Can't stop laughing at pathetic whiny shills that keep desperately trying to excuse "cosmetic only" microtransactions in paid games. There's no excuse for ANY microtransactions in paid games PERIOD. Everything in a paid game should be obtained by PLAYING the game with not even any so called "optional" microtransactions that the game is automatically designed around to manipulate you into wanting to spend on to avoid artificially increased in game grinds for rewards.
This is why Jim is a true lad. Despite his incredible hatred of Randy Pitchford (and rightfully so, of course), Jim CAN put that stuff past to actually examine a game, praise or criticize while actually acknowledging his biases.
@That Animu, Mango and Vidja Game Nerd I have never played BL, but almost got intrigued enough by the BL3 hype train to buy BL2 to see if I'd like it... Then Randy opened his mouth, and the moment was gone.
@@RightHandedMan25 There's a difference between a free to play mobile game doing this and a fully priced $60 console or PC game doing it. It's completely unnecessary.
@@Zeroshiki It increases the profit margin. Your target audience is limited, once everybody who could possibly interested bought you 60$ game you are done making profit. Microtransactions on the other hand can make money for as long as you keep the servers up, theoretically infinite amounts. So yeah. Companies invest as little as they can to make as much money as they can. Nothing weird about it.
@@philmerc364 That is because they struck gold. In the early days people legitimately were experimenting with what mobile devices could and couldn't do, and designed games around that they hoped people would like to play (and buy). The first couple mobile hits were really creative. But then someone figured out how much money can be made from games like candy crush, clash of clans and ultimately the modern crap they put out these days. Just different skins for the same slot machine. And since the market is so flooded with these "free to pay" games, people are not expecting quality from mobile games and are not willing to pay for the apps. Which in return makes it really hard for mobile devs with reasonable business models. Basically the market got fucked.
@@philmerc364 Creativity and fun are stifled by the handful of tried and true formulas that get people to pay up. Its no shock that PC and Console would see the feeding frenzy going on in mobile F2P and browser F2P and decide they want in on the action too. What I hate is that the monetization, even when its stuff that should be fairly inoffensive (like "cosmetic only") tends to alter game mechanics to push you into making those purchases. Another aspect of the decline in quality we're seeing is monetized games aren't designed for gamers anymore. They're designed to lure in and addict "whales".
Because the core game is so absolutely amazing, I am more than happy to buy those cosmetics. Also, since people can trade platinum, it is possible to get most of them without spending a penny yourself from just playing the game.
And at least you can earn SOME of the cosmetics for free, from events or from the traveling merchant. A lot of games force you to look like a total goober until you pay up.
I'll agree that fashion frame is basicly the end game in warframe, but there is a shit ton of free content to enjoy before you even get to that point. Plus as people have said there are ways to getting the cosmetics for free in certain ways, it just takes some work and a solid sence of value in the player market to do it.
@@grassygnoll3345 When DC Universe Online came out, there were LOTS of fashion shows and people showed off how they made Superman and Green Lanturns and Batman and Flashes! It was really cool to see everyone's idea's for how thier hero would match up.
@@grassygnoll3345 Aye, I've spent a great deal of time decking out my Valkyr Prime, Nezha, Gauss, Oberon Prime, Wukong Prime and my Limbo Prime. I've fashion framed up other frames of course, but those 6 are the ones I've spent the most time on, or at least the ones I remember spending the most time on off the top of my head. Also with the pending rework of Vauban coming that looks so cool, I'm looking forward to having incentive to fashion frame up the train man as well.
This comment reminds me of the dark knight bane when he enters the stock market. Stock market people told him theres no money there but at the sametime, why the hell all of you people there?
Triple A game publishers: "Look at these 4k graphics! Look at these incredible textures! Look at the visual fidelity!" Also Triple A game publishers: "Cosmetics aren't a big deal"
Eh, big deal, we all knew the "triple-AEYYY" scum were lying out of both sides of their mouths when they said that anyway. If cosmetics aren't a big deal, _then why are you expecting us to pay you more money for them?!_
Also AAA publishers. “Look at this 4K game! Sure it runs 30fps and dips a little bit! But 4K is the most important thing! Not performance that can boast a 60fps or higher gameplay experience. No, we aren’t going to even give you the option to choose higher performance. Even when the game is mostly running at natively lower resolutions and is just being upscaled. Oh but the petty details. We’ll just keep telling you it’s true 4K.”
@@khfreak5531 OMG, imagine if they monetize performance! "Buy this pack to increase performance from 12 fps to 24 or 30. And boyyy do you have to pay for 60fps." How much money to be made! Kappa
Remember when unlocking costumes entailed things like "complete all missions", "complete the game in nightmare difficulty" and "complete survival mode"? Fatal Frame remembers.
Somehow I now imagine Randy Pitchford randomly during an interview "You remember that guy, that guy that said that stuff about me. God what was his name... Tim Starling, I can't remember but he recently said our game was revolutionary."
I mean. He probably will. Because I guarantee he watches every video Jim puts up that even tangentially involves him. Or he atleast he has an intern watch it and report back to him about what is said.
"i wasted over an hour in Code Vein's character creator" You mean _only_ an hour, Jim. I spent 3 hours on my first character, I know a guy who spent six so he could create a unique hairstyle not actually provided by the game by using accessory placement.
I *regularly* popped into character creator throughout my playthrough to customize my character, changing up her outfit, accessories and colors to keep it fresh all the way through. I don't suspect I spent nearly as much as 10 hours cumulatively, but the amount was undoubtedly considerable.
The amount of times my friends have said 'Woah, that's a cool skin, where did you get it?' in BL3 has happened more times than I can count at this point. Luckily I can just tell them "Oh, I farmed X boss for it" instead of "I bought it in the store". Now tell me how cosmetics don't affect the mind of people playing?
I have to say as well that whenever I buy a skin for a character in other games (I don't do it very often), I feel far more shame than satisfaction whenever I wear it and thus I end up wearing it for one session, maybe two, before the guilt of it forces me to stop using it and sometimes I even stop playing the game. Micro-Transactions are game killers to me.
Azarth oooo that comment hits hard cause if I stop to think and I hate my cognitive dissonance I feel the same Haven't played any such games in a while though
@@ScribbleNuts DLC is a tricky one. For the most part it's new content and in some cases new features that were actually worked on and created the developers, not just a jacket or a hat made by the art department for the publisher to monetize that do nothing. DLC, paid for or not increases the longevity of the game and keeps it relevant (for the most part, there are definitely some cases of terrible paid DLC) Borderlands 2 DLC's were absolutely worth the purchase price. Tiny Tina's expansion alone was probably one of the best DLC/expansions this decade.
@@EightOneFive Eh, it's a mixed bag with Borderlands 2's DLC -- while all of the expansions are worth it (with the glaring exception of Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt and the first two Headhunter DLCs), there are plenty of microtransactions that are mixed in there. The fact that they dumped the microtransactions and made them all unlockables for the Handsome Collection was an objective improvement.
@@azarththekobold I empathize with this greatly. I feel accomplished when I get a cool skin by accomplishing a task, or when I manage to put together a cool and original aesthetic from assorted pieces available in the game. When I buy a set, I just feel ashamed. It's like I paid to win at fashion. It's like the look I've got, even though conventionally cool, is now just a testament to the fact that I'm an uncreative dipshit, like one of those douchebags who buys all their clothes just for the price tag, without any understanding of actual style. In the same way that paying to win in a more conventional gameplay sense is a testament to the fact that I suck at the game, because I couldn't win otherwise. It's also because the developers indirectly told me this thing was cool and desirable by pricing it so high. And basing your sense of style on what others think is cool and desirable is the ultimate sin when it comes to fashion.
@@seanhennessy3968 To expand on that, you can make the fucking thing paisley/animal print/gleaming metallic/actual neon/all sorts of crazy things. It's glorious.
@@OddMobileWatcher If a game puts a price on skipping a segment of the game (i.e. "saving time", or a "time saver"), then the developers have just ADMITTED that the content is not only worth skipping, it is actually worth MONEY to skip. Let me reiterate that. People are PAYING to NOT play the game. It is worth real world dollar amounts to get past parts of the game, because where normally a player might play to enjoy their time in a fictional world, this fictional world is designed so that it is more enjoyable to avoid it, or at least bypass portions of it. Any game that has time savers is an automatic fail. Time spent enjoying a game is not time wasted, in my opinion. If a game wants me to pay it to *not* play, then I will just keep my money and not play it. Best of both worlds.
@@eondragon2086 Warframe is literally one of the most popular free to play games on steam. The thing is time 'savers' need to exist. The people who have a lot of freetime dont have the money to spend so they can grind, get items to trade for platinum (atleast in warframe of course) so they can then get warframe and weapon slots (really the only thing you should spend platinum on). People who have an hour a day to play warframe can't spend days grinding to trade so they can get a warframe slot meanwhile. It Excludes people who don't have the time sink, but DO have the money.
@@OddMobileWatcher Then remove the grind aspect of the game. Players don't have to waste time and money on a repeating a series of tasks for god knows how long.
So talking about BL3, there's a side mission where you find an old "beta" version of a game, the host of the game is always commenting under their breath how buggy and broken the game is but when he realises your listening pretends it's the best game ever. Furthermore, the NPC you have to protect over exaggeratively T pose walks around everywhere (while you play normally fighting enemies), constantly dying and in need of revival. The host knowing how inconvenient this is offers for you "pay for an upgrade" that is a solution to a problem the game hasn't bothered implementing properly yet and all it does maybe speed the NPC up by 5% if that while actually taking $1 in game of your money and does this 4 or 5 times throughout the mission. Also at one point in the mission, you are tasked with collecting some orb like things to progress once you have finally gotten the NPC to where it needs to be, but it "glitches" out and duplicates itself like 100 times and the host offers you another convenient time saver deal of flat out buying 100 orbs from the n̶o̶n̶ optional in game store and again actually charges your in game money by $1. Even though this money is all earned in game and I'm at the point where I lose tens to hundreds of thousands $$$ every time I die and respawn, I still felt robbed ever time I HAD TO SAY YES on these OPTIONAL in game purchases in a joking mission really self aware of how the real world AAA games are these days. I commend Gearbox for doing this because no doubt this mission is going to be documented and shown off to developers and publishers behind the scenes and they're probably not going to have a clue "why it is wrong".
You can't hit the no button on the orb gathering or the armor debuff for the boss battle later, but you can ignore them and gather all 100 orbs, and kill the buffed boss for some amusing dialogue.
Yeah - it's very late game; I think there's only like one or two more story missions to do when you can pick up the side quest Timmzy27 is talking about
"But it's just cosmetics!" If it ever was "just cosmetics" as in cosmetics are just a nice little addition to the reward system, developers wouldn't put it behind a paywall. Everything that is monetized in a game is inherently an important part of the experience. No one monetizes things that have zero meaning or value (in general). It's always things that are meaningful to players. Just look at the Breakpoint shenanigans where they apparently took telemetry on what players used the credits during the beta and then put the most popular items such as certain camos behind additional hurdles and whatnot.
If I made a game I think I would include a lootbox (that could only be purchased with in-game money), but it would only have one item: a "I spent money on a lootbox and I'll I got was this lousy T-shirt!" shirt!
