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[bengraven]

Loving this game !!
I am home for this whole week because I have h1n1, locked in the spare bed room .. my wife picked me up this game(ps3) and at first I wasn't really feeling it , but now I can hardly stop playing. Every time I wonder whats around the next corner. Keep wondering off from the quest I am on every time too.. :lol

There are plenty flaws on the console version but I am so over those flaws at the moment..

Now I wonder if it was lucky the game came out it did or that I caught the h1n1 when I did..:lol

My wife would not let me on the PC if I had H1N1, let alone buy me this game. She hates when I play it period, which is why I've only been able to log 2 hours into the game since Tuesday. Waste of same day shipping I'm telling you. :/

 

[NewLib]

One thing I appreciate from this game is there are multiple decisions in this game where there is no right choice and no matter what you do, its going to leave a bad taste in your mouth.

 

[Masta_Killah]

Any rogue should be able to i would think. Just never put points into Constitution. Just sink it all into Dexterity, Cunning, Strength (to meet weapon and skill req) and Willpower (to get more stamina for more special moves).

Ah damn....I've put in a few points into constitution for the extra health. I've been putting points into Dex, Cun, Str/Con. and maybe 1 into willpower.

So I just finished the Warden initiation quest line and holy shit....this game is so dark and I am loving every minute of it!

Also, someone mentioned the AI stopping their attacks. I also got this bug and it seems to occur when I switch out of the player Im controlling. Im guessing the AI gambit stuff isn't properly activating after switching out control(also occurs if the enemy the AI was attacking dies). Hopefully a patch is in the works to address it, because it does seem a bit game breaking.

 

[water_wendi]

One thing I appreciate from this game is there are multiple decisions in this game where there is no right choice and no matter what you do, its going to leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Yea.. the dialogue choice are good. i think the thing i like most about them is that they took a page from KotOR 2 and although you as a player are new to the world, the character is not, and the choices that are given to you shape what has happened before. An example of what i mean (spoilers from literally the first 1 minute of the Dwarf Noble origin).. this is as a female rogue btw.. when you are greeted by Gorim(?) you can mold your relationship with him. He could be someone you are currently having a secret relationship with.. someone youve had a fling with in the past.. or someone who you havent even considered worthy since he is from a lower House. And the game responds to that.

Also here is my first Nightmare difficulty playthrough video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2z7HmkgVbs. And here is a video i made of the first fight in the Proving Grounds with all of the different difficulties http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adjq7sxmlp8 As of this post it hasnt fully been processed so its a blurry mess but in a few minutes it should be in HD.

 

[Animator]

20 min left on the dl. Come ON d2d! I cant wait to play

 

[lorddarkflare]

Any rogue should be able to i would think. Just never put points into Constitution. Just sink it all into Dexterity, Cunning, Strength (to meet weapon and skill req) and Willpower (to get more stamina for more special moves).

Cool, at creation i dumped all my points into Dexterity, and i was planning on buffing strenght and cunning during level ups.

Any other advice?

Yea.. the dialogue choice are good. i think the thing i like most about them is that they took a page from KotOR 2 and although you as a player are new to the world, the character is not, and the choices that are given to you shape what has happened before. An example of what i mean (spoilers from literally the first 1 minute of the Dwarf Noble origin).. this is as a female rogue btw.. when you are greeted by Gorim(?) you can mold your relationship with him. He could be someone you are currently having a secret relationship with.. someone youve had a fling with in the past.. or someone who you havent even considered worthy since he is from a lower House. And the game responds to that.

Also here is my first Nightmare difficulty playthrough video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2z7HmkgVbs. And here is a video i made of the first fight in the Proving Grounds with all of the different difficulties http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adjq7sxmlp8 As of this post it hasnt fully been processed so its a blurry mess but in a few minutes it should be in HD.

I too rolled an Female Dwarven Noble rogue, any pitfalls?

 

[markot]

Patch out!

At least on Steam for me.

'Made easy easier!'

And a few other small things.

 

[-tetsuo-]

The codex is insanely huge. It's also very interesting.

edit: DA is once again #2 on the Steam games list. I wonder if it can actually top CS:S here soon.

 

[Zeliard]

Boo, the patch makes Normal easier.

 

[careksims]

Patch out!

At least on Steam for me.

'Made easy easier!'

And a few other small things.

Easier eh? It wasn't too bad on normal. Maybe tweak that one battle a bit.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Well at least I can still be nervous in every single fight on hard.

