Dragon Age: Origins - Gen. Discussion & Info

[quote name='wakawakawa']Just finished the game. I liked it. I'll list some issues it has, because outside of these issues it's really good.

Combat designed for PC - it works so-so on 360. AoEs destroy your team, and you can't really use them to full effect because your guys bumble into everything. Using traps on 360 is also a struggle.

Itemizaton generally sucks - There's a lot of so-so armor and weapon. There's a few weapons and armor that is really good, so you wind up using that for hours and hours and selling everything else. Where the hell were all the rings and amulets??? I didn't come across any good archer rings the whole game.

Balance isn't that good - You can easily roll through one encounter, then get wasted on the next one. A lot of it has to do with being outnumbered, mages, stunlock, traps, and aoes. The enemy is often set up in good positioning, when after zoning and cutscenes your characters bunch up, making it easy to get destroyed by an AoE or trap.

Wynne - Seems like the most boring character someone could come up with. All the other characters were pretty good, really suprised that wynne was put in the game.

Consoles used to get bad PC ports all the time, so all in all, maybe it's the best they could do with it.[/QUOTE]

I haven't finished the game yet, but I couldn't agree more on all points.

The main problem I have is the amount of armor in the game, or rather, the lack of. I've been using the same robe for my mage since near the beginning of the game! That's just fucking ridiculous!
 
So I'm in Lothering, still not feeling this game.

How the heck do you repair injuries? I have "repair kits" but I can't select them to do anything.
 
On injuries: Injury kits for humans, crunches for the dog. I'm assuming injury kits work on the DLC-only character, too.

On the lack of mage gear: 90% of the mage equipment is in the tower. If you don't find something you want there, you're probably not gonna get it.

On Wynne: She's a boring character, yes, but fuck it, at least her specialization ain't useless like Morrigan's shapeshifter.

On dealing with mages: Crushing prison and its lesser cousin whose name I forget are lifesavers. A high-level Templar can also fuck up a mage pretty good. Long-range, mana-draining stun plus an ability that gets rid of crushing prison and its relatives? Sold!

On fucking everything: Cone of cold + one of the ten million critical hit special abilities = win. Srsly, it'll get you through 90% of the shit in the game.
 
[quote name='ViolentLee']Wow...didn't see this coming! (55 hours in, Denerim)
Zevran turned on me when one of the other Crows came after me in Denerim. I never expected that to happen, much less me kill him (thought he'd apologize or something). I reloaded, got about 10 more approval points with him and tried again, but again he sided with the other guy. Tried to save him till the end but still had to kill him. No biggie as this was one of the rare times I had him in my party, but still very surprising.
[/QUOTE]

You needed to get it even higher, I guess. I never use him in my party and still had no problems keeping him there.

[quote name='The Crotch']
On dealing with mages: Crushing prison and its lesser cousin whose name I forget are lifesavers. A high-level Templar can also fuck up a mage pretty good. Long-range, mana-draining stun plus an ability that gets rid of crushing prison and its relatives? Sold!
[/QUOTE]

Crushing Prison is amazing, but Blood Wound (from the blood mage specialty) is by far the best spell in the game. It does the same thing as Crushing Prison, but as an AoE. My second playthrough was an Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage and he was so insane with that spell I'm pretty sure he could have solo'd the game on Normal. The only thing I needed companions for was Blood Sacrifice.

If you guys haven't tried them yet, Arcane Warriors are just silly good. Almost broken.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']On injuries: Injury kits for humans, crunches for the dog. I'm assuming injury kits work on the DLC-only character, too.[/QUOTE]How do I use them? I select the character with an injury, highlight the injury kit, but then I can't do anything with it (it doesn't say "press A to use").

Tarl has a cracked skull, he's playing like Ben Roethlisberger right now.
 
Eh. I have the PC version. Used 'em the same as health poultices. Just had to double click. As I recall, all items glow/flash slightly in the inventory screen when they're about to be used.
 
[quote name='Gentlegamer']How do I use them? I select the character with an injury, highlight the injury kit, but then I can't do anything with it (it doesn't say "press A to use").

Tarl has a cracked skull, he's playing like Ben Roethlisberger right now.[/QUOTE]

Ha! I like that.
Are you useing it from the radial menu or the inventory screen?
 
[quote name='Gentlegamer']How do I use them? I select the character with an injury, highlight the injury kit, but then I can't do anything with it (it doesn't say "press A to use").

Tarl has a cracked skull, he's playing like Ben Roethlisberger right now.[/QUOTE]

I use them like potions from the radial menu and that always works.
 
