Tumedus said:
In principle I agree with you, but I disagree with the notion that its not optional because... psychology.
Sticking with the Dead Space 3 example, the game series works and has worked on a reward schedule where you are supposed to be at a certain power level at certain points in the game. In the previous titles, it was only on subsequent playthroughs that you were allowed to break that dynamic by bringing in power from previous playthroughs. Dead Space 3's microtransaction allowed you to circumvent the first playthrough limitation and buy extra power from the get go.
And that is okay. It didn't break the game and it absolutely wasn't necessary. And, most importantly, it didn't offer any power that couldn't be acquired in the game normally.
The place where they screwed up, imo, is that they decided to change the system with which upgrades were performed in order to accomplish this. In the previous Dead Spaces, power was essentially discovered through exploration by finding schematics and power nodes. It was also limited by inventory space and relative ammo cost (although cost was easily exploited to your benefit).
In Dead Space 3, they removed the exploration aspect of power upgrades and hitched them to, at least in part, a time based system. You had a limited number of bots and they always took a certain amount of time to reward their supplies. They didn't remove exploring altogether as there were still the robo hot spots and you could find the big chests of goodies in sub mission but for the most part, you were dependent on those robots to get a lot of the supplies.
If you played the game slow it wasn't a big deal because they would almost all be ready by the next bench. But for anyone who like to play the game fast, the time limitation was an impediment. In the previous titles playing fast didn't prevent you from finding all the power nodes, in this game it necessarily meant less supplies.
That to me is where they crossed the line, not simply at adding a purchasable way to circumvent the power dynamic but by actually limiting the power dynamic to time based rather than progress based.
I'll start off by saying that it seems like you've actually played the game, which is a step up from half of the haters around here (that includes you Jim.)
However, I don't view the bots as a ball & chain. The spots were typically more than 10 minutes apart, and in the instances where they weren't you had already found your 2nd one. But even so, that's just a part of the dynamic. You could still find these resources through more traditional means (drops off enemies, co op missions, in someone's locker, etc.)
If anything, the bots were a way to ensure that you were going to be able to procure the resources necessary to get through the game (but without flooding you with resources, hence the 10 minute limit), where the prior installments required you to scavenge for it entirely. If anything the bot was the way for you to guarentee that you never ran out of ammo, health packs, etc. Now when you consider that you're playing Dead Space, a franchise that has made a pretty clear distinction between itself and the "survival horror" genre... it wasn't that bad of an idea.
The only downside is it made it pretty easy, especially when you were experienced with the scavenging aspect, resource management, not missing shots, sharing health with co op partner, and efficient bot use. But for the less experienced who blow through a clip and a half to kill one necromorph, the bot was their saving grace so they weren't screwed for the rest of their playthrough.
In other words, they did exactly what they said they were going to do: appeal to a broader (and less skilled) audience.
My only issue is how Jim once again is trying to spin this whole aspect as being another get rich quick scam by the oh so terrible EA. And the drones who didn't play the game will happily chime in with "herp derp there's mandatory microtransactions."
