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[HadesGigas]

Just beat Awakening.

The point of no return seemed to come out of nowhere.

Spoiler

Went back to the keep to have Sigrun take the joining, and the nobles were there and all I could do was leave or start the whole darkspawn army attacks part.

Also didn't tie up loose ends with Oghren (I assume at some point you can get him to

Spoiler

open up about his woman and kid

).

So, for people looking to finish things totally, make sure you do

Spoiler

Sigrun's joining

before you are done with both the Blackmarsh and Kal'hirol, since finishing those seems to change what you can do at the keep.

 

[Gestahl]

After reading Eurogamer review, i ordered PC version for like 18€ from UK. Its seems like it will be more than worth this price.

The Eurogamer review said the expansion was 25 hours. Hahahahaha

It's 15 tops if you do just about everything.

Also word of warning to anyone playing or will be playing the game recently, before you enter the Silverite Mines unequip all of your main characters items. There's a bug still in place currently where you can potentially lose everything attached to your character. Andruil's Blessing, that +3 to all attributes ring, the Key to the City, Duncan's Dagger, all gone because of it in my playthrough.

As well, in the main city there is a Smuggling quest. Whichever side you choose in the quest, stick to it or else you can potentially lock yourself out of both conclusions.

A more spoilerly matter, if you care at all about getting all the cutscenes you can get, do

Spoiler

Blackmarsh

last. If you don't do it last, you will miss out on one of

Spoiler

characters Joining scenes because it forces you into the endgame

. Of course that location has some of the best stuff so you might still want to go there early.

 

[Basileus777]

Also word of warning to anyone playing or will be playing the game recently, before you enter the Silverite Mines unequip all of your main characters items. There's a bug still in place currently where you can potentially lose everything attached to your character. Andruil's Blessing, that +3 to all attributes ring, the Key to the City, Duncan's Dagger, all gone because of it in my playthrough.

This happened to me too, I ended up replaying it to avoid it.

 

[CabbageRed]

Just finished and--

The Eurogamer review said the expansion was 25 hours. Hahahahaha

Yeah, that. I mean, it was... fine? But that was not a $40 game (the same price I paid for Drakensang, I believe). The ending missions spring up out of nowhere and the companions were left virtually unexplored. Oh well, lesson learned concerning post-sale to EA expansions from Bioware.

Miffed is what I am. Miffed!

 

[RedAssedApe]

From the 1UP review:

A slight random aside: while the PC version requires Origins, the console versions can be played as stand-alone titles.

Wait what? Am I interpreting this correctly? Can you play this without needing the the Origins disc? Feel bad for those who finished the original game and wanted to sell but didn't because they thought the game required you to keep the OG version...

 

[Cep]

The best and worst part of awakening is its length.

Would have been fine if there had been one last mission after you acquire all the team mates.

 

[HK-47]

Looks like i'll be avoiding this for the time being. I wonder if they will license the engine out like IE.

 

[Cep]

Looks like i'll be avoiding this for the time being. I wonder if they will license the engine out like IE.

Hmm, that could be interesting.

Lots of good things in it, just wish Bioware did not go out of their way to obfuscate the inner workings (seriously, wtf).

 

[kai3345]

So I just fought the High Dragon for the Urn Quest and he was kicking my ass about a million times and so I switched the difficulty to easy and after I beat him I felt really guilty about doing it, because fighting him on easy wasn't fun, it was too easy and fighting him on normal was too hard, and I know that boss should be fun.

I guess I shouldn't have dicked around with my characters talents so much at the beginning of the game.

 

[Edgeward]

Just finished Awakening on hard (which isn't the same as Origins hard, pretty easy here), really dug it. It was a really cool set-up of a world and lots and lots of skills to be heavily overpowered in. It just feels short changed in a way. Like you get sense that it could've been expanded in terms of character background, conversations and sidequests. Also not enough

Spoiler

dragons or boning in this

.

Also Awakening doesn't sell good runes, so I couldn't get some of the blacksmith requests done, not even some okay quality ones to runecraft them into what I need. Really odd since Origins did.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Just finished this afternoon. Clocked in at about 19 hours with (I think) all of the side-quests completed. That was after redoing the first 5 hours or so because I stupidly

Spoiler

told Nathaniel to take his stuff and go, which of course means that you have a 3 person party until you finish the Wending Wood or Blackmarsh

.

I don't want to say that it was disappointing, because I did enjoy it a lot. It just felt like something between DLC and a proper expansion.

