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Uggg... I am in a combat that I can't Win!!!! Tried about a dozen times.
Don't read the spoiler if you have not done Redcliffe.
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Party Composition and Level, Dragnmoon? I remember that being a tough fight, but I got there in the end. I also don't think anyone would complain if you switched the difficulty down to casual. ;)
Right now I am on Normal.. Here is my Party currently..
Myself Level 8 Rogue
Alistar Level 8 Warrior/Templar
Sten Level 7 Warrior
Morrigan Level 9 Mage/Shapeshifter
OK, I've skimmed the thread up to this point and haven't found what I'm looking for... apologies if this had been answered elsewhere.
Can someone help a guy who, computer-game wise, has been living under a rock since, oh, the original version of DOOM? This game looks very intriguing, but I've got a couple of questions.
First, the verbiage that is being used doesn't make this sound like an MMO, but I've seen a couple of references to in-game items for sale for real-world money. What gives? I could be completely misinterpreting here, so sorry if I'm way off base.
Second, how steep is the learning curve for the game? Remember, I'm about 10 years behind.
Finally, I am really excited about Green Ronin's plans for a tabletop version of the game. They seem to be planning a BECMI D&D-style progression (easy entry, box sets for successive level ranges), which both seems perfect for the father of an 11-year-old girl who he's planning to introduce to gaming (which I am), and brings back a heckuva lot of nostalgia (Caves of Chaos, anyone?).
Not an MMO, it's only single player.
There is some DLC(downloadable content)you can get but nothing can be traded from game to game for real cash.
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Alright, well I can give you an answer to a few of those questions.
First, the game is a single player game and you can get by without an internet connection, however one of the recent trends in gaming is for Downloadable-content(DLC). Basically, you get a complete game with the purchase of the game. However, you can purchase additions to the game online that you can download and add in. Mostly this comes in the form of new sidequests, but there also is a new character you can add to your party and one of the DLC is for a new base that your characters can use as a stronghold.
Overall though, each bit of DLC contains some of all three and normally adds a couple hours additional content and have different prices depending on just how much they add, but none of them are necessary to get the full game experience, it is up to you whether any of them are worth it to you to purchase. Essentially its like buying an expansion ala carte, you can add in new aspects to the game just a little bit at a time, picking and choosing what you want.
Secondly, the game is pretty tough as far as combat goes, but one of the things they have mentioned often is that it is very reminiscent of baldurs gate II. If you played any of the baldurs gate or icewind dale games, it is likely that you will be able to feel quite comfortable jumping into things fairly quickly. The PC version of the game actually has the ability to zoom out to a view that is almost identical to that of the old Baldurs gate games.
If you have any more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them though.
Thanks,
-Tarlane
Thanks, Tarlane and Xabulba, for the speedy help.
Tarlane, your comparison of the downloadable content to mini-expansions was especially helpful. I was concerned I might be looking at a money pit, where nothing would work right until you fed more cash into it. I assume that, if this is as successful as it seems to be right now, they're going to have expansions/sequels for it?
It looks like I just found the latest item for my Christmas wish list...
Is anyone else interested in Green Ronin's tabletop version of the game?
I didn't think about this at first; another consequence of being away from computer games, I guess.
What are the minimum specs for the game?
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XP MINIMUM SPECS
OS: Windows XP with SP3
CPU: Intel Core 2(or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater
AMD X2(or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater
RAM: 1GB or more
VIDEO: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
VISTA MINIMUM SPECS
OS: Windows Vista with SP1
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater
RAM: 1.5 GB or more
VIDEO: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
RECOMMENDED SPECS
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
VIDEO: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
And I would assume it will have true expansions and sequels to it at some point, though I don't know if that is guaranteed because it looks that the DLC is proving to be pretty successful at the moment. With how well the game has done though, there should be several larger releases.
Also, if you are familiar with Neverwinter Nights at all, they have released the toolset for this game, so players can design new storylines and modifications for the game on their own. You can already find some basic mods out there, but if this is anything like Bioware's earlier games the community will have the equivalent of their own expansions available for download rather soon.
Thanks again for the info, Tarlane. As far as user-created content is concerned, that sounds very cool!
Uggg... I am in a combat that I can't Win!!!! Tried about a dozen times.
Don't read the spoiler if you have not done Redcliffe.
** spoiler omitted **
Dragnmoon, I was higher level, but I used the melee types up front, with my wiz healing them up from the back. It was tough but I was able to do it. I doubt this helps much.
