Dragon Age Origins discussion...

btw - for a second playthrough, I HIGHLY recommend doing a dwarf noble. It fits in amazing to the story, for reasons you'll see after playing a different class. Trust me on this. Amazing intro.
 
Damn... rolled human noble because I don't like how dwarves look. The intro was MUCH shorter than my first playthrough as an elven mage.

Maybe i'll come back and check it later.
 
It's as compelling as their section is late in the game, and you get a lot of "OH wow that's how that happened" moments.
 
lopoetve said:
btw - for a second playthrough, I HIGHLY recommend doing a dwarf noble. It fits in amazing to the story, for reasons you'll see after playing a different class. Trust me on this. Amazing intro.
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This is probably the best origin story. Especially if you play it as a true dwarven child of privilege would act. "This man offends me. Have him killed."

I played through as a dwarf commoner first. And whats the first thing I see upon playing the dwarf noble origin, but my commoner's sister whoring it up with the nobles. Too funny. :D
 
Ruiner said:
Does the steam version patch itself?
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No clue how Steam programs work.

Could try to install it and see if it says it's already applied.

My daorgins.exe file (in the bin_ship folder), which is patched up is version 1.1.9363.0 if that helps at all.
 
My first playthrough was as a dwarf noble (rogue) on normal, i was going to go through the second time as an elf mage, try and take the evil path. Interesting couple posts saying it really wasn't possible to do an evil character. After seeing the power of aoe, was going to try 3 mage + Shale on hard/nightmare.
 
For my second playthrough I was planning on going Dwarf rogue. I have no idea what my teammates should be, though. I was thinking Shale for my tank, but other than that I am not sure.

In my current playthrough I am a human noble 2H warrior with Alistair as my tank, Morrigan for DPS/control, and Wynne for healing.

With my rogue and shale, would I be able to survive with just one mage? I feel that if I use Wynne for dps as well as healing it might spread her too thin and she would run out of mana easily, same with Morrigan if I made her heal as well. What are other peoples' setups when you use a rogue as your main?
 
with this run through as a rogue, my normal party is Alistair tanking, Wynee for healing (secondary damage/cc), Morrigan for dps/backup healing, and my rogue backstabbing the hell out of everyone. Because of the specs of the mages, they both can heal in a pinch, and both get aoe (blizzard/death cloud for Morrigan, tempest/earthquake for Wynne) which demolishes groups. I'm working wynne to get force field because that's the most rediculous spell to control boss fights with.

I'm not sure who your fourth would be? Shale + Alistair?
 
Well I really don't want to use BOTH Morrigan and Wynne again because it would be just too similar to my first playthrough but I am not sure if I would be at a disadvantage then. I obviously will only use one when I run through as a mage type but I really want to mix it up.
 
The more mages the easier the game is to get through.

If you're going to go with just one (my preferred way), then just stock up on Lyrium potions and make sure the tactics screen is set up so they use one when low mana. Just buy every potion you can and make as many as you can from found resources. You can never have too many.

I usually get my one caster up as a ranged damager, and take over for spot heals if need be. With the rest of the team set to use healing potions if they get low, it usually works out fine. Might take some fine tuning depending on exact party configuration. I usually grab Shale for a tank and Dog as his sidekick. ;)
 
If you're going to use one mage, you probably want to make it Wynne and have her focus on healing with a few crowd control spells, unless you're prepared to go through poultices like mad to stay alive. Otherwise, you may find yourself in one too many "oh shit" situations where one of your guys is frozen/knocked down at 20% health and the mage is in the middle of casting a damage spell. It all depends on the difficulty you play on and your playstyle, though. You may be able to pull it off with the right tactics setup. I find the game too easy on nightmare so that's my frame of reference, but then again, I use 2 mages.
 
I'm using leliani on my second runthrough and maxing out her archery stats. Does anyone have experience with a maxed out rogue archer? I'm using her lover's bow right now. Can I expect any bows that are better later on?
 
and I had trouble with it on easy with 2 mages at times :p I really do suck at these types of games.
 
I think the game really forces you to play differently than you would a similar other game. For instance, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, etc.
Distance fighting is really key. Using area of effect spells (especially freeze) and plugging away from a distance with bows might not be very exciting, but it's insanely effective.
In many games you focus on the most powerful foe first and then deal with the stragglers later...if at all. In this game it typically pays to get rid of everyone else first.
While in D&D games you'll want to keep a balance dex/str/con for fighters - in DA it really helps to focus a lot of energy in strength for your tanks just because the better armors and shields require it. If anything, con isn't that great in DA.
 
Tzzird said:
I'm using leliani on my second runthrough and maxing out her archery stats. Does anyone have experience with a maxed out rogue archer? I'm using her lover's bow right now. Can I expect any bows that are better later on?
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I had her maxed out almost as an archer. That bow is pretty much the 2nd best longbow in the game so keep it since it's free.

There's another bow in Redcliffe called Far Song, which supposedly you can get if you kill the smith there and the backup smith has it. But I didn't kill the smith so I can't personally confirm buying it from here. It's much nicer but oh well.

