Given the amount of time between the release of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and the release of its first DLC expansion, Dawnguard, we knew that it was going to be quite the undertaking, gameplay wise. Developer Bethesda had previously come out to say that unlike the DLC that was included with Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, the type of content they were planning for Skyrim was much more substantial, meaning it wasn’t going to feel like a simple side quest.
Still that wasn’t much to go on, but thankfully Skyrim Lead Artist Matt Carofano has come out to give a much clearer comparison for Dawnguard versus past DLC releases for Bethesda. Though gamers should be focusing on the content itself, there is an inherent value proposition to any piece of DLC, whether it’s for last year’s Game of the Year or not, and now we have a better idea of what gamers are in for.
In quantitative terms, Dawnguard will be significantly larger than any of the DLC released for Fallout 3, but not as expansive than The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’s biggest DLC offering, Shivering Isles. For anyone that finds it hard to gleam a point of comparison, Carofano also said the DLC delivers about as much content as one of Skyrim‘s faction quest lines. It’s a completely arbitrary way of describing the quality of a piece of DLC, but in essence it’s Bethesda’s way of saying Dawnguard should provide between 10 to 20 hours of content.
The DLC, which is currently in beta, puts players in the midst of a battle between Skyrim‘s version of vampires and vampire hunters, known as the Dawnguard. Players will have to make some really tough decisions along the way, including whether they want to succumb to the darkness and become a full blown vampire, or lay waste to the whole lot of them.
Specifics regarding the DLC’s story are still shrouded in quite a bit of mystery, but frankly that’s how we like it. Just the first trailer for the DLC was enough to prove that this is an addition worth checking out.
Does “smaller than Shivering Isles but bigger than anything for Fallout 3” sound like an adequate amount of content for Dawnguard? Were you concerned that Dawnguard was going to be too short of an expansion?
Skyrim‘s first expansion Dawnguard is scheduled to release June 26, 2012 for Xbox 360, and about 30 days later for PS3 and PC.
Source: Game Front
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I was hoping it was going to be almost as big as Shivering Isles but that sounds pretty decent. Maybe it’ll get me to start playing Skyrim again.. I haven’t played it in months.
I recently picked the game up again. Almost at lvl 40 after 52 hours of play. I’ve hardly progressed in the main story beyond picking a faction to support.
the main story really isn’t the war, its the dragons.
I’ve been killing dragons left right and centre. Got so many souls and even found the words but it won’t let me unlock them. The game stresses me with all of it’s glitches but it is still amazing.
I think from the beginning of the game, depending on who you escape Helgen with determines your side in the war. If you leave with Rolof, you side with the Stormcloaks. If you leave with the other guy, the Empire is your home team.
Kind of sucks, but I didn’t realize it until AFTER I restarted the game with a new char.
That doesn’t really pick your side. It just changes who you first see when you reach Riverwood (?). You choose your side when you see those “join the imperial army” or “join the stormcloak rebellion” quests in the journal.
Didn’t Bethesda claim it would be $20? Or was it $10?
This is what developers should do. Take the time to support games post-launch and release DLC like this. Not to bash COD but $10-$15 for a few new maps and couple old ones is a rip-off. I love when devs continue support for their game and release expansion packs.
I’m glad this isn’t as long as shivering isles. Vampires don’t really interest me. I’m still going to get this but pick the side that fights them. Bc this isn’t as long I think that there will be more expansions to come out. I would like to see more Falmer or Dwemer plot lines in an expansion. I’m really excited about the tougher dragons and mounted combat in the expansion. Have they mentioned about increasing the level cap? I would like to expand some perk trees but I’m already level 81.
The vampire sidequest seems pretty boring. I’ll still buy it because even if the rest of the world hates it, I like Skyrim. I enjoyed all Elder Scrolls, albeit, some more than others.
“I’ll still buy it because even if the rest of the world hates it, I like Skyrim.”?
The rest of the world does not hate Skyrim. I dont know if thats a typo, or if you meant it how it sounded.
I would love a raise in the level cap… I honestly never understood why it stopped at 81.
I’d enjoy completely maxing my character out… And it’d obviously give Skyrim even more gameplay.
yeah it makes no sense. There are so many more perks to get why can I not gain levels to gain perks. Also I’m a level 100 enchanter with the perk tree basically filled out and i feel that my enchants aren’t that great any ideas anyone?
Sounds great to me, especially since it’s not just more quests, it adds to game mechanics. Kind of like how Fallout DLC left you with good loot after the quests. But this seems even better.
