Dragon Age: Origins

[Stolly]

An awesome couple of hours last night. One minute I'm wandering around Arl Eamons Estate chilling, admiring the architecture, not even with my A team (Me, Alistair, Morrigan and Wynne) but my kicking about B team (me, Leliana, Morrigan and Alistair), when suddenly all sorts kicked off. Anyway I've now killed Arl Howe, rescued all sorts of prisoners (including one very tall double crossing one), 'found my way to' Fort Drakon (in my under pants) and have once again, with Leliana and Morrigan coming to the rescue, got a full team and am ready to kick some ass! Initially fighting without Wynne in support was a big change (Morrigan is easily my biggest damage dealer) but a quick adjustment to put Morrigan as a defensive support mage by default but still jumping in to use some of here AoE's has worked fine.

Ideally I'd like to drop Wynne - having an old woman on the team is soooo uncool

[ElNino]

I finished the game last night, I ended by

sleeping with Morrigan

I've never played a game as long as this and then wanted to play it again.

I have to admit, I was half expecting

Duncan to swoop in on a Griffin at the end.

[Wickedkitten]

From that Q & A with regard to Return to Ostagar..

"you do run into the actual ogre that

killed the king and potentially killed your mentor as well.

"

Little slip of a giveaway in there maybe? I can't remember the cutscene well off hand, was it clear cut or was there room for

Duncan to make it out?

He ended up getting a axe to the face from one of the foot soldiers so I think not

[Broker]

Odd question maybe, but how large is the world this game is set in and how varied is the geography? is there lots of rolling countryside between towns and villiages? Is there a way to fast travel between places?

[Stolly]

Odd question maybe, but how large is the world this game is set in and how varied is the geography? is there lots of rolling countryside between towns and villiages? Is there a way to fast travel between places?

The map is really a whole bunch of locations that open up as you play. The travelling between locations is graphically illustrated by a blotchy line (a bit like an Indian Jones plane journey) but your blotchy line journeys can be interupted by ambushes when you then jump into a usually small area of countryside or whatever it is youre travelling through. Loads and loads of locations though as well as a whole bunch of dungeons.

[Broker]

But no free exploration between areas, just a dotted line and a small battle area like when you're travelling distances in Baldur's Gate?

[Teeohbee.]

Yeah, it's not an open world like Oblivion or Fallout, you select which location you want to go to from a map. From what I've seen however, and that's not much as I'm only about 15% through, these areas can be quite vast.

I'm absolutely loving this by the way, but seem to achieve so little in my 1/2 hour play times.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

But no free exploration between areas, just a dotted line and a small battle area like when you're travelling distances in Baldur's Gate?

Exactly like this.

[Stolly]

But no free exploration between areas, just a dotted line and a small battle area like when you're travelling distances in Baldur's Gate?

Ambushes are typically in small battle areas but the main locations of villages, towns, castles, towers, hamlets, forests, underground Dwarf cities and of course dungeons and caves are huge.

[Wickedkitten]

Started this up again with a Human Warrior and am enjoying it a lot more this playthrough. I totally missed Sten, Zevran, and Leiliana's personal quests the last time round.

[Broker]

That's a shame, the freedom is my favourite thing about the genre, I'm really craving something freeform and exploratory like Oblivion. It's a shame this isn't it =[

[sprite]

If it were freeform I think it would've wound me up in places. The general style is that you go to a town, a few dungeons, back to the town. But were it truly free reign, by the time you got to the end of the dungeon (a long way, as said), you'd then have to walk all the way back again. Going into the map when the opportunity allows just cuts down on unnecessary time.

But I get what you mean, you can't just wander around the world map and discover new things. It's still quite nice going to the locations that pop up when you pickup side quests though; there's certainly detours off the main path, if you will.

[davejm]

Yeah, some more freeform exploration around the main locations would have been a bonus.

Although one massive freeform environment wouldn't have fitted the story - due to the locations being set many, many miles apart. It works well like this, as it enables them to have very varied locations (swamps, forests, mountain peaks etc).

[Rudi von Starnberg]

But I get what you mean, you can't just wander around the world map and discover new things. It's still quite nice going to the locations that pop up when you pickup side quests though; there's certainly detours off the main path, if you will.

