Nintendo Confirms Expansion Pass DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Wow...

I'm conflicted on this. I mean, I'm going the get this because 1, they deserve it, and 2, I'm a Nintendo fanboy.

But, it kind of feels wrong to have DLC in a Zelda game.

I'm just hope everything will turn out for the better. It probably will.

EDIT: Thinking back on this, I really am fine with this. There's no doubt the game and new content will be awesome.

Have a Poochy!

For better or worse Nintendo are catching up to modern gaming practices.

I'm ok with this as long as the content is worth the price and it sounds like it is!!!!

Huh, didn't see that coming. At all.

Though I admit, I'm a sucker when it comes to season passes for the more 'epic' of games. For racers, shooters, et cetera, I usually don't care, but for open world titles and RPG's such as Just Cause 3, Final Fantasy XV and something like this, I just can't help myself.

EDIT: Which, in the case of Just Cause 3, was obviously a bad decision on my part. :')

Stop it, Nintendo. You're taking all the bad things about modern gaming and leaving the good things behind!

I am not happy but not angry either.

I will wait on some opinions from other people before purchasing the season pass for myself.

If the additional content is worth it then sure. I have not been disappointed by Ninty DLC thus far, but this is the first one with at least somewhat actual price instead of pennies that MK8 DLC cost.

the game is not even out yet. for what i hope is that there will be end game content, like, for instance, in diablo or something. with a system to replay the storyline but also to level up in an endless level cap.......

Really, hard/hero modes should be part of a game, not DLC :/
Other than that, I'm looking forward to the new original story!

Why would I want Link to run around with a Switch T-Shirt? Talk about immersion breaker!

The MK8 was like the best value DLC I ever saw so hopefully Nintendo continues this practice.

I'm only really interested in the "new story content" so may wait till Holiday 2017. As long as it's not essential to the main storyline, perhaps fleshed out a side character. Extra stuff to make the game "easier" never appeals to me. Challenge dungeons are fine as are enhanced difficulties as if done right they are almost like new game modes that require you to play differently.

On top, the £18 price is a nice change from the £40 price other publishers try.

The additional content sounds good, but I'm a little unsure of the price... it's basically a third of the price of the game for only a fraction of the content in comparison.
I'll still get it, but it'll need to be pretty amazing content in order to make it feel worthwhile.

This is terrible news. Totally unexpected.

Nothing wrong with more Zelda! They really do want to be the next Elder Scrolls don't they!

Edit: I'm more curious how much of my 32gb this will take that really isn't 32gb. More like 27gb, thanks Nintendo for all the space!

I don't even know how I feel about this.... but a new story..... OOOOH. Need.

Hard mode behind a paywall. I wonder how the fanboys will defend this.Still Expansion pass? Man that reminds me of the Witcher 3,god i love that game. What a masterpiece.

Hard mode? dont tell me they are going to charge for a difficulty setting...

So can you get the expansion pass well after launch and still get the bonuses?

I can't wait! The new content seems worth $20 and will keep the game alive long past its initial release.

Meh, it will keep us playing I guess.

DLC and a new amiibo line? Nintendo isn't pulling any punches with this one...

Et tu, Nintendo?

Awful, awful, awful. Was the Limited Edition not expensive enough that they're adding this expense on top of it? (And let's be realistic, any serious collector will be buying the DLC as well, so it would have made sense to include the DLC/season pass as part of that package). I get that publishers need to charge more for games considering how much more expensive they are to produce nowadays, and the added fact that mobile platforms are consuming so much of the market, but this is ridiculous. The Limited Edition already costs close to AU$200. I would have happily paid the premium if the DLC was on the cartridge in place of some of the useless paraphernalia. And don't get me started on the $300 or so worth of amiibo that constitute the Zelda line.

I'd rather have a slightly more expensive retail package and have everything on the cartridge, rather than have console-locked DLC.

Nintendo has been so receptive to adopting the scummiest modern practices of the industry lately. Conformity doesn't suit you, Nintendo.

While I can see how some people will rightfully hate this, I think they've earned a bit of goodwill from me for this. They've done a few tasteful DLC releases now that don't detract from the main game, and this sounds like more of the same.

Really don't care about treasure chests or hard mode (unless it's a Master Quest instead of Hero Mode), but the "original story" intrigues me.

bad news for me. With this kind of stuff playing games are most expensive than ever

I've just finished ffxv and I keep getting prompted to buy bonus packs. But after 3 months of seeing the same art style and playing the same mechanics, I have no desire to extend my playtime.

Lets see how I feel about Zelda DLC after I've played what seems like a large game for the next 3 or so months.

Apparently, the Hard mode said is actually a Harder mode.

The base game has Hard Mode.

Nintendo is charging for a difficulty mode? Even Capcom didn't do that with Resident Evil 7.

Oooh Nintendo. Why does it always seem to be -unpleasant-surprises with you lately...

Doesn't sound worth the money, especially when the base game is this huge to begin with.

Pack 1 just looks like stuff they've removed form the main game to sell separately. Cave of trials, a hard mode and a map "feature"?!

Pack 2 sounds more reasonable as DLC with more story content and a dungeon.

No thanks... Never been a fan of paying 59.99 just take home a 3/4 portion of a game and then have the option to pay for the rest of the game at an additional charge. As long as Zelda or any other game is playable and can be finished without dlc then it's cool to me.

I'm excited for this! Normally nintendo give huge extra value with their DLC!

announcing dlc before the game is released really bugs me.

@chardir Fully agreed... I would have prefered an announced DLC pack with new story for 20 bucks period... Trying to make the DLC a season pass with stuff as 2-3 treasure chest, a dificulty mode and a map feature makes it looks bad IMO...

When did game developers suddenly change and bring out unfinished games? Then sell the rest of the game as a DLC, this is dissapointing

"You know Nintendo is moving into the modern market when they're announcing DLC before the game even comes out"
~Quote from Sam Wurdemann of Youtube.

@sillygostly Wow! Yeah good point for those who bought the special addition. I'm glad I didn't now especially knowing they would add this dlc stuff. .

@Bunkerneath Roughly five years ago.

Wow! Still don't know what the user interface looks like on the Switch but we know about frickin' DLC for BoTw.
Madness

@Mega_Yarn_Poochy You're trully honest ...

I wonder why they didn't just wait until a bit after the game released before announcing the DLC. Probably would have helped the reception.

@sillygostly You didn't need to make the same comment twice, you know.

@chardir It's apparently a "harder" mode-- the base game still has hard/hero mode.

Anyways, knee-jerk responses are knee-jerk.

I think they reveal this too soon, but bring it on!

Great, lol. I'm now tempted to cancel my limited edition and just get the DLC instead.

I don't like that they're putting hard mode as paid DLC. Perhaps if it's like a 'Master Quest' type deal where everything's changed around, but ... if the enemies just hit harder or whatever, then this isn't good, imo.

I think a part of this is to demonstrate to third parties how easy it is to monetise their games on the Switch, the other part being pure profit!

I will likely end up getting this, but I won't be getting it day 1. I'd rather spend the money on new games...

I literally want nothing more right now to play through this game with a switch Tshirt on Link!!!

@CrazedCavalier It's not really a knee-jerk response if you've been denouncing these practices every time a developer announces a season pass for their game. Plenty of people here own more than just one system.

Lol lol lol welcome to the new world of Nintendo. Expect more info like this for many of their franchises in the future. I wonder what they have planned for splatoon2. You poor ppl that bought limited edition zelda your not even getting the full game. I am buying zelda for wii u but won't be bothered with the dlc I can live without it

I'm still not keen on DLC, but I might get this if the content looks to be worth the money.

Possibly. I'll not be jumping into this based on the description of said DLC - seems more side of the main story/quest than anything essential. However, once I've played and hopefully completed the main quest, if I'm still thirsty for more I'll revisit the option. Key word, optional.

Hey remember. some people wanted Nintendo to copy the others. Here you go. I'm getting it

I'm only interested in the second pack.

Personally, I feel like that's a great use of DLC. I remember reading about how they skipped dungeons in Wind Waker because they didn't have time, back then I would have loved to have those dungeons as DLC. I'm glad that this is a possibility today, and that they're doing it.

I guess part of this is the release of the Switch itself. Since it will in all likelihood cover both handheld and console gaming for Nintendo in the future, it's less likely that we'll get the smaller/handheld experiences for LoZ in future so the gaps between games will be longer. With that in mind it's easier to release new content for an existing game that building a new one from scratch.

Another sign that Nintendo's younger, 'more with the times' staff is taking over. That's a good thing of course, Nintendo has needed to get with the times for a while. I'll also say I don't agree with business practices of a lot of companies, so there's always some concern, but as long as they look towards something like The Witcher 3, as opposed to Deus EX (great game that suffered due to poor choices by Square Enix), all's well that ends well.

good bye Nintendo, I loved you but you are no longer yourself, go, turn into that monstrosity that plagues the modern day while I remember who you used to be...
I'm so confused that I'm not even mad...but something inside me is dying...

Wow can't wait just seen the Nintendo video will be on my list to get.

I'm interested in the new story and new dungeon announced for the holidays DLC - the extra hard mode sounds interesting, but I probably won't try it - I still haven't finished Fire Emblem in Lunatic mode, and I'll asume hard mode is like that since they did inlclude a hard mode in the game.

I hope there's a way to pay only for the second DLC pack.

@CrazedCavalier : Connection problems on my end. I've deleted the double-post.

Don't milk it.
Just one pass & then stop...

While they're at it, why not add HD Rumble support in a later DLC? I'm sure the audience would love it and it'd be a great selling feature.

I have zero problems with this. I bought a couple of characters for Smash and both packs with Mario Kart and they made a great game even better. How cool would it be if the "New Original Story" teased in the Winter Pack turned out to be a Zelda mode

The exclusive outfit is a shirt with a Switch logo!? Are you serious!? So gonna get this, though.

I hate Season Passes they're a plague on the gaming society.

@CrazedCavalier I admit it's probably a knee-jerk response, but if Nintendo release a marketing video and my initial reaction is annoyance and disappointment then you have to say they've got something wrong.

It's all about the timing really. If I were a few months into the game, really loving it and wanting more, then this announcement would be pleasing. But right now it just feels like they're saying "sorry, you need to give us more money for this game you don't have yet"

I was not expecting this at all lol. But as long as Nintendo are putting effort into the dlc and not removing content from the main game I'm fine with it. The dlc for Mario kart was fantastic, as long as they stay with that business model and don't do an EA star wars battlefront to us I'm fine.

Eh, not a fan of DLC, but I'd pay if the DLC added a substantial amount of stuff to the game.

@G0dlike lol.

My comment of the day

Personally, it's the "content packs cannot be purchased individually" thing that kills it for me. I'd probably get the second pack down the line, but I doubt I'll be willing to pay 20 bucks for it.

Meh. I'm not the DLC type anyway.

This is almost as disgusting as seeing Mercedes-Benz in Mario kart 8. (Day one purchase for me ☹️)

Speaking on a high level, between finishing production and going gold (i.e. the eternal bug testing phase) there is a huge period of time where you've got artists and animators and writers sitting around doing basically nothing. You either lose them to other projects or you get them working on DLC. DLC always starts before a game goes gold. Once the game is launched/goes gold the work begins in earnest of integrating it with the final version/whatever iterative patch is going and then bug testing it. It can look like gouging and treating customers like cash cows, and that is often the case, but I highly doubt that that is what is going on here.

I'm not too bothered by this, personally. If Nintendo's got an IP which means their DLC conversion rate is going to be through the roof then that's hardly their fault.

This is nothing to be scared ... It was present at Hyrule Warriors, Mario Kart 8 and everybody nicely bought all avaiable dlc's, so Nintendo decided to invest hard this time. I would not be surprised if this came to the main Mario, Splatoon 8 e all future ip's ...

