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[firehawk12]

I think Shale -> Mage -> Redcliff is pretty much the only way to start the game. The other stuff depends on whether you are going for anything specific like a specialization or a character.

 

[Doytch]

So what is a good order to do the locations?

I did redcliffe first until

Spoiler

they wanted to kill the mother to save the brat

so I decided there to go

Spoiler

get help from the magi circle

instead and

Spoiler

now I am making my way up the magi tower.

Would that be a fine order, or am I taking the hard way through? It seems most people go Denerim or Ostagar firstish.

Denerim is a bitch and a half if you take it first. I did, and got wrecked multiple times on the only major place open to you in there. I assume you mean Orzammar, not Ostagar, and I think that place starts scaling from a higher level than the rest also. Just don't do Denerim/Orz until level 10 if you don't want it to be too hard. Those are the floors for the level scaling system that governs those locations.

 

[AndyD]

Denerim is a bitch and a half if you take it first. I did, and got wrecked multiple times on the only major place open to you in there. I assume you mean Orzammar, not Ostagar, and I think that place starts scaling from a higher level than the rest also. Just don't do Denerim/Orz until level 10 if you don't want it to be too hard. Those are the floors for the level scaling system that governs those locations.

Good. So I guess my path of redcliffe/magi tower/redcliffe then the rest should work out.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Spoiler

I choose to go to Cirlce of Magi and get their help in Redcliffe, what did you guys choose?

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Spoiler

I choose to go to Cirlce of Magi and get their help in Redcliffe, what did you guys choose?

I chose that, but when I returned I wasn't given a new option. Did I not do something right?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Just finished my second playthrough, thinking about my third already. :lol

On the dwarves

Spoiler

Bhelen is a far better choice than harrowmont, the dwarven society is clearly backward and destroying itself far more than the darkspawn are, the sooner the castes and paragons are destroyed the better.

Bhelen is an asshole but he outmaneuvered his father, dumbass brothers and got shit done. Hell if he's willing to do all that then he probably deserves the throne.

 

[Fredescu]

On the dwarves

Spoiler

Bhelen is a far better choice than harrowmont, the dwarven society is clearly backward and destroying itself far more than the darkspawn are, the sooner the castes and paragons are destroyed the better.

Bhelen is an asshole but he outmaneuvered his father, dumbass brothers and got shit done. Hell if he's willing to do all that then he probably deserves the throne.

Surely he could have done all that without

Spoiler

killing anyone that gets in his way. Even if he were just an "asshole" a good leader should have known that at least politically, killing a bunch of dudes is not the best way to unite a race.

 

[fallout]

Spoiler

Stop fighting stuff You're a rogue, between mouse form and stealth you should be able to skip almost everything. Just focus on rescuing the NPCs that give you the new forms and you should be out of there in no time.

I hated it too, but at least now that I know what to do it won't take long on subsequent attempts.

Spoiler

But I like stabbing things.

I'll keep that in mind though, heh. Thanks.

 

[knitoe]

I chose that, but when I returned I wasn't given a new option. Did I not do something right?

Spoiler

Did you talk to Circle Magi Leader at Circle Tower about going to Redcliff to help with entering the Fade and rescuing the boy? If yes, he should be in Redcliff castle standing next to boy's mother and uncle once you return.

 

[lorddarkflare]

Spoiler

But I like stabbing things.

I'll keep that in mind though, heh. Thanks.

Ignore him.

I too, like stabbing stuff, and the fade was the level that i finally bumped my game to Nightmare.

Just remember to cycle through the forms and also: Burning man is your friend.

 

[Zzoram]

Alistair and Wynne's talk about the sock was kinda funny. Mostly because it implied that Templars write their names on their socks so they don't mix them up, and the way he said it suggested they might be using those socks for jerking.

 

[John Harker]

how high do you have to get that heart meter? I'm past 2/3 with Lelianna and just past half with Morrigan and still no luck... they must not be into elves.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

I managed to beat the game on 360. It however just makes me want to hurry up my plans for building a PC, and playing it on there. There really were quite a few annoying things in the 360 version, most of which came down to the controls. They were manageable but not really pleasant.

