Nepenthe

I've only played it 'post', so I can't comment if 'pre' makes more sense. Post makes more sense than with, say, overlord at any rate. I assume any differences would be fairly minor, with a certain dialogue only kicking off post-completion at any rate... It's as if they intentionally designed the 'featherhead' to show off that the Mako wasn't that bad after all!

I knew there was a reason why I went over from metal to industrial. (edit: Roflmao @ Wals)

Is there anything else in October than the London Games Festival/Eurogamer Expo?

Horizon and the Collector Ship on Insanity redefined my concept of brutal.

I'm sure they'll do such a package eventually. You have to bear in mind that, as good as Shadow Broker is, it's still only a couple of hours (well, threeish). And while that might represent 50 % of the single player campaign of a Call of Duty game, it's still relatively bite-sized for an RPG. It essentially boils down to what is the setup they want to do for ME3. Is it going to be (re)introducing some characters who are going to be important in ME3, or are they actually going to start following up on some of the themes suggested in ME2 and especially Shadow Broker. When it comes to ME2, I actually believe that they have a fairly in-depth plan for the 'major' DLC - certainly it seems a lot better integrated than the disjointed DAO effort... You're not alone. It's been a while since I've played the main game, though, and the DLC seems a lot better in this way. Well, not Darkspawn Chronicles, but still... Or Return to Ostagar... OR (argh). Ok, Leliana's Song (or whachamacallit) is a fun little independent adventure, and the buggy mess of Awakening is a lot better in theory, but in practice calls for a lot of 'guess the developer's intent'...

LotSB is very good. Mmh, if you look at what happened after Bio was acquired by EA, it's fairly obvious that EA knew they'd bought an exceptional developer. Mostly evidenced by the fact that they lumped everything even remotely RPG together and put the Bioware doctors in charge of the whole. So, no, I'm not suggesting that there is an evil overlord that is forcing Bioware into making ****ty dlc for DAO, but that economic facts would point them towards making as much out of it for as little as they can. That, or they agreed with the 'dated engine' etc. criticisms and focused everything they had on that side of the building into DA2 as fast as they could. *shrug*

Apart from ME2, I don't think it's been that great after, either. And ME2 has had more than it's shared of '2 bucks for a new helmet and gun' stuff... But at least the mission DLC has been rock-solid.

I think there was a preliminary timetable on a press release for the ME movie. Can't find it now, of course, so... But IIRC it was more on the 2012 side of things than 2011. I've been quite happy with the "shorter but gooder' approach they've adopted with the me2 dlc... but I'd be very surprised if there isn't a larger expansion early next year. Such an expansion was, if not on the cards, then certainly seen as an alternative prior to the release. And Lair is already pushing the limit for what xbox live allows as DLC...

Fringe called. They are not happy with you using their alternate reality plotlines.

... until ME2 gets an expansion, too. But I pretty much agree with everything you've said. The difference between the two games is fairly shocking. I can only imagine DAO having had astronomically high costs due to the long product cycle, which resulted in the console ports and a skeleton crew working on the DLC. Because the difference is STAGGERING.

AFAIK, there have been virtually 0 gameplay fixes so far. Most of them have been engine/crash related. There were supposed to be (very) few in the final, but it's at least as broken as it was before.

Stayed up until 4 am playing Awakening, including 2,5 runs through Silverite Mines to get a bug-free result, then banging my head on the wall when am failing a persuasion for no apparent reason. Went from fun into chore in a few minutes, there.

Dragon Age: Awakening. My first playthrough, when it was originally released, was totally bug-free. Now that I'm trying to do a completionist run, it's suddenly become an exercise in hair pulling. Sometimes, I don't know if I've run into an actual bug, or if I've just failed to read the designers' minds correctly (Peasant Revolution, especially). Am currently again tipping in favor of ditching the Dragon Age franchise for good after the first game.

Why would we? If anything, vol can take care of himself. He has strange and somewhat confrontational opinions about things, but you OTOH can't seemingly write a post without taking a stab at somebody. More on topic, I haven't played this one (or golems) yet, but (apart from Leliana's DLC) the DAO PRC has been a colossal disappointment, especially in comparison to what they've done for mass effect 2. Well, I like Awakening, but find it to be somewhat lacking in technical execution.

Actually, I believe that 'stroking your lap' is, in fact, worse.

Nah, Krogan love is where the creepiness is at. One thing about the DLC that I just noticed, Liara seemed to have grown in some areas. Wonderarmor!

I was referring to the importable saves. Ie. you can use any post-completion save (and some pre-completion, IIRC) to import. Could've been clearer about that!

In terms of enthusiasm, sure, but the majority of folks who bought the game played through the single player stuff and then shelved it... just like any other non-mmo game. Or, like me, decided to cut their losses and shelved it before playing through the single player. Should probably try it again now that I actually have sufficient grunt to run it... But seem to have misplaced one of the discs. Oh well.

Thanks, he lived a life just as he wanted: Enjoying the company of others not worrying about a thing. As a sidenote, i was greeted by his uncle(!!), saying "hah, now i am the oldest in the family, gotta push to a hundred now"

Just like Dragon Age does. In fact, if you want to get , you pretty much have to save a lot of sidequests until after the suicide mission.

Generally when a company starts openly listing games that they are trying to emulate... it's a really bad sign.

Who's 'they'? THE GOVERNMENT?

Even James Bond knows that you never trust a man with a Windsor knot, the mark of a cad!