izigame.me

Okay, so just finished my full replay of the game. This DLC is worth the price in my opinion, But it being worth the price does not elevate it to the status Void Shadows. This is a downgrade from that level of quality, but I don't think it needs to be as bombastic as Void Shadows was to be a worthwhile DLC. Let's start with the positives:

+Owlcat continues to do integration perfectly. Hearing new quips from all the Voice Actors about the new companion and/or new locations feels like an expansion rather than a DLC.
+The sound design is still on point. I was really sad that the soundtrack didn't get the same boost in diversity as with Void Shadows nor were the Void Shadows tracks re-used but the music that did get added were of a similar quality. I just wish they'd let that composer(s) cook.
+The combat encounters were of a similar quality to Void Shadows (Albeit with some of the combos possible thanks to buildcrafting difficulty is hard to measure. I play on Unfair and use strong builds. There's no challenge)
+The writing is still good. I've seen people say the writing didn't feel good for them but the characters in this DLC certainly felt appropriate to the setting and lore. The Rogue Trader certainly feels more snarky this time around but that's welcome, honestly.
+It feels like a complete story. I didn't finish it and go "Well that seemed rushed" I'll talk about the length more in my critcisms but what IS there wraps up loose ends well.
Onto the negatives
- Solomorne comes too late and he's more shoehorned than any pre-Act 3 companion. His archetypes are fixed and his entire first tier of talents are picked. The devs did pick good talents, so thankfully he does fine in combat, but the companions already struggle with pigeon holing and this is just more of that.
- Solomorne's writing in his romantic cutscenes made him less believable as a person and felt like it relied too heavily on how he's part of the Arbites. One could say that romances with Yrliet and Marazhai are equally type-cast but those tend to make more sense given their background. Kibellah's writing was just a league above and Jae was written in such a way where she was ALSO lying to the Rogue Trader but we could see her struggle with those lies existentially more than we see Solomorne. I think they're leaning too heavily on the stoicism.
- There's just less content here than void shadows. The content that does exist is of a similar quality but it's at least 4-5 fewer fights and WAY less build up and intrigue. The content also doesn't fold nicely into the progression of the game. It's not clear when you should be doing what and while that's bound to happen, there could have been steps taken to make it flow easier like with Void Shadows. The fewer things to do, the more awkward it is to try and intersperse it.
- Solomorne has nothing to say in the "What say my advisors" section of colony development because he comes so late into act 2. The fact that you don't get him until a decent chunk into Act 2 means that I unknowingly didn't develop my colonies for fear of missing out on rewards with him seeing as Kibellah was considered an advisor and opened up new perks or items at colony development. Not so with Solomorne. I really think they should give you Solomorne immediately at Footfall. I know changing that wouldn't be possible without a complete upheaval of code and pacing but he should be present far sooner.
- Bugs, but you knew that. It's Rogue Trader. Play with Toybox and give Owlcat a few months.
Overall, at the price it's at? I'd call this a worthwhile experience. I hope that DLCs following this one bring more for us to do but I am pleased with the content that is here and the new companions is a nice addition even if his character is more type-cast than the usual high standard I expect from Owlcat writing. (To be fair, some of the companions are also type cast but it makes sense given their origin like Argenta.)