463 réponses à ce sujet

[azarhal]

Demon Velsper wrote...

Cameron Lee wrote...

DA3 won’t be rushed out, we won’t ship it until we’re proud of what we’ll be giving you.

Considering you were proud of DA2 that doesn't instill any confidence.

It's like you are saying that an artist shouldn't be proud of his painting because you think it's ugly.

A developper can be proud of what he accomplished, regardless if some people hate the end result because it isn't what they want.

[Kelgair]

Khayness wrote...

Kelgair wrote...

Who wants a 2 year lag time for an expansion? Anyone?

Come on, there's a movement that supports such thought.

I'd rather wait two years than to not be able to play at all. Guess those "Note: Genesis/Arrival/Alternate Appearance Pack 2/Lair of the Shadow Broker is not compatible with Polish, Czech or Hungarian versions of Mass Effect 2" descriptions didn't affect you, but did many of us.

Interesting. I am admittedly very unfamiliar with that particular regions software workings/business. But it seems there is a lack of localization for those ME2 DLC, or do other recent Bioware games suffer as well?

Modifié par Kelgair, 09 mai 2013 - 01:35 .

[Fast Jimmy]

EntropicAngel wrote...

Fast Jimmy wrote...

Saying "well, the company is making money doing X, so if you don't like it, don't pay money to fhem and then maybe they'll listen" is a recipe for failure, for both the consumer as well as the company. It is entirely reactive rather than pro-active, it wastes a valuable resource - consumer confidence - in lieu for the short term cash in and, all in all, is rather dismissive of the consumer and gives the appearance of the company rather smugly saying "deal with it."

Invariably when companies do this, competition comes in. Someone finds a way to offer an equivalent (or even better) version of the product for less expense and the market share slips out of the fingers of the company who thought they could rest on their laurels, saying their product and model was so superior, that they could ignore consumer demands as long as they were still making money.

Entrepreneurial history is littered with examples where this has happened... but this isn't a theoretical any longer for Bioware. A company like CD Projekt is offering a story-driven fantasy RPG with (arguably) better choice and consequence mechanisms, engaging lore and, impossible as some would make it out to seem, free DLC. The first game garnered critical and fan acclaim. The second game only worked to improve nearly every complaint given about the first game, neither providing the "same old thing" nor changing the formula so much to irritate the fan base. Given the ramp up of their studios, these games are making them lots of money (despite selling less copies than DA2 until the TW2 port to the 360)... all with a free DLC model. 

When TW3 comes out head-to-head (relatively) against DA3, it is entirely possible that many fans could not be impressed with what Bioware is offering, including their DLC model, and instead migrate their buying preferences elsewhere. If such a "voting of the wallet" was extreme enough, this won't be a "lesson learned" but a coffin nailed. In retrospect, people will say Bioware's commitment to unpopular pricing models killed their IPs.

Regardless, smart companies do not want consumers to vote with their wallets. Not when their consumers are wanting to vote them out of office, so to speak.

This is capitalism. It's great, isn't it? When EA starts making bad games, they'll start falling. Then they'll be forced to either disappear or make good games.

It could be argued that this exact thing is what HAS been happening, and what is causing EA's current change--however subtle--in direction.

Some would argue EA HAS been making bad games. For a while now. Bioware titles included in that list. Some would also say that the EA model is to constantly acquire new studios with IPs that sell, milk them for what they are worth, then close said studios when their games start becoming unsellable, punishing the developer, padding their own bottom line and then acquiring another new studio and doing the same thing. That is also capitalism, but it is hardly a fair course of events... assuming, of course, that this is what is actually happenening.

I'm not sure anyone can say EA has changed recently. New words have been said, a new CEO is in the seat... but those are events, those aren't changes. We'll see if they are able to turn around their name and their overall reputation in the industry, but its anyone's guess if EA is course-correcting due to consumer feedback or if they just are trying to APPEAR they are changing.

Modifié par Fast Jimmy, 09 mai 2013 - 02:04 .

[Fast Jimmy]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

Forge of Virtue was good fun! I didn't get a chance to play it until probably a decade after release (which I was finally able to get past the lich on Skara Brae.... much to my "oh my god how was I stuck here 10 years ago!!?!?!" dismay... >.>)

I'm curious if people had issues because, upon completion, the Avatar had obtained the most powerful weapon in the game?


