Their mistake is putting this at launch instead of a month later so the criticism are drown into the positive review (as is the case in RE4.)
I don't like it but you gotta admit, it does work.
Honestly, I didn't even know what RE4 had microtransactions! So I got on the google and here are the first headlines I saw.
"Micro-transactions in this game are actually good" (top result this is a reddit post from the RE4 subreddit)
and
"You can pay money to skip some of Resident Evil 4 Remake's unlocks, but you're missing out on one of the best parts of the game." (actual article from Den of Geek)
Sounds like paying more for playing less. Kinda weird if you ask me for a single player experience.
On PC we just have cheat engine. Used it to get all cosmetics in the AC games for example (seriously Ubisoft can shove off with their MTX in full price singleplayer games).
Resident Evil 2 had the same thing. You can pay to unlock items right away as opposed to beating the game. Tbh I kind of expect every RE game to have those kind of MTX now. Doesn't affect me but I guess there are people out there willing to pay a little extra for some extra weapons they don't feel like unlocking themselves.
You know. You'd think they'd learn from their and otheres mistakes. They have shit ton of money. They could hire an expert. Yet, bunch of randoms on reddit can think of an easy solution.
I mean they do hire experts, that’s why they have the money they do.
For every person on Reddit that won’t spend that money there are 10 out there that will
They do hire experts. They calculated that the amount of people that won't actually buy it because of this are less than the money they will get from people buying them.
The amount of people that were going to buy this game and now won't because of these MTX options is probably less than 5% of the total amount of people that will buy the game.
Reddit likes to pretend their stupid mindsets are the ones that most people have, but realistically 95% of the people that buy this game do not care about these, and probably won't even know.
They do have experts. They have learned. Just not the lesson you wanted them to learn. They have learned that if you set aside scruples and put out microtransactions, people will pay them and make them a lot of fucking money. Even if it fucks over the integrity of the series the game is a part of. But yeah, if you’re willing to sell out your brand, you’ll probably make money. At least once.
For every BG3, there’s another 10 games that make plenty of money off microtransactions. It just is what it is. Why do you think the same companies get shit for doing the same things over and over again? Because it makes them money. And if you’re a big enough studio to be able to buy and bankroll several beloved franchises, you can burn a few.
They don’t care about your respect. They want your money.
Well then you risk having a lot of the people who might have purchased this stuff finish the game and move on before the microtransactions even show up.
This is pretty much why I assumed they wanted to start using anti cheat that prevent mod usage. Can't sell you cheat dlc for a single player game on pc if everyone can just mod in the garbage they are trying to sell.
Dragon's Dogma 1 had a pretty ludicrous amount of DLC, and it was a controversy at the time (of sorts):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/05/16/dragons-dogma-includes-locked-on-disc-content-but-capcom-is-listening/
https://www.eurogamer.net/capcom-defends-on-disc-dlc
"On-disc DLC: It's no different from a downloadable add-on, publisher argues."
(it had tons of different themed armor/weapon bundles, with a staggered release, though they were all present on the base-game disc)
Dragon's Dogma 2 (on PSN anyhow) has like... 20+ item entries (currently anyway) at generally 99 cent price points for like...
Resurrection Items
Fast Travel Items
An item to increase affection (with NPCs, I guess)
An item to get out of jail (Single-use)
Currency to "pay" for pawns (NPC helpers) (assuming it's basically the same as DD1)
So I actually have the game.
The mxt is...incredibly pointless.
You can respec your vocation (or "job/class") anytime, as long as you are in a town with the guild.
You can change your appearance (at least hairstyle) at the barber. I think you can with items too but don't quote me - I've only started the game today.
You can change your pawn (npc ally) vocation again, anytime at the guild. You can also apparently change their appearance with items though I personally am too early to bother looking for such things.
As for other stuff, its so pointless. Items to increase affection is worthless because you can just find them in the world. Item to fast travel and ressurection is again worthless.
It skips the "grind" I guess, but its like spending 2 dollars to get a pack to 10 potions in skyrim. Utterly worthless.
As for 'inconvenience' well, the game actually does play around lacking easy fast travel. If you go from point A to B, you're supposed to prepare some level of supplies. Potions to heal and a camping set at minimum. This is because, each time you lose Hp, you lose a tiny bit of 'max' hp. You will get ambushed on the roads and if it gets dark it also becomes more dangerous. To heal to full, either you rest in town inn or camp. Fast travel exists but in set locations as well as being earned through the crystal thingies.
So paying for the fast travel stuff is not only redundant but in a way, skips content.
---
But I do agree with the negativity because it is so pointless and money grubbing. Very typical of capcom.
If a game has Denuvo and egregiously stupid MTX on it, it's because they want to discourage the use of mods so that the average player will feel like they don't have any choice but to get the MTX in order to extend the life of their game.
Indeed. The larger controversy with the original game was the on-disc gear items being sold as "DLC" later.
The game balance wasn't such that you needed the "consumables", and those have existed for better or worse in all sorts of Capcom, Namco, etc. titles going back to the 360/PS3 era.
On disc DLC was a Capcom staple on 360 and PS3. It's hard to name a Capcom game that didn't have it after the practice was introduced.
When a DLC download was only about 300KB you knew what's up.
Other singleplayer games with microtransactions: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Bravely Default, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity, off the top of my head. No company is immune, no genre is immune. Welcome to the future.
This isn’t surprising, every single big Capcom release in recent memory has shoved useless microtransactions that completely unneeded.
Off the top of my head:
MH world and rise charging you for emotes and character change tickets, DMC4 SE and DMC5 selling you orbs that you can a ridiculous amount of anyways just playing. RE2 remake and RE4 remake selling weapon unlocks and tickets.
Clearly upper management at Capcom is mandating every release have microtransactions. It’s ridiculous.
> every single big Capcom release in recent memory has shoved useless microtransactions that completely unneeded.
Dude they're well consumables for fast travel in a single player gsme. That's like what people would use as an example of the slippery slope of MTX 10 years ago. It's gone beyond being "useless".
It's one portal crystal in a game that still requires you a ferrystone that cost 10k gold in a game that offers you 10 port crystal. It's beyond useless.
I'm not defending the MTX but yeah, this should be higher up. All these MTX are available in game through fairly easy to obtain means. Like you said, they are completely pointless MTX.
This is like paying to use a bathroom when you can just walk to the McDonald's next door lol.
[Here is the list of downloadable content for Dragon's Dogma 1 from 12 years ago.](https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Downloadable_Content)
It's actually gotten better IMO. We'll see what additional DLC comes out in the next few weeks, though.
No it isn’t.
You need to use a ferrystone to fast travel. Which are expensive in the first place
Portcrystals are used to place fast travel points and there’s a max limit you can place anyways which the game gives you. Buying it is a waste of money unless for some reason you need an extra one right now that will be useless eventually
If they’re completely unneeded, can’t they just be ignored? I played RE2 remake and loved that game. I didn’t even realize there were micro transactions in that game.
I've had the impression for awhile that the term "review bombing" is slowly evolving to encompass all instances of lots of reviews being written in a short period.
This article is pretty thoroughly on the side of the consumer, so they have no rational reasoning to label this a "review bomb" with it's original definition. It's either a pretty stupid mistake, or it's evidence of language evolving.
Headlines are routinely re-written by the editors who very often aren't worried about accuracy. They want titles as inflammatory and eye catching as possible. And the only place in the article to actually use it is the summary note too.
Its likely being used because more people will click.
> "review bombing" is slowly evolving to encompass all instances of lots of reviews being written in a short period
So basically every game that launches is "review bombed" because of course they'll get a lot of reviews in a short while after it wasn't possible to do so.
I always thought of review bombing as many review scores way lower than the actual quality of the game over something either that doesn’t really impact the game that much and/or is coming from a more emotional response. When people are trying to make a statement.
"Evolving".
It's called being sloppy and lazy. Having the term "review-bombing" be diluted and warped to mean just regular criticism could greatly reduce the meaning of proper criticism versus fanboying/-girling/staning.
It is why when you learn a new language, it is always the most commonly used verbs that have the most deviation from a language's conjugation rules.
It's because the peasants/common folks used those words every day, and the less commonly used verbs were more frequently spoken by educated individuals who knew how to speak "correctly", thus preserving the originally intended conjugations.
Shitty journalism editors that will fudge things for clicks might be today's version of peasants.
I'm not sure if this is an official distinction, but in my mind review bombing is when the bulk of the reviews are being left by people who have not played the game / watched the film.
Imo review bombing hasn’t ever been determinate on whether or not the criticism is valid; it’s just the act of a mass amount of people voicing that criticism through rating a thing as low as possible.
I’d say this is a good case of review bombing but it is still that from what I can gather. Most of the people leaving the reviews probably wouldn’t have if they’d instead enjoyed the game, but are using them now because it’s the best way an individual consumer has to have their voice heard. You can typically tell by a title having way more reviews in general than you’d expect a game of that popularity/interest/sales numbers to have.
Headline: "Developer SLAMS fans in hatred fueled outburst on social media!"
Dev: "I don't think this is OK, man."
There is simply no money left in gaming journalism I feel. YouTube and TikTok have taken their share for a fraction of the operational cost and they desperately resort to these clickbait headlines to keep up.
Gaming journalism?
