Dragon Age: OrANGE YOU GOING TO AWAKEN?

[DFM]

http://www.gogaminggiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dragonageoriginslogo.png

:AWAKENING



THE ARCH DEMON HAS BEEN DEFEATED, HIS SOUL EITHER DESTROYED OR TRANSFERED INTO AN EVIL GOD BABY.

BUT WHAT'S THIS, WARDEN?

THE DARKSPAWN ARE NOT RETREATING UNDERGROUND! THEY CONTINUE TO RAVAGE THE COUNTRYSIDE, EVEN MORE ORGANIZED THAN BEFORE!

YOU MUST GET TO VIGIL'S KEEP TO RALLY THE WARDENS AGAINST THIS THREAT!

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3678/malkavian3002.jpg

IT SAYS SO IN THE LOADING SCREEN!


UNFORTUNATELY, THE GREY WARDEN COMMANDER IS FORBIDDEN BY CHANTRY LAW FROM EVER WEARING THE GREY WARDEN COMMANDER ARMOR, AND YOU WERE FORCED TO RELINQUISH IT UPON ACCEPTING YOUR TITLE OF GREY WARDEN COMMANDER.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/415/malkavian3003.jpg

WE DIDN'T GIVE YOU ANY NEW CLOTHES OR ANYTHING, I MEAN, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WOULD HAVE SOLD ALL YOUR EXCESS GEAR AT THE END GAME FOR POTION AND RUNE MONEY ANYWAY, RIGHT?

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2755/malkavian3004.jpg

YOU PRETTY MUCH SPENT THE LAST SIX MONTHS NAKED. A NAKED QUEEN. YOU ARE LADY GODIVA.

NOBODY EVEN CARES ANYMORE.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8200/malkavian3007.jpg

Also your boss Star-Spawned-God-Killer sword was illegalized along with your armor, lucky you kept that shitty sword and shield you got at the very beginning of the game for role playing purposes. Too bad you aren't even trained as a sword and board fighter! I bet you're sorry you called that "Shield Bash" skill we gave you in the beginning a wasted point, huh?

HUH?


Oh whoop Vigil's Keep is under attack!

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2406/malkavian3011.jpg

What are you waiting for? HUH?

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/8432/malkavian3013.jpg

There we go, you don't need shit! You could tear these guys apart with your BARE MAKER DAMN HANDS.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/8364/malkavian3017.jpg

This is everyone's reaction to seeing the errant indestructible goddess queen.

http://na.llnet.bioware.cdn.ea.com/u/f/eagames/bioware/dragonage/assets/media/gallery/screenshots/previews/nathaniel-02.jpg

NOW THAT FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE OVER WITH

I've barely started playing the expansion, so I can't offer much more than that in terms of input/discussion, but this is the AWAKENING thread for AWAKENING discussions about things that happen in the DRAGON AGE: ORIGIN expansion AWAKENING.

A few pretty spoiler free pro-tips for new starters:

1. You cannot have Oghren in your party without making him a Grey Warden, you can't be like "Hey Oghren I'd love to have you around we can rampage around drinking and spitting and smashing living body parts with dead body parts until there ain't no difference but man being a Grey Warden sucks ass you're just going to have to trust me on this, we'll be much better off if you don't go drinkin' no taint."

You just gotta be like "Oghren get outta here."

BIOWARE >:[

2. If you're importing a character, remember Starfang and the Warden Commander's armor are like, barred from entry into the expansion so like post coronation or something you may wanna ditch them and don some of your second best shit. Not that it matters anyway because

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5446/malkavian3020.jpg

[BitVyper]

: That's fucking stupid.
: Oh, wait. I saw an addon that lets the DLC work with Awakening.

[Azisien]

This thing ran like total shit on the 360 until I installed to disc. Then it ran a little better.

Bioware!! Stop it!

[Krylo]

You're playing isometric RPGs on the 360?

Azisien!! Stop it!

