Dragon Age 2 - Meet the Exiled Prince

BioWare has updated the Dragon Age 2 site with more on Sebastian Vael, the Exiled Prince and $7 release-day DLC -- unless you signed on for the Signature Edition back in January. There's a new video, which we actually linked yesterday (and sent in again by Alrik), screens and a story by David Gaider:

Sworn to the priesthood as a boy, the noble archer Sebastian Vael is thrust back into the viper's nest of princely politics when his family is brutally murdered, leaving him as the sole surviving heir. Choose to either avenge Sebastian's murdered family and reclaim his title or direct his holy vengeance on your enemies in Kirkwall.
The Exiled Prince DLC is available for all 4 platforms on launch day. Watch the new video, check out screenshots and read a short story written by David Gaider on Sebastian Vael, The Exiled Prince.

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More information.

Im sure the fans that didnt pre order 3 months in advanced will be happy about paying more for the game. Screw you Bioware.

Yes, no purchase here. The Signature Edition cutoff was too early and I'm not paying for it now.

think i'll not have the pleasure of meeting him.

I see how it works, cut the number of possible group member characters in the main game on purpose and then release them in small DLC chunks and make more money that way. They aren't even trying to be subtle about it anymore.

This is absurd. I rarely buy any DLC because most the time its too short and heavily overpriced. The free content players made themselves for DA:O was 100x better than any of the crap EA released. I say EA because Bioware doesn't exist anymore, its very clear they don't have any words to say but "yes master".

Worst part is this DLC crap they sell at the launch of a new title, advertising it as some great new addition when it should have been part of the core game already. {CE or not} Then maybe 2-3 months later, release a quality ~ wait nevermind, heh what am I thinking, this is from EA... {Again modders make 100x better addons than the actual devs ever have!}

It's seven bucks. What the hell? I'm in.

(really people, it's seven dollars... that's like a coffee and a sandwich at Starbucks)

I'd rather think of $7 as a 10lb bag of potatoes and a 5lb bag of carrots that will feed me for the next 3 weeks. {No I'm not poor, but I'm very economical with my spending and make sure I get the most possible from every dime!}

Khalus said:

I'd rather think of $7 as a 10lb bag of potatoes and a 5lb bag of carrots that will feed me for the next 3 weeks. {No I'm not poor, but I'm very economical with my spending and make sure I get the most possible from every dime!}

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I think that's a great attitude but many people feel they buy anything because its $7.00. Im guilty of this but I hate myself sometimes. Most of the time I will just buy the platinum or enhanced edition that will save me $100 of dollars.

It's seven bucks. What the hell? I'm in.

(really people, it's seven dollars… that's like a coffee and a sandwich at Starbucks)

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And you could save thousands making your own coffee and sandwiches whats your point?

The $ amount isn't the point. It's what they're doing to the customer and how they're doing it.

Arkadia7 said:

They aren't even trying to be subtle about it anymore.

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Exactly.

Couchpotato said:

I think that's a great attitude but many people feel they buy anything because its $7.00. Im guilty of this but I hate myself sometimes. Most of the time I will just buy the platinum or enhanced edition that will save me $100 of dollars.



And you could save thousands making your own coffee and sandwiches whats your point?

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I guess we could all make our own RPGs too by this logic. Think of the money we'd save!

Shameful. Guess I will wait for the GotY version for this one too...

Khalus said:

I'd rather think of $7 as a 10lb bag of potatoes and a 5lb bag of carrots that will feed me for the next 3 weeks. {No I'm not poor, but I'm very economical with my spending and make sure I get the most possible from every dime!}

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It's one third of a really good pizza as far as I'm concerned.

If I see some reviews saying that this character is really something special then I'll get it but, more than likely, I'll be skipping it. The exiled prince can go hang out at that bar where I left Alistair to rot in Origins.

Ovenall said:

I guess we could all make our own RPGs too by this logic. Think of the money we'd save!

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Oh my looks like someones mad. I dont care. You seem to love every business decision bioware does. Add up how much you spend on dlc and tell me its worth it. Will you give me the dollar per content excuse like you did months ago with movies.

The $7 is irrelevant to me. I bought the Din's Curse expansion and AI Wars for around $10 each just to support the developers, even though I may not play them.

What I don't like is being forced to make a buying decision back in January before I'd seen enough of the game, especially when my preferred vendor (Steam) didn't have the offer. What difference would it have made to include the Signature Edition with all preorders?

I'm not bitter or angry about it - they are entitled to market as they please. And I'm entitled not to buy it, as I please.

