So let me get this straight... in Ryse: Son Of Rome, the QTEs will still be successful, even if you fail to hit the button... what!? so now "press X to not die" has become "press X to not be frozen for a second"... and this game has microtransactions too! now you know how much I hate microtransactions in general, but given that all the attacks are a few simple reactionary button presses (which are essentially QTEs) mixed with actual QTEs which you can't fail, what are they even for? All the skills are passive skills so there's no new attacks to learn. This means that either the game hits a paywall where you need the bonuses to progress or the game is so easy that you don't need them. When you make the mechanics so mind-numbing that there is so little input from them player, microtransactions are nothing but a paywall in disguise
The XBox One has just come out! $500 for the console and $60 for a shitty game isn't enough? You want people to then pay even more money to allow them to get through the game faster? THEY WANT YOU TO PAY MORE MONEY FOR LESS OF A GAME!!! And they describe the microtransactions as a "convenience" and the QTEs with not buttons but with flashy lights. That's what it's all about, deception. They think we're idiots. Microsoft! Crytek! Stop! FUCKING STOP! This is insulting at best! I literally feel queezy thinking about this.
It seems as though they want to bore us. We are approaching 2014 afterall, and we have many many examples of what makes a good game. Maybe that's the whole point. People being tricked into thinking there is a value to completing the game (through their "I've already bought it" bias and achievements) and then being threatened with more time playing the boring game if they don't pay up. Threatening to remove time from our life and turning it into unfulfilled dead-time, and doing this on such a wide-scale that its effectively distributed-murder. (By the way, I understand that the quality of a game comes down to opinion, but opinion only gets you so far)
You know what we call this kind of practice? The kind of practice where you threaten to harm somebody (with boredom in this case) if they don't pay up under the guise of "protection" (or in this case as they call it: "convenience")? EXTORTION! Last time I checked, extortion isn't legal in the US, so why are they getting away with it? Oh that's right, because they're disguising it under "gameplay" and "convenience" just as they tried to disguise their QTEs with flashing lights. I cannot believe for one second that this game was made with the intent of making money from it's quality (as all games should!). I cannot believe that at the end of 2013, they failed to understand what actually makes a game valuable to the player, they must know! they have to know! they've been in the business for so long and they have seen successful games in the past work and sell. I do not believe for a second that they made Ryse with the intention of it's gameplay being worth the purchase
This is why I don't buy into the whole "companies exist to make money" argument. Sure, they do, but that's no excuse for a company to use practices that only benefits themselves whilst also draining away from the overall global value. For example: is it ok for a company to take money from starving families so the CEO can buy his fifth car? no? exactly.
You may think I'm over-reacting but I honestly don't think I am. I hope the gameplay is just a symptom of there being a new console where they want to show off the graphics... but the microtransactions are inexcusable. I cannot see how this game is adding any value, I can only see how it is damaging. I really hope I'm wrong... at least the game's getting bad reviews.