Also, in response to Warden's Keep DLC: They couldn't make it compatible because starmetal was supposed to be rare as shit, but was also designated as tier 8.

The stuck in a new tier 8 in Awakenings.

This caused issues.

Thus--no Warden's Keep stuff. At least not until issues can be resolved.

Also, the Warden's Keep stuff is shit compared to things you get like 10 minutes into Awakening, anyway.

[DFM]

And as I demonstrated, you probably don't even need to have weapons equipped to kill everything without taking any damage, which is basically what happened to me without armor and a Grey Iron sword/shield.

[Jagos]

I don't think anyone was complaining about that.

Matter of fact, I don't hear anyone complaining.

[Krylo]

Bitvyper's friend was.

Also, Awakenings is much darker than Origins. It's part of why I like it. There's no perfect sunny happy ending. The closest you can come is losing most of your troops at Vigil's Keep, but breaking the siege in a sort of pyrrhic victory. It's all quite awe inspiring and satisfying, but not 'happy'. Also, all characters can die in the epilogue if you do things poorly.

A lot of the side quests are a bit more dark too. It feels like proper dark fantasy.

It's not without its problems, of course. Not too fond of the new dialogue system. Old one had problems, too, but I don't like the lack of available dialogue. And there are a few bugs.

Like, save before entering the silverite mines. There's a rare bug tied to certain equipment that can cause you to permanently lose everything your main character has equipped.

All in all, though, I enjoyed it immensely.

[DFM]

Also, Peon's Plight: Holy shit

[Azisien]

You're playing isometric RPGs on the 360?

Azisien!! Stop it!

Nah, GF is. She refuses to get into PC gaming. I have it on the PC in all its glory.

Or rather, did. She beat it in one day. I guess it was around 8-10 hours?

[Krylo]

Nah, GF is. She refuses to get into PC gaming. I have it on the PC in all its glory.

Or rather, did. She beat it in one day. I guess it was around 8-10 hours?

15-30 is official company line.

Took me 15.

I'm kind of completionist-y, though... but I'm also 100% sure I missed some things.

[DFM]

What was your OC time?

[Krylo]

52.5 hours first time.

About 50 on my most recent.

Think I had a few 45ishes in the interim too, but that was without DLC and missing a few quests I got on my last one, so.

[Roland]

Jeez guys, I can barely run the first one as it is. I spent some time looking around and apparently I need a new graphics card in order for the game to not turn into molasses at even the lowest settings possible.

=/ I can't imagine myself playing the expansion for another... month or two. Which is like forever.

[DFM]

JUST BEAT IT

I sided with the Architect (Sort of, I guess) and decided to stay and defend the city, seeing as how I'd left Alternate Universe Alistair and the Incarnate of Justice to tag team the defense of Vigil's Keep. I think my character has this thing with achieving great worldly success at the expense of massive personal failure. I think I got the best world-wide ending you could hope for, Dark Spawn are almost universally and willingly retreating further underground with a chance that there will be no more blights, the city survives largely intact, rebuilt in a matter of days. The keep was slightly worse off, most of the soldiers there died but it held off the darkspawn and didn't buckle. The land hits a new golden age of trade and prosperity, yay for me.

But man I must have treated my companions like shit because they all got awful endings. I mean, some of them weren't awful but none of them were good. Like, Nathan quit the Wardens (Can you do that? I mean is that even possible?) after a few months and disappeared, his nephew took up the mantle later on, becoming a legendary warrior and redeeming the Howe name. Sigrun just kind of wandered off into the deep roads, looking for more darkspawn to kill and no one ever saw her again. The Elf Bitch stayed with the Wardens for a number of years, even overcoming her racism and saving a human town from the darkspawn without even making a snarky comments about weakling shems needing an elf to protect them. But one day on a deep roads excursion she thought she saw her sister, ran off, and was never seen again. Anders blasted the fuck out of the darkspawn during the siege and everyone said he was a hero and he was pretty happy being a hero and then I guess one day he got tired of being a grey warden too (Seriously what the fuck is with my desertion rate I've got maxed coercion you'd think I'd be able to like talk somebody out of abandoning their new life duty) so he ran off and since he wasn't a grey warden anymore (I don't know how that works still) the Chantry hunted him across the land but never even got close and he was never seen again. Justice got his head chopped off in the siege and nobody knows if that means he's dead now or what the fuck happened. The Darkspawn Disciple I let go struck off on his own and tales followed of a cloaked rider, a black phantom who would strike from the shadows and defend travelers and settlers from bandits and wildlife, became something of a folk hero. He also spread darkspawn taint wherever he went but nobody put two and two together.


