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[Victor Wachter]

To mark the launch of Dragon Age: Awakening, Producer Fernando Melo and Ferret Baudoin have written letters to our players and fans.

First, let's hear from Fernando:

Today, we officially launch the Awakening expansion to Dragon Age. It is a culmination of a tremendous amount of work done by a relatively small, but talented, group of people.

Like many games, Awakening had its fair share of challenges along the way. Not the least of which was having to meet the expectations set forth by a massive title like Origins.

As developers, the team has much to be proud of – Awakening heralded several firsts for us at BioWare. Many of these are behind the scenes, like hitting our original date and on all platforms without compromising the quality. However, some will be more apparent to you the game player and I hope that you will agree that Awakening is indeed a worthy addition to the Dragon Age family.

Supporting and adding to one of our largest projects to date involved juggling an array of plates, including the initial Origins launch, DLC, patches, and updates. Amidst this, the team kept its focus and composure, always managing to bounce back and regain its stride once again. This is what I am most proud of them for.

Now, the true test: the team now anxiously awaits what you the fans will think of it. So I have a favor to ask -- should you get the chance to pull yourself away and visit the forums, send us some feedback. What did you enjoy? What would you like to see more?

If you have already purchased Awakening, you have my sincere thanks for the support, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it for you. I look forward to seeing you on the social site at social.bioware.com!

---

And now from Ferret:

Launch day. In the life of a developer, it's like VE-Day and D-Day wrapped into one. After many months of hard work, something our team worked on passionately is out in the world. When Awakening started, our goal was to pick up where Origins left off. We were eager to pen a new chapter and dream up new people, environments, and threats to face. Many of us have only worked on other people’s intellectual property – a real joy you’re a fan boy or girl -- but Dragon Age was our own creation and the world could evolve and grow in any direction our imagination took us. It’s been an exciting and wonderful opportunity.

So as you open up your box (or watch the download reach 100%) know that our entire team put a lot of TLC into our game. And every step along the way the community was in our thoughts. Practically every discussion we had on various features or story moments, the fans would come in. Would the fans want X? Would the fans crave more Y? Many of us are hardcore BioWare fans ourselves, so discussions could get rather lively. If we dedicated games the way radio requests were done, it’d be to you guys – the fans who loved Origins and made it possible for us to continue exploring the Dragon Age world together.

So welcome back to Ferelden. The darkspawn have missed you. :happy:

[AndreaDraco]

And I'm sure we've missed the darkspawn!



Thanks for the two letters. I can't wait to install and play Awakening (it should arrive tomorrow, Thursday tops), and I'd certainly stick around to provide feedback!



In the meantime, thanks again for the idea of the letters!

[emlit]

Curse you postal system! Or me for wanting a disc! Curses either way!

[ziggurcat]

what would be really nice is if the issues plaguing DA:O get fixed (or at the very least, improved).

[Tribalinius]

Victor Wachter wrote...

To mark the launch of Dragon Age: Awakening, Producer Fernando Melo and Ferret Baudoin have written letters to our players and fans.

First, let's hear from Fernando:

Today, we officially launch the Awakening expansion to Dragon Age. It is a culmination of a tremendous amount of work done by a relatively small, but talented, group of people.

Like many games, Awakening had its fair share of challenges along the way. Not the least of which was having to meet the expectations set forth by a massive title like Origins.

As developers, the team has much to be proud of – Awakening heralded several firsts for us at BioWare. Many of these are behind the scenes, like hitting our original date and on all platforms without compromising the quality. However, some will be more apparent to you the game player and I hope that you will agree that Awakening is indeed a worthy addition to the Dragon Age family.

Supporting and adding to one of our largest projects to date involved juggling an array of plates, including the initial Origins launch, DLC, patches, and updates. Amidst this, the team kept its focus and composure, always managing to bounce back and regain its stride once again. This is what I am most proud of them for.

Now, the true test: the team now anxiously awaits what you the fans will think of it. So I have a favor to ask -- should you get the chance to pull yourself away and visit the forums, send us some feedback. What did you enjoy? What would you like to see more?

If you have already purchased Awakening, you have my sincere thanks for the support, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it for you. I look forward to seeing you on the social site at social.bioware.com!

