Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[frogbeastegg]

All spoilers must go into spoiler tags!
However small you think the spoiler is, show consideration for your fellow org members and use the tags!
Mark the spoiler with a brief spoiler free description so people can tell whether they have seen that part of the game yet! Example below.



Spoiler for the game's box.
It has a dragon on it made out of pooled blood.

Some places in America have broken the street date and are selling the game early so it's time to start a gameplay thread.

[Jolt]

Looks like an awesome game.

[Beskar]

Pre-load is out on Steam. (for those who bought it electronically)

I am watching the game at http://evaxephon.com/stream/

It looks pretty much like Mass Effect style, but you can have 4 characters and the NPC's interact with eachother and other things in the party. Two of them sounded rather like one of Frogeggbeast's partnerships.

[Zenicetus]

I was going to wait for reviews because I wasn't sure it would run on my older PC/newer graphics card, but I broke down at the last minute and got the fancy Steam version.

I just played through part of the intro/tutorial as an Elfin Mage. I don't think there are any spoilers here, it's just a first impression.

I picked a mage to start, because I'm curious to see if the game can handle getting a party through a dungeon door with the mage leader protected at the back of the room, which was a frustration in NWN2. And if not, I'll re-start as a Rogue.

The intro/tutorial is specific to my mage character, which really makes me want to go back eventually, and see what the intro for the other classes are like! So far, it's very nicely done as an intro and tutorial for the game controls. If you've played the Flash game, the interface will be familiar and just more in-depth. Movement, camera controls, and combat are easy to pick up (at least for my mage, dunno about the other classes). Combat seems a little quick and twitchy, but there is a pause on the spacebar so you can do it in semi turn-based mode.

My first concern was how smoothly it would run on my old PC (Athlon 64 3800+, 2 Gigs RAM, GeForce 8800 GTS). So far, using default settings at 1280x1024 it's running smooth as silk through the tutorial intro, but the real test will be when a full party is fighting a room full of mages and the spells are flying. I can ramp it up to full 1600x1200 res, but I'm not sure it will handle things when the party and combats get larger, but we'll see. So far, it's encouraging for those of us with lower-spec PC's. All the cut scenes so far are running without hiccups.

The opening 2D artwork and the music is very good. First exposure to the writing isn't bad. It's throwing a lot of made-up words around to explain the background story, and there is a codex/journal to help organize that information. What I've seen so far leans heavily on generic Tolkein/D&D tropes (Elves! Dwarves! Bad things from the Bad Place!), but it's not too cringe-inducing. Could be worse.

With just a brief dipping of toe into the game, the engine looks solid. And now it will depend on the writing of the story, and how they're handling the RPG elements.

[Monk]

I was going to wait for reviews because I wasn't sure it would run on my older PC/newer graphics card, but I broke down at the last minute and got the fancy Steam version.

I just played through part of the intro/tutorial as an Elfin Mage. I don't think there are any spoilers here, it's just a first impression.

I picked a mage to start, because I'm curious to see if the game can handle getting a party through a dungeon door with the mage leader protected at the back of the room, which was a frustration in NWN2. And if not, I'll re-start as a Rogue.

The intro/tutorial is specific to my mage character, which really makes me want to go back eventually, and see what the intro for the other classes are like! So far, it's very nicely done as an intro and tutorial for the game controls. If you've played the Flash game, the interface will be familiar and just more in-depth. Movement, camera controls, and combat are easy to pick up (at least for my mage, dunno about the other classes). Combat seems a little quick and twitchy, but there is a pause on the spacebar so you can do it in semi turn-based mode.

My first concern was how smoothly it would run on my old PC (Athlon 64 3800+, 2 Gigs RAM, GeForce 8800 GTS). So far, using default settings at 1280x1024 it's running smooth as silk through the tutorial intro, but the real test will be when a full party is fighting a room full of mages and the spells are flying. I can ramp it up to full 1600x1200 res, but I'm not sure it will handle things when the party and combats get larger, but we'll see. So far, it's encouraging for those of us with lower-spec PC's. All the cut scenes so far are running without hiccups.

The opening 2D artwork and the music is very good. First exposure to the writing isn't bad. It's throwing a lot of made-up words around to explain the background story, and there is a codex/journal to help organize that information. What I've seen so far leans heavily on generic Tolkein/D&D tropes (Elves! Dwarves! Bad things from the Bad Place!), but it's not too cringe-inducing. Could be worse.

With just a brief dipping of toe into the game, the engine looks solid. And now it will depend on the writing of the story, and how they're handling the RPG elements.

Have to double this sentiment.

My relic P4 3ghz is able to run this game just fine, which is amazing considering most places tell you flat out if you don't have a dual core you cannot play the game. Granted, i've had to turn a few options down but it still looks great on my dinosaur cpu. I cannot wait until my new case comes and I can install this new motherboard/cpu I have sitting next to me.

I'm about five hours into the game and I have a few comments. First off is any notions of DA:O being a "frat boy RPG" have been woefully blown out of proportion. This is a very serious game, with a very serious narrative. Secondly is combat could be a bit tighter, it feels a bit loose and its easy to get bogged down into a single character mind-set. Not having a "healer" character is really starting to bug me as I'm chugging potions like spring-water. (I think i just havent met her yet). That being said, its still tons of fun and very challenging. I've died four times and i'm playing on Normal. :dizzy2:

The Origin stories are not as long as I thought they would be, but they are still long enough to give you a glimpse into the past of your character. I like it, its short but it doesnt overstay its welcome - before you know it you're at the meat of the game.

That's all for now. :2thumbsup:

Oh, but one more thing:

EA are 'teh devil'. I have heard of tales of their systems before, but this? Wow. They nearly caused me to lose all chance of playing this game with their botched registration system. Basically, i registered my game on the Social site.. but then was asked for registration a second time in game. When i provided my key the game crossed its arms and informed me "sorry, that key is in use by someone else." ...

OF COURSE IT IS! I'M THE ONE WHO USED IT! :furious3:

[FactionHeir]

How did you get around it?

Just so I know when I get back tonight.

[Vladimir]

Bugs! Bugs! Tell me if I should wait for the third patch please. :yes:

[Monk]

Bugs! Bugs! Tell me if I should wait for the third patch please. :yes:

Pretty stable actually. Had a CTD last night after six and a half hours of play and its been the one bug/crash i've experienced.

[Husar]

I've read there are clipping errors, arms that go into legs and the like... :inquisitive:

May be nitpicking but that's sort of a bug. When will they ever get things like that right? :sweatdrop:

[frogbeastegg]

Mine's here! I'll post some impressions of the xbox version tomorrow.

I'm going human female mage. Quite a departure from my usual sword-wielding characters; the concept of mages in this world is too interesting to pass by. Hoping Bioware managed to do as good a job with the female protagonists as they did with the female Shepard in Mass Effect; she was outstanding and, unlike most of Bioware's older female types, not embarrassing to play as. I have no interest in walking around in a chain mail bikini while being harassed by whichever soppy idiot NPC is the designated love interest. The one who always, always has a dead wife in his past and/or other tedious angst that he will whine about for 70% of the conversations. Yep, if the female protagonist is a return to Baldur's Gate form I will be restarting as a male. I can't endure tens of hours of frostbite in sensitive locations and Carth-a-like stalkers.

[Zenicetus]

Bugs! Bugs! Tell me if I should wait for the third patch please. :yes:

I haven't seen anything I could label a bug so far, unless it's something deep in the combat stats that I'm not noticing due to unfamiliarity. It has a very solid feel, like a game that's been in development for a long time (which it has been). The 3D engine might have been state-of-the art a few years ago, but it looks a little behind the curve now (at least compared to high-end PC games), which is a good thing, for those of us with older computers.

I did get one brief moment of choppiness in a melee combat scene (no magic, 3 in my party against maybe 6 or 7 enemy fighters), but I don't know if that's the game or something my computer was trying to do in the background outside the game. Still feels nice and smooth overall.

A few more quick impressions and comments. These lean a little on the negative side but nothing too serious. Just some minor gripes, and I'm still enjoying the game very much with my Mage just past the start of the main plot.

Bioware did a nice job with the camera, the clipping of ceilings in tight spaces, and the amount of scenery you can see at one time. I haven't had much time in open spaces yet... looks like it might still be a little tight to make effective use of an archery-based character, but we'll see. The world isn't seamless; there are disk loads between areas, but nowhere near as annoying as the constant loads in NWN2. Game save and load operations are very fast, even on my older computer. The game itself boots up quickly, and unloads from memory quickly. It seems to have a fairly light footprint for something this complex. I haven't noticed the arm/leg clipping issue Husar mentioned (I'm playing on PC).

A low-level party self-heals and recovers mana after a combat encounter very quickly. I mean, like within seconds. You don't have to stock up on mana potions for a mage like you did in the Flash game, and I'm accumulating lots of healing potions I'm not using, except once in a while during combat. Maybe recovery takes longer once you get to higher levels with larger stat pools to fill? It keeps the encounters moving along with no need to rest, but I wonder how the hardcore D&D fans will feel about this.

I bought it on Steam and there is no local manual. You don't need a manual to get started playing the game, but I miss having a manual for getting an overview of the different character development trees. Choices I'm making during leveling now in the early stages, may restrict what I can do later. I feel like I'm flying blind here. I don't hang out on the Bioware forums so I haven't been keeping track of how the RPG/leveling system works. Of course, this could turn out to be an "RPG" like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect where the choices don't matter, because you'll have enough points to just buy almost every skill and talent by the time you reach the end of the game. I hope that isn't the case. Boo, hiss! Bioware, for not including a PDF manual and forcing us to go online to scrape up the character tree info.

Speaking of restricted choices.... I know this isn't D&D and I'm trying not to make too many direct comparisons... but I'm getting the impression that this is a fairly loose, streamlined system for character development. I played through the Rogue intro just to see what it's like (and yes, totally different from the Mage, nice!), but it was odd to see a Rogue clanking around in light metal armor and being able to dual-wield right from the start.

Very minor spoiler, you'll know this if you've played through the Rogue intro:

Apparently the Rogue type is also folded in with the iconic Ranger type, with an animal companion. :dizzy2:
Part of the fun with a D&D-based game like Baldur's Gate and NWN is having to deal with so many restrictions on character development, which can lead to some interesting builds. Ignoring the way multi-classing tends to smear those categories, it's still something Ive enjoyed. At least at the beginning, this game feels maybe a little oversimplified... more like the way you make choices during leveling in WoW, or yes, Mass Effect. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. Maybe I'm too conditioned by previous D&D licensed games. It's probably good for game sales to a wide audience anyway.

Is there a way to force the character to walk? Your lead character and your party run everywhere, which is sometimes appropriate but often looks silly in areas where it isn't necessary. With a full party, there's a lot of herky-jerky activity with the party running and stopping, running and stopping behind my party leader. It's a little distracting.

I don't quite have a handle on how aggro works, but it doesn't seem to "lock" most enemies on the nearest target, or first person through the door. If I send a melee member of my party through a doorway first, then the rest of the group, a large group of enemy melee fighters will still swarm everyone about equally. Attacking an enemy that isn't attacking you (the character you're directly controlling) will make them turn and attack you, which is an interesting challenge for mage characters. There is an AI control to force your party members to protect the leader, but I haven't had enough combat yet with a group to get a feel for how well it's working.

[Vladimir]

Excellent! Good news everyone, thank you. It's good to see a company take their time and get something right on the first time out. Hopefully that business model will become competitive some day. The rouge sounds interesting. They do love their dogs in that world. Let's see if the world can handle an opportunistic rogue.

[Monk]

I don't quite have a handle on how aggro works, but it doesn't seem to "lock" most enemies on the nearest target, or first person through the door. If I send a melee member of my party through a doorway first, then the rest of the group, a large group of enemy melee fighters will still swarm everyone about equally. Attacking an enemy that isn't attacking you (the character you're directly controlling) will make them turn and attack you, which is an interesting challenge for mage characters. There is an AI control to force your party members to protect the leader, but I haven't had enough combat yet with a group to get a feel for how well it's working.

I've noticed that too. Target acquisition when combat is engaged can be a little random, much more so than I'd like. Once battle starts going however it tends to follow more rational rules. Tossing a heal spell on a party member will attract unwanted attention if a monster doesnt have reason to be smacking your tank. Ect.

Combat is tough in DA:O. Maybe i'm just used to simplified versions but I really got smacked around on the Redcliff mission. I had to bump the difficulty down to Easy until I could get the hang of managing the party, imho it's far more effective (once you get a healer) to focus your mico on your magic users and only direct your melee at what to hit, rather than what skills to use. Its been effective for me trying to learn the ropes. :yes:

Also a warning: If you guys are thinking about buying a digital edition, don't. Get a physical copy - the digital editions have some really messed up registration systems. (Basically what i outlined in a previous post. You can actually get locked out of your own game!) If you AT ALL have a choice, go to the store and grab a copy. Retail editions of the game only have a disk check as their copy protection (you can play without registration) from what i understand.

[Samurai Waki]

I rather like how difficult combat has been. I decided as a first character to play an elf rogue, I should have been comfortable with that, but I was constantly being the source for attention for every baddy, and would generally die within the first 30 seconds of combat.

Then I decided I'd have a go as a close combat character, so I picked the Dwarf Noble. And instead of tweaking my stats to mainly hover around Dexterity and Strength, I split them up between Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution. What a major difference that has been, I have to say so far it has been a nice change up from NWN and Baldur's Gate to actually make Constitution matter.

[Zenicetus]

One other tip here for those new to the game, if you haven't discovered this already. I don't think it's mentioned in a tutorial (and we don't get a stinkin' manual with online purchase... grrrr):

If you press and hold "Tab" (on the PC version), the game will highlight and show a text identifier for any interesting or lootable objects within view. Some things like books are small, and are easy to miss with a mouseover scan of the area. You get small amounts of XP for each discovery, so it's important to find everything and search all rooms, even for this minor loot. Things like crates and bodies have glowy bits that show they're lootable, but I would have missed some of the small stuff like individual books sitting on altars if I hadn't used the Tab key.

[FactionHeir]

Well my digital ended up working fine, not sure why I didn't run into the same problem as Monk. But then again he made me aware of it first!

Got all my DLC to work and am into the first mission outside camp now. Combat so far has been fairly easy even though I started the game on Hard. Playing as Human Noble Warrior. I should note that my henchies usually bite the dust fairly easily for some reason. I guess the DLC makes a huge difference in survivability.

A few bugs so far. When I wanted to use my pregenerated human noble Warrior from the chargen, the background story was listed as "Dwarf Noble" :shocked:

So I had to recreate...at least they managed to fix the stubble = hollow cheek bug.

The other issues have mainly been around slight clipping issues and loads of spelling errors at various points. Mainly in one-liners.

Also notice that I really need to run V-Sync with DA:O, without, the screen gets rather messy in cutscenes especially.

Liked the intro story a lot, though it was a bit sad.

[seireikhaan]

Also a warning: If you guys are thinking about buying a digital edition, don't. Get a physical copy - the digital editions have some really messed up registration systems. (Basically what i outlined in a previous post. You can actually get locked out of your own game!) If you AT ALL have a choice, go to the store and grab a copy. Retail editions of the game only have a disk check as their copy protection (you can play without registration) from what i understand.
Oh, that's just super...

/crosses fingers that the durned thing works when he gets back from night class....

[Monk]

Oh, that's just super...

/crosses fingers that the durned thing works when he gets back from night class....

What causes the lockout:

As far as I can tell from piecing together experiences of my own and other users on the support forums, if you try to register on the social site before you start the game DA:O will see the registration you made but will not put 2 and 2 together. Instead it'll tell you that key is in use and lock you out. Instead, just input your keys on the game's start-up when prompted to. That's your best bet at getting it to work.

Other users have reported no problems (like FactionHeir), but this problem is wide-spread enough to get mentioned (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/dragon-age-launch-fails-some-cant-play-others-no-dlc.ars) on our wonderful internets.



Is there a way to force the character to walk? Your lead character and your party run everywhere, which is sometimes appropriate but often looks silly in areas where it isn't necessary. With a full party, there's a lot of herky-jerky activity with the party running and stopping, running and stopping behind my party leader. It's a little distracting.

/ on the number pad. Go to options and then Controls, you should see it in the list of key bindings :yes:

[Vladimir]

I gotta stop watching the videos. They're too motivating. It's a pity that more of my friends don't get into PC games much; I could really geek out over this one.

I think I'll strap on the tin can to fight in Froggy's stead; pretend I'm a pally once again. We'll see. It depends on if there's more depth in playing a, flexible, character.

[Xiahou]

After seeing the tidal wave of glowing reviews, I decided to give the game a go. So far, so good. :2thumbsup:

For my first character, I finally settled on "vanilla"- a gruff, hardboiled human warrior. As soon as I had a skill point to do it with, I picked up dual wield and chucked the shield in favor of a dagger. It seems to be working pretty well for me so far- the stats tell me that my character does 54% of the party's total damage. I completed the "origins" segment without falling in battle and got a couple of nice achievements to show for it.

I'm really enjoying the storyline so far, even if it has been a bit predictable....I could see both the betrayals coming from a mile off. My father's bannerman's army is late and all he offers is some lame excuse? AND the castle will only be left with a skeleton force? I can't see anything bad coming from that. :sweatdrop:The king's general just looked like a creep. I think the second time I saw his face I thought to myself "he's totally gonna betray us"

[Zenicetus]

I gotta stop watching the videos. They're too motivating. It's a pity that more of my friends don't get into PC games much; I could really geek out over this one.

I think I'll strap on the tin can to fight in Froggy's stead; pretend I'm a pally once again. We'll see. It depends on if there's more depth in playing a, flexible, character.

FYI, there isn't a direct equivalent to Paladin in this game. The closest thing to a Paladin is a Templar, a warrior specialization that exists to keep the scary mages under control. Templars get bonuses against magic users, but they can't use magic as healers. The Templar/Mage conflict will affect many interactions in the game. I'm playing as a mage, and I'm starting to really hate those guys.

[Krusader]

Also a warning: If you guys are thinking about buying a digital edition, don't. Get a physical copy - the digital editions have some really messed up registration systems. (Basically what i outlined in a previous post. You can actually get locked out of your own game!) If you AT ALL have a choice, go to the store and grab a copy. Retail editions of the game only have a disk check as their copy protection (you can play without registration) from what i understand.

No problems on my end, but thats because I checked Steam's Dragon Age forumboard. And couldn't write in codes for DLC and pre-order stuff after another, had to load up the Redeem Code page when I wanted to write the next code in. I think I'll go for physical copy next game over Steam though.

Started my Human Noble Warrior and really enjoy the game so far.

[Monk]

I'm really enjoying the storyline so far, even if it has been a bit predictable....I could see both the betrayals coming from a mile off. My father's bannerman's army is late and all he offers is some lame excuse? AND the castle will only be left with a skeleton force? I can't see anything bad coming from that. :sweatdrop:The king's general just looked like a creep. I think the second time I saw his face I thought to myself "he's totally gonna betray us"


Spoil tastic! Don't read unless you're passed your origin story and at least 2 hours in game! (passed your origin story and the first plot quest)


Sadly I know what you mean. They did go a bit cliche in the beginning, but hey, I will take cliche over complete :daisy: any day. The story actually has me interested, I was on the edge of my seat when Duncan took down that Ogre single-handedly only to turn and see the King wasn't getting up.

It's not so much great writing as it has been amazing presentation and characterization. The king wasn't someone I was invested in, but Duncan certainly was a man I liked. :no: If anything, that is what DA:O has impressed me with, I like these characters. Hey I even genuinely hate a couple two, and one of which is someone i've come to loathe... but oddly i find myself taking her advice a lot.

It's also good to hear you all aren't having massive trouble with the Digital Ed like I did on my first day. :bow:

[seireikhaan]

I rather liked the origin story, at least for the mage I'm playing as. Maybe it wasn't clear out of the blue, but I liked the setup and how it went through.

Also, major spoiler, don't peek unless you're a decent deal after the origin story:

THAT DANG OGRE!!! :wall: :wall: :wall: :skull: :skull: :skull:

Perhaps I was going for the wrong spells early on to take this mother down, but I swear there's gotta be some trick I'm not spotting. Stuck for now...

[FactionHeir]

Forgot to mention:

Dislike the camera, prefer the NWN2 one over DA:O. Not being able to rotate without holding the RMB is annoying.
Also, zoom in is quite limited. Can't appreciate the detail without greater zoom.

Lastly, they really ought to allow you to click through dialogue rather than forcing you to wait through it all. Mainly for subsequent playthroughs.


Is there actually any point to the trailfinders? I long found the crates by the time the trailfinders took me there (in fact, before I even found any one trailfinder)

[Samurai Waki]

THAT DANG OGRE!!! :wall: :wall: :wall: :skull: :skull: :skull:

Perhaps I was going for the wrong spells early on to take this mother down, but I swear there's gotta be some trick I'm not spotting. Stuck for now...

Make use of Alastair as your primary distract; give him plenty of Health Potions (or whatever they're called) I also set the Guard on melee and the Circle Mage as a magic "archer" of sorts, just made sure to try to keep him away from any of the combat. They seemed to die fairly easy though... and use your mage to call in the big spells; make plenty of use out of the Mana Vials. If he comes after you run, then Run, and Let Alastair come in to distract him again... other than that, good luck!

[seireikhaan]

Make use of Alastair as your primary distract; give him plenty of Health Potions (or whatever they're called) I also set the Guard on melee and the Circle Mage as a magic "archer" of sorts, just made sure to try to keep him away from any of the combat. They seemed to die fairly easy though... and use your mage to call in the big spells; make plenty of use out of the Mana Vials. If he comes after you run, then Run, and Let Alastair come in to distract him again... other than that, good luck!
I messed up a few too many times early on, and Alastair was pretty badly bandaged up by that point. I ended up getting so frustrated with the rage quitting that I took it down a difficulty notch and beat it in one try, albeit fairly closely. :inquisitive:

Don't get me wrong, I tried that strategy(after about 50 tries, I'll do about anything :shame:), but it seemed like that ogre just ragdolled my allies far too quickly.

Edit:
Didn't end up getting much sleep at all due to *trying* to truck through the game. I'd say the Hermit is my favorite bit thus far, especially when you try and fight him. ~:eek:

[Meneldil]

Looks like the game is pretty good despite the retard advertising. So I'm probably going to fall for it and buy it :-/

[Vladimir]

I understand people are interested in plot, story, and etc but what about depth? The thing I liked about switching from Paladin/fighter to rogue in DnD based games is the additional depth it offered. Instead of simply strapping on as much metal as possible and slogging through things I discovered how the use of diplomacy, stealth, ambush, and etc opened up far more possibilities. Now I'm more able to "lead" a group and obtain better rewards.

Does the base campaign in Origins offer this too?

[frogbeastegg]

Lastly, they really ought to allow you to click through dialogue rather than forcing you to wait through it all. Mainly for subsequent playthroughs.
You can do that on the xbox version. Thanks to the completely different control setups I can't guess what it'd be on the PC other than to say it's not ok and it's not cancel.


