Review
Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening
By Mike Croft - April 26th, 2010
Dragon Age: Origins was likely my favourite game from 2009; it was certainly the game I spent the most time playing (count ‘em: 60+ hours). I have played through all of the DLC for the game as well (Stone Prisoner, Warden’s Keep and Return To Ostagar). So naturally, as soon as Awakening was available (which is officially described as an expansion, not DLC), I logged onto Xbox Live and purchased it.
3500 MS Points doesn’t seem like a lot until you need to actually pay for them; this converts to somewhere in the neighbourhood of 51 Canadian dollars: a lot of money for an add-on to a game that I saw regularly on sale for $39 around Christmas. If you purchase the add on from a store you only need a DA:O save file; if you download it like I did, you need the full game disk.
The previous DLC provided additional locations and quests within the main story line of the original game. The events in the Awakenings campaign take place after the original storyline concludes; the focus of the game moves from Ferelden to Amaranthine. You can either import your character from Origins or you start a new one. Choosing to be a new character will start you off as a level 18 Grey Warden who has just arrived from Orlais; you will be treated like an outsider to Amaranthine and many of it’s people will distrust you. On the flip side, importing your character from DA:O will allow you to continue the adventure as the Hero of Ferelden (if you completed the game). One thing that I learned the hard way is that items from the other add-on content will not carry over when you import your character; it was a little odd to appear in the opening scene in my underwear because I lost my Blood Dragon Armor. I recommend before you import, that you: load Origins; unequip all of the weapons, items, runes and armor from your party, keeping the most powerful ones from the main game; sell off the rest; create a new saved game. Use this new saved game when importing your character into the new chapter.
The plot of Awakenings is as captivating as the first. A new threat has made itself known. The Darkspawn have not disappeared like the end of previous blights, and appear to be much more organized than believed possible; there are even rumours of talking, intelligent Darkspawn abound. You must begin recruiting Grey Wardens to stand against this new enemy. A balance of resources must be struck between protecting Vigil’s Keep (a Grey Warden fortress), the city of Amaranthine and the farms around it. And all the while you are trying to determine what evil force is behind all of this ordered chaos, even after the Arch Demon has been killed.
Your party members are all new, save one; some other familiar faces turn up in this new story as well (mostly as NPCs). Along with the new people, there are many improvements as well: level cap has been moved from 25 to 35; 2 new specializations are offered to each class; characters can add more specializations to their repertoire; an additional 2 sets of spells/skills are available for each of the classes; better equipment of levels 8 and 9 can now be found as well as skills that allow your character to focus strength and willpower. All in all, there is a lot to discover with just this list.
In my opinion, though, the first big addition to the game is the skill of Runecrafting. Much like Herbalism, Poison Making and Trap Making, Runecrafting allows you to take Rune Tracings and raw materials and turn them into Runes. In the previous game, you could use runes only in your weapons. Now there are Runes that can only be used used in/on your armor. Two additional levels of power have been added above Grand Master: Masterpiece and Paragon. I did very little crafting before but spent an extraordinary amount of time collecting and charting which etchings I had and customizing my items the way I liked them. Runecrafting does take an incredible amount of gold if you want to create the top tier Runes (which is sort of the point) but if you liquidated you pre-import inventory you should have lots to spare. I did notice a couple of the Runes are mis-assigned what type they are. For instance, the Masterpiece Silverite Rune (+12 Damage to Darkspawn) is actually listed as an armor rune. It was pretty upsetting that I had used all of my resources to create 12 of these bad boys they were unusable on the weapons I intended and had no effect while applied to armor. This was the case on the XBOX version, I can’t speak for PC or PS3.
Another excellent addition to the game is a consumable item you can purchase from a familiar merchant in Vigil’s Keep. For only 6 gold, the Manual Of Focus allows you to totally re-spec your character or a party member. This is awesome for trying out the new spells, skills, abilities and specializations. So you have spent 50 hours as a long range Rogue and you want to try a more up close and personal assassin role: no problem. It even makes sense to keep a couple of these on you, just in case you need a skill you don’t normally keep to solve a puzzle or gain access to an area. When a new party member comes on board I spend a little time and really set them up the way I like.
The strong point of the game continues to be story and the characters. I loved several of the new party members and I continue to be entertained by the inter-character banter that occurs within the party while you are out exploring. The Awakenings story line is also interesting, once again leading you to make choices that ultimately affect the game depending on your decisions. The game will keep you guessing.
I loved this expansion. There is around 20 hours of additional play which includes 3 serious boss battles and limitless character customization options. The only issue I have with it is the price: some of that comes from playing on the XBOX and the awkward conversion of Canadian dollars to MS points on all platforms it is supposed to be $39 US. $20-25 would be a better price for fans of the game who have invested a lot of money into this series already, as they are likely to buy the game. If you are a fan of the original game then keep an eye out for this content to go on sale: you need to play it. If you have not played but are interested, then you may want to keep an eye out for a ‘Game Of The Year’ edition.
