Such A Shame

[VaDiMkA]

Well, while these kind of story driven games are not the big blockbusters or fodder for the casual gamer (like racing or sports games), they certainly have a rather large fanbase.

Be it the Telltale games, Quantic Dreams or Life is stange series. Or What remains of Edith Finch (?).

Quantic Dreams games were always full price when hitting retail. and episodic games are like 15$ per episode, which makes them even more expensive.. 

 

The thing with pricing is: the companies know what they are doing^^

People who really want to buy do it anyways, be it 30$ or 60$.

After a few months, when sales drop significantly, they lower the price so even casual gamers not specifically interested in this genre might grab the game. 

 

What i dont like is this DLC. 3 weekd after release they throw out a paid DLC? really? Thats a cash grab that should not be necessary. Either put it in the main game, make it free, or release it half a year later. 

[GoldenShaka]

2 minutes ago, VaDiMkA said:

What i dont like is this DLC. 3 weekd after release they throw out a paid DLC? really? Thats a cash grab that should not be necessary. Either put it in the main game, make it free, or release it half a year later. 

 

Yep, and that adds reasons to the Wait for a sale, especially in this kind of games.

Most of times I wait for a sale, but 100% of times when the title is releasing a dlc content very close to day one.

[snakebit10]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

It’s a completely separate story - there is one character (a main one here) who was a secondary character in Before the Storm - though as far as I can tell, there is never even any reference to her being from Arcadia Bay - her backstory isn’t really a plot point here, so really, it’s just an indication of where this one sits on a timeline, gauging her age in that game and this one.

 

Aside from that, there is nothing linking them aside from thematic and conceptual parallels - certainly nothing that would require playing any of the previous games

 

Who is this character that was in Before the Storm? I must of missed it, or it has been so long since I played Before the Storm.

 

If you don't want to post here for spoiler reasons, DM me.

[DrBloodmoney]

2 minutes ago, snakebit10 said:

 

Who is this character that was in Before the Storm? I must of missed it, or it has been so long since I played Before the Storm.

 

If you don't want to post here for spoiler reasons, DM me.

Not a spoiler - Steph - she was in school with Chloe, and was into D&D and whatnot back then too

[snakebit10]

Just now, DrBloodmoney said:

Not a spoiler - Steph - she was in school with Chloe, and was into D&D and whatnot back then too

 

Ok. Thanks, you know she kind of reminds me of Cloe a little bit. I am going to have to look out for her when the remasters release.

[fresquinho]

8 hours ago, locoporkko said:

I will buy when cost 9,99 euros or can rent in a videoshop game in my country,at the monent isnt possible rent due to covid 19

 

☝️ Me buying every LIS game ???

[Lonemankane]

7 hours ago, milk-aholic said:

So I payed 80€ (that's around 95$) for the Collection and I think it's definitely worth it. I mean it's the new one for PS4 and PS5 and both Remastered games (LIS 1, BTS) also for PS4 and PS5. So it's like 30 bucks each game. 

And I think it's time that everybody has to understand how much money and work goes into video games. We can't expect to get a AAA title every year for 30 bucks. This sh*t is expensive and it's only fair to pay a higher price when it's just been released. 

The industry is completely f*cked and no one cries about it when EA releases a new FIFA for 100 bucks that's the same every year only that Ronaldos face looks a bit better than the year before.

I would agree to some degree with you on how devs need money and so on and how pricing works but I think of it like this or shall I say I view it like this. Games now are not always 100% working on the day it comes out I mean take Homefront 2 or even dark souls remastered and top off the list of other games Cyberpunk 2077. All games come out now half working some things will work and some won't or better yet it does not work at all or it works fine but if you do something it might block your progress into the game. I understand my outlook might be harsh but I feel I rather wait on sales and make devs do their jobs in fixing their games as the excuse of it is the publisher can only go so far.

 

If we take another game like say 7 days to die into account that game always breaks on each update. It keeps messing up as they keep adding new things but never caring to fix what was there before and this is a indie dev team.

[milk-aholic]

14 hours ago, Lonemankane said:

I understand my outlook might be harsh but I feel I rather wait on sales and make devs do their jobs in fixing their games as the excuse of it is the publisher can only go so far.

Pretty valid reason but you choose actively to wait for a sale, not bothering to play the game to release - the problem are the people wanting to play the game to release for a sale price.

I'm fully with you and I don't often play games to release only if I'm really badly interested in them because of the same reasons - not gonna expect a game that's been recently released for less than 40-80 bucks though.

