The DLC model "to enhance your space" is much more appealing than paying a monthly fee... the online aspect of this game has me very interested though I'll wait and see what other gamers have to say about the game before buying.

I've seen some completely BS transactions in my life, but five bucks to redesign a character has to be the worst.

do want this game.
don't want to pay after i pay to enjoy anything.

Great, first Hustle Kings, and now White Knight Chronicles...the list of games in the Sony micro-transaction experiment grows.

While yes, the items for sale are mostly, but not all, cosmetic, where will the line be drawn? Hell, in Hustle Kings you can buy different chalk which increases your accuracy 10 fold - oh and by the way...you only get 48 uses. If I buy something for a game, I expect to own it, not spend a small amount of money for something that only lasts 'X' amount of time.

I really hate the idea of micro-transactions in general, but specifically in console games. People buy the console and subsequent games in order to have the ability to insert the game and play - getting into the action ASAP. It makes no sense to need to pay for specific items, access, or even abilities. For the amount we pay for most games - $60.00 (or whatever full price might be) it's assumed we will have a complete game (including features) and also be on the same playing field as other people. Micro-transactions changes the playing field from one of skill, or perhaps one of understanding - the game and how it can be beaten/taken advantage of, to a game where the person with the deepest wallet can become victorious. Not cool!

I swear Sony is testing the waters and before too long I fear publishers will be encouraging developers to leave-out features in order to create a need for micro-transactions.

Sorry about the rant.

Tycho from Penny-Arcade made an excellent point about this type of "useless" DLC a few weeks ago.

He said he treats buying DLC as a "tip" to the developers for creating a great game. We tip a waitress $5 for bringing us food ONCE but we can't see spending that much money on a little bit of extra content?

Plenty of reviews are up and they range from mediocre to negative. Thing is, the online aspect is a huge part of this game similar to Monster Hunter. The online bit wasn't available until today, so even people with early review copies didn't have full access to the online bits, so their reviews are going to be pretty incomplete if they are just talking about the single-player mode.

It's just another JRPG if you're only looking at single-player.

@berserkerX

Have you used metacritic before? I use it for all my gaming reviews, it simply just compiles review scores from different review people and averages the score. Not many reviews for white knight right now though. I would tell you to wait for more reviews to pop up but, your picking up the game tommorrow. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/whiteknightchroniclesinternational

All this bellyaching about Micro-transactions is pointless. News flash: THEY ARE TOTALLY OPTIONAL. If you don't think any given piece of DLC is worth it, then don't buy it. You can say what you want about micro-transactions but they're still more preferable to annual fees. At least micro-transactions give you more control over how much money you spend. Sony has expressed a desire to make both The Agency and DC Universe Online free to play and presumably micro-transaction based. Hopefully they'll succeed in this endeavor especially with regard to DCUO. But with regards to White Knight Chronicles, it's also worth noting that the more significant pieces of DLC such as additional online quests are going to be free.

However having said that I am a bit annoyed with the WKC release. If memory serves the release date was supposed to be 2/2/10. Still, I think it'll ultimately be worth the wait.

I'm getting this as soon as my gamestop stops failing me.

@Magnalon

Forced? You're not forced to do anything. As I said before: TOTALLY OPTIONAL. But it sounds more to me like this issue is with the very existence and idea of DLC in general.