If you’re unaware, you can now buy ‘Exclusive Upgrade Tickets’ to fast track a weapon’s journey to its final upgrade. Exclusive upgrades become available to earn with in-game currency once Leon has enough money on his person to justify them, and for context they are usually incredibly expensive and often require an extra bit of grinding if you want more than one exclusive firearm. That’s the point though, choosing between maximising a pistol or a shotgun is a major decision you can’t take back. Upgrade tickets can also be earned by completing the Merchant’s side quests to get Spinels if you don’t fancy wasting your precious pesetas, but then you’ll be giving up goodies with equal amounts of importance.
Not anymore though, since those with deep enough pockets can abuse the system and max out every single weapon without compromise. For years now publishers have used excuses related to saving time and giving all types of players a means to progress, but all they really want to do is charge us for an upgrade the game already provides, while lessening the once illustrious achievement of making a weapon exclusive by allowing us to skip the process of upgrading altogether. It sucks, and actively goes against the campy spirit of Resident Evil 4.
Resident Evil 4 is a game designed to be replayed, your weapons constantly cycling in and out of your inventory as you buy new ones, sell old ones, and experiment with new methods of play for faster completion times. It’s also a lot of fun to try everything out, especially since I tend to stick with a rather conservative selection of guns on my first playthrough. The act of flogging my shotgun and standard pistol for the Riot Gun and Matilda felt like pretty big decisions, although the returning funds made upgrading them much easier. I was taking a risk in exchange for a reward, and now the option of using real money to circumvent that process takes away so much of the magic. Weapon management and upgrades aren’t a compelling gameplay mechanic anymore, they’re a commodity linked to microtransactions.
I shouldn’t be surprised since Capcom has been trading in this sort of thing for years. Devil May Cry 5 allowed you to purchase orbs to earn upgrades and abilities, Monster Hunter World and Rise continue to charge for individual emotes and cosmetics, and Resident Evil 3 Remake even let you buy the infinite RPG outright, rendering Inferno difficulty null and void. We are being served up exclusive weapon upgrade tokens because Capcom has witnessed success with them before, so there must be an audience for this, no matter how miniscule.
But to add these microtransactions after launch, long after the review embargo has lifted and critics can analyse them as part of the full package, reeks of a publisher aware of how rancid these practices are. Capcom would rather swallow a day or two of bad headlines and make some money on the back of it than risk tanking its Metacritic score out of greed. We saw the same happen with Crash Team Racing, with the entire in-game economy uprooted with the addition of currency that made earning anything a thankless grind. Resident Evil 4 thankfully hasn’t changed how the economy works or made the experience worse as a consequence, although the presence of these tickets staring me in the face still feels gross and deceiving.
I still need to delve into Mercenaries and my Professional playthrough to see how extensive these tickets really are, but do me a favour and don’t give into the temptation, even if it saves you time and delivers an unparalleled dose of firepower. Capcom doesn’t deserve it.
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Source: https://www.thegamer.com/resident-evil-4-exclusive-weapon-ticket-microtransaction-capcom-price/
"Resident Evil 4’s Microtransactions Are A Disgusting Act Of Duplicity" :: Login/Create an Account :: 2 comments