11 réponses à ce sujet

[Silcron]

First of all, I think I need to explain my point of view, where I come from when giving my opinion on these dlcs. I was dissapointed in DA:I, the combat felt boring, the pacing of the story is horrible, the villain ends up being a joke, the areas feel shallow and there are some moments in the story (like going from prisioner to leader in 5 minutes or so). While I will not say that DAI is a bad game, because I don't think it is, I think it is not as good as the previous DA games, thus I didn't bother buying the dlcs, though I'm still invested in the world, so from this forum I already knew what major things were going to happen in each DLC. With that said, I played them in the order they came out, and that's the order I'll follow.

Jaws of Haakon.

If you want to skip one of the dlcs skip this one. It's good, even really good, but in the end this is how I feel side areas should have been in the main game, not that I'd want to find someone like the last Inquisitor and kill someone's god in each, but it was an area with enough content to make it interesting, with surprising variety and a cool, small dungeon. But that's the bad side too, it's just one more area, the other two dlcs offer something more unique when compared to the rest of DA:I, thus the skipping part if you want to save 15 (insert currency here).

Onto details then. The area looks really good and it even has a surprising amount of verticality with the camps being treehouses helping you get to the top of hills you couldn't or would have had to walk around for a really long time. I don't know if the area itself evoked the sort of cold mountain area the avvar seem to be from but it looks good and the river, the altitude and the swamp make distinguishable enough parts so you know where you are in the area.

The dungeon while not complicated has this mechanic of cold seen through a timer, when it depletes you don't die thankfully, but start freezing and loosing HP, so you find yourself running from fire to fire, rushing to light them up and fighting next to them. Which is practice for the final boss and its mechanic, where it freezes some of the fires around the room and you either make trips backs to them or just move the fight around. I feel it was a natural mechanic for the fight, in the dungeon you fight the magical cold with fires, so the boss then counters by freezing the ones around him.

Then the dragon goes next to a fishing house you have had to visit and with ice magic creates an arena for the final fight in the shore. Nice little touch. The fight is your usual dragon fight, though it seems dragon fire(ice here)balls finally don't have the tracking that I complained about in the main game, so by moving my camera to keep an eye on him I can dodge his attacks just by walking.

If anything my complaint here is that enemies have a bit too much HP, like 25% more than they should so any fight seems to drag on, just enough that after some time you may start trying to run away just because you don't want to spend that long fighting. I don't take into account my other complaints about combat, as it would be unreasonable to expect an overhaul for a dlc, still, I'd say it improves enough (even the shards were worth it in my opinion).

Lootwise there wasn't that much. Some skyhold decorations, nice weapons that look made out of ice and a really cool set of armor (the dragon hunter, I ended wearing it for the other two dlcs). One could say it's not much, but enough for a new area I think.

Now storywise. It's alright. I think the idea was for the investigation about the last Inquisitor and the threat of the avvar tribe that give the dlc its title to be on par and I don't think they succeeded. It didn't turn out badly, more like how in DA:O the tribe adoring the dragon is an aspect of the quest for the Ashes of Andraste. The important part was finding the truth about the last Inquisitor, the rest were the specifics of that threat, and a tribe that thought it was a threat (I was in my completionist character, except a couple of treasure maps, bottles and pieces of mosaics I had done everything, including achievements, so I was at the point that these guys didn't seem like that big a threat.) If anything I think the leader of the avvar should have had a bit of a bigger role, or maybe just flesh out the Jaws a bit more.

It was not the greatest experience, but it was good and solid, if only the rest of the areas in the vanilla game had been like this I may have overlooked the combat or other aspects of the story simply because the sum being better than its parts.

The Descent.

Before anything else. The new songs, oh goodness, the new songs they recorded. They are so good. I've been listening to that combat track while I was writing my own stuff, love it.

A trip to the deeproads? Well, I wondered at the start if I'd compare it to previous ones. I did, and I think it's one of the bests. The areas keep a really nice atmosphere that gradually changes. You start at evening, entering the chasm while still being able to see the sun. Then you hit dusk of sorts, with the fires on the dwarven settlement (I forget the word) giving you that color palette of night with the sun setting. After that the lirium and the sea was a transition to a beach and a sky filled with stars and finally inside the titan onto day again. Nice getting through the night metaphorical cycle.

