Tigranes

I thought Lothering was the biggest missed opportunity for the world design - super boring 'here be a town' that recalls.... well, recalls the starting village in NWN2. You build up the whole shebang with the big darkspawn battle and all the blood and carnage and such, then you get to Lothering and instead of the impending blight looming over the village you get a sunny happy village that you're told is suffering but all you really see is a few sick people. It would have been nice for Lothering to be a real anarchic spot, with looting, arson, vicious fights over food (as opposed to mild disagreements) and more.

Great, we're getting more Dragon Age threads than cliffracers. Did we really need this one or is there some sort of crusade I missed? The game does have flaws; a better 'shout' system would have been nice (but of course it is something most FPS or RPG haven't been able to get right in the last ten years); damage ratings of spells, etc should be more transparent; rogues and archers should be better balanced (and it seems they will be); but those things are auxiliary problems and to denounce the entire system, which is tactically challenging in most cases rather than 'bluntly' so, is an argument that bears no value whatsoever. I do love how so many people talk about 'old times' and 'new times' and invoke discourses of linear progression on arguments of style and fashion, completely unaware that they can only appreciate design decisions that come from a singular attitude (whatever that may be 'of the day').

Didn't we have this thread before...? I'm actually hunkering most for either a school/academy setting (Bully) or a Byzantine one - opulence, religion, political intrigue, but without the technology slant of steampunk, the all too familiar Victorian setting, or fantasy and apocalypse (Age of Decadence). Just seems like we've seen a lot of steampunk-ish stuff lately, anyway (though not an outright proper steampunk game).

+loading? I am in the Deep Roads now, the last of the allies I need to gather before finishing up sidequests, then I assume I just . Level 15/16, carrying Oghren, Zevran and Morrigan. Lots of darkspawn here and it looks like I was right to leave this place till last - I think an 'optimal' route for the next playthrough could be the Brescilian Forest (lots and lots of loot), Redcliffe (not too hard other than one night battle), Circle of Magi, then Orzammar. Still on Hard and still having allies drop dead every 2-3 battles, I think a 'don't stay still but stay within 5m of selected character' option would be nice, or the likes of Oghren just charge everywhere. I'm not even using half of the tactical options available to me yet, I wonder if it's just me or it's not easy to find many of the crafting ingredients, so tarps / poisons / etc don't get much use. I'm just discovering Force Field (should have got it much earlier), and blood magic seems quite useful, if dangerous. Some terrible 'generic rock' textures abound in the deep roads, but the dwarven architecture itself is very nice to look at.

I usually like to see forum themes that related to the games (or music or whatever the forum's about). Unfortunately, the GUI for both K2 and NWN2 have been both butt-hurt ugly, and the AP one only serviceable. If only we could be allowed a Torment-UI theme...

Fair enough, perhaps I should give her a longer try. I read the initial conversation with her when she joins, the conversations you can have with her at camp (e.g. on the Chantry, etc), and a few of her impromptu ones, then was sufficiently bored (not to mention she's pants in combat). I thought her 'past' was interesting and so were her views on the Chantry / Maker, though. I'll give her some more time later and hopefully I'll be able to revise my impression. Got to say all the characters on the whole are well made, though, very happy with the range and detail.

I found her terribly artificial, in the same way most characters her type have been in games. supposed to be serene, mysterious, kind, aloof - but comes across as not making a whole lot of sense. Detached when she should be passionate, and vice versa.

What exactly is gained by jumping or crouching in Dragon Age?

