Dragon Age: Origins Awakening [Expansion] [Download]

by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• Downloading: Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United States and who have a U.S. billing address.
• Note: Gifting is not available for this item.
• ASIN: B00477473I
• Release Date: March 16, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,786 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PC Download

From the Manufacturer

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening for PC is the first expansion to the award-winning single player RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. Developed by role-playing game (RPG) specialists, BioWare, Awakenings offers players of the original game the choice of utilizing their character from the original game or starting with a fresh character. Additional features include an expanded storyline, new creatures, locations and more. Story For centuries, the Grey Wardens — the ancient order of guardians sworn to unite and defend the lands — have battled the darkspawn forces. Legend says that slaying the Archdemon would have put an end to the darkspawn threat for centuries to come, but for all the Grey Wardens' vigilance, somehow the creatures remain. But there is a new spark of hope. You are the Grey Warden Commander and have been entrusted with the duty of rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens and uncovering the secrets of the darkspawn and how they managed to remain. How you choose to rebuild your order, how you resolve the conflict with "The Architect", and how you determine the fate of the darkspawn will be but some of the many complex choices that await and shape your journey as you venture to the new land of Amaranthine. Powerful new new characters to utilize. View larger. New creatures of the dark. View larger. And creatures of the light. View larger. Brand new game environments like Virgil's Keep. View larger. Gameplay As with the original Dragon Age: Origins game, the Awakening expansion is a single player RPG in which the path of a player's created hero is determined through a combination of ongoing actions throughout the game and the character's particular backstory, known as an Origin Story. Origin Stories relate primarily to the combination of the chosen race of the character and that individual's socioeconomic status. For example, a player who favors a Dwarfish character may have a variety of options, including the choice of being a commoner or a noble. As the character progresses through the game he will interact with any number of non-player characters (NPCs) who may have a particular opinion of Dwarves which may or may not be altered by the fact that the character is of noble or commoner status. These built-in impressions, blended in real-time with the character's interactions and choices alter the hero's personal path and eventually the outcome of the events of the game. Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is the expansion to Dragon Age: Origins, players of the previous game are afforded the added benefit of importing their character from the original game to continue that adventure, or beginning anew with a new character and Origin Story. Key Game Features A Stunning World Expanded - BioWare’s deepest universe to date just got bigger with an all new area of the world to explore, Amaranthine. Unlock the secrets of the Darkspawn and their true motivations. Rebuild the Grey Warden order and establish their base of operations at Vigil’s Keep. All-new Complex Moral Choices - Embark on an epic story that is completely defined and reactive to your play style, allowing players to create an entire experience based on both overall choices made and how complex situations are handled. The Varying Influence of "Origin Story" - Begin your character's adventure with a specific socioeconomic Origin Story that will affect attitudes and exchanges with NPCs, creating the possibility of a wide variety of game endings and thus add to the game's replay value. New Ways to Customize Your Hero - Experience additional spells, abilities, specializations, and items to further personalize and customize your hero and party. Import your character from Dragon Age: Origins or start anew as a Grey Warden from the neighboring land of Orlais. Encounter five all-new party members and an old favorite from Dragon Age: Origins. Even more Bone-crushing, Visceral Combat - Test your skills against an evolved, intelligent breed of Darkspawn and other menacing creatures including the Inferno Golem, 'Queen of the Blackmarsh' - deadly Spectral Dragon and The Children, a hideous and huge arachnid like scourge. System Requirements: Minimum Recommended Base Game Requires the base game, Dragon Age Origins installed Requires the base game, Dragon Age Origins installed OS: Windows XP with SP3 / Vista with SP1 CPU: XP: Intel Core 2(or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater AMD X2(or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater / Vista: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent RAM: XP: 1GB or more / 1.5GB or more 2 GB (XP) / 4 GB (Vista) HDD: 20GB Video: XP: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater, NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater / Vista: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater, NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater ATI 3850 512 MB or greater, NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater, AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater Other: DVD-ROM drive for physical disc play; Mouse/keyboard/gamepad for gameplay

EA DISCLAIMER:

Acceptance of end user license agreement required to play. eula and feature updates can be found at www.ea.com. EA may provide certain incremental content and/or updates for no additional charge, if and when available. EA may retire online features after 30 days notice posted on www.ea.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 123 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Really just another DLC March 17, 2010

By Chutzpuh

Platform for Display:PC

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I love that Bioware is still pushing content for this game. Given, the DLC's to date have been hit and miss, but I still liked how they added more enjoyment to the game. Awakening plays more like a DLC than what I would expect from a full on expansion.

The story is well written (though this is usually a given for Bioware games) and the playthrough is fun enough. But due to the linear playstyle and lack of any character development, there is really little reason to play more than once. All previous downloaded content is incompatible with this expansion. Rather sad to try and play my previous character and find that I started out completely naked.

I had hoped that loading a previous campaign would fill out the story and world I made through my previous actions and encounters, but it actually changes little. You see a familiar face, but not one anyone really cared about.

