Dragon Age: Origins - Page 5

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The foofy, gay Oblivion elves, NOT the hardass, Palestinian Morrowind ones. Seriously...what the fuck happened there?

(Then again, the one dwarf in that game was pretty gay, too.)

The Dunmer in Oblivion were seriously queered out, too.

Yup, tank here too. At least for the first playthrough. I haven't found an RPG system yet where playing as a warrior wasn't the most efficient way through the game. After that it's experimentation time. Although I read that mages in Dragon Age are supposed to be dishing out pretty fucking dangerous amounts of damage.

The tank/melee classes in CHAMPIONS ONLINE are pretty useless, though. If you want to even attempt to solo through the game, you need to take a caster-type class.

Yeah but that game stinks.

Agreed. It's by sheer will alone that I'm making myself get a guy to the endgame content.

By sheer will, I'm assuming you mean your last will and testament, as you're clearly heading towards an untimely end at this point.

I wanted a new RPG pretty bad this weekend thinking about this game, and realized I never had played ME. It was only $20 on Steam so I downloaded it and I'm only like 6 hours in. It's pretty RPG-lite, but it's fun.

Call it penance for an unholy life. Let other people flog themselves with whips and chains, I've got an electricity guy to get to 40 dammit!

You and your hair shirt.

Even when you played as a true-class rogue in BG and BG2, there were all kinds of ways you could play, from a Thief to more of a ranged character, or even a pretty-decent-in-combat tank. Now with DA:O, there's more specializations than ever to play through -- Assassin, Ranger, Duellist, and Bard.

You can make almost any kind of character you want with this setup. Spies, archers, thieves, combat-types, bounty hunters using traps, and according to the Dragon Age wiki, you can also use two-handed weapons and sword-and-shield styles for combat, as well. In addition to the specific Rogue talents, nobody's really will be the same twice.

I like Dexterity-based fighters, so the Duellist sounds interesting. I also like stealth-kills, à la Oblivion, so the Assassin class also sounds nifty. Not really sure about combining the two, though. Overall, it'll probably depend on party balance. If I have a buffing Mage, I'd quite likely want at least a couple of fast attackers. Otherwise, I'll likely stick to high-Agility/ranged fighters, for the most part.


Yeah, that's exactly what I'm referring to, there -- the Morrowind Dunmer were some bitter bastards, who'd just as soon murder your grandma as look at you, and the male ones had voices that sounded like hot acid running over gravel.

Whereas, in Oblivion, suddenly all of the Dunmer males were voiced by poofy, twinkle-toed Englishmen. I chalk this all up to Cyrodiilic enculturation, or something.

I play fighters/soldiers in these games for one reason only: doing so requires less reliance on the AI to keep you alive.

Rogues, rangers, mages, etc all require both protection and healing to be effective. I don't like micromanaging battles and I don't trust the AI in survival-critical roles. Except for healing, the AI always seems fine at that, and if I won't heal humans in WoW, I'm sure as hell not healing a mindless drone. Even if I intend to digitally fuck her later in the game.

I'm halfway through the first DA prequel novel and I really think Gaider may have created a fantasy world here that's going to catch on like a Krynn, Faerun or even Hyboria to be honest. Again, no super points for originality, but theres a really engaging depth of a world that exists outside the context of the story I'm reading (whcih I'm thoroughly enjoying actually) rather than feeling like a world that only exists within the confines of what the story is dealing with directly (if that even makes sense). I can see why thgey're releasing this as a pen and paper RPG as well as a game, Gaiders put a helluva lot of thought into it all. If that depth translates to Origins (and it sounds more and more like it has), this may just end up being the benchmark console/PC rpg for this decade.

Seriously I recommend tracking down the books for anyone interested, they;re a fun read.

For the extra $5 I spent? Easily worth it. It's not like I'm getting a collectible tin, or a book about how they made the game. I'm getting extra stuff in the game, including a completely new area.

I sprung for this CE, and I've only ever done that for one other game, Fallout 3. Didn't I hear tell that they were bundling in some downloadable Mass Effect 2 loot as well??

Yep. It was a big selling point for me.

You get the Blood Dragon Armor with either version.

Not in this country we don't.

Nice to know that living in the US does carry the occasional trivial advantage in this day and age.

Yes, pity us poor Blood Armour-less antipodeans...

