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So, I'd heard this game mentioned around a few times, but never really looked into it. I mean, the name is so generic... Dragon Age. And the :Origins makes me think it's some sort of prequel to an already established franchise that I know nothing about.

But then someone on this board mentions it, and I decide to look it up. HOLY SHIT IT'S A NEW RPG BY BIOWARE?!

Never have I gone from knowing nothing about a game to pre-ordering the collector's edition so quickly. And I never pre-order anything, nor buy collector's editions.

They should call this game "Bioware Presents - Dragon Age" or something.

Anyway, anyone else excited? Or think that it needs a better name?

Dragon Age: Origins

As a massive Bioware fanboy, yes I am looking forward to this game. It is supposed to be a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate games, which makes me really excited.

Dragon Age: Origins

Looks good so far...

Dragon Age: Origins

I'm looking forward to the game.

I hope the Manson numetal music is trailer only.

Dragon Age: Origins

Ravenpoe said:

So, I'd heard this game mentioned around a few times, but never really looked into it. I mean, the name is so generic... Dragon Age. And the :Origins makes me think it's some sort of prequel to an already established franchise that I know nothing about.

But then someone on this board mentions it, and I decide to look it up. HOLY SHIT IT'S A NEW RPG BY BIOWARE?!

Never have I gone from knowing nothing about a game to pre-ordering the collector's edition so quickly. And I never pre-order anything, nor buy collector's editions.

They should call this game "Bioware Presents - Dragon Age" or something.

Anyway, anyone else excited? Or think that it needs a better name?

Click to expand...

I envy your ignorance. I've known about this game for something approaching 4 years now, and the wait has not been pleasant!

With Brutal Legend this month, and Dragon Age next month, it's looking like it's going to be a good winter.

Incidentally, the Dragon Age: Origins character creator is being released for the PC this Tuesday (the 13th), to act as a kind of demo for hardware compatibility purposes, and to let us mess around with the character options early. It'll let us import the characters we make into the full game when it's released.

Dragon Age: Origins

Gill Kaiser said:

With Brutal Legend this month, and Dragon Age next month, it's looking like it's going to be a good winter.

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This!

I too ignored DA:O for a few years. The name sounded painfully unoriginal, and I try not to follow games too many years before they come out. I knew it was a bioware rpg and eventually I'd have to pay attention...

Checked it out last month, and of course, it looks incredible. It looks like any other bioware game with the tons of text and well-toned plot... It sounds like it's going to be particularly difficult too from the reviews, which I like in an RPG. It can play like an MMO or NWN where you control your party up close, or just like Baldur's Gate or Fallout with the isometric view.

Also, most of the dialogue in the game will take place while you are dripping with gore. A marked improvement from other bioware conversation systems.

Dragon Age: Origins

Frankie said:

I'm looking forward to the game.

I hope the Manson numetal music is trailer only.

Click to expand...

Is the music here more to your liking? (video stolen from the penny-arcade forums)

Dragon Age: Origins

It has been confirmed that MM has, thank the gods, not made it into the final game. The soundtrack will be a pretty traditional fantasy ensemble.

Seriously, what were they thinking with those preview videos? Argh.

Dragon Age: Origins

They where thinking that as a Bioware game the RPG people will buy it anyhow and they might as well try to get the other crowds?!

Gill Kaiser said:

Incidentally, the Dragon Age: Origins character creator is being released for the PC this Tuesday (the 13th), to act as a kind of demo for hardware compatibility purposes, and to let us mess around with the character options early. It'll let us import the characters we make into the full game when it's released.

Click to expand...

Nice... and it will give us an idea on the game system they're using without having to scourer the net (like i did yesterday and i still don't get it 100%).

Dragon Age: Origins

I remember the day they announced this years back in 2004. I was super excited for it.

Now, I don't know. My interest has dropped over the years, mostly because the original screenshots posted a long time ago of Dragon Age gave it a more "fantasitcal fantasy" feel, reminded me a lot of the look of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in the colors and light.

At some point they went into a massive information drought and years later turned it into some sort of "gothic gritty fantasy", with all the generic browns and dark lighting all over the place, blood and sex now being major themes. Just feels so forced.

It's BioWare though, I know I will get it anyways.

Dragon Age: Origins

ScytheRexx said:

I remember the day they announced this years back in 2004. I was super excited for it.

Now, I don't know. My interest has dropped over the years, mostly because the original screenshots posted a long time ago of Dragon Age gave it a more "fantasitcal fantasy" feel, reminded me a lot of the look of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in the colors and light.

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I'm intrigued... got any pics or links?!

Oldest i could find was from 2006, and the devs mention Song of Fire and Ice, which i understand is rather gritty...

Dragon Age: Origins

@Li3n;273896][quote=ScytheRexx said:

I remember the day they announced this years back in 2004. I was super excited for it.

Now, I don't know. My interest has dropped over the years, mostly because the original screenshots posted a long time ago of Dragon Age gave it a more "fantasitcal fantasy" feel, reminded me a lot of the look of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in the colors and light.

Click to expand...

I'm intrigued... got any pics or links?!

Oldest i could find was from 2006, and the devs mention Song of Fire and Ice, which i understand is rather gritty...[/QUOTE]

A Boiware game... based on A Song of Ice and Fire?

It's like the concept leapt out the screen and had sweaty, passionate sex with my brain.

Dragon Age: Origins

Inspired, not based... aka "it's mature"... which usually is a bad sign for a game, but it is Bioware... (though Obsidian did make more interesting stories imo).

Dragon Age: Origins

@Li3n said:

Inspired, not based... aka "it's mature"... which usually is a bad sign for a game, but it is Bioware... (though Obsidian did make more interesting stories imo).

Click to expand...

Well, yes, that's what I meant... but any interaction by the Bioware creative staff with the works of George R. R. Martin can only be a good thing. I have faith in those guys.

Dragon Age: Origins

I'm still not in the mood to read Song because from what i read about it it reminds me of the rather depressing historical novels i read... (is it in Ivanhoe that Robin Hood gets killed in his castle when he's older? i'm not sure as i recall Ivanhoe to be lighter most of the time).

Dragon Age: Origins

@Li3n said:

Inspired, not based... aka "it's mature"... which usually is a bad sign for a game, but it is Bioware... (though Obsidian did make more interesting stories imo).

Click to expand...

The way it seems to go, Obsidian will make the sequel. Which will be rushed because of publisher interference in the project, have the superior story but will be a technical mess.

I think I've just described every Obsidian game ever made.

Dragon Age: Origins

The games they gave Obsidian where all someone elses IP... which is why they gave them away, so they could make their own IP.

And maybe i remember wrong, but NWN1 was just as buggy when it started as NWN2...

Dragon Age: Origins

Man, NWN was no where near the unplayable mess NWN2 was at release. Most people couldn't even play it.

Dragon Age: Origins

Playing with the character creator they just put out. So far I don't like that in order to have a beard, you cannot change a lot of facial options. So, if you have a beard, you must also have giant brown hideous fish lips.

Dragon Age: Origins

I have no idea why they released the character creator so early, there's not that much to it. I had fun making my little dwarven woman, but its done now.

Maybe it was a clever way to test for bugs?

Dragon Age: Origins

It provides some indication of whether a person's PC will be able to run the game, and it lets Bioware test out their new social website thingy.

I'm enjoying the hell out of this character creator. If you start messing around with individual depth and width settings, it's pretty powerful. I made the male human mage, which I had intended to play first, but then I made a female city elf rogue, and her design now kind of makes me want to play her first. She looks like a cross between Sharon Stone and Kim Cattrall.

Dragon Age: Origins

I'll post my bald warrior woman dwarf commoner after Zombieland. I am excited for this game.

Dragon Age: Origins

Maybe we could turn this into a thread for posting the characters we create?

Here are a few of mine. First, two human mages, Caleb and Lilith:




Two warriors, a Dalish Elf (Crow) and a Dwarf Noble (Alexios):




...and finally, a City Elf rogue named Zooey:

Dragon Age: Origins

@Li3n said:

I'm intrigued... got any pics or links?!

Click to expand...

Sorry been pretty busy. It's not easy to find older images from the announcement, but I found one.



It's not as "bright" as I remember, but I can definitely see how I got some of PoP out of it since this shot seems to be large buildings and a shirtless man. Still looks twenty times less gritty then the new game though.

Dragon Age: Origins

ScytheRexx;274603][quote=@Li3n said:

I'm intrigued... got any pics or links?!

Click to expand...

Sorry been pretty busy. It's not easy to find older images from the announcement, but I found one.



It's not as "bright" as I remember, but I can definitely see how I got some of PoP out of it since this shot seems to be large buildings and a shirtless man. Still looks twenty times less gritty then the new game though.[/QUOTE]

If I saw that picture and didn't know what it was, I'd think they were making Jade Empire 2.

Am I the only person who likes the new "grit" they've gone with? I understand why people are skeptical, grit is used by hacks who have no talent to try and hide that they have no talent. But this is BIOWARE. They have talent. So they're going to do grit right.

Just like my grandma.

.... she's southern, and makes good grits... not that she's dark and brooding and kills people...

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

So is anybody else trying to open the dragon age Character Creation on vista? I'm trying to open it and all I get is a folder asking me what I want to open the file with instead of opening the goddamn .exe file.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

works fine for me on Vista without doing anything special.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

I also have Vista and it is working fine.

Dragon Age: Origins

ScytheRexx;274603][quote=@Li3n said:

I'm intrigued... got any pics or links?!

Click to expand...

Sorry been pretty busy. It's not easy to find older images from the announcement, but I found one.



It's not as "bright" as I remember, but I can definitely see how I got some of PoP out of it since this shot seems to be large buildings and a shirtless man. Still looks twenty times less gritty then the new game though.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, i see the PoP thing, but the lack of grit seems more of an old graphics thing... from the screen it does look like one could easily believe they where going for more gritty from the get go.


Also, i always up the gamma in all the games i play... why do they make them all so damn dark anyhow?

