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[Ventrue]

Guys whats the expansion pack going to include? Im quite interested since i got the game not so long ago (30 hours in and in love)

It includes what is being advertised as a 15 hour long new campaign. It takes place after the main campaign. You can either use your character from the main campaign or start a new character with the Orlesian Gray Warden origin, who will go directly to the new campaign after the origin is over. There's 5 party members plus one returning from the main campaign. New enemies, armour, areas, etc.

 

[DieNgamers]

Hey there! I haven't played much of Baldur's Gate 2 back in the day but I didn't really like it. Dragon Age is my first rpg of that kind since then and it's awesome! :O Makes me want to replay BG2 after that!
The graphics are beautiful. Maybe not in a technical way but overall! The zoomed out view looks like a painting sometimes.
I'll maybe post some screens later.

 

[onken]

Was thinking of picking this up, but all the horror stories I've heard about the PS3 version means it's -1 sale from me. Good job, Bioware.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Any advice for the Wolf's Den in the Brecillian Forest? I'm getting sacked to shit by a group of skeletons after the Dragon section.

Also, Shale is just... so~ fucking awesome. :lol

 

[MrCompletely]

after 35 hours, I think i finally got my tactics set up right. I no longer have to micromanage healing pots, and my characters no longer go rushing out to the most powerful enemy.

I've read that the game drops a balanced amount of healing pots after every fight, and I'm definitely seeing that now. I'll pick up 2 - 5 pots per fight, and have blown through them by the end of the next fight without having used a single one manually, but also with out any of my characters going down (or very rarely). I'm also pausing much less, and able to stick to just my casters and keep my melee characters completely untouched.

this tactics system has one the highest learning curves Ive ever experienced in a game, but once you get it down, it really improves the experience.

 

[MrCompletely]

Spoiler

i beat flemeth

solo with a mage at lvl 11 on normal. took about 45 lesser health and 5 lyrium potions. if i had the blizzard spell, it would have required even less

please spoiler tag that shit.

Spoiler

the fact you even fight flemeth

was unknown to me, AAAHHHH

(fixed your quote with spoiler tag)

 

[Dennis]

This only happened to me once.

Never happened to me. Didn't encounter a single bug, crash or anything in my 120 hour PC playthrough. Loading times were fine too.

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO CLEAN YOUR DIRTY COMPUTERS/CONSOLES. FILTHY.

 

[thefil]

Never happened to me. Didn't encounter a single bug, crash or anything in my 120 hour PC playthrough. Loading times were fine too.

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO CLEAN YOUR DIRTY COMPUTERS/CONSOLES. FILTHY.

I'm curious how anyone stretched this game to 120 hours. My first playthrough took about 40 hours up to the landsmeet, and my second playthrough covered all the same ground and more in 25.

Are there some significant sidequest chains that aren't obvious to pick up on?

 

[Rufus]

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO CLEAN YOUR DIRTY COMPUTERS/CONSOLES. FILTHY.

The Memory Leak is a thing that only happens to AMD systems, it seems. I've also heard that it has something to do with how much you save or something, causing people to disable the autosave function.
Whatever it is, it only happens when I a) have played for a while b) have transitioned a lot of areas. Loading times increase until eventually even the HUD starts to lag and stutter. Merchant's items take several seconds to fully load, etc. The only thing that resolves the issues is quitting out of the game and reloading. There are a number of threads about this on the official forums.

 

[thefil]

The Memory Leak is a thing that only happens to AMD systems, it seems. I've also heard that it has something to do with how much you save or something, causing people to disable the autosave function.
Whatever it is, it only happens when I a) have played for a while b) have transitioned a lot of areas. Loading times increase until eventually even the HUD starts to lag and stutter. Merchant's items take several seconds to fully load, etc. The only thing that resolves the issues is quitting out of the game and reloading. There are a number of threads about this on the official forums.