Minor aside, I like the differences between The Black Gate and Serpent Isle. Both have their different focuses, with The Black Gate embracing the open world more wholly, while Serpent Isle had a more linear narrative. As such, I tend to enjoy the story of Serpent Isle more, though lost much, much more time in The Black Gate.

I don't think I ever played The Silver Seed, however.

The Silver Seed was interesting... not because it was good content (it wasn't, really), but what it allowed the player to do from a mechanics point of view.

The story of Silver Seed is a little random. You wind up going back in time to the War of Imbalance... right at the war's end, when the forces of Order are about to "win" and kill all the remaining Chaos followers. You are heralded as some long-prophecied hero (shocking for the Ultima series LOL) that is tasked with recovering the three orbs that work as keys to the chamber of the Silver Seed. After gathering these orbs, you plant the Silver Seed in the past, so that the Tree of Balance can be fully grown in the future-present. Of course, you never see this tree in the future-present when you return and beating the base game does not require the Tree of Balance to be planted at all, really.

But, of note are the rewards you get. For one, there are the most cost-effective trainers in the game (the only place where you can actually train your magic skill effectively). Of more note, however, are the goodies. You got some over-powered weapons and gear, sure... just like you did with the Forge of Virtue.

But you also get items which let you sidestep some of the more tedious elements of realism Origin had strived so hard to put in their game. You get a helmet that emits light, meaning darkness no longer affects your character. You get a ring that makes all reagants (including Heartstone) completely unneeded. And you get a magic keyring which magically holds all of your keys, without having to remember which key went to which. This, coupled with a cup you can find in the base game that works as a source of unlimited food, gives the player the ability to pretty much ignore all sense of "realism" the game worked really hard to conjure up. You didn't have to keep any food, you never had to manage your keys, you never had to light a torch to see in a dark cave, you never had to hoard reagants to cast spels... it was pretty much a streamlining of their game not through actual mechanics, but through DLC.

Quite interesting, honestly.

[Fast Jimmy]

Ninja Stan wrote...

LPPrince wrote...

http://www.psu.com/a...r-game-released

Why can't more things be like this

I think many more than can be like that. Whether they should be or not, and whether companies base their schedules on that, is a different matter. Waiting until the games ships to start DLC production isn't a bad thing, but it's not nexessarily a good thing, either. If a company is planning Day 1 DLC, waiting until Day 2 to start it is ridiculous.

Stan, this is the problem though... should a game company be planning Day 1 DLC? 

The defense we have been told over the years is that it is nearly accidental: "The teams were done with the core game after it went gold... why NOT have them work on unfinished parts of the game so that they will be ready for Day One?" 

I don't have an inherent problem with DLC as a concept. I don't like it and I don't buy it, personally, as I think it is way too small of a return of investment compared to a fully fleshed out Expansion, for example. But I don't think it is wrong for a company to engage in its practice (especially if it is like DA:O, where both avenues are pursued).

For DA:O's D1DLC, there was a purposeful, long 6+ month delay from when DA:O was meant to go Gold and when it actually was released. In that case, it makes perfect sense that Shale was created in the meantime (a DLC item that was given away for free, I might add). But for D1DLC to be completed now, it needs to be part of the plan. Part of the design. This isn't accidental; it is quite intentional.

Which rubs me the wrong way, but not for the reasons you might think. Teams and assets are being used to create more content to be ready on Day 1. However, the base game itself has problems. For DA2, there were lots of glitching issues with the cutscenes that was grating and just looked unprofessional. There were issues with combat, for instance the exploding blood bags. Certain quests did not acitvate correctly, meaning they could not be completed. Import flags that reported incorrectly, resulting in the dead returning from the grave. These are issues and problems outside the overall scope of the game, but rather just indicate missed bugs. ME3 had bugs as well, such as the (very-loudly) complained about Face Import issue. 

Point being... these games could have done with a Day 1 Patch, rather than Day 1 DLC. I find it hard to believe that anyone can say that with the two months from when ME3 went Gold (let alone when the work on the From Ashes DLC work began) to test and QA, Bioware wouldn't have found (and fixed) the Face Import bug. It wasn't some obscure bug that only would occur in a rare, hard to find instance. 

