180 réponses à ce sujet

[Sammimo]

MprezdNZ wrote...

pc games generally are cheaper than their console counterparts. At least in both New Zealand (where I am from) and in Canada and the US (where I currently reside) they are. 

And no, I don't really think that the price being cheaper than consoles would affect people buying it vs pirating it. Some people will always be pirates. I actually played this game the first time on a friend's pc not realising it was pirated. But once I played it I decided I would buy it, a: because it was a great game and b: because as one of only 2 or 3 decent pc game developers left Bioware deserved my money and they have always produced good games. I do wish that more demos would be released on pc though, as I am sure there are a few people who may consider buying it but not want to pay for it until they try it. They pirate it, decide they like it but not enough to put money down, so they just play the pirated version. 

And the consoles don't get all the bells and whistles. For starters they don't get the toolset or the ability to use mods. They also don't get the bird's eye view - and if you are an rpg fan this is pretty much a pre-requisite. 

You are most probably right about the pirate thing, I just edited my previous post though i was ranting cos i thought it was gonna be £40 here... erm then went on steam and saw it for £19.99 doh... forgive my rashness
I personally think that's a fair price, and will be purchasing as soon as I get paid.

[VanDraegon]

Sammimo wrote...
Hmmm. just because I pay for it dosn't guarantee it'll be quality though, does it?

Has Bioware failed to deliver quality thus far? It is reasonable to expect the same in the expansion. We have a lot of history to look back upon to justify it.

Modifié par VanDraegon, 23 janvier 2010 - 05:36 .

[EvilIguana966]

$40 is a pretty standard expansion price. I'd be perfectly willing to pay that assuming the game lasts a decent amount of time in a playthrough. I'd expect at least 20 hours from an RPG expansion, bare minimum, and ideally quite a bit more. Fifteen would be too short for the price. The reason that people are running with fifteen right now is that so far it is the only estimate available and Bioware devs have not attempted at all to debunk it. Quite the contrary, in several cases they have defended the concept of charging $40 for 15 hours of game. It seems to me that 15 hours was at the very least the original concept for the expansion when the info was leaked if not anything final.



I would really appreciate it, however, if people would stop comparing the play time of this expansion to completely unrelated activities. You can't compare it to a movie, a book, a concert, or even a game in a different genre.

[swordofthemaker]

Is the gameplay of the add longer than the original game? its nearly the same price as the normal game.

[MerinTB]

VanDraegon wrote...

Feraele wrote...
All depends who is playing it..my first playthrough was 110 hours, but I was taking my time reading everything etc.  hehe

Yeah, mine was 124.

1st - 128 hours
2nd - 98 hours

I (and many others) have many times enumerated the various reasons the gameplay can be so different between people -
the obvious ones are: console or PC; read all codexes or read some/none; listen to dialog or esc through some/all; doing all side-quests or sticking mostly to just the main quest; exploring every nook or bee-lining for objectives; tactical strategy (lots of pausing and micro-managing) or relying on tactics and/or controlling just one character in combat.
Some less obvious ones are: revisiting areas you've already completed each time you finish a major story arc to see what, if anything, has changed; running around to different merchants at different times to pick up different items; talking to every NPC who you can; thoroughly reading descriptions of weapons and armor and comparing the different effects wearing different items have instead of just grabbing the most powerful items.

And the one I rarely see mentioned that I think is the biggest factor:
Playing the game with as little outside help as possible vs. using information found on forums, strategy guides and/or walkthroughs.
Having maps, solutions to quests, lists saying what gifts work best with which party members, what the best items are and where they are, etc., will significantly speed up the game.  You add many hours to your gameplay when, like I play these kinds of games, you go in and experience everything yourself, figure out as much on your own as possible.

People may think they aren't using any such help just because they don't go looking for a walkthrough or a strategy guide, but if they are on the forums and read about where you get the Dog, or watch the videos that came with the Collector's Edition DVD and see about that set of armor you get from the quest and such, and many other sources that don't feel like using a walkthrough but are really telling you where to find stuff or how to solve things.

