Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[Krusader]

I don't remember him seeing him yet (lagging behind you guys, still on 1st playthrough). Where is he to be found?

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As FactionHeir said, although I think you need to have killed 5 Revenants from various phylacteries around Ferelden, before you get the quest and thus the door becomes openable.

@Monk:
Third playthrough? You really love this game

I'm going Primal on my mage...Cone of Cold coupled with Stonefist can be awesome way to take out an enemy quickly. Plus the AoE spells can be nasty (Earthquake to keep mobs in one place and then Blizzard & Tempest to take em down...havent gotten Inferno yet). Oh, I got 60 Healing potions. Me healing and Shale tanking.

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As Mage though be wary in Circle Tower. When I went first through a door I came up against a desire demon and four-five posessed templars...who all got the Holy Smite ability...my mage dropped to 5% health immediately before they even began running towards my party and I was taken out fast.

[al Roumi]

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As FactionHeir said, although I think you need to have killed 5 Revenants from various phylacteries around Ferelden, before you get the quest and thus the door becomes openable.

Thanks!

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Does killing him net you the ring of Gaxx?

His presence in DA:O is a fair old easter egg, wasn't he meant to be some inter-planar being or something? Hence why he can pop up in the Forgotten Realms and Ferelden...

[FactionHeir]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

No, its not linked to the revenants across the map. Its linked to finding 3 dead adventurers (and their journals) and talking to a living adventurer in Orzammar.
And no ring of Gaxx, but other OK (not really useful) items.

[Monk]

@Monk:
Third playthrough? You really love this game

I'm going Primal on my mage...Cone of Cold coupled with Stonefist can be awesome way to take out an enemy quickly. Plus the AoE spells can be nasty (Earthquake to keep mobs in one place and then Blizzard & Tempest to take em down...havent gotten Inferno yet). Oh, I got 60 Healing potions. Me healing and Shale tanking.

Love would be Mass Effect, I've completed it over ten times.

I'm going a mix of Primal and healing spells until I can get the spirit healer specialization. I unlocked Blood Mage but the spells it gave me don't seem that impressive (except the top tier blood spell, that one looks handy).

[seireikhaan]

I'm going a mix of Primal and healing spells until I can get the spirit healer specialization. I unlocked Blood Mage but the spells it gave me don't seem that impressive (except the top tier blood spell, that one looks handy).

The top two are both very useful. The second to top is crowd control + damage + no friendly fire.

[Lemur]

Having dabbled a bit, experimenting with different races and classes, I've concluded the following:

• You always want to have direct control of the offense mage, especially if s/he has area effects. Healer can be adequately programmed from the tactics menu, as can the warriors.
• It's just mean and cruel that the devs didn't include a knock or unlock chest spell. I would love to have a two mage/two warriors party, but the need to include a $%#(&! useless rogue always trips me up.
• There are more than twice as many warrior companions as rogues or mages. This is irritating. In my (incomplete) experience, companions are 56% warriors, 22% mages and 22% rogues.
• There are places where your PC will be forced to go solo, or jumped in front by a dialogue, making him/her the prime target of every mob on the map. This means that mages and rogues are going to be forced to tank at times whether they want to or not.
• That said, it's best to take control of your tank when opening doors or rounding corners. There are other factors, but the first/nearest person a mob sees tends to be the target.
• I would happily do with two fewer warrior companions in exchange for more rogue/mage variety.

These is my thoughts.

[Mailman653]

2nd playthrough, city Elf, final thoughts:

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I gave Alister his wish to not become king and take the throne myself unfortuntely the queen refused which made sense. I was disapointed though, had I know that would of happend, id of done it on my first playthrough as a human I supported her still instead of Alister who didn't take it well compared to my first playthrough which leads to my second point.

What's up with Logane being a PC? That just blew my mind when it happend, just when I thought things would end up similiar to my first playthrough as a human, the game surprised me big time.

I take it my Elf's bethroed died in slavery? She didn't appear after I freed the Alienage plus she never appeared in the throne room after the queen took the crown and what not.

I'm wondering who to make for my 3rd playthrough, I think I might try out a Human mage and hope that when I make to the end, I can carry out the plan my Elf failed to do I'm very glad to see that the Humans are not limited to being nobels and that mage's have their own background story.

Has anyone done Morrigan's bidding? I haven't so far and it worries me to see what the prologue might say lol.

[Meneldil]

Having dabbled a bit, experimenting with different races and classes, I've concluded the following:

• You always want to have direct control of the offense mage, especially if s/he has area effects. Healer can be adequately programmed from the tactics menu, as can the warriors.
• It's just mean and cruel that the devs didn't include a knock or unlock chest spell. I would love to have a two mage/two warriors party, but the need to include a $%#(&! useless rogue always trips me up.
• There are more than twice as many warrior companions as rogues or mages. This is irritating. In my (incomplete) experience, companions are 56% warriors, 22% mages and 22% rogues.
• There are places where your PC will be forced to go solo, or jumped in front by a dialogue, making him/her the prime target of every mob on the map. This means that mages and rogues are going to be forced to tank at times whether they want to or not.
• That said, it's best to take control of your tank when opening doors or rounding corners. There are other factors, but the first/nearest person a mob sees tends to be the target.
• I would happily do with two fewer warrior companions in exchange for more rogue/mage variety.

These is my thoughts.

I second your thoughts about the companions. Most of them are warriors, which make the whole thing quite meh (which is even made worse by the fact they're all human looking except for Shale, the Dog and the dwarf). I think the game seriously lacks more playable characters, though I understand they're more fleshed out than they used to be in BG or even NWN.

