While it's still fresh in my head after just beating Sora's side.

• God, I am not enjoying this game.
• Picks up right after KH1 end, really funny how its just a straight up sequel.
• Can Pluto traverse the darkness a la OXIII?
• Very story light at the start, rethreading kh1 worlds is not fun especially after just beating the first game.
• I dont think 3D does this game any favours, moving and dodging while doing the math for sleights sucks, the shoulder buttons rotate decks the wrong way
• does using enemy cards count as using the darkness???
• Looked up larxene's death in the manga as it sounds rough, one of the first notably good VA's (thats not a hollywood actor)
• they fucking make you grind in the 2nd half, skip this game or play on easy imo
• Last boss is some final fantasy ass shit, multiple forms and looks like a god
• Marluxia's rose petals, scythe, and last form having this gigantic woman be behind is open to some interesting interpretations I dare say, read somewhere that his gender was flipped cause nomura didnt want every woman in oxiii to be a traitor, not sure how valid that info is but it creates another interesting reading
• Dont know if its a mix of nostalgia and stockholm syndrome but some of the stuff at the end was touching
• there's a slightly weird scene where they are making it obvious that Sora is choosing Kairi over Namine and I was waiting for it to be justified disney style but it never was lol

• Riku immediately feels better to play
• riku's not just magically fixed at the end of kh1, actually really appreciated the idea that riku's wounds (metaphorically) are still raw and he still has to deal with the consequences of his actions
• not meeting anyone in the castle because there's only darkness in your heart is still rough tho, poor riku
• no characters and straight to boss fights in the world makes it feel cheaper/barren but is also a huge relief
• more oxiii dudes
• trance system and prebuilt deck do wonders, tho some decks are shit

Short answer:

No

Of course I'm gonna try to justify this but a little prefacing first so readers can understand where I'm coming from and alternatively see if you agree with any of my thoughts. Ultimately I hope we can get a good well thought out discussion on critiquing this game and on how this perfect game could be improved. So some short preamble:

Do I think a game, even a flawed one, can get a perfect score? Most definitely yes, though the 3 point scale (good games get 8,9 or 10 only) of modern journalism is incredibly irritating and I think one of the biggest issues in the press today. Having recently beat VLR/999 (thanks @patrickklepek) along with Dark Souls and with fresh memories of TWD and Planescape:Torment it really baffles me how this story is being called the Citizen Kane of video games and this generation's greatest narrative. Can a game not have a competent story or are they so rare that we over value one when it does come along? Does giving it a complicated mindfuck aspect suddenly elevate it to untouchable heights? No I don't think so. But maybe I'm in the minority of those experiencing great narrative in games, everyone knows we've been starved of it recently. Are you a fan or just hating what people like? I'm definitely a fan, I've played every 'Shock game since System Shock 2. Difficulty? Hard. Personal GOTYAY? Dark Souls probably...

Surely I can’t be the only one that thinks that 14 years after System Shock 2, these ‘Shock games can, should and have been much better.

I played on hard and not once felt the tension prevalent in SS2 and even the earlier Bioshocks (loss of atmosphere is a whole ‘nother aspect though). Handyman may have come somewhat close but compared to setting up traps and finding good tactical positions to fight Big Daddies after learning their patrols, the Handyman fights devolved into Cat and Mouse games, where you’d empty your gun and wait for Elizabeth to throw you more ammo or run to a tear for a new gun. The heavily armoured enemies become negligible with a possession (if this was meant to be the way to deal with them then ok, pretty cool but that has its own pros and cons)

Quickly on the topic of atmosphere…where is it? They create a fantastic floating city (with perhaps a bit too much “bloom”) but the tension and atmosphere from Rapture and the Von Braun are gone. If you look at Fallout 3 and Bioshock you can see how well music can set the mood of the game but aside from the guitar moment and the one time I heard Tainted Love effective music seems notably absent. Now I may be being overly cynical here but while I thought the Beach Boys moment was great, having it so early and then nothing like that in the rest of the game makes me think it was done for showcase purposes, it would be memorably to reviewers and early enough to show off pre-release but maybe that’s reaching. I can see and agree with the argument that Columbia is not the same as those places and there isn’t a need for such an atmosphere. I miss the screams of The Many and the shattered windows and dripping walls of Rapture, and the environment that replaces it although polished, is not as interesting.

