Dragon Age: Origins

[killgod]

You need 3200 microsoft points to download Awakening. So you have to purchase 2000 microsoft points for $29.00 x2 in order to purchase enough points.

I was about to do it but then I figured I'd just buy the game for $40 hard copy and resell it when I'm done.... hopefully I can get $10 back so it would cost me only $30.

could you not buy 2000 and then 1000 and 500?



in any case, got in another hour....really enjoying it so far.

 

[theMINI]

could you not buy 2000 and then 1000 and 500?



in any case, got in another hour....really enjoying it so far.

2000 points = $29.00
1000 points = $13.00
500 points = $7
Total: 3500 points = $49.00

2000 points x2 = $29.00 x2 = $48.00
Total: 4000 points = $58.00

 

[theMINI]

(Gamestop) REVIEW: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening isn't as extraordinary as the original, but it's still immensely entertaining.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragonageoriginsawakening/review.html

 

[SethMode]

So, I was at work today and the UPS guy came and apparently the Amazon box was bigger than usual and could not fit in my mailbox at home. So fuck that noise.

Anyway, looking forward to delving into this tomorrow. With my $25 Amazon GC plus Amazon's awesome prices, I got this for around 11 bucks. Not bad.

 

[Maynard]

anyone have any leveling up tips for the noob? whats the level cap? i am an elf mage. should i focus my points into specific spell branches and attributes to max them out or is there enough level points to have a ton of spells that i can max out?

I just left the mage tower....i think that ended my starter journey for my character class. i am now in that base camp about to be made a warden.

how do you guys feel about the poison and traps skills you can level up? I was gonna take the thief skill but i didnt know if it was any good or worth while

any tips you have for me are appreciated.

 

[trojan49er]

thief skill opens a new quest branch with Slim Couldry in Denerim, good for the exp, decent gear and some lulz.

I found traps and poison making pretty useless. Its decent if you're playing a Rogue, but much more useful in solo play than if you have a party at your back.

For a mage, focus on pure carnage here's what I recommend you make sure you grab:

Tempest - a nice electrical AoE that damages and drains the mana/stamina of anyone in its radius for a while.

Blizzard - a nice ice element AoE that does damage and can freeze anyone in its radius.

Fireball - a quick casting, potent fire AoE that knocks back and inflicts a DoT on everything it hits.

Earthquake - a large earth AoE that damages and can knock down anything in its radius for its duration.

Spell Might - for when you want to rapidly overwhelm enemies with fewer spells.

Virulent Walking Bomb - stick a DoT on an enemy in the middle of a group, and when they die, they explode, inflicting huge damage on everything around them.

Crushing Prison - one of the best single target abilities in the game, this paralyzes and inflicts a powerful DoT that will be a death sentence to all but the strongest of enemies.

Chain Lightning - a forking lightning spell that's good for inflicting a lot of damage quickly to a large group of enemies, as well as rapidly draining their mana and stamina reserves.

Stinging Swarm - a potent Nature spell that damages one enemy at a time until they die, hopping from foe to foe for its duration.

Mana Clash - the magenuke; turns an enemy spellcaster's mana against them, using it to fuel the damage caused by this spell. This is guaranteed death for the overwhelming majority of mage enemies in the game. Almost feels like
cheating, since the enemy never turns the tables by using it on your mages.

Death Cloud - a large AoE that inflicts Spirit damage with each pulse for its duration.

As for leveling, kill stuff, do sidequests, make sure you pick up a rogue in your party asap so you can open locked doors and chests as well as disarm traps for the exp. I dont think there is technically a hard cap to what level you can reach, but most characters end up around level 20-23 by endgame if you do the majority of the sidequests.

 

[killgod]

anyone have any leveling up tips for the noob? whats the level cap? i am an elf mage. should i focus my points into specific spell branches and attributes to max them out or is there enough level points to have a ton of spells that i can max out?

I just left the mage tower....i think that ended my starter journey for my character class. i am now in that base camp about to be made a warden.

how do you guys feel about the poison and traps skills you can level up? I was gonna take the thief skill but i didnt know if it was any good or worth while

any tips you have for me are appreciated.

In Origins you are capped at 25, not sure what it is in Awakening.

You defintely don't get to have it all, you should probably specialize your approach with each of your 4 party members.

For example, in my most recent playthough (yeah I got a few...) I used these 4 the most of the time.

I had me as an Elven Rogue - Dual Wield was his skill set and specialized in Assassin/Duelist. I was a all offensive heavy damage dealer.

Then I had Allister the Warrior as a Sword/Sheild guy specialized in Champion/Templar. Essentially made him a tank to attract the mobs and absorb a ton of damage.

