63 réponses à ce sujet

[Vicious]

Frankly I'm surprised given the likely average budget on this expansion, [expansion will never ever get the budget that a full game will] that it was as much fun as it was.

[Walina]

"I think what you're missing here is that expansions don't have as much money or time or continuations thrown at them to have come out much better than this."

Oh really ?
Then they should stop baggring out on the internet how much money they've got cause they were so amazed with their 200 millions dollars for DAO and I don't even talk how mush they said about the money they had with the DLC.
They sounded so happy

Modifié par Walina, 20 mars 2010 - 08:04 .

[Daerog]

I always saw the delays on BW games to be a good thing. I enjoyed Awakening, but it should have been worked on a bit more. Hope some new patches come out soon.

[UnAffectedFiddle]

Not to mention horrible bugs that ruin your play throughs i.e. Law and Order means you cant do Sigruns companion quests, the Silverite mine bug etc. And lets face it, unlikely to be fixed in a patch because look at the issues they left in the original game for ages.

[Nightfish103]

The topic says it all, although the points the OP makes are quite valid as well. I wish they had put more time into the game. I mean, seriously, they've just released Mass Effect 2. I could have waited a little longer easily. Quite frankly, I'll always rather wait for something good than have something halfassed right now.

One thing that struck me personally is how short the game was. I mean, seriously. I've searched every nook and cranny, listened to every dialogue and still finished the game in 14 hours flat. Given the price, which was really barely less than a full game, this is not good value for money, at least when compared to the Origins Campaign. That one took me at least 50 hours the first time around, so it's not like I was rushing or anything...

Personally I didn't even mind the bugs that much. Even though the game crashes regularily, that is something I could ignore far easier than the lack of meat. Considering the game's engine is already in place and all they had to do was add actual content, this is really not what I've come to expect from Bioware. Quite frankly, this is probably the worst Bioware product I own (and I own everything they released since Shattered Steel).

Another thing that irks me, but was well known in advance, is the lack of continuity with companions and whatnot. I mean, seriously, why bother having all these "emotionally engaging" characters when you're just gonna yank them away like they never existed. One of my DA:O characters was all but engaged with Leliana and in Awakenings she was worth one single line of text in the epilogue? Seriously... Can you at least try? Wrex in Mass Effect 2 was a decent example. He had a legitimate reason to "drop out". This is just lazy...

So yea... Overall this was a pretty big disappointment for me. Bioware set the bar really high with DA:O but as far as I am concerned they failed to maintain that high level of quality.

Oh, and I'm totally not agreeing with that whole budget thing. Blablabla, expansion doesn't get as much money thrown at it, it shouldn't be better than it is. Seriously, a lot of the work has been done with the original game already. They don't have to start from scratch. And considering that the expansion costs about as much as an actual game I really don't think a beefed up DLC is cutting it.

Modifié par Nightfish103, 20 mars 2010 - 08:58 .

[Whailor]

As I already said once, with each passing year Bioware's stuff seems to get sloppier in several areas and that's sad. Used to be all about quality and story and so-on and now it seems to be just a rush-job without any continuity.

[phordicus]

thank you. i uninstalled DAO a month ago and feel further justification that i did. BW may have all the same greatness they did a decade ago, but through the filter of EA nothing is getting out untainted.

[logiccosmic]

I had flashbacks to KOTOR II. Both great games, but not quite finished.

[UnAffectedFiddle]

Personally I didn't even mind the bugs that much. Even though the game crashes regularily, that is something I could ignore far easier than the lack of meat. Considering the game's engine is already in place and all they had to do was add actual content, this is really not what I've come to expect from Bioware. Quite frankly, this is probably the worst Bioware product I own (and I own everything they released since Shattered Steel).

I cant even do two of my companions quests now. Thats not a bug thats mildly annoying. Its downright infuriating when it could mean their epilogue is fubared on a playthrough where I forgot to spin around three times while rubbing my belly counter clock wise. Its bad enough I did Blackmarch first and have to get the characters, make em a warden and then do the last half of each area.

[Stabbath123]

I hope the devs read and re-read OP's post.

[durasteel]

krylo wrote...

