Dragon Age: Origins

[CptStern]

I actually still haven't started the game properly, decided to delete my saves, am completing the flash game now so I can get all the extra unlocks from that!*Geek*

do you know if I you can still get the content once you've started the game? I got the first item unlocked but stopped playing

 

[Gargantou]

do you know if I you can still get the content once you've started the game? I got the first item unlocked but stopped playing

I would think so, since once you unlock'em on the flash game, you use the downloadable content menu to download'em, I think you get'em from some guy in your partycamp, so afaik, yes, you should be able to get'em even in the middle of your current DA:O game.

Reason I'm getting'em now is because the downloads will be taken offline Summer 2010, figured I might as well get'em out of the way early. For the exclusive flash-based game items from the episode we get for free that is.(rest of the flash episodes will COST.. Wonder how many people will buy'em.. Heh)

 

[Acepilotf14]

40 minutes of library aide(ing) left.

Then I get to play.

D:

 

[Krynn72]

do you know if I you can still get the content once you've started the game? I got the first item unlocked but stopped playing

Yeah, the guy who gives you one of the quests is in your camp, and if you dont already have it, he still asks you to help, and one of your dialogue options is something like "Hold on a minute while I prepare. [Download content]" and when you click it, it takes you to a menu to unlock/buy the dlc.

 

[MRG]

I am playing as a Human Warrior and while I just started the game, I fracken love it. Bioware sure does know how to create memorable characters & game worlds. Dragon Age does indeed have excellent voice acting, an engaging plot, purdy visuals & great audio ambiance. I just don't see how the game can get any better.

For example;

I was locked in a battle of epic proportions as my small band was fighting 4 enemy soldiers & a Knight, all the while still in the family castle at the very beginning. The Knight, thinking her an easy target, singled out my mom & proceeded to smash her with his big hammer, finally smashing her to the floor, knocking her out. Not that she was a weakling, as she had just dispatched an enemy soldier, with a slice from her sword & an uppercut to the face with her fist, as the soldier bent over. The Knight then began attacking me. At this point, my health was down to about a 1/4. My warrior managed to ward off the knights Hammer attack by taking it on his shield, though it staggered him back a couple steps, at which time, an enemy soldier to the side, attacked me, causing me to lose even more of my almost depleted health. However, my faithful hound, Jake, quickly took care of the meddling fool. With no time to even quaff a healing beverage, I clicked on the Knight once again, desperately hoping to land a critical or at least a damaging blow.

With the camera zoomed in close, My warrior attacked once with a straight overhand attack to the Knights chest, resulting in a nice spray of scarlet. He then spun around 360 & decapitated the Knight! With blood spurting, the headless knight fell to his knees & then fell flat.

Holy shit!

Epic Win!

-MRG

 

[Gargantou]

Holy shit!

Epic Win!

Fatality!

Anyway, I've finally unlocked all the extras from the flash game, gonna start a new DA:O save now, I've been thinking of going for a Warrior my first game, relying on autolevelling for distribution of points, same way I did with Mass Effect.

I'm gonna have to do multiple playthroughs of DA:O anyway, so in the latter playthroughs I'll level myself and use other classes etc!

Edit: I have to my horror realized that I had linked my X-Box Live gamertag in error to an old EA account I no longer use, so I can't access the flash-game unlockables I got, damn you EA!

Contacted'em though, hopefully they can terminate this old account so I can link the gamertag a-new!

 

[Kadayi]

I would think so, since once you unlock'em on the flash game, you use the downloadable content menu to download'em, I think you get'em from some guy in your partycamp, so afaik, yes, you should be able to get'em even in the middle of your current DA:O game.