Nintendo has ALWAYS done DLC in a very fair way.. I have no problem with this. The content will be awesome!!!

I don't see anything mentioned that sounds worth worth the purchase price. If I complete this Zelda game and I want more content and reviews say it's good, then maybe.

Nintendo's dlc practices have been fine so far.

@Smug43 Nintendo has ALWAYS done DLC in a very fair way

Smash would like to have a word with you.

This is mostly a smart move. But I think it would have been better to announce shortly after the game released.

Hm...
What if the DLC is like Fantasy Life 3DS DLC ?
Finish the storyline first + require specific condition to continue optional side story.

Nintendo is currently the greediest video game company out there. Payed bad internet subscribtion, overpriced console, overpriced controllers, no bundled games with the console, now DLCs for Zelda... There are not doing that well in the gaming indistry to be this greedy....

Wow, another good reason to be jumping off the Nintendo ship soon. Day 1 paid DLC should not be a thing. Plus, with it being Nintendo, everything's overpriced.

@MarcelRguez
You don't even know what the side story consists of yet though. If it's 1/3 the length of the main game, $20 would be more than worth it. It's The Legend of Zelda.

@MarcelRguez What was wrong with smash?

Honestly, screw you Nintendo. In-game map feature behind a paywall?

Throws controller

@RainbowGazelle

Day one story content is an issue. A few items of clothing or weapons like we have here? Don't see the problem.

@Smug43 yea smash dlc was fairly priced 😉

Well now I'm not getting the Switch on launch anymore.

And possibly not Breath of the Wild either.

If opposition to paid DLC and season passes means I'm getting too old for video games, then so be it.

The timing is a bit odd but yes I'm so on board with this. MK8 DLC was good value and hopefully this will be the same.

The second pack sounds like proper DLC- new content and a new story. The first pack however... a cave of trials? Hard Mode? Those are things that are typically included in a Zelda game from the start, so I'm not happy about that. Will feel a little better if the Hard Mode is actually substantial like AI improvement or new attacks as opposed to just doubling damage across the board like usual, but I'm not holding my breath.

@ruinez Price is what you pay - Value is what you get. Nintendo is quality - Everything is priced fairly for the hard work, effort, research and development and quality of product followed up by support support support.
There are plenty of free games on Mobile if you want free stuff. . . .

Saw this coming since The Completionist interviewed Aonuma and Miyamoto.
https://youtu.be/9n7vqDy6mqE
Aonuma hinted at this last month:
"The development was certainly a long road. The approach this time was that we tried to 'nurture' the game and have it develop from there. Initially, we started by creating a field with nothing on it! — not even grass! After that, we'd go back and play the game over and over again to figure out what needed to be added, then repeated that process endlessly. We started adding everything else, such as the terrain and the buildings. Because we took an approach where we continuously added new ideas, although we're done, I still feel like we need to add more content. I'm still thinking of ways to address this."
I'm okay with this; other open-world games had DLC, and it's Aonuma's game anyways, so he shouldn't be restricted on what he can and can't do with it.

Dear, Mr. Tatsumi Kimishima and Eiji Aonuma. What are you planning for this Zelda games ?
Please, don't milk this Zelda too much.
I think it was too far...
Thank you.

Gamers have to accept the fact that dlc is inevitable. The costs to make a modern Game are sky high. For the most part nintendo dlc has been pretty fair. 29th a few exeptions. Take the wait and see approach to determine the value off the dlc and of it appeals to you.

@RainbowGazelle
>Day 1 DLC
>First pack to be launched in summer
I think you should at least read the article my friend...

The "Season Pass" will be available at launch, the content is still being made. This is pretty much a pre-order opportunity with a little, insignificant bonus on top (the three chests, mostly cosmetics or trash loot)

All the negativity is astounding to me: with MK8 we got superb DLC packs, why would these be any different?
Couldn't be more excited!

@Gamer83 It's a pay-to-win scenario, which I personally disagree with. Also, the first pack sounds like an absolute joke.

Welcome to the industry standard, Nintendo.

Please handle it with more grace than other companies I could care to mention.

@cfgk24 im not looking for free stuff m8... Im also looking for quality and nintendo is offering quality games, but the consoles they make arent worth the money... And the additional content for games is killing the quality

During promotion for Skyward Sword, Aonuma said that he would be interested in doing DLC for Zelda. I knew this day would come, I just didn't want it to.

Day one of course!

@RainbowGazelle

Come on, this isn't a competitive multiplayer shooter, there's no pay to win scenario.

@Order2Chaos Good man. The MK8 DLC was TOTALLY worth it, and I said back then that I hope this is the way they choose, if at all, to carry on doing it.

We can expect the same of Splatoon, ARMS and possibly (and by that, I mean hopefully) Mario Kart 8 DX.

SIGH...Alright... First of all, I'm going to give a couple of modern examples of what an expansion pass is supposed to look like:

https://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_expansion_pass

https://www.gog.com/game/pillars_of_eternity_the_white_march_expansion_pass

Next I'm going to give a traditional example of an expansion pass, known as the "Game of the Year" edition:

https://www.gog.com/game/the_elder_scrolls_iii_morrowind_goty_edition

(Yes, I know I just used GOG, but these are available on other digital shops.)

You see, Nintendo... Giving a few bits of DLC items, and an extra bit of dungeon and story.... That's not good enough to call it an "expansion pass" these days. That would be known today as a "DLC pass."

These aren't the GBC days anymore. You can't justify this cost with technological boundaries being in the way, as was the case for Link's Awakening DX. You have to do way better than that. Please either fix the terminology, or add more content to justify the "expansion" in "expansion pass."

This does not portend well for DLC practices on NS... Definitely going to wait until Holiday 2017 to make a decision on getting one sooner or later. (I still want those RPG's!)

season pass for zelda?

lmao. this is not the "modern" nintendo i wanted

I'm amused by people complaining that they'll have to pay extra for DLC content. It's like complaining that you have to pay extra for a slice of pie after the restaurant has already served you your steak and shrimp.

@Kid_Sickarus what good things are they leaving? We still get couch co-op with Nintendo at least.

@RainbowGazelle @Pod umm what?! It's a pay to play more Zelda!! Don't want to play more Zelda, fine don't buy the season pass.

@Gamer83 Okay, fair point. I just feel paying extra to unlock stuff at launch in a game you've already paid for shouldn't be a thing.

I actually shouted "Oh no!" when I saw this article... Why do they make us pay for the Hero Mode?! That doesn't make sense, it has already been included in every Zelda game so far! And now you have to buy it?! That's just burukuso! What the sexual intercourse, Nintendo? I love them, but they can be a real Tengu company sometimes! Oh wait...

@PlywoodStick we have no idea of the size of the content! Let's not judge yet

The negativity here is amazing
It really is a sight to behold that people flip their sh*t when more Zelda is announced
More content in Summer and Winter ? Oh noes ! Day 1 DLC...which is probably the longest Day 1 i've ever seen then...

DLC didn't kill Pikmin 3, it didn't kill Mario Kart, it didn't kill Smash 4...so...how is it going to kill a Zelda game ? Enlighten me, outrage sempai !

Well, more Zelda is nice, but Nintendo, no. Just no. Season passes are just as nonsense as paying for online access. But hey, I guess the market has chosen.
So.... uh, more Zelda, I guess!

The heck is wrong with people here?

This is excellent news! More Zelda = good thing!

Nobody's forcing you to buy it, though for the life of me I can't understand why any person buying the game wouldn't be interested.

People saying Nintendo's "taking the bad part of modern gaming". Don't be an ignoramus. There's nothing "bad" about selling DLC.

Seriously, wtf is wrong with people? The Nintendo fan base needs a reality check, and to start thinking with their brains. People hear complaints of content being stripped from games and sold as DLC in a few select games (less than 5% probably) and in their ignorance equate that to all DLC being inherently evil. Why? No reason. It's just evil for a game developer to sell more game content I guess. Just cause.

Doesn't sound like anything too significant. I'll be passing on this the season pass.

I swear to god, though, if Nintendo tries to sell us additional DLC in Splatoon...

Why not, everything else has DLC and season passes now days.

@Shellcore You mean like the GameCube, Ultra Hand, and R.O.B. in Majora's Mask 3D, or paintings of Mario characters in Ocarina of Time?

Kind of depressing... but then naive to think that Zelda would be sacred from such things. Though with regular DLC and amiibo DLC, getting the full, complete version of a Nintendo game is becoming very expensive.

Also, Aonuma-san, you don't need to make up an excuse for "why you decided" to come up with DLC. We all know the reason DLC exists, we're not idiots.

NO!

SCREW YOU, NINTENDO!

To the people complaining about this: shut the heck up! You know good and well that you're buying the DLC.

@Einherjar Oh, more Zelda isn't a problem for me. The main issue is that they've delayed the game for years, are overcharging for the base game (and Switch console), and yet have STILL held content back behind a paywall. Granted, Pack 2 sounds more content-rich, but Pack 1 unlocks hard mode, a map feature, and a new challenge. Both the former should have been in the original game.

@JaxonH
Maybe people still misunderstood about "Expansion Pass" means.

@BinaryFragger "Nintendo is getting praised for doing things that other companies got criticized for doing."
Are they, though? For goodness sake, there's already a lot of negativity here. Jeez....

@Ralizah Not like they didn't do that before. Remember you needed 3 amiibo to unlock costumes and weapons, though the weapons were just clones of the standard weapons, so it didn't matter. My point is, at the point where Nintendo sells DLC that includes new weapons, it becomes pay-to-win, but if they only sell costumes, it should be fine.

Everyone with the knee jerk reaction, lol.

Like Nintendo hasn't done DLC in the past.

I'm in! Give me more Zelda and I'll pay!

Funny how the youtube comments all focus on Hard Mode being part of the DLC. Haven't they seen this is an Expansion Pass. Not like they're putting part of the story behind a paywall, it is "additional content" which is always great.

Bit conflicted. I like just a singular experience with Zelda. That said, I've just bought all expansion for Skyrim (Xbox 360). The game had been gathering dust but now I'm very happy to revisit with all the new strife. Having a blast. So....yeah....I'll give it a go with Zelda.

Nintendo, you already have our money.

@allav866
Pay to win is only a problem if you can't win without paying, effectively forcing you to pay to win.

Optionally choosing to pay to win is completely acceptable and should be left to the choice of each individual gamer

@mateq of course we have no idea yet, but they said new hard mode, so I think that it is a hero mode and the game already comes with hard mode, but I can be very wrong...

I'm actually glad. It means more Zelda. We have to wait 4 years between console Zeldas, so this is good. If the Mario Kart 8 DLC is to go by, it should be exceptional. But pack #1 does currently sound like theft.

@RainbowGazelle
I can understand that, but I also think it depends on the content. to me, I'm fine with little stuff like clothing or weapons or weapon skins. Day one story content, or in fighting games, day one pre-order characters, bothers me. So I get both sides of the argument. This seems like nothing to me though, and The Witcher 3 has shown companies can do DLC right. So like I posted in an earlier comment, if Nintendo looks to that more than an SE published game like Deus Ex or Final Fantasy XV, it'll be fine.

LOL! For MK8 it was ok, as it was cheap priced and added a lot!

But..... 20 bucks for a trial Challenge, a hard mode and map feature????????
That is friggin' insane and a joke! /FACEPALM

@JaxonH Agreed, everybody is just jumping the gun saying that this is cut content and blah, blah, blah. It's like the community forgets that Nintendo has done dlc before and that is has been very good, fairly priced and worth the price. First we don't know if it's cut content ( which I doubt since it's coming months after) and we won't know until it release so some people need to learn the wait and see approach.

@RainbowGazelle The game is due in two and a half weeks. The thing is done and being made / shipped.
The extra content is due in summer.

