Dragon Age: Origins - Page 8

Eaglesfan27 · 01-05-2010, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckerney

Are you getting Return to Ostegar DLC for new play through? Thinking of picking that up tonight.

Didn't know it was out. Got all of the DLC that was available before I started my 2nd play through, but that wasn't available yet. Yes, I'll pick that up before I play it again, but thanks to Blackadar informing me that most of the restoration mod is out for KOTOR 2, that is getting most of my PT for the next few days/weeks.

Galaril · 01-05-2010, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surtt

Just came across this.

hxxp://social.bioware.com/project/463/#details
Camp storage chest. wOOt!

Just killed the High Dragon last night 1st try. (difficult setting)
I guess all those years playing WOW were not wasted after all.

Thanks. I have got to get back into this. The backpack thing slowed me along with the holidays and the new wii.

Peregrine · 01-05-2010, 01:34 PM

Galaril, backpacks are also sold by several merchants in the game. Each one you buy increases the amount of items you can carry by 10 - but they get more and more expensive. I usually buy the one from the quartermaster in Ostagar - it's pretty cheap.

Surtt · 01-05-2010, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckerney

I was able to kill the dragon on my first try, but only because the dragon flew on to a rock, killed 3 of my party members, but my rouge happened to be standing somewhere the dragon wouldn't attack. Felt pretty cheap, but I really wanted the dragon scale armor for Stem.

Spoiler

mckerney · 01-05-2010, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Didn't know it was out. Got all of the DLC that was available before I started my 2nd play through, but that wasn't available yet. Yes, I'll pick that up before I play it again, but thanks to Blackadar informing me that most of the restoration mod is out for KOTOR 2, that is getting most of my PT for the next few days/weeks.

Bah, it was scheduled for release today but today BioWare announced the release of Return to Ostagar has been delayed.

PurdueBrad · 01-05-2010, 07:02 PM

The wife ordered this for me for Valentine's Day but I'm dying to get it after reading through this thread. I'm getting the 360 version, now to just pry it out of her hands before Feb. 14'th...

fflix · 01-09-2010, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Didn't know it was out. Got all of the DLC that was available before I started my 2nd play through, but that wasn't available yet. Yes, I'll pick that up before I play it again, but thanks to Blackadar informing me that most of the restoration mod is out for KOTOR 2, that is getting most of my PT for the next few days/weeks.

Is the Kotor 2 mod the Team Gizka one or a different one?

Eaglesfan27 · 01-09-2010, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fflix

Is the Kotor 2 mod the Team Gizka one or a different one?

It's a different one. Blackadar posted the link in a different thread, but here it is:

Deadly Forums - Welcome to Deadly Forums

Galaril · 01-09-2010, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

The wife ordered this for me for Valentine's Day but I'm dying to get it after reading through this thread. I'm getting the 360 version, now to just pry it out of her hands before Feb. 14'th...

360 version is a mistake get it for the PC you will thank yourself later.

bhlloy · 02-01-2010, 12:59 AM

So I was breezing through this game and then when I hit the end part of the Urn of Ashes quest I'm absolutely getting my ass kicked. I've even gone back to camp a couple of times and tried different combinations (3 tanks and my mage, 2 mages a tank and a rogue, 2 healers and 2 tanks) and I'm not even close.

Spoiler

Eaglesfan27 · 02-01-2010, 01:01 AM

In my opinion, having Wynne or another healer spec'ed mage is key to that battle and some of the other more difficult battles. The Group heal and battle resurrection spells are very helpful.

bhlloy · 02-01-2010, 01:06 AM

I have Wynne and my mage has some healing powers but neither has those spells yet. So I should probably go back and do some side quests to level up a few more times before attempting these then?

JetsIn06 · 02-01-2010, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galaril

360 version is a mistake get it for the PC you will thank yourself later.

It's still a great game on 360.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-01-2010, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I have Wynne and my mage has some healing powers but neither has those spells yet. So I should probably go back and do some side quests to level up a few more times before attempting these then?

I would. Level 10 is a bit low for that area.

Radii · 02-01-2010, 01:18 AM

some info on my approaches

Spoiler

bhlloy · 02-01-2010, 01:33 AM

Cool, thanks for the tips guys. Sounds like I need my mages to be a lot better before attempting these. It's just funny because nothing in the game has given me much problem up to this point and then BAM...

BreizhManu · 02-01-2010, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Galaril, backpacks are also sold by several merchants in the game. Each one you buy increases the amount of items you can carry by 10 - but they get more and more expensive. I usually buy the one from the quartermaster in Ostagar - it's pretty cheap.

Actually you can buy 2 backpacks with the quartermaster in Ostagar, one before going to the wilds and one after.

Both being extremely cheap it's really worth it.

Honolulu_Blue · 02-01-2010, 08:38 AM

So, I am in the midst of the Final Battle. I just started it really, so don't read unless you've gotten that far...

Spoiler

First, I love this game. I've really enjoyed it throughout.

