The All Things Video Games Thread!

[CoryHolmes]

but the overarching plot behind Dragon Age feels a little cliche. Unite the elves, dwarves, and kingdoms of man against the Darkspawn? My question would be where's the hobbit with the ring while I'm doing all the work?

The part about that which amuses me is how BioWare took those expectations, played them to the hilt, and then turned them all on their sides How many other games have Elves as second-class former slaves?

[David Hingtgen]

I just had my first shatter a bit ago. What about all the zillions of fights before you have anything that can freeze/stone? (and I still can't make it a primary tactic---would need another mage for that)

I'm currently having Leliana/Alistair/Wynne in my party (I'm playing a Rogue, but about as armored and weaponed a rogue as you'll find) and it works better than most, but I don't especially LIKE the party. Morrigan would be better, but she just doesn't have quite enough offense yet to make up for the lack of healing. (Wynne's only offense seems to be earthquake, which is basically unusable in a lot of areas due to its MASSIVE effect range)

[eugimon]

Well, luckily I started off as a mage and just happened onto that combo from pretty early on.

I play my mage as offensive caster, wynne as my heal bot and then leliana and alistair.

I have to say, I think this is the first RPG where the mage has the advantage early on... a lot of mage spells can control enemy movement and the shatter combo really evens out battles right away, especially if you have alistair with the shielf bash or sten with a mual or something.

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, the boards are pretty unanimous in saying that 2 offensive mages=much easier game, whereas with most RPG's it'd be 2 death-dealing dual-wielding knights.

[Warmaker]

I've been playing alot of Dragon Age: Origins on the PC. The storyline is great so far, made even better due to the different starting story arcs for each race / class. I'm in the LONG process of securing the tower. Looking forward on getting Wynn as part of the group permanently. What my usual party mix before the tower were:

Main PC: Warrior (2hander)

Alistair: (1H+Shield)

Leliana (Rogue, namely for range and lockpicking)

Morrigan (damage and some debuffing)

Other than for non-combat utility, I'm finding it very hard to justify a Rogue's presence in the party. I mean, I'd LOVE to use them but in combat, they just don't hit hard enough or bring meaningful utility in anything. Once Wynn is freed up, I see myself doing 2 Warriors + 2 Mages, which IMO would be utterly boring, but a necessity, especially how badly outnumbered you'll be sometimes. Warriors for staying power, Mages for healing and damage spikes / frontloading. Rolling into the tower, I have my PC Warrior, Alistair, Morrigan, and Wynn (plot required). With that group, I can take on larger groups of NPCs and handle more powerful bosses better. The real reason why are the 2 mages that can seemlessly switch between offensive or defensive abilities.

[eugimon]

Leliana becomes more effective when her back stabbing ability is fully powered up and she gets some of the nicer daggers enchanted... or if specialty arrows/bolts were cheaper.

But yeah, if I know I'm gonna go kill something hard, like with wings, I switch her out for sten and his 2 handed, juggernaut armor wearing, enemy smashing goodness.

[David Hingtgen]

I'm keeping Leliana as my archer. (I'm playing the backstabbing rogue, and I make much use of it---plenty of ways to "backstab" from the front) She always died very quickly in melee, even though I gave her good armor and weapons. She does much better as an archer for me---she alone took out the last 4 enemies while everyone else was dead in my most recent battle---a zillion bandits.

I'm still trying to make Alistair a tank---but I mean if shield+Templar abilities+"defender" tactics aren't enough, I don't know what is. (plus for being a Templar, he doesn't seem that good against mages). The final Templar ability looks awesome, but that's like 20 hours away. What's the point?

[mikeszekely]

I'm my own tank (nice boosts from Blood Dragon Armor, and using Flurry with a pair of good weapons lets me tear into enemies nicely). Like David, I'm using Leiliana as an archer. She sucks in melee, and if she likes you enough you'll get a quest from her that will leave her with a good bow. Morrigan's my caster right now. I'm leveling her manually, and since she's probably the second to join me I've been able to manage her spells for maximum destructive force. I round out the party with... whoever seems to fit at the time. I was taking Alistair with me to Redcliffe, but he's not happy with how I handled events there. I took Shale with me to Orzammar. I've yet to seek out the Circle or the Elves.

