DLC: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[Silent Protagonist]

What have been your best/ worst experiences with DLC? What are your opinions on DLC as a whole? Is it great or terrible for the industry? If bad, could it be good if implemented a different way?
Discuss!
(I know it's pretty derivative but I haven't seen one of these recently and there has been a lot of DLC both good and bad in recent months)

 

[Ruedyn]

Meh, might as well

Good: Secret Armory of General Knoxx (Borderlands)

Bad: Javik (ME3)

Ugly: Horse armour (Oblivion)

Not exactly the format you asked for, but I posted before reading the OP. Learn from me, always read the OP.

I wouldn't say it's inherently 'bad', I just dislike how they're going about it. I think using it to update a game a month or two after release is a great thing, but holding items hostage for a quick buck is annoying and a bit evil in my opinion.

 

[Silent Protagonist]

Your format is fine. Maybe just give a few more specifics on what made those specific DLC Good, Bad, and Ugly

 

[skywolfblue]

Best:
Minerva's Den (Bioshock 2) - 3 massive sprawling levels packed with a really interesting storyline about "the thinker" a computer and how it relates to rapture.

Undead Nightmare (Red Dead Redemption) - Zombies done old western style? Neato! And it's packed to the brim with loads of content.

Good:
Alan Wake's two special episodes

RAAM's Shadow (Gears of War 3)

I've made it a point not to buy DLC unless I know for sure that it's really good. So this far I don't have any "terrible" DLC.

 

[Zhukov]

I have no problems with DLC. On disc, day one, whatever, no problems.

Seriously, even if you take the absolute worst case scenario, if they've locked completed on-disc content for the sole purpose of milking some extra money out of you then it just amounts to raising the price of the game by about $10. Big whoop. Your game costs ten bucks more. End of the world. Have a cry.

As for best and worst...

Best DLC I ever bought by far was Lair of the Shadow Broker for Mass Effect 2. Good mix of action and story. Self contained mini plot that still tied into the main story. Great dialogue and character moments. Hell, it even looked good.

Worst would be Arrival for, once again, Mass Effect 2. Didn't add anything new and was chock full of glaring plot holes. Even the combat was worse because they didn't let you have any squadmates, presumably because they didn't want to pay all the voice actors to come in again.

 

[Rumpsteak]

Best: Defense grid DLC (I don't buy a lot of DLC)

Worst: Blood pack for Shogun 2 (Regret it and really, this couldn't have just been a toggle?)

Anyway, DLC is merely a tool that developers and publishers have to aid in the continuing support for the game. How they choose to utilize this tool effects how it is perceived. In short, DLC is neither good nor bad.

 

[Gatx]

The concept of DLC is perfectly fine if it's used to extend the game's life, like say expansion packs did, or are nifty extras here and there, as long as the base game's content is hefty enough.

The argument for Day 1 DLC confuses me though. From what I understood the explanation for DLC originally was, as stated before, to extend the game's life by rolling out content periodically to keep people playing. Then later I hear that people still aren't playing games long enough to care when DLC come out so in order to make that profit from DLC they release it on Day 1.

Anyway

Best - Lair of the Shadow Broker (I don't buy that much DLC and it added a lot of ME2 in my opinion)
Bad - I dunno I never really bought any bad DLC, though I personally think weapon packs are kind of stupid.

Totally hot - Aya Brea's 3rd Birthday outfit for Lightning in Dissidia Duodecim. That game was essentially a $10 skin for me.

 

[TrevHead]

Good DLC: PC style expansion packs like Borderlands DLC, plus the extra Black Label DLC of CAVE shmups, (think of all the different versions of Street Fighter 2, ie hyper, champ ed etc), hats.

Bad DLC: how Capcom does it, nickle and dime crap, anything thats taken out of the game. Square Enix can die in a fire for selling ppl the true ending DLC to FF13X2. Also game breaking OP items that automatically unlock even if the player doesn't want it infecting their game.

By and large i'm pro DLC because it can bring much needed money into devs / pubs coffers which can be a life saver considering how quickly new retail games drop in price and how big the used market is nowadays. (even bad DLC is a better option that F2P imo)

I don't subscribe to the notion that all day 1 DLC is bad, CAVE's Black Label DLC is day one and anybody who has these games will tell you that it's good DLC that's part of a retail release thats content rich in itself, and these games are ports from the arcade with added features, each game mode is a completly different arcade game

 

[somersetsaxon]

Probably the best DLC I've played would be Minerva's den for Bioshock 2 which skywolfblue already mentioned. Aside from that Point Lookout for Fallout 3 would fill my top slot (purely because I preferred the additional content in PL to the content in Broken Steel and ignoring the fact that BS retconned the sledgehammer of an ending).

Along these lines I think that DLC is a good thing, it gives developers something to be working on between games and if I'm really interested in the world or story of a game I'm always going to be up to see more of it (if it's priced correctly).

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Good: Lair of The Shadow Broker. How fuckin' awesome was that?

Bad: Pinnacle Station. Really Bioware? That was just lazy.

Ugly: From Ashes DLC. Didn't even buy it. Got it as a gift. While Javik is an awesome character and his mission is awesome, the fact that Bioware made a fuckin' prothean into an optional character is sickening. And when you take into account that Javik was supposed to be The Catalyst before Casey went crazy, it's even worse.

 

[verdant monkai]

The whole DLC situation is generally just bad. On disk DLC is just plain revolting, it is not even downloadable.
I am not an advocate of piracy since it does not help the industry or anything for that matter, but I really think people hacking games to get on disk dlc for free, is a very good thing. In my opinion it is not even theft because they own the disk it is theirs for gods sake. The company dont own it anymore. It is like selling someone a house and not letting them in the toilet unless they pay extra for it.

Content held back so it could be sold as dlc is plain scummy. It should just have been included in the actual game.

Dlc made because it was something new the dev hadn't thought to put in the main game is great.

 

[Battleaxx90]

My favourite DLC of all time, besides LotSB?

The following outfits in Dissidia 012.

Spoiler: Spoil'd for size

The ability to play as Cloud, Sephiroth and Le Squallinator in their Kingdom Hearts attire? JUST TAKE MY DAMN MONEY, SQUEENIX!

 

[Robot Number V]

Good: Lair of the Shadow Broker. This is Mass Effect as it should be.

Bad: Arrival. What...happened? The whole thing just felt rushed and pointless.

As far as my broader opinions go, I think DLC is a good idea, when it's USED CORRECTLY. However, lots of companies are just using it to try and nickel-and-dime us, and it can get pretty damn obnoxious. However, as long as it remains optional and people vote with their wallets, DLC theoretically has no down-side.[footnote]I said theoretically.[/footnote]

 

[Hawkeye 131]

AMAZING!!! - Pretty much all of ME2's DLC, (Normandy Crash site, Zaeed, Kasumi, Overlord, LoTSB)

Good - ME2's Arrival, BF3's Back to Karkand, Pretty much all of GoW 3's season pass stuff (I usually only play Horde), Deus Ex: HR The Missing Link, Fallout 3's The Pitt, Broken Steel & Point Lookout

Meh - ME1's Bring down the sky & GoW 3's Raam's Shadow, Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta & ME3's Extended Cut

I regret buy this - ME1's Pinnacle Station & ME3's Javik

-Hawk