The Ninja Blade thread

[jp]

It fucking BOMBED in Japan (came in 19th place its opening week) and from what I've been reading on other message boards, its basically Ninja Gaiden 2 without the awesomeness. So dumb enemies, shitty QTEs, and some lame hack'n'slash God of War type gameplay.

How shitty. I was looking forward to that one too. I'll probably still check it out, but still...

Then again, From Software just hasn't been on top of their game lately. Armored Core 4Answer is HIGHLY disappointing to me, and... um... I dunno what else they made recently.

Microsoft should have just fucking paid for Otogi 3. :shrug:


Oh well, at least I still have N3 2 to look forward to. :drooling:


Feelplus... :drooling:

[Hunter]

Otogi 3 would be nice. However, the one MS game that needs to be made above all else is Phantom Dust 2. I'm happy with the state of Halo, VP, and Fable right now. Although I wouldn't mind more entries into those series, right now I'd take PD2 over most any of them.

[jp]

Phantom Dust 2 would be fucking awesome. But, as is the case with Panzer Dragoon, you NEED NEED NEED Yukio Futatsugi to pull it off correctly, and no one knows where he is now or what he's even doing. :frown:

[KANG the Crybaby]

Isn't this a From Software title? If so that sucks to hear.

Speaking of Ninja's, Ninja Gaiden is on sale for 29.99 at my local Navy Exchange. Should I pick it up at that price?

[Bruhaha69]

Man, I hope it's better than that.....Even though the vid clips I've seen didn't look extremely impressive (gameplay wise), I'm still getting it. Otogi 1 and 2 didn't sell too well and they're still two of my favorite Xbox games.

[YankeeH8er]

Yes get NG 2. It is a great game. I could have told you that Ninja Blade would suck, it was not made by Team Ninja. :)

[Luminous]

Isn't this a From Software title? If so that sucks to hear.

Speaking of Ninja's, Ninja Gaiden is on sale for 29.99 at my local Navy Exchange. Should I pick it up at that price?

If you have a Circuit City near you and then have some copies you can get it for $20.99 (30% off all games). I have been to at least 3 of them and they all had a few copies or more. In fact I picked up a copy - no idea when I will get to it, but for $21 I had to as I missed out on the $9.99 Best Buy deal.

[jp]

Oh, and if anyone was wondering, apparently that PS3 exclusive From Software made sucks horribly as well. (Demon Soul? Demon Seed? Something like that).


Though it sold fairly well. Unfortunateness!
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Though I guess all this is to be expected. I mean, think about it, is From Software really that great of a developer?

Lets see, games they made that I thought were brilliant were:*
Otogi (Xbox)
Otogi 2 (Xbox)
Metal Wolf Chaos (Xbox)
Frame Gride (Dreamcast)
Armored Core 4 (Xbox360/PS3)

Everything else I've played by them was either mediocre or outright garbage. :shrug:




*Note: No, I'm not listing the glitch fest broken ass game Chromehounds.

[YankeeH8er]

How do you know it sucks? I thought that the trailer looked cool and some of the early impressions I read were positive.
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[post updated]
Chromehounds was a fucking masterpiece, I have no idea what you are talking about.

[jp]

How do you know it sucks? I thought that the trailer looked cool and some of the early impressions I read were positive.

Kotaku said something about Demon whatever not getting good reviews, and then just reading around on the internet.

From what I read, that one is pretty linear and doesn't have much of anything going for it. So like Ninja Blade, another festering pit of mediocrity.


Though I might love Ninja Blade, I dunno. I'm just going off of what reviewers and message board denizens said. :shrug:

[Luminous]

Back off of Chromehounds, I really liked that game (when we played agains the AI, which was almost 100% of the time).

[jp]

Chromehounds was a fucking masterpiece, I have no idea what you are talking about.

The fact that Chromehounds is more broken and has more glitches than you think Too Human does. :p
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[post updated]

Back off of Chromehounds, I really liked that game (when we played agains the AI, which was almost 100% of the time).

OK OK, I'll give you it was fairly fun against the AI. Pointless, but fun.
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[post updated]
Demon Souls got a 29/40 in Famitsu.

So... there. Ninja Blade got a 32/40 however.