Teams like Writing, Level Design, Animation, etc. can all continue working on future content to be released as DLC... but to put every resource available to making this DLC content available on the very first day when resources could have been applied to create a Day 1 Patch to make the base game as good as it can be would be a smarter move. If would creat a better first impression for the player to have of the base game and less negative response from players who feel they have to buy a more "premium" version of the game on Day 1 to get the "full" experience. Two birds, one stone.

Modifié par Fast Jimmy, 09 mai 2013 - 01:52 .

[Khayness]

Kelgair wrote...

Interesting. I am admittedly very unfamiliar with that particular regions software workings/business. But it seems there is a lack of localization for those ME2 DLC, or do other recent Bioware games suffer as well?

Recent, no. It all happened because the Czech/Polish/Hungarian versions were dropped in mid-2010's from their list to translate games for. Mass Effect 2 still got oncoming content when this happened, hence why those DLCs are unavaliable. Probably some Sims expansions got it too maybe, not many releases were happening at that time.

But it doesn't change the fact that this was a move which didn't build consumer trust. If the Poles aren't safe with their 40 million folks, strongest growing economy in the region, GOG.com and CDPRed, who is?

EntropicAngel wrote...

really? when does he do that? i'm at TIM's base and I have yet to encounter a conversation with him about any race but the asari.

I haven't played ME3 for more than 8 months now, can't remember exactly when. He says things about past conflicts which mirrors the current cycle, hinting that they were orchestrated by the Reapers, like the Rachni and the Geth, also he says that "every cycle has its traitors", telling about the infighting at his time aswell.

On Thessia he pretty much obliterates the Asari, as I'm sure you are aware of that, blue skinned space babes chosen to lead the next cycle, only to become massive hypocrites who squandered away the headstart.

As for the Protheans, he knocks them down from the pedastal the rest of the galactic civilisation elected them on. Maybe true, maybe not, because he is a children of the Reaper war, he doesn't know how things were before the conflict.

Modifié par Khayness, 09 mai 2013 - 01:59 .

[Demon Velsper]

azarhal wrote...

Demon Velsper wrote...

Cameron Lee wrote...

DA3 won’t be rushed out, we won’t ship it until we’re proud of what we’ll be giving you.

Considering you were proud of DA2 that doesn't instill any confidence.

It's like you are saying that an artist shouldn't be proud of his painting because you think it's ugly.

A developper can be proud of what he accomplished, regardless if some people hate the end result because it isn't what they want.

Then you need to learn to read properly. What I said was that them being proud of it doesn't mean diddly-squat in terms of quality. DA2 also proves that they are quite capable of being proud of a rushed product so as an assurance that it won't be rushed it is utterly worthless. In essence, the statement was pointless.

In this case your "artist" is trying to assure me that I won't find his next painting equally ugly because he won't unveil it till he's proud of it, even though that's exactly the same thing he did with the previous painting that I found ugly.

Any parent would be proud of their kid drawing stick figures and splashing paint on a piece of paper and put it on the fridge, to everyone not related to the kid though it's just a worthless piece of paper that had more value when it was blank.

Modifié par Demon Velsper, 09 mai 2013 - 01:48 .

[Fast Jimmy]

robertthebard wrote...

Allan Schumacher wrote...

To add to that. The importance of the character is not the breaking point for me. The point is, I want to expereince the product the artist have intended.

In this case, no video game... not even Baldur's Gate 2, and I not so darefully say any BioWare game, satisfies this criteria.

How do you define "Artists vision?"

This is absolutely true.  I'm quite sure there's a lot of story that goes untold in a lot of games because of limits to platforms, especially now, and disc space in the past.

To the DLC and Expansion Packs are the same argument, a resounding no.  Alan did give an example of one, with TotSC, which was an expansion pack that actually added content to the main game, instead of a post story arc, but by and large, go ahead and play MotB in the middle of the official campaign...  A story which, sorry Obsidian, sort of, could have been left all the way out, and replaced with something different as far as I'm concerned.  Such is the nature of subjective opinions though, some liked it, I didn't.  It wasn't new, or innovative, it was more a copy/paste of the slayer from last chapter or so of BG 2, with little tweaks here and there so that it wasn't totally just ripped from BG 2.