If you're completely stuck, back out if you can and come back later.
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If you're completely stuck, back out if you can and come back later.
That is what I did... And I hate this but I lowered the difficulty to Easy..
I am actually enjoying it more now that the Difficulty is Easy. I can now pay more attention to the story and less worry about dieing all the time.
Next run through I will do a higher difficulty.
I'm about 40 hours into the game and really, really enjoying it. The writing is superb, the voice acting great and entertaining, the story engaging, the combats & quests appealing, etc. There are a few things (graphics) I thought could be a little better (playing on an Xbox 360 if that matters) but overall I'm loving it.
I find the information you pick up on the world utterly captivating. The different human nations, the religious/political intrigues, heroic backstories, etc. The people who worked on this game's backstory obviously spent a lot of time reading through Dark Age and Middle Age European history, as there are subtle variations of historical names and conflicts throughout if you know what to look for. I love that depth. You can ignore all that if you don't want to spend the time reading through all the codex entries you chance upon, but to me, it's one of the most pleasurable parts of the game.
My guess will be that Bioware will have sequels but in different parts of the world (Ferelden is just one country after all); similar to The Elder Scrolls having one game in Morrowind (sp?) and the last game in (forget the name of the area). Can't wait.
My biggest problem now is figuring out how to make sure Wynne casts Revival when a comrade goes down. I can't find a tactic slot that = unconscious/dead.
If you're completely stuck, back out if you can and come back later.
That is what I did... And I hate this but I lowered the difficulty to Easy..
I am actually enjoying it more now that the Difficulty is Easy. I can now pay more attention to the story and less worry about dieing all the time.
Next run through I will do a higher difficulty.
Your group was similar to mine and I didn't have a problem. It seems that in some battles you get lucky. I had a similar run of tough luck and then suddenly I won. I couldn't believe it.
Creative Director
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Dragon Age's graphics aren't cutting edge... it's true. But then, neither are the special effects in Jaws these days... it's still one of the best movies ever made.
AKA: Gameplay and story and immersion, in my opinion, can always trump graphics if they're good enough. Likewise, great graphics can make a game that's otherwise dull and cliche fun. It's really hard to get a situation where EVERYthing in a game functions at full awesome, especially since getting the gameplay and story and immersion in a game like Dragon Age takes so long to perfect that by the time it's done, the fast moving world of graphics presentation has already moved on.
Uggg... I am in a combat that I can't Win!!!! Tried about a dozen times.
Did you
I had trouble with that until I did it.
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If you're completely stuck, back out if you can and come back later.
That is what I did... And I hate this but I lowered the difficulty to Easy..
I am actually enjoying it more now that the Difficulty is Easy. I can now pay more attention to the story and less worry about dieing all the time.
Next run through I will do a higher difficulty.
Do you have the 1.01 patch installed? It made the Normal difficulty less brutal. I almost lowered the difficulty to Easy before that patch came out. I would lose 2 characters per battle most of the time and would get TPK's constantly.
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Uggg... I am in a combat that I can't Win!!!! Tried about a dozen times.
Did you
** spoiler omitted **
I had trouble with that until I did it.
When I was having the problems I mentioned, No I did not. I was not even aware I could do that until I cam back the second time, but by then I already reduced the difficulty to easy and it would have been no problem anyway.
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Do you have the 1.01 patch installed? It made the Normal difficulty less brutal. I almost lowered the difficulty to Easy before that patch came out. I would lose 2 characters per battle most of the time and would get TPK's constantly.
If you're completely stuck, back out if you can and come back later.
That is what I did... And I hate this but I lowered the difficulty to Easy..
I am actually enjoying it more now that the Difficulty is Easy. I can now pay more attention to the story and less worry about dieing all the time.
Next run through I will do a higher difficulty.
At the time no, later on I did, but was still having problems with other combats, so I decided to just reduce the difficulty to easy and not worry about it anymore.
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Dragon Age's graphics aren't cutting edge... it's true. But then, neither are the special effects in Jaws these days... it's still one of the best movies ever made.
AKA: Gameplay and story and immersion, in my opinion, can always trump graphics if they're good enough. Likewise, great graphics can make a game that's otherwise dull and cliche fun. It's really hard to get a situation where EVERYthing in a game functions at full awesome, especially since getting the gameplay and story and immersion in a game like Dragon Age takes so long to perfect that by the time it's done, the fast moving world of graphics presentation has already moved on.
