Dragon Age: Origins
 

Quick search reveals no existing threads. Kinda sad it hasn't been discussed much, being a BioWare game, thus making it automatically awesome.

How fucking great is this shit? I started yesterday around 2 pm, with the intention of playing 2 hours or so. 4 am I am still going. HOLY FUCK. I love this game.

Also, nice of BioWare to add 2 of the 3 DLC pieces free for early buyers.

Nicer still that the Dragon Armor also works in Mass Effect 2. I see what you did there, BioWare.

Definitely getting the Warden's Keep DLC. I fucking love this game.

It either came down to getting this or Smackdown 2010. Went with WWE.

Getting this in the future.

I wanted to pick this up but I will probably wait and hope for it for xmas from my wife.

Yeah, there are a lot of new games out, and this hasn't had much hype tbh.

I've heard about this. Probably will get this but it will be a long ways off. I've still got Borderlands still wrapped in plastic and Assassin's Creed 2 hits shelves next week.

Gonna have a hell of a backlog.

My brother has been playing the shit out of this for PC. Once he gets tired of it I will jump in. I've heard it can be annoying / tedious to play on a console b/c of the constant pausing that comes with playing this time of game. I don't feel like doing that so I'll just wait for PC. These games are typically better on PC as it is.

I downloaded the PC version like the pirate I am and it slowed down considerably during the fights.

I don't really see what the hype is about this game. Doesn't look interesting to me.

I'm kind of stalled on the Fade mission. It's kind of boring and tedious, but it's the first time I've actually wanted to put down the game, rather than putting it down because I have shit to do/need food or sleep/my eyes are blurring and my hands are knotted.

I appreciate that it's non-linear and whatnot, but between the trial and error and the fact that it's only non-linear until you realise there's basically only one way to do things...

Combat could be better, but the game's been a blast for 90% of the story so far.

Well don't knock it till you tried it.

Is combat on the console where you control your characters combat moves directly? I mean, on the PC version you just click on the enemy and you automatically attack, and just sit and watch unless you click on a special ability like Precesion Strike or drink a health vial.

I'LL KNOCK YOUR MOTHER!

I'd try it if I could but nothing about it makes me want to play it. Just my opinion.

Same as.

Though you don't get the precision of clicking with a mouse.

Incredibly fun and addicting game.

As far as I understand the battles can become quite strategic where you need to pause and issue orders. I decided to play as a mage with my main so that I would always be actively casting spells.

Yeah, I started a mage and found myself using the pause/position strategy a lot more than on my warrior. The game becomes a lot easier when you play it strategically, IMO. I play the party's healer and periodic damage dealer, and I set up my parties tactics so that one protects me, and the other tanks the majority of mobs while I heal him. The 4th person is usually just a ranged damage dealer. I will pause the game a lot and make sure certain people don't get too close to the wrong things, or to make sure they're making the most of their damage. Things die so much easier when you tell your party exactly how to do it.

Yeah, I play about half strategy and half RAWR! PRESS A TO KILL!

Me too. Fucking love this shit.

So what did everyone pick as their starting guy?

I made a male human rogue and I had him become an assassin as well so far. Not quite 14 yet, but I think I'll be going ranger as the second choice. I don't want to be a bard on my main guy and duelist doesn't sound that interesting.

I'm assuming a pet would help me more.

Alistair is the man. He'll be staying my tank based simply on the fact that his sarcasm is pretty entertaining.

Haven't played this much, as I'm about to format my PC soon for a fresh Win 7 install. Don't want to wear myself out since I'm just gonna have to play through the first bit again.

Dalish male rogue up in here.

Dwarven Warrior over here..

Yeah, this game is sweet..

