Warden's Keep DLC

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For those of you who have played it - is it worth it?

The price itself is not so much the issue IMO, considering that going to the movies is usually more expensive. What interests me more is whether it is actually good, and entertaining.

Opinions?

 

It was certainly well done and entertaining, although it felt a tad short to me. You get access to some new vendors, which have some interesting items for purchase. The chest to store your equipment is nice, but the grey warden’s headquarters is pretty far off the beaten path, so getting to that chest is a little impractical (technically it’s like 1,000 miles away from the main action of the story). And I guess you can download a mod to include a chest in your usual campsite, which would be a lot more practical. There’s a suit of cool armor you can get, though there are better armors in the game.

Get it vs. don’t get it? Hmm, I’d say it would be a better deal at $5.00 (US) vs. $7.50, but if money’s not a particular concern, it is probably worth the extra 60 – 90 minutes of enjoyment you’ll get out of it.

 

I think it's worth it. But let me qualify that. With some minor SPOILERS.

I got the game at $10 off. So paying the $7 for it didn't seem like a big deal, because I feel like I was still ahead $3. The adventure itself is short, yes, but well-written and very interesting, and gives you some nice background on the Grey Wardens. That aspect really immerses you more into the role, I think. The storage chest is nice (though there's a mod that does the same thing, and in your camp to boot) and the vendors are great. But what really does it for me personally is the armor set you get. It's unbelievably cool looking, great stats, and has (thus far) lasted me most of the game. You also have the opportunity to forge a cool 1 or 2 handed sword (your choice).

I would bet that they'll drop the price in the next few months when more DLC comes out (like Return to Ostegar). So it probably wouldn't hurt to wait, I guess. But IMO, it was easily worth it.

 

Waiting means that you don't get to play it with your characters in the meantime. Other DLCs (and mods) will probably increase replay value and keep people playing Dragon Age for a few years.

Anyway, to answer Ragusa's question, if the money is no object then you should get it. The background story is really good, there are some interesting choices to be made and even if it is indeed short it is enjoyable.

Now the bad stuff: it's not a stronghold DLC, something that we were lead to understand reading its description.

Besides it does get rid of the shameful advertisement at the party camp. This is a very bad reason for getting this DLC and the person who actually put the DLC line in game should definitely get bad karma for that.

If you don't get it I'd suggest trying a mod that gets rid of Levi Dryden (the DLC salesman at your party camp). Shameful, breaking immersion like that...

 

I found it quite borring, its a short dungeon with some bland bosses. nothing to write home about.

I didn't really care for the story, the idea behind it is okay, but it is never really explored.

 

The quest explaisn why the GW were forced out of Fereldan a few centuries ago. Is it worth it? It all depends on if you plan to play the game more than once. If you only plan to play DAO one time and that is it than go waste $7.50 elsewhere. If you plan to play the game 2+ times than it is worth it.

 

I bought Warden's Keep today to play tonight. Purchase went unproblematic. The general idea was to add some new flavour to my second play through, after I exhaustively (to 91%) explored the game in the first run.

So far, I have played for about half an hour and just encountered Sophia, it looks all right to me. I write this now because I paused to eat something, not because it is boring. Dialogue is good:

Spoiler

Warden: Dryden, I fear your grand-grand-grandmother is possesed.
Dryden: Either that, or she really let herself go ...

Back to the game.

 

You have about another 30 minutes if that in WK. The DLC content for DAO seems very short for what they want $$$ wise. That is why I said if you plan on playing the game more than once it is worth it.

 

Admittedly, it is short. And the bosses were fairly easy even for my level 9 or so party. I can't quite believe that ...

Spoiler

Sophia shattered - I mean, she's a boss and bosses don't!

Anyway, that armour and sword are nice though. So I am somewhat torn - it does make the second run more interesting, but it is barely more than an additional larger quest, comparable to going to Honnelath.

