Mass Effect - Bring Down the Sky Revisited @ Destructoid

Whatever happened to that additional Mass Effect DLC? This article says more is coming, if you can believe that after all this time. Anyway, Destructoid revisits Bring Down the Sky with developer commentary from Christina Norman:

There’s no pretty bow to wrap “Bring Down the Sky” up with. It’s a constricted, linear piece of content that doesn’t add anything to the core narrative of Mass Effect or build any of its characters. An interesting moral choice presents itself along the way, but it seems flimsy, almost inconsequential. I’m left with questions that only future content can answer. (a) Why does the DLC act as a sidebar and dismiss the elements of the core Mass Effect storyline? (b) Do development time and bigger teams lead to better content? (c) Will every piece of Mass Effect DLC have the same components? (d) Will my response to this have any effect on Mass Effect 2’s sub-plot?

I can answer this question: did BioWare learn anything from “Bring Down the Sky”?

BioWare learned. Small teams can’t deliver the kind of quality the studio requires in a timely manner. By the time BioWare puts out another piece of Mass Effect DLC — yes, more DLC is coming — Bethesda will have released five DLC packs for their RPG Fallout 3. The formula hasn’t been ironed out yet, but the timing doesn’t really matter in the greater scope of things. BioWare is focused on giving players good and fresh content, and they’re aware that people won’t continue to buy if it’s a lackluster effort.

“The next DLC for Mass Effect is really nothing like ‘Bring Down the Sky,’ or any other content in Mass Effect,” Norman tells me. “Many people enjoyed the content, but we wanted to try something completely different. It’s taken a while, but I hope in the end fans will really enjoy it! I think combat-focused gamers in particular will like it.”

More information.

A lot of redundancy in the article.

I played Bring Down the Sky just a few days ago. It was a decent sidequest for Mass Effect's standards, and I agree that the dialogue was good. The outdoors level also looks great, with that huge planet in the background and the small asteroids.

So the big news is that the next DLC will be combat driven?

They're actually making another DLC for Mass Effect?

Too little, too late imo….

Originally Posted by JDR13
They're actually making another DLC for Mass Effect?

Too little, too late imo….

I don't really get the point anymore. And after the iPhone "game" they put out … no interest. My ME2 took a -5 from that shameless, craptastic advergame … I kept expecting the king to pop up at any moment …

Originally Posted by Grandor Dragon
So the big news is that the next DLC will be combat driven?

Originally Posted by Grandor Dragon
So the big news is that the next DLC will be combat driven?

Thank god, I really enjoyed ME but it's combat was too intermittent ( by far the best aspect of the game ). Shoot a few guys, stop and talk, shoot a few guys, stop and figure out a puzzle, repeat…

When's the new patch/DLC going to come out? I've been considering another replay but I'd rather wait for any new updates.

Yes, Bethesda released five DLCs for Fallout 3 (did they?) Unfortunately, all of them were broken, it seemed. Bioware, does not have a habit of making broken games or DLCs. Their games are playable, bar the few minor glitches, which is usually fixed.

Unfortunately, this seems not the case with ME1. We're still apparently? waiting for the patch…for ME1…

Originally Posted by LuckyCarbon
When's the new patch/DLC going to come out? I've been considering another replay but I'd rather wait for any new updates.

I almost forgot about the patch. It seems a bit ridiculous that they're still working on a patch for ME 1 when ME2 is just around the corner.

I hope it's released at least a few weeks prior to ME2, I plan on playing both games back to back.

I would assume by now they are using any ME1 DLC as marketing/awareness for ME2. It's waaaay too late for most players.

Originally Posted by aries100
Unfortunately, this seems not the case with ME1. We're still apparently? waiting for the patch…for ME1…

Patch?What's there to patch?

Yep, played it twice, and while the game has some annoying flaws (no patch can save the entire inventory system - does anyone know if ME2 will improve this?), I can't remember encountering a single bug.

Tinking about it a bit more, AI could be improved, especially line of sight. The AI tends to shoot at barriers quite often.

Originally Posted by Grandor Dragon
Yep, played it twice, and while the game has some annoying flaws (no patch can save the entire inventory system - does anyone know if ME2 will improve this?)

BioWare says they've completely rewritten it. I haven't seen a third-party description of how it works now, though. (BW also said that changes to the mechanics, such as this one, is the main reason they dumped character continuity.)

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
(BW also said that changes to the mechanics, such as this one, is the main reason they dumped character continuity.)

I don't understand why gameplay mechanics would affect character continuity…

The real reason is that they couldn't be bothered to balance continuity

Originally Posted by JDR13
I don't understand why gameplay mechanics would affect character continuity…

Without knowing the details, what if the character development system is different? Different skills to ME1, for example.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Without knowing the details, what if the character development system is different? Different skills to ME1, for example.

I thought he was referring to character continuity as far as the storyline was concerned. I don't see what that has to do with skills. I think I might have simply misunderstood.

Nono, they *do* have character continuity for story, but *not* for skills. Their stated reason for the latter is that they've changed the skills and mechanics. Me, I'm guessing that's a bit of an excuse — rather, they simply don't want the royal PITA of balancing the game for characters of levels 25 thru 60 — at the *start.*

I would have actually preferred if ME2's protagonist was someone else, and maybe in ME3 you'd have your final characters from ME1 and ME2 in the group

I'm fine with resetting the skills, though I hope they at least do it in an interesting way. The only thing that sucks more than games trying balance a high level character at the start of a game is sequels that use amnesia as a reason for skill reset.

ME's inventory was the #1 thing wrong about the game (for PC). I've been pointlessly hoping that the ME patch contains a new inventory system that's been tuned for PCs. Since it's being developed for ME2 anyway, right Bioware, right? Yeah, I know, In my dreams.

I think combat-focused gamers in particular will like it.”

It was interesting to see IGN's video review on Mothership Zeta, most interestingly the negatives that finally includes a major reviewsite penalizing a RPG for "too much combat":
review