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[M°°nblade]

Ok thanks for the answers.

 

[Mindlog]

I found a couple of niggling details that get mixed up when you do things 'out of order.' Like that meeting getting called before it's called.

I also ended up going into the dwarven trial rather leveled up. With decent gear. It felt like I was kicking the crap out of a bunch of 6 year olds. awesome

I might have to buy Warden's Keep just because I want to finish the superman quest :\

 

[water_wendi]

i think my main complaint with the game right now is that the world areas ive been to are very limited like KotORs. i know it was a foolish wish but i was kind of hoping for an open world. Exploring places is always a huge plus for me. It was also my biggest complaint for all the IE games after BG1.

 

[water_wendi]

That is solid advice and i think i may follow it.

I think part of my problem may be that the way this game handles Physical fights may not be my style (though since i have to play all four units, i might as well get used to it.).

So maybe i should switch to being a Mage to see how i like it.

i really had a blast playing a mage. Mage was also the first class i picked. The reason i dropped it though is because all the spells are combat. i tend to play Diplo-sniper type people and that works really well with Mages in D&D. Using spells to influence the game world outside of combat is right up my alley.

 

[Arucardo]

Finished the game with a playtime of about 35 hours (probably around 40h with all the retries and loads :lol ), I hardly even touched the sidequests so there's alot to do in this game. I might replay it and make some different choices than I did now or just load up a save I created before the end game and complete most of the side quests.

All in all, an amazing game, loved every second of it. Probably the best RPG I've played in quite a while.

 

[Zeliard]

i think my main complaint with the game right now is that the world areas ive been to are very limited like KotORs. i know it was a foolish wish but i was kind of hoping for an open world. Exploring places is always a huge plus for me. It was also my biggest complaint for all the IE games after BG1.

Probably my biggest criticism as well. I don't mind the lack of an overworld at all, which probably would have added nothing to any of Bioware's games, but a lot of the environments are smaller and, crucially, a lot more linear than I would've hoped, with very few branching paths.

Still, the positives overshadow that by a long shot, and you still have good freedom with the quests you want to tackle and locations you want to visit, not to mention how open the dialogue system is.

 

[Yoshichan]

I've seen enough of his posts to know that he doesn't have "shitty taste in games", he's a Demon's Souls pro which is definitely worth something. I'm loving DA but I guess it's just not for everyone, especially if you're playing the console versions, I don't take it personally.

No kidding (though truth be told, he actually has good taste).

Really though, Demon's Souls literally shreds every game apart this year. It's an incredible experience and I really thought Dragon Age would give me that exact same feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, unfortunately it didn't.

Youre still having trouble on easy? On the Console?

I'm on PC, playing on normal. I don't want to change to easy.

I don't think Seiken has fully recovered from his Demon's Souls marathon yet.

:lol Recovered in what way? I'm still playing it a couple of hours per day I'm also soon finished with my low level (12 to be exact) walkthrough.

If he's been playing demon souls im surprised he mentions the difficulty of DA a few times, after DS the word difficult takes on a whole new meaning :lol

I could beat Demon's Souls with a naked character except a weapon. Because DS is 99% skill based, I'd say DA is balanced to 30%-skill 70%-gear which is a pity. But then again, these games usually are like that.

I guess it looks bad on the console, my game looks great and I've seen his other post about the difficulty..

I'm playing DA on the highest possible settings in 1980x1280 with forced AFx16. It still looks disgusting.

EDIT: Oh and I never sell my games and I really don't want this to be 60 bucks down the drain so I'm giving it another chance. God bless. Hello to my new Mage class, good bye 30 hours wasted time on my warrior (but then again, I've spent 440 hours on DS so what's 30 hours?)

 

[LCfiner]

Ah, finished The circle of Magi quest this morning and I am done with the Fade.

One last time: Fuck The Fucking Fade.

I’m finally in Denerim and I’m just messing around, doing sidequests for a while.

Still loving it. I put all my skill points in coercion so I’m already a master at persuasion. Maybe I’ll dabble in herbalism down the line.

 

[M°°nblade]

I'm playing DA on the highest possible settings in 1980x1280 with forced AFx16. It still looks disgusting.

Even with top-down view?

 

[Yoshichan]

Even with top-down view?

I admit, it looks quite a lot better viewed from above but really, if that's what's required for a a game to look good in 2009, then I don't know what to say anymore.

 

[Lostconfused]

I could beat Demon's Souls with a naked character except a weapon. Because DS is 99% skill based, I'd say DA is balanced to 30%-skill 70%-gear which is a pity. But then again, these games usually are like that.

