Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[Mailman653]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/dl...agon-age/60438
Trailer

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Talking Darkspawn!

Something that got me thinking after watching that is if your choices in the game will carry over into the expansion like in ME1-2.

For example what if you keep Logain in your party in the end and sacrifice yourself, does that mean he will be around in the expansion?

15 hrs seems so little though.....I'm sure on my first day with DO I must of easily logged in seven hours or more, I was completely hooked on it. Finishing a $40 expansion in two days sounds like a bad investment if you want to get the most out of your money.

But, it's still awesome and I'm sure I'll get it sooner or later either at that price or less, Bioware appears to be a developer which you can trust to put out quality work.

[Ironside]

Official homepage for the expansion is up. http://dragonage.bioware.com/awakening

Alistair certainly seems back. If he's the returning party member or just king isn't explained in the trailer (1 old and 5 new party members).

[Vladimir]

Official homepage for the expansion is up. http://dragonage.bioware.com/awakening

Alistair certainly seems back. If he's the returning party member or just king isn't explained in the trailer (1 old and 5 new party members).

That whiny little ! The main reason I wanted him to be king is so that I could take the throne from him.

[Beskar]

In the trailer, definitely looks like Alistair is the King, which also helps in fighting the Darkspawn.

As for the talking Darkspawn, for some reason, I got the feeling it used to be an ex-warden, hence how it is powerful.

[Scienter]

That whiny little ! The main reason I wanted him to be king is so that I could take the throne from him.

Heh, I really liked him as a tank. Usually a big battle involved my party all dying (even Shale!) and then Alistair killing everything by himself.

[Meneldil]

I don't think Alistair is the one coming back in the party. He's either dead or king.

My bets are for Morrigan, because all players love her. Men think she's hot and funny, and women would like to be her.

[Beskar]

I don't think Alistair is the one coming back in the party. He's either dead or king.

My bets are for Morrigan, because all players love her. Men think she's hot and funny, and women would like to be her.

I highly doubt it will be Morrigan because she runs off and disappears with the ancient god child in her womb.

It is a shame there aren't more return characters, or even a chance for the different characters to meet eachother

[rajpoot]

I don't think Alistair is the one coming back in the party. He's either dead or king.

I think the description said that you can see the returning party member in the video....And the only familiar face I saw was Alistair.....Plus at one point in the video he says something along the lines of, "I was beginning to miss killing all the darkspawn".......

[Vladimir]

Heh, I really liked him as a tank. Usually a big battle involved my party all dying (even Shale!) and then Alistair killing everything by himself.

He always ended up dying on me. All those points I had to add to strength took away from his stamina. With the chaotic fight difficulty my dog was often the only one left. He didn't need to the strength so was the healthiest.

I really don't like how the dog character joined a non-human noble party. It seemed too contrived but made great sense if you started off as a human noble.

[Scienter]

I really don't like how the dog character joined a non-human noble party. It seemed too contrived but made great sense if you started off as a human noble.

I played a human noble, how does the dog join if you play as something else? I liked the dog, and used him a lot until I got other warrior NPCs. If Alistair can't join my party in the expansion, hopefully I can have Oghren. I kept him in my party because he was so amusing.

[Beskar]

I played a human noble, how does the dog join if you play as something else? I liked the dog, and used him a lot until I got other warrior NPCs. If Alistair can't join my party in the expansion, hopefully I can have Oghren. I kept him in my party because he was so amusing.

You remember when your greywarden companions hears about the quest about the sick dogs and recommends you take back the leaves? When you are not a Human Noble, you pick up the quest directly from the hound keeper, and you get to see this sick dog, and you can assist him by getting him the leaves. Once you done the quest and gave the leaves, the man and the dog thanks you. After when you fought those darkspawn, and get saved by Flemmeth, and head off with Alistaire and Morrigan, you stop at one of those incidences and a bunch of Dark Spawn attack you, and the dog joins in the help save the day. Then after killing them, you can keep the dog and name him, etc.

[Meneldil]

I played a human noble, how does the dog join if you play as something else? I liked the dog, and used him a lot until I got other warrior NPCs. If Alistair can't join my party in the expansion, hopefully I can have Oghren. I kept him in my party because he was so amusing.