... "Class-ism" just popped into my head through this rant, a general divide between those who can afford to shell out for shit that they shouldn't need to pay for and those who can't or don't bother I mean.
I played through Borderlands Pre-Sequel about 2 months ago - platinumed it 100%, didn't equip a single cosmetic item. So I think in some games cosmetic items do not matter at all. Some games might be fun with your friends to have them? And if you can get them free why not? Im sure there are examples of game types where its more important than others, (Animal Crossing, the Sims). But if it really does nothing for stats, there is no equipment stats bonus, its just fun, then I can 100% live with my Mario looking like Mario for a whole game. That being said - there is a lot of fun to be had when in a game like Diablo you actually look different in your armor, it does make me mad when a game has new armor, you put it on, and you look the same. So are cosmetics a lot of fun? YES. Do they matter in most games? NO. I guess its a glass half full type of thing. if a game only has cosmetic items as pay - im still fine with that. Ive got 500 items of clothing in the Division which I'm playing now, I got the stupid winter hat with a ball on top, put that on like my first hour, and haven't used a new one since. Am I goign to buy any "premium clothes"? Hell no -- it honestly makes me way more mad that all the good guns are behind the stupid dark zone PvP and i cant extract any because everyone else just ganks me. Those better guns do matter.
I will admit it makes me sad at times when in Monster Hunter a better looking set of armor had crappy stats, and the good armor looked kind of dumb. But I mean thats all free in Monster Hunter. Its not pay cosmetics. And I still love the game. And honestly the stats on the armor are more important so i choose the better armor vs the better lookign armor each and every time! So yeah, I guess what does "matter" mean? Does it matter what my armor looks like? No, I get new armor every hour or so anyway right? Is it fun to look like you want? Yes. Id say being able to pick gender or skin color in a game is waaaaaaaaay more important than cosmetics, and many games still dont let you do that.
I’ve been playing bayonetta 2 on switch and was incredibly surprised the game has not only a ton unlockables but has cheat code inputs as well! I truly miss the days when games still felt like games.
Oh cheats are kinda funny with Bayonetta 2 cause for the longest time nobody even realized the game had cheats until Bayo got in Smash, I bet Switch players got good use of the cheats though, cause I know I don't want to fight Rodin again o_o
When Spider-Man: Far from Home came out Insomniac put 2 new skins from the movie into their Spider-Man game. A one player game that was almost a year old and approaching Greatest Hits pricing just gave players 2 new skins because a movie came out. I didn't wear them much because the game was already full of skins earned through gameplay or available from the start or added in later. I think my beautiful Tobey McGuire outfit was a Christmas skin or something.
I am a grumpy old man and see the negative in everything, but that was just PR for the movie itself. Amazing game though, you should totally go out and buy it if you havent already.
@@joaokiwi2543 Of course Bloodborne is better. Bloodborne is better than every game. But you can't swing around in New York webbing up baddies so there is still room for other, non-Bloodborne, games.
Something that took me weeks to notice for Code Vein: There's not just hats. There's a little menu bar with tons more categories of fancy stuff. One of the male presets has an afro made entirely out of fluffy arm bracelets.
You can attach any accessory to any bone in Code vein. Hair tussle? Attach it to the neck, now we got a majestic beard. Halo? Set the bone to front head, minimize size, adjust position, now we've got a nose ring!
I've said it before, I'll say it again: If cosmetics were truly "optional" and "don't affect the gameplay experience", then there's absolutely no reason they should charge money for them. Even less so when they're locked behind lootboxes you can pay real money for, giving those "optional" items monetary value.
"And boy oh boy did I make me a very pretty boy with some pretty makeup and tight, TIGHT pants, VERY tight pants, and I made his clothes all pink and purple from a color palette that has more range than Mariah Carey" -Jim achieving dangerous levels of pansexual
There has always been tension between the business side of games and the artistic side. "We can't put that in, it doesn't appeal to enough people." "We have to take that out, it will offend too many consumers." And so on. But I think it really is now worse than it's ever been. Games are being carefully crafted and then purposely ruined so that the publishers can sell you the parts of the game they took out. Time savers are the absolute biggest embarrassment and indignity - imagine you spend three years of your life creating a game, and then people pay additional money so that they don't have to play it.
Thus it has been in every artistic medium, from videogames all the way back to sculpture and pottery. And it will always be so on some level with or without publishers. Money and/or resources are needed for a game to be made, and the product needs to be made for there to be something to sell. When it works properly, a publisher-developer relationship can be very healthy. Doom 2016 and Eternal couldn't exist without the significant resources of Bethesda Softworks and the provision of those resources actually gives the devs a good amount of freedom as they are not concerned with that business side. Nintendo has been a very good example of this. Monolith Soft could never have made Xenoblade without Nintendo being willing to back their play and so on. And that's just one example. The foundations of the whole thing are sound: people who are creative team up with people who know business and each does their part. And I can tell you from my own experience those two types of people rarely overlap. Where things go wrong is when one side oversteps their bounds. When a developer starts recklessly wasting resources and pushing budgets up higher or - as is more common bow - publishers let marketers and bean counters tell developers how to do their job. When the business people and the creative people just do their job, great things happen. Unfortunately this is becoming more and more uncommon.
"There has always been tension between the business side of games and the artistic side." bullshit. Games use to be made with quality and forthought. Not haste and greed. The millennials fucked everything up. If you are apart of any of the 90-2010 generations you're to blame for this crap. If you have ever spent money on any thing out side of a "REAL" expansion for a game not this micro transaction bull shit YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. If if wasn't sported it wouldn't be a thing. Its not about Art its about greed and how much your generations have feed into it. You made your bed now lay in it. EA is 100% Garbage it not new news and yet loo how many retreads rushed out to buy Anthem. What a bunch of morons. These stupid kids don't learn. I feel really, really sorry for you younger guys cause its the fucktards before you that really messed it all up for you now. Ea, Ubishit, 2K, Hacktivision, WB, they're all shit not a single one of them makes a game worth a cent anymore and yet all these dumb fuck kids/young adults (12-25ish) rush out to empty their wallets for the next big cash grab. If its from a AAA publisher its a cash grab plain and simple and should be avoided period. Anyone who buys this shit is a idiot.
@Hardcore Gamer If anything, some people even reject common sense because it makes them look even more unhinged. To those who trust their guts, I say they are full of shit. They don't like that...
It's not even the value of cosmetics that makes the idea so insidious. It's the fact that it is a hold over from poor MMO business models. It's only cosmetic simply means that it isn't pay to win. Imagine telling the police when you've been caught stealing well it's not murder.
Cosmetics have no real value, they have an intrinsic value based on the perception of the player... an intrinsic value that promises to delivers you customisable characters but is just an addictive game of chance they force down your throat. A player will see zero value in the icons, the sprays, the greens, blues, purples, 90% of the emotes cause they can only bind like half-a-dozen but there is 100 of those... the only thing of value is the legendary skin they want and forcing them to pay through the nose playing a random gatcha game to get the item they actually value is in itself the monster AAA games have created. The fact they don't offer players the choice to pay a premium to get that legendary skin they desire, shows they are manipulating the player. We laughed 13 years ago at $2.50 DLC for shiney Horse Armour, now you pay $2.50 for a 5% chance to get a shiney horse armor and end up with trash you don't want.
@@boxhead6177 You seem to be referring to loot boxes, which are a particularly insidious type of microtransaction. However, I think ALL microtransactions - including paying a premium for a legendary skin - devalue a game. They are all based on the premise that something was taken out of a complete game in order to sell it back to you. Saying cosmetics are a worthless digital item is no more accurate than to say that digital video games are worthless - they are also of no value to people who don't want them. Everything on Earth has a subjective value based on the perception of the buyer and seller, and digital cosmetics are no different. If someone would or does pay money for something, then it has value. People can't get rich off of something that has "no value."
My favorite part about this is, A: there's a side quest towards the end of the game where you have to run a game demo. and /it/ has microtransactions, and it's a taste of what BL3 could've been. B: There are literal slot machines in the game that can give you legendary drops. It /HAS/ loot box mechanics without the need for IRL money.
Yeah, it's too bad loot boxes have been ruined by needing real money. There's a handful of games which show it's not necessarily heinous to use them as long as you don't charge money.
@@hyperx72 it's on the last planet, the weird eridian named one, it's by a drop pod you pass on the way out from your drop pod. I forgot the name. I'm at work and will check when I get home.
I see that amazement about your Code: Vein character being able to wear the hat and immediately, you sounded like you were ready to plunge through the game to the tune of Don't Stop Me Now. And that, to me, says something. If you promote cosmetics and customizable characters into your game and they Don't find themselves with a character they could play through to the tune of Don't Stop Me Now, you're not pushing your options hard enough. Especially if you lock your options through paywalls.
My record is 3 and a half hours making my Khajiit character on the midnight release of Skyrim. And I had college the next morning so that was all I was able to do before I had to sleep XD
Well, revolution happens when something goes round and returns to the place it started from. Kind of an interesting word for revolutions and such. Everything stays the same...
A Game: _Give players items for playing the game_ AAA: This is Madness! A Game: Madness? Madness! This is how a game should be rewarding the players! Also how cosmetics affect the game, TF2 fans know that.
Its a damned shame I've got to pirate BL3 if I wanna play it. Because from everything I've heard there's not a single bad thing about the actual game itself. No lootboxes or scummy Microtransactions, no glaring gameplay flaws or major bugs. Just a good solid game.
I'm savvy to your "negative" video title shenanigans, suckering people in so you can talk positively about good games. Pretty clever, thank God for you.
Thank you for helping me realize why I still find "just cosmetic" microtransactions fishy. One of my favorite parts of Astral Chain was changing my character's outfit and color scheme every now and then. The game absolutely would've been less enjoyable if all of this was locked behind a paywall instead of game progression.
While i get what Jim is talking about (hes right about the loot, even Diablo 3 tried to be scammy) I cannot believe how he's praising the game of his arch-nemesis. Oh Jim, you are professional to your core (as much as it probably hurts you to admit it in this case haha) Good show mate
Good devs should be made to feel special as they give us a positive experience. So good on Jim for ignoring the clown that randy is to praise the game's behaviour.
Jim's already spent an episode blowing his gasket about Randy this year, I guess the enemy has to be put into the background at some point. It's good practice for the future, if you ignore a scumbag they become less relevant over time.
The thing is, there are still AAA games that are worthy of the name. Few and far between but Nintendo and Sony’s output has been phenomenal. They give me that feeling that I got when I played Gears or Halo on my shitty, pre-red ring 360 as a teenager, just really complete, slick, high quality packages.
@@zeterzero4356 I don't know about that "Rider Man" thing you're talking about, but I do remember that time Gackt was a dual-wielding kung fu man (Bujingai: the Forsaken City).
@@wozzen3 Oh man, forgot about Bujingai. What a weird game that was. Also I'll link the Rider Man ref. Should be around RUclips somewhere. ruclips.net/video/kUgYZhFrpMI/видео.html There it is.
I allways find interesting how what is considered important in a game changed so much during the years. Originally it was all about gameplay, then little by little the main appeal costantly changed... replayability, story, characters, multiplayer, longevity, customization, fedelity to original sources, meanings, representation etc...
