Dragon Age story/plot discussion

[Oner]

http://social.bioware.com/playerprofile.ph...;game=dragonage

How do you get that Lucky stone thingie?

Upload a character made with the pre-released creater. Edited November 6, 2009 by Oner

[kirottu]

so, what do people think of DA, compared with say ME or BG series? Is it one of the better Bio games, or rather disappointing?

 

It

[Volourn]

It's a BIO game. Plain, and simple. With the same strengths, weaknesses, and what not. Of course what those strengths and weaknesses are depend on your view of BIO as a whole.

 

 

"so, what do people think of DA, compared with say ME or BG series? Is it one of the better Bio games, or rather disappointing?"

 

It's about equal with ME. Better than BG1. Not quite as good overall as BG2. Yet.

 

Though, I'm stuck playing the 360 version so I'm misisng out on the absolutely awesome iso view.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Mass Effect is sweeter:

 

-much better looking

-more interesting setting

-better writing

-gameplay was cooler (i liek 3ps)

-the little details were better thought-through like the dialogue wheel and so on.

-fantasy is homoerotic while space is totally friggin awesome!

Edited November 6, 2009 by Kaftan Barlast

[Niten_Ryu]

I'm not sure if Dragon Age is more difficult overall then Baldur's Gate series but 4 person group do put certain limits. I played few areas in Dragon Age without healer (or any mage) and game felt very challencing at the times. Especially larger pulls and boss fights. Sometimes templar tank couldn't drink health potions fast enough while my dwarven commoner rogue, redhead rogue and Cujo the dog couldn't dps targets down fast enough. By chance and following certain questline I managed to to meet Wynne and suddenly it felt like whole different game. My own fault really for ignoring the golden rule of any MMOG - Don't do anything without healer.

 

I think Bioware deserve a bit blame on this one too. Without spoilers you don't know where to meet Wynne nor know the fact that healer makes all the difference. And there's only one NPC healer in game (or you could create PC healer). I'm not happy with this design choice. At least there should have been option for Morrigan to spec healing or perhaps even another healer PC. I find it really odd that they made only 2 mage NPCs, espcially when mages in this game include both healers and nukers.

[Volourn]

"I think Bioware deserve a bit blame on this one too. Without spoilers you don't know where to meet Wynne nor know the fact that healer makes all the difference. And there's only one NPC healer in game (or you could create PC healer). I'm not happy with this design choice. At least there should have been option for Morrigan to spec healing or perhaps even another healer PC. I find it really odd that they made only 2 mage NPCs, espcially when mages in this game include both healers and nukers. "

 

Blame? Blame implies they did something wrong, and they did no such thing. Nor should they. handhold people. And, Morrigan can select a heal spell as well.

[entrerix]

can all mages heal? only wynne? is she just better at it? its hard to picture a challenge level that requires the use of her

 

ive never played bg with a cleric and i did ok. liberal rests between battles and a druid and a paladin was always enough healing for me

Edited November 6, 2009 by entrerix

[Oner]

can all mages heal? only wynne? is she just better at it? its hard to picture a challenge level that requires the use of her

She specializes in healing. so she gets some sweet healing spells.

[alanschu]

I'm not sure if Dragon Age is more difficult overall then Baldur's Gate series but 4 person group do put certain limits. I played few areas in Dragon Age without healer (or any mage) and game felt very challencing at the times. Especially larger pulls and boss fights. Sometimes templar tank couldn't drink health potions fast enough while my dwarven commoner rogue, redhead rogue and Cujo the dog couldn't dps targets down fast enough. By chance and following certain questline I managed to to meet Wynne and suddenly it felt like whole different game. My own fault really for ignoring the golden rule of any MMOG - Don't do anything without healer.

 

I think Bioware deserve a bit blame on this one too. Without spoilers you don't know where to meet Wynne nor know the fact that healer makes all the difference. And there's only one NPC healer in game (or you could create PC healer). I'm not happy with this design choice. At least there should have been option for Morrigan to spec healing or perhaps even another healer PC. I find it really odd that they made only 2 mage NPCs, espcially when mages in this game include both healers and nukers.

