Game News Operencia: The Stolen Sun Released

[Nyast]

(a game in a niche genre from an unknown dev shouldn't cost more that $20)

Why not ? I'm having more fun with this than the latest Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty.

Shouldn't these games cost more ? They can't have micro-transactions, season passes and all that shit AAA developers and publishers are putting into their games.

 

[V_K]

(a game in a niche genre from an unknown dev shouldn't cost more that $20)

Why not ? I'm having more fun with this than the latest Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty.

Shouldn't these games cost more ? They can't have micro-transactions, season passes and all that shit AAA developers and publishers are putting into their games.

I mean psychologically - on the one hand, we're having a turn-based blobber, on the other - a completely unknown dev, epic store and some questionable design decisions that can be inferred from screenshots. If it cost $15, I might have taken the risk and given it a try, but I'm just not convinced enough by what I see to churn out $30 (full disclosure though - I'm a cheapskate and have never paid more that $25 for a game).
Just look at how BT4 has fared sales-wise - and unlike Operencia it had a ton of brand recognition going for it.

On a completely unrelated note, come to think of it, that's actually one of the ways Epic exclusives hurt the consumer - the devs are incentivized to overprice because they don't have to care about initial sales.

 

[Nyast]

I'm basing my decision of buying a game on its perceived quality. Will I have fun with it ? is it worth my time/money ? how long is it ? is the quality / price ratio any good ? What is the chance that I'll get bored or frustrated with the game after an hour ?

The fact that it comes from an unknown, unproven developer, means that I'll need to be more more careful to investigate if the game is in a good state or not and if I'll be happy with my purchase. But in no way does that alone put a higher limit on the game price.

Same for the niche market. It's not at all a factor in my decision making or how much I'm ready to put into a game. Well, I guess I lied, there are definitely categories of games ( such as 2D puzzles or plat-formers ) that I wouldn't pay for $30+. But I don't have a limit for RPGs, even indies.

I'd even go as far as saying that I'm ready to pay more for a niche market, because I know that few people buy / like this genre, and that if I want to see more of these games in the future, I have to support the developer. I would be far less understanding with a billion dollars company.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I "tried" this game. This game is shit don't bother.

Pros:
semi-decent Puzzles and a lot of them, if you into that. (may change later)

Cons:
Epic store
Over priced
Exploration is Real Time: enemies and you move in the map real time. In special zones (like underwater), hazard/resource meter (like oxygen) depletes/fills in real time. So not really a blobber
LONG animations. wtf is this shit.
Visual Art style is WoW shit. So the UE4 engine and crisp visuals mean nothing much.
Character progression is very simple. Only 6 active skill slots and 3 to 4 passive skill slots.
Fully voiced, with annoying amateurish voices for every damn line of dialogue/taunt.
max party of 4 people.
UI issues. if you keep the onscreen controls on, you cannot see the targeting reticule which makes interaction with environmental elements hell. Looks to em like it was phoned in at the last stage.


No wonder they shilled and went the Epic route; while it may look impressive to a popamoler; a semi-enthusiast of blobbers will notice all its deficiencies quite easily after playing for a bit.

No wonder weaboo kawaii desu desu blobbers are more hit with the market nowadays. For one they are real blobbers with Turn based exploration and combat. For another they have semi-decent to great combat and character progression.

I would rather take animu cancer of Etrian Odyssey on citra and play a real blobber, over this money-grab whose development effort clearly went into voice actors and (detailed) WoW stylized designs over actual gameplay and character progression.

Once my animu tolerance meter is overloaded I will play another run of RTwP buggy Kingmaker and stay away from this piece of shit.

 

[Naraya]

@ People saying that graphics look wow-ized, do you mean Cel shading? I actually like this style a lot.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Not all cel shading is "WOW-like". This kinda is, though, with the cutesy look to everything.

All in all, cel-shading easily gives something a cheap look. Most probably because it usually is. It's the default look of mobile shovelware.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I rate top post "PIRACY IS WRONG" because it promotes piracy.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Oh, that went under my radar, I wonder wh...

Epic Games Store-exclusive

Bloody hell

 

[Naraya]

God damn it, this game is something else.

 

[GrainWetski]

God damn it, this game is something else: https://imgur.com/a/0oABV5X

To be fair, Epic's store is currently in alpha.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It seems like hardly anyone is discussing this game anywhere.
I guess that's quite a hint at how well it performed so far.

 

[luj1]

Fair play to them for delivering but it looks generic as fuck. Frankly I wouldn't want to play it.

 

[DalekFlay]

I mean psychologically - on the one hand, we're having a turn-based blobber, on the other - a completely unknown dev, epic store and some questionable design decisions that can be inferred from screenshots. If it cost $15, I might have taken the risk and given it a try, but I'm just not convinced enough by what I see to churn out $30 (full disclosure though - I'm a cheapskate and have never paid more that $25 for a game).
Just look at how BT4 has fared sales-wise - and unlike Operencia it had a ton of brand recognition going for it.

In most markets the more niche something is the more it costs, because of less consumers buying it. Think laserdisc versus DVD. Also a game like Might and Magic was $50 like 30 years of inflation ago, so $30 isn't that much at all really. However the market has been drown in such cheap shit for so long at this point that you're right, $30 sounds like too much, even though it isn't really. Doesn't help that I have a backlog the length of two arms, and stuff I want from a few years ago that is routinely sold for $5. It's a weird market we're in.

 

[V_K]

In most markets the more niche something is the more it costs, because of less consumers buying it.

