With the unfortunate last minute release date delay, the Return to Ostagar content had the misfortune of following in the mighty footsteps of Mass Effect 2. Had it come out with time to spare before the wicked began feasting upon their precious space cargo, it may have seen better sales. I’m sure many are more than unwilling to switch back to BioWare’s “other” RPG that players may have pillaged and ransacked several times over by now. As much as I love Mass Effect from the bottom of my heart — I was willing to pop that glorious disc in and find out if it’s worth your valuable time (and money).

Despite it’s unfortunate delay into an untimely release window, I am always up for reuniting with my Dragon Age crew to return to arms. Aside from the main quest being completed, I still love the dialogue between myself and my team, and am always awaiting some new entertaining banter amongst them on our journeys. Return to Ostagar sadly offers little of that. In fact, the quest itself is little more than an hour long in total, with most of it focusing on several small battles.

Return to Ostagar’s mission is exactly that — a return to the where the battle of Ostagar took place, where King Cailan fell in battle at the beginning of the game. I’d claim a “no spoiler zone” but there really isn’t anything to spoil. I’ll sum up the content in following paragraph, skip over the next brief paragraph if you are absolutely sure you intend to pick up the content. If you’re wary and unsure, my summary might make you feel a bit more cautious with that hand in your wallet.

The plot in this DLC is less than scant. You simply must recover a few documents and pieces of the King’s armor. There’s not much more to it than that. You’ll come across the King’s crucified body in which you can make a decision on what to do with it at the end. Honor him with a pyre, leave him to the wolves, or let him rot…

You may find it difficult to really feel emotion in this because you never really become connected with King Cailan throughout the game. You meet him briefly as Duncan introduces you to him at Ostagar, when you are soon met with his rather early end to the darkspawn attack.

If you pick up Return to Ostagar, I recommend bringing Wynne and Alistair (if you recruited the Secret Character, that person will have comments as well), as they have a bit of banter relevant to the quest. If you’re like me and have to have every ounce of Dragon Age imaginable, I can understand, I feel you man. If you simply beat the game, liked it, and have already moved on, then Return to Ostagar will do little to pull you back in. If you’ve beaten the game, the loot is hardly impressive. The narrative consists little to nothing. You can pick up the previous Dragon Age: Origins downloadable content packs: Warden’s Quest or even better, The Stone Prisoner, if you’re looking for a bit of a meatier chunk of plot and decent loot. The only players Return to Ostagar is really worthwhile to is those (like me) who are diehard Dragon Age junkies who are (willingly) eternally damned to the land of Ferelden, and if that’s you, you’ve already bought this.

Special Note: Since I recently geeked out over reading Dragon Age: The Calling, I found it pretty neat that you find the infamous sword that Maric used to slay the darkspawn throughout the epic novel.

Doin It RIGHT: - An honorable / dishonorable (your choice) settling to Cailan’s death. - Crucifixions are always an interesting eyeful in video games.	Doin It RONG: - New armor doesn’t surpass any endgame armor you’ll have. - No real added story or plot value.
FINAL SCORE: 6.5 / 10

Tags: Bioware, DLC, Dragon Age, Dragon Age Origins, Return to Ostagar, Review

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 7:04 am and is filed under DLC, PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.