Bethesda Talks DLC Size and Limitations [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Gamasutra has an interview with Pete Hines, product manager for Fallout 3, about Bethesda's philosophy for DLC, and how it's changed over the years. Quoting: "All these people are out there playing our game by the hundreds of thousands on a daily basis and we want to be able to bring those folks something they could do in a much shorter time frame, rather than just saying, 'See you next year.' That instantly ruled out doing a big expansion because those things just take so damn long to do. So we started looking at the biggest stuff we'd done that people really liked, but that we could do in smaller, digestible chunks. That's where we came to the Knights of the Nine model — it's substantive and it adds multiple hours of game play and new items, but we can do it in a time frame that allows us to get it out without waiting forever. That's what we've gone for with Fallout 3."
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[TheDomesticInstitution]

Knights of the Nine was lackluster.

The armor and weapons weren't great, especially for high level characters.

The quest used many existing locations throughout the game. Which are probably familiar, if you've put 100+ hours into the game.

I don't know, but it sounds like laziness on Bethesda's part. But hey, if they can rush some extra DLC, that doesn't take much creativity or time, and make the same amount of money- why not?

While your at it, why not whip up some shiny new horse armor for fans to buy?

[Ed Oscuro]

Surprised Bethesda have the audacity to be talking about DLC so soon after a colossal messup on their end very much DLC-related.

[heybtbm]

Knights of the Nine was lackluster.

I enjoyed it more than The Shivering Isles. It's my favorite Oblivion DLC. To each their own.

Surprised Bethesda have the audacity to be talking about DLC so soon after a colossal messup on their end very much DLC-related.

Exactly what I was thinking. How about this, Bethesda...Make sure your $10 DLC WORKS before releasing it to the public.

[Nebagram]

Personally, I preferred Shivering Isles, though I will admit I play that almost as a separate game to Oblivion. I did like both Anchorage and the Pitt though- and I'm itching to get my hands on Broken Steel- so I can see their standpoint of 'smaller chunks but more of them'.

Got to admit though the 160-point add-ons to Oblivion were pretty pathetic.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

I enjoyed it more than The Shivering Isles. It's my favorite Oblivion DLC. To each their own.

In full disclosure though, I haven't played Shivering Isles. I'll start on this after I finish the last 2 or 3 quests for the fighters guild. I've seen a little gameplay for shivering isles, and it does look like a nicer change of scenery.

[unwinddesign]

Shivering Isles was awesome. This reeks of cheapness on Bethesda's part.

However, that was not the most important piece of that interview. Behold:

"We're getting ready to do something else with Oblivion this year, because it is still selling and retailers still like it. If we weren't talking about that game, they'd only be focused on the [newer] things. But we stay on top it. I think that owes to our sales guys who stay on top of it and don't want to let it just die. "

More Oblivion DLC? If only I still had my character...

[chicnstu]

About Elder Scrolls V. Game Informer has a page online with suggestions for what they could do with the series. I agreed with all of them except one. They said that using the mission structure of Fallout 3 would make it a better experience.

Time-wise, Fallout 3 is about half the size of Oblivion (I put 200 hours into Oblivion and 100 into Fallout 3). I didn't like that Fallout 3 had only a few quests that were long but connected meaning you can do more than one at a time. I don't care if having them connected means a slightly more interesting story.

More Oblivion DLC? If only I still had my character...

If only my 360 wouldn't have made my Oblivion unplayable by putting a wide circle scratch all the way around the disc...