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[JoeBoy101]

It happened after I completely finished the quest where she wants to rebuild the magic mirror in her bedroom.

I did take her into

Spoiler

the fade

and I'm pretty sure failed spectacularly there because she had some big rivalry+ shifts while we were in there, but doing that mirror quest still managed to get her up to full friendship.

And nobody else has changed outfits (yet). The armor she's wearing is almost silvery-white, it very much looks like a 'good' outfit, which makes me think there could be a full rivalry outfit as well. Makes her stand out a lot.

Ah, okay. Sounds like your much further ahead then myself.

 

[HK-47]

David Gaider still trolling dat fanbase, more news at 6.

Given how bad he is at romances...

 

[HK-47]

OH BIOWARE YOU CARDS this is up there with the hilarious scathing commentary in ME2 where some NERD is all "i don't want visceral combat and intelligent moral choices (like the ones in Mass Effect 2™) i want to use items and travel around an open world i'm so dumb and stupid"

I want it to take five hours real time to travel places!

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Anyone been using Isabella extensively? According to the Bioware forums she's pretty useless.

Currently running with Hawke (mage / spirit healer) Aveline, Varric, and Merrill. I potentially want to make room for her but don't know if it'll happen.

 

[JoeBoy101]

Anyone been using Isabella extensively? According to the Bioware forums she's pretty useless.

Currently running with Hawke (mage / spirit healer) Aveline, Varric, and Merrill. I potentially want to make room for her but don't know if it'll happen.

Good damage, but fragile as hell. I've been using her, but more for the party banter than her utility. I'd go with Fenris instead for your group. Though in reality, the only possible opening in your group is Merrill, as you're already filling the mage role.

 

[Delio]

I feel like i am making the wrong choices in getting friendship up. And i noticed some people talk of leaving Aveline back when you do kinda underhanded missions. Only i really need her as she's my tank so wtf.

 

[FlyinJ]

Take a good look at cross class combos. Properly manipulating them can make combat a lot easier.

Where are these explained? I don't think I've ever knowingly pulled one of these off.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Good damage, but fragile as hell. I've been using her, but more for the party banter than her utility. I'd go with Fenris instead for your group. Though in reality, the only possible opening in your group is Merrill, as you're already filling the mage role.

I tried a WarHawke/Anders/Varric/Isabela setup, but Isabela's just way too fragile (and my Hawke's not much of a tank). So I switched out Isabela for Aveline again, and my party's kicking ass like there's no tomorrow.

I miss Isabela's dialog, though.

Not to mention the old Anders. I don't like the new one so much.

 

[GhostRidah]

Really enjoying it so far

 

[gdt]

16 hours in, literally just stepped into The Deep Roads. Did every sidequest till here, except for the Mage/Chantry boards (totally forgot those lol) and the Isabella quest/s. It bugged out on me.

Can I still get Isabella in Act 2? Maybe it will un-bug itself...

Loving it.

 

[gdt]

One of the dumbest things in all of gaming is this terribly misguided attempt to quantify playing time in genres like RPGs. Doing so for some basic corridor shooter or whatever is one thing, since most people will be going at a relatively similar pace, but an RPG? No. People will spend wildly different times talking to people, walking around, in combat, doing side quests, doing side activities, and god knows what else.

When someone tells me a certain RPG took them 20 or 40 or 60 or 80 hours, I just hear "dfoigndfoigdfsjnsjflndsafdsnfs." It's totally meaningless.

My first playthrough of ME2 took me 53 hours (with Overlord). It's at like 57, I think, with the rest of the story DLC.

Others swear they finished everything at 20/25. I have no idea how that happens :lol.

 

[Salaadin]

Theres a chantry board? Where? I havent seen one yet.

 

[Lostconfused]

Kind of wish I went with fem Hawke war. But "noooo" I thought, "break out of your comfort zone" I thought. So now its really fucking boring because Hawke is now the designated healbot and I just sit there and watch as the party rips everything apart.

 

[Reluctant-Hero]

In trying figure out an optimal party for my preferred playing style:

- Dude Hawke: Sword & Board off tank
- Aveline: Main tank
- Anders: Spirit healing & controller
- Merrill: DPS Mage

This for a post

Spoiler

Bethany

situations after Act 1.

