Dragon Age 2 to include bonus DLC pipeline like Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network

by David Hinkle on Oct 27th 2010 12:00PM

Unsurprisingly, Dragon Age 2 will feature some manifestation of "Project Ten Dollar" (an incentive to buy EA's games new) akin to Mass Effect 2's bonus content delivery system, the Cerberus Network. "We will be doing that," executive producer Mark Darrah confirmed to Joystiq during a recent press preview of the game. "We haven't announced what's in it, but it'll definitely be something kind of in that Cerberus vein where there will be additional content."

Speaking of Dragon Age 2 DLC in general (and not necessarily just the freebie content), Darrah said we could expect to see a boost in quality over the Dragon Age: Origins DLC, which prompted complaints about a limited scope and areas being recycled from the main game. He assured us that the sequel's add-ons would be more unique: "What we're doing with the DLC in Dragon Age 2 is making it larger; so it'll be bigger teams, more unique environments, more unique creatures -- so that it gets the attention it deserves to get."

BioWare intends to offer free DLC to early birds as well, with pre-orders of Dragon Age 2 being upgraded to the BioWare Signature Edition at no extra charge. Dragon Age 2 will launch on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on March 8, 2011.

Tags: bioware, dlc, Dragon-Age-2, ea, microsoft, pc, playstation, project-ten-dollar, ps3, rpg, xbox

Reader Comments (43)

Will DA2 have the same battle system like in DA1? :/

@Faenix

No it has a more dynasty warrior like style fighting mechanic, good or bad that is up to you.

@philmcfail

No. That's pure misinformation. It's the same combat system, the only difference is the animations are faster and that (for consoles) you have an attack button (but you can still auto-attack should you prefer it). You don't go around bashing your head on your controller for things to die.

@Mama Luigi

Sorry for the mistake, I saw the gameplay videos for the warrior class of the xbox version on youtube and it look like the melee system of an jrpg. TBH if Bioware made any gameplay changes, I think they should mimic the combat of Demon Souls IMO, for the consoles at least.

@Mama Luigi

This is the vid I saw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10_Gk7PudKY

I was wondering if they were going to offer another edition. Its cool that Signature Edition is a free upgrade for pre-orders...but what about Collector's Edition or Limited Edition versions? They made one for Origins, where is the DA:II version?

@AceManUSC I could be wrong but I get the feeling that the Signature Edition is essentially the collectors edition

@AceManUSC: That was my question, too. The CE of DA:O was pretty sweet - I'm a complete sucker for a good Steelbook-style case.

Of course, Fable 3 was just over the top... I hadn't really examined the pictures of the CE of that, and was a little surprised when a rather large package got put into my hands.

@erwos

"...and was a little surprised when a rather large package got put into my hands."

Yup.

@AceManUSC On the Bioware forums, Chris Priestly said that the Bioware Signature Edition is the collectors edition. It has all of the stuff that a collectors edition would normally have from them.

@Mister Darcy

It's probably like Battlefield where everyone who pre-orders or buys within the first couple weeks gets the Limited Edition which really isn't anything but the same game in a package that says Limited Edition.

great, too bad i´ll have to wait a full year to get the GOTY, ULTIMATE, ONE NIGHT STAND, AWESOME or whatever they call it edition. With all the expansions and content just like they did with the first one, and where is dragons age origins ultimate edition?? it should be available by now right???

@(Unverified)
I heard they're putting one out, but it's called the DELUXE EXTREME ULTRA TOTAL edition. Sounds like your searches haven't been robust enough.

@(Unverified)
I found it on Amazon, so you just didn't look hard enough.

@(Unverified) I bought it at GS yesterday and already started playing a new Origin story, lol. Its pretty cool, I am a fan of the everything edition. I didn't get to revisit DA because ME2 came out, then Red Dead and I was also busy with Battlefield: BC2 so this was a nice break to come back to it and experience it in all its glory.

@AceManUSC

cool!! now you can tell me before i buy it... it has everything??? or i still need to buy the socks and shoes mod??????