 

[epmode]

I really, *really* like this game so far. I didn't think Bioware had it in them.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I can't wait for tomorrow when I have an entire free day that I can spend with Dragon Age. Right now my play time is around 16 hours. I just finished the Circle of the Magi event after I journeyed there to solve a certain problem in Redcliffe Castle.

Spoiler

Some people seem to have hated the Fade part of the Circle of the Magi quest, but I thought it was a ton of fun. I really liked using the multiple forms strategically to obliterate the foes in there. The Sloth Demon fight at the end was a blast in Stone Golem form. The Uldred boss fight was also a ton of fun. Having Wynne in my party with a ton of Lyrium Potions made it not too difficult since I could just use group heal when things got nasty.

I had to call it a night before returning to Redcliffe Castle, but returned to my camp and had an awkward "romance" scene with Morrigan. Luckily I was able to convincingly lie to Leliana about what went down so I am going to aim for her next.

After I finish up with Redcliffe Castle I think I might go tackle the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep content. I'm currently level 9, but will that be enough to handle those areas?

Also, has anyone been checking out the BioWare Social Network stuff? I just got around to registering my CD keys last night since I wanted to wait for all of the technical issues to get sorted out. I'm really impressed with how fully featured it is. The story tab especially is cool as it lets me look back on all the milestones that happened to my character complete with a time marking that tells me when they occured.

Here's my profile if anyone cares. "http://social.bioware.com/playerprofile.php?nid=2283064358&game=dragonage"

I would be interested in checking out other people's profiles as well.

 

[water_wendi]

Cool, at creation i dumped all my points into Dexterity, and i was planning on buffing strenght and cunning during level ups.

Any other advice?

I too rolled an Female Dwarven Noble rogue, any pitfalls?

Well, the only advice i can give concerning building the character is to not spend points unless you have to. If you check the skills and talents screen you can see what required stats you need for the higher end skills. So say you want to have the highest Coercion.. that requires 16 Cunning. But since you cant get the level 4 skill since you dont have enough skill points it makes no sense pumping the prerequisite stat if you cant buy the skill. The other piece of advice to go with hoarding your skill points.. is you dont have to spend ALL of the points to upgrade your character. You can spend only what you need/want to.

Also he main reason i suggest hoarding level points is it makes things easier to test out later. If you can hold out a few levels.. just save your game before a battle and then buy deep into one tree to see how it is. If you dont like it, reload and try something else out.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Boo, the patch makes Normal easier.

Seriously? Why? I feel it was just right where it was. I have died a few times, but it never felt like the game was being cheap and I was able to overcome each fight with a change in tactics. Can we change the difficulty in-game?

 

[water_wendi]

Boo, the patch makes Normal easier.

WTF, easy is already a cakewalk. That fighter in my video didnt even damage me one try on easy :lol Like four backstabs and he dead.. four backstabs is enough for Dirty Fighting stun duration btw,

edit: disregard.. read that as Easy made easier :lol

 

[EviLore]

I think it's the writing, but I'm finding it difficult to invest myself in Dragon Age. Alistair's great, but beyond that there's so much generic fantasy drivel that's just taking up space and making things a chore to get through.

I'm not really sold on the itemization, either. All the best items seem to be from the DLC bonuses, and are way too easy to acquire.

Combat's fun and tactical, but everything being genlock and hurlock and genlock and hurlock gets pretty lame considering the scope of the game and all. There's like a billion lines of voiced dialogue, how about some more types of enemies to fight? Perhaps later on, I guess.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Don't like Morrigan?

 

[water_wendi]

I'm not really sold on the itemization, either. All the best items seem to be from the DLC bonuses, and are way too easy to acquire

i was wondering about this. Are they really that over-powered?

Don't like Morrigan?

i know i hate that bitch. When we made camp i told her to hit the fucking bricks.

 

[Zeliard]

WTF, easy is already a cakewalk. That fighter in my video didnt even damage me one try on easy :lol Like four backstabs and he dead.. four backstabs is enough for Dirty Fighting stun duration btw,

edit: disregard.. read that as Easy made easier :lol

It's both. Patch notes:

Fixed potential corruption of character statistics

Fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator

Fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator

Made Easy difficulty easier

Slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty

Fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays

 

[Snapshot King]

I think this is because some reviews mentioned that even though easy is plenty easy, you'll slam into a brick wall sometimes.

 

[epmode]

I think it's the writing, but I'm finding it difficult to invest myself in Dragon Age. Alistair's great, but beyond that there's so much generic fantasy drivel that's just taking up space and making things a chore to get through.

