Dragon age discussion

[~Di]

Dragon Age 1.02 patch has been released.

 

Oh great. They borked all of my favorite twinkie spells... force field, crushing prison, cone of cold and blizzard. Grrrrrrr

[~Di]

so it looks like Dragon Age is a much better finisher.

 

sadly, as a finisher da is not bioware's best game. the last hour of the game... drags, and the final battle made us say, "that's it?" the epilogues (when not bugged) is nice enough. not a great finisher, but very solid all the way through.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Grom, what would you say is Bio's best finisher?

 

I know it's rude to interrupt the conversation of others, but I just had to blurt out my favorite ending of all time... Mass Effect! The most exhilarating and satisfying end battles ever!!

[Aristes]

Okay, finished everything obvious to me in the Mage's Tower, which amounted to three obvious quests. There's also one that requires me to find some poor bastard, but I haven't seen him yet.

 

Afterwards, I went back to camp. ALT tabbed out from camp to post this, in fact. I have to say that I was surprised. In camp, during a discussion, Leliana started singing. I was set to cringe. In fact, I turned to look out the window at the rain, but I decided not to hit ESC just in case there was some important detail I needed to see. I have to admit I'm getting even more emo as I get older. That, or I'm turning into a Nancyboy. At any rate, I found the song extremely well done and even touching. It seemed to me that the team managed to include some view of every person in the camp at the time. I'm not sure about Zhevron or Wynne, but Alistair, Sten, Morrigan, and Jack (the dog) all had some sort of response to the singing. The song is nothing special, but the scene itself was well worth watching. I have a save some time before that and I might actually watch it again. I know. I know. I'm not longer a member of the he-man woman haters' club.

[~Di]

Damn, I'd love to see that camp scene. She's never sung for me. Maybe it's because I'm not involved with her romantically.

[Aristes]

If I am, I don't know it. Well, I'll have to find out later. No time now. This game has become quite addictive of late.

[Tigranes]

Well there you go for audience differentiation. I found it so B-movie it was hilarious - just the obvious difference in voice (which, to be fair, is a problem even in full budget movies when your actor can't sing) and I don't know, I found it didn't really connect to rest of Leliana's personality. Interesting to see it works for some people, though.

[Gromnir]

btw... we used the patch. durations for cone o' cold is indeed shorter. however, we did get a lootable corpse with no 1007... and it will no doubt disappoint enoch to learn that, we found a couple lesser grounding salves/potions/balms... whatever. was in the cadash taig where we got the crud potions and the l007less corpse, so maybe is a limited problem... not that such is genuine problems in any event.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Oner]

So, what happens if

you surrender/lose to Cauthrien

?

 

There's a prison section similar to the Leviathan from KOTOR.

 

Yup, and it's my favorite part of the game. Watching the comedy antics of your

two rescuers

is PURE GOLD (I went with Leliana & Dog on my first playthrough);

Hey, I could only choose Wynne and Zevran! And ultimately skipped the whole thing, because I thought it's going to be a GOTO's ship-like grind.

 

 

on an unrelated side note, Gromnir wants to visit Kal Sharok for da2... maybe find out that the denziens o' the other remaining dwarven enclave were forced to make some hard/terrible choices to survive the last blight.

Since darkspawn pressure on dwarves lowers to almost nothing during blights, not much.

 

 

So, anybody care to guess which encounters that "were not scaling properly" were fixed by the patch?

The merchant who's quest you get in the Mage Circle seemed overpowered to me.

 

 

Denerim thugs were rather easy. Only wussies have problems with them. One mass paralysis or good ol' fashion fireball and GAME OVER for them.

So I'm the wuss for not using nation conquering mages?

 

 

never finished hotu... too much drow. too much epic.

Don't remind me, ditched the useless shield of my paladin for a(nother) +8 longsword, and he became leagues more powerful even without two-weapon feats.

 

 

Besides, what is wrong with the Rogue class? How else would you steal, go stealthy, and pick locks if you don't have a rogue?

Nothing wrong with them, they just aren't unique enough (compared to fighter-mage talent trees) to warrant a separate class instead of merging them with fighters.

[Tigranes]

Oh: having read the patch notes in full now...

 

(a) Why didn't Bio fix the toolset breaking AI/scripts issue, as it basically stops anyone from using the toolset for fear of breakage?

 

(b) Why didn't Bio fix the bloody mess that is DLC implementation, as it's broken at least hundreds of playthroughs already based purely on forum posts?

 

I can only assume they are big problems and they're still trying to fix it, but recognition would be nice.

[Enoch]

So, anybody care to guess which encounters that "were not scaling properly" were fixed by the patch?

The merchant who's quest you get in the Mage Circle seemed overpowered to me.

