Are they serious? A game with 6 characters?
WTFF
A free (probably) game with 8 characters (soon).
They already stated that their training mode will have a tutorial to teach you how to play the game. It was in their E3 or EVO panel I believe.
Anyways, I do wish it was 10 characters, I am disappointed that it’s not but knowing how much time they had with the game and how they are releasing it, I’m actually happy with the structure. I’d rather have a game to play now than have to wait another year for 8 more characters and we as a community can help balance the game while they add in new characters than wait till all 16 are released and do it the hard way (twss). Funny thing is this is how I want my indie game I’m develop to be made. You just buy the game and add onto it over time. No need to have KI 1, 2, 3, 4, etc…just Killer Instinct and as they add characters (with their respective levels), I buy into it. Al la carte or all.
Yes, it does suck that there aren’t more characters at launch. Yes, it does suck there isn’t a story mode at launch. What I do know is that I’d rather play it now (relatively speaking), than play it in a year. I feel that sports games can learn from this. Madden, omg, I stopped buying it every year because it was a little update with roster changes. I feel the same can be said for fighters almost…it’s like every two years (or every couple months ie. MVC) there’s a new game. Look at how many iterations of SFIV has had. This is the better way to do fighters…you have a platform and you just update that platform. Balance tweaks should be free, pay for characters. I see no problem with the model.
Also, Ken Lobb also said that they will top you off (twss) so if you pay for 2 characters, ($10) they will make it where you just pay ($10) for the rest of it. So basically the game has its price and you either pay little by little or the whole thing. It really doesn’t seem like the F2P model that we’ve seen before where the sum of the parts are usually more than the whole…it’s just a way to get to the whole. I’m happy I’m getting Killer Instinct and I’ll be playing it. You can be mad at the price model and how many characters you get (I still wish for the original roster) but it’s better than nothing at all.
8 Characters for EVO 2014. 16 characters for EVO 2015. (Note, if they do 8 more characters for season two, that would mean some new characters 
)
I would have been happy to wait a year. There is no downside in giving a game more time to develop. Rushing a release and worrying about everything else later is when problems begin to pile up.
Fuck…just sucks knowing ill have to wait 4 years to really play KI.
Well it’s not day 1 anymore but ill still support it through steams.
Streams only support the scene not the game itself. They need your money for real support.
Well, if you are getting an Xbox, you’ll probably get the game for free.
If you are waiting to get an Xbox (understandable), then the game will likely have more content out. It’s really not a bad deal.
The thing that scares me is what Hawkingbird touched on. The “Beta” factor. What state will the mechanics and balance be in at launch… that’s what worries me. I wasn’t a fan of the paid beta treatment that you get sometimes (see MvC3).
That’s what I’ve been saying earlier. People who don’t want to “support” the game actually have it the easiest as far as the way they can support it. Just spend 5 or 10 dollars for the characters you like and just sit on that until the roster is complete enough for you go buy a package. Which they said they’ll give you a discount on those if you buy the characters individually at first. You can be a guy that’s all fed up about the “man…no story mode, only 6 + 2 characters” and just say “well let me at least spend 5 dollars on Orchid” and bam…you’re supporting it at least a little bit for not much.
This system is basically caters more so to the people who don’t care enough to buy a package or just want to test the waters with the game.
Well this is what I’ve figured so far…
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Microsoft obviously pushed DH like hell to make sure this game comes out for launch. They know they need a killer title to help sell Xboxes and get money made off their marketplace as quickly as possible. Since you can only buy this game through Microsoft, all of the money goes to them and DH so they want this thing making any money day one, rather than no money because it’s still in the oven cooking. It seems very likely that DH didn’t want to release it this way, but Microsoft probably gave them no choice because they know the alternative is worse due to their PR issues.
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I like the idea of just making it one game and constantly updating, patching and generally adding to it over time. I just don’t like the idea of there being no way to lock in a price for everything. I guess this is because since it’s digital, there’s no way for the to place value or assess the cost of making the future content. Meaning hardcores may end up paying more for everything the game will entail than they do for a 60 dollar disc game in the long run. The fact that we’ll be paying for it in portions over time will make the 60 to 100 or more dollars feel like less of a burden, but you’re still ultimately paying up to that much or more in the long run. Not what I was looking for.
