Dragon Age

[roy34543]

I find it amusing that the witcher has better graphics then dragon age does, Considering they used a freaking older engine from the same company. (Not the dragon age doesnt have good reason for having worse graphics mind you)
And the witcher is more morally complex, and technically speaking I think its longer, Sure you can get 50 hours out of dragon age, but it feels very artificial with a lot of boring side-quests if you want to do that. Its very easy to get 60 hours out of the witcher without ever having to do that "go to the brecilan forest and walk around until you get to the area with a couple of mages hanging around in it" style quests.

However the opinion that the witcher has better combat is crazy if you ask me. Better fights maybe (a lot of the fights in dragon age are very bland , especially if youve ever played an MMO, Its crowd control the strongest enemy, beat up everything else to a pulp , then smash that enemys face in) but the combat in dragon age is far more strategic and interesting.

Also I think oblivion is an amazing game, Just because its an amazing game for all the wrong RPG reasons does not stop it from being amazing. It was designed to give a sandbox experience and it does it very well. I only wish that they invested more into the main story then the sidequests, but oh well. (I mean for gods sake, the freaking mages guild chain was better then the main quest)

I guess we'll know for sure with the inevitable game supplementing novels. Aren't there already two of them? Wonder if they cover anything substantial.

At any rate I wouldn't rule out anything, all the Codex entries are single-author, some of them arguably biased sources(as much as a pre-defined and non-existent person can be biased, that is). The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, going there to meddle and gain power, crap inadvertently hitting the fan, etc. It'd make more sense if the city was always black though, because Blood Mages seeking knowledge would want to consult demons, not gods.

Btw if there is anything, and i mean anything that is going to be a major plot twist, its going to be related to this (Thats what I feel anyway) Just because the starting line in the game relates to it. Traditional plot protocool DEMANDS the plot twist be related to whatever the plot started with!

 

[HMD Temeraire]

Sorry to butt into this discussion but I just have a quick question.

Spoiler

I am getting close to where the part where you have to choose between the templars and the mages I realy cant decide on choosing between them. I think the templars are much cooler and tougher than the mages and would prefer to have them in my army. But on the other hand it just seems wrong to slaughter all the mages who are innocent of crime and i would prefer to have the mage party member and not kill her.

 

[Habelo]

You can choose the templars? :O how?

 

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

You can choose the templars? :O how?

Spoiler

By accepting the right of annulment(or however you spell it)
with that the templars is given the right to level the entire tower for what I understand.

 

[blank]

Sorry to butt into this discussion but I just have a quick question.

Spoiler

I am getting close to where the part where you have to choose between the templars and the mages I realy cant decide on choosing between them. I think the templars are much cooler and tougher than the mages and would prefer to have them in my army. But on the other hand it just seems wrong to slaughter all the mages who are innocent of crime and i would prefer to have the mage party member and not kill her.

Spoiler

It doesn't really matter which you have for the end battle since you don't need to use them. The mages are good enough though, and there are other melee-focused parties. For me it didn't make sense to kill the mages for the sake of it, i mean there were only like 3 + Irving + a few kids left anyways.

Anyway, i took a funny screen that i wanted to share. Check the impression on ol' fatty's face

 

[DisgruntledGoat]

Sorry to butt into this discussion but I just have a quick question.

Spoiler

I am getting close to where the part where you have to choose between the templars and the mages I realy cant decide on choosing between them. I think the templars are much cooler and tougher than the mages and would prefer to have them in my army. But on the other hand it just seems wrong to slaughter all the mages who are innocent of crime and i would prefer to have the mage party member and not kill her.

Spoiler

You can side with the templars and keep Wyne and not slaughter everyone. During the convo with Gregor and the other templars after you save the first enchanter. Basically you disband the circle and send everyone to denerim for examination.

 

[HMD Temeraire]

Spoiler

You can side with the templars and keep Wyne and not slaughter everyone. During the convo with Gregor and the other templars after you save the first enchanter. Basically you disband the circle and send everyone to denerim for examination.

