Dragon Age Origins

And The Brood Mother was a bitch...

Yay, I did something helpful....And it's probably all ready known by EVERYBODY!!! But fuck it, Here it be.

I've just downloaded the Dragon Age Awakening expansion, and thus far it's... pretty good. I imported my uber mage from my second DA: O playthrough, and am immediately very powerful. A fair bit actually transfers over, so you keep all your stats, gold, and most (though not all) of your items and weapons.

Actually, after playing Mass Effect 2 non stop for two months, there are a few things that spring immediately to mind; Dragon Age's graphics are really pretty poor. The character models and textures are poor, the frame rate a bit on the low side. Secondly, I like the geeky traditional RPG elements; poring over stat screens, inventories and the like, trying to arrange your equipment to give yourself that extra +2 points to Magic or Stamina or whatever else. ME2 streamlined that out. It didn't hurt it mind, but DA:O/A is more traditional RPG fare. Oh, and thirdly, DA's characters aren't as good as ME's, and Awakenings new recruits aren't as good as DA:O's were. Goddamn I miss Morrigan though. What a great character she was.

I didn't realise this played like FF XII or at leat it looks like it does. I think i'll stick with the Bethesda games. Was actually about to pick this up.

Superbuu3 wrote:

I didn't realise this played like FF XII or at leat it looks like it does. I think i'll stick with the Bethesda games. Was actually about to pick this up.

WTF? What the hell gave you that impression? Are you talking about consoles or the PC?

Kimarous wrote:

Superbuu3 wrote:

I didn't realise this played like FF XII or at leat it looks like it does. I think i'll stick with the Bethesda games. Was actually about to pick this up.

WTF? What the hell gave you that impression? Are you talking about consoles or the PC?

You seem to have auto controlled AI partners and shortcut menu attacks. Battles are in real time.

That reeked of ff Xii unless i got something really wrong.

Superbuu3 wrote:

Kimarous wrote:

Superbuu3 wrote:

I didn't realise this played like FF XII or at leat it looks like it does. I think i'll stick with the Bethesda games. Was actually about to pick this up.

WTF? What the hell gave you that impression? Are you talking about consoles or the PC?

You seem to have auto controlled AI partners and shortcut menu attacks. Battles are in real time.

That reeked of ff Xii unless i got something really wrong.

...You must definately be talking about the console version, then. I have the game for the PC and it is awesome. You can tactically pause the action, take control of your comrades, actually AIM your area-of-effect attacks... the general impression I've got is that the console ports are crap.

Kimarous wrote:

Superbuu3 wrote:

Kimarous wrote:

Superbuu3 wrote:

I didn't realise this played like FF XII or at leat it looks like it does. I think i'll stick with the Bethesda games. Was actually about to pick this up.

WTF? What the hell gave you that impression? Are you talking about consoles or the PC?

You seem to have auto controlled AI partners and shortcut menu attacks. Battles are in real time.

That reeked of ff Xii unless i got something really wrong.

...You must definately be talking about the console version, then. I have the game for the PC and it is awesome. You can tactically pause the action, take control of your comrades, actually AIM your area-of-effect attacks... the general impression I've got is that the console ports are crap.

You can do the same in the console versions as well. I'm just not pro enough (or patient enough for that matter) to bother messing with my partners attacks. I couldn't tell you how many times I had to hold the L2 button to pick either a healing spell or a Health Poultrice during the battle with Fle--...Well, A certain battle. I was the only one left fighting her too...I only won because I did bother to try to pro game with pausing the battle and such.

I'm considering doing a solo run. I'll definitly do it with a mage, Maybe even a Rogue (Stealth Attack!). ...But for the sake of being manly, I'll try to solo as a Warrior as well.

Superbuu3 wrote:

You seem to have auto controlled AI partners and shortcut menu attacks. Battles are in real time.

That reeked of ff Xii unless i got something really wrong.

Yes, you did. Youtube some gameplay or something, it's completely different.

Kimarous wrote:

...You must definately be talking about the console version, then. I have the game for the PC and it is awesome. You can tactically pause the action, take control of your comrades, actually AIM your area-of-effect attacks... the general impression I've got is that the console ports are crap.

