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Dragon Age To Expand In March

The classic feel of BioWare's RPG continues with the announcement of a full-on proper expansion.

In this age of quick-hit downloadable content, proper "old-school" expansion packs have become something of a rarity. So when EA and BioWare officially announced an upcoming add-on for Dragon Age: Origins this morning, I sort of immediately assumed it was yet another piece of DLC for the game. But this new expansion, known as Awakening, will actually hit as a traditional, full-on expansion--on a disc at retail stores or digitally, if that's your thing. It's currently scheduled to become available on March 16 and will retail for $39.99 on PS3, 360, and PC.

The expansion will add a higher level cap, five new party members, additional spells and abilities, and the ability to re-spec your character, which is something that required you to pull down the console or edit your save files previously. The new quest will allow you to bring in existing characters or start a new one as you attempt to rebuild the order of Grey Wardens. Here are the relevant bits of the announcement for more details on the story:

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, BioWare’s next thread in the Dragon Age: Origins tapestry, occurs following the events of Dragon Age: Origins and puts players into the role of a Grey Warden Commander entrusted with rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens. In addition to rebuilding the ranks of the Grey Wardens, you will be tasked with uncovering the mystery of how the darkspawn survive after the slaying of the Archdemon. How players choose to rebuild their order, resolve the conflict with the mysterious “Architect,” and determine the fate of the darkspawn are just some of the many intriguing moral choices that will shape each player’s heroic journey. Players will be able to import their character from Dragon Age: Origins or start out as a new Grey Warden from the neighboring land of Orlais.

Oh, and hey, here are some shots of said thing, too! 

Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

125 Comments

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CL60

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Edited By CL60

Sweet, more Dragon Age is always good.

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Milkman

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Edited By Milkman

5 new party members? I'm down.

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lhaymehr

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Edited By lhaymehr

Oh man what a game. After an exactly 50:00.00 playthrough with a Warrior in November/December I started a new game a week ago with a Rogue. Finished it in 50:08.xx and right after finishing it I started a new game today with a Mage. Still no trace of it getting old.
 
If any of you still haven't got this game, GET IT, and get it on PC!

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HaltIamReptar

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Edited By HaltIamReptar

Meh.
 
I really really hope that they find a satisfactory way to keep the main plot going, because, as far as I'm concerned, the game ended.  You killed the fucking Archdemon.  Retroactive lore be damned.

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GunnBjorn

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Edited By GunnBjorn
@PJ said:
" @GunnBjorn said:
" @jadeskye said:
"Damn...i just completed my third playthrough x_x  Think i'll pick this up later in the year, i'm pretty dragon age'd out. "
After three playthroughs, yeah, i'm pretty convinced as well you're utterly saturated. "
I played it through 5 times and I just want more. "

Really, i like games a lot, but why people put that much time into it, is beyond me. 
After one playthrough, if i even finish a game, i'm done with it. 
Even when i was younger i didn't (and wasn't allowed to) play as much as kids do, nowadays. 
Okay, i'm starting to sound like an elderly here. 
Damn, age 32 and already musing dejectedly like the ol' folks...
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TomA

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Edited By TomA

YES!!!!!!!!!!

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AkmGamer

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Edited By AkmGamer

This looks pretty good. Can't wait to give it a try.

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Reverseface

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Edited By Reverseface

THIS TRULY IS THE AGE EXSPANIONUSING US TRULY.

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citizenkane

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Edited By citizenkane
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Godgolden

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Edited By Godgolden

God yes! i was scared they wouldnt to a propper expansion, now my fears are at ease.. lets hope it continues to be quality.
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thecleric

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Edited By thecleric

I still haven't finished Dragon Age, and Mass Effect is at the end of the month. Give me a moment to breathe here Bioware.

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StingingVelvet

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Edited By StingingVelvet

It's actually $29.99 on PC. 
 
I am very excited, love the idea of a real retail expansion which we haven't seen in forever, unless you count DLC collections like Fallout 3 and GTA4 have had.
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EvilTwin

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Edited By EvilTwin

Full expansion?  Awesome.

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Scratch

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Edited By Scratch

Sweet. Can't wait!

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Jayzilla

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Edited By Jayzilla

i can haz cloth map?

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Who_Dat

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Edited By Who_Dat

hopefully tony yayo can join your party in this expansion

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John1912

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Edited By John1912

Cool, hope it good.  I was actually kinda dissapointed with the story, so I hope this fleshes things out more.  Even when I was doing main quests they felt more like they were fleshing out the world more then the main story.

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korwin

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Edited By korwin

Goes to show that the tool set they created for making new content for the game is a good one, if they can pump out a full expansion in this time frame.

