Mass Effect... am I totally plot-spoiled?

[firehawk12]

Yeah, the Mako is completely gone - although there are still planet side missions.

I didn't mind the driving - it was trying to climb mountains that was a pain.

 

[ATimson]

I didn't mind the driving - it was trying to climb mountains that was a pain.

I wish that Bioware still carried the Mako Mountain-Climbing Team t-shirt...

 

[Mr Light]

The Mako is gone. We're getting a hovercraft as free DLC; early word is that there's no vehicle sequences out-of-the-box.

Sucks for me then, since I'm on dial-up internet and don't have X-Box Live *sigh*

 

[firehawk12]

That's unfortunate because you'll lose out on a whole new character as well. Maybe you can borrow a connection from someone/somewhere?

 

[clint g]

I must say this whole needing to have an internet connection to get the whole game crap is getting annoying. Im getting tired of lugging my 360 to a room with a freaking internet cable so that I can get my god damn characters. Dragon Age, I'm looking at you

 

[Arrqh]

I must say this whole needing to have an internet connection to get the whole game crap is getting annoying. Im getting tired of lugging my 360 to a room with a freaking internet cable so that I can get my god damn characters. Dragon Age, I'm looking at you

Both ME2 and DA are "complete" without needing an internet connection.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, except Shale is the best character in DA.

I understand the need for incentivizing new game sales. It makes perfect sense since the only other model is Valve's TF2 model of constant free updates. It's just too bad that people without broadband get left behind.

 

[clint g]

I must say this whole needing to have an internet connection to get the whole game crap is getting annoying. Im getting tired of lugging my 360 to a room with a freaking internet cable so that I can get my god damn characters. Dragon Age, I'm looking at you

Both ME2 and DA are "complete" without needing an internet connection.

Bull

 

[Arrqh]

Well, except Shale is the best character in DA.

And there's no way Shale could have made it onto the game disc without delaying the game. In any case, the game is still ridiculously long with many party members without any DLC and you are able to complete it. Therefore, it is complete by any sensible definition of the word.

Bull

What a comprehensive argument!

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, I've read that Shale was cut and then added again. I'm not complaining about the practice I suppose... but maybe they can offer some kind of redeem program for people who don't have broadband. Send in the UPC and the receipt for your free Shale! Wait 4-6 weeks for delivery!

 

[clint g]

double post...

 

[clint g]

Well, except Shale is the best character in DA.

And there's no way Shale could have made it onto the game disc without delaying the game. In any case, the game is still ridiculously long with many party members without any DLC and you are able to complete it. Therefore, it is complete by any sensible definition of the word.

Bull

What a comprehensive argument!

There isnt much to argue. They decided to take a character who was supposed to be in the game from the start and remove her from the finished product to urge people to buy it new instead of used. The game you buy in the stores does not come with everything that was intended for use on the disc. Bioware doesn't try to hide this so why should it?

 

[ATimson]

There isnt much to argue. They decided to take a character who was supposed to be in the game from the start and remove her from the finished product to urge people to buy it new instead of used.

The character was cut before the product was finished - had the PC version not been held back for a simultaneous release with console versions, it would've been Shale-less. Try again.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, the story goes that the character was cut because they couldn't do it... but people kept working on it anyway to get the character to a working state, but by that time it was too late to be put on disc so they came up with the free DLC scheme.

I just wonder what came first - Shale or the Cerberus Network.

 

[clint g]

There isnt much to argue. They decided to take a character who was supposed to be in the game from the start and remove her from the finished product to urge people to buy it new instead of used.

The character was cut before the product was finished. Try again.

And was re-integrated into the game when the game release was pushed pack to a q4 2009 release. It was available day one as a download so clearly it was possible to re-integrate it into the game. They just chose not to.

 

[Arrqh]

There isnt much to argue. They decided to take a character who was supposed to be in the game from the start and remove her from the finished product to urge people to buy it new instead of used. The game you buy in the stores does not come with everything that was intended for use on the disc. Bioware doesn't try to hide this so why should it?

In the middle of production they decided to cut a character from the game because there was no way to release the game on schedule for March with said character in. Therefore the character was moved into DLC. The PC version was delayed for other reasons but there wasn't time in the schedule to re-QA and bugfix the entire game with Shale integrated. The console versions had their own issues and there was equally not time to do that. Keeping Shale as DLC meant that she went through a separate QA and cert process that happened in parallel with the QA and cert process of the main game which had to be finished much sooner then DLC did.

You can read more about it here but the main point is: Shale was not moved to DLC to create an incentive for new game sales, that was just an added bonus.

And again, the game is absolutely completable without Shale. To say that DA is "incomplete" without DLC is factually wrong.

 

[clint g]

There isnt much to argue. They decided to take a character who was supposed to be in the game from the start and remove her from the finished product to urge people to buy it new instead of used. The game you buy in the stores does not come with everything that was intended for use on the disc. Bioware doesn't try to hide this so why should it?

In the middle of production they decided to cut a character from the game because there was no way to release the game on schedule for March with said character in. Therefore the character was moved into DLC. The PC version was delayed for other reasons but there wasn't time in the schedule to re-QA and bugfix the entire game with Shale integrated. The console versions had their own issues and there was equally not time to do that. Keeping Shale as DLC meant that she went through a separate QA and cert process that happened in parallel with the QA and cert process of the main game which had to be finished much sooner then DLC did.

You can read more about it here but the main point is: Shale was not moved to DLC to create an incentive for new game sales, that was just an added bonus.

And yet thats exactly what they did. They utilized the character as a means to ensure that users would purchase new instead of used. Its a marketing strategy that Bioware has decided to pursue and is continuing with Mass Effect 2. Fine, they're a business and that's their right. Doesn't mean I'm going to be blind to it though

And again, the game is absolutely completable without Shale. To say that DA is "incomplete" without DLC is factually wrong.

Nope.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/52604/Mass-Effect-2-Cerberus-Network-DLC-Code-Costs-15

Seems pretty clearly this is their marketing strategy of choice

 

[Arrqh]

And again, the game is absolutely completable without Shale. To say that DA is "incomplete" without DLC is factually wrong.

Nope.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/52604/Mass-Effect-2-Cerberus-Network-DLC-Code-Costs-15

Seems pretty clearly this is their marketing strategy of choice

Your link does absolutely nothing to back up the claim that DA was not complete on release. And I see you conveniently ignored my link where the lead writer of DA corroborates what I said!

 

[clint g]

And again, the game is absolutely completable without Shale. To say that DA is "incomplete" without DLC is factually wrong.

Nope.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/52604/Mass-Effect-2-Cerberus-Network-DLC-Code-Costs-15

Seems pretty clearly this is their marketing strategy of choice

Your link does absolutely nothing to back up the claim that DA was not complete on release. And I see you conveniently ignored my link where the lead writer of DA corroborates what I said!

Nope, I read it. And then I pieced it together with everything else where Bioware releases a game and yet does not include all the content on a disc, forcing people who do not get it new to pay for the extra stuff. If it was really supposed to be a a nice bonus, it would be free period. That isn't the case. But as I said, they're a business and they will do whats good for them

 

[firehawk12]

It's a bonus for people willing to buy the game new. Gears did it with the map pack, EA's doing it with Madden, Saboteur and BioWare games. I don't begrudge them for it because new games are where they make their money.

(Of course, if they just sold games for 30 bucks and made up the profit in volume, everyone would be happier. But that would make too much sense, I suppose).