Skyrim - "DLC will feel more like expansion packs"

Dhruin

Dhruin

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Todd Howard has re-stated Skyrim DLC will be more like expansion packs in an interview with Kotaku that also revealed regular smaller updates in between the larger DLC packs. A couple of snips:
"For Fallout 3 we did five DLCs," Howard told me during an interview last week at the DICE Summit. "That was a very aggressive path for us. Our plan now is to take more time, to have more meat on them [for Skyrim]. They'll feel closer to an expansion pack." [...]
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"With Fallout 3, it was, 'Ten dollars is the sweet spot for us and we know we want to put out five of them. And we had overlapping teams. We were coming off Fallout 3 and right back in." He describes that development cycle as "a real hardcore loop," but adds, "we just think we can do better content if we approach it a different way."
In between those expansions, Howard is committed to releasing smaller pieces of content for the game.
"Because that gap is going to be bigger, we want to put litle things out for free in between. We've already done that for PC with the high-res pack. We're trying to figure out what those things are."
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Thanks, Thrasher!
More information.
 
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Sice they said what they are releasing is like an expansion what does it matter what they call it since it is virtually going to be the same thing. The only difference would be that likely it will be released as a download before getting a retail release. It looks like the way they are going is more like what they did with Morrowind where the release some free stuff along with paid expansions. (except the free stuff may be better this time)

PS. Since this year is the 10th anniversary of Morrowind I wonder if they will release it for free like they have did with Arena and Daggerfall on their tenth anniversaries.
 
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maybe it'll finally have all the things they promised would be in the game. like an economy, creature "living" ai, stuff like that
 
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DLC's are usually bits that were chopped off from the main game. I saw a vid a week ago where Beth showed some work they did during one week (stuff like build your own house, spears etc) and these could be released in a future DLC. Why didn't they do that from the start with Skyrim but instead sell this as DLC?

Also, DLC's from F3 were far away from what Morrowind had. Should I also mention the horse armor from Oblivion?

I always felt that DLC's are full of things that should have been in the original game from the start and they tend to complete the game instead of expanding it.
 
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bloodlover said:
DLC's are usually bits that were chopped off from the main game. I saw a vid a week ago where Beth showed some work they did during one week (stuff like build your own house, spears etc) and these could be released in a future DLC. Why didn't they do that from the start with Skyrim but instead sell this as DLC?

Also, DLC's from F3 were far away from what Morrowind had. Should I also mention the horse armor from Oblivion?

I always felt that DLC's are full of things that should have been in the original game from the start and they tend to complete the game instead of expanding it.
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I'm not sure why this has to be explained, when games are made they have a feature set they want to attain, after they get to that they polish. This does not mean they continue adding new features until the end, this would create a very buggy product. DLC is basically an expansion if they want it to be that way...the larger ones can be viewed as an expansion. I highly doubt you will ever see boxed expansions again.
 
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Dhruin said:
If the DLC is truly like an expansion, what's the real difference?
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Exactly… Otherwise you're just arguing semantics.

The only difference would be that likely it will be released as a download before getting a retail release.
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I agree, DLC is just as much about distribution(method) as it as about adding content - it's in the name*bad pun I know*… I would imagine it's much cheaper/quicker to produce and distribute DLC than a full blow expansion or sequel/prequel.

Until games are made piecemeal the argument against DLC is moot… Ignoring Bioware, they already seem to be going down the day 1 dlc that seamlessly ties into the main game path. No cookie for the docs.
 
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bloodlover said:
DLC's are usually bits that were chopped off from the main game. I saw a vid a week ago where Beth showed some work they did during one week (stuff like build your own house, spears etc) and these could be released in a future DLC. Why didn't they do that from the start with Skyrim but instead sell this as DLC?
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Sure. And they should have made it twice as long and the continent should have been bigger and there should have been more factions and underwater cities and floating cloud cities...and lasers!

At some point, you develop a feature list and that's what you (hopefully) ship. You can't keep adding things forever - isn't that obvious?

Also, DLC's from F3 were far away from what Morrowind had. Should I also mention the horse armor from Oblivion?

I always felt that DLC's are full of things that should have been in the original game from the start and they tend to complete the game instead of expanding it.
Click to expand...

Really? What about Old World Blues? Should that have been included in the first place? Bethsoft made a mistake with Horse armour many years ago that deserves criticism - but it was also many years ago and they haven't done that since. Given Fallout 3 had Point Lookout, F:NV had OWB and they are saying they are developing expansion-sized DLC with minor free stuff in between for Skyrim, it seems a bit churlish to point to Horse Armour and not acknowledge their improvement since then.
 
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In my view, DLCs began their life as 'smaller' or 'lesser' than 'full blown expansions' simply because they were to be distributed digitally. At the start, big unknowns existed such as how many customers have internet connections, out of those, what was their bandwith, and finally how would transactions happen.

None of those are concerns anymore and size doesn't matter. If you're playing Skyrim you probably downloaded Skyrim and the Hi-Rez texture packs while streaming some youtube video while buying something else off amazon.com.

Expansions are simply taking the same course that full blown games have - they are being distriubted digitally. When sold digitally, the word 'expansion' is replaced by the word 'dlc.'

I'm not a big fan of the digital distribution movement. I still like my box, guns, and religion. But it's pretty clear this is the future of gaming.
 
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I'd rather have proper expansion packs. DLC/expansions tend to feel more closed off and isolated because its added content to the game but it feels worse in DLC as they tend to be build with a smaller budget whilst being more numerous.
 
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Eh, either way I'll be waiting till it gets bundled into the GOTY version anyway.

I mean hell, I've put 200+ hours into this game and never finished the main quest. I have nothing to bitch about, and will probably buy whatever they give me (eventually) anyway.

I think they quickly learned their lesson with the horse armor crap though. When you give people the editing tools, you better give something good if your gonna charge for it.

Edit : And me personally, I'd prefer one Shivering Isles than 5 small/medium things.
 
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I'll usually take a couple of big expansions over half a dozen DLCs, but in skyrim's case I think there's so much to be improved and added to the core game itself that it doesn't bother me.
 
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human_male said:
I hope there will be lots of new stuff, I can't get enough Skyrim. But I dunno… something tells me not to get my hopes up.
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Your not alone as I don't t see them stopping dlc anytime soon. Expansions are almost a thing of the past. I'll keep my fingers crossed also.

I love how they did changed there views with the pc platform . Looks like steam is good for something after all.;)
 
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Bethesda gets criticism for the horse armor, yet they learned from that experience and they don't do that kind of thing anymore.

The developers of Kingdoms of Amalur released a "weapons pack" this week that scaled to the level of your character at the moment you bought the DLC. Effectively meaning it was worthless for people who bought it together with a new game. Bioware release worthless DLC all the time....

One of my favourite games over the past few years, King Arthur - The Role Playing Game - is the same. A lot of DLC with armor, weapons etc.
 
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