+2 Damage
Rapid Aim
+3% Ranged Critical Chance
+10 Attack
+10% Critical/Backstab Damage

I didn't end up maxing out everything in Archery since I took 4 lockpick, stealth, and some other rogue abilities. She's definitely solid at ranged DPS with rapid fire 30-40 damage/hit and up to 270+ on Arrow of Slaying against normal mobs. I could be wrong about this, but I don't think backstab works 100% in ranged mode. So often times, especially for non-AoE bosses, I would switch to dual weapon (like awesome 3 slot waraxe/3 slot dagger) and backstab like crazy while my tank was tanking. Ranged seems like a compromise with lower damage but it's safer being further away. Longbow only had ~12% crit for me, whereas dagger was up to 27% crit for Zeveran.
 
Domingo said:
I think the game really forces you to play differently than you would a similar other game. For instance, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, etc.
Distance fighting is really key. Using area of effect spells (especially freeze) and plugging away from a distance with bows might not be very exciting, but it's insanely effective.
In many games you focus on the most powerful foe first and then deal with the stragglers later...if at all. In this game it typically pays to get rid of everyone else first.
While in D&D games you'll want to keep a balance dex/str/con for fighters - in DA it really helps to focus a lot of energy in strength for your tanks just because the better armors and shields require it. If anything, con isn't that great in DA.
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For me, some of this was untrue. I did very well with a melee-centric party the first time through, especially pumping str/dex/con. Constitution is the major reason why Shale will tank better than Alistair early on before you can pump enough dex into Alistair for all of his shield abilities.

My first playthrough was me; a duelist/assasin/rogue - Shale - Morrigan - Sten. I had this party for easily over half the game, no troubles.

Second playthrough was me: a 2h berserker/champion/warrior - Alistair - Wynne - Leilana (went Bard/Ranger) or Morrigan. Once Alistair had around 30 dex he was able to dodge enough attacks that he was tanking better than Shale from my first play. For Leilana, archery was mostly underwhelming to me, other than Scattershot and Arrow of Slaying, her abilities were mostly meh.
 
a123456 said:
I had her maxed out almost as an archer. That bow is pretty much the 2nd best longbow in the game so keep it since it's free.

There's another bow in Redcliffe called Far Song, which supposedly you can get if you kill the smith there and the backup smith has it. But I didn't kill the smith so I can't personally confirm buying it from here. It's much nicer but oh well.

+2 Damage
Rapid Aim
+3% Ranged Critical Chance
+10 Attack
+10% Critical/Backstab Damage

I didn't end up maxing out everything in Archery since I took 4 lockpick, stealth, and some other rogue abilities. She's definitely solid at ranged DPS with rapid fire 30-40 damage/hit and up to 270+ on Arrow of Slaying against normal mobs. I could be wrong about this, but I don't think backstab works 100% in ranged mode. So often times, especially for non-AoE bosses, I would switch to dual weapon (like awesome 3 slot waraxe/3 slot dagger) and backstab like crazy while my tank was tanking. Ranged seems like a compromise with lower damage but it's safer being further away. Longbow only had ~12% crit for me, whereas dagger was up to 27% crit for Zeveran.
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Damnit! I didn't know you could kill him!
 
arcanus said:
If you don't find his daughter in the castle, he'll hang himself. I guess you can kill him outright too?
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lopoetve said:
Oh yes.
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I defended the town the first time I played the game. The second time, I left town and it was destroyed. Are you supposed to be able to get into the castle to find the daughter before the attack happens through that windmill? Or does the daughter come after that?

I just realized that the game completed percentage is cummulative to all your playthroughs. I was at 50% as of last night 20 hours thorugh playthrough 2. How about everyone else?
 
Tzzird said:
I defended the town the first time I played the game. The second time, I left town and it was destroyed. Are you supposed to be able to get into the castle to find the daughter before the attack happens through that windmill? Or does the daughter come after that?

I just realized that the game completed percentage is cummulative to all your playthroughs. I was at 50% as of last night 20 hours thorugh playthrough 2. How about everyone else?
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You can only find her after defending the village and Bann Teagan lets you into the castle through the windmill.

I was at 50% completion at the end of my first playthrough (elven mage), which lasted 85 hours :p, and I did just about every side quest I could find. The origin stories comprise a lot of the game, apparently.
 
for people going 2 melee and 2 mage, do you have one that can pick locks or are you just leaving that stuff behind.

I just started going; me a dwarf berserker, Al, Mor, and just got Wynne and so no rogues in group.
Went through the tower and left a bunch of chest behind. it kills me to leave stuff, even though i hardly get good things, I still have to open everything
 
SubyJay said:
for people going 2 melee and 2 mage, do you have one that can pick locks or are you just leaving that stuff behind.

I just started going; me a dwarf berserker, Al, Mor, and just got Wynne and so no rogues in group.
Went through the tower and left a bunch of chest behind. it kills me to leave stuff, even though i hardly get good things, I still have to open everything
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I just leave all stuffs behind..
 