The story is solid, and lays some interesting foundations for the future of the universe. I really liked the new locations and creatures, although

Spoiler

the subtle jiggle of The Mother's bewbs kind of made me feel a little ill. On the one hand, it made me want to meet the animator who got that "glamorous" job. On the other, I began to hope that meeting was from behind several inches of bulletproof glass

. The new spells and talents are interesting, but to be honest I tend to feel that DA had too many situational abilities already.

It's hard to really pinpoint where it falls down. The biggest issue I had was that the new characters aren't anywhere near as interesting as the originals. Their motivations are fairly shallow, and in some cases there are really jarring moments caused by the rapid pacing. For example,

Spoiler

Nathaniel grew to like me far too quickly. My warden killed his dad who he idolised and he still follows me about because I found some knick-knacks his family left in the keep? Starting him at negative loyalty and having to get him to neutral would have felt far more rewarding.

Valenna was a letdown too. Everything about her was like Morrigan but without as much charisma, from the acid-tongue and love of the wilds to her needlessly revealing robes. She'd be a complete write-off were it not for Justice; his banter with Valenna about redemption definitely helped to make her character deeper and more sympathetic.

Anders was fun to have around, although there were times when I wanted him to give the constant stand-up routine that forms his banter a rest. Thankfully at those times one of my party would usually tell him to shutup so maybe that's what they were aiming for? :lol

And Ser Pounce-a-lot is without a doubt the best item in the game.

The less said about Oghren the better. No idea why he came back. As an Australian I find dwarves using words like "sodding", but saying them in American accents, utterly intolerable. I don't think I ever used the female dwarf, Sigrun. She never fit with the party I had put together by the time she showed up in my game.

In spite of that though I really enjoyed it, but that may have just been because it was fun to jump back into DA after 6 months. And if the lack of romance options is worrying for you, take heart!

Spoiler

Leliana and my warden were besties with strong sapphic overtones. In the epilogue for Awakening it implies that they reunited and made beautiful music together for years to come.

 

[Cep]

Just finished Awakening on hard (which isn't the same as Origins hard, pretty easy here), really dug it. It was a really cool set-up of a world and lots and lots of skills to be heavily overpowered in. It just feels short changed in a way. Like you get sense that it could've been expanded in terms of character background, conversations and sidequests. Also not enough

Spoiler

dragons or boning in this

.

Also Awakening doesn't sell good runes, so I couldn't get some of the blacksmith requests done, not even some okay quality ones to runecraft them into what I need. Really odd since Origins did.

Well you can start at the novice ones given by the elf inside the keep and make just about any rune you want.

 

[Edgeward]

Well the problem with that is for the lightning rune, I wasn't given the recipe for journeyman and for flame runes, I couldn't make the next level after journeyman. No one was selling it, I traveled back and forth from the city and keep thinking I missed it but no one had it. Ugh.


As for the characters, I think was missing that made the Origins members so damn good was the flaws and troubled past. Each in Origins had something they were hiding and struggling with that they all would eventually overcome, and outside of Nathaniel (who barely fits that description) there's no one like that in Awakening. It doesn't help that

Spoiler

after assembling the crew it thrusts you right into the climax.

 

[kai3345]

Is there any way to have

Spoiler

Zeveran

not turn on you in that random encounter in Denerim?

Spoiler

I never recruited Leliana, so he is my only rouge and I really want to keep him

 

[Sinatar]

Is there any way to have

Spoiler

Zeveran

not turn on you in that random encounter in Denerim?

Spoiler

I never recruited Leliana, so he is my only rouge and I really want to keep him

Spoiler

Have his approval rating high enough and he doesn't turn on you.

 

[Loxley]

I seem to be in a bit of a rut at the moment. I'm replaying through the main game, and I'm at the part I would, theoretically, head to Alienage after Inora tells you that things haven't been going well down there.

'Problem is, while I have the quest in my journal to go to the alienage, I can't select it on the Denerim map. It's grey'd out and I'm unable to click on it.

Either the game is bugged or I'm missing something completely obvious in order to "unlock" it. Any ideas?

 

[kai3345]

I seem to be in a bit of a rut at the moment. I'm replaying through the main game, and I'm at the part I would, theoretically, head to Alienage after Inora tells you that things haven't been going well down there.

'Problem is, while I have the quest in my journal to go to the alienage, I can't select it on the Denerim map. It's grey'd out and I'm unable to click on it.

Either the game is bugged or I'm missing something completely obvious in order to "unlock" it. Any ideas?

Have you tried going to it from the main town place where the Arl's Estate is?

 

[Loxley]

Have you tried going to it from the main town place where the Arl's Estate is?

