Dragon Age Awakening Walkthroughs
Mar 20
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View all posts by CaK (218 Articles)
Chief-in-Editor. He has been involved in the Online Community since 1996, and established several successful European gaming websites. Among them were projects for Neverwinter Nights, WarCraft, Diablo and Quake--just to name a few. In late September 2009, he started to develop this blog with the support of BioWare/EA.
Written and video version with live comments
Having a problem? Stuck on a quest? Where do you find what you are looking for? Just need a little hint or nudge in the right direction? We are presenting you detailed written Dragon Age: Awakening walkthroughs along with the video version for your viewing pleasure.
The Assault on Vigil’s Keep
The battle for vigil’s keep begins with you arriving, Mhairi in tow. A survivor will come rushing forward with three Genlocks close behind. This is quite an easy fight, so if you forgot to remove all the DLC gear from your Origins Warden you should still be fine. The survivor will aid you in this fight, but will leave once the fight ends.
The walkthrough of Vigil’s Keep exterior is very detailed and comes with a live comment audio and video system. Additionally, we present you a very detailed map of the area. This is only the first part of our upcoming series of kick-ass Dragon Age: Awakening walkthroughs. So stay tuned.
We also want to encourage our readers to give us some feedback on how you like our walkthroughs to improve future episodes. To do so please use our easy to handle comments system where you can login with your existing Twitter or Facebook accounts.
- Show me the Vigil’s Keep walkthrough already.
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90 comments
Comment by Anonymous on March 21, 2010 at 9:29 am
I would instead appreciate a patch that fixes the myriad of bugs and glitches.
Comment by Pyrrhura on March 21, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Yes, there are a lot of bugs … horrible.
Comment by hack on March 22, 2010 at 12:43 pm
finished
wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to many bugs.
spolier
can you save both city and vigil's keep?
Comment by hack on March 22, 2010 at 12:45 pm
justice and sigrun had 100 and neutral , their happiness rating was locked….
genuine copy, i bet they'll say "pirates" killed it, or that it's full of story checks like gta 4
Comment by andreas larsen on March 24, 2010 at 3:49 pm
i agree. hope they dont rush the next game just for the money
Comment by @tursiops on March 25, 2010 at 10:10 am
I see I'm not the only one bothered by the amount of bugs in this extension!
Comment by Dawson on March 26, 2010 at 12:52 am
yes, if you find all of the upgrades for Vigils keep and you stay and Defend Amaranthine then both are saved.
Comment by rellison78 on March 27, 2010 at 2:33 am
i was missing weapons when i imported my character… that sucked.
Comment by Yz100 on March 27, 2010 at 7:58 pm
All DLC items/equipment and/or equipment that were equipped by your party members are gone. They went their seperate ways and so did your equipment(I was pissed,lost Juggernaut,Dragonscale,and DLC armor too T.T)
Comment by CaK on March 27, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Only items from Return to Ostagar DLC are imported.
Comment by conner on March 28, 2010 at 2:02 am
you dont lose your armor only your weps
Comment by conner on March 28, 2010 at 2:03 am
how if the world did u kill the mother?
Comment by conner on March 28, 2010 at 2:03 am
in not if
Comment by DeathByForce on March 28, 2010 at 10:59 am
i have never come across a bug of any kind with my copy and i got mine off ebay.
Comment by anonymous on March 29, 2010 at 2:14 am
just beat the game and it was a big disappointment. short, full of bugs and not satisfied with the ending. i built up the keep walls as much as possible, soldiers where all outfitted with silversite armor and Oren, justice, and a healer where left there and it still fell? what was the point of building up defences if they do nothing? some of the guest i got disappeared and was unable to unlock abilities by relationship with half the characters. what do their beta testers do exactly?