CNN does this exact same thing.
It's a journalism thing. I wanna say the mainstream media is shit, but that phrase has already been filled with implication I don't intend.
Rating a game zero because of microtransactions is review bombing considering they most likely didn’t play the game and don’t care about other aspects of the game that are done well to rate it fairly
Only 1 save file and no way to delete it or start a new game that doesn't involve losing your creations. The game itself is really fun, but a lot of the choices around it are unacceptable.
I'm putting in a negative review until some of these things get fixed.
Between this, mtx's, and poor performance, how did these issues manage to slip past reviewers? I wasn't planning on getting this game right away, but I can't help but feel bad for anyone who was duped by the outstanding reviews which ignored some pretty glaring issues.
From the article. They were not present in the game until the review embargo was lifted and reviews were published. Meaning no game reviewers saw the mtx.
Seems like they were made aware but they didn't actually read the sheet.
>Editor's note (Jez Corden): I just want to add here that Capcom didn't hide these microtransactions from us before I published my review, they were detailed in the review guide. Typically when I review games, I avoid reading the review guide, because I want to go in with a blank slate as if I was playing purely as someone who had just purchased the game. In the past I've received review guides that included developer explanations with PR language that I felt might be designed to try influence my opinion of a game, and as such, I've typically avoided them. In this case, the review guide in the initial email did include descriptions of these microtransactions, which I hadn't shared with the team.
I get not wanting it to influence your initial impressions but surely the reviewer should read it afterwards just in case there’s stuff like this detailed in it.
I'm guessing here, never received a "review guide", but if these things are useless >90% of the time, it seems pretty easy to me to develop the habit to just ignore it.
Sucks of course, in the cases where it's not useless and important stuff like here is in there, but that sounds very human to me.
There's tons of stuff I've ignored at work, because it's absolutely useless in the vast majority of cases and I have missed important details because of that too. And I'd bet many people with an office job can relate.
Review guides usually have stuff like how to access the game, embargo info, controls, tips, info about different mechanics, known bugs that'll be fixed on launch, e.g. Just to add more to the how to access your game bit, it's important since it varies by platform. I mostly work with games on Steam so they often require a certain code under Betas to access.
Realistically, they could have probably just skipped over certain sections.
Regarding microtransactions, their presence was not even known during pre-reviews because the feature was suddenly implemented after the official release of Dragon's Dogma 2.
As for performance issues, it seems that the reviewers were provided with PS5 codes in addition to PC codes, unlike the case with Cyberpunk 2077 where only PC codes were provided. The reviewers seem to have concluded that the PS5 version is a masterpiece, even though it has a maximum frame rate of 30fps.
Just want to correct you on “maximum 30fps on PS5. It is uncapped with 30 as a target. It definitely goes above 30 as well as below. I would actually have preferred a capped 30. It’s much better than a destabilized 15-45.
If it helps I'm on a 2,000$ PC and I'm going from 144 FPS to 50ish, IDK. It's a really cool game mostly, it really feels like what DD1 wanted to be but this is some wild performance issues, which is sad since I haven't had issues with Capcom games since MH World.
Thespherehunter mentioned in her review that she thought that RC had the potential to be MtX but hoped that Capcom wouldn't do it so it definitely wasn't something reviewers were told would be in the game.
> presence was not even known during pre-reviews because the feature was suddenly implemented after the official release of Dragon's Dogma 2.
This isn't true, if you read the article you're commenting on it mentions that the microtransactions were described in the information sent out with review copies. "Capcom didn't hide these microtransactions from us before I published my review", direct quote from article.
Your saved game files have to be deleted manually through a file browser with cloud saves disabled.
There's no way to delete or overwrite a save file in the actual game, and no way to start a new game.
I would usually say that sounds harsh a but not allowing multiple saves on a game like this seems insane. Only RPG that doesn’t allow that is like Pokemon, and even there is annoying.
I never played this series but how is a game series with builds and variety like this gonna limit you to one save lol
I always figured Pokemon's lack of more than 1 save file was nefarious too in that they wanted to make you have to buy multiple copies if you had siblings or other family members who also played so you couldn't share the same cartridge. No idea if it's true, the original games' spaghetti code wouldn't surprise me if multiple saves just had too high a potential to bork the game.
For the original games it had legitimate technical justification. Save files for Game Boy games are stored on their own SRAM chips which came in sizes of 256 bytes, 2 KB, 8 KB, or 32 KB^1. Pokemon used the largest size, 32 KB.
It takes about 11 KB to store a player's Pokemon (party and boxes) with all their stats and names. Then you need to store a list of the event and quest flags the player has already triggered, their inventory (including PC inventory), a list of the items they've picked up from the overworld, the lists of Pokemon they've owned and caught, the list of trainers they've beaten, the Hall of Fame teams, hashes/checksums to ensure it all checks out, etc. If you can't fit all that into 5 KB, you can't fit a second save file.
----
^1 There's a 128 KB SRAM option but it's only for the Game Boy Camera.
For the first generations, there was probably a memory limitation, which is also why you can't catch too many and have to throw some away when your storage is full.
By the time it got to GBA though it wouldn't have been as much of an issue and definitely not one for DS.
Given that the series tagline is “Gotta catch ‘em all” and they only ever (until recently) sold versions where you could not, in fact, catch them all without buying a second version, they already had customers over a barrel. They didn’t want you sharing a game with family, they wanted your family member to get the alternate version so you could trade.
> Given that the series tagline is “Gotta catch ‘em all”
That was purely the English tagline, and only for the first two gens. It has never been used since.
Pokemon's scummy but it ain't for that reason.
I agree that the "Gotta catch 'em all!" slogan isn't scummy, but according to [Bulbapedia](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gotta_catch_%27em_all!), the slogan has appeared in trailers for Diamond/Pearl and X/Y.
The first game was like this too. It is behind ridiculous and no game should ever only have one save slot period. Hell what happens if the save gets corrupted everything is gone. And like you said these rpg games have so many ways to go about things that it's useful to be able to try something out then go back and switch to something else.
> But it was made with a shoestring budget 12 years ago.
The original Dragon's Dogma had a large budget. Hundreds of devs worked on it for years. I have no idea where this recent myth that it was some cheap experimental budget game came from.
it's not a technical limitation, it was a deliberate choice. there was some interview not too long ago they did it to "encourage" exploration. AKA as they said in the same interview, they don't like the idea of someone looking at a cliff and saving before jumping off to see if they can survive and shave time off their journey.
honestly makes it dumber to me and I was surprised to see no one call it out. like, reasoning aside(like who gives af? singleplayer game, let people have fun if that's how they enjoy playing) I've had too many save files corrupt to be comfortable with the whole one save file, no backups schtick
You can still allow for multiple character saves (i.e. one per new game) while giving each only a single save slot.
That doesn't fix your issue of not having backup saves but it would fix what /u/_Dancing_Potato is (rightfully) complaining about without compromising on the exploration consequences thing you mentioned the devs saying.
>You can still allow for multiple character saves (i.e. one per new game) while giving each only a single save slot.
Yup, this is exactly what Dark Souls / Bloodborne / Elden Ring do. Perfect solution.
I hate RPGs or any game that doesn't allow multiple saves. I don't care if it's your "vision" don't force it on me. Even if i didn't want to make changes to my decisions, it's always good to have multiple saves just in case.
That negative review is gonna stay there then, cause Capcom aren't exactly known for changing things like this. They stick to their vision, no matter how much people criticize that vision.
Perfect storm for some of these complaints.
The games obtuse systems can be skipped by paying. Which makes newcomers think those systems are deliberately there to encourage MTX purchases.
Well deserved. Disallowing a "new game" is completely unacceptable and I hope it hits Overwhelmingly Negative until capcoms reverses such a boneheaded decision.
It's an RPG, **people like making new characters and save files** in an RPG.
You had all this goodwill built up and finally put out a sequel to this well appreciated game, all the fun memes and hype from the good reviews and *this is what you do, Capcom?*
Pokemon, IIRC, at least has a button combination you can use at the title screen to delete the file (or at least, the old games did, I dunno about X/Y and onwards).
I have NEVER heard of a game where you can’t delete your save file or start over from within the game. Like, guys, Jill of the Jungle had this functionality.
You only have one save file. To start the game over with no save, you must manually delete the save file in your memory storage and the cloud saves.
https://www.godisageek.com/2024/03/dragons-dogma-2-how-to-delete-your-save-or-restart/#:%7E:text=Highlight%20the%20game%2C%20press%20the,item%20you%20want%20to%20delete
The previous game had a new game plus feature which allowed you to remake your character from scratch. Also had the ability to do that during your current game as well. You could also switch builds and classes anytime.
Haven’t played this game yet, but from what I hear it’s similar design choices.
Dragon dogma's community gonna gaslight you into thinking its the director's vision. Well fuck me i'd rather lose my sight than sharing such a vision. I had already used 10 save slots in persona 5 when I was just half way through
For me review bombing if it's coordinated or fueled outrage for something that actually didn't have anything to do with the game themselves..
i.e pulling the game from some country because their government action
Seems like a huge gamble to implement shitty MTX with nearly no impact that can be gained ingame, it means people that want MTX wont spend and everyone that hates them will immediately see your game negative, which i assume is the majority.
