1) The DLC was never meant to be included in the original game. The game was first targeted for early '09, not late '09. Stone Prisoner would have been released sometime over the summer, but was instead bundled FOR FREE in new copies of the game when the game was delayed.

2) Again, Stone Prisoner was designed from the get-go as DLC by a separate team from the game devs. It was never built into the intergral design of the game, so trying to make a claim that a core component of the game was 'cut' when it was never in the core game to begin with is ridiculous.

I think he was saying, "Imagine if it DIDN'T, and you had to pay for it."

I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

I have to agree with the majority of people here against the OP. I've been playing Dragon Age since release, without the WK DLC, and I haven't had the feeling that I'm missing something. Nor is the "unenhanced" game short or lacking of replayability. I'm on my second playthrough (I haven't beaten the first, yet, I just wanted to try a different class), about 20-21 hours in and something like 19% completed. At this rate I'll be getting 100 hours out of this playthrough alone. That's none to shabby even for an RPG. (Hell, the campaign of Halo 3 could be completed over a long afternoon)

I think you need to drop that feeling of self-entitlement. I bet most people thought "what the heck?" when they heard that Dragon Age was releasing along with DLC. Considering how few people are posting threads like this, though, it seems that most people have gotten over that gut reaction. Why? Either they tried the game, or they gave the notion a little more thought.

Honestly, I haven't had a problem with DA:O's DLC. I think they handled it pretty well. I do see where the OP is coming from though. I too fear that DLC will become so commonplace that in the future without DLC most games just won't be able to compete and without the DLC we'll be getting bland game experiences for all our games and they'll still cost $40, $50, and $60 Without DLC.

The problem is that there Are some games out there now that without DLC are basically unplayable pieces of shit. These games charge you money after the fact for basic game-play features that most games have standard. Luckily those seem to be restricted to web based browser games and online games with micro-transactions. The average gamer can see these money traps coming a mile away too but some are crafty about it and hide it pretty well until you're already in game and hooked.

I fear that this will become common practice as some companies get away with it and then other companies follow suite to jump on the money making band wagon. The only thing that will stop this trend is if gamers boycott a game and really drive the point home to the companies and hit them where it really hurts....their wallets. Will that ever happen though? I doubt it. People don't stand up for what they believe anymore. People as a whole are too beat down and mind washed by society's rules. Most people, even in the US, don't stand up for their own basic human rights and we let companies and the government walk all over us and rob us blind through bills and taxes. Our forefathers have been spinning in their graves for over a century...

********************SPOILIER*********************************

honestly, each DLC is about an hour of gameplay tops .... not worth it ... except the Keep is a pretty good store.

****************************************************************

oh noes, FREE DLC! what is the world coming to?

I should kill you where you stand for even imagining such blasphemy!!!

If you had a company that had produced pure shit, would you buy the game *alone*? DLC is an orthogonal concept to quality, and I don't see how selling crap is somehow made better by not offering DLC alongside it.

They did, it was called "Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe Edition Pre-Order". You didn't get it, too bad so sad, but at least you've got the option to get the extra content for a (relatively) small price, most pre-order bonus end up being unavailable outside of eBay for the entirety of the product's lifetime. I still want my Aribeth poster, goddammit! 

By recording Golem-specific lines after the fact, and adding them alongside the data files for the DLC, perhaps? which would explain why, as far as I can see, there are no "OMG is that a golem besides you!?" comments by NPCs, or Golem-specific quests outside the DLC content. Like there is for Leliana, for instance, who gets special treatment by anyone who's part of the Chantry, or Alistair by everyone in his hometown.

Frankly, we already had this conversation weeks ago and I'm already tired of it. You know what I think? I think that Dragon Age: Origins is the finest videogame ever created even without a single plece of DLC, free or otherwise. And I think that we should judge a game's value by itself instead of being jealous of "what could've been" if you had more money. And the base game is easily worth the $50 asking price, for anyone with even a slight interest in the RPG genre.

its perfectly a good game without the Keep or the Golem. The only thing they should of changed was to only add the Keep guy IF THE CONTENT WAS DOWNLOADED!!!!!! seriously ... having that lame guy be a Salesman for EA ... that really flew me off my rocker.

I wish the super weapons in Sins had been DLC.  Then I wouldn't have them.

Of course, the ai doesn't use them so I can just ignore their presence...

Well the game itself is going to be easly 80 hours for my first run thru.  Heck, I'm pushing 25-30 and I'm not even done with the first main army gathering quest.

As for the DLCs, I don't like the trend in general but frankly, if a DLC doesn't look to be worth it I won't buy it.  That simple.  With Oblivion I didn't buy a single DLC until the Knights of the Nine came out and bundled all the previous DLCs together in one package. 

As for the Dragon Age DLCs:

1) Stone Prisoner (FREE) - Not even in the discussion since it is FREE.  I haven't done this one yet but probably will once I finally get out of the Fade.  I've read it's over 2 hours of gameplay but the biggest thing is you get a new party member you can use the entire rest of the game.

2) Warden's Keep ($7) - I got about 2 hours of gameplay out of it (3 if you count that it took me 5 times to finally beat the final battle).  You do get a couple cool vendors and the unlimited storage chest.  I think $5 is probably more appropriote charge but I won't quibble over 2 bucks.  Plus I got it FREE anyway with the digital deluxe version (one of the main reasons I went with the digital deluxe, I'd rather have the free DLC over a tin box and map).

3) All the pre-order item garbage - This I thought was over the top and uneeded.  I scoffed at it figuring they would all be useless items soon into the game BUT many of us were wrong on that one.  Magic is rare in this game and I'm still using the 2 rings I got at the beginning.

In any case, Dragon Age is one of the best games ever (seriously) and I'll get way over 80 hours of gameplay out of my frist run and I'm not even doing all sidequests.  Replayability is high and I can see playing this several more times with different origins/characters and different party members.