I played ~2 hours last night and completed the mage origin story. The thumb for gameplay is tentatively pointed upwards, the one for presentation is slanting downwards. At the moment the lasting first impression is the considerable shock how archaic the game is in terms of looks, audio, style and atmosphere. I'd expected much more from the people behind Mass Effect.

Gameplay ... well it's Baldur's Gate in 3D. Enough said. Area of effect, friendly fire, a need for tactics if you don't want to turn into a pool of giblets, and a strong need for a rogue to open locked chests. I can tell it's going to improve vastly once I have more spells and a proper party; right now I've spent much of my time running about (away?) on my low-level lonesome wondering if my two offensive spells will recharge before my health runs out.

It's all terribly generic fantasy so far; I expect that to change shortly.

Presentation, yeah. The two year old Mass Effect slaughters this game blindfolded with both hands tied behind its back in all categories of presentation. The first thing that hit me when the game started running was that it looks like Neverwinter Nights 2, i.e. old, badly outdated, and filled with plastic people who look wrongly proportioned. There's some decidedly blergh voice acting on the minor people. Oh well, I don't care so much about that - I've played and loved worse and it's the experience which matters. The blood splatter overlays on the characters look stupid and there's no option to turn them off, which means they show up in cutscenes and conversations.

It's the conversations which are really getting me. Gone are the animated, dynamic conversations which made Mass Effect special. We're back to Bethesda style barely animated barbie doll heads paired with selectable lines of cringeworthy dialogue. I'm afraid I am skipping dialogue in all but the more important conversations; I read entire chunks of dialogue in the time it takes the mediocre actors to get three words out and there's no reason for me to sit and watch instead.

That said, there was one bit of conversation I did like (minor spoiler for the mage origin story)
Sloth. He's one of the few where I sat and let the conversations play out. Loved his voice and enjoyed his dialogue.

The console version is definitely not an after thought or cash in and the people behind Risen's abysmal port should be forced to study it hard and learn from it. The interface and everything has been designed from the ground up specifically for the console, and the game works with the platform's strengths and weaknesses, just as I hear the PC version does. I'm actually quite interested in playing the PC version in order to see the 'other' side of the game. Probably when I can pick up a cheapish copy I shall do so.

Gah! I sound so negative when I did enjoy my play time! I spent most of my day at work thinking about what I would do in the game once I got home.

[Monk]

Lastly, they really ought to allow you to click through dialogue rather than forcing you to wait through it all. Mainly for subsequent playthroughs.


You can. Press Esc.

[FactionHeir]

That's the only key I didn't try, thanks!

Re blood splatter, in the PC version you can turn the persistent splatters off in the options menu. Alternative is to re-equip armor.

Another peeve I've been experiencing is how only rogues can lockpick but everyone can pickpocket. I mean why can't I invest in open lock like a rogue can ~:( Just seems a bit silly to have to leave every chest out there locked (the initial henchie helped a bit at the camp, but he can't open several of those...)

[Zenicetus]

I understand people are interested in plot, story, and etc but what about depth? The thing I liked about switching from Paladin/fighter to rogue in DnD based games is the additional depth it offered. Instead of simply strapping on as much metal as possible and slogging through things I discovered how the use of diplomacy, stealth, ambush, and etc opened up far more possibilities. Now I'm more able to "lead" a group and obtain better rewards.

Does the base campaign in Origins offer this too?

Well, it's definitely a tactics-intensive game if you want to play it that way. And in some boss battles you really do have to play it that way. You'll party-wipe if you just charge in with swords and spells blazing. How deep you get into the combat depends on how much you want to micro-manage using the pause key.

Ambushes of a sort are possible. You can have party members hold position on one side of a doorway, then send a controlled character through to lead enemies back into the room where you're party is waiting. Outdoors is a little trickier because you go into combat mode at fairly long range, although that helps archers and spellcasters. One nice thing, although it's a bit of a cheat for the player, is that you can spot and target most enemies for a first strike, before they'll notice you. So it's possible to scout out the battle before it starts, and look for the best tactical position.

Remember with this type of game you can very easily swap control between the different party members. I'm playing as a mage because I think it's ideal for a tactical overview and control of the battles, but I'll often switch to the Rogue in the party (when there is one), for initial scouting, or to make the first strike and get things rolling.

There are opportunities to use diplomacy, in the form of threats or persuasion. I haven't paid much attention to how this works in terms of your stats (dialogs are always based around your main character as the leader), and it probably also depends on where you stand with all the various conflicts between factions. Anyway, I've been able to use diplomacy in dialog choices to avoid a fight, or achieve a goal through persuasion that could only be done that way.

[Zenicetus]

That's the only key I didn't try, thanks!

Re blood splatter, in the PC version you can turn the persistent splatters off in the options menu. Alternative is to re-equip armor.

Another peeve I've been experiencing is how only rogues can lockpick but everyone can pickpocket. I mean why can't I invest in open lock like a rogue can ~:( Just seems a bit silly to have to leave every chest out there locked (the initial henchie helped a bit at the camp, but he can't open several of those...)

Yeah, I understand the rationale for it (get a Rogue in your party!), but it's still frustrating. Even when you *do* have a Rogue in the party, you have to manually take control and have the Rogue open the crate. I remember another game (NWN? NWN2?) where if you tried to open something as a non-Rogue party leader, the Rogue would just push you aside and say "here, let me do that." Maybe it has something to do with encountering trapped chests later in the game? That auto-open design did get my Rogue zapped a few times in that earlier game.

Oh, and here's a possible bug. Or it could just be the way it's designed. Two of my current party members are turning on sustained spells during combat (bard song and threaten) and then not turning them off after combat is over. They'll walk around with the glowing effect, and the stamina bars partially depleted to run them, until I manually take control and turn off the effect. I suppose that might be useful in a situation like a dungeon crawl where you're moving quickly from one battle to the next. Maybe there's a tactical advantage in having something like Threaten running during the initial enemy aggro? I dunno. But it's annoying when we're just walking around and talking to NPC's between battles.

[Monk]

There are opportunities to use diplomacy, in the form of threats or persuasion. I haven't paid much attention to how this works in terms of your stats (dialogs are always based around your main character as the leader), and it probably also depends on where you stand with all the various conflicts between factions. Anyway, I've been able to use diplomacy in dialog choices to avoid a fight, or achieve a goal through persuasion that could only be done that way.

You'll need the Coercion skill which opens up the possibility of using Persuasion and Intimidation.

Persuasion is where you use your willy good looks and a Cunning check to smooth talk someone, while Intimidation is where you cross your arms, stare angrily and pass a Strength check to force someone to do what you want. Both can have the same outcome but with radically different effects. So if you've got a warrior as your party lead you'll probably be doing a lot of intimidating.


Yeah, I understand the rationale for it (get a Rogue in your party!), but it's still frustrating. Even when you *do* have a Rogue in the party, you have to manually take control and have the Rogue open the crate. I remember another game (NWN? NWN2?) where if you tried to open something as a non-Rogue party leader, the Rogue would just push you aside and say "here, let me do that." Maybe it has something to do with encountering trapped chests later in the game? That auto-open design did get my Rogue zapped a few times in that earlier game.

Yes, KOTOR had a similiar set up. If you ran into a locked door you had to manually switch to your security expert to slice through. I actually really loved how in Mass Effect you didn't have to switch, if you had the lock-picker in party you could just walk up and do it automatically. It's been a small annoyance.

Progress: 14 hours in game and I still am not even close to halfway done. I finally got my DLC to work and am enjoying that as I speak. I have to be honest, i was expecting the "60 hours of gameplay!" tag-line to be a bit of a joke. After playing this for 3 days I can safely say we're gonna need a bigger boat.

Discovered a possible bug with the Sten companion quest.

Smooth talk Sten and get him to trust in your leadership and he'll tell you about a lost sword. Problem is, I found the guy who took it from his camp but when he tells me where he sold it, the quest refuses to update. Very annoying. Maybe I need Sten in my party when i confront him?

[FactionHeir]

Found a bug with the Kennel quest

If you tell the Kennel Master you want no reward, you don't even get a single point of XP.



I'm just about to enter the the tower of Ishal. Combat so far has been fairly easy and even though I was not prepared to the Shade in the Wilds, it went down pretty quick without anyone dying. And everyone except my main had 2 injuries at that point :grin:
The fights outside the tower have been a bit tougher as you have a weaker party, so I actually had to use a lesser healing poultice there. Annoying that my team keeps dying and I have to pick up the pieces *grumble*


Regarding people not turning off their passives, its to do with their tactics. Its usually set to make them enter a mode when something happens, but if you got space for another tactic, definitely have one at the very bottom reading if everything is clear, turn everything off or so. Not sure if that exists though.

[Monk]

18 hours in. Already surpassing every expectation i had (but.. seeing as I had very few going in, I guess that explains why I am so happy with the end result!). I'm thankful I have few plans this weekend so I can continue to hack at this game.


It's the conversations which are really getting me. Gone are the animated, dynamic conversations which made Mass Effect special. We're back to Bethesda style barely animated barbie doll heads paired with selectable lines of cringeworthy dialogue. I'm afraid I am skipping dialogue in all but the more important conversations; I read entire chunks of dialogue in the time it takes the mediocre actors to get three words out and there's no reason for me to sit and watch instead.

Really? I haven't felt that at all. Character models aren't as animated as Mass Effect but I wouldn't go so far as to deem them as bad as FO3's, where everyone uses the same two or three 'conversation animations' and it's hard to feel bad when you blow their head off. I've kept subtitles off for the most part since I know what it does to me, it makes me very impatient.

Edit: Retracted. They are stiff, I simply didn't notice until it was pointed out to me. Guess it doesn't bother me too much? :shrug:

@froggy's spoiler

Agree with you on Sloth, however. He reminded me of something from another game... but i can't put my finger on what.

@FactionHeir's second spoiler.

The Tower is a tough battle, and it's very drawn out. You're in for a few surprises along the way and I wouldn't dare spoil it for you. Just make sure your party is pretty tough and you stock up on potions from the merchants there. Trust me, you'll need them!

[Vladimir]

Ahh excellent, thank you. One of the big selling points for me is the claim that in-character actions have a substantial affect on the game world.

Too bad there's no MP. Sounds like you guys could use a "troubleshooter." :sneaky:

[seireikhaan]

Well, I'm about 14 hours in, and things have opened up a bit.


I'm finally turning my character around from the default "goody goody" character to a nastier piece of work. Was absolutely psyched to get blood magic specialty, even though its big payoff spells are a ways down the line.

[Monk]

Sten companion quest is bugged, but you can see it to completion regardless without the quest updating.

Simply follow the scavenger's instructions and head to Redcliff. Dwynn's house is on the waterfront, the sword is in a chest.

This game is very addicting, 21.5 hours in and I can safely say that nothing is ever simple in Dragon Age. There's always something in the way and by the time it's over I'm usually in no mood for mercy. I'm not evil, just tired! :whip:

Unfortunately the length of this game might have an unintended side-effect. I am wondering if I'll have the drive to play by the end, will I stand up once the ride is over and say "Again!" or cringe at the idea of spending so much time in the game again? I don't know. That was one thing I loved about Mass Effect. It was an amazing ride, great story and done in around 15 hours (or as few as six, depending on how fast you could go and how many side-quests you did). It was easy to jump back in.

Here I've done next to no side-quests, trying to see as much of the main story as I can as fast as I can. Companion quests, plot quests and DLC are all that get my attention.. and i've still got a lot left to go. Here's hoping i'm not a skeleton by the time I finish. :skull:

Orzammar spoilers.
Just completed Orzammar, which I think has been the longest of the two (and a half - one is very annoying and takes a lot of location hopping) plot quests i've done so far. Very interesting to play the game of Dwarven politics and I have to say I jumped at the chance to fight in The Proving.

The end of the quest line really surprised me. I don't wanna say too much, even in spoiler tags, but wow. The game is really giving me a lot of power in shaping the world around me, I have a feeling the fate of Orzammar can be very different depending on not only who you support as King, but what you do in the final battle. Great stuff.

[Beskar]

I felt like crying. :cry:

He killed my father and my mother.

[FactionHeir]

Beskar

I think that happens for every origin story. I was a bit taken aback during the Human Noble one as well

[Beskar]

It was akin to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAhrqKqK_cA

[al Roumi]

You'll need the Coercion skill which opens up the possibility of using Persuasion and Intimidation.

Persuasion is where you use your willy good looks and a Cunning check to smooth talk someone, while Intimidation is where you cross your arms, stare angrily and pass a Strength check to force someone to do what you want. Both can have the same outcome but with radically different effects. So if you've got a warrior as your party lead you'll probably be doing a lot of intimidating.


I am so glad they dumped Charisma as a stat. I have never, ever, majored investment in it in any rpg, through Baldur's gate to Fallout 3. In fact, i've always crippled the sociability of my characters in favour of their combat lethality.

I really liked the fact that in Fallout3 you had alternative conversation options based on other stats, skills or perks (how much time does Robotics expert save you in FO3!).

Maybe I've missed out on certain sides of games by not investing in charisma but I don't know if I would ever find it as satisfying to talk my way out of everything in a game -even if the rewards were equivalent...

Anyway, thanks for the updates guys, its great to find out about the game whilst waiting for my boxed copy to arrive from Amazon...

[Samurai Waki]

Beskar

I think that happens for every origin story. I was a bit taken aback during the Human Noble one as well


mmm... not entirely true...

[Beskar]

I have to bring this up as this is the first thing I thought when I saw it.
Is Arl Eamon related to Arch Daemon in any way?

[FactionHeir]

What do you mean by that?

Arl is a noble title and Eamon is one of the noble house's last names.

[Beskar]

Think about it. They rhyme.

Anyway, is there a way to see an overview of approval?

[Krusader]

Think about it. They rhyme.

Anyway, is there a way to see an overview of approval?

In the character screen. Should be below the character model.

[frogbeastegg]

10 hours in now; I ended up playing until 1am, then spending most of this morning playing too. It's gotten a lot better. I love the party banter and the characters I've acquired so far are brilliant, by far Bioware's best. The Alistare/Morrigan/dog combo is hilarious and by preference I'd have rolled with it to the end of the game if not for the need for a rogue. The plot's gotten more interesting, the world has opened up, and the game just feels like it has found its feet and its stride.

Reading the lore adds some flesh to the bones of the world. Leliana has some good historical stories once you get her to join.

However ... well, flies are in the soup and they're exasperating because they're so small and easily fixed, or because they're large and should never have been present. It's the large flaw which has prompted me to stop playing and hit the internet in the hopes of finding a way to mitigate it.

Character/party influence is proving to be a random feeling illogical headache. For each handful of points with a character I gain I seem to lose a larger amount with that same character plus a smattering with one or more others. That’s fine; I don’t mind it being hard to keep characters happy, and not being able to make everyone like me. The problem is that a around a third of those loses come from reasons which don’t quite make sense. I've seen (safely disguised from spoilers) "You agreed with me? I hate you!" "You disagreed with me? I hate you!" "You took my advice? I hate you!" "You asked me if I'm ok? I hate you!" "You tried to talk to me? I hate you!" "You did something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You didn't do something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You supported me in an argument? I hate you!" The dog's the only one who likes me, the rest are sulking around neutral and losing influence like a sieve loses water.

This is made worse by the conversations. Some of those lines of dialogue don't give the effect you'd expect from reading them and on multiple occasions things have gone a way I didn't want because I picked a line which meant something other than it appeared to.
"Would you like a drink?"
1. Yes please, I'm very thirsty. (Turns out to mean: Give me sixty bottles of your strongest because I'm going blotto and don't care if my entire party is disgusted by it :hiccough:!)
2. No, thank you. (Turns out to mean: I think everyone who touches alcohol is weak and feeble-minded and I don't care if I'm insulting the entire pub by saying it.)
The response I wanted would be closer to: “Give me a glass of whiskey and that’s all, thanks.”

:sigh: Both of these things are headaches because of the way they are presented. If the dialogue lines were vague like Mass Effects I wouldn't be so bothered by the unexpected results, and to be honest I never found ME's limited lead-ins to be misleading anyway. I have no problems at all with losing influence and being unable to keep every character happy, or with it being very hard to get people to like my character, just make it somewhat logical so I have a feel for what I'm doing.

Headache the third, aka the large flaw, is the combat AI. My party AI coped very well in the early fights. Now I have gone to ... let's say a village and a castle, and the system has shattered. I'm a mage. Low HP, low damage resistance, spells which get interrupted if I'm hit, no melee capability. So I need tanks to hold up the hordes and protect me. I've got 2 melee characters and one who can swap between ranged and melee. Used to work great; they kept the goons away from me while I cast. Doesn't work any more, for some reason it's completely stopped working. Enemies run right past my party and start beating me to death every single battle, and it's not one or two strays that get through, it's the majority of the enemy party. My companions ignore the situation and go after the couple of goons who aren't killing me.

Headache the third part 2 is the fact that once an enemy enters into an attack animation you're going to get hit no matter what, even if you've run away and are now on the other side of the screen. That means I can't even try to escape. The nemies move as quickly as my character does so hit and run is a no hope proposition.

Headache the third part 3 is that for some inexplicable reason there's no way to set the AI tactics to do anything useful if you're under attack. You can set it up as far as: "if [character] is under [attack type] then [?]" at which point it breaks down. There's no option for [attack that enemy], [heal [character]], [use distracting skill], or anything else which would draw the heat off or top up my health. Instead I've got options which make my party use special abilities on anyone and everyone who is not me. Or if then is a way to get them do help then the wording of the options is very misleading. "If [character] is under [attack type] then [use a health kit on yourself and wail in surprise as [character] dies in a spray of blood once again]"

So I'm currently casting one or two spells before running about being hit by melee attacks animating on the far side of the screen, frantically topping my health up and waiting for my party of idiots to snooze their way around to killing everything. It's boring. It's tedious. It's profoundly stupid. And I'm dying repeatedly for no good reason. It's so bad I'm gradually respeccing my mage into a close combat mage; I've got light armour now and aim to get a sword so I can at least hit back without being two-shotted.

I stopped playing in the hopes of finding AI settings on the internet which will get my party doing its job again. I can’t keep going like this; without the artillery and healing power of my spells each battle is tougher and tougher to scrape through and soon will come a point where it won't be possible. I barely managed to beat the first proper boss on my third attempt; I know I won't get past the second without my party pulling their weight.

And … um … well … the skills are boring. Each time I level up I struggle to find something that looks worth buying. The kind of effects I want I can’t buy (e.g. faster recharge time on my staple spells, or a healing spell which heals more than a tiny amount) or are limited to a single class (open locks!!!) or don’t seem to exist as discrete skills (locate and disarm traps)


Even when you *do* have a Rogue in the party, you have to manually take control and have the Rogue open the crate. I remember another game (NWN? NWN2?) where if you tried to open something as a non-Rogue party leader, the Rogue would just push you aside and say "here, let me do that."
This is annoying me as well. Especially as it's often paired with two lines of dialogue, the first being "I can do that!" when I select the locked item, followed by "I can't do that!" when Leliana gives it a go. Salt and wound.

I don't understand traps either. There doesn't appear to be any way to get her to detect them, and then there was no way to disarm or even locate visually the single trap she did pick up on her own. "There's a trap ahead!" - great, where is it and what am I supposed to do about it? The only answer I found was to blunder about until I stepped on it, same as all the ones no one detected.



Has anyone else noticed that the prompt to leave for the world map is a nod to Baldur's Gate's famous "You must gather your party before venturing forth."?

[Vladimir]

Has anyone else noticed that the prompt to leave for the world map is a nod to Baldur's Gate's famous "You must gather your party before venturing forth."?

Oh God, please no. Painful memories.

[FactionHeir]

Re traps, they might be like those Chasind trail signs where they are pretty much invisible outside of being marked on your map and unless you have your mouse in the right spot (and a very tiny spot too) it won't change your cursor. I noticed that starting with the books in the origin story and how they were difficult to pick up because of that. They really need to bring back the item outline thats all clickable and lit up.

[frogbeastegg]

Re traps, they might be like those Chasind trail signs where they are pretty much invisible outside of being marked on your map and unless you have your mouse in the right spot (and a very tiny spot too) it won't change your cursor. I noticed that starting with the books in the origin story and how they were difficult to pick up because of that. They really need to bring back the item outline thats all clickable and lit up.
Good idea. Unfortunately I can confirm it doesn't work like that. On the console version items you can interact with have small gold sparkles coming out of them and they get highlighted with white text labels if you're standing near them and looking in their direction.

I miss the days of manuals which went into exhaustive detail about everything. The Infinity Engine games came with such massive books ...

[Monk]

Last night I was close (or i thought) to finishing my third plot quest, I looked at the clock and it was 1 am. I told myself I'd finish this quest and go to bed, when i looked at the clock again it was 5 am. Nothing is ever simple. :skull:

Spoilers on Dragons. Tactics and their difficulty.
These are the hardest boss fights i've seen. Much more tough than anything else the game has thrown me.

Dragons are rare but Bioware wasn't kidding when they said they are the toughest fights in the game. My advice is to use nearly all ranged attacks and keep only your tank in melee. Have plenty of healing potions which only the tank is allowed to use and keep him healed up and topped off. If he dips below 50% you're risking a lot since the dragon has a grab move that can stop him from taking potions.

If you stick to ranged damage, no one in the party will take a single point of damage except the tank. :yes:

Found some quirky and buggy behavior in AI path finding, allied especially, in very narrow corridors. Your party has a tendency to get stuck or stop following you for a few seconds too long before they realize they should be behind you. It hasn't cost me death yet, but it's been enough to get me to sigh.

Moving forward with the influence system and I've got pretty much everyone liking me except Zevron.. who I hate, but will likely need if I want to finish a certain quest. It took a while to really get the hang of what characters expect from you and it can get rather confusing unless you know exactly what each of them expect. Morrigan, for instance, I had pegged for an evil character. When in truth she normally just hates it when you do things she sees as wasting time, or missing a chance at a powerful object. Allistar and Leliana are much easily predictable in their responses.

[Beskar]

Remember to press tab (if on PC version)

[Beskar]

Found a big bug in the PC version for me at least, I will put it in spoilers and if anyone who has done the Circle related stuff, did you get the same bug:
The Golem form won't break down the doors, it just does a hurl animation which does absolutely nothing.

Edit: Fixed it by restarting the client. Weird.

[FactionHeir]

Only got to first world map locale after world map unlock.


I was wondering if there's any benefit to giving the little boy a silver and helping the sister vs the merchant?
Boy just disappears and thanks you. With the sister, if you help her, you get -3 influence with morrigan. If you help the merchant, you get -3 with alistair, +2 with morrigan and 1 gold. Merchant price and selection is the same as far as I can tell.


Just seems to me that there should be some reward for choosing a good path rather than reward only those who are evil and rob all.

Also, I was wondering if there's any use for standard gems? They are starting to really fill up my inventory and I don't know if they can be used for anything.

Btw, your dog can be quite useful

I let mine run loose over 20 times outside Flameth's hut and he brought all kinds of gift type items of some worth. Including soiled golden pantalons....BG reference to the tavern anyone? :grin: Note that once in a while he will return with nothing but just keep letting him run loose and you get more. Seems a bit of a cheap way to get lots of items and thus gold? Any limitation at some point? Do particular areas give different finds at all?