[DarthArcturus]

I've never played Chromehounds :(

[YankeeH8er]

Famitsu reviews are based on how much add space compaines are willing to buy, or if the devs name happens to be Square. I dont take them very seriously at all.

[jp]

Well, that was just me posting numerical scores. I don't really feel like scouring the internet and GameFAQs for "Impressions!"/"My review!" threads. ;)

Its not that big of a deal to me, since I figured both games would be 100% absolutely mediocre anyways.


Wake me up when Otogi 3 or Metal Wolf Chaos 2 are announced.


... or Frame Gride 2, but I think we all know that will never happen. Shame, because Frame Gride was fucking brilliant.

[KANG the Crybaby]

famitsu reviews are garbage. teenagers on gamefaqs can wrie better reviews.

[jp]

famitsu reviews are garbage. teenagers on gamefaqs can wrie better reviews.

They're saying the exact same things... :p

[Frogacuda]

Phantom Dust 2 would be fucking awesome.You know what? I think it's time I get Phantom Dust. Going to buy a copy right now. If it sucks, you owe me a beer.

[Hunter]

It definitely does not suck. Too bad no one plays online anymore.

Man, damn you jp, now I have to look into N3-2

[jp]

Well Hunter... I mean, Yukio Futatsugi isn't working on N3 2... so... its not like, the EXACT Phantom Dust team.

But almost all of the Microsoft Japan guys that made Phantom Dust wound up in Feelplus. And then the Nautilus guys got mixed in as well. Pretty spiffy little team. I admit, once the lady moves in and I have access to a... *coughcoughps2coughcough*, I'm going to go check out the Shadow Hearts games.

[YankeeH8er]

Here is the one other review from a Japanese mag for Demon's Souls:
Dengeki: 85/85/95/85

Here is a link to the GAF thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=350591

I dont think it will be great by any stretch, but it might be fun. I like the idea of fighting big ass dragons.

[jp]

Isn't Degenki some general shopping magazine?


And every thread I've read about it says its linear and mediocre. Which is exactly what it looked like it would be.

[Frogacuda]

No, Dengeki is a pretty legit gaming magazine. I'd consider them of higher repute than Famitsu as far as hardcore circles go. Although none of the Japanese mags are really all that reliable.

[jp]

Regardless, my comment stemmed from Kotaku's comment that Demon whatever was getting pretty low reviews, one high review does not refute the fact that, in general, it apparently got fairly low reviews.

And in general, reviews are irrelevant, because most other places I checked said it was pretty lackluster.


Same goes with Ninja Blade though.

[Frogacuda]

Japanese reviews have never, ever been even remotely relevant. Their concept of gaming journalism is pretty different than ours.

[KANG the Crybaby]

Japanese reviews have never, ever been even remotely relevant. Their concept of gaming journalism is pretty different than ours.

Japanese reviews are also heavily biased because the companies will pay them to review a game good or not. Not that it doesn't happen in the USA, but Japan is so bad about doing that, especially famitsu. I mean look how many nintendo titles they have given perfect scores over the years.

[jp]

I may wind up eating my words. A buddy of mine got Ninja Blade and he swears by it. Says its better than NGII even.

While I doubt I'll love it as much as NGII, if it turns out to be a somewhat competent action game I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

He says it looks better than NG2 though.

[Frogacuda]

Japanese reviews are also heavily biased because the companies will pay them to review a game good or not. Not that it doesn't happen in the USA, but Japan is so bad about doing that, especially famitsu. I mean look how many nintendo titles they have given perfect scores over the years.

That's what I meant by "their concept of journalism is different." And it doesn't really happen much in the US. Companies will sometimes leverage their support (either product, advertising, whatever) to pressure publications to be extra "fair" to their product, but A) it's never anything as explicit as demanding a certain score and B) they generally don't get their way.

[jp]

I really may wind up eating my words (from the original post in here):


"WOW.... been playing this game since saturday now. It's fantastic if you like this kind of game, especially if you a fan of from software's action games (Otogi 1, 2, Metal Wolf Chaos).

The combo system feels similar to otogi and you are HIGHLY distructive. You can bust up crates, drum cans ect. It has that same highly destructive thing going for it just like the other games. The ninjitsu helps with this alot. Everything can be powered up, and some moves/ninjitsu add to this theme.