I never had memory leaks that bad, but I can confirm there is some form of memory leak on my Intel/ATI system. I was forced to reload the game every few hours as load times got worse and worse.

i.e. start the game with load times ~5 seconds and by the time I restart load times of 1.5 minutes +

 

[Rufus]

I can can sometimes fix myself a sandwich in-between areas and still come back to the PC to see a loading screen. :/

 

[ntropy]

please spoiler tag that shit.

Spoiler

the fact you even fight flemeth

was unknown to me, AAAHHHH

(fixed your quote with spoiler tag)

sry about that, i edited it

thefil is right, the memory leak has happened to my intel pc. rarely though, as i play marathon style like finishing the deep roads in one session

 

[MrCompletely]

I can can sometimes fix myself a sandwich in-between areas and still come back to the PC to see a loading screen. :/

that is crazy, i can be in-game from my desktop inside of 30 seconds.

 

[Rufus]

It's not the initial load-time I'm talking about, which is always very brief. (And thanks for letting me turn off the logos, Bioware.) It only becomes agonizing once I have played for a while.

 

[DigitalDevil]

wow. I mean, I've been impressed with this game and the wonderful cause/effect choices they scattered throughout the whole world, but at the Lands Meet... I mean... wow.

Spoiler

I've replayed this section 4 times now to achieve the "best possible" result, and it is just simply AMAZING how many different paths this section can take depending on your choices earlier in the game, and your dialogue choices at the time. Pure genius.

 

[GillianSeed79]

This is a really stupid question, but here goes. I got this as a gift for Christmas and I've been stretching it out to last me until ME2 hits. I've basically been doing every sidequest possible. At this point I just cracked 80 hours last night and now am on to the Landsmeet.

I still have a half dozen or so side quests in Denerim, though everything else is pretty much taken care of. My question is is this like ME1 where you hit a point of no return and can't go back and finish quests? Or is there a post main-quest save you can load up and finish up whatever you haven't done? At this point I'm ready to just beat the fucking game, but my OCD gamer tendencies make those half a dozen or so outstanding quests stick out like a sore thumb in my mind.

 

[DigitalDevil]

This is a really stupid question, but here goes. I got this as a gift for Christmas and I've been stretching it out to last me until ME2 hits. I've basically been doing every sidequest possible. At this point I just cracked 80 hours last night and now am on to the Landsmeet.

I still have a half dozen or so side quests in Denerim, though everything else is pretty much taken care of. My question is is this like ME1 where you hit a point of no return and can't go back and finish quests? Or is there a post main-quest save you can load up and finish up whatever you haven't done? At this point I'm ready to just beat the fucking game, but my OCD gamer tendencies make those half a dozen or so outstanding quests stick out like a sore thumb in my mind.

there is a point of no return. It occurs in

Spoiler

Redcliffe after the Lands Meet, when you march

the only things you will be able to do after that is completed is DLC. No game quests.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

First and foremost let me say that I'm a self admitted Bioware fanboy and loved Dragon Age, one of my GOTY's without a doubt. One thing that bothered me however was how easy it was to game the approval system using gifts and some obvious dialogue choices to get every companion to like you.

I'm hoping for the potential sequel that the make some adjustments to the approval system. My apologies if this has already been mentioned but I was thinking it would be really cool if they kept the same 0 to 100 hate / love meter, but made some changes.

What I would like to see with regards to major choices the player character makes also adjusts the Min / Max of your companions approval. For example, lets say you have your typical goody two shoes character in your squad and the main PC decides to burn down a couple of orphanages, not only would you get the standard -25 approval, but from that point in the game that companion's max approval would take a permanent hit, so going forward that companion's approval would now be from 0 - 90. Inversely, if you do something a character loves their min approval would have a new floor, lets say going from 25 - 100 or whatever.

I figure mixing in a couple of those type of decisions throughout the game would make the character interaction have a lot more weight behind it, as opposed the current system when a few kind words and a couple of gifts can keep all of your crew happy.

What do you guys think?

Speaking of sequels, anyone have any idea how well DA:Origins sold? Hopefully enough to warrant another go around, Thanks.

 

[au hasard Balthazar]

So I've just spent a little bit of time in Orzammar and I really love how the Dwarf Noble origin ties into the plot so far.

