Firstly, a disclaimer: I love Tomb Raider. I’ve had carpal tunnel syndrome since just before Christmas and it makes my wrists very painful when I use a game controller or a keyboard. Because of this, I can’t play more than about 30 minutes at a time. I’ve played a grand total of about an hour of any one game since December. With two exceptions: SimCity (it’s all trackball) and Tomb Raider (I’m putting up with the pain).
So, I think Tomb Raider is brilliant. Weirdly granular DLC is not so cool.
Steam is now listing a whole range of Tomb Raider DLC. That list includes the obvious cosmetic bits and pieces for the multiplayer mode. You can dress Lara up like Amelia Earheart, in a flight jacket. You can play as a fisherman. You can play on a Shanty Town multiplayer map. Fine.
But there’s also a raft of single player additions. One is a new tomb to raid that was originally a pre-order bonus and there are a few cross-promotional weapons from the latest Hitman game.The rest are basically paid unlocks of XP level skills or scrap upgrades to weapons.
You can pay 59p for the Agility skill that helps you climb better. You can pay 59p for the Pistol Burst upgrade that makes your handgun more deadly. You can pay for the Headshot Indicator on the pistol (I assume other weapons will come too).
This is hardly a new issue in videogames but it is becoming more widespread and, for the way I like to enjoy games, that’s a worry. What if the next step is to remove the XP and scavenged scrap systems completely and just use real-world currency? Sure, that currently seems unlikely but it’s only unlikely as long as we keep telling publishers that this stuff is off-putting and we’d rather not see it.
We have to balance the obvious business benefits they’ll see in DLC sales with our consumer dissatisfaction, otherwise, they might think everyone is cool with this. And we’re not. At least, I’m not but I might be well out of step with the general game-playing populace. Are you okay with this stuff? Will you pay money for in-game unlockables that will naturally come during the course of playing the game? Isn’t this a case of paying for a game and then paying again so you can finish it more quickly?
Youles
Hmm, are the maps going to be released individually on PS3 I wonder? If so that could make finding a game on them pretty awkward unless there are lobbies for each map. I guess a lot of people may buy them seeing we were only give five (yup, just five) multiplayer maps to start with!!!
If I can earn these things in-game, then that’s how I’ll do it. I like having something to work towards, or to save up to unlock/build, why would I pay money to take that excitement away from me, the game or your progression could become boring with nothing to look forward to!
Avenger
Well ‘If you’re good as something, never do it for free’.
DrOf1337
These are all pre-order bonuses for various retail outlets that they’ve decided to claw revenue back from, because it’s not cost effective to just create DLC that you never sell in the future.
eye8have9you3
I’m happy paying for DLC if it’s something that a developer has put time into making, but it really pisses me off when a company like this just re-uses assets from another game and shoves them in where they don’t fit. It was the same when they threw stuff from Deus Ex into Hitman
Kennykazey
I’m not okay with this, at least they could have bundled most of it together into a decent little pack.
TSBonyman
Sorry to hear about your CTS Peter, can’t be pleasant especially for a gamer :/
I don’t really care for this kind of dlc but at least it wasn’t available day one, like with some games. I do think this sort of ‘unlockable progress’ dlc should be held back until at least a month after the game releases.
As for the twin guns … don’t want to be ***SLIGHTLY SPOILERIFIC**** here but Lara used to have twin guns .. they make a very brief appearance in the new game and you only get to use them once at the very end. Seems a bit rich offering Hitman guns as paid dlc.
teflon
They’re multiplayer weapons.
TSBonyman
Oh they’re only for the mp? .. that’s alright then, nowt to do with my gaming reality! :P
Eldur
Yiddo and I had a discussion about this a fair few posts ago. I think micro transactions will quickly become the norm in the next generation, as will F2P. Whatever leverages more money out of a product is what publishers (especially the big ones) will do.
bunimomike
Played it, loved it, done with it. Unless it’s a meaty bit of DLC (small campaign, etc) then count me out. All too late for my liking.
sabbat7001
You summed it up perfectly for me there. “Played it, loved it, done with it”. I traded it in yesterday at Gamestop and the guy said with some surprise “Didn’t like it?” On the contrary, I thought it was amazing. I enjoyed every moment and I think it put the series back in line to take a run at what Uncharted has achieved (it’s not quite there yet) but I’ve had my moneys worth and now I’m done with it especially since I have zero interest in the multiplayer part of the game. I’ve moved on to Bioshock Infinite (and for some weird reason also Sniper Elite V2:Silver Star Edition) Call it an overwhelming urge to shoot Hitler in the face. :)
KeRaSh
I’ve unlocked 100% during the campaign and that was my plan all along. Making things available for purchase in addition to the ingame unlocks doesn’t bother me. Anything else is just regular DLC, which usually doesn’t interest me anyways.
RudeAwakening
I will never pay anymore money after the initial €60 for a AAA game. I rarely buy any DLC for any game. This micro – transaction crap is the reason i have stayed away from Dead Space 3.