Dragon Age: Origins - Gen. Discussion & Info

[quote name='Tybee']It did for me. Really, it's not until after Ostagar (the part following your origin story) that you really begin to get a sense of the world and get into it a bit. And it's not until maybe you get to Lothering (the next part) that you start to get a feel for how the game really plays. Starting to build your party and getting to know them (even moreso than Mass Effect, in some ways) really helps too. And in the long run, you'll be VERY happy you went with a mage. Origin sucks, but gameplay is SO much better, IMO.

Went through the Dalish/Werewolves stuff over the weekend (I love how many different ways the ending of this section could play out, each substantially different than the other -- and good use of achievements to get me to play through "bad" choices I might not otherwise have tried) and the first part of Orzammar. About to head out on the Deep Roads. I started out with Alistair in there because I have him really tricked out at this point, but soon ran outside and got Shale because it's fun to make all the dwarves jealous of my golem. ;)

I found the small flawless nature crystal for him. Wish I could find the large flawless nature crystal.[/QUOTE]Good to know that the sucking sound that I'm hearing while doing the Origin piece in the beginning is just the calm before the storm of the rest of the game's enjoyment.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Good to know that the sucking sound that I'm hearing while doing the Origin piece in the beginning is just the calm before the storm of the rest of the game's enjoyment.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it'll hook you. Just takes a little while. There are some things that I think it really does better than Mass Effect (certainly the first one). Others, not so much. Thankfully, the origin is pretty short and you're on to bigger and better things. And stuff that happens in your origin does come into play later on in the larger plot, in a small way.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Decided to do a city elf mage for my initial character.

Went through part of the origins campaign, and so far, I'm bored to tears with it. I haven't finished it, and I hope that the enjoyment picks up after the origins bit is done with.[/QUOTE]

It did get better. But it never sucked me in like Mass Effect 1 and 2 did. I'm still slogging through the DLC. I'm 3.5 hours or so into Awakening and have the Golems one and Witch Hunt to do after that.

It's a decent story and some good questing and dungeon exploring. But I just don't like the combat much and don't find the dialogue as intriguing as the Mass Effect games.

The sequel seems better from the demo though. I liked the combat better and it has the ME style dialogue wheel.
 
[quote name='Tybee']Yeah, it'll hook you. Just takes a little while. There are some things that I think it really does better than Mass Effect (certainly the first one). Others, not so much. Thankfully, the origin is pretty short and you're on to bigger and better things. And stuff that happens in your origin does come into play later on in the larger plot, in a small way.[/QUOTE]I made it out of the Origins segment, which was a bit better in the end, though I still need some practice on combat tactics with more than just myself. Some of the leveling up doesn't make sense to me yet, though as I'm just Level 3, I have a way to go.

I'm in the middle of Ostagar at the moment, just made it there a little while ago.

[quote name='dmaul1114']It did get better. But it never sucked me in like Mass Effect 1 and 2 did. I'm still slogging through the DLC. I'm 3.5 hours or so into Awakening and have the Golems one and Witch Hunt to do after that.

It's a decent story and some good questing and dungeon exploring. But I just don't like the combat much and don't find the dialogue as intriguing as the Mass Effect games.

The sequel seems better from the demo though. I liked the combat better and it has the ME style dialogue wheel.[/QUOTE]The combat is a bit to get used to, having gone through 90-100 hours of ME1 and 90-100 hours of ME2 before jumping into DA: O. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, though I know I still need some practice. The UI and menus are ones I'm still getting used to as well.

Now that I'm out of the Circle, the story is starting to get better and catching more of my interest, though not as quickly as ME1 and ME2 did.

From what others above have said, once I get out from Ostagar, that's when the game starts to pick up speed and get far more interesting.
 
Eh I made myself go through Origins in order to get ready for DA2 and with DA2 I don't feel like I'm trudging along, I want to do everything. I might go back to Origins some day.
 
Well, last night, I
made it through the Korcari Wilds, ran into Morrigan and made it through the Grey Warden initiation. I was surprised in what happened with the Joining ritual with Daveth dying from the darkspawn blood and Duncan killing Jory when he won't take the darkspawn blood. Pretty good stuff, all told.

