By John Walker on January 6th, 2010 at 10:23 am.
I’ve banged on quite enough about Dragon Age’s first expansion, Awakening, due this March, so I’ll not witter on more here. Just to say there’s a trailer for the new content below, explaining the outline of the plot, and not featuring any silly rawk music. Post-game spoilers below, naturally.
So we get to see a Chatty Cathy darkspawn. I think it might reveal why they haven’t spoken before – they sound very silly. And I’m still a bit bummed that it’s darkspawn, since I worked bloody hard to end that blight, and being told it’s over, but, you know, the darkspawn are still around and now more dangerous. Well, that’s rude. But anyway, it looks lots of fun, even if the darkspawn sound like pantomime villains.
JOST AS EE FORRRR-TULD!
So the bad guy is Skeletor. Ok.
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heh, touche.
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So much information in this trailer that i don’t even have time for a Skeletor reference!
That is if the trailers anything like the final product and you have an active imagination. You return as a ghost grey warden to kick some? Old companions can join your party?
I didn’t see any armour that’s not currently available in the main game, except for the darkspawn’s threads. Also they’re actually going to advertise this dragon as a selling point when it’s just an old model dressed up?
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“You return as a ghost grey warden to kick some?”
Not sure about that – my character looked like that for almost half the game, due to being a buffed-out Arcane Knight. One of that class’ abilities makes you do the ghostly glow thing. Actually I found it quite annoying, since it really messes up your appearance in cutscenes. Had to keep turning it on and off.
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Sort of unsurprising that there are still darkspawn left, seeing as the epilogue texts said as much! And they’d be in the Deep Roads anyway. John, you’re being very surface-centric, it’s disgusting.
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Hmmm. Did I hear the beloved tones of Anthony Head?
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Sounded like Brian Cox aswell.
This just made me sad at the ending that I got, I wonder if theres someway to go back into the game and ret-con everything that happened to me. Maybe completely change my chracters personality in order to make certain people only neutral to me instead of loving me maybe.
hmmm
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Can I see varius types of awesome in this video? I approves.
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Morrigan approves +10
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Still haven’t got round to playing Dragon Age. Brother bought it on Monday and I’ve installed it, but damn Plants Vs Zombies keeps getting in the way.
Looks interesting, but I think mayhaps bringing back the Darkspawn after you were supposed to have killed them all is a bit iffy at the least.
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POSSIBLE SPOILER:
Weird to see Alistair alive in the trailer, I guess he recovered from being executed.
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Didn’t die in my game…but Dragon Age was never shy of cutting parts of the game if you made certain choices. Anything you see in that trailer probably has a counterpart depending on your choices.
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Why is it everytime I see possible spoiler I automatically read the spoiler, even if it will spoil the game I’m trying not to spoil?
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Sorry Mr. crazed, although if it makes you feel better, he doesn’t necessarily die so it is not really much of a spoiler at all.
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That had to be my personal favourite part… his reaction to me effectively giving the order was excellent.
Ok, that and Shale.
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Expansions, dlc? Looks like I’ll be waiting for the all-the-crap-in-one-box edition.
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Just make a Tab toggle – for the love of all that is holy!!!
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My god, the actors are awful. And were those Ents, those tree-guys? Still going strong on the generic front, eh, Dragon Age?
I’ll go back to another playthrough of Planescape: Torment, it’s still better than this drivel.
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There were tree men in the main game but guessing you haven’t played it as you are too busy condeming it as drivel because it uses a trad fantasy setting.
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NERD RAGE AAAARRGGHHHH!!!
PS: Don’t let your ignorant righteousness get in the way of the best RPG since Infinity Engine.
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It’s too gritty and mature for me.
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The power of FAIL is strong in this one
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Rather than read a new book and risk enjoying myself, I’ve decided to read Crime and Punishment 1,000 times to avoid any mediocrity.
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Hmmm. Would’ve been interesting to see them use the setting more rather than simply rehashing the first game (Darkspawn pose a threat, gather allies and kill their leader). The stuff about rebuilding the Grey Wardens is the most exciting for me; I enjoyed building up Crossroad Keep in NWN2 for example, so if there’s a good deal of feedback during the rebuilding process then it’ll keep me happy.
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Its kind of foolish to think that just because every other blight ended after defeating the archdemon, this one would end also. Dont you think the enemy would learn from thier mistakes.
