And if an indie game is crap you are out like 10 bucks.
And they are less likely to get all up in your grill about preordering and DLC as well.
That’s not just a AAA thing. Paradox is ridiculous with the DLC – look at Magicka ($62 in DLC) or Crusader Kings II ($241 in DLC!)
Even Cities: Skylines (published by Paradox but not produced by them) has a couple DLC packs out now that, combined, cost as much as the base game. Neither can be said to offer 50% the content of the base game but that’s how companies get their money these days. Provided the base game offers a complete experience, I don’t care all that much.
This isn’t how competitive gaming, or competitive ANYTHING works.
Pretty much what I was going to say. You can’t level up to play with the big boys six months after release because they’re so far ahead of you that you’ll just get constantly pwned in all likelihood.
It’s one of the reasons I don’t do competitive multiplayer - I don’t have the time to invest in levelling up and learning all the levels etc.
You seriously don’t think you can catch up on a six month headstart? People have been doing better than that in competitive Street Fighter for YEARS.
Hell, by this logic, no one would ever beat Roger Federer, because he’s been playing tennis longer than they have.
Seriously, what the heck? You don’t think everyone winning at League of Legends right now started playing the game the instant it was launched, do you? That makes no sense at all.
You can TOTALLY come back from starting out on one of these games a few months late. In fact, in some ways it’s EASIER, because the first few months are spent figuring stuff out about the game that in six months you’ll be able to learn from ten minutes on Youtube instead of months of trial and error.
As long as we’re complaining about AAA gaming, there’s one thing that bugs the hell out of me:
I hate hate hate it when people use the words “release” and “leak” interchangeably.
Everybody should know pretty damn well by now that just about any information that gets out about a major release is information the publisher wants out there. There’s no “leaking” involved when the company reveals that X character or Y faction or Z mechanic is going to make an appearance in their upcoming AAA blockbuster title. They just encourage people calling it it “leaks” because it makes them feel like part of super secret club of cool kids who are hip to top secret info beyond what the common plebs have at their disposal. It’s gotten to the point where headlines will straight-facedly say things like “Company Leaks Promotional Trailer”.
It just frustrates me how enthusiastically gamers submit themselves to the marketing hype machine.
Leaks do happen though. Sometimes information gets out earlier than it was supposed to, or someone picks apart beta code and finds references to characters or something that haven’t been announced yet.
They’re not synonymous, but that doesn’t mean everything is a “release”
Yeah, pretty much every time I see Crusader Kings 2 on sale for $10 I think it might be fun to try, then I remember that even if all of the DLC is deeply discounted as well it still comes out to around $60 (and if I’m going to get it, of course I’m going to want vikings, and the ability to make a horse my trusted advisor…)
Actual leaks certainly do happen, but there’s a very annoying tendency for people writing about games to call any information release a “leak” even if it’s fully intended by the companies involved.
The vast majority of DLC in CKII (and EU4) is cosmetic and introduces no gameplay changes whatsoever. Maybe you want your Mongols to actually look like Mongols or hear Celtic music when you’re in Ireland, but that doesn’t impact how the game is actually played. Only the major expansion DLC introduce real gameplay changes. Even then, the expansions are also accompanied by a major patch that adds most of the changes for everyone, even those without the DLC. If you want to play as a Muslim character, then you’ll need the Sword of Islam DLC, but even if you’re not interested in that and don’t have the DLC, you’ll still see the AI using improved Islamic mechanics introduced therein.
This is all the same kind of reskins that other games sell as DLC, and it’s no more acceptable for Paradox. It’s absurd how much of this Paradox shoves out the door. Let me point out that they’re demanding people pay up 20 or 30 dollars for some small additional mechanic, and then more on top of that if you want some minor graphics changes which should have been included. What’s worse is that if you want to attempt the achievements or stay current, you have very little choice but to buy the DLC. They only tune the game to playing with it.
The base game has already been improved by the major patches that automatically accompany the release of each major expansion DLC. If you’re not interested in the reskins, then don’t buy the DLC. If you’re not interested in Vikings, then don’t buy the DLC. If you’re so obsessed by chasing achievements, that don’t actually get you anything additional other than illusory Internet points, then Steam Achievement Manager is a thing.
I can’t even understand what this is supposed to mean.
Tuning the game ; i.e., tuning the gameplay/challenge curve to fit.
The only game I’ve dealt with where you can’t just buy the whole damned game in some package was Borderlands 2. I can understand if they did more shit after GoTY, but having to buy actual outfits that as the player you rarely get to see? Yes, I realize that the designers are actual people with degrees in the arts that actually need to pay rent and eat, but as a consumer I expect to be given fine customization options, not to pay for broad customization options.
Yes, I understand what “tuning the game” means. What the heck does “tuning the game to play with it” mean? Of course you tune the game to play with the game, why else would you tune the game if you’re not going to play with it? 
The “it” in that sentence is “the paid DLC”. They tune the game with the expectation that the players have the DLC, so for players without it, the game might be inbalanced.
My way of dealing with AAA games is to buy them when they’re on huge discount. I think I broke and paid $20 for Skyrim, but the Batman games were $7.50 or less each, and my price-point for AAA games, along with all games, is less than $10.
It may mean I play games a few years late, but it also means I play games that have been extensively patched and are far less buggy than on release. I’m have a ton of fun with Skyrim these days–anyone else playing? 
That holds true for nearly every DLC for every game, really. If you don’t want to play the new class or drive the new car or do the new mission or have the automatic triple-barreled shotgun or the space rabbit pimp coat then don’t buy the DLC. About the only time I really see it being an issue is in multiplayer games where map packs start to split up the community.
Another time is when features go missing between titles to be resold as DLC such as “Ranger Mode” in Metro 2033 which became a pre-order bonus/paid DLC in Last Light. Those are thankfully rare though since they tend to provoke a lot of backlash.
This post is truly bizarre on so many levels. Let me ask, what is your competitive fighting game experience? Because I could ask about 200 players on facebook right now and I guarantee you none of them would accept a six month handicap, and none of them would think it is ‘easier’, which is truly, truly bizarre.
The fact that some some noobs have done well speaks to their particular skill levels (and possibly how the new games coddle newer players since you never saw newbies winning majors in Super Turbo and other older fighting games)… but the vast majority of winners and top placers in major tournaments are vastly over-represented by well established, big name players who have been doing it a long time.
You come across as a stream monster who doesn’t really get how this stuff works, because your post was absolutely ridiculous. I have been playing my main game competitively since 2007, I am willing to give you six months and 5-to-1 odds against me, it should be easy since you have youtube right? :smack:
Edit: to be clear, of course you CAN come back from a 6 month headstart for the other players, but it’s a serious handicap and between two equally skilled players the one with more matches in will have a huge advantage… this is obvious to anyone who has actually competed instead of just watched on twitch.