Dragon age discussion

[alanschu]

Found some bugs.

I've done the completely good ending in Redcliffe Castle, but the journal still says

"at the cost of his mother's life"

. This could be a messed up translation, like how there are 2 'fifth revenant' vials.

Death Blow doesn't seem to work either.

 

 

I think the codex update is reversed. As in, the Codex updates with the opposite solution.

[deganawida]

Yeah, the first week on the new social networking forum was full of people literally tearing their hair out at the difficulty of the combat - people have simply forgotten how to play non-screensaver games (and I include myself in that to a certain extent - normal difficulty was a handful for me to begin with).

 

That honestly amazes me. I'm no whiz with these games, nor am I an exploiter or cheater, but even hard difficulty is sometimes too easy for me. There's only been a handful of fights which have caused me problems:

the final blood mage fight in the blood mage hideout in Denerim, the Wynne-collapse random encounter, Flemeth, and the chamberlain in Redcliffe castle (because the suits of armor didn't attack until I stepped into the chamberlain's room).

Other than that, I've found combats to mostly require some good use of abilities, some tactical thinking, and the ability to adapt.

 

 

Didn't you also put a fair bit of research into your character though, in order to properly min/max it?

 

That is true. I didn't even think about that, to be honest (and thank you again for all your help with that). I guess that I just figured everyone would study the system, as well, and plan out their characters.

[alanschu]

I usually try to make a concerted effort NOT to min/max my first characters, but to try to roleplay them as best I can with as little outside intervention as humanly possible.

 

That is, I will still look at the skill trees and get a general idea of how I'll level up my character, but I do it all in game. I just find it more fun that way.

 

 

You're definitely not alone in wanting to min/max though.

Edited November 17, 2009 by alanschu

[Oner]

But luckily I haven't come across the old "Boss cutscene" trick yet.

I'm supposed to know what this is. But I don't remember.

[Guest Slinky]

But luckily I haven't come across the old "Boss cutscene" trick yet.

I'm supposed to know what this is. But I don't remember.

I think it's how you walk in the worst possible position in cutscene and when it ends, you are completely surrounded.

[deganawida]

I usually try to make a concerted effort NOT to min/max my first characters, but to try to roleplay them as best I can with as little outside intervention as humanly possible.

 

That is, I will still look at the skill trees and get a general idea of how I'll level up my character, but I do it all in game. I just find it more fun that way.

 

 

You're definitely not alone in wanting to min/max though.

 

Ack! I'm not a min/maxer, honestly! I just didn't want to render my PC useless in combat. I envisioned the younger Cousland as a peerless warrior, skilled enough that Duncan knew of him before even meeting Teyrn Cousland and his family, and I tried to build him into that warrior. Yes, I'll confess that I do like my PC to do damage, but I've actually avoided giving him the best equipment on any of my (aborted) playthroughs because it didn't fit the character that I had in my mind.

 

Thus far, my biggest hang-ups have been Leno chin, fighting style (settled on sword and shield as it's faster than two-handed and it has some awesome animations), and my other specialization class (Champion is set in stone). Oh, and bad choices on leveling up some of those NPCs, to the point where they were rendered useless.

[Oner]

But luckily I haven't come across the old "Boss cutscene" trick yet.

I'm supposed to know what this is. But I don't remember.

I think it's how you walk in the worst possible position in cutscene and when it ends, you are completely surrounded.

DA has that, so no.

[alanschu]

Thus far, my biggest hang-ups have been Leno chin, fighting style (settled on sword and shield as it's faster than two-handed and it has some awesome animations), and my other specialization class (Champion is set in stone). Oh, and bad choices on leveling up some of those NPCs, to the point where they were rendered useless.

 

 

Which ones are these?

 

While I don't deny it'd be possible to render a character useless, I would think you'd have to specifically try (like Dex dump a mage or something).

[deganawida]

Thus far, my biggest hang-ups have been Leno chin, fighting style (settled on sword and shield as it's faster than two-handed and it has some awesome animations), and my other specialization class (Champion is set in stone). Oh, and bad choices on leveling up some of those NPCs, to the point where they were rendered useless.

 

 

Which ones are these?

 

While I don't deny it'd be possible to render a character useless, I would think you'd have to specifically try (like Dex dump a mage or something).

 

LOL, I kept giving Leliana rogue talents (the "Dirty Fighting" chain), the mechanism talents, and her bard talents. That meant that in combat she would fire twice and then run in and attempt to melee without having any particular aptitude for it, nor the stamina to use the rogue abilities I gave her. Basically, the best role for her at that point was to miss with her arrows and sing. Not much use there IMO. On my current game, I'm going to give Lel Melee Archer and other ranged talents first, and then move on to bardic and mechanical abilities.