Now, the areas on the dlc. Simply put, gorgeus. You have these multiple, intricate paths to get to where you have to go, like how going through the caves with the blood rituals allows you to literally get the drop on a group of enemies that would have been in your way if you had taken other path (there was a third one). I'll admit that after playing so much Dark Souls I tried a plunging attack. They also give this sense of descending really, really well, as well as keeping a great atmosphere. The camps also serve as well placed rests from the action, a good moment to go back sell stuff if like me you hit the inventory limit (I had not cleared it since before starting JoH). Which I used to go get that requisition achievement. I don't give them much attention but then the "New Area Unlocked" message poppped up. "Huh, new area? Wait, what?" I went to check those spots on the map and low and behold, that which I thought was just background, like the statue you see standing alone in the thaig (I remembered the word!) is not part of it, you can get to it with these new bridges. This isn't new to the dlc, but it caught me completely off guard, and was a really nice surpise on top of the great areas. And I say great because they look great like the rest of the game but they are also a joy to walk through from the gameplay perspective. Different, distinct paths; exploration rewarded with secrets like the doors, which I enjoyed too, that search button made the search not be a pain (and I'm the kind of guy who tries to loot everything anyway). I remember a video showing a literal nug king as an easter egg, and I still haven't found that, even though I've opened the nine doors and getting what I'm guessing is pretty much everything else. My favourite of the four was the lyrium area before the titan, I simply loved the feeling of being at the same time very low under earth and in a big open area with the illusion of the lyrium as stars. I could go on, but I think this makes it clear just how much I loved the areas in this dlc.

Lootwise it's good. You get three armors from the sha'vritol, and their weapons. Well, it includes schematics, but I don't craft that much. The design gives the right vibe of dwarf but not-dwarf at the same time. I personally didn't enjoy it as much except the mage stuff, I wished my character had been a mage.

Combatwise it's ok. Nothing astounding. The finaly bossfight had your typical aoe you have to avoid and not much else. Though the problem of enemies having a bit too much health is still present, at least in my opinion.

Now, storywise. Really good. Sure, from the moment a titan is mentioned you know it's real as per usual in DA (the ashes, the Anvil of the Void...) It may not be as the player or npcs expect it, but I'd say at this point a theme in DA is for legends to be real. The revelation is that lyrium is the blood of titans, and from there the implications. I read threads here talking in detail about it, I recommend them if you're interested. Some would say that the foreshadowing is too obvious, but I don't think it was foreshadowing at all. They, the dwarves, just didn't want to mention this titan thing at first in case it sounded stupid and you wouldn't come. If anything I'd say the foreshadowing was in the main game with the conversation with Dagna. You get invested in these two dwarves, the commentary on the areas you walk around are good. There were only two things I found bad about the story of the dlc. Ren's death. It's there just for dramatic shock and to show just how threatening the sha'vritol are. The problem is that if those bolts worked like they do for Ren then we should all be dead. There is just cognitive dissonance there, or are you going to tell me that Legion of the Dead armor is just that crappy? The second one is the one I really hated. It's the very end of the dlc, that conversation in which you, well, not you, the writers decide that your Inquisitor is going to agree to keep this secret. Why? Why this sudden change of heart? We didn't keep the Anvil of the Void secret, we had a choice for the Ashes of Andraste! "Tell them the truth: you don't know! *Inquisitor smiles*" Oh really? Except I know. I know you had "great stonesense" as Ren said and that plus proximity to the titan and he must have made a connection with you granting you magic. But of course we don't want to study that, or tell Orzammar to come and see this big reveal, nah. I'm sure not even Dagna should hear about this. Still, this didn't ruin it for me, just as those-that-must-not-be-named didn't ruin ME3 for me. I'll just be skipping dialogue in that convo if I replay it.

Overall this dlc is awesome. The areas, how you can interact with them, the interesting enemies and lore. A true expedition to the underground, don't let two story hiccups ruin it for you.

Tresspasser.

Oh boy have I heard a lot and little about this one. I mean, I spoiled myself, at fist I wasn't going to buy them, so I heard a lot about the ending, but overall I didn't know much about the rest.

Starting with the area it's a nice reuse of the Winter Palace, well, the outside area. The rest is good. The deeproads area provides good lighting and if, IF, you realize you have to revisit it for the achievement and a secret area (yes, I had to look it up, good thing I had a save before starting that area, so it didn't take that long to get there) you see a nice change in the area now being flooded as a consequence for your actions. The part inside the eluvian is ok but to me the best one is not the library (typical Fade stuff, I liked it, as I may be one of the few that liked that area in DA:O), instead if the one you get into first. It's a great vista of this building in the middle of the lake between the mountains, and then getting through that area with the Eluvians really gave me a sense for the eluvians working as portals, not that it wasn't there before but this chase and being able to see where you were going, really liked it.

Lootwise, it's really good, specially since it introduces this trials to get new loot throughout vanilla, great idea for replayability, though I don't think I'll do it, at least not soon (or maybe I will, tbh I'm on the hype train for Dark Souls 3 and there just so many times I can replay 1 and 2 back to back). The idea of a dlc set is one I like, though sadly I didn't like the armor for my warrior, not that I complain, vanilla gave me my loved Warden set (well, most of it, I don't like the wings on the helmet) and JoH gave me that dragonhunter armor that I really like too, though the helmet remained invisible. This one is more for a mage, at least in how I'd dress one of mine. So, to be clear, I like the set, I just didn't like it for my character. Also you get elemental lightsabers, I laughed at that (mage warrior mix for DA4? Or just a melee mage? ...Please?).