Spoiler

Its a smart move at how Bhelen's earlier betrayal leads you to despise him for the snake that he is, but his platform of reform for the brutal honor and caste system appeals to our commonly held beliefs about democracy and capitalism. It is certainly a lot easier to make someone feel personally betrayed by Bhelen than getting the player to feel and think like a dwarf without consciously making the decision to behave as such -- which is what I've been doing so far (like killing the repentant blood mage in the circle tower so that she can honor her decision to rebel, etc.). I also love the choice between Harrowmont as the classic "can't be a good leader without being a virtuous person first" and the more modern "virtue ain't got nothing to do with being a good prince" Bhelen.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

So how well do the other origins tie in? The only other one I've played is the Dalish origin which was mostly the classic rpg staple of

Spoiler

"you have awakened an ancient evil and now most leave your home" which is alright, but I fail to see how strong it will tie in to the main story without it just being you setting a crazy chain of events in motion.

Anyway should be fun playing as a Ranger/Bard archer that's distrusting/distrusted of/by the outside world beyond the forest.

 

[Karram]

Is it just me or is Alistair the most annoying character in the game ?

 

[kitzkozan]

First and foremost let me say that I'm a self admitted Bioware fanboy and loved Dragon Age, one of my GOTY's without a doubt. One thing that bothered me however was how easy it was to game the approval system using gifts and some obvious dialogue choices to get every companion to like you.

I'm hoping for the potential sequel that the make some adjustments to the approval system. My apologies if this has already been mentioned but I was thinking it would be really cool if they kept the same 0 to 100 hate / love meter, but made some changes.

What I would like to see with regards to major choices the player character makes also adjusts the Min / Max of your companions approval. For example, lets say you have your typical goody two shoes character in your squad and the main PC decides to burn down a couple of orphanages, not only would you get the standard -25 approval, but from that point in the game that companion's max approval would take a permanent hit, so going forward that companion's approval would now be from 0 - 90. Inversely, if you do something a character loves their min approval would have a new floor, lets say going from 25 - 100 or whatever.

I figure mixing in a couple of those type of decisions throughout the game would make the character interaction have a lot more weight behind it, as opposed the current system when a few kind words and a couple of gifts can keep all of your crew happy.

What do you guys think?

Speaking of sequels, anyone have any idea how well DA:Origins sold? Hopefully enough to warrant another go around, Thanks.

I did read something(from Anita Frazier I think?) about dragon age being close or slightly above 1 200 000 copies sold in the US(on consoles),so you can add the rest of the world+PC and steam.It should go on to sell 2-3 million copies easily.

 

[DigitalDevil]

I have to tell you, as soon as I beat the game today I started doing a bunch of searching on Awakening, and MAN does it sound awesome. What's scary is that I'm willing to spend $40 to have more DA:O. This game was awesome.

 

[Yoshichan]

Is it just me or is Alistair the most annoying character in the game ?

I think the character is great, his voice fits perfectly!

 

[Sir Garbageman]

I think the character is great, his voice fits perfectly!

I agree, there was just enough snarkiness to the character to elevate him from kinda corny to pretty funny. Plus his dialogue with the majority of the other companions, especially Morrigan and Leliana were classic.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Just finished Brecillian Forest. Man. So fucking awesome. I chose to stick with the

Spoiler

Werewolves

. Awesome. Just awesome.

I wasn't able to finish the "Elora's Halla" quest. Can I still finish it now that she's dead?

 

[Brashnir]

please spoiler tag that shit.

Spoiler

the fact you even fight flemeth

was unknown to me, AAAHHHH

(fixed your quote with spoiler tag)

If it makes you feel any better,

Spoiler

you don't have to fight her. I didn't.

 

[HK-47]

Just finished Brecillian Forest. Man. So fucking awesome. I chose to stick with the

Spoiler

Werewolves

. Awesome. Just awesome.

I wasn't able to finish the "Elora's Halla" quest. Can I still finish it now that she's dead?

no

 

[HK-47]

I got this game for Christmas and I'm about done with it. I apparently don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing.

