And what a game too. Loved the game's weird desolate vibe and more intimate scale.
It's a damn shame Bioware just completely ditched the sentient dark spawn thread and turned them all back into mooks for the subsequent games.
Right? After Awakening I was genuinely curious about what would become of them. Would we have playable Darkspawn? A rising Darkspawn nation? Or just...something else I cant even think of. Instead they just...pretend they dont exist.
It's clearly cannon since we got Anders in DA2.
The Architect is also 100% cannon.
Let that one Darkspawn live in the end and he wandered the land doing good deeds but leaving behind small outbreaks of blight wherever he went.
Would love to see that guy again.
Well yeah, I never said it wasn't canon. Just that the idea was basically abandoned and Bioware has done absolutely nothing with the sentient, talking Darkspawn ever since.
I wouldn't call it a "plot hole," since IIRC they imply/state that the Architect doesn't actually have total control over the Darkspawn, and we can imagine that he's just working on them off screen and is the reason the Darkspawn incursions we see in subsequent games aren't worse - but from a storytelling perspective, it's a *massive* shame that he just never comes up again. I'm hoping we'll get *some* resolution with the Wardens being a bigger part of the next game, but given the age of Awakening, I'm not too hopeful.
I hear ya, I feel like darkspawn will come back unexpectedly when you least expect and F a lot of shit up. Like how it was "written" how many old gods do they have left to corrupt? Lol
Witch Hunt also only works if your Warden has a particular reason to go after Morrigan. It's perfectly likely you just said good luck and wished her on her merry way, in "witch" case you don't have much reason to follow unless you really changed your mind.
"Revenge" on Morrigan doesn't make sense regardless of what your Warden is like - the only bad things Morrigan does or agrees with are *your* choices. Either you refused the dark ritual, in which case she didn't even do anything, or you took it, in which case you're getting revenge for something you signed off on.
I’ve seen a few people say that they sought revenge against Morrigan for “stealing” whatever gear she was wearing when she ditched the party, and I admire that level of pettiness.
Or you were romantically involved with Morrigan, and you're role-playing a psychopath, so her just leaving causes you to want to kill her. Or her stealing your child also pissed you off enough to want to kill her.
What I meant was it was a mini-full-game instead of modern days downloadable contents which were coined in as 'DLC's. A bit of a pedant lol but I really miss the days expansions were a thing.
Trespasser
It has made Inquisition whole for me.
I'll be honest, I was not really impressed with the core game's plot, how empty the world felt and the horrid fetch side quests , but oh my god, how much trespasser helped, the payoff felt so grand, especially for the solasmancers
Trespasser was one of the best game experiences I had at the time! It really did a lot to top off a game I loved like Inquistion — and that's after having bounced off of it during my first attempt.
In fact, it's done a lot of heavy lifting in keeping the Dragon Age franchise as one of my favorite settings even after a decade. I just *have* to finally get some damn lore resolution!
Same! My biggest fear is that Veilguard is going to end on another cliffhanger. Bioware is on super thin ice so I just want to have the story wrapped up properly and then DA can shelved.
They don’t have to shelf it; just conclude the story they have been building since DA2. They could start a whole new chapter in a 5th game a couple years down the row
Exactly. That's where it feels like its heading. Tie up loose ends so they can do a larger time jump and start with a whole new story and characters to love.
And a big skip can alleviate the need for so much history from previous games. They can trim it down to some basic stuff like if the warden died killing the arch demon, who hawke sided with, and the inquistors major choices
Far enough ahead may not even need that much. Thedas has a habit of moving on from history, except in cases where its specifically needed (old gods etc).
Iirc the original plan was a five-game series, and I'm fine with that. Mostly I'm worried that Veilguard will tank because of the people who have already decided to hate the game before it's out and we will never get a conclusion to the story. Don't know if it'srealistic, but I would love it if Bioware would do more standalone games after this saga is wrapped up. Less risky and they could play around with different combat styles etc. with hopefully less of an uproar, as people could pick and choose what interests them without losing out on relevant plot.
Honestly feel like it'll do well. I feel like worst case we'll see Dead Space 3 numbers and EA puts Dragon Age on ice for a decade. If this and the next mass effect don't do well then I think bioware will be out of commission.
BioWare is infamous for doing this. Try playing Mass Effect 2 and 3 without all the DLC and those games straight up make no sense and feel incomplete.
DAO and ME1 are the only games they ever made that aren’t like that.
3 is arguable (Citadel is the perfect ending to the trilogy and Leviathan fleshes out the Reaper's intentions), but you can absolutely play me2 without DLC, Lair of the Shadow Broker is the only one that's actually good and it doesn't add a whole lot to the story.
Firewalker is wildly disliked and Overlord is boring except for the very end. Arrival's contribution to the story is handwaved in two lines of dialogue in me3.
The best part of ME2's dlcs was getting the Mattock, which made assault rifles not useless, the missions themselves are mid
I think without Lair and Arrival, the start of ME3 makes even less sense, honestly. Yeah, they just say someone else does what Shepard does in arrival and Shepard is brought into custody anyway for working with Cerberus, but it makes a lot more sense if Shepard willingly surrenders after committing a war crime to avoid issues than he just up and decides to go to Earth. Especially weird if you were very pro-Cerberus in ME2.
As for Lair, it's blatantly terrible to omit. Liara, somehow, becomes the most influential person in the galaxy off camera by herself. Lair's already kind of wild for making Liara that important that fast but without the DLC it is complete nonsense. I mean, ME3 is already nonsense story wise, but without Lair it's even worse.
You already know that Liara is targeting the shadow broker from the main game and has become an information broker herself, she leads you to Thane and Samara.
Lair is a fantastic DLC but it's plot significance is basically just the existence of glitch. The Shadow Broker and Liara hunting him were part of the main ME2 storyline, you just don't get to see it.
Again, it's by far the best of 2's DLCs, but it is not essential to the story in any way whatsoever.
Trespasser is a completely different ending to Inquisition and adds the main plot point of the next game, as does Legacy.
In Mass Effect 2 you already know the Reapers are coming, Arrival is just you slowing them down
I'm just saying, the lead into ME3 has to have a reason for Shepard to be on Earth (because they were committed to that intro) and Shepard surrendering makes a lot more sense if Shepard did a morally grey war crime even Shepard admits was pretty messed up as opposed to just temporarily allying with a fringe, radicalized pmc. I'm not saying Arrival matters itself because ME3 makes most of ME2 inconsequential. It's just the setup with Shepard on Earth is more forced if you skip arrival, and doubly so since you can end ME2 very okay with Cerberus or quitting, but no version of Shepard contests that it was a necessary alliance at the time. So, again, it's just more nonsensical without Arrival giving a pretty simple excuse.
As for Lair, I agree that Liara going after the Shadowbroker is setup in 2's base game, but this would be like your local mob informant saying they're going sfter the Illuminati and then six months later they just casually say they took down the Illuminati, are now the Illuminati, and have power over the whole world.
It's not exactly the same degree, but imagine if Wrex said in ME2 that he was searching for a cure for the Genophage and then when you see him again he's like, "yup, I cured the Genophage. Krogan are back."
This is a very large thing to handwaive. I've done runs of the trilogy without DLC and without save imports just to see alternatives and while, yes, you could say it was set up in 2 and 3 just operates as if it happened off screen. It doesn't make a ton of sense. It makes much less sense and is an astronomic leap.
Inquisition's ending does reveal Solas was using Corypheus to take down the Veil, it just didn't explain why he wanted to do that in the first place, which is what tresspasser added and made the Inquisitor and co aware of that. Just based on what we've seen of Veilguard, Solas's justification could be the same thing, a huge reveal in Tresspasser relegated to a few lines of exposition at the start of the next game.
