Dragon Age impressions

[GarfunkeL]

D&D is not a setting. Its a game system. Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Eberron, Greyhawk, Spelljammer, Planescape - those are all settings.

 

[Worm]

Are those 80-120g items at some vendors just a cocktease or do you actually amass enough monies at some point to afford some of them? So far (lvl 12) what little I've managed to gather has gone just as easily, and that's only after buying the bare essential recipes (health & mana pots) and 1 skill book.

There's still lots of recipes and books to buy, so unless there's some 50g chests somewhere...

There are ... a few. Once you're done with Denim(w/e).

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I could afford one of those items at endgame. I bought a badass set of mage robes for 80g.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Most I've had so far is like... 55g I think? It's pretty scarce, and I just had over 30g and blew 20 on a couple of Grandmaster runes (needed to pimp out my sward of d00m).

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Still can't find a decent set of armor (one that is made from the same materials and is the same type/design cause I don't feel like looking like a clown at cutscenes)

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Are those 80-120g items at some vendors just a cocktease or do you actually amass enough monies at some point to afford some of them? So far (lvl 12) what little I've managed to gather has gone just as easily, and that's only after buying the bare essential recipes (health & mana pots) and 1 skill book.

There's still lots of recipes and books to buy, so unless there's some 50g chests somewhere...

I've stockpiled around 30g now, after a lot of plundering in the deep roads. Haven't had a chance to sell a lot of the loot I've picked up in there. I've heard that the steal skill is actually quite useful for collecting money, though it's apparently a pain in the ass to use constantly. Heard of people finding 20+g off of one NPC.

And the best armor I've seen is the GLORIOUS BLOOD DRAGON DLC ARMOR DLC DLC DLC DLC. Also ridiculously cheap for massive-class armor (2-5g a piece). I've seen a few individual armor pieces that are better, but since there's a set bonus for wearing all of the blood dragon armor, it's still the best complete set I've found. I'd recommend the deep roads if you want armor Lavoisier.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Just did the broodmother. That was actually quite cool for a giant titty monster.

 

[DemonKing]

Well if that's true from what I have seen in the game they don't get the GRRM Books at all. It's not about the sex and blood. They were more about not knowing when a character was going to die, the brutality, the low magic setting, and the war of the roses style factions fighting for the throne.

I don't know, I'm kind of enjoying the level of brutality in the game so far - it caertainly gives the impression that "life is cheap" in Ferelden ala Martin.

So far I've seen my brother's wife and kid, the mother of a possessed brat, and the king (and possibly Duncan as well), all die quite brutaly.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Ah son of a bitch, just got the dwarf NPC forced on me for this part. GOD DAMN IT BIOWARE!

Just wait'll you get to the darkspawn rape-rooms Demonking.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

Gaider doin' his own thang = Jerking off into a pile of blank papers.

i doubt gaider actually wrote much of the dialog, i only cringed like 2 times during the whole game as opposed to 10 times in a 1-page excerpt of his book

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Eh, kill the high dragon and you can get a nice set of dragon armor. It's not OMG BLOOD DRAGON DLC DLC DLC but it certainly will due.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN I'm in an even more ridiculous fight now. Dragon Age is the best goddamn game. RPG of the century.

 

[GarfunkeL]

OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN I'm in an even more ridiculous fight now. Dragon Age is the best goddamn game. RPG of the century.

And people wonder why some 'bitch'.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

If 1eyedking can banalboringshit it I'm going to hyperbole how much fun I'm having. :receive:

 

[Grifthin]

I got Dragon Age (collectors - yes I Paid that much for it and it was worth it) day before yesterday. I've logged about 17 Hours of play starting as a human noble warrior using great weapons. Current level 11, Game is 19 Percent complete.

Impressions:

I like the camera ALOT more than NWN, switching between a almost BG and over the shoulder view is excellent. Voice acting has generally been very good with only one or two minor cringe invoking replies.

