I just finished
 

Wow, what a wonderful game! I logged in around 120hrs so far (I haven't done Awakening yet) in about 3 weeks. I just couldn't stop. The dialogue and story were fantastic. Combat as a rogue archer was difficult at first but by level 15 it was a lot easier (I played on normal) I took Alistair whom I dearly loved, Wynne and Morrigen (whom I really liked until the devs decided to make me feel dirty at the end of the game)

Up until now I have been poking around for a game to hold my attention and I just assumed my tastes had changed but after this game, I guess not :D I plan on another play through with a duel-wielding rogue and then I can become queen hehe.

I think the only thing I didn't appreciate was all the tap-dancing to get things to flow without a tragic ending. My son had finished the game before me so when I got to Landsmeet, I would explain my decisions and ask if that was good and he'd say No. Ok, so I did this, "Is that good?" No. Fuuudddgge.

I finished all the quests except the scrolls of Banaster and those in the Gnawed Noble bar.

Now I'm hard pressed to find something to play next to cleanse my palette before my next playthrough :)

I'll give Witcher a chance although I really hate being forced to play a male character but oh well. Maybe Drakensang….I need something that will completely immerse me and give me the "gotta's"

Hmmm, FFXIII, Assassin's Creed 2, Alan Wake….I need a good story with strategic combat to drive it.

To Corwin, dte,CM et al this is why I never popped back into D&D online:biggrin: I'm sorry for that but this game totally sucked me in!

What other games just completely sucked you in where you didn't feel combat was just filler and actually drove the story?

Btw, in Dragon Age, I did love the random encounters where different groups you had aligned with would pop up to help. It really made you feel like you were working with everyone to stop the Blight.

I loved it when the dog found and boy and wanted to keep him:lol:

"I was told there would be cake. The cake is a lie!"

Celeste

Glad you enjoyed it so much. I enjoyed it too, although not as much as the game it was supposed to be a spiritual successor to. ;)

I highly recommend playing Awakening next.

As far as the other games you mention, The Witcher is hard to beat if you're looking for a great story driven RPG.

Congratulations ! :)

I have a similar thing with the Dwarven area. The "good guy" you might support is actually the bad decision for the society - and vice versa. I felt tricked, manipulated by the dev team as I read about this.

I actually think that this approach was very refreshing for a Bioware game, since most "moral" choices in their games are very black and white, whereas DA:O made a few choices less obvious and forced the player to look at the "big picture." Off of the top of my head, The Witcher and Deus Ex 1 & 2 are among the only games that made choices throughout the game less obvious and placed them in more of a gray area. The Dwarven example actually makes since when you think about it: The "good king" was a nice guy, but he was a weak ruler, and the "bad king" might have been a bit of a tyrant, but he was a charismatic, strong ruler. I actually wish DA made even more difficult choices that had slightly unexpected outcomes, but gray area choices that aren't absolutely obvious are just my own personal preference in RPG's.

Yes, I almost voted for Harrowmont but changed my mind. I did feel bad for the poor dwarf I let have a Chantry but at least he got to see his Maker a little sooner :)

I was really worried that after 120 hours, I'd have to off either myself or Alistair. Of course, it's possible but I won't see that ending hehe. It's funny though that something as simple as choosing Alistair to duel Loghain could change so much. I only chose him because I was an archer and figured I'd need a little more armor for that. Officially I ended up with Sten dueling and later reloaded to messa round and had Morrigan duel him. Mages are….awesome :D

Yes, Dragon Age made me feel again like back in the days when I first had installed Neverwinter Nights (which was my first real RPG). It totally sucks you in and refuses to leave you before you are finished!

I made several passes through the game and really enjoyed my dual wielding warrior tank (just a suggestion :) ).

As for the Witcher, I've started playing that game straight after it was released but left it just after hitting chapter 2. Later I restarted it and due to the patches en tweaks it was a much nicer game to play (as in feel but also technical). I finished it on that 2nd pass with almost the same urge to play as Dragon Age :D

Drakensang didn't do it for me, but it might do for you. Now enjoying Temple of elemental evil from GoG.com and realising that I missed a lot of the good old stuff :)

I had a great time with it myself, my char was a dual-wield rogue - something of a first for me when it comes to character classes Ive played. I played about 120 hrs myself, but I'm also the type to replay battles a lot just for the fun of it. I do like a lot of the moral choices in the game, and i didnt play a goodie-two-shoes this time around so it was fun to be kinda mean and wear the black hat instead of white for once.