[eugimon]

I'm my own tank (nice boosts from Blood Dragon Armor, and using Flurry with a pair of good weapons lets me tear into enemies nicely). Like David, I'm using Leiliana as an archer. She sucks in melee, and if she likes you enough you'll get a quest from her that will leave her with a good bow. Morrigan's my caster right now. I'm leveling her manually, and since she's probably the second to join me I've been able to manage her spells for maximum destructive force. I round out the party with... whoever seems to fit at the time. I was taking Alistair with me to Redcliffe, but he's not happy with how I handled events there. I took Shale with me to Orzammar. I've yet to seek out the Circle or the Elves.

That little wuss isn't happy no matter how you handle things there

[mikeszekely]

That little wuss isn't happy no matter how you handle things there

You're saying I'd have lost as much influence with him had I killed the boy instead of sacrificing the mother?

[mikeszekely]

On another note, as anyone her bought the Warden's Keep DLC? I was sort of against it... I don't like the way you've got a guy basically hanging out at your camp saying, "Hey, I've got a quest for you, if you'll just deposit some money into EA's pocket there..."

But when I was in Orzammar, I'd had Shale (from the Stone Prisoner DLC that's more or less free to people who buy new copies of the game from now until April) tagging along with me. The quest you undertake to get him in your party isn't particularly long, which also colored me against paying so much to add two hours onto a 50+ hour long game. But having Shale added some dimension to what I experienced in Orzammar, which has apparently lead to another quest that I likely wouldn't have had if I didn't have the Stone Prisoner DLC.

Long story short, I'm rethinking the value of the DLC. If any of you guys have bought the Warden's Keep, is it worth it?

[eugimon]

You're saying I'd have lost as much influence with him had I killed the boy instead of sacrificing the mother?

yup.. I haven't played through to see if there's any difference in how the dad reacts but nancy boy throws a conniption either way

[MDP310]

yup.. I haven't played through to see if there's any difference in how the dad reacts but nancy boy throws a conniption either way

I haven't done it myself, but apparently if you kill the kid Alistair disapproves even more than if you don't.

[eugimon]

I haven't done it myself, but apparently if you kill the kid Alistair disapproves even more than if you don't.

I remember it being negative 10 or something either way and either way there's one of those dialog cut scenes with pretty much the same dialog tree.

In any event, if you're playing it "good" then alstair is pretty much easy to get back in favor with and there's his mother's locket in the redcliff castle that pretty much keeps you ahead anyways

[eugimon]

On another note, as anyone her bought the Warden's Keep DLC? I was sort of against it... I don't like the way you've got a guy basically hanging out at your camp saying, "Hey, I've got a quest for you, if you'll just deposit some money into EA's pocket there..."

But when I was in Orzammar, I'd had Shale (from the Stone Prisoner DLC that's more or less free to people who buy new copies of the game from now until April) tagging along with me. The quest you undertake to get him in your party isn't particularly long, which also colored me against paying so much to add two hours onto a 50+ hour long game. But having Shale added some dimension to what I experienced in Orzammar, which has apparently lead to another quest that I likely wouldn't have had if I didn't have the Stone Prisoner DLC.

Long story short, I'm rethinking the value of the DLC. If any of you guys have bought the Warden's Keep, is it worth it?

I bought it, but I haven't gone through it yet. Some people on the forums are saying it's not worth it, that the permanent base is weak and that the game locks you out after you leave. We'll see, I'll get to it tonight.

[kaiotheforsaken]

I haven't done it myself, but apparently if you kill the kid Alistair disapproves even more than if you don't.

You know if you do the mage tower before redcliff you can go back and bring mages to the castle to perform the exorcism thing on the kid. Pretty much everyone approves of that outcome with the exception of Morrigan

[eugimon]

You know if you do the mage tower before redcliff you can go back and bring mages to the castle to perform the exorcism thing on the kid. Pretty much everyone approves of that outcome with the exception of Morrigan

I suppose it helps if you haven't left the tower with a bunch of mage corpses being mopped up up the templars..

[kaiotheforsaken]

I suppose it helps if you haven't left the tower with a bunch of mage corpses being mopped up up the templars..

that would definitely help

[David Hingtgen]

Bringing along Wynne AND Morrigan has helped a lot, but I REALLY don't like that party. But can't deny the effectiveness. Morrigan status-attacks everything, and Wynne heals me. So I can go kill everything while they're helpless.

Still, I either kill everything quickly, or my party dies even quicker. Prolonged fights just don't happen.

[MDP310]

You know if you do the mage tower before redcliff you can go back and bring mages to the castle to perform the exorcism thing on the kid. Pretty much everyone approves of that outcome with the exception of Morrigan

I was pretty surprised when Morrigan got mad at me for wanting to save the town from hoardes of undead.