It's alot like rolling ninja gaiden, god of war, and otogi all in one. Running on the walls and wall hopping are in play, it likes to do the auto slowdown thing on certain key actions; like running on a wall, it'll do it when you flip from one to the other or certain attacks.

It's got LOTS of quick time events and the action in them is over the top and really fun to me. They are mixed in all over the place and you really get to lay the smack down the bosses or they will lead you to another round of the boss fight.

There is alot of mixing up between action, quick time events, platforming, and vehicle/turrent (less on the last but they are quite fun to) areas. And you can replay all missions you complete for upgrade meter milking and looking for missed upgrades ect in the area (busting up shit).

I highly recommend it to anyone who likes action titles. I'm not saying it's a perfect 10 or the best game ever made... but I'm on level 4 and have had a blast and enjoyed figuring out the engine ect. At least give it a rent and fair shot.

Fans of Otogi should go check this out for sure. I'm not saying it's like a follow up to it, it's a different game. But you can feel it's links through the combo system, hard hitting attacks and milking the levels via replaying ect for upgrades.

It helps that it's pretty looking to."





I'm looking forward to it now.


So now I've got:
Star Ocean 4
Death Smiles
Ketsui X
DDP DOJ BL
Shooting Love 200X
Ninja Blade
Prototype
Halo 3 ODST (maybe, if I can stomach another goddamn FPS)

to look forward to this year. Not too shabby. :)

[Bruhaha69]

Glad to hear it. I figured I'd still like it regardless of the many nagatives I was sure we'd hear. Never stopped me from preordering it. I still trust you, From Software. Now give us Otogi 3!!

[Luminous]

That is better news. :nod:





Also, JP even though you are sick of FPS games, if you are going to play any FPS game this year you might as well make it a Bungie developed one. ;) Not to mention the single player won't even be that long (4-5 hours I think).

[jp]

That is better news. :nod:





Also, JP even though you are sick of FPS games, if you are going to play any FPS game this year you might as well make it a Bungie developed one. ;) Not to mention the single player won't even be that long (4-5 hours I think).

If... IF I play a FPS this year, it will most certainly be Halo ODST. But thats it. Fuck every other entry coming to the genre, I will not be playing ANY of it.

But I do love Bungie and their mythos, and Halo 3 with you fools is always a good time, so... if anything can lure me away from my disdain of that genre, it would be more Halo.

[Luminous]

If... IF I play a FPS this year, it will most certainly be Halo ODST. But thats it. Fuck every other entry coming to the genre, I will not be playing ANY of it.

But I do love Bungie and their mythos, and Halo 3 with you fools is always a good time, so... if anything can lure me away from my disdain of that genre, it would be more Halo.

That's right! ;) :p

Fall to the lure of Bungie and their awesomeness.

They own me, I am their bitch.:nod:

[jp]

So a buddy of mine imported this apparently.


He says the game is amazing. In fact, he says he looks MUCH better than Ninja Gaiden 2, and that the two games play rather differently, so the reason people were dissing Ninja Blade is because they were comparing it to Ninja Gaiden 2, which they shouldn't have.


So in the end, he said the game was fucking awesome. So now it is my most anticipated release of March. :)

Wait... no scratch that. Death Smiles is my most anticipated release of March. This shall have to come in 2nd place. :)

[Luminous]

So a buddy of mine imported this apparently.


He says the game is amazing. In fact, he says he looks MUCH better than Ninja Gaiden 2, and that the two games play rather differently, so the reason people were dissing Ninja Blade is because they were comparing it to Ninja Gaiden 2, which they shouldn't have.


So in the end, he said the game was fucking awesome. So now it is my most anticipated release of March. :)

Wait... no scratch that. Death Smiles is my most anticipated release of March. This shall have to come in 2nd place. :)


Isn't this supposed to be the quiet time for games??????

Recent and soon to be released games:
SF IV
Halo Wars
Killzone 2
Star Ocean
Ninja Blade
Resident Evil 5
F.E.A.R. 2
H.A.W.X.
Guitar Hero:Metallica

That is just by the end of March...

[Bruhaha69]

Good to hear your buddy is happy with it. I knew this game wouldn't suck, but with all the negative talk about it, I was worried it would end up just being alright and not awesome as I imagined.

