Thread: Dragon Age Origins

Originally Posted by hydro

Let me know if that's any good. I've had my eye on it from the start. I'll probably play a mage someday, but I've been concentrating on a Warrior this time. I wish I'd known how to get it earlier or I'd have given it to Morrigan in my main playthrough.

I assume you mean blood magic? My roommate implied that there's a pact with a demon, and that it's nearly impossible for Morrigan to like you because she disapproves of most of the choices you need to make to get it, so swap her out for someone else while pursuing the specialization. He says it's super powerful (one of the dudes in the mage origin takes out 4 really strong guys in one spell with it)

I want to do warrior and go reaver specialized with it. the blood splatter mechanic is freaking awesome.

Originally Posted by hydro

Yeah, I did, and yeah, I read about the method you need to use. I'm surprised Morrigan gets so angsty about it. She usually prizes pragmatism so. Although she bitched throughout that whole area for all sorts of reasons, so I guess that's what he means.

As for Reaver, it is quite fun. The effects it gives you almost add a touch of mage to the regular Warrior, which is nice. They're not outright magic, but they allow you some healing skills and some pleasantly twisted ways to do damage.

I'm gonna probably do Warrior next, though Rogue has certainly caught my eye. I've seen a ton of chests I can't open because I can't pick locks.

Originally Posted by MalReynolds

Just keep a rogue in your party with enough cunning or whatever to open chests. The red haired chick does that for me, and since I'm trying to bang her, whenever she goes, "Did it, just like you asked," I'm like, "Yeah, bitch," and then, "I'm so lonely."

But I wanna be sneaky and stabby

Hey Mal, have you gotten to the Circle Tower yet?

If you haven't... it's just incredible.

Originally Posted by captain castle

dude, I had to play on Normal cause I'm ALWAYS lighting my teammates on fire with Flaming Hands, and my Fireballs are indiscriminate in their fiery pain.

I'm sticking to Hard difficulty, and I hardly ever light my team on fire with Fireblast. You just have to position them correctly and to not go nuts with the spell.

As for Fireball, I'm actually hesitant to spec into it just for that reason, though maybe if I have another mage that can Mass Paralyze or Mind Blast enemies into place, I could then get my allies out of are before I follow up with a Fireball.

Also, turn off the default combat tactic for it, or you'll spend half your time frying your own party members.

Has anyone else done a magi? the entropy school of magic has some really abusable magic.

Yeah. I, however, chose the the dumbest line of spells in the Entropy category, the Hex one. I am kicking myself for not choosing any of the others, all of which are incredible. I could've also gotten the glyphs in the Creation Tree I suppose. I don't have Death Hex yet, nor am I close to getting it, but hopefully that'll make the sunken ability points more worth the expense.


Under spirit, I went with Mind Blast/Force Field/Telekinetic Weapons/Crushing Prison. Mind Blast is the only other AoE disabler that will not affect party members, aside from Mass Paralysis which you can't get until far later in the game. It's pretty useful for helping to get control of the situation if things get hairy.

Force Field is highly exploitable; it not only makes the target invulnerable for a whole half a minute (I believe), but it actually also increases the effective size of the target. Given the mechanics of how the enemy melee AI chooses its target, it's rather easy to have the force fielded party member act as an invulnerable tank while the rest of the party can pick off the enemies one by one. This has saved me from a wipe more than once.

I haven't been paying attention to the damage difference due with my melee members due to Telekinetic Weapons, but I'm assuming it's substantial on armored foes.

Crushing Prison is both a single target disabling spell and really excellent DoT. Even without the chance to shatter petrified/frozen targets it'd be great.


I got the first Heal spell in the Creation category. Every mage should have it; it's too bad it took me so long to realize how necessary it is.


In Primal, I have Flame Blast/Flaming Weapons. In retrospect, it would have been better if I went with Frost for the Freezing effects or to have just stayed out of Primal.


The Mage abilities I have are Arcane Bolt and Arcane Shield. I don't know how great Arcane Shield is. Considering how much I use my staff's basic attack, I should probably get Staff Focus the next time I level up.

