Look at how they massacred my boy.

What you need to know

  • As Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched on PC Thursday evening, a previously hidden suite of microtransactions became available for purchase.
  • Things you can buy for the single player ARPG include fast travel points, Rift Crystals for hiring Pawns and buying special items, appearance change and revival consumables, a special camping kit that weighs less than normal ones, and a few others.
  • In response to the microtransactions, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is being review bombed, with the game currently sitting at “Mostly Negative” on Steam.
@[email protected]
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632Y

This is why we don’t pre-order :/

kingthrillgore
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102Y

I was watching Suzi’s video on this and I was watching if she was gonna blink twice like she was in trouble.

Capcom’s dick move with mods already poisoned the well, this is just salting the earth.

Drasglaf
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112Y

She (and other reviewers too ) should post a follow-up, it’s the right thing to do IMHO. She’s being called shill among other things in the comments although it’s obvious she didn’t know.

@[email protected]
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232Y

For the character thing, as long as you don’t care about restarting you can delete your save and force steam to overwrite your cloud save.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2054970/discussions/0/4289188517340869363/

The rest is absolute bullshit and I hope Capcom gets shredded for this travesty… I’m the type to give a game a chance, and I will play this, but holy shit the greed is disgustingggg

Fushuan [he/him]
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-302Y

Or you can also play the game and buy the item ingame for 500RC, it’s not that big of a deal.

@[email protected]
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22Y

Cool, so if I’m your landlord you have no problem with me charging you $1 every time you use a light switch?

@[email protected]
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42Y

These are not the same thing, at all

@[email protected]
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-22Y

You’re right, but I just wonder where it will end up. Everything has a beginning.

@[email protected]
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12Y

This is the exact same monetization that Devil May Cry 5 had in that it is practically non-existent. You can earn everything in game, you do not have to spend money.

@[email protected]
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32Y

I’m glad you’re not bothered by microtransactions. I personally don’t like them, and I never buy games with anything more then cosmetic microtramsactions. But we all have that line in the sand we won’t cross, this is one of mine.

@[email protected]
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12Y

I think a more apt comparison is if you’re renting out a place where every light switch is three-way with one switch near the light it controls and another in a closet with all the other light switches. You can control the ones in the closet for free, but the ones in a reasonable location are pay-per-use. The problem isn’t that the features aren’t available for free. It’s that they poured resources into deliberately making things worse, then they charge you to undo that. Literally creating negative value.

@[email protected]
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22Y

Except I’m playing the game right now and these “deliberately made worse” elements have not once inconvenienced me in 20 hours.

You are all crying about nothing.

@[email protected]
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12Y

I have no interest in this game, so I wouldn’t know how it actually affects gameplay. But do you not agree that this is shitty business practice? You have a game. Sell the game. If you want microtransactions, then produce extra art or something and sell that. You can even make the case that separating out parts of the game into various DLCs on launch is acceptable. You’re at least charging for something of value that you created.

Implementing anti-cheat costs resources and makes the end result strictly worse. Now you want people to pay you to undo that? That’s creating negative value. We want the economy to run on people creating positive value.

@[email protected]
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-22Y

How.

@[email protected]
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02Y

I’m playing the game right now moron, you don’t have to spend a single dime for any of the things you spend money on. It is pay to play faster, cry more about it. Your experience isn’t tarnished because someone else spent more money on the game than you.

@[email protected]
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12Y

The fact that the MTX exists in the first place is just predatory. It doesn’t matter if it’s optional.

Don’t forget that things got this bad to begin with because everyone kept defending early MTX with the same excuse. These companies are always trying to push shit. Give them an excuse and they’ll run with it.

@[email protected]
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02Y

The problem that everyone seems to be missing with this “slippery slope” bullshit is that you all acknowledge that there are MTX systems worse than this one. That worse one likely being P2W MTX, because that is undeniably the worst form.

The RE4 remake literally had P2W. You could buy the weapon upgrade items for real money. DD2s MTX are in no way P2W.

