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In the world of DLC and micro transactions... does Nintendo handle it the best?

S

Spauldingxx

Member
Everytime I put in a new Nintendo game, I can’t hep but be grateful for how polished the games are. There one of the few companies that still offer a complete package with their games.

What do you guys think, is Nintendo the best when it comes to releasing a complete package? If not, what companies rival them?
 
ChuyMasta

ChuyMasta

Member
Lemme get my amiibos so I can get star fragments and update my armor sets faster since I want an accelerated experience
 
M

michaelius

Banned
Spauldingxx said:
What do you guys think, is Nintendo the best when it comes to releasing a complete package? If not, what companies rival them?
Click to expand...

I'd say Sony - you only get one huge expansion for Horizon or Infamous without all that Amibo pseudo DLC.

From 3rd party CD Projekt

And least offensive big publishers currently Bethesda and SE
 
Q

Quantza

Neo Member
ChuyMasta said:
Lemme get my amiibos so I can get star fragments and update my armor sets faster since I want an accelerated experience
Click to expand...

You know that you can sell amiibo, unlike DLC...
It's just that supply is limited a lot of the time (scalpers), and the figurines take up a lot of space.

The WiiU Mario Kart 8 DLC was really well done for £11, and Hyrule Warriors DLC was great and free.

Regarding Switch: it remains to be seen how Xenoblade 2's and Fire Emblem Warriors' season passes turn out. Also, hopefully the Zelda Champions' Ballad DLC is good - at least in terms of story, to complement the main game.

I think that we'll have to wait and see how far Nintendo really wants to take DLC/GaaS, over the next two years, as their online service begins to be used.
 
GametimeUK

GametimeUK

Member
At the end of the day Mario Kart 8 for example had 8 cups at launch. For around a quarter of the price of the full game you got 4 extra cups with the season pass. So you paid a quarter of the games price for half a games worth of maps.

Yeah, Nintendo absolutely amazed me with that.
 
T

timesplitter88-1

Member
Nosgotham said:
one amiibo works on many games and ks reusable and you can sell them. not at all comparable
Click to expand...

This. I never understood why everytime Nintendo and microtransactions comes up in a conversation, people try to somehow compare microtransactions to Amiibo. Full disclosure, the Switch has been my first Nintendo console in a while, but in all the games so far that ive seen that the amiibo are compatible with, they either give you extra items or powerups (IE Resident Evil Revelations, Skyrim), or they give you cosmetic items that you will unlock in the game regardless... They just give you the items early. (IE Super Mario Odyssey)
 
P

Phatosaurus

Member
Nah, CDPR definitely handled it the best with the Witcher 3. Two large expansions, fairly priced and equal to or better than the base game content. Plus some free small DLC to boot.

Nintendo are pretty hit and miss. Mario Kart 8 DLC was a hit, Fire Emblem a miss.
Sony are just pretty standard and and middle of the road with their DLC and pricing.

Bethesda will never be forgiven for horse armour and monetising mods, even if their expansions and DLC on the whole tend to be good.
 
S

Spauldingxx

Member
Phatosaurus said:
Nah, CDPR definitely handled it the best with the Witcher 3. Two large expansions, fairly priced and equal to or better than the base game content. Plus some free small DLC to boot.

Nintendo are pretty hit and miss. Mario Kart 8 DLC was a hit, Fire Emblem a miss.
Sony are just pretty standard and and middle of the road with their DLC and pricing.

Bethesda will never be forgiven for horse armour and monetising mods, even if their expansions and DLC on the whole tend to be good.
Click to expand...

I agree The Witcher 3 was something different. It was simply massive and excellently polished. We will have to see if the follow the same formula with Cyberpunk.
 
M

Martinski43

Member
CD Projekt Red is the hero we need but don’t deserve.. or something in those lines.

Bethesda still publish non microtransaction singleplayer games too. That is good.
 
P

Phatosaurus

Member
Spauldingxx said:
I agree The Witcher 3 was something different. It was simply massive and excellently polished. We will have to see if the follow the same formula with Cyberpunk.
Click to expand...

I hope they do, and given their track record I'm willingly to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The new game plus DLC/patch the added for free was a small thing, but it's something many other companies have charged for, or worse, sold as a pre-order bonus.

Martinski43 said:
Bethesda still publish non microtransaction singleplayer games too. That is good.
Click to expand...

That's the standard, or was :/
 
radewagon

radewagon

Member
Spauldingxx said:
What do you guys think, is Nintendo the best when it comes to releasing a complete package? If not, what companies rival them?
Click to expand...

