Of course it is already established just how much I play the PSP and DS as well as PC, so really the 'competition' there tends to be whether I play the PSP/DS or the iPad/iPod. And given how many times I have had to charge the PSP/DS before playing again … they have seen loads of downtime. The PC has been quite happy, though … :)

Why did the game after Redcliffe just turn into an almost impossible frustration that I can't avoid, being attacked traveling to another location? These ambushers kill everyone off within 10 to 15 seconds, and even careful tactics cannot save me. I made it once, after reloading many times, but then I forgot to save. What the hell BioWare?

The ambushers ?

Well, here's a trick : Avoid this area until you gain several levels, and then go back ! ;)

I recall the random encounters during map travel portions were ridiculously difficult to the point that I thought they were bugged at first. The designers really had absolutely no concept of decent encounter design. :/

10 to 15 seconds sounds like you have the difficulty on way too high or it's user error. Some encounters are hard, yes, but the game isn't exactly speedy so something is wrong.

Are your companions geared out properly? Are you levelling them in a sensible manner? Who makes up your party? How are your tactics set up? Are you using health poultices? Are you prioritising your attacks on certain NPCs (e.g. mages first)?

Dragon Age is not an easy game in the early stages, especially during your first playthrough.

I remember there were several areas I actually had to avoid until I was stronger, because of certain random encounters. There was a particular encounter with a group in Denerim that I found frustrating for awhile.

Hmm, well it was a combination of things. I eventually made it through, but there are other random encounters I have very much difficulty with now (like a huge shitload of wolves). And to be clear, this ambush was the one where you meet Zevran.

For one, again, I'm playing on Xbox. It's really hard to target some of the enemies in the distance (like the annoying mage)! There is no overview camera mode (I believe they cut this, because a preview had it in the console version! Bastards!) I was also almost out of poultrices. To make matters worse, I overwrote my save game and the last autosave was at least 30 minutes back.

So in the end, it took me maybe 15-20 reloads until I got lucky again. There wasn't really any avoiding this encounter, neither, because, hey, I need to travel to some place eventually. Overall, I'm finding it a bit difficult to lay out complex tactics on the Xbox game, especially targeting.

I'm playing on normal. It wasn't really that hard until now. Sure, some encounters took a couple of tries, but I could adjust my plan and win. I probably also need to spend some more time on the tactics slots, possibly equipment, too.

Another thing, my inventory is almost full (70/70) the whole time. Either I'm an obsessive collector or I'm carrying way too many useless things. When do you actually get to use those crafting items? I'm 25 hours in!!

Yep, early on those wolves wiped out my party a couple of times, until I learned the necessity of crowd control spells. Even then, it was tough. Soon after I left Morrigan at camp. :p

As soon as you leave the first area you get a camp that includes an enchanting enchanter. Also Morrigan has herbalism from the get go. Leilani/Enron can or can be built to create bombs and poisons and traps, I believe. You need to find recipes in many instances, first, though. Many can be bought.

You just have to adjust for a difficult game. I was pretty surprised at how difficult it was at first, and that wolf fight was a tough one on hard.

But, as soon as you adjust and become suitably cautious - the game changes and becomes quite comfortable. I actually found it too easy for the most part, but that's what happens when you make an effort to learn the game, and most games that start out hard will end up something else if you invest.

I'm sure there's a myriad of ways to handle fights, but I found two mages to heal/control very helpful. Once I got that, most fights became a breeze.

The difficult fights generally had 2-3 Boss mages - and it became a question of taking them out of the fight ASAP, with the rest being a cakewalk. Pretty boring and predictable, really, but that's mostly due to the AMOUNT of fights. Way too much filler combat for my tastes.

Did you not get the two bags from Ostagar? I think there's a third in Lothering, but I can't remember.

Bio went retard with their inventory system.

I highly recommend the Inventory mod from dragonagenexus.com that will set your inventory to ~125 (hardcoded limit).

He's on the 360.

Ah ;)

In that case, I recommend switching to PC!

I recommend buying a new PC first! :P Hmmm, I think I missed those bags. I wonder if I can go back to Ostagar to get them. I'll need to figure out Herbalism and some of the other skills soon. I get that crown control becomes more important, but like I said, I find specific targeting in the distance difficult. Yes, this really does seem like more of a PC game, although I do like relaxing on my couch with my controller. ;)

In any case, I made it to the tower and things are not that hard there. I can probably level up a bit here. Although I did end up killing Wynne. :(

Once you've gotten to Lothering, you can't get the bags. There's a few other merchants scattered around who sell some, however.

Have you spec'd Morrigan to heal, then, or are you doing that yourself?

I don't know if I could have handled the game without Wynne, pause, overview camera and cone of cold.

I've only just taught Morrigan to heal. That made a huge difference in the Zevran fight, after I changed her tactics a bit. But I think I'll go back and let Wynne live, anyway, but that seemed to piss Morrigan off a bit. I don't want to lose out on content here, but also wanted to keep Morrigan happy.

As for the console version, I'm only missing overview camera and mods. The rest *should* be possible on Xbox…

Doormat :)

Oh, shit. It's true, isn't it? And I just gave her a shitload of gifts, too! Aaaaaah!

In your defense, she's pretty damn hot - as is the woman voicing her :)