Which brings me to environmental story-telling. Damn I love when a game does this right, and honestly Dark Souls opened my eyes to how great it can be. One of my favourite and most memorable moments/devices in DS is the missing statue in Ornstein & Slough’s room and its implications ( finding Iron Tarkus’ body, Ciaran’s ring on Artorias’s grave, and the new Sif scene at the start of his fight all rank up there as well). However I think B:I can be very hit and miss here, though when it hits it is some of the most well done aspects of the game in my opinion. Interestingly this is the first ‘Shock game where I began to question the purpose and specifically the placement of audio logs. The propaganda as a means of environmental story telling I found a little heavy handed and graffiti is just codex on the wall and a bit lazy at that. However the bar where there’s only dead bodies of Vox Populi and security forces was a great piece in the game and the perfect spot for a Vox log( unlike say 80% of the other places they show up). While I compare graffiti to the tediousness of a codex (in a story-telling aspect, codexes can definitely add to a game) I’m not against text telling a story in the world. In fact one of the things that made me actually uncomfortable (being Irish myself) were the dilapidated, disgusting separate bathrooms for the “Colored and Irish” and that piece will stick with me longer than most of the rest of the game.

Honestly I don’t think its a bad game, but it is one of the most disappointing products of the 3 point scale that is so prevalent in game journalism. Normally I wouldn’t critique a game this hard, games are meant to be enjoyable past times, but when someone says to me; this is the best game in its genre, its the best it’s gonna get and those flaw you see playing through it or in hind sight are not worth even dropping the score by a point it really irks me reinforces my disillusionment with the ability and the objectivity of the press and overall people's willingness to eat shit.

I don’t know why someone would review, this game in particular with all its supposedly well-deserved perfect scores and not try to think objectively about it. I enjoyed my playthrough but at one point I also enjoyed Sonic Heroes, League of Legends and Pokemon (not trying to be edgy here, just games that at one point I enjoyed but looking back critically can see a myriad of flaws).

For a perfect score game the AI is aggressively middling, its not walking into walls stupid, but its so boring its almost as bad. Traps become an essentially useless mechanic as they don’t bother flanking you, and rather than putting them down in front of you for the one or two melee enemies that walk right at you, you can spend that time just shooting them as you’ll have to do that anyway. It also bugged out in some pots, I only beat the Siren in the bank because I was just headshotting her while she stood there doing nothing (what a really shit enemy she was too). Jeff's also mentioned the weirdness of Elizabeth's invisibility to enemies.

Regenerating shields is shitty game mechanic. Ya I said it. There’s no reason not to max shields first on hard. They take away any tension from a fight, promote less tactical play, and overall evokes memories of CoD’s weakest gameplay aspects. Crouching behind cover until a bar is filled is not fun, rewarding or tactical gameplay. In fact aside from being boring it’s actually pretty immersion breaking waiting until a bar is filled unlike in say Dark Souls where its about careful management and a skilled player won’t get hit or expend more stamina than was necessary. Johnathan Blow tweeted some good thoughts on the poorer aspects of regenerating shields today too which are worth checking out (https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow).

2 GUN LIMIT. WHY. WHO FINDS THIS FUN?

Guns were pretty underwhelming, not horribly so and I think the actual ADS snap was pretty well done (personal pet peeve) but I would sacrifice all of the later guns (repeater,hail fire, burst gun etc) to make the earlier ones like the volley gun (personal favourite) have much more interesting and substantial upgrades. The encounters reminded me of CoD and not in a good way. Reach, kill X guys, crouch behind rock to regen health, kill X more guys, proceed.