Allan didn't use the example of Throne of Bhaal, though. Which directly procedes BG2 and completes the story and narrative directly where it left off at in the end of BG2. You would never see a DLC (or a string of DLCs) on that maginitude and of that quality. 

If developers want to move to a episodic DLC model to release the equivalent of an expansion, I don't think I would have a problem with that. But, instead, DLC seems to be more of the mad scientist laboratory, where they are looking at creating things that would sound cool. The Darkspawn Chronicles, or Leliana's Song or MotA... all of these serve as just distractions and events to do something - "be the Darkspawn," "play as Leliana," "see Felicia Day and visit Orlais." There isn't an overall strategy or point to them. Which means any interesting plot points brought up in these are likely to be left by the wayside. See - Arrival.

Point being, saying "DLC is the same as expansions, just packaged differently" is not at all true. Play Return to Ostagar, Stone's Prisoner, Golems of Amgharak and Witch Hunt and tell me that is one coherent story, with fleshed out new mechanics, a host of good companions and a unified purpose. Now play Awakening and tell me it is not. DLC is a way to chase cool sounding ideas that developers think will sell. An expansion is pretty much an encapsulated sequel to the original game in many cases. The two are not equivalent (despite being priced relatively the same, which I find a poor value).

Modifié par Fast Jimmy, 09 mai 2013 - 01:54 .

[Xilizhra]

On Thessia he pretty much obliterates the Asari, as I'm sure you are aware that, blue skinned space babes chosen to lead the next cycle, only to become massive hypocrites who squandered away the headstart.

Slanderous lies. Only the tiny few who were in charge had any opportunity to be hypocrites at all, and they didn't even come close to squandering the head start: they discovered the Citadel and ensured that the galactic government of this cycle would aim for peace and something close to balance whenever possible, which has itself been vital.

[Khayness]

Xilizhra wrote...

Slanderous lies. Only the tiny few who were in charge had any opportunity to be hypocrites at all, and they didn't even come close to squandering the head start: they discovered the Citadel and ensured that the galactic government of this cycle would aim for peace and something close to balance whenever possible, which has itself been vital.

Tell Matriarch Aethyta that.

[Xilizhra]

Khayness wrote...

Xilizhra wrote...

Slanderous lies. Only the tiny few who were in charge had any opportunity to be hypocrites at all, and they didn't even come close to squandering the head start: they discovered the Citadel and ensured that the galactic government of this cycle would aim for peace and something close to balance whenever possible, which has itself been vital.

Tell Matriarch Aethyta that.

The Reapers necessitated an extremely fast course correction that the asari didn't think they needed to do, having the turians and all. No one saw the magnitude of that threat until it was too late.

[Fast Jimmy]

EntropicAngel wrote...

Arrival is a bad example, because its plotline is assumed for Shepard even if you didn't play--something a LOT of us were upset about when we found out.

What was assumed? That the event happened? Your choice in the matter wasn't explained or reflected in the least.

[AngryFrozenWater]

Chris Priestly wrote...

jstme wrote...
Dragon Age: Origins..with slightly over 2 years of development still were going to be seriously rushed.

HAHAHAHAHAHA Oh, I'm sorry, but this makes me laugh. DAO was in development for 6 years. "slightly over 2 years" and, especially "rushed" are phrases I never expected to be used with Dragon Age: Origins.

Look at it this way. We know DA2 was not as popular with fans as we were hoping. Yes, it sold well, but we know that there are fans who were disappointed with aspects of the game (reusing areas like "that cave", wave combat dropping form the sky, etc) and have said that if DA3 is not better, they will pretty much give up on the series.

So, from both BioWare and EA's point of view, we need to make DA3 significantly better than DA2. Simply getting the same sales & reviews that DA2 had isn't really going to be enough. BioWare and EA hope that DA3 sells really well, that critics and fans alike love the game, and they we can continue to make more games in the Dragon Age franchise in the future. This is what we want.

