Awakening -- Opinions so far?

[Ambrya]

I finished my first play-through of Awakening last night. Here's how I would rate it on a scale of 1-10:

 

Monsters to fight: 9

Lots of hack-and-slash fun

 

Goal-oriented quests: 7

I would rate this higher, because some of the quests were really good, except that I found some other quests to be too obscure and a waste of time, such as collecting crap for Wade to make armor out of rare things (honestly, I'm ruler of the keep and trying to build an army and stop the darkspawn from massacring my people. That's the sort of thing where you say, "Seneschal, here's my shopping list, take care of it." More than that, I know I HAD some of the things on the list Wade gave me for those quests, yet when I went to look for them, neither the object was neither in my inventory nor on any of the merchants I had access to.

 

Also, there were at least 2-3 puzzle games I never even bothered with. I hate puzzle games, and several times they pop up without any indication as to their objective or what you're supposed to be doing with them.

 

Relationships: 4

I didn't care about the companions much at all, found triggering their dialogue using objects to be obscure and cumbersome, and I think Oghren was glitched. I gave him every gift I could and got as much approval with him as I possibly could and still he never confided in me so I could finish his quest. Every gift I gave him wound up with a +6 approval, instead of +10, +9, +8 etc.

 

Romances: 1

Thank God I was romancing Alistair; at least I got 2 minutes and a platonic buss on the cheek from my sweetie. Otherwise I would have been S.O.L. I invested a lot of time and effort into that relationship in "Origins" and it became the major appeal of the game for me; to ignore it was highly unfulfilling and really diminishes my psychological immersion into the game.

 

Politics: 10

The one part where they got the immersion factor spot-on was in the politics. There were several decision points where I had to look at things in my role as both Warden-Commander and Queen-Consort of Ferelden. In Origins, my character was very idealistic and egalitarian and wanting to help everyone. In Awakening, often the decision I came to didn't necessarily gel with my primary idealistic "rescue kittens from trees" inclination.

 

In some ways, that transformation actually started toward the end of Origins with the Dark Ritual decision (it HURT to send my love into Morrigan's arms!) but in Awakening, it really came home that doing the humanitarian thing wouldn't necessarily be the best thing for the Wardens or for the reign of the king.

 

As a result, I'd give the total immersion factor a rating of 4.

[Riddleofsteel]

Saddening to hear the negative points. I will probably never play Awakenings as I have never finished Dragon Age properly even once. Hopefully the next "Expansion" draws me into it again.

 

You shouldn't let negative posts put you down. Buy it and play it and make up your own mind as everyone is different.

 

 

I know what you mean. I over-reacted. I guess my expectations were unrealistically high and I need to come to grips with the fact that games are pretty hit or miss for anyone nowadays, and just play it myself. Unfortunately I still have't finished (or re-started) Origins yet. I know deep down I want to, but the prospect of trudging through the first 40 hours again (with how difficult and frustrating at times that it was) so soon is pretty daunting. I'm the kind of person that plays a game that strikes a chord with me until completion, but then I don't pick it up or replay it again for years usually. That's kind of what's happening here.

[ssd1]

Yarr,

 

I reckon its okay as a standalone addon.Not as in depth as the original though.

 

Also its a bit, well, gay really.

Had to edit the faces of all the crumpet ingame because they were all arse ugly...whats with killin off Mhairi (actually pronounced "mmm harry " and not "my reee") she had potential -- I had amazon bodys on and everything..

Now we're left with a load of guys,two gay guys making all the weapons...

 

Shoulda bought back Morrigan and/or Leliana,not a male dwarf.

 

//edit//

 

That dwarf is a bit good.He does fart / belch and is mildly entertaining so we mustn't be too hard on him.

 

//edit//

 

Luckily I replaced velanna' face with Rikku (the hot elf from party recruiting) and pretty much all the women at the court with tastier alternatives.

 

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/921/screenshot2010032223461.jpg

 

So I dont seem too biased / sexist, I have left the womens clothes on.

 

SSD

[Sinophile]

I too am mildly disappointed. I am glad to see that most of the posters in this topic seem to agree with my own personal feelings. I see that I am not the only Leliana fan out there. I personally think both female party members are vapid and forgettable. No one has mentioned Runecrafting yet.Crafting runes is my favorite part of the expansion. I love making armor that can boost stamina,HP etc, or can deflect arrows.

 

What I don't like is the leveling sysem/skill tree. Personally, I think NWN2 had a better skill tree for high level characters. In Awakening, I kinda feel like my character was over-leveled from the beginning, and oftentimes have trouble choosing a skill that I would actually use.

 

I had a romance with Morrigan, even though Leliana was the one I wanted.

Anyway, I chose to impregnate Morrigan at the end of DA:O. I was wondering if that would have any bearing in Awakening, or will I have to wait until DA:O2 to see my male without a father child?

