Remember Dragon Age: Origins or “How to Keep a Good RPG Going”

While the article’s long title suggests that it’s a retrospective-of-sorts, this latest RPG piece penned by Joystiq’s Rowan Kaiser spends most of its time covering the pros and cons associated with adding post-release content to role-playing games, specifically Dragon Age: Origins. Despite its other weaknesses, I still think Awakening’s biggest flaw was that the changes it made didn’t apply to the base game for a new play-through:

Expand the characters: The two most successful add-ons, “Leliana’s Song” and “The Stone Prisoner,” expand the world through its characters. Leliana was one of Dragon Age’s least effective characters, so giving her historical depth via a fairly comfortable “heist movie” form was entertaining and low-key. If there had to be small, cheap add-ons, “Leliana’s Song” was on the right track. “The Stone Prisoner” gave Dragon Age: Origins arguably its best character, Shale, and a quest to match it.

Release a traditional expansion pack: Additional content for role-playing games used to take the form of discrete “Expansion Packs.” Ultima VII had “Forge Of Virtue”; Baldur’s Gate II had “Throne Of Bhaal.” These were fully-fledged extensions of the game world and sometimes main quest, lasting for hours, and even including some overall game engine improvements. In short, these became essential parts of the game experience Ultima VII’s sequel, Serpent Isle, assumed that the player had done the “Forge Of Virtue” quest for the Blackrock Sword.

Dragon Age: Origins had “Awakening,” the most audacious piece of the game’s add-on puzzle. It’s a miniature game on its own. And yes, it’s buggy, it’s too short given its scope, and its foray into Cronenberg-esque body horror doesn’t entirely fit Dragon Age’s prior tone. But because it tries to tell a complete story, on its own, utilizing the full capabilities of Dragon Age gameplay, I’m willing to forgive so much more in Awakening than I am in a tiny quest.