Dragon Age Origins discussion...

Nenu said:
You should create your own thread and label it "spoilers".
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Sorry?

Are you talking about the Ostegar thing? There weren't any spoilers there? I just said that I was involved in a battle at Ostegar? It's just a regular battle? There are going to be literally hundreds and hundreds of battles exactly like that one in the game.

Honestly, there's quite a bit of plot in this game, and I haven't even mentioned any of it. You'll find out what I mean when you start playing. :)
 
Initial impression: oh shit, this game is awesome

This should bring back memories...



A jab at the real-time players that dont want to pause? Hovering over Easy:

 
So I "tried" the game first last night and went out and bought the collectors edition today. This game gives me the biggest stiffy.
 
After playing it about 6 hours today my thoughts are as follows:

My brother is playing the 360 version and it really does feel like ME in a low fantasy setting. He loves it for that aspect and everything is slightly lower difficulty. After playing it on the PC version I love the combat system. I would like to have bottles be queable and things like that, but what video reviews never show are battles where you take offensive skills as a warrior. I prefer to have to pause and cast things all the time, on hard difficulty level with friendly fire on it's a lifesaver to be able to time precisely all the spells and their target areas.

Now, even the cooldown does feel a little Guild Warsish but that isn't a bad thing. What would you prefer? Going back to rounds in combat would be too PNP. Now we have timers and attack speeds, the whole system is much more organic and likable now. It's more balanced, yes there are cooldowns on spells but how else do you prpose to balance them? All in all, play it for what it is and let it be. I love the game. The world is deep and the people you interact with are voiced well. Everything feels consistent and so far the characters are memorable. The combat system doesn't feel like you are held to the PnP rules, it does feel very organic and fun to play.

IMHO


EDIT:

X3 720 @ 3.7ghz + 4gb ddr3 1600 + 5850 = Everything maxed no slowdowns
E8400 + 4gb ddr2 + 4870 = Maxed no slowdowns 1920x10180
 
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Any tips on what difficulty settings I should play on? I don't mind pausing but I don't really have RPG experience (does WoW count?)

I hear normal is kinda hard.

Also, can I start with easy and then change to normal later on or will I have to start a new game?
 
What classes are you guys playing as? I plan on playing this game multiple times but I've been at the character creator for the past hour bouncing between mage and rogue. Maybe I should just dive in...
 
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Damn, talk about the most freebies i've ever gotten for a new game! I"ve entered 5 codes as a result of freebies from Gamestop preorder and CE extras included! Talk about getting alot for your money! I wish more game developers gave you these incentives to preorder/buy collectors editions.

Now I just gotta play after my free Stone Prisoner is done downloading! To bad I gotta pay for Wardens Keep but owell....
 
Should start a thread with character portraits, speaking of which. I love that goofy expression you can give him with the slider set full right.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
(does WoW count?)
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Not really.

If you want to get your hands dirty, I usually reccomend going with a pure melee, warrior type if you are unfamiliar with the rpg. Rogues and casters will tend to be a little more refined, needing more upkeep and skill to start out.
 
So... let me get this straight, combat is like BG2 in that you can pause the game and control each individual party member, but it also has things like auto attack/specials kinda like WoW/other MMOs? Does this make for a lot of switching between party members and pausing? I liked BG2's combat system and didn't mind the pausing, but if I had to pause every time I wanted to do a relatively mundane melee attack it'd get annoying.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
So... let me get this straight, combat is like BG2 in that you can pause the game and control each individual party member, but it also has things like auto attack/specials kinda like WoW/other MMOs? Does this make for a lot of switching between party members and pausing? I liked BG2's combat system and didn't mind the pausing, but if I had to pause every time I wanted to do a relatively mundane melee attack it'd get annoying.
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It's the exact opposite of this - once you learn how to set Custom Tactics you rarely need to pause at all.

These custom tactics really do have a major influence on the way the battles progress, and they're surprisingly detailed, and surprisingly simple to setup.

Hint: Mages are clerics in this game. Neglect to level up your Mage without healing spells at your own discretion!
 
WabeWalker said:
It's the exact opposite of this - once you learn how to set Custom Tactics you rarely need to pause at all.

These custom tactics really do have a major influence on the way the battles progress, and they're surprisingly detailed, and surprisingly simple to setup.

Hint: Mages are clerics in this game. Neglect to level up your Mage without healing spells at your own discretion!
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Do they do comparable damage to rogues?
 
Quick, first impression: This is an AWESOME game RPG fans! I don't care if it's like any other game or not. Doesn't matter.
 
THE MOTHERFUCKING UPS GUY LEFT IN THE OFFICE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!

I am so irate right now, I cannot even describe it. I had a horrible day at work, was just looking forward to coming home and playing this for a little while. Of course, I end up staying 45 minutes late, coming home to find that asshole UPS guy left the game in the building office, which he has never ever done before. They of course are supposed to be open until six, but, as usual the asshole night guy locks the place up at 5:20, so I can't get it.

Glad I paid for release date delivery. Thanks, dick.

