Don't blame EA for Dragon Age's inventory (or paid DLC)

by Xav de Matos on Nov 4th 2009 9:00PM

In a written response to allegations from Fidgit that Electronic Arts had forced developer BioWare to remove features in Dragon Age: Origins with the intention of selling it as future DLC, BioWare lead systems designer Georg Zoeller says the parent company has "nothing" to do with the decision. At the crux of the argument is the game's launch DLC, Warden's Keep, which gives players a "storage chest" to help expand the in-game inventory, among other additions. Fidgit claims the DLC was pre-planned to "bilk users for more money."

According to Zoeller, Dragon Age originally featured a small storage chest in the game's party camp, but quickly became an issue due to story elements in the game that would change the camp's environment; so the storage area was removed. "We decided that it was not really necessary anyway since the item limitation was rather generous compared to the initial designs at least," Zoeller wrote. Later -- during a brainstorm session -- the team decided to include the chest in premium DLC, which was then made available at launch.

Zoeller claims "storage limitations" were never pinpointed as problems by the game's quality assurance team, because "after all, it was part of the design." While the Bioware designer doesn't have an issue with anger toward the decision, he vehemently denies EA was involved for the sole purpose of getting more money out of players. With the DLC already available across all platforms (560

/ $7, or free to deluxe edition players), it's up to players to make their opinions heard by voting with their wallets.

Source

Tags: bioware, dlc, downloadable-content, dragon-age, dragon-age-origins, ea, electroinc-arts, Electronic-Arts, Microsoft, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (121)

What kills me about purchasing this game is that it's published by Electronic Arts. This company is the worst and swore to never buy another game from them due to fiasco after fiasco. Damn, yet another story that just makes you ill from EA influence.

replace EA with Sony and you got my story

Did you really just get EA confused with Activision? Or are you still living in 2007? Either way you're a special kind of stupid.

Who could possibly think Sony is the worst game company?

Do they charge for cheats? Do they take features out to put in paid DLC? Do they block developers from putting free shit on PSN? Do they do....uhh....everything that Activision does?

I think you mean Activision. Except Activision does it with full priced releases multiple times a year instead of comparably cheap DLC that EA charges.

Nope. No mistake. IMHO, I've had the worst experiences with EA. It started in the days of Sega Genesis when I spent my hard earned money on one of their games and it was just a complete let down. Too bad there was no 'internet' at the time for game reviews/forums etc. The final nail in the coffin for EA for me was the Ultima 9 fiasco. Nuff said...

Otherwise, having a good time with Dragon Age. Biggest major gripe: starting the game up - can't skip the EA/Bioware logo screens and the game automatically tries to connect to the DA server which is completely unneccessary which delays getting into the game. There better be a patch for this to offer an option to turn these huge annoyances off.

I agree that parts shouldn't be taken out of a game to fetch more money of its fans, but Dragon Age is an insanely large game. A single playthrough is anywhere from 50-60 without doing any sidequests.

Then you can play it through multiple times with different classes and experience new origins, which are all very varied.

This game gives you a shit ton more content than 90% of games out on store shelves today, so complaining about DLC (if it's all legit like Bioware says), is plain ol' stupid.

Sad day when the games of this gen are considered "insanely large" by virtue of simply being 50-60 hours long.

Every time someone brings up 50-60 hours I immediately call BS. Did you dance around in the game for 40 hours? People were saying Mass Effect was a 40 hour game... total bs. Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect to death, but I beat the game in 9 hours without doing many side quests. I also beat the game again in 14 hours doing all the crappy side quests. The best part of the game -- and it is shown by the time developers put in it -- is the main story quest. I can understand if someone hasn't actually played side quests in games anymore, since they more than often, turn up to be crap.

You know what game is 60-70 hours long? Metroid Prime Trilogy
most worthwhile game I have EVER bought.

It's a sad state of affairs when the most worthwhile game someone bought is composed of 2/3 games from last generation.

Dreaded Fear:

Mass Effect was not a long game, but I was not talking about Mass Effect, was I?

Dragon Age is a radically different style of RPG than Mass Effect.

I beat Dragon Age and it took me around 53 hours without any sidequests.

If you want to call bullshit on something, then let's talk about the title at hand, not Mass Effect, which was a fantastic but ultimately short RPG.