[quote name='wakawakawa']I use them like potions from the radial menu and that always works.[/QUOTE]

This is what I do and it works fine. You'll notice the little red injury status indicator disappear.
 
[quote name='EdRyder']I think much of the 'meh' can all be chalked up to the fact that console gamers might have never played a game like this before.(Never Winter Nights 1 & 2 or Baldurs Gate)
Personally I want to declare DAO my favorite GOTY ,but I'm not quite prepared to commit to that.While I do love the game, the most memorable moment was a game breaking action.
When you mix the blood with Andastes Ashes and your entire party turns on you,..unforgettable moment in gaming history that was murdered by the fact that you have to go back to an earlier save to negate it.
Other than that it has no unforgettable great moments.[/QUOTE]

You're probably right. I didn't play many western RPG's until this generation of hardware. Prior to that, I always played JRPG's. Mass Effect and Fable 2 changed that.
 
[quote name='seanr1221']Now I'm upset I chose not to be a Blood Mage :/[/QUOTE]

Play it again. ;)

I'm on my third playthrough now, with a warrior. It's definitely the most boring of all the classes, especially after playing my incredibly versatile Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage last time through. It feels like all he can do is just swing his big sword. I'm inching closer to the 250 damage achievement though, and then I'll be able to ice the rest in this playthrough without needing to finish it completely.
 
I dunno. There's something about letting yourself get surrounded so you can use the two-handed sweep that's just incredibly satisfying.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']I dunno. There's something about letting yourself get surrounded so you can use the two-handed sweep that's just incredibly satisfying.[/QUOTE]

As nice as that is, it can't compare to guiding a whole crowd into the AoE for Blood Wound and then watching them all stand there twitching and taking damage, unable to move while you slaughter them.
 
Will probably replay within the next 3 months and go with a arcane warrior this time, went with a dwarf warrior to start...
 
I wasn't really fond of Arcane Warrior with my first playthrough but I probably gimped his stats trying to figure out how to class works. Not to mention I specced him as the primary healer >_<

Going with a Rogue for my 2nd playthrough. It seems fun so far :) Any use for Stealth?
 
[quote name='kamui34']I wasn't really fond of Arcane Warrior with my first playthrough but I probably gimped his stats trying to figure out how to class works. Not to mention I specced him as the primary healer >_<

Going with a Rogue for my 2nd playthrough. It seems fun so far :) Any use for Stealth?[/QUOTE]

I found stealth pretty unappealing, but I was playing a DPS rogue so it didn't make much sense to use it.

And yeah, I don't think the Arcane Warrior works as well if its the healer, you really want to spend the skill points on buffs. I usually had at least 10 buffs on him at a time. Combining it with Blood Mage means that you can spend all your mana on buffs, since your health then becomes your mana pool. It requires dropping some points into Constitution though, but fewer into Willpower than you normally would for a Mage.

On that runthrough I didn't use Wynne, so I actually converted Morrigan into my healer. You get her early enough that its not hard to do, and that party worked really well.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Assuming you get the healer class early enough.

Oh, my poor, poor first runthrough...[/QUOTE]

Well if you're making Morrigan a healer you can't get it until 14 anyways when her 2nd specialization unlocks. Until then its touch and go. It's definitely not the best idea, but this was my "douche playthrough" and I didn't want to listen to Wynne bitch the whole time (or worse).
I actually just killed her in the tower

And yeah, my first playthrough wasn't that refined either, the skills were all over the place.
 
[quote name='Gentlegamer']So all these chests I can't open "Skill Insufficient" . . . am I missing out on l337 loot?[/QUOTE]

No, not even a little bit. Honestly, I can count on one hand the number of times I equipped something that I found in a chest (unless it was quest-related). In fact, if I had one complaint to make about the game it would be that the equipment is for the most part pretty bland and lacking variety. And most of the good stuff is found through quests (or in shops), not in chests.
 
Anybody actually go through with what Morrigan proposed at the end of the game? Or try to convince Alastair? (Just curious as to what happens)

Anyone else encountering a speech glitch at the end of the game when you confront Loghain? After like 3 attempts I turned the subtitles on because his lips were moving, but there was no sound.
 
[quote name='EdRyder']Anybody actually go through with what Morrigan proposed at the end of the game? Or try to convince Alastair? (Just curious as to what happens)

Anyone else encountering a speech glitch at the end of the game when you confront Loghain? After like 3 attempts I turned the subtitles on because his lips were moving, but there was no sound.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I encountered that glitch on my second playthrough.