Combat wise, well, remember my complaint about health in the previous ones? It's gone here. The bossfights were good, though I didn't bother with the puzzle to free the dragon, this character was a dragon hunter, had to roleplay. The fight with the big qunari mage was climatic as Cory was not. It's built up with its appearances, then with the first time you fight him, then he appears again to attack you and then the final fight. I won't coment much on the mechanics because I'll admit to powering through it. Sword and shield warrior has great survivability, coupled with being a templar (I picked that just to use cleanse on rifts tbh) helped a lot in this fight. So really good, fights didn't take too long, the bossfights were also good, if only the combat was better.

I think I should mention puzzles for this one. In JoH there were two, the pad to open to optional doors, not too difficult, but I'm not that good at that type, after opening one, I looked up how to open the second one. Then the astrariums, quite difficult this time around, but nothing impossible. In Descent there was the jenga I think it's called, a classic Bioware puzzle at this point (been doing it since the Korriban tomb in KotOR, and had to learnt it really well for the Karagga's Palace raid in SWToR). I didn't think they were worth mentioning, but in case someone wanted my opinion. For Tresspasser we have the wolf statues. You get a hint in a nearby inscription and from there on you go. None of them was too difficult, and I liked them. I just had two annoyances: the first one was the one in the library, the timing to get to the previous area to get the vailfire was a bit too tight in my opinion, and everytime you fail you'd have to use the inmunity effect of your mark to get back to the switch, which unless you load a save could force you a long wait. The other one was the one on the lyrium mine, for which you need to blow up some gaatlok to get to the eluvian that gets you to the area. That one I had to load a save to get it after completing the dlc, that you have to use your mark when it can do area of effect damage is unintuitive, specially since I had been using Dorian to blast the things with fire and electricity in my first visit, even when I was getting out. It just didn't make sense to me that those spells didn't work but the mark would.

On the exploration side finding the parts of the dlc set wasn't difficult, specially for me. As I mentioned before, I like to loot everything, so exploring is part of the course for me (except Blighttown in Dark Souls, because **** that place and thank From Software for that back entrance). I liked that the set was tied to that exploration in the Crossroads instead of in the areas that could force you to reload a save and replay a mission to get it. Nothing wrong with that except that when I was fighting the demons my combat hud would not pop up, so not knowing the health of my party, cooldowns, status was an extra level of challenge on those fights. I'm just mentioning it because I don't know if this glitch is common. Though it didn't bother me, in case you haven't picked that up.

Now, probably the bit you were waiting for. The story. The Exalted Council felt a long time coming, maybe the issues Ferelden had a bit forced. When Teagan brought up the fortress we had, I was wondering, why isn't it an option to just give it to the Fereldan Crown? Why can't I mention that you did kick out the wardens but Amaranthine had a Grey Warden fortress (and they effectively act as the goverment there)? Aside from the specific complaints I get the attitude, DA:O put the mephasis on how they are worried about invasions and organizations like ours. I may have prefered if the heads of each state where there, but I guess to many variables and getting hold of those voice actors was not affordable for the dlc.

I'd say the qunari was a good intro for their invasion but I know how the mage templar war ended, so I'm feeling cynical about its presentation in the next DA, but with how Sten talked about the qunari, DA2, the comics, IB stuff...a qunari invasion was coming sooner or later. Still, why did they need a literal dragon? I'm not sure if I missed something, reading a note (I'll admit to not having read most of them, though Sandal's was so insightful.)

Now, for the Solas stuff, the juicy bits right? That he was Fen'harel was obvious, even if I had not read the forums, or watched the trailer. I mean, Fen'harel is an elven god, Solas in an elf and the only companion who is missing, plus his after credits scene at the end of vanilla and the qunair keep mentioning an agent of Fen'harel. Could he have more arrows pointing at him being Fen'harel? Well, yes, I bet I haven't mentioned all of them. My relationship with him is that he was interesting to talk to, but didn't consider him a friend, in fact, the only thing I liked about him is that he was the only character allowed to retort to Vivienne. So I vowed to stop him, because even if he ends up seeing reason and surrendering I don't think he should get away with this with just a stern talk. And then I loose my macguffing along with my left forearm (I'm left handed, I know my Inq isn't, but still.) go to talk to them and give a nice speech about disbanding the inquisition because it's not about an organization. I liked that. I must admit it wasn't that much of a revelation, but rather confirmation of what we knew and an end to the Inquisition that I felt was coming, just like the qunari invasion. The Inquisition being left with all that power just seemed, a bit unrealistic, given how the countries had been characterized. If you must know I see Solas as a villain, a reasonable one, with good intentions, far more interesting that the rest of our main antagonists except Loghain (I don't know who comes on top, I reserve judgement until we see the end of Solas plan) but a villain in the end. It even seems he's the literal "live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And he brings a ton of lore with him, yay!

So overall I liked Tresspasser, it's in my opinion a fitting end to the Inquisition and the game, far better than vanilla's. It has the some of the best combat, the story is good in bringing that sense of closure, if not a final one. It gives enough hints for what is to come ("We find people he doesn't know." = Hello new PC) but DA:I has made me cynical about the delivery.