You can do all of that in the console version too, it's just that you don't have to so many people simply never bother. The biggest difference between console and PC is how much freedom you have with the camera; I've seen PC battles where the camera is looking directly down as the player issues commands to all hit targets simultaneously. While you can do that to a degree on the 360/PS3 games, it's a bit of a faff involving lots of button presses, and you cannot get the camera to do anything other than swivel around your characters.

Incidentally, I'd clean forgotten about this topic. In terms of expansion packs, there are now another two in addition to Awakening, one is a 'what-if?' scenario asking what would happen if your Warden died during the joining and placing you as a Hurlock general instead, and another called Leliana's Song, showing Leliana's history with Marjorlaine. I've not tried either of them yet, but they're cheap enough so I don't expect them to be as substantial as Awakening. Speaking of which, I used a combination of offers to buy my XBL points when I bought it, so I only paid about £13 for it. Had I paid full whack, about £30, I might not have been so lenient. It's decent enough, but quite short and £30 is waaaaaaaay too much.

Still, it was good using my ARcane Warrior with his insane stats to bulldozer through a new set of Darkspawn.

@ Buu:

It's nothing like FF. It's very similar to KotOR or Jade Empire, both of which came way before XII was a twinkle in Squenix's loin.

SimianWonder wrote:

In terms of expansion packs, there are now another two in addition to Awakening, one is a 'what-if?' scenario asking what would happen if your Warden died during the joining and placing you as a Hurlock general instead.

MUST HAVE!!!

...But prolly PC only. T_T ...or is it also on Console?

Rockstar_Bob wrote:

SimianWonder wrote:

In terms of expansion packs, there are now another two in addition to Awakening, one is a 'what-if?' scenario asking what would happen if your Warden died during the joining and placing you as a Hurlock general instead.

MUST HAVE!!!

...But prolly PC only. T_T ...or is it also on Console?

Yeah, you can get it on PS3.

Skip wrote:

Rockstar_Bob wrote:

SimianWonder wrote:

In terms of expansion packs, there are now another two in addition to Awakening, one is a 'what-if?' scenario asking what would happen if your Warden died during the joining and placing you as a Hurlock general instead.

MUST HAVE!!!

...But prolly PC only. T_T ...or is it also on Console?

Yeah, you can get it on PS3.

Great! now all I need is to get internet on my PS3 again, A $50 PSN Card, And I shall join the darkspwn! Mwahahahaha!

Apparently, calling Darkspawn Chronicles an 'expansion' might be a step too far. It's essentially just a few missions long. Still, sounds like fun for a fiver... doesn't it?

Damn you, Buu, for bumping this topic!

Reading this, I realised that I had a character I'd started with but not finished, so I thought I'd dip back in and see how DA: O felt after spending so long on Mass Effect 2. Well, suffice to say about twenty hours later I've beaten the game yet again, and have now imported this new character into Awakening. In some ways, this was my favourite play through so far; playing as a Human Noble female, the story felt significantly more personal than as my other main, my Mage, even though the difference is essentially only perhaps a couple of dozen lines of dialogue. Her particualr ending was especially satisfying, and taking the character into the expansion she's now so powerful that even her regular bow attacks are hitting for over 1000 points of damage. That's enough to one-shot 99% of the enemies in the game.

So yeah, thanks Buu, for putting this back in my thoughts and making me lose another twenty hours of my life to it, in addition to the hundred odd I've already accrued!

Ahem.

Incidentally, as much as I love the game, it's not as good as ME2. Sweet Jesus, ME2 was just unbelievable. The good news is that ME3 and DA2 are out next year. I think I'll tell the Mrs to get the divorce papers ready now...

Dude...

DA2 is gonna fucking rule. Even though I'll miss my elf mage, I can still have fun with Hawke.

BTW, anyone else get the Leliana's Song DLC? It's quite good... especially so for me, as one of the supporting characters looks uncannily similar to my Elf Mage who happened to romance her, adding a strange new dynamic to our relationship (at least in my mind).

SimianWonder wrote:

Damn you, Buu, for bumping this topic!

Reading this, I realised that I had a character I'd started with but not finished, so I thought I'd dip back in and see how DA: O felt after spending so long on Mass Effect 2. Well, suffice to say about twenty hours later I've beaten the game yet again, and have now imported this new character into Awakening. In some ways, this was my favourite play through so far; playing as a Human Noble female, the story felt significantly more personal than as my other main, my Mage, even though the difference is essentially only perhaps a couple of dozen lines of dialogue. Her particualr ending was especially satisfying, and taking the character into the expansion she's now so powerful that even her regular bow attacks are hitting for over 1000 points of damage. That's enough to one-shot 99% of the enemies in the game.

