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itadakimasu
Tue, 12-29-2009, 02:23 PM
I got Dragon Age : Origins the other day. I've put 4-5 hours into it and it is pretty good. Being an ex-WoW player, I can't help but notice that it's so extremely similar.

They had a deal on EA for digital downloads. I got Dragon Age, and FIFA 2010 for my big bro for $40 total.

Penner
Tue, 12-29-2009, 09:03 PM
I started playing Dragon Age: Origins today aswell, and so far its pretty fun, getting some Baldurs Gate vibes from it ^_^

itadakimasu
Wed, 12-30-2009, 08:56 AM
i actually got into the first major part of dragon age last night, and it was pretty fun.

I found out the hard way about fire magic and friendly fire lol. but setting 2 of your party members on fire along w\ 6 or so dark spawn could be worth it!

Xelbair
Wed, 12-30-2009, 07:39 PM
Try using cone of cold - its one of most imbalanced spells in this game(hi chance of freeze and lasts approx for whole cooldown)

Ryllharu
Wed, 12-30-2009, 07:50 PM
Try using cone of cold - its one of most imbalanced spells in this gameWorks on High Dragons too when they're busy crunching on Allister. Mass Paralysis is worse though. The duration is a lot longer, and enemies actually use it.

KrayZ33
Wed, 12-30-2009, 08:39 PM
maxxing out morrigans glyph and entropy tree in addition to the cold tree will allow you to control... well, everything
it really doesn't matter how many enemy's you'll encounter

half of them will attack each other because of that confuse spell, the other half will be frozen
and well everyone of them will be paralyzed or knocked back half of the time.
especially when you use the glyph-spell combo, it paralyzes ur own heroes too though.

200% crowd control :P

just get ur assassin ready to stab any yellow's or orange's and ur second mage (if you got one) to do the rest with inferno or tempest.

no tank required ^^


another fun tactic I like to use is taunt + forecefield and using mass-effect spells
-> tempest/inferno/blizzard/scattershot

works very good with a reaver-wariior (doesn't have to be a tank)


btw: steam offers Torchligh for ~8$
I wonder if it's worth a buy.. the game looks and sounds good (reminds me of diablo)

Archangel
Wed, 12-30-2009, 08:54 PM
Someone give me some tips here

I'm a elfen mage, if i choose blood magic will that come to bite me in the ass later on? Being evil and all. I was thinking of being a magic swordsman just because it sounds that cool

Ryllharu
Wed, 12-30-2009, 10:27 PM
I'm a elfen mage, if i choose blood magic will that come to bite me in the ass later on? Being evil and all. I was thinking of being a magic swordsman just because it sounds that cool
Some the best abilities for mages are just in the regular set. I took specializations for the stat bumps rather than the abilities mostly.

- Spirit Healer is good for the Ally Heal spell and possibly the resurrect in a pinch

- Shapeshifter is good for one thing. Maxing out so the Bear form gets Overwhelm. Best anti-mage and high-level humanoid boss skill in the game. Pins them down and as the Bearskarn form, does a ton of damage. Aside from that, the rest is useless. Swarm if you're feeling lazy and need some health (again, need to max out).

- Arcane Warrior is only good for making a mage tank. That said, it makes one hell of a tank. Allister was doing the work, so I had no need for it either.

- Blood mage I have never taken, so I can't comment on it. I made Morrigan take it for the stat bumps, but don't take any abilities from it, since as I said above, the primary school abilities are so good. It gives you a crowd control (which KrayZ33 pointed out that there are better ones in Entropy and Glyphs) and mostly mana replenishment.

KrayZ33
Thu, 12-31-2009, 03:07 PM
bloodmage + arcane warrior is probably one of the best things you can do

you don't lose health (being an arcane warrior makes you nearly invincible at the end of the game ^^)
and bloodmagic will allow you to cast spells, because as an arcane warrior 80~90% of your Mana-ressources will be used by passiv abilities, hence you have a really weak mana-pool.. the bloodmagic tree will help you to leech lifeforce instead of Mana when using spells

be advised if you use a sword, your character will sheath the weapon when it tries to cast a spell

there are only a few exceptions,
like
arcane bolt.
the whole spirit-spells tree
death-cloud + curse-tree
chain-lightning + inferno.
I believe the glyphes will work too without the weapon to be sheathed..