---

And now from Ferret:

Launch day. In the life of a developer, it's like VE-Day and D-Day wrapped into one. After many months of hard work, something our team worked on passionately is out in the world. When Awakening started, our goal was to pick up where Origins left off. We were eager to pen a new chapter and dream up new people, environments, and threats to face. Many of us have only worked on other people’s intellectual property – a real joy you’re a fan boy or girl -- but Dragon Age was our own creation and the world could evolve and grow in any direction our imagination took us. It’s been an exciting and wonderful opportunity.

So as you open up your box (or watch the download reach 100%) know that our entire team put a lot of TLC into our game. And every step along the way the community was in our thoughts. Practically every discussion we had on various features or story moments, the fans would come in. Would the fans want X? Would the fans crave more Y? Many of us are hardcore BioWare fans ourselves, so discussions could get rather lively. If we dedicated games the way radio requests were done, it’d be to you guys – the fans who loved Origins and made it possible for us to continue exploring the Dragon Age world together.

So welcome back to Ferelden. The darkspawn have missed you. :happy:

Can we have our DLC items back now? Thank you.

Love,
Trib

[Tylarien]

I'm picking up my pre-order after work today...so though I can't comment on the game as of yet, but I'd just like to express how impressed I am with the two letters written on behalf of the Devs to the fans. It's very refreshing to receive insight into the production and passion that goes into creating such games that we've all come to enjoy and appreciate so much.



So Thank You Bioware!

[Serenade]

Give the console players some love Bioware. We want a real patch, like the 1.02 for PC.

[melkathi]

Victor Wachter wrote...

<snip>

 visit the forums, send us some feedback.

<snip>

If Mr. Melo wants feedback, who are we to refuse his request?
This thread has loads of it :innocent:

[danabe]

I have something unfinished with the darkspawn myself. Will be good to be back at their throats!

[exorzist]

thanks for the heads up

[Noir201]

Oh i can't wait to give you my feed back...

[gaminphreak]

Thank you guys for creating something I truly enjoy

Modifié par gaminphreak, 17 mars 2010 - 01:45 .

[RobUnreal]

Going to pick up Awakening tomorrow. Been waiting anxiously, and happy to oblige your request for feedback.

[Jansaadi]

melkathi wrote...

Victor Wachter wrote...



 visit the forums, send us some feedback.

If Mr. Melo wants feedback, who are we to refuse his request?
This thread has loads of it :innocent:

I agree, I got the expanision at midnight by 2 am I gave up do to the crashing, and there as been no offical responce in the tech forum at all.

[VaeVictus X]

So far my first impressions are good, but I haven't had much time to play with it yet. I'll say more after I play more.

[Kaynos1972]

Sucks not having DLC items carry over, my mage starts awekening butt naked, at least you could have put some basic replacement gears.... oh well.

[SuperDyu]

( SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
First off thank you BioWare and EA for continuing the franchise. While my criticisms will be many they are only provided to help you out - I overall feel you always provide solid products, so I am nit picking here to push BioWare to the next level of awesome.

Criticisms as I play (expect edits):

Ogren's appearance was a bit "fan boy"'ish of a feel at the start. The dialog could have been more in depth or more serious of a tone. Yes, Ogren is a funny guy, but in light of an attack he might crack wise once but still have some sense of seriousness - this was missing in the starting encounter.

Rowland's death comes off as meaningless. This is in stark contrast to the deaths in the Origin stories in DA:O. We had an bit to get somewhat connected to those characters. Felt forced to give him encouragement considering I don't really care about him.

- Reached part after clearing out Virgil's Keep

The pacing felt a bit off for an introduction (especially compared to DA:O). I don't care about any of the characters involved so far and the story seems like it is already picking up. Anora shows up with guards around her, a bit odd... she is the Queen, why would she show up in the first place? Seems forced.

Varel is saved, but just gets up and says "Hi there are soldiers coming" this felt totally off considering what has happened. At least let players have a conversation with him as he is still injured or tired from his ordeal, and at the end of the conversation trigger him stating that soldiers approach.

One major gripe I have to get off my chest, and it's with love BioWare... Ogren is not Alistair. 

Placement of "The Warden Commander" (Player Character) feels off considering you are the commander. So far I noticed I'm placed as if I were a guest in conversations that take place in my own castle.  While this is minor and less annoying to move around, it conveys a feeling of subordinate that was present in DA:O  - which made sense. If I'm the Commander of the Grey Wardens, I should be standing with my back to "the throne" (for lack of a better term) in the primary rooms.