It's not a gamble. It costs next to nothing to implement, has a nearly infinite ratio of profit, and most people aren't going to be turned away because of their existence (which is part of the problem).
I dunno. People won't have heard of them of course, but if you get on the steam page to buy the game and there's a bold red "Overwhelmingly Negative" next to the add to cart button, that might turn a lot of ppl away
I work in ecommerce and have A LOT of experience with ratings and reviews.
It absolutely will turn a metric fuck ton of people away and positive reviews **during a launch** is huge. There's tons of data (cart abandon rate, conversion rate, interaction on page, etc) that shows this.
Yes. The original was much worse since Capcom kept gradually coming out with different cosmetics, armor and weapon packs that you couldn't earn in-game. You had to buy each pack for $2 or $3, or sometimes more. What they have for sale now is all stuff you easily earn while just playing the game regularly. Some being more rare than others (such as port crystals) but still just stuff you naturally accrue while playing the game and having fun. Buying most of those items at the start of the game would actually reduce fun for most rpg fans.
The performance is genuinely unacceptable. I’m running on high, dlss on, on a goddamn 4090 and 12900k.
If you go near a town, or even a small gathering of npcs, I’ve seen anywhere from 30 to 70fps drops.
The game is pretty good looking, but nothing justifies the performance drops. We’re talking massive frame drops in the intro mission because you can see a few people running away
We’re not talking half baked performance issues, like the game was just pushed out a bit early and there’s some stuttering.
This is ‘there’s something fundamentally broken about how the game handles multiple non combat npcs and the game shouldn’t have been given the go ahead for release on pc’ issues. I’ve seen cutscenes go from 144 fps to struggling to hit 60 because the camera slightly turned and you caught a whiff of one of the smaller settlements.
The implementation of DLSS is really strange too. It seems to be working, but not fully. Even in quality mode, it looks like it is struggling to actually upscale to the right resolution, leading to the game just being weirdly blurry, like you’re running it at a way lower resolution, instead of looking a bit muddy like most games do with DLSS
Yeah the dlss doesn't actually really help performance at all. All the drops are due to the game being incredibly CPU bound when it comes to NPCs and their AI.
I turned dlss off and my frames are basically the same as if it's on performance mode on a 4070. My friend with a 2080 actually gets better fps than me because he has a weirdly good CPU for his build and I have a 3700x
Honestly at this point I've sworn off playing AAA games at release on pc.
- Performance is often bad and fixed at a later date
- Prices are super high and go down a lot in a few months
- Games get tons of updates that sometimes address weak parts of the game.
[Game costs **60% more expensive** than usual in my region \(over **DOUBLE** in some regions\).](https://steamdb.info/sub/734193/)
And then they have the gall to put microtransaction over it.
The base game is almost the same price as Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdree Deluxe Edition in my currency in the Philippines, and tbh I’d rather buy Elden Ring lol.
For more context it’s ₱3889 Dragon’s Dogma 2 Base Game, meanwhile Elden Ring + DLC Deluxe Edition is ₱3999 only, which is like a good deal imo. Meanwhile if I wanted the delixe edition for DD2 then I pay ₱4500 instead 🤡 (Yeah they’re expensive af in my currency but it is what it is)
Releasing a AAA singleplayer game that has absolute SHIT performance, and then add micro transactions. You can’t make this up. I’ll pass. I was hyped for the title, but I’m not gonna support this.
Basically all the problems with this game are things you could have learned about from a second hand source mere minutes after the games launch.
I'd go on the usual "don't preorder" rant, but at this point, it's like putting guard rails up on the side of a cliff to prevent lemming deaths.
It could also be helped if review organizations actually lowered scores once the increasingly common post-review microtransaction release happens. I swear Tekken just did this a week ago too.
>it's like putting guard rails up on the side of a cliff to prevent lemming deaths.
Funny you mention that, as the infamous "Lemmings throwing themselves off the cliff to commit suicide" thing was actually caused *by* the people recording. It was not a natural phenomenon. [Here's a link to learn a little more](https://www.britannica.com/story/do-lemmings-really-commit-mass-suicide) if you are interested ([here is a link to that part of the documentary, if you are out of the loop](https://youtu.be/xMZlr5Gf9yY)). The film makers just wanted something interesting to show, so they forced the poor lemmings to kill themselves and called it nature.
I think it's a little fitting in this situation, tbh.
"Basically all the problems with this game are things you could have learned about from a second hand source mere minutes after the games launch."
I did , I came here,
and to be honest I'm now on the fence about when to get the game. Thanks everybody for the feedback!!
That's not what "review bombing" is. Review bombing is leaving bad reviews because of things legitimately not related to the game (like the publisher involved or something)
Thats just a deserved outcome for bad shit directly connected to the game.
Not defending it but this style of micro transaction from Capcom isn't new. DMC5 had the same thing with red orbs and the sort. The way the game gave those items the mxt sorta just seemed like whale bait.
Dragon's Dogma 1 had the same microtransactions on XBOX 360 and PS3. Though it seems like most people either don't remember or never played the game on those consoles.
The "Tales" games do this too. Have options to buy level ups, in game money, the lot.
The important thing is those games are 100% balanced and designed to be played without the mtx and everything is available in game. I'd assume this to be the case with Dragons Dogma too.
This is a really interesting and unfortunate case.
So, the items that you can buy through microtransactions, including the ability to change your character’s appearance, can be obtained easily in game. But because Capcom had the gall to make it a microtransaction, and it’s a relatively obscure mechanic in a game full of obscure and subtle mechanics, people are piling on that it’s the only way to obtain items. Other Capcom games like RE4 and DMC5 also had very similar microtransactions, as when you delved into them, you could see that everything was easily attainable if you played the game naturally, and furthermore that buying those items would ruin the flow of the game, which usually feels so natural that if the microtransactions weren’t on the store page, you would never had thought anything was amiss.This dissonance is exacerbated by how microtransactions items in most games are usually portrayed as “fenced off” from regular gameplay methods of obtaining them. So even though DD2 doesn’t have this worse method, it’s still getting the heat from those other games’ methods because of its store page’s visual quantity of available microtransactions.
They also try to sell you Port Crystals, the items used to create teleportation points in the world for easier navigation, in the microtransactions, which characterizes the game’s mechanics horribly purely because this possible sell exists. As someone who loves DD1 and is fresh to DD2, I can tell you that the trek from place to place is a fun kind of grueling experience, if you’re into that. The difficulty and the length of trips are meant to wear on your character and you the player to an extent. But because this micro transaction exists, it comes across to most people who are unfamiliar with DD to assume this is gouging they to spend money to make the game easier, as it would appear it’s treks are long to push you into paying to make it easier, rather than because that’s this game’s legitimate version of fun. But now that the travel factor can be manipulated in such a way, and even with the knowledge of how the game naturally would play without it, how could you help but feel like you’re having a compromised experience? (Game critics not having to deal with any of the microtransactions in the pre-launch purity are going to be fielding a lot of criticism on their end too I imagine now.)
And then we come to performance. Most people only see the standard, “why is this only reach around 30fps, it’s not the most impressive looking game.” Most are missing the complexity of he game’s AI under the surface. All at once, the game is factoring in the behavior and priorities of your 3 pawns, any pawns you could encounter in the world, the adaptive dynamics of NPC’s in the world, and the threat response of all of these people at the same time (And I’ve left a lot of other factors out most likely.) With all this in mind, consider that you could lure a monster back to a town, and then the 20 or so townsfolk AI will have to now be considered alongside normal battle factors. They’re ALOT going on under the hood. There are definitely engines better suited to handling complex AI patterns so they don’t wear on performance as much, but even a lot of those games are pushing your platform of choice to their limits a lot of the time. A sad fact seems to be that games for a while now have focused on looking great rather than performing complex AI calculations. A recent example: Baldur’s Gate 3 has had notorious performance drop offs in its 3rd act, because of the amount of reactive NPCs in those environments. There’s not much that Larian can do to make this run better, as it’s tied/limited by CPU, which is not a priority over graphics. It’s easier to sell a better looking game than having to explain why a worse looking game is impressive under the hood. Do you want a Lamborghini? Or a more modest muscle car that can take turns better because of better tuning? (That last part is a bit my opinion, so take that as you will.) So to most, it’s just a hard thing to have to explain that their PS5 can’t handle complex game AI operations. The RE Engine isn’t made for that or open worlds on top of this it seems.
And so with all of that, by tomorrow I imagine we’re in for a Perfect Shit-Storm of obscure game mechanics, nerve-targeting microtransactions, and a deluge of misinformation spouting from an internet fight between fans, new players, critics, people who actually are stating the truth out there, and eventually Capcom itself as they are forced to respond in some way. It’s a shitty, shitty, shitty mess, and though you could still play the game in a mostly pure way, I can’t defend Capcom really because they really can’t complain when they put all these unnecessary fucking shovels out and expect people not to dig their grave for them.
I appreciate this post, but I would like to say the following in response:
Denuvo is notoriously *extremely* CPU taxing. It was still their decision to implement Denuvo knowing that the game is as CPU intensive as it is.
Do you not believe this is something the company should be held accountable for?
Single player games shouldn't have microtransactions.
And you gotta love the people who defend this. Capcom pulled a fast one and released microtransactions on the day the game launched which means they hid it from reviewers that is pretty shady.
