Examples of DLC done Good/BAD

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DLC has become pretty common in video games now and we'd be kidding ourselves expecting it to go away.

In my opinion DLC should be like expansion packs used to be and expand upon a game whenever there's no need to reinvent it with a new release in the series.
Instead we have story content or characters ripped from the game, only to quickly rehash them into something you can sell.

But there are some examples where DLC is actually quite nice, and you don't regret your purchase 5 min. later.

So let's try and get some perspective, I'd like to hear your examples of DLC that were pretty darn good and those that we're just awful.

I'll start off with Good:
Borderlands Series
Skyrim (specifically the Dragonborn DLC, Hearthfire is in my opinion almost an example for bad DLC)

And the Bad:
Mass Effect 3 (Day one DLC, with a character that probably was made to be in the game originally)
Assassin's Creed Series (absolute money-grabs, in Assassins Creed 2 the characters pretty much say the chapters have been cut from the game. In the End they weren't important for the story or anything, but that kind of makes it worse... I payed money to see the conflict go full circle. Put me off DLC for a long time)

Opinions and discussions are expressively welcome.

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

DLC done well is what USED to be called (and still is by Blizzard) Expansion packs, if you can distribute that quickly and easily by download and it works out cheaper then that's doing it well. Doing it badly is microtransactions and locking bits of a game you have already paid for behind a paywall

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

All DLC is bad. I have yet to see DLC where the the amount of content you get for the price you pay isn't 1/10th that of the base game or less. It's like walking into a bakery and buying a dozen muffins for $6 and the baker tells you he is selling DLC Muffins at $2 each. What a scam. Why wouldn't you just buy another dozen?(i.e. why wouldn't you buy another game than $50 worth of DLC that doesn't haven 10% of the content of a full game.

 

[alphamalet]

I just wish the industry would move on and make new games instead of milking an already existing IP for all it's worth. Not only does DLC oversaturate content for an existing game, but IMO it actively discourages game sales since a new copy of a game won't have all of the content until the inevitable GOTY version.

I have never bought one piece of DLC, and have no plans on starting.

I think bad examples of DLC would be any DLC released Day 1, or content that is locked on the fucking disc you bought.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

My favorite DLC, and the one many people always seem to point to as one of if not the best DLC ever, is Lair of the Shadow Broker for Mass Effect 2. Since that horse has been beaten to death, I'll just list it and move on.

For me, bad DLC is anything that's just a gimmick. New weapon skins, new weapons, horse armor (I'm pretty sure that's ranked number one on a lot of lists). An example, to me, is the Feast Day gift pack DLC in Dragon Age: Origins. Oooh, yay. New gifts. Because I totally couldn't max out my party's affection with what the game gave me. What a waste of time.

 

[Chemical123]

Mass Effect 2 is an example of both Good and Bad:
Good:
Kasumi's Stolen Memories-fun mission, fun character, no influence on the main plot
Project Overlord-Interesting mission, no influence on the main plot, word building
Zaeed-yes, it is Day 1 DLC but once again he is a cool character but his existence is not important in the grand scheme of things

Bad:
Lair of the Shadow Broker-Liara is on of the main characters and her development in this DLC is extremely important not only for people who liked back in Mass Effect 1 but in the main plot of Mass Effect 3.]

Arrival-not only it was a pretty dam boring mission but once again extremely important for the main events unfolding in the Mass Effect main storyline.

And that's how I would classify good/bad DLC for all games, if I can skip the DLC and my understanding of the main story is unaffected then DLC is perfectly acceptable. However, DLC that advances important plot points is unacceptable. It makes the game that I bought feel incomplete and I feel cheated that I paid 60 USD for an incomplete product instead of waiting for GOTY edition that contains the game the way it is supposed to be. Dragon Age Origins despite handled DLC in a very awkward manner, however, I played the game both without any DLC and with ALL of the DLC and I did not feel cheated. Yes cool characters were hidden behind a paywall(Shale) but Shale was an optional character and felt optional.

 

[Greg White]

DLC can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how it's used.

Good DLC is something that comes out after the game itself was released to expand on the original experience. Some examples of this are most of ME's DLC, Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, and Dragonborne for the Elder Scrolls, and most of what Borderlands 2 does. Multiplayer map packs are also good.

Examples of bad DLC are anything that's on disk DLC or anything that basically slaps you in the face begging you to buy it(I'm looking at you Warden's Keep from DA:O and Company of Heroes 2)

DLC as a whole, even Day 1 DLC, is not necessarily a bad thing so long as it is decent enough to warrant the price tag.

To anyone who despises DLC, keep in mind that DLC is a major improvement. Used to you had to buy extra content as an expansion pack, which tended to cost about the same as the original game did.

 

[Able Seacat]

I very rarely buy DLC but an example of some truly awful DLC would be for Prince of Persia 08 where you had to pay extra for the epilogue...

