Dragon Age 2 - Free Mass Effect 2 PC for All Owners

interesting

updated my journal

Hmm, good catch! The temptation is subsiding...

Holly Avenger said:

If you read the small print of the offer, the download of ME2 does NOT include access to the Cerberus network and it's related DLC usually free for a new copy of the game. If you want that stuff it's $15 thank you very much. Which makes the game cost about as much as you pick it up for these days anyway!

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See read the small print before you buy. Learned that lesson before. So expect to spend a $100 for access to Cerberus and all the dlc.

Mass Effect 2 is a fun game alright. I got it for myself for xmas present. My copy cost only 9 euros, I also bought shadow broker DLC, so I got a fun entertaining action game with mere 12 euros or something. I wouldn't pay full price for games like these.

Holly Avenger said:

If you read the small print of the offer, the download of ME2 does NOT include access to the Cerberus network and it's related DLC usually free for a new copy of the game. If you want that stuff it's $15 thank you very much. Which makes the game cost about as much as you pick it up for these days anyway!

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That is entirely untrue - the language is completely unambiguous and I find it hard to believe one could accidentally misread it so as to think it says the complete opposite of what it does. From the offer page:

Cerberus Network is included and will be entitled to the account used to redeem your Dragon Age II Online Pass. This includes Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Cerberus Weapon and Armor, Normandy Crash Site, Cerberus Arc Projector, and Firewalker Pack. Visit the offer page to download the necessary files.

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It's not even "fine" print either. It's one of the 11 (number 11 in-fact) highlighted items on the linked-to offer page. Hard to miss really.

Couchpotato said:

See read the small print before you buy. Learned that lesson before. So expect to spend a $100 for access to Cerberus and all the dlc.

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More like ACTUALLY read the print at all (fine or otherwise) before believing what you read on a forum post.

Thrasher said:

Hmm, good catch! The temptation is subsiding…

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Were it true - sure. It is not, so more like "nice try." Again - it is included and you get all those free Cerberus network downloads. Holly Avenger was incorrect.

From an RPG standpoint, how good is ME2 anyway? I've tried not once but twice to get into ME1 and couldn't stomach more than the first 30 minutes of the game.

WTF? Thanks for the correction jhwisner! I better read it for myself…. Yep, sure enough, it's included. Holly Avenger, you've got some 'splaining to do!

EA is not giving this game out of kindness , its a maketing ploy to sell the DLC.

Which DLC? The DLC they give you for free with ME2? Is the Mass Hallucination spell still active?

@Drithius. I personally enjoyed the story line of ME2. It kept me playing cause I had to know who was going to say what to who about who....hehe It was a good game and the story was done well enough, IMHO, to give it a good RPG feel even if it was not a true RPG. I expected it to be mostly shooting but I was pleasantly surprized.

I'm pissed! I bought the PC version of ME2. I'm thinking about writing a letter to ask for a free XB360 ME2...

More like ACTUALLY read the print at all (fine or otherwise) before believing what you read on a forum post.

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Doesn't matter you still have to pay around $80 for the other dlc. Its a trap given out of desperation as stated before. A million copies sold on three platforms in the opening month is not good. This is what the game became a pile of to the publisher. Its just an average game sadly. We all know by now the games strengths and weaknesses.

Just for a little laugh and drama I could also say but that's to dramatic isn't it.

Hopefully Laidlaw get his ass sacked and a new Lead takes the reins for the next
money trap. Its must be nice to ignore the fans and journalist who have valid points of the games failures. Maybe the third one can save any faith I have left in the company but I doubt it.

Which DLC? The DLC they give you for free with ME2? Is the Mass Hallucination spell still active?

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Yeah it is probably good to be clear about that. You get Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Cerberus Weapon and Armor, Normandy Crash Site, Cerberus Arc Projector, and Firewalker Pack with the Cerberus access that comes with this free download or with any new retail/digital purchase. So you get the same things you would if you went out today and bought it but you don't get more than that either. This would normally be 1200 ms/bioware points if you were to say purchase a used copy instead (about 15 US dollars) which is why it would have been annoying if they left it out.

The for-pay DLC like Lair of the Shadow Broker and Overlord are still not free. They aren't the "cerberus network" ones you get with the access granted to all new purchases since release.