[Lonemankane]

10 hours ago, milk-aholic said:

Pretty valid reason but you choose actively to wait for a sale, not bothering to play the game to release - the problem are the people wanting to play the game to release for a sale price.

I'm fully with you and I don't often play games to release only if I'm really badly interested in them because of the same reasons - not gonna expect a game that's been recently released for less than 40-80 bucks though.

Well I kind of do if the game is really short/ bad (as example of re3 remake I felt it would be short but it was too short and the price to me should of been much less then £50). Mostly only think that way lately due to the price rise of all new AAA games. like for an example let's take demons souls remake on ps5. it is £70 out the get go. It makes sense for it to maybe be around 35 to 40 or 45. but 50 or 60 is abit much for a remake from the ground up as the way I see it is a game remake of say like mafia 1 went for £35 new on the date of coming out and then we point to say Resident evil 2 remake they are both remakes from the ground up but the difference is price. RE2 remake is 50 while mafia 1 remake was 35. To me I feel the price of games like that should be cheaper as a price jump from 50 or 60 to 70 is too much in my view.

 

I may come off as either a boomer or penny pincher but my view is back in the ps2 and early ps3 games were at max 40 or 45. when I see a higher price on it I normally view it to be complete or 100% working and hardly any bugs that mess with the game and so on also back then they had the small booklets that came with the game to give insight to the game and made it to me complete in a collector kind of way but the main thing was 100% free of bugs and glitches that will screw with you.

 

The new prices feel to me just over the top and sometimes I feel some games should be abit cheaper only because most times nowadays it feels more like you need to wait for updates and or weeks to a full year for the game to be 100% rid of bugs/ playable without waiting more.

[Hey_Its_Mr_Jay]

On 12/09/2021 at 0:45 PM, xVolloxx said:

Hi guys!

 

I don't post very often at all, But it just had to be said, This game is exceptional! From the characters, Writing and soundtrack.

 

I feel sorry on the developers on the other hand that it'll go unnoticed, Full narrative driven games with little replayability aren't all that popular, So I don't know whose idea it was to make this a full price title.

 

Most people including fans just aren't going to pay 49.99GBP for it and that's a shame, I reckon if this were say half the price of a normal title it'd do far better.

 

It's sad because I doubt we'll see another LIS title, Don't think this will sell all that well because of it, The additional DLC should've been included also.

 

Anyhow, Amazing game tho! 

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

xVolloxx

 

I don't mind paying the price considering you get the free ps5 upgrade that way I can play completely different for my second run and be as evil as I can ?

Regardless of price this in my opinion is the best life is strange to date and as usual the soundtrack is exceptional.

 

The last of us two may of had some doubters but it was an amazing game with no online play and after a few runs on harder modes it could get repetitive but it didn't stop it selling phenomenally well so who's to say this can't sell well either ? End of the day some people still enjoy a good story to be told.

[Janire1911]

I agree that the price is a bit steep for a relatively short game though personally I got the Ultimate Edition. Even though that was even more expensive it was easier to justify for myself since it also includes remasters of Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

[Skurkitty]

I preordered the Deluxe edition without a second thought. I didn't even look into the game, I just loved 1 and BTS (2 was meh at best). If I enjoy a series / genre, I buy it. Sure I could argue a 60$ USD price point (70$ for deluxe w/ dlc) is high for what is around 10-15hrs of gameplay.

 

But at the same time I can go to the movies and spend like 30-40$ (ticket / popcorn / drink) for a 2hr experience.

 

Value is what YOU make it, and don't let anyone else tell you what something should be worth to you.

 

Edit: I don't think this will be the last of the LIS series, but I do believe initial sales will be / are already low. But given their past titles started at a 40$(?) USD price point they likely have some wiggle room for sales. The game in itself is amazing, I just finished Chapter 1 and I'm loving every minute of it.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Skurkitty
Extra thoughts

[AJ_Radio]

On 9/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, Lonemankane said:

I may come off as either a boomer or penny pincher but my view is back in the ps2 and early ps3 games were at max 40 or 45. when I see a higher price on it I normally view it to be complete or 100% working and hardly any bugs that mess with the game and so on also back then they had the small booklets that came with the game to give insight to the game and made it to me complete in a collector kind of way but the main thing was 100% free of bugs and glitches that will screw with you.

 

I'm really fed up when people say "OK Boomer" or "I may sound like a boomer", etc etc etc. This is always said by younger generations whenever a discussion starting with "Back in my day" pops up. The meme has really gotten old at this point, and it just serves as flame bait for people who can't take an opposing opinion. The real boomers couldn't care less, since they were never really a target audience for video games.