 

[Bellvedere]

I wasn't a fan of DA:O, where they advertised the DLC in game. I'd much prefer they let you know what DLC is available on the title screen like BL2... I'm also not a huge fan of DLC that adds skins or weapons. I don't know if I'd call that bad. I mean the people paying for it know what they're getting so it's not shady nor is it detracting from my experience of the game like the DA:O example does.

Good DLC to me is any story/mission DLC that's fun to play and worth the cost.

 

[The Madman]

Crusader Kings 2 does DLC very well. Every piece of major new DLC has added some interesting new mechanics to an already fantastic game while also improving on the core experience and what's more, even if you don't buy the DLC those core improvements are available to everyone in the form of regular patches Paradox releases. This means even if you don't buy the DLC you're not getting an inferior product, all the major improvements are there for everyone to enjoy while buying the DLC simply opens up even more options to the player they might not otherwise have had.

It's a great way to do DLC and it's the reason CK2 is one of very few games I've ever bought DLC for.

That aside I've also got to agree with the people above in saying Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2 was fantastic, the only downside being that considering how important it is to the games overarching plot it probably shouldn't have been DLC to begin with. That said it really is an example of Mass Effect at it's best and I really had fun with it!

 

[King Billi]

Good DLC is anything that adds additional gameplay content to a game I enjoyed.

Bad DLC is additional costumes or weapons.

I've never found any DLC to be "essential" to the game personally, even most of the DLC for Mass Effect which alot of people seem to be complaining about although admittedly I haven't seen it all just right now I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

I've haven't seen much DLC that I'd consider particually amazing either but at the same time I haven't ever felt ripped off by it.

A couple that I felt were better than average...

Artorias of the Abyss(Dark Souls) I like it whenever additonal content can be seemlessly added into the original game like it was always meant to be there(although still kinda tricky to unlock) rather than just having the DLC listed in the main menu and kept separate from the main game(Batman Arkham City is an example of this)

Pigsys Perfect 10(Enslaved: Odyssey to the West) I consider this one particuarly notable as it dosen't just give you a couple of extra levels of the orignal game, it gives you control over a different character and forces you to play in a completely different way with more focus on stealth instead of fighting.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'll go with stuff I've recently played:

Good
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep -Pretty much amazing. It's hilarious while also having a more serious story just like the main quest in Borderlands 2. The new enemies and locations are all brilliantly well done.

Maybe not Bad but disappointing
Dragonborn -the main quest, while interesting, was waaay too short. I haven't played all of the side quests yet and I know there will be lots of value there but still, it took like 3 hours for me to finish the main quest on my first try... I liked the main quest from Dawnguard a lot more. It told a very interesting story and expanded the lore a great deal too. Plus, it gave us two ways to complete the quest and lots of awesome new stuff to experiment with.

 

[Snowblindblitz]

Been looking for a place to complain about this, and hey! Here it is!

In Magic 2014 they added a sealed draft mode. I was very excited about this, read the reviews and everything sounded good. But then I realized that: you can't delete sealed decks, and, even if you delete your save data, you still get the same card pool because it is tied to account name. The only way to change it is to A. buy more sealed deck slots for $1.99(there's two to begin with) or B. Create new profiles (which has obvious limitations on Steam, but on my PS3 not so much).

A blatant cash grab. This game mode could have offered TONS of re-playability to the game, but instead they added that micro-transaction to it, the worse from of DLC IMO. Currently I just make various WOTC insulting accounts when I want to play it again.

 

[Easton Dark]

Good DLC: Elder Scrolls 4 - Shivering Isles

Bad DLC: Elder Scrolls 4 - Horse Armor

You have both extremes in the one game which really started the trend of DLC packs.

What was horse armor, 5 bucks, 10 bucks? While Shivering Isles was 20? Get the fuck out of here.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Great:

Dead Money and Lonesome Road for New Vegas. Great new stories both of them, and both feel very different from the main game in different ways.


Good:

Overlord for ME2. A fun little side-story and world-building.

Bad:

Fucking Horse Armor.

 

[The]

Good: RDR Undead Nightmare and Far Cry: Blood Dragon.

What makes them so good is that it's possible to play them as standalone games, which gives you a taste of the main game for a cheaper price.

Bad: Saints Row 3 DLC

The DLC itself is okay, it's the way it's sold, piecemeal and cash-grabby that makes it feel like it's taking something away from the main game and is unnecessary.

 

[Glaice]

Good:
Oblivion's Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles
Borderlands series

Bad:
Metro: Last Light Ranger mode
Anything that gives you a few items at best.

 

[Zipa]

The Mass Effect series had quite a bit of good DLC.

ME1 had Bringing down the sky which was good and added to the story, Pinnacle station was just boring.

ME2 had a tonne of them but the best were Lair of the Shadow Broker and Overlord while things like Zaeed which was day 1 was bad.

ME3 had Omega, Leviathan and Citadel which were good and from ashes being bad as it should not of been cut from the base game and sold as day 1 DLC.

Dragon age Origins to had a some good stuff. Warden's keep being the best by far.