65 réponses à ce sujet

[Tigress M]

I think that's what turned me off after my first playthrough, Hanz. I had just come from the most emotional game I had ever played and stepped into a game that had very little, if any, emotional impact on me. The lack of depth left me wanting.

But now, several months and countless Origins playthroughs later, I'm finding Awakening much more interesting. Origins obviously doesn't give me the emotional roller coaster ride anymore so perhaps the lack of depth in Awakening just isn't as obvious in comparison. I dunno... I just know I'm really glad I gave Awakening another shot, finally.

[Elhanan]

Agreed. Letting DAO stew have time to cool emotionally made the second pot of DAA soup a bit more palatable, so to speak.

[Obadiah]

When I heard Awakenings was going to be released 4 months after Origins I was worried about depth. Then I played it, and was, like, "yup."

[Reika]

I tried starting to play Awakenings again and found that again I did like the beginning (keep under attack, talking darkspawn).



Then I got past that and it just went meh.

[ejoslin]

The lack of emotional depth really made the game very meh for me. A small comparison -- in Origins, the times I could call Alistair "friend," he really did feel like a friend at that point. When my warden could call Anders "friend" she hardly knew him, hadn't spoken with him much, yet that was the dialog choice to take if I wanted approval. It felt weird and stilted.

The dialog in Awakening broke immersion for me, really, whereas in Origins it drew me in.

And Oghren's joining... talk about making a mockery of what was an incredibly moving, intense scene in Origins.

Awakening = DA:O-lite!

Edit: That said, Awakening is not a bad game at all.  It's just not an epic game like Origins was.  I also think it's geared towards a different audience than Origins was.  It's the major reason I am nervous about DA2.

Modifié par ejoslin, 04 octobre 2010 - 12:36 .

[miltos33]

Tigress M wrote...

My frustration with Oghren is that his approval is set back to zero and yet when you give him gifts, you only get the bare minimum approval increase (1 for basic gifts, 6 for special).  So, they wiped all the approval you had in DA but left the approval modifiers... makes no sense. 

@MB - also check out Nexus.  I was very leery of mods at first, but I've grown to love 'em. 

Since you love using mods I guess you are on the PC so you can use a simple console command to set Oghren's approval back to Origin levels. 

[Tigress M]

@miltos -- I hadn't thought to do that! My one and only time messing with the console was during the Redcliffe battle when I couldn't get the fight to end. It was such a nightmare to use I never bothered trying to do anything with it again.

[Elhanan]

I cannot and/or am disinclined to use the console commads, too. Bringing extra alcohol for medicinal and/or charitable use seems better suited as a fix for me.

[DWSmiley]

ejoslin wrote...

The lack of emotional depth really made the game very meh for me. A small comparison -- in Origins, the times I could call Alistair "friend," he really did feel like a friend at that point. When my warden could call Anders "friend" she hardly knew him, hadn't spoken with him much, yet that was the dialog choice to take if I wanted approval. It felt weird and stilted.

The dialog in Awakening broke immersion for me, really, whereas in Origins it drew me in.

And Oghren's joining... talk about making a mockery of what was an incredibly moving, intense scene in Origins.

Awakening = DA:O-lite!

Edit: That said, Awakening is not a bad game at all.  It's just not an epic game like Origins was.  I also think it's geared towards a different audience than Origins was.  It's the major reason I am nervous about DA2.

QFT.  Though I didn't mind Oghren's Joining - I had a hunch it would go that way as he had inured himself to just about anything.  I didn't  play Awakenings until I'd done several Origins playthroughs, so the step down wasn't jarring.  I liked the companions and the banter well enough but going from strangers or even hostile to best buds so aburuptly was lame.  At least there was no romance option - that would have really been absurd.  I particularly liked the visuals, the look of the areas and monsters.  The Children are quite creepy.

[Tigress M]

I think another thing that has helped me "relax" a bit about the whole Awakening thing is that since my first playthough, I've purchased and played both ME and ME2. Those games are quite similar to DA:A in their method of interacting with fellow party members (like having to click on a tree to initiate a dialog and not being able to talk freely talk to your party whenever you want).

[Elhanan]

Tigress M wrote...

I think another thing that has helped me "relax" a bit about the whole Awakening thing is that since my first playthough, I've purchased and played both ME and ME2. Those games are quite similar to DA:A in their method of interacting with fellow party members (like having to click on a tree to initiate a dialog and not being able to talk freely talk to your party whenever you want).

I have both games, but I have no manual for ME1, so I am trying to figure out everything from that Wiki (eg; movement, interface, etc). Have yet to get to past the initial dislogue.

That said, I have played DAO more than a dozen times, and DAA twice plus all that DLC. No complaints here.

[Tigress M]

 @Elhanan -- Yeah, I had some trouble getting used to ME, as well.  Nothing made much sense at first because I'd gotten so used to the controls in DAO.  

In the continuing saga of this Awakening playthrough... I am just finishing up in the Blackmarsh, providing the game doesn't crash during the dragon fight again.  Ugh!  I think that is my most hated map in the game.  I have the worst time figuring out where to go for some reason.  

And, after getting Justice in the party, I decided to download a morph for him because I really can't stand looking at a dead man all the time.  This is the one I grabbed, and I think it's going to work nicely.  

Well, back to the dragon... and crossing my fingers. 

[Tigress M]

Finally made it through the Blackmarsh and am now in the Wending Wood. A couple of things I'm noticing now that I'm getting farther into the game:

1. There seems to be more things to loot in DAA than DAO. Hitting the Tab key to see what's clickable in most areas reveals a number of items, comparable to the Library in the Mage's Tower after clicking on the Summoning Font.

