Okay, I posted a question about difficulty earlier. I figured I didn't get a response because nobody beat the game in it's entirety.
So let me just ask you - from the little you have played - does normal mode feel challenging, or does it feel easy to where you wish you restarted the game on hard?
Stat allocation is probably the part that I spend the most time on in the character creation process for any game. I know that cunning and dexterity are the main stats but I don't know at what ratio. If you are playing a rogue, how many points are you putting in each stat?
I have same problem. All my stuff is donwloaded but not installed. My friend did the same thing and said all his stuff immediately went to installed category after they hit 100%. We're not so lucky I guess...
Okay, I posted a question about difficulty earlier. I figured I didn't get a response because nobody beat the game in it's entirety.
So let me just ask you - from the little you have played - does normal mode feel challenging, or does it feel easy to where you wish you restarted the game on hard?
Normal mode is challenging. You can die really easily if you don't have a decent strategy before entering combat. And, as my previous posts indicate, the first boss is kicking my tail.
On the PC version, you can change difficulty on the fly, so if you feel things are too easy you can turn it up a notch. You can go down, too, but I refuse to play on anything lower than normal.
Picked it up on Steam pre-order yesterday. Played through the opening bit. Went Elf mage (male) for first play through. Game is really ugly :lol I'm sure it will get better, but the opening section is pretty atrocious.
Feels ok, so far. Very mmo'ish, which isn't entirely a bad thing. I'll keep pluggin away at it, see how it pans out.
Normal mode is challenging. You can die really easily if you don't have a decent strategy before entering combat. And, as my previous posts indicate, the first boss is kicking my tail.
On the PC version, you can change difficulty on the fly, so if you feel things are too easy you can turn it up a notch. You can go down, too, but I refuse to play on anything lower than normal.
I'll check if you can switch difficulty on the fly on the 360 - even though this isn't a common console option - recent games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion let you do on console. If anyone can check that'd be great, I won't be able to play until later tonight.
Also, are there any major-major characters that are exclusive to certain classes? Giantbomb says that the voice actor for Morrigan (spelling?) is particulary well done, I'd rather choose a class that gets the party memebers with the best voice over (at least for my first playthrough). And although it may be difficult, no big spoilers please. Thanks.
Wow, worst way to do DLC ever. First I redeem all the codes. Great. Now I have to download it. So it pauses, takes me to the store and lets me download the stuff. Now that I'm done instead of taking me back to the DLC menu it restarts the game so I have to sit there and wait to get back to the main menu. Repeat process for every single piece of DLC. I mean seriously guys? What the fuck?
Wow, worst way to do DLC ever. First I redeem all the codes. Great. Now I have to download it. So it pauses, takes me to the store and lets me download the stuff. Now that I'm done instead of taking me back to the DLC menu it restarts the game so I have to sit there and wait to get back to the main menu. Repeat process for every single piece of DLC. I mean seriously guys? What the fuck?
This game is simply incredible. I think I am still just amazed at how smooth and polished the game is all the while being obvously crafted for the PC. Everything just works and is very intuitive. The production values are great and are not what I am used to seeing in a CRPG. Bioware really went all out for this one.
I made a human noble as a warrior and really enjoyed the origin quest. I can totally see where they were inspired by George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. They even use the "Ser" title instead of "Sir", which as far as I am aware is fairly unique to the ASoIA books (correct me if I am wrong). You can really tell that Bioware spent a ton of time crafting the lore for this world. Everything is extremely believable (in a fantasy context that is) and feels "lived in". I've been reading all of the codex entries as they pop up and I am finding the whole world to be very interesting even if it isn't the most unique of settings.
They really weren't joking about this game being "dark fantasy". (human noble origin spoilers)
The betrayal by Arl Rendon Howe really took me by surprise. I thought I was going to have to do menial tasks as the lord of the castle for a few days before any action began. And goddamn, they straight up murdered my brother's wife and child!
There is some seriously awesome stuff right from the beginning. I just finished the battle of Ostagar after becoming a Grey Warden and
good lord, Duncan dies?! The King too? I *really* didn't see that coming. I thought this whole game was going to be about journeying the world under Duncan's command to gather support.
So far the story has been excellent and full of surprises. Despite all of the complaints pre-release, I think the dialogue in this game is pretty good so far and some of the voice acting is quite excellent indeed. It is much better than what we usually get in our RPGs.
The music and sound effects have been excellent so far as well and I really like the main theme.
The ogre fight at the top of the tower was brutal as well. It really taught me to keep my range attackers at a distance if I want to win. So far I am really enjoying the combat system. It is a lot like the Baldur's Gate games, but far more streamlined and it doesn't bank on you having played D&D. The combat rules work for a video game environment and at the normal difficulty every fight has been challenging so far. You really can't let your guard down. I also love how I can use the mouse wheel to seamlessly go from a behind-the-back 3rd-person MMORPG-style view to a top-down strategic view. I have been using the 3rd-person view more, but there have been a lot of areas where the top-down view comes in handy.
Other than some stiff looking hair, the game looks pretty damn good in my opinion. Even the facial animation isn't really that bad. I am running the game at maximum settings at 1920x1200 resolution with 2x AA (my system is an Core 2 Duo E8500, 4GB RAM, HD4870 1GB and Windows 7 Ultimate) and it is smooth as hell. I haven't enabled Vsync or turned on FRAPS to check my actual FPS, but the game hasn't stuttered at all or dropped into sluggish framerates.
