Dragon Age: Origins

[Vagabond142]

Well, it seems quite a few of us are playing this game, so why not have a dedicated thread to compare achievements, talk strategy, figure out how to get into Morrigan's panties, etc :P

I'm about 4 hours in and just finished up the first town (Lothering) and am now doing all the dialogue options in the first camp scene. Seeing as I'm playing a female human warrior first, apparently Leliana is my panties target :P

[Mibz]

I effed up and started a new char in Morrowind a few days before this dropped so I haven't had a chance to play it but I'm hearing a lot of bad things. Difficult camera control, same ol' story, mediocre graphics for a game that originated on the PC and a fighting system that "makes me feel like I'm doing the same shit over and over but I feel new pain every time".

Of course for every bad comment there are a couple good ones so I don't know what to think. Bioware called it a successor to BG2 but it's not D&D-based?

Shit, is the game good or not?

[Vagabond142]

Keep in mind, I'm playing the PC version (which is supposedly the superior of all the versions)

I'll put it in this sense:

If you want fast action, little investigation and a linear story, this isn't your game.

A lot of time in this game is spent conversing with NPCs, reading quest notes, journal entries, codex entries, etc, managing your team's armor and attributes, all the while taking part in what, to me, is a very well thought out fantasy story (well, as much of it as I have so far experienced). Combat doesn't have to be boring because you can, at any one instant, hop into a different character and play that character while your player character goes to AI control.

The PC version also has a top down, zoomed out RTS control interface on tap, where you can do a combat pause (spacebar), zoom out to tactical view, issue orders and targets, then zoom back in and resume. It's really seamless and adds a whole layer of tactical thought to the game, because you are often overwhelmed by mass bands of enemies and you have to protect your casters and archers (or rogues) from the heavy hitters.

The story can also branch in about 461 million different ways, depending on your morality and choices made. Some are relatively minor, such as pissing off the market dude in the first town so he runs off and isn't available, to game changing, such as giving the wrong answer or the evil answer when an NPC wants to join you (you can chose to not take Leliana by telling her, in no other words, to fuck off when she offers to join your quest).

Like Mass Effect, the game also, apparently, has a gigantonormous amount of sidequests. I'm 5 hours in and have only done ONE major quest, everything else has been sidequests (kill x mobs, save x person, make x items, etc) and investigation (you can talk to the same party member or NPC 5-10 times and EACH time is a different conversation). There is a fucking ASSTON of dialogue to go through, so if you hate games like the Final Fantasy series or the XenoSaga/XenoGears series, where you have to think about things and actually use your brain to solve problems, you will probably hate this game.

I like it for the fact that it has really well developed characters, a story that is dark, evil, twisted, and very fun, and the fact that there is huge replay value in that you have 3 races, each with 2-3 classes, each with 1-2 origins, so you have about 10 different ways to play the game through, and that's only using the neutral options in conversation. Add the morality choices (at any one time you can have up to 7 morality choices of differing levels of good or evil), and this game just begs to be played through again and again and again.

So yeah..... even 5 hours in, I fucking love it

EDIT: Also, the game is rated Mature, and it earns that rating. There is blood EVERYWHERE, and you can even make it persisten, ie it won't disappear off your party characters unless they clean themselves or change armor. Also, there are some dark moments in the game that border on controversial, but are done in a way to get your riproaringly mad at an NPC or to tug at your heartstrings to influence a character's personal storyline (oh, did I mention that each party member in your group has their own personal sidestory that can be played along with yours? :P )

DOUBLE EDIT: You asked specifically about graphics... I would put them on par with Mass Effect 1 on the PC. Apparently DA:O uses DX10 for particle effects and water effects, but the engine runs super smoothly (i have yet to have any chug at all at 2560x1600, 2xMSAA, triple filtered textures) no matter how many baddies are on screen. It's a very nice looking game too, but deliberately bleak (which may be the complaint). It doesn't set out to wow you with bright colors and rolling fields of marigolds. It's designed to be gritty, grey and brown, down to earth, this is war level stuff.

Just remember... if you are a fast paced gamer that wants it all and wants it now, then you will probably bore easily with Dragon Age. However, if you like deep, engaging, and extremely well written RPGs, then welcome aboard Like I said tho, this isn't a mass effect type of action rpg, it's a much more traditional "Talk to EVERYONE and investigate EVERYTHING" rpg I like it d(^^ d)

[RC-Cola]

I agree wit most of what Vagabound had to say. I'm playing on the Xbox version as an M Elf Mage and I find the combat system is excellent. You need to understand your enemies and make sure to fight them the right way or you and your party won't last long. That being said, I'd say playing as a warrior could be boring as I don't think you'd do much other than stand there swinging a sword...

There are lots of hidden treasures or passages that if you don't read the codex you will miss out on.

I REALLY like how they intertwined the characters. I like how one of your NPC's might not like your decision and another will have a moral argument over what they feel is right.

Unfortunately I'm only about 15 hours in when my Xbox got the RROD last Friday and I had to send it back into MS for repairs.

[Mibz]

i have yet to have any chug at all at 2560x1600, 2xMSAA, triple filtered textures

Rig. Nao.

