Roderick

Dragon Age

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You know, I think Dragon Age actually is more mature than BioWares earlier games*, in spite of the trailers and marketing. Disclaimer: I have only completed the Baldur's Gate games, and played no more than 10 hours of KOTOR and Mass Effect.

I'm quite liking it. The character interactions so far have been pretty deep compared to other RPGs and you really have to think about what you say to them if you care about their reaction. But sometimes you also have to gamble.

I still think they could have fixed a lot of stuff, especially in the UI. I can think of several things that could very easily have been made to require less clicks. And I still find it hard to comprehend whatever made them decide to have a numeric index to the codex. That's a crime against usability. The Witcher for example, has a great UI (of course, it was simpler as it wasn't party based), and so does Torchlight. Even Risen's screens are much more usable, and they were brought up in reviews as a negative. Dragon Age reviews will probably not mention the UI (sorry if it's not so, I haven't read any), it will get a free pass.

[edit]* then again, it might just be that my memory of the earlier games has faded a bit

Edited by Erkki

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Edit3: Removed link. Yeah so, it works, it's just other things are broken in the game to the point of not playing. wouldn't recommend it.

Basically describes how you can edit your characters appearence afterwards and with a lot more control in the toolset. I'm doing it right now.

I was happy with my dwarf mainly because it was a preset, I really can't tell dwarves apart aside from beard and hair colour, so I was happy when I saw dwarf, red hair, done.

But I'm playing a mage elf now and I thought it looked ok in the creation, but in game, ye god. I was hoping to export to max and do editing myself, but seeing the options you can get in the tool set just blows my mind they didn't offer this kind of control in that character creator, so many more possibilities, neutral light setting, and just the texture blends are so much more robust then I thought this game was doing.... just awesome.

edit: my elf looks dirty with a mustache.

edit2: Ok a couple hours with this and, wow. I mean if they had an advanced button in that creator and gave me this I probably wouldn't have shat on it so much leading up to release. The face editor in the toolset is so deep to get a personality that I really wanted out of the characters. More options, being able to push those sliders just a little more, options right down to eyelash length are available, so awesome. I still ahve to deal with their crappy hair presets, but damn, I now don't have a mongaloid looking character, but one that exhibits personality. I can see where some of the main characters came from and it wasn't custom made in a modeling program, just used this damn thing.

So cool.

Edit4: Ok it works, and this post is a testament to random spam.

Just read the whole post and remember to rename/delete the singleplayer folder in modules before you begin, everything works that way.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=920668&topic=52130615

Edited by Murdoc

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omgwtf! I'm playing on casual. Why am I getting continually wiped by *plot-significant-character-name*

Flemeth

? I'm about level 12 across the board, don't have DLC Golem guy or the Dwarf but I think I have everyone else. Kind of specced badly I think, I dunno. I still feel it should be doable on the wussy difficulty level, but I'm not even getting close. Like 70% life is about the best I can do. That's 70% life remaining, not I'm able to do 70% damage.

As soon as she started attacking, I just gave up and re-loaded.

I had already tried taking on a dragon, with bad results.

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re the spoilery fight I was talking about:

I went and did some other stuff and went back and finally pulled it off at level 14 (rest of my party was 13). A few points:

1) Thank god Wynn has Revival.

2) As a mage, the arcane warrior specialization's shimmering shield is awesome. It doesn't block everything, but it's a HUGE help.

3) It's the first time playing on casual that I've had to use more than 3 potions over the course of a fight. I burned through around 30 in this fight. Went through around 12 just waiting for the cooldown on Wynn's Revival to tick. What a freaking difficulty spike. I suppose I could have leveled some more and it would have been easier.

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re the spoilery fight I was talking about:

I went and did some other stuff and went back and finally pulled it off at level 14 (rest of my party was 13). A few points:

1) Thank god Wynn has Revival.

2) As a mage, the arcane warrior specialization's shimmering shield is awesome. It doesn't block everything, but it's a HUGE help.

3) It's the first time playing on casual that I've had to use more than 3 potions over the course of a fight. I burned through around 30 in this fight. Went through around 12 just waiting for the cooldown on Wynn's Revival to tick. What a freaking difficulty spike. I suppose I could have leveled some more and it would have been easier.

Damn. I always forget about my Shield. I'm playing on Normal, so it's gonna be a while before I try it again. I'll have to make sure I'm all stocked up before I do it, too.

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I wonder if it's a coincidence or is there a pattern but in each of the three places I've gone to after the village (story spoiler)

there was some trouble with demons and blood magic was behind it

It'll be funny if that doesn't happen elsewhere and I just managed to pick the three places that basically had the same problem.

