Dragon Age 2: Legacy, The bar for quality DLC has been set

[Belgian_Waffles]

This is for those of you waiting on a review for this DLC, I just finished and thought I would share my thoughts.

If you ask anyone who knows me or just ask me straight up you would know that I'm not the biggest fan of Dragon Age 2. However, Having spent two days playing Legacy and finishing it, I can safely say that it's the new Point Lookout.

First off for those of you still on the fence I want to clear up that unlike the vanilla game, no corners have been cut in Legacy, this piece of DLC actually puts the rest of the game to shame. Usually there are three telltale signs that you're playing DLC (aside from the fact that you bought it.) and Legacy averts all of them.

1. Mute Party Members
For the first time in Bioware history all of the party members return with new things to say, you heard me right all of the companion characters are back. Anders, Carver, Varric, Bethany, Fenris, Isabella, Aveline, Merril, and even Sebastian's voice actors have been rehired to show you how much Bioware means business this time around.

2. Reused environments
Unlike Vanilla, Every map was created from scratch. The icing on the cake is that these rooms aren't copy pasted throughout Legacy. Genlocks, Brontos, and alpha Hurlocks make their triumphant return as well (as well as a few other surprises I won't spoil.)

3. Go nowhere story
I can't really elaborate on any of this without ruining it, sorry. If you still want to know shoot me a PM.

I'm sure this has something to do with the DLC having half the development time of the actual game but I digress. This gets two thumbs up from me, the wave combat has mostly been ditched and used only when it makes sense within the story, you get a new weapon that you evolve through the quest which can be fantastic if you build it right. One of the biggest pluses is you get to get out of Kirkwall for three glorious hours.

There's a few nitpicks, you can't return after you finish it so make sure you get all your sidequests done. The other one that bugs me is your love interest isn't really progressed anyway whatsoever, if you were like me and wanted a little more than just "olol I'm with Hawke." line in the beginning of the game then you're out of luck.
Don't let that discourage you, this is the future of DLC. I hope Bioware continues with this (Warning: The following pun will give you diabetes) legacy they've created.

 

[MisterShine]

I haven't played it myself, but I've been reading the reviews from people on the Bioware site, and even from people who have said they didn't like DA2 the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

And thanks OP for your review, even with that terribad pun at the end.

 

[TheIronRuler]

After half-assed DLC packs and horse armor I'm not surprised that everybody is praising a well made DLC.
On the other hand I've added countless hours of game-play with quality player content mods that are superior to most of the DLC packs I've seen.
If you've been fed with dry bread and water for all of your life and suddenly one day they bring some cake and wine, you're going berserk, when you should be accustomed to it.

 

[Belgian_Waffles]

After half-assed DLC packs and horse armor I'm not surprised that everybody is praising a well made DLC.
On the other hand I've added countless hours of game-play with quality player content mods that are superior to most of the DLC packs I've seen.
If you've been fed with dry bread and water for all of your life and suddenly one day they bring some cake and wine, you're going berserk, when you should be accustomed to it.

I totally agree, but if we don't support these kinds of add-ons then we won't be getting more (It doesn't help that there aren't any mods for Dragon Age II).

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Sounds great. I've already traded in my copy of DA2, but I'll look up a LP on Youtube at some point like I did for LotSB.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

After half-assed DLC packs and horse armor I'm not surprised that everybody is praising a well made DLC.
On the other hand I've added countless hours of game-play with quality player content mods that are superior to most of the DLC packs I've seen.
If you've been fed with dry bread and water for all of your life and suddenly one day they bring some cake and wine, you're going berserk, when you should be accustomed to it.

I totally agree, but if we don't support these kinds of add-ons then we won't be getting more (It doesn't help that there aren't any mods for Dragon Age II).

Not yet at least. The face mods and texture packs are rolling out by the truckload, but modules haven't been cracked yet. Give it time.

 

[TheIronRuler]

After half-assed DLC packs and horse armor I'm not surprised that everybody is praising a well made DLC.
On the other hand I've added countless hours of game-play with quality player content mods that are superior to most of the DLC packs I've seen.
If you've been fed with dry bread and water for all of your life and suddenly one day they bring some cake and wine, you're going berserk, when you should be accustomed to it.

I totally agree, but if we don't support these kinds of add-ons then we won't be getting more (It doesn't help that there aren't any mods for Dragon Age II).

I really don't want to return to the bland world of the free marches just for an exiting three hour joy ride.
I'd rather watch the watchmen director's cut.
...
Nothing else to say, I didn't like the game and could barely finish it after I've found out that EVERY SINGLE MAGE IN THE DAMN CITY IS A BLOOD MAGE .

 

[Jaythulhu]

After half-assed DLC packs and horse armor I'm not surprised that everybody is praising a well made DLC.
On the other hand I've added countless hours of game-play with quality player content mods that are superior to most of the DLC packs I've seen.
If you've been fed with dry bread and water for all of your life and suddenly one day they bring some cake and wine, you're going berserk, when you should be accustomed to it.