If it had been deliberately withheld, don't you think they would unlock it ASAP to incentivize people to actually buy the darn pass on launch ? To get more than trash loot at first ?

@Jeronan
Story content as well. Which could prove well worth the $20.

There's no Day 1 DLC, so that makes it much better. I don't think people realize that you're just pre-purchasing the DLC that is set to release this summer (or getting delayed) and for doing so you get extra goodies for the wait.

@beazlen1 They basically just announced a modern version of the content upgrade that Link's Awakening DX represented. If they're going to justify the extra cost worthy of an "expansion pass," then they need to add enough extra content that it would be like linking the two Oracle games together, plus the GBA extras.

@sillygostly I think it is valid. They are not forcing you to buy, only those who want to spend more money will buy. I prefer to buy the main game 'cheaper' and decide later if I want to play more or not. The only mistake will be if the additional content is something important for the main story/gameplay.

@ZurapiiYohane64 The magical armour from twilight princess would be pretty cool too (as long as it doesn't eat your rupees away or it has aleast been reworked) .

Hm...
Guys, calm down !
Not everybody interested to play in Hard Mode or get additional stuffs (Especially the newbies who has never played Zelda games before).
If the DLC are optional way to play, not forcing us to buy those DLC to finish Main Storyline, it will be fine.
As you finished the main storyline, you can purchase those DLC IF... you want.
If NOT interested, you can continue playing your game without DLC.

@PlywoodStick We don't know the extend of the Story DLC.
With roughly a year to work on that, i reckon 20 bucks is reasonable.

"Nintendo need to get with the times, have a look at what PS/Xbox are doing and stop acting like it's 1998!!!"
"How dare Nintendo start charging for online and selling DLC passes like you get on Xbox/PS!!!"

@setezerocinco
Yup. I was thinking same way too about DLC.
Imagine Fantasy Life 3DS that have DLC for $9 and you can purchase and play that DLC after finished main storyline + at least lv 50.

Oh no, any game but Zelda!

@PlywoodStick The comparison with The Witcher 3 isn't really fair.

It's not representative of what you usually get with season passes.
It cost more (25€ vs 20€), on release at least
We don't know yet how long the additional story will be (it probably won't be 40 hours like it is with the Witcher, but we will see)

Overall I'm fine with it as long as it is actually additional content and not something they cut out of the game (which seen to be the case or it would be available at launch or close to it).

Plus nobody is forcing to buy it straight away. So I would just wait and see what we actually get.

Personally, it doesn't bother me - it's not like it's a paywall for on-disc DLC, the content has not been developed yet and will be released several months after the game releases. And there seems to already be a standard "hard mode" in the game, the DLC adds an extra layer of difficulty on top of that, so Nintendo is not locking any base features behind the season pass. I am all for paid DLC as long as it's worthwile (see Mario Kart 8 and Fantasy Life for examples of awesome extra content), so I'll probably pick it up, though I might wait for full details before I do so.

@Anti-Matter You have never played a Zelda game, so you don't know how it feels.

Not sure I like this. I'll wait and see what the expansion contains before I buy it though. If it's anything like MK8 DLC, it'll be worth every penny. I just hope that's what it turns out like.

@JaxonH I was about 45% tongue in cheek, with a further 10% hyperbole thrown in for good measure when I said that.
I was going to reply to you to converse over our differing opinions but then "ignoramus", really?

WEIRD! I need to process this before I know how I feel. Most of it sounds like'meh' except the new storyline and map feature.

What if the new story is the Majora's Mask equivalent of Breath of the Wild? That would be great!

Et tu, Aonuma?

Gross

Some of you are idiots. The game has already went gold, they've finished up their work on it. All DLC will specifically be after thought ideas, much like how Bethesda DLC is always stuff the developers do afterwards.

In my opinion, DLC should always take you to a new place with a new quest separate from the main story, but rivaling it in terms of plot. Also, that's a really good price for a season pass.

@Kid_Sickarus
Sorry, I get worked up when I feel people are being illogical. And acting like more content is somehow a bad thing is completely illogical.

I'm tired of people complaining about good things happening. This is something to rejoice over, yet here we are. With 165 comments raging over getting more of a good thing.

I'll pass on the season pass, at least out the gate. A Zelda game shouldn't need additional content to be thoroughly enjoyed. I just hope that nothing crucial is being left out in order to justify the season pass and that whatever is included besides a new shirt and a few useful items is worth the 20$. Usually by the time I get to the end of the game I'm not usually dying for more content. I don't have the time that I had when I was a kid to replay games. Nowadays it's one and done for me.

We don't know exactly what Hard Mode adds. Maybe there are new enemies, new bosses... new dungeons? Possibly! How about instead of typing a paragraph of why this is a bad thing, opt to wait and see if it actually is?

@JaxonH Reality check for you. They just announced DLC that could be for free. Like for example that stupid switch shirt,that chest, hard mode and that new feature for the in game map. They just pulled a Ubisoft, putting small things in this pass,so they can show people the pass is worth it. But in reality is not.

So please don't say the Nintendo fanbase needs to use their brain for once just cause you had a fanboy moment.

@G-Boy
Well... yeah. I admit if I have never played Zelda games before.
But I have ever played Fantasy Life 3DS, finished the storyline, bought the DLC and continue the optional story and side quest.
Well... at least same Action RPG, right ?

@th3r3ds0x Who says its not thoroughly enjoyable without that added stuff ? That's like saying every cake is bad if they don't have a cherry on top :/

And let the 2018 Breath of the Wild HD DLC comes!
More Zelda is always good... and buy who wants to buy. People complain too much.

atleast it's not switch exclusive.
i'll buy it, but not a launch, although i plan on getting The Legends of Zelda: BOTW at launch.

I CAN NOT WAIT! More time in Hyrule is always a great thing for me!

@TwilightOniAngel I just LOVE how people like you ignore the second pack that comes with it and focus solely on the first and the pre-purchase incentives xD

If they can't be purchased individually then I probably won't be buying them.....

Seems to be a classic glass half full or half empty scenario.

This is pretty disappointing to me. I liked that these games remained a singular experience that could be enjoyed by all players without an additional investment. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I hope it doesn't represent (along with microtransactions in Fire Emblem: Heroes) Nintendo becoming more attached to the industry's broader trends.

As long as the initial adventure is as much as we usually expect from a Zelda game, I suppose it's not a problem.

@setezerocinco : I'm not suggesting that everybody should be subjected to the "premium" price. Not everybody can afford it, and I understand that, but when Nintendo have issued a very expensive special edition, and didn't see fit to include the DLC/Season Pass with that purchase, then that's a problem (especially considering the amount of never-to-be-used and cheap-looking junk that they include in these things). The key reasons why I would even consider a Limited Edition is due to extra game content or a bonus that offers something useful (like the soundtrack CDs, which are always nice to have).

I would prefer to wait for a "complete" edition with all of the content on a single cartridge (premium priced or not), but Nintendo have not yet made a habit of making "Game of the Year" editions of their games.

I'll probably hold off until the summer or holiday packs go live to get this. I still want to know what the Breath of the Wild amiibo do, before I jump the gun in this stuff.

@Einherjar I think you've misunderstood what I'm saying. A Zelda game shouldn't need the DLC to be thoroughly enjoyed, which is why I don't foresee needing to drop another 20$. If there is something I'm truly lacking because I'm passing on the DLC then shame on Nintendo.

Paying for a brand new story and content? Sure, I'm down for that. BoTW is obviously a labor of love and I'd be happy to pay for more.

Paying for a hard mode and a challenge dungeon, stuff that's usually in a normal Zelda game anyway? I don't see how anyone could defend this practice.

@DiscoGentleman Let's take a shot for every time someone says Nintendo is too modern... cos lord knows they're the same people that wanted them to stop being so old-fashioned when they didn't have mobile games or region-free systems.

@19Robb92
Edit :Ignore everything after this paragraph. I thought that they included the entire unfinished dungeons but instead they included elements from them. Big thanks to @Seacliff for correcting me. Sorry for the misinformation.

Fun Fact (if I am correct) : the dungeons that weren't completed in time for the windwaker were actuallu put in twilight princess. That's why is has more dungeons compared to other 3D Zelda games. I know it's a bit random XD

@TwilightOniAngel
That stuff is just fluff. Tossed in to sweeten the pot. Fanservice. No different than the costumes you get in any other DLC.

It's not like people were complaining about a lack of t-shirt beforehand. Funny how people don't care it's not there, until it's announced in DLC and all of a sudden it's important to them to get it free? So DLC fluff shouldn't exist?

They're selling a package of extra content. Buy it or don't! But it's not like it's just t-shirts for $20. The meat of the content is the new story expansion. The rest just sweetens the pot. Why is that such a problem??? God forbid they sell DLC like every other developer in the industry...

But wait. Because one developer one time made a really awesome season pass with Witcher, now every season pass gets crucified for not being the same? It's nonsense.

Whatttttttg thia game will even be bigger with added story! Mannnnnnn this game is legendary

@Mega_Yarn_Poochy I'm generally negative about where Nintendo is going these days, but one place where I can absolutely give them credit is the DLC philosophy. Nintendo never hides main story content behind paywalls; it's always truly supplementary content. The way that they and KT handled Hyrule Warriors was the epitome of class and it ought to be a lesson to the industry: if you provide great additional content and don't fleece your customers with DLC that should've been in the main game, they'll be happy to pay for it.

@setezerocinco
I wonder how big for the DLC size ?
I mean some Gigabytes...

I must say I was surprised reading the headline,I didn't expect that at all.I guess that's because I am a "behind the times" Nintendo gamer.I'm not bothered about it all though,in fact I'm quite excited.I'm sure it'll be worth the asking price.

I wonder if they'll go for something completely different with the extra story.Maybe a Princess Zelda adventure?

@BinaryFragger I agree.. I don't mind paying for quality content as DLC as long as the base game feels complete (the witcher 3 comes to mind , mario kart 8, and world of final fantasy ). Many of us get upset about dlc practices due to the games feeling incomplete (final fantasy xv, street fighter v).

@allav866 The Mario portraits in OOT were more of an easter egg. Never played Majora's Mask 3D, but yes, exactly like that.

@th3r3ds0x Ah, gotcha !
Yup, agreed. And for the most part, what you get is mostly sideline stuff anyways. Incentives to pick the game back up months later.
Its all down to the Winter Story pack.
And if thats meaty enough, dropping an extra 20 bucks into a game roughly a year later is, at least in my eyes, pretty fair.

I'm so glad that Nintendo provided a good sized hard drive to accommodate these modern business practices. Isn't BotW supposed to take up half the internal storage?

Do you get a Wii U shirt if you play on Wii U?

"Pack 1 - Summer 2017

A new Cave of Trials challenge
Hard mode
"A new feature for the in-game map""

Pack one sounds more of a patch then DLC

@Moon The much better question: Are the sleeves of the Switch shirt detachable ?

@JaxonH Agree 100% here. So long as they're not ransoming main story points like WB did with Arkham City and Arkham Knight, there's absolutely no reason not to have DLC is a game as broad as Breath of the Wild.

@PotatoTheG Apparently there is already a hard mode in the game,the DLC includes a new "harder" mode.As for the challenge dungeons,maybe there already is on in there too and the DLC is an extra more challenging one.

Nope, I cannot accepted. Not form Nintendo and not with BotW. Five years of development and now BAM! Game is not released yet, but let sell season pass.
Sure Ill buy it. But now days Nintendo changed a lot.

I'll be getting it. But as many have said, this is where Nintendo skimping on memory comes back to bite us.

@OorWullie I mean... that's more excusable but there's no reason to not include this "harder" mode with the base game anyway. I guess we'll have to wait and see though.