I've inadvertently found that my main mage, Sten, Alistair and Wynne are the most effective combination, and i can get through most battles without having more than the occasional death on Hard. Tactics are pretty obvious after using characters for a while, and I have it so that I open with a Cone of Cold (manually aimed), Sten and Alistair mighty blow and shield bash, Wynne and PC chip in with Stonefist (counting? four shattered enemies), then some judicious threatening, potion-gulping, healing and fighting. Of course, I like the idea of the Rogue too much and Morrigan is infinitely preferable to the boring old turd, so I end up taking Zevran along (even if he can't pick any locks and dies all the time). Morrigan is finally useful after getting Sleep and Waking Nightmare though, and I'm trying to make a lot more use out of poisons and traps. At Orzammar now, having visited every major hub and getting the help of elves, humans and mages. Denerim was really really great because you go there and suddenly about twenty quests just open up to you, and it really does feel like Baldur's Gate (the city). I don't think I'm that far away from the end of the game now, though, so it's not quite as long as I'd like... but what's there is really solid.

That's fair enough, but normally the sort of information that is kept for the mathematicians amongst us is much more specific. This is the equivalent of all your pieces of armour saying "provides pretty good defence, ja" and leaving everyone else to figure out exactly how much defence it adds... as opposed to, say, remaining taciturn on the exact mechanisms of armour penetration ratings vs. armour efficiency. I think it was a mistake to leave basic information about spells out and pretty much guarantees that you'll screw yourself over. Not having perfectly unoptimised characters is fine, but...

I think it works alright at the moment - tanks' threaten abilities are needed because even when you hide your mages, the collision mechanics mean the enemies sort of 'squeeze' past your wall of armed warriors to get at your mages, breaking formation. It's been an issue since NWN1 with the coming of 3D, so without good 'threaten' abilities you'd have a giant, bloody mess. I still can't get Shale to work - the DLC is now enabled, but he doesn't appear in my world map. Is it because I started the game before I finished downloading? I'm not too bothered as I can do it in the second playthrough, but it's all rather opaque.

The verdict on Murdoch's move at our news analysis company was:

Got to pick your fights Calax - sometimes there are enough people in a given institution who will see right when you present the evidence in their face, sometimes there aren't and you're best of getting what you need and getting out of the sordid affair. I must say, though, I've been regularly successful at challenging teachers on their policies because even if a few teachers are anally retentive about a few issues, the schools in general have been fairly conscientious about taking criticism on board. Lucky me. Interesting crisis going on at our local church where I've been for ten years - turns out our pastor was in fact sent as a missionary to New Zealand from this Korean church, which seems very suspicious; a tiny congregation with no rich members but goes in lavish 'prayer trips' to US, Europe and more frequently, and generally seem somewhat freakish. Pastor appears to have taken tens of thousands of $ in 'no conditions' gift from them to buy his new flash house, except on their website the hosts keep calling it 'our house'. I'm hardly surprised and not really disappointed, since I couldn't care less, but I take issue with participating in any organisation where the leader lies, hides, and then uses the sermons as an opportunity to defend his lies. Current plan is to be outspoken, uncompromising and inevitably blow everyone's top. But like what I told Calax - I could do all taht and people might still prefer to cover things up, pretend nothing happened and have the status quo back.

Oh, god.

None of which I have, despite being level ~11. I think it's silly not to have the exact effects of spells and abilities available in-game (or in the manual) - you just have to read the description then guess at exactly how potent they are. i.e. I wasn't to know that crushing prison in fact deals quite a lot of damage, not 'token damage' while incapacitating.

Zavran is pretty decent actually. A rogue who invested in stealth, dirty fighting, and some assassin abilities can do his job in battle - lay some traps, stealth & do the poison, and jump out to stun people, run around backstab, etc. For all that trouble an outright tank does more damage, but I've found that that his capability to pull out those crits works really well. My mage PC can just go out freeze everyone with the cone of cold, then he and Wynne do stonefist, Sten does mighty fist, Zavran does his backstab = four enemies completely shattered within five seconds. I do think rogues would be pretty crap early game, though.

