Not Buying Star Wars Battlefront II

Daily Ramble 91: Not Buying Star Wars Battlefront II

I’ve been listening to and reading about this latest incarnation of the Star Wars Battlefront series and I have to say I’m not buying it. Sure, I really enjoy the Star Wars franchise. I stood in lines for the first and second trilogies to be there on day one and I even saw the first trilogy 20+ times while it was in the theaters. I’ve purchased the videos on DVD, BluRay, Streaming, and in multiple versions (extended, etc) so I’ve probably have 5–6 copies of each movie – even some that haven’t been updated with ‘new’ special effects. I’ve bought books, comics, and action figures for decades and I’ve subscribed to Star Wars The Old Republic for years and played my share of the other various games tied into the franchise. I even went to Disneyland on the opening weekend of Star Tours. I think I’ve paid my dues to the wonderful concept that is Star Wars.

Then I bought the Star Wars Battlefront game before Episode 7, a few years ago ,and I have to say it was not worth it. Sure I got a bit of Star Wars flavor and it pumped me up for seeing the movie when it came out, but there was nothing to the game. Sure I got to fly the Millenium Falcon and it was cool, but the only gameplay that was anywhere decent was provided by other gamers fighting in PvP battles. So I paid EA for content generated by other gamers – how is that right?

Now, EA wants me to fork over the usual 60+ bucks for another game – Star Wars Battlefront II. Not only that, they want everyone to play tens of hours – a full workweek – to open up gameplay. Or you can gamble. I’m done.

Sure, Disney stepped in to try to cure the public relations nightmare but in my mind, the damage is already done. There’s no amount of game time spent in a single player campaign (which I heard is pretty simple) that would justify me buying this game. The entire game is centered around player generated content – if opponents are better than you, the game usually sucks.

I’m really tired of these types of games. Why should I spend my hard earned money to play a game as cannon fodder for higher skilled players to shoot at. And then, I get to struggle through hunderds of games getting killed tons of times, just so I can unlock a character. Then what? I can die tons of times as that character? Where is the incentive?

Randomness = Gambling

Microtransactions…Lootboxes…if they just asked for a subscription fee it’d make sense and people would know what they’re getting into. But no – they’d rather milk people drip by drip. They know if they asked for a monthly subscription people would stop paying them so much dough, but if you’re only paying a little bit at a time they can fulfill thier greedy goals. But now, not only are they working their nefarious designs to take as much money as they can, they force the issue – either pay more to get characters you want to play or casual players will only see them as opponents.

It’s time gamers say NO. This can not go on. We need to take a stand and I for one will not be purchasing this game.

Sure, I might be a bit late to this train but I never intended on buying this game in the first place since I felt screwed over by the last Battlefront game. Hopefully enough people feel EA need to learn a lesson that revenues drop and their predatory practices terminate…I doubt this will happen but I can always hope.