382 réponses à ce sujet

[Ferret A Baudoin]

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.



Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

[RedScorpion08]

This whole conversation is stupid. "We're getting screwed." Bull S@#$! You don't have to buy anything! Bioware doesn't HAVE to release an expansion. $40 for an expansion pack sounds about normal based on past expansion packs. Before DLC, expansion packs were regularly $40 a pop. The fact this expansion gives you new characters and a new story is icing on the cake to a great, if a bit buggy, game.



Now if you purchased the expansion under some misleading on the part of Bioware that it would offer the same length and experience of the original retail game only to find out it wasn't, then you would be screwed. (Of course if this expansion were the same length and depth of the main game I would imagine they would just call it Dragon Age 2....)



It's an expansion to a video game. Chill out....



Talk about screwed, I bought Modern Warfare 2 for $60.00 and the main campaign for that full-retail game takes only 6 hours.

[Darqthornz]

Maybe if the PS3 had RtO I would believe any of this crap...

[Wishpig]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.

Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

A very good point, and like always the sign of a good dev team is a dev team that interacts and responds to their fans.

My problem and opinion is this... you cannot price a game based on how much you think people will enjoy it. Thats a slippery path. You price a game based on the compeition, on set standards, and other solid factors. The bottom line is the game costs more then a regular expansion and ignores the console to pc price diffrence. Now unless this game goes above and beyond Dragon Age: Origins it's hard to justify the price in compreson to the full game.

RedScorpion08 wrote...

Talk about screwed, I bought
Modern Warfare 2 for $60.00 and the main campaign for that full-retail
game takes only 6 hours.

Yes... because ignoring the robust multiplayer and other gameplay modes is fair and just if it backs your point right?

Modifié par Wishpig, 05 février 2010 - 03:32 .

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I want to add that it's more than just raw length IMHO. By adding new specializations and talents and whatnot you get added replay value for the orginal game as well.

[bl00dsh0t]

Well honestly I am one of those schmucks that will preorder it because I want to support game creators like bioware that don't shorten games the way most do these days just to sell a crappy multiplayer (MW2). 15 hours of gameplay, obviously varying on how many conversations you have and to which extent you ponder your choices. I mean the first time I encountered the morrigans ritual I literally sat there weighing my options for 30 minutes, if something as epic and emotianally involving comes our way at 2-3 times the length of most games released today that I am guaranteed to want to replay 3-4 times for my characters and the orlesian warden... Sorry I really have a hard time agreeing with you on this wishpig



Of course there is a risk that it winds up beeing too short to match DAO's very impressive hrs/$, hell its even very likely but it will still kick the vast majority of other game expansion's rear ends in the matter, at least those released today.



The bottom line is just because some developers cringe and give in to these complaints I have my doubt that there is any reason for bioware to do this. Do consider in what economic situation most companies making games are today, the number of developers that have bitten the dust since the start of the financial crisis is mindboggling and frankly scary. If I can help keep the industry alive by forking out a measly 10$ more to keep bioware a thriving company, even though they might be boning us a bit, it is more than worth it.

[Abriael_CG]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.

Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

Ferret, the reason why people ask about an average completion time isn't (for many at least) "will it last me X hours?" as much  as "if it's too short, is there a risk for the story not to be as deep as the original?" and "Will the dialogue up to par?" or again "Will there be romance? Is there enough time in X hours to develop a deep romance story?"

Those questions can be pretty much summarized in "how long is the game?". It gives people an idea of the depth, more than the actual "dry" duration.

Mileage may vary, but for an expansion that kind of questions are indeed a concern, expecially since the original love interests won't be making a full comeback, and a bioware game without romance... is it really a Bioware game? 

It's pretty much like anime series. When I see a 12 episodes one, I already know that the story won't be THAT deep, when I see a 24 episodes one, I know that there's a good chance that the story will get quite deep, with nice romance moments and multiple plot twists. And honestly, I miss the times in which the average was 52

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 05 février 2010 - 05:07 .

[Awildawn]

Abriael_CG wrote...

lots of interesting things

Great answer, I am now interested in knowing how long it will take an average joe to finish the expansion.

[le_cygne]

SuperMedbh wrote...

Give us lots of intricate plots and decisions, plots that make us laugh and cry, fights that have us clutching our computer mouses, and we'll be happy. Give us a "slog and get loot", and we might start sniffing at other games to while away the late evening insomnia with.

Exactly. As Ferret added, judging a game--or indeed any product--by its length alone is a pretty poor metric.

Oh my God! That bottle of wine I had with dinner cost $50 and only lasted two hours, but I bought DA:O for $50 and played it for 200! I mean, I thought my friends and I were enjoying ourselves, but in fact we were only being robbed! Clearly the only things worth buying in the world are incredibly long video games, because (near-free reproducibility be damned) shorter games and virtually every other form of entertainment is a total ripoff on the per-hour metric.