 

I made the mistake of having Morrigan delve too deeply into healing, and Wynne too deeply into fire. This gave me more flexibility, but at the cost of decreased effectiveness in their primary roles. I set up some nice tactics for them both to take advantage of the flexibility, but they chugged pots like mad due to constant lack of mana. This time around, I'm keeping them focused where they are.

[Monte Carlo]

I'm loving the Deep Roads, the battle in the Trenches reminds me of the "Drow Bridge" in the first IWD. But much better.

 

The '300' style dwarf Death Legion are also deeply cool, even if they remind me of Warhammer dwarves.

 

Cheers

MC

[Gromnir]

Thus far, my biggest hang-ups have been Leno chin, fighting style (settled on sword and shield as it's faster than two-handed and it has some awesome animations), and my other specialization class (Champion is set in stone). Oh, and bad choices on leveling up some of those NPCs, to the point where they were rendered useless.

 

 

Which ones are these?

 

While I don't deny it'd be possible to render a character useless, I would think you'd have to specifically try (like Dex dump a mage or something).

 

LOL, I kept giving Leliana rogue talents (the "Dirty Fighting" chain), the mechanism talents, and her bard talents. That meant that in combat she would fire twice and then run in and attempt to melee without having any particular aptitude for it, nor the stamina to use the rogue abilities I gave her. Basically, the best role for her at that point was to miss with her arrows and sing. Not much use there IMO. On my current game, I'm going to give Lel Melee Archer and other ranged talents first, and then move on to bardic and mechanical abilities.

 

I made the mistake of having Morrigan delve too deeply into healing, and Wynne too deeply into fire. This gave me more flexibility, but at the cost of decreased effectiveness in their primary roles. I set up some nice tactics for them both to take advantage of the flexibility, but they chugged pots like mad due to constant lack of mana. This time around, I'm keeping them focused where they are.

 

am wishing we had delved into fire for wynne, 'cause we followed the paths stared by the developers and discovered it weren't smart. we finally got use from earthquake, but only if claudia black is casting blizzard, or shale does bombardment. regeneration? does health actually improve when you cast regeneration? haste sounded swell, but didn't seem to work out in practice. etc.

 

we did get the mind blast, force field sequence o' spells, and am gonna buy those arcane books to perhaps give her the fire spells... 'cause other than stonefist and arcane bolt she not got useful offensive powhaz. would probable be smarter to get cold stuff as having claudia and wynne alternating with cone of cold and force fields would be incredible effective. however, when we not have shale in party we would like to have some ranged artillery. am suspecting (no spoilers please) that claudia black is not gonna be helping Gromnir at/near end of game... and if we gotta depend on wynne as she is current built...

 

Gromnir didn't hardly look at the rules before we started playing, 'cause we wanted it to be a genuine novel experience. am playing on hard, but we got mauled MANY times. for us it has not been easy by any stretch o' the imagination. sudden get mobbed by multiple enemy archers all with scattershot? yeah, that were fun. wolves with overwhelm? wolves? am still not sure we is playing anywhere near optimal, 'cause some o' the rules seems bass akwards... or the rules is unknown so am not sure what is genuine going on during combats. but allistar's 4th tier templar power looks keen. if we hadn't acquired force field, largely by accident, we would be getting thoroughly smoked.

 

btw, after finishing some tough battles we went back and played on normal to see how much difference it made... and typically those battles were still pretty damned hard.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guest Slinky]

I'm loving the Deep Roads, the battle in the Trenches reminds me of the "Drow Bridge" in the first IWD. But much better.

Haha I knew it!

 

To me Deep Roads was the most boring bit in the whole game. Orzammar was fun place, but when I first had to clean those criminal caves and then go to Deep Roads do some more endless asskicking, I started to yawn so hard that my jaw almost disjointed. Dungeon crawlers are so not for me

[HoonDing]

I'm loving the Deep Roads, the battle in the Trenches reminds me of the "Drow Bridge" in the first IWD. But much better.

 

The '300' style dwarf Death Legion are also deeply cool, even if they remind me of Warhammer dwarves.

 

Cheers

MC

Right... as long as some idiot doesn't cast Crushing Prison or Curse of Mortality.

 

Is it even possible to resist or dispel this crap? I tried Cleanse Aura... didn't seem to do anything.

[Guest Slinky]

Right... as long as some idiot doesn't cast Crushing Prison or Curse of Mortality.

 

Is it even possible to resist or dispel this crap? I tried Cleanse Aura... didn't seem to do anything.