Monster hunter world doesnt have that much layered armor... WAIT- ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE WIERDOS WHO WEAR FULL SETS FOR THE FASHON AND NOT MIXED SETS FOR THE SKILLS?!
I would say only Japan aaa singleplayer games dont have loot box and that stuff.. devil may cry , bloodborne, dark souls , persona , zelda , smash bros and so on dont have that trash
I remember how great it felt when I could finally afford the trench coat in Pokémon X/Y. And that's *Pokémon.* Saying cosmetics don't affect gameplay is ignoring how much adding trainer customization made the fandom grow wild with joy.
The game at least still gives a huge and full experience for the base price with forms of end-game content already. If the DLC gives more gameplay proportional to the base game extra, i think it is fine. As long as the game is 'complete' before the DLCs and the DLCs really are just extra content, I am of the belief that they are fine. Basically, I am anti the EA way of DLCs which cordens off bits of the base game under a paywall.
This made me realize that whenever I've thought cosmetics didn't matter it's never been that I actually thought that, but rather that I thought "I'm glad they monetized something that I don't care that much about rather than something I'd feel the need to buy"
Yea but that’s the problem just because you don’t care doesn’t mean millions of other don’t care aswell, people love cosmetics , they affect gameplay , in terms of enjoyment. Tripple A games stripped the cosmetics from the base game and sell it as other content. Back in the day you could earn cosmetics through grinding and having fun. Cod black ops 1 , mw2. You could earn all skins/camos/titles/player cards. Everything though playing. Now in black ops 4. Dances , emotes , skins , characters are all locked behind a pay wall. That should’ve been in the main game since they have no campaign. They’re just trying to nickel and dime you through cosmetics. That whole “cosmetics is isn’t bad” argument regarding microtransactions is complete bull shit. If cosmetics have no value than why do people keep buying them and why do they always make them so good. They do affect gameplay , if you can’t see that you’re brain dead. Cosmetics elevate a game immensely.
@@ogbobbyjohnson3502 Exactly, that's what this made me realize, especially since my previous experience with cosmetics have primarily been in F2P games where things like that are far more expected, and in those games my reaction has always been something along the lines of "it's cool that other people care about cosmetics, that way I can freeload off of them spending money" which admittedly is a rather shitty attitude. Of course, the game has changed completely lately with paid cosmetics being added to a bunch of paid games as well as free ones, something which I hadn't noticed to the same extent (notably because I don't play most of the culpable games).
2019 really has been a disgusting year for gaming. Such a shame that the entire medium is tarnished by such an obnoxious drivel of greedy scumbags with no sense of empathy, standards or dignity. P.S: How was your hangover after Breakpoint, Jim? XD
Or shower for that matter. Unless they win a random chance in a water company-owned rigged 1-armed bandit against the odds of getting nothing, vinegar instead of water, having to take a bath instead or having to take a bath in vinegar.
Honestly, I've always been A-OK with premium cosmetics. I'm from the old guard of microtransactions, playing stuff like early Maplestory, when there was only 5 starting classes, back where this stuff started. It doesn't actually impact gameplay (and you can still get in-game stuff to change your looks), but pay to win is like a billion times more present these days. "Back in my day", it was actually more worth earning your EXP boosters than buying them.
@@redjack2629 microtransactions for cosmetics in free to play games only. Why charge for something other games are doing for free and that used to just he unlockable in games "back in the day"? The only answer for putting microtransactions into a full price retail game is *GREED*
@@redjack2629 Lesser evil doesn't make it any less evil. Don't get desensitized to something just because they're pushing for something worse. Don't make it the next day one DLC. Actually, I think it's already too late.
Jim you've got your 300th jimquestion coming, I promised to remind you after you forget to do something for your 200th so why don't you make a part where you are the spartan kicker and boby kotic is the persains? that part was forest starness had that idea. can we like this one one so Jim sees it?
"very tight pants" Jim hasn't seen Sayo Yamamoto's work aparently, because if that's tight then I should be start calling my oversized trench coat "tight"
Several important points well argued. Also "shallow facsimile of satisfaction" is a brilliant phrase. I might have to steal that. Fantastic video overall, Jim. Well done. I think TB would agree.
Here is what makes you, Jim Sterling, special: Randy Pitchford and yourselves have been at each others throat for.. well years at this stage. And yet here you are, clearly separating the controversy surrounding Borderlands 3 and Randy Pitchford as well as the issues between the two of you from the Game, singing Borderlands 3's praises. That sets you apart from the rest, while you will never shy away from a grudge match, you manage to maintain objectivity on the subject. We appreciate you Jim, this industries needs you more than they know.
I've always felt that Bandai-Namco has been a good company, just most of their games are RPGs, which a lot of people ignore since Sqenix is always in the limelight for RPGs, or anime games. Heck, most of their games use an anime art-style, which doesn't roll in the modern "AAA" games industry because "AAA" publishers love to push hyper realism. However, I feel a dynamic art-style overshadows dynamic realism in a game's longevity, which is another thing the "AAA" games industry doesn't do. They don't make games that age well on purpose, with either shit or nonexistent single player, focusing heavily on the online multiplayer that once the servers go down, the game's basically bricked. You can't go back and have the same fun you had years ago with modern games, but you sure as hell can with most of the games Bandai-Namco releases. Heck, Bandai-Namco's games that have online-multiplayer are more a bonus than the focus. Just look at Jim's wet obsession, Dark Souls. Yes, it has a huge online community to help or hinder others who play online, but the entire game can be played solo and offline if you wish and you still get a full experience. Another game I feel goes against the "AAA" mindset would be Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter seems prime for "live-service" shenanigans, like loot boxes and paid "convenience", but it isn't. Except for a very few emotes, everything is earned through playing the game. You want that cool armor set? You kill monsters to make it. You want that awesome sword? Kill monsters to make it. Having trouble with a fight? Oh here's some time sav... NOPE! Get your friends and have a blast killing monsters together! I could go on with the "AAA" shaming, but I've made my point. Just ignore companies like EA and Activision. They don't make fun. They make busy work.
Bandai-Namco's picked up a few duds though over time. One of my worse game purchases, Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade, killed itself with overambition, a team switch midway through, and wasting founder funds on an endless cycle of balance instead of the 'more content' it desperately needed, and Bandai Namco picked it up as a publisher towards it's release, which didn't seem to help matters.
“Glamour is the true endgame” I’m a player of FFXIV. In game there is a system of changing gears appearance called the glamour system. Well the game does have micro transactions for gear there is still an absurd amount of gear we can “glamour”s The community has a saying that I commonly use when someone says “the micro transactions are only cosmetic” to me. That phrase is “Glamour is the true end game”. This means, well it doesn’t effect the main game, it’s still dramatically important to the point where some people could give 2 shits about actual end game content and just want a character that looks good.
I also play XIV, and came down to the comments to say pretty much this. Glamour, mounts, minions, chocobo barding, etc. Cosmetics are very important. While XIV does have a cash shop, which is a bit shady for a subscription game, I honestly struggle to find anything on it that I even want to buy. The good glamour is in-game.
I came here to say the same thing. Nothing taught me how absurd the "cosmetic microtransactions don't affect gameplay" argument was like spending 5 days grinding a raid to get a cool robe. I felt genuine joy when I won the roll, and then I spent like 10 minutes creating an outfit centered around it. Being able to dress my character in cool outfits that I can mix and match and sometimes even change the color of brings /a lot/ of value to the gameplay.
A large percentage of what I do in that game is to find a cool looking glamour outfit, do a photoshoot of it, and share them in my FC's "screenshots" section on discord. I regret nothing.
"it's just cosmetics" is just a shit argument. How about we sell you a $60 wireframe of a game and sell the models and textures as DLC? it's just cosmetic, you don't *need* them.
Really don't see the problem with Overwatch's boxes. You don't get duplicates anymore. That was fixed in year one. And aside from that who cares? The stuff you get has zero effect on gameplay. Why is this such a sticking point for you guys? Is it because it feels good to righteously wave a pitchfork around in an internet mob? Because that's what it looks like from here. I get the argument against other loot box iterations, but not OW. Because it is actually only cosmetic whether you like it or not.
@@mikerhoa I get shit ton of duplicates in ow even though I still have many epic or legendary skins or emotes to unlock. I'd rather unlock these cosmetics through some progression system that ow lacks, instead of praying I'll get some from loot box.
@@mikerhoa the problem is that 1 back in the days those used to be earned by ingame achievements 2 people defending it using that argument as shown the gaming industry that its ok to push it farther and farther because theres even some idiot defending it
@@lewyg I just finished it, it's awesome, anime Souls. The combat system is ridiculously deep, yet easy to mess around with, as you can change builds on the fly. You don't need an item, visit some remote NPC, or redistribute XP to create a different class. The only negative I have is level design, it's def lacking a bit compared to FromSoft Soulsborne titles. Regardless, it's worth your time, as the bosses are top notch, and progression keep you coming back like crack.
That's the entire endgame of Warframe. Fashionframe is the monetization model for them. They're free to play, they also support the gamers by having choice items the community designed implemented in the game and sold with part of the profits going to the person who made that item.
I got the shit kicked out of me by fricking robin hood in Anor Londo because he waited in front of the path for the first fire you could find then made it obvious he wanted a duel. 10/10 I enjoyed the whole deal because I don't mind getting shit on by silly players in these sorts of games if we're both having fun.
The lack of Pathologic 2 in this video makes me big sad. Especially with how TinyBuild decided to not market it at all bdespite being the publisher. The devs really need every shoutout they can get now.
@@abasslinelow it's been a long time since I saw this vid, but wasn't the whole point of it to compile indie games and such which outperformed whatever the 3A indistry was putting out?
@@_FVLL_ Naw, it was to highlight AAA games that put other AAA games to shame, showing that AAA games don't *have* to be cash grabs. Borderlands 3 and Code Vein were his primary examples. Unrelated to the video, I'm starting up my first playthrough of Pathologic 1 tomorrow after finding it on sale for a dollar! Super excited, and I totally agree the series needs WAY more exposure.
Jay'Von Ro I recently played Final Fantasy 5 and I was absolutely blown away by the amount of content in the game, especially for a SNES game. There is 50+ hours worth of content. Amazing.
Monster Hunter has good aspects but it is also very grindy if you want to get decorations it can take more than 100 hours just to get the best ones everything is random so yeah boring
@@idgafnemoar to be fair they are happy to sell you carrots for 9.99 and the premium DLC comes with a toggle to remove the plague in a 9x9 grid of your choosing
@@NomadSoul76 DLC season pass. They handed out new outfits weekly IIRC, sometimes stuff that they made that very week. Interesting idea. That said it shipped with a buttload of cosmetic options, more than most games with cosmetic microtransactions, and the outfits weren't microtransactions but DLC and that's an important distinction for nunerous reasons.
yes, i think he's a liability for his own company but they can't just legally get rid off him. There's always some narcissistic, scammer in every company or organisation that unfortunately you just can't get rid off. Randy Pitchford 2020
One of these days somebody ought to lock Jim and Randy in a room together and they won't be allowed out until one of them rides the other like a donkey. These two need not stand on opposite sides, one of them needs to be on top and one underneath in total harmony.
