At a Good Breaking Point
 

…and I can't find the motivation to continue :( Just finished the "ashes" thingy.

I have not played in 5 days. If I go off and play something else I'll never come back. Please help.

Currently i play one dungeon crawl at the time and then stop playing. I hope it opens up somewhat. I thought one reason i felt this game was "boring" was because i did all the wrong quests first, redcliff (without going to Denerim), then Orzammar and then Magician. It was like an endless fight for 35 hours. I did get my hopes up when entering Denerim for the second time after the Ashes.

Well currently i play 30-60 min at a time tops. Not sitting for to long. I want to finish it just to have it finished. It has moments, but the problem is not to have the reptetive combat / boring stuff hit you in the head. :)

Have you read the books? If not, then get 'The Stolen Throne' and 'The Calling', Im sure they will put you in the right mood, they sure did for me :)

I know exactly how you guys feel. There's been nights where I chose to just watch televsion rather then play DA.

I still think it's a great game, but it's not the crpg masterpiece that some people claim it is. I've never felt truly immersed in DA the way I was with the old Infinity Engine titles. I used to play those games 9-10 hours at a time if I was able, I couldn't stop.

I've yet to play DA longer than 3 hours in one sitting. Even Risen was more engaging to me recently.

If you find you have to force yourself to play the game: stop right now.

It's not worth it. It does not get better. The tedium will drag on, and on, and when you finish the game you'll wonder why you wasted all those hours that you'll never get back. Especially if you find the combat tedious, it'll only get worse. If you don't find the story immersive now, it will immerse you no better: basically if you find you don't give a damn about the characters or about the fate of Ferelden against ANCIENT ARISING EVIL… you're not going to any time soon. The origins mark the high point of the game, and thereafter it goes downhill.

Go grab a copy of Divinity 2 or Armored Princess, they'll treat you better, I promise.

Well, it's my third - and probably last - playthrough and I admit that I'm at the same point that I was when I played Mass Effect for the third time : not the for story, ambiance and character interaction anymore (first and second time's enough), but just for experimenting with different tactics, skills etc. In other word, not really as a rpg anymore.

I still like the game, sure, but overall I think that for immersion, the Witcher offers more, even when replaying the game for some… Nth time. :-)

Sad to hear all of this. I've done everything except Orzammar, and the only areas I have found boring so far, have been all those little side quests in Denerim. I've just finished the warehouse with the blood mages, and though I found the setting very boring, it was still a good dungeon romp - very challenging combat-wise with the traps and all the blood mages, and I actually had myself killed at a point. So I'm still enjoying the combat..

Areas I enjoyed, was getting Shale, the Mage's Tower was so-so and I LOVED the Brecilian forest. I rather enjoyed the Redcliffe night fight, though the castle itself had been a bit more boring.
I rather enjoyed the getting the ashes romp, I played it both ways to get Reaver unlocked for myself.
I really enjoyed doing Morrigan's personal quest, and I'm still into improving the party's disposition, and I'm still enjoying Shale's remarks.

..so sad to hear that you're not enjoying yourselves. Risen was also nice, yes, but in a different way. The last 2 chapters were certainly not any better storywise than DA, IMO.

…but the pull of Div 2 is getting stronger, I must admit..

Doing my 4th run through the game at the moment, both to experiement with various outcomes (quite a few quests have fairly big consequences depending on how you solve them), and to try out different party setups and talent specs.

Generally, I feel somewhat limited by only having four members, especially since I tend to fill all roles (dps/tank/healer/rogue). It would be nice to have an optional spot as well, similar to Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 (where I tend to go with 4-5 people, sometimes 6, depending on how much flavor I want to add).

Anyway, I'll probably end up replaying DAO quite a lot over the years, especially if they add some good content through add-ons/DLCs, though not as much as Gothic 1, BG1/2, etc.

I also like experimenting like you do, Maylander, but I like to do it all during the first playthrough, which is partly why I'm taking so long.

I tend to reload earlier saves often, so as to see what would happen if I played the scenario differently, and/or with different party members.
This is how and why I got to cheat a bit with the reaver speciality, and why I decided I prefer it above the berserker speciality.

Btw - I gave champion to Alistair, and I like the buffs that it affords.

Maylander

You have quite the stamina :)

The class system could have been done a lot better imo. I don't care for the way certain specializations seem to be connected with a good or evil alignment.

What this game is really missing though, is a way to escape battles you can't win. It would be nice if there was some kind of 'retreat' ability, that allowed you to transition out of an area even during a battle.

