OK, finished playing Witch Hunt (again) and figured I'd take the time to write a suitably long winded and rambling review.
MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT INCOMING!In short, I very much enjoyed it, given my low expectations. And ultimately, I think your enjoyment of Witch Hunt will vary greatly depending on what you were expecting to get out of it. If you sought closure to the Morrigan romance it fits the bill wonderfully. If you were expecting a full fledged conclusion to all of Origins and full closure to Morrigan's story, you'll be disappointed. if you are expecting answers from Morrigan, you'll be disappointed.
Some thoughts I had while playing through it several times:
============================================================================
No rogue? I was surprised Ariane wasn't a rogue and freaked out since I play as a warriior or mage most of the time. Luckily though the very few locked chests and the couple of locked doors in the Mage Tower aren't hiding anything of note.
---------------------------------------------------------
Farewell to the DW Warrior: Considering DA2 is nixing the DW and Archer warrior, Ariane (and many of my Couslands) will be defunct going forward. So Witch Hunt is the last hurrah for the DW warrior. BioWare thinks they're redundant, but I always enjoyed them- oh well...
----------------------------------------------------------
The Premise: Some people say "Why would my Warden even be looking for Morrigan?" If you play as the Orlesian the Orlesian's codex gives a nice breakdown of the Templars hunting for Morrigan thinking she is a dangerous blood mage, the Crown sending soldiers after her and while the First Warden has tasked you with finding her to explore her role in the Blight, it mentions dissent within the Wardens as to how Morrigan's capture should be handled (kill or let live). Yet, that sort of broad manhunt isn't touched on at all in the DLC.
Obviously if you romanced her, you've got a fine reason. But its the whole huge "manhunt" setup that in my dream Witch Hunt expack could have been fleshed out so much more and probably made for a more compelling and more complete experience- but I'll get to that later.
----------------------------------------------------------
The Characters: BioWare seems averse, for whatever reason, to bring back Origins characetrs and reunite them with the Warden as companions. So we end up with a rotating door of new companions for the Warden in Awakening or the DLC. WH gives us back Dog which seriously increased my enjoyment of the DLC. Then you've got Ariane and Finn. Personally, I really really liked both of them. But it was when Ariane, Finn and Dog were all together bantering back and forth that they felt like fleshed out characters. The little things in their banter is what made them enjoyable to me.
Compared to Sketch and Tug from Leliana's Song I enjoyed Ariane and Finn much more- they felt like they had an actual purpose in joining the Warden and seemed like real characters, not mindless followers, which is what I felt Tug and Sketch were. Again, they talked a good deal and in the very short time the DLC lasts, I felt like I knew more about them and their personalities than some of the Awakening companions.
Maybe though its because my expectations were so low in how the new companions would act. I wasn't expecting much at all in the way of banter or dialogue and I figured they'd be boring disposable cardboard cutouts. Chee did a very nice job in their banter and having Ariane comment on the ring was brilliant- for once in a BioWare RPG, the companion characters actually voice concern or an interest in the PC and aren't narcissistic whiners demanding you be their personal therapists. So I liked Ariane as being a Dalish that wasn't a total **** like Velanna. And Finn was a nice dorky alternative to Alistair-lite Anders. And Dog was his usual awesome self, I think in part because Chee was writing his role again. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing these characters show up down the road again.
----------------------------------------------------------
Location, Location, Location: Much like Leliana's Song, at first glance it seems like Witch Hunt is a retcon of Origins in the effort to recycle environments. And it most likely is- all signs pointed towards Morrigan going West through the Frostbacks and to Orlais, where you even had the peculiarly named Urthemiel Plateua waiting. But BioWare handwaved it away on the DLC page as saying no trace of Morrigan could be found west. Ok, but it just screams to me that they had larger plans for this which were cut back when they killed their 2 year DLC plan.
So Morrigan is in Ferelden again and really I didn't mind revisting old locations this time. Sure the levels were mostly exacttly the same (although I'm glad the Templars finished scrubbing the floors), but you do have recognition that time has passed, so it didn't feel quite as much like BioWare was trying to pass off old locales as new, but rather you were the Warden just revisting some of your old stomping grounds.
I think this is just the problem with the DLC as we've seen since Awakening was released and again, its a matter of expectations. My thought is that perhaps the DLC team blew their budget with Awakening and as such level wise, thats why we didn't see any new levels in any of the subsequent DLC. That and the fact that they're seemingly throwing more effort into DA2- thus why they killed off DAO's DLC plan more than a year early. Whereas with ME2, they haven't had one big expack, but rather less frequent, higher quality DLC that uses new assets. Personally, I'd rather BioWare go all out one way or the other- either just make high quality expansion packs that move the story forward, or focus on ME style interesting, deep missions that don't seem like afterthoughts and add new content- whether thats levels, lore or gameplay.