Smaller than Shivering Isles is not a bad thing to me at all. Most games out there are smaller than Shivering Isles.
My only problem is that I have no idea whether I’d rather be or kill a vampire.
“As much content as one of the faction lines”, that is s***. The factions all took no time to complete except for the Thieves guild. They sucked.
You don’t pay attention very well do you? Immediately after that, they said “It’s a completely arbitrary way of describing the quality of a piece of DLC, but in essence it’s Bethesda’s way of saying Dawnguard should provide between 10 to 20 hours of content.”
Cuz all you did was probably the main story to the quests. People like you who don’t actually play the game, and then complain about it are annoying. Go back to your MW3 that you probably claim is better than Skyrim.
I wonder if they will allow vampires to join the Dawnguard? Perhaps in Stage-1? I’d love to be able to play a ‘Blade’ type character. Make a Redguard, make him look like Wesley Snipes, practice in Blades, Sneak, and Archery? Hunt my own kind? Tell me that doesn’t sound great.
That actually does sound cool
I havnt played skyrim in so long..theres time that i miss it, n theres times where i kno i made the rite decision cuz it delted my file. So f*** skyrim…o how imu :/
wait… as much to offer as a fraction quest line? THAT IS A TERRIBLE COMPARISON! The companions can be beat in like 20 to 30 minutes!
Well I would not mind a small map, but as long as they add lots of new stuff. Like I saw new weapons, new and cool places to go. If by saying it is bigger than Fallout 3′s DLCs I am wondering if that includes Point Lookout. Point Lookout was pretty big too.
it says bigger than any DLC for Fallout 3 or New Vegas so that include Point Lookout
Given the storyline of Skyrim I don’t understand why they didn’t go with something involving the Thalmar. Instead we have vampires.
such a shame how a studio so reliant on their name and not their skill makes so much money from poor suckers that think this game has depth to it and is a ‘master piece’, yet something as epic as amalur hardly sells then goes bust, just goes to show how ignorant gamers are becoming and how visuals are the only concern to the modern gamer *sigh*
Dude yesss, KoA was soooo good! I enjoyed it more than Skyrim IMO but Skyrim was pretty good too. I just preferred the combat in KoA much more.
but what made skyrim good, was it the terrible animations, poor narrative, boring/repetitive enemy types, repetitive music, vast and empty world, all the glitches and bugs that to date have not been properly addressed ?
when i buy a game i expect it to be of reasonable standard, the excuse of ‘its so big they couldn’t fix everything’ is bs because guilds and the MAINS STORY are essential parts of the game, not that there are a great deal of quests etc to be done anyways.
i just find it hard to believe that something so poorly made has made so much cash, same with gta4, i recently played that mess and it is only a slight update from gta 3, updates being visuals, AI and the addition of mechanics that suck (like the aiming or cover system).
i really dont know what makes these games so ‘good’ b/c the way i see it they suck and only a fool would think differently.
What made Skyrim good for me was the fact that it didn’t glitch on me. It ran smoothly except for the occasional un-flammable dragon but it was great. Games, like everything else, is subjective. People like bananas, others don’t. You hated Skyrim, I liked it. You loved KoA, I didn’t. It’s all subjective.
They should’ve made Skyrim cooperative with enemies scaling based on the amount of people who joined similar to borderlands.
“The way i see it they suck and only a fool would think differently.” So basically, if someone doesn’t share your exact opinion on everything, they’re stupid? Should I read you the U.S. Constitution? Or would you like to take your seat on the Communist hotseat yourself?
This comment just shows how ignorant you are.
Plus, the game is big so yes, there are more bugs. Millions of gamers will play differently, which is why some experience bugs and others do not.
&
GTA4 and Skyrim being poorly made? That is entirely your opinion, don’t make it sound like it is fact. and why is someone a fool because they don’t think like you? C’mon dude lol
it’s not an opinion when everything i said is fact ;P gta 4 and skyrim are empty shells – they appear to be occupied with ‘ a ton of stuff to do’ but when you actually sit and think about all there is to do, the game is very small. again both these games have heavily relied on their reputation to sell, just like blizzard did with diablo 3, which imo is a very low grade game (in terms of visuals, mechanics and scale).
look up path of exile, that imo is the true successor to diablo 2
I enjoyed Skyrim, GTA4, KoA and a s***-ton of other games that are similar to them. You can not measure a game’s quality by “how much there is to do”.