Good call-- that one gave me a lot of trouble. Encountering that merchant before you have an effective and immediate long-range mage-neutralizing spell or ability (force field, paralyze, etc.) makes for a fight that's tougher than most boss battles.

Edited December 8, 2009 by Enoch

[Aristes]

Well there you go for audience differentiation. I found it so B-movie it was hilarious - just the obvious difference in voice (which, to be fair, is a problem even in full budget movies when your actor can't sing) and I don't know, I found it didn't really connect to rest of Leliana's personality. Interesting to see it works for some people, though.

No offense, Tigranes, but you seem a bit judgmental in this department for my tastes. You're a tiny bit dismissive in the best of circumstances. Just a smidge. Fair enough, and I'm not off-put by your attitude, but it does take the surprise out of reading such posts.

 

I think you're wrong on two counts, though.

 

First of all, any attempt to broaden the medium into something other than video game nerd status generates the same sort of response from folks. Give me an example of something you don't dismiss in a game and I'll give you plenty of examples of folks who deride it as reaching or grasping.

Edited December 8, 2009 by Aristes

[Volourn]

"btw, the denerim thugs were tougher than any equal number o' darkspawn we ever faced."

 

No. The Denerim thugs were pretty much wussies. I think through two plythroughs, I reloaded exactly once for them, and that wa sbecause I acted like a goofball that time.

 

" mas paralysis maybe works better on the easy difficulty vol maybe played"

 

Easy for Groms. heck, you cnqa't handle simply Denerim bandits. What a wussy tool.

 

 

"... or the patched version that adjusts normal to something easier. dunno"

 

No. That would be Grom using easy mode again and mistaking it for otehrs. ROTFLMAO Grom cna't even beat simply bandits. HAHAHAHAHA!

 

 

 

"I can only assume they are big problems and they're still trying to fix it, but recognition would be nice."

 

That doesn't make sense. Patch notes are to note what the patch fixes/changes not to detail what they may or may not be working on.

 

 

 

"Besides, what is wrong with the Rogue class? How else would you steal, go stealthy, and pick locks if you don't have a rogue?"

 

Because, unlike a mage ther eis no lore to really seperate them. In fact, your list of 'roguish' skills shows how fubared the logic of DA rogues are. You don't even need to be a rogue to steal. It's a cross class skill while others are rogue specific talents. Why? It doesn't make sense. Why can my fighter pick pocket but has the inability to pick locks?

 

Rogues in DA1 are awesome to play because of their skills not ebcause of their class. DA2 be better off cutting the class out, and giving it talents to warriors and mages.

[Killian Kalthorne]

Why? Warriors and Mages aren't rogues.

Edited December 8, 2009 by Killian Kalthorne

[Tigranes]

No offense, Tigranes, but you seem a bit judgmental in this department for my tastes. You're a tiny bit dismissive in the best of circumstances. Just a smidge. Fair enough, and I'm not off-put by your attitude, but it does take the surprise out of reading such posts.

 

I definitely am pretty harsh and judgemental, yes. But reading that you enjoyed the song, for instance, does make me realise that my tastes and judgements can be completely untrue for other people. It might be worth repeating that I only speak for myself, and didn't want to disparage your own response to the scene.

 

Anyway, I do welcome, as you say, efforts to deliver different kinds of emotional experience through games and it was definitely a bold attempt - more and better would be good, absolutely. I think we simply disagree on just how well done this one was, but I guess it's a case of it 'clicking' for you and not for me. You've done enough to make me see it more carefully next time, though.

 

And yeah, why the hate against rogues?

[Volourn]

"Why? Warriors and Mages aren't rogues."

 

Yet, the game gives them accsess to the steal skill. *shrug*

 

 

" yeah, why the hate against rogues?"

 

Who says rogues ar ehated? heck, i've been a big defender of them, and now suddenly, I 'hate' them according to others? WHAT!?!

[~Di]

Rats, I can't get any mods to work here. I don't know how to install them. I downloaded the camp chest, companion respect, and no-helmet mods, but I can't figure out how the heck to install them. Or where to install them. I have my game on drive E, but there are documents for Dragon Age on drive C. I'm totally lost here. Can anyone offer any help?

[Hell Kitty]

Rats, I can't get any mods to work here. I don't know how to install them.

 

My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override

 

Dump 'em in there. I'm using a mod that removes PC starting skills, and another that does the same for NPCs. Good times.

 

As for the Leliana singing scene, the only problem I had with it was that it kinda highlights how limited the animations are. The way characters just stand on the spot and wave their hands around. Not a problem limited just to this game. Some of her facial expressions during that scene were off, which really brought it down for me.