How are two-handed warriors? I'm considering a respec into that with my Dude-Hawke. But my party is also missing a rogue. Maybe I'll just start fresh with an Archer Hawke? Then I could roll with an archer, Aveline, Anders and Merrill/Fenris.

Thoughts?

 

[gdt]

Theres a chantry board? Where? I havent seen one yet.

Someone mentioned it a few posts ago. I didn't even know :lol.

 

[Kinitari]

Where are these explained? I don't think I've ever knowingly pulled one of these off.

They aren't really thoroughly explained, I was curious when I was looking at the skill trees and then read into the Codex.

Basically, you can upgrade a lot of skills to inflict status effects on enemies - these effects alone are debilitating, BUT, combined with skills from OTHER classes, you can get 400% damage increases.

Mages can upgrade spells to make enemies 'brittle' then other classes can learn skills that take advantage of brittle (you'll see something like... does 400% damage on brittle enemies and guarantees a critical hit or something).

In tactics, specify with characters if(enemy == brittle) {use ability that takes advantage of brittle}.

Play around with it, and it's awesome - I haven't delved deeply into it yet because I haven't been challenged in combat enough, but I might go from Normal-Hard, and then reset talents and go nuts.

 

[Ceebs]

Kind of wish I went with fem Hawke war. But "noooo" I thought, "break out of your comfort zone" I thought. So now its really fucking boring because Hawke is now the designated healbot and I just sit there and watch as the party rips everything apart.

I forced myself to play something other than my usual mage since Bethany looked far less obnoxious than the brother. All that did however was leave me with mage characters I do not really like since I finished act 1.

 

[JudgeN]

Now that we got people who have beat the game, going to ask some questions.

How many towns are there in the game?

How the level design compare to DA:O? The demo was straight up linear shit mountain but does the rest of the game follow this or are there big open areas?

Lastly, How is the flow of the game? In DA:O once you get past origins/tower you could go to whatever area you wanted to start your adventure. Is this game the same way? Or is that linear as well?

Sorry if these have already been asked.

 

[Lostconfused]

I forced myself to play something other than my usual mage since Bethany looked far less obnoxious than the brother. All that did however was leave me with mage characters I do not really like since I finished act 1.

Really I only did it so I can save Anders for another playthrough and not just keep playing with the same party make up all the time. But I haven't found a 3rd character that I like to justify this decision.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Good damage, but fragile as hell. I've been using her, but more for the party banter than her utility. I'd go with Fenris instead for your group. Though in reality, the only possible opening in your group is Merrill, as you're already filling the mage role.

Yea, right now Hawke, Aveline and Verric are locks. I was debating maybe swapping out Merrill and going dual rogue, but I'll give Fenris a try, maybe just for the Balthier-esque voice.

The party banter is so good I should just try to get a rotation going with everyone.

 

[gdt]

Now that we got people who have beat the game, going to ask some questions.

How many towns are there in the game?

How the level design compare to DA:O? The demo was straight up linear shit mountain but does the rest of the game follow this or are there big open areas?

Lastly, How is the flow of the game? In DA:O once you get past origins/tower you could go to whatever area you wanted to start your adventure. Is this game the same way? Or is that linear as well?

Sorry if these have already been asked.

Haven't finished it, but so far:

1 town, Kirkwall (I personally like this)

Better level design (the areas all look gorgeous to me, especially the forest-y beach and caves), but ALOT of copy paste.

Um, the flow is different I guess. It's in acts. There are main quests, and MAIN quests, and those have to be done in order (Deep Roads, for example).

 

[Ceebs]

Now that we got people who have beat the game, going to ask some questions.

How many towns are there in the game?

How the level design compare to DA:O? The demo was straight up linear shit mountain but does the rest of the game follow this or are there big open areas?

Lastly, How is the flow of the game? In DA:O once you get past origins/tower you could go to whatever area you wanted to start your adventure. Is this game the same way? Or is that linear as well?

Sorry if these have already been asked.

Can go ahead and tell you that shit mountain is pretty close to what you can expect for the dungeon areas. They do not have terrible cutscenes every 30 seconds but they all force you down a narrow path with little divergence.

The flow of the game is like Mass Effect 2 so far. Do some sidequests/recruit dudes then do a story mission. The quests are smaller than the recruitment missions but there are more of them.

