The 'Buying Dragon Age: Origins' thread.

[Monk]

Maybe the fact that the game is being marketed as a frat boy RPG? Or, at least for that one video and press preview.

Not to take away from the deal you pointed out - if the game appeals then Impulse is the way to go. Perhaps I'm just haunted by the specter of ETW.

CR

I know what you mean. I think it was around April where I was close to declaring Dragon Age my worst enemy due to their PR campaign. But over the year(last couple months especially) i've been watching it.

It actually looks, dare I say it, good. I dunno what possessed Bioware to take the marketing route they did earlier in the year but it nearly killed my interest.

[FactionHeir]

I take it you ended up getting a copy too?

[Monk]

I take it you ended up getting a copy too?

As a matter of fact, I did. Canceled my 360 pre-order and grabbed a deluxe ed off Impulse for $10 cheaper. How could I refuse?

[frogbeastegg]

Does anyone know how big the download for Dragon Age will be? I heard 15GB quoted at one place which is completely impossible for me as I'm on a 20GB per month bandwidth cap. Impulse doesn't list a size on it's game page.

I wouldn't mind a cheap(ish) deluxe edition from Impulse as the British only special edition is rubbish in comparison to all the others and is stupidly expensive to boot! From early accounts it appears that the PC and console versions will play somewhat differently due to the changes in camera modes and group controls. I can see myself happily playing a high difficulty strategic style playthrough on the PC and an easier, more fun oriented one on my xbox, swapping between platforms depending on what mood I'm in and what time I have available.

[FactionHeir]

Steam offers it too now starting today, but again the cut version for UK people.

Impulse is still the best deal with gifting and 20% off.

[Monk]

Does anyone know how big the download for Dragon Age will be? I heard 15GB quoted at one place which is completely impossible for me as I'm on a 20GB per month bandwidth cap. Impulse doesn't list a size on it's game page.

I wouldn't mind a cheap(ish) deluxe edition from Impulse as the British only special edition is rubbish in comparison to all the others and is stupidly expensive to boot! From early accounts it appears that the PC and console versions will play somewhat differently due to the changes in camera modes and group controls. I can see myself happily playing a high difficulty strategic style playthrough on the PC and an easier, more fun oriented one on my xbox, swapping between platforms depending on what mood I'm in and what time I have available.

I think it might be anywhere from 15bg-20gb. System requirements over at the DA forums claim it to need 20gb.

[frogbeastegg]

Great. :nixes the plan to buy the cheaper Impulse PC copy at release and pick up a console copy later on when it's cheaper: That means I'm stuck with no way to get any of the special extras unless I pay crazy amounts for Game's cut-down rip-off of a collector's edition. The basic Dragon Age game is already more expensive than I'm used to paying for new games, PC or console. I'm having a hard enough time psyching myself up to part with £38 for the basic xbox version - I do not want to support the fat price increase that's magically been slapped on games recently. Last year I've have had the PC version for £17.99 and the console one for £29.99 if I shopped around. Now it's £25 and £38.99 at absolute best, with the collector's edition being £39.99 and £49.99 respectively.

:sighs: I expect the UK will see much of this content as paid for downloads so we'll have to pay for something the rest of the world got for free. Worse, many of these extras could count as seperate DLCs so it's likely to add up to being very expensive. The absolute low is that if I wait until a month or two after release when the game's cheaper I might not even get the 'bonus' character and dungeon that's included with every release copy.

This game's a pain in the rear. First I felt sick each time I heard it mentioned because of the dire marketing. Now, when word of mouth has undone most of that damage, the exploitation of a select part of the audience makes me queasy. It's like they do not want me to play the thing!

NB: Yes, I know the extras won't dramatically alter the game experience so in the end they don't matter hugely. Thing is, why should I pay more in order to get less than most will? Especially if I'll probably then have to pay a second time if I want to see the content?

