RPGWatch Feature: Dragon Age - Witch Hunt Impressions

Witch Hunt is the last DLC for Dragon Age, with one of the most interesting premises - finding some answers to the Morrigan enigma. If you're thinking of pulling the trigger on this DLC, read on for my impressions. A sample:

Even with my enthusiasm for Dragon Age, I haven't played any of the DLC packages beyond those packaged with my version of the game (Wardens Keep and The Stone Prisoner) and the expansion-sized Awakening. I'm quite open to the idea of DLC but firing up a game I spent over 100 hours with to play some little two-hour segment in isolation just doesn't seem that enticing.
Until this one. Morrigan was a central part of my game - a mainstay of both my standard party and the focus of the most interesting decision in the game. Completing that story sounded like a good way to close the book on Dragon Age.
Disappointment ensued.

Read it all here.
More information.

well, I'll give that a miss then - I said before (somewhere) that I didn't think a 2-bit DLC could do justice to Morrigan - what you've said above confirms that unfortunately

Sounds like a blatant case of false advertising.

Thanks, Dhruin. I'll give this one a pass then.

I haven't purchased a dlc in a long time. I was never interested in playing Darkspawn and there was no way I cared about that "french" girl, but Moriggan now that was a different story entirely. Too bad they offered next to nothing because they've shown they can actually make a dlc worth the few bucks it costs. Stone Prisoner would have been worth paying for if it hadn't been included in the collectors edition.

I played it last night. I was fine with the ending and liked it - BUT I also did not get the bug so many people are getting. If I had I would have been extremely irritated and upset. I don't blame people in the least.

It was also very short for the "last" DLC and for a character as big as Morrigan. I will stress I liked it and would give it about a 7, but I was dissapointed and expected more from Bioware.

I can see VO having some impact on costs and the shortness of the chat with Morrigan. Yea I am on a VO rant lately

Combat was very standard and the only dialogue was uncontrolled (i.e. you could not initiate it) between the NPC's - although it was amusing at times. It was also short and rather uninspired, and buggy to some.

For pluses I enjoyed seeing Dog again and playing my Warden. I happen to really like some of the little tidbits of information scattered about and I also did find the ending very satisfying, especially some of the information gleamed on Flemeth, Morrigan, and the future.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
For pluses I enjoyed seeing Dog again and playing my Warden. I happen to really like some of the little tidbits of information scattered about and I also did find the ending very satisfying, especially some of the information gleamed on Flemeth, Morrigan, and the future.

And therein lies my problem with DLC like this. I think I would find the experience very much like Dhurin did - I just don't get on with one-shot pieces of play that aren't part of a bigger whole. However I want to get the lore and story, and almost (but not much) feel cheated that it wasn't already included or will be included in a full future game. Maybe it well, and I'll be happy. But shifting the main character of DA2 makes it less likely I'll want to invest in my current character in this way. Annoying.

I have now tried three times to start Awakenings. I can't do it past 15 minutes or so. Just boring.

Dragon Age just has no lasting appeal for me. I completed it once, and tried going through it again after a few months off. And I can't do it.

I've tried the Leliana add on content as well and can't finish it. I enjoyed DA the first time through, but really don't like it much now.

It's very short, I explored every corner of every area and it only took me 90 minutes to complete. It's also very easy, I played it on nightmare difficulty without even comming close to having one of my characters dying. And that's in a party without a tank character. The party members are pretty good though, voice acting and script wise.

The area's themselves are all recycled, although they are brought on a satisfying manner. This DLC is supposed to be final chapter to be told about our Warden and the implementation really reflects that. It's like a revisit of old battlefields who have moved on after a war. You retrace your steps of (slightly) touched up old content until you meet up with Morrigan.

That however, is something else entirely. Apart from having the bug, she doesn't reveal anything. The only thing that's (slightly) meaningful is that she says there's a storm comming and that's it. No revelations, nothing. You can bring some sort of closure to your Warden's story though, but even that avenu is an open ending.

Overall I'd rate it 6/10, especially for its price. It is nothing compaired to Leliana's DLC.