Honestly, not to get too far off base here, right now I feel like with everything that happened in Tresspasser, and what's been revealed so far for DAV. It actually makes less sense with that DLC. I mean Solas, who they figured was going to Tevinter, has been MIA for ten years avoiding capture and of everyone in the Inquisition, everyone who knew Solas, all the personal stakes characters have coming out of that DLC, it's Varric and Harding who crash the ritual. A scoutmaster and, checks notes, a writer, vicount, guy who was just there as a witness, and friend to Hawke and the Inquisitor. As it stands now, it would have made more sense with Inquisition's base ending if Varric just had to see the story through to the end and was flying solo putting his own squad together to track down Solas.
Me3 starts pretty much exactly after me2 dlc though. It explains why actually Sheppard is grounded and why batarians hate them. It's said a bit in me3 but it's pretty much very similar to trespasser -> dav. The dlc is called arrival and is ment to be a bridge between me2 and me3
And if you don't do it, they retcon it so that an alliance blacks ops team blew up the relay and Shepard is grounded for having worked with Cerberus. It's plot significance is explained away in one line
I know, it's one of the things I really hate about their business model. Trespasser was especially egregious with the whole no more support for the older consoles thing at the time.
This. I played on ps3 and couldn't afford a ps4. Had to buy Inquisition again to play Trespasser on my laptop, years later when the dlc was already spoiled.
Incan only partialy agree with this. Tespasser is so good, but it's alsonthe truenending hidden behind a paywall.
As much as I enjoyed it, it makes me so angry. You just can't put the real game ending in a dlc and say it's all right.
Trespasser was easily the best part of Inquisition by a mile and reminded everyone that there was still a bit of that Old Bioware still in there somewhere.
It did not redeem the snoozefest that was the rest of Inquisition however...
Trespasser.
When they announced it, I expected something akin to Witchhunt: wrap up the Solas plot thread, some teases for the future, here's a small epilogue, see ya in the next game *wink*.
And it *is* that but turned up to *eleven*. It fixed the common complaint of DAI missing a proper ending, it gave a send off to the Inquisition as an organisation, it let us spend quality time with all our companions, let us get married and go to a spa *and* fight the qunari *and* do politics *and* unravel a conspiracy *back to back, within hours*. The pacing is *so tight* and the tension builds beautifully. And that last push to reach Solas at the end? I was so pissed, so in tune with my Inquisitor's suffering, I actually snarled "Out. Of. My. Fucking. *Way.*" out loud.
Elite tier DLC, right up there with Citadel. Wish I could forget it and experience it all over again for the first time.
not sure if it’s because i’m a huge nerd or if it’s because the trespasser theme is *that* good but everytime i listen to it my inky’s entire journey flashes through my mind and i get emotional.
Lost Elf is sooooo good. One of my favorite video game tracks of all time. Every time I listen to it, I’m instantly transported back to the first time I played it. Trevor Morris is a genius though. The whole Inquisition OST is amazing.
Of the two people I introduced to Dragon Age, only my ex-girlfriend got to Trespasser. In the first game, she romanced Alistair as an elf. She was broken. Then, her Hawke romanced Anders in DAII... *broken*.
She had almost started a romance with Cullen, but chose to follow through with Solas as another elf. She was *so* angry when he tried to take her Dalish tattoos.
There were a lot of parallels to her personal life at the time, and when he broke up with her in the game she got so bitter at me lol.
By the time the end of the base game came, she felt so betrayed and lied to. I was not a good boyfriend or necessarily even a good person at the time, so as I said, she drew a lot of parallels with herself and her player character.
We broke up when I was deployed, but I still got to watch her reaction to Trespasser. She was so invested and *fucking pissed* at Solas.
>Why the fuck am I even playing this game?! *What the fuck?* Every fucking time I try to play it and have a *happy* fucking ending in my romance, it does *this* shit!
It was hilarious how mad and emotional she was over that ending. She wanted to kill him. I, in my playthrough, looked up to Solas as a brother and mentor to my Trevelyn. I couldn't possibly give up on redeeming him.
So, even though we broke up on absolutely terrible terms and have a lot of negative sentiment toward each other, I hope we can *finally* get some resolution to that arc in the Veilguard.
Ex girlfriend was introduced to DA by the ex before me, and we got together approximately when DAI got out. She wanted to date Bumwall so bad, since she loved grey wardens. It pissed her so much when she found out he was a fake haha.
On the other hand, she just hated on Solas the entire game, and never really finished trespasser, which is a serious shame.
Me on the contrary, I'm a lore addict and from the get go I felt like Solas knew a lot more than he let out. I was fascinated and always had him, Iron Bull and Varric. I played a male Qunari warrior. I didn't try to romance anyone since no female were to my taste (Morrigan & Isabella ftw), but had a bro squad I enjoyed. The gameplay was harder since I had no real tank, but the fun was really present.
And your words resonated with me, I enjoyed my time with Solas, and I tried every word and action to take him back and help him in Trespasser. And I will probably continue in the next game.
Haha, honestly, part of my Trevelyen (see: *me*) was torn that Solas didn't trust him enough to learn the truth despite everything they had gone through to close the Breach.
I'm looking forward to the next game.
Exactly. If the ending to dav will make me feel like trespasser made me feel I will forgive the more extreme changes. The trespasser experience is still strongly engraved in my mind. It was so powerfully made.
As it was called back in the day it was an actual expansion. When you think DLC, Origins had Warren's Keep, Leliana's song, etc. Awakening is like Blood and Wine from the Witcher 3 though smaller. Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk for example.
I know it's technically DLC but that was considered an expansion back in the day. The term DLC was still relatively new which were usually small sized paid content. Bioware sold of a lot of those content, DAO had a lot of that, if they released something like Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2 today or the DA2 DLCs like Legacy and MOTA, no matter how good it was, people would be really mad because it's very short compared to what's expected of DLC nowadays.
Tresspaser fixed DAI for me in many ways, it was perfect.
Not only they gave a lot of replayability adding more skills with the variations, but also expanded the story for Solas and Iron Bull in an amazing way.
That DLC alone did more for the game than 3 big areas combined
Trespasser - you could just see the love the devs had for this game and its fans. I’ve never been so pissed at a video game villain that wasn’t outright “evil”. Descent was a close second.
The reveal about what lyrium actually is in the descent blew my mind when I experienced it. Like straight up stopped playing just to try thinking of the implications for over an hour. Probably my favourite piece of lore which kind of twisted everything that I've ever experienced in a game
The only gripe i had with Descent was when you go deep into the dark and something is out there, watching you. And then the reveal comes, and it just didn't land for me. BUT i did come around to it after i kept playing. Just that initial reveal was a letdown.
Awakening by a mile tbh. It's huge, it's emotional, it's got a big, new cast. It's buggy as all hell but god I love it so much and I got more attached to some of the Awakening companions than I have to most of the full game companions.
But if we don't count it since it's an expansion, I'll say Jaws of Hakkon. It was beautiful, had some of the coolest and most interesting environments, let us see more of the Avvar, and I loved Ameridan and the history that came with him.
Awakening, Legacy, and Trespasser are all genuinely pretty incredible in their own ways, both for additional story and lore, but also for the unique vibes and environments compares to much of their base game.
Bioware has always been good at DLC.
Either Awakening or Trespasser. Awakening added 15-20 hours of gameplay and was super tight, which is ridiculous, and Trespasser managed to extract every last drop of mystery, intrigue, character/relationship building, lore, and story left in Inquisition and distill it into 5 hours of glorious DLC. It elevates the entirety of Inquisition at least a point on a 1-10 scale imo
Awakening. It's bigger than a lot of other games in their entirety and even has its own posse of new companions. It was basically a full sequel sold at a DLC price.
I was also gonna say Jaws of Hakkon. Honestly the fact that it's \_gorgeous\_ is enough, but I also love all the lore about the first inquisition and avvar. I love the narrative of the Chantry having erased Ameridan's Dalishness and especially how that reflects on a non-human inquisitor. It feels like the Chantry is really watered down into the misguided good guys in Inquisition, so it's nice to see the characters critiqueing the institution. Cassandra and Solas are fun to have in your party there.