Leliana is a Rogue who I used as an Archer with Bard/Ranger so she added a kickass pet and dealt some good ranged damage.

Lastly used Wynne the Mage as a healer, she's specialized in Spirit Healer and Arcane Warrior (although never used those skills).


So I had a Offensive Melee, Defensive Melee, Offensive Ranged and Healer.

You can really mix and match the roles to find effective combinations for the quests you are on, just is wise to have a group that can deal with a variety of situations.

Also should note if you are playing on easy/normal/hard. Easy completely strips away the strategy and you can just mash through whatever the fuck you want.

Normal requires you to be a bit more strategic in how you play by using what I just explained above with balanced roles in your party, need to be a bit smart in your approach.

Hardcore is a whole nother ballgame, you need to bring your best. Always have the right group for your quest, always have guys with good gear with runes that apply to your situation and be smart in battles. For example a group of mobs in a room that haven't seen you yet. Set up your ranged guys in advantageous spots, stealth your rogue inside the room to deal with the opposing ranged guys and then move your tank into the doorway causing a bottleneck. Every battle should be approached with caution and thought.


I never really used traps myself, but they certainly can be quite useful, especially if you are setting up for a tough battle. Poisons are VERY useful in tough situations. Sometimes you end up in a solo situation (for example as a rogue vs a room full of mages.....good fucking luck!) Douse your blades in 7 coats of poison and that should help you out and then some.



For me personally, I just kinda dicked around in my first playthough, didn't get "really into it" just played the game and went along with whatever.

The 2nd playthough was 10 times more fun, as I knew how to properly use all the facets of the game as well as how I wanted to build my characters knowing the skills of the future companions I would have.

Depending on what you want, I'd advise keeping a laptop nearby and referencing the Dragon Age wikia while playing. You can easily look up any item/quest/whatever to find out what you should do with it or how you can get the desired result, but on your first playthrough that's not usually ideal.




p.s. Save Often. The autosaves are nice, but sometimes not frequent enough!

 

[wingsfan77]

I made it through normal fairly easily with only a few tough fights....I'm kind of scared to move up to hardcore haha

 

[Maynard]

thanks for the info guys. Good Stuff!

i was using the DA wiki, but i thought it was lacking on info. Surprising cause this is the same site i use for ME.

but i found this one. Seems incredibly detailed
http://guides.gamepressure.com/dragonageorigins/

that menu on the right margin is never ending info

 

[theMINI]

i just bought awakening cd $45 at gamebuzz... i want to use my character from the origins but it says i must have the cd... but WTF if i put the origins cd in i have to close awakening... i dont get it

 

[JayDizzle]

i just bought awakening cd $45 at gamebuzz... i want to use my character from the origins but it says i must have the cd... but WTF if i put the origins cd in i have to close awakening... i dont get it

Without looking back through the thread, I'm sure you've said that you have a finished playthough/save, right?

 

[Maynard]

what a sick fucking game. just finished the tower of ishta. Got the 3rd lighting spell before the end of the tower. This spell is crazy sick....it just rains down lighting

the combat really improved once i got into this tower. not so much a cluster battle. More spread out and fun. Story picked up and really seems like its gonna be excellent.

 

[Buzzman]

Rumor has it Oct 12th the Ultimate Edition will come out for $60 and you get all 7 DLC plus Awakening.

 

[JayDizzle]

Rumor has it Oct 12th the Ultimate Edition will come out for $60 and you get all 7 DLC plus Awakening.

Lame.

I dropped retail on the original game and Awakening only for both of them bitches to drop in price like a week later.

Still... can't find a better action/rpg on consoles this year.

 

[JayDizzle]

Witch Hunt drops in 2 days.

Prepare to see what happens to your Warden after...

 

You finish the main story quest of killing the Archdemon.

Either you choose to circumvent dying by letting Alistair or...

 

Loghain

...impregnate Morrigan in exchange for you not dying at the end.

If you didn't there's an option to make a new Warden character like you could in Awakening

You get two new buddies to help kill high level monsters as well as a familiar face...

 

Your dog

Also, if you played the Dalish Elf Origin, then you'll have more interest in the main plot device as...

 

It's the same mirror that Duncan broke in the cave ruins that you and your dead buddy find near the 1st half of the quest.

Morrigan finds another one and strange shit happens... people probably don't make it out of this DLC alive.

 

[JayDizzle]

After putting in work on the new DLC (It's about a hour or less if you put it on Easy and don't shoot for anything but the trophy that says that you beat the DLC... anything else will take longer), I gotta say that I was wrong.

It's not great by any stretch of the imagination.

DLC SPOILERS:

 

You can port your Warden from Origins/Awakening or just make a new one to start off with.

