Star Wars Battlefront II (Nov 17)

[XX]

AMA:

overview for WazDICE
overview for d_FireWall
overview for TheVestalViking

 

[Bjorn Le]

The progression system is ass but the thing that bothers me most is the campaign is four hours long. Literally just a throw in even if the production values are high. Probably the biggest reason I won't buy the game (though I'm likely going to try it on EA Access).

Sad to see some people buy EA's damage control; like the adjustments to prices are somehow out of good will, or something.

Companies aren't your friends. They thought they could exploit people with this more than they were able to, and when that failed they resorted to exploiting you less under the guise of doing you a favor. Any degree of exploitation is still exploitation. A shame that some of the market isn't smart enough to realize it.

At the same time, it's hard to expect anything less from Star Wars fans at this point. Few fan bases have proven themselves more willing to just line up and take it.

Some companies, not all. Paradox had an expansion pass for one of their games that was to include the first two expansions, but they felt like they weren't giving good value so they decided to include the next two as well. Bethesda was similarly generous with Fallout 4 DLC. Not all companies want to exploit you, in fact, lots put value on having customers actually like them.

 

[syz]

Some companies, not all. Paradox had an expansion pass for one of their games that was to include the first two expansions, but they felt like they weren't giving good value so they decided to include the next two as well. Bethesda was similarly generous with Fallout 4 DLC. Not all companies want to exploit you, in fact, lots put value on having customers actually like them.

Bethesda's review policy is nearly as anti-consumer as loot boxes, tbh.

 

[XX]

The progression system is ass but the thing that bothers me most is the campaign is four hours long. Literally just a throw in even if the production values are high. Probably the biggest reason I won't buy the game (though I'm likely going to try it on EA Access).

The campaign is a total throwaway, watch it on youtube. It's hardline bad.

 

[KingBran]

The progression system is ass but the thing that bothers me most is the campaign is four hours long. Literally just a throw in even if the production values are high. Probably the biggest reason I won't buy the game (though I'm likely going to try it on EA Access).

FYI the EA Access Trial you can only play the first 3 campaign missions. It was about an hour long for me to play those 3. There's 12 missions so yeah... 4 hours might be about it. The "official" release said 5-7 hours I think which is on par for most FPS games. So 4 indeed would be a little short. Looking forward to it though. Really enjoyed the first mission on Endor. The game is beautiful looking.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

AMA:

overview for WazDICE
overview for d_FireWall
overview for TheVestalViking

It's pretty hilarious how they said that they are there to help bridge the gap between players and the devs when the devs pick and choose what they want to even answer. So how does that help? Oh right, it doesn't.

 

[aleshemsky83]

https://kotaku.com/the-curious-case-of-the-ea-game-dev-who-said-he-receive-1820474458

Turns out the EA dev that got death threats doesn't work at EA.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

https://kotaku.com/the-curious-case-of-the-ea-game-dev-who-said-he-receive-1820474458

Turns out the EA dev that got death threats doesn't work at EA.

Ruh roh. Someone f***ed up.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Ahh the days of MTG... Spent a lot of time and money on that game and I agree, its definitely relatable. Just something about having to pay for digital content that I cannot get past and won't do for card games. Heck even the official MTG online game was really fun but the prices of the cards were almost the same as they were in real life. It was nutty.

Then they got into the whole Duels of the Planeswalkers and now I think its just Magic Duels where you can pay real money for booster packs like in real life and build your decks... its some weird in-between of the real game and the official MTG online.

Yeah I spent a fair bit of money on trading cards as a kid, but I burned out on that particular business model.

 

[Papa Francouz]

https://kotaku.com/the-curious-case-of-the-ea-game-dev-who-said-he-receive-1820474458

Turns out the EA dev that got death threats doesn't work at EA.

This is just insane, at this point. Can’t wait to see how EA tries to save face after not speaking out against this guy using the victim card to try and gain EA some sympathy. I really, really hope this is the beginning of some big changes for that company. Consumers need to stay on top of them for not only their predatory behavior, but also for their numerous lies.

 

[KingBran]

BFII so far has a 79 on Metacritic. Not bad for being the worst game ever that bends-over it's customers for cash

I guess the people who actually play it realize it's not as terrible as so many people are saying it is and realize the loot crates are just part of the game that you can ignore and still have fun with the game.

 

[Pilky01]

https://kotaku.com/the-curious-case-of-the-ea-game-dev-who-said-he-receive-1820474458

Turns out the EA dev that got death threats doesn't work at EA.

Frankly it is amazing to see a journalist of any sort do this kind of research. Sometime over the last half decade media outlets (including "reputable" news outlets) decided to start reporting on any and all tweets as if they were irrefutable facts that must be responded to. As he says to wrap up the article, the death threats "feel true", and unfortunately, reporting things that "feel true" is what most mainstream news outlets have become.

 

[XX]

Frankly it is amazing to see a journalist of any sort do this kind of research. Sometime over the last half decade media outlets (including "reputable" news outlets) decided to start reporting on any and all tweets as if they were irrefutable facts that must be responded to. As he says to wrap up the article, the death threats "feel true", and unfortunately, reporting things that "feel true" is what most mainstream news outlets have become.

