The Apex Prophecy

 

Back in the age when Apex Legacy was very much still the doe-eyed fresh kid on the block trying to prove himself in the rough-and-tumble market of Battle Royale games, I was actually one of the early adopters happy to see a title with a bit of quality in the field that didn't subdue it's main focus under an obnoxious building mechanic. (I have nothing personally against Fortnite's building, I just never had the patience to get half decent at it.) Apex Legends looked great, felt better and glittered with that special spark of promise very few stars in the sky can muster- it was a game that felt like it was going somewhere in a style of online titles that was already edging toward oversaturation even back then. Somehow everyone could tell this would the type of game to float to the top of the pack and stick around for a while. Did I know it would be this much of a contender? No. But I did have an experience with Apex that not only knocked me out of the stupor this game presents, but gave me a crystal clear picture of the legacy the game was headed towards. Let me call it the... Apex Prophecy.

I am of course referring to the early days of the game where the bare basic game was still keeping enough of us hooked to be curious and inquisitive about upcoming content. We had not reached that point of the Live Service lifecycle wherein the fanbase are so starved that they gobble up any and all content without so much as a second thought- we still had some vague sense resembling 'self respect' left over for ourselves. Whatever that's worth. And it was in this very volatile window of the game's life cycle that the development made their first, and in my case their only, mistake. It the event through which Apex attempted to differentiate it's fresh Season 2 events from the largely forgotten Season 1 "Legendary Hunt" event which no one for the life of them can remember.

"The Iron Crown" Which I'm pretty sure is also the name of a Paradox Pokémon from Gen 9, threw up players against the endgame of events: a series of limited time collectables wherein the top most reward was not wrapped in a challenge of skill, but monetary devotion. You had to overcome the pitfalls of sensible budgeting and sink at least £147 into microtransaction lootboxes in order to get the honour of wielding... an axe skin. That's all it was, a skin for your axe. It looked pretty, kinda. But £150 worth of pretty? (Nah.) That was where I got off the Apex train. I saw what the team thought of their player base and how they wanted to point the direction of this game, heard their pretty pitiful apology wherein the team threw up their shoulders and went "Whoopsie- that was a goof!" and bid the Legend farewell as I rode off into the Sunset.

At the time I really did think a controversy like that, so early into Apex's career, would be detrimental to the growth of the game. I wrote about as much on my blog covering the topic all that time ago. But if that were the case then none of us would be here right now- would we? Apex was just so solid of a game underneath that veneer of exploitation that people gauged their options and went "Where else am I gonna get an experience like this?" Which pretty much lands this title into that ever enviable role of 'too big to fail'. And you know what happens to franchises that land there, don't you? They start releasing absolute trash with a vague precursory glance at potential problems in the knowledge that as long as they somewhat redeem themselves the next time around by putting a little bit more effort in, the mark won't go down in their permanent record. This cycle forms the basis of the Apex Prophecy.

What should validate my paranoia more than hearing about their latest grift attempt in collaboration with Square Enix to try and cross promote Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth- otherwise known as 'The Game where Cloud will get an emotion'. What could possibly go wrong there? I mean, Square even had their own Battle Royale based on the Final Fantasy 7 property for a few months before it inevitably petered out and was shut down, so they should understand the ecosystem a bit. Just throw together a few skins that people can grind towards in some sort of event and maybe tie in some of the big, character morphing, skins to the cosmetic store for a reasonable price. There you go, cross promotion done, I just saved you the entire marketing team's budget, Square- you're welcome. But... of course that's all just too bloody easy, now isn't it?

As covered and broken down by incensed fans, slightly tired of having to go through this every other month, the spread of awards are tied up so insidiously to the monetary packs that this could very well be the most expensive event in Apex history. Which is just a great way to celebrate such a financially lucrative advertising opportunity within their platform, right? By taking those earnings and then demanding more earnings from their users! The top most heirloom of this event requires the collection of 36 paid cosmetics under it- each of which require purchasing a box with a standard price of $16. As lovely as I'm sure that sounds to folks out there. Now there will be a few freebies handed out, some given as challenge rewards, but you're crazy if you think there's anyway to unlock everything without spending at least triple digits on the game.

And here's the thing- the cosmetic aren't even good! Just taking a glance over at the various character themed outfits that have been doled out, based on the various members of the FF7R cast, what the Apex team have made of these skins is honestly shameful! I understand that there's a certain balance to be struck between the style of Final Fantasy and that of Apex, and this franchise has a slightly glimmer of integrity to not just shove any old model that's easily rendered into their game- (Like Fortnite would have) but there has to be a point at which the compromise is just so ugly you go for a redesign! At the very least, if things are this bad, stick masks on the characters so you don't fumble about trying to match aesthetics quite so desperately.

Those with the money to spend will of course blaze through everything and nail the one-of-a-kind 'One Winged Angel' themed Deathbox, and I will indeed snatch up my bragging rights for knowing this would be the direction that Apex would end up going all the way back when I wrote my first blog on their event skiving. Because there's nothing more 'fun' then seeing your free-to-play game slowly divvy up it's base between the overly funded and the casual pleasure players- that's never led to any conflicts within the playerbase ever before, now has it? Then again, I guess Apex had lasted long enough to sweat out all the normal players by this point- now they are just milking the addicted who are too invested in the grind to even realise other games have come out in the years since Apex ruled.