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Poki3

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Edited By Poki3

Because that's what you need - a THIRD install DVD.
They should fix the horrendous clipping issues first, because it's not only making me constantly remember it's a game, it's also so bad to the point of ruining my experience -_-

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giyanks22

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Edited By giyanks22

Well Bioware has a good history of DLC, so I trust them.

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maxszy

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Edited By maxszy

Epic! Love this, this is great news! GO BIOWARE!

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beargirl1

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Edited By beargirl1
@Who_Dat said:
" hopefully tony yayo can join your party in this expansion "
this. hell, throw in all of g unit and i'll be happy. 
 
in all seriousness, i'm glad to see bioware is doing this. i was starting to wonder why we never get full expansion packs anymore. 
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meteora

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Edited By meteora

I am going to be totally broke over this, FF13 and Bad Company 2 in March... God help me.

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Funkydupe

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Edited By Funkydupe

Awesome. I can't wait to dig up my first old character again. It's been a few months now since my play-through. It took me 80 hours. :) -applause-

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jeffgoldblum

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Edited By jeffgoldblum

$40.00 is a lot of money, but at least the disks will get discounted unlike the downloadable version.

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superbobafett

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Edited By superbobafett

I'm working through Dragon Age right now.  Love it.  I'll be ready for more come March :)

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VisariLoyalist

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Edited By VisariLoyalist

Great! now I hope the mac version wont take to long.

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Yummylee

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Edited By Yummylee

Epic awesomness. Like the fact that i get to create a completely new character relevant to the expansion, someone from Orlais too =O I'll be expecting 6 saucy accents for my lady rouge =P
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Far_Cry

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Edited By Far_Cry

Look really cool, definitely gonna pick this up
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Draco9898

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Edited By Draco9898

 Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening: Super Hyper Fighting Championship Edition HD

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AndrewB

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Edited By AndrewB

Hmmm... another instant purchase. Looks like Bioware is going to be taking a lot of my cash, this year.
 
I'm also surprised they threw in the character respec option. I've noticed a lot of people asking for it, but I figured they'd stray away from it to promote multiple playthroughs.

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FunExplosions

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Edited By FunExplosions

Started Dragon Age again. I'm pumped for those five new characters. Seriously, that's a lot of content. Hope it's worth the 40 bucks, though.

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JoelTGM

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Edited By JoelTGM

great.  I hope it's really worth $40 though.

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gunharp

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Edited By gunharp
@ITSSEXYTIME said:
" @Metiphis: I believe that is the Architect, whom is a character from the second novel.  I don't think he'll be a party member though, that seems very unlikely if you're fighting Darkspawn. "
One of the screenshots looks like the Deep Roads as well, which would be cool to see in game.
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ThePencil

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Edited By ThePencil

Interesting.

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mehteh

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Edited By mehteh

lol $40 for an expansion

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goulash_enjoyer

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Edited By goulash_enjoyer
@mehteh said:
" lol $40 for an expansion "
That's what expansions used to cost. You might have forgotten what a true expansion is, it's not the two hour long dlc pack that you've gotten used to.
 
I hope.
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Death_Unicorn

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Edited By Death_Unicorn

Sweet!

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addictedtopinescent

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Damn this game is awesome

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Undeadpool

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Edited By Undeadpool

I had a Pavlovian reaction to this news...in that I began salivating...does that make me weird?

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Aaron_G

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Edited By Aaron_G

That sounds awesome.

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HCARyan

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Edited By HCARyan

This owns.
 
 
Dragon Age owns.

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Kasmer

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Edited By Kasmer

Awesome...I still need to get warden's keep and make my way through that. Then Back to Ostagar I guess. Good to know the content will continue to flow (and my money to bioware)

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BawlZINmotion

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Edited By BawlZINmotion

Dragon Age is so awesome, and so crammed full of excellent quality content I'd easily pay a lot more than I did to own the game. So isntead, considering me sold.

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Afroman269

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Edited By Afroman269

That guy's face.....HOLY CRAP IT"S GHOST!!

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metal_mills

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Edited By metal_mills
@mehteh said:
" lol $40 for an expansion "
Yet it's still longer than 90% of full priced games.
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teh_destroyer

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Edited By teh_destroyer

I am still working on my first play through :|

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

Crap... I was hoping to pick Origins up with a bunch of DLC as a Game of the Year edition. Now that doesn't seem likely since it won't be plain old DLC. Oh well, perhaps Steam will offer a good combo deal.

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Jekaboom

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Edited By Jekaboom

more Dragon Age... great.. surley isn't that healthy for my relationship.

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sketch

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Edited By sketch
@MrKlorox: PC games used to get GOTY (or gold) editions with the expansion included for a nice price. Even though we're now in the future, I reckon there'll be one further down the line.