@JaxonH truth is i always wanted extras after completing a Zelda title. The games are that good.. I haven't had much gripe about Nintendo's dlc practices because i never feel cheated.. however i often feel that way for some games by third parties. Like ive said before if a game feels complete I don't mind adding to the game later on.

@OorWullie Source on hard mode already being in the game?

Good! Don't see any problem with this. So far I think Nintendo has handled extra content very well. If I haven't had enough after the full game I'll probably get this DLC.

@eeyore Nowadays ? Like with Pikmin, Smash NSMB and Mario Kart ?
And again, since you folks don't seem to get it:
Its a pre-order. The content isnt out till Summer / Winter...geeze...

Didn't see this coming. Not interested in the first pack, but the seconds sounds intriguing. Another story/adventure in this wonderful world? Sign me up!

Nintendo is slowly getting rid of the reasons why I prefer Nintendo over all other video game companies. Before they'll be just like all the others and I'll lose interest in gaming completely. I don't get why they have to ruin good things. I will probably not be getting this DLC, but all I can say is the game BETTER be complete on March 3rd. No "well here's about 75% of the game and you have to pay for the last 25% through DLC". In essence if you want the FULL full game it's $80 now. Also it's almost pointless for me to buy the DLC because I'm playing the game March 3rd no matter what. Chances are good I'll be done with the game by the time the first DLC rolls around and I won't be wanting to revisit it. It also concerns me because if this is the start of a new trend for Nintendo I'm not going to be happy.

@WiiHawk I don't know which comparison is more amazing; the one between the people complaining and whiney customers at a restaurant, or the one between a game as meaty as Breath of the Wild and a plate of steak and shrimp! xD

I don't see what anyone can find anything wrong with this. From the sound of it, the game sounds like it's worth the $60 it will be and more. So anything extra is more than icing on the cake. Its sprinkles, M&M's and a whole host of other sugary sweet goodies.

@Dbang i agree they really have.. they may have reached a bit though with fire emblem dlc but those are some of my favorite games

@Eric258 They weren't just thrown in. Anouma just states that elements of the cancled WW dungeons were just used in future games, not the entire dungeon.

@Cosmic-K9 Why are you still here then ? This "Trend" has been here for ages. NSMB2 had DLC for instance. And comparably rather expensive ones too.
But please, explain to me how DLC released a year after the games initial release ruins the game.
I really want to know the answer to this....

Would love if the DLC installed directly onto the BOTW cart.

DLC is one of the worst aspects of modern gaming. Not quite as bad as microtransactions, but still pretty terrible.

I can't really blame them, though. This is the direction that the industry has been going in, for a decade.

@allav866 Nintendo becoming more modern such a double-edged sword, right? And we all have conflicting ideas about what parts of modern gaming culture that we'd like Nintendo to adopt, and which parts we'd like them to eschew.

For me, microtransactions, overly cinematic narratives and unfinished or un-QA/QC'd games are the scourges of modern gaming. DLC, while not something I'm crazy about, isn't something that I'm overly concerned about either. Heck, I even bought the controversial on-disc DLC for Mass Effect 3. There's part of me that loves the (for lack of a better word) 'purity' of a Zelda game - it plays perfectly out of the box and is an entirely self-contained experience, Oracle games aside. I think, if it doesn't contribute significant new content, shunting Hard Mode off to paid DLC is my biggest beef with the Season Pass; this feature was included automatically in Twilight Princess HD and Link Between Worlds, among other titles in the franchise.

That said, I'm willing to be entirely wrong about this. The first portion of the DLC, featuring largely whimsical cosmetic additions, is the kind of thing that offers additional value but which won't keep someone from feeling like they have the full product. Similarly, if they find ways to add expansive new content to what is already a solid, complete game (a la Mario Kart 8 or Hyrule Warriors DLC), then I think the consumer benefits.

Excellent news, another day 1 extra purchase....... NinSPENDo time

On a side note, does anyone, or any mods no anything about the online phone app business yet please?.... I mean, ive got a windows phone, is the online phone app going to be one of these android/ios only nonsence apps?.... and if it is android/ios only, then do we need a certain version onwards of android/ios for the app to work on?..... Is this another hidden cost for some of us or not??? Cos new phones on top of a new console isn't cheap and its something we need to know etc etc................

@Seacliff Oops I'm a dud. I'll change what's I wrote thanks for correcting me.

Oh man...

I was more or less okay with the Mario Kart DLC (although I didn't buy it and sort of wished the development team had just got any with making something new).

But I feel with a single player, narrative driven adventure, it just doesn't sit. It's like a novelist throwing in a bunch of extra chapters some time after the book is released. It breaks the sense of totality of the project; the beginning and the end, and everything in between.

It stops the product feeling as well defined if it's continually crawling outwards at the edges, which is fine for an online game like Splatoon (which keep feeling fresh), but feels extremely unnatural is something as previously self-contained as Zelda.

I know there a "what's wrong with more content for a great game" argument, but that content has to come from somewhere. Would we have ever received the fully realised Majora's Mask if Nintendo were busy updating Ocarina of Time with extra content? Probably not.

There's only so much one team of developers can do, and the temptation will always be to plug resources into something with an existing player base than create something new. This might not be a problem if Nintendo were shooting out games left, right and centre, but the Wii U's software droughts were very real.

Next it'll be DLC Odyssey worlds.

@Cosmic-K9 I feel like if we didn't know about this, your stance would be different. You'd probably would be praising the game for being a full experience for its price in a day and age where there are real examples of developers not giving you your money's worth.

Ultimately, everyone is gonna have their opinions on DLC and its worth. From everything it sounds like to me, you will be able to enjoy the game and its story as it is without ever indulging in these additions. This is just bonus content. That makes it quality DLC, in my opinion.

@Maxz
Single player DLC content is the only DLC content I deemed worth buying. Nothing wrong with any DLC, but the only time I'm interested is when it's meaty, single player expansions.

@MegaAdam
"DLC is one of the worst aspects of modern gaming"

You're joking right? DLC is one of the best aspects of modern gaming. Why on earth would having the option to buy more of a good thing... be somehow bad?

@JohnGrey
Right.

I was ecstatic when Dark Souls 3 got its season pass, cause it's more of a good game. Same for Final Fantasy XV. And I'm relieved to see a pass for Zelda as well. No reason not to have more of a great game.

Idk why people have this anti-DLC hostility ingrained in their minds. What on this green earth is wrong with DLC?

@Mellor2000 "For better or worse Nintendo are catching up to modern gaming practices."

Debatable.

@timson72 welcome to the last decade of gaming outside of Nintendo's bubble.

@JaxonH Many bad apples. There are plenty of really bad examples of DLC out there, and im not even talking about "Horse Armor".
But so far, Nintendo has done a splendid job with their DLC, why should it be different this time around ?

Lol at the people acting like Nintendo has never done DLC before.

@Anti-Matter I would say around 1 or 2 GB. The main game has only 13GB...

@remag the way the things are, maybe they launch only for iPhone =P

A delayed Wii U game with a Switch port gets day one DLC?!?!

@JaxonH

Idk why people have this anti-DLC hostility ingrained in their minds. What on this green earth is wrong with DLC?

Probably because they've been burned so many times. The mentality of most large publishers is that DLC is really just a way for the cost of games to approach what they probably should cost, inflation-adjusted, without actually changing the base price and alienating loads of people outright. That said, I have absolutely no problem with DLC so long as not having it doesn't affect the completion of the main story.

Speaking of FFXV, I was actually surprised how communicative SE was about the issues with Chapter 13 and that they were active working to fix, along with providing another year's worth of additional content. That kind of commitment and willingness to listen to consumer feedback is very healthy for games.

And are you ready for Stormblood?

@Randomname19 No it doesn't -.-

@MegaAdam I think like anything, there is always a downside to any venture that doesn't necessarily negates its benefits. It's like the whole argument about social media. There are those who abuse and use it the wrong way or for nefarious purposes. But that doesn't negate the positives that can come from it.

@Randomname19
[sighs]

It's not day one. It's summer and late fall, or something like that. You can simply preorder day one, and get a t-shirt item or something like that.

@Einherjar
Well sure, but I'd chalk that up to just not being worth the price, not something that makes a game feel incomplete without. Is horse armor worth $5? Up to the gamer in question. Probably not for most. But is the game going to be less enjoyable without it? No.

I'd argue there's more good examples of DLC than bad, and as you mentioned, Nintendo has an immaculate track record with DLC and season passes.

I love DLC. One of the best trends to surface in modern gaming.

@Einherjar

[em]Many bad apples. There are plenty of really bad examples of DLC out there, and im not even talking about 'Horse Armor'.
But so far, Nintendo has done a splendid job with their DLC, why should it be different this time around ?[/em]

Goodness, I wanted to strangle Hayakawa when they announced that the TPP DLC was going to consist of three types of horse armour, the tuxedo (which was no longer unlockable) and a pack of costumes that could only be used inside MGO. Between that and no Chapter 3, it was my most hated game last year.

@NintySnesMan It is a a complete game this is just stupid accessories and a bonus dungeon
You still experience the full story.

@Maxz DLC Odissey would be a dream!!!! Imagine that we had an amazing game with almost hundred worlds to visit and after we finish we can pick up some more worlds and extend our fun.

@JohnGrey
I haven't played FFXIV yet actually. But I'm debating it. My brother says it's excellent. I feel like I'd have a lot of catching up to do at this point though

first, it's not day-one dlc. the content will be released many months later. second, nintendo isn't ubisoft. chances are this content will be at the same level as the mario kart 8 dlc. as for a switch t-shirt existing in the zelda universe, well, i can't defend that.

@Einherjar When other expansion passes like the ones I mentioned are a similar price, or even less during sales? What's been announced here just doesn't cut it for that price.

@allav866 The amiibo weren't a big deal. As you said, they didn't really bring anything new to the table, and were just bonuses for people who bought the amiibo. I have no issue with that. And, frankly, as long as we get another year or so of gradually unlocked content in Splatoon 2, I don't care if we get extra stuff in the future, so long as it doesn't include new types of weapons. But I'm nervous, between paid online and going overboard with DLC, that they might alienate the community that made the original Splatoon thrive.

@RandomNerds I never understood the hate for the mercedes dlc. It was free and not like you HAD to download it.

@jaymacx
Eh ?!
Street Fighter V was incomplete too ?
Hm...

Love all the people moaning, funny. As a Nintendo fanboy I am obviously fairly new to this extra paying, but as it's a new thing I look forward to the extra content rather than the inevitable cost.

Also nice to see Nintendo changing their ways and thinking, it's the switch era now, exciting.

Side Story sounds neat, though not really interested in the Hard mode or endless dungeons of trials and punishment. Also curious about the special items. The Switch shirt sounds lame and breaks the realism of being in the Zelda Universe.

As for the other two helper items, they could be neat. I also like that you can use Amiibo for an occasional stat boost when you need them, but I hope there's no "hand holding" mode like in the new Mario Kart.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

@JaxonH I think what most people fear is "Day1/Pre-Order exclusive DLC".
The stuff, that simply vanishes for everyone who didn't pre-order the game and is simply lost forever.
THAT sh*t gets under my skin regularly.

But standard DLC packs ? Half / Full year after release no less ?
Im totally down with that.

@PlywoodStick Again, the story DLC might as well be BotW's "Blood and Wine" for all we know.
Which would be worth the 20 extra bucks down the line.
And i think the winter pack is the main focus here.
Im pretty convinced that if they announced the Pass, but hadn't split it up like that, people would be more excepting, since it seems more wholesome.

You basically pay for the winter pack, and get the rest ASAP in advance

@JaxonH

If you've any reasonable experience at all with MMOs, it wouldn't take you long to get caught up; Stormblood doesn't release till end of June. If you're an ardent fan of FF, then it's definitely the one for you; one of the reasons that I never got into WoW was that I didn't care in the least about the Warcraft mythos.

