Are the novels any good? Odd that you never finished Awakening.
Golems of Amgarrak is fun but I don't think there's any larger point to it that I've seen, so I skipped it for the playthrough I'm doing now (currently a female mage in DA2). Witch Hunt is a must of course. I don't know that I could ever side fully with the werewolves, but so far I've resolved the conflict peacefully both times. Siding with the Templars would be interesting especially depending on what you choose in DA2.
I've played through Awakenings several times before, but for some reason I never finished it with my "main" (read:first) Warden. For some reason, she never got further than a first visit to Amaranthine.
As for Golems of Amgarrak, it was just a case of after 4 years, I was *determined* to get that "Grim Reaper" trophy. Had to respec as an archer to do it, but I did it!
Also it was just for the sake of completion since what I've doing is making a save file for import and I figure the more plot flags the more content I'm liable to get out of DAI...even if it's marginal.
As for the novels...yeah, I'd say they're pretty good. It helps that David Gaider--one of the main writers of the DA games--wrote the first three while Patrick Weekes (formerly of the Mass Effect team) did the latest one.
It was especially great in Asunder since I'm pretty sure Gaider had originally written the in-game dialogue for the Origins characters that were making a return, so you could practically hear their voices as you read.
While they're not essential reading, they do all have some substance to add to lore of the games. 'The Stolen Throne' is basically the story of Ferelden's fight to kick Orlais out at the dawn of the Dragon Age, featuring Maric's mother "the Rebel Queen" and how Maric himself met and became friends with Logain. 'The Calling' is tied to Duncan's early days as a Warden and Maric's later years.
'Asunder' and 'The Masked Empire' take place in Orlais almost exactly in parallel (3 years after the Kirkwall rebellion, right before Cassandra is off interrogating Varric.) The former is about the fracturing of Circles of Magi, the Chantry, the Templars and the Seekers as the direct result of what Anders set in motion.
The latter concerns court intrigue and rebellion in Orlais. Both novels have a certain red haired agent of the Divine makign came appearances.
I can only speak for myself, but I tore through Masked Empire. Very enjoyable. Can't wait for certain characters to re-appear in DAI. Also, the ending. I won't spoil, but it has me very curious to see how that carries over into DAI.
I'm honestly baffled as to how they can set a game AFTER the events of ME3, given that the finale leaves the world in four extremely different end-states.
I think it's safe to say that the "refuse" ending won't be importable, while the others are fairly easily glossed over. It'd hardly be the first time your decision didn't amount to anything in that series.