It is much less than Redcliff, the Brecilian forest and definitely less than Orzammar and the Deep Roads. Now then, I didn't expect that, but I wished for it to be a little more than what it was. Wasted money then? Hmm. Not really. It is good, but sadly, it isn't great.

 

That's a fair assessment. Warden's Keep could have been great if it had been fleshed out. As it is, it's only a short diversion.

 

I wonder how Return to Ostargar will compare to WK quest.

 

I sure hope it's much more in depth. We already have WK and the Stone Prisoner. They are fine, for what they are, but I'll be sadly dissapointed if the next addition is just more of the same. I'd like to get "lost" in a new area, and perhaps see some new game features included. And as long as I'm at it, how about a new character class. A monk type class would be highly cool.

The quick little add ons we already have really do nothing for the game overall. They are mainly just extra quests to notch on the belt. I know Bioware has the capacity for a truly remarkable add on. Let's hope they come through!! I'd pay more than $7 bucks for something groundbreaking. I most likely wouldn't pay another 7 bucks for another WK type add on. I've already been there and done that.

 

I'm sorry, but unless I'm seriously mistaken I'm pretty sure you're going to be disappointed.

Dragon Age is not the type of game in which you get "lost" it's quite the opposite. It's not that you don't have options but the level design makes it pretty clear that this isn't this kind of game. There are only a few levels that give the impression of being "lost" on a first playthrough and you still have paths to follow. Then I may be wrong but since I've read somewhere that you won't have a lot of running around to do in that DLC I guess it won't be the case.

Don't expect a new class either. As cool as it may sound it is highly unlikely as every character in the game is defined as belonging to one of the three classes and it seems to be a fundamental design choice. I may be wrong but since it would mean making new origins it's pretty safe to say this won't happen. They made it clear that new origins wouldn't be released because of the extensive work and testing they would involve (they'd have to integrate these origins throughout the entire game and that would be a monumental task). I would have liked a Human Commoner origin, a Human Barbarian origin or an Apostate origin but it won't happen (I'd like to be proved wrong about this as new origins such as these would be awesome).

For the same reason one shouldn't expect new NPCs to be released. Not only does it mean making new comments and dialogues but you also have to take into account interaction with other party members and reactions during cutscenes. In the good old days you didn't have to hire voice actors to make a good NPC mod or add on but now the absence of voice acting would break immersion in so many ways... The Stone Prisoner DLC is an exception because it was made before the game was completed and released so they must have had the voice actors record all the lines at the same time. It was probably the same with the other DLCs. Hiring voice actors for a few lines would probably make a cheap DLC quite expensive. I have absolutely no idea how they're dealing with that but from the DLC trailer it is obvious that there is some DLC specific lines that have been recorded.

From what I've read and seen about Return to Ostagar, we can expect some closure regarding the events that happened there (I'm curious about the reason they'll provide for returning there as I can't see some real incentive to do so when you consider what happened). There will be a few items (armours are mentioned in the trailer) and it will certainly be done in such a way that only the "premium content" tab in your quest log will betray the fact that it wasn't included in the original game.

 

I heard if you take the Kings armor it will impact what happens at the landmeet later in the game. There are a few new weapons and a small quest or so I read that will add one more small map location. Total playing timing without skipping the dialogues is roughly an hour, just like WK.

Is it worth $5. Yes if you play it more than once. If you play it just once, no.

 

my problem with the price of one hour content like this, is that for the same price as 1 or 2 dlc's you can get entire games/expansion packs that last for hours in just one playthrough.

I paid 6,5€ for wardens keep which last 1 hour max. And I recently through a steam special offer bought Mass effect for 3,75€ (Mass effect is back to 14,99€ now). the problem I have with the DLC program is, no matter how you put it, it hugely inflattes the price of games and when you support it, by buying it, you basically tell EA and bioware, that charging 6,5€ per hour of gaming is perfectly okay.

 

I enjoyed it. Yes it's short...but I like the ghostly cut scenes, the GW background story, and Dryden's comments had me rotf...especially the line Raggy posted.