Dragon Age

[stray]

I'd prefer the party based rpgs over Bethsoft's approach any day. Not just Bioware, but in general.

[sidereal]

What was Fallout 3's plot?  Something about water?  Like other Beth games, it's just a sandbox with a thin reed of a motivation.  They like dropping you into the middle of a world and letting you wander with barely any incentive.  I prefer the Bioware implementation.  Open world built around a particular narrative.

[stray]

It's funny that even though they departed from D&D, every character pretty much falls into some alignment. Morrigan - chaotic neutral, Alistar- Lawful Good, Duncan - Neutral..

Kind of wish they had really implemented a gauge for all of it though. That was always cool to see your Jedi character in KotoR glowing Blue or Red, etc..

/end random

[Tebonas]

After finishing the game with my sword'n'board warrior, I just restarted it with a mage for my evil playthrough. I only used Wynne for healing, so I was not prepared for the total domination mages have in this game. My mage wipes the floor on Nightmare, its somewhat ridiculous.

Of course, being an evil greedy bastard is helped by this "bow before me, worthless minions or I crush you" option.

[apocrypha]

You mean Sten, and he gets one point at 14 everyone else gets one at 7 and one at 14 so hes at a disadvantage.

Sten, sorry, I mis-read! Shame that point is indeed lost then.

This game is really, really growing on me, I have to admit. I'm already looking forward to a 2nd playthrough so I can do things very differently, just to see how they turn out.

[Slyfeind]

I never carry both. I despise having to micromanage.  I do very little of it unless I really need to.  Plus, I like having Shale and a lock popper in my group.  Shale's conversations with Lel and Wynne are pretty entertaining so far.

Anyone used a good respec mod? I'm concerned that one might screw with talent points gained through books and ability points gained in the Fade.

The Raven worked fine for me. No problems at all, though I didn't really try to break it: http://social.bioware.com/project/469/

[Raguel]

Hey so I finally got Dragon Age. The only thing I hate about it so far is that you can only have 3 others in your party. Oh and I managed to lose my dog somehow :(


So what's the consensus on the DLC? Is it worth buying?

[Reg]

Go back and get your dog. Some of the funniest dialogue is about him.

[Raguel]

Should he be in the exact spot I left him or do I have to be in the general area? I decided to pick up wynne (sp) so he should be somewhere in the Tower. I couldn't remember where I left him, so I spent an ungodly amount of time retracing my steps, but I couldn't find him  

I think someone said you really don't need a healer in this game, but I'm kind of worried that I'll be too tank heavy (although I did pretty well before)


eta: My current party is: My soon-to-be champ, Alistair, Wynne, and Morrigan (I can't believe I didn't recognize her voice :P. I kept thinking, "wow she sounds really familiar". )

[Tebonas]

So, I browsed the official forums to maximize my second playthrough (basically looking what quests I've missed so that I can experience that content as well).

It turned out the game seems to have random named item drops. That is so completely beyond retarded for a single player game I can hardly believe it.

[Reg]

Ohh all you did was drop him out of your group to pick up Wynne? Unless your game is seriously, horribly bugged Dog should be waiting for you back at your party's main camp.  It's where you go when you select the square at the top right of the world map when you travel.

I thought you'd forgotten to complete the quest to get him much earlier in the game.

[Ingmar]

Yeah you can't leave anyone anywhere unless you kick them out or something. Dog is at your camp. (The game doesn't do a very good job of saying HEY NOOB YOUR CAMP IS THIS SPOT TO CLICK UP HERE, I will grant.)

[NiX]

I wish you could be a golem too.


The dog dialog is good? When he's in the party or when you interact with him in the camp?

[tgr]

I haven't played that far yet, but I did have a few funny comments in one of the camps where everybody in the party had something to say to him. I'm an absolute sucker for that kind of content, especially if it's actually funny to boot.

[tmp]

The dog dialog is good? When he's in the party or when you interact with him in the camp?

Both. Leliana had a discussion with him on the road at some point if he should really be immortalized in her songs as "gluttonous", e.g.

[Mazakiel]

The dog is awesome.  When I got to Denerim with him in the party, he ran off and came back with a kid, and I had to explain to him why he couldn't keep it. 

[Thrawn]

Think I just ran into my first game bug, or maybe I'm just missing something? -

[Nonentity]

Well...

[Ingmar]

Thrawn:

[Teleku]

What was Fallout 3's plot?  Something about water?  Like other Beth games, it's just a sandbox with a thin reed of a motivation.  They like dropping you into the middle of a world and letting you wander with barely any incentive.  I prefer the Bioware implementation.  Open world built around a particular narrative.

What was Fallout 1's plot?  Something about water?

What you described is the point of Fallout games.  Sandbox.

[Ingmar]

Fallout 1 was non-linear but I wouldn't describe it as a sandbox. I think that term gets thrown around way too much. Fallout 1 and 2 weren't really sandboxes. Fallout 3 is closer. Mount and Blade - now that's a sandbox.

[Bunk]

I stopped half way through my first run, and I'm really enjoying my second try.

Playing a Human mage who plans to burn down the Chantry and eventually take over the known world. Using Morrigan, Liliana (I'll purge her of those silly Chantry loyalties), and Dog to Tank.
I quickly decided Arcane Warrior would be too easy, so I've gone the opposite. I cut a deal to learn Blood Magic, and I totally focused on the Virulent spell line, which includes cool, chain-goop explosions, and ends with Animate dead. Who needs a warrior when you can animate a dead one?

