Dragon Age Options

[Abschalten]

Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Especially after having played Mass Effect, the lack of main-character dialogue being spoken in Dragon Age was really jarring. It's still an amazing game, etc, etc, and I can understand that having voice actors for every possible character build would've been a lot of work...but the way you just vacantly stare at everyone that talks to you, it really takes away from the experience somewhat.

Maybe it says something about me as an RPG player, but I didn't mind the lack of protagonist voice action in Morrowind and Oblivion, and I don't mind it so much in Dragon Age, either. In fact it lets me put their "voice" into what they're saying myself. That's just how I see it anyway.

[Karoline]

Maybe it says something about me as an RPG player, but I didn't mind the lack of protagonist voice action in Morrowind and Oblivion, and I don't mind it so much in Dragon Age, either. In fact it lets me put their "voice" into what they're saying myself. That's just how I see it anyway.

Yes, many games do that purposefully, because the main character is supposed to be you, so why should they give a voice to you? You can already speak can't you? (Sorry mute people)

I know this was very specifically pointed out for Half-Life as to why Freeman never talks.

[fistandantilus4....]

More specifically, though, I was just trying to ask what the heck you got for Christmas. You said she got you a Dark Sun game, and I wasn't sure what you meant (if it was the recent Dark Sun stuff, or something else that I hadn't heard about).

Oh, sorry, she's running a Darksun game, 3.5 for me. Now that's love.
Darksun's just an interesting subject for me. Lots to say about it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Critias]

Oh, sorry, she's running a Darksun game, 3.5 for me. Now that's love.
Darksun's just an interesting subject for me. Lots to say about it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ah, got'cha. The sentence makes sense, now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) I was just trying to figure out what "Dark Sun game" you were talking about, and you had me thinking there was some sweet new boxed set, or skirmish game, or video game, or something that I hadn't heard about. I guess she had to convert stuff to 3.5 for it (no kiddin', that's love!), huh? I much prefer 3.0/3.5, myself, but I don't remember any Dark Sun stuff coming out for that whole edition.

The closest I came to giving the gift of gaming this Christmas was stealing our regular group away from Mrs. Crit (who's GMing a Dresden Files RPG game) for our last session before the holiday, and running them all through a Missions adventure I'd just gotten done writing. Two of them had never played any Shadowrun before, the other five were old hands at SR1-3, but hadn't played any SR4. Everyone had a blast -- even just running pre-gen characters, and trying to "hustle" to keep to a convention time scale -- though, so I think it might turn into a regular campaign.

[fistandantilus4....]

Ah, got'cha. The sentence makes sense, now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) I was just trying to figure out what "Dark Sun game" you were talking about, and you had me thinking there was some sweet new boxed set, or skirmish game, or video game, or something that I hadn't heard about. I guess she had to convert stuff to 3.5 for it (no kiddin', that's love!), huh? I much prefer 3.0/3.5, myself, but I don't remember any Dark Sun stuff coming out for that whole edition.

Athas.org has lots of good 3rd edt stuff, and there was a short series of stats and character builds in an issue of Dragon magazine, and creature stats in a few Dungeon issues. Those are a great help.

Typically for Christmas or Birthdays, I offer my players a chunk of karma or an "OH SHIT!" card. It's basically a Get Out of Jail Free card that they can use once, sort of like Hand of God, but a little more flexible. I have seen it go very 'out of the frying pan, into the fire' before as they just made more bad decisions though. Hilarious for me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The closest I came to giving the gift of gaming this Christmas was stealing our regular group away from Mrs. Crit (who's GMing a Dresden Files RPG game) for our last session before the holiday, and running them all through a Missions adventure I'd just gotten done writing.

Sounds like a great way to really test it out for a conventions crew. I just started looking into Missions, and I'm pleasantly surprised. Thinking of starting a game in Denver or Manhattan now instead of Seattle. Feels like blasphemy just typing it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Oh yeah.... Dragon Age rocks! Just got my sister addicted to it. It's like video game crack. *Yay topic save!*

[SinN]

I just beat the high dragon on the mountain top at with all my chars at only level 11. Not gonna lie, as soon as i killed it, some fist pumping may or may not have taken place. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[SinN]

Typically for Christmas or Birthdays, I offer my players a chunk of karma or an "OH SHIT!" card. It's basically a Get Out of Jail Free card that they can use once, sort of like Hand of God, but a little more flexible. I have seen it go very 'out of the frying pan, into the fire' before as they just made more bad decisions though. Hilarious for me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I beleive I hold the record for using the most OH SHIT! cards. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

[toturi]

I just beat the high dragon on the mountain top at with all my chars at only level 11. Not gonna lie, as soon as i killed it, some fist pumping may or may not have taken place. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

On Nightmare?

