Tale

World of Warcraft and Team Fortress also combine random items with token systems so you can buy what you want, crafting so you can buy what you want with an alternate currency, and some form of trading so you can trade for what you want. They're proven mechanics to make people feel like they have power over their progression and that it's not all a grind that exists solely to keep them playing.

I doubt Sony would follow suit. They would crush Microsoft if Microsoft goes through with it and they don't.

NWN holds a special place in my heart as one of the only games I can't really discuss without slipping into an incomprehensible rant. Which is why this will be brief. Dragon Age 2 has far more redeeming qualities in my eyes.

So I reinstalled Mass Effect 3. Thought I'd check out all the new classes for multiplayer and see if they may get me interested in it again. Right after it was done installing, I looked up the new classes on the wiki. "Oh... so the juggernaut's just another soldier. That's just a... nevermind." And uninstalled it before actually playing again. Good thing I don't have download caps.

I just did CTRL+F for "evil" on all three pages of this thread. Page 1: Not found. Page 2: 1 instance. Someone mentioning that EA is singled out because everyone else thinks EA is evil. Page 3: You. So here we have a three page discussion that includes people disliking what EA is doing and not one of them is calling EA an evil empire for it. What seems silly to me is that you're either misrepresenting those who disagree with it, or you're cherry picking parts of the audience that aren't even present in order to dismiss the discussion. Who are you arguing with here? Similar to "evil," nobody in this thread has said that EA needs to die. What point are you making by pointing at people that aren't even involved in our discussion? That's not far removed from bringing up the developers that fell under EA's management. It strikes me as simply trying to win over sympathies with off-topic commentary.

I'm with Sterling, I don't see how point out that people buy it or that it's consumerism is a defense. That's not a good thing, it is, at best, neutral. And given that what they want and what I want are in disagreement in this context, I can slide that neutral into negative without any qualms. When a company does something people disagree with, they are right to express their opinions.

I get to be a dragon.

Personally, I agree with you. I don't think the entire audience would. The mindset of "hours vs. cost" is one aspect that is completely product driven. Or the requests for sequels and franchises. Probably the biggest segment of the market views it as a product to be consumed, then tossed aside for the next one to come along.

I'm going to be skeptical that you've played that sparingly. I played pretty hardcore through the expansion that introduced Geth and I barely unlocked the Geth Engineer. And none of his extra customizations. It's absolutely sickening that my progression for the character and his weapons is dependent on a random number generator that I have to grind through. The game wasn't even fun enough to grind out the rest. But, like with lots of people, I felt like I needed to get it. You're frugal so you don't buy it. I'm frugal, so I stopped playing entirely. It's not a good game design to sucker in the people who can afford to toss around money without consideration by making progression obnoxious for everyone. I'm not even strictly against microtransactions. But that's not just microtransactions. If they'd had a way to buy what I wanted (and not used those stupid Bioware points), I would have even considered giving them money to support extra content. But it's a lottery. Which is a step too far in my opinion.

Yeah, you buy the best packs, but so what, that doesn't ensure you unlock what you want to. So you need to grind more. And more. And more. Another half a dozen here, another half a dozen there. Supplement, not replace. One pack is not going to do squat for you. You could need tons of packs, perhaps even hundreds, to really get what you want. It's an obnoxious grind. And using real money can help the grind speed up a bit.

If it results in more games having an unlock/progression system like Mass Effect 3 multiplayer's, then I won't even be tempted to buy EA games again. I seriously hate that system as much as I possibly can hate a game system. It's like one step removed from F2P "energy." Not back or forwards, just to the side.

Decided to play Divinity 2. Which was causing me no end of trouble (first time install, long startup load, oops, my anti-virus thinks it's stealing my identity because it has an autorun.exe, now my anti-virus is stuck trying to update exceptions, now my anti-virus seems to have gotten rid of the exe in spite of the exception, steam needs to validate) so I started playing Very Hard in Metal Gear Rising instead.

Boredom. I do some drinking every few months (I think it's been over a year in this case) just to see if I can understand the subtleties of alcohol better. But that does remind me, I have some character research to do on this very subject.

Discriminating taste is bought with experience. Mine is limited. I'm used to Jack Daniels. I bought Jameson. I can't tell you the difference. The concept of it having bite, let alone the bite having some sort of ancillary descriptor, is completely lost on me.

I drank too much and tried figuring out supporting cast for this novel I've been stuck on. I discovered I can't tell the difference between Irish Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey. The novel I'm working on has squat for real supporting cast, which I realized is probably the big problem I have with it. One guy running around doing stuff with nobody to bounce off of is just kind of dull. I mean, I have a partner character, but am holding off on bringing him in until a third of the way through and the client doesn't do anything. So there needs to be some roles fulfilled.

Finished up LEGO Lord of the Rings. If you're not already familiar, it's pretty much the definition of a time waster. The LEGO games have a very childlike charm to them that I think even adults can appreciate, but it's not something you're going to feel fulfilled playing. Just amused and entertained.

How can they not realize it already? It's on the Citadel. The Citadel blows up in two of three endings. Hard to have DLC after the game there.

I beat Metal Gear Rising: Reveangence. Best new game I've played this year, but on reflection, I think it's the only 2013 release I've played so far. So... off to a good start? Anyway, the story needed another pass before finalizing. R-00 is irrelevant. R-01 is irrelevant. R-02 through R-04 are one plot. R-05 through R-07 are another plot. The connecting fabric being the same bad guys. But their four different plans seem unrelated. Now to decide what to do next. I started an MGS 2 HD run I should finish. I would also like to unlock some more stuff and do some upgrades, maybe try Very Hard on MGSRR. Or I could go back to Of Orcs and Men.

Still playing Metal Gear Rising. R-05 and beyond seem rushed. Heck, R-05 is only 5 minutes long with no boss. R-06 is only a boss. R-07 is about 6 minutes long, then the final boss, so it's not too bad given the boss is a long one. Still rather like it, but the quality drop is significant.

The Fox Blade (which seems like it might be a reskinned armor breaker) is overpowered in Metal Gear Rising. I see now why the Armor Breaker is probably among the last weapons people would normally get. I haven't even upgraded its special ability and it kills normal cyborgs outright.

I hope it's better than Pinnacle Station, since a lot of the themes seem similar. "More Closure" sounds good, so cautiously optimistic here. Not sure where the hell it's going to fit in the timeline... No Legion romance, no buy.

Metal Gear Rising A(@$#%@)#%_) Mastifs. I just dealt with some gliders around a hammer dude. The problem with gliders is they don't get targeted well, so they just pound with with missiles from off screen. In this particular encounter, when you do finally manage to deal with them, they start dropping Mastifs. Which, in an enclosed space and with two at once, is harder for me than the boss fights.

Undergraduate Liberal Arts Education Oh man.

Well, EA wasn't. The Crysis 2 DLC wasn't even available on Origin. It was exclusive to Gamespy. It was an EA partners game. EA was operating as the retail distributor. Same deal Valve does.

They tried to do it with PS3. Portal 2 is the game they actually have that with, you get a redemption code for Steam if you buy it on PS3 and you have to sync up your PSN account.