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character



I wanna do a playthrough with a character that looks like me for roleplayin' first, but that is just adorable and I may end up playing that first.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

I can't wait to play this game!

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

I work at Best Buy, and we have this game back in the warehouse. Every time I go back there, I have to walk past it, and though I'll occasionally stop to pick it up and lovingly hold it for a minute, I can't take it home, unwrap it, and stick it in my disk drive.

... is this what blue balls feel like?

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

This wait has been worse than blue balls.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

I'll admit, I haven't looked into this much, but other than Bioware helming it, how is this any different than your run-of-the-mill PC RPG? (Note: I am quite the Bioware fan)

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

I like you Shego, I really do.. but silly questions like that make me...

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

Yeah, that image really didn't convey the thought I think you were going for, and I was asking legitimately.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

Basically the game promises a very dynamic environment that one doesn't expect in normal RPG. Your character will have it's own storyline depending on what race/class you take. The decisions you take impact you greatly later on instead of subtle changes. Your character can take on a more important to things happening around them.

Basically BG+ME+KOTOR all in one but more sexy.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

Unfortunately, I'm between jobs right now, so I won't be getting this for quite some time.

Dragon Age: Origins - Post your character

So I'm feeling a little bit (a lot) stupid. I just went ahead and bought this on a whim, on steam... and then realized how huge the files are. (I was expecting to have to delete my other games. Was not expecting that to not be enough). I'm currently seeing how many of the random crap on my windows side I actually need, and three questions come to mind:

1) How much leftover space would be necessary for the computer to actually, ya know, RUN, in addition to the 15 gigs for game?

2) I have a hard drive currently not formatted for PC that would certainly have enough room, but I'm not sure if Steam lets me pick where to install it. (I'm fair new to Steam, anyone know what the deal here is?)

3) Does Steam have a return policy if I haven't even downloaded the game yet?

4) If you've played the game, is it as orgasmically awesome as the reviews are suggesting? I bought it because I was feeling sad and wanted to splurge on something and this is the first time I've had the opportunity to get a hugely hyped non-Blizzard game the day of release, but I'm not sure I even care that much. I'm currently wavering between jumping through a bunch of hoops to be able to run it or e-mailing Steam and pleading temporary insanity.

It'll be here in 12 hours! And dammit, I'll be at work!

Still, I can't wait. I'm so looking forward to this game that I bought a hardcover collector's edition of the strategy guide, filled with lore and artwork, and signed by the game devs.

DID YOU HEAR ME? A HARDCOVER STRATEGY GUIDE! I'm lost forever now.

I just picked it up. Damn China is quick. IM GONNA PLAY RIGHT NOW

Just for a bit of the game under my belt. Bought it on Steam once I got home from work and dealt with the rather long download. Here is a mini-review of what I have so far...

The first thing I noticed was how much the game feels like the next generation of Neverwinter Nights. It just feels like Neverwinter Nights 2 but much darker, much bloodier, and with a unique world rather then the Forgotten Realms. It's all about behind the scene dice rolls, and even the kind of wonky mouse-movement is there. I have to say I am both happy and disappointed, I love NWN but find the game can be a little hard to manage once combat gets heavy, all the hotbars, the camera movements, getting everyone to move to the place they should rather then get stuck on that barrel in the corner. Its all still there. The game even has it's own version of feats, based on class and later on, specialization.

Now the good thing is that the story is very compelling so far. It does not start out slow, you get a little bit of time to relax in the origin before the shit hits the fan, suddenly people are recruiting you, wars are being fought, people are getting killed. A few times I felt it might be going a bit TOO fast, but later on realized it was a good enough pace to due to the slow combat. I definitely want to see where the story continues to take me.

The only big, almost game crippling issue I have dealt with was the loading times. Oh man... later on I have to climb a tower and I literally spent more time in the loading screens between the various floors then I did actually fighting Darkspawn on the floors themselves. I am hoping it was just that area, since the origin areas loaded pretty quick, but it kind of kicked some of the fun out of it.

This thread is seriously lacking in pictures. rly:

Ravenpoe said:

It'll be here in 12 hours! And dammit, I'll be at work!

Still, I can't wait. I'm so looking forward to this game that I bought a hardcover collector's edition of the strategy guide, filled with lore and artwork, and signed by the game devs.

DID YOU HEAR ME? A HARDCOVER STRATEGY GUIDE! I'm lost forever now.

Click to expand...

Man, I need to get a friend who works at Bioware to do this for me.

Also, I'm installing it now. Can't hardly wait.

Alright, already have my first gripe (shut up Jay). Having to download nearly a gig to get all the content that comes with the game when I bought a box copy is pretty shitty.

I played a (very) little bit of it today. It's pretty interesting.

I haven't gotten into Bioware games in the past, though.

Oh, and to remedy the lack of screenshots...

it's released the 6th in Europe and then i have to dl the 20go through Steam. Oh god i hate you so much right now Mutiny

Ha ha ha, my dude picked up another dude right off the bat. Man, Bioware's gonna have conservative America pissed about this one.

Got my second hard drive to work with Windows and finally, at a sweet 4 AM, have gotten to play a bit. I'm a dwarf common chick, who's sister is evidently a whore. I'm enjoying the dialogue a lot more than I remember enjoying Knights of the Old Republic (I never actually made it all the way through that game)

It sorta bothers me that I can't jump. I realize it has no effect on the game whatsoever, I just feel like I should be able to and it irks me slightly.

Raemon777 said:

Got my second hard drive to work with Windows and finally, at a sweet 4 AM, have gotten to play a bit. I'm a dwarf common chick, who's sister is evidently a whore. I'm enjoying the dialogue a lot more than I remember enjoying Knights of the Old Republic (I never actually made it all the way through that game)

It sorta bothers me that I can't jump. I realize it has no effect on the game whatsoever, I just feel like I should be able to and it irks me slightly.

Click to expand...

Frankie said:

Alright, already have my first gripe (shut up Jay). Having to download nearly a gig to get all the content that comes with the game when I bought a box copy is pretty shitty.

Click to expand...

COOOOMOOOOOOOOOOOOON astiiiiiiiiii!!!



I got the game but didn't play it last night, I was just too burnt out from a LONG day of work (woke up at 5AM instead of 7:30) and by 9PM, sitting under a blanket on the sofa was all i cared to do... i'll def play tonight.

Does 2 handed seem a little weak to anybody else? I mean I seem to spend most of my time taking down single guys while the rest of my team demolishes the rest of the attackers and then swoops in just in time to steal my kills.

The little things say that I'm doing about 29% of the damage for the party but I'm just not seeing it.

Balls, I woke up so fucking sick today. Doesn't look like I'll be doing anything beyond listening to music and sleeping.

Blargh.

Frankie said:

Ha ha ha, my dude picked up another dude right off the bat. Man, Bioware's gonna have conservative America pissed about this one.

Click to expand...

Elaborate, please?

Shegokigo;289707][quote=Frankie said:

Ha ha ha, my dude picked up another dude right off the bat. Man, Bioware's gonna have conservative America pissed about this one.

Click to expand...

Elaborate, please?[/QUOTE]

My male character invited another male character (a visiting friend of the family) up to his room for some intimate fun. I didn't play long enough to see it through but when I'm feeling better I can't wait to make the gayest burly man fighter ever.

Shegokigo;289707][quote=Frankie said:

Ha ha ha, my dude picked up another dude right off the bat. Man, Bioware's gonna have conservative America pissed about this one.

Click to expand...

Elaborate, please?[/quote]

Slightly NSFW:

Dubyamn said:

Does 2 handed seem a little weak to anybody else? I mean I seem to spend most of my time taking down single guys while the rest of my team demolishes the rest of the attackers and then swoops in just in time to steal my kills.

The little things say that I'm doing about 29% of the damage for the party but I'm just not seeing it.

Click to expand...

Yeah apparently 2H sucks donkey balls. thre are posts about that on every dao related board.

Math242;289717][quote=Dubyamn said:

Does 2 handed seem a little weak to anybody else? I mean I seem to spend most of my time taking down single guys while the rest of my team demolishes the rest of the attackers and then swoops in just in time to steal my kills.

The little things say that I'm doing about 29% of the damage for the party but I'm just not seeing it.

Click to expand...

Yeah apparently 2H sucks donkey balls. thre are posts about that on every dao related board.[/QUOTE]

Damn oh well I'll finish up the game with my 2 hander and make a more viable character next time around depending on how hard it is to switch it around.

And are you able to pick up the girl as easily? I said that we should talk later but nothing came of it.

Frankie said:

Balls, I woke up so fucking sick today. Doesn't look like I'll be doing anything beyond listening to music and sleeping.

Blargh.

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The legendary streak continues!

SeriousJay;289736][quote=Frankie said:

Balls, I woke up so fucking sick today. Doesn't look like I'll be doing anything beyond listening to music and sleeping.

Blargh.

Click to expand...

The legendary streak continues![/QUOTE]

Heychu man.

Also is there any reason other than him being a companion that I should even consider releasing Sten?

I mean sure he might be a great fighter but he still doesn't even bother explaining why he killed an entire farmhouse. And WTF is up with my group insisting that I try and get him released?

Dubyamn said:

I mean sure he might be a great fighter but he still doesn't even bother explaining why he killed an entire farmhouse. And WTF is up with my group insisting that I try and get him released?

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Sten is a weird guy, I got him released because he seems like he wants to atone for what he did, and I am sure there is something behind the story that shows it not being as simple as him being a murderer.

Also since people wanted pictures, this is the character I was talking about earlier. Even with all my other characters I made, this face just struck me, so I decided to go with it. Works well with the "Human Noble" origin too. Allistar is the total pimp of my group.

Im playing an Elf mage and I have to say, I just plain like the background story of this game..enslaved elves, fear of mages...its made what little progress I've made into the game thus far quite entertaining.

i want to play god damnit. it's dloading right now.