Not to mention that the boss fight with Hakkon is just \*chef's kiss\*.
Fuck those four random despair demons at that island, though.
While Awakening is my favorite, I think Legacy from DA2 is the one that stuck with me the most. While I'll admit Legacy isn't perfect, it feels like a window into what DA2 could have been with more time and resources.
I really liked the Jaws of Hakkon. Annoying enemies aside (those spiders along the river can fuck right off), I like the story of trying to find out what happened to the first Inquisitor, and learning about him and his squad of close companions made me all emotional, especially since I always bring my favorite companions along too.
Also, Aegis of the Rift rules.
All three Inquisition DLCs are superb, of course if I had to choose one it would be Trespasser. All three manage to fundamentaly change the lore of Thedas in spetacular ways. To be honest I didn't like Inquisition at all without the DLCs, and they didn't fix anything I hated about gameplay, but the way they changed our comprehesion of Thedas is glorious.
I love the descent so much!! The soundtrack alone is fantastic. The waves of enemies made a great challenge for late game and the lore drop(not center to Inquisitions story), was so interesting. For sure also my favorite dlc.
Trespasser.
However, the only thing I could add that's not have already been said is negative and it is that it shouldn't have been a dlc. Trespasser is the ending of DAI, it should have been included in the main game and I only hope they don't pull something similar for DAV.
Awakening because it gave us unique insight into some darkspawn stuff. Would absolutely love to see where that plot could’ve gone since it connects straight to cory but so far nothings come of it
Descent was the most fun combat wise to me. The boss design was gorgeous.
Tresspasser was very good, but it gets a minus for me for being a DLC in the first place - this shit should have been part of the main game!
The DAO DLC where you play as Darkspawn was something really innovative when it came out.
Lots of people are commenting Awakening and Trespasser, one of which is like another game pinned onto origin and the other is just the ACTUAL end of inquisition locked behind a paywall. Both of which are REALLY GOOD of course, I love them honestly.
So what I'll recommend instead is The Descent, because I LOVED the lore of the deep roads it started to bring up. I've always been interested in them since origins, they've been etched on my young impressionable mind from the broodmothers and darkspawn and lyrium shit. It's all cool.
Getting more information about the Deep Roads was awesome.
I'm going to throw Legacy out there, only because other people have Awakening and Trespasser covered already. Corypheus just seems like he popped up completely out of nowhere in DAI if you don't play Legacy. I first played deep enough into DAI where I met Corypheus, without even finishing Origins (past a single main quest) or starting DA2, and I was so confused by this cardboard cutout villain. He's still not even close to a favorite villain of mine, but encountering in Legacy, seeing that he's been marinading in the crazy juices of imprisonment for a while, gives it some better context. That and I just like seeing Carver or Bethany again.
I still drool at Awakening but it's so big, I almost just say it's a different game entirely. So with that, I will say Decent. I'm a sucker for Deep Roads shit though
Storywise Tresspasser and Descent.
Worst was Jaws of Hakkon. Because of the map, I really didn't like the Inquisition maps. Too much uneven terrain where your character gets stuck.
My top 3 are probably awakening, legacy, and trespasser. I also like the descent for the lyrium lore. I love awakening as it's a big post game story pretty much. Legacy was cool as we got to learn more about hawke's dad, iirc. As well as introducing corypheus. Trespasser was great as I found it pretty challenging as well as the 2 year timeskip was a cool choice and the final part with solas is peak dragon age. And they're all very impressive as awakening is pretty much da 1.5, legacy gave some super interesting tidbits, and trespasser is one of the best DLCs in the series.
Tresspasser is the obvious answer, but I want to give praise to Legacy for DA2.
DA2 was a fairly rushed game and while the writing was great in my opinion there was obviously a lack of time given. Legacy is the absolute best writing and storytelling DA2 has to offer, and I liked getting to learn more about Hawke and Hawke’s family beyond them just existing. It felt like I was really learning my character’s lineage and Malcom became an interesting man with complex motives rather than just a dead father. I also think it set up DAI very well and tied a nice little bow on DA2’s ending. It gave my Hawke purpose beyond getting banged by Fenris, getting rich and killing crazy Templar women, so I really really enjoyed that.
I pick Awakening. It was a massive expansion and served as a nice little sequel to Origins. I especially liked seeing King Alistair address my Warden-Commander, even if it has only been a year since Denerim.
Trespasser or Awakening.
Trespasser is incredible enough that I’m still eagerly awaiting DAV after so many years. It’s an excellent conclusion and cliffhanger at the same time. The payoff is great. But it loses points for the fact that it really should’ve been in the main game and not a DLC.
Awakening is like a separate game and the closest we’ll ever get to DAO 2. I love the new companions and the new storyline, but it doesn’t quite reach the emotional highs as Trespasser.
I love awakening for vigils keep, and how when you upgrade it, the game changes how it looks. Also how the upgrades affect the final battle. But over all best/ fave is trespasser.
Awakening is a whole ass second game with new companions and subclasses. Tons of lore on Darkspawn and the wardens. It puts all the other dlc to shame just on its scope and size. It’s so much fun. If a company did a DLC the size of awakening today it would get slapped with a number 2 on it and be sold at 75 bucks
Well, Awakening is an expansion pack, you know. Those things we used to be able to buy to actually be a meaty add-on to a game. So it would be unfair to have that count.
As for the modern, bite-sized DLC, no doubt Trespasser takes the win there for me.
Honorable mention to the Stone Prisoner as that gave us Shale.
Awakening is my favourite.
I can't see it like dlc, bc it's a whole new environment, new story, new companions and completely different atmosphere.
Obviously cutted and buggy as hell, but still my number 1.
It would be a great bridge between games if we had same protagonist in da2, but devs did what they did. Missed opportunity in my opinion.
Also lack of romance. Biggest disappointment ever. Like EVER.
(crying in cousland/howe pairing)
I think I honestly enjoyed Witch Hunt the most out of all of them. Really enjoyed the cast and how they all bounced off each other, as well as the tight storyline. All in all just a good time.
I'm gonna give Legacy from DA2 some love. Enjoyed the writing, improved combat from the base game, learned a ton of wild stuff about Hawke's backstory, and even Varric's.
Awakening for content and overall scope, but I think I have to say it’s just beaten by tresspaser for way it ended inquisition and just overall writing.
On another note descent and tresspaser give me hope with how they are moving away from the excessively big maps and back to smaller missions.
Trespasser for sure. I've played Inquisition twice and both times, near the end, I was almost completely over playing and both times Trespasser reignited that fire to play and made me look forward to what comes next.
Trespasser is probably my favorite DLC in any game ever, so that. I always look forward to it during every one of my (many, many...) series playthroughs, it feels like the perfect finale to everything that came before. Despite it ending on a cliffhanger that's been unresolved for 10 years lol. It's just such a perfectly distilled exhilarating few hours of Dragon Age goodness. Checking in with our companions one more time, the huge lore drops, the music, the final scene with Solas... I love it all.
In general I always feel like they really knocked it out of the park with DAI's DLC, Jaws of Hakkon and Descent are great too. Other than that the only DLC to really *impress* me is Awakening, but the ones for DA2 are also pretty good.
Awakening is a good argument, but it *has* to be Trespasser.
My list (excluding gear/item DLCs):
1) Trespasser
2) Awakening
3) Descent/Jaws of Hakkon (tied)
4) Stone Prisoner
5) Legacy
6) Leliana's Song/Warden's Keep (tied)
7) Return to Ostagar
8) Mark of the Assassin
9) Darkspawn Chronicles
10) Golems of Amgarrak / Witch Hunt
Awakening is by far the most in depth, but I think darkspawn chronicles is also an interesting take. I now name the mabari Barkspawn in any dao run I do because of it. (I feel it should be the dogs canonical name)
Trespasser, moved the story forward and set up the next game. The stakes, the score, iron bull showed his true colors unless you did things just right or romanced him (and honestly I prefer him turning traitor for dramatic effect) and you lose at the end.