 

PS2 and PS3 games here in the United States were priced at $50 - 60 at launch. I felt that was a pretty good price point since games actually felt more complete.

 

Nobody likes glitches and bugs. I don't think I ever met anybody who said they liked them because they screwed with their game progression. But as long as people continue to fork over $60 - 70 for every single FIFA and Madden every year, this practice will never stop.

 

AAA games are practically unfinished on release day, that is why Day 1 patches are mandatory. Something that more of us need to realize.

[StewartBros]

23 hours ago, Skurkitty said:

Sure I could argue a 60$ USD price point (70$ for deluxe w/ dlc) is high for what is around 10-15hrs of gameplay.

 

But at the same time I can go to the movies and spend like 30-40$ (ticket / popcorn / drink) for a 2hr experience.

 

Value is what YOU make it, and don't let anyone else tell you what something should be worth to you.

 

I agree fully with this.  Initial release prices for games can be on the high side, especially if it's a linear, relatively short title like LIS.  But LIS games at least offer you the chance to replay the game and make completely different choices - they may not make huge differences to the story itself, but at least your experience will be different the second (and probably third) time around.  Something that can't be said for the majority of games.

 

But as you said, you could go to the cinema and spend a similar amount of money to see a 2 hour film.  People will happily spend 60 bucks or more to see their favourite band perform a 90 minute concert, and if you add travel fare and food and drinks on top of that, then that can be an expensive evening, which will be over long before you finish a LIS game.

 

If you enjoy the titles that a studio puts out, and if you want them to keep making them, then you have to support said studio by buying their titles, and not just when they're heavily discounted in sales.

[dieselmanchild]

Admittedly I usually only buy these types of games on sale because as you said, there is just very little replayability. I still think there is a market for these kind of narrative driven games though and I hope to keep seeing them. I’ve only played the first 2 LiS games but they were both wonderful. I was thinking of grabbing LiS2 soon because I’m in the mood for one of those kinds of games.

[Lonemankane]

6 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

I'm really fed up when people say "OK Boomer" or "I may sound like a boomer", etc etc etc. This is always said by younger generations whenever a discussion starting with "Back in my day" pops up. The meme has really gotten old at this point, and it just serves as flame bait for people who can't take an opposing opinion. The real boomers couldn't care less, since they were never really a target audience for video games.

 

PS2 and PS3 games here in the United States were priced at $50 - 60 at launch. I felt that was a pretty good price point since games actually felt more complete.

 

Nobody likes glitches and bugs. I don't think I ever met anybody who said they liked them because they screwed with their game progression. But as long as people continue to fork over $60 - 70 for every single FIFA and Madden every year, this practice will never stop.

 

AAA games are practically unfinished on release day, that is why Day 1 patches are mandatory. Something that more of us need to realize.

I am tried of it myself but am not sure what to say when it comes to feeling old or your old and so on as I have played a lot of the past games and I have been called a boomer before due to my outlook on games as when I was growing up I remember games being around 35 to 40 then it went up to 50 then 60 but it stayed around the 50 to 60 mark now 60 to 70 is too much if you ask me.

[steel6burgh]

It's a shame people are forking out 69.99 for this damn 8 hour game.  I really like life is strange but that is  major waste of money.  I will get it for $10.00 in a few years.  I believe in supporting certain games at full price but a 8 hour game is off the charts ridiculous.  this should sell for 29.99 at release.  

[Vault-TecPhantom]

15 hours ago, steel6burgh said:

It's a shame people are forking out 69.99 for this damn 8 hour game.  I really like life is strange but that is  major waste of money.  I will get it for $10.00 in a few years.  I believe in supporting certain games at full price but a 8 hour game is off the charts ridiculous.  this should sell for 29.99 at release.  

 

I don't judge the value of a game by quantity but by quality. Days Gone, for instance, is far longer than True Colours but isn't worth a dime.

 

[ArabianSwordsman]

I just finished it last night. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, but I don’t think I would’ve wanted to spent $60 on it. It took me 8 hours including bathroom breaks and looking at my phone. Unless you really love the series and want to get the remastered 1st and/or the free upgrade, I recommend renting or waiting for a sale. For the glitches, there were so many times where I couldn’t use the powers and had to keep pausing and unpausing to get them to work and sometimes after using the powers and going into dialogue characters would talk over each other. Just thought I’d chime in. 

[steel6burgh]

7 hours ago, Vault-TecPhantom said:

 

I don't judge the value of a game by quantity but by quality. Days Gone, for instance, is far longer than True Colours but isn't worth a dime.

