Dragon's Dogma 2

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Hope everything's okay, and hope you enjoy the game! 

Weeeell, I'm not gonna get into the first part, but thanks
Got a copy pre-ordered and will pick it up tomorrow afternoon

[Dcubed]

https://www.gamesradar.com/determined-to-improve-dragons-dogma-2-performance-by-any-means-necessary-framerate-fiends-plot-murder-spree-of-rpgs-inconsequential-and-cpu-hungry-npcs/
 

Ok, that’s pretty funny.  Gives a whole new meaning to the word “optimisation” 

Edited March 21 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

Looks like microtransactions have now been activated after reviews have hit.

Quote

When the game became available, a previously hidden suite of microtransaction purchases did as well. These include everything from the Rift Crystals used to hire other players' Pawns to Art of Metamorphosis tomes required for changing your character's appearance, along with Wakestone revival items, Portcrystal fast travel points, one-use keys to escape prison cells, incenses for editing a Pawn's inclination (the inclination your Pawn gets is randomized, by the way), monster lures, and even special camping equipment that weighs less than normal gear. They're all visible on Dragon's Dogma 2's DLC page.

The price of these microtransactions ranges from $1-5, and while some appear to only be purchasable in limited quantities, it looks like others can be bought infinitely. And when you consider that Dragon's Dogma 2 is a $70 single player RPG, it's not surprising that players are...not happy, to put it lightly. On Steam, it's already plummeted down to a "Mostly Negative" rating, with only 34% of reviews positive.

Of the lot, the two that frustrate me the most personally are the $2.99 Portcrystals and the $1.99 Ambivalent Rift Incenses. The former monetizes the ability to fast travel wherever you want in the game world — Portcrystals are extremely rare to find in gameplay — while the latter's random nature essentially turns changing your Pawn's inclination into a slot machine you can spend $2 to "re-roll." Oh, and I'm pretty miffed about the $2.99 Explorer's Camping Kit, too, as it weighs less than the kits you'll find in-game and can be purchased infinitely from in-game vendors once unlocked.

 

[Dcubed]

Scummy practice, but also something that Capcom have been doing for a long time now.  Almost all of their games have had some sort of "time saver" microtransaction scam going on for more or less a decade now.

This is just the next step in what they've been doing for a while now, and yes, it is as egrigious as it is desperate.

[Glen-i]

Fast travel microtransactions is definitely a new one to me.

This is precisely why Baldur's Gate 3 is so well received. But no, can't be copying the huge hit if it means not nickel and dime'ing the customer! That'd be silly!

[Julius]

10 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Looks like microtransactions have now been activated after reviews have hit.

Man, this is such a weird one to watch play out.

I think it really emphasises the pressure on early game reception and review scores for a lot of devs now, and how publishers are happy to pull things like this on the sly on launch day (WHAT?!) to manipulate these things. 

Would be curious to hear Itsuno's and the team's thoughts on this, I mean imagine working on a game for YEARS - for a sequel/reinvention to what was ultimately more akin to a cult classic with a rabid fan base, so a clear passion project - then seeing those reviews flood in, the overwhelming elation carrying you away...and then the conversation doing a 180° soon after because your bosses are greedy bottom feeders. 

It is a single player game, and I'll always go to bat for playing how you want to play, I need to have a bit of a nose around to see if it's as in your face as something like the GT7 MTXs, but I just don't get the target demo with a move like this – rich people who want to charge through a £70 game just to say they've beaten it/got a particular cool thing?  seriously, how big can that market be? Is it worth sinking your game's great press for? I can't imagine it is. The math ain't mathing. 

It just seems so misguided, and unless they cave under the backlash, I really can't imagine that this bodes well for Monster Hunter Wilds at all. It feels like Capcom is pulling a bit of a PlayStation, where both came back stronger than ever last gen but now seem to be pushing at the boundaries to see what they can get away with. SEGA/Atlus have also been doing the same as of late. 

Very frustrating to read about, but again, more than anything, I really just hope it isn't getting in the faces of people who just want to get on with playing the game. 

[Glen-i]

6 minutes ago, Julius said:

I really can't imagine that this bodes well for Monster Hunter Wilds at all.

Ship has already sailed on that series. Both World and Rise have you pay to edit your character, as well as a ridiculous amount of gestures and cosmetics for purchase.

It will most certainly get worse with Wilds.

[drahkon]

Regarding the mtx:

 

[Julius]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Ship has already sailed on that series. Both World and Rise have you pay to edit your character, as well as a ridiculous amount of gestures and cosmetics for purchase.

It will most certainly get worse with Wilds.

That's insane. 

From my limited understanding of both (based on podcasts and from what I've read on here, I've dabbled in World but not to the extent I'd feel confident commenting on it's MTX catalogue), was Rise a move in a worse direction after World, even?

I ask because I remember World advertising free updates for new monsters, weapons, armour, etc. at times, with some paid-for cosmetics perhaps and of course Iceborne being a paid-for expansion, whereas with Sunbreak I remember seeing some more complaints about it as an expansion compared to Iceborne, as well as some saying the "events" were more a case of recycling things. Again, can't comment on that stuff and happy to be corrected, but that seemed to be the sentiment I've seen floated around. 

