84 réponses à ce sujet

[BomimoDK]

Darian Tylmare wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote...
So, why was he made a DLC? Why not have an additional character for the DLC that isn't so obviously MISSING?

Because he was concepted and written after the rest of the game. It's great that you find him so integral-- when we considered what kind of additional companion we could include, our idea was that someone who put a bit more focus on the Chantry (and Elthina in particular) could potentially work really well.

But insofar as "missing" a la cut from the rest of the game-- no, that's simply not the case.

So the game was finished the day the SE was announced? Because how could you otherwise advertise this character?
And another question: Who wrote him? I think he fits in quite nice with the rest of the cast.

Get a basic clue about game development and the transformation from concept to game content and the time it takes before you crossexamine Gaider for it. It would matter exactly NOTHING if the game was done there or not (which it was, just not gold yet) since Sebastian must have been developed in parallel with a different roadmap and schedule. You can easily advertise a half finished product, DICE is showing off Alpha footage of Battlefield 3 these days. so the theory about cutting him from a finished game is kinda laughable.

[Icy Magebane]

What I find funny is that if Sebastian was tacked on and had little interaction with the group, people would still be complaining. He's the next step in the evolution of DLC characters... I understand that people don't like being charged for more content, and I agree with that. However, getting upset because the quality of DLC has increased? That part, I don't understand.

[OmegaBlue0231]

Sonris89 wrote...

He was finished before release, and was sold along side it. He should have been in retail, no excuses. DLC is continued support post release of a game. Its not selling the game one chapter at a time.

He was given to people who got the SE, if you wanted him you should have preordered like the rest of us.

Also it's not one chapter at a time as you seem to thing, is a core piece of the game missing? No! Does the ending change if he's there? Not really. Was he started after the rest of the game was being made? Accourding to Mr. Gaider that's exactly right.

[Darian Tylmare]

BomimoDK wrote...



Get a basic clue about game development and the transformation from concept to game content and the time it takes before you crossexamine Gaider for it. It would matter exactly NOTHING if the game was done there or not (which it was, just not gold yet) since Sebastian must have been developed in parallel with a different roadmap and schedule. You can easily advertise a half finished product, DICE is showing off Alpha footage of Battlefield 3 these days. so the theory about cutting him from a finished game is kinda laughable.

I honestly can say I don't have a clue about game development but more often than not nowadays games feel like giant money traps. And without such knowledge it seemed to me this was another trick to get some of my money.
I apologize if I sounded like the grand inquisitor of something but I really hate it  when someone is holding back stuff just for the sake of getting money.

[BomimoDK]

Darian Tylmare wrote...

BomimoDK wrote...



Get a basic clue about game development and the transformation from concept to game content and the time it takes before you crossexamine Gaider for it. It would matter exactly NOTHING if the game was done there or not (which it was, just not gold yet) since Sebastian must have been developed in parallel with a different roadmap and schedule. You can easily advertise a half finished product, DICE is showing off Alpha footage of Battlefield 3 these days. so the theory about cutting him from a finished game is kinda laughable.

I honestly can say I don't have a clue about game development but more often than not nowadays games feel like giant money traps. And without such knowledge it seemed to me this was another trick to get some of my money.
I apologize if I sounded like the grand inquisitor of something but I really hate it  when someone is holding back stuff just for the sake of getting money.

When you reach Alpha, all content has to be there. It does not have to be final, it does not have to look right, but the game has to work from start to finish to an extent. From there it's polishing and fixing. Making it look and feel better and actually build the game around this. When you reach alpha, mostly, adding more content is no go unless it is vital. If sebastian vael was conceived shortly prior to or after Alpha, they can either slap him in anyway and create a bigger workload for crunch and polish (which would be done before the age of DLC) or they can decide to start a seperate project, pretend that it's a DLC when in fact it's not (black emporium as an example which is seperate from the game but comes bundled with it free of charge) or make it DLC with all that it entails such as pissed, ignorant customers (and kettle sheep who just assume the first one to scream "SCAM!" must be deep into things) and a price tag (of 7$). This may not be how it works at Bioware, but as far as i've learned, this is the usual reason for day one DLC that genuinely wasn't conceived as money grabs (which are easy to identify since they usually contain an extra car or gun and such 5$ for 5 cat colors in cat sim ultraluxe) but rather a late implemented idea.

