All Entries Tagged With: "dragon-age-origins"

New Dragon Age: Origins DLC Coming Soon

Today Bioware announced that some new DLC for Dragon Age: Origins is coming down the pipeline. This story is called “Witch Hunt”, and will focus on your playing chasing down and attempting to find Morrigan. To me it seems that this actually happens post-game, so it may be somewhat of a conclusion to the Dragon Age: Origins story. Needless to say, it seems like another character-heavy chunk of DLC, which is a great thing considering how much “Leliana’s Song” fleshed out more details about that character. You’ll be able to import your Dragon Age: Origins or Awakening characters, as well as earn rewards that transfer between all the games and expansions.

“Witch Hunt” will be available on September 7, 2010, which happens to be the same day as the “Lair of the Shadow Broker” DLC will be released for Mass Effect 2. I guess they figure they might as well release them all in one fell swoop. It’ll be available for $6.99, or 560 Microsoft/Bioware points. You can check out more info on the new content at Bioware’s official site for the DLC.

Dragon Age: Origins – Leliana’s Song Review

With this exception of the launch-day DLC, this is the first extra content I’ve played for Dragon Age: Origins. Why did this one appeal to me so much? I’m a big fan of extra content that explores the back-story of various characters, especially ones that were focused on to some extent in the main story. Leliana’s background was hinted at during the quest to quell the Blight during the main game’s story, but it was always shrouded in mystery. She was actually one of my favorite characters throughout the game because of this. I was pretty stoked, then, to find out that Bioware had worked up a DLC story just to flesh out her life before the events of the main game.

Leliana was a thief (or bard, depending on how you look at things), who worked with a group of people headed up by Marjolene. Her and Marjolene were close to some extent – as friends or lovers, the story hints at both. The events that transpire during this story take place several years before the main game’s event, and are what eventually lead Leliana to join the Chantry, which is where we find her during Dragon Age: Origins.

New Release Rundown ~ Week of 8/8/2010

You guys know what week this is, DO YOU?! It’s a little week I like to call “nothing worth a crap except Madden week“. Hold tight though, summer is stretching toward its conclusion and better games are just on the horizon! I suppose there are a couple more honorable mentions this week, if you stretch a bit. Puzzle Quest 2 hits the PC, and some new DLC for Dragon Age: Origins shows up. I still haven’t finished the last one, so it seems that Bioware is one step ahead of me. The full list is after the break. Who is with me in still playing StarCraft II because nothing else of interest has come along since then?

Dragon Age: Origins DLC On Sale for XBL

The Xbox Deal of the Week is one of the biggest seen in a while. Biggest in terms of how much has actually been cut. Four Dragon Age: Origins DLC packs are on sale, and one of them is the Awakening expansion. Normally priced at 3200 Microsoft Points ($40), the Awakening expansion pack is cut in half at 1600 Microsoft Points ($20). Twenty bucks! Someone must have taken a sip of generous juice today.

Here are the other three packs and new prices:

• Return to Ostagar 40% off 240 Microsoft Points ($3)
• Warden’s Keep 29% off 400 Microsoft Points ($5)
• Blood Dragon Red Tee 50% off at 40 Microsoft Points (50 cents)

The sale is for this week only, so be sure to take advantage while you still can!

Did Bioware and Bethesda Kill the JRPG?

The 1990s seem, to many people’s recollection, to be the hay day of Japanese-style RPGs. During that time we saw the release of many games that gamers today feel are some of the best in the genre. The Final Fantasy franchise in particular moved a lot of units and worked its way into a lot of people’s hearts with the move to 3D visuals in Final Fantasy VII. Even with this graphical change, one thing remained the same – no matter how many Final Fantasies or other JRPGs were released, they were still designed from the ground up with a specific philosophy in mind.

They had pre-defined stories and characters, with the developers asking the player to go on a journey with them, to see these characters interact and tell a story themselves. In very few instances did the genre ever deviate from that design philosophy. But, it got to the point where, apparently, gamers wanted more freedom.

New Patch for Dragon Age: Origins Fixes a Boatload of Issues

Barring any unforeseen issues that crop up, today Bioware will be releasing a massive patch for the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Awakening. While today’s patch is for the PC only, there are PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the same patch in various stages of approval with Sony and Microsoft, so those players will be seeing similar fixes come down the line in the coming days.

I didn’t even know most of these issues existed, however I find it odd that Bioware would wait so long to fix some of them, such as the dexterity-based damage bonus of daggers. That is a huge issue if you’re playing certain classes with certain specializations. Why it hasn’t been fixed before now is beyond me.

Needless to say, it is good to know it is being fixed now. This patch won’t solve every issue that the game tends to have from time to time, but it is a step in the right direction, making a great game even better. Check out the entire set of patch notes after the break.