Comment by Ashley on March 30, 2010 at 2:52 pm
I beat the game the day after I bought it and it was horrid compared to the first. I was only able to figure out how to talk to ogrhen, there was no way for a relationship of any kind, and the one character I wanted to come back popped up for like 2 minutes WTF? Alistair shouldve come back I mean he is a Grey Warden right? I kept him alive in the last game so who gives a crap if hes king I’ll save his butt like always. I fell in love with the first one but this was just poorly done. I really hope they do thier next game closer to the first one and bring back the most of the original group those are the ones everyone liked or take a poll and bring back like 3 or 4 of the most popular ones (Alistair being one and the mabari hound) then bring in new ones or in this case ones from awakening. and did anyone else catch on about the ***SPOILER ALERT*** old one or old god? morrigans baby/the one the architect brought up or was that jus me? Truly disappointed!!!
Comment by Madman on March 30, 2010 at 4:46 pm
1st dragon age was amazing. What the hell happened with awakening? It didn't come close to the 1st one. Dialogue was crap, navigating certain levels was a pain, finding full sets of new armor was a pain, and only Ogren returns as a playable character?!
The choices made in the 1st one should have come into play in the second.
I think Bioware was just looking for a cash grab with Awakening — not worth $40-50.
and where the hell is the strategy guide?
Comment by Donald "STERN" on March 31, 2010 at 6:57 am
This game was suck!!!!To short andto small area too discover.I wish i could go to Antiva,Orlesian Empire and Qunari land.BOOOORIIINNG…………………..
Comment by Hellspawn on March 31, 2010 at 8:18 pm
I was disappointed my armor from that last expansion didn't come over (Can't remember the name of it, got it by killing some witch)
Comment by gavin on March 31, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I found that staying by the door away from her is good! Use long range attacts against her and use melee weapon when the bugs attack!
Comment by mewp on March 31, 2010 at 11:03 pm
I did that and came out of the city and the vigil was nothing but cross bones.
Comment by Gloria on April 1, 2010 at 1:47 am
i wish the story could've involved a lil bit of morrigan since she was as important as Allistair in the Origins
Once i was done with 'the mother' wich btw is a rough fight (difficult level) even if having a mage as main i found out in the ending that vigil keep was still standing since i left Nathaniel (who had a statue made in his honor) justice (who was beheaded by the end of the fight by a drakspawn) and ogrhen (who held two ogres at the gates of the keep on his own). If 'this' is what you can call saving the keep well thats pretty much about it. Share your endings if they're anything more than this. thx
Comment by Meg on April 1, 2010 at 10:22 pm
The game was way to short, even if you do the side quests it's only up to 20 hours of game play(if you're stuck in any quest). I couldn't talk to anybody in my group, only when the came to me, which is ridiculous. Things were hard to find, i seen a few bugs. not many places to travel and explore. I've only seen two people from the last game (not including oghren); Alistair, and Wynne, All and all, my biggest disappointment was that the game was way to short for my liking. I'm very much hoping that the next few expansions i've heard about are longer and better.
Comment by poster bed on April 2, 2010 at 7:01 am
The thing is fair excepting big bugs. Some of them are unique. It is hoped as the next version will be fair in comparision with the present one.
Comment by Kob on April 2, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I played the ending twice… I saved Amaranthine but I hadn't fully upgraded Vigil's Keep… oh well… so it was destroyed and the people of Amaranthine were very happy clapping and all all that… after the Mother was beat, I found out that all the characters I left behind had died. Then I replayed and burned Amaranthine down and saved Vigil's Keep… all my guys were alive and obviously their end story a bit different since they hadn't died… can't remember all the details but the people obviously disliked me for leaving Amaranthine behind so there were uprisings although those happened in my first ending… also in both endings it says they are rebuilt so it seems that you can only save one totally and the other sustains damage but is rebuilt in 5 years…. something like that. I have also read that even with all upgrades, Vigil's keep goes down but not all members left behind die while others found that even with all the upgrades all left behind characters died… wonder if it generates a random ending, or depends on who is left behind… don't know.
Comment by Z-man on April 3, 2010 at 3:20 pm
What are all the upgrades? I thought I got them all but VK still falls
Comment by mongfish on April 3, 2010 at 10:55 pm
i really dont care about the few bugs(only experienced a few) this expansion was awesome and not that short when you play through it multiple times.