The whole Landsmeet thing. I sort of failed the diplomatic route and ended up having the big fight there. I am not sure if you can ever "win" the diplomacy side of things and imagine it always comes down to a fight.

Originally, I was thinking of letting Loghain drink the blood and become a Grey Warden. I thought his speech about why he didn't join the battle at Ostagar was actually pretty convincing. Then, of course, Alistair jumped in and complained about letting him live and rattling off his reasons. That swayed me back to killing him. Sure, he might have had some valid reason not to sacrifice his men at Ostagar, but he really never had any good reason for hiring assassins to kill me, poisoning Arl Eamon, backing Arl Howe, and the rest of the crap he kept pulling. I wouldn't have let Arl Howe live (and didn't), so I saw no reason to let this guy live. So, I let Alistair kill him.

Speaking of Alistair, stop your whining bizzatch. You keep whining about how you don't want to be king and how I shouldn't have chosen you, but you whined just as hard about having Anora as queen. You can't have it both ways, pal. So, shut it.

Morrigan. That one really threw me for a loop. I didn't see it coming at all and was quite irritated at her request. Despite all the warnings from everyone else and despite the fact we had wildly varying world views, Morrigan and I became an item in the game (I never really used Leliana in the game and she always annoyed me a bit).

I figured that despite her somewhat callous, do-whatever-it-takes, ends justify the means attitude was more a front than anything. Though, I wasn't particularly happy with the fact that she was upset that I decided NOT to let the blood mage kill all the elf slaves to make me stronger. WTF?

So, when she came to me with the whole, let me have a god-like baby plan to save you, I was like, "What?" You want to what?" I just couldn't do it. It sounded like a horrible idea. That thought was confirmed when she tried to convince me to have Alistair do it (he wouldn't. He never really liked me all that much).

It was a tough decision though. On the one hand, I'd get to live AND I would have my most powerful ally, by far, with me for the final battle. On the other hand, I would be giving a woman of very, very questionable morals control over a god-like being. A tough choice, but I chose not to go through with it.

So, now I am in the final battle with Sten, Wynne, and Leiliana. I struggle with who to take. That was the group I used to kill Flemmeth. The strategy of having me (a warrior) and Sten on either side of the dragon and Wynne and Leiliana standing back shooting arrows and casting spells/healing, respectively, seemed to work pretty well. Though since my party throughout 80% of the game was me, Sten, Wynne and Morrigan, I don't have a ton of experience with Leiliana, so it's not going to be easy.

Honolulu_Blue · 02-01-2010, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

Actually you can buy 2 backpacks with the quartermaster in Ostagar, one before going to the wilds and one after.

Both being extremely cheap it's really worth it.

Yeah, I did this. Have 90 slots was definitely worth it.

Drake · 02-01-2010, 08:50 AM

FYI: I picked up Return to Ostagar this weekend. It's not the same caliber DLC as Warden's Keep, but worth the $5, I thought. Some decent equipment (including Duncan's weapns and Cailan's armor) and some nice opening story closure. Plus, it was just fun returning to Ostagar. :shurg:

Now if they'd just do a DLC that completely obliterated the Brecelian Forest and/or made the whole elf recruitment bit worth a piss, I'd be happy. I really enjoyed the depth of the Redcliffe, Orzammar and Circle Tower phases, but the elf part just feels annoying and tacked on to me.

Edit: I should add that I haven't played as an elf, so that might impact my views.

Honolulu_Blue · 02-01-2010, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drake

FYI: I picked up Return to Ostagar this weekend. It's not the same caliber DLC as Warden's Keep, but worth the $5, I thought. Some decent equipment (including Duncan's weapns and Cailan's armor) and some nice opening story closure. Plus, it was just fun returning to Ostagar. :shurg:

Now if they'd just do a DLC that completely obliterated the Brecelian Forest and/or made the whole elf recruitment bit worth a piss, I'd be happy. I really enjoyed the depth of the Redcliffe, Orzammar and Circle Tower phases, but the elf part just feels annoying and tacked on to me.

Edit: I should add that I haven't played as an elf, so that might impact my views.

I liked the Warden's Keep DLC. The Shale DLC was a bit more "meh". I considered picking up "Return To Ostagar", but I was pretty close to the end, so I skipped it.

While the elf bit was probably the weakest recruitment storyline, I kind of liked the whole backstory of the curse and all that. Not as good or interesting as the others, but not horrible either.

Drake · 02-01-2010, 09:17 AM

I think your assessment is dead on. The storyline with the elves is excellent. It just feels light on the execution, especially compared to the richness of the other recruitment quests.

It feels more like knocking out a long side quest rather than an integral piece of the plot. Just sort of a shame.

On another note: has anyone else played around with Winter Forge add-on? It can seriously (SERIOUSLY) unbalance the game if you're not disciplined with it, but I've really enjoyed the whole customizing/colorizing/crafting piece it brings to the table. That was one of my favorite parts of NWN, too.

