KevinC
1682
You made a purchase and you got your value, so you know the game is worth its cost. I’m looking at what… over $100 to see if the current state of the game is something I might like? That’s an awfully hefty but-in, especially when I can get so many amazing games for $20.
I’m willing to pay a premium for a good game but like I said, it’s a hefty buy-in to make blindly.
Hopefully the upcoming sale will make it more enticing.
I agree. I bought it once piece at a time, so it seemed cheaper. I guess for a new person, it would be a big investment.
I’ve bought all the expansions so far but I think I’m just going to sit this one out. games are so cheap now, I just can’t justify the money I’ve already sunk into this, let alone buy another expansion.
And what makes the price a bigger problem is that you really need the expansions to appreciate it.
This is what makes me so sad about this situation. I think Distant Worlds is such a unique and wonderful experience, but the price is holding people back from taking the leap, and they’re not wrong to hesitate, I might too if I didn’t already own it.
Apparently it’ll be noon-ish eastern tomorrow. Why they can’t announce pricing ahead of time is beyond me.
I would hope they’d do the game+Return+Legends for no more than $50, and Shadows for $25. That would be inexpensive for Matrix. So, more likely $60 and $30.
And no demo sucks, but here’s a new teaser.
KevinC
1689
Yea, if I was getting it piecemeal it wouldn’t be a big deal. Hopefully whatever deal they end up offering is attractive enough to get me to pull the trigger!
I honestly do understand the boutique nature of their pricing model for a good chunk of their games, but I can’t agree with this one-size-fits-all pricing method for Distant Worlds. DW seems like a game that could have a much wider potential audience than a hardcore warsim, were it priced attractively enough. I have no data to back that up, though, so I could be (and probably am) talking out my ass.
Yeah, I totally get what you’re saying, and I keep trying to convince myself that DW is probably worth it, but I have plenty of reasons to be skeptical too. (Starting with the fact that it seems to be a very automation-heavy game and the first I’d heard of it was listening to a 3MA podcast where Tom Chick was grumbling about the automated AI fuel tankers being dumb).
Also this…
…just bolsters my fear that DW may be an extremely niche game that would probably require too much work before I found the fun. I love space games and TBS/4x, but realistically speaking, there’s no way I could see myself spending 130 hours in SotS2. That begs the question: Would I be able/willing to invest the time needed to grok–then hopefully enjoy–DW?
It’s great if Matrix can cater to super fans who have your level of interest in their games, but the value proposition isn’t the same for you as it is for me. I’m still willing to give them my money, so I wish they wouldn’t count me out. …But with a >$100 price tag and a ballooning feature list that seems trending towards feature-creep, it seems more logical for me to spend my time and money on 5-10 other spacey games instead of risking it all on this one.
Maybe it would be different if I was already a Matrix fan and I had confidence in their design(s), but that’s the catch with a publisher intentionally walling themselves off and focusing on an extreme niche market (i.e., people willing to sink >$100 into a single game–I would never refer to Space 4x as an extreme niche). Maybe I can hope for a heavily discounted DW1 when they get ready to release DW2.
rezaf
1691
Now, it’s likely hardly anyone could be arguing against Matrix’ pricing policy more than me, but with DW, I find these discussions get more and more silly.
They crop up with each expansion, and people both complain there’s no cheap bundle (my guess is the only thing that’d statisfy them would be a steam-priced bundle, i.e. DW plus all expansions for $4.99 or something, which will never happen) AND argue that they’re not sure if they can potentially get warm to the game in the first place.
Wtf? Just get the base game and you see how it essentially works.
Yes, each of the expansions add features and sometimes improve the UI, but if you don’t like what’s there in the base game, I don’t think any expansion would convince you otherwise, and if you like the base game, it’s your call how much more you want. Done.
rezaf
I can’t agree more with Rezaf. Stop the whining and just buy the core game, you won’t miss out, and if you feel you do, then support these people by buying their stuff.
I want this expansion, and now their webpage is down and I can’t GIVE THEM MY MONEY…
Brian, this smells fish.
It’s been awhile, but the learning curve for DW isn’t THAT bad. When you start with the game, you automate everything then slowly reclaim control from the AI if you want. Or if you don’t want to… don’t! Don’t EVER feel like tinkering with ship design? Skip it!
One of the issues with SotS2 (someone pointed out on these forums, find that thread), is that there is little feedback during the early part of the game. You aren’t really sure whether you are making the right moves until your homeworld gets turned into a ball of clouds by some AI empire 40 hours into the game. I don’t remember EVER feeling that way about DW. Yes, I had to restart because I was getting beat bad, but it never felt as discouraging at SotS2.
rezaf
1694
It’s not THAT bad, but I’ve had very similar things happen in DW. You do get somewhat better feedback, but I’ve abandoned more than one game because out of thin air a gargantuan AI fleet with many more ships than I had in my entire empire started attacking - sometimes my homeworld, too.
What doesn’t make things easier is that such fleets have a tendency to slow the entire game down to a crawl. These days, it doesn’t crash due to this at least … well, most of the time it doesn’t.
rezaf
Otagan
1695
The new expansion is $19.99. There also appear to be discounts on the base game and first two expansions when buying them along with the new one (total of $70 for everything if you wanted to buy in today).
hepcat
1696
Just picked it up. Hopefully I’ll get some real time with it this memorial day weekend!
Better than I’d expected, particularly for the new expansion. Here’s the convoluted scheme:
For newcomers we have an amazing bundle offer. Get the entire Distant Worlds series and all its expansions for just $69.96! To get the bundle just add any Distant Worlds title to your cart and the bundle will be offered to you. That’s a saving of nearly 40% off the base price!
If that’s just too much content for you, we’re also dropping the base game to just $19.99 and all expansion will be sold separately for just $19.99! if you purchase Return of the Shakturi or Legends as part of the bundle, they are available for only $14.99! That’s a savings of up to 50% off the base price!
As an added bonus to existing Distant Worlds fans, through the duration of the sale Distant Worlds – Shadows will be priced at $19,99, $5 off the regular price, or the same discount given to newcomers to the series who take advantage of our bundle discount.
Torbe
1698
Damn you that’s £60 blown that I wasn’t planning on spending today… bah!!!
Seriously though thanks for letting us know, probably the whole package won’t be this cheap again for quite some time.
Ohhh, that is a way better discount than I was expecting. YAYAYAYAY!!
KevinC
1700
Can someone verify that the following is the complete set?
Distant Worlds
Distant Worlds - Shadows
Distant Worlds - Return of the Shakturi
Distant Worlds - Legends