[NeoZeedeater]

Isn't this supposed to be the quiet time for games??????

Recent and soon to be released games:
SF IV
Halo Wars
Killzone 2
Star Ocean
Ninja Blade
Resident Evil 5
F.E.A.R. 2
H.A.W.X.
Guitar Hero:Metallica

That is just by the end of March...
Not to mention MadWorld. And other fairly recent Wii games like Tenchu and Deadly Creatures are supposed to be good.

[Frogacuda]

So a buddy of mine imported this apparently.


He says the game is amazing. In fact, he says he looks MUCH better than Ninja Gaiden 2, and that the two games play rather differently, so the reason people were dissing Ninja Blade is because they were comparing it to Ninja Gaiden 2, which they shouldn't have.


So in the end, he said the game was fucking awesome. So now it is my most anticipated release of March. :)

Wait... no scratch that. Death Smiles is my most anticipated release of March. This shall have to come in 2nd place. :)

Am I the only one here that actually bothered to play the demo for myself?

[Bruhaha69]

There's a demo up? If I knew that, I would have played it. My fault for not checking the Japanese account for awhile. Downloading now

I like it. The QTE's aren't too bad, the graphics are nice and the action is pretty good. I love the dash, too. Something about a good dash in an action game......it just does it for me.

[Hunter]

Damn, i might have to check this out.

[Luminous]

Not to mention MadWorld. And other fairly recent Wii games like Tenchu and Deadly Creatures are supposed to be good.

Oh yeah, I don't have a Wii and I don't care about it, sorry. Madworld does have some potential though. At the very least it looks cool.



I don't have a Japanese account on my 360. I guess I should. I have a EUR and Hong Kong one on my PS3. LOL....

[Hunter]

I can't bring myself to turn on my Wii, I'm not sure why. I think it may be that I just hate the controllers.

[Luminous]

I can't bring myself to turn on my Wii, I'm not sure why. I think it may be that I just hate the controllers.


They are terrible. :frown:

[Bruhaha69]

Last time I played my Wii was a year ago, maybe a little longer.

[YankeeH8er]

I started to play it the other day. I like it, it feels like Devil may War, but in a good way. I like that you can change the colors of your guys outfit and it shows up in the cut scenes.

[Bruhaha69]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of real-time cut scenes, too. I take it you bought the Japanese version? I played the demo and it definitely seemed like a game I'd end up liking.

[YankeeH8er]

Seriously fuck this game. Twice I have played through the first mission until the giant spider fight and it has failed to save either time. I even went in and changed my save state and created a new save and checked it and it said my play times was 40 minutes, but the next time I started the game up I clicked load misson and it was gone. Grrrr! I hate shit like that so fucking much. It should be a rule that all games auto save every time you get to a check point. I am really liking how fast the actual combat is and how quick your guy moves, but I hate the QTE's every 20 seconds. They waaay over did it with those. Once in a while it is okay, but to have the game pause and this little cut scene play just so I can hit A to land is fucking ridiculous. I love the twin swords, they feel just like the kasama-gori (or what ever they are called) in Ninja Gaiden II.

[Bruhaha69]

Well, I haven't had any issues with the saving, but my disc started off giving me problems. I gave it a quick non-abrasive wipe and it's been working fine since.

I have the last level to go and then I'm done, but I definitely like the game. I agree there are way too many QTE's and I wish there was more regular level action. Other than that, I've enjoyed it, especially after some weapon upgrades. Best part of the game fo rme is how fast Ken moves....I love the dash.

Also, the heavy swords final upgrade makes it look just like Raikoh's Golden Dragon from Otogi. I thought that was pretty sweet.

Also-also, I guess you can unlock the moonlight sword, but I haven't done that yet....fuck yeah, From Software....now give me Otogi 3

[Bruhaha69]

Actually, the more I play, the more Otogi shit I find. Some of the emblems you can wear on your helm are straight out of Otogi, too.

One of the bosses also uses 2 swords out of the first game. His heavy sword looks like the sword of binding (either that or the heretic's blade, I forget the name) and his light sword is the parasite sword from Otogi....I forget the name of it right now, but I keeping thinking it's the Orchid Malevolence....I don't think it's that sword, so I'll have to check it out on the game later on.