If you are one of the people who believe that EA doesn't really care about quality and only care about making money, the BEST way they can make money is to let us make Dragon Age 3 an amazing title so they can continue to make money for years to come. Thinking they will rush the game out and potentially end a very valuable franchise for the sake of a quick buck, just doesn't make any sense.

As I said, DA3 is not being rushed out. Work is going really well and the Dev team are hard at work making DA3 the amazing game we know it will be. No cancellations here.

Ghehe. Hey, Chris. Stop making sense. That would be the best way to go about it indeed. I also have the impression that no developer in his/her right mind ever wants to rush things. Still, consessions would be made to make ends meet. Management need to push that a bit, otherwise nothing ever gets done that makes commercial sense. But it seems that you guys understood some of the critisism that was thrown at you. Although sceptical, I am eager to find out how the next game turns out.

[Khayness]

Xilizhra wrote...

Khayness wrote...

Xilizhra wrote...

Slanderous lies. Only the tiny few who were in charge had any opportunity to be hypocrites at all, and they didn't even come close to squandering the head start: they discovered the Citadel and ensured that the galactic government of this cycle would aim for peace and something close to balance whenever possible, which has itself been vital.

Tell Matriarch Aethyta that.

The Reapers necessitated an extremely fast course correction that the asari didn't think they needed to do, having the turians and all. No one saw the magnitude of that threat until it was too late.

Actually we don't know how exactly the Asari shaped galactic civilisation based on the knowledge they got and used (or not), it's all left to Speculation™.

Javik's different perspective is still valid, wether you believe him or not, at all, or only a little. And that was the original intention of my train of off-topic thought.

[LPPrince]

Fast Jimmy wrote...

EntropicAngel wrote...

Arrival is a bad example, because its plotline is assumed for Shepard even if you didn't play--something a LOT of us were upset about when we found out.

What was assumed? That the event happened? Your choice in the matter wasn't explained or reflected in the least.

Plus, if you didn't play it, what did you expect? The Reapers would've rolled in and done their business, everyone would get wiped out pre-ME3.

...oh my God it would've been better that way NOW I FEEL YOUR PAIN

[EpicBoot2daFace]

They're just batarians.

[Sanunes]

Fast Jimmy wrote...

Stan, this is the problem though... should a game company be planning Day 1 DLC? 

The defense we have been told over the years is that it is nearly accidental: "The teams were done with the core game after it went gold... why NOT have them work on unfinished parts of the game so that they will be ready for Day One?" 

I don't have an inherent problem with DLC as a concept. I don't like it and I don't buy it, personally, as I think it is way too small of a return of investment compared to a fully fleshed out Expansion, for example. But I don't think it is wrong for a company to engage in its practice (especially if it is like DA:O, where both avenues are pursued).

For DA:O's D1DLC, there was a purposeful, long 6+ month delay from when DA:O was meant to go Gold and when it actually was released. In that case, it makes perfect sense that Shale was created in the meantime (a DLC item that was given away for free, I might add). But for D1DLC to be completed now, it needs to be part of the plan. Part of the design. This isn't accidental; it is quite intentional.

Which rubs me the wrong way, but not for the reasons you might think. Teams and assets are being used to create more content to be ready on Day 1. However, the base game itself has problems. For DA2, there were lots of glitching issues with the cutscenes that was grating and just looked unprofessional. There were issues with combat, for instance the exploding blood bags. Certain quests did not acitvate correctly, meaning they could not be completed. Import flags that reported incorrectly, resulting in the dead returning from the grave. These are issues and problems outside the overall scope of the game, but rather just indicate missed bugs. ME3 had bugs as well, such as the (very-loudly) complained about Face Import issue. 

Point being... these games could have done with a Day 1 Patch, rather than Day 1 DLC. I find it hard to believe that anyone can say that with the two months from when ME3 went Gold (let alone when the work on the From Ashes DLC work began) to test and QA, Bioware wouldn't have found (and fixed) the Face Import bug. It wasn't some obscure bug that only would occur in a rare, hard to find instance. 

Teams like Writing, Level Design, Animation, etc. can all continue working on future content to be released as DLC... but to put every resource available to making this DLC content available on the very first day when resources could have been applied to create a Day 1 Patch to make the base game as good as it can be would be a smarter move. If would creat a better first impression for the player to have of the base game and less negative response from players who feel they have to buy a more "premium" version of the game on Day 1 to get the "full" experience. Two birds, one stone.