Though, as I look over the wikia, I see there were some side quests I didn't find/complete, so it's time to go back a save or two and pick them up before I re-do the Joining ritual, since you can't go back there once you've done the ritual. :wall:
 
I'm on the last level on the rooftop vs. the archdemon.
I have Sten, Morrigan and Alistair and my mage (L21).

I've set my characters to range and passive, yet they still chase after the archdemon.
And obviously get killed within a min of the battle starting.

Any tips on what tactics I could use so they actually run with me instead of just standing around?' I've even tried equipping them with arrows and crossbows to try to get them to attack from a distance but the idiots stand right infront of the dragon...
 
Your warriors really shouldn't have much trouble in a stand-up fight. Just have some poultices and heal spells ready to go.

Mages can go to the ballistae and use them. Just keep them dancing around to avoid the minions and watch out for spells from the archdemon.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Well, last night, I
made it through the Korcari Wilds, ran into Morrigan and made it through the Grey Warden initiation. I was surprised in what happened with the Joining ritual with Daveth dying from the darkspawn blood and Duncan killing Jory when he won't take the darkspawn blood. Pretty good stuff, all told.

Though, as I look over the wikia, I see there were some side quests I didn't find/complete, so it's time to go back a save or two and pick them up before I re-do the Joining ritual, since you can't go back there once you've done the ritual. :wall:
[/QUOTE]

Shrike, be careful once u get to Lothering. As u can tell from DA 2 marketing, once Lothering falls u can't go back. Also make sure u do the dog quest in Ostagar. You should have 5 companions once u leave Lothering.
 
wow I forgot how overpowered haste + blood thirst is for warriors
auto attack does more dmg than most skills unless there's a lot then I go 2H sweep

I set morrigan and wynne to walking bomb everything in sight and it's a cakewalk

blood thirst + haste out of combat move speed is great!
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Your warriors really shouldn't have much trouble in a stand-up fight. Just have some poultices and heal spells ready to go.

Mages can go to the ballistae and use them. Just keep them dancing around to avoid the minions and watch out for spells from the archdemon.[/QUOTE]
They don't.
I don't get what I'm doing wrong...
I can't heal Steg and Alistair fast enough though. Morrigan doesn't do much.
This is soo frustratring...:bomb:
 
[quote name='Luxuria']Question: Does the code voucher that comes with the Blood Dragon Armor include DA? It only shows ME2.[/QUOTE]
It actually should unlock the Blood Dragon Armor for Origins, ME2, and Dragon Age II.
 
[quote name='IceBlueShoes']They don't.
I don't get what I'm doing wrong...
I can't heal Steg and Alistair fast enough though. Morrigan doesn't do much.
This is soo frustratring...:bomb:[/QUOTE]
Well, it's been a long time since I fought the Archdemon, but...

1: Make sure you're not relying on mage healing too much. Have plenty of health poultices ready; "normal" quality at worst.
2: What spells do both your mages have? Is at least one of them a spirit healer? Are they both? Do you have ample reserves of lesser lyrium potions?
3: Make sure, immediately on running in to battle, you have Alistair use a talent like assault on the Archdemon, then slap on shield wall (I think that's the best one; been a while). Once you've reduced his stamina a bit more, you can throw on threaten, too. That should take a fair bit of heat off of Sten. For his part, Sten should use a few abilities to get rid of stamina then turn on indomitable and maybe powerful swings or whatever it's called.
4: Make sure you're running them out of AoE spells! Note that the archdemon's spells are spirit, not fire, so check your resistances.
5: Try to keep Sten and Alistair on opposite sides of it, so it can only hit one at once.
6: Bonuses against both dragons and darkspawn do not work.
7: Ballistae, however, are super effective. Set your mages on them. "Nature" attacks are also quite powerful.
8: Lifeward? And that other spell that raises dead?
9: As with pretty much everything else in the final fight, elves are your friends.
10: It's immune to stun, but I'm pretty sure you can forcefield it briefly.
 
[quote name='IceBlueShoes']They don't.
I don't get what I'm doing wrong...
I can't heal Steg and Alistair fast enough though. Morrigan doesn't do much.
This is soo frustratring...:bomb:[/QUOTE]If you have Shale from the Stone Prisoner DLC, I would switch out Sten or Alistair for the golem. Equip Brilliant Nature Crystals (the green ones) with the Stone Heart ability activated and the golem never falls in battle. Have decent constitution with the rest of the attributes into dexterity and Shale can actually regenerate health faster than the damage output by the final boss; even with minions hacking away.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Well, it's been a long time since I fought the Archdemon, but...

