Is the growing trend of making games episodic really a bad thing?

[Manuelito]

Doesn't really bother me that much. I'm not stupid enough to buy a unfinished game, I'll just wait until the whole product is available and then get it for a cheaper price as well

Seems similar to GTA Heists. The community was pissed owed to the time it took to launch. Releasing in episodes could start delaying and make the community upset, especially if I had to wait a year for episode 2. Chances are that if I beat episode 1 the game would long be gone, lended out, or sold by the time episode 2 came out.

With the only difference that it was a free update and wasn't most likely planned from rockstar on Day 1. Here we are talking about games like the new Hitman that will be released in parts that are going to cost money

[Redgrave]

2. What if the game never finishes? It isn't unheard of for a developer to go out of business. So we get 3/5ths of a story but then they go bankrupt and I don't get to finish my game?

 

That's actually a very good point. Need I remind everyone of the great disaster known as Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma? 

[Wavergray]

And where is the evidence that duke nukem failed because of that? You also state FFXV will not live up to the hype you state it like a fact i can play that game as well you are pushing an extremely disliked idea hard i gotta wonder why i can tell there's more then an opinion involved it sounds like you have an agenda. Ether way best of luck if theirs anything i've learned being here is that these people won't change their mind and i respect em for that.

My evidence for duke nukem is how almost every review of it can be summed up by saying it didn't evolve with the shooter standards of the time and the phrase "We waited X amount of years for this?" because of the expectations people had for that game it went from being a average game to a bad game. FFXV can and will get sucked up in the same problems, there are already plenty of people who say things like "If FFXV isn't one of the best FF games every then what was all that development time for?" The Last Guardian has also fallen into this problem. Can episodic releases solve this problem or any other problem the gaming industry? Maybe it could and maybe it couldn't, but to attack new ideas with nothing but negativity will do nothing, but suppress change. Also just because we have different opinions doesn't mean I have agenda. What I'm I not entitled to my opinions just as you are? So just because my opinions is different from your that means it shouldn't be respected?

 

That's actually a very good point. Need I remind everyone of the great disaster known as Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma? 

They gave everyone who bought it a refund. Which shows that even if they could run off that doesn't mean they will. And in that case the only reason they stopped making the game was because everyone hated it. Plus if they had run off with the money they could have faced a lawsuit, been on bad terms with Sony, and they would have loss any good will they had with their customers, which would have stopped them from being able the sale any game ever again. In the fragile business that is gaming you can't just run off with people's money without giving them something in return.

Edited January 19, 2016 by soultaker655

[Redgrave]

They gave everyone who bought it a refund. Which shows that even if they could run off that doesn't mean they will. And in that case the only reason they stopped making the game was because everyone hated it.  

 

Yes but that should still serve as a warning that it's not always guaranteed to happen, refund or no. Saying they stopped making it because everyone hated it being the only reason is underselling it a bit. It was also a broken, unfinished, barely playable mess that it must have been a miracle it even got put up for sale. Now that doesn't mean every or most episodic games could come out like that, but it shows that even if they intended for more episodes it can always go wrong and/or get canned for many reasons. At least if a full game gets cancelled you can at least say you didn't waste your time with it.

[Dr_Mayus]

That's actually a very good point. Need I remind everyone of the great disaster known as Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma? 

Or a little game called Half Life 2 Episode 3 . Valve is still in business but will that game ever come out?

[DEMON]

In a way, yes.  It's so the developers are making more money out of something that they would have had to release fully in like the PS2 days.  While there is PS2 games that did release in parts (.hack comes to mind), these games usually were worth splitting up because of the lengths.  As for episodic games such as what Telltales brings out, there is no need at all for them to be releasing their games like this.  I remember they used to make these CSI games which were full games, if they were still making them today it would be different where they would be episodic instead of a full game.  Telltale could release games today as full games from the start, the episodes are 20-30 minutes each from what I seen of the Walking Dead games, if I hadn't purchased them in the sales I would have felt ripped off (there was no choices, everyone died eventually, the stories were rather boring, did not see the hype about them).

 

For JRPG developers like Square Enix, I only hope they meant FFVII would be like FFXIII series since that would be acceptable.  Each of those offered 50-100+ hours of gameplay.  If they mean like Telltales length of episodes, just fuck no.

 

Honestly, the way I see it, developers did not do this in the past (as much, remember the only one I have mentioned is .hack which was completely different and much better quality than Telltale's stuff), they shouldn't be doing it now.  They should either release the game fully or not bother.  Same thing can be said about Season Passes and DLC at release, you had no reason not to include that DLC in the original game if you were also able to release it at release.