I downloaded and finished Warden's Keep. You are locked out of the fortress after you finish it, so there's a sidequest or two I didn't get to finish, but the courtyard around it is still available. There's a couple merchants there. The guy who asked you to pay EA for it sells you stuff, and his brother sells weapons and armor.

The armor set you get is pretty sweet-looking, and that's really the main deciding factor for what my character wears. It is really, really lame that they make you pay actual real-world money for a storage box, though.

Edited November 10, 2009 by MDP310

[eugimon]

It takes like a half hour to finish warden's keep. a nice staff for mages though.

[mikeszekely]

It takes like a half hour to finish warden's keep. a nice staff for mages though.

I downloaded and finished Warden's Keep. You are locked out of the fortress after you finish it, so there's a sidequest or two I didn't get to finish, but the courtyard around it is still available. There's a couple merchants there. The guy who asked you to pay EA for it sells you stuff, and his brother sells weapons and armor.

The armor set you get is pretty sweet-looking, and that's really the main deciding factor for what my character wears. It is really, really lame that they make you pay actual real-world money for a storage box, though.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to continue to pass on it, then. Maybe EA will have a sale later or something, but it doesn't really sound like it's worth what they're asking for it.

Out of curiosity, though, how good is the armor set? My hero's currently wearing all the pieces of the Blood Dragon Armor, which has been better than almost anything else I've found. The only stuff that might be better is the Legion set... but I'm missing the body armor from that set (if anyone knows where to find it, I'd be much obliged).

EDIT:

Nevermind, I found it. It was tucked away in a tiny corner of Ortan Thaig.

Edited November 10, 2009 by mikeszekely

[David Hingtgen]

Just an FYI, but I just finished Redcliffe (I *think*, as it's the quest that never ends) in the longest, most roundabout, most goody-two-shoes way possible. So if you're going for a light-side character trying to do things the hard way and spare everybody, feel free to ask about rewards, difficulty of certain tasks, etc. (from looking around, it may be the only way to unlock a certain specialization)

BTW---while Drake Scale armor has awesome stats, to the point that it may be end-game armor for Leliana, looks-wise it's just blueish leather. I was expecting, you know, scales...

PS to people who have won or are more than half-way through: Are you skipping like every optional question and not reading any of the codex? I've got like 28 hours (Sat and Sun were non-stop playing), and am MAYBE getting to the half-way point. But I do ask every question I can, and read every codex. (hey, I paid for it, and people worked on it--so I read/ask/listen to everything there is) Of course, my 2nd playthrough will be MUCH shorter, as I'll have already heard and read most things---I'll only need to pay attention to the "new" stuff by being evil/mage/human or whatever.

I remember this one set of books in Oblivion, that once I collected the whole set, I "sat down and read" in the game. Took an hour I think. But it was a good story.

[Warmaker]

The Warden's Keep DLC is a mixed bag. On a negative note, after completing that DLC's main quest, you're locked out of the keep. That really pissed me off, since I was expecting to use it along the lines of those keeps in Suikoden. I went through that entire time clearing that keep, hoping we I can use it as a new place to secretly rebuild the Grey Wardens. But I can't even use it. I'm stuck with leaving my guys around a small campfire in the middle of nowhere. The nice thing about the DLC is the short story / background behind the keep and some loot. The heavy armor looks fabulous, and a few weapons in there are worthwhile.

My main is being played as a goodie-two-shoes but I got him trying to get into Morrigan's pants Opposites attract and all that.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Warmaker

[mikeszekely]

Just an FYI, but I just finished Redcliffe (I *think*, as it's the quest that never ends) in the longest, most roundabout, most goody-two-shoes way possible. So if you're going for a light-side character trying to do things the hard way and spare everybody, feel free to ask about rewards, difficulty of certain tasks, etc. (from looking around, it may be the only way to unlock a certain specialization)

BTW---while Drake Scale armor has awesome stats, to the point that it may be end-game armor for Leliana, looks-wise it's just blueish leather. I was expecting, you know, scales...

PS to people who have won or are more than half-way through: Are you skipping like every optional question and not reading any of the codex? I've got like 28 hours (Sat and Sun were non-stop playing), and am MAYBE getting to the half-way point. But I do ask every question I can, and read every codex. (hey, I paid for it, and people worked on it--so I read/ask/listen to everything there is) Of course, my 2nd playthrough will be MUCH shorter, as I'll have already heard and read most things---I'll only need to pay attention to the "new" stuff by being evil/mage/human or whatever.

I remember this one set of books in Oblivion, that once I collected the whole set, I "sat down and read" in the game. Took an hour I think. But it was a good story.