@(Unverified) Yes, it's available today. Still don't know if i'm gonna pick up the PC or the PS3 version of DA Ultimate. The PC version has the best gameplay interface and the best looking visuals but the PS3 is only one Bluray disc.

This should be the way for other companies to release their GOTY/Ultimate Edition, having everything on disc (Shame on Gearbox for giving people a stupid token to download all the DLC for the Borderlands GOTY).

Meh... if this thing works like Cerberus Network then I probably won't really notice it and it'll be great, but if it makes me deal with EA support like the VIP stuff then this thing is just going to piss me off. I'm definitely going to buy this game new if I have a job though so... not actually free stuff is a decent deal.

I wish they would just call it what it is, an incentive system. You're paying for the stuff when you buy the game so calling it "free" is sort of a misnomer. Just call it EA Incentives and be straightforward with the fact that you want people to actually pay you for your game.

Maybe, since it's DA, we'll get more missions from it because they don't have to create all new areas to send you to, like planets, they can just roll with something similar to an area you've been to already.

Bioware has instant first day buy on all products from me.

@Dirty

Same. I've bought new versions of every game they've put out since KotoR 1.

I'll wait for an Ultimate Edition with all the DLC on the disc.

@jmr1986
should be in about a year then.

My interest in this game went down a bit when I found out you don't play your same character...but who knows. This kind of stuff is fine with me as I've been sticking to buying my games new (but usually after a price drop) for a while now. I'll probably be knee deep in Fallout: NV when this comes out.

Well, let's hope it's a worthwhile, fully realized system ... because the Cerberus Network stuff sucked, and the abandoned it as quickly as possible.

@RadiantViper

I'm sure this will be entirely different.

Right?

@ctg867 Their loss I guess....but honestly, a much, much bigger loss on your end imo. I can't believe I didn't play them sooner :-o

@ctg867
But movies, and music are both cheaper than a game to begin with. If 10 people buy 10 second hand CDs, the music industry has lost about £150. If it were games, they would have lost £400. It doesn't matter how good a game is. If it's mainly singleplayer then most people will sell upon completion. I buy my games new, and personally think this is a great idea. The more money the game makers make then the better the next game.

I hope there's less repetitive dungeon grinding, or at least make it optional. DA:O really started to grind my gears after a whole because of that. It's just an artificial way to extend the gameplay

@Enigma7ic Maybe I am wrong, but I thought this was part of the appeal of an RPG? You grind deeper for more rewards and loot and XP? If you want just the meat, only do main quests. This game can go pretty quick if you just get the 3 groups to sign on and go for the battle. No party loyalty quests or side questing.

@Enigma7ic

I never felt like DA: O ever made me grind. Sometimes I even wanted to grind just to make my characters more powerful.

@AceManUSC

While it's true that RPG's are known for their grinding, I felt that certain dungeons really dragged on. A great example is the Fade part in the Tower or the Deep Roads. If those sections had been cut by a 3rd, it would have made the entire game more enjoyable imo. It would have also saved the cookie-cutter level design, so that I would have to run through the same 3 lookalike rooms/caves 20 times in a roll

@Enigma7ic

You don't seem to be using "grind" properly, in a gaming parlance at least.

Some of the dungeons are long. Some can get boring *cough*deep roads*cough*, but "grind" is a misleading term when used to describe this element of an RPG.

Traditionally, grinding in an RPG is doing a specific thing repeatedly to build up your chatacter(s). Killing random/respawning monsters over and over again, harvesting materials over and over again, trading over and over again; those things are more commonly perceived as the "grinds" of RPGs.

Bioware games usually only have respawning enemies in very specific places, so getting more experience than they offer you on the linear path is seldom an option.

Getting through some of those dungeons is about as much fun as grinding out levels in a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, though.

@Chareth Cutestory

Yes, there's 2 ways to interpret grind. I meant that certain dungeons are overly long and boring, not that you go out and slay 500 boars so that you can kill the one who has no life South Park-style.

I do apologize for causing any confusion on my part.

I dunno, I'm just not feeling this one :/.

@ctg867
They're not fighting the used game market at all. In fact, they are embracing and trying to find a way to make money off of it and they have every right to do it. Don't know if you've been paying attention, but a lot of game studios have been closing down. If this project 10 dollar helps them stay open then it's a good thing.

