Dragon Age: Origins: Thread III [some SPOILERS]

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Yeah, EA's download link gets me 1.01b, although the description is for 1.02. Well, whatever.

And no, 120 isn't enough for me. Although I think I only had 90 or 100 when I beat the game.

[a wooden chair]

So I finally decided to investigate that Swooping is Bad site and immediately asked myself the following question: Am I worse than you crazy squealing mutant fangirls(and boys) because I am actually jealous of the fact such a stuttering self-depreciating sarcastic jackhole of a Grey Warden in a video game gets more female attention than I -ever- will?

Max, there's an addin that automatically bumps you up to the game max without any need for spending coin on backpacks. Works like a charm for me.

[Odie]

So I finally decided to investigate that Swooping is Bad site and immediately asked myself the following question: Am I worse than you crazy squealing mutant fangirls(and boys) because I am actually jealous of the fact such a stuttering self-depreciating sarcastic jackhole of a Grey Warden in a video game gets more female attention than I -ever- will?

:lol: :lol: :lol: *dies*is*ded*

They're actually a really fun group... I'm in a chat room with them right now. :D

[Brude]

If you feel that ambitious might I suggest contacting whoever started Song of Ice and Fire project

That project is way too ambitious, it'll never come together. I was (mostly) kidding about my thing. I could see doing a scene or two for the hell of it as a machinima, that's about it. They are talking about rendering each novel as a complete adventure - which doesn't makes sense anyhow, since it's so many characters. I guess you could do each POV as a seperate adventure. I could see Jon's, Arya's, etc. They'd be better off doing something more like The NWN Nightswatch adventure, where they make up their own side story apart from the main plot of the books.

[a wooden chair]

So anyone else watch interactions between Shale and Sten yet? If you've not yet done Shale's sidequest don't read this spoiler..

Seeing a femGolem lust after Sten and talk about his glistening biceps had me on the floor in tears. Not to mention Sten not really understanding Shale's intent and mistaking it for battlefield comraderie..

[Mexal]

So I just played the game for the first time last night on the Xbox and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm only about 2.5 hours into the game and started playing as a Human Noble warrior. Really good fun and really addicting.

I'm still figuring out the controls but really, it's not so bad. I think as I get more skills it could become a bit more of an issue but right now it's fine. I still lack any real ability to use group tactics though.

[Daeric]

Right tomorrow I'm going to start playing again, and I've decided to go with an archery rogue, my problem is that I've hardly ever used the rogues and any use of archer is when I've had tons of points that I could just put into Leis skills as I hadn't used her for levels and levels and levels.

So I know arrow of Slaying and scatter shot are both boarder line OP, but what am I better going for first?

[Brude]

So I know arrow of Slaying and scatter shot are both boarder line OP, but what am I better going for first?

I'll say this, Archery, while HIGHLY useful, I find, is not exactly exciting. Your guy/gal will just kind of plink away from the back, cycling through the various attacks. You do have choices with the various modes. There isn't even much in the way of cool combat animations or visual effects when you make your shots. Fair warning on all that stuff, but it's not a bad way to go, I'd say.

As for what to take first, there isn't a whole lot of choice, honestly. Pinning, Crippling and Shattering Shots are the only attacks you get in the first two tiers of these powers. Rapid Shot, Melee Archer and Aim are the combat styles/modes available in those two tiers.

Pinning Shot can pin a distant foe in place for a few seconds, so they can't engage in melee and you can make more attacks at him while he frees himself. Crippling makes their attacks worse and Shattering reduces their armor. Rapid Shot sacrifices accuracy for rate of fire, Melee lets you fire your bow while in close combat without being interrupted (I really need to use this more) and Aim reduces rate of fire, but increases accuracy, damage, armor penetration and crit chance.

When you get to the 3rd Tier I think they get much better, as you can get Suppressing Fire: can hold down a bunch of foes, sort of like Pinning Shot (...hate when it happens to me) and Critical Shot, which automatically causes a critical if it hits. Critical Shot is nice to use in conjunction with Freeze and Petrify spells, as Criticals have a good chance of shattering foes (Arrow of Slaying does too).

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Rapid shot does not decrease accuracy, it simply prevents you from scoring any critical hits.

Which is one of the reasons I preferred dual weapon technique; rogues can still crit/backstab when using momentum

[WhiteHaven]

Yeah my copy just arrived. Must play!

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I was really enjoying this game except for the "buy downloadable content" options in conversations. That's some bullshit right there. I heard they had that day 1--what a rip off, downloadable content is going to force us to pay more for incomplete games in the future.

