Dragon Age

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 13, 2009, 9:39 pm

The Character Creator is available if you want to fart around making characters before the game is released:

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » October 13, 2009, 11:01 pm

Excellent. I'm gnawing at the bit to get this game.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 24, 2009, 9:14 pm

The tool set for Dragon Age looks powerful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNEsHzJc5T0

The "sexual" aspect of this game looks a little corny but the game play looks like it could be fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1VBRe3XTYk

This is video of game play strategy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlitmJWu ... re=channel

I like the pause/play approach to real time combat.

The Ogre battle halfway through the last video looks like fun.

Kwonryu DragonFist · October 26, 2009, 10:42 am

Well, this IS Baldurs Gate 3.0 if you will!

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » October 26, 2009, 3:47 pm

I never heard of it till i saw the post here, and at first ignored yet a generic dragons RPG, but then saw it was Bioware, now ill have to try it

Kwonryu DragonFist · October 29, 2009, 11:13 am

Yes Hesten!

You can pause and assign moves, Just like in Baldurs Gate, and there is great spell-interaction, where magic spells work together with other magic effects in the environment.

Hope it will be as good as BG 2 + Expansion, but Bioware rarely disappoints me.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 31, 2009, 7:57 pm

I've had this game (360 version) for a little while.

Impressions:

An article says the voice cast for Dragon Age had 144 actors. I believe it. There's tons and tons of dialog.

I'm not so sure how different the text tree options affect the game play yet but some of the choices are funny.

Some non spoiler random voice comments:

- I successfully answered three riddle questions from an NPC that was going to kill me if I didn't, so don't know what would have happened if I failed.

-the text tree response options are quite different ranging from sucking up to rude. I've only tried being rude once and it turned out pretty funny. I was talking to some Elder Mage about something and was rude/flippant in my response. He went on a rant about how young mages have no respect and that back in his day I'd get the 'freezy chair" treatment. After another dialog choice, he went on to explain that the Freezy Chair was an iron chair they'd cast a frost spell on and then strap the insubordinate mage to it without their pants on. He then sighs and says, "I miss the Freezy Chair". Made me laugh.

-The voice acting is pretty good. There's so much of it and it all sounds like the actors role played their parts fairly well, while I haven't heard and academy award level efforts.

The controls are pretty good. If you liked Mass Effect's Wheel menus, you'll like Dragon Age.

There's an early spell called "Walking Bomb". It infects a mob/npc and does DOT damage. If the mob/npc still has the dot on them when they die, they explode, doing damage to nearby enemies. The explosion is quite impressive. Fun spell. I read (you can read descriptions of your future spells), that there is a higher level walking bomb that, when the mob explodes, they have a chance of infecting the other npc/mobs the explosion hits with the infection, which can cause chain reaction mass mob explosions. I picture using this on a bunch of tightly packed mobs for fun.

I got mauled by a mob, blood splattered everywhere. I won the battle but was covered in blood and remained so until I left the area.

The game seems like it's going to be fun. Having just played Demon's Souls, I'd have to say this game doesn't have the polish of Demon's Souls nor the challenge (well I'm playing on casual so don't know!). It does have shit tons of dialog and story so that sets it apart from Demon's Souls.

One HUGE difference between playing this game on Casual and Harder levels is that on the harder settings, your spells can do damage to your own team. Considering the spells I've been exposed to so far (cone shaped fireball and massive explosion walking bomb spells) that would have a monster impact on difficulty.

Kwonryu DragonFist · November 1, 2009, 12:28 am

So, do you think Demon's Souls is better than Dragon's Age?

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » November 1, 2009, 10:18 am

I'm surprised you got it for the 360. Similar to Oblivion, this game will have a released toolset for PC. The replayability of games like Baldur's Gate 2 and Morrowind was found in the custom campaigns designed by other players. What would be a shelf life of a month or two becomes a multi year investment as new people create new content.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » November 1, 2009, 12:30 pm

This went from a day one buy to "whenever it goes on sale" strictly due to the amount of other games I'm playing right now.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 1, 2009, 1:02 pm

Kaldaur wrote:I'm surprised you got it for the 360. Similar to Oblivion, this game will have a released toolset for PC. The replayability of games like Baldur's Gate 2 and Morrowind was found in the custom campaigns designed by other players. What would be a shelf life of a month or two becomes a multi year investment as new people create new content.

The game hasn't been released yet. I downloaded it off the newsgroups for testing. If I buy it, it will be on the PC due to the toolset an modders.

I'm not even out of the newbie area yet so can't comment on the game much besides what I've said above.

Divinity 2 is already out (Jan 10 2010 release date) as well as Modern Warfare 2.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » November 1, 2009, 2:50 pm

Gotcha. Wondered how you got a hold of it since release isn't until Tuesday.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » November 1, 2009, 8:16 pm

My copy's on its way. I made the uncomfortable decision to go with the 360 version when I saw that I just barely meet some of the suggested requirements on my not-terribly-old PC. And Bioware games sometimes underestimate how much horsepower they need.

