Mass Effect 3

[Oruc]

There's a difference when it is simplistic and inexpensive DLC like CKII's (a bunch of portraits and heraldry) and a major and lore important character for $10 which has no reason not to be cut out for the normal edition (deluxe/collector's edition get it for free, in addition to whatever they already get, and Bioware/EA only confirmed/announced it because it got leaked). This is nothing more than a blatant cash grab.

On the plus side the youtube video of some of the sound files grabbed from the DLC leak on xbox LIVE are hilariously bad so maybe it will be a terrible character on top of that.

I agree there is a difference of magnitude, but they are still both cash grabs, I mean heraldy and portraits could certainly be put into the game (maybe not the music they were selling, but they took those down for some reason). Taking out an entire character is certainly worse, but we knew for a while they were going to do that and i'm not prepared to pay £70 for the collectors edition.

I'm enjoying the multiplayer though, I was lucky and received a Asari adept in my beginner pack. I keep being one of the better players now too after I stopped using stasis and sniper rifle for easy headshots, instead I use my force powers. Seen a few people fall through the earth though.

 

[Maniacal]

I agree there is a difference of magnitude, but they are still both cash grabs, I mean heraldy and portraits could certainly be put into the game (maybe not the music they were selling, but they took those down for some reason).

Sure but at the same time they can also be modded in and are a very, very minor detail. Plus easy enough to buy for free using blue coins.

Taking out an entire character is certainly worse, but we knew for a while they were going to do that and i'm not prepared to pay £70 for the collectors edition.

This character was only discovered when someone leaked it onto Xbox LIVE a couple of days ago and EA/Bioware only confirmed today or yesterday that yes this is a character and Day One DLC for $10 and that it was only free for collector edition buyers.

I'm enjoying the multiplayer though, I was lucky and received a Asari adept in my beginner pack. I keep being one of the better players now too after I stopped using stasis and sniper rifle for easy headshots, instead I use my force powers. Seen a few people fall through the earth though.

I saw a post on the bioware forums where someone had figured out how to unlock all of the weapons available in the demo multiplayer, and also discovered (and wasn't the first to do so) that client side modifications to the game files can be used to give yourself huge advantages in multiplayer (like making a pistol shoot rockets). Hopefully that is just an issue with the demo, because allowing client side mods to affect the multiplayer is pretty bad work.

 

[FriendlyFire]

So apparently there is Day 1 DLC that, if you bought the normal version, costs you an extra $10 on top of the $60 you've already paid. It isn't included with new copies like Zaeed was, it was clearly cut from the game already, and it is a new companion/character who is kind of a major spoiler to reveal who and what it is. $10 is already too much for one freaking character anyway, regardless of importance.

Yeah okay good job EA, I really want to pay $70 for the complete game instead of spending the same amount on enough food to feed me for most of March. I hate DLC.

No just NO
I'll buy it when collectors edition comes out since they cut VITAL content out
the DLC = a prometheian which is like the most interesting charactor ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri0vrJ-y2zM&list=UUy1Ms_5qBTawC-k7PVjHXKQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video

 

[Oruc]

This character was only discovered when someone leaked it onto Xbox LIVE a couple of days ago and EA/Bioware only confirmed today or yesterday that yes this is a character and Day One DLC for $10 and that it was only free for collector edition buyers.

Wait do you mean the prothean? or does the collectors receive two characters? Because Prothean's been known about for awhile, one of the earliest advertisements they had for the contents of the CE mentioned an exclusive prothean squadmate (they changed it of course) there was a poostorm about it on fourchan months ago.

 

[mechaerik]

This character was only discovered when someone leaked it onto Xbox LIVE a couple of days ago and EA/Bioware only confirmed today or yesterday that yes this is a character and Day One DLC for $10 and that it was only free for collector edition buyers.

I distinctly remember a while back a bonus character and mission were mentioned as part of N7, but it was quickly removed from the advertised stuff. And the bonus character and mission were mentioned in the N7 edition contents in that youtube video a while back.

EDIT: what Oruc said.

 

[Maniacal]

I'd heard about a bonus character and mission for the CE, but I assumed it would be something relatively minor, not a bloody Jamaican Prothean.

 

[Oruc]

I'd heard about a bonus character and mission for the CE, but I assumed it would be something relatively minor, not a bloody Jamaican Prothean.

Yeah it's stupid, you would think a prothean character would be a pretty big deal in game and the story, Zaeed was just a mercenary.

 

[Maniacal]

Zaeed was also free if you bought the game new, too.