I can't claim to be knowledgeable about Bioware bussiness either, but at least i've seen examples to back up my view on this, where are yours?

[NRO TYN]

Ranbir wrote...

Making money.

^ this the only answer you need

Sad but true

[ChuLa014]

well for me DLC = more gold, more exp and more items..

[Bryy_Miller]

Arrtis wrote...
So people do not feel like they are missing out.
Or do you want people to feel that way?

I don't think creators should ever be held liable for someone's personal feelings about extra content.

[Ramus Quaritch]

I don't get how he is dlc when most of the Exiled Prince content was already on the disk. I only had to download 54 MB on the Xbox 360 to activate it. I was almost downloading just an activation key. My question is if you're doing all of this dlc because that content was cut from the initial development of the game, then why are you releasing the game when you are? Why not delay the game so that you can include more content in the game (like more dungeon maps)? Fans may whine, but I'd rather have a longer development cycle and a better quality game in the end and most fans would too.

[Bryy_Miller]

1) The devs have, in this thread even, explained what DLC is.
2) BioWare does not have complete control over setting schedules.

[Vandicus]

Because Sebastian was a rather small character. Every single other character had two or three times as much development as he did.

Sebastian in a nutshell
A. Chantry boy
B. Prince of Starkhaven
C. Hates Anders at the end for killing Elthina

His character doesn't have much meaningful tied to it. The banter may be nice, but its hardly a huge amount of content. The mercenary quest was fairly simple, but the only significant quest that came along with him is the one involving his family's former allies.

[Nathan Redgrave]

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote...

Ok, I can see where Shale was not so bad as DLC, the only scene where she really MATTERED was if you took her to the Deep Roads.  Aside from that, there was no story reasons why you would need her.

However, Sebastian and his relationship withte Chantry and the Grand Cleric is very much shown throughout the game.  He's much more involved in the story than Shale was.

So, why was he made a DLC? Why not have an additional character for the DLC that isn't so obviously MISSING?

I wondered about this, as well. Shale felt more like DLC due to being unique in terms of gameplay mechanics and having less involvement with the main plot and more with her own sideplots, but Sebastian feels like he should be in the main game.

[XOGHunter246]

It was a money making thing anyone can see that shale was not really involed like you said so was just a extra character unless you took her down deep roads. Sebastian I personally think was not intended for DLC and they decided to do this just to get more money from us...

Modifié par XOGHunter246, 15 mars 2011 - 01:07 .

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

David Gaider wrote...

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote...
So, why was he made a DLC? Why not have an additional character for the DLC that isn't so obviously MISSING?

Because he was concepted and written after the rest of the game. It's great that you find him so integral-- when we considered what kind of additional companion we could include, our idea was that someone who put a bit more focus on the Chantry (and Elthina in particular) could potentially work really well.

But insofar as "missing" a la cut from the rest of the game-- no, that's simply not the case.

Ah, cool.  So yeah you guys did a good job integrating him cause I totally would find him missing if I were to uninstall his files heh.

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

XOGHunter246 wrote...

It was a money making thing anyone can see that shale was not really involed like you said so was just a extra character unless you took her down deep roads. Sebastian I personally think was not intended for DLC and they decided to do this just to get more money from us...

Did you not read what David Gaider said in this very thread, or do you think he's lying to us?

[Demon Velsper]

David Gaider wrote...

Because he was concepted and written after the rest of the game.

Funny how you managed to put him on the disc then. Or do you seriously expect me to believe all of his content was in that 30 MB file? 

[graciegrace]

Icy Magebane wrote...

Sebastian is an improvement on what they started with Shale. He's not integral to the story, but rather, well integrated. I highly doubt that the story would have been lacking had he not been included. I'm sure somebody who didn't buy him or get him with the SE could tell you that.

this.  I don't have Sebastian yet, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything in the story

[David Gaider]

Demon Velsper wrote...
Funny how you managed to put him on the disc then. Or do you seriously expect me to believe all of his content was in that 30 MB file? 