Upgrades were pretty shit, you could argue that they are realistic but if you start using the term realistic for any argument in a game (that isnt a Sim) then you probably hate fun or something. Upgrades boiling down to for the most part: increase this number (ammo, damage, splash radius) is pretty lazy, and not using Vigors to augment guns is a lost opportunity. Vigors themselves are a step backing from BS2, no dual wielding or combination traps. I honestly didn't use anything besides Possession and lightning but I've heard Bronco could be pretty broken. Uprades here were actually a bit better but Vigors themselves were underwhelming and only being able to cycle through two of them quickly was limiting their scope.

Skylines had a lot of potential and worked well in some areas and in others were just used to escape to gather ammo and wait for shields to recharge. Nice addition that suffered from not being fleshed out. Could a stealth aspect and vigor worked here? Maybe…

As for the actual story, liking it is probably subjective, I think it was alright but there could be plot holes that I didn’t see after my playthrough and if there isn’t well, a game really shouldn’t be lauded for not fucking up its story regardless if it is a bit convoluted. I do think that a story that does encourage and foster such debate is definitely praise worthy for that aspect. I will say that coming off 999/VLR (games I think did the reality hopping much better) recently that a very early Vox spoiled the game a bit for me (the thinly veiled reference to Schrodinger’s cat) and that a lot of the reality related revelations at the end than came as no surprise. The meaning behind AD still threw me for a loop though which I liked.

Gear was a cool addition but from what I've seen their balance is skewed, the extra capacity one Jeff mentioned in the QL seemed miles better than any I've found. This could have been used to encourage different playstyles but there seems to be shit gear and good gear, thus bringing it back to numbers and min maxing. Admittedly I did like the utility some of them had such as full life on revival.

I found the reality hopping aspect to be very inferior to 999/VLR, especially given how this story and game mechanic becomes a part of the narrative in much more interesting and fleshed out fashion. The lost opportunities of having to solve puzzles by hopping through tears really stood out to me. Honestly there's probably been games out there that do reality hopping better (I've heard people saying Ghost Trick, Corpse Party and Radiant Historia do it better) but I just haven't played them (chances are they're japanese)

Linearity is a topic that has come up in discussion but this is more of personal preference I think. The game does hand holding a little too much, things like being able to jump off "cliffs" with zero reaction from anybody and no consequance is weird and having to wait for Elizabeth to throw you ammo in the longer fights isn't great.

Overall I’m not inherently set against perfect scores, I don't want to go and attack a game everyone else loves, nor do I think a flawed game cant get that score(games that would these scores for me would be the likes of SM64, LoZ:LttP, RE4, OoT and Portal and while Dark Souls is probably the best game of the generation I can easily justify not giving it a perfect score). I don’t think 10/10 means that a game is “perfect” but it does demand that all aspects of the game are nailed from the core aspect of the gameplay itself (here it's poor combat), to the visuals holding up across the board (have you seen the 2d fruit and bushes? god damn how big a budget do you need to have things not look like shit? Immersion fucking shattering. 3D fruit though? Eat that shit right up. Crysis managed this 6 years ago, come on…) and having a compelling story and narrative, or at least one that suits the game completely (no one thinks the Zelda's stories are the Citizen Kanes of video games but they do suit the game itself).

I saw a great post on /v/ that really resonated with me:

“Face it.

You’re not angry that Bioshock Infinite is a bad game; you know that it isn’t. You’re angry that the bar has fallen so far that a competent game with a competent story is hailed as perfection.

You’re angry that what to you is clearly a step back from Bioshock and further from System Shock is being hailed as a masterpiece of a generation.”

There’s a lot of merit to this quote I think.

