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BioWare: No DLC Party Members For Dragon Age: Inquisition

On-disc downloadable content has been highly controversial.

This is precisely why we won't be getting any extra characters for Dragon Age: Inquisition . As BioWare creative director Mike Laidlaw told Xbox Magazine , they would need to put those characters on the disc, and many gamers have voiced their dislike of that practice.

You may recall that this controversy affected Mass Effect 3 , and Laidlaw would rather not go through that again:

"Because of how deeply enmeshed in the system companion characters are, we can't just add them on the fly; part of them has to be shipped on the disc. Which has led to criticism that we're forcing people to pay for content they already own. It's not the case, but we've decided this time to not go that route. There will be no DLC party members."

Occasionally, there are times when content must be on the disc from day one, as Epic Games boss Cliff Bleszinski said last year. He called on-disc DLC an "ugly truth" but that didn't quell the surge of hatred from gamers everywhere. Therefore, BioWare isn't about to make the same mistake twice.

As for Inquisition , there will be nine party members, and we already know about six of them: Cassandra Pentaghast, Varric, Vivienne, Sera, Iron Bull, and Solas. That's enough, right?

Related Game(s): Dragon Age: Inquisition

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LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

I never had a problem with parts of DLC being on the disc. I had a problem with paying for it.

Rogueagent01
Rogueagent01
9 years ago

I really think they misunderstand what gamers are actually mad at. Well maybe not all gamers but at least me! I have no issue with content being placed on the disc, as they have shown if they want to continue support of the game after release it can be a necessity in some cases. The problem I think most people have is when they then charge $10 for the content that is already on the disc within a certain amount of time after release.

Look the "basic" content that is put on the disc for use of future development should never have a charge associated with it, it should be free and anything that derives from that is what is charged for. So if they were to add characters through this method the characters need to be given out for free and then you would charge for say the story content that was made for them.

So to me the idea is that the addition of on-disc dlc is a gamble that the devs are taking on continued support of said title, so that should have risk associated with it meaning that it is given out for free, and then all content made from that is incentivised making the gamble either a positive or negative financial experience. It would also make developers focus more on content made from that as its quality would most likely be linked to its profit. I understand they are businesses and are in it to make money just don't insult your customers while doing it.

Masszt3r
Masszt3r
9 years ago

On-disc DLC should never be DLC. It should be part of the "basic" game. I find this very insulting for consumers, even though I never really buy DLC, especially after the Capcom fiasco. DLC should be just that, DOWNLOADABLE content.


Last edited by Masszt3r on 4/10/2014 12:44:20 PM

Teddie9
Teddie9
9 years ago

Good. Nine's ample too.

kraygen
kraygen
9 years ago

This is good news. Regardless of how they want to spin it, if it's on the disc, it's not dlc and we shouldn't have to pay extra for it.

I'm glad they learned their lesson.

xenris
xenris
9 years ago

The problem gamers had was the prothean character in ME3 was 100% on the disc, in fact people hacked it and unlocked ALL of his stuff, his dialogue and his mission. That was what irked people.

I agree with what most people have said, if you need to put part of the DLC on the disc don't charge for it when you complete it. Charge for completely new stuff made after release.

CDProjekt red doesn't even charge for such things, which is why I love them ever so much 🙂

PlatformGamerNZ
PlatformGamerNZ
9 years ago

and seriously on disc DLC look if u want us to have the characters just put them straight in the game if they on the disc but don't make us pay for something on a disc we already brought,on disk DLC sudn't excist if it is DLC we buy it from the online store but not buying stuff off a disc we already own it's like paying for something twice and that stings trust me

happy gaming =)

Feryx
Feryx
9 years ago

Nine Party members is awesome!

Lawless SXE
Lawless SXE
9 years ago

Pfft… if the content needs to be on the disc in order for it to be playable, then delay the damn game for a couple of months and make sure that it's incorporated into the main game, rather than chucking it on there and going, "we'll finish it later".

On-disc DLC wasn't a thing before the PS3/360, so why does it need to be a thing at all?

Also, nine party members sounds good.

jdt1981
jdt1981
9 years ago

I don't know if I buy this… I don't remember hearing about hackers unlocking Sarena on the Skyrim disk or Riley on TLOU disk it seems those characters didn't need to be on the disk in order to work. Bioware needs to explain why their characters need to be on disk from day 1 and can't be added to the game later as 100% DLC.

Caanimal
Caanimal
9 years ago

This is all because "gamers" want MORE in their games but don't want to pay more… Companies are having to find ways of making more revenue out of their investments. It's our own damned fault.

When games are costing several tens, and into the hundreds, of millions of dollars to make gamers are expecting to pay a small pittance for said games. More and more games, and I'm not talking just AAA titles but your average game, are having to sell multiple millions of copies just to break even let alone make a profit. Over the past 10 years how many game companies have folded because they aren't making enough money off the games they invest a LOT of time and money in making, it's only going to get worse unless WE, the "gamers" take a look at the true source of the problem, US.

Sometimes you have to look into the mirror to see the true problem.

H8WL3R
H8WL3R
9 years ago

I guess to me, it depends how much is actually already stored on the disc from the get-go. I guess if there was the minimum of necessary code and a purchase was necessary to download the majority that was not there because the developers were still genuinely needing more development time, then that's more acceptable to me. It irks me most though when it seems to be all there because the download size is so minimal that having to pay to simply unlock the "Downloadable Content", really looks like it's Disc Locked Content and feels like money grab.

It seems to me that Capcom games are the ones who do this the most. I do like some of their games, however I'm hard pressed to buy the DLC they sell, and especially when some of their games get so many re-releases; I think it's a good idea to hold off, which is what I personally do with most games in general anyway.

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