The LEGO Dimensions game is The LEGO Group's first foray into the growing field of “Toys to Life”, where physical toys with RFID tags can be pulled into your gaming experience by placing the toy on a special portal.  The gameplay is based on the hugely successful LEGO Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and more, by video game developer TT.


LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack

I purchased the Starter Pack on Black Friday, and wanted to better understand what I was getting myself into before I started purchasing any of the Level Packs, Team Packs, or Fun Packs.  At 30/25/15$ each (respectively) these little purchases will add up quickly.  This is why I wanted to understand how much I would need to pay to experience the whole game.  

What I've concluded is that the base game is a pretty decent value, especially if you consider that LEGO bricks are worth about 0.10$ each piece.  The value of the expansions seems to vary.

There are four levels of investment in LEGO Dimensions:

• 100$ – Starter Pack Only – Just buy the Starter Pack and play through the main game and three adventure worlds.
• 315$ – All Levels and Adventure Worlds – By purchasing the right sets, you can unlock the entire game. You will still miss some puzzles which require a specific character.
• 390$ – All Levels, Adventure Worlds, and Character/Vehicle Abilities – A carefully selected set of Fun Packs will give you every in-game ability.
• 565$ – Everything – If you want every character, vehicle and Accessory, it’s going to cost a premium!

I prepared an in-depth analysis of exactly what sets you need to buy to save the most money at: http://brickarchitect.com/legodimensions/

Don't forget that the new content comes out every two months, so there are plenty of ways to spend even more in the future!

Sincerely,
Tom

I read your complete story by following the link.  Great info for someone who wants to understand what Dimensions is all about.  It looked interesting before... but now... I think I'll pass. I hate games that give me frequent "upsell" opportunities.  It ruins the whole game for me.

I was wondering how much of an aftermarket there would be just for the chips. I can imagine that there are some people out there who buy these sets for the specific figures and/or minibuilds and could not care less about the game or the RFID chips. I mean, some gamers would only be interested in the game, not the building aspect. A quick search on ebay shows that people are buying them, and frankly I am surprised that they are paying up to $16.99 for a level pack without any of the pieces. This would probably illustrate another tier, those who want the game, but not the toys.

I just purchased used LEGO Dimension disks for a good price (no minifigures or microscale models), and will let people know if I have any problems using them in the game.  

If not, this is probably the most cost effective way to enjoy the entire Dimensions videogame world.

 

---tom

I wonder how the system can tell one non character specific disk from another. I doubt that they are writable. So, unless there is an identifier in those plain looking disks that the system saves to id them in future, I wonder if you can just use the same one for every minibuild.

 

I noticed TRU had it for $59.99 and LEGO Shop at Home had it on sale too. Are sales not meeting expectations?

On 12/10/2015 at 3:03 PM, thoroakenfelder said:

I was wondering how much of an aftermarket there would be just for the chips. I can imagine that there are some people out there who buy these sets for the specific figures and/or minibuilds and could not care less about the game or the RFID chips. I mean, some gamers would only be interested in the game, not the building aspect. A quick search on ebay shows that people are buying them, and frankly I am surprised that they are paying up to $16.99 for a level pack without any of the pieces. This would probably illustrate another tier, those who want the game, but not the toys.

Yeah, it’s really interesting how these kinds of collectibles create their own little aftermarket ecosystems. There are definitely people who care only about the game itself and see the physical components as unnecessary clutter, while others are in it purely for the figures or minibuilds. The fact that some are willing to pay nearly full price just for the chips is kind of wild, but I guess it makes sense—especially if they just want to unlock content without dealing with extra pieces. I wouldn’t be surprised if this kind of secondary market keeps growing as more sets get discontinued and people try to complete their collections in different ways.