I rather have Day 1 DLC then support the other practice that is industry wide of being "thanks for working so hard on this game, now you are laid off" because there is going to be a two to three month window before the game is released.

Edit: To fix post cutoff.

This is the situation as I see it.  BioWare releases Day 1 DLC and its a money grab and poor form to people on these boards, BioWare starts DLC after the game is goes gold and works on it for six months instead of three to four and these boards go beserk because they want $20 to $30 for the DLC because it took twice as long to make, they make the DLC sit on it for a month and watch people still get upset because it was done and they are just stripping content to rip people off, or they do what other developers do and that is lay off a bunch of temp workers move key staff to other projects and create a new team when they start DLC which will upset people because the quality is low.

Modifié par Sanunes, 09 mai 2013 - 02:50 .

[Thomas Andresen]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

As someone that has actually never played with Sebastian (since I never worked on the DLC), I disagree; even after just watching the video now. It's an interesting aspect into his character, but I'd like to think that all content would be consistent and be interesting. It's a reaction that is integrated into the story, which makes sense for his character. You can only imagine the vacuum being there because you were provided with extra content that allows you to assume said vacuum would exist. Do you still feel the same if you play the game for a year before playing a DLC that adds Sebastian and that scene? I guess it's hard to say one way or another since that wasn't the reality, but I have my doubts.

For my first couple of playthroughs, I didn't own the Exiled Prince DLC, and I can most assuredly say that it didn't feel like anything was missing from the anywhere in the game. When I first played with Exiled Prince installed, I found the additional dialogue an interesting addition. Now, I find that content at times grating, and am actually tempted to remove it and play without.

[Lt_Riley]

Sejborg wrote...

But will you ask for my trust prior to the release? Will I be missing out on huge chunks of the game if I want to wait for reviews? Like the stunt you pulled with DA2 with the preorder special edition DLC? Or have you come to the conclusion that that might not have been a very nice move? Will I feel punished for just getting the standard edition and not trusting you blindly again, and missing out on huge chunks of the game? Am I still a customer that needs to be eleminated and punished for not preordering? Now I understand you haven't decided upon that yet, but try and keep in mind how different kinds of bonuses might be perceived from different customers. 

I'm sorry, you're stretching, and you're stretching hard. I've played Dragon age 2 with and without the exiled prince dlc, and I can honestly say: All Sebastian added was an extra companion and two personal hit & forget missions that aren't mentioned again in the story, post completion. His dlc can be completely ignored, and you still wouldn't be missing out on any part of the Da2 story line. The only relevant gripe I can see with his dlc is that meeting leliana was tied into it, and even that has more to do with sentimentality, than the actual storyline.

[Kelgair]

Khayness wrote...

Kelgair wrote...

Interesting. I am admittedly very unfamiliar with that particular regions software workings/business. But it seems there is a lack of localization for those ME2 DLC, or do other recent Bioware games suffer as well?

Recent, no. It all happened because the Czech/Polish/Hungarian versions were dropped in mid-2010's from their list to translate games for. Mass Effect 2 still got oncoming content when this happened, hence why thoes DLCs are unavaliable. Probably some Sims expansions got it too maybe, not many releases were happening at that time.

But it doesn't change the fact that this was a move which didn't built consumer trust.

Hm, seems like the regional company that BioWare/EA hired for localization went under and it took them awhile to find a new one. Seems an odd reason to fault BioWare. I do hope that BioWare localizes those DLC to your region though. Being 3 year old DLC it might be iffy, simply because of the VO work. I strongly suspect you could make a case for the invesment if you wanted

edit: I use "though" way too much.

Modifié par Kelgair, 09 mai 2013 - 02:59 .

[The Elder King]

EpicBoot2daFace wrote...

They're just batarians.

You dwarves are all racists!!!

[Fast Jimmy]

Sanunes wrote...

Fast Jimmy wrote...

Stan, this is the problem though... should a game company be planning Day 1 DLC? 

The defense we have been told over the years is that it is nearly accidental: "The teams were done with the core game after it went gold... why NOT have them work on unfinished parts of the game so that they will be ready for Day One?" 