So to organize the factors I’ve presented as they pertain to the discussion, plainly:

  1. Everyone wants to avoid P2W because it’s a bad sign for games. P2W is the reason why gatcha is the way that it is.

  2. The Resident Evil 4 remake (oh you know, Capcoms biggest franchise) had a P2W system (that thing we just established as being the worst form of MTX).

  3. DD2 has an MTX system so functionally worthless that I’m about to beat the game and the only reason I’ve even considered spending money is because I’m lazy. You actually get more out of spending your money on gatcha games (on literal fucking P2W scams).

  4. We reach this conversation, where you’re suggesting that “It’S a SlIpPeRy SlOpE”.

I cannot fully express through words how genuinely stupid it is to be picking this game to cry about how bad microtransactions are. Genuinely, this is some of the dumbest shit I’ve seen from gamers. In your analogy, we already reached the bottom of the slope and the people fucking cheered for it.

Fushuan [he/him]
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2Y

You really are comparing a basic necessity with a game? Talk about a false equivalency geez.

Also, since when is electricity free? This is such a weird comparison.

@[email protected]
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62Y

The availability of the item in-game doesn’t matter. If anything it’s availability in-game being “not that big of a deal” just showcases further the scumminess of it all being that purchasable item exists only to scam people by tricking them into thinking any modicum of money is worth a one use item.

And even then, if nobody complains about it, then they’ll still continue on as they will. They’ll do so regardless, of course, but at least you can say that there was pushback of some kind.

Fushuan [he/him]
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22Y

Having a pushback is fair, saying that the game is trash and review bombing the game for it far exceeds what I would consider fair pushback.

The game captures really well the first’s feel, it’s just an improvement in almost all aspects, which is great! It’s a really good game, those unnecessary MTXs giving the game a negative review score is kinda crazy.

@[email protected]
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12Y

deleted by creator

@[email protected]
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1322Y

$70 price point for entry, microtransactions for stupid shit, and launches with severe technical issues.

I’m so sick of your shit Capcom.

@[email protected]
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2Y

When a game releases with multiple purchases along side it, it just means you chopped up my full price game and are charging me extra for what I should have already gotten

WWE 2k24 in infuriating like this. If you want the full game on release, it’s actually like $150.

@[email protected]
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52Y

Exception to this is actual extras, like the game’s soundtrack or access to concept art.

@[email protected]
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52Y

Supposedly a lot if not all of these micro transactions are simply faster unlocks to the content/feature, still though not a good look.

@[email protected]
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192Y

That just means they deliberately made the game tedious with the goal of annoying people into paying

LeadersAtWork
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This is what I’ve pieced together as well. Everything can be fairly easily found and used (or hoarded) in game. However, this in no way excuses the other issues.

That said, I don’t blame the devs. Someone light the C-Suite bonfire.

@[email protected]
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-92Y

If the devs know what they’re working on, they’re choosing to participate in it.

LeadersAtWork
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112Y

Following this thread of logic the thousands of devs laid off in recent weeks must be heroes. After all, if they don’t have a job, according to you they can do no harm, and that’s a good thing.

Unless you think someone who refuses to do the work they’re assigned are likely to retain their position?

Ricky Rigatoni
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112Y

Peoole can’t just quit their jobs because they don’t like a few decisions by the suits. If that were feasible for everyone then the world would be a better place.

@[email protected]
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1452Y

The very fact it’s called a “review bomb” is an attempt at controlling the narrative. Fuck game “journalism”.

Dyskolos
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deleted by creator

Ex Nummis
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102Y

Do we now pay for cheat-codes in a 70-moneyz single-player-game? Also Yes.

Speak for yourself. I don’t buy any games with pay-to-win elements at all, And there are developers out there who are giving the correct example. Larian, for one. And Arrowhead is killing it with Helldivers II as well, which is another game that puts the player firstl and doesn’t try to nickle & dime you to death.

@[email protected]
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22Y

Helldivers is as p2w as dragons dogma 2. Both currencies are earned in-game.

