deganawida

Thanks!

So, has anyone used Shale extensively? If so, does he comment on various things like the normal NPCs do? I like Shale, and find him to be an incredibly useful party member (in that he can easily switch roles in combat), but I love the banter in the game, and would hate to give it up.

Heh, reminds me of dating in college. Yes, Leliana is the sweet girl that won't give it up until there's a commitment. Morrigan's the wild girl that you meet at the club, invites you to the parking lot, shags your brains out, and then doesn't say much when you go to ask the hot nice girl to dance.

Huh? I took him down on Hard with my warrior in no form and still had half my HP left when I got done. He was a piece of cake compared to the one in the Tower of Ishakal. My warrior wasn't even particularly optimized, as I had made some poor decisions in talent choices (one of the reasons I'm restarting yet again), and was only level 10 or 11. In fact, the only form I used when fighting any of those bosses was the Burning Man form, and that was for the rage demon.

I did not know that. I'll have to have her use that a lot more.

Yes mages own the game on both sides. Any battle with enemy mages where you don't have one of your own is extremely extremely difficult. Having a PC thats a mage drops the difficulty down a level. That and most of the specializations are useless. With better class balance would have been one of the true greats IMO. Best method for dealing with enemy mages without one of your own is to have your tank run up and shield bash him ASAP. That stops the initial salvo of spells. Granted, that only works on one mage at a time, and sometimes you can't get to the mage quickly enough...

I'm playing on hard, as well. It's required me to reload a few fights, most notably the first fight on the first floor of the Tower of Ishakal, the top floor of same, some of the random encounters, and the third group of bandits in Lothering. I ended up passing up on for the time being, though I had no problem with . I think part of that is my party configuration at the time. Oh, and I do lose someone in a fight at least 20% of the time, so I use the injury kits. This is very different from my first aborted play-through, when I tried normal difficulty. On normal difficulty, it felt as though I were steamrolling through everything. This doesn't mean that the game is too easy, just that normal was too easy for me. All that said, I am restarting tonight. I unlocked Berserker and Champion last night, and I think that's the way I want to go with my sword'n'board warrior PC. Sword and shield really rocks in this game, doing good damage and having fantastic animations. Kudos to Bio for that. I also feel compelled to state that thus far DA is better than BG2 to me. That's saying a lot, as BG2 is in my top five favorite games, and one which I played continuously for four years. Bio seems to deserve the praise which this game has received, and I for one am glad for this little shout-out to their older fans.

So they purposely made extra work for themselves because the felt nobody would ever want to reenter the Keep they just bought and quested through? C'mon. *shrugs* They probably just didn't think about it, Or maybe they meant to and forgot. Maybe it's a bug. Mybe they are planning a second dlc that actually makes it re-enterable or something. That's my guess.

Ah, I haven't been to Denerim yet, though that's where I'm headed as part of the Redcliffe saga. Thanks!

You have to finish Redcliffe completely. That's how I got it. My character went Templar/Berserker, but I think Champion/Templar would be the most powerful combo. Templars are very effective in fights with mages and the Champion increases abilities etc. I didn't find the berserker's skills very useful. I think they were going for increased damage output at the cost of reduced defense & stamina, but enemies have so much HP anyways and they tend to swarm so basically you just die. I think a good defense is much better than a good offense in DA. Where did you find the Berserker book or trainer? I've gotten Templar, Ranger, and Bard, and am closing on Champion, but I really want to unlock Berserker, too.

My problem with the big weapons isn't the size, but the speed. I mean, your average zweihander weighs 7 lbs and 2-6 oz., but the way they swing those things in Dragon Age, they look like they weigh over 100 lbs. It's very slow and ungainly.

LOL, ya Thanks, Maria and Allan!

The blood in is especially egregious. Other than the blood issue, trying to find the perfect face (the character creator didn't help me with that, as what looks good in it looks stupid in the game when compared to NPCs), and trying to figure out if sword'n'board will let me do some decent damage, I'm having a grand ole time. It's like BG2 all over again right now, which makes it totally worth it.

Thanks! A couple of follow-ups: ~1) How does two-handed compare with sword'n'board, both damage-wise and tanking-wise? Basically, can one tank as either build? ~3) Is it better to specialize your attributes, as well? Basically, should a warrior always go strength and constitution? Sorry that my questions are less about actual spoilers, and more about gameplay. It's a new rule system, so I want to know what I'm getting into

I'll take you up on that offer. 1) Is DW as powerful in the actual game as it is in Journeys? In Journeys, the absolute best path to pick for the warrior is DW; SnB is good for defense only, and TH has one good attack that you can get. I'd hate to play another game where DW is the be-all and end-all of combat. 2) What type of advanced classes are there for warriors? Which do you think is most interesting or powerful? 3) Is it better to have a well-balanced character, or a specialized character?

So, anyone who ordered from Amazon received shipping confirmation yet? I paid for the regular copy with release-date shipping (did not want to wait until the middle of the month for CE to arrive), and I haven't gotten my confirmation yet. My order states that it's shipping soon, though.

The thread's been attacked by thread pirates! Man the poopvdeck!

Is it? It's been so long I don't remember when I learned that. Seriously, it would have been better to just explain that you never stated your opinion as a fact rather than some weird example to try to prove a point, hoping he understand what point you're trying to make. I didn't learn that I had to be concise until post-secondary though And I still suck at it haha. Suck at what? Being concise, or post-secondary education?

You shouldn't feel that you have to qualify your enjoyment of graphics. Video games are, in large part, a visual medium, and so graphics are an important part of the whole package. The problem comes from some reviewers and players who seem to think that good graphics equate automatically to a good game, and ignore gameplay.

They probably meant "dated". It's the only thing I can think of that would make sense there, since we are not talking about 2D sprites.

^Ah, good old Tony DiTerlizzi. I love his style. It's what gave Planescape a special place in my heart. If you enjoy his art, you ought to check out "The Spiderwick Chronicles" (the books, not the movie). Though it's classified as young adult literature, it's actually a good little take, and it's all illustrated (and co-written) by DiTerlizzi.

Sounds like Antonio Banderas. If so, wouldn't be his first VA gig.

No, I do the same thing. My wife teases me relentlessly about it. It usually takes me the first week to get my character the way I want it, and then I tend to fly through the game.

I heard Liara has the Tribbles....

I thought that was Liara. Apparently there's a new crazy Cerberus girl named "Miranda" as romance. If it is, then they've either given her a new voice actress, or the voice actress from the first decided to make her voice significantly harder.