So my suggestion is to spend ~80% or even more of your points in "Magic" and
go for "Flaming Weapons" and "inferno" in the fire tree (flaming weapons will add a helluva lot fire dmg if you spend enough points in the Magic attribute... trust me
you'll probably recieve a +30fire dmg bonus or even more very early which will allow you to kill normal enemys *very* quickly.

together with Rock-Armor and Arcane Shield which will provide a great deal of defense and armor (2 different things) and the Arcane-Warriors "Fade Shroud " skill u'll barely get hit

the bad thing however is -> you might have problems getting the attention of multiple enemies at the same times so you will either need a *real* tank OR a mage with a lot of crowd-controll abilities.

btw there is a nice mod
http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14

feel free to try out speccs or spells or (the reason why I think this Mod is really helpfull)
to respecc your party...
It's really annoying if you play a tank yourself and want to play with Alistair in your party.

darkshadow
Thu, 12-31-2009, 03:30 PM
Maybe you guys need to make a dragon age: origins topic?

Archangel
Sat, 01-02-2010, 12:53 PM
This should have been done a long time ago

Discuss strategies, mods, tree speccs and favorite characters but do try to stay away from spoilers

I'm currently a elf mage and have been focusing on the primal tree since it's comfortable to be, having played as a mage on WoW

darkshadow
Sat, 01-02-2010, 02:13 PM
Maybe you should ask someone to merge the other posts into this thread, those had a lot of info.

Penner
Sat, 01-02-2010, 06:30 PM
Currently playing a Mage and i just recently got the Arcane Warrior specialization, only thing i'm trying now is whats best, Dual wield, Sword and Board or 2-handers.. atm i'm testing 2handers because dual wield wasnt as awesome as i wanted it to be, since u can't get the talent to wield fullsized swords in the offhand as a mage u have to use a dagger as offhand, and they require dexterity, which i'm not going to waste stats on as a mage.

Also, 2handers have 1.10 strength bonus, and because Magic = Strength as an AW, u get more damage from that the more Magic u have, which is nice ^_^

EDIT: Good call in making this a separate thread.

KrayZ33
Sat, 01-02-2010, 07:14 PM
there is a little trick if you wish to "abuse" it..

works fine when playing a 2h-rogue
if you make one step forward or backward directly after hitting the enemy, it'll reset the swing timer and allows you to hit more often

however it might only work when you're rogue...critical swings seem to be done faster than normal swings

2h-rogues are fun btw... lvl 12 and spamming crits with ~100dmg ^^
34 str 23dex rest Cunning for the crit-modifier.
and if you spend 4 more points in str it will allow you to wear heavy armor (you don't need stamina anyway because you'll only use deadlystrike, the stun-skill and "under the belt"

Ryllharu
Sat, 01-02-2010, 08:16 PM
there is a little trick if you wish to "abuse" it..

works fine when playing a 2h-rogue
if you make one step forward or backward directly after hitting the enemy, it'll reset the swing timer and allows you to hit more often

however it might only work when you're rogue...critical swings seem to be done faster than normal swings
Is this with or without backstab? I seem to hit a lot faster with my rogue provided I'm backstabbing the hell out of them.

You might want to rethink that stat layout. After the patch, Dex adds damage points too.

KrayZ33
Sat, 01-02-2010, 08:27 PM
i need 34 str for the sword anyway and 23 dex for the "cunning = str modifier" talent

and cunning for the assassin-talent which improves backstab dmg.
that's why I believe cunning is the best stat for a 2h rogue. (and any other rogue using melee-weapons)
and cunning will allow you to make use of the Bard tree at level 14.. which will add a lot of extra damage too

and yes I was talking about backstabs too
criticalstrikes and backstabs are "animated" faster.. they might increase your attackspeed too but you're hitting a fair amount slower when not using the trick
(the spell "Haste" might have the same effect, I might test it soon)

the best thing you can do is to go to orzammar and get the "Ageless" 2h-sword (the sword which weakens nearby darkspawn)
and switch to "Yusaris" from the Tower of Magi when fighting dragons

Ryllharu
Sat, 01-02-2010, 09:18 PM
Wait, are you using a regular sword for two-handed fighting with a rogue? That's all I can think of for needing 34 strength. Twin daggers are insanely faster. I was amazed at how much faster I was attacking once I ditched the regular sword. Especially when backstabbing.

