#micro-transactions

I completely understand why people are mad about HDRS having micro-transactions, and I'm also not a fan, but I feel like people are getting a bit unnecessarily upset.

Like, you don't have to do the transactions if you don't want to??

Reblog this post if you:

- Support DMC5 as a game but don’t support microtransactions

- Support Hideaki Itsuno as a creator but don’t support Capcom’s greedy practices.

Seriously though; DMC5, by the looks of things, seems to be shaping up to be a fantastic game.

Jim Sterling, who I genuinely admire and respect, has made his views known via his Youtube channel and I really hope he reconsiders his stance a bit. 

“It’s like Capcom is giving you the option to skip playing their game because they’re implying that it’s actually shit!”

That’s one paraphrased point he makes in his video and while I tend to agree with most other games, I don’t think this will be the case in DMC.

Again, we forget just how skill-based DMC is -- even if someone does give in and buys a bunch of Red Orbs to upgrade their character, all they will have is a bunch of moves and weapons that they will have no idea to use. 

Red Orbs aren’t actually what you’re earning when you play DMC -- you’re earning experience, you are learning to GET GOOD and money is absolutely no substitute for that. 

You aren’t buying moves that will instantly kill all enemies on-screen and earn you an S-ranking on every mission -- no, you still have to get those by putting in the time and get good at the game. 

Even the “game-breaking” moves in DMC4 couldn’t be done by pressing a button or spamming an attack; you still very much needed to practice and spamming an attack in DMC is the very opposite of how they want you to play the game.

I do get the point that Jim is trying to make and he is very right in some aspects -- in a perfect world, Hideaki Itsuno could very well tell Capcom to go fuck themselves and release the game independently but I do think that this was a compromise on his part and one that he and Matt Walker have no choice but to be pragmatic about.

This is what they’re actually saying, Jim:

“Don’t worry, this game is going to be awesome. Our bosses wouldn’t get off our backs if we didn’t put what they wanted there, but what they don’t know is you can’t buy your way out of sucking at our game!” 

Remember, Itsuno has been waiting to release this game for years, a game that isn’t even his actual passion project (that would be Dragon’s Dogma) but something that he felt personally responsible for. He, more than anyone probably, wants this to be something that fans will appreciate for years to come and if he has to give in even just the tiniest bit to the bloodsuckers at Capcom, then so be it. 

You can buy LOOT CHESTS that are filled with random loot of varying rarity, meaning you’ll probably have to buy 50 chests before getting 1 rare.

You can also buy XP BOOSTS, that’s right the micro-transactions are linked to in-game progression, which probably means the numbers have been stacked and base game progression slowed to incentivise you to BUY, BUY, BUY!

Don’t you love video games? Don’t you just love the AAA gaming industry?

Injustice 2 Review: A New Standard For Fighting Games

With Injustice 2, NetherRealm Studios has crafted a wealth of outstanding content, and one of the richest fighting game experiences in recent years. This isn’t a huge surprise considering the success they found with MKX and the first Injustice, but every idea has been expanded upon to be immensely satisfying and fun. (more…)

As a concept, micro-transactions are neither good nor bad -- they’re just another way for the companies to make money and companies are huge, soulless hive-minds that don’t give a shit about gamers. 

Micro-transactions, by themselves, aren’t inherently bad. 

It is the way they are implemented that we have to take a close look at. 

DMC5, as of this writing, has only revealed one microtransaction and that is using real world money to buy a whole bunch of Red Orbs. 

Red Orbs, as we all know, are the in game currency for DMC and can be gathered by playing the game. The amount varies depending on how stylishly you destroy your enemies, and you are given a certain amount after beating a mission as well, depending on how well you did. 

Red Orbs aren’t exactly rare in the game and as players, we are encouraged to play levels more than once, not just to practice moves but to learn enemy cues and attack timing. As a result of this, we not only git gud but also earn Red Orbs. 

This means that any player patient enough to practice their moves will also earn more than enough in-game currency to upgrade their character without resorting to micro-transactions. Unlike other games, DMC5 seems to have been made as a “complete experience” as said by the developers -- they want you to play the game as much as possible and master all its little quirks, unlike something like, say, Star Wars Battlefront that keeps all of its really good shit behind an enormous paywall and quite literally cripples you as a player unless you pay up for the premium stuff. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC6hkv9isss

Now that I’m thinking about it, removing the Vital Stars, Devil Stars, Holy Water and Yellow Orbs might’ve been Itsuno actively trying to prevent players from purchasing a stash of Red Orbs and arming themselves to the grills with items. 

I believe DMC5 is actually taking a page from another awesome demon-slaying franchise -- DOOM 2016. 

In DOOM, you can’t keep health packs in your inventory and use them at will. There are health packs laying around in the various open battlegrounds, encouraging you to move around and never stop. Enemies are basically health packs in themselves and DOOM encourages maximum but skilled aggression from the player; if you’re low on health, staying put or hiding behind cover is a sure-fire way to get yourself killed. You can’t charge in guns blazing as well -- I emphasized “skilled aggression” because just like in DMC, you need to know how your enemies move and how your weapons work in DOOM. You need to know which weapon mod to equip and what weapon works best for a situation. This results in quick and visceral demon-slaughtering sessions that emphasizes skill and quick thinking; sound familiar? 

In DMC5, there’s no more Vital Stars or Devil Stars because they’ve made some changes that seem minor on the surface but actually changes the game quite a bit. DT now regenerates much faster and health regenerates much faster when you use it. If you’re low on health, the best way to survive in DMC5 is to go down swinging. It’s also pretty similar to Bloodborne, where you can recover lost health by immediately attacking an enemy who just attacked you. 

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