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My game has slowed up a bit, i got bored of the warrior so started a new game with the mage, but I don't really feel liking doing anything, maybe its time for a break.

The dwarf part was long, but it was also the best(have'nt tried the non mage elves though) it's also the one only race that really makes sense to me as asking the types of questions throughout the game.

It honestly felt like this game was made to be played as a dwarf.

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As I move through it, I'm finding more and more that I can't play this game very well on anything above casual, because I don't understand the tactical aspect of it. I use talents, but I can't tell at all what types of actions will be more effective than others in a given situation. I'm not someone who has played a lot of RPGs, so there may be fundamentals that I'm just not familiar with. I should mention that I'm playing on the 360. Does anyone have some tips about Dragon Age combat/tactics?

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As I move through it, I'm finding more and more that I can't play this game very well on anything above casual, because I don't understand the tactical aspect of it. I use talents, but I can't tell at all what types of actions will be more effective than others in a given situation. I'm not someone who has played a lot of RPGs, so there may be fundamentals that I'm just not familiar with. I should mention that I'm playing on the 360. Does anyone have some tips about Dragon Age combat/tactics?
It's tough to say for Xbox 360. I am playing on PC and I rarely use the tactics menu, but I micromanage battles very much, like pausing constantly to give out orders and I always play from the tactical camera view. I'd recommend trying out different combinations of skills from the tactics menu though. There seems to be defaults that work out OK, but they can probably be improved upon. I'd imagine the tactics feature is more useful in the 360 version than on PC since it's harder to micromanage the individual units.

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I'd imagine the tactics feature is more useful in the 360 version than on PC since it's harder to micromanage the individual units.

Yeah, once I messed around with the tactics menus and tried to specialize each character, I started doing a better. Micromanaging isn't that bad on 360. The only problem is it's really hard to tell what one of your guys is doing until you switch your selected unit to him/her. So you can only focus on one at a time. So, I guess you're right. a lot of the time you kind of have to hope your other guys are doing the right thing and just watch their health bar.

I'm starting to realize that (at least on the console version), a lot of the strategy is in how you customize your characters. I play as an elven rogue, so I picked up a lot of attributes in archery and then set up a tactic that says whenever an enemy uses a melee attack on me, I switch to my melee weapons, which is extremely useful because even though I'm trying to fight from relatively long range, dudes like to charge me all the time (maybe I need to drop some armor...I've read that the more armored up you are, the higher a priority you are for the enemy AI). But I also have the attributes that make you shoot uninterrupted even when you're taking melee damage and the one that speeds up your rate of "fire" (not to mention "dirty fighting", "Below the Belt" and "Deadly Strike" for suckas that try to get too close).

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I still haven't figured out the tactics menu; I'm literally retarded with it. Either they don't really do anything I think they will do or they do it too much. like i got my guy to finally take potions, but then just just swallowed them all, like after each time he hit something.

So I just manage them manually, but I'm on Pc so that's ok.

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I actually haven't found the battles too difficult, besides the first ones, and with the exception of a few bosses. I've had to retry a couple of boss battles 3 times, not more. Maybe it's because I did a DLC quest fairly early on and levelled up enough. Or will the game adjust to my level?

The tactics menus seem ok. I've tweaked things a bit, but mostly left it to defaults. I control only the main character and command others only when things are going bad. The mages usually heal the fighters fast enough, except Morrigan, to whom I added "Heal ally" to the last row (they are "executed" in order) and since I haven't noticed a way to reorder the rows, I haven't been bothered with changing them all to put that to the top.

[edit]I'm playing on normal BTW

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Since the game has been patched I'm finding normal to generally be pretty reasonable, though there are still some "wtf" instances where it's like how can I easily beat this enemy but not this one...

I defeated the 2 dragons in one try each on normal at level 15 but now I've gotten killed twice by Zevran and the other assassins

I am getting pretty close to the end but I am kind of stretching it out and doing all the sidequests that I started but never got around to finishing. I'm probably in the low 50s for hours played.

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Since the game has been patched I'm finding normal to generally be pretty reasonable, though there are still some "wtf" instances where it's like how can I easily beat this enemy but not this one...

I defeated the 2 dragons in one try each on normal at level 15 but now I've gotten killed twice by Zevran and the other assassins

I am getting pretty close to the end but I am kind of stretching it out and doing all the sidequests that I started but never got around to finishing. I'm probably in the low 50s for hours played.

That's weird.

I've been destroyed by both dragons I've encountered and wasted Zevran's crew outright first try.

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That's weird.

