Metro Exodus [PC, PS4, XBone] - 15th Feb 2019

[Achtung Englander]

Given its a timed exclusive I estimate most people will wait until it hit Steam. Personally I don't care if its Epic or Steam as I gravitate towards price but I can understand if some people are brand loyal to Steam. It is not healthy for Steam to have a monopoly and like all monopolies complacency and inefficiency kicks in, but as said here, this type of competition by effectively buying exclusivity is not the right approach.

I have a meeting with Koch media in 2 weeks. Shall I bring this up

[DjchunKfunK]

I'm not saying that I think they should be exempt from criticism. I'm saying that every store that has launched in the last decade has had teething problems and that people should give it a chance to fix things. Criticising the shoddy parts is how they will actually improve things.

Just because Valve have done something before doesn't mean that the developers behind Epic have had the similar experiences or any exposure to the back-end stuff that has gone into improving Steam. Different developers, different platform.

I don't disagree with them poaching exclusives to try and boost their userbase either. It's just a store, it's no more or less expensive than the game would have been on Steam and I'm sure they will have it discounted on a sale eventually anyway, I actually don't care at all about that.

It's more expensive if you take into account third party sellers.

It doesn't really matter what previous stores have done and they were rightly criticised at the time.

I'm not sure how experience factors in, if you are setting out to make a competitor to Steam you get people in who know about this kind of thing on the back-end, Valve doesn't do anything that is highly specialised and only known to Valve. There will be people who can do the work for Epic they have just chosen to launch the store before this stuff is in.

The idea of competition is to do something better than your competitor, right now Epic is giving consumers a vastly inferior product and then trying to bribe people to use it.

[Mantis]

I don't know about you, but I'm quite partial to the odd bribe of a free game here and there. I'm not convinced that it is 'vastly inferior' either.

Whether Steam users decline as a result of having genuine better competition or because other companies are bribing them away will still have the same end result in potentially galvanising them into sorting their own store out a bit.

And I'm sure third party key sellers will eventually crop up for the Epic store too.

[Sly Boots]

Epic winning hearts and minds:

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/metro-review-bomb-steam/

They'd have been far better building a platform that could compete with and even better Steam in quality terms and attract users to them through that, than announcing an exclusive deal with a much-anticipated game two weeks prior to launch. Not sure what they thought it would achieve.

[Snowy]

The 'cheaper' argument depends greatly on where in the world you are. The RPS article referenced an Indian user who contacted them:

"One RPS reader from India claimed to us yesterday that Metro on the Epic store would cost them $50+$30 tax, whereas they would have been able to get it for an amazing $15 on Steam. Cross-checking that with Exodus’s Indian pricing history on SteamPrices.com, they’re not wrong. (Note to self: move to India)."

Given we know the UK price is higher than the US (quelle surprise) they definitely have the ability to manage the price by province - it is staggering that they are charging the US price in a country where the average earnings are a fraction of those in the states. I wonder how many other territories have been effectively priced out of the market by this approach. It will also be interesting to see what the piracy news is on this one, something you seldom hear about any more these days.

[DjchunKfunK]

The only prices available are Euros, Pounds and dollars so any country not using those currencies is getting screwed over. There have been similar complaints to that Indian one from Brazil.

[Hatredsheart]

[Hatredsheart]

The recent decision to move Metro Exodus from Steam to the Epic Game Store was made by Koch Media / Deep Silver alone.

The recent comments made by a member of the 4A Games development team do not reflect Deep Silver’s or 4A Games’ view on the future of the franchise. They do reflect the hurt and disappointment of a passionate individual who has seen what was previously nothing but positive goodwill towards his work turn to controversy due to a business decision he had no control over. We respectfully ask that any and all valid feedback over this decision is directed at Koch Media / Deep Silver, and not the developers at 4A Games.

The future release strategy of the Metro series lies with Koch Media / Deep Silver. Our decision to partner with Epic Games was based on the goal of investing in the future of the series and our development partner at 4A Games. We have every intention of continuing this franchise, and a PC version will always be at the heart of our plans.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqq1h9

[Snowy]

Ah well, I tried again - re-installed Metro 2033 and started again.

*BOING*

Yup, that was me bouncing clean off it. No idea why, I just sat there about 30-40 mins in thinking "I have no idea why I am playing this", quit and uninstalled. I suppose at least I am saved any hand-wringing about being forced to use Epic's less than epic storefront. Every cloud and all that...

EDIT: Sat here thinking "Man this lot must think I am a miserable bastard, possibly even one of those contrary arseholes who just dislikes games that are popular to be contrary" given that I didn't get on with Metro and also just posted a 'Bioware? Meh' post. I'm not one, honest. Games that would have really done it for me years back just don't appeal now - be it fatigue, changing tastes, getting older, all of the above, who knows. Anyway, just wanted to say that!

[Rusty]

As if we would judge you.
You're not allowed to have opionions anyway.