It's not really a main path, though, even. Best comparison I think would be using the tube to get around London instead of walking everywhere.

[ElNino]

Does anyone know how to finish off the DLC when the game is finished?

The text while loaded suggested I could, but I cant leave the city map?

[revlob]

Does anyone know how to finish off the DLC when the game is finished?

The text while loaded suggested I could, but I cant leave the city map?

Once you've completed the game you should have a new save file, titled "Epilogue", which puts you in your camp, and is set just before the final battle.

[Jamie John]

Picked this up yesterday. Consensus after a few hours is that it looks like shite but I don't think I've ever played a videogame where I enjoy talking to people so much. I think I spent two hours earlier just wandering about the first locale after your origin story just chatting to people and reading the codex entries. Hopefully the combat gameplay can match the love I'm feeling for everything outside of it.

And I'm an atheist socialist revolutionary city elf rogue with a big tattoo on my face and a damn sexy voice, for those who are interested .

[Mallet]

Picked this up yesterday. Consensus after a few hours is that it looks like shite but I don't think I've ever played a videogame where I enjoy talking to people so much. I think I spent two hours earlier just wandering about the first locale after your origin story just chatting to people and reading the codex entries. Hopefully the combat gameplay can match the love I'm feeling for everything outside of it.

And I'm an atheist socialist revolutionary city elf rogue with a big tattoo on my face and a damn sexy voice, for those who are interested .

The combat is perhaps my favourite part of the game.

Different classes, even different specialisations, feel completely different. Plus it can be a proper challenge that requires intelligent use of crowd control and other abilities. You can play a turn based type game or put it to easy for a more action orientated game. Pisses from a very great height over combat in bethesda games for example, as much as I enjoy Fallout 3 and co it's for different reasons

I assume you are on console if you think it looks shite?

[deerokus]

Yeah the graphics are very rough on the 360. I've had to play in SD mostly and on the crap old telly I have to use at the moment the environments don't look miles better than KOTOR did. HD does make a big difference mind you.

Great fun game. A good challenge too, the combat requires you to thin about what you're doing.

[Jamie John]

The combat is perhaps my favourite part of the game.

Different classes, even different specialisations, feel completely different. Plus it can be a proper challenge that requires intelligent use of crowd control and other abilities. You can play a turn based type game or put it to easy for a more action orientated game. Pisses from a very great height over combat in bethesda games for example, as much as I enjoy Fallout 3 and co it's for different reasons

I assume you are on console if you think it looks shite?

Good stuff. Playing it on Hard so combat should be a challenging but rewarding affair later on, with lots of forward planning and so on.

And yeah, on the 360 - my pc's wank. I'm not sure why it looks so out of date really. Granted, the environments are large and there aren't too many loading times, but so far they haven't exactly been bustling with NPCs or high-res textures, and even then games like GTA IV and Assassin's Creed have shown that big, busy games can still be nice to look it. Mass Effect was prettier than this, it really does look like a late generation Xbox game.

Ho hum.

[Stolly]

Good stuff. Playing it on Hard so combat should be a challenging but rewarding affair later on, with lots of forward planning and so on.

And yeah, on the 360 - my pc's wank. I'm not sure why it looks so out of date really. Granted, the environments are large and there aren't too many loading times, but so far they haven't exactly been bustling with NPCs or high-res textures, and even then games like GTA IV and Assassin's Creed have shown that big, busy games can still be nice to look it. Mass Effect was prettier than this, it really does look like a late generation Xbox game.

Ho hum.

I'm now 70 hours or so in, playing on normal and have got by pretty well without too much difficulty. That said while I was getting to grips with the controls (I'm on the PS3), abilities and spells early doors I hit a few big difficulty spikes; I doubt I'd struggle on a second play through but bugger playing on hard first time through. Good luck with that

[Jamie John]

I'm now 70 hours or so in, playing on normal and have got by pretty well without too much difficulty. That said while I was getting to grips with the controls (I'm on the PS3), abilities and spells early doors I hit a few big difficulty spikes; I doubt I'd struggle on a second play through but bugger playing on hard first time through. Good luck with that

Oh. Well I'm only doing it on hard because a review I heard (the game trailers one, I think) said normal's too easy. Will see how it goes, and there's the option to change at any point as well as save. Enemies do take quite a long time to die though, and it's pretty dull just standing there watching their red bar get smaller while you occasionally press B to make yours bigger again. But I'll know properly once the combat opens up.

