Rob Bartel Addresses Return to Ostagar Concerns
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Sorry, no waffles but there will be some voicework, including from the followers. We put a particular focus on the various followers who were also present at the battle.A previously visited area with rehashed mobs, a few new items, and one hour of gameplay. Is that what we want for our $5?
As for precisely when it will come out, we don't have a specific answer to that yet which is why we're being vague. We're still tackling one last optimization issue and then we need to make it through final testing and certification across all three platforms.
Average playtime is always tough to pin down because everyone's mileage will vary (and developers player the game in a very different manner than a typical first-time player). I can do a speed run (skipping through conversations and cutscenes, using a buff party, controlling Dog, avoiding some combats, ignoring loot drops, not looking at the scenery, etc) in about 15-20 minutes. I suspect it would take a typical first-time player about an hour to complete.
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Keep your eyes peeled for some of Duncan's items. You'll know them when you see them. ;o)
No new creatures or companions, although those who overlooked Dog in the Prelude will now get a second chance to add him to your party. And no, that doesn't mean you now get two Mabari.
For those who have completed the game, you will be able to return to Ostagar from your Epilogue Save.
I'd agree that Return to Ostagar has a significant combat focus but there are some really good story elements as well, particularly between the followers who fought in the Battle of Ostagar and for whom King Cailan held particular significance.
There will be a few codex entries available.
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People will have to make their own decisions about whether or not the price is right for them. I was involved in the pricing decision and this is the price I recommended and felt was appropriate for the content and the amount of effort required to create it. But yes, we understand that $5 can be a lot for some people to pay.
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As for where this fits in the context of the DA:O storyline, we're trying to keep it as wide open as possible (much like we have for Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep). The Battle for Ostagar has obviously already occurred and, for those starting a brand new game, the plot will be accessible from the party camp, post-Lothering. As I've mentioned, it's also available from the Epilogue save for those who've completed the game (the Epilogue Save represents a moment in time from shortly before the final battle). The balance will scale to match your party anywhere from Level 6 and up.
As for the patch and the issues that many experienced with our Day 1 content, some of that involved server-side issues that we've already cleaned up. PC Patch 1.01 is already out and 1.02 is in final testing and certification to address a number of other issues that have been identified. Planning on Patch 1.03 is currently underway. Most of the issues have been on PC side (where things are more complicated due to variable hardware, the added complexity of the toolset and user-made content, etc) although we're tracking some on the consoles as well. Most of these issues have proven to be programming related and therefore haven't significantly impacted the content teams, which means we've been able to maintain our focus on developing new content.
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As for areas, Ostagar itself has seen a major re-art to snow it over and make it feel like Darkspawn have been lingering there for a while. We've also opened up some new portions of the map that you weren't previously able to access. The quest also includes 3 additional areas which are smaller than Ostagar and involve a greater degree of re-use.
Regarding dialogue, given that Darkspawn represent the primary villain in this mission, don't expect them to wax poetic before attempting to slice your head off. The quest-giver has a sizeable conversation but the juicy bits are really the interactions with your followers who fought at Ostagar. This is an emotional place for them to return to and they all have strong opinions regarding the King, his fate, and his legacy. The word count isn't huge by any means but, for those who are in it for the story and the drama, the emotional payoff is definitely there.
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As for Daniel.I.Bell's question about how much downloadable content other games and developers put out, it varies widely but is becoming more common now that the infrastructure is in place to support it on the consoles. In BioWare's case, we have a long tradition of doing this kind of thing. We were considered pioneers for releasing RPG expansion backs as part of our Baldur's Gate series, and then for providing a powerful RPG toolset and dedicated community site with Neverwinter Nights. Our Premium Module and digital delivery program for Neverwinter Nights launched before Steam did and we were embracing the concepts of Web 2.0 and user-generated content before those terms were invented. So, rather than pointing to what other companies have done, we'll point to our own legacy and hold ourselves to that standard or greater, wherever possible.
No new backpack is included in Return to Ostagar. We've discussed it internally and it would require some GUI changes and may have some memory management implications as well. That's not to say it won't happen at some point - just that the idea's currently been pushed to the backburner until we have what we need to tackle those problems.
As for 1 hour being too short for some, that's fair. Unlike Neverwinter Nights where our Premium Module program attempted to apply a bit of a "one size fits all" solution, our goal with Dragon Age is to provide a wide range of content that covers a broader variety of different wants and needs. Return to Ostagar represents our first piece of post-Day 1 content and we'll be announcing more others grow closer to release.
Regarding voice acting, it's definitely one of our major development expenses, particularly when you realize that we have to hire additional voice actors for all of the different languages in which the game has been released. We ran some initial experiments with a voice-less version of Return to Ostagar and ultimately decided that we just needed to bite the bullet and go for it - it just didn't feel right for the followers not to be able to react in a voiced manner to the emotionally charged situation in which they find themselves. Note that we had to make this decision before DA:O's launch, without sales figures to help guide us. In the end, I'm glad we were able to find room in the budget to make it happen as the results are great.
Also, I agree with sugasugaki (on p.5) that duration isn't always a useful metric to apply (go ahead and apply it to Return to Ostagar if you want to - that's not my point). We could very easily release a piece of downloadable content where the quest was to jog through 500 empty maps, beat up a Genlock in the final area, and jog back to the quest giver. It would certainly have a high duration but it's not something I could ever charge money for and still maintain even a shred of dignity. On the other hand, what if we implemented a cool new gameplay system or a new character class or bowstrings with no specific adventure attached? It would clearly have a greater inherent value than the jogging simulator I just proposed but how do you even begin to apply a duration to it? Regardless, all of that is off-topic and has nothing really to do with Return to Ostagar but it's worth considering. Some of our future content could potentially bump up against that sort of problem.
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My point is an honest one that $5 means different things to different people. Particularly in the current economic climate and with the added burdens that come with the holiday season, that's $5 that a portion of our audience simply can't afford to spend. Likewise, there are longtime BioWare fans out there who, for whatever reason, were not able to afford Dragon Age or won't be able to afford Mass Effect 2. The best we can do is set a price that we feel is fair and that allows us to continue developing further content and future games.
Regarding TremCenwyth's question about expansion packs, I can only re-iterate that we have a variety of different types and sizes of content planned and under development. Neverwinter Nights was able to support two expansion packs and multiple premium modules, for instance, and both proved to be perfectly valid business models (if anything, the expansion packs proved to be a much better business model than the premium modules but that's a big part of why we felt it was so important to have downloadable content available for Dragon Age on Day 1).
On to other page 6 Q's. As for community-made content, the toolset is already available for download now and we'll be releasing the source content from single-player in a toolset-ready form as soon as we've worked out all of the initial kinks. So, on the PC at least, free community content will be as readily available as it was for Neverwinter Nights. The existence of paid BioWare content doesn't change that.
