At the risk of pouring gasoline into a fire... First let me say that I respect other people's feelings and opinions about this and am not trying to change anyone's mind. Having said that, my personal experience and feelings about the game, about CD Projekt RED and about GOG concerning the game are as follows:
- CD Projekt RED created what I consider to be the best video game ever made and I believe it is a true masterpiece by any measure. It literally blew me away. When I first installed it and saw it on screen I couldn't even move or speak I was so taken away by the impressive graphics and environment. I literally walked around and stared at things with my mouth open for 10 minutes before I snapped out of it. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game all the way through as a completionist and pretty much saw everything there was to see in the game as far as I'm aware. I have not yet had the pleasure of playing the game with the expansions except for a brief few hours, and haven't seen all of the more recent enhancements to the UI or gotten used to them or things like the stash or other major improvements they added later but I'm aware of them via reading the changelogs and quite happy about that.
- The game was incredibly stable overall compared to most games and while it had bugs they mostly did not interfere with my game play too much and also mostly got fixed within a reasonable time frame compared to most other game companies.
- In my own eyes personally I believe that CDPR highly respects their gamers and has an honesty that other companies generally lack in the industry. Other people may feel differently and have their reasons, but that's how I personally feel.
- IMHO they have responded not only to bug reports very well over time, but also to suggestions for improvements and options to the game, the interface and other commonly asked for things. Most companies simply don't give a crap once they have your money.
- The original non-discounted cost of the game on release day is a fraction of what any major studio would have charged for this game. Ubisoft or EA for example would have easily charged $70 for it, and made a $90 edition with some extra DLC, probably not included any bonus goodies with the base game, instead including them only with the Special Edition or whatever, and would still have only included half the goodies CDPR did at best. The loyalty discount on preorder only sweetened the deal that much more. The money I saved from the loyalty discount was more than the price I actually paid for the first two Witcher games to begin with.
- The 16 free DLC would have been charged $3-5 or more each by Ubisoft or EA easily, and I wouldn't doubt they would have released another dozen for-pay DLC as well. CDPR released it all for free I believe to make a statement that companies can be good to their gamers, while also keeping up momentum of sales on the release.
- CDPR overall was quite responsive to feedback via their forums and/or other mechanisms and listened to gamers feedback overall much more than most other companies do. They also continue so far up until now to keep fixing bugs and updating the game even though it is almost 18 months old now, when many companies stop doing so mere months after their game's release, leaving their game in a perpetual state of bugginess with no intentions to fix it because they already have everyone's money. CDPR seems to think very differently about that and to take pride in what they're doing and have respect for their customers.
- GOG - I have no particular feelings concerning GOG about this particular game. Even though CDPR is their sister company, GOG sells the game like they sell any other game. They package it and supply the files to install/download, have people handling support queries and whatnot, but they themselves don't make the game or decide how it is packaged or sold - CDPR does ultimately, much like any other game in the store they just sell it even if it is closer to their heart so to speak.
I'm tremendously happy with this game and with CDPR for the amazing and highly entertaining experience. I've quite honestly never had such a wonderful experience with a game or game company ever before, although I have had some great experiences with various games, not quite to the extent of this one. I'm happy with what I have, what I paid for it and how they've supported it to date overall and feel I got my money's worth a very long time ago, and I haven't even played the highly praised expansions yet or seen any other new content/changes really. I know my replays will be quite exciting as well to discover new things and experience new battles etc and I look forward to it down the line when I have time.
I'm happy to see them rebrand a GOTY release of the game as I think they deserve the added sales it is likely to generate, and hope that the continuing profit they get off the game series fuels power into their future game titles like Cyberpunk 2077 which I very much look forward to also.
Being happy with what I already have, I have never expected them to give me anything else new for free, any new DLC or other content, bonus goodies or other stuff, they have long ago given me more than my money's worth in entertainment and satisfaction. I don't feel they owe me anything more other than perhaps continuing to patch any bugs in the game that they can etc. I have no sense of entitlement about receiving anything more than what I already paid for and have been happy with all this time.
The GOTY release I see as being really nothing more than what I already have. I know others see it differently and that's ok, I respect that, but still I do not really see it as anything substantially different or noteworthy. I don't feel that CDPR nor GOG owe me a free copy of the game, a free upgrade or anything else, nor do I personally consider it to even be an upgrade. I can see how some people may feel the single installer is a big deal and they want it and I also respect that wish too. I don't personally mind the various individual installers myself because it is not like someone sits down every day of the week and reinstalls the game then uninstalls it an hour later and reinstalls it again 2 hours after that. For the most part, I'm going to install the game once, play it all the way through and never even see the installer again likely or at least not very often, so while it could be an inconvenience to have to run several installers, it is not a big deal to me perosnally.
If they magically supplied a single standalone installer to existing owners I wouldn't balk at them for it and I might even bother to download the massive file and use it perhaps, but since it is something that would be used only a very few times in the game's lifespan for me it wouldn't make me jump for joy to have such, and I wont pout or throw a fit to not have it either. My happiness of the game is not dependent on getting new stuff or feeling I'm owed it for any reason.
So while there may be unhappy folks out there for whatever stated reasons they have, I don't believe that is the case for every customer of the game, and it certainly isn't the case for me. I think that any threads in the forums discussing this topic are flooded mostly by people who are angry or upset and feel slighted or whatever their individual cases may be, however I think the majority of people who are very happy and satisfied with the game to date like I am are simply afraid to speak of their satisfaction for fear of having their heads bitten off by people who feel unsatisfied or unhappy for some reason and would rather just not say anything than take the risk.
So I may visibly be one of the few willing to come forward and state a contrarian opinion to what has been the majority vocalized here so far, while I do not claim to speak for anyone else I would not at all be surprised if there are many people who are reading what I am saying who feel very similarly to what my experience and feelings are about the game, and of both CDPR and GOG. Others may and I'm positive do disagree with me an that's ok but there is more than one opinion about this that is worth sharing and I felt the other side of things needed to be aired because the conversation sounded way too one-sided so far.
Not trying to change anyone else's opinion, so no need for anyone to defend their position. Everyone has a right to feel exactly how they feel about this and to express what they've expressed about it for how it is for them, but well... so do I so there it is. :)
Some may consider calling me a "fanboy" for this opinion and if that is the case so be it. What I actually am however is an incredibly satisfied and happy customer who feels they've been treated fantastically by a game company for once in my life, and I'm not afraid to say that even if it might be speaking into a pen of potential pitbulls. :oP
Anyhow, thank you very much CDPR for making this amazing game and supporting it better than any other company would have, for charging an extremely reasonable price for everything compared to any other company out there, for all of the goodies, and for all of the free DLC and stuff, for the good sense of humour put into the game and elsewhere as well, and best wishes with sales of the new GOTY release!
Now please don't bite my head off. :)
(Update: fixed a few typos and grammatical errors for clarity)
Post edited September 04, 2016 by skeletonbow
