13369 replies to this topic

[Michael Gamble]

As most of you know, yesterday there was a leak that revealed the upcoming DLC “ME3:From Ashes” on the
Xbox LIVE Marketplace. This leak took place before we were prepared to make an announcement about the details of that pack (slated for this Friday). 

There has been a lot of discussion about the DLC offering but we wanted to clarify a few things... 

- “From Ashes” includes the Prothean squad mate, an adventure on Eden Prime, a new weapon, and an alternate
appearance for every squad mate. Note that these alternate appearances are in addition to the ones already advertised in the CE.

- The Collectors Edition has been advertised from the beginning as containing a bonus character/mission, but we were not at liberty to provide the details. The Prothean is optional content that is certainly designed to appeal to long-time fans, which is why he is part of the CE offering (the version many fans would be likely to purchase).  Mass Effect 3 is a complete – and a huge game - right out of the box.

- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

- The Collectors Edition has been sold out in most places for some time now, and is becoming very hard to find (many players prefer not to purchase the digital version). As such, we wanted to make this content available so that SE buyers could also incorporate the Prothean into their game.

As always, we are extremely thankful for all of your support. We pulled out all of the stops to make Mass Effect 3 the best game ever, and we can't wait for you all to experience it.

Mike

Edit by Chris Priestly - Sorry folks, the screenshots & video Mike had mentioned will not be available this week as Mike had hoped. We'll update you when they are available.


 

Edited by Michael Gamble, 11 March 2012 - 11:27 PM.

[lordnyx1]

Hmm very nice. Thanks Mike.

Oh yeah also preorder cancled!!!1!11

(am I doing it right?:innocent:)

Edited by lordnyx1, 22 February 2012 - 11:09 PM.

[legion999]

Eden Prime. One step to finding the conduit and a surviving prothean? Or is it just a return to where it began? Interesting.

[HiroVoid]

If it was developed after the core game, how come there are dialogue files for the Prothean in the leaks?

Anyway, the images and video should be interesting.

Edit: Also, while I don't agree with selling a full character separately, it is certainly true that the optional character has been announced exclusive for CE for a while now.

Edited by HiroVoid, 22 February 2012 - 10:40 PM.

[Druscylla]

Happy surprise.

[Ninjapino]

I remember this being "spoiled" when the CE was first announced. It said something along the lines of it containing extra side mission and character, "The Prothean". They took that last part out pretty quickly, but am I still the only one that remembers that? Oh, well, no big deal. Since it's a side mission, it's awesome, but I don't think it's going to have too much impact on the game as a whole.

[Dionkey]

Going to re-post this from the other thread, hope y'all don't mind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please, let me explain this to you:

Mass Effect 3 is $60
One play-through is said to take 18-24 hours (or around ME2's length).
That means you're getting 1 hour of content for $3, never mind NewGame+

FINE! That's fantastic! That's what a game should be!

However, the DLC chracter is $10.
That means we should expect at least 3-4 hours of content out of that character. We all know that the missions included with these characters are usually 20-30 minutes, along with a bit of dialogue.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. If we paid $10 per squaddie, you wouldn't even have a full crew at $60. How would you like buying the game, getting Garrus, Ashley, Vega, Liara, Tali, and The Prothean, and then that's it? No missions, no story, no cutscenes, etc. With this kind of logic, that's exactly what you'd get!

EDIT: Don't censor me when the files were clearly in the demo and the announcement was leaked long before.

Edited by Dionkey, 23 February 2012 - 11:08 PM.

[vertibird1]

Kool

[HiroVoid]

legion999 wrote...

Eden Prime. One step to finding the conduit and a surviving prothean? Or is it just a return to where it began? Interesting.

I'll laugh my head off if it turns out that they were buried 5 feet under the ground where the beacon was. 

[ramdog7]

That makes sense but ppl will still **** and moan

[Yuoaman]

So are the Reapers going to also be DLC? I mean, since they're as inconsequential as the Protheans to the lore of the universe...

[Wardka]

You don't have my support, Michael Gamble. If this is the future of BioWare/EA gaming, I don't want any part of it.

[Subject Alpha]

Great, now I really can't wait for March 9th! =D

[blebyu25]

I was one of the aforementioned fans who went with the CE. Cant wait to see what this character brings to the story, it should be awesome. ME2's DLC was phenomenal, I know this wont be any different.

[msmpsn]

Dionkey wrote...

Going to re-post this from the other thread, hope y'all don't mind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please, let me explain this to you:

Mass Effect 3 is $60
One play-through is said to take 18-24 hours (or around ME2's length).
That means you're getting 1 hour of content for $3, never mind NewGame+

FINE! That's fantastic! That's what a game should be!

