Namur: I did 2 playthroughs of Awakening and enjoyed it, but not in the same way i did DAO. The more i think about it, the more i fiddle with Origins, Awakening and the DLC's the more i realize how good (base) DAO really is.
Pitty that DA2 won't even come close :(
I'm playing DAO for the 3rd time now, seem to like it better than my first.
DA2, I'm sure the people who like action games will like their Dragon Effect aka Dragon Oblivioned aka God of Dragon.
I mean I'm ok with action RPGs. I loved Jade Empire and it's a pure action RPG, but the game's different, it's a standalone game. It was never a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate or had a prequel that was tactical enough to be the successor to Baldur's Gate.
I got to stop comparing all the new RPGs I'm playing now to Baldur's Gate 2, everything seems to be horrible when compared to it.
StingingVelvet: I thought the Arcitecht was done very well, and the final choice with him very agonizing. I thought the ending was okay, not amazing but not bad. It took me 20+ hours, which for an expansion is fine and was what was advertised. Never used Elemental Chaos, though the battles were a bit easier than the main game's I guess, but that doesn't make it crap by any means.
Different strokes I guess...
I had a argument in another forum with another individual because I thought Loghain was easily forgettable and I said that DAO had no memorable villains with a personality. Then I mentioned that hopefully The Architect would be a better villain than Loghain. Turns out I was wrong again. I was hoping the exppack would add a villain comparable to Irenicus. Think I expect too much and my expectations are way too high for today's standards.
Yeah, the only fun fight I had in the exppack was with the Spectral Dragon. Vanilla DAO was, at most of the fights, more fun and challenging.