GearDeal: Getting The Most For Your Dragon Age: Origins (PC, XBOX360, PS3) Pre-Order Money

Posted on 16 October 2009, at 3:20 pm, by Michael Anderson

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There are few names more closely associated with hardcore PC RPG games than Bioware, and in particular their classic Baldur’s Gate series. Over the past several years the excitement and anticipation for the so-called ’spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate’, called Dragon Age Origins, has been building. In August EA and Bioware announced both the pre-order program and also the Collector’s Edition contents. For PS3 & XBOX360 gamers this meant 3 choices … but for PC gamers it is like navigating a maze! Read on as I try to figure out how to get the most stuff for the least money!

As I mentioned, for console gamers the choice is pretty simple: if you pre-order you get the ‘memory ring’ DLC which helps you gain in-game experience faster; the standard edition has the game and the ‘Stone Prisoner’ DLC. The Collector’s Edition adds a cool tin case, cloth map, ‘making of’ DVD, soundtrack CD, and 3 extra DLC items.

For PC gamers it is exactly the same if you order the retail versions, but EA and Bioware have partnered with each of the major Digital Download sites (Steam, Direct2Drive, Impulse, and GamersGate) to deliver the ‘Deluxe Digital Edition’! Apparently they have allowed each of the sites to add a special in-game exclusive item as an enticement to buy from them. These items are fairly minor, typically a wearable item to boost your character’s stats, but they are a nice little add-in if you plan to get the game anyway.

It would be nice if every ‘Collector’s Edition’ was the same, and all we needed to do was figure out which exclusive item worked best for our character, but of course life isn’t that simple. For example, neither GamersGate nor Impulse offer a special exclusive item, nor do they mention the Formari (memory) Ring as a bonus that was supposed to be included with all pre-orders. The pricing is universally the same at $64.99,

In the end I decided to chart it all up, see what is included and what is not. Why? Because historically I have *never* gotten ‘Collector’s Editions’, as all I really care about is the game. The addition of actual in-game content made it an incentive I couldn’t pass up … but if I’m spending $15 extra I want every bit of value I can manage! That chart is below along with some comments.

UPDATE: Steam made a mistake with pricing … last night when I went to buy I noticed that the price was $65 like everyone else. It was noted:

The price for the Digital Collector’s Edition through Steam should have been initially set at $64.99 not $54.99 as this is the price for the DCE.

Steam has corrected the error and the DCE is now correctly priced. If you purchased the DCE at the incorrect price of $54.99 you will be changed the difference to the correct retail price.

Dragon Age Origins Preorder Contents

A few notes:

DLC means ‘downloadable content’, which is delivered as a one-time usable code that adds something to the game. The ‘one-time use’ is important as it precludes selling / trading / giving away that content.

NPC is a ‘non playable character’, or someone who is part of the game but not under the direct control of the player.

Blood Dragon Armor – this is an item taht is usable in both Dragon Age and Bioware’s upcoming Mass Effect 2.

The ‘Stone Prisoner’ is labelled as a NPC since it is a character named Shale who can become part of your party, but the DLC also includes ‘environments, items, and hours of added gameplay’. This DLC sells for $15 separately.

The ‘Warden’s Keep’ is an added area that is exclusively available as part of the ‘Deluxe Digital edition’, but will be released for $7 as an add-on when the game is released.

The ‘Formari Band’ is also known as the ‘memory ring’ and enhances experience point gathering by 1%. It was noted in August as ‘included with all pre-orders’ but since then I could only find it noted in the digital versions. So check on this if you plan to pre-order a retail copy. Update: at least the EA store has it clearly identified as being included, whereas Amazon has no mention … and since GameStop sold out of their Collector’s Edition they have pulled the links.

The details on the ‘DLC Exclusives’ are scarce, but here are a few:

The Wicked Oath (Steam exclusive) Countess Luciana of Antiva lived as a virtual prisoner in her husband’s castle until an elven slave offered her a way out. The slave magically bound a small amount of the countess’s blood into a ring in return for a promise of freedom. The countess agreed, and the count was found stabbed soon afterwards, this ring lying beside him. Neither Luciana nor the slave were seen again.
Adds +10% to critical strike damage
Improves armor penetration by 2
Adds +1 to combat stamina regeneration

Dalish Ring (Direct2Drive exclusive)
Intended for a Dalish elf’s betrothed, this enchanted silver band was blessed by the tribe’s Keeper to ensure a long, healthy life.
Dalish Ring Stats: (Increased effectiveness of healing effects, Subtract damage from darkspawn attacks, Increase combat health regeneration)

Feral Wolf Charm (GameStop Exclusive) – With this charm, hunters claim that they are enchanted on moonlit nights by scantily clad witches deep in the heart of the Korcari Wilds. As if that’s not enough, the charm also adds to your armor and increases your health regeneration.

The Lion’s Paw boots (Amazon Exclusive) – adds to armor, dodge, and evading missiles.