NB2: And yes, if I'm that squeamish about the console price I could get the cheaper PC version. Problem: the PC version is overpriced for a PC game and I don't feel happy about paying that much for it either, especially when it's not my platform of choice for this game.

[Beskar]

Dragon Age: Origins - Digital Deluxe (UK) is apparently on Steam for £40.

The standard edition is £30

Just reading now, the differences is amazing (in a laughing way)

Steam Exclusive Item

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Wicked Oath

Countess Luciana of Antiva lived as a virtual prisoner in her husband’s castle until an elven slave offered her a way out. The slave magically bound a small amount of the countess’s blood into a ring in return for a promise of freedom. The countess agreed, and the count was found stabbed soon afterwards, this ring lying beside him. Neither Luciana nor the slave were seen again.

Adds +10% to critical strike damage
Improves armor penetration by 2
Adds +1 to combat stamina regeneration

Pre-order special content:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Memory Band

Made by the Formari, these lyrium-infused rings are supposed to help apprentices retain their lessons. They work rather well -- too well, perhaps, as less capable students sometimes wear three or four per finger.

Adds +1% to XP
Adds one skill point

Additional Content in Dragon Age: Orgins (Not sure what this even means, guessing over Xbawks version)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Blood Dragon Armor

Commissioned by an infamous Nevarran dragon hunter, this armor was crafted in a time when dragons had almost been hunted to extinction. Infused with their blood, the armor gained notoriety after the hunter died at the hands of men rather than the dragons it was designed to protect him from.

Grants exceptional protection in combat
Armor will be usable in BioWare's upcoming science fiction epic, Mass Effect 2


The Stone Prisoner

The darkspawn-infested village of Honnleath holds a secret: the forgotten stone figure at the town’s heart is a powerful golem frozen in time. Free the creature and reveal a storied quest to unlock its power and mysterious past.

Download The Stone Prisoner and gain access to Shale, a mighty stone golem who can join the party and travel throughout Dragon Age: Origins. One of the most powerful characters in the game, Shale comes with a rich back story, extensive voice acting, and a unique follower quest to explore. The Stone Prisoner also includes new environments, items, and hours of additional gameplay that adds to the Dragon Age: Origins campaign.

A powerful new party member to aid in the epic quest to save Ferelden from the Blight
New areas, including the troubled village of Honnleath
New achievements, items, and unique insights into the Dragon Age: Origins storyline

Deluxe content:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Warden's Keep

Some claim the fortress of Soldier’s Peak is corrupted and overrun by demons. Others whisper of betrayal and the spirits of murdered Grey Wardens. Whatever the truth, Soldier’s Peak is no place for the living.

Relive the darkest hour of the Grey Wardens with all-new content that adds to the main Dragon Age: Origins campaign. This downloadable adventure reveals secrets hidden for generations, and includes unique achievements, unlockable character abilities, powerful items, and much more!

New quests - discover what really happened to the Grey Wardens of old and what led to their expulsion from Ferelden
New features - a base of operations with party storage. Inventory full? Stash new items as well as loot from the main Dragon Age: Origins campaign
New items and abilities - talents and spells from the Power of Blood school, unique achievements, and powerful items including a set of Grey Warden Commander armor


Digital Soundtrack

Includes a collection of tracks from the score of Dragon Age: Origins


Wallpapers

Includes a collection of wallpapers for your desktop background

[Lemur]

I gotta 'fess up—Steam has kinda won me over, especially after trying some other download services. Steam stole my heart when I had to swap out motherboards, changed the drive letter on my storage drive (where Steam resides, along with my other fat games) and worked flawlessly, despite the drive change. Every other app went berserk, and needed hand-holding, register-tweaking and long walks before they would behave. Steam is robust in this sense.

So DA is available on Steam now? I guess I'll plonk down for it, like the RPG catamite that I am.

[Beskar]

I only used Impluse for Demigod and I had a very very bad experience with it. I didn't even know about Impluse till that game either.

