DA: Awakening - Review @ GPM
 

A negative review of Awakening at Gameplay Monthly carries a score of 'C-'. Damning it with faint praise, they describe it as "not terrible" but criticise the difficulty, story and character interactions:
More information.

I agree with most of the criticism, but I don't share his feelings about the game. I simply found it a lot of fun, and the shortness actually enhanced it, considering there was no pointless filler and pandering.
Granted, I'd have liked a little bit more time spent on the new darkspawn, but even then, I think the plot is better than Origins.

Same here, I'm finding DA:Awakening to be a lot better than what he's describing, and I wasn't even a big fan of DA:O.

DA:A was a lot of fun and despite what "everyone" says it wasn't *that* easy, at least not for the character I chose to use.

I just bought that and my first impressions aren't good, hopefully it will pick up - I see people generally think it's worth it.
(in fact first impressions were absolutely terrible: it was the very first time I couldn't install a new program on Vista until I used compatibility with win2000… a 2010 game!!)

It is a great deal easier than Dragon Age Origins though. Of course, part of it depends from the new talents, and if you don't pick them up, the game can be quite hard indeed, but it generally required me less planning and tactics than Origins on normal. I didn't mind, while I like some challenge, I'm not the player who typically turns the difficulty to Nightmare because he's bored with the fights. :)

So you had a terrible impression just because it didn't like Vista?

Regarding difficulty, I found it to be just right. I like to role-play though, not power game, and I don't min-max.

There was one fight that seriously pissed me off though…

It did not install under Vista - it simply gave me an 'installation failed' error and that was it. Come on… even the most amateurish programs and even some DOS programs will get at least that part right. The only time I had a similar problem in the past (a new game refusing to get installed in a contemporary os) was with one of the Neverwinter Nights expansions on XP (and then it was unplayable because of a bug)… so yeah… coming from Bioware again that bothered me a bit.

But it wasn't just that really… I just didn't care at all with the 'intro' part of the expansion. I expect it will get better but that part felt like… watching a straight-to-dvd sequel of a Disney cartoon.

I didn't like it at first either, I thought it felt more like a DLC than an actual expansion. Trust me, it *does* get better, especially after you start getting your new companions.



Btw: Vista sucks Dwarf cock. ;)

I agree with most of critism he made, especially "that's it?" feeling. Finishing the game didn't provide any answer to my curiousity on storyline, for example, why did Archtect create Broodmother. Like he mentioned, the ending was extremely unsatisifying.

I disagree with one thing though. The game was short, but that wasn't neccessarily bad thing. I actually really liked how Awakening didn't have "filler" dungeons.

Overall, the game showed many flaws but it was enjoyable, much more so than Origins.

I liked Origins a lot but Awakening completely failed to draw me in. I struggled through some of the areas (thought I'd enjoy it more once more areas unlocked on the world map) but I ended up just putting it down. I can't put my finger on why, I didn't feel it was particularly bad. It just left me feeling completely uninterested.

Like Starwars - I have also put it down, I just lost interest. I will get back to it, but not sure when. Everything feels kind of generic and somewhat easier, as others have said. Sadly there are no other big releases in the wings :-/ (although TROT sounds like fun, and I enjoyed the original).

I think DAO is more generic.
By accident. Some Darkspawn just can't bear to be "separated" from the Archdemon. Explained by The Architect in the encounter just previous to the final battle. Any other questions? :)
So, can you name some filler dungeons in Origins? They're pretty much the same there and in Awakening, only the latter has more talking and side-questing before you actually get to the respective area's dungeon. My two cents.

I think she means how some of the dungeons in DA:O were a bit too long, and too much of the same. The Deep Roads being an obvious example.

I thought the areas in Awakening were done better in terms of size and variety.

I totally agree about fillers in many DAO dungeons but none ever bored me because I loved the fights. I also agree Awakening did much better in that area, but last dungeon has fillers too.

I disagree about Awakening size, it is just too short, a lot too short. I won't remember it as a great xp despite there's many design I felt rather good, in fact better than DAO. At opposite, despite DAO has more design weakness I won't forget it and will remind as a great gaming time. And replayed it and dig more dialogs with companions increased its depth for me.

JDR answered your question for me.

As for the Broodmother, that was not sufficient explanation. Obviously I read the dialogue and I know that when Archtect freed Broodmother from "the cycle" she wasn't too happy about it. What I meant was did he "actually *create* that Broodmother" not "freed* her. If so, how and why? Yes, she is final boss so I suppose she has to look different from other Broodmother but that was disappointing. I thought she has special background or something.

I never thought about it, when I played it seemed pretty obvious that he simply freed her. You're right about her background, btw. And it's a shame, she's a pretty cool villain. Loghain could have a tiny bit more depth too.

Exactly what I mean. If they've put bit more effort into both Origins and Awakening, it would have been SO MUCH BETTER GAME. They lack explanation. I mean, what about Velanna's sister? What happened to her? Why the hell did she go with Archtect? And why do both she and Utha look diseased? Why can't Utha talk? None of them were answered/explained.

I believe Utha's character was explained in the book (that came before the game) that introduced the Architect.
Kinda lazy if you ask me, but hey, it's not like this marketing gimmicks/expanded universe-things started with Dragon Age or Mass Effect…