Dragon Age

[Stormwaltz]

Someone had way too much fun designing these "surprise me" options in Pearl. I'm never going to look at the battle hammers the same way again

That was Luke Kristjanson, and yes, he did.

[Threash]

I've given myself an eye infection from playing this too much...

[rk47]

With unlimited mana pot for sale at mage circle..I'm starting to wonder I even bothered taking a 2nd melee char. Wynne, Morrigan and my main Mage + Alistair is pretty much all I need. Cone of Cold x 2 , Stone projectile to smash one, Alistair switch to two hander to crit-bash one fella. Then shield bash crit another. Make that 3 free kills. Accuracy debuff the Yellow names, Earthquake the remainder. Mages will trade Rejuvenates with each other for mana regen or snort blue cocaine as needed.

[stray]

Seems like every NPC has a Scottish name. A bit unimaginative imo.

[Cadaverine]

Edit: spoilered for the sake of the 3 people in the universe that haven't bothered to buy this game yet.

[FatuousTwat]

I've noticed that you can be a total asshole in any of the origins, and their response is always along the lines of "Oh you!".

[Slyfeind]

YAY STORY! Well, knowing that, I feel a bit safer in being a dick now and then.

[Xurtan]

Really it just seems like the major acts of evil make a difference. Other than that, it seems you just get a favor hit with party members that don't approve. Like if you decide to kill the wounded soldier in the beginning of the game, Alistair frowns at you and you get -3 favor. On the other hand, if you choose the Cult of Andraste side in the Urn quest, Wynne either leaves or attacks you. (Even if you get her after you do the Urn..)

[Slyfeind]

Cult stuff...
And WHAT THE FUCK is up with this overpower thing wolves and small dragons do? You DO NOT EVER make the player sit and watch helplessly as he LOSES THE GAME. I don't care if I can get back up after the fight. Watching myself die is stupidhead dumbfuck design and should not happen!

[jakonovski]

And WHAT THE FUCK is up with this overpower thing wolves and small dragons do? You DO NOT EVER make the player sit and watch helplessly as he LOSES THE GAME. I don't care if I can get back up after the fight. Watching myself die is stupidhead dumbfuck design and should not happen!

So would it be ok if they just hit you for the same damage instead of doing the overpower thing animation?

[rk47]

i'd say that's why CC is important. Cold spells are best at this.

[Ingmar]

Cult stuff...
And WHAT THE FUCK is up with this overpower thing wolves and small dragons do? You DO NOT EVER make the player sit and watch helplessly as he LOSES THE GAME. I don't care if I can get back up after the fight. Watching myself die is stupidhead dumbfuck design and should not happen!

So take an anti-knockdown power or don't let yourself get caught in melee with one? It is pretty much just getting stunned with a fancy animation attached to it. Should there be no CC effects that work on the player at all?

[stray]

Random: I'm going to try to avoid having a lot of magic dmg in my team.. This game is a little more involved (dare I say, more interesting) without it.

Umm, I don't mean completely void of magic. Support tactics are cool.

OTOH.... I think it's cool that they didn't bother to balance it. Kudos to Bioware for actually making mages.... mages. My gimpy rogue is more fun though.

[caladein]

Cult stuff...
And WHAT THE FUCK is up with this overpower thing wolves and small dragons do? You DO NOT EVER make the player sit and watch helplessly as he LOSES THE GAME. I don't care if I can get back up after the fight. Watching myself die is stupidhead dumbfuck design and should not happen!

So take an anti-knockdown power or don't let yourself get caught in melee with one? It is pretty much just getting stunned with a fancy animation attached to it. Should there be no CC effects that work on the player at all?

Evasion (Rogue, Forth Tier) gives you a 20% chance to avoid knockdowns.
Indomitable (2H, Second Tier) makes you immune to knockdowns.
Shield Expertise (W/S, Forth Tier) makes Shield Wall (W/S, Third Tier) provide immunity to knockdowns.

If the enemy Overwhelm is anything like the Master Shapeshifter Bear/Spider one, it's a neat attack (since it's a lunge and a knockdown) but it's not ridiculous... just need to be fast on the Heal.

The ability I found really annoying was the DoT+No Healing Hex/Curse that gets thrown up a lot at the end of the game.  I didn't have many deaths from it, but I always had to wait it out.

[Rasix]

And WHAT THE FUCK is up with this overpower thing wolves and small dragons do? You DO NOT EVER make the player sit and watch helplessly as he LOSES THE GAME. I don't care if I can get back up after the fight. Watching myself die is stupidhead dumbfuck design and should not happen!

Any stun or knockback (shield bash, stone fist, etc) will get you out of an overpower.  I think it says so in a tip at some point.  This also works for any grabbing attack by an ogre or boss.