The description of Warden's Keep sounds like something I'd have gladly paid $5 to download separately. So I get a helmet, a staff, a book and that. You will rue the day you mocked this Greg David. Rue.

Well??? Start rueing!!

I've got your staff right here. It's even got its own helmet.

Interesting. After Oct 23rd there's going to be on online 2d flash based game on the Dragon Age site which will be an intro to the actual game. Seems hack and slash though.

Edit: Correction. It may go up on the evening of the 22nd. It also doesn't appear to be hack and slash but turn based.

Your source for reliable gaming news since 1974.

Well I just finished the first prequel novel and I have to say it was very enjoyable pulpy entertainment. I actually really hope this world Gaider has created catches on outside of just the video game, it actually deserves to, something I didn't expect.

Hey, the browser game is surprisingly good. It seems it is not just an unconventional ad, it has a lot of content for a browser game and the same leveling system as the game. And you unlock extra items for the main game with it if you play it logged in. Nice.

I've become OCD with this and I love it.

Yeah seriously. Maybe it's just cause I haven't wallowed in proper pulpy sword and sorcery fantasy geekery in many years, but the lead up to this game is seriously making me party like it's 1986 when I'd be playing D&D at lunchtimes. Haven't anticipated a game quite so much in a very long time.

Rain Dog, stelios, when this game comes out and doesn't cure Cancer and solve world hunger, please don't murder/suicide each other. Or at least be entertaining about it and film it.

In case of a disappointment I'm sure we will find comfort in each other.

WHAT WILL YOU DO, HATER?

HOW WILL YOU CALM YOU RAGING BLACK HEART, WHEN YOU HAVE PUSHED EVERYONE AWAY?

Oh, I'll be playing Dragon Age, most likely.

Oh I have Dr.Kervorkians death machine at the ready and a video camera fear not. Just promise you'll post it on youtube for me Brad...

Fear not Daisy, tis a death machine built for two.

I was listening to the PC Gamer podcast this morning, and they mentioned that BioWare has created an exclusive area for Dragon Age that they'll have on the next issue's DVD.

I seriously hope this isn't true. All the pre-order bonuses from all the different retailers -- okay. Sure. And I like the DLC. But come on, this is starting to get out of hand. This has EA's stinky fingerprints all over it.

If they want to release free stuff, take an example from Epic Games. They release large map packs and mods to everyone. They don't make them exclusives. And they do so because they care about their fans. Not because of some inane marketing BS-ploy.

This isn't BioWare trying to be nice by giving away free things. It's EA fucking with people. As usual.

According to Kotaku, Sony has a "big announcement" about the PS3 version...

Their big announcement is apparently that it's actually launching on the same day as the 360/PC versions.

ETA: Live chat with BioWare can be viewed here.

ETA x2: Sweet, glad to see if I pick this up for PS3 I can still get the benefit for ME2.

Why would anyone mind about various bits and pieces each version gets that others don't? Will a couple of items or side quests turn a mediocre game into a great one or will their omission cause the opposite? I'm as rabid about this game as anyone and more than most but I don't intend to let any of these things influence me. It's vanilla PC edition for me.

Besides, odds are we'll all get all the DLC for all the platforms eventually. These are probably temporary exclusives.

This PS3 owner has been saying similar comments about the GTA IV DLC for a while now.

So the last of the possible playable party characters has been released ot the world, the dwarf Oghren. He drinks too much, fights very well and seemingly will offer some moments of comedic relief - so pretty standard then. Why they decided to make him the last mystery character to be released is anyones guess.

ETA: and the browser game is far far more enjoyable than it has any right to be.

Disappointing. That kind of nails my reason for disliking the sword and sorcery genre. The vast majority of the time, it means stock characters, stock settings, and stock situations. I've been hoping that Bioware would sidestep the standard-issue fantasy cliches. I'm still hoping, but the Dwarf doesn't fill me with confidence.

Hey, at least he doesn't have a Scottish brogue.

Awesome 360 gameplay video here.

"That's how tough he was. He went through the entire dungeon with nothing on."

It should be noted that the two major issues they had in that video -- the game unpausing when selecting something in the radial menu, and a lack of tactics -- have since been addressed by the devs, and are fixed in the version shipping next week.