 

[mechaerik]

I'd heard about a bonus character and mission for the CE, but I assumed it would be something relatively minor, not a bloody Jamaican Prothean.

I was going to say that its not necessarily an actual Prothean, but then I remembered the recruitment mission naming convention from ME2.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Yeah it's stupid, you would think a prothean character would be a pretty big deal in game and the story, Zaeed was just a mercenary.

Its probably the most interesting character. Since the race was all but exterminated by the reapers and we saw a few indoctrinated slaves.

I swear its KOTOR2 all over again !!!!

 

[Arakhor]

A surviving member of the extinct race that allowed Shephard to defeat Sovereign only making an appearance in the collectors' edition or as expensive DLC? That is low. I thought EA couldn't sink any lower, but they continue to surprise me.

 

[Azale]

Kasumi was pretty awesome and I think only PS3 owners got her without paying extra for DLC.

 

[Dachs]

A surviving member of the extinct race that allowed Shephard to defeat Sovereign only making an appearance in the collectors' edition or as expensive DLC? That is low. I thought EA couldn't sink any lower, but they continue to surprise me.

The Prothean is not plot-integral, and the game makes perfect sense without him. Actually, it might make more sense without him, to be honest. The way the development cycle went, initially he was a very important character, but in later script drafts he was marginalized. It's easy to see why he would be made DLC at that point - an interesting character that ceased to be crucial to moving the plot forward, and which would require significant extra development time.

According to Mike Gamble, most of the development on the Prothean was done after the main game had gone into bug-fixing and certification, albeit working off lines of thought, concept art, and whatnot that had already been mooted earlier in the dev cycle. Isn't that pretty much the definition of what 'acceptable' DLC is supposed to be - stuff that would've been cut from the main game, but could be included in a different way so long as it could be made outside the normal dev cycle?

My impression of the complaints being registered about the whole thing is that people are mostly just butthurt that this is an interesting character that they don't want to have to pay extra for. You know, the usual petty garbage.

Spoiler Spoilers :

He does not provide any particular information on how to defeat the Reapers. He was a soldier, and most of his interesting dialogue is moral. I actually think this is a neat subversion, because the notion that "this is a Prothean, he must therefore know ALL THE SECRETS" is pretty silly. And it makes it clear why they dumped his plot-integral role earlier - ridiculously trite.

Kasumi was pretty awesome and I think only PS3 owners got her without paying extra for DLC.

Yes.

 

[Oruc]

According to Mike Gamble, most of the development on the Prothean was done after the main game had gone into bug-fixing and certification, albeit working off lines of thought, concept art, and whatnot that had already been mooted earlier in the dev cycle. Isn't that pretty much the definition of what 'acceptable' DLC is supposed to be - stuff that would've been cut from the main game, but could be included in a different way so long as it could be made outside the normal dev cycle?

Except that they are selling him as a part of collectors edition. I'm sure they didn't plan this in advance, they just decided what would be in it at the last second

My impression of the complaints being registered about the whole thing is that people are mostly just butthurt that this is an interesting character that they don't want to have to pay extra for. You know, the usual petty garbage.

CD projekt included all the pre-order DLC for the Witcher 2 in a patch, this is money grabbing. The character and mission is going to be ready for release, it comes with the Collectors editions so they knew they had enough time to get it out. This is cutting out game content so they can sell it.

 

[Dachs]

Except that they are selling him as a part of collectors edition. I'm sure they didn't plan this in advance, they just decided what would be in it at the last second

"In advance" means a lot of different things. BioWare's said - or, specifically, Mike Gamble has - that, if "From Dust" weren't able to be released as DLC, it wouldn't have been in the game. They took a character idea for an arc that was restructured in the game's plot, and had the ability to develop it outside the rest of the dev cycle. We can clearly see the development of the Prothean's role in the game through the leaked script documents - initially, he was pretty important to figuring out how to defeat the Reapers, but in later and more complete drafts all that was left was some of his previous dialogue. It's one of those few times that people have been able to independently verify how stuff gets made into DLC instead of being included in the full game.

These drafts had to have been completed at some point early last year, so much is obvious. So they would've known they wouldn't have the Prothean in the full game pretty early on. At that point, why not add him in as DLC? I mean, it's the same exact path the company followed for Zaeed and Kasumi.

CD projekt included all the pre-order DLC for the Witcher 2 in a patch, this is money grabbing. The character and mission is going to be ready for release, it comes with the Collectors editions so they knew they had enough time to get it out. This is cutting out game content so they can sell it.

