• Esoteir [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      yeah i didn’t see any outrage at helldivers 2 locking a majority of the new content each update behind a monthly ten dollar battle pass microtransaction lmao

      • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        7 months ago

        In better detail, more plainly:

        • game by Sony

        • always online

        • has PSN integration on platforms other than Playstation stealth-required later

        • has microtransaction garbage involved

        I just don’t get why anybody would choose to engage with this, especially any game that’s trying to fleece you for pocket change or that they can shut off randomly. But okay, I guess everyone’s just furious at me today.

        • sloth [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          7 months ago

          Game is made by an Indie Studio, backed and published by Kusony.

          Always online is problematic, true.

          This PSN requirement recently backdoored in is the main problem.

          The micro-transaction items are inconsequential and also achievable for free pretty quickly, maybe 20-30 hours playtime for each tier. If one person on a squad picks up a “currency” everyone else gets the same amount automatically upon extraction.

          • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            7 months ago

            It becomes a Sony game at that point, subject to the publisher’s whims.

            People always say this about mtx, but like why is the option to pay there in the first place? People with addictive tendencies will get sucked into paying anyway right? What if this CDN$50 game just did not have mtx, what then? /gen

            • sloth [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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              7 months ago

              You aren’t wrong, but I don’t want to give Kusony credit for “making” a great game. Arrowhead made it.

              As far as the MTX I think it costs $10 for each new tier of stuff. I think there are only 4-5 tiers so maximum $50 for all the extras, and its not like you have to keep buying game money to keep opening random chests, everything is upfront. Additionally, all the extra gear/weapons aren’t any better then the starter stuff, just different. They are basically DLC packs you have the option of buying outright or getting for free.

              I wouldn’t normally argue about games these days, but Arrowhead’s approach of including MTX and also making it totally optional and unobtrusive is an exception to the rule.

                • sloth [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                  7 months ago

                  I don’t even think of it like a normal Micro-Transaction, I think of it like acquiring tickets I can redeem for DLC if I want to. It really doesn’t effect the game at all, it may be the best implementation I’ve ever seen.

                  I honestly didn’t even know there was a purchasable currency system until I’d played for a week or two, by then I already had 3/4 the amount I needed to unlock a new tier of gear. Each new tier costs 1000 credits, you can find 0-100 credits on each mission, depending on how much of the map you explore. Missions take 45 minutes maximum.

                  I shouldn’t even be saying tiers, they are more like collections.

        • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          7 months ago

          Wow, don’t think their aggressive reaction was warranted damn

          Personally I really do enjoy playing HD2. A lot of fun playing with my partner and a couple friends, the microtransactions are available for in game cash (still would prefer them not to exist but yeah), and they don’t FOMO time restrict their “battle pass” unlocks. Absolutely understand why you would choose not to play it though, the always online is a huge problem with the industry right now. I had no idea about the PSN requirement until it became mandatory, and tbh I didn’t even realize it was sony beforehand…I’m not the most observant >_>

          • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            7 months ago

            Gamer fury ig heated-gamer-moment

            Yeah that’s what confuses me, like isn’t the AccursedFarms guy on an ad campaign against just this type of thing right now? Also imo a paid game should never have mtx, publisher greed. At least there’s not much fomo…

            Honestly the game kind of looks like new Lost Planet, and I would really want a New Lost Planet. But I can go boot up LP1 and 2 on 360 right now and play em, fifteen years later, will it be the same with Helldivers II??

            • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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              7 months ago

              100% this game is not even close to the ideal, and I wish they didn’t have any mtx. Ross Scott is running the stop killing games campaign and it’s getting surprisingly popular, which yeah does raise the question why so many of the angry gamers aren’t mad about the fundamental issue of always online software.

              Also yeessssss please, another lost planet. I would’ve been playing LP2 with my partner like right now if the GFWL and connection issues weren’t such a pain in the ass to get around. I will admit HD2 does feel a lot like a less jank lost planet but it isn’t quite the same.

              • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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                7 months ago

                Uncritical support to Ross, I guess it isn’t surprising that not every gamer has principles like that though. Most people just view games as entertainment, so who cares right? I played Evolution Studios’ Onrush while it was online, and it’s a great atypical car combat game but what did they do? Shut it down. At least I can still play it solo against bots, but when that game came out, and when I looked at stuff like 1991’s Neverwinter Nights, I decided never to engage with a game that can just be shut off.

                Yeah I own LP2 on PC, but I also have a 360 copy so I can coop it, which shouldn’t have to be the case, fuck GFWL. Sucks there’s no new LP…

    • Babs [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      When the game launched, if you played on PS5 you needed a PSN account and if you played on PC the game encouraged you to make one and link it, but it was optional.

      New patch made doing so mandatory. Tiny inconvenience for PC players in regions where you can make a free PSN account (basically everywhere except parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, and tiny island nations/colonies), but if you live in one of those regions without PSN access, or refuse to make and link a PSN account, you can no longer play the game. It has also been removed from the Steam storefront in regions without PSN.

      This has led to review-bombing and a lot of very angry gamers, most of whom the problem doesn’t actually affect but who still see it as representative of shitty media industry practices. Like how last December, Sony lost access to their license for Discovery content and removed access to paid content for users.

      Helldivers was made by a small studio using a big company’s resources to make it cross-platform, but now that big company is making very unpopular business decisions for them.

      • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Most of whom the problem doesn’t actually affect.

        Sony has an abysmal data security track record. By forcing everyone to provide a bunch of data to Sony (when it’s been obvious for months that it isn’t a technical requirement, and when their own website says that account linking when playing Sony released games on a PC is optional) everyone who wants to continue playing must now agree to have their data leaked just to pad the publisher’s account numbers.

        • MiraculousMM [he/him, any]@hexbear.netM
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          7 months ago

          This is the biggest issue that a lot of these angry gamers aren’t even talking about. If you look at the last ~15 years or so, Sony has suffered a major data breach every like 1.5 years, why the hell should anyone trust them? And you know this new requirement is gonna grab the attention of bad actors who know that hundreds of thousands or millions of new accounts will be made, ripe for the picking.

      • sloth [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        7 months ago

        Apparently only 69 countries offer PSN accessibility, the game has been purchased in dozens of countries beyond those. These players cannot play a game they bought, using a VPN will get you banned from PSN.

  • RedundantClam [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    7 months ago

    I got tired of the gameplay loop a few weeks ago. My diver is on on their super destroyer sipping mai tais with Eagle 1 and Pelican 1 somewhere over a planet on the old bot front.