 

Another way I see it is say FFVII is quite a big project and Square Enix do want to release it sooner for fans, I find it totally acceptable if they have made content that will last 50-100+ hours, stick that all into one game and then say "This is the first part of the game, the rest is still in development.  But we wanted to get some of it out sooner.", that is good.  But if they did this, "This is the first part of the game, the rest has been fully developed." Then that is fucking bad, they should release the whole thing if it has all been developed at the point when the first game is released.  No point making us wait or making us pay another couple of £40/$60s to obtain the full game if it was ready when the first game came out.  Just use extra discs.  When you think of it, releasing it in multiple parts will cost them more money too as they will have to pay for advertising fees, promos etc for each of the games, releasing it as one game only means they will have to pay for that once.

 

This episodic gaming should not be defended, people should be getting more mad about this.  It's just like people who don't like the idea of the Season Pass/tons of DLC, this is the exact same thing.

[Lord_of_Ra]

Don't pick apart paragraphs when discussing things with other people, because most of the time it makes it seem like you don't understand the whole point of the paragraph.

In this case you say, something that doesn't add up about my thoughts on episodic games costing the player more in the long run, but since you only highlighted certain parts of my paragraph I can only assume you didn't even read the example I gave to clarify my point and then you use inconsequential evidence to support your point.

You can not use the free telltale episodes as evidence because they were not always free, during the time of those series episodic release those free episodes cost $5.

So now we are back at the cost of a episodic game release. You say because I use the word "usually" my point fall apart. Well I'm sorry, that just the way I talk when I'm talking about a hypothetical situation, I should have said "factual" since all current evidence supports the point I was trying to make with my example that I can only assume you skipped over.

Everything else you said about demos, gameplay videos, and review don't really help your point at all because those are your choices. Just as you don't like to pay for demos/betas/early access there are plenty of people who would rather do that then wait 1-2 years for a game to be released, even though demos/betas/early access have nothing to do with episodic games. Plus just as you like to use gameplay videos, and review to get insight about a game there are plenty of people who hate the very thought of both of those shaping their thoughts about a game before they can play it.

You will always has the right to you own opinion and you can be as passionate as you want about your opinion, but when you allow your passion to overwhelm you, you start to ignore other peoples points, thoughts and opinions. As I said in another post, for people who want the whole game released at once, episodic releases are a non-issue. If a full $60 game was going to come out at the october, but the developer/publisher decide to release the game in as 4 episodes with the first episode costing $20 and the rest costing $15 the only cost different between the person who buys the episodes and the person who buys the full game is $5. That $5 does a lot of things for not only the game it self but the player as well. That $5 insures that the rest of the game will be made because the people who are making the game get payed with that money and the big bad publisher will see that people are interested in the game so that won't cancel the game or shut down the developer while the game is still being made. That $5 could also end up saving the player some money if they don't like the game. If the player buy a new $60 game and hates it based on how fast they are in returning it they may only get $45-$50 back and it may only be in store credit. However, the person who bought the first episode and hated it has saved the same amount of money, but as cash and not store credit.

Either way, we have different opinions on this topic and we will never see eye to eye on it which is fine. I didn't make this thread to change other people opinions, I made it to hear other peoples rationale on the topic. You and most of the people who have replied are stuck in a slippery slope argument based on what could happen even though all current evidence points to the contrary, while people like me are optimistic about what episodic releases could do for one of the biggest problems the game industry has, the expectations that are are formed during a long development time become something that the game can never overcome. For examples, see: Final Fantasy 15, Duke Nukem Forever, and others,

1. If the paragraph has sufficient material to stand a point of its own, then I don't see a problem with picking it apart. I highlighted those sentences because they point an immediate contradiction between themselves which will put the reader off. From an academic point of view, it doesn't matter what example comes next if you can't place your ideas correctly at the beginning. It makes the rest of the paragraph a chore to read and it makes it more difficult.

2. Point given about the Telltale stuff cuz I didn't know that. As for the usually, I merely pointed out that problem of paying more still persists. I guess we both agree on that point and I should have clarified that before. My mistake again.

3. No, it isn't because it's my choice. If you take a look a few years past, you'll see AAA and some other games have had timed trials and or demos for themselves (in which case you paid for a service that used to offer a lot of more freebies on the way and for the other it was free). We aren't focusing on episodic games only, we are also talking that the kind of games that have demos available for them should start opting for episodic stuff and if you want a try, you pay for it. You see where I'm going?

