How much would you pay for a new NPC DLC in BG2:EE ?

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Southpaw

Well... it's hard to say, whether I like him/her or not before you have actually played with him/her.

Like Neera. I liked her back story on paper, but found her personality annoying in-game. Still played with her few times.

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O_Bruce

I wouldn't have paid more than 20% of the game's price (which mean I wouldn't pay more than 5$) for a DLC featuring one character. No freaking way.

Southpaw

Shandyr said:

That is a point. I assume though that there are other ways than buying the DLC directly to get an idea if you like it.

For example feedback on this forum, other forum members writing about it, reviews, playing the game on a friend's computer who bought the DLC....

I understand. But still it is a second-hand experience. Anyway, I've chosen the "regardless if I liked it or not" option.

karl_maulder

$5 not a penny more. That's the same price they charge for the BG:EE npcs. If they added lots of content bundled with the NPC i would pay $10. But that would have to be something grand, like TotSC.

Kamigoroshi

In my case it would depend on a lot of different factors.

I'm willing to pay up to 6.00€ for an non-human/elven/half-elven NPC with either an interesting or fascinating background. The alignment is another deciding point: since I'm not interested in Good or Lawful people, it's less likely I'd purchase them. It's another thing entirely if they had alignment shifting quests to them where you could either turn them Chaotic, Neutral, or Evil.

If, by chance, a new NPC comes along with a new class kit on the other hand I will buy him/her/it outright. :P

karl_maulder

@Kamigoroshi i agree with your post. Introducing a NPC using either a new kit or class, or one of the old once(Barbarian, Kensai or archer) would definitely be more appealing to me. Being able to change said NPCs alignment would also add value, but not be a dealbreaker.

Aranthys

Mostly depends how complete the NPC is.
If it's for BG:EE-like NPCs, probably not more than 3€. The new areas were a bit lackluster, and I found that there were very, very few new banters.
If it's BG2-like NPCs, could be up to, say, 6€ if it's well made and blends in the game.

DarkDogg

10$+ if the NPC is one of the new classes: shadowdancer, dragon disciple etc.
And with a personal quest or items something like that.

Erg

I would not pay for such DLC, because

1) I'm fine with the current number of NPCs
2) Should I change my mind, there are eventually several free NPC mods, especially for BG2, which quality I find satisfactory (voice over is imo overrated)

So far I liked the new EE content, even Rasaad , but nonetheless I would pay up to 5 euro for a vanilla mode, i.e. the possibility to play also without any of the new content, but with all the improvements of the EE version in terms of code optimisation, support for new hardware and new screen resolutions, etc.

Gave

Not because I see no value in it, but I think it is overestimated how much it really costs to introduce a new NPC.

Also the aquisition is problematic, for me it is quite a game breaker if I get virtual stuff in an immersion focused RPG "piece by piece off the shelf."

If they however introduce an "advanced/collectors" edition with news stuff including NPCs, that would be okay.

If they really cannot afford to make it (or cannot make it themselves like in the ol'times) they still can put the idea up to crowdfunding services to seek sponsors.

VikingR

That depends.

I'd be willing to shell out another 10$+ for a NPC-Pack (lets say 2-3 new companions), each of which is professionally written and voiced and which are also nicely woven into the original content, including banters with other companions, comments on the story-progression, npc-specific quests, a possibility for the new NPC to betray the PC at some point, etc..

Or maybe 3-5$ for a single NPC, depending on how much new content he adds to the game.

kamuizin

In fact this will matter with the context. Buying BG:EE and BG2:EE i expect some of the new content to be imput in the game price. BG:EE comes with some promises that were not fullfiled yet, as adventure Y (the one integrated with the main history).

As was told in the begin, a long time before the release of BG:EE, the devs intended to release free content (packaged in the game price) and DLC content to be purchases apart. I still expect more packaged content for BG:EE and a lot for BG2:EE, but fullfiled these requisites, i wouldn't mind pay for accessory content.

For an NPC alone in the style of Dorn, Neera or Rasaad, if all they bring is just what i saw in BG:EE i wouldn't even pay $3 for them (each), maybe for a package of NPCs like them. If they're going to get improvements and specific quests in BG2:EE as was stated when they where launched in BG:EE, then i would pay for them, yes.

But the question is: A single NPC is worth being paid for, when we have modders that bring these content free? No, it's not the ultra special cool class of an NPC that will make me buy it (menzobenzaran renegade from Neverwinter online... pff), it's the game hours adition that will set the price for me. So an NPC that brings +2 hours of personal quest and banters surely is worth my money, but another that just get some new kit that a moder could do and nothing else... that's one i wouldn't buy. In the end, we're buying gameplay hours in fact.

Quality will be a matter of trust in the product, if i get some and get unsatisfied with what i got, then i wouldn't buy NPCs anymore.

I defended the $25 price cos i believe the devs are going to provide us with more contend, even NPCs embedded in the game price, as was done with Baeloth, i hope this to not be an prelude of anything else official to the game being paid for.

In the end as i said before, it's the gamehour adition that will make the worth of the product in $.



Then there's a matter of investment and the maintenance of the company. Well, Beamdog remade the infinite engine. If Beamdog has the copyright of this remake, then it's time to invest into a new game based on it? make a new D&D story in the structure already done. That would need negotiation with WotC (Hasbro) and maybe with Bioware, but all the work of remake the infinite engine just for the enhanced editions of the old games appears to me as a waste of resources.

But then, this is only viable IF Beamdog owns the copyrights, and not remake the engine as an employee of ATARI.



To conclude, my vote goes to other, and other is what i explained above.

elminster

I said $6.

Xar105

if storyline new NPC would be good i`am gonna pay for it (i really like Dorn story but i want see him in normal game no in dlc).

