Spoiler Danger: Low
The Good
+ Great story
+ Some memorable characters
+ Kicking more ass as a Grey Warden
+ The new mage skill trees are sick
The Bad
- Poor integration with previous DLC
- None of the new features available in Origins
Well, it's been a while since I sat down to write a review of anything! Last actual review was Uncharted 2 back in the day. Whew! It's good to be back, and what a way to kick off my return!
Back in February, I gave my 2009 Xbox 360 Game of the Year award to Dragon Age Origins for being one of the most astounding RPGs I've played in a very long time. Leave it to BioWare, as always, to put together something I adore. So, there was little doubt in my mind that I'd be picking up Awakening, if only to continue playing as my completely badass Arcane Warrior elf.
An aside - Arcane Warriors are the most broken class in the game. Characters just don't get more powerful or well-rounded. By the end of Awakening, I was fighting the really difficult bosses in the game, and my elf was beating the bosses' faces in even long after the rest of my party had fallen. Try that with your rogue or your warrior!
End aside.
So I loaded up Awakening and imported my badass elf into the new campaign. I'd like to start by noting some thoroughly disappointing things.
- You do not get to keep any armor, weapons, jewelery, or any other items you find in DLC with the exception of the items found in Return to Ostagar. I have no idea why they did this, and it's a bit upsetting that they did. I paid for The Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep, so why shouldn't I be able to keep the things I found there?
- You do not get to keep anything that is equipped to any of your Origins characters. Also ridiculous. Make sure to strip your Origins pals of all their gear before importing your character.
- You do not get to keep any of the items in your private chest at Soldier's Peak. Make sure to empty it out prior to importing your character into Awakening.
- Finally, and most disappointingly, Awakening exists completely outside the Origins game. There is no effect on the original set of quests - none of the new items or skills are available until you import a character from Origins into Awakening. Remember the way the changes for Diablo 2's expansion Lord of Destruction backfed into the original Diablo 2 game? I was hoping for that.
As long as I'm in the ranting mood, I'd like to get out of the way all the things I didn't like about the game. For those who don't know already, only one of your Origins characters is playable in Awakening - Oghren. Leading up to the big reveal, BioWare touted that a "fan favorite" was returning. I don't know about you, but in my readings and from the people I've spoken to, he's among the least popular characters from Origins. I was a bit perturbed that he was the only playable character to return. He's amusing, but he was near the bottom of my list in terms of my favorite characters. Meh. Of course, I would have preferred to have Alistaire or Wynn or Shale or even Zevran than Oghren. But... such is not the case.
My final complaint is this: In Origins, the choices I made felt truly epic and world-affecting. The choices I make in awakening feel similarly epic and world-affecting. However, I never quite got the feeling that the choices I made in Origins had much effect on the story in Awakening. That's one thing I've noticed about the BioWare games of late - it happened with Mass Effect 2 as well(more on that in my still-forthcoming review). Instead of the actual storyline changing for Awakening based on what happened in Origins, the writers took the storyline away from the choices you made in Origins so they didn't have to have any bearing. Awakening takes place in Amaranthine, which has no bearing on Origins, and none of the events that occurred in Ferelden have any bearing on what happens in Amaranthine (for the most part). I really feel this is a cop out - if you are going to advertise that my decisions impact games going forward, make them have impact beyond a few periphery mentions.
These complaints aside, the rest of the game is phenominal. It really is. The new enemies are fun, the new characters are a real treat (well, most of them), and there are some truly epic boss fights. The storyline is surprisingly good for a twenty hour affair, and there is also quite a bit of character development that really shines through in some parts.
I won't tell you that the characters are fleshed out as well as they were in Origins - but, of course, Origins has 60+ hours to accomplish the ridiculous amounts of character development it presented us with. However, there are some great moments. For example, you have the option of adding Nathaniel to your party near the beginning of the game. The catch? Nathaniel's last name is Howe... he's the son of Arl Howe, who you slew in Origins. His character is by far the best developed of the bunch, and his arc is quite fascinating. The other characters aren't quite up to snuff, providing moments of awesomeness without actually being terribly deep. The malificar Anders is essentially Alistaire-Light, and provides much of the comic relief throughout the game.
One of the things I most adored about Origins was the character banter. In particular, listening to Alistaire and Morrigan tear into each other was a true delight. Awakenings brings that banter back, thouhg I'm sad to say there's not a whole lot of it. Nathaniel and Anders get into some truly hilarious spats, but theirs are the only conversations of true note.
Like I mentioned earlier, the story for this expansion pack is great. It deals with the evolution of the Darkspawn horde, and much like Origins, your choices never cease to feel like they carry actual substance. As is the Bioware tradition, the last couple of hour of gameplay that make up the climax of the adventure are quite epic.
