Mass Effect: Bring Down The Sky

Midnight_Walker · 03-10-2008

I love Mass Effect. Let's get that out of the way before I start. However... Mass effect has a new piece of DLC called 'Bring Down The Sky', for which I bought a Hard Drive. But, in order to play the DLC you have to have not finished the game, or have a save pretty far back in the game. Am I the only one who thinks this is absolutely ridiculous? It means that, in order to play this 90 minutes of DLC, I'll have to start the game all over again. What were BioWare thinking? It seems like such a stupid decision... most people who have bought ME will have finished it by now. Do they really expect everyone to start a new game for 90 minutes of new content? I don't understand why this restriction exists and why it wasn't planned for. I've been looking forward to this DLC since it was announced, and now I'm just a bit bummed. It seems like such a basic, fundamental and downright stupid oversight to basically restrict DLC to those who haven't completed a ~6 month old game.

/rant

LiKuidLinsang · 03-10-2008

I've completed the game three times already, and I've already started a fourth playthrough for a different experience. That being said, I was able to download and play the Bring Down the Sky pack since I had two careers in the middle of the game. It's got replay value, you know.

Why not try starting a new career? As BioWare has said, there is more to come, so you'll not only be able to play Bring Down the Sky, but other things as well (as long as you don't fly to the finish).

Midnight_Walker · 03-10-2008

I've already played it through one and a half times (I helped the gf get to the end of her playthrough by doing all the combat), and watched it played through another two (she loved it). I don't see why I should have to go through it all again just to play some 90 minute DLC.
I'm not one of these people who will play a game through 100 times just to get every single piece of dialogue, find every single pickup, or get every single achievement. It's fine if you are, but it's just not my style. I'll play a game through to the end and then move on to something else. Why should I be punished for that? I might come back to a game a few months or a year later and play it through again if it was that damn good, but I object to being forced to do this because the devs weren't forward thinking enough to plan for DLC in the original game.
Anyway, what if I did start a new career, play the DLC, beat the game again, and then some more new content is released and I have to start all over again? It's just really poor planning in my eyes. They should find a way to allow those that have finished the game to pick up from where they left off. It can't be that hard.

And anyway, the talk is that ME2 will look back at your ME save and base certain situations around the choices you made in the original. I want to carry my original character over with all his experience, including what he gained in the DLC, not some new character I rushed through just to play the content.

Blargian Toast · 03-10-2008

Would you be able to play the extra content if you were in a second playthrough? I get that you can't do it if your past a certain point, but surely you can just finish the game and do the extra 90 mins on your second or third playthrough?

LiKuidLinsang · 03-10-2008

I played once on normal difficulty, once on hardcore, and once on insanity, and each playthrough was quite different. Now I'm trying again on hardcore difficulty as a sentinel (tech/biotic), and it's very challenging for me. I've played through it like this because I love the game.

There's not really much for me to say. I guess you'll get to enjoy the DLC in a few months or a year, but if you start a new career (or play through again with the same character), you don't have to rush to the end. Do some things here and there, go through the current DLC, and wait for more to come out. If you usually move on after completing a game, I don't understand why you are annoyed.

OME6A · 03-10-2008

Please cite your source that says "you must not have finished the game, or must have a save that is prior to the end of the game".

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to offend you, but I have a very hard time believing that. BioWare has done such an astounding job with this game, and they definitely have their finger on the pulse of what gamers want, so I don't see them doing something that is so illogical.

Releasing DLC for a game that's been out for a few months that will be pretty much worthless if you've already beaten the game, is something I'd expect from Ubisoft, not BioWare.

Midnight_Walker · 03-10-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by OME6A

Please cite your source that says "you must not have finished the game, or must have a save that is prior to the end of the game".

You're right, I probably should have started my post with this, sorry. I don't blame you for the doubt :) Nevertheless, here's the info, from the horse's mouth:

"3) The DLC will take place during the current storyline. Once downloaded, you will need to access a saved game where you have access to the Normandy's galaxy map or you will need to start a new game until you reach that point." (Source)

Now, you don't have access to the galaxy map during the final chapters, meaning you'd have to load from somewhere like 2/3 of the way through the game, IIRC.

I suppose I could start again with my main guy, but I'd have to then just leave him hanging in the middle of the story, waiting for DLC2, and I really hate to just leave a game half finished. That further ruins things for ME2. I'd have to just wait halfway through the story to play all the DLC, then rush to finish it before ME2 comes out, which is really dumb, IMO. I'd like to just go over to ME2 as I am now.

Quote:

If you usually move on after completing a game, I don't understand why you are annoyed.

I'm not sure I understand. I've finished the main story, so I've moved on to other stuff. But there's new content for a game I really loved so I want to just play the DLC and move on. Like I said, I also hate to leave a game half-finished; once I start a game, I want to finish it. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to invest another 20 odd hours just to play 90 minutes of new content, is there?

Blargian Toast · 03-10-2008

If you only need access to the galaxy map I'm sure you'll be able to just start a new career with a completed game character. It only takes a couple of hours from the beginning to get to accessing the map on the Normandy.

OME6A · 03-10-2008

Well, I certainly understand your gripe.

I guess the flaw of Mass Effect is that everything has to take place in the timeline of the main story. They really should have added something in there to allow you to play these extra missions outside of the context of the main story.

I'm not sure I'll pick this up now. I lie, because I will, but it's annoying (as you appropriately said

). After beating it the first time through, I did start a new story with my badass from the first playthrough, but without some research I wouldn't even know where to look for the extra missions within the game.

Oh well. For the big fans of the game, we'll get some enjoyment out of it, but hopefully they think DLC through a little more for Mass Effect 2.

LiKuidLinsang · 03-10-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midnight_Walker

I'm not sure I understand. I've finished the main story, so I've moved on to other stuff. But there's new content for a game I really loved so I want to just play the DLC and move on. Like I said, I also hate to leave a game half-finished; once I start a game, I want to finish it. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to invest another 20 odd hours just to play 90 minutes of new content, is there?

I'm not trying to attack you or anything of the sort. You said you loved the game, and I assumed you would have no problem starting over, that's all. The 90 minutes is more like 50-60 if you aren't on insanity difficulty anyway, and by visiting the Mass Effect forums, I found out that not a lot of people enjoyed the DLC.

I'm also assuming that you've already landed on Ilos, in which you cannot turn back once you have. With this in mind, I never land here and save my game, just in case I want to go back and do something else. I let the auto-save feature take care of me from this point forward. Keep that in mind, or you can make a new save to finish up everything while the other stays away from Ilos until it's fully ready.