Reason I'm getting'em now is because the downloads will be taken offline Summer 2010, figured I might as well get'em out of the way early. For the exclusive flash-based game items from the episode we get for free that is.(rest of the flash episodes will COST.. Wonder how many people will buy'em.. Heh)

I was quite oblivious to the flash game until you guys mentioned it, however I gave it a whirl & its pretty damn good fun. Managed the first unlock and a couple of achievements, though the 4 ogres in one sitting seems a bit of a pig tbh (I don't have that much spare time). In between that & BG2 DA: O itself hasn't had a look in yet (I'm having to much fun kicking but with Boo & Minsc) :cheese:

 

[Eejit]

Got the turnip-mad nutcase yet to go with your berserker and miniature giant space hamster?

 

[Kadayi]

Got the turnip-mad nutcase yet to go with your berserker and miniature giant space hamster?

I passed on Jan for now. Team at present is Aerie, Edwin, Jaheira, Minsc & Yoshimo who I've dual classed as a fighter as I'm a fighter/thief. Not the most combat heavy team, but Aerie & Edwin make up for it in Cloudkill & fireballs

 

[Eejit]

Aerie? Ewww she's almost as annoying as Nalia. Jan is the best thief, considering the limitations on Yoshi - you picking him up after?
Edwin + Minsc is always a laugh.

 

[Gargantou]

I was quite oblivious to the flash game until you guys mentioned it, however I gave it a whirl & its pretty damn good fun. Managed the first unlock and a couple of achievements, though the 4 ogres in one sitting seems a bit of a pig tbh (I don't have that much spare time). In between that & BG2 DA: O itself hasn't had a look in yet (I'm having to much fun kicking but with Boo & Minsc) :cheese:

They actually patched the achievements after I was done with'em, they're easier now, previously you had to

1. Complete the find the warden quest

2. Complete the game on the hardest difficulty

3. Complete the game with all the three classes

Very boring and annoying.

On a seperate note, could someone tell me how to 'craft' poison? I have a person with the skill and I have the ingredients, I need to craft'em for a quest, but can't seem to figure out how, and the manual is of no help!

Help me Obi-Whoever, you're my only hope.

 

[Acepilotf14]

10/10
just finished the Circle Tower questline thing.
just that quest was more than half of a full-length game
god damn. Bioware outdid themselves again.

also, anyone notice how a lot of the ideas for the Fade and the demons were ripped straight out of Warhammer? Even the fear towards mages(psykers, magi in WHF)

 

[Gargantou]

10/10
just finished the Circle Tower questline thing.
just that quest was more than half of a full-length game
god damn. Bioware outdid themselves again.

also, anyone notice how a lot of the ideas for the Fade and the demons were ripped straight out of Warhammer? Even the fear towards mages(psykers, magi in WHF)

To be fair, fear towards Mages etc weren't exactly something original when Warhammer used it either.

During medieval times, people suspected of using magic were generally feared(wizards/witches)

I can agree with you partially on the Fade part being ripped however.

 

[Kadayi]

Aerie? Ewww she's almost as annoying as Nalia. Jan is the best thief, considering the limitations on Yoshi - you picking him up after?
Edwin + Minsc is always a laugh.

Yeah but she's a Mage/Cleric so double plus good on the spell front, as Jaheira isn't that great as a healer, but I like keeping her around. I'm fairly high level as a thief anyhows so no need for Jan.

 

[CR0M]

First impressions are: ok. But I haven't even scratched the surface yet. Started as a Dalish Elf in the woodland camp, finished the cave quest and just arrived in some castle town (generic name escapes me) as a grey warden in a ridiculous helmet. A bit pissed as I heard the game was sooooooooo difficult even on easy, so I left it on normal, and it's far too easy so far. I say so far because i'm hoping it's going to get harder.

Things I initially like:

Lots to read
Well executed interface
Depth of options
Voice acting diversity
Uploadable progression, though not used it yet
Zomg it works out of the box
It's something new to play

Things I initially don't like:

No key mapping for modifier keys
Clunky and unintuitive camera control
Horrible graphics from yesteryear
Emotionless, unbelievable plastic characters that don't do the voice acting any justice whatsoever
Too many damn cutscenes - if I wanted to watch a movie i'd rent a dvd
No day/night cycle
No resting
No formations
No free roaming (yet?)
Omg those HANDS

Will play more tonight and maybe some of those unlikable things will disappear. But not the hands.