Link for those who don't know what I'm talking about: http://social.bioware.com/project/672/

BreizhManu · 02-01-2010, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

So, I am in the midst of the Final Battle. I just started it really, so don't read unless you've gotten that far...

Spoiler

Have fun.

BreizhManu · 02-01-2010, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I liked the Warden's Keep DLC. The Shale DLC was a bit more "meh". I considered picking up "Return To Ostagar", but I was pretty close to the end, so I skipped it.

Shale is my favorite mainly cause the character is extremely funny, Warden's Keep was nice, I found "Return to Ostagar" to be lame and don't fit well at all when starting a new game (e.g: if you play it just after doing lothering, which i did, it's completely stupid. I guess it's more interesting after alistair's revelation).

Drake · 02-01-2010, 11:06 AM

That's a good point. I'm about midway through my second play, so it fit nicely into my arc. Would have been an awkward fit earlier on.

Honolulu_Blue · 02-01-2010, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

Shale is my favorite mainly cause the character is extremely funny, Warden's Keep was nice, I found "Return to Ostagar" to be lame and don't fit well at all when starting a new game (e.g: if you play it just after doing lothering, which i did, it's completely stupid. I guess it's more interesting after alistair's revelation).

I liked Shale, too, though I never really used him all that much. I hear he's pretty powerful, so perhaps I should have.

Drake · 02-01-2010, 12:39 PM

I also thought Shale's Companion quest was the best of them all. A fun character that I seriously under-utilized during my first play through.

Galaril · 02-01-2010, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Yeah, I did this. Have 90 slots was definitely worth it.

I download and installed the mod for a Chest but I have not seen it yet?

Honolulu_Blue · 02-02-2010, 09:04 AM

So, I finally finished the game off last night...

Spoiler

As I mentioned above for the final battle I decided to take me, Sten, Leliana and Wynne. I knew we were fighting a dragon and that was the group I used to kill Flemmeth. I didn't bring Alistair with me because I didn't want him to kill the Archdemon and sacrifice himself. Ferelden needed its king more than it needed me.

I really enjoyed the battles. I liked being able to summon the armies to come help you fight. The hardest fight for me was getting into the Fort. They have those archers set up behind the barricades, a couple of small dragons fly down and there are three tough mage dudes on the steps. I tried that battle with the mage army a few times and failed. Then I tried the dwarves. We won that time, but it was super hard. I really enjoyed how you cut through the "grunts" with one swing - Lord of the Rings style - but had to really focus on the tougher villains. It gave your guys a very heroic aura about them. All the dwarves would be fighting guys and me or Sten would swoop down and take care of business. Leiliana's Arrows of Andraste were huge. She essentially shut down their top mage by constant peppering while Sten and I took care of the other two.

The Archdemon fight was a lot of fun. I loved seeing both Arl Eamon and The First Enchancter up there with me. I wonder if there was anyone else. It was hard to keep track of everything during the mayhem of the battle. I used the elf army in that fight, figuring their long ranged attacks would be best suited for dragon killing. My tactics were pretty much the same as before. I kept spread out. I had Leiliana man the ballistas and shoot with her bow, Wynne cast the few offensive spells she had, but was mainly there for healing and buffing, and Sten and I split up and attacked the Archdemon from either side.

It was mainly Leiliana who did most of the damage throughout. Sten and I ended up having to kill the various darkspawn who kept showing up. I got knocked down once by a Darkspawn mage. The whole "crushing prison" plus "death ward" (or whatever the spell is) is devistating. Wynne had me back up on my feet in no time. There was one very cool moment where Arl Eamon was completely surrounded by Darkspawn. There were a few grunts, but also three "alphas". We saw that and barrled through them. Leliana was shooting with her bow, Wynne casting spells, Sten did a two-handed sweep and I let out a "War Cry" and then kicked some ass. We saved Arl Eamon and then went back at the Archdemon. That's when I killed him and died in the process.

I ended up using a ton of health poultices and mana potions. I think I had some 65 health poutlices going in and came out with less than 15 or so. Same with the mana. A very tough go of it.

I liked the ending. If you play a human noble, it turns out your brother was alive. He was wounded at Ostagar, but lived. The family lands are restored to him and Arl Howe's lands as well, but he gives those over to the Grey Wardens in your honor. I liked how they told you about the fate of each of your companions and how the various races and main quests turn out. Poor Harrowmont.

Super fun game.

dubb93 · 02-02-2010, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhlloy

So I was breezing through this game and then when I hit the end part of the Urn of Ashes quest I'm absolutely getting my ass kicked. I've even gone back to camp a couple of times and tried different combinations (3 tanks and my mage, 2 mages a tank and a rogue, 2 healers and 2 tanks) and I'm not even close.

Spoiler

I think you may have mismanaged your party a bit to be having problems at this point. Plus I think at this point in the game you would be doing yourself a huge service if you had Shale rather than Alistair.

My party makeup for both fights was the same. I took my own character, a hybrid healer/electrical damage magic/when out of mana bear form shapeshifter.