Well hey look at that, thanks ;D Completely forgot you could access it that way :lol

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Awakening. I am mostly wondering about the Story and characters are as good as the original. From what I have read there seems to be a census that says;

1)Characters are not as uniqe or interesting as in Origins.
2)The story has the same quality and good use of voice acting.
3)The story ends with a cliffhanger(does this mean, at least one more full expansion for DA1?)

 

[Edgeward]

The characters are unique, just not that fleshed out. The conversation system is not present, I can't just walk up to them and ask a bunch of questions. They way to initiate convo with them is to talk to them back at the keep or observe certian objects in the town/field with them in your party. And the companion quests are too simple. They clearly in no way match up to Origins.

The story is more interesting because it's just not this unintelligent evil that has no personality other than being evil, the antagonists has character and lines and some history. But again, just not fleshed out. You are not made aware of this until later on and by then it's the end. I've felt that Origins is character driven while Awakening is story driven, and I've always prefer character driven stories since it can enhance a mediocre story.

It doesn't really end on a cliffhanger, it just ends abruptly. You kill the boss and bam, epilogue text.

The main thing story wise that bother me is that many of the choices you made in Origins are not felt here, and if they are they are barely present.


That said, I really liked the gameplay because of the many options given in combat. It's more quest and more combat so I was good and satisfied. Is it $40 worth? I would say no, but at $30 or less it's an enjoyable 15 to 20 hour game.

Also I forgot to say, it seems they put more effort in the layouts and looks of the dungeons, felt way less basic and each looked distinctly unique to each other.

 

[Durante]

I just played the first 4 hours or so of Awakening and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Should be well worth the 17€ I spent on it. Seems easier than the main game though.

One (not entirely unsurprising) thing I noticed is that the log file that is created when you install the game is called something like "DragonAgeEp1.log", which strongly suggests to me that this is not the last addon we'll see.

(Another thing I noticed, probably because I've been mostly playing FF13 recently, is how bad the character models and particularly the clothes are in this game. Seriously)

 

[HadesGigas]

Also I forgot to say, it seems they put more effort in the layouts and looks of the dungeons, felt way less basic and each looked distinctly unique to each other.

What I liked is there was a way to exit the deep roads part partway through. And it happened to be just when I ran out of room in my inventory.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Dragon age artists are fucking lazy, all the armour and weaponry is re-used in this expansion.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Dragon age artists are fucking lazy, all the armour and weaponry is re-used in this expansion.

Really? I have barely started the expansion, but I definitely have seen at least one new sword graphic and I am fairly certain I have encountered a few new armor graphics. There has also already been a new environment type.

 

[HadesGigas]

Dragon age artists are fucking lazy, all the armour and weaponry is re-used in this expansion.

 

[Edgeward]

Unless you have the console version, where the sentinel armor (besides the helmet) looks like the Warden Commander DLC armor.:lol

 

[Van Owen]

What sword is that and where do you get it?

 

[Edgeward]

Vigilance sword, it's one of the special things

Spoiler

Wade

can craft for you.


http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Vigilance

 

[Van Owen]

Vigilance sword, it's one of the special things

Spoiler

Wade

can craft for you.


http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Vigilance

lol must be a bug like the Warden armor since mine looks exactly like Starfang. :lol

 

[AkuMifune]

I was going to say my Vigilance Sword doesn't look that cool, but then I read about the bug. You have to disable the Wardens Keep DLC or it will only look like the Starfang Sword for some reason. Anyway, it rocks.

EDIT: Oh hell, is that also why my Sentinal armor looks weird? lol.

 

[Basileus777]

There's a fix for the incorrect Vigilance icon for the PC version.

http://dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=874

 

[Tokubetsu]

I'd just like more than 3 different armor for rogues.

 

[PedroLumpy]

Did something get patched? Everytime an abomination explodes my game crashes. Funny I remember being able to make it through the mages tower on an earlier playthrough.

 

[ne1]

I got DAO on steam and after reading about peoples opinions on Awakening, I'm having a hard time convincing myself to get it for €30. But apparently it's available for ~£15 at thehut.com, which is almost half the price.
Does anyone know if buying the disc version would get me a code that I register to my DAO-account and makes it possible for me to download it in game in the future?

 

[Owzers]

Any word on whether or not Bioware is going to actually fix the PS3 Awakenings framerate?

 

[Van Owen]

Any word on whether or not Bioware is going to actually fix the PS3 Awakenings framerate?

Dev on the Bioware forums said it was something they were definitely looking in to.

 

[Lime]

Shit, the 1.03 patch has messed up a lot of people's DA games. Now I can't play the game without it crashing after 5 or 10 minutes. People have been reporting that it's not only Awakening, but also the original game that has been affected by the patch. What a fucking shame.

 

[voltron]

Sorry if this is old but I havent been in the thread much. Just want a quick answer.

