Mass Effect 3 - Omega DLC

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

Hello everyone!

As some of you playing/following Bioware's Mass Effect series might know (or already know), soon another DLC will be released, called 'Omega'. This DLC will feature the possibility to team up with Omega ruler Aria T'loak to retake the station from Cerberus control, a female turian companion called Nyreen and new enemies, as stated in this article:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-12-date-for-mass-effect-3s-omega-dlc-the-biggest-and-most-expensive-yet

This sounds all nice and dandy, but I immediately noticed that this DLC costs more despite being only about 4 hours long, as stated in this article:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-07-back-to-omega-aria-and-nyreen-mass-effects-first-female-turian-star-in-4-hour-dlc

Before going into the price issue, let's take a look at the companions first, who also seem to not be without troubles... First of all, it seems that Shepard cannot bring any team members with him from the main game when teaming up with Aria and Nyreen, as stated in the article above. Neither is Shepard able to romance either of them or able to take either with him at the end of the DLC. So both companions are nicely quarantined inside their own stand-alone boxed DLC-universe, which sounds kind of cheap and like the convenient way out to me.

Now: what's up with the price tag, Bioware? Knowing what is told in the article and what I've written down earlier, how is this supposed to justify a rise of 5 dollars in the price tag? As it is right now, nothing major seems to give a good reason for a price increase, so it made me wonder. The length of the DLC is the same as most other DLCs released thus far, the story has no major connection to the main game (unlike Leviathan, which showed some more background info on the Reapers) and the companions are only temporarily available as squadmates to Shepard. So I can only cynically conclude that it is yet again an experiment from EA testing the waters and see how far they can go with DLC prices. Sorry if I sound narrow-minded here, but after Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3's ending and the failure of SWTOR, I have at least a little bit of a reason to be pessimistic, no?

Alas, dear people, discuss and let me know what you think!

[Deleted User]

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Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@Shandyr: Lol yeah, that would be the cherry on the cake. Yet, I cannot understand how people keep on blindly buying these DLC without critically evaluating what they're buying first. I mean...You can toss up the argument 'It's my money, I'll do what I like with it', but that rather proves that you don't really think before buying something, right?

Every time I see a new stunt like this pulled by EA, I get so sad...Sad as to what it's come to: ripping your game into pieces and selling each piece for more and more profit...It's clever from a business point of view, but unethical from a gaming point of view. I still think a game should be crafted with passion, devotion and patience, but I think my mindset has just gotten old-fashioned, heh.

[Deleted User]

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Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@Shandyr: True, true...I'm not judging people, I'm judging this mentality of 'must buy-must have'. Sometimes some things just aren't worth the price, but due to emotional investment, they still sell. This is especially the case in the gaming industry and it gets actively taken advantage of by more and more gaming companies. The second article in my OP also implies that Omega was originally intended to be in the main game.

Gilgalahad

I rarely if ever buy dlc's of any games as i never think they're worth the price tag. Don't forget, the pricing issue may be EA's decision and not bioware's.

State_Lemming

Mass Effect DLC ranges from the incredibly good to the incredibly awful. So it is never really smart to buy any until a critical consensus has nee reached.

elminster

I just played through ME3 recently and given what I saw from the side quests in it I won't be buying this, even if it was half of the current price.

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

First of all, thanks to all of you for replying in my topic!
@Gilgalahad: Yeah, you might be right, as EA's currently in charge. I don't know for sure myself, though.
@State_Lemming: I know I'm maybe judging a bit too fast here. Of course proper judgement should be given after the DLC has been bought and played. I am merely wondering whether the offered content is worth the price, and especially 5 extra dollars. I'm just guessing at this point.
@Elminster: Well, I'be been playing Skyrim's DLC, Dawnguard and thus far I must admit I've really enjoyed myself. The DLC's interesting because in my case, I hadn't come across THAT many vampires in Skyrim and I had always been wondering why they were in the game. I mean, ordinary enemies like Giants and Trolls belong to the nature and the wilds, but vampires always had this extra bit of mystery hanging around them. I'm glad they got focussed upon a bit more in this DLC. I also like the interactions with Serana. She feels like a person who's 'alive', if you get what I mean. Err, anyway, I just wanted to say Dawnguard, despite being 20 dollars, was well worth the purchase.

pentanorl

Shandyr said:

Let me guess the result of the DLC: More war assets for the game's finale?

Some jokes will never get old. :P

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@pentanori: Given your small number of posts: Welcome to the forums! And yeah, I agree. XD

pentanorl

tnx @Kitteh_On_A_Cloud ,
I love ME saga, but I refuse to buy any kind of DLC until EA fix that shame of Pass Online issue on PC... six months are passed and I can't still access multiplayer because of it.

elminster

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud said:

@Elminster: Well, I'be been playing Skyrim's DLC, Dawnguard and thus far I must admit I've really enjoyed myself. The DLC's interesting because in my case, I hadn't come across THAT many vampires in Skyrim and I had always been wondering why they were in the game. I mean, ordinary enemies like Giants and Trolls belong to the nature and the wilds, but vampires always had this extra bit of mystery hanging around them. I'm glad they got focussed upon a bit more in this DLC. I also like the interactions with Serana. She feels like a person who's 'alive', if you get what I mean. Err, anyway, I just wanted to say Dawnguard, despite being 20 dollars, was well worth the purchase.