You could, but you would be wrong if you did. Gear in this game is a minor upgrade. The kind of skills your characters have play a much bigger role.

I admit, it looks quite a lot better viewed from above but really, if that's what's required for a a game to look good in 2009, then I don't know what to say anymore.

Variety sucks?

 

[water_wendi]

As someone that thinks an ascii character game is possibly one of the best this generation, i have to say i find so much concern with the utmost graphical clarity kind of sad.

 

[Yoshichan]

You could, but you would be wrong if you did. Gear in this game is a minor upgrade. The kind of skills your characters have play a much bigger role.

Aye, sorry about that. I meant skills, gear, statpoint, class-decisions etc. That's not much "skill" involved.

Variety sucks?

Hey I love variety bro, I just don't like how I'm forced to look from above for the game to look average. But anyway, fuck graphics, who cares.

As someone that thinks an ascii character game is possibly one of the best this generation, i have to say i find so much concern with the utmost graphical clarity kind of sad.

What game is that?

 

[water_wendi]

What game is that?

Dwarf Fortress.

 

[LiK]

muhahaha, i got the full set of the Blood Dragon Plate armor on. my guy looks so badass

 

[-tetsuo-]

What problems did you have with your 2 hand character, Sei? I've got a 2 hand dwarf and he's great.

 

[Yoshichan]

Dwarf Fortress.

Damn seems complicated, thanks.

Sorry for OT, carry on!

 

[Lostconfused]

Aye, sorry about that. I meant skills, gear, statpoint, class-decisions etc. That's not much "skill" involved.

I will argue that it takes a type of skill to be able to do that. And yeah the graphics discussion is a waste of time.

 

[Alex]

Outside of Uncharted 2, this is probably the best looking game I've played this year, so I'm utterly stumped at visual complaints.

 

[Yoshichan]

What problems did you have with your 2 hand character, Sei? I've got a 2 hand dwarf and he's great.

I abandoned my 2H worthless piece of shit. It was slow, when I missed, I was fucked. Even WITH precision skill, I missed. Now everything went kind of fine, Moorigan pretty much dealt 60% of the whole group damage (hence, why I started a mage), but when I got to the place

Spoiler

where I'm supposed to kill the White Wolf-guardian, everything started going downhill.

First of all, I don't want to use potions. Ever. I never use them (Diablo 2 aside) in games so this is probably the major reason why this game isn't for me.

Spoiler

So I battle this dragon in the cave who's pretty fun to beat, required a lot of strategy, I like that. I probably died like 5 times but that's fine, I thought it was the main "hardest" boss of the place anyway. So after that I travel 10 feet and get ambushed by 40 skeletons.

Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY? In no way am I able to beat them, and I've tried for literally three hours. That's when I gave up. I have pretty much no AoE except Morrigans absolutely terrible Fire-pile-spell, Alistor dies after 5 hits, so much for a tank, that thief-girl does nothing but sucking and my main character? :lol Pathetic.

There, I can't believe I actually wrote all of that down.

 

[water_wendi]

For tougher stuff you are going to have to use pots. Its very much like Diablo in that way. During regular encounters i almost never use potions due to my stubborness :lol Bosses or endurance fights its going to have to be that way.

 

[lorddarkflare]

Outside of Uncharted 2, this is probably the best looking game I've played this year, so I'm utterly stumped at visual complaints.

Then you do not play many good looking games.

Of course this game does not look that bad, but there is no reason for hyperbole.

 

[Mindlog]

For tougher stuff you are going to have to use pots. Its very much like Diablo in that way. During regular encounters i almost never use potions due to my stubborness :lol Bosses or endurance fights its going to have to be that way.

The healer mage + my 2H has been money so far.

 

[-tetsuo-]

I abandoned my 2H worthless piece of shit. It was slow, when I missed, I was fucked. Even WITH precision skill, I missed. Now everything went kind of fine, Moorigan pretty much dealt 60% of the whole group damage (hence, why I started a mage), but when I got to the place

Spoiler

where I'm supposed to kill the White Wolf-guardian, everything started going downhill.

First of all, I don't want to use potions. Ever. I never use them (Diablo 2 aside) in games so this is probably the major reason why this game isn't for me.

Spoiler

So I battle this dragon in the cave who's pretty fun to beat, required a lot of strategy, I like that. I probably died like 5 times but that's fine, I thought it was the main "hardest" boss of the place anyway. So after that I travel 10 feet and get ambushed by 40 skeletons.

Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY? In no way am I able to beat them, and I've tried for literally three hours. That's when I gave up. I have pretty much no AoE except Morrigans absolutely terrible Fire-pile-spell, Alistor dies after 5 hits, so much for a tank, that thief-girl does nothing but sucking and my main character? :lol Pathetic.