 

and i agree with that to an extent but 8 hours is far too short for the price tag.  I don't think there is any valid argument otherwise.  I mean look at the history of the game they have been creeping up the price for the same amount of content the last several insatallments of the game.  The first one was either 29.99 or 19.99 not sure which.  i thought for sure this one had a lot more to it than I see it's the same old 8 hour game and It's apparent people are getting ripped off.  I mean they even adopted the ps5 AAA price tag of 69.99 they should at the very least have stopped it off at 59.99.  I like the series enough to support it at 29.99 but to say it's some sort of magnificent gaming production with exceptional quality is a bit of a stretch.  It's good sure but genius it is not.  As far as Days gone is concerned I'm not a big fan as you can see it's one of the few games I didn't go back a nd bother to play again.  It's one of a thousand games that type.  However they are two completely different types of games so their is no comparison.  One game has a 30 or 40 million dollar budget the other probably has 1/3 of that.  A better comparison would be telltale games.

 

Even to call life is strange a game is a bit of a stretch I prefer to call them interactive movies.  you paid 69.99 for a 8 hour movie.

Edited September 21, 2021 by steel6burgh

[Mokkajunior]

Really enjoyed the game.

No problem paying full price for decent games so I was glad to buy it.

 

Could have been a little longer tho, game sucks you in and before you know it, you're done playing.

 

Anyway hope this won't be the last title!

[Vault-TecPhantom]

11 hours ago, steel6burgh said:

and i agree with that to an extent but 8 hours is far too short for the price tag.  I don't think there is any valid argument otherwise.  I mean look at the history of the game they have been creeping up the price for the same amount of content the last several insatallments of the game.  The first one was either 29.99 or 19.99 not sure which.  i thought for sure this one had a lot more to it than I see it's the same old 8 hour game and It's apparent people are getting ripped off.  I mean they even adopted the ps5 AAA price tag of 69.99 they should at the very least have stopped it off at 59.99.  I like the series enough to support it at 29.99 but to say it's some sort of magnificent gaming production with exceptional quality is a bit of a stretch.  It's good sure but genius it is not.  As far as Days gone is concerned I'm not a big fan as you can see it's one of the few games I didn't go back a nd bother to play again.  It's one of a thousand games that type.  However they are two completely different types of games so their is no comparison.  One game has a 30 or 40 million dollar budget the other probably has 1/3 of that.  A better comparison would be telltale games.

 

Even to call life is strange a game is a bit of a stretch I prefer to call them interactive movies.  you paid 69.99 for a 8 hour movie.

 

I compared Days Gone because despite having a bigger budget that game, to me, is one of the worst games I've ever played and is long to an absurd degree. I'm glad I got it on sale.

 My first playthrough of True Colours took me 12 hours because I'm the type of person who likes to fully immerse myself and explore (I also became addicted to the arcade mini game lol). 8 hours is a rushed playthrough . My bundle came with Wavelengths, LIS1 and BTS remasters so to me I got my money's worth. The point is I'd rather pay full price for a consistently amazing 8 to 12 hour experience than full price for a 50 hour game with 2 hours of fun and 48 hours of rubbish.

 

ETA: btw your profile is awesome. I was worried when I saw the number of plats that it was just gonna be full of trash 30 minute plats but you have some real bangers on there. ?

Edited September 21, 2021 by Vault-TecPhantom

[DrBloodmoney]

12 hours ago, steel6burgh said:

and i agree with that to an extent but 8 hours is far too short for the price tag.  I don't think there is any valid argument otherwise.  

 

I think there are loads of valid arguments otherwise.

 

Every Resident Evil game is a valid argument otherwise.

Every God of War game is a valid argument otherwise. 

Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2, every Uncharted game, every Bioshock game, every Gears of War game, all the Dead Space games, most Ratchet and Clank games, All the Sly Cooper games... they are all valid arguments otherwise, since each of them is about the same length to complete: between 8-12 hours.

 

That's how long you get out of them while still seeing new content and following the narrative.

The rest is just additional padding added on by trophies / challenges. It isn't actually new game - it's just recycled with different levels of difficulty or additional challenges.

 

Really, what people seem to be objecting to here, is that the platinum can be earned without repeat play...

...and while I can see the argument, really, with a narrative focussed game like this one, encouraging/ mandating repeat play via the trophies is usually a bad idea.

 

Quantic Dream / Supermassive have already demonstrated - multiple times each - that requiring repeat playthroughs of choice based games (the only way possible: through tying trophies to specific choices) is a poor way to go, as all it ever serves to do is to lessen the impact of the narrative. It removes the illusion of choice, and breaks the immersion, by requiring the player to engage with the narrative on a purely mechanical level. 