Comment by chris on April 4, 2010 at 1:33 am
Liked the combat system. Overall the game was too short. I t wasnt worth the time and effort "building" the runes and potions and collecting the armors since the game was too short. Plus, practically no ending!!! The same thing happended with KOTOR. First game was great but the second game focused more on weapons and combat than story. I liked the game, dont get me wrong, but 2 weeks before I bought it I played through Origins one last time to build up a good character to transfer. And then I beat the game in 3 days. Maybe the next expansion will be longer.
Comment by Keslus on April 4, 2010 at 9:23 pm
In my experience, you keep what you have in your pockets and excluding certain dlc. Your original storage is gone. I still had Juggernaut gear, and Wades superior dragonbone, but no items from warden's keep.
Comment by brooklyn on April 5, 2010 at 3:30 am
soo i was very disappointed as well. i didnt think the game was challenging at all. most of the time i put my people on “hold” and fought by myself to make it a little more interesting. i only died once through the whole game, in the black marshes when 3 shadow wolves tag teamed me 3 times in a row. and i figured out i didnt have my shield wall turned on for some reason and that was the only reason i died. even the final battle against the mother was garbage. i LOVED the first one! i was just sooooo disappointed! in my first game i married alistair and became queen and that tied in for like a SECOND at the beginning. that was it. i just thought it would be longer and at the end i thought “is that it? really?” i wish it hadnt been as expensive. i think the first game wwas just so great i had really high expectations. on the other hand the new specializations and skills were amazing (but not really needed since the fighting wasnt hard at all) and for the most part the story of it was entertaining, if not short. all in all…disappointment.
Comment by Heather on April 6, 2010 at 9:00 pm
it was just an expansion pack ppl. everyone is acting like its dragon age 2 or something. its still part of the first game. dragon age, dragon age awakening, and all the downloadable add ons (a golems memories, wardens keep, return to ostagar) are all part of dragon age 1. all together i think its a kickass game. and considering how much i love the different story lines i think its well worth the money and id happily pay anything they asked just to see what happens next. imo.
Comment by Elusion on April 8, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I haven't finished the game yet, but I think it's awesome so far. I have noticed several bugs, but I wouldnt say it's game hindering. For all of you that are saying "Awakening is nothing like Origins, it's too short", Drink a big cup of fail sauce, It's an "expansion", NOT a new game. I'm sure you'll get what you want from DA2. I too would like to see Morrigan back for one, and Shale should be with you in Awakening because you had to pay for her. I love the new toons Justice and the Elf Mage chick.
Comment by Unheroic on April 11, 2010 at 2:30 am
that's why you play on nightmare; make your own characters and character type, not follow perfect walkthroughs to make overpowered people. be creative for once.
Comment by david inderbitzin on April 11, 2010 at 5:42 am
Dragon Age is one of the best rpg games ive ever played and im a fantasy writer and dungeon master. however i must agree with the other comment posters and say the game is far to short. for 40 bucks i should not be able to beat an rpg in under 24 hours. not even under a week in my opinion but then again this is an expansion so….any ways my good armor and weapons didn't transfer and there is no party camp and you cant talk to your team unless they talk to you. the ability to interact with your party defined dragon age as a gold standered in rpg's and awakening seems to have given that up. all and all worth the money i suppose put i feel a better job could have been done.
Comment by Jenn on April 12, 2010 at 1:53 am
its not a game, an expansion!
Comment by Grogdal on April 12, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Thow I've played Origins more than 8 times i've been a little disapointed by the fact that Awakening was too short and with the absence of the old companions.I've hoped a bit that the game woluld add a bit more challenge in a way of story and quests.The fact still remains that this is one of the best Rpg's ever,but it is also obvious that the game which is too spreding in so many ways such as this makes a few mistakes.
Comment by Pen on April 16, 2010 at 9:39 pm
and you played nighmare dif ?