To make matters even worse, i preloaded last night and went to bed, this morning, steam would NOT start. Crash all the fucking time.

I tried uninstalling while keeping my steamapps folder but noooo it would not work. I had to start from scratch.

It means i've lost savegames for:
DoW 2: Game finished 3 times
Rome Total war
Torchlight : fuuuuuuuuuck. My hardcore destroyer is gone.
Football Manager 09: yaaaaaay 11 seasons gone
Drakensang: ok i don't care about that one
King's bounty
and some more.

FUCK YOU STEAM. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

DAO is clearly the last game i'm buying.

FUCK YOU STEAM

---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ----------

FUCK YOU STEAM

Is the Manson music in the game? Please tell me no.

Aaaaagh love this game. No the shitty Manson music didn't get in.

At first I was a alarmed that it seemed a little more like NWN than BG, then I was a perplexed when it resembled WoW more than either, but the gameplay is just as challenging as I want it, the dialogue branches seem to be huge and, best of all, it doesn't hold your hand with all the decision making like many other RPGs. The writing is typical bioware quality but in this game there's a ton more of it.

I can sort of see the 'spiritual successor to BG' thing, but it does feel very different being set in a middle fantasy world rather than a high fantasy one. The moral choice system in the game is pretty much perfect - you choose how to try and solve a problem(or just walk away) and then consequences happen. If you don't want to be a douche and ask for rewards, you usually just don't get any. If you want to leave that perspective party member to die, go ahead! If you are a jerk and let/cause bad stuff to happen, it often sneaks up and bites you in the ass later. I'm going to waste sooo many hours on this game...

Math242 said:

i want to play god damnit. it's dloading right now.

To make matters even worse, i preloaded last night and went to bed, this morning, steam would NOT start. Crash all the fucking time.

I tried uninstalling while keeping my steamapps folder but noooo it would not work. I had to start from scratch.

It means i've lost savegames for:
DoW 2: Game finished 3 times
Rome Total war
Torchlight : fuuuuuuuuuck. My hardcore destroyer is gone.
Football Manager 09: yaaaaaay 11 seasons gone
Drakensang: ok i don't care about that one
King's bounty
and some more.

FUCK YOU STEAM. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

DAO is clearly the last game i'm buying.

FUCK YOU STEAM

---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ----------

FUCK YOU STEAM

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My DoW2 saves where not in my steamapps folder... which makes sense as GfWL takes care of saves. Look in My Documents or whatever the equivalent for your OS is...

oh yeah that's true. Sweet because i don't really want to finish it again before the xp pack

thanks for the reminder.

I kind of wished I started as a rogue. Man, so much locked shit I've had to bypass.

i bet one of the 1st mods for the game will be the ability to bash a chest open.

This game has been incredible so far. I even blew off class this morning to play some more.

The dude in the foreground is the dude that tries to rape me:


Yes, that is blood I'm covered in:


My character's got a sweet face, but she's actually a bloodthirsty bitch:


She enjoys making sexual remarks to the Templar here:

Not being able to bash doors and chest made of wood is always so annoying... at least make them out of metal or something.




Oh, and some characters i made with the demo, i prob won't be getting the game any time soon:

I was sold at Ravenpoe's post.

So many people here playing female chars. I expect that usually in MMOs, wasn't aware people did it in single player too.

Next question:

Should I throw the $100 at the Collector's Edition Game + Collector's Edition Guide or is it just the basic game I will play through once/twice?

Shegokigo said:

I was sold at Ravenpoe's post.

So many people here playing female chars. I expect that usually in MMOs, wasn't aware people did it in single player too.

Next question:

Should I throw the $100 at the Collector's Edition Game + Collector's Edition Guide or is it just the basic game I will play through once/twice?

Click to expand...

I like Female avatars cause it is cuter than male counterpart.

I just bought the PC version (pre-order) and finish installing it last night. Haven't started it yet. (went to bed while it was installing/patching with download stuff)

While female avatars are cute to look at (the allistar avatar is gorgeous btw), in Bioware games, I strictly play male avatars due to the various intimate relationships you have with party members and love "connections". Having... say Kaedan trying to pick me up leaves like...

I haven't had the time to play yet, I was busy last night to play Lips on the Xbox and then some L4D2 Demo.... TONIGHT is totally the night.

That's pretty much what I meant SeriousJay, with single player RPGs I tend to really put myself into the "role" of the main character and try and feel/sympathize with their story. As with MMOs its more of an "extension" of myself and a portrayal of myself in the "virtual".

In either case I'd feel strange as hell playing a male avatar.

Guess what I just bought? Go ahead! Guess!

Dave said:

Guess what I just bought? Go ahead! Guess!

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?

Ok, I loled hard on that one.

Damn.

Pwnd.

Shegokigo said:

That's pretty much what I meant SeriousJay, with single player RPGs I tend to really put myself into the "role" of the main character and try and feel/sympathize with their story. As with MMOs its more of an "extension" of myself and a portrayal of myself in the "virtual".

In either case I'd feel strange as hell playing a male avatar.

Click to expand...

The character's personality reflects myself (IRL) sometimes, but the avatar is a shell. I love roleplaying but I make no secret that I'm a guy playing female characters (I do play male characters also)

I also took the folly of rolling a female character in my first play through. I had used the character creator a while ago to make a female when I was starting up my screen play of Modest, and pretty much made the main character (a female) in Dragon Age. A bald, Israeli woman, though in Dragon Age she is a dwarf.

I’m enjoying it to be sure, but I’m being hit on too many times by the male characters in the game, and feel kind of compelled to join in on the banter.

“Hey, you watch my back and I’ll watch yours.”

“Oh I’ll be watching your back alright..”

(Choice 3) “Well don’t get too distracted back there.”

Me: Augh, why must my character be a slut!?

Shegokigo said:

That's pretty much what I meant SeriousJay, with single player RPGs I tend to really put myself into the "role" of the main character and try and feel/sympathize with their story. As with MMOs its more of an "extension" of myself and a portrayal of myself in the "virtual".

Click to expand...

I normally make my first character the "extension of myself", but none of the male avatars really interested me in Dragon Age, I think the male model itself just is not very fun to look at, and the fact you can't change the underside of the face if you add facial hair made face crafting annoying.

ScytheRexx;291770][quote=Shegokigo said:

That's pretty much what I meant SeriousJay, with single player RPGs I tend to really put myself into the "role" of the main character and try and feel/sympathize with their story. As with MMOs its more of an "extension" of myself and a portrayal of myself in the "virtual".

Click to expand...

I normally make my first character the "extension of myself", but none of the male avatars really interested me in Dragon Age, I think the male model itself just is not very fun to look at, and the fact you can't change the underside of the face if you add facial hair made face crafting annoying.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I totally agree. Having to have giant fishlips with a beard is hardly awesome.

Shegokigo said:

That's pretty much what I meant SeriousJay, with single player RPGs I tend to really put myself into the "role" of the main character and try and feel/sympathize with their story. As with MMOs its more of an "extension" of myself and a portrayal of myself in the "virtual".

In either case I'd feel strange as hell playing a male avatar.

Click to expand...

I'm playing the first time through as a male that looks vaguely like me - except no facial hair, on account of being a fire mage, and being snarky. Going through and doing all of the quests the way I think I'd do them and picking spells a I think I'd learn them. This is fun and character building - I though I'd be drawn to Morrigan because I love the crazy mage type, but wind up leaving her back at camp frequently, because I think she's an idiot and refuses to understand that benevolent side quests lead to loot and an easier campaign in general.

However, after my first playthrough of games like this, I like to make interesting characters and run them through. I'll be making a plucky female dwarf for a different playstyle and to group with all the characters I missed. Also I'd absolutely hit Alistare if Alistare fell under the category of things I am biologically inclined to hit. Then I'll probably play a douchey male elf, then try hard or nightmare with a human noble warrior for a challenge.

I find that playing people who aren't myself is a more potent form of escapism - not to mention a great exorcise in thinking from other perspectives and discerning complex motivations.

Shegokigo said:

I was sold at Ravenpoe's post.

So many people here playing female chars. I expect that usually in MMOs, wasn't aware people did it in single player too.

Next question:

Should I throw the $100 at the Collector's Edition Game + Collector's Edition Guide or is it just the basic game I will play through once/twice?

Click to expand...

I did, although I got the CE of the game dirt cheap, since it was misprinted on amazon way back when I pre-ordered.

The CE game guide I ordered in a moment of weakness while waiting for delivery. I'm not ashamed of it now that I have it. It's huge, and high quality, and full of lore and art and tables DEAR GOD THE TABLES it has property lists of everything.

Also, there's a game guide in it somewhere.

i played all night and i'm at the point after Ostagar. I love it.

I'm probably gonna reroll because of how godlike my mage already is. I may keep the mage char for a evil nightmare run.

Also i WANT Morrigan in the party, she and Alistair crack me up... but i built my mage almost exactly liker her spells wise. (frost, same line in entropy)

I think i'm gonna try and see if i can make dual wield warrior viable. (Apparentely, sword and board owns this game)

I made a Dwarf Thief named Edrondol because I have no imagination. Good lord this is a good game! And the beginning parts are kinda tough as a Dwarf.

The first really big battle I was the only one who lived because my compadres kept rushing into battle like idiots. I was gonna reload but then they all got back up!

And here I thought they were dead.

tactical setup is your friend !

Damnit, now I gotta find $100....

Dave said:

I made a Dwarf Thief named Edrondol because I have no imagination. Good lord this is a good game! And the beginning parts are kinda tough as a Dwarf.

The first really big battle I was the only one who lived because my compadres kept rushing into battle like idiots. I was gonna reload but then they all got back up!

And here I thought they were dead.

Click to expand...

hehe... I thought the same thing with my group being a mage I hang back. the game is pretty awesome and very engaging. I actually take the time to listen and read all the stories so far (the beauty of single player IMO) I may reroll to try a warrior class.

There seems to be a dearth of fighter types to start the game.

