Which Game is The Worst DLC Offender?

[Classic Pac]

If I hadn't recently found the worst one call this one of the worse. Pinball Arcade Vita, not only the Demo hasn't a single playable game. But to get all the tables for the game it would cost $276.

 

So I was wondering are there any games out there just as bad or worse?

[Flojomojo]

At least Pinball Arcade is pay once, keep forever. The worst offenders are consumable or loot box DLC, don't go there.

[Video]

I was going to say call of duty (insert preferred flavor here) just because it's a $60 game, with at least $60 more for the rest of it, plus the few bucks a pop for characters, weapons, skins, etc, plus as flojomojo said, loot crates. At least it's playable without the extra stuff, and you don't need most the side crap, decorative filler mostly.

[+Gemintronic]

Most people disagree with me. Heck, they even call me "Grandpa" for calling Blizzard out.

 

Blizzard continued adding content to PS4 and Xbone versions of Diablo III. Not just bug fixes.

 

I wouldn't be pizzed if they made the next gen console versions completely separate games. Instead they ditched part of their paying customer base. Same game should have same content.

[Flojomojo]

To don my Pollyanna hat for a moment ...

 

Hey at least the annual installments are standalone games, they're perfectly playable even without the extras. They could (maybe should?) be an annual subscription that stops working if you stop paying for it, like Office 365.

 

At least the DLC is mostly just cosmetic stuff for the super fans who want to put more money and time into the product. At least they don't bundle that into the base price, which they try to keep as low as possible to entice a mass audience.

 

^^ I only believe some of that stuff in a faint, half-hearted way, which is a lot more than most of us here ...but I can imagine a future where it's normal and not a moral disaster, too.

 

Did this all start with cable tv? I need a scapegoat.

[Tanooki]

Pinball Arcade is easy to call out, but it's kind of unique because you can buy the tables you want and not feel left out or like you're getting part of a game with a missing feature set or section to it, and then bundles drop the price by like 1/2, more so with sales.

 

The worst aside from the lootbox slot machine type mechanics, or the ruthless power bar for cash trolling on mobile stuff, would be the games that don't actually give you a game when they perhaps did a year or two before. I know this has come up before about ripoffs and I said this game, but again, IGN years ago decided to throw EA under the bus. I think it was in the 360/PS3 era, but Tiger Woods Golf one year was $60 and it had all the PGA players and like a couple dozens courses or so. Pay once, done.

 

The following year they removed all but a few golfers and a couple courses, dropping it down into like arcade machine territory for options/places. They added up the cost and it was like a few hundred dollars to restore the same game they released last year with basically just a roster update. Worse yet, the game would consistently troll you on loading screens and pop ups reminding you that you can't compete in this mode online, or do this offline if you didn't pay $15 for golf pack whatever with like a couple courses and people they locked away. That was some grade A ruthless bs.

[+wongojack]

Yeah, I feel like Pinball Arcade is pretty transparent by comparison to some other examples. You want a specific table, you pay for it. When they go on sale, the tables are often the price of 3 or 4 games on the real thing AND I get to keep it forever.

 

However, It does kinda suck if there isn't even one free table in the Vita version. Most versions seem to come with at least one complete freebie.

 

Even for games I love, I tend to avoid the DLC. I'm usually satisfied enough with the main game content, so I don't have a lot of experience. Probably the worst offenders I've seen are the "pay for more time or wait till tomorrow" type games. There's just no way I'm doing that! Loot purchases even feel like a better deal (but I don't buy those either)

[Shawn]

I would nominate both Call Of Duty and Grand Theft Auto as micro transaction pigs.

[Gabriel]

Barring anything with randomized loot boxes, I'd say Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is up there. I think the Dynasty Warriors style games have a considerable amount of DLC in terms of costumes and missions.

 

Some JRPGs have an insane amount of item packs, levelups, bonus characters, bonus costumes. The Tales games seem to have been absolutely consumed by this.

 

Then of course there are the rhythm games.

[Tanooki]

I would add that I strongly dislike what Pinball Arcade did with having login/password accounts but not allowing someone to carry over or share their tables between some/all releases. I guess sharing would be a bit much, but like if you had an iPhone die and had replaced it with Android, you're SOL it's all gone, can't get a waiver and disable from one to the next. It stopped me from buying a lot of stuff I normally would have from them. Quite a few games do carry between both mobile formats and even into some console versions too overlap. It's not foreign, weird, or unheard of at all anymore. It just feels like a cash grab to me, but at least you know it going in.

[Blazing Lazers]

I would nominate both Call Of Duty and Grand Theft Auto as micro transaction pigs.

Haven't played the newer GTAs, but I'll second the mention of Call of Duty, in particular Black Ops 1 and 2. The DLC for those never goes on sale, always stays at $15, and it's that Zombies dreck that adds a slew of annoying Achievements that years later I still haven't gotten around to. So to even try to finish off the Achievements in those two games I have to spend another $60 per game. This by itself stopped me from buying any more games in the series, and I haven't looked back at all.

[JamesD]

This may not be exactly what you are asking for, but I've heard of some people dropping $1000+ for items in "free to play" games.
It's not even DLC, you can't even play it offline at all!