Playing the three of them back to back I have to say that even with that final conversation The Descent is my favourite out of the three, with JoH in 3rd place for just being ok, but nothing outstanding. Were they worth it? Yes. JoH is how I feel areas should have been, and the others are the kind of Bioware stuff I was looking for. So I'd say I liked the more than the main game overall (DA:I still has its moments). Some opinions? Comments? Feel free, after all, I'm not egocentric enough (yet) to post this for the sole reason of posting my opinion.

P.S. In case you hadn't notice this was written over the course of several days, two, in fact. I mentioned before that I may like combat more as a mage, I started a new character and I was right about that. Standing back, holding a button to throw bolts and then my spells when they are ready feels enough for my mage. It's not the greatest, but I do feel that as a spell caster I'm focused on my spells not so much on what I do between using spells (abilities). So it's not like the combat turned good by changing class, just that what I feel are the bad parts are not felt as strongly in a spellcaster than in a melee class.

[vbibbi]

I'm confused, you said that you didn't buy the DLCs because you didn't care enough about the base game, but then review each DLC?

[Silcron]

I'm confused, you said that you didn't buy the DLCs because you didn't care enough about the base game, but then review each DLC?

Opinions change over time. I didn't plan to buy them, and only until this month I held that opinion. I wanted something to play, and I got curious. Would they be better than the base game? Would I enjoy them?

And then last week I bought the dlcs and completed them by monday. After that I thought I'd share my opinion on them because, well, it's a forum, and I'd like to hear other people's opinions as well as sharing my own.

Edit: changed "on monday" to "by monday" as I didn't complete them in one day.

[Smudjygirl]

I enjoyed JoH, but you can miss it out and not suffer for it in any way. Though it was nice to have some insight into the Avvar, i enjoyed that.

 

I agree the Decent was amazing, and it answered so many of the questions about Dwarves and Lyrium that  i have had since Origins.

 

Trespasser, of course, was simply amazing. Though i still can't the that huge sign that says "THE END" and i've just replayed it 3 times. I think it should have been handled slightly differently, because they gave the Inquisitor motivation to stop him, but likely they won't be the ones to follow through with that. If this were a book i probably would've burned it. Loose ends :T

 

Overall, interesting review OP. I really enjoyed reading it. You clearly thought about it a lot as you were playing.

[Silcron]

I enjoyed JoH, but you can miss it out and not suffer for it in any way. Though it was nice to have some insight into the Avvar, i enjoyed that.
 
I agree the Decent was amazing, and it answered so many of the questions about Dwarves and Lyrium that  i have had since Origins.
 
Trespasser, of course, was simply amazing. Though i still can't the that huge sign that says "THE END" and i've just replayed it 3 times. I think it should have been handled slightly differently, because they gave the Inquisitor motivation to stop him, but likely they won't be the ones to follow through with that. If this were a book i probably would've burned it. Loose ends :T
 
Overall, interesting review OP. I really enjoyed reading it. You clearly thought about it a lot as you were playing.

I didn't mention the whole Inq not finishing Solas story directly because I think that could be a problem for the next game, it's not something that affects the story presented until this point. You could say I mentioned it with me being cynical about the next game.

And yeah, I was indeed thinking about it. I liked the experience tbh, playing something while paying enough attention that you can review it, but it was also good not to write it out all inmediatly or in one sitting. For example, at first I didn't remember that in vanilla there were requisitions that unlocked parts of a map, I was going to mention it as something unique to Descent, which would have been a mistake.

[Smudjygirl]

I didn't mention the whole Inq not finishing Solas story directly because I think that could be a problem for the next game, it's not something that affects the story presented until this point. You could say I mentioned it with me being cynical about the next game.

And yeah, I was indeed thinking about it. I liked the experience tbh, playing something while paying enough attention that you can review it, but it was also good not to write it out all inmediatly or in one sitting. For example, at first I didn't remember that in vanilla there were requisitions that unlocked parts of a map, I was going to mention it as something unique to Descent, which would have been a mistake.

 

People have been discussing Solas and the Inquisitor's future for quite some time now. No one can quite agree what should be done.

 

Oh, yeah. I played the main game about 10 times before i reviewed it haha. It's nice to pay close attention. I took notes every  time i found something i liked and something i didn't. So writing it up was easy. But i don't think that post exists anymore haha

[Smudjygirl]

I didn't mention the whole Inq not finishing Solas story directly because I think that could be a problem for the next game, it's not something that affects the story presented until this point. You could say I mentioned it with me being cynical about the next game.

And yeah, I was indeed thinking about it. I liked the experience tbh, playing something while paying enough attention that you can review it, but it was also good not to write it out all inmediatly or in one sitting. For example, at first I didn't remember that in vanilla there were requisitions that unlocked parts of a map, I was going to mention it as something unique to Descent, which would have been a mistake.