Well... The only way I can get the Skyward Sword armor for Breath of the Wild is by buying an incredibly rare out-of-stock retailer-exclusive amiibo that has virtually never been in stock.

.... So, no. I would not say they are the best. It doesn't help that buying their actual DLC from their eshop is a frustrating experience that has no consistency across titles. Not to mention the fact that some DLC (like in Smash Bros) charges you extra for being able to use your content on the 3DS and WiiU versions of what are essentially the same game.
 
jobrro

jobrro

Member
Not a fan of how they handled BotW since you couldn't choose the DLC you wanted, you need the whole season pass so I will just have to skip it.

Also I wouldn't want an Amiibo even if it was free, so I missed out on some content in the first Splatoon.

They did well on Mario Kart 8 on Wii U though. I thought that was a high value DLC for the price and they didn't lock you into buying both pieces though there was a discount if you did.
 
Bumblebeetuna

Bumblebeetuna

Member
lol, maybe if Amiibos didn’t exist.

I love the way CDPR and Bethesda handle it. Witcher 3 of course was impeccable and I don’t know of any Bethesda game I have played lately that pulls any DLC shenanigans. Might have to go all the way back to horse armor.

Sony, MS, and Nintendo are very hit or miss. I mean, the worst offender from those three has to be the microtransaction shit fest Sony turned The Last of Us MP into. Not only were there shitty, basically p2w weapons introduced, but some of the perks dramatically changed the whole meta of the gameplay.
 
Solo Act

Solo Act

Member
Surely the OP kind of meant of the bigger companies. Comparing Nintendo to CDPR is a little unfair because the latter releases like one game every 3 or 4 years.

Nintendo puts out certain games with tons of free DLC like Splatoon 2 and Arms, yet people compare The Witcher 3 to Fire Emblem to prove a point. It's just not a like for like comparison. Nintendo is great with their content compared to many, if not all of the bigger gaming companies in 2017.
 
M

Martinski43

Member
JG07 said:
Surely the OP kind of meant of the bigger companies. Comparing Nintendo to CDPR is a little unfair because the latter releases like one game every 3 or 4 years.

Nintendo puts out certain games with tons of free DLC like Splatoon 2 and Arms, yet people compare The Witcher 3 to Fire Emblem to prove a point. It's just not a like for like comparison. Nintendo is great with their content compared to many, if not all of the bigger gaming companies in 2017.
Click to expand...

Well Cdpr Also publish games on good old games.
 
P

Phatosaurus

Member
Rndom Grenadez said:
Amiibo aren’t DLC. Why do people keep bringing Amiibo up?

Fire Emblem is not great but generally they do pretty well.
Click to expand...

Amiibo is pretty much DLC for some games. I like the idea of it, but in BotW, having certain items completely gated off to non-Amiibo owners rubs me the wrong way.

The amount of items locked behind an Amiibo paywall, plus the price of Amiibos, and the rarity of some of them is a combination that just doesn't sit well with me.
 
P

PrinnyBomb

Member
Nintendo is extremely good with this stuff. Their DLC (except for FE but I haven't played any past Radiant Dawn so I'm only speaking from what I've heard about those ones) are all top notch in terms of quality, content AND price.

And you know they could very easily pepper their games with more DLC (lock champions road from Super Mario 3D World behind it, or add dlc parts for Mario Maker) but they just don't.
 
Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth

Member
On one hand you have Mario Kart 8 and NSLU, on the other you got Fire Emblem and amiibo. And the good examples are vastly over numbered by the bad ones, so I'd say no.
 
S

shauntu

Member
ChuyMasta said:
Lemme get my amiibos so I can get star fragments and update my armor sets faster since I want an accelerated experience
Click to expand...

That made no sense. You don't get star fragments from amiibo. You need MORE star fragments to upgrade any armor you get from amiibo, thus leading to more of a grind if you want to upgrade the new pieces of armor you get!
 
M

mantidor

Member
It was with Super Mario Run, but Nintendo deemed it "below expectations".

Edit: Animal Crossing mobile will be the real test, this is the series more obvious to exploit with this awful anticonsumer stuff that plague games nowadays, what I've seen is not really something I like, but I'll wait till I actually play it.
 
S

shauntu

Member
Phatosaurus said:
Amiibo is pretty much DLC for some games. I like the idea of it, but in BotW, having certain items completely gated off to non-Amiibo owners rubs me the wrong way.