----------------------------------------------------------
Timeline? I hope BioWare clears up the Origins timeline. Witch Hunt, according to most material is supposed to take place 1 year post killing the Archdemon. So you figure Awakening started a couple months after Origins and maybe lasted up to 6 months. Giving a several month gap between the end of Awakening and the start of Witch Hunt. Yet if you look at the map in Witch Hunt, on Vigil's Keep it mentions being 2 years since the MOther's attack. And if you look at Denerim, it mentions "years" having passed since the Blight. Considering DA is all about the timeline and history of Thedas, whats the deal here?
------------------------------------------------------------
Length: Witch Hunt is short. My first go through, reading every entry in the Mage Library and purposefully trying to take in everything, it lasted me about 1 hour 45 minutes. Subsequent runs usually clock in at under an hour. I really don't mind a DLC or game being short provided it was quality time. And Witch Hunt is only $7, so its not exactly pricey. My complaint is that it seems rushed and that stuff was left on the drawing board. Maybe its just me being a Morrigan fan, but this
really could have been so much more. The framework is all there for an epic quest and what we ended up getting is like reading the Cliff Notes to something that should have been much greater, IMO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lore Galore: One of my issues with Leliana's Song was that we didn't really learn anything about the world of DA in it. With Witch Hunt though there are boatloads of lore. Whether its some of the littel Easter Eggs in the Library or going back through Cadash Thaig learning more about Kal-Sharok and the ELven refugees, when you're uncovering some of the history of Thedas, it makes the quests seem a little more significant. So even if you're grinding through Cadasg Thaig again, its neat to be uncovering stuff about how its been built on Elven ruins and how the legendary Arlathan connects to it.
On the topic of lore too, I like how it seemed you were actually uncovering lost secrets with Arlathan and the Eluvians. The whole Lights of Arlathan part reminded me of the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest to an extent (which Chee also wrote)- so it felt like not only were you dealing with the immediate in tracking down Morrigan, but you were learning a bit about the past as well. I like that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuity! Fact: Witch Hunt has more continuity and connection to Origins than Awakening. The little shout outs to events or things from Origins were great. Whether its the return of the talking Tevinter statue, some of the banter (random cake fetching Mabari?) or the return of the Eluvian, or the codex entry on thespot where you killed Flemeth, its the little things like that which add to the immersion of the game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Little Things: Again, the little moments like Ariane's reference to the ring or Dog slobbering all over Morrigan put a smile on my face and took this DLC from an average one to a much more enjoyable one, IMO.
How can you not love that moment?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ending: This is the problem with this DLC. If you romanced Morrigan and go through the mirror, the ending is lovely, but still it just sort of abruptly ends- at least slowly pan up from the last mirror shot or something. And if you don't go with Morrigan, that whole ending scene with you walking away is just weird. Its a cinematics issue I guess, but if this was supposed to cap off all of Origins, I wouldn't have minded some epilogue slides to give closure to everything else.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERPDERP Face: I liked the notion that the Warden would smle after kissing Morrigan and getting ready to go through the mirror, but shouldn't he have been a little apprehensive about stepping into the unknown, especially when Morrigan isn't willing to tell him anything even though he'll presumably find out soon enough anyway? I mean what is up with the goofy smile face? It makes creepy smiling Shep look good:
Work on the facial expressions for DA2 please?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions and (Lack of) Answers: This is the meat and potatoes of this DLC, or rather thats how it was marketed and that was the big draw- that you get some answers from Morrigan. And yet, did we really get any answers? Not really. Again though, it comes down to expectations- considering we relize Morrigan yet has a bigger role to play in DA, I think most of us here realized we wouldn't get answers to all of our questions.
If you go through as an Orlesian, you (rightfully) can't question Morrigan at al, she just skips to talking about Flemeth. And there is even a cunning or persuade check if you straight up tell Morrigan you want answers. But what answers did we get from Morrigan?
- We know th OGB is a boy
- We know the OGB is an innocent, that does not realize his destiny- so he's a normal kid, at least in terms of him not knowing he has the soul of an Old God
- We know Morrigan plans to leave this world and go somewhere beyond the Fade to prepare the OGB for what is to come
- Such preparation requires time and power for Morrigan to be "successful" (successful at what!?)
-Morrigan "dares not" tell the Warden anymore of her plan
- Morrigan says that Flemeth "has tricked her way past death and more. She is no more finished than I am."
- Flemeth does not simply crave immortality
-Flemeth is not just a blood mage, an abomination- she is not even truly human
-Change is coming regardless if you did the Ritual or not
- If you did the Ritual, Morrigan says "The Ritual was but a means to an end. A herald of what is to come"
- With the Orlesian, when asked if Flemeth has something to do with the Blight, Morrigan says" Perhaps more than you would even believe."
