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.
Stop buying this shit, and they’ll stop doing it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The ones who buy items in-game are the ones who buy the games. Those are the customers they want to appease the most.
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.
Publishers at the slightest inconvenience: We are getting review bombed.
Seems like it’s just being accurately reviewed. How else are companies supposed to learn this is not okay?
The disappointment matches the excitement I felt when it got announced
Nothing
How disappointing… At one time Capcom was my all time favourite video game developer, I grew up playing the Breath of Fire series and it remains one of my all time favourite video games. Such a shame that they turned into such short-sighted idiots.
I was looking forward to this game and I would have 100% purchased this if it lacked micro-transactions and the Denuvo bloatware/malware. In their attempt to make more money, they at least received less money from me.
I’m going to be angry about microtransaction once the game actually runs. A 5800X3D and 7900XT should not be getting 20 - 40 FPS with medium settings at 1440p.
I got it refunded. I’ll play it in a couple years after all of the patches and when I have a new gpu
Capcom can join Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft & Frontier Developments on my “Never Buy” list.
Why didn’t they join that list when they had the exact same system with mtx in place in the first game? Or are you just saying it now because you want to be part of the angry internet mob about the current thing?
Fuck off, fan boy.
I’ve been living under a rock… What has frontier developments done?
Well, I would say that boy needs therapy. It’s psychosomatic
Oh wait. I’m thinking of the song Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches
Way back when Elite: Dangerous was being Kickstarted it was shilled as bascially a 3D Neverwinter Nights in space with players having access to a toolset & being able to create their own private servers. This was the only reason I was interested in yet another space sim game.
A while after the Kickstarter was over, they completely changed the premises of what they wanted to make into what you see on Steam now. And were absolute assholes about it.
The change was so egregious, that I was able to charge-back my Visa several months after the original donation.
I’m sure the game is nice, but it wasn’t what I was sold on.
(And don’t bother giving me any crap about Kickstarter, I’ve had a good experience using it, even with the few campaigns that I donated to that still haven’t delivered yet, looking at you Witchmarsh)
I love Elite Dangerous, but that sounds way cooler. Im still kind of pissed about the lack of ship interiors. Something that was promised way back when.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 shits the bed after being one of the most anticipated games of the year.
Coulda been great sought profit instead, receives neither.
I was suspicious when it was multiplayer only. This usually means the game will be shit.
Cant wait to play the next Monster Hunter and buy hunting permits at $2.99 for each hunt.
You mean the series that has been selling a character edit voucher since World?
I’ve been a fan of Monster Hunter since the PSP and somehow completely forgot that it was made by Capcom. I was already a bit peeved that they moved G-rank behind a paywall and a year of waiting but now I’m nervous that you may not be super far off. People already think that the game has a desire senser and with AI being what it is today it wouldn’t be very hard to sell a ‘premium carving knife’ with charges on it to get that Gem or Plate you need to finish your set.
Theyll turn the elder melder into the elder lootbox store
Oh no. We gotta stop giving them ideas.
You can earn minimum wage in premium hunt credits by working the grill with the felyne chefs (up to 20 hours of work youre not getting free insurance by working full time you freeloader)
Gonna have to pay to skip cutscenes too. And SOS flares aren’t free but aren’t expensive either. Oof, we should be execs somewhere.
G-rank was always dlc, but physical on another version called 3U, 4U or XX, or frontier united.
I didn’t have to pay for G-rank until Iceborne and Sunbreak. I’d like to go back to those days.
Because you arrived late so you just bought that version
They did so well with World and Rise… I’m cautiously hoping they learn from the backlash here.
Thanks for letting us know. Removed from my wishlist.
Things you can buy for the single player ARPG include fast travel points
What in the fuck.
I don’t know exactly how true this is, but I read in another thread that you can’t even delete your save and start over
I’ve read that you can start over. But not in any kind of sensible in game way.
You have to completely delete all of the game’s files off your computer and steam cloud
You have to start from a fresh install every time
Maybe they’ll sell a microtransaction that allows people to start over.
I was joking around but I just read that is literally true, what the hell?