(play 999 and VLR for cool reality bending shit, play Dark Souls to see how well a story can be told in and through the medium of video games)

Everybody loves lists.I'm a sucker for good narrative (especially as of the last few years where dark souls, 999/VLR, TWD have really redefined how I look at a game's story) so that may colour my own thoughts.Nonetheless I do understand the importance of compelling gameplay, my most played game on steam with 2200 hours is Dota 2, not because it has super interesting lore, but because the gameplay is just that good. I've a feeling I'm going to be repeating my own favourite multiple times...

I'll list the winners according to GDC first.

Innovation Award:

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Mark of the Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)

FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)

The Unfinished Swan (Giant Sparrow/Sony Computer Entertainment)

ZombiU (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)

Innovation: Having only played FTL from this list I'm not in a great position. The stuff Valves doing in Dota 2 like the workshop, the market, polycount contest, pennants, league tickets and especially the in built spectator mode (being able to follow your favourite players mouse movements is one of the most interesting things I've seen) are fantastic and really interesting but from this list Journey was always going to top it, with FTL just barely losing out and an honourable mention to ZombiU

Best Audio:

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games/Devolver Digital)

Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)

Audio: Would it be cheating to give this to Final Fantasy Theatrhythm ? Maybe is just the nostalgia talking but such a good collection of FF songs really shines over anything else here. Again haven't played Journey so from these hotline would win.

Best Downloadable Game:

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Spelunky (Derek Yu/Andy Hull)

Trials: Evolution (RedLynx/Microsoft Studios)

Mark Of The Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)

Downloadable: What a stupid name for an award, you could throw almost any game into the running here. I'll restrict myself to the ones listed otherwise you could get stuck arguing semantics (And VLR would win). Pretty close, this probably comes down to preference I'd give it to TWD probably.

Best Game Design:

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Mark Of The Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)

Spelunky (Derek Yu/Andy Hull)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games)

Game Design: ehhh...Dota 2? I'd also put VLR ahead of most of these on the list. Mark of the ninja probably tops this list for me.

Best Debut:

Subset Games (FTL: Faster Than Light)

Humble Hearts (Dust: An Elysian Tail)

Polytron Corporation (Fez)

Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan)

Fireproof Games (The Room )

Best Debut: I haven't beat Fez yet so I'm still undecided but the bugs and the framerate issues are really turning me off. I enjoyed FTL yet Dust wins this outright for me. Such a charming game, describing it as metroidvania is almost insulting as people (myself at least) tend to forget how good these games can be when done well.

Best Handheld/Mobile Game:

The Room (Fireproof Games)

Gravity Rush (SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Hero Academy (Robot Entertainment)

Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Kid Icarus: Uprising (Sora/Nintendo)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game:

Another poorly conceived category imo. Couldnt OoT 3D win this? Or even Persona 4 Golden?

Having recently picked up a 3ds xl (first nintendo handheld since gba sp) I've been playing a ton of 3DS games recently. VLR again wins here, while I'm enjoying KI:U and its difficulty and writing especially the one game I keep coming back to is FF: Theatrhythm, while I've never been an expert at rhythm games I really enjoy this and the various difficulties give it a great replay value. However its incredibly frustrating as you can see while playing it how much better it can be, how a few months of refinement could have made it fantastic. Also god damn nostalgia rush.

Best Narrative:

The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Spec Ops: The Line (Yager Entertainment/2K Games)

Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/Electronic Arts)

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Virtue’s Last Reward (Chunsoft/Aksys Games)

Best Narrative:

Such a close one for me. Dark Souls PtD came out last year, wouldnt that run away with it? The new scene at the start of Sifs fight almost matched the emotions I felt at the end TWD. VLR has a really strong narrative but maybe not as good as its prequel because it ends in such a specific way as opposed to 999's really strong ending. Spec Ops and ME3 shouldnt be anywhere near this list, so TWD probably jointly tops with VLR. VLR's "game" parts are actually stronger though so its a toss up.

