I think i got all DA:I dlc during christmas sales for around 15-20$ but prior to that I couldn't even think to buy them at full price because of the high currency in my country.
But as some said, the Bioware points system is a stupid idea, unless they do ultimate editions like DA:O it's really a shite system and as said before, you actually spend more money for the dlc than with the trilogy edition of ME (which i got on sale too).
I have a hard time viewing most DLC as "overpriced" based on the entertainment value I get from them. Especially considering that, by that metric, games in general are way, way underpriced at the moment.
Now that's some revisionist history right there.
So can you show some proof when Javik was advertised as a part of the main game, in the year leadup to Mass Effect 3 I don't recall ever hearing that one happening in any form of advertising.
Pardon my word choice. He was not "advertised" that way per se but he was revealed early to be part of the main game. It was only later we came to find out he wouldn't be part of the main game but released later as a day one DLC.
And goddamn do I hate day one DLCs. Either stick it in the game or save it for later, day one DLCs you charge for are insulting. Doesn't help how day one DLCs can screw people over too;I was fine but my stepbrother paid for a Javik code at the shop he got ME3 from because he didn't know he'd get Javik for free from his CE.
I have a hard time viewing most DLC as "overpriced" based on the entertainment value I get from them. Especially considering that, by that metric, games in general are way, way underpriced at the moment.
I don't have a hard time at all.
Charge me too much for a DLC thats too short and I'll call it overpriced.
Charge me too much for a DLC thats lacking content and I'll call it overpriced.
Charge me too much for a DLC that had a good amount of content and length that I happened to not enjoy and I'll just say it wasn't for me.
I think the one exception I can think of was Lair of The Shadow Broker. In reality it didn't take long to beat;but I felt it was worth the cost. In other cases, even with DLCs I enjoyed, I weighed the cost against what I got for it, not so much how much enjoyment I got out of it.
I've never really had a problem with how much content I get out of Bioware's DLCs. I think thats fine. What I don't think is fine is how much they charge for those DLCs. Or rather EA, or whoever is in charge of deciding the price points.
I disagree with their decisions.
Pardon my word choice. He was not "advertised" that way per se but he was revealed early to be part of the main game. It was only later we came to find out he wouldn't be part of the main game but released later as a day one DLC.
And goddamn do I hate day one DLCs. Either stick it in the game or save it for later, day one DLCs you charge for are insulting. Doesn't help how day one DLCs can screw people over too;I was fine but my stepbrother paid for a Javik code at the shop he got ME3 from because he didn't know he'd get Javik for free from his CE.
Fair enough if the choice of words is wrong.
From my recollection they had a planned DLC character from the get go, well into the early marketing for Mass Effect 3, and Javik would fulfil that role after he became a cut character.
If what you are refering to is the leaked script where Javik had a major role, that doesn't count. Games go through changes and re-writes and all that stuff, and Javik had his role reduced because of the leaked script, and in part because the focus was off Shepard. So to say that he was taken out of the game is a bit of a misnomer.
And goddamn do I hate day one DLCs. Either stick it in the game or save it for later, day one DLCs you charge for are insulting. Doesn't help how day one DLCs can screw people over too;I was fine but my stepbrother paid for a Javik code at the shop he got ME3 from because he didn't know he'd get Javik for free from his CE.
I have no problem with Day 1 DLCs. The budget is planned accordingly, so From Ashes got extra resources so that it could be released along with the vanilla game in expectation of extra revenue. The situations we're looking at are either it isn't made at all or it's the first DLC released 3 months after the game, and one of the DLCs we got isn't made. I mean, sure, you could make the argument that Javik is so important that he should have been used in place of some stuff in ME3, but that's a bit of a different argument and is specific to the Javik situation (compared to, say, Sebastian). I'd agree with the idea that releasing Day 1 DLC that is important to the plot is probably a bad idea.
Personally, if I purchased the CE of something and then a redundant DLC code on top of that, I'd probably blame myself first, or the store second for not alerting me. Knowing what's in the product you bought is kind of the consumer's responsibility; it's not like BioWare knew your brother bought the CE and sent him an email advertising Javik on top of that.
Oh I hold him responsible for that flub, I knew about getting Javik and with him...I don't know how his brain was working at the time. I think he got swept up in the offer of buying the DLC in-store day one.
But thats irritating. I don't feel you should EVER have to pay for more content on the day of a game's release. Either stick it in the base game, release it for free day one so its "sort of" in the base game, save it for later so we know its not part of the base game, or don't release it at all.