 

[Mileena]

Kind of wish I went with fem Hawke war. But "noooo" I thought, "break out of your comfort zone" I thought. So now its really fucking boring because Hawke is now the designated healbot and I just sit there and watch as the party rips everything apart.

You can dps and heal as a mage. If you're just sitting there healing, you're doing it really wrong.

 

[Tomat]

I HAVE RETURNED!

Has GAF reached a general consensus on this game yet, or is it still too early? Most of what I've read elsewhere has been "lolbiowaredpayedreviews."

 

[gdt]

Can go ahead and tell you that shit mountain is pretty close to what you can expect for the dungeon areas. They do not have terrible cutscenes every 30 seconds but they all force you down a narrow path with little divergence.

Um yeah, like this. No more shitty DA:O Deep Roads mazes.

Well, I'm in the DAII Deep Roads right now...so we'll see...

 

[Lostconfused]

You can dps and heal as a mage. If you're just sitting there healing, you're doing it really wrong.

Spirit healer = Can't cast offensive spells. Also I don't have enough ability points to get offensive spells even if I wanted to.

 

[Rufus]

Um yeah, like this. No more shitty DA:O Deep Roads mazes.

Maze? The place was a tube even then. Wide, with some open areas, but nothing even approaching a maze. That would have been interesting, actually!

 

[TheUsual]

Um yeah, like this. No more shitty DA:O Deep Roads mazes.

Well, I'm in the DAII Deep Roads right now...so we'll see...

Be prepared for the end of the Deep Roads. It caught me off guard.

 

[gdt]

Maze? The place was a tube even then. Wide, with some open areas, but nothing even approaching a maze. That would have been interesting, actually!

Eh, you couldn't really get lost, but 47 different paths lead into each other and only one destination. Padding shit out for no reason.

 

[Mileena]

Spirit healer = Can't cast offensive spells. Also I don't have enough ability points to get offensive spells even if I wanted to.

Uhhh... I've got elemental maxed out and the rest in spirit healer. I'm doing both just fine.

edit: you can't cast offensive spells while you have healing aura activated, that's not bad.
edit2: I'm stupid. You need healing aura up to use any of those spells. Time to reset my ability points.

 

[hank_tree]

Where's that dude who did DA:O in 8 hours?



Same here, questlog has to be all NICE UND TIDY before continuing the mainquestline.

I got through DA:O on my third playthrough in 8 hours as a mage. I was just speeding through it for the achievement though. My first playthrough with all the sidequests as a Warrior took about 25.

 

[JoeBoy101]

16 hours in, literally just stepped into The Deep Roads. Did every sidequest till here, except for the Mage/Chantry boards (totally forgot those lol) and the Isabella quest/s. It bugged out on me.

Can I still get Isabella in Act 2? Maybe it will un-bug itself...

Loving it.

Worth a try. As for the Chantry board, I kept a bit of an eye on it but never saw any quests with the roughly half dozen times I checked during Act 1.

Oh, and yeah, the Deep Roads should have been double the length in time, but I thought the whole sequence was still pretty awesome.

NOTE for everyone: There really isn't that many locked items in DA 2. Especially compared to DA:O. Going a non-rogue route, or focusing more on Dexterity instead of Cunning is very viable as you will not be missing much in the way of lockpicking. Same goes for traps. Though that said, traps are a bit nastier in this one (i.e., they can linger and do more damage).

 

[gdt]

I got through DA:O on my third playthrough in 8 hours as a mage. I was just speeding through it for the achievement though. My first playthrough with all the sidequests as a Warrior took about 25.

This just sounds so crazy to me. I beat DA:O (on easy!) as a Warrior with absolutely no sidequests at 30 hours. Maybe I'm just slow or something.

 

[Square Triangle]

What is the meaning to "Shit Mountain"? I never beat the first DA if that has anything to do with it.

 

[TheUsual]

So I wonder how my decision in the Deep Roads will affect the game later on.

Spoiler

Bethany didn't come with me, so she's now in the Circle. I had Varric kill the demon who I said I would help after the fight with the giant rock wraith. I really want an idea if killing that demon will bite me in the ass

Can anyone give me some hints?

 

[Reluctant-Hero]

This just sounds so crazy to me. I beat DA:O (on easy!) as a Warrior with absolutely no sidequests at 30 hours. Maybe I'm just slow or something.