I finished the DA:O and Awakening twice now - Human rogue and elf mage. I completed all the origin quests, but I have only played the dwarf noble partway through DA:O. I'd say that there are certain skill/talent/spell combinations that are good and some that are really more for unlocking achievements than anything else. And some of the achievements are very difficult to unlock - especially the ones that require you to kill certain boss creatures on Hard or Nightmare.

[SinN]

On normal setting. It was still hard as hell. I cant even imagen the headache nightmare wouldve been. At the moment im just running through human noble. Good storyline so far.

[Mäx]

There's also some more serious things in the game, like mercy killings, possessions, torture, and off screen rape in one of the origins (alluded to strongly, but not direct).

I would say it pretty damm directly stated that the cousin got raped, as you can state that as a reason why you killed the lord when the king asks about it the first time he meets you.

[Karoline]

I would say it pretty damm directly stated that the cousin got raped, as you can state that as a reason why you killed the lord when the king asks about it the first time he meets you.

Just because you state it as a reason for killing someone, doesn't make it true. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[tete]

Did anyone else hate that witch you get in your party? I can't remember her name for the life of me, started with an M. She's just so rude and annoying. I've dated girls exactly like her and the moment I realized this I began hoping for a chance to kill her...but I'm a nice guy and won't do that so I just take extra pleasure in seeing her get downed.

Man I LOVED the sexual tension between her and Alistar if you keep them both in your party.

[KarmaInferno]

MORRIGAN DISAPPROVES. -12 ♥




-k

[Faraday]

Man I LOVED the sexual tension between her and Alistar if you keep them both in your party.

The chatter between morrigan and just about every other party member is HILARIOUS. Especially Shale. And Allister.

[Doc Chase]

Just because you state it as a reason for killing someone, doesn't make it true. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It's pretty clear from the context that it happened. Both the cousin's thousand-meter stare and expression of shock and shame, and the duke's smug prodding will leave you a blood-spattered agent of vengeance in short order.

[Faraday]

It's pretty clear from the context that it happened. Both the cousin's thousand-meter stare and expression of shock and shame, and the duke's smug prodding will leave you a blood-spattered agent of vengeance in short order.

On my second play through, I often found myself blood-spattered in the name of vengeance.

[X-Kalibur]

On Nightmare?

I finished the DA:O and Awakening twice now - Human rogue and elf mage. I completed all the origin quests, but I have only played the dwarf noble partway through DA:O. I'd say that there are certain skill/talent/spell combinations that are good and some that are really more for unlocking achievements than anything else. And some of the achievements are very difficult to unlock - especially the ones that require you to kill certain boss creatures on Hard or Nightmare.

While DA:O can be very easily soloed by an Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage (especially with the equipment from Ostagar if you're play 1.3, as they tried to nerf some buffs) DW rogues are still execeptionally strong. Archers are just sort of lackluster... until Awakenings. Dear. God. Try it out. Doesn't really matter if you use a warrior or a rogue base, you just need tons of dex (although rogues still get huge benefits from bard and cunning). Those DLC bosses? Piece of cake for an archer to solo that has done Awakenings.

[toturi]

While DA:O can be very easily soloed by an Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage (especially with the equipment from Ostagar if you're play 1.3, as they tried to nerf some buffs) DW rogues are still execeptionally strong. Archers are just sort of lackluster... until Awakenings. Dear. God. Try it out. Doesn't really matter if you use a warrior or a rogue base, you just need tons of dex (although rogues still get huge benefits from bard and cunning). Those DLC bosses? Piece of cake for an archer to solo that has done Awakenings.

Some parts of DA:O can be soloed but I do not think that the game actually allows you to go truely solo until after the main quests are done. Soloing in the early stages at higher difficulties tend to be quite challenging. Some of the drops seem to be better at higher difficulties though.

I agree that a rogue archer is not really good until Awakenings, even with SoC and high Cunning. I suppose a rogue archer could take on the DLC bosses alone, although I never did try since I was doing Nightmare for both DLCs and was more interested in simply killing the bosses as fast as I could.

[StealthSigma]

The chatter between morrigan and just about every other party member is HILARIOUS. Especially Shale. And Allister.

