34 réponses à ce sujet

[DAO MAdhatter]

I seen people **** about Awakening when comparing dragon Origin to Dragon Age 2. So what changes made in Awakening got people so pissed?

[Arthur Cousland]

It's full of bugs and rushed, much like DA2.

I still like it, though it's disappointing when I think, "What could have been?", if Bioware only took the time to release Awakening when it was ready.

There are pieces of armor sets that never made it into the game, quests and random encounters that never trigger, a certain quest that makes your armor go missing if not handled in a specific way, etc.

[dirt_andpretty]

I've been looking into this as well, as I'm about to start Awakenings. Is it just the bugs that people were upset with (understandably so) or is it the writing as well? I tried playing a friends' DA2 just to see what's up with it (not too happy with some of the new stuff) and was curious about Anders. I see he was introduced in Awakenings so I'm sort of looking forward to playing it. But if it's buggy AND the story sucks, then I'd rather not invest another 20 hours in DA:O and instead really try getting into DA2.

[Nazo]

I thought Awakenings had an interesting story, and was worth playing for that. On the negative side, it is a bit buggy, and the super-high-level playstyle never really appealed to me. (In this game or any game; beginnings are much more fun imho)

Life is long enough to play both Awakenings and DA2.

[rayvioletta]

Awakening has less companion interaction, less replay value, is significantly shorter than Origins and is not fully compatible with the toolset
it is however a lot of fun, but not as good as Origins and definitely suffers from having been rushed out too quickly. pity BioWare didn't learn from that with DA2

[gneisenau556]

I actually liked the Awakening concept of being the Warden Commander trying to run the arling. It is too bad that Awakening was rushed, it had alot of potential.

[Icehawk7]

I like it, but like DAO as a whole, it could use a few more patches.

[Vhardamis]

I liked the story in DAO:A. By the time I picked it up most of the bugs had been cleaned up (but not all). Like was stated before, the problem was that it didn't feel completed/rushed. There were parts of the story that needed to be fleshed out more.

Anders was certainly more care free there but I'm of a mind of liking both versions. I'd say give it a try and play it just to get a feel of just how different he is.

[frostajulie]

I got Awakenings right before DA2 came out I imported a warden and that game got so bugged I had to stop playing it. The dwarf that I am supposed to give building materials to just stopped interacting completely and scenes that should have triggerred to finish up a quest didn't fire I just gave up it is sad that due to bad coding and game breaking bugs I was unable to enjoy the game.

[rak72]

I mostly liked it. Like people said - the bugs were a big problem. It could have been a great game if they allowed you to interact with the companions properly, but I hated the way they did the interactions. I could only complete my BFF from origins (Ohgren) quest once, because I could never get his approval up high enough in Awakenings.

[DAO MAdhatter]

Hmm... I never acountered any bugs... & Never knew that it was rusked. Thanks guys for the heads up.

Anyways... I was having fun until I screwed up & missed a piece armor piece in the fade. Well now I know. SAVE! & save often.

Modifié par DAO MAdhatter, 10 mai 2011 - 11:25 .

[Gangster No.1]

Nazo wrote...

I thought Awakenings had an interesting story, and was worth playing for that. On the negative side, it is a bit buggy, and the super-high-level playstyle never really appealed to me. (In this game or any game; beginnings are much more fun imho)

Life is long enough to play both Awakenings and DA2.

I completely agree on the high-level playstyle. I mean, the gear you find even early on in Awakenings is super overpowered compared to the stuff you bring along from Origins. Kind of reminds me of the Neverwinter Nights expansion Hordes of the Underdark. Not only was the gear insanely overpowered, but you actually got buried under tons of such gear.

Aside from that, Awakening feels kind of rushed. I can't exactly pin it down, but it felt rather inconsistent in itself. And one thing that really annoyed me was how you had to run around like an idiot in Amaranthine.

There are also a few quest-related bugs that make no sense at all, like if you first agree to help a certain faction to convince a certain someone to open a passage but then decide to help the other faction instead, that first quest doesn't disappear and you can actually turn the second faction against you if you do that first quest after doing all the quests for the second faction (which shouldn't even be possible anymore at that point).

[digi_ronin]

Why?
Well, I recently finished Awakening - right after playing DAO before.

I was disappointed mainly because:

• Little effect of DAO choices. Despite DAA being advertised as a seamless followup to DAO, I found that my choices from DAO had little to no plot effects in DAA.
• Companion interaction was reduced to 20% of what we had in DAO. No more free talking, just dragging them around and waiting for them suddenly jump you with a personal conundrum. Oh, and screw romance.
• Quest Complexity was reduced to 30% of what we had in DAO. The late stages of DAO already showed the same symptoms - but in DAA the onedimensional "go there, grab that" quests-on-a-rail were the ugly standard, rather than the sad exception.
• Area complexity was extremely poor. There were exactly two complex settings (Blackmarsh and Winding Wood), with the rest of the places being pure throwaway locations. You visit once, stay for 20min, then leave and never return. Heck, why not merge 4 of those into one bigger, atmospheric place? I guess because the numbers on the box looked better with "20 new areas to explore!".

