this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2025
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Is DLC a problem if a game had been "finished" for years and then they go back and make one for an old game? It's been known to happen. I don't see it as a problem, because it's arbitrary. In many ways, a DLC can be reactionary for what a game needs after they've had time to observe the completed thing. It also depends on your definition of indie, since there's as wide of a range in production value among games called "indie" as there is among "AAA". Kingdom Come: Deliverance II probably cost one tenth what the next Grand Theft Auto cost to make, and a game like Indika or Clair Obscur could fool plenty of people into thinking they were made by enormous teams.
But like I said, even if I filtered for games without any sort of DLC, there's still tons to play.
What games do you recommend that don't have DLC or microtransactions?
That depends on what you're looking for. From this year alone, there's Split Fiction, Avowed, and Knights in Tight Spaces, and I haven't finished Blue Prince yet, but it's pretty cool so far. What is it about indie titles, however you define that term, that doesn't interest you? Because at this point, it's most video games (AAA games take a long, long time to make these days), and that would go a long way toward explaining how you feel most good games have microtransactions, if you're willing to ignore most good games.
I don't like the trend of having to accept cheaper entertainment just so that the businesses behind it can make more money with less effort.
Games like God of War, Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, Legend of Zelda, those all take monumentally more effort to make than indie games and it shows in the final results. I could get all philosophical on 'what makes good art,' but I don't think that's the discussion you're trying to have.
You're not accepting more expensive entertainment either. You're pirating it. None of these games were made with less effort; they're typically just made by fewer people. Adding more people to the project doesn't make the game any better, or else Ubisoft games would be the greatest games ever made. I think I see why you've got this perspective that's completely divorced from reality. Yes, most games have microtransactions if you completely disregard most games. I'd encourage you to give some of those games you're ignoring a try.
Buying it is unrelated to accepting it.
I respectfully disagree.
Lol, what? I think you're just getting upset at me because I don't like the low-effort games you enjoy.
Right, and most of the games that interest you don't interest me.
I'm good. You're using me to try and justify your own enjoyment of what you spent your money on. It's fine if you like things that I don't like and vice-versa.
It's fine if you're completely ignorant of the great games that have come out lately, but I wouldn't consider it admirable to be proud of being this ignorant about great games or how they're made.
Lol. You think 'blue prince' took as much effort to make as Crash Fucking Bandicoot or Metal Gear Solid and I'm the one who is ignorant about great games and how they're made?
I'm guessing you never even played those games so you have no point of reference. You should try emulating them, then you can experience what it's like to play great games completely free of charge. Heck, you might even raise your standards as a result going forward.
The Metal Gear Solid games are some of my favorites, and I've played all of them. If you're referring to the PS1 Crash Bandicoot games, those were made with similar team sizes and "levels of effort" as most games that would be called "indie" are today, for very similar economic reasons. Blue Prince was made over the course of 8 years largely by one person, and I guarantee you he wasn't trying to find a way to make bank by doing little effort; a famous development talk pointed out that people getting into game development to make big bucks with little effort would have been better off opening a Subway franchise instead. Balatro was also made largely by one person, and it was a nominee for Game of the Year last year. Split Fiction was made with a team size and project scope reminiscent of MGS2 or 3, and it too will be a Game of the Year contender.
Then you should be able to recognize the monumental difference on both an individual and group level that goes into making a game like Metal Gear Solid vs. the games you mentioned. You should also be able to recognize the difference in quality between a game like Metal Gear Solid and all of the games you mentioned.
Yeah, you're clueless.
You haven't even played the games I mentioned. How on earth would you know? Also, take a look at the credits of Crash Bandicoot, and learn something about how games are made. 84 people, including the publisher and marketing. Naughty Dog itself was only 9 people. Here's Indika, a cinematic puzzle/story game, not a far cry from 2018's God of War without the combat, an indie game from last year; the development studio dwarfs Naughty Dog from the 90s. UFO 50 is an indie game from last year that has 50 full, new, original games contained in it, designed to portray a fictional game development studio's catalog from the 80s. It was made by 6 people over the course of 7 years. And I'm clueless, huh?
Yes, very. So clueless in fact anybody who has any idea of the actual effort that went into the development of Crash Bandicoot, not just 'team numbers,' would laugh at you.
I'm glad you're so committed. Your commitment keeps giving me more reasons why you shouldn't be taken seriously. It's really just funny to me at this point.