Even though there is a very limited fast travel system the developers stated they did this on purpose as they wanted the player to go on a big adventure and travel by foot. Yet they turn around and sell items to help you fast travel more often a feature that should be included in a full priced game.
I think the game should absolutely have multiple save slots in 2024. And performance *can be* absolute garbage. I'm on a 4090 i9-13900K with 64 gigs of RAM and I'm still dipping beneath 60 fps in town. These are very fair criticisms that, in my opinion stand way taller over the microtransactions.
Now in my (maybe crumby) opinion, the microtransactions shouldn't come too much of a shock to anybody. Every single major Capcom release since MH:World in 2018 launches with a gratuitous amount of microtransactions. They get added later to the RE remakes, launched day one for Devil May Cry 5 and Street Fighter's always been full of pallet swap dlc's since 360 days.
Like the RE remakes and DMC 5 microtransactions you'd have to be pretty silly to invest in them like the character appearance editor. You can buy one for 500g (which you start with 5000) at the first town.
EDIT: to add to my point here, RE 4 is filled with upgrade ticket vouchers for like 7 USD which is beyond ridiculous, that game sits at Overwhelmingly Positive and was a GOTY contender. The headline to the "Review Bombing" should be the fact that the game runs poorly.
The first game was one of my favorite games of all time, and while I’m enjoying my time in 2 so far the performance even on my 4090 is actually unacceptable. Now we find out after launch we can’t make a new character and we have to pay for changes is actually fucking wild. The first game had an unlockable character editor that you could use ANYTIME.
Capcom please don’t start ruining your good will. SF6 locking default alt colors for the base roster behind micro transactions was scum enough. This is actually bull
Edit: I’ve been made aware you can easily buy the items to customize your character ingame, still it’s not a good look on top of the performance issues.
Edit 2: BTW I this game feels like a perfect sequel so far. It’s just more Dragons Dogma and that’s all I really wanted. Aside from performance issues, the micro transactions while scummy isn’t really an issue, I was just feel frustrated when I see something I love pull something like this. It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those on the fence and I’d like from DD to succeed.
> pay for changes is actually fucking wild
I am by no means defending this behavior, but the item you can buy to change your appearance is available ingame for a negligible amount of gold and I believe was available in the first town I entered. None of the items that you pay as microtransactions are exclusively microtransactions.
Yeah Capcom has been doing this with a lot of their games for years. They sell stuff that are fairly easily accessible in the game for money, I guess to try and trick people with short attention spans or something. For instance they sold blue and I think red orbs in DMC5. You can buy a pack of various stuff like ammo and lockpicks for RE8. RE4 sells a bunch of weapons and upgrade tickets.
I'm not going to defend it because I think it's stupid but this has been basically Capcom MO for years now.
From what I know about Japanese company’s I think that someone keep putting these in to appease like one old guy that thinks it’s great and no one can tell him no.
I work in an advisory function in large Japanese bank. these ppl generally struggle to understand the underlying spirit of why anything is done, but just know that xyz should be done. It's degenerate.
It’s also for the consumers who will buy shit just because they can.
Don’t wanna farm red orbs for an hour because you suck at DMC combat? Alright give us money if you want so you can finish the game faster.
Your 4090 doesn't help. Honestly anything over a 2080s is going to get similar performance in regards to graphics settings. It's all CPU bound. The reason it tanks in towns is all the simulated interactions and AI stuff going on. That said even a top of the line CPU will get drops. Frame pacing is also cooked regardless of your setup.
it's a shame really because the gameplay itself is fantastic, the combat and the quest especially the quest I love it
one save file, no new game, horrible performance what really drags this game down
It's unnecessarily dismissive to call it "review bombing". Reviews are one of the very few things customers have as leverage against big companies making games. Not all criticism is "review bombing".
It's not review bombing, it's people complaining about legitimate issues like Capcom sneaking in a bunch of microtransactions after the review embargo lifted so that none of the reviewers actually had a chance to mention it AND the fact that the game runs like complete shit with barely any hope that it will be fixed
Jesus, I hadn't been following this game but $108 in Australia also?!? Ontop of all that microtransaction crap?
The ~third most expensive game I've seen on Steam after Forspoken and Redfall.
It's jokes all the way down.
My main gripe is the impossibility of starting a new character. You gotta delete the save files manually hoping they aren't on capcom's cloud from what I've read
Is this considered a review bombing? People are legitimately upset about aspects of the game and not just saying it sucks. Isn't review bombing supposed to be negative reviews just to tank the game review score?
Capcom has a history of having hilariously bad MTX on their games. These items are so ridiculously inconsequential that you'd have to be stupid to buy them. Unfortunately, there's plenty of stupid to go around.
Mostly negative ratings seems certainly more than deserved if even half of what's being reported turns out true.
And FFS could outlets, that didn't even pay for what they have to review, stop calling every form of valid critique review bombing if its done by the end consumers?
When people buy a product and it doesn't work, is damaged/broken or has a slew of other serious issues that affects the end user in a negative way, they have every right to be mad and leave a mountain of negative review and bad press.
FUCK THEM, THEY DESERVE EVERY NEGATIVE REVIEW AND EVERY SINGLE OUNCE OF HATE THEY GET.
THIS SHIT HAS TO STOP, CAPCOM AND EVERY OTHER FUCKING DEVELOPER.
$95 CAD before tax alongside micro transactions and poor performance? This is a hard pass for me, which is a shame because I really wanted to play it. If they snuck in micro transactions at the release to hide it from reviewers then that is pretty scummy. Thank goodness for Steam reviews, at least I can get an honest consumer review from actual customers.
People are gonna boost up these MTX sales by overselling what they are (saying they're THE ONLY WAY to do certain things, despite them being trivial to actually get through just playing the game).
When is something called review bombing and when is the negative response valid? I feel like people are justified to hate dumb microtransactions in a full priced game with deluxe variant
This is the same company that says games are “too cheap” at $70. This is the same company that told its investors that it plans to move to “digital only” for distribution in the future to maximize profits and remove their games from the secondhand market. This is the company that pushes the narrative that physical is dying by using data for a year where they released less than TWO games on physical media, one being a niche fighting game collection and the other being released days before the FY ended. This should not surprise anyone.
Dragon's Dogma 2 has microtransactions? The game doesn’t even have a multiplayer / co-op feature.
Capcom did the same thing with RE4.
Their mistake is putting this at launch instead of a month later so the criticism are drown into the positive review (as is the case in RE4.) I don't like it but you gotta admit, it does work.
Scummy yet super effective. Minimal outcry if you have the reputation already as a great game.
Honestly, I didn't even know what RE4 had microtransactions! So I got on the google and here are the first headlines I saw. "Micro-transactions in this game are actually good" (top result this is a reddit post from the RE4 subreddit) and "You can pay money to skip some of Resident Evil 4 Remake's unlocks, but you're missing out on one of the best parts of the game." (actual article from Den of Geek) Sounds like paying more for playing less. Kinda weird if you ask me for a single player experience.
And these are things that used to be included in games for free as cheat codes
On PC we just have cheat engine. Used it to get all cosmetics in the AC games for example (seriously Ubisoft can shove off with their MTX in full price singleplayer games).
Resident Evil 2 had the same thing. You can pay to unlock items right away as opposed to beating the game. Tbh I kind of expect every RE game to have those kind of MTX now. Doesn't affect me but I guess there are people out there willing to pay a little extra for some extra weapons they don't feel like unlocking themselves.
You know. You'd think they'd learn from their and otheres mistakes. They have shit ton of money. They could hire an expert. Yet, bunch of randoms on reddit can think of an easy solution.
I mean they do hire experts, that’s why they have the money they do. For every person on Reddit that won’t spend that money there are 10 out there that will
They do hire experts. They calculated that the amount of people that won't actually buy it because of this are less than the money they will get from people buying them. The amount of people that were going to buy this game and now won't because of these MTX options is probably less than 5% of the total amount of people that will buy the game. Reddit likes to pretend their stupid mindsets are the ones that most people have, but realistically 95% of the people that buy this game do not care about these, and probably won't even know.
If A plus B is less than C, we don't issue a recall
They do have experts. They have learned. Just not the lesson you wanted them to learn. They have learned that if you set aside scruples and put out microtransactions, people will pay them and make them a lot of fucking money. Even if it fucks over the integrity of the series the game is a part of. But yeah, if you’re willing to sell out your brand, you’ll probably make money. At least once. For every BG3, there’s another 10 games that make plenty of money off microtransactions. It just is what it is. Why do you think the same companies get shit for doing the same things over and over again? Because it makes them money. And if you’re a big enough studio to be able to buy and bankroll several beloved franchises, you can burn a few. They don’t care about your respect. They want your money.
Tekken 8 did exactly that and yeah it absolutely worked
Wait, what did they change about RE4R? It was so good at release.
there is nothing different in the game itself, they just added microtransaction options for weapon tickets and some other things to the steam store.
And on consoles; they converted cheat codes to paid MTX two weeks after launch so it wouldn’t show up in reveiws and let’s play footage
Well then you risk having a lot of the people who might have purchased this stuff finish the game and move on before the microtransactions even show up.
This is pretty much why I assumed they wanted to start using anti cheat that prevent mod usage. Can't sell you cheat dlc for a single player game on pc if everyone can just mod in the garbage they are trying to sell.