You'd have a point, if we weren't talking about two different game developers

NWN_babaYaga

good that i can freely say in this forum that i think the dlc´s from bioware sucks nowadays:D They live in a bubble somewhere, look at spreadsheets what sells well and build around the DLC then. I never had any respect for Omega dlc´s .... what would people think if they name a dlc "open wallet":D

elminster

NWN_babaYaga said:

good that i can freely say in this forum that i think the dlc´s from bioware sucks nowadays:D They live in a bubble somewhere, look at spreadsheets what sells well and build around the DLC then. I never had any respect for Omega dlc´s .... what would people think if they name a dlc "open wallet":D

I would gain respect for EA because of their boldness and honesty.

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

Well, my respect for EA is already at its lowest, so it can only go up. XD

trinit

ohoho, new dlc for mass effect 3?

i'm gonna do what i did with leviathan dlc- ignore it completely and later watch the content on youtube. curiosity sated, money kept and frustration spared.

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@trinit: A wise choice, I'd say!

Honestly though, DLCs from Bioware are waaaaaay too expensive for the content they offer...

Arveragus

@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud
It would appear that the release date for Omega DLC is November 27th 2012. Unfortunately for EA's coffers from recollection I have alternative plans for the following day. Those plans may take up a fair amount of my spare time for a little while afterwards

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@Arveragus: I apologize if one of the dates mentioned in the articles is incorrect. I have not written them myself, though, so I have no idea whether the release date has changed by now. Also, poor EA will miss your mon--- I mean, you. This is bad and you should feel bad!

Shin

Agreeing with several above posts, I used to be a big ME-fan - multiple playthroughs of ME1 and ME2, read all the novels, etc, but the ME3 ending essentially wrecked it all. Not paying another cent for anything from that franchise again.

Lisandru

You know, the funny thing is, that after the mod-com from ME finally changed the game endings I don't mind spending more money on DLC's for ME3. For me it's worth it to get even more into the story.

Haha....EA making more money because fans fix their games.

Also for old times sake because I think that ME3 will be the last acceptable/good game from Bioware.

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@Shin: You're undoubtedly not the only one with such feelings. A lot of people felt down after those endings. I just disliked the attitude of Bioware in receiving these complaints. They basically denied everything, seemingly pointing the finger at their own audience for not liking their absolutely fabulous game. Many articles also called these disagreeing fans 'snobbish' and 'elitists' (cursed term), while most just wanted a logical ending to the series, such as, for example, Shepard and his friends putting up a grand fight against the Reapers, eventually defeating them. Most people didn't even ASK for a so-called 'happy bunny-ending'. I think most people realise there have to be sacrifices and victims in a war, but the way Bioware handled the endings to their game was just flawed.

Shin

@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud Indeed so. I was among those mailing BioWare about it, posting on the forums, being in the Retake movement and so on, but after awhile I realized the damage in my case was already done. Unlike how ME2 made ME1 more exciting to play (sort of like how the prospect of playing through BG2 and the full trilogy makes it more exciting to start a BG1 playthrough), ME3 just sucked that thrill away, making a full trilogy playthrough seem pointless when you knew how inadequate the final would be and how moot decisions would be rendered that up to that point had seemed important.

elminster

Shin said:

@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud Indeed so. I was among those mailing BioWare about it, posting on the forums, being in the Retake movement and so on, but after awhile I realized the damage in my case was already done. Unlike how ME2 made ME1 more exciting to play (sort of like how the prospect of playing through BG2 and the full trilogy makes it more exciting to start a BG1 playthrough), ME3 just sucked that thrill away, making a full trilogy playthrough seem pointless when you knew how inadequate the final would be and how moot decisions would be rendered that up to that point had seemed important.

Personally I prefer ME1 over ME2. With regards to ME3 I did not play the game until about a month ago, so my expectations on the ending were such that I did not expect a decent ending. But the thing that did it for me was the side missions. The scan planet to get artifact and return to x person on the citadel missions were obviously terrible, but even among the "playable" (and by playable I mean you go down to the planet yourself) missions you were rarely presented with any kind of moral decision regarding the situation on the ground. Given what experienced players know about how the endings work, there is little reason for people who have played them to want to replay them.

State_Lemming

@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud Actually I meant to agree with you. :P
Skepticism is the name of the game with Bioware, which is really okay because they pull through more often than I expect.

Boozilla

I am... well I have mixed feelings over the Omega DLC.
On one hand, Yay Aria and a female turian (although do not get me started on the model they used for Nyreen.)
On the other, it really doesn't add much to the game as a whole does it? Just more useless war assets. Bleagh
I'd give anything to put those war assets to use and try to take on the reapers conventionally.


I do not have high hopes for this DLC, however, I will still get it. I love the franchise enough...


(I should point out that I am a raging ME fan. I think it annoys everyone at the office. Gotta keep it cool.)

MedullaOblongata

I think EA is at the core of the issue, turning many good franchises into cheap cash cows.

I'm also a raging Mass Effect fan. I don't buy any DLC unless there's a story and mission involved... I don't give a fig about extra guns, haha. I haven't bought Leviathan yet, but I would like to get both the Omega and Leviathan dlc's when my budget balances out.

Glokta

To be honest ME3 felt like a railroad where the tracks suddenly ended and it all ended in a train wreck.. just havent been even tempted to play through it again:/

mlnevese

@Glokta You went further than me then. I never finished it.

Glokta

@mlnevese save your brain and eyes the pain