Also, just because a lot of other people do it, doesn't mean it's the best course of action. Gameplays and reviews help you get an insight and a much better sense of choice on whether to buy a game or not. If people want their thoughts shaped before even trying it, that's their own problem, not the reviews or gameplays. Don't go blaming the gun itself for murder charges.

4. And what if instead paying for a part of the game which is in risk of not getting my money back, I get a free try of what they're doing, if even for a few minutes? Doesn't that sound much more appealing? I'm not trying to be passionate, but you fail to see the big picture here. Anybody here knows that this will get abused and turned into a gorgeous-looking cancer for the industry. You want evidence? Take a look at how EA is bragging they get money out of DLC. What's the relationship with that and this? We allowed it.

Do you seriously think devs aren't going to formulate a plan to rob us of our money as they have done with so much stuff already? Want another evidence of how they've done that? Look at Dead Space 3 for example. They use your hype and give you a cliffhanger ending with the sole intent of making an extra episode to see the "true" ending, which also ended up being another cliffhanger. And why does EA don't care about the critics they receive when they cut material? Because the majority of gamers don't care a single bit that they are getting robed.

You stated that it would be great for COD to split their parts? Sounds great! But guess what. That is an illusion. It might work for quite some time but then the SP campaign might be actually being stopped produced and just focus on MP.

Why is that and how can you prove it? Look at BOIII on Ps3 and 360. They took out the SP and didn't give a crap. If that, plus the aspect that Rainbow Six Siege and Battlefront lack SP isn't a signal that companies are focusing on the aspect that gives better income, then I don't know what is.

With separating them you might make it even easier for them to slowly and subtly start focusing more on the part that gives better income. They are companies and are hungry for money.

If you even approve an episodic policy they will start taking advantage of it. Evidence? Go take a critical look at the industry itself. It's a ton of evidence.

And just because the majority doesn't care and goes with it means it's a good thing to do. If anything, it's a perfect paradise for a greedy bastard to make its income because people are too lazy and lack brain to change it. Plan and simple.

But as they say "ignorance is a bliss" right?

You're right, we have different opinions, but don't go saying others are on a slippery slope when your opinion has the potential to become a catalyst for making the industry more putrid than what already is.

Anyway, this will get us nowhere. Let's call it a day, cool?

Edited January 20, 2016 by Lord_of_Ra

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

I put my opinion down but forgot to put down what I actually do with episodic games money wise. As we all should know, you can have as many opinions as you want with games, but the only one who's opinion really means something is your wallet's.

 

So I got Walking Dead 1 in the day right, back when an easy platinum would get me to go dump down dollars on a game, and I inadvertently ended up loving the story, characters, universe, everything. Playing it all in one sitting made it feel like a full game to me, even with the little re-caps in-between episodes, and that was much better for my tastes. Eventually Walking Dead 2 rolled around and you can be damn sure I wanted to get my grubby little mits all up in that shit, know what I did? Same as I do every other time an episodic game pops up since then

 

I WAITED UNTIL IT WAS ON SALE FOR LIKE 10 BUCKS DIGITALLY BECAUSE THIS HAPPENS LITERALLY EVERY TIME WITH EVERY ONE OF THESE GAMES NOT EVEN A FEW MONTHS AFTER RELEASE

 

Simples.

 

Borderlands and Game of Thrones I bought while they were still coming out however, like 2 or 3 episodes in, but I waited for the sale prices on them, I picked up Borderlands by Telltale at like 15 bucks and they were only a couple of episodes in. Maybe even only one episode in, I don't remember. The point is these fuckers always go on sale and just being patient will save you a tonne. BUT, as I've learned from those two, playing each episode as it comes out sucks ass, by the time the next episode is out you've forgotten what's happening and who's who and even if you remember, you're not as into it and desperate for a follow up as you would be in the moment you beat the previous episode, are you?

Edited January 20, 2016 by Super-Fly Spider-Guy

[TheVader66]

I don't like Episodic games because let say that in one of the episodes it just ends at the climax and I have to wait months for the next chapter or episode to be done. I rather just wait for the full game. Thought I don't think they are bad because some people like them and that is alright, I just don't personally like it.

 

 

Or a little game called Half Life 2 Episode 3 . Valve is still in business but will that game ever come out?

