Lost Between Worlds Is Worth $5-$10, Not $20

[poetic_justice_]

After playing Lost Between Worlds once, I was both non-plussed and extremely glad to have gotten it on sale. The four hours of content* LBW offers is not worth $20 dollars. [*I say "four hours of content" because I am slow and like to explore. Speedrunners can finish in 2-3 hours]. Once I finished the campaign on Normal difficulty ("Adventurer"), I had zero motivation for another playthrough. Like "The Vanishing" or "Rambo", this content is a one-and-done event. The story is not interesting, the plot has nothing to do with anything or anyone in Yara, the faceless enemies have no identity, and the entity "helping" you is a constant annoyance. Does Ubisoft even know who their target audience is? I imagine the planning for this DLC went something like this.

 

UBISOFT BRAINSTOM MEETING FOR FAR CRY 6: LOST BETWEEN WORLDS

 

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Market research shows that the majority of our Far Cry customers are male, enjoy FPS games, and prefer an open-world approach where they can solve problems by either stealth or direct assault. Interestingly, most of our players chose to play as the female persona of Dani Rojas, which means they are open to exploring combat and seeing the world from a female perspective.

Far Cry Development Team: Oh, most of our customers are male? Male gamers are lonely nerds. Let's give them an AI companion.

Ubisoft Marketing Team:  A animal companion? That worked well in the base game. Are you thinking of Oluso, Chorizo, or Chicharon?

Far Cry Development Team:  No, no, no. We want human, but NOT HUMAN. Let's give them an AI companion that is deceptive, manipulative, self-absorbed, passive-aggressive, emotionally unstable, needy, prone to partner murder, critical of player mistakes, and never stops talking! 

Ubisoft Marketing Team: ...Uh, what?

Far Cry Development Team:  Oh, and let's have her voiced by a woman! What do you think?

Ubisoft Marketing Team: (confused) You want Far Cry customers to pay for.. a girlfriend.. from hell... to be their AI companion? 

Far Cry Development Team:  Exactly! What could be more appealing to male Far Cry gamers than "Surprise! Here's the girlfriend you never asked for!" content?

Ubisoft Marketing Team:  Well, many gamers have shown interest in the character of Juan Cortez. We thought maybe you could create content along those lines. The possibility of a young Juan Cortez working with, say,  a rookie Sam Fisher on a CIA mission in Yara has a high market potential. For villains, Giancarlo Esposito mentioned he was open to reprising the role of Anton Castillo. Maybe younger, more idealistic, perhaps a communist himself before he hardened into the dictator he is now. Why is Anton so chilling? What happened to him? Customers expressed interest in Castillo and Juan's backstory, perhaps a character arc...

Far Cry Development Team: No, no, NO! Esposito is so 2021. For villains, we want something MEMORABLE! Something FIERCE, EDGY, something NO ONE has ever seen! We want nameless, faceless, generic SHARD units!

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Shard units? Instead of Giancarlo Esposito?

Far Cry Development Team: Yes, blue and red ones.

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Red for Viviro?

Far Cry Development Team: Oh my god, are you stuck in a time warp? Viviro is ANCIENT. We are so over Viviro! Shard people are MUCH MORE THREATENING than lung cancer and sociopath dictators who murder families! Oh, can we make the faceless shard units white? Or is that too political?

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Let's stick with blue and red. Many of our customers are white males. We don't want to send the message that Ubisoft is willing to shoot its customers.

Far Cry Development Team: No, no, no, you're right. Giving them a girlfriend they don't want, didn't ask for, and can't get rid of is much better game design. 

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Well, it sounds like you've got a sure-fire plan for this expansion. We were concerned you might have lost sight of the big picture and why Far Cry customers buy the game in the first place, but we had no cause for worry. A needy, annoying blabbermouth companion and shard units completely dwarf a character-driven narrative for Juan Cortez and Anton Castillo! Pfft! Who needs Giancarlo Esposito when we have shard units?

Far Cry Development Team: You know it! Gamers won't know what hit them!

Ubisoft Marketing Team: If Ubisoft Marketing didn't see this twist coming, none of our customers will either! With content this original, Lost Between Worlds can't fail!