I think what you're missing here is that expansions don't have as much money or time or continuations thrown at them to have come out much better than this.

The Expansion was highly ambitious for an expansion, and may have been served better as a stand alone game. I won't argue that. There were areas that could have been expanded, sure.

...

It is an unfortunate truth of game design and business.

BioWare's only expansions that I'm aware of were for Neverwinter Nights, and those expansions (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark) seem to have been handled a bit more seriously than this one.  If you're speaking of the industry as a whole, I cannot help but recall Blizzard's single-player expansions, Beyond the Dark Portal, Brood War, Lord of Destruction, and The Frozen Throne.  Not a one of these failed to provide quality equal to or surpassing the game it expanded.

I appreciate that money is tight generally across many industries, but BioWare has made a ton of it recently and frankly could have a afforded another 90 days of development on this title easily.  If they could not, it is only because the profits from BioWare successes are being diverted to cover losses from other EA product lines, but I recall hearing that EA was generally profitable these days, so I don't think that's it.

My guess - and that's all that it is, mind you - is that this has more to do with sensitivity about The Old Republic.  When development on that title began, when it was only the joint online venture between BioWare and LucasArts, they were shooting for a 2009 release.  By the time the title was announced in October 2008, the release target had been pushed back a year, and a few months later it was pushed back again to spring of 2011.  By all accounts, the game is gigantic and is receiving incredible attention to detail, but sensitivity to a two year delay might have caused BioWare to feel like they had to meet a deadline - any deadline - just to prove to themselves and the world that they could.

While I sympathize, I can't agree.  BioWare is a brand name that really represents certain specific things to the consumer.  We expect every title with the BioWare logo on it to have engaging stories, rich and endearing characters, love stories, revenge, and a chance to save the world.  We also expect that those titles will be released with a high degree of "fit and finish" and that they will be released fashionably late.  We're prepared to wait, because our patience has always been rewarded.

That's the purpose of  this thread: to encourage BioWare to make me wait in the future, and then reward me for my patience with a finished, polished product.

Modifié par durasteel, 20 mars 2010 - 02:40 .

[Hyper Cutter]

durasteel wrote...

BioWare's only expansions that I'm aware of were for Neverwinter Nights, and those expansions (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark) seem to have been handled a bit more seriously than this one

You forgot Throne of Bhaal...

Come to think of it, I wonder if ToB was part of the reason people had such high expectations for Awakenings. iirc, ToB did things people wanted this to do, like build on romances from the base game...

[Livemmo]

Dont you understand? Bioware is EA now. You will have the same great Bioware-like story and gameplay, it will forever and beyond be rushed content. moneymoneymoneymoney is all Ea ever in their existance has cared about. Welcome to EA-Bioware.

[ejoslin]

Vicious wrote...

Frankly I'm surprised given the likely average budget on this expansion, [expansion will never ever get the budget that a full game will] that it was as much fun as it was.

But the expenses would be MUCH less to begin with as the music and enviornments and engine are the same in both.  The framework was already there.

[Brockololly]

Hyper Cutter wrote...

durasteel wrote...

BioWare's only expansions that I'm aware of were for Neverwinter Nights, and those expansions (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark) seem to have been handled a bit more seriously than this one

You forgot Throne of Bhaal...

Come to think of it, I wonder if ToB was part of the reason people had such high expectations for Awakenings. iirc, ToB did things people wanted this to do, like build on romances from the base game...

I never played any of the Neverwinter NIghts games, but I did play all the BG games including Throne of Bhaal, and when I think of the "perfect" expansion pack ToB is it.  But its almost unfair to compare something like Awakening to ToB- Throne of Bhaal was basically Baldur's Gate 3 in that it ended the whole Bhaalspawn story, whereas it seems like with Awakening the devs wanted to create a side adventure for the Warden, not so much the next big chapter in the Warden's story.

But I think Throne of  Bhaal's continuity with returning companions and romances is something peopele were hoping for in Awakening. And even if they want all new companions, I think people just wanted a better reason given in-game as to why none of  your companions were with you or at least a couple more acknowledgments of what the Warden did in Origins, whether its just a small letter from someone or some more acknowledgement by NPCs.