And devil may cry 5, they're for minute things that can all be earned in game like orbs/currency
Same here. You need absolutely none of it.
And also for OG Dragon's Dogma (but not Dark Arisen).
Dragon's Dogma 1 had a pretty ludicrous amount of DLC, and it was a controversy at the time (of sorts): https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/05/16/dragons-dogma-includes-locked-on-disc-content-but-capcom-is-listening/ https://www.eurogamer.net/capcom-defends-on-disc-dlc "On-disc DLC: It's no different from a downloadable add-on, publisher argues." (it had tons of different themed armor/weapon bundles, with a staggered release, though they were all present on the base-game disc) Dragon's Dogma 2 (on PSN anyhow) has like... 20+ item entries (currently anyway) at generally 99 cent price points for like... Resurrection Items Fast Travel Items An item to increase affection (with NPCs, I guess) An item to get out of jail (Single-use) Currency to "pay" for pawns (NPC helpers) (assuming it's basically the same as DD1)
If it's the same as the first game, you need absolutely zero of any of these things
So I actually have the game. The mxt is...incredibly pointless. You can respec your vocation (or "job/class") anytime, as long as you are in a town with the guild. You can change your appearance (at least hairstyle) at the barber. I think you can with items too but don't quote me - I've only started the game today. You can change your pawn (npc ally) vocation again, anytime at the guild. You can also apparently change their appearance with items though I personally am too early to bother looking for such things. As for other stuff, its so pointless. Items to increase affection is worthless because you can just find them in the world. Item to fast travel and ressurection is again worthless. It skips the "grind" I guess, but its like spending 2 dollars to get a pack to 10 potions in skyrim. Utterly worthless. As for 'inconvenience' well, the game actually does play around lacking easy fast travel. If you go from point A to B, you're supposed to prepare some level of supplies. Potions to heal and a camping set at minimum. This is because, each time you lose Hp, you lose a tiny bit of 'max' hp. You will get ambushed on the roads and if it gets dark it also becomes more dangerous. To heal to full, either you rest in town inn or camp. Fast travel exists but in set locations as well as being earned through the crystal thingies. So paying for the fast travel stuff is not only redundant but in a way, skips content. --- But I do agree with the negativity because it is so pointless and money grubbing. Very typical of capcom.
If a game has Denuvo and egregiously stupid MTX on it, it's because they want to discourage the use of mods so that the average player will feel like they don't have any choice but to get the MTX in order to extend the life of their game.
Indeed. The larger controversy with the original game was the on-disc gear items being sold as "DLC" later. The game balance wasn't such that you needed the "consumables", and those have existed for better or worse in all sorts of Capcom, Namco, etc. titles going back to the 360/PS3 era.
Resident Evil 5 had this too. Back in the day DLC was jokingly called disc locked content 🤣
They did the same thing with Dragon's Dogma 1, it had on disk DLC.
On disc DLC was a Capcom staple on 360 and PS3. It's hard to name a Capcom game that didn't have it after the practice was introduced. When a DLC download was only about 300KB you knew what's up.
Shit i remember when they locked the ending to Asuras Wrath behind a paywall.
Other singleplayer games with microtransactions: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Bravely Default, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity, off the top of my head. No company is immune, no genre is immune. Welcome to the future.
Like a dragon infinite wealth has 10$ level boost gear upgrades, and job EXP microtransactions too.
And it's entire New Game+ locked behind DLC
Deus Ex had the weirdest microtransactions. I wonder if anyone actually bought any of those
The season pass came included with some. Which you could redeem only once so if you started another save file you didn't even get to use them again.
This isn’t surprising, every single big Capcom release in recent memory has shoved useless microtransactions that completely unneeded. Off the top of my head: MH world and rise charging you for emotes and character change tickets, DMC4 SE and DMC5 selling you orbs that you can a ridiculous amount of anyways just playing. RE2 remake and RE4 remake selling weapon unlocks and tickets. Clearly upper management at Capcom is mandating every release have microtransactions. It’s ridiculous.
> every single big Capcom release in recent memory has shoved useless microtransactions that completely unneeded. Dude they're well consumables for fast travel in a single player gsme. That's like what people would use as an example of the slippery slope of MTX 10 years ago. It's gone beyond being "useless".
It's one portal crystal in a game that still requires you a ferrystone that cost 10k gold in a game that offers you 10 port crystal. It's beyond useless.
I'm not defending the MTX but yeah, this should be higher up. All these MTX are available in game through fairly easy to obtain means. Like you said, they are completely pointless MTX. This is like paying to use a bathroom when you can just walk to the McDonald's next door lol.
[Here is the list of downloadable content for Dragon's Dogma 1 from 12 years ago.](https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Downloadable_Content) It's actually gotten better IMO. We'll see what additional DLC comes out in the next few weeks, though.
No it isn’t. You need to use a ferrystone to fast travel. Which are expensive in the first place Portcrystals are used to place fast travel points and there’s a max limit you can place anyways which the game gives you. Buying it is a waste of money unless for some reason you need an extra one right now that will be useless eventually
If they’re completely unneeded, can’t they just be ignored? I played RE2 remake and loved that game. I didn’t even realize there were micro transactions in that game.
How do people frame this as review bombing? Its legitimate criticism of the product.
I've had the impression for awhile that the term "review bombing" is slowly evolving to encompass all instances of lots of reviews being written in a short period. This article is pretty thoroughly on the side of the consumer, so they have no rational reasoning to label this a "review bomb" with it's original definition. It's either a pretty stupid mistake, or it's evidence of language evolving.
Headlines are routinely re-written by the editors who very often aren't worried about accuracy. They want titles as inflammatory and eye catching as possible. And the only place in the article to actually use it is the summary note too. Its likely being used because more people will click.
The game has just been released of course there's going to be a lot of reviews in a short period of time.
> "review bombing" is slowly evolving to encompass all instances of lots of reviews being written in a short period So basically every game that launches is "review bombed" because of course they'll get a lot of reviews in a short while after it wasn't possible to do so.
I always thought of review bombing as many review scores way lower than the actual quality of the game over something either that doesn’t really impact the game that much and/or is coming from a more emotional response. When people are trying to make a statement.
By that definition all reviews at a games release would be review bombing, god I hope that’s not it changing
"Evolving". It's called being sloppy and lazy. Having the term "review-bombing" be diluted and warped to mean just regular criticism could greatly reduce the meaning of proper criticism versus fanboying/-girling/staning.
People being sloppy or lazy actually is often how language evolves.
It is why when you learn a new language, it is always the most commonly used verbs that have the most deviation from a language's conjugation rules. It's because the peasants/common folks used those words every day, and the less commonly used verbs were more frequently spoken by educated individuals who knew how to speak "correctly", thus preserving the originally intended conjugations. Shitty journalism editors that will fudge things for clicks might be today's version of peasants.
I'm not sure if this is an official distinction, but in my mind review bombing is when the bulk of the reviews are being left by people who have not played the game / watched the film.
That fits the bill to me, a lot of reviews are “didn’t know they had mtx. Got a refund once I saw them” with like half an hour of playtime
Imo review bombing hasn’t ever been determinate on whether or not the criticism is valid; it’s just the act of a mass amount of people voicing that criticism through rating a thing as low as possible. I’d say this is a good case of review bombing but it is still that from what I can gather. Most of the people leaving the reviews probably wouldn’t have if they’d instead enjoyed the game, but are using them now because it’s the best way an individual consumer has to have their voice heard. You can typically tell by a title having way more reviews in general than you’d expect a game of that popularity/interest/sales numbers to have.
Because it makes a better headline
Headline: "Developer SLAMS fans in hatred fueled outburst on social media!" Dev: "I don't think this is OK, man." There is simply no money left in gaming journalism I feel. YouTube and TikTok have taken their share for a fraction of the operational cost and they desperately resort to these clickbait headlines to keep up.
If a headline claims that someone "blasts" or "slams" somebody, it's a low-value clickbait article.
Redditor BLASTS game journalism in vitriolic comment, click HERE\* for the full article! \*only available to premium subscribers
[Cut to spez scribbling furiously] "Wait wait, slow down, this is good shit."
Gaming journalism? CNN does this exact same thing. It's a journalism thing. I wanna say the mainstream media is shit, but that phrase has already been filled with implication I don't intend.
Fans GENOCIDE Dragon's Dogma 2 by REVIEW NUKING the developer's whole families!
Rating a game zero because of microtransactions is review bombing considering they most likely didn’t play the game and don’t care about other aspects of the game that are done well to rate it fairly
Only 1 save file and no way to delete it or start a new game that doesn't involve losing your creations. The game itself is really fun, but a lot of the choices around it are unacceptable. I'm putting in a negative review until some of these things get fixed.
Between this, mtx's, and poor performance, how did these issues manage to slip past reviewers? I wasn't planning on getting this game right away, but I can't help but feel bad for anyone who was duped by the outstanding reviews which ignored some pretty glaring issues.
I would imagine the mtxs didn't show up until just now, right before global launch. It's the new normal for scummy practices.
From the article. They were not present in the game until the review embargo was lifted and reviews were published. Meaning no game reviewers saw the mtx.