It was a fun ride though. I was kind of hoping for a more epic army clash at the end, but that never really happened.

 

[lorddarkflare]

how high do you have to get that heart meter? I'm past 2/3 with Lelianna and just past half with Morrigan and still no luck... they must not be into elves.

She has to adore you (Liliana).

Morrigan cannot like you too much. She only sleeps with you if it is just for the sex.

 

[John Harker]

She has to adore you (Liliana).

Morrigan cannot like you too much. She only sleeps with you if it is just for the sex.

Really. I knew there was a reason I like her so much
So the key is to lower her "like" of you?

 

[lorddarkflare]

Really. I knew there was a reason I like her so much
So the key is to lower her "like" of you?

I suppose that could work.

I think you need lower than 90% and have the romance active.

You only get one shot at it, so do not squander your chance.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Surely he could have done all that without

Spoiler

killing anyone that gets in his way. Even if he were just an "asshole" a good leader should have known that at least politically, killing a bunch of dudes is not the best way to unite a race.

Spoiler

But he was third in line for throne, the chance of him becoming king was zippo. if you read the note in trians bedroom, you see that the elder brother was a hugely jealous and pathetic individual. Him being king would have been even more disasterous for the dwarves than harrowmont.

 

[Fredescu]

how high do you have to get that heart meter? I'm past 2/3 with Lelianna and just past half with Morrigan and still no luck... they must not be into elves.

You get new dialog at each level of, um, "heart" (neutral, warm, etc), so remember to talk with them when you go up. I know with Leliana at least if you burn through a whole level without talking to her it's possible to miss the romance even if you get her to 100%.

 

[John Harker]

I suppose that could work.

I think you need lower than 90% and have the romance active.

You only get one shot at it, so do not squander your chance.

how do you get 'romance active'?

The last thing with Lilianna is she just sang to me, which was rather lovely.
Morrigan either offers me to be a shapeshifter, or can ask her why she's still here... which in turn pisses her off.

It's a shame they don't add some sense of tonality to these responses. I usually read them differently then they are... asking someone why they are still here, at least to me, reads like you're curious if you are there because of you, like honestly wanting to know... here I guess it's insulting cause she drops 10 heart points, heh

 

[sweetvar26]

Any use of the gems you get? Like the diamonds etc. other than to sell and make money. I just don't want to sell them and find out later that, I will need them for something specific!

 

[firehawk12]

The romance options are all based on specific choices in dialog. There's usually some kind of choice that is openly flirtations, but it only happens when she initiates it and you can miss it if you make the wrong choice.

Edit: Gems are useful for the Dwarf army, which makes them stronger and gets you some XP.

 

[Doytch]

Shitty gems are given to the dwarves to buff them up once you recruit them. But that's only the really crappy ones (Greenstone, etc) and you don't have to give them any to be honest. Just go ahead and sell them.

Also, some are listed as gifts, I think they're called Remarkable ____. You can probably figure out which party member would want them....

Spoiler

Shale

 

[Fredescu]

Any use of the gems you get?

You can donate them to your armies. I don't know what that does. I didn't use the armies. I just sold the gems.

Spoiler

But he was third in line for throne, the chance of him becoming king was zippo. if you read the note in trians bedroom, you see that the elder brother was a hugely jealous and pathetic individual. Him being king would have been even more disasterous for the dwarves than harrowmont.

Spoiler

It sounds like someone was trying to make a point about violent revolution, but you really have to dig for any information on it. The Witcher touched on the same subject but handled it much better.

 

[Xamdou]

Is there an archer or rogue ally in the game?

 

[Fredescu]

Is there an archer or rogue ally in the game?

There are two. Leliana is a rogue with bard specialisation, and has points in archery when you get her. It's possible to miss her if you don't go into the tavern in Lothering before you leave. Zevran is a rogue with assassin specialisation and a few points in dual weapon skills. It's possible to miss him

Spoiler

if you kill him.

