Dragon Age - "The Awakening" Expansion Speculation

Via Blue's comes speculation of an as-yet unannounced expansion for Dragon Age, titled The Awakening. According to Eurogamer.cz, a premature retail listing was noticed, with a release date of March 2010 - although this is obviously not authoritative. Here's part of Blue's post:

Details of the expansion's contents are still only preliminary and may still change. Awareness will follow the story chronologically Dragon Age: Origins and promises a huge portion of the additional content. You play as a completely new main character, including his own prologue (separate Origin Story), the new campaign. Completion of the central storyline to take approximately 15 hours, as compared to the 100-hour original is not too much, and have consequences for the rest of the game.

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More information.

Sweet, something more substantial, just what I wanted

I've been playing Divinity 2 to death while Dragon Age is collecting dust. I'm afraid I've fried my brain so badly with alcohol and other things that I can't handle the complex nature of a hardcore RPG anymore.

I'll get back to it eventually... but 100 hours? I thought JRPGs were bad.

Cool - I hope they do manage to keep this alive for quite a while.

A 15 hour expansion? It sounds more like a large DLC quest.

15 hours to playthrough once. It is said to have origin choice though, so the total number of hours will be higher.

But 15 hours is fine for an expansion. As long as the narrative is satisfying with begining, middle, and end, I got no problem with the length.

100 hours for DA's central storyline? Right..

So it's a 6-8 hours long dlc.

Took me 80 hours and I missed a couple of things, so 100 hours isn't far-fetched for a thorough play through, in my experience.

This is disappointing: 15 hrs seems a little short for the expansion to a game that clocks in at 80-100 hrs. I doubt most people will play multiple origins either - they will continue the one they were busy with, so that shouldn't really be counted in towards the time. If the expansion is priced as per usual (e.g. 50-66% of game cost, at least here) then this does not, imho, represent good value for money - and would be something I'd leave for the bargain bin.

If this is just a 15-hour new module, I think we're more in the realm of the old NWN/NWN2 premium modules here, not a proper expansion.

An expansion to me signals not just new gameplay, but also new game features - extra races/classes/spells/talents/skills etc... and we've had no mention that this "expansion" brings any of those to the table.

Holly Avenger said:

If this is just a 15-hour new module, I think we're more in the realm of the old NWN/NWN2 premium modules here, not a proper expansion.

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Really? Tales of the Sword Coast was only about 7 hours worth of extra for Baldurs Gate. Tribunal about the same for Morrowind. Granted, it's not Throne of Bhaal, but that was more canned sequel than expansion.

An expansion to me signals not just new gameplay, but also new game features - extra races/classes/spells/talents/skills etc… and we've had no mention that this "expansion" brings any of those to the table.

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An expansion doesn't have to have any of those things to me - but the ability to play as a new character with its own origin story and through-game consequences is very 'expansion like' in my book - it gives me something to enjoy throughout a new play through.

Someone on the Dragon Age forums spotted a very detailed listing on Gamestop

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=76824


From the Makers of the Best RPG of 2009, Dragon Age: Origins, comes the first official expansion pack. For centuries, the Grey Wardens—the ancient order of guardians, sworn to unite and defend the lands—have been battling the darkspawn forces. Legend spoke that slaying the Archdemon would have put an end to the darkspawn threat for centuries to come, but somehow they remain. 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.

* A Stunning World Expanded: BioWare’s deepest universe to date just got bigger with an all new area of the world to explore, Amaranthine

o Unlock the secrets of the Darkspawn and their true motivations

o Rebuild the Grey Warden order and establish their base of operations at Vigil’s Keep

* All-new Complex Moral Choices: Embark on an epic story that is completely defined and reactive to your play style

o Shape your entire experience based on the choices you make and how your handle complex situations

* New Ways to Customize your Hero: Experience additional spells, abilities, specializations, and items to further personalize and customize your hero and party

o Import your character from Dragon Age: Origins or start anew as a Grey Warden from the neighboring land of Orlais

o Encounter five all-new party members and an old favorite from Dragon Age: Origins

* Even more Bone-Crushing, Visceral Combat: Battle against a new range of horrific and terrifying creatures

o Put your skills to the test against an evolved, intelligent breed of Darkspawn and other menacing creatures including the Inferno Golem and Spectral Dragon!

Sounds good.

All that in 15 hours?

Probably depends on how you define those hours. I know that my savegames usually say about 40 hours for a completed DA game, but I've spent at least twice that amount on the same savegame. The in-game clock seems to only take actual time spent progressing into account - reloads, loading times, etc are most likely skipped.

Bottom line: It might not be 15 hours spent playing the add-on to complete it. It could be 15 hour savegames, similar to DAs 40 hour ones, which in reality is only half the time spent.

Looks like we have our first official word:

http://investors.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=434157

So it *does* meet what I would expect from a full expansion.... sounds quite good in fact.

wow, sounds cool. Thanks for the 411, Holly Avenger

so it's official - and certainly priced like a (high-end) expansion at $40. But nothing in that press release mentions expected play time, and I doubt the 15 hrs I've seen bandied about was sucked out of thin air ;-) If so, it still sounds over-priced. As for play times on other expansions: I've generally spent about 25-30 hrs (at least) on decent expansions in the past, and that's what I was hoping for here. 'Indecent' expansions were always picked up in the bargain bin, so I was never disappointed. I wonder if they will voice everything again? That's probably half their budget right there - but if they don't it will seem very sub-par.

Sounds potentially interesting and I like that it doesn´t seem to be too detached from the main story.
Would be nice if it´d improve some aspects of the base game too, Throne of Bhaal style.
The price seems rather gritty.

After I finish my 1st playthrough, I'll wait like a year and play a second time with whatever expansions they have in a package. I hate DLC and mini-expansions.

That's a good idea, though I was thinking it may take more than a year for them to bargain package them.