Micromanaging movement of a rogue to that level seems a bit ridiculous. Pairing off two rogues to backstab a target (letting the other one take over once the attention is on you and vice versa) seems like a much more efficient method for my time. Sure you can pause the game whenever you want, but I'd rather spend the time micro-ing the party mage.

Two-handed warriors overall are utterly overrated. Most of them just die because their attacks are so slow. In nearly every time I bring them along, I'd much rather have brought another archer or rogue instead.

KrayZ33
Sun, 01-03-2010, 08:56 AM
I'm using a two-handed sword with a rogue
I don't use 1-handed weapons.


Two-handed warriors overall are utterly overrated. Most of them just die because their attacks are so slow. In nearly every time I bring them along, I'd much rather have brought another archer or rogue instead

that's exactly what I meant to say, when using a rogue with a Two-handed sword you can hit alot faster when backstabbing... after you hit, just take 1 step forward an he will swing again.
Imagine ur Warrior uses "Sunder Armor" *all* the time. thats how fast a rogue will hit with a 2-handed sword when doing that.

hmmm, If I had Fraps or something like that I could make a short video :/


Sure you can pause the game whenever you want, but I'd rather spend the time micro-ing the party mage.

the AI is working just fine for me... sometimes I have to play the tank for taunting enemies, but the healer and the "crowd control mage" is doing just fine with normal tactics.

Ryllharu
Sun, 01-03-2010, 09:31 AM
Ah, a lack of comprehension on my part about the twin weapon fighting versus two-handed sword. Apologies.


the AI is working just fine for me... sometimes I have to play the tank for taunting enemies, but the healer and the "crowd control mage" is doing just fine with normal tactics.Wynne or any other healer does fine on AI, in fact, I don't think I have ever manually controlled Wynne. With Morrigan or my PC mages, I like to control them most of the time for precision cone attacks and spell combos. The AI either catches me in the crossfire, or misses a target they easily could have caught in it. Why have the AI hit two enemies for you when they could have hit five?

KrayZ33
Sun, 01-03-2010, 10:11 AM
well I don't use cone of cold often anyway (I'm not a fan of friendly fire)
the mass paralysis spells and glyphs are enough for me :)
I made a video with my rogue btw.. currently uploading it on youtube.
he's currently at lvl 12.

will post it soon

Archangel
Sun, 01-03-2010, 10:18 AM
By the way, what difficulty are you guys playing at?

I'm only at normal and i still get my ass kicked on a regular basis

Ryllharu
Sun, 01-03-2010, 10:27 AM
I play at Normal, but there are still a couple fights I still have problems with and have to drop it down to easy or play so conservatively I feel like I am cheating (like luring a boss halfway down a tunnel).

It took me a while to realize I need to use strategy again in a game and to get a handle on the nuances of the combat system. I have found that trying something completely different will often change the tide of battle completely.

You get ambushed so much in the game that alpha strikes are usually impossible against anything but darkspawn (one thing Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights let you do was attack before forces became hostile). But, you can still use all of your resources. Don't forget crafting and salves, poison, and traps. They can make a hard battle a piece of cake.

KrayZ33
Sun, 01-03-2010, 10:27 AM
first time on normal(rogue), second time on hard(tank) and now on nightmare(rogue)

this time, I might get serious problems because I killed wynne :/ (no second mage/healer)

btw here's the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Qlmxt6etc

Penner
Sun, 01-03-2010, 12:01 PM
Normal, and i killed Wynne aswell :P, i don't have any healer except potions, it has worked pretty well so far.

I also find myself having my Arcane Warrior main on auto, and most of the time im just controlling Morrigan for CC purposes and whatnot.

Animeniax
Sun, 01-03-2010, 01:26 PM
Between this game and FFXIII, which would you say is more worth playing? School starts up in 2 weeks, so I only have time to play one or the other.

