Colon Cancer: Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening: A Review

Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening delivers pretty much what it promised, even more Dragon Age. Yes it costs about half as much as the original Dragon Age but is about a third as long. This is a tad disappointing since traditionally Bioware's expansion packs are actually better than the original games. Case in point Throne of Bhaal (Baldur's Gate 2) and Hordes of the Underdark (Neverwinter Nights) are huge, sprawling campaigns in their own right and rival the length if not the breadth of their parent games. Placed within this context it is simply disappointing by Bioware's own high standards, its about as much content as say, Knights of the Nine for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for example or a pair of Fallout 3 DLC.

That said, is the expansion any good? I think that yes, its worth the money to buy it if you're a fan of Dragon Age. The new abilities bring even more strategic depth to the game and some of them are real fun. The Manual of Focus allows you to respec any of your characters which can lead to some severe metagaming abuse. However it also allows you to access the new skills and talents a lot more easily since no one told you in Dragon Age: Origins that you would need 62 Magic for a given talent.

The storyline in Awakenings is standard Bioware fare and the characters are just as fun. Admittedly the story in Awakenings feels that much more personal than Origins simply because you are the one in a position of authority. As the Warden-Commander of Feralden you have to make hard choices and some of them will either come to bite you in the ass or make you smile during the epilogue. The problem with Origins was that you often felt swept away by the tides of history, events much bigger than yourself shaped the narrative. In Awakenings its your city being threatened, your people being massacred; regardless of your Origins story you are now in charge of this fiefdom so its ultimately your responsibility to protect everyone.

I am not so sure that changing most of the cast was the best idea. Awakenings is too short for the same level of depth to develop like for the crew of Origins and the decisions you made in Origins have only a minimal impact on the storyline of Awakenings. I thought it would have been wiser to save this cast for Dragon Age II and reuse more old faces. Sure Morrigan might have disappeared but there was no pressing need for anyone else to be missing aside from maybe Alistair and Shale. Mhari could have filled Alistair's spot, Jowan Morrigan's and add a new character to fill in for Shale who was a DLC character anway. Without any romances and such a short time together I felt I barely knew some of my companions in Awakenings and that is a disappointment in a Bioware game. Also its BS that Dogmeat did not accompany me to Vigil's Keep, especially since you get another chance to recruit him during Return to Ostagar.

The game also seems to set up for Dragon Age II: The Darkspawn Strike Back with a monumental choice prior to the finale. I really don't know how they will make this decision stick in Dragon Age II since it could literally change the course of history. Perhaps DA2 will feature a new Grey Warden trained in Vigil's Keep as a successor to the Origins character.

Bioware if somehow by the Grace of God you're listening: make the character Morrigan's son. Or whatever, tie it in to the Origins story. An Apostate Mage Origin is the child of Morrigan and the Warden, a Human Noble the child of Alistair/Anora and the Warden, an elven Rogue could be Zevran's child with the Warden so on and so forth. It can bring back now older familiar faces as parents, teachers or guides. Wynne's last apprentice (Circle Mage), Shale's new squishy body (Dwarven Noble), so many choices and that's what's Dragon Age about.

Aside from its length and the fact that many of my old favourites have gone their seperate ways, there's not much to criticise about Awakenings that does not also apply to Origins. The camera still screws up in multi-layered environments like a city where climbing a flight of stairs can have the camera wind up in a wall. Enemies still fireball you off-screen where you can't target them. Combat can become ridiculously easy with a pair of well-stated, well-kitted mages. Wade, fantasy's most fabulous blacksmith, still makes the unique armors.

Its best points? It buffs up Rogues and Warriors with new talents, the new specializations are fun, add a lot of flavor to the game and allow for more customization. Ser Pounce-a-lot's unique item power is something to behold. Anders, Nathaniel and Oghren make a great comedy trio. Justice should really have said "its just a flesh wound!" at least once. New armor sets are kickass and there's even a cloth armor set for a mage although the robe item is a random drop. Admittedly by the endgame I was holding on to items that were simply clutter in my inventory because I was never going to sell Maric's armor and Duncan's sword even if new items had outclassed them. I was hoping for an upgrade system like in Throne of Bhaal where I could upgrade these old pieces of equipment with miscellaneous monster bits I collected along the way. The epilogue really makes you feel that your decisions mattered in the lives of the people in your Arling. I wonder what would happen if you were a human noble? Then you'd be a Teyrn if not King yourself.... got to replay as a human noble next.