"From the creators of the best RPG of 2009, Dragon age: origins, is the official expansion first. For centuries the keepers of Grey, the ancient order of guardians, who promised to unite and defend lands were fighting against the forces of the show. The legend tells of death of Arch-would end the threat was contained in the centuries to come, but still there anyway. You are the commander of Grey Warden and the task of Reconstruction of the order of the workers and Grey discover secrets of monsters and how they managed to stay. How you decide to rebuild the application, how to resolve the conflict as "the architect, and how to determine the fate these monsters are no more than a few of the many complex options and expect the shape of your journey as a risk to the new land of amaranth.
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| Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening for Xbox 360 is the first expansion to the award-winning single player RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. Developed by role-playing game (RPG) specialists, BioWare, Awakenings is a standalone expansion, meaning that ownership of the original game is not necessary, although players of the original game are afforded the choice of utilizing their character from the original game or starting with a fresh character. Additional features include an expanded storyline, new creatures, locations and more.
For centuries, the Grey Wardens — the ancient order of guardians sworn to unite and defend the lands — have battled the darkspawn forces. Legend says that slaying the Archdemon would have put an end to the darkspawn threat for centuries to come, but for all the Grey Wardens' vigilance, somehow the creatures remain. But there is a new spark of hope. You are the Grey Warden Commander and have been entrusted with the duty of rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens and uncovering the secrets of the darkspawn and how they managed to remain. How you choose to rebuild your order, how you resolve the conflict with "The Architect", and how you determine the fate of the darkspawn will be but some of the many complex choices that await and shape your journey as you venture to the new land of Amaranthine. Gameplay Key Game Features |
Customer Reviews
Proves that good writing can save just about anything
Dragon Age: Origins was a real treat for me. I was absolutely absorbed by the lore Bioware created for it, and instantly fell in love with the characters with whom I eventually traveled Ferelden. On the whole, I almost liked it BETTER than even MASS EFFECT 2, because I felt like I was playing out MY story, not Shepard's story. That's a feeling I've not had since KotOR. But, similarly to KotOR, the production values of DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS felt last generation, which hindered the experience in many ways.
So, I was surprised to hear about this expansion so soon after the main game's release. I mean...when I first heard about this at the beginning of the year: barely two months after DA:O came out. I was concerned that this was just going to be a moneygrab by Bioware/EA, since...who has ever made an expansion that quickly? (Maybe EVERQUEST). Additionally, though Bioware have proven that they are the best at creating absorbing story/character-driven video games, they absolutely suck at DLC. (Pinnacle Station RAGE!)
Is this expansion worth buying? That's difficult for me to say. Hopefully my experience will help you make up your mind.
Chances are very good that this expansion will not snugly sync up with your ending from the main game. In my case, I had made it pretty clear to everyone that I was going to leave with Zevran to track down Morrigan. Then, I begin DA:O - AWAKENING to discover that I had apparently changed my mind and decided to become a commander of the Crown's army. A small scene to show how my character was drawn back into the fray would have solved this, but this is just one of many instances where your decisions from the last game have almost no effect on this storyline. (And to the poor souls who began the game wearing nothing but their underwear: my condolences.)
This was a major downer, and I am very disappointed that Bioware didn't put a little more time (god knows Bioware fans are used to the long development cycles by now) to make the transition much easier. Don't even get me started on the import system. It's not as fine-tuned as that of MASS EFFECT 2; it takes data from your last save point. I had started up an old save at some point on DA:O, so I began AWAKENING with my character at level 17. It was an hour before I had realized what had happened. EDIT: Just so there's no confusion, I was able to open up an "advanced" menu and select the right save file, but words cannot communicate the frustration involved with immediately replaying that bit again.
But that's not to say I hated this game; I enjoyed the story in AWAKENING and I REALLY enjoyed the new characters. At times, it felt like the best parts of DA:O. In addition to this, some new talents and specializations, a higher level cap and, finally, someplace to store equipment: I was a happy camper for a while. I also enjoyed having the opportunity to rule Amaranthine, and I wish that Bioware had expanded upon this a bit more. Carrying out prisoner sentencing in a fantasy setting has to be one of the coolest features ever.