My own character went for the healing abilities first, then went 4/4 in the electricity damage spells and then went down the shapshifting line to bear form. He is told to heal first, cast electrical spells second, and then if he is oom and I don't want to use a potion I send him into bear form.

I also brought along a dedicated healer in Wynne. All of her points have gone in willpower/magic and she is told to heal anyone that has less than 50% health. I do not let her run OOM. If she is close she gets a potion.

My tank was Shale. At this point he has nearly 40 constitution(over twice as much as Alistair had when I got Shale). He can take a beating the likes that would have Alistair running scared.

My melee DPS was Sten. Every point that Sten had acquired at this point had gone into strength. Sten had the 38 strength points needed to wear the DLC armor. This massive armor actually played a role in the first fight you mention because it gave me an 2h wielding off tank when Shale fell.

For Kolgrim I had Shale get aggro on everything and used my character and Sten to kill all of the adds.

After that the fight becomes a spank and tank affair, I actually had both Shale and my offtank Sten killed by Kolgrim as the fight wore on, but I think both were a result of Wynne not getting a potion in time to cast a needed heal. Once Sten went down I quickly gave Wynne a potion and had her bring both warriors back to life.

For the battle with yourselves, I also one shotted that fight. I think the years of MMO PvP really paid off in that battle. My first instinct was to kill the healer(Wynne) and then the damage dealing mage(my character.) After that I killed Sten and then finally my tank Shale. The kill order I believe is of the utmost importance. You should follow that exact kill order of healer, damage mages, melee/ranged dps, tank.

I hope this was atleast somewhat helpful.

Honolulu_Blue · 02-04-2010, 09:34 PM

I just checked my last saved game and apparently I played this game for 82 hours. Yeah, I feel like I got my money's worth.

I could totally see myself playing it again somewhere down the line.

Edward64 · 02-05-2010, 11:27 PM

Fry's has it advertised for $29 bucks. Got some left over BB credit, thinking about asking them to price match and play the game some.

I know I won't have the bandwidth to finish the game (funny how getting older w/kids do that to you) but would enjoy seeing how Bioware has evolved since the days of Baldur's Gate.

Edward64 · 02-06-2010, 10:30 PM

Woo hoo. Got BB to pricematch the Fry's $29 and bought it. Have it installed on my Dell Inspiron with E5200 chip and old X1600 card. Its playing good enough for me.

Haven't gotten far, just killed a couple wolves and found bow/elfroot. Whats the deal with the blood on my face ... a little too overdone.

BreizhManu · 02-06-2010, 11:56 PM

yeah the blood is a bit too much, and you have it every time

sabotai · 02-07-2010, 12:05 AM

You can turn that off.

Crapshoot · 02-07-2010, 01:22 AM

I just borrowed this from a buddy been playing through, but am running into trouble at

Spoiler

EagleFan · 02-07-2010, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

I just borrowed this from a buddy been playing through, but am running into trouble at

Spoiler

You need to use the pause and give individual orders routine. Use the command to keep your party in place to start some of these fights too, so they don't chase someone ahead and "aggro" the next group before you need to fight them.

You can only give one order at a time, can't queue them up. Unless you are talking about the tactics, but I haven't used them as I have had better success micro-managing with a lot of pausing.

BreizhManu · 02-07-2010, 06:05 AM

Well configured tactics are great, by default you should at least have those ones :

- Use lesser health poultice when health is below 25% (level can be changed depending on the kind of monster you face)
- Attack the same target as the main character

Eventually have the tank or an archer attack another character but usually it's better if everyone attacks the same character

Oh and the cardinal rule in Dragon Age :

KILL THE MAGES FIRST

Edward64 · 02-07-2010, 05:29 PM

Playing an elf. Am leaving camp with the gray warden and saving to watch the SB.

My impressions is its pretty cool, alot of dialog. Pretty immersive so far. My son was watching as I played. Can anyone tell me, other than for the fighting, how far along before the M rating shows up?

JPhillips · 02-07-2010, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward64

Playing an elf. Am leaving camp with the gray warden and saving to watch the SB.

My impressions is its pretty cool, alot of dialog. Pretty immersive so far. My son was watching as I played. Can anyone tell me, other than for the fighting, how far along before the M rating shows up?

I don't recall M rated content outside of the excessive blood unless you decide to sleep with one of your companions and even those scenes are pretty tame compared to an R rated movie.

Edward64 · 02-07-2010, 08:44 PM

After searching for mods that would remove/tone down the M content (e.g. brothel), I only found more M content.

Going to buy Neverwinter Nights 2 for the son instead. Oh well.

