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Dragon Age: Origins -- Awakening Hands On


We detail the new abiltiies to be found as
you battle the Darkspawn remnants.







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March 5, 2010 -
Last week's preview set the stage for BioWare's first official
expansion to Dragon Age Origins by offering an overview of the
basic starting situation. The Warden, after the final
events in Dragon Age Origins, has come to the stronghold of Vigil's Keep
in Amaranthine to take charge of the Grey Wardens' war against the last
remnants of Darkspawn who fled north from Denerim and splintered into
warring tribes. Within the first few hours of the expansion, the Warden
will be faced with momentous choices that will help shape the fate of
Ferelden. This week we're changing gears to look at some of the
mechanical changes to the game, exploring some of the ways your
character can grow as you move through the tougher challenges of
Awakening.




Naturally, the best way to play Awakening is by importing your existing
character from the end of Origins. That way you can maintain some
consistency and, depending on your level, even get a bit ahead of the
curve in the expansion's early encounters. (Our particular build seems
to be a bit odd in terms of transferring certain DLC items into
Awakening but we're hoping that's just a bug.) Having a slightly
higher-level character also means you'll have quicker access to many of
the new spells and abilities being offered this time around.




For the few misguided souls who never finished Origins, Awakening lets
you roll up an entirely new Warden right from scratch and bump him or
her right up a high enough level to take on the expansion right from the
start. Unfortunately, there's only one background choice here, so you
won't have the varied starting locations that you saw in Origins. On the
plus side, the new Warden origin story has the player coming from
Orlais and encountering their own prejudices and judgments in Ferelden.







Awakening offers the chance to learn many new
skills.

If you have a high level
character from Origins but don't particularly like the choices you made
as they advanced, you can buy a Manual of Focus from a familiar vendor
in Vigil's Keep for a mere handful of sovereigns. This book allows you
to refunds all the points you spent on attributes, skills and abilities
so you can build up your characters the way you'd like them to have
developed if you had known just how pointless Chain Lightning really
was.




Your existing characters are likely to have already unlocked and
purchased at least two specializations, but Awakening may have you
considering saving those respec points and trying out the two new
specializations offered for each class. And since you get another
specialization point at level 22 now, you can go into battle with three
different specializations under your belt. As before, there are unlock
requirements, either based on completing certain story elements or
simply passing a level restriction.




Mages can learn to become Keepers, assuming they haven't been soured on
the whole idea after figuring out what was really going on the Brecilian
Forest. As Keepers they focus on the traditional protective,
nature-oriented styles of Dalish magic. Mages who often find themselves
in the thick of the action might prefer to train as a Battlemage. Not
only does it grant a minor health regen during combat, but it also opens
up some nice protective and close-fighting spells.




Warriors can shift towards mages by selecting the Spirit Warrior
specialization, which allows them to use certain Fade abilities during
combat. The warrior trained as a Guardian will excel at protecting
allies with group buffs.