On the other hand I sort of quit the grey wardens too because after a couple months at Vigil's I was like "Fuck this I'm a Queen and I'm married to a hot, sexy King. I'm off to sexy times." and rode back to Denerim where Alistair was waiting with his goofy, lovable grin.

I AM GOOD AT SNAGGING MEN BUT NOT INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS OR INSPIRING LOYALTY, I GUESS.

[Mannix]

how is the ending bit if you side with the townsfolk instead of the smugglers? I accidentally sided with the smugglers because I thought it would help me resupply the keep, which it didn't and it said that they grew in size and power until they totally bought off the city guard and took over the legitimate markets, driving out the normal businessmen.

also, everybody stayed with me in the end and it was pretty happy, except justice who got his head lopped off because i didn't do his loyalty quest and that elf broad got crushed by a segment of falling wall but they never found a body for the same reason. oh, and that dwarf rogue eventually just wandered into the deeproads after a couple of years to die in battle. everybody else stayed with the wardens permanently and were the stuff of legend; even the guards and that shepherd guy i spared and nathaniel's son as well.

did anybody find a way to talk the rioters down instead of having to massacre them?

I wonder how many different personal endings there are, as mine was i pretty much just rode off into the sunset, the lone badass.

[Krylo]

I didn't get to side with either. I was going to side with the town guard, but had already taken the smuggler quest, and both sides got pissed at me.

And the rioters are kind of an enigma. There's all kinds of hidden details to that. The persuade check is impossible unless you do this, except for if you do that, and then for five hours on wednesday you have to face east and pray to the anti-mecca. It's the DA version of the suicide quest.

And there's a different personal ending for each love interest, plus depending on how you decided to spend your time after the game, by my understanding. So lots. Morrigan one is kind of bugged, though, but, amusingly enough it's an Origins problem, as opposed to an Awakenings problem. Morrigan technically breaks up with you if you've done the full romance and talk to her in the city of Denerim during the assault. Gets set to friendly. This is also the trigger to get the epilogue about her feeling regret/sorrow through your ring. However, because Awakenings checks to see who you were at 'love' with when assigning you an epilogue card, Morrigan romances get shit. I'm guessing a patch will fall through that makes you stay at love with Morrigan through the end of Origins soonish.

They all end with you disappearing after some number of years with the 'no one believed his/her adventures were over' hook, though.

[Funka Genocide]

fuck it I give up. Didn't even know this was out and you assholes have all ready beaten it, whipped it and made it say your name.

I don't even know why I bother anymore.

[Jagos]

Because it's your destiny as a Grey Warden, mortal!

[Solid Snake]

...Wait.

Why exactly is the woman naked, again?

[Krylo]

Because DFM downloads nude mods.

[Geminex]

Why exactly is the woman naked, again?

If there's one thing I have learned, it's never to ask that question. If there's a nude woman, just roll with it.

[Solid Snake]

Because DFM downloads nude mods.

I...I hope that's the case.

Because seriously the minute I saw she was naked I was like "If that's actually an element of Dragon Age: Awakening's storyline, that this warrior chick is just randomly naked, I'm not buying this game."

I prefer blaming DFM.

[Krylo]

Well, really it's "He downloads nude mods, and was wearing the warden keep equipment that is incompatible with the expansion, so it was taken away from him when he imported."