 

[roppomat1]

hi all

 

so my oppinion :

 

the addon is realy nice,cool, and has a lot of lols too

on the other hand its....a joke.....its just a fast update and nothing more a addon to kill some time...

 

i needed almost 2 weeks to play origins... 3x .......

and now i just needed 5 days to play the addon 3x.....

i played with my import char.. a bad ass human thief.....

i played a worrior ( new char )

and i played a mage.....

 

well lets start with the negative stuff ......sad.. but it must be...

 

archers are totaly .... behind........

thiefs got skills....fighter.. even nuker got a spezialisation...

but archers not....

what a good archer like nathaniel shall do with melee skills from a fighter ?

no way......

relations arent there overall.....

char storys....to short definatly....

some words about the chars from origins ... i mean a short talk with wynne or allistar..... hmpf... to less....

side quests like the ones from the inn....totaly not needed and a waist of time ....these quests can be better used for relations hsip quests....

and the realy sad point is....chars get the last skills.. almost when the game is done.....

velana got a lvl up in the boss fight with the mother.....WTF....................she reached lvl 33 there.. but .. wtf ??????

if the game almost is done.. u cant do the other quests for your comps...

4 ppl in party is far to low......

on each poo u can exchange them o be able to continue char storys/quests...

wade.. the blacksmith is.. a joke overall....golem armor ... hmpf.. oki nice gimmig but useless ... and WHY.. at the endgame ....

mhairi.. we wont talk about anymore.. thats was a fail ..

introducing a char.. let us spend his talent points.. and at the ritual she die ???????

oghren ??? well oghren works together with the other dwarf.......oki since oghtrens wife kicked him i can undertand these story....

nathaniels story is verry cool...

justice ????... hm....wont say anything about it.. waist of time...

velanna and anders ?... hmmm well velanna is cool, reminds a bit on morrigan...anders...not needed....

velanna got the same skills.... booth a mage and healer .....why have 2 of them in party ?

 

the city is cool, verry hot desing for amarantine... but .. what is the stuff on the roof in the center ??? with the cage and the leutnant there ?

 

the good stuff :

the addon is verry cool.....new chars. new backgrounds... ( oghren )

a lot of mobs.. and the idea being a leader of a fort.. is just.. awesome...

ofc i defend my fort instead of the town^^....

a bit more action in the final fort war could be cool :)

 

wishes for the next time :

more party slots.. more and deeper char storys....

getting skills and chars not almost at the end game

more archer spezials....

looooonger wars.... not just killing 10 to 15 mobs and the gate defending is succeded^^

more relations to the chars...

and a choise from all chars....origins and awakening....

 

there is a lot of stuff to do... for bioware.. but i can say as a RPG gamer since 15 years and more.. that bioware is a god in that case...

just get BG and BG2 as example.. no need to say more......

so iam just curious about DAO 2 if we get it or not..

i wish we will^^

[Madkipz]

well, never really posted anywhere. Joined here some time ago and skulked the corners abit so thought id start posting.

 

Ive played both origins and awakening, completed both twice with a third in the making. Ive never really gotten to see how the morally bad choices would affect the rp in itself (siding with werewolves, cult of andraste etc.)

 

but for what its worth, the expansion is short, your love interests are all gone, your dogs not there. There is no incentive to side with the smugglers and too few quests and plot decitions overall inside amaranthine to bother siding with the city nobles.

 

There is no siding with the mother, the arcitect can suck on my ancestors axe and the children are well. New idiotic darkspawn that make no sence as an addition to the hurlock, ogre and genlock armies.

 

Zevran ran out on me the male without a father. Its probably my fault for picking him as my love interest when playing dwarf noble, my guess is that the talk of children made him run faster than the chasind abandoned their homes during the blight-

 

Nathaniel wasnt that bad a replacement, as archers go the new talents and passives really made him a force to be reconed with much like all the other classes.

 

Key points: Hardly any debt, you end up playing a somewhat Mary Sue like character but overall its not worse than playing bioshock or warhammer 40k chaos rising. As far as story goes, a standalone dlc chasing after zevran in antiva would be downright awesome.

[Tikkidew]

There's great points, both good and bad. It's nice to see some new faces posting too! Thanks for your opinions guys ;)

[brokenergy]

There are some bugs with Oghren

 

Here is one funny one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_bS5hGrCDY

 

[Christine777]

Hi guys..

 

I've just finish mine too. It's good, but not really as i expect it to be. Perhaps, i'm just boost to excitement seeing some early posts in this thread.

The battle, weps, armor, and some of the new abilities are good, but in my opinion, it really lacks coherence and emotions (story plot - so to say). Well, it's just my opinion. :smile:

Anyway its good as it is - as an EXPANSION.

Let's hope for the better in DAO II.

 

PS: But it is still my best RPG at present. :happy:

[Riddleofsteel]

When I think of the word 'expansion', I think of Thone of Bhaal. I suppose that's an unfair comparison though. Pretty hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice.