Awakening -- Opinions so far?

[ThingTheWiz]

I can't say that awakening is a "bad" RPG, it has all the standard ingredients that stretch and challenge you .... BUT

 

For me the original campaign stands head and shoulders above other games, because of the real-time interaction with other characters. Each of them has a strong, defined personality with their individual strengths, weaknesses and foibles (love the foibles ...). Furthermore, the interaction between characters is strongly consistent with these personalities - compared to many games the characters genuinely are credible and much more than puppet appendages to the main player. The voice-overs are amongst some of the best I have ever heard - it's not just the script but the quality of its delivery that is exceptional. Whilst I understand that building up this depth of character interaction is costly and time consuming , I am disappointed that this major "plus" is absent from Awakening. Nonetheless I'm enjoying it, and some of the "automatic" dialogues are actually very funny - it's just that in an "interactive" mode of the original campaign you get an impression of spontaneity, which is lacking here. Just goes to show how high the bar was set to begin with ......

[ChaironDeCeleste]

From the roleplaying aspect, especially seen from my female orlaisian warden's point of view,

I fully agrree with her when she leaves Master Wade's blade in the end boss' throat:

'If that was my Amarnthine experience, I really don't want anything to remind me of it!'

 

Her best friend Sigrun is gone for good no matrter what, even emo Anders is immune to her charms - no matter how deeply he fell in love with her - instead she's stuck with a venemous dalish pain in the neck, hence Valenna is the

only companion who fully supports her (pre-) end battle choices.

[Turian3]

I was very excited when I found out about this expansion for DAO. However after I completed it I felt empty inside. It felt like a mindless hack n slash with little story to bind it together. After playing DAO I guess I set my expectations way to high in regards to character development and plot. Also as others have said your previous decisions in DAO do not matter in the slightest. Now with that said it did kill some time but I am very wary of replaying it as I expect it to be the exact same as my first playthrough. :sad:

[ell46]

I was very excited when I found out about this expansion for DAO. However after I completed it I felt empty inside. It felt like a mindless hack n slash with little story to bind it together. After playing DAO I guess I set my expectations way to high in regards to character development and plot. Also as others have said your previous decisions in DAO do not matter in the slightest. Now with that said it did kill some time but I am very wary of replaying it as I expect it to be the exact same as my first playthrough. :sad:

 

I felt exactly the same, but, I did play it a second time to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time around and I found that I had missed a couple of things. Also the second time I chose to save the city not the keep which for me personally was nicer, but you don't have to play the whole game through to experience both battles if you don't want to. I won't be playing it again that's for sure.

[danscott84]

I see I am not the only one disappointed by Awakenings. I agree with several posters that the character development (and especially interaction with) sorely lacking. I got to the point I almost wish I could off them myself at times. The overall story was a good idea, but fell short in delivery. Origins did set the bar high, as did Mass Effect when it came out. I, for one, found both follow-ups (Awakenings and ME2) sorely lacking in story. I like RPG's because they play like interactive movies, and so far the sequals are following the same pattern their big screen counterparts do.