First off, don't get me wrong, I love Dragon Age, and as for BioWare, I am an unabashed fanboy who would totally have their children if it were conceptually and physically possible. That said, however, I wonder why the story/immersion/setting would take time away from graphics/gameplay design.
It seems to me that they could conceivably be designed almost independently, with character design/concept art being done first so that you can ship it off to the graphics people and the story/setting can be written alongside the game development.
I think that this was most likely a case of project management problems (so common in IT), combined with the designers consciously focusing less on graphics than on story and setting.
And honestly, if that's the case, I applaud them. Dragon Age may not look nice, but the story is amazing and the characters are so interesting and fleshed out, it doesn't matter. Not to me, at any rate.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I'm pretty impressed all around, really. I don't even think the graphics are substandard. Yeah, it may not be Crysis or F.E.A.R. 2, but those games operate on an entirely different engine style and probably would not serve the needs of an RPG.
I've completed my first playthrough, and it was AWESOME. Now I'm on run #2, with a human mage this time, and I'm trying to do as much stuff differently as possible. My first character (a city elf rogue) was a kind and gentle person who tried to find nonviolent solutions whenever possible. My mage, on the other hand, is an absolutely psychotic bastard who wants to kill everything in sight. Playthrough #3 will be a dwarven warrior. I will probably play "middle of the road" with him.
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My first playthrough was one kick in the particulars after another, bear in mind, I am well-familiar with these games, so it came as a surprise to me to see how challenging the game was.
The second has been far easier, partially due to familiarity, and partially due to me unlocking all of the class advances, but it still has some moments that are endlessly frustrating. Of course, being familiar as I am, the lesson I learned way back in my Baldur's Gate days has not been forgotten: "Save early, save often."
My first playthrough was one kick in the particulars after another, bear in mind, I am well-familiar with these games, so it came as a surprise to me to see how challenging the game was.
The second has been far easier, partially due to familiarity, and partially due to me unlocking all of the class advances, but it still has some moments that are endlessly frustrating. Of course, being familiar as I am, the lesson I learned way back in my Baldur's Gate days has not been forgotten: "Save early, save often."
Is the only way to unlock the class advances by dialogue? I've got Alistair about ready to open up Templar, but I'm hoping for Ranger.
Of course, being familiar as I am, the lesson I learned way back in my Baldur's Gate days has not been forgotten: "Save early, save often."
Same here, as well as (at least in the PC Version) Always hold the tab key down when looking around
You can unlock classes either through dialogue or through books that you can pick up at various merchants. The benefit though is that once you unlock a specialization it stays unlocked across all your saves, so you buy a book and you never need to buy it again.
Thx. Haven't been to many merchants but I know what to keep my eyes open for now.
You can unlock classes either through dialogue or through books that you can pick up at various merchants. The benefit though is that once you unlock a specialization it stays unlocked across all your saves, so you buy a book and you never need to buy it again.Thx. Haven't been to many merchants but I know what to keep my eyes open for now.
There are also characters in game you meet that can train you or allow you to train others in your group.
You can unlock classes either through dialogue or through books that you can pick up at various merchants. The benefit though is that once you unlock a specialization it stays unlocked across all your saves, so you buy a book and you never need to buy it again.
Am I reading this correctly? Do you mean if I unlock X specialization in 1 game, finish the game, and start a new game w/ a new character, X will already be unlocked? If so, that's freakin' awesome, and incentive to play through again.
Currently playing an elven mage. Not sure what my next game would be, but it won't be for a while anyway.
On saving: I save after every fight. Don't expect the auto-save to kick in every often; and certain fights need redoing over and over again for me to get them right. I also keep a backup save for a safe place (another area) in case things truly go south and I run out of mana/healing potions or something like that.
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Indeed that is correct, once you have unlocked it, it will remain unlocked on your next game. It appears that there is talk on some of the forums that there is actually something of a cheat where you can save a game, buy a book and unlock a specialization with it, and then reload the game and the specialization will still remain unlocked since it is not tied directly to the save but just to your profile.
On my second playthrough now, as a human rogue rather than a fighter. I have died a lot less with the rogue, courtesy of stealth scouting, trap detection and removal, abundant use of the hold party button and arrow of slaying to knock down threats from afar. Just barreling in with my fighter is not recommended to newcomers. I also gave Wynne and Morrigan, Crushing Prison which pretty well eliminates the two biggest threats in any scrap. Tactics is key in this game on difficulty's harder than easy. Great game!!!!
Does anyone have the game guide/cheat book. Is it a worthwhile investment? I have VERY little time to play computer games, so despite having gotten it on the day it came out, I am only just doing the Grey Warden initiation.