Otis Whitaker:

Dragon Age is a large game in every single aspect. It's an RPG that's so expertly crafter and large in its detail, scope, world, characters, story, etc. It's a real fantasy epic, like the great RPG's of yesteryear.

But hey, feel free to say what you like.

@Anti-Villain

60-70 hours of crap is still crap. I'd prefer a shorter, good game. Dragon Age isn't good either, I'm just saying.

Insanely large? Have you ever played RPGs? No game deserves content to be removed so more money can be made. And if you want to make money, at least bring the content out six months later. Not on the launch week. Talk about a slap in the face.

DLC should only be used to add life to a game like new campaign chapters or modes. Stuff like this should be given out as a free download or at least cheaper then $7 for a damn storage chest!

You get a lot more than a storage chest for $7.

It's not like it's horse armor!

That's exactly what this is. Maybe people should read an article or two before grabbing their pitch forks and torches. Taken straight off of the Dragon Age website:

•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

I bought it off the PSN today and have sunk a few hours into it so far. It's a whole new dungeon/story line that feels a lot like the earlier Fallout DLC. So far, worth it.

Joystiq, I love ya to death, but to me this article is intentionally inflammatory and misleading.

"...Warden's Keep, which gives players a "storage chest" to help expand the in-game inventory, among other additions."

The entire article focuses on the concept that the $7 is for a storage chest, which gets people who have no idea what Dragon Age is up in arms. You fail to emphasize that it an add-on to the wealth of additional content the DLC provides. It's a piece that was included after it didn't make sense within the main story. I bought the DLC, and I have found it to be an excellent extension of the DA story, and good value.

And there is the crux.

If a game does well, some time has passed, and the fans request expansions and new content then I have no problem with DLC.

But if a release game has DLC right away... well then there is no excuse, you paid $60 or more and they now want to you pay for content that they basically pulled from the game (or more likely flagged as disabled). Also these "limited edtion" versions of games with no physical extras pisses me off too.

(Imagine buying a car with the glovebox locked, and paying extra for a key because you were never told this "additional" content will cost you extra for no reason other than greed)

@ a drunk amputee:
That's what Joystiq is. irresponsible writing, but it's okay with Chris as long as it get's views.

I don't like this bs one bit. I'll be buying the GOTY edition that comes out next year... used.

I'm tired of getting nickel and f'in dimed with games these days. Is $60 for a game REALLY not enough? Really?

=/

try living in Canada... our dollar is almost at par with the American dollar, but pretty much every new game is $70 up here...

@JetEngineJesus
Actually the games are going back to normal! Just check out some retailers, and you will see many games going back to the $59.99 price-point. Looks like people weren't buying the BS prices at $69.99... and the fact our dollar is rising again.

@Dreaded Fear I don't get the pricing up here... it seems totally random which games are $70 and which are $60...

yeah, it is for the game, but not the extra stuff. There was never an announcement of this game going gold, but if it's like most games, im sure it was more than a month ago, which is plenty of time to whip up a new dungeon. Gamers need to get over our ridiculous entitlement complexes, companies dont owe us anything for buying their games, it's nice to be rewarded, but ffs stop acting like they have to give us free shit

People should feel entitled when they are spending $60+ on a video game, only to be told that was not enough for all the content, and you have to spend extra if you want the full game. DLC is getting rediculous, and you would have to blind not to think that most DLC is overpriced.

I agree with Dark Wayne

This comes with the collector’s edition, if you got the collector’s edition you get more, if you want the part of the collector’s edition that is in game you pay $7 for it.

Some DLC is ridiculous I will agree, but how hard is it for people to understand there is ‘X’ budget for the game and then ‘Y’ budget for the DLC and if collectors editions or DLC did not exist we wouldn’t see this stuff at all because you would only get the game.

Good luck to all you complaining git’s that say you will buy it used instead, you get to miss out on more great stuff(Stone prisoner). I am going to go home today, put in my new copy and buy this DLC (for the actual DLC content and not the chest).

You dont get enough inventory space, theres lots of ingredrients ive kept which i cant use yet filling it up. The chest is REALLY needed.

"Premium DLC" at launch is fucking ridiculous. What makes it more "premium" than the rest of the game you just paid sixty fucking dollars for?

