So... Is Awakening worth getting now?

[Gonen32]

I love this game, and Awakening is the only faction expansion I've skipped. But now with the new patch, what are your impressions?

[Ericus1]

I just asked a friend of mine the same question, who has played with most of the changes coming in while they were on the beta branch. His opinion, was, yes, absolutely it is worth getting now, ESPECIALLY at the current on-sale price of $3. It's value vs cost is good, and at that price, great. Same was true for Dark Matter. I just picked up both for like $3.60, which is what, a cup of coffee and a donut?

[Gonen32]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

I just asked a friend of mine the same question, who has played with most of the changes coming in while they were on the beta branch. His opinion, was, yes, absolutely it is worth getting now, ESPECIALLY at the current on-sale price of $3. It's value vs cost is good, and at that price, great. Same was true for Dark Matter. I just picked up both for like $3.60, which is what, a cup of coffee and a donut?

Well "worth" might not be the most accurate word in this context- I had multiple chances in the past to buy it in the same price but I didn't because many reviews said that it kind of ruin the game, for technical reasons as well as gameplay reasons- this is my main concern as the price is indeed a no brainer :)

[TSP]

Originally posted by Gonen32:

Originally posted by Ericus1:

I just asked a friend of mine the same question, who has played with most of the changes coming in while they were on the beta branch. His opinion, was, yes, absolutely it is worth getting now, ESPECIALLY at the current on-sale price of $3. It's value vs cost is good, and at that price, great. Same was true for Dark Matter. I just picked up both for like $3.60, which is what, a cup of coffee and a donut?

Well "worth" might not be the most accurate word in this context- I had multiple chances in the past to buy it in the same price but I didn't because many reviews said that it kind of ruin the game, for technical reasons as well as gameplay reasons- this is my main concern as the price is indeed a no brainer :)

As you can now choose a lot of settings regarding the Academy, you can practically opt out of the "Academy changes" that came with Awakening if you want to. (Or weaken it, or make it even stronger.)

So practically no downside left.

[Ericus1]

Originally posted by Gonen32:

Originally posted by Ericus1:

I just asked a friend of mine the same question, who has played with most of the changes coming in while they were on the beta branch. His opinion, was, yes, absolutely it is worth getting now, ESPECIALLY at the current on-sale price of $3. It's value vs cost is good, and at that price, great. Same was true for Dark Matter. I just picked up both for like $3.60, which is what, a cup of coffee and a donut?

Well "worth" might not be the most accurate word in this context- I had multiple chances in the past to buy it in the same price but I didn't because many reviews said that it kind of ruin the game, for technical reasons as well as gameplay reasons- this is my main concern as the price is indeed a no brainer :)

? Worth was your word. You asked if it is worth it now.

I specifically said that it is worth it now because of the update. The update we got today is what has been on the beta branch for the last several months, and those fixes changed it enough to be "worth" it now.

I feel like you didn't really get what I wrote, or maybe misunderstood it. Yes, because of the new patch, it is worth it.

[ZumZoom]

It was pretty good for years, with the use of ESG mod, which did most of the things the official patch will now do.

[ninakoru]

Originally posted by Gonen32:

I love this game, and Awakening is the only faction expansion I've skipped. But now with the new patch, what are your impressions?

I think the changes to the Academy and the Nakalim are spot on. This is an opinion though.

I think Nakalim are just now, after Volyani, the most unique faction you get to play in ES2.

Academy now integrates seamlessly into the game systems and progression, so yeah, is definitively an upgrade compared to before. As said here, you can switch it off on new game setting if you grow tired of it.

[Benchwarmer]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

I just asked a friend of mine the same question, who has played with most of the changes coming in while they were on the beta branch. His opinion, was, yes, absolutely it is worth getting now, ESPECIALLY at the current on-sale price of $3. It's value vs cost is good, and at that price, great. Same was true for Dark Matter. I just picked up both for like $3.60, which is what, a cup of coffee and a donut?

Awakening and Dark Matter sounds like a good additions to get. I might skip Penumbra though. I have all the other gameplay DLCs.

[Ericus1]

Yeah, I have kind of mixed feelings about Penumbra too. Hacking was an interesting idea, but damn can it be tedious and micromanagementy at times. And another problem with it is its effects range from "utterly pointless" to "brokenly powerful". Umbral Choir were a very unusual faction to play as, with a completely different play model/style, but in the end I'm not sure how "fun" they were. They're like the epitome of "tall play".

I don't know. It's dirt cheap right now, and you can always turn it off if it's not your cuppa tea. I've ended up leaving it on and learning to work with it.