1: Make sure you're not relying on mage healing too much. Have plenty of health poultices ready; "normal" quality at worst.
2: What spells do both your mages have? Is at least one of them a spirit healer? Are they both? Do you have ample reserves of lesser lyrium potions?
3: Make sure, immediately on running in to battle, you have Alistair use a talent like assault on the Archdemon, then slap on shield wall (I think that's the best one; been a while). Once you've reduced his stamina a bit more, you can throw on threaten, too. That should take a fair bit of heat off of Sten. For his part, Sten should use a few abilities to get rid of stamina then turn on indomitable and maybe powerful swings or whatever it's called.
4: Make sure you're running them out of AoE spells! Note that the archdemon's spells are spirit, not fire, so check your resistances.
5: Try to keep Sten and Alistair on opposite sides of it, so it can only hit one at once.
6: Bonuses against both dragons and darkspawn do not work.
7: Ballistae, however, are super effective. Set your mages on them. "Nature" attacks are also quite powerful.
8: Lifeward? And that other spell that raises dead?
9: As with pretty much everything else in the final fight, elves are your friends.
10: It's immune to stun, but I'm pretty sure you can forcefield it briefly.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the tips. I'll try them out.
What's AoS though?
I'm not sure I have enough healing potions or lyrium. My mage with his staff only does 6 damage at a time.
I would be here till next week fighting the damn thing...
[quote name='Ma12kez']If you have Shale from the Stone Prisoner DLC, I would switch out Sten or Alistair for the golem. Equip Brilliant Nature Crystals (the green ones) with the Stone Heart ability activated and the golem never falls in battle. Have decent constitution with the rest of the attributes into dexterity and Shale can actually regenerate health faster than the damage output by the final boss; even with minions hacking away.[/QUOTE]
I actually tried to leave the castle but it seems I can't get out, so I'm stuck with this "crew"!
 
Well I'm getting better, but as soon as the "horde reinforcements come after me, it all starts to go downhill from there.
I've been using the elves right off the bat, and while it does make a big difference, the non-stop onslaught isn't helping at all.
Grr...
 
Morrigan has herbalism at least a basic level of herbalism, yes?

Talk to Sandal and get a good pile of flasks and lyrium dust, if he sells it. I never found the need to get anything better than a lesser lyrium potion for my mages. If you have better herbalism than that and access to distillation agents and elfroot, make up a bunch of health poultices (lesser health just don't do the trick). Make sure you're at least using up a bit of your mana/stamina before putting on your sustainable abilities, and keep dancing your mages around if they're under attack. The pause button is your friend. Tactics are not.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']Shrike, be careful once u get to Lothering. As u can tell from DA 2 marketing, once Lothering falls u can't go back. Also make sure u do the dog quest in Ostagar. You should have 5 companions once u leave Lothering.[/QUOTE]I finished up Lothering this evening, and apparently I only missed one side quest there. I have six companions now that I've left Lothering, counting the dog.

I think that now I've completed Lothering and had some time to chat with all of the party companions, it's sucked me into it. The inter-party banter is great.

Made it to Level 7, as well.

EDIT: Did Warden's Keep last night as well, and up to Level 8.
 
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[quote name='The Crotch']Morrigan has herbalism at least a basic level of herbalism, yes?

Talk to Sandal and get a good pile of flasks and lyrium dust, if he sells it. I never found the need to get anything better than a lesser lyrium potion for my mages. If you have better herbalism than that and access to distillation agents and elfroot, make up a bunch of health poultices (lesser health just don't do the trick). Make sure you're at least using up a bit of your mana/stamina before putting on your sustainable abilities, and keep dancing your mages around if they're under attack. The pause button is your friend. Tactics are not.[/QUOTE]
She doesn't but my mage does.
I think I"m at a point where I'm stuck. I can't get any more lyrium or health potions. I bought out everything from Sandal. I dunno what to do. I think I'm stuck. Maybe go back and do a previous save? Damn...
 
Worked through Stone Prisoner and Return to Ostagar last night, so up to level 10. Did anyone else who played KOTOR1 think that Shale acts a lot like THX-88, the droid you pick up for your party in KOTOR?

