The 'Buying Dragon Age: Origins' thread.

[FactionHeir]

I'm considering getting a Dragon Age pre-order from the EA website now that I found a 10 pound off voucher online, turning the deluxe edition pre-order into a 29.99 incl VAT purchase.

What is keeping me is that I've read that games will expire after 6 months to a year after you purchased them and then you cannot redownload them anymore. I'm not sure how true that is though and whether their policy has since changed.

I won RA3:Uprising in one of their competitions at the start of the year and that's still available on EADM, but I wouldn't know for how long.

If there is such a clause, I'd probably go for a hard copy instead.

Can someone enlighten me please?

[Monk]

Found this on Wikipedia:

Users are given one year from the time of purchase to download a game. This period can be extended by five years, via the Extended Download Service, by paying a $6 US fee.[6] This is unlike most other digital distribution platforms which allow users to re-download their purchases in the future without limitations. There currently is no option for you to make a personal backup of the downloaded software. This means that after one year if you need to reinstall the software/game that you must repay the full price. Some users have questioned the legality of such a practice.

Source: The EADM FAQ.

Basically (from my understanding) you have a year to enjoy the game, you pay a little more and you can have 5 years to enjoy the game. After that? Tough luck.

[FactionHeir]

That's poor

Thanks for the info Monk, I'll see if I can get it elsewhere, like amazon, gamestop or direct2drive (which has a 5 year anniversary and cheap games as a result for the moment btw).
Any other places worthwhile checking for preorder bonus goodies?

[Monk]

Anytime Factionheir, i was actually surprised EA is doing such a thing. I had thought they were moving away from this kinda DRM, but it looks like they still regard digital media as an evil thing.

I normally pre-order from Amazon since they give me $10 off my next game purchase when the game ships (they also have a bonus item for DA, unique boots) Amazon is actually where I pre-ordered my copy from for the 360, it's amazing what 5 months of solid news can do for a game, isn't it?

Any other places worthwhile checking for preorder bonus goodies?

Maybe someone else can name one, but you've hit most the places that I check for new releases.

[FactionHeir]

Yeah, might go for amazon, though not sure how to get those 10 bucks off

Also found an exclusive on game.co.uk, but no codes for that site, and I don't want to dish out an extra 10 pounds.
That place also doesn't have the digital version, but just the hardcopy collector's edition. Problem is that the UK one seems to be a mere plastic box, rather than the tin one others get so not really worth it.

[Monk]

Yeah, might go for amazon, though not sure how to get those 10 bucks off

It's sorta like a store credit, when the game ships they will deposit the amount in your amazon account within a couple days. When you next buy a game it should automatically deduct 10 dollars from the price when you're in checkout. Works the same way as gift cards, i believe.

edit: it should say that on the product page, perhaps amazon uk doesnt have that promotion?

[frogbeastegg]

Amazon don't do offers like that in the UK. The US site won't send games outside the country either.

The UK options for Dragon Age are poor indeed. £39.99/£49.99 (PC/console) for the Game exclusive collector's edition with the special items and a load of junk in an undescribed plastic box, versus various prices for the standard edition which has no special items. Here's the current prices for the UK PC standard edition.

All editions do come with the bonus Shale character and quest, unless they are sold second hand and the code has already been used.

[Monk]

Amazon don't do offers like that in the UK. The US site won't send games outside the country either.

The UK options for Dragon Age are poor indeed. £39.99/£49.99 (PC/console) for the Game exclusive collector's edition with the special items and a load of junk in an undescribed plastic box, versus various prices for the standard edition which has no special items. Here's the current prices for the UK PC standard edition.

All editions do come with the bonus Shale character and quest, unless they are sold second hand and the code has already been used.

I was afraid of that when i looked up amazon uk after i made my post. Absolutely terrible.

[Xiahou]

Anytime Factionheir, i was actually surprised EA is doing such a thing. I had thought they were moving away from this kinda DRM, but it looks like they still regard digital media as an evil thing.

All editions do come with the bonus Shale character and quest, unless they are sold second hand and the code has already been used.

DLC is the new DRM for EA. I had thought maybe they'd wised up too, but we were fools.

The new plan seems to be to sell bare-bones games and let you download the actual content via DLC. Is that any better than just forcing you to use online activation to play? Maybe... just a little. You still have to go online. And you still have to register and validate your copy of the game to get the DLC. I don't know how "bare-bones" the retail Dragon Age will be, since it's not out yet. But I do know that the Sims3 was extremely limited in what was available out of the box. Most items could only be had once you "activated" the game. Bah!

[frogbeastegg]

I was afraid of that when i looked up amazon uk after i made my post. Absolutely terrible.

