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Dragon Age II: Legacy Review for PC

Dragon Age II: Legacy Review for PC

Nothing’s Ever Simple for the Hawkes

Dragon Age II is a controversial game, featuring an unusual narrative structure and some drastic changes from its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins. While fan opinion was mixed on the game’s more action-packed battle system, most people who played it agreed that it suffered in several ways from its short development cycle. While I enjoyed Dragon Age II despite its faults, I found it prudent to go into its first major downloadable content pack, Dragon Age II: Legacy, with few expectations. Fortunately, Legacy is a solid DLC adventure that demonstrates how BioWare has been listening to the constructive criticism of its fans.

Dragon Age II: Legacy Screenshot

Once installed, Legacy is easily started by clicking on an object in Hawke’s current abode. The DLC can be played at any point in the main campaign, though players may wish to be at least level 10 in order to have a reasonable diversity of skills at hand for Legacy’s challenges. Once started, Legacy makes good use of Dragon Age II’s narrative device by introducing the scenario via a conversation between Cassandra and Verric. The player will be able to take any living companions along, including Hawke’s sibling.

The story begins with Hawke investigating an attack by the Carta (Kirkwall’s local “mafia”) on Hawke’s family. Encountering some crazy Carta dwarves who want Hawke’s blood for some reason, the party follows them into an ancient Warden prison in search of answers. The entire adventure takes place in the Carta compound and Warden prison, but both areas are fairly large and there are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. There are even a few side quests to complete, though none of them are particularly complex. Most importantly to critics of the original game, these new areas are unique and do not suffer from the “same dungeons repeated with different sealed doors” syndrome found in the main game. Every room on the map can be accessed, and the unique design allows for better puzzles and traps.

Dragon Age II: Legacy Screenshot

The battles in Legacy have also been improved somewhat. The development team appears to have made some effort to keep humanoid enemies from appearing out of thin air, with Carta dwarves bursting in from behind closed doors instead. Demons and Darkspawn still tend to poof in out of nowhere, but there are fewer fights in which Hawke faces several waves of insta-spawning enemies. Instead, enemies have been placed throughout the dungeon in a way that generally makes sense, either waiting to confront Hawke or finding an opportune location for an ambush. This makes Legacy’s battles feel more organic and less “arcadey” than those in the main game.

Dragon Age II: Legacy Screenshot

Legacy’s story is hardly great literature, but it involves several interesting new characters and gives the player a couple of complex Dragon Age-style choices to make. It also expands on Hawke’s family history and the history of the Wardens and the Blights. It’s fully voice-acted, including special companion chat that was recorded for the new dungeon. Several of Hawke’s companions get unique scenes and dialog if you take them along, while others don’t. I recommend bringing Hawke’s sibling, Anders, and Verric along for the most interesting narrative experience.

The final boss battle is interesting and epic, but also somewhat problematic. There are a lot of moving hazards involved in the battle, and the companion A.I. simply isn’t up to the challenge. Even with a great deal of pausing and micromanaging, it’s difficult to keep a party of four from killing itself on environmental hazards. Although there’s a certain cachet to facing down an ancient evil with a single rogue and her faithful Mabari hound after the rest of the party has burned itself to a crisp, that strategy is unlikely to work at higher difficulty levels. Many players will be facing several frustrated reloads, especially with a lower-level party.

Dragon Age II: Legacy Screenshot

The full story takes four or five hours to complete, which, while not extensive, is within reason for a DLC package. Hawke will come out of the experience with a nice new armor set and a powerful class-specific weapon, as well as some touching scenes with the Hawke family. It’s possible to backtrack through the main dungeon after the final boss battle in order to seek out missed loot or complete side quests, but once Hawk initiates the final conversation that completes the DLC, Legacy will be inaccessible for the remainder of that playthrough.

Dragon Age II: Legacy isn’t going to convince anybody who strongly disliked Dragon Age II to come back to the fold, but it shows improvement in terms of level and encounter design from the original game. The vignettes with various companions—especially Hawke’s sibling—add nicely to the overall game’s story, and it’s nice to see the battle and dungeon layout improvements provided by Legacy’s development team. It’s a solid, albeit short, DLC addition that bodes well for any planned expansions to Dragon Age II.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
The new areas are nice-looking, atmospheric, and unique. 3.5 Control
Legacy features battles that are better laid-out than the original, but the final battle is too much for the companions’ AI. 4.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Legacy is fully-voiced by the main game’s cast, with special scenes for several companion characters. 3.2 Play Value
Legacy is fairly linear and only takes a few hours, but has some nice loot and a few side quests to tackle. 3.5 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Uncover the harsh truth about the Hawke lineage.
  • Adventure through several new locations including a prison constructed by the Grey Wardens.
  • Obtain a powerful class-specific weapon to which you can apply upgrades of your choice.

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