Grumpy Old Nerds

So it appears that I can’t avoid this anymore, nor do I really want to in the scheme of things. It’s just, w all know that intos are so terribly, terribly hard and awkward no matter where they happen and online is proving no different. So bear with me in this and we’ll see where it goes. For starters it would seem that I get to be the ‘feminine’ voice in this place, and trust me, girls on the internet do exist and we are not figments of your imaginations. However how ‘girlie’ I am is up for debate. I love my games, role-playing, and zombies just the same as everyone else. I’ll try to keep things short and to the point most times I guarantee yet hopefully they will still be useful. I hang around too many people who speak and live by memes and I hear ‘Too long did not read’ far too much. So without further ado I present a short and sweet review on Mark of the Assassin DLC for Dragon Age 2

First off I have to start off with ‘OMG!! Felicia Day’!!! The woman really does make anything better with just her presence and this was no exception. Though I know a lot of my comrades did not like Dragon Age 2 I really didn’t mind it save for a few plot point that I will not go into for fear of spoilers. When I learned that Ms Day was actually going to voice and play a character in the series my heart went into fangirl overdrive. Tassis, Ms Day’s character, did not disappoint. Her backstory was very interesting and I found that I wanted to learn far more about her then some of the other companions that you have been given in the past games. The connection to the Qun also made my interest in the Quinari’s race and culture far more prominent as well. There was more in this DLC about their background then there was in all of Dragon Age 2 and for a lore hound like me that’s a plus. Another perk of the DLC, Tallis san be romanced! (Come on, you all know you want to!)

As for the Quest itself I fear that Bioware let us down a bit. After their failed attempts at earlier DLC I think they tried to overcompensate in this. Random characters from the past were suddenly tossed into things with no real reason to be there from what I understood and some of the combat in the main boss battle tended to get a bit repetitive to say the least. Understand that I say this from a Mage’s point of view and I unfortunately have not gotten the time to do a second play though as I had hoped in another class but there’s only so many times you can try and go to attack a boss before he jumps away and out of range. It got frustrating enough I feared my controller would find a home in the wall behind the TV. And speaking of frustrations that darn flippy puzzle! There is only so many tiles a girl can flip before she’s tempted to just shove a dagger into the eyeball painted on the floor and finish the art herself. Now unfortunately with video game physics this is not an option and we have to suffer though it (or cheat and ask Youtube) but still. The other puzzles were interesting and a decent change from the usual darkspawn threat.

Beyond the few ‘quirks’ and ‘overcompensations’, Mark of the Assassin wasn’t that terrible a DLC. Its added character had a great story that came along with her and kept at least this girl interested though I have a lot more questions now about Tallis and the Qun. Hopefully they might delve into these at a later date. Here’s hoping because Felicia Day has to be one of the best voices to hear while playing and I’d love to hear more of her wit and humor added with Tallis.

Your daily 2 scoops of corvid ,

-Raven-Bran