Fire Band (EA Store Exclusive) Magical fire is used with great care in the construction of these rings. After a few unfortunate incidents of singed eyebrows and burnt hair, there is some speculation that this is why the Formari often shave their heads.
• Adds to Stamina
• Adds to fire resist
• Adds to spirit resist

Here are some links:
- Amazon.com (just a search link since there are 6 versions!)
- GameStop.com (same as Amazon)
- EA Store (also link to main product page)
- Steam
- Direct2Drive
- Impulse
- GamersGate

A final thought on all of this DLC jumble: make no mistake, this is a clear shot at the used game industry: EA and Bioware want you to buy this game new to maximize their return on investment.

Quite often these days for console games, the game releases and a large crowd buys while others sit and wait, then after the first wave finish their game they trade or sell it back to GameStop or Amazon, or on sites like Goozex or eBay. This allows the second wave to ‘purchase’ the game for less and allows the first wave to recoup some money. The problem is that the publisher and developer get no compensation for the subsequent sale / trade.

By adding loads of DLC they add incentive to buy new by making the cost of the full experience higher: if you buy the X360 ’standard’ version game used at GameStop for $50 (new is $60), it will cost you $15 for the Stone Prisoner alone, and even more when you add any pre-order bonus and the Blood Dragon Armor DLC. So suddenly either GameStop has to lower their pricing or the used copy will become less attractive than the new one.

So … are you anticipating this game? What are your thoughts on the whole DLC content and pricing model?

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Tags | Games & Gaming, PC Gaming

7 Comments For This Post

justinreach Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I want a physical copy of the game. I want as much online free stuff as possible. Off all the various retailer tie-ins, the Feral Wolf Charm offers health regeneration. Dragon Age is sounding a bit like Mass Effect in some of its combat and Xbox Achievement approaches. I just played through Mass Effect and health regeneration would have been nice. So there you go. I’m pre-buyin’ from GameStop, so I can have health regeneration. Bioware RPGs are good times.
jaimehlers Says:
November 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I’m not very impressed by this marketing decision. In fact, I’m remarkably ticked off, to the point that I won’t buy this game for months, if not years.

I found out from a friend that while you could get some of the DLC (specifically, the two quests) straight with the game, you couldn’t do this unless you bought the PC version. And I strongly doubt that GameStop and other game resellers are going to discount their copy of the game that much merely because of the DLC.

In fact, I would bet real money that their used price will hang at $55 for months, because people will constantly be snapping up used copies. So that means, even at best, to get the “full game experience”, people will have to pay upwards of $70, certainly till after Christmas and more likely for most of next year.

If I play this at all, it will certainly not be until after it’s come way down in price, and that may not be for years. I don’t care if it’s a good game (and I’ve enjoyed Bioware’s other games). I refuse to reward a company for making pricing decisions which are designed solely to make them more money, at the cost of the consumer. Because you can be sure that other companies will follow suit, which means that the “real” cost of buying a new game is going to increase again. And if you don’t happen to have an internet connection, well, tough cookies.
Michael Anderson Says:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:15 am
jaimehlers:

I certainly understand and support your decision – I *still* am not clear on what you get where and how retail and digital download versions vary.
I wrote more about Dragon Age here (http://www.geardiary.com/2009/.....3-that-is/)

But these are mostly just little trinkets … the rings will be useful but not necessarily something that stays the whole game.

The other areas – Warden’s Keep in particular – are more of an issue. With limited inventory and the backpack expansions too expensive early on, you will likely be fighting inventory, but with the Keep, well, it stops being an issue. Some have called it a $7 solution for a game design problem.

But just to be clear – your $50 ($60 for consoles) gets you a full *massive* game with loads of replayability built in. You are not missing out on anything, in my opinion.

Then again, you are also right on one thing – the huge success of the pre-order campaign for Dragon Age signals that floodgates will open soon for day-of-release DLC. And much of it *will* be held back content.
jaimehlers Says:
November 9th, 2009 at 9:08 am
In fairness, I’m referring more to the console version than the computer version of the game, where you can’t get a nice neat package that contains the two mini-expansions (The Stone Prisoner and Warden’s Keep), but instead have to buy them separately. The two combined cost 1740 Microsoft points, which translates to about $21.75. Honestly, I don’t care about the little items at all, so those really aren’t at issue for me, just the expansion content.

So that means a console owner is going to have to pony up a minimum of $81.75 if they want the digital expansion content and buy the game new (which of course does not include taxes, which can easily add 10% or more to the retail value). It’s even more than that if they buy the collector’s edition, which does not include the digital content. And yes, while you can buy it used for %5-10 less using the normal used pricing scheme, it’s very unlikely that GameStop or other used resellers are going to drop their prices by an additional $10.

They don’t care about digital content, they care about how well the game sells – and given the fact that this is likely to be a very popular game, that means it will stay at the standard used price of $55 for months to come, if not longer. That means even with the membership discount, you’re still going to be spending upwards of $70, pre-tax, if you decide to get the expansion content.

But what bothers me the most about this is that apparently you get a little “bonus” with the main game – a NPC who’s sole purpose is to tell you about a questline that you can’t access without buying the expansion content (I assume it would be the Stone Prisoner, since they already have something that you “need” out of Warden’s Keep). In other words, an in-game advertiser who guilt-trips you pretty bad if you haven’t bought the content so you can do his quests. If that isn’t “held-back content”, then I’m not understanding the concept.