 

Also let us not forget SonicThe Hedgehog 4 Episode 3, I feel bad for the people that bought the games for it to just be left hanging

[SWilhelmStorck]

Soultaker665:

You say FFXV would benefit from being an episodic game, so do you mean we would get a single chapter every year for the last 10 years?... Somehow I doubt people would ever be satisfied with this method, it would drag out for way too long, also, it would not be updated for todays standards and knowing SE they would want it to be as perfect as possible, if they already back in 2006/7ish made the first chapter and dragged it along for the next 10 years they would be stuck with whatever engine they started with back in 2006... You could argue they would have finished it faster, but at what cost? The game would probably be a rushed unfinished mess. And don't compare Duke Nukem Forever and FFXV, Duke was doomed from the start, atleast people are still believing in FFXV.

 

As for my view on the whole Dragon Age Inquisition theory, I tend to finish games pretty fast, and DA:I was no exception as I plat it in about a month, if I were stuck in Hinterlands for 3-5 months before I could advance the plot I would be bored to death, surely there are others that takes longer to clear the zones, but by making it episodic you eliminate those who tend to chug down the games fast and force them to wait till next episode comes out, and as you can see with alot of the people whom answered, does not sit well.

 

You say that people like me can just wait until all chapters are released and a guide will be made by that time, which is your point of view, but I don't want to use a guide on my first playthrough, I tend to try and avoid spoilers the best I can, if i'm forced to wait 1-2 or more years for an episodic game to be released there WILL be spoilers out there no matter how much I will try to dodge it.

 

For me this is certainly a lose-lose situation, I don't like waiting when a buy a game, I want to shut me out from the outside world and chug 10 hours a day through a game, I would come to a quick halt if it turned into episodes, and would feel I had purchased a full-price-game-demo, no thanks. 
 

[StrickenBiged]

This thread is getting a little salty. 

 

Something that I haven't seen mentioned is that buying a Season Pass for an episodic series is a little like pre-ordering a game.

 

The usual arguments against pre-orders also apply, albeit in relation to the remainder of the game, from episode 2 onwards, rather than to the whole thing. 

 

Plus you can't get your money back if the total game ends up being disappointing, or trade in. There are no take-backsies with digital stores whereas you can usually cancel a pre-order. 

 

If you're happy to do that, then go right ahead. Personally, I've been burned too many times and will wait for reviews before I decide to spend my money.

[starcrunch061]

Yea, well... no to RPGs.

Apart from obvious reasoning like the game actually costing 1xx% of what would the actual game costed, I don't want to wait for conclusion to the story crapload of months neither I want to be forcefully cut in the middle of my playthrough.

 

Yeah, this is a no-brainer to me. While I don't have the luxury to do this much anymore, the fact is, sometimes I like just wasting a whole day playing a game. When FFVII came out on the PS1, I averaged about 18 hours a day of play for the first three days I owned it. 

 

I don't mind that other people will wait, but the option should be there for everybody. For this and a plethora of other reasons, I am disappointed in the episodic trend. It has completely turned me off to buying games new, or at full price (after all, if I can wait for all episodes to be completed, I can wait a few weeks further for those same episodes to be discounted highly).

[Wavergray]

Soultaker665:

You say FFXV would benefit from being an episodic game, so do you mean we would get a single chapter every year for the last 10 years?... Somehow I doubt people would ever be satisfied with this method, it would drag out for way too long, also, it would not be updated for todays standards and knowing SE they would want it to be as perfect as possible, if they already back in 2006/7ish made the first chapter and dragged it along for the next 10 years they would be stuck with whatever engine they started with back in 2006... You could argue they would have finished it faster, but at what cost? The game would probably be a rushed unfinished mess. And don't compare Duke Nukem Forever and FFXV, Duke was doomed from the start, atleast people are still believing in FFXV.

 

As for my view on the whole Dragon Age Inquisition theory, I tend to finish games pretty fast, and DA:I was no exception as I plat it in about a month, if I were stuck in Hinterlands for 3-5 months before I could advance the plot I would be bored to death, surely there are others that takes longer to clear the zones, but by making it episodic you eliminate those who tend to chug down the games fast and force them to wait till next episode comes out, and as you can see with alot of the people whom answered, does not sit well.

 

You say that people like me can just wait until all chapters are released and a guide will be made by that time, which is your point of view, but I don't want to use a guide on my first playthrough, I tend to try and avoid spoilers the best I can, if i'm forced to wait 1-2 or more years for an episodic game to be released there WILL be spoilers out there no matter how much I will try to dodge it.

