Dragon Age Origins PC, XBOX360, PS3

[IronMexican]

I am about 30 minutes in and have no idea what's going on.

[DarkReign]

My party consists of my dual wielding warrior, Meatshield Alistair, Leliana, and Morrigan. I have no problems with just having Morrigan as my healer what I do to avoid a lot of the damage is using ice spells and also the great combo of sleep and Waking Nightmare.

Waking Nightmare is one of the best spells in the game it causes enemies to go to sleep, be stunned, attack other enemies, or just do nothing. Also when you combine it with sleep it always works. Then I also use cone of cold a lot especially on tougher monster it even worked on the High Dragon at the Mountain top.

...dual-wielding. That'd probably be a huge boost to dmg with a warrior. Good call.

[phyzik]

...dual-wielding. That'd probably be a huge boost to dmg with a warrior. Good call.

Thats what I used on my first character. Once you max it out you can use a full length one handed weapon in your offhand providing for some spectacular damage dealing.

[kbrury]

...dual-wielding. That'd probably be a huge boost to dmg with a warrior. Good call.

Yep my Warrior has done about 65% of my party's total dmg.

[nkdlunch]

There are way too many ing games that have come out or will in the near future. I have to say though, there are only 4 that have me super excited. This one, Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect 2, and FFXIII...and I know the latter two aren't released until next year.

I'll pick this up over the weekend. I'm glad to have another Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment, etc. type western RPG since I hated Oblivion and thought Fallout 3 was only ok. I guess those first person/ ty 3rd person type exploration games aren't my cup of tea.

damn! icewind dale/planescape were the !!!

this game is like those?

I did enjoy Oblivion though, just beat the main quest.

[phyzik]

damn! icewind dale/planescape were the !!!

this game is like those?

I did enjoy Oblivion though, just beat the main quest.

It's a pretty damn epic game considering all the character interaction... Think Mass effect but much more depth in regards to character interaction. All in all though, if you follow just the story line it doesnt match Planescape or anything like that... It took me a total of 18 hours to complete (I didnt just rush through it either). DLC and personal mods will make it way more epic given time.

It's definately no Oblvion though. Much more linear. Think Neverwitner Nights when it first came out. The difference though is the story arc for each character you make, there are subtle differences as you play the game but definately noticable depending on what type of character you make and how you decide to play them.

Im currently playing a mage character trying to finish every single quest... That alone has at LEAST doubled my playing time so far. The level of my mage is higher than the level of my warrior that I used to finish the game, and I still have much to do. By the time I go to finish it, the Darkspawn leader wont have a chance.

[IronMexican]

I don't even know what to do on the game right now. I had to do some fire script thing. And got really confused for the Mage.

[phyzik]

I don't even know what to do on the game right now. I had to do some fire script thing. And got really confused for the Mage.

Some people just dont have the mental capacity required for imagination.. Are you one of those that has to have complex movies explained to you every 5 minutes on whats going on during the movie?

Maybe read the back story in the manaul to understand whats going on.

Seriously though.... It's a fantasy game.... Imagine being warped into that reality... what would you do in the cir stances presented? thats all you need to follow. It's not about the best dialog for the best items.... Pick what you feel is right according to your personality when it comes to dialog. Thats when you will start to enjoy the game. All the combat and puzzle solving is secondary filler. It's all about the story. You remember those books that you read to a certain page and it would tell you "turn to this page if you want to this, or turn to this page if you want to do THIS!".

It's pretty much the same but much more advanced and with much more emotion.

I have never been able to play an "evil" character in these games, even if its just for fun, I always find myself trying to be helpfull. Every once in a while I deviate, but it depends on the situation.

[phyzik]

If you REALLY must know whats going on.... here's the short version.

The blight (think of them as the undead) attack every few hundred years.

You are eventually recruited into the Grey Wardens. (A special task force of elite fighters against the blight).

Almost all of your comrades (Grey Wardens) are killed, its only you and one other member, Allister.

It's now up to just the two of you to stop a blight army where it normally takes several Wardens to accomplish.

The 2 of you cant possibly face a horde of demons alone.

time to gather an army and kick some ass.

What are you going to do?

[DarkReign]

I like the sum up.

[IronMexican]

Some people just dont have the mental capacity required for imagination.. Are you one of those that has to have complex movies explained to you every 5 minutes on whats going on during the movie?

Maybe read the back story in the manaul to understand whats going on.

Seriously though.... It's a fantasy game.... Imagine being warped into that reality... what would you do in the cir stances presented? thats all you need to follow. It's not about the best dialog for the best items.... Pick what you feel is right according to your personality when it comes to dialog. Thats when you will start to enjoy the game. All the combat and puzzle solving is secondary filler. It's all about the story. You remember those books that you read to a certain page and it would tell you "turn to this page if you want to this, or turn to this page if you want to do THIS!".

It's pretty much the same but much more advanced and with much more emotion.

I have never been able to play an "evil" character in these games, even if its just for fun, I always find myself trying to be helpfull. Every once in a while I deviate, but it depends on the situation.