Best Technology:

Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

PlanetSide 2 (Sony Online Entertainment)

Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)

Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Treyarch/Activision)

Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Technology: uh... Crysis a game from 07 does almost everything FC3 does but better, Halo 4 seems like its the only thing on the list that should be, but The Witcher 2 came out on 360 last year so that probably should sweep this. (dota 2's client features are really impressive)

Best Visual Arts

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Borderlands 2 (Gearbox Software/2K Games)

Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)

Best Visual Arts: Havent played the 360 version of the Witcher 2 but have heard good things about it, can't really take issue with Journey winning though.

Game of the Year

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/Electronic Arts)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games)

Game of the Year: Oh boy, from this list I'd give it to TWD (DaS:PtD winning otherwise, VLR drawing with TWD if DaS isnt allowed), ME3 had obvious problems, Dishonoured was a really solid game, no comment on Journey aside from what I've seen wouldnt seal it for me, and now to attack your choice and call your opinion shit in a confrontational manner (if you're an x-com GOTY picker)

X-COM was a bug ridden piece of shit (if I have to go into a game and delete a .mov I think it was, just to make the mission playable you've fucked up, also good luck following whats going when fighting flying enemies as the game cant seem to handled them most of the time), with terrible balance (admittedly theres mods to address this on pc) and game design decision that were baffling (aliens move when they see you sure is a fun mechanic to have to plan around) and while I'm not trying to sound like a TBS elitist (I'm not even all that good at them, I jsut downloaded Fire Emblem: awakenings EU demo and got trashed when I tried lunatic mode on the first mission), having the ability to quicksave on every turn really eliminates any element of strategy and turns it into trial and error: the game.

It tries to do their own take on the classic TBS's permadeath feature but miss out on the fact that in games like Fire Emblem it was not just losing your favourite mage/knight etc that was the issue, but you also lost access to certain story elements and you had to weigh that up against all the progress you've made in the current misson. If a guy died in X-COm I just reloaded a save from a turn or two back. Also it's story and writing is shit, which does take away from the gameplay when you look at how things like supporting can work in FE.

/extremelytangentialrant

To sum up: Play VLR...but emulate 999 first (when you are going through the different routes you want to go through some sections faster than an actual DS will let you) try not to get put off by its anime artstyle, its good to step outside a comfort zone now and again. It does some really interesting things in telling its story even if its heavy handed in spots and the puzzles aren't all that great (in 999, the gameplay itself i.e. puzzles, in the sequel is much improved). When I look back over the last few years 999/VLR is up there with Dark Souls and The Walking Dead in redefining my appreciation of good storytelling in games ( and through games, incorporating the story in the game itself, I mightn't be articulating this well, but think of Dark Souls story-telling through obtaining items and things like Ciaran's body on Artorias grave and the missing statue in Ornstein and Smoughs room, 999/VLR also has mechanics that are incorporated and explored as a major part of the story).

I've written so much, damn, I only meant this as a reply to an article, guess there was a lot of down time in The Defense grand final

I should probably preface this by saying I’ve a lot respect for Cliff, he’s helped to create some incredibly fun games and definitely has a greater knowledge of the industry than me but this post ( http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/44243746261/nickels-dimes-and-quarters ) popped up in my twitter feed and really did not sit well with me. As a consumer, a long time gamer, essentially a nobody and as someone looking at possibly getting into the industry I was surprised with how disconnected he seemed with gamers, their issues with microtransactions and EA, and why Valve are as loved as they are on communities like GAF and reddit (and /v/).

The video game industry is just that.

An industry.