Spoiler

Really? I was under the impression that when you side with one you had to kill the other.

Anyways thanks for the answer that will really help me a lot.

 

[the_mango55]

Spoiler

Really? I was under the impression that when you side with one you had to kill the other.

Anyways thanks for the answer that will really help me a lot.

Spoiler

Nah when you side with the mages you don't have to kill the templars. But they can't go to battle with you because they have to help with the reconstruction and observation of the tower.

If you destroy the circle, the templar's schedule is freed up significantly

The main templar is actually happy you saved the circle, it's just this one templar who thinks they should all be destroyed

 

[DisgruntledGoat]

Spoiler

Really? I was under the impression that when you side with one you had to kill the other.

Anyways thanks for the answer that will really help me a lot.

Spoiler

You don't have to kill anyone. When you meet wynne the first time just say you will help her. Finish the tower and save the first enchanter. Then when speaking with Gregor and Cullen follow the dialogue that you don't think you need to kill anyone but you can't allow them to go free. Gregor agrees and sends all the mages to Denerim. Wynne stays with you and you even get a positive reaction of Morrigan if you have her with you. The templars will then join your army.

 

[blank]

Spoiler

You don't have to kill anyone. When you meet wynne the first time just say you will help her. Finish the tower and save the first enchanter. Then when speaking with Gregor and Cullen follow the dialogue that you don't think you need to kill anyone but you can't allow them to go free. Gregor agrees and sends all the mages to Denerim. Wynne stays with you and you even get a positive reaction of Morrigan if you have her with you. The templars will then join your army.

Spoiler

However, that still means you can't complete at least two quests (dwarf wannabe mage and the lyrium smuggling), plus you can't spare both Connor and Isolde in Redcliffe.

 

[hellheaven1987]

Just leave mage alone; Templar is worthless in final battle.

 

[Cyrus the Virus]

Oblivion's only redemption was its Assassin quest line. DA lacked a compelling set of assassination quests (they were there, but they were certainly not on the same level as the Dark Brotherhood).

A shame about Lucien, I liked him.

Give The Witcher some credit, it wasn't made by a big name company like BioWare in partnership with an enormous publishing company like EA. And yet it still did outstandingly well in terms of reception. The story is good, some of the ancillary systems were good, the character design was flawless, so on and so forth. Dragon Age wins out in depth of 'universe', a better tactical system, and better moddability, but The Witcher is neck and neck in every other category.



Neither is better, they're just different. Would be like comparing the combat systems to Final Fantasy or God of War. The Witcher takes a different approach than DA, which is better than DA if you're playing it like an Action RPG, but isn't better if you're micromanaging it top-down tactically. There's also the fact you don't have a 'party', so the combat system was built on entirely different foundations.



To be honest, with Oblivion the storyline isn't all that important simply because it's a ridiculously good sandbox. I've played it and just gone around stealing things and using jump spells to hop around the world at 1,000 feet. Dragon Age in this respect is hindered by the fact that it's extremely linear and also doesn't have things like 'jump'.

Very thoughtful post there. Me gusta.

Anyway, in case people recognizes Duncan's voice as I did, he starred as Al Mu'alim in Assasins's Creed as well.
Also remembers Riordan's voice from somewhere, unable to find any info on that one unfortunately. Or maybe it's just the accent.

 

[Musthavename]

Going to start my 3rd playthrough today. I've currently gone with Mage and then Rogue, and I reget not upping the difficulty to Hard in my Rogue playthrough. It was simply too easy for me now i'd known what abilities and such to pick. Some fights that took me ages to beat before I did with minimal damage this time round.

So, i'm going to start as a Human Noble Rogue... with the condition that my party can only consist of Rogues, and i'll bung it on Nightmare aswell (though that might change ). Hopefully i'm up to the task of doing the game with me, Leliana and Zev. [At least I only need to waste lockpicking skill on one person ]

 

[Selifator]

Almost done with the first playthrough, DA has been a lot of fun and I can see myself pull out two or three more before I get bored with it. Hopefully we'll see some new campaigns soon, though what form this will take or how far modders can go with them remains to be seen.