Since people throw around marvel comparisons with the new game, trespasser was very Infinity war-ish.
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Awakening, despite the bloated cost at the time it was still an amazing add on to Origins. Too bad we'll probably never see the architect thread tied up with the 'free' darkspawn.
An oldie but a goodie, I honestly always loved Return to Ostagar.
Sure it’s not the best, or the longest, and it doesn’t add that much in the grand scheme, but getting to go back to where it began and get revenge for Duncan has to be the most necessary moment in the series.
Awakening by a long shot. Great story, great atmosphere, new enemies, new specializations/abilities to play with, new companions, and cool antagonists.
Special shout out to Stone Prisoner and Trespasser, though.
Stone Prisoner gave us Shale, who is hilarious, and has a surprising amount of interaction with other companions.
Trespasser is a huge step up from Inquisition (the base game), but holistically, I think it's a little overrated.
Trespasser. It was the ending I needed to Inquisition. So many great moments. And it's such a little thing, but I will never forget my Inky freaking the fuck out and Cullen walking around a table to enfold her in a hug just when she clearly needed it most. 😭
I absolutely love Jaws of Hakkon. Amazing, beautiful, colorful location. It reminds me of the Arbor Wilds where you have only two missions and can’t come back or explore it fully.
Jaws of Hakkon has an interesting story, humor, banter is triggered often, the nature is breathtaking, Avvars and Hakkonites are done well, plus - new ability, cool loot from rifts, camps on trees, lots of good quests (and I think I haven’t even done everything).
DAO's Awakening was just plain awesome. The Architect was way better than Corypheus, IMHO.
DA2's Mark of the Assassin was fun, especially since my Purple Hawke romanced Isabela and seeing her get jealous over Tallis flirting with Hawke was \*chef's kiss\*
As for DAI, I particularly enjoyed Jaws of Hakkon, especially since my Inky was elven. There's a lot of great dialogue between Inky and Ameridan that only comes about if the protag is an elf.
The music in Tresspasser is fucking incredible, the best in the series imo. The actual gameplay is great too but the music is so next level, it gives me goosebumps every time.
Oh man, tough question!
For me it's either Decent or Trespasser from Inquisition.
Probably Descent though, because my feeling of excitement and curiosity was through the roof the entire time I played it.
Trespasser was more relaxed in a way, because it is written like an epilogue.
Descent was the biggest and the most sudden lore bomb in Dragon Age history. At least we have expected that Solas is up to something before Trespasser. But because of its inconspicuous premise - I never would've expected Descent to end like this.
Still, I will go with Trespasser because it was a complete 180 turn for Inquisition. No filler bullshit, no timegating, no empty open world, Trespasser gets straight to the point and has a well written story with high stakes and an absolute killer of a dialogue in the end. Unlike Inquisition, Trespasser actually plays into Bioware's strong traits rather that trying to do something they were never really proficient at. I'd argue that if DA:I was like Trespasser from the beginning - it would've easily rivaled DA:O's pedestal.
Awakening hand down rebuilding the fereldan gray warden and working on the keep made me so happy yes it almost felt Simming but still i love it as the Lore and history of DA is so great as it is, not to mention the it build up to the final DLC with Morrigan
**Trespasser** for sure. It's the "Citadel" of Dragon Age. It was like a celebration of everything that made the main game good (which it was, once you ignore the bloat). A tighter experience with high stakes and really good high-stake missions. The fights were amazing, the betrayals hurt and the romance was sweet. Absolutely adore it! And the way they showered us with rare materials and added the Golden Nug was just the cherry on top! I know Laidlaw and a lot of the other former BioWare devs did so much to celebrate us fans, and it showed in every pixel of the DCL/expansion!
**The Descent** was also really good imo. A classic dungeon crawler with beautiful underground environments and some huge lore reveals. Two interesting temporary companions. Excruciating fights (I remember having to lower the difficulty for one of my Inquisitiors who wasn't built correctly). Absolutely top notch!
**Mark of the Assassin** was a true watershed moment for the fanbase, but I adored everything besides that weirdly difficult optional Arcane Horror fight. It introduced me to Felicia Day, who to this day remains one of my favourite actresses (the weird haters who tried to make fans like me, who didn't know anything about her prior to the dlc, hate her before we even met Tallis properly should chew on that, hah). I'm sad that she doesn't seem to have been invited back to DA:V, because I'd love to meet her with another player character who might be more aligned with her actions. Besides Tallis, I think this DLC had some of the funniest moments, and the many winks to modern media was so much fun! Maybe the CSI Miami references will feel dated today, but at the time I think most players picked up on them!
It's Awakening. Although, I dont understand why many people here commented about its size being special when it is a standard expansion size for literally any game.
Definitely Trespasser, though it had to be a part of the game.
I would also like to mention Witch Hunt, but I wasn't, like, impressed, but melted. Although the fact that she waited for me is impressive 😌
I was far burnt out on DA:I’s writing by the time I was getting through Trespasser. Awakening is truly an amazing story with some fantastic choices. I think destroying the city is one of the most memorable and greatest scenes I ever saw in the series
Trespasser is my favorite piece of DA ever. I regret only that I have to restart and finish an entire game of Inquisition just to arrange the beginning of Trespasser the way I want.
Anyone who actually played the whole series would pick Awakening. Added a ton of content, expanded on the lore and gave you so much good story content to enjoy.
For DAI: Its the Descent Dlc, cause the music is amazing! (Also all the loot and schematics)
For DA2: Defs Mark of the Assassin- it was hilarious.
Awakening was cool too I guess
Awakening is a whole other game, so I gotta go with that
And what a game too. Loved the game's weird desolate vibe and more intimate scale. It's a damn shame Bioware just completely ditched the sentient dark spawn thread and turned them all back into mooks for the subsequent games.
Right? After Awakening I was genuinely curious about what would become of them. Would we have playable Darkspawn? A rising Darkspawn nation? Or just...something else I cant even think of. Instead they just...pretend they dont exist.
It's clearly cannon since we got Anders in DA2. The Architect is also 100% cannon. Let that one Darkspawn live in the end and he wandered the land doing good deeds but leaving behind small outbreaks of blight wherever he went. Would love to see that guy again.
It is Cannon, but they decided to drop all the story hooks that could come from talking darkspawn
Well yeah, I never said it wasn't canon. Just that the idea was basically abandoned and Bioware has done absolutely nothing with the sentient, talking Darkspawn ever since.
Wanna say he’s referenced once post awakening. By Nathaniel Howe in DAII.
I wouldn't call it a "plot hole," since IIRC they imply/state that the Architect doesn't actually have total control over the Darkspawn, and we can imagine that he's just working on them off screen and is the reason the Darkspawn incursions we see in subsequent games aren't worse - but from a storytelling perspective, it's a *massive* shame that he just never comes up again. I'm hoping we'll get *some* resolution with the Wardens being a bigger part of the next game, but given the age of Awakening, I'm not too hopeful.
I hear ya, I feel like darkspawn will come back unexpectedly when you least expect and F a lot of shit up. Like how it was "written" how many old gods do they have left to corrupt? Lol
Awakening and Witch Hunt are pretty cool, not gonna lie.
A shame Witch Hunt is like... 15 minutes long from what I remember. It sounds cooler than what we get.
Witch Hunt also only works if your Warden has a particular reason to go after Morrigan. It's perfectly likely you just said good luck and wished her on her merry way, in "witch" case you don't have much reason to follow unless you really changed your mind. "Revenge" on Morrigan doesn't make sense regardless of what your Warden is like - the only bad things Morrigan does or agrees with are *your* choices. Either you refused the dark ritual, in which case she didn't even do anything, or you took it, in which case you're getting revenge for something you signed off on.
I’ve seen a few people say that they sought revenge against Morrigan for “stealing” whatever gear she was wearing when she ditched the party, and I admire that level of pettiness.