Anduin

I think it depends on the content.

A really quick breakdown...

An NPC on its own... £1

A fully voiced NPC with own back story... £3

20 hours plus of extra gameplay. New areas. New quests. New NPCs voiced. £15 (If I remember I bought TofSC for about this much...)

Pyramid Expansion pack. Mummies galore! A chance to mummifie CHARNAME! 3 fully voiced mummified NPCs with own Pyramid Stronghold to build and use as a base of operations. Own mummie quest. A mummie cleric kit. 100+ of extra gameplay!... PRICELESS!

KidCarnival

It would depend on many things. Assuming the new NPC would have a story, banters and areas attached like the BG2 NPCs, I would buy if a kit or class was appealing, which translates to 'useful for my playthroughs long term' - I wouldn't buy an NPC for the novelty factor if I know I'll likely never use them again (not a fan of the class in general, or only a minimal difference to an NPC I usually use - i.e. specialist mage and knowing I'd run with Edwin anyway). I would buy halflings, half-orcs, gnomes or dwarves though, if they were not good-aligned (mostly because the classes I'm no fan of are human only anyway - shorties and half-orcs would be much more likely to have a class I do like).

Ideally, new NPCs would be added with a patch and just stand around with a brief introduction dialogue, near the dungeon exit (in BG2), so I can approach them to hear the voiceset, get an idea of their personality and backstory and see what class/race they are. Once the DLC is bought, they'd become recruitable. If not bought, they'd be just another NPC with a few voiced lines who stands around and tells a story.

Illustair

But for a Baeloth NPC, I'd double my bid. However, if they'd add in tons more in connection to Baeloth like the Arena of some sorts. $10 I guess? That's 40% of the game price, I think that much is reasonable. It's been mentioned several times already though that Baeloth is unavailable for BG2 OC though, so my offer has no bearing.

shawne

As I said in the other thread, this question can only be answered after evaluating Rasaad, Neera, Dorn and Hexxat in BG2:EE - if they turn out to be well-written, compelling characters, then the devs could certainly be in a position to put additional characters up for sale. Though, of course, they'll have to contend with popular, long-running mod NPCs like Kelsey, Auren and Valen, all of which are free.

Shin

Slight derail, but out of all the things possible(?) to add to the game, more NPC:s is among the features I feel BG2 needs the least. I'm already having trouble putting together parties without feeling bad for the people excluded from the 5 precious available slots. For professional-level NPC-independent side quests and content I'd be willing to go a lot higher (assuming I wouldn't already invest in everything BG2EE-related to begin with, which I probably would).

element

mmmm

tough call i would definately pay out but i think it would depend on what the dlc contained and ofcourse liking the character would be a factor. id probably pay 10$ which is just over £6 for me.

In my opinion these things would need to be done to make this work

1. the character would need to be fully fleshed out with banters/character arc/ romances/ quests etc (were needed)

2. An interesting character build although id be happy with any good new characters i would be alittle dissapointed if they ended up announcing another Thief/Mage character seeing as we have so many already.

also i think the poll would have been a little better if it had less options

Madhax

Not sure how I'd know whether or not I like the DLC until after I've played it. Obviously if I know ahead of time that I won't like it, I'm not going to purchase it at any cost.

I said $10, but I'm not sure if this is a fair question. Not all added NPCs are made equal. I'd need some numbers to work with. How much new content does the NPC add?

The_New_Romance

I'd rather they created new adventures. There's enough NPCs for a lifetime already, and I didn't really like the new NPCs *that* much. Also, I feel this follows the current sad trend of parcelling up game components too much. I don't like that trend, and I don't think it'd be wise to infest a beloved classic such as Baldur's Gate with it.

Selling everything separately might be okay on mobile platforms because of the much different pricing horizon that exists there, but not on my PC, please.

CoryNewb

I have enough npcs I never play with.... but I would pay a few bucks if there was a must have with a good side quest.

Quartz

Southpaw said:

Well... it's hard to say, whether I like him/her or not before you have actually played with him/her.

Like Neera. I liked her back story on paper, but found her personality annoying in-game. Still played with her few times.

Haha. You're like the opposite of me. When I saw her page on the website, I was like "ugh, she's gonna be my least favorite by far." Then she ended up being my favorite. :P

ogreb

I wouldn't.
I'm sick enough of day 1 DLCs as is.

I would rather see IWD then some crappy DLC .

BG2 is good enough to stand as it is.

Beamdog needs to stay on HDing old IE games...not make their own versions of it.

the_spyder

The sad bit is that, although I believe that the DEVS would want to add quality content (NPCs and the like), and I acknowledge that this type of effort costs money, invariably the 'Head office' (whoever that is) in my experiences often falls victim to the siren call of micro-transactions and wants to turn on the floodgate.

Paying a reasonable price for reasonable new content is fine. Attempting to bilk consumers into pouring excessive funds into some Executive's pocket is another thing and not cool.

Borsook

I wouldn't pay for such DLC, the number of NPCs is sufficient for me, plus there are mods with more of them, don't feel the need to buy even more. I'd buy a quest DLC though, if that had an NPC, well, ok.

Ammar_87

ogreb said:

I wouldn't.
I'm sick enough of day 1 DLCs as is.

I would rather see IWD then some crappy DLC .

BG2 is good enough to stand as it is.

Beamdog needs to stay on HDing old IE games...not make their own versions of it.

Bingo.

Ammar_87

As for the topic at hand: No, I don't think I would pay anything for only a new NPC. BG2 is pretty much as complete as a RPG can be. The welcome, for the sake of continuity from the previous game, but ultimately unnecessary addition of the BG:EE NPCs in BG2:EE should be enough.