Also, if you play a Dwarf...

Is this a PC only Bioware game?

/slaps self

NO! YOU NEED TO BEAT MASS EFFECT FIRST!

Also, if you play a Dwarf...

Click to expand...

Does it actually matter whether you're a dwarf? I assumed the second chapter played out the same no matter who you are.

Covar said:

Is this a PC only Bioware game?

/slaps self

NO! YOU NEED TO BEAT MASS EFFECT FIRST!

Click to expand...

Nope. Looking forward to getting my sticky little mitts on the 360 version when I get back home.

The different origins have reignited my altoholism. I've played through damn near every origin, one after the other.

I just completed the mage origin before posting this, and all I can say is OHSHIT!

This game is awesome.

At the beginning of the game you think you're all that (if you're a dwarf noble) but then once you get into the *real* fights, you suddenly have to start thinking very strategically.

The Tower Of Ishal was roughly the moment that I ditched the third-person perspective for top-down, as I had to move my dudes in complicated maneuvers.

Running melee fighters through narrow doorways, at which point they are set upon by traps and a raging Mabari hound is awesome.

And double-wielding weapon spec for the win.

Do you have to get the Hound before you go to the tower? If so, shit.

Combat in Dragon Age?

My brother has been playing Dragon Age for the past week or so. I've sat down and watched him play. But One thing that gets me about this game is the utter lack of combat.

Every time I walk in, It's always at a dialog option or walking around covered in blood. But I have yet to see anything resulting in said blood spraying.

At one point I thought i would see some combat but instead I'm greeted by a longer cut scene explaining how some guy is overpowered now!

How could such a game be fun? why wear cool looking armor if you never get to fight with it?!

I want to play this game sooooo bad. As soon as I'm back to being gainfully employed, it's the first thing I'm picking up.

Combat in Dragon Age?

Captain Phil said:

My brother has been playing Dragon Age for the past week or so. I've sat down and watched him play. But One thing that gets me about this game is the utter lack of combat.

Every time I walk in, It's always at a dialog option or walking around covered in blood. But I have yet to see anything resulting in said blood spraying.

At one point I thought i would see some combat but instead I'm greeted by a longer cut scene explaining how some guy is overpowered now!

How could such a game be fun? why wear cool looking armor if you never get to fight with it?!

Click to expand...

then this game might not be for you mate. This is more of story telling than being knee deep in monsters and dishing out damage (there are combat in there)

(note: I am not being sarcastic. As I have post on Bioware forums: not all games are made equal to players)

My experience so far is the game is divided approximately in half between combat and non-combat. Then again, it always takes me a few tries to get through the harder combats, so maybe it's more like 1:2 ratio for a skilled player.

Combat in Dragon Age?

Captain Phil said:

My brother has been playing Dragon Age for the past week or so. I've sat down and watched him play. But One thing that gets me about this game is the utter lack of combat.

Every time I walk in, It's always at a dialog option or walking around covered in blood. But I have yet to see anything resulting in said blood spraying.

At one point I thought i would see some combat but instead I'm greeted by a longer cut scene explaining how some guy is overpowered now!

How could such a game be fun? why wear cool looking armor if you never get to fight with it?!

Click to expand...

Dragon Age is admittedly more of a story driven game then its combat, so if you walk in randomly and watch someone playing then odds are they will be having a conversation.

But these parts aren't simply a static "You reply like this, they reply like this." Its almost like its own little mini-game of how you interact with people.

Combat in Dragon Age?

Singularity.EXE;292753][quote=Captain Phil said:

My brother has been playing Dragon Age for the past week or so. I've sat down and watched him play. But One thing that gets me about this game is the utter lack of combat.

Every time I walk in, It's always at a dialog option or walking around covered in blood. But I have yet to see anything resulting in said blood spraying.

At one point I thought i would see some combat but instead I'm greeted by a longer cut scene explaining how some guy is overpowered now!

How could such a game be fun? why wear cool looking armor if you never get to fight with it?!

Click to expand...

Dragon Age is admittedly more of a story driven game then its combat, so if you walk in randomly and watch someone playing then odds are they will be having a conversation.

But these parts aren't simply a static "You reply like this, they reply like this." Its almost like its own little mini-game of how you interact with people.

[/QUOTE]


Pretty much this. I thought I was good at talking my way through shit in previous games, or steering a conversation the way I want it to go for an outcome I think seems obvious.

Dragon Age has kicked me in the teeth for this.

Noooo!

Okay so the game has been going well. Got a few more people in my team, saved a few places, but as I was getting ready to head to the next location I saw something that made me sad.


I am such a sap.

Back to the gameplay for now. I realized something, and it is something I have hated about Bioware games. The characters. No, I don't mean that in the "they are horrible characters" type of way, it's the fact they give you like 10 options for companions and you can only take out and experience the dialogue of 3 while out adventuring! All of them are so cool you just want to have this massive army of them all bickering and giving opinions and yet the majority of them sit in camp and do nothing!

Also, and this I understand is just how it is. I wish certain character had better customization. I love Morrigian, but because my team of Alister (tank), Leyina (bow and buffs), and Wynne (spells and healing) work so well together, it's actually way, way more difficult to bring her out for a fight. I wish I could change her training to a healer so I can keep her in place of Wynne, but that would make her rather gimped all around since she is specialized a shapechanger.

ScytheRexx said:

Noooo!

Okay so the game has been going well. Got a few more people in my team, saved a few places, but as I was getting ready to head to the next location I saw something that made me sad.

Spoiler

When you escape the forest after the fall of the king, you head to this little town called Lothring that is filled with refugees, people scared and hungry, the nearby church doing everything it can to hold on. Later on after completing two mission zones I ended up looking at the map so see if I could go back to Lothring and maybe find a quest or two, but it's a massive skull! The darkspawn actually destroyed it!

I ended up talking with this dwarf trader at my camp about rumors, and he said reports say very few of those people made it out of Lothring. I wish I could have saved them!

I am such a sap.

Back to the gameplay for now. I realized something, and it is something I have hated about Bioware games. The characters. No, I don't mean that in the "they are horrible characters" type of way, it's the fact they give you like 10 options for companions and you can only take out and experience the dialogue of 3 while out adventuring! All of them are so cool you just want to have this massive army of them all bickering and giving opinions and yet the majority of them sit in camp and do nothing!

Also, and this I understand is just how it is. I wish certain character had better customization. I love Morrigian, but because my team of Alister (tank), Leyina (bow and buffs), and Wynne (spells and healing) work so well together, it's actually way, way more difficult to bring her out for a fight. I wish I could change her training to a healer so I can keep her in place of Wynne, but that would make her rather gimped all around since she is specialized a shapechanger.

Click to expand...

Regarding Wynne (from before your spoiler I presume, I'm only 10 hours in or so):

I kind of wish the main character had spoken dialogue as in Mass Effect.

In the words of the Beatles, "I want you so bad, it's driving me mad."

From all of the ads I saw, I just figured it'd be another crappy MMO to be honest. After reading through this thread today, I want the game. The problem of course being that I'll be paying in trade-ins, so I have to go to gamestop, which means waiting until tomorrrow.

The dungeons in this game remind me so much of D&D style setups. Here's an example.

Fairly early in the game, you have to reclaim a tower that's been taken by Darkspawn. Upon entering the tower, I can see that the main door has been blocked off into a bottleneck, and there are darkspawn archers lining the outer walls just beyond. I think to myself I better run out there and stun them all with my earthquake so we can start picking them off.

I take one step through the main door. *click* It's a trap, a grease trap, in fact. A big puddle of grease sprays out, hampering all of our movement.

This isn't so bad though, I mean, it could be... wait... do those archers have flaming arrows?

.....

*thwip*

*whoosh*

(click to see outcome)

Man, I really want to keep the dog in the party but I don't think I can justify it.

I also really like how the dog brings me panties and half eaten cakes, and I can give them to party members and they're like "awww, you shouldn't have!!!!"

Raemon777 said:

Man, I really want to keep the dog in the party but I don't think I can justify it.

I also really like how the dog brings me panties and half eaten cakes, and I can give them to party members and they're like "awww, you shouldn't have!!!!"

Click to expand...

Don't forget that you can have him lick you clean after battle.


... Which is actually kinda disturbing.

This thread has convinced me to get this game.

Unfortunately, due to projects, I am not allowed to have fun until Wednesday.

Question, can someone break down the mechanics of the game? Do you create a whole party, and the game gives them personalities, or you play as one person who gains more, or what?

Is the game different for every race and class?

Ravenpoe;293157][quote=Raemon777 said:

Man, I really want to keep the dog in the party but I don't think I can justify it.

I also really like how the dog brings me panties and half eaten cakes, and I can give them to party members and they're like "awww, you shouldn't have!!!!"

Click to expand...

Don't forget that you can have him lick you clean after battle.


... Which is actually kinda disturbing.[/QUOTE]

Oh goodness, how did that peanut butter get there?

doomdragon6 said:

This thread has convinced me to get this game.

Unfortunately, due to projects, I am not allowed to have fun until Wednesday.

Question, can someone break down the mechanics of the game? Do you create a whole party, and the game gives them personalities, or you play as one person who gains more, or what?

Is the game different for every race and class?

Click to expand...

If I had to guess, I'd have to say it looks like your "origin" bit will be different based on what you pick, but the game will streamline itself afterward. That's just a guess, though, I just started playing not to long ago.

I love how you can be downright evil in this game.

Morrigan is my muse.

Yeah? Well Morrigan is my bunk mate, so nyah.

Morrigan Schmorrigan. Hot lesbian love with Leliana is where it's at.

According to the stats I'm now 33% done with the game and so far, it's been awesome. The choices you can make, the idle banter in your group when nothing is happening, the traps/strategy of both you and the npc's..
And I loved my dog, but in the end he had to make room for a more traditional party: Healer, Tank, Ranger, Assassin. It gets way too tough to get by without a healer later on in the game, so I'm glad I picked up Wynn when I did.

