Dragon Age Origins discussion...

its a shame at low levels to throw points into combat tactics when there are other things you'd much rather get, but at the same time, properly setup tactics with enough granularity can basically automate your characters, sadly mages need as many tactic slots as possible whereas warriors are just grand with 5 or 6 (except shale)
 
Damnit, this game kept me up till 3:30AM last night. Im pretty sure no game has done that since the original Baldur's Gate. I keep getting deja vu feelings of BG2 when playing it too (mainly combat, I feel some of the other elements are weaker, really wish I could have 6 party members).

Just finished saving Redcliffe, and as part of that very extended quest, cleared the Mage's tower. I find myself making save points at major choices in case I mess up. I did the game in the wrong order, so its gone from exceedingly hard, to pretty enjoyably easy, went to the elven forest first, which kicked my ass, but then Redcliffe wasnt so bad as I was leveled up pretty well by that point, I think i like it like this. stat perks you get in the Fade in Redcliffe castle are awesome, i swear half my stats went up at least 3

love nightmare + blizzard + death cloud. Enemies dont attack you because theyre randomly stunned or confused, then you freeze them so they cant move, then death cloud takes out the all their hit points.

Another great combo is cone of cold + virulent soul bomb + stone fist. You freeze everyone, infect the weakest one, shatter him from a distance (be sure to pull your people back) and then all the others take explosive damage in a chain from the virulent soul bomb and shatter as well, results in like 10 instakills or more. You can get them clumped up first by running Sten ahead and doing threaten if they're not grouping well.

SPOILERS BELOW




















was seriously debating killing the kid right off, as i was suspecting he would turn when I was gone and i'd come back to a castle full of dead people. I let my traitor buddy redeem himself though and save the kid once i came back. We'll see how that goes, that might come back to bite me in the ass too. I have a feeling it wont though).
 
Meh, I went to the elf forest first and i had no probs, except for the occasional reload. It's about the same as anywhere else you would go.

And no so far the mage hasn't done anything, and i'm long past Radcliffe.

So how much should I put supplies in the supply crate at camp?
 
Damnit, this game kept me up till 3:30AM last night. Im pretty sure no game has done that since the original Baldur's Gate. I keep getting deja vu feelings of BG2 when playing it too (mainly combat, I feel some of the other elements are weaker, really wish I could have 6 party members).

loser. Go to bed and get a life. :p (same can be said to me) ;)


Yeah, the more I play it... the more it feels like Baldur's Gate meets KOTOR.
 
my tank cant seem to hold aggro, even though his first command is to taunt enemy always comes to me.
So I had enough and switched to EASY. I'm having more fun playing than on "NORMAL". Normal should be renamed to HARD. Really the outcome of each battle is decided on a razor thin margin, it takes the fun away from the game, becomes more like.. OOPS you forgot to take the health potion 0.202002 milliseconds before getting gang clobbered, too computational for my liking. I liked Risen and Witcher's combat system more, they were more organic and analogous, this combat system reminds me of a pre-programmed chess game, set your programmed pieces, and watch them fight, if one is not programmed right, you're f*cked.

Now I’m just assuming here but your problem may be that you use your main character to open doors/lead while dungeon crawling. Unless your main character is a tank this is a bad idea since most enemies will aggro onto the first person they see as you enter their line of sight.

This was something I didn’t pay much attention to until I started a new game as a rogue (previously played a warrior). If you select all of your party members at once it will default to your character taking the lead when moving around so naturally they’ll be the first to open a door and get spotted by enemies in the next area.

What I like to do when clearing out new areas is to find a good choke point, use the hold positions command, camp dps on either side or ranged characters a little ways back, and then have my tank walk into the next area by himself. As soon as the tank is spotted by enemies I pause and order him to run back to the other characters. This way there’s no question as to who has aggro and you can lure the mobs into whatever traps you have set.
 
Wait, I thought this game was holding your hand and you haven't set your tactics up yet? Well guess you've been playing easy mode. Which is fine and all; but, to complain about it hand holding you is an unfair criticism when you're not even playing the game at a level that suggests you've grasped the mechanics and nuances of it yet.

Sorry if I'm jumping to conclusions, it's just I find it a strange criticism.
Actually I did set up tactics. I just didn't know that the characters had to stay selected in order to carry out your commands. I figured if I told someone to attack, they would continue to attack, even they are no longer selected. I thought tactics only took over if they had nothing to do. And if you must know, I'm playing on Normal and the game has been very easy so far. I've played through both BG's and both IWD's multiple times each so I completely understand how these gameplay mechanics work.

