Dragon Age: Origins

[TKz]

I have it for PC, and it's fifteen gigs. If your computer can run it, there shouldn't be any question that you should be playing it for PC. On the consoles, everything is mapped to a wheel like Mass Effect. With PC, the interface has the standard RPG layout and it just looks better (to me) and it's easier than using a wheel. Also, it looks better on the PC if yours can handle it and you can use a mouse. And you can use the third-person style view if you want to. I find it easier to use the standard top-down view for bigger battles just so I can coordinate better, personally.

Sorry to seem so biased, but the PC version to me really is better. It's been said it is. The console version is still amazing, but the interface, top-down option, and ability to use the mouse in a point-and-click-based RPG is a big thing to me.

Yeah, I've heard the interface is a lot better on PC, the wheel definitely isn't the greatest, but it's alright for me. Both versions are probably fantastic, I love the game. The only reason I'd promote PS3/360 over PC is for using a HDTV, which is gorgeous, but I'm sure HD screens look just as awesome.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Urgh. Fuck Redcliffe.

Defending the town against the fucking Walking Corpses was shit. It was easy, but it was soooooooooo unneededly fucking long. Not to mention, I stood around for like... fifteen or twenty minutes wondering why the fuck nothing was happening, then I searched all of Redcliffe until I found one fucking randomly placed Walking Corpse. Not too long after I killed it, a cutscene to signify that I had successfully defended the village played. Yeah, fuck that. I love this game, but that was so long and arduous and incredibly frustrating. Ugh.

And God damnit is Morrigan hard to please. It seems if you show any shred of decency or go off on a sidequest she doesn't like you. But, for example, she'll show compassion for that murderer dude who you release and becomes part of your party. God damn you, you bipolar cunt.

And as for HD screens/HDTVs, the PC version can support higher resolutions, so therefore it can look better if your PC can handle it. I hate to keep saying it, but the PC version really does look better. Hell, even on a machine a few years old.

[TKz]

Urgh. Fuck Redcliffe.

Defending the town against the fucking Walking Corpses was shit. It was easy, but it was soooooooooo unneededly fucking long. Not to mention, I stood around for like... fifteen or twenty minutes wondering why the fuck nothing was happening, then I searched all of Redcliffe until I found one fucking randomly placed Walking Corpse. Not too long after I killed it, a cutscene to signify that I had successfully defended the village played. Yeah, fuck that. I love this game, but that was so long and arduous and incredibly frustrating. Ugh.

And God damnit is Morrigan hard to please. It seems if you show any shred of decency or go off on a sidequest she doesn't like you. But, for example, she'll show compassion for that murderer dude who you release and becomes part of your party. God damn you, you bipolar cunt.

And as for HD screens/HDTVs, the PC version can support higher resolutions, so therefore it can look better if your PC can handle it. I hate to keep saying it, but the PC version really does look better. Hell, even on a machine a few years old.

Yeah, pleasing Morrigan really seems like something best left for a cuntish playthrough, because it's damn near impossible to make her like you without damaging your relationships with like everyone else. I've gotten it to work quite well without doing too much damage though.

I'd suggest: Go through every piece of conversation available with her and be sure to compliment her.

Go through with the whole "Save the Blood Mage" bit.

When you unlock the [Kiss Her] bit, only do it once and do it at Base Camp when your alone.

Make sure to give her gifts. If you have someone with a high steal ability, I think you can unlock a chest at Flemeth's that has a gift that she really likes. With the gifts, apparently you can only give certain ones to certain people. (you can find a list at ps3trophies.com).

You can also use gifts to boost up your popularity with others when it takes a hit, as giving someone the right gift usually resorts in like a +10. For Alistair, in Castle Redcliffe once you finish everything, you can find his mothers locket hidden away somewhere and give it to him as a gift. (It's in a desk somewhere I think.)

[apsham]

The worst part for me was recruiting the templars.

Fuck Redcliffe, that wasn't needlessly long. What was needless long was that entire fucking section where you have to find four different forms to go between, fight alone and constantly dip in and out of levels that can have puzzles that make zero fucking sense. That's the biggest piss off for me. Add that to the fact that you better hope that you have a shitload of healing potions or a healing spell.. ESPECIALLY for higher levels. I have no clue how I would beat that level if I wasn't playing on casual. If you've yet to play it and are for some reason reading this; be one hundred percent sure to avoid standing anywhere NEAR fire. I cannot count the number of times a spell knocked me back into it and killed me instantly.

