Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Reg]

That would be "The Exiled Prince" I think. Like Shale he came for free if you bought the game at release but I think you have to get him a DLC now.  He's not as good as Shale.  If you get it from Steam they're still giving the Black Emporium for free which is not bad.

[Rokal]

Exiled Prince was a pre-order bonus, so buying a new copy won't get you it (unlike Shale). It makes a lot of sense now that they tried to push pre-orders so hard, considering that the game turned out to be such a piece of shit.

[Sjofn]

I believe the Black Emporium comes free with a new game still? I like it because I am vain and like to change how my Hawkes look from time to time. 

But yeah, Sebastian was a pre-order bonus, you have to pony up the seven bucks for him now. Still think he's worth it, personally.

[caladein]

Yes, Black Emporium is like Shale in that it's the game's nominal please-don't-buy-used-copies DLC.

[Raguel]

Really? My 2h Warrior chewed through him by abusing charge and whirlwind along with the extra damage buff thing.. I think in the Destroyer tree.

No doubt I was doin it wrong, per usual.    . Still I was surprised by how quickly and easily my rogue took him down.

[tmp]

DLC announced for DA2, coming out July 26th. Priced at 10 USD or 800 points.

[Shrike]

Hunh. I was thinking about firing up another playthrough. Guess I'll wait until end of the month.

[tmp]

Oh yeah, apparently there's also a trailer for this one. (from gamespot so with a free ad thrown in, i'm afraid)

[Sjofn]

Oh good, new doofy looking darkspawn to sigh at. 

I am excited, though! This is the sort of DLC I (usually) like.

[Ingmar]

I wonder if the New Darkspawn are actually just old darkspawn that weren't in this game yet.

[tmp]

The new darkspawn are re-designed genlocks so, yes.

(the ones running around like monkeys i mean, not the redesigned Architect who is supposed to be special)

[Sjofn]

Yeah, I figured it was Old Darkspawn but in their new Stupid Look.

[rk47]

...I can't wait to meet Mr Hawke Sn.

'I'm proud of you, my son' etcetera etcetera

[Sjofn]

The DLC is out today, I'll let you kids know if it's any good. I hope it's good.

[Sjofn]

I am not quite finished with it (I'm at the final boss fight but I am starving so I am TAKING A BREAK), but I have enjoyed it. It's a decent length, there are zero reused maps, and everyone in my party (I took Varric, Carver and Anders) has shit to say. I dunno if it's worth $10 to everyone, but I don't regret buying it. The new darkspawn are still fucking goofy, though.

BRING A LOT OF POTIONS
A LOT OF POTIONS
POTIONS GOOD

[tmp]

There's apparently a walkthrough on youtube for the whole thing already  

part 1 part 2 part 3

(first part starts at 2 minutes in)

[Sjofn]

Maybe when I completely finish I will watch that just to see how to solve a particular puzzle I did not care enough to figure out.

[tmp]

Turns out there's even a secret boss in the DLC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08s_RPOgYG4

[Sjofn]

Aha, that's what that silly thing was for!

By the way, if your sibling is alive, your sibling can come with you no matter what act you do the DLC in. I haven't done the DLC without a sibling (yet), but each one has a decent amount to say about what all is going on and you get some nice moments with them (and they are, of course, different, because they are different people). There's also little touches that acknowledge when in the game you do it, like a banter between Anders and Carver in Act 1 where Anders asks if Carver has ever thought about being a Grey Warden since he hates darkspawn so much, or Bethany talking about getting permission to come with you. Hell, there's even a line or two that acknowledges if you have a love interest (or don't).

Basically this DLC is exactly the sort of DLC I want for DA2, so ... yay. 

[Ingmar]

DLC was good, I enjoyed it.

In other news, DA2 is missing from the Steam store suddenly.

[tmp]

Supposedly it has something to do with DA2 being able to buy/download DLCs and such directly from the game, which breaks the updated Steam rules.