 

[Nabobalis]

Thing that bugs me, is that I can't find anything for my mage to use. He's still in the same armour he got after the harrowing. Plus the loot is terrible thus far.

 

[Kadayi]

A bit pissed as I heard the game was sooooooooo difficult even on easy, so I left it on normal, and it's far too easy so far. I say so far because i'm hoping it's going to get harder.

I heard they adjusted the difficulty with the patch, as so many reviewers commented on it.

Also flash game people (those of you who haven't played it), here's a hint how to defeat the Ogre whilst keeping your party at full health and get one of the 5 achievements.

Where you pick up Martine there is a lone Ogre some way down. Instead of attacking him just go back to the town and do the further missions to level up high, upto the machines and have the Mage Ardum get the spirit spell mind blast. You can use this to stun the bugger repeatedly whilst your other two characters pummel him. But make sure you heal up the party before you finish him off.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Interesting ... I'm of the generation which played Baldur's Gate and enjoyed going through those tactical battles (though not to the level of the freaks which released mods so that you'd have to fight multiple dragons at the same time, yeesh). But the difficulty of some of the battles did make the game better for me; I got a real sense of accomplishment the first time I beat Sarevok in BG1.

I might just stick the game on Hard for my first playthrough.

 

[Laivasse]

Yeah but she's a Mage/Cleric so double plus good on the spell front, as Jaheira isn't that great as a healer, but I like keeping her around. I'm fairly high level as a thief anyhows so no need for Jan.

OT: Insect Plague is reason enough to keep Jaheira around; any single spell which can effectively poison Firkraag and have him running away from you in fear is good in my book (likelihood is low, but I had a game where it happened). Also her romance script and all the moral ambiguity with the Harpers is pretty cool.

 

[Nabobalis]

I want to take all my party members with me and not just 4

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

I passed on Jan for now. Team at present is Aerie, Edwin, Jaheira, Minsc & Yoshimo who I've dual classed as a fighter as I'm a fighter/thief. Not the most combat heavy team, but Aerie & Edwin make up for it in Cloudkill & fireballs

Of course, we all know you're playing with the Romantic Encounters mod. :naughty:

 

[Kadayi]

OT: Insect Plague is reason enough to keep Jaheira around; any single spell which can effectively poison Firkraag and have him running away from you in fear is good in my book (likelihood is low, but I had a game where it happened). Also her romance script and all the moral ambiguity with the Harpers is pretty cool.

The nymph & the fire elemental she can summon are handy as well

I romanced the Aerie for the lulz though

There's probably a good argument for a Baldurs gate 2 thread tbh. So much to discuss like the Gold Pantaloons etc

Of course, we all know you're playing with the Romantic Encounters mod. :naughty:

The most I've done is patched the game. I'm not big on 3rd party mods unless they fix things (as in the case with VTM:B). I prefer to play vanilla as the developers intended tbh


OT

Beat the flash game and got all the achievements/unlocks.

Although the bard is one of the achievements I recommend dumping his ass asap (let him join them swap him out straight away), unless you've no distance combat skills at all as Martine despite being melee only is a lot more handy Vs the Ogres.

Well worth playing, and I'm looking forward to what comes next.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Alistair is awesome.
I've been playing on Hard so far, and the fight against

Spoiler

Uldred was hard as a bitch until I realized you have to spam the Penant thing, and then it was easy mode

.

There are some sections that are just very very hard and were more luck than anything,

Spoiler

playing as Jowan in the Fade trying to exorcise the demon in Connor's mind, the last fight against her was basically 'if she doesn't resist paralyze the second time I win'. As well as the Sloth demon from earlier, which was all about resisting when he uses Blizzard

.

 

[Paulaner]

No day/night cycle

That's too bad. Having just played Risen I am now accustomed to a perfect day/night cycle and varying weather conditions. It really adds to immersion, but I can live without it.

EDIT: Thinking about it. A day/night cycle works for sandbox games. Dragon Age has a different gameplay and developers has the right to force day or night to set the right mood.