Amazon.uk are allergic to giving discounts of any sort. They're one of 1,200+ retailers on the Department of Work and Pensions employee discount scheme. When I look them up they proudly offer me a whopping 0% cashback on all of my purchases! One wonders why they agreed to become part of the scheme.

They're also trying to get me to buy a Kindle even though you can't buy books for it if you are outside the US due to restrictions on the inbuilt Kindle shop. Also you'd need a power converter before you could plug it in to charge. Oh - and you'd get hit for massive customs charges! And they advertise this right on their main page too.

I don't know how "bare-bones" the retail Dragon Age will be, since it's not out yet.

I've seen a few folk talking about their advance review copies. It seems like a massive game, they're estimating around 60 hours to complete it on one of the several paths.

I'm quite disgusted by the Game exclusive nature of the collector's edition. They're an expensive place these days to say the least. I only want the extra items and the base game, I don't care about art books and stuff.

EDIT: Heh, by some coincidence the one who's talking the most about his Dragon Age review copy mentioned how long he's played: 121 hours and still increasing. He doesn't say how much of that was for a single playthrough but he does say that he's still finding new material.

[Beskar]

I have to say, don't do it.

I used the service for Spore and it uses a very bad download programme with no proxy/router support, also, the download time period then was only a month, so officially, I own Spore, but no way of downloading it or obtaining it by any legal method.

[Monk]

EDIT: Heh, by some coincidence the one who's talking the most about his Dragon Age review copy mentioned how long he's played: 121 hours and still increasing. He doesn't say how much of that was for a single playthrough but he does say that he's still finding new material.

...We're gonna need bigger guns.

[FactionHeir]

So where are you getting it from Frog?

[pevergreen]

Used EA link to get Northern Strike for BF2142. Bad idea.

[frogbeastegg]

...We're gonna need bigger guns.

It does look as though that's one full playthrough, one partial, and some general messing around rather than a single playthrough.

So where are you getting it from Frog?

There's a 59 page long thread on the quarter to three forums. A guy named Desslock has been posting loads of impressions in the last 10 or so pages. I'd link directly except the thread's full of swearing and other things we don't permit on the org, far too much of it even to give a link with a warning. It's a "hunt it down for yourself at your own risk" jobby.

The audience over at Qt3 have been incredibly sceptical (polite understatement!) of Dragon Age so anything positive coming out of there holds a lot of weight for me. The posters there contains a lot of industry folk - developers, reviewers and other such connections - so they're generally a more critical audience. I've gone from totally repulsed to tempted to pre-order.

[Lemur]

A guy named Desslock has been posting loads of impressions in the last 10 or so pages.

Desslock is a bit of an RPG legend. I believe he recently became PC Gamer's (US) official RPG reviewer/columnist. I'd take anything he says with much less salt that the average forumer.

-edit-

Ugh, draconian DRM and greedy DLC. As much as I love RPGs, and as much a I love Bioware, I just dunno.

[frogbeastegg]

Desslock is a bit of an RPG legend. I believe he recently became PC Gamer's (US) official RPG reviewer/columnist. I'd take anything he says with much less salt that the average forumer.

That's him. He's doing the Dragon Age review for PC Gamer. I only have his forum based reviews and comments to go by but he does appear to have very sound taste. If the game were the immature, insulting trite load of teenage wannabe 'mature' that the marketing has made it appear then he'd have said so. Instead he's praised the plot, characters and decisions, saying that they are well realised, properly mature, and anything but the usual "I am a saint/I eat puppies" Bioware stuff. I almost dare hope that Dragon Age might, might be mature in the way Planescape: Torment was.

He also reports that the combat is challenging on the normal difficulty, and requires tactics and thought on the part of the player. It's being compared to Baldur's Gate, as is the party system.

Ugh, draconian DRM and greedy DLC. As much as I love RPGs, and as much a I love Bioware, I just dunno.

And that's why I would get the xbox version. Well that and the 32 inch HD TV and comfy seat versus a computer chair and a 14 inch monitor.

[Monk]

I've gone from totally repulsed to tempted to pre-order.

Interesting to see I'm not the only one pulling a 180 on DA lately. As recently as a month ago I was still of the opinion that this game was not worth my money, time, or even contempt. It's a strange then to completely change tunes and preorder it (which is something i don't do often), but speaks volumes to how terrible the PR for Dragon Age was at the mid-point in the year.*

And that's why I would get the xbox version. Well that and the 32 inch HD TV and comfy seat versus a computer chair and a 14 inch monitor.

The PC Mass Effect had a similar stink about it if i recall, which is what ultimately led me to finally consider the 360. DA looks to be following that path as well, unfortunately. If you got a console, you should definitely look into DA in that fashion.





*"HEY! GUYS! YOU CAN SLEEP WITH THAT CHICK! SERIOUSLY! ISN'T THAT AWESOME!? *chest bump* YEAH!"

