No Dragon Age topics!?!?!

[LunarGriever]

I know this site has always focused on JRPGs, but I think every last one of you should be picking up and playing Dragon Age at this point. It's an amazing game, easily my favorite game of this year, and probably one of my favorite games of all time.

I only recently started branching out and trying WRPGs, Fallout 3 was the first one in a loooong time, and I'm really amazed by DA. I always figured that WRPGs would have great open world game play at the expense of character development and story. Turns out that's not the case. Not only does DA have fantastic characters, but great character interaction as well.

So, anyone else playing, and if you are, what orgin/class did you start off with?

[Evil]

I've been meaning to pick this one up, but I haven't yet.

Maybe tomorrow after work. :)

[Bogeta]

I've been playing this. It's the first time in a long long time that I've actually been tempted to call in sick for work for days just to keep playing it. I have trouble sleeping because it's all I can think about because I play it too much, and even now, sitting at work I wish I was playing it. It's like reading a freaking a fantastic book that you just cant stop reading.

What World of Warcraft did for MMORPG's what Dragon Age: Origins is doing for Single Player RPG games.

Pardon my language, but... Fucking, FANTASTIC GAME.
I hope they keep adding new content, it's just too enjoyable.


I started off as a Human Warrior.

[LunarGriever]

lol I've been having the exactly same symptoms Bogeta. The game is really just too good.

[Evil]

Ok so I had this game since yesterday and I just have to say it.

I love this game. It's unlike any RPG I've played to date.

I had to start over, though, because I didn't really like controlling a mage in this game. I'm now a human warrior, and I'm gonna go the pure melee route. Smashing things is fun.

[Luisfe]

If it is anything like the previous Bioware things I've played (Baldur's Gate, KoTOR), the mage will be hard at first, but with a proper build it will be unstoppable at higher levels.

Not as much as thieves, though, they are incredibly broken in Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal.

[Evil]

Yeah, I discovered I much rather control a melee type character with mages doing their own thing in the back.

So what's everyone's preferred party? I'm currently running with Alistair, Wynne, Morrigan and myself.

[Bogeta]

I Slayed Wynne and her clan, not entirely sure why I did that, definately caused myself alot of problems when I actually needed the help of the circle later on and when I went back to the tower I was reminded that I killed everyone important.

Otherwise using Alistair, Morrigan and Leliana

[Itaska]

I've been meaning to try this game out, there's just too many other games i'm playing at the moment. I had a blast playing NWN, and this game looks just as good.

[LunarGriever]

Yeah, I discovered I much rather control a melee type character with mages doing their own thing in the back.

So what's everyone's preferred party? I'm currently running with Alistair, Wynne, Morrigan and myself.

Luis is right. Get some practice controlling your mage manually. You'll be happy you did later on.

Anyway right now my party is: Female Human Noble, Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana. If I end up playing the game a second time, I plan to use Shale... and be a Dalish Rogue I think...

[Evil]

Luis is right. Get some practice controlling your mage manually. You'll be happy you did later on.

2nd play through, perhaps. I'm satisfied with a warrior right now.

[drunken monk]

What platform are you guys playing on? I played through on pc. That game kicked my ass so hard and I heard the pc version was more difficult. I came to find out they even released a patch that made the game easier (lol) which did me no good seeing as how I found it after I finished the game.

First time through I played a human/noble/warrior/dual weapon spec. I rolled with Morrigan, Alistair, and Sten. Morrigan and Sten loved me but Alistair hated me with a passion because I was a dick the whole game. Id love to talk end game with you guys and what choices you picked but Id rather not spoil anything or tempt anyone into opening a spoiler tag.

Id like to say that I LOVED the game. I played it every waking moment for 3 days until I beat it. But I have to say that I wasnt too drawn in by the story. The start was good and the ending was epic as hell but everything in the middle seemed very stale and unoriginal for the most part. I was more compelled to keep playing by the gameplay more so then the story. The ending was also kinda weird. I dont think the original intent was to make DA a trilogy and it kinda seemed forced. It seemed like there were certain things they wanted to put in but left out to justify an ongoing story.

One other thing is the size of the game. Am I the only one that thought the world map was one section of at least a few the first time I saw it? I dont know why everyone is saying the game is so massive because its really not. I was expecting it to be way more open ended from what I was reading. It is none linear in the sense that you can choose what to do when you want to do it but once you accept a task your pretty much on a linear path until you complete that quest. And thats pretty much what the game is. About 10 linear maps tied together by loading screens. There is a shit ton of stuff to do in the game and a bunch of choices to make that affect the story but its not the scale of the game thats impressive. Its the sheer amount of content they jam packed into every corner they possibly could.