With Steam, its been only good, especially with the deals. Also, I like my games up to date and patched, it usually makes sure they are working right (unless it is Empire:Total War, but that is not Steam's fault)

[Monk]

I guess I've been lucky, both download services have worked wonderfully for me and I've been skipping happily along without a care in the world. But then, my computer is fairly new(ish) so maybe Steam and Impulse just love my set up.

Impulse was fussy when I tried to sign up, but since then its been great. Steam's one and only failing with me was its implementation in ETW which was sloppy and ham-handed at best.

[Beskar]

Oh there is a character creator too. Why did no one say about that? You evil people.

[Monk]

Oh there is a character creator too. Why did no one say about that? You evil people.

I like to hoard news?

Yes, there's a character creator to let you toy around with some ideas for your first go. For PC users you can directly save and import this character into the game from the creator (or so Bioware boasts!), console players are out of luck however.

Bioware also launched a beta version of a new social site to go hand in hand with the creation tool. They are meaning it to be a place for people to upload characters to show off, as well as an easy "go to" for modding. So far people seem to like it.

[Beskar]

I found the character creator very limited. Only ended up going for was a basically default choice.

[Monk]

I found the character creator very limited. Only ended up going for was a basically default choice.

I found it to be a step up from the Mass Effect creator, but still not as in-depth as others (especially an mmo creator, such as Aion's). IMHO it suits the purpose.

[Beskar]

I found it to be a step up from the Mass Effect creator, but still not as in-depth as others (especially an mmo creator, such as Aion's). IMHO it suits the purpose.

Hopefully it is pretty easy to mod. Those bodies have a lot to be desired. I didn't know females look like wide surfboards with two odd looking bumps on them.

[FactionHeir]

Well frog, you can pre-order a physical copy (this is what I think you are looking at) from Poland (all in English). Their collector's edition is in the steelbox with cloth map and extra items and what not comes at about 55 or so pounds with shipping. Of course it won't arrive on release day...

Or if you want it faster, get it from Germany or Spain, but pay an even larger premium.

[frogbeastegg]

Well frog, you can pre-order a physical copy (this is what I think you are looking at) from Poland (all in English). Their collector's edition is in the steelbox with cloth map and extra items and what not comes at about 55 or so pounds with shipping. Of course it won't arrive on release day...

Or if you want it faster, get it from Germany or Spain, but pay an even larger premium.

Yes, it'll have to be a physical edition. The download is too big; I'd use up my month's allowance of bandwidth and then spend the rest of November being charged each time I used more.

Importing is something I had already considered and decided against. Unless the place sending it marked the value down a la VideoGamesPlus of Canada I'd get hit by import tax and the last time I fell foul of that it ended up costing me almost as much as the item was worth thanks to the unavoidable 'service' charges piled on top of the VAT. Plus with the postal disruption I might never see the game. Anything that's unusual or clearly valuable tends to disappear from this city's depot during strikes.

There aren't many options and they will all leave me feeling bad. Just a matter of picking my flavour of financial abuse. If this weren't a Bioware RPG I'd leave the game on the shelf.

[Beskar]

What internet do you use, Frogeggbeast? I mean even talktalk is free unlimited internet, what kind of service are you using? o_O

Virgin, talktalk, Sky, BT, etc are all unlimited, how did you get pigeon holed into 3rd rate fixed internet?

[frogbeastegg]

I'm with BT, one of the mid-tier packages. It's changed an awful lot since I first signed up for it (back when 512kb broadband was considered good!) so I don't know precisely which package it's labelled as right now or the full feature list but I do know the parts which concern me: 20GB bandwidth cap, up to 20MB depending on what your phone line can handle, unlimited access, wifi included, digital vault. I don't care about internet phone and other such stuff. There's a lot of it been added to the package or altered over the years; I don't take much notice unless it's something I will use.