Comment by Pena on April 16, 2010 at 9:42 pm
you should try it :D
i tihink you change your opinion it's hard work :D
Comment by Pen on April 16, 2010 at 9:45 pm
well if you play harder dif you play longer ;=))
Comment by Ravenous on April 17, 2010 at 1:03 pm
try nightmare mode
Comment by nimbo on April 17, 2010 at 1:06 pm
it's too short? there's a reason it's called "expansion"
i agree there hasn't been much character development but that's how it should be. the order of the grey warden is in dire trouble and you are required to rebuild it and end blight once and for all
Comment by VancouverView on April 17, 2010 at 7:27 pm
What's up with the circle of stones that fire up in the Wending Wood past the Two Warriors (not the summoning circle, that was easy)? I can't figure out any pattern that does anything.
Comment by CaK on April 17, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Ive uploaded a quick n dirty solution for you here
Comment by CaK on April 17, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Ive uploaded a quick n dirty solution for you here
Comment by CaK on April 17, 2010 at 8:13 pm
I've uploaded a video for you here
Comment by CaK on April 17, 2010 at 8:17 pm
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiIhk8gfuJo]
Comment by CaK on April 17, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Comment by VancouverView on April 17, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Thanks, though I thought it would do more than just a chest.
Comment by CaK on April 18, 2010 at 12:42 am
Yeah disappointed me a bit as well
Comment by dragoon on April 18, 2010 at 1:45 am
how do i open the magic in the architects lab to get to the chest?
Comment by dragoon on April 18, 2010 at 1:47 am
how do i open the magic door in @ the architects lab to get to the chest inside? thanks in advance
Comment by dragoon on April 18, 2010 at 2:03 am
never mind thanks. i got it
Comment by Bronwyn Evans on April 20, 2010 at 9:55 am
I thoroughly agree–one of the best features of Origins was how deeply you could interact with your party, and that seems to have been scrapped. Going round the camp seeing what everyone had to say was one of my favourite parts of playing, especially since it was often extremely funny! I hope they bring this feature back in any future sequels.
Comment by Scope on May 11, 2010 at 5:50 am
I thoroughly enjoyed the game from start to finish didn’t have any bugs the carecters all left on there own adventurous so that I didn’t expect any to come back but I did have one problem the ending is the same no mater what your charecter disapers no mater who you become weather your queen or you just had a baby with Morigen you just disaper from the world.
Comment by praveen kumar on May 12, 2010 at 1:58 pm
i played as the mage ……..game no big deal compared to previous one………………………………
in specializations choose spirit healer ….especially battle mage ,its completely awesome.battle mage 2nd skill ie,free burst dealing min of 250 to any one in the game.! battle mage super awesome! spirit healer can heal all 4 at a time including the caster so it lessens the healing problem.
when get trapped in fade at black marsh kill the all three group devils gaurding the viel..the third one will appear in map unless u find it.its ll b above the stone ruin (big tall rocks arranged in a circle.)….if u do it …..u'll get sentinel super Armour set in the real part ………..in real just go where ever the veil thing was there to get the armour including the THE FIRST guy laying near u.
Comment by marc on May 21, 2010 at 6:39 pm
i totally agree with shortening of awakening. I was very disappointed with the shortness of the storyline…. but it did make it with the fact that there were more dragons to kill off and the higher level armour that the game had. but the talking to companions was awesome in origins, but when i tried to talk to the companions in awakening.. like u said… it just didn't feel right not being able to talk to them..
Comment by Kevin on May 27, 2010 at 6:03 pm
All your good stuff would have gone with you if you had it in your inventory. Save a game with items in your main characters inventory in DAO. Use that game to import your character.
Comment by few ppl on May 30, 2010 at 2:44 pm
how do i get inside the tomb in kal'hirol where there are 5 runestones that u can click?? please help
Comment by sjcmmd on June 1, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Totally understand what you're saying but as far as expasions go it was amazing! Bought the expansion for AC2 and was disgusted by it. What a dissapointment! Pathetic! So, needless to say I was expecting something worse than what I got. Maybe a $20-$30 price range would have been more appropriate for the gameplay though. Can't wait for the next edition of Dragon Age. Best rpg ever!
