Mass Effect 3 - DLC - From Ashes
Honest to God, I actually don't really know how to feel about the latest news/reactions regarding Bioware's decision to release a Day One DLC called "From Ashes." If you haven't heard by now, it features a very special teammate - one who is singularly central to the mysterious precusor race called the Protheans.
A Prothean teammate.
Anyways, the reactions from Bioware ranged from - this is available for Collector's Editions and you must pay $10 to download it if you get the Standard Edition of the game. Then they said that the Prothean would have been featured already in some form of the game beforehand, just having this exclusive DLC is for the Prothean to become your teammate.
Okay...
Uh, if that is the case, doesn't that make this a cut-content from a game that's already done? Which means, for every edition, including Collectors, we're overpaying by $10-$20 just so they can rip something out of the completed game before launch and say, "oh look, we now have DLC!" I don't get it.
On the flip side, people like TotalBiscuit and others are saying that they're boycotting the game just because this has gone too far in terms of EA and/or Bioware wanting to make more money off of people. I mean, I get their point, it is a little ridiculous, considering that several other Day One DLC for a host of Bioware games previous (ME2, Dragon Age: Origins, etc.) have had that, but they were free.
I get it and I see their point but here's my take: I've been waiting for this game since 2007 when Mass Effect first came out. I've been waiting for 6 years to fight the Reapers. At this point, I don't give a shit whether or not there's cut content or whatnot. I've always gotten Collector's Edition for this series of games because that's what I started with. Because I know Bioware has some nice goodies inside always and also little extras besides random DLC or whatnot. Most of all, I want to know how it ends...and part of the influence is that I know my poor 360 is not going to hold out any longer. I need to finish this game before my 360 craps out and I forever loose 6 years worth of saved files so I can see the multitude of endings in which 3 different Shepards played through to completion to see the decisions I've made.
In short: I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS.
To me, the story, even with a DLC add-on that adds the Prothean, yes the great mysterious race very important to the lore, oh yay, whatever - its the story, Shepard's story is what I want to know. The details are nice, the downloading is nice, that's all fine and cool, but you can easily just go to the Mass Effect wiki or even TV Tropes in like 2-3 days after release date and find all the information you need regarding the DLC without having to download it if you're really that desperate for the story. Now is it going to make a difference? We'll see. My offline account has 2 more Shepards that won't have the Prothean so we shall see. Maybe my opinion will change then, maybe it won't. The only thing that matters to me is that I want to know how Shepard's story ends.
-S.
A Prothean teammate.
Anyways, the reactions from Bioware ranged from - this is available for Collector's Editions and you must pay $10 to download it if you get the Standard Edition of the game. Then they said that the Prothean would have been featured already in some form of the game beforehand, just having this exclusive DLC is for the Prothean to become your teammate.
Okay...
Uh, if that is the case, doesn't that make this a cut-content from a game that's already done? Which means, for every edition, including Collectors, we're overpaying by $10-$20 just so they can rip something out of the completed game before launch and say, "oh look, we now have DLC!" I don't get it.
On the flip side, people like TotalBiscuit and others are saying that they're boycotting the game just because this has gone too far in terms of EA and/or Bioware wanting to make more money off of people. I mean, I get their point, it is a little ridiculous, considering that several other Day One DLC for a host of Bioware games previous (ME2, Dragon Age: Origins, etc.) have had that, but they were free.
I get it and I see their point but here's my take: I've been waiting for this game since 2007 when Mass Effect first came out. I've been waiting for 6 years to fight the Reapers. At this point, I don't give a shit whether or not there's cut content or whatnot. I've always gotten Collector's Edition for this series of games because that's what I started with. Because I know Bioware has some nice goodies inside always and also little extras besides random DLC or whatnot. Most of all, I want to know how it ends...and part of the influence is that I know my poor 360 is not going to hold out any longer. I need to finish this game before my 360 craps out and I forever loose 6 years worth of saved files so I can see the multitude of endings in which 3 different Shepards played through to completion to see the decisions I've made.
In short: I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS.
To me, the story, even with a DLC add-on that adds the Prothean, yes the great mysterious race very important to the lore, oh yay, whatever - its the story, Shepard's story is what I want to know. The details are nice, the downloading is nice, that's all fine and cool, but you can easily just go to the Mass Effect wiki or even TV Tropes in like 2-3 days after release date and find all the information you need regarding the DLC without having to download it if you're really that desperate for the story. Now is it going to make a difference? We'll see. My offline account has 2 more Shepards that won't have the Prothean so we shall see. Maybe my opinion will change then, maybe it won't. The only thing that matters to me is that I want to know how Shepard's story ends.
-S.