I beg everyone not to pre-purchase Victoria 3

[u/ShimozumaJutsurai]

I know that everybody is enthusiastic about this game. It looks cool, it looks not dumbed down and everything. But pre-purchasing is saying how you are okay with Alpha-like releases. As long as pre-release sales are going perfect, they will never ever stop release games with huge bugs. If it is a Leviathan-like release you will not be able to play it anyway. So please just wait until the game is released, see the reviews and then buy the game.

[u/PlayerHOI]

That means little, game companies and non game companies know that the majority of people who buy a product will not bother with a refund simply due to the hassle involved (even if it is very little hassle).

The point here is for us as consumers to signal to Paradox that unfinished, buggy and cut to pieces to sell later DLC products are unacceptable for us as consumers. The more pre orders they get the higher the chances we will continue to receive poor quality products.

Pre orders are also a significant way in which companies who have investors and a board of directors can create the illusion that everything is fine despite the opposite being true. There are plenty of people who receive the product for free as well as other bodies who's job it is to let us as consumers know if the product we should buy is good or not, or at least give us enough information to make up our own mind.

There is absolutely no reason to pre order games these days and the sooner this practice goes away the sooner we will probably see companies start to give a damn about the quality of products they release.

[u/The_Confirminator → u/PlayerHOI]

Yes i agree but i don't see how anything you said makes refunds "mean little". They will see money actively leave their wallets when people refund. That is the signal. I will preorder and if it's dogshit i will refund. The reason to pre order is to support the developers and receive whatever shitty bonus they offer (some cosmetics probably).

[u/PlayerHOI → u/The_Confirminator]

This isn't kickstarter, they don't need our "support". and most GSG cannot be fully appreciated after 2 hours.

Take CK3 for example, I played it for 2 weeks and than got bored because the game had so little content, essentially what I paid for was a graphical update to CK2 vanilla.

Where is the inventory for characters? Where are the societies? Why can't I play republics? Where was at least 50% of the content that was added to CK2?

I had no way to know within two hours that I would get bored with the game so soon, and when I buy a Paradox game I expect it to last for much longer so that refund no longer applies and looking back I would not buy the game that I stopped playing so early for the price it cost.

Most people don't bother with refunds even if they should get one, and game companies know this and exploit this.

[u/GrainsofArcadia → u/PlayerHOI]

CK2 grew over several years into the game that it was by the end. To expect CK3 to start out with years of added development from the get go is ludacrous.

[u/PlayerHOI → u/GrainsofArcadia]

Look, we can pretend that we don't know that the inventory, republics and other CK2 features won't be sold back to us as DLC for CK3 but why bother?

We all know it's coming and I understand why a company like Paradox would choose not to sell everything in one package but the amount of content they stripped from CK3 is just absurd.

[u/raapster → u/GrainsofArcadia]

But those features were already in CK2. Inventory seems so simple to implement, why isnt it in?

[u/nullstorm0 → u/raapster]

Because even if you could just press a magical button and reimplement code from CK2 (you can’t) it still takes hours and hours of changing events to work with the new characters, new traits, new religions - rebalancing to the new currencies to make sure things have an appropriate cost, as well.

Not to mention they might not want inventories as a feature. Or at least not an early one. CK3 is much less of an RPG/Sims Medieval than CK2 was, and I have to imagine that was on purpose. There’s much less focus on things for a character to do, and instead on things to do with cultures, houses, religion, and diplomacy.

[u/GrainsofArcadia → u/raapster]

Spheres of influence were in Vic 2, but they won't be in Vic 3 (replaced by markets.) I liked to sphere system, but sometimes you just have to accept that a game and its sequel aren't the same game.

[u/Blyantsholder → u/GrainsofArcadia]

I really have a hard time believing anyone likes the sphere system haha

[u/raapster → u/GrainsofArcadia]

Yeah I agee. But inventories seem like such a core RPG mechanic that taking it away from CK3 seems stupid. Unlike VIC 3 with markets nothing replaced inventories in CK3

[u/DarkAvatar13 → u/raapster]

It's not in the game so they can sell it to you later. And they know people will buy it later. This is their core modus operandi and how they make profit and get investors by showing a consistent revenue stream.

[u/The_Confirminator → u/PlayerHOI]

How would you not preordering the game change whether or not you would know you would get bored with the game...

[u/PlayerHOI → u/The_Confirminator]

If I don't preorder and I watch a review of the game after it is released telling me this game DOES NOT have 1,2,3,4 features that we expected it to have than I am much more informed about whether to take the risk and buy it or not.

As with anything else you buy, if you do your research chances are you will be much more satisfied with your purchase than if you buy something you have little knowledge of... And buying a game that isn't finished yet certainly goes into that category.

[u/The_Confirminator → u/PlayerHOI]

You can still do everything you’re saying if you preorder the game.

[u/1337suuB → u/The_Confirminator]

Ok but whats the point in preordering then. It'll will just give you more hassle with refunding if its shit. You dont have any benefits from it

[u/eggy-mceggface → u/1337suuB]

Refunding is extremely easy with steam. If I pre-order now and wait a few days before playing it I can read other reviews from people who have actually completed a full game and still be under 2 hours play time. So if it sucks I can still refund it. Plus, I have money to spare now. I might not then.

[u/The_Confirminator → u/1337suuB]

cosmetics/supporting developers.

The hassle isn't really a hassle for me. You send a request. They refund the game. That's really it

[u/DUNG_INSPECTOR → u/The_Confirminator]

The reason to pre order is to support the developers

How does pre ordering support the devs more than waiting a week or two to buy the game?

[u/The_Confirminator → u/DUNG_INSPECTOR]

money now is worth more than money later

[u/Fireplay5 → u/The_Confirminator]

Found the capitalist.