On "normal" difficulty, getting all (but one) of the achievements, and completing almost every quest in the game, I enjoyed just over 13 hours of gameplay.
Was it worth $40? No, probably not. I think anyone who has reservations about this expansion should trust their instincts and wait for the price to drop. Bioware really should have taken the price down to justify the content, rather than place it at $40 and keep people like myself wondering why there isn't more. I don't exactly feel cheated, since I really did enjoy the expansion, but I paid just as much for the first 4 expansions of FALLOUT 3 and those actually felt like EXPANSIONS. DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS - AWAKENING feels like an episode: almost completely isolated from the last game in terms of both content and story.
There is much that can be loved in this "expansion" for fans of DRAGON AGE, but this should be a very clear example to Bioware of why some gamers insist on buying their video games used.
Rushed to release, not worth the price
I had high hopes for this after giving an absurd amount of hours of my life to DA:O. Admittedly, my expectations may have been raised by the wonderful Mass Effect 2, which managed to import almost all your plot decisions from the first game over. Here however, there is hardly any connection to the story in the first one. Not only that, your DLC gear from Warden's Keep, the Stone Prisoner and even the Blood Dragon Armor that came with the game won't transfer over! They did somehow let you keep Return to Ostagar gear. Now this alone wouldn't be so bad, except, you start the game in your underwear if you were wearing DLC gear! I don't mean you wake up at camp in your undies. I mean you are trekking down the road, ready to battle, wearing a diaper! Even if you can look past this, there are numerous import issues people are having regarding stats, spells and talents. In some cases people are missing half their talents. The blood powers you got from Warden's Keep show up in your talent list, but when you try to use them, nothing actually happens.
It is clear this product was hastily rushed to release with minimal quality control. Not only that, but the lack of connection to the original story makes it seem like this was a cheap cash grab on the part of EA/Bioware. They didn't put the same love and care into it as they did with the original game. Compared to any other Bioware game or expansion, this is by far the worst, and easily the biggest letdown. If you can stomach how much your decisions from DA:O are basically disregarded, and can get past the first 40 minutes of ridiculous, inconsistencies and poor storytelling, there is actually a decent adventure in there. However, it does not live up to the greatness of the original and is not worth the $40 pricetag. I would wait several months until the price drops, and then try it out. If you want to enjoy this, lower your expectations. It is best to think of it as a "non-canonical" spinoff than a true expansion.
I am a long time Bioware fan and loyal customer. I have bought everyone of their games since Baldur's Gate. But the poor quality of this release may just do it for me. Perhaps EA is to blame, but I feel Bioware should be ashamed to have their company name on this clearly inferior product.
In some ways, better than the main game
Awakening may not have as much content as the base Dragon Age: Origins game, but its presentation is more polished and in some ways it's a better experience than Origins.
Most noticeably, it looks a lot nicer. Facial animation seems improved from Origins, lighting effects are more impressive, the textures look less smeary. The overall environment design has been stepped up-- maybe since the designers are more comfortable with the strengths and limitations of the engine.
Aside from Morrigan and Shale, the cast of Dragon Age: Origins mostly left me cold. In Awakening however, even with less screen time to go around, each party member adds a compelling personality to the mix, from Nathaniel Howe's conflicted feelings toward his family legacy to Sigrun the dwarf's endearing mix of fatalism and vulnerability. The random party interactions have been beefed up and are frequently hilarious.
It is a shame that they removed the ability to romance your teammates since that's always a fun aspect of the Bioware formula. And the lack of any significant connections to Origins was disappointing. The Mass Effect series has raised the bar, and it feels like a cop-out that Awakening is basically a reboot that doesn't acknowlege the different plot possibilities from Origins.
Like Origins, Awakening suffers from its share of major and minor bugs. I personally never ran into anything that crashed or corrupted the game so badly that I couldn't continue playing (which happened to me three separate times in Origins), but I did have a number of times when conversations triggered incorrectly or characters got stuck in strange gestures and couldn't reset.
Overall, Awakening is a strong continuation of Dragon Age: Origins that bodes very well for even greater improvements in the series' future.
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