2. Leveling goes insanely fast in DAA. And, while that can be fun, it's sort of turned into a chore because I've long ago run out of tactics slots for my party so they're garnering skills they'll probably never use since I don't do a lot of micro-managing.

3. Having just encountered Velanna, I realized how much she reminds me of a blond Morrigan. Not sure why, but she does.

[mousestalker]

Morrigan and Velanna have the same hairstyle. They also tend to be rather tart.

[Reika]

Only Morrigan has more style, or something. Velanna just grated my nerves the entire time. I'm very tempted to tell her to buzz off when I replay Awakenings to refresh my memory for my fanfic.

[Tigress M]

@Reika -- Yeah, I agree. She does grate and I hate, as a DE, having her think we're anywhere near the same because we're both Dalish. My Warden keeps screaming in her head, "I'm NOTHING like you!" I'm not crazy about Morrigan either, but since I love Claudia Black, I can endure her barbed tongue. Velanna... not so much -- can't wait to get done with the mines so I can get her out of my party.

[Reika]

I think part of my issues with Velanna is that she's not only whiny (in my ears), she's also very demanding and selfish.



I wanted a dialogue option to tell her to shut up at some point in the mines. My warden had gotten captured by a sentient darkspawn that drained her of her blood and experimented on her. Then hearing Velanna go on and on...ugh.

[Carmen_Willow]

I just went back and played a game of Awakenings again as well. I found that Awakenings grew on me over time. When I stopped expecting it to be an extension of DA:O and treated it as a separate entity, I was fine with it. I thought the run through the basement of the Keep was very interesting. I wanted to learn more about the Avaar culture and peoples. To me, the fire Golem was the hardest fight in the game and a lot of fun.



I loved the politics. I loved making the high justice decisions, and the intrigue. And I loved Nathaniel and Sigrun as characters. I didn't worry about rune crafting, I was way too over powered to need it. I liked the Fade a great deal more in Awakenings than in Origins, because I had my crew with me and was not lost and alone. Aside from the fact that the game doesn't make a post battle final save (is that a bug or is it on purpose?), and the fact that I can never seem to get Sigrun's quest, I hit relatively few bugs.



I wish I could save the dog in the basement (maybe with high enough survival, I can). It could have been better had some of the characters and stories been more developed, but all in all it was good.

[Carmen_Willow]

Tigress M wrote...

I think another thing that has helped me "relax" a bit about the whole Awakening thing is that since my first playthough, I've purchased and played both ME and ME2. Those games are quite similar to DA:A in their method of interacting with fellow party members (like having to click on a tree to initiate a dialog and not being able to talk freely talk to your party whenever you want).

I couldn't make it through ME 1 until I purchased ME 2 and played it a couple times.  I liked ME 2 so much it gave me the extra motivation to make it through the never-ending quests of ME 1.  ME 2 helped me lighten up about DA 2 as well, although I am still not thrilled by what I see of the art style they plan to give us.

Awakenings had a dark richness to it - but I get so tired of all the hanging bodies in both games.  I hope we are done with hangings in DA 3.

[Morroian]

Carmen_Willow wrote...

I just went back and played a game of Awakenings again as well. I found that Awakenings grew on me over time. When I stopped expecting it to be an extension of DA:O and treated it as a separate entity, I was fine with it. I thought the run through the basement of the Keep was very interesting. I wanted to learn more about the Avaar culture and peoples. To me, the fire Golem was the hardest fight in the game and a lot of fun.

I think the maps in DAA are quite good perhaps with the exception of the Wending Wood. My hardest fight was the Spectral Dragon, dunno why, although I did the Blackmarsh early. I had to leave that fight and come back when I'd levelled up a couple of levels.

[Reika]

I found the Queen of the Blackmarsh one of the easiest boss fights in DAA, but it was very similar to alot of boss fights I had in WoW raids. And my computer controlled NPCs were smarter than my human raiders.

[Tigress M]

 Well, I'm frustrated this morning as I think I'm looking at having to replay about 10 hours of the game.  Once again, I'm stuck being unable to complete the Joining for everyone.  

I think my mistake was in going to the Blackmarsh before going to Wending Wood.  Having known from my first playthrough that I couldn't leave Sigrun to the last, I did her just after Nate.  But, then I went to recruit Justice before getting Velanna.  Now, I am stuck, once again, unable to get Veral to talk about anything except the final battle.  

Am I right about the order, or is there something else that triggers Veral's focus?  

On another note... I was lucky and didn't come across the Silverite Mine bug, however, I did notice something odd.  When I woke up, I had on peasants clothing (and breathed a sigh of relief) but everyone in my party still had their hats!  I use the No Helmet Hack mod, and I'm wondering if that had something to do with the keeping of the helms.  Anywho, I was a little worried about my inventory, but it was all right where it was supposed to be.  Of course now I'll probably have to go back and do it all again if I'm right about having to recruit Velanna before Justice.  <_<

[Elhanan]

I also chose Vellena last at least once, and while she did not officially take the Joining, the epilogue remains the same as if she did. I would wait until your next Warden to see her minor quest.

And she is a much greater pain than Morrigan.

Modifié par Elhanan, 06 octobre 2010 - 01:09 .

[Reika]

Once you recruit Justice, you end up sparking the final battle. I don't think Velanna is worth keeping anyway, Anders is a better healer and can do some decent damage as well if properly geared.

Edit: my bad, it's actually once all 3 main quests are complete that the final battle triggers.

Modifié par Reika, 06 octobre 2010 - 01:41 .