Perhaps you mistunderstand. He was concepted and written after the rest of the game was concepted and written... not after the rest of the game was fully completed and put onto a disc. He was built on a separate timeline and only the parts that needed to be on the disc itself (ie. the parts where he interjects in other conversations) were required to be completed by the time the main game entered certification. DLC has a much shorter certification process, so we could finish the rest of the work afterwards and still be completed on the same time.

Which is perhaps meaningless to you, particularly since some people insist on seeing a conspiracy. The fact remains, however, that if it were not for DLC then Sebastian would never have existed at all.

[Mariefoxprice83]

I bought the Sebastian DLC whilst in the 3rd act of the game. Will that affect what happens with him much? I have done the Faith quest and had him tag along for some other stuff.

[Dean_the_Young]

Out of curiosity, David, how far in advance does the Certification process you refer to run? Are we talking, say, four months prior to release, or eight?

It's easy enough to know you have those content-lock timelines, where you can't continue to add more, but I've always wondered how far in advance they were... and what else goes on after that point.

[Caladors]

Please don't blame the company for the middle men.
The copy I have costs 110 dollars AUD I am not sure if you know but at the moment were almost at parity with the USD so your 60 dollar game costs us 50 more so trust me when I say I understand.
However think about this, did BioWare make that price change?
No.

It is simply the middle men.
The companies get surprisingly little unless they get a lot of pre-orders and first week sales.
And if you pre-ordered early enough you got him.
So this is simply the company trying to get around the inevitable tide of preowned's flooding the market after they have had there fun.

And trying to get a return on investment.
Do you think the few points it costs is to much?
Really?
Remember that your buying a luxury item that you have gotten relatively close to if not on release, surely your not going to complain about cost, such an idea is ludicrous.

[Everwarden]

David Gaider wrote...

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote...
So, why was he made a DLC? Why not have an additional character for the DLC that isn't so obviously MISSING?

Because he was concepted and written after the rest of the game. It's great that you find him so integral-- when we considered what kind of additional companion we could include, our idea was that someone who put a bit more focus on the Chantry (and Elthina in particular) could potentially work really well.

But insofar as "missing" a la cut from the rest of the game-- no, that's simply not the case.

Considering how rushed and half-assed the rest of the game so obviously is, having completed content you have to pay extra for -at launch- is just ridiculous. Especially since, unless you're a rogue, every bow that drops in the entire game is vendor trash without him. 

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

Everwarden wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote...
So, why was he made a DLC? Why not have an additional character for the DLC that isn't so obviously MISSING?

Because he was concepted and written after the rest of the game. It's great that you find him so integral-- when we considered what kind of additional companion we could include, our idea was that someone who put a bit more focus on the Chantry (and Elthina in particular) could potentially work really well.

But insofar as "missing" a la cut from the rest of the game-- no, that's simply not the case.

Considering how rushed and half-assed the rest of the game so obviously is, having completed content you have to pay extra for -at launch- is just ridiculous. Especially since, unless you're a rogue, every bow that drops in the entire game is vendor trash without him. 

Then play a rogue, or don't.  Then buy Sebastian, or don't.  In fact, play the game,or don't.  Nobody is forcing you to do anything.

[NKKKK]

Which is perhaps meaningless to you, particularly since some people insist on seeing a conspiracy. The fact remains, however, that if it were not for DLC then Sebastian would never have existed at all.

Unless of course you had a longer development time, which this game needed.

[Everwarden]

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote...

Then play a rogue, or don't.  Then buy Sebastian, or don't.  In fact, play the game,or don't.  Nobody is forcing you to do anything.

What a classic response when someone makes a point you can't refute and you don't want to concede it: "Well no one is forcing you to play/do xyz!" I know no one is forcing me to play Dragon Age 2. That doesn't mean my point about it is invalid, or that my criticism of the game is wrong.