Setting:
The game is very familiar to people fond of fantasy, but at the same time it's got alot of twists that sometimes catch you off guard. Many of the quests have cought me off guard with their endings, and many of the characters don't act at all like you expect them. Shale the rock golem is one of my favourite so far.

Engine:
Game is running smooth as a oil,Everything maxed at 1680x1050, AA set to 2x. My rig is about 2 years old. I havn't encountered any bugs yet, but I've only scratched the surface of the game.

DLC:
Wardens keep and Stone Prisoner are well worth it. I especially like the fact that the stone prisoner ties in so nicely with the rest of the game, your party members all interact with each other, not like the DLC for mass effect that had little effect on the overall story line. The Keep is interesting to explore and the codex entries and cutscenes help flesh out the background of the wardens. The rest of the weapons/armor etc from flashgame/char creator etc don't add much, but the Blood dragon armor is some of the best you can get at early levels and well worth it.

Combat:
Combat is challenging so far, I ended up killing a potential party member thus depriving myself of a primary healer. The codex has ragged on the auto regen alot, but it don't help for crap once the battle has actually started, In addition to this if someone dies repeatedly the cummalitive injuries really bugger you. Bleeding wounds slow regen ALOT, cucussions reduce mana pool, eye wounds influence accuracy etc. Get wounded to often and you will royally be screwed. I havn't picked up many potions/injury kits yet for some reason. The lack of healer is really making it tough for me to decide when to use one of the VERY valuable potions. I've decided to start pushing morrigan towards healing a bit to help out. Friendly fire is great so far as it's for both you and your enemies. Enemy mages casting fireballs are a great danger to your party, but also to their minions. Trap's and Poisons have turned out to be remarkably useful unlike many modern games where enemies scale to fast.

So far I'm enjoying it more than any game i've play for a long time.

 

[Saxon1974]

Im still enjoying the game but its starting to seem that 80% of game time is clearing rooms of enemies....

Just got the mage circle tower and that's been pretty much all I have done so far.

IS this game this way all the way through?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

It wasn't in Orzammar, until I left for my BIG ADVENTURE.

 

[HanoverF]

Im still enjoying the game but its starting to seem that 80% of game time is clearing rooms of enemies....

Just got the mage circle tower and that's been pretty much all I have done so far.

IS this game this way all the way through?

No it gets worse. Sloth demon is probably the high point. Bonus points for separating you from annoying teammates.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

"News of the hour! Lord Bhelen attacks the assembly and is ignominiously slain! Epic fail!" Almost lost my DA boner when I heard that. God damn it.

 

[made]

DLC:
Wardens keep and Stone Prisoner are well worth it. I especially like the fact that the stone prisoner ties in so nicely with the rest of the game

Hardly surprising considering it actually was part of the game until they yanked it out to sell to you separately.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

What kind of bothered me is that you get the Blood Dragon armor just dropped into your inventory right from the start, not even a frickin "ooh look a rain barrel with 5000 gold and an epic plate mail in it" to introduce it. My willowy female mage has been carrying that fucking thing around since her days as an apprentice and I STILL dont have a character that has the stats to actually wear it!

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Heh, Somethingawful has an article about DA. http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/dragon-age-codex.php

Pretty not-funny except this passage though:

As it turns out - for the first time in the history of the universe - people with extreme opinions about things they hadn't experienced firsthand were wrong. The game is all of the things it claimed to be, and on top of that most people seem to think it's pretty fun.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

This is my being-raped face.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

 

[Monkeyfinger]

DLC:
Wardens keep and Stone Prisoner are well worth it. I especially like the fact that the stone prisoner ties in so nicely with the rest of the game

Hardly surprising considering it actually was part of the game until they yanked it out to sell to you separately.

It was originally just a concept that was headed for the cut content bin until EA decided to delay the PC version for half a year to coincide with the console launch. They may well have hatched the DLC plan before or during SP being fleshed out.