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Dragon Age: Origins |OT| Letting The Fade fade out of memory

I screenshotted a bunch (will try to make gifs once I figure out ImageReady), but there was some great bantering:

Leliana tries to "pretty-up" Morrigan with dresses to show off her "assets"

Oghren: "So, you and the Grey Warden, eh?"
Morrigan: "I hope you don't mean Alistair."
Oghren: "Him? Does he even like girls?"

Alistair: "What is it between the two of you, anyway?"
Morrigan: "You're blushing. Are you jealous?"
Alistair: "No, it's the thought of what you're going to do to me after you've sucked him dry."
Morrigan: "If I need to suck anything of yours, Alistair, I'll be sure to let you know."

Oghren: "So what you wear at the Chantry?"
Leliana: "Robes, sometimes ceremonial garb."
Oghren: "And...?"
Leliana: "I don't know what you mean."
Oghren: "Oh, sod it. Do you wear anything underneath those robes?"
Leliana: "..."

(paraphrased, but the gist is there)
 

Doytch

Member
Minsc said:
I don't think I'd be able to afford playing without a Rogue, plus the handicap of a not-so-great member is a little fun, adding to the challenge.

I've been buying backpacks everywhere I can... up to 100 capacity now, and can purchase another to get to 110 at the camp, but I can't afford it.

And I've been completely skipping purchasing any weapons/armor, I haven't been able to afford to get any skill raising books or specialization books, and am barely scrapping by, even though I am looting everything! Without the rogue to loot locked chests, I'd probably be a backpack or two behind... it's really hard to make money so far, level 11 or 12 returning to
Redcliffe Castle after the Magic Tower
.
PC right? Just install the open lock spell. Not really cheating since you have to pick the spell during a level-up.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Doytch said:
PC right? Just install the open lock spell. Not really cheating since you have to pick the spell during a level-up.

Exactly what I did.

So I can run Alistair, my archer, and two mages, one damage, one heal support.

Its balanced because you spend on it just like you would on lockpicking.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
AndyD said:
Exactly what I did.

So I can run Alistair, my archer, and two mages, one damage, one heal support.

Its balanced because you spend on it just like you would on lockpicking.

Is it really just as balanced? I can't check if it's a skills/talents issue, but the unlocking skill has 4 levels, and the unlocking spell sounds like it only has 2 levels, with the 3rd being mass unlock... so you'd be able to max it out much quicker (only investing 2 picks, as the mass effect unlock would be redundant).

I guess you could argue having to use 4 skill points simply to unlock chests which a single D&D spell could do is a little unbalanced to start. Especially since other than experience and some extra gold, there's only a couple essential items to the plot locked up.
 

Drek

Member
tuco11 said:
Just picked this up for the Ps3. I am really early on. Going with an Elven mage, Arcane warrior/Blood mage. Was wondering what a good party make up would be. Do I need to use a Rogue just so I can open chests? I was thinkng a Warrior and maybe 3 other Mages? I read that I should use Wynne for healing.

thanks.
You will want a rogue who can pick locks, yes. The game has a pretty tight financial system for the first 2/3rds or so at least, and missing out on chests will only make it worse on you.

If you're going Arcane Warrior you'll be more of a melee character than spell caster in many instances. That will probably be my second build (human berserker/templar on the current one) and I plan to bring the following party with me:

Morrigan - bitchy mage who won't mind my guy being an ass.
Shale - bitchy rock guy who also won't mind me being an ass.
Leliana replaced with Zevran - Leliana will mind me being an ass, but I can't get Zev early enough to fill my needs for a rogue. That means I use Leliana until I can replace her with Zev.

I play on PC so I might just plug in the open locks spell and ditch a rogue all together, but there really aren't a ton of great choices if you're playing a less than moral character (goes along with the whole blood mage thing) so I could see keeping Zev along for the ride regardless.
 

Won

Member
Finally fixed my Stone Prisoner DLC and now I can't decide who will be my 4th party member. Soooo many character to choose from and only so few spots. :(
 

Drek

Member
edgefusion said:
Is there a mod to make Alistair gay?

EDIT: Quoting my avatar as a response is forbidden.
Technically no, but there is a way for him to see the lead character as the opposite gender, effectively getting the same result.
 
