In Hollywood, the concept of the 'star vehicle' is established, from
Pretty Woman to The Scorpion King, but in games we've rarely seen it
(unless you count The Chronicles of Riddick or perhaps the endless
sports branding.) So, it's odd to see it sneak in as an expansion pack
to Dragon Age II. This DLC should really be called "Roleplay with
Felicia", as it introduces a new team character voiced by internet star
Felicia Day. (Who also appears to have acted as that same character in a
Dragon Age fan film elsewhere, by the way, and for whom the word
"sassy" was invented.)
Once downloaded, the pack can be accessed from your character's home in
Kirkwall; click on the strange statue in the back room and it triggers
another tall tale from your partner / henchdwarf Varric. Though
everything is leavened with a knowing humour, the ludicrous introduction
to the new character Tallis (where she kills a courtyard full of
assassins) is pure fan-service. Tallis herself is just Felicia, with a
scarily accurately modelled face, albeit with Elvish proportions and
ludicrous ears.
Felicia / Tallis sells the quest to you as the biggest possible heist,
stealing a jewel from an exceptionally well-guarded castle atop a
mountain in Orlesia. Suffice to say, it doesn't quite turn out like
that, but the journey's fun all the same. It's all delivered with sly
humour and inventiveness, reminiscent of the best of the Neverwinter
Nights expansions (I'm thinking Hordes of the Underdark or Pirates of
the Sword Coast here), and large tranches of comedy Orlesian / French
accents (notably the jewel's owner, Duke Prosper, played as a Peter
Sellers buffoon with a nicely dark edge).
Bioware draws the first two stages of the quest exceptionally. The scene
is set by a hunting outing for rich weirdos, followed by the season's
most exclusive party. Your character happens to be invited along, due to
her noble connections, which is why Tallis has taken you into her
confidence. To gain access to the party, you must kill a Wyvern, a new
large monster type; but to kill one, you must first track it down, which
means tramping around a large new area to pick up clues on when and how
to lure one. With a nice array of side-quests and a new brood of
enemies called ghasts, which are basically gibbering goblinoids,
occasionally accompanied by a pogoing spellgoblin, it's also noticeably
more attractive than the areas of the main game.
Once you've hunted and battled your way into the castle, the quest
descends into farce. Literal farce. Tallis and your character are
looking to steal this jewel during the most exclusive party of the year.
It's held in the courtyard proper, and you have to find a way into the
castle, which is achieved by flirting and gossiping with a variety of
toffs, guards and servants, including a number of Dragon Age cameos and
what I think is a transvestite Elvish prostitute. It's part buddy movie,
part slapstick rom-com (and, yes, you can romance Tallis, as long as
you're character isn't otherwise involved), and very much shares the
Buffy/Firefly gore n' levity formula.
Finally, there's a very forgiving stealth section, where you sneak to
the vault across the castle's rooftops. This gives you some interesting
vignettes, but the actual mechanics are somewhat of a let-down after the
innovation of the earlier sections – though kudos to the developers for
cramming even a rudimentary stealth system into an engine which doesn't
support it.
And after you get to the vault there's a choice which... ah, well that
would be spoiling things. Especially, as the actual plot revealed is
somewhat turgid and makes the normally spunky Tallis go all po-faced.
Suffice to say you walk out of this with a sack of loot, including
unique booty for the two other characters you take on the mission with
you, and there's a welcomely challenging Bond-villain-esque boss fight
at the end.
It's worth emphasising the studied quirkiness of this expansion again;
if you love the Joss Whedon style of flippant humour mingled with bloody
combat and maudlin seriousness, you'll love this. This is an expansion
where five minutes after your character camps it up, saying "I simply
must meet the person responsible for those Azaleas", Tallis is killing a
guard and moralising about his family; where Felicia Day prances around
covered in blood pretending to be an alluring nug saying "I can't do it
while you look" and where your optional romance with Tallis is
accompanied by Varric leering "sidekicks get to watch".
