Disclosure: I haven't played any Mortal Kombat game since UMK3. I just want to make sure all possibilities have been investigated.
In Mortal Kombat X, the latest Mortal Kombat game, the player is required to earn "koins" (in-game currency) by completing missions and spend them on unlocking hidden things in the "krypt". Someone played through a mission, accepted the day one patch, played through the mission again, noticed the reward for completing a particular mission was far less after the patch than before, and bitched on Reddit. Initial speculation was that WB Games forced a patch to make the game grindier so that WB can sell a speed unlock as a DLC. But it turned out that replays of a mission were always supposed to give fewer koins, and the patch was to fix a bug in the logic that implements this behavior.
As Reptile said in a previous Mortal Kombat game: "Perfection is the key." Several Dance Dance Revolution games have a point-based unlock system, and completing a song with a grade of AAA (every single step correct with exact timing) was worth a substantial boost compared to missing even one step. The second Super Smash Bros. game likewise offered a substantial "No Damage Clear" bonus for completing classic mode with all flawless victories. I guess the substantial bonus for winning on your first try is MK X's version of this. Does MK X also give more koins for a double flawless?
But this raises another question: Once the player completes all missions (story mode, tower, etc.), then where does the player get significant koins? Or is it like having defeated all trainers in the area in Pokemon, where you just have to learn to live without money? At what point would it be worthwhile to delete your save and start over to ensure that you get all first try bonuses?
And "months" of grind can mean different things in different games. Does it mean "months" of playing 15 minutes a day or a week or two of concerted effort, or does it mean "months" of playing 4 hours a day? Or does it mean "months" of a game that artificially limits play to 10 minutes a day using an energy mechanic that recharges every 24 hours?
To those who think day one DLC has become overly expensive: Despite rising production costs, the price of a copy of a video game relative to other goods has fallen. It just might be hard to see because United States gamers normally measure prices in United States dollars, and the dollar has lost value since the first Mortal Kombat game came out. If I adjust for inflation on a CPI basis, a $60 video game purchased on Mortal Monday in September 1993 would have cost about $98 today.
Now my question: Who here has a NeoGAF account? A Twitter user whom I follow retweeted this status, which referred me to this thread on NeoGAF discussing alleged intentional grinding to sell more DLC. I just tried to sign up, but apparently they have a months-long waiting list for the moderators to approve accounts. Can someone forward my thoughts there?
In Mortal Kombat X, the latest Mortal Kombat game, the player is required to earn "koins" (in-game currency) by completing missions and spend them on unlocking hidden things in the "krypt". Someone played through a mission, accepted the day one patch, played through the mission again, noticed the reward for completing a particular mission was far less after the patch than before, and bitched on Reddit. Initial speculation was that WB Games forced a patch to make the game grindier so that WB can sell a speed unlock as a DLC. But it turned out that replays of a mission were always supposed to give fewer koins, and the patch was to fix a bug in the logic that implements this behavior.
As Reptile said in a previous Mortal Kombat game: "Perfection is the key." Several Dance Dance Revolution games have a point-based unlock system, and completing a song with a grade of AAA (every single step correct with exact timing) was worth a substantial boost compared to missing even one step. The second Super Smash Bros. game likewise offered a substantial "No Damage Clear" bonus for completing classic mode with all flawless victories. I guess the substantial bonus for winning on your first try is MK X's version of this. Does MK X also give more koins for a double flawless?
But this raises another question: Once the player completes all missions (story mode, tower, etc.), then where does the player get significant koins? Or is it like having defeated all trainers in the area in Pokemon, where you just have to learn to live without money? At what point would it be worthwhile to delete your save and start over to ensure that you get all first try bonuses?
And "months" of grind can mean different things in different games. Does it mean "months" of playing 15 minutes a day or a week or two of concerted effort, or does it mean "months" of playing 4 hours a day? Or does it mean "months" of a game that artificially limits play to 10 minutes a day using an energy mechanic that recharges every 24 hours?
To those who think day one DLC has become overly expensive: Despite rising production costs, the price of a copy of a video game relative to other goods has fallen. It just might be hard to see because United States gamers normally measure prices in United States dollars, and the dollar has lost value since the first Mortal Kombat game came out. If I adjust for inflation on a CPI basis, a $60 video game purchased on Mortal Monday in September 1993 would have cost about $98 today.
Now my question: Who here has a NeoGAF account? A Twitter user whom I follow retweeted this status, which referred me to this thread on NeoGAF discussing alleged intentional grinding to sell more DLC. I just tried to sign up, but apparently they have a months-long waiting list for the moderators to approve accounts. Can someone forward my thoughts there?