So yeah, thanks Buu, for putting this back in my thoughts and making me lose another twenty hours of my life to it, in addition to the hundred odd I've already accrued!

Ahem.

Incidentally, as much as I love the game, it's not as good as ME2. Sweet Jesus, ME2 was just unbelievable. The good news is that ME3 and DA2 are out next year. I think I'll tell the Mrs to get the divorce papers ready now...

what sustem are you playing this on also i'll remeber to bump this topic again in a couple of months ^^

SimianWonder wrote:

The good news is that ME3 and DA2 are out next year.

I'm not too happy about this. If the ME finale is rushed I'll rage so hard...

Kimarous wrote:

BTW, anyone else get the Leliana's Song DLC? It's quite good... especially so for me, as one of the supporting characters looks uncannily similar to my Elf Mage who happened to romance her, adding a strange new dynamic to our relationship (at least in my mind).

I torrented it a couple of days ago, yet to install however as I'm in the middle of a Vanguard Insanity run of ME2.

I'm not that concerned about the quick turn around on ME3. I suspect it'll be evolutioary rather than revolutionary, that is, it'll be like a slightly refined ME2 rather than the gigantic step up ME2 was over the first, and I daresay that the story has been written ages in advance so they know exactly what they're doing.

Don't forget that Mass Effect is Bioware's current crown jewel, they're not going to risk rushing out a dud finale. In the very unlikely event that it isn't absolutely-mind-blowingly-awesome, I'll join your posse and we can go and lay the smackdown on Bioware's developers.

As for Dragon Age 2, yes it's nice making your own character (though I daresay Hawke will have a degree of customisation a la Shepard), but character design is one of Bioware's strongest suits, and I can't see them cocking it up. I'm also glad they're having him voiced as well; the mute MC is DA: O was kinda creepy.


@ Buu
I'm playing it on 360.

@ Kima
Haven't tried Leliana'a Song yet. I've heard mixed reports, though the criticisms seem to stem around how much it contradicts Leliana's version of events in DA: O. Whether you can take it as a retcon, or simply put it down to an unreliable narrator is anyone's guess.

SimianWonder wrote:

As for Dragon Age 2, yes it's nice making your own character (though I daresay Hawke will have a degree of customisation a la Shepard), but character design is one of Bioware's strongest suits, and I can't see them cocking it up. I'm also glad they're having him voiced as well; the mute MC is DA: O was kinda creepy.

Hawke has a voice? Awesome.

And on one hand, Yeah, The Persona 3-styled MC was a bit shit.

On the other hand, I'm thankful that I didn't have to hear Yuri Lowenthal's voice more than I needed to. XD

SimianWonder wrote:

@ Kima
Haven't tried Leliana'a Song yet. I've heard mixed reports, though the criticisms seem to stem around how much it contradicts Leliana's version of events in DA: O. Whether you can take it as a retcon, or simply put it down to an unreliable narrator is anyone's guess.

Having recently played through Leliana's Song and, by pure coincidence, having reheard Leliana's explanation of events in an Origins playthrough, I will admit that certain details aren't exactly synchronous. I'd crank it up to Unreliable Narrator, however, seeing as how actually BOTH stories are told by Leliana (Leliana's Song is bookended by Leliana's narration of "How should this story go?") and, while exact details may not match up, the core events are basically the same; Leliana works for Marjolaine, she finds documents implicating Marjolaine as a traitor, she expresses concern, Marjolaine sells her out to the authorities, and Leliana escapes to join the Chantry.

Nitpicking on those matters aside, I assure you that it IS a good DLC; it's fun, well executed, comes with a good piece of unlockable gear, and has one hell of a good soundtrack. I highly recommend it.

I'll get it eventually. I like the character too much to pass on an opportunity to spend more time with her.

EDIT: Incidentally, this is the...ahem, adult actress they modelled Leliana after. Hot damn.

Michael Atkinson wrote:

I torrented it a couple of days ago, yet to install however as I'm in the middle of a Vanguard Insanity run of ME2.

My first insanity run was with a Vanguard. Christ, bits of that were tough, though part of that was just me acclimatising to the unique playing style Vanguard demands. Good fun though, much more so than playing on casual.