Straight to the point (also for some reason the other thread from '13 wouldn’t let me post in it. Maybe for the better.)
Lots of games in the CoG/HG library have IAPs. Some are neat and helpful, others are quite a rip-off that can ruin the entire game in cases.
What’s your opinion on them, and when should an author completely refrain from coding something in?
Example:
Personally I’d gladly pay money for an expansion for The Hero Unmasked! Maybe expanded scenes, maybe an after credit case, maybe playing from the perspective of one of the villains.
Something that’d genuinely enhances the experience.
If some games offered a said DLC for more closure from the story I would pay for that. Even if it has nothing to do with the main story just maybe some insight from a character’s pov. Or just a short mini quest sore just something with actual content, it helps when waiting for a sequel especially.
Like a filler episode except for the heart(or subplot.)
If code would allow it, I’d be up for IAPs that basically boost subsequent character playthroughs-- for people who just want to brute force their way through the story after reading through it at least one time.
I feel like paying to be able to bash your way through the story take the fun and us the choice equivalent to pay to win purchases. Things should hinge upon choice that the player makes, doing kinda what unnatural did and having a new game plus shouldn’t be a purchase.
A new game plus is a great feature, sure. I guess I’m just in the minor camp, but I would really rather just pay to access content in a game that I can’t be assed to roll a new character for.
I don’t think I’d be interested in paying extra money on top of the original purchase just to access cosmetics (better weapons, fancy clothes, new spells) that don’t enrich the preexisting narrative beyond just looking good or making things easier.
An expansion pack with an exclusive story of its own however, even if shorter than the main plot, would be quite interesting. The best video game example would be the Witcher 3 expansions - Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, which offer both individual story and upgrades to the player.
But could IF games implement a similar expansion? A short and sweet extra storyline with exclusive characters and quests that expand its parent’s world building scope, perhaps showing new perspectives and cultures that couldn’t be featured in the main plot?
It should be differentiated from a pay wall that restricts full story content unless extra is paid, rather it would need to be a legitimate expansion or companion piece that the main game can function optimally without yet maintain an incentive for fans of the game to buy it.
For e.g a Heroes Rise expansion pack where you play one of the supporting characters, say Black Magic during their early years and rise to fame or Rebellion’s story or a Prodigal POV set during the Hero Project where she learns the truth about her mother, leading up to the events of Herofall.
eh… i am completely fine with IAPs for new story with different protagonists to explore, but for cosmetic purpose ( like most games these days) I’ll pass.
but, i haven’t read any CoG games with a new optional story you can buy other than Choice of Romance, but i kind of wouldn’t call it Optional since, the game won’t continue if you don’t follow specific romance path. Oh and GT 2, but i instantly buy it when it came out, so i don’t know if the For Glory of Valra and The staff of power storyline is already available even if you don’t buy the game beforehand.
I would kill for having a separate protage that maybe goes alongside the main story but isn’t actually in it. Example choice vampire, hearing of the mc making a ruckus in Louisiana(? Can’t quite remember the exact setting) and you bump into other characters such as Jesse and they also have interactions with you as your own short story leads down more insight into characters you decide to befriend.
I believe that would be considered Add-On. I’m honestly not familiar with the games and I wasn’t aware that choice of romance had a “DLC” so I personally couldn’t say.
hmm… Choice of Vampire, I never play the game before. But, right “Add Onn” made more sense than DLC on CoG/HG case.
It’s kind of like Zombie Exodus’ Episodes, but you can only continue the story if you pick one certain RO instead of others and buy the “Add On” for that path.
I’ve seen a few romance apps with a system like that where you play the beginning intro and get to the beginning of the plot and look at the characters and you either buy in a bundle of certain romance routes or individual routes. The light novel(dateing sim) series ninja love is set up with this purchase system and it’s their business model for all their games that I have layed.
I’m not against the first three chapter system they have set up, I just wish they would post it in the description because you don’t know it’s not the full game I looked through a lot of the choice of games and hosted games and have only found it on maybe three of the choice of games descriptions.
The hosted games that are rather large and written a private author off payroll for the game doing it at their own pace is kinda why it’s somewhat of a grey area for me. However, in the future, I wish that they would have a game that could stand alone with a conflict solves, but they have sequels that continue the a new story.
(Cough samurai of Hyuga) Don’t get me wrong I loved fate haven and I own three of the samurai of hyuga books but the samurai of Hyuga books leave me in want of closure so badly.
Oh, it certainly shouldn’t be nessary to get or sass you if you don’t but I can think of a few games where I would LOVE to have some extra hints. Samurai of Hyuga, for example, would be nice to have a little extra help if your trying to get 100% attunment.
Or even a game like Slammed where if you don’t know the sport it could help you make smarter choices in the fights. I had to look up the different wrestling moves and then try to figure out if that game would consider them a power move or a technical move. A little system that explained the moves before hand if you asked would be nice. I know the game did explain some of the moves but not all of them.
And maybe some extra content in general could be fun. Expanded epilogues or extra scenes with ROs. Little things.
The author did say it is a six-part series from the start so I kind of expect there will be a cliffhanger ending. I do get what you mean when it happen in Book 2. I just hope it doesn’t happen in Book 4 onwards though.
I definitely agree with this–in general, I think CoG games do a pretty solid job of making sure it’s easy to tell what choices test what stat, but I’ve definitely played games where I had a hard time telling what the game wanted me to do (I had this issue through a lot of Hero Unmasked, but enjoyed the plot so might’ve been willing to drop the dollar on giving the narration more clarity, and although it’s the most recent I know it isn’t the only game I felt that way about). I’ve done playthroughs of HR games with and without the add-on and honestly I didn’t feel like it made all that much of a difference, so I am a little surprised that that type of in-game guide hasn’t really expanded past Sergi’s body of works yet.
I know the author of Community College Hero floated the idea of doing an IAP with a character guide and a little more art, which is another thing I really wouldn’t mind getting as DLC, since I love seeing official art for characters. But I know he decided against that since it wasn’t terribly cost-effective, so on that front I get why it isn’t really a thing people do
The concept would be more interesting imho if it’d more planned through.
Like “oh you bought that cheat thing? Less points for you unless you turn it off at the test/challenge/etc”
Also @HomingPidgeon could you give an example of where HeUn was all greek to you? Personally I found the wording spot on for which stats the corresponded to.
The only time it gave me trouble was when trying to get Bloodmist to the casino, as I missed that (due to her history) she is cynical and prefers someone cynical.
This was bit subtext-y yeah, but that’d it all be greek to one…
Sorry, just curious.
I don’t have a problem with cliffhanger endings, I just wish that I felt a little bit I guess satisfied with the progress the character is making in the stories. There is just no obvious breath of air after solving a problem at the end no walking along with your party to the next location looking forward t what the future holds or having a grim outlook on the future you just kinda keep pushing onward. I could be wrong on this since I haven’t played the games in forever but I just felt smewhat mah with the situation.