If you registered your game on the Bioware Social Site the bonus Edge dagger is supposed to be available to download some time today. I assume for all platforms.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Minsc said:
Is it really just as balanced? I can't check if it's a skills/talents issue, but the unlocking skill has 4 levels, and the unlocking spell sounds like it only has 2 levels, with the 3rd being mass unlock... so you'd be able to max it out much quicker (only investing 2 picks, as the mass effect unlock would be redundant).

I guess you could argue having to use 4 skill points simply to unlock chests which a single D&D spell could do is a little unbalanced to start. Especially since other than experience and some extra gold, there's only a couple essential items to the plot locked up.

The first spell has a chance to work on easy and medium locks based on your level and magic attribute, which is similar to unlock lvl 1 and 2. Since lvl 1 comes free with Leliana and Zhev, spending one point on Lvl 2 is the same as spending one mage point on Lvs 1 and 2 together. Plus most locks are these two types.

Lvl 2 spell is same as lvl 3 and 4 lockpick, but again it works based on level, so its pretty balanced as well. The third point of mass unlock is just for fun really, as you can easily wait around and unlock one at a time.

After playing with leliana and zhev for a while, I found they became too weak on their own and required too much micromangement to be highly effective for my liking later on. Sacrificing a few points with Morrigan for unlocks is definitely worth freeing up that slot so I can use Wynne in there.

If I wanted to play a rogue, I would have created a rogue, but micromanaging so much made me miss playing the archer I created to begin with. I feel its a good compromise to allow the gradual spell, not perfect, but pretty good.

Finally fixed my Stone Prisoner DLC and now I can't decide who will be my 4th party member. Soooo many character to choose from and only so few spots. :(

How, mine still wont work. The location wont appear on the map no matter what.
 
Doytch said:
PC right? Just install the open lock spell. Not really cheating since you have to pick the spell during a level-up.

What what what!!

I brought the elf rouge instead of the woman as he was stronger into the mage tower and ofc there's bloody 15-20 chests I couldn't open because he didnt have the lock picking skills :/
 
AndyD said:
How, mine still wont work. The location wont appear on the map no matter what.
Do you have the DLC in your list and turned on?

I had a ton of trouble getting mine to work, because, for some reason, my computer didn't have Microsoft.net framework installed.

You might try reinstalling that.
 

Doytch

Member
Johnlenham said:
What what what!!

I brought the elf rouge instead of the woman as he was stronger into the mage tower and ofc there's bloody 15-20 chests I couldn't open because he didnt have the lock picking skills :/
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18656010&postcount=10026

AndyD said:
The first spell has a chance to work on easy and medium locks based on your level and magic attribute, which is similar to unlock lvl 1 and 2. Since lvl 1 comes free with Leliana and Zhev, spending one point on Lvl 2 is the same as spending one mage point on Lvs 1 and 2 together. Plus most locks are these two types.

Lvl 2 spell is same as lvl 3 and 4 lockpick, but again it works based on level, so its pretty balanced as well. The third point of mass unlock is just for fun really, as you can easily wait around and unlock one at a time.

After playing with leliana and zhev for a while, I found they became too weak on their own and required too much micromangement to be highly effective for my liking later on. Sacrificing a few points with Morrigan for unlocks is definitely worth freeing up that slot so I can use Wynne in there.

If I wanted to play a rogue, I would have created a rogue, but micromanaging so much made me miss playing the archer I created to begin with. I feel its a good compromise to allow the gradual spell, not perfect, but pretty good.
Sans dex hotfix? Leliana's spec'd as an archer, and they become downright vicious later on. My main for my first playthrough was an archer, and there's four things that make an archer deadly. Arrow of Slaying, Rapid Aim, Combat Stealth, and Scattershot. High dex/cun lets you stealth anytime outside of boss battles really, so you drop a tonne of crits even though you're using rapid aim.

Though you're right, it does require micromanaging to activate stealth whenever it's ready. Not sure if you could automate it through tactics...
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Doytch said:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18656010&postcount=10026


Sans dex hotfix? Leliana's spec'd as an archer, and they become downright vicious later on. My main for my first playthrough was an archer, and there's four things that make an archer deadly. Arrow of Slaying, Rapid Aim, Combat Stealth, and Scattershot. High dex/cun lets you stealth anytime outside of boss battles really, so you drop a tonne of crits even though you're using rapid aim.