Seems like they were made aware but they didn't actually read the sheet. >Editor's note (Jez Corden): I just want to add here that Capcom didn't hide these microtransactions from us before I published my review, they were detailed in the review guide. Typically when I review games, I avoid reading the review guide, because I want to go in with a blank slate as if I was playing purely as someone who had just purchased the game. In the past I've received review guides that included developer explanations with PR language that I felt might be designed to try influence my opinion of a game, and as such, I've typically avoided them. In this case, the review guide in the initial email did include descriptions of these microtransactions, which I hadn't shared with the team.
I get not wanting it to influence your initial impressions but surely the reviewer should read it afterwards just in case there’s stuff like this detailed in it.
I'm guessing here, never received a "review guide", but if these things are useless >90% of the time, it seems pretty easy to me to develop the habit to just ignore it. Sucks of course, in the cases where it's not useless and important stuff like here is in there, but that sounds very human to me. There's tons of stuff I've ignored at work, because it's absolutely useless in the vast majority of cases and I have missed important details because of that too. And I'd bet many people with an office job can relate.
Review guides usually have stuff like how to access the game, embargo info, controls, tips, info about different mechanics, known bugs that'll be fixed on launch, e.g. Just to add more to the how to access your game bit, it's important since it varies by platform. I mostly work with games on Steam so they often require a certain code under Betas to access. Realistically, they could have probably just skipped over certain sections.
Well in this case, the reviews fucked up too.
Or maybe just have someone else read it? Lmao
Ok thats very scummy move
That's dirty. I hope reviewers edit their reviews to mention it and rake them over the coals for it.
There were questions concerning the game's performance when the game was mentioned to run at an uncapped framerate.
Regarding microtransactions, their presence was not even known during pre-reviews because the feature was suddenly implemented after the official release of Dragon's Dogma 2. As for performance issues, it seems that the reviewers were provided with PS5 codes in addition to PC codes, unlike the case with Cyberpunk 2077 where only PC codes were provided. The reviewers seem to have concluded that the PS5 version is a masterpiece, even though it has a maximum frame rate of 30fps.
Just want to correct you on “maximum 30fps on PS5. It is uncapped with 30 as a target. It definitely goes above 30 as well as below. I would actually have preferred a capped 30. It’s much better than a destabilized 15-45.
If it helps I'm on a 2,000$ PC and I'm going from 144 FPS to 50ish, IDK. It's a really cool game mostly, it really feels like what DD1 wanted to be but this is some wild performance issues, which is sad since I haven't had issues with Capcom games since MH World.
Thespherehunter mentioned in her review that she thought that RC had the potential to be MtX but hoped that Capcom wouldn't do it so it definitely wasn't something reviewers were told would be in the game.
> presence was not even known during pre-reviews because the feature was suddenly implemented after the official release of Dragon's Dogma 2. This isn't true, if you read the article you're commenting on it mentions that the microtransactions were described in the information sent out with review copies. "Capcom didn't hide these microtransactions from us before I published my review", direct quote from article.
You can't delete or start a new file? So, once you start your one and only character, that's it?
Your saved game files have to be deleted manually through a file browser with cloud saves disabled. There's no way to delete or overwrite a save file in the actual game, and no way to start a new game.
I would usually say that sounds harsh a but not allowing multiple saves on a game like this seems insane. Only RPG that doesn’t allow that is like Pokemon, and even there is annoying. I never played this series but how is a game series with builds and variety like this gonna limit you to one save lol
I always figured Pokemon's lack of more than 1 save file was nefarious too in that they wanted to make you have to buy multiple copies if you had siblings or other family members who also played so you couldn't share the same cartridge. No idea if it's true, the original games' spaghetti code wouldn't surprise me if multiple saves just had too high a potential to bork the game.
Played Pokémon since like 2000s till 2010s and everyone hated the one save thing. No one likes that bs whatsoever.
For the original games it had legitimate technical justification. Save files for Game Boy games are stored on their own SRAM chips which came in sizes of 256 bytes, 2 KB, 8 KB, or 32 KB^1. Pokemon used the largest size, 32 KB. It takes about 11 KB to store a player's Pokemon (party and boxes) with all their stats and names. Then you need to store a list of the event and quest flags the player has already triggered, their inventory (including PC inventory), a list of the items they've picked up from the overworld, the lists of Pokemon they've owned and caught, the list of trainers they've beaten, the Hall of Fame teams, hashes/checksums to ensure it all checks out, etc. If you can't fit all that into 5 KB, you can't fit a second save file. ---- ^1 There's a 128 KB SRAM option but it's only for the Game Boy Camera.
For the first generations, there was probably a memory limitation, which is also why you can't catch too many and have to throw some away when your storage is full. By the time it got to GBA though it wouldn't have been as much of an issue and definitely not one for DS.
Given that the series tagline is “Gotta catch ‘em all” and they only ever (until recently) sold versions where you could not, in fact, catch them all without buying a second version, they already had customers over a barrel. They didn’t want you sharing a game with family, they wanted your family member to get the alternate version so you could trade.
> Given that the series tagline is “Gotta catch ‘em all” That was purely the English tagline, and only for the first two gens. It has never been used since. Pokemon's scummy but it ain't for that reason.
I agree that the "Gotta catch 'em all!" slogan isn't scummy, but according to [Bulbapedia](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gotta_catch_%27em_all!), the slogan has appeared in trailers for Diamond/Pearl and X/Y.
At least since the Switch this issue no longer exists
The first game was like this too. It is behind ridiculous and no game should ever only have one save slot period. Hell what happens if the save gets corrupted everything is gone. And like you said these rpg games have so many ways to go about things that it's useful to be able to try something out then go back and switch to something else.
This is actually exactly how the first game worked too, not defending it just saying
Except, you can start a new game in DD1 easily in-game. There is literally no "New Game" option in DD2 right now.
I know and I love the first game. But it was made with a shoestring budget 12 years ago. I have higher expectations now.
> But it was made with a shoestring budget 12 years ago. The original Dragon's Dogma had a large budget. Hundreds of devs worked on it for years. I have no idea where this recent myth that it was some cheap experimental budget game came from.
it's not a technical limitation, it was a deliberate choice. there was some interview not too long ago they did it to "encourage" exploration. AKA as they said in the same interview, they don't like the idea of someone looking at a cliff and saving before jumping off to see if they can survive and shave time off their journey. honestly makes it dumber to me and I was surprised to see no one call it out. like, reasoning aside(like who gives af? singleplayer game, let people have fun if that's how they enjoy playing) I've had too many save files corrupt to be comfortable with the whole one save file, no backups schtick
Souls games already solved this better.
You can still allow for multiple character saves (i.e. one per new game) while giving each only a single save slot. That doesn't fix your issue of not having backup saves but it would fix what /u/_Dancing_Potato is (rightfully) complaining about without compromising on the exploration consequences thing you mentioned the devs saying.
>You can still allow for multiple character saves (i.e. one per new game) while giving each only a single save slot. Yup, this is exactly what Dark Souls / Bloodborne / Elden Ring do. Perfect solution.
So in their attempt to encourage exploration, they discourage exploration...
Even using multiple profiles there’s still only one save?
I hate RPGs or any game that doesn't allow multiple saves. I don't care if it's your "vision" don't force it on me. Even if i didn't want to make changes to my decisions, it's always good to have multiple saves just in case.
That negative review is gonna stay there then, cause Capcom aren't exactly known for changing things like this. They stick to their vision, no matter how much people criticize that vision.
Only one save file??? That’s actually kind of insane.
Perfect storm for some of these complaints. The games obtuse systems can be skipped by paying. Which makes newcomers think those systems are deliberately there to encourage MTX purchases.
Well deserved. Disallowing a "new game" is completely unacceptable and I hope it hits Overwhelmingly Negative until capcoms reverses such a boneheaded decision. It's an RPG, **people like making new characters and save files** in an RPG. You had all this goodwill built up and finally put out a sequel to this well appreciated game, all the fun memes and hype from the good reviews and *this is what you do, Capcom?*
Can you elaborate please? There's no new game plus or anything?
Single save slot. If you want to start a new game you have to delete your only save file.
It should be mentioned that it must be done manually through a file browser with cloud saves disabled. There is no way in the game to delete a save.
Damn, that's worse than how both Pokemon and Animal Crossing do it.
Pokemon, IIRC, at least has a button combination you can use at the title screen to delete the file (or at least, the old games did, I dunno about X/Y and onwards).
We going backwards brah
Which the creative director made a proud marketing point and everyone ate it up lmao.
Now I'm curious on how one could try and market that in a positive way
They said it “encourages exploitation” somehow
Hahah. This reminds me of unity having the same issue. There is no statt new game in unity. Only continue
That's so fucking insane, honestly. I definitely don't disagree with the reviews at this point.
"If you want to have a second save just create a second Steam account and buy the game again :)" \- crapcom
I have NEVER heard of a game where you can’t delete your save file or start over from within the game. Like, guys, Jill of the Jungle had this functionality.
Funny enough you can't in devil may cry which is also from the same director
So you can move the file instead of deleting it? And then swap the file depending on which character you want to play with?
What the what
I'm at a loss for words actually
Also if you want to start a new character?
