To be fair, Rogue Trader - is not AAA, one A maximum, and we don't pay for updates of PDX games - look at Victoria 3, they add some new gameplay features from DLC for free and pretty often. Some DLCs (such as No Step Back) are great and worth money to pay.
I'm not talking about Rogue Trader, for example, I bought the same Baldur's Gate 3 cheaper than the DLC pack from Paradox Interactive now costs. The game lasts for 70 hours and has insane replay value. And large patches for BG 3 are often larger than the entire Crusader Kings 3.
Damn it, Cyberpunk 2077 costs the same as the DLC pack, and now it’s also on sale at a discount, and we get a situation where the game + DLC (with a discount) cost less than the DLC pack for Crusader Kings 3.
The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece of its time, even without discounts it costs less, and with a discount it’s a ridiculous amount, everyone can afford it, and this is for a game that, after a bunch of years, has essentially been reborn.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 the regular edition is cheaper than the DLC pack, and the deluxe edition is quite a bit more expensive. A game that will only be released in 2024 costs less than a game from 2020 (lol, apparently the inscription “created by PARADOX” during loading adds +999% to the cost of the product).
And these are just the games that I can remember.
Regarding “free updates from Paradox”, yes, indeed, formally they exist, but if you look at them soberly, then these are just stripped-down mechanics from the DLC. Let me give you examples: in patch 1.5, Crusader Kings received the “Royal Court” and the mechanics of artifacts were introduced in it. And yes, it is available without purchasing DLC! Absolutely free! Do you know how many artifacts can be found on the map without purchased DLC? As many as 2 pieces! This is what I understand as a serious change in gameplay, 2 artifacts! I wouldn't be surprised if they simply forgot to put them in the DLC and that's a bug.
In the same patch, they reworked the cultures and their legacies, the point is that in the DLC we are given the opportunity to mix cultures and reform, receiving gameplay changes. And... yes, the cultures have been reworked without purchasing DLC! But if you want to mix and change them, then pay!
And this is the essence of all the free changes in the Paradox games, they simply make them as flawed and useless as possible, so much so that they are impossible to use.
For almost 4 years of Crusader Kings 3's existence, we have received exactly 0 fundamental gameplay changes. But we get "North African Outfits" for $5! And this kit was created not even by Paradox, but by a modder (albeit a very talented one). Cool, yeah?
And of course, packs of the same terribly boring event packs, hello “friends and foes”, “wards and wardens”, which get boring in about 2-3 hours. (Thanks for the free hostage mechanic, of course no one uses it because it’s useless)
As for “costing money”... “costing money before”, to be honest, for me personally, all games from Paradox are now worth nothing, simply because I’ve played enough of them and without DLC there will be nothing new, and paying such a scam prices, I will not purely on principle.
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