 

People have been discussing Solas and the Inquisitor's future for quite some time now. No one can quite agree what should be done.

 

Oh, yeah. I played the main game about 10 times before i reviewed it haha. It's nice to pay close attention. I took notes every  time i found something i liked and something i didn't. So writing it up was easy. But i don't think that post exists anymore haha

[vbibbi]

First of all, I think I need to explain my point of view, where I come from when giving my opinion on these dlcs. I was dissapointed in DA:I, the combat felt boring, the pacing of the story is horrible, the villain ends up being a joke, the areas feel shallow and there are some moments in the story (like going from prisioner to leader in 5 minutes or so). While I will not say that DAI is a bad game, because I don't think it is, I think it is not as good as the previous DA games, thus I didn't bother buying the dlcs, though I'm still invested in the world, so from this forum I already knew what major things were going to happen in each DLC. With that said, I played them in the order they came out, and that's the order I'll follow.

Jaws of Haakon.

If you want to skip one of the dlcs skip this one. It's good, even really good, but in the end this is how I feel side areas should have been in the main game, not that I'd want to find someone like the last Inquisitor and kill someone's god in each, but it was an area with enough content to make it interesting, with surprising variety and a cool, small dungeon. But that's the bad side too, it's just one more area, the other two dlcs offer something more unique when compared to the rest of DA:I, thus the skipping part if you want to save 15 (insert currency here).

Onto details then. The area looks really good and it even has a surprising amount of verticality with the camps being treehouses helping you get to the top of hills you couldn't or would have had to walk around for a really long time. I don't know if the area itself evoked the sort of cold mountain area the avvar seem to be from but it looks good and the river, the altitude and the swamp make distinguishable enough parts so you know where you are in the area.

The dungeon while not complicated has this mechanic of cold seen through a timer, when it depletes you don't die thankfully, but start freezing and loosing HP, so you find yourself running from fire to fire, rushing to light them up and fighting next to them. Which is practice for the final boss and its mechanic, where it freezes some of the fires around the room and you either make trips backs to them or just move the fight around. I feel it was a natural mechanic for the fight, in the dungeon you fight the magical cold with fires, so the boss then counters by freezing the ones around him.

Then the dragon goes next to a fishing house you have had to visit and with ice magic creates an arena for the final fight in the shore. Nice little touch. The fight is your usual dragon fight, though it seems dragon fire(ice here)balls finally don't have the tracking that I complained about in the main game, so by moving my camera to keep an eye on him I can dodge his attacks just by walking.

If anything my complaint here is that enemies have a bit too much HP, like 25% more than they should so any fight seems to drag on, just enough that after some time you may start trying to run away just because you don't want to spend that long fighting. I don't take into account my other complaints about combat, as it would be unreasonable to expect an overhaul for a dlc, still, I'd say it improves enough (even the shards were worth it in my opinion).

Lootwise there wasn't that much. Some skyhold decorations, nice weapons that look made out of ice and a really cool set of armor (the dragon hunter, I ended wearing it for the other two dlcs). One could say it's not much, but enough for a new area I think.

Now storywise. It's alright. I think the idea was for the investigation about the last Inquisitor and the threat of the avvar tribe that give the dlc its title to be on par and I don't think they succeeded. It didn't turn out badly, more like how in DA:O the tribe adoring the dragon is an aspect of the quest for the Ashes of Andraste. The important part was finding the truth about the last Inquisitor, the rest were the specifics of that threat, and a tribe that thought it was a threat (I was in my completionist character, except a couple of treasure maps, bottles and pieces of mosaics I had done everything, including achievements, so I was at the point that these guys didn't seem like that big a threat.) If anything I think the leader of the avvar should have had a bit of a bigger role, or maybe just flesh out the Jaws a bit more.

It was not the greatest experience, but it was good and solid, if only the rest of the areas in the vanilla game had been like this I may have overlooked the combat or other aspects of the story simply because the sum being better than its parts.

The Descent.

Before anything else. The new songs, oh goodness, the new songs they recorded. They are so good. I've been listening to that combat track while I was writing my own stuff, love it.

A trip to the deeproads? Well, I wondered at the start if I'd compare it to previous ones. I did, and I think it's one of the bests. The areas keep a really nice atmosphere that gradually changes. You start at evening, entering the chasm while still being able to see the sun. Then you hit dusk of sorts, with the fires on the dwarven settlement (I forget the word) giving you that color palette of night with the sun setting. After that the lirium and the sea was a transition to a beach and a sky filled with stars and finally inside the titan onto day again. Nice getting through the night metaphorical cycle.

