In what hints to be the last DLC for Dragon Age: Origins, it will attempt to tie up one loose end. Morrigan.
Yes the witch that may have broken your heart and just left without a trace will return. One year after your victory against the darkspawn word reaches you that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. Or has she?
This has to be the DLC that everyone has been waiting for. This is making me chant “please don’t suck, please don’t suck”. Mainly because this DLC ties directly into Dragon Age and not just a chapter in Dragon Age. It ranks up there with the upcoming DLC for Mass Effect 2 “In the Lair of the Shadow Broker” which ties directly into the storyline of Mass Effect 2 which chronicles on how Cerberus was able to get Shepard’s body.
This is very different. This may even actually tie in events that will happen in Dragon 2! Could it happen? Of course it could!! This is a videogame!
Claudia Black (Farscape) reprises her role as Morrigan. Though it’s not clear of any of your original party will return. One new character will be a Dalish elf named Ariane.
The sad part about this particular DLC that it could be the last until Dragon Age 2 comes out in March. That’s a long time to wait for a game especially when they have been releasing DLCs quite frequent of late. But then it gives us more to look forward to.
“Witch Hunt” will cost $6.99 on PSN, 560 MS Points or 560 Bioware points and will be available on September 7.
Thank you Bioware for making great games such as Star Wars: KOTR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Thank you for listening to fans and making Mass Effect 2 a much better game than the fist one. And now, thank you for bringing it now to the PS3.
Yes, I did say PS3. It’s coming in January 2011 and I will play the game one more time.
EA/ Bioware has released the trailer for their next game, Dragon Age 2 and more details here. Based on the details they have released, it will seem like that we will be playing Mass Effect 2 with swords and magic.
The story is set in Free Marches which lies just north of Ferelden. You will play the character Hawke, you will determine if Hawke will be male or female. You can import your previous save from Dragon Age: Origins which will carry over the decisions you made. It will also determine which characters from your first game you’ll meet. Like in the previous game, You’ll get to romance people on your way to becoming a legend in Kirkwall and will choose missions and quests as you move along.
Though it is not necessary to play the first game (much like Mass Effect 2) but I personally like a resemblance of continuity with my character from Dragon Age: Origins since I did customize her as such. Not being able to play it with her is just sad. Maybe they’ll pull an Atlus Persona 3 PSP that will allow you to play it as a different character.
But you will get a fully voiced character which is great! No more unusual silences when it’s your turn to respond. You’ll actually get to hear what Hawke actually feels. Much like Commander Shepard.
I’m sure this game will be quite an experience but I do fear that Bioware may be getting into a weird situation of fame. Final Fantasy was great and all and we ate it up. We bought their games all up to 14th incarnation of the game. But then sometime around the 10th it seemed to wane on us. How long before the same thing happens to Bioware games? Sure the graphics will improve with every generation but it seems like since they’ve stumbled on a formula that works, they seem to be bent on using it for the next couple of games.
Dear Bioware, I do hope this does not happen. I would like you to continue to innovate and bring great RPGs to our gaming systems for years to come.
Dragon Age 2 will be released in North America for the Xbox, PS3 and PC on March 8, 2011 and Europe on March 11.
Dragon Age : Origins – Golems of Amgarrak DLC Trailer
So far we’ve returned to Ostagar, listened to Leliana’s Song, became the darkspawn and now we’ll return to the Deep Roads in search of Golems. Unlike the the last 2 DLC, you once again get to use your character as you search for the secrets of the Golems.
I can’t get into more details without spoiling it for those who haven’t completed the original game but it’s quite refreshing that we shall once again get to play our characters either after Awakenings or Origins. If not, you can always create a new character but where’s the fun in that?
DLC to be released for the PC, Xbox360, and PS3 on August 10.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Cinematic Trailer
It’s finally out! The much awaited sequel to Starcraft which came out more than 10 years ago is finally here. It should be declared a holiday in South Korea for the games’ release. I too picked up the game on launch day and after finishing the campaign in two days, it was worth the wait.
We’ve seen the trailers and apparently, all the pre-rendered cutscenes are almost all the cutscenes in the game but that’s for later. Let’s start with the install.
You buy the physical disc from your favorite videogame retailer or download the client online and buy the access code. This is a great feature which allows you to buy a copy of the game without having to line up for the game.