 

For me this is certainly a lose-lose situation, I don't like waiting when a buy a game, I want to shut me out from the outside world and chug 10 hours a day through a game, I would come to a quick halt if it turned into episodes, and would feel I had purchased a full-price-game-demo, no thanks. 

 

I have never said FFXV would have benefited from a being a episodic game, I have merely stated that games that are stuck in development hell could benefit from being made episodically. Duke Nukem Forever was not doomed from the start, just like FFXV people were excited for it ever since it was announced and when it got stuck in development hell people still believed it could be great, just like FFXV and The Last Guardian. Unfortunately, DNF got stuck in the very same situation you just described, it was stuck in the standards of the time it was announced which hurt the game overall. In the hypothetical situation that FFXV was an episodic game it would have stayed FF: Versus XIII and would have never been stuck in the development hell it's stuck in now since S-E would not have moved it to the PS4. Whether or not that hypothetical game would have been good cannot be said since FF: Versus XIII / FFXV has changed dramatically since it was announced.

 

The whole situation you are describing with DA: I and episodic game is only a lose-lose situation because you made it one for yourself. The only way you would be spoiled on the game is if you consciously or subconsciously went looking for spoilers by going to places that are talking about the game and If you don't want to use a guide for first playthrough than don't use one. You are not forced to read a guide before you play a game, because it is just an option for people who want it. Once you change those two things you are left with a situation that a non-issue for you. Just wait for the day when the last episode is released and you can chug down the game as fast as you want. If you are willing to wait for a game to be released that not episodic than you shouldn't have any problems waiting for the last episode of a episodic game to be released.

 

Also let us not forget Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode 3, I feel bad for the people that bought the games for it to just be left hanging

It's been a while since I looked into Sonic The Hedgehog 4, but didn't it end at Episode 2? Is far as I can remember Sega never promised more the 2 episodes and said only if there was a demand for more would they make episodes 3,4,5...etc? They never released a season pass for Sonic The Hedgehog 4 and only made a bundle after both episodes were released. Plus unless it is stated otherwise putting the word episode in a title only promises 2 episodes will be made. Now if Sega had made a season pass that promised 3 or more episodes yeah they would have been wrong for taking people's money without making the other episodes.

 

 

Or a little game called Half Life 2 Episode 3 . Valve is still in business but will that game ever come out?

Half Life 2 Episode 3 is kind of in the same boat Sonic The Hedgehog 4, the only difference is that they ended Half Life 2 Episode 2 in a cliffhanger and announced Half Life 2 Episode 3. It does suck for the people who want Episode 3 but Valve never made a season pass or bundle that promised when episode 3 would be released and beside pissing people off they haven't done anything wrong by not releasing episode 3 yet.

 

Edit:

Okay that's enough discussion on this topic in this thread. It's starting to become an echo chamber of negativity and the same arguments are starting to come up over and over again. There were some very good strong logical points brought up by both sides, but most of them lack evidence and are built on the phrase "It could happen" which is not a good logical arguing point. I'm going to lock this thread and when I have some more time I'll summarize the points of both side of this discussion and any counter-arguments those points may have.

Edited January 20, 2016 by soultaker655

[Wavergray]

Okay here are all of the points that were discussed in this topic.

 

Some people brought up the point that episodic game wane in quality as they are released, their main evidence to this point are the Telltale games. If you only use the Telltale as an example than yes this would seem like a good point, but there are some problems with that line of thinking. The main one being that the reason for the Telltale games wane in quality can be attributed to the fact that Telltale decided to make 4 different episodic games at the same time instead of making them one at a time. Because of this they had many development problems, and the quality of each game suffered. Now if you look into the other episodic games besides the Telltale games you will see that the general consensus is that every episode of an episodic game has had the same level of quality per each episode. The games that are an example of this are: RE: Revelation 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, FF4: the after years, KH: coded, and the Half-Life 2 episodes. At this current point in time we cannot say for sure whether or not this is a good point, but the new Hitman game will be the first big test for both sides of this opinion.