@JaxonH @Einherjar If the expansion pass bonus isn't day one DLC,then what it is?

@Anti-Matter SFV is the poster child of incomplete releases.
It basically entered the market with two modes:
Versus (offline, online was pretty broken as well) and training.

Arcade, Story etc had to be drip fed over the coming months. It was a disaster...

@Ralizah
There is a Wolf Link amiibo at my local game store. Is that compatible with Breath of the Wild ?
And at the same time, Wolf Link amiibo is required to unlock Wolf Link... as ACNL villager if I want him.

@JohnGrey That's on the consumer. At this point, we know who the culprits are when it comes to releasing incomplete games or hiding features behind a paywall and calling it downloadable content. And yet, gamers continue to buy games from those developers in droves. Its all on the consumer. Not exempting developers from participating in the practice. But it isn't hard to assess who is putting out quality and complete games and quality DLC.

You guys right now: My game is incomplete because, I didn't get a switch t-shirt and bonus content post launch for free!!! It's all over, Nintendo has become garbage!!!😔. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

@Randomname19

Late summer and fall DLC. Which is when it releases. IT DOES NOT RELEASE DAY ONE. It simple GOES ON SALE FOR PREORDER, day one.

@PlywoodStick
I'm gonna have to disagree.

New story expansion and Cave of Trials for $20 seems fair.

Good story DLC is $10-20 nowadays.The first season pass was LA Noire Rockstar Pass, with a couple new missions (missions, not story expansions), couple outfits, and a new mode.

What do we have here? New story expansion, couple fluff items and outfits, and a new mode. And same $20 price.

This is standard priced DLC. And depending how big the expansion and DLC story is, it could be a bargain

@Randomname19 The content isn't developed yet. If it was already available for download on day 1, it would be day 1 DLC. This is just a pass they're selling for two future DLC content packs that will be available in the summer and then again in the winter.

$80 game

@Randomname19 You said it yourself, its a bonus for crying out loud...geeze...
Thats why the three chests only contain swag and loot and nothing significant like, say, a new kind of item or something.

Its a small bonus you get for pre-ordering the other two packs, nothing more, nothing less.

@Einherjar
Ah... I see.
I'm glad not purchasing Street Fighter V after heard that bad news.

@countzero On the contrary, it is a fair comparison. The "Expansion Pass" moniker was created to differentiate itself from "Season Pass" and "DLC Pass" content bundles. Those two types of passes are added onto with bits and pieces of content, or episodic content. Expansion passes differ by providing lump sums of a significant amount of content all at once, with perhaps only one, two, or three lump sums. (For example, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine would each be one lump sum.) In other cases, such as with The White March, each individual lump sum of content may be further expanded upon with updates, at no extra cost to the customer.

@UmbreonsPapa

That's on the consumer. At this point, we know who the culprits are when it comes to releasing incomplete games or hiding features behind a paywall and calling it downloadable content. And yet, gamers continue to buy games from those developers in droves. Its all on the consumer. Not exempting developers from participating in the practice. But it isn't hard to assess who is putting out quality and complete games and quality DLC.

I agree completely but where Nintendo is concerned, given that they've released so little DLC comparatively and with very little fanfare, it can be difficult for the average consumer to know if they're being taken for a ride.

@Anti-Matter AFAIK, its mostly fixed by now, so you'll get a "full" base game (IF you buy the plethora of character passes, that is...talk about bad DLC).

@NickOfTime90 That's fair, it was free. I think myself and others don't like it because not downloading it technically means you do not have all the content available for what is a historic and important franchise. Also, it's a slippery slope towards in game advertising that for now is opt in, but that could change one day. In other words it's just weird to see real world brands in iconic franchises.

@powersgenty I am mistaken,there's a Pro mode but it's for the HUD and not an extra difficulty level. I just mind reading "Pro mode'' in a headline the other day.

https://www.vg247.com/2017/02/06/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-has-a-pro-hud-mode-for-the-purists-among-you/

@Mega_Yarn_Poochy made a similar comment to me, maybe they know more about it?

@jwfurness very unlikely since a fully rewritable game card would cost much more than a read-only one

In general I don't buy DLC, but I don't fault people who want more content. A game should be able to stand on its own without its DLC, and BotW seems like it does that. If the DLC has something worthwhile to add, I might buy it, but I doubt it's crucial or it would be part of the main game. I find spinoffs and side stories to be superfluous 90% of the time. Even if I bought this DLC I would never wear that Switch shirt in game, talk about breaking immersion, but I'm sure some people will like it.

I don't see how this can be anything but good news though. The extra content being offered is not critical. If you want more, you can pay for it, and if not, then ignore the opportunity.

@RandomNerds As long as in-game advertisements don't reach CupNoodle propaganda levels, im perfectly fine with it.
The Mercedes DLC was extremely low key compared to that.

It really doesn't seem worth the price, but the main beef I have is that the individual content packs CANNOT be purchased separately. Why? That's absurd.

Honestly, I hope the new story content isn't worthwhile, because I'd like to not support this kind of content for Zelda. But we'll see.

HARD MODE?!! For Christ sake they have become greedy as hell.

@RandomNerds yeah, lets hope it does not come to that:/

@Iggy-Koopa Those are definite contenders as well I agree, and what about XC2, Fire Emblem and perhaps Mario Odyssey?!

I really hope the Zelda Wii U DLC are multiplatform so I don't have to pay twice when I eventually Switch over.

@manu0 Of course, but it's a pleasant dream.

DLC for Zelda....That's awesome!!!

@Einherjar True, assuming Nintendo actually does expand BotW at the level that the PC industry has long been known for doing. That would be great, and I'd have no problem with that, but I'm just not seeing that degree of content here. We'll find out for sure by Holiday 2017. Until that becomes reality, I wouldn't bother with buying the DLC.

@PlywoodStick
1/3 the total price seems way too high. But it also depends on what the content actually is. "one new dungeon" doesn't sound like much, but it's also a story mission in an open world game that emphasizes overworld play above dungeon play. So we don't know just how bit an expansion it is. If it's, say, a 6-8 hour expansion (the average length of a Playstation game's single player campaign) is that worth the $20 in your opinion? Does it have to be more, can it be less?

I'm not thrilled with the price either, but I'm also trying to keep it in perspective of what that "story expansion" may actually be, and the fact that they're releasing it 8 months from release, so it's far from rushed DLC, it launches after most people will forget about the game.

@Akropolon And what part of Just Cause 3 convinced you that after spending countless hours doing the exact same thing over and over again, you'd like to spend more money to do even more of it?

@Megal0maniac When do you plan to switch over ?
Because the first pack is releasing in summer, the meat of this DLC in winter.
So why not wait and get in on Switch ? Because i highly doubt that it will be a cross-buy item

@Einherjar Agreed, in fact when I take a minute to think about it logically it was free stuff that "added" to the game. That being said, no matter what it does come with that lingering fear of, "What else will they sell out to?"

You were suppose to end the trend of greed and DLC corruption not join them.

@ruinez So let's take that "greed" argument apart shall we?

Payed bad Internet: we have no way of knowing whether it will be bad and it is cheaper than in other consoles.

Overpriced console: For what it can do, no. But debatable.

Overpriced controllers: Switch pro controller has more functionality and for that it costs just 10$ more than otherwise comparable controllers (official prices)

No pack in game: This really is just the same argument as "overpriced console"

DLC: them doing that is not even anything special.

I hate double standards.

@JaxonH I suppose I've been looking back and forth between how consoles and PC handle DLC packages and incrementally updated retail versions for too long. At $20 these days, I expect a huge amount of extra content, as exemplified by games such as those I mentioned previously. The US dollar may be devalued in the real world, but in the virtual world, it goes further than ever, and that has forever altered my expectations compared to the past.

Hates on Valentines Day? Well... I kinda expected that for a while.

@PlywoodStick
Well anything compared to PC is gonna come up short. That's... the appeal of PC. But in the console realm, I think it's only fair to compare among consoles.

We can debate the shortcomings of console offerings vs PC on a macro level another time, of course.

I can't believe some ppl in here defends this news. Like is ok to be a fan but man to be so devoted to the point u justify them screwing u is ridiculous.

@Einherjar Yeah that is true. Full DLC will be ready in winter, right when I will probably take the plunge to Switch (if employed). So I might not even have to purchase it yet for Wii U. Thanks for that insight

@Order2Chaos I think, from this point on, anything is a potential contender.

@PlywoodStick MK8 basically doubled in content for an less than 50% extra price.
Im pretty confident that the story DLC will not just be a TP Mini Dungeon or something similar.

But you're perfectly right, i too would say that buying this pack up front wouldn't be all that clever. At least wait for the first pack to drop or infos on the second arise.
Its neither running away, nor does pack 1 contain anything you would need ASAP.

@RandomNerds Like i said, im generally pretty open to in-game advertisement. It benefits consumers as its extra money for the devs which doesn't have to come from us (excluding the usual suspects )
But it has to be tasteful. MK8 did a pretty fine job at that, it chibified the cars enough to not stick out like a sore thumb while still remaining recognizable.
Another possibility i'd be perfectly fine with would be the billboards in Splatoon for instance.
It doesn't hurt anyone if they are full of actual adverts. YOu can ink them if you don't like them

On the flipside, you have Cup Noodle XV, where one of your protagonists gives you a minutes long lecture on how amazing these noodles are. Thats a little too much "in your face" if you ask me. Other than that ? Pff, who cares if it fits.

New to having a profile on this site although I do read it every day and have for several years. But I had to comment on this article. So here I go. Personally, and again, this is just my personal feeling. I don't really like this idea of a DLC expansion for Zelda. For Mario Kart, sure...it worked and it worked well. Honestly I'm sure the Breath of the Wild expansion pack will work well too. But I feel a little burned by Nintendo with the Switch. It's so expensive here in Canada. The system, the accessories, the games...everything has gone up in cost. And I know a lot of that is inflation and the weak Canadian dollar right now. Now I already pre-ordered the Special Edition because I'm a HUGE Zelda fan...but now I have to buy the expansion pack. I also bought the amiibo because I'm a collector. I feel like some of this DLC could have been locked behind an amiibo as the "paywall" rather than an additional cost. Especially for that first treasure chest where it's just items and clothes. That should have been an amiibo. Sure the extra story content could have been an additional charge later in the year but some of this content really should have been through owning the Breath of the Wild amiibo. I miss the days when Nintendo's mantra was shipping a full, quality game at launch. So while I have no doubt the extras in this pack will be cool, I'm just feeling a little burned by the DLC game and the rising costs this generation. end rant

@Megal0maniac Yup, and the summer pack really isn't a game changer per se unless you're dying to replay the game on a harder setting and the bonus swag really is nothing to write home about either- ^^

@Jessica286 The same thing could be said for a wide array of other publishers. Right or wrong, it is what it is - buy it or don't buy it, nobody is holding a gun to anyone's temple.

I'm expecting at least one DLC for new breeds of fish, and nothing less!

@Jessica286 I don't understand how Nintendo could be screwing you. They're giving you new stuff for $20 to upgrade a fun game you already play and make it fun to keep playing instead of making us wait 3 years for a new $60 game

@Iggy-Koopa And a lot of DLC is fanbased, you give the people new stuff and sometimes answer fan requests but you can't always have it be free

Well, folks wanted Nintendo to embrace modern gaming...

As with all DLC I'm not really bothered by the whole thing. More stuff to do is always a good thing and I know that it takes time and money to make this content. Plus the game is HUGE as is. I won't even be finished by the time the new stuff comes out. So I'll consider it an early winter solstice gift.

