ORIGINAL: GreyJoy
Altough i do not attend a lot to the general discussion sub-forum and even if i admit that i didn't follow the whole discussion (but read the first pages), it seems to me pretty strange (but relevant) the fact that WITP:AE consumers (which is probably the most expensive game in Matrix's catalogue) are the ones who complain the less about Matrix pricing policies.
This, to my eyes, means that price is never (or vary seldom) a problem when the product shines like gold.
Tell a AE consumer to give 100 more dollars to michealm to keep on supporting the game and i bet 90% of them will do it (last year we even collected money to make him a present -a new laptop- for christmas).
MatrixGames is a company that knows its job. Its history talks more than 1,000,000 words.
Keep on doing as you are and we'll all be fine!
I think the price of WITP:AE is fair. The game is very complex. I can only imagine the work that went into historic research, designing the game mechanics and programming the algorithms. Not to mention the time to balance, test everything and write the AI on top of that. Also the "high" price is necessary to make sure people know what they are getting into. If you're not into this you will hate this game to the bone and probably every cent spent.
This game is the exact opposite of triple A title. AAA titles while amazingly enjoyable at the beginning tend to become diminishing in fun with every hour you spent playing. In WITP:AE first dozen hours are plain and simple work. You have to study, memorize and iterate the manual before you can have any meaningful game. The "high" price will have an motivation effect on you while you suffer through the learning period. Just because you want get your money out of this. However I played Pacfic War before, so I knew what was coming to me.
I remember when I started with Pacific War. The game had no sound, graphics of an ancient Atari2600 with 320x200 resolution, but I wanted to try something new so I began reading the manual. I was 1/3 through the manual when I thought they (Matrix/Gary Grigsby) can't be serious. Who is going to read all this crap and play this trash?
I was ready to delete the game but for reason I don't remember I kept browsing through the manual.
At end of the manual was a reprint of a history article about the Pacific War.
As I read through article I became fascinated about this conflict. I spend the rest of the day researching the internet for more information about the war, the nations, people, culture, ships and planes involved. I read about the china-japan war, Japan's industry, US industry, both military doctrines, the island hoping campaign, the political parties, the atrocities and heroic acts that were committed.
At the end it was clear to me I had to play this game because on an abstract way I wanted to experience this. With that in mind reading the manual and learning the game itself became fun as I were already playing it. Because the actual game was not happening on my display but in my head.
Today I have a dozen of books about this conflict and the background. I learned a lot and all because of this stupid game and for that I'm grateful.
