What's the consensus on Episodic games?

[Lufia Erim]

I remember like almost a decade ago they were "supposed" to be the next big thing. While not a new thing ( we had episodic games on the PS2 , maybe even before) i'm curious as to what this community thinks of them.

I tried to look up some numbers but i failed to find anything conclusive.

- Do you like the episodic business model?
- Are episodic games successful?
- Do you wait for a bundle with all episodes?
- what is your favorite and least favorite episodic game?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SBCG4AP was the only episodic series done right

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I do not like episodic games. For the main point that I forget about them.

I'm a mood type of gamer. Sometimes I'm all about the RTS's. Sometimes I don't want anything but a flow chart and a good amount of time to learn how to grind out combos.

By the time the episode comes out two months later, I'd be lucky if I have the same desire. I only got through The Walking Dead because a family member was interested in Voice Over and it was just such a stellar example she wanted to watch me play it every time a new episode came out.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've only played Telltale's Walking Dead and Batman, which I guess makes them the best and worst I've played. I actually enjoyed Batman but it was buggy as fuck, and I'm pretty sure the game even remembered one of my so-called "definining choices" wrong.

I also just prefer to have the whole thing in one go. Both times I just bought the bundle. Like Kickstarter, paying piecemeal for a work in progress just doesn't make sense. Feels like paying cash for wishful thinking. Finish the damn thing and we'll see.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Do I even need to point out the biggest episodic-game cliffhanger to show the problems with the concept?

(I'll give you a hint; the name is an anagram for "fallow thief".)

 

[Asita]

Suffice it to say that if something I'm interested in is billed as episodic, I end up delaying my purchase until all the episodes are released and bundled.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Do I even need to point out the biggest episodic-game cliffhanger to show the problems with the concept?

(I'll give you a hint; the name is an anagram for "fallow thief".)

Ah yes, my favorite game - ET will Hoffa, about an alien PI tracking down the burial site of the infamous teamster.

 

[Squilookle]

I think 'useless shite' sums them up best. The problem with any 'ongoing' payment model for a game is a developer will only support something for the length of time it's profitable. So anything with a story that demands to be completed is better off just having the publisher invest in the whole thing up front, delivered to us in one go.

You know, like they always used to be.

Splitting it up is just a very, very bad idea.

 

[Drathnoxis]

We are never going to get the story resolution to D4. The episodic model sucks!

 

[Hawki]

- Do you like the episodic business model?

No.

- Are episodic games successful?

I guess, in that you can point to successful examples (e.g. Telltale)

- Do you wait for a bundle with all episodes?

Yes and no - what few episodic games I've played were usually fully released by the time I got to them.

- what is your favorite and least favorite episodic game?

Favourite: Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Least Favourite: Half-Life 2: Episode 1

Do I even need to point out the biggest episodic-game cliffhanger to show the problems with the concept?

(I'll give you a hint; the name is an anagram for "fallow thief".)

You left out the hyphen. No anagram prize for you.

Also, plenty of non-episodic games have ended on unresolved cliffhangers as well, so that isn't really an argument against episodic games per se. If anything, episodic games arguably have a better track record than non-episodic ones in this.

 

[Marik2]

Suffice it to say that if something I'm interested in is billed as episodic, I end up delaying my purchase until all the episodes are released and bundled.

Pretty much this. And I also wait about a year for the eventual goty edition that has all the dlc and most of the bugs fixed.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I don't bother to play episodic games until all the episodes are out. By the time I get to it I don't have to wait for months between episode releases, and the game usually ends up cheaper as a "complete" edition than if you buy each episode as they come out.

Never really been a fan of the episodic model, if I start playing a game and then have to stop playing it for an extended period of time there's a really good chance I might not come back to it again.

 

[Dalisclock]

It sounded like a good idea when it came out, but it's pretty much been a recipe for games taking just as long if not longer then a non-episodic game to release fully and then you have the ones that didn't do so hot and will never get a conclusion. Tellatale managed to keep to a pretty decent dev schedule though quality ended up suffering in the long run and it turns out it was a terrible case of crunch non-stop for the devs and there's a few other rare examples of devs being able to make it work(Ubisoft is actually doing a decent job at it, oddly enough), but most of the time it's not worth it.

What makes it really awkward for me is that Kentucky Route Zero might be one of my favorite examples of something fascinating and wonderful marred only by the fact that it's been in dev since 2013 and is episodic, with 4 of 5 episodes released thus far and no word on the final act which will no doubt wrap the entire thing up. Each episode isn't too much more then an hour or so long, and it's been nearly 3 years since act 4 dropped. The only reason I'm giving it as much slack as I have, and even that has been wearing thin, is because the quality of what's there is amazing and it's a very small dev team.

But yeah, episodic gaming had it's chance and showed that most of the time didn't really solve anything. I'm annoyed that SE is basically going that route with the FFVII remake, which means we won't see the full thing for years, possibly a decade depending on how fast it takes to finish. And that's taking into consideration it was announced years ago. I'd much rather just wait till the eps are finished before committing due to these problems.