Edited November 24, 2009 by apsham

[The Kraig]

For the record, my game lasted over 100 hours. And that was with me bumping it down onto easy from time to time - some of the battles are impossible to win unless you have particular skills it seems. I also liked to switch my party around, which meant they would get totally raped until I was able to level them and kit them up with good equipment.

Friendly fire is a bitch as well, especially if you have a powerful attacking mage, which I had in my party almost all of the time.

If you've only just arrived at Redcliffe and not been to the castle or any of the other major areas then you have a shit load of stuff to do still. Seriously, that feels like it happened years ago to me.

I highly recommend the Soldier's Peak DLC (do it early) and the Stone Prisoner DLC (Shale is fantastic). Any other DLC that's pretty good?

You mean Wardern's Keep DLC, yeah? Is it worth it then? It's only 5.49 so I was thinking about getting it anyway, but it's good to know it's worth the cash. I've had Shale for all of 10 minutes and I already love the big guy.

I've finished Redcliffe now (well, still need to get the Ashes), finishing up some of the side quests there (I've done the Refugee's (That was quite a bitch. I had to bump the difficulty down to easy to get it done) and working on the Carvan and other one next. I've also gotten Zevran, though I doubt I'll use him much.

Is there a quick way to change party? It'd be very helpful to be able to pull out Lelina when I want something unlocked. The fact you can transform into a FUCKING BEAR is beyond awesome. Morrigan is fantastic, easily my strongest party member.

Also what's the deal with all the FIRE CRYSTAL and LIFE STONE stuff I've got? Is there like a way to make something with them? Is it an ability? What one and how do I get it? I've got a load of stuff and I'd love to be able to get some use out of it and sell what I don't need.

Keep Zevran in your party when you can, he's very useful later in the game, or at least he was for me. He is a tad obnoxious at first, but he has a decent story and has funny interactions with various party members. I made him my stealth-assassin type, as Leliana was my archery master. His stealth technique is priceless against certain bosses. One time I was doing a sidequest and my party got wiped out in seconds and I managed to assassinate around ten guys, including the boss using only Zevran.

Morrigan's transformation ability only gets better.

The fire crystal and life stone are used for 'crafting'. They have no significance to any quests, so don't feel obliged to keep them. You can use them to make balms if your party knows certain abilities (poison-making, etc).

[Ruki]

Alright people, you got three hours to convince me.

There is a good chance this game is on sale at Futureshop for $40, should I get it? I enjoyed KotR and Mass Effect, and I do like the fantasy setting. With no spoilers, sell me on this game......and go.

[TKz]

I cba to, there's too much good to list. I will say only buy it if your interested in investing a shitload of time into a game, because this has pretty much consumed my life since I got it (assuming there's no drinking or lady friends on offer). If you liked KOTOR and you like LOTR (or the setting, at least), then you should fall in love with this game. It's easily my game of the year (Heck, the only competiton I'd say it's had for me is Uncharted 2.)

Anyway, I'm just about to begin The Final Battle part of the game...

I fucking loved the bit with all of your friends talking to you. I look forward to playing through again and seeing how things go with different relationships. I also plan on playing through as a Mage next time, because I can't go through with the Morrigan ending again so there's not much point in using her again, even though I love her and Claudia Black.

I'll probably use Female Mage, Sten (Tank), Leliana/Zevern (Archer) & Alistair next time. Alistair because he's fantastic and I want to get the First Knight trophy, Sten because as much as I love Shale, I want to try and get some use out of Sten this time. Leliana or Zevern (Probably Zevern) because I've yet to use a Rouge and I want to get the Easy Lover trophy. (Assuming I can manage doing that AND getting the Alistair one.)

Assuming I still want more after playthrough #2, I'll probably use some combo of Male Rouge, Shale/Oghrehn, Leliana/Zevern (whoever I didn't use in #2) and either Morrigan or Wyenne.

Anyone heard anything about the DLC that's coming out? Apparently it's coming out this month, but I haven't heard much about it other than that, no specific release date.

[Liam]

Whereabouts is the Stone Prisoner mission/s based?

[Lint]

Its DLC..it'll appear on the map as a gold icon after you get it and install it. I think the first part of it is like Suches Pass or something

[TKz]

Whereabouts is the Stone Prisoner mission/s based?