This game is fucking amazing. Dwarven Warrior here too, just got started on it.

i wnt to play this and demon's souls

Still trying to figure out the whole group aspect of this game.. Been doing alot of side quests to level up cause it had gotten pretty hard playing the main storyline..

some of the choices you make in regards to the story have huge impacts on the rest of the game. It is really incredible how much influence you actually have over the world now, not just little changes any more that dont really have much effect on the grand scheme of things. All I can say is you better remember to actively pursue better relations with your party members; you never know when you might piss one off and get pwned while your not paying attention.

Love this game. But everything BioWare does is fucking genius.

Borrowed my sister's boyfriends 360 and this for 2 weeks. Absolutely loved it, beat it twice. Really hoping Bioware puts a GOTY PC version with all the DLC in it before a xpac comes out.

I'm actually considering hooking up to Xbox Live for the first time in ages to get Shale. Having a fucking golem on my team would be handy.

He's pretty good since his unique talents can be used to turn him into an absolute offensive beast, a buff machine or a huge defensive stationary distraction (great for letting rogues get mad backstabs going.

payed 16 hours straight

Yeah, Shale is the goods.

Found him/her to be one of the best characters in the game. Hiding behind Shale and Alistair as tanks as my mage spams cone of cold and freezes anything else. Bliss.

1st playthrough I was a rogue. Definitely called this class being the best (IMO) when I starterd this shit. Stealing, lockpicking, the dual wield passive talents and stealth make the game way easier, since you're always in the money, Slim Couldry's tasks are a breeze and combat is generally easy as long as you don't try to take a tank on face to face. Fuck, by the time I was able to use the Blood Dragon armor, I couldn't even be touched most of the time and I actually was the team tank. :cool:

Playing as a mage now, and holy fuck these guys get powerful about halfway in. At level 14 I was Spirit Healer/Arcane Warrior. I'm like level 17 now and when I walk into a room, I blast everyone with a bigass fireball, dropping them all, follow up with Tempest and then bust out the Spellweaver (bitching sword for Arcane Warrior, BTW) and finish the job melee style.

BTW, if you can be bothered setting up an EA account (fucking hate that shit) and playing the free Flash game prequel to Dragon Age, you can get 3 items for your PC/360/PS3 version. Just for signing up and creating a character, you get a sweet ass amulet (+ 5% of all damage types). Can't be bothered with actually playing the Flash game, since the other 2 items were kinda meh.

Just a heads up.

Oh yeah, I also heard there was DLC coming out Jan 5th. Can't fucking wait.

Can you be a mage for hire or mix things up? When I get this, I want to make a Sephiroth like character.

How do I put this?

You choose 1 of 3 races: Human, elf or dwarf. (Dwarves can't do magic and thus can't be mages)

You choose a gender.

You choose a background: Human noble, city elf, Dalish elf, dwarf noble, dwarf casteless or mage.

Then You build your character based on the previous presets. You play the background origin quest for you specific background. How you interact with people and the choices you make change how people see you, the people you recruit, the sidequests you get and the ending you get.

Since a lot of sidequests you make involve making that cash, in a way, yes you can be a mage for hire. HOWEVER, you will find it hard to make a Sephiroth type, since the game is one big allegory for Europe. Fereldan = Britain, Orlais = France, Antiva = Spain, etc. Also, because there is no Japfaggotry at all in this game. Sorry to disappoint you.

It's cool. It sorta sounds like Oblivion even though they're a bit different. Thanks for the info. I just want to make a character who has really powerful magic and strong attacks. I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy this game when I get it.

The atmosphere and mythologies of the game might be similar, but if you have played a BioWare game before, just basically throw the fantasy genre to their format. Their games aren't exactly big, open non-linear worlds -- but I cannot stand that sort of gaming. I like amazing stories and characters and being pointed somewhere to go (because I like to clean up wherever I am, and not miss anything).

One thing that is bothering me about the game thus far, is combat. Not the style, as it is classic BioWare, but just because of how I've leveled up, normal guys are like mega-powerful. I guess enemies leveling up with you makes sense, but something about it is just tedious. You could still have challenging boss fights without having each room filled with invinci-drones. I guess I should be using more strategy, but I don't play BioWare games for the graphics and combat. I play them for the amazing artistry and storyline.