As for your question:

She stays in your party instead of leaving it, and then no Grey Warden dies after beating the Archdemon. So basically exactly what she said would happen. Its worth doing because that ending is a 50 point achievement, as is getting all 4 possible endings:
Morrigan's plan, PC dies, Alistair dies, Loghain dies
 
[quote name='bvharris']Yes, I encountered that glitch on my second playthrough.

As for your question:

She stays in your party instead of leaving it, and then no Grey Warden dies after beating the Archdemon. So basically exactly what she said would happen. Its worth doing because that ending is a 50 point achievement, as is getting all 4 possible endings:
Morrigan's plan, PC dies, Alistair dies, Loghain dies
[/QUOTE]

I thought it would be something like that.It all just sounded really really wrong and I couldnt agree to it. As for Loghain, I killed him. So does he survive the "joining" if you go that route?
Actually dont tell me..,I'll find out on a second playthrough.I need like a week to recover from the final battle tho..:lol:
 
Finally knocked out the 250 damage achievement, although to be fair I didn't really try until my 3rd playthrough. Only 2 achievements left, getting a Warrior to 20 (I'm at 16) and finishing off the last ending, which is just a matter of reloading an old save and fighting the last boss again. 1100/1100 on this has certainly been quite a time commitment.
 
So I'm 12 levels, 23 hours into my first playthough and I'm starting to see serious flaws in my early game. My PC is a dual-wield (finally got the two-mains talent), and the rest of the gang is an Alistair tank, Wynne healer (not-so-great talents), and Leliana archer.

Everything in me is telling me to ditch Leliana (I've already wined and dined her) and drop in Morrigan (whose talents are all over the place due to early experimenting >
 
[quote name='Temidien']So I'm 12 levels, 23 hours into my first playthough and I'm starting to see serious flaws in my early game. My PC is a dual-wield (finally got the two-mains talent), and the rest of the gang is an Alistair tank, Wynne healer (not-so-great talents), and Leliana archer.

Everything in me is telling me to ditch Leliana (I've already wined and dined her) and drop in Morrigan (whose talents are all over the place due to early experimenting >
 
[quote name='bvharris']Yes, I encountered that glitch on my second playthrough.

As for your question:

She stays in your party instead of leaving it, and then no Grey Warden dies after beating the Archdemon. So basically exactly what she said would happen. Its worth doing because that ending is a 50 point achievement, as is getting all 4 possible endings:
Morrigan's plan, PC dies, Alistair dies, Loghain dies
[/QUOTE]

Dangit I read your spoilers without doing the other endings. Only did what Morrigan suggested me >_
 
[quote name='bvharris']That's why they're called spoilers. :D I even gave you a second spoiler within a spoiler. ;)[/QUOTE]

Yeah but then again the other endings could have been predictable considering the nature of the Grey Wardens :D

Still won't dissuade me to gun for the other endings if not to see how things change with the other races/quests when I play it differently!
 
So I swapped Leliana out for Morrigan seeing as her role in my party was mostly redundant and I can't remember the last time I got something great from a locked chest and what little combat I saw last night seemed to go more smoothly.

My question is:
I've slept with Leliana and Zedvan (sp?) already and I'd like to kick up the romance with Morrigan. When I gave her Flemeth's grimoire, she wanted to start a relationship but my relations with Leliana got in the way. I went to Leliana to break it off with both her and Zed, but when I went back to Morrigan, she just calls me "friend" and I don't seem to have the option to romance her.

Is it still possible to get her and what steps should I take to do this?
 
[quote name='Temidien']So I swapped Leliana out for Morrigan seeing as her role in my party was mostly redundant and I can't remember the last time I got something great from a locked chest and what little combat I saw last night seemed to go more smoothly.

My question is:
I've slept with Leliana and Zedvan (sp?) already and I'd like to kick up the romance with Morrigan. When I gave her Flemeth's grimoire, she wanted to start a relationship but my relations with Leliana got in the way. I went to Leliana to break it off with both her and Zed, but when I went back to Morrigan, she just calls me "friend" and I don't seem to have the option to romance her.

Is it still possible to get her and what steps should I take to do this?
[/QUOTE]

Morrigan is trickier to get into bed tent because its possible to get her affinity for you TOO high. From what I've read, it's impossible to initiate romance with her if her affinity for you is above 90 (in the white, basically). For lack of a better term, you're in the "friend zone". Try pissing her off to lower her affinity a bit, but I can't guarantee that will work either - sometimes when you have the option once, it won't come up again.

I was really hoping to finish playthrough #3 last night, but I only got to play for a couple of hours. I'm headed for my third Landsmeet though, so I should finally 1100/1100 this bad boy tonight.
 
