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Retail discs that are basically prototypes...

TreblaYevrah

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I have this obsession with playing all PS4 games without patches when I first buy them, and we are at the point where buying a disc basically means purchasing an obsolete, unfinished version of a product. The severity of this varies from product to product. For example... Resident Evil 2 (remake) is pretty much complete on disc, whereas something like Conan Exiles is a barely functioning build of the game without updates, with even the large majority of objectives labelled "COMING SOON" in the menu.

Especially thanks to PS4's ability to easily record gameplay, I find exploring these near "prototype" versions of released games pretty interesting. Final Fantasy XV, which was notoriously considered "unfinished" by many, is actually quite playable from start to finish on disc. That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of wild bugs that were patched out later... including what might be the best video game glitch ever, the "Armiger Glitch." Back on the subject of Conan Exiles... that game even had features which have since been "removed," like an option for first person combat.

We are probably nearing the days of digital-only consoles, especially with platforms like the Switch that sometimes require half of the physical game to be downloaded anyway. Still, it's interesting that with physical copies still existing, we actually can boot up "older builds" of some games that in a digital-only landscape would simply no longer exist... which is currently the case with PC gaming. The fact that PS4 doesn't allow you to outright disable game updates speaks volumes about how nobody is really "supposed" to play the version of a game on disc.

Having said all of that, preserving the most up-to-date versions of these games may be the bigger problem many years from now.
 

cta

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...can we agree to only list titles that got patched to something resembling a proper final later? Otherwise I expect this thread's gonna degenerate into just a list of shitty games like Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.

Anyways, I'll add No Man's Sky now that it doesn't crash every five minutes and even kinda-sorta has multiplayer, albeit different from what was promised.
 
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pato

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Shadow of Tomb Raider had a different ending on its v1.00, however, there was a day one patch. It wasn't until days or weeks later that someone posted in a Tomb Raider forum that there was this ending, most people didn't believe until the dude recalled that he played it entirely offline due to internet issues, then it was proved by other players by doing the same.

Mass Effect 3 had the controversial endings which were altered in an update, but still no one was satisfied with.
 

WorldGenesis

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Destiny 1 was basically a prototype for a while, they changed the ending of the story for the expansions/DLC.

Luckily, I played the game before they changed the ending :p

Also, it contained a different voice for the main ghost, it was Peter Dinklage which was replaced by Nolan North. :O

I really wish I could re-play that version of the game again. (even if it was considered bad >_>)
 

HI_RICKY

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PS3 ZOE HD first ver is many bug and graphic issue like prototype , they update patch and new ver disc like remaster XD
 
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Arcadia

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Of course there's games that have grown organically over the years that shouldn't count. Like all Paradox games, for example, that are patched with free content (along with paid DLC) which means that the Day 1 games and the current ones are very different beasts. Can't think of any other examples at the top of my head, though. Maybe WoW? Can you play that game without expansions and have pretty much the Day 1 experience?
 

la-li-lu-le-lo

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I haven't really experienced this much, but I don't play that many "brand new" games. I have noticed that it seems like a pretty common thing for PC games to have improved performance with updates, especially ones that are very demanding. I don't mind updates in general, but I do find it annoying when they try to force updates on you.

Shadow of Tomb Raider had a different ending on its v1.00, however, there was a day one patch. It wasn't until days or weeks later that someone posted in a Tomb Raider forum that there was this ending, most people didn't believe until the dude recalled that he played it entirely offline due to internet issues, then it was proved by other players by doing the same.

I didn't know about that. I played it for the first time about a month or so after it was released, so I guess the version I played had the revised ending.
 

TreblaYevrah

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Pretty fascinating when something like an ending is changed. Regardless of audience reaction, I'm not sure I agree with "correcting" a plot point after the fact to appease fans. Fans and developers alike should respect that something "is what it as" to a certain degree, I feel. You don't need to like it, but attempting to alter the original intent after the fact comes across as fairly insincere in my opinion.

METAL GEAR SOLID V THE PHANTOM PAIN SPOILERS:
Actually, that reminds me of the MGSV patch that allowed players to get Quiet back. While it's understandable that fans were upset with losing a character they had grown attached to, I feel that this was kind of the whole point. It sort of cheapens the feeling of "losing something" when you just get it back because you want it real bad.

Years from now we might see a new generation of gamers demanding a patch to add a "certain character" back to the party in the Final Fantasy VII remake.
 
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TreblaYevrah

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Anyways, I'll add No Man's Sky now that it doesn't crash every five minutes and even kinda-sorta has multiplayer, albeit different from what was promised.

No Man's Sky is definitely an interesting case of a game constantly evolving. I was happy to see them release a new physical copy of the VR compatible version on PS4, so that the "better" version of the game no longer only exists in "cyberspace." Comparing the original disc release of that to the current one would be something, for sure.
 

Mord.Fustang

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I never thought about it that way... that you get to see beta elements in unpatched disc games.

Here's what comes to mind:

-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (PS4) famously only has the tutorial on the disc.

-COD WW2 (PS4) won't even let you get to the main menu unless you download a giant patch. Tried to play a split screen game offline one time on a friend's system, only to find that out. I wouldn't be surprised if there was hardly any game content on the disc at all.

I agree that we are nearing digital-only gaming. Even if the next gen of consoles have physical media, I imagine many times, the "games" will have basically nothing on the disc, and act as a key to let you play the game.
 

