Dragon Age 2: Legacy DLC Review
August 1, 2011 
Bioware’s downloadable content has been notoriously anaemic with their Mass Effect and original Dragon Age efforts lacking in creativity and quality. Legacy, the first DLC for Dragon Age 2, is a mash of buggy mechanics, dull dungeons and a highly irritating end boss that exposes all the constraints and problems of the base game.
Initiating the quest in Hawke’s home you’re taken out of Kirkwall immediately and begin to uncover the intentions behind the Carta’s attack on your family. From here the game becomes a basic dungeon crawling exercise with a couple of sidequests and ‘new’ enemies.
What I liked:
Story – Although I found Dragon Age 2′s storytelling a little weak overall, Legacy comes up with some interesting twists. The family history of Hawke is explored further and the ancient history of the Blight gets fleshed out as well. It’s by no means as engrossing as Bioshock 2′s Minerva’s Den, but as Dragon Age DLC goes… it’s pretty ok.
No reused levels – Part of Dragon Age 2′s most heinous offence was the decision to re-use the same dungeon design over and over again. Legacy does away with this stupidity, replacing the formulaic tunnels and corridors with more open spaces. It adds a new dynamic to the combat, taking the most enjoyable aspect of Dragon Age into expansive territory.
What made me mad:
Bugs – Whether it’s enemies spawning right next to you, a boss battle with a never-decreasing health bar or out-of-place dialogue ruining critical story moments, Legacy is a swarming mess of bugs. It’s nothing like the Monsanto-engineered superbugs that plague the halls of Obsidian but it’s nevertheless highly irritating and unnecessary.
The end-boss – This could’ve been a dramatic and thrilling encounter. The DLC certainly does a good job of building up this meeting with a few moral choices beforehand but it’s blown by such irritating design. Without spoiling too much the final fight takes place in a circular room and at a certain point your nemesis will spew out two spinning lines of fire. To progress involves skirting these flames to reach various McGuffins.
Hardly taxing for a well-controlled Hawke but by god your team-mates are fucking useless in this situation. The game simply doesn’t have the intelligence or the options to order your fellow meat-sacs around properly without them standing in full view and repeatedly dying. It’s shoddy design that pulls merely ok DLC down into bloody awful.
The Judgement
Only if you’re a Dragon Age 2 completist would I recommend Legacy. Being merely acceptable would be an improvement over Bioware’s usual shoddy standards but the borked end boss encounter drags this effort into the Kirkwall gutter, where it should stay untouched.
Review
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Good story, exciting combat | Buggy, terrible end boss, unremarkable |
| Rating |
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Available On:
Xbox 360 – 800 Microsoft Points
PS3 – £6.99
PC – 800 Bioware Points
Comments
I loved it! Had fun with the bossfight, put your team members on hold and it won’t be a problem. They just need a bit more attention. Agree that story and area was really good. I had no bugs on PC. For me it was the better than any of the dlc for DA:O. I actually like it more than LotSB. Just because all the team has something to say and in LotSB it’s mainly Liara. I gave this a 9/10 but that’s just me. Have a good time.
Story progressed well, new areas were very much welcome, and I had no bugs either (PC Version). First encounter with boss did go poorly, but that’s because my entire party was standing right where he first threw down the fire and wiped instantly (how was I supposed to know exactly what was gonna happen?). But overall the fight was very enjoyable on hard+ mode, as long as you keep your party out on the balcony with the statues when the fire comes a rollin’ by, they’ll take ignorable fire dmg. Have the arcane shield upgrades for elemental resist party buff and you won’t have much to worry about at all. Me thinks the reviewer is a bit too harsh. I’d give it a 8/10 and worth purchasing.