I've only done one origin so far, but both my housemates did a different one and it does lead to different options/dialogue even further into the game, when you run into people from your origin again.

9,9999999999/10 imo.

GOD DAMMIT. I don't have time to play games right now! Unless I spent all my HF time playing. Gah!
Torchlight first, Divinity 2 next, then Dragon Age, then Starcraft 2 and by then, probably Diablo III. Argh!

Shegokigo;293231][quote=Ravenpoe;293157][quote=Raemon777 said:

Man, I really want to keep the dog in the party but I don't think I can justify it.

I also really like how the dog brings me panties and half eaten cakes, and I can give them to party members and they're like "awww, you shouldn't have!!!!"

Click to expand...

Don't forget that you can have him lick you clean after battle.


... Which is actually kinda disturbing.[/quote]

Oh goodness, how did that peanut butter get there? [/QUOTE]

If you're serious, we should talk.

I loved the game when it sprouts ingame cinematics with your character trying to talk "civily" while completely bloodsplattered. It's hilarious.

I can't wait to see how this runs on my Dell 1545 :\

I hate the character making stage. I can never decide on what to look like.

I eventually decide that making a male that looks anything like me is impossible, so I make a hot lesbian chick instead.

Question for anyone who's progressed far enough notice such a thing: is it possible to get characters to pair up romantically with each other instead of you? I find myself oddly hoping that Alistar and Morrigan will hook up. Their constant bantering is great.

Raemon777 said:

Question for anyone who's progressed far enough notice such a thing: is it possible to get characters to pair up romantically with each other instead of you? I find myself oddly hoping that Alistar and Morrigan will hook up. Their constant bantering is great.

Click to expand...

I'm more of a fan of the Zevran/Alistair slash fic.

*checks minimum and recommended system requirements*

*checks computer's specs*

*pouts*

Dammit...

Fuck the Deep Roads. So many goddamn Darkspawn. And spiders. Goddamn spiders.

Just figured before I finally get some sleep, a few more images! It feels like I am already 70% through the game, but the little stats page says I barely broke 20%, this game is huge.

Also, definitely agree with the Deep Roads. Just wait till you reach.... it.

Let's start off with some action.



You call that a slash?



Oh....

Holy shit! That dragon is a lot more impressive than the tiny dragon I have fought so far.

Just beat the game. Tagging most of what I talk about just in case.


Overall it was a great game. I loved getting all my companions to adore my character and it really shows how cool that is in the end when they all wish you well before the final battle. You can also talk to them after the final battle, though that requires something "special". I am going to spoil it below just because it was weird.


Really I can't wait to play it again, I plan to make a character based more around myself now, and make it a Arcane Warrior with Morrigan, Shale, and Dog as my companions.

Remind me how to change the view of the game? Controlling 4 people in that 3rd person view is... chaotic at best.

SeriousJay said:

Remind me how to change the view of the game? Controlling 4 people in that 3rd person view is... chaotic at best.

Click to expand...

Mouse wheel.

Ya, max scrolling ain't cutting it.

Then I am not sure. If there's another view that I'm not using I'm not aware of it.

You use the mousewheel to scroll between view settings, then you can hold down right button and move around the map.

I've played the game a lot over the weekend but there's one thing I dislike the game and it's the way the NPC are being handled before I get my hands on them. In a game that requires you to have a min/max approach with a difficulty curse for encounters being different from one to the next, having my characters 'auto-level' before I get them is detrimental to my gaming experience. For example.... if I pickup a character at lvl 7, i lost a few levels but it's far less if i pickup a character at lvl 12. you'd see mages with lower "magic" than say... strength. which doesn't make sense.

I miss having it as KOTOR... when a character joined you, you get to either choose 'auto-retard' or level them yourself properly.

SeriousJay said:

I've played the game a lot over the weekend but there's one thing I dislike the game and it's the way the NPC are being handled before I get my hands on them. In a game that requires you to have a min/max approach with a difficulty curse for encounters being different from one to the next, having my characters 'auto-level' before I get them is detrimental to my gaming experience. For example.... if I pickup a character at lvl 7, i lost a few levels but it's far less if i pickup a character at lvl 12. you'd see mages with lower "magic" than say... strength. which doesn't make sense.

I miss having it as KOTOR... when a character joined you, you get to either choose 'auto-retard' or level them yourself properly.

Click to expand...

Oh you mean when you pick them up vs your current level.

Yea. When I play, I usually try to level first (to get a few skills in) but I discover that the NPC are usually your level or +1 level when you find them.

If you are level 5 when you find them they are level 6, but when you are level 16 and find them, they are level 17 and doesn't leave much to tweaking.

Chibibar;294759][quote=SeriousJay said:

I've played the game a lot over the weekend but there's one thing I dislike the game and it's the way the NPC are being handled before I get my hands on them. In a game that requires you to have a min/max approach with a difficulty curse for encounters being different from one to the next, having my characters 'auto-level' before I get them is detrimental to my gaming experience. For example.... if I pickup a character at lvl 7, i lost a few levels but it's far less if i pickup a character at lvl 12. you'd see mages with lower "magic" than say... strength. which doesn't make sense.

I miss having it as KOTOR... when a character joined you, you get to either choose 'auto-retard' or level them yourself properly.

Click to expand...

Oh you mean when you pick them up vs your current level.

Yea. When I play, I usually try to level first (to get a few skills in) but I discover that the NPC are usually your level or +1 level when you find them.

If you are level 5 when you find them they are level 6, but when you are level 16 and find them, they are level 17 and doesn't leave much to tweaking. [/QUOTE]

Maybe this is better for the Dragon Age mod thread, but isn't there a mod to respec NPCs? I remember hearing something about that even though I don't recall seeing it.

note: I started the game with all the add on (came with pre order) EXCEPT Warden's keep. After reading it, I decides to buy it AFTER I start the quest via NPC (I won't say where so it is not spoiled. All quests start with NPC) but it didn't work I unload, reload the add on. DO NOT delete the folder cause you will need to reinstall the game just to redownload the addon via your account (no redownload option)

I can't get it accept the quest and appear on my map. It looks like an issue with many people so I decide to start over (after 10 hours in but I didn't get far compare to other people) so hopefully when I reach a certain point, I can get the quest again and see if it appear on my map.

There is no definitive fix yet.

My roommate is playing through right now.

Shale is fucking hilarious. When I get the game he is SO a permanent party member.

Just to add to the pictures, I recently rerolled as a rogue, and I have to say I love the melee finishing moves.

Very minor early ogre fight spoiler image:

Oh God...

I want this game I want this game I want this game...

That's it, I'm buying a new computer.

god damn, this game is addictive. I'm barely functionning this morning because i haven't had time to sleep more than a 4 hours a night for a week and it's worth it

I LOVE how i found myself a fuck buddy in this game.

Ya, I rerolled from a warrior to a rogue.. with the fix... wow, huge difference in battles.

It's all about skill now, no longer about waiting for "cooldowns"

Last night I put my codes in and got my down-loadable content. They downloaded but would not install. I contacted the support desk and they told me to put in patch 1.01. I did that and the game would then not load. I rebooted and still nothing. So I had to move my character files and reinstall 1.0. I did that and suddenly I didn't have access at all to the downloaded content. I talked to support and they had me go to the repair console and try a few things, then reboot. It finally worked. The content re-downloaded and finally installed. I logged into the game...for 1/2 hour before I had to go get my son from work.

All in all it was a shitty night on DA.

---------- Post added at 08:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:08 AM ----------

SeriousJay said:

Ya, I rerolled from a warrior to a rogue.. with the fix... wow, huge difference in battles.

It's all about skill now, no longer about waiting for "cooldowns"

Click to expand...

Is that a mod fix you are talking about or the official 1.01 patch?

The fix someone posted in the other thread, it's a semi-official fix that you simply place in your override folder without screwing up your installation. It rocks since at this point and time, where my backstabs would be normally critting for 12-15, I'm actually seeing 16-25. Huge difference and battles aren't as easy... mind you, with more experience, I'm less noob.

Goddamn Morrigan needs to LVL up, I need healz. Picking her up and having her already at LVL 7 sucks a dick, given her skills are all OVER the place.

http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=705668&forum=135

btw Math242, who is this person you're talking about?

SeriousJay said:

The fix someone posted in the other thread, it's a semi-official fix that you simply place in your override folder without screwing up your installation. It rocks since at this point and time, where my backstabs would be normally critting for 12-15, I'm actually seeing 16-25. Huge difference and battles aren't as easy... mind you, with more experience, I'm less noob.

Goddamn Morrigan needs to LVL up, I need healz. Picking her up and having her already at LVL 7 sucks a dick, given her skills are all OVER the place.

http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=705668&forum=135

btw Math242, who is this person you're talking about?

Click to expand...

Is there an NPC coming up who has healing? Shit, I was thinking about starting again as a Healing Mage and running as an NPC.

If you get a mage, the first lvl up it is a nice thing to pickup healing IMO. Once Morrigan gets a lvl, I give her Heal. It's not amazing but goddamn it goes a long way to give your group more sustainability in battles.

Yes, one of the party members is a healing oriented mage who's probably the best char in the game not named PC BUT you have to get her early if you wish her to be useful.

I would suggest going to the circle of magi if someone was looking for her.

As for you question Jay, I'll let you guess which party member I'm talking about

As for Morrigan as a healer... My usual party is:

PC: Uber overpowered mage (cold, glyphs, crushing prison, 2 in healing, fire etc)
Morrigan: specced in entropy and cold
Alistair: Meat shield extraordinaire
Zhevran

--> fuck healing. However, I had to change that setup for one boss fight because the target was so armored zhev kept critting for 1 (and also getting one shot, eaten, burned and spat out)


Gah i love that game so much. I even turned sex down to keep playing. I should be ashamed and i'm def not.

I just recently realized (level 11ish) that I could spec Morrigan into healing. Life got so much easier even after picking up the first skill-up heal spell. I've been quaffing potions like water in combat, and doing hardcore trap set-up to get through battles.