I think I may have accidentally started a relationship with Leilana last night as well. :lol:

Enjoyed Return To Ostagar last night, though from a couple of reviews I've read, there's some interesting dialogue between Wynne (who I don't have in my party yet) and Alistair when they're in your party, which I missed. Had Sten, Morrigan and Leilana in the party.
 
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I always thought Shale was an attempt to build on the popularity of HK, what with the constant disparaging remarks towards "fleshy things".
 
[quote name='The Crotch']I always thought Shale was an attempt to build on the popularity of HK, what with the constant disparaging remarks towards "fleshy things".[/QUOTE]Sorry, I guess it's HK-88.

And yes, Shale acts like HK-88 with his comments about organics.

Same vanity as well.
 
Beat Dragon Age: Origins, Golems of Agmarrek, Stone Prisoner, Leliana's Song, Awakening, and Witch Hunt this week. Have to say this was probably my favorite game I've ever played. Anyone think the other DLCs are worth it? If not I am just gonna play Dragon Age II. I really hope they bring back Morrigan and Warden Commander as well as a few other characters in either DLC for 2 or if they make a 3rd one.
 
Heh.

Just remember this: It's Dragon Age 2, not Dragon Age Origins 2.

While I'm not part of the, "It's awful! Kill David Gaider! Burn Edmonton to the ground!" group, I was overall disappointed with DA2, especially compared to Origins. It's doubly unfortunate that I preferred the party members of DA2, but overall found the game weaker...

And if you're playing on a console, I recommend waiting for the soon-to-be-released patch.

And if you're playing on PC (which has the patch already out), you'll probably want the mod that (mostly) fixes the issues with the imported saves.
 
I finished up the rest of the dlc over the past weekend. Overall I was pretty mixed on the game. Liked the questing, exploring dungeons etc., but didn't like the combat and other things much.

I like more simplified wrpgs like Mass Effect 2 a lot more, or ones like Oblivion or Fallout 3 with just one character to manage, real time combat etc.

I liked the combat in the DA2 demo more, but not enough to get me to want to play it anytime soon.
 
Tried to get back into this last night. The convos just last too long and I find some of the quests too vague.
I dunno if I like it enough to drop 40 more hours into it
 
Dug through it some more, and now up to Level 12, with completing the first half of Arl of Redcliffe after doing The Broken Circle. I'd have to say at this point, I'm officially hooked into it.

I'm 20-something hours into the game and appear to only be about 20-something percent done with the game, though some of that time was involved with
backtracking after letting Jowan use Isolde's for sending me into the fade to fight the demon, killing her, and figuring out on a second pass through that you can have the Circle send mages to do the same thing without killing Isolde off to get into the Fade
.

The inter-character banter is even better than the ones in ME1 and ME2, especially with Leilana talking with Morrigan about going shopping. :rofl:
 
Shrike if you want to hear all of the banter between specific party members, put whatever group you want together and walk up and down the bridge going from the main town to the colosseum in the dwarf area. That always starts conversations.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']The inter-character banter is even better than the ones in ME1 and ME2, especially with Leilana talking with Morrigan about going shopping. :rofl:[/QUOTE]You should hear the banter between Morrigan, Alistair, and the Dog.
 
Looks like I'm in the position to have the love triangle situation with Morrigan and Leilana. I did Morrigan's quest to
get Flemeth's grimoire, which I did via negotiation instead of combat
, so her approval is at 100, and gave me the talk about friendship and the possibility to be more than friends. If I rebuffed it, can I go back to her again and pursue a relationship with her if I break it off with Leilana?
 
I JUST picked this up last week...I had no idea what I was missing out on, the console port reminds me of Knight of the Old Republic (which I adored) and the story and character development is really impressive
 
Found out that the Morrigan offer was one-time only. Oh well.

Made it through
Urn of Sacred Ashes and Paragon of Her Kind. Though, the end battle with Branka was a real irritant getting gang-banged by six golems, Branka, and her four minions. Lots of reloading in that area.
 
