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So this went live right before I was leaving for work and I haven't been able to get into it yet. Anyone here who has, how is it? Difficulty: no story spoilers.

//Felicia Day yeeeeahh

Felicia Day really, really irritates me. She's the would-be avatar of geek-chic, the harbinger of mainstreaming the misfit. If she posed any harder she'd turn into a statue. The fact that BioWare has so perfectly rendered her ratlike, lisp-inducing overbite into a character for this expansion and, presumably, to introduce her for the sake of this upcoming webseries is enough for me to pass on this DLC -- as if DA2's own faults weren't enough.

Manchu wrote:Felicia Day really, really irritates me. She's the would-be avatar of geek-chic, the harbinger of mainstreaming the misfit. If she posed any harder she'd turn into a statue.

This may be relevant to your interests.

Though at least Zooey Deschanel is attractive.

Funny you bring that up -- I read it last week and thought it was so funny I even recommended it to my wife. Maybe we should write a "X Reasons Why Felicia Day Wouldn't Date Your Avatar" list for Cracked?

Manchu wrote:Felicia Day really, really irritates me. She's the would-be avatar of geek-chic, the harbinger of mainstreaming the misfit. If she posed any harder she'd turn into a statue. The fact that BioWare has so perfectly rendered her ratlike, lisp-inducing overbite into a character for this expansion and, presumably, to introduce her for the sake of this upcoming webseries is enough for me to pass on this DLC -- as if DA2's own faults weren't enough.

So, you're saying you don't like Felicia Day?

Finally, someone who understands me! I guess I don't mind her as much as the culture-usurpation she stands for.

Turns out this runs four hours, for $10. Not bad for DLC -- $2.50 for an hour, you might see it. Consider especially that we paid $4.00/hour to play DA2 at release.

http://thecontrolleronline.com/2011/10/dragon-age-2-mark-of-the-assassin-dlc-review/

Hmm, kind of reminds me of something but I can't think what.

Could be worse, I suppose. I had ME2's Lair of the Shadow Broker, but I really resented that that tied up a bunch of important plot threads in a post-game, for pay, addon. Which they also did with DA1, technically, with Morrigan.

Anyway, I will have some time today to try out the DLC and virtually hang with the avatar of my ginger goddess.

As a gingerphile, I resent that you're assigning her Amy-Adams-like standing in my beloved pantheon. She's a 2 or 3 (on the famous person scale) at the very best, my good man, and frankly I'm not convinced that her haircolor didn't come out of a bottle. (GASP!)

Anyway, I look forward to your review. The DLC actually does look fun so I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Manchu wrote:As a gingerphile, I resent that you're assigning her Amy-Adams-like standing in my beloved pantheon. She's a 2 or 3 (on the famous person scale) at the very best, my good man, and frankly I'm not convinced that her haircolor didn't come out of a bottle. (GASP!)

Amy Adams is a natural blonde.

Us Magazine wrote:
"The red hair suited my personality. I was a terrible blonde!" the Oscar-nominated Julie & Julia actress has said of changing her light tresses to auburn.

She is right, though.

Also, yes, I read celebrity gossip mags all the time.

I'll take one of each, please.

Are the DA2 DLCs any good? I haven't gotten any of them yet, seemed like most of the DAO DLCs weren't much, like a mission or 2 that you can blow through in a night

OK, I beat the DLC, with the exception of this one optional fight.

I liked it. It was very short, maybe 3 hours? It might go faster if you don't spend as much time screwing around as I did.

You briefly run into some characters from elsewhere in the games, namely

There is also a brief reference asking if you knew the Warden. There is a garden party, which is neat, and a sneaking section, which was also pretty OK. There is an enormous amount of stuff revealed about the Qunari.

There were some nice new models, and some fights went a little differently. Nearly all of the game takes place in new areas, and there are at least 2 references to the re-use of locales in DA2; at one point Aveline gets lost and Merill says "it's hard to tell, this place all looks the same".

No new equipment worth mentioning! That was a surprise. I think I got a new belt and that was it, as a Rogue.

There is a fight very early in the game, in fact it might be the very first fight. You come cross a skeleton on a sarcophagus, and the new chick tells you to leave it alone. I wound up eventually taking her advice after a dozen failed attempts to win that fight as a lvl 22 rogue. Doesn't seem possible to win with my party makeup (no healer). The forums state people who have 5 levels on me still had a hard time with it. Apparently it's got crap loot anyway.

Overall, I liked it, but I loved DA2, so YMMV. I liked DA2 more then DA1, which is a statement I can tell needs defending. I found DA1 had a better engine and better mechanics, and I liked it required more thinking. That being said, these sorts of games are predicated on you making an emotional bond with your party, and I could not do that in DA1. I found the companions in the first one to be immensely unlikeable. DA2, on the other hand, did much better in that department to me, so I liked it much more.

I can't speak to any of the other DLC's, as I don't own any other then item DLC's (Hindsight, the black emporium, etc).

I don't listen to the criticism of DA2 very much - the majority of it is just they didn't like a lot of the changes, which were for the better overall anyways, they just wanted Origins 2.0.

I remember the same gak when ME2 was released, and all the ME1 purists were saying "lol, this game is gak, I'll never play it, ME1 is so better, Bioware so dumb"

ME2 is seen as one of the best games ever made today.

I just finished Act 1 of my second DA2 playthrough, as I skipped half the game in my first one when it first came out, and I'll be picking up both content DLC's, and ignore the "wargear packs", just like I did for ME2.