Ryllharu
Sun, 01-03-2010, 02:34 PM
btw here's the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Qlmxt6etc
Pretty awesome.

One question though? I see you fighting a Revenant, but you aren't taking any damage from its miasma. Did you use a spell like Cleanse Area or something to negate it?

KrayZ33
Sun, 01-03-2010, 03:10 PM
hmmm no but since when do they have something like that?
they seem to have a cleave attack which hits nearby targets (360°... which is why I send morrigan a few meters away from him) but thats pretty much everything .... and some grip which will draw you into melee range.
hmmm, and the Curse makes him miss with every swing.

maybe it's because it's not a "normal" revenant
the revenants from the vials seem to be much stronger (I barely manage to hit them and they are crit-immune)

this one is part of the juggernaut-armor quest.

Ryllharu
Sun, 01-03-2010, 03:12 PM
Revenants do constant damage to you when you're close by them. It's even in the codex.

KrayZ33
Sun, 01-03-2010, 04:02 PM
never have suffered dmg when standing around him... at least not in intervals
my party suffers heavy dmg now then while standing directly beside or behind him, which is why I thought it's something like a Whirlwind-attack

Dark Dragon
Sun, 01-03-2010, 04:04 PM
Between this game and FFXIII, which would you say is more worth playing? School starts up in 2 weeks, so I only have time to play one or the other.

Hard to say. As far as western RPG go Dragon Age is among the best. I've never played FF13 but from the various gameplay trailer it seem to be a solid JRPG so i suppose it would be up to your personal preference.

itadakimasu
Mon, 01-04-2010, 09:27 AM
I found a vial last night and was immediately owned by the revenant that appeared!!!

I started doing this quest to find the werewolves that were infecting the Darvish Elves.... and 2-3 hours into these ruins... i'm completely battered! got ambushed so many times by huge mobs, and i continued 3-4 times against this random dragon that I couldn't kill before using a single party member to kinda sneak across the room, and take 20g and a couple other good items from the "dragons hoard"

another hour or so into the dungeon, all charactors w\ at least 2 forms of injury and no potions I decided I had to go get supplies!

I dunno how you could play on hard or nightmare... Normal difficulty is pretty hard as it is, but the game is getting pretty fun.

Penner
Mon, 01-04-2010, 03:23 PM
Yah i remember that dragon, it took me 3 tries to get that sucker down, you really do have to play tactically in some fights, which is great since it differs from most action/rpg games I've played in quite a while.

Does anyone know what happens after u finish the game? Not story wise but I mean does it offer some after-game dungeon/challenge or something? I'm just curious, if i should start a new character right away after its finished or not ^^

KrayZ33
Mon, 01-04-2010, 05:19 PM
you can walk around and do DLC content-stuff
which is pretty much... well, nothing

Archangel
Mon, 01-04-2010, 05:22 PM
Or do the intelligent thing and start a new game with a new character amirite?

How strongly to character classes and races affect the overall story?

KrayZ33
Mon, 01-04-2010, 05:40 PM
zero

which sounds harsher than it is, actually
only reactions towards you and the decisions you are able to make will be different

Ryllharu
Mon, 01-04-2010, 05:48 PM
It's not totally zero.

Classes and races affect some dialogue and dialogue choices, and there's more detail in certain storylines because of what you are, who you are. Overall, aside from the feeling and the prologue story, they don't affect too much.

Dwarves and elves will be discriminated against, or discriminate against you if you are human in their areas. Females will sometimes get flak from others, but most people won't really care, since it explains in the Codex that Ferelden is pretty much a gender neutral nation. Arls and Arlessas both have the same level of influence, men and women both fight in armies, etc.

As for classes, mages get a lot of respect because magic is dangerous and highly feared. I've had low strength and was still able to Intimidate because I was a mage.

Race doesn't affect the game itself too much, except that dwarves can't use lyrium veins at all, also explained in the codex somewhere. To make up for it, they have high resistance to magic. Enemies that use magic heavily are in areas that veins tend to pop up the most anyway.

KrayZ33
Wed, 01-06-2010, 08:05 PM
expansion

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/expansion-debut-dragon-age/60438

uh-yeah!