I'm waiting for a boxed collection of all DLC / Awakenings, then I'll run it all in one fell swoop.

The last time I played a warrior was in Diablo 2 and then I tried the amazon archer and haven't looked back :). You should have seen when I had to handle Sten for the duel…I felt like such a clod.

I thought of trying a duel-wield warrior but I do love the utility of the rogues and dodging damage instead of just outliving it. Then again, I did start one to see how it felt.

Yes, I played a goody goody but only because I was sucking up to my teammates. I even had Morrigan so high that nothing I did phased her…the only comment she'd make is that she would be sick :D

Samhain, I did just receive my backup copy with all the add-ons. If anything is really good, I always get a back up…just in case.

After I finish Awakenings (I miss Alistair and my war dog *sniff) I'll finally get started on the Witcher and then play Origins again.

Any good ideas for a duel-wield rogue stat-wise? I've looked at it and have read some of the arguments of strength vs. dex. vs. cunning but am left as to which I should choose. Maybe take Assassin, and see if backstabbing is a pain to implement.

Btw, who all did you have in your party most of the time?

And I miss Sten and Zevran, the happy assassin :) I was prepared to not like him but they made him really funny. Ahhh Sten and the Dog growling at each other…:lol: I named my dog after my wienie Shih Tzu Adrian so that in some incarnation he would actually have a spine *snicker*

I used Alistair up to lvl 10'ish as tank. After that I only took the Morigan, Wynn and Leliane (as archer) with me. My warrior would be tanking from that point onward.

Yeah but you weren't romancing him ;) I'm thinking next time around of taking Alistair and then…Sten? Wynne (give her a nice damage line? I hated halfway through leaving my poor dog behind. The times I took Zev out, I had a hard time keeping him alive. I didn't take Leliana because of my own rogue. Hmmm….

I rolled with a consistent party, I'm not one to switch things up.

Alistair, Morrigan, and the Mabari War Hound were with me the entire game. I dont hear a lot of love for the Mabari, but I have to say - from where I was sitting he was a great companion. He can sop a ton of damage, has a nice AOE stun, and has this killer "tackle-n-chew" attack that just outright destroys casters or knocks down any big threats for a few.

My build for Draconia was Dex-heavy, secondary was cunning. Big on damage, big on crits. Strength is only important to the Dex/cunning Rogue in the respect that it determines the armor that you can wear. I think that it was a str of 21 allowed me to use the heaviest leather (or dragonskin or whatever), after that I didnt put anything more in STR. My damage was coming from dex. After a while, I went duelist and assassin lines - awesome damage.

While I did do the dual-wield thing, I stayed away from "using full size weapons" type stuff and flashy abilities. I concentrated on daggers, speed, critical hits, evasion, stealth, and my secret weapon - poisons. The poisons are a very potent addition to the rogue's arsenal, and the awesome damage the stuff does stacks. Yeah, it hurts em bad!

…and dont let anyone tell you that Stealth is worthless. Scouting ahead, getting a nice backstab or sneak attack in, instigating and baiting the enemy, laying traps, dropping in and out of fights at will - stealth is golden. Youre not playing it right if you think stealth is worthless.

For a more in depth look at my end-game char and stuff, check out my now-defunct blog entry - http://jasonsadventuresingaming.blog…omplished.html

You know about the Ultimate Edition, right? I don't think we can expect a box that only includes the expansion+DLC.


Better hurry up, March isn't that far away. ;)

Thanks! That is a great write-up. Regarding the marbari war hounds…I *always* had to reload when I ran into the kennels. Those suckers are vicious! :D You look up in horror to see them chomping on Alistair's face and chest and well that's all she wrote :biggrin:

I had planned to use poisons until I realized they don't work on bows. That wasn't fair *sniff* I did give Alistair poisons occasionally but I really didn't bother. Traps…now that sounds fun. I didn't do it this time around but it would be soooo satisfying after all those darn ambushes. It would make for really fun gameplay so thanks for the suggestion!