It's not the fantasy stuff that's throwing me off. The map marker keeps telling me to talk to this guy named Owain, but I've been talked to him and received the fire thing.

[balli]

I have never been able to play an "evil" character in these games, even if its just for fun, I always find myself trying to be helpfull. Every once in a while I deviate, but it depends on the situation.

Big +1 on that. In every 'moral storyline' RPG I always end up being an absolute saint. I can't help it. The evil just ain't in me.

[DarkReign]

I always play the paragon of virtue on the first playthrough.

But my second playthrough is always extremely evil.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Big +1 on that. In every 'moral storyline' RPG I always end up being an absolute saint. I can't help it. The evil just ain't in me.

This is mainly because in these sort of games, evil = asshole = dumbass. You're never presented with a cool evil choice, its always the rude jackass that can't keep his mouth shut. Its ing annoying. I don't have a problem being ultimately evil, I do have a problem having to go about it like a re ed villain from some poorly written "B" movie.

[z0sa]

This is mainly because in these sort of games, evil = asshole = dumbass. You're never presented with a cool evil choice, its always the rude jackass that can't keep his mouth shut. Its ing annoying. I don't have a problem being ultimately evil, I do have a problem having to go about it like a re ed villain from some poorly written "B" movie.

Yep.

Being the 'paragon of virtue' ultimately feels smarter, even cooler.

These types of traditional RPGs kinda piss me off in that area. The freedom you would love to have just isn't there at times, especially when it comes to actually taking the whole kingdom down yourself or becoming its dictator as opposed to saving it or leaving it to its fate.

[hater]

I agree about in these games being evil sucks. the evil characters are not even close to being as developed as the good characters. not to mention your character won't get pussy at all.

did you guys play The Witcher? how does this compare to that? I really enjoyed the witcher

[kbrury]

This game is pretty well developed on the evil side a lot of the quests have a evil and good side. Like what to do with the Urn of sacred ashes or deciding what to do with Loghain.

[Avitus1]

I dont really like RPGs but I'm actually thinking this one looks pretty cool.

[IronMexican]

This game is finally picking up. Still a lot of asking random people questions and what not.

[kbrury]

just beat it tonight, im sad now I want a sequel just like ME2 but it would be tough conisdering there are different endings.

[DarkReign]

Since I quite smoking (8 days), I havent touched a video game. Some smokers say "i smoke when I drive" or "i smoke when i drink" or "i need a smoke after I eat".

My thing is/was, I smoke when I play video games. I tried playing DA:O this past weekend and all I could think about was smoking. Kind of ing sucks, tbh.

[symple19]

@DarkReign Yeah, I've played my share of MMORPGS. I'm much farther in now, so I'll update.

My main crew typically consists of Myself (Champion Warrior) Leliana (spec'd for archery but also does well as two handed melee) Morrigan(w/healing abilities) and Wynne (healmachine). I do use all of the characters though, with myself and Morrigan being the two constants.

I've cleared Redcliffe(including the urn), as well as the circle of Mages and 90% of the Brecilia woods. I've also done a fair bit of the missions in Denerim. I'm level 12 @37 hours played and 43% explored . (LOL, it's literally all I've done the last 4 days besides work. GF is pissed.)

Make a damage dealer, let some other scmuck do the tanking (if you bought the Stone Prisoner DLC, you'll know who to use as your tank). Or, if youre cheap like me and didnt buy any extras, you get stuck in the tank role. Youre basically forced to play with 3 ranged characters at this stage.

I won't touch any DLC until I've beaten it.

My warrior is good for dps. He's got some shield skills but is maxed in the Warrior line. When I have Wynne and Leliana doing buffs he's on wheels, leaving Morrigan to do whatever

Yeah...warrior, not so much fun as compared to a mage. I basically treat my Main Character like a NPC. I am in constant control of Morrigan, more fun really.

Same here. I control Morrigan(who also has heal/regen/reju) while my warrior and Leliani do grunt work. Wynne is set up in the tactics menu so I rarely have to mess with her.


Zevran and Sten(loses hp fast but does a load of damage) are badass too, and I'm finally getting into the templar skills with Allistair and they're proving to be useful against some of the tougher spellcasters. I have him set up maxed on shields. My wardog also get's used a bit because he can tank about as well as any of my other characters. I basically just dumped points into str/dex/const/. Plus, I like how the Dog pisses Morrigan off all the time.

For romance I've got Morrigan (Leliani likes me a lot too but I can't kiss her yet) to like me enough to kiss her. I lawled when I went to the brothel in Denerim and lost favoritism points because I bought a . Nice touch by Bioware. I like the gift-giving system as well. Took me awhile to figure out the codex will update and tell you which gifts each NPC likes. Now I'm killin it as far as my likeability. I'll take any stat bonuses I can get.

The dialogue (writing) in this game is as good as any game I've ever played but...

I always play the paragon of virtue on the first playthrough.

But my second playthrough is always extremely evil.