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by poetic_justice_

[SaiyanSenshi]

1 hour ago, poetic_justice_ said:

After playing Lost Between Worlds once, I was both non-plussed and extremely glad to have gotten it on sale. The four hours of content* LBW offers is not worth $20 dollars. [*I say "four hours of content" because I am slow and like to explore. Speedrunners can finish in 2-3 hours]. Once I finished the campaign on Normal difficulty ("Adventurer"), I had zero motivation for another playthrough. Like "The Vanishing" or "Rambo", this content is a one-and-done event. The story is not interesting, the plot has nothing to do with anything or anyone in Yara, the faceless enemies have no identity, and the entity "helping" you is a constant annoyance. Does Ubisoft even know who their target audience is? I imagine the planning for this DLC went something like this.

 

UBISOFT BRAINSTOM MEETING FOR FAR CRY 6: LOST BETWEEN WORLDS

 

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Market research shows that the majority of our Far Cry customers are male, enjoy FPS games, and prefer an open-world approach where they can solve problems by either stealth or direct assault. Interestingly, most of our players chose to play as the female persona of Dani Rojas, which means they are open to exploring combat and seeing the world from a female perspective.

Far Cry Development Team: Oh, most of our customers are male? Male gamers are lonely nerds. Let's give them an AI companion.

Ubisoft Marketing Team:  A animal companion? That worked well in the base game. Are you thinking of Oluso, Chorizo, or Chicharon?

Far Cry Development Team:  No, no, no. We want human, but NOT HUMAN. Let's give them an AI companion that is deceptive, manipulative, self-absorbed, passive-aggressive, emotionally unstable, needy, prone to partner murder, critical of player mistakes, and never stops talking! 

Ubisoft Marketing Team: ...Uh, what?

Far Cry Development Team:  Oh, and let's have her voiced by a woman! What do you think?

Ubisoft Marketing Team: (confused) You want Far Cry customers to pay for.. a girlfriend.. from hell... to be their AI companion? 

Far Cry Development Team:  Exactly! What could be more appealing to male Far Cry gamers than "Surprise! Here's the girlfriend you never asked for!" content?

Ubisoft Marketing Team:  Well, many gamers have shown interest in the character of Juan Cortez. We thought maybe you could create content along those lines. The possibility of a young Juan Cortez working with, say,  a rookie Sam Fisher on a CIA mission in Yara has a high market potential. For villains, Giancarlo Esposito mentioned he was open to reprising the role of Anton Castillo. Maybe younger, more idealistic, perhaps a communist himself before he hardened into the dictator he is now. Why is Anton so chilling? What happened to him? Customers expressed interest in Castillo and Juan's backstory, perhaps a character arc...

Far Cry Development Team: No, no, NO! Esposito is so 2021. For villains, we want something MEMORABLE! Something FIERCE, EDGY, something NO ONE has ever seen! We want nameless, faceless, generic SHARD units!

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Shard units? Instead of Giancarlo Esposito?

Far Cry Development Team: Yes, blue and red ones.

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Red for Viviro?

Far Cry Development Team: Oh my god, are you stuck in a time warp? Viviro is ANCIENT. We are so over Viviro! Shard people are MUCH MORE THREATENING than lung cancer and sociopath dictators who murder families! Oh, can we make the faceless shard units white? Or is that too political?

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Let's stick with blue and red. Many of our customers are white males. We don't want to send the message that Ubisoft is willing to shoot its customers.

Far Cry Development Team: No, no, no, you're right. Giving them a girlfriend they don't want, didn't ask for, and can't get rid of is much better game design. 

Ubisoft Marketing Team: Well, it sounds like you've got a sure-fire plan for this expansion. We were concerned you might have lost sight of the big picture and why Far Cry customers buy the game in the first place, but we had no cause for worry. A needy, annoying blabbermouth companion and shard units completely dwarf a character-driven narrative for Juan Cortez and Anton Castillo! Pfft! Who needs Giancarlo Esposito when we have shard units?

Far Cry Development Team: You know it! Gamers won't know what hit them!

Ubisoft Marketing Team: If Ubisoft Marketing didn't see this twist coming, none of our customers will either! With content this original, Lost Between Worlds can't fail!

 

 

I liked lost between worlds more then the other 2 dlcs, but indeed it’s definitely not worth the 20$ price tag 

[HedleyNEUK]

It went on sale last month for just under $10, which means i can get it back to 100%. Ive heard it is decent but only takes 4 hours so certainly not worth any more than that

[Skurkitty]

Paid 20$ a couple days before the current sale went live, felt I didn't get my money's worth. Contacted support and they price adjusted it for me and gave me a 10$ voucher. Made me feel quite a bit better about the value, so yeah, 10 bucks seems fair for the content.

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Skurkitty

[ThatDrunkGuy]

Worst DLC ever lol...glad I got the whole bundle on a deep discount.