Crapshoot · 02-07-2010, 10:46 PM

Wow, talk about emotional. I'm still at a very early stage, but both of these events killed me:

Spoiler

bhlloy · 02-09-2010, 09:49 AM

Spoiler

SportsDino · 02-09-2010, 10:12 AM

Spoiler

Honolulu_Blue · 02-09-2010, 10:35 AM

Spoiler

dubb93 · 02-09-2010, 12:16 PM

Spoiler

Eaglesfan27 · 02-09-2010, 04:39 PM

Re: Dubb's post

Spoiler

Honolulu_Blue · 02-09-2010, 04:47 PM

The final battle

Spoiler

jaygr · 02-15-2010, 10:06 PM

I just finished and I have to say I loved this game. It was really my first type of game like this as far as party style rpg.

Oblivion has been one of my favorite games for a long time but I am so much more impressed with this one, mostly because of the story aspect. I love the different angles and the choices you have to make. I don't know if that is standard for these types of games or not but it really worked for me here.

It is amazing to think too, that I can go back and play this again multiple times and have different stories. The main parts will be the same but with the different origins, and just the different paths you can take when you have to make a choice one way or another- I really want to go back and try different things.

Also, I really like how the choices you make have real consequences; they aren't just decision that never come up in the game again with the world never being really changed like in most other games.

I'm really impressed. Does anyone know if Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2 are pretty similar? I realize a lot of the mechanics may differ, but are the Mass Effect games similar in how they go about the story?

Honolulu_Blue · 02-16-2010, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaygr

I'm really impressed. Does anyone know if Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2 are pretty similar? I realize a lot of the mechanics may differ, but are the Mass Effect games similar in how they go about the story?

I just jumped from Dragon's Age to Mass Effect (the first one). The mechanics do differ, especially combat, but, yes, the way they go about the story seems very much the same.

I am enjoying "Mass Effect", though not as much as I did Dragon Age at this point. I think it primarily has to do with the fact that I don't quite understand all the powers/abilities in Mass Effect (whereas I found the spells and abilities pretty straight forward in Dragon Age) and I don't like the combat system as much. I prefer the more tactical, top-down view - pausing every few seconds - type of combat I used in Dragon Age. I am not great a shooters, first person or third, so I struggle a bit more and I have no idea how to use my squad in Mass Effect. They end up just getting killed or being in the way more often than not.

02-01-2010, 12:59 AM	#360
bhlloy Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003	So I was breezing through this game and then when I hit the end part of the Urn of Ashes quest I'm absolutely getting my ass kicked. I've even gone back to camp a couple of times and tried different combinations (3 tanks and my mage, 2 mages a tank and a rogue, 2 healers and 2 tanks) and I'm not even close. Spoiler I'm talking about the battle with Korgath(?) where you can choose to either agree to poison the ashes or fight him. He just destroys my party single handedly (he's doing about 65 damage per hit to my 25-30), I've managed to kill the mages and reavers a couple of times but even then I can't even get close to killing him. Even if I have 2 tanks and 2 healers and about 10 potions my guys are dead before I can get him below 25%. It's really starting to piss me off What's even more frustrating is I thought, fine I'll agree to poison the ashes and move on and maybe level up my guys or get better loot before I have to go back and fight him at the end. And I get to the part where you fight a mirror of your party and same deal. The "mirror" Alistair and Sten do twice as much damage as "my" Alistair and Sten do and I'm getting my party destroyed as I can't heal fast enough to stop them from dying. Anybody have any tips? My entire party just hit level 10 before this point, is it possible that the game scales up at this point or do I just suck at this game? When I caved and looked at a walkthrough it seems like these battles should be no big deal...

02-01-2010, 01:01 AM	#361
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	In my opinion, having Wynne or another healer spec'ed mage is key to that battle and some of the other more difficult battles. The Group heal and battle resurrection spells are very helpful. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-01-2010, 01:18 AM	#365
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	some info on my approaches Spoiler Both of those fights I micromanaged a ton. My party was always 2 or 3 mages and a tank(wynne/morrigan/sten/myself as a healer at the time I did those fights). Perhaps if you use rogues you can make use of a lot of traps or something. I had specced to use glyphs and would use the glyph combination that paralyzes a small area and would try to freeze a couple guys, and would always focus mages first, then reavers, then the easy mobs, then korgath. LOTS of pausing to use heal pots and to make sure my team was all focused. For the battle against your mirror images(my favorite fight all game I think), its like a MMO party. Focus on the weakest first. For me, I would just make sure I had my healers and focus their healers first. That way I could heal through whatever the tanks did and their healers would be dead. In a fight like the Korgath one I would spare no expense for healing potions and use them like they were candy.