Anyway, I am going to take a short break before I go back and play some more. The aftermath of the Battle of Ostagar seemed like a good place to stop before continuing on my grand adventure. This game is awesome! Anyone on the fence: Go buy it now!
I disagree with him, but I believe he was just saying that if the base game is shitty then mods will not be able to fix it and make it better. I can't think of any truly shitty games that openly support mods, but I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on what is shitty and what isn't.
Anyway, that aside I wish that my pc had the single missing requirement to play this... everything is all good except the processor part... my P4 D series is really showing its age. I could give it a whirl on the 360 to atleast see how much I like it but it feels like tainting the full experience. It's pretty clear a higher end computer is how this was meant to be played.
Is anyone having sound problems on the ps3? The sound plays while I'm at the store and any video or music plays sound fine, but when I start this game there is no sound coming from my speakers. I have it hooked up to my surround sound system via optic cables and never had an issue beforehand.
Anyone else having trouble with the Stone Prisoner code on the 360? I go to the DLC menu, hit Y to "redeem EA code", and put in the one on my card. It tries to validate it and then says it's an invalid code. Not sure what the problem is - I tried entering it with dashes and without. Caps and no-caps. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Not sure if the EA Servers are overloaded or if it's an error on my part.
EDIT: Nevermind, it was a typing error on my part. It was a G not a 6. :/ I put it in with caps and dashes and it worked.
Ok my DLC finally installed. I did a reboot of my PC. I suggest you reboot and/or exit-re-enter the game until it works if you are having problems with DLC installing on the PC.
im really digging this game so far. Early thoughts.
First off, the people who said the combat is basically Baldurs Gate are way off the mark. It is nothing like BG except that you pause and issue commands. This is not a knock against DA its just my take. DAs combat feels more like KotOR mixed with WoW. It has an extremely fast pace and is centered around the encounter as opposed to BG where combat is generally tuned around the mission.
To clarify.. in BG, once you are in a dungeon resting is usually not possible.. and if it is you have a high risk of being attacked which can be a reload if you try and rest while almost dead. Because of this preparation in town beforehand is a must (scrolls, pots, fire arrows, etc). In DA though, you regen hp and mana/stamina outside of combat and your fallen companions rise after a few seconds so the only thing to really plan for is the next immediate battle.
Before i played the game, the lore seemed extremely silly. In game however, it works. Perhaps its in part to the quality of the voice actors or maybe its the polish of the game (and wow is it polished).. im not sure which but its not really important. The game world is intriguing and the quality put into the Codex really does show an extensive labor of love.
The thing that strikes me as most BGish so far is the party banter. Its usually pretty humorous and almost always gives insight to the game world. DA also shows how dialogue trees are supposed to be done as opposed to the other mainstream wrpg games this gen (Oblivion/Fallout 3). i dont know if this will be the death or quarantining of the dialogue wheel to ME but one can only hope.
i understand why Bioware would want to market DA as the "Spiritual Successor to Baldurs Gate" but lets be serious.. the so called Golden Age of wrpgs that started with the Infinity Engine which supposedly "brought rpgs back to life" is a lie. Since 1998 there have only been two developers (Bioware, Black Isle/Obsidian.. three at most with Troika those few short sweet years) that make tactical combat, dialogue driven wrpgs. The genre is not popular with console gamers and thats why no other major devs have tried to enter this market. My point is that DA doesnt need to live in the shadow of BG to get fans of BG to play.. and the spiritual successor stuff means nothing to the console gamer. DA is its own entity and strong enough to stand on its own. Its different mind you.. very, very different.. but also very good.
Demon's Souls' soundtrack was amazing. From what I've played of DA:O, the soundtrack is pretty stock WRPG for the moment (at least in the Dwarf and Human origin stories.)
I'll try not to get off topic with this, but you must have spent most of your playing time inside the Nexus.
I'm trying my best to avoid playing the elf origin story because of the terrible trailer of it. I think I might continue playing my dwarf lady chaser/womanizer only because of his beard size. I hope at least one dwarf in this game has the old scottish accent I'm used to hearing.
im really digging this game so far. Early thoughts.
First off, the people who said the combat is basically Baldurs Gate are way off the mark. It is nothing like BG except that you pause and issue commands. This is not a knock against DA its just my take. DAs combat feels more like KotOR mixed with WoW. It has an extremely fast pace and is centered around the encounter as opposed to BG where combat is generally tuned around the mission.
Well it is obviously different since the game doesn't use the D&D rules (which in my opinion do not work very well in a video game setting), but I think they both feel very similar. The combat in Dragon Age is a ton more fun for me, but I'm sure that is partially due to everything being much easier to understand and being able to control the camera as you please.
Individual battles in the Infinity Engine games were pretty damn quick and Dragon Age seems to have a similar speed to it. The inner mechanics are completely different, but there aren't many other games out there where you can pause the game freely to issue commands to party members. It definitely gives me a very BG2-like vibe at least. I vastly prefer the way Dragon Age handles healing and resurrection, though. I personally like that I only have to worry about each individual encounter instead of going through a quicksave / quickload fast trying to "rest" without getting molested.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Not sure if the EA Servers are overloaded or if it's an error on my part.