 

[ssmarine]

Going to start my 3rd playthrough today. I've currently gone with Mage and then Rogue, and I reget not upping the difficulty to Hard in my Rogue playthrough. It was simply too easy for me now i'd known what abilities and such to pick. Some fights that took me ages to beat before I did with minimal damage this time round.

So, i'm going to start as a Human Noble Rogue... with the condition that my party can only consist of Rogues, and i'll bung it on Nightmare aswell (though that might change ). Hopefully i'm up to the task of doing the game with me, Leliana and Zev. [At least I only need to waste lockpicking skill on one person ]

Wow, good luck. Im about halfway through my 2nd playthrough; human mage on Hard. My 1st was rogue on normal. Im thinking about going elf warrior on nightmare but your idea just completely 1 upped me.

 

[Shabby_Ronin]

Why is the rogue supposedly so easy? Is it because of momentum and shatter/cone of cold?

I don't have momentum and even with those 2 skills that generate automatic crits in the DW line I rarely seem to shatter enemies. Maybe it's because I don't use cone of cold as much as sleep/nightmare so I'm just not seeing it.

 

[Musthavename]

As far as I could make out using my Rogue, Backstabs don't trigger shatter. Really, if you grab the Assassin talents, Momentum and some decent gear and then pour on the strength, it's very easy to be chaining hits of around 60 every second or so.

A Mage is far more lethal than a properly geared and talented rogue. But for sustained single target damage, the rogue comes out top.

 

[Shabby_Ronin]

What about cunning? I use lethality...so I really dont up strength at all.

 

[Musthavename]

Lethality is great.... provided you're either using Bows or Daggers which don't have strength requirements.

Thing is, any Rogue should have Cunning at 22 minimum for Master Stealth. Similarly, any Rogue should really have 20 Strength minimum for the best Light Armour. There's pros and cons to going either way. Pump strength, and you can use things other than daggers, and you can wear various amounts of armour. Grab Lethality and pump Cunning, and you'll be stuck with daggers, but you gain bonuses elsewhere, such as in Bard / Assassin skills.

Go whichever. I just feel, pump Strength if you want to use Axes/Maces/Swords, pump Cunning if you want to use Bows/Daggers. The damage between a Dagger rogue and a Non-Dagger melee rogue is insignificant, especially considering the two best Rogue weapons are a Dagger and an Axe.

 

[Pnutmaster]

@MustHaveName

You could always voluntarily solo the game Might become too tedious though, especially on difficulties >= Hard.

A shame about Lucien, I liked him.

Hmm? He and his ilk were the only part of Oblivion I liked. It was a pity that the game couldn't randomly assign you targets to stalk and kill after officially "completing" the quest line.

Oblivion--squandered potential in my eyes (no more than M2TW , but no Oblivion mod could satisfyingly fill the void left by the developers). Still, fun for what it was worth!

 

[Shabby_Ronin]

Ok, I'm pretty fond of daggers even though a read a dev saying they don't cut it late/end game, but I'm pretty sure he was talking about single weapon. I drop an odd point here and there in str for possible armor requirements right now I'm 30/30/15/18 dex/cun/str/con and have done the circle, redcliffe, wardens keep, ashes and a few small quests.

 

[hellheaven1987]

Don't bother about stealth rogue; I would just build a Duelist/Ranger, duel-wield rogue and charge into battlefield.

 

[Cyrus the Virus]

Hmm? He and his ilk were the only part of Oblivion I liked. It was a pity that the game couldn't randomly assign you targets to stalk and kill after officially "completing" the quest line.

What I meant was, a shame that they flogged him and other brutal things.
Had a dark presence and voice.

Oblivion--squandered potential in my eyes (no more than M2TW , but no Oblivion mod could satisfyingly fill the void left by the developers). Still, fun for what it was worth!