There, I can't believe I actually wrote all of that down.

Ehh you just weren't ready for that fight. The hardest fights are the huge groups, at least for me so far. That's where the skill comes in this games combat. You have to learn to use absolutely everything at your disposal almost perfectly. And yes, that includes potions :lol . What the hell is wrong with potions?

Outside of Uncharted 2, this is probably the best looking game I've played this year, so I'm utterly stumped at visual complaints.

I don't know about that dude :lol

 

[Alex]

Then you do not play many good looking games.

Of course this game does not look that bad, but there is no reason for hyperbole.

There's no hyperbole about it. There's not one part of the game that has any poor qualities to it, the textures, modeling and all that jazz are great and the scope and variety is quite massive. Combined it makes a pretty terrific package.

Scene to scene it may not be as impressive as CORRIDOR SHOOTER X, but I think it's a very keen setup overall. I'm very impressed, considering how ugly I think Mass Effect is.

I play lots of good looking games, so how about this: tell me what RPG you think is better looking than this.

 

[hermit7]

Does anyone have any strategy ideas for the

Spoiler

dragons

? They are completely fucking up my whole team, and rarely do I even break half their health. I am a

Spoiler

Spirit Healer

mage, with Dog, Morrigan, and Shale

 

[water_wendi]

The healer mage + my 2H has been money so far.

On what difficulty?

 

[Truant]

Probably my biggest criticism as well. I don't mind the lack of an overworld at all, which probably would have added nothing to any of Bioware's games, but a lot of the environments are smaller and, crucially, a lot more linear than I would've hoped, with very few branching paths.

Still, the positives overshadow that by a long shot, and you still have good freedom with the quests you want to tackle and locations you want to visit, not to mention how open the dialogue system is.

What? I'm 25 hours in just at 18%, and I feel like I'm rushing things.

 

[-tetsuo-]

On what difficulty?

2 handers are nasty man. Im playing on hard without a healing mage and my dwarf is mean. Get him behind someone and it's lights out.

 

[Zeliard]

What? I'm 25 hours in just at 18%, and I feel like I'm rushing things.

That's because there's tons of content, which isn't what I'm talking about. A lot of the individual environments you and your party traverse through aren't that big and feature a pretty direct path from beginning to end.

Maybe that changes later on, but that's what it's been like so far.

 

[Yoshichan]

. What the hell is wrong with potions?l

Ugggggh......

 

[LCfiner]

That's because there's tons of content, which isn't what I'm talking about. A lot of the individual environments you and your party traverse through aren't that big and feature a pretty direct path from beginning to end.

Maybe that changes later on, but that's what it's been like so far.

yup, just like KOTOR, Mass Effect and Jade Empire. (And Fable, actually)

Bioware has been using the same town and city design for a long time now. Environments are very linear.

Maybe in a couple years they’ll have places that are a bit more open to investigate.

 

[Truant]

That's because there's tons of content, which isn't what I'm talking about. A lot of the individual environments you and your party traverse through aren't that big and feature a pretty direct path from beginning to end.

Maybe that changes later on, but that's what it's been like so far.

I quoted the wrong post, man. I was replying to the guy who said he finished it in 35 hours. Sorry about that, I'm on my iphone right now. Kinda confusing.

 

[Yoshichan]

Btw, could anyone please tell me how I can use huge AoE-spells efficiently? I just got Inferno and it's MASSIVE, i love the damage it does too, but how am I supposed to make a bunch of enemies stay on place while they're inside the fire? Without, of course, having my comrades in the fire too.

I'd love some help here

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Outside of Uncharted 2, this is probably the best looking game I've played this year, so I'm utterly stumped at visual complaints.

Seriously....the game is fucking gorgeous, i thought risen had outstanding lighting but this game annihilates even that. And this actually has respectable character models and animations. :lol

 

[Alex]

Seriously....the game is fucking gorgeous, i thought risen had outstanding lighting but this game annihilates even that. And this actually has respectable character models and animations. :lol

For WRPG's, Risen is nice looking, so is The Witcher, but this game impresses me a lot more, personally. Especially considering how, IMO, ugly Bioware's past 3D games have been.

All JRPG's have been pretty ugly this generation, outside of some decent art direction. Demon's Souls, outside of a couple of nice sets of armor, is extremely first-generation PS3 looking, awful textures and aliasing abounds. And it's a corridor hack on top of it.

Dragon Age has it's weak scenes and textures in spots, but for the content and variety, I'm pretty taken aback by how extremely well made most of the textures and models are and how absurd so many areas and scenes can look on the PC. It's a stunning game.