 

[Kadayi]

Well I started playing it DA: O this evening (I'm a female City Elf Rogue for the record), and I have to say playing the flash game beforehand was a boon as it made getting to grips with the interface a piece of cake (the flash game isn't as detailed, but the principals are the same). Only spent about an hour in it so far, but it seems pretty good, though it takes a little getting used to the right click/left click protocol (though I'm sure the muscle memory will kick in soon).

Based on the review talk I set the game to easy, but it it does seem to be a little too easy (I guess a result of the patching) so I might restart and try out normal.

Voice work is stellar, though that you are a mute yourself is a bit distracting (do you get cut scenes later on where you use your characters chosen voice as a matter of interest?).

@CR0M

You just had to mention them didn't you? OMG they are disturbing. :|

 

[Krynn72]

Based on the review talk I set the game to easy, but it it does seem to be a little too easy (I guess a result of the patching) so I might restart and try out normal.

Voice work is stellar, though that you are a mute yourself is a bit distracting (do you get cut scenes later on where you use your characters chosen voice as a matter of interest?).

Yeah, I'd recommend setting it to normal. You dont have to restart though, you can change it in the game options. I played most of the game on normal until I got to this ridiculous boss that destroyed me every time. So I set it to easy and I killed him in 2 minutes and had full health and all my characters standing, and I was like... :| So I restarted and fought him again on normal until I beat him. It was hard, but rewarding. Putting it on easy makes it nothing to kill anybody, you might as well not even play the game and just watch videos of the dialogue and story. Pretty stupid how much of a gap there is between the two difficulties.

Also, no, your character never speaks.

 

[Letters]

I grow less impressed with this game every day. The majority of the game by now has felt like a series of boring sidequests (I'm level 12, almost 13), which is... strangely reminiscent of the Neverwinter Nights original compaign.

Oh, anyone done a "romance" yet? That's got to be a ****ing joke. No, really... it has to be because MASS EFFECT's were roughly 10x better? And those were... not... good?

 

[Gargantou]

I grow less impressed with this game every day. The majority of the game by now has felt like a series of boring sidequests (I'm level 12, almost 13), which is... strangely reminiscent of the Neverwinter Nights original compaign.

Oh, anyone done a "romance" yet? That's got to be a ****ing joke. No, really... it has to be because MASS EFFECT's were roughly 10x better? And those were... not... good?

I agree completely with you Letters, further and further I get into the game, the more dissappointed I get.

The whole romance and relations part is just retarded, because no matter what you do, you can just give'em a few gifts and they forgive you, even if you kill innocent people and shit.

And as you said, Mass Effect did it far better, and even then Mass Effect's "romances" weren't particularly well-designed, well-written or deep.

And there are also some pisspoor character designs, like that bisexual elven assassin you can have join you, honestly, I just wanted to vomit, it feels like such a poorly written character, he doesn't feel like he fits in or that he is real within the Dragon Age: Universe, he feels like a poorly made comical sidekick.

Overall, I am still enjoying the game, but I fear maybe they should have put more effort into making an overall shorter but better game, in many cases with quests etc, it feels like they just put in a quest for the sake of putting in a quest, efforts which could instead have been put into making one very interesting quest, instead of making 10 non-interesting ones.

Same goes for characters.

I fear BioWare might be losing their touch, my fears didn't improve with the new Mass Effect 2 trailer that revealed your new archenemy for that game, another stereotypical 'insectoid' alien race, which looks really weird actually, it basically just looks like humans from an anatomical perspective, only with wings on their backs and insectoid texture/head. I think BioWare should maybe try to get some new, young and creative designers into their employ?

It feels as though they're growing very stale.

