55 réponses à ce sujet

[Amirit]

I don't know about short (took me over 10+, which I consider pretty acceptable for a €15 DLC), but I was kinda bummed about the story content - I'm not really a friend of the Hollow Earth Thedas Theory, although the visuals were pretty stunning. Also, the ending had This Will Come Back to Bite Thedas in the A** written all over it, which could be interesting, but all in all, the Titan lore left me pretty cold, if I'm completely honest.

 

It was pretty nice to have some tougher fights though, and all in all, it was decent value for money IMO, though not BioWare's best DLC all things considered.

 

With you on it. It's very beautiful and I was glad to see Deep Roads but... The story could be more close to the house. The idea to base plots on "let's add anything we did not specifically mentioned before as non-existent in Thedas" does not feel right to me. It leads to light sabers and superheroes in DA setting. At the end they DID hint about Superman coming to Thedas (as an eastern egg but still!) and nobody ever said super-heroes do not belong to Thedas, should we expect them in DA4 now?

 

Still, aside from ridiculous  another lore braking strange plot, DLC is nice. Every negative does countered with positives. Like strange plot - but it's DR and really, really beautiful. Companions are mute - but your 2 dwarf chaperons are quite talkative. Armor and weapon skins are very few - but it's something new and adds to general diversity. Short main story - but some side quests and exploring both giving you shiny loot and some dwarven lore.

And so on.

 

It does feel like it could be cheaper (compare content to many other DLCs we had before for different games) but that is never the case with EA.

[Jeniva]

I finished the descent in 5 hours, and most of that was wondering around looking for the damn cogs. still missed a couple but kind of gave up caring. was very short for the money. it felt like a dungeon run, although it was fun i think it is highly over priced for what it was. 

[SwobyJ]

I finished the descent in 5 hours, and most of that was wondering around looking for the damn cogs. still missed a couple but kind of gave up caring. was very short for the money. it felt like a dungeon run, although it was fun i think it is highly over priced for what it was. 

 

If it took others 5 hours, it'll probably take me closer to 10.

 

In terms of value, this'll probably be the Omega DLC for me; nice to have, but some issues that will stick out and doesn't match the price point.

 

Guess that's what happens when you get another studio 'testing' on something they're not used to (Montreal, Austin) yet.

 

If Descent was $10 I think I'd have no issues. $15 to me still implies 'mini-expansion', whereas $10 or less implies 'DLC'.

[TeffexPope]

I dunno, I thought the length was ok, but the amount of time spent fighting darkspawn was too short IMO. I had all my squaddies prepared the first time I played with cleansing runes and after the murderous fight agains the emissary alpha, that was pretty much it for darkspawn. But I guess they had to be only a smaller part of the story given their refusal to encroach upon the territory held by the Sha-Brytol. 

[DarkKnightHolmes]

No. It took me 5-7 hours to complete and unlike the other open world areas, I never got bored. Probably because it didn't overstay it's welcome or drag us back and forth continuously like the other maps.

[CoM Solaufein]

It wasn't long enough. I love dwarven cities. My favorite places in Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Skyrim are dwarven areas. But why are they ruins? I want to see them in their prime.

[punkass]

It was short, didn't really tell me much of anything and very grindey combat (which made it take so long). First playthrough done in 5 hours, found all but 2 cogs and 1 mug. 2nd playthrough took 3 hours.

Only worth it for some schematics. The loot wasn't epic, I had better for almost all slots on all chars, including companions. If I would hazard a guess, I'd say 3 items of gear were switched. Shield, maybe a weapon and some accesory probably.

 

I really wish it was longer.

 

DAI for me suffers from one thing but it's a big thing.

It never really takes off. Areas are small, little time spent in them and they don't feel like they have a history. More quests in some big castle/dungeon/dwarf tunnels, lore along the way, nice loot. Not these 10 min sprints through some dungeon. I don't have time to get attached to the place before it's time for the next. Descent is also split up into chunks. 5 levels, elevator inbetween, almost empty areas. maybe 10-15 mobs per level.

Should be more enemies and not these splits/stops all the time.