Of course the video game industry is just that, but it is one of the newest and largest ones prevalent in modern day life, one that is growing and evolving as we speak. Being an industry does not confer a right to screw over consumers however. Do people give mechanics a free pass if they lie to them or overcharge them when fixing a car, simply because “hey, we’re an industry, we need to get more money from you”. It’s all fine to say if you don’t like don’t buy it but this is a terrible fallacy. Gamers might love a developers work but hate the publisher’s practices, see EA and Bioware. Is the solution then not to support the dev? To pop over to The Pirate Bay and grab the latest Razor, RELOADED or Blackbox release (which will probably have all the microtransactions unlocked, every pre-order bonus and in the case of a BlackBox repack will usually be much smaller in size, having unneeded languages and other content ripped, making it more appealing to those with limited internet speeds or bandwidth caps) and say fuck it,the developer that produces games I like doesn’t deserve my cash because of how the publisher acts. Valve always maintained that you must provide a better service than pirates (ugh, shit term, not worth going in to now though) and people will then purchase your product. I don’t think its a stretch to say that they have proved this repeatedly. EA however appear to rip content from the game in order to “nickel and dime” you.

This is what leads to the tension about microtransactions. Microtransactions are not evil, they are not a method for exploiting consumers but their constant misuse has overshadowed their ability to provide more value to a person. Publishers need to find the sweet spot where gamers are willing to buy additional content after the initial purchase but they also have to not feel like they are being ripped off. I’m glad you brought Valve into this as being both a dev and publisher they have a better perspective than most on this and I think they have fully fucking nailed figuring out how to sell additional content that consumers will pay money for and don’t find offensive, while EA are probably the largest example of doing this completely the wrong way. More on this in a bit.

I 100% agree with Cliff when he says games being incredible value for money nowadays but on the other hand…they have to be. If we take some arbitrary numbers, like it costing 10$ for a new two hour movie at the cinema and apply that model to a game, we end up with being charged 250 bucks for an average RPG, 30-60$ for a modern fps’s single player alone, add on multiplayer and you’ll start doubling and tripling the cost, and so on. Needless to say this is completely unreasonable, the average gamer isn’t going to pay the price of a console for the next Final Fantasy and so the most logical way to be profitable is to set a reasonable price point and to gain more revenue after the initial sale they need to look at sequels and DLC. Which is completely understandable, take a look at a list of credits on a recent Ubisoft published game and it will seem like a miracle that 60$ per game will cover the cost of every single person that worked on it. It would be stupid to have devs hanging around doing nothing after they finish their part of a game, give them something to work on, if its fun or interesting people will pay for it, if its a character already locked on the disc, well you can see why people could get upset.

Day 1 DLC is not inherently evil, it just has extremely negative connotations with gamers because of how it is commonly handled, with EA being the biggest perpetrator of how it should not be done. If we take it back to Mass Effect 2′s DLC I was really surprised and impressed at how they handled it. Here was a cool brand new character in Zaeed, not as fully fleshed out as the others (no dialogue wheel for example) but still had some of the best lines in the game but wasn’t overly important to the plot, and he was free, because I paid for the game on Day 1 and not as part of a collectors edition. However in the complete 180 that Dragon Age 2 (the prince guy, the entire game was forgettable) and Mass Effect 3 (From Ashes DLC) pulled we saw the cost of selling your soul to the EA devil. In ME3 specifically this character was a completely integral part of the overarching storyline, a character from a race long thought of as extinct and who’s tech was used for the basis as everything in the ME Universe (more or less, talking about cycles and the deeper lore is really tangential) and it seemingly being ripped from the game as DLC reeked of EA involvement. People just changed a value in .ini file to unlock him for fuck’s sake. Same with the DA2 DLC character in most respects. Imagine if vitally important characters like Kreia or Morrigan/Alistair were locked behind 10$ paywalls. Not a pretty thought.