[deerokus]

I'm finding Normal a good but fair challenge, much tougher than Mass Effect for example. Some points are pretty tricky, if you run into a group of average enemies without a bit of organisation or planning you will rapidly get pwned.

I'd imagine the Fade would be a pain in the arse on hard.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

I'd imagine a big reason for having the console versions look so graphically plain could be in part as a trade off to allow larger numbers of enemies on screen at any time, compared to the likes of Mass Effect, which tended to break up the enemies into fairly small groups in the main. Even with a town full of bastards charging us while Storm of the Century was in effect and fireballs flying around, the frame ready didn't seem to drop at all, which is a trade off I can accept in favour of smaller groups or big frame rate hits but yes, it's not really what you'd call a looker by any stretch.

Re. the difficulty - Normal is fine for melee characters but it's an absolute walkover for mages though.

[Argh]

I'd imagine a big reason for having the console versions look so graphically plain could be in part as a trade off to allow larger numbers of enemies on screen at any time, compared to the likes of Mass Effect, which tended to break up the enemies into fairly small groups in the main. Even with a town full of bastards charging us while Storm of the Century was in effect and fireballs flying around, the frame ready didn't seem to drop at all, which is a trade off I can accept in favour of smaller groups or big frame rate hits but yes, it's not really what you'd call a looker by any stretch.

Re. the difficulty - Normal is fine for melee characters but it's an absolute walkover for mages though.

But one of the acknowledged conscessions made with the console versions was a reduction in enemy numbers compared to the PC version. (My source being a dev quote from waaay back in this thread.)

[Majora]

Sadly I think I'm going to trade this in. I like a lot about it but I just don't care for the combat at all and it seems to be a big part of the game. With the permanent over-the-shoulder console view and restrictions the console version has I don't feel like I can adequately form strategies easily on the fly or get a picture of the battlefield in my head and if I try to form tactics the NPCs can be infuriating in their usage of certain powers (e.g Morrigan is set to use cone of ice if 3 or more enemies are clustered together and she'll use it regardless as to whether I'm stood in the way or not. Same with Wynne and her bloody Earthquake.) It's not really that I'm dying a lot, more that whether I win or lose I don't find it satisfying since there's so much reliance on NPCs, plus I think the rogue is a bloody boring choice to play with in hindsight. Most battles I'm just running round hoping the NPCs don't fuck up and hoping I get the chance to stab people in the back. It's all a bit frantic and scrappy for me. Also I'm in the fade now and that's doubly killed my enthusiasm. A lot of it is probably personal taste but I think I prefer either action gameplay or turn-based gameplay, this is a bit of an unsatisfying halfway house for me. I suspect I'd like it more on the PC but mines not really up to playing games. Maybe in a few years I'll give it another crack.

[Stolly]

Majora, you do realise that you can jump into the skin of everyone in your fighting team don't you? They're not NPC's but PC's! The fact that your main character is a rogue is irrelevant as you can control all four. As for the mages using spells that hit your own team, well just use these spells manually and Bob's your uncle. Obviously cone of cold doesn't do damage to your team members anyway (if you're playing on 'normal') but will freeze them to the spot for a while.

Typically I'll start a battle and immediately jump into Morrigan to cast an AoE, then jump between players depending on who needs help or if I need to flank or backstab or whatever. I personally love the franticness of the battles (especially fun if you're fighting in the middle of an inferno with everybody and everything ablaze ).

[ElNino]

Once you've completed the game you should have a new save file, titled "Epilogue", which puts you in your camp, and is set just before the final battle.

Thanks!

[danbot]

I've got no internet at the moment and was thinking of picking up the DLC at my bro's. Will I be able to play it back at mine, or does it need web access to authenticate every time? Thanks for any help.

[deerokus]

On 360 it's the same as any other DLC, if you're not using it on the console it was downloaded on you need to be online.