Finally got around to playing Stellaris. It’s an older game but I work my way through my Steam unplayed list slowly at my age.
Great game, so much to learn, so complex yet elegant. Really enjoyed it, got 40 hours gameplay for my first time out over the last few weeks.
I noted some tech unlocked items I didn’t have access to, options that were referenced but never appeared. Did some digging and discovered that almost every system in the game, from research and military through diplomacy and government, has a DLC which contains the full range of options.
Bit annoying when they’re effectively selling me what is really a patch for the game. Then to add to that, for a ten year old game the DLC is still full price. There’s some places selling it at a discount but mostly mostly its mad pricing. The full edition is £180!
If this was happening with a product more serious than a game, I’d be more than mildly infuriated.
How has Skyrim managed to include all the DLC in the last three editions and these people are still trying to milk every drop from a ten year old game just because it had a decent release?
Bonkers.
Buy the game (if it’s good), pirate the DLC.
Interesting. Might check that out
Get a torrent client, google for a recent Pirate Proxy list and pick one, is all it takes.
I think my infrastructure can achieve this. 😏
I think we need a term to differentiate between DLCs that are proper Expansion Packs (EPs) of the game, from DLCs that are paywalling parts of clearly the rest of the original game. I’m not OK with companies chopping up their game to sell it as DLC, but I’m perfectly OK with EPs
Absolutely agree.
Something like Surviving Mars released a decent complete game.
New DLC added more features than Genuinly felt like additions, not fixes for an incomplete game.
Don’t go buying any new cars, BMW recently tried to lock the heated seats already installed in the car behind a subscription.
Companies are finally learning from video games, they’re just learning the wrong things.
I would hack that, if i had to have a car.
And Stellantis (Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler) showing ads on your infotainment screen. (Not to mention all the other bullshit)
Can’t fucking build a car that doesn’t rattle apart after 5 years but they can sure squeeze every cent out of you and your info in the meantime.
This (and the airbag thing) would be illegal in any decent jurisdiction. Ads have the sole purpose of taking your focus, while you need it on the street to not crash. But so do billboard signs aside the street, which is why they aren’t allowed either.
The ad delivery system is programmed to show you the ads only when the vehicle is in park, just so Stellantis doesn’t get sued for that very reason.
Still, as far as I’m concerned it’s pretty scummy to throw ads on your display to make even more money off you after you’ve already paid them tens of thousands for your vehicle.
I think stellaris is in a bit of a special spot. You note the game is 10 yrs old. They release a dlc about twice a year, and they usually make some kind of minor change or sometimes system overhaul for the base game at the same time. Most games get a little bit of care for maybe a year or two after release. Active development 10 years after if rare. I think they are a bit predatory given some of the pricing, and how they structure things. But this receives much more attention than a skyrim does.
Yeah I’m not too upset with Paradox’s strategy here. I am of mixed feelings about it though.
It makes it next to impossible to get into as a new player, because you go to the store page and see that the game costs $250 for all content. But each of those content drops were spaced out, well executed, and usually come with major changes to the base game formula to accommodate them. For someone who has been playing the game for 10 years, each DLC is exciting and fresh, and costs about $20 for another 8 months of new enjoyment in your favorite game.
But anyone looking at it as a new player is going to see the bulk cost of the game and, rightfully so I think, decide “nah, fuck that”.
Rimworld also comes to mind here. Rimworld has like 8 DLC packs that collectively add more content to the game than the game even started with. I don’t own most of them because I don’t play Rimworld all that often. But for someone who does play it often, they’re genuinely good expansions.
I’d love to see more games like Terraria, which gets sold for $5 on the regular and has had over a decade of love-labor free updates that fundamentally change the way the game works, but I understand how that may not be financially responsible for larger studios. For bigger projects I’m not that mad at paying $20 twice a year for quality expansions, so long as they are in fact quality.
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