BioWare has announced that the Return to Ostagar downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins will be released on Jan. 5, 2010 for Xbox 360 and PC. PlayStation 3 players will gain access to the update "later in January," according to a press release.

You can view screenshots and a video for the new content on the official Return to Ostagar page. The update will cost 400 BioWare Points on the PC, 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, and $4.99 on PlayStation 3.

Dragon Age: Origins is a critical darling among gamers for its story, which is no surprise that a comic book based on the game will be coming out this March. What is a surprise is that popular sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card will be writing the story which involves rogue mages within the Circle of Magi.

If you haven’t been up to date with current events, Orson Scott Card is against homosexuality. He has strong anti-gay views, he’s a proud member of the National Organization for Marriage, and has advocated to overthrowing any government that supports same-sex marriages. The whole irony of this situation is that Dragon Age: Origins is pretty liberal with the sexual relationships (both long term and short term) the player can engage in. Animals, same-sex, midgets, what-have-you. Draw your own conclusions here; Alex in Borderhouseblog.com already has.

On a side note, the Dragon Age novel, The Stolen Throne, is out for your reading, if you’re into the Dragon Age story and mythos.

According to the announcement, the expansion features "an increased level cap, new spells, abilities, specializations and items, plus five all-new party members." Awakening also gives players the ability to re-spec their character attributes.

You can read more about the expansion and pre-order it on the official Awakening page.

Ashura wrote:

Spoiler:

Katzyuke wrote:@Shu: I have worst luck.... I'm jobless therefore can't graduate out of my Uni :(.....she just have to redo assignment... I have to find a job and work for at least 2 years or no degree for me :(....

@moe: i made allistar king ^^..... i have my logain for tanking :P

Ashura wrote:oh u fixed it?

hehe gz u are back online then ^^

hospital again?ur dry skin problem?

It’s funny that a game with a nice tactical combat system switches gears and forces you to be a little diplomatic around the end game. You see, you have to get the vote and favor of all the humans and noblemen in the Landsmeet of Denerim so that you can get more votes than Douchelord Loghain for your cause. This also means that I cannot bring Alistair into the argument; even though he might be of royal blood, he’s not really “kingly” material. You could actually do a sidequest which involves making him into a more hardy person, but apparently I must have chosen the wrong response and he’s still reluctant on taking over the throne from Lady Anora.

Of course, way before the landsmeet, I had to do some Denerim spring cleaning. First I had to free Lady Anora from the clutches of Tim Curry’s character, Arl Howe, in a dungeon. It’s a pretty tough segment if you somehow botch your disguise, and also because you can’t bring Shale in; his footsteps aren’t really suitable for a reconnaissance mission. Thanks to me upgrading Wynne to an Arcane Warrior, at least things were slightly easier.

Along the way, I manage to free a bunch of people. Turns out they were noblemen who has a bone against Douchelord Loghain and his minions in Ferelden’s equivalent of Parliament. I released them in exchange for their fealty in the landsmeet. I also came across my elven cousin who has been rotting in the jail for a while. He’s not terribly pleased to see me, but who can blame him? He did take the bullet for me in my origins story. As soon as I make my way out of the Denerim estate, I got captured and sent to Fort Drakon. It wasn’t that hard to escape; all I had to do was convince a guard that I was going to put out for him, knock his lights out, and dress up as a soldier. My high conversation skills help make me escape via fooling the guards that I was going on patrol with another bunch of guards.

Next, I had to find out what’s all the hoo-hah in the Elven Alienage. Apparently, my elven brethren are being kidnapped and sold by slavers, as per an agreement between a bald slaver magician and his company. So should I negotiate to let him leave alive while leaving everything on the ground? Well, I’m not intimidating enough, but there was an option on the dialogue tree where I can choose to have double the gold and get a nice written letter in a form of a confession while the slaver keeps my brethren. Not one to turn down a good fight, I decided to kick his bald ass.

The fight was a little tough: the magician will always, ALWAYS cast Blizzard, so the best option is to run away to where you came in from, then proceed to send in your group slowly so that you can cast some area-of-effect spell like a Sleep/Horror/Waking Nightmare combo.

After getting all of that done, it’s time to put on my diplomatic hat against Douchelord Loghain. As long as I kiss ass to Anora, she’ll back me up against her own father. Also, I made friends with the nobles in the tavern, as well as rescued and released a few of them in the Denerim secret prison. Plus, the papers I got from the slaver and Loghain’s collaboration with Arl Howe helped make the case against the Douchelord. After a few minutes of banter, the nobles support me, and I’m thrust into a duel with the Douchelord himself. I instead elected Shale to duel him.

Big mistake on my part. Loghain is not only strong, but each of his strikes will hit no matter what. I reloaded my save and decided to thrust in my own Lady Godiva. It took a lot of potions, but after some stun moves and quick hits, I emerged victorious. Sure, Loghain did repent, and one of the Grey Wardens I rescued earlier suggested that I should make him a Grey Warden. But he did put me through hell and back, so I don’t feel too bad gutting him in front of his daughter. Better him than Alistair, since he’s keen on procreating with the new Queen Anora to keep the birthright line going.

So with my armada of midgets, werewolves, and soldiers, will the game be hard enough to the point where I have to keep using them at every corner of the now-destroyed Denerim, which is the staging ground for the final battle?

Hell no.

Blame it all on the fact that by the time I’m Level 17, enemies go down like paper kites on a monsoon season. Ogres and Uruk Hai Hurlock Alphas and Emissaries aren’t real threats anymore. Unless I bumrush them without a plan, it’s pretty much smooth sailing from there. Sure, it felt long, with me having to hunt down the Archdemon’s generals all around the city before heading to Fort Drakon where the big bad is hanging around, but it was fun gutting the darkspawn with one or two sword-swings. Oh, and seeing an unfazed retarded dwarf covered in blood selling me goodies before the final battle? Priceless, I tell you.

I did use my werewolf army against the bad mother himself, the Archdemon. As long as I dogpile my werewolves (heh) and my team on it, we’re all good. When it flies out onto one of the towers of Fort Drakon, I had no choice but to use all the ballistas around the area that are conveniently pointed at the Archdemon’s direction.

So how did I do after killing the big, bad mutated dragon? I feel pretty fine. “But wait,” you might ask, “didn’t that Grey Warden say that anyone who kill the Archdemon will have their soul possessed by its evil spirit and would then kill the one who dealt the last blow?”

Well, Morrigan the smart witch has found a loophole: if someone with Darkspawn blood were to impregnate her, the Archdemon would end up looking for that particular seed instead, and since it’s unborn, it won’t be a threat anymore. I won’t go into specifics with this: I’ll just say that it’s magic. So out I go convincing Alistair to sleep with Morrigan at the eve of the big fight, and turns out that the loophole worked. Hooray for loveless sex as plot solvers.

Anyway, here are the end sequences I got.

I’m missing a screenshot, but an obvious setup for a sequel or expansion pack (coming out on March, by the by) is tacked on to the ending of Dragon Age: Origins. I’m glad I manage to dedicate a bit of time on this Bioware RPG, play-it-safe-settings and uncanny valley faces be damned. This means that I can stop playing this game and wait for Mass Effect 2. I better check if my save files on my 360 are still in my machine.