A few words from a professional procrastinator

The latest DLC from Dragon Age deals with the bard Leliana’s back story. SPOILER WARNING to those who haven’t completed the main game.

SPOILERSSSS!!!!

I believe it’s safe to assume that this was set way before the blight and the fall of the Grey Wardens but after the war with Orlais. You take the role of Leliana, bard by day and assassin by night. You arrive in Denerim with your mentor, Marjolaine and a small group of a mage and a dwarf to do a job that your were supposedly hired for.

If you have completed the game you would have known by now the events that led Leliana to join the chanrty. That is of course you completed her personal quest in the main game. Much of it is predictable but it’s still interesting to see how she changes through the events that follow.

END SPOILERS

It’s the first DLC which has recorded brand new dialogue. The add-on actually feels like a scene in Awakenings rather than a crappy expansion. But is this for everyone? If you like 100% completion, this adds 3 new trophies to you Playstation account or additional gamer points for the Xbox360. If you like Leliana, this is a good few hours of gameplay. There’s a new body armor for rogues and best of all, more game time with Dragon Age!! But as this places the game definitely in the past, I will still have to create a new game and see if there are any changes to the main game. I assume it does not much like the other DLCs do not carry over to Awakenings.

I think this is a good step for Bioware to release back story DLCs on the main characters as it gives a clearer explanation for their motivations in the main game. Unfortunately in doing so, the story becomes predictable and you just end up following A to B without any serious consequence to the main game. But from all the characters in Dragon Age, I’d like to see Morrigan done next.

So where does this stand among the others? This is much much better than the Darkspawn Chronicles which was just the Battle of Denerim but got the other side. A little longer than Warden’s Keep (but of course we only got that expansion for the storage chest), it’s not as character driven as The Stone Prisoner. I’d say this is on the same level as Return to Ostagar.

Available now on the Playstation Store ($6.99), Xbox Marketplace (560 MS Points) or on the PC (560 Bioware Points).