You can find a few of them free online, MeanDM. Here's a good one:
http://wikicheats.gametrailers.com/index.php/Dragon_Age:_Origins_-_PC_PS3_X B360/Walkthrough
Does anyone have the game guide/cheat book. Is it a worthwhile investment? I have VERY little time to play computer games, so despite having gotten it on the day it came out, I am only just doing the Grey Warden initiation.
If you enjoy the world, I'll cautiously recommend the collector's edition of the strategy guide. I have mine on hold until payday on Friday. I've looked through it in the game shop and it looks shiny. It contains unique lore about Ferelden. I haven't read in depth, so I don't know how much information there really is, or if it's worth it, and in the end it's probably nothing that I won't find in the Green Ronin produced RPG, but it looks mighty promising.
I bought the collector's edition guide on amazon for $20, which I think is a good price for it. It's a little too much to pay the $35 they want for it, but it's handy for those tougher encounters and has pretty good advice on character building (though you could honestly figure it out on your own). I'll second that the best aspect is the lore section in the back: I don't really like reading the codex entries during the game, so it's good to have some background info in a physical book.
I bought the game a few weeks ago and first started with a Dwarf commoner rogue. I went through Ostagar and restarted because I thought I missed something. My new character is a dwarven noble warrior/champion/beserker and is nowfighting the final boss (or I hope so). I really like the way that you happen to meet people for others origin story (like the dwarf commoner origin sister that is dating a rich dwarven noble, which happen to be the dwarf noble origin brother). Those are small details, but help to create link between the differents origins and also give the impression that the story is rich and goes beyond what happen to the player character, like in real world.
Question aside for XBox user? Did you had some bugs in conversation animation where there's someone talking and you got no sounds? Happen to me a few time especially in the Landsmeet, I missed most of the story due to this bug :(
An other question, I tried to get Liliana to use bow, but also equiped her with 2 dager as 2nd weapon set, and as soon as she shoot an arrow she switch to 2-weapon and engage the enemy. Is the any way to set her to use bow primaly with removing her second weapon set?
Also, for those who have Alistair, does he use is templar abilities on his own? or do you have to switch control on him to get him use is abilities? I never manage to get him use any templar ability on his own...
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An other question, I tried to get Liliana to use bow, but also equiped her with 2 dager as 2nd weapon set, and as soon as she shoot an arrow she switch to 2-weapon and engage the enemy. Is the any way to set her to use bow primaly with removing her second weapon set?Also, for those who have Alistair, does he use is templar abilities on his own? or do you have to switch control on him to get him use is abilities? I never manage to get him use any templar ability on his own...
Sounds like you need to play around with the Tactics menu. In the case of Leilana you need to change her to a "Ranged" personality (right now, it sounds like she is probably set for Aggressive). For Alistar, you may need to add his abilities to his list of tactics (which may require putting skill points into Combat Tactics to open up more slots).
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I bought the game a few weeks ago and first started with a Dwarf commoner rogue. I went through Ostagar and restarted because I thought I missed something. My new character is a dwarven noble warrior/champion/beserker and is nowfighting the final boss (or I hope so). I really like the way that you happen to meet people for others origin story (like the dwarf commoner origin sister that is dating a rich dwarven noble, which happen to be the dwarf noble origin brother). Those are small details, but help to create link between the differents origins and also give the impression that the story is rich and goes beyond what happen to the player character, like in real world.
Question aside for XBox user? Did you had some bugs in conversation animation where there's someone talking and you got no sounds? Happen to me a few time especially in the Landsmeet, I missed most of the story due to this bug :(
On the first point, yes, it's very nice to see the other origin stories get mentioned in each playthrough. It gives the impression that it was only blind luck that Duncan happened to be there to recruit you.
Second point, yes, I've had one or two bugs in conversation. I noticed it particularly at the Landsmeet when I've skipped a lot of the initial dialogue (darn fight kept beating me). Not noticed it when I've not skipped any dialogue though.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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The only bug that I've encountered (in the PC version) is that, on rare occasion, the same cutscene will play twice, complete with dialogue prompts for the player. This has happened maybe 3 times over the course of 70+ hours of gameplay, but other than that (and a single random crash) it's been pretty clean and smooth. The cutscene repetition isn't really a big deal, and the choices you make the first time through apparently get completely ignored in favor of whatever dialogue options you choose on the replay. The first time it happened I was like "...WTF?" and the second and third time is was more of an "Oh, this again" issue. No biggie.
