I only just heard about this from this thread itself, and I'm not a backer, but I find the direction of this thread pretty annoying.
Crowdfunding campaigns ask people to take on a significant risk, effectively putting down a high-risk preorder years in advance so the developers get to work on the game they want to work on. Stretch goals are specifically designed to work as incentives for fans to put down as much money as possible. In light of those facts, it hardly seems ridiculous for a backer to be a little miffed when significant content that they paid for, that was part of the promised product when they put down their consideration, is cut.
Companions are a big deal in a game like this. A really big deal. They're central to the experience. And it sounds like they've cut 25% of them with a completely unaccountable, unverifiable excuse, the old "sure we cut that content, but we, uh, made everything else better!" They say they couldn't deliver 8 companions that felt complex and satisfying enough. But people paid for 8 companions that were complex and satisfying. InXile were perfectly happy to take people's money for 8 companions that were complex and satisfying. They were perfectly happy to cajole people into pledging more money so they would get 8 companions who were complex and satisfying.
Say I placed an order with a carpenter for a table set with 8 chairs. They charge my credit card and everything. But when they deliver months later, they only deliver a table and six chairs. I call them up and ask what happened. "Oh, we had to cut two of the chairs, because we couldn't make 8 chairs that were up to standard. But don't worry, we made the other 6 chairs even better. Don't you want chairs that are beautiful and made to a high standard of quality? Why do you want us to rush and turn out 8 sub-par chairs instead of 6 well-made chairs? Can't you understand that we did what was best for your dining set?" Well, no. I seriously doubt any of you would accept that. You paid for a table and 8 good chairs. This false dichotomy of "6 good chairs or 8 questionable chairs" didn't come up until long after the carpenter already happily took your money.
People are gonna say this analogy is ridiculous, but it isn't. I refuse to have less self-respect for myself as a consumer of video games than I have for myself as a consumer of physical products. Video game publishers do not deserve to be let off the hook of actually delivering what they promised in exchange for your cash just because video game development is complex, or because they're indie, or because they're your pet devs and you reeeeeeally like them and don't want people to be mean to them. Consumer rights don't suddenly disappear because it's kickstarter. They don't get off the hook just because they say "Well, we can either deliver a great game, or we can deliver all the content we promised." I refuse to accept that dichotomy. They promised to deliver both.
And that's not even getting into the issue of tarring anyone who disagrees with you with the labels "social cripple" or "mentally ill", something that we apparently do now on NeoGAF, despite its being a small half-step at best from calling other people "retarded" as a general insult. But hey, if it's a mod's favorite kickstarter project, I guess it's okay now.
Look: I get that it isn't the biggest deal in the world. And it may not be a material enough change to legally force a refund (who the heck knows, kickstarter legal issues are murky as hell). But slamming anyone who is even a little upset about this change as a socially backwards crybaby is ridiculous, and more than a little anti-consumer.