Being the 'paragon of virtue' ultimately feels smarter, even cooler.

...I have to agree with you guys that devs need to do better at cultivating bad guys in these games. I tend to be a good guy in RPGs cuz i'm kind of an asshole in real life. But, I definitely play through as a bad guy too, especially Fallout3 and Oblivion. Those two were rewarding for bad guys, despite the always corny bad-guy dialogue.

I like the crafting (poison/traps/alchemy) setup. One of the things I in hate in most RPGs is how ridiculously boring and overly complicated any sort of crafting is. In this one, you buy (or learn) the recipe and so long as you have the skill/components/ingredients you just click and you're done. No having to look up online or having to amass a bunch of stupid pieces to put in a magic box type bull . Just simple and sweet. Very cool.

Did the ing bridge in the gauntlet piss anyone else off? I resorted to drawing a ing diagram to figure it out. Sheesh.

The Fade levels in the tower were awesome. a fun.

At the half-way point I feel confident saying this is the best RPG i've played since Oblivion and in my top 5 all time. Highly recommended.

[phyzik]

@DarkReign Yeah, I've played my share of MMORPGS. I'm much farther in now, so I'll update.

My main crew typically consists of Myself (Champion Warrior) Leliana (spec'd for archery but also does well as two handed melee) Morrigan(w/healing abilities) and Wynne (healmachine). I do use all of the characters though, with myself and Morrigan being the two constants.

I've cleared Redcliffe(including the urn), as well as the circle of Mages and 90% of the Brecilia woods. I've also done a fair bit of the missions in Denerim. I'm level 12 @37 hours played and 43% explored . (LOL, it's literally all I've done the last 4 days besides work. GF is pissed.)



I won't touch any DLC until I've beaten it.

My warrior is good for dps. He's got some shield skills but is maxed in the Warrior line. When I have Wynne and Leliana doing buffs he's on wheels, leaving Morrigan to do whatever



Same here. I control Morrigan(who also has heal/regen/reju) while my warrior and Leliani do grunt work. Wynne is set up in the tactics menu so I rarely have to mess with her.


Zevran and Sten(loses hp fast but does a load of damage) are badass too, and I'm finally getting into the templar skills with Allistair and they're proving to be useful against some of the tougher spellcasters. I have him set up maxed on shields. My wardog also get's used a bit because he can tank about as well as any of my other characters. I basically just dumped points into str/dex/const/. Plus, I like how the Dog pisses Morrigan off all the time.

For romance I've got Morrigan (Leliani likes me a lot too but I can't kiss her yet) to like me enough to kiss her. I lawled when I went to the brothel in Denerim and lost favoritism points because I bought a . Nice touch by Bioware. I like the gift-giving system as well. Took me awhile to figure out the codex will update and tell you which gifts each NPC likes. Now I'm killin it as far as my likeability. I'll take any stat bonuses I can get.

The dialogue (writing) in this game is as good as any game I've ever played but...






...I have to agree with you guys that devs need to do better at cultivating bad guys in these games. I tend to be a good guy in RPGs cuz i'm kind of an asshole in real life. But, I definitely play through as a bad guy too, especially Fallout3 and Oblivion. Those two were rewarding for bad guys, despite the always corny bad-guy dialogue.

I like the crafting (poison/traps/alchemy) setup. One of the things I in hate in most RPGs is how ridiculously boring and overly complicated any sort of crafting is. In this one, you buy (or learn) the recipe and so long as you have the skill/components/ingredients you just click and you're done. No having to look up online or having to amass a bunch of stupid pieces to put in a magic box type bull . Just simple and sweet. Very cool.

Did the ing bridge in the gauntlet piss anyone else off? I resorted to drawing a ing diagram to figure it out. Sheesh.

The Fade levels in the tower were awesome. a fun.

At the half-way point I feel confident saying this is the best RPG i've played since Oblivion and in my top 5 all time. Highly recommended.

when I first got to the bridge in the gauntlet I messed around with it for like an hour. I was on a pretty big beer buzz so I figured I must be too drunk to figure out something so simple. I came back to it the next day and was still dumbfounded.... yeah, I had to draw a diagram of what each stone does

[balli]

My thing is/was, I smoke when I play video games. I tried playing DA:O this past weekend and all I could think about was smoking. Kind of ing sucks, tbh.

That really does suck. I've never really puffed on tobacco while gaming, or thought of doing so, but it sounds like an enjoyable habit. You're losing something that's been a part of you and that's a , but seriously the best of luck.

[ElNono]

Since I quite smoking (8 days), I havent touched a video game. Some smokers say "i smoke when I drive" or "i smoke when i drink" or "i need a smoke after I eat".

My thing is/was, I smoke when I play video games. I tried playing DA:O this past weekend and all I could think about was smoking. Kind of ing sucks, tbh.

I've been clean for 8 weeks. Moving on to 'Step 3' of the nicotine patches.
BTW, those really helped me with the cravings. YMMV, but I recommend them.
Just get them at Target/Walmart where they're cheaper.