Dragon Age: Origins

[Broker]

I miss the little stories about the enchanted weapons from BG =[

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Have you looked at the item descriptions (examining the item)? There are little stories there even for some standard weapons, while the named ones get a decent little backstory. Also there are a couple dozen items which have codex entries associated with them for even more backstory.

[McMond]

I always forget that examine items bring more background info on the items themselves, mainly because instant pop up tooltips are so informative and helpful you never feel the need. Unlike previous games where examing was the only way to get at it.

[Broker]

I'll check that out tonight, thanks =]

[Stolly]

I'm absolutely loving my second playthrough. First off I'm much better understanding the back story, all the various factions and all the who's doing what to who shenanigans. Secondly I know what the hell I'm doing combat wise and, so far, I've not encountered any of the difficulty spikes that I hit first time round. That first ogre boss was piss easy this time for instance. And thirdly I now know that making truck loads of lesser health potions is a good idea.

[ElNino]

I'm now only 5 achivements away from 'rinsing' this game.

I'll be pleased when I'm finished, I've got a few games piling up now, but whenever I put anything else in the console I just think that I could be playing Dragon Age instead.

[Teeohbee.]

Where can I buy some recipes for the best poisons/potions etc?

I've been storing up loads of ingrediants but have completely neglected the crafts.

[Broker]

I'm absolutely loving my second playthrough. First off I'm much better understanding the back story, all the various factions and all the who's doing what to who shenanigans. Secondly I know what the hell I'm doing combat wise and, so far, I've not encountered any of the difficulty spikes that I hit first time round. That first ogre boss was piss easy this time for instance. And thirdly I now know that making truck loads of lesser health potions is a good idea.

Yeah I found that. It's nice seeing people you've met in the main story as part of the other origins as well.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Merchants in various places. You'll just have to do the rounds, I think.

[Broker]

How many backpacks are there?

[ElNino]

Oh, sort of story related, so I'll spoiler it.

My first playthrough, I played as a Dwarven Commoner, I really enjoyed that origin, especially when it was mentioned again when I saw

Leske near Andraste's ashes.

But my real question is, when playing through a second time (Elf/Mage), when I went to Dust Town I

found Leske in a prison cell, saying he had been held captive but his friend didnt make it, was that friend my dwarf?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Yes. All the origin stories are assumed to have happened - it's the player's control of that particular character that is decisive in making sure the character makes it out of the origin alive, more or less.

[Teeohbee.]

Another question I'm afraid.

I'm about to splurge all my money on what looks like an excellent dagger, and as of now I've yet to use any runes or enchantments, just been saving them up.

Do people have any favourites? Think I'll try to use a paralyze one so my rogue can backstab more often but apart from that, I think I'll have 2 extra slots to fill. What's good?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Can't go wrong with paralyze, physical resistance, or spell resistance. The damage ones can be good but I often prefer to have my swords by 'vanilla', so to speak, instead of wreathed in flames or electricity.

[Teeohbee.]

I just read that you can actually remove runes from weapons and re-use both the weapon and the rune.

Is that right? I was saving all my runes so I could use them on the most powerful weapon I could find. Thought it was a one time deal.

Oh well...

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Yeah, you can swap them in and out as many times as you like, at camp.

[CandyBob]

As someone who normally purchases Bioware games on day 1, I only picked this up last Thursday on 360. Lots of love in this thread but I uhmed and ahhed over which version to get and then got onto other things.

Its completely and utterly .

35hrs in since I bought it and its as profound as Fallout 3, the last game to draw me in like this.

What's suprising is that the game is still archaic in so many area's while still being amaze. On the 360 anyway, alot of the graphics reminded me of NWN's. Some of the characters models are fine as is some of the armour, but generally its almost like something from games of PC's past. Of what I have seen of the game so far Orzimmar has been the graphical highlight.

The controls and camera often still have an unwieldy feeling but overall I've had no problems with the radial menu and it only takes a couple of short clicks to get where you want to be.

The biggest problem is that I'm currently finding the combat far to easy on normal. I think I may have struggled early on when facing a Revenant for the first time but the challenge is trivialised by the magic. Cone of Cold generally = combat over and if not then how about some Sleep/Waking Nightmare or Mind Blast. Still I guess it just means another play-through on the hardest setting.

There are lots of other small niggles but the negatives are completely over-shadowed by the depth of the world, the genuinely brilliant NPC's that join your party and a story that leads me along way past my bedtime. I've developed genuine feelings for whats going on in the world and the characters I am controlling which is something I have found quite rare this gen. Some of the decisions I have had to make have seen me putting down the controller to weigh up what was best based on how I've been playing my character. While there still isn't enough shades of grey to these moral dilema's, its still kept me on the edge of my seat.

Wonderful!!

[Mr Ben]

The game rocks, I'm probably going to get the PC version having completed it on the Xbox, just because it looks like its the best version. I just wish RTO was out. I got it on the Xbox when it was briefly available but its been pulled due to bugs.

