Dominions II - Low Budget and Overpriced? I think not.

[Saber Cherry]

There has been a lot of complaining about the "high price" of Dominions, which is "overpriced" for a "low budget" game. And feel free to complain - perhaps there is a valid point behind it that has not yet been stated. But maybe it has been stated, and I don't understand it because it is based on a superficial and illogical perception of economics and reality.

To people who say Dominions 2 is overpriced for a low-budget game...

What do you mean by low budget? Less than $100 million? Less than $1 million? Less than $10,000? How do you quantify a budget for something done without a budget? The Pyramids of Egypt were low budget, because money had not been invented. The Mona Lisa was low budget. Beethoven's 5th Symphony was low budget. War and Peace was low budget. So? They're all priceless to vast numbers of people.

Why does spending millions of dollars on a game justify a higher price? Final Fantasy 3 (6) and Chrono Trigger were cheaper to produce than Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, and FFX, and better. Should I pay more for an inferior game because the producer decided to blow vast sums of money on irrelevant video clips, instead of basing the game on gameplay?

What is important is whether the enjoyment is worth the money. Would you shun a good, inexpensively produced movie like "El Mariachi" or "Greek Wedding" in favor of the multimillion dollar pieces of trash "Gigli", "Battlefield Earth", or "FF: Spirits Within", simply because the latter cost more to make? Do you base your music-buying decisions on how much the producers are paying themselves (the majority of music production costs)? For the same selling price, would you rather buy a book written by a corporation (or organization) rather than by an individual, because it cost more to produce?

The development costs of Dominions are not known, can never be calculated, and are irrelevant to the price of the game. The primary factor in the price of Dominions is the per-unit production and distribution price, which is much higher than the per-unit price for major corporate game releases, due to efficiencies of scale... and while those numbers are not public, they can only support a higher, not lower, selling price. And the only factor relevant to whether or not a person purchases Dominions for a given price is the enjoyment received per dollar spent, relative to other uses of that money.

So. Can anyone tell me why they continually bring up the "low budget" status of Dominions as a relevant factor to its pricing? I'd love to hear a coherent, rational explanation. Dollar figures on what you imagine Dominions II’s budget to be, and what it should have been to justify its sales price, would be also be interesting… though ultimately worthless without a known link between the “budget” and sales price.

-Cherry

[Teraswaerto]

I agree with you 100%. The Last game I bought before Dom II was Max Payne II. Guess with which I'm happier to have spent 50 € on?

[ December 24, 2003, 07:39: Message edited by: Teraswaerto ]

[UNIVAC]

Im sorry but you cant mix satisfaction ratio with economical issues.If you want to be objective and speak only in economic terms, satisfaction has nothing to do.
Saber, if you want a rational and coherent answer, try to figure out why you pay the same, for two games like Dominions 2 and Max Payne 2.Try to figure out people involved in both projects, marketing, equipment, ....You like or not, production cost is directly linked to the price.And you are wrong in one thing, you can calculate the production cost of EVERYTHING

With this im not saying that i support the point of view you are attacking, because i dont.But i think your speech is subjective.

[Karacan]

The term "low budget" is a descriptive term, mostly. Flashy eyecatchers, impressive opening videos, fullscale 3d battles with tons of animations, animated world and tons of earrending soundeffects are noticeably missing from Dominions II.

The graphics are functional, the soundtrack is pleasing the first couple of games (though the very few tracks always repeating themselves get tiresome rather quick) and well, at least there's flashy spell effects in combat.

We're not talking about replay value, fun, clever gamedesign or anything, just about the Flashiness, whose absence causes Dom II to be labeled by most people (including me) as "low budget".

I admit the price made me gulp as well. My decision to purchase the game was more of a fanboyish attidue: When I played Dom I, I knew instantly that if Dom II ever made it, it'd be mine. If I hadn't have tons of experience of the deep gaming experience of Dominions I, I strongly doubt that the Dom II demo (with that lousy 40 turn limit, which turned me off additionally) would have even started to convince me to shell out a lot of cash.

A lot of cash? Yes. When I describe Dominions to others, I tend to use the term "the Nethack of strategy gaming". Nethack, which I still play - a great low budget game of immense depth and replayability, which did not cost a lot of money.

Anyway, the point is that I purchased the game because I loved Dominions I, not because I think it's not overprized.

[apoger]

I think people are using the term "low budget" as a synonym for "poor production values". Perhaps not the best use of language, but I understand the intent.

When people pay "full" price for things they expect all the amenities, such as good documentation, good tutorials, and a clean/intuitive interface.


Price versus perceived value is very important. The "low budget" commentary is the way the the players are expressing their dissatisfaction with their perceived purchase. Nobody really cares how much money has been spent on game production. What they care about is game fun/functionality versus their time/money.

[Karacan]

Hmm, I forgot to add two points:

Is it worth the price? Yes, for me, it is. Although I had to think about it.

Why is it worth the price? And this is the point: Not only because of a good game design that offers a lot of fun, but mainly because I supported with my money a cool low budget company with great ideas about games and excellent ideas how to make them work (have a look at any other shareware fantasy strategy stuff to know that this is apparently not an easy feat).

I am still left with the (subjective) impression that Dom II is not a shareware game, not for this price. And as a non-shareware game, the critics are more unforgiving for polish and shine, too.