 

[Xamdou]

There are two. Leliana is a rogue with bard specialisation, and has points in archery when you get her. It's possible to miss her if you don't go into the tavern in Lothering before you leave. Zevran is a rogue with assassin specialisation and a few points in dual weapon skills. It's possible to miss him

Spoiler

if you kill him.

Ah ok thanks for the info

 

[ethelred]

Any use of the gems you get? Like the diamonds etc. other than to sell and make money. I just don't want to sell them and find out later that, I will need them for something specific!

Aside from what everyone else said about using the lower tier gems for your army, keep 10 garnets handy for a quest later on in the game.

So...
1. Keep 10 garnets.
2. Donate lower tier (emerald, amethyst, etc.) to the dwarves.
3. Sell the really good stuff (like diamonds).

I never see anyone mention the garnet quest, so I feel the need to point it out. :/

 

[HallucinatingElvis]

This game is amazing, I'm 28 hours in and for me that's a huge deal as I generally have numerous games in rotation and eventually get bored and move on to others. I also like How there have been some decisions where I am seriously torn over which one I should make.

Console peasant by the way but I am loving every minute of it....cept for the Fade, bleh.

 

[lorddarkflare]

71 hours in, and i think i need to take a break of a week or 2.

This game's pacing is bad, i mean really bad and playing on Nightmare does not help.

The characters and the dialogue truly are the games best features (and the codex, we must never forget that), everything else is questionable.

 

[Fredescu]

After my first playthrough I took a break and played Majesty 2 for a couple of days. It was interesting going from a game that I micromanage heavily to a game where a key feature is the removal of micromanagement. It was a relaxing experience. Ultimately I ended up back with DA with renewed vigour.

 

[Takuhi]

I've been hearing a lot of complaints about the pacing... What exactly does that mean? I'm still pretty early on, but the game seems like it should be immune to such gripes since you can spend as much time as you like in towns or exploring wildlands or just blow through such tasks if you prefer. Does the game force you to spend extended amounts of time in combat or social situations at a later point in the game?

 

[lorddarkflare]

I've been hearing a lot of complaints about the pacing... What exactly does that mean? I'm still pretty early on, but the game seems like it should be immune to such gripes since you can spend as much time as you like in towns or exploring wildlands or just blow through such tasks if you prefer. Does the game force you to spend extended amounts of time in combat or social situations at a later point in the game?

Pacing is such a complicated and nuanced thing.

In short: For each leg of the mission, the game throws a slew of endless and pointless dungeons at you.

This would not be a problem if the game did not neglect: Enemy Variety, Good dungeon design (they all eventually become one massive blob. There are like 5 puzzles in the entire came and they feel awfully contrived), reasonable challenge, etc.

The most frustrating thing about these dungeons is that you have so little to show for them except for vendor trash, since the loot is terrible.

And then comes the story. Let us leave that for another post, but in terms of pacing, you often find that you forget why you were trudging through the massively dull dungeon in the first place. Ugh.

Of course YMMV, especially since i am sensitive to these things.

 

[Fredescu]

I can't speak for lorddarkflare (edit: and he beat me, so I don't have to), but for me it's about the combat difficulty. Each major area starts off easy, and gets harder as you progress through it. This makes sense when you do your first area as you're getting used to the combat and the enemy types and so forth. As you do more parts of the main quest, you get better at the game, and the beginning (and often middle) of each main area starts to feel like a drag.

There are some long dungeons in the game, and it seems that the longer ones take longer to ramp up the difficulty. Rather than stretching the end of the difficulty curve, they've stretched the middle. Something that highlights it is if you take a break from a dungeon and travel somewhere on your map, you'll get a random encounter which is much harder than the encounters you've been getting in the main quest for the last hour.

If you're playing on Normal, you can fix this by upping the difficulty at the start and then lowering it once it starts getting harder. Inelegant, but it works. If you're playing on Nightmare, you've got nowhere to go outside of hardcore mods.