Archangel
Wed, 01-06-2010, 08:08 PM
Bloody hell that was fast!

Rivers of money have a way to make these things speed up, just look at World of Warcraft

Ryllharu
Wed, 01-06-2010, 08:16 PM
Not that fast. The PC version of Dragon Age was technically ready to go gold back in March of last year. EA made Bioware delay the PC version so that the two ports for the consoles could be released on the same day.

The expansion, when released, will have been in development for a full year. Expansions were planned from the start of development on the game.

KrayZ33
Wed, 01-06-2010, 08:42 PM
I just hope they add even more easter eggs
"My Warden sense is tingling"

btw I didn't know about expansions
they said it's going to be a Trilogy with Dragon Age 1, Dragon Age 2 (new graphics etc), Dragon Age 3 (again new graphics etc)

I hope they add a new class with new tactics and gamestyle or something, if not, it's nothing more than a mission-pack

Archangel
Wed, 01-06-2010, 08:46 PM
I bet there will be a mmorpg too eventually, the gameplay and setting would work perfectly for something like that

itadakimasu
Sun, 01-10-2010, 12:52 AM
So....

I've been sticking to basically a single party, until I went to the mage tower and it was switched up a bit.

Anyhow, I went back to camp and thought... what the heck, im going to use those other party members. WOW... random world map encounter! party whiped out!

But, the point is that I realized that even the party members you're not currently using accumulate experience points. So, that is pretty good since there is no grinding. I'm going to Fully upgrade Liliana's lock picking and go back through the mage tower to see if there's any epic loot in the chests I couldn't get.

Such a good game... 30-35 hours in and no near in sight!

Archangel
Sun, 01-10-2010, 01:10 AM
There's no truly epic loot that requires lock picking, at least none i could find

Those mostly come from quests or bosses

Ryllharu
Sun, 01-10-2010, 05:40 AM
You'll find lots of tier 7 things lock away in chests towards the end of the game. Granted, you'll often already have better things either purchased from a vendor or found in the open.

But a dragonbone dagger with three rune slots is pretty 'epic' from a twin-weapon rogue's standpoint.

While the mechanics of Dragon Age are more like AD&D 3.5 or 4th edition, the way armor and equipment interacts is a bit more like 2.5 edition. That is to say, it's nice, but it really isn't a necessity to have super amazing equipment.

I beat Arl **** with my tier 1 Family sword one-on-one, just for the satisfaction.

itadakimasu
Mon, 01-18-2010, 08:50 AM
For anybody who has finished a playthrough... How many hours was your playthrough?

I'm past 50 hours now and really don't know if I'm close to an end.

I wasted a couple hours the other day because I had this random darkspawn encounter and there's just way too many darkspawn! they're all using ranged attacks w\ the exception of 2 mid-tier guys.... Last night, I pulled the same encounter!!!! omg! I spent 30+ minutes dying over and over before returning to my save at camp before i'd been there. Switched party members, and then i got a different encounter instead :)

Sometimes I regret my build. I think another playthrough is definitely in order. I find myself really needing to have morrigan and wynne in my party to survive, which means that I have to choose to have allister along, or toggle between him and a rogue or something.

Ryllharu
Mon, 01-18-2010, 04:08 PM
My first full playthrough was 40 hours on the dot (human mage), with Leliana, Alistair, and Sten as my regulars. Over 75+% of all side quests completed.

Second playthrough was 35 hours, (human warrior). Alistair, Leliana, and Morrigan as my regulars. Again, 75+% of all side quests, but I'm pretty sure I got a few more this time.

Third playthrough, 26 hours and counting (city elf rogue), I'm about 3/4 through the game at my estimate. Companions are a great deal more mixed this time. I swap Morrigan and Wynne whenever I feel like it, and Alistair occasionally gets swapped for the other rogue [not naming him for spoilers' sake].

I never use Shale, he always hits the rest of the party with AoEs and usually dies anyway, despite his massive Con.

I've got a few other characters, but I'm not really playing them seriously.

-----------------------------

I absolutely had to start over. My first mage build was horrible.