They aren't stopping you from buying used or selling/trading your games. You can still do that if you want, you don't need the extra content. The game is still awesome without it, but if you buy it used and you decide you want the extra stuff, then you have to pay. Not a big deal.

While it's true that RPG's are known for their grinding, I felt that certain dungeons really dragged on. A great example is the Fade part in the Tower or the Deep Roads. If those sections had been cut by a 3rd, it would have made the entire game more enjoyable imo. It would have also saved the cookie-cutter level design, so that I would have to run through the same 3 lookalike rooms/caves 20 times in a roll

@ctg867

They're only anti-consumer in the same way that buying used games is anti-game developers. Support the makers, not the pawnshops!!!

God Of Dragon Wars II : The Spartan Warrior Chronicles.

Hey, lets strip down everything that made DA:O awesome and add everything that made Mass Effect II generic!~ Yay, so smart....

@Kitanishi

ME2 is simplified, but no less "generic" than the first game.

@Chareth Cutestory

I'd take galaxy-spanning thousand years old conspiracy and the awesome revelations of the whole prothean thing, the compelling and interesting characterisation and psych-profile of Saren, collecting and meeting characters who are genuine and real...

over....

You getting recruited by evil corporation to hunt bugs and getting assigned a bunch of VERY unlikeable characters(Miranda "Mary Sue" Lawson, skinhead, garus, alien-aborigen-warrior and others can go die in fire, joker and Zaed can stay), because "those old guys from last part of game decided to act like bastards and not care"

Seriously there should have been option to just KILL the new characters if you had a chance -___- Mirandas supremacy-shell-on-weebo-insecure-girl thing was beyond bland and I had to mute the sound when either asari-aborigen or skinhead began to talk)

I've been digging a little bit about DA UE, according to the social bioware forums the previous saved data from DAO will work fine with the UE, could somebody tell me if this is true?? (that way i could just continue my previous gameplay and will not have to star over with a new one).

Maybe I was just doing it wrong, but I hated the Cerberus Network. It didn't download the DLC straight into the game like Dragon Age did.

@ctg867
You're right, the content you get for free is paid for with my $60 then blocked off for the download code, but I get the download code, so it's ok. Ita not however paid for by your $20 getting it second hand 6 months down the line. I actually think it's rude that you think you deserve the same experience as me without actually handing the devs the funds.
Buying second hand games is fine, but don't think for a second that you have any right to bitch about content when your not spending the same as the rest of us.

Dragon Age 2

Dragon Age 2 to include bonus DLC pipeline like Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network

Reader Comments (43)

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:06PM Faenix said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 4:43PM philmcfail said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 6:39PM Mama Luigi said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 10:07PM philmcfail said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 10:14PM philmcfail said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:17PM AceManUSC said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:33PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:34PM erwos said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:57PM Mister Darcy said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:22PM Eri said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:30PM oJMan240o said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:21PM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:40PM Prox said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:59PM RobS the 3rd said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:28PM AceManUSC said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:59PM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 3:36PM jmr1986 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:23PM oJMan240o said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:31PM Dirty said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:56PM R Planteer said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:44PM jmr1986 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:01PM RobS the 3rd said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 12:54PM Petebot330 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:00PM RadiantViper said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 6:18PM Chareth Cutestory said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:32PM Aekero said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 1:35PM Pete207 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:10PM Enigma7ic said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:30PM AceManUSC said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:53PM A Sandwich said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 4:51PM Enigma7ic said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 6:24PM Chareth Cutestory said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 10:22PM Enigma7ic said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:11PM ShadowXIII said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:24PM fohf said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:39PM Enigma7ic said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 2:52PM A Sandwich said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 3:33PM Kitanishi said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 6:26PM Chareth Cutestory said

Posted: Oct 28th 2010 5:02AM Kitanishi said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 3:38PM jmr1986 said

Posted: Oct 27th 2010 6:55PM LaughingTarget said

Posted: Oct 28th 2010 3:54AM Pete207 said

Dragon Age 2 Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW