Lauri's top list of how Trine or Frozenbyte screws players

[FB_Lauri]

Ok, I will list here all the opinions and speculations why you will get screwed not only by buying Trine, but also if you even consider buying Trine. You can post suggestions and I will edit the top list accordingly.

The purpose of the list is to allow people easy access to all of the Trine's faults and to see all the scams we are trying to do to rip everyone off.

1. No online multiplayer whatsoever (even it of course should have one as it's only multiplayer game, who wants to buy local co-op-only game?!!!)

2. Price is a rip-off, and if I pay it, the next day it's on sale. The price should not be this high, as the game sucks, is short, and doesn't offer anything but a missing online co-op (or the game is worth buying ONLY if it had online co-op and would be accompanied with a free next-gen console)

3. All other versions are or will be cheaper or too same priced, and when I buy my version I find all other versions being given half-free

4. People living everywhere else than in my neighborhood or people who are able to look for the best offer will get the game cheaper from retail/online/black market and paying X% extra than someone else is biggest scam ever

5. Giving free gift with some versions, like free Shadowgrounds, is ultimate super scam to piss off everyone else and especially those who get the free gift, as it's actually increasing the price

6. If I temporarily go insane and buy some version, the platform to which I bought Trine gets the stripped features edition. It doesn't matter which platform it is, as all the other platforms will get free updates, additional DLC content and my platform will never be again supported by Frozenbyte even with their future titles.

7. There will be no support for the game which is full of bugs, and no-one will answer your questions anywhere, only laugh in your face since you were stupid enough to give them money against nothing.

8. If you get answers, it's most likely stupid humour which is intended to hurt your feelings.

9. If you write anything to anywhere, it ends up mocked on this list, which main purpose is to start a developer-gamer war.

Edit: yes, this is a joke, don't take it seriously. It's not even supposed to be aimed on any individual, and I just made this to summarize everything. Please understand that my sense of humour is very strange at best.

On a serious aspect, I only was looking that I would not need to answer individually in every second topic to every second guy about these questions. I've been answering about multiplayer and price now for about 50 times each, and I don't really want any more of those discussions spoiling all other topics. So, please see this list what is already answered, and only if you find a new complaint post about it.

Finally, the mandatory smiley, which I've been using previously with no success.

[chautemoc]

This is like...really funny. Really really funny. Frozenbyte, I salute you.

[DarkJee]

Hum.. O_O thats... well.. really strange

Why this evil post ?

[trinerowdies]

Umm...I'm new here so I'm not sure if this frozenbyte 'humour' or a real post...?
I really like the game so I'm hoping this is just a joke.

[Etana]

Umm...I'm new here so I'm not sure if this frozenbyte 'humour' or a real post...?
I really like the game so I'm hoping this is just a joke.

Just tired of all the complaints I guess, no worries.

[tomnc]

I'm sorry Lauri, perhaps I'm a curmudgeon ... or maybe just an adult gamer. But, I find this post to be little more than a rant with just enough humor sprinkled in to mask the intent. And this isn't the first post of yours that comes across this way. It's just unprofessional.

[tombmonkey]

I would like to thank Frozenbyte for bringing back "hot seat" co-op, it makes me cry to see that most PC games are laking this feature, I was blown away playing Shadow Grounds and Survivor with my friends, sitting next to me, because I know that online is fun, but nothing beats the old way of having your friends come over and play a while, like it was done in the old times.

We are anxiously waiting launch to play Trine, and no matter how much it costs, divided by 3 is not that much ;P

Please keep on supporting hot seat co-op in your future games, if you can add online co-op it will help boost your sales of course, but don't forget those of us who still like to bring friends over our house to play a while.

[cliftor]

I understand you're exasperated with all the captious complainers, but isn't this post a little silly? I don't know how I feel about it.

[chautemoc]

Lighten up guys -- why are you taking life so seriously?

I'm sorry Lauri, perhaps I'm a curmudgeon ... or maybe just an adult gamer. But, I find this post to be little more than a rant with just enough humor sprinkled in to mask the intent. And this isn't the first post of yours that comes across this way. It's just unprofessional.

Being independent means you don't have to be professional.

[trinerowdies]

Lighten up guys -- why are you taking life so seriously?

*whew* Yah, I guess you're right. On second read, I 'get' it.