Though you're right, it does require micromanaging to activate stealth whenever it's ready. Not sure if you could automate it through tactics...

With the hotfix.

I dont mean they arent good, just that they take too much work to be good. I like setting up the tactics for the group and let them pretty much go while enjoying my archer play. I only go into micromange hell when stuff is hard or the troops break apart.

I will play a rogue on another playthrough I dont want to micromanage one now and later.
 
Doytch said:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18656010&postcount=10026


Sans dex hotfix? Leliana's spec'd as an archer, and they become downright vicious later on. My main for my first playthrough was an archer, and there's four things that make an archer deadly. Arrow of Slaying, Rapid Aim, Combat Stealth, and Scattershot. High dex/cun lets you stealth anytime outside of boss battles really, so you drop a tonne of crits even though you're using rapid aim.

Though you're right, it does require micromanaging to activate stealth whenever it's ready. Not sure if you could automate it through tactics...

Oh cheers for that! busy installing now :)
 

gokieks

Member
Johnlenham said:
edit: where the fuck is the updater? ive looked everywhere including using the search and I cant find the fucking thing.The one and only thing I HATE about steam.

Not at home, but IIRC it's <Program Files Folder>\Steam\steamapps\common\dragonageorigins\bin\
 

John

Member
Has anyone gotten their tactics to the point where your allies are reasonably competent, or does everyone just aggressively micromanage/pause the game every few seconds to tell them what to do manually? I want to know if I should bother trying.
 
Is there a listing of how elemental damage effectts certain enemies.

I now that Rage Demons are immune to fire, obviously and undead are immune to nature etc.
 
John said:
Has anyone gotten their tactics to the point where your allies are reasonably competent, or does everyone just aggressively micromanage/pause the game every few seconds to tell them what to do manually? I want to know if I should bother trying.

I was able to do so, but it requires that you are always piloting the mage in your group. Two mages is going to make for a lot of pauses unless one is just healing and crowd control.
 

John

Member
Fragamemnon said:
I was able to do so, but it requires that you are always piloting the mage in your group. Two mages is going to make for a lot of pauses unless one is just healing and crowd control.
Alright, I can live with that. My hero's basically the healer/cc right now anyway.
 

ACE 1991

Member
Just receive my PS3 copy in the mail today, and even though I realize you don't get to choose your specialty until a little ways into the game, I kind of want to plan out my character now. I'm considering playing as a human noble warrior, with my two specialties being berserker and champion, or beserker and templar. Thoughts?
 
Whoo, finally finished fucking Orzammar.

And actually, I don't know what the bitching was about. The Earl quest felt *much* longer. Maybe it's because I have an archer as primary, which was utterly useless early levels and completely godlike now. Of course my party in general is much more capable, but holy shit the difference between a low level archer and a high level one is insane.

Elf and Mage quests are tiddlywinks compared to the other two though.

And Orzammar was very pleasing as far as the "continue to create an army of complete misfits" motif goes. I tried to be good, but as soon as they said something about joining my army I didn't give two shits. Everyone in my party whined at me. Shame you can't recruit the mother.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
ACE 1991 said:
Just receive my PS3 copy in the mail today, and even though I realize you don't get to choose your specialty until a little ways into the game, I kind of want to plan out my character now. I'm considering playing as a human noble warrior, with my two specialties being berserker and champion, or beserker and templar. Thoughts?

You have to remember that some specializations are only unlocked if you take certain story branches. As far as I know anyway. So I would not necessarily plan it out too early, as you may realize during the story you will want to go in a certain direction and not another.
 

ACE 1991

Member
AndyD said:
You have to remember that some specializations are only unlocked if you take certain story branches. As far as I know anyway. So I would not necessarily plan it out too early, as you may realize during the story you will want to go in a certain direction and not another.

Oh, I didn't realize that. Maybe I should just play the fucking game :lol
 

fallout

Member
John said:
Has anyone gotten their tactics to the point where your allies are reasonably competent, or does everyone just aggressively micromanage/pause the game every few seconds to tell them what to do manually? I want to know if I should bother trying.
I like to think that I've learned to make sweet love to the space bar.
 

johnsmith

remember me
I'm nearing 60 hours, and still not done yet. Can't wait to replay it and do all the alternate/evil things.