The people completing the game in 50 hours or less are "speeding" through the game, and by that I don't mean they are necessarily trying to race to the end, but their playstyle is faster and they don't have the patience or the desire for a more thorough experience.
The people taking over 80 hours are "soaking" in the experience of the game and the game world.  They are milking the content for all it's worth.

---

Again, there are videos of people finishing Super Mario Bros. in minutes and the original Fallout in minutes.  Because you can do it doesn't mean the people who choose to experience more of the game are at a 5 year old's reading level.

[Prosercunus]

For Americans (myself included) if a game is 50 dollars retail and the expansion is 40 dollars that is way more then usual.

It should be 30 dollars at most. I am actually going to wait until it drops to 30, and seeing how fast Dragon Age dropped in price on some websites (Amazon specifically) I wont even need to wait 1-2 weeks after release to pay the proper price of 30.

I can afford 40 of course, but they need to at least make a standard. If jackass companies want to charge 60 for PC games and 40 for expansions then just make it the standard and quit dipping your sticks in the water to see how consumers react to it.

Modifié par Prosercunus, 23 janvier 2010 - 06:11 .

[The Hardest Thing In The World]

I did mine in 79 hours so Bioware isn't lying there, to be fair.

[Lux]

The price seems appropriate.



As for wishful thinking, I hope no one gets a fit if the expansion gets delayed. Quality is appreciated...

[MerinTB]

Sammimo wrote...

MprezdNZ wrote...

pc games generally are cheaper than their console counterparts. At least in both New Zealand (where I am from) and in Canada and the US (where I currently reside) they are. 

And no, I don't really think that the price being cheaper than consoles would affect people buying it vs pirating it. Some people will always be pirates. I actually played this game the first time on a friend's pc not realising it was pirated. But once I played it I decided I would buy it, a: because it was a great game and b: because as one of only 2 or 3 decent pc game developers left Bioware deserved my money and they have always produced good games. I do wish that more demos would be released on pc though, as I am sure there are a few people who may consider buying it but not want to pay for it until they try it. They pirate it, decide they like it but not enough to put money down, so they just play the pirated version. 

And the consoles don't get all the bells and whistles. For starters they don't get the toolset or the ability to use mods. They also don't get the bird's eye view - and if you are an rpg fan this is pretty much a pre-requisite. 

You are most probably right about the pirate thing, I just edited my previous post though i was ranting cos i thought it was gonna be £40 here... erm then went on steam and saw it for £19.99 doh... forgive my rashness
I personally think that's a fair price, and will be purchasing as soon as I get paid.

Digital piracy has practically zero to due with price.

There are three main groups of "pirates":

1 - the ones who just want whatever they can get for free, they wouldn't pay if they had to so they wouldn't get the product; almost nothing law enforcement or businesses do will ever get money from these people
2 - the ones who want products are aren't available legally, such as movies or tv shows or games that are no longer for sale anywhere; this is a much smaller group now than it used to be, as companies have wised up and are releasing basically anything they have the rights to, repacks of old games or dvd box sets of old or quickly canceled tv series - there used to be a time not that long ago that NO tv shows were available outside of reruns, old games were impossible to legitimately buy, etc - those days are mostly gone (though a few things here and there remain unavailable)
3 - the ones who believe it is ok to demo or sample a full product before deciding to buy it; while still illegal as far as copyright law, these people tend to try something and if they don't like it they erase it, if they do like it they buy a legitimate copy to support the creators - not condoing this actitivity here, just explaining the mindset.

Adjusting the price may cause group 3 of pirates to try something if it's only a few bucks on the off chance that they like it.  But it wouldn't be a big enough offset for the lost revenue for the company.

Game companies are not energy companies or banks - they don't really collude on prices, especially as entertainment software is a luxury good.  They try to charge what they need to in order to stay in business (and yes, with the stock market, "staying in business" means turning a profit) while not charging more than the majority of their customer base can handle.