I figure radials worked out OK on Mass Effect, so the 360 can probably handle it.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » November 2, 2009, 7:04 pm

The game was sitting at my doorstep when I got home from work. Nice huge "DO NOT DELIVER BEFORE NOV 3" orange sticker on it too. Go go Canada Post!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 2, 2009, 7:05 pm

I'd wait until tomorrow before playing it!

Post by **Xouqoa** » November 2, 2009, 8:25 pm

I want to get this after I play Borderlands some more. I think I will have to get the PC version though cause Assassin's Creed 2 comes out soon and my wife will be hard to get away from the tv/consoles.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 2, 2009, 9:46 pm

Oh, btw, you see yourself a lot in cut scenes in this game and the default characters aren't the greatest. It took me some time to create a hottie character worth looking at for the game. You'll be seeing your character a lot, make sure you create something visually pleasing.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 4, 2009, 2:15 am

Here's the Prima guide in .chm format (those help files)

I really like this format for a strategy guide. The chm format works well as you dont have a huge pdf 300+ page file, iinstead you have drop down menus ,etc taking you to various sections, Maps, Characters, Walk Throughs, etc.

You're Welcome! 21mb

It's got all the maps including all the six different origin start points. Includes all the artwork, achievements, bestiary etc.

What's really bizarre is that only the maps for Mage Human Origin (which I chose) have an issue with the legend, every other map set is fine and there's like 100 maps.

Now someone find me a Borderlands guide!

Trias · Post by **Trias** » November 4, 2009, 8:48 am

got home last night and got through the character creation and some intro talk...i made a Dalish Elf Rogue yay...thanks for the guide, i'll skim through some of it today but don't plan on reading any walkthrough info.

*edit* the guide does not seem to function properly, or i don't seem to function properly. i get a message in a browser window saying that it can't connect to the web page or whatever after i open the file.

Trias · Post by **Trias** » November 4, 2009, 10:40 am

i snagged a chm file reader extension for firefox and the guide works now with no problems. thanks again!

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » November 4, 2009, 11:37 am

Thanks, Winnow!

I played this on the 360 last night. The controls weren't awful during normal gameplay, but I really hate the menu interface, primarily because I don't find the icons intuitive, or I'm not looking hard enough. Either way, I have to scroll through every fucking option to find what I want. I like it thus far, though I wish I had picked something other than a warrior.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » November 4, 2009, 11:41 am

I bought the guide for this with the game last night damnit! I'm fine with that though because if you are gonna try and find everything, let alone even get the romances right, etc - there is next to no way you are going to figure it out on your own.

I made a Human Rogue, and she's already had her first lesbian encounter

I got a little bit past the origins story and that was it for me, plan on playing it all night tonight again!

The only thing I haven't been able to figure out, although I haven't tried too hard to figure it out yet either - is as a rogue, how you can sneak into a fight and have your party charge in instead of hanging back like retards waiting for you to break stealth.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » November 4, 2009, 12:17 pm

I saw you playing this last night Funk and was going to ask you about it. Good to see you're liking it. Btw, when I clicked on your friend tab, it showed that you were playing a level 5 rogue. I thought that was pretty cool to have that info just from checking out your tab.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 4, 2009, 12:30 pm

Trias wrote: *edit* the guide does not seem to function properly, or i don't seem to function properly. i get a message in a browser window saying that it can't connect to the web page or whatever after i open the file.

In Windows 7 at least, you just doubleclick on the file and it opens. The extension .chm is used for all of those help files you typically see in applications when you select "Help" from the menu. But yes, there is a .chm plug in for browsers so that works as well! CHM files are so much "lighter" and less sluggish than PDF docs.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » November 4, 2009, 12:32 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:I saw you playing this last night Funk and was going to ask you about it. Good to see you're liking it. Btw, when I clicked on your friend tab, it showed that you were playing a level 5 rogue. I thought that was pretty cool to have that info just from checking out your tab.

Yeah it is cool that they do that, I think I noticed that it does it for Borderlands, too. Nice to be able to see what you're up to. It always drives me nuts on my PS3, it seems like half the time even if people are playing something it doesn't say what they are playing, and even when it does there are never any details.

I would definitely recommend it for you, but I'm guessing you probably have a few games to polish up before you let this one suck you in for a few weeks

This is one of the few games that takes a long time to beat, and will keep me interested enough for multiple play throughs.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » November 4, 2009, 6:19 pm

Funk, don't know about the console version, but look for something that allows members to hold their ground. There is a tab on the PC that switches between Move Freely-Hold Ground. I'm sure there's a similar command on the xbox.