Normally she'd have been in either whatever armor she was wearing at the end of Origins, or (in the case of wearing the warden stuff) in the normal burlap underwear everyone else wears.

[Funka Genocide]

The actual answer is: Armor is for scrubs.

[DFM]

how is the ending bit if you side with the townsfolk instead of the smugglers?

You use their confiscated weapons to arm the town guard and the militia and rebuild the town in a matter of days while keeping it safe from opportunistic bandit raids.




And the rioters are kind of an enigma. There's all kinds of hidden details to that. The persuade check is impossible unless you do this, except for if you do that, and then for five hours on wednesday you have to face east and pray to the anti-mecca. It's the DA version of the suicide quest.

I got it on the first try I had no idea it was supposed to be hard.

Maybe you just have to be a decent person.


...Wait.

Why exactly is the woman naked, again?

MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ THE OP I WENT THROUGH ALL THE TROUBLE OF WRITING AND TAKING SCREENCAPS FOR.

[Krylo]

I got it on the first try I had no idea it was supposed to be hard.

Maybe you just have to be a decent person.

I'm not the one who was talking about all the completely terrible things he wants to do to Nathaniel Howe.

But actually, from what I've gathered, you can convince the revolt to back down easier if you're a terrible person. Apparently putting guards on the trade route, instead of in populated areas, makes it easier, as does executing the deserter, and flogging the thief. I chose none of those options, so. But there's also talk of people who didn't do any of that, or only doing half of it, getting it, etc.

Whether you manage it or not seems to be set up on like a million different variables from what I've read on the DA forums.

[DFM]

I put guards on the trade roads and left the fields and city to fend for themselves because the last time I did this was NWN2 and that was all like TRADE TRADE TRADE. I don't remember the deserter, but I made the thief join the army.

I also imprisoned that noble dude who pretty much probably murdered my friend/ally even though I didn't have much proof.

[BitVyper]

Proof is for people who aren't Lady Godiva.

[Krylo]

I also imprisoned that noble dude who pretty much probably murdered my friend/ally even though I didn't have much proof.

You get the murderer OR the deserter, I'm not sure what decides which you get. I got a deserter. And let her join the army again.

[Mannix]

how did you guys deal with the nobles that were plotting to kill you?
i hired that wolf dude and the results felt pretty unsatisfying. he finds where they're meeting and then you go kill them and that's the end of it and you never talk about it ever again

[DFM]

That's the only way you can do it, isn't it?

I guess you could just ignore them, does something special happen if you do?

[Krylo]

That's what I did too. Didn't find it that unsatisfying though. Especially as I got to call the dude out on stealing my thief name.

From what I've heard, if you decide to take their family members the revolt dies off and you never hear hide nor hair of it, and if you do nothing and rely on Ser Tamara or whatever her name was, I guess she gets her ass killed and you get jumped in the throne room by assassins.

[Mannix]

has anybody tried using your troops to spy on them?

[Melfice]

has anybody tried using your troops to spy on them?

From what I hear, this does diddly-squat.

Also, I dislike there not being an option to just close up the cave where the Mother is. Seriously. Annoying bitch.

[DFM]

Close up, like... with rocks? The kind darkspawn are always digging through?

[Melfice]

Close up, like... with rocks? The kind darkspawn are always digging through?

I don't know. Pour molten lead down there too, I guess.
Gah, I just hate that fight. I killed five dragons before I met with the Mother, two of which were super-powered-not-really-dragons-but-much-stronger. You'd think a Broodmother... freak wouldn't be such a hassle. >___<

[DFM]

The rest of my party died pretty quickly, but I didn't even need to heal I don't think. Just stood in front of her wailing away with my windmill arms and Vigilance/Dumat's Spine quaffing stamina potions while a ridiculous amount of grub children swarmed behind me gnashing and biting.

Fucking Windmill Warrior Queen.