My first attempt was a Dwarf commoner rogue and I probably put 10 or so hours into him. It started to get real difficult at that point where he would die every single fight. I didn't have a healer and was trying to skate through on healing pots. I didn't have a very balanced party and I was using auto-level up and not picking skills for each character. My other party members were Morrigan, Sten, and Alistair. It got the point where we just got owned every single time and it was frustrating because the last place I saved was right next to a room where I would immediately get bum-rushed and die as soon as I re-loaded.

So I rolled again. This time I went with a human noble and tried to build a balanced party. I was the tank - put all my points into shield and taunting specializations. I used Leilana as my rogue/bard, Morrigan my healer/some damage dealing, and my war dog to round out the party. I paid attention to each characters level up and manually picked the skills I thought would make us balanced. Now we're all about levels 11-12, I've completed about 1 and a half of the main story line and I'm back to the point where I was at with my first character - just getting owned every single fight. I've got Morrigan's tactics set to heal me first when I get less than 50%, but she doesn't always do it. I have to rely on health pots and it takes 10 or more just to get through a fight and I have to chain spam them on myself.

I'm really not feeling the whole tactics set-up for what's supposed to be a real-time game. I'm sure that this is where I'm doing it wrong. I really don't want to have to pause the game to plan out each characters move... that seems a little ridiculous. Why won't these people just do what should benefit the party the most without me having to program some goddamn macro screen?

I guess my options at this point are to bump the difficulty down to easy (I'm playing on normal), or just quit and trade the game in. I've never been so frustrated with a Bioware game before and I've played and beaten all of them since the original KOTOR on Xbox. My experience with this game has got me very worried about Mass Effect 2.

Maybe because all the Bioware games since KotOR are incredibly easy and dont require any sort of tactical thinking. If you arent pausing often, then you are gonna get creamed. Bump it down to easy if you want it in real time.

Also what will benefit the party the most in any given situation? You think the AI for any game with as many options as DA has that kind of AI? Its suppose to be paused a lot. They even mention it in the easy mode descript that its the mode for people who want to play it in real time all the time.

 

[yencid]

Hey there! I haven't played much of Baldur's Gate 2 back in the day but I didn't really like it. Dragon Age is my first rpg of that kind since then and it's awesome! :O Makes me want to replay BG2 after that!
The graphics are beautiful. Maybe not in a technical way but overall! The zoomed out view looks like a painting sometimes.
I'll maybe post some screens later.

Sounds pretty good! Im buying.
Oh yeah so im at the blight... first time play through, havent had much trouble (except for the broodbitch) but the blight is kicking my ass! so much ogres D:

 

[HK-47]

Sounds pretty good! Im buying.
Oh yeah so im at the blight... first time play through, havent had much trouble (except for the broodbitch) but the blight is kicking my ass! so much ogres D:

Use telekinetic weapons for armor pierce if you have it

 

[yencid]

Use telekinetic weapons for armor pierce if you have it

Ooooo i do have it! Thanks for the advice!

Quite an enjoyable game. i have about 30+ hours in my first playthrough alone... i tried to explore quite a bit but sadly i didnt get to kill any high Dragons and now all my Quests are gone :<

 

[Hyunkel6]

Just how many high dragons are there? 3?

Spoiler

(Sacred ashes quest, Flemeth and the archdemon).

 

[firehawk12]

Just how many high dragons are there? 3?

Spoiler

(Sacred ashes quest, Flemeth and the archdemon).

Yup.

 

[yencid]

Just how many high dragons are there? 3?

Spoiler

(Sacred ashes quest, Flemeth and the archdemon).

and i fought

Spoiler

flemeth (though i saved it right before) and the one at the urn

and got my ass kicked both times but i was not as high leveled as i am now so i think i could take them now.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

and i fought

Spoiler

flemeth (though i saved it right before) and the one at the urn

and got my ass kicked both times but i was not as high leveled as i am now so i think i could take them now.

It's not too bad if you have Wynne with you. Good archery skills with Leliana is a huge bonus.