Awakenings looks good from the little we've seen so far, and if it's up to the excellent quality of the original game, I'll gladly buy it instead of something new. The fact that it costs less is a bonus, if fair given the reduced production costs of an expansion.

[Pubknight]

DLC prices are all relative, and cannot be separated from replayability.

Rock Band dlc is $2 per song, and the average song is about 4 minutes long.  So in that math, 1 hour of gameplay is $30.  Of course what that does not take in to account is replayability.
If you play that same song 100 times, it still only cost you $2 but gave you over 6 hours of gameplay.

A 15 hour experience that is done well enough that I might want to run through it say 3 times with 3 different primary character types, is 45 hours of gameplay.

I don't see the issue to be honest.  These aren't designed as "go through once" types of games.
They are basically built around the concept that you will go through them multiple times.

Modifié par Pubknight, 05 février 2010 - 05:29 .

[Statisfaction]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.

Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

There's nothing wrong with people wanting to know the expected length of a single-player game, it's just another metric we use to decide where we want our money to go.  Every meaningful review of an RPG has an estimated time, and it's usually pretty reliable.  Some people rush through, some people take their time, but the typical player will take between 60 and 70 hours, and for the majority of rational consumers, that tidbit of information is enough.  If you have OCD and you need to triple check every location, adjust your time accordingly.  And of course when we're talking about expansions, people will obviously want to know if it's worth their while.  If you said to me, "You should buy Warden's Keep.  It's a ripping good time, the story is gripping, you get some new armor, abilities, special items and horsearmor, PLUS it's 20 minutes long, and you can stretch it to an hour if you read the Codex entries very carefully" I'd... probably still buy it, but at least I wouldn't have felt so disappointed after

[wonko33]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both.

I also disagree with buying a game based on lenght of play but I do see merit in that point of view. If I was on a very thight budget I would be upset to buy Warden's keep for 7$ when I could have gotten Torchlight on sale for 5$ and played, a different but still very fun game, for many more hours.

As for quality over time, If the game expansion looks good but is short, maybe plan on doing multiple playthroughs as a way of extending your entertainment dollar.

So come March would someone on a budget get ME2 on sale or a 15hours expansion to DAO? I probably will get both but when I was scraping for pennies in college, I would have been very concerned about the lenght of the expansion.

[fluffyamoeba]

I conclude from this thread that if bioware had made DA:O 1/2 the length it actually was, no-one would be complaining about the expansion "only" being 15 hours long. And it still would have been longer than nearly all single player games that have been released recently. You get what you wish for...

[KariTR]

Wishpig wrote...

Kalledon wrote...

I read 15 hours somewhere too. It has not been officially stated by BioWare though

Yeah, it's the rumored length. No offense, but I am NOT dropping $40 bucks for 15 hour of gameplay simply on principle alone.

And don't anyone give me that, "if the quality is really good, or it's longer then most games" BS. One of the things that made Dragon Age: Origins great was it's massive length. I spent nearly 100 hours on my first play through, I am not paying ten dollars less then the origonal game for less then 2/10 of the origonal length.

BUT I trust bioware and I trust they would not rip us off like this, so I have faith this is only a rumor.

I took 123 hours on my first playthrough. I got over 2 1/2 hours on one run of RtO. The reason I mention this is, if time played is important to you, then like myself you seem to be playing at a pace half as fast as the estimate given. In which case, if Awakenings is estimated to average 15 hours, then I can quite honestly see myself (and you) taking 30+ hours to complete it.

[Ponce de Leon]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.

Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

My Origins record was 22. Finished yesterday
But, I agree completely. It's all about the gameplay style, or most anyway. Some people will read, reread, and rereread the codex. And so far as the codex is long enough, that's quite enough for a game to reach the 30 hours just by reading. Not to mention some are perfectionists. Covering every side of every map and talking to everything possible, from mices to rocks. I personally don't care how much the expansion is going to last. In fact, it almost never stands for me. It could be longer for all I know, but it could also be shorter.

Still, the PRICE = TIME factor is simply wrong. I could eat a beef that costs me 30 euros for 5 minutes and enjoy it. I did so in the past, and try remembering, everyone around : a game can be replayed. Since we could consider this, know that I played DA:O some 200 hours by now.

[KariTR]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length.

Take it as a compliment. Like a really good book (and you give us those too!), we just don't want the story to end.

[Ponce de Leon]

I cried the first time I finished Throne of Bhaal. Seriously.

[Mordaedil]

NWN expansions were most certainly not MP.



They had lots of MP content though. As well as SP content.

[Ponce de Leon]

NWN expansions were far better then the original game. Perhaps shorter, if not united, but they were better.