@[email protected]
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2
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2Y

Not to mention the kernel level anti cheat there too.

the post of tom joad
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32Y

Lion king for super nes was kiiiiinda microtransactional (not really) cuz Disney made the game exceptionally hard on purpose so you had to rent it many times

@[email protected]
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12Y

It reminds me of Rocket Knight for Genesis. The Japanese version is deliberately easier and the correct way to play. The US version is buggered

@[email protected]
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232Y

I will die on the hill of “Oblivion’s horse armor DLC was not the beginning of micro transactions”

Because it wasn’t. There were micro transactions for games long before the hore armor thing. Also, horse armor was a one-time purchase for that mechanic.

@[email protected]
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02Y

Oblivion’s Horse Armor was probably the start of DLC though, maybe. At least with consoles?

@[email protected]
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12Y

The first game I remember seeing MTX in was gunbound, a game that was like worms Armageddon. You could earn in game currency to buy equipment or you could spend a bit of real world money on them. And before that, gold farmers and their buyers would get banned in waves on WoW. I knew instantly when seeing the gunbound system that it would make money.

Personally, I always had contempt for anyone who would pay money to gain an advantage in a game, but the fact that they kept banning more farmers and buyers in WoW told me the demand was there even when it was risky, so when the game itself was selling that shit, it would do even better.

Though I can also thank Turok for N64 for teaching me that using cheats just increases the rate at which the game stops being fun. Paying to win would do the same thing, only it costs you money to ruin the game.

Dyskolos
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deleted by creator

@[email protected]
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12Y

Yeah, anti-cheat is clearly being used here to try to prevent mods that can give the mtx items for free. Or, maybe worse, allow people passionate about the game to come in and make a better version than the people selling it made because a passion for the thing itself tends to give better results than just the passion for money the business majors calling the shots have.

Dyskolos
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deleted by creator

@[email protected]
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7
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2Y

I think Double Dragon 3 unlocked certain moves depending on how many quarters you’ve put into the arcade machine. Also some of those cryptic NES games would have hint hotlines that would cost a ton of money, this stuff is old as hell.

@[email protected]
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72Y

It also had literally no game impact. It was purely cosmetic. There are far more egregious examples.

@[email protected]
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22Y

It was armor. It’s… of fucking course it had mechanical impact, that was the point. Only the color was cosmetic.

@[email protected]
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12Y

But mounted combat in Oblivion wasn’t really a thing, so your horse having armour never ended up mattering.

@[email protected]
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12Y

Horses pick fights in Oblivion. A lot of them get killed. Horse Armor was a direct response to player complaints.

@[email protected]
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62Y

Yeah I get it, I would never pay for microtransactions. I’m enjoying the game so far. I used mods to get all 999 of the items they sell so I don’t have to be bothered. It runs well enough on my system so imma keep enjoying it. I’ll leave a negative review for yall

the post of tom joad
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12Y

I’m glad you can still mod it.i thought it being always online precluded that

SufniDroid
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1942Y

Imagine putting microtransactions, paid character edit vouchers, Denuvo, and anti-cheat into a $70 single player only game. They know what’s happening, they’re just trying to shift blame onto the community.

million
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182Y

Wait, anti-cheat? Wtf?

SufniDroid
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302Y

It has Denuvo Anti-tamper and Denuvo anti-cheat. If they didn’t include the latter, you could just bypass the microtransactions entirely.

@[email protected]
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14
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2Y

There’s a mod right now that adds the item you need to change appearances to a vendor for like 10 gold, so I’m not really sure what cheats it’s preventing exactly.

@[email protected]
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122Y

part of the reason im always pro mod option, there will be a fan who offers an optional “fix” for a game.

Coelacanth
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852Y

…putting microtransactions, paid character edit vouchers, Denuvo, and anti-cheat into a $70 single player only game

This reads like satire wtf

@[email protected]
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252Y

Think of it as their very shitty solution to mods and cheats that so many dumbasses pay for. “Hey, why let those cheat makers profit off of our games? Let’s make the cheats ourselves! But you know, for better profit, let’s chop off parts of the game and call them cheats instead.”

HuddaBudda
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382Y
  • Kernel level anti-cheat

  • Micro-transactions

  • Paid character edit vouchers

Ouch, I’d be pissed too if my $70 was still not enough to buy all the character models, let alone that I would have to pay to re-customize my character. They 100% deserve this negative criticism.

the post of tom joad
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2Y

Man the update sure made the author look chastened huh? I wonder if they were pressured at all?