Terrible. A story which explains NOTHING. And in the end, due to the bug my end decision was not reflected, but Morrigan only complained why I once had declined her offer, when I did NOT.

Man, what an evil way of Bioware to steal my money.

To all who doubt, save your money. The DLC is SO NOT worth it!

@Kalniel - I do agree as I am one who loves a consistent character. It felt great to have my Warden playing again, even if only for 90 minutes or so. I wish I could play him more…. even though he is destined to die young anyhow (although in my "happy ending" mind I have resolved it.

As for the other comments - I pretty much agree with most of what people are saying. It wasn't a great DLC even if I liked parts of it.

However I am posting as there is an update (think it is on the forums will try to link to it when I get home). The bug has to do with the saved game used for the import. The one to use is the "post coronation" one. You can tell if you have a "good" import based on the dialogue choices right at the begining when Dog joins you - ie do you know dog? do you have the find, kill, get baby choices about morrigan or a single generic one.

Not that this is acceptable by any means - but for those who want to play it without the bug wanted to share.

Sorry to say, I agree completely, Dhruin. $7 wasted. I expected to find out about Morrigan and her baby and close what was billed as the "final chapter" in the DA story. Instead I got an hour of fluff. Short, I expected. Empty of content I did not.

That's €5 saved then,this was the only DLC I considered since I didn't touch Awakening due to it's technical problems.Can't say I'm really bothered since my Origins character could not know what happened to the Witch.
Thanks for the tip everyone

A quick question (I'll probably get this DLC at one point, since I'm playing as dalish elf that's rather naive around the ways of the world).

How on earth do you find nightmare easy? I'm having a tough time on the 'easy' difficulty…

As for the storm coming, Morrigan has always been an enigma…and this could only mean….More Morrigan in DA2, either for the main game or as DLC. And couldn't the storm be the Quanari Invasion…? [If there really is a quanari invasion going in DA2, Bioware must have lost all it creative strength and force these 15 years…]

what a pity - i was hoping to get a somewhat epic final confrontation with morrigan :-(

Well for those who romanced Morrigan there was actually some very good closure.



There were also a lot of tidbits/foreshadowing in codex, conversations of people near by, etc. of things to come in DA2.

Also a lot of hints in the ending.



I may play it again and focus less on rushing to the end and combat and hunt for more clues.

Originally Posted by aries100
How on earth do you find nightmare easy? I'm having a tough time on the 'easy' difficulty…

Did you import an Awakening character or…? I honestly went *click*, *yawn*, *click*. I think one character got low-ish fighting the varterral and I was thinking about controlling the mage to use some spells effectively but then it was dead.

@wolfgrimdark, I guess some players might find that "closure", but I didn't. It was a nice touch (you know, for the whole 15 seconds) but nothing about the baby or her plans were revealed at all. She does make sure to foreshadow Flemeth, which felt like an advertisement to me.

I don't mind the lack of answers per se but there was no depth to the lead up, either in the dialogue or the gameplay -- and then no genuine resolution on top of that.

I distinctly remember killing Flemeth in DA:O. I'm glad i haven't gone near any of the DLC if all it does is throw out any of the decisions my character made.

I can somewhat stomach a sequel laying out what was cannon but to do so in DLC is just lazy.

Why include the choice at all if they're just going to be like "actually, that never happened. You know that dragon you put a sword through, that was just a hallucination"

It was hinted in DAO that Flemeth wasn't truly dead after you fought with her, read the codex entry. Morrigan didn't seem to be think that she was gone forever either.

Originally Posted by BanalityDUFF
I distinctly remember killing Flemeth in DA:O. I'm glad i haven't gone near any of the DLC if all it does is throw out any of the decisions my character made.

I can somewhat stomach a sequel laying out what was cannon but to do so in DLC is just lazy.

Why include the choice at all if they're just going to be like "actually, that never happened. You know that dragon you put a sword through, that was just a hallucination"

Like the person said above me, Flemeth was defeated but never killed. The sequel isn't breaking canon as the codex made it clear Flemeth wasn't dead (by hinting the possibility that she might not be).