Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[rajpoot]

I think that none of the regular rules apply to the player character, since he/she is a Grey Warden. I think there's something Riordan says about everyone from a thief to a king being allowed to be a Grey Warden, during the landsmeet bit.

[TinCow]

I think that none of the regular rules apply to the player character, since he/she is a Grey Warden. I think there's something Riordan says about everyone from a thief to a king being allowed to be a Grey Warden, during the landsmeet bit.

Yet there are still a lot of actions that the PC can take to alienate the NPCs and even make them try to kill the PC. It's just seems odd that no one even thinks it's worth a raised eyebrow and a -1 to your influence for having the PC be a blood mage. Putting it into context, during the Landsmeet, Loghain had countered my arguments against him with "This Grey Warden is a Blood Mage!" it would have made a lot of sense if that swayed some of the nobles to his side. Given that Blood Mages were the original cause of the blights in the first place, I can't see the nobility reacting well to it in a power struggle.

I can understand no negative consequences for the Ravager (or whatever the 'evil' warrior specialization is called), since it's never really discussed much in the game. However, Bioware put a TON of content into the game about Blood Mages, and almost all of it is about just how extremely bad it is and how Blood Mages are considered outright evil by most of the kingdom.

[Lemur]

Bioware put a TON of content into the game about Blood Mages, and almost all of it is about just how extremely bad it is and how Blood Mages are considered outright evil by most of the kingdom.

And here we also hit a game balance absurdity; as we see in the mage origin story, a single low-level blood mage can take out an entire squad of Templars, but when you try it out for yourself, it's a pretty average spec. So in NPCs blood magery is uber and forbidden, but for the PC it's tepid and unremarkable.

Methinks it would have made more sense to not allow the PC to dabble as a blood mage at all.

[Kekvit Irae]

but when you try it out for yourself, it's a pretty average spec

Until you get Blood Wound, which is what I suspect Jowan used.

Also, in a certain conversation in the game (I believe Warden's Keep), the main character makes a point that Blood Magic is not forbidden to Grey Wardens. So perhaps they are immune to the wrath of the Templars?

[Europe]

I'm particularly impressed as well with how this game has handled two subjects that have been almost totally taboo in gaming: homosexuality and mental handicaps.

Tiax rules all! You are but the grease for the wheels of his rule. Silent the squeaking of those that protest, he rules all!

[TinCow]

Tiax rules all! You are but the grease for the wheels of his rule. Silent the squeaking of those that protest, he rules all!

Tiax is not handicapped! Tiax is superior!

[Vladimir]

When they combine those two with midgets I'll be impressed. Not a moment sooner.

[rajpoot]

Incase anyone's interested, I finally managed to find the lyrics for Leliana's song....Had been looking for them high and low since the first time I heard it ingame.....
Turns out the lyrics do appear in you codex entries, with a translation after reading the 'song book'....it just doesn't seem like it because in the actual song, she pronounces the words very differently than you'd expect. I felt silly when I realised it.

The 'elven' lyrics are -
Hahren na melana sahlin
emma ir abelas
souver'inan isala hamin
vhenan him dor'felas
in uthenera na revas

vir sulahn'nehn
vir dirthera
vir samahl la numin
vir lath sa'vunin --> [2]

It translates as -
Elder your time is come
now I am filled with sorrow
weary eyes need resting
heart has become grey and slow
in waking sleep is freedom

we sing, rejoice
we tell the tales
we laugh and cry
we love one more day

BTW can anyone recognise the language now? It most certainly isn't the 'elvish' Tolkien used....Or maybe they just made it up themselves?

[Vladimir]

Semitic, Sanscrit?? I have no idea. Great find though!

[Meneldil]

Pretty sure they invented their own language. First, they want to create their own original background (which is kind of a failure), and secondly, taking Tolkien's elvish (or D&D's) for instance would create legal issues.

[al Roumi]

When they combine those two with midgets I'll be impressed. Not a moment sooner.

Ahem, while you can't engage in that sort of thing with the er, enchanted dwarf, should you wish to play as a dwarf you can get some appalingly rendered Dwarf-on-Elf Zevran action. I still shudder at the thought.

Lol, that would be like Gimli and Legolas going at it in the ridden mark.

[rajpoot]

Well they did a good job of inventing it then....it sounds quite....real, in the song.
Now for the lyrics of the other one, the last song, 'I am the One' Maybe I'll find them in the third playthrough.

And that dwarf Sandal, I sure would like to see some DLC or something, maybe a story in a new novel or the next game, as to what really is the deal with him. He's pretty creepy standing there all alone, near the end, saying nothing but 'Enchantment!' all the time.....

Edit: Not sanskrit ...they as good as force us to study that for five years in school here.....

[Durallan]

Epic Awesome Epic game and I looooooved every minute I played of it!

[Lemur]

Lol, that would be like Gimli and Legolas going at it in the ridden mark.

I'm pretty sure there's an entire genre of Legolas/Gimli fan-made porn out there. And no, I'm not going to Google it, and neither should you.

[johnhughthom]

I'm pretty sure there's an entire genre of Legolas/Gimli fan-made porn out there. And no, I'm not going to Google it again, and neither should you.

.

The internet is a scary place.

[Vladimir]

Playing with the patch is incredibly easy. I'll take the frustration of the random scambush over a low maximum difficulty.

