What if a game is so overeloaded with features where the sequel having less features but making these kept features so much better actually makes the game better?Vector_Gorgoth wrote:The bare, naked minimum is that a game should not have less content or fewer features than its predecessors.
If X3 allows fleet control, logistics, automated trading, station building, complexes, ship equipping and remote control, commodities trade, stock market, piracy, lasers/missiles, semi-dynamic economy, etc. -- then X4 is not "feature complete" unless it has the same features (if a feature is removed, it needs to be replaced with another feature which is at least as desirable as the first). That's the bare "don't insult me, here" minimum.
What if a feature was implemented in the predecessor but totally unneeded or even unwanted by the player base?
For example i'd totally be fine if for X4 they scrapped the idea of me having to search and hire a competent pilot for each of my small ships and i wouldn't mind if they didn't replace it with anything.
I disagree.Then there are other considerations: for a game with no predecessors, it needs to be "feature complete" - ANYTHING advertised in the pre-release hype should be included for only the base cost of the game; no exceptions. In other words, the game should deliver on the "vision" communicated to the players pre-release
From experience i can tell you that during game development there are tons of ideas that pop up "wouldn't be that cool?" "yea, we should definitely try that" and which, during interviews about the game, gets mentioned as a planned feature. But then it turns out, after implementing a prototype of that idea, that the feature - when used ingame - isn't really that fun so it gets scrapped. Should game devs still implement these features even though it turns out that they were not fun, just because they said they planned to have that feature ingame?
That i wholeheartedly agree with.Another case where being forced to pay is unacceptable is where an "oh duh!" feature is thought up post-release and implementing it is very technically simple.