Comment by timothy schroder on June 2, 2010 at 4:35 pm
i love the game and play it with many different ways. the only down side is that some times it will just stop working and if you don't save you S.O.L and got to start over. the drakspawn play is fun to .
Comment by Illiani on June 8, 2010 at 4:41 pm
This isn't a bug, if you take a look back at the edited Codex entry you will find that it says the party members you left behind are "likely dead". What the end does is confirm whether party member x, or y, dies.
As for being taunt to be a Spirit Warrior, the teaching of specialisations was taken out of Awakening. There is a book that gets sold, I seem to remember it being sold by the Amaranthine arms merchant, in the market. My memory isn't exactly well balanced though so trust that as you will.
Comment by Ginsei on June 8, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I found a big bug. After I saved Amaranthine, I saw on the map that Vigil’s Keep is defeated and darkspawn won. I also got messages that that party members I left behind guarding the keep are dead. I also fortified earlier the walls of the keep, and the equipment of the soldiers. And in the ending they wrote that the keep could actually resist, and only Justice has died.
It’s a contradiction.
My question is: Can Justice teach you how to become a spirit fighter? ( I didn’t find any book about that class)
Comment by Greywolf on June 17, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I loved ORIGINS and was hoping that there would be an Expansion, and then heard there was AWAKENING on the way. SOOOO, I continued on through ORIGINS, trying too complete ever quest and find every codex…trying to be a Perfectionist. Well, anyway I finished at lvl 24, spending alot of gold on books, then started AWAKENING, and said I had to start at lvl 18!!!!! WTF
Comment by CaK on June 17, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Odd! I started Awakening with lvl24 without problems …
Comment by jian on June 18, 2010 at 4:27 am
how do i fight the lost and the inferno golem?whenever i tried to kill the lost ,the inferno golem kills me…………
Comment by Dan on June 19, 2010 at 2:03 am
When you select a rune stone another rune appears on the floor in front of it. You need to activate the runestones matching the rune on the stone with the rune that appears on the floor. It is very similar to the fire puzzle from Dragon Age Origins Shale downloadable content. I hope that this helps. It is hard to explain it in a different manner. Good Luck!!!
Comment by BO$$ on June 19, 2010 at 5:53 pm
easy, i did it on nightmare no problom. I had a rogue archer though that can hit 250 with a single arrow, makes it a little easier :)
Comment by BO$$ on June 19, 2010 at 5:55 pm
reply back and say what kind of character you have.
Comment by chris on June 22, 2010 at 12:56 am
i still ned help
Comment by joe mama on June 24, 2010 at 8:18 am
this game is pretty good 1 thing im wondering cailins armor form return to ostagar can u still have it in the expansion if not i still have it and i think its a glitch but its cool. i think the first is funny cause hes a looser. he becomes the baronesses pet. the architect is real cool hes my favorit guy. the mother is wierd and shouldn't be the last boss. also WHAT KIND OF NAME IS WOOSLEY seriously. but im still wondering about cailins armor and the wardens keep armor do u get to keep the downloadable stuff can any 1 answer that please.
Comment by Hannah on June 24, 2010 at 11:01 am
I need help with ‘The Mother’ She shoke me up last time i was lvl 29 and now I’m lvl 30 Berserker, Templar and Spirit warrior and Oghren, Valenna and Anders are in my party. What would be the best stratergy? I have Vigilance, Sentinal armor set (no bug) and Landsmeet sheild with legion of the dead painting.
Comment by Ansalon on July 5, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Mr. Mama,
I feel as if I may be able to answer some of your questions. However, I find your entry quite difficult to read. Perhaps you could dictate while someone else undertakes the tedious, (and highly underrated) task of spelling and punctuating. I'll then be better suited to answer you if I have a clear and concise understanding of the question.
Comment by adam on July 8, 2010 at 2:06 pm
have anders and velanna use spells like inferno on the mother then fight the childer grugs that attack you when the first wave is done swith your weapons and ogrhens to a bow or crossbow and shoot the mother from a distance whil keeping spells like inferno on the mother until the next wave starts and just repeat the process then attack the mother ith main weapons when her healthis low but through this heal often
Comment by Jon on July 10, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Not all the items transfer. No matter what I do I can't get my Helm of Honnleath to transfer or the Dead Thaig Shanker. Not so upset about the weapon but loosing the helm… Got any explanation for that?