 

 

There is nothing stopping you from giving Morrigan a healing spell. In fact, it's usually the first thing I do. Morrigan may not have immediate access to the Spirit Healer tree, but the most useful healing spell is a tier 1 ability.

 

In fact, I also give Wynne offensive spells.

[HoonDing]

The finale of the Human Noble origin reeked a lot of A song of Ice & Fire and Dune. I loved it. In fact, I'm expecting/hoping to see Mother Cousland again in undead form. God, that lady kicked some serious butt.

[Pop]

Mass Effect is sweeter:

 

-much better looking

The rest of what you said is probably also wank but I stopped here. DA on full settings is absolutely gorgeous.

[entrerix]

dune rules

[Majek]

Anyone played around with the toolset yet? http://social.bioware.com/toolset.php

[Tigranes]

Well I've been playing and playing, and now I'm wandering about

in Lothering trying to get hold of Sten.

My first impressions hold, and I did get a full party wipe from the

ogre at the top of the tower

until I was more careful with flanking and healing. I get the feeling the beginning bit in the camp favours a Rogue with all those locked chests and genlock rogues popping out of nowhere, and it might have saved me a few hairy situations as well. Good times.

 

I do wish they would fix the conversation skipping sometimes, though. I read very fast so I use the ESC key in every conversation, and it seems when there are animations or movements inbetween lines they are skipped entirely; sometiems I'm sure some lines are being skipped in one go as well (and then they don't reappear in the journal, the journal only shows lines you didnt skip). Eh.

[HoonDing]

That social site thingie is nice and all, but being constantly connected tends to kill my framerate unless I disable my antivirus/firewall and I don't really want to do that.

 

Anyway, I'm slowly making my way to the top of the Tower but I'm not exactly swimming in health poultices. Luckily the mage dude I have with me kicks butt, and Doggie has a very convenient Stun power. Hopefully those lumbering monstrosities I'm wading through will drop enough useful things.

 

Still not sure how the magic works, though. One time Darkspawn aren't damaged by the fire spell at all, then at other times it almost burns away half their health.

Edited November 7, 2009 by virumor

[alanschu]

Well I've been playing and playing, and now I'm wandering about

in Lothering trying to get hold of Sten.

My first impressions hold, and I did get a full party wipe from the

ogre at the top of the tower

until I was more careful with flanking and healing. I get the feeling the beginning bit in the camp favours a Rogue with all those locked chests and genlock rogues popping out of nowhere, and it might have saved me a few hairy situations as well. Good times.

 

I do wish they would fix the conversation skipping sometimes, though. I read very fast so I use the ESC key in every conversation, and it seems when there are animations or movements inbetween lines they are skipped entirely; sometiems I'm sure some lines are being skipped in one go as well (and then they don't reappear in the journal, the journal only shows lines you didnt skip). Eh.

 

Then you're probably not skipping lines of a conversation.

 

 

What might be happening though, is you're skipping a cutscene. Sometimes they are placed seamlessly at the end of a conversation (example: During The Joining). I don't think those dialogues are kept in the journal.

[Niten_Ryu]

There is nothing stopping you from giving Morrigan a healing spell. In fact, it's usually the first thing I do. Morrigan may not have immediate access to the Spirit Healer tree, but the most useful healing spell is a tier 1 ability.

 

In fact, I also give Wynne offensive spells.

 

Of course. New game, new rules.

 

Speaking of mages, Wynnes earthquake + Morrigans (or your own mage) grease / fire change combat dynamics so much (at least in PC version as mob groups are big) that it might be complitely different game vs. melee group. Probably less of issue on consoles as they get less enemies at the same time. I did meet first opponent that I couldn't defeat at my level (I think lvl 8 )

Mage tower orange con revenant. I just couldn't hit it or get thru it's resistances. Maybe I could have cheesed it with 2 mages but Mage Tower don't allow group changes and I didn't want to go back earlier save before I entered the tower. Orange con Abomination wasn't hard at all so there's definately spikes in difficulty

. Have to remember these small details on next run, if I choose to do it.