Now, the areas on the dlc. Simply put, gorgeus. You have these multiple, intricate paths to get to where you have to go, like how going through the caves with the blood rituals allows you to literally get the drop on a group of enemies that would have been in your way if you had taken other path (there was a third one). I'll admit that after playing so much Dark Souls I tried a plunging attack. They also give this sense of descending really, really well, as well as keeping a great atmosphere. The camps also serve as well placed rests from the action, a good moment to go back sell stuff if like me you hit the inventory limit (I had not cleared it since before starting JoH). Which I used to go get that requisition achievement. I don't give them much attention but then the "New Area Unlocked" message poppped up. "Huh, new area? Wait, what?" I went to check those spots on the map and low and behold, that which I thought was just background, like the statue you see standing alone in the thaig (I remembered the word!) is not part of it, you can get to it with these new bridges. This isn't new to the dlc, but it caught me completely off guard, and was a really nice surpise on top of the great areas. And I say great because they look great like the rest of the game but they are also a joy to walk through from the gameplay perspective. Different, distinct paths; exploration rewarded with secrets like the doors, which I enjoyed too, that search button made the search not be a pain (and I'm the kind of guy who tries to loot everything anyway). I remember a video showing a literal nug king as an easter egg, and I still haven't found that, even though I've opened the nine doors and getting what I'm guessing is pretty much everything else. My favourite of the four was the lyrium area before the titan, I simply loved the feeling of being at the same time very low under earth and in a big open area with the illusion of the lyrium as stars. I could go on, but I think this makes it clear just how much I loved the areas in this dlc.

Lootwise it's good. You get three armors from the sha'vritol, and their weapons. Well, it includes schematics, but I don't craft that much. The design gives the right vibe of dwarf but not-dwarf at the same time. I personally didn't enjoy it as much except the mage stuff, I wished my character had been a mage.

Combatwise it's ok. Nothing astounding. The finaly bossfight had your typical aoe you have to avoid and not much else. Though the problem of enemies having a bit too much health is still present, at least in my opinion.

Now, storywise. Really good. Sure, from the moment a titan is mentioned you know it's real as per usual in DA (the ashes, the Anvil of the Void...) It may not be as the player or npcs expect it, but I'd say at this point a theme in DA is for legends to be real. The revelation is that lyrium is the blood of titans, and from there the implications. I read threads here talking in detail about it, I recommend them if you're interested. Some would say that the foreshadowing is too obvious, but I don't think it was foreshadowing at all. They, the dwarves, just didn't want to mention this titan thing at first in case it sounded stupid and you wouldn't come. If anything I'd say the foreshadowing was in the main game with the conversation with Dagna. You get invested in these two dwarves, the commentary on the areas you walk around are good. There were only two things I found bad about the story of the dlc. Ren's death. It's there just for dramatic shock and to show just how threatening the sha'vritol are. The problem is that if those bolts worked like they do for Ren then we should all be dead. There is just cognitive dissonance there, or are you going to tell me that Legion of the Dead armor is just that crappy? The second one is the one I really hated. It's the very end of the dlc, that conversation in which you, well, not you, the writers decide that your Inquisitor is going to agree to keep this secret. Why? Why this sudden change of heart? We didn't keep the Anvil of the Void secret, we had a choice for the Ashes of Andraste! "Tell them the truth: you don't know! *Inquisitor smiles*" Oh really? Except I know. I know you had "great stonesense" as Ren said and that plus proximity to the titan and he must have made a connection with you granting you magic. But of course we don't want to study that, or tell Orzammar to come and see this big reveal, nah. I'm sure not even Dagna should hear about this. Still, this didn't ruin it for me, just as those-that-must-not-be-named didn't ruin ME3 for me. I'll just be skipping dialogue in that convo if I replay it.

Overall this dlc is awesome. The areas, how you can interact with them, the interesting enemies and lore. A true expedition to the underground, don't let two story hiccups ruin it for you.

Tresspasser.

Oh boy have I heard a lot and little about this one. I mean, I spoiled myself, at fist I wasn't going to buy them, so I heard a lot about the ending, but overall I didn't know much about the rest.

Starting with the area it's a nice reuse of the Winter Palace, well, the outside area. The rest is good. The deeproads area provides good lighting and if, IF, you realize you have to revisit it for the achievement and a secret area (yes, I had to look it up, good thing I had a save before starting that area, so it didn't take that long to get there) you see a nice change in the area now being flooded as a consequence for your actions. The part inside the eluvian is ok but to me the best one is not the library (typical Fade stuff, I liked it, as I may be one of the few that liked that area in DA:O), instead if the one you get into first. It's a great vista of this building in the middle of the lake between the mountains, and then getting through that area with the Eluvians really gave me a sense for the eluvians working as portals, not that it wasn't there before but this chase and being able to see where you were going, really liked it.

Lootwise, it's really good, specially since it introduces this trials to get new loot throughout vanilla, great idea for replayability, though I don't think I'll do it, at least not soon (or maybe I will, tbh I'm on the hype train for Dark Souls 3 and there just so many times I can replay 1 and 2 back to back). The idea of a dlc set is one I like, though sadly I didn't like the armor for my warrior, not that I complain, vanilla gave me my loved Warden set (well, most of it, I don't like the wings on the helmet) and JoH gave me that dragonhunter armor that I really like too, though the helmet remained invisible. This one is more for a mage, at least in how I'd dress one of mine. So, to be clear, I like the set, I just didn't like it for my character. Also you get elemental lightsabers, I laughed at that (mage warrior mix for DA4? Or just a melee mage? ...Please?).

