Dragon Age is out

[Vympel]

Fixed your stuffup with the spoiler tag

I've resolved to play an evil bastard in my next playthrough (now doing sword and shield human warrior noble) - I think I'll play a rogue city elf.

[AniThyng]

Spoiler

To be fair to Bhelen, it's not hard for Lord Aedeucan to be harbouring plans for fratricide against his elder brother anyway. There are dialogue options where the player character can alludes to the idea of murder to further himself, and Bhelen just uses this to his advantage. This sort of backstabbing madness is apparently pretty typical of dwarven politics: Bhelen was just the better dwarf. That said, it would have been interesting to actually travel back to the city having used the dwarf noble origin, just to see the little bastard shit himself.

Spoiler

I just started a new playthrough as a dwarf noble and quite frankly Trian (the eldest brother) is a ultra-conservative asshole, while Bhelan actually does come across as a enlightened reformist that wants to "flatten" their caste-bound society. It should be interesting when I get back to Orzrammar... Lord Harrowmounts failings were as much because he was not strong enough a leader - in the bhelan epilogue it's noted that he had to dissolve the assembly and force the reform as a dictator after all...

BTW, does anyone else think that the old Lone Wolf series by Joe Dever as being an inspiration for the setting as well? Grey Wardens = Kai, Ferelden = Summerlund... a Magnamund/Lonewolf mod would be awesome

The setting is detailed and awesome - you really get a sense of being in a larger world - and they seem to get the scaling fairly right, it's a large world, but not so large that news cannot spread fast. It's like playing a game set in Sengoku Japan and meeting a Jesuit Priest - you know somehow he made it there on a boat, he's from a place called "Portugal", his "Pope" sits at a place called "Rome"...but that's thousands of miles away. Much like hearing Leliana speak of Val Royeux or Sten of Qunari, or of the Castle Weishaupt, and the rump Tevinter Imperium and its capital Minrathous. It's just that good.

[Molyneux]

It's been a long while since I read those Lone Wolf books...they were fun, though.

I meant to ask: has anyone tried to unlock/play the shapeshifter wizard? I like the idea of shapeshifters in general, but I don't want to spend a month working on the character only to find out that I've worked my way into an unusable build and have to start over from scratch.

[Ghost Rider]

It's been a long while since I read those Lone Wolf books...they were fun, though.

I meant to ask: has anyone tried to unlock/play the shapeshifter wizard? I like the idea of shapeshifters in general, but I don't want to spend a month working on the character only to find out that I've worked my way into an unusable build and have to start over from scratch.

...They suck and suck very bad.

They have some interesting abilities, but are overshadowed by the Ranger's pet counterpart, as well as the fact the Mage's primary abilities are always better. They could've been good, if said abilities had more oomph or variety.

And one point I'd like to say of the game, especially since Vympel took the dual warrior. Each of the builds can be played, but the game has in it's mind some very set...broken builds with some experimental, half assed builds. I hope if they continue they at least play test the rest because some of the abilities, spells and extras were useless even in casual and thus made the feeling that you got abilites just so you could reach the cool thing and spam the three cool abilities until said boss was dead.

[Molyneux]

It's been a long while since I read those Lone Wolf books...they were fun, though.

I meant to ask: has anyone tried to unlock/play the shapeshifter wizard? I like the idea of shapeshifters in general, but I don't want to spend a month working on the character only to find out that I've worked my way into an unusable build and have to start over from scratch.

...They suck and suck very bad.

They have some interesting abilities, but are overshadowed by the Ranger's pet counterpart, as well as the fact the Mage's primary abilities are always better. They could've been good, if said abilities had more oomph or variety.

And one point I'd like to say of the game, especially since Vympel took the dual warrior. Each of the builds can be played, but the game has in it's mind some very set...broken builds with some experimental, half assed builds. I hope if they continue they at least play test the rest because some of the abilities, spells and extras were useless even in casual and thus made the feeling that you got abilites just so you could reach the cool thing and spam the three cool abilities until said boss was dead.

Damn. Thanks for the warning...looks like I'll be re-rolling, and checking a build guide beforehand to figure out what I'm gonna do.

[SylasGaunt]

There is however at least 1 shapeshifting alteration mod that aims to make them a bit better.

[Vympel]

And one point I'd like to say of the game, especially since Vympel took the dual warrior. Each of the builds can be played, but the game has in it's mind some very set...broken builds with some experimental, half assed builds. I hope if they continue they at least play test the rest because some of the abilities, spells and extras were useless even in casual and thus made the feeling that you got abilites just so you could reach the cool thing and spam the three cool abilities until said boss was dead.

