88 replies to this topic

[Kulyok]

Note: if you visit RtO very late in the game with Loghain in the party, he is very talkative. He suspected what was going on with Cailan and the Empress, and isn't pleased to have his paranoia confirmed.

Oooh, thank you! Will certainly do that.

[Tassadar88]

Well, I tried taking Wynne, Al and the dog and the amount of banter was ... less then overwhelming

[Kulyok]

And it's even less if you take someone like Morrigan or Shale, trust me. But at least there's some banter.

[berelinde]

I just downloaded and installed Return to Ostragar.

It's available for the PC and XBox versions, but the PS3 version is delayed.

I'm amazed. First of all, they released DLC on a Friday night, of all things.

Second of all, Archmage Silver didn't beat me to the news announcement!

Edited by berelinde, 29 January 2010 - 05:12 PM.

[berelinde]

Pity you can't bring Loghain, Alistair and Wynne. Now *there* would be a party worth listening in on. But I know why that isn't going to happen, so never mind.

All in all, I was kind of underwhelmed. I didn't expect much, and it delivered. Which is to say that I got about an hour's play and a set of cheesey armor out of it.

Spoiler

I did think it was cool that all you got out of the reanimated ogre was Duncan's hardware.

Nice touch. I mean, it was there when it happened, as it were. I don't understand why I took an approval hit with Zevran for giving Cailan a nice send-off. Zevran never met the guy. Why does he care? I'm not worried, though. I've still got the Breccelian Ruins to go, and a nice pair of Dalish size 8s waiting for my boy Zev.

As for Alistair during the whole thing, I'd kind of expect more of a reaction. I mean,

Spoiler

his brother is impaled on a pike and all he can do is say 'my king'?

Is this for real? I'd have expected something a little more moving, even if it is supposed to be a secret.

[Eleima]

Perhaps you beat Archmage Silver to it, because it was released on a Friday night, and us Europeans were already in bed by then?

So I downloaded the content, and played through it, took about an hour or so for me too. I have this playthrough with a Dalish elf archer that I've left unfinished in favor of other pursuits (ie, I got bored of DAO and finally decided to give NWN2 a chance). She's romancing Alistair, and is good buddies with Wynne (plus, she needs a tank and a healer while she fires away those arrows), and third slot was left open for Zevran, because, well, he's an elf.
The content is not bad, not extraordinary either, mind you, but not bad. There was a certain nostalgic feeling to returning to the place where you started out, kinda like coming full circle (except that you don't, really).

Warning, there be spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

Call me silly, but I felt a tiny pang of sadness when I saw the prisoner's charred corpse still locked in that cage of his. As for the "secret documents", well, I'd already spoiled myself silly reading about it on the net, so my imaginary Dalish elf was the only one who felt any kind of shock upon reading those. The new critters to fight weren't much of a challenge, but that Necromancer Genlock did get on my nerves, summoning stuff and running away all the time, so there was some satisfaction in pummeling him to a bloody pulp. Oh, and killing that final ogre, too.

I also got a flashback from the Dalish elf origin, just like Kulyok did. One level just screamed "recycled haunted ruins", but then again... why not?
Finally, I did the big "send off", ultimately: my Dalish girl doesn't much care for all that, she believes that once the spirit has left the body, it's nothing but an empty shell, but she was actually eager to please Alistair. I don't really get why Zevran would disapprove since he didn't comment a single time, but... *shrug* whatever.

Now, back to the Deep Roads, she goes!

Edited by Eleima, 30 January 2010 - 02:17 AM.

[Archmage Silver]

Perhaps you beat Archmage Silver to it, because it was released on a Friday night, and us Europeans were already in bed by then?

Nah, I was drunk like an alcoholic dwarf who just inherited a brewery. Mind you, that's still a lot less drunk than Oghren.

As for RtO, I think I'll skip it for now. I may buy it if I have time for a new playthrough of DA when I can play the whole game + DLC in correct chronological order. I just can't bring myself to play RtO after finishing the game, I'm very strict about my darn chronology. It doesn't look as if the DLC offers much to chew on anyway.

[Yovaneth]

Downloading now. It won't affect my playthrough much because I'm still only at 31% on the first pass. Slow bugger, that's me.

-Y-

[Yovaneth]

Ill bet any money that Mass Effect 2 comes out before RTO!

Shame nobody took you up on it!

-Y-

[Vicen]

Ill bet any money that Mass Effect 2 comes out before RTO!

Shame nobody took you up on it!

-Y-

Ha yeah...and I Was only joking too thinking it WOULD be out before then ha!

EDIT: I played through it myself last night and Ive got to say I SUPPOSE the wait was worth it...Much better then Wardens Keep IMO...

Edited by Vicen, 31 January 2010 - 02:28 PM.

[Archmage Silver]

Some bits of interest:

RTO Review @ Grey Wardens
RTO Walkthrough @ Grey Wardens

[Archmage Silver]

Reviews:
Big Download
MTV

[Cal Jones]

I might be being a doofus here - but my game isn't patched to the level that RtO requires. It says it needs 1.02b but I can only find a DL link for 1.02a on the Dragon Age site. (I would have thought the game would be able to patch itself, seeing as it's connect online - I guess that's not the case? Seems rather daft that it doesn't have its own updater - unless it does and I've not been able to find it!)

[Archmage Silver]

AFAIK there's a b version for 1.01, but not 1.02. Unless it's some sort of a beta patch I've never heard of.

[Archmage Silver]

RTO Review @ GamePro

[Cal Jones]

Ah, you are correct and I am indeed a doofus. Out of interest, will patching mess up my saves? There seems to be some complaints on the Bioware boards about various issues with the 1.02a patch.

[Archmage Silver]

Technically it shouldn't. Personally I didn't experience any issues when updating from 1.01a (skipped the b patch) to 1.02a.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 10 February 2010 - 01:57 PM.

[Cal Jones]

Cheers. Patched it this morning and everything appears to be fine. I'll be able to play RtO now.

[Archmage Silver]

No problem.

[Archmage Silver]

Eurogamer in with a negative review, 4/10 score, "feeble half-baked offering".

RTO Review @ Eurogamer