100 réponses à ce sujet

[Oeacle]

Dlc are just like "filler" episodes in an anime or tv show. They have nothing to do with the original story and are usually annoying and unwanted.



I'd pay the money if it was worth it.

[Frumyfrenzy]

 I'm actually arguing for a combined strategy, large expansions and DLC. The pricing discussion aside, my opinion in a nutshell: 'expansion + DLC ' > 'Expansion' > 'DLC '. DLC and expansions complement one another by their strengths.

DLC
Deliviering relatively small sized DLC instead of a big expansion bears the danger of making serious storytelling impossible. If you get an hour of playtime, there will be no epic storyline which guides you through different areas and let's you meet different characters, no story twists, rudimentary emotional bonding with your companios and so forth. Therefor you can only take care of small loose ends (what about Ostagar after the battle?). And, also on the plus-side, you can pursue side stories which are smaller and expand existing game, but wouldn't justify a full expansion. 'Return to Ostagar' falls into this category. In short:
+focus on minor stories/events
+keeps you interested until an expansion hits
+picking upo small loose ends of the main game's story
-not the place to develop a main plot
-no epic feeling
-new characters will fade into oblivion due to their short appearence (therefore use already existing characters!)
-rudimentary story (therefore pick up loose ends)

Expansions
This is the place where you can have larger plots, this is where the real stuff happens. What happens after Dragon Ages main events? This is the right place to expext an answer. Being entertained by storytelling takes time which only an expansion can provide. On the minus side it takes a much longer time to make an expansion. Some smaller stuff will probably be cut due to time/cost restrictions (which is where DLC fits in). In short:

+focus on new major plots/events after the main game
+new features which impact the whole game
+epic feeling
+new (and old) characters have a bigger role, therefor emotional bonding
-takes long to make
-might lose interest while waiting

How about 'episodic DLC'?
Everyone knows Telltalegames and their 'Sam & Max' and 'Tales of Monkey Island' series. DLC (as I know it) pretty much ignores the possibility of delivering a major (!) story through successive packages. The usual DLC suffers from a rudimentary story, characters you can't relate to (due to the shortness of their appearance) and so on. Episodic DLC would overcome some of these drawbacks.

[darkblueglass]

LokiHades wrote...

delra123 wrote...

In DLC they don't improve the actual game and it sucks. DAO will be dead in a few weeks just like Fallout 3 is.

Ignorant statement, considering that the FO3 community is still active, and mods have made the game into a masterpiece that everyone can personalize to their tastes. And soon shall it be with DA:O, when Bioware releases the resources and fixes the toolset up a bit.

Besides that, while I prefer expansion packs [and know devs still love doing them], DLCs are nice too. Now, pricing is the issue most people have with them, and I can see how it causes people to get fussy.

I think that DLC pricing is hard to go lower due to the cost such as voice acting. I think that the voice acting is why it is difficult to make bigger scale DLCs with more stories and contents especially for budget prices.   It's not like millions of DOAs sold yet so still the market is limited. Besides, Bioware needs to pay  the first parties (Sony and MS) for the console DLCs as well. But I think that Bioware could make bigger dungeons and more battles for their DLCs to lengthen the play time for cheaper DLCs.

[Evindale]

crazy bioware, rush head in. Why are people whining about DLC and the like. I think it's neat having a world evolve with new content. Plus you got the toolset, expansion packs in the pipeline and I assume a great community. DOA wont die that quickly.

[aberdash]

darkblueglass wrote...

I'm not sure why people keep mentioning Shale for $15. Isn't free if you buy the game new? Did you buy it for $15?

After april everyone pays $15 for it if they dont have it already.

Modifié par aberdash, 22 novembre 2009 - 09:16 .

[nisallik]

Oeacle wrote...

Dlc are just like "filler" episodes in an anime or tv show. They have nothing to do with the original story and are usually annoying and unwanted.

I'd pay the money if it was worth it.

Minus BioWare's DLC since it does expand on the official lore and story.

[Georg Zoeller]

It's not April yet chicken, so it is pointless to obsess about that.

What did I say about obsessing about things in the future (especially over 6 months)? Who knows what bundles, expansion packs or whatever exists at that point?

aberdash wrote...

darkblueglass wrote...