Speaking of gifts, when can you use them at all? Can't seem to gift them or at least I haven't figured out how. And how do you gift a soiled and chewed on cake for instance? :grin2:

[frogbeastegg]

Several hours later and I've got some answers. This game needed a better manual.

Traps: You can spot and disarm traps, and it's dependant on the trap making skill. Levels 2 and 4 of the skill to be specific. Level 2 gives you the ability to spot and remove basic traps and level 4 more complex ones. When the trap is spotted it should appear as visible like any other item on the map. That makes me suspect that I was the unwitting victim of some misleading incidental dialogue earlier, and that Leliana engaged in general "I think we're walking into a trap." rather than one placed on the map.

Combat AI: I have a whole list of settings to try out. Seems like you have to be very specific in setting up tactics for each character; give them a narrow role on each overall tactics set and then create multiple tactics sets to swap between at the drop of a hat. Expecting them to multitask doesn't work. For example, have Alistair set up to heal himself at 50% as the top priority, then threaten, then taunt, then one of his defensive skills. That will keep him attracting enemies and staying alive and doing nothing else aside from the occasional swipe with his sword. If you need him to do something different, such as take down some mages with his anti-magic abilities, then you'll have to hop in the menu and change to the right set of tactics. Still no way to get AI members to come to your aid via scripts though.

There's also a control setting on the console version which makes it possible to set up and execute multicharacter commands. Helpfully it is off by default! Only one order per character per 'pause', but it should make a lot of difference.

Skills: The in-game descriptions are dull and lacking in the information you need in order to decide that something is going to be pretty darned good. Having read some player sourced descriptions I've now got a bundle of ones I want to acquire.

Conversations and influence ... I suspect I might be witnessing a bug. As far as I've been able to tell (I've been sifting for information while avoiding plot and character spoilers) my judgement of each character's personality is spot on, and what I expect to be the result should be the result. Thinking about it, most of my point gains have come when there's been voiced dialogue. The loss of points is nearly always when there's no acted response from the character and the result is given in text on the bottom of the screen, [Character] disapproves -X or [Character] approves +X. So while I gain influence with a certain character by [insert action here] when the response is voiced, I lose influence with that same character by making a very similar decision when it's not voiced. I also realised that it's only something I was seeing today after I'd downloaded my free DLC, so I'm going to try clearing the console's cache and see if that helps.




Morrigan, for instance, I had pegged for an evil character. When in truth she normally just hates it when you do things she sees as wasting time, or missing a chance at a powerful object.
She's pretty much a less childish version of Nynaeve from the Wheel of Time so I had that figured out before she joined my party. It's part of why I like her. Looking forward to playing as a male rogue so I can have her and Alistair in my party for the entire game. Ah, the bickering!


Also, I was wondering if there's any use for standard gems? They are starting to really fill up my inventory and I don't know if they can be used for anything.
According to my reading they're there to be sold.

To use a gift you tab through your characters on the inventory screen until the one you want to give it to is selected and then click the left stick button. Not sure what the PC equivalent is I'm afraid; the only hint I can give it that it's a button that probably isn't tied to any other function.

[Beskar]

You won't believe what happened, I was just casually talking to Morrigan in the camp, then something completely unexpected happened.

If you want that spoiler, you have to PM me.

[FactionHeir]

Something funny with gifts. It seems I can gift anyone anything and the first gift always gives +5 and the next one 1 less until every gift gives only +1? Morrigan was very happy to get the chewed cake :laugh4:

Something else that's been a bit of a nuisance: All your companions seem to start at a decent level but 0 xp. So when I just got the rogue addition, she had 0/5000. Seems like it will take a long while to level her up.

[frogbeastegg]

Characters have different preferences for gifts. It ties in to their personality. I know that (minor spoilers about Morrigan's and Alistair's preferences)
Morrigan likes jewelry and Al likes those small statues you find.

[Zenicetus]

Character/party influence is proving to be a random feeling illogical headache. For each handful of points with a character I gain I seem to lose a larger amount with that same character plus a smattering with one or more others. That’s fine; I don’t mind it being hard to keep characters happy, and not being able to make everyone like me. The problem is that a around a third of those loses come from reasons which don’t quite make sense. I've seen (safely disguised from spoilers) "You agreed with me? I hate you!" "You disagreed with me? I hate you!" "You took my advice? I hate you!" "You asked me if I'm ok? I hate you!" "You tried to talk to me? I hate you!" "You did something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You didn't do something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You supported me in an argument? I hate you!" The dog's the only one who likes me, the rest are sulking around neutral and losing influence like a sieve loses water.

I'm having a little trouble with that too. Just talking to a party member and making choices based on what you think they want to hear, based on what you know of their personality, does seem to consistently result in approval. And yes (just saw your second post below), the downgrades are mainly through plot choices. Although I've blown a few conversations with the wrong choices.

What I don't like, is that I'll get downgraded (sometimes by as much as 10 points) for choosing an optional side quest that's a fairly major one, just because it's on the wrong side of a party member's preference. It seems to be roughly on an axis of "nice person helping out" vs. "ruthless, get on with it" axis. Not exactly good or evil. Reminds me a little of Mass Effect's "moral" choices, actually. But dammit, I want that quest because we need the XP (and the loot). I don't mind declining a very minor side quest to keep a party member happy, but it doesn't feel right to do it on a major one. At least offer me another quest with the same XP and loot potential, on the other side of acceptability for the majority of the party members. Maybe that does happen later, but I don't want to lose a party member in the meantime.


Headache the third, aka the large flaw, is the combat AI. My party AI coped very well in the early fights. Now I have gone to ... let's say a village and a castle, and the system has shattered. I'm a mage. Low HP, low damage resistance, spells which get interrupted if I'm hit, no melee capability. So I need tanks to hold up the hordes and protect me. I've got 2 melee characters and one who can swap between ranged and melee. Used to work great; they kept the goons away from me while I cast. Doesn't work any more, for some reason it's completely stopped working. Enemies run right past my party and start beating me to death every single battle, and it's not one or two strays that get through, it's the majority of the enemy party. My companions ignore the situation and go after the couple of goons who aren't killing me.


Headache the third part 3 is that for some inexplicable reason there's no way to set the AI tactics to do anything useful if you're under attack.


It's so bad I'm gradually respeccing my mage into a close combat mage; I've got light armour now and aim to get a sword so I can at least hit back without being two-shotted.

Don't give up the pure mage approach yet. I see in the later post you found some help. Here are a few more ideas that might be useful. I'm playing as a Mage with one other Mage in the party, a Warrior tank, and a Rogue. So, basically only two melee fighters to hold everyone off. I'm not afraid to admit that I've temporarily set the difficulty to Easy to get past one or two rough spots, and because I'm more interested in the plot and the RPG dynamics than the combat. But mostly I'm playing on Normal. Anyway, some tips:


Having one extra mage in the party is a big help, if you're going the pure mage route. That means twice the magic-based damage, with only half the attracted aggro. I can briefly take over the other mage and direct ranged attacks on enemy archers or spellcasters, while I focus more on the closer enemies, and the two melee types take on the rest. If this game is like D&D where mages start out very weak and become uber-powerful later, I can always ditch the other mage (although it's an interesting character and potential love interest).
You can burn one sustained spell while firing off others. I use Rock Armor or that other generic defense one (can't remember the name) if enemy fighters are near, and Spell Shield for enemy mages. It helps a little, and seems to be a better use of the mana burn than using a sustained spell that helps the rest of the party.
There isn't the scripting I'd hope for, to protect squishy characters with stronger ones. Since there isn't, when my mage gets into melee trouble I'll often just take over my main tank and direct him to help out, then do the same with the Rogue. It at least pulls them back to where my mage is standing in the room.
I use Winter's Grasp a lot, for delaying enemies near me.
When it's mostly melee enemies and I'm not dealing with archers or casters, I'll sometimes use the Hold Position command to lock the other party members in one place. That lets me use them as a shield of sorts. The bad guys have to go through the party to reach me. Only drawback is I have to be careful with friendly fire effects with my spells.



And … um … well … the skills are boring. Each time I level up I struggle to find something that looks worth buying. The kind of effects I want I can’t buy (e.g. faster recharge time on my staple spells, or a healing spell which heals more than a tiny amount) or are limited to a single class (open locks!!!) or don’t seem to exist as discrete skills (locate and disarm traps)

I agree to an extent, although it's hard to ditch D&D preconceptions about what "should" be there. I had the same issues with The Witcher game, before I got used to the system and just decided to roll with it.

[Monk]

You can find out which character likes what sort of gifts by reading their Codex entries.

Sten, for instance.
Loves paintings and all kinds of art.

Blew through the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep DLC, must say that WK was much shorter than I expected but was very interesting nonetheless. Worth the price tag? Hard to say.

Shale, on the other hand, is an absolute treat. The rumors of his likeness to HK-47 were spot on, and while he won't call anyone a "meatbag" he is certainly a welcome addition to my party. He's a very versatile party member and one of the more durable damage dealers.

My suggestion is to get him early in the game, if you wait too long you miss out on something good and it's only hinted at later. :book:

[Krusader]

Character/party influence is proving to be a random feeling illogical headache. For each handful of points with a character I gain I seem to lose a larger amount with that same character plus a smattering with one or more others. That’s fine; I don’t mind it being hard to keep characters happy, and not being able to make everyone like me. The problem is that a around a third of those loses come from reasons which don’t quite make sense. I've seen (safely disguised from spoilers) "You agreed with me? I hate you!" "You disagreed with me? I hate you!" "You took my advice? I hate you!" "You asked me if I'm ok? I hate you!" "You tried to talk to me? I hate you!" "You did something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You didn't do something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You supported me in an argument? I hate you!" The dog's the only one who likes me, the rest are sulking around neutral and losing influence like a sieve loses water.

This is made worse by the conversations. Some of those lines of dialogue don't give the effect you'd expect from reading them and on multiple occasions things have gone a way I didn't want because I picked a line which meant something other than it appeared to.
"Would you like a drink?"
1. Yes please, I'm very thirsty. (Turns out to mean: Give me sixty bottles of your strongest because I'm going blotto and don't care if my entire party is disgusted by it :hiccough:!)
2. No, thank you. (Turns out to mean: I think everyone who touches alcohol is weak and feeble-minded and I don't care if I'm insulting the entire pub by saying it.)
The response I wanted would be closer to: “Give me a glass of whiskey and that’s all, thanks.”

Yeah, compared to previous RPGs you can end up with some eyebrow-raising approval increases or decreases and yes some conversations either have what I'd call "superflous" choices (although could be some hidden mechanics like approval for certain party members) or unintended outcome. And its also a bit harder at first to realize what party members like or dislike, but was also refreshing as it made you more focused.


And … um … well … the skills are boring. Each time I level up I struggle to find something that looks worth buying. The kind of effects I want I can’t buy (e.g. faster recharge time on my staple spells, or a healing spell which heals more than a tiny amount) or are limited to a single class (open locks!!!) or don’t seem to exist as discrete skills (locate and disarm traps)


Yeah noticed this too. Sword+Shield seems to have one or two sustained abilities that could have been merged into another. Magic so far doesn't have anything spectacular, but at least there is some small variety.


You can find out which character likes what sort of gifts by reading their Codex entries.

Blew through the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep DLC, must say that WK was much shorter than I expected but was very interesting nonetheless. Worth the price tag? Hard to say.

Shale, on the other hand, is an absolute treat. The rumors of his likeness to HK-47 were spot on, and while he won't call anyone a "meatbag" he is certainly a welcome addition to my party. He's a very versatile party member and one of the more durable damage dealers.

My suggestion is to get him early in the game, if you wait too long you miss out on something good and it's only hinted at later. :book:

Just did Warden's Keep and its definetly NOT worth 15 $. Its 7 $ which is acceptable IMO.
And will do Stone Prisoner next. I will keep Morrigan & Leliana (dps/healer & rogue) and opted for Sten since I want to see how the quasari are, although might swap that sourpuss out for Shale. Although Alistair was a nice character so will keep him around when I play a mage later.

On a sidenote:
I got DDE of Steam and that gave me 3 rings, 1 helmet, 1 staff, 2 tomes and all DLCs available atm. The helmet, staff and blood dragon armour is stuff you need to be high up in the game to reach.

Bergan's Honour for example requires 42 Strength.
Blood Plate Armour requires 38 Strength.
Staff of something is 30 Magic.

For my human warrior I'll be lucky to reach 42 STR, since I'm also spending points on Constitution (need extra HP as my char is the tank), Cunning (for Persuasion checks, although might stop now as it seems 16 is the magic number for Coercion & Combat Tactic slots) and Dexterity (which many combat abilities need, like Shield Mastery).


Also, I was under the impression if you bought Combat Tactic Slots with your main character it unlocked one for all others...boy was I annoyed when I discovered it meant for my specific character only. Which just echoes frogbeastegg's mention that this game really could need a better manual.

A handy tip for people starting it up: Read the Codex entries...they are helpful and in Kocari Wilds you have to read them to solve two quests.

[Monk]

Just did Warden's Keep and its definetly NOT worth 15 $. Maybe 5-10 $, but not 15 $ for a quest-area that is shorter than most plot quests.
And will do Stone Prisoner next. I will keep Morrigan & Leliana (dps/healer & rogue) and opted for Sten since I want to see how the quasari are, although might swap that sourpuss out for Shale. Although Alistair was a nice character so will keep him around when I play a mage later.

YIKES! That was worth $15? I got the DDE off of Impulse with a coupon, so I really didn't pay much over the original edition's price for all my bonus content. I agree, there's no way WK is worth that sort of money. At the very most it should be priced at $5. :wall:

I've found Sten is a bit of a "glass cannon" he can hit pretty hard, especially after you do his companion quest, but he and the other damage focused warriors are surprisingly squishy. After i got Shale I swapped Sten for him and haven't looked back. A follower made out of stone is durable as it sounds. :yes:

[Krusader]

YIKES! That was worth $15? I got the DDE off of Impulse with a coupon, so I really didn't pay much over the original edition's price for all my bonus content. I agree, there's no way WK is worth that sort of money. At the very most it should be priced at $5. :wall:

I've found Sten is a bit of a "glass cannon" he can hit pretty hard, especially after you do his companion quest, but he and the other damage focused warriors are surprisingly squishy. After i got Shale I swapped Sten for him and haven't looked back. A follower made out of stone is durable as it sounds. :yes:

I bought the DDE of Steam so I got Warden's Keep ~:) But my bad, its actually 7 $. :oops: Stone Prisoner is 15 $. I'll edit my post and rectify that.


Sten. I have exhausted my dialogue options with him and he's still grumpy. Don't know how to increase approval with him. And haven't gotten any companion quests yet.

[Monk]

Ah, i was about to say that's just plain robbery! :laugh4:





Sten. I have exhausted my dialogue options with him and he's still grumpy. Don't know how to increase approval with him. And haven't gotten any companion quests yet.



Sten companion tips.
Keep Sten in your party during main plot quests. He favors justice, harsh or not, and abhors you wasting time on anything but fighting the Darkspawn. Even if what you're doing is a means to that end, he'll still get twitchy because you're not on the front-lines. If you have a decent cunning skill, you can sometimes persuade him into seeing things your way.

As i said in a previous post, he likes gifts that are art. If you find a painting odds are it was meant for him.

Even so. Sten will remain grumpy until you complete his companion quest.

27 hours into this game. I need a vacaion. :skull:

[FactionHeir]

Just finished the village, made extensive use of Lelianna's rogue skills :grin:

Regarding gifts, thanks for the pointers, I noticed those give like +9 rather than +5, so quite notable.
Companions convos are fine for the most part. I find Morrigan's the most difficult, but they change the most too (usually +-6 or 7), while others go for around 1-4 each time.

Just entered camp for the first time too. So far I haven't died in the origin story and ostagar. Died twice in this section but reloaded each time since I think main dying should be game over.

[Monk]

Figured out the problem of sustained "auras" in conversations. As FactionHeir pointed out is a tactics problem that can be easily remedied. Go to your tactics menu and set: Condition: Self-> Surrounded by no enemies. Then set the action to: Self-> Deactivate mode: (aura) and then save your preset. This will solve the problem of being sparkly in conversations but will take up a tactics slot.

Its hard to believe a game I enjoy this much can be so backwards in its design.

[frogbeastegg]

Weirdness. I played several more hours last night and my party AI and influence was working in a sane manner again. In fact I redid one conversation where I got negative influence, picked exactly the same choices, and this time got positive influence! With a smattering of gifts and some functional conversation I have Alistair deeply fond of me, and Morrigan and Leliana to slightly friendly. They didn't have much dialogue for me to work through, and Sten had none so he still hates me.

Leliana is spotting traps all over the place and they appear visually on the game world, and by walking near them I am given the option to disarm them.

Maybe dragon age is a night game? Play it in the morning and it's half asleep? :tongueg: Regardless of the reason I enjoyed my time immensely.

I haven't done the Shale DLC yet; the achievements are broken on it and I don't want to bork my profile. The wardens keep DLC costs 560 points and I admit I am tempted, if only for the item storage. My inventory fills up with runes and ingredients so quickly. Again, the achievements are broken so I can't play it without needing to recover my profile later.

Setting and plot wise I'm still not seeing the dark fantasy, and definitely not seeing any trace of the song of ice and fire inspiration that the developers were talking about. It's basically a standard fantasy novel, which means it's less twee than your usual fantasy game and isn't in technicolour graphics and that's about it. It's very Tad Williams with added blood so far.

[Beskar]

I own the DLC, but the problem is, can't even download it to play it.

It is quite annoying.

Even worse, I heard you cannot even play games with the DLC content, offline.

I think I found the "male love interest" for my male character. Morrigan is getting really upset with me, because I have a high approval rating with him.I decided since I saved just before, to get the achievement... oh my... my eyes.. they are tainted.

[FactionHeir]

Weirdness. I played several more hours last night and my party AI and influence was working in a sane manner again. In fact I redid one conversation where I got negative influence, picked exactly the same choices, and this time got positive influence! With a smattering of gifts and some functional conversation I have Alistair deeply fond of me, and Morrigan and Leliana to slightly friendly. They didn't have much dialogue for me to work through, and Sten had none so he still hates me.

I thought that was only on my end. Did some convos to just look at what the henchie would reply with for giggles and then went back to pick a mod-high path that would fit with the RP. Thing is, sometimes a path seems to give you a boost once, but after a load, that path never gives anything, which is weird. I.e. the convo with Lelianna about the people in the convent and picking a certain option the first time got me +4 but each time thereafter 0.

Re Achieves, are they broken just for the xbox or also the PC?



Even worse, I heard you cannot even play games with the DLC content, offline.

That's true. My connection went down for a while yesterday and when I went to resume my game it told me that due to the DLC I can only play it logged into an account that has them.

[Xiahou]

That's true. My connection went down for a while yesterday and when I went to resume my game it told me that due to the DLC I can only play it logged into an account that has them.Is this the PC version? I haven't logged in since I downloaded the DLC and I've had no problems using it.

[FactionHeir]

Yeah, PC version

[Krusader]

There was a patch for Dragon Age yesterday...maybe that fixed some stuff?

[Monk]

33.5 hours in. Thinking of taking my foot off the gas today and getting some real work done. This game can be very hard to put down at times.




Setting and plot wise I'm still not seeing the dark fantasy, and definitely not seeing any trace of the song of ice and fire inspiration that the developers were talking about. It's basically a standard fantasy novel, which means it's less twee than your usual fantasy game and isn't in technicolour graphics and that's about it. It's very Tad Williams with added blood so far.

I'm starting to wonder if Bioware has the "Big book of fantasy cliches" tucked away in their writers' office. The story isn't bad per say, it's just nothing special or revolutionary. Fun? Oh absolutely! Highly original? I really don't think so.



Is this the PC version? I haven't logged in since I downloaded the DLC and I've had no problems using it.

Yeah same here, I haven't had any trouble logged in or out in playing.

[Beskar]

Something is bugging me and there are no answers anywhere.

Do the allied supply crates do anything?

Edit: yes, I realised they are for donating, but does that result in anything tangible or affect anything in the game, other than make you poor?

[Krusader]

Just did Stone Prisoner...don't really know if it's worth 15 $. Then again, its there to torment the second-hand buyers most likely.
Entered Orzammar, but think I should head off to Denerim next. Seems to be lots of quests to do there.

And after playing some more, Sten actually likes me more than Leilana even though I've spent more time trying to get her approval ~:)

[Vladimir]

Arg! These camera controls! :angry: Death by 1,000 paper cuts.

[frogbeastegg]

Did anyone else notice that the sound effect for changing heavy armour is the same one used for moving plate armour about in your inventory in Baldur's Gate? I got some new gear for Alistair and Sten today and had to equip/remove the chest portion a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

I do like Alistair. :yes:


I thought that was only on my end. Did some convos to just look at what the henchie would reply with for giggles and then went back to pick a mod-high path that would fit with the RP. Thing is, sometimes a path seems to give you a boost once, but after a load, that path never gives anything, which is weird. I.e. the convo with Lelianna about the people in the convent and picking a certain option the first time got me +4 but each time thereafter 0.
No, I haven't seen a lack of points. I saw it hand out negative points for a conversation I did before quitting without saving yesterday, and then hand out positive points this morning when I chose exactly the same lines. To use your example, yesterday Lelianna would have given me -4 for the choice whereas today (and logically) she'd have given me +4.

Getting logical results based on what I'd chosen is a massive difference to my party and to my enjoyment of the game. Yesterday my party hated me, today I'm high enough in the esteem of all 3 romanceable characters that they're madly in love with me and the non-romanceable characters who have offered dialogue have recovered their opinion decently. Sten is stubbornly disliking me though; he's not offered any more conversation so I suspect bribery gifts are the only hope. Consequentally I'm half convinced he doesn't have a personality ...



Re Achieves, are they broken just for the xbox or also the PC?
Xbox only, and it was fixed this afternoon.

It's a semi common problem with DLC around release time, common enough that I always check to make sure they're working properly before I play new content. The central microsoft server hadn't been updated with them so obtaining the achievements added them to your profile list but did not award any points. The only way to fix that is to wait for the server to be updated, recover your profile to remove the problematic achievements and then go collect them again. If you're lucky then the achievement will pop correctly and all's well. If not it won't pop because the game thinks you already have it, at which point you're rather stuck.


I'm starting to wonder if Bioware has the "Big book of fantasy cliches" tucked away in their writers' office. The story isn't bad per say, it's just nothing special or revolutionary. Fun? Oh absolutely! Highly original? I really don't think so.
Definitely. It's what I'd call fluff fantasy, the sort of thing I'd read in 3 hours because there's nothing worth thinking or slowing down for. Dragon Age is only different if you compare it to the stereotypical Terry Brooks or Raymond Feist style stuff, and that's a style of fantasy that's been heavily out of fashion for a decade or more,, and which wasn't omnipresent in the genre even before that.

The lore and notes sections of the journal are good to read. The material in there is a bit stronger than what is handed out in the course of the story. One or two of Lelianna's bardic stories are good too.