Grizzled vets
 

Im playing for about 3 hours every evening.

After my toddler have gone to bed and while my tired and pregnant fiancee have fallen asleep in front of the TV.

(gotta love the telly and all the worthless shows, its prime gaming time for me :D)

I think there is a problem when comparing the time you could have a gaming session years ago with older titles to the time you could put in now.

I had a discussion with a friend of mine about computer games and how we played them now and then.
Both of us could sit a complete day in front of the screen and just have the "one more turn" syndrome.

While at the university I had periods were I got up, made breakfast, and then sat in front of my screen playing heroes3, baldurs gate2, or system shock2, until long past midnight. Having meals in front of the computer.

In recent days, even when I have had my family away and all the gaming time in the world I cant stomach those sessions from older days. I get restless and bored. And it doesnt matter what game Im trying to play.

What Im trying to get to is that maybe we have changed as gamers as we have aged. Its not the games (or not only), its us. And we have been jaded by all the games we have played.
I have found it harder to immerse myself completely in games now, any game and any genre, than it was before.

I will forever remember the nights I played system shock 2, the Muzak in the elevator and the 6 mutants waiting outside and the 5 bullets in my rusty gun.
Or the intro from Deus Ex, the skyline of NY and the music.
But would the magic be there if I played it now?
10+ years later with a fulltime job, a family and a much more diverse life than I had as a university student.
Your thoughts?

But Im enjoying DA a lot, even though ME was more immersive to me.

/C

Crilloan

Great points - and you're quite right.

There's something that happens when you have enough time to play a game from start to finish, without too many interruptions. You become immersed on a different level and will likely invest greater things in the experience.

Whether it's due to less time or lower interest, there's little doubt that as adults we generally don't game like we used to. But on rare occasions - you can approach the "old days" if you allow yourself the amount of time and focus it takes to get there.

But, it's not necessarily worth it - and if you live with loved ones, you're likely better off simply being with them and giving them your attention.

Pretty much same opinion here. I played BGs in the time where i have much more free time available, felt much immersed in the game and could play it from morning till evening. Nowadays, many other things are having my attention than gaming alone. Still, DA is one of the recent notable crpgs that had my attention and played it for many hours, beside The Witcher.

Uh oh I've done most of those already and the game claims I'm at 47% explored :( Isnt there more to look forward to?

The main character can get about 7-8 more talents points at level 20 or 21 compared to NPC party members, so you should be able to make a berzerking reaver and get the best of both worlds if you so wish. ;)

Regarding the OP: the story presentation, dialogue interactions and battles were enough to hold my interest until the end and caused me to stay up longer than I should have. Beyond those there isn't much to DA though. I played in sessions longer than 3 hours. Orzammar's tunnels were a low point for me. There were too many of them, and what could have been atmospheric, mostly empty caves in the vein of the movie "The Descent" ended up being one battle after another again. Some of the fed ex quests were utterly pointless (the ones that had you actually go somewhere). Other than that, I had great fun. And the ending was satisfying.

I finished the game and it say I have done about 58%.

I think they count all the different origins/different sides you take etc into the 100%.

I am guessing the % count is for your account rather than for the current character.

I felt the Orzammar's tunnels pretty fun; the last area was tough thought.

Yes, I think you'd have to play all of the origins and unlock all of the achievements for you to have reached 100%. It does seem to allude to your account in total, rather than to a specific playthrough.

Hm, the whole Orzammar area is, along with the Mage Tower probably a highlight for me.
The city is full of intrigue and dwarves are really well conceived, despite being cliche and all.
And I didn´t mind the length of Deep Roads at all. I really liked the atmosphere with all the lore and minor quests scattered around. Encounters were somewhat repetitive, but at least it made sense within the context, plus some were quite interesting in design.
The last stages, starting at the tension buildup section before certain chock full of fat boss, were just about perfect imo.
However, it was the last "gathering allies" area I went to, so I was able to breeze through the abundant minor encounters in no time, which may be why I haven´t found this part tedious at all, I dunno.

Weakest areas for me were:
1. Denerim.
Felt flat and somewhat lacking in ambience, lazily designed, with not much interesting going on, simplicity of sidequests along with repetitive encounters really added up here I think.
Upon reaching the castle, it got quite significantly better though.

2. The haven temple
Not much of a story here, just rather repetitive gring. Nuff said.
The trial and the optional boss encounter were great though.