My hope is that we'll see a lengthy expansion (10+ hours would be nice) which is completely linear. That should allow them to give us a smooth difficulty curve, without having to take into account the fact that the player can choose one of half a dozen places to start.

 

[lorddarkflare]

I can't speak for lorddarkflare (edit: and he beat me, so I don't have to), but for me it's about the combat difficulty. Each major area starts off easy, and gets harder as you progress through it. This makes sense when you do your first area as you're getting used to the combat and the enemy types and so forth. As you do more parts of the main quest, you get better at the game, and the beginning (and often middle) of each main area starts to feel like a drag.

There are some long dungeons in the game, and it seems that the longer ones take longer to ramp up the difficulty. Rather than stretching the end of the difficulty curve, they've stretched the middle. Something that highlights it is if you take a break from a dungeon and travel somewhere on your map, you'll get a random encounter which is much harder than the encounters you've been getting in the main quest for the last hour.

If you're playing on Normal, you can fix this by upping the difficulty at the start and then lowering it once it starts getting harder. Inelegant, but it works. If you're playing on Nightmare, you've got nowhere to go outside of hardcore mods.

My hope is that we'll see a lengthy expansion (10+ hours would be nice) which is completely linear. That should allow them to give us a smooth difficulty curve, without having to take into account the fact that the player can choose one of half a dozen places to start.

Linear is good, i think much of Bioware's issues would be fixed if they did this.

As for the combat, i think i am in the small minority that has no issue with the difficulty, i have been rocking with Nightmare since the beginning of the game with zero issues other than that absurd string of boss battles at the end of Orzimar.

They would not have been so bad (and they were not, just the spike in difficulty was jarring) if

Spoiler

Ohgren

was not locked to your party. Useless.

Going back on the long dungeons. Once or twice would not have been so bad, but it happened every single time.

The Fade was amazingly designed though. Hands down their best.

 

[Fredescu]

And then comes the story. Let us leave that for another post, but in terms of pacing, you often find that you forget why you were trudging through the massively dull dungeon in the first place. Ugh.

I like long dungeons if they're done well enough. I don't necessarily want a cut scene every half an hour to remind me of why I'm doing something. I didn't have any story pacing issues, but that could have been because I took time off and knocked it over in a week. If I played at my normal pace I might have noticed it.

As for the combat, i think i am in the small minority that has no issue with the difficulty, i have been rocking with Nightmare since the beginning of the game with zero issues other than that absurd string of boss battles at the end of Orzimar.

You don't find the start of dungeons too easy sometimes? I thought the lair of the dwarven mob boss was a prime example of that. You trudge through it for ages to get one interesting fight at the end.

 

[firehawk12]

Oh god yes, the dungeons are too long. The Deep Roads felt like it would never end... and the problem is that they separate the story from the dungeons, so you get a bit of down time where you can go around and collect quests and then a loooooong dungeon that you have to trudge through to get to the next story bit.

It made some of the sidequests much more enjoyable, anyway.

 

[lorddarkflare]

I like long dungeons if they're done well enough. I don't necessarily want a cut scene every half an hour to remind me of why I'm doing something. I didn't have any story pacing issues, but that could have been because I took time off and knocked it over in a week. If I played at my normal pace I might have noticed it.


You don't find the start of dungeons too easy sometimes? I thought the lair of the dwarven mob boss was a prime example of that. You trudge through it for ages to get one interesting fight at the end.

The problem with the dungeons was several fold.

I could have dealt with the massively long dungeons had there been an actually purpose to them and had they not all been poorly designed. They often just felt like filler. The deep roads is a great example.

I could have ignored even this had the loot been good.

As for the difficulty. I steamrolled through everything, so i did not really notice a disparity, but then again, i had a de-buffer, DPS mage, DPS rogue, and a Buffer Tank, and i do crazy micro/complex tactics settings.

The first time i actually extensively used items was with the last three bosses in the deep roads. I was lazy for the first 2 and that stupid useless dwarf impaired me for the last one.

 

[Fredescu]

How did you build your rogue? I'm trying to decide which direction I should go with mine at the moment.