Oghren's chatter is some of the best.

[X-Kalibur]

Oghren's chatter is some of the best.

I love Oghren's chatter, but you need to hear Zevran and Wynne. Some really good stuff there.

<edit> as a challenge for fun, I think I will attempt to solo DA:O again. The old trick used to be abusing an XP glitch for a mage until you were 14 and could have arcane warrior and blood mage right from before the tower. These days you'd need to wait until after lothering and do some gear grabbing. I'm pretty confident I can do it with a rogue though.

[toturi]

Oghren and Zevran - Broma Brothers. The 2 best reasons to get captured.

[Sixgun_Sage]

I gotta admit, I have stuck with Al, Leliana and Morrigan as my party for awhile, I'm doing the Circle of Magi stuff with Wynne but.... meh. Al is my tank, he pulls them, my human noble origins rogue makes with the damage via dirty fighting and flurry, duelist is VERY nice for this and since I maxed out the unlockable skills with Leliana and her lockpicking I haven't encountered a chest yet that the game will allow you to pick that she can't. I'm also very pleased with the drakeskin armor, my main wears the perfected suit with Leliana in the first, imperfect suit you get. Honestly I'm not too far in but I tend to grind out the optional quests so I'm if anything a bit over powered compared to the area I am in. Gotta say once i am done with my rogue play through I will probably try out a spell slinger just so I can try out the blood mage/ arcane warrior combo though.

[Sixgun_Sage]

Thread necromancy time!

I beat the game with my rogue and am working through as a sword and shield warrior, the mage was just not pleasant to play for me. So far it is fun and combat is alot cleaner for my side but it is frustrating waiting to unlock chests till you get Leliana, Daveth is useless for the brief period you have him. I'm going to focus on filling out skill blocks this go around and I'm getting all the dlc next week, so that should greatly extend the play time, I'm gonna hold off on getting DA II till I have everything done in Origins though, especially Witch Hunt.

[Tiralee]

Started afresh (Elf tower mage - basically the "nicest" origin story IMHO) and decided to try a few new things....

God god, greasefire = instawin, even more fun when fireballing. Decided to head to the dalish and be a Hard hardass (I play paladin types in CG's, something my long-suffering wife finds endlessly amusing - "Go on, sell him out!") and suddenly they're all, "oh, you're hard but fair great one."

...Goddamned elves.

We (The lovely likes to watch me play while she perfects her Sim3 breeding program) enjoy the fact that elves are either tribal nomads or refugees, so much for the usual fantasy dreck.
And the dwarves are a lot more spiritual and industious than "Let's get drunk and hit things until loot comes out or we sober up" (except for Oghren).

Lots of depth to the game in the background details..you wish you could take a break from THE WORLD IS ENDING - GET HELP main quest and just, well, go slaughter a village in rebellion, or something (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I liked it how people were proper bastards for the sake of success, power, etc, not because "evil is cool" (Apart from some of the mages, way to stereotype) but REALLY got tired of taking crap from people I couldn't blast apart at that moment because of plot.

And the Fucking Broodmother. Yeeeech. Rule 34 that thing and be prepared to weep

DA2 coming soon! Woot!

-Tir

[X-Kalibur]

Started afresh (Elf tower mage - basically the "nicest" origin story IMHO) and decided to try a few new things....

God god, greasefire = instawin, even more fun when fireballing. Decided to head to the dalish and be a Hard hardass (I play paladin types in CG's, something my long-suffering wife finds endlessly amusing - "Go on, sell him out!") and suddenly they're all, "oh, you're hard but fair great one."

...Goddamned elves.

We (The lovely likes to watch me play while she perfects her Sim3 breeding program) enjoy the fact that elves are either tribal nomads or refugees, so much for the usual fantasy dreck.
And the dwarves are a lot more spiritual and industious than "Let's get drunk and hit things until loot comes out or we sober up" (except for Oghren).

Lots of depth to the game in the background details..you wish you could take a break from THE WORLD IS ENDING - GET HELP main quest and just, well, go slaughter a village in rebellion, or something (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I liked it how people were proper bastards for the sake of success, power, etc, not because "evil is cool" (Apart from some of the mages, way to stereotype) but REALLY got tired of taking crap from people I couldn't blast apart at that moment because of plot.

And the Fucking Broodmother. Yeeeech. Rule 34 that thing and be prepared to weep

DA2 coming soon! Woot!

-Tir

And by soon you of course mean Tuesday. The 8th. Not much longer to go... can't wait.