If so, yeah I think you're right, it does sound like it's going in the wrong direction and has been for a minute. 

3 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Regarding the mtx:

 

Ah, thanks for this. 

So it sounds more akin to what the modern Assassin's Creed games have been doing with their microtransactions, I remember a bit of an uproar following Odyssey's release (I think it was the first to latch onto it? If they were in Origins it might've been post-launch because I don't remember it coming up in conversation for that game) about similar things. Definitely not a Battlefront II launch situation where the game became pay-to-win. 

Yeah, I think I stand by what I said before: single player (I mean I guess it impacts sharing your pawn maybe? But again, it's not a competitive or shared multiplayer game, so ), play how you want to play, it seems like a total waste of money to me but if you're rich and for whatever reason it's up your alley, whatever. 

I think the issue here is the lack of communication over it ahead of launch, and the same went for AC Odyssey, GT7, and of course BFII (compounded by every other problem with how MTXs were integrated into that game). Saying nothing about microtransactions in your game and then having people learn about them for the first time at launch, following a great slate of reviews, is stupidly bad PR and marketing management; we all know how the internet loves to pick on whatever the new hotness is, so why give them that in and make it seem like you're even sleazier by not fessing up to these MTXs existing? Why leave that opening for others to attack? 

Get ahead of it, you fools!

It's not really a great addition to the game from where I'm standing, but if we learned about it 3 months ago in a public way - you know, like during the myriad of trailers, preview events or gameplay reveals? - I doubt you'd see anywhere near as much blowback as we've seen here. Stuff like this seriously makes me question what these marketing teams at publisher's actually do, because it's clearly not keep a finger on the pulse of marketing in the gaming space, that's for sure. 

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, Julius said:

I ask because I remember World advertising free updates for new monsters, weapons, armour, etc. at times, with some paid-for cosmetics perhaps and of course Iceborne being a paid-for expansion, whereas with Sunbreak I remember seeing some more complaints about it as an expansion compared to Iceborne, as well as some saying the "events" were more a case of recycling things. Again, can't comment on that stuff and happy to be corrected, but that seemed to be the sentiment I've seen floated around. 

Monster Hunter as a whole has always reused things from previous games, so it's not surprising that some things from World was reused here. Those complaining about it are clearly people whose first game was World.

As for how they dish out content in Rise, it's pretty much the same as the way World did it. Various free updates with new things, and a big massive expansion that you pay for.

But the microtransactions definitely got more brazen with Rise.

Edited March 22 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

Yeah, Capcom have been steadily turning up the heat on their boiling frogs over the past few years; as their microtransactions slowly but steadily get worse (just look at what they’re doing with SF6 compared to their previous games).

It’s only gonna get worse from here, and I would be afraid of what they’re gonna do with MH Wilds…

[drahkon]

2 hours in, here's my experience:

I face-planted 6 times while accidentally falling/jumping down ledges, threw 3 Goblins down hills and killed them, climbed on a Cyclops and smacked his eye with my daggers, used a wagon to travel to the capital, dozed off, got ambushed, won the battle and reached the capital just now and it seems I'm in trouble for...existing.

Great

Anyways, as soon as the interrogation is over, I hope that I'm free to leave and explore the area I skipped by traveling via the wagon.

[Happenstance]

Tempted to pick this up today as it'd probably be a good one to play while messing about with the new monitor.

[drahkon]

The pawn system is so cool.
Just explored a bit and one pawn called attention to an item. When I picked it up, the other pawn said "Ohhh, I need to tell my master about that". Looks like somebody's gonna get some help soon

Had another awesome fight against a Cyclops. First time someone in my team died and I had to revive them. It was pretty intense.

[drahkon]

Some enemies really need to chill out:

Edit: Gif has been deleted
It was a monster sliding into view with an attack

Scared the living crap out of me

Edited March 25 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Found a cave...this was my experience:

Didn't even get to explore everything. It started off pretty well: a few enemies, a few treasure chests and then BAM: A Chimera wrecks my shit. Noped out of there in panic, got lost because I didn't look at the mini map, got swarmed by Slimes and Saurians and barely survived.

[Hero-of-Time]

Quote

Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) today announced that worldwide sales of Dragon's Dogma 2 surpassed 2.5 million units.

The Dragon's Dogma series consists of action games in a fantasy setting where players adventure in an expansive open world of swords and magic. Since the release of the first game in 2012, the series garnered praise worldwide for gameplay features such as its "pawn" adventure companions who can carry out actions on their own, leading the series to exceed 10 million units sold cumulatively.

You still plugging away with this, @drahkon?

[drahkon]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

You still plugging away with this, @drahkon?

Not really.
Just as with FFVII:Rebirth, not the games fault, though.

I'm quite restless these days, so it's hard to focus on one game. Which is why I bought Void Stranger today and see how I'll fare with that one

[Hero-of-Time]

12 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Just as with FFVII:Rebirth, not the games fault, though.

To be fair, Rebirth has been a miss for a lot of people. 

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

To be fair, Rebirth has been a miss for a lot of people. 

True

I actually played through some of Chapter 8 last night and really enjoyed it, but I still had to turn it off. I hope I'll get back into the gaming groove soon.