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[Ventrue]

I don't think I'll be able to play this game again for several years, but it is awesome. I've played through four times. Out of the origins I played, Dwarf Noble > City Elf >> Mage >>>> Dalish Elf.

There is some really great potential to completely fuck up the world in the epilogue. My favourite is

Spoiler

creating the Golems AND choosing Harrowmount.

Some true spoilers here:

Spoiler

Bhelen is a little more restrained with the Golems, but Harrowmount goes awesome crazy. He cuts off contact with the surface, and implements harsh traditional laws. He crushes the ensuing rebellion of commoners with his merciless Golem army. Seeing the toll that maintaining this force is taking, he declares that no more dwarven souls will be put into the Anvil... instead electing to conduct covert raids on the surface-dwelling races, stealing their people back to his underground lair to turn them into subservient killing machines. When the humans and elves eventually learn of this, they declare war... which Harrowmount, of course, fights with his MERCILESS GOLEM ARMY.

Note that 'discover all endings' only refers to the very end sorta stuff... I can think of a few possible variants (plus the two other Origins) that I haven't seen.

 

[Fredescu]

My favourite is

Wow.

Out of interest, how many hours on each playthrough?

 

[koji]

There is some really great potential to completely fuck up the world in the epilogue. My favourite is

Spoiler

creating the Golems AND choosing Harrowmount.

Some true spoilers here:

Spoiler

Bhelen is a little more restrained with the Golems, but Harrowmount goes awesome crazy. He cuts off contact with the surface, and implements harsh traditional laws. He crushes the ensuing rebellion of commoners with his merciless Golem army. Seeing the toll that maintaining this force is taking, he declares that no more dwarven souls will be put into the Anvil... instead electing to conduct covert raids on the surface-dwelling races, stealing their people back to his underground lair to turn them into subservient killing machines. When the humans and elves eventually learn of this, they declare war... which Harrowmount, of course, fights with his MERCILESS GOLEM ARMY.

Good stuff! :lol

 

[Prax]

Depends what enemies and partysetup you got, some bigger groups need some hit and run ninja/semi-exploit strategies but most of the time (if you run with two mages) you should be able to take them head on and just CC your way through. (Sleep / Walking Nightmare is basically an "I win" button.)

Well, I think I may need to reroll my stats and choose better skills for everyone for that to work out. XD I kind of just choose whatever skills I think suits the character (for example, my character is a mage that specializes in fire and healing). And then a threw a lot of the points into strength for whatever reason (yah, I know.. ).

I'm still pretty early in the game though.. so maybe I will improve as time goes on. Until then, the scenario pretty much plays out like this with every 5+ enemy battle:

I should probably be micromanaging a lot more. XD

 

[koji]

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2009/363/0/a/MS_Paint___Dragon_Prax_Origins_by_Meibatsu.jpg

I should probably be micromanaging a lot more. XD

Well that's the best fresh page start in this thread so far :lol

You can always get that respec mod if you're playing on PC, I'ld avoid AOE dmg spells on my mages, maybe just one to use now and then. The game gets easier as you progress though, I started on Normal and ended up on Nightmare, so maybe turn the diff down a bit till you feel you're really steamrolling enemies. (I did min/max my party though)

 

[Deacan]

I use my Mage as a controller/healer, their focus is on disabling the enemy and debuffing Elites and throwing in regeneration on my melee fighters.

I love the combo of Cone of Cold + Whirlwind from my warrior, as it often shatters allot of them.

 

[Ventrue]

Wow.

Out of interest, how many hours on each playthrough?

City Elf Rogue - 38 hours
Human Mage - 37 hours
Dwarf Noble Warrior - 35 1/2 hours
Dalish Elf Rogue - 18 1/2 hours
(I was getting a little bored with the last one; I was more interested in seeing new dialogue for my Origin/relation with characters/endings and unique stuff for the Forest, so I stealthed through the longer dungeons. It was actually a lot of fun, taking me/Leliana/Zevran and seeing what I could/couldn't sneak past).

EDIT: Of course, that doesn't include reloads. My total played time on Steam comes to 146.6 hours, and I think it actually missed ~8 hours or even more of me playing offline.

 

[DodgerSan]

Just done the Fade section, which I really wasn't looking forward to due to all the hate.

But I found it not at all bad. It's not the highlight of the game, but has some interesting stuff, especially

Spoiler

the various different forms you can use. I found myself missing them when it was done

.

It's a decent change of pace. Why is it so hated?

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Just done the Fade section, which I really wasn't looking forward to due to all the hate.

But I found it not at all bad. It's not the highlight of the game, but has some interesting stuff, especially

Spoiler

the various different forms you can use. I found myself missing them when it was done

.