Is too empty without mods, Oblivion gates ie had like 6 times more enemy's.
More items and weapon plus other neat things. Too bad it don't work very well in the end with them having multiply mods together, many ctd's.


So, I won't be playing DA for a while, unless I do some of the other orgins for fun.
First game ever to play again instantly after first playthrough. That's pretty unique for me.

First time was as Human Noble Warrior (what's up with the 'pup' all the time?!), lvl 20.
Wynne, Morrigan and Alistair in party.

Second, finished yesterday, Elven Mage, lvl 22
Featuring Sten, Shale and Leliana.

54 % overall completion (36+18).

 

[Musthavename]

Ok, I'm pretty fond of daggers even though a read a dev saying they don't cut it late/end game

Daggers can measure up with other weapons because the single best rogue weapon is a dagger. You can buy it in Orzammar, I forget its name, from some merchant with lyrium... issues. It's got a stack of bonuses including +30% Critical/Backstab damage.

Don't bother about stealth rogue; I would just build a Duelist/Ranger, duel-wield rogue and charge into battlefield.

Stealth is an amazing skill. It's a must pick for any Rogue.

-You can scout the battlefield beforehand and disable every single trap.
-It's a great aggro management tool. Pull aggro, Stealth, everyone goes back on the tank, attack again.
-If you're a ranged Rogue, Stealth is a free critical hit every 10 seconds.

 

[Augustus Lucifer]

Did anyone else feel parts of the ending were forced? Overall I enjoyed the epilogue, but...

Spoiler

The screen with Morrigan on it made it feel like there was only one possible ending, and she was gonna have a kid whether or not you did the ritual or ever slept with her. Personally I denied the ritual and sacrificed myself, since Alistair was on the throne and I figured it'd be better to die than subject the world to an Old God. Yet even with my character in a funeral pyre, it seems like they're going to say she had a kid with an Old God in it anyways. Pissing on a sacrifice much?

Maybe they were just relying on gamer's hormones to take over and never pass up sexy time or self-preservation. Either way, if in the sequel we can import post-epilogue saves to set the conditions in Fereldan, and there's still some kid, I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[Kanaric]

Don't bother about stealth rogue; I would just build a Duelist/Ranger, duel-wield rogue and charge into battlefield.

I personally agree.

Musthavename has some uses for stealth that are useful, however building for DPS i think is far more advantagous. I rarely if ever set off traps in battle, i dont have problems with aggro since I micromanage characters, and I dont use a ranged rogue.

I never really used stealth rogues in any of Biowares games, well not since my first playthrough of BG2. I've only used it in mods, like the AI strategy/tactics mods for BG and IWD, where such tactics are a requirement to defeat enemies.

You really don't need to scout ahead on this game either because i see everything on the radar anyways.

 

[Jabberwock]

I'm new to these games. What is DPS? Aggro?

 

[KingOfTheIsles]

Maybe I just completely suck at this game, but I rarely get through a battle without having someone die and/or using at least one health or mana potion. And this is on normal. Anyone got any good tips on how to make fights easier? The only real way I can do it right now is to essentially try and split up big groups of enemies and fight them piecemeal with ambush tactics.

 

[Shabby_Ronin]

If I didn't want to stealth I'd of rolled a warrior.

You need a healer and crowd control...in my game Wynn has the glyphs and crushing prison, Morrigan has Sleep, Waking nightmare and cone of cold...and use pause.

Dps = damage per second

aggro is the aggression of the mobs (hate, focus, who they want to smash)


Musthavename, where do I get this dagger you spoke of, and how much is it?

 

[cupoftea]

I'm new to these games. What is DPS? Aggro?

DPS is damage per second, or just howmuch damage you do.

Aggro is how pissed monsters are at you, if you have high aggro that means monsters will attack you, normally tanks (the characters who soak up all the damage) need the most aggro. Casters the leasts etc etc.

EDIT: dammed Ronin