 

The next few points that were brought up are more or less the same point. That episodic game destroyed immersion, story progression, and the pace in which a player can play the game. People who have this opinion have said they would rather the game just be released as a whole game instead of episodically. Again these seem like good points, but all of these problems disappear if these people do one logical thing. Just wait for all the episodes to be released and buy the game as if it was never released episodically. Not only does this turn this whole topic into a non-issue for these people, but they also gain beneficial options. Since the game would have technically been out for a while it is more likely to go one sale much faster than a traditionally released game, trophy and gameplay guides will already be available for them to use if the wish to use them, both written and video reviews will be available for them to use to see if the is the type of game they want, and the episodic games tend to get a disc version after all the episodes are released so if they like to have their game on a physical disc it will be available for them. In this thread I have yet to see an argument against this point that was not some kind of logical fallacy caused mainly by a person’s choices. At this current point in time the best thing for people who are worried about immersion, story progression, and pace is to just wait things out. For example, if a game is announced in 2015, releases episodes in 2016, and has a full release in 2017 what is the difference between that and if that same game had been announced in 2015 and had a full release in 2017? The answer is nothing besides time and how a player uses their time is up to them. So if some players would rather spend parts of 2016 playing that game instead of waiting until 2017 they should have that choice.

 

The next point was about the cost of a episodic game. Once again the arguments for this point confuse me, because for the last 10 or so years the only difference between buying each episode separately or buying it as a traditional game off-sale is around $5. Even the new Hitman which will be the first $60 episodic game is sticking to this rule. Where the fear of paying prices like $60 per episode came from I’ll never know (it was probably people like Jim Sterling), but there is current no evidence to support that line of thinking. Saying things like it could happen without having any kind of evidence makes no logical sense. I have not even seen circumstantial evidence that could support that line of thinking, so I’m not sure why people are so afraid of this happening. At this current point in time there is no evidence to support that line of thinking, so just stop worrying about it until it actually happens.

 

As for that $5, as far I can tell from my research on this point, it normally goes towards the paychecks of the developers, you know the people who are making the game you want to play, the same people who have bills to pay and families to feed just like you. It’s not like they have an endless stream of money to pull from and they won’t work for free because who would work for free? You know if you actually researched why a lot of interesting games end up cancelled it’s because they ran out of money, and a lot of the time they have to leave a game that are more than 50% completed on the cutting room floor. By making some of these games episodic the developers could get enough money to finish the game and the big bad publisher won’t pull the plug on the game because there is some interest shown in the game and that could mean more profit for them.

 

Every other point brought up in this thread is just matter of personal opinion that don’t really take into account the opinions of other people. Opinions on whether or not certain game genres could be turned into an episodic game will always vary from person to person. Opinions on demos/betas/early access/PS+ 60 minutes trials have little to nothing to do with episodic released since demos are usually 10-20 minutes piece of the start of the game and not multiple of hours content like an episode is, betas are usually just pre-order incentives or server stress tests, early access is already worse every way than episodic released could ever be, and PS+ 60 minutes trials are tied to PS+ which means you have to pay to use it. Online passes are gone and even if they were still here they wouldn’t affect episodic released since if you bought the first episode the pass would be with it.

 

I may have missed one or two things, but this is basically what was discussed in this thread.

 

I’m going to leave this thread open for a day or two so if you want to respond to this summary you can, but if you do have a problem with this summary and you wish to provide a rebuttal, please don’t let that rebuttal boil down to “it could be bad because of some non-related thing a publisher/ developers did in the past” because so far all of the rebuttal like that have really been about people’s hatred of publishers and developers while not even thinking about how episodic releases could be a change in the right direction for the gaming industry and even if it’s not, the fact that some companies are willing to at least try something different than the traditional old standard way of doing thing should not be met with such open negativity until something happens that make that negativity worth something beside the fear of change.

 

I won’t respond to any post after this, mainly because I’ve said all I feel like saying on the matter and I don’t feel like talking in circles. However, I do want to thank all those who did reply with their opinions, because even if our opinions are different on this topic, everyone opinions should still be respected.

Edited January 20, 2016 by soultaker655

[Marisa Kirisame]

Nah, I'd rather buy a complete game than having to wait months to buy the rest.

[KratosTheMighty]

I wouldn't call Telltale games, Life is strange, and the  ShitHitman game a growing trend. I don't really enjoy the long waits for a story based game. The previously on blank episode flashbacks get tedious and annoying. You can't even really compare it to tv shows, because they work on two different systems. T.v. shows have not only commercials to deal with, but have to be filmed on location, whereas a videogame is created in a single building. Telltale is one of the only episodic studios out there really, everyone else is just joining in on the train and missing the point entirely. People put up with Telltales games being strung out over long months, because their stories are pretty well written.... but even then the formula won't hold out long. Games like hitman being butchered and sold as separate parts is frankly idiotic. I'd rather a studio take an extra year to put their game together, fully together, before releasing the full game all at once. Hell, they're even making a collector's edition without a physical copy of the game... That's something they should have waited on doing until the game was complete and fully ready for release.