Anyway, new topic:

Following its launch, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s rating on Steam has slowly but steadily improved. At the time of writing this update, it has risen to “Mixed,” with 42% of all reviews giving it a positive score

I would be interested in whether the steam rating is being “review (what do you call the opposite of bombed? Review bumped?) bombed” in a ⏫ direction. Anyone read those positive reviews? How do they seem?

@[email protected]
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632Y

Stop buying this shit, and they’ll stop doing it.

@[email protected]
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02Y

The ones who buy items in-game are the ones who buy the games. Those are the customers they want to appease the most.

@[email protected]
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202Y

They won’t stop doing it. Think of how many live service games have failed. Are the investors going to stop drooling over that Fortnight $$? AAA game are made to please investors, not players.

Boiling everything down to econ101 serves to absolve the bad behavior or games companies as “rational actors” while placing the blame for shitty games practices on “stupid” gamers.

@[email protected]
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-42Y

If enough people are buying it, they’ll keep doing it whether you like it or not. So why waste your energy getting mad about it?

You already lost the fight when you start talking about “bad behavior” and “blame.” Just accept the fact that you’re not the target audience for shitty modern AAA games, and move on.

It’s OK. I’m not the target audience either. I’m not the target audience for Taylor Swift concerts, either. Does that make it “bad behavior” if I don’t like her ticket prices?

Stop getting mad about companies making money. That’s literally their purpose. There are plenty of other products out there to buy.

greenskye
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72Y

Regulation. Bad behavior that can’t be policed by econ 101, gets regulation. Stuff like recognizing the predatory nature of these micro transactions and limiting their exposure to kids and warning labels like we slap on actual gambling. Even higher taxes on profits derived from these sorts games. Maybe they aren’t so profitable when we actually protect the vulnerable and they have to truly rely on just the ‘stupid whales’ and not kids.

@[email protected]
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42Y

Is it predatory, though? Or are people just upset because they fell for pre-order hype, despite it being 2024 and they should know better.

Let’s not muddy the waters by comparing it to gambling. Pay-to-win (or pay-for-convenience, which, in my opinion, is the same as pay-to-win) is not gambling. It’s just shit. You’re not paying for a randomized chance at a reward. You know exactly what you’re getting.

I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the game, but from what I have seen, there are no predatory IU elements to lure vulnerable kids into stealing their mom’s credit card.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the MTX is shit. I was mildly interested in the game, but now I won’t consider it even on 75% Steam sale. Capcom won’t be getting my money, that’s my choice.

We don’t need the government involved in regulating shitty entertainment. It’s not water or electricity or healthcare. You can just not buy the thing. If you start calling for regulation of everything you don’t like, that’s how you get geriatric politicians who never played a game in their life and still call it “the Nintendo” deciding what you can and can’t have in your game.

greenskye
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22Y

I was responding in general to the concept, not specifically this implementation, which as you say is not the worst implementation for sure.

We’ll have agree to disagree on pay2win not being predatory. Again, this specific implementation may not be as bad, but the market as a whole absolutely has examples just as dangerous as slot machines. They’re built on the same psychology.

As for regulation, it doesn’t strictly have to come from the government. Both movies and games have rating boards specifically to avoid government intervention and I think they are failing consumers here. The threat of government intervention might see the ESRB and the various gaming marketplaces adopt more strict rules and warnings. Things like preventing the sale of games with specific, predatory mtx dark patterns and mechanics from sale to minors, stronger warning labels on games containing these sorts of practices and penalizing companies from adding MTX in a deceitful manner (such as after launch). A game would be heavily penalized for adding adult content this way and perhaps MTX should be treated in a similar manner.

@[email protected]
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02Y

You not buying the game is 1 vote, someone that pays for micro transactions get multiple votes everytime they buy, you lost, they paid for your copy.

@[email protected]
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692Y

They almost got me with preorder last night, but I was like nah I’ll just wait and see in the morning. I love how i’ve been reading for weeks that “it’s good they made fast travel hard”, like preparing us for a fast travel MTX. Or it’s the greatest character creator of all time, but to edit after you have to spend more money - the game is basically $100 canadian. Absurd.