Is everyone upset about the darkspawn because they arent the cliche enemy that is constantly a thorn in your side, talking about thier evil plans and strapping you to a wall and having a laser slowly burning its way up towards your crotch, giving you just enough time to escape and foil thier fiendish plot?
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Yes
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I’m curious to see if they go with a “canon” version or allow all the various choices to carry over into the new game. I’m assuming of course that choice is everything, considering the direction that Mass Effect and Dragon Age both have had. If they can keep up with meaningful choices and strong story, I’m down with it. Looks like there will be a little bit of everything in this one; some politics, backstabbing, darkspawn, and a super ogre. There must be something though that allows the Warden to come back so to speak.
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Absolutely. As far as I’m concerned, the canon story will be the one I created when I played through. If this doesn’t carry over it’ll be catastrophic (like famine or a war.)
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Looks good. But does it have the Poet Tree?
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@sartoris
You’re too gritty and mature!
Are you serious? As if Planescape (besides being awesome) doesn’t take itself a little too seriously. Kind of comes with the territory, no?
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[inside-the-trailer-spoiler]“A darkspawn that *talks!*”
He sounds chocked. Maybe the darkspawn just haven’t been talking to *you* before! Maybe they have a culture, traditions, values and morally grey choices to make? And darkspawn babies to day care!
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I was a bit puzzled by that too.
Aren’t the emissaries supposed to be darkspawn that can talk (and do magicky bits)? If I recall correctly, the game describes them as the only darkspawn able to use human speech – except they have nothing worthwhile to say besides ‘graaarrr i keel you’ which doesn’t seem that much different from this guy.
Well, he’s more of a “graaaaarr, i keel you AS FORR TOL”
I don’t see why it’s that shocking that he said something.
For all they know, they sing showtunes, it’s just that nobody’s survived to tell about it.
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I also distribute poorly drawn sex cards.
Sure, PS:T took itself a little too seriously at times, there’s no denying that. What I like about it is it’s daring approach to the genre, the originality that bursts from almost every aspect of it (certainly not from its crappy combat). It seems to me DA:O plays it too safe, and while I applaud it on its choices&consequences, it just felt so generic most of the time that I couldn’t keep playing it. I should probably give it another chance, but trailers that shout HAVE SOME MORE GENERIC AND BLAND do not encourage me to do so.
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Reply to monnbrun, obviously.
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I’m fairly disappointed. I’d somehow gotten the impression that we would be playing as a party of Darkspawn.
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If only we could *talk* to the darkspawn, now wouldn’t that be something.
Wait… what!
10/10 E
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@Dan Lawrence
Wishful thinking, let’s face it unless there’s a cross dressing squat thrust competition (or something equally bizarre) in there for the androgynous hero to participate in, it’s got no chance of achieving 10/10 E
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I need to pick this up. I got Mass Effect for $5 and man does that game blow. Well it doesn’t blow totally, it doesn’t live up to the massive hype I’ve been given. Story is pretty good, story telling is excellent, great voice acting. Core gameplay sucks. Combat is boring, cover mechanic is clunky, AI is nonexistant, enemy design superboring, playing Simon Says to disarm a bomb is not exciting, gimmicks gimmicks and bad RPG tropes. I hope MA2 is better.
tl;dr: Movie part good, game part bad, rpg part lame.
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Yeah ME gameplay is pretty boring, but if you push on through it you’ll probably feel pretty satisfied when you finish it as the story is pretty solid and holds together at the end.
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Guys, portions of the content in Awakening depend on what you did in your playthrough of Origins. If Alistair got killed off in your save file, then I really doubt he’ll be magically popping up in Awakening. “SURPRISE! MISS ME? LOL I MISS DUNCAN WAH.”
(Nota bene: I think Alistair is awesome and did not get him killed off, so I’m pleased as punch to see he’s a possibility in Awakening.)
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Has this been confirmed? I hope you’re right, and that would explain the shortness of the expansion. Certainly, if they have to adjust for every possible choice/origin in the first, they’d essentially be making a several 15 hours games.
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It all looks pretty spiffy! I hope they allow you to go and find Morrigan though. Still can’t believe that bitch left me. At least she hasn’t been after me for any maintenance for the sprog though.
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