02-01-2010, 08:38 AM	#368
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	So, I am in the midst of the Final Battle. I just started it really, so don't read unless you've gotten that far... Spoiler First, I love this game. I've really enjoyed it throughout. The whole Landsmeet thing. I sort of failed the diplomatic route and ended up having the big fight there. I am not sure if you can ever "win" the diplomacy side of things and imagine it always comes down to a fight. Originally, I was thinking of letting Loghain drink the blood and become a Grey Warden. I thought his speech about why he didn't join the battle at Ostagar was actually pretty convincing. Then, of course, Alistair jumped in and complained about letting him live and rattling off his reasons. That swayed me back to killing him. Sure, he might have had some valid reason not to sacrifice his men at Ostagar, but he really never had any good reason for hiring assassins to kill me, poisoning Arl Eamon, backing Arl Howe, and the rest of the crap he kept pulling. I wouldn't have let Arl Howe live (and didn't), so I saw no reason to let this guy live. So, I let Alistair kill him. Speaking of Alistair, stop your whining bizzatch. You keep whining about how you don't want to be king and how I shouldn't have chosen you, but you whined just as hard about having Anora as queen. You can't have it both ways, pal. So, shut it. Morrigan. That one really threw me for a loop. I didn't see it coming at all and was quite irritated at her request. Despite all the warnings from everyone else and despite the fact we had wildly varying world views, Morrigan and I became an item in the game (I never really used Leliana in the game and she always annoyed me a bit). I figured that despite her somewhat callous, do-whatever-it-takes, ends justify the means attitude was more a front than anything. Though, I wasn't particularly happy with the fact that she was upset that I decided NOT to let the blood mage kill all the elf slaves to make me stronger. WTF? So, when she came to me with the whole, let me have a god-like baby plan to save you, I was like, "What?" You want to what?" I just couldn't do it. It sounded like a horrible idea. That thought was confirmed when she tried to convince me to have Alistair do it (he wouldn't. He never really liked me all that much). It was a tough decision though. On the one hand, I'd get to live AND I would have my most powerful ally, by far, with me for the final battle. On the other hand, I would be giving a woman of very, very questionable morals control over a god-like being. A tough choice, but I chose not to go through with it. So, now I am in the final battle with Sten, Wynne, and Leiliana. I struggle with who to take. That was the group I used to kill Flemmeth. The strategy of having me (a warrior) and Sten on either side of the dragon and Wynne and Leiliana standing back shooting arrows and casting spells/healing, respectively, seemed to work pretty well. Though since my party throughout 80% of the game was me, Sten, Wynne and Morrigan, I don't have a ton of experience with Leiliana, so it's not going to be easy. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

02-01-2010, 08:50 AM	#370
Drake assmaster Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bloomington, IN	FYI: I picked up Return to Ostagar this weekend. It's not the same caliber DLC as Warden's Keep, but worth the $5, I thought. Some decent equipment (including Duncan's weapns and Cailan's armor) and some nice opening story closure. Plus, it was just fun returning to Ostagar. :shurg: Now if they'd just do a DLC that completely obliterated the Brecelian Forest and/or made the whole elf recruitment bit worth a piss, I'd be happy. I really enjoyed the depth of the Redcliffe, Orzammar and Circle Tower phases, but the elf part just feels annoying and tacked on to me. Edit: I should add that I haven't played as an elf, so that might impact my views. Last edited by Drake : 02-01-2010 at 08:51 AM.

01-05-2010, 01:34 PM	#353
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	Galaril, backpacks are also sold by several merchants in the game. Each one you buy increases the amount of items you can carry by 10 - but they get more and more expensive. I usually buy the one from the quartermaster in Ostagar - it's pretty cheap.

01-05-2010, 07:02 PM	#356
PurdueBrad Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: DeKalb, IL	The wife ordered this for me for Valentine's Day but I'm dying to get it after reading through this thread. I'm getting the 360 version, now to just pry it out of her hands before Feb. 14'th...

02-01-2010, 01:06 AM	#362
bhlloy Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003	I have Wynne and my mage has some healing powers but neither has those spells yet. So I should probably go back and do some side quests to level up a few more times before attempting these then?

02-01-2010, 01:33 AM	#366
bhlloy Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003	Cool, thanks for the tips guys. Sounds like I need my mages to be a lot better before attempting these. It's just funny because nothing in the game has given me much problem up to this point and then BAM...

02-01-2010, 09:17 AM	#372
Drake assmaster Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bloomington, IN	I think your assessment is dead on. The storyline with the elves is excellent. It just feels light on the execution, especially compared to the richness of the other recruitment quests. It feels more like knocking out a long side quest rather than an integral piece of the plot. Just sort of a shame. On another note: has anyone else played around with Winter Forge add-on? It can seriously (SERIOUSLY) unbalance the game if you're not disciplined with it, but I've really enjoyed the whole customizing/colorizing/crafting piece it brings to the table. That was one of my favorite parts of NWN, too. Link for those who don't know what I'm talking about: http://social.bioware.com/project/672/ Last edited by Drake : 02-01-2010 at 09:18 AM.

02-01-2010, 11:06 AM	#375
Drake assmaster Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bloomington, IN	That's a good point. I'm about midway through my second play, so it fit nicely into my arc. Would have been an awkward fit earlier on.

02-01-2010, 12:39 PM	#377
Drake assmaster Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bloomington, IN	I also thought Shale's Companion quest was the best of them all. A fun character that I seriously under-utilized during my first play through.