Thanks, bud.
I'm sure I'll piss her off soon enough if she stays in my party, she seems to dislike most of my moral choices ;)

Good luck on grabbing those last cheevos, I'm sure it's been a long journey for ya. After I finish this playthrough I'm gonna take a break and play a few titles from my massive backlog (RE5 and Mirror's Edge are screaming at me) and I'll then get back into DA to squeeze out atleast one more playthrough.

By the way, my internet is down until later this week but after it's back up, wanna mess around with some FPSes or SFIV? I could always use some more good people to play with. :D
 
After tallying up all three playthroughs plus the other origin stories, I'd imagine I'll end up pouring around 80 hours into it. Maybe a bit more. It's certainly not an easy achievement completion, but well worth it.

And I don't have Gold right now, but feel free to add me on XBL anyway.
 
Whew.

1100/1100! It's been a while since I've had this much fun with a game, poured in more hours than I care to count. Time to move on to something else for a while, but I'll be back for the next DLC. :D
 
Ok, seriously, fuck the last boss. The archdemon is just so damn cheap! Any strategies or tips on beating this fucker?

I'm using Mage w/Arcane Warrior (never found BM specialization), Leilanna with dual wield, Alistair sword and shield, and Wynne as healer.

The damn thing keeps spamming me with fireballs as I battle its minions, and that's usually where I die.
 
Honestly, I never had trouble with the last boss. The closest it ever got to difficult was when it flew off to that isolated chunk of land and kept on attacking Wynne.

But, uh... really, just call in the Dalish and pelt it with arrows/spells/balista bolts. It'll probably just focus on one person with its slow-ass attacks, so just have 'em run around separate from the others as necessary. The minions shouldn't cause trouble for any half-decent fighter.
 
[quote name='Mr. Anderson']Ok, seriously, fuck the last boss. The archdemon is just so damn cheap! Any strategies or tips on beating this fucker?

I'm using Mage w/Arcane Warrior (never found BM specialization), Leilanna with dual wield, Alistair sword and shield, and Wynne as healer.

The damn thing keeps spamming me with fireballs as I battle its minions, and that's usually where I die.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='Ma12kez']
I can't believe I actually spent 92 hours on my first play through and I think half the time was spent in the menus micromanaging everything. Overall, the game was still a bit easy even on hard. Maybe it was due to the fact that Shale owns everything in the game with the right set-up. Just have Shale activate the Stone Heart ability, equip Brilliant Nature Crystals (the green ones) and the golem never falls in battle. It was funny to see Shale regenerate health faster than the damage output by the final boss. I was shocked when I realized that and just watched him fight the rest of the fight. I'd suggest anyone who doesn't have Shale in their main party to try the golem out.[/QUOTE]This.

When he goes to that platform, get out of its line of sight and take out any other minions that spawn. If you kill enough, the boss will come to you and you can start hacking away again.
 
Last boss strategies:
Take one of your characters, and use the huge crossbow-like things all around the border of the area. They'll first aim at it, then select it again to get it to fire. Make sure it's aimed right, and it'll do 50-ish damage per hit. Just spam it till it jams. If you have a living person with a trap skill, I think they can repair it (I didn't). If not, just run to another one.
Also, I tended to control my mage, and have her heal people on the regular. I made sure to have literally 60+ healing potions, but I still ran out at the end.
There's that double-handed sword that does +10 damage to dragons. I suggest having one of your heavies equipping that.
If you're controlling someone near the boss, try to stay at its side. That way, you'll avoid the tail and most of its frontal attacks.

At the very end, it was my main character warrior elf as the only one alive, and I was out of potions. I used the side technique, took a ton of injury kits to get my health up a bit, and then launched some final blow berzerker attacks. It was a war of attrition, but I won it.

Honestly couldn't have been more thrilling, down-to-the-wire for me. I dug it.
But now, here's the question: Can I not access the world at large after I beat the game? I had one more incomplete quest, as well as the golem DLC to do.
 
Awesome game.

My main gripe, unless I haven't yet figured it out, is that you can't seem to have your healer party members revive your dead characters in battle automatically. I have to do it manually.
 
[quote name='dopa345']Awesome game.

My main gripe, unless I haven't yet figured it out, is that you can't seem to have your healer party members revive your dead characters in battle automatically. I have to do it manually.[/QUOTE]

No, I never figured out a way to do it either.
 
Sorry if this has been brought up, but can you actually download the characters you made with the Character Creator to your 360? I can't seem to find a straight answer, but it sounds like you can. If so, anyone know how long it'll actually take? I made a couple this morning, but I'm still not seeing them on Bioware's website and can't figure how to download them to my game.
 
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