GTA4 for example had many flaws and not half as many non-storyline activities as its predecesors, but it made up for it with its near-realistic enviroment, high quality voiceacting and animation and its large, believable storyline.
Every game has flaws but some of them have redeeming qualities.
Things to do in Skyrim:
-Main quest
-Factions
-Hunt bandits
-Become a bandit
-Pillage towns
-Protect towns
-Fight dragons
-Upgrade skills and stats
-Explore (how on Earth is the land “empty?” Every piece of the world has SOMETHING that can be done in it.)
-Do one of the hundreds of side quests
-Do one of the literally uncountable radiant quests
-Learn about lore
-Kill everyone
-Steal from everyone
-Set fire to everything
-Make/Sell potions
-Make/Sell armor
-Make/Sell enchantments
-Put buckets on people’s heads
-Enjoy one of the most intricately woven and created games this generation.
If the game is so bad and only “stupid gamers” like it, why is it that many game developers themselves enjoy the game? Not one developer has anything negative to say about the game, in fact, all of them say they love it. You are alone on this one, so for everyone’s sake, shut the hell up.
KoA was terrible. That fact was proven by no one wanting to play it. It was like Fable. They shouldn’t try and compare it to Skyrim. And only people like you who want nothing but nonstop action think the world was empty. Learn to explore. Go back to your KoA with your 10 year old friends who like linear games and can’t think for themselves.
No, for Christ’s sake no. Skyrim is SINGLE player. It’s already messed up enough by being on console. I have no problem with console games, but the elder scrolls just doesn’t work on console.
is that b/c elder scrolls started on pc… you pc fans are a joke, you call console gamers immature and ignorant but take a look at yourselves, you clowns are worse for thinking your ‘elite’ for owning a 4 digit numeric unit that all you do is play games on.
Now now, lets not put labels on gamers or their respective gaming systems.
The concerns of many pc-gamers that optimising a game for console means dumbing it down is actually quite justified, since it has happened before. Because let’s face it: you can’t do as much stuff with a controller as with a keyboard.
In this particular case though I think Bethesda managed to prove those sceptics wrong. I’m quite pleased what they managed to do with the UI, they managed to simplify without cutting too many corners.
I’m actually looking forward to this – although it won’t help me complete skyrim. Already 120+hrs in and 2 characters, and feel like I’ve got nowhere!
Creative cynical people (myself) play games and watch movies looking for flaws because:
A) we expect better
B) we think we could make better
C) old souls
Most games and movies today cater to the wider simpler audience, where as their are many gamers out there who have incredible minds and ideas to push gaming further, yet in the stores were sold the same crap over n over. I’m a child of the 90′s, so I feel gamers in my generation are just missing that nostalgic feeling we use to get.
I mean back in the day, you had to read all of the dialogue on screen, modern games have voice casts…subtle differences like this are what splits the gaming community.
I used to love games, and still do, unfortunately everything gets beaten too quick then we get bored. I stare at all my games now uninterested. Games coming out aren’t exciting anymore. Companies try to hard to sell the glossy 2012 suped up engines, yet pay no attention to the story…
Time to pack up my systems and go to the library
If I met you in real life, I probably would of shoved your head up your butt because obviously they are one and the same. “Creative cynical people (myself) don’t call yourself creative, that’s a word used by others. Cynical? More like idiotic. And can we shut up with “hurr ninties kidz”? If you want to read the dialouge, turn on subtitles. If you want games to be enganging, stop buying popular games and stick to Portal 2 or L.A. Noir. And don’t say expect better from devs, because how many years experience do you have working for a major AAA developer? You don’t the amount of effort, time, or stress that goes into game production.
I know that feel bro
These games have always been buggy. You should’ve seen the originals, Arena The Elder Scrolls was awesome for its time and ridiculously full of bugs. Everyone was very nervous when Morrowind was coming out on console based on Bethesda track record.
p.s. you can download the original “Arena the Elder Scrolls” for free from bethesda’s webpage, just need dosbox to run it.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/arena
I love the big expansive worlds in Bethesda games.As a gamer I love the option to explore and they make games that you can explore. Some times buggy yes but the amount of content they give in a single game is so big in comparison to anyother game out there that i forgive them for occasional buggieness. Now I just hope they will make a Fall out game as large or larger than Skyrim. The comparison of faction quest line for time is a pretty poor measure as it is true the time to complete a faction quest line varies widely.