I don't mind day one DLC as long as it is mostly developed with the "extra" time during the possible lull between submitting RCs for testing and certification and having to address bug reports before launch - or at least if it's a free bonus for buying the game new. Yeah it's annoying that the big publishers all want to destroy the used game market, but it's better than how they practically killed off the used PC game market for games with any semblance of an online component a long time ago. Encouraging new retail purchases over used by providing bonus content as opposed to use of generally non-replaceable (without paying part or all of the purchase price again) as well as often voidable serial keys? I'll choose free bonus content - as long as it doesn't feel like it's a truly vital component being withheld but still something I would probably want to have.

All new copies of Dragon Age: Origins came with the Stone Prisoner for free and despite the code supposedly expiring April 30th 2010 - it didn't. Sure, Warden's keep wasn't free - although within a week of launch you could find the digital deluxe version that included it for less than the "regular" boxed version at most stores. And the Warden's Keep thing really did feel like "extra" content because besides some ok gear, xp, and rarely used powers it didn't have any effect on the the important interactions elsewhere in the game. The stone prisoner on the other hand was a fully fleshed out NPC that could significantly change the possible plot developements at a few key places in the main game. While not so significant as to feel like she was an indespensible actor in the primary narrative, it was clear that she was worked in very early in development. Would not having her (having never played with Shale before) make the game feel as though it was missing an important supporting character? No. Is it obvious the character was woven in throughout a large chunk of the early and final developement stages along with all the other non-dlc cast members? Yeah. Would I have felt a little cheated if I had to pay for her on day one having purchased a new copy of the game? Yes - just as I would have if they made the 1/4 of the original specialization classes that I rarely ended up using anyways for each class a day one DLC option.

It just doesn't feel right to have to pay extra for something on day one that was clearly part of the whole concept during development particularly when it has a significant potential to impact either the story, the atmosphere, or the play-styles available. An extra dungeon or clearly tangential side quest? Ok sure - I can believe that was actually something extra as opposed to something withheld. A character who has banter, comments, and reaction throughout the story to the point where entire primary plot point encounters can change in tone and outcome due to their presence? Yeah that's feels like you're witholding something because you know you can.

So yeah sorry to rant. I don't really have a problem with the stone prisoner - was well done and integrated enough to feel like a meaningful download while not being so completely interwoven that I wouldn't have thought much differently of the game if I never knew she was there - well maybe their sense of humor. But hey, free to new purchases and since the serial key has mostly killed the used PC game market anyways, I didn't mind Now though - charging for an NPC on day one? Come on. Next they'll be making us buy specialization classes on day one too (despite how NPC enemies will surely seem to get their abilities for free and they'll be an integral part of the lore from the getgo).

I'm not willing to say they actually are slicing out content that would otherwise be included and charging extra for it. That doesn't really make as much business sense as, when you are certain of high sales, going ahead and create additional budget items and provisioning additional manpower to develop such DLC in parallel. Since compartmentalizing the development cost of these day one DLC packages is obviously and extremely helpful in determining how profitable they are to produce - I'm willing to believe that most of these extras would not have been created if the devs weren't provided specific budgets and instructions to create them. They just feel like that - which is irrational I know.

Dhruin said:

The $7 is irrelevant to me. I bought the Din's Curse expansion and AI Wars for around $10 each just to support the developers, even though I may not play them.

What I don't like is being forced to make a buying decision back in January before I'd seen enough of the game, especially when my preferred vendor (Steam) didn't have the offer. What difference would it have made to include the Signature Edition with all preorders?

I'm not bitter or angry about it - they are entitled to market as they please. And I'm entitled not to buy it, as I please.

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Yes it was one of EA's and Biowares businesses moves to make you buy a boxed copy or from there website. They offered a lame excuse on how the deal took to long and missed the deadline.

In my view the money is the point, that's what we're paying (or not paying), right? As with any purchase I'd need to evaluate before I buy.

Couchpotato said:

Yes it was one of EA's and Biowares businesses moves to make you buy a boxed copy or from there website. They offered a lame excuse on how the deal took to long and missed the deadline.

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So you had the option to get it with DLC for free but chose not to do it? This is Bioware's fault how? I won't pay 7 dollars for an optional dlc unless I want to, you have that same option. The game will play with out it, you don't need it.

It sucks that not all preorders get it for free now, but really it wasn't a secret, so why bitch about it now?

Because it's something that should be included free with the game. So I will wait until it is…