Even 25 hours sounds crazy for DA:O. I literally just finished my second play through on Sunday. I dud nearly everything except a few Mages Guild & Blackstone Irregulars quests. My play clock stopped at 74:53 in my epilogue save.

Now you subtract about 5 hours for how many times I set down the controller and walked away. That's still 70 hours.

 

[Ceebs]

Same goes for traps. Though that said, traps are a bit nastier in this one (i.e., they can linger and do more damage).

Except they only matter in combat since out of combat your health regens right away.

 

[DevelopmentArrested]

Beat it. Took 45 hours. Epic last battles. Game was good but 1 was better. The same environments/town/art assets drove me fucking crazy.

 

[JoeBoy101]

So I wonder how my decision in the Deep Roads will affect the game later on.

Spoiler

Bethany didn't come with me, so she's now in the Circle. I had Varric kill the demon who I said I would help after the fight with the giant rock wraith. I really want an idea if killing that demon will bite me in the ass

Can anyone give me some hints?

Never deal with a demon. Period.

 

[TheUsual]

Never deal with a demon. Period.

Hahah. I think I made the right decision then.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Spirit healer = Can't cast offensive spells. Also I don't have enough ability points to get offensive spells even if I wanted to.

You can cast offensive spells as long as you don't use healing aura. I went spirit healer for the group heal but have also dropped a bunch of points into primal as well. Basically I'll only activate healing aura and group heal as a last resort, rest of the time throwing around offensive and buff spells. Cone of cold ftw.

 

[Reluctant-Hero]

Beat it. Took 45 hours. Epic last battles. Game was good but 1 was better. The same environments/town/art assets drove me fucking crazy.

Okay, 45 hours sound much more reasonable than this "I finished in 18 hours" non-sense. You must have truly done everything you could possible access in your playthrough.

 

[Salaadin]

What is the meaning to "Shit Mountain"? I never beat the first DA if that has anything to do with it.

I think it references the pic of the mountain in the OP and how it resembles a large mound of poop

 

[Mr Jared]

This just sounds so crazy to me. I beat DA:O (on easy!) as a Warrior with absolutely no sidequests at 30 hours. Maybe I'm just slow or something.

It sounds about right, actually. When I was wrapping up my achievements I could speed run the game with a 2-hand Warrior in about that time. You just go straight for Wynne, set her up for healing and then just plow through the game. Oh, and you had to make sure you had a Fade walkthrough handy so you don't waste time getting lost.

 

[Jenga]

Okay, 45 hours sound much more reasonable than this "I finished in 18 hours" non-sense. You must have truly done everything you could possible access in your playthrough.

I'm pretty thorough and I beat supposedly long games in a short amount of time.

sometimes I imagine people running around doing nothing for long periods of time

 

[Lostconfused]

You can cast offensive spells as long as you don't use healing aura. I went spirit healer for the group heal but have also dropped a bunch of points into primal as well. Basically I'll only activate healing aura and group heal as a last resort, rest of the time throwing around offensive and buff spells. Cone of cold ftw.

Or you can just leave it on because the aura regens the party's health and use supportive spells.

 

[hank_tree]

Even 25 hours sounds crazy for DA:O. I literally just finished my second play through on Sunday. I dud nearly everything except a few Mages Guild & Blackstone Irregulars quests. My play clock stopped at 74:53 in my epilogue save.

Now you subtract about 5 hours for how many times I set down the controller and walked away. That's still 70 hours.

70 hours sounds crazy to me.

 

[antonz]

I'm pretty thorough and I beat supposedly long games in a short amount of time.

sometimes I imagine people running around doing nothing for long periods of time

There is no way this game comes even close to 45 hours unless you decide to spend 30 hours on never ending side quests that only exist to get you gold to go to the deep roads. Even then in my 18 hour completion time I did enough junk quests to get 75 sovereigns before I went into the deep roads. 25 more than required. I have like 95% of all game achievements. only missing things such as beat the game with each class.

Clearly I completed the full game in the sense of completion if I have all the achievements etc.

 

[Dina]

How worthwhile is crafting in this game? I mean potions, glyphs, etc? I usually don't bother with merchants that offer me stuff like that, but am I missing something grand?

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Or you can just leave it on because the aura regens the party's health and use supportive spells.

Fair enough. Just illustrating you can do both heal / support and have offensive spells as well by turning on / off healing aura.