Dragon Age

[schild]

I liked the ending quite a lot, myself, and I didn't particularly think it was doing much to set up DLC. I'd be pretty surprised if the Morrigan thing shows up in DLC personally. I expect it is a setup for a sequel or a novel or both, more likely.

DLC, sequel, after L4D2 the only difference is the price really. Seriously though, DLC or Sequel, it's obviously going to be one of them unless Bioware decides to assume everyone killed their main character. I could be more spoilerish but I won't because, perhaps, there are folks who haven't finished the game. Of course, it's possible they ignore it and just punt you over to Orlais and forget about all the current stuff.

[Reg]

I think you're right. There's likely to be a real expansion/sequel that continues with the Morrigan storyline. I don't think it'll be a crappy little 10 dollar DLC either. To do this right they're going to want to put serious resources into it. With the DLC they've already said they won't introduce new characters because it's too expensive to merge them into the main game properly.

I don't have any problem with that. They did a good job telling me what happens to everyone at the end of the game and left a few holes for a sequel. That's not exactly a criminal act. It's certainly not as offensive as that NPC sitting in the party camp with an exclamation mark over his head trying to sell me an overpriced 2 hour adventure.

The question is whether the sequel will actually carry on the development of your Grey Warden or require a new character. A new character would probably be easier but I imagine they want to develop epic levels in the game anyway. Once they have a game system that can be played up to level 45 or 50 future expansions can start expanding the range of classes and specializations which it also needs.

[stray]

Morrigan is one of my least favorite characters. Not sure if I'd like play something focused on her.

[Tebonas]

What the fuck?

My hero died. He sacrificed himself after a long journey to unite a nation against a common threat. He got his proper goodbyes. He even got a tomb and his family name restored. How is that not a proper ending?

Because there is a safegame afterwards for DLC (which played before the final battle as far as the lore is concerned)? I remember the crying and moaning over Fallouts 3 Herodiestheendhaveaniceday ending, and rightly so. This is the alternative method, and we hate it as well?

DA2 will either involve vague memories of the "Savior of the Republic Ferelden and be playable with a new character, or it will be a continuation of DA1, which means I use my "Loghain gets it from the dragon like the bitch he is" savegame. DLC is there to milk the completists among us and can be safely ignored without bodily harm. Just say no to spending money for subpar content.

[01101010]

What the fuck?

My hero died. He sacrificed himself after a long journey to unite a nation against a common threat. He got his proper goodbyes. He even got a tomb and his family name restored. How is that not a proper ending?

They could always go with: "No, there is another."

[Brogarn]

So I used a respec mod and turned Leliana into a complete badass with momentum, lethality and a high cunning. It's awesome watching her do the kill animation on an ogre.

Beyond that, mage play-through is vastly easier than warrior play-through. I still die occasionally but only had reloads against Branka. It was the only hard fight my Sword and Board warrior got through on the first try while it took 6 on my mage. Kept getting knocked down and 2 shot right at the beginning and was never able to recover.

[Sky]

So we're just going ahead and spoilerizing this thread now? Ok, see you in a couple weeks.

[Rasix]

It's on page 53.  /le_shrug

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yeah, ending was alright. I expected a cinematic or some sort of cutscene really. Feels like that skimped a bit on that end but it's not that the game is setting up for a sequal that bothered me, it's that the whole game felt like a pt1 to me.  Case in point runes, I was getting runes out the ass but had only very few magical items to put them in, why? It felt like the whole game was trying to keep the scope of my adventure small, up to and including my items. Sure I went to some interesting places and killed a dragon and while that would have been cool it was always as though in the back of my head I could tell there should be more.  Where's the rest of the map?

Maybe I'm too used to JRPG's where you save the entire universe and another alternate universe while destroying all ultimate evil everywhere.  I don't think it's so much that though, I'm ok with smaller stories like fallout3 but dragon age didn't feel like it should be small, it felt like a tease for sequels.

[01101010]

Yeah, ending was alright. I expected a cinematic or some sort of cutscene really. Feels like that skimped a bit on that end but it's not that the game is setting up for a sequal that bothered me, it's that the whole game felt like a pt1 to me.  Case in point runes, I was getting runes out the ass but had only very few magical items to put them in, why? It felt like the whole game was trying to keep the scope of my adventure small, up to and including my items. Sure I went to some interesting places and killed a dragon and while that would have been cool it was always as though in the back of my head I could tell there should be more.  Where's the rest of the map?

Your world vs. THE world

There is more...that's what took the shine off for me. Love the game and still not fully done with a play through yet, but after seeing the full map and what we see ingame, foreshadowing at its finest. The only real question is cost. 

