So Dragon Age: Origins is rather fun so far

[Azrael the cat]

I thought the game was kind of fun too at the beginning. It's all downhill after the origin story. At some point you'll realize that the lore and the story are actually just really fucking generic and boring, all of the characters are whiny faggots and 95% of the game consists of fighting the same incredibly repetitive trash mobs over and over again. Then you must ask yourself why you're playing the game in the first place, and you won't know how to answer that.

You'll learn to hate it soon enough, trust me.

This exactly mirrors my experience with DA:O. I had some semblance of fun at the beginning and really wanted to like the game, but it only got worse and worse. I am just happy that I rage-uninstalled even before the infamous Derp Roads.

Also, Alistair is not a bro, he's just pathetic. I played a female character and that little asshole made me understand why most women can't stand so-called nice guys. I actually romanced Leliana just to break his fucking heart. Which was a bad idea in hindsight, as her "singing" and that horrible, horrible lesbian sex scene resulted in permanent sanity loss. How I wish I could forget that stuff.

I had the same experience with DA:O. But I do want to add one piece of credit. Yes, Alistair is pathetic. However, later in the game Bioware actually comes up with a rather neat choice - you can let the general who has been a villain up to that point join your party, leading Alastair to crack the shits, and you get to kill him.

 

[Erebus]

I FUCKING HOPE YOU KILLED ZEVRAN AT FIRST MEETING

Haven't met him yet. I was planning on slitting his throat, but I now find myself hesitating. The only other rogue is Leliana and she doesn't seem very good in combat so far. Is having a rogue in the party really important ?

OR TURNED IN YOUR MAN CARD.

My PC is a female dwarf. My man card is but a memory.

However, later in the game Bioware actually comes up with a rather neat choice - you can let the general who has been a villain up to that point join your party, leading Alastair to crack the shits, and you get to kill him.

I remember that from the LP. But Loghain is such a colossal failure that I can't possibly let him live.

 

[circ]

Unless you're a rogue yourself, yeah you might want one for lockpicking chests. Some side quests require it and there's good loot to be had. Also even after the patches I believe, a rogue outdamages any warrior. Especially if picking assassin.

 

[Roguey]

XP is the biggest reward for unlocking chests.

Sten is pretty shit in combat though.

Worked just fine for me. Two-handed warriors aren't a DPS class if that what you were expecting. They're for being immune to stuns/knockdowns, having a 50% chance to stun with each critical hit, and knocking people down.

 

[circ]

When your mage can stunlock every single mob in the game a 2h warrior becomes superfluous especially considering every other class outdamages him and he's usually the first groupmate to go down in extended combat. DA2 atleast recognized these faults and made 2h a crowd control class more so than before, and added shatter and other things so 2h isn't a comparatively bad choice. Combat in DA2 is otherwise pretty eeh, but atleast there's progress in one direction.

 

[Roguey]

Meh, held his own for me. And immunity to stunning and knockdown is a nice thing, especially in the endgame where you face rooms full of scattershot-spamming archers. Sword and shield warriors just get the immunity to knockdown.

 

[sea]

Two-handed is nice but only if you get Haste on him, and then you might as well Haste a cunning-build rogue anyway. I always find myself getting Haste just for the movement speed bonus out of combat.

 

[Roguey]

I'm not finished yet but I'm almost done so what the heck

There's someone who's not too-terrible compared to two emperor-king godmages. That damn archer is the weakest link.

 

[Delterius]

Do you have Arrow of Slaying? That should deal a few hundred damage per cast.

 

[Tolknaz]

If there has ever been a game bigger than the sum of its parts, Dragon Age is it. Yes, the overarching story is the most cliched fantasy drivel after Eragon and Dragonlance. Yes, the companions are hit and miss (I liked Sten, HK47 Shale and Loghain, the rest were kind of meh). Yes, encounter design sucks and combat is quite boring as a result. Yet, somehow i still like the game, even if i want to hate it for some of its faults. I guess certain plotlines and characters, decent amount of freedom in dealing with the factions, decent amount of c&c and overall quite well written and realised world made the game tolerable for me, even though it had undeniable flaws.

 

[Roguey]

Do you have Arrow of Slaying? That should deal a few hundred damage per cast.

No, I read that it's actually detrimental to DPS. Having her deal low-but-consistent amounts of damage is fine since it means she hardly ever gets enough threat to get targeted by other enemies. I barely even micro her at all.

 

[Delterius]

Do you have Arrow of Slaying? That should deal a few hundred damage per cast.

No, I read that it's actually detrimental to DPS. Having her deal low-but-consistent amounts of damage is fine since it means she hardly ever gets enough threat to get targeted by other enemies. I barely even micro her at all.

Well, anything that isn't a psychotic mage barely needs micromanagement. But either we both don't know how to build a optimal archer or that is obsolete/false data - my parties were generally the same from Lothering onwards and I remember Leliana's contribution to party damage rising a full 10% after taking Arrow of Slaying. Just don't let her cast it on the first enemy that appears (since that guy will be finished by the quicker talents and attacks of the rest of the party combined) and you're set, one shotting targets per cooldown.

 

[abnaxus]

I'm not finished yet but I'm almost done so what the heck

There's someone who's not too-terrible compared to two emperor-king godmages. That damn archer is the weakest link.

