LIKES:
1) This is not an expansion. They said it would take anywhere between 15-20 hours. I'm playing on the insane difficulty and this game takes time. Especially since I'm the kind of player who takes it all in. Don't expect to finish this one quick. There's so much to do in the limited world of Amaranthine that it's criminal to only charge £15 for this. Thank you EA and Bioware for keeping the tradiaitonal expansion alive. This is what DLC should be. Now give me some Mass Effect 2.5
2) The story is just as good as the first one. I kept trying to figure out what the creepy darkspawn were up to. It holds you in a vice grip until the final swing of your hero's sword. The dialogue and the expanded history of the region has also been written with the same amount of love and care it took to craft the original.The codex is expanded and the orignal world of the game is a better place for it.
3) The battles in the expansion are exhilirating. At one point you fight agasinst two dragons. TWO! At another point you fight one so big it took me near an hour to take him out. The final boss battles are equally straining. Any other game and this would have been frustrating. Bioware know how to lock you in and not let go.The entire tie I was screaming and shouting at these enemies to die alongside my heroes. The sore throat and loot are totally worth it. Just wait until you check out Justice's unholy armor set and the Mother's Chosen sword.
4) The new powers positively rock. I have never had so much fun pounding the living shit out of an enemy with a two-handed sword (last Sunday night doesn't count!). All the classes get new specialisations and can now master in 3. New skills and abilities are also present which you can use to really mix things up. The new weapons and armors are fantastic and equally devastating.
5) This is a small one. I like the fact that there is a barebones economy system hidden in the game. Building up your HQ and managin the troubles of your lands is a step in the right direction. I hope to see more of this in the next sequel.
DISLIKES:
1) Characters: Ok, this one isn't fair because some of them are actually very cool. Nathaniel, Anders and Oghren steal the show. The others are just not compelling and are very bland. I had hopes for Justice but he was merely passable. There are cameos from the first game but part of me wishes the gang was back for another go around. I would also liked to have seen/hear about Morrigan more. The supporting NPCs are well implemented and the enemies are as sinister as ever.
2) No carry-over: I don't know why Bioware felt that I wasn't allowed to take my DLC from the first game over. I had to raise an eyebrow when I started the game and my character was naked. What's more is that not all major decisions from the first game carry over. I can understand that within the scope of this expansion it would be difficult, but after the 100s of hours put into the first one I would have liked to see more.
3) CRASHES! Boy this expansion really crashes to he desktop A LOT! I had no problems with the original game resembling this issue. Patch please Bioware!
4) A little simple: I know I said that the battles were hard fought and left me as bloodied as my hero. At the same time, they were almost effortless. I rarely lost my entire team and was never in a trur spot of bother, and this was on the hardest setting. I know there were complaints about the unforgiving difficulty of the first but why did Bioware have to listen to a bunch of pussies?
Overall 9/10
*Image property of Bioware
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