@[email protected]
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-1
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2Y

Lack of simple fast travel is what made the first game horrible

Altima NEO
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292Y

Don’t forget the performance. One review was saying it’s so bad that a dragon was speaking before his animation started playing.

@[email protected]
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232Y

Fuck, really? I mean, I’m not like a die-hard fan of the game(s) or anything, but the first one is still pretty enjoyable. And it’s $5 on steam.

And it’s a totally complete game, with an in-game barber/character customizer. You can’t change your character’s body type though, only the hair and skin colors/styles.

@[email protected]
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12Y

You can buy the MTX items InGame at the vendors. Still shitty to have the MTX but yea…

@[email protected]
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12Y

If you can do it with in-game earnable currency that’s a bit different.

Tbh I haven’t heard that that’s the case, but I also haven’t gone looking.

@[email protected]
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32Y

They already said you could, but at least in the first one it was an end game/post game item to edit your character. You can check the news tab for the game on steam.

@[email protected]
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-12Y

totally complete

Nah m8, they had circumstances that forced them to release it before they wanted to. There is a bunch of cut content and other not fully realized features. People just don’t notice them much because the game is phenomenal as is.

@[email protected]
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32Y

I mean literally every video game has some cut content somewhere. Whether it still feels complete afterward is a different story.

@[email protected]
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222Y

Never pre-order. Learned that long ago. Even games I have waited on for a long time, i’ll still wait. Starfield was most recent example of that.

I think I will break the rule though for the factorio DLC, if they do a preorder.

@[email protected]
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22Y

Just curious on what you think the benefit of pre-ordering a factorio dlc would be instead of buying after release?

@[email protected]
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22Y

No real benefit. Guess I was trying to say that i trust factorio devs.

Damn game has devoured years of my life…

@[email protected]
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32Y

I learnt my lesson from Starfield; the most expensive video game I ever purchased… I pre-ordered that tripe and suffered the consequences. Never again.

I am so glad I learnt my lesson and decided to wait for the reviews for Dragon’s Dogma 2. Pretty sad that this is the outcome, but I am glad that I decided to wait and see.

Starfield got me and I should know better by now than to pre-order. I just figured it’d be the usual ‘Bethesda puts out crap that modders quickly sort’ but the it ended up being ‘fast travel, the game’ which seems hard to fix.

Thank god for BG3, though - rock solid game.

Cethin
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02Y

Fast travel worked almost identically in 1 with no MTX. This isnt why it’s like that, but it was an opportunity they say that they could sell.

@[email protected]
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22Y

deleted by creator

@[email protected]
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7
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2Y

deleted by creator

@[email protected]
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332Y

How’s dragons dogma 2? … To shreds you say… And how about the community… To shreds you say …

@[email protected]
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21
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2Y

Capcom really saw the positive hype they got with this previously niche tittle and decided to go all RE4 weeks after release on it day 1. There’s not even a new game option, I feel bad for Itsuno but it’s deserved imo.

You can get all items in-game but cheats shouldn’t ever be a paid feature, I criticized Saints Row 4 back then, I’ll criticize Dragon’s Dogma 2 today.

@[email protected]
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72Y

Seeing this fuckery from Capcom has given me sight closure and a bit happy that MegaMan is dead

@[email protected]
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32Y

happy that MegaMan is dead

Oh, but it isn’t! They keep releasing collections to test the waters. Also, there’s a Megaman gacha game! A fucking gacha!

For my part, I’ll never forgive them for Megaman X 6 and beyond. The story was clearly written to end with Megaman X 5, then transition into the Zero series of games, but Capcom was too greedy to leave it alone.

@[email protected]
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22Y

For my part, I’ll never forgive them for Megaman X 6 and beyond. The story was clearly written to end with Megaman X 5, then transition into the Zero series of games, but Capcom was too greedy to leave it alone.

Oh man, I got so many Vietnam flashbacks with Gears of War 4 and beyond. Microsoft really massacred my favorite video game saga :c

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