 

[BrawlMan]

It sounded like a good idea when it came out, but it's pretty much been a recipe for games taking just as long if not longer then a non-episodic game to release fully and then you have the ones that didn't do so hot and will never get a conclusion. Tellatale managed to keep to a pretty decent dev schedule though quality ended up suffering in the long run and it turns out it was a terrible case of crunch non-stop for the devs and there's a few other rare examples of devs being able to make it work(Ubisoft is actually doing a decent job at it, oddly enough), but most of the time it's not worth it.

What makes it really awkward for me is that Kentucky Route Zero might be one of my favorite examples of something fascinating and wonderful marred only by the fact that it's been in dev since 2013 and is episodic, with 4 of 5 episodes released thus far and no word on the final act which will no doubt wrap the entire thing up. Each episode isn't too much more then an hour or so long, and it's been nearly 3 years since act 4 dropped. The only reason I'm giving it as much slack as I have, and even that has been wearing thin, is because the quality of what's there is amazing and it's a very small dev team.

But yeah, episodic gaming had it's chance and showed that most of the time didn't really solve anything. I'm annoyed that SE is basically going that route with the FFVII remake, which means we won't see the full thing for years, possibly a decade depending on how fast it takes to finish. And that's taking into consideration it was announced years ago. I'd much rather just wait till the eps are finished before committing due to these problems.

This. Not to mention the "AAAAAAAaaaaaaaa" industry has already fucked it up enough already. Remember when RE: Revelations 2 tried to jump on the shitty bandwagon, only for Capcom to release the game on retail about a month later. Because of FFVII problem, Squeenix won't get a single dime out of me.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

There's really never a consensus on anything but I think the majority definitely prefer to binge stuff today. TV seasons have basically become long-ass movies for most. And, video games probably work even worse episodically than anything because you'll have to relearn all the mechanics (especially the little things), get your timing back, and more along with where the story and characters left off. I'd say it's not too bad with adventure games like Telltale and Life is Strange because you dno't have to get reacquainted with the gameplay again. But the breaks between release even for Telltale working everyone on crunch all the time is far longer than a weekly airing TV show or even when a show goes on hiatus for a month or two. It'll probably work out for FFVII at least financially because it's fucking FFVII.

 

[sXeth]

- Do you like the episodic business model?

*shrug* As you kind of covered, its nothing actually new. Baldurs Gate 1, 2, then suddenly woops something happened and instead of 3 we get kind of a half-arsed rushjob expansion thing to conclude it. Could go even older and certainly the latter half of the Ultima series is prettymuch episodic as well. Or about 95% of the gold/red box D&D CRPGs. Or any of the old school Apogee/ID shareware where you got Ep 1 free then Ep 2-10 or whatever was bought.

So yeah, nowadays its just kind of thge same thing with alternate price points, and possibly more upfront about it.

- Are episodic games successful?

I mean, they obviously can be. They can also obviously crash and burn into oblivion.

- Do you wait for a bundle with all episodes?

Obviously thats the convenience model. But also contributes to the potential that the concept will just sputter into nothingness.




So in summary, the model obviously can work. But it also can spiral into dozens of pitfalls. The series dying out and never getting finished. The series going beyond actual ideas and not finishing up or finishing up in some bizarre corner (HI BIOWARE, HOW ARE YA). The completed saga just becoming some insane investment (time or money wise) for anyone to pick up who wasn't invested from the start.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Hey guys, remember Half-Life 2 episode 3?

 

[Hawki]

Hey guys, remember Half-Life 2 episode 3?

I get your point, and I'd actually argue that ending at Half-Life 2 rather than Episode 2 would have had fans less hungry for a sequel. However, said it before, I'll say it now - unresolved cliffhangers aren't endemic to the episodic model, because 'full' games can have the same issue.

If you want to shift the focus a bit, both films and TV can have unresolved plotlines as well.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm fine with episodic gaming if all the episodes of a particular "season" are released simutainiously. If not my interest will wane. I played the first episode of Life is Strange 2, and eventhough it wasn't that interesting I would likely have kept playing if the rest of the game was out. But seeing as it took a few months for the next episode to release I stopped caring completely.

I also find that the 3 hour format for a linear, story-focused game (which these always are) just doesn't work well. Similar to DLC for story-focused games (that isn't quest based), like The Last of Us' Left Behind; It's just too short of a time span to create a satisfying story-focused gameplay experience.

 

[Kyrian007]

I don't really mind it so much, but there's one benchmark it has to meet to make it acceptable to me. It can't be a cash grab. Our generally accepted $60 full release price is arbitrary and flawed on a lot of levels (not necessarily higher either, I don't believe any game that expects to be an ongoing service deserves to charge $60 for the base price) but it does serve as a benchmark. The total price of all the episodes of what could have been a complete game has to be less than that $60 or I consider it a cash grab and not worth my money.