No, it’s not literally true. There’s an MTX to re-customize your character (not start a new game), which seems to be an option in-game too but maybe later or maybe it’s expensive.
I hate having to “defend” these MTX but everyone is misrepresenting what’s going on…
That’s another dlc coming once it’s been out for a week.
LOL THEY MANAGED TO MAKE THE FAST TRAVEL WORSE THAN IN THE FIRST GAME?! HOW?!
Not defending the mx in Dragons Dogma 2 but at least in the first one I think the way fast travel works was kinda good. It’s cumbersome and not very flexible but it fits the kind of game it is and you have to actually think about where you want to go instead of zipping around the map. Imo
Besides the unlimited use ferrystone, which doesn’t work in bitterblack isle, that was added to the first game later, the fast traveling works pretty much the exact same.
If anything, there’s more fast travel options in Dragon’s Dogma 2 thanks to the ox carts which let you skip time until you arrive, or get ambushed, which lets you continue once you clear the ambush. And that’s just from well under a few hours of my time in game.
Also in the significantly less than 24 hours I’ve had, rift crystals, the currency they’re selling for “convenience”, are quite easy to get, and you absolutely never need to spend them on pawns, just drop the max pawn level to your own level or under and they’re free to use.
I’ve already gotten enough to do a full appearance change, another thing they’re selling for “convenience”, without specifically trying to get them, just having fun playing the game, exploring, and completing quests.
And the tents? They aren’t consumable unless maybe they get broken from ambushes, which I have yet to have occur after over 5 uses of the cheapest tent, likely because I clear the area around me first. All that’s affected is weight, which becomes less of a problem the more you play regardless.
Wakestones? If you’re dying, you’re not prepared or ready enough, come back later, it’s really that simple. I’ve already gotten a wakestone shard randomly, which you combine a few to get a full wakestone, which seems way faster than the first game given the much larger scale of this one. Not to mention that the ones you can buy as DLC are limited in that you can only buy 5 total, ever, but likely you can get endless amounts later in the game.
The rift incense? The one offered is the actual worst one available, it’s random, as opposed to the pre-set ones you can get in game.
Even the rift crystals you can only buy a limited amount for “convenience” when you can get unlimited just for playing the game.
I’m sorry if I went off topic and on an extended reply, just a bit frustrated that I’ve been seeing tons of people spreading outright wrong and incorrect information about basic parts of the game. I’ve played both games now and gladly will clear up a ton of stuff like that. It’s one thing to criticize the microtransactions themselves accurately for what they are, and another thing entirely to lie out of ignorance just to have more to complain about.
I totally agree with you on the fact that people act like Capcom murdered their grandma or something. There is no need to make stuff up when the facts are bad enough on their own. I guess one reason people are so upset is the fact that microtransactions can be an actual and dangerous addiction to some people and are usually only found in multi-player games or straight up casino type stuff. Dragons Dogma is a beloved game and cult hit for a reason and this whole thing absolutely taints it’s “reputation”.
Anyway, I think it’s great you seem to still enjoy the game and that’s what matters at the end of the day. Cheers!
Wowwwww that is noxious. Maybe I’ll check it out in 5 years, but for now this is a hard pass.
I was so hyped for this game too. The original had something special if a little underdeveloped. I was excited to see if they could make it bloom.
Guess not anyway
“Pay us more money to spend less time in the game we made” Yeah I think I’ll just pass on the whole game actually
FWIW the items to do this are also available in game. I haven’t played yet so I don’t know how reasonable it is to get these in game.
I get that, but they’re really exploiting their customers with impulse control issues. This is all designed to fleece whales and I think it’s a pretty disgusting practice that’s becoming too normalized
I don’t disagree, but some of the articles / reactions I’ve seen are like “you have to pay for fast travel points!” which isn’t accurate.
I’m thinking back to deus ex: mankind divided, which had a strongly negative reaction due to the fact that you could buy praxis kits. But if you played through those games…there was absolutely no reason you needed to buy praxis kits. The game was definitely not one where you would find yourself grinding out praxis kits, and in fact buying them would’ve probably spoiled the experience.
