What's the deal with Prologues now a days?

[Lusid]

Since when did we start calling demos prologues, and why are they in the free to play section. Unless the game is going to be free when the actual game releases, it shouldn't be in the free to play section. Just put a download prologue button right next to the download demo button, or instead of it since they're the same thing.

[Radene]

That's how they try to hook you. But at least we get demos again occasionally.

[cinedine]

Well, the earliest I can think of is Gran Turismo 5 which also sold for ten bucks in 2008. Another famous example would be Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zero.

They are separate games which give a taste of the main game and not only portion of it.

[Lusid]

Try being the operative word. Calling a demo a prologue seems more like deception. If its called what it is, a demo, i'd get it and try it if it seems like it suits me. Seeing this prologue nonsense just feels like trying to make your demo appear on the games page. It's the same tactics i'd expect from people who bog their games down with microtransactions or loot boxes.

Anytime i see a prologue i'm gunna pass.

[cinedine]

It's NOT a demo in the sense we know demos.
It is not a cut portion of the game or a time-llimited version of it. It is a full game.

The developers got out of their way providing you with an enclosed taste of the game. For free most of the times.
How is this even comparable to loot boxes?

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Try being the operative word. Calling a demo a prologue seems more like deception.

Prologues are not necessarily demos.

Demos are a taste of what the real game looks like. So if the original game changes demos should change too (Which has been a problem for demos for years, they became obsolete as the original game evolved unless the dev spent time updating the demo too. Which costs money and time)

'Prologues' don't share that fault. Like a movie trailer the movie can change and the 'trailer' can stay the same. No need to be that faithful as it's not a snippet of the real thing.

Prologues are basically demos evolved to modern days. If the dev really wants to provide a demo they can set up the game for a free weekend hassle free, instead of developing and maintaining a different piece of software.

Originally posted by Radene:

But at least we get demos again occasionally.

And the complaints don't stop. They can never win.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Try being the operative word. Calling a demo a prologue seems more like deception. If its called what it is, a demo, i'd get it and try it if it seems like it suits me. Seeing this prologue nonsense just feels like trying to make your demo appear on the games page. It's the same tactics i'd expect from people who bog their games down with microtransactions or loot boxes.

Anytime i see a prologue i'm gunna pass.

Trials, shareware, demo, prologue, sample, etc, it all means the same thing: "try before you buy". People think that the word "demo" is the only correct one, when it is simply just another word.

And as they are free, they are correctly placed in the free to play part.

[Lusid]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

And as they are free, they are correctly placed in the free to play part.

I disagree on that point. As they "All mean the same thing" demos are on the game's page, not a separate page of it's own. A game with a demo that is not/will not be free will just say it's not released, but the demo is available on the game's page.

By packing it as a prologue, it has it's own game page and shows up on the free to play section UNLIKE demos. Im saying prologues are gumming up the free to play page where people look for full free to play games. When i click free to play, im not looking for demos. Im looking for games.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Try being the operative word. Calling a demo a prologue seems more like deception. If its called what it is, a demo, i'd get it and try it if it seems like it suits me. Seeing this prologue nonsense just feels like trying to make your demo appear on the games page. It's the same tactics i'd expect from people who bog their games down with microtransactions or loot boxes.

Anytime i see a prologue i'm gunna pass.

And the fallacy here is that you believe its binary. A prologue doesn't have to be a demo and a demo doesn't have to be a prologue. but you can have something that is both. Prologue just implies that it contains canonical narrative elements. Demo just means that contains a representation of the mechanical elements and systems of the game (core loops, systems, challenge factors, etc).

Example. the old shareware model combined demos and prologues into one thing. You got the first episode which essentially was a vertical slice of the game and featured all the narrative elements and characters.

When you have a prologue sans gameplay what you have is essentially a trailer of the intro cutscene, or a lore trailer. A demo without a prologue is just a tech demo. Ie it shows a bunch of mechanics and loops abstract from the the narrative structure or themes of the game. IT'd basically just be a collection of rooms that you can putter around in.

You don't like the word Prologue, thats fine. But just to be clear you're just complaining about a word. not what the word refers to.

[cinedine]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

And as they are free, they are correctly placed in the free to play part.

I disagree on that point. As they "All mean the same thing" demos are on the game's page, not a separate page of it's own. A game with a demo that is not/will not be free will just say it's not released, but the demo is available on the game's page.

By packing it as a prologue, it has it's own game page and shows up on the free to play section UNLIKE demos. Im saying prologues are gumming up the free to play page where people look for full free to play games. When i click free to play, im not looking for demos. Im looking for games.

But they ARE full free games. Why is this so hard to comprehend?

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

And as they are free, they are correctly placed in the free to play part.

I disagree on that point. As they "All mean the same thing" demos are on the game's page, not a separate page of it's own. A game with a demo that is not/will not be free will just say it's not released, but the demo is available on the game's page.

By packing it as a prologue, it has it's own game page and shows up on the free to play section UNLIKE demos. Im saying prologues are gumming up the free to play page where people look for full free to play games. When i click free to play, im not looking for demos. Im looking for games.

No, you are labelling it as such and you are thinking that just because you are used to something, it should be like that. Demos don't *have* to be on the store pages, it's simply a convenient place.

These prologues are free games and they give a taste of what the paid brother is going to be. So through that they function as a demo. There is NOTHING wrong with that and they are properly placed in the free to play section.

And it honestly isn't relevant what you want when you click on free to play games. The store isn't aimed at you specifically, it's aimed at the grand public. And Valve and the publishers will have enough data to show them what does and does not work for them.

[Lusid]

Full games? So im to assume that all these prologues are not going to be a simple few minutes, maybe an hour of gameplay before it's completed? They're the same size content wise as the full game to be released? I'd bet my steam account it's not.

It's a demo with the spin of taking place before the full game. Sure it's cool from a design standpoint to make the demo actually hold substance in relation to the actual game, but let's not delude ourselves. It's a demo. A stylish demo, but a demo.

[cinedine]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Full games? So im to assume that all these prologues are not going to be a simple few minutes, maybe an hour of gameplay before it's completed? They're the same size content wise as the full game to be released? I'd bet my steam account it's not.

So you are literally complaining about something you haven't even tried?
Also where does it state that a game has to be of a minimum length or has the same features as another?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/845070/The_Awesome_Adventures_of_Captain_Spirit/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awesome_Adventures_of_Captain_Spirit

I am awaiting your log-in credentials.

[Crazy Tiger]

They are full games in their own right, yes. Being a full game doesn't mean that a game has to have X amount of content, or X amount of hours of length. You want to compare them to other games, which isn't relevant. There are plenty of games on Steam that last an hour (or even less) and in that are a full game.

Often enough the only actual similarity between prologues and the released games is the mechanics and setting. In some cases they even are spin-offs of the story, for example. You can play it in its own right and have a good experience.

[Lusid]

Error: unable to load information about this item.

Wiki entry you sent me to, ran a search for prelude and prologue. 404, not found.

Im not saying a prologue is not a full game. Im saying what devs are slapping prologue on now a days are not full games. They're demos that get a spot of their own on the pages. That's the issue i have. Clearly you don't have that issue, so go and enjoy your prologues. I said my piece, made my point. if you disagree that's your call.

[cinedine]

Originally posted by Lusid:

Error: unable to load information about this item.

Wiki entry you sent me to, ran a search for prelude and prologue. 404, not found.

Or you could have read it and do some additional research. I don't know why the link doesn't work I can access the page on a browser while not being logged in.
Just because a game doesn't has "prologue" in it's name doesn't make it less of one. It is the very same idea behind it.