Is it only available to download from Steam, or elsewhere as well? Is Steam the best place to get it anyways?

[JPR]

Is it only available to download from Steam, or elsewhere as well? Is Steam the best place to get it anyways?

Can get it in all the usual places not just download, it's currently £15.73 on Amazon compared to £29.99 on Steam. Play now have Awakening up for pre-order, first place I've seen it apart from Steam, £14.99 (PC) and £24.99 (360) no sign of the PS3.

RTO did actually get leaked, so it is out there for the PC should anyone want to play it. That's just been one giant cock up, bet they wish they never bothered.

[Teeohbee.]

This just keeps getting better and better. Just finished Orzammar.

It was my final recruitment drive and as a Dwarf I'm glad i saved it until last. It felt so long since I had last been "home", so much had changed.

I sided with Bhelen for king, because while I didn't trust him an inch, my dwarf couldn't bring himself to ruin his sisters happiness. Plus the idea of his nephew being king one day sounded excellent.

I was hoping there would be a happier solution to the Leske/Jarvia situation but no. He unfortunately had to be put down.

As for Branka, I put her out of her misery as far as I'm concerned, she was obsessed and no longer the paragon I'd heard talk of back in Orzammar. I did her and Oghren a favour.

Oghren, I love by the way, its great to have another loud drunken dwarf in the troupe! His propositions to Wynne are also hilarious.

I'm really looking forward to ME2 but am also worried I won't find it RPG-y enough after Dragon Age as I've heard its been simplified down from even ME1. DA:O feels amazingly hardcore for a console game and I'm amazed they've managed to transfer that feeling across from the PC.

So it's time for the Lands Meet next, and I've no idea what to expect! Fantastic!

[deerokus]

Return to Ostagar seems to be available on Live, again.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Presumably they just want to get it out the door quietly and without fuss while everyone's distracted with Mass Effect 2, after the fiasco they had with the original release.

[deerokus]

Yep. I only noticed as it appeared in my download queue (When it went up first time round, I had bought it on the website version of marketplace, but not downloaded it). It wasn't actually downloading, I think because my account is associated with my other 360 on the site.

[Royshan]

Nearly finished this (in time for Mass Effect ) but I adore it. Refuse to trade it in.

But why are the dwarfs American? Just out of interest.

[Exit Chamber]

Christ knows, but it's a nice change from them being Scottish!

[David Kenny]

I'm about 5 hours into this, and I have to say I'm a little surprised by how positive this thread is. The game feels very average to me, and in some places absolutely terrible. The voice acting is universally atrocious, which wouldn't matter normally but there's so much of it. It's not just the acting either, the script itself is often cringeworthy. Of course I would be able to totally ignore this if the battle system was amazing, but that feels a bit clumsy to me. I can't understand why they felt it necessary to make you control at least one character, I'd much prefer it if they'd adopted the gambit system from Final Fantasy completely.

I'll stick with it a bit longer but so far I'm distinctly unimpressed. Although, the bit where some guy offers you a sidequest you have to pay for almost made me switch it off permanently.

[spaceyjase]

Five hours is nothing. That's like judging Super Mario Bros. on completing the first level. Must try harder. C-.

[Stolly]

I'm about 5 hours into this, and I have to say I'm a little surprised by how positive this thread is. The game feels very average to me, and in some places absolutely terrible. The voice acting is universally atrocious, which wouldn't matter normally but there's so much of it. It's not just the acting either, the script itself is often cringeworthy. Of course I would be able to totally ignore this if the battle system was amazing, but that feels a bit clumsy to me. I can't understand why they felt it necessary to make you control at least one character, I'd much prefer it if they'd adopted the gambit system from Final Fantasy completely.

I'll stick with it a bit longer but so far I'm distinctly unimpressed. Although, the bit where some guy offers you a sidequest you have to pay for almost made me switch it off permanently.

Well having finished my first play through after circa 84 hours and getting 16 hours into my second, I think the game is superb and the voice acting universally brilliant. The scripting and back story is epic if you ask me and the battle system is great too and never clumsy. Oh and the reason that being able to control a player is useful in combat is so that you can position your team members to attack certain mobs or line up certain attacks (particularly magic) or backstab if you're a rogue or use acid flasks or venom or a bazzilion other things!

Give it another 10 hours

[David Kenny]

It's definitely useful to be able to control characters, but having to click a button to get the guy you're controlling to attack seems redundant. Especially as half the time they ignore it anyway. Having said that I do really want to like it for some reason so I'll definitely stick with a bit longer (it might be because it's so reminiscent of FFXII and I loved that).

I'm going to have to assume you're joking about the voice acting though, it really is impossibly bad.

[Stolly]

The voice acting is fine; remember that these aren't cut scenes 90% of the time but conversation trees and that the conversation options and details of the story that you get to see vary depending on each origin. And the reason you click to attack is so that you can easily change targets I suspect.