Gameplay-wise, I actually have no qualms. My Awakening had no bugs anymore (well, surprise, it's the ultimate version after all). The new abilities were awesome and the new specializations finally allowed my to build the mage I wanted (hated the speci-options in DAO).

In terms of gameplay and mechanics, Awakening managed to be exactly what it promised: an epic-chara-level addon. The comparison with HotU is perfectly valid there. Were the items/skills over the top? Definitely, but it was meant to be like that and I loved that part. =)

But in terms of plot, characters and complexity after having DAO?
Definitely a letdown.

...well I started Witch Hunt just now, and so far it seems like it could be better in the character department. We'll see.

Modifié par digi_ronin, 11 mai 2011 - 03:18 .

[Arthur Cousland]

DAO MAdhatter wrote...

Hmm... I never acountered any bugs... & Never knew that it was rusked. Thanks guys for the heads up.

Anyways... I was having fun until I screwed up & missed a piece armor piece in the fade. Well now I know. SAVE! & save often.

Yes, saving often is a good idea.  I like to at least have one backup file right before or at the beginning of any part of the main story.  If you encounter any unpleasant bugs or you miss something, you just reload and try to do better next time.

You will run into a nasty bug when you enter the Silverite Mines during "The Righteous Path", that can possibly have your gear taken from you permanently.  Either go in naked or make sure no one is an arcane warrior with armor/melee weapons or is wearing anything that is restricted to a specific class or character.

For more details:  http://dragonage.wik...teous_Path#Bugs

[digi_ronin]

Addendum about WH, now that I finished it... mere hours after that last post up there.

Story... surprisingly, I liked it, very linear but somehow worked for me.
Companions... were even thinner than in Awakening.
Quests... what quests?
Playlength... would have been a grievous insult, had I not gotten it for free in the ultimate package.

[Vhardamis]

Arthur Cousland wrote...

You will run into a nasty bug when you enter the Silverite Mines during "The Righteous Path", that can possibly have your gear taken from you permanently.  Either go in naked or make sure no one is an arcane warrior with armor/melee weapons or is wearing anything that is restricted to a specific class or character.

For more details:  http://dragonage.wik...teous_Path#Bugs

Crap I completely forgot about that bug! I lied, I did encounter this one. At first I thoguht the Devs were just being a perv as my lady elf Warden was the only one in a cell naked.

[Pheadora]

I just got the DA-Awakening and miss the character interaction.  That part i really liked in the Origins.  Great story line in being a commander! Could have gone many ways!  Wished there were more quests! More people to go through the joining!  (with more towns, villages, etc...) Still will play til I finish the game and then I will try the DA II.  Not scared away from all the negative talk as there is always good and bad!  We can only try it and make up our own minds! 

[catofnine]

Found Awakening fun, but the Silverite Mines and character bugs were really disappointing to see out of Bioware.

I didn't mind the "new" party interactions as much as other people. I liked them better than Origins in the way that your conversations with the Awakening characters seemed much more pointed and meaningful. Some would argue they seem less fleshed out, and I could see that...but if the writers gave me a very good sense of what the characters are like with far less dialogue pumping and gift plying than Origins I think they did their job well. I enjoyed listening to Justice's lecturing of the others and Sigrun was my favorite character. Perhaps it would have been less jarring for others if the devs had struck a compromise between party camp and what we got in Awakenings.

Story, I found it no different than other Bioware games i.e. go to X number of major locations, then showdown and the end. Some of the quests felt hollow i.e. gathering quests, but I did like running around fulling an Arlessa's responsibilities. Also liked the game poking fun at the player with those absurd Blight Orfans quest lines. However, runecrafting could go die in a fire. Really. I finished the game with close to 800 sovereigns (imported character from DA:O). I would have like to just have bought those damned runes instead of wasting time and patience hunting down recipes and crafting them.

DA:O set a pretty high bar in terms of player expectations. People expected more of the same with Awakening and were really disappointed to see it scaled down so much. Also it didn't help things that it was $40 when it came out and its length was a fraction to that of Origins. Whether it was the bugs, story and character dislikes, length or whatever--people felt ripped off, hence the haaaaet/nerdraaaaage.

If I had to peg my disappointment it would be the bugs and the fact that Bioware shipped the game as is. Also, the lack of a toolset update is disappointing considering it might have helped address the bugs in game properly and sooner (for those on PC.)   I'd like to think this is still the same company that supported NWN's toolset to 1.69...but we'll see, right?  However, on the whole I actually enjoyed Awakening. Like some I wished they had done more with the primary baddies in the game, but for an expansion pack it gave enough punch to justify what I paid for it ($20) which was a continuation of my warden's story and telling me more about Thedas and its people. If you can look at it as simply an expansion pack and not wanting more of the "epicness" of DA:O (hard act to follow, really), you might enjoy Awakening.