- With the Orlesian, Morrigan says: "Go. Tell your Wardens to be wary. Tell them to watch for what is to come."
- Morrigan claims her "plans are not half so villainous as you seem to think they are."
- We're left with a myserious "gift" if you don't go with Morrigan
So yeah, we don't learn much from Morrigan. But in a $7 DLC, did we expect to have everything answered? No, but surely BioWare could have answered SOME questions. Maybe in the course of the DLC as you're adventuring, you find clues regarding Morrigan's plans or what the DR means and all that. So that when you confront Morrigan you're able to perhaps ask more pointed questions which cause her to more exactly explain her position or her plans.
At least for the Warden that follows her we can imagine they'll understand Morrigan's plans very soon and perhaps the "gift" Morrigan leaves explains what her plans are, such that the Warden can be on the lookout for the "change" that is to come.
But I think in large part how you feel about Witch Hunt comes down to expectations and BioWare's maginificent....
------------------------------------
Marketing and Expectations:This is where BioWare royally messed up with Witch Hunt, IMO. The problems are many: the fact that this is the last Origins DLC means people affixed all sorts of hopes and expectations to finding answers and closure since BioWare hyped up that this was the Warden's "final quest."
Then you have stuff like this in the trailer:
Was Morrigan's fate revealed? Not really- we knew she wanted power to fight off Flemeth, all we know is that she's going to get that power in Mirror World. But her eventual fate is far from being revealed.
Then you had these spash ads:
Now that first one surprised me, and I PM'd Gaider about it, asking whether Witch Hunt would really answer ALL of our Morrigan questions. His responses:
I wrote Morrigan's part in that DLC, yes. Sheryl wrote the rest of it.
I don't think anything says it answers ALL questions. That would be a silly expectation.
Dave
Then I linked him to that first splash ad (which was later changed to the one below)
That's what it says, huh? Super.
I think we'll just change the wording. Closure is the goal, here-- not answering ALL your questions. 
Dave
The problem is that the marketing at large for this DLC made it seem as if it would give solid answers when it doesn't come close. At best it teases more questions and hints at the future in very very very vague ways. So if you came into it looking for closure outside of the romance with Morrigan, I can totally see why people may be disappointed or feel cheated. But I don't think the intention was ever to provide some sort of final closure with Morrigan's story. We certainly knew as much and if you went around the forums you'd have known as much to- just look at Gaider's posts in the
Witch Hunt thread:David Gaider wrote...
My original point was that the other romances at least got to talk to their romances after the final battle. You got some wrap-up. Maybe you want more, sure... more more more. Why not? But Morrigan fans didn't
get anything.
And, incidentally, this isn't the "Morrigan romance DLC" you're perhaps picturing. Morrigan's mystery affects all the Wardens in a way-- some certainly more personally pertinent than others. Regardless, this is a way to wrap things up.
Could we have done other party-focused stories? Sure, tons. I love Zevran, so why not? There's a million things we could do, but we're stopping the Origins train here with this particular tale-- and I think it's an appropriate place to end, myself, considering all that Morrigan represents.
David Gaider wrote...
Rama Ruma wrote...
Wait.....they are making DLC for Morrigan.......doesn't this basically just mean they are jipping her story in order to move on?
Who says that Morrigan's story ends with the DLC? ../../../images/forum/emoticons/wink.png
So its clear final answers were never going to be given. But then the marketing shouldn't have made it seem answers would be given- but then again, who would have bought Witch Hunt if it advertised: "more frustratingly vague, evasive comments from Morrigan!" But still, it would have been nice to get SOME answers out of Morrigan. As it stands its almost comical and a farce- whenever we meet back up with Morrigan will she be just as evasive? Even after the Warden has been through the MIrror?
=========================================================================
=========================================================================
In the end, this DLC could have been so much more. It SHOULD have been part of an expansion pack instead of Awakening. The framework and skeleton for an expansion pack level story is all there and Witch Hunt feels like the outline of something that got scrapped in favor of working on DA2. Which is a shame. I'm happy that we got it over simply being left with the DR ending though. But at the end of the day, especially if you wanted romantic closure with Morrigan, it is absolutely worth the $7. Was the marketing terrible? Absolutely. Should there have been more concrete answers and explanations given. Absolutely. Yet compared to the total rubbish DLC like Feastday Gifts or Darkspawn Chronicles, Witch Hunt is good- not great, but not terrible either. But for me at least, seeing my Warden go through the mirror made the whole thing worth it.
Modifié par Brockololly, 11 septembre 2010 - 08:32 .
:lol:
"This is truly the age of dragons!"
Retour en haut
Posting speed dropped to under one per hour, all things WH discussed...hmm...pic spamming time again? ^^
