DAO DLC: Darkspawn Chronicles

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From what I read you become a darkspawn and try to stop Alister and company in the game. Is anyone interested in this new DLC that is going to be released on May 18th?

I wonder how long it is going to be? 2 hours, 3 hours, or is your character constantly running and fighting Alister and company throughout the whole game until the final battle; that would be a truly amazing DLC.

Thoughts and ideas what the new DLC will bring to DAO...

 

Judging from the video it's going to be about the final battle in Denerim.

The only thing you'll get for the original game is an extra item... Really, don't expect too much. It probably won't be that long and it looks like it will be about hack and slash and not much else (they didn't advertise choices and stuff).

Last but not least, I hate to be the one telling you this but from what I've read it won't be released right away on the PS3.

 

LMAO... Since the game has been released all PS3 stuff has been delayed. The Collectors Edition was delayed a full week because the Keep DLC was not working properly. The next item delayed was RtO and finally the last delay was the update that really only updated the game for Awakening.

So, it is no surprise by my count.

I may purchase it just to kick some GW butt...

It would have been nice if they did a full blown expansion and not just a DLC.

 

Like I said when I posted the news story about the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC, I believe it has to do with a Bioware post that was made over a month ago asking players to nominate their favorite player created module. There is a module by the name of Emissary, that had been nominated, which was basically the same concept - playing the part of the darkspawn against the townspeople and Grey Wardens. I like that they chose this one, if this is truly how the DLC came about, because not only does it give players more of a reason to try and create quest based mods, but also it gives the players a chance to play the other side - whether or not it ends up being a short or long quest based DLC. I enjoyed what I could play of Emissary, and am really looking forward to how BioWare cleaned it up, because while the player created mod was great, they kept it in a Fade-like atmosphere, but blurrier, and after the space of a half hour/45 minutes, I had a raging headache from trying to get my eyes to focus on the screen.

No matter what, when it goes live on the 18th, I'm spending my $5 and I'm buying it. I'm actually counting down the days.

 

I'm buying it too because Bioware is fixing the PS3 freezing issue with a patch this Thursday. They almost lost my sale because of the freezing issue.

Now all they have to do is fix the DEX BUG and a few other BUGS that hinders consoles vs. the PC.

I have to say that not being able to use the Manual of Focus is really annoying me with DA Awakening. I sent a request to Bioware to figure out what is wrong and they told me to uninstall the game and reinstall it. If that doesn't work than that is another item they also need to fix for the PS3.

 

When I was on BioWare's forum the other day, I was reading up on how they're having issues with Sony and firmware which is what is causing them problems in trying to get bug fixes up and out the door for those of you playing the game on PS3. I guess due to the fact that XBOX is a Microsoft product just like PC operating systems, that's why they aren't having some of the issues with that platform as they are with Sony's system.

 

I'm on that website making my points about the PS3.

Most game developers use the excuse that the PS3 is harder to program for because it is new. That is crap now since the PS3 has been out now for over 3 years. I even read documentation on how to program PS3 games and it is different than the XBox and PC but not complicated or that much harder. It takes a bit more time because the PS3 has 7 CPUS available for processing and some of those need to be used for graphics and sound to get the most out of the PS3, which most programmer don't want to do because it takes time. But the time spent doing so makes the games run so much smoother and improves the jaggy graphics beyond the Nvidia GPU in the PS3.

Most EA titles are ported over from the XBox with minimum changes to the programming to the PS3. This cause some graphical glithes and game hiccups on the PS3.

This is probably what happened with DAO.

As for the bug fixes; not only PS3 is being impacted by the bugs; the XBox has its fair shares of bugs and most are the same for the two consoles.

 

There are still some issues with the PC as well. They may not be game breaking but they are pretty annoying. The good thing is that you can use mods on the PC to fix some of those (like stealing with patch 1.03) but in truth we shouldn't have to download mods for the game to work correctly.

 

I agree with you that we shouldn't use anything to make a game work. It should be the developers job; not the players.

 

People have been saying that since the first computer game was made.

 

Celtic did you buy Darkspawn chronicles? Have you had a chance to play it yet?

I believe the PS3 patch to fix the freezing is released on Thursday this week. That would mean Darkspawn Chronicles will be available in 2 months.

 

Was at work when it was released, but am picking it up as I write this and plan on starting it in a few minutes, so will let you know what I think probably by tomorrow. I always like seeing the flip side of the coin and this will be quite interesting.

Hope that the PS3 version of Darkspawn Chronicles hits well before the 2 month mark. Sucks that they're not as on the ball with console issues as they are with computer issues... then again they're not quite on the ball with PC issues due to the fact that they have players creating mods to fix their mistakes... too bad you can't download PC mods to fix console issues

Edit: Went to purchase the newest DLC and the button to purchase for PS3 is active (even though it just tells you how to DL content for the console it's usually red if the content isn't available for purchase/download) so maybe you can see if you can get the DLC for the PS3? Well at least once the freezing issues are fixed?

 

I've just had a look at a review (a rather spoiler filled one) and I have to say that I really don't care much for about one hour and a half of constant fighting without any dialogue whatsoever.