But this whole, "buy our game for full price but then pay more money for this piece of content we were working on the whole time that we just didn't fit into the disk/download" is annoying. Its even worse when its planned out from the very beginning.
Its why I appreciated that Skyrim came out with the same content for everyone at launch and the DLCs came out afterward.
Its why I appreciated that The Witcher 3 came out with the same content for everyone at launch and we had free DLCs releasing weekly afterward along with an expansion that brought me back to the game and another that is on its way later this year.
But Bioware sticking extra content out on day one and charging for it or making it "free" through the price of a Collector's Edition(in other words, you're paying for it) will always have me believe I'm paying for something that either should've been spaced out for later or just put into the game with the game having a later release if necessary.
I'm never gonna get behind day one DLC as it leaves the potential for taking advantage of consumers. Even if Bioware had good intentions I believe there are better ways.
I have no problem with Day 1 DLCs. The budget is planned accordingly, so From Ashes got extra resources so that it could be released along with the vanilla game in expectation of extra revenue. The situations we're looking at are either it isn't made at all or it's the first DLC released 3 months after the game, and one of the DLCs we got isn't made. I mean, sure, you could make the argument that Javik is so important that he should have been used in place of some stuff in ME3, but that's a bit of a different argument and is specific to the Javik situation (compared to, say, Sebastian). I'd agree with the idea that releasing Day 1 DLC that is important to the plot is probably a bad idea.
Personally, if I purchased the CE of something and then a redundant DLC code on top of that, I'd probably blame myself first, or the store second for not alerting me. Knowing what's in the product you bought is kind of the consumer's responsibility; it's not like BioWare knew your brother bought the CE and sent him an email advertising Javik on top of that.
Day 1 DLC is a weird topic.
When you are delivering a software product from customer to business, the customer is more than likely paying for features. At the end of the day the question is," what features can you give me during this time and how long is it going to take?" This is then evaluated by the company and basically you have that intimate communication between the consumer and the producer. For COTS(Commercial Off The Shelf) software, the producer is the one that evaluates what features the consumer is going to have for a price. This is why they say, Day 1 DLC is not illegal but it is tacky.
The reason for this perception is that, at the end of a software release cycle, you should be wrapping up and making sure all your functionality is in a stable state. At this point, you are finalizing the product. Having Day 1 DLC gives the perception that this content was created during the Development Cycle but was taken out to be released as DLC.
Now I'm not the highest grain of weed in the dispensary but they are possibilities with the way this was handled.
Another point of this is that it would have been understandable if Javik was someone extra. Like a Kasumi or Zaeed, someone who is not essential for a deeper experience and so intertwined with the lore. The mistake bioware made no matter when Javik was developed was that the character was a prothean. Which is a race they have been talking about since the first game, it is one of the reasons why Shepard got into his position in the first place. Protheans are an essential and part of the lore and having them as Day one DLC essentially is telling the consumer to pay for that deeper mass effect experience because of the questions that the user might have.
Javik wouldn't have been bad if he was a free dlc with new purchase like Cerberbus Network. I think it was also dirty not to have Javik set that way for all copies of ME3 on release. I would probably get behind new purchase free DLC thing because at least you get the dlc for free if you brought the game new, but for all copies of the game not just CE.
- Javik could have been developed between release week and the last stable final build(As part of something extra which they didn't want to integrate)
This is largely the case, based on the info we've been given:
ME3 was a labour of love for the dev team. To finish a game like ME3, it literally takes months of intense bug fixing and certification. At this point, our goal is to polish the game to an extremely high quality – not to add extra content. You hopefully see a lot of that polish in ME3.
During that certification time, we had a small team of developers begin to craft the ‘From Ashes’ content, with the intent to finish production on it long after ME3 was out of our hands as a dev team.
However, because the plot of ME3 is so richly interwoven with the character interactions and moments, you simply cannot use a DLC module to ‘insert’ a new character. As we’ve mentioned before, that character has to be planned and the framework has to be established ahead of time for us to build off of with the DLC module. You may have seen a similar framework developed in ME2 for the Zaeed and Kasumi characters. We wanted Javik to be a fully featured squad member, with deep dialogue throughout the game – and we needed him to be accessible via the character selection GUI (which you cannot simply ‘overwrite’ with DLC). Thus, certain elements of the Javik appearance and some of the VO needed to be included on the disc. That is a fact. But that doesn’t mean the content was created, and then removed. It is a necessity of adding a rich character presence in our game.