Does Lesi have a BSN account or did she pirate DA:O when she played it?

 

[Roguey]

abnaxus she pirated DA:O but I'm moderately certain she either bought or was gifted DA2.

Playing it four times with cheated up stats sounds like something she'd do. Plus the only other game registered to that account is ME2, another Bioware game she enjoyed. Though there is the possibility it's just someone else who took the name she used forever for practically everything (including her old Bioware forum account).

 

[Erebus]

Went back to the game after not being able to play it for a few days.

I decided to start my gathering of allies with the elves. It didn't turn out to be such a great idea : the forest was pretty boring. I eventually gave up on it and decided to come back later. Also, while my initial intention was to side with the werewolves, those mangy curs pissed me off so much that I'm going to help the elves slaughter them instead.

(Originally, I intended my PC to resort to diplomacy as often as possible, but I now realize it's just not going to happen.)

Next went to the tower of mages. I'm not yet done with it, but it's a bit better than the forest so far : the setting is more interesting, the story less boring and most of your enemies explode after their death, which is always a plus.

Wynne joined my party. So far, she's a pretty decent companion. Her healing magic is nice and, unlike others I could name, her personality doesn't give me a headache.

 

[sea]

Dragon Age is one of those games that I remember being a lot more interesting to play than it actually was.

 

[Average Manatee]

abnaxus she pirated DA:O but I'm moderately certain she either bought or was gifted DA2.

Playing it four times with cheated up stats sounds like something she'd do. Plus the only other game registered to that account is ME2, another Bioware game she enjoyed. Though there is the possibility it's just someone else who took the name she used forever for practically everything (including her old Bioware forum account).

When will people learn the value of not using the same name for god damn everything?

It's like they don't even care that people like Roguey stalk them

 

[Roguey]

The parts I liked most about the forest were the revenant battles and a couple of those wild sylvan fights. The sylvans can be nasty if they cast roots on a weak character or multiple sylvans cast it on any one character. It could have used more stuff like that.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Installing bigger tits, better faces&hair, young Wynne and skimpy armor (plus dog as 5th party member!) mods made it bearable enough for me to slug through the main campaign, with a PC (f mage), Wynne, Morrigan and Leliana, with Dogmeat "tanking". Oh yeah, and that mod that hides the helmets. Banalshitboring still. It's telling how the only interesting boss fights were copied from WoW, except naturally watered down. How the fuck did Bioware code DAO so badly, anyway? When a PC that can run Skyrim smoothly (on medium), struggles constantly with DAO and loads 15-30 seconds when opening inventory plus crashes pretty regularly, you know something is truly fucked up with it.

 

[Erebus]

Are the encounter level-scaled, by the way ? I haven't played enough of the game to be sure, but I suspect it might be the case, since you can start many different quests right from the beginning of the second part of the game.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yes, they are. Both monsters and loot in DAO is level-scaled. Every zone has a certain range, outside of which it won't scale but the ranges are in reality large enough that they might as well not exist. Not that loot matters much since the inventory is a mess, the restrictions are arbitrary & illogical, and the game's economy is a shitty joke. It takes serious effort to decline from NWN1 in that aspect but Bioware persevered.

 

[sea]

I wouldn't say the level scaling range is all that small. Realistically most areas have 5 levels or so where they scale. For example, Denerim, the "hardest" area of the game level-wise except the endgame goes (I think) level 12 to 17, while many of the others go level 10 to 15 or even slightly smaller range. It does make a difference but not as much as you'd think. Additionally, any time you enter an area, the creatures in it freeze and do not re-scale, so if you find an area too challenging and return, you will find it easier at higher levels. Most of the areas actually start out higher level than your party (level 9 or 10 vs. level 5ish when you finish Lothering) so the game kinda has an inverse difficulty curve built in.

I do agree about the economy being a joke. Through "normal" play you can get 300-400 gold in a play-through and there are some quests which will give you anywhere from 50 to 80 gold if you do them "right". There is also a way to exploit shop prices and make infinite money by crafting lyrium potions - buy your ingredients cheap and sell them to certain select merchants. You can make well over 20 gold in one "run" this way, effectively meaning you can buy anything provided you don't spend all your money outright.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I don't remember how much gold I had by end-game but it was some ridiculous amount. Especially since I had the Ultimate Edition with all the DLC, meaning I got a shit load of ridiculously good equipment for free.

As for scaling, it's too small to be noticeable. There weren't any difficult, challenging areas and neither were there absolutely easy, cake walk areas. It felt like a level, unchanging "progress", ie not progress at all. Couple that with the boring encounters and small bestiary, and it explains why it's so boring to plod on. I really can't understand how some people can stomach playing it through several times.

 

[sea]

The game has an inverse difficulty curve so it starts out harder and gets easier as it goes. Still, the first time you do the boss fights and before you have learned their special attacks etc., they can be quite challenging. I wouldn't really say it has an "even" level of challenge but you notice yourself getting more powerful more than you do notice enemies getting harder. And it's silly that, say, drakes and golems are not that much harder to defeat than common mercenaries of sufficient level. They should have jacked up the resistances and immunities a lot more.

 

[Gozma]

Is there a good LP of this out there somewhere (as in not by a screaming Youtube person)? I feel like I should know more about it for the purposes of maligning RTw/P but I don't want to play it