Blood Dragon Armour and The Stone Prisoner were both available with the pre-order of Dragon Age: Origins. This is an increasing trend in video games, but is it really worth it?
The Stone Prisoner gives you a new story to pursue, as well as the promise of a new character. The story in itself tells the history of the character but offers nothing new to the game. You meet a travelling salesman who is searching for his mule, and after the small talk is out the way he offers you a golem control rod – very exciting if you have seen the power of them in the Deep Roads.
It is a little annoying that upon clicking yes to buying it, you get taken to the marketplace where you have to buy the DLC – unless you got it through the pre-order. This appears twice throughout Dragon Age and I am not sure if I agree with it. Yes, it is a good way to merge the DLC into the game seamlessly, but it does come across like in-game advertising; something that I am in no way a fan of.
Complaints aside, it does transition nicely into the game. Once you have the control rod you head to the village, where the golem is now living as a statue in the middle of the town. It is not as easy as walking up to him and saying the magic words, as the town has been taken over by Darkspawn. Once you eliminate the threat you have to go and save the townspeople, and uncover the golem’s back story.
Things are not as idyllic as they seem in the village, but when has anything been idyllic in Ferelden. You are greeted with another moral choice that is a little similar to the one in Redcliffe. Get this out the way and you finally get to meet your new party member.
The golem is surprising, very surprising indeed. I was expecting something like the others you fought alongside with in Orzammar, but this golem, ironically called Shale, is a very interesting chap. Shale is camp, and very funny, refusing to call your character by name, preferring the term it. Humour is something that is prevalent throughout this piece of DLC; for instance, a note from the village mayor asking the recipient to decorate Shale for the upcoming festivities. Not only amusing, Shale can kick some serious Darkspawn butt, dealing out huge amounts of damage with every hit.
The other piece of pre-order DLC is the Blood Dragon Armour. It looks great, shimmering metal with a crimson red dragon coming over the left shoulder – especially nice with my red and white Redcliffe elite shield. The stat boosts are some of the best I have come across, offering plus 3 strength, plus 3 willpower, plus 3 armour, plus 50 health and plus 10% fatigue; basically, it’s going to make you cause some serious damage, as well as protecting you from the returning blows.
Shale and the armour are both very helpful to your quest, especially if you got them through the pre-order deal. Independently, Shale is a good character but not one that I would pay 1200 MP for – especially since the quest can be completed in under an hour – and there are other strong characters to fill his shoes. The Blood Dragon Armour however, is the best pieces of kit I’ve come across, and would happily have pre-ordered the game for it; in fact, the armour is free on the Xbox marketplace and I implore you to go download it now.
VideogameUK verdict for Blood Dragon Armour: 10/10
VideogameUK verdict for The Stone Prisoner: 6/10