That, however, is the extent of it. As mentioned above, the DLC is over 600 mb. The DLC data holds the mission itself, the cinematic flashback moments, the cinematic dialogue interactions with Javik, his weapon, the appearances for squad members… everything that makes the adventure a cohesive experience. ‘From Ashes’ is not Javik’s character model. It is the story of finding the last remaining Prothean, and how his tale interweaves with Commander Shepard’s as he struggles to destroy the Reaper threat.
From Ashes is a 600 MB+ download with all new content, including the mission on Eden Prime, new dialogue options and conversations with Javik, new cinematics, the Prothean weapon, and new appearances for all squad members. All of the above content was completed while the main game was in certification and are not available on the disc.
As an aside, what consumers out there besides gamers complain/talk about not being charged enough for things?
As an aside, what consumers out there besides gamers complain/talk about not being charged enough for things?
As an aside, what consumers out there besides gamers complain/talk about not being charged enough for things?
Oh its out there, just less egregious...
As an aside, what consumers out there besides gamers complain/talk about not being charged enough for things?
Ohh, I've come across some stories including someone wanting to file a complaint, I even believe, for not being charged the full price for something and refusing the advertised discount. In some cases, it was not even case of them believing they were being cheated or not understanding why the price was lowered: they very angrily wanted the item at full price.
I would say my biggest problem with most Bioware dlc is not the quality. The vast majority of the dlc for ME or DA games have been good to amazing imo (can't speak for last two DA:I dlcs yet). The problem is that despite the quality, the only one I think was worth the original asking price was ME3's Citadel dlc. The problem is that the dlcs do not have the quantity for the price that they ask for them and are very short, especially if you only plan to play through them once. The one big dlc that they did was Awakening for DA:O which has quality and quantity, but the $30 dollar price was too high for it.
Always a viable concern. For what it's worth, it's no longer a thing in Dragon Age, and I wouldn't be surprised if Andromeda followed suit.
Yeah, I think the bad optics have pretty much doomed Day 1 DLC.
As for what that actually means... beats me. If Bio writes business plans the way my company did theirs, the most likely change, if any, is somewhat less content in the base games. Figuring that the whole project will be less profitable since there's going to be less DLC cash coming in -- however much people complained about D1 DLC, they really did buy it -- so to hit the projected ROI, well, something's gotta give. On the other side, you might think you were going to sell a few more copies to folks who would have been offended by D1 DLC, although my suspicion is that this would be looked at as a matter of brand equity rather than something that benefits that particular game.
Or it could just be new business strategy to release more content in staggered DLC releases for higher prices.
Plus the backlash since Jade Empire for extra characters probably did no favors, or simply there were no cut characters from development in Inquisition this time around, meaning the development process was tighter overall.
I would say my biggest problem with most Bioware dlc is not the quality. The vast majority of the dlc for ME or DA games have been good to amazing imo (can't speak for last two DA:I dlcs yet). The problem is that despite the quality, the only one I think was worth the original asking price was ME3's Citadel dlc. The problem is that the dlcs do not have the quantity for the price that they ask for them and are very short, especially if you only plan to play through them once. The one big dlc that they did was Awakening for DA:O which has quality and quantity, but the $30 dollar price was too high for it.
Oh God, yeah. Awakening was overpriced even for a full blown sizable expansion. Considering features from DAO were stripped out of it(leading into DA2) and its size, the $30 price tag was WAY too much. I got more out of the two big expansions for Skyrim than I ever did out of Awakening and both of them were cheaper than it.
i guess my problem is the same as many on this post about price and no quality.
I mean i get used after playing ME 1-3 and DA 1-3 that i will expend a little extra on DLC for Bioware. But i never regret that decision bc even the not as good DLC are better that the DLC from other games.
I never buy waeaponds or armor packs DLC, bc they dont add nothing to me. But every single story DLC i buy from Bioware didnt make me regret paying a little extra.
I don't really have a problem with day one dlc, I find that most of the time its crap that was removed from the game for a reason ( so I don't buy it). Obviously the Javik situation was pretty egregious though. I understand why optically it bothers people but really if a publisher is out to screw there consumers they'll find a way regardless.
The Javik thing was uniquely stupid because it was a prothean. You should never lock off something like THAT behind a DLC pay wall on day one.
Then again I found a lot of things about ME3 to be stupid, like Tali's photoshop face and fan favorite Emily Wong being killed off on TWITTER.
There's a lot more than just DLC that Bioware needs to do properly.
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