As for the main character being put in front after dialogues and cutscenes, it has been that way since the days of NWN1. And it's been annoying since then, for whoever plays a caster or ranged class. I wish they'd start thinking about it someday. I personnaly always take control of the tank (Alistair or Shale), because otherwise my mage would end up dying whenever he'd meet archers or casters.

[Krusader]

Having dabbled a bit, experimenting with different races and classes, I've concluded the following:

• You always want to have direct control of the offense mage, especially if s/he has area effects. Healer can be adequately programmed from the tactics menu, as can the warriors.
• It's just mean and cruel that the devs didn't include a knock or unlock chest spell. I would love to have a two mage/two warriors party, but the need to include a $%#(&! useless rogue always trips me up.
• There are more than twice as many warrior companions as rogues or mages. This is irritating. In my (incomplete) experience, companions are 56% warriors, 22% mages and 22% rogues.
• There are places where your PC will be forced to go solo, or jumped in front by a dialogue, making him/her the prime target of every mob on the map. This means that mages and rogues are going to be forced to tank at times whether they want to or not.
• That said, it's best to take control of your tank when opening doors or rounding corners. There are other factors, but the first/nearest person a mob sees tends to be the target.
• I would happily do with two fewer warrior companions in exchange for more rogue/mage variety.

These is my thoughts.

NWN had "bash open chest" skill/ability I recall. Would have been fine having that too, as I've been forced to drag Leliana along just to disarm traps & open locks. Got Zevran too late.

Yes. Can't really see the difference between Oghren & Sten, except that

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Oghren can teach you Berserker. I'd love to have seen Drunken Fighting of some sorts with him, but they probably used that up in Jade Empire.

Also, I'm wondering if I have to beef up Cunning past 16 for Persuasion attempts as Mage...haven't really seen any Mage-specific persuasion dialogue options.

[Mailman653]

Also, I'm wondering if I have to beef up Cunning past 16 for Persuasion attempts as Mage...haven't really seen any Mage-specific persuasion dialogue options.

Nothing like talking yourself out of a situation

[Crandaeolon]

I solved the party-forming problem (to get 2 or even 3 mages + rogue with enough tanking power) by making a tank mage with Spellpowered Arcane Shield, Rock Armor and Heroic Defense. 33 armor and 126 defense in spellcasting mode is nothing to sneer at, more than enough to survive putting up Storm of the Century, Force Field on self, and watching enemies get electrocuted.

And in Arcane Warrior mode... 63 armor, 153 defense, mental & physical resistance 100, others at 75%. Not bad for a flimsy little mageling. He doesn't have Taunt talents of course, but he's tough enough to get into the thick of it and whack away at things to generate threat, then you can send in the other dudes.

Still, playing a tank gets retarded pretty fast. I'd really like to shoot the guy who invented "threat" mechanics...

[Kekvit Irae]

Having dabbled a bit, experimenting with different races and classes, I've concluded the following:

• It's just mean and cruel that the devs didn't include a knock or unlock chest spell. I would love to have a two mage/two warriors party, but the need to include a $%#(&! useless rogue always trips me up.

These is my thoughts.

Leliana, properly equipped and with the archery talents (notably Arrow of Slaying and Scattershot), is one of the best damage-dealing characters in the game. Not only that, but she has skill in lockpicking and disarming traps.
For my Arcane Warrior playthrough, I use Zevran. Momentum + Flaming Weapons + Frost Weapons + paralyze runes in each hand + backstabs = ouch.

Personally, I think the game does fine with just two mage companions. Three mages (two companions + you) can lock down any fight into a one-on-one battle. Six words: Force Shield, Crushing Prison, Blood Wound.

[Crandaeolon]

Agree wholeheartedly with Kek. Force Field, Crushing Prison, Blood Wound, Scattershot and AoS are among the best skills in the game. I'd probably rank FS the best.

[Krusader]

Got annoyed with having two rogues in party (Leliana was in solely because I needed her trap/locks skills) so downloaded the toolset and editted my Mage savegame. Swapped around on Zevran a bit so now he has Master Traps and Master Deft Hands (did not add any skills or talents, just removed some and added back, so Zevran has all the skills & abilities as a Level 14 Rogue). I would not call it cheating as Zevran himself said he was good with locks & traps (but as previously said, he didnt have a single point in eithre Trapmaking or Deft Hands when he joined my party)...but main reason is because I don't want Leliana in my party. Had her entire time last playthrough.

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And annoying that it takes time to get Oghren too. Would have been nice with him on Carta cleanout quest. At least he is a straightforward warrior so he probably will have skills & talents pre-selected that are good.

Warden Commander Armor:

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The set is actually leveled. If you get it at level 9 its tier4 armor stats, but at later levels on its higher. You can sell the armor to either Bodahn in party camp or Levi Dryden at Warden's Keep and then you can buy it back at higher tiers when you gain levels.

[Meneldil]

So, I actually had to use Morrigan's shapeshifting abilities today, which hadn't happened for quite some time (actually, since something like 10 hours in my first play through).

She turned into a bear (not yet dire bear), jumped on some mob, and hit it for...1. Slam hit for 8. Needless to say she got ran over.

Are the shapeshifting abilities tied to strenght and dexterity, or did I just happen to be fighting some heavily armored dude (though I'm pretty sure my other guys hit as strong as they used to)? That would really be a letdown for me, I'm not going to waste any point in these stats with Morrigan, or any other mage, for that matter.