Thats not really a complaint because its designed just like Baldur's Gate and I would much rather play a game with more focused maps that have more content then a huge open world with tons of barren space that serves no purpose. I just dont get why people are saying the size of the world is so massive.

I would highly suggest learning to play a mage well because they are SUPER important in this game. Morrigan was the only mage I ever got access to. I heard there were others but I never found another mage. Probably due to my choices. But I found myself wishing I made my main a mage so I could have 2. I cant even imagine getting through this game without at least one. And if you dont know where to find the ingredients to make potions in mass quantities youd be pretty screwed without one.

The story was my only real complaint. I loved everything else. Im gonna end up playing through again at least once more and I would like to check out all of the origin stories as well just havent gotten around to it yet.

[Less Than Liz]

This game is fun! I made a female human warrior. Noble, bwahahaha. I like being the main character because:

1. I'm not a healer or unplayable.
2. I have a sword!
3. I also have neat armor that covers my entire body!
4. I'm way hot, even though I can't tell if I selected blue eyes or not.
5. blah blah blah love interest blah blah -- NOT!

Morrigan is wicked awesome.

[Evil]

Morrigan is wicked awesome. But Alistair is my favorite. He has my sense of humor.

[drunken monk]

ugh. I wanted to punch Alistair in the balls. I fucked him over hard at the end out of pure hatred. Morrigan is the shiz though. I love her attitude towards everything.

[Less Than Liz]

I'm currently trying to woo Alistair. I will break him eventually.

[twerp]

I'm trying to bed the old broad, Wynne.


Morrigan seems like the type that would break my heart :(

[Less Than Liz]

My character isn't getting any ass any time soon. People are so sensitive....even in video games...

[twerp]

I know, kill one merchant to try and get some free swag...trying to save the world here...and everybody gets all mad and preachy.

[LunarGriever]

I know, kill one merchant to try and get some free swag...trying to save the world here...and everybody gets all mad and preachy.

I don't recall having the option to kill any merchants... who'd you kill?

My first time though I played nice and kept pretty much everyone happy, and I was able to bed everyone I wanted to. This time I'm trying to be as awful as possible... it makes wooing some of the characters a lot harder.

[drunken monk]

This is now the official DA dating sim thread.

[twerp]

I don't recall having the option to kill any merchants... who'd you kill?

My first time though I played nice and kept pretty much everyone happy, and I was able to bed everyone I wanted to. This time I'm trying to be as awful as possible... it makes wooing some of the characters a lot harder.

The guy in Lothering who was ripping people off. Stabbed him good.

[Ges]

Okay, I wasn't looking to get this, but the forum community has never suggested something I didn't end up liking (you guys got me to get Bioshock, The Orange Box, Valkyria Chronicles, Mass Effect, etc), so I might give this sucker a try.

[Nickoten]

For all you Rogue-types out there, someone on the official forums did comparisons across different builds, and due to the bug in the original release where daggers use only strength to calculate damage (Rather than half strength and half dexterity), a dual-dagger Rogue does more damage per second than pretty much anyone else in the game, because the skill "Lethality" makes it so that your damage is ONLY calculated by cunning.

So get your strength only to the level it needs to be to wield the dagger you want, get dexterity to the max it needs to be for your talents, and just go hog wild on that cunning (Which also means you don't need to invest much in the Coercion skill and Lockpicking talent, both of which are modified by Cunning).

Just thought some of you might be interested.

[twerp]

Okay, I wasn't looking to get this, but the forum community has never suggested something I didn't end up liking (you guys got me to get Bioshock, The Orange Box, Valkyria Chronicles, Mass Effect, etc), so I might give this sucker a try.

I'm not a huge Bioware guy, but this game made me a fan.

[Bogeta]

My first character had his way in the tent with Morrigan, she eventually got all pissy so I brought us down to the friend barrier. I than turned my lust towards Leliana whom also ended up in the tent with me. Morrigan didn't seem to like that too much and questioned me later on.


Another wtf is what Morrigan asks me to do at the end of the game considering my relationship status with her and Leliana, which I won't spoil of course.

sigh, women...

[charolastra00]

My new goal is to sex up characters. I expressed displeasure on not having had this happen to my boyfriend and he informed me that it is still a possibility.

[Void]

For all you Rogue-types out there, someone on the official forums did comparisons across different builds, and due to the bug in the original release where daggers use only strength to calculate damage (Rather than half strength and half dexterity), a dual-dagger Rogue does more damage per second than pretty much anyone else in the game, because the skill "Lethality" makes it so that your damage is ONLY calculated by cunning.

