I propose 2024 is the year of early access games boycott.
Bring back completed games only.
Removed by mod
There’s nothing wrong with buying early access games. You as a buyer just need to be happy with the current state of the game at the time of purchase.
And the price should reflect the game’s current state/value, not some hypothetical roadmap.
So more like Kerbal Space Program, less like Kerbal Space Program 2.
Exactly this. I tell my friends not to get their hopes up too high about Palworlds eventually being completed because the studio has a history of abandoning titles in early access. I’m not telling them not to buy it or that it’s not worth purchasing, but to weigh if where it’s currently at is worth the price they’re charging.
The studio may use the funding they got from its spike in popularity to actually complete a title just as well as they might sell out to a bigger studio (I’d imagine The Pokemon Company would love to buy then bury it), or abandon it entirely. We don’t know what the future holds and we do know the studio has a history, so keep that in mind when you’re purchasing or when you’re asking yourself if it was worth the buy.
I am not sure about the pokemon company. Palworld is a completely different genre than pokemon and therefore not really a competitor.
really, do tell, what games have they abandoned in early access?
Craftopia which is basically palworld without the Pokemon aspect. I got burned by that one a few years ago which is why I’m still reluctant to pick up palworld. I think they did the same with their other game (now removed from steam), but I can’t remember the name of it.
Craftopia was updated last week and is still being actively developed but whatever you want to believe
And they’re still doing it (Never Grave)
And they’re still doing it (Never Grave)
Never grave is the one you’re thinking of
I’d imagine The Pokemon Company would love to buy then bury it
sighs and looks at DRM-Free versions
Which one have they abandoned? Because Craftopia still gets updates, and last year they got the open world update, which is a massive change.
I see a lot of people shitting on Craftopia saying it’s a BotW ripoff, while its fun and completely its own thing (ok, asset wise and sound wise eerily similar, but gameplay has nothing to do with BotW)
It’s an odd concept for sure. People pay extra money to be beta testers for a game company. That’s an actual paid career, yet people are willing to pay to do it.
Most of the EA games I buy (not all, but a significant majority) are sold for less, sometimes a lot less, than their final sale price, and I get tangible input on the design decisions before 1.0. I’m a big fan. I get to provide funding and feedback to a game I’m excited to see, get it for a good discount, get to see it grow up, and then when it blows up and everyone loves the game I’m considered a source of arcane ancient knowledge about it. It’s fun.
Mostly I enjoy being able to go on a game forum and say “this sucks, we should consider changing A to B” and then logging in next week to find B implemented.
Yep, it really comes down to knowing you’re buying an unfinished project that has the potential to never change from its current state. Never buy a game based on the promises, buy it based on whether you’ll enjoy it now. It also helps if the dev has a good track record of releases. Things like valheim and palworld im OK with buying because even if they never change, I still had many hours of fun with them for the price.
To be fair, early access feedback is very different from beta tester feedback.
Beta testers focus on tangible actionable feedback, like: “game crash in x situation” or “y character’s arc could use restructuring”. Whereas early access feedback is more like “these parts just aren’t fun” or “man, i, j, k, l, & q would be so cool!”, which isn’t nearly as actionable, but arguably more useful to the end product. Though good luck bug hunting with “game bork pls fix”.
At the same time, beta testing isn’t fun, it’s work. Trying every combination of buttons to find edge cases can be mind numbing, and playing the same thing 400 times in one day can drain any appreciation of the game as a whole. Early access players can actually play the game, and leave if it’s not fun. The majority won’t even leave feedback anyway.
Also, beta testers often need to sign NDAs and could loose their career by breaking them, while early access is straight up letting the cat out of the bag. Depending on how replayable or spoilerable the game is, that might be undesirable.
I mean, yeah, for some of us it’s apart of the experience to see a game change and grow over time and be apart of it. It’s nice when developers respond directly to you and even take your ideas into consideration. It’s nice being apart of a community, too
I get this if we’re talking AAA millions of dollars dumped into a game and it goes early access, but EA indie games have been a blast for me for years.
Enjoying palworld quite a bit despite bugs, and the input (and money) will probably make the end product a better game. BG3 is another example of a game that was wildly successful due to EA.
I’ll judge these on a case by case basis. But I think the issue is less EA titles and more titles that are released not as EA but obviously broken.
And even those are a mixed bag, like Cities Skylines 2 should be in EA, but as an informed gamer i still knew what i’m going to get on day 1 and despite all the downsides it’s enjoyable and i wouldn’t choose to play C:S 1 instead
I don’t regret the $20 I spent on Dyson Sphere Program, spent more time enjoying that than I have playing most of my library of supposedly “finished” games.
They released The Dark Fog in December. It’s great!
Nah, I’ll buy quality games whether or not they’re EA. As with everything, you have to put in the effort to find the good shit mixed in with the bad. I’ve easily had at least a half dozen EA games that I’ve bought and played hundreds of hours, and more than a half dozen “completed” games that were absolute trash.
I’ve had a good experience so far, so, no.
Nah. I propose instead you watch YouTube gameplay videos before buying games. Plenty of “completed games” are trash and early access titles absolute gems. Also regardless, you’re buying incredibly complicated software that people sunk countless hours of labor into developing for pennies on the dollar so like whatever. If a game is bad I won’t play it. If it’s janky I will move on with my life.
Don’t look at me. I learned my lesson back with Batman: Arkham Knight.
Nah, I’ll continue spending my money on whatever I want, thanks.
I think you’re a little late on that with Palworld and all.
That and palworld is actually good.
It was painful waiting for them to fix the Baldur’s Gate 3 xbox save bug before buying it, while everyone was abuzz. But I stand by my principles, the game must work!
Maybe instead we should push the revoke the law that forces you to buy early access games?
laughs in 🏴☠️ Palworld
Ironically, despite being version 0.1.3. it’s in a better shape than some “full” releases. Looking at you, Starfield.
The dev team is still stretching their resources between THREE unfinished games (Never Grave, Craftopia, Palworld) and have a history of unfinished products and scams (cryptocurrency).
So piracy it is. I’m only giving them my money once they finish their games
Judging from the recent influx of Craftopia steam reviews, that game “died” for Palworld.
Didn’t Craftopia receive a big update less than 2 months ago? I’ve seen mixed opinions about it, some arguing that the game continues receiving plenty of updates, and others saying that the problems they had with the game at release are still not addressed.
yall spend money on GAMES?