Is there any way to get all your gear to come through when importing a character into Awakenings? And why doesnt it all come through anyway?

I want my Starfang with Master Darkspawn (or whatever theyre called) runes. Annoying.

 

[Basileus777]

Sorry if this is old but I havent been in the thread much. Just want a quick answer.

Is there any way to get all your gear to come through when importing a character into Awakenings? And why doesnt it all come through anyway?

I want my Starfang with Master Darkspawn (or whatever theyre called) runes. Annoying.

Some of the DLC doesn't come through, namely the Warden's Keep and the promo items.

If you're using the PC version, there's a mod that can let you import everything.

http://dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=874

 

[voltron]

Yeah that's cool. I'm on 360.

I'm sure I'll find good shit.

BTW I got N achievement glitch earlier. I loaded my post final battle save to see what gear I had and that 50 pt ach for sacrificing yourself in th final battle popped up!

 

[zugzug]

Some of the DLC doesn't come through, namely the Warden's Keep and the promo items.

how is that possible sounds like a blunder of game design.

 

[voltron]

how is that possible sounds like a blunder of game design.

No its intentional. I did some research.

It makes sense to me to be honest. If you have these awesome high powered weapons/armor/whatever then it takes the shine off some of the new stuff that is no doubt available in Awakening.

Im cool with that now I guess.

 

[Basileus777]

how is that possible sounds like a blunder of game design.

I think it's partially due to technical reasons and how modules work. You need to have two entries in AddIns.xml to make DLC/mods work in both Origins and Awakening. This is why the latest promo items have two versions, one for each module. And Bioware doesn't have any way to patch existing DLC, when they updated the Blood Dragon armor you needed to delete the DLC and then redownload it.

 

[HadesGigas]

I think it's partially due to technical reasons and how modules work. You need to have two entries in AddIns.xml to make DLC/mods work in both Origins and Awakening. This is why the latest promo items have two versions, one for each module. And Bioware doesn't have any way to patch existing DLC, when they updated the Blood Dragon armor you needed to delete the DLC and then redownload it.

So couldn't they have done that, uploaded a version with both? Tell people if they want to use that stuff in Awakening to delete and re-download it? Seems like it would be easy enough for PC at least, consoles they'd have to go through all the console manufacturer red tape.

 

[DigitalDevil]

I haven't started it yet, but what is this I'm hearing of frame-rate issues on the PS3????

 

[JudgeN]

Wow I have to say this game is pretty damn amazing with mods. Nightmare Plus, Advanced tactics, combat tweak v32, respec mod, unlock specialization, and couple of extra custom armor (nothing over powered) has made this game a blast to play through again.

Can't wait for people to come out with some full custom campaigns

 

[ukresistance]

Can someone help me with this.

I have Dragon Age for the 360 and have all the available content. I believe (not certain) I can merge my PSN EA account and my Xbox Live EA account. If I were to do this, would I be able to use all the DLC I bought for the 360 on the PS3 if I downloaded from content page of the game. This would not be possible from the PSN store of course but is it still possible from Dragon Age's main title screen?

In short my 360 is too fucking loud and proving to be too much of a distraction at the moment and Dragon Age is only £25 from play.com for the PS3.

 

[Edgeward]

I haven't started it yet, but what is this I'm hearing of frame-rate issues on the PS3????

Awakening or Origins?

I played the DL version of Awakening and outside of the opening mission the framerate is as it was on Origins.

Now as for Origins, it will stutter especially in battles and overall it's not a smooth experience. It didn't bother me in the slightest, as I didn't think it hampered any of the gameplay but it is pretty noticeable.


Don't know about your Q ukresistance, but the DA DLC screen uses PSN to download it's stuff so I'm gonna guess no. I could be wrong, but I don't EA would miss any opportunity to get more money if it can.

 

[mAcOdIn]

Can someone help me with this.

I have Dragon Age for the 360 and have all the available content. I believe (not certain) I can merge my PSN EA account and my Xbox Live EA account. If I were to do this, would I be able to use all the DLC I bought for the 360 on the PS3 if I downloaded from content page of the game. This would not be possible from the PSN store of course but is it still possible from Dragon Age's main title screen?

In short my 360 is too fucking loud and proving to be too much of a distraction at the moment and Dragon Age is only £25 from play.com for the PS3.

Pretty sure they're different, at least at launch you couldn't move one platforms content to another, might be different now but I doubt it.

 

[HadesGigas]

Pretty sure they're different, at least at launch you couldn't move one platforms content to another, might be different now but I doubt it.

Only stuff that is cross-platform is the stuff you get from the Dragon Age Journeys flash game.