spoiler Awakenings rant

[Dagothurn]

I've only played it once, to completion, using an Orlesian Warden. It felt like an uninspired cash-in on DAO's success, mainly because it lacked enough scope and length to get to my favourite part in DAO, the end-game - where the story really starts getting exciting.

 

It was like playing DAO... except only going through half of the game, ending the story after conscripting the Dwarves.

[LancelotLoire]

The games climax (high point) is unfortunately just before the final bit of the game when you either save/burn the city of Amaranthine or rescue/let fall Vigil's Keep. The fighting for those is far more impressive then that annoying final areas confrontation with the pathetically easy "Mother"

[JasmoVT]

Despite the multiple logical discontinuities from DAO, I thought Awakenings up to the defense of the Vigil/city was up to Biowares usual standards of writing and game play. The rest was clearly rushed and unsatisfactory. The whole final series of levels and battles from that point on were far too easy. The epilogues were just sloppy writing which is very unusual for Bioware so I suspect the theory of being rushed by EA is spot on. Now for DA2 they are throwing out the very core of fantsy rpgs by limiting character to human just to add in the fluff of main character voice acting which adds nothing of real value to the game.

[Alleina]

I just finished awakening today and had some really strange bugs at the end. I killed both the architect and the mother, hurray for the next blight, and then got my epilogue but it reverted back to the cut scene were I killed the mother again like 3 times.

 

Even though I had 1.04 patch I had to install a fix for sigrun`s quest because I completed a quest before our meeting and other bugs but of a lower interference.

 

I really missed a little of interaction with the old party the most. I simply found stupid that Alistair came all the way from Denerim to greet you, give you a kiss in the cheeks and then leave. duh. If he stayed for the night it would have been really nice a little love talk for the least. Also, WTH with Wynne? She was like my second mother in the DAO and now she greets me like if we were back in the camp again. Considering that Nathaniel was able to hug her sister, they could have just added a more caring option for both characters if the requirements were given.

 

Other odd thing to me was Oghren, his goodbye speech in the Denerim`s siege was really touching, about how we were siblings in arms and the way I transformed him in a warrior again. If he was going to return and been neutral towards you all of a sudden they could have filled that gap with something, but I guess they didn't care at all about that.

 

 

In the end what I liked the most was the new characters. Anders was hit, Justice and Oghren banters about "bodily functions" funny as hell. I hope that someday that the talented Modders will be able to put their hand in this delightful new companions and create more options of party banter and romances.

 

So for now, there is just to continue waiting for DA2 and play fable 3 I guess xD

[Thandal]

I just finished awakening today ...

 

... In the end what I liked the most was the new characters. Anders was hit, Justice and Oghren banters about "bodily functions" funny as hell. I hope that someday that the talented Modders will be able to put their hand in this delightful new companions and create more options of party banter and romances.

 

So for now, there is just to continue waiting for DA2 and play fable 3 I guess xD

As are we all!

(Hoping Dave-of-Canada's "Super Varric Kong" can fill some of the time... :teehee: )

 

I second most of your observations (although I never cared for Wynne, so that one didn't bother me so much :laugh: ) BioWare should have a sign in the devs workspace:

"It's the Characters, Stupid!"

Want more banter, more LI, MOAR, MOAR, MOAR! :yes:

 

The bugs with Sigrun's PQ were really annoying for me. I had to play almost three times to get it done (even after I found the Community "fix", I didn't realize there was still a (faulty?) interaction with the OTHER side-quest!) And I had "sometimes good, sometimes bad" luck with the Silverite Mine/Disappearing Equipment" bug.

 

But I've pre-ordered DA2, and have been following the chatter from D.G and M.K. through the public forums, (and some backchannels) so, "Confidence is HIGH." :thumbsup:

[XTR3M368]

Well , one of my rant points is being taken care of now. There is an "Add Mhairi" mod out. It is still what I would call beta, but at least you can have your female tank back and stop the sausage fest. With the savory morph I put on her, and the no helmet hack, I am finding I am enjoying playing some. I still find that some random fights are surprisingly hard like one of the random encounters, and the "major" fights aren't nearly hard enough. Oh well, I play RPGs mostly for the storyline, models and content anyway. Anyway, here is a link to that Add Mhairi mod:

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1698

[LobselVith66]

Although there are some bugs, Awakening does have everyone recognize the importance of the Hero of Ferelden - you become the new Arl of Amaranthine, which is a big deal for a Warden who is an elf or a mage (or even both) since you become the precedent for every elf and mage out there who wants to become something more than a second class citizen. There's some interesting weapons and armor, you get to know some interesting new characters, help Nathaniel come to grips with his father's actions and help Velanna realize that not all humans are bad. You're tasked with the decision to trust the Architect or outright kill him, and the possibility of changing the fate of the darkspawn is ultimately left to that particular choice.

[iateacrayon]

I have to say it needs some patching and about 5 more places to go and 40 quests thrown in to make it worth buying. I finished all the available quests for the chantry to find out that's all she wrote. You did one quest per place apart from the city, Vigil's Keep and the 3 main plotline places! The problem is that most (all?) of the companions are optional. Sure, that is great and all, but it takes away most of the dedication to improving their integration into the whole plot. There are less confrontations between traveling between places, which means that I actually found out about Velenna's companion quest by checking online- have not seen it in game after 2 complete games! They never put in a camp, or gave the companions much dialogue outside of quests and Oghren's cask talks. By the way, funny stuff right there! They really brought Oghren to a whole new level of badass drunkery!