Originally Posted by sycld

I'm sticking to Hard difficulty, and I hardly ever light my team on fire with Fireblast. You just have to position them correctly and to not go nuts with the spell.

Not a possibility

As for Fireball, I'm actually hesitant to spec into it just for that reason, though maybe if I have another mage that can Mass Paralyze or Mind Blast enemies into place, I could then get my allies out of are before I follow up with a Fireball.

Quit being a little bitch and blast stuff

Yeah. I, however, chose the the dumbest line of spells in the Entropy category, the Hex one. I am kicking myself for not choosing any of the others, all of which are incredible. I could've also gotten the glyphs in the Creation Tree I suppose. I don't have Death Hex yet, nor am I close to getting it, but hopefully that'll make the sunken ability points more worth the expense.

Sleep plus Horror is the best single target damage ever. I'm serious ever.

Under spirit, I went with Mind Blast/Force Field/Telekinetic Weapons/Crushing Prison. Mind Blast is the only other AoE disabler that will not affect party members, aside from Mass Paralysis which you can't get until far later in the game. It's pretty useful for helping to get control of the situation if things get hairy.

Force Field is highly exploitable; it not only makes the target invulnerable for a whole half a minute (I believe), but it actually also increases the effective size of the target. Given the mechanics of how the enemy melee AI chooses its target, it's rather easy to have the force fielded party member act as an invulnerable tank while the rest of the party can pick off the enemies one by one. This has saved me from a wipe more than once.

I haven't been paying attention to the damage difference due with my melee members due to Telekinetic Weapons, but I'm assuming it's substantial on armored foes.

Crushing Prison is both a single target disabling spell and really excellent DoT. Even without the chance to shatter petrified/frozen targets it'd be great.


I got the first Heal spell in the Creation category. Every mage should have it; it's too bad it took me so long to realize how necessary it is.


In Primal, I have Flame Blast/Flaming Weapons. In retrospect, it would have been better if I went with Frost for the Freezing effects or to have just stayed out of Primal.


The Mage abilities I have are Arcane Bolt and Arcane Shield. I don't know how great Arcane Shield is. Considering how much I use my staff's basic attack, I should probably get Staff Focus the next time I level up.

I'm happy you wrote a huge thing, but I'm also ashamed you think I'm gonna read it

Originally Posted by captain castle

Not a possibility.

Well, you suck at a video game.

Quit being a little bitch and blast stuff

Can't lower difficulty; must protect e-peen.

Sleep plus Horror is the best single target damage ever. I'm serious ever.

I know. Like I said, I would totally have done it differently if I could do it over again.

I might just spend my next ability points on this.

I'm happy you wrote a huge thing, but I'm also ashamed you think I'm gonna read it

I'm ashamed whenever I become so enthusiastic about a video game that I write a long post like this. But Dragon Age is probably the most fun I've had with an RPG. Like ever. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I probably haven't enjoyed an RPG this much.

And really that post wasn't that long, but since you're a lazy fat ass here's the summary: all mages should at least get the Heal spell. Force Field can give you an invulnerable tank that can distract a whole pack of melee while your other party members pick them off one at a time. People speccing into Primal should probably go for Frost and leave it at that.

Oh, and mages do everything.

Warriors tank.

Rogues are useless.

It's a shame that one out of three classes just sucks. In this game if you're in melee range you really should be a tank due to the aggro mechanics of this game and sheer number of enemies you fight at once. Also, archery weapons do shit for damage, and even if they didn't a mage could still do ranged damage while serving a billion other functions.




And I still don't know how to get Alistair out of his steel panties. The game keeps trying to set me up with Morrigan :/

Originally Posted by MalReynolds

I'm at the Circle Tower right now, going through that uh... thing that happens when you reach the top floor. Pretty interesting stuff, I didn't even fathom this happening.

yeah i know. the game constantly throws surprises at you. i can't believe how long it was too.

Originally Posted by sycld

Well, you suck at a video game.



Can't lower difficulty; must protect e-peen.



I know. Like I said, I would totally have done it differently if I could do it over again.

I might just spend my next ability points on this.