Jason Schreier is the only journalist the industry has IMO. Him and maybe half of Patrick Klepek.

Not at all surprised the dude cried wolf about death threats.

 

[XX]

Less than 4 hours

 

[GoJackets1]

After reading this discussion, I wanted to check how many credits I have. After playing for about 3 hours (mainly blast and starfighter assault, so not exactly xp hoarding modes) I have 16k credits. Which I think is more than I expected, but I'm still not going to buy the game because I find the whole aspect of micro transactions to be ludicrous.

 

[Commander Clueless]

The progression system is ass but the thing that bothers me most is the campaign is four hours long. Literally just a throw in even if the production values are high. Probably the biggest reason I won't buy the game (though I'm likely going to try it on EA Access).

I'll be honest with you guys, I've actually been thoroughly enjoying the multiplayer through the Beta and now the Origin Access trial in spite of all these lootbox shenanigans.

That said, these reveals about the campaign are the real problem for me. It had such an intriguing premise....


I'm really starting to lean on waiting for it to show up in the Origin Vault so I can play it for $5 instead of $80.

Some companies, not all. Paradox had an expansion pass for one of their games that was to include the first two expansions, but they felt like they weren't giving good value so they decided to include the next two as well. Bethesda was similarly generous with Fallout 4 DLC. Not all companies want to exploit you, in fact, lots put value on having customers actually like them.

Paradox and Bethesda aren't angels by any means. Paradox has been less generous with DLC practices in the past and has been called out on it many times. Bethesda has a terrible track record with broken games and hide that with terrible review policies that they sell to gamers as "fair".

Don't get me wrong, I like the stuff both of those companies sell on average. That said, none of these companies are your "friend".

 

[x Tame Impala]

I never had a problem with having to pay for Map packs or even non-essential bonus missions (things like the Nightwing and/or Catwoman mission sets in the Arkham games). That stuff is fine. It's extra and choosing to not buy those things doesn't drastically affect your gameplay experience. What it sounds like STBF2 is doing and what COD games have already done is simply unacceptable though. You shouldn't be able to buy a competitive advantage. All it does is bloat the multiplayer experience and remove a ton of skill and fun.


You're being extremely naive if you think this isn't a carefully calculated business model these game companies are using to maximize micro-transactions (if you can even call it that anymore), as well as if you think these complaints are being overblown. These micro-transactions are designed to appeal to addictive personalities linked to an on-file credit card to maximize profits. It's total, f***ing, bullshit.

 

[KingBran]

Frankly it is amazing to see a journalist of any sort do this kind of research. Sometime over the last half decade media outlets (including "reputable" news outlets) decided to start reporting on any and all tweets as if they were irrefutable facts that must be responded to. As he says to wrap up the article, the death threats "feel true", and unfortunately, reporting things that "feel true" is what most mainstream news outlets have become.

I would rather the article be more focused on what the actual game dev's do have to deal with when it comes to threats and such on a daily basis than his goggling of a dude's twitter handle. But it wasn't the worst article I ever read. Informative at least.

Can we also say its possible this dude did work for EA maybe not as a DEV but like he said at one time in QA (lots of QA people's next step is development) and this just got so big that he couldn't handle it so he deleted that info from his profile and locked his account and just gave up or EA found out which employee it was and asked him to do that? Longshot and probably not true but it's possible.

It just feels like they try to make him out to be the bad guy because he fooled some people if he doesn't actually work for EA instead of focusing on the real problem... threats to developers over a freaking video game.

 

[Pilky01]

It just feels like they try to make him out to be the bad guy because he fooled some people if he doesn't actually work for EA instead of focusing on the real problem... threats to developers over a freaking video game.

*story outlines evidence as to why the 'death threats' narrative might be fake*

"This is just distracting from the real story of all the death threats!"



This is fun. Its like debating Donald Trump only you can't launch nukes.

 

[Papa Francouz]

Not pay to win, though.

 

[XX]

Not pay to win, though.

Posted earlier.

This is my favorite one so far:

 

[x Tame Impala]

That Boba vid is ridiculous

 

[Commander Clueless]

Jason Schreier is the only journalist the industry has IMO. Him and maybe half of Patrick Klepek.

Jason Schreier is the only guy who actually does real investigation.

He's also the only good thing that Kotaku has going for them. At least IMO.

 

[Papa Francouz]

Posted earlier.

This is my favorite one so far:

Good God. He didn’t even get touched in the first part of that video, and they chased the entire team back to spawn. And one attack killed any hero he saw? And it had a super short regen rate? I don’t understand how anyone can look at this video and say it isn’t pay to win. These cards give you such ridiculous advantages over everyone else that it’s impossible to lose.

 

[Tatar Shots]

AMA:

overview for WazDICE
overview for d_FireWall
overview for TheVestalViking

The AMA is so bad, but exactly what was expected.

On why credits are limited in offline Arcade mode - to prevent players from playing offline and gaining an edge in multiplayer

Wouldn't want people exploiting the system by playing the game.