[tomnc]

Being independent means you don't have to be professional.

Actually, quite true!

[tjm07090]

Well said, whoever made this game should rollover and die. haha you guys are great, that was some grade A sarcasm, gota say though I was major confused at the begining. I was thinking maybe you guys finally cracked, but then I realized that you were just finally fed up with that crap. Well here are some of the reasons I AM buying Trine:

1. Great single player, and I assume great local co-op (I havent had a chance to play it yet).

2. A game that brings the memories of close qaurters, side scrolling of sega type gameplay with original puzzle solving and controlled freedom of portal.

3. A spectacular fantasy-midevil aesthetic style with smooth gameplay.

4. I love getting secret stuff for solving puzzles.

5. The price is cheap to me when compared to full price games that I never actually finish anyway (ten hours seems like a good length to me).

6. The fact that you're kind of the underdog in the gaming business and that trine got editors choice at E3 for downloadable game of the year and they said it wasn't even close. They also said it could have been nominated for best graphics over all. That says a lot to me.

7. I had ridiculous expectations for the game and they were either met or exceeded (except for the knight character and a couple small bugs, but I'll reserve judgement on that until I get to play further in the game)

So ya, it looks like it'll be an awesome game, and I hope it does well so number two can get started (or so they can work on that pesky online play).

[ValentineMocker]

4. People living everywhere else than in my neighborhood will get the game cheaper from retail/online/black market and paying 5% extra than someone else is biggest scam ever

Buying it from the demo site: $40. Buying it off PSN: $20. So, here, let me fix your original post for you:

4. People living everywhere else than in my neighborhood will get the game cheaper from retail/online/black market and paying 100% extra than someone else is biggest scam ever

I'm just giving you some crap. :p Since I understand that hearing people complain all the time is annoying, but, I'm really tempted to wait for a Steam sale since a) PSN version will be cheaper for the same product and b) I'm not interested in Shadowgrounds.

Have a nice day.

[wolfboy]

You realize there's a lot of complaints BECAUSE people want to play this, right? I would be more worried if this forum was completely dead. And the more people you get interested, the higher the expectations as well.

[SirDrago]

I really like this post by Lauri because it shows that Frozenbyte is not one of those fake professional developers who dont give a shit about their customers. And they would never ever post something like that because..... hm i dont know why but they wouldnt. Its a funny post and i share his feeling regarding all this bitching. No one bitches that much about major titles. At least ive neer seen anyone complaining about the price about a major title.

[Nygovtsky]

I really like this post by Lauri because it shows that Frozenbyte is not one of those fake professional developers who dont give a shit about their customers. And they would never ever post something like that because..... hm i dont know why but they wouldnt. Its a funny post and i share his feeling regarding all this bitching. No one bitches that much about major titles. At least ive neer seen anyone complaining about the price about a major title.

It happens all the time really. The latest example, although not purely the same, is when L4D2 was announced. After multiple promises that Valve would release new maps, weapons, and infected as free DLC, they released news that all this would be in L4D2, a full priced sequel. Thus it spurred quite a bit of rage that still continues somewhat, and has a boycott group in the Steam community over 32,000 players strong.

In the end though, you can't please everybody and that should be expected. Especially in today's world, where gamers often act like little children and can hardly create any form of coherent argument. I understand the original post was meant to be sarcastic and humorous, but part of me is curious how many fans will only be more upset and feel like there complaints aren't being taken seriously. There are definitely some very silly people out there with odd excuses, but there are some legitimate ones hidden in the mix. Hopefully those don't take it the wrong way.

[bibi]

LOL. with this post Frozenbyte has established itself as my favorite developer right now. I do hope your customers are smart enough to sense sarcasm though. I know i'm not telling you anything new, but since you are kind enough to post a lot of comments here and keep us informed, there will always be many people with the most ridiculous complaints ever. welcome to the internetS.

oh and to the poster above me, OH YES, people will complain and bitch just as much if not more for all sorts of messed up reasons on big titles as well. only difference here is EA, Blizz, Valve etc do not respond to those types so they usually shut up eventually (which is generally after 6 months). everthing has its ups and downs.

[Mr. ShadowStealer]

Yeah. I have started to understand more and more why developers of games won't answer or even look in the forums they have and they hire only some customer service persons to take care of that...