[quote name='jaydepps']Beat Dragon Age: Origins, Golems of Agmarrek, Stone Prisoner, Leliana's Song, Awakening, and Witch Hunt this week. Have to say this was probably my favorite game I've ever played. Anyone think the other DLCs are worth it? If not I am just gonna play Dragon Age II. I really hope they bring back Morrigan and Warden Commander as well as a few other characters in either DLC for 2 or if they make a 3rd one.[/QUOTE]

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed the journey of Orion, the Grey Warden Rogue. He followed the same path as yours. I haven't done Leiliana's song, but plan to soon. I think there are some strong indications that
Hawk and the Warden will be back for part 3, based on how they are both mentioned at the end of II. If that is the case, I might die.
 
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I played about 12 hours into the game until I realize I was playing this all wrong. For some reason, I thought the stamina meter is the health meter (and I believe there was no meter for health). It was not until I died five time in a row that I realized how stupid I was.

On a different note, the part with the Circle Tower and sloth demon is quite long. I think I put around 4-5 hours in that section at least, and I'm still not done.
 
Was the dexterity bug for rogues fixed? Someone in the deals forum keeps asking about it since UE is $30 now and all of the patch notes on the Bioware forums are gone or hidden deep in the forum.
 
Made it through most of the game, and currently
in the middle of the Landsmeet, having just been broken out of Fort Drakon.

One thing I'm not sure about from checking over the wikia and the guide I have is that
since it seems like the Landsmeet is pretty much pathing me into the endgame, am I pretty much boned for doing the rest of the side quests and the like? Also, am I stuck with trying to finish a romance with Leilana? She's at 100 approval and the dialogue options seem to be stalled. She's never brought up her personal quest with Majorlaine, and it seems like the only options I have is to try and drop her approval down to below 70 to see about having her bring it up. Any clues on what to do at this point?

I'm assuming that this is the same kind of endgame pathing you run into in ME1 and ME2, and I think I may have to revert back a few saves and not go to the Landsmeet to allow to finish up side quests.
 
The point of no return is
traveling to Redcliffe after the end of the Landsmeet.

As for Leliana, the easiest way of doctoring her approval number (or anyone else's) is using the Feast Day gifts and pranks DLC. If you don't want to purchase that, it might be tough this late in the game to find a few things that she disagrees with. But you do need to get her approval down a bit (maybe into the 80s or so) before you can get her personal quest to trigger, and continue the romance.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']The point of no return is
traveling to Redcliffe after the end of the Landsmeet.

As for Leliana, the easiest way of doctoring her approval number (or anyone else's) is using the Feast Day gifts and pranks DLC. If you don't want to purchase that, it might be tough this late in the game to find a few things that she disagrees with. But you do need to get her approval down a bit (maybe into the 80s or so) before you can get her personal quest to trigger, and continue the romance.[/QUOTE]So,
I can go through the Landsmeet, deal with the whole Logain situation, and once I'm done with that, it's open-world again until I go to Redcliffe? Good to know as I wasn't sure if I was on the path of no return or not.

I think I have the feastday prank I can give her to knock her approval down, and I think I have the corresponding item to knock it back up again. Have to check the inventory and make sure, though it probably requires a side trip to pick up the items in question.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']So,
I can go through the Landsmeet, deal with the whole Logain situation, and once I'm done with that, it's open-world again until I go to Redcliffe?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's right. As long as you don't enter that certain place, you should be totally free to go anyplace else.
 
[quote name='MrPiggles']Did they fix the DAO: Awakening and Warden's Keep armor glitch yet.[/QUOTE]
They mitigated it somewhat, in that if you try to start Awakening with any of the disallowed DLC armor or weapons, they'll be replaced with some basic kit, rather than the character just being naked and weaponless. But you still can't take those items into Awakening AFAIK.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']They mitigated it somewhat, in that if you try to start Awakening with any of the disallowed DLC armor or weapons, they'll be replaced with some basic kit, rather than the character just being naked and weaponless. But you still can't take those items into Awakening AFAIK.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, this is true. I played it last month and I had all DLC armor and weapons at the end of DAO and I had a shitty basic set of armor and weapons when I started Awakenings. The only armor that was DLC that I could use was Cailen's armor.
 
[quote name='CaptainJoel']Yeah, this is true. I played it last month and I had all DLC armor and weapons at the end of DAO and I had a shitty basic set of armor and weapons when I started Awakenings. The only armor that was DLC that I could use was Cailen's armor.[/QUOTE]

Not talking about that. I'm talking about when you have both Warden's Keep and Awakening installed, the Sentinel Armor set displays as the Warden Commander Armor on Male Humans.
 
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