The Awakening could have been a longer expansion but, most importantly, it needed to be a more complete expansion. After three playthroughs of the initial Origins, I pretty much expected to see another implementation of the traditional BioWare structure, with Vigil's Keep as introduction and hub, a wood, a marsh, a Deep Roads section and the city Amaranthine to explore and quest around. What I did not expect was to be forced to choose paths that excluded themselves in the end (spoilers for the ending of The Awakening following).
In Origins, the player needs to split their group of heroes in order to both pursue and destroy the Archdemon on the highest tower and at the same time hold the gates of Denerim as the bulk of the darkspawn army tries to retake the gates and destroy the human resistance.
The action switches from one group to the other to show off how desperate the struggle is and how two very different parties can work together. It was not the toughest section of Dragon Age: Origins but it was the most satisfying, showing that the various skills can be combined and that the time spend putting the team together, getting equipment and building loyalty was well worth it.
In
The Awakening, the player again needs to split their forces. Some of the parties get to travel to the trade city of Amaranthine, which is under assault, while the others remain in the fortress of Vigil's Keep. I fully expected to lead the first group to the city and clear it of attackers, then lead the second group in the defense of the Keep itself to reunite the two in order to take out the darkspawn boss in the actual endgame.
Instead, The Awakening forced me to just play one of the two big battles mentioned above (I initially chose the city, having upgraded the keep to the fullest) and then railroaded me to the endgame with the same party composition. It felt rushed and I am disappointed in the expansion despite the fact that it offers some of the most entertaining segments of the experience.
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