VideoGame_Discussion

Cool unlockables are pretty much gone at this point, thanks to misuse of DLC; I guess NG+ is the next logical step...

Otaku100 wrote:

I'm just waiting for the day when the online store to purchase DLC is itself DLC.

I don't really see the issue, consumers will either buy it or not. It's so fashionable these days to crap on gaming companies for wanting a profit but I think we get amazing value these days from games. $70 for tens of hours, sometimes hundreds for legit entertainment is not bad.

We used to pay $50 for a game that can be beaten in like 5 hours.. If this is something consumers want then they'll pay, the market will decide if it's a good idea or not.

But this whole narrative that now "everyone will do it" sounds like some headline hot take porn that passes for journalism these days.

Personally don't mind. I don't know how popular NG+ is honestly. I have tried it for a bit once in Horizon but I had just finished the game and was ready to move on. If I want to play the game again I will just start a new game unless I am totally missing it on what NG+ offers.

I am with @longhornsk57 Videogames are getting more expensive but offer a great dollar per hour value of entertainment that is honestly hard to match.

@longhornsk57 @Finn I don’t know, guys. I get the point you guys are trying to make, but I think locking NG+ of all things behind a paywall is kinda scummy. And why now when every Yakuza game I can remember had NG+ and Premium Adventure as part of the base game? The only people that care about stuff like NG+ are the really devout fans who buy the game on day one. This feels like a gross way to extract more money from them and I hope people vote with their wallets.

I agree that it's a bad look and I don't approve, but I also think it's not going to be a trend and acting like "here we go again, big bad gaming industry screwing us over again" is obtuse considering this is the greatest time for gaming value wise I think then there's ever been.

All of us try to maximize value, we use the Gold to GPU method, look for deals and glitches, we all used other people's Best Buy 20% off thing. Gaming companies trying to make a profit is not a bad thing.

But in this specific instance I get it's a bad look, personally tho I never use NG+ unless I'm replaying a game from literally years before and want to continue with my stats like I did recently with Spiderman MM

longhornsk57 wrote:

The complaining here isn't about companies wanting a profit. We want every company that makes good games to be profitable because if they aren't, they go out of business.

This is about the ever increasing scope of the shady ways they are exploring to squeeze more money from consumers.



You say we spent $50 on a game that could be completed in 5 hours, but at least we had the full game.


In order for "the market to decide," people first need to be aware of the things that potentially affect the longevity of their games.

Will everyone who buys the game even want to replay it after being it? Certainly not. But of those who do, wouldn't it be better for them to know ahead of time that a feature that has hitherto never been charged for in home video games is now going to cost them extra?

That's the shady part. People complain about Ticketmaster "convenience" fees, or airlines charging more to choose your seat, but at least those are fees that are disclosed before the transaction is completed.

You might balk at a $30 convenience fee being added to a ticket, but you still have the choice at that time to say no and walk away, or begrudgingly bite the towel.

Sega isn't trying to advertise NG+ not being in the base game as a reason to upgrade to one of the premium tiers. That would be the ethical way to do it (and would obviously cause tons of backlash). They are just banking on people finding out after purchase and hoping their frustrated customers will reach for the wallet again because they already bought the game and it's only a few dollars more.


If you have even a passing familiarity with the video game industry, you can see the pattern. This sort of thing has been going on for a decade or more. Basically from the moment digital downloads became viable for consoles. Someone invents a new way to monetize, everyone jumps in to get a piece of that action. Sometimes the ideas fail and sometimes they don't.

Microtransactions for cosmetic items
In game ads
Online Passes (this one has thankfully gone away)
Free to Play
Microtransactions for in-game boosts
Preorder-exclusive DLC (and the more problematic retailer-specific multiple variants)
Season passes
Microtransactions for game-specific premium currency (in order to obfuscate how much you are actually paying for items)
Separate regular / deluxe / golden peen editions of games
Loot boxes
Subscription services like Gamepass or Ubi+
NFTs (which didn't really take off due to crypto crashing, but don't rule them out yet)

On the brighter side of things:
Remember when Ubisoft sold the epilogue to Prince of Persia as DLC? (PS3/360, i don't think PC ever actually received it)

I think gamers were either a bit Prince of Persia'd out at the time, or the backlash was strong enough that Ubi was disappointed with the sales, and it was an experiment that has not often been repeated.

But NG+ being part of a dlc/upgrade is getting pretty close to that (especially if the game has multiple endings).

We will have to wait and see how it plays out. But I just don't trust the big players in the industry anymore.

This does not change my interest level in NG+. It's still zero.

I also get how it looks bad, but in the end could you not just play the game over again if it had multiple endings? Like we did in the old days? Save the game before a crucial choice is made that may effect what ending you get? You can still do these things without NG+, but I can agree it basically takes an option away from the gamer if they want to do it a certain way. At the end of the day however not having it does not prevent you from replaying or going for multiple endings. There ways that games have been monetized that don't have workarounds, I can't see this one really catching on simply because you can just start a new game.


I can agree the optics make it look bad, but at the end of the day I don't really think it's that bad since it's not preventing me from doing anything should I choose to replay.

Finn wrote:

Depends on how you get the ending. For example, Chrono Trigger has that one ending where you beat Lavos right at the beginning of the game, and there's no real way to do that without NG+.

Ya I tend to agree, this really is just a non issue. I think people just like to have things to complain about mostly, I mean who was actually going to play this specific game and then plan on doing NG+

longhornsk57 wrote:

It depends on how much you enjoyed the game?

I don't know about you, but I never start a game thinking about new game plus, but when I finish a game I really enjoyed, it's always great to see it pop up on the menu.

I mean I personally don't care once I beat it I'm ready to start the next game, not replay the thing I just played.

I'd be interested to know who actually literally replays the game other than maybe a couple of trophy chasers, but even then it's just a grind for a trophy

I barely have time to play a game once, much less twice. I've been trying to play the Chrono Cross New Game+ for almost 25 years.

Chrono Trigger has been the one exception. But Chrono Trigger is always the exception.

longhornsk57 wrote:

This, preach brother.

I can't imagine playing through a Yakuza game more than once. It'll be years before I finish the series.