For years, I avoided DLC. The concept is new(ish) and scary to me. In my day, we had these things called "expansion packs," which were huge additions to a game, sold separately for, oh, anywhere from $15-$30. These days, add-ons usually come digitally in the form of "downloadable content" from online storefronts. I stayed firm in my resolve and admittedly was a little bit proud to say I'd never once purchased DLC.
Well, in mid 2015, I finally cracked. I had never purchased any extra missions, outfits, story chapters, or whateverthehell as download-only additions until the right games came along. I bought Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call DLC.
Allow me to defend to myself (and do so mostly to myself, because no probably no one fucking cares). While I hadn't made a firm commitment to never buy DLC, I knew that if I ever did, it would have to be the right game — intelligent, sincere, and someone I could picture myself with long-term.
…Wait am I still talking about games?
Let's take a step back and look at Curtain Call, though. That game came with over 200 songs included. That's an ass ton of content. I didn't buy the original Theatrhythm, because, though it had a lot of tracks, it wasn't enough for my insane standards. That was badly worded.
What I mean is, it was a lot, but for a game that with ambition so lofty as to shoot for all the best music of a series as huge and musically blessed as Final Fantasy, there was no was I was going to be satisfied with its, I don't know, 70 tracks or whatever it had. There were too many glaring omissions when I read the list. It's human nature to want what you can't have, and I knew that the out-of-reach tracks would bother me. Call me an asshole if you want, at least I'm honest about it.
Two-hundred damn songs? Okay, now we're talking. And then the DLC came, and it was shit I wanted to support. They reached beyond Final Fantasy to games for which I wanted to show my interest in. Yes, that could be seen as manipulative by Square Enix — no strangers to bullshit, to be sure — but damn, they got me. Know where they hit me? Right in my Nier.
They took a game that celebrates amazing soundtracks and added songs from the greatest (vocal) game soundtrack of all time, as well as music from SaGa Frontier, Chrono Trigger, Bravely Default, Secret of Mana, and motherfucking Xenoegears. And I'm all, "Slow down, H. Consider:"
- These are songs I dearly want to play.
- They're not really Final Fantasy, so putting them in is obviously a bonus.
- Square Enix doesn't do anything if it doesn't see some money value in it. This can be my small vote to, I dunno, remake Xenogears or a third Chrono game, or another Nier; which ended up happening.
See? You can already thank me for buying that Nier DLC.
So I did that and justified it. I got some 3DS eShop cards at my local convenience store and bought a bunch of songs. I added a lot of value to the experience. After we do something, we'll often try to retroactively justify it to make ourselves feel better. Am I doing that? One can never truly evaluate oneself, but thankfully, other people will readily jump in, so I welcome you to it. I'm pretty much saying the same things post-purchase that I was saying pre-purchase, so I feel like I dun good.
Which brings me to Persona 4: Dancing All Night. I ah… I bought DLC again.
It was a music game again. Interesting, since I was never tempted by DLC for the many music games I've played before.
In a nearly identical story, I felt that the game's content was worth what I paid, but I saw a few songs released later interested me, plus some tunes from Persona 4: The Anime, so I picked them up. The tracks are high quality and add length and value to the game, all for a price I'm not opposed to.
And now that Hatsune Miku is in that game, I suppose I am doomed.
The seal has been broken, the line crossed, so does it stop there? I can no longer say "I've never purchased DLC," but will I still be able to say, "I've only bought DLC for two games" for very long?
Time to sell my couch. Do you have eight bucks?