This game is not as open as the others though. I don't like how the game takes over for you as soon as someone is deselected. I don't need babying. If I tell them to do something they should keep doing it until I tell them to stop.
 
If I tell them to do something they should keep doing it until I tell them to stop.

The only way to get that is to turn off their tactics. Otherwise they run through their tactics scripts and if nothing is relevant they default to their generic script (ranged, cautious, etc).

I generally use "enemy, target of (my tank): attack" at the end of everyone's tactics. You need a good 'general order' at the end so they focus fire if all else fails.

BG games would behave the same way. If you told someone to cast Sleep or attack a monster, they would, but after a spell or a swing they would go back to the scripts.
 
Now I’m just assuming here but your problem may be that you use your main character to open doors/lead while dungeon crawling. Unless your main character is a tank this is a bad idea since most enemies will aggro onto the first person they see as you enter their line of sight.

This was something I didn’t pay much attention to until I started a new game as a rogue (previously played a warrior). If you select all of your party members at once it will default to your character taking the lead when moving around so naturally they’ll be the first to open a door and get spotted by enemies in the next area.

What I like to do when clearing out new areas is to find a good choke point, use the hold positions command, camp dps on either side or ranged characters a little ways back, and then have my tank walk into the next area by himself. As soon as the tank is spotted by enemies I pause and order him to run back to the other characters. This way there’s no question as to who has aggro and you can lure the mobs into whatever traps you have set.

Not sure if it's been mentioned or not, but dagger focusing rogues (as if there is anything else?) are currently broken. The mechanic is supposed to use 50/50 STR/DEX but it is not using any dexterity in the calculation. I experienced a crazy difficulty change, felt like my rogue was not doing anything at all as the levels progressed, and now I understand why. Daggers do not have the strength attribute requirement, so I was only putting 1 point into strength every other level, just to get the armor requirements up.

More infos: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/9/index/101814
 
I'm a Dwarf commoner specializing in dual-wielding. I just hit level 6 and have Alistair. This game is great. My wife started a Elf Rogue and she really likes the game as well. I just need to start reading the codex and the story.

But one question: I've been focusing on STR/Dex almost equally; is that good for my build? I've also been wondering if I should put some points in cunning and pursuasion. I was thinking about herbalism, but see now that I just need a healer in my party.

oh, and bump because this thread should be on the first page!
 
I'm a Dwarf commoner specializing in dual-wielding. I just hit level 6 and have Alistair. This game is great. My wife started a Elf Rogue and she really likes the game as well. I just need to start reading the codex and the story.

But one question: I've been focusing on STR/Dex almost equally; is that good for my build? I've also been wondering if I should put some points in cunning and pursuasion. I was thinking about herbalism, but see now that I just need a healer in my party.

oh, and bump because this thread should be on the first page!

What class? I am assuming warrior. If so, Constitution is big business also. Dex will help you take fewer hits, but is not really a primary stat. Pump str + con, dex would be third, a little cunning peppered in just to unlock skills then some willpower to compliment your stamina bar. 1 rank of herbalism wont hurt, Morrigan will be better at this though.
 
Actually dex should be a major stat for a Dual weilding warrior.

I'm rolling as one and at lv 12 I have 33str/34dex.

Dex is important as it is a basis for getting dual wield skills and the to hit chance.

For me, I focus on mainly Str/dex, then Willpower(you'll need it as dual wielders have a lot of skills to use), then Con (as Allister is my "tank."

Ability wise I went with coercison (I like more dialogue choices in rpgs) so cunning I put a few points into as well after con.
 
Actually I did set up tactics. I just didn't know that the characters had to stay selected in order to carry out your commands. I figured if I told someone to attack, they would continue to attack, even they are no longer selected. I thought tactics only took over if they had nothing to do. And if you must know, I'm playing on Normal and the game has been very easy so far. I've played through both BG's and both IWD's multiple times each so I completely understand how these gameplay mechanics work.

This game is not as open as the others though. I don't like how the game takes over for you as soon as someone is deselected. I don't need babying. If I tell them to do something they should keep doing it until I tell them to stop.

Hmmm...sorry if I sounded snippy I didn't mean it that way. I've only noticed Lilana not following the tactics I set forth for her once and she kept trying to bust out her bow when I set her up for melee attacks. I rebooted and all has been fine in my world. This is the first I've hear about it and now that I know it is probably going to start happening now.

Thanks alot jerks.;)
 
ENCHANTMENT!? ENCHANTMENT!!!!!!!!!! God that makes me lol for some reason.
 
I have to many quests in my quest log, I dont know which quest to do next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes the quests just happen as random encounters when you travel. I can think of a couple from the magi tower that resolve this way.
 