AFAIK there's only one BT package with unlimited bandwidth and it costs nearly £10 a month more and since I rarely use anything close to my full 20GB limit upgrading never felt worth it. The service is as solid as a rock; it's been down twice in all the years I've had it so I've never felt inclined to change provider either.

I can exceed my bandwidth cap for one month without paying. I'm charged if I do it for two months in close succession. Unfortunately I (knowingly and purposefully) went over the cap recently thanks to needing to download a tonne of stuff after reinstalling windows. :cough: I managed to use 38GB :cough: Since I knew I wouldn't be charged that time and had no expectations of other large downloads there was no reason not to go hell for leather and grab everything at once.

[FactionHeir]

Considering Poland is in the EU, there would be no import fees I think.

[Lemur]

Here's where you can view all of the race/class origin stories.

[frogbeastegg]

Another reviewer in the quarter to three thread is saying that it's the best Bioware RPG hands down, combining the best aspects of all of their previous games. I don't know who this guy is so I'm not taking it too much to heart, however it's good to see there's a fair amount of agreement out there that this game is worth playing.

I've booked the week off to play this. :feels geektastically sad: Well I had a week I needed to take before the start of December and there you go. It's not like I intend to do nothing but play games. Having done that I thought I'd better do something about securing a copy so I pre-ordered the vanilla xbox version from shopto because they're cheapest out of the places I use and I can get some cashback with them because of who I work for. If the postal strikes sabotage my delivery then I shall pick up a vanilla PC copy on my way home from work.

I've also made peace with the fact that I'm not going to see any of the bonus content. I'm not buying the DLC unless it's ultra amazing with cherries on top. It's the only way I can tolerate the pricing for the base game, especially when the word is that each DLC quest will cost £5.99 or £7.99!

[Lemur]

O Froggie, wisest of mods, could you change the name of this thread to reflect the fact that it has become the primary Dragon Age discussion area?

[Xiahou]

It's not like I intend to do nothing but play games.

Yeah, there will probably be at least a little eating and sleeping in there somewhere too.

I'm still kind of torn on Dragon Age... I think the game looks good, but I really don't like EA, plus I'm concerned about their new DLC approach, and I don't know what platform I'd want it on yet either (PC/PS3). I think, for me, the wise choice is going to be to hold off and wait for some more reviews and impressions to come in- post release.

[FactionHeir]

Overall I quite like what I'm reading about the game but its got 2 drawbacks:
1. Confirmed no multiplayer of any shape or form
2. Confirmed game is a DLC content base (NPC interaction having an OOC phrase that tells you to get a DLC to go further with them), so that any additions will be in the form of DLC.

[Beskar]

The first DLC comes with the deluxe edition.
I know the Steam version comes without secuROM which is great, however, I will be upset if the DLC is through EA Downloader junk, as that doesn't work with my internet.

[frogbeastegg]

O Froggie, wisest of mods, could you change the name of this thread to reflect the fact that it has become the primary Dragon Age discussion area?

I've renamed it to ... well, everyone will have noticed what it's now called.

When the game's in our hands a new topic might be the best approach. Gameplay impressions and reviews without needing to wade through all of this. We'll see how it stands in 3 weeks time.

[econ21]

I can't run the character creator without my PC warning me that it is getting too hot after a short time (by the time I reach the stat distribution screen). Had the same problem with NWN2 - it became unplayable due to the overheating it caused. In both cases, it seems strange as the graphics are frankly nothing much to write home about. I guess I will have to pass on this game.

[Xiahou]

Overall I quite like what I'm reading about the game but its got 2 drawbacks:
1. Confirmed no multiplayer of any shape or form
2. Confirmed game is a DLC content base (NPC interaction having an OOC phrase that tells you to get a DLC to go further with them), so that any additions will be in the form of DLC.

Seriously? I can't imagine how they could've come up with a more ham fisted approach to content than that.