[Meneldil]

Return to Ostagar will be released the 24th or 29th, don't remember exactly.

[Mailman653]

Dragon Age Expansion Confirmed, DLC Delayed

Doesn't the price tag seem excessive? I've read on the Xbox360 forums that new expansion adds 15+hrs of game play.

[TinCow]

$40 for a real expansion pack is fine, but 15 hours isn't a real expansion pack.

[Mailman653]

Dragon Age: Origins Expansion Announced
Written Tuesday, January 05, 2010 by Richard Walker


According to (what appears to be) a press release from EA and BioWare, the two companies are finally laying rumours to rest in announcing Dragon Age: Origins - Awakenings, a tasty new expansion pack for - you guessed it - Dragon Age: Origins.

The pack, which will retail in the US for the princely sum of $39.99, will hits shops this spring and sees you adopting the role of a Grey Warden following the events of Dragon Age: Origins in the land of Amarthine.

Your mission - should you choose to accept it - is to rebuild the order of legendary warriors while dealing with such new threats as the fearsome Inferno Golem and scary-sounding Spectral Dragon as well as the mysterious 'Architect'.

You'll also discover new secrets of the Darkspawn, but not before taking advantage of being able to port over and customise your existing Dragon Age character (if you want to that is).

Awakenings also raises the level cap as well as adding new items, abilities and spells to your repertoire. Throw in the inclusion of a new Grey Warden character from the land of Orlais and five new party members to recruit and you have what should prove to be a very enticing package indeed.

Details about the size of the expansion are yet to be revealed, but for the price we think it'd be fair to say that we expect a fair chunk of bang for our buck.

Over to Dr. Ray Muzyka to sum up, "Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening shows BioWare's commitment to our fans by delivering new story-driven experiences which enrich the dark heroic fantasy universe our fans have come to know and love. The vibrant worldwide community of Dragon Age fans will relish uncovering the secret motivations of the darkspawn, revealing how the darkspawn continue to infest the world despite the defeat of the Archdemon."

Amen, sir. Amen.
-xbox360achievements.org

http://forums.xbox.com/30629547/ShowPost.aspx

[Scienter]

Concerns re: playing this expansion with a character that has already completed the main quest:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Morrigan leaves after you kill the Archdemon, so if you want her in your party, do you have to do the expansion before finishing the main quest? Also, if you pick Alistair as king, does that mean you can’t use him in the expansion?

[seireikhaan]

Forty dollars? For what? An add-on campaign? Er.... I might have to pass on that, at least until a proper sale comes 'round.

[Meneldil]

Not surprised the new character is from Orlais, though it's retard if it's another plate wearing dude (which is more than likely if he's orlaisian). The game has already enough plate characters as it is.

As for the fact it's going to cost as much as a regular game, that is indeed retard as hell. Since it's no multiplayer game, I'll probably wait for the sales aswell.

[rajpoot]

I don't think having anyone from the vanilla (save the elf and the dog) in the party would be possible.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Morrigan for on leaves the party no matter what. Everyone goes one way or the other, save the elf, who is the only character who I think asks if he can follow the warden (in the celebration party at the end, when you talk to him)

Considering that the xpack is set chronologically after the game, while I think we may see some of the old companions here and there but most of them would be new. Else what the epilogue in the game says, it won't make sense any longer.

15 hours is short for an expansion, and I have a feeling that is might be more like a very large DLC than an expansion. Maybe that is why they delayed Return to Ostagar so that they could bunch it up with the 'expansion' to provide more content.

Anyhow, I'll still be getting it. I finished the book, the Calling a week back, and I can't wait to see what the Architect is upto 20 years later......

And let's hope that this series keeps going strong till 'DA:3' atleast...can't get enough of the game.

[Krusader]

40 $ for 15 hours...I think I'll pass as well, until Steam has it on sale for what...20 €.

Then again people paid same amount for Medal of Honour addons didn't they and those only had 5-6 hours of content...longer than Modern Warfare 2 actually.

[AggonyDuck]

Bioware's estimations of hours of gameplay tend to be a bit lower than they actually are.

[Greyblades]

I'm still getting used to full games costing over £35 that much for an expansion is pretty steep.

[Beskar]

Concerns re: playing this expansion with a character that has already completed the main quest:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Morrigan leaves after you kill the Archdemon, so if you want her in your party, do you have to do the expansion before finishing the main quest? Also, if you pick Alistair as king, does that mean you can’t use him in the expansion?

by the looks of it, the expansion is more like a sequel in expansion form. You basically will not be using the same character you used in the main-game todate, though you can port them over to carry on using them. (in gameplay terms, you are just a graywarden who just happens to have the same equipment, name and looks. But a different person)


As for the "15 hours" wasn't Dragon Age only meant to be like "20 hours" or similar? Even though it took 36 hours for me for one playthrough on my first character?

[Krusader]

by the looks of it, the expansion is more like a sequel in expansion form. You basically will not be using the same character you used in the main-game todate, though you can port them over to carry on using them. (in gameplay terms, you are just a graywarden who just happens to have the same equipment, name and looks. But a different person)


As for the "15 hours" wasn't Dragon Age only meant to be like "20 hours" or similar? Even though it took 36 hours for me for one playthrough on my first character?

Ive read 100 hours, 80 hours and whatnot.

[Beskar]

Was it? My mistake then. I thought it was around 20-30 hour mark.