Btw, your build sounds similar to mine…I had strength around 21 and the rest in Dex and cunning. I couldn't remember which was better for damage. Isn't cunning good for armor penetration?

Again, thanks for the ideas :D I'm glad too that someone used the dog all the way through ;)

I got the Ultimate Edition and the only reason I started playing Dragon Age now was because I knew I'd have a back up by March ;)

I cant remember the math of it, but I'm pretty sure it's dex for damage and cunning for crits/armor penetration. Those Mabari kennels were an instance where the traps really came in handy. I snuck the rogue up and laid traps everywhere, then chucked a grenade into them and ran. By the time they got to the party they were pretty softened up.

some pretty cool movies of the Rogue takedown:
http://jasonsadventuresingaming.blog…ie-mayhem.html

Weve been trying out D&D 4e, thinking of making a rogue character of her

Actually, Bioware and Dragon Age reminded me of why I love black and white choices.

It just is so clear. No need to think.

Real life is utterly grey to me, and gives to me much too much stuff for thinking.
The "big picture" is there, and no-one sees it (German energy companies currently raising their prices quite a lot, although the energy prices as such are currently falling down - they just take a new law as an excuse to increase prices), we are pushed by unknown lobbyists of some mega companies who are trying to prticipate in writing laws, thus bending the gorvernment's laws to their bidding, meanwhile exploiting the society with low wages and and forcing them to buy things they perhaps might not want (look into my current signature for this) … Real life is grey.

And I want to keep away from this when I'm playing. I want a clear game. I want clear signals. I don't want reakl life to be transferred into a game.

Thus, Dragon Age made me return to my roots : I decided to keep away from games like this, and to rather return to adventure games, where the world is clear - and full of riddles instead full of intrigue.

As a direct result, I bought A Vampyre Story.

If you read the codex and spoke to dwarves, you would understand that Lord H was openly from the begining with a traditionalist and a conservatist. For example he supported the idea that dwarves should mind their own business and remain underground. He looked down those who would abandon the stone. He wanted the caste-system to remain as it is now. Why change something that has worked ok for thousands of years despite it's obvious flaws? While he was a good leader and honorable character, he was a prisoner of the old ways. Prince B on the otherhand wanted to change the dwarven society. For example removing the caste-system. He isn't likeable though and he is vicious, but at the end of day, he gets the job done and thing get better. Then change has it's price though, (B declaring himself a dictator).

I think this was a masterfully crafted scenario for the player to ponder about. Unlike many rpgs, moral problems in this game weren't always so predictable. It was very refreshing that you had to think a bit instead of choosing the obvious good/evil choise. Then again not every decision in DAO was as difficult. I also supported Lord H first time and failed to understand the possible consequences. But it was quite obvious if one pays attention, we just couldn't look at the situation objectively because B wasn't likeable :)

Samhain, which posions/flask bombs did you prefer? And what was your specialization? Those recipes could be expensive and I was such a tightwad.

Dez, hehe you are right but by the time I hit the dwarf area I stopped reading the codex. Yes, I'm embarassed but the game could throw so many at you. I think I tried to keep up on all those love letters though but I'm not sure I even got all of them :)

Alrik, I don't blame you there. Just trying to keep myself from dying in the end was enough. Personally Freleden could have fallen off the face of the earth as long as Alistair and I got to sail off into the sunset *snicker*. Btw, my in-laws are from Kaiserslauten. I lived for a year in Schweinfurt when I was little. I spoke German even before English.

Huh? what's all this about Harrowmont being a poor choice? I supported him and didn't notice any bad consequences… what are you talking about?

I'll divert you to someone who chose Harrowmont :)

Well, I more and more get the feeling as if I should restart the whole game, completely, because I might hve done somthing wring without noticing.

Ok, thanks! That part didn't sink in during my Epilogue, I think I was distracted by other stuff I thought was more interesting. I played a mage and wasn't really too bothered about what happened to the dwarves after the final battle.

The whole dwarven thing was awesome. Doubly so if you played a dwarven noble!

I just want to make this clear : I'm pro choices - I just don't want to have to meddle with politics within a game.

And thus choices in terms of politics - not my cup of tea.