And the FromSoftware games. Nioh too. Shit Nioh straight up rains weapons and armor on you like a friggin jailbreak. And most of it looked/worked great. Sometimes when I got armor with better stats I held on to the inferior set because of how cool the stuff I already had looked.
The best recent example of "mid-tier" surprise is Remnant: From the Ashes. It's a Soulslike similar to Code Vein where three people co-op proceduraly generated maps that resemble The Last Of Us. It's always less than full AAA price and has absolutely no sleazy BS. I can't wait for DLC and it has a dedicated following (that always welcomes more).
"It's still a solid 7/10, making it as good as Breath of the Wild!" ... ...I get that this is a trollish thing to say, but I also feel like we should ask ourselves why it even counts as such? Why is it so hugely triggering to say "The game you really like is 70% as good as anything can get"?
While BotW gets a 10/10 from me, I do always find it funny. Mostly because peoples' perception is so skewed that 7/10 is somehow a bad score. Probably because they look at it like a school grading scale. Jim said multiple times that he considers 7 a good rating, so the review was a positive one, yet people lose their shit over it. I still see Nintendo fanboys use that score to completely discredit anything Jim says, no matter what he's saying, even if it's in their best interest. So yeah, I hope Jim continues to fuck with them.
"do cosmetics matter?"
>go to nexus mods
>go to skyrim
>go to popular (all time)
"i rest my case"
Well isn't it obvious that men like good looking women?
@@512TheWolf512 heck, women like good looking men too, there are a number of "beefcake" mods right next to those too
Women love to use mods on their female characters too. Just look at the enormous modding community for the Sims.
The minute we say it does not, the bland game and charge for customization.
They take it as steal a feature and sell it back.
Can't stop laughing at pathetic whiny shills that keep desperately trying to excuse "cosmetic only" microtransactions in paid games. There's no excuse for ANY microtransactions in paid games PERIOD. Everything in a paid game should be obtained by PLAYING the game with not even any so called "optional" microtransactions that the game is automatically designed around to manipulate you into wanting to spend on to avoid artificially increased in game grinds for rewards.
This is why Jim is a true lad. Despite his incredible hatred of Randy Pitchford (and rightfully so, of course), Jim CAN put that stuff past to actually examine a game, praise or criticize while actually acknowledging his biases.
My only problem with Borderlands 3 is it feels quite short storywise.
Yeah, Jim almost made me want to buy the game!
...
Almost.
i really hope he knows about the side mission that takes the piss out of microtransactions
@That Animu, Mango and Vidja Game Nerd I have never played BL, but almost got intrigued enough by the BL3 hype train to buy BL2 to see if I'd like it...
Then Randy opened his mouth, and the moment was gone.
he does slam him at the end of the video still ^_^
I love how Jim gets a expansive character creator, and some how ends up creating some unreleased JoJo villian.
I think his Character looks "sick of this shit"
What else are character creators for?
Aaaaand now all I can imagine is Jim doing Pillar Men poses.
Unreleased JoJo villain? That's Faust VIII from Shaman King, just wearing pink.
Shit I just realised how well he would fit with Early SBR Funny Valentine
It's weird how "AAA" games are designed the same way low effort grubby free mobile games are nowadays.
low cost, high profits, whats weird?
@@RightHandedMan25 There's a difference between a free to play mobile game doing this and a fully priced $60 console or PC game doing it. It's completely unnecessary.
@@Zeroshiki It increases the profit margin. Your target audience is limited, once everybody who could possibly interested bought you 60$ game you are done making profit.
Microtransactions on the other hand can make money for as long as you keep the servers up, theoretically infinite amounts.
So yeah. Companies invest as little as they can to make as much money as they can. Nothing weird about it.
@@philmerc364 That is because they struck gold. In the early days people legitimately were experimenting with what mobile devices could and couldn't do, and designed games around that they hoped people would like to play (and buy). The first couple mobile hits were really creative.
But then someone figured out how much money can be made from games like candy crush, clash of clans and ultimately the modern crap they put out these days. Just different skins for the same slot machine. And since the market is so flooded with these "free to pay" games, people are not expecting quality from mobile games and are not willing to pay for the apps. Which in return makes it really hard for mobile devs with reasonable business models.
Basically the market got fucked.
@@philmerc364 Creativity and fun are stifled by the handful of tried and true formulas that get people to pay up. Its no shock that PC and Console would see the feeding frenzy going on in mobile F2P and browser F2P and decide they want in on the action too. What I hate is that the monetization, even when its stuff that should be fairly inoffensive (like "cosmetic only") tends to alter game mechanics to push you into making those purchases. Another aspect of the decline in quality we're seeing is monetized games aren't designed for gamers anymore. They're designed to lure in and addict "whales".
"Cosmetics don't matter."
Warframe frantically hides its endgame.
Because the core game is so absolutely amazing, I am more than happy to buy those cosmetics. Also, since people can trade platinum, it is possible to get most of them without spending a penny yourself from just playing the game.
And at least you can earn SOME of the cosmetics for free, from events or from the traveling merchant.
A lot of games force you to look like a total goober until you pay up.
@@Cumbercuke On top to the game itself being totally free, which I feel is important to remember.
I'll agree that fashion frame is basicly the end game in warframe, but there is a shit ton of free content to enjoy before you even get to that point. Plus as people have said there are ways to getting the cosmetics for free in certain ways, it just takes some work and a solid sence of value in the player market to do it.
@@allyourbase2010 If only the game's trading system wasn't stuck in the early 2000's.
"If cosmetics didn't matter, r/fashionsouls wouldn't exist." A-friggin-men.
Love me some FashionSouls. God damn do I like to play dolly dress up with my sword boi.
Warframe had it's fashionframes. City of Heroes had fashion competitions all the time (and does so again now there are the servers running).
Shoutout to r/DestinyFashion
@@grassygnoll3345 When DC Universe Online came out, there were LOTS of fashion shows and people showed off how they made Superman and Green Lanturns and Batman and Flashes! It was really cool to see everyone's idea's for how thier hero would match up.
@@grassygnoll3345 Aye, I've spent a great deal of time decking out my Valkyr Prime, Nezha, Gauss, Oberon Prime, Wukong Prime and my Limbo Prime. I've fashion framed up other frames of course, but those 6 are the ones I've spent the most time on, or at least the ones I remember spending the most time on off the top of my head. Also with the pending rework of Vauban coming that looks so cool, I'm looking forward to having incentive to fashion frame up the train man as well.
We finally unlocked the legendary Sterling skin. Didn't even need to open any loot boxes!
Whoooooossa
@S T You mean the accidental microtransaction?
I like how the goggles make his hat look like a gaudy, coked out Cappy.
Lucky
As usual. You just gotta wait a while after the release, and get “Jim: game of the year edition”, which includes all extra content.
"Cosmetics don't matter"
THEN WHY ARE YOU SELLING THEM!?
obviously, to give you options...
...that we took away from you before!
U dont get it. Hes saying why sell it if it doesnt matter. Hes not saying why does it exist in the game
And why are you selling them for _more than the fucking game costs_ ?
@@SerMattzio well... i like money! -Mr Krabs
This comment reminds me of the dark knight bane when he enters the stock market. Stock market people told him theres no money there but at the sametime, why the hell all of you people there?
Triple A game publishers: "Look at these 4k graphics! Look at these incredible textures! Look at the visual fidelity!"
Also Triple A game publishers: "Cosmetics aren't a big deal"
Eh, big deal, we all knew the "triple-AEYYY" scum were lying out of both sides of their mouths when they said that anyway. If cosmetics aren't a big deal, _then why are you expecting us to pay you more money for them?!_
Also AAA publishers. “Look at this 4K game! Sure it runs 30fps and dips a little bit! But 4K is the most important thing! Not performance that can boast a 60fps or higher gameplay experience. No, we aren’t going to even give you the option to choose higher performance. Even when the game is mostly running at natively lower resolutions and is just being upscaled. Oh but the petty details. We’ll just keep telling you it’s true 4K.”
@@khfreak5531 OMG, imagine if they monetize performance! "Buy this pack to increase performance from 12 fps to 24 or 30. And boyyy do you have to pay for 60fps." How much money to be made!
Kappa
If they dont affect gameplay, then who cares? If people want to buy skins let them buy skins
Ffs
@@alwolf7431 shut up, don't give them any ideas, we all laughed with horse armor, now look at us now
Remember when unlocking costumes entailed things like "complete all missions", "complete the game in nightmare difficulty" and "complete survival mode"? Fatal Frame remembers.
And all the costumes are just sexy swimsuits and underwear.
Ah you are so right. Look at Need for Speed Underground 2. Progressing in the game unlocked better cosmetics for your car!! FFS!
Uncharted 4 still did it like that
Bayonetta 2 also did this
Oh friend, God of War remembers too
Somehow I now imagine Randy Pitchford randomly during an interview "You remember that guy, that guy that said that stuff about me. God what was his name... Tim Starling, I can't remember but he recently said our game was revolutionary."
I mean. He probably will. Because I guarantee he watches every video Jim puts up that even tangentially involves him. Or he atleast he has an intern watch it and report back to him about what is said.
LOL yes! So much yes and at the same time absolutely not!
He even fat shamed jim. Randy is a total dick.
"The guy who got a hard on over certain shades of pink and purple". I hate that Randy man.
@@TheBanana93 How do you know my routine?!
"i wasted over an hour in Code Vein's character creator"
You mean _only_ an hour, Jim.
I spent 3 hours on my first character, I know a guy who spent six so he could create a unique hairstyle not actually provided by the game by using accessory placement.
Another guy spent a total of 10 hours as well.
@Christian Watson And thus, the cycle continues
That's nice but in bdo did you spend hours crafting the perfect "afk" emote/idle position?
When I get around to playing Code Vein, I know my time in character creation will be double the time spent finishing missions.
I *regularly* popped into character creator throughout my playthrough to customize my character, changing up her outfit, accessories and colors to keep it fresh all the way through. I don't suspect I spent nearly as much as 10 hours cumulatively, but the amount was undoubtedly considerable.
The amount of times my friends have said 'Woah, that's a cool skin, where did you get it?' in BL3 has happened more times than I can count at this point.
Luckily I can just tell them "Oh, I farmed X boss for it" instead of "I bought it in the store".
Now tell me how cosmetics don't affect the mind of people playing?
I have to say as well that whenever I buy a skin for a character in other games (I don't do it very often), I feel far more shame than satisfaction whenever I wear it and thus I end up wearing it for one session, maybe two, before the guilt of it forces me to stop using it and sometimes I even stop playing the game.
Micro-Transactions are game killers to me.
Azarth oooo that comment hits hard cause if I stop to think and I hate my cognitive dissonance I feel the same
Haven't played any such games in a while though
@@ScribbleNuts DLC is a tricky one. For the most part it's new content and in some cases new features that were actually worked on and created the developers, not just a jacket or a hat made by the art department for the publisher to monetize that do nothing. DLC, paid for or not increases the longevity of the game and keeps it relevant (for the most part, there are definitely some cases of terrible paid DLC)
Borderlands 2 DLC's were absolutely worth the purchase price. Tiny Tina's expansion alone was probably one of the best DLC/expansions this decade.
