RIP Unlockable Content. All Hail Cash-Gated DLC

This is something I think many of the old guard and most of the mid-guard (of which I consider myself, and no this is not an intentional Thor/Norse joke) would agree is becoming a more noticeable issue.  For those of us still in the pulse of the gaming community we've seen the less than subtle shift from actually using easter eggs, challenging content, hidden secrets and such to progress your gameplay.  These are notoriously utilized as a flashy in-joke or short-cut through their content.  Not blatantly dumbing down the game to make it more completable and accessible, but it's not far from it.  Where are the games that offer unlockable content or secrets or alternative skins/weapons that require a challenging succession of achievements or an undocumented cheat code or something that just doesn't come out prior to the game itself?  I, for one, loved these kind of things and enjoy searching for them if I'm lucky enough to get in on a game early; or finding if I show up late and have only the knowledge that "something" exists.

Now whether in single-player campaigns or in a MMO-style environment I tend to lean onto the achievement hound and collector mentalities if I become engrossed in a game for one reason or another.  Prime examples I can think of involve Prince of Persia (hidden weapons like a hockey stick or teddy bear), Pokemon (G1-2), and Dynasty Warriors.  The latter was my first foray where I had to decide what to unlock because some of the items/power-ups in DW4:XL were gated against one another; i.e. if you unlocked character A's ultimate weapon's form, character B's ultimate weapon was forever beyond your grasp.  The game also possessed one of the more annoying save functions for the PS2 where there was no "saving one with A and one with B" as it held everything within a single file.  I like my stories engaging--by either the gameplay or the story.  Often times I will fluctuate between these as I play a game sacrificing doing one to do the other, etc.  This is another reason I find replayability highly undervalued as well as there are some games out there with little to no incentive to ever return.  On an MMO and usually in a RPG I will typically keep at least one save or character slot solely for the purpose of exploring the lore, talking to all the NPCs.  This is the closest I come to actually roleplaying in video games (tabletop RPGs are fine, but I never saw the appeal to online RP).

Anyway the newer incarnations of some of those same games are fraught with DLC.  Some of which extends the story but sometimes only provides the conclusion to the main story they'd already sold you.  Or in the case of cosmetic alternatives, pay us monies and you can run around like _____.  Yes, as much as I enjoy you I'm looking at you Saint's Row, Tomb Raider, and Koei (Dynasty/Samurai Warrior publishers).  I remember when to unlock something you just had to find it in game somewhere.  These scavenger-hunt style micro-missions were often a big thrill for me, especially if it involved some extra skill to get: only accessible at night, and should be blinded, etc.

This is not meant to be a manifesto against the entire micro-transaction movement, though as an unemployed debtee, I do find it a tad disheartening.  I appreciate that for some* games this is their only source of income: free2play mobile apps, certain unsubscriptioned MMOs or MOBAs, etc.  All I'm asking is for some justification in the cost/desire.  I bought most of the Dynasty Warrior franchise for $20-25 if I got it new or $10 at Gamestop later, but for each of those I got well over 100 hours of playtime racking up power-ups and legendary weapons.  Now to get the same accomplishment I need over $200 in steam and I have everything from the get-go.  One game app I casual-play has a special for $55 you get 1 guaranteed character of 20 and a chance at up to 3 more.  Sorry for that amount of coinage I want to expressly know what I'm getting.  The pay-to-win mentality is strong and I understand commercial entities trying to tap that, but in doing so they isolate a measurable percentage of their player base while at the same time increasing others frustration within the game along with their likelihood of leaving.  Its a very soft border between these factions, and I am far from an expert, but I think far too many are using RNGesus as an excuse within the confined of their IP's 1's and 0's.

Anyway, semester is wrapping up this week and I should be back gaming occasionally between application and interviews.  Let me know what you think.