Doesn't help that some of the cliches are gleefully turned on their heads in a predictable way, such as (spoilers for the bit after the beacon lighting near the beginning)
the way the charismatic and reckless young king got picked up and pulped in the battle. Cliche says he should escape to eventually recover what's lost, and become wiser and more mature in the process. The only simple antidote to that is for him to die as it'd be hard for a game to depict him being dragged from the field half-dead and spending his remaining years in increasing obscurity as his bids to regain power failed.

[Beskar]

Arg! These camera controls! :angry: Death by 1,000 paper cuts.

What troubles? :P

I think we need to do two different threads, one for PC and other for Xbox version.

[FactionHeir]

Well I found something rather annoying (again).

Went to my player profile this morning and as I named my new character the same as my character creator one, the avatar didn't update while the stats did. So I deleted that character off my char page. Now its past midnight and the char isn't reappearing and the achieves I got through the day aren't either. No stats being reported and I am logged in.

Funny enough my profile avatar has changed to the look of the new one somehow. Weird.

In Orzammar now after doing the DLC quests today and getting killed rather easily (though avoidable if I let my party members take the brunt). Things seem to tear through my massive armor. I guess I should have gone to Redcliffe first? Figure when I get there everyone will be effortless?

Shale's tactics are also left wanting. His default tactics set him up for using stuff as needed, but without a separate slot for engaging in a specific mode, he doesn't actually do anything other than precise hit ~:(

[Vladimir]

Mom is H-O-T.

The camera controls for PC are horrible. I need to use my left hand for rotation, the mouse is only good for zoom. It basically means I need to pause the game to scan the room as I'm trying I use Tab+A to get a 360. It's very annoying. As annoying as the .org now because it's loading slow. This is a persistent problem that will bother me though the entire game.

I perfected my two-hand technique during high school. No, not that. I mean while playing Doom. This current setup is...annoying.

[Monk]

Edit: yes, I realised they are for donating, but does that result in anything tangible or affect anything in the game, other than make you poor?

When you finally get to use your army, the donations you've made will give them bonuses. I believe the type of bonus depends on what they want, i didn't dabble with it very much.


Getting logical results based on what I'd chosen is a massive difference to my party and to my enjoyment of the game. Yesterday my party hated me, today I'm high enough in the esteem of all 3 romanceable characters that they're madly in love with me and the non-romanceable characters who have offered dialogue have recovered their opinion decently. Sten is stubbornly disliking me though; he's not offered any more conversation so I suspect bribery gifts are the only hope. Consequentally I'm half convinced he doesn't have a personality ...

Guess I'm quite the lucky one, then. I haven't noticed anything strange about the influence system. Now pathfinding? Oh sure, that is seriously buggy and needs a few patches.



The camera controls for PC are horrible. I need to use my left hand for rotation, the mouse is only good for zoom. It basically means I need to pause the game to scan the room as I'm trying I use Tab+A to get a 360. It's very annoying. As annoying as the .org now because it's loading slow. This is a persistent problem that will bother me though the entire game.

Mouse wheel can zoom and the right mouse button, when held down, rotates. I found it to be pretty easy to control. :shrug:

[Vladimir]

I just cut some poor girl's head off! Blood went flying everywhere!

Currently playing on hard, still trying to fight free from the castle in the beginning. I'm only playing a rouge and it's still quite easy. I'm not sure what the fuss is about

Since the right button is also used to move to a location it is an encumbrance. Moving the curser to the edge of the screen should rotate the camera like in many other games.

[seireikhaan]

I wonder something:

How much its going to come back to bite me that I keep making deals with demons and sparing their lives. :devilish:

[Beskar]

Since the right button is also used to move to a location it is an encumbrance. Moving the curser to the edge of the screen should rotate the camera like in many other games.

You press and hold, no problems at all. Mouse wheel for zoom. :shrug:

[Monk]

37 hours and i've reached the finish line, completing the game as fast as humanly possible, i believe. Only plot quests and DLC was attempted as i purposefully skipped probably over three-fourths of the side-quests.

I have to say I am mentally exhausted from this, like reading a book all in one sitting - fun times but I couldn't do it again right away. :skull: Even so, I find myself... eager to start another character and go through it all again only this time dungeon crawling and picking up every extra i missed. Maybe not hit it so hard and stretch it out over more days. :yes:

The game only hits its stride about 6-8 hours in but once it does the story doesn't let go. It's predictable and cliche, but something about its charm makes me not care so much. I really enjoyed the ride and I'll be playing this for a long while to come. At least until Mass Effect 2!

Pathfinding needs a patch, and tactics behavior needs some tweaking but overall I really didn't find many issues in the game (bugs were pretty limited, and it only crashed once). There was one time when an enemy fell through the world and I had to reload a save but surprisingly I encountered very little in the way of glitches.

If anyone needs tips on the boss fights send me a PM and I can go into them. Can't help with origin stories, i've only done the one. (human noble)

[AggonyDuck]

Is anyone else finding Shale to be ridiculously powerful? I've been sending him alone against hordes of enemies in Stoneheart-mode, with mages supporting him from afar, and he can pretty much tank everything in the game.

About the Sacred Ashes:
He even singlehandedly occupied the High Dragon's attention while the rest of the party killed it from afar.

[Sheogorath]

According to Kotaku, Dragon Age's devs just released an editing toolset for characters, campaigns, etc. etc.

...How long ago was it that CA promised editing tools for ETW, again? I seem to recall that was pre-release.

[Vladimir]

Okay, I'm bored. I'll spare those who enjoy the game my criticism. Good console game, poor PC game. I expected more for the money.

In a way it reminds me of Halo 2. Good cutscenes with poor gameplay.

I tried to outlast this candle but, meh.

[FactionHeir]

As posted, I hated the camera control too but after some 20 hours or so you do get used to them. Still, that doesn't mean they shouldn't look into making some changes to them.

[Beskar]

As posted, I hated the camera control too but after some 20 hours or so you do get used to them. Still, that doesn't mean they shouldn't look into making some changes to them.

There isn't a problem with them, and since it is the common/mainstream camera style (in many other games such as every MMORPG, many RPGs, et al), everyone is used to them. I really cannot see any problems at all with the camera on the PC version, if anything it works really good.

If you are the Xbox or PS3, obviously it would be different, so I cannot comment on those.


According to Kotaku, Dragon Age's devs just released an editing toolset for characters, campaigns, etc. etc.

...How long ago was it that CA promised editing tools for ETW, again? I seem to recall that was pre-release.

They are meant to have a bug at the moment in relation to the game. There are apparently fixes for that though, so just a warning.


I have to say I am mentally exhausted from this, like reading a book all in one sitting - fun times but I couldn't do it again right away. Even so, I find myself... eager to start another character and go through it all again only this time dungeon crawling and picking up every extra i missed. Maybe not hit it so hard and stretch it out over more days.

Basically at the end myself, though you played more hours into it (due to getting it earlier.)

I saved it just before key moments, which allowed me to look at the "other side" in some places. However, I forgot to do this at two moments at red-cliffe, which means I have to playthrough the game to unlock the two specials (blood-mage and ravanger). Going to also do all the origins stories to see how they look like as well.


Monk, how do I unlock the romance options for Leliana as a male, is it only after a certain time or something? I am up to the Leadsmeat and she has had basically no talk options all game, except for after the Urn.

[Monk]

Monk, how do I unlock the romance options for Leliana as a male, is it only after a certain time or something? I am up to the Leadsmeat and she has had basically no talk options all game, except for after the Urn.

Leliana:
Romance options are born over the course of the entire game. I had to spend the entire main plot woo'ing her to get anywhere, and I'd imagine it's the same for the others. There should also be a point at which you express your interest, normally in the first camp conversation. If you miss that you might have missed your chance. :shrug:

If you want to get any party member to like you just bring them along on the main plot quests. Invariably you'll do something they either approve of or disprove of - just follow their advice to get massive bonuses to their influence.

If that fails load her up with some gifts. Leliana likes holy symbols of the Chantry and Andraste.

[Beskar]

Leliana:
Romance options are born over the course of the entire game. I had to spend the entire main plot woo'ing her to get anywhere, and I'd imagine it's the same for the others. There should also be a point at which you express your interest, normally in the first camp conversation. If you miss that you might have missed your chance. :shrug:

If you want to get any party member to like you just bring them along on the main plot quests. Invariably you'll do something they either approve of or disprove of - just follow their advice to get massive bonuses to their influence.

If that fails load her up with some gifts. Leliana likes holy symbols of the Chantry and Andraste.

That is why it doesn't make sense, I got high approval rating with her, and I gone through the whole game with her so far. My team has always been Leliana, Morrigan and Alistair, pretty much. Alistair views me as his bestest buddy and Morrigan loves me, even though her chat consists of her going nutjob as her feelings are causing her to go insane. What makes little more sense is that Zevran would go to bed with me, if I just ask him. (on another save, I did this to get the achievement... my eyes...

So yeah, I got high-approval rating with Leliana but she has no chat options at all, in the entire game. Compared to the other characters. I checked with her everytime I been in camp.

I found out what the boxes do, they give you experience. I bought a stack of plants from Ruck at around 10silver or something ridiculously cheap and I donated them into the box for the elves and they gave me experience (enough to level, which is how I noticed).

[Monk]

That is why it doesn't make sense, I got high approval rating with her, and I gone through the whole game with her so far. My team has always been Leliana, Morrigan and Alistair, pretty much. Alistair views me as his bestest buddy and Morrigan loves me, even though her chat consists of her going nutjob as her feelings are causing her to go insane. What makes little more sense is that Zevran would go to bed with me, if I just ask him. (on another save, I did this to get the achievement... my eyes...

So yeah, I got high-approval rating with Leliana but she has no chat options at all, in the entire game. Compared to the other characters. I checked with her everytime I been in camp.

That's very strange. Leliana was almost criminally easy to get to open up to me playing a female character. She should have some chat options, at least. :dizzy2:

[LeftEyeNine]

Just ordered Collector's Edition. Which DLC's are in, anybody cares to enlighten ?

[Zenicetus]

There isn't a problem with them, and since it is the common/mainstream camera style (in many other games such as every MMORPG, many RPGs, et al), everyone is used to them. I really cannot see any problems at all with the camera on the PC version, if anything it works really good.

Same here, I don't understand the camera complaints if it's the PC version we're talking about. It's like any other recent 3rd person perspective game like WoW, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc. It might be that those having problems are using mouse clicks exclusively for movement, instead of combined left hand WASD and mouse? I can see where that might be a little clumsy.

Note: there is a bug in the game that will affect dagger-wielding Rogues. First really nasty bug I've heard of, so far. You're supposed to get the dagger attributes half from strength and half from dexterity, but currently it's only being applied from strength. That hits Rogues pretty hard because they're sinking more points into Dex, unless they're going for a dual-wield with longsword in main hand or something like that. Here's the developer thread about it:

http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=704869&forum=135

Latest news is that daggers are fixed and we're waiting on a test file that they'll release ahead of the official patch (the test file will go in an override directory). That's an advantage with the PC version; we'll get that fix before the consoles, which may take a while. There is also a minor problem with damage from bows, but that's trickier to fix. Details in the second page of that thread, above.

FWIW, I haven't seen this dagger bug being too serious in my current campaign. The dual dagger Rogue in my party does well enough, and people are finishing the game with a Rogue main character (presumably using daggers). But if I was playing a Rogue as my main player character, I think I'd be waiting for the patch, just because I'd want my stat choices to be effective and not a waste of points.

[Beskar]

Same here, I don't understand the camera complaints if it's the PC version we're talking about. It's like any other recent 3rd person perspective game like WoW, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc. It might be that those having problems are using mouse clicks exclusively for movement, instead of combined left hand WASD and mouse? I can see where that might be a little clumsy.


Yeah, I am using WASD to control (easy to access 1,2,3,4,5etc as well) and only using the mouse to move camera and click on objects.



Note: there is a bug in the game that will affect dagger-wielding Rogues. First really nasty bug I've heard of, so far. You're supposed to get the dagger attributes half from strength and half from dexterity, but currently it's only being applied from strength. That hits Rogues pretty hard because they're sinking more points into Dex, unless they're going for a dual-wield with longsword in main hand or something like that. Here's the developer thread about it:

http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=704869&forum=135

I know Leliana in my campaign hits for 30 per go, but he attacks three times faster than my main who is hitting repectifully far less as a Greatsword user.

[Furunculus]

great game, playing it today.

it is impressive how happily it will run on low end hardware.

my bro's computer runs it fine, and it is only:
7900GT
X2 3800+
2GB DDR400

the corollary to that is that it looks worse than oblivion, even tho the latter is at least three years older.

[Meneldil]

Just ordered Collector's Edition. Which DLC's are in, anybody cares to enlighten ?

2 rings, 1 armor set, warden's keep, shale, a book and a wand.

[Vladimir]

Ugh. Okay, for movement. Just because you're used to something doesn't make it better; it makes it more familiar (yes I know, that applies to me too). In Total War, Neverwinter Nights series, and etc the controls are different and give you more control. I'm also using a stationary mouse where you control the wheel with your thumb. Get the sensitivity right and you're in for a good time. Here, the right mouse button is used for everything except for scratching your nose. Which would be BRILLIANT if anyone wants to develop that.

As a rogue I'm doing a lot of shoot, move, and communicate. What makes it incredibly difficult is that every time you move the camera wants to do it's own thing. You're fighting the game to get a good POV. Now, this isn't teh pr0n or anything but a good POV is always nice. What ever happened to options? And whatever happened to depth? This was designed as a council with too much development time spend on cinematics. Very pretty but more like an interactive movie.

One thing I really, REALLY like is how the characters move. There is a "weight" to the animations which you don't even see in some big budget cinemas.

[frogbeastegg]

Lelianna's elvish lament at the camp fire after the forest quest was completely unexpected. Animation was dodgy but nice music and a good touch of atmosphere.

This game loves its binary, obvious good/evil choices no matter what it claims. Kick the orphan or give it all of your gold. Typical Bioware.

I completed the section in the mage tower today. Oh I hated it! Worst section of the game by far.
First the long trek through the bland tower, which I'd already explored and gotten bored of during my origin story. Then the fade section - a maze filled with repetitive combat against enemies my mage struggles to handle. Getting mobbed by groups of strong melee dudes without any party members at all sucks; I was dying at least once on most fights and ended up having to save obsessively in every single room. And it went on forever. And it ended in yet another binary save everyone/ill everyone choice. It was at this point that I realised such choices were grating on my nerves; I was expecting better and have seen better in many other games.

I got a load of permanent stat boosts out of it but I'd forego them all if it meant skipping that area on future playthroughs.

On the subject of romances:

Alistair
needs his influence into the white box before he will sleep with your character. That takes persistent effort, time, and it evolves along quite natural lines. He's an old school charmer - he gave my character a rose. He's shy, he's bashful, and there's some good flirty conversations. The one about licking lamp posts in winter is memorable.

His scene was shorter than Zavran's. One wonders if that was a subtle comment on the fact he was a nervous virgin? :tongueg:

Zavran
chucked himself at me after a couple of conversations, the very first time we were in camp after I acquired him. I was able to sleep with him when his influence was about halfway filled on the good side. He's flirty, charming, and basically the kind of guy who sidles up to you in a bar and tries to get you into bed for a laugh. :cough: scum, then :cough: I'm also going to have to label him a bit selfish; most of the sex scene was about what my character was doing for him, without him returning the favour.

He also comes straight out and says he's attracted to both men and women right at the start which kind of feels a bit nasty (in terms of attitudes to those preferences) when he's basically a man-slut who admits he never says no and will take whatever he can get. The attitude does fit the character history, I admit.

I reloaded my 'entering the camp' save to wipe his feelings back to a lower level rather than continue with him drooling after me.

Lelianna
Was making passes at my female character quite early on as well. How matters would have progressed I can't say; I didn't realise that one of the dialogue lines I chose completely shut down the possibility of the relationship developing past friendship.

Combined Lelianna and Zavran barely even spoilers comment
It feels rather bad that the two characters that are romanceable by both sexes are both so easy to win over.

Maybe Morrigan is easy too, and it's only Alistair who takes a bit of effort?

I found both of the romantic cutscenes to be excruciating to watch. These character models are no way good enough for animation which requires contact - it was like watching dolls with clipping issues. At one point my character's face disappeared up to the ears through a torso. The facial expressions were worse; I don't know what effect they were going for but drugged date rape probably wasn't it. At one point in the Alistair scene my character's face was pure "Did you know you had rough fingernails before you did that?!" Should have used high quality renders like Mass Effect did or cut to a black screen as per KOTOR.

[Monk]

Lelianna's elvish lament at the camp fire after the forest quest was completely unexpected. Animation was dodgy but nice music and a good touch of atmosphere.

This game loves its binary, obvious good/evil choices no matter what it claims. Kick the orphan or give it all of your gold. Typical Bioware.

I completed the section in the mage tower today. Oh I hated it! Worst section of the game by far.
First the long trek through the bland tower, which I'd already explored and gotten bored of during my origin story. Then the fade section - a maze filled with repetitive combat against enemies my mage struggles to handle. Getting mobbed by groups of strong melee dudes without any party members at all sucks; I was dying at least once on most fights and ended up having to save obsessively in every single room. And it went on forever. And it ended in yet another binary save everyone/ill everyone choice. It was at this point that I realised such choices were grating on my nerves; I was expecting better and have seen better in many other games.

I got a load of permanent stat boosts out of it but I'd forego them all if it meant skipping that area on future playthroughs.


Mage Tower:
Is the definite low point of the game. As soon as i completed the last quest there I left and never looked back, i refuse to go back there. A companion quest will take you back there but it's just a quick search quest and is completed in 10-15 min. Not only is Mage Tower long, drawn out, and filled with stupid sections, it is tedious.

The only saving grace is Sloth. Seriously.

[Krusader]

Crafting woes:

Where can I find crafting recipes? Done Redcliffe & Orzammar but no merchants selling.

Don't know what I've done right, but have 91 approval with Leilana as male character, not even done companion quest yet.

[Beskar]

Really really big spoiler, don't read unless you want to be spoilt.
I got Loghain as a party member.

[Monk]

In response to Beskar.
Double spoiler, its a big one!
Wow! You mean he actually survives the joining? That's interesting. I would assume that sets the stage for what happens next, then. How does he perform as a Party member?

[Beskar]

In response to Beskar.
Double spoiler, its a big one!
Wow! You mean he actually survives the joining? That's interesting. I would assume that sets the stage for what happens next, then. How does he perform as a Party member?

Big one, really big super big spoiler stuff. This is spoiler stuff you wouldn't know of unless you was hit in the face with it. It will spoil a lot of things.He is basically a clone of Alistair, but he has Champion as his spec. He stands where Alistair is, in the party select menu. I am currently trying to get his ending now. I have gotten the other 3.
https://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1245/screenshot2009110902352.jpg

Edit: I just got the "Redeemer" achievement and perfectionist. The best ending is the one you die.

[FactionHeir]

Achiever :tongue2:
Just loading the save before you go into the final to make a different decision huh? :grin:

I'm currently trying to see whether I can get both Morrigan and Leliana

[Beskar]

I tried, but then, I accidently got Morrigan probably before I had a chance with Leliana. Even then, I dumped Morrigan and still didn't work with Leliana.

Yeah, I did it with the Dwarf story as that is the easiest. Do a save just before you speak to the golem. You can get 4 different achievements (so two quick 10 minute plays) to get them.

Unfortunately, I didn't do it for Redcliffe, Elves and Circle. But I was playing on playing a female character to get the female only unlocks anyway.

[FactionHeir]

Well I currently got both Morrigan and Leliana in Romance state + tent but in their banter they still think that Morrigan is the one. Probably wasn't intended for this to work this way? :laugh4:


Had both in initial romance state first and then chose Morrigan. After the Denerim quest for Leliana, you seem to be able to woo her back without either of them forcing you to choose anymore

[Beskar]

After completing the games and seeing the endings, I decided to do the other 5 origins...

I have to say one thing "Wow", it is amazing seeing the backstories and the happenings of all these characters you meet. It is truely and interesting experience.

I will do one in spoilers for instance:
Take the life of Rita, the Dwarven girl.

From main story, you hear about Bhelen marrying a commoner, and a love note in his room.

Casteless Dwarf story: Rita is your sister! And you are supporting her as she gets dolled up, etc, trying to seduce some one important, etc.

Noble Dwarf story: Rita comes out of Bhelen's room! So straight after commoner where she says she said some one is interested, you find out it was Bhelen from this, added from the first play through, that she had all this backstory and different appearances.

This happens to a lot of characters, it is truely a sight.

[Monk]

Finally figured out how to complete Redcliff.. the "right" way.

It isn't enough to armor the militia, do Ser Perth's quest and then hit the Chantry. You should take time to recruit Dwynn and his thugs by the waterfront, the Elf in the Tavern and the Tavern owner.

Interesting side note: Recruiting the Tavern's owner for the fight lets the Barmaid be in charge. She will then give you whatever you want for free, she won't charge you a dime! You'll also be able to buy a special gift, a bottle of fine wine, that was not in stock before. Sten will approve, as in his words anyone who can fight should be.

[seireikhaan]

Well, finally finished what I believe is the last of the "gather army" quests:

Holy :daisy:. Did NOT like the Dwarven mission. That sucker dragged ON and ON.... Liked the second to last "boss fight", but aside from that, the best respites for me were turning blood magic on the ogres for quite a bit of fun. For what people are saying about the mage tower, I found it much more enjoyable. I went through it with not a huge amount of difficulty, but it was still challenging, and quite fun, I thought.

Double spoiler, just in case Mages experience it differently than rogues or warriors
I thought the shapeshifting was a load of fun. Picking matchups and figuring out which form was best for confronting different foes was a good time. Especially liked the spirit form, a killer on bosses. \
The dwarfen part was easily my least favorite of the quests. First, because I got stuck with what's his face, the dwarf after a while, and I liked the setup I had. Second, because almost none of my magic worked on golems. :wall: Third, because as I said, the thing just dragged on and on, and it seemed like a fair amount was added for no particular reason, other than making the whole quest more difficult.

[Zenicetus]

Finally figured out how to complete Redcliff.. the "right" way.

It isn't enough to armor the militia, do Ser Perth's quest and then hit the Chantry. You should take time to recruit Dwynn and his thugs by the waterfront, the Elf in the Tavern and the Tavern owner.

Interesting side note: Recruiting the Tavern's owner for the fight lets the Barmaid be in charge. She will then give you whatever you want for free, she won't charge you a dime! You'll also be able to buy a special gift, a bottle of fine wine, that was not in stock before. Sten will approve, as in his words anyone who can fight should be.

Argh, I missed all that. I'm probably rushing too much so I missed the clues, I did it the hard way:

Mainly by bottlenecking once the fight moved down to the main village square, and then when it got too bad, running up the hill leading a "freight train" of enemies so I'd have help from the soldiers up by the windmill. I had a little trouble figuring out how to end that sequence, because one of the undead guys was trapped in the village due to a pathfinding glitch. Took me a little while to find him. With help from the village that probably wouldn't have happened.