I'm not sure why people keep mentioning Shale for $15. Isn't free if you buy the game new? Did you buy it for $15?

After april everyone pays $15 for it if they dont have it already.

Modifié par Georg Zoeller, 22 novembre 2009 - 09:22 .

[LokiHades]

darkblueglass wrote...

LokiHades wrote...

delra123 wrote...

In DLC they don't improve the actual game and it sucks. DAO will be dead in a few weeks just like Fallout 3 is.

Ignorant statement, considering that the FO3 community is still active, and mods have made the game into a masterpiece that everyone can personalize to their tastes. And soon shall it be with DA:O, when Bioware releases the resources and fixes the toolset up a bit.

Besides that, while I prefer expansion packs [and know devs still love doing them], DLCs are nice too. Now, pricing is the issue most people have with them, and I can see how it causes people to get fussy.

I think that DLC pricing is hard to go lower due to the cost such as voice acting. I think that the voice acting is why it is difficult to make bigger scale DLCs with more stories and contents especially for budget prices.   It's not like millions of DOAs sold yet so still the market is limited. Besides, Bioware needs to pay  the first parties (Sony and MS) for the console DLCs as well. But I think that Bioware could make bigger dungeons and more battles for their DLCs to lengthen the play time for cheaper DLCs.

True. Though not all DLCs have to be about combat. A thicker mini-plot could work too. Pricing wise, they probably can't go much lower, but they have to keep things in a fair line. Bethesda has made nice DLCs for FO3 and Oblivion with adequate pricing, and Bioware seems to be doing the same. I do still hope for a big expansion pack though, I always love expansion packs.

[aberdash]

Who is obsessing? I simply said dlc costs $27 which is over half the cost of an expansion and there is not even close to half the content of a full expansion.

Modifié par aberdash, 22 novembre 2009 - 09:23 .

[Georg Zoeller]

You should have said 'In 6 month, if prices stay the same, dlc may cost $27. Makes for a much more honest statement.

aberdash wrote...

Who's is obsessing? I simply said dlc costs $27 which is over half the cost of an expansion and there is not even close to half the content of a full expansion.

[Inarai]

aberdash wrote...

Who's is obsessing? I simply said dlc costs $27 which is over half the cost of an expansion and there is not even close to half the content of a full expansion.

Well, anyone who actually buys the game gets Shale free, so you can't really count it.

[Zibon]

eisberg77 wrote...

Not really.  The writers may have already completed the writing for all the content for this game for the next 2 years.  I think I read somewhere that the writing for the lore of the Dragon Age was completed several years ago, even before they started to develop the game.  I believe one can conclude that the writing for all content for the next 2 years have already been completed.

Plus, they said many writers, which means not all the writers.

Hmm, I forgot that the PC version was actually delayed quite a bit so they'd actually be further along than I thought.  Looking at their past expansions I would imagine any expansion to either be a parallel adventure (in another area of Thedas so that it doesn't impact continuity,) a "collection" of dlc-type mini adventures, or a direct expansion that picks up where this left off.   I'm hoping for the latter though it seems the least likely, and I probably wouldn't get the former two.

[darkblueglass]

LokiHades wrote...

darkblueglass wrote...

LokiHades wrote...

delra123 wrote...

In DLC they don't improve the actual game and it sucks. DAO will be dead in a few weeks just like Fallout 3 is.

Ignorant statement, considering that the FO3 community is still active, and mods have made the game into a masterpiece that everyone can personalize to their tastes. And soon shall it be with DA:O, when Bioware releases the resources and fixes the toolset up a bit.

Besides that, while I prefer expansion packs [and know devs still love doing them], DLCs are nice too. Now, pricing is the issue most people have with them, and I can see how it causes people to get fussy.

I think that DLC pricing is hard to go lower due to the cost such as voice acting. I think that the voice acting is why it is difficult to make bigger scale DLCs with more stories and contents especially for budget prices.   It's not like millions of DOAs sold yet so still the market is limited. Besides, Bioware needs to pay  the first parties (Sony and MS) for the console DLCs as well. But I think that Bioware could make bigger dungeons and more battles for their DLCs to lengthen the play time for cheaper DLCs.