 

Every place promises exploration but they never really provide that. No rewards for it either. If I do find some rare chest, it's always some lvl5 item that is totally useless (especially since those are in lvl10+ areas). Why are there grey items in the world to begin with? Serve no purpose other than vendor loot but even then, we are talking pennies. Chests should have at least blue and a chance of pink. Go to an epic place and all you find is cutlery? Really? How epic is that? Who knew the powerful enemies are stocking up on rusty spoons in their storages...no wonder they get beaten.

 

Puzzles are watered down.

 

NWN and Baldurs gate are my favorites. For their mechanics and story telling. You could pick up a quest from any random place or guy/girl. None of this "Exclamation-mark, SEE ME!". There was a point to replaying because you surely missed something or made a choice that affected something.

Choice is gone. Do you take a small, medium or big coke with your fries? Does it matter? The fries taste the same.

 

Jaws of Hakkon, nice dragon fight, nice giant fight. Ugly weapons. Could you at least make the weapons look like ice/glass? They look like a grey flat texture/picture. Wasn't long either but surely longer than The Descent. Not by much. New faction but insignificant. Would be nicer if the faction had some effect on stock Dragon Age in some way too. Seeing them out in the world, maybe a new companion.

 

And on that subject, why are there no new companions?

I would love at least 1 companion per DLC or even an old one, like Morrigan.

 

Thats my rant. I expect no one to read it.

[MariNia]

it was ok,but JOH is better

i just dont like so much dark lol

[Kantr]

It was quite fun, I wish there was more to fight rather than just waves in specific areas.

[zeypher]

I wanted more to fight as well. I want a bigger dungeon where you got to fight your way through. Hell i enjoyed the deep roads in all its iterations in the series so far.

[CoM Solaufein]

Descent fights are a perfect example of designer laziness. Lets give an otherwise pathetic enemy, typical darkspawn, millions of hit point and god like weapons that do massive amounts of damage, instead of making smarter AIs. That's my major beef with it.

[Scofield]

Descent fights are a perfect example of designer laziness. Lets give an otherwise pathetic enemy, typical darkspawn, millions of hit point and god like weapons that do massive amounts of damage, instead of making smarter AIs. That's my major beef with it.

How would you implement smarter AI?

[Elhanan]

Descent fights are a perfect example of designer laziness. Lets give an otherwise pathetic enemy, typical darkspawn, millions of hit point and god like weapons that do massive amounts of damage, instead of making smarter AIs. That's my major beef with it.

Was not aware that all Darkspawn had great health or weapons. Seem to recall them attempting to flank and surround the party, or use shock troops while ranged attacks could continue, or use Grab and Punch with Ogres, or something else rather different than what was described above. Nor were all opponents Darkspawn.

But examples like that can often tend to generalize and stereotype, and possibly speak on matters outside of their experience. Could be seen as a perfect example of critical laziness to others; perhaps even rude to a few.

[ApostleinTriumph]

After playing through it another time, I think I agree. After my first Descent playthrough finished I was disappointed at its length, since I love dungeon crawls so much in RPGs.

 

However, I went through it with another character again yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. It is short, yes, but the Darkspawn-half is challenging and intense, and the second half is mysterious and have beautiful environments. It's a shame it was that short (especially considering the price), but I think it was really fun.

[Kakistos_]

I thought it was good but too short. I enjoyed Jaws of Hakkon more. Jaws had more content and more closure. It was nice to see the full range of Darkspawn again.

[Dovahkiwi]

Just beat it - it was quite short but very fun and challenging. Also the environments were fantastic; serious props to the art team for Descent. Gears were a bit tedious at times. The final boss was difficult but with my Artificer's Elemental Mines ability, it was made much easier as I could basically one-hit three of those tentacle things at once (on normal because IMO the scaling makes Hard and Nightmare way too difficult in JoH and TD).

[JamieCOTC]

As a dungeon crawler, it's very good.

[Deebo305]

It was short, so what?

The main thing important in my opinion is: How much fun did I have with it?
If so, it doesn't matter how long it lasted.

This is how I look at DLC, length doesn't matter as much as total enjoyment. All in all I enjoyed Jaws of Hakkon more

[movie_diva]

First I love Dungon Crawls, my favorite part of the first  DA's is the Deep Roads, I just finished The Descent, and wish it had been a little longer but I had fun with it and it was challenging, the lack of deep winding caves is my major complaint with DA:I. But I had fun and will probably do it again in my new plays.