[Sheogorath]

http://kotaku.com/5400986/explore-the-tender-side-of-manhood-with-dragon-age

Hot Gimli x Legolas action. Just as Tolkien intended :laugh4:

Really though, as the article mentions, doesn't anybody find the complete lack of moral outrage rather amusing? Relieving, but also amusing.

[al Roumi]

http://kotaku.com/5400986/explore-the-tender-side-of-manhood-with-dragon-age

Hot Gimli x Legolas action. Just as Tolkien intended :laugh4:

Really though, as the article mentions, doesn't anybody find the complete lack of moral outrage rather amusing? Relieving, but also amusing.

Well the games-bashers have COD:MW2 to bash at the moment anyway, so I suspect it's stealing all the thunder of this "controversey".

[FactionHeir]

Something that's bothering me at the moment is finding that my investment in the persuasion talent seems to have been a bit of a waste for my warrior.
Basically if you succeed on persuade/intimidate, stuff advances but you get no XP benefit, though at rare points you may get access to a shop instead which doesn't sell anything useful.
On the other hand, if you just choose the hard way (i.e. fighting) you get loads of XP, loot and usually the same benefits.

I think the use of persuasion talents should be rewarded somewhat at least, like open lock / disarm trap which do.

[Vladimir]

Something that's bothering me at the moment is finding that my investment in the persuasion talent seems to have been a bit of a waste for my warrior.
Basically if you succeed on persuade/intimidate, stuff advances but you get no XP benefit, though at rare points you may get access to a shop instead which doesn't sell anything useful.
On the other hand, if you just choose the hard way (i.e. fighting) you get loads of XP, loot and usually the same benefits.

I think the use of persuasion talents should be rewarded somewhat at least, like open lock / disarm trap which do.

There are times when you can do both. Often times it gives you a greater advantage.

[Monk]

I think Persuade and Intimidate are best saved for getting special plot elements. There is a particularly good one for female PC right before you fight the final battle.

Double spoiler, cuz it's pretty cool but at the same time a huge spoiler on a specific part.You have the chance to persuade your way onto the Throne. Marry Allistar and you can become Queen of Ferelden, obviously the current queen isnt gonna like that but - well, yeah! I never did this as in my first play-through I romanced Leliana.

Is it incredibly cheesy? You bet, but I wasn't expecting it. :laugh4:


Very minor spoiler on conversation choices
Oh. And someone on the DA team loves Star Wars. I've spotted numerous lines taken right out of Episode IV like "Sorry about the mess..." after killing a number of soldiers in a tavern, or "Aren't you a bit short for a guard?"

[al Roumi]

Ok, I finally got hold of DA yesterday and had enough time to get half way through the origin story for my character. I bought the Warden's keep DLC and have uploaded all the rest of the codes etc I had (most notably the stone prisoner).

I'm playing a male Dwarf commoner Rogue, aiming for a dual wielding melee build.

Can anyone give me any suggestions for party members/composition -assuming there is much discussion to be had on them?

I'd definite I'll need 1 mage/healer and 1 tank, but i'm not sure what to go for in the other slot -leaning towards another tank though as i have more trust in steel than mana.

I'm also very interested in recruiting Shale, I like the idea of having a golem in my Dwarf lead party! How does he compare with other melee characters in taking and dealing damage?

I assume Shale is not one of the NPCs with which you can have a love interest, I imagine that would be rather eye-watering and sore...

[seireikhaan]

Ok, I finally got hold of DA yesterday and had enough time to get half way through the origin story for my character. I bought the Warden's keep DLC and have uploaded all the rest of the codes etc I had (most notably the stone prisoner).

I'm playing a male Dwarf commoner Rogue, aiming for a dual wielding melee build.

Can anyone give me any suggestions for party members/composition -assuming there is much discussion to be had on them?

I'd definite I'll need 1 mage/healer and 1 tank, but i'm not sure what to go for in the other slot -leaning towards another tank though as i have more trust in steel than mana.

I'm also very interested in recruiting Shale, I like the idea of having a golem in my Dwarf lead party! How does he compare with other melee characters in taking and dealing damage?

I assume Shale is not one of the NPCs with which you can have a love interest, I imagine that would be rather eye-watering and sore...
Shale is a tank, through and through. He's got a a nearly absurd number of hit points right out the bat, and he can get solid resistances going with the correct items in the right circumstances. He doesn't tend to deal a ton of damage, but some of his abilities aid in his use as a giant punching bag for enemies to fruitlessly waste damage on while the rest of the party rains blows down.

[al Roumi]

Shale is a tank, through and through. He's got a a nearly absurd number of hit points right out the bat, and he can get solid resistances going with the correct items in the right circumstances. He doesn't tend to deal a ton of damage, but some of his abilities aid in his use as a giant punching bag for enemies to fruitlessly waste damage on while the rest of the party rains blows down.

Eeexcellent. [rubs hands a-la-Burns]

Thank you very much Yaseikhaan, I take it Shale can therefor be equipped with "stuff", does that mean he can wear armour and use normal weapons? I can imagine he might be a "special case" and hence end up disadvantaged compared to a tricked out Alastair or other more humanoid NPC.

[Beskar]

I don't recommend making a melee rogue. Basically, all the casuals have rolled melee rogues, and they think that being a melee rogue means you can tank groups of mobs. They are completely wrong and they die failing miserably. So if you are thinking right now that you can tank as a rogue, just re-roll before it is too late.

Also, the game difficulty is "Normal" is actually "Hard" if you are new to the game. To get "Normal" actually as normal/easy, you have to configure all your parties, their equipment, their tactics and their talents, etc. I would recommend you play the game on "Easy" setting.

I can't answer about Shale, because even though I own the DLC, it won't download as my client has problems connecting to EA servers so yeah, I can't comment.

I will use other characters then -
For Tank, use Alistair, grab Taunt, and a couple of talents laying around for tanking, then just spend all in shield talents. For skills, level up Strength, Dex and Constitution. Get strength to 42, Dex to 26 (or was it 36?) and all the rest in constitution. Though, I will most likely edit the game to remove Dex requirement, as it really kills the tank having to spend points elsewhere.

For healer, take Wynne.

[FactionHeir]

Shale is pretty poor to begin with but once you get better crystals (usually by levelling above I think 10, the better ones become available in Orzammar) he becomes fairly decent.

I find Leliana fairly useless in my party outside of opening locks, disarming traps (both great XP sources) and interrupting mages.

Morrigan is a great offensive caster. Go for the ice route and then the entropy spells for some great fun. They are mainly disable, not damage (though ice + vulnerability can pack a punch)

Healing mage would be quite useful actually, haven't come across one yet but I heard Wynne is the choice. Still, healing potions are around in ample supply and you can craft them too off the bat.

I find the biggest problem is finding someone who can reliably dish out damage quickly. My main is a S/S warrior but since I mainly raised STR/DEX and neglected CON, he can deal damage and take some, but doesn't excel at either. Massive armor also means slower attack.

I imagine a melee rogue wouldn't be too bad since you can get some top notch light armors at the Warden keep merchant (Inscribed leather) which gives loads of protection at almost no fatigue cost at all and is fairly cheap to purchase. With the dagger bug, you may want to consider sword/shield rogue though or alternatively sword/sword or axe/axe.

[al Roumi]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the warning re: rogue in melee but I am intending to focus on Assassin & Duelist. Also, I'm very aware of the lack of staying power I'm likely to have, hence the choice of tank for my character to work in tandem with and backstab.

Having read this (http://mycheats.1up.com/view/superguide/2019479/dragon_age_origins/pc), I'm thinking of Morrigan and Wynne as additional to the Tank (be it Shale or Alistair) as crowd control will be essential to keeping my rogue free to move about.

I could well be deluding myself with these plans. I do note the absence of a Priest class quite keenly, it seems that to get near one in DA:O you have to start with a mage, as opposed to BG2's Priest who could be a decent melee character from the start (Anomen you stuck up ****, where are you when I need you!).

[seireikhaan]

Eeexcellent. [rubs hands a-la-Burns]

Thank you very much Yaseikhaan, I take it Shale can therefor be equipped with "stuff", does that mean he can wear armour and use normal weapons? I can imagine he might be a "special case" and hence end up disadvantaged compared to a tricked out Alastair or other more humanoid NPC.
He has crystals that he can embed into his arms and shoulders that serve as a sort of psuedo-equipment. I didn't have much of a problem getting a good variety of them. He doesn't wear normal armor or use normal weapons, however. He also has a problem of not having access to useful skills that normal characters do, such as trap-making, poison-making, and so forth.

[Beskar]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the warning re: rogue in melee but I am intending to focus on Assassin & Duelist. Also, I'm very aware of the lack of staying power I'm likely to have, hence the choice of tank for my character to work in tandem with and backstab.

Having read this (http://mycheats.1up.com/view/superguide/2019479/dragon_age_origins/pc), I'm thinking of Morrigan and Wynne as additional to the Tank (be it Shale or Alistair) as crowd control will be essential to keeping my rogue free to move about.

I could well be deluding myself with these plans. I do note the absence of a Priest class quite keenly, it seems that to get near one in DA:O you have to start with a mage, as opposed to BG2's Priest who could be a decent melee character from the start (Anomen you stuck up ****, where are you when I need you!).

I would recommend leveling up Stealth to the point you can actually stealth in combat. This allows you to kill ranged users very well.

I did a Assassin/Duelist build as well. My Rogue can actually kill mobs without even being hit. (in 1v1)

I did a ranger, but being honest, I dislike the pet while playing as it. It works too slow for my liking. I would recommend the speed of the pet be faster if they are making game changes, so the pet actually reaches the mob far easier and not too late (to make up for slow AI targeting/attack commands).

I also admit, I do find the Mage class very crowded. As in there are lots of abilities which could be split up into different classes, but I suspect they just stuck all of them together for lore and sake of it being simple. The actual Priests in the game are as powerful as your vicar on a sunday.

[frogbeastegg]

I guess I am at the game's halfway point now. I've done the forest, mage's tower and Redcliff, and now have the dwarves, the post Redcliff quest and the main city left. I do seem to be finding the 'best' ending to each quest line instead of the easy one.



A dual-wielding backstabbery male rogue is on the agenda for my next playthrough. Looking at the talents, skills and so on I think I shall be able to virtually ignore strength until later on, at which point I'll need it for a few abilities off the dual-weapon tree. That will enable me to pump dex high early on; each point of dex equals one point of defence. Add to that some skills which make me harder to hit, and some liberal skulking for ideal backstab opportunities and I think it should turn out to be a bit of a powerhouse provided I have a tank to pull all the agro. If I add a mage with spells which free, stone or otherwise pin an enemy in position I shall be in backstabbing heaven. Daggers are the weapon of choice as they have high critical chances and armour penetration. I'm thinking the party for this character will be 1 tank, 1 offensive mage with a pinch of healing and 1 healing mage with a pinch of offense.

I had planned to make this character a city elf as that background fits the roleplay best. Alas, the elf's stats are the worst for the build. I expect I shall go ahead anyway or use a human noble with the excuse that he's a duelest and not a thief; the idea of a dwarven rogue does nothing for me.

After that I might do a 2-handed warrior.

[Sheogorath]

I've been having great fun with my 2H dwarven noble warrior. The little tank just smashes EVERYTHING. And keeps going. Even if the rest of the party is wiped out, provided he's got some health potions. Using Berserk (combined with powerful blows) is just plain frightening.

Plus the fact that greatswords clip into the ground when on his back amuses me to no end.

Early on I dropped everything into str and dex, str for power and dex because initially I couldn't hit anything. Later on when I started dying too much I focused on con a bit.

Ability wise, I find taunt isn't so great. I went for a dual-warrior party, using Allistar as a second (His magic-canceling abilities are useful), with Lelliana and Wynn backing me up. Lelliana seems pretty decent in a fight, although it's a pain to micromanage her into backstab position every time, and she seems fairly useless with a bow.

So most of the time I just use the 'rush in and kill everything' strategy ;)

[frogbeastegg]

I have disocvered something rather awesome. Dragon Age: Origins - the missing manual (http://dragonage.gulbsoft.org/doku.php/)! Think online manual that goes into the same kind of detail as the manuals for the old Infinity Engine games.

[Beskar]

I had planned to make this character a city elf as that background fits the roleplay best. Alas, the elf's stats are the worst for the build. I expect I shall go ahead anyway or use a human noble with the excuse that he's a duelest and not a thief; the idea of a dwarven rogue does nothing for me.

Froggy, do the City Elf quest, as a rogue build. it is perfect storywise. The whole affair is especially when you answer the King at the end of the origin gives the most fantastic expression and comment which just seals the deal. I won't say anything else, but after you done the main origin bit and talk to the king, all I say is, tell him what you been up to. :thumbsup:

[Monk]

Froggy, do the City Elf quest, as a rogue build. it is perfect storywise. The whole affair is especially when you answer the King at the end of the origin gives the most fantastic expression and comment which just seals the deal. I won't say anything else, but after you done the main origin bit and talk to the king, all I say is, tell him what you been up to. :thumbsup:

Signed. :2thumbsup:

I was looking for origins to use for my true canonical play through of DA, and City Elf really stands out as a cantidate. But i chose dual-wielding warrior instead of rogue and it's surprisingly fun!

Right now it's tied between City Elf and Human Noble as to which is my favorite origin.

[Krusader]

Funny thing is...Ive been replaying Mass Effect since I bought it off Steam and not done a thing in Dragon Age for last two days.

Although if you haven't done Orzammar here's two minor bugs to be on lookout for:


You get two quests in Orzammar in regards to picking new King. One supporting Bhelen and one Harrowmont. If you decide to support Harrowmont, you should tell Bhelen's advisor that, otherwise the quest will remain in your questlog even after doing Orzammar plotline. Might be same if you support Bhelen and not tell Harrowmont's aide.
Also, if you pick up the Regicide Poison quest, the note you are given is NOT in your Codex, but ends up in your Herbalism crafting list.

As a sidenote: Broodmother is a bloody tough bitch to kill.


Will be fun when I'll try playing as a Dwarf Noble, as then I'll be more in-character RP and condescending towards the Chantry in Dwarf-fashion. Been more wishywashy now since I want the Leliana achievement.
My Human Noble is a sword+shield and enjoying playing him as tank. If I go Mage origin, I'll actually try and be a healer. And if rogue, I'll go for Daelish clan elf. And will try to use different party members, especially as some of the convos going on between them can be fun.

Oghren asking in a a more and more pervert voice what Chantry members wear underneath their robes, or Leilana wanting to dress up Morrigan and go shopping with her, plus the Alistair+Morrigan banter too.
Also, the party camp talks where Sten is in a kind of starting contest with Dog and Oghren saying he'll think of my character when he is "embracing" his lost love and then realizing it didn't come out right.


And on another note...anyone tried the toolset yet?

[Beskar]

My opinions of each of the Origins, these will contain light-hearted spoilers but mentions twists and some pretty big things depending on which one.

Human - Noble (Played as Male)

You could imagine the start of the story being from Jane Austin as you play Mr. Darcy.
A stereotypical twist, but you actually don't suspect it, though you know in your gut it is going to happen.
Heart Touching Ending which can make a grown man cry.

Human - Mage (Played as Female)


Welcome to Hogwarts school of Magic.

Elf - Dalish (Played as Female)

Cockerel Sure-male and Innocent Fairy Wood Elf run into a magical object which is evil. The innocence gets lost.

Elf - City (Played as Male)
[dont read this froggy, until you played it yourself, don't want to ruin it for you]

Life in the slums is hard, but you guys know how to make it a good time, especially on this special dead.
Uh oh, here comes the rich noble who wants to poke some holes and runs off with your women.
Here you come, and you poke some holes in a different way.
Here comes the PartyVan to take you away, Duncan makes good use of that conscription.
The King face about telling him what you been up to, definitely a sight to behold.

Dwarf - Casteless (Played as Male)

Big brother whoring your sister up working for Mr. Moneybags.
You sure show those nobles and warriors that they are peons.
Mr. Moneybags is not happy.
Mr. Moneybags is no more.
Run Run Run!!!

Dwarf - Noble (Played as Male)

It's fun being king for the day.
My older brother hates me, my younger-brother looks like he got his tan from licking him.
Time to retrieve a pointless object.
Well, looks like I found a corpse and I am getting the blame.
I get thrown out in the nude, looks like I better find me some Greywarden to save me.

[Beskar]

DLC

Good News: After trouble being able to access it, I found out EA actually uploaded all the DLC files, so you can actually use them in game now.

Bad news: It says I am unauthorised for Shale and Warden's Keep, even though my bioware account says I got them, plus I bought the deluxe pack.

Question: Since some of my DLC is working and others not. Does that mean only some of the DLC is checked with the server? (in short, free DLC for some).

[FactionHeir]

I've just finished Orzammar tonight and am just done with the night phase in Redcliffe.
Outside of that, I've done all I could in Denerim and the DLC areas.

Redcliffe was surprisingly easy actually and it did feel a bit out of place doing this after Orzammar and not directly after Lothering. My gripe was though that the defenders would willingly run into the lamp oil and stay there. Way to get yourself roasted.

[FactionHeir]

DLC

Good News: After trouble being able to access it, I found out EA actually uploaded all the DLC files, so you can actually use them in game now.

Bad news: It says I am unauthorised for Shale and Warden's Keep, even though my bioware account says I got them, plus I bought the deluxe pack.

Question: Since some of my DLC is working and others not. Does that mean only some of the DLC is checked with the server? (in short, free DLC for some)

Afaik the DLC that you disable or don't have disappears in game. When I closed and reran the client today (just to speed the game up, it becomes slow after a while, memory leak prolly) I wondered why in my save my main was without boots and Oghren without armor and helm. Turns out when you close and rerun the client that quickly, it didn't even have time to contact EA servers and thus thought I wasn't supposed to have any DLC and deleted it off the chars.

[Beskar]

Afaik the DLC that you disable or don't have disappears in game. When I closed and reran the client today (just to speed the game up, it becomes slow after a while, memory leak prolly) I wondered why in my save my main was without boots and Oghren without armor and helm. Turns out when you close and rerun the client that quickly, it didn't even have time to contact EA servers and thus thought I wasn't supposed to have any DLC and deleted it off the chars.

Yeah, that would be Stone Guardian/Warden's Keep stuff.

The rest of the DLC (which I downloaded from EA and legally own) don't check the servers at all so it seems. So that is working fine. It is just stupid that the servers are having such problems that I cannot access my Warden's Keep and Stone Guardian dlc to use.

Which is even more stupid, the fact I can actually log in and the game can display my achievements on that social profile thing. (but seem unable to do anything else)

http://social.bioware.com/playerprofile.php?sku=dragonage1_pc&nid=2267071295 - A link to my 'social' profile.

[Vladimir]

I invoke the right of 'Gah!" Please somebody tell me who the literary critic is in the game. I have several books and artifacts that only an English major could appreciate!

Edit: Please somebody tell me why this game is so Vista friendly. I am able to switch between applications with an ease uncommon to any other application.

[Monk]

Edit: Please somebody tell me why this game is so Vista friendly. I am able to switch between applications with an ease uncommon to any other application.

I have noticed that too. I can alt-tab, minimize and everything. I even alt-tabbed in the middle of a battle to do some research for a project, came back an hour later and just picked up right where I left off. This game is unbelievably stable. :dizzy2:


Funny thing is...Ive been replaying Mass Effect since I bought it off Steam and not done a thing in Dragon Age for last two days.

There's no way I can play Mass Effect right now. I have played that game to completion at least eleven times, and can nearly recite the first 4 hours worth of dialoge from memory. It is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and unfortunately i've nearly played it to death. Give it a month or two, however, and i'll get bitten by the Mass bug just in time for the sequel. :yes:

[Krusader]

I invoke the right of 'Gah!" Please somebody tell me who the literary critic is in the game. I have several books and artifacts that only an English major could appreciate!

For books = Wynne.
For a more complete list (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Gifts).



There's no way I can play Mass Effect right now. I have played that game to completion at least eleven times, and can nearly recite the first 4 hours worth of dialoge from memory. It is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and unfortunately i've nearly played it to death. Give it a month or two, however, and i'll get bitten by the Mass bug just in time for the sequel. :yes:

I haven't played it since last year and I thought I'd do a new playthrough being more in-character and thus have new savegames from which to use in Mass Effect 2.
Hope ME2 will incorporate some Dragon Age mechanics, like tactics (for PC version that is, never played console version). Combat system should stay the same though, that was pretty sweet. Just hope there is less consolitis on the PC version.

[al Roumi]

A dual-wielding backstabbery male rogue is on the agenda for my next playthrough. Looking at the talents, skills and so on I think I shall be able to virtually ignore strength until later on, at which point I'll need it for a few abilities off the dual-weapon tree. That will enable me to pump dex high early on; each point of dex equals one point of defence. Add to that some skills which make me harder to hit, and some liberal skulking for ideal backstab opportunities and I think it should turn out to be a bit of a powerhouse provided I have a tank to pull all the agro. If I add a mage with spells which free, stone or otherwise pin an enemy in position I shall be in backstabbing heaven. Daggers are the weapon of choice as they have high critical chances and armour penetration. I'm thinking the party for this character will be 1 tank, 1 offensive mage with a pinch of healing and 1 healing mage with a pinch of offense.

I had planned to make this character a city elf as that background fits the roleplay best. Alas, the elf's stats are the worst for the build. I expect I shall go ahead anyway or use a human noble with the excuse that he's a duelest and not a thief; the idea of a dwarven rogue does nothing for me.


Apart from playing an elf and not a Dwarf, that is almost exactly my current game (I've still only got Alastair and Morrigan though). I agree that a city elf is the more obviously "roleplay" in traditional terms, but I'd say that it's one of the key differences with DA:O's "world" to say Fallen realms or the BG series.

Arguably, they've made elves a bit lame for anything but spellcasting, although i guess the higher willpower might provide and advantage when using special abilities. Otherwise Dwarves are simply perfect for melee combat (as a warrior or rogue) and Humans can turn their hand to anything.

As to the origin story, the dwarf commoner story is perfect for a rogue, imo.

Being the absolute lowest of the low, working for a crime boss in a criminal gang and watching while your sister is trained as a concubine to extort priveleges for the boss. Oh, and you have a drunken abusive mother too.

[rajpoot]

Got the game in my hand last evening and been playing nigh non stop since. I'd have preferred a TES type control system and camera, but well, I'm getting used to this.

So this is from the main quest, err, major spoilers I think.

So literally ran through the beginning of the game, and the initiation part. Then went to Redcliffe via Lothering, helped the people out and repelled the night attack. Went into the castle, and foolishly chose to go and get help from the circle of mages.....realised too late that the circle of mages is a whole quest in the main plot quest, because I've been playing in that tower since hours and still haven't got through.....I just want to go back and try to save the Redicliffe kid...

[FactionHeir]

I think you can do plot quests in parts too. I mean I took a break from Orzammar to take care of business in Denerim first before going back.

Found a few more bugs:
-Getting 2 specializations at once only gives you the Veteran Achievement and not the Elite one. Need to do it in 2 goes to get both. Silly really.