Well, I still do that now, but its less edge-of-the-seat.

I haven't used poison or traps at all since the beginning. Are traps effective?

Math242 said:

I haven't used poison or traps at all since the beginning. Are traps effective?

Click to expand...

on normal/easy not so much, but it DOES help a lot since as you level, the enemies are harder too.

Wynne is the base healer of the game. She is a mage you meet at Ostigar but you can't recruit her until you visit the Circle of Magi Tower after finishing Lothring. She is the Spirit Healer subclass.

My biggest issue with Morrigan is that she is already specced into the subclass Shapeshifter, which means you lose out a lot if you want her to be a pure caster and ignore the alternate forms, plus having a subclass already means you can't get another good subclass like Spirit Healer or Blood Mage until lvl14. It seems Spirit Healer and Blood Mage are the best combo since you can have the healer not only heal with mana, but use up her own life to heal once they run low and drain life to regain it in order to heal further, it would stop the near constant potion chugging you have to do with your healers as they buff, heal, regenerate, etc... I ended up not doing that combination with my healer, Wynne, because I didn't feel it fit with her character, and character is a big thing for me. Morrigan is going to be another story if I get a way to respec her, since I am going to give her Spirit Healer/Blood Mage with points in Death Magic, Blood Magic, etc... talk about a wicked cleric.


I think the game really should have a respec option, something you can use on the companions in order to rebuild them completely from scratch. Make it even require that they have to really like you and are willing to change their life a bit in order to help the greater good/evil or whatever you are doing, and would also require money in fees for retraining.


My character I just finished the game with I played as a warrior-born with the guile of a noble, basically very cunning and persuasive while being great with duel weapons and the ability to rally others with the champion subclass. I don't plan to play again for awhile, but I already got ideas of what I want to do when I replay, all the choices I will do differently. My main ideas are a human arcane warrior with blood magic being my second subclass, Morrigan as my healer, Shale as my brute, and Dog as my damage.


My other idea is to challenge myself with a Dalish or City Elf Duelist/Ranger that would work mostly with Zhevren (Assassin/Duelist), Leiliana (Bard/Assassin), and Morrigan (Because I need a healer with all the squishy). I don't have much if any desire to play a dwarf, though I might make them anyways for the Origin stories.


Yes I know I could always just turn up the difficulty setting, but I am a person that would require a challenge with unorthodox companion builds then min/maxing as much as I can just to survive the horrible onslaught of beefed up monsters.

I have a save after the first camp. I'm probably going to wait a few days before I continue playing so that I can get my hands on a character editor. I can't stand their auto-level up system, UGH.

I assume you're talking about Winna as my healer?

And I still wanna know who this FB character is, yo.

CynicismKills said:

Shale is fucking hilarious. When I get the game he is SO a permanent party member.

Click to expand...

I assume you're talking about Winna as my healer?

Click to expand...

Wynne is the default choice for healer since the game pretty much gives her most of the life spells and buffing spells, plus the Spirit Healer subclass.

And I still wanna know who this FB character is, yo.

Click to expand...

FB?

SPOILER













































MORRIGAN DUH

NPC can only have 1 subsclass (in the manual) PC (your character) can have TWO subsclass.

of course I haven't reach level 14 yet to test with NPC but that is what the manual said.

Excellent.

FB = Fuck Buddy

lrn ur slang from slangonline, yo

Chibibar said:

NPC can only have 1 subsclass (in the manual) PC (your character) can have TWO subsclass.

of course I haven't reach level 14 yet to test with NPC but that is what the manual said.

Click to expand...

That is both right and wrong. What the manually is saying is that the companions have only one ASSIGNABLE subclass, because nearly all of them start out with one. Morrigan always starts with Shapeshifter, Allistair with Templar, Leiliana with Bard, etc... Then at 14 you can choose a second one.

Since the player is a complete free-agent, you get to choose both subclasses, you don't start out as a Champion for instance.

Now that I think about it, I don't know what Sten had. I know I gave him berserker when he reached 14 but I don't remember what he had for his main subclass, I know it was not reaver or templar, and I don't remember him with champion either.... hummmm.

FB = Fuck Buddy

Click to expand...

Ah, I don't know a lot about that. I do know that Allistair, Morrigan, Zhevren, and Leiliana are the relationship characters. Each one has different requirements to sleep with them, with Morrigan and Zhevren being the players of the four. Morrigan actually has sex with you more before she falls in love with you I hear, at which point it's actually harder.

You can also pay for some action at the Brothel of Denerim, I thought it was just a flavor joke at first but then they actually let me do it. I ended up reloading because they actually took my silver for it, doh.

I just beat the game. The ingame progress tracker thing said I was only 39% through the game, but I guess it means % of everything you can possibly do in the game and not % of the main storyline.

Mr. Lawface said:

I just beat the game. The ingame progress tracker thing said I was only 39% through the game, but I guess it means % of everything you can possibly do in the game and not % of the main storyline.

Click to expand...

Yea. cause each starting race has different story to tell from their perspective. I started with human (did with elf first but change my mind) fighter (typical easy class) I will try a rogue or mage next.

Chibibar;295801][quote=Mr. Lawface said:

I just beat the game. The ingame progress tracker thing said I was only 39% through the game, but I guess it means % of everything you can possibly do in the game and not % of the main storyline.

Click to expand...

Yea. cause each starting race has different story to tell from their perspective. I started with human (did with elf first but change my mind) fighter (typical easy class) I will try a rogue or mage next.[/QUOTE]



I actually find the fighter to be the more tactical of all the classes, as there is less dependence on the main character to save the day, but rather good position of everyone else. My dwarf warrior did pretty damn good damage but ultimately its the way I position everyone and spring my traps that got me through my battles.

Singularity.EXE said:

I actually find the fighter to be the more tactical of all the classes, as there is less dependence on the main character to save the day, but rather good position of everyone else. My dwarf warrior did pretty damn good damage but ultimately its the way I position everyone and spring my traps that got me through my battles.

Click to expand...

I found rogue to be the most tactical. More skill slots for brewing bombs and traps, and less survivability. Warriors are very enjoyable though - sword and board is much better in this game than in most others.

Mages are so imba. When I do a nightmare run I think it's just going to be three mages and a tank. They don't do as much damage as a bowrogue or dual wielder, but they just dominate the hell out of the battlefield so easily, spamming crushing prisons and otiluke's resilient s... I mean force field.

true dat. when a mob pisses me off too much, i go grab a third mage

This is my favorite RPG ever.
(PS: Arcane Warrior + Spirit Healer = Never Die)

What Sera said, first playthrough I was a rogue, now I've started as an Arcane Warrior and the whole Battlemage thing really works out great.

is the game almost over when you go to the landsmeet ? I hope it's not over too soon.

please no spoilers.

is the game almost over when you go to the landsmeet ?

Click to expand...

Yes, you are getting very close. Once it's over the game is going to ask you to return to Redcliffe, make sure you do any side quests before you do, because once you enter Redcliffe the story will push forward and you have no more travel options for the rest of the game. Good luck, a few of the final sections can be pretty brutal if you ask me.

thanks.

i'll be ok, i'm only playing normal and i have 2 mages in my team

I found the end pretty easy, only bringing Wynne on the mage front, plus my character, who was a rogue (duelist/bard), Alistair, and Leliane (who was bard/ranger).

I had the same grouping, only my character was a warrior. It was mostly the sections after the gate breach, and before the final boss that I found a bit difficult, even with the army following me. I was only lvl19 by that time though, maybe I should have tried leveling a bit closer to the cap before starting it up.

I found the last boss very easy in comparison to the areas leading up to him though, but I think that was because of my literal army I brought with me, including the dwarf leader of the Legion of the Dead. That guy knows how to fight Darkspawn I tell you.

ScytheRexx said:

is the game almost over when you go to the landsmeet ?

Click to expand...

Yes, you are getting very close. Once it's over the game is going to ask you to return to Redcliffe, make sure you do any side quests before you do, because once you enter Redcliffe the story will push forward and you have no more travel options for the rest of the game. Good luck, a few of the final sections can be pretty brutal if you ask me.

Click to expand...

that is a good tip. I would hate not to be able to finish my sidequest after X point in the game

Got the game about 2 days ago. I don't see myself having much free-time for a while. Damn alt addictions gonna kill me.

Yeah... the first thing I did is finish the 6 intros of possible starts. My ranking :

1 - Dwarven Noble
2 - Dwarven Commoner
3 - Human Noble
4 - Mage
5 - Elf Commoner
6 - Elf Dalish

All are great but I just LOVED the dwarven ones.

I definitely agree that dwarves get the best origin stories.

SeriousJay said:

Spoiler

Usually, I'm pretty spot on about story curves but I totally failed when my "nicer" brother fucked me over. I promptly took it in the ass and didn't say a word, I deserved my fate.

Click to expand...

SeriousJay said:

Spoiler

I found Gorim (your warrior dwarven friend) to be a great character, shame he's not permanent. Exceptional voice acting. Gotta love his reaction the day after I fancied myself to enjoy a threesome with 2 ladies.

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While I thought Dwarf Noble was a very good origin, I thought Dwarf Commoner wasn't all that interesting.

Human noble was cliche, and mage was pretty cool.

I haven't tried the elf origins yet.

Mage origin was mediocre, but oh man what a class.

I am currently a level 8 Blood Mage with a heavy focus on Entropy. And good lord am I unstoppable. Not in the manner of "I look at you, you blow up" but rather that I have an insane amount of CC.

I enter a room full of Darkspawn. Immediately I bust out the Mass Sleep. Anyone that resists gets hit by Paralyze and Horror. Then, anyone that is not CC'd gets Disoriented and Weakened, and we begin to cut through the horde.

If I am running low on mana I activate Death Magic, to suck health out of dead people, and switch to Blood Power and start casting using my own health, but consistently regenerate hitpoints from dead people.