[Kulyok]

When I finished Descent, I felt like I've just done a long, tedious and ungrateful job, and I felt relieved it was over.

 

Why? I love Bioware games and DLCs, don't I? I've gotten all the DLCs for ME games and all story DLCs for DA games. I even love hack and slash - heck, Awakening had less dialogue, and I still loved it. Legacy was a dungeon crawl in the Deep Roads, and it has excellent scenes I remember still.

 

But Descent... Descent was different.

 

First of all, it wasn't streamlined. You had to "gather twelve manhole lids and get a prize from Watercanal" in your log, whatever you did. That was annoying and unnecessary. In DA2, in ME3, in SWTOR I never had to do any pointless and silly collection quests like that, and DAI isn't doing very well by starting a new tradition and continuing it in Descent. I really wish those of us who don't like gathering gears and mugs, but get a "completist" mind got an option to avoid the quest entirely.

 

(yeah, that detracted from my enjoyment a lot)

 

Second, it required crazy amounts of power. I've long passed the point where I completed every single side quest. In this playthrough, I only opened the areas I needed for the main game, and as a result, I had less than 30 power, and I needed 40 to go to the Arbor Wilds. And knowing all this, the developers still required ~80 more power out of me - just to visit small wooden bridges and open two or three chests with grey loot! Seriously? Seriously?

 

(and, of course, I had to open those areas, because I didn't know they were that small and boring - I wanted to complete the DLC in its entirety)

 

Third, there was no player-connected story. This DLC was about Valta and her passage - turning from Mary Sue into Super Mary Sue, if I avoid spoilers. That didn't work on any level: she was a bland and flawless character to begin with, and any transformations she's gone through haven't added any sympathy. That means that I simply wasn't interested in what happened to her! I wanted to know how everything was connected to the Inquisition, to the Blight, to the dwarves, at last! But noooo, of course we learnt nothing of value. 

 

Fourth, no meaningful interaction with companions. I understand they didn't have the resources to give us nine talkative companions during the entire journey. But if only they focused on Varric, or made it Cassandra's journey, or added Solas' commentary on ancient Children of the Stone (because Solas should have known!) and avoided all other companions - well, one talkative party member is better than none, I'd say.

 

In short, finishing this DLC was a job. Thankless, because there was no catharsis at the end. Boring, because there was no interaction in between, and two new dwarven characters... well, it's not that they were bad (though they were, just remember Leske!), they had no connection to the PC whatsoever. And they could've been brilliant! We could've gotten new friendships there! Heck, we could've gotten Harding instead of Valta, and it still would be a better DLC.

 

Sigh. Anyway, if you are considering buying Descent, save your money and time. Try Trespasser - it should be better than this, because, well, everything is better than this. (Even Golems of Amgarrak, because it was shorter).

[Kulyok]

It had a Nug King scene, though. That was good. 

[BloodyTalon]

It was great and what I hope and expected, short though but well worth the price like going to a good movie for the afternoon well better then going to a good movie since good movies don't happen often anymore

[Elhanan]

Folks do realize that Optional is written right there in the Journal when gathering the majority of the gears. If one does not like those kind of quests, skipping them entirely was a valid choice.

Do not know of anyone else, but both of my Inq's had crazy amts of leftover Power to spend.

The quest was to discover about earthquakes and helping the Dwarves. Did just that, and learned a bit about their lore. Felt like I was connected to the story as I was supposed to be; was not expecting to personally know anyone there.

Companion banter was light, but still had input from Cassandra and Dorian. Varric had some too, but had to go with someone else when I hit the plains of Fire.

Personally, enjoyed the challenges presented, but do believe the final Boss encounter was not as good as what led to it. And I got another Crafting shop which may be handy before Trespasser. Overall, Descent was a worthwhile investment for my game.

[Kendar Fleetfoot]

I was glad it was short I just found the combat annoying but it was very pretty and gave you plenty to think about in terms of the world of Thedas.

 

Did anyone think Valta was a clone of Dagna in looks in particular?

[Elhanan]

I was glad it was short I just found the combat annoying but it was very pretty and gave you plenty to think about in terms of the world of Thedas.
 
Did anyone think Valta was a clone of Dagna in looks in particular?

I was thinking more of Bianca myself, but w/o the cowl.