By the time one has repeated Detroit: Become Human, for example, all the times required to platinum it, any emotional investment the player may have initially had in the characters, or personal stakes in their decisions within the narrative, is washed away. The story becomes simply a mechanical element to be tinkered with, clinically and objectivity, in pursuit of specific end goals.

 

Personally, I think paying for that singular, one-off experience, and enjoying it fully, without the need to then break it down mechanically in pursuit of an S-Rank is, if anything, worth more than it would be with Quantic-Dream-style trophies, padding an 8-12 hour game out into a 30-hour Groundhog Day simulator, diluting all narrative focus, and simply turning it into a pretty-looking check-box exercise. 

 

In the end, I probably will replay True Colours - certainly I enjoyed it enough to - but this way, it's my choice, not the choice of the developers, and I salute that.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[steel6burgh]

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

I think there are loads of valid arguments otherwise.

 

Every Resident Evil game is a valid argument otherwise.

Every God of War game is a valid argument otherwise. 

Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2, every Uncharted game, every Bioshock game, every Gears of War game, all the Dead Space games, most Ratchet and Clank games, All the Sly Cooper games... they are all valid arguments otherwise, since each of them is about the same length to complete: between 8-12 hours.

 

That's how long you get out of them while still seeing new content and following the narrative.

The rest is just additional padding added on by trophies / challenges. It isn't actually new game - it's just recycled with different levels of difficulty or additional challenges.

 

Really, what people seem to be objecting to here, is that the platinum can be earned without repeat play...

...and while I can see the argument, really, with a narrative focussed game like this one, encouraging/ mandating repeat play via the trophies is usually a bad idea.

 

Quantic Dream / Supermassive have already demonstrated - multiple times each - that requiring repeat playthroughs of choice based games (the only way possible: through tying trophies to specific choices) is a poor way to go, as all it ever serves to do is to lessen the impact of the narrative. It removes the illusion of choice, and breaks the immersion, by requiring the player to engage with the narrative on a purely mechanical level. 

By the time one has repeated Detroit: Become Human, for example, all the times required to platinum it, any emotional investment the player may have initially had in the characters, or personal stakes in their decisions within the narrative, is washed away. The story becomes simply a mechanical element to be tinkered with, clinically and objectivity, in pursuit of specific end goals.

 

Personally, I think paying for that singular, one-off experience, and enjoying it fully, without the need to then break it down mechanically in pursuit of an S-Rank is, if anything, worth more than it would be with Quantic-Dream-style trophies, padding an 8-12 hour game out into a 30-hour Groundhog Day simulator, diluting all narrative focus, and simply turning it into a pretty-looking check-box exercise. 

 

In the end, I probably will replay True Colours - certainly I enjoyed it enough to - but this way, it's my choice, not the choice of the developers, and I salute that.

 

 

well of course you do!  I wouldn't expect you not to have an argument otherwise on any topic.  Generally speaking for everyone else.  I never really felt the need to replay a life is strange game.  Even if you played it 3 times that is 24 hours and at least in my opinion a major ripoff.  Resident evils only take 8 hours to complete?  Damn what  a ripoff.  Bioshock pretty sure i invested about 40 in it.  These games still have more replay potential than life is strange my friend. every single one of them that you listed.  So I'm still waiting on a valid argument otherwise.   Life of strange doesn't have the choice and outcome structure of Quantic-dream -style games.

Edited September 21, 2021 by steel6burgh

[steel6burgh]

12 hours ago, Vault-TecPhantom said:

 

I compared Days Gone because despite having a bigger budget that game, to me, is one of the worst games I've ever played and is long to an absurd degree. I'm glad I got it on sale.

 My first playthrough of True Colours took me 12 hours because I'm the type of person who likes to fully immerse myself and explore (I also became addicted to the arcade mini game lol). 8 hours is a rushed playthrough . My bundle came with Wavelengths, LIS1 and BTS remasters so to me I got my money's worth. The point is I'd rather pay full price for a consistently amazing 8 to 12 hour experience than full price for a 50 hour game with 2 hours of fun and 48 hours of rubbish.

 

ETA: btw your profile is awesome. I was worried when I saw the number of plats that it was just gonna be full of trash 30 minute plats but you have some real bangers on there. 

I respect what you say I know a lot of these 50 hour games are trash.  One I paid for was Tom Clancy's breakpoint.  i'm just kind of floored Life is strange is a full price game now is all.  thanks for the compliment on the profile!