DLCs you like more than their base games?

[StaceyPowers]

Are there any DLCs you think are better than their base games? What do you think makes them better?

[Crazycrab]

Horizon Zero Dawn - The Frozen Wilds.  I think the main reason is that the animations in the cutscenes are so much better because, unlike in the base game, they were able to use full performance capture. The new machines added also really upped the challenge and there was some cool new weapons to.

 

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion - The Shivering Isles.  The story content in the base game is fun don't get me wrong, but The Shivering Isles expansion was on another level of creativity.  It really was full on Sheogorath.  Wacky, crazy and endlessly amusing.

 

.The Last of Us - Left Behind.  I feel like im cheating a little with this one since I don't exactly consider it "better" as such.  I do feel that it adds so much more context to It's base game along with some unique new elements that it merits an inclusion.

[Justin11]

- Mass Effect 3: Citadel 

-Diablo II: Lord of Destruction 

- Dishonored. 

This DLCs are superb on story mode, speed, and realistic gameplay. That's the reason I choose their DLCs more than their buggy based edition. But it's kinda frustrating that, video game companies release the first game and not making the primary features to be unique just to milk more money through DLCs. 

[Withywarlock]

Some good choices here. @StaceyPowers, do you have any particular games you'd like to nominate?

Super Lucky's Tale: Gilly Island. When I was going through my Hawaiian shirt phase, this beach level with its beauteous soundtrack had everything I could've hoped for. A gorgeous hubworld with great levels that fit the theme better than any other, it's a shame that it was carved out content from the base game. It features one of the original cat antagonists, and doesn't really add anything to hide the fact it's just another level. Still, if it's good for one thing it's that it's a suitable candidate for this thread.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Though the novelty wore thin, its 80s action film aesthetic with various pop culture references served long enough to see it through this short expansion. It was easy to become dramatically overpowered but that suited the constant warring that you'd see take over the island. A fine homage that knows what it's doing, unlike so, so many other 80s nostalgia attempts.

Far Cry 5: Hearts of Darkness. Likely named such because it's set in Vietnam, like Apocalypse Now, which is a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness novel. Now that's out of the way, it's a decent attempt at a shooter set during the conflict in Viet Nam, appropriate for Far Cry 5's "search and destroy" objectives in its sandbox. Seperated from your unit, you must rescue other soldiers, take down key parts of the opposition's forces, and survive a final showdown at the end of the expansion. It's short but it does what it wants to well.

Assassin's Creed IV: Freedom Cry. You play as Adewale freeing slaves and shooting people with cannons. I think that's enough commentary to sell anyone on it.

A shameless plug, and do let me know if this is too much because I linked a video of my own yesterday, but I did a series of DLC reviews called "Downloadable Discontent" (a name shamelessly nicked from Jim Stephanie Sterling's Jimquisition episode), featuring reviews of two DLCs mentioned here. The playlist can be found here.

[Clasher]

Really good choices from @Withywarlock

For a more recent game I am currently playing

OlliOlli world : void riders - the original story is good and the dlc did more justice to it, extraterrestrial expansion , exciting new levels and some sci-fi twists.

Introducing aliens to radlandia areas like sunshine valley and cloverbrook to recruit skaters for their leader Nebulord.

[Empire]

I have mention this before or awhile ago regards to DLCs in another topic and I'm going to say regards to a game called theHunter: Call of the wild that it offers allot of DLCs and almost each DLCs is epic and good. Out of all of the DLCs that I have for the base game I do like this

 

[m76]

The first such title is Dragon Age Origins Awakenings. OK, this is from before the time of DLCs as this is an actual physical expansion pack. I think the maps and the story and the characters are all much better in this than the original game, which had a ton of long boring story segments and repetitive encounters.

Mass Effect 3 - The Citadel is also a good mention, it is a good DLC with tons  of feelgood and fanservice content, that if only momentarily can distract you from the obvious shortcomings of the game, and how it failed to give a satisfactory ending to the story.

For the same game Leviathan DLC is also a good one, it is more like an investigation story, going after clues and learning intriguing things, even if ultimately it raises more questions than it answers.

Defense Grid The Awakening - You Monster The base game is already one of my favorites but this DLC puts an extra spin on it, by incorporating Glados from Portal as the villain.

 

 

[Yaramaki]

Forza Horizon it's dlc has always been top notch especially the hot weels expansion for the third game and the lego expansion for the fourth game. Just when you tought the series were getting stale , they come up with that nonesense well nonesense in a good way. Maybe it would be a good idea to make an entire forza horzone themed lego or hot wheels game.