At the end of the day I was pretty happy with the dual warrior, but I have no basis for comparison, and I have been playing on easy, after all. I really liked the high damage - late game, even relatively early abilities like dual strike (I think thats what its called, where you swing both weapons at once and do double damage to enemies adjacent to you (front and sides) deal devastating damage. Same with whirlwind. However the lack of defence against knockdown can be an issue and playing with a sword and shield warrior now he's got some really cool abilities (I'm at level .

[xammer99]

So far I've played won the game w/ a Dual Rogue & 2H fighter, and now I'm on my 3rd with a Dual Warrior. I have to say that I rather like the dual warrior more than the 2h one. The damage output is really quite nice, but I am getting a bit annoyed with the lack of resistance to knockbacks, but the Warden Armor has helped with that.

But something I've noticed, the main character is just more durable than the other warriors. The 2H warrior or Dual rogue both could take a beating better than Alistair, Sten, or Ohgrim could, even with the rogue in just medium/light armor.

Does anyone else notice this?

[Vympel]

Well your warrior character should have superior stats to them (and the best armor?), and your rogue is probably getting hit less due to high dexterity in particular. That's a guess of course, no idea if you've accounted for that or are just going from general impression.

Also, I only discovered the existence of Mabari Dominance in this playthrough. Didn't even know what the hell "landmark" was for previously.

[Questor]

Also, I only discovered the existence of Mabari Dominance in this playthrough. Didn't even know what the hell "landmark" was for previously.

Care to clue me in?

[Ghost Rider]

Also, I only discovered the existence of Mabari Dominance in this playthrough. Didn't even know what the hell "landmark" was for previously.

Care to clue me in?

There are trees that have the quest sparkle on them. If you bring your pooch, he pisses on the tree thus marking the area as his. He gets a slight boost if you have a fight there.

And the real reason the main character is better? Look at stat placements next time. Oghren isn't even that high in strength in comparison, Sten is decent, but Alistier has some abyssmal placement.
Spoiler

As well as Logain to press the issue

In fact the rogues have even dumber placement, and the mages make even less sense. Seriously look at how much Willpower, Strength, Cunning and so forth on them. As well as abilities. Since you start from ground zero, you can specialize versus the hideous placement the computer figures for characters.

[Vympel]

There are trees that have the quest sparkle on them. If you bring your pooch, he pisses on the tree thus marking the area as his. He gets a slight boost if you have a fight there.

You get a boost as well.

As for stat placement, there's a respec mod, isn't there? I assume it works for all your party, so you should be able to play with their stats ...

Since I'm now a sword & shield warrior, I've got no reason to have another warrior in my party at all, and can focus on just having either Leliana / Morrigan/ Wynne or Zevran / Morrigan / Wynne. I never used Zevran at all in the last playthrough, so I thought I might try him out, though IIRC he has fuck all useful rogue skills like lockpicking.

[charlemagne]

Yeah, I've only used Zevran since I got a neat mod that let's you level companions yourselves, i.e. it turns of the auto-levelling when you get them, so there's no silly stealth on Zevran.

[Stofsk]

Yeah, I've only used Zevran since I got a neat mod that let's you level companions yourselves, i.e. it turns of the auto-levelling when you get them, so there's no silly stealth on Zevran.

Where do you get this mod?

[Stofsk]

Since I'm now a sword & shield warrior, I've got no reason to have another warrior in my party at all

Don't be so sure. Sword & shield is a tank build, you can have another warrior in your party who's optimised for DPS. In other words, a two-hander like Sten would be appropriate. Or if you go Zevran, have him go around enemies you tank and stab them in the kidneys like all good Assassins.

[The Kernel]

Honestly, I had a lot more fun with my Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage tank then a sword-and-board tank because the Blood Mage skills give you access to the greatest crowd control damage spell in the game and you can even fall back on your other mage abilities if you are so inclined. It is a much more fun and versatile build.

[charlemagne]

Where do you get this mod?

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/, somewhere under "Gameplay changes". There's a couple interesting things there, like rings that let you respecc (and even change your character's sex, which is useful to engage in romance with otherwise unavailable characters, like Morrigan if you're female Apparently once the romance is under way, you can revert back, the game checks sex only once and not again if you're already romancing her.)

[Ghost Rider]

Honestly, I had a lot more fun with my Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage tank then a sword-and-board tank because the Blood Mage skills give you access to the greatest crowd control damage spell in the game and you can even fall back on your other mage abilities if you are so inclined. It is a much more fun and versatile build.

I'd hope so given, given most of the community consider it the all in one super wonder build. I don't think any other build in the game has it's potential for soloing regardless of difficulty, even Nightmare.