It's not an issue of I can't be more strategic with my fireballs, I've been playing Dnd for years and other video games where FF is always on, so I'm fully capable, I just prefer to be indiscriminate. I hear about the E-peen thing, but there's no achievements, so who cares?

I'm ashamed whenever I become so enthusiastic about a video game that I write a long post like this. But Dragon Age is probably the most fun I've had with an RPG. Like ever. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I probably haven't enjoyed an RPG this much.

And really that post wasn't that long, but since you're a lazy fat ass here's the summary: all mages should at least get the Heal spell. Force Field can give you an invulnerable tank that can distract a whole pack of melee while your other party members pick them off one at a time. People speccing into Primal should probably go for Frost and leave it at that.

I actually fully intended to come back and read/respond to this, but I was playing WoW and foruming during flight times. I'll read and digest when I am not in the middle of work later.

I'd like to go on record as saying that anything BioWare makes... is amazing.

Originally Posted by Atmosfear

hour long conversations? color me disinterested

Ever played MGS4?

If you get a PS3 you have to get that game. It has probably like 5-6 hours of cinematics in it. And it is one of the best games Ive ever played.

Originally Posted by captain castle

It's not an issue of I can't be more strategic with my fireballs, I've been playing Dnd for years and other video games where FF is always on, so I'm fully capable, I just prefer to be indiscriminate. I hear about the E-peen thing, but there's no achievements, so who cares?

Jesus knows what I do with my e-peen even if no on else does.

But really, the game is designed with friendly fire in mind. I'd rather play the game as intended rather than a dumbed down version. Perhaps that's stupid, but that's my reasoning.

I actually fully intended to come back and read/respond to this, but I was playing WoW and foruming during flight times. I'll read and digest when I am not in the middle of work later.

Hah, either way.

Originally Posted by TheOriginalGrumpySpy

I'd like to go on record as saying that anything BioWare makes... is amazing.

DAO has everything that has made its past classics great... times 1,000,000. The characters are superb with excellent voice acting, the story is rich and highly nonlinear, the combat is exciting, tactical, and varied, and there are unexpected surprises and new twists at every turn.

And it is LONG. Going through one version of the main quest line without side quests only lets you see 45% of the game.

The only areas where I think it's arguably deficient are in a rather weak rogue class and maybe the somewhat unexciting itemization. But both of these points are debatable.

Seeing as Mass Effect was beautiful and brilliant, and they are heading the Star Wars MMO... this company really knows what they are doing.

Yes.

I forgot to add one other thing which annoys me. I personally I have all the DLC since it came with the edition I bought. However, if you DON'T have the Warden's Keep add-on, the NPC quest giver is STILL in the game:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/6/

I chalk it up to EA's insidious influence.

Originally Posted by sycld

Jesus knows what I do with my e-peen even if no on else does.

But really, the game is designed with friendly fire in mind. I'd rather play the game as intended rather than a dumbed down version. Perhaps that's stupid, but that's my reasoning.

Hah, either way.



DAO has everything that has made its past classics great... times 1,000,000. The characters are superb with excellent voice acting, the story is rich and highly nonlinear, the combat is exciting, tactical, and varied, and there are unexpected surprises and new twists at every turn.

And it is LONG. Going through one version of the main quest line without side quests only lets you see 45% of the game.

The only areas where I think it's arguably deficient are in a rather weak rogue class and maybe the somewhat unexciting itemization. But both of these points are debatable.

The thing is: I totally understand your reasoning, and I'll probably play on hard later, but I just like blowing things up

Originally Posted by TheOriginalGrumpySpy

Seeing as Mass Effect was beautiful and brilliant, and they are heading the Star Wars MMO... this company really knows what they are doing.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not, cause Bioware can't miss

Originally Posted by Nermy2k

Jade Empire was pretty terrible.

Jade Empire was a flub. Yeah, it wasn't that great.

Also I enjoyed Mass Effect a lot but come on "vroom vroom let's ride around on this planet for 18 hours"

It's hard to deny that the buggy rides were pretty bad. But that was the worst part of the game; most of the rest was pretty awesome.