[Slyfeind]

Ah, I did not know you could heal through it. I blew like all my health potions and spammed Heal spells and just watched myself die, SEVERAL times, so I just gave up and thought it was really insulting dev wankery "LOL slow death attack and you can't do anything to stop it, aren't we clever?" I've been reloading every time that shit even starts. It's made wolf fights take forever.

[Tmon]

And WHAT THE FUCK is up with this overpower thing wolves and small dragons do? You DO NOT EVER make the player sit and watch helplessly as he LOSES THE GAME. I don't care if I can get back up after the fight. Watching myself die is stupidhead dumbfuck design and should not happen!

Any stun or knockback (shield bash, stone fist, etc) will get you out of an overpower.  I think it says so in a tip at some point.  This also works for any grabbing attack by an ogre or boss.

[tmp]

Indomitable (2H, Second Tier) makes you immune to knockdowns.

Dropping earthquake on dozen darkspawns and having Sten with indomitable on wade in there with his two-hander is one of these simple life pleasures

[Slyfeind]

Any stun or knockback (shield bash, stone fist, etc) will get you out of an overpower.  I think it says so in a tip at some point.  This also works for any grabbing attack by an ogre or boss.

Yeah, I can't be arsed to read the codex. Too many words. The tooltip though, I guess I just didn't make the connection. 

[Tmon]

I don't read it so much as I skim through the new entries every so often looking for info that might be useful.

[Furiously]

Totally cheese dragon strategy.
 

[Nerf]

I never messed with forcefield, but I did always wonder, if you're in the forcefield, can you simply not move, or does it act like a stun?

[Reg]

You're stuck in the forcefield. You can't hurt anything and nothing can hurt you.  If your tank has built up aggro it's a good cheesy trick to forcefield him while your archers and mages do the real damage.

[schild]

Arcane Warrior makes getting through the game a mere triviality :( Who balanced this thing?

[caladein]

Do any of the origins beside Dwarf Noble strip your items away during the origin story?

(Starting up a new character and want to avoid any DLC-trickery if I can help it.)

[stray]

Arcane Warrior makes getting through the game a mere triviality :( Who balanced this thing?

It does seem rather purposeful if you read the lore/general reaction to magic in the Dragon Age world. I'm just surprised they actually implemented it that way.


Anyhow, I never consciously thought of myself this way before, but it all reminds me that it's just best to "role play". The game is more immersive as a gimp with the odds stacked against you.  

Do any of the origins beside Dwarf Noble strip your items away during the origin story?

(Starting up a new character and want to avoid any DLC-trickery if I can help it.)

I haven't noticed anything.

[Big Gulp]

Anyhow, I never consciously thought of myself this way before, but it all reminds me that it's just best to "role play". The game is more immersive as a gimp with the odds stacked against you.

Huh?  So I'm the only one running around with "runscript pc_immortal" on all the time?  Fuck the combat, I just want story/inter-party bickering.

[stray]

I had a mage character, but enjoy melee much more..  turning point was when my team was nearly wiped from a boss, and my rogue edged out a final killing blow alone. That shit was epic.   Fuck being epic by default and just wiping everything out.. more fun being the underdog "hero". Besides, these games are expensive. Would like it to last awhile, I guess.

So anyways, I won't be playing a PC mage. Maybe give Wynne Spirit Healer though. 2 heals is nice..

[Xilren's Twin]

The ability I found really annoying was the DoT+No Healing Hex/Curse that gets thrown up a lot at the end of the game.  I didn't have many deaths from it, but I always had to wait it out.

Templar's have a nice Tier 3 Dispell Magic ability that can rid of crap like that; can strip your buffs too but it can come in handy with some of those nasty No-heal DoTs

[stray]

Got a warrior now... Looks like Jeff Bridges. I've named him Dude Cousland.   edit: One shouldn't be so bored on a Saturday night..


Back to game.. I was curious what other games (RPG's I mean) cop God of War with the whole killing blow animation thing..? Surely this isn't the first one?

[rk47]

Biggest gripe so far is no queue-able action bar. It makes the combat felt so awkward cause I kept pausing after a spell is cast to re-position and re-target.

[NiX]

Arcane Warrior makes getting through the game a mere triviality :( Who balanced this thing?

Probably one of the people who got fired.




Too soon?

[Reg]

What's so great about Arcane Warrior? I have it unlocked but I don't see any obvious reason that it's better than a standard mage.

[stray]

Emphasize the "warrior" there. It's more powerful than standard melee.

That's one way to build it at least. I'm sure you can emphasize the "arcane" too, and it'd still be great.. A caster in plate is not a bad thing at all. Your pool is limited compared to standard mages, but I bet combined with blood mage it'd be an uber mage.

[rk47]

It's like a heavy magic self buffed warrior with a sprinkle of magic. But I'm not really interested in that concept much. I'm more of a active magic user than a passive one. Autoattack to victory seems uninteresting when you can just force field tank rotate with 3 caster in a party while standing in the middle of 3 AOE.