The amount of items locked behind an Amiibo paywall, plus the price of Amiibos, and the rarity of some of them is a combination that just doesn't sit well with me.
Click to expand...

Exempting the Champions amiibo, the normal amiibo give armor that are all equivalent to each other (and to the in-game Wild armor), both in effects/stats and how you upgrade them (star fragment heavy). In effect, they are cosmetic.
 
Dr.brain64

Dr.brain64

Member
Sony is best in my book. DLC worth the price when I actually decide to buy dlc at all - granted I'm 90% single player player.
 
royox

royox

Member
Spauldingxx said:
I consider the amiibos the equivalent to a cheat code, they don't alter the experience at all.
Click to expand...

Like in BOTW where they give you Wolf Link and almost high end weapons and arrows? It's like physical microtransactions.

Nintendo can be the best at managing DLC (Mario Kart 8) Or the Worst (Smash Bros, Zelda BOTW and Metroid SR)
 
JaxBriggs

JaxBriggs

Member
Spauldingxx said:
What do you guys think, is Nintendo the best when it comes to releasing a complete package?
Click to expand...

They're pretty good granted, but I really hate how they lock content (even if it is mostly cosmetic) behind the purchasing on amiibos, especially when some of those things become really hard to find.
 
InterMusketeer

InterMusketeer

Member
Hmm, I'm not sure. They've made a few games recently that lacked content on release, only for them to compensate for it with free DLC/updates. Is that the right way to go about it?

For a lot of other games, they just don't do DLC at all. Depending on how you look at it, that could be a bad thing as well.

Finally in terms of paid DLC packs, Nintendo has been all over the place. Yes, MK8's DLC packs were fantastic, a great value, but besides those... I can't really think of anything they handled particularly well. SSB4's DLC was a mess. I honestly view the money I spent on Zelda's season pass as washed down a drain (maybe they can redeem this with the second pack, but the first DLC was terribly disappointing) and other than that...

Yeah, Mario Kart 8 was basically the only great DLC they've ever done. If they can keep that kind of stuff up sure, but if not they're pretty average. I know I'm a lot more cautious of their DLC plans since BotW.
 
Petrae

Petrae

Member
Considering that there’s content in Nintendo games that I’ll never be able to access without finding certain amiibo, the answer to this question is a resounding “NO”.

Not that what other publishers are doing with DLC & microtransactions is good, but at least it doesn’t run out and consumers can’t buy it if they want. Not so with Nintendo. It’s just as shitty as its counterparts, just in a different way.
 
goldenpp72

goldenpp72

Member
radewagon said:
Well... The only way I can get the Skyward Sword armor for Breath of the Wild is by buying an incredibly rare out-of-stock retailer-exclusive amiibo that has virtually never been in stock.

.... So, no. I would not say they are the best. It doesn't help that buying their actual DLC from their eshop is a frustrating experience that has no consistency across titles. Not to mention the fact that some DLC (like in Smash Bros) charges you extra for being able to use your content on the 3DS and WiiU versions of what are essentially the same game.
Click to expand...

The difference being Amiibo are almost always frivolous add ons versus being really needed content, people who obsess about having every little thing are the only ones who will have an issue here, and they need help in other ways.
 
Steven Universe

Steven Universe

Neo Member
Anyone who says Amiibo has no idea what they’re talking about. Please tell me how your game is worth less or you can’t enjoy it because you can’t get a costume from a toy?

The Amiibo work across all Nintendo games, and some 3rd parties, that support it too. Last of all it’s not even DLC.
 
jobrro

jobrro

Member
goldenpp72 said:
The difference being Amiibo are almost always frivolous add ons versus being really needed content, people who obsess about having every little thing are the only ones who will have an issue here, and they need help in other ways.
Click to expand...

Maybe in most games but at least in Splatoon they experimented with hiding modes behind them. With Splatoon the three Amiibos each had ~20 challenges they would unlock. There was a three pack you could buy for maybe 60% of the price of the actual game.

Not everyone wants dozens of figurines in their home, I'd prefer plain DLC over Amiibo unlocks.
 
I

Insaniac

Member
Phatosaurus said:
Amiibo is pretty much DLC for some games. I like the idea of it, but in BotW, having certain items completely gated off to non-Amiibo owners rubs me the wrong way.

The amount of items locked behind an Amiibo paywall, plus the price of Amiibos, and the rarity of some of them is a combination that just doesn't sit well with me.
Click to expand...

They're hardly DLC. My cousin often takes advantage of my amiibo collection, without having a spend a cent.
 