All warriors characters are complete rubbish AFAIK. Orghren and Sten don't dish out half the damages of a mage or of a rogue. Too slow, too quickly out of stamina. My level 8 rogue's already better than my level 20 Sten from the previous playthrough.

As for Alistair, he's simply subpar when compared to Shale.

[Vladimir]

All warriors characters are complete rubbish AFAIK. Orghren and Sten don't dish out half the damages of a mage or of a rogue. Too slow, too quickly out of stamina. My level 8 rogue's already better than my level 20 Sten from the previous playthrough.

So true. Get a rogue in light armor with daggers and quick strike, or whatever that skill is called, and a few ways to stun the opponent, and the rogue is sooo powerful.

Put the dwarf in heavy armor with a two-handed weapon and the rogue can get in half a dozen strikes in the time it takes the dwarf to miss with one.

[Zenicetus]

All warriors characters are complete rubbish AFAIK. Orghren and Sten don't dish out half the damages of a mage or of a rogue. Too slow, too quickly out of stamina. My level 8 rogue's already better than my level 20 Sten from the previous playthrough.

Warriors in this game are not there for causing maximum damage. Similar to other party-based games like WoW, they're for attracting and holding aggro, and surviving while the other party members do the damage. If a warrior in heavy plate could cause the kind of damage an offense-spec'd mage or a rogue could do, there wouldn't be any reason to play the other classes. It's a defensive, crowd control class.

I never had a problem with Alastair or other tanks dying too soon, as long as I had either A) lots of health pots in inventory and the tactics set for warriors to drink 'em, or B) Wynne in the party as a healer.

And yeah... Shale is the ultimate hybrid tank/damage dealer, but I enjoyed my second playthrough with Alistair instead of Shale, mainly because I could actually use the heavy armor and weapons in the game that were useless with Shale as a tank.

[rajpoot]

I beg to disagree. A two handed warrior in good quality medium armour with more points in willpower and constitution than strength can deal amazing amounts of damage.
Two handed weapons are specifically for damage dealing. Had the warrior meant to be played simply as a tank a shield would have sufficed.
Accessorising the warrior properly is important though, rings and pendants which improve physical resistance/defense or increase strength etc....

Edit: A warrior in massive armour though, that is useless for damage dealing, and only serves the function of a tank.......kind of senseless that king Cailan was shown carrying that big sword and wearing big armour.

[Beskar]

I beg to disagree. A two handed warrior in good quality medium armour with more points in willpower and constitution than strength can deal amazing amounts of damage.

You sure that is correct?

[rajpoot]

First character I played was a two handed warrior.....
Lower strength means that normal damage is low, but high willpower means that you can use the talents again and again.....Plus there are quite a few trinkets in game that increase strength.....

Ofcourse one needs to have access to the nice talents so that means that in the lower levels it's not all that good.....But in the later part of the game with higher tier armour and stuff two handed warrior is pretty good.

BTW is there any way to create a stamina potion using deep mushrooms?

I play at normal difficulty level by the way.

[Beskar]

First character I played was a two handed warrior.....
Lower strength means that normal damage is low, but high willpower means that you can use the talents again and again.....Plus there are quite a few trinkets in game that increase strength.....

Hah, I did as well, but I literially piled everything into Strength.

Though, I got to the point where I wore Massive Armour for the looks, as I was that powerful, along with doing similar with all my characters.

[Meneldil]

Warriors in this game are not there for causing maximum damage. Similar to other party-based games like WoW, they're for attracting and holding aggro, and surviving while the other party members do the damage. If a warrior in heavy plate could cause the kind of damage an offense-spec'd mage or a rogue could do, there wouldn't be any reason to play the other classes. It's a defensive, crowd control class.

I never had a problem with Alastair or other tanks dying too soon, as long as I had either A) lots of health pots in inventory and the tactics set for warriors to drink 'em, or B) Wynne in the party as a healer.

And yeah... Shale is the ultimate hybrid tank/damage dealer, but I enjoyed my second playthrough with Alistair instead of Shale, mainly because I could actually use the heavy armor and weapons in the game that were useless with Shale as a tank.