[huxley00]

Seems standard pricing for expansions, 29.99 for pc which I have paid for dozens of other expansions to be honest. Xbox/ps3 is always ten dollars more...and it sucks but thats life.

[MerinTB]

Prosercunus wrote...

For Americans (myself included) if a game is 50 dollars retail and the expansion is 40 dollars that is way more then usual.

It should be 30 dollars at most. I am actually going to wait until it drops to 30, and seeing how fast Dragon Age dropped in price on some websites (Amazon specifically) I wont even need to wait 1-2 weeks after release to pay the proper price of 30.

I can afford 40 of course, but they need to at least make a standard. If jackass companies want to charge 60 for PC games and 40 for expansions then just make it the standard and quit dipping your sticks in the water to see how consumers react to it.

All this talk of "Dragon Age" dropping in price already.
It hasn't.

Amazon's listing of $44.99 instead of $49.99 for the PC, and $56.99 instead of $59.99 for the consoles, is typical for any games they sell.  They often pre-sell them for those prices.
I did this in another thread a couple weeks back, and I'm not going to bother to pull up all the lists again - but that holiday sales price everyone was quoting a month ago was just that - a holiday sales price.  Best Buy and everyone brought the prices back up to MSRP shortly after the holidays.

Yes, in 6 months to a year after release, most PC games and many console games will drop in price.

But it hasn't been that long yet.

[Lux]

If you guys want this thread to be closed, talking about 'illegitimate acquisition' is a sure and quick way to get to that goal.

[Sammimo]

No, Vandragon, Bioware has not yet failed to produce quality software to my knowledge, It's just on many occasions after buying software for PC I have felt robbed because the product was simply not finished - many many bugs etc... and then support for said product abruptly halted as they start their next version of it, though I must say this could never be said of any bioware title that I'm aware of, and I would be mortified if i found out this was the case with Awakening - my rants would last for months!



I am just a little apprehensive and have good reason to be when talking about buying PC software which is often released unfinished and then left unsupported. 2 out of the 5 or so games i bought last year were this way.

[VanDraegon]

I really dont see the price being too high. Seems appropriate for a game of this caliber, from a dev of such standing and considering the costs that go into making games these days, i am just damn glad to be able to play a game like DA on my pc and have all the content that is coming for it.


*edit*

I understand your apprehension Sammino. It is certainly warrented in many cases but i dont think so in this one. If this was a no name or less than accomplished studio that happened to get lucky with a new title that was well recieved we would all be wise to guarded about any expansions.

Many will call me a fan boy but frankly Bioware has never failed to deliver us quality products time and time again. I am willing to pay what ever they ask to continue to feed my gaming habit with what they are pushing.

Modifié par VanDraegon, 23 janvier 2010 - 06:33 .

[evilhouseboat]

And it'll be worth every penny =)

[Noobius_Maximo]

OK, your average shooter has a half-arsed storyline and lasts 6 hours, and costs $60. The expansion is going to take ~20 hours. That's a good deal to me.

[Prosercunus]

MerinTB wrote...

Prosercunus wrote...

For Americans (myself included) if a game is 50 dollars retail and the expansion is 40 dollars that is way more then usual.

It should be 30 dollars at most. I am actually going to wait until it drops to 30, and seeing how fast Dragon Age dropped in price on some websites (Amazon specifically) I wont even need to wait 1-2 weeks after release to pay the proper price of 30.

I can afford 40 of course, but they need to at least make a standard. If jackass companies want to charge 60 for PC games and 40 for expansions then just make it the standard and quit dipping your sticks in the water to see how consumers react to it.

All this talk of "Dragon Age" dropping in price already.
It hasn't.