The game takes up 12GB to install. It installs the entire game on the computer so there’s no need for discs after the install. The South East Asian version comes with the game code as well as two guest passes for Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft. Once installed and running, it asks you to log in to battle.net which takes you to the Blizzard website to register your game. This was pretty straightforward and once that’s over, you’re good to go.
Starting the game will launch the updater and will immediately update your game. Once the game starts you can then choose your poison, single player or multi-player. For the purposes of this entry I will refer to the single player experience as my friends pick up the game in weeks to come. I have an aversion to playing online with strangers but that’s a another story.
The single player experience now includes the difficulty of “casual”. This is great for beginners who are new to the RTS (real time strategy) genre and have no idea on how to play. This makes the game more accessible and thus enjoyable. You are bombarded by tutorial after tutorial and a few missions to set you at ease. You can skip the tutorials if you’ve played the previous games. This game will only set you on the path of the Terran campaign. We’ll have to wait hopefully not long for the Zerg and the Protoss expansions which are coming. Once that’s done and over on to the rest.
Blizzard has included “challenges” which tests your RTS skills with short missions designed to make you into a better gamer and hopefully survive the online ranked matches. A new addition to the game is the inclusion of achievements. You can now earn points and brag to your friends how far or how bad ass you are in Starcraft 2 by your achievement points. I learned early on that you cannot earn achievements by playing “casual” on the campaign. You’ll have to start off with “normal” difficulty.
Even though this is the Terran campaign, you can still play all three races in multiplayer mode or against the A.I. The downside of this is that you spent most of the entire game playing terran and when you come face to face with the zerg or protoss controls it’s a brand new learning curve. Not all of the shortcuts are the same for the races or even from the last game so they’ll take some getting used to before I try to test my skills out there.
Speaking of out there, you can now find your friends via Facebook who are also playing this game. This is good but that’s about it. Blizzard promises further integration in the future much like what World of Warcraft has started. Maybe something like posting every time I get an achievement would be nice.
The races are more or less balanced out now. It’s not so much as the all powerful zerg anymore. The nukes are now separate from the command center and pretty much else has stayed the same.
Now for the not so good surprises.
There is no map creator so don’t bother peeking around. I looked. Worst of all, there’s no offline gaming or LAN capability. THIS MEANS YOU CANNOT PLAY THIS GAME WITHOUT IT CALLING HOME TO BLIZZARD. I had to type that last sentence in frustration because it is. I can understand the no LAN capability with trying to keep the game free of cheaters and all but the single player?? Come on!?! I do quite a bit of traveling and I bring my computer along and what do I do on a boring long haul flight? Play stuff on it. Yes, PvZ has become my companion on these flights and I was hoping to replace zombies with some zergs. But the game will not let me. Everytime I start up the game, it wants to call home and make sure that I’m the owner. WHAT!!?
Sure it only needs to call home when the game starts and then afterward you can get disconnected but that won’t help me playing in the middle of nowhere or better yet, 39,000 feet in the air.
I already gave my details, first born child and money to play this game and it still won’t trust me with it? I felt like I bought an MMO. Which I can understand why it needs to always be connected online but this is getting out of hand. I’ve read comments over the internet that it is possible to play offline via “guest” mode. Guess what? It only lets me play with first mission. Maybe it has something to do with the South East Asian version, but I highly doubt that.
Couldn’t they have made the DRM serialized to the computer, dial home, then you can play on or offline and when the system detects a similar serial, the current game is shut down. Isn’t that the way other software makers do it? This online thing is really bothering me.
This is the most expensive Blizzard game I’ve ever paid. Yes this game costs just as much as a current generation console game or even more. I was shocked at the sticker price when I pre-ordered the game and to think this is just 1/3 of the whole game. When Warcraft 3 was released here, it cost half the price to what Starcraft 2 is charging. Even Diablo II didn’t cost this much.
This game is almost everything that it promised to be. But the technical shortcomings prevent it from being a runaway hit. See all the 1 star reviews on Amazon and irate customers to see I’m not the only one disappointed about this one. I really like the game. Although I will not be playing professionally anytime soon. I look forward to the expansion and I just hope that Blizzard fix these shortcomings especially when they still have 2 more Starcraft games coming out and Diablo isn’t that far away.
Procrastinating in the Heat 