Not really, it's never as simple as that. First, for a niche product to cost more, the low demand has to be balanced out by a low supply - but digital goods are, by definition, in unlimited supply since it doesn't cost anything to produce a copy. Then there are a ton of other factors going into defining a price point: production costs (much lower for indies than AAA), trendiness and prestige associated with consuming, competition, perceived "objective" quality (outdated visuals etc.), general wealth of your customer base etc.

 

[DalekFlay]

Not really, it's never as simple as that. First, for a niche product to cost more, the low demand has to be balanced out by a low supply - but digital goods are, by definition, in unlimited supply since it doesn't cost anything to produce a copy.

I don't see it that way. The point is you have less people to sell it to, so to cover costs those people have to pay a higher average. If you're gonna sell 2 million copies you can charge $1 and make 2 million bucks. If you only expect to sell 100,000 copies and want to make 2 million bucks, you gotta charge $20. You're paying for development costs, no matter how "free" the distribution is.

 

[thesheeep]

[Gamespot review] puzzles, puzzles, puzzles

No thanks to yet another puzzle galore.

True... the rest of the game seems interesting enough (at a somewhat lower price), but if it is just another excuse to shove artificial puzzle after artificial puzzle to my face, then I'm not interested any more. Logic puzzles that have no place being there are always the worst and most immersion breaking part of any RPG, and nothing manages to kill my boner quicker than that.

 

[V_K]

Not really, it's never as simple as that. First, for a niche product to cost more, the low demand has to be balanced out by a low supply - but digital goods are, by definition, in unlimited supply since it doesn't cost anything to produce a copy.

I don't see it that way. The point is you have less people to sell it to, so to cover costs those people have to pay a higher average. If you're gonna sell 2 million copies you can charge $1 and make 2 million bucks. If you only expect to sell 100,000 copies and want to make 2 million bucks, you gotta charge $20. You're paying for development costs, no matter how "free" the distribution is.

What you want to make and what you can realistically expect to make - that is, what people are willing to pay - are two very different things. And unlimited supply figures into that. If, for example, a boardgame has a limited run of, say, X copies, it motivates the customers to act fast and buy it at whatever the asking price is - because otherwise it might become sold out and they are left with nothing. But a video game simply isn't going anywhere, so why not wait for a sale, given that the market is oversaturated to the brim?
And then there's the whole issue of why people would want to buy your game in the first place. Being a niche product because of a limited supply and being a niche product because of a limited appeal are also two very different things.

 

[DalekFlay]

And then there's the whole issue of why people would want to buy your game in the first place. Being a niche product because of a limited supply and being a niche product because of a limited appeal are also two very different things.

Yes but I am obviously talking about limited appeal.

In any event we agree the market is crazy saturated and years of bargain basement sales have conditioned people $30 is too much, just like years of piracy and Netflix have convinced people $20 for a movie is too much. I don't think there's any going back either.

 

[Invictus]

I can certainly understand the epic store exclusive idea; the game uses Unreal Engine for a very niche market game and they get a million upfront for the exclusiveness, in their home country that makes a very nice chunk of change and even if the game doesn’t turn a profit from sales the developers are pretty much set from the exclusivity deal anyway
Game looks... ok I guess and even though I love blobbers I have no intention of using Epic Store and my backlog is already full enough
Currently playing Arx Fatalis and Resident Evil 4 so my gaming time is pretty limited but might give this a try later

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I can certainly understand the epic store exclusive idea; the game uses Unreal Engine for a very niche market game and they get a million upfront for the exclusiveness, in their home country that makes a very nice chunk of change and even if the game doesn’t turn a profit from sales the developers are pretty much set from the exclusivity deal anyway

Well, that's fine. They made their choice.
As long as they are happy with the Epic Games money, I hope they won't mind if I'll keep mine for myself.

 

[Agame]

It seems like hardly anyone is discussing this game anywhere.
I guess that's quite a hint at how well it performed so far.

They can cut and run with their delicious Chinese monies, and probably dont care if it sells a single copy. Seems like a great short term goal for smaller game devs, get your free Epic store Exclooosive payout, doesnt matter if you actually sell the game to anyone. But its not a great long term strategy for building a business or a happy customer base. I really do hope devs like the Metro team and Gollop suffer in the long term, its disgusting all these bait and switch last minute Epic store deals.

 

[cvv]

They can cut and run with their delicious Chinese monies, and probably dont care if it sells a single copy.

Well, people who are boycotting Epic's games are pirating them so it's a wash. Devs get their money and people get to play their games. Win win for both sides.

 

[CyberWhale]

It seems like hardly anyone is discussing this game anywhere.
I guess that's quite a hint at how well it performed so far.

They can cut and run with their delicious Chinese monies, and probably dont care if it sells a single copy. Seems like a great short term goal for smaller game devs, get your free Epic store Exclooosive payout, doesnt matter if you actually sell the game to anyone. But its not a great long term strategy for building a business or a happy customer base. I really do hope devs like the Metro team and Gollop suffer in the long term, its disgusting all these bait and switch last minute Epic store deals.

Gollop? Yes. Deep Silver? No. They weren't independent and their publisher made the decision.

 

[Murk]

The combat looks so-so, the writing is absolutely garbage though. Bizarre pacing and strange modern-American English in a "medieval fantasy" setting.

 

[Jenkem]

this game is included in the xbox game pass as a play anywhere title (so you can play it on Windows 10) and you can get 3 months for $1

tempted