[Ghost Rider]

Patch 1.02

Patch details:

Many of the fixes affecting balance, gameplay, or plot scripting are already included in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3 versions of Dragon Age: Origins.
Balance

* Daggers now apply 0.5 points of damage per additional point in dexterity and 0.5 points of damage per additional point in strength, as originally intended. This increases dagger damage for high-dexterity characters.
* During combat, mana or stamina reserves now correctly regenerate more quickly when reserves are low. This allows players to occasionally use an talent or spell in the later stages of lengthy fights.
* When exploring, mana and stamina now regenerate more quickly at higher character levels. This reduces downtime between fights.
* 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.
* The cooldowns for several low-level sustained abilities are now shorter. This ensures that players are not penalized for accidentally deactivating them.
* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.
* Enemy corpses now drop health poultices and money more appropriately, resulting in less clutter in the player's inventory.

Gameplay

* In rare cases, enemy corpses were selectable when they contained no loot. This no longer occurs.
* Party members whose combat tactics were set to defensive behavior no longer stop attacking after using a spell or talent.
* In rare cases, combat tactics conditions could fail to determine whether a character had enough mana or stamina to use an ability. This no longer occurs.
* The Rally talent no longer repeats its audio effect if it is active during certain conversations.
* The Rally talent no longer deactivates upon area transitions or conversations.
* The Shimmering Shield spell now deactivates when the character is out of mana.

Plot *Spoiler Warning* Spoiler

* Promotional downloadable content items now remain in the player's inventory when standard items are removed at the end of the dwarf noble origin.
* Repeatedly talking to Duncan after gathering the vials in the Korcari Wilds but not the treaties no longer provides duplicate experience.
* Leliana's personal plot can now be completed if the player substantially increased her approval (through gifts) before talking to her.
* During the siege of Redcliffe, enemies are no longer able to spawn in locations that would break the plot.
* Bann Teagan no longer disappears when he is supposed to be accessible during Urn of Sacred Ashes.

PC Specific

* Controlling a summoned creature (like a ranger's pets) during certain special area transitions no longer results in odd behavior.
* Creating a character in a custom module did not create a folder for saves. This could result in corruption of main campaign saves. This no longer occurs.
* In some cases, the class icon was set incorrectly for characters imported from the downloadable Character Creator. This no longer occurs.
* The options menu now includes a setting to automatically download previously purchased content that is not currently installed.
* After installing new downloadable content, the game now always reminds the user to restart the game.
* The icons for some promotional downloadable content items were missing. They now appear correctly.
* The screenshot upload GUI would stop working from time to time on the client. There was a memory override that was fixed. It is a client fix. It doesn't affect the other problems we have seen on the server.

[Molyneux]

and...no balances to shapeshifter, I see. Ah, well...maybe I'll find a mod or two after I've played through the game.

It is truly silly, but honestly, I am happy that I finally managed to find a "nude-characters" mod. Nothing fancy, just retexturing to remove the underwear - I just really didn't like the look of the undies.

[Coaan]

Aaand no fix to the memory leak. Should we be surprised? notabit.

[Stofsk]

Well, I finally finished the bloody game. After some 66 hrs of gameplay. Holy shit.

I think I will wait a good long time before revisiting it in another playthrough. But the next time I do play, I'll do it with the difficulty up to normal, at the very least, and with a melee class - either my arcane warrior that I've started or maybe a Human Noble Warrior with a zweihander. The final battles were pretty easy, even though party members still occasionally died.
Spoiler

I tried to get my Elven archer bitch to sacrifice herself, but Alistair wouldn't let me, the prick. That was my big hero moment and the fucker let me down. Strangely enough, the cutscene following the ending was correct in that it showed Anora by herself, then the epilogue started talking about how Anora and Alistair reigned over Ferelden. I was like wtf

At least the Dalish Elves got a homeland out of it.

[White Haven]

Spoiler

One of the ending options I went with just oozed irony. I used the powers of a maleficar to survive the fight with the arch-demon, and then got the Templars kicked off of the Circle's back as my boon from the new king. That's right, bitches, I just went outside your rules AND got your boss to tell you to eat a dick by doing it.

[Vympel]

I toyed with the idea of starting my current playthrough on normal difficulty, but decided against it when I remembered how frustrating it was.

I was wondering how long it'd take them to do an underwear mod - both sets (male/ female) look absurd. Not to mention making the sex scenes look even weirder than they already do (Mass Effect did it way better).

[Aaron]

Anyone else think the females breasts are way of out wack? It's not to noticeable in armour but when a female dwarf is just in her underwear they look massive. So much so that they are actually ridiculous.