If you mean like, how does it all start, you'll run into a man with a "Control Rod" for a Golem and he'll tell you where the town is, it's called Honneleath. After that the second mission for the character you get, There's a hidden Thaig in the Deep Road's that Shale will want to travel to. You don't get much out of it besides learning a few more things about Shale's origins.

So... Just beat the game, but I think something was missing...

My ending was that of Anora as Queen and Morrigan dissapeared with the child. But for some reason, when I was able to talk to my friends... I could only talk to like, Leliana, Sten, Ogrhen and Zevern? Why weren't Shale and Alistair especially around? If your characters die in the final battle do they actually DIE as opposed to just being knocked out? Heck, I didn't even use Shale in the final battle... And my dog was missing too.

I wanted to pet him one final time before starting a new game.

Awesome ending sequence besides that. How fucking cool was it when you killed the dragon with your character? Motherfucker leaped on the monster and just ANNIHILATED it. Poor Morrigan, it makes me sad that there's no way to give her a happy ending. Actually, did anyone play through as a female? What happens to Morrigan if she can't perform the ritual at all? Does she just leave or what?

[Your Mom]

I refused to let Morrigan do the ritual. We were best friends and she was upset so she just left and said if I lived I could try to find her

[TKz]

I refused to let Morrigan do the ritual. We were best friends and she was upset so she just left and said if I lived I could try to find her

That kind've sucks, seeing as assuming your not playing as a Mage anyway Morrigan is probably the second most powerful character in the game (Behind Shale who did like 500 damage when I was finishing the game). Does anyone know if Party Members Stack? I need to recruit Wyenne and... (Post Landsmeet Spoiler)

Loghain

but I want to end this playthrough with Alistair as King. Could I save, recruit him, get the trophy and then return to my save? Anyone know if that's possible?

[Captain Kirk]

Just ordered it off Zavvi for £25, any tips for what to do when first starting out?

[TKz]

Just ordered it off Zavvi for £25, any tips for what to do when first starting out?

Some suggestions...

1) Check what attributes you'll want most for each class. If you're a warrior for example, Strength, Constitution and Dexterity are the big ones, where as a Mage will want Magic and Willpower etc.

2) Don't be a Human Noble first time through. Easily the most boring intro storyline and put me off the game for a few days until I decided to actually give it another shot. I'd suggest the Dalish Elf or Magi openings as their probably my favourites.

3) Look everywhere for extra items and talk to everyone. There's plenty of extra quests that you can find by talking to people in the streets and there's always a few handy items hidden in certain areas.

4) For a first playthrough, I'd recommend making sure you get Persuasion as a Skill. Makes life a lot easier. You'll want to try and increase the Constitution Attribute as well if you get it.

5) Try and keep a Mage in your party and possibly someone that isn't bad with a Crossbow/Bow & Arrow (Zevern or Leliana) as it'll come in handy. I usually use Zevern (when you get him) as he can become easily good at both.

6) Don't try and become adapt at something you can't be. There's no point in raising your Magic if your a Warrior, or your Strength if your a Mage.

7) The DLC are totally worth buying. Especially The Stone Prisoner, because it'll give you your strongest party member.

8) Work on the Relationships between you and your characters, it's always enjoyable to see what they're thinking, some of them even have personal quests, and most importantly they'll gain extra passive skills as they like you more and more.

9) Don't bother with the Poison or Trap Making abilities. Total waste of time and feel free to get rid of any items to do with them. You'll rarely find it necessary to use Traps or Poisons as most of useful ones don't usually work on the bosses anyway.

10) Don't be afraid to drop down a difficulty if your having problems. I've found that Normal and above can be very challenging at times. You won't suffer any penalties for playing on Casual and honestly, I usually have more fun on that difficulty. It's not easy, but it's still challenging when it needs to be.

EDIT: And if you're playing for trophies, be sure to be either ALL GOOD or ALL BAD in your choices, because it'll make life a lot easier once you beat the game and/if you go through again. I ended up doing some thing bad and some things good, and as such I probably won't be able to get all the trophies that I could've in a second playthrough.

[Clawson]

I decided I'm going to start playing as a rogue City Elf when I finally get the chance to play Wednesday night. I'm gonna go stabby on everything.

[Benji]

Both the noble stories are the boring openings, as TKz said, Dalish Elf and Magi are the most fun, and both of them feel well balanced as characters, I'm not sure there is any actually base difference between races but I found the elves to be the most versatile.

