Awakening.

The week's over? That was fast. Another good week in the Paper Bicycle studio. I'm feeling more and more comfortable there. This week I started, and finished, a new project. I had some nice trips to the gym. I got the Xbox all hooked up although I've yet to play anything. I've mainly just downloaded all my arcade/indie games. I have a lot of them.

We got a new bird for the Studio. It's a yellow canary names Hank (maybe Hank 2?). So Dean has a little yellow friend. He's got a lot of personality for a bird. I'll post a picture if I can snap a good one.

Last night I beat Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening. I'm a little sad, because now Dragon Age is really over. Like, really, really over.

With both Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening wrapped up, all I can do is wait for Dragon Age 2. But honestly, I'm slightly worried that the next Dragon Age will be made a little more mainstream and will loose the hardcore complexity that really kept me into it for so long.

I'm not usually the fanboy screaming out for the developers not to change a thing, but an RPG like Dragon Age is a rare thing indeed, and if it becomes more streamlined, bombastic, slick and action-y, then the genre might as well be extinct all together.

But Bioware makes damn good games, so I'm sure they've got a vision to keep Dragon Age from being Mass Effect in the past.

I was actually a little disappointed in Awakening. I was expecting something longer and more meaty. Something I could really sink my teeth into tactics and combat-wise.

I knew it was supposed to be like Dragon Age 1.5, the same engine with new characters and story. But I felt more like it was Dragon Age 1.1. Or 1.2, maybe. I did pretty much all there was to do in the game and it took a relatively quick 12 hours or so.


I guess I expected roughly 1/2 of Origins, but it seemed much, much less. 12 hours is an eternity in most games, but in Dragon Age, it feel like your just getting warmed up.

I was also expecting, bigger, tougher combat scenarios, since Awakening is made for Veterans of Origins, but I felt it was much, much easier, actually. Which was a bummer.

I kept waiting for those moments where I felt like the game was bordering on impossible, only to use some hard thinking to overcome the odds. It happened fairly often in Origins, but in Awakening it never came.

Even the massive, optional, electro-dragon was a pushover. I tore him a new one.

It might have something to do with me carrying over my character from Origins. Maybe since I did EVERYTHING in that game, I was slightly over-leveled from the get go in Awakening. Then I did EVERYTHING in Awakening too, so I just stayed a head of the curve for the entire game. I don't know, but I feel like I should have pumped the difficulty up to hard, because I felt no challenge what-so-ever.

And you might remember that challenge was one of my favorite parts of Origins.

Anyway. It was still great. I love, love, love me some Dragon Age, that's for sure..

And who knows, maybe I'll play Dragon Age all over again from the very start.