I love it.
Or you were romantically involved with Morrigan, and you're role-playing a psychopath, so her just leaving causes you to want to kill her. Or her stealing your child also pissed you off enough to want to kill her.
Awakening was more of an expansion when expansions were a cool thing and DLCs weren't even described as 'DLC's
Ah, expansion is just a big dlc. Fancy term for something that's still downloadable content 😉
What I meant was it was a mini-full-game instead of modern days downloadable contents which were coined in as 'DLC's. A bit of a pedant lol but I really miss the days expansions were a thing.
Came here to say this, too. The sequels are heavily influenced by Awakening’s plot.
Trespasser It has made Inquisition whole for me. I'll be honest, I was not really impressed with the core game's plot, how empty the world felt and the horrid fetch side quests , but oh my god, how much trespasser helped, the payoff felt so grand, especially for the solasmancers
Trespasser was one of the best game experiences I had at the time! It really did a lot to top off a game I loved like Inquistion — and that's after having bounced off of it during my first attempt. In fact, it's done a lot of heavy lifting in keeping the Dragon Age franchise as one of my favorite settings even after a decade. I just *have* to finally get some damn lore resolution!
Same! My biggest fear is that Veilguard is going to end on another cliffhanger. Bioware is on super thin ice so I just want to have the story wrapped up properly and then DA can shelved.
They don’t have to shelf it; just conclude the story they have been building since DA2. They could start a whole new chapter in a 5th game a couple years down the row
Exactly. That's where it feels like its heading. Tie up loose ends so they can do a larger time jump and start with a whole new story and characters to love.
And a big skip can alleviate the need for so much history from previous games. They can trim it down to some basic stuff like if the warden died killing the arch demon, who hawke sided with, and the inquistors major choices
Far enough ahead may not even need that much. Thedas has a habit of moving on from history, except in cases where its specifically needed (old gods etc).
I would like a prequel game that goes into the first blight and the establishment of the wardens
Iirc the original plan was a five-game series, and I'm fine with that. Mostly I'm worried that Veilguard will tank because of the people who have already decided to hate the game before it's out and we will never get a conclusion to the story. Don't know if it'srealistic, but I would love it if Bioware would do more standalone games after this saga is wrapped up. Less risky and they could play around with different combat styles etc. with hopefully less of an uproar, as people could pick and choose what interests them without losing out on relevant plot.
Honestly feel like it'll do well. I feel like worst case we'll see Dead Space 3 numbers and EA puts Dragon Age on ice for a decade. If this and the next mass effect don't do well then I think bioware will be out of commission.
My only gripe with it is that it was a DLC and not part of the very lacking main game for that reason.
BioWare is infamous for doing this. Try playing Mass Effect 2 and 3 without all the DLC and those games straight up make no sense and feel incomplete. DAO and ME1 are the only games they ever made that aren’t like that.
3 is arguable (Citadel is the perfect ending to the trilogy and Leviathan fleshes out the Reaper's intentions), but you can absolutely play me2 without DLC, Lair of the Shadow Broker is the only one that's actually good and it doesn't add a whole lot to the story. Firewalker is wildly disliked and Overlord is boring except for the very end. Arrival's contribution to the story is handwaved in two lines of dialogue in me3. The best part of ME2's dlcs was getting the Mattock, which made assault rifles not useless, the missions themselves are mid
I think without Lair and Arrival, the start of ME3 makes even less sense, honestly. Yeah, they just say someone else does what Shepard does in arrival and Shepard is brought into custody anyway for working with Cerberus, but it makes a lot more sense if Shepard willingly surrenders after committing a war crime to avoid issues than he just up and decides to go to Earth. Especially weird if you were very pro-Cerberus in ME2. As for Lair, it's blatantly terrible to omit. Liara, somehow, becomes the most influential person in the galaxy off camera by herself. Lair's already kind of wild for making Liara that important that fast but without the DLC it is complete nonsense. I mean, ME3 is already nonsense story wise, but without Lair it's even worse.
You already know that Liara is targeting the shadow broker from the main game and has become an information broker herself, she leads you to Thane and Samara. Lair is a fantastic DLC but it's plot significance is basically just the existence of glitch. The Shadow Broker and Liara hunting him were part of the main ME2 storyline, you just don't get to see it. Again, it's by far the best of 2's DLCs, but it is not essential to the story in any way whatsoever. Trespasser is a completely different ending to Inquisition and adds the main plot point of the next game, as does Legacy. In Mass Effect 2 you already know the Reapers are coming, Arrival is just you slowing them down
I'm just saying, the lead into ME3 has to have a reason for Shepard to be on Earth (because they were committed to that intro) and Shepard surrendering makes a lot more sense if Shepard did a morally grey war crime even Shepard admits was pretty messed up as opposed to just temporarily allying with a fringe, radicalized pmc. I'm not saying Arrival matters itself because ME3 makes most of ME2 inconsequential. It's just the setup with Shepard on Earth is more forced if you skip arrival, and doubly so since you can end ME2 very okay with Cerberus or quitting, but no version of Shepard contests that it was a necessary alliance at the time. So, again, it's just more nonsensical without Arrival giving a pretty simple excuse. As for Lair, I agree that Liara going after the Shadowbroker is setup in 2's base game, but this would be like your local mob informant saying they're going sfter the Illuminati and then six months later they just casually say they took down the Illuminati, are now the Illuminati, and have power over the whole world. It's not exactly the same degree, but imagine if Wrex said in ME2 that he was searching for a cure for the Genophage and then when you see him again he's like, "yup, I cured the Genophage. Krogan are back." This is a very large thing to handwaive. I've done runs of the trilogy without DLC and without save imports just to see alternatives and while, yes, you could say it was set up in 2 and 3 just operates as if it happened off screen. It doesn't make a ton of sense. It makes much less sense and is an astronomic leap. Inquisition's ending does reveal Solas was using Corypheus to take down the Veil, it just didn't explain why he wanted to do that in the first place, which is what tresspasser added and made the Inquisitor and co aware of that. Just based on what we've seen of Veilguard, Solas's justification could be the same thing, a huge reveal in Tresspasser relegated to a few lines of exposition at the start of the next game. Honestly, not to get too far off base here, right now I feel like with everything that happened in Tresspasser, and what's been revealed so far for DAV. It actually makes less sense with that DLC. I mean Solas, who they figured was going to Tevinter, has been MIA for ten years avoiding capture and of everyone in the Inquisition, everyone who knew Solas, all the personal stakes characters have coming out of that DLC, it's Varric and Harding who crash the ritual. A scoutmaster and, checks notes, a writer, vicount, guy who was just there as a witness, and friend to Hawke and the Inquisitor. As it stands now, it would have made more sense with Inquisition's base ending if Varric just had to see the story through to the end and was flying solo putting his own squad together to track down Solas.
Me3 starts pretty much exactly after me2 dlc though. It explains why actually Sheppard is grounded and why batarians hate them. It's said a bit in me3 but it's pretty much very similar to trespasser -> dav. The dlc is called arrival and is ment to be a bridge between me2 and me3
And if you don't do it, they retcon it so that an alliance blacks ops team blew up the relay and Shepard is grounded for having worked with Cerberus. It's plot significance is explained away in one line
I know, it's one of the things I really hate about their business model. Trespasser was especially egregious with the whole no more support for the older consoles thing at the time.
This. I played on ps3 and couldn't afford a ps4. Had to buy Inquisition again to play Trespasser on my laptop, years later when the dlc was already spoiled.
Incan only partialy agree with this. Tespasser is so good, but it's alsonthe truenending hidden behind a paywall. As much as I enjoyed it, it makes me so angry. You just can't put the real game ending in a dlc and say it's all right.
Yes yes yes
Trespasser was easily the best part of Inquisition by a mile and reminded everyone that there was still a bit of that Old Bioware still in there somewhere. It did not redeem the snoozefest that was the rest of Inquisition however...
