Death End re:quest
Mar. 4th, 2019 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So I was tempted to buy Death End re:quest when I saw it at ebgames/gamestop the other day. I held off, mainly because I had little choice - couldn't afford it that day. But also because they didn't appear to have any non-gutted copies out on display, it was a full priced title, and where it was primarily a niche jrpg - I've seen way too many cases of DLC whoring in that genre since the day they started launching on a console that could easily do digital downloads.
The main game seems to play similarly to games like .hack and probably SAO - games where you're in another game. This one apparently tries to have you go through multiple game genres and the "real world". So I thought that was interesting enough to at least consider. But not until I saw what kinds of things they ripped out of the game to offer separately.
It's important to note I've been playing jrpg titles since the NES. And while the NES and SNES flavor hold little similarity to what these games do, the best way to determine if they're lacking "basic features" is to compare them to PS2 jrpgs. (As seriously I see very little innovation overall past that era - graphics look nicer, sound is generally still ok, but I'll be honest there's a lot of repetition and stagnation. If you like how jrpgs were back then, then this isn't a negative in and of itself. And I don't particularly mind how they were back then - so long as the story is at least trying to be somewhat unique on it's own somehow and the battle system isn't a colossal screwup (I'm looking at you Ar Tonelico 3!) then I can play through it and feel like I've gotten my money's worth. Usually.
When it comes to looking at the DLC for new JRPGs I look at what types of things were commonly available as bonuses or extras. I also look at if they do the common "item set/stat set/etc" DLC. You know - the one time limited set of consumable items you'll be given at the start of the game. This is harder to judge with new series starting on the DLC-able systems but are so blatantly obvious when you're dealing with a series that started on the PS2 or earlier. (I'm looking at you Disgaea!)
This game is pretty much new, so I just end up assuming if the DLC is of the type of shit that use to be common additives in old games but are now routinely cut out at launch (or offered as preorder bonuses) that it's been cut out of this as well. As otherwise it just means the game was inferior to start with.
So here's the type of DLC shown in this game that was -accidentally- released by the developers during a promo stream of the game. Basically when starting the game Compile Heart games tend to reveal what DLC was added. Oops! So much for "announcing it later". More on this after the breakdown.
1. Character Costumes - There's apparently 12 of these in the DLC for the main character(s). I can't even tell you how expensive they are offhand because the 4-5 of them that are currently listed on PSN are showing it as "unavailable".
2. Bonus areas - There are two of these. I consider this gutted content entirely since it would usually be akin to extra stages unlocked in a games epilogue. (Consider Lunar 2 and the various stages in Disgaea 1.)
3. Item Sets. 6 different item sets. one or two of them are free, the others are being sold for a buck or two each depending on your country of origin. These tell me two things. 1. The game is badly balanced so that you need the starting crutch of items, or the game was deliberately balanced to make these item sets desirable if not needed. 2. The game has probably had it's item drop rates, or shop prices/xp/gold-drops adjusted to make them desirable. (kinda goes with the second half of #1 really but from a different angle.) Devs of course will say "Oh no! we never did anything like that!" but can you really trust them at their word? You'd really have to play through the game twice from scratch and ask yourself how much more of a grind was it to go without the item drops.
4. There's an xp boost item. This immediately sets off a red flag for me, making me think they deliberately set the XP gains too low. Even if you could get the game for free by playing the game, and getting it only near the end of the game. Meaning you had to deal with the xp nerf the entire game.
5. 1 hidden boss. Yeah, no. It's not "hidden", it's "removed". So I count these things as optional bosses and as removed content. Hell consider the original Final Fantasy's "Warmech". A randomly encountered boss you could meet in the final bridge leading to Tiamat. Power-wise Warmech was probably on par with Tiamat if not stronger. This boss is one of two DLC quests. IE: they cut quests out.
6. A bunch of weapons/equipment. Basically these are treated the same as item sets, just not consumable/temporary. I consider all items to be removed rather than bonus content.
7. One extra playable character. Also removed content. Consider all the extra characters you would unlock in old games - especially Disgaea as an easy example. (Of which those bonus characters in Disgaea are all now DLC characters.)
So yeah, a whole lot of content I personally classify as "removed content".
Now for the more offensive take away I had from the devs/pubs promo stream. When asked about DLC they kept saying "We'll announce that at a later date!" ie: we're not telling you before the game is launched so go buy it without knowing!
The devs however accidentally gave away the full list of DLC because as I mention above the game popped up notices of all the DLC being added when they launched the game. Which is not what they wanted based on their refusal to actually talk about DLC prior.
What this tells me is that, whether intentionally or not, they were passing off a fully DLC loaded game as the base game you would get with your 60-80 dollar purchase. IE: intentionally or not, they were attempting to engage in false advertising. If Compile Heart's basic game design didn't throw all those pop-ups on the screen, who would have known all those extra costumes were DLC? That the items you started the game off with weren't what you would REALLY start the game off with? That those extra quests would not ever become available? That those items, XP-boosting item, cool extra weapons and equipment, would never be found as you played? (Or found only after doing the most insane of requirements, etc) and the list would go on.
So. For the DLC state of the game alone, I'm passing on this game permanently. I have WAY too much to play already purchased. I'm never going to miss it, and I think my 80+ bucks can be better spent on other things. But for their attempt at avoiding the DLC issue in their promo stream only to be ratted out by the game itself and their potential attempt to show the game as something more than what you will get if you pay the full price tag, I'm boycotting Compile Heart and Idea Factory games in general for at least a year or so. Again. 9_9
For those who don't care about that and buy and play and enjoy the game anyway - go for it. Just don't whine about the missing content or level/gold grind if you refuse to buy the DLC. And if you buy the DLC, don't whine about the cost.