True. Though not all DLCs have to be about combat. A thicker mini-plot could work too. Pricing wise, they probably can't go much lower, but they have to keep things in a fair line. Bethesda has made nice DLCs for FO3 and Oblivion with adequate pricing, and Bioware seems to be doing the same. I do still hope for a big expansion pack though, I always love expansion packs.

I haven't tried Oblivion and FO3 DLCs yet. Do they have full voice acting?

[Rayne Myria Solo]

it doesn't "cost $27" you're making a logically flawed statement. At this moment DLC costs $7. IF you include the upcoming Return to Ostagar, then DLC costs $12. Making false disingenuous statements about the costs of DLC is...well, pointless. It cost me almost that much to go to Q'Doba and get chips and queso with my lunch, and I had a free entree!

[aberdash]

Rayne Myria Solo wrote...

it doesn't "cost $27" you're making a logically flawed statement. At this moment DLC costs $7. IF you include the upcoming Return to Ostagar, then DLC costs $12. Making false disingenuous statements about the costs of DLC is...well, pointless. It cost me almost that much to go to Q'Doba and get chips and queso with my lunch, and I had a free entree!

As of April 10th, I think, shale is no longer free. And I assume return to ostagar will be out by then making it $27 if you want all the dlc.

correction: April 30th, dont know where 10th came from.

Modifié par aberdash, 22 novembre 2009 - 09:32 .

[slikster]

I has to be pointed out that Fallout 3 never had an expansion. It had DLC. And any expansion Bioware has ever done dwarfs Shivering Isles.

[Mordaedil]

aberdash wrote...

After april everyone pays $15 for it if they dont have it already.

Huh? Where did you hear that? Noone has to pay $15 for Shale unless they are buying a used copy. All NEW copies will get it for free, there wasn't a time-limit on that offer.

[Georg Zoeller]

Who knows however what the original dragon age costs by then. Given PC game prices curves over time, you might be able to pick up the game +dlc and still be below what it cost at launch. So really, it's pointless to discuss what might be happening in 6 month in the future, it does not make for an honest discussion.

[Inarai]

aberdash wrote...

Rayne Myria Solo wrote...

it doesn't "cost $27" you're making a logically flawed statement. At this moment DLC costs $7. IF you include the upcoming Return to Ostagar, then DLC costs $12. Making false disingenuous statements about the costs of DLC is...well, pointless. It cost me almost that much to go to Q'Doba and get chips and queso with my lunch, and I had a free entree!

As of April 10th, I think, shale is no longer free. And I assume return to ostagar will be out by then making it $27 if you want all the dlc.

Or just buy the game sooner.

Either way, your statement was false.  To say "The DLC costs 27$" is to say that all the currently available DLC comes to that sum.

But you cannot include Shale, nor Ostagar, making the number 7.  You're out by nearly 300% - that's just plain dishonest.  I mean, I've seen distortions to try to make a point(If you need them, yu should be reconsidering your point, not defending them.  The neccessity challanges the core of your argument), but that's ridiculous.

[Arcane Fury]

Um, are some of you daft? They have to wait a while to see how the game actually goes before deciding whether or not to make an expansion.

[aberdash]

I specifically said the dlc that has been announced thus far.

[slikster]

Mordaedil wrote...

aberdash wrote...

After april everyone pays $15 for it if they dont have it already.

Huh? Where did you hear that? Noone has to pay $15 for Shale unless they are buying a used copy. All NEW copies will get it for free, there wasn't a time-limit on that offer.

Maybe aberdash is worried that by the time he saves up enough money from his paper route, he won't be able to get Shale for free and will have to save even more ($15) of his paper route money.

[Zibon]

Mordaedil wrote...
All NEW copies will get it for free, there wasn't a time-limit on that offer.

Yes, there is.  The codes for the blood dragon armor and Stone Prisoner both expire (it says so on the back of the retail copy.)

[Inarai]

aberdash wrote...

I specifically said the dlc that has been announced thus far.

Clever.  I'll amend the number - you're still 225% out, as you still cannot count Shale.

[aberdash]

Inarai wrote...

Clever.  I'll amend the number - you're still 225% out, as you still cannot count Shale.

As of May 1st it cost $15.