[Vagabond142]

Originally posted by Mibz
Rig. Nao.

CPU: C2D E8400 (3 GHz)
Memory: 4GB DDR2-800
Mobo: Asus P5Q-E (P45 chipset)
Vid: HIS HD4870 512
OS: Vista HP x64
Monitor: Dell 3007WFP-HC, second generation
HDDs: 250 gb Maxtor Sata2 (control), 1 TB Seagate sata2 (storage/media), 300 gb Seagate sata2 (gaming dedicated)
ODD: LG GCC-H20L Super Multi Blue (BR/HDDVD/DVD/CD)

[Vagabond142]

Originally posted by RC-Cola


I REALLY like how they intertwined the characters. I like how one of your NPC's might not like your decision and another will have a moral argument over what they feel is right.

I just had a fun moment at Redcliff with a situation like that. My party was F H War (me), Sten, Morrigan, Liliana. Talked to one dude, and Sten (being a qunari giant) is like "why the fuck we helping these humans?" and Liliana was like "oh no you DIDN'T" and I chose the option of agreeing with Liliana (after about 5 minutes of those two going at each other) and I lost 10 standing with Sten (O_O!) and 3 standing with Morrigan, but gained 5 standing with Lili (my panty target Yes, there are romance options in the game)

[Vagabond142]

Btw... I just upped my MSAA to 8x in game to see if it had an effect and.... still smooth as glass o_O (granted, I haven't done combat yet. I expect 4x will be easily doable)

My graphics settings:


» Click image for larger version

Tactical view (the zoom out I wrote about. Friendly units are yellow, controllable friendlies are yellow circles, enemies show up as red, and bosses are red circles with arrows, I believe):


» Click image for larger version


Level of graphics with 8xMSAA (closeup of Leliana as I have her armored right now in chainmal, set up to be an archer ):

» Click image for larger version

[Vagabond142]

Hah.... Morrigan is awesome.

I decided to help rescue some people and out of nowhere, she chimes "Oooo, we going to go save some fluffy kittens in trees next?" in the most sarcastic australian accent you've ever heard... choosing Claudia Black as her voice actress was an awesome move XD

[Smartiepants]

Ugh, really want to get started on this, but I'm thinking AC2 will eat my time for a while.

[Vagabond142]

Heh... Assassin's Creed 2 shouldn't take TOO much time. Plus, it's kinda fun to do little snippets of story at a time with Dragon Age. Playing in marathon sessions is possible, but tiring :P

[scary_perry]

I did almost 35 hours the first weekend it was out

Runs great on my uMBP - no high + 8xAA but whatever

[Vagabond142]

Originally posted by scary_perry
I did almost 35 hours the first weekend it was out

(rushes an emergency order of sanity to S_P's house)

Also, perhaps the two BEST scenes in all of Dragon Age so far (spoiler alert)

Spoiler:

Bann Teagan posessed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEBR8baVhxE

Leaving Shale's village for the first time after recruiting him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Lg1Uw3Gqo

[Travel_Dude]

Yeah I am seriously loving this game. I take breaks playing it by getting raped in MW2.

Im 28 hours in. I have the elves and mages on my side, have yet to snag the dwarves.

Great game. Fills in my WoW withdraw since quitting a few years back.

[Vagabond142]

I just got the mages on my side, now in camp doing my wooing of sexy french rogue and bantering with other characters XD

And I'm about 20 hours in o_O Yes, I love me some sidequests -_-

Also... I love how there was a giant tower to fight through to get to the circle of mages, and when you get there... well, seeing as you've done it, you know... was going for a nice short playsession yesterday and it turned into a 6 hours tower of awesome

[Enhance]

The last level is pretty frustrating, not because it's excessively difficult, but because the sequence triggers are messed up. More than once I had to run around randomly trying to trigger a cut scene so I could advance to the next area. Then as the credits are rolling and it's giving a run down of what happens as far as story goes after you beat the main campaign, the game decides to crash (first crash in 30ish hours).. I was too annoyed to go back and figure out what happened, I'll youtube it

[Vagabond142]

Wow... Orzammar has some depressing shit going on o_O Here one thinks that dwarves are all cuddly and happy little miners, and then WHAMMO Dragon Age gives you a zone that is so twisted, so politically and morally corrupt that you can't help but shake your head in amazement at what BioWare has pulled off XD

[Vagabond142]

Been a good night for me in Dragon Age XD Finally got the humans of Redcliffe and the Dwarves on my sight... btw... that boss fight at the end of Orzammar.... oi x_x

Anyways, two good screenies from tonight, very slight minor tiny infintessimally small spoiler in the first one:

Quote of the month?

» Click image for larger version


And... someone's getting some girl on girl action tonight, awwwwwwwwww yeah

» Click image for larger version

I just gotta get through the Elves and the Landsmeet, I think, to get to the yar yar hump hump stuff :P

[Vagabond142]

hah... not five minutes after that last post and not only has she done the equivalent of a right good fucking, but she wanted seconds o_O freaky french rogues :P mrrrrrow

anyways, pixellated lesbianism aside, I just hit 28 hours into the game... and my world exploration is at 50%, my game completion? 21% o_O

[dubol]

What's that giant rat thing in that one picture of yours?