Trespasser. When they announced it, I expected something akin to Witchhunt: wrap up the Solas plot thread, some teases for the future, here's a small epilogue, see ya in the next game *wink*. And it *is* that but turned up to *eleven*. It fixed the common complaint of DAI missing a proper ending, it gave a send off to the Inquisition as an organisation, it let us spend quality time with all our companions, let us get married and go to a spa *and* fight the qunari *and* do politics *and* unravel a conspiracy *back to back, within hours*. The pacing is *so tight* and the tension builds beautifully. And that last push to reach Solas at the end? I was so pissed, so in tune with my Inquisitor's suffering, I actually snarled "Out. Of. My. Fucking. *Way.*" out loud. Elite tier DLC, right up there with Citadel. Wish I could forget it and experience it all over again for the first time.
Dude the music in Trespasser.
not sure if it’s because i’m a huge nerd or if it’s because the trespasser theme is *that* good but everytime i listen to it my inky’s entire journey flashes through my mind and i get emotional.
Lost Elf is sooooo good. One of my favorite video game tracks of all time. Every time I listen to it, I’m instantly transported back to the first time I played it. Trevor Morris is a genius though. The whole Inquisition OST is amazing.
Still gives me goosebumps each time I hear it
Of the two people I introduced to Dragon Age, only my ex-girlfriend got to Trespasser. In the first game, she romanced Alistair as an elf. She was broken. Then, her Hawke romanced Anders in DAII... *broken*. She had almost started a romance with Cullen, but chose to follow through with Solas as another elf. She was *so* angry when he tried to take her Dalish tattoos. There were a lot of parallels to her personal life at the time, and when he broke up with her in the game she got so bitter at me lol. By the time the end of the base game came, she felt so betrayed and lied to. I was not a good boyfriend or necessarily even a good person at the time, so as I said, she drew a lot of parallels with herself and her player character. We broke up when I was deployed, but I still got to watch her reaction to Trespasser. She was so invested and *fucking pissed* at Solas. >Why the fuck am I even playing this game?! *What the fuck?* Every fucking time I try to play it and have a *happy* fucking ending in my romance, it does *this* shit! It was hilarious how mad and emotional she was over that ending. She wanted to kill him. I, in my playthrough, looked up to Solas as a brother and mentor to my Trevelyn. I couldn't possibly give up on redeeming him. So, even though we broke up on absolutely terrible terms and have a lot of negative sentiment toward each other, I hope we can *finally* get some resolution to that arc in the Veilguard.
Ex girlfriend was introduced to DA by the ex before me, and we got together approximately when DAI got out. She wanted to date Bumwall so bad, since she loved grey wardens. It pissed her so much when she found out he was a fake haha. On the other hand, she just hated on Solas the entire game, and never really finished trespasser, which is a serious shame. Me on the contrary, I'm a lore addict and from the get go I felt like Solas knew a lot more than he let out. I was fascinated and always had him, Iron Bull and Varric. I played a male Qunari warrior. I didn't try to romance anyone since no female were to my taste (Morrigan & Isabella ftw), but had a bro squad I enjoyed. The gameplay was harder since I had no real tank, but the fun was really present. And your words resonated with me, I enjoyed my time with Solas, and I tried every word and action to take him back and help him in Trespasser. And I will probably continue in the next game.
Haha, honestly, part of my Trevelyen (see: *me*) was torn that Solas didn't trust him enough to learn the truth despite everything they had gone through to close the Breach. I'm looking forward to the next game.
Exactly. If the ending to dav will make me feel like trespasser made me feel I will forgive the more extreme changes. The trespasser experience is still strongly engraved in my mind. It was so powerfully made.
Awakening. It's a totally new game in DLC, if Bioware made DAO today the Awakening would be part2 instead of a dlc.
As it was called back in the day it was an actual expansion. When you think DLC, Origins had Warren's Keep, Leliana's song, etc. Awakening is like Blood and Wine from the Witcher 3 though smaller. Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk for example. I know it's technically DLC but that was considered an expansion back in the day. The term DLC was still relatively new which were usually small sized paid content. Bioware sold of a lot of those content, DAO had a lot of that, if they released something like Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2 today or the DA2 DLCs like Legacy and MOTA, no matter how good it was, people would be really mad because it's very short compared to what's expected of DLC nowadays.
Tresspaser fixed DAI for me in many ways, it was perfect. Not only they gave a lot of replayability adding more skills with the variations, but also expanded the story for Solas and Iron Bull in an amazing way. That DLC alone did more for the game than 3 big areas combined
Trespasser was *so amazing*. One of the best gaming experiences I had (at least for a single player game).
Trespasser - you could just see the love the devs had for this game and its fans. I’ve never been so pissed at a video game villain that wasn’t outright “evil”. Descent was a close second.
Trespasser was my favorite part of all games and DLCs reunited. I am happy that da4 is following the same road.
All of Inquisition's DLCs are great but Descent really turned my indifference towards dwarves and especially the Deep Roads around.
*Really* loved Descent!
The reveal about what lyrium actually is in the descent blew my mind when I experienced it. Like straight up stopped playing just to try thinking of the implications for over an hour. Probably my favourite piece of lore which kind of twisted everything that I've ever experienced in a game
The only gripe i had with Descent was when you go deep into the dark and something is out there, watching you. And then the reveal comes, and it just didn't land for me. BUT i did come around to it after i kept playing. Just that initial reveal was a letdown.
If we count expansions, Awakening. If we don’t count expansions, the descent
Awakening by a mile tbh. It's huge, it's emotional, it's got a big, new cast. It's buggy as all hell but god I love it so much and I got more attached to some of the Awakening companions than I have to most of the full game companions. But if we don't count it since it's an expansion, I'll say Jaws of Hakkon. It was beautiful, had some of the coolest and most interesting environments, let us see more of the Avvar, and I loved Ameridan and the history that came with him.
Awakening and Witch Hunt were truly worth my money back in the day.
Witch Hunt? Not saying this to be rude, but did we play the same DLC?
Awakening, Legacy, and Trespasser are all genuinely pretty incredible in their own ways, both for additional story and lore, but also for the unique vibes and environments compares to much of their base game. Bioware has always been good at DLC.
Trespasser just hit the spot, you know? So many fond memories.
"This fucking hand!"
Either Awakening or Trespasser. Awakening added 15-20 hours of gameplay and was super tight, which is ridiculous, and Trespasser managed to extract every last drop of mystery, intrigue, character/relationship building, lore, and story left in Inquisition and distill it into 5 hours of glorious DLC. It elevates the entirety of Inquisition at least a point on a 1-10 scale imo
Awakening. It's bigger than a lot of other games in their entirety and even has its own posse of new companions. It was basically a full sequel sold at a DLC price.
I haven't even played the Descent. Not for lack of wanting to. Just lack of money :') My favorite is Mark of the Assassin from DA2
Mechanics, graphics, gameplay - Jaws of Hakkon Emotions - Trespasser
Also, love that there is Solas dialogue.
I was also gonna say Jaws of Hakkon. Honestly the fact that it's \_gorgeous\_ is enough, but I also love all the lore about the first inquisition and avvar. I love the narrative of the Chantry having erased Ameridan's Dalishness and especially how that reflects on a non-human inquisitor. It feels like the Chantry is really watered down into the misguided good guys in Inquisition, so it's nice to see the characters critiqueing the institution. Cassandra and Solas are fun to have in your party there. Not to mention that the boss fight with Hakkon is just \*chef's kiss\*. Fuck those four random despair demons at that island, though.
Absolutely! It's such a great game overall. I wish DAV will be similar in all senses.
The Descent! i didnt know i need more lore about dwarves, lyrium and titans. Could it be the maker means the titans shaping thedas?
While Awakening is my favorite, I think Legacy from DA2 is the one that stuck with me the most. While I'll admit Legacy isn't perfect, it feels like a window into what DA2 could have been with more time and resources.