Also much like Origins, there are a fair number of side quests that will not only keep you occupied for a long time, they grant you some pretty sick rewards. Never pass up a good side quest. You'll regret it if you do.
Sontent-wise, the game provides a ton. There are a bunch of new items and sets to find, new potions that allow warriors and rogues to refill their stamina, and armor can now have runes. Plus, you can craft runes, both the old weapon variety and the new armor variety. I highly recommend investing some time and gold into runecrafting, as it provides you with some very useful runes.
Each class gets two new specializations as well as some new base skills. These skills are very powerful, for the most part. I believe the mages made out like bandits. Between their new base skills and the skills provided by their new Combat Mage specialization, my Arcane Warrior was nigh unstoppable. In fact, I went and made another Arcane Warrior that I'm currently complete Orgins with, just so I could do it all over again. Arcane Warriors = win, for any that are interested.
In conclusion, Awakening is a great game. It packs in a ton of extra content, and it has a great story to boot. It might seem a little steep at $40, but the extra content is quite worth it. Had the game provided more support for previous DLC and backfed the cool new features into Origins, it would likely have scored significantly higher. Yet, taken as is, it's still a ton of fun.
Score: 8.5/10.0
My final complaint is this: In Origins, the choices I made felt truly epic and world-affecting. The choices I make in awakening feel similarly epic and world-affecting. However, I never quite got the feeling that the choices I made in Origins had much effect on the story in Awakening. That's one thing I've noticed about the BioWare games of late - it happened with Mass Effect 2 as well(more on that in my still-forthcoming review). Instead of the actual storyline changing for Awakening based on what happened in Origins, the writers took the storyline away from the choices you made in Origins so they didn't have to have any bearing. Awakening takes place in Amaranthine, which has no bearing on Origins, and none of the events that occurred in Ferelden have any bearing on what happens in Amaranthine (for the most part). I really feel this is a cop out - if you are going to advertise that my decisions impact games going forward, make them have impact beyond a few periphery mentions.
These complaints aside, the rest of the game is phenominal. It really is. The new enemies are fun, the new characters are a real treat (well, most of them), and there are some truly epic boss fights. The storyline is surprisingly good for a twenty hour affair, and there is also quite a bit of character development that really shines through in some parts.
I won't tell you that the characters are fleshed out as well as they were in Origins - but, of course, Origins has 60+ hours to accomplish the ridiculous amounts of character development it presented us with. However, there are some great moments. For example, you have the option of adding Nathaniel to your party near the beginning of the game. The catch? Nathaniel's last name is Howe... he's the son of Arl Howe, who you slew in Origins. His character is by far the best developed of the bunch, and his arc is quite fascinating. The other characters aren't quite up to snuff, providing moments of awesomeness without actually being terribly deep. The malificar Anders is essentially Alistaire-Light, and provides much of the comic relief throughout the game.
One of the things I most adored about Origins was the character banter. In particular, listening to Alistaire and Morrigan tear into each other was a true delight. Awakenings brings that banter back, thouhg I'm sad to say there's not a whole lot of it. Nathaniel and Anders get into some truly hilarious spats, but theirs are the only conversations of true note.
Like I mentioned earlier, the story for this expansion pack is great. It deals with the evolution of the Darkspawn horde, and much like Origins, your choices never cease to feel like they carry actual substance. As is the Bioware tradition, the last couple of hour of gameplay that make up the climax of the adventure are quite epic.
Also much like Origins, there are a fair number of side quests that will not only keep you occupied for a long time, they grant you some pretty sick rewards. Never pass up a good side quest. You'll regret it if you do.
Sontent-wise, the game provides a ton. There are a bunch of new items and sets to find, new potions that allow warriors and rogues to refill their stamina, and armor can now have runes. Plus, you can craft runes, both the old weapon variety and the new armor variety. I highly recommend investing some time and gold into runecrafting, as it provides you with some very useful runes.
Each class gets two new specializations as well as some new base skills. These skills are very powerful, for the most part. I believe the mages made out like bandits. Between their new base skills and the skills provided by their new Combat Mage specialization, my Arcane Warrior was nigh unstoppable. In fact, I went and made another Arcane Warrior that I'm currently complete Orgins with, just so I could do it all over again. Arcane Warriors = win, for any that are interested.
In conclusion, Awakening is a great game. It packs in a ton of extra content, and it has a great story to boot. It might seem a little steep at $40, but the extra content is quite worth it. Had the game provided more support for previous DLC and backfed the cool new features into Origins, it would likely have scored significantly higher. Yet, taken as is, it's still a ton of fun.
Score: 8.5/10.0
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