Thats one thing I think ME2 did quite well- the little emails and such weren't anything significant but added to the illusion of continuity between games, even if your big choices didn't make much of a difference.

Modifié par Brockololly, 20 mars 2010 - 03:22 .

[mousestalker]

Some of the posters above discuss Bioware's reputation and deadlines. Quite frankly, I never expect them to release on time. And given how short and bug-ridden Awakenings was I hope they never do again. I don't mind waiting for quality.

If I order a burger, I don't want it the instant I've ordered it. Fast food is bad food. I want the cook to take the time to cook it right and deliver it when it is done with the appropriate condiments. I'm willing to wait and I'm willing to pay for it to be done right.

If I'm going to blow all those calories on fatty meat, it at least needs to be tasty.

Modifié par mousestalker, 20 mars 2010 - 04:32 .

[Vympel1]

I just had several of my valuable leisure time hours (i.e. a few on the weekend, I have a damn job, after all) blown out of the water by encountering the bug whereby you don't get your items back in the Silverite Mine. Frankly, I'm so upset at this (I didn't have a recent save before this, so I have to go all the way back to Blackmarsh, which was hours of play ago!) I don't think I want to play this stupid damn expansion anymore. Except BW's got my damn money.

[Bullets McDeath]

This thread has convinced me not to buy Awakening Not until there's a price drop and a patch. Funk.

[cactusmaac1]

A couple of things did irritate me. For one, I went through all the Silverite Mines before I had recruited Velanna. You'd have thought you'd only been able to access them once she was in your party.



I had Loghain sacrifice himself in my game, yet he turned up in a cameo here. That seemed a little weird.



My favourite part of the Soldier's Peak DLC was getting my hands on Warden Commander armour. If the devs knew it wasn't going to import over, I'd have liked at last a substitute set ready and waiting for me at Vigil's Keep. As it was I just nicked Oghren's Legion Of The Lost armour and kept that on for the bulk of the game.

[Bryy_Miller]

Booglarize wrote...

The title of of the thread says it all - though the wall-of-text was spot-on as well.

Well said, durasteel..

The actual thread is good, the thread title is horrible. It suggests BioWare should slack off or, worse yet, perform illegalities in order to please the fans over their employers.

[Hubb-]

Livemmo wrote...
moneymoneymoneymoney is all any corporation ever in their existance has cared about.

I can't believe people are surprised that the major incentive for EA is money.  I know, it is shocking.

[Ponce de Leon]

Really, I enjoyed the expansion pretty much. But the ending, once again, left me like

Hell, I wanted to see Oghren painted in green, so I could call him a turnip! And no coronation-like goodbyes? What the? Noo, we get a grey iron dagger jump on the Mother and stabface her. The end. Bugs really didn't mess up my game. Didn't care for the equipment loss either, no big deal. But really, why must BioWare's endings be so... rushed? I mean, c'mon, stop with the "Look, here's the boss, kill it and the game ends!" stereotypes!

[Daerog]

The thing that really bugged me was that I was unable to do some of the personal quests. Couldn't activate Velanna's (should increase the chance of it, I had her at 91 approval and bounced from place to place trying to run into a dalish clan for some time before I gave up). Does Sigurn have a personal quest? Someone said something about doing Law and Order and not being able to do her quest, but I couldn't get her past 72 approval. Oghren I never got past 73 approval, so couldn't finish his quest.

[Carmen_Willow]

This did feel unfinished, and there's one of the cut scenes I get each time (one of the fights you end up in when you go from point to point on the map) where I have no map, just a blank spot in my circle. Very odd. Also, I miss having music in "camp" (the keep). It makes me uneasy to conduct my business there in total silence. And none of the merchants talk to you. I get that this is an expansion and there's not nearly as much money budgeted, but darn it, I'm spoiled now, and I want all the goodies. I'd rather wait for the bigger, better full release....don't think I will preorder next time either. Will wait for reviews.

[Brinnayen]

I have to agree with alot said in this post, but i remember the hate on these forums when it came to the last DCL that was released and how long it took for it to come out and they kept pushing back the release date.



With that being said i am going to wait on a good patch before i play it again



So they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.