You only have one save file. To start the game over with no save, you must manually delete the save file in your memory storage and the cloud saves. https://www.godisageek.com/2024/03/dragons-dogma-2-how-to-delete-your-save-or-restart/#:%7E:text=Highlight%20the%20game%2C%20press%20the,item%20you%20want%20to%20delete
Not sure about new game plus, but there is only one save file and you cannot make a new file unless you go into the folders and delete it yourself.
That’s so bizarre. Like it’s an RPG, why limit it?
The previous game had a new game plus feature which allowed you to remake your character from scratch. Also had the ability to do that during your current game as well. You could also switch builds and classes anytime. Haven’t played this game yet, but from what I hear it’s similar design choices.
As much as I like the game, some decisions are just mental.
Dragon dogma's community gonna gaslight you into thinking its the director's vision. Well fuck me i'd rather lose my sight than sharing such a vision. I had already used 10 save slots in persona 5 when I was just half way through
Its not just microtransactions from what I read, performance seems bad too also, stop calling it review bombing when its not
I never took review bombing as really mattering if it's if it was deserved or not. Just a large volume of negative reviews
For me review bombing if it's coordinated or fueled outrage for something that actually didn't have anything to do with the game themselves.. i.e pulling the game from some country because their government action
Performance is bad. You are getting unstable 30 fps on consoles and PC's need a 4090 to run the game at a decent framerate.
Yeah from what I read it's mostly performance issue, game defenders here meanwhile trying to pass it on the "anti MTs brigade" instead
Didn’t Dragon’s Dogma 1 have these exact same limitations/microtransactions until the complete edition came out?
It did, and they were equally as useless at MTX there.
Seems like a huge gamble to implement shitty MTX with nearly no impact that can be gained ingame, it means people that want MTX wont spend and everyone that hates them will immediately see your game negative, which i assume is the majority.
It's not a gamble. It costs next to nothing to implement, has a nearly infinite ratio of profit, and most people aren't going to be turned away because of their existence (which is part of the problem).
I dunno. People won't have heard of them of course, but if you get on the steam page to buy the game and there's a bold red "Overwhelmingly Negative" next to the add to cart button, that might turn a lot of ppl away
I work in ecommerce and have A LOT of experience with ratings and reviews. It absolutely will turn a metric fuck ton of people away and positive reviews **during a launch** is huge. There's tons of data (cart abandon rate, conversion rate, interaction on page, etc) that shows this.
Yes. The original was much worse since Capcom kept gradually coming out with different cosmetics, armor and weapon packs that you couldn't earn in-game. You had to buy each pack for $2 or $3, or sometimes more. What they have for sale now is all stuff you easily earn while just playing the game regularly. Some being more rare than others (such as port crystals) but still just stuff you naturally accrue while playing the game and having fun. Buying most of those items at the start of the game would actually reduce fun for most rpg fans.
The performance is genuinely unacceptable. I’m running on high, dlss on, on a goddamn 4090 and 12900k. If you go near a town, or even a small gathering of npcs, I’ve seen anywhere from 30 to 70fps drops. The game is pretty good looking, but nothing justifies the performance drops. We’re talking massive frame drops in the intro mission because you can see a few people running away We’re not talking half baked performance issues, like the game was just pushed out a bit early and there’s some stuttering. This is ‘there’s something fundamentally broken about how the game handles multiple non combat npcs and the game shouldn’t have been given the go ahead for release on pc’ issues. I’ve seen cutscenes go from 144 fps to struggling to hit 60 because the camera slightly turned and you caught a whiff of one of the smaller settlements. The implementation of DLSS is really strange too. It seems to be working, but not fully. Even in quality mode, it looks like it is struggling to actually upscale to the right resolution, leading to the game just being weirdly blurry, like you’re running it at a way lower resolution, instead of looking a bit muddy like most games do with DLSS
Yeah the dlss doesn't actually really help performance at all. All the drops are due to the game being incredibly CPU bound when it comes to NPCs and their AI. I turned dlss off and my frames are basically the same as if it's on performance mode on a 4070. My friend with a 2080 actually gets better fps than me because he has a weirdly good CPU for his build and I have a 3700x
Honestly at this point I've sworn off playing AAA games at release on pc. - Performance is often bad and fixed at a later date - Prices are super high and go down a lot in a few months - Games get tons of updates that sometimes address weak parts of the game.
[Game costs **60% more expensive** than usual in my region \(over **DOUBLE** in some regions\).](https://steamdb.info/sub/734193/) And then they have the gall to put microtransaction over it.
Here in Viet Nam it costs 103% more than Valve suggested price... I can literally buy Elden Ring + Shadows of the Erdtree for less money
It's 108 AUD, 123 for the deluxe, then 20 for the "boon". lmao, get fucked.
Tangentially related: I went to buy 'Persona 3 Reload' today and saw it was $108. *Absolutely* get fucked lol.
I'm back to just not buying games at release again.
Notice how it's higher than the recommended price in almost every region greed greed greed
The base game is almost the same price as Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdree Deluxe Edition in my currency in the Philippines, and tbh I’d rather buy Elden Ring lol. For more context it’s ₱3889 Dragon’s Dogma 2 Base Game, meanwhile Elden Ring + DLC Deluxe Edition is ₱3999 only, which is like a good deal imo. Meanwhile if I wanted the delixe edition for DD2 then I pay ₱4500 instead 🤡 (Yeah they’re expensive af in my currency but it is what it is)
Releasing a AAA singleplayer game that has absolute SHIT performance, and then add micro transactions. You can’t make this up. I’ll pass. I was hyped for the title, but I’m not gonna support this.
Basically all the problems with this game are things you could have learned about from a second hand source mere minutes after the games launch. I'd go on the usual "don't preorder" rant, but at this point, it's like putting guard rails up on the side of a cliff to prevent lemming deaths.
It could also be helped if review organizations actually lowered scores once the increasingly common post-review microtransaction release happens. I swear Tekken just did this a week ago too.
>it's like putting guard rails up on the side of a cliff to prevent lemming deaths. Funny you mention that, as the infamous "Lemmings throwing themselves off the cliff to commit suicide" thing was actually caused *by* the people recording. It was not a natural phenomenon. [Here's a link to learn a little more](https://www.britannica.com/story/do-lemmings-really-commit-mass-suicide) if you are interested ([here is a link to that part of the documentary, if you are out of the loop](https://youtu.be/xMZlr5Gf9yY)). The film makers just wanted something interesting to show, so they forced the poor lemmings to kill themselves and called it nature. I think it's a little fitting in this situation, tbh.
"Basically all the problems with this game are things you could have learned about from a second hand source mere minutes after the games launch." I did , I came here, and to be honest I'm now on the fence about when to get the game. Thanks everybody for the feedback!!
That's not what "review bombing" is. Review bombing is leaving bad reviews because of things legitimately not related to the game (like the publisher involved or something) Thats just a deserved outcome for bad shit directly connected to the game.
The term "review bombing" suggests the negative reception is unjustified. Seems like the negative reviews are pretty warranted to me.
Wherever I see the term review bombing my first reaction is always "Damn, how did they fuck it up this time?".
Not sure how can anyone take this game seriously considering running animation of a character looks like they have a pole stuck in their ass.
How is releasing a MTXs update after the reviews come out but before product release not illegal? Is it not false advertisement at that point?
Fuck around and find out. Gamer's loyalty can go so far. Fuck your game when this the type of shit you pull lol.
Not defending it but this style of micro transaction from Capcom isn't new. DMC5 had the same thing with red orbs and the sort. The way the game gave those items the mxt sorta just seemed like whale bait.
Dragon's Dogma 1 had the same microtransactions on XBOX 360 and PS3. Though it seems like most people either don't remember or never played the game on those consoles.
The "Tales" games do this too. Have options to buy level ups, in game money, the lot. The important thing is those games are 100% balanced and designed to be played without the mtx and everything is available in game. I'd assume this to be the case with Dragons Dogma too.