So kind of like Baldur's Gate then? Didn't stop me from loving it then, isn't stopping me now (even though I'd definitely prefer Torment-style insanity to the goddamned elves infecting Dragon Age).

Combat's fun and tactical, but everything being genlock and hurlock and genlock and hurlock gets pretty lame considering the scope of the game and all. There's like a billion lines of voiced dialogue, how about some more types of enemies to fight? Perhaps later on, I guess.

I haven't found that to be true. But I went straight for the forest as soon as I got to the world map so maybe I haven't seen the samey areas yet.

I'm not really sold on the itemization, either. All the best items seem to be from the DLC bonuses, and are way too easy to acquire.

The armor's good but I don't even think I'm using any of the rings or necklaces. Are you talking about the stuff you actually loot in the DLC areas maybe? I haven't seen that yet.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

It's both. Patch notes:

Fixed potential corruption of character statistics

Fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator

Fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator

Made Easy difficulty easier

Slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty

Fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays

Well that kind of sucks. I really felt that the difficulty was just right. Maybe I'll keep Steam in offline mode for a while. I really, really wish there was a way to turn off automatic patching on a per-game basis. That is one feature I feel is sorely missing from Steam.

 

[EviLore]

Don't like Morrigan?

She annoys the shit out of me, actually. Mommy this and Mommy that. Your character model is like 60 years old, give it a rest.

i was wondering about this. Are they really that over-powered?

They don't make the game too easy (on PC-Hard), it's more like they trivialize all the other items in the game. Actually, I don't get the feeling that gear makes enough of a difference overall, anyhow. I took all the gear off one of my characters for shits and giggles and still did fine. I think it's an issue of trying too hard to balance a non-linear game, so they de-emphasized gear and made it more about character level (+ enemy scaling) for a "consistent" experience.

So kind of like Baldur's Gate then? Didn't stop me from loving it then, isn't stopping me now.

Not really. BG2 has an economy of words that seems to be lacking here, kind of shockingly since DAO's fully voiced.

 

[DrBo42]

Major Flemeth & Morrigan spoilers ahead

- Seriously, not a GAF spoiler joke. You have been warned -

Spoiler

I'm at the point where I can choose whether or not to kill Flemeth due to her plans to possess Morrigan. What happens if I just take the book/robes and leave Flemeth alive?

 

[adamsapple]

Can someone quickly answer this for me ..

i gave morrigon a black jewel or something and it actually initiated a new quest. I thought you would only initiate character specific quest lines when you're at high affinity with them, and morgan borderline HATES me right now.

Can someone clarify this ? because i'm giving every odd gift i'm finding to that church girl to get her to max as soon as possible.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I think it's the writing, but I'm finding it difficult to invest myself in Dragon Age. Alistair's great, but beyond that there's so much generic fantasy drivel that's just taking up space and making things a chore to get through.

I'm not really sold on the itemization, either. All the best items seem to be from the DLC bonuses, and are way too easy to acquire.

Combat's fun and tactical, but everything being genlock and hurlock and genlock and hurlock gets pretty lame considering the scope of the game and all. There's like a billion lines of voiced dialogue, how about some more types of enemies to fight? Perhaps later on, I guess.

Wow, I am the complete opposite here. I personally find the writing to be pretty high quality and combined with the voice acting and polished presentation and I am getting totally sucked into this world. Then again, I am a sucker for fantasy stories (although I haven't read very much of the genre).

I've literally spent hours reading over the entries of my Codex as they appear and I rarely read in-game stuff in games. I never bother to read any of the books in the Elder Scrolls and the Baldur's Gate / Icewind Dale games and barely browsed through the codex in Mass Effect.

I've found the variety of items to be pretty decent so far (16 hours in) and at least the loot makes a lot more sense to me than the D&D stuff first did.

Also, I have fought plenty of monster types. It definitely isn't all darkspawn. I've encountered ghosts, various demons, bandits of various types and races, mages, templars, wolves, mabari warhounds, blight wolves, spiders, fire elemental-type things, stone golems, zombies, flaming zombies, skeletons, etc... so far.

 

[Guled]

how dose this play on the new macbook pros (the 13" one that came out this summer)?

 

[lorddarkflare]

Wow, I am the complete opposite here. I personally find the writing to be pretty high quality and combined with the voice acting and polished presentation and I am getting totally sucked into this world. Then again, I am a sucker for fantasy stories (although I haven't read very much of the genre).

I've literally spent hours reading over the entries of my Codex as they appear and I rarely read in-game stuff in games. I never bother to read any of the books in the Elder Scrolls and the Baldur's Gate / Icewind Dale games and barely browsed through the codex in Mass Effect.

