January | 2010 | Procrastinating in the Heat

Archive for January, 2010

Dragon Age Origins Awakening coming in March

The rumors are true! An expansive Dragon Age adventure continues in March.

Judging from the video released by Bioware. At least there aren’t any spoilers that most would notice. Unless you consider the defeat of the Archdemon a spoiler. Maybe other than the fact that Alistair becomes…I don’t think I should spoil it that way. Aside from Alistair, I can only see Oghren and from the looks of it that’s either new mage companion or a new PC.

Here’s the face of your talking darkspawn.

I wonder who she is? Another apostate? A mage from Tevinter?

He looks like the one from the Asunder quest.

It looks to me that you can carry off your save game from Dragon Age: Origins since one of them is wearing the Juggernaut armor set. Just how much is transferred from your old save game remains to be seen.

Anyhow, I just feel all the more uncomfortable about the timing of all of this. Just a day after they announced that they will not be releasing Return to Ostagar, they release a video stating the release of an new expansion pack. But I feel so let down, and teasing me with another trailer isn’t helping. Not to mention they mention an exact release date of March 16. If they don’t want so much backlash over their release dates they should have just written “Spring 2010” or “March 2010” if they’re so sure of themselves. Neither of which are still not in my hands. There’s no mention whether or not this will be downloaded or another disc purchase. From all the new content they’re stuffing in. I’m betting a new disc purchase. I’m sure we’ll learn of more details in the coming months.

Really now?

2010: 01/06
POSTED BY: mdelamerced
CATEGORY: videogames
TAGS: bioware
dragon age
dragonage
RPG
Leave a comment

Delayed Return to Ostagar

Dragon Age: Origins Won’t Return To Ostagar On Time – Dragon age: origins – Kotaku

If you’ve been clicking the refresh button on the Playstation Store, Xbox Marketplace and Bioware website for the past few hours in hopes of getting the new DLC for Dragon Age then you’re out of luck. Bioware has announced that the Return to Ostagar has been delayed for all platforms and no new announcement on when this will be available.

This sucks. I’ve been looking forward to the expansion. I’ve even leveled up a new character to just before the landsmeet. I should have known better than trust release dates from gaming companies. But I’ll get really pissed if they’re going to make me until March for the DLC. We’ll be watching you Bioware. Always watching. Replies to the announcement are rather interesting. Here’s some of them.

And to top it off…

The forum has grown to over 80 pages in just a matter of hours. I wonder how long this is going to last.

2010: 01/05
POSTED BY: mdelamerced
CATEGORY: videogames
TAGS: bioware
dlc
dragon age
dragonage
RPG
4 comments

Rumor: Dragon Age major update in March

Both Kotaku and 1UP.com are reporting that 2009 RPG of the Year Dragon Age will be getting a huge expansion in March. Currently listed as Dragon Age: Awakening. According to the report, the expansion will take place after the storyline of DAO and will introduce a new character and a new origin story. Unlike the current available expansions, this one is said to clock in at 15 hours of gameplay.

Then there’s the cost. The rumored street price between $30-40 USD for the PC version with a more expensive Xbox version. No PS3 version was mentioned.

CO-OP episode 0305 mentioned that Bioware has prepared 2 years of DLC on Bioware to keep fans busy over the next few months.

These DLCs have been quite controversial with gamers. EA reports $1 Million in DLC sales for Dragon Age. This is interesting since almost all of the DLCs were given away for free with the exception of “Warden’s Keep”. The mainreason why this DLC has been downloaded so many times is the fact that after completing the quest, you gain access to a party chest where you can store an unlimited number of items. In my first playthrough, I was selling a lot of items and destroying a lot as well since there was a 120 item limit to your inventory. This expansion then became a necessity to play the game.

But the cost is something for some gamers to take pause before buying this for an additional 15 hours more gameplay. Unless of course you’re as addicted as me. But if the rumors are to be believed, does it mean that I have to create a new character just for this expansion? I can’t bring my über character that I built with all the armor and weapons that I’ve accumulated? That would really suck for me. But there’s no mention yet on what happens to your companions.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

Maybe Bioware will apply the same mechanics they’re doing with Mass Effect 2, where your choices affect the events of the next game. To put it simply, your choices determine if Commander Shepard continues on the next game. If you’re moving through Dragon Age at a good pace, you know that certain dialogue choices can make you lose certain party members.

END SPOILER ALERT

Bioware has laid down the foundation for a very expansive RPG series. There are some elements that will remind you of Dragonlance and Lord of the Rings but will still maintain a certain uniqueness to it. I am pretty sure that we will be able to explore the entire world of Thedas in the years to come.