EA Announces First Dragon Age 2 DLC

[Andy Chalk]

EA Announces First Dragon Age 2 DLC

[video=2623]​

Electronic Arts has unveiled Dragon Age 2 [http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/addon/] that will be available free to anyone who preorders the game before January 11.

In The Exiled Prince, players will meet Sebastian Vael, a "noble archer" who joined the priesthood as a boy but returns to the business of killing everything he sees after his family is brutally murdered by forces unknown. Players can assist Vael in his quest for revenge and also turn his talents with the bow to their own purposes by enlisting him in their party.

"Our goal for the Dragon Age 2 DLC is to extend Hawke's journey and the Dragon Age universe by introducing additional characters with meaningful storylines and intense, dynamic missions," said Executive Producer Mark Darrah.

So here's the deal. Anyone who preorders Dragon Age 2 before January 11 will automatically be upgraded to the "Signature Edition" of the game, which will include The Exiled Prince as a free download. If you don't preorder in time, you can still get the DLC but it'll cost you 560 Microsoft Points.

Sound familiar? The Exiled Prince is very much like Dragon Age: Origins [http://dragonage.bioware.com/dao/addon/#stoneprisoner]. There is one big difference, however; The Stone Prisoner was included with all new copies of Dragon Age: Origins as a way to recover revenues lost to the preowned market and only those who bought used copies had to spring extra for it. The Exiled Prince, on the other hand, is all about marketing. No preorder, no Prince.

I'm on record as a fan of "Project Ten Dollar" extras that promote new game sales over used and I generally like preorder bonuses too, but there's a fine line between rewarding your supporters and punishing everyone else and I think this may cross it. A fully-developed party member with his own unique quest line is a little beyond the throwaway goodies usually offered as preorder incentives, and what's the deal with putting a time limit on the preorder window? I wouldn't be at all surprised to see EA eventually back down and give the DLC to everyone who preorders, but why put that restriction on it at all? I think EA may be seriously overplaying its hand here.

One more thing, and this news is good: The Escapist is giving away two copies of the Dragon Age 2 Signature Edition but like The Exiled Prince itself, the window of opportunity is closing fast. You've got just 24 hours to put your name in the hat for a chance to win a free copy of the game that includes The Exiled Prince DLC along with a digital soundtrack and a variety of exclusive weapons. Check out The Escapist's Dragon Age 2 Signature Edition Giveaway [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106741-Dragon-Age-II-Signature-Edition-Giveaway-24-Hours-to-Enter] for details!

Dragon Age 2 comes out on March 8 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.


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[Fr]anc[is]

He is not Shale or a HK-47 equivalent. I am not interested.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I think it does seem a bit much that it only goes to those who have the Signature edition...

I pre-ordered it a few weeks ago though so I will get all this, but I think it should be for every new copy of the game.

 

[tomtom94]

EA, please don't screw up all the bridge-building you've built with gamers over the last couple of years by doing stupid things with DLC.

We can only focus on one target at a time!

More to the point, nice to see a pre-order bonus that doesn't suck for once - but a BIT too far in the other direction, as the OP states.

 

[RobCoxxy]

If you're announcing DLC before the game's out, EA, you're just fucking us out of release content.

 

[mexicola]

I get the feeling there's a good PA comic in this, I just can't think of anything at the moment. Anyway, this is EA so I'm not too surprised. Now we just wait for Activision to one up them.

 

[Fumbleumble]

Wow.. it really is getting to the point that companies are releasing news on what they plan to leave out of the game you so can pay extra for it.

Meh, ah well, it's only Bioware, they don't make games I like anymore.

 

[L4hlborg]

If you're announcing DLC before the game's out, EA, you're just fucking us out of release content.

Not long and DLC will be announced before their games. That will be interesting.

Looks interesting enough. I mean for free. Don't understand the obsession with preordering, but if it gets me free extra stuff, why not?

 

[Bretty]

Sounds like a reason to Pre Order to me. Guess their plan worked... *goes to pre order*

 

[Daystar Clarion]

If you're announcing DLC before the game's out, EA, you're just fucking us out of release content.

Agreed. The game's release is still a couple of months away. EA are telling me they can't stick this 'DLC' on the disk?

Wankers...

 

[latenightapplepie]

This is too far. I dislike missing out on pre-order bonuses, but I will not be sucked into pre-ordering a game I'm not really confident about.

This makes me angry. Bad EA, bad!

 

[Raithnor]

From what I understand there's no direct continuation from Dragon Age like there was in Mass Effect 2 (and presumably 3) correct? I might take a risk on the pre-order then. Mostly because I sort of know how Dragon Age is supposed to go, but I wasn't impressed enough by the game to actually go out and buy it. I'm hoping DA2 can improve upon the orginal.

 

[Meggiepants]

How odd. Maybe they did this because people were complaining the "Signature Edition" wasn't... signature-y enough?

I had seen over on the Bioware forums that fans were bitching that is wasn't a very special edition. This just seems like a bizarre direction to take though, if that's the case. I think what people were complaining about was that there was no special edition, just a trumped up pre-order bonus. They were looking for dragon statuettes or something, not free DLC.

I can't think that this will go well publicity-wise for EA, or really for Bioware for that matter, since they seem to be going along with this whole thing.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

According to the Dragon Age II wiki, your character and/or decisions can have at least a small effect on the second game.

In one of Bioware's dev diaries, they talked about how you'll see things in Dragon Age II and remember them from the first game.

 

[Sartan0]

Well you can always wait a bit under a year and likely get the game and all the DLC for the same price as launch. I will likely do that and play the Witcher 2 (And yet more FO:NV) in the mean time.

 

[Gudrests]

any news when and if we can preorder this on steam yet....i kinda dont wanna leave my house

 

[manythings]

anc[is]He is not Shale or a HK-47 equivalent. I am not interested.

Well would it be better if they released another mysanthropic non-living (I guess shale kind of iffy on that count) character? I think that would be far worse to just keep giving us that. Look at Zaeed, he was a jerk and all but he was a pretty interesting jerk.

Wow. Fuck you, EA.

This is not simple DLC. The game isn't even out yet but they are including an entire party member + storyline/associated quests in here.

Not a fan of this, actually hampers my interest into buying this game now.

They've done that since Jade Empire. This isn't new territory for BioWare.

any news when and if we can preorder this on steam yet....i kinda dont wanna leave my house

The signature edition pre-order period ends january 11th so the earliest you're going to hear about anyone else's preorders will be the 12th.

From what I understand there's no direct continuation from Dragon Age like there was in Mass Effect 2 (and presumably 3) correct? I might take a risk on the pre-order then. Mostly because I sort of know how Dragon Age is supposed to go, but I wasn't impressed enough by the game to actually go out and buy it. I'm hoping DA2 can improve upon the orginal.

The DA:O character is a part of the lore for DA2 but I don't think they'll ever actually be present. I imagine there will be "standard" history for people who aren't carrying forward a save, these guys are dead, that place was destroyed etc.

 

[airwolfe591]

Why is anybody surprised? They announced they were going to do this when they announced the Signature Edition. Either way, I'm still getting the game.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Not cool. I got a reservation card for Dragon Age 2 from Target. Somehow I doubt that counts as pre ordering though. Guess this character will suffer the same fate as Leliana's Song. That being, I won't be picking him up right away, even though I want to.
(What is this captcha thing I have to type in? Was there really a bot problem on this website?)