02-02-2010, 09:04 AM	#379
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	So, I finally finished the game off last night... Spoiler As I mentioned above for the final battle I decided to take me, Sten, Leliana and Wynne. I knew we were fighting a dragon and that was the group I used to kill Flemmeth. I didn't bring Alistair with me because I didn't want him to kill the Archdemon and sacrifice himself. Ferelden needed its king more than it needed me. I really enjoyed the battles. I liked being able to summon the armies to come help you fight. The hardest fight for me was getting into the Fort. They have those archers set up behind the barricades, a couple of small dragons fly down and there are three tough mage dudes on the steps. I tried that battle with the mage army a few times and failed. Then I tried the dwarves. We won that time, but it was super hard. I really enjoyed how you cut through the "grunts" with one swing - Lord of the Rings style - but had to really focus on the tougher villains. It gave your guys a very heroic aura about them. All the dwarves would be fighting guys and me or Sten would swoop down and take care of business. Leiliana's Arrows of Andraste were huge. She essentially shut down their top mage by constant peppering while Sten and I took care of the other two. The Archdemon fight was a lot of fun. I loved seeing both Arl Eamon and The First Enchancter up there with me. I wonder if there was anyone else. It was hard to keep track of everything during the mayhem of the battle. I used the elf army in that fight, figuring their long ranged attacks would be best suited for dragon killing. My tactics were pretty much the same as before. I kept spread out. I had Leiliana man the ballistas and shoot with her bow, Wynne cast the few offensive spells she had, but was mainly there for healing and buffing, and Sten and I split up and attacked the Archdemon from either side. It was mainly Leiliana who did most of the damage throughout. Sten and I ended up having to kill the various darkspawn who kept showing up. I got knocked down once by a Darkspawn mage. The whole "crushing prison" plus "death ward" (or whatever the spell is) is devistating. Wynne had me back up on my feet in no time. There was one very cool moment where Arl Eamon was completely surrounded by Darkspawn. There were a few grunts, but also three "alphas". We saw that and barrled through them. Leliana was shooting with her bow, Wynne casting spells, Sten did a two-handed sweep and I let out a "War Cry" and then kicked some ass. We saved Arl Eamon and then went back at the Archdemon. That's when I killed him and died in the process. I ended up using a ton of health poultices and mana potions. I think I had some 65 health poutlices going in and came out with less than 15 or so. Same with the mana. A very tough go of it. I liked the ending. If you play a human noble, it turns out your brother was alive. He was wounded at Ostagar, but lived. The family lands are restored to him and Arl Howe's lands as well, but he gives those over to the Grey Wardens in your honor. I liked how they told you about the fate of each of your companions and how the various races and main quests turn out. Poor Harrowmont. Super fun game. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

02-04-2010, 09:34 PM	#381
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	I just checked my last saved game and apparently I played this game for 82 hours. Yeah, I feel like I got my money's worth. I could totally see myself playing it again somewhere down the line. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

02-05-2010, 11:27 PM	#382
Edward64 Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2005	Fry's has it advertised for $29 bucks. Got some left over BB credit, thinking about asking them to price match and play the game some. I know I won't have the bandwidth to finish the game (funny how getting older w/kids do that to you) but would enjoy seeing how Bioware has evolved since the days of Baldur's Gate.

02-06-2010, 10:30 PM	#383
Edward64 Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2005	Woo hoo. Got BB to pricematch the Fry's $29 and bought it. Have it installed on my Dell Inspiron with E5200 chip and old X1600 card. Its playing good enough for me. Haven't gotten far, just killed a couple wolves and found bow/elfroot. Whats the deal with the blood on my face ... a little too overdone.

02-06-2010, 11:56 PM	#384
BreizhManu College Benchwarmer Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Paris, France	yeah the blood is a bit too much, and you have it every time

02-07-2010, 12:05 AM	#385
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	You can turn that off.

02-07-2010, 01:22 AM	#386
Crapshoot Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Dec 2003	I just borrowed this from a buddy been playing through, but am running into trouble at Spoiler the first deathspawn group right after I find Bixby's will. Bloody hell, I'm defintiely the type A, auto attack here, but that is brutally hard. How do I queue up attack orders for all my team?

02-07-2010, 06:05 AM	#388
BreizhManu College Benchwarmer Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Paris, France	Well configured tactics are great, by default you should at least have those ones : - Use lesser health poultice when health is below 25% (level can be changed depending on the kind of monster you face) - Attack the same target as the main character Eventually have the tank or an archer attack another character but usually it's better if everyone attacks the same character Oh and the cardinal rule in Dragon Age : KILL THE MAGES FIRST

02-07-2010, 05:29 PM	#389
Edward64 Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2005	Playing an elf. Am leaving camp with the gray warden and saving to watch the SB. My impressions is its pretty cool, alot of dialog. Pretty immersive so far. My son was watching as I played. Can anyone tell me, other than for the fighting, how far along before the M rating shows up?

02-07-2010, 08:44 PM	#391
Edward64 Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2005	After searching for mods that would remove/tone down the M content (e.g. brothel), I only found more M content. Going to buy Neverwinter Nights 2 for the son instead. Oh well.