Choices in terms of stealing etc. - yes, but of course !

If you don't care just pick one. The game will work either way.

Glad you enjoyed the game! I made it through 4 times so far (that includes DAO and Awakening plus any of the DLC where you got to play your Warden except for that Golems of Angaraak one).

By far my favorite was a dual wielding dagger rogue (his face is my current avatar on this forum). I was very consistent with my party, with 3 of the times through it being Dog, Alistair and Morrigan. I played once as en elf Warrior and had Wynn most of the time for that one.

Ahem… 4 times? Have you played anything else since DA was released?

I enjoyed DA, but I didn't think it was *that* good. I'll definitely replay it someday, but by the time I was finished with everything, I was more than ready to say goodbye.

I was a bit starved for an RPG game in my style. I don't like fixed protagonists so games like Witcher, ME, etc., don't appeal as much. I finished the 4th game in late October so it was spread out from the purchase date. Besides some minor MMORPG dabbling (very minor) it was the only game I played this year.

I also replayed with new DLC as it came out and a few mods for Alistair. It was also the first game I played with a diverse set of characters that appealed to me. I am a little burnt out now though :)

However now that I am done with it I am enjoying Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 3 (although after FNV, FO3 is a little blander … although still fun and me and Dogmeat are enjoying exploring).

I also just ordered Divinity II: Dragon Knight Saga so that will be for Xmas playtime. I am a little wary about DA2 though so I have not pre-ordered it and don't plan on it being a "must have" game yet.

Even though I really dislike fixed protagonists I still may get Witcher 2. I have liked what I have seen and if I can get past the lack of RP, in the context of creating my own character, and focus on the story and choices you can make in the game, it might be fun.

Wolf, did you get the PC version of Divinity II:Dragon Knight Saga? If so, from where? I live in Canada and can't seem to find a boxed copy.

I'd add more but I have the stomach flu today and am feeling REALLY sorry for myself hehe. Oh and my husband had to go out of town and another child has it. Hmmm sounds like a good reason to buy something just to console me and make me feel better ;)

I got it on Steam. Not my first choice but it was the easiest way for me to get it. It is for the PC.

Hope you feel better soon!

A new game always seems to make me feel better, Celeste! ='.'=

On the poisons, I generally rolled w/ simple old Concentrated Deathroot Extract or Crow Poison on my blades. Aside from the additional damage, they have a nice stun effect now and then that really pounds the final nail in the coffin of the enemy. BAM *stunned** bam bam *stunned again** …. *taps starts playing*

The recipes are expensive, but worth it IMHO. What else are you gonna spend your money on??

On the grenades and traps, I generally went fire and ice, with some surprisingly brutal shrapnel/claw traps mixed in now and then. Death by claw trap, ouch

I've been playing FO3 on and off for about 6 weeks now, and I think it's a fantastic game. It gets a bad rap from a lot of people, but I consider it one of the better crpgs I've played recently, and one of the all time best for exploration. A few mods for balance are definitely a must though, imo. I also have FO:NV, but I don't want to start it until I'm finished with FO3.

I'm with you guys on Divinity II: DKS, I think it looks pretty good. I'm going to hold out for a retail boxed version though.

Somehow missed this discussion! I too think DKS looks promising, but all this DA talk is making me want to try Awakenings. I had almost forgotten how good DA is.. ;)

Thrasher, I'm going to replay DA shortly but remember…we'll never get to our unplayed pile at this rate :biggrin:

And I'll be getting Divinity 2 shortly. I have the original Divinity 2 but I'm a sucker for enhanced stuff with the new edition of DKS hehe.

Dragon Age is indeed a very fine and polished game. It's fun to play it, imho !

If only this dirt was not there … Regarding my personal hate of this "blood" thing and everything "gritty" in this game, Dragon Age is to me like a real beauty dressed in rugged, dirty clothes or even rags.

Sad, that it doesn't shine through it, at least not as much as I'd want it to. :roll:

But didn't you like romancing and kissing while covered in blood?? :D Btw, I think there is a mod for no blood or something.

Yes! That's a good reminder for the next playthrough. :p

I haven't looked at the mod scene for DA, but if there are texture enhancements, I'd definitely try those out. Plus any other annoyances they've managed to hack out. ;)