Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening Expansion Pack

Dragon Age: Awakening is an expansion pack for the role playing game Dragon Age: Origins. It requires the original game to play, and the retail price is $39.99 although you can get it for somewhat less if you shop around. It was simultaneously released for PC and console systems.

This expansion takes place after the end of Dragon Age: Origins. You can start over with a new character or import your old one from Origins. What's cool about being able to import is that it continues the storyline to some degree. Not all of my equipment ported over, though. I was running around for a while until I realized my character was barefoot.

I've read some complaints about the story to this game, and I have to agree it's a little off-putting. At the end of Origins, you are supposed to have stopped the darkspawn invasion. In this game, you start out with the darkspawn still causing problems. What's different is that this time there is a darkspawn who can speak, and more powerful foes are working to try again to take over. It's like everything you did in Origins was a waste of time.

You won't have the same party of characters that you did in Origins, but that's not a big deal. You will have the dwarf warrior Oghren join you very early in the game, then later on you will pick up a spellcaster and a rogue. I played the game through as a rogue and use the other rogue as an archer. It works out pretty well. You will get to see a couple of old friends from Origins, but they mainly just make cameos. Depending on how things went between you and Morrigan at the end of Origins, you'll still know nothing new with this expansion. Maybe Bioware is saving that one for Dragon Age 2.

A new map full of locations is what you get with the Awakening expansion, although the map is much smaller and the locations are fewer. It took me well over 40 hours to complete the original game, but there's only about 20 hours of new gameplay with this expansion pack. It could be less than that if you stick to the main quest and don't venture out. You aren't getting as much game for your dollar here, and I'm not cool with that. Between this expansion and the original game, I've got 90 bucks tied up in the Dragon Age.

In addition to new places and new monsters to kill, this game does add a bunch of new items like weapons and armor, some new skills and spells, and new specializations for each class. One of the coolest new additions is Runecrafting, where you can make your own runes, plus there's a bunch of new things you can do in combat. I like this additional stuff because you will level up much higher than you could in Origins and there needed to be new offerings as incentives for leveling.

The graphics don't look any different than they did in the original game, other than there being new locations and monsters. Performance is still the same on my PC and there did not seem to be any kind of technical updates. This expansion pack is just a lot of new content and nothing noticeable in the way of tweaks. There is, however, a ton of new dialogue with more humor than before, so it's entertaining to listen to your characters chat with each other while you are walking around. I think the party you acquire in this game are a bit more colorful than my last group. The downside is that you won't get to spend nearly as much time with them.

In the end, I have enjoyed the added content that came from Dragon Age: Awakening, but I think the price was a little too high for what I got out of it. Runecrafting is kind of cool, but I'm more interested in length of gameplay rather than more items to deal with. Don't bother picking this up until you have completed Dragon Age: Origins, then import your character over and keep playing.

Hint: There is a cat in Vigil's Keep. Pick it up and you'll see it as a gift item in your inventory. Give it to the mage, Anders, for some hilarious interactions. This is one of the game's many easter eggs.