Not sure if it's been mentioned or not, but dagger focusing rogues (as if there is anything else?) are currently broken. The mechanic is supposed to use 50/50 STR/DEX but it is not using any dexterity in the calculation. I experienced a crazy difficulty change, felt like my rogue was not doing anything at all as the levels progressed, and now I understand why. Daggers do not have the strength attribute requirement, so I was only putting 1 point into strength every other level, just to get the armor requirements up.

More infos: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/9/index/101814

I downloaded the hotfix which was supposed to address this issue although I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference since I never had rogues using daggers in my first party.

However as a dual wield rogue I would recommend a Dex/Cunning build and pick up the lethality talent asap. Then your only need for strength is to meet the requirements of better weapons and armor. This build is extremely powerful, outputting probably twice the damage of my 2H warrior at the same level due to his speed and backstab capability.
 
Has anybody beat it yet? If so how many hours did it take? I am just wondering because I am like 30 hours in and still have not beat it.
 
Has anybody beat it yet? If so how many hours did it take? I am just wondering because I am like 30 hours in and still have not beat it.

I took 33 hours, but I did a lot of side quests. My brother finished in 25 hours.
 
I just can't believe how badly I'm fighting this game.

I feel like I 'have' to play this thing (simply because I spent five years waiting for it), but it's becoming a real struggle. I'm doing the circle of magi quest right now, and I'm caught in The Fade. My party isn't with me anymore, and I'm just wandering around solo. It's unbearably tedious. I have no desire to continue even, and I'm even thinking about bailing on this.

This is exactly how the game started for me as well - in The Fade.

Jesus, I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game is the biggest disappointment of the year for me. Some people are saying this is their game of the year, which is baffling to me, since many of these people claim not to have liked Neverwinter Nights 2? Side by side, the gameplay is virtually identical?

I'm a good 25 hours into this thing now, and I've not once seen anything that really blew me away. These confined areas that define Bioware games aren't working for me anymore. After the freedoms of Oblivion and Fallout 3 this feels like a step backwards.

When I look at all the titles that amazed me this year, I'm not even sure I'd put Dragon Age on my top 10 list?

Also, I was one of the people who kept on saying that in DA you're going to have to pause your game a lot in order to strategize - wow, am I ever surprised to discover that I'm finding all the pausing to be kind of tedious. Games like Mass Effect are just so much more immediate. You're exploring the world and everything is happening in real time. It's just more fun. What worked for me ten years ago isn't working for me today, and I'm really, really surprised by that.

I now find myself looking forward to Mass Effect 2 in a way that I wasn't previously.

I spent the entire summer playing Drakensang, which I loved, and then after that I played Risen, which just blew me away. I'd put DA third after both of those games.
 
I'm reluctant to give up on the game this early. It just feels like a defeat. Maybe you're right though. If it's not working for me, maybe I ought to just stop playing. I just can't believe that this is happening.
 
Wabe, you are the most manic-depressive game player in the world, yes? I LOVE IT, IT SUCKS, NO I LOVE IT, IT BLOWS CHUNKS.

Personally, I thought the part of the game you're talking about was great.

The game took me about 40 hours to beat, on normal, though I skipped quite a few side quests which I will do on my next playthrough. I have a dwarf warrior commoner specced for 2h, playing on Hard this time. My first character ended up as a rogue/duelist/assasin, that was a fun build.
 
I said it was a very good game - but I never said I thought it was great.

I believe that I was guilty of desperately wanting to love this game, or rather, feeling that I was supposed to love this game simply because I had been waiting for it for so long, and also because I loved Baldur's Gate so much.

Were my expectations too high? Well, Fallout 3 actually surpassed my expectations, which were also pretty high, and Fallout 3 continues to blow me away even today, so I'd have to say no.

Looking back at my earlier posts in this thread, I'd have to say that I was trying too hard to like the game rather than allowing my true feelings about the game to come through.

Ah well, it's just a game. :)
 
I played my main as a mage and when I had to re-enter the fade later on in the game, I was about to pull my teeth out. However, I kept playing and it turned out to be one of the most fun parts of the game so far. Who needs party members when you can single handedly own everything? You also get pimped out pretty nicely if you don't leave any stones unturned. My post is purposely vague to prevent spoilers.
 
The fade is fun, you get some incredibly powerful abilities about midway through that are a blast to use.
 
I said it was a very good game - but I never said I thought it was great.

I believe that I was guilty of desperately wanting to love this game, or rather, feeling that I was supposed to love this game simply because I had been waiting for it for so long, and also because I loved Baldur's Gate so much.