Edited November 7, 2009 by Niten_Ryu

[Tigranes]

Exactly, but either the ESC key is hyper-sensitive (I've taken to tapping it gingerly) or not everything is independent; i.e. skipping the last line before a cutscene tends to skip the movement. One key example is in Lothering, when you talk to the ash warrior

the scared one goign OH GOD

. After you persuade him, I assume there is animation for him leaving; however, when I skip the line of conversation, he just 'pops' out of existence and we go straight to the townspeople commenting about it. I don't think I hear the last line the warrior says at all!

[HoonDing]

Best dialogue so far:

 

-"Come, join the Grey Wardens. Fight the Darkspawn!!"

-[intelligence] "So these Darkspawn are really bad?"

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

... Are you serious? Please tell me that was just a jab at Fallout 3.

[Tigranes]

The 1.01 patch is out - http://social.bioware.com/game_patches.php again it's located on their annoying social network in an effort to 'encourage' everyone that doesn't want stupidity to come on the side of their game. And yes, I will complain about it persistently because it's still nowhere as persistent as Bioware.

 

* fixed potential corruption of character statistics

* fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator

* fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator

* made Easy difficulty easier

* slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty

* fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays

 

Glad to know they left the harder difficulties alone, but easy should indeed be quite easy for those who want it. I might not bother for now, since I'm not affected by any of this.

[Kaftan Barlast]

My wizards run out of juice all the time so I thought Id get some mana-leeching spells, the problem is that I have no idea which ones are any good. "mana drain" is utterly useless, it barely gives me back 1% of my total mana pool. I wasted a whole levelup on that p.o.s spell

 

 

I really hate it when developers add useless red herring spells/abilities/perks that are only there to keep you on edge when building your character.

[alanschu]

Exactly, but either the ESC key is hyper-sensitive (I've taken to tapping it gingerly) or not everything is independent; i.e. skipping the last line before a cutscene tends to skip the movement. One key example is in Lothering, when you talk to the ash warrior

the scared one goign OH GOD

. After you persuade him, I assume there is animation for him leaving; however, when I skip the line of conversation, he just 'pops' out of existence and we go straight to the townspeople commenting about it. I don't think I hear the last line the warrior says at all!

 

I don't remember the part specifically, but he probably doesn't say anything (unless it's a cutscene, but this doesn't sound like one).

 

If the player has an animation during the cutscene though, then yes, hitting escape does skip the animation to put the character where he should be when the dialogue line is over. This never struck me as odd though. I mean, skip the dialogue, it skips to the next part, right? Otherwise you'd run the risk of having the person talking about something when their character is literally not in the correct place on the "stage" to be talking about it.

 

I suspect you're probably missing fewer lines of dialogue than you may think you are though.

[alanschu]

Best dialogue so far:

 

-"Come, join the Grey Wardens. Fight the Darkspawn!!"

-[intelligence] "So these Darkspawn are really bad?"

 

 

An intelligence check?

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

i agree, a fighter should kill a rogue 10 out of 10 times in combat. but the fighter can't do any of the cool stuff that a rogue can do OUT of combat. imo

 

 

edit: except intimidate

 

And traps, poison, stealing, and herbalism. All of the above are "skills" in DA, thus available to every class. Heck, you could give a zerker pickpocket if you wanted.

 

Really, the only actual abilities unique to the rogue in DA are stealth and lockpicking. Stealth is only really useful in DA if you can kick ass once you're done sneaking into position (while not getting your ass kicked), and lockpick is something you can easily live without.

 

You also have the class specialties. Assassin is designed to kill people from flanking angles. Duelist is designed to kill people toe-to-toe. Ranger is designed to summon pets that kill people. Bard is designed to let you buff the party so that they can more effectively kill people.

 

Starting to come into focus why rogues should be able to hold their own in combat?