@@EightOneFive Eh, it's a mixed bag with Borderlands 2's DLC -- while all of the expansions are worth it (with the glaring exception of Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt and the first two Headhunter DLCs), there are plenty of microtransactions that are mixed in there. The fact that they dumped the microtransactions and made them all unlockables for the Handsome Collection was an objective improvement.
@@azarththekobold I empathize with this greatly.
I feel accomplished when I get a cool skin by accomplishing a task, or when I manage to put together a cool and original aesthetic from assorted pieces available in the game.
When I buy a set, I just feel ashamed. It's like I paid to win at fashion. It's like the look I've got, even though conventionally cool, is now just a testament to the fact that I'm an uncreative dipshit, like one of those douchebags who buys all their clothes just for the price tag, without any understanding of actual style. In the same way that paying to win in a more conventional gameplay sense is a testament to the fact that I suck at the game, because I couldn't win otherwise.
It's also because the developers indirectly told me this thing was cool and desirable by pricing it so high. And basing your sense of style on what others think is cool and desirable is the ultimate sin when it comes to fashion.
Me : I'm still not sure if I should get Code Vein or not...
Jim : THERE'S A GIANT PINK HAT!
Me : SOLD!
You can change the color of the hat too.
@@seanhennessy3968 To expand on that, you can make the fucking thing paisley/animal print/gleaming metallic/actual neon/all sorts of crazy things. It's glorious.
play the demo
@@FabricioKarim is the character creator in the demo?
@@23Scadu It sure is, in all its glory.
"...a color palette that has more range than Mariah Carey."
Take my like, take my subscription, and thank God for you!
If a game has "time savers", is literally a waste of time.
Every mmo and even warframe (a game some people act like is the word of god) has words for you.
@@OddMobileWatcher If a game puts a price on skipping a segment of the game (i.e. "saving time", or a "time saver"), then the developers have just ADMITTED that the content is not only worth skipping, it is actually worth MONEY to skip.
Let me reiterate that. People are PAYING to NOT play the game. It is worth real world dollar amounts to get past parts of the game, because where normally a player might play to enjoy their time in a fictional world, this fictional world is designed so that it is more enjoyable to avoid it, or at least bypass portions of it.
Any game that has time savers is an automatic fail. Time spent enjoying a game is not time wasted, in my opinion. If a game wants me to pay it to *not* play, then I will just keep my money and not play it. Best of both worlds.
@@eondragon2086 Warframe is literally one of the most popular free to play games on steam.
The thing is time 'savers' need to exist. The people who have a lot of freetime dont have the money to spend so they can grind, get items to trade for platinum (atleast in warframe of course) so they can then get warframe and weapon slots (really the only thing you should spend platinum on). People who have an hour a day to play warframe can't spend days grinding to trade so they can get a warframe slot meanwhile. It Excludes people who don't have the time sink, but DO have the money.
@@OddMobileWatcher no they do not Need to exist: why the fuck would you even buy or download a game in order to spend Money NOT TO PLAY IT?
@@OddMobileWatcher Then remove the grind aspect of the game. Players don't have to waste time and money on a repeating a series of tasks for god knows how long.
So talking about BL3, there's a side mission where you find an old "beta" version of a game, the host of the game is always commenting under their breath how buggy and broken the game is but when he realises your listening pretends it's the best game ever.
Furthermore, the NPC you have to protect over exaggeratively T pose walks around everywhere (while you play normally fighting enemies), constantly dying and in need of revival.
The host knowing how inconvenient this is offers for you "pay for an upgrade" that is a solution to a problem the game hasn't bothered implementing properly yet and all it does maybe speed the NPC up by 5% if that while actually taking $1 in game of your money and does this 4 or 5 times throughout the mission.
Also at one point in the mission, you are tasked with collecting some orb like things to progress once you have finally gotten the NPC to where it needs to be, but it "glitches" out and duplicates itself like 100 times and the host offers you another convenient time saver deal of flat out buying 100 orbs from the n̶o̶n̶ optional in game store and again actually charges your in game money by $1.
Even though this money is all earned in game and I'm at the point where I lose tens to hundreds of thousands $$$ every time I die and respawn, I still felt robbed ever time I HAD TO SAY YES on these OPTIONAL in game purchases in a joking mission really self aware of how the real world AAA games are these days.
I commend Gearbox for doing this because no doubt this mission is going to be documented and shown off to developers and publishers behind the scenes and they're probably not going to have a clue "why it is wrong".
You can't hit the no button on the orb gathering or the armor debuff for the boss battle later, but you can ignore them and gather all 100 orbs, and kill the buffed boss for some amusing dialogue.
That's fuckin' brilliant. I wasn't going to touch BL3 with a ten foot pole because of 2K, but ... ugh. Maybe.
Where is this mission at? I don't remember seeing it.
Micah Zivkovich Last planet story wise, it's an echo device on the floor somewhere
Yeah - it's very late game; I think there's only like one or two more story missions to do when you can pick up the side quest Timmzy27 is talking about
"I wasted over an hour tinkering with the-" No you didn't, that was time well spent learning the creation tool you were given!
"But it's just cosmetics!"
If it ever was "just cosmetics" as in cosmetics are just a nice little addition to the reward system, developers wouldn't put it behind a paywall. Everything that is monetized in a game is inherently an important part of the experience. No one monetizes things that have zero meaning or value (in general). It's always things that are meaningful to players. Just look at the Breakpoint shenanigans where they apparently took telemetry on what players used the credits during the beta and then put the most popular items such as certain camos behind additional hurdles and whatnot.
if it was "just cosmetic" and cosmetics dont matter then graphics wouldnt matter and we would all be playing stick figures on atari 2600 still.
Cosmetics was an excuse for moving the bar up, and suckers fell for it.
If I made a game I think I would include a lootbox (that could only be purchased with in-game money), but it would only have one item: a "I spent money on a lootbox and I'll I got was this lousy T-shirt!" shirt!
... "Class-ism" just popped into my head through this rant, a general divide between those who can afford to shell out for shit that they shouldn't need to pay for and those who can't or don't bother I mean.
Destiny 2 in nutshell
"Cosmetics don't matter."
Jim sterling : "Look at my hat."
I played through Borderlands Pre-Sequel about 2 months ago - platinumed it 100%, didn't equip a single cosmetic item. So I think in some games cosmetic items do not matter at all. Some games might be fun with your friends to have them? And if you can get them free why not? Im sure there are examples of game types where its more important than others, (Animal Crossing, the Sims).
But if it really does nothing for stats, there is no equipment stats bonus, its just fun, then I can 100% live with my Mario looking like Mario for a whole game.
That being said - there is a lot of fun to be had when in a game like Diablo you actually look different in your armor, it does make me mad when a game has new armor, you put it on, and you look the same.
So are cosmetics a lot of fun? YES. Do they matter in most games? NO. I guess its a glass half full type of thing. if a game only has cosmetic items as pay - im still fine with that. Ive got 500 items of clothing in the Division which I'm playing now, I got the stupid winter hat with a ball on top, put that on like my first hour, and haven't used a new one since. Am I goign to buy any "premium clothes"? Hell no -- it honestly makes me way more mad that all the good guns are behind the stupid dark zone PvP and i cant extract any because everyone else just ganks me. Those better guns do matter.
I will admit it makes me sad at times when in Monster Hunter a better looking set of armor had crappy stats, and the good armor looked kind of dumb. But I mean thats all free in Monster Hunter. Its not pay cosmetics. And I still love the game. And honestly the stats on the armor are more important so i choose the better armor vs the better lookign armor each and every time!
So yeah, I guess what does "matter" mean? Does it matter what my armor looks like? No, I get new armor every hour or so anyway right? Is it fun to look like you want? Yes.
Id say being able to pick gender or skin color in a game is waaaaaaaaay more important than cosmetics, and many games still dont let you do that.
@@squidracerX Theres a new mechanic with the iceborn update that lets u have your awsome looking armour on top of better stats armour
@@ssdeathsquad88 ... I think I need to hop back into MH:W _just_ for that. :D
@@AniGaAG personally I won't bother touching the game again
I’ve been playing bayonetta 2 on switch and was incredibly surprised the game has not only a ton unlockables but has cheat code inputs as well! I truly miss the days when games still felt like games.
Ah...a man of culture.!!! Bayonetta many memories....
Bayonetta 2 is absolutely excellent. Definitely one of my favorite games from the Wiiu era.
I literally forgot that cheat codes were a thing thank you for reminding me
Oh cheats are kinda funny with Bayonetta 2 cause for the longest time nobody even realized the game had cheats until Bayo got in Smash, I bet Switch players got good use of the cheats though, cause I know I don't want to fight Rodin again o_o
Big head mode? Plz?
Jim raving about his carmen sandiego anime vampire boy brings me great joy.
When Spider-Man: Far from Home came out Insomniac put 2 new skins from the movie into their Spider-Man game. A one player game that was almost a year old and approaching Greatest Hits pricing just gave players 2 new skins because a movie came out.
I didn't wear them much because the game was already full of skins earned through gameplay or available from the start or added in later. I think my beautiful Tobey McGuire outfit was a Christmas skin or something.
I also have high praise for the cosmetics in Insomniac's Spider-Man. Such a great game!
Highly overrated, Bloodborne is 1000 times better, no joke
I am a grumpy old man and see the negative in everything, but that was just PR for the movie itself.
Amazing game though, you should totally go out and buy it if you havent already.
@@joaokiwi2543 To entirely different games and experiences there. You can't really compare on any level outside of personal enjoyment.
@@joaokiwi2543 Of course Bloodborne is better. Bloodborne is better than every game. But you can't swing around in New York webbing up baddies so there is still room for other, non-Bloodborne, games.
>Anime souls
>In-depth character creator
Welp, you've sold me on Code Vein.
I was sold on it until I saw the cathedral area is stupid
@jonny s yeah I heard it's not all that bad from a friend
Sir SpookyBones good thing you came back after a month to correct your comment bravo
@@sirspookybones1118 this is what I call dedication
More like Code Vain amirite?
Something that took me weeks to notice for Code Vein:
There's not just hats. There's a little menu bar with tons more categories of fancy stuff.
One of the male presets has an afro made entirely out of fluffy arm bracelets.
You can spend hours in there making different looks with all the different accessories theres another menu where you can adjust position/angles/size
You can attach any accessory to any bone in Code vein. Hair tussle? Attach it to the neck, now we got a majestic beard. Halo? Set the bone to front head, minimize size, adjust position, now we've got a nose ring!
Someone tell the McElroys
I did not know this. O_O Seems I have work to do.
'Don't you wish your girlfriend had a hat like me?'
Every day Jim. Every. Damn. Day.
Well, lucky you, for only $4.99 you can get that hat! ... Maybe! There's a chance of below 1 % that it will be the hat! Duplicates possible.
The awkwardness of that part was freaking hilarious.
I had a girlfriend ... once ...
Guy Mor Nah, he realized he was gay and is now in a committed relationship with his boyfriend.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: If cosmetics were truly "optional" and "don't affect the gameplay experience", then there's absolutely no reason they should charge money for them.
