4 ms·

I'm a big paradox fan, especially eu4 and hoi4, but their dlc policy is downright toxic. There are tons of dlcs, they are all overpriced and they all break the

I'm a big paradox fan, especially eu4 and hoi4, but their dlc policy is downright toxic. There are tons of dlcs, they are all overpriced and they all break the base game in their own ways, and the only way to "fix" it is to buy the dlc. Oh and often time the quality of their dlcs is shit because it's all outsourced to other firms who don't know the game, or the code and are stuck with tight deadlines and budgets

ecshafer 2y ago
Once a year paradox releases a dlc. Its pretty reasonable. It only seems unreasonable if you jump in 15 years after.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  I honestly like the Paradox model, game mechanics breaking until patches aside. Give a chunk of new base functionality as a free update. Charge for a more expanded form of that functionality as a DLC. We can quibble over whether this DLC or that DLC was worth the price, and there are certainly balance issues that are patch resolved, but it keeps expanding their games for years with pretty serious new stuff. That's more than you can say for other publishers' post-release behavior. EU4: 11 years HOI4: 8 years Stellaris: 8 years How many games that old are still getting major feature patches/DLC?
  - krige 2y ago
    How about we don't drip feed content over the years, causing problems and then graciously fixing them?
    - Apocryphon 2y ago
      I mean, do you expect them to have created these massive games with multiple expansions’ worth of content at the beginning? Hasn’t Stellaris been essentially rebuilt over the years with DLC?
      - StrauXX 2y ago
        Stellaris has had at least two Ship of Theseus level reworks over the years.
    - tsimionescu 2y ago
      Why not? The only thing I think you could reasonably say is that it would be nice if there was a built-in way to freeze the game at a certain state, so that you can still play, say, Stellaris 2.0 if that's what you liked, and not get any of the patches that essentially assume you'll also have certain paid DLCs to function fully. But Stellaris 1.0 and all the other were massive games people enjoyed playing, they weren't stripped down skeletons to build DLC on. Were they as good at release as they are 8 years later? Not at all. But having them change and generally evolve over those 8 years is a key part of what makes people still play Stellaris today, when many other games from that time have long been abandoned. Not to mention, plenty of people would have actually preferred it if instead of Civ VI and Civ VII, we were getting Civ V 4.0 today.
      - Apocryphon 2y ago
        More like Civ IV 5.0 but close enough.
  - Talanes 2y ago
    Yeah, it's hard to call their model particularly predatory, when a lot of the industry is going with battle-pass models that rely on FOMO to keep the revenue constant. At least with Paradox you can still buy-in on a sale years after release and not be forever locked out of anything because you weren't playing sooner.
    - Elohahs 2y ago
      OSG!!But If You Do that than you would be stuck in an endless time loop,a never-ending cycle of losing the game and forgetting about it just to respawn again at the point of conundrum and frustration,to be laughed at and mocked by the winner for all time...and then some!You didn't do that though,right?
- fakedang 2y ago
  There was a time Paradox was releasing almost 2 paid DLCs and even a couple of unpaid ones every year. Particularly in the case of EU4, where some DLCs ended up overriding the content of previous, even paid ones, to the point that they have 37 expansions for that game alone (and that's not even including the paid aesthetic expansions).
- shawabawa3 2y ago
  Civ 7 launched with 3 DLCs and has more DLCs planned for release in march and april
- cmeacham98 2y ago
  This math doesn't add up: I just checked a random paradox game, Stellaris, and it has 24 paid DLC (26 actually, but I've excluded an eBook and soundtrack as neither seem to have an in-game impact) - but was released in 2016.
  - Elohahs 2y ago
    That's cause They aren't stuck in the ring w you.Bye.
- Maken 2y ago
  Stellaris has been consistently getting at least two DLCs per year [1]. Arguably one of them is a story pack and the other a gameplay one, but a lot of interesting mechanics are blocked behind DLC-only species. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/dlc/281990/Stellaris/#browse https://store.steampowered.com/dlc/281990/Stellaris/#browse
denkmoon 2y ago
and this is how they keep updates flowing to games released 9 years ago. I'll take that over "log in every day to get your battlepass coins" MAU engagement psychological warfare any day of the week.