If you port, your character will more than likely be overpowered (mine was Level 23 from Origins) and in addition to your new temporary squadmates, you're more than likely going to merk everything put in front of you.

Speaking of which, your new squadmates are a dual-wielding Dalish Elf Warrior who uses an overpowered bow as her secondary weapon... shit is unreal and it only gets better with the gear she has (and all her stuff is restricted to her so you can't use it for your character).

You can also find a new bow for her (that anyone can use) in the Elven Ruins you look for later.

You also are paired with a bookish Mage from the Circle of Magi (I personally saved the Circle Tower in my original game but since this DLC is set years after Origins/Awakening, it doesn't matter)... he also has personal gear but you can find a new Mage robe for him in the Circle Tower basement.

Rounding up the posse is "Dog" AKA the Mabari Hound you get at the beginning of the game in Origins... no new Kaddis for him but he's awesome just the same (oddly enough, the story logic gets a little weird because if you left him to die/never recruited him, then this version of "Dog" is inferred to be just some Hound you picked up along your journeys).

As for the game portion of the DLC, you start off going back to Flemeth's Hut to look for Morrigan after some of your scouts said they saw her in the area (she dipped out after you beat the Archdemon); inside you are jumped by the afformentioned Dalish Elf who afterwards explains that Morrigan ganked a spell book her tribe has been using for centuries.

The reason being that the book mentions an enchanted mirror that can be used as a portal to travel through The Fade as well as anywhere in the world.

After a quick chat, you, the Dalish Elf and "Dog" go to the Circle Tower (whether you saved the Mages or not in Origins, there's Templars and Mages occupying the area) to research more info on the mirror as well as where on might be in Ferelden.

Fast forward some more (there's a Harry Potter reference, the Mages talk about your character as well as Anders, the mage you team with in Awakening, and you meet up with Sandal who enchants stuff as well as sells goods) and you're off to find the mirror.

The DLC itself has no new areas to stomp through (the Cadash Thaig is part of Shale the Golem's personal quest, the Dalish Ruins are part of the Dalish Elf's Origin quest, and the Circle Tower basement is in the Mage Origin) aside from where you eventually go to find Morrigan and the mirror.

You fight a new boss-level monster that will appear in Dragon Age 2 as well as dragonlings, cultists, drakes (they give you a Drake Scale in this DLC), Dragons (no Dragon Scales) before you reach Morrigan.

Again, since you probably ported your Warden to play in this, you will be overpowered and will likely breeze through this.

And finally, you rap up the DLC with a short dialouge with Morrigan (you don't fight her, she repeats the same script line Flemeth says at the beginning of the Dragon Age 2 trailer) which results in either:

-She leaves, leaving you the Dalish Spellbook she ganked as well as some high-level DLC gear that ports to all your main saves in either Origins or Awakening.

-You leaving with her through the mirror, IF you romanced her in Origins. You still port the DLC gear and your Dalish buddy gets her book back. The Mage dips out and you abandon "Dog".

-You "killing" her as you shank her, pushing her through the mirror. You leave with the Spellbook and the portable DLC gear anyway.

There is no autosave afterward and the DLC just ends afterward.

Avoid the DLC unless you want "closure" and more DLC gear to use/sell.

 

[stevsta]

bought it and played it

Way too short and not enough story it felt like it was an unfinished product (felt like bioware could of added more story plots into it)

 

[Maynard]

just picked up awakenings. god dam i cant wait for DA2. i played about 5 hours of awakenings so far and i am past the first sequence of events of the vigil and still in the area shopping and getting used to all the shit the game can do. its more like 7 hours cause i had to restart a save since i have been playing around with the manual that lets you redistribute all your skill points. Thats a beautiful thing because it really forced me to learn all the powers of all 3 classes. It basically allows you to build your team the way you want

bioware is truly the master of the RPG

 

[Maynard]

finished awakening. took 33 hours. it was a great expansion. the choices didnt seem to matter as much as origins but i enjoyed the story.

 

[JayDizzle]

finished awakening. took 33 hours. it was a great expansion. the choices didnt seem to matter as much as origins but i enjoyed the story.

 

It depends on who your character is as well as who you put on the throne at the end of the Landsmeet.

If you're an elf, you might get a better response from the elf wizard chick.

If you're a dwarf, you might get a better response from the dwarven death squad chick.

If you put Alistair on the throne, he shows up to wish you good luck (or more if you Romanced him as a chick :shifty: ...damn trophy).

If you kept Loghain alive, he shows up to wish you luck.

Wynne shows up too if you didn't kill her.

You receive love letters from Zevran and/or Leiliana if you romanced them.

There's more but I can't remember.