The new skills are nice to have. Each class has a new row of advanced skills which have level requirements rather than any stat pre-requisites.

I didn't try out the mage campaign, so I can't comment on how well the new spells work but I can't see how this should make or break this game.

In the end, I would have given this a higher score, but the price tag is nuts for an expansion. After buying the game, all of the DLC's and now this expansion we are looking at $80 to $100 just to get everything. Not being able to use your download content items is rather sad as well. Expansions should "expand" a game, not add a disconnected tangent to a story.

74 of 79 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A sad downgrade from dragon age March 23, 2010

By B. Bonds

Platform for Display:PC

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

First, let me state that I LOVED dragon age origins, I would give that game a near perfect score. So with a great disappointment that I have to give such a low score to awakening. For whatever mind boggling reason, They took out the very things that made origins special, for example, they took out the interacting with your party members at camp and instead, have this non intuitive way of party members where they will say something only if you are at the right place, at the right time, with the right item. Its very confusing and I know I have missed out on much conversational dilog simply because you have no idea on what to do. On top of that, even when you do get to interact with characters, its pretty shallow and doesn't feel so much as you are interacting with them, than simply hearing what quest they want. There is no deep emotional stories, history, banter, romance, philosophy,etc that was present in the first game, its just the bare bone facts and then they shut up like clams until whatever random activation mechanism gets them to talk again. In origins I truly cared for my comrades and would go to the ends of the earth to help them out with their quests. In awakening, I felt nothing, I did a couple of companions quests, but gave up after a while because you do not care about them and when a couple died at the end pf the game, I said "meh".

Then there is the liner generic rpg quests that seemed mostly just time killer, search all over map for dragon bones, search all over map for rare seeds, search all over map for particular tree...etc, much of it was pretty boring leg work. There isn't any unique quests besides the main ones, also, there are very few places to go, I know this is an expansion, but you only have ONE city you can go to and its very small....

Then there are the bugs, not ingame bugs, but software bugs, You will run into them fairly often, freezing screen, quests not updating correctly, missing items. So a fair warning about that.

Finally, the game just feels unfinished, *spoiler warning, do not read past this*

*you were warned*
After the big boss battle at the end, expect a huge disappointment that there is no epilogue, literally, right after the fight it jumps to a quick text telling about what happened to all the areas and your companions. The game does not even save your character after the end of the boss battle, so you will always be right before the boss battle if you continue.

Then the price is outrageous, I preordered based on the fantastic experience I had with dragon age, now I have buyers remorse. I highly suggest waiting for this game to come down in price, you will feel ripped off if you get it now. Read more ›

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing March 20, 2010

By Adam

Platform for Display:PC

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I was looking forward to this game and preordered it. Maybe I was expecting too much. My biggest problem is how short the game is. Easily beaten, including all side quests within 15 hours. Way too short. What was made out to be a sprawling epic felt more like a weekend in the life of a Grey Warden. When the other reviews say it felt like DLC, they are right. Companions were generic with little redeeming qualities. I pretty much could have cared less about any of them. The character Nathaniel turned out to be the best of the bunch as far as back story goes. The rest of the companions seemed to be thrown in so you'd have a complete group. Companions in Awakening = easily disposable. Side quests were easy to the point of being unnecessary in some cases. The City of Arimathine is the most drab city you'll run into, more like a very small town. Anybody who has played Origins will feel underwhelmed by Awakening. The graphics are as good as the first. The storage container at the Vigil is a welcome addition. All in all, too little game to warrant the price tag. Wait for the price to drop if your thinking about purchasing this.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Poor Follow-up to an Amazing Game April 4, 2010

By Forrest Lymburner

Platform for Display:PC|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I have always been a fan of fantasy RPGs. Although found VERY few that really excited me. For the longest time Baulder's Gate was the only franchise I loved...until I found Dragon Age. Excellent plot, great graphics, voice acting...amazing game all in all, never had a single thing to complain about. In fact, I found the "choose your own adventure" style very refreshing...so many paths.

When I saw the sequel coming out I was very happy. I had hoped to pick up with my guys right where I left off. But as the game began, only one of my previous companions was present (and not one of my favorites either)

The plot was great and even had some interesting new challenges. But what made the first game so amazing (character development, relationships, romance, etc) were gone. No more camp, interacting with your companions is now "forced".

I played nearly every quest. Completed the game in about 14 hours (which is way too soon for this price). At the end of the game...after beating the last boss...nothing. The end of the first game offered a long drawn out compliation of conversations and cutscenes...this time...the last thing you see is your character walking away from the dead boss. It was almost like they fired the game's writer when he was 95% done and decided "eh, its close enough just end it there"

While I am grateful that this franchise is going to continue...dont mess up such a good thing. The original was truly the game of the year, one of the best games Ive ever played. Let's make sure that the following are a requirement for the next expansion/game...

1) Keep your existing companions
2) Pay close attention to the character and relationship development
3) Don't rush...if you arent going to do it right, dont bother