Tis most fun.

Singularity.EXE said:

Mage origin was mediocre, but oh man what a class.

I am currently a level 8 Blood Mage with a heavy focus on Entropy. And good lord am I unstoppable. Not in the manner of "I look at you, you blow up" but rather that I have an insane amount of CC.

I enter a room full of Darkspawn. Immediately I bust out the Mass Sleep. Anyone that resists gets hit by Paralyze and Horror. Then, anyone that is not CC'd gets Disoriented and Weakened, and we begin to cut through the horde.

If I am running low on mana I activate Death Magic, to suck health out of dead people, and switch to Blood Power and start casting using my own health, but consistently regenerate hitpoints from dead people.

Tis most fun.

Click to expand...

Wait until you get blood wound. BEST. SPELL. EVER. Though, I much prefer to use horror on sleeping enemies. It'll kill most enemies outright, and if it somehow survives, it'll be stuck in horror for a long while, just waiting for you to cut it down.

I'm an arcane warrior/blood mage. I cast my crowd control, turn on my sustainables (including combat magic) and just wade in with my bigass sword, cleaving heads.

If I need to cast some spells, I'll pop on blood magic and cast from my health pool. Blood wound really is awesome.

Ravenpoe said:

Just to add to the pictures, I recently rerolled as a rogue, and I have to say I love the melee finishing moves.

Very minor early ogre fight spoiler image:

Spoiler

Click to expand...

Heh, I got this game yesterday. Rolled a mage.

This battle.. I don't know whether to be proud of not.

As a mage, I went in there with the Templar and the two soldiers.. they wen't down in short order.

I ended up soloing this guy with my mage + Curse of Mortality.

Dot + run in circles around the room squealing and quaffing potions when he managed to get a hit in, reapplying my DoT as necessary.

It was pretty anticlimactic, but funny at the same time.

I'm loving the game so far.. its so very well made in the story dept. Kind of annoyed the game requires AoE so much though. I can't imagine playing this game without a mage.

Also, considering how well the rest of the game is wrote.

Well then... you'd be interested in seeing that character's original design.

Draxo said:

Also, considering how well the rest of the game is wrote.

Spoiler

I was pretty annoyed the traitor to the king was so blatantly obvious he may as well have donned a black cape and hat and twirled his moustache after every line. Mouse in the mage tutorial was wrote far better than him.

Click to expand...

You're not very far in the game, so I'll just say it is possible that his character isn't as flat as it appears.

Also, he's voiced by Simon Templeman (Kain from Legacy of Kain) so it doesn't matter how he's written, he sounds like smooth villainous butter no matter what.

I'm feeling weird about poison use as a rogue. Without using it, I suspect I'm missing out a lot on what makes my character actually good, but I feel like I'm wasting poison if I use it for random trash mobs. But if I don't use it, then my rogue just sits around feeling outclassed by the mages in most fights.

Is it just me or does Zevran sounds like a bad Antonio Bandaras impersonation?

what the hell, wasn't Gaxkang supposed to be hard?

i found the last fight to be a little underwhelming

Math242 said:

i found the last fight to be a little underwhelming

Click to expand...

I mentioned that before. It was a bit underwhelming compared to the areas that lead up to it. I think it is because...

Well, I've played through it, and other than mostly loving it, I do have one major complaint. It is not easy to be an asshole in this game. Bioware once again kind of fails at the bad guy portion. Sure you can be an evil dick, but this pretty much excludes you from 90% of the optional quests. Any time you're an asshole to anyone they just stop talking to you. I don't like it.

Also, for being a massive huge 9 novels worth of writing long game, the villains have almost 0 character. Arl Howe, he's Tim Curry and he's a dick, end of characterization. Archdemon, it wrecks shit, end of characterization.

The only one that gets anything (and it's very little) is Loghain.

Really disappointing villains.

I agree that the game didn't really have a final villain.

When I played the game, I was looking forward to banging...

Arl Howe was most disappointing to me personally. The arch demon was just there to wipe stuff off the face of the earth, so not much character building needed there, Loghain was ok, though I would've liked to hear/talk/see more about him/his past.

Arl Howe was just basically an empty character who just wants power for the sole reason of having it, or so it came across at least. Not much history on him and little conversation with him.

Your allies were nicely done however, so it balances out.

Sure you can be an evil dick, but this pretty much excludes you from 90% of the optional quests. Any time you're an asshole to anyone they just stop talking to you. I don't like it.

Click to expand...

This does makes sense though, why ask for help from a guy who apparently only tolerates your presence because he needs you as cannon fodder?

Seraphyn said:

Arl Howe was most disappointing to me personally.

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I never really even though of him that much of a main villain though. He was just Loghain's lacky that wanted power, and his only real defining moment was in the Human Noble Origin and his death. He was supposed to be overall forgettable.

Seraphyn said:

Arl Howe was most disappointing to me personally. The arch demon was just there to wipe stuff off the face of the earth, so not much character building needed there, Loghain was ok, though I would've liked to hear/talk/see more about him/his past.

Arl Howe was just basically an empty character who just wants power for the sole reason of having it, or so it came across at least. Not much history on him and little conversation with him.

Your allies were nicely done however, so it balances out.

Sure you can be an evil dick, but this pretty much excludes you from 90% of the optional quests. Any time you're an asshole to anyone they just stop talking to you. I don't like it.

Click to expand...

This does makes sense though, why ask for help from a guy who apparently only tolerates your presence because he needs you as cannon fodder?

Click to expand...

It makes sense in real life, it makes playing a dick in the game boring and terrible, which sucks.

---------- Post added at 10:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:25 AM ----------

ScytheRexx;305168][quote=Seraphyn said:

Arl Howe was most disappointing to me personally.

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I never really even though of him that much of a main villain though. He was just Loghain's lacky that wanted power, and his only real defining moment was in the Human Noble Origin and his death. He was supposed to be overall forgettable.[/QUOTE]

Which also sucks, and it's a huge waste of Tim Curry.

Frankie said:

Which also sucks, and it's a huge waste of Tim Curry.

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Which is kind of par for the course these days. I love Tim Currey but he keeps finding himself is forgettable video game roles. Even as the leader of the Soviets in RA3 I just felt zero interest in his character.

This was the first game I got for my new computer, after reading so much about how much this game rules.

Started out as a female human noble. Origin story, not too bad. Then came the tedious series of quests in the Korcari Wilds, retrieve this, retrieve that, follow these series of markers, follow that series of landmarks... ho hum. I was ready to quit the game and post about how disappointed I was with it.

And then the cut-scene of the battle between King Cailan's forces and the Darkspawn horde began.

...
...
...


THIS IS THE MOST EPIC GAME EVER!!!! *gleeeee*

Also, I'm sorry but I couldn't listen to Duncan talk without seeing Al-Mualim in my head. I kept expecting him to refer to my character as Altair.

bhamv3 said:

This was the first game I got for my new computer, after reading so much about how much this game rules.

Started out as a female human noble. Origin story, not too bad. Then came the tedious series of quests in the Korcari Wilds, retrieve this, retrieve that, follow these series of markers, follow that series of landmarks... ho hum. I was ready to quit the game and post about how disappointed I was with it.

And then the cut-scene of the battle between King Cailan's forces and the Darkspawn horde began.

...
...
...


THIS IS THE MOST EPIC GAME EVER!!!! *gleeeee*

Also, I'm sorry but I couldn't listen to Duncan talk without seeing Al-Mualim in my head. I kept expecting him to refer to my character as Altair.

Click to expand...

immediately after the battle you will once again be fighting bandits in the wilderness.

the entire plot/dialogue of this game eats a dick. lets run down the checklist:

-Predictable plot twists.
-Half assed voice acting.
-Facial expressions/voices/opinions change immediately and unbelievably after you use a "persuade" dialogue choice
-Humans standing in for white imperialists, generic fantasy race standing in for black people in a cruel and tragic mockery of social commentary

YEP LOOKS LIKE A BIOWARE GAME

anyway i gtg i need to get more levels.

Gurpel;306037][quote=bhamv3 said:

This was the first game I got for my new computer, after reading so much about how much this game rules.

Started out as a female human noble. Origin story, not too bad. Then came the tedious series of quests in the Korcari Wilds, retrieve this, retrieve that, follow these series of markers, follow that series of landmarks... ho hum. I was ready to quit the game and post about how disappointed I was with it.

And then the cut-scene of the battle between King Cailan's forces and the Darkspawn horde began.

...
...
...


THIS IS THE MOST EPIC GAME EVER!!!! *gleeeee*

Also, I'm sorry but I couldn't listen to Duncan talk without seeing Al-Mualim in my head. I kept expecting him to refer to my character as Altair.

Click to expand...

immediately after the battle you will once again be fighting bandits in the wilderness.

the entire plot/dialogue of this game eats a dick. lets run down the checklist:

-Predictable plot twists.
-Half assed voice acting.
-Facial expressions/voices/opinions change immediately and unbelievably after you use a "persuade" dialogue choice
-Humans standing in for white imperialists, generic fantasy race standing in for black people in a cruel and tragic mockery of social commentary

YEP LOOKS LIKE A BIOWARE GAME

anyway i gtg i need to get more levels.[/QUOTE]

It's standard Bioware fare, but is that really a bad thing? I mean, it's not original, but it's very entertaining (the story I mean). The voice acting is outstandingly superb, I have 0 complaints there.

I dunno, saying the entire plot and all the dialogue eats dick seems really harsh.

Yep, Bioware recycled their favorite storyline again.

Every time I heard "Grey Warden" in game, my brain automatically converted it to "Spectre."

Eh, I played through it twice already and I'm contemplating a third time. Bhamv is right..I sometimes hear "Spectre" too, but at least I find the game just fun to play and despite going through the game twice, I dont think I've fully utilized all my party members to get the full story out of them, so It's got the reply value.

hey, i said that i found it hackneyed, not that i wasnt completely addicted to it. vv

It's definately hackneyed, but that isn't always a bad thing, as most people currently addicted to the game are realizing.