Any other PC version players run into this issue? Or, hell, any Xbox/PS3/etc. players for that matter?
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The only bug that I've encountered (in the PC version) is that, on rare occasion, the same cutscene will play twice, complete with dialogue prompts for the player. This has happened maybe 3 times over the course of 70+ hours of gameplay, but other than that (and a single random crash) it's been pretty clean and smooth. The cutscene repetition isn't really a big deal, and the choices you make the first time through apparently get completely ignored in favor of whatever dialogue options you choose on the replay. The first time it happened I was like "...WTF?" and the second and third time is was more of an "Oh, this again" issue. No biggie.
Any other PC version players run into this issue? Or, hell, any Xbox/PS3/etc. players for that matter?
Yes I ran into that issue a few times.. Also if you have an Nvidia Video card turn off PhysX, the game does not work well with it and can cause crashes.
After 50-60 hours in, the only glitches I've had on the 360 were a cutscene where Loghain's voice cut out completely, and a freeze somewhere else. That's not bad. But more game to come...
So I learned a few things about relationships the last few hours of play.
(Spoilers for Leliana and Morrigan romances)
1. Apparently Leliana will get upset if you frequent the brothel, but Morrigan won't.
2. Morrigan goes ballistic if you try to get "friendly" with the duelist in the brothel.
3. You can't romance both Morrigan and Leliana indefinitely. It worked for a while, but eventually Morrigan forces a choice.
Somewhat related, but there is no accomplishment for . . . romancing both woman on the same night in camp.
Also, there is no accomplishment for going through all of the woman at the brothel.
I am a bit curious to see if anyone had the stones to suggest a threesome with Morrigan and Leliana during the confrontation conversation. I was afraid that that line wouldn't just end the relationship, but might actually throw Morrigan into a rage.
And yes, my wife has already called me a pig.
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25 hours in and I'm level 13.
I ran into a road encounter that concerned me a bit, though. There were over a dozen range-using enemies, with no enclosure to protect myself inside. I didn't see any way to defeat them all, despite my attempts to disrupt them with Earthquake and damage them with Tempest. Fortunately when I reloaded and travelled again, I didn't get that encounter. Has anyone else encountered one of these impossible, err... encounters?
Had I been forced to beat that one, I might have found a way, but the solution wasn't presenting itself.
My favorite cheese tactic:
My fighter taunts, then Morrigan puts up a Force Field on him. Then she unloads with Shock, Cone of Cold, and if necessary, Tempest. Soon to add Blizzard. Sweet AoE damage...
Force Field can also be used to encase a nasty enemy while you're taking out all the minions.
Never ran into Kobayashi Maru encounter, but I did run into the Superman homage encounter, and it was great.
There is also a bit of star wars homage in there. At one point you rescue a woman from a dungeon and she is dressed in guard gear. One of the dialogue options is 'Aren't you a little short for a guard?'
That's awesome. I hope I haven't missed that one with all of the relationship juggling I've been doing . . .
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There is also a bit of star wars homage in there. At one point you rescue a woman from a dungeon and she is dressed in guard gear. One of the dialogue options is 'Aren't you a little short for a guard?'
To which she responded looking down at my Dwarf Warrior Noble: "A little ironic coming from you."
I love this game. I had high hopes for it ever since I heard it was coming out and I have not been disappointed. I especially like the fact that the game shifts to what race and origin you are. Games like this in the past (Neverwinter Nights 2 I'm looking at you), I felt, were awkward to any other race but Human and any other class but fighter. Dialogue options or events just didn't match up to what I felt were Dwarfy or Elfy moments.
I finished my first play through a night ago and immediately started a new character (Human Noble Rogue) and am already climbing the Mage tower and it's been an almost completely different experience.
My hat's off to BioWare and I hope a sequel is announced soon. And much more downloadable content than what they did with Mass Effect 1.
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Indeed Alric, I have noticed a huge amount of things that seem related to my character. Being exceptionally vague to avoid any spoilers, I am currently absolutely amazed by one of the sets of dialogue that happens right before you move towards the last battle. The conversation seemed balanced on a number of choices I had made throughout the game and some of the different relationships I had formed and broken and it felt so tied into my specific character that I couldn't see it being used in any other context. It made me absolutely eager to play through to that point again and see how they could present those kind of choices to a character who was completely different then my current one.
Right now I am just at the precipice of finishing the game right now, having cleared my way up to what should be the final confrontation and I am greatly looking forward to starting again and exploring the world even further.