It took about 16 hours and 30 minutes. I missed a number of side quests, especially the weapon crafting ones offered by Wade. I didn’t spend a much time at all exploring the new rune crafting options.

The game is good, but it is nowhere as groundbreaking as the release of Dragon Age Origins. Although the party banter still does a great job of giving some form of interactivity between the party members, player interaction with party members seem to have taken a hit. Gone is the ability to build up rapport and explore the characters of party members through open chatting and free dialog. Rather, the only opportunity for real conversation is back the party camp, and still, they’re the ones who chooses whether to initiate the conversation or not.

The most well done character has to be Anders. His playfulness, witty repartee, and adoration for kittens allows him to stand out from the rest. The bad-ass mage with a soft spot for cats probably offers the most satisfying party interaction in game.

There’s a lot more choices to be made compared to the original game, with more of them being morally ambiguous. Often, just as in real life, you don’t have the complete picture for you to reach a confidently arrive at the same or “correct” decision. You simply have to infer and make your own conclusions. This perception of truth is described very well in an article over at GreyWardens.com by Freckles. In multiple instances, an event is brought upon you, and you’re forced to make a decision there and then. Shying away or fence-sitting is not an option. However, some of the heavier and more story-altering decisions seemed to have been introduced far too late into game to have any significant impact, such as those that concern fate of The Architect. Given how little my decisions in Origins affected events in Awakening, I have very little faith that the results would be seen in subsequent expansions.

Combat is perhaps one of the strongest aspects of the game. My main character is a dual-wielding warrior with specializations in Berserker, Champion and Spirit Warrior, and the introduction of stamina potions is like a gift from the heavens. I have a plethora of skills, and previously, my use of them was heavily limited due to stamina. Now, I can open up, and not depend on chewing mushrooms. The increase in levels, along with new specialization fields also enable for a more varieties and tactics in fights. Velenna, specializing in Keeper and Battlemage makes for an excellent front line mage. Typically, I have myself and Velenna in the front, Anders in the rear and Sigrun wherever the situation calls for. With the new mage spells, mages can hold their ground alone pretty well. I don’t have to constantly babysit them. The result is that combat is a lot smoother, and although I still pause just as much, I hardly ever saw the ‘game over’ screen. My party was rock solid.

I can’t comment much on crafting. Although I did craft a couple of runes, I feel that the game passes over too quick for me to really explore my crafting options. Runecrafting a nice addition, it isn’t essential and I believe that most players can gloss over it and still complete the game without any difficulty.

My opinions on Awakening are mixed, but if I had to give a verdict, I’ll say that it’s a buy, because more hours of Dragon Age is simply awesome.

I might seemed to have painted a very negative picture of Dragon Age Awakening in my previous posts, but aside from those inconveniences, which I am convinced will be addressed in a subsequent patch, the world of Awakening still remains every bit as diverse and engaging as the first.

The Darkspawn threat is serious, and you see signs of it in every major establishment that you visit. However, BioWare does a great job of inhabiting the world with characters that are every bit as alive and complex. Yes, the population is concerned about the rumors surrounding the Darkspawn, but this is more of national concern, and at the individual level, it doesn’t displace nor allay their own livelihood and personal issues, which are more immediate. In the chantry of Amaranthine, I overheard a teary lady that panicking over the whereabouts of her husband. It is suggested that I should start my search at the tavern, where fragments of journal revealed more about his disillusionment with life. The trail led me to the guard quarters and subsequently, to an abandoned house where he had hung himself. I felt a tinge of sadness for widowed lady.

It was a short quest, lasting no more than five minutes, but it allowed me to feel involved as the commoners inhabiting the city. I understood the harshness of living in a city as prosperous as Amaranthine. In a way, it is no different than living in a modern industrialized, trade-driven and trade-dependent city. At this point, as First-Warden, I felt a strong sense of need and purpose to fight the Darkspawn. These people already have a lot on their minds, and they don’t deserve a calamity at their doorsteps.

I had planned on playing through Awakening as smoothly as possible, letting the consequence of my decisions weigh in rather than saving the game every other step. Turns out that this was a bad idea.

Six hours into the game, the amount of bugs I’ve run into thus far has been astonishing. They’re skills that I’ve met the criteria for and can’t use, and quests that certain portions of it won’t trigger, thus breaking the quests unless you have an earlier save point to revert to, which I don’t. So far the ones I’ve encounter are mostly side-quests and have not been story-breaking yet, but it puts a huge damper on the game.

There’s a thread with the intent of compiling all the encounter bugs and oddities on the official forums here. Reading through it, it seems that some of these issues, such as skills from plot-unlocked specializations in Origins not carrying over correctly, are a rather common experience. Given the pervasiveness of the problem, it’s a surprise that it wasn’t caught before the game shipped, leading me to call into question the play testing and quality control on Awakening’s release.

I bought Dragon Age: Awakening from a brick-and-mortar shop mid-week, and thus far have managed about an hour of game time or so. Before I walked in to the shop for my purchase, I had to fight a burning desire to simply re-purchase the Steam version of Dragon Age Origins, which I already own on CD, so that I could buy the expansion digitally too, and do away the annoying CD check each time I launch the game.

My mind gripe with Awakening is that it carries over poorly from the Origins. Rather than being a continuation of my adventures from the previous game, this feels more like a separate add-on. Within minutes of starting the game, seeing my character naked, and a bit of Google-ing around, followed by the stark realization that none of the gear, except for one particular dagger which I was wielding, I was left with a sour feeling. My Blood Dragon armor didn’t carry over, neither did my Starfang sword.

Although replacements were found soon after, it was not after at least ten minutes into the game. If first impressions count for anything, mine was spent battling hordes of Darkspawn naked, with a dagger and a random heavy shield that I liberated from a crate. Not the most impressive way to start off a game.

I have deep respect for BioWare, and I hope that this an issue that would be addressed in the near future rather than an intended consequence. It’s a poor way of integrating the game experience otherwise.