 

[yencid]

I have wynne and morrigan in my party at all times... My last party member varies on what i need to do, how i feel... i didnt recruit Leliana, in fact i never even met her :/

 

[HK-47]

I have wynne and morrigan in my party at all times... My last party member varies on what i need to do, how i feel... i didnt recruit Leliana, in fact i never even met her :/

She was in Lothering in the bar. Did you get Sten?

 

[∀ Narayan]

no

Damn. It's still in my unfinished quest log, too. That's going to bug me.

 

[Dries]

So this is how far I'm into the game:

Spoiler

Finished the Elves/werewolves quest and am now in the Mage tower. So I still got Redcliffe, Orzammar and the (probably) final battle to do.

How long do I still have to go? I wanna get Darksiders, but I know if I start that game now I'll never come back to DA :lol

 

[HolyCheck]

So this is how far I'm into the game:

Spoiler

Finished the Elves/werewolves quest and am now in the Mage tower. So I still got Redcliffe, Orzammar and the (probably) final battle to do.

How long do I still have to go? I wanna get Darksiders, but I know if I start that game now I'll never come back to DA :lol

You sir have a long way to go!

 

[Dries]

You sir have a long way to go!

Cool but also uncool. I can't wait to start Darksiders:lol

 

[Omotesando]

Lol PS3 version, how is that even possible, Bioware?

In a month I'll have my PC upgraded, maybe i'll buy this thing then.

 

[yencid]

She was in Lothering in the bar. Did you get Sten?

Indeed i did. Looks like ill be replaying through this game once im done.

 

[AstroLad]

Beat this yesterday with my human warrior. Lots of fun. I know open-world or semi-open-world is all the rage in RPGs nowadays but I really liked that directed approach that DA took. Started a new playthrough as an evil mage last night and going to blitz through that as mages are so damn overpowered to begin with. Just want to be completely bastardly and see how things turn out.

There's still no native SLI support for this is there? Not a big deal but it makes GPU 1 get pretty hot on my 295 (much like Sims 3).

 

[McHuj]

Quick question on

Spoiler

flemeth

Spoiler

If you fight her alone, do you get any benefit? Also, if you take her book without a fight, does Morigan find out? I fought her with my whole party on my first play through

 

[yencid]

Out of all the zones in the game my three favorite ones where the Frostback mountain temple (the urns), Orzammar as a whole (including all of the deep roads) and Cadash Thaig.
Those 3 had the best Art direction going for them specially Cadash Thaig... it was very pretty.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Ok, how come sometimes after battles some of my characters are glowing red? Im pretty sure its some status type effect, but when i use a potion (forgot the name) it sometimes makes it go away, and other times it doesnt...???

 

[yencid]

Ok, how come sometimes after battles some of my characters are glowing red? Im pretty sure its some status type effect, but when i use a potion (forgot the name) it sometimes makes it go away, and other times it doesnt...???

Depends, it could be a buff or it could be a status ailment.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Out of all the zones in the game my three favorite ones where the Frostback mountain temple (the urns), Orzammar as a whole (including all of the deep roads) and Cadash Thaig.
Those 3 had the best Art direction going for them specially Cadash Thaig... it was very pretty.

I agree, the Frostback Mts Temple was probably my favorite area of the game as well.

Out of all the major quests, which was everyone's favorite?

Spoiler

For me I'd have to say Redcliffe. Lots of major plot points and decisions to make with regards to the urn, Connor, etc and you discover Alistair's heritage among other things. Plus I think the whole urn dungeon was probably the best in the game.

 

[yencid]

I agree, the Frostback Mts Temple was probably my favorite area of the game as well.

Out of all the major quests, which was everyone's favorite?

Spoiler

For me I'd have to say Redcliffe. Lots of major plot points and decisions to make with regards to the urn, Connor, etc and you discover Alistair's heritage among other things. Plus I think the whole urn dungeon was probably the best in the game.

Would definitely have to agree with Redcliffe even though the siege (the darkspawn invasion) was a little annoying.