Zog

Zog

Banned
Amiibo's are like On Disc DLC. Nintendo also does Season Passes and Fire Emblem Awakening had loads of DLC (don't know about the newer FE games).

Now, to say that Nintendo handles it best is still not a compliment but it doesn't matter to me because I don't buy DLC anymore.

It's interesting to me how people continue to play 'cross this line' without noticing, It wasn't so long ago that Nintendo was being praised for no DLC but now we're all ok with 'but they handle it the best'.
 
OuterLimits

OuterLimits

Member
michaelius said:
I'd say Sony - you only get one huge expansion for Horizon or Infamous without all that Amibo pseudo DLC.

From 3rd party CD Projekt

And least offensive big publishers currently Bethesda and SE
Click to expand...

Funny how Bethesda is one of the better ones now, when it could be argued they started this whole thing with the ridiculous horse armor. Now look where we are. Damn you Bethesda. :)
 
AzureFlame

AzureFlame

Member
Steven Universe said:
Anyone who says Amiibo has no idea what they’re talking about. Please tell me how your game is worth less or you can’t enjoy it because you can’t get a costume from a toy?

The Amiibo work across all Nintendo games, and some 3rd parties, that support it too. Last of all it’s not even DLC.
Click to expand...

they are bad, i hate them when i need to buy to unlock features like making the game harder or unlocking more challenges.
 
JaxBriggs

JaxBriggs

Member
Steven Universe said:
Anyone who says Amiibo has no idea what they're talking about. Please tell me how your game is worth less or you can't enjoy it because you can't get a costume from a toy?
Click to expand...

Even if it is mostly just cosmetic, it is still literally locked on-disc DLC which requires the purchase of a plastic toy to access.

Dress it up all you like but that's not something to be applauded IMO.
 
Rhetorical Question

Rhetorical Question

Member
Everything mentioned here is just a comparison of the lesser evil. If it comes to Nintendo, I think their games do feel more or less complete, even without buying any amiibos. And I perceive a plastic toy as something with more value than just some digital shit like a costume. Maybe they don't handle it best, but at least I don't feel offended by the stuff I'm not gonna get in their games because I don't have the proper amiibo.
People that have mentioned CD Project have a point, I think that The Witcher 3 was managed quite good with two brilliant DLC's. But don't you start to believe that Cyberpunk will manage it the same way. By the time Cyberpunk will be ready for release, shit like microstransactions will be even more state of the art than it already is today.
 
R

Real_Madrid

Member
Insaniac said:
They're hardly DLC. My cousin often takes advantage of my amiibo collection, without having a spend a cent.
Click to expand...

How many people have access to friends who have Amiibo? Of course they're comparable to DLC. And in some ways even worse, because the price will always stay the same and if you play Zelda BoTW in 15 years it could be that the Amiibo you want is not available anymore.
And locking a hard mode behind a season pass is also not that great.

Sony does it the best imo, for the games I like (SP games). Delivering complete experiences and then add an expansion to it. Uncharted, Horizon, Infamous SS, Bloodborne,... all had a great approach to DLC. Uncharted 4 had microtransactions, but only for the MP part.
 
geordiemp

geordiemp

Member
I would say CPDR Witcher 3.

Some Sony studios like sucker punch have DLC and thats it,

Nintendo have Amiibo which is macro transactions behind plastic tat - no thanks, just as bad as game altering micro shit.

Bungie have loot boxes for cosmetic - on par but not game altering.

EA take the biscuit on payto win with FIFA ultimate team and now star wars.

So in summary Nintendo are not far behind EA in paid extras which change how a game plays which sucks donkey balls.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
They are good but not without issues. No matter what positive twist fans try to give it, Amiibos are still basically DLC in physical format which sucks. I'm also not a fan of stuff like having 2 versions of each Pokemon game and I'll probably never play FE:Fates because the whole deal of locking you into a path and having to pay for the other one is EA tier of bad ("b...but both paths combined are like twice as much content as Awakening"....so? The Witcher has like 10x the content of TW2 and I wasn't asked to buy 2 games to get the whole thing" .

But generally, yeah the you are good. The Mario Kart 8 DLC in particular is up there with the Witcher 3 as some of the best value I've gotten from a DLC.
 
S

Steroyd

Member
No

Amiibo's alone bring them down from being considered anywhere near the best while yes you can take them across titles, and sell them when you're done... It's DLC limited by availability (if you didn't pre-order it good fucking luck). Doesn't help that they lock difficulty modes among all things behind the damn things as well and the prices of things go up rather than having sales a year later.
 
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