It's a decent change of pace. Why is it so hated?

I thought it was way too long, I even had to spend extra time exploring to find all the +1 stat things :lol.

 

[Ventrue]

Just done the Fade section, which I really wasn't looking forward to due to all the hate.

But I found it not at all bad. It's not the highlight of the game, but has some interesting stuff, especially

Spoiler

the various different forms you can use. I found myself missing them when it was done

.

It's a decent change of pace. Why is it so hated?

I quite like it as well. It's easy to get involved in the strategy.

 

[Xapati]

Well, I think I may need to reroll my stats and choose better skills for everyone for that to work out. XD I kind of just choose whatever skills I think suits the character (for example, my character is a mage that specializes in fire and healing). And then a threw a lot of the points into strength for whatever reason (yah, I know.. ).

I'm still pretty early in the game though.. so maybe I will improve as time goes on. Until then, the scenario pretty much plays out like this with every 5+ enemy battle:


I should probably be micromanaging a lot more. XD

Well, you could get the combat mage specialization in that case.

 

[IoCaster]

Bioware really put some effort into this game. The production and quality are top notch.

Spoiler

I'd just finished bedding Morrigan and walked over to Leliana to chat. I figured I'd make the rounds and keep the crew loyal and focused. Before I could get two words out she started singing some LOTR'ish elven type ballad or somesuch. Caught me by complete surprise. This was right after she and Alistair had a bit of gossip about me and Morry on the last quest. I haven't been trying to romance her so I definitely didn't see that coming. Pretty damn cool and very well done as well.

 

[Rufus]

4. One other thing, I think it's just my personal preference, but I prefer no spoken dialog in RPGs. Just let me read everything because it's quicker.

Same; on subsequent play-throughs, anyway. I just turn on subtitles and use ESC to cut the talking short.
But it still annoys me that party banter will be drowned out by gossip or merchants or the annoying chanters in front of the chantry in Denerim. The banter is wonderful. Shale and Sten have a wonderful conversation. :lol

 

[Raxus]

Is there any purpose to playing the game on nightmare. Right now I am playing a rouge on my first playthrough and I am just not having much fun.

 

[Rufus]

Is there any purpose to playing the game on nightmare. Right now I am playing a rouge on my first playthrough and I am just not having much fun.

So did you start on nightmare or do you find whatever difficulty you are on to easy and want to know what nightmare is like?

 

[koji]

Is there any purpose to playing the game on nightmare. Right now I am playing a rouge on my first playthrough and I am just not having much fun.

My advise is to only turn the diff. higher if you feel like you're really steamrolling enemies. Otherwise the game might turn into a needlessly frustrating experience... Especially early on when your characters (builds) aren't strong enough yet. (Or still figuring out what the best options are etc)

There are no difficulty based achievements so feel free to turn it down and/or up again later on. (I went to hard around lvl 10 and nightmare around lvl 12/13, spend a lot of time on the forums and respeccing though to get an ideal build/partycombo)

 

[kaizoku]

I was all up for replaying this game but I can see why the Fade would put people off! I didn't mind it, but I was definitely trying to get it over as soon as possible and the thought of doing it another 5 or 6 times.... meh. Pretty cool experience, but I guess for something like that, which is kind of a detour from your actual mission, you want something a bit more linear and possible to just rush through.

But you pretty much get forced to explore every area and kill almost every enemy whilst wandering a mazey area, backtraking here and there and transforming throughout! Was very cool using the various abilities I hadn't used before though.

Allowed me to better understand some of my characters that I never play as.

Question, tactics set on yourself don't do anything while you're in control do they? Cos I set a few things to self: any assuming these modes would always be active, but nope.

I set this for some allies too, but I'm not sure how well it works. Tactics are very important for me because I don't do any micro management at all, the interface just doesn't make it very easy to do. Luckily the defaults have seen me through and I'm playing on casual so it's been a breeze for the most part.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

You can get through the Fade pretty quick in later playthroughs once you figure out the right order to go through the islands

 

[HomShaBom]

Well I'm fucking done with this game. I got to Orzammar and tried to do both branches of the king quest bullshit and now the vital npcs wont talk to me. I've been playing for 2 days thinking there was a quest elsewhere I had to do. Looked it up today only to see the only way to fix it is reload an older file. Well my older files are wayy old and I'm not doing it all again. Why the fuck would they make it so a player can fuck themselves like this? Was a fun game, but I'm not doing it again.

 

[kai3345]

So im about to pick this game up, which origin is the most interesting?

 

[Macmanus]

Tactics are very important for me because I don't do any micro management at all, the interface just doesn't make it very easy to do.