Then there’s about a million jrpgs like the Tales of series, or falcom’s trails series, where you can buy high potency healing item kits as DLC. Again these are absolutely not needed to finish those games. But they’ll make certain achievements a lot easier. And again this has been going on for a long time.
I don’t know, while I think this stuff crosses a line (and the fact that they deliberately hide it from reviewers shows they’re well aware), the line has been steadily moving for a long time. Personally I have never once in my life bought one of these dlcs (I actually hate when they make them free in complete editions! Don’t break game balance as a “bonus”!) but obviously people do cause they keep selling them. I have no idea how gamers reset this. But at the same time, review bombs are just…kind of lame. People will be looking at steam reviews 5 years from now and not even remember what the controversy was.
No review bombs are really good actually, they are the only reason why Square patched the steam version of nier automata years later, people reviewed bomb the steam release after they released a much better port on the windows store.
Right because when I’m browsing game reviews long after whatever kerfuffle is forgotten, it’s really helpful to have to guess whether it’s a legitimate problem that was long since fixed, a controversy that had to do with a dev’s actions completely external to the game, some Andrew Tate loving incels upset because WOKE, or if it’s actually a bad game. Review bombs are childish and people have a hair trigger for them. And I don’t think they’re terribly effective. I’m also pretty sure Nier Automata only got patched due to microsoft’s gamepass requirements.
Nope, it’s another version entirely. The steam version received no patch for 4 years until the review bomb started.
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
I’m going to be downvoted to hell, but I’m loving the game, and all the mtx and complaints about the easy to travel and such are from people that didn’t play the original, honestly. This game is like the original but better, maintaining the spirit of the original.
Yes, you could buy revival stones in the original too.
The legit complains are the performance issues and crashes, but anything else… Idk what to tell you, they knew that the slow gameplay that is expected of the player would not be well received but wanted to conserve the original feel, so if you want to bypass the original feel go for it. I won’t.
I think you’re missing the point.
The fact that these microtransactions were sort of hidden by reviewers and then added just a day before launch is shitty.
And if the game was designed to not have easy fast travel, they should have stuck to that vision and not introduced mtx to get over it. Offering these things to players shows a lack of adherence to their own design principles and instead shows their greed.
The negative reviews are well deserved.
i hate microtransactions, but as they go, this implementation is fairly benign.
Man, that’s some scummy behaviour right there.
It was getting really good reviews as well. All they had to do was fling the doors open and count the money.
Activision did it the other year for Crash Team Racing Remastered as well, only they at least had the good sense to wait a few weeks after release. At least here you can cancel your order and request a refund.
Only legislation will stop this.
This abuse is the dominant strategy. If we allow this to continue, there will be nothing else.
Nothing inside a video game should cost real money.
Something was off with the way fast travel worked but I didn’t expect they’d try to fucking sell it.
From my understanding, it works exactly like the first game (though prior to Dark Arizen which gave an infinite teleport item). You can get teleport crystals you can place and spend a consumable to teleport to them, just in 2 you can pay real money to get more. 1 also didn’t have the carts that 2 has to travel to different places. I’m not sure how those work, but I assume it’s cheaper than teleporting, and you don’t need a crystal there.
Kind of, yeah.
The difference is that the first game has a reusable ferrystone that you are given for free (patched in post launch) and you couldn’t buy them with real money.
DD2 has a much bigger map but you are still only allowed to teleport to the 2 big cities by default, fast travel is a lot more important than in the first game.
It looks like it was done on purpose to sell MTX rather than to make the game better, they knew ferrystones were a problem in the first game since they fixed it and still went ahead with this.
That permanent stone was only added in dark arisen after they removed the micro transactions. This system is exactly the same as the first game in launch.
I didn’t know the original had MTX at launch, looks like they didn’t learn from it.
they knew ferrystones were a problem in the first game since they fixed it and still went ahead with this.
This is the big one for me. I don’t know how affordable they are in 2, but the fact DD:DA made them free in 1 shows there was some kind of issue. Was that just a design issue that’s been fixed in 2 or something more fundamental though? I can’t say without experience. Fast travel is absolutely in the game for free though, despite what some people are saying. It’s a lot more limited than most games, but this isn’t most games. It’s about as limited as the original at launch, a little less actually.