KrayZ33
Mon, 01-18-2010, 04:16 PM
Shale is only usefull when fighting against bosses or *very* large groups or casters

his aura is extremely powerfull

and at the beginning his auto attacks are probably the strongest (because you can change his element and recieve the modifier)

itadakimasu
Tue, 01-19-2010, 09:03 AM
Ryllharu : wow.. maybe I'm just slow? idk... i'm at 55 hours and I'm not sure how far along I am really.

My gaming ended last night w\ a bug. I was in the dwarf city doing the "proving" and when I was done.... my character emerged and I didn't notice that he was alone. I hadn't clicked Move Freely.. and at the end of the hall I was at, I got ambushed.

I died, because there was 4 on 1. Then it took me to my live charactors who were trapped in the arena. No doors or any kind of ramp to get out. :(

Archangel
Tue, 01-19-2010, 03:19 PM
I just hope they add even more easter eggs
"My Warden sense is tingling"

btw I didn't know about expansions
they said it's going to be a Trilogy with Dragon Age 1, Dragon Age 2 (new graphics etc), Dragon Age 3 (again new graphics etc)

I hope they add a new class with new tactics and gamestyle or something, if not, it's nothing more than a mission-pack

I want to be able to play as a qunari, the whole species sounds badass

complich8
Sun, 01-24-2010, 01:12 PM
My first playthrough ended in the 80ish hour range, but I pretty much watched every person talk, interacted with every object I could touch, did better than the 75% sidequest achievement, and spent time digging through all the codex entries and all the ability descriptions and whatnot, learning how to fight more strategically. That playthrough had a lot of micromanagement too ... that was my mage run.

I've since completed a playthrough as a dwarven noble warrior (35ish hours, escape through slow talking, not reading codex entries, but still doing sidequests). Did both elven origin stories up to ostagar before abandoning them.

Now I'm on my third full playthrough as a human noble rogue. I'm still accelerating dialogue and not reading the history books, but I'm spending more time because of the fun opportunities that a couple tiers of stealth and the ability "arrow of slaying" bring to the table.

itadakimasu
Mon, 01-25-2010, 08:34 AM
Morrigan disapproves of me turning down an offer to use my fathers life force ( against his will ) to give me more HP.

maybe my gaming morals are too high?

Archangel
Mon, 01-25-2010, 03:30 PM
Nah, Morrigan is just that much of a bitch

There's a whole fucking ending dedicated to how evil she is

complich8
Tue, 01-26-2010, 09:24 AM
you're a city elf?

but yeah, you've gotta understand that her concept of parental bonds is slightly .... strained. And all she ever wants is power. If you want to play as a "good" character, you're probably better off leaving her back at camp and rolling with alistair, wynne and leliana, or buying her off with lots of shiny presents.

itadakimasu
Sun, 01-31-2010, 02:57 AM
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/bbaucom/morrigansm.jpg

I'm at the end of the game... probably another hour or 2 but it's so late that I have to goto bed...

:) Sex with Morrigan is going to be close to the highpoint of the game !

Penner
Sun, 01-31-2010, 07:34 AM
Before my computer broke down (18 days ago >.<), i had a character where i had 94% approval with Morrigan and 100% with Leliana, and i had sex first with Morrigan, then went straight over the camp to Leliana and slept with her too, although they did kinda force me to chose one of em.. :D

KrayZ33
Sun, 01-31-2010, 08:42 AM
You can have a foursome with the woman at the Pearl who will train you how to become a duelist :)

Archangel
Sun, 01-31-2010, 08:44 AM
You can have a foursome with the woman at the Pearl who will train you how to become a duelist :)

Lol, Morrigan was PISSED when i tried to go down that route with her still on my team

itadakimasu
Mon, 02-01-2010, 10:14 AM
I finished last night. I don't play every new game that comes out... but this was one of the best games I've played in a long time. I got 90-100 hours of play time and will play it again at some point.

There's likely tons of stuff I didn't find on my first play through. I think my next time i'll diversify a little bit. I think Wynn is necessary because you need a healer, but toward the end, I went spirit healer w\ Morrigan too so that she had heal, group heal, and revive also.

9.5/10 imo.