Are you playing on console? I've found the micromanagement to be the easiest I've encountered in a long time. Standard Bioware mechanics to be honest.

 

[RPGCrazied]

don't know if old but, return to ostagar comes out jan 5th

I hear its only an hour long, so I dunno.


http://kotaku.com/5436346/dragon-age-returns-to-ostagar-next-week

 

[Xevren]

An hour? Hope that's not true.

 

[golem]

So im about to pick this game up, which origin is the most interesting?

just play them all and decide for yourself, theyre not that long.. although they can affect the later game in somewhat interesting ways

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Well I'm fucking done with this game. I got to Orzammar and tried to do both branches of the king quest bullshit and now the vital npcs wont talk to me. I've been playing for 2 days thinking there was a quest elsewhere I had to do. Looked it up today only to see the only way to fix it is reload an older file. Well my older files are wayy old and I'm not doing it all again. Why the fuck would they make it so a player can fuck themselves like this? Was a fun game, but I'm not doing it again.

They've known about that bug for a long time too. Wonder why it hasn't been fixed. I was going to try and do that too, but got lazy and just stuck with one side.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

So im about to pick this game up, which origin is the most interesting?

Easily the Human and Dwarf Nobles.

 

[Owzers]

don't know if old but, return to ostagar comes out jan 5th

I hear its only an hour long, so I dunno.


http://kotaku.com/5436346/dragon-age-returns-to-ostagar-next-week

for $5 if it's well reviewed i'll definitely pick it up.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Easily the Human and Dwarf Nobles.

I think the Dwarf Commoner doesn't get enough love, but yeah those are definitely up there. The only two I really didn't care for were the mage and the non-city elf. Name escapes me right now and I'm too lazy to scroll down.

 

[lsslave]

I think the Dwarf Commoner doesn't get enough love, but yeah those are definitely up there. The only two I really didn't care for were the mage and the non-city elf. Name escapes me right now and I'm too lazy to scroll down.

The mage origin is a lot of fun, and really influences the game.

Being a neutral mage is kind of fun, I manipulated a lot throughout the origin. It definitely is well written and if anything I would say its biggest flaw is that before you learn the talent setup you can have a pretty hard time.

Dwarf Commoner is a lot of fun though

 

[Pancakes]

don't know if old but, return to ostagar comes out jan 5th

I hear its only an hour long, so I dunno.


http://kotaku.com/5436346/dragon-age-returns-to-ostagar-next-week

400 MS points, I'll probably buy it.

 

[Samara]

OK this game is better than I taught. Tho the stats are really confusing me (im not much of a RPG person)

I mean some people wont listen to me, so I have to be a brute. Had to rattle a priest for a dude I didn't even want in my party wtf. What's the point of intimidate and persuade if it does nothing.


Right now have an old lady called Wysse, giant dude, Morrigan and Doggy. good thing I put the game on easy:lol

 

[clashfan]

Right now have an old lady called Wysse, giant dude, Morrigan and Doggy. good thing I put the game on easy:lol

Her name is Wynne and she is an honorable mage!

 

[Samara]

Her name is Wynne and she is an honorable mage!

Whoops! :lol

She seems like a nice lady. Does she have dandruff or something? bunch of flakes keep falling off of her.

And is there more teamate to meet or is that it?

 

[Arde5643]

OK this game is better than I taught. Tho the stats are really confusing me (im not much of a RPG person)

I mean some people wont listen to me, so I have to be a brute. Had to rattle a priest for a dude I didn't even want in my party wtf. What's the point of intimidate and persuade if it does nothing.


Right now have an old lady called Wysse, giant dude, Morrigan and Doggy. good thing I put the game on easy:lol

You have to increase your coercion skills.

Intimidate is also dependant on strength.

 

[MMaRsu]

Ha I killed Wysse. I did it on accident though :lol

 

[ElectricBlue187]

I hate the fade because both of characters are glass cannons, a Mage and a rogue, I always give up survivability to maximize DPS in any RPG I play. So in either instance even on easy it doesn't take but a good hit or two to kill me

once I get

Spoiler

Stoneform

it's alright but getting there is a pain. I stopped playing on my 2nd playthrough because my weaksauce rogue (I minimized all my constitution and stuff XD ) can't hang againt a few mages all at once

 

[Samara]

You have to increase your coercion skills.

Intimidate is also dependant on strength.

OK, Ill try that. Thanks

 

[Angry Grimace]

Ha I killed Wysse. I did it on accident though :lol

I accidentally said

Spoiler

"I'll take care of those pesky mages" referring to the Blood Mages only, after several dialogue options indicating I wasn't planning to slaughter the Circle

and Wynne got fucking pissed and attacked me. :lol

 

[Peff]

Whoops! :lol

She seems like a nice lady. Does she have dandruff or something? bunch of flakes keep falling off of her.