[Sky]

It's on page 53.  /le_shrug

I know, I play games slowly. I think I've got about 60 hours into DA:O right now, just started the orzammar part.

And I already forgot I wasn't checking this thread.

[schild]

It's on page 53.  /le_shrug

I know, I play games slowly. I think I've got about 60 hours into DA:O right now, just started the orzammar part.

And I already forgot I wasn't checking this thread.

I visited every area and ended up at what I think the MAX was for world completion on a single playthrough and it took me 41 hours. What the hell are you doing that you're 60 hours in?

[Lantyssa]

Because there is a safegame afterwards for DLC (which played before the final battle as far as the lore is concerned)? I remember the crying and moaning over Fallouts 3 Herodiestheendhaveaniceday ending, and rightly so. This is the alternative method, and we hate it as well?

We hated it because when we asked Lady-Who-Is-Immune-To-Radiation (and the ultimate irony of what would be Lady-Whom-Society-Fears-Saves-The-Wasteland) to go shut the valve off, she tells you to do it yourself because it's your moment to shine.

[Threash]

It's on page 53.  /le_shrug

I know, I play games slowly. I think I've got about 60 hours into DA:O right now, just started the orzammar part.

And I already forgot I wasn't checking this thread.

I visited every area and ended up at what I think the MAX was for world completion on a single playthrough and it took me 41 hours. What the hell are you doing that you're 60 hours in?

Does the time when you have the game paused count towards your total? cause i did a shit ton of that.

[Ingmar]

Because there is a safegame afterwards for DLC (which played before the final battle as far as the lore is concerned)? I remember the crying and moaning over Fallouts 3 Herodiestheendhaveaniceday ending, and rightly so. This is the alternative method, and we hate it as well?

We hated it because when we asked Lady-Who-Is-Immune-To-Radiation (and the ultimate irony of what would be Lady-Whom-Society-Fears-Saves-The-Wasteland) to go shut the valve off, she tells you to do it yourself because it's your moment to shine.

Random derail: Fawkes is a dude (confirmed by a designer, who said the voice actor was wrong.) Sort of disappointing in a way, but DA:O has a character who makes up for it.

[Tebonas]

I hated it because I was amped up with Antiradiation perks and meds up the wazoo so that I could have snorted a weapon-grade uranium line off a dead hooker while casually strolling towards the button and pressing it with a double backflip.

And I still died of radiation poisoning.

[jakonovski]

I hated it because I was amped up with Antiradiation perks and meds up the wazoo so that I could have snorted a weapon-grade uranium line off a dead hooker while casually strolling towards the button and pressing it with a double backflip.

And I still died of radiation poisoning.

Nothing can withstand plotonium.

[tmp]

Sort of disappointing in a way, but DA:O has a character who makes up for it.

I was disappointed to find out what they did with that one, actually. Sure it is a twist but it feels like enforcing the personality stereotypes in the end, which makes it feel rather cheap.

[Lucas]

Patch 1.02 is out:

http://social.bioware.com/page/da-patches

[Yoru]

I do not like the Cone of Cold/Force Field nerfs. My character relies on that shit heavily.

[sidereal]

    * Daggers now apply 0.5 points of damage per additional point in dexterity and 0.5 points of damage per additional point in strength, as originally intended. This increases dagger damage for high-dexterity characters.

    So they fixed daggers, but not bows?   
    The worst thing is that there's now no solution.  The out-of-band dev archery/dagger patch is supposed to be uninstalled before installing this patch, because they evidently conflict somehow.  But this doesn't fix archery, so uh. . no archery solution now.

    * The spells Force Field, Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold, and Blizzard now have shorter durations and/or longer cooldowns. This ensures that combatants can no longer stun-lock each other by repeatedly casting the same spell.

   

    * Promotional downloadable content items now remain in the player's inventory when standard items are removed at the end of the dwarf noble origin.

   Thanks for fixing that about 3 weeks late.  Douches.

[tmp]

   So they fixed daggers, but not bows?  
    The worst thing is that there's now no solution.  The out-of-band dev archery/dagger patch is supposed to be uninstalled before installing this patch, because they evidently conflict somehow.  But this doesn't fix archery, so uh. . no archery solution now.

They were probably afraid of NPC archers getting out of hand and didn't find good way to address that.

Did they really say the unofficial fix has to be uninstalled? I was planning to keep it, i rather liked archers being nasty... figured it'd just overwrite the base functionality like it used to.

On the spell nerfs i'm mostly surprised apparently they didn't make the force field reset aggro, thought they're planning it.

[sidereal]

The hotfix page has, under Precautions:

Once done testing or once an official patch releases, delete the hotfix files before installing the patch.