Were my expectations too high? Well, Fallout 3 actually surpassed my expectations, which were also pretty high, and Fallout 3 continues to blow me away even today, so I'd have to say no.

Looking back at my earlier posts in this thread, I'd have to say that I was trying too hard to like the game rather than allowing my true feelings about the game to come through.

Ah well, it's just a game. :)

It's different strokes for different folk, right? I personally thought Fallout 3 sucked in comparison to how hyped up it was and think that Dragon Age is one of the best RPGs I played in the past decade.
 
I said it was a very good game - but I never said I thought it was great.

I believe that I was guilty of desperately wanting to love this game, or rather, feeling that I was supposed to love this game simply because I had been waiting for it for so long, and also because I loved Baldur's Gate so much.

Were my expectations too high? Well, Fallout 3 actually surpassed my expectations, which were also pretty high, and Fallout 3 continues to blow me away even today, so I'd have to say no.

Looking back at my earlier posts in this thread, I'd have to say that I was trying too hard to like the game rather than allowing my true feelings about the game to come through.

Ah well, it's just a game. :)

I have to poke fun sometimes.

I am also a little dissapointed with the game. I would still give it a 9 out of 10, but I enjoyed Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2 more.

With Dragon Age I think Bioware has a solid base, and interesting world, a very scalable game engine and the overall mechanics of combat and spellcasting are quite good.

My gripes are fairly minor.

Sometimes combat animations, especially the Ogre "fatalities", would go wonky and not line up with the actual NPC models. -Easily fixed with a patch

I feel they could have spent a little more time on loot, adding random loot chances for quality gear for any "Elite" encounter. -Easily fixed with a patch or a mod

Add menu support for aniso 16x. -Easily fixed with a patch?

Map travel; easily the most clunky part of the game. -Easily fixed with a mod?

And...dare I say it? The game could have been longer :) I guess that is more of a compliment than a gripe. -Mods!
 
Oddly, I also seem to enjoy a wide range of games compared to some folks.

I enjoyed the Baldurs Gate games, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Planescape:Torment, Icewind Dale, The Witcher, Risen, Morrowind, Wizardry 5-8 (too young to have had time to play 1-4), Mass Effect, KotOR, and quite a few others. It always seems like people like BG and DA:O, or like Fallout 3 and hate DA:O.

For me, I guess I don't much care for the Final Fantasy series. /shrug
 
I just picked it up this past weekend and am loving it. There are a couple of annoyances though.

1) There's a 1 to 20 second delay on being able to loot creatures. I won't be able to loot a creature and then when I come back around 5 minutes later it will often be lootable.
2) There's just too much dialog to listen too. You can press escape but then you may miss something. I'd much rather read and respond than wait and respond.
 
I just can't believe how badly I'm fighting this game.

I feel like I 'have' to play this thing (simply because I spent five years waiting for it), but it's becoming a real struggle. I'm doing the circle of magi quest right now, and I'm caught in The Fade. My party isn't with me anymore, and I'm just wandering around solo. It's unbearably tedious. I have no desire to continue even, and I'm even thinking about bailing on this.

This is exactly how the game started for me as well - in The Fade.

Jesus, I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game is the biggest disappointment of the year for me. Some people are saying this is their game of the year, which is baffling to me, since many of these people claim not to have liked Neverwinter Nights 2? Side by side, the gameplay is virtually identical?

I'm a good 25 hours into this thing now, and I've not once seen anything that really blew me away. These confined areas that define Bioware games aren't working for me anymore. After the freedoms of Oblivion and Fallout 3 this feels like a step backwards.

When I look at all the titles that amazed me this year, I'm not even sure I'd put Dragon Age on my top 10 list?

Also, I was one of the people who kept on saying that in DA you're going to have to pause your game a lot in order to strategize - wow, am I ever surprised to discover that I'm finding all the pausing to be kind of tedious. Games like Mass Effect are just so much more immediate. You're exploring the world and everything is happening in real time. It's just more fun. What worked for me ten years ago isn't working for me today, and I'm really, really surprised by that.

I now find myself looking forward to Mass Effect 2 in a way that I wasn't previously.

I spent the entire summer playing Drakensang, which I loved, and then after that I played Risen, which just blew me away. I'd put DA third after both of those games.

I feel like I've read this post before...
 
I just picked it up this past weekend and am loving it. There are a couple of annoyances though.

1) There's a 1 to 20 second delay on being able to loot creatures. I won't be able to loot a creature and then when I come back around 5 minutes later it will often be lootable.
2) There's just too much dialog to listen too. You can press escape but then you may miss something. I'd much rather read and respond than wait and respond.

Turn on subtitles, can skip the crap and still catch the good stuff.
 
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