Dragon Age: Origins Already Has DLC
In news that will surely anger some gamers, and have others merely shrug, Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins already has planned its first bit of purchasable DLC, Warden's Keep, to be released November 3, the launch date of the game itself. Keeping in mind that it is optional content, I merely look at it and will judge whether or not it seems worth it after I have played the game (being as it is an RPG, I will likely create at least three different characters before settling on one anyway).
Warden's Keep will come at a cost of $7, and boasts these features:
- New quests - discover what really happened to the Grey Wardens of old and what led to their expulsion from Ferelden
- New features - a base of operations with party storage. Inventory full? Stash new items as well as loot from the main Dragon Age: Origins campaign
- New items and abilities - talents and spells from the Power of Blood school, unique achievements, and powerful items including a set of Grey Warden Commander armor
This may or may not be becoming an industry trend, something we can attribute to content locking earlier in the design process or companies seeing the success of DLC and wanting to get us for what we are worth. For those who are completionist achievement mongers, this will also be adding new achievements.
If you have plans to purchase Dragon's Age: Origins already (or perhaps have your preorder waiting), is this something you will pick up day one?
VorpalBunny
Posted to Video Games on 12 October 2009
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: bioware, dlc, dragon age: origins, ea, launch day, pc, warden's keep, xbox 360
DAO has been complete since Feb 09 for the PC. The additional 8 months was required to port the game to 360 and PS3.
So yes it has a DLC already. After all the development staff had over 6 months to complete this.
My only hope is that additional DLC won't take this long to come out and that they are as substantial as Warden's Keep.
And yes I'll be picking this up on day 1.
I'm not sure this is the right move for Bioware. There's not been a whole lot of buzz around Dragon Age, and what has been hasn't all been good. Wouldn't it make more sense to attempt to win over your audience before you attempt to sell them extra pieces of your game?
Yeah, I don't know about this. I hear what you're saying @emyln, but I just don't think it's a good idea to put out DLC from day one. That makes players feel like you gimped your game to suck a few extra dollars from them, and that's just not good will.
Now the worst part will be if the game has any bugs on release, because then I would have to say that this is just a cheap shot for extra cash because the devoted dev time to the DLC instead of fixing bugs, but that's purely hypothetical.
Isn't the whole point to deter people from buying used. If you buy the game new you get a redeemable code. If you don't, the dlc costs money. It's not like it's the ending you're being locked out of.
Oh wait, this article doesn't mention that at all. But from my understanding of other articles, this comes for free if you purchase the game(new). Unless that's different dlc...but I thought that I had read somewhere you get a code for this DLC in the new packaging. If you buy used, then you need to pay. Or maybe that's a different dlc, or game?
Heck, it at least sounds better than TES Oblivion, released one month later and provides only 3 items? The Add-On Content sounds 'complete' if that makes sense?
Dragon Age: Origin already sounds like a full, feature complete game, so the add-on doesn't feel like a money grab on fixes. (We will see if that holds up when I get my hands on the Pre-Release coming to me.)
So, yea, it is a bit worrying, but it doesn't make me fill sick like Horse Armor and for the real shining example (they may have backed down, I have not heard lately), Gran Turismo 5, where they talked about 'buying the game' consisting of 3 tracks and 2 cars or some such, and buying the rest. Like I said, I think they reconsidered from those early ideas but, that really rises my anger.
So I guess, well, I am saying I am okay with this, as long as the game feels complete, and the addon is complete and not just new skins or a handful of items.
Just to clarify, The Stone Prisoner is included with the purchase of any new copy of Dragon Age: Origins (via a code, which can be purchased separately if one buys a used copy of the game), while Warden's Keep is available for separate download for $7 (though it is included in the Digital Deluxe Edition).
The developers have stated that the game was not ready back during the spring and that it needed more time to be polished. The Stone Prisoner was content that had originally been cut from the game due to time constraints with the old release date and was then re-added via DLC, which was necessary because the coding for it had been separated from the builds. Warden's Keep was largely developed by a specific DLC team, meaning that resources weren't taken away from the main game and the content was never intended to be a part of the retail release.
The developers have also stated that had the game come out back in the spring, Warden's Keep would not have been available upon release.
The CE's for DA:O have already sold out at a number of retailers in a number of places, so I'd say that saying that there hasn't been a lot of buzz for it more shows that one hasn't been paying attention to it, rather than it isn't there.