I totally agree, but if we don't support these kinds of add-ons then we won't be getting more (It doesn't help that there aren't any mods for Dragon Age II).

There are a few, for the pc version at least. Nowhere near as many as for DA1 and DAO though. Check this place [http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/categories.php#Dragon Age 2]

 

[The Scythian]

Sorry, but Old World Blues is MUCH better.

 

[badgersprite]

Thanks for the review on it. It's good timing, because I was actually thinking about getting this, since I've been giving DA2 a second chance these past few days and have had a more positive experience than I did last time. This confirmed that Legacy might actually be worth the dosh.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'll get it next time I play the game. I was disappointed when I heard it's just two hours of content (I was just spoiled on a rather lengthy and fantastic "Old World Blues". And I had my hopes up since they said they were trying to win back fans with this one).

Though I actually did like Dragon Age II. I'm working through my sizeable backlog at the moment, though (which, for some reason, I've included a KotOR II replay in my backlog. And it will be all put on hold when Catherine arrives in the mail). So it might be a while.

As for setting the bar: I'm sorry. Lair of the Shadow Broker set the bar unreasonably high for DLC. I love that content soooooooo much.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I want to play it but im waiting for my new pc and shinier graphics

Old World Blues spoils you indeed. It will have to be very good to beat that.

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

I still don't understand why Point Lookout is so lauded... and I really doubt anything can top Lair of the Shadow Broker in my book, but, hey, I'll give it a shot eventually... this time I'll roll a healer and just pretend Anders stayed in Awakening where he was cool.

 

[dyre]

hmmm, can I play it post-campaign, or do I have to load an older save / start a new game?

Also, I keep hearing good things about Old World Blues...it's that good? How does it compare to, say, Shivering Isles?

 

[Kahunaburger]

Sorry, position already taken.

(Plus, $10 for two hours? Really?)

 

[FuzzyRaccoon]

I'll get it next time I play the game. I was disappointed when I heard it's just two hours of content (I was just spoiled on a rather lengthy and fantastic "Old World Blues". And I had my hopes up since they said they were trying to win back fans with this one).

Though I actually did like Dragon Age II. I'm working through my sizeable backlog at the moment, though (which, for some reason, I've included a KotOR II replay in my backlog. And it will be all put on hold when Catherine arrives in the mail). So it might be a while.

As for setting the bar: I'm sorry. Lair of the Shadow Broker set the bar unreasonably high for DLC. I love that content soooooooo much.

Are you serious? I actually found Shadow Broker to be incredibly tedious. Maybe it's because I was playing it on Hardcore, so all the fights felt like they took a million years, and there was just wave after wave of shielded enemies... but I found it to be pretty but incredibly scripted.

I don't understand why everyone loves LotSB so much!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Allow me to back this person up:

He's right. This DLC is down right awesome. The environments are never reuses, something that I noticed right away. If you bring your sibling along (trophy), you get more detail on your family's history. More story for me always equals a win. Be warned though, because of that you have to do this in the first act.
A nice little touch is that they have not only all the cast returning, but the Seeker girl from the beginning also has a part. Because of this, I'm betting the stuff was already made and just not part of the shipped product.
The story I thought was well done. The ending will send chills up your spine, or at least it did for me. Bring Anders along for an extra treat, especially if you're one of the people who thinks he needs to shut up and realize that some mages are, in fact, dangerous. If you have an Awakening file transferred, Anders makes several comments about its events.
The characters to bring for the first go around are Anders, Varric, and your sibling. These three will give you the most out of the DLC. I've yet to play it with anyone else, but I'm going to do it again real soon. Here's hoping that the rest of Dragon Age 2's DLC is just as good as this stuff. I think BioWare really listened to the complaints they got about 2 and made sure they fixed this in this DLC. Get it if any part of you enjoyed DA2.

 

[Susurrus]

Belgian Waffles, I think it might help to address a few more issues in your original review. Right now, your argument for it being good is pretty much "It isn't the ridiculous scam that DA2 was." Two of your three major review points are that it hasn't cut disgusting amounts of corners, unlike DA2. That's not really a selling point, that just emphasizes how rubbish the original was.

This is not helped by Sniper Team 4 being the biggest supporter of your words. Anyone who talks with authority about which characters to take on the DLC, because "These three will give you the most ouf of the DLC", who then goes on to state that "I've yet to play with with anyone else" rather harms the credibility of anything he's supporting. Sniper, you could do with re-wording your post to something like "I enjoyed the amount of extra flavour these three characters provided, keen to try out the others," rather than making a statement that it seems from your post you aren't qualified to make!

 

[Zing]

So basically they did what they should have done with their god awful game in the first place? Too little to late for me.