So while that and the inventory thing aren’t as bad as I thought they might be when I first heard about this from a friend, they’re still plenty bad enough. Camel’s nose in the tent time, as you said yourself. And unfortunately there’s enough gamers with stars in their eyes about this game that they’ll probably get away with it. Which of course means that other companies will likely follow suit. How long do you think it’ll be before we get a game (released at full retail price, of course), which has Day 1 DLC expansion content which actually totals more than the game itself costs?

That’s why I’m not buying this game anytime soon. I may not be able to stop the camel’s nose from getting in the tent, but I can at least keep it out of my wallet as much as possible. And maybe if enough people wise up to this and do the same thing, it’ll get the message across. Not likely, but even so it keeps me from getting shafted by Day 1 DLC which I would likely feel I “had” to buy.
Michael Anderson Says:
November 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
What can I say … I agree.

And that is why as a PC gamer I *won’t* be getting Modern Warfare 2 …

From interviews I understand that the add-on areas (Stone Prisoner and Warden’s Keep) were done by the post-dev team, and wouldn’t have been release-day stuff except for the delays. That doesn’t invalidate what you said, but it changes some perspective – it is sort of splitting hairs about what ‘held back’ means. In this case it was never part of the game design, so it can’t be held back. I know, I know Like I said, splitting hairs (break out the lawyers )

Stone prisoner is free for anyone getting a retail copy. That says ’screw you, used game market’. And as someone who uses Goozex heavily for getting and sending used games, I *hate* that idea … it is only second to stuff like Empire: Total War and Modern Warfare 2 that force you to lock your retail disc game to Steam.

As for Warden’s Keep, that one I have a harder time with as you get it with the ‘high price version’ in some cases on PC, but have to buy it separately on consoles. It is absolutely unnecessary, yet it is game-related content that was available on day-of-release. How could anyone who likes these sorts of things not feel compelled to buy this?

I like physical releases, and I generally eschew ‘collector’s editions’, but all of this extra stuff helped sway me to grab the ‘deluxe digital’ version. And I *still* agonize after the stuff in other packs …

As for pricing, I’ve written about it before – I remember paying ~$60 or so more than 20 years ago for a hockey game for my brother in law on the Sega Genesis. I’ve seen first hand how salary and benefits and other real overhead costs have gone up, and also read about the upward spiral of art generation costs … so how can we still be paying only $50 – 60 a game? The market simply won’t bear more – there was a big stink when console games went back to $60 for this generation.

So in order to profit these guys need to figure out a way to generate more cash. I have no problem with that – but there is a line somewhere that was crossed with Tiger Woods tutorials and Horse Armor in Oblivion, where it became some sort of gambit of how well they could bilk consumers out of cash rather than offering reasonable DLC for reasonable money – sort of like the Fallout 3 DLC or more recently the Red Faction Guerrilla console add-on (which we PC gamers got for free in exchange for waiting a month)

I don’t know where it all goes, but like you I’m concerned. And I realize that because I bought this game with all the trimmings I help contribute to the arrogance of producers …
jaimehlers Says:
November 9th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
That explains why GameStop dropped their default used price so quickly. People with a membership card can get the game for 10% less, so in effect someone who buys the used game that way will pay the same as for the new if they buy the digital content. So they, at least, are trying to make sure that their used market doesn’t get shafted too badly. Doesn’t change what you said, that this move in general hurts the used game aftermarket.

I definitely plan on waiting now. Even if this wasn’t intended as first-day DLC, the fact that they included one of the expansions but not the other (and frankly, the more useful one) in the retail version still comes across as a bit of money-grubbing skulduggery.

Incidentally, I agree with you on the Fallout 3 DLC. I actually didn’t mind ponying up the cash for the downloads, because they in general added enough content to make it worth the cost. My meterstick is that if I get an hour’s worth of enjoyment out of a game for every dollar I spend on it, it was a worthwhile purchase, and the DLC got me playing Fallout 3 again after I’d already finished the game.

That’s probably the biggest reason I don’t like first-day DLC. I tend to view DLC/expansions as a way to extend my interest in a game after I’ve already finished it, and to have stuff released along with the game which isn’t included in it is somewhat offensive. It’s like they’re saying that it’s not enough that people buy their games, they have to pay extra for stuff that feels like it should have been included with the game (even if it was done by a separate team, if it’s released at the same time, it’s going to feel that way to most gamers).

That doesn’t include pre-order items, by the way. Those have always been nice little bonuses that people can get if they’re willing to pay a bit more, and in any case they’re always available with the game (at most, you have to download them with a code). It also doesn’t include extraneous content that doesn’t actually affect the game (such as skins or gamerpictures or the like).
Michael Anderson Says:
November 9th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Of course, the converse is Mass Effect where the post-release DLC wasn’t really enough to get people playing again.

My interest is to see how all of these bald-faced plays against the used game market work out … because they are also strongly anti-consumer. I mean, do what you need to stop piracy, but second hand sales … that is pushing it too far, in my opinion.