The Return of the Blog/Playstyle

Gods, I can never seem to consistently force myself to maintain a blog for an extended period of time. Best I did was for my table top miniatures (still actively viewed). So yeah I will be back [sporadically] as I try to clear out some of my Steam(c) library and free some of my phone's memory up. Expect it to be slow, but come graduation in May I'll have a few classics I'll finally be playing thru (Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and XCOM series). --Hey-- No judgement,s I picked them up over the past few years in Steam sales, bundles, or free code giveaways/trades and never took the opportunity to play them.

That said, I guess I'll explain my game style. I've all over the map. I like to try new games, but rarely do so unless they're cheap/free/my group is playing them. When I actually become an invested player I join a branch of the community (i.e. Wooden Potatoes for GW2) and usually approach it with a lore- or achievement hound-attitude. That said I'm not one who commits to more than 1-2 immersive games at a time. Guild Wars 2 is filling my MMO slot at the moment so anything I'm likely to play will be stand alone titles, casual games, or just something to clear memory off of one of my devices.

Forthcoming right off the bat I've tried my hand [over the past 9 months] at a few mobile games co-workers, classmates, or family have played and I will summarize them first (cause I'm likely not playing them anymore). Anyway, sorry for the absence, and happy gaming.

UPDATE 5/9/16:
Alright so to give myself a little time between job-hunting, moving, and just general downtime I will try for monthly discussions and try to get as many games in as I play.  That said they may not be new all the time and may resort to tips, tricks, or just "what I've been playing" updates.

Mobile Games & Derivatives

So like many people I am guilty of installing a game or two on my phone and often I will hear of/see a similar game with a twist or a skin on it that makes the copy+paste game "unique" in the creator's mind. More often times than not this is more likely a cash grab situation as they churn them out as fast as possible, allowing for in-app purchases, and really don't support the game. There are entire studios devoted to this business model >> 1) What's popular? 2) Can we recreate it? 3) Can we change it just enough to avoid claims and suit? This is not the entirety of the games out there but for every game you like there's bound to be 20+ games eerily similar to it in one respect or another. Well I venture down the rabbit hole occasionally and I've found many that fall on both sides of the fence. Sometimes they provide a decent distraction for a brief interlude, sometimes they frustrate me, other times they're just sad, humorous attempts at mimicry. Here's two examples that I would call successful clones, but may or may not stay on my phone for long. (Possibly a review of them as well).

1) Star Wars Commander (similar to Clash of Clans)
Pros: Star Wars skins!
a unique functionality at the early onset of the game you can decide to support the rebels or the Empire which will determine which units you have access to for the remainder of the game.
gameplay and upgrades make 10x more sense than CoC and you can easily judge when something is under-powered. (i.e. Your base has lvl 5 HQ? Everything you have can upgrade to lvl 5)
Cons: the unique functionality does make it harder to play with friends if you chose Empire for the cooler looking units and they chose Rebels for the heroes. The "Squadrons" are limited to one side or the other and cannot cross-over.  The lack of cross over ability kind of twists the knife anytime one side or the other gets something cool (I reinstalled and when light side only to find that it was not identical abilities).
As much as I did in fact enjoy the game the community was very small and not truly active. 6/10


2) Doctor Who: Legacy (similar to Puzzles & Dragons)
Pros: Doctor Who skins, companions, enemies, storyline, etc.
a (somewhat) story that progresses through the dungeons
enough minor changes from PAD that you fell like it successfully makes its own niche (including no stamina)
amazing community and dev-support
Cons: The story is [sadly] weak and usually skipped
The lack of limiting factors like stamina means you unconsciously play yourself out of it most times
Leveling up allies alters their powers at level 5 such that some of them with powers you liked 1-49 now trigger something entirely different at 50.
7/10

Incomplete Games

So as I mentioned with KF2, I'm involved in what has to be my first or second "early access" game I've ever had. I was aware things would change, but I wasn't 100% prepared for how limited it was. Let's be fair and honest for a moment, I'm a full-time grad student, part time employee and I just shelled out $40 for an incomplete game. I'm the kind of cheap bastard gamer that buys hoards of games on the Steam sales, bundles, or just naturally waits for prices to go down. The last game I bought at launch was Borderlands 2 and I never doubted my decision there as my 500+ hours will attest to--for the record, no I've still never beaten it 100% or maxed a character yet.