I've found the variety of items to be pretty decent so far (16 hours in) and at least the loot makes a lot more sense to me than the D&D stuff first did.

Also, I have fought plenty of monster types. It definitely isn't all darkspawn. I've encountered ghosts, various demons, bandits of various types and races, mages, templars, wolves, mabari warhounds, blight wolves, spiders, fire elemental-type things, stone golems, zombies, flaming zombies, skeletons, etc... so far.

Well i think if you have read/played enough fantasy, it is easy to get turned off by the game's use of the old tropes.

Truth be told, the mere fact that Bioware decided to use the general fantasy conventions were pretty disappointing. I wish they had run with the ASoIaF thing further. A more realistic fantasy universe.

 

[-tetsuo-]

She annoys the shit out of me, actually. Mommy this and Mommy that. Your character model is like 60 years old, give it a rest.

You have to remember that her mother is all she knows. She lived alone with her in the middle of the wilds for what appears to be her entire life.

 

[lorddarkflare]

You have to remember that her mother is all she knows. She lived alone with her in the middle of the wilds for what appears to be her entire life.

Very well written and realistic, if annoying.

 

[EviLore]

You have to remember that her mother is all she knows. She lived alone with her in the middle of the wilds for what appears to be her entire life.

...yes.

 

[Aptos]

I'm liking the game so far. But I would like to gripe about the lack of transparency in the combat system.

How can you tell how much HP an enemy has?
How can you tell what kind of bonuses your abilities get when you up your stats?

I feel like I need to spend $20 on the guide to learn this :/ I hate that feeling.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Well i think if you have read/played enough fantasy, it is easy to get turned off by the game's use of the old tropes.

Truth be told, the mere fact that Bioware decided to use the general fantasy conventions were pretty disappointing. I wish they had run with the ASoIaF thing further. A more realistic fantasy universe.

It is still far more grounded (or at least the world is far more well realized) than almost every other fantasy RPG I have played.

 

[epmode]

It is still far more grounded (or at least the world is far more well realized) than almost every other fantasy RPG I have played.

The Witcher did a good job with this, even if it was based on an actual book. I went through the entire game not trusting ANYONE.

 

[water_wendi]

I'm liking the game so far. But I would like to gripe about the lack of transparency in the combat system.

How can you tell how much HP an enemy has?

On PC if you hit Tab the health bars of enemies and other characters comes up above their head.

How can you tell what kind of bonuses your abilities get when you up your stats?

No idea.

 

[EviLore]

I'm liking the game so far. But I would like to gripe about the lack of transparency in the combat system.

How can you tell how much HP an enemy has?
How can you tell what kind of bonuses your abilities get when you up your stats?

I feel like I need to spend $20 on the guide to learn this :/ I hate that feeling.

Knowing the exact # of HP an enemy has is pretty meaningless and not typical. All the effects of spells and abilities are variable, dependent on the character's stat scores, so they're not listed and you have to feel 'em out by using them.

 

[Aptos]

On PC if you hit Tab the health bars of enemies and other characters comes up above their head.

I mean the actual numerical value. But I guess it doesn't matter since you have no idea how much damage your abilities do without spending a point to test it...

 

[lorddarkflare]

It is still far more grounded (or at least the world is far more well realized) than almost every other fantasy RPG I have played.

Yeah, you may be right, I do not play that may Fantasy WRPGs though(i am rectifying this, am currently finishing up the Witcher before i dive completely into this game).

 

[hermit7]

Knowing the exact # of HP an enemy has is pretty meaningless and not typical. All the effects of spells and abilities are variable, dependent on the character's stat scores, so they're not listed and you have to feel 'em out by using them.

Overall it seems that you are disappointed is that a valid assessment?

I feel that the game is vastly better than many recent RPGs that have been released. I found Fallout 3 really boring, and the writing very sub-par. And while Mass Effect was great in terms of Voice Acting the choices were juvenile in terms of being a saint, or murderer.

DAOs writing and choices I feel are far more mature than either of those previous games.

 

[lorddarkflare]

The Witcher did a good job with this, even if it was based on an actual book. I went through the entire game not trusting ANYONE.

I think that was its intent, but after a while, i realized that the game did not punish you enough for seemingly good decisions you made. Not to mention that when you felt the consequences of some actions, the game spelled this out(though in a very well done manner, so i will forgive it).

 

[Deleted member 17706]

The Witcher did a good job with this, even if it was based on an actual book. I went through the entire game not trusting ANYONE.