[FactionHeir]

I don't have a 360, but why would it be better other than having a bigger screen?

[Beskar]

And that's why I would get the xbox version. Well that and the 32 inch HD TV and comfy seat versus a computer chair and a 14 inch monitor.

Or you could just do what I did and plug the computer up to your TV, since it is an LCD.

Problem solved.

[FactionHeir]

I just did some more research and it seems that Stardock's Impulse store gives you the items contained in the hardcopy collector's edition!
http://www.impulsedriven.com/dragonagece

Or maybe I order it and they then tell me it was an error*

Certainly better to get 3 items rather than 1 exclusive


*Those are not listed as part of the digital CE for either EADM nor D2D.

[FactionHeir]

Hmm some more research...it seems the North American DDE gets the 3 hard copy CE items while the UK one doesn't and they cost exactly the same!

I in fact checked on Direct2Drive. Their US site offers for 65.95 (40.41 GBP) and of course their exclusive preorder item. Their UK site offers for 39.99 which does not include the 3 CE items.

Problem is that D2D US only accepts US and Canada IP addresses. I would like to know whether I could use a proxy (or have an American friend) to buy it (as a "gift") and then play it from the UK without the need of a proxy? Anyone have any experience with that?

[frogbeastegg]

I don't have a 360, but why would it be better other than having a bigger screen?

Lots of reasons, some of which are personal. Because often games which come out on both platforms are made for the console and then ported across. That means the interfaces, controls etc work better on the console, and that performance tends to be more steady. There are fewer bugs. There can never be problems with hardware or drivers. Because I don't need to install, probably won't need to patch, and certainly won't have to update any drivers and such. Because my console is set up in a relaxed atmosphere whereas my PC is in a study. Because my xbox is on the other side of the room whereas I have to sit next to my PC with it's DVD drive and fans which, although as quiet as I could find when building it, still put out more noise than is comfortable when gaming. Above all there's no objectionable DRM nonsense like limited activations.

After a decade and a half of being a PC gamer I'm finding that there's less and less that appeals to me there. These days strategy games are the only genre where my PC holds sway, and the odd RPG which is kept PC exclusive like Dragansang. The things the PC does offer above the modern console generation, like mods, don't interest me much.

Or you could just do what I did and plug the computer up to your TV, since it is an LCD.

Problem solved.

I don't want to carry my PC halfway across my house each time I want to play. The PC needs to stay in this room if it's to serve its other functions. Plus I still have the other reasons above.

[FactionHeir]

Heard back from Stardock:

Hello,

While we do not advocate circumventing the region restriction in this way, there is nothing we can do if you are able to get it to work. We will not be able to transfer the registration for your friend, so he/she would need to use the gifting option.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Looks like someone's going to get my custom (that is, unless D2D's US division reply the same)

[Beskar]

I don't want to carry my PC halfway across my house each time I want to play. The PC needs to stay in this room if it's to serve its other functions.

Being honest, only thing I dislike about PC's is the DRM nonsense, but ultimately, I would like to see far more PC gaming again.

I don't see why consoles have to be different to PC's, there is no reason for them to be. If you have the specifications required the run the games, it should be it. They have "Games for Windows Live", just having something like that, which allows you to play all Xbox games, etc, would be really great.

Make all the controller stuff like USB and other opensource formats, and it would really develop gaming to a new level.

[FactionHeir]

Got word back from Direct2Drive US store:

Thank you for contacting Direct2Drive Support.
Unfortunately, this game is available to US and Canada Residents only. Download Store staff are not able to make exceptions. This option is not able to be manually overriden. You must be physically located in the US or Canada at the time of purchase and download.

Looks like Impulse is the way to go for UK people

[FactionHeir]

Just as a heads-up for those also wanting to use Stardock's Impulse. Use the coupon code SURVEY-2009 for a 20% off until the 1st of November

[Monk]

Just as a heads-up for those also wanting to use Stardock's Impulse. Use the coupon code SURVEY-2009 for a 20% off until the 1st of November

For those out there interested in the PC version, that means you can snag the Deluxe Digital Edition (The same as a collector's off Amazon) for $51 USD after using this promotion code. That's the same price as the normal edition so unless you hate digital media and Impulse (or you just wanna get a console version) there's no excuse not to take advantage.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Maybe the fact that the game is being marketed as a frat boy RPG? Or, at least for that one video and press preview.

Not to take away from the deal you pointed out - if the game appeals then Impulse is the way to go. Perhaps I'm just haunted by the specter of ETW.

CR

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

An *actual* frat boy RPG has a perverse appeal to me.

Equip my +5 moxie cargo shorts.
Level up Beer Pong skill.
Use my ipod to play Bob Marley songs for +1 manna.

/ok, basically what I'm saying is I like Kingdom of Loathing