-You don't actually get a reward for the Golem registry mini quest

-Paying off the merchant in dust town forces you to repay him each time you talk to him about a certain topic or be forced to lose access to him. Also, the payment is supposed to be 30 silver (20 with persuade) but you always pay 30 silver in dialogue in the end and it only subtracts 30 copper.



And gameplay:
It seems the game scales encounters based on character level though there is always a minimum level for the opponent.
i.e. if you go to Orzammar too early you will find things ridiculously tough (min level) but if you go to Redcliffe late, the enemies won't be able to hurt you much but have ridiculous amounts of HP. (scaled)

[Beskar]

IndiaSo literally ran through the beginning of the game, and the initiation part. Then went to Redcliffe via Lothering, helped the people out and repelled the night attack. Went into the castle, and foolishly chose to go and get help from the circle of mages.....realised too late that the circle of mages is a whole quest in the main plot quest, because I've been playing in that tower since hours and still haven't got through.....I just want to go back and try to save the Redicliffe kid...

If you want the good ending, that is what you do. But I did the Circle of Mages quest-line first anyway. The alternative is to kill the boys parents, so he won't be loving you.

[rajpoot]

If you want the good ending, that is what you do. But I did the Circle of Mages quest-line first anyway. The alternative is to kill the boys parents, so he won't be loving you.

Yup. I got that, just finished the exorcism process at Redcliffe. Couldn't get Jowan his freedom, but I think one can get back to that later again? Still deciding where to go next....
BTW, I missed checking out that dead traveler quest in the Kocari wilds, just outside the camp gates. What exactly was it about?

[Beskar]

Yup. I got that, just finished the exorcism process at Redcliffe. Couldn't get Jowan his freedom, but I think one can get back to that later again? Still deciding where to go next....
BTW, I missed checking out that dead traveler quest in the Kocari wilds, just outside the camp gates. What exactly was it about?


Jowan is a nasty person anyway. Allow the Circle of Mages to take care of him. As for the Dead Traveler.. the one to meet the father? That is just to get a chest full of junk really, though you do get a cool looking Viking-style helmet as seen in this picture, worn by Alistair.
https://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8125/screenshot2009111116411.jpg

[FactionHeir]

The mage tower is starting to make me wonder whether all those permanent stat boost are really necessary in this game. My char already wiped the floor by himself there and with those boosts even more so... probably the first in-game design choice I really disagree with.

[Monk]

Sometimes its hard to tell sarcastic reponses from sincere ones.

I had always assumed that when you're talking to Sten, the choices "Haha, very funny." "Cute!" "Good one. Been saving that up?" were heavily sarcastic in nature. It turns out that these are not only genuine comments but are the best way to get Sten to like you, laugh at his commentary on Ferelden. I once got +12 from a single conversation.

Thoughts on playing a dual-wield warrior
Very interesting, but overall not something I will be repeating. It feels like you're playing a rogue with heavy armor and the inability to pick locks. It's sorta like playing a rogue.. and not at the same time, hard to explain. The damage output is pretty hefty, hwoever, but I can't help but feel i'd be doing more if I went 2-hand. I'll deffinately be going that route next time.

Unlocked the Templar specialization but haven't put points into it, also I think i figured out how to unlock "reaver" or :ravager: or whatever the spec for warriors is on the far right. The basic "evil" spec, but I won't be getting in on this play-through.

Thoughts on Wynne. Spoilers on her and minor spoilers about Mage Tower and Ostagar.
A wholly unneeded mentor character who is not at all likable. I don't need a babysitter warning me about the Darkspawn. Ugh. She reminds me of Freia from KOTOR2 only a little less cryptic and a whole lot less interesting. She has a few good stories about the ancient Gray Wardens, but I can't help but feel I should have slaughtered her in the Mage Tower, she is also quick to condemn any romance you have going on as the act of the selfish and wants you to end it. The only thing she accomplishes is making me wish Duncan were still alive. At least he had a mythos.

If I could, i'd break character to remind this woman what happens to the stuck up and preachy old characters in my RPG games. They die.

[Beskar]

The Alistair stuff is sarcastic. I love some of the combinations between your character and him. (especially if you are female.) Though at a point I just saved at, I did the response "Haha... wait... me and you? You ever thought that?" and I got a -100 penalty hit with Alistair. He is touchy.

[seireikhaan]

Since I'm waiting on the game to reinstall, I have a question, since I'm a bit of a pansy and I was pretty frustrated with it.
How do I unlock the Arcane warrior specialization for mages? I know its somewhere in the elfen areas out east, but I for the life of me can't find it...

[Beskar]

Since I'm waiting on the game to reinstall, I have a question, since I'm a bit of a pansy and I was pretty frustrated with it.
How do I unlock the Arcane warrior specialization for mages? I know its somewhere in the elfen areas out east, but I for the life of me can't find it...

I found it almost straight away. I won't be able to give you the exact location, but it is on the undead floor of the ruins. You see a room with books/etc near the end, and there is this glowly gem object thing, you select to touch it, and it talks to you, you go through the options and it teaches you Arcane Warrior spec, in return for you putting it on the altar to release the trapped spirit.

Only other notes is that companions remark that the gem looks like it has blood inside of it.

[Monk]

Discovering recipe locations.
Bartender!

Yes, if you can find a bartender, chances are they have recipes on them for potions, poisons and injury kits. You can make health potions, lyrium potions and injury kits with recipes gained from the Bartender at Redcliff Villiage, 'tender at the Gnawed Noble Tavern in Denerim and the Quartermaster of the Mage Tower to name only a few places

Recipes are very hard to find and unless you defeat one of the "mega" bosses, you probably won't get them from a drop. Just keep an eye out at every general store you visit, recipes will have a greenish icon.



In reponse to Beskar.
Oh yes, Alistair is very sensitive about that sort of thing and i've been very careful not to hurt his feelings if I'm going after a romance. Though I agree, the back and forth is definitely humorous at times.

[rajpoot]

Unexpected Easter Egg during travel -

Was taking care of a few quests from the Chanter's Board in Redcliffe, when on one random encounter while traveling on the world map, I got a cut-scene with a man and a woman standing on the edge of a crater wondering aloud as to how the boy survived such a crash, and finally after making sure that he had ten fingers and ten toes, deciding to raise him themselves.
:laugh4: it was out of the blue.
You can descend into the crater afterward, and get a lump of metal from the wreckage. This can, I believe be made into a sword by a good smith...so the game says atleast)

[Beskar]

Thoughts on playing a dual-wield warrior
Very interesting, but overall not something I will be repeating. It feels like you're playing a rogue with heavy armor and the inability to pick locks. It's sorta like playing a rogue.. and not at the same time, hard to explain. The damage output is pretty hefty, hwoever, but I can't help but feel i'd be doing more if I went 2-hand. I'll deffinately be going that route next time.

Unlocked the Templar specialization but haven't put points into it, also I think i figured out how to unlock "reaver" or :ravager: or whatever the spec for warriors is on the far right. The basic "evil" spec, but I won't be getting in on this play-through.



Everyone is two-handed, so making a dual-wield makes your character different.

You get ravenger during the urn quest, you accept their offer about the blood.

I would like to point out, that if you unlock Specialists, they work for every playthrough, you don't have to keep-regaining them. Admittedly, I like this, as it allows you to go specs in a new game which were unavailible to you.

[FactionHeir]

I would like to point out, that if you unlock Specialists, they work for ever playthrough, you don't have to keep-regaining them. Admittedly, I like this, as it allows you to go specs in a new game which were unavailible to you.

:2thumbsup: Time to spend the excess gold on tomes eh?

[TinCow]

Apologizes if this has already been discussed, but I'm wary of reading this thread in detail for fear of spoiling myself. Essentially, I feel like the specialization options available for Mages are pretty poor. I just got to level 7 and I've been trying to figure out which specialization I wanted to pursue, so I looked up the options here (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Specializations).

Of the four options, two of them make the mage better at melee. From playing around with Morrigan, it seems you cannot cast while shapeshifted... so that's only useful for making you better at melee. The Arcane Warrior class peaks my interest a bit, but it looks like using it will vastly limit my spellcasting ability due to sky-high fatigue, and that's not taking into account using the actual abilities of the Arcane Warrior, which are essentially pure-melee. Thus, since it seems ridiculous to play a mage that isn't doing much spellcasting, both of these specializations are unappealing to me.

So, I'm left with two specialization classes that boost spellcasting. The Blood Mage has serious problems because you have to power your spells with your health and the only effective way to heal yourself to refill potentially kills your allies. All that is compensated for by a single damage spell and a charm person spell. Seems like more trouble than it’s worth, considering there are already plenty of mega-damage spells and incapacitating spells in the regular mage list.

Thus, the only mage specialization that adds any ‘new’ magic to the mage is the healer class, which lets me raise dead people in the middle of a battle. Not a bad option, and that's clearly going to be my choice, but I'm rather irked that the only serious choice for someone who wants to play a spellcaster essentially turns me into a cleric. What happened to the concept of the mega-damage specialist? Or the mind-control specialist? Or the necromancer? Or the illusionist? Gah... seems like such poor options.

[Beskar]

Go with Arcane Warrior, for at least the first option. That alone allows you to wear heavy armour using magic as the modifier and not strength.

Spirit healer is good if you got healing skills. Blood Magic best offensive. Shapeshifter is for the lulz.

[LeftEyeNine]

I heard there is some "Ishal Tower" in the game, is that true ? I really can't imagine what they do in that "Diarrhea Tower". Will be some scenery indeed. :smash:

[Beskar]

I heard there is some "Ishal Tower" in the game, is that true ? I really can't imagine what they do in that "Diarrhea Tower". Will be some scenery indeed. :smash:

Says the guy who comes from a Big Bird.

[al Roumi]

Apologizes if this has already been discussed, but I'm wary of reading this thread in detail for fear of spoiling myself. Essentially, I feel like the specialization options available for Mages are pretty poor. I just got to level 7 and I've been trying to figure out which specialization I wanted to pursue, so I looked up the options here (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Specializations).

Of the four options, two of them make the mage better at melee. From playing around with Morrigan, it seems you cannot cast while shapeshifted... so that's only useful for making you better at melee. The Arcane Warrior class peaks my interest a bit, but it looks like using it will vastly limit my spellcasting ability due to sky-high fatigue, and that's not taking into account using the actual abilities of the Arcane Warrior, which are essentially pure-melee. Thus, since it seems ridiculous to play a mage that isn't doing much spellcasting, both of these specializations are unappealing to me.

So, I'm left with two specialization classes that boost spellcasting. The Blood Mage has serious problems because you have to power your spells with your health and the only effective way to heal yourself to refill potentially kills your allies. All that is compensated for by a single damage spell and a charm person spell. Seems like more trouble than it’s worth, considering there are already plenty of mega-damage spells and incapacitating spells in the regular mage list.

Thus, the only mage specialization that adds any ‘new’ magic to the mage is the healer class, which lets me raise dead people in the middle of a battle. Not a bad option, and that's clearly going to be my choice, but I'm rather irked that the only serious choice for someone who wants to play a spellcaster essentially turns me into a cleric. What happened to the concept of the mega-damage specialist? Or the mind-control specialist? Or the necromancer? Or the illusionist? Gah... seems like such poor options.

Yeah, I agree. The increased accessibility doesn't immediately look like it offers the same degree of specialisation and variety in spells or tactics as in say BG. Happy to be set right by someone who is playing as a mage and feels differently though.

[Beskar]

Camp Storage mod, released by one of the Bioware lot for free -
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/8/index/132134

Download here -
http://social.bioware.com/project/463/#details

[frogbeastegg]

Since I'm waiting on the game to reinstall, I have a question, since I'm a bit of a pansy and I was pretty frustrated with it.
How do I unlock the Arcane warrior specialization for mages? I know its somewhere in the elfen areas out east, but I for the life of me can't find it...
Have you been to the Elven forest yet? In that quest line there's a big ruin you enter, and on the 3rd (IIRC) floor of that ruin there's a phalacory (or however it’s spelt!) buried in the rubble in a smallish room which also contains a small altar. Treat the phalactory gently and follow the conversation choices which let you view it's memories, then pick the line which allows you to gain the specialisation in exchange for placing the phalactory on the altar and destroying it.


The Arcane Warrior class peaks my interest a bit, but it looks like using it will vastly limit my spellcasting ability due to sky-high fatigue, and that's not taking into account using the actual abilities of the Arcane Warrior, which are essentially pure-melee.
I picked that one and I'm stomping things to death with boots of stomping +4. I could have built a far stronger version of the character too; I made a lot of mistakes with point allocation and spell choices.

The ability which places a high drain on your mana and boosts your combat rating is a toggle off/on jobby so you can stand back with your staff and fling spells until matters require you to get closer, then turn it on and swap your weapon set to your sword (or whatever). Until you turn that ability on the only difference compared to a standard mage is your ability to equip heavy weapons and armour thanks to subbing your magic stat for strength.

The final ability in the skill tree is a bit good too. Boosted mana rengen plus better chance to dodge attacks! The tier 3 spell is a high powered defensive model that will keep you alive through nearly anything - for a short time, as it burns through mana like there's no tomorrow. Perfect for those battles where things go badly wrong and you need to scramble ASAP for anything that might keep you alive long enough to pull things back.

Note: You don't want to load up in heavy armour if you go this route. The heavier your armour the more enemy attention your character gets. High level weapons, that's another matter. I use the best quality light leather armour and a high end long sword. When it comes to close combat I can kill faster with a blade than Alistair or Sten, and toss in close range flame and lightning bursts as and when they recharge. However I reckon I spend 75% of my time at a range playing traditional mage.

I picked up healer as my second specialisation. Meh. Powerful healing spells and resurrection. If you use Wynne it's useless, if not then it's a lot more valuable.

Be wary of blood mages. From the way the world treats them I expect choosing that option will put you in for a lot of pain. It's hard to see good party members sticking with you for a start.


:2thumbsup: Time to spend the excess gold on tomes eh?
Better yet, save before you buy the tome and then reload. That way you get the specialisation and keep the gold. Same applies for places where you need to make a decision you don't want in order to get it as a reward; save, make the choice and wait for the pop up box, reload.

I'm only missing two warrior specialisations now. I got all of the mage ones a while ago, and picked up the final rouge one last night.

[Beskar]

Better yet, save before you buy the tome and then reload. That way you get the specialisation and keep the gold. Same applies for places where you need to make a decision you don't want in order to get it as a reward; save, make the choice and wait for the pop up box, reload.

I'm only missing two warrior specialisations now. I got all of the mage ones a while ago, and picked up the final rouge one last night.

I was going to test that, but I wasn't sure if you had to have it saved somewhere to be able to do it.

[frogbeastegg]

I was going to test that, but I wasn't sure if you had to have it saved somewhere to be able to do it.
Nope. I found it out the hard way. :mutters about the lack of autosave when you leave the camp to travel to a new area:

[seireikhaan]

Have you been to the Elven forest yet? In that quest line there's a big ruin you enter, and on the 3rd (IIRC) floor of that ruin there's a phalacory (or however it’s spelt!) buried in the rubble in a smallish room which also contains a small altar. Treat the phalactory gently and follow the conversation choices which let you view it's memories, then pick the line which allows you to gain the specialisation in exchange for placing the phalactory on the altar and destroying it.
Yes, I've cleared through the entire area, ended the werewolf curse and everything. I know the altar you're speaking of, but I'll go through once more to see if I can find this thing.

Be wary of blood mages. From the way the world treats them I expect choosing that option will put you in for a lot of pain. It's hard to see good party members sticking with you for a start.
I picked it for my first specialization as a mage, and I've not run into anything nearing a serious complication yet. Now that its later, I've combined it with a healing spec, and the two work very nicely together. Blood magic really is meant for control- neutralizing a large group of people into nothing, switching allegiances, and generally allowing for your party to beat on one person at a time, while still inflicting damage during the control process.

Plus, there's little that is more humorous than sending the ogre leading a group of enemies crashing into his own frontlines. :2thumbsup:

[frogbeastegg]

Yes, I've cleared through the entire area, ended the werewolf curse and everything. I know the altar you're speaking of, but I'll go through once more to see if I can find this thing.
There are two altars in the ruins. It's not the one where you can do the water ritual, if that's any help. The spot you're looking for is to the right if you stand staring at the wall with the altar to your left.


I picked it for my first specialization as a mage, and I've not run into anything nearing a serious complication yet.
That's disappointing. Considering the number of quests to hunt blood mages down, and the world's hatred for them, I'd expected it to be a flavoured option.

[seireikhaan]

There are two altars in the ruins. It's not the one where you can do the water ritual, if that's any help. The spot you're looking for is to the right if you stand staring at the wall with the altar to your left.
Indeed, I'll check it out.



That's disappointing. Considering the number of quests to hunt blood mages down, and the world's hatred for them, I'd expected it to be a flavoured option.
Well, there's one issue, as far as I know, and its to do with how you get access to blood magic.
Nobody, particularly Alistair, can see you when you acquire it. Won't spoil further if you haven't gotten it. Could be very wrong, but I believe the only way to get access to it is with a Mage.
It does seem very odd, however, that nobody seems to notice me actually use it all the times I have. :juggle2:

[Zenicetus]

Essentially, I feel like the specialization options available for Mages are pretty poor.
(snip)
So, I'm left with two specialization classes that boost spellcasting. The Blood Mage has serious problems because you have to power your spells with your health and the only effective way to heal yourself to refill potentially kills your allies. All that is compensated for by a single damage spell and a charm person spell. Seems like more trouble than it’s worth, considering there are already plenty of mega-damage spells and incapacitating spells in the regular mage list.

Thus, the only mage specialization that adds any ‘new’ magic to the mage is the healer class, which lets me raise dead people in the middle of a battle. Not a bad option, and that's clearly going to be my choice, but I'm rather irked that the only serious choice for someone who wants to play a spellcaster essentially turns me into a cleric. What happened to the concept of the mega-damage specialist? Or the mind-control specialist? Or the necromancer? Or the illusionist? Gah... seems like such poor options.

Well, it is what is. Everything in this game is streamlined down to fewer options than we had in D&D-based games, but they're still pretty good. Arcane Warrior and Shapeshifter doesn't have any appeal for me because I'd rather go just straight Warrior or Rogue if I'm going for a melee-based character, and armor attracts aggro. But I can see where it's in the game for people who like those styles.

I chose Blood Mage because it does seem to be the one "pure damage-dealing mage" category, although there's still some crowd control on that line. As party leader I wanted to be the main AOE and ranged damage specialist, with another mage for crowd control and DPS support (Morrigan), or else doing the priest/healer thing (Wynn). I'm currently using Morrigan because I don't like Wynn's personality that much, and we're doing okay with healing pots and the occasional spot heal from Morrigan or me.

I haven't been using it long, but Blood Magic doesn't have as bad an effect on the caster as the description sounds, especially if you've been adding a few extra points into constitution like I've been doing. Being able to throw a few extra spells without tapping mana is a powerful option, since I'm often standing at the back of the room with full health and drained mana. The one big drawback is that it only works on organic creatures, but it's still nice to have those extra offensive and CC spells available for many of the fights.


Be wary of blood mages. From the way the world treats them I expect choosing that option will put you in for a lot of pain. It's hard to see good party members sticking with you for a start.

That was my one hesitation, but I'm throwing blood mage spells right and left, with no change in how NPC's or party members treat me. Even with Wynn in the party, which is really an immersion-breaker. Maybe the idea here is that the only real evidence for a Blood Mage is what happens when the spells are actually used in combat, and everyone else is too distracted while fighting to notice what I'm doing. :laugh4: Or maybe some negative reactions will kick in if I follow the entire spell tree, but so far... nothing.

It also feels odd to go down dialogue trees that involve denouncing Blood Mages (for the sake of plot advancement) while actually being one. I'm playing a fence-sitter/neutral character that isn't pure good or evil. Maybe it would feel better if I was role-playing a more evil character and enjoyed hiding the path I went down.

[LeftEyeNine]

Says the guy who comes from a Big Bird.

It had been quite some time since someone had made teh epic "turkey" joke. I was quite worried actually, thought of the probability that the matrix had shifted was depriving me of sleep. Thank you.

Oh, the last joke was Wayne Rooney's.

[Beskar]

It had been quite some time since someone had made teh epic "turkey" joke. I was quite worried actually, thought of the probability that the matrix had shifted was depriving me of sleep. Thank you.

Oh, the last joke was Wayne Rooney's.

No problem, its handy that you are already next to the Greece.

[Vladimir]

No problem, its handy that you are already next to the Greece.

Stop it. You guys are making me Hungary.

[LeftEyeNine]

No problem, its handy that you are already next to the Greece.

Oh-kay, now that one insulted me. Let's move on.

[Beskar]

Stop it. You guys are making me Hungary.

:laugh4:

As for LeftNine, it shouldn't insult you as there was no insult in the comment (as Turkey is geographically neighbours to Greece) though, it was a pun on the word Greece to mean Grease, as in basting your Turkey.

---


Anyway, it is amazing to see there are so many mods out already, like unofficial fixs for the dagger bug, and other things.

[Zenicetus]

Addendum to that last post about Blood Mages. I just remembered, last night a certain NPC said that the Grey Wardens have no prohibition on blood magic, and (spoiler only if you haven't if you haven't finished the Ostagar sequence near the beginning of the game):

...there is that sequence in the Joining where you drink blood as part of the ritual of becoming a Grey Warden. That provides an ability to find nearby Darkspawn, and it could be seen as a minor form of blood magic.

So apparently it's just the Circle of Mages and the Templars that have a problem with it, and not the entire good-aligned game world. It does seem to fit the "whatever it takes to get the job done" alignment of the Wardens.

Also, (spoiler if you have, or are planning to get the Warden's Keep DLC and haven't played it yet):

This relationship of the Wardens to blood magic is further explored in the Warden's Keep story line, and it's related to the extra ability you can gain there. Although, it's hard to tell if the use of blood magic in that case was an extreme outlier, or a common thing with Wardens in the past.

[LeftEyeNine]

:laugh4:

As for LeftNine, it shouldn't insult you as there was no insult in the comment (as Turkey is geographically neighbours to Greece) though, it was a pun on the word Greece to mean Grease, as in basting your Turkey.

---


Anyway, it is amazing to see there are so many mods out already, like unofficial fixs for the dagger bug, and other things.

Oh was it so ? Enjoyable.

I got my DA:O shipped yesterday. I give around 2 weeks for it to arrive and I can taste that awesomeness at last.

[Krusader]

Just finished Arl Eamon questline and started on Circle of Magi.

Had my first dragonfight and got Dragonslayer achievement. Was tough as nails and had Morrigan set to heal me at 75%, my character being the tank (got all Sword & Shield abilities).

But I haven't seen much of the "make tough choices" feature that was supposed to be in Dragon Age. And also got Romance with Leilana...have to say, I felt the romance plot with Bastila Shan in KOTOR was better written and the "bed scenes" weren't great...Mass Effect had better.
I've also gone for Champion + Templar specializations on my Warrior. Swapped out Morrigan for Wynne to see how that is.

And began the Fade portion of Circle of Magi quest...I have a feeling if someone adds a mod that skips the part it might become popular.

