It is not the same as before. And no, it's not "their" problem. Have some compassion, dude. Don't excuse the predatory behavior of companies. Why everyone feels compelled to defend giant corporations for preying on human beings baffles me. If you have fun with it, good for you, but as a product, a game, and a piece of art, it would have been better if it had been designed from the ground up to NOT have microtransactions. There was a time when all these extra characters and costumes and tracks were all FREE, frequently there from DAY ONE. That time is still NOW for many games, though usually they're from Nintendo, and occasionally from Sony.

I don't know how it was at launch compared to how it is now but you are wrong when you say the micro-transactions don't affect the game. According to reputable Youtubers such as YongYea whose video on this game's issues I included in my previous post, the game is MORE grindy than it should be to PUSH people to buy Wompa Coins and get rewards by paying again and again with real money. This is wrong and scummy with a free-to-play game but with a game you pay full price it's downright EVIL.

It's a disgusting predatory tactic that those companies use, they make their games slow to progress, people get frustrated and end up paying to speed up progress or rewards.

The fact that you don't realize that means you are their target. So wake up and stop falling prey to those companies because the more people like you do, the more those companies will continue with their disgusting ways and that's bad for everybody.

The fact they didn't have those predatory micro-transactions at launch and only added them now was to AVOID bad reviews, if those micro-transactions are such a great thing as you erroneously believe, they would have added them from day 1 and reviews would have loved it.

I have never purchased a micro-transaction in my life.

I don't like micro-transactions at all, but the existence of these micro-transactions has absolutely zero affect on my enjoyment of the game, because nothing has changed apart from a buy button that I will never press.

Even if he doesn't buy the coins or isn't their target, he's embracing a grindier, less fun experience than he otherwise could have, all in the name of some stupid tribalism for the game or the company. He needs to have the courage to ask for a better game. I can admit that the game isn't far enough from the original to make it a terrible game, and that it's in fact pretty good, because again, it's a remake of a kickass game, but we've been denied an experience even on the level we've ALREADY HAD in the original, in terms of the grindiness. There is nothing entitled about asking for the experience of a 20 year old game to be wholly improved over the original, with no needless monetization schemes weighing it down, no compromises. The grindiness was there since release, and made the game worse than it otherwise could have been, so his "it's no different than before the microtransactions" argument is hogwash and irrelevant.

The game is grindier than it should be, that's what changed. You could be having more fun, but you're too mindlessly loyal to a brand to criticize what the company has done to it. You'll never press that button, good for you, but the game is designed to tempt you to do so (whether it successfully tempts you or not, the grind is there, and unfun), and would be more fun if it wasn't designed that way.

I don't find the grind unfun. In fact I've always enjoyed unlocking things. That's what games always used to be about in the PS1/PS2 days. Smash Bros Melee made you play 24 hours to unlock a character.

Good for you that you haven't fallen for those micro-transactions, but you are STILL their target. You are the person that does not QUESTION the system that agrees with it and don't mind these scummy additions. That means they can continue adding new predatory stuff we haven't thought of yet, until one day it's so egregious and all over the place that you'll be affected by it but by then and because of your acceptance of these tactics, it will be too late.

I love unlocking things too, but you're seriously telling me you'd rather spend more of your limited life and gaming time grinding the same shit over and over again? Let me guess, you like the sense of pride and accomplishment? Give me a break. You're in denial.

I would have played the games tons online whether there was anything to unlock or not.

On the subject of the grind.

"Mario Kart 7, Nintendo decided to make truly customizable vehicles. It went beyond the weight-class system of Mario Kart Wii to unlocking parts by, primarily, collecting Coins. Most races will also usually take about two minutes to four minutes, depending upon what happens in the track and its length. Mathematically put, you could have (20,000 / 7 * 2 / 60) hours of gameplay to (20,000 / 5 * 4 / 60) hours, depending on your own skill and ability to maintain these totals. (For the record, that is 95.2 ~ 266.6 hours, which averages out at around 175 hours.) By earning all 15,000 of those Coins, you'll have finally earned the majority of the kart parts for the customization process." 

95.2 - 226.6 hours to get enough coins to unlock all/most kart pieces in Mario Kart 7. Good job they didn't have microtransactions, thats much longer than Crash.

We could have had a much more fun experience if Nintendo hadn't decided to purposefully make it such a ridiculous grind to unlock kart parts.

That's an irrelevant whataboutism argument. And first you like unlocking things, then you would have played it whether there was anything to unlock or not. Listen to yourself. This is just blind brand loyalty. If there was nothing to unlock, then either it was all unlocked from the beginning, which is fine so long as no content is sacrificed, or there's just less content, and you're saying you're fine with less content. Even if you are fine with that, it would still be a completely legitimate thing to criticize. But you'd defend even that, because it's not about the merits of the criticism for you, just about blindly defending a game you like no matter what is said.

Here's something you might be glad to hear. It's okay to like a game despite its flaws. You can criticize it without committing some kind of blasphemy. The microtransactions make the game worse, at least for some people, you have to admit that much, and to deny it is selfish blind loyalty at best and moral cowardice at worst. Why are you so afraid to accept criticism that's not even about you, just a game?