Quests, yeah, I've been mostly trying to complete them. I've got two yet from Orzammar, but I expect they're things I'll get back to after I explore some of the areas. I've talked to most of the people I can find in most of the places I've been (I've ignored a lot of people in Denerim, but I think I'll get back to them later). The only quest I've actively avoided are the stuff like the Chanter's Board. Menial crap is the reason I never got into World of Warcraft; I'm sure as hell not spoiling my Dragon Age fun with it.

I haven't bothered to read everything in the Codex. Some of the quest-related stuff, yeah, but that's about it.

On my "Heroic Accomplishments" page of my Character sheet, it says I've completed 25% of the game, I've explored 54% of the world, and I've played for about 27 hours.

[MDP310]

I found an armor called Effort, which says it's part of a set of gloves, boots, and helmet called Duty. I know that I saw one of them before (I think the boots) but I forget where. Is this the Legion set?

[mikeszekely]

I found an armor called Effort, which says it's part of a set of gloves, boots, and helmet called Duty. I know that I saw one of them before (I think the boots) but I forget where. Is this the Legion set?

Nope. The Legion set will be "XXXX of the Legion", where X is whatever piece it is (helmet, boots, etc).

Edited November 10, 2009 by mikeszekely

[Vegas]

line is crazy at gamestop. getting a copy of modern warfare 2

[kensei]

Played it already, you're going to hate Urban fighting by the time you finish it.

[CoryHolmes]

So I told myself I wasn't going to fall into the Bioware Trap. Up until, I'd done a decent enough job of resisting the allure, but no more. As with other BioWare games (Mass Effect mostly) I find myself enjoying the character interaction and conversations far more than the combat itself. I've now found myself in my usual position of griding away through quests and whatnot only for the privilage of unlocking the next set of conversations.

And on that note, is it just me or does Leliana have some awesome lines with Sten and Morrigan?

[Ghost Train]

line is crazy at gamestop. getting a copy of modern warfare 2

My buddy went to the one last evening here at a local GS.

... I would have picked up my pre-order by now, if I didn't have 2 exams, 3 assignments due, and a 1.5 day long interview on Th/Fri >_< ... but looking forward to the weekend I guess.

[mikeszekely]

And on that note, is it just me or does Leliana have some awesome lines with Sten and Morrigan?

As David noted earlier, the party banter in general is great in this game. Some of my favorites have included Leliana and Morrigan exchanging some catty dialogue while fighting over me, Ohgren suggesting that Morrigan's shapeshifting might have some perverted uses, and Shale questioning why the Maker would create birds during a theological discussion with Leliana.

As for Modern Warfare 2, as much as I loved the previous Infinity Ward Call of Duty games I'm a little unhappy with the state of affairs for the PC version and sick of the ridiculous hype surrounding the game, especially from the crowd that doesn't play much more than Halo and Madden. So I'm actually skipping it for now. I figure after the holidays I'll find some used copies for the 360 or something.

[Wanzerfan]

Wait, so there is no UMD drive on the PSP Go?

[edit]I guess it doesn't.

No, the PSP go wasn't designed to run UMD disks, but to get stuff directly via wireless internet.

And yes, in my opinion, anthing legal a company does to *cough* rape the public *cough* get money from their fans, including rereleasing old games, is fair game.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Wanzerfan

[David Hingtgen]

Actually, one annoyance with Bioware games is that there's SO much interaction with so many pairs, that you could play the game 5 times and still miss a huge chunk of it. Luckily Leliana's easy to court, so I can try for the Leliana/Morrigan spat next time... (actually, I could probably still try to get it now)

Sten is like Bao-Dur in KOTOR2 (not Bioware, I know) in that he just doesn't seem to talk past the initial conversation or two, and I think there's like 1 line that "opens him up" and if you miss it, he'll never say anything again.

[mikeszekely]

Actually, one annoyance with Bioware games is that there's SO much interaction with so many pairs, that you could play the game 5 times and still miss a huge chunk of it. Luckily Leliana's easy to court, so I can try for the Leliana/Morrigan spat next time... (actually, I could probably still try to get it now)

Sten is like Bao-Dur in KOTOR2 (not Bioware, I know) in that he just doesn't seem to talk past the initial conversation or two, and I think there's like 1 line that "opens him up" and if you miss it, he'll never say anything again.

I guess, if you're actively trying to experience as much as you can, that could be a downer. I look at it as an upside; sometimes I like to replay games, and I appreciate it when I can see new things during those replays.