There's trouble afoot, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen fans. Posting on Capcom Unity, the publisher's senior vice-president Christian Svensson has revealed that the only way to get at the expanded edition's new areas, items and classes is by buying the full thing. That's to say, none of the additional content will be separately available as DLC.
"We went round and round with the team on this topic as [releasing the Dark Arisen content as DLC] would have been a preferred option from our standpoint too," Svensson wrote, in response to a reader complaint. "As it turns out, I'm sorry but unfortunately there were major technical limitations that would couldn't allow for a digital upgrade path.
"We also tried to explore a number of mechanisms to try and otherwise put this full product in original owners hands at a discount digitally," he added, "but we would have run afoul of a few first party policies (not any first party's fault, t'was our fault).
"So instead, we're packing more than $20 worth of value in digital rewards for existing users: 100K rift crystals (which in DDDA have a LOT more uses than they did in DD vanilla) the Gransys armor pack and the unlimited Ferrystone.
"We hope this will be a sufficient "thank you" for being part of the first wave of Dragon's Dogma fans given the development limitations we had. Thanks again for your continued support and I hope to see you in Gransys in April."
The news is rather a blow, given the extent of Dark Arisen's offerings and the sheer number of play hours many of you have sunk into the original game. It's worth remembering that Capcom has a history of releasing "Super", "Ultra" and "Hyper" editions, packed with content that could have - and in some cases, has - been released as DLC.
Are you tempted to buy again?
11 comments so far...
msbhvn on 24 Jan '13 said:
Capcom screwing over its existing customer base yet again? What a shocker!
I'm sure the "technical limitations" were more like the execs at Capcom saying "make 'em buy it again, it worked with Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Dead Rising 2".
Sorry Capcom, but I'm not buying your game twice. Especially now the original is worthless thanks to this announcement.
FishyGinger on 24 Jan '13 said:
If it had technical limitations and 'no hooks' I can only assume they had to reprogram the whole game again for this. In which case they're wonderful people to be so kind.
Or it's complete bull and they just want people to buy the game again, as thanks.
Grummy on 24 Jan '13 said:
So basically just a GotY edition? Fair enough, I don't have my old copy of DD, sold it after I finished it, so I have no qualms about buying it again.
CunningSmile on 24 Jan '13 said:
Reading articles like this I'm often left wondering "Does Japan actually have the internet?"
I only ask as so many Japanese developers and publishers never seem to think ahead in terms of possible DLC and instead insist on the 6 billion Super-Hyper-Alpha edition releases that I'm sure must reduce sales over all since either people don't buy incase a better edition comes along later, or they miss out on follow up sales as early adopters feel left out.
SidTheSloth on 24 Jan '13 said:
Having some mixed feelings about this... Their lack of foresight/faith in their own game is staggering, but technically it sounds feasible at least - but still irritating to those of us who didnt/dont trade as i've got to buy the whole game again! On the flip side i more than got my monies worth from the original and this is meant to be £20 which sounds pretty reasonable so im prepared to cut them some slack.
Whats melting my brain is the lack of info around the save game imports ive read about... Wasnt aware - aside from my pawn that there's that much to import? Maybe it'll just be i can load my old game with the new disk and it'll create a converted save? Might mean we get a new 1000G too as effectively a new retail release? That aught to sweeten the deal at least?
RedBelmont on 24 Jan '13 said:
I can completely believe the devs never expected to be making DLC for DD but I find it hard to believe there is no alternative, meaning people need to buy the game again.
Surely if that were true Capcom could have maybe mentioned something about this when the DLC was announced... months ago. But instead most of us kept hold of our copies as we knew there was DLC en route, they kept it zipped and the games trade value fell like a fat nun. Capcom have a bad track record for this sort of thing so it's doubly hard to buy whatever excuse they invent next. Me thinks I won't be buying it come release day.
FishyGinger on 25 Jan '13 said:
I certainly won't be getting it. If they can't release dlc as dlc then me no buy.
Bezza89 on 25 Jan '13 said:
If they're selling the goty edition at the same price as the dlc would have been, then there is no problem.
PS3Tard on 25 Jan '13 said:
Glad I waited before I bought it... they managed to find a new way to screw the customer.
fracturedrich on 25 Jan '13 said:
Why did they not just put all these resources into dd2,i loved the first one but cmon now,this could put fans on the defensive for number 2 in case they try this on again.Oh yeah an alien just burst through your forum and onto my screen
TemplarKnight on 25 Jan '13 said:
Well all the big developers are doing this type of stuff. GOTY editions (which Bethesda are especially fond of releasing 1 year after the original game) are the same as the Super/Ultra editions that Capcom release. I'm not justifying this as Capcom have a past in doing this but I'm not surprised. Again, they're just doing what companies like Bethesda, Ubisoft, Bioware and EA have been doing alongside them (although Capcom seem to be the worst).
Fortunately I expected this and sold my copy months ago on Amazon. So I can pick this edition up and benefit from it. I still have my saves too from the original so I get the "extra" content free anyways. I suspect everyone else will be selling their original copies too now, that is if they are willing to support Capcom still. However unless this expansion is absolutely game-changing, I probably won't pick it up.
As for Dragon's Dogma 2, I think I'll be picking up its "Dark Arisen" edition a year after it's released and in the bargain bin.