[Sly Boots]

Ah well, I tried again - re-installed Metro 2033 and started again.

*BOING*

Yup, that was me bouncing clean off it. No idea why, I just sat there about 30-40 mins in thinking "I have no idea why I am playing this", quit and uninstalled. I suppose at least I am saved any hand-wringing about being forced to use Epic's less than epic storefront. Every cloud and all that...

Interesting. Like you, I bounced pretty hard off 2033 when I first tried it. However just recently, years later, I jumped straight to Last Light, which did grab me and I really enjoyed. I haven't gone back to try 2033 again through that lens to see whether or not I like it more now, but I wonder if like me you might gel with the sequel more than the original?

[Lee]

Snowy you could toss in lack of innovation and pushing genres forward. We've been in a long rut of same old games (new story/graphics) and chasing what became a hit with pretty bad outcomes. And probably like me playing mostly one or two games that scratch that itch you want

[Snowy]

Games that scratch the itch for me are generally either open worlds or something that intrigues me, and tend to be slower paced titles where I can mull over what I am going to do.

First-person titles I bounce off more and more these days. I will try Last Light Alan, see if that is any different, but the more I think on it the more I think that FP games, especially FPS, just don't do it for me any more.

In recent memory: Doom - I got bored really quickly and haven't gone back. Dishonoured 2 I bought having played and enjoyed the first. I liked what I played of the second, but again just drifted away from it. Now gathering dust, unfinished and unlikely to ever be. PUBG I have no idea why I bought it, and have only played about 3 matches which was enough to know it wasn't for me.

I have really enjoyed Ghost Recon Wildlands though, a shooter albeit mostly 3rd person - hell I have over 200 hours co-op racked up. Maybe that's the telling point? If I look at co-op games, I have GR:W, Borderlands series, The Division, all with a lengthy playtime. I loved Planetside 2 for ages too. All open world shooters, all with the ability to play co-operatively with others. Vermintide 2 as well is a cracking game, again co-op.

Not sure where this ramble is going, or that it will be of any interest, so think I am gonna sign off here

[Sly Boots]

Games that scratch the itch for me are generally either open worlds or something that intrigues me, and tend to be slower paced titles where I can mull over what I am going to do.

First-person titles I bounce off more and more these days. I will try Last Light Alan, see if that is any different, but the more I think on it the more I think that FP games, especially FPS, just don't do it for me any more.

In recent memory: Doom - I got bored really quickly and haven't gone back. Dishonoured 2 I bought having played and enjoyed the first. I liked what I played of the second, but again just drifted away from it. Now gathering dust, unfinished and unlikely to ever be. PUBG I have no idea why I bought it, and have only played about 3 matches which was enough to know it wasn't for me.

I have really enjoyed Ghost Recon Wildlands though, a shooter albeit mostly 3rd person - hell I have over 200 hours co-op racked up. Maybe that's the telling point? If I look at co-op games, I have GR:W, Borderlands series, The Division, all with a lengthy playtime. I loved Planetside 2 for ages too. All open world shooters, all with the ability to play co-operatively with others. Vermintide 2 as well is a cracking game, again co-op.

Not sure where this ramble is going, or that it will be of any interest, so think I am gonna sign off here

Man, aside from the co-op stuff, which I don't really do, this could be me talking. If you replaced Doom up there with any of the recent Wolfenstein games, that is basically my experience. Even open-world stuff isn't a gimme for me anymore, I played a couple of hours of Far Cry 4 before bailing and while I did play some of Dishonoured 2 (having loved the first), I've never finished it.

What I will say in Last Light's favour, although there are a few setpieces that had me turning the air blue, for the most part stealth is rewarded and you can creep through maps of enemies picking them off at opportune moments with silenced weapons or melee kills, and you're not rushed through areas as in a lot of shooters. That kind of gameplay still appeals to me.

If you don't want to drop megabucks on it in case you bounce off it like the first, I picked it up here for a few quid:

https://www.instant-gaming.com/en/188-b ... ght-redux/

[Snowy]

It has been in my library, unplayed, since 2013

Was doing a spot more mulling while I worked, and I think that I largely prefer my gaming now to be a social addition. I enjoy the shared experience of a game while chatting with friends. It isn't exclusive, I often still enjoy playing solo (but almost never play any of the games noted above solo), but my preference is to have it as part of a social experience.

It is one of the things that makes my gears grind so hard with online toxicity. I was playing GW2 the other day and the local chat channel was just full of rancid little shit-stains abusing someone. It was one of those things that once I noticed it, it just continued to irritate me. I tend to studiously ignore any such, but this niggled me so I asked "What is the matter with you? Why are you going out of your way to be deliberately hurtful when you could instead just be friendly and maybe get to know someone new?" Responses varied, but the moronic element stayed moronic. I got some nice PMs though, which restored my faith in humanity a little.