[Oner]

As for the Leliana singing scene, the only problem I had with it was that it kinda highlights how limited the animations are. The way characters just stand on the spot and wave their hands around. Not a problem limited just to this game. Some of her facial expressions during that scene were off, which really brought it down for me.

+1

 

Why? Warriors and Mages aren't rogues.

I'm no rogue, yet I can sneak. A bit. Edited December 8, 2009 by Oner

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Rats, I can't get any mods to work here. I don't know how to install them. I downloaded the camp chest, companion respect, and no-helmet mods, but I can't figure out how the heck to install them. Or where to install them. I have my game on drive E, but there are documents for Dragon Age on drive C. I'm totally lost here. Can anyone offer any help?

 

What file type are they? If they are a .dazip file you'll need to use the Dragon Age Updater (daupdater) to install them. That can be found in the "bin_ship" folder of your main "Dragon Age" folder. Otherwise you can simply place most items in the override directory that can be found at either "C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override" or "C:\Users\<username>\Documents\BioWare\DragonAge\packages\core\override". Hope this helps!

Edited December 8, 2009 by Deadly_Nightshade

[jaguars4ever]

DO NOT WANT!

 

It's like my Morrowind Robe of St. Roris all over again.

Who's to say this new patch doesn't install itself automatically without you knowing? Just like with the Edge?

 

I don't want it either. They even have the audacity to nerf Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold & Force Field. Bah.

 

And those Denerim bandit encounters are awesome. Maybe for Nightmare difficulty they should've replaced all those 'generic' thugs with Ser Cauthrien duplicates.

WTF?!

 

My Arcane Warrior is relying exclusively on Shimmering Shield, Crushing Prison, & Force Field. I NEED those spells. So I thought I'd purposefully avoid the patch until I'm finished with this playthough...but then I load up DA and BAM, I get hit by a user license agreement? What does this mean?! Have I just been auto-nerfed?!

[Deadly_Nightshade]

What does this mean?! Have I just been auto-nerfed?!

 

I just opened Dragon Age and I did not see one so I'm not sure why that popped up - maybe it has to do with the social site. Anyways, if you have the Steam version it will, of course, be updated. If you do not, then, no, you should still be at 1.00, 1.01a, or 1.01b.

[HoonDing]

My Arcane Warrior is relying exclusively on Shimmering Shield, Crushing Prison, & Force Field. I NEED those spells. So I thought I'd purposefully avoid the patch until I'm finished with this playthough...but then I load up DA and BAM, I get hit by a user license agreement? What does this mean?! Have I just been auto-nerfed?!

Not connecting to the social site is the key, I guess...

 

As long as archery & memory leak isn't fixed, I'm not going to install any new patch.

[Aristes]

As for the Leliana singing scene, the only problem I had with it was that it kinda highlights how limited the animations are. The way characters just stand on the spot and wave their hands around. Not a problem limited just to this game. Some of her facial expressions during that scene were off, which really brought it down for me.

+1

I did notice that as well.

 

I guess it's just that things have come so far since I first sat down to play a video game on a home computer, some 30+ years ago, that I'm constantly amazed at how far we've come. Yeah, the graphics aren't quite there yet, but I thought it was a touching little scene.

 

...And, before you think I was completely attacking you Tigranes, I wasn't. I literally looked away from my computer made an exasperated sound when it started. My wife even asked me what was wrong. By the time the song was done, I thought to myself that it was really actually quite good. If you're going for the cinematic feel in games, you must take these sorts of chances.

 

I was offput by Leliana's facial features, although I think it was really a valiant attempt to catch the expressions of someone singing. Leliana is a bard, after all, and it makes sense that she would sing. However, the other expressions were actually quite well done. Morrigan giving a small shake of her head in *shrug* disapproval? Sten's inscrutable glare. The look over Alistair's shoulder. These are things that required a lot of thought. Someone at Bioware put a lot of love and attention into that scene.

 

When I first played a game on the home computer, an Atari 800, a scene like this would have been science fiction.

 

Anyhow, in other news, I'm in Redcliffe castle. The village defense wasn't all that bad. Two people went down at the windmill, but I didn't lose anyone in town. I only had a handful of mana potions and those are gone. Funny. It used to be the healing potions that worried me. I'm wondering if we have any more extended battles like this. Also, dumped Morrigan for Leliana. Ugh, I like the lockpick, but Leliana doesn't carry as much of the burden.

[CoM_Solaufein]

I don't like that 1.02 patch. I probably won't install it.

 

Repeatedly talking to Duncan after gathering the vials in the Korcari Wilds but not the treaties no longer provides duplicate experience.

 

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.

 

Just fix the bugs okay? Leave the so called "balancing" alone.

[Volourn]

Um.. the Duncan thing is a bug not a balance issue. L0L