Of course it's going to be ready for release, because it didn't have to pass certification at the same time as the rest of the game.

Look, here's Gamble's full statement, from the hive of scum and villainy that is BSN:

As most of you know, yesterday there was a leak that revealed the upcoming DLC “ME3:From Ashes” on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. This leak took place before we were prepared to make an announcement about the details of that pack (slated for this Friday).

There has been a lot of discussion about the DLC offering but we wanted to clarify a few things...

- “From Ashes” includes the Prothean squad mate, an adventure on Eden Prime, a new weapon, and an alternate appearance for every squad mate. Note that these alternate appearances are in addition to the ones already advertised in the CE.

- The Collectors Edition has been advertised from the beginning as containing a bonus character/mission, but we were not at liberty to provide the details. The Prothean is optional content that is certainly designed to appeal to long-time fans, which is why he is part of the CE offering (the version many fans would be likely to purchase). Mass Effect 3 is a complete – and a huge game - right out of the box.

- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

- The Collectors Edition has been sold out in most places for some time now, and is becoming very hard to find (many players prefer not to purchase the digital version). As such, we wanted to make this content available so that SE buyers could also incorporate the Prothean into their game.

We’ll be releasing someimages and video about this pack in the coming days.

As always, we are extremely thankful for all of your support. We pulled out all of the stops to make Mass Effect 3 the best game ever, and we can't wait for you all to experience it.

Mike

 

[Maniacal]

I mean, it's the same exact path the company followed for Zaeed and Kasumi.

Kasumi wasn't $10, and while I liked her she still was way over-priced. Zaeed was awesome and was free for everyone who purchased a new copy. All PS3 copies of ME2 came with several DLC like Kasumi for free too. As it is there is nothing offered with the online pass for ME3, unlike in ME2.

- The Collectors Edition has been sold out in most places for some time now, and is becoming very hard to find (many players prefer not to purchase the digital version). As such, we wanted to make this content available so that SE buyers could also incorporate the Prothean into their game.

Yeah, at half the cost of the extra money it would have taken them to buy the CE in the first place with only 1/4th of the content. It doesn't help that they appear to have been waiting until most of the CEs are sold out before telling anyone about it.

The Prothean is optional content that is certainly designed to appeal to long-time fans fanbois and/or people who will shell out money for DLC regardless of content anyway,

Fixed.

which is why he is part of the CE offering (the version many fans would be likely to purchase)

While the people most likely to purchase the CE are fans, that doesn't mean all fans will be purchasing it (there is a limited stock, especially for console gamers since they don't have a digital deluxe version at all) and numerous other reasons as to why a fan may not be able to purchase the CE before they are all gone.

 

[Dachs]

Kasumi wasn't $10, and while I liked her she still was way over-priced. Zaeed was awesome and was free for everyone who purchased a new copy. All PS3 copies of ME2 came with several DLC like Kasumi for free too. As it is there is nothing offered with the online pass for ME3, unlike in ME2.

Who said anything about prices or "Scampi's Personal Willingness to Pay For Things"? emu's issue was with DLC in general, Day One DLC specifically, and was based on an inaccurate (not that he gives a damn) understanding of how this content was developed. And I was responding to that.

I'm not saying that this game and DLC are perfectly priced, and I'm definitely not trying to sell you either the game or the DLC, so complaining about price is irrelevant to me.

Fixed.

If that's the opinion you hold of people who would be getting this, why do you give a damn about any of it anyway?

 

[FriendlyFire]

He does not provide any particular information on how to defeat the Reapers. He was a soldier, and most of his interesting dialogue is moral. I actually think this is a neat subversion, because the notion that "this is a Prothean, he must therefore know ALL THE SECRETS" is pretty silly. And it makes it clear why they dumped his plot-integral role earlier - ridiculously trite.

You will probably need him to watch the "proper ending".
The other endings are all of fem Shepard dying since she did not have uh thingy with the alien before fighting the boss dark spawn i mean repear.

 

[TheLastOne36]

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3#Retail_Bonus_Items

So... I wished to pre-order the collectors edition, but I see it is sold out everywhere.....

 

[Aroddo]

What Bioware doesn't get is that by releasing DLCs on the day the game comes out, they achieve two things:
1. Everyone thinks that the game isn't complete without the DLC.
2. Most people think that Bioware is full of greedy arseholes.

Even if they have a perfectly reasonable explanation for releasing DLCs as soon as they do, the fact is that public perception will be overwhelmingly negative.
At the very least their marketing divison should grasp that kind of logic.