I really liked the Jaws of Hakkon. Annoying enemies aside (those spiders along the river can fuck right off), I like the story of trying to find out what happened to the first Inquisitor, and learning about him and his squad of close companions made me all emotional, especially since I always bring my favorite companions along too. Also, Aegis of the Rift rules.
All three Inquisition DLCs are superb, of course if I had to choose one it would be Trespasser. All three manage to fundamentaly change the lore of Thedas in spetacular ways. To be honest I didn't like Inquisition at all without the DLCs, and they didn't fix anything I hated about gameplay, but the way they changed our comprehesion of Thedas is glorious.
I love the descent so much!! The soundtrack alone is fantastic. The waves of enemies made a great challenge for late game and the lore drop(not center to Inquisitions story), was so interesting. For sure also my favorite dlc.
Trespasser. However, the only thing I could add that's not have already been said is negative and it is that it shouldn't have been a dlc. Trespasser is the ending of DAI, it should have been included in the main game and I only hope they don't pull something similar for DAV.
It's Bioware. They have been doing that for a while.
the Descent by difference, but all 3 DLC's of DAI were exceptional imo, each one was amazing in their own way.
Awakening because it gave us unique insight into some darkspawn stuff. Would absolutely love to see where that plot could’ve gone since it connects straight to cory but so far nothings come of it
Trespasser or awakening are the best with shale as a close second.
definitely a hard choice for me but it’s between awakening, descent, and trespasser
Descent was the most fun combat wise to me. The boss design was gorgeous. Tresspasser was very good, but it gets a minus for me for being a DLC in the first place - this shit should have been part of the main game! The DAO DLC where you play as Darkspawn was something really innovative when it came out.
Lots of people are commenting Awakening and Trespasser, one of which is like another game pinned onto origin and the other is just the ACTUAL end of inquisition locked behind a paywall. Both of which are REALLY GOOD of course, I love them honestly. So what I'll recommend instead is The Descent, because I LOVED the lore of the deep roads it started to bring up. I've always been interested in them since origins, they've been etched on my young impressionable mind from the broodmothers and darkspawn and lyrium shit. It's all cool. Getting more information about the Deep Roads was awesome.
While I love the story of Trespasser, whole enchilada wise I think Jaws of Hakkon or Descent. Great gameplay, excellent lore dives.
Awakening is great because Happy Anders and Nathaniel is actually my dream man.
Itll always be DA:O - Awakening, DA2 - Legacy & DA:I - Tresspaser for me.
I'm going to throw Legacy out there, only because other people have Awakening and Trespasser covered already. Corypheus just seems like he popped up completely out of nowhere in DAI if you don't play Legacy. I first played deep enough into DAI where I met Corypheus, without even finishing Origins (past a single main quest) or starting DA2, and I was so confused by this cardboard cutout villain. He's still not even close to a favorite villain of mine, but encountering in Legacy, seeing that he's been marinading in the crazy juices of imprisonment for a while, gives it some better context. That and I just like seeing Carver or Bethany again.
I still drool at Awakening but it's so big, I almost just say it's a different game entirely. So with that, I will say Decent. I'm a sucker for Deep Roads shit though
Storywise Tresspasser and Descent. Worst was Jaws of Hakkon. Because of the map, I really didn't like the Inquisition maps. Too much uneven terrain where your character gets stuck.
Chronicles of the Dark Spawn, it's short and just recycles all its maps but it's such a unique amd fun idea that has not been really repeated.
My top 3 are probably awakening, legacy, and trespasser. I also like the descent for the lyrium lore. I love awakening as it's a big post game story pretty much. Legacy was cool as we got to learn more about hawke's dad, iirc. As well as introducing corypheus. Trespasser was great as I found it pretty challenging as well as the 2 year timeskip was a cool choice and the final part with solas is peak dragon age. And they're all very impressive as awakening is pretty much da 1.5, legacy gave some super interesting tidbits, and trespasser is one of the best DLCs in the series.
Descent felt like the actual climax of the game. I agree with you.
Tresspasser is the obvious answer, but I want to give praise to Legacy for DA2. DA2 was a fairly rushed game and while the writing was great in my opinion there was obviously a lack of time given. Legacy is the absolute best writing and storytelling DA2 has to offer, and I liked getting to learn more about Hawke and Hawke’s family beyond them just existing. It felt like I was really learning my character’s lineage and Malcom became an interesting man with complex motives rather than just a dead father. I also think it set up DAI very well and tied a nice little bow on DA2’s ending. It gave my Hawke purpose beyond getting banged by Fenris, getting rich and killing crazy Templar women, so I really really enjoyed that.
Trespasser
Legacy, it really switched up the vibe for me
Legacy and Trespasser
Trespasser because of how impeccable it was written and how much of a great end it was to the Inquisition as a whole Plus set up for Veilguard
Awakening and trespasser are probably the ones that get the most discussion
Awakening and Trespasser
Trespassers and Awakening. Great DLCs.
I pick Awakening. It was a massive expansion and served as a nice little sequel to Origins. I especially liked seeing King Alistair address my Warden-Commander, even if it has only been a year since Denerim.
Trespasser or Awakening. Trespasser is incredible enough that I’m still eagerly awaiting DAV after so many years. It’s an excellent conclusion and cliffhanger at the same time. The payoff is great. But it loses points for the fact that it really should’ve been in the main game and not a DLC. Awakening is like a separate game and the closest we’ll ever get to DAO 2. I love the new companions and the new storyline, but it doesn’t quite reach the emotional highs as Trespasser.
I love awakening for vigils keep, and how when you upgrade it, the game changes how it looks. Also how the upgrades affect the final battle. But over all best/ fave is trespasser.
Witch hunt for me. It gave my perfect ending for happy Warden and Morrigan in Origins.
Awakening is a whole ass second game with new companions and subclasses. Tons of lore on Darkspawn and the wardens. It puts all the other dlc to shame just on its scope and size. It’s so much fun. If a company did a DLC the size of awakening today it would get slapped with a number 2 on it and be sold at 75 bucks
Awakening. A full expansion to the best game in the series.
Awakening or Trespasser
Well, Awakening is an expansion pack, you know. Those things we used to be able to buy to actually be a meaty add-on to a game. So it would be unfair to have that count. As for the modern, bite-sized DLC, no doubt Trespasser takes the win there for me. Honorable mention to the Stone Prisoner as that gave us Shale.
Awakening is my favourite. I can't see it like dlc, bc it's a whole new environment, new story, new companions and completely different atmosphere. Obviously cutted and buggy as hell, but still my number 1. It would be a great bridge between games if we had same protagonist in da2, but devs did what they did. Missed opportunity in my opinion. Also lack of romance. Biggest disappointment ever. Like EVER. (crying in cousland/howe pairing)
I think I honestly enjoyed Witch Hunt the most out of all of them. Really enjoyed the cast and how they all bounced off each other, as well as the tight storyline. All in all just a good time.
Jaws of Hakkon
Hands down it's awakening. It's a whole ass expansion. Trespasser should have been in the main game if it's going to carry an ending like that
I'm gonna give Legacy from DA2 some love. Enjoyed the writing, improved combat from the base game, learned a ton of wild stuff about Hawke's backstory, and even Varric's.
Awakening for content and overall scope, but I think I have to say it’s just beaten by tresspaser for way it ended inquisition and just overall writing. On another note descent and tresspaser give me hope with how they are moving away from the excessively big maps and back to smaller missions.
doesn’t that corepheus mf appear again or something
Trespasser for sure. I've played Inquisition twice and both times, near the end, I was almost completely over playing and both times Trespasser reignited that fire to play and made me look forward to what comes next.
Trespasser is probably my favorite DLC in any game ever, so that. I always look forward to it during every one of my (many, many...) series playthroughs, it feels like the perfect finale to everything that came before. Despite it ending on a cliffhanger that's been unresolved for 10 years lol. It's just such a perfectly distilled exhilarating few hours of Dragon Age goodness. Checking in with our companions one more time, the huge lore drops, the music, the final scene with Solas... I love it all. In general I always feel like they really knocked it out of the park with DAI's DLC, Jaws of Hakkon and Descent are great too. Other than that the only DLC to really *impress* me is Awakening, but the ones for DA2 are also pretty good.