Getting your "money's worth" is something that always comes up in these discussions because let's face it--you, me, us and the rest of the 99% don't always have all the money we want for all the things that interest us and rarely if ever have the time to enjoy them as much as we would like. Therefore it's a very personal question on whether and how much something is worth to you. I believe upon completion I will be spending well worth my money in game with friends or on my own in the future, I support what they're doing as a game developer, and I have a better than chance they WILL complete this game. Oh yeah, if you weren't aware, all these Alpha/Beta versions, early access, or pre-launch games are never guaranteed. You find them on Steam and sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo trying to come up with funds that they don't have or try to drum up interest in games to justify whatever financial support that are getting. I assume Steam vets them sufficiently, but there's 0 accountability on crowd-funded projects to ever be published. It's more of a gamble, one I've participated in a couple of times, but usually only after them meet their requested goals and I'm personally satisfied with what appears to be coming out of there. Two I can readily recall are Banner Saga & Star Citizen. Banner Saga was made by a start-up developer in Austin, TX and this was to be there first big release. I remember being captured first by their artwork and style, this hook led to me watching the video where they showcased a lot of the game already completed (another thing to consider as it can take years to develop games depending on where they are in production). They laid out clear points they wanted to achieve with this money they were asking for and I took the gamble. I enjoyed it and will likely review it at some point, even met one of the lead writers at PAX South earlier this year. Star Citizen is the newest brainchild of the man who most flight simulator or sci-fi games will know by name alone: Chris Roberts. This guy is behind some of the most best selling series in early PC gaming: Wing Commander. His presentation was a testament to what he WANTED to do, very little was flushed out at the time beyond concepts and some very primitive set-ups. But he was making the game regardless and shelled out more informative updates as their project flew thru record-breaking pledges. This baby, whenever it does come out will need me to upgrade to a new rig so I'm not having to run it on minimum settings, but looks jaw-dropping amazing.

Timetables are another thing I briefly mentioned, but are VERY important this day in age with all the instant gratification we've come to expect with the many facets of our lives. Some of these games are completed and just need a bit of polish and fine tuning. These early access period give development teams a great opportunity to stress-test their equipment and play-test their game as a whole. Forums and communities that stem from these experiences are always a mixed bag, but you can usually find quite a few people WANTING to help make the game a better thing. Other projects are just at the treatment or early-on in a design phase, this will take a considerable amount of time to complete and you need to at least be aware of that when you join in--money you're giving away NOW may not get you anything for months or even YEARS down the line. Usually a good team will keep the patrons and backers regularly hyped with updates or teases and announcements with what they're working on. The best ones will give you a calendar that you can follow--even if it changes as the process advances, just knowing they have a measurable goal is a comfort to those of us waiting in the virtual lists.

Beta-testing is a whole other circumstance altogether. For the record I have been involved with 3 closed betas. I was very big into League of Legends and a few years ago a company premiered a new MOBA-style game at QuakeCon entitles SMITE and asked me to be one of the many people trying it out. Many virtual forms were required and had to fill out reports and check lots of tedious little things there, and I didn't really enjoy the game anyway. So after a couple of weeks I filed my last report and moved on. The other one I wish to speak of is a mass-beta event, these are a lot more common closer to a launch. I got into the Elder Scrolls Online with a newsletter all-call to gamers who were interested in trying it out before launch. Only certain portions of the game were available with quests or travel points specifically bugged or left incomplete to keep everyone corralled where the developers wanted us. I participated in 3 of these weekends and filled out a single, short form each. There are some lucky bastards who get paid to play games and critique or identify flaws in the industry. I am not, nor have ever been. I also don't like quite a few genres so I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as I might think.

If anyone has anything related they'd like to talk about, ask away. These discussion posts are just that to see if there's any interest.