/rant
 
Q-BZ said:
Quick, first impression: This is an AWESOME game RPG fans! I don't care if it's like any other game or not. Doesn't matter.
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Yeah, I'd have to agree. It's very much its own game, with influences from other games, clearly.

But in the end, I guess, why does it matter? It's a very good game.
 
Riddleofsteel said:
Without being spoilericious, can someone tell me what the best character/race is for a fighter type? That's the way I usually play first. I am currently a human noble warrior, but I don't know what skills to take. Can someone who's gotten a long way tell me if there are warrior skills to avoid? I'm currently going 2 handed for skills. What attributes are to be focused on also?
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Anybody? I'm not at home yet so I can't plunge back in.
 
I started as a Noble Dwarf Warrior, I am really liking this game.
 
What I can't figure out is how to transfer inventory items between party members - one guy has all the health potions, and I can't figure out how to distribute them? LOL!

I played for 45 minutes tonight and, like I did with Risen, I'm really starting to see the depth of this game.

I really enjoyed playing through my mage origin story last night. It'll be fun to replay this thing one day and advance through a different origin story. It's a cool concept, that worked well. I really felt as though the game was tailor made for mages. I can only assume that people who chose to play as a different class feel likewise?

Cool, cool game, this.
 
WabeWalker said:
Also, I forgot to post this: but what do you guys think about the Custom Tactics?

I didn't even look at this until I started fighting my way up the tower in Ostagar in order to light the flame and send the signal for attack. I was encountering hordes of Darkspawn during that sequence, and so created a custom tactic for my female elven mage.

At that point she had learned 3 separate heal spells - so I created 3 orders for her: whenever a party member dropped below 50% health I commanded her to cast one of the heal spells. Yes, I could've taken control of her myself, and cast the spells, but I've since discovered that indeed there is no pause-at-the-end-of-every round feature in this game, meaning that the way you 'queue' up orders is really through the custom tactics, and by allowing your characters to go at it.

I jumped into the shoes of one of the Tower Guards, and allowed the Custom Tactics to take over for my mage. When the battle commenced she began healing people left right and center - and when she wasn't healing people she was shooting at the Darkspawn from afar with her staff.

No way, with 8 Darkspawn attacking my party, could I have reacted that quickly and that precisely. I barely made it through those battles, but what did get me through was customizing my mage as a healer, and allowing the CPU to take over. The tactics were all mine, even though the CPU was temporarily in control of my mage.

And ya know, it was pretty damned cool!

Thoughts?

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it some, the more difficult this game gets (and I hope that it does get a lot more difficult than this, because so far I haven't been challenged at all, in the sense of being frustrated a la Baldur's Gate 2) the more I'm beginning to see how important it might be to rely on custom tactics. This could end up being the feature that really strengthens this game for me?
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Am I the only person here who thinks that Custom Tactics work amazingly well? Nobody has anything to add about this? Hmm... I thought it was a neat mechanic that's in-depth, but also simple to use. It adds a lot to the game.
 
A group inventory. Jesus, how did I miss that? What an amazing idea. Kind of like passing a joint in the backseat of a vehicle, eh?
 
WabeWalker said:
A group inventory. Jesus, how did I miss that? What an amazing idea. Kind of like passing a joint in the backseat of a vehicle, eh?
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Wow man, you either broke to peer pressure or you did a complete 180. Do you think you could possibly like this game enough after a few more hours to have it be a contender for your personal game of the year?
 
K, im still wandering around the harrowing for my magi but so far, im very happy that I can still control myself in a 3rd person manner aka Max Payne style and not having to do that age old God like view from above. Im not a fan of trying to activate the attack on a target, but I guess I can't do much to change it

Music is incredible so far and the voice action is top notch and i've already busted out laughing several times already and im only 10 minutes into the game.


ROFL....I just had a funny as hell conversation with a guard in the magi tower

"Me: Wow, that's a big door!"

"Guard: Yes, it certainly is. Now, do you have a reason or question for being here beyond stating the obvious?"

LOL, I think im going to very much enjoy this journey
 
There were alot of decisions I think people could take issue to in this game, but just like the rewind feature in Forza 3 they all contribute to making the game more enjoyable. Forza 2 sat on my shelf because I didn't want to do 50 lap races where I get bumped last lap and lose. Now with Forza 3 I can just put it in and play those races, if I get bumped, redo the corner. Makes the game much more fun and as a result I've already completed more than I did in Forza 2.

DA:O feels very similar to me. Many decisions made for ease of play that all add up to a better GAME experience. This is not a PnP translation, it is a game at it's core that is trying to tell a very specific story. All the DLC and money whoring in the world won't change that. I applaud the one time use DLC at the beginning, far more effective to combat piracy than any DRM is. That simple little thing gets the people kind of on the fence about buying it or pirating it.

I expect we'll see more and more things done like that in the future. I prefer it to SecuRom or any of the other PITA DRM schemes we have become accustomed to. This game doesn't even require the DVD in past launch, simply amazing.
 
can someone who has played through and enjoyed The Witcher Enhanced Edition tell me how DA:O compares...
 
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