Highlights

  • Microtransactions in Dragon's Dogma 2 received mixed reactions due to items being available in-game but also behind a paywall.
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth faced criticism for paywalling NG+ content, a feature provided in the base game of many RPGs.
  • Infinite Wealth's mishandling of NG+ and difficulty settings through microtransactions is akin to Dragon's Dogma 2's divisive DLC model.

Microtransactions have become increasingly common in modern gaming, to the point where they've even been implemented in fully-priced games. Capcom's Dragon's Dogma 2 came under fire recently for such features, though their inclusion was a bit divisive in reception. On one hand, the items offered as microtransactions could be found with some effort in the game itself, so they weren't completely paywalled. The fact that they exist in the first place, however, left many feeling negative over a title that had been hotly anticipated for years. Just months ago, a similar controversy occurred with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, as comparisons have been drawn between the two monetary models.

Both Capcom and Sega have had their fair share of controversy surrounding paid content; titles like Devil May Cry 5 and the aforementioned Dragon's Dogma 2 are examples of the former, while Sega's monetary model for games developed by Atlus and RGG Studio has garnered similar complaints. For example, Persona 3 Reload's The Answer epilogue is part of a paid expansion pass, while earlier this year, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth locked its New Game Plus (otherwise known as Premium Adventure) behind paid DLC. Paywalling features like story content or central mechanics have resulted in understandable frustration from fans, especially when considering how expensive it already is to purchase the base game.

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How Paywalling NG+ in Infinite Wealth Puts a Damper on an Otherwise Great Experience

So Much Content Makes EXP Easy to Attain

Like a Dragon:Infinite Wealth's content makes its price tag more than worth it, especially when considering the time and effort that RGG has put into its development process. Still, turning a standard mechanic in games into paid DLC puts a damper on an otherwise great experience. While the shortcomings of an absent NG+ could have been diminished with level scaling, that's also absent from the base game. The sheer amount of content in Infinite Wealth has players earn a ton of EXP by virtue of completing minigames, substories, hero requests, and more. Without being able to adjust the title's difficulty outside of NG+, this can make many of Infinite Wealth's combat encounters feel trivial in comparison to their context and importance in the game's story.

While it can be argued that players should refrain from getting too deep into side content to keep their levels parallel to what's expected of story encounters, the nature of Infinite Wealth as an RPG makes it enticing to unlock things as they appear. Between earning cash from Dondoko Island to gain access to new jobs, fighting off enemies in the game's wonderful substories, and saving citizens in need to make Ichiban the friendliest man in Hawaii, much of what players do in Infinite Wealth makes them stronger. This shows how RGG makes the title's many mechanics overlap and feel rewarding, though at the same time, it can result in Ichiban and the team being far too overleveled when returning to the main story.

A Lack of Difficulty Adjustment Outside of Paid DLC

As a result, some boss fights, which by all accounts should be tense and dramatic, feel flatter than they should. Each person's experience will be different, however, as completing Infinite Wealth's side content and grinding for experience is ultimately up to the player's discretion. There are opportunities to challenge higher-level enemies in the title's dungeons, available in both Ijincho and Hawaii, as well as certain streets on their maps that house powerful adversaries. A star rating indicates how dangerous an area is in comparison to Ichiban and the team's current levels, making risky combat encounters available for those seeking them out.

Given the prominence of Infinite Wealth's main story, however, the effects of being overleveled can certainly be felt, begging the question of why a difficulty adjuster wasn't included in the base game. Infinite Wealth limiting NG+ to paid DLC was seen in Japan's release of LAD7 as well, which could indicate that this will be a recurring monetary practice for future entries in the series. While LAD7's Western release made changes, Infinite Wealth seems to be setting a precedent for paid Premium Adventure going forward. Though it's acceptable for trivial content like cosmetics to be paid add-ons, paywalling NG+ again could stir more controversy.