@Moon haha. Was having a bad day at work. This helped a little

@JaxonH Granted, this is still astronomically better than what has been done for games like Killer Instinct on XBone. Charging full price for a game, then only allowing access to one... ONE character, with every other character and bit of extra content having to be purchased... In a fighting game. That is downright criminal. Nintendo has not done that here, not even remotely close. I'm still getting BotW for Wii U... I'm just throwing in my two cents about how this extra content is being presented.

@DarthFoxMcCloud welcome and I too has read this page for a long time only to recently start commenting. I totally get what u r saying, the console is price high enough not to mention the controllers and that u have to paid for dlc. All this is not very enticing to new customers. I think Nintendo is still stuck in the past in where they think their IPs and software is more than enough to justify anything else they do and any price they put and I feel like they will have a rogue awakening. Like you say all this would have been better as amiibo form since after all they are just that paid DLC, but oh no they release this and also they raise the price of the amiibo BotW line.

@beazlen1
Oh I won't.

And whether I will even buy the game depends on whether they put advertisement for the pass inside the full priced game. I was rather upset with how that was handled in Mario Kart 8.

@DarthFoxMcCloud
"I miss the days when Nintendo's mantra was shipping a full, quality game at launch"

So, you're saying those days are gone? That Breath of the Wild is not a full game at launch? That it's not a quality game at launch?

I didn't hear any complaints of it not being a full game before the DLC was announced, so there's no reason to say it is now. If a person was completely ok with the game beforehand, then there's reason for that... reason being it was already a full game. Simply selling additional, optional content does not suddenly make the base game any lesser quality, or suddenly make the game incomplete.

The amiibo already have a use... and it's far better than a simple t-shirt trinket.

And they have every right to fluff up a DLC pass with whatever they want. The amiibo already have content they unlock. I understand you think stuff is expensive in Canada but that's a whole other argument.

@Jessica286 So, you're saying that you much rather had this content locked behind the luck of finding specific figures which have been heck to track down in the past rather then a simple download available to everyone ? Yeah...sounds perfectly reasonable...
Geeze...you people....seriously

@Iggy-Koopa typical Nintendo fanboy to the rescue. So sad! How the hell would ppl not buy the dlc when it has a story part in it? That logic is way too flawed.

@Einherjar amiibo stock is easy to find nowadays. I see lots of Pit, Lucina, Robin and all others every single time I go to Best Buy.

Honestly was not expecting this. Looks like a fair value, particularly the winter pack.

About the hard mode: if it's the only hard mode, then I'm not a fan of that at all. If it's an additional hard mode (like the Ganondorf amiibo provides in TPHD), then I have no issues with it.

@Jessica286 It's only screwing the customer if this is content that is necessary to complete the game or finish the story. If it ultimately is, then you have an argument. Otherwise, its not screwing the customer and you can easily ignore and enjoy the game otherwise

@PlywoodStick The base game for Killer Instinct is free.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/killer-instinct/bp4s3xljg78m

@Jessica286 For you maybe, not for everyone else on this rock.
It was the right call not to lock more and more meaty content behind figurines that might go out of stock sooner or later.

@Gamer83 Fair enough, I assumed from the wording that the extra story revolves around the new dungeon. Since one (major) dungeon doesn't translate to 1/4 of what's in the game, that's why I said it's not worth the money.

Maybe if they add a whole new area, similarly to how other open-world games do this, I'll reconsider. It's called "expansion pass" after all.

@Kalmaro It's price, mostly.

@NIN10DOXD
Yes my friend I know this. I was just feeling sorry for those that bought the special edition thinking they was getting the cherry on top edition but with this new announcement they r getting the cake without the cherry
Also I see pak 1 as pointless but pak 2 is great with a new story and dungeon it's the cherry missing from the cake (special edition). I don't have a problem with this DLC stuff I have a choice if I want to buy it or not

@JaxonH So, speculation time. Do you think this additional story could feature a playable Zelda in some sort of The Last of Us Left Behind type fashion?

@Jessica286
Ya.... just cause the DLC has its own story doesn't mean people have to buy it. Lots of story DLC exists. Doesnt mean it's part of the main story, just means it has "a" story.

Almost all AAA or polular games released get story DLC. And it's almost always a side Story independent of the main adventure.

That's... the kind of DLC single player gamers want.

@Einherjar I agree on MK8 additions, those were fair. (Although MK8 Deluxe will inevitably be the ultimate version, obsoleting the Wii U version, since there doesn't seem to be cross play...) Also, even this is still better than what has been done on other consoles. So I definitely don't agree with how this DLC is being presented for BotW, but I don't think it justifies taking an extreme measure like abandoning Nintendo over it, either.

On a different tangent, I did take issue with the Mercedes-Benz sponsorship at the time, based on immersion breaking. (Similar to the NS shirt DLC here in BotW) ...But then again, I've played Phantasy Star Online/Universe/Portable, which have flying Sega consoles, 20th century weaponry, giant bird suits, Kentucky Fried Chicken (referencing the long running Kentucky Fried Rappy joke), and plush cat paws on sticks that meow when you hit an enemy. So as long as something silly is added in, I don't mind, as long as it's at least slightly relevant to the game world. I think the NS shirt is better in that regard than the Mercedes-Benz.

This is great! I like how they've started distributing new content year-round for games besides Splatoon and Super Mario Maker. Excited to see the new storyline.

Well, it'll give me a reason to double-dip when I get it on the Ninty Switch in...4 or 5 years. Maybe.

@JaxonH But didn't you get the memo ?
The release of "Beedle the Bard" COMPLETELY ruined every other Harry Potter book out there ?

@IceClimbers
Doubt it. But who's to say...

@Yorumi
Cave was never a standard feature. It was added content in TP to enrich the remaster. And tied to Zelda BOTW from the day it was designed (beat it and your Wolf Link gets that many hearts in BotW).

Hard mode, you got a point.

@Einherjar
LOL ya. Touche

@PlywoodStick You had this before in a Zelda game. Remember the Tingle Tuner GBA in Wind Waker ? Or the Rumble Pack stone in OoT ? My best guess is, that the Switch shirt will be a black shirt with red and blue sleeves.
Silly, but i bet there are worse outfits to be found

I wouldn't have a problem with this if hard mode wasn't locked behind a pay wall. I don't care if it's an extra hard mode (not confirmed anywhere) it should be on the disc. The only acceptable barrier between the player and a higher difficulty setting should completion of the game on normal settings.

Oh no the evil "dlc" word was spoken!!

But seriously, some people have a very warped view on dlc. It doesn't always mean that they cut something out, it can also mean that they are simply adding something (mindblowing idea isn't it?) but why does that even matter? If the game without the dlc is still worth the miney , then why would anyone care? You can just ignore the dlc then and still get a great game! Now maybe the dlc is worth the money as well...

There is literally not a single logical argument against dlc if the game has enough content regardless.

One question on that matter: in Zelda WW they had to cut stuff out because they didn't have enough time. Would the game have been worse if they had released that content later as dlc?

Btw, dlc are nothing modern, they existed even before the Internet became big. Back then they were just called addon and were sold at retail.

@Yorumi At this point, we don't even know what "Hard Mode" is.
It could be a simple balancing thing, it could replace every enemy in the game, heck, it could even be Master Quest-esque.
Who knows.

But i do agree, if we are talking about a simple rebalance "take more damage, do less damage" mode, this should NOT be behind a paywall

If I was Nintendo I'd just have this for Switch. It would be a kick in the teeth for WiiU owners but sure... fair play to them for doing this on both systems.

Hopefully there will be some exclusive Switch dlc for BotW next year....

@JaxonH My gripe is that in a single player game is destabilises the narrative and sense of completion.

People often talk how adding paid for maps in FPS games (for example) fractures the player base, as only a certain number of users have access to them.

Obviously, in any single player game that doesn't hold at all, but I still feel that Zelda games establish a sense of community about their story and content, and that is largely due to that content being well-defined, self-contained, and readily available to anyone who purchased the original title. The Legend of Zelda series has become a legend in itself, with every aspect of every game poured over by fans. Having that split because some fans hadn't paid for extra content seems sad. You can't have the experience of having 'beaten' the game properly and explored it its maximum without spending an extra amount of cash.

I guess it comes down to personality too. I like to sit down with something, do it to completion, and then stick in proudly in the shelf (and maybe return to it if I get nostalgic). I don't always have the time in reality, but that ideal has real appeal to me, for whatever reason. It's the same with books; a bookshelf to me is as much a trophy case to things I've finished as a practical storage facility. It'd irritate me no end if my books started flashing and telling me I needed to spend a bit more for them be to 'complete' again.

And then there's also the fact that DLC is - by definition - download only, which plays into my larger physical/virtual preferences/bias. I generally like to be able to buy, sell and own things, as opposed to just having 'access granted' to them. Of course, this has plenty of holes. I'm writing this on a smart device, for which I obviously don't own physical copies of the apps (and don't want to). I don't think I've paid for any of them, but still, I've been very happy with the download only system there.

And for my Japanese 3DS, the eShop has been a godsend, as it means I have access to any game without having to pay for importing and customs. I actually forgot you could get retail games on the eShop, and so accidentally paid an arm and a leg to get the Phoenix Wright prequel. Now that it's here, I'm glad to have it physical, but it I could go back in time I'd definitely just have downloaded it for less time and money.

So there's that whole 'download only' aspect of it, and then as mentioned previously, there's the very hard-to-answer question of what isn't being made in the place of the DLC content. In fact, it's almost impossible to answer, but I'm fairly sure we wouldn't have seen something as unique as MM if the pressure to expand OoT was there instead. I'd rather teams got on with developing brand new experiences than continuing to work on existing games, some time after they've been 'finished'.

Call me a Luddite (please do, I am a Luddite), but I hope you can at least somewhat empathise with the Luddite-centric subjective stuff (i.e. most of it), and also acknowledge the more concrete fact that man-hours spent on DLC for a 'finished' game are therefore not spent elsewhere. I guess the real question is where they're spent most wisely (which gets us back into highly subjective territory), but it's something worth mentioning when DLC comes up. Simply not buying something doesn't mean you're not in any way affected by its development. It'd be naive to think that DLC for old games and droughts for new titles were entirely unconnected. Still, no droughts, no problem.

Maybe I'll have a different opinion given some time and more information. But I've been called a fanboy for favouring some of Nintendo's more traditional or 'unique' approaches to game design before, so I think it's a fair that I get my chance to be (at least temporarily) miffed when some of the modern trends I'm not keen on show their face.

Paying for this up front in March seems like a bit of a waste... but it seems like it would be a welcome addition to revitalize game play next fall, unless the price goes up.

It will be very strange when a WiiU game gets new content in late 2017.

@IceClimbers Yeah, I messed that up. It depends on how and when you bought more content. Free to play with Jago, but every character needed to be bought, which was more expensive 4 years ago than it is now. A retail definitive edition is available for $30 new at this point, which is certainly fair. However, If you bought the first retail Combo Breaker Pack, you still had to pay for the rest of the characters after the first pack of eight. Releasing characters in sequence before the definitive edition released, nickel and diming along the way, was a rather questionable move. Not sleazy like Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but unattractive nonetheless.

@Kirgo They're "offering" modes that have been traditionally included with other entries as a standard part of the package, a free in-game promotional T-Shirt and some ambiguous story content that probably won't be revealed until about 3 months after the Season Pass has been available. How are they not withholding content here?

And let's not forget that none of it will be available to download separately (at least according to Nintendo, so take that for what you will at this point), and you have a $20 pre-order for an expansion that won't release until the Summer. I don't know about you guys, but I consider that to be a desparate move no matter who's involved. I'll hold off for the inevitable bundled GOTY-esque version. Although, knowing Nintendo, it'll take a heck of an unreasonably long time for that day to come. Which works for me - that means I won't be financially rewarding what I consider to be a bad move within a timeframe that matters to their bottomline.