Anybody know what the alternate faction for your army is in Redcliffe? Or will you get the knights no matter what?
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
johnsmith said:
I'm nearing 60 hours, and still not done yet. Can't wait to replay it and do all the alternate/evil things.



Anybody know what the alternate faction for your army is in Redcliffe? Or will you get the knights no matter what?
I think its mages or templars. I went mages.
 

Ventrue

Member
johnsmith said:
I'm nearing 60 hours, and still not done yet. Can't wait to replay it and do all the alternate/evil things.



Anybody know what the alternate faction for your army is in Redcliffe? Or will you get the knights no matter what?
You always get knights.
 
bengraven said:
Has there been a patch recently? I can't finish the game until they fix Orz.

Too long? Spec Morrigan as Shapeshifter and get the Deadly Swarm (level 3). You will FLY with this. Set your party on hold: they'll fall behind rapidly but immediately teleport to you once off the minimap.

The only drawback is that you move so fast it's easy to get stuck, and even though you're hovering you get stuck on certain objects on the ground (collision detection).
 

ethelred

Member
Minsc said:
Is it really just as balanced? I can't check if it's a skills/talents issue, but the unlocking skill has 4 levels, and the unlocking spell sounds like it only has 2 levels, with the 3rd being mass unlock... so you'd be able to max it out much quicker (only investing 2 picks, as the mass effect unlock would be redundant).

I guess you could argue having to use 4 skill points simply to unlock chests which a single D&D spell could do is a little unbalanced to start. Especially since other than experience and some extra gold, there's only a couple essential items to the plot locked up.

It breaks down the balance between the classes, as far as I'm concerned. Mages are already super-powerful at healing, buffing/debuffing, and group damage. The whole purpose of the rogue, aside from backstabbing damage, is to play a utility role in the group, and unlocking doors and treasure chests is a big part of that.

But if people want to break game balance with their modifications, hey, whatever. I like using a rogue, as it was designed.

johnsmith said:
Lame, I was hoping
you'd get those dragon cult people instead

If you ask them to help you fight the Blight, Kolgrim responds that he's hoping the Blight wipes out all of Ferelden so he and his nutters can come down and repopulate the land with their crazy dragon-worshipping spawn.
 

Blackface

Banned
I have not played Fallout 3 yet. So question, should I play that before Dragonage? As in, will Dragonage make Fallout 3 feel old and not worth it.
 

ethelred

Member
Blackface said:
I have not played Fallout 3 yet. So question, should I play that before Dragonage? As in, will Dragonage make Fallout 3 feel old and not worth it.

Fallout 3 makes Fallout 3 feel not worth it. Fallout 3 doesn't need Dragon Age for that.
 

Doytch

Member
ethelred said:
It breaks down the balance between the classes, as far as I'm concerned. Mages are already super-powerful at healing, buffing/debuffing, and group damage. The whole purpose of the rogue, aside from backstabbing damage, is to play a utility role in the group, and unlocking doors and treasure chests is a big part of that.

But if people want to break game balance with their modifications, hey, whatever. I like using a rogue, as it was designed.
Yeah, I enjoyed playing a rogue as my main the first time, but I really wanted to play with two mages and be a dual-wield warrior the second time around, which meant the last spot was either a rogue or a tank. Went with a tank. I just enjoy having the flexibility to try new things - much like the respec mod.
 

Fredescu

Member
Blackface said:
I have not played Fallout 3 yet. So question, should I play that before Dragonage? As in, will Dragonage make Fallout 3 feel old and not worth it.
Different games, I don't think one will affect the other. Fallout 3 has an interesting feeling world but basic combat. Dragon Age is the opposite.
 

ethelred

Member
Doytch said:
Yeah, I enjoyed playing a rogue as my main the first time, but I really wanted to play with two mages and be a dual-wield warrior the second time around, which meant the last spot was either a rogue or a tank. Went with a tank. I just enjoy having the flexibility to try new things - much like the respec mod.

Well, why not create a third mage and invent a bunch of new spells that give this mage aggression abilities and massive defense buffs and spells that simulate shield abilities? Then they can cast spells in addition to being the party's tank! All about flexibility, right?