Because the topics on internet get easily understood the wrong way or they have so much emotions in them that it is just frustrating how people can't talk in civilized manner and so on.

Yeah. I understand why FB team starts to get tired of the discussions going on here. =) But I hope they can filter all the stupid stuff out and tell people to STFU and use search and check this list before starting to complain about everything all over again.

But yeah, human nature is like that. If there isn't physically a person in front of you to whom you are talking to, all go like: "Lol i has no need fur behaviour or nice manners, I'm on the internet babbyy!!!! I can has do anything I has want to LOL I OWN !!!!"

So yeah..... I can understand the reason behind this list.

[fallacy]

HAHAHAH! Awesome thread... See, this is "WHY" i'm gonna buy the game. With this kinda "sass" within the forums from the dev's, the games gonna rule.

[rmarx]

Great thread, you should sticky it

In fact, they're not the only ones doing it. Valve has a fun way of making blog posts as well (like someone said for L4D2, but I also remember the hilarious rant after the leaked Spy video for team fortress 2).

It may seem unprofessional at first, but once you get to understand the real meaning, you know that (like someone else said also) they really care about the game and maybe are getting a bit upset by the constant flow of people complaining about things that are mostly not even their fault.

@ tjm07090 : couldn't agree more

(oh and: no interest in shadowgrounds? you should, it's not world shocking but an interesting game nevertheless)

[purple_pixie]

I agree wholeheartedly, Lauri.

I just bought the game on Steam, and completed it in about 5 minutes.
Not impressed with the length at all.

Mandatory smiley to maybe assist the internet's sarcasm-detector, which broke ~10 years ago:

[Simplex]

Ridiculing valid concerns by reducing them to absurd (this method of discourse manipulation is well known and aptly called "reductio ad absurdum") will not make these concerns invalid.

It is a fact that PC players are screwed because they have to pay more than PS3 players.
In addition to that, European PC players are further screwed, because they have to pay even more for Tine (42$ against 30$ in the US). So in the worst case scenario European PC gamer will end up paying MORE THAN TWICE the price of the US PS3 (42$ vs 20$). If this it not screwing, then I do not know what is.
So the fact remains - many players are screwed and no amount of ridicule and irony and sarcasm will change that.

[FB_Lauri]

Ridiculing valid concerns by reducing them to absurd (this method of discourse manipulation is well known and aptly called "reductio ad absurdum") will not make these concerns invalid.

It is a fact that PC players are screwed because they have to pay more than PS3 players.
In addition to that, European PC players are further screwed, because they have to pay even more for Tine (42$ against 30$ in the US). So in the worst case scenario European PC gamer will end up paying MORE THAN TWICE the price of the US PS3 (42$ vs 20$). If this it not screwing, then I do not know what is.
So the fact remains - many players are screwed and no amount of ridicule and irony and sarcasm will change that.

Don't buy it, don't get screwed. It's not like I have a gun pointed at your head, and there's a world full of games (and if that's not enough, why don't you make one?)

[Simplex]

I will gladly buy it, but not for 30€ while it costs 30$ in US - I can wait until price drops or ask a US friend to buy it for me on US steam and gift me the game. I suppose many people will do this. There's also hope, that the price on Impulse will be right - they usually have prices in dollars and to not regionalise prices too much. If Trine is 30$ on Impulse for Europeans, then I can buy it without feeling screwed (at least not screwed compared to US PC gamers because I would still be paying 50% more than PS3 users).
Even if some posts make you angry, don't write such snappy coments as "go make your own game". The fact I do not have knowledge to make a game does not mean that I cannot discuss pricing of a game made by someone else.
And also, I would not write a word about pricing of this game if I did not like it and was not interested in buying it. I played the demo, it was fun, graphics are simply beautiful and I would like to buy the game - but I do not want to pay 42% more than a person that happens to live on the other side of the ocean.
Of course I might have just shut up, not write anything here and just silently download a pirate copy, which will appear immediately after release of the game - but I think pirating would be similarly unfair as making Europeans paying 42% more than Americans.

I wish that next time you make a good game, you will give more thought to pricing in different regions of the globe (or negotiate better with publishers), this will definitely bring you more customers.

[FB_Lauri]

Now when even my very own rant thread got hijacked, I have finally made the forum guidelines. Please see and follow them from now on