I do agree that some of the complaints are silly and illogical - i.e. if you're going to sell DLCs, then integrating it into the game is a smart move for everyone concerned, not 'evil', and selling DLCs in and of itself is not a problem at all because it can potentially make things much more enjoyable and good value for the consumer. You know, I'd probably be happy if each DLC was of good value and well made, and if the base game stood up well on its own right. And DA does that. I just think it's important to debate the issue, speak up about it, speak with the wallets too, and hope that it doesn't go down a slippery slope towards rampant exploitation.

Getting through the Circle now after doing Redcliffe and Brescilian Forest - it's great picking up bits and pieces as you progress, and the Fade bits are really nice as well. The areas are very linear and the dialogue isn't as spicy as it could be at times, but the big arcs of what you do and see are very nice. I think the Stone Prisoner DLC is now enabled in my game unless I actually log in; I downloaded and enabled it, but since I'm logged out, the village to get Shale doesn't seem to appear on the world map. I'll jiggle a bit and see when I get home, but if it's true it is absolute tosh. I don't want to log in to your stupid social network!

I was going to express my mild dismay and surprise that the short-term narrow-minded 'dont like it dont buy it dont care' view is still tanking ahead (and that's not an insult to HK or anyone, because 'narrow-minded' isn't slander if it's true for a particular argument), but I think I posted my point on this a couple of weeks ago. So: prevalent business models and industry practices effect every potential consumer. Also, major changes in a way the game is sold and developed will eventually have an impact on way games are planned, made, priced, etc, and thus is a relevant topic of debate and concern to potential and real customers. Awoo-ga.

Going about in the ruins in the forest, the ones with , and it's pretty hard. The enemies have some interesting abilities that require you to adjust your tactics (like the ). I've never figured out where you get hold of injury kits so my characters are lugging around several broken limbs each, and all in all Hard really does punish you. Great fun. edit: I'm level 9-10, monty, so coming back a little later might be sensible, yes.

I assumed that it was your sustained abilities, such as shield cover, and your equipment, which take up the fatigue while in effect so that you are operating with reduced maximum fatigue. I'm at a similar spot and I'm a blood mage. Didn't feel good to get to it though.

A quip - there are certainly more than that. I'm level 8 myself and I've encountered at least five, closer to ten, though that includes a couple from a random encounter. I do agree that in general the game isn't 'thief-y' enough to justify the rogue being an essentially 'extra-combat' class.

Maybe because it was too easy, and now it is too hard? Because the people complaining 'too easy' and 'too hard' are different? I know, it shatters the mind to think. I'm immensely enjoying the combat on Hard and have had a few party wipes, but that is not frustrating at all because the difference you can make by adjusting your tactics or being more careful is very palpable. It teaches you to be a bit more careful and take each battle seriously, which means the content is fun rather than pointless filler. Similar tactics tend to work for similar types of enemies but the terrain and elite/boss units are thrown in to keep it a bit different, and you never have to go through more than 3 or 4 'mobs' before you get to a different place, story point or whatever. I did have to tone down to Normal for the final portion of the Redcliffe defence, but I suspect that was because I went there before anywhere else.

I imagine by the time I begin my second playthrough as a dwarf assassin, a mild adjustment will be available. Poisons and the variety of traps available, as well as the cover feature and all, should make it quite interesting - in fact, a solo rogue using such things liberally would be an interesting challenge.

'Cunning' surely has to be the most ill-fitting attribute name ever. I've progressed a little and am at now. I took Leilana along for this one with probably-stalwarts Sten and Morrigan, just to try having a rogue in the party, and I'm regretting it - I don't mind the lack of battle power, but the only fun thing to do with them is backstab and she doesnt' even start with stealth! Picking locks is good, but she's your typical holier-than-thou softly-spoken winkle to boot (at least, until now). I'm also not sure how the DLC works if you're not logged in in-game; I detest the idea of having it constantly logged in (and why can't I turn off the stupid Achievement Unlocked pop-ups?), but then is the DLC enabled? No real way to tell in-game, we'll see. All this whining might seem negative, were it not for teh fact that the game proper is wonderful and certainly challenging enough on Hard.