I like flexibility, but only to a certain point. I think the three classes (and it's not like there are 20 in the game and you have to make serious sacrifices with regards to not using some of them) are really well balanced at filling distinctive roles and I don't see much benefit in taking one of the rogue's major functions and giving it to one of the other two classes that can already do a ton of stuff. I don't see that as flexibility but rather as destroying class balance.
 

Doytch

Member
ethelred said:
Well, why not create a third mage and invent a bunch of new spells that give this mage aggression abilities and massive defense buffs and spells that simulate shield abilities? Then they can cast spells in addition to being the party's tank! All about flexibility, right?
So...Arcane Warrior?
I like flexibility, but only to a certain point. I think the three classes (and it's not like there are 20 in the game and you have to make serious sacrifices with regards to not using some of them) are really well balanced at filling distinctive roles and I don't see much benefit in taking one of the rogue's major functions and giving it to one of the other two classes that can already do a ton of stuff. I don't see that as flexibility but rather as destroying class balance.
Probably because I don't consider lock-picking a major class function in DA. Lockpicking is pretty much only good for trade fodder and XP in DA. I like the class balance in the actual combat system, but I don't really care much for the omission of Knock. Meh, I just enjoy having some fun with the system on a second playthrough. Besides, it's not like Bioware was anywhere near flawless with their balancing, so it's not like I'm desecrating the Holy Grail or something.
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
ethelred said:
I don't see much benefit in taking one of the rogue's major functions and giving it to one of the other two classes that can already do a ton of stuff.

Lockpicking is just a lazy way to give rogues a purpose and they're pretty meh otherwise. I enjoyed playing as a rogue on my second playthrough, but I plan to ditch them completely on my next one because they're so pointless.
 

gotee12

Member
Picked up my copy today (PS3). I've put 3 hours into it and am already hopeful for a frame rate patch. I don't understand why even the cutscenes stutter? I'm guessing they're streaming stuff off of the bluray disk (no blinking hard drive light during cutscenes & I've heard bluray data streaming is the pits). Though I did notice that once I got out of my origin story (Dalish elf), the framerate did improve a little, which was confusing to say the least.

Even so, it was dang hard to put the controller down, which is a big testament to everything else in the game. The game became addictive fast. Especially the codex. I'm what you call a "Lore Whore"...

(I know the PS3 stuff has probably already been discussed to death & I'm not trying to stir anything up. Just throwing in my two cents...)
 
Doytch said:
So...Arcane Warrior?

Probably because I don't consider lock-picking a major class function in DA. Lockpicking is pretty much only good for trade fodder and XP in DA. I like the class balance in the actual combat system, but I don't really care much for the omission of Knock. Meh, I just enjoy having some fun with the system on a second playthrough. Besides, it's not like Bioware was anywhere near flawless with their balancing, so it's not like I'm desecrating the Holy Grail or something.
More like
desecrating the urn of sacred ashes amirite?
 
Blackface said:
I have not played Fallout 3 yet. So question, should I play that before Dragonage? As in, will Dragonage make Fallout 3 feel old and not worth it.


Both games are amazing. I put well over 100+hours in to fallout 3 with a couple of characters. If you haven't played it yet give it a shot.

as for making it feel old, nah, the two games are very different from each other.
 

Wallach

Member
In the end, I decided to just re-roll as a rogue so I could keep my dwarf noble origin but not have a dumb party going forward. Probably for the best so I could get around the retarded beard/cheek bug that I didn't notice on my warrior until I was almost done with the origin story.

Question, though: do I actually need a point into Deft Hands as a rogue to be able to disarm traps? I've got quite a bit of cunning score, but have yet to be able to get any kind of icon when hovering over an un-sprung trap. The NPC rogue I had for a bit had no such issue.
 

Zalasta

Member
ethelred said:
I don't see that as flexibility but rather as destroying class balance.

I agree with your assessment on classes filling distinct roles. However, they are anything but balanced in DA. It's kind of scary and disappointing that Bioware couldn't even do it right having only 3 classes to work with.
 

tuco11

Member
For Arcane Warrior what would be the best spots to throw my Skill points into? Should I just concentrate on one or two ?

thanks.
 

Naix

Banned
burgerdog said:
What stats should I focus on for a dps 2 hand weapon warrior?

Strength, mostly. You could almost go pure Strength with a 2 handed warrior. You can invest some points into Constitution if you want more survivability, and Willpower if you feel you need more stamina.
 
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