The Witcher did do a great job and I really liked that game. It did feel a bit too linear for me, though and the actual gameplay (combat, etc...) felt a little sloppy to me. I really enjoyed the story and the world, though.

 

[Nose Master]

Loving everything but the battle system so far, and it's just because I suck at it, I think. I have no idea what kinds of gambits to set up. That said:

Circle of mages light spoiler:

Spoiler

This dream sequence demon business, shapeshifting etc, is amazing.

]

And yeah, Morrigan is annoying. You get disapproval rating for offering to help pretty much anyone.

 

[lorddarkflare]

The Witcher did do a great job and I really liked that game. It did feel a bit too linear for me, though and the actual gameplay (combat, etc...) felt a little sloppy to me. I really enjoyed the story and the world, though.

Think that the game really benefited from being linear, as it was the writing was all over the place, i shutter to think how it would have been if it was more of an open world.

Loving everything but the battle system so far, and it's just because I suck at it, I think. I have no idea what kinds of gambits to set up. That said:

Circle of mages light spoiler:

Spoiler

This dream sequence demon business, shapeshifting etc, is amazing.

]

And yeah, Morrigan is annoying. You get disapproval rating for offering to help pretty much anyone.

Is it like KOTOR 2 where you can basically disappoint them into becoming friendly with you?

 

[Masta_Killah]

After years of making rpgs, Bioware still can't properly code AI. It's so frustrating to set up a fight, only to have it ruined because the friendly AI stops attacking. At least Bioware seems to have improved on AI pathing....

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Loving everything but the battle system so far, and it's just because I suck at it, I think. I have no idea what kinds of gambits to set up. That said:

Circle of mages light spoiler:

Spoiler

This dream sequence demon business, shapeshifting etc, is amazing.

]

And yeah, Morrigan is annoying. You get disapproval rating for offering to help pretty much anyone.

Morrigan does hate it when you do good things. But the negatives are usually fairly small. If they are too large I will simply reload my game and remove her from my party when making the decision. Also, it is pretty easy to raise your approval rating with her by giving her jewelry and what not. I've been helping people left and right with her in my party and still managed to "bed her" with around a 80 approval rating by giving her gifts and playing along with her snarky dialogue.

Did anyone give her the (post-circle of magi spoiler)

Spoiler

dark grimoire (I think it was called that) from the magi tower? I picked it up in the tower and its description said something along the lines of "Morrigan would like to take a look at this" and sure enough when I talked to her in camp after rescuing the circle of the magi she mentioned the book. I got a huge approval rating increase after gifting it to her as well. Does anyone know if this opens up some kind of quest or unlocks an ability for Morrigan down the line? Or is it just some kind of uber present?

 

[Nose Master]

Morrigan does hate it when you do good things. But the negatives are usually fairly small. If they are too large I will simply reload my game and remove her from my party when making the decision. Also, it is pretty easy to raise your approval rating with her by giving her jewelry and what not. I've been helping people left and right with her in my party and still managed to "bed her" with around a 80 approval rating by giving her gifts and playing along with her snarky dialogue.

Did anyone give her the (post-circle of magi spoiler)

Spoiler

dark grimoire (I think it was called that) from the magi tower? I picked it up in the tower and its description said something along the lines of "Morrigan would like to take a look at this" and sure enough when I talked to her in camp after rescuing the circle of the magi she mentioned the book. I got a huge approval rating increase after gifting it to her as well. Does anyone know if this opens up some kind of quest or unlocks an ability for Morrigan down the line? Or is it just some kind of uber present?

Yeah, I schnogged her at the first campsite after trolling around her dialogue tree, now I'm just letting the rating drop cause I got the achievement :lol I also gave that item, did the quest finish?

 

[Zzoram]

Boo, the patch makes Normal easier.

They patched the game already? What else did it do other than make Normal easier?

 

[Zzoram]

I think I messed up my Rogue because I opted for Archery instead of Dual Wield, and bows seem to suck because you miss so many of your shots.

 

[dogknight]

err... what are you supposed to do at redcliffe? I've reached a point where

Spoiler

infinite zombies spawn 1 at a time. So now I just sit and kill a zombie every 20 seconds or so. I already killed everything down by the lake. All the NPC's down at the lake died as well.

Spoiler

there some cutscene trigger that didn't fire or something? The journal is no help either. Its obvious I'm supposed to do something but I don't what or where.

Spoiler

It is a bug. Just load your latest save file. There should be a cutscene after you kill a few undead soldiers by the lake. You don't need to do anything else.