[Dragon Age1103]

Wishpig wrote...

Before anyone heard about Dragon Age: Awakaning there was a leak, a rumor, about it in some australian gaming mag. A few days later they were proven right, about not only the expansion but the name. However, they also said it would be roughly 15 hours. I mean they ended up being two for two, but are they two for three or three for three? Thats the question.

If I'm paying $40 for the PC version, $10 more then normal x-pack price, and $10 more then should be in comparison to the console price (console games cost $10 dollars more then the average PC game because they have to pay big bucks for the rights to publish on a console)... then I feel like I'm being pretty damn ripped off. Getting sick of EA charging us a little more then they should with every DA:O thing the release. It adds up.

BUT the price issue has been debaited to death and frankly, you don't care if I'll buy it or not.

So back to my main point... has bioware addressed this or given us an esitmate of the game's length? Honestly, I think it's a rumor and false, bioware has stated this x-pack is bigger then any to date and while I find that hard to beleave due to the massive length of Throne of Bhall, I also don't think they would say this if it was a mere $15 hours in length. Of course it wouldn't be the first time the truth was stretched.

   Every where I have searched it has not been denied or confirmed but I would say 15 hours sounds too short simply b/c we can level about 10-15 or even more levels in the expansion(confirmed mid-high 30's for the level cap starting at lv20-25) so I just started a new mage & skipped some diolgue, codex entries, & kind of hurried a bit since it is my fourth play through point being I am level 10 & 12 hours in. Since each level requires more XP each time I would say 15 hours is way too short probably 20-25.

[Dragon Age1103]

I still don't understand why console expansions are not $50? just doesn't make sense why all of us PC ppl should have to pay more.

[Dragon Age1103]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.

Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

   I can agree with that but I think some people are just scared of being lied to or having a play on words used again. DA:O was said to be 80-120 from most previews & reviews but for most average gamers it is 40-60 hours so a lot of people probably just fear the same for Awakening b/c if it is 15 hours then it is probably actually 5-7 for most ppl & 15 for the people that sniff out every last quest & codex entry. I still say 20-25 hours.

[Ponce de Leon]

Dragon Age1103 wrote...

I still don't understand why console expansions are not $50? just doesn't make sense why all of us PC ppl should have to pay more.

My guess is that EA wants to ensure there is even more pirating on this expansion. As well as make sales become poor, since there are quite some titles going out on March, are they not? So, if this is true, EA is trying to destroy BioWare on purpose. Everything is possible when we're dealing with those bas... ahem... sorry for the word...

[Shadowwot]

Ferret A Baudoin wrote...

I'm honestly a little puzzled by some folks obsession with game length. What seems more important are: Did I have a ripping good time? Did it tell a tell a gripping tale that I got lost in? I hope the answers for Awakening will be "yes" to both. And game length is a bloody tough thing to gauge - some folks can finish Origins in 24 hours and some 240 hours. That's a factor of 10 difference.

Plan on having a good time and a chance to get lost in Ferelden again. Your gameplay length mileage will vary.

I am surpised by this as well.  I've played games where you could spend hundreds of hours playing but I've gotten bored after the first hour.  Even if it is only 15 hours, I am much more interested in a shorter game that is awsome than a long game that sucks.  I re-played ME1 and it only took 19 hours last week and had a great time doing it.

[Dragon Age1103]

dark-lauron wrote...

Dragon Age1103 wrote...

I still don't understand why console expansions are not $50? just doesn't make sense why all of us PC ppl should have to pay more.

My guess is that EA wants to ensure there is even more pirating on this expansion. As well as make sales become poor, since there are quite some titles going out on March, are they not? So, if this is true, EA is trying to destroy BioWare on purpose. Everything is possible when we're dealing with those bas... ahem... sorry for the word...

  I don't think EA would try to bring down Bioware I just think they are idiots. I mean most of my friends that pirates games they don't do it b/c of money issues or b/c they hate certain devs but simple thigns like disc checks. I just usually don't play a game if I can't find a cd crack for it. DA:O & ME2 are the only exceptions I have to that rule at the moment. Anyways EA would lose too much money if they made Bioware fall. EA invests ina  lot of bad games like Army of Two. Bioware has too much history but then again EA is known for ruining almost anything they touch. lol. Maybe not completely but in some form or another.
   Anyways I jsut can't see why consoles gamers who tend to spend money on movies, themes, & avatar gear can't pay their extra $10 for Awakening? Bioware should not screw with PC fans. Look at Mowdern Warfare 2 they sold what 12 million copies on console & not even a third of that on PC b/c of the server issue plus over 4 million copies have been pirated to date. I hope infinity ward burns for what they did to PC gamers. Well that is my rant lol...it isn't that big of a deal simply b/c for the most part devs can screw us how ever they want from money to content & we will take it. lol.