So get your strength only to the level it needs to be to wield the dagger you want, get dexterity to the max it needs to be for your talents, and just go hog wild on that cunning (Which also means you don't need to invest much in the Coercion skill and Lockpicking talent, both of which are modified by Cunning).

Just thought some of you might be interested.

VERY, interested.

[Evil]

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[twerp]

I beat it with my first character yesterday. I absolutely loved the end of the game.

[Blackdragon]

I tried giving this game a try but it just wasn't for me. If it was more like Oblivion and Fallout I might have given it a chance, but after playing it for about half an hour I could tell I wasn't going to get into it.

[drunken monk]

I tried giving this game a try but it just wasn't for me. If it was more like Oblivion and Fallout I might have given it a chance, but after playing it for about half an hour I could tell I wasn't going to get into it.

Do you like any other bioware games of this nature? If not Im not surprised. Bioware and bethesda games are 2 completely different things.

[Blackdragon]

I've given them a try but I never liked Baldurs Gate, or any similar games. Though I do like playing NWN so I figured since it was a free rental, why not? Needless to say the game went back the same day.

[drunken monk]

Well that makes sense then. BG and DA are basically the same game. I cant say anything about NWN because I totally missed out on that. I also never played Icewind Dale :(

[Bogeta]

I tried giving this game a try but it just wasn't for me. If it was more like Oblivion and Fallout I might have given it a chance, but after playing it for about half an hour I could tell I wasn't going to get into it.

What is Oblivion like, I remember there being fantastic reviews on the game but I never had the chance to actually play it, recommended?

[drunken monk]

What is Oblivion like, I remember there being fantastic reviews on the game but I never had the chance to actually play it, recommended?

When your first playing it Oblivion is like a gift from god. And then you start thinking to yourself "Ive leveled up like 10 times so why do these same monters keep getting harder". And then you realize that certain monsters scale with you and are always stronger then you. So basically the stronger you get the harder the game becomes. Because of that one flaw the game becomes almost unplayable if you level up too much. The End.

Seriously though its a good game. If your going to get it blast through the main quest line first at as low a level as you possibly can because the main quest is the hardest. After you finish that go back and play through the guilds and side quests which are considerably easier. If you wait and do the main quest line last when your at a high level your going to be kicking yourself in the ass for it. Believe me its not fun. Ive seen Oblivion veterans simply give up because it was too hard. If your one of those people that are like "ah whatever I like a challenge". No! Listen to my advice that games balance is seriously messed up.

But other then that its great. Huge open world, tons of quests, items, armor, weapons. Its pretty badass. It just has one huge flaw.

[Nickoten]

That, and there's just not a lot to explore outside of quests. They really streamlined the game here, but in doing so really took out a lot of the wonder of the world that Morrowind has. Don't bother trekking through a dungeon you may spot on the way to a city (Assuming you don't fast travel there), you'll probably find an Iron Sword or something in its deepest depths. The scaling kills the game in more ways than one.

[twerp]

See the reason I liked Dragon Age so much was because it wasn't like Oblivion. I just think party based RPGs are so much better. This was the first game where I actually cared about what happened to the party members in a long time.

[drunken monk]

See the reason I liked Dragon Age so much was because it wasn't like Oblivion. I just think party based RPGs are so much better. This was the first game where I actually cared about what happened to the party members in a long time.

I totally agree with you about party based rpgs being better. 100% agree.

But like I said in my first post I didnt really get too into the story of DA. And if you cant get into the story its kinda hard to care for the characters in it.

This might seem like an odd comparison but bear with me. DA reminded me of Kingdom Hearts 2. The start of KH2 was cool because it was entirely new. I was excited about the story and I was enjoying myself. The same goes for DA. Then everything in the middle felt like everything I did in the first KH just slightly different. I look at DA in the same way. Everything in the middle felt like every fantasy story Ive ever read with a slight bioware twist. Then the ending of KH2 was awesome because again it was entirely new. The same goes for DA.

The only character I really cared for was Morrigan because out of everyone shes the most involved with the original story aspects.

Edit: Well theres Alistair but I think hes annoying as hell.

[Evil]

Anyone playing the expansion?

[Less Than Liz]

Anyone playing the expansion?
I finally went back to the game about a week ago and beat it yesterday. I'd like a few more playthroughs before dropping $40 on the expansion, but I plan to get to it eventually.

I'm also PISSED because I didn't realize I had a redemption code I could use for the Shale expansion, but it expired April 30th and no longer works.

[LunarGriever]

Well, if you're still interested I'd say the Shale expansion is definitely worth the price. The Warden's Peak one less so, but still good.