TreblaYevrah

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-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (PS4) famously only has the tutorial on the disc.

It's interesting you bring that one up, because I was going to make mention of it.

I did own the PS4 disc version of that, and I played it without updates. There was a lot of debate about whether the levels were actually on the disc, and I'm quite certain that they in fact were... so I'm not entirely sure where this rumor came from, unless it was only true for the European release. I'm doubting myself now though... so I'd have to double check this.

I can say for certainty, though, that some of the sponsor logos/shirt designs changed post updates. I don't know if this had anything to do with companies distancing themselves from the game, or something else changing late in development... but it's pretty unusual. The live footage playing in the main menu does have some of the logos blurred out, so I can only imagine they ran into some difficulty on that front.
 
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J-Doran1968

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People who love and still use the current and last generation of consoles (i.e. me, and many other gamers) aren't going to be happy when those consoles' official servers are finally shut down, as when we then install a game from it's disc on to the PS4 or XBox 360 etc,, then the game won't be able to download any necessary patches. I am hoping that when this happens, Sony and Microsoft will release discs containing collections of the patches, so everyone can easily have access to them, but I'm not confident.

Pirates, of course, will probably have no problem because they'll either use pre-patched versions of the games, or be able to download and apply the patches no problem. But the honest gamers won't be able to do this, unless they then go through the process of getting their consoles hacked or modded.
 
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Arcadia

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Pirates, of course, will probably have no problem because they'll either use pre-patched versions of the games, or be able to download and apply the patches no problem. But the honest gamers won't be able to do this, unless they then go through the process of getting their consoles hacked or modded.

It's like those FBI warnings on DVD's back in the day, only the honest people saw those, they were cut from the pirated ones.
 
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MrMario2011

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Not much of a prototype but since we brought up CoD: WWII I figured I'd bring up Super Lucky's Tale. The game itself isn't on the disc, there's just enough data sitting on the disc for the Xbox One to verify the disc itself is Super Lucky's Tale. Once verified, the entire game as well as any of the latest patches are downloaded as one giant patch.

I believe Spyro: Reignited Trilogy is quite similar to this as well across PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. If I remember correctly: the first Spyro is physically on the media, Spyro 2 and 3 are only partially there. Enough to play the beginning of them, like a demo, but the rest of those games must be downloaded.
 
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TreblaYevrah

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^You're right about Spyro. I have it on PS4, and while portions of 2 and 3 are on disc, the rest needs to be patched in... which is pretty ridiculous, in my opinion.

People who love and still use the current and last generation of consoles (i.e. me, and many other gamers) aren't going to be happy when those consoles' official servers are finally shut down, as when we then install a game from it's disc on to the PS4 or XBox 360 etc,, then the game won't be able to download any necessary patches. I am hoping that when this happens, Sony and Microsoft will release discs containing collections of the patches, so everyone can easily have access to them, but I'm not confident.

The nice thing about Xbox 360 in particular, is that game updates are usually saved as individual files in your HDD/Memory unit. This usually means that you can copy the update file to a USB stick and back it up yourself if you really want to; no modding/piracy needed. I have done this with the Deja Vu mission update for the 360 version of Ground Zeroes, for example, as well as the Resident Evil Revelations 2 update that added a bunch of free Raid Mode characters. Most consoles do not operate this way... but I would recommend this to any hardcore 360 players that want to future proof their favorite titles.
 

Yakumo

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From the beginning (whenever that was)
The American Sega Rally on Saturn is basically a proto. Crap loads missing from that. I'd also say the US Sonic is a proto since that is missing many basic features such as Parallax scrolling and line effects for water. Oh, and let's add in the US Dreamcast release of Dead or Alive 2. That is missing so much content compared to the Japanese version.
 

TreblaYevrah

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Dead or Alive 2 has an interesting release history, as far as content goes. On PS2 it basically had three distinct versions; the original Japanese release with the least content, the North American/European release with some extra costumes/features, and then the DOA2 "Hard*core" release in Japan with all the content from the overseas release(?), but with a few extra costumes, etc.

I never owned the Dreamcast versions, but a quick check online seems to suggest that the Japanese Dreamcast version came out seven months after the US one... so that must explain the extra content?

The discrepancy in release dates by region has always been interesting... and I've actually started thinking more about that this generation. Back to the subject of PS4 with patches, etc... it occurred to me that, even if another region had a later release that technically had no extra content/differences, it could still mean that a later "build" of the game was burned to the disc. Once again I'll use Conan Exiles as an example (since I'm kind of obsessed with that one these days)... It released in North America/Europe at the same time. This is the build that is basically broken on disc, and doesn't even include all the religion options, so it's not much different from the "Early Access" days of the game. However, it was released three months later in Japan as "Conan Outcasts." I haven't confirmed it yet... but I did order a copy to see what version of the game is on disc without patches. If it's a later/more stable build, that would be pretty cool!
 

Mord.Fustang

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I predict that in the near future... say like 20-30 years from now when there is no online servers anymore for systems like PS3 & PS4, that the value of a used console can heavily be valued based on what content is already on the system. Since there won't be any legit way to get DLC and patches, a system loaded with store bought games and DLC will be worth way more than a system with nothing on it.
 
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TreblaYevrah

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^I think your theory has already been proven correct by the value of PS4 consoles that still have PT on them. People have discussed that game to death, but it is a pretty fascinating example of content already being "lost" this generation.
 

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