[TKz]

The only good things about the Human Noble opening are that you get the dog right off the bat (and the dog is awesome. Seriously, if for whatever reason you don't get Shale or don't want to use Sten/Ogrehn, the dog is easily the best tank in the game. His move where he drops the enemy and mauls them is fantastic.) and the fact that it's one of the only stories where Duncan seems to actually have a reason for being there and doesn't feel out of place. In all the other origins, I always ended up thinking to myself "Why would the Grey Wardens be trying to recruit here...?"

I'm really enjoying playing as a Mage, I suggest everyone try it atleast once because it's such a different feeling to the up close encounters you're used to. I haven't yet found any real reason to play as a Rouge other than the trophy, as it just feels like a weaker Warrior with the ability to open locked doors/chests.

And like I said, traps just feel so useless. The only reason I can think of to use them is one time at the very end of the game.

Got all the romance trophies yesterday, now I plan on going through with a Rouge and doing the evil side (While also getting the Rouge trophy) and then I'll play my third playthrough being as good as possible and trying to avoid bloodshed (which I plan to do using my Mage.) I really do love this game, the only bad thing about it is that it makes me want to play KOTOR, which sadly doesn't want to work on my computer.

[Liam]

I might restart my game playing other than a Human Noble, methinks.

[Farmer Reil]

and the fact that it's one of the only stories where Duncan seems to actually have a reason for being there and doesn't feel out of place. In all the other origins, I always ended up thinking to myself "Why would the Grey Wardens be trying to recruit here...?"

I kinda get what you mean... in some of them it's a bit like... "Here's a good storyline, and OH HAI DUNCAN!". None of the origins are particularly bad (with the possible exception of Human Noble), just some of them don't seem to have much of a need for Duncan to be there (with the exception, ironically, of Human Noble).

The Dwarf Commoner storyline is fan-dabi-dozi, and Duncan sort of has a reasonable excuse there.

The Dwarf Noble storyline is AWESOME. One of my favourites. But then Duncan just sort of saunters in because he needs to be there.

The Mage one I can't comment on because I haven't played it all yet, got bored.

Human Noble is meh. An ok story, but a bit boring to play.

Dalish Elf is kickass, but only if you're a rogue.

City Elf isn't bad, but the justification for joining the Grey Wardens is hilariously "let's just glaze over this bit and hope they don't notice".

I'm really enjoying playing as a Mage, I suggest everyone try it atleast once because it's such a different feeling to the up close encounters you're used to. I haven't yet found any real reason to play as a Rouge other than the trophy, as it just feels like a weaker Warrior with the ability to open locked doors/chests.

From my limited time controlling Morrigan, mages look really fun (especially when I make my own, who'll be more Direct Damage oriented), but I absolutely can't agree with your assessment of rogues! My main character (as in the one I've got furthest into the game with) is a Dalish rogue, and I love the guy. I've got the Duelist specialisation (I want Assassin too, but haven't found enough gifts for Zevy yet and I can't have him in my party as we're essentially identically built (except I don't have Stealth yet)). I don't see how we're 'weaker' at all, other than in the obvious way (absorbing damage).

Admittedly, if me and Sten were both flanking an opponent, Sten's would die faster. But by the same token, Sten would steal aggro much faster and not be flanking anymore. So overall it'd probably be a draw.

And like I said, traps just feel so useless. The only reason I can think of to use them is one time at the very end of the game.

Useless? I can think of tonnes of times I'd have been screwed without traps. Even a Spring Trap to knock someone on their arse has it's uses, or a lure to make someone turn away from you. The bit with the Blood Mages in the back alley house in Denerim for example would've been much harder without traps. I love 'em.

My usual trick is to get everyone to stop where they are, set up a grease trap (or several springs) and wait until the bad guys fall over, then chuck an Acid/Shock/Fire Bomb at them (or Morrigan's awesome Death Cloud spell or whatever it's called, the fifth-tier Entropy one). Gives you a significant advantage (or just kills shit outright, in Morrigan's case) without the risk of injuring party members.

As for Kraigy hating the section where you're trapped in the Fade... that was one of my favourite bits! It was awesome. It might've dragged on a tad, but it was worth it just for the sheer brilliance of the design behind it.

Edited December 16, 2009 by Farmer Reil

[apsham]

The trapped in the Fade part was a total piece of shit just because they had to make the switching between things and running around so damn tedious.