Huh, simply no. Sword and shield warriors (such as Alistair) are meant to be played as tanks, true. But dual weilding or two handed warriors are meant as DPS class. They actually have less crowd control than a rogue, and if you play them right, they won't wear a heavy armor anyway.

Oghren and Sten are the worst characters in game. Low DPS, low survavibility, slow attack, high miss rates... A full Dex rogue can tank much better than them (by avoiding litterally all attacks), will dish out way more DPS (thanks to Momentum and backstabs) and provide more utility if needed (disarming traps, unlocking chests). Heck, even ranged Leliana is more effective than them once she gets the right talents (but a warrior could get those too). And I'm not even talking about Mages, who are so overpowered it's not even funny.
Dual wielding warriors aren't nearly as bad as two handed ones, but are still nowhere near as good as a DPS mage or a rogue.

To be honest, I think DA:O gameplay and game balance are subpar. Some mecanics are so overpowered it looks like none has tested them before release. That doesn't make the game bad, but sometimes you look at stuff and you're like "Wow, how comes no one realized chaining mana pots is retard?".

[Beskar]

What is amazing is how you are saying rogues are better than warriors and that is only because of patches. They used to hit for nothing and required a large investment in hit to get any damage out of them.

Mages are really powerful though, no one can deny that. Though you do need a tank as otherwise, they can tend to be squishy (unless you go arcane warrior, then that imba just flies out the window)

[Vladimir]

Huh, simply no. Sword and shield warriors (such as Alistair) are meant to be played as tanks, true. But dual weilding or two handed warriors are meant as DPS class. They actually have less crowd control than a rogue, and if you play them right, they won't wear a heavy armor anyway.

Oghren and Sten are the worst characters in game. Low DPS, low survavibility, slow attack, high miss rates... A full Dex rogue can tank much better than them (by avoiding litterally all attacks), will dish out way more DPS (thanks to Momentum and backstabs) and provide more utility if needed (disarming traps, unlocking chests). Heck, even ranged Leliana is more effective than them once she gets the right talents (but a warrior could get those too). And I'm not even talking about Mages, who are so overpowered it's not even funny.
Dual wielding warriors aren't nearly as bad as two handed ones, but are still nowhere near as good as a DPS mage or a rogue.

To be honest, I think DA:O gameplay and game balance are subpar. Some mecanics are so overpowered it looks like none has tested them before release. That doesn't make the game bad, but sometimes you look at stuff and you're like "Wow, how comes no one realized chaining mana pots is retard?".

An excellent observation that matches my own.

In Neverwinter Nights I was able to create a “stand alone” dual-wielding rogue. Each rapier had a 50% chance of inflicting a critical hit, high dex increased attack and defense despite being “unarmored,” and he could disengage or selectively engage opponents almost at will. You can essentially do the same thing in DA:O. It works well for rogues and mages but the more traditional fighters are at a distinct disadvantage. Not to mention that the extensive dialogues favor someone who can thrust and parry with just his tongue.

[Scienter]

What is amazing is how you are saying rogues are better than warriors and that is only because of patches. They used to hit for nothing and required a large investment in hit to get any damage out of them.

Mages are really powerful though, no one can deny that. Though you do need a tank as otherwise, they can tend to be squishy (unless you go arcane warrior, then that imba just flies out the window)

Did you play an arcane warrior? If so how did you like it? If I make a second character, I was going to do a mage. TinCow went blood mage/spirit healer, but I'm curious about the combat mode for the arcane warrior. Does it work ok, or is the only point of the class to be able to wear armor instead of robes?

[Vladimir]

Did you play an arcane warrior? If so how did you like it? If I make a second character, I was going to do a mage. TinCow went blood mage/spirit healer, but I'm curious about the combat mode for the arcane warrior. Does it work ok, or is the only point of the class to be able to wear armor instead of robes?

I'm interested in this as well. If I ever get around to it I'll reengage my arcane warrior character. Right now it doesn't seem as satisfying as a rogue, especially early on.

[rajpoot]

For those who haven't read the Calling, here's a link to some backstory about the Architect.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/The_Architect

[Meneldil]

Did you play an arcane warrior? If so how did you like it? If I make a second character, I was going to do a mage. TinCow went blood mage/spirit healer, but I'm curious about the combat mode for the arcane warrior. Does it work ok, or is the only point of the class to be able to wear armor instead of robes?