Bioware didn't set out to revolutionize the rpg world. Just like Mass Effect was a giant love letter to the sci-fi cliche, so too is Dragon Age a love letter to classic fantasy tropes.

Both Mass Effect and Dragon Age have a kind of "hardcore" feel that reminds me of French SF/Fantasy BD.

Neither subverts any major story conventions, but somehow they both have a strong edge to them that's really notable to the atmosphere without being over-the-top.

I can't quite put my finger on it.

They have a lot of passion for the games they make, and I think that really shows.

Also, this is my first post from my new phone. You'll never be rid of me now.

Just finished my first playthrough. Not sure what you guys mean about the end battle being underwhelming, I found it to be pretty epic. Eh, each to his own I suppose.

Went for the Morrigan ending. Woo hoo, extra nookie scene!

Next playthrough will be with an Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer mage, along with three meatshields. I'm thinking Sten, Shale and one other. (Alistair? Oghren? One of the rogues?)

Gurpel said:

hey, i said that i found it hackneyed, not that i wasnt completely addicted to it. vv

Click to expand...

The voice acting thing you mentioned still bugs me. If you consider this half-assed voice acting, I can't even begin to imagine how insurmountable your expectations must be.

I have really been itching to play again. I am keeping up with the modifications though and I am waiting for a few more that would remove a few annoyances.

They already got two of them, removal of the companion auto-level, and a storage box IN CAMP rather then off in some random location. Now I just need a change in the mana system and I will be golden.

What's wrong with the mana system?

I am used to games in which mana regenerates naturally to a certain degree, even when fighting. In my composition, my healer, Wynne, often would unload buffs and heals at the beginning 40% of the fight, but unless I stocked her up with lyream potions, she would run out of mana and become nothing but a long range damage caster til the fight ended, which in places like that long bridge in the Deep Road, wouldn't come for awhile, or in the final battle when I found myself being beat on by three ogres at once.

Only a few spell types like Death Magic and Blood Magic allowed you easy ways to return mana, and I didn't like the idea of having Wynne take those styles for character reasons. I am always rather purist in the spells and specs my characters take based on how I deem them personality wise, I would never make Allistair a Berserker or Reaver, for instance, and would never make him a Archer. It just does not fit him.

I guess it does not matter, since I plan to make Morrigan my healer in my next composition, and going to give her Blood Magic for her secondary spec and dabble in the Death Magic anyways.

My Wynne never runs out of magic and she doesn't have any Blood magic skills.

SeriousJay said:

My Wynne never runs out of magic and she doesn't have any Blood magic skills.

Click to expand...

Without potion stacking? How did you do it?

I built her as a healer and will mostly make her perform healing actions.

- Her willpower is stacked far above her magic stat score as this increses her available magic pool.

- Her skills have been carefully chosen. She has little in the way of offence other than "Crushing Prison" and "Force Field". She never casts an offensive spell unless I do it myself and that's usually against Yellows or better.

- In her tactics screen. She will heal when a player is less than 50% health, she will always cast mana rejuv to my DPS caster and will automatically perform low cost magic with NO upkeep. Buffs are done by me, I don't like the AI automatically spamming buffs.

- In regard to her DPS, she will assist DPS with wand damage to lowest enemy.

- In big encounters, she's use her unique mana ability, this tends to kick some ass and give her back her mana. I rarely use potions.

My party is compromised of :

- Tank Alistair (stopped sucking after he got the juggernaut set)
- DPS Rogue (me, and I'm an Assassin/Bard build... extra mana regen!)
- DPS Morrigan (OWNAGE!)
- Healer Wynne (I control her whenever I need to cast bigger spells)

Ah, interesting. I admit I balanced out more with magic and wisdom for high mana and high potency of spells, but thinking back, she had no problem healing people to full even with lower magic. I might just have to plan better next time. I am not sure on the spell you are talking about to get her mana back, I would be suprised if I missed something as big as that. I just remember a passive skill for her to gain a bit of mana regen, but it never did enough to matter in the long run.

ScytheRexx said:

Ah, interesting. I admit I balanced out more with magic and wisdom for high mana and high potency of spells, but thinking back, she had no problem healing people to full even with lower magic. I might just have to plan better next time. I am not sure on the spell you are talking about to get her mana back, I would be suprised if I missed something as big as that. I just remember a passive skill for her to gain a bit of mana regen, but it never did enough to matter in the long run.

Click to expand...

Get the respec potion mod and fix it.

As far as her skill, play the game, butter her up, do her sidequest, don't suck and she'll talk to you and BAM... you'll get the best "unique" skill in the game IMO.

SeriousJay said:

As far as her skill, play the game, butter her up, do her sidequest, don't suck and she'll talk to you and BAM... you'll get the best "unique" skill in the game IMO.

Click to expand...

I thought I DID butter her up, I swear I did everything she wanted, even took her back to her old apprentice and got her to 100% positive disposition. I guess I missed a step somewhere.

SeriousJay said:

I built her as a healer and will mostly make her perform healing actions.

- Her willpower is stacked far above her magic stat score as this increses her available magic pool.

- Her skills have been carefully chosen. She has little in the way of offence other than "Crushing Prison" and "Force Field". She never casts an offensive spell unless I do it myself and that's usually against Yellows or better.

- In her tactics screen. She will heal when a player is less than 50% health, she will always cast mana rejuv to my DPS caster and will automatically perform low cost magic with NO upkeep. Buffs are done by me, I don't like the AI automatically spamming buffs.

- In regard to her DPS, she will assist DPS with wand damage to lowest enemy.

- In big encounters, she's use her unique mana ability, this tends to kick some ass and give her back her mana. I rarely use potions.

My party is compromised of :

- Tank Alistair (stopped sucking after he got the juggernaut set)
- DPS Rogue (me, and I'm an Assassin/Bard build... extra mana regen!)
- DPS Morrigan (OWNAGE!)
- Healer Wynne (I control her whenever I need to cast bigger spells)

Click to expand...

Wow, you play Wynne (and the rest, mostly) almost EXACTLY like I do.

Except my computer is stable.

The passive mana regen skill is one of the generic skills, namely the 2nd tier of combat training. Couple that with one or 2 mana regen in combat items and conservative mana use in tactics and Wynn hardly ever runs out of mana.

Only full out damage casters runs out of mana in my playthroughs.

SeriousJay said:

Except my computer is stable.

Click to expand...

Why I outta!

Seraphyn said:

Only full out damage casters runs out of mana in my playthroughs.

Click to expand...

I used all those abilities, but she still drained herself way to fast. I guess I just need to work on tactics a bit better this time around.

Yeah my healer mostly just stands around doing staff damage untill someone drops below 25% (50% on bosses because they hit harder). Buffing and rejuving I do manually, because 90% of the time it really is just a waste of mana to do it.

I'm going to make a combat healer in my latest playthrough though. On the front lines, arcane/spirit healer mage. Maybe that'll fail horribly, but I like the idea of a combat cleric.

I have a great name for one of my dogs: "Barkspawn"

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

I did that in one of my games as well. Mostly I just call him fluffy or something in that vein.

Aw damnit and I thought I was being so cool and original. Guess I'm just another shmuck.

Ah well, at least I'm still sexy. :smug:

Brilliant:



Best part's at 2:20, so I suggest you skip to there. Another advantage of skipping ahead is missing a scene involving Alistair and a Genlock doing something no Grey Warden should be doing with a Darkspawn.

Hai guyz, whats going on in this thread?


Ok so I recently got the game and played through a couple of origins, one with each class. I like warriors alright, and mages are pretty fun, but I think I want to do a rogue for my first full run through. My only problem is that I don't really know how to build my party. Right now I'm just in lothering so I don't have a lot of options. I'm thinking Alistair for a tank, me on dps, then morrigan for ranged dps+CC and this is where I don't know what to do.

Sten seems like a good choice. He can do good damage with his 2h weapons and if Alistair dies or we get jumped, Sten can off tank.

Then there's Liliana who can do ranged DPS and also kind of bodyguard Morrigan if more people come from behind or something.

Dog is just awesome though. I wonder if anyone actually plays through with him? Plus I read that he can't ever disapprove of anything you do so I can make the dick decisions when I want to without having to worry about pissing off half my party.

Someone actually did some calculations that proved 2 handed damage sucks. If you want damage, go for the duel wielding rogue, who can also backstab and open locks and pickpocket.

However, if you're already playing a rogue, you could consider using Wynne as your fourth, as her healing abilities are very handy. Alternatively, you could also spec Morrigan as a healer, but that obviously reduces her CC and ranged damage abilities.

Expansion announced last night

yeah, I'll probably switch morrigan for wynn asap but i dont want to go to the circle quite yet. I want the elf character so i can become an assassin pretty quickly. What I'll probably do is next time morrigan gains a level I'll just have her learn the first healing ability so in a pinch I can take control of her and cast it myself if need be.

I'm fine with sten not doing max DPS or anything, which I really wouldn't want him to anyway to make sure he doesn't steal aggro from Alistair (I'm not 100% sure how aggro here works, so I'll assume it's like WoW since that makes sense to me) plus it just always looks awesome to me to have someone swinging a big ass weapon all up on an orc's bizznass.

If they don't release Return to Ostagar before Mass Effect 2 comes out, who do they expect will actually be buying it?

Frankie said:

If they don't release Return to Ostagar before Mass Effect 2 comes out, who do they expect will actually be buying it?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure Return to Ostagar is even going to get released now, but that doesn't worry me. It was a very short additional quest.

As Jay pointed out, however, a full fledged expansion has been announced! http://gamercrave.com/dragon-age-awakenings-officially-announced-ostagar-delayed/1328/

Nah, one of Bioware's people said in an interview with IGN that it'll be released when they fix the bug they found. I'm guessing it was a PS3 or Xbox issue. Just a guess.

I've pretty much been playing this game non stop. This could be Fallout-quality RPG.