[Tanooki]

This may not be exactly what you are asking for, but I've heard of some people dropping $1000+ for items in "free to play" games.

It's not even DLC, you can't even play it offline at all!

I think it fits, it's those F2P or freemium games where it works, but usually in most cases works for a few hours and then not. You get all these limited areas you can then hit, they stop dishing out free premium coins to get necessities, and the timers get long and boring basically forcing it not to be freemium after you've invested X hours so you feel compelled to be what is called 'a whale' who will just scoop up thousands of coins like little plankton and just gobble them up wiping out your wallet in the process. It's those fewer fools that really pad the pockets of those games even more than the rarer hit or one off types who may buy something as a tip/thanks for a good game which doesn't force that hand (like the Nintendo mobile games for one.)

[RetroLucky]

Not sure if it applies, but I've been a bit disappointed that Mass Effect 3 DLC is still full price and they never did a "goty"

[+wongojack]

Not sure if it applies, but I've been a bit disappointed that Mass Effect 3 DLC is still full price and they never did a "goty"

 

On what platform? The X360 DLCs have gone on sale over the years. You just have to watch for it. But you are right about the GOTY thing.

[RetroLucky]

 

On what platform? The X360 DLCs have gone on sale over the years. You just have to watch for it. But you are right about the GOTY thing.

I got Eve on 360 but I've always missed the sales, considering age and Andromeda reception I'd figure it would have gone down by now to a new norm

 

I'm not too upset about it since I'll probably try to install everything to a modded PS3 whenever I get around to working on it

[pacman000]

Roller Coaster Tycoon; you had to go to the store & buy the DLC.

 

(Actually, I'd rather buy updates on a disk. )

[+wongojack]

Did the Wii U version of ME3 include any DLC?

[Tanooki]

Roller Coaster Tycoon; you had to go to the store & buy the DLC.

 

(Actually, I'd rather buy updates on a disk. )

That's how I liked it too. I remember buying Wolfenstein that way, Doom, Heretic, Commander Keen, Quake (bought from iD, got 2 expansions at store), Call of Duty United Offensive, and various others. Full blown and more sized entire games or campaigns that used the engine of the starter package/original game and did far more. Well beyond what is considered DLC by most interpretations.

[RetroLucky]

Did the Wii U version of ME3 include any DLC?

Nope, no version did (excluding LE), not even the trilogy set (which did include dlc for me & me2)

[Shawn]

I'm gonna add the kiddie favorite "Fortnite" to this list too. If my kid asks me to buy "v-bucks" one more fuckin' time.....

[Rocket Man]

That's how I liked it too. I remember buying Wolfenstein that way, Doom, Heretic, Commander Keen, Quake (bought from iD, got 2 expansions at store), Call of Duty United Offensive, and various others. Full blown and more sized entire games or campaigns that used the engine of the starter package/original game and did far more. Well beyond what is considered DLC by most interpretations.

 

I miss the good 'ol days.

 

This thread makes me

[Mord]

If I hadn't recently found the worst one call this one of the worse. Pinball Arcade Vita, not only the Demo hasn't a single playable game. But to get all the tables for the game it would cost $276.

 

So I was wondering are there any games out there just as bad or worse?

 

Depends on what you call worse. On cost alone, yes there are games that charge more to get the full game experience. Dead or Alive 5 has well over 500 dollars of alternate costumes. Pretty sure that's assuming you buy the "cheaper" bundles as well. There was another game I bought on the ps4 that had weekly bundles of DLC. Costing 50-75 dollars per bundle - usually in the higher range. The base game cost full price and appears to have very little content - Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash. (Figgered I'd get a splatoonish game on the ps4, especially since it had some physical extras. Looking over the bonuses though and the fact that most of the content appears to be in the DLC, I can safely say the purchase disappointed me.)

 

I also remember a golf game that had close to or more than 300 dollars in DLC to purchase all the golf courses. And iirc there is or use to be some sort of train simulator game that had probably thousands of dollars of dlc for it at one point. I checked on steam to see if I could find it but the only one on there right now that might be the same game sits at about 200 dollars of DLC. If it's the same game then they dropped the price tags over the years - but considering it still has 200 dollars of DLC for a game released in 2011...

 

Uh. tl;dr version: yeah, there's worse out there. But that doesn't make that pinball game any better.

[HammR25]

If you go to Train Simulator on Steam and go to the Add All DLC to Cart button it says the price is $8,232.24

 

Personally I'd wait for a steam sale so you can get it all for about $2,000.

[Tanooki]

Mord I kind of mentioned that one with the golf game, pretty sure it was Tiger Woods Golf 2012 that did it. IGN mocked them hard for it making an article back then breaking down each DLC then in bold colored print over a picture putting the total dollar amount which was around $300. The article even pointed out almost nothing changed in the game from 2011 and you had ALL that material just for $60. That one that went for really hundreds, they'd give almost nothing, then heckle you on every screen basically like a predatory mobile phone game with taunts over modes and competitions, then pop up pay me boxes. The game wasn't even fully functional because you could never play an entire circuit of courses to win a championship tournament as you could never get the points otherwise to get out of the bottom tiers of ranked players.