Combat wise, well, remember my complaint about health in the previous ones? It's gone here. The bossfights were good, though I didn't bother with the puzzle to free the dragon, this character was a dragon hunter, had to roleplay. The fight with the big qunari mage was climatic as Cory was not. It's built up with its appearances, then with the first time you fight him, then he appears again to attack you and then the final fight. I won't coment much on the mechanics because I'll admit to powering through it. Sword and shield warrior has great survivability, coupled with being a templar (I picked that just to use cleanse on rifts tbh) helped a lot in this fight. So really good, fights didn't take too long, the bossfights were also good, if only the combat was better.

I think I should mention puzzles for this one. In JoH there were two, the pad to open to optional doors, not too difficult, but I'm not that good at that type, after opening one, I looked up how to open the second one. Then the astrariums, quite difficult this time around, but nothing impossible. In Descent there was the jenga I think it's called, a classic Bioware puzzle at this point (been doing it since the Korriban tomb in KotOR, and had to learnt it really well for the Karagga's Palace raid in SWToR). I didn't think they were worth mentioning, but in case someone wanted my opinion. For Tresspasser we have the wolf statues. You get a hint in a nearby inscription and from there on you go. None of them was too difficult, and I liked them. I just had two annoyances: the first one was the one in the library, the timing to get to the previous area to get the vailfire was a bit too tight in my opinion, and everytime you fail you'd have to use the inmunity effect of your mark to get back to the switch, which unless you load a save could force you a long wait. The other one was the one on the lyrium mine, for which you need to blow up some gaatlok to get to the eluvian that gets you to the area. That one I had to load a save to get it after completing the dlc, that you have to use your mark when it can do area of effect damage is unintuitive, specially since I had been using Dorian to blast the things with fire and electricity in my first visit, even when I was getting out. It just didn't make sense to me that those spells didn't work but the mark would.

On the exploration side finding the parts of the dlc set wasn't difficult, specially for me. As I mentioned before, I like to loot everything, so exploring is part of the course for me (except Blighttown in Dark Souls, because **** that place and thank From Software for that back entrance). I liked that the set was tied to that exploration in the Crossroads instead of in the areas that could force you to reload a save and replay a mission to get it. Nothing wrong with that except that when I was fighting the demons my combat hud would not pop up, so not knowing the health of my party, cooldowns, status was an extra level of challenge on those fights. I'm just mentioning it because I don't know if this glitch is common. Though it didn't bother me, in case you haven't picked that up.

Now, probably the bit you were waiting for. The story. The Exalted Council felt a long time coming, maybe the issues Ferelden had a bit forced. When Teagan brought up the fortress we had, I was wondering, why isn't it an option to just give it to the Fereldan Crown? Why can't I mention that you did kick out the wardens but Amaranthine had a Grey Warden fortress (and they effectively act as the goverment there)? Aside from the specific complaints I get the attitude, DA:O put the mephasis on how they are worried about invasions and organizations like ours. I may have prefered if the heads of each state where there, but I guess to many variables and getting hold of those voice actors was not affordable for the dlc.

I'd say the qunari was a good intro for their invasion but I know how the mage templar war ended, so I'm feeling cynical about its presentation in the next DA, but with how Sten talked about the qunari, DA2, the comics, IB stuff...a qunari invasion was coming sooner or later. Still, why did they need a literal dragon? I'm not sure if I missed something, reading a note (I'll admit to not having read most of them, though Sandal's was so insightful.)

Now, for the Solas stuff, the juicy bits right? That he was Fen'harel was obvious, even if I had not read the forums, or watched the trailer. I mean, Fen'harel is an elven god, Solas in an elf and the only companion who is missing, plus his after credits scene at the end of vanilla and the qunair keep mentioning an agent of Fen'harel. Could he have more arrows pointing at him being Fen'harel? Well, yes, I bet I haven't mentioned all of them. My relationship with him is that he was interesting to talk to, but didn't consider him a friend, in fact, the only thing I liked about him is that he was the only character allowed to retort to Vivienne. So I vowed to stop him, because even if he ends up seeing reason and surrendering I don't think he should get away with this with just a stern talk. And then I loose my macguffing along with my left forearm (I'm left handed, I know my Inq isn't, but still.) go to talk to them and give a nice speech about disbanding the inquisition because it's not about an organization. I liked that. I must admit it wasn't that much of a revelation, but rather confirmation of what we knew and an end to the Inquisition that I felt was coming, just like the qunari invasion. The Inquisition being left with all that power just seemed, a bit unrealistic, given how the countries had been characterized. If you must know I see Solas as a villain, a reasonable one, with good intentions, far more interesting that the rest of our main antagonists except Loghain (I don't know who comes on top, I reserve judgement until we see the end of Solas plan) but a villain in the end. It even seems he's the literal "live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And he brings a ton of lore with him, yay!