02-07-2010, 10:46 PM	#392
Crapshoot Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Dec 2003	Wow, talk about emotional. I'm still at a very early stage, but both of these events killed me: Spoiler The joining, when you killed the squadmate you think you're going to have for a while? And Duncan's death? Jesus.

02-09-2010, 09:49 AM	#393
bhlloy Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003	Spoiler Is it just me or is the Cone of Cold spell vastly too powerful in this game? With 2 mages in my party I can usually take out (shattering) 2 enemies within the first 5 seconds of the battle with the Cone/Stonefist combo and if I can hit a clustered group of enemies and have my tank go in there and use a special attack sometimes 3 or 4. On top of that it works particularly well on 2 of the toughest enemies in the game - mages are suckers for it because of low physical resistance and it's also an absolute killer against stone golems. What's even funnier is the level 4 spell Blizzard is not that useful - does OK damage but freezes/stuns your own party members at the same rate it does the enemy and if you try it against a boss it can get your party killed in a hurry (boss walks around while random party members are being frozen at regular intervals - great). Should have switched those 2 around I think. If I had "found" cone of cold earlier this game would have been a lot easier, I upgraded Wynne to it because I wanted to get the Blizzard spell eventually.

02-09-2010, 10:12 AM	#394
SportsDino College Prospect Join Date: Oct 2001	Spoiler I played primarilly as a mage, and he had Fireball while Morrigan had Cone of Cold. Nothing chews through crowds of enemies faster than throwing a fireball at them at range, they start rushing to you and then they get frozen and hacked apart by a tank doing cleanup. With a little forethought, you can get either spell very early in the game. It is an almost overpowering combo though. Also along the way you pick up the fire blasting spell which also is great for lighting up the second wave as it nears.

02-09-2010, 10:35 AM	#395
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	Spoiler I agree that "Cone of Cold" is definitely a game changer. Being able to freeze and then "shatter" is huge. It tends to be more effective than not, though I rarely was able to get it to work on some of the bigger villains, the oranges and reds. Sometimes it did. I did the "Petrify"/"Stone Fist" and then "Cone of Cold"/"Mighty Blow" combo at the start of most battles. I wish I would have gotten "Cone of Cold" sooner, but I was never too thrilled with "Frost Weapons", so I stupidly kept putting it off. Mage "freezes" in general are pretty powerful, like that "Prison of Pain" spell. The emissaries would kill me with that "Prison of Pain" and "Glyph Of Death" spell combo on me. It made me sad. I found the big area of effect spells for cold (blizzard) and lightning (tempest) to be only very rarely useful because of friendly fire issues. Sometimes it would work well on a group of archers, but even then the damage was a bit slow unless I doubled up. I never really used any fire spells. If anything the "Sleep" and "Waking Nightmare" combo seemed to be the most effective area of effect spells that I had. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

02-09-2010, 04:39 PM	#397
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Re: Dubb's post Spoiler 1. I didn't use the balistas at all either time I beat him. I just had all of my guys switch to their ranged weapons when he flew off. 2. I agree that the path finding is bad in phase 2 and 3. I had to micromange them to get through those phases. Overall, I didn't have too much trouble with the fight either time, although it was challenging both times, and found it to be a satisfying ending. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-09-2010, 04:47 PM	#398
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	The final battle Spoiler 1. I did use the ballistas quite a bit, but I had Leiliana using them. I never even knew that they could jam. I just kept having her fire at it and never noticed the "jam" icon or a message. That was more luck than anything. The only reasons she was there was: (1) she was with me when we took down Dragon-Flemeth and found her archery skills key to that fight and (2) crazy-ass Morrigan had left because I refused to impregnate her (or have Alistair do it) with a god-baby. 2. The path finding was a bit off, but I pretty much micro-managed every battle I fought. I used the PC version and paused almost every few seconds in any fight of consequence. I know you can't do that in the console versions, so that would make a big difference. I wont the final battle the only time I fought it. I found it to be challenging, but not impossible. I really liked how they had NPCs from the prior parts of the game come and join you. I recall Arl Eamon and the First Enchanter specifically. It was a nice touch. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

02-15-2010, 10:06 PM	#399
jaygr H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Nov 2003	I just finished and I have to say I loved this game. It was really my first type of game like this as far as party style rpg. Oblivion has been one of my favorite games for a long time but I am so much more impressed with this one, mostly because of the story aspect. I love the different angles and the choices you have to make. I don't know if that is standard for these types of games or not but it really worked for me here. It is amazing to think too, that I can go back and play this again multiple times and have different stories. The main parts will be the same but with the different origins, and just the different paths you can take when you have to make a choice one way or another- I really want to go back and try different things. Also, I really like how the choices you make have real consequences; they aren't just decision that never come up in the game again with the world never being really changed like in most other games. I'm really impressed. Does anyone know if Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2 are pretty similar? I realize a lot of the mechanics may differ, but are the Mass Effect games similar in how they go about the story?

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