11 réponses à ce sujet

[KDD-0063]

Whether it's pre-order or CE, it should not have any story content that is exclusive to it, whether it's a mission, or a companion. All story content should be available to the standard edition of the game, even if the game is bought one year after release.

Imo some bonuses pre-order or CE could have are:
1) Artbook/soundtracks;
2) Exclusive items, though I hope I don't find a box in my home full of OP gear that makes me OP for the first chapter or even the whole game;
3) Armor/companion skins, has to be really well done though. Especially item skins that can be 'transmogged' into other items.
4) Weird stuff that doesn't take away from the experience such as playing the main campaign with a darkspawn skin (similar to playing feeding frenzy 2 as the intruder)

Modifié par KDD-0063, 18 septembre 2012 - 12:04 .

[Allan Schumacher]

FlamingBoy wrote...

shale really pushed  the line of day one dlc in my opinion despite the fact he came with every new copy, the character was just to essential to the plot, especially te ozzamar arc, its was if it was cut out of the game and "sold" later

I thought the zaeed dlc was good justification to sell with new copies though

Shale was cut out of the game, the same way a lot of things get cut from the game.  THere was a time extension, however, when we ended up making console version.

The alternative to DLC would have, unfortunately, been no Shale at all :\\

[Allan Schumacher]

jkflipflopDAO wrote...

Could you at least acknowlege the fact that we HATE the retailer-specific DLC? Hate hate hate hate it.

Noted.  You hate hate hate hate retailer-specific DLC

Personally I have always only seen the items as fluff items, so they never bothered me.  Why does it bother you?  Just because you want ALL the goodies?


EDIT:  That sounds dismissive.  More just "is there anything more to it than that?"

Modifié par Allan Schumacher, 19 septembre 2012 - 08:00 .

[Allan Schumacher]

So if there was some package DLC that allowed all the preorder items for a small cost would that make things better?

Just spitballing ideas since I suspect just giving them away might not be something allowed depending on the arrangement with the retailer and a host of other things I certainly have no visibility into.

[Allan Schumacher]

heavily integrated = essential

gives a perspective on the golems that we would otherwise would not have and therefore information that would helps make a decision, hence essential to that plot arc

Essentially you're saying we should only release boring DLC though.

[Allan Schumacher]

jkflipflopDAO wrote...

Personally, the people that want those things I would label as "Collectors". It would make sense to have that stuff come with the "Collector's Edition" of the game, no? If you insist on milking your fanbase, then yes, a 5 or 10 dollar DLC pack would do, but I'd be badmouthing your children as I click the "buy" button.

Well, I put forward a price because I assume that giving it away for free might not be easy.  Like I said, I'm just spitballing.

If I told you that to do this would result in less in game content in the shipped copy for everyone, would you reconsider?

What level of sacrifice would be made to ensure exclusive preorder DLCs no longer existed?

[Allan Schumacher]

Well I don't think we need to sacrifice. This could actually be a positive in that a CE would live up to it's name. Little plastic dragons are nice, but I'd much rather have in-game content that I can enjoy everytime I play the game. Retailers get their own pre-orders with the understanding that the CE will include all the bonuses from everyone. Basically the retail-specific thing only applies to the standard version of the game. If I'm going to shell out $70-80 bucks for the CE, I should get all that content.

Could work and an interesting point. One I hadn't fully considered. Problem with not knowing all of the details unfortunately :\\

I don't understand what you're asking with that last question. I don't understand why any sacrifices need to be made for this. You have to stop accepting bribes for custom content I guess is the sacrifice.

My question I guess is more this, how much extra content (lets say time wise) built right into the core game makes an exclusive preorder contract acceptable? Lets say it got you 1 extra hour, 10 extra hours, 100 extra hours. Is there any situation where the funding gets put to additional content that would make you go "Eh, I'm okay with the preorder exclusives?"

Is it a level of transparency (that unfortunately I can't really give) that would make it better, or would you still rather just not have any sort of preorder exclusive.


EDIT: I guess basicaly: if we could take that and find a way to give everyone more, is it okay?

Modifié par Allan Schumacher, 19 septembre 2012 - 10:11 .

[Allan Schumacher]

scyphozoa wrote...