ecshafer 2y ago

Once a year paradox releases a dlc. Its pretty reasonable. It only seems unreasonable if you jump in 15 years after.

ethbr1 2y ago
I honestly like the Paradox model, game mechanics breaking until patches aside. Give a chunk of new base functionality as a free update. Charge for a more expanded form of that functionality as a DLC. We can quibble over whether this DLC or that DLC was worth the price, and there are certainly balance issues that are patch resolved, but it keeps expanding their games for years with pretty serious new stuff. That's more than you can say for other publishers' post-release behavior. EU4: 11 years HOI4: 8 years Stellaris: 8 years How many games that old are still getting major feature patches/DLC?
- krige 2y ago
  How about we don't drip feed content over the years, causing problems and then graciously fixing them?
  - Apocryphon 2y ago
    I mean, do you expect them to have created these massive games with multiple expansions’ worth of content at the beginning? Hasn’t Stellaris been essentially rebuilt over the years with DLC?
    - StrauXX 2y ago
      Stellaris has had at least two Ship of Theseus level reworks over the years.
  - tsimionescu 2y ago
    Why not? The only thing I think you could reasonably say is that it would be nice if there was a built-in way to freeze the game at a certain state, so that you can still play, say, Stellaris 2.0 if that's what you liked, and not get any of the patches that essentially assume you'll also have certain paid DLCs to function fully. But Stellaris 1.0 and all the other were massive games people enjoyed playing, they weren't stripped down skeletons to build DLC on. Were they as good at release as they are 8 years later? Not at all. But having them change and generally evolve over those 8 years is a key part of what makes people still play Stellaris today, when many other games from that time have long been abandoned. Not to mention, plenty of people would have actually preferred it if instead of Civ VI and Civ VII, we were getting Civ V 4.0 today.
    - Apocryphon 2y ago
      More like Civ IV 5.0 but close enough.
- Talanes 2y ago
  Yeah, it's hard to call their model particularly predatory, when a lot of the industry is going with battle-pass models that rely on FOMO to keep the revenue constant. At least with Paradox you can still buy-in on a sale years after release and not be forever locked out of anything because you weren't playing sooner.
  - Elohahs 2y ago
    OSG!!But If You Do that than you would be stuck in an endless time loop,a never-ending cycle of losing the game and forgetting about it just to respawn again at the point of conundrum and frustration,to be laughed at and mocked by the winner for all time...and then some!You didn't do that though,right?
fakedang 2y ago
There was a time Paradox was releasing almost 2 paid DLCs and even a couple of unpaid ones every year. Particularly in the case of EU4, where some DLCs ended up overriding the content of previous, even paid ones, to the point that they have 37 expansions for that game alone (and that's not even including the paid aesthetic expansions).
shawabawa3 2y ago
Civ 7 launched with 3 DLCs and has more DLCs planned for release in march and april
cmeacham98 2y ago
This math doesn't add up: I just checked a random paradox game, Stellaris, and it has 24 paid DLC (26 actually, but I've excluded an eBook and soundtrack as neither seem to have an in-game impact) - but was released in 2016.
- Elohahs 2y ago
  That's cause They aren't stuck in the ring w you.Bye.
Maken 2y ago
Stellaris has been consistently getting at least two DLCs per year [1]. Arguably one of them is a story pack and the other a gameplay one, but a lot of interesting mechanics are blocked behind DLC-only species. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/dlc/281990/Stellaris/#browse https://store.steampowered.com/dlc/281990/Stellaris/#browse

denkmoon 2y ago

and this is how they keep updates flowing to games released 9 years ago. I'll take that over "log in every day to get your battlepass coins" MAU engagement psychological warfare any day of the week.