I'm really regretful that I bought the Collector's Edition, but I think I'm too lazy to sell it, will either give it away to a friend probably, or just let it collect dust in my collection.
And in all due honesty, I enjoyed The Witcher far more than I've enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins so far, this despite the fact The Witcher was a solo-based RPG(as in you generally don't have any party you fight with)

 

[Ennui]

Haha, the BG2 discussion in this thread is great because my roommate and I are both playing through it again (for me since the first time it came out...) partially to soothe my wounded soul at not being able to afford DA: O just yet...

so if any of you unhappy campers decide you just can't stand it any more, by all means send it to me instead of letting it collect dust

 

[Raziaar]

I've heard about lots of people having issues with the DLC not working for them.

Any of you experienced this?

http://daforums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=702604&forum=146&sp=90

 

[Shakermaker]

Hmmm, this game is getting more intriguing the more I read about it. But usually I get bored very easily with Bioware games. Too much talk, not enough combat and clunky combat mechanics. Will this game change my mind?

 

[Raziaar]

Hmmm, this game is getting more intriguing the more I read about it. But usually I get bored very easily with Bioware games. Too much talk, not enough combat and clunky combat mechanics. Will this game change my mind?

You can never have too much character development in a game like this. Character development and lots of chatter between characters is awesome! Otherwise it's just diablo.

 

[Shakermaker]

You can never have too much character development in a game like this. Character development and lots of chatter between characters is awesome! Otherwise it's just diablo.

No doubt, but it is all a matter of taste. And for my taste Bioware games are too story-heavy and the combat is usually lacklustre. So that is why I asked: will DA:O change my mind?

 

[Eejit]

I certainly hope not.

 

[CR0M]

Successor to Baldur's Gate :/

What I liked most about BG was being able to roam a huge game world as I pleased, wandering around the wilderness, soaking up atmosphere as day turned to night, building up xp, finding sweet loot, stumbling over new towns and places of interest, exploring. There is none of that in DA, in fact it's practically a linear point and click movie with some combat thrown in. It's as far removed from BG as Far Cry 2 was from Far Cry. Starting to lose interest very quickly and the chances of another play through are remote.


GIANT HAAAAAAANDS

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Something I'm interested to hear about is whether the concerns people had about the voice-acting appearing terribly lacklustre in the trailers have been justified? How's the acting in this game?

 

[Acepilotf14]

Something I'm interested to hear about is whether the concerns people had about the voice-acting appearing terribly lacklustre in the trailers have been justified? How's the acting in this game?

I personally love the voice-acting. Too bad the facial models aren't very great.

Zevran and Alistair have great voice-actors in particular.

 

[StardogChampion]

Something I'm interested to hear about is whether the concerns people had about the voice-acting appearing terribly lacklustre in the trailers have been justified? How's the acting in this game?

So far it's mostly average to terrible, but if you're not British you might not notice that the voices are more suited to a childrens cartoon. I'm glad the main character is mute. Mass Effects voice acting was much better.

And what's up with the gameplay? 5 steps forward then a forced convo. Constantly.

 

[Krynn72]

I've found the voice acting to be decent to very good. The writing is a little overdramatic sometimes, but on the whole its great. Of course, I dont ever hear any accents in real life, so im sure I dont notice how fake they are, but I think its good regardless. I'd agree that Mass Effect was better, but Mass Effect is also like half the game this one is, and DA's voice acting is still pretty damn close to as good.

And the gameplay is fine. I don't know what you're talking about. There are story heavy scenes, sure. But on the whole you definitely are not getting interrupted every five steps. Once you get deep into a quest/dungeon you go hours without any long dialogue. I find the pacing to be very well done. I'd say, for anyone wondering, it plays a lot like Kotor in this regard. So unless you're a action junkie console whore like most gamers unfortunately are, you should like this.

One thing i have noticed is that the main quests are looooong. They're almost endurance runs. One of the main quests I did took me about four hours. And my friend was on a different one for all day yesterday. They're interesting too, and not really stretched out for the sake of being longer.

This is easily one of my 10 ten games already.

 

[Lucid]

I can't really find any faults with the game so far aside from a few goofy glitches here and there.(like in the first Grey Warden camp, if you go to the infirmary the wounded men are actually standing on their beds... might just be a glitch on my part though)