@Yorumi
Hmm, didn't know that. Still, doesn't mean it was originally meant to be included. I'm guessing Skyward Sword didn't have it. Maybe they were brainstorming DLC content ideas and decided to go with something they've done before.

Hard mode, ya. Idk. I never use it so it's meh. But I can understand. Still, if it's more than just reducing hearts and increasing damage, then it's fine. Probably won't be, but whatever. A small thing to worry about in the big scheme of things.

@Maxz
Ya that's unique to Nintendo only gamers I think.

People who have other consoles, we see this with basically every single release. It's standard stuff, has been for years. People cheer when they get single player DLC nowadays. And rage when it doesn't have story DLC. Story DLC is the gold standard of season passes now. Just how it is.

I'm a physical only gamer too, but DLC... it's just the way of the world now. Once you accept it and know you will never, ever, ever have a game collection all on disc ever again, it makes it easy to get past.

I collect base games on disc. No such thing as a complete game on disc anymore. Sometimes you might get lucky with a GotY release later on, but I wouldn't count on it.

@Maxz What you seem to forget in your equation:
Planning and development are two very distinctive steps in development. And the meat of the revenue made with a game flows into the latter part of it.
You can bet your right hand that as soon as Game 1 ships, game 2 is already in its planning phase.
But what to do with the developer teams after finishing a game and waiting for the revenue it makes ?
While Game 2 is in planning, why not let programmers further work on the already finished game ?
They could pick up left out concept ideas, could enhance the game based on consumer feedback etc.
Technically, you are not loosing manpower in the process. And even if they already started development, they are working with already established assets, engines etc.
Its a rather low-key effort at this point anyways.

We totally need more information about the content breadth to be able to judge if the price is fair.
The new hard mode and the map feature sounds like free update stuff, but they might be more than we think.

@NEStalgia I'm guessing it was a perfect example of cognitive dissonance. I enjoyed Just Cause 2 so much, I desperately needed to tell myself 3 was just as good. As it turns out, I'm only human. :')

Good for you Nintendo. No doubt it will be money well spent just like Mario Kart, Smash Bros and Splatoon. (That last one was for lols)

So the game being delay until March isn't enough for them to add all these craps in the full game? What is this, the Nintendo version of Street Fighter V? Can't believe you had gone this low Nintendo, now you make this Zelda game look like a cash-cow. Prepare to get millions of YouTuber rants on this craps.

I hate it. Or another way to look at it, the full game is $80 but you can have it for discount if we get to delete some stuff!

For Mario Kart 8 I loved it because the game was awesome and full and complete. Then months later... EVEN MORE!!!! The extra tracks felt like a great deal instead of releasing mk9 they gave me another half of a game free!

Smash was worse. But it wasn't like major game content. I can skip characters (and did) if I didn't care about them (which I don't). But to make me miss part of Link's adventure? Hmm....

But for Zelda? Extra dungeon and extra story sounds exactly like what I want. Cave of trials? Like Lufia 2 Ancient Cave maybe? I love that too! But this premeditated extra content means your game actually costs $80 not $60.

@JaxonH That's actually not what I'm saying. What I am saying is DLC is a grey area. Nintendo used to have the mantra of launching a full game. Nothing behind paywalls. But that seems to be in the past. You don't seem to read the rest of my comment where I said I have no doubt that the content will be interesting but it is a shame we have to pay again for it. The costs this generation are already huge. The other point I was making is that Nintendo released the Breath of the Wild amiibo. We still have no idea what they do. We only know what Wolf Link does and the 30th anniversary amiibo, but no idea what the BotW line does. Nintendo could have put this Expansion Pack data on those amiibo and therefore could have justified the cost of DLC and the rising cost of amiibo in general. The whole point of amiibo was supposed to be a nice collectable item with in-game rewards. I think the DLC should have been linked to them rather than a completely separate charge, especially when one of the DLC packs is just clothing and items. Look, I'm a Nintendo Fanboy too...but that doesn't mean that I can't think about something critically and actually offer a criticism. Does that mean I'm not going to buy Breath of the Wild? No, I already said I have the Special Edition pre-ordered. But I'm old enough to understand that I can like a company but still criticize some of its decisions.

@CanisWolfred
Well ya, preordering DLC is generally considered a poor move. Only time I do it is when it's a game I truly love... like Final Fantasy XV or, Zelda. I know I need that story expansion, must have, but I wouldn't encourage others to preorder. Not unless they know they want it for sure.

Something to take into account though is, as game size and scope increases, it becomes less financially viable to include past extras when the game you're getting for your money is 10x the content. It's like, yes they're saying this stuff has to be paid for now. But not without reason. The base game is guaranteed 5-10x the content of any past game. You have to draw the line somewhere for that $60.

If it was same scale and size as Skyward Sword... then I'd see a problem. But getting game exponentially greater in size? Ok, understandable then

Imagine they announced this.... and it was FREE!
Switch sales to a billion!
I like the idea of adding longevity, but announcing pre-release is SO... MS/Sony.

@JaxonH "Once you accept it and know you will never, ever, ever have a game collection all on disc ever again, it makes it easy to get past."

It's an accepted thing that companies will release "definitive editions" over a year after the initial release, the Season pass just gets it to you sooner for the people who can't wait. What you're "accepting" is bullcrap.

@retro_player_22 Are you folks even able to read ? Serious question by the way...
That stuff is not finished yet
The main DLC will release in a year from launch

@speedracer216 So did Mario Kart...which you apparently loved...am i missing something here ?
How is one game with extra stuff "complete and awesome", but another one isn't ?

@NEStalgia Considering most of the PlayStation games I played were RPG's with 60+ hour campaigns for $50, or in the rare case like Suikoden 2, 80+ hours for $100... And the length of BotW should be at least comparable to those... Even if the DLC provides an extra 10 hours, it would still be more expensive and not as good of a deal by content measurement for 2017 than FF9 or Suikoden 2 were for 2000. (Not a very good direct comparison, though... Those were huge games for their time.) This DLC would have to provide at least another solid 20 hours, bare minimum, to be worth it in my eyes at this point. And it doesn't sound as substantial as that, of which would have to be an actual expansion living up to the "expansion pass" moniker.

@DarthFoxMcCloud
That's fine. Criticism is fine. But I just don't see it warranted for the reasons you mention.

As you said, we don't know what those amiibo do, so how can you criticize them at this point? Sure, they could have put that content on those amiibo, but then they'd have to come up with different fluff for the expansion. One way or another, the amiibo will have its own content and the pass will have its own content.

They could have put it on the amiibo. Or, they could put better content on the amiibo and leave the fluff to the pass. Either way, the amiibo will have It's own content.

@CanisWolfred
As I mentioned, you MIGHT get lucky with a GotY edition. But not always. Not enough to count on.

What they do is just include codes for the pass. Like Dragon Age Inquisition. Lots of games never even get complete versions, like Tales games. Or Street Fighter V. Or Steep. Even Call of Duty now only seems to sell a gold edition with digital code for season pass. It's complete luck of the draw, and depends on sales and developer and publisher.

So ya, it may be bull crap, but you have no choice but to accept it because it's the reality of the situation. Accept it and settle it within yourself it's impossible to have a complete on disc collection nowadays in the age of DLC, or don't accept it and be perpetually pissed off every time a new game releases with season pass.

Up to you.

If the content is worth the price, I'll get it. Maybe it will keep me busy until Splatoon 2 comes out 😉

@Shy_Guy Since both are scheduled for summer, i think not ^^

@Einherjar Who cares if those stuff ain't finish yet, all those contents should had been in the game to begin with. The game is going to be release in March you're telling me right now "Oh by the way the actual game isn't the full game, you had to pay $20 to get all the other contents we didn't had time to put in there?" Like I'm going to excuse all that. This is the practice of greedy company milking you fans for all its worth. If you accept this practice then you're the problem that is deeply encouraging them to continuously built on this practice. If Nintendo is going to follow what Capcom, UbiSoft, and EA are doing, they will get the same opinion from me just like what I thought of those. It will be no different unless if they could prove me wrong and miraculously manage to get all these on the full game by release date. Defend Nintendo all you want, it still doesn't hide the fact that they are like Capcom, EA, and UbiSoft now.

@JaxonH What do you mean "not enough to count on"? If I wait say...15 months, and there's still no GOTY edition? I can still buy it, and I can still play it. And once I've played it, I can still get the DLC. What have I lost from being patient?

Like, I'm not even angry that DLC exists, personally - I meant to point that out in my previous post, and I guess your point was more directed at people who are mad about lacking on-disc content. I thought you meant that you'll still have to buy stuff separately, and will never get a complete package with a single purchase. At this point, there's not enough room on the discs themselves to handle everything on one disc, especially for stuff like Dragon Age.

@Einherjar Yeah, the GBA tuner was kind of like having the flying SEGA console MAG's on Phantasy Star Online. I thought the Rumble Pak stone was really clever, though. Honestly, I think that was one of the best implementations of the rumble mechanic of all time, in addition to being visually represented in an immersive way.

@CanisWolfred
Woah, hold up. I'm not against that. Be patient, that's fine!

I'm saying that the reality is, not all games will have complete physical versions. It's just the world we live in. No reason to get up in arms. Developers sell content via digital distribution, and it's no reason to get angry. It's a fact not all games will get complete physical versions, so why let it bother you?

If you wanna wait and see if a game done, that's fine! I do it sometimes myself. That's... just not what I was talking about.

@UmbreonsPapa any dlc for any company is screwing the customer. This practice is just plain wrong, we consumers paid for a complete product not just part of it. Now with this if I want to play hard mode I have to paid $20 more. How is that not screwing ppl?

@JaxonH Yeah, I realized that after I wrote the first paragraph, and the edit was suposed to reflect that. I forgot that edits don't show up unless you refresh the page, though.

@JaxonH "Just because the dlc has some sort of story doesn't mean ppl have to buy it". So you expect fans to play the incomplete version? Got it. What about if I find the basic entry way too easy? Oh no I also have to buy the DLC because the hard mode is in it. Geez this page is plague by fanboys.

@retro_player_22 You're joking right ? You can't be that ignorant...
How should stuff, that is scheduled for the end of this year be in a game that is already shipped to stores ?
Time machine ? Folded space-time ? Magic ?

This is stuff the team is working on post release, in between major projects.

What you are against are practices like Capcoms "On-Disc DLC" or deliberately cut content sold separately.
And trust me, i think we can all agree on that.

You and @Jessica286 really don't seem to have the slightest clue what you are talking about here. The product you buy IS COMPLETE. In every sense of the word.
Example: If you buy new seat covers for your car half a year after purchase, was it incomplete the whole time ?
Because thats your argument.

This is absolutely normal, basic stuff dev teams do inbetween major projects to not idle around. Later additions dont make products incomplete in retrospect, unless you manage to overcome the time paradox you try to create here....
Geeze...

@Einherjar
With MK it felt like they saved me from buying a second game by adding to the original. Same for Smash. Add levels and characters without making me buy a new game.

With Zelda it feels like it's the same game but they cut part of it out. So I bought the game... and didn't get it all. Maybe the genre/IP is part of what makes it feel that way. We don't all use every character in Smash or love every race in MK. But to miss one of Link's dungeons? We ALL play Link's story and now we'll ALL be missing part of it without paying extra.

See the difference? It might be technically the same, but the feel is different. One situation feels like something EXTRA when paying while one situation feels like something MISSING without paying.

The lack of it in any DLC proves one thing at least: THE GREEN TUNIC IS IN THERE SOMEWHERE

Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but when Nintendo says the DLC will include a "new hard mode" (as opposed to "the hard mode"), to me it seems like the game will already include a hard mode, and the DLC will add an either an even harder hard mode or a "different kind" of hard mode.