I also cannot get over the fact that the unified government of the confederation of Citadel Space consists of THREE individuals. THREE. They have the final word on EVERYTHING, and I'm suppose to believe that these three people are able to handle all of even just the highest-level decisions for all of Citadel Space, which contains countless numbers of organizations and dozens of complicated and varying types of governments.

And not only that, but beyond this complicated policy making and fulfilling the biological needs of their bodies, they actually have time to take visits or listen to communications from anyone, much less stand around at the top of the Citadel Tower.

Originally Posted by sycld

Jade Empire was a flub. Yeah, it wasn't that great.

It's hard to deny that the buggy rides were pretty bad. But that was the worst part of the game; most of the rest was pretty awesome.

I also cannot get over the fact that the unified government of the confederation of Citadel Space consists of THREE individuals. THREE. They have the final word on EVERYTHING, and I'm suppose to believe that these three people are able to handle all of even just the highest-level decisions for all of Citadel Space, which contains countless numbers of organizations and dozens of complicated and varying types of governments.

And not only that, but beyond this complicated policy making and fulfilling the biological needs of their bodies, they actually have time to take visits or listen to communications from anyone, much less stand around at the top of the Citadel Tower.

Listen here's the thing: I can't life things with my mind either, but I'm willing to suspend my belief for a game damn you.

Originally Posted by captain castle

Listen here's the thing: I can't life things with my mind either, but I'm willing to suspend my belief for a game damn you.

Hey, it's one thing to suspend belief for the sake of metaphysical crap like the Fade or pseudo-scientific crap like the Mass Effect.

But to have a Galactic Senate consisting of nothing but 3 people that inexplicably appear to never have the need to sit and also have the power to communicate to multiple people at once in multiple ways at once is pretty hard to swallow.

Originally Posted by sycld

Hey, it's one thing to suspend belief for the sake of metaphysical crap like the Fade or pseudo-scientific crap like the Mass Effect.

But to have a Galactic Senate consisting of nothing but 3 people that inexplicably appear to never have the need to sit and also have the power to communicate to multiple people at once in multiple ways at once is pretty hard to swallow.

There's a ton of under senators they are just the figureheads

Originally Posted by gismo

Guys, get reviewing this dammit. I am still pondering getting the XBOX version, from the reviews I have read, they have been mixed and I am still unsure. From this thread I am seriously considering buying it. I understand the XBOX graphics aren't as good, but I don't care. My biggest concern is over the combat system, I have seen some very mixed views over it.

There is no doubt that this is a PC game at its heart, and if you get a console version, you're definitely buying a console port of a PC game. Combat is most tactical on the PC version, and it has been made somewhat easier on consoles due to the impracticality of constantly pausing. However, from what I've read, the gameplay is still good on consoles even if it is not as good as on the PC. Graphics are also best on the PC version.

I recommend buying the PC version, but if you have to buy a console version, you're still going to get a great and engrossing game.

Originally Posted by Stovetop

I've been playing this for a while. I gotta say I definitely like how the battle system is more involved than "faceroll"

That being said I usually like to play the stealthy stab you in the back characters. And as far as I can tell this was a bad choice. He dies really fast and burns through his energy really fast even if im just using the skill that stuns one enemy for a short amount of time. Then once someone decides to target him, I spend the time running him around in a big circle so he doesn't die, making controlling the rest of my team more difficult. I think its about time to reroll a mage.

It's really, really hard at first to be a rogue. However, I just recruited a new rogue into my party and decided to try having a rogue and a warrior instead of 2 rogues (the other two party members are mages, of course). Now that my warrior has Taunt and the channeled ability that increases threat from each strike, he can keep almost all of the enemies on him and my rogue rarely gets hit unless one enemy leaves the clusterfuck around my warrior. In that case, my mages either CC him or burn him down.

But for sure, in this game mages are so much more powerful than warriors or rogues since they not only have high single target damage but have massive devastating AoE's, incredible CC to which the pathetic rogue stuns and pinnings can't hold a candle, healing, and all sorts of utility. At least you have to have a warrior to tank.

Rogues are still playable, though they might just require more careful micromanagement at the beginning. They should have really been given a Disengage sort of ability.

And Sycld, I have the opposite problem you do. I keep trying to make Morrigan like me, but she keeps getting pissy and Alistair is all over my nuts.