KrayZ33
Mon, 02-01-2010, 11:51 AM
you can reset ur and ur party's skills with a mod if you wish too

it gives you more freedom designing your character and to choose different "main-party-members"

and u can test a lot of things.

u should consider it if you want to play it another time

Archangel
Mon, 02-01-2010, 12:40 PM
you can reset ur and ur party's skills with a mod if you wish too

it gives you more freedom designing your character and to choose different "main-party-members"

and u can test a lot of things.

u should consider it if you want to play it another time

Idd, i had alot of fun with that mod

rockmanj
Tue, 02-02-2010, 10:40 AM
I just got started...I have an elvish rogue (even though I kinda wanted a warrior mage). It keeps sucking me in, even though I was skeptical. At first I was strictly dual wielding, but lately I have taken up archery and more of a support role; seems to be working out better than I thought

Penner
Tue, 02-02-2010, 04:19 PM
Ye its way easier to play with a ranged character, gives you a better overview of the battlefield and much more control during fights ^_^

rockmanj
Mon, 02-15-2010, 12:32 PM
I have been playing for about 20 hours now, but it still feels like I'm at the beginning. I just saved Connor by going into the fade. I was then subsequently murdered by a cadre of assassins. I know that weird blonde one joins you at some point, no?

Ryllharu
Mon, 03-22-2010, 08:02 PM
Awakening is great. I carried over my [Princess-Consort/Queen] human warrior from DAO and I have to say, it has been even more satisfying than the regular game. The new characters have a tremendous deal of personality, and their interactions with each other seem to be even more frequent. A lot of those are hilarious, especially between a certain elf and a certain human. Or a certain dwarf and...everyone else. I've taken a real shining to a number of them. I'd elaborate, but I don't really want to lessen the experience for anyone.

The quests are fun too. They seem very rich. Some of the themes are similar to quests from first game, but the come off more fleshed out. There are a lot of side quests to play around with in the city and keep, and even the joys of politics.

I haven't really changed my equipment from the Warden armor that came from Warden's Keep and I'm still using Starfang as well, so the equipment can be hit or miss from an imported character. I did upgrade my shield. There are some great rings though.

Nor have I found a reason to upgrade runes using the new trace system. I'm sure I will sooner or later, and Starfang could use some of the Paragon (beyond Grandmaster and Masterpiece) Runes, but the necessity hasn't really been there. Same goes for the new armor runes. The Warden armor set is still pretty kickass (and it looks the best on her too) even if it doesn't have any slots. It's only Tier 4, but my main character has only died once, due to a rather unfortunate Overwhelm attack.

If there is a downside, it is that gold is almost too plentiful. You need a lot, but at the same time, even a Genlock will give you 20 silver at the absolute minimum, and a lot yellow named ones will give you at least 3 gold. I've got 260 or so in pocket, and I've spent at least 150. One Chantry Board quest gave me 20 gold!


I also made a new Orlesian Warden for fun. They start you out a level 18 and give you decent equipment. The equipment is a great boon to a new character. You can also buy a lot of the old special equipment from merchants in town. New characters definitely benefit the most from the new equipment in the game.

EDIT:

I did have to install a mod (http://social.bioware.com/project/2310/) to make the DLC items import over with my character. I started Awakening the first time and the Warden Armor and Starfang were gone. Stark naked and with no sword in front of angry darkspawn. Bioware and EA haven't been too keen on fixing it thus far.

Archangel
Tue, 03-23-2010, 08:41 AM
When mods go horribly wrong

Animus fears cocks (http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/3949/screenshot2010032206475.jpg)

I had a good immature laugh out of this

animus
Tue, 03-23-2010, 08:43 AM
I'd say that's probably NSFW.

Archangel
Tue, 03-23-2010, 08:44 AM
It's a guy so it's funny, not nsfw

animus
Tue, 03-23-2010, 08:47 AM
I'd qualify a dude with a boner as NSFW.

Otherwise, we'd be able to link boner and penis pictures everywhere on the boards.

KrayZ33
Tue, 06-08-2010, 09:56 AM
Good news everyone:

Funimation declared that they are going to create an Anime featuring
Dragon Age Origins


http://www.ea.com/news/anime-movie-deal-for-dragon-age-franchise

Penner
Tue, 06-08-2010, 10:02 AM
That is (possibly) awesome!