If you play it as a regular mage, it's pretty bad. But if you play it as a tank, it's quite okay, though it lacks some kind of taunt.
It's also the best class if you want to solo the game. After a certain level, and with good weapons, it becomes unkillable (dodge everything, auto-heal during fight). Check youtube, there are videos of arcane warriors soloing the Dragons, Xiakkang or Loghain's sidekick without taking any damage on nightmare.

[Kekvit Irae]

though it lacks some kind of taunt.

Lack of taunts? Are you playing the same class as I am? The Arcane Warrior is nothing short of a walking neon sign reading "ATTACK ME!" A single, well placed Fireball or Blood Wound will taunt better than any of the Warrior talents.

With the right sustainable buffs, you can out-tank Carth... er, I mean Alistair. Four words: Combat Magic, Shimmering Shield. If that wasn't enough, try Rock Armor, Arcane Shield, Miasma, and Spell Wisp.

Want damage out the rear? Combat Magic, Spell Wisp, Frost Weapons, Flame Weapons, Telekinetic Weapons, and Haste. That's not including all the really nice damage spells like Blood Wound and Fireball.
A special note about the X Weapons spells: You can only have one active per mage at a time, so grab Telekinetic Weapons for your main character (you'll love it for the boss battles), and put Frost/Flame Weapons on your other two mages. Frost Weapons is an iffy one, since you'll face a good amount of shades and revenants in the game, all of whom are ice immune, but it works wonders against dragons.

Properly built and played, the Arcane Warrior is the most overpowered class in the game, especially when paired with Blood Mage and the Warden's Keep talents.

[frogbeastegg]

I'm going to knock this one down a few notches on my overall opinion - it does not replay that well. I left nearly two months between finishing the first run and seriously starting my second so that the second run would feel a bit fresher. Now I'm midway through and there are too many places I didn't want to see again, and too many gameplay choices which feel like they are very weighted in one direction. The plot itself doesn't come off any better.

The game needs better dungeon design, more varied and balanced skill choices, and a better spread of talents in party NPCs.

On the other hand my elven duel wielding rogue is far more dangerous than my mage ever was. I'm breezing through the situatuions which caused difficulty with my mage, doing more damage, and having far more fun. When playing a melee class the control issues I had with my mage melted away. I think to play a mage with full effectiveness you need to be using the PC version.

I still like the characters, and I still like the combat gameplay overall due to the challenge level.

My local library had the two tie-in novels so I borrowed them out of curiosity. Not expecting anything much from them but they might fill in some interesting detail. It's not like it will take more more than a day to read the pair so there's nothing to lose

[Lemur]

Can't fully explain it, but playing DAO has convinced me not to buy Mass Effect 2. Something's gone off in the Bioware formula.

[al Roumi]

Can't fully explain it, but playing DAO has convinced me not to buy Mass Effect 2. Something's gone off in the Bioware formula.

I really hope not! I was always pinning more on ME2 than DAO...

[Meneldil]

I'm going to knock this one down a few notches on my overall opinion - it does not replay that well. I left nearly two months between finishing the first run and seriously starting my second so that the second run would feel a bit fresher. Now I'm midway through and there are too many places I didn't want to see again, and too many gameplay choices which feel like they are very weighted in one direction. The plot itself doesn't come off any better.

The game needs better dungeon design, more varied and balanced skill choices, and a better spread of talents in party NPCs.

On the other hand my elven duel wielding rogue is far more dangerous than my mage ever was. I'm breezing through the situatuions which caused difficulty with my mage, doing more damage, and having far more fun. When playing a melee class the control issues I had with my mage melted away. I think to play a mage with full effectiveness you need to be using the PC version.

I still like the characters, and I still like the combat gameplay overall due to the challenge level.

My local library had the two tie-in novels so I borrowed them out of curiosity. Not expecting anything much from them but they might fill in some interesting detail. It's not like it will take more more than a day to read the pair so there's nothing to lose

Same here. I'm halfway through my second playthrough. My rogue (Dex 2*daggers) is indeed vastly better than my mage ever was, but even though I'm doing an "evil" playthrough, the game's mostly the same anyway. Maybe things will change once I get Loghain, but the plot almost ends by then.