15 replies to this topic

[Archmage Silver]

Aha, got you! You thought this was going to be an April Fool's Joke, didn't you? Nope, I can find real news to post even on April 1st. Didn't think I'd pull that off, did you?

BioWare has released new DLC content for Dragon Age: Origins - namely the timely Feastday Gifts and Pranks packages. That's right, there are three choices: get Feastday Prank Pack for 160 BioWare points, Feastday Gifts for 160 BioWare points, or both of them in a money saving combo pack for measly 240 BioWare points!

Throughout Thedas, the great holiday of Satinalia is marked by sumptuous feasts, wild celebration, and naming the town fool as ruler for a day. Amid the feasting, it is customary for friends, lovers, and traveling companions to exchange gifts and pranks.

Feastday Gifts and Pranks are available for the following party members (Feastday gifts and pranks are only playable from Dragon Age: Origins game):

• Alistair
  
• Leliana
  
• Morrigan
  
• Shale
  
• Wynne
  
• Dog
  
• Loghain
  
• Oghren
  
• Sten
  
• Zevran

[berelinde]

You know, I was wondering what I was going to do with the 240 points I paid for but never used. Now I know.

[Vicen]

These gifts it seems can give HUGE bonuses or MINUS alot of the points you have on a certain char...so be sure to save before you give these presents away...though they are quite amusing heh

[Archmage Silver]

I might buy it for added hilarity, as I've started two new characters to finish Origins with. I probably wouldn't consider it for just one playthrough though.

[berelinde]

It's more entertaining than RtO, at least in my opinion.

[Kulyok]

There's practically no content in this DLC. I hoped for conversations(like it was with Morrigan's mirror or Zevran's shoes), but, alas, there were none.

What it gives:
- for each NPC, two special presents in the inventory. Some of these can become items with their own animation(Sten's rainbow sword, Dog's protective cone).
One gift gives +50 to NPC, one - -50 to the same NPC.
- Also it gives fifty generic "thoughtful gifts"(each gives +10 approval)/fifty generic "cakes". I'm guessing it makes approval management easier - you can get Morrigan to 100 right out of Lothering(wasn't a big deal before, either).

As for audio lines: when you give your NPCs a "good" gift, they reply with their generic "wonderful gift" lines. When you give them "bad gifts", they reply with lines I haven't heard before, but it might be just me. Again, no conversations, just an audio reply(like it was with vanilla DAO gifts).

[Kulyok]

(Though playing fetch with the Dog IS addictive. And Leliana's lute is nice. In other words, yes, animations are cute, but I'd still rather have conversations).

[Vicen]

Do they not have conversations with some of the NPCS as it could be that some of the voice actors will no longer work on the project and have moved on to other things?

[Kulyok]

I don't think so: usually voice actors sign contracts which imply they'll be ready for more voicing for related projects. Besides, the "-50 approval" lines sounded new.

[Kaeloree]

The problem with hiring voice actors is you have to hire them for four hour periods. If you have enough lines for them to do, great, otherwise it's a waste of money.

[Archmage Silver]

Yeah, Kae's got a point there - which is exactly why I think that BioWare should think more ahead, and record lines for multiple DLC in the same session. As for the new sounding lines, for all we know they could have been picked up from the material that never made the original game.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 06 April 2010 - 05:15 AM.

[Yovaneth]

The only thing that bugs me about the Feastday stuff (yes, I have got it) is the requirement for the 1.03 patch. Bioware's forums are alive with rogue problems caused by the 1.03 patch and I'm reluctant to apply it as I've invested a lot of time and effort into Lelianna.

-Y-

[Kulyok]

I think that apart from failed stealing it gives you no other trouble - except for crashes. And you still can steal plot-related or character-planted items.

[Archmage Silver]

While we're waiting for an official fix for the elements that 1.03 broke (stealing and Dog's find ability), you can get properly done unofficial fixes for those here and here.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 12 April 2010 - 07:41 AM.

[Yovaneth]

So no excuse not to go to 1.03?... unless I want to avoid crashes!!

-Y-

[Archmage Silver]

The crashes have been more frequent in Awakening, but not necessarily Origins. I haven't tested Origins with 1.03 extensively though.

I recently re-installed Dragon Age from scratch to see if it made any difference - I installed Origins, then Awakening right after it, and lastly the Downloadable Content modules. No patches, as installing Awakening will patch your game to 1.03 automatically.

I think this made a difference (at least I got better performance in Awakening), because I didn't apply the same patches multiple times (1.03 contains the previous patches). I had Origins patched to 1.01a, 1.02, 1.02a and 1.03 respectively, BEFORE installing Awakening, so basically I had all the patches applied thrice (individually, 1.03 without Awakening, 1.03 with Awakening installer).