame — who's supposed to get interested in that?
92AnonymousSep 26, 2026 14:07
Re: #86
Exactly. The title alone is a loss. Everyone's reaction is basically 'who the heck is Elliot the Adventurer, never heard of him'
100AnonymousSep 26, 2026 15:53
With Dragon Quest III, Square Enix basically admitted themselves that HD-2D is trash
No way a half-assed project like that sells anymore lol
102AnonymousSep 26, 2026 15:58
Re: #100
But both Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest sold like crazy though?

Background and Key Points of Debate

“Third-party crusher” is a long-running bit of slang on the Hardware/Industry (Geha) board, used to mock a platform or title whose poor performance is said to be sapping the will of domestic third-party developers to keep making games for it. In this case, though, the Switch 2 version’s weekly sales actually outpaced the PS5 version’s, and some posters in the thread pointed out that this doesn’t quite fit the term’s usual meaning (see comment 8). HD-2D is the technique combining pixel art with 3D effects that Square Enix originally developed for the “Octopath Traveler” series, later also used in the “Dragon Quest III” remake. Some posters attributed the price drop to inventory clearance ahead of the fiscal closing period (see comment 27), so a discount alone shouldn’t be read as definitive proof of poor performance. It’s also worth noting that the figures cited in the article are weekly sales, not cumulative totals, so they don’t tell us on their own whether the game will end up a long-term seller.

*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “Switch 2’s ‘Elliot the Adventurer’s Thousand-Year Tale’ New Copies Dumped at Half Price! HD-2D Game Successfully Triggers Third-Party Crusher Too.”

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