Maybe I am alone in being bothered by this, though.

It's no different than any other Bioware game, Kotor normal guys die fast later in the game, Jade Empire, same thing, Mass Effect, same. You want a challenge, make everyone a damager. First play through I ended up beating the High Dragon guarding the ash's with just Wynne alive from half health.

Set your party's tactics to fight better and they will. That's the biggest issue with hard fights. Mages shouldn't run op on someone and rogues should be making better use of their abilities to upset stronger enemies.

I dunno. I've never played Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Knights, but from KOTOR onwards, although you do tend to get more powerful enemies in bigger swarms, there's something different this time.

I think it's what Funky implied, and that it's my strategy. Combat is never a big focus for me, so in previous games I would rarely use tactics, and to be honest, I'm not even sure they were there. I have used them a little bit, but I find my strategy has become to blitz some guards in a room next to me with Inferno, to start lowering their health and making it easier for Alistair and Leliana to hack them up, while Morrigan picks them off.

Yo I just found out that there is an Expansion pack slated for March. Fucking sweet.

You're in Orlais trying to find out more about what the Darkspawn actually intend to do. You can create a new Orlesian Warden or import your current one. New spells/talents, items, level cap raise and 5 recruitable characters.

Fuck yes.

Sweet.

I know. I can't stop pelvic thrusting right now. DA:O is basically my favourite game ever and I've barely played anything else since it came out save for DJ Hero, which fucked my shoulder up.

Holy shit, that sounds incredible. Expansions aren't my thing, but fuck that sounds amazing. They've created a whole continent, essentially, so I am glad they are exploring it.

Any of you been following those codex pages at all? Noid's right, Thedas has several countries that are mentioned but never seen. And after the end of this game there are still 2 archdemons left, not to mention this "Architect" so and so.

Expansion came out today anyone get it? Got it sitting here for PC, but gotta rush through the original on PC first.

I've beaten the main game 3 times so oh hells yes I am downloading this right now.

5 new characters, can't bone any of them though. Wonder if they got a backlash on that.

The boning things not a complaint though. I think it distracted too much from the actual game in the main game.

I did spend a lot of time getting Leliana in the sack. But I've never really cared either way for the romances. Isn't a Bioware game without them tho imo.

Fuck yeah, been playing the expansion all day. There is still occasional flirting and whatnot, just no actual sexings. So far this shit is great. Almost every talent/spell tree has new shit. Most of them are really good, but a few new individual skills suck balls. Crappier versions of existing shit. You start at level 18 if you create a new person or import someone level 18 or lower. Also all the old specializations are unlocked from the start. 2 new ones per class, but they are still locked. Pretty good, as I was able to make a pretty bad ass rogue.

I don't know whether or not to finish the game with my 4th character or not.... GAHHH DECISIONS

Do it for all the possible endings.

I've got a second character on the go in ME2 as well

I want all the origins as well and they throw another one in the mix :'(

Ah well, cannot WAIT to crack on with this after work.

Kinda pissed, I started the expansion after doing all the DLC and just starting the mage tower(since I'm not a fan of the fade part), but I didn't get my armor from the Wardens Keep. I still have Duncan's swords but not the armor from the dudes great grandmother. Edit, also the Dragon's Armor stuff that you download didn't carry over either, kinda mad about that too.

Surprised that Duncan's sword/dagger carry over. They said none of the DLC would be carrying over. Then again, with the the Tier 8 and 9 stuff and the new runes for armour, you really don't need it anyway, as the stuff you start with with the Orlesian warden is basically as good as what you end with pre-Awakening.

Also, the Orlesian warden doesn't have a playable origin. It's just mentioned by the characters and you're thrown straight into the main storyline.

Thank god I have the PC version now. Someone made a mod to fix it :D


Well would work, if I had paid for the DLC, oh well.