[Skummeh]

I find Penumbra unplayable. I have every DLC and add-on and have that disabled.

[Kinja]

I was wondering the same about Penumbra, Awakening and Dark Matter. It seems the Academy problems with Awakening are fixed or can be sidesteps but are the bugs fixed in these 3 DLCs? Because that was one of the main complaints i read about all of them that kept me from buying any of them even on sale.

[Skummeh]

Originally posted by Kinja:

I was wondering the same about Penumbra, Awakening and Dark Matter. It seems the Academy problems with Awakening are fixed or can be sidesteps but are the bugs fixed in these 3 DLCs? Because that was one of the main complaints i read about all of them that kept me from buying any of them even on sale.

Awakening and Dark Matter were updated by the patch team and are great now. Penumbra was untouched and not only do I hate it for its mechanics but apparently it's the top cause of desyncs and turn ending bugs in multiplayer.

[Benchwarmer]

I picked Awakening and Dark Matter and started to play against AI with normal default settings. I'm only in the beginning, colonized my first planet and the game informs that AI has already colonized 8 planets, LMAO, also AI was super fast to assimilate a minor faction. I'm not sure is this just a bad luck, the new update or the new DLCs but I don't like this. Gotta start a new game and check some more. Edit. It was just bad luck with RNG, second play thru and the game feels pretty much like back in thew day.

[Trip Fisk]

tl;dr answer: I don't think its worth it. it no longer ruins the game, but doesn't add enough to be worth it. I can't complain buying it at the @$3 sale price.

this was the one DLC I never bought since the reviews were unanimously negative saying how it ruins the game

seeing the game got a very recent major update mostly specifically to address the Awakening DLC and the DLC is on sale for a few dollars I bought it

I have no experience with Awakening before the patch, so I have no idea how bad/annoying it was, but I haven't been subjected to the academy getting mad at me for something stupid and/or the academy fleet showing up at my doorstep and crushing me which is what everyone who didn't like the DLC said happens.

What I've noticed is: the academy periodically asks for donations and provides bonuses for the top 4 donators. However the AI factions absolutely dominate donations. To be fair, I am playing on hard difficulty and its been so long since I last played I forgot the early strats to outpace the AI.

So far, that's the only obvious addition I've seen out of this DLC.

I've played enough with Awakening that I can say it's not ruining the game for me, but it doesn't seem to add much. It is one of those 'after Sega bought Amplitude' DLCs meaning its development was outsourced to some small inexperienced development team explaining why it arrived broken and doesn't fit well with the rest of the game.

[Skummeh]

Originally posted by Trip Fisk:

tl;dr answer: I don't think its worth it. it no longer ruins the game, but doesn't add enough to be worth it. I can't complain buying it at the @$3 sale price.

this was the one DLC I never bought since the reviews were unanimously negative saying how it ruins the game

seeing the game got a very recent major update mostly specifically to address the Awakening DLC and the DLC is on sale for a few dollars I bought it

I have no experience with Awakening before the patch, so I have no idea how bad/annoying it was, but I haven't been subjected to the academy getting mad at me for something stupid and/or the academy fleet showing up at my doorstep and crushing me which is what everyone who didn't like the DLC said happens.

What I've noticed is: the academy periodically asks for donations and provides bonuses for the top 4 donators. However the AI factions absolutely dominate donations. To be fair, I am playing on hard difficulty and its been so long since I last played I forgot the early strats to outpace the AI.

So far, that's the only obvious addition I've seen out of this DLC.

I've played enough with Awakening that I can say it's not ruining the game for me, but it doesn't seem to add much. It is one of those 'after Sega bought Amplitude' DLCs meaning its development was outsourced to some small inexperienced development team explaining why it arrived broken and doesn't fit well with the rest of the game.

I'm playing on Endless difficulty and the competition for Academy roles is solid, but I typically grab one of the top 2 roles. I think you just need more experience with the DLC to get the hang of it. Just like you, I only started playing it since the patch, but I've been on the beta for it for 6 months. At this point I'd enjoy the game far less without Awakening, and I only have Penumbra and sometimes Supremacy turned off.

That said, I have issues with the current build that I hope they address, but I'm definitely not turning it off at this stage, probably ever.

[The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales]

Originally posted by Trip Fisk:

What I've noticed is: the academy periodically asks for donations and provides bonuses for the top 4 donators. However the AI factions absolutely dominate donations. To be fair, I am playing on hard difficulty and its been so long since I last played I forgot the early strats to outpace the AI.

If you contribute to these donations, you will earn some standing with the academy, which you can then trade in for favors. There's a button at the bottom of the Donations/Roles screen to switch to the Academy Diplomacy tab.