Sorry, but this is a non-technical post. So if you're only looking for the system administration type stuff, you can skip over this one. I just needed a place to rant. This post also contains a spoiler for the new video game Final Fantasy XIII-2, so stop reading unless you want to see it.
With that said, on to the rant...
I've been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy franchise ever since its early days. I'm also more forgiving of others for titles in the franchise that most people deem unpopular. Probably because the ones that are good, are so good, in my opinion, that I'm willing to look past the shortcomings of the other titles. For instance, I thought Final Fantasy XIII was a good game. I certainly don't think it was the best game in the series, but I also didn't jump on the "this game sucks" bandwagon that many chose to.
I purchased a copy of Final Fantasy XIII-2 just a couple of days after its release. I spent most of this weekend playing it non-stop. I thought the game was great. It was fun and it looked beautiful. It seemed like Square Enix had accounted for and rectified most of the complaints people had with the first title. As is usual for me, I wanted to first see the story and ending, so I played through the game quickly and at high enough levels just to get by. This usually works out until some boss battle at or near the end in which I have to deal with a very precarious balance of healing and attacking in order to achieve a very narrow victory. This time was no exception. The final boss battle lasted just about an hour for me. It was quite a rush, so I was thrilled that I had finished it and sat back to watch the ending.
Well, the ending takes a turn for the worse and I start wondering what is going to happen next to resolve things. Then, blammo! There are those three little words..."To be continued".
I immediately turned to the internet to see what plans Square Enix has for another sequel. And I'm shocked at what I find. Apparently, SE has announced to the press that there are no plans at this time for a sequel to FF XIII-2. Instead they are suggesting that the game's true ending will be experienced via downloadable content. And that's where I start to have a problem.
So, as far as I understand, what they are trying to tell me is that they charged me full price for an incomplete game. On top of that, they are suggesting that I spend more money on content that will complete that game. Seems a lot like highway robbery to me.
I'm not 100% against downloadable content. After all, it can be used to breathe new life into an old game. Charging me to download side quests that aren't part of the original game is fine. But the ending?! When I pay almost $60 for a video game, I expect it to have a beginning, middle, and end. You've left off the ending this time. Do I get some of my money back now? Or surely you're at least going to let everyone who bought the game access the ending for free, right?