So overall I liked Tresspasser, it's in my opinion a fitting end to the Inquisition and the game, far better than vanilla's. It has the some of the best combat, the story is good in bringing that sense of closure, if not a final one. It gives enough hints for what is to come ("We find people he doesn't know." = Hello new PC) but DA:I has made me cynical about the delivery.

Playing the three of them back to back I have to say that even with that final conversation The Descent is my favourite out of the three, with JoH in 3rd place for just being ok, but nothing outstanding. Were they worth it? Yes. JoH is how I feel areas should have been, and the others are the kind of Bioware stuff I was looking for. So I'd say I liked the more than the main game overall (DA:I still has its moments). Some opinions? Comments? Feel free, after all, I'm not egocentric enough (yet) to post this for the sole reason of posting my opinion.

P.S. In case you hadn't notice this was written over the course of several days, two, in fact. I mentioned before that I may like combat more as a mage, I started a new character and I was right about that. Standing back, holding a button to throw bolts and then my spells when they are ready feels enough for my mage. It's not the greatest, but I do feel that as a spell caster I'm focused on my spells not so much on what I do between using spells (abilities). So it's not like the combat turned good by changing class, just that what I feel are the bad parts are not felt as strongly in a spellcaster than in a melee class.

I agree with a lot of your assessments. JOH was good, but it was more a demonstration of how the base game zones should have been rather than an amazing stand alone area. I enjoyed it, and I think it improved on a lot of the weaknesses in the game, and it was nice to have a substantial side quest that didn't relate directly to Corypheus. Part of my fatigue with DAI was that everyone and their mother was somehow being manipulated by Corypheus. That's all well and good if he actually proves a capable antagonist, but his little screentime doesn't back up the evidence that he's crafty and able to play chessmaster on such a grand scale.

 

I also had some issues with the lack of choice in Descent. An option to vow to hunt down Valta for answers, to stop her from unleashing destructive power, just anything would have been nice rather than mildly agreeing that we know less than now than we did before and just leave.

 

And good point with wishing more options in the Exalted Council. I was disappointed overall that it consisted of cutscenes with no player choices, and it was mostly offscreen with Josie. It makes sense, since the scope of the DLC was to investigate the Qunari rather than negotiate with politicians, but it seemed like a missed opportunity to provide more background on how our Inquisitor thought of the Inquisition, of politics, of the countries and their leaders, etc. I did like the call back to our chat with Mother Giselle about disbanding the Inquisition once its purpose was fulfilled, though.

[AlanC9]

My guess is that they didn't want to make DA4 any harder than it had to be. Though I suppose they could have added choices without enough consequence to require anything of DA4.

Bio's probably a little gun-shy about that sort of thing. They already had to retcon some of the DA:O ending options, and the ME team had to deal with the hole that ME2 dug for ME3.

[Silcron]

My guess is that they didn't want to make DA4 any harder than it had to be. Though I suppose they could have added choices without enough consequence to require anything of DA4.

Bio's probably a little gun-shy about that sort of thing. They already had to retcon some of the DA:O ending options, and the ME team had to deal with the hole that ME2 dug for ME3.

 

I get that, but still they could have worked around. For example, with the fereldan keep. It could have been that you chose to give it willingly or if you disband it is given to Ferelden and if you go along with the Chantry they end up giving it anyway. You still get your extra choice and it would be a matter in the next game of mentioning if at all that it ends up being on the hands of Ferelden nobles again, your choice is to give it willingly or have it taken later on.

 

I guess some people could argue it's a non-choice, but the important part, specially politicaly, would be if it was given or taken.

 

Or, and here's the other option for not creating too many variables, don't bring it up. We don't need the specific example, we know the Inquisition has troops on Ferelden and that that would worry the nobles with their history. I get they were going for trying to tailor the experience a bit more to what you had done (I don't know if the Keep is not brought up if you didn't take it) but they could have brought up the mage templar choice for example, about how the Inquisition left one of them to take care of itself. It's unfair, because the Inquisition didn't have enough resources at the time (i.e. player characters) but they don't have to be fair to us.

 

In the end it's a minor thing, but I wasn't going to not mention it.

[Silcron]

People have been discussing Solas and the Inquisitor's future for quite some time now. No one can quite agree what should be done.

 

Oh, yeah. I played the main game about 10 times before i reviewed it haha. It's nice to pay close attention. I took notes every  time i found something i liked and something i didn't. So writing it up was easy. But i don't think that post exists anymore haha

 

Oh, I know, I've read several of those threads, and by several I mean, there are the ones that talk about the implications of the ending and then the: "Bring back Inquisitor! You cannot not bring him/her back after Tresspasser! D:"

[Smudjygirl]

Oh, I know, I've read several of those threads, and by several I mean, there are the ones that talk about the implications of the ending and then the: "Bring back Inquisitor! You cannot not bring him/her back after Tresspasser! D:"

 

Hah, i've probably been responsible for one or two of those threads