If I want some bad guy fun, I'll play Dungeon keeper or Overlord (at least in those games you're the chief bad guy and not the henchman) and if I want a really evil run I'll create a new morally challenged Grey Warden.

Brainless, tedious evil is not my bag so I'm doing myself a favour: I'll save some gaming time and money for smokes.

 

Actually purchased the DLC last night and they also released the patch to fix the game freezing issue.

I noticed one thing with the PS3 when using dual weapons. I'm curious if this also happens on the PC or XBox 360. When I use a weapon that has +x to damage as a special ability both weapons damage output increases by x. Just curious if this also happens on the other platforms. Below is a detailed outline of what I'm referring too...

My PC is was using 2 enchanted daggers both had 10.2 for damage output. I purchased the Rose of Dead Thorn dagger in Lothering that has +2 damage. The damage output for both daggers became 12.2.

 

Can you PM me the link for the review so I can take a look at it and possibly post it to the news section?

Never paid much attention to the modifiers in regards to whether or not it changes the damage output of both weapons when I play a dual wielder. I'll have to check that out.

Ok - now on to my quick & dirty review of the Darkspawn Chronicles. All in all it was an all-right piece of DLC. They could have made better, but it wasn't bad either. Yes, it is basically all hack & slash with no real conversation - every so often you get 'mind-speak' from the Archdemon telling you what needs to be done. It basically brings home the fact that, for the most part, the darkspawn in the Origins campaign really are mindless beasts and that their only concern is to do what the Archdemon tells them to. The 'Enthrall' skill that your Vanguard uses to recruit party members really is an interesting concept. If the party member you recruited isn't up to your standards, you can kill them off and recruit a new one. If you need a party member with stealth, find and recruit a shriek; pure mass strength, troll; warriors and archers, genlocks & hurlocks (though I found out most archers are warriors in the darkspawn family). You really need to think tactics and the like when you come across Alistair's party members throughout the area because they are, understandably, all boss level - what's the best party set-up to best Wynne? Who would work better to defeat Sten? I found out how difficult Zevran can be to kill due to the fact he is a rogue and stealths at the most inopportune time You even get to fight Knight-Commander Greagoir and Cullen! The fight with the Archdemon was the most challenging because you're fighting against Morrigan, Leliana, Barkspawn (the mabari), and Alistair (and targeting Al while he's focused on the Archdemon is a pain because damn can he move!). So, all in all, while it is basically a hack & slash, you really need to put your thinking cap on to find the best way to beat down the people of Ferelden and kick some Warden arse.

Only things that bugged me about the DLC - the length of time (1 1/2 - 2 hours wasn't enough for me because I was having too much fun), and the fact that you start off at level 12. 12!! When you're playing DAO as a Warden, by the time you and your party hit this area, you're usually around level 18-21 (my first playthrough, my PC was level 21 by the time we were finished). When I saw what level my Hurlock Vanguard was, my first thought was, no wonder we were able to beat down the darkspawn threat... but I guess it takes my warden to be able to kill level 12's, because if we can kick Alistair's behind at that level, we definitely needed my warden PC to have survived the joining to actually kill off the blight

 

I've sent you a PM Celtic Dream.

Regarding that level thing, I'm pretty sure that apart from canon fodder, most "regular" darkspawns are level 16 (roughly) when you're party is level 18 to 20. They probably went with level 12 darkspawns to make it more challenging so that DAO NPCs would be bosses and not pushovers.

I'm not surprised Zevran was hard to kill, rogues are the best!!!

 

So I played through it and thought it was OK but not worth $5; maybe $3 would have been a better price since all you get is one lousy sword after beating it. I do like the idea and how it played out but it would have been better as an expansion, especially if they would have done...

1) You select DSC from the start and create your PC. From there you play up to the joining and at the joining you die.
2) You are raised from the dead as a Darkspawn PC and your class is based off your original class PC.
3) You become one of the archdemon generals and the archdemon telepathically informs you that your goal is to slow down Alister and his group, so you follow him through his journey and constantly delay him so that the darkspawn army can grow, etc...
4) The final fight would be what happens in the DSC....

If that would have been the DLC and for $15-20 I would have bought it. Especially if it wold have provided 10-20 hours of game time. Only if the game would have given more mini movies, etc...

 

Now that sounds like it would be fun to play! Why couldn't they have thought of that?

 

I would guess a lack of creativity and progammer to make such a expansion/DLC.

 

I would guess that it has to do with the amount of content and testing required. To make the DarkSpawn chronicles cover the entire game, and relate to thwarting Alister and team, then many, many, many scenarios would need to be cooked up related to how the DS springs an attack, and how the heroes ultimately get away to be there for the next attack to happen. This could get very repetitive without some genius story telling behind it. QA would now need to occur on the entire game, rather than one focused section of it.

The time and money required for Bioware to pull this off would be enormous, and they'd have no guarantee that fans would even be sufficiently interested in playing an entire game as the bad guys, with very little dialogue and personality.

I think Bioware has set their clear precedent with DLC. These are meant to be small side-skirmishes that can be cranked out relatively quickly. Not major developments that take a long time to create and open the company to significant financial risk.