Amazon's listing of $44.99 instead of $49.99 for the PC, and $56.99 instead of $59.99 for the consoles, is typical for any games they sell.  They often pre-sell them for those prices.
I did this in another thread a couple weeks back, and I'm not going to bother to pull up all the lists again - but that holiday sales price everyone was quoting a month ago was just that - a holiday sales price.  Best Buy and everyone brought the prices back up to MSRP shortly after the holidays.

Yes, in 6 months to a year after release, most PC games and many console games will drop in price.

But it hasn't been that long yet.

I have seen it drop many times on slickdeals and other savings websites for various day or week long sales. I dont need you to tell me it hasnt since I have seen it (and taken advantage of it) myself.

Maybe not in general but if you dig around you can find Dragon Age Cheap. I never said on your average day it is any cheaper now did I?

[SkyVon]

What avg shooter are you playing? Except for the latest CoD pos, most FPS's last closer to 20 hrs. and a few (CoD WAW, 4 and 2) offer good unlimited multi-play. Take the 2009 add-on's for STALKER and CRYSIS. Both cost around $30 and played like a whole new game, while using the same engine and story; and both took a pleasantly surprising amount of time to complete. While I love DAO, I will NOT pay $40 for a mini-game. Just because we paid top-dollar for DAO doesn't mean we will do the same for an add-on; especially after paying $7 for a very disappointing Wardens Keep. I am now very reluctant to spend a single dollar on another DLC. Before we know it, this nickle and dime tactic will leave us $100 (or more) poorer.

[errant_knight]

EvilIguana966 wrote...

$40 is a pretty standard expansion price. I'd be perfectly willing to pay that assuming the game lasts a decent amount of time in a playthrough. I'd expect at least 20 hours from an RPG expansion, bare minimum, and ideally quite a bit more. Fifteen would be too short for the price. The reason that people are running with fifteen right now is that so far it is the only estimate available and Bioware devs have not attempted at all to debunk it. Quite the contrary, in several cases they have defended the concept of charging $40 for 15 hours of game. It seems to me that 15 hours was at the very least the original concept for the expansion when the info was leaked if not anything final.

I would really appreciate it, however, if people would stop comparing the play time of this expansion to completely unrelated activities. You can't compare it to a movie, a book, a concert, or even a game in a different genre.

Sure you can, if you're talking about entertainment value for your dollar.

[Legbiter]

SkyVon wrote...

While I love DAO, I will NOT pay $40 for a mini-game. Just because we paid top-dollar for DAO doesn't mean we will do the same for an add-on; especially after paying $7 for a very disappointing Wardens Keep. I am now very reluctant to spend a single dollar on another DLC. Before we know it, this nickle and dime tactic will leave us $100 (or more) poorer.

They made an absolute mint on Dragon Age DLC.  We have no one to blame but ourselves.

But personally, after Dragon Age, Bioware has built up an enormous amount of goodwill with me. They'd have to kill my dog and molest me with a plunger before I'd start getting peeved at them.

[TheBeerPeople]

For me, there are other games I want to play so if im lucky, the expansion will be cheaper by the time im done with them

[Krilral]

It's about the same price and lenght(devs say 15 hours) of most stand-alone games actually so i don't really have a problem. It's not more expensive than other games.

[TheMadCat]

Krilral wrote...

It's about the same price and lenght(devs say 15 hours) of most stand-alone games actually so i don't really have a problem. It's not more expensive than other games.

No Bioware rep has ever said 15 hours, or any time for that matter.

[Krilral]

TheMadCat wrote...

Krilral wrote...

It's about the same price and lenght(devs say 15 hours) of most stand-alone games actually so i don't really have a problem. It's not more expensive than other games.

No Bioware rep has ever said 15 hours, or any time for that matter.

Several gaming news websites say 15 hours and they must have that from somewhere. They also all seem very confident in their information so one could assume they have it from Bioware or EA. 

[Bathead]

The original site that first broke the story said 15 hours, but they later recanted it, but as it usually goes with the internet, it's still being reported as being 15 hours.

15 hours IS RUMOR ONLY!