Ac unity's story expansion called Dead Kings, while i really liked Ac unity and would rank it into my top 5 ac games. This is were the game really shined, set after the main game, it probably had better missions then the main game and the story wasn't bad either. Maybe because it was offered for free by ubisoft as an apoligy for the many issues unity was plagued with that i think it's so good. A quick google search let me to believe that it's still free, so you have no excuse to not try it out.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country, while a stand alone game and not so much dlc but rather an expansion, let's just include it here because It's better then the main game, the writing and combat are better , the characters are more likeable and the game tells the entire backstory of the second game tying up any lose and question you may have after the second game. 

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine : don't really think many words need to be wasted about this one, let's just say this is gaming companies should handle Dlc.

Also Feel like the entire Fable series deserves a shout out because it always had outstanding dlc content that often would match the main game in terms of quality.

[StaceyPowers]

@Withywarlock For me, The Shivering Isles for Oblivion, as @Crazycrab mentioned, as well as DA: Origins: Awakening, as @m76 pointed out. Both of these beat their base games (which are both great games). Okay, well, I like DA: Origins' companions better than Awakening's, but I find Awakening's plot much more interesting.

I'd mention the Citadel DLC for ME3 as well, but I'm not sure I'd call it "better." It is arguably my favourite part of the series, but it clearly builds upon what the base games are all about. Plus, I like ME3 much more than most seem to, including the ending (note that I only ever played the patched version though).

Edited July 25, 2022 by StaceyPowers

[Kane99]

For me, I'd have to say Far Cry Blood Dragon. Even though it's not DLC, I probably enjoyed it more than Far Cry 3, even though I never played it. It's a fun game, with awesome music, great voice acting and just dumb fun. 

[Clasher]

On 7/24/2022 at 1:53 PM, m76 said:

Mass Effect 3 - The Citadel is also a good mention, it is a good DLC with tons  of feelgood and fanservice content, that if only momentarily can distract you from the obvious shortcomings of the game, and how it failed to give a satisfactory ending to the story.

That's a worthy mention mate.

I knew from the onset that there wouldn't be any fixing for the ending of ME3 but this addition From Ashes Mass Effect 3 DLC – Priority: Eden Prime where you recruit a new squadmate was interesting , the side quests  and also Omega Mass Effect 3 DLC: Citadel: Aria T’Loak.

[Heatman]

My pick would be the following DLC's ;

1. Blood and Wine - The Witcher 3. It's one DLC that was done right in every way possible. Your true prowess as a fighter would be well tested by the kind of enemies you're going to face in the DLC. 

[Akun]

I found Happy Home Paradise a lot more unique and interesting than the Animal Crossing: New Horizons base game with its gameplay of opening up schools and facilities for the island, not to mention designing homes for the different villagers. New Horizons just felt boring after a long time of fishing and collecting fruits. I'm glad the DLC shook things up.

[Heatman]

13 hours ago, Akun said:

I found Happy Home Paradise a lot more unique and interesting than the Animal Crossing: New Horizons base game with its gameplay of opening up schools and facilities for the island, not to mention designing homes for the different villagers. New Horizons just felt boring after a long time of fishing and collecting fruits. I'm glad the DLC shook things up.

If you ever played simulation games for too long, they always tend to bore you out. It's why I don't spend too much time on them. The DLC was a good escape that adds a little bit of fresh air into the game. It's only Microsoft Flight Simulator that never bored me no matter how much I played it. 

[Akun]

1 hour ago, Heatman said:

If you ever played simulation games for too long, they always tend to bore you out. It's why I don't spend too much time on them. The DLC was a good escape that adds a little bit of fresh air into the game. It's only Microsoft Flight Simulator that never bored me no matter how much I played it. 

I think it also depends on your interests as well, because certain simulators can cater to your specific niche, like a movie-making simulator game for your inner film-buff. I don't consider myself the most passionate gamer ever, but I really enjoyed Game Dev Tycoon and could play it all day long without getting bored, because the feeling of being this game developer going through the different important milestones of video game history was surreal and really interesting. I had a lot of fun simulating the experience of creating notable video games like Half-Life, Halo, and of course, all those 16-bit games on the N64. The mod that stretched out the gameplay by making time move slower really helped because it means that I could create more games from all the different periods of video game history.