[tmp]

Ah indeed. Guess i'll live dangerously and leave the unofficial version in the overwrite folder, in theory it shouldn't really break anything.

Seems there's a link to fan-made archery mod on this page too, though at quick glance that one is suffering from the trying too hard syndrome as they tend to...

[Lakov_Sanite]

I'm glad developers have started to follow mmo suit and nerf single player games. We obviously can't have overpowered spells otherwise the players might use that to exploit the game and thereby diminish the experience of the surrounding npc's who have been following the rules as dictated by the vision.

[murdoc]

I'm glad developers have started to follow mmo suit and nerf single player games. We obviously can't have overpowered spells otherwise the players might use that to exploit the game and thereby diminish the experience of the surrounding npc's who have been following the rules as dictated by the vision.

But it's not nerf, it's fixing the highly frustrating times when you and a NPC stunlock each other.


 

[Samprimary]

I'm glad developers have started to follow mmo suit and nerf single player games. We obviously can't have overpowered spells otherwise the players might use that to exploit the game and thereby diminish the experience of the surrounding npc's who have been following the rules as dictated by the vision.

I guess I don't see how this is not a good thing? It's good to try to make it so that you can get the same general sense of satisfaction no matter what character class you play as. That it's a single player game should be mostly irrelevant to that fact.

[stray]

BLASPHEMER!!

Well, when my seasoned warrior misses on a frozen target like he's some retard playing tee ball at the special olympics, then it's pretty stupid. Such an old school way of doing things, and relatively speaking, rpg combat can be much better.

That isn't to say I hate their games. I like them a lot in fact - but combat isn't their strong suit (or graphics! :P). They have decent writers, so that's why I keep playing.

RE: Nerfing..

I don't really care what people do in a single player game, but when some players start soloing areas on Nightmare, thanks much in part to things like freezes etc, then something might have to give. I'd expect that shit to be nerfed.

[sidereal]

I guess I don't see how this is not a good thing? It's good to try to make it so that you can get the same general sense of satisfaction no matter what character class you play as. That it's a single player game should be mostly irrelevant to that fact.

It might be saying the same thing a different way, but I think the primary motivation is to minimize any sense of regret from the players.  It's one thing if you give players hard mode and tell them at the beginning 'Pick hard mode or easy mode'.  If a player complains that Nightmare is too hard, you don't fault the game, you just tell them to stop playing on Nightmare.  But in Dragon Age, mages are basically easy mode.  But nothing tells you that.  So a new player wouldn't find out about it until 10-30 hours of playing all the characters in their party and seeing which ones are kicking ass and which ones are useless.

Honestly, rather than fiddling with the difficulty, I think they could save a lot of time and effort and keep players happy by putting this text at character creation:

"Game difficulty is scaled to the warrior.  Mages are masters of a variety of arcane powers and will find the game easier.  Rogues prefer to avoid combat and will find the game more difficult"

Done.

[MournelitheCalix]

I'm glad developers have started to follow mmo suit and nerf single player games. We obviously can't have overpowered spells otherwise the players might use that to exploit the game and thereby diminish the experience of the surrounding npc's who have been following the rules as dictated by the vision.

ROFLMAO, I am not sure why I would want to patchi this.  I kind of like cone of cold the way it is.

[Threash]

Yeah fuck that patch, im keeping my dex fix over ride and OP mages.

[Merusk]

Yeah, this is me unclicking "keep this game up to date" in Steam.

[Samprimary]

"Game difficulty is scaled to the warrior.  Mages are masters of a variety of arcane powers and will find the game easier.  Rogues prefer to avoid combat and will find the game more difficult"

Done.

Yikes. I'd call that a copout of the highest order, if they really had opted to do this. No way. It's better, in my mind, to actually care enough to test your product enough to avoid massive imbalances in player options.

[01101010]

"Game difficulty is scaled to the warrior.  Mages are masters of a variety of arcane powers and will find the game easier.  Rogues prefer to avoid combat and will find the game more difficult"

Done.

Yikes. I'd call that a copout of the highest order, if they really had opted to do this. No way. It's better, in my mind, to actually care enough to test your product enough to avoid massive imbalances in player options.

One of the few games I got for the 360... I miss patches.

[sidereal]

"Game difficulty is scaled to the warrior.  Mages are masters of a variety of arcane powers and will find the game easier.  Rogues prefer to avoid combat and will find the game more difficult"

Done.

Yikes. I'd call that a copout of the highest order, if they really had opted to do this. No way. It's better, in my mind, to actually care enough to test your product enough to avoid massive imbalances in player options.

Why?  The point is that in a single-player game 'balance' doesn't mean anything.  All that matters is that players know what they're getting into, so they can make educated choices.