With just under 14 hours of gameplay behind me, I have completed Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening. What did I think of it?Well, honestly, at this point I'm a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I absolutely enjoyed the story and I REALLY enjoyed the new characters. I was able to get gear and talents that actually reflected the character I was role-playing as. (Now, my assassin is actually wearing black instead of Link's green Hyrulian tunic -.-) But! $40, to me, just seems way too expensive for what we're being given here. If it had been, say, $25 then I would have been completely satisfied.
I think what threw me off is that this is being called an "expansion." This is not an expansion. This is an episode. You are not able to go back to Ferelden. Most of your decisions and, in some cases, your gear is not transferred over. And, unless you ended up as the commander of the King/Queen's army in the main game, your ending will not transfer over. For instance, I ended the game telling everyone that I was leaving with Zevran to track down Morrigan; a nice, romantic ending that ensured I'd be continuing my adventures. But no matter what, you will start Awakening as a commander of the army, which was lame.
So this begs the question: How is this an expansion if it's hardly expanding upon anything? I don't know. Bioware thought so, and so here we are.
But this is a fun game regardless of what it really is. There is much to be enjoyed here but it seems like, for the first time, Bioware really flat-out embellished what this really was. And that's what really sucks.
Pros:
+ Great Story
+ Memorable and Entertaining Characters
+ Love the new gear and weapons
+ A place to store your inventory! Finally!
+ Get to rule a nation
Cons:
- Production values still last-generation
- Pricing not justified
- Seems very disconnected from the last game, despite being an expansion
The full, slightly-scathing review can be found here: LINK
I'm very disappointed to hear about it being disconnected like that. I suppose if your character doesn't become the leader of the Wardens (or if he dies) you could just start Awakening with a new character. But it's a shame that you have to.
ReplyDeleteI am excited now, though. I think I will move right on to this as soon as I'm done with ME2, which will be soon.
Those Phoenix Wright things were hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThe silly thing is that even if your character dies, you can still start a new game with him. Just pick an earlier save. I haven't even beaten the game with my female human rogue and I can somehow import her. =/
ReplyDeleteSee, I hate to make this sound like a bad game; chances are you'll enjoy it, but it just seems like Bioware really charged more for less here. Everything I read beforehand claimed something in the area of 20 hours of gameplay or more. I felt wronged when the clock stopped at 13, but it was still fun. I dunno.