The "worthwhile" dlc that it does not come with (DLC that adds gameplay and was not not critically panned) includes Overlord, Kasumi - Stolen Memories, and Lair of the Shadow Broker add up to 1920 ms/bw points or 24.00 us dollars. I did not include Arrival since it has been panned for more reasons than just lack of value for money.

If you do buy all the DLC that is not included with Cerberus network access except for the ridiculous extra outfit packs (about 8 bucks for 6 extra NPC costumes that have no game-play effects) then it comes to 2960 ms/bw points. That would be 37 USD which is roughly the price of the game without any of those things and about 2-12 us dollars cheaper than the last couple EA released GOTY.

So, even if you buy the "good" dlc then this is still a good deal. If you buy all but the less-useful-than-horse-armor DLC then its still comparable to the deal you would eventually get with a GOTY edition. That is why the fact that it does come with the Cerberus network access - as that alone would push this from being a good or very reasonable offering to a potentially annoying one.

Also this does assume that there is not price drop or sale offered on that DLC in the near future. I wouldn't assume there will be, but there have been offers for Bioware DLC in the past at discounted prices. Also if you don't care about those DLC items then this is a great deal because its still free. Maybe not reason to buy DA2 if you would not already, but if you were going to buy it then sure it's a nice offer. Beyond that it is, assuming you would even purchase that DLC, not an insulting offer. If you chose to only purchase the more worthwhile DLC it is also a sight cheaper than the GOTY edition will be upon release.

I'm not sure where people are getting 80-100 dollars in DLC - though I'm pretty sure its not by using math. Even adding in all dlc packages including the useless costumes you're still at 43.00 US dollars (29.75 GBP though if you're in the UK which comes to 48.58 USD equivalent). Even in the UK though if you leave out the costumes it's only 25.50 GBP (41.64 USD). Maybe people are rounding in 80 dollar units?

You guys are reading way too much into this. It's not a ploy to get users to buy DLC (though that could potentially be a side-benefit), it's merely a freebie designed to expose Mass Effect to a player base usually dealing in fantasy & sword/sorcery. Exposure = wider audience for ME3.

Of course, the flaw in all this is that DA2 and ME2 are so similar in gameplay (from what I gather), that anyone who likes DA2 has likely already been exposed to ME2.

We've jumped the shark here. I'm sure many people already have ME2 but, if you don't, this is a great offer regardless of their motives. The free DLC is included, the paid stuff isn't -- just the same as if you bought the game new off the shelf. Perfectly reasonable and we've become caricatures of angry internet men to think otherwise.

dhruin said:

we've jumped the shark here. I'm sure many people already have me2 but, if you don't, this is a great offer regardless of their motives. The free dlc is included, the paid stuff isn't — just the same as if you bought the game new off the shelf. Perfectly reasonable and we've become caricatures of angry internet men to think otherwise.

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+1,000.....

Dhruin said:

We've jumped the shark here. I'm sure many people already have ME2 but, if you don't, this is a great offer regardless of their motives. The free DLC is included, the paid stuff isn't — just the same as if you bought the game new off the shelf. Perfectly reasonable and we've become caricatures of angry internet men to think otherwise.

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Couldn't have said it better!

The core ME2 package is a great game in itself. Unless you're a big fan of the game and the ME universe the additional DLCs are totally unnecessary. This is about someone *giving away* a 40-50 hour game of very high quality, should you *decide* to buy DA2. No-one is forcing anyone to pay them anything...

Anything requiring a purchase can't be free - that's just the marketing version.

But, still, there's no doubt that if you want both games - it's a good deal.

That said, I think both games can be gotten cheap already - or very soon.

DArtagnan said:

Anything requiring a purchase can't be free - that's just the marketing version.

But, still, there's no doubt that if you want both games - it's a good deal.

That said, I think both games can be gotten cheap already - or very soon.

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If you want both games it instantly halved their price. If you have DA2 already and never got ME2 you get a free game. If you have both already then it lets you gift a copy of ME2 to someone less fortunate.

Win all around if you ask me.

DoctorNarrative said:

If you want both games it instantly halved their price. If you have DA2 already and never got ME2 you get a free game. If you have both already then it lets you gift a copy of ME2 to someone less fortunate.

Win all around if you ask me.

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Free if you already spent money.

Doesn't that sound odd to you?

In any case, it's a GOOD deal if you want both games.

But in my mind - it's not really free.

It's a win all-around if you include EA/Bioware