Originality In Gaming: An Observation Of The Industry Today

Right now if you were to ask me which game I thought would win game of the year 2010 my response would probably be a sequel of some kind. Things have become quite banal in games as of late. Personally, it seems like we just see one big shooter after another, with various tidbits of unique titles here and there. It’s the middle of July, meaning there are less days left in 2010 than there are days that have gone by. What fresh noteworthy game has come this year? As difficult as it might be, try to limit your response to non-sequel games also. You may find that the pickings are quite slim. For perspective, let’s reflect on what made 2009 a great year in gaming and explore whether or not there is still hope for the rest of this year.

“Leliana’s Song” DLC Announced for Dragon Age: Origins

Today Bioware announced a new piece of DLC for their RPG hit Dragon Age: Origins. The story involves none other than everyone’s favorite rogue, Leliana. She was one of my favorite characters, simply because she was interesting (and hot). In the DLC, Leliana will find herself involved in a criminal ring that deals in political secrets. She’ll accompany her mentor, Marjolaine, on a mission that has a great deal of risk involved and ends up getting wrapped up in something deeper than she thought. It’ll take more than her brains and beauty to remove the threat.

Some of the features of “Leliana’s Song”, straight from Bioware’s site, are:

Explore Leliana’s dangerous past and why she joined the Chantry

Fully voiced cinematic experience brings the characters to life

Unlock a unique reward that transfers into your Awakening and Origins campaigns

Nothing is known about the pricing or specific release date yet, but Bioware is usually reasonably swift when it comes to releasing content they announce.

New Trailer for Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening

Coming up in March, Electronic Arts and Bioware will be releasing the first expansion – yes, full expansion, not just DLC – for Dragon Age: Origins, title Awakening.  The trailer below is called “Queen of the Black Marsh” and looks pretty epic, although it is a tad on the short side.  Doesn’t “Black Marsh” sound like something out of The Lord of the Rings?  Come to think of it, many things in Dragon Age remind me of that Tolkien epic.  Anyway, back to the trailer!

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is Coming

We posted about the rumors and sightings of a Dragon Age: Origins expansion yesterday, but now it’s official. BioWare will be bringing Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, on March 16, 2010. The first official expansion to one of the best titles to release in 2009. The expansion will cost $39.99 on all 3 platforms and will continue where Dragon Age: Origins left off. Players will take over the role of a Grey Warden Commander responsible for rebuilding the order of the Grey Wardens.

“Dragon Age: Origins, the Awakening expansion pack offers a brand new area of the world to explore known as Amaranthine, featuring an epic story that will allow players to unravel the secrets of the darkspawn – and their true motivations! Players will face a range of horrific and terrifying creatures including an evolved, intelligent breed of darkspawn and other menacing creatures such as the Inferno Golem and Spectral Dragon. Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening provides exciting new ways for players to customize their heroes and party, including the ability to re-spec their character attributes, allowing even greater customization and replayability. Featuring an increased level cap, new spells, abilities, specializations and items, plus five all-new party members, players can continue their adventures from Dragon Age, or begin with a brand new party.”

Dragon Age: Origins Expansion on the Way?

According to Eurogamer, sightings have been made on a supposed Dragon Age: Origins expansion EA and BioWare are brewing for the PC. The now removed listing of an expansion gave a good amount of details on the upcoming expansion. It will be titled Dragon Age: Awakening and should be releasing on March 19th of this year. The title will need the original game to play, so you can’t just buy and play this title as a standalone, and it should cost around 30-35 dollars. The expansion will have a new main character and promises up to 15 hours of new content. Kotaku has also made a sighting of the expansion coming to Xbox 360 as well, with details very similar to its PC counterpart. Dragon Age fans should start getting excited as the hugely popular game will be getting its first major upgrade.

Dragon Age expansion for March? [Eurogamer]

New Dragon Age: Origins DLC Gets a Release Date

Sort of, anyway.  You’re in luck if you play on the PC or the Xbox 360, because the first DLC for Dragon Age: Origins since release – “Return to Ostagar” – will be available for download on January 5, 2010.  If you own the game on the PS3, you’ll unfortunately have to wait a bit longer, until “late January”, if all goes well.

Needless to say, this piece of DLC will allow you to return to the fortified town of Ostagar (or what’s left of it) for the first time since that fateful day early in your adventure to save Ferelden from the Darkspawn.  There will be new treasures to find – including armor and weapons of kingly build, as well as new dangers to tackle and, of course, new dialog and story elements that go along with it.

If you’ve already completed the game, you can load your post-game save and visit Ostagar from there, or, if you’re just starting up, you can revisit as soon as the world map opens up to you.  Again, it’ll be available for the PC and Xbox 360 on January 5 for 400 Microsoft points or $5.