So you’re done saving Ferelden. The new King – or Queen – has been throned. Darkspawn have been vanquished – mostly. All the repercussions of your momentous choices are being lived with and surely now you too can put your feet up and relax? No. Life is not so easy for the Grey Wardens. Especially now that you have to rebuild the order in the land that once belonged to the disgraced – SPOILER – and wait for yet another blight.
But blights are a far off fear and the land is being troubled by roving bands of marauding Darkspawn that survived the great battle in Denerim. Unlike Origins, there is no real rush to the story, no imminent threat that will destroy everything you hold dear, giving you time to soak up the atmosphere and deal with the problems of the little people. Although the little people are often hanging from their farmsteads, gutted by the afore mentioned Darkspawn, so the threat is always there.
I started afresh on my adventure with a new character, a rogue named Kira, and was pleasantly surprised with my wealth of EXP to spend on my level 18 newbie; I even got some shiny weapons and armour to splatter with blood. Getting to start afresh with the foresight of completing the main game is fun. I knew with Kira that I wanted someone who could steal off guards, unlock the mightiest of chests and convince a Hurlock that he’s fighting for the wrong side; basically, the complete opposite to my meaty Dwarf, Snorri. You can of course continue as your mighty hero of Ferelden in his journey, and let him do all the work, but I just thought he could do with a break.
The main quest puts you into a new situation, taking all that you know about the Darkspawn and spinning it upside down, by introducing new enemies and a civil war. Yes, the Darkspawn are now fighting each other. And talking. The new enemies are evil little horrible things called Children. As creepy as the name sounds, they aren’t that scary, just really tough to kill and quite deadly in combat – especially the big ones, who could take down my level 29 in one flourish. There are a selection of other new opponents to deal with but they are just variations on the existing Hurlocks, each help add to the variety of the combat.
What is in plentiful supply is loot. Lots and lots of loot. Almost too much to take in. I had to store whole suits of armour in my storage chest as they seemed too good to throw away. You do have access to six new characters and the return of the brilliantly funny Oghren – or Ooooo-ghren as he is known to the ladies. The characters themselves are interesting and well fleshed out with dialogue options and interactions. The best being the arguments between Oghren and the Legion of The Dead female Dwarf, Sigrun. His attempts at flattery, well, that’s not really the best word, often made me genuinely laugh out loud. Most interactions with Oghren bring out the same reaction, he brings a great deal of humour to an already surprisingly funny game.
The side quests are where I spent a lot of my time. Some being really interesting, especially the ones that require you to sort out the politics of your new land, but some can get a little tedious, like the numerous item collection quests. One side quest continues to plague my sleep, or more so the lack of completing said side quest. I took a wrong turn in one of the story areas and initiated a boss fight and a cutscene. Fine, I thought, that’s him out the way. Only I could not actually go back to the dungeon, therefore not killing the key enemy, not being able to return an item and not getting the little quest complete EXP boost. So annoying. I know, I know, I should have manual saved, but the grievance still stands. Made especially more painful when I later find out that there’s yet another item locked away in there that I need for a side quest.
I managed to complete all the side quests – besides the evil nameless ones – and the story on Easy in a little under 15 hours. If you’re not a big baby like me, and can actually use Dragon Age’s in depth combat tactics, then you may get more time out of the game. Although a lot of that time will be battling the bosses as the difficulty spike is very high. I just managed to beat the end boss after three retries on Easy, and never want to see it’s face again.
I wish the game was a good 10 hours longer as I now miss my characters and the authority I had as Earl. Getting to see more of the great world Bioware have constructed is reason enough to purchase the game – or DLC. Getting to do interesting new quests, talk to new characters is a bonus. And if you’re anything like me you’ll play it through three of four times anyway.
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
