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Dragon Age: The Failure

Exciting! The new Dragon Age expansion has arrived. So I quickly went ahead and clicked install. Half a minute later I'm sitting before an "Installation Failure" screen. Five attempts later the game still isn't installed. Luckily there's Google. Apparently the game doesn't properly install on Vista Ultimate 64 bit. There's a quick fix: install it using the Windows 2000 compatibility mode. Five minutes later the game is installed. How many people will return their games to the store because it doesn't work? It's an unacceptable bug.

After installing Mass Effect 2 I spent two hours in vain trying to find my old save game. I didn't have any luck and used a pre-made character from another player. But I felt bad about loosing my character. I made sure I wouldn't have the same problem with Dragon Age. I left the game installed after finishing it because the expansion was just around the corner. And indeed, the old save-game loads flawlessly. There's just one problem, my character is completely naked except for her gloves (yes, it gives me a déjà vu)...



When I started the new campaign I immediately noticed that my character is naked. Her companion next to her is dressed in what looks like epic gear. It's a complete immersion breaker to see that she's having a conversation like nothing is wrong. Soon I'm off to my first fight. Unarmed! My sword & shield? Gone. My armor, hat, boots, rings, necklace,...? Gone. I'm a warrior fighting with a bow. So once again we google the problem. And I quickly find out the cause: none of the DLC is transferred.

Bioware makes sure that people want to obtain their DLC. They give out free Blood Dragon armor of which I used the chest until the end of the game. The Starfall sword & my warden shield are both the best items in their categories that I found in the game. And they're all gone. It makes no sense to punish those who buy DLC by deleting all their items.You give them the best gear in the game only to take it away.

I hope that Dragon Age: The Awakening will still amaze me but it has one horrible start.
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