 

[Takuhi]

Ah. Thanks for the comments... I guess I haven't seen much of the dungeons yet. Can't say I'm looking forward to them much now!

The difficulty balance is pretty borked, but that's a small price to pay for the open nature of the game, I think. At least you can change the difficulty on the fly. I'd be a lot more pissed otherwise.

Anyone know if there's any way to change your character besides starting a new game? I hate the voice I chose... I picked "violent" so he'd be an asshole to others, not to ME. Guess that's karma.

 

[Lafiel]

I've been hearing a lot of complaints about the pacing... What exactly does that mean? I'm still pretty early on, but the game seems like it should be immune to such gripes since you can spend as much time as you like in towns or exploring wildlands or just blow through such tasks if you prefer. Does the game force you to spend extended amounts of time in combat or social situations at a later point in the game?

.
I'm usually pretty sensitive about this stuff. (mostly in j-rpgs) but i'm finding the pacing in this game fine, while there is definitely a lack of story sequences between the dungeon crawling, talking to your party + reading the codex between all that, keeps me involved in the storyline.
That said, the story isn't exactly the main draw in this game for me, i'm more engaged by the party-based w-rpg gameplay. Especially since the storyline is fairly standard fantasy fare.

 

[lorddarkflare]

How did you build your rogue? I'm trying to decide which direction I should go with mine at the moment.

Dwarf noble. Capped str at 27, Dex at 35 and pumped all else into cunning.

Get Momentum, Lethality and Coup de grace asap.

Get the first three assassin talents and the first duelist (assassin first).

Stopped at dual weapon finesse.

Get lockpick/Stealth (i prefer locks) when nothing else is available.

It is sort of funny that she can get all chests, master dialogue and get the best skills AND have the highest DPS (best weapons: Starfang, Vashialle, Rose's thorns).

Later in the game, you will find that you have more talent points than useful talents (especially if you purchased the books). Though i suppose if you think locks and stealth are a priority (loot sucks, remember?) you may have some trouble.

My rogues does 47% of the party's damage.

 

[Castor Krieg]

I got through my 1st play as Arcane Warrior + Blood Mage. Played as CC guy: Petrify, Force Field, Crushing Prison = nothing can touch you. Mages are more OP here than in other Bioware games.

 

[Dedalus]

Well I just finished my first playthrough with 84 hours played time doing as many of the side quests and listening to all the conversations. I ended up going full elementalist with my Elf Magi, with blood mage and arcane warrior as my specializations, which turned out to be a great combo as I could melee when needed and never ran out of spell-casting abilities if I carried enough health poultices. The magi felt a bit overpowered and I feel made the game a bit easier than if I had chosen a melee based class. My random collected thoughts on things:

Spoiler

-PC version was the perfect choice, isometric view really made the action manageable
-Wish there was an option to respec when you make your specialization choices, as a blood mage and arcane warrior my stats were all wrong and this effected my playstyle
-Denerim was a complete letdown. The market, and that's it?! I guess I'm spoiled from playing Baldur's Gate so my expectations were higher, but only one district was just shameful.
-Being a Brit, I have a sixth sense for bad english accents, and this game is full of them. Alistair is the worst offender, god that guy annoys me whenever he speaks!
-Not enough quests. Yep, I felt aside from the DLC there weren't enough rabbitholes to lose yourself down, but I suppose that's where the DLC (and my credit card) comes in, I take it?
-Loved the depth to the characters. Morrigan was a nice distraction but really not worth filling a spot with once you get Wynne, who is a far more interesting character without the whole "edgy bitch magi" thing.
-My game seemed to have bugged out towards the end, I somehow ended up with Oghren in my party when I decided to help Branka save the anvil. His avatar wasn't even onscreen but he was speaking! Crazy bug. Same thing happened with Loghain, who I told Alistair to kill, but somehow ended up being made a Grey Warden and joined me in the fight in Denerim, again, as an invisible avatar. Kinda spoiled the immersion there.
-Redcliffe, Dalish and Orzammar quests were all epic and I loved them all.
-Itemization really sucked, a real letdown.
-The whole pseudo-fantasy settings felt cobbled together from every other fantasy world out there. It didn't really hold well together, things like Andraste and enslaving the Elves were supposed to be important but there was nothing in there to make me as a player, or my character, care about them. This could have been done better, perhaps through your companions rather than codex entries.
-Baldurs Gate let me colour my armour, what happened to that? Is colour dyeing a lost art in Ferelden?
-And most important of all, the main character was just an empty shell. Perhaps the other Origins are more meaningful than the magi one, but there wasn't anything to really place my character in this world, the fade quest really sucked. I think the only person who knew I existed was Jowan, and even that was forced on me. It would have been nice to see the Origins give you an idea where your home was, and when you visit it should be more meaningful. Maybe future playthroughs with different Origins will reveal that a bit better. I hope.