It gives me hope that Mass Effect 2 will actually look nice on PC as well, but it's still UE3 =/ Something about games on that engine always look... odd to me.

 

[LCfiner]

Holy shit. I just boned

Spoiler

a nug (?)

so awkward.

 

[water_wendi]

Btw, could anyone please tell me how I can use huge AoE-spells efficiently? I just got Inferno and it's MASSIVE, i love the damage it does too, but how am I supposed to make a bunch of enemies stay on place while they're inside the fire? Without, of course, having my comrades in the fire too.

I'd love some help here

You could load up a tank in fire resistance gear and charge him in to get and hold their attention id imagine. :lol Other than that you could send a scout ahead while your mage and party wait back for an ambush. When your rogue is running back, take aim with the spell so that it lands are the enemies run into it.

 

[Swag]

Spoiler for those that have done Morrigan Grimoire quest chain

Spoiler

The Fight with Flemeth was fucking Epic! The death blow sequence was amazing, and I was seriously sweating bullets cause I ran out of pots when she was around 20%, had to rely on rejuvenation for mana. Loot was underwhelming :[

 

[-tetsuo-]

Btw, could anyone please tell me how I can use huge AoE-spells efficiently? I just got Inferno and it's MASSIVE, i love the damage it does too, but how am I supposed to make a bunch of enemies stay on place while they're inside the fire? Without, of course, having my comrades in the fire too.

I'd love some help here

Positioning and planning. Besides that, lead as many enemies as you can to the effected area and let it rip. Use traps, pin people with your bow and freeze them to hold them for a couple seconds.

 

[Truant]

Btw, could anyone please tell me how I can use huge AoE-spells efficiently? I just got Inferno and it's MASSIVE, i love the damage it does too, but how am I supposed to make a bunch of enemies stay on place while they're inside the fire? Without, of course, having my comrades in the fire too.

I'd love some help here

Cone of cold is good for that.

 

[Zeliard]

I quoted the wrong post, man. I was replying to the guy who said he finished it in 35 hours. Sorry about that, I'm on my iphone right now. Kinda confusing.

Haha no biggie man.

And yeah, I completely agree with you. I'm at 14% with 22 hours so I'm basically going at the same pace you are. :lol

yup, just like KOTOR, Mass Effect and Jade Empire. (And Fable, actually)

Bioware has been using the same town and city design for a long time now. Environments are very linear.

Maybe in a couple years they’ll have places that are a bit more open to investigate.

I still don't think it's that big of a weakness in this game due to how open basically everything else is. I just wish the environments had sort of followed that same "player choice" theme that rings throughout the rest of the game, in the form of more freedom of movement and some branching paths.

 

[Yoshichan]

Thanks for all the tips.

Cone of cold is good for that.

Ooh I like this one, Moorigan is supposed to be my ice-mage so I guess I'll go with that for now!

 

[Ikuu]

Is it worth building a character as a pure tank, or is it unnecessary?

 

[Alex]

Is it worth building a character as a pure tank, or is it unnecessary?

You can make alterations to party members suit whatever you feel like doing.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Is it worth building a character as a pure tank, or is it unnecessary?

Definitely good to have a tank

 

[Zeliard]

You can make alterations to party members suit whatever you feel like doing.

You also don't have to go back to camp to switch party members. I wonder if people are aware of that.

 

[Lostconfused]

Definitely good to have a tank

But Shale and Alister both make for great tanks. So you don't need your main character to be one.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

For WRPG's, Risen is nice looking, so is The Witcher, but this game impresses me a lot more, personally. Especially considering how, IMO, ugly Bioware's past 3D games have been.

All JRPG's have been pretty ugly this generation, outside of some decent art direction. Demon's Souls, outside of a couple of nice sets of armor, is extremely first-generation PS3 looking, and it's a corridor hack on top of it.

Dragon Age has it's weak scenes and textures in spots, but for the content and variety, I'm pretty taken aback by how extremely well made most of the textures and models are and how absurd so many areas and scenes can look on the PC. It's a stunning game.

It gives me hope that Mass Effect 2 will actually look nice on PC as well, but it's still UE3 =/ Something about games on that engine always look... odd to me.

The forest areas don't look too hot. but haven, caverns, orzammar and especially denerim look really great. The lighting and framebuffer effects really are exquisite.

You also don't have to go back to camp to switch party members. I wonder if people are aware of that.

WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!

 

[Zeliard]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!

There's a "change party members" button on the menu taskbar of the UI, towards the right.

I assume it's also possible in the console versions somewhere in the menu.