Dragon Age II Leaves Kirkwall With Legacy DLC

[John Funk]

Dragon Age II Leaves Kirkwall With Legacy DLC

Venture into a forgotten Grey Warden prison to unearth secrets behind the bloodline of Hawke.

BioWare's Dragon Age II was released back in March, and while some loved it - our own Greg Tito among them [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8701-Dragon-Age-II-Review] - others saw it as making more compromises than it perhaps ought to have. With Dragon Age 2: Legacy, the game's first major DLC expansion, BioWare seems to be trying to make it up to the game's critics.

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One of the most oft-repeated criticisms of the game was official site [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/8730-Critical-Miss-Erin-Hawke-Explorer] is that players will be leaving the all-too-familiar city of Kirkwall for entirely new sites and locales. The setting this time around includes an "ancient Grey Warden prison" that the player and party must investigate after coming under attack by a criminal group hunting protagonist Hawke's bloodline.

Legacy focuses on Hawke's father (who was not in the original game) - and the way that the BioWare site mentions the "harsh truth about the Hawke lineage," it's a safe bet that Hawke won't like what s/he finds in the prison.

Other critics of the game claimed that it wasn't nearly tactical enough (as they believed a "true" PC RPG should be), and BioWare has promised new Darkspawn enemies that will require tactical use of the player's entire party to vanquish. According to Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/07/07/dragon-age-ii-legacy-dlc-coming-this-month.aspx], the Legacy demo showed a fight against a Guardian enemy that would constantly spawn clones of itself to join the fight in order to distract the player and hamper their progress.

BioWare has also said that there will be more character customization this time around - defeating the Guardian enables a player to tweak out Hawke's class-specific weapon with upgrades like "speed reduction" or "increased critical damage."

Legacy is due on July 26th for PS3, PC and Xbox 360, at the price of $9.99, 800 BioWare Points, and 800 Microsoft Points, respectively. Will it win you over?

(Dragon Age II: Legacy [http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/addon/legacy/])

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[Seventh Actuality]

While I don't think good DLC can make up for a so-so game, the fact that they're taking these steps at least bodes well for Dragon Age 3.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I really don't know how to feel about this. On one hand, I don't want to spend 10 dollars to play DA2 for a few hours more, being the only Bioware game I couldn't play through more than once. On the other hand, I really want to see if it turns out good. Guess I'll be waiting for reviews.

 

[electric_warrior]

Told them game as soon as I completed it, I won't be buying it again for some bullshit DLC

 

[Markgraf]

Well, what still irks me, is that they're tailoring the DLC as a response to DAII's critical reaction. In that case, why not simply give it away for free as a "peace offering" of sorts and a gesture of goodwill towards those who vehemently derided the game. That would seriously help Bioware's recently tarnished reputation.

Also, fire Hamburger Helper, she's little more than a literary hack who is more at home crafting fan-fiction than being a "professional" writer in a multi-billion dollar industry.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Nope, I'm done with the game. It was mediocre, didn't expect it to be great and I wasn't really disappointed but I'm certainly not buying DLC for it, moreso because I hate BioWare's DLC in general.

A 10$ DLC that probably will only be a few hours long tops (If it turns out longer, it will be a pleasant surprise) will not change peoples minds about the game.

 

[VanTesla]

My critcism is how the three part act was handled, the one dimensional companions, almost no effect on how Kirkwall changes in 10 years, little meaningful choices, and a poor choice of endings that neither I would choose... Also a DLC of a main companion on day one is asinine to charge people. I am not even going to buy this unless it is ground breaking and on sale later...

 

[VanTesla]

Well, what still irks me, is that they're tailoring the DLC as a response to DAII's critical reaction. In that case, why not simply give it away for free as a "peace offering" of sorts and a gesture of goodwill towards those who vehemently derided the game. That would seriously help Bioware's recently tarnished reputation.

Also, fire Hamburger Helper, she's little more than a literary hack who is more at home crafting fan-fiction than being a "professional" writer in a multi-billion dollar industry.

They should have given the Prince DLC free to all people that bought the game... I have it because of pre-order, but it's a major character that was ripped out for reason to make more money...

 

[Buizel91]

Well i'm in the middle of my game and i really don't see why people hate it so much...but ahh well.

Anyways, i'm always up for some DLC, Bring it on Bioware!

 

[Gitty101]

At least we finally get to leave Kirkwall for a brief spell. I was expecting more from a dlc, but I'll probably pick this up anyway... and hate myself for doing so...

 

[AlternatePFG]

Well, what still irks me, is that they're tailoring the DLC as a response to DAII's critical reaction. In that case, why not simply give it away for free as a "peace offering" of sorts and a gesture of goodwill towards those who vehemently derided the game. That would seriously help Bioware's recently tarnished reputation.

Also, fire Hamburger Helper, she's little more than a literary hack who is more at home crafting fan-fiction than being a "professional" writer in a multi-billion dollar industry.

They should have given the Prince DLC free to all people that bought the game... I have it because of pre-order, but it's a major character that was ripped out for reason to make more money...

Not to mention the character is annoying and the actual content consisted of a couple extra quests (The recruitment quest does not count because it's basically "Kill These Guys" in places you will visit eventually anyway.) and that was it.

Seriously, at least Shale was an interesting character, with some new game mechanics and came free if you bought the game new.

 

[Nightvalien]

Oh wow i don't see a reason not to get this ... oh wait right the game suck balls beyond any dlc can ever hope to repair.

 

[VanTesla]

Well, what still irks me, is that they're tailoring the DLC as a response to DAII's critical reaction. In that case, why not simply give it away for free as a "peace offering" of sorts and a gesture of goodwill towards those who vehemently derided the game. That would seriously help Bioware's recently tarnished reputation.

Also, fire Hamburger Helper, she's little more than a literary hack who is more at home crafting fan-fiction than being a "professional" writer in a multi-billion dollar industry.

They should have given the Prince DLC free to all people that bought the game... I have it because of pre-order, but it's a major character that was ripped out for reason to make more money...

Not to mention the character is annoying and the actual content consisted of a couple extra quests (The recruitment quest does not count because it's basically "Kill These Guys" in places you will visit eventually anyway.) and that was it.

Seriously, at least Shale was an interesting character, with some new game mechanics and came free if you bought the game new.

I agree 100% and feel the evil influence of EA is destroying all of Bioware. Soon they will be gone if this keeps up... I hate Activision, but atleast they let Blizzard have their time on titles...

 

[Happy Sock Puppet]

I hope they actually play-tested their DLC. Too bad they didn't with DA2. I beat it traded that shit in while the trading was good. After my discount for buying it on Amazon and the trade-in, it only cost me 15$ to play...which was still too much for me. Those who convinced themselves to enjoy DA2 will probably buy the DLC, which is unfortunate, because Bioware should be financially punished for releasing that piece of garbage.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

It's quite obvious the reason recent Bioware games have been lacking in the quality department is EA's relentless pursuit to cash in on their brand. I will not be purchasing this DLC nor will I be purchasing future games with the EA label as I refuse to support a publisher whose business model is built around ruining amazing studios.

 

[Varya]

Aw, man, I can't afford any new games... seems I'll be living on noodles this August