And is there more teamate to meet or is that it?

That is because she has a permanent magic spell activated, you'll know because she can't fill her half-circle of mana, there is always a greyed spot. You can deactivate it in the tactics screen but it's useful to have your mates use a handful of those, just make sure they have enough free mana to use other abilities too. Also, yep, there are more party members.

 

[golem]

Her name is Wynne and she is an honorable mage!

haha.. i never understood the whole Alistar and sock thing

 

[Eccocid]

Her name is Wynne and she is an honorable mage!

I killed her at first sight and saved over the file i got no healer !

 

[GillianSeed79]

So I reluctantly re-started the game after putting about ten hours in. When I first started playing (I'm a human noble) I just opted to auto-level my characters not realizing that both myself and Alistair were tanks and I had wasted skill and talent points.

Now, that might sound like a negative, but I'm really liking the combat now since I changed my starting character into a two handed sword wielding, Darkspawn destroying William Wallace wannabe.

 

[Prine]

I just bought this game, and got to Oswalt (?) When does this game pick up?

Xbox version here.

 

[kai3345]

Well i decided to roll a City Elf Warrior. The game is great, sure the cutscene animation is total shit but everything else is top notch.

I just met up with Morrigan for the first time. I expected the combat to basically be KOTOR's combat system but it seems so much more hands on. There is one little thing though about combat that kind of annoys me. Whenever I use a special ability like, say, Shield Bash, after the attack is complete my character doesn't revert back to auto attacking. This is pretty annoying, is there any way to change this? (playing on 360 btw.)

Otherwise so far it has been a pretty cool game and I can't wait to play more.

 

[Arde5643]

Well i decided to roll a City Elf Warrior. The game is great, sure the cutscene animation is total shit but everything else is top notch.

I just met up with Morrigan for the first time. I expected the combat to basically be KOTOR's combat system but it seems so much more hands on. There is one little thing though about combat that kind of annoys me. Whenever I use a special ability like, say, Shield Bash, after the attack is complete my character doesn't revert back to auto attacking. This is pretty annoying, is there any way to change this? (playing on 360 btw.)

Otherwise so far it has been a pretty cool game and I can't wait to play more.

Make sure you're not setting the party at "hold" since it will keep them standing still instead of attacking someone outside melee range if they don't have ranged weapons equipped.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Just started playing, loving the game thus far. It's really cool being able to switch into exploration mode when walking through towns, you get to appreciate the surroundings a lot more.

 

[GillianSeed79]

Ok, just got this game yesterday for PS3. It came with the little card for free DLC. One side of the card has some armor, and the other has some creature.

For the creature....it tells me to go to the one area in the main menu to enter the code and when i do, it keeps telling me its invalid. I tried the code with, and without dashes.

For the armor, it actually tells me on the paper that i need to enter the code at a certain website, then sign into the game and check its status?? Didnt try that yet, but do i need to also follow that process to get the creature too?

I think they dropped the ball on this point, because the instructions are confusing. I have the 360 version. At first I didn't realize you couldn't type them in the normal redeem code option on your live account. Then, after I unlocked them I assumed the "unlocked" meant it was already on the disc and it was just an unlock code. Finally, I realized you have to make sure you download them individually. Stupid on my part, but the instructions could have been clearer.

 

[kaizoku]

I played the fade with an archer rogue so it was quite tough going. maybe its more pleasant with other classes. thank god for the scattershot which I used to stun groups of enemies while stealthed and picked as many of them off as possible. a pinning shot was a good backup and switching to spirit with crushing prison made light work of anything.

thats what convinced me to teach crushing prison to Morrigan. awesome spell.

I also killed wynne but mainly cos she was pissing me off and wasn't hot. I'm there to help you you bitch.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I played the fade with an archer rogue so it was quite tough going. maybe its more pleasant with other classes. thank god for the scattershot which I used to stun groups of enemies while stealthed and picked as many of them off as possible. a pinning shot was a good backup and switching to spirit with crushing prison made light work of anything.

thats what convinced me to teach crushing prison to Morrigan. awesome spell.

I also killed wynne but mainly cos she was pissing me off and wasn't hot. I'm there to help you you bitch.

Definitely the most trouble I had with the Fade was with an archer. The warrior I played can just plow through it, even on Nightmare difficulty.

 

[Arol]

So I just finished the game around 50hours~ last night and decided to start several new games just to see the origin stories and try playing as other classes.

I'm wondering if there is an easier way of seeing all possible endings without playing the game so many times? I can assume there are a lot of variations depending on little things you did throughout the game so it seems like a taunting task just to get that one Trophy/Achievement.