It's the same reason why Nintendo said the DLC will include a "new dungeon" and "a new story" as opposed to "the dungeon" and "the story." Dungeons and the main story are obviously already in the base game; the DLC will provide an additional dungeon alongside an additional story. By that same reasoning, a hard mode is already in the base game; the DLC will provide an additional hard mode.

@JaxonH Here's the thing. They should have put the first 2 Expansion Pack DLC sets on the amiibo. Save the story content for a 3rd "sold separate" DLC pack. I feel like the story content will be worth the money. But there's a line in the Talking Point article Nintendo Life put out that sums up my thoughts on the first 2 offerings.

"To be blunt, the initial content - some items including a 'Nintendo Switch' shirt for Link - are the sort of cheap early cash-ins that get condemned when they come from Ubisoft, EA, Capcom and so on."

This is what has me worried. Honestly dude I hope I'm wrong and this amazing content. But on paper it doesn't look to be. In Canada this is likely going to be $30 after tax. That's on top of $170 for the Special Edition I've already shelled out plus $90 for a Switch Pro Controller & extra $100 for a second set of Joy-Con for my partner because we are sharing the Switch. And then Nintendo issues a statement where they say basically say, by the way shell out more money for a Switch t-shirt. It rubs me the wrong way. I would have liked to see a continuation of piece-meal DLC. I would be more than happy to skip the first 2 DLC batches and just pay for the third at a reduced rate like Nintendo did for Mario Kart 8 DLC and Hyrule Warriors. Making me pay the full freight up front when really all I want is that final DLC pack is rather annoying. That's why I'm critical.

I love Zelda and I'm going to love this game I am sure. But I don't like how they're handling this DLC announcement and I'm really hoping this is not the future of DLC for games moving forward for Nintendo.

@CanisWolfred besides the fact that we don't know if that new hard mode really is similar to what we got for "free" in the past.
It might be something similar to master quest for all we know and something like that would, for example, be a LOT more work in this gigantic world than it was in past games.

What is that "modes that have been traditionally included with other entries" argument anyway? No matter what modes exactly you mean, they certainly hafen't been in every Zelda game. And what is your point? That BotW has less content because of those missing modes?

You also didn't answer the one question my post was all about: Is the game, without the dlc still worth its 70$?
I'm personally confident, that this game will be at least very good and that I will have at the very least 40h worth of content in that game.
That for 70$ is more value than most games on the market.
Why now, should I not buy this game?

Whether that additional content has been cut out (which I seriously doubt, honestly) or not is just irrelevant in the end.
If they think they have enough value to sell the game without the dlc content for 70$ then they have every right to do so. And in my opinion that is the case.

Just an additional question to you specifically as well:
Were you also angry when games in the past got addons later? Because there is not much of a difference here and they could very well have been cut out of the main game as well.

Today is Valentine's Day not April Fool's Day. Did Nintendo get mixed up? This is both awful and disgraceful.

@Jessica286 Im asking you directly again:
Did the release of "Beedle the Bard" turn the rest of the Harry Potter books incomplete ?

@speedracer216 Why cut parts out and release them a whole year later ? Does no one of you notice this ?
If its deliberately cut to be sold to inflate the price, why would they try and sell an empty pass and wait a year for the actual release ?

@SLIGEACH_EIRE How dare they release more Zelda on Christmas ! What a disgrace !

@DarthFoxMcCloud don't bother really, some people in here are way too much fanboys is like talking to a wall. I have every Nintendo console there is with the exception of GB Micro and Virtual Boy. I grew up playing their consoles and still do plus I have the Special Edition BotW pre-order and thats because I couldn't get the Master one BUT I also work and money doesn't come from the sky. The entry price is already a lot, plus add Pro Controller or a new set of Joy-cons so I can play with my love one party games. Add the price of the online plus the amiibo line of BotW that btw has higher prices than regular amiibo. And now add the dlc cost and you are looking at an entry price of above $500. Thats insane and it is not at all enticing to the general consumer aka not Nintendo fanboys.

"The Expansion Pass will be available for both the Nintendo Switch and Wii U versions of the game and are identical"

Thank goodness its also coming to the Wii u version! Might not download it straight away at that price, but a extra dungeon may be irresistable!

@Jessica286 Just to give you a frame of reference, in case you hadn't seen it before... Back when Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released, they had the gall to charge $20 for... Horse armor. Yes. That's it. Horse armor. (The Witcher 3 would later lampoon this by giving away horse armor for free. )

I don't agree with the presentation of this DLC content, and quite frankly, after all the delays that BotW had, this should really be free DLC as a reward for everyone who buys BotW new. However... Until Nintendo starts charging $20 for putting armor on Epona, and nothing more... They haven't truly screwed us over. Not yet.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE once again I find myself agreeing to u. At first I thought u were a hater but now I see u r one of the not crazy justify all ppl in here.

@Kirgo Oh yeah, I'm not gonna say the main game is worth less without it. However, I don't think the Season Pass is even remotely worth $20. I would be less peeved if they didn't outright say "we won't be offering the content packs separately". That's just me, though, and even if I could only get pack #2, I'd still wait a while to see if I could get it on sale, mostly because I have other games to play.

@PlywoodStick as I said before just because other company does far worst doesn't justify Nintendo stance in this nor do makes DLC a great thing.

@PlywoodStick and they aren't charging for clothes but they sure are for hard mode.

@DarthFoxMcCloud
"this is likely going to be $30"

Well, that's because Canadian money isn't worth as much. $30 US is one thing. But your price reflects the value of your dollar. Nearly $30 CA is only worth $20 US. So it's not as much as it sounds.

But ya, just because this is the type of content that amiibo gets, doesn't mean it should be on the amiibo. As I said, the amiibo will have their own separate content. So you don't have to worry about that.

Other companies get criticized for only selling fluff, and for expensive prices. Like Bandai Namco selling costumes for $12 in Tales of Berseria. But simply tossing it in as a freebie along with meaty, substantial content? No one ever gets criticized for that.

It's not fair to just automatically say all fluff content has to be tied to amiibo. DLC needs fluff content too. Amiibo isn't the only thing that needs content. And DLC passes have been around far longer than amiibo.

@Einherjar lol thats not dlc thats a spinoff lol! U know what forget it, is really hard to talk to a wall.

@Einherjar
I'm not saying it's done being made and they cut it. Whether it's programmed already or just planned, the reality is there is MORE game to this game that is being held back.

If I love the game, I'll buy the DLC. That's why this works whether I like it or not. I skipped a ton of Smash DLC and it didn't hurt me or Nintendo (other than my completionist side). I just hope that the average cost of game doesn't go up to $80 because of DLC. For the average game, it's too much risk and not worth it.

There's a reason I still spend most of my money on SNES carts.

Considering the standard pricing for Season Passes are 30 to 60 bucks, with 15 bucks being a rare exception, 20 bucks for a season pass seems more reasonable.

@UK-Nintendo Aww man glad I could help. Hope your day turns around, there's still time yet! (most likely the minute you leave work)

@Jessica286 Uhm...no, its not a spin-off, its a book that acts as a plot device in the story the reader never got to read themselves until after the series was done.
It was extra lore, not a spin-off. It is exactly what these packs are, extra stuff ontop of an already finished product.
And according to your logic, the book series has been incomplete until the release of Beedle the Bard and other supplementary works such as Fantastic Beasts.

@CanisWolfred And that is fine. It is not like I want to tell everyone that this is great value, anyone has to decide that for themselfs.

Right now, for the dlc itself, I think it is hard to tell yet. We don't know how big that dungeon is for example.
I'm mainly confident because Nintendo dlc had good value for me up till this point. But that is just my opinion as well.

@Jessica286
the only one people shouldn't bother with is people like you who resort to labeling anyone who doesn't agree with your irrational pov as a fanboy.

@Jessica286 And as far as we know, you are getting a complete product. Everything that has been said about this game suggest you are getting $60 worth.

Ultimately, if you feel this somehow makes the game incomplete to you, then you are more in your right to feel that way. If it turns out you can ultimately complete the game and get the story without it, then by definition its not integral to the game and is just bonus content.

@speedracer216 No it is not. How can you hold something back that doesn't even exist ?
This stuff doesn't exist yet. What you got here was a preview of what is planned post release, nothing more, nothing less.

@Jessica286 Yeah, I was honestly expecting all of this stuff to be part of the game when they were first teased. I guess they must have ran out of time (again), and so they decided to release the content later as DLC. I don't really have an issue with that by itself, if that's what happened. What I do have an issue with is charging money for it, after years of delays, when they should be giving it away to everyone who buys BotW new. And yeah, for things like difficulty levels, I think it's inexcusable to charge money for something like that. If it isn't ready at launch, fine, make it available through a free update, like SMT IV: Apocalypse did. But don't lock it behind a paywall, that's sleazy.

@JaxonH Then sell the Expansion Pack as standalone as an option. For those who only want that final pack with the new story content, sell that individually. And for those who have to have it all, sure have the All-In-One price for all 3, but give the consumer choice.

@JaxonH the only fanboys here are u and Einherjar.

@Jessica286
LOL right. Because we're the ones taking a stand against your nonsensical ***

@DarthFoxMcCloud
I wouldn't be against that.

@JaxonH And the other reason I'm saying link some of this content to amiibo. It's because it's been done already. Nintendo has established that as precedent. Cave of Shadows in Twilight Princess HD was locked behind Wolf Link & Ganondorf amiibo made you take double the damage (a.k.a. a form of a hard mode). So really, I firmly believe a Nintendo Switch t-shirt and a new "hard mode" could have been attached to the BotW amiibo.

@Jessica286 Lol, typical idiot layman (or woman) on the defensive. Look around you - you don't have to like it, you don't even have to buy it. But don't bury your head in the sand, pretending that it isn't an industry standard nowadays (including extra storylines/sub-plots). You will just come off as a whiner.

@DarthFoxMcCloud exactly. That is why DLC such as the Mario Kart one and Smash work. They have lots of varying choices but in here u paid $20 or u get nothing. And don't act like a new piece of story, a new dungeon and hard mode scream to complete game.

@Jessica286 gasp Im shocked ! Namecalling at this time of day ? I think that mortally wounded my feelings !
Does someone have a fairy in a bottle ?

@Iggy-Koopa I just read bla bla bla, someone is attacking Nintendo I must defend it. Good talk.

@Einherjar oh so clever! rolls eyes

@JaxonH yeah because disagreeing with dlc is nonsense just as much as justify it.

@PlywoodStick
Look on the bright side, though, you don't have to wait 13 years, buy a 3DS, and a game cart to get the hard mode like with OoT!

In fairness, Zelda games didn't have "hard mode" for a long time (except Zelda II which didn't have a 'normal mode' ) , and recently they've been adding hard modes for re-mastered re-releases as a bonus (DLC in a way.) And caves of trials are, what, and 45 minute item if we're going by TP? I'm more worried about a "map feature" behind a pay wall (I'm playing at launch so I'll be done the game before the "map feature" exists anyway), and mostly interested in "is the expansion worth $20 or no? " and "is the main game incredibly huge and complete without the DLC or no?" If the answer to either or both those questions is yes, then there's no problem here. We'll know the latter in a few weeks and the former in nearly a year.

@Akropolon LOL....yeah...for the first hour or two it's tons of fun and you wait for the game to really open up and evolve. By hour 5 you figure out that's not actually going to happen. By hour 10 you finally swim back to the coast.... I can't imagine who greenlit DLC for that thing at all

@Yorumi and so far the Switch has Wii U label on it all over again. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes the way of Sega. Painful because they are still the ones that makes the great games.

@Einherjar

There you go! Drink up, it'll give you super powers...

@Jessica286 Don't roll them back too far. As Nietzsche already warned: Don't look too far into the black void

@Yorumi Yup, agreed. Their PR is complete and utter sh*te and don't get me started on their supply chains...
Which is why im glad they didn't lock that stuff behind Amiibos in the first place...