This. Game. Rocks. Won't come up for air for another week or two.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » November 4, 2009, 7:22 pm

Kaldaur wrote:Funk, don't know about the console version, but look for something that allows members to hold their ground. There is a tab on the PC that switches between Move Freely-Hold Ground. I'm sure there's a similar command on the xbox.

This. Game. Rocks. Won't come up for air for another week or two.

Cool, thanks for the tip, I'll check it out

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » November 4, 2009, 7:22 pm

So should i get this for PC or Console?

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » November 4, 2009, 8:16 pm

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 4, 2009, 9:24 pm

Should always go with the PC version if you have the choice!

Kwonryu DragonFist · November 5, 2009, 12:31 am

PC it is then dudes and dudettes!

Thanks!

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » November 5, 2009, 1:27 am

Definitely PC if your machine can run it well. Console version is more like KOTOR than BG.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 5, 2009, 2:09 am

http://kotaku.com/5397283/dragon-age-or ... -versus-pc

After spending time with both versions of the game, I don't necessarily regret playing through the PS3 version first. I still had a damn good time playing. It's just now that I've seen how the game runs on the PC, I long to see the events of my first character unfolding with the clarity of that one.

Given a choice, definitely go for the PC. It looks better, runs smoother, and it's generally $10 cheaper as well.

Runs smoother.. What happened to all that cell computing power!

miir · Post by **miir** » November 5, 2009, 10:46 am

Aslanna wrote: Runs smoother.. What happened to all that cell computing power!

Show me a $300 PC that can run the game as well as a PS3 or 360!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 5, 2009, 12:03 pm

Having tinkered with both the 360 and PC versions, the PC version is far and away the best choice if you have a decent PC. That doesn't mean the 360 version won't be fun but for hardcore gamers, the customization and better ability to use tactics makes PC the choice (as well as the mods that will become available from he toolkit)

Edit: Load times on the PC version (both entire game and zone transitions) are near instant for me on SSD HD which is also a consideration compared to slower DVD/Blu Ray based console versions.

I have no time to play this game but it looks great for some day down the line or in shorts bursts when I do have time.

Kwonryu DragonFist · November 6, 2009, 12:20 pm

Felt that the Archetypical Party worked best!

Warrior
DPS Mage
Rogue
Healer

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 6, 2009, 12:32 pm

miir wrote:
Aslanna wrote: Runs smoother.. What happened to all that cell computing power!
Show me a $300 PC that can run the game as well as a PS3 or 360!

Irrelevant!

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » November 6, 2009, 12:34 pm

This game is turning out to be tougher (although not Demon's Souls hard or anything) than I expected it to be. I am working on the circle of the Magi Tower part, and only have one more section of The Fade to clear out before I can get out and fight the demon.

cadalano · Post by **cadalano** » November 6, 2009, 2:12 pm

it is pretty hard but the AI is a little too easy to exploit. groups of mobs dont seem to social very well if you take long range potshots- and kiting is way too effective

i'm really liking the characters- its an interesting dilemma though because i want to use them all but you cant bring more than 3 along. My favorite ally that I've met so far is Leliana i think- complete opposite of the stereotypical annoying-as-fuck bard/rogue character that these games always seem to have.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » November 6, 2009, 2:20 pm

cadalano wrote:it is pretty hard but the AI is a little too easy to exploit. groups of mobs dont seem to social very well if you take long range potshots- and kiting is way too effective

i'm really liking the characters- its an interesting dilemma though because i want to use them all but you cant bring more than 3 along. My favorite ally that I've met so far is Leliana i think- complete opposite of the stereotypical annoying-as-fuck bard/rogue character that these games always seem to have.

Yeah I have done my fair share of kiting too on tougher fights, it is a little too effective. My party has consisted of Leliana, Alistair and Wynne so far. Zven or whatever the hell his name is pissed me off when I talked to him, apparently I'm supposed to be doing the dishes instead of leading a party and fighting (my character is female), and no matter what I tried in dialogue it ended with me taking a hit to his approval rating.

I don't see him or Morrigan as really fitting into the way I intend to play through the game the first time, which is doing all the side quests and being the good guy in every situation I can. In the first village I lost approval with Morrigan because I did too many side quests, lol. So I'll probably be leaving them out of the party for the most part.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » November 6, 2009, 6:01 pm

360 version is totally functional, and I wouldn't say I REGRET getting it over the PC version, but I mostly picked it up because I was hoping it'd look better on an HD display than on my 3 year old gaming PC. As it turns out, the 360 has pretty unimpressive texture and lighting quality, ironically, at about the same level I could have run it smoothly on the PC.

If I could do it over again I'd get the PC one, since I was already used to the NWN style hotbars, but the 360 controls work surprisingly well, and I won't be losing any sleep over it.