Don't care about intro woman dying during the joining (dont even remember her name as I'm alt tabbed  - Mhirti?) She is definitely no Sir Joree, again it comes down to little to no interaction with her.  She does not matter. It would have been just as easy to not put her in at all (disregard if she comes back as an OMG DarkSpawn). 

 Overall, this portion of the game seemed very rushed from a story/player perspective.  I would have liked to bathed in the glory of what I achieved more.  A recommendation perhaps would be to add in 1 map with conversations with Mhirti so she can tell me about herself as did the other GW try outs did in DA:O.  Tell me about her mother, her father, her connections to Loghain, something to make me care.  I have an emotional attachment to the first game going into this, it should have been exploited more.

One mechanic along the lines of the "extra map" could have had a long conversation as the start of the game. In this, you can establish what would have happened in the previous DA:O and placed that as the starting point for DA:A. This is something I considered for my own custom campaign. It really would play out similar to Alistair's asking the player what he thought about his party members in the original game.

Example:  Mhriti goes "How did you defeat the archdemon?"  Even provide a "I prefer not to say" option, if the player just doesn't want to deal with it, etc.  I'm fairly certain BioWare considered this, but I'm unsure why it wasn't put in outside of resource constraints. DA is driven by story, and the motivation for the expansion is the continuation of that story... at least for me . 


(reserved for more edits)

Modifié par SuperDyu, 17 mars 2010 - 03:34 .

[Fernando Melo]

Thanks for the feedback so far - please keep it coming.

I would ask however, that in order to avoid spoilers that you post actual Awakening gameplay info within the official campaign forum.

Likewise, Awakening or patch technical issues should go in the tech support forum appropriate to the PC , X360 , or PS3 platform you're playing on.

We have folks monitoring these specifically to make it easier to gather up all relevant info.  Thanks to your feedback on those forums so far we are better aware of issues some of our players are seeing with the latest patch / console updates and continue to look into solutions for these or work with community members to gather up more specifics/system info as needed to help find a solution.

[max_ai]

Haven't bought it yet (no free time at all right now).
Will definitely pick it up in a month or so from now though.

Anyways, I'd still like to express my deepest thanks to all BW in general, and DA staff in particular for bringing this great franchise to life, which made me re-live the great moments I've had with BG so long ago.
Keep up the good work!

EDIT: Oh, and BTW, thanks for bringing Oghren back! After all, he's my favourite character in DA:O

Modifié par max_ai, 17 mars 2010 - 04:13 .

[Mithrildream]

Thanks for Awakening!! Love it so far.

[Googanator-Orig]

I dont know what you guys are smoking.But $39.98 for 1gb?
This is the biggest rip off. I was wanting to buy it..But for 3200MS? That's a shocker.
Allmost the full price of a full retail game for a 1gb "expansion".
No thanks

Modifié par Googanator-Orig, 17 mars 2010 - 05:34 .

[Lovecraft22]

so far so good...

[CarlSpackler]

I'm not very far into Awakening as of yet, but I do enjoy the atmosphere. The keep is fun and I am enjoying the new characters. And while Oghren may not have been my first choice to return, I liked Oghren and it was a lot like seeing an old friend.

(MINOR SPOILERS BUT NOTHING YOU DON'T SEE IN THE TRAILERS)
On that note however, seeing my old comrade in arms Alistair was quite a disappointment. This dude was at my joining, we went through great battles together, he tried to warn me about Morrigan, I made him King, in short we were best friends. And yet the encounter with him was like we were barely aware of each other. Certainly he was settling into his role as king, and I had my own job to do, yadda, yadda, but this meeting of old friends and warriors was really sad.

I don't think I'm far enough into the game yet to judge the adherence to DAO but so far that is the most disappointing aspect. Some folks have criticized how the choices that carried over into ME2 were handled, these criticisms ranged from imbecilic to perhaps warranted, but there was never any doubt playing ME2 that it was my game world. I personally thought the team did a Herculean job of recognizing player choice given the complicated beast that is software development. I also realize that DAA was developed by a smaller team, but you ask what we would like to see more of, well recognition of my choices from DAO -even in small ways- would have greatly added to my enjoyment.

Well enough criticism, excellent job for delivering a substantial expansion in an age that has largely ignored expansions. Again thanks for continuing this franchise. I hope you guys are in an ongoing effort to deliver more great DA content.

Modifié par CarlSpackler, 17 mars 2010 - 02:10 .