But I got over that. It's the god damned Fade I'm stuck in. What was once a wonderful amazing game has become terrible. I'm going to get through it, but how can you guys stomach replaying this game knowing the Fade is waiting? It takes forever. It is ugly. It is terribly boring, annoying, etc. Damn, why do great games have to have problems like this?

[Yagathai]

I was really enjoying this game except for the "buy downloadable content" options in conversations. That's some bullshit right there. I heard they had that day 1--what a rip off, downloadable content is going to force us to pay more for incomplete games in the future.

Yes. It's like when you buy a car, and then they charge you EXTRA if you want the car painted a different color, or you want fancier wheels, or a more powerful engine.

God. Don't you hate it when writers write short stories set in the same world as their novels and then they make you buy those short stories instead of just giving them to you?

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Yes. It's like when you buy a car, and then they charge you EXTRA if you want the car painted a different color, or you want fancier wheels, or a more powerful engine.

God. Don't you hate it when writers write short stories set in the same world as their novels and then they make you buy those short stories instead of just giving them to you?

No...those are all different...

I guess we can take your ridiculous examples in the other direction.

Or it's like when you buy a new car and you have to pay for cup holders or seatbelts.

Or when a writer cuts out pieces of his story, publishes the book, then sells the extra chapters online.

[Relic]

No...those are all different...

I guess we can take your ridiculous examples in the other direction.

Or it's like when you buy a new car and you have to pay for cup holders or seatbelts.

Or when a writer cuts out pieces of his story, publishes the book, then sells the extra chapters online.

Not that i enjoy paying more money after i already dropped 60 bucks on a game but you're wrong here. All of the DLC is fully optional. You can pay more if you want it, or not pay a penny if you dont. If i had to make an analogy id compare it to buying drinks on a long plane flight.

[Altherion]

Or when a writer cuts out pieces of his story, publishes the book, then sells the extra chapters online.

But here's the thing: the DLC are not "cut out" from the game. In fact, they tend to be not fully integrated with the rest of the game (e.g. no companion reactions) and this is the reason I'm not going to bother buying them. The only exception to this is the Stone Prisoner and that one you get for free.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

But here's the thing: the DLC are not "cut out" from the game. In fact, they tend to be not fully integrated with the rest of the game (e.g. no companion reactions) and this is the reason I'm not going to bother buying them. The only exception to this is the Stone Prisoner and that one you get for free.

I agree, and when there is nothing in the game referencing that stuff that's fine. But this game I've already run into two guys who have options "buy downloadable content" in their dialogue trees. Ridiculous!

[Yagathai]

Why?

[Imp]

I agree, and when there is nothing in the game referencing that stuff that's fine. But this game I've already run into two guys who have options "buy downloadable content" in their dialogue trees. Ridiculous!

One of those guys who starts the stone warden DLC you've already purchased the content for with the game. Just gotta redeem your CD key on the DLC website to download it. Took me a playthrough to work that one out too (doh!).

The other one sucks I agree.

[Jon AS]

I was really enjoying this game except for the "buy downloadable content" options in conversations. That's some bullshit right there. I heard they had that day 1--what a rip off, downloadable content is going to force us to pay more for incomplete games in the future.

But I got over that. It's the god damned Fade I'm stuck in. What was once a wonderful amazing game has become terrible. I'm going to get through it, but how can you guys stomach replaying this game knowing the Fade is waiting? It takes forever. It is ugly. It is terribly boring, annoying, etc. Damn, why do great games have to have problems like this?

The reason for the DLC on day 1 is that after the game was finished, EA decided they wanted to port it to consoles after all, pushing back the release date another 6 months and leaving Bioware time to come up with some new ideas (or finish ones that hadn't quite made the original deadline). I think if you get Warden's Keep early on it is worth the five bucks (it's the price of a movie ticket), but if you were to purchase it after you've beaten the main quest it would feel like a rip-off.

The Fade section in the Broken Circle quest is one of those things that goes on too long (the Deep Roads are similar, but at least they culminate in some of the best parts of the game, the fade just gets you a boss fight. And it isn't even the last one in that quest...), but at least it isn't difficult once you figure out how to navigate it.

[kungtotte]

Why?

It breaks the suspension of disbelief.

My one encounter with these DLC references was one dude who showed up in my camp and started talking about this totally awesome quest I could do, if only I spent some points (what the fuck are points? I have money.). It would have been trivial to have the dude as part of the DLC package, which would mean he only showed up if I had already spent the points, thus keeping my suspension of disbelief intact.

Note: I have no issues with DLC, or day-1-DLC, I just don't want to see it referenced in game.