However, the DLC chracter is $10.
That means we should expect at least 3-4 hours of content out of that character. We all know that the missions included with these characters are usually 20-30 minutes, along with a bit of dialogue.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. If we paid $10 per squaddie, you wouldn't even have a full crew at $60. How would you like buying the game, getting Garrus, Ashley, Vega, Liara, Tali, and The Prothean, and then that's it? No missions, no story, no cutscenes, etc. With this kind of logic, that's exactly what you'd get!

Do you realize how contored this is? Not only this, but the content was finished BEFORE the game went gold, which means they DELIBERATELY removed important content from the game to OVERPRICE it and sell it later.

How about you read what he said?

[Candidate 88766]

Nice to hear that there is a fair bit of stuff in this DLC.

Are the appearances only for permanent squaddies or also for temp ones?

Michael Gamble wrote...

 Mass Effect 3 is a complete – and a huge game - right out of the box.

 

A lot of people seem to forget this. They're easily going to getting their money's worth content-wise with ME3, especially seeing as it is being sold for a discounted price atm.

[N7Infernox]

Michael Gamble wrote...

This leak took place before we were prepared to make an announcement about the details of that pack (slated for this Friday). 

There has been a lot of discussion about the DLC offering but we wanted to clarify a few things... 

- “From Ashes” includes the Prothean squad mate, an adventure on Eden Prime, a new weapon, and an alternate
appearance for every squad mate. Note that these alternate appearances are in addition to the ones already advertised in the CE.

 

See! This is what I wanted back in my "Compromise thread". Now I feel a little better. 
Thank-you for clarifying, Mike.

[ACSSolver]

- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

Interesting. I wonder whether this includes a different writing team, too. While I think it will be fascinating to talk to a Prothean, my one concern is that his appearance should be consistent with the rest of the story - the Protheans have been extinct for 50 thousand years, so this guy's appearance needs some good writing.

[Daywalker315]

Thanks for the update. I know this won't slow down a lot of the complaints people are making in the other threads but I hope it will help somewhat. It's cool that there is more than just a character as well. I have a CE pre-ordered so I'm happy no matter what.

I just would love to know if we will encounter the Prothean for story purposes regardless but having the DLC will allow you to bring him onto your squad ... or if the DLC will completely introduce the character altogether and he's not even seen if you don't have it. I know it's a little spoiler-ish but if people knew they would at least see the Prothean for lore and story purposes even if they didn't have the DLC, it might help put some water on the fire, so to speak.

[Ghost Lightning]

Michael Gamble wrote...


As always, we are extremely thankful for all of your support. We pulled out all of the stops to make Mass Effect 3 the best game ever, and we can't wait for you all to experience it.

Mike


 

you know, normally I'd be like "dem be fightin' words" or "yeah right". But this guy sounds so sincere and awesome that I believe him that ME3 could be just that.

[Amikae]

- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

Complete BS.

[Akaranz]

I'm sorry but 10$ is too much... I know it's optional but it's still a Prothean squadmate, that has to have some kind of an effect on the story.

[Eain]

I really want people to understand what's going on. I realise that there are some children around here (and with that I mean actual children and thus people inexperienced in the ways of corporations, not intended as an insult in any way) who are simply trying to defend the people who produce their favourite games, but it's up to the rest of us who are older to explain how things are going to unfold.

If we allow EA to do this to us, then there will come a time where we pay 60 dollars for a barebone launch title and then fork out another 25 to 40 dollars for Day One DLC that gives us content that's been withheld from the launch disk for no other reason than that we allowed it.

Publishers don't care for the people buying their games, they care for the wallets their money is coming from. If you do not believe that, you are fooling yourself and I mean that in the least offensive way I possibly could. We all fool ourselves every now and then, and sometimes we run into something we enjoy so much that we just want to pretend there's nothing wrong, but trust me EA's head honcho's and shareholders are laughing themselves all the way to the bank if we let them.

Draw the line.

One game, one sale.

[Dionkey]

msmpsn wrote...

Dionkey wrote...

Going to re-post this from the other thread, hope y'all don't mind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please, let me explain this to you:

Mass Effect 3 is $60
One play-through is said to take 18-24 hours (or around ME2's length).
That means you're getting 1 hour of content for $3, never mind NewGame+

FINE! That's fantastic! That's what a game should be!

However, the DLC chracter is $10.
That means we should expect at least 3-4 hours of content out of that character. We all know that the missions included with these characters are usually 20-30 minutes, along with a bit of dialogue.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. If we paid $10 per squaddie, you wouldn't even have a full crew at $60. How would you like buying the game, getting Garrus, Ashley, Vega, Liara, Tali, and The Prothean, and then that's it? No missions, no story, no cutscenes, etc. With this kind of logic, that's exactly what you'd get!

Do you realize how contored this is? Not only this, but the content was finished BEFORE the game went gold, which means they DELIBERATELY removed important content from the game to OVERPRICE it and sell it later.

How about you read what he said?

What else is there to reread? The part where it said that it was finished after tha game went gold? That's BS and you know it.