[Voland44]

well it doesnt worth much to wait for a sale, no?

[omnx-supak]

What is it worth truly though? 

 

It is very easy to call something worthless when you are not the one sinking time making whatever you are making.

 

I understand that they are a massive corporation and in gaming there are kinda set prices on what a game, expansion, add-on should cost.

 

I bought it and I really enjoyed it and wasn't mad at the original price tag.

 

Either don't buy it or wait for a sale. 

 

We have been very lucky that gaming overall hasn't had its prices raised at the same level the most things do with our current economy.

 

When we talk about entertainment a cinema ticket is literally 10/15 for a 1h30m movie. When this game has 6h of content for most (checked on how long to beat).

Edited April 24, 2023 by omnx-supak

[poetic_justice_]

18 hours ago, omnx-supak said:

What is it worth truly though? 

 

It is very easy to call something worthless when you are not the one sinking time making whatever you are making.

 

I understand that they are a massive corporation and in gaming there are kinda set prices on what a game, expansion, add-on should cost.

 

I bought it and I really enjoyed it and wasn't mad at the original price tag.

 

Either don't buy it or wait for a sale. 

 

We have been very lucky that gaming overall hasn't had its prices raised at the same level the most things do with our current economy.

 

When we talk about entertainment a cinema ticket is literally 10/15 for a 1h30m movie. When this game has 6h of content for most (checked on how long to beat).

I am sincerly glad you enjoyed it. However, please recognize that you are in the minority. Waxing philosophical doesn't change the fact that most Far Cry gamers will not enjoy this random DLC. It is not worth $20 dollars to the majority of its intended audience, no matter how much time Ubisoft spent developing it. If Ubisoft wants to assign philosophical meaning and worth to a game, then let them make a corporate art project and invest millions of dollars into that. In the case of Lost Between Worlds, that logic doesn't apply. Lost Between Worlds isn't art. It's a commercial product that fails to connect with its intended audience, resulting in critical and financial failure. The story has nothing to do with the core narrative of Far Cry 6, the main companion isn't likeable, and the combat is meh. The DLC lives up to its name of "Lost Between Worlds." It completely misses Yara and ends up in a random, imaginary mish-mash of sub-genres that have no real substance.

 

Luck has nothing to do with gaming prices not rising. Gaming prices have no justifiable reason for rising. Most PSN games are now sold digitally. This saves publishers hundreds of millions of dollars annually by lowering or eliminating the middle-man (brick-and-mortar stores). Selling digital products also saves publishers the expense of printing discs, QAing physical copies, art covers, promotional posters, etc. Covid forced many people to work from home, which made studios and publishers shut down offices. Now that they realize they can design games remotely or on a cloud-based system, a number of studios and publishers have continued to lower overhead costs by decentralizing from large, expensive office spaces to more modest office accommodations that house only a core staff. Unlike the rest of the entertainment industry (except streaming services), video game sales skyrocketed during Covid. There were few entertainment options, so gaming spiked. Other industries have had rising costs of operations since 2020, but game development has benefitted immensely from shifting from traditional brick-and-mortar to digital, both in development and marketing. 

 

Look at game prices on Steam and Epic. They have the same titles as PSN, but discounts are significantly lower than anything we see on PSN. Luck isn't a factor. We are in the age of digital gaming. If Sony were to try and raise prices, they would have class action lawsuits filed against them. Steam isn't raising their prices; they're lowering them. Epic isn't raising their prices; they're lowering them or maintaining them. If Sony were to try to raise prices for literally the same digital product available on other platforms, people would sue en masse. Many who didn't sue would still leave the platform. The main thing going for PlayStation is Sony's exclusive IPs; pretty much every other title can be obtained much cheaper on a different platform.  It's why Xbox is offering so many games on Game Pass; Microsoft can't legally market Sony IPs, but they can offer almost every other console-released title on both PC and console. Sony's decision to keep costs where they are isn't luck; it's self-preservation.

[JunkSkelington]

on sale for $10 now for anyone wanting their 100% back

[mega-tallica]

I enjoyed Lost Between Worlds, maybe not $20 worth but certainly better than the other crap DLC this game has. 

[diskdocx]

There are few certainties in life. A Far Cry game having DLC, and that DLC sucking ass, however, is as close to a guarantee as you’ll likely find.

[poetic_justice_]

 

"What leftover parts do we have? Just put them anywhere!"

 

How Far Cry DLC is made.

Edited May 3, 2023 by poetic_justice_

[MarcusPunisher]