Allan Schumacher wrote...
Essentially you're saying we should only release boring DLC though.

Definitely not this. While some might disagree about Shale, I haven't ever seen anyone say that Zaeed and his loyalty mission for revenge was remotely essential to the story or experience of ME2. And the same goes for Sebastian. He is a great character, but his arc of becoming clergy or prince aren't really relevant in DA2. If anything, this arc might be more meaningful in DA3 than it was in DA2.

To be honest though, I don't think even Javik was essential, but I do understand why tons of people thought he was. As I've said elsewhere, its all about the sweet spot, between having a character or content that is cool enough to want to buy, but not so pertinent to the main story or lore (as people felt Javik was). I think there is something a bit more common about Shale, Zaeed and Sebastian. Even with Shale as a golem and Sebastian as a prince, I think those still pale in comparison to the allure of a living Prothean within the ME universe. I would say this is partly because of how Protheans were designed to be a mystery throughout the trilogy. There was definitely more backstory and significance given to Protheans by ME3, than the other characters in their respective titles. 

I agree it's a sweet spot.  I thought Shale was fantastic, while I actually didn't like Zaeed at all.  Sebastian is somewhere in between along with Javik.  I would have liked more from Javik myself, and a lot more from Zaeed.  Whereas I think Shale's existence that was actually cut really helped make her contributions the best of the lot.

[Allan Schumacher]

Uh-huh. You keep telling yourself that, if it helps you sleep better at night.

I suppose I could say the same back to you.

Rude posts don't encourage dialogue. It's best to simply state that you're not a fan of Day One DLC rather than tell me that my understanding of it is just wrong when you're on the outside looking in and can only make guesses.


DLC can indeed include cut content.  Just like expansion packs and even sequels often do.  As for sleeping better at night, I think I'll need to wait for this flu to pass.

Modifié par Allan Schumacher, 19 septembre 2012 - 09:45 .

[Allan Schumacher]

I've been out sick, but I'll make a note to inquire about why the content isn't released at a later date for everyone (I believe Fallout New Vegas did this) when I'm finally back in to work.

[Allan Schumacher]

And the staff spent their time between certification and release making paid dlc content instead of a sorely needed second cave.

I spent my time between cert and release finding, isolating, and trapping memory fragmentation issues on the PS3.

[Allan Schumacher]

It's not always cut content. DLC teams get organized and will start planning what to do with support content, and they start creating the content from there.

It's just my words though. I have no magical silver bullet that will convince those that feel this isn't the case that it's not stuff actively stripped out of the main game exclusively for the sole purpose of selling it for additional cost. With Javik, I don't personally consider him essential, but I do consider him interesting and highly desirable, and as a gamer I only pick up DLC that I find highly desirable (for reference, the only DLC I have purchased was the expansion packs for Fallout New Vegas, and the expansion for Shogun 2). Things like Horse Armor and whatnot aren't the types of things that interesting me.  It seems like there's a fine line though, as to some releasing something that people really, really want as DLC ends up just coming across as a cash grab type of move.  I'm not sure how to reconcile that, though, because I think the best types of DLC that we can release are ones that people really, really want!


When you boil it down, I think it's possible for someone to state that any content could have been in the base game. It just would have taken more resources to do so. To me it really seems like much more of an optics issue, and what I find interesting is that if a company were to make a DLC that was ready for Day One, and just sat on it for a month or two (maybe longer) before releasing it, fans would happier. Even though it meant that that company was actively withholding content that the player could have otherwise been experiencing. It just seems kind of funny to think of it as "Fans would rather not have the content ASAP if it's going to be charged DLC."


I understand that the optics of it anger some people. Unfortunately even I don't have the financial details to make me know if it is "worth it" or not. But in the interest of trying to be a bit more open to the fan base, I do think it's important to discuss it as openly as we can. People may choose to not believe us and I don't think there's anything that can really be done with that. DLC is still a pretty new concept and I wouldn't be surprised to see the models continue to evolve.

In any case, I dooo need to have a nap (being sick as destroyed my sleep patterns lol) as I am getting my bottom braces put on a few hours! Eeep.


Though remind me to ask someone for more information regarding preorder exclusive DLCs!

Modifié par Allan Schumacher, 21 septembre 2012 - 10:23 .