Also, Misdirection Hex is love. Revenants become a cake walk when they can't hit you... I haven't bothered taking a single spell in the elemental lines.

[eldaec]

It's funny that even though they departed from D&D, every character pretty much falls into some alignment. Morrigan - chaotic neutral, Alistar- Lawful Good, Duncan - Neutral..

Pretty much every character in any form of poor to average quality fiction can be bucketed in a D&D alignment.

They do better than most computer games in handing out actual personalities, most characters have an arc. Leliana manages to swing around the lawful/chaotic scale pretty well (though that may just be the writer attempting to model female behaviour).

[stray]

Yeah, I agree. They're a bit more complicated. I like that it's pretty thorough with my own character too. My warrior is a neutral, almost taking up Duncan's mantle and rarely rocks the boat about anything but darkspawn. My mage is chaotic good, I guess. They really feel like different dudes. I've yet to play a dwarf, but I'm definitely going to be a prick with that.

[Raguel]

Ohh all you did was drop him out of your group to pick up Wynne? Unless your game is seriously, horribly bugged Dog should be waiting for you back at your party's main camp.  It's where you go when you select the square at the top right of the world map when you travel.

I thought you'd forgotten to complete the quest to get him much earlier in the game.

LOL Bioware gave me an easy button and I didn't know it. Gone are the days of leaving a party member in a flooded mine, eh? I guess I should have dl'd the manual (I'm renting, probably will buy it)


This game seems light years ahead of Jade Empire.  I love Bioware, but when did video games get this good?

[stray]

Jade Empire was their first attempt at departing from D&D, incorporating more action, creating their own lore... So it was hit and miss, I guess. But they finally are in their groove. Which is why I think Jade needs to be revisited. Or something like it. I'd just like to play something like this, but more Asian or tribal or exotic.. as opposed to high fantasy (I dig that too though, of course). As much as I like Asian RPG's, I like how these western styled rpgs play out too. You'd never get a Bioware type of game from Asia.


I don't know why nobody likes Leliana. She's cool. A bit goody, but if you're playing a good character, it fits. It didn't dawn on me at first, but she's sort of... Joan of Arc like. Not just because she's French either! I dunno.. she's a cool character.

[Ingmar]

Yes, the Joan of Arc parallels are a bit heavy handed at times. I like her a lot though - her lines are funny, she has some interesting story stuff, and the voice actress is quite good I think, although I'm not qualified to say if the accent is done well or whatever.

Honestly the voice acting in this game is largely top-notch. There are some things that don't work - the little kids are often terrible - but they're pretty rare, and there's not quite so much HEY THIS RANDOM DUDE IS THAT SAME GUY AGAIN as there was in say the KOTOR games.

There are a few accent consistency problems. For example, why is Wynne the only Fereldan human without a British accent? The characterization for her is so good though that I really don't mind.

[Strazos]

There's a pretty good Lelianna and Morrigan conversation eventually.

Also, anything involving the Dog is awesome. Like when he finds certain spots on maps. Or when you go to talk to werewolves.

[Threash]

I dislike Leiliana because shes mostly useless in combat but i have to drag her around to open chests.  Offering to give Morrigan a make over was  though.

[tmp]

although I'm not qualified to say if the accent is done well or whatever.

Leliana's VA is native french speaker so it's pretty amusing to see the complaints about the quality of her accent. Also, plenty people seem to like her just fine.

[stray]

I think her accent is fine. I thought she may have been a native speaker. Not over-pronounced/exaggerated french.. it's just right.

She's not useless in combat.. I mean, she's a support character, so it's more intangible? Saves me from making my own character like that too. Archery OTOH, ultimately is a bit useless. It only comes into it's own if you control it.

[schild]

Windowed mode, noborder. Anyone figure it out yet?

[rk47]

I think her accent is fine. I thought she may have been a native speaker. Not over-pronounced/exaggerated french.. it's just right.

She's not useless in combat.. I mean, she's a support character, so it's more intangible? Saves me from making my own character like that too. Archery OTOH, ultimately is a bit useless. It only comes into it's own if you control it.

Britain vs French setup of the Dragon Age 2?   I dunno man, I can't stand french accent but overall she's fine.

Despite putting too many points on Archery, her Scattershot is pretty useful, but there's no harm in delaying it. Put a second point on Poisoning talent for Fire flasks, lock pick asap, don't worry too much about dual wielding talents, grab the third tier rogue passive for auto-crit on stunned target and suddenly the synergy clicks together once you slap stunning runes on her offhand dagger.

Berserker's Final Blow doesn't seem that good. I hit a Light Red target for 110 damage though at the cost of all my stamina.

[stray]

Oh yeah another thing. How the heck does anyone manage to get on the good sides of both Leliana and Morrigan? Morrigan is a pain in the ass if you want to do anything "nice" in the game. While Lel is the flipside. Cockblockers, the both of them.

Not even sure why so many of you like playing Sten either. He might be the worst character.

[Reg]

Morrigan is easy. You can piss her off by being a nice guy every chance you get as long as you keep giving her presents.  She likes jewelry and there are tons of them around.  And it's really only during the early part of the game that she bitches a lot about you being too nice. She quiets down later on.