Comment by Amber on July 14, 2010 at 11:37 pm
What i did to beat her was i had the same ppl in my party, and i hav velana and anders as keepers, so i put them side by side with one with nature, and had them hurl things at the mother and all the darkspawn that came at them, and sent my char and oghren up to fight the mother with their swords, but mind you my chars have lots of health and my char had pandemonium to get the childers away, and i just kept going like that… might not work for you, but it worked for me…. several times :D
Comment by matt on July 19, 2010 at 2:11 am
DA2 is going to be amazing. The dialog is supposed to be like mass effect.
Comment by Speaker for the Dead on July 29, 2010 at 6:02 pm
The rune stones on the floor have the same runes and the stones on the wall but in different locations. When you select one stone on the floor it will light up. When you click on the second stone the first one goes out. The runes on the two stones you clicked just swapped. All you have to do is get the stones on the floor to match the ones on the wall. Keep swapping the stones until all five match. Dead easy. It took me ten swaps before I realized it.
Comment by Speaker for the Dead on July 29, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I found I could cheat and transfer the post game save. I striped everybody down except for their exclusive items. I did not have much room to pick up new stuff when I started the game but once the keep was mine it all went into the players chest.
Comment by Duncan on July 31, 2010 at 7:52 pm
be a dwarf it makes you harder to hit
Comment by Leah on August 1, 2010 at 12:57 am
None of m gear or weapons transferred over when I imported my character to start DAOA….I was butt neked…wtf?
Comment by Leah on August 1, 2010 at 12:59 am
When I imported my character to start playing Dragon Age Origins: Awakening, I didn't have any of my gear or weapons. What's up with that? Is that a bug or what? Please someone help lol
Comment by Amber on August 1, 2010 at 7:34 pm
really? i had all my gear and weapons, even gifts from origins, it's prob a bug
Comment by Amber on August 1, 2010 at 7:36 pm
i killed it on nightmare easily, i had velanna, anders myself and oghren, keep the 2 mages on the golem, they need frost spells tho, and i sent my char and oghren to the lost, i killed it easily, or what u can do is have a mage and a mele on each, either way should work
Comment by Amber on August 1, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Hey, i was trying to do the Love chain quest for the third time, in blackmarsh, and i completed it on both my characters before, and now it won't let me, is it a bug or am i doing something wrong??
Comment by bill on August 3, 2010 at 3:43 am
can you save both vigils keep and amaranthine?
Comment by stevegarbage on August 3, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Yes and no. You can't play both modules. However, if you purchased all of the stone upgrades for Vigil's Keep and returned all the minerals to Herren/Wade and sealed off the Deep Roads beneath the keep (I think that's all of them), then if you choose to save Amaranthine, while you won't be able to travel back to Vigil's Keep (it shows it as destroyed like Lothering), in the epilogue it will state that the Vigil and your companions you left behind held against wave after wave of darkspawn and eventually repelled their assault.
So yes, technically you can save both but only if you choose to play the Amaranthine scenario. You can't fight in Amaranthine and then go back and also fight in Vigil's Keep, however.
Comment by Sam on August 4, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Yeh that happened to me aswell, i just accepted it thought it wanted to start over with the equipment and stuff, but im happy now with the sentinel armour
Comment by Dazza on August 12, 2010 at 3:52 am
The only problem with awakening is that it seems more like a fan made mod for a PC game than an expantion and the fact that you can only have 5 or 6 carracters kinda sucks but all in all dragon age rules i didint think any game would get me off mass effect 2 but this did
Comment by Dylan on August 24, 2010 at 9:18 pm
if it was gear for downloaded content it gets deleted sadly :(
Comment by zeonaura on September 2, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Yeah you do get the downloadable items, i started DAA with the kings full armour and also duncans sword, with enchants equiped as well.
Hope this helps.