If you leave the town before defending it, the entire town gets destroyed as a plot point. So once you enter the town, you have to go through with it all the way. AFAIK, you have to defend first and then go save the daughter. Otherwise, there's no access to the castle. The smith is a patient guy. :)

That explains why I was at 66% at the end, having completed just about every side quest.

Chests are persistent in most areas. If you're really want the loot, just go back through the empty of enemies areas, such as the tower, with a rogue and pop open all the chests. I think even bodies are persistent. I had to go back a few times to reloot bodies since I was out of inv space. It's a bit tedious but it allows you to fight without a rogue in the party. Most of it is junk but it adds up quite quickly with regard to money and XP. Like 2 gold armor to sell, etc. and the 30-50XP per chest. I'm pretty anal about loot and pickpocketing. By the end of the game, my char sheet said that I had spent about 850 gold total and I still had about 50 gold left over. This is with no console cheating.
 
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I might be wrong here, but I think there are some codex updates in some chests as well, like books/scrolls. Not very often, but I remember some bandar(spelling, I know thats not right), or something. Plus some of the chests I found, I think the dragon treasures or something had like 16 gold in one of them. I personally find having a fully trap/lockpicker on my 2nd run through quite worth it overal. I missed alot of stuff on my first run through with three mages and alistar...
 
Well my rogue is pretty high level since I have tried to do everything. I have all four of the lockpick skills, so that is maxed, and my cunning is right around 30. I am level 15 I think, maybe 16. I haven't found a chest or door I couldn't unlock unless it requires a key.
 
ob1 said:
Well my rogue is pretty high level since I have tried to do everything. I have all four of the lockpick skills, so that is maxed, and my cunning is right around 30. I am level 15 I think, maybe 16. I haven't found a chest or door I couldn't unlock unless it requires a key.
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Only 22 cunning here. Maybe that's why.
 
Tzzird said:
On my new rogue I finally have maxed out lockpick and I still can't open all chests. How much does cunning have to do with your ability to open chests?
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It does take High Cunning along with your Lockpicking skills.
 
IIRC, you need 30-35 cunning and 4 lockpick to open every chest in the game. 1 lockpick = 10 or so cunning so it definitely helps to have full lockpick but you can't ignore cunning completely. However, there are only about 5 60XP chests in the game, none of which dropped anything special so if you can pop 50XP chests, you should be fine. Most chests in the game are the 30XP variety, which you can pop with like 20 cunning and 3 lockpick, or even lower.

Edit: Okay found the link with the full explanation: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/66/index/243304
 
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Yeah, I think the lock pick skill is like a cunning multiplier for lockpicking and trap disarming...

As a side note, I blew through this game starting as a mage and using Morrigan, Wynne and Allistar. Going through it the second time as a rogue is much more difficult and takes more strategy in my opinion. I am getting those shatter combo's down now though. This run through I'm using the standard Allistar, myself assassin, Morrigan and Wynne. I just finally beat Flemeth, (I couldn't use Morrigan for that), at like level 15/16. I tried when I was 12/13 and she put the beat down on me hard, even though I had beat that other dragon in haven. I only have Ozimar, (spelling I know), left before the final run, so I will probably be like level 18/19 by the time I get to end run...
 
KenG10 said:
Honestly, its just junk. Never have I found a "rare" or anything epic in a locked chest.
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I think you must be missing some chests. I've found tons of cool stuff. Having a rogue who can open anything is very much worth it.

Mind you, I do just sell most of it. I've got hundreds of Health/Lyrium potions though, thanks to those trade-ins.
 
snaggletooth said:
I think you must be missing some chests. I've found tons of cool stuff. Having a rogue who can open anything is very much worth it.

Mind you, I do just sell most of it. I've got hundreds of Health/Lyrium potions though, thanks to those trade-ins.
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Yet to find anything in a chest worth keeping myself. But the XP is nice (seems a bit high in comparison to the XP earned from killling tough opponents though) and money is pretty tight in this game so looting is fairly important. I just take Leliana with me after I've cleared an area, or if I encounter lots of traps I will go back to camp an enlist her aid. She's not much use in a scrape, particularly against foes nigh-on impervious to arrows.
 
Leliana's skills are often overlooked. Captivating Song can make even the toughest boss battle a tremendous amount easier. She doesn't have to do anything, just stand close to the target and sing.

Never underestimate the power of forcing severall mental resistance checks per minute.

My first PC was a rogue. I focused heavily on cunning and only missed a few chests early on in the game. I can't specifically remember anything AWESOME!!!! coming from chests either, but many high sovereign items are just waiting to be looted and sold.
 
Yeah, I got all 4 levels of lockpick and still can't get into everything with a cunning of 22, but like others have mentioned - I haven't found anything groundbreaking in a chest. Lots of "good" items and tons of stuff to sell (so you can buy tomes or better goods), but I can't recall anything truly amazing from one.
 
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