At the time this video was produced, they simply hadn't gotten them 100% tweaked yet. You can now set your battle-menu to let you queue things up in the radial wheel without unpausing, and there the tactics system in the PC version is actually still available in the console versions (PS3 and Xbox 360).

I'm sure they did an impressive job putting all that control onto a gamepad, but I'm going with the PC here. It's just the nature of the game and how I play them - I like to really open up the hood, and I micromanage during battles. Plus all the text and menus these games have - mouse and keyboard all the way.

Menu navigation might be one thing, but I'm fairly confident at this point that both the text and the menus are gonna be intuitive enough on the Xbox and PS3 versions that even a massive text-dump will be easily manageable. They had it ironed out well enough on KotOR and Mass Effect, so it should be rather smooth here, too.

About the only significant difference is that the top-down PC camera is out in the console versions; there's still a movable camera in place for those builds, though. Only thing is, it really depends on how well the controls map -- it can be tricky and time-consuming to set up, but I feel like I have way better movement/camera control with a gamepad than with a mouse.

That said, I really can't imagine doing a straight console port of an RPG like Baldur´s Gate -- with so many spell options on your action-bar -- being released on a console using standard controllers. There'd be some obvious problems like quick-selecting the spell you want, which party member you want to choose, and doing all that while controlling the camera. But looks like BioWare has already solved the majority of those issues at this point.

Right now, I feel like a 45-year-old pedophile at a Jonas Brothers concert, eagerly waiting for this game to finally drop.


For anyone trying for "Ogreific Tactics" on Hard difficulty, you can even win this hardest battle (Ogre, +2 Alphas) with two warriors and one Mage. With some micromanagement and some luck, they'll hit their comrades with the Stone attack.

Use the "Rally" skill for less damage, and heal all the time with the Mage. As long as all characters have full health when the last mob dies, you'll get the Achievement. I focus on the Ogre first, then use Mass Heal as much as needed while taking down the last of the enemies. To get this, I even forgo some combat rounds to use pots, and make sure my health was topped off when taking out the last sliver of life on the last guy.

(I didn't have full health when the Ogre went down, only when the last of the small fries finally kicked it.)

Well elves are the looked-down-upon downtrodden ex-slave minorities in this universe for what it's worth, but I hear where you're coming from, he's certainly very stock-standard for a dwarf.

JUst had the second prequel novel, The Calling arrive in the mail from the states last night. I'm enjoying it just as much as the first one. Again tho, this all may have as much to do with me having spent some serious time away from classic sword and sorcery fantasy and simply enjoying the genre again as it does with the quality of the book itself.

I really think reading both of them will inform my playing of the game a lot tho.

I would just like to see a fantasy game that takes place in a world with no elves, no dwarves, no dragons...just ditch all the Arthurian/Celtic/Norse/Tolkien baggage and do something totally original. It seems like the Japanese are the only developers interested in even attempting such a thing. Unfortunately, I don't really care for the JRPG style of game; too many cutscenes, not enough gameplay.

This goes for fantasy novels as well. Elves and Dwarves are not a legal requirement for fantasy. Let's try just making some shit up for once.

Yeah Tolkiens legacy (along with D&D to a lesser extent) has really hamstrung the genre as a whole I agree, but considering it's meant to be a genre of flights of imagination, it's greatest fans are very rarely that imaginative in my experience. They just want their dwarves and elves and dragons. It usually takes somone like a Phillip Pullman to turn that on it's head, and great challenging fantasy authors do exist, but their books still get outsold by the worst of TSR Publishing pulp - and that goes double for gaming, an entertainment form that in some ways seems to be becoming less imaginative the more big money it makes with each passing day.

I'd kinda like something like this to be the final word on classic fantasy rpg gaming, but I'm not holding my breath.

I've been avoiding this game like the plague -- the visuals that look more dated than the original Mass Effect, the juvenile elements such as the focus on gore and the ability to sleep with every female member of your party... ugh. I preordered it from Steam on a severely drunken whim, though, so I'm now stuck hoping BioWare's track record holds up with this game. And that I can get a handle on my impulses in the future.

My BioWare profile is located here, but I'm not sure of the point of that site.

How's that for fucking hype?

Oh, and judging from the above conversation about originality, I'd strongly urge everyone to give Planescape: Torment a try. So very very good.