Creston wrote on Feb 26, 2017, 12:48:

CJ_Parker wrote on Feb 26, 2017, 12:23:
Yeah, I guess that is true IF you are OK with them chopping and piecemealing the fuck out of a game but many (most?) people are not exactly fans of obviously cut out DLC that was (or at the very least should have been) part of the main game.

Their DLC sales numbers would indicate that most people actually were pretty fine with it.

That's one way to see it. My way to see it is that people bought the DLC because they did not want to write off the games as a total loss. So they invested the relatively small extra to get the full game(s), teeth gnashing to the point of bleeding from their mouths.

And while I would agree that the Prothean DLC was blatantly cut from the main game to be sold as DLC, most others were perfectly fine existing outside the main storyline and were excellent ancillary additions.

Nope. Many people feel that Arrival was an essential DLC and to only a very slightly lesser degree also Citadel and Leviathan. LotSB and Kasumi were also absolutely essential if you liked those critters (Kasumi and Liara).

The only non-essential DLC was all the unbalancing item and equipment crap but BioWare cut some really nice stories from the main game(s) of ME2 and ME3 to be sold separately as piecemeal DLC. It is no coincidence that DLC memes started popping up left, right and center when those games were hot.
The only game that did not have essential DLC was ME1.

EA rightfully earned a reputation of being the biggest scumbag dickwads in the universe with the way they handled ME DLC. I know many people, myself included, who will always wait for a GOTY now when a game comes with any DLC at all. Why play half the game at release if you can have the full game a year later?
Unfortunately, in ME's case this was not even possible and you *had* to buy the DLC (which even I did partially but very reluctantly when the games sold for <$10).
I won't do this again though. The ME series left a very sour taste in my mouth with the retarded ending of part 3. They either do a GOTY that I might buy for <$10 or fuck this franchise.

Yes, clearly none of the Mass Effect games had enough content to justify their original asking price. Worst offender. Okay.

That's very subjective, of course, but I feel genuinely sorry for anyone who paid $60 for these half-assed games on release. The vanilla games weren't exactly very content rich. They were quite short actually. And buggy as fuck.
I'm very glad I only paid <$10 plus the money for some handpicked DLCs for these games when they were fully patched.

At the end of the day I guess it's a matter of preference. If you prefer your games to be delivered massively piecemeal-style then ME series is pure heaven. If you prefer a somewhat finished game on release then you won't buy the game before all DLC is out so you can have the full experience with the full story and full cast of characters on your first playthrough.

Look, I don't have much of a problem with DLC that is really just an additional expansion like e.g. Omega for ME3 but stuff like Arrival, Leviathan and Citadel and to a slightly lesser extent Normandy Crash Site, Zaeed, LotSB & Kasumi are absolutely essential and main game material. P.e.r.i.o.d. d.u.d.e!