Your original form of the Stonerender (big sword) is pretty much the Indigo Fang from Otogi. the final form is the Golden Dragon (final purchasable form). The middle 2 versions look very familiar, but I don't think they're Otogi designs.

One of the forms of the Twin Falcon Knives (the fast chained blades) are the Twin Rays/Flashes from Otogi. The other forms look like Otogi weapons, too, but I don't have my Xbox hooked up to check out the names. One might be the Black Swallows.

Why does this sort of shit pump me up? I fuckin love it.

[Bruhaha69]

triple post....unlocked the Moonlight sword....fuckin awesome....it's doesn't 1-hit kill, but it does TONS of damage on the moonlight slash attack. So good that they included this sword....al that's left is to get the final twin swords and ninjitsu...well, I need ti find all the costumes and emblems, too, but priority to the swords and magic.

[jp]

I really want to buy this. Especially after reading your comments bru. Sounds like its fucking awesome.


Hopefully all the Otogi stuff in the game is alluding to an Otogi 3... there was Otogi stuff in Enchanted Arms as well... so... hopefully!


A next-gen (from Xbox era) Crimson King battle... :drooling:

I still say that is the single greatest fight in videogame history.

[Bruhaha69]

I've been enjoying it. It's definitely not up to Otogi standards (where I loved every second of the experience.....well, except maybe some of the unlock challeneges), in my opinion, but it's a still a cool game...all the little Otogi stuff just makes it a lot cooler. It's not the best action hack n slash game I've played, either. I also don't think of it along the same lines as DMC, NG or GoW regardless of how many reviewers want to shit on it as a bad NG clone. It relies much more on the old style pattern bosses and enemies, which I actually enjoy.

Long story short, not a fantastic game, but pretty damn cool with lots of Otogi reference induced excitement.

Crimson King.....yeah, it's hard to argue with those fights. He alone makes Otogi and Otogi 2 worth playing. 2 of the best boss fights ever in one game with only 2 installments.

[DarthArcturus]

I liked this games demo except having to draw out the QTE's seriously when will developers realize the whole point of QTE's is for quick reaction and not knowing when its suppose to come.

[Bruhaha69]

I don't think they're reading out letters, Darth. That's the problem.

[Bruhaha69]

Got all the weapons now...the 3rd twin sword is not from Otogi, at least it's no weapon I remember.

Aside fromt oo many QTe's, something else that bothers me about the game is the ranking for levels. My overall rank for the entire game is an A, but it's made up of 7 scores 6 of which I have A+'s for and an A for the 7th.....can someone explain to me how that comes out to be an overall A? it's dumb, but if I want all the costumes, I guess I'll have to play through a few more levels and improve my damage taken score.

I found a couple more emblems from Otogi, too. One of them is the centipede boss from both Otogi's.

[Bruhaha69]

I don't mind triple posting.

So I went back in and got my A+ for damage...so now, on my game completion score, I have an A+ in all categories.....except overall still shows an A, hahaha. I looked online and it appears the magic number for an A+ is 50000. My current overall score is 43500, so I guess I need to improve my A+'s in other levels. Funny part is that my leaderboard ranking for overall completion is 201...come the fuck on, From. Don't make me work so hard.

Going through the individual ranking, it looks like I sucked nuts mostly on combo's. I'm ranked somewhere around 3000 on that. Makes sense since I rarely used the twin swords which are pretty much the only option for high combo ratings.

For QTE's and Elapsed time I kicked ass, though. 17th on QTE's and 40th on Elapsed time, so I'm betting my scores in those categories should be the elast of my worries.

The one cool thing about these scores is that it only tracks them where you've improved. in other words, I can go through mission 1 for a fast time and completely ignore my deaths, damage, combo's, etc...once the level is over, it will only replace my improved time score, but will keep whatever my other highest ranks were. So if my time improved but my kill combo didn't, it will keep my old kill combo score and only replace my time for my overall level score. I guess that's one cool thing since you don't need to do all 7 scores in one run....it would be frustratingly hard and maybe even impossible based on how their ranking system works.....maybe they knew how fucked up it was and this is why they allowed it.

EDIT: I just went back to mission 8 and used the twin swords to get a 220 hit combo. My overall game score based on that combo going from 75 to 220 went from 43500 to 46500....I guess slacking on the combo's was a big deal for my score, haha. Then again, From shouldn't have been giving me A+'s if my combo scores sucked that much.

