If any game released in 2009 warrants multiple playthroughs, it’s Dragon Age: Origins (review). While a single play will take you around 50-60 hours to complete, there’s still so much that you will inevitably miss, so many different choices you could have made.
Bioware has already released a few bits of DLC to give you even more reasons to play through it again, and the newest one (entitled Return to Ostagar) now has a release date of January 5th for Xbox 360 and PC, with the PS3 release to follow soon after. It’s perfectly timed for you to get over the holiday slump and jump right back into the world of Dragon Age… hopefully to return in time to play Mass Effect 2 when it hits on January 26th.
(On a side note, I’ve started up a second Mass Effect playthrough to get ready for the sequel and am amazed at how bad Dragon Age makes it look. Besides the horrible load times and repetitive side quests, the conversations stunned me by how unrealistic they feel. In Dragon Age conversation happens naturally and you learn about the world with a natural progression by talking to people, whereas in Mass Effect you often simply pick a topic and tell a character to divulge all the info he or she has on it. It’s very stilted and jarring and pulled me out of the world, but I’m sure Bioware has learned from their experience for the second one.)
Return to Ostagar will not only let you return to the snow-laden battlefields that the Darkspawn now swarm and reclaim the arms and armor from the king, but it will give you a second chance to add Dog to your party, in case you missed him the first time through. He was never used too much in my game, though- it’s always preferable to have someone who can add something to conversations. Here’s the official synopsis, which contains spoilers for the beginning of the game-
Your memories of the battle of Ostagar will haunt you for years to come. It laid waste to your order and claimed the lives of many great men and women, including the brash young King Cailan and your mentor, Duncan.
Now, there are rumors that a fellow survivor of the battle has escaped from captivity and is seeking the Grey Wardens’ help. The time has come for the Grey Wardens to make their return to Ostagar and exact their revenge upon the darkspawn.
Check out the trailer below and get those MS points ready- this baby will cost you five bucks.
12 comments
Will do.
awesome, playing through for the first time now and loving it.
I disagree on the conversation part. The fact your character doesn't actually talk in Dragon Age and instead stands there like he/she doesn't understand what's going feels like a step back for me. The NPC conversations are the same as Mass Effect… but both great games
You're kidding about "Dragon Age" making "Mass Effect" look bad, right? "Dragon Age"s graphics, storyline, and retarded difficulty make it infinitely shittier than "Mass Effect". I've never disagreed with you before, Alex. This is a dark day.
While Mass Effect was a good game, I think it is VERY overrated. A very repetitive and short playthrough…
Rob – He's not kidding and he's not alone… Alex I'm reasonably glad you've seen the light so to speak on Mass Effect, because that was a horrible game. Okay maybe not horrible, but certainly horrible in the sense that it was a great idea that was dreadfully under-executed. Repetitive and boring indeed. It felt half-done at almost every stage. I was so burned by the experience I've vowed to stay away from dragon age… except everyone letting the game give them a facial has truly started to pull me back in. Do I really want to go for dragon age if I found Mass Effect to be totally un-redeeming? And keep in mind I played ME all the way through out of some self-hatred… Bioware has just struck me as terrible compared to bethesda's oblivion/fallout/etc.
The silent protagonist aspect is definitely a step back, but you can't fault them- they would have needed something around 6 voice actors for just the main character (all races and sexes). I still really dig Mass Effect but playing through Dragon Age really makes its flaws stand out that much more. Go back to Mass Effect and try talking to anyone- too much of your character's dialogue starts with "Tell me about (INSERT SUBJECT HERE)". Mike S- definitely give the game a shot, though. It's flawed as well but so much easier to overlook those parts because everything else just works so goddamn well.
I want to play this, but I'm holding out for the inevitable GOTY edition with all the DLC. Plus I don't need to start this right before ME2 comes out.
I don't know about you gents, but I don't make sweet love to my Banderas-sounding Elf comrade or hot-ass redhead religious nut with my CLOTHES ON.
Having played through "ME" again (for the same reasons as you, Alex), I actually found it to be so much more engaging. I chose "Sole Survivor"/"Spacer" and got so many new story aspects it was phenomenal. Loved it. Much more than trudging through the "Dragon Age". I loved "DA", but hated how monotonous it got.
Mass Effect is the most overrated RPG ever! I'm already playing my second DA game though, hoping to snag a happier ending.
Mass Effect has a few minor issues, but I'd rather play it a hundred times than play 5 more minutes of Dragon Age's dullness.
Kotaku.com also ran a story today about a shop bought expansion due out around march that will contain a new campaign set just after the first campaign with the blight that will run around 15 hours. It will allegedly contain a new character and also a new origin and locations!!!
I love Biowars support for Dragon Age, this is how you do an RPG guys!!! Bethesda with Fo3 and all the love they gave it, BioWare with DA:O and undoubtedly the love they'll give ME2…
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