The main game seems to play similarly to games like .hack and probably SAO - games where you're in another game. This one apparently tries to have you go through multiple game genres and the "real world". So I thought that was interesting enough to at least consider. But not until I saw what kinds of things they ripped out of the game to offer separately.
It's important to note I've been playing jrpg titles since the NES. And while the NES and SNES flavor hold little similarity to what these games do, the best way to determine if they're lacking "basic features" is to compare them to PS2 jrpgs. (As seriously I see very little innovation overall past that era - graphics look nicer, sound is generally still ok, but I'll be honest there's a lot of repetition and stagnation. If you like how jrpgs were back then, then this isn't a negative in and of itself. And I don't particularly mind how they were back then - so long as the story is at least trying to be somewhat unique on it's own somehow and the battle system isn't a colossal screwup (I'm looking at you Ar Tonelico 3!) then I can play through it and feel like I've gotten my money's worth. Usually.
When it comes to looking at the DLC for new JRPGs I look at what types of things were commonly available as bonuses or extras. I also look at if they do the common "item set/stat set/etc" DLC. You know - the one time limited set of consumable items you'll be given at the start of the game. This is harder to judge with new series starting on the DLC-able systems but are so blatantly obvious when you're dealing with a series that started on the PS2 or earlier. (I'm looking at you Disgaea!)
This game is pretty much new, so I just end up assuming if the DLC is of the type of shit that use to be common additives in old games but are now routinely cut out at launch (or offered as preorder bonuses) that it's been cut out of this as well. As otherwise it just means the game was inferior to start with.
So here's the type of DLC shown in this game that was -accidentally- released by the developers during a promo stream of the game. Basically when starting the game Compile Heart games tend to reveal what DLC was added. Oops! So much for "announcing it later". More on this after the breakdown.
1. Character Costumes - There's apparently 12 of these in the DLC for the main character(s). I can't even tell you how expensive they are offhand because the 4-5 of them that are currently listed on PSN are showing it as "unavailable".
2. Bonus areas - There are two of these. I consider this gutted content entirely since it would usually be akin to extra stages unlocked in a games epilogue. (Consider Lunar 2 and the various stages in Disgaea 1.)
3. Item Sets. 6 different item sets. one or two of them are free, the others are being sold for a buck or two each depending on your country of origin. These tell me two things. 1. The game is badly balanced so that you need the starting crutch of items, or the game was deliberately balanced to make these item sets desirable if not needed. 2. The game has probably had it's item drop rates, or shop prices/xp/gold-drops adjusted to make them desirable. (kinda goes with the second half of #1 really but from a different angle.) Devs of course will say "Oh no! we never did anything like that!" but can you really trust them at their word? You'd really have to play through the game twice from scratch and ask yourself how much more of a grind was it to go without the item drops.
4. There's an xp boost item. This immediately sets off a red flag for me, making me think they deliberately set the XP gains too low. Even if you could get the game for free by playing the game, and getting it only near the end of the game. Meaning you had to deal with the xp nerf the entire game.
5. 1 hidden boss. Yeah, no. It's not "hidden", it's "removed". So I count these things as optional bosses and as removed content. Hell consider the original Final Fantasy's "Warmech". A randomly encountered boss you could meet in the final bridge leading to Tiamat. Power-wise Warmech was probably on par with Tiamat if not stronger. This boss is one of two DLC quests. IE: they cut quests out.
6. A bunch of weapons/equipment. Basically these are treated the same as item sets, just not consumable/temporary. I consider all items to be removed rather than bonus content.
7. One extra playable character. Also removed content. Consider all the extra characters you would unlock in old games - especially Disgaea as an easy example. (Of which those bonus characters in Disgaea are all now DLC characters.)
So yeah, a whole lot of content I personally classify as "removed content".
Now for the more offensive take away I had from the devs/pubs promo stream. When asked about DLC they kept saying "We'll announce that at a later date!" ie: we're not telling you before the game is launched so go buy it without knowing!
The devs however accidentally gave away the full list of DLC because as I mention above the game popped up notices of all the DLC being added when they launched the game. Which is not what they wanted based on their refusal to actually talk about DLC prior.
What this tells me is that, whether intentionally or not, they were passing off a fully DLC loaded game as the base game you would get with your 60-80 dollar purchase. IE: intentionally or not, they were attempting to engage in false advertising. If Compile Heart's basic game design didn't throw all those pop-ups on the screen, who would have known all those extra costumes were DLC? That the items you started the game off with weren't what you would REALLY start the game off with? That those extra quests would not ever become available? That those items, XP-boosting item, cool extra weapons and equipment, would never be found as you played? (Or found only after doing the most insane of requirements, etc) and the list would go on.
So. For the DLC state of the game alone, I'm passing on this game permanently. I have WAY too much to play already purchased. I'm never going to miss it, and I think my 80+ bucks can be better spent on other things. But for their attempt at avoiding the DLC issue in their promo stream only to be ratted out by the game itself and their potential attempt to show the game as something more than what you will get if you pay the full price tag, I'm boycotting Compile Heart and Idea Factory games in general for at least a year or so. Again. 9_9
For those who don't care about that and buy and play and enjoy the game anyway - go for it. Just don't whine about the missing content or level/gold grind if you refuse to buy the DLC. And if you buy the DLC, don't whine about the cost.