[Bruhaha69]

Quad post!

Finished this up today....got all the health, chi, emblems, costumes, weapons and ninjitsu's......my completion here is done. Took about 36 hours to get it all.

Anyone thinking this is a NG ripoff, please do yourself a favor and throw that IGN brainwashing down the toilet. This is like the best From game since Otogi (though not as good, in my opinion). Very well made, very fun to play and on top of all that.....so much Otogi shit to be found and get excited by (it's all about the many weapon cameo appearances, haha.....keep your eyes opened on the last boss fight, in particular).

One weird thing with ranking is that my final scores didn't upload. Doesn't really matter, just figured I'd point it out since it's not right and others might not have noticed.

[YankeeH8er]

It is much more God of War then NG. I have finished the first 7 missions and I like it but it is in no way in the same league as a game like NG.

[ShinobiWan1]

I really liked the demo. Gave me that feeling I had when playing through a great game for the first time, such as Otogi or Sonic Adventure. I was all smiles at the end of the demo boss fight, with the super wrecking ball fatality!

Such a happy moment lol

[Bruhaha69]

I don't even compare it to Ninja Gaiden.....the games share hack n slash and ninja's, but the combat is nothing alike....not much like God of War, either. It's a much more classic style hack n slash with QTE's thrown in. Seriously, the comparisons to games like DMC, Ninja Gaiden and God of War are ridiculous at best....this is NOT one of those games, period, end of story.

As far as liking it better than Ninja Gaiden or not, I would definitely take this game over NG2....I put 36 basically straight hours into Ninja Blade, enough to 100% complete it....I grew tired of Ninja Gaiden 2 three or four levels into my mentor play. NG2 relies too much on cheap AI (which I know not everyone agrees with) to give it the "difficulty" people praise it so much for.

[Bruhaha69]

Actually, if I had to compare it to any of those games, I would agree that God of War is closest to it, but I still don't think they're that similar in gameplay experience.

[Bruhaha69]

Free DLC for this came out in the past day or so. 11 costumes and 9 emblems....some of the emblems and costumes are goofy, but the rest are pretty damn cool....nothing Otogi, unfortunately but it's FREE as all DLC should be.

[Luminous]

Free DLC for this came out in the past day or so. 11 costumes and 9 emblems....some of the emblems and costumes are goofy, but the rest are pretty damn cool....nothing Otogi, unfortunately but it's FREE as all DLC should be.


I can't say all DLC should be free, but costumes and parts of the games that should be in the retail release should be. I have no problem paying for brand new maps that were developed after the initial release. Especially if a game has plenty of maps to start with. Also if I play a game a good amount and really enjoy it, paying some more for even more fun is worth it. Now if it costs less, than I am all for that. :)

It was nice to get the Left 4 Dead content for free.

[YankeeH8er]

I am dying to try out the new L4D content. They made it sound amazing on Listen Up last week.

[Bruhaha69]

I can't say all DLC should be free, but costumes and parts of the games that should be in the retail release should be. I have no problem paying for brand new maps that were developed after the initial release. Especially if a game has plenty of maps to start with. Also if I play a game a good amount and really enjoy it, paying some more for even more fun is worth it. Now if it costs less, than I am all for that. :)

It was nice to get the Left 4 Dead content for free.

Yeah, I was exaggerating a bit, although I really would love it if all DLC was free. There are a lot of items that are appropriately priced, but there are way more that should just be given away.....the SFIV costume packs, for instance....they are obviously keys that unlock the content that's already in the game...fuck Capcom for charging 320 points for like 5 separate packs of costumes.

If we get expansion pack worthy content, I have no problem paying for it, but when they release little bits of content here and there at prices that are way too high, it gets very annoying and seems like a slap in the face to the customers keeping them in the business.

Speaking of free, F.E.A.R. 2 just had a free map pack released....I don't even play online, but I downloaded it. The maps sounded pretty cool, too. Nothing wrong with giving content to the fans. You can take my $60 today, make a happy customer out of me and keep making money off me later or you can charge me for little shit until I hate you and never buy your games again. I actually can't think of many charged DLc's that I consider worth the money.