Going through it real slow, I can't help it. I crawl through Bioware stuff. I just can't resist checking and double-checking every nook and cranny to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » November 7, 2009, 7:30 pm

Love the system (Baldurs Gate-style), nice moves on the dual wield-skills and the spell-effects

Morrigan + single heal + Cone of Cold + Blizzard = own

Wynne + Group Heal + Mass Rejuvenation + Earthquake = own

Just wish there were more locations, bigger map and more sidequests!

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » November 8, 2009, 9:32 am

I'm also slow crawling through this one too. The only thing I wish it had were walkable "zones" between the points on the map. Much like Baldur's gate, traversing thew wilds, woods, or roadways.

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » November 8, 2009, 7:52 pm

Soooo, anyone reached Orzammar yet?

Who you siding with? Bhelen or Harrowmont?

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » November 9, 2009, 12:12 pm

Kwonryu DragonFist wrote:Soooo, anyone reached Orzammar yet?

Who you siding with? Bhelen or Harrowmont?

I did the Circle of the Magi part first, and now I'm working on Redcliffe, just got to the castle there now.

Kryshade · Post by **Kryshade** » November 9, 2009, 12:50 pm

I'm loving this game so far. Just built a new computer so that I could run it maxed out.
I had a hard time beating the Attack at Night part of Redcliffe. Took me about 10 tries before I found the right strategy to beat the horde. I would always make a decent stand and then end up overwhelmed in the end.

Very fun game! Great story so far, I'm really getting into the plot and characters. The fighting is fun but it seems to border on either too easy, or too hard. There's not much of a middle ground for me for some reason. I would actually like it if they had a "turn by turn" option instead of manually pausing, queing up commands, unpausing, manually re-pausing again etc.

One question I have is that under the party tactics, if I dedicate the slots to something, will the characters then NOT use other options? For instance, if I have my 4 tactics slots for Alistair que'd up with abilities, will he not use others once he's run through the ones in the tactics menu? (another example would be Morrigan, if I set the parameters of when she uses a spell, will she only use those 4 spells that the tactics menu lists or will she default to other spells once she runs through the menu once?)

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » November 9, 2009, 2:19 pm

yes, they are limited to what you tell them to do, and when/why you tell them to do that one activity.

In other words, if you have parameters of when to use abilities setup, and they do all those abilities...while on cooldown, your character won't even attack...so you have to have a line on there that tells the character to do normal attack during the down time.

It can be rather annoying, so make sure you save your setups with the Custom 1, 2, 3, etc for each character. After you make a long stringed "good" AI for your characters, it takes minor maintenance to update them with new spells...or different situations.

I can honestly say, its the most directly stolen game feature I can remember in a long time (FinalFantasy12 "created" this feature, no?), and can be the most annoying game mechanic ever too...if you don't like to micromanage your chars.

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » November 9, 2009, 3:30 pm

I have a melee-heavy group and it is fun even if I do wish I had a dps mage sometimes:

Shale is my tank
my hero is a 2 weapon warrior
My rogue is an archer
healer

The rogue is underpowered because I got her to rank 4 in pick lock, but now she is filling in with some more offsenive capabilities. I am doing the gauntlet right now on my way to get the urn.

I tried fighting the dragon outside, but only got it to about 50%. Either need a new strategy, or some more levels to win that fight.

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » November 9, 2009, 5:05 pm

Spoilers for you who don't have competent Healers in your party!

[Show]: They sell unlimited Elfroot in the Elf Camp in that Brec Forest, and the friendly Dwarven Merchants in your camp sell unlimited Flasks. If you have any Herbalist in party (Morrigan starts with Herbalism), you can make 50+ Healing Pots before a dungeon.
Also, the Circle towers Quartermaster sell Lyrium Dust for those of you who want to make Mana Pots in abundance.
Herbalism is great!

I let Morrigan make a bunch o' pots that people can use when/if Morrigan and Wynne get incapped/stunned or preoccupied or both their heals are on cooldown.

There are LOADS of traps and chests later in the game, and you might regret not having a Rogue with you. The higher cunning, the better chance of picking!

When i face a gigantic mass or enemy archers / mages as well as charging tanks, i mostly use the EarthQuake + Blizzard combo.

Mages are great for CC in this game. One-Two Mages makes the game too easy imho.

But if you want more challenge, try a three-four melee-party!

-
With a tad more tactics-slots, i usually dont need to pause anymore and can play the fights as an actiongame!

Good job Bioware!

Also! Storm of the Century!

[Show]: Spell Might + Tempest + Blizzard = Storm of the Century

Kwonryu DragonFist · November 10, 2009, 3:59 pm

The music is good too!

Aubrey Ashburn was a great pick by Inon Zur!

Lelianna's Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAANKFPchtA

Dragon Age Main Theme (Uthenera)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2VDHLWFrFo

Greatest Song in the game sung by Aubrey Ashburn