Do you restrict your game purchases to avoid Early Access?
A couple of years ago I had the itch for a 3D platformer and didn't feel like replaying Super Mario 64 for the nth time. I saw that there was a game called Poi and it was clearly inspired by SM64. I picked it up and played it while it was in early access.
I enjoyed my time with it, but because the game wasn't content and feature complete, I ended up making my way through an unfinished, buggy version. This is not a complaint, as I knew well that it was still in development, but I can't deny that it hampered my enjoyment of the final product. When I finally sat down to play through the game for the "first" time after its release, my previous experience soured my current one because I was retreading familiar, albeit improved, levels.
Distance, another early access game I purchased, released in full this past month. Unlike with Poi, I actually stopped myself from playing Distance in early access (after trying it out briefly), so that I wouldn't ruin the game for myself. As such, my enjoyment of it has been far greater. Those two games, plus a handful of others, have made it such that I pretty much will no longer buy a game if it's in early access, simply because I'd rather wait for the full thing.
With that in mind, I'm curious if other people do the same thing, or if some people actually like the behind the scenes experience of playing a game as it gets built? Also, what are some early access success stories that have had solid, full releases? What are some that would be considered successes in spite of the fact that they haven't fully released yet?
Factorio falls squarely in that camp. It's been a fully playable and highly addicting game for years, but the devs don't quit. They want to polish it to a shine before they officially release. They keep adding new features and improving things. They engage with the player base like nobody's business.
Factorio is an amazing game, I just don't play it often because it's mentally taxing in the same way that my day job is. Fun as hell though, and you wouldn't know it wasn't fully released by playing it
The factory grows
I have a rule and that's that I won't pay AAA or ever A title prices for a game in EA, $30 or less only.
There are games I've played, sort of enjoyed and have never gone back.
BanishedTownsThe last two I'll probably check out again at some point but I also had a decent amount of fun playing them in EA and don't feel like I was ripped off an experience. I paid a discount price to see if it had potential and a few hours of play out them.
Some games that were sucesses even in EA and kept bringing me back for more:
Almost all I still play and have got more than my discounted EAs money's worth and then some. I think the trick is to figure out if a game is playable or if you are just a GoFundMe sap for a person's pet project that they haven't the drive or means to commit to and finish.
edit: should note that I don't think Astroneer and ONI were failures in EA, simply they didn't hold my attention but showed great promise. The other two were failures imo,
BanishedTowns was abandoned by the creator while still in EA, OND went about a year without any substantial update.Is that what happened to Banished? I thought it seemed a bit shallow for a city builder, but complete. I don't regret buying it but I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't go further.
Rimworld though... I think I'm 250 hours in and I still keep coming back.
Yup you're right banished was a game that just felt like an EA that was unfinished as it was a very short progression and no end game, mods extended it a bit but I lost interest if anything substantial was added.
I was thinking of Towns as the one that was abandoned in EA.
I avoid early access games for two reasons:
It's a dangerous business model. If you make a ton of money in EA, then what exactly is your incentive to actually finish the game? Certainly, there are some developers who want to finish their game - but how can you distinguish between them and the ones who will never finish the product?
I prefer playing a complete experience. Chances are, I'm only going to focus on each game once; I'd rather play it when it's done as a result. I'm rarely going to keep revisiting a game just to experience new content.
I've got EA games on my wishlist, but primarily just so that I can nab them once they exit EA.
Eh, not really...?
I typically avoid buying early access on principle, with a two exceptions:
The developer confers some reward for early access purchase (which I think is pretty rare now relative to pre-orders), or
The game clearly has a lot of depth and replayability to it (like Rimworld, Kerbal Space Program or what was maybe the original early access - Minecraft).
I get your point, which is why I never play stuff like the beta for World of Warcraft. But games like Rimworld, where I have over 200 hours, or Minecraft, which has more hours than I can even count, will only get stale when your imagination gets stale, and I think it's fun to see the game improve. Maybe you don't need to limit your early access entirely, you just need to pick games that don't have a lot of replayability.
I generally don't mind Early Access. If you are buying from large publishers, you are indirectly funding games that never get released anyway, you just don't get to play them.
That's an interesting way to look at it, that I hadn't really considered before.
I have no qualms buying early access titles. I enjoy following development, and often times these games are more fun (to me) than fully-released AAA titles anyway.
I also recognize that it's possible to get burned. It's the consumer's job to avoid betting on untested devs, and to keep their expectations within check.
Most games never end up getting all the features they initially planned for, and sometimes design has to change substantially just to make the gameplay work. Look at Fortnite. It started as a dinky looking Minecraft clone with zombies and blueprints. Things will change.
If it isn't their first game I see what else they've done. Otherwise if it's a new dev I take a chance. I only have had one dud (Bulby Diamond Course).
I need to work through the finished Slime Rancher, however, vut it was a blast during EA.
I never buy EA. I despise the business model. It just promotes publishers to release crap for a cash grab or fail to follow through.
I don't buy games on release day as a general* rule. If you want me to beta-test your games, you can damned well put me on the payroll and give me health insurance. If you aren't willing to pay me to do the shit you should have done before release, then I'm willing to wait until you're done patching the damn game before I even think of buying it.
* Dragon Quest XI is a recent exception, because it already came out in Japan over a year ago, and most likely went through a second round of testing/debugging in the course of localizing the game.
I bought Camelot Unchained's early access but in general I don't preorder, pledge, or otherwise spend money until I know exactly what I'm getting.