Gaelic-_-Flame said:I don't know. I've played plenty of games with microtransactions like these, that weren't affected in the least. That includes some JRPGs where you could buy money or levels or some items, and JRPGs are very easy to be made drawn out and grindy, yet they weren't. One example is Tales series, which had microtransactions for "shortcutting" the game for quite awhile now.
And yes, it can be abused, and it can be made to ruin the game, but from the games I played so far (F2P games excluded, because that's usually their only income), I don't recall any that were made unnecessary grindy. We'll see how it goes with DMC5, but I'm not too worried about it. And if it helps developers make some extra moneys, to make more quality games, then I'm all for it.
By definition, you cannot possibly know if the microtransactions effected the balance or pacing of the games you mentioned because they where there from the start. They could have been considerably improved without the microtransactions, and the fact that there even exists a feature to "skip the grind" in any game, tells me the developer expects me to find their game boring, repetitive, and an overall waste of my time. So why the fuck am I paying them for it.
You're nothing but a corporate shill if you're accepting of this so the "developers make some extra money". They don't need extra money, they need a sense of fucking decency. Video games is one of the single fastest growing industries on the goddamn planet, with literally hundreds of millions of customers paying for premium entertainment in a society where such things are increasingly more mainstream. Video games have eclipsed HOLLYWOOD as the largest entertainment industry ever! That should tell you something and it's important so I'll make it obvious.
ANY AAA GAME DEVELOPER WHO SAYS THEY NEED MICROTRANSACTIONS TO MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO BE PROFITABLE IS FUCKING LYING TO YOU!!!This should not be controversial and it should be common knowledge but perhaps not. The fact is if you make a game and make it well, you will make money. The new Spider-Man sold massively well; why, because they put in effort, honest to god really fucking effort. A game was actually made with the intention of being a fun and rewarding game FIRST! Is it perfect? Hell no, it has some major pacing issues, really generic forced stealth sections, and relies a bit to heavily of repetitive collect-a-thon mechanics. But it's a really good game, a solid 8/10. Not a single microtransaction in the whole game. There's a complete story, great mechanics, and an actual sense of progression. And the developer is making BANK! Look a CD Projekt Red. One of the best developers out there. They make the Witcher 3, a fantastic RPG with no microtransactions at all and one of the largest, most in depth, and most rewarding game worlds to explore. Then when it come the time to make DLC, it was reasonably sized, high quality, and fairly priced. They even released both a physical disc based version on PC (literally the only physical AAA game on PC released in about 8 years), and a completely DRM-free version on GOG. They made money because their game was worth paying for.
That's how you make video games. You make something worth a flying fuck instead of a cash grab casino simulator. Mark my words Devil May Cry 5 with suck and it'll be the microtransactions that kill it.