I finished Awakening in ~25 hours on Nightmare (pc) and thought it was worth what I paid.

Edits: holy hell, lack of coffee.

Modifié par catofnine, 17 mai 2011 - 02:08 .

[OBakaSama]

The bugs were my main bugbear concerning Awakenings. Though there were other disappointing things concerning it as well.

(1) The game of being the Warden Commander is fascinating, but the actual gameplay didn't reflect enough of that responsibility for me. I really liked the day in court 'mission' and during my first playthrough I was actually expecting more like it; unfortunately that was a one off. In a fuller game I would have liked to see that expanded upon. That way it would feel like you are Warden Commander and the Arl of Amaranthine.

(2) The lack of character interaction (which BioWare seems to have followed for DA2). Character interaction in DA: O was brilliant as far as I am concerned, so the change to a more Mass Effect style 'click on the scenery' is somewhat disappointing. There is still a choice of dialogue but the way in which the interaction comes about is somewhat lacking.

(3) Lack of romance; though this is understandable given the story. It is a shame that there wasn't more from your love interest from DA: O in the game.

(4) The apparent lack of consequences in an import game from DA: O. Most of the things were minor and somewhat inconsequential to the actual game.

(5) The inability to import a save of a dead Warden and play an Orlesian Warden in the world they left behind. That would have been a really nice touch. Instead we get a magically resurrected Warden.

Stuff I did like.

(A) The new abilities. Really gave the gameplay mechanics something different and enhanced the gameplay.

( The runecrafting. The execution is very clunky but the idea is nice.

© A rogue who can tank really well. That was really sweet seeing my rogue taking anything which the enemies can dish out, and give it back to them tenfold (exaggerating).

[SOLID_EVEREST]

The game was way too expensive for the amount of bugs and zero replay value. I liked how the ending was pretty detailed with the slides, but the game as a whole was disappointing. If they made the expansion revolve around finishing Morrigan's story, that would've been a more epic game. I mean being the Warden Commander had so much potential, but I thought Morrigan is too good of a character to lose. Anyways, the idea was fantastic, but very poorly executed. On another note, just imagine if they released Awakening instead of DA: 2. That would've been better.

[kormesios]

I bought the expansion knowing it would smaller and shorter, with less NPC involvement. It's an expansion, that's fine. Even the linear nature wasn't surprising.

But, if I'm going to play a game that focuses more on killing the enemy, I'd like the enemy to be interesting. The story was very standard in a lot of ways, and wasn't sold very well--it was RPG plotting by the numbers.

[Nick_T]

gneisenau556 wrote...

I actually liked the Awakening concept of being the Warden Commander trying to run the arling. It is too bad that Awakening was rushed, it had alot of potential.

I really enjoyed that too, the whole idea that I'm actually helping to run the place rather than leaving it to someone else.




I liked Awakening, I think it was just that there was lots of cool stuff there, but it was there in brief glimpses. I don't know, I guess I would have enjoyed it more if maybe there was less in it, and what remained was expanded on. But like I say, as it was I liked it and was glad I played it.

[Icehawk7]

it's a mixed bag. Example: It would have been cooler if your Warden in DAO gave up his life, if that would have forced you to play an Orlesian warden or someone who just joined the order. Stuff like that, I would have loved. Gladly would have waited a few more months for it.

I liked Awakening. It just needed more work in some areas. I loved the whole making choices as a ruler bit. Didn't mind how most of them were minor. I do wish one or so would have say affected future DLC or DA2/3/4/5/6/7.

DAO in general could use another patch or two. Couple things they need to iron out.

Modifié par Icehawk7, 22 mai 2011 - 02:58 .

[errant_knight]

My main problems were with the lack of free interaction with the companions. I never felt really involved with them, more like they were business acquaintences. IMO, without natural feeling conversations, no Dragon Age game will come close to DA:Origins in terms of immersion. They only exacerbated the problem in DA2, making it third person and removing it almost completely from the action/real time, and removing any PC control from it other than showing up when told. On the plus side, DA2 made Awakening look a heck of a lot better than it did before, in all ways.

Modifié par errant_knight, 29 mai 2011 - 04:04 .

[yaw]

 I really enjoyed Awakenings.

The only problems I had were with the companions. I missed the ability to speak with them when I wanted, relationships were developed way too fast, there was hardly any character development, and while in Origins I got really attached to almost every character, I didn't really care about anyone in Awakenings. Oh, and no romance, obviously.

But then, it's an expansion, right? It's supposed to be short? And in the time frame they give you it's hard to develop meaningful characters.

It's a just such a shock that DA2 was so bad.