Hawke this, Hawke that. Why does everything fall to me?
It's curious how every game released before
E3 seems like such a distant memory for an attendee like me. I feel like I reviewed
Dragon Age II at least half a year ago, particularly because there was no talk of even
Dragon Age II DLC at
E3, but it's actually only been four months. So it was almost a surprise that the first
Dragon Age II DLC since the game's launch was fully unveiled no more than several weeks before this writing at EA's Summer Showcase in Redwood Shores. Since EA's acquisition of
BioWare, the developer usually has expansion
DLC planned well ahead of time, so it is perhaps with the rough spread of reviews for
Dragon Age II that
Bioware decided to give
Legacy more time to simmer, all in good measure.
Similar to the downloadable missions for
Mass Effect 2,
Legacy comes before the ending of
Dragon Age II and can be accessed as soon as players have a message box at their home base. Though this does not suppress the perception that
Legacy was withheld intentionally from the main game for the sake of
DLC, it has the potential to reveal a missing and significant piece of the story: the history of
Hawke's family. It's not certain whether this means
Hawke will be exploring his hometown
Lothering in
Ferelden, but at the very least, it will delve into the plight of
Hawke's father as an apostate. In a moment of eavesdrop during the demo,
Hawke's enemies comment on needing to find a vial of blood from
Hawke's deceased father, probably to unlock a seal around a treasure room and of course a big, bad monster.
To prevent their plundering from the family bloodline,
Hawke and his chosen party must match swords with more than just the common
Carta thug,
brontos, and rage wraiths. Several
Harlock Alphas now have the bright idea of carrying a body-sized metal shield to block all frontal assaults, forcing you to reach its backside to inflict any damage, but that's nothing compared to the boss in the demo. After navigating though a Grey Warden prison and the cavernous ruins along an underground river leading to a looming, circular tower, a guardian beast appears in sudden retaliation and can evade all attacks just by phasing and splitting into multiple mirages.
With steel and mettle, however,
Hawke can come away with not only answers to the family's lineage, but also a sword that can be imbued with special properties. Defeating the guardian allows
Hawke to touch one of three pillars – Stun Chance, Speed Reduction, and Critical Chance – as a magical enhancement for the sword. Of course, that is probably not the only opportunity of weapon forgery in
Legacy, but whatever the case, players will be able to bring back a customizable badass weapon to the main story.
Dragon Age II: Legacy arrives July 26 for PC,
PSN, and Xbox Live.