I don't have an inherent problem with DLC as a concept. I don't like it and I don't buy it, personally, as I think it is way too small of a return of investment compared to a fully fleshed out Expansion, for example. But I don't think it is wrong for a company to engage in its practice (especially if it is like DA:O, where both avenues are pursued).

For DA:O's D1DLC, there was a purposeful, long 6+ month delay from when DA:O was meant to go Gold and when it actually was released. In that case, it makes perfect sense that Shale was created in the meantime (a DLC item that was given away for free, I might add). But for D1DLC to be completed now, it needs to be part of the plan. Part of the design. This isn't accidental; it is quite intentional.

Which rubs me the wrong way, but not for the reasons you might think. Teams and assets are being used to create more content to be ready on Day 1. However, the base game itself has problems. For DA2, there were lots of glitching issues with the cutscenes that was grating and just looked unprofessional. There were issues with combat, for instance the exploding blood bags. Certain quests did not acitvate correctly, meaning they could not be completed. Import flags that reported incorrectly, resulting in the dead returning from the grave. These are issues and problems outside the overall scope of the game, but rather just indicate missed bugs. ME3 had bugs as well, such as the (very-loudly) complained about Face Import issue. 

Point being... these games could have done with a Day 1 Patch, rather than Day 1 DLC. I find it hard to believe that anyone can say that with the two months from when ME3 went Gold (let alone when the work on the From Ashes DLC work began) to test and QA, Bioware wouldn't have found (and fixed) the Face Import bug. It wasn't some obscure bug that only would occur in a rare, hard to find instance. 

Teams like Writing, Level Design, Animation, etc. can all continue working on future content to be released as DLC... but to put every resource available to making this DLC content available on the very first day when resources could have been applied to create a Day 1 Patch to make the base game as good as it can be would be a smarter move. If would creat a better first impression for the player to have of the base game and less negative response from players who feel they have to buy a more "premium" version of the game on Day 1 to get the "full" experience. Two birds, one stone.

I rather have Day 1 DLC then support the other practice that is industry wide of being "thanks for working so hard on this game, now you are laid off" because there is going to be a two to three month window before the game is released.

Edit: To fix post cutoff.

This is the situation as I see it.  BioWare releases Day 1 DLC and its a money grab and poor form to people on these boards, BioWare starts DLC after the game is goes gold and works on it for six months instead of three to four and these boards go beserk because they want $20 to $30 for the DLC because it took twice as long to make, they make the DLC sit on it for a month and watch people still get upset because it was done and they are just stripping content to rip people off, or they do what other developers do and that is lay off a bunch of temp workers move key staff to other projects and create a new team when they start DLC which will upset people because the quality is low.

I highly doubt this would be the case.

The ME3 team worked six months on Citadel and it was only $10. They worked less than that on Omega and it was $15.

If they were going to put enough work into it for it to be truly worth $20 - $30, it likely couldn't be a DLC to begin with. It would be too large of a file for XBL or the PSN to accomodate and would be sold as a full expansion.

So I think your fears are pretty ungrounded.

[Fast Jimmy]

Kelgair wrote...

Khayness wrote...

Kelgair wrote...

Interesting. I am admittedly very unfamiliar with that particular regions software workings/business. But it seems there is a lack of localization for those ME2 DLC, or do other recent Bioware games suffer as well?

Recent, no. It all happened because the Czech/Polish/Hungarian versions were dropped in mid-2010's from their list to translate games for. Mass Effect 2 still got oncoming content when this happened, hence why thoes DLCs are unavaliable. Probably some Sims expansions got it too maybe, not many releases were happening at that time.

But it doesn't change the fact that this was a move which didn't built consumer trust.

Hm, seems like the regional company that BioWare/EA hired for localization went under and it took them awhile to find a new one. Seems an odd reason to fault BioWare. I do hope that BioWare localizes those DLC to your region though. Being 3 year old DLC it might be iffy, simply because of the VO work. I strongly suspect you could make a case for the invesment if you wanted

edit: I use "though" way too much.

And, worst case scenario, you could always pick up a copy of Rosetta Stone for English...?

Just thinking outside the box.