Even less so when they're locked behind lootboxes you can pay real money for, giving those "optional" items monetary value.
Exactly 🐣
It basically affects gamers
It's they're bragging right
"And boy oh boy did I make me a very pretty boy with some pretty makeup and tight, TIGHT pants, VERY tight pants, and I made his clothes all pink and purple from a color palette that has more range than Mariah Carey" -Jim achieving dangerous levels of pansexual
And a big fuck-off Carmen San Diego hat.
This, right here, is a whole ass mood and I love it
@@matthewarnold4557 that was my favorite. A big FUCKOFF carmen sandiego hat.
without charging my MONEY for it
so coming back to this after two years how do you feel about being 110% right on the money?
"Don't you wish your girlfriend wore a hat like me?" Hahaha!
No long live the old hat.
the offbeat clapping is what got me lmao
There has always been tension between the business side of games and the artistic side. "We can't put that in, it doesn't appeal to enough people." "We have to take that out, it will offend too many consumers." And so on. But I think it really is now worse than it's ever been. Games are being carefully crafted and then purposely ruined so that the publishers can sell you the parts of the game they took out. Time savers are the absolute biggest embarrassment and indignity - imagine you spend three years of your life creating a game, and then people pay additional money so that they don't have to play it.
Thus it has been in every artistic medium, from videogames all the way back to sculpture and pottery. And it will always be so on some level with or without publishers. Money and/or resources are needed for a game to be made, and the product needs to be made for there to be something to sell. When it works properly, a publisher-developer relationship can be very healthy. Doom 2016 and Eternal couldn't exist without the significant resources of Bethesda Softworks and the provision of those resources actually gives the devs a good amount of freedom as they are not concerned with that business side. Nintendo has been a very good example of this. Monolith Soft could never have made Xenoblade without Nintendo being willing to back their play and so on. And that's just one example.
The foundations of the whole thing are sound: people who are creative team up with people who know business and each does their part. And I can tell you from my own experience those two types of people rarely overlap. Where things go wrong is when one side oversteps their bounds. When a developer starts recklessly wasting resources and pushing budgets up higher or - as is more common bow - publishers let marketers and bean counters tell developers how to do their job. When the business people and the creative people just do their job, great things happen. Unfortunately this is becoming more and more uncommon.
"There has always been tension between the business side of games and the artistic side." bullshit. Games use to be made with quality and forthought. Not haste and greed. The millennials fucked everything up. If you are apart of any of the 90-2010 generations you're to blame for this crap. If you have ever spent money on any thing out side of a "REAL" expansion for a game not this micro transaction bull shit YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. If if wasn't sported it wouldn't be a thing. Its not about Art its about greed and how much your generations have feed into it. You made your bed now lay in it. EA is 100% Garbage it not new news and yet loo how many retreads rushed out to buy Anthem. What a bunch of morons. These stupid kids don't learn. I feel really, really sorry for you younger guys cause its the fucktards before you that really messed it all up for you now. Ea, Ubishit, 2K, Hacktivision, WB, they're all shit not a single one of them makes a game worth a cent anymore and yet all these dumb fuck kids/young adults (12-25ish) rush out to empty their wallets for the next big cash grab. If its from a AAA publisher its a cash grab plain and simple and should be avoided period. Anyone who buys this shit is a idiot.
@@nightchills2707 Greed is the cause. Fucking chill.
Yeeep.
@Dmitry Terek B's you cannot only blame the internet you know damn well it's greed and more but nice try.
There's a quote for your game, "more range than Mariah Carey!" - Jim Sterling
That'll be $1500 thank you very much
That is one very excellent colour pallette system though. So much range
@Hump Mariah Carey is black and so what
Best part about Code Vein: You can dress up as Alucard and... Go for a walk...
A very enthusiastic walk.
When hope is gone
Undo this lock
And Send me forth
On a moonlight walk
Release restraint level...ZERO
And kill homicidal vampire priests?
Okay, first..........
*I WAS MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS*
@@kendromeda42 BULLSHIT!
And that embarrasment at the start is my local mp
I am so sorry.
I don't even understand what she is supposed to be saying
Atleast she's decorative.
@@0uttaS1TE no, AI AI AI
@@Egg87 Pork markets.
Who doesn't love a good pork market? Ammirite!
14:24
*cough* Warframe (Fashionframe) *cough*
It's been a long running joke that Fashion is the true end game of Warframe.
Well it's true I got frost prime (aka bubble daddy) not only because it my favourite frame to play but because it looks great
It’s a minor miracle that 2K Games didn’t insert themselves into Borderlands 3.
maybe they just forgot just like a math teacher after a long weekend.
Yet...
Maybe 2k just dont like setting up meetings with Randy.
@@yamadiyoo9658 yeah. Probably got sick of all the magic tricks
@@thepassingstatic6268 "magic tricks" or magic tricks?
"A big ol Hat with shades of Alucard"
And just like that Jim Sterling earned a bit of my respect.
If cosmetics had no value then people wouldn't buy them. It's self-evident. Thinking otherwise requires bizarre excuse-making and mental gymnastics.
@Hardcore Gamer If anything, some people even reject common sense because it makes them look even more unhinged.
To those who trust their guts, I say they are full of shit. They don't like that...
@Hardcore Gamer My grandfather referred to such people as 'educated idiots'.
It's not even the value of cosmetics that makes the idea so insidious. It's the fact that it is a hold over from poor MMO business models. It's only cosmetic simply means that it isn't pay to win. Imagine telling the police when you've been caught stealing well it's not murder.
Cosmetics have no real value, they have an intrinsic value based on the perception of the player... an intrinsic value that promises to delivers you customisable characters but is just an addictive game of chance they force down your throat. A player will see zero value in the icons, the sprays, the greens, blues, purples, 90% of the emotes cause they can only bind like half-a-dozen but there is 100 of those... the only thing of value is the legendary skin they want and forcing them to pay through the nose playing a random gatcha game to get the item they actually value is in itself the monster AAA games have created.
The fact they don't offer players the choice to pay a premium to get that legendary skin they desire, shows they are manipulating the player.
We laughed 13 years ago at $2.50 DLC for shiney Horse Armour, now you pay $2.50 for a 5% chance to get a shiney horse armor and end up with trash you don't want.
@@boxhead6177 You seem to be referring to loot boxes, which are a particularly insidious type of microtransaction. However, I think ALL microtransactions - including paying a premium for a legendary skin - devalue a game. They are all based on the premise that something was taken out of a complete game in order to sell it back to you.
Saying cosmetics are a worthless digital item is no more accurate than to say that digital video games are worthless - they are also of no value to people who don't want them. Everything on Earth has a subjective value based on the perception of the buyer and seller, and digital cosmetics are no different. If someone would or does pay money for something, then it has value. People can't get rich off of something that has "no value."
My favorite part about this is,
A: there's a side quest towards the end of the game where you have to run a game demo. and /it/ has microtransactions, and it's a taste of what BL3 could've been.
B: There are literal slot machines in the game that can give you legendary drops. It /HAS/ loot box mechanics without the need for IRL money.
Yeah, it's too bad loot boxes have been ruined by needing real money. There's a handful of games which show it's not necessarily heinous to use them as long as you don't charge money.
What's that side quest?
@@hyperx72 it's on the last planet, the weird eridian named one, it's by a drop pod you pass on the way out from your drop pod. I forgot the name. I'm at work and will check when I get home.
@@hyperx72 the name is trans-action packed.
@@gamefreak3072 Thanks!
I see that amazement about your Code: Vein character being able to wear the hat and immediately, you sounded like you were ready to plunge through the game to the tune of Don't Stop Me Now.
And that, to me, says something. If you promote cosmetics and customizable characters into your game and they Don't find themselves with a character they could play through to the tune of Don't Stop Me Now, you're not pushing your options hard enough. Especially if you lock your options through paywalls.
You now have made a new grading system, and I will apply it to every action game ever.
@@leadpaintchips9461 Happy to oblige.
Go forth!
Totally agree. That should be a parameter when reviewing games as the newer games are capable of far more cosmetics.
My Code Vein game cost nothing and my character wears nothing thank to mods.
"I've wasted over an hour in character creation"
Pfft, amateur.
Right?
My record is 3 and a half hours making my Khajiit character on the midnight release of Skyrim. And I had college the next morning so that was all I was able to do before I had to sleep XD
i feel like i spent around 2-3 hours on my first character in PSO2, and even my second one took forever after knowing what all my options are
@@StephySon so what did you major in? computer science?
@@bimmer8602 Nah just liberal arts. This was Freshman year when I wasn't sure what I was doing with my life.
I wouldn't call it "revolutionary"
"retro-lutionary" would fit way better
MrSoulcreek needs work but love idea
Well, revolution happens when something goes round and returns to the place it started from. Kind of an interesting word for revolutions and such. Everything stays the same...
Ha!
@@Kumimono yeah it's like "revolting" around, the word probably has interesting etimology
This should be added to the dictionary.
"Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"
Hah! Joke's on you. I don't have a girlfriend.
Me neither, well, I did but not anymore :C
@The Nug Prince Cry baby, get the fuck over it. Maybe cry to your mother instead of youtube. You must be gay.
@@xFersureMatt lol im gay. fuck off incel
lmao
@@mango4554 He changed his comment oaisjdoaisjoaisd fuck thats good
Code vein added a towel that you can wear instead of clothes in the most recent update.
Just wanted to let people know.
"I was able to invest my time into crafting a sublimely splendiferous pretty boy."
A Game: _Give players items for playing the game_
AAA: This is Madness!
A Game: Madness? Madness! This is how a game should be rewarding the players!
Also how cosmetics affect the game, TF2 fans know that.
(sigh) I expected a Sparta joke... or was that a dead joke?
@@ChrisX_212 you expected it, but it never came. Much like my last date.
THIS IS GAME DESIGN!!!
Mario odyssey is AAA. But rewards cosmetics and hats all the time free in game. I was confused why I didn't have to open my wallet...
“Tastefully Tasteless”
Sometimes something is said that just resonates with me. This is one of these times-thank you.
It's impressive that Borderlands 3 did so well despite literally EVERYTHING Randy, Gearbox and Take Two did to tank it. But it is damned good.
It will be considered a failure because shareholders expected to sell more than 20 million copies in the first week.
Its a damned shame I've got to pirate BL3 if I wanna play it. Because from everything I've heard there's not a single bad thing about the actual game itself. No lootboxes or scummy Microtransactions, no glaring gameplay flaws or major bugs. Just a good solid game.
@@Thetracker69 I'm just waiting patiently for it to reach Steam. I got WoW Classic to play, I don't need it for a year.
Thetracker3 The only thing i considered bad about the game is the story in some areas. But if we were just talking gameplay, I would give it a 10
@@davidbergmann8948
Maybe if they didn't limit it to a shitty store without a shopping cart.
Sales could of been better.
I'm savvy to your "negative" video title shenanigans, suckering people in so you can talk positively about good games. Pretty clever, thank God for you.
Thank you for helping me realize why I still find "just cosmetic" microtransactions fishy. One of my favorite parts of Astral Chain was changing my character's outfit and color scheme every now and then. The game absolutely would've been less enjoyable if all of this was locked behind a paywall instead of game progression.