[rajpoot]

Just finished Arl Eamon questline and started on Circle of Magi.

Had my first dragonfight and got Dragonslayer achievement. Was tough as nails and had Morrigan set to heal me at 75%, my character being the tank (got all Sword & Shield abilities).

But I haven't seen much of the "make tough choices" feature that was supposed to be in Dragon Age. And also got Romance with Leilana...have to say, I felt the romance plot with Bastila Shan in KOTOR was better written and the "bed scenes" weren't great...Mass Effect had better.
I've also gone for Champion + Templar specializations on my Warrior. Swapped out Morrigan for Wynne to see how that is.

And began the Fade portion of Circle of Magi quest...I have a feeling if someone adds a mod that skips the part it might become popular.


I thought so too when I began, but keep going, you get play as a rock golem.


Question-
I've been looking for someone to forge a sword out of that lump of alien metal for me, but no luck as yet....the little I found online says that you can't use the metal in any way until you get Warden's Keep DLC, because only the smith in there can forge it....Is that right?

And I don't know if this is the right place, but my DAUpdater isn't working. The game's working smoothly, but the updater, each time I try to start it, gives me a message saying that the application failed to initialize properly....I tried reinstalling .NET Framework, but now, it says that Windows can't find a runtime of the application........:wall:
Going from bad to worse....

[Krusader]

Question-
I've been looking for someone to forge a sword out of that lump of alien metal for me, but no luck as yet....the little I found online says that you can't use the metal in any way until you get Warden's Keep DLC, because only the smith in there can forge it....Is that right?

And I don't know if this is the right place, but my DAUpdater isn't working. The game's working smoothly, but the updater, each time I try to start it, gives me a message saying that the application failed to initialize properly....I tried reinstalling .NET Framework, but now, it says that Windows can't find a runtime of the application........:wall:
Going from bad to worse....

Answer:
So far the only smith who can forge that sword is in Warden's Keep DLC it seems, (Don't know about Wade, but think he's only for dragon scales).
Specifically, you have to first clear the Keep and return to it later. He gives a choice between one-handed or two-handed sword. I got the one-handed variant.

---
Finished Circle Tower. Fade-area improved and boy they were handing out attribute boosts as hell.
Also whacked Flemeth and was pretty kickass seeing Sten land the killing blow.

Question for those who are very far in the game:
How do I get into the Elven Alienage in Denerim?

[seireikhaan]

Question for those who are very far in the game:
How do I get into the Elven Alienage in Denerim?
Its not available until you've gathered all allies and gone to Denerim for a happy time with Loghain.

Anyways... Finally got the game re-installed following my clean reboot to win 7, ported the save over, and... finished. :dizzy2: I was able to finally figure out the arcane warrior dealio, many thanks to those who helped out.

I was a bit disappointed, overall, by the epilogue. The end for gameplay wasn't really anything special either, to be frank.
Took the dragon down on the first attempt with myself, Morrigan, Alistair, and Shale. Was disappointed that Morrigan took off on me after I tried wooing her to nearly +100 for the epilogue. Perhaps I messed up on trying to convince otherwise? I don't think so, but I may re-load right before the final battle just to see.

Super spoiler, very very end stuff:
I took her offer to help me survive- not sure if that was necessary or not(again, for the reload, another day).

[FactionHeir]

Mountaintop battle

That dragon was tough but I did manage on the first try, my party being warrior, Leliana (archer), Morrigan (all assault caster), Alistair (pansy warrior just for quest).
Within the first minute all my companions lay dead on the ground and it ended up being an extended tit-for-tat with the dragon while in precise striking + shield wall mode. Took some 3 greater and 11 normal and 4 lesser poultices to do it, though I was at nearly full hp afterwards. Too bad the game didn't automatically take any screens when you kill it, the scene was epic.
My party was all level 17-18 at that point btw.

I realized after the battle I still had my archivar belt on rather than my actual battle belt

[TinCow]

Many thanks for the advice on specialization classes. After some further playing, I've decided to go with a combo of Blood Mage and Healer. :bow:

I would like also comment on how truly superb the AI scripting system is (represented by Combat Tactics). Every single time I go into that screen, I am amazed by just how versatile the system is. No matter what situation I can think of, I can create an accurate command trigger to adapt to it well. Playing as a mage, I find that I need to spend a lot of time controlling my own character, so having the others work on their own without my direct input is very useful. The DA:O system is so good that I'm heavily inclined to add more points to Combat Tactics for the NPCs to make them even more versatile as they get stronger.

This is one area in which Bioware have definitely surpassed both the Infinity Engine and the Aurora Engine. Overall, I'm very pleased with the Eclipse Engine. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes one of the classics of RPG gaming. :2thumbsup:

[FactionHeir]

Tactics can be quite useful but could significant work:

1. You cannot use AoE spells properly with tactics. For instance you can only target the nearest enemy with cone of cold, not use it when surrounded, as surrounded requires spells targetable to Self.

2. You cannot tell a caster via tactics to only cast a spell on a cahracter if that character doesn't already have that effect - Wynne used up all her mana in seconds mass casting Heroic Offense on my main.

3. Multi-condition tactics use the object in the last tactic condition as the target. Not exactly useful for your hostile target spells or buffs given certain situations - i.e. spell won't work.

4. No condition for character frozen/shatterable, so you can't use spells like stonefist properly via tactics.

5. You cannot select an ally who is surrounded by enemies, only allies bunched up with enemies (i.e. 2+ allies with 1+ enemy).

6. Nearest visible class is wonky. I want my mage only to cast a spell on a mage (or otherwise) and she casts spells on the nearest visible enemy regardless if mage or not.

I could go on...

Still, it has some good points, but overall it needs a lot of work.

Another thing they should have taken from NWN is that if your character kills an enemy, he should automatically target the next rather than stand around silly while controlled. In fact, the contolled char won't even fight back when attacked.

[TinCow]

I see what you mean, and I suspect I haven't encountered most of those issues because I never let the AI control the main character who does all my mage work. Despite those limitations, though, it's still a massive improvement over previous games. Even with heavily modded scripting, the AI scripts in the IE were very limited, and in the AE they were extremely primative. The flexibility and ease of use of the EE scripting interface is itself a huge improvement, and it doesn't seem like it would be very difficult for the things you're asking for to be added into that system via patch or mod.

The DA:O system is very flexible OOB and allows us to create characters that can survive very well under AI control, even if they're not as good as they would be under human control. I never expected Bioware to devote a lot of attention to a new AI scripting system, so this is a genuine surprise for me.

[rajpoot]

I have another question-

After killing the high dragon, the dragon bone armour one can get forged, is it leveled? Will it have better stats if I go get it after level 14? Like Oblivion?

[FactionHeir]

No, essentially the very first armor you let Wade make will always be basic. All armors thereafter will be of superior quality I believe. I gave him 3 drake, then 1 dragon then another 3 drake. First was normal Wade, then superior and then superior again.
Note that after he made you 3 suits of armor, the shop permanently closes

The nice thing about the dragonscale (not bone) armor (using dragon scale) is that your overall fatigue as a warrior will be just around 2 or so %, which is negligible. It can (oddly enough) also be combined with the nifty 100 gold armor Herren sells that is made of dragonscale to give you its -20% fatigue set bonus.

[frogbeastegg]

To continue the spoilered discussion between india and FactionHeir:
I read that it's supposed to be related to whether you paid Wade when offered the chance. If you pay him you get superior, if not regular.

[rajpoot]

Right I just tried the options myself.

He takes three drake scales to make the armour first time. It is basic alright. I hadn't slain the dragon then, so I simply gave him the remaining three drake scales. This time it was superior armour.
Finally, I killed the dragon and gave him the dragon scales, asked him to make massive dragon bone armour. This one isn't named superior or anything, simply 'Wade's <armour name>'......
The equipment apparently, is not scaled. I was afraid that it might be the same system as in Oblivion, where a special enchanted equipment you get at level 5, becomes useless by level 15......

BTW, the superman sword, what sort of stats does it have......I hate having the metal in my inventory and not being able to get it forged because I lack the DLC...

[Beskar]

For my tank, I set him to have threaten on and to taunt anyone who comes after-me. Since it is usually him or me or has aggro, it works very well. I have my healer mainly healing my tank, if surrounded, for the Bard to sing stun them, etc.

These are a few elements, but yeah, they work very well.

[Krusader]

Right I just tried the options myself.

He takes three drake scales to make the armour first time. It is basic alright. I hadn't slain the dragon then, so I simply gave him the remaining three drake scales. This time it was superior armour.
Finally, I killed the dragon and gave him the dragon scales, asked him to make massive dragon bone armour. This one isn't named superior or anything, simply 'Wade's <armour name>'......
The equipment apparently, is not scaled. I was afraid that it might be the same system as in Oblivion, where a special enchanted equipment you get at level 5, becomes useless by level 15......

BTW, the superman sword, what sort of stats does it have......I hate having the metal in my inventory and not being able to get it forged because I lack the DLC...

Meteorite weapon (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Starfang)

Although a two-hander from Circle Tower sidequest might be the same statswise. Don't remember the name though.
But I agree, it sucks that you need DLC to complete a quest. Bethesda didn't pull this kind of stuff with Oblivion or Fallout 3.

[seireikhaan]

Hmm...

For whatever reason, DA is not liking the clean install I did. The game is still entirely playable, but there's far more frequent "tears" and so forth, graphically, while playing the game. Its a bit off putting, and I'm not sure how to fix it.

[Monk]

Hmm...

For whatever reason, DA is not liking the clean install I did. The game is still entirely playable, but there's far more frequent "tears" and so forth, graphically, while playing the game. Its a bit off putting, and I'm not sure how to fix it.

If you're using an nvidia card it might be the Physx drivers as DA doesn't like them very much. Try disabling it.

I was having the exact same problem and this fixed it for me.

[seireikhaan]

If you're using an nvidia card it might be the Physx drivers as DA doesn't like them very much. Try disabling it.

I was having the exact same problem and this fixed it for me.
Using ATI, but I'll try it.

edit: I don't suppose you could tell me how to do that? :embarassed:

[Monk]

Using ATI, but I'll try it.

edit: I don't suppose you could tell me how to do that? :embarassed:

I think PhysX is an Nvidia only thing, i heard ATI has something similar but I don't know for sure and I wouldn't know how to turn it off. You might look in the video card's control panel that many of their drivers come bundled with. :shrug:

[FactionHeir]

I found I need to run DA using Vsync to prevent tearing.

Finally got my main to do a paltry 253 damage in 1 hit using the berserker final strike, but while it registers online and in my char sheet, it didn't net me the achieve ~:(
Leliana on the other hand regularly does 700+ using her arrow of slaying...so jealous.

My PC is now level 25 too (highest you can get it seems) and is 2 talents short of arrow of slaying (got all templar, berserker, warrior and sword/shield talents already). Argh.

To get XP quickly:

Buy lots of elfroots from the merchant at the elven camp. 99 elfroots for about 80 silver. Gets you some 800 xp. Compare that to giving 30 gold to the mercenaries for a mere 1000.

[seireikhaan]

I found I need to run DA using Vsync to prevent tearing.
Tried that, tried pretty much every setting to no avail. :no: I'm really hoping there's some kind of fix that can be released for this.

[Lemur]

Right I just tried the options myself.

He takes three drake scales to make the armour first time. It is basic alright. I hadn't slain the dragon then, so I simply gave him the remaining three drake scales. This time it was superior armour.
Finally, I killed the dragon and gave him the dragon scales, asked him to make massive dragon bone armour. This one isn't named superior or anything, simply 'Wade's <armour name>'
I went a different route:
I paid Wade for the first set, and he made normal drakescale armor. Then I paid him for the second set, and he made Wade's Superior Drake Armor. Then I gave him the dragon scales and he made Drake's Superior Dragonbone Armor. I think the issue is pay -- if you volunteer the coins, he makes the good stuff.

[LeftEyeNine]

I want to critical-hit all of you while on a frost giant potion and gone berserk :bigcry:

[rajpoot]

I went a different route:
I paid Wade for the first set, and he made normal drakescale armor. Then I paid him for the second set, and he made Wade's Superior Drake Armor. Then I gave him the dragon scales and he made Drake's Superior Dragonbone Armor. I think the issue is pay -- if you volunteer the coins, he makes the good stuff.


Are you sure? If he really does make the final dragon bone armour 'superior' on paying, then I'll reload an old save.....because from what I hear this is one of the best available massive armour without DLCs...

[FactionHeir]

I think paying increases the chance, but the very first armor will never be superior.

[Mailman653]

I haven't been able to put this game down since i bought it. I've autoleveled up some of my NPC's but now I see I could really use a healer and the autolevel up didn't help in that area.

[Monk]

I haven't been able to put this game down since i bought it. I've autoleveled up some of my NPC's but now I see I could really use a healer and the autolevel up didn't help in that area.

Indeed. Unfortunately if your PC isn't a mage, you really only have two options.

You'll meet your main healer in the Mage Tower quest but she may not "mesh" with your attitudes on how to treat people. If not, your only option for heals is to then start leveling Morrigan as a healer, of which she is average but not fantastic.

Invest in health potions at every store! :yes:

[FactionHeir]

I find you swim in potions by the end of the game, I pretty much kept to using lesser ones where possible and ended up with some 20 potent, 50 greater and 70 something normal health poultrices :grin:


And the final battle against the demon doesn't even require a single one...

[Monk]

I find you swim in potions by the end of the game, I pretty much kept to using lesser ones where possible and ended up with some 20 potent, 50 greater and 70 something normal health poultrices :grin:


And the final battle against the demon doesn't even require a single one...


I felt a fool when i learned the trick to killing the demon.

I did that fight the hard way however, as in no use of the siege engines. I fought The Dragon the way Chuck Norris did before me. With my bear hands.

On higher difficulties you get less potion drops and they heal you for far less per potion. :help:

[Mailman653]

Yeah I've noticed I'm spending serious money on potions and eventhough I've managed to level up Morrigan to healing just a bit, I think potions do a better job. That spoiler......interesting, I did not know that.

[Krusader]

Is it just me or does Wynne go mana-dry pretty fast when set to Healer tactic set?

I tweaked it a bit, removing Rock Armor being cast, as my sword&shield character and Sten picks up most mobs pretty easily, plus the few who gets by are easily taken out by Leliana) and initially set her to drink a "least powerful lyrium potion". Before I had noticed, I only had two powerful Lyrium potions left.

Compared that both my own character and Sten are set to drink potions at 50% health, I have lots of healing potions.

[Monk]

Is it just me or does Wynne go mana-dry pretty fast when set to Healer tactic set?

I tweaked it a bit, removing Rock Armor being cast, as my sword&shield character and Sten picks up most mobs pretty easily, plus the few who gets by are easily taken out by Leliana) and initially set her to drink a "least powerful lyrium potion". Before I had noticed, I only had two powerful Lyrium potions left.

Compared that both my own character and Sten are set to drink potions at 50% health, I have lots of healing potions.

She does, thanks to the Auras and Buffs she will use before she starts healing, in a fight she will spend around 40% of her overall mana just tossing support spells. In a standard fight with some minions it's nothing to worry about, but in a boss battle? :skull:

I deactivated most of her support tactics and have her focused solely on healing. I find that she's great in that regard and her mana lasts long when she's got a focused tactic set, if i need the support skills i'll just micro them. Wynne has also redeemed herself a bit in my eyes, thanks in part to the banter she provides when paired with Ohgren. Who knew the old bat had it in her? :laugh4:


Major spoilers on Shale, Orzammar and Shale's Companion quest.
I took Shale with me to the Anvil this time, and who would have known that Shale was actually a female? Have to say it caught me a bit off guard and led to some rather amusing banter with my PC, since she is female as well. Ceridin actually knew Shale in her past and expresses astonishment upon seeing her again, which opens some memories of Shale's past.

You can then (after going back to camp) venture to a lost Thaig in the Deep Roads and discover Shale's roots. The entire quest line is very interesting but I feel they could have done more with the climax, still, it was good to finally get some true background on the golem

[FactionHeir]

Didn't use the ballistae neither. Leliana was a master archer and my main has arrow of slaying too, so the dragon went from 50% to 25% pretty quickly.
Playing on hard and getting that many potions, you playing on nightmare or what? :grin:


I have some mixed feelings over item scaling. It just seems wrong that nearly everything you find post level 20 seems to be either dragonbone or the tier before that. I mean really, does every commoner have a dragonbone axe in their drawer? Of course those items are unenchanted and unsocketed, so they are good for nothing but gold.

And shameless plug/spoiler for my char's page

http://social.bioware.com/playerprofile.php?char_id=198442&display=character&nid=2281131561&game=dragonage

[Greyblades]

Ah that was fun.
The Urn of sacred ashes quest just had me kill off an entire villiage of crazy cultists, I feel like Nicolas Cage in The Wickerman.

[frogbeastegg]

38 hours now. I've got Shale, done some extreme lizard removal, and completed the "gather an army" quests. I'm now headed to the big city to have a polite chat with Mr Usurper.

Has anyone figured out where the game's title comes from? Dragon Age being the time period, and Origins being ...? The fact you can choose between 6 different character backgrounds? That would be dumb; might as well call it Dragon Age: Stat Distribution.

Does anyone else think that this game's going to be quite limiting on replay. I mean, the mage tower main quest offers such good rewards it's plainly best to do that first every time. Shale is such a good tank he makes the others a bit obsolete. If you're not the right class yourself and you want a healer you're practically forced to take Wynne, and if you want locks opening and traps disarming then it's Lelianna. Those characters then lock you out of certain plot choices. If you don't pick up the characters you want to use ASAP then the game will auto-level them and distribute their points in ways which might not fit in with your plans. I can see my 2 replays being spent going through in much the same order and with minor variations on the base party depending on my own class. The game's difficulty level makes it harder to take a sub-par group in order to hear the conversations.

In reply to Monk's Shale spoiler:
Didn't you talk to Shale much? I've found lots of conversational lines which pretty much give her gender away. "Do these crysals make me look wide?" and similar. Then there's the voice. It was a choice between female and extremely metrosexual.

I did love the girl talk after the discover in Orzamar. "Let's do girly things like crush heads so they fountain blood! Isn't female bonding wonderful? Rah!" (Paraphrased because I don't remember the full line). It was the "Rah!" which sent me into helpless laughter.

[AggonyDuck]

Well I found having Morrigan learn the simple heal spell enough for most of the fights in game. You really only need Wynne for the Dragons in the game. Leliana on the other hand did feel like a must and an added burden to the party. I did do some sections of the game without her, missing out on a lot of locked chests. Interestingly enough, almost none of the really good equipment is behind locked chests, so you can make do without a rogue.

[Monk]

In reply to Monk's Shale spoiler:
Didn't you talk to Shale much? I've found lots of conversational lines which pretty much give her gender away. "Do these crysals make me look wide?" and similar. Then there's the voice. It was a choice between female and extremely metrosexual.

I did love the girl talk after the discover in Orzamar. "Let's do girly things like crush heads so they fountain blood! Isn't female bonding wonderful? Rah!" (Paraphrased because I don't remember the full line). It was the "Rah!" which sent me into helpless laughter.

It took me two weeks to figure out the gender of my cat, how in the world am I expected to figure out an sans-gender golem? :help:

Also your paraphrase is pretty spot on.

As to party load-outs, i have to agree with AggonyDuck. I made it through the entire first play-through without Wynne, having given Morrigan the heal and heal over time spells and then focusing her on damage talents. It made the ffights with dragons tough, but they were certainly do-able. It also made the fight in the swamp (you know the one i mean!) very hard, but possible with clever tactics.

No healer? No problem! 1 tank, 3 ranged. Tank swims in health potions. Go go!

I have to admit I've been passing up locked chests quite often myself. In my first run I noticed they contain one of three things: Gifts, crafting reagents and potions. Gifts can be found in droves if you know the right Merchants to look for, crafting... does anyone actually craft in this game? Seriously. :dizzy2: And potions - well, those are the only things i really miss out on, but I can't be bothered to always keep Leliana/Zevron in my party.

EDIT:


If you don't pick up the characters you want to use ASAP then the game will auto-level them and distribute their points in ways which might not fit in with your plans.

Auto-leveling is completely optional for PC and is done on an individual basis. I have everyone use auto-leveling except PC, Morrigan (for healing purposes) and sometimes Shale who I all give points manually. The rest I let do as they please.

[frogbeastegg]

Making do without a rogue works until you enter one of those areas with enemy traps. I've had quite a few full party wipeouts when AI party members blundered onto traps in a battle. It's amazing how badly a few simple leghold traps can spoil your day. :blankg:

Maybe it's a console/PC difference but I've found that the basic healing spell isn't worth much when you are in a tough fight. My mage has a very high magic stat and the spell does around 1/5 to 1/4 of a healthbar. That's the same as the lowest level healing item. Most orange rated enemies do that much damage in a single hit. Group heal does far more and it covers everyone; I took spirit healer as a specialisation just to get group heal. Healing items would be a good alternative if only it were easier to control the entire party's actions on the console; the pre-set tactics don't quite get it right. Either they leave it too late or they use them when the fight's as good as over, meaning the item's wasted.

[Monk]

Making do without a rogue works until you enter one of those areas with enemy traps. I've had quite a few full party wipeouts when AI party members blundered onto traps in a battle. It's amazing how badly a few simple leghold traps can spoil your day. :blankg:

Maybe it's a console/PC difference but I've found that the basic healing spell isn't worth much when you are in a tough fight. My mage has a very high magic stat and the spell does around 1/5 to 1/4 of a healthbar. That's the same as the lowest level healing item. Most orange rated enemies do that much damage in a single hit. Group heal does far more and it covers everyone; I took spirit healer as a specialisation just to get group heal. Healing items would be a good alternative if only it were easier to control the entire party's actions on the console; the pre-set tactics don't quite get it right. Either they leave it too late or they use them when the fight's as good as over, meaning the item's wasted.

Out of curiosity what difficulty are you playing on?

One of the biggest differences I noticed when playing around with difficulty settings is how much life is refunded per heal. On Easy, a lesser health potion can refund near full life when you are around level 5. On Normal, that same level 5 might only get half that with the same type of potion

[FactionHeir]

Opening locks is not just for the loot really. Its mainly for the XP until you can get "free" xp from donations to your troops.

Re crafting, I agree its not exactly useful. Maybe a few swift salves and things here and there, but those are more for fun than necessity. Haven't tried Nightmare though, so maybe there. Nightmare supposedley reduces effect durations even more than Hard though, so it might also be a waste of money.
Also, crafting stuff seems to overall cost more than outright buying the item, which defeats the point behind it.

Btw, noticed something really useful today. If your quickslot bar is unlocked, you can drag it horizontally for additional slots. Lifesaver for a mage.

I've completed the game several times (well for the endings mainly) with my warrior and will be starting anew. I'm thinking human or dwarven rogue, since I already made an elf last month but put her down as mage. Might go dwarven since I already played the human origin....still, I'm not a big fan of RPing dwarves...

Will be interesting to see how your choices reflect differently in the epilogue.

[Mailman653]

The characters seen more chatty than the ones in ME which is awesome, the downside is I wish I could hear everyone interact sometimes.