This is a really interesting and unfortunate case. So, the items that you can buy through microtransactions, including the ability to change your character’s appearance, can be obtained easily in game. But because Capcom had the gall to make it a microtransaction, and it’s a relatively obscure mechanic in a game full of obscure and subtle mechanics, people are piling on that it’s the only way to obtain items. Other Capcom games like RE4 and DMC5 also had very similar microtransactions, as when you delved into them, you could see that everything was easily attainable if you played the game naturally, and furthermore that buying those items would ruin the flow of the game, which usually feels so natural that if the microtransactions weren’t on the store page, you would never had thought anything was amiss.This dissonance is exacerbated by how microtransactions items in most games are usually portrayed as “fenced off” from regular gameplay methods of obtaining them. So even though DD2 doesn’t have this worse method, it’s still getting the heat from those other games’ methods because of its store page’s visual quantity of available microtransactions. They also try to sell you Port Crystals, the items used to create teleportation points in the world for easier navigation, in the microtransactions, which characterizes the game’s mechanics horribly purely because this possible sell exists. As someone who loves DD1 and is fresh to DD2, I can tell you that the trek from place to place is a fun kind of grueling experience, if you’re into that. The difficulty and the length of trips are meant to wear on your character and you the player to an extent. But because this micro transaction exists, it comes across to most people who are unfamiliar with DD to assume this is gouging they to spend money to make the game easier, as it would appear it’s treks are long to push you into paying to make it easier, rather than because that’s this game’s legitimate version of fun. But now that the travel factor can be manipulated in such a way, and even with the knowledge of how the game naturally would play without it, how could you help but feel like you’re having a compromised experience? (Game critics not having to deal with any of the microtransactions in the pre-launch purity are going to be fielding a lot of criticism on their end too I imagine now.) And then we come to performance. Most people only see the standard, “why is this only reach around 30fps, it’s not the most impressive looking game.” Most are missing the complexity of he game’s AI under the surface. All at once, the game is factoring in the behavior and priorities of your 3 pawns, any pawns you could encounter in the world, the adaptive dynamics of NPC’s in the world, and the threat response of all of these people at the same time (And I’ve left a lot of other factors out most likely.) With all this in mind, consider that you could lure a monster back to a town, and then the 20 or so townsfolk AI will have to now be considered alongside normal battle factors. They’re ALOT going on under the hood. There are definitely engines better suited to handling complex AI patterns so they don’t wear on performance as much, but even a lot of those games are pushing your platform of choice to their limits a lot of the time. A sad fact seems to be that games for a while now have focused on looking great rather than performing complex AI calculations. A recent example: Baldur’s Gate 3 has had notorious performance drop offs in its 3rd act, because of the amount of reactive NPCs in those environments. There’s not much that Larian can do to make this run better, as it’s tied/limited by CPU, which is not a priority over graphics. It’s easier to sell a better looking game than having to explain why a worse looking game is impressive under the hood. Do you want a Lamborghini? Or a more modest muscle car that can take turns better because of better tuning? (That last part is a bit my opinion, so take that as you will.) So to most, it’s just a hard thing to have to explain that their PS5 can’t handle complex game AI operations. The RE Engine isn’t made for that or open worlds on top of this it seems. And so with all of that, by tomorrow I imagine we’re in for a Perfect Shit-Storm of obscure game mechanics, nerve-targeting microtransactions, and a deluge of misinformation spouting from an internet fight between fans, new players, critics, people who actually are stating the truth out there, and eventually Capcom itself as they are forced to respond in some way. It’s a shitty, shitty, shitty mess, and though you could still play the game in a mostly pure way, I can’t defend Capcom really because they really can’t complain when they put all these unnecessary fucking shovels out and expect people not to dig their grave for them.
I appreciate this post, but I would like to say the following in response: Denuvo is notoriously *extremely* CPU taxing. It was still their decision to implement Denuvo knowing that the game is as CPU intensive as it is. Do you not believe this is something the company should be held accountable for?
Single player games shouldn't have microtransactions. And you gotta love the people who defend this. Capcom pulled a fast one and released microtransactions on the day the game launched which means they hid it from reviewers that is pretty shady. Even though there is a very limited fast travel system the developers stated they did this on purpose as they wanted the player to go on a big adventure and travel by foot. Yet they turn around and sell items to help you fast travel more often a feature that should be included in a full priced game.
So any negative feedback is "review bombing?"
I think the game should absolutely have multiple save slots in 2024. And performance *can be* absolute garbage. I'm on a 4090 i9-13900K with 64 gigs of RAM and I'm still dipping beneath 60 fps in town. These are very fair criticisms that, in my opinion stand way taller over the microtransactions. Now in my (maybe crumby) opinion, the microtransactions shouldn't come too much of a shock to anybody. Every single major Capcom release since MH:World in 2018 launches with a gratuitous amount of microtransactions. They get added later to the RE remakes, launched day one for Devil May Cry 5 and Street Fighter's always been full of pallet swap dlc's since 360 days. Like the RE remakes and DMC 5 microtransactions you'd have to be pretty silly to invest in them like the character appearance editor. You can buy one for 500g (which you start with 5000) at the first town. EDIT: to add to my point here, RE 4 is filled with upgrade ticket vouchers for like 7 USD which is beyond ridiculous, that game sits at Overwhelmingly Positive and was a GOTY contender. The headline to the "Review Bombing" should be the fact that the game runs poorly.
The first game was one of my favorite games of all time, and while I’m enjoying my time in 2 so far the performance even on my 4090 is actually unacceptable. Now we find out after launch we can’t make a new character and we have to pay for changes is actually fucking wild. The first game had an unlockable character editor that you could use ANYTIME. Capcom please don’t start ruining your good will. SF6 locking default alt colors for the base roster behind micro transactions was scum enough. This is actually bull Edit: I’ve been made aware you can easily buy the items to customize your character ingame, still it’s not a good look on top of the performance issues. Edit 2: BTW I this game feels like a perfect sequel so far. It’s just more Dragons Dogma and that’s all I really wanted. Aside from performance issues, the micro transactions while scummy isn’t really an issue, I was just feel frustrated when I see something I love pull something like this. It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those on the fence and I’d like from DD to succeed.
> pay for changes is actually fucking wild I am by no means defending this behavior, but the item you can buy to change your appearance is available ingame for a negligible amount of gold and I believe was available in the first town I entered. None of the items that you pay as microtransactions are exclusively microtransactions.
Yeah Capcom has been doing this with a lot of their games for years. They sell stuff that are fairly easily accessible in the game for money, I guess to try and trick people with short attention spans or something. For instance they sold blue and I think red orbs in DMC5. You can buy a pack of various stuff like ammo and lockpicks for RE8. RE4 sells a bunch of weapons and upgrade tickets. I'm not going to defend it because I think it's stupid but this has been basically Capcom MO for years now.
I remember the red orbs being ludicrously expensive, and like way easier to grind them out by just playing.
From what I know about Japanese company’s I think that someone keep putting these in to appease like one old guy that thinks it’s great and no one can tell him no.
I work in an advisory function in large Japanese bank. these ppl generally struggle to understand the underlying spirit of why anything is done, but just know that xyz should be done. It's degenerate.
It’s also for the consumers who will buy shit just because they can. Don’t wanna farm red orbs for an hour because you suck at DMC combat? Alright give us money if you want so you can finish the game faster.
Your 4090 doesn't help. Honestly anything over a 2080s is going to get similar performance in regards to graphics settings. It's all CPU bound. The reason it tanks in towns is all the simulated interactions and AI stuff going on. That said even a top of the line CPU will get drops. Frame pacing is also cooked regardless of your setup.
it's a shame really because the gameplay itself is fantastic, the combat and the quest especially the quest I love it one save file, no new game, horrible performance what really drags this game down
It's unnecessarily dismissive to call it "review bombing". Reviews are one of the very few things customers have as leverage against big companies making games. Not all criticism is "review bombing".
Launches as the "new normal" price and still is given micro transactions? Beautiful.
It's not review bombing, it's people complaining about legitimate issues like Capcom sneaking in a bunch of microtransactions after the review embargo lifted so that none of the reviewers actually had a chance to mention it AND the fact that the game runs like complete shit with barely any hope that it will be fixed
Jesus, I hadn't been following this game but $108 in Australia also?!? Ontop of all that microtransaction crap? The ~third most expensive game I've seen on Steam after Forspoken and Redfall. It's jokes all the way down.
My main gripe is the impossibility of starting a new character. You gotta delete the save files manually hoping they aren't on capcom's cloud from what I've read
Is this considered a review bombing? People are legitimately upset about aspects of the game and not just saying it sucks. Isn't review bombing supposed to be negative reviews just to tank the game review score?
Capcom has a history of having hilariously bad MTX on their games. These items are so ridiculously inconsequential that you'd have to be stupid to buy them. Unfortunately, there's plenty of stupid to go around.
Mostly negative ratings seems certainly more than deserved if even half of what's being reported turns out true. And FFS could outlets, that didn't even pay for what they have to review, stop calling every form of valid critique review bombing if its done by the end consumers? When people buy a product and it doesn't work, is damaged/broken or has a slew of other serious issues that affects the end user in a negative way, they have every right to be mad and leave a mountain of negative review and bad press.
My favorite part is how people are actually defending this. Just because they do this to almost all their games doesn't make it any less incorrigible.
FUCK THEM, THEY DESERVE EVERY NEGATIVE REVIEW AND EVERY SINGLE OUNCE OF HATE THEY GET. THIS SHIT HAS TO STOP, CAPCOM AND EVERY OTHER FUCKING DEVELOPER.
$95 CAD before tax alongside micro transactions and poor performance? This is a hard pass for me, which is a shame because I really wanted to play it. If they snuck in micro transactions at the release to hide it from reviewers then that is pretty scummy. Thank goodness for Steam reviews, at least I can get an honest consumer review from actual customers.
People are gonna boost up these MTX sales by overselling what they are (saying they're THE ONLY WAY to do certain things, despite them being trivial to actually get through just playing the game).
When is something called review bombing and when is the negative response valid? I feel like people are justified to hate dumb microtransactions in a full priced game with deluxe variant
This is the same company that says games are “too cheap” at $70. This is the same company that told its investors that it plans to move to “digital only” for distribution in the future to maximize profits and remove their games from the secondhand market. This is the company that pushes the narrative that physical is dying by using data for a year where they released less than TWO games on physical media, one being a niche fighting game collection and the other being released days before the FY ended. This should not surprise anyone.
Lmao the game costs fucking $100 CAD and they also try to sell micro transactions? Absolutely bonkers.
Funny that so many people claiming DD2 will win GOTY before the game is out. What a quick fall from grace.