While i get what Jim is talking about (hes right about the loot, even Diablo 3 tried to be scammy) I cannot believe how he's praising the game of his arch-nemesis. Oh Jim, you are professional to your core (as much as it probably hurts you to admit it in this case haha)
Good show mate
Good devs should be made to feel special as they give us a positive experience. So good on Jim for ignoring the clown that randy is to praise the game's behaviour.
Jim's already spent an episode blowing his gasket about Randy this year, I guess the enemy has to be put into the background at some point. It's good practice for the future, if you ignore a scumbag they become less relevant over time.
For Randy Pitchford's many, many, _MANY_ flaws.... he does head a studio that makes the _ur_-Looter Shooter.
Randy still sucks. it’s the devs at gearbox that deserve the praise not him
@@drachmalius6126 He works on the game as well.
"Mid-tier" games are the _real_ AAA games imo. I think we need a new name for the "AAA" industry because there is nothing AAA about them anymore.
The Big Name industry? Because that's often what they have: big names and nothing else.
The thing is, there are still AAA games that are worthy of the name. Few and far between but Nintendo and Sony’s output has been phenomenal. They give me that feeling that I got when I played Gears or Halo on my shitty, pre-red ring 360 as a teenager, just really complete, slick, high quality packages.
Microtransaction Industry
AAA means little more than the amount of money spent on making the game.
MPP
Maximum Profit Products
Seems like most of the AAA devs have stop evolving their games. While the AA devs keep making unique, fun, and complete games.
"And I made myself a very, VERY pretty boy!" You made Gackt, Jim; so yes you did indeed make a very pretty boy.
Remember that time Gackt was a villain in an FF7 game? Or that time he was Rider Man from another world? I remember.
@@zeterzero4356 I don't know about that "Rider Man" thing you're talking about, but I do remember that time Gackt was a dual-wielding kung fu man (Bujingai: the Forsaken City).
@@wozzen3 Oh man, forgot about Bujingai. What a weird game that was.
Also I'll link the Rider Man ref. Should be around RUclips somewhere.
ruclips.net/video/kUgYZhFrpMI/видео.html
There it is.
Grabs the 👺 and 🎻 for Mizerable
@@zeterzero4356 not only was he AR Riderman, he did the opening for Decade too
"... filled that hole with enthusiastic thrusting!" - *drops monocle*
"That's my third monocle this week, I simply *must* stop being so horrified."
Oh, i think i have to powder my wig again, if you excuse me
@@cogitoergotsum
Damm that's a reference not many people will get.
When it comes to cosmetics, just remember: "The hatter says they matter!"
And it couldn't make the naysayers any madder!
I allways find interesting how what is considered important in a game changed so much during the years.
Originally it was all about gameplay, then little by little the main appeal costantly changed... replayability, story, characters, multiplayer, longevity, customization, fedelity to original sources, meanings, representation etc...
Cosmetics is the whole reason I play monster Hunter world. I'm shit at it but I look fabulous
I just wish there was more layered armour. My dude looks like the drummer from a bad hair metal band.
Cool!
Honestly a bit disappointed that MHW wasn’t mentioned here; That game is truly a “live service” done right.
Monster hunter world doesnt have that much layered armor... WAIT- ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE WIERDOS WHO WEAR FULL SETS FOR THE FASHON AND NOT MIXED SETS FOR THE SKILLS?!
My go to is The Shades for the head, and the rest is Dante's layered armor. Or sometimes just using Ciri, coz, eh.
"Can't be embarrassed if making good games isn't the goal!" -Android Wilson, probably
The “AAA” Industry embarrassed? Anyone want some popcorn 🍿🍿🍿?
The Wolf Princess I think you mean embAAArrAAAssed!? Or maybe not, as they have no shAAAme.
The Wolf Princess toss me one
Sarkastik Begger here you go 🙂🍿.
I would say only Japan aaa singleplayer games dont have loot box and that stuff.. devil may cry , bloodborne, dark souls , persona , zelda , smash bros and so on dont have that trash
But I don't like popcorn, can I have a giant slurpy?
"Filled that hole with enthusiastic thrusting" is hilarious.
"Tastefully tasteless." Hell, yeah.😁
How is that different from "Tastelessly Tasteful"?
@Chokah
It's not.
I remember how great it felt when I could finally afford the trench coat in Pokémon X/Y. And that's *Pokémon.* Saying cosmetics don't affect gameplay is ignoring how much adding trainer customization made the fandom grow wild with joy.
It’s another jimquisition from our boy Jim drunken Sterling son
Hey, I'm sober this morning... for now.
id be drunk if i had to cover the video game industry for a living
As a Scotsman, I heavily discourage being sober.
@@JimSterling Sober? Bummer, sounds bad. I wouldn't know about that 😁
Makes sense, drunk people usually repeat themselves often. In this case Jim has been drunk since about 2014.
Jim Sterling with the advice the games industry needs to hear: "Sort it out. Yeah?"
"Borderlands 3 has managed to remain a looter-shooter without Loot Boxes"
For now at least...
Just wait until it becomes like borderlands 2 and you have like 15 pages of micro's and DLC.
@@MrDrManPerson Still vastly better than MTXs.
Hell, even DOA series infamous DLCs are better than MTXs.
@@MrDrManPerson tbh. BL2 did it right. Fx. Tiny Tina's Assault on dragon keep was 10+ hours of fun for 7€.
I am surprised he glossed over the 50$ season pass.
The game at least still gives a huge and full experience for the base price with forms of end-game content already.
If the DLC gives more gameplay proportional to the base game extra, i think it is fine.
As long as the game is 'complete' before the DLCs and the DLCs really are just extra content, I am of the belief that they are fine. Basically, I am anti the EA way of DLCs which cordens off bits of the base game under a paywall.
This made me realize that whenever I've thought cosmetics didn't matter it's never been that I actually thought that, but rather that I thought "I'm glad they monetized something that I don't care that much about rather than something I'd feel the need to buy"
Yea but that’s the problem just because you don’t care doesn’t mean millions of other don’t care aswell, people love cosmetics , they affect gameplay , in terms of enjoyment. Tripple A games stripped the cosmetics from the base game and sell it as other content. Back in the day you could earn cosmetics through grinding and having fun. Cod black ops 1 , mw2. You could earn all skins/camos/titles/player cards. Everything though playing. Now in black ops 4. Dances , emotes , skins , characters are all locked behind a pay wall. That should’ve been in the main game since they have no campaign. They’re just trying to nickel and dime you through cosmetics. That whole “cosmetics is isn’t bad” argument regarding microtransactions is complete bull shit. If cosmetics have no value than why do people keep buying them and why do they always make them so good. They do affect gameplay , if you can’t see that you’re brain dead. Cosmetics elevate a game immensely.
@@ogbobbyjohnson3502 Exactly, that's what this made me realize, especially since my previous experience with cosmetics have primarily been in F2P games where things like that are far more expected, and in those games my reaction has always been something along the lines of "it's cool that other people care about cosmetics, that way I can freeload off of them spending money" which admittedly is a rather shitty attitude.
Of course, the game has changed completely lately with paid cosmetics being added to a bunch of paid games as well as free ones, something which I hadn't noticed to the same extent (notably because I don't play most of the culpable games).
2019 really has been a disgusting year for gaming. Such a shame that the entire medium is tarnished by such an obnoxious drivel of greedy scumbags with no sense of empathy, standards or dignity.
P.S: How was your hangover after Breakpoint, Jim? XD
shut up
And is gonna get worse I bet, eh
@@johnapple6646 Be quiet John.
Nah, I'm good, John Apple.
You can count on it!
"Cosmetics don't matter."
*Capcom frantically hides the Iceborne weapon backlash*
What Icebourne backlash?
"It's only cosmetic!" types better not even so much as comb their hair.
Or shower for that matter. Unless they win a random chance in a water company-owned rigged 1-armed bandit against the odds of getting nothing, vinegar instead of water, having to take a bath instead or having to take a bath in vinegar.
Honestly, I've always been A-OK with premium cosmetics. I'm from the old guard of microtransactions, playing stuff like early Maplestory, when there was only 5 starting classes, back where this stuff started. It doesn't actually impact gameplay (and you can still get in-game stuff to change your looks), but pay to win is like a billion times more present these days. "Back in my day", it was actually more worth earning your EXP boosters than buying them.
Ad Lockhorst Probably a side effect of those damn micro transactions!!!!! I’ve heard they make you lose you hair and your money.
@@redjack2629 microtransactions for cosmetics in free to play games only. Why charge for something other games are doing for free and that used to just he unlockable in games "back in the day"?
The only answer for putting microtransactions into a full price retail game is *GREED*
@@redjack2629 Lesser evil doesn't make it any less evil. Don't get desensitized to something just because they're pushing for something worse.
Don't make it the next day one DLC. Actually, I think it's already too late.
Jim you've got your 300th jimquestion coming, I promised to remind you after you forget to do something for your 200th so why don't you make a part where you are the spartan kicker and boby kotic is the persains? that part was forest starness had that idea. can we like this one one so Jim sees it?
"very tight pants"
Jim hasn't seen Sayo Yamamoto's work aparently, because if that's tight then I should be start calling my oversized trench coat "tight"
Noice and toight
Several important points well argued. Also "shallow facsimile of satisfaction" is a brilliant phrase. I might have to steal that. Fantastic video overall, Jim. Well done. I think TB would agree.
Here is what makes you, Jim Sterling, special: Randy Pitchford and yourselves have been at each others throat for.. well years at this stage. And yet here you are, clearly separating the controversy surrounding Borderlands 3 and Randy Pitchford as well as the issues between the two of you from the Game, singing Borderlands 3's praises. That sets you apart from the rest, while you will never shy away from a grudge match, you manage to maintain objectivity on the subject. We appreciate you Jim, this industries needs you more than they know.
I've always felt that Bandai-Namco has been a good company, just most of their games are RPGs, which a lot of people ignore since Sqenix is always in the limelight for RPGs, or anime games. Heck, most of their games use an anime art-style, which doesn't roll in the modern "AAA" games industry because "AAA" publishers love to push hyper realism. However, I feel a dynamic art-style overshadows dynamic realism in a game's longevity, which is another thing the "AAA" games industry doesn't do. They don't make games that age well on purpose, with either shit or nonexistent single player, focusing heavily on the online multiplayer that once the servers go down, the game's basically bricked. You can't go back and have the same fun you had years ago with modern games, but you sure as hell can with most of the games Bandai-Namco releases. Heck, Bandai-Namco's games that have online-multiplayer are more a bonus than the focus. Just look at Jim's wet obsession, Dark Souls. Yes, it has a huge online community to help or hinder others who play online, but the entire game can be played solo and offline if you wish and you still get a full experience. Another game I feel goes against the "AAA" mindset would be Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter seems prime for "live-service" shenanigans, like loot boxes and paid "convenience", but it isn't. Except for a very few emotes, everything is earned through playing the game. You want that cool armor set? You kill monsters to make it. You want that awesome sword? Kill monsters to make it. Having trouble with a fight? Oh here's some time sav... NOPE! Get your friends and have a blast killing monsters together! I could go on with the "AAA" shaming, but I've made my point. Just ignore companies like EA and Activision. They don't make fun. They make busy work.