 

[chris-013]

how do you get 'romance active'?

The last thing with Lilianna is she just sang to me, which was rather lovely.
Morrigan either offers me to be a shapeshifter, or can ask her why she's still here... which in turn pisses her off.

It's a shame they don't add some sense of tonality to these responses. I usually read them differently then they are... asking someone why they are still here, at least to me, reads like you're curious if you are there because of you, like honestly wanting to know... here I guess it's insulting cause she drops 10 heart points, heh

You can get "romance active" with morrigan just after lothering, you just need to give her every gift and choose the better answer. It's even more easy after the circle of magi and the book of flemeth. For Lelianna, you need to finish her background story with orlais. ;P

 

[Antagon]

There are some more ways after that to get a romance as well. I had broken a romance with Morrigan, but was able to start it again after giving her a mirror.

I thought I had screwed it with Leliana as well, but suddenly she started acting jealous after I slept with Morrigan. :lol

 

[Ventrue]

Spoiler

-And most important of all, the main character was just an empty shell. Perhaps the other Origins are more meaningful than the magi one, but there wasn't anything to really place my character in this world, the fade quest really sucked. I think the only person who knew I existed was Jowan, and even that was forced on me. It would have been nice to see the Origins give you an idea where your home was, and when you visit it should be more meaningful. Maybe future playthroughs with different Origins will reveal that a bit better. I hope.

The mage origin isn't great for that, no. Try Dwarf Noble or City Elf.

 

[Lafiel]

how do you get 'romance active'?

The last thing with Lilianna is she just sang to me, which was rather lovely.
Morrigan either offers me to be a shapeshifter, or can ask her why she's still here... which in turn pisses her off.

It's a shame they don't add some sense of tonality to these responses. I usually read them differently then they are... asking someone why they are still here, at least to me, reads like you're curious if you are there because of you, like honestly wanting to know... here I guess it's insulting cause she drops 10 heart points, heh

I'm surprised some of you find this hard, the romance in this game is so so easy, as easy as ME was. BG2 had far more challenge in that department.

 

[ethelred]

-Being a Brit, I have a sixth sense for bad english accents, and this game is full of them. Alistair is the worst offender, god that guy annoys me whenever he speaks!

But... that's Steve Valentine's actual accent. And he is British.

 

[Fredescu]

-PC version

-Wish there was an option to respec

http://social.bioware.com/project/469/

 

[DietRob]

GAF I think I fucked up.

Spoiler post:

Spoiler

So I made it to the dwarf town. First off let me say that I went to dust town first before any quests. While there I ran into a shady character that wanted me to do some stuff for gold. I told him to buzz off so he is now gone. Orzammar needs a king and I'm attempting to give them one. I've fought in the proving. I took the side of Harrowmount. When I was done with the proving Harrowmount asked me to take down the crime syndicate. I went back to dust town and the thugs I mentioned earlier are still gone. I've talked to everyone and can't for the life of me figure out how to get 'underground' to take out the boss lady.

Please tell me I'm not stuck. I've dumped almost 30 hours into this now. I won't have the patience to go back and start over. Also I'm playing on PC so I'm not opposed to using console commands to get this quest over with but I don't know if their is a console command to do that.

Thanks for any help guys.