During my play through of role-playing game Hyperdimension Neptunia I am delighted to welcome a new character into my party, but the NIS America-inspired Nisa won't fight with me or gain experience. She just sits there, until I pay.

Nisa is one of two game developer-inspired characters (along with Gust) that join your party on a pay-to-play basis in Hyperdimension Neptunia, a role-playing collaboration by some of Japan's top RPG makers for the PlayStation 3. After running into the characters on several occasions, both eventually decide to join up, accompanied by one of every RPG fans' favorite phrases, "XXX has joined your party."

But they aren't actually joining. Sure, they're both listed in your party roster, but you can't do anything with them until you go to the PlayStation store and buy their activation packs for $1.99 apiece. Until then they sit in your start menu, not doing a damn thing.

Unlocking characters through DLC is nothing new to our games. The difference for this time is that the additional characters are already in the game. Having these characters already in the game will help players attach to the characters, and if the players would like to play the characters they have options to download the DLC to unlock them. 
 
Having these characters in the party is like a tease."  

next generation Microsoft nickel and sony dimestation, this kind of crap is just the warm up act

wow that is kinda messed up.. i was wondering what NISA actually did as well as Gust, but i'll have to pay to find out.. ;_;

This is not unusual for NISA releases.  Games like Disgaea 3 and Cross Edge have extensive nickel-and-dime DLC offerings ranging from item packs to characters to dungeons.

Man, those Japanese are really learning well.

Wow.  Fuck that game.

 NISA replied back to Kotaku.

"Unlocking characters through DLC is nothing new to our games. The difference for this time is that the additional characters are already in the game. Having these characters already in the game will help players attach to the characters, and if the players would like to play the characters they have options to download the DLC to unlock them.
Having these characters in the party is like a tease."    

Woowww
 
 
 
Wwwooooowowwww
 
that's fucking atrocious.
 
Like, 
 
holy shit
 
this....how do you even get away with....i don't...wow
 
@animateria said:

"

"Unlocking characters through DLC is nothing new to our games. The difference for this time is that the additional characters are already in the game. Having these characters already in the game will help players attach to the characters, and if the players would like to play the characters they have options to download the DLC to unlock them.
Having these characters in the party is like a tease."    

That is fucked. This just furthers my commitment to buy the game used at cost.

The sad thing is, this shit will only get worse as time goes on.

Here's hoping that this is the only game that they make that tries this. Gotta let publishers and developers know that adding a 'tease' like that puts off sales, not makes them.

It isn't too bad but only because the characters are useful. The additional stats are the problem here.

Dude that is just fucked up. DLC is alright when it's done well, but this is just ripoff.

For the handful of weirdos who play this game, it makes sense to pepper out content like that. The idea is to get a small number of people to buy a lot of extra crap, not to get everyone to buy some of it. Fact is, people will pay for this.  Creepy people.

@ryanwho said:

For the handful of weirdos who play this game, it makes sense to pepper out content like that. The idea is to get a small number of people to buy a lot of extra crap, not to get everyone to buy some of it. Fact is, people will pay for this. Creepy people.

Kind of what I was thinking. Niche audiences will buy anything.