[eldaec]

 Makes it easier for me to not buy the game I guess.

I believe the actual rule is that steam require dlc to be sold on steam in addition to any other channel.

I'm also betting this will get me out of having to play me3.


Despite losing my custom, this is a start move if EA are serious about origin. Lost sales will be dwarfed by origin signups.

[rk47]

Supposedly it has something to do with DA2 being able to buy/download DLCs and such directly from the game, which breaks the updated Steam rules.

No...not exactly. Steam wouldn't care if you bought DLC from elsewhere...I think it has something about Origins - EA latest online distribution.

[Ingmar]

Supposedly it has something to do with DA2 being able to buy/download DLCs and such directly from the game, which breaks the updated Steam rules.

No...not exactly. Steam wouldn't care if you bought DLC from elsewhere...I think it has something about Origins - EA latest online distribution.

I think they actually changed their rules on this recently (see Crysis 2). Games from before the rule change (ME2 for example) seem to be grandfathered out.

[Tebonas]

So, Valve IS retarded? They are handing Origin customers on a platter for the breadcrumbs DLC brings them?

[Reg]

Makes it easier for me to not buy the game I guess.

I believe the actual rule is that steam require dlc to be sold on steam in addition to any other channel.

I'm also betting this will get me out of having to play me3.


Despite losing my custom, this is a start move if EA are serious about origin. Lost sales will be dwarfed by origin signups.

It will probably "get you out" of having to play all sorts of really good games. You're ever so lucky to have whatever bizarre affliction it is that keeps you from playing non-Steam games.

[tmp]

So, Valve IS retarded? They are handing Origin customers on a platter for the breadcrumbs DLC brings them?

They are tightening their grip

[rk47]

Probably setting a standard rule and stuff. EA just wants to bend the rules and all butt-hurt about Valve not making exceptions to their DLC distribution.

[tmp]

Well, that standard rule thing seems quite similar to how the brick and mortar stores were getting up in arms about boxed Steam-enabled games, and how they're refusing to sell these... so i'm not sure if it's really EA acting all butt-hurt, here.

[jakonovski]

So, Valve IS retarded? They are handing Origin customers on a platter for the breadcrumbs DLC brings them?

SWTOR and BF3 aren't coming to Steam anyway, so what's the point of appeasing EA?

[eldaec]

EA are fairly obviously moving everything off of steam. It is the only way they can get serious about origin.

[Velorath]

Probably setting a standard rule and stuff. EA just wants to bend the rules and all butt-hurt about Valve not making exceptions to their DLC distribution.

Wow, you really want to make EA out to be the bad guy here despite a complete lack of evidence don't you.

[Ingmar]

Part of the general gamer narrative is that Valve is a good-guy company and EA is a bad-guy company, and not without reason.

This particular case, though? It does look to me like Valve trying to get their hands on a bit more revenue and EA calling their bluff. This is kind of annoying, and doesn't leave me real happy with either company. I think I'm more annoyed at Valve, though, as losing EA titles entirely will surely lose them more money than not getting a % of the DLC sales would have gained them. So they're inconveniencing me *and* being dumb.

[jakonovski]

DD providers fighting it out is probably why we'll continue seeing disc based PC games for a loooong time.

[eldaec]

Probably setting a standard rule and stuff. EA just wants to bend the rules and all butt-hurt about Valve not making exceptions to their DLC distribution.

No, it's that EA think they are better off going it alone. I don't think they are wrong. If anyone wants to establish an alternative platform to steam they will need to do it through exclusives even if they take a short term hit on sales. HL2 did the same with steam. The DLC thing is a bullshit excuse, and as I understand it steam isn't banning sales through other channels, it's asking publishers to put DLC on steam as well.

This doesn't make EA evil - it does make everything an almighty pain in the backside, and I have better things to do with my cash until services like Origin prove themselves out and the publishers sort this betamax/VHS bullshit out amongst themselves, because fuck having 5 different download services running.