[Beskar]

It took me two weeks to figure out the gender of my cat, how in the world am I expected to figure out an sans-gender golem? :help:

Also your paraphrase is pretty spot on.


Did your mother and father ever teach you the different between mummy cats and daddy cats?

[frogbeastegg]

Out of curiosity what difficulty are you playing on?
The default one ... normal? Standard? There's casual below it, and two others above. I've had to drop to casual for some fights. I beat Mass Effect on Insanity and I'm no RPG softie, but I can't for the life of me imagine playing on the two harder levels.

The difference in party viability must be down to the lack of effective full party control. The further I get the more I notice the shortcomings, omissions to the interface, and questionable decisions. You can take fragile characters like Zavran and babysit them into being useful. Me? Unless I control him all of the time he's a liability I can't afford.

You PC folk notice that your tank is down to 1/4 health and want him to use potion? You can pause the game, toggle control to him, select the potion and tell him to use it at leisure. You can then double check other party members status and the lay of the field, maybe give a few extra orders to help things along, and resume when you like.

Me? I have to toggle control while the game's still moving, hopping from one member to another until I reach the right one. With each hop I disrupt the tactics of the member I briefly control. If the character I want to reach is still alive by the time I get to him I can pause the game to pull up a menu and set a single command. I can't see anything much while doing this because the overlay fills most of the screen. The action only happens once I close the menu and it’s easy to cancel an action by accident if you attempt to do anything other than immediately exit. Theoretically I can pull up the command menu with any character and then toggle across to the one I want with the game paused .. in reality it's fiddly and tends to cause more AI troubles. Or I can set AI tactics and watch as it guzzles expensive health packs like there’s no limit on them, and also somehow manages to neglect to use them when it desperately needs to.

There's secondary issues as well which serve to inflate the difficulty. It's harder to me to effectively use AOE spells. The resurrection spell is so awkward to use it was a waste of my points - I can't target characters, I have to scan around to locate their unlabelled corpse from a camera angle that is not at all helpful. Consequentially once a character's down they're down for the duration. I can't do anything with formations, and my mage character has to lead from the front unless I care to play as someone else all the time. I have no way of sending my tanks into a room first unless I take control and lose the chance to send in a pre-emptive fireball with my mage. My AI party members will only start to engage once I use a normal attack (and why would a mage use normal attacks?) or the enemy start slashing me in the face. The more pro-active setting makes them sprint off across the field into all sorts of death traps. Despite setting decent tactics sets I notice my main tank standing around doing nothing in many battles, typically while I'm being used as a punch dummy. Because 3/4 of my party is AI controlled all of the time I need lots of tactics slots, and they only way I can get them is by buying the combat tactics skill. That means it takes me ages to get a full feature set, and I miss out on more useful skills as a consequence. I only have 6 quick slots for abilities and commands; anything not on that small list forces me to head off into the menus. Most of the time that's not a problem but it gets fiddly in heavy fights where I'm using a lot of spells and can't monitor the cooldown on most of them. It’s hard to tell when you can use a spell if the cooldown ‘clock’ is not in good contrast with the icon. That’s particularly an issue with dark icons. Traps in an area? The AI's drawn to them like moths to a flame and I can't quickly take control to steer them around.

Now I'm approaching the end game I need some pretty smart tactics to pull through battles in good order. Things like my archer plinking the enemy mage with arrows to stop them casting while my main tank draws in the melee hordes, my mage unleashes AOE pain on said horde, and my secondary melee dude wades in to break skulls where needed most. Unfortunately all I can manage is lobbing a fireball in at the start for splash damage and then hoping for the best.

They should have used a KOTOR style set up in addition to the tactics system. The ability to pause, hop to a character, queue up 3 commands, then hop to all of the others and do the same before unpausing would make a massive, massive difference. They should also hand out the tactics slots for free, perhaps 1 slot every 2 levels starting at level 2. When using a ranged AOE spell like fireball the camera should move to an aerial view. The resurrection spell should work by targeting the character portraits down the side of the screen.


until you can get "free" xp from donations to your troops
I've been meaning to ask, do you see any report of XP gained on your screen when you donate items? Or does it appear silently? I donate items and don't see any XP related text so I think I am gaining nothing.

[AggonyDuck]

Just as an interesting unrelated comment, I've been kitting out my main character, a Dwarven Warrior, with most of the attribute increasing equipment. He's got the Helm of Honnleath (+3 to all attributes), Starfang (+3 dexterity), Anduil's Blessing (+2 all attributes), Blood-Gorged Amulet (+12 Constitution, -3 strength and willpower), Key To The City (+2 all attributes) and Lifegiver (+10 Constitution). Having +29 on Constitution is pretty downright awesome as it has more or less doubled his hitpoints.

Needless to say, stacking all of the best attribute increasing on one of the characters really is a great option. My dual-wielding warrior is actually a stronger tank than Shale at the moment and is able to deal far greater damage as well. Its fun seeing a little mean dwarf take down hordes of enemies down by himself, even after the rest of the party has been out for the count for ages. :2thumbsup:

[FactionHeir]

frog:
No, there's no mention of amount of XP gained throughout the game, but hvoering your mouse above your XP bar gives you an indication of how many poitns you currently have. The rest is down to math. Gave a few numbers on the last page regarding which items give most XP for cost.

[Beskar]

I've been meaning to ask, do you see any report of XP gained on your screen when you donate items? Or does it appear silently? I donate items and don't see any XP related text so I think I am gaining nothing.

Look at your amount before and after donation.

I only found out because I donated a lot of herbs because I found stacks of 99 from Rucks to be dirt-cheap. I thought they were something inregards to the final battle, but when I leveled up after donating was when I realised you get xp for it. I posted about it earlier in the thread.

[Mailman653]

So thats what donating does.

[Meneldil]

38 hours now. I've got Shale, done some extreme lizard removal, and completed the "gather an army" quests. I'm now headed to the big city to have a polite chat with Mr Usurper.

Has anyone figured out where the game's title comes from? Dragon Age being the time period, and Origins being ...? The fact you can choose between 6 different character backgrounds? That would be dumb; might as well call it Dragon Age: Stat Distribution.


You got it right. It's even explicitely stated in the small manual. You chose your origin, so it's Dragon Age: Origins. Woohoo.

[Beskar]

The 6 origins are completely different and also, if you only play an RPG for best stats, you are playing a roleplaying game wrong. The whole thing about roleplaying games is that you 'role play'.

In this way, you can be a Dwarf Casteless as you like and play the game in those shoes. You don't do things for the best stats, you do things for what you want.

For my Dwarf companion, I stuck me in that Legion of the Dead dwarf armour, not because it was the best, because I wanted him in the Dwarf Armour and sort of played it as if he joined them.

[Krusader]

48 hours and done almost every quest I came across...missed one love letter.
And holding down TAB key often gives so much extra stuff as it highlights stuff you wouldn't think were there.

Allowed Morrigan to be pregnant, so did that ending. RP-wise my char wanted to stay with Leliana :grin: (although hint that it might not have lasted for long in epilogue)

I loved how the characters say goodbye to you when you are off to fight the battles before the Archdemon.
At the victory banquet, wondered why I did not see Alistair and Arl Eamon.
And also liked the epilogue of sorts. Seems like, me making Harrowmont King actually made it worse for Orzammar.


@frogbeastegg:
Dragon Age is indeed the current Age. I think the Origins, is because its the first Dragon Age game in a planned series (but also because you have six origins to pick from too). Mass Effect 2 will look up your old savegames from ME1 will it not? Maybe Dragon Age 2 will do the same, so you pick up where you left off in DA:O Ending seems to strongly suggest so
After all there are player profiles and whatnot on their social site.

[frogbeastegg]

Finished. At first the ending was rather good, then it blew itself to pieces in a most disappointing way.
There was lots of build up about the fact Alistair or the player character would have to die, which left my character in a very difficult position because of the romance. I decided my character should die, and went into the end part of the game with that knowledge looming over me. Made for a nice bit of atmosphere; in 99.9% of games you head into battle with the certainty your character will survive the credits sequence.

When the time came Alistair didn't give me a choice over who died slaying the arch demon. He made a damned good little speech, ran off while I was trying to tell him that I was the one who would finish it, snatched up a sword and killed it in a flashy cutscene. Very good indeed! Very flavoursome and somewhat unexpected. Then everyone immediately forgot he'd done anything, or that my character cared for him. He merited a "Poor boy!" from Wynne and a single sentence from what's her name the queen and that's it. Everyone was behaving as though it was the best day of my character's life, and going on about how I'd defeated the entire blight myself and gained everything I could have wanted. Zavran even made a weak pass at my character. Lelianna is forever going to be a heartless bitch in my mind because of her inane talk about the whole thing being like a nice stage play. This being the same character who started a lengthy conversation about how special Alistair and my character were, and how happy, and how pleased she was to see love blossom in terrible circumstances. Loghain the traitor got a statue, Alistair might as well not existed. Um, actually the hero's the dead guy, and I'm sort of a heart-broken widow so please reflect that with a bit of dialogue and maybe a 3 second shot of a funeral pyre!

With a bit more thought (actually, with any thought) they could have made that into a real bittersweet ending for the female Alistair romance line. That would have been good. Very good. Touching, even.

Oddly even though Alistair didn't get elected and didn't try to get elected, the game suddenly started treating him as the king during the final battle sequence. He gave a speech before the battle in which he claimed to be king, and his speech to me included some lines about how he was king and that dying for his kingdom was his duty.

Huh. They also kept telling me how I'd got my entire life ahead of me, happy happy joy joy, it's all fun and games from here on out, happily ever after with extra rainbows. Nope, as a grey warden I've got a decade or two of nightmares and blight related problems before I go mad and head off on a suicide mission. Another chance for a nice bit of bitter sweet in the ending thrown away.


The 6 origins are completely different and also, if you only play an RPG for best stats, you are playing a roleplaying game wrong. The whole thing about roleplaying games is that you 'role play'.
My point is that they apparently named the game after a character building mechanic. They should have named it after something related to the main plot since that's what the game's about. It took over 45 hours to finish ... and they apparently named it after the 1 hour long selectable intro. :dizzy2:


...


Speaking of origins, I'm going to give the mage origin a thumbs down. In addition to a tedious opening quest that recycled material from the main plot line I got a handful of extra dialogue lines in various conversations and a few more different lines in the main mage tower quest, and that was it. I was expecting some reaction to the fact I was a member of a group treated with fear and suspicion, the kind of person whom the influential church viewed as half damned by mere fact of being alive and whom the populace at large considered to be a walking timebomb. Over and over I was told how distrusted mages are, that parents would abandon or murder their children if they found they had magic, that I'd be killed if I so much as looked at anyone wrongly, and there was an entire segment of the main plot which demonstrated why this attitude existed and the lengths people would go to. none of that mattered; when I introduced myself as a mage people reacted in the same uncaring way I'd expect them to if I announced I was a turnip seller.

I suspect the mage origin might be the worst of the 6. I've heard snippets of what happens in the other 5 and yup, they sound miles more original. I'll play through the remaining origin stories tomorrow, and then decide if I want a city elf or a dwarf commoner for my rogue character.

For those who haven't played it, the mage origin in a nutshell is:
Go through fade sequence involving several conversations and two battles, spot the obvious trick. Return to tower and talk to people. Run about the tower and talk to people. Get forced (either you choose to help him or you betray him and get told to pretend to help him so there's no practical difference) into helping an idiot who is meant to be your lifelong friend into escaping, an action which will mark you for a death sentence according to the lore you've seen thus far. Trot through a linear, short dungeon killing the odd enemy. The rubbish plan fails precisely as you knew it would from the moment you heard it, your friend shows that he's as corrupted as you suspected, and leaves you in the lurch. Enter grey warden to recruit the fallen prodigy.

[seireikhaan]

I'll play through the remaining origin stories tomorrow, and then decide if I want a city elf or a dwarf commoner for my rogue character.

I rather liked the city elf origin(done with a female), mostly for one particular line that just made my day:

Where's the :daisy: that bottle'd me?!

[Beskar]

I rather liked the city elf origin(done with a female), mostly for one particular line that just made my day:

Where's the :daisy: that bottle'd me?!

I like the convo with the king, but I think it might be the same as the female one. However, I did it as a male.

[FactionHeir]

I've played through the human and dwarf origins so far and one thing I disliked about the dwarf noble one is the inevitability of your character's fate. Even if you were gracious at the provings -> helmet. Other than that they were fairly alright, but human remains my favorite.

[Monk]

I've played through the human and dwarf origins so far and one thing I disliked about the dwarf noble one is the inevitability of your character's fate. Even if you were gracious at the provings -> helmet. Other than that they were fairly alright, but human remains my favorite.

Signed, though City Elf comes a very close second. I found Dallish to be.. lacking, and I haven't done the dwarven ones yet. :no:

[Kekvit Irae]

Jeez, my Steam page clocks me in at 113.9 hours of Dragon Age gameplay this week. I think I might be addicted. :juggle2:

So far, I've played an entire game with a City Elf and a Human Mage, and I'm extremely pleasant with how the origins all fit into the gameplay itself. If you play a City Elf, you will be treated much better in the Alienage once you return to Denerim, as well as getting access to the shop again.

As far as companions go, Sha(y)le is my absolute favorite. You learn of Shale's past during the Paragon Of Her Kind quest line (provided you have Shale in your party during that point), and it's pretty deep for a DLC character. Shale also has a LOT of dialogue, and I think the best part of the entire game was the cutscene after getting Shale when you leave the village. Shale stomps on a chicken, and when you turn back to look, Shale just shrugs in a comical manner. Easily one of the funniest cutscenes in the game, along with the Superman homage in the Warden's Keep DLC.

[FactionHeir]

If you play a City Elf, you will be treated much better in the Alienage once you return to Denerim, as well as getting access to the shop again.


Afaik my human noble had access to the alienage shop too after completing that quest.

Actually, "too" is a misnomer here, so far in the city elf origin, I have not been able to use the shop at all.


Signed, though City Elf comes a very close second. I found Dallish to be.. lacking, and I haven't done the dwarven ones yet. :no:

Tbh the dwarf noble was quite lenghty too without getting overly boring. Commoner just seemed way too short.

[frogbeastegg]

That's the 5 other origins completed. The two dwarven ones and the city elf origin do a lot to fill in background gaps in the main campaign.

I'd rank them from best to worst:
City elf
Dwarf noble
Dwarf commoner, very slightly behind dwarf noble.
Human noble
Dalish elf
A massive gap
Mage

I wish I hadn't done mage first. My city elf dual-wielding rogue is much more fun, both for gameplay and for storyline. Fits in perfectly with the character outline I had in mind to see the more selfish endings; why should I sacrifice anything for those humans? Hehe, the background specific introduction to Cailen was priceless.
"A city elf, eh? What did you do there?"
"I killed the noble who raped my friend."
"Ah ... Oh. Well I need to be going now, catch you later!"

Followed by calling the king an idiot when talking with Duncan later.

Dwarf noble was damnably good fun, it's not often you get to be imperious and have people bow at you. I've found the background for my warrior playthrough. Can't wait to do the big Orzamar quest with that set up :evil grin:

[Mailman653]

I wish the game had some kind of crate in camp to put things in, it sucks having to lug around some armor or weapon waiting for the character you want to give it to levels up to use it. There is that wardens keep dlc though....I don't know, I don't want to shell out the MS points for it :no:

I wonder if they will take Leiliana's nug as a trade in :laugh4: I found out she named it last night but I forgot the name already, Oghren had something to say about that :yes:

[FactionHeir]

In the Warven Noble one you lose your inventory, I was wondering if you actually ever get it back?
Reason is cuz I lose all the DLC that way :tongue2:

[frogbeastegg]

In the Warven Noble one you lose your inventory, I was wondering if you actually ever get it back?
Reason is cuz I lose all the DLC that way :tongue2:
Yes, you lose everything. Bioware are looking into a fix.

[Veho Nex]

there is a mod for it mailman. http://www.damods.com/forums/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=13

[Zenicetus]

My point is that they apparently named the game after a character building mechanic. They should have named it after something related to the main plot since that's what the game's about. It took over 45 hours to finish ... and they apparently named it after the 1 hour long selectable intro. :dizzy2:

I'm not sure that's the only interpretation. As Bioware's first original (non-D&D) fantasy game, it introduces the world's lore, races, and magic system. I'm sure some modders will attempt total conversion mods, but I would assume that most upcoming expansions and mods will use this new fantasy world as a framework, like people used D&D for previous games. In that sense, I think "Origins" is a pretty good title for introducing a new (if somewhat un-original) fantasy world for gaming.


Speaking of origins, I'm going to give the mage origin a thumbs down. In addition to a tedious opening quest that recycled material from the main plot line I got a handful of extra dialogue lines in various conversations and a few more different lines in the main mage tower quest, and that was it. I was expecting some reaction to the fact I was a member of a group treated with fear and suspicion, the kind of person whom the influential church viewed as half damned by mere fact of being alive and whom the populace at large considered to be a walking timebomb. Over and over I was told how distrusted mages are, that parents would abandon or murder their children if they found they had magic, that I'd be killed if I so much as looked at anyone wrongly, and there was an entire segment of the main plot which demonstrated why this attitude existed and the lengths people would go to. none of that mattered; when I introduced myself as a mage people reacted in the same uncaring way I'd expect them to if I announced I was a turnip seller.

That surprised me a little too, especially since I'm playing a blood mage ("Fear me!" "What, you're not fearing me?" "I have to pay full price for this flask?"). I guess it's just a typical resource allocation problem, where the devs couldn't afford (maybe for reasons of download time or disk space) to script and voice-act a separate dialog tree just for mages. Or any of the other classes, for that matter, since they would have to treat all classes equally.


when I introduced myself as a mage people reacted in the same uncaring way I'd expect them to if I announced I was a turnip seller.

Also true, but I think it's part of a larger problem with most RPG's. The game world and NPC interactions don't track your character's progress from a kid fresh off the farm, to a demigod by the end of the game.

Playing Fallout 3, I get the exact same reaction strolling into some dinky refugee town, whether I'm straight out of the vault wearing pajamas, or a walking death machine wearing power armor and carrying alien weaponry. Same dialog, same blase' reactions from the NPC's. It was like that in The Witcher too, or Mass Effect towards the ends of those games. People should be backing away quietly, if not running for their lives at the mere sight of you. Everyone except the most powerful opponents, that is. Just once, I'd like to play an RPG that worked this way, because it starts to look ridiculous when you get near the end of the game.

[FactionHeir]

Thanks for the info frog, any information on whether they'll be fixing the effects staying on dead bodies? (i.e. ice, paralysis etc)
Reason being if you have a high magic mage (say 60+ like Morrigan in my game) and kill an enemy with ice/paralysis on, their corpse won't give loot until the spell wears off and if its a plot related body, the quest won't update/continue until that happens. Especially annoying in some sections where the next wave of enemies only appears after the current wave is dead.

[frogbeastegg]

Also true, but I think it's part of a larger problem with most RPG's. The game world and NPC interactions don't track your character's progress from a kid fresh off the farm, to a demigod by the end of the game.
Other RPGs didn't promise better, that's why it's irksome in DA:O. They said that your choice of origin will influence the way you experience the world and have repercussions throughout the game. That's supposed to be the whole attraction of the origin system.

I am definitely finding that my city elf is getting a much more tailored experience. Humans calling him knife ears or other degrading names, sneering at him for being a racial inferior, or patronising him as an elf who is working hard to better himself and be almost as good as a human.


Thanks for the info frog, any information on whether they'll be fixing the effects staying on dead bodies? (i.e. ice, paralysis etc)
Not sure. Xbox and PC have different patches and schedules. There's been 1 PC patch already and nothing for the xbox; I haven't seen any confirmation that they're looking into any of the minor yet annoying issues with the console version.

[rajpoot]

Just finished Nature of the Beast and Leliana sang a song at camp after that. I was wondering if anyone knew what exactly was she singing? I have the subtitle option on, but I couldn't see any lyrics, elvish or otherwise....

[FactionHeir]

Its called "Leliana's Song" in the soundtrack that came with the collector's. I think its sung in Welsh (?) just like other songs by that artist.

[rajpoot]

Lyrics?

It's become my favourite moment in the game as yet...They could've used it for something more momentous, but, anyhow, it's very nice, and atmospheric; The way they show the companions one by one.

[Zenicetus]

I am definitely finding that my city elf is getting a much more tailored experience. Humans calling him knife ears or other degrading names, sneering at him for being a racial inferior, or patronising him as an elf who is working hard to better himself and be almost as good as a human.

Weird, I don't get much of that with my elf mage. Mostly he's just addressed as "Warden" with a degree of deference from most NPC's. I wonder if there are some alignment triggers there, since I'm playing this as a mostly neutral character leaning a bit towards the good or unselfish side when it comes to the major plot choices.

Are you playing your city elf with evil/selfish dialog choices? Or maybe it's tied to the non-Mage origin story for elves?

[Greyblades]

I just found sandal (the enchanter dwarf) in a tower near the end of the game bloodied and surrounded by piles of darks spawn. Blimey if he did that I wonder if I can recruit him into my party.

[Monk]

I just found sandal (the enchanter dwarf) in a tower near the end of the game bloodied and surrounded by piles of darks spawn. Blimey if he did that I wonder if I can recruit him into my party.

That was a rather amusing moment, I thought.

"Sandal! What in the world happened here?"
"ENCHANTMENT!"

[Greyblades]

I don't think I'll ever look at him in the same light again.

[Krusader]

Other RPGs didn't promise better, that's why it's irksome in DA:O. They said that your choice of origin will influence the way you experience the world and have repercussions throughout the game. That's supposed to be the whole attraction of the origin system.


Been playing Dalish Elf for a bit and I see no anti-Elven reactions so far, compared to what I'd expect from pre-release info. Also, apart from a templar taking notice of Morrigan in Lothering, I haven't seen anyone reacting negatively to me having an apostate in my party. Although it was refreshing seeing people in Lothering reacting somewhat negatively to me having Sten in party.

I also did not pick up Blood magic abilities from Warden's Keep DLC, as I thought that would come back to haunt me (due to blood magic being diabolical). And reading about people playing Mages who face no negativity when going Blood Mage specialization, well it detracts from the whole experience so to say. I expected that Blood Magic would be powerful, but that you'd face problems with Chantry & Templars/Alistair if you used it.


Lyrics?

It's become my favourite moment in the game as yet...They could've used it for something more momentous, but, anyhow, it's very nice, and atmospheric; The way they show the companions one by one.

No idea on lyrics. I liked how it showed the other companions, but I found Leliana's mouth to not synch well with the words. They could have done that part better in my opinion.
---

And regarding Sandal...I had vivid mental images of him bashing darkspawn with enchanting tools while gleefully yelling "Enchantment!!" Although I wondered where Bodahn went off to and actually looked around the corpses to see if he was among them.

[Vladimir]

Its called "Leliana's Song" in the soundtrack that came with the collector's. I think its sung in Welsh (?) just like other songs by that artist.

That and the "good" ending to the werewolf saga are what saved the game for me. I am very impressed.

Also, for the most part I notice that this is a "finished" product.