A quick bit on Dead Space 3 now, seeing as it is probably the basis for you post. Disclaimer: I haven’t played it, I stopped playing the DS games half way through 2, but from everything I’ve heard EA have introduced well in that they are completely unnecessary and in fact can potentially break the game if you load up on the resources you can purchase too early in the game. Personally I think the controversy about this stems from two points. It is seen in tandem with the co-op, as betrayal of the series’ foundations in “survival horror” having the ability to spend cash by whipping out a credit card rips you from the immersion, a vital part of this genre. The other points boils down to, even if they balance it right (which from what I’ve heard it does seem like they sort of managed it) what does this mean for future EA products and can we trust EA to not mess this is up in future games. Short answer: no, going by their past, which we have to do Cliff, we can give them a chance to change but have they really looked they are going to? Long(er) answer : Maybe, but it doesn’t matter we have to wait and see, as micro transactions are confirmed for new EA titles the onus is on EA to make them worth our time and money.

This all contributes to EA’s image, which brings me to the biggest contention I have with Cliff’s post; How can someone so ingrained in the industry not comprehend why EA and Valve are perceived as they are? How can Cliff not understand the value that Valve provides to a consumer? This is where I may start sounding like a “Valvedrone” or fanboi-ish so I’m just going to say that while I think Valve hits the mark more often then not, I do not believe they are perfect, in fact I think one of the biggest issues in PC gaming is Valve not releasing Steam sale data but this is all a digression from the main point. Where EA published games like ME3 and DA2 where they seemingly rip content that was supposed to be in the game, just to make a cheap buck (not to mention the games being considered a betrayal of the franchise), Valve provide regular content updates for free, microtransactions are for purely aesthetic content in their free-to-play games like Dota 2 and TF2, they also release mod tools and SDK’s, announce new games in innovative ways like through their prequel (Portal’s radio update) organise ARG’s to engage people and build hype for a game. Where EA buys studios only to shutter them a few years later (R.I.P Westwood Studios and Bullfrog, The Lion King on the Megadrive was the first game I ever played) Valve hires students and mod teams that have cool ideas (Portal, CS 1.6 and Dota 2 all were ideas who’s roots started outside the company) and help publish and develop games that these teams could not do by themselves.

Valve are not as immune from criticism as you think though Cliff, a boycott was started because Left4dead 2 was seen as Valve breaking promises on updates and providing a service in the original L4D. And what was Valve’s response? They fucking flew the leaders of the boycott out to see the game.The game went on to not only be received well but also got a bunch of content updates for free on PC, including maps, characters and story content, even levels from the first game. Can you remember the last time EA gave anything away for free? I think of Zaeed personally but I had to buy the game new to even get that. While I don’t have any experience with WoW Totalbiscuit claims many did find issue with Blizzard selling pets, in more recent times look at how quickly opinion soured on Diablo 3 when it seemed like the final difficulty was balanced around buying gear with on the auction house as opposed to a players skill or using equipment you found while playing and even maxing characters.

“People love to beat up on Origin, but they forget that, for a good amount of time, Steam sucked.”

Back to EA, Origin is good in theory, a monopoly on digital distribution benefits only the holder of the monopoly but when the head of the service comes out and spews what looks like some mandatory promotional bullshit to try and discredit their competitor its not hard to see why an inferior service does not endear itself to the public:

Q: One of the things that Steam does is this random deep-discounting of software, and it works well for them. Do you see that as something you want to do? David DeMartini: We won’t be doing that. Obviously they think it’s the right thing to do after a certain amount of time. I just think it cheapens your intellectual property.

Of course Origin going on to do exactly that just made it all the more funny.

So in the end of the day, it comes to finding a balance. I think saying “vote with your wallets” is not really looking at the full picture. I’d have no problem throwing money at a game I love, I’ve bought Portal three times, on two different platforms, and Mass Effect 2 twice on PC and 360. I can love a developer but should I not pay for their product if their publisher’s practices leave a bad taste in my mouth? Valve have proved to be hugely profitable, is it really too much to ask other publishers to take a good hard look at Valve and their relationship with users? Maybe for EA it is, but I hope not.

Side note: I found your post very interesting but poor use of shitty memes might endear yourself to the lowest common denominators of Reddit it really doesn’t give much credence to your argument.