Bandai-Namco's picked up a few duds though over time. One of my worse game purchases, Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade, killed itself with overambition, a team switch midway through, and wasting founder funds on an endless cycle of balance instead of the 'more content' it desperately needed, and Bandai Namco picked it up as a publisher towards it's release, which didn't seem to help matters.
“Glamour is the true endgame”
I’m a player of FFXIV. In game there is a system of changing gears appearance called the glamour system. Well the game does have micro transactions for gear there is still an absurd amount of gear we can “glamour”s The community has a saying that I commonly use when someone says “the micro transactions are only cosmetic” to me. That phrase is “Glamour is the true end game”. This means, well it doesn’t effect the main game, it’s still dramatically important to the point where some people could give 2 shits about actual end game content and just want a character that looks good.
My white mage looks sexy in his robes, thank you very much.
I also play XIV, and came down to the comments to say pretty much this. Glamour, mounts, minions, chocobo barding, etc. Cosmetics are very important. While XIV does have a cash shop, which is a bit shady for a subscription game, I honestly struggle to find anything on it that I even want to buy. The good glamour is in-game.
I came here to say the same thing. Nothing taught me how absurd the "cosmetic microtransactions don't affect gameplay" argument was like spending 5 days grinding a raid to get a cool robe. I felt genuine joy when I won the roll, and then I spent like 10 minutes creating an outfit centered around it. Being able to dress my character in cool outfits that I can mix and match and sometimes even change the color of brings /a lot/ of value to the gameplay.
@@sintanan469 now I wanna play ffxiv again, just to go glamour-ing.
A large percentage of what I do in that game is to find a cool looking glamour outfit, do a photoshoot of it, and share them in my FC's "screenshots" section on discord. I regret nothing.
"it's just cosmetics" is just a shit argument.
How about we sell you a $60 wireframe of a game and sell the models and textures as DLC? it's just cosmetic, you don't *need* them.
Don't go giving these people ideas now and if you are at the very least charge them for it.
Wireframe could at least be used as a legitimate aesthetic if not used as just an excuse to sell people a way to not look at it.
I'm starting to feel like Jim is reinventing his persona and look more than David Bowie did.
And I love every second of it.
I sincerely hope so.
I'd go as far as to say, I'd prefer a flawed game that charges me once, than a superior game that charges me constantly.
Getting content by simply playing the game. It's a goddamn revolution.
I made a literally glowing character covered in glowing angel wings, I can finally be the fairy king
The “it’s just cosmetic” argument for microtransactions in full priced games need to be dipped in oil, set on flames 🔥 and kicked into a meat crusher.
If that line of argument is encouraging studios to make the unmodified (without cosmetics, that is) game look bad, I agree.
Really don't see the problem with Overwatch's boxes. You don't get duplicates anymore. That was fixed in year one. And aside from that who cares? The stuff you get has zero effect on gameplay. Why is this such a sticking point for you guys? Is it because it feels good to righteously wave a pitchfork around in an internet mob? Because that's what it looks like from here. I get the argument against other loot box iterations, but not OW. Because it is actually only cosmetic whether you like it or not.
You are supposed to grind the meat first, then grill it D:
@@mikerhoa I get shit ton of duplicates in ow even though I still have many epic or legendary skins or emotes to unlock. I'd rather unlock these cosmetics through some progression system that ow lacks, instead of praying I'll get some from loot box.
@@mikerhoa the problem is that 1 back in the days those used to be earned by ingame achievements 2 people defending it using that argument as shown the gaming industry that its ok to push it farther and farther because theres even some idiot defending it
Jim Sterling: "Code Vein, I tip my hat to you"
Never heard of it but interests me it being a Souls like is it any good ?
@manifestation of Gudako's insanity
Long live #BonerCulture!
* tips hat *
@@lewyg I just finished it, it's awesome, anime Souls. The combat system is ridiculously deep, yet easy to mess around with, as you can change builds on the fly. You don't need an item, visit some remote NPC, or redistribute XP to create a different class. The only negative I have is level design, it's def lacking a bit compared to FromSoft Soulsborne titles. Regardless, it's worth your time, as the bosses are top notch, and progression keep you coming back like crack.
manifestation of Gudako's insanity p
"Peacocking" is definitely a legitimate form of gameplay.
Some would argue the best form of gameplay.
That's the entire endgame of Warframe. Fashionframe is the monetization model for them. They're free to play, they also support the gamers by having choice items the community designed implemented in the game and sold with part of the profits going to the person who made that item.
I got the shit kicked out of me by fricking robin hood in Anor Londo because he waited in front of the path for the first fire you could find then made it obvious he wanted a duel. 10/10 I enjoyed the whole deal because I don't mind getting shit on by silly players in these sorts of games if we're both having fun.
Never a dull moment when it comes to fashion souls.
The lack of Pathologic 2 in this video makes me big sad. Especially with how TinyBuild decided to not market it at all bdespite being the publisher. The devs really need every shoutout they can get now.
As good as Pathologic 2 is, it's not a triple A game, so it would make no sense to be in this video.
@@abasslinelow it's been a long time since I saw this vid, but wasn't the whole point of it to compile indie games and such which outperformed whatever the 3A indistry was putting out?
@@_FVLL_ Naw, it was to highlight AAA games that put other AAA games to shame, showing that AAA games don't *have* to be cash grabs. Borderlands 3 and Code Vein were his primary examples.
Unrelated to the video, I'm starting up my first playthrough of Pathologic 1 tomorrow after finding it on sale for a dollar! Super excited, and I totally agree the series needs WAY more exposure.
@@abasslinelow aaaah I see, I must have completely misunderstand that video back then. Good luck with the game! It's quite a ride.
Dammit Jim, you're reminding me of my everpresent problem that I want character creators but not the games attached to them
What do I think about "AAA" games?
... A bit of poison on my blade, THEN LETS GO!
I once bought a game and no shit, I got the full game experience.
Was a Sega Genesis game....
It probably wasn't Sonic 3 then.
Hey now full game experience were common up until the ps3 era.
Jay'Von Ro I recently played Final Fantasy 5 and I was absolutely blown away by the amount of content in the game, especially for a SNES game. There is 50+ hours worth of content. Amazing.
@@killerbee2562 so pretty much up until the time that consoles could connect to the internet.
@@aethertoast4320 Bingo.
“Let’s talk about games that do good”
The lack of monster hunter world in this video makes me weep
Agreed, but I think he's just talking about recently-released games. I remember he talked about it back in 2018.
Monster Hunter has good aspects but it is also very grindy if you want to get decorations it can take more than 100 hours just to get the best ones everything is random so yeah boring
@@isidorodaviddoro1920 hey, at least they don't monetize it. The grind is the part of the game and has always been, since the first game.
@@Arteln still This is still a bad thing the bad rng sucks
@@isidorodaviddoro1920 but just look at what you get for the same price as shit like Fifa and CoD. It definitely deserves to be in the video.
AAAAH, my skin has cleaned, my crops are flourishing, The Sterling has arrived.
@@idgafnemoar to be fair they are happy to sell you carrots for 9.99 and the premium DLC comes with a toggle to remove the plague in a 9x9 grid of your choosing
To say that something embarrasses the "AAA" industry would imply they are self-aware.
Samurai Gaiden Oh they’re self-aware. It just implies they have a sense of shame, which is just objectively not true
Remember Saints Row 3? Imagine that game without cosmetics.
the switch version?
Which they sold through a wide range of microtransactions?
@@NomadSoul76 DLC season pass. They handed out new outfits weekly IIRC, sometimes stuff that they made that very week. Interesting idea. That said it shipped with a buttload of cosmetic options, more than most games with cosmetic microtransactions, and the outfits weren't microtransactions but DLC and that's an important distinction for nunerous reasons.
That sounds gat outta hell
Funny enough saints row 2 had a deeper customizer system.
“Cosmetics don’t matter”
When games like Fortnite are out here being a cosmetic store with a game attached.
1:02
Me: I'm no homo
Jim: I'm about to change this man's whole sexual orientation
*gentle leather clap*
And that is why he is Jim, Fucking, Sterling
No Homo? *ALL THE HOMO!*
@@UlshaRS YGOTAS reference?
Jim, you were this close "-" to praising Randy Pitchford himself.
Randy pitchford is just a nuisance to gearbox.
yes, i think he's a liability for his own company but they can't just legally get rid off him. There's always some narcissistic, scammer in every company or organisation that unfortunately you just can't get rid off.
Randy Pitchford 2020
One of these days somebody ought to lock Jim and Randy in a room together and they won't be allowed out until one of them rides the other like a donkey. These two need not stand on opposite sides, one of them needs to be on top and one underneath in total harmony.
You forgot Monster Hunter: World. That game just keeps on giving.
The only live service game doing right
And the FromSoftware games. Nioh too. Shit Nioh straight up rains weapons and armor on you like a friggin jailbreak. And most of it looked/worked great. Sometimes when I got armor with better stats I held on to the inferior set because of how cool the stuff I already had looked.
My friend got so addicted to that game. He played it for 22 straight hours once. He must have put 1000's of hours in overall.
*unless you're a veteran to the series.
Then mhw is hit or miss as a feature complete or as a gutted experience.
This was the comment I was looking for 🤘
The best recent example of "mid-tier" surprise is Remnant: From the Ashes. It's a Soulslike similar to Code Vein where three people co-op proceduraly generated maps that resemble The Last Of Us. It's always less than full AAA price and has absolutely no sleazy BS. I can't wait for DLC and it has a dedicated following (that always welcomes more).
I do love when Jim pokes the Breath of the Wild fanbois.
BotW is one of my favourite games of all time, but I still chuckle whenever he shits on it.
"It's still a solid 7/10, making it as good as Breath of the Wild!"
...
...I get that this is a trollish thing to say, but I also feel like we should ask ourselves why it even counts as such? Why is it so hugely triggering to say "The game you really like is 70% as good as anything can get"?
Jim: *voices his opinion about BoTW*
Other people: *voices their opinion about BoTW*
"lol salty fanboys"
???
Heh it's pretty funny. Even if I think it's at *least* an 8 :P
While BotW gets a 10/10 from me, I do always find it funny. Mostly because peoples' perception is so skewed that 7/10 is somehow a bad score. Probably because they look at it like a school grading scale. Jim said multiple times that he considers 7 a good rating, so the review was a positive one, yet people lose their shit over it. I still see Nintendo fanboys use that score to completely discredit anything Jim says, no matter what he's saying, even if it's in their best interest. So yeah, I hope Jim continues to fuck with them.
Jim Sterling: “Oh look, a bear. I’m gonna poke it. 7/10”
Me: ROFL “Poke that bear, I love it.”
Fuck that shit! *hands Jim a knife*
Zelda fans heated!
@@wildgoose1990 Im a Zelda fan and think 7/10 was a bit generous for a Zelda game with no proper dungeons and glass gear.
This is how I like to start my Mondays. Thank god for Jim.
Holy hell, Sterling had been making Liz Truss pork market jokes back in 2019. That’s some avant guard shit back then.