Review:
Dragon Age Origins: Return to Ostagar DLC Review

Warning: I’m going to lightly spoil some very basic story events from Dragon Age: Origins. But if you’re considering buying the DLC, you probably already know this stuff.

Ironically, I just got through writing an article about how much I like Dragon Age: Origins, despite the number of things about it I dislike. Last night, I spent an hour and played through Return to Ostagar. Therein is my most striking problem. I guess I’m spoiled. When I spent 10$ on each of five DLCs for Fallout 3, I got between 5-12 hours of gameplay out of them, and plenty of replay value. Not the case with Return to Ostagar. Return literally takes an hour, there are no choices that make any real difference, and the quest is extremely linear, with no chance of missing anything. I don’t know that I’ll do it again on future playthroughs.

If you’ve played Origins, you’ll know that near the beginning of the game, the Grey Wardens and the King of Ferelden die at Ostagar. In Return to Ostagar, you return to the battlefield. Why? Well, because the king dropped some loot. Literally. You’re told that the king and Duncan’s equipment were left on the battlefield (which makes me wonder why it takes a new quest to figure that out.) There’s an introductory scene where a sole survivor of the battle dies while telling you about the location. Then, you travel to the location, you fight darkspawn, and you get equipment. Then you fight more darkspawn, and you get more equipment. You do this until you’ve literally taken every single piece of equipment the king wore, and a few weapons of Duncan’s. That’s it. Quest complete.

There are a few minor codex entries that add a touch of flavor to the game setting. Not much at all, mind you. I believe there are three such notes, and they don’t bring anything new to the table. Alistair takes a little time to be nostalgic. While there was plenty of potential value in that, it’s nothing we weren’t already aware of from Alistair’s events in Origins. You have the choice of what to do with the king’s body, but outside of a few approval rating score raises and drops (Morrigan is apparently opposed to funerals, go figure,) that choice doesn’t change anything.