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I don’t see the Ultra version being worth the money with no online for Killer Instinct 1 and generally the fact that you can steal the game off the internet for free. Which since it’s an emulation, it may end up having glitches or speed/frame rate issues any way. Not anything a casual would care about, but the few hardcore old KI guys are going to bring this up pretty quick. The accessory pack I’ll have to see.
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Combo Breaker 19.99 pack seems like the best deal. Just pay 20 dollars, 6 people to start with, 2 more come in about 4 months and if the game gets popular enough, another round will come about later in the year. If not, oh well, only spent 20 bucks and hopefully you found or you will find some other strong titles to play on Xbox One.
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Anyone who’s buying an Xbox One, but doesn’t like the package deals should at least buy one character to test the waters and throw in a little support.
You left out the part where its free if you get XBL. And if you are getting an X1 and no XBL… you should get that checked out.
So that means like I figured, Round One is basically every character available for the first package + Shadow Jago. Yeah I think that’s their big shot towards making this feel like a real value for anyone at this point.
Well, my point pretty much is.
If you are getting the XB1 early, the game is free, you have nothing to lose.
If you are getting it later, there will be more content, and the $20 looks better.
My fears are the state of the game at launch, and whether it can hold peoples interest long enough for players to still care by the time round 2 comes around.
They will give you value and won’t make you pay for the full amount, but I highly doubt the savings will subtract the exact amount you paid for the individual characters if you later decide to get either Combo Breaker or Ultra Edition package.
Point #2 does exist, just not in the console market. If XLBA have the same policies as the 360 when it comes to patches and content updates then getting any future content without paying extra isn’t happening. It would be feasible in a PC version if M$ gives a fuck about the PC market again.
wish they included killer instinct 2.
i guess at the end of the day i don’t care about there only being 8 characters at launch. i would however like the opportunity to have ki2.
PC version is not happening for 2 years easy because the exclusivity is too important to sell Xbox One’s with for them ATM. Putting it on PC at launch or 6 months in would pretty much mean no reason for Ki fans to buy an Xbox One and then they’re further in the shitter with the console.
They actually already changed their patching policies about 2 months ago.
Patches are now free and have no size limits.
Probably holding for season 2?
This way you get all the fans of old KI and KI 2/Gold and serve up with twice as many characters
Second wave is critical and may serve as a huge launch of this KI into respectability.
You guys complain too much. We only get 6 characters at launch? So what? They will give us two more by February, and will give us more and more characters as time passes including original characters. You need to bear in mind that they are not rushing the game, they simply have a deadline given to them by MS. They cannot hold off on the game, which they dont need to anyway. No story mode right now? Oh well, its not that important since barely anyone touches story mode unless youre either bored or want to use it to get accustomed to the game which Practice mode accomplishes anyway. You are paying $20(bare minimum) for 6 characters, 6 stages, online, practice mode, the 2 characters coming along with story. I think we’re getting our money’s worth by far, and even if you dont feel like getting everyone, get youre fav character or 2 and be happy. You guys are complaining about the wrong things if anything. We are still getting a fighting game that hasnt surfaced for what… 17 years? The mechanics are by far some of the best and the amount of competitiveness it brings is simply astounding. It should be the gameplay and mechanics that you guys worry about, not the packages they offer. Also, assuming that buying the Combo or Ultra edition gives you free access to the other rounds, i think its highly worth it. You are paying for a game that evolves. So 6 characters only? Boohoo, in a lot of competitive games only around that number are played to begin with(successfully at competitive levels anyway) and more characters are coming and you guys all know this. This is a game we’ve been waiting for and know that its coming you guys want to complain and say forget it because of some stupid package that is well worth it? Remember, you are paying $20 for a game like any other Digital download game. You are not buying a full game/disc. Also to talk about the Ultra package, you guys know damn well that $40 isnt bad. You guys wouldve easily paid $10 for a HD remake on the marketplace, not to mention the possibility of online for it which hasnt existed except for the online cpu versions, which arent worth mentioning to me. Im with Zedox here for the most part. You guys are just nitpicking at the very small and irrelevant details of the game, and not focusing on the game itself. /RANT
I apologize beforehand. Also i might have this point of view for the fact that i have actually played the game and have had time to get a feel for it.
FREE.
not $20, free. At least during the launch window.
Also, having the story mode pop up in late winter is awesome, get a big boost of players… Then shortly after we start getting announcements of round two, which may have more fan requested material along side it.
Gives you just enough time to get a breather in-between all the content additions