Don't know about Crushing Prison, but templar talent Cleanse Area does dispel Curse of Mortality from everybody else than the caster himself.

[HoonDing]

Right... as long as some idiot doesn't cast Crushing Prison or Curse of Mortality.

 

Is it even possible to resist or dispel this crap? I tried Cleanse Aura... didn't seem to do anything.

Don't know about Crushing Prison, but templar talent Cleanse Area does dispel Curse of Mortality from everybody else than the caster himself.

Serves me right for not bringing along Alistair then, instead of that stupid Dwarf.

 

God, I hate Dwarves.

[Volourn]

"I set up some nice tactics for them both to take advantage of the flexibility, but they chugged pots like mad due to constant lack of mana."

 

When it comes to amna potions, you are probably better off keeping that fof AI tatics, and manually doing itself. Less wasteful that way.

 

 

I love the Deep Roads. Yeah,t ehre's a lot of combat but it's logical since a) it is DA's version of the Underdark, and b) are the darkspawn's living space so it should be tough. Afterall, the dwarves use it to send criminals to die for a reason. It's deadly, lonely, hugely tainted.

 

 

"God, I hate Dwarves."

 

Dwarves are awesome. Plain, and simple.

[HoonDing]

Anyone fought

Gaxkang? What a pansy compared to his great-grandfather from BG2. But at least it netted me a very cool sword.

[Deraldin]

Anyone fought

Gaxkang? What a pansy compared to his great-grandfather from BG2. But at least it netted me a very cool sword.

Where is he? I didn't see him on my first run.

[Guest Slinky]

Anyone fought

Gaxkang? What a pansy compared to his great-grandfather from BG2. But at least it netted me a very cool sword.

Yeah, there wasn't even any music in that fight.

 

Anyone fought

Gaxkang? What a pansy compared to his great-grandfather from BG2. But at least it netted me a very cool sword.

Where is he? I didn't see him on my first run.

 

You need to find some notes in Deep Roads, which starts a new quest called Unbound.

 

[Majek]

Good. Haven't had time to be there yet and haven't seen him anywhere else so i thought i missed it.

[HoonDing]

Good. Haven't had time to be there yet and haven't seen him anywhere else so i thought i missed it.

 

Actually, the notes are found on corpses in ruins of each main quest hub... when you find all notes you need to talk to a Dwarf in Orzammar and you get a new quest marked in your journal.

 

Edited November 17, 2009 by virumor

[Enoch]

A thought just occurred: Has anyone taken Shale along on the Mage's Circle quest? I would be most interested to see the dream that the sloth demon traps it in. Dog and Sten's dreams would also be interesting to see. (Wynne's was cool, but Al and Lel's were rather dull.)

 

This is now at the top of the list of things that might motivate me to play the game over again.

[Guest Slinky]

Actually, the notes are found on corpses in ruins of each main quest hub... when you find all notes you need to talk to a Dwarf in Orzammar and you get a new quest marked in your journal.

 

Really? I'm almost sure the quest activated when I found the notes Deep Roads, before I accidentally found the dwarf. I have no idea did I found any previous notes, the amount of stuff in codex kinda overwhelmed me.

 

[Deraldin]

A thought just occurred: Has anyone taken Shale along on the Mage's Circle quest? I would be most interested to see the dream that the sloth demon traps it in. Dog and Sten's dreams would also be interesting to see. (Wynne's was cool, but Al and Lel's were rather dull.)

 

This is now at the top of the list of things that might motivate me to play the game over again.

 

I took Shale along with me on my current run.

Shale turns into a statue again.

 

 

Sten and the Dog will likely be part of my next run through the tower.

[Maria Caliban]

I was wondering, is it possible to have all Codex entries unlocked on a first playthrough?

 

 

I don't think there's enough money in the game to get all the various unique items. Other than those, it should be possible.

 

...To lure me into "rescuing her" and not giving information right away. Then just minutes after the rescue, she sold me to guards and not very subtle way either...

 

I'll point out that for this to happen, you have to betray her first.

 

1.1b is out and it made easy mode easier... So yes, so far they've taken an easy mode, made it easier in the first patch, and then made that easier mod even easier in the next one.

 

1.1a and 1.1b is the same patch with two things added to it. The difficulty level is the game.

 

But luckily I haven't come across the old "Boss cutscene" trick yet.

I'm supposed to know what this is. But I don't remember.

I think it's how you walk in the worst possible position in cutscene and when it ends, you are completely surrounded.

 

Like your PC wanders into the kitchen naked one night looking for milk and cookies and when she turns on the lights -surrounded by ninjas!

Edited November 17, 2009 by Maria Caliban