EvaUnit02 on 13/11/2009 at 12:35
Yeah, everyone who bought the game brand new should've gotten the Blood Dragon Armour and Stone Prisoner for free. Wynne lied through her teeth, leading us to believe that earned in-game achievement points could be spent to buy the premium DLC (instead of using real world money), the first one being Warden's Keep.
Aerothorn on 13/11/2009 at 18:25
(
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/13/dragon-age-dlc-has-earned-over-1-million/) Dragon Age DLC has already made $1,000,000.
Gamer opposition to DLC would be a hell of a lot more effective is any substantial number of them put their money where their mouth was.
Then again, I guess that's the trick with DLC - even if only a small minority of total users downloaded it, it would STILL be profitable given that it's relatively cheap to produce and practically free to distribute/market.
Also, the quote "The game was designed at the outset to have extensive PDLC at launch" doesn't fully jive with what I've heard from Bioware. Though I unfortunately find it more likely in this case that the EA guy know what he's talking about.
Zygoptera on 13/11/2009 at 19:51
While 'DLC' wasn't intended from the outset- the outset was six years ago- to be fair I would imagine having the capability for something like NWN premium modules was considered early in the piece.
Unsurprising the DLC has made money- IIRC even the much derided horse armour sold in the hundreds of thousands (I can actually understand buying Warden's Keep, but horse armour?) and if you're cutting things off from the main game it's essentially 'free' money for them.
Kroakie on 15/11/2009 at 01:12
Quick question: If I buy the retail version, will I be able to add the CD key to Steam? The retail version might be cheaper where I live, but I like the convenience that Steam offers (plus I don't have a CD-Rom drive right now :sweat:)
EvaUnit02 on 15/11/2009 at 02:53
No. But you would be able to enter the key and grab it with the EA Downloader. I
assume that it's subject to the same shitty download limitations of content bought from the EA Store though.
Unless a retail game is specifically mentioned on (
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601) this page, you can't add it to your Steam account. Unless a publisher has specifically made a deal with Valve, they don't let anyone willy nilly eat their bandwidth.
Kroakie on 15/11/2009 at 05:11
Since Dragon Age is available on Steam I thought that might work :( Oh Well.
Malf on 16/11/2009 at 13:29
I've completed it on the PC, and while I enjoyed it, it didn't deserve the hype. It's very reminiscent of Neverwinter Nights 2, and shares a lot of the same problems. I also found it far too combat-centric.
Thanks to the low-tech engine, the world didn't feel like a world, but rather what it was; a series of levels tenuously linked. After experiencing the worlds of Demon's Souls, Borderlands and Risen recently, the world of Dragon Age feels decidedly characterless and overtly game-ish.
The inventory system and items were a continual niggle with me too, with obviously levelled loot, and no presence between container and inventory.
Indeed, I think the level-scaling overall in this game does more harm than good. It suffers the same way Oblivion does here; if your enemies increase in power as you do, what's the point of having levels in the first place?
Where the game excelled however was in the NPCs and the interaction with them. All of the characters were engaging, and it was a joy to go around mixing up the group just to see what they said to eachother. The stars of the show were definitely Shale and Oghren, two characters that never left my party once I had them. Nobody can tank as well as Shale, and Oghren dishes out some serious pain thanks to his berserker talent. Wynne backed these two up for me, while I stabbed backs. Some of the conversations between this trio were spectacularly funny.
Oh, and I was a Human Noble Rogue with Assassin and Duelist specialisations. I finished the game at level 24.
The end-game is very nice if you're a fan of the original Fallout games and others that follow suit. Learning what happens thanks to your actions is always a kick, and is almost a big enough incentive to jump right back in with a different character to see how different you could make it.
Almost.
dvrabel on 16/11/2009 at 17:28
There is too much combat against identical enemies, particularly in the end game. I'm at the gates of Fort Drakon. How many fights until the end?
Malf on 16/11/2009 at 17:48
There's a whole dungeon section, then the main fight itself. I take it you mean Fort Drakon after the Darkspawn have invaded Denerim?
