Leliana is one of my Favorite Characters in Dragon Age: Origins. I loved her charm and mysterious past; she had some really funny lines of dialogue, and was really useful in battle. So when I heard she was going to be the star of a new Downloadable Mini-Campaign, I was totally on board. Upon playing I found that it was a fun exciting, romp through the world of Dragon Age, that is impactful and touching, in spite of its brevity.
The Gameplay is identical to the main game. For those of you who are new to Dragon Age, it is a classic Third Person Role Playing Game. You control a party of characters all with unique stats and abilities and level up their skills over time, pretty basic stuff.
Unlike the main game your player created character is absent, and you play as Leliana instead. While one might think this might rob the player of the ability to control the advancement of the story, Bioware has wisely made the choice to allow a strong degree of freedom, while still staying true to the character and her background.
On your adventure you will be assisted by several party members that make a strong and balanced team, that’s not to say this DLC is a walk in the park, but it never feels cheap due to poor party configuration. As for things to do, while this is a short DLC you do have a few side quests you can go on, and have a lot of meaningful interactions.
As for the story, this is where this little slice of heaven DLC truly shines. The tale is told almost as a story told around a campfire, with Leliana narrating the bloody and exciting events of her past. The story revolves around her checkered past as a Bard, which in the world of Dragon Age essentially means a spy/rogue. The story travels through Leliana’s final days in that life; and reveals the details about her ultimate decision to join the Chantry, where you eventually meet her in Origins.
Really if you’ve listened to Leliana’s stories in Origins you already know the outline of the story, but how it’s told is really quite remarkable, and oddly captivating. The voice acting of Corrine Kempa, plays a large role in this, her portrayal of Leliana is as always spot on as usual, and you really get a strong sense of emotion emanating out of her performance. (And her Lisp filled Accent) While her companions aren’t as well characterized, although you can probably guess how most of their stereotypes will go even then you grow pretty attached to them despite your limited interaction.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the Villains of our small tale, and let’s just say you will love to hate them.
The environments are mostly reused from the first game but that is to be expected since it’s a legitimate part of the story. The Reuse of scenery isn’t so bad since the stages all look different, and you never feel overwhelmed with samey settings for long durations.
Admittedly This DLC is priced a little high at 7 dollars (560 MSP), for 1-2 hours of content and a unique armor sets, but for any Dragon Age lovers, it’s defiantly worth the price of admission. For the rest of you I would wait for a sale, or for it to be inevitably bundled in the Ultimate Edition coming later this year, although you probably wouldn’t be too disappointed in getting it right now, as it is a great addition to the overall package.
Notes
- Older Dragon Age DLC is actually the Deal of the week on Xbox Live this week. Be sure to grab the Awakening expansion at the steal price of 20 dollars (1600 MSP) while you can!
- Despite this being entitled Leilana’s song she doesn’t sing in the pack, for her actually singing reference the main game.
- I didn’t expect to do two of these in one night.
- Yea, I like Red Heads sue me…
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