Its premium in the same way that Microsoft said nothing is wrong with Vista.

Its day-1 DLC which instantly means one thing

It was made during the development cycle with the sole intent of being an easy way of getting an extra 10 bucks right off the bat on top of the purchase. Hell, make it a possible 20 bucks if you buy the game from Gamestop.
Why do I say gamestop? Because they have a bloody bad reputation of swiping codes out of the boxes and selling them as "new", and yes, its happened to me and my friends a few times.

They finished the majority of the game content, and started on the DLC once the content was finished, and the release date was near. Then the release date was pushed back, and while one team did whatever they need to for the delay (porting the engine to consoles, maybe?), another finished the DLC.

Then they decided that they'd rather let everyone have the DLC right away (half of it for free), rather than holding off on it a few months and pretending it's new.

Doesn't seem like an evil conspiracy to me, just bad organization, followed by trying to make the best of it.

A more outstanding issue that has been downplayed in the reviews is the awful framerate. It's an eyesore trying to play this game, thought the story has me already hooked.
The stuttering FMV movie footage was a little sad to see as well...it's the same sort of thing I encountered with Neverwinter Nights back in 2006.

Whats your specs? I dont get any Frame rate stuttering at all

Not on the PC; the ps3 version.

The 360 I heard is even worse, so i get I should be happy. I'm tempted to get the PC version (I think that's the footage being shown in alot of reviews), but I don't currently have a powerful enough rig to run it at the moment.

♠

Another PC developer delivering a poorly-performing engine on a console. Why am I not surprised? I guess years of Bethesda doing the same thing has numbed my expectations.

I don't think it was intended to be a console game. This I would personally blame on EA's "put it on everything" strategy.

Actually, the frame rate was initially kind of poor on the 360, but I managed to delete just enough stuff on my little 20 GB hard drive to install it straight to the hard drive and it significantly improves the frame rate and the stuttering between gameplay and cutscenes. That last part is virtually gone now.

The visuals still aren't fantastic, and the character models sometimes look ridiculous, but the storyline is engaging and I am thoroughly enjoying the gameplay.

I need a bigger hard drive.

Copying to the HD is probably why I saw no major glitches. That $79 deal on a 120GB drive was the best thing Circuit City ever had.

Now all I need is to be able to go back and fix my guy's face. Damn overbite I didn't notice when looking straight at him...

"...quickly became an issue due to story elements in the game that would ????? the camp's environment; so the storage area was removed."

I'd hate to quibble but you seem to have left out the most important word in the article. What happened to the camp's environment?

"Change"

Sorry. The error has been corrected.

Thank you, that makes much more sense.

P.S. We missed you on the podcast this week.

So, don't buy the fucking chest. It's A CHEST. Not a character, not a legendary sword,not a strap-on dildo. IT IS A CHEST. You aren't being 'nickle and dimed'. You are being charged 'stupid tax' if you actually spend $7 on a chest. A CHEST.

Jesus Christ.

But it's not $7 for just a chest, they just decided to put the chest in that DLC.

Yeah, the problem is they took it out of the game for no reason and out it in the DLC when they didn't have too.

Well, hot damn. I got so pissed off at all of the whining that I didn't even realize it was more than just a chest. I guess that a "It's just a chest/quest/ability/NPC!" rant wouldn't have been very catchy, though.

I'll be paying my stupid tax, now.

Wait... this game just came out?

Why is there DLC already?

Why isn't this content in the game already?

Why does the article say they removed the storage because it wasn't needed and then suddenly after the game releases they change their mind?

Why are these companies releasing unfinished games and charging for "extras" that should have been in the game?

Are we really getting that stupid as a society?

Anybody want to buy a used keyboard? I'll give you 1/2 the letters and charge you $5 a letter ($10 for #'s) as "additional" content.

"According to Zoeller, Dragon Age originally featured a small storage chest in the game's party camp, but quickly became an issue due to story elements in the game that would the camp's environment; so the storage area was removed."

Something's missing here. I don't quite understand what it would do to the camp. Change it I guess?

Anyway, that seems like a pretty big ripoff for 7 bucks. Maybe 1 dollar but I still hate the idea.

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Don't blame EA for Dragon Age's inventory (or paid DLC)

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