Oh no, that's not quite what I was getting at.

Spoiler

It is easy to make Alistair warm up to you and to piss Morrigan off, but it's impossible to get into his loincloth. I think he just is a fan of the ladies

As for Morrigan, yes she is a bit of a darker character, and most people are probably going to want to play their characters as a more overtly "good" seeming one. Morrigan respects power and freedom, even at the price of security or safety.

However, I have found another male character who will love my nuts.

And I would agree about this being a PC game, except the rose menus they implemented seem like they would function much better with an analog stick where you cant pick an option and then go too far and have nothing selected.

The only rose menus I have encounter were in inventory, to destroy or equip items. In the gameplay movies for the console versions, I saw some big rose menus over the characters. I thought those were only in the console ports; I didn't realize they were implemented in the PC versions as well.

And frankly, I think those rose menus were a concession to consoles. Most anything that can be done from them can be more easily done with the PC interface.

Originally Posted by Stovetop

Spoiler

Zombies

I suspected that this is where you were having trouble with your rogue.

Spoiler

This is also where I had made up my mind that rogues weren't playable. Honestly, this is a pretty difficult part of the game, and many people will probably go there first especially becaue Alistair suggests that you do so. I too went here right after Lothering.

I'm not sure what to tell you except that once you get past the zombie invaision you'll probably have an easier time. Make sure you have a warrior with Taunt. If possible, also bring a mage with a healing spell, but if Morrigan doen't have that you'll just have to make do with as many healing poultices as you can get your hands on. If you haven't freed Sten from his cage, I suggest you do so and use him as your main tank with Alistair as an off-tank since Alistair doesn't come with Taunt as a base ability but Sten does if I remember.

If possible, you could use your rogue as an archer. Unfortunately, archers do relatively poor damage in this game for some stupid reason, as though rogues weren't already behind as it is.

Originally Posted by hydro

The difficulty is levelled anyway. It's not like Oblivion's ridiculous scaling, but no matter what order you do the city questlines in, they will all deliver fairly optimum difficulty.

Are your tanks using Threaten and stuff like that? There are a few skills that contribute to getting enemy attention. It might be worth investing in as many as possible for the appropriate characters.

It's less about the difficulty in terms of raw stats and more about the fact that that early on your characters don't have many abilities that would be very useful: your tanks may not have Threaten (Alistair doesn't start out with it for example), your mages may not have Heal (if you didn't realize yet that it is a very helpful spell), etc.

Originally Posted by Stovetop

Your advice is amazing.

My party consists of rogue, Morrigan, Sten, Allistair. Only im using Allistair as the tank, and Sten has a bunch of skills in the 2H weapon dept. Perhaps I should have them both attmept to be tanks. I also attempted to use a bow with my rogue, but as you said, that was even more worthless.

You have failed me for the last time Allistair, I now will no longer take your advice.

Also, did you see how much poisoned weapons actually increases your damage? I have made as much poison as what is on me will allow, but it still doesnt seem to help a whole lot once they decide my rogue needs to die.

Sten should still be useful as an offtank with that party composition, even though he's wielding a two-hander and not a sword and board. I honestly don't know what it's like to only roll with one mage since my party has always had two.

As for Rogue bows, I've heard that the abilities are pretty good, but the auto-attack sucks. There is apparently an experimental hotfix by a Bioware developer that might serve as a band-aid to the problem until a full patch is released:

http://dragonage.gulbsoft.org/doku.p...ity_hotfix_101

Note the warning at the bottom of the page before you install: the hotfix affects enemies in the game as well, so encounters with a ton of archers become considerably more difficult than they are now.

so i finally had teh mansecs.

it was weird.

now time to lay morrigan.

Originally Posted by Mr. E

Castle, when you get MW2 and never play this game again you should send it to me.

I was kind of interested before, but this thread has got me pretty hard now.

Remember when Quagmire discovered internet porn? That's me right now. I'm jonesing badly for MW2 and I'm at work.

Originally Posted by ShitFace

90% installed

browsing forums to pass the time

be sure to have teh gay secs when the opportunity presents itself