I've been destroyed by both dragons I've encountered and wasted Zevran's crew outright first try.

I don't get it, my party is different now

I used Shale, Wynne, and Leliana on the dragons but I usually use Allistair, Morrigan and Leliana, that is the group I had against Zevran. Now I am being completey wiped out by guards w/ dogs, I am in Arl Howe's estate. I even set the difficulty to easy and I am not even coming close to beating these guys. It's quite frustrating.

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I don't get it, my party is different now

I used Shale, Wynne, and Leliana on the dragons but I usually use Allistair, Morrigan and Leliana, that is the group I had against Zevran. Now I am being completey wiped out by guards w/ dogs, I am in Arl Howe's estate. I even set the difficulty to easy and I am not even coming close to beating these guys. It's quite frustrating.

I think it may have been because I'm a mage with a lot of spells centered around disabling enemies and crowd control. Fireball and the Walking Bomb spells are great when a lot of enemies crowd together. Winter's Grasp and Stone Fist are good for temporarily removing enemy combatants from the action so you can concentrate on specific enemies. It may also help to turn the AI off and hang back, only dealing with guys as they come. The tactics options are fine most of the time, but when there are a bunch of guys on the field, the rather broadly defined conditions can make the characters run from enemy to enemy, landing a hit or two before moving on instead of killing the guy who's killing them.

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Quick question: Does your party continue ti gain experience when not traveling with you, or is it possible to end up with a level 20 hero and a level 5 supporting character?

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So, question for anyone who's played both: should I get this or Uncharted 2? I can only afford two PS3 games from here till Christmas (I'm saving up for Telltale's next), and since I already have Brutal Legend...

I don't usually play RPGs, but this one looks OK. I guess the writing will put me off, but if it's fun enough, maybe the 50 hour play time will keep me sustained till my next batch of games?

As long as it's fun I'll take it, I suppose. I'll just button through the talkey parts if I can't stand them.

So...which one do you guys recommend?

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So, question for anyone who's played both: should I get this or Uncharted 2? I can only afford two PS3 games from here till Christmas (I'm saving up for Telltale's next), and since I already have Brutal Legend...

I don't usually play RPGs, but this one looks OK. I guess the writing will put me off, but if it's fun enough, maybe the 50 hour play time will keep me sustained till my next batch of games?

As long as it's fun I'll take it, I suppose. I'll just button through the talkey parts if I can't stand them.

So...which one do you guys recommend?

It really sounds like you wouldn't like Dragon Age at all. I'd say Uncharted 2 sounds more your style.

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It really sounds like you wouldn't like Dragon Age at all. I'd say Uncharted 2 sounds more your style.

Well, it's not like the writing in Uncharted is exactly top class either. I mean, sure, some of it amusing, but I was put-off by the predictable plot, as well as the undeveloped side characters (Elena's handling of a gun, as well as her fighting level and no remorse for blowing a billion people's heads off, being a good example).

Good writing is still a rarity, so its absence won't completely water-down the experience if the game is fun...Does that change your answer at all?

Edited by Kroms

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Quick question: Does your party continue ti gain experience when not traveling with you, or is it possible to end up with a level 20 hero and a level 5 supporting character?

I'm not sure how exactly the experience works out, but your non-party characters should maintain level progression with the rest of your party.

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Perfect. Just what I wanted to hear.

Kroms, I haven't played Dragon Age, but I beat Uncharted 2 in a week. If you're looking for something to last you til Christmas, you may want to take that into consideration.

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Well, it's not like the writing in Uncharted is exactly top class either. I mean, sure, some of it amusing, but I was put-off by the predictable plot, as well as the undeveloped side characters (Elena's handling of a gun, as well as her fighting level and no remorse for blowing a billion people's heads off, being a good example).

Good writing is still a rarity, so its absence won't completely water-down the experience if the game is fun...Does that change your answer at all?

I think the point of Uncharted 2 is much less about the writing than Dragon Age is so it's not so much a matter of relative quality, but that you're going to have to deal with a lot more of it in Dragon Age.

People are always going on about how graphics don't matter but Uncharted 2 looks a hell of a lot better than Dragon Age. I don't know if that matters to you at all.

Having said that, I've alreay spent twice the time on Dragon Age as I did with Uncharted 2 and I'm not really that close to being done.

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Yeah, you can really get a ton of time out of Dragon Age if you do sidequests and stuff. I am getting pretty close to the end of the game I think

just beat Loghain in the duel (to have the game crash on me in the next dialog sequence, probably forcing me to replay the huge battle beforehand)

and I am almost at 60 hours played. I did a good amount of sidequests, but certainly not every one available.

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