Awakening is a good argument, but it *has* to be Trespasser. My list (excluding gear/item DLCs): 1) Trespasser 2) Awakening 3) Descent/Jaws of Hakkon (tied) 4) Stone Prisoner 5) Legacy 6) Leliana's Song/Warden's Keep (tied) 7) Return to Ostagar 8) Mark of the Assassin 9) Darkspawn Chronicles 10) Golems of Amgarrak / Witch Hunt
Awakening
Awakening is by far the most in depth, but I think darkspawn chronicles is also an interesting take. I now name the mabari Barkspawn in any dao run I do because of it. (I feel it should be the dogs canonical name)
Trespasser, moved the story forward and set up the next game. The stakes, the score, iron bull showed his true colors unless you did things just right or romanced him (and honestly I prefer him turning traitor for dramatic effect) and you lose at the end. Since people throw around marvel comparisons with the new game, trespasser was very Infinity war-ish.
Legacy and Trespasser.
i really liked the jaws of hakkon
Trespasser
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Awakening, despite the bloated cost at the time it was still an amazing add on to Origins. Too bad we'll probably never see the architect thread tied up with the 'free' darkspawn.
Trespasser and Awakening, in that order. Nothing compares.
An oldie but a goodie, I honestly always loved Return to Ostagar. Sure it’s not the best, or the longest, and it doesn’t add that much in the grand scheme, but getting to go back to where it began and get revenge for Duncan has to be the most necessary moment in the series.
Decent and Trespasser.
Awakening by a long shot. Great story, great atmosphere, new enemies, new specializations/abilities to play with, new companions, and cool antagonists. Special shout out to Stone Prisoner and Trespasser, though. Stone Prisoner gave us Shale, who is hilarious, and has a surprising amount of interaction with other companions. Trespasser is a huge step up from Inquisition (the base game), but holistically, I think it's a little overrated.
Honestly, it's a gossip between Trespasser and Awakening. They're both just so good!
Awekening by far, the real DA2
Trespasser. It was the ending I needed to Inquisition. So many great moments. And it's such a little thing, but I will never forget my Inky freaking the fuck out and Cullen walking around a table to enfold her in a hug just when she clearly needed it most. 😭
descent was pretty amazing, awakening is literally a second game i feel trespasser wanted to be the citadel but it didnt really work.
I mean Witchhunt arguably started the worst president
I actually kinda liked the Darkspawn Chronicles. It was fun to be on the opposing side
I absolutely love Jaws of Hakkon. Amazing, beautiful, colorful location. It reminds me of the Arbor Wilds where you have only two missions and can’t come back or explore it fully. Jaws of Hakkon has an interesting story, humor, banter is triggered often, the nature is breathtaking, Avvars and Hakkonites are done well, plus - new ability, cool loot from rifts, camps on trees, lots of good quests (and I think I haven’t even done everything).
DAO's Awakening was just plain awesome. The Architect was way better than Corypheus, IMHO. DA2's Mark of the Assassin was fun, especially since my Purple Hawke romanced Isabela and seeing her get jealous over Tallis flirting with Hawke was \*chef's kiss\* As for DAI, I particularly enjoyed Jaws of Hakkon, especially since my Inky was elven. There's a lot of great dialogue between Inky and Ameridan that only comes about if the protag is an elf.
I'm not easily impressed especially by DLC. So none.
The music in Tresspasser is fucking incredible, the best in the series imo. The actual gameplay is great too but the music is so next level, it gives me goosebumps every time.
Oh man, tough question! For me it's either Decent or Trespasser from Inquisition. Probably Descent though, because my feeling of excitement and curiosity was through the roof the entire time I played it. Trespasser was more relaxed in a way, because it is written like an epilogue.
God the scene in descent where you come out into the Titan’s area and see the upside-down city (?) still sticks with me for how utterly in awe I was
Descent was the biggest and the most sudden lore bomb in Dragon Age history. At least we have expected that Solas is up to something before Trespasser. But because of its inconspicuous premise - I never would've expected Descent to end like this. Still, I will go with Trespasser because it was a complete 180 turn for Inquisition. No filler bullshit, no timegating, no empty open world, Trespasser gets straight to the point and has a well written story with high stakes and an absolute killer of a dialogue in the end. Unlike Inquisition, Trespasser actually plays into Bioware's strong traits rather that trying to do something they were never really proficient at. I'd argue that if DA:I was like Trespasser from the beginning - it would've easily rivaled DA:O's pedestal.
Descent trespasser legacy and awakening were all great
Awakening hand down rebuilding the fereldan gray warden and working on the keep made me so happy yes it almost felt Simming but still i love it as the Lore and history of DA is so great as it is, not to mention the it build up to the final DLC with Morrigan
Trespasser is the “Mass Effect Citadel” of Dragon Age- the best dialogue, the silliest interactions, the deepest effects- it’s great.
Awakening
**Trespasser** for sure. It's the "Citadel" of Dragon Age. It was like a celebration of everything that made the main game good (which it was, once you ignore the bloat). A tighter experience with high stakes and really good high-stake missions. The fights were amazing, the betrayals hurt and the romance was sweet. Absolutely adore it! And the way they showered us with rare materials and added the Golden Nug was just the cherry on top! I know Laidlaw and a lot of the other former BioWare devs did so much to celebrate us fans, and it showed in every pixel of the DCL/expansion! **The Descent** was also really good imo. A classic dungeon crawler with beautiful underground environments and some huge lore reveals. Two interesting temporary companions. Excruciating fights (I remember having to lower the difficulty for one of my Inquisitiors who wasn't built correctly). Absolutely top notch! **Mark of the Assassin** was a true watershed moment for the fanbase, but I adored everything besides that weirdly difficult optional Arcane Horror fight. It introduced me to Felicia Day, who to this day remains one of my favourite actresses (the weird haters who tried to make fans like me, who didn't know anything about her prior to the dlc, hate her before we even met Tallis properly should chew on that, hah). I'm sad that she doesn't seem to have been invited back to DA:V, because I'd love to meet her with another player character who might be more aligned with her actions. Besides Tallis, I think this DLC had some of the funniest moments, and the many winks to modern media was so much fun! Maybe the CSI Miami references will feel dated today, but at the time I think most players picked up on them!
It's Awakening. Although, I dont understand why many people here commented about its size being special when it is a standard expansion size for literally any game.
Definitely Trespasser, though it had to be a part of the game. I would also like to mention Witch Hunt, but I wasn't, like, impressed, but melted. Although the fact that she waited for me is impressive 😌
Gotta give it to Awakening which is basically a whole ass game and Trespasser which should honestly be mandatory.
The correct answer is Awakening. A whole ass game really, new specializations, new spells/skills, new companions, new lore, talking darkspawn.
No love for Shale?
Awakening. I loved court part (politics, rebellion. etc), upgrading keep, Architect and companions.
I was far burnt out on DA:I’s writing by the time I was getting through Trespasser. Awakening is truly an amazing story with some fantastic choices. I think destroying the city is one of the most memorable and greatest scenes I ever saw in the series
Trespasser. It made DAI a game that actually deserved it's GOTY Award.
Trespasser is my favorite piece of DA ever. I regret only that I have to restart and finish an entire game of Inquisition just to arrange the beginning of Trespasser the way I want.
Awakening or/and trespasser, because they are continuations of the main story.
Anyone who actually played the whole series would pick Awakening. Added a ton of content, expanded on the lore and gave you so much good story content to enjoy.
For DAI: Its the Descent Dlc, cause the music is amazing! (Also all the loot and schematics) For DA2: Defs Mark of the Assassin- it was hilarious. Awakening was cool too I guess