Game: Dragon Age Origins

[itadakimasu]

So....

I've been sticking to basically a single party, until I went to the mage tower and it was switched up a bit.

Anyhow, I went back to camp and thought... what the heck, im going to use those other party members. WOW... random world map encounter! party whiped out!

But, the point is that I realized that even the party members you're not currently using accumulate experience points. So, that is pretty good since there is no grinding. I'm going to Fully upgrade Liliana's lock picking and go back through the mage tower to see if there's any epic loot in the chests I couldn't get.

Such a good game... 30-35 hours in and no near in sight!

[Archangel]

There's no truly epic loot that requires lock picking, at least none i could find

Those mostly come from quests or bosses

[Ryllharu]

You'll find lots of tier 7 things lock away in chests towards the end of the game. Granted, you'll often already have better things either purchased from a vendor or found in the open.

But a dragonbone dagger with three rune slots is pretty 'epic' from a twin-weapon rogue's standpoint.

While the mechanics of Dragon Age are more like AD&D 3.5 or 4th edition, the way armor and equipment interacts is a bit more like 2.5 edition. That is to say, it's nice, but it really isn't a necessity to have super amazing equipment.

I beat Arl **** with my tier 1 Family sword one-on-one, just for the satisfaction.

[itadakimasu]

For anybody who has finished a playthrough... How many hours was your playthrough?

I'm past 50 hours now and really don't know if I'm close to an end.

I wasted a couple hours the other day because I had this random darkspawn encounter and there's just way too many darkspawn! they're all using ranged attacks w\ the exception of 2 mid-tier guys.... Last night, I pulled the same encounter!!!! omg! I spent 30+ minutes dying over and over before returning to my save at camp before i'd been there. Switched party members, and then i got a different encounter instead

Sometimes I regret my build. I think another playthrough is definitely in order. I find myself really needing to have morrigan and wynne in my party to survive, which means that I have to choose to have allister along, or toggle between him and a rogue or something.

[Ryllharu]

My first full playthrough was 40 hours on the dot (human mage), with Leliana, Alistair, and Sten as my regulars. Over 75+% of all side quests completed.

Second playthrough was 35 hours, (human warrior). Alistair, Leliana, and Morrigan as my regulars. Again, 75+% of all side quests, but I'm pretty sure I got a few more this time.

Third playthrough, 26 hours and counting (city elf rogue), I'm about 3/4 through the game at my estimate. Companions are a great deal more mixed this time. I swap Morrigan and Wynne whenever I feel like it, and Alistair occasionally gets swapped for the other rogue [not naming him for spoilers' sake].

I never use Shale, he always hits the rest of the party with AoEs and usually dies anyway, despite his massive Con.

I've got a few other characters, but I'm not really playing them seriously.

-----------------------------

I absolutely had to start over. My first mage build was horrible.

[KrayZ33]

Shale is only usefull when fighting against bosses or *very* large groups or casters

his aura is extremely powerfull

and at the beginning his auto attacks are probably the strongest (because you can change his element and recieve the modifier)

[itadakimasu]

Ryllharu : wow.. maybe I'm just slow? idk... i'm at 55 hours and I'm not sure how far along I am really.

My gaming ended last night w\ a bug. I was in the dwarf city doing the "proving" and when I was done.... my character emerged and I didn't notice that he was alone. I hadn't clicked Move Freely.. and at the end of the hall I was at, I got ambushed.

I died, because there was 4 on 1. Then it took me to my live charactors who were trapped in the arena. No doors or any kind of ramp to get out.

[complich8]

My first playthrough ended in the 80ish hour range, but I pretty much watched every person talk, interacted with every object I could touch, did better than the 75% sidequest achievement, and spent time digging through all the codex entries and all the ability descriptions and whatnot, learning how to fight more strategically. That playthrough had a lot of micromanagement too ... that was my mage run.

I've since completed a playthrough as a dwarven noble warrior (35ish hours, escape through slow talking, not reading codex entries, but still doing sidequests). Did both elven origin stories up to ostagar before abandoning them.

Now I'm on my third full playthrough as a human noble rogue. I'm still accelerating dialogue and not reading the history books, but I'm spending more time because of the fun opportunities that a couple tiers of stealth and the ability "arrow of slaying" bring to the table.

[itadakimasu]

Morrigan disapproves of me turning down an offer to use my fathers life force ( against his will ) to give me more HP.

maybe my gaming morals are too high?

[Archangel]

Nah, Morrigan is just that much of a bitch

There's a whole fucking ending dedicated to how evil she is

[complich8]

you're a city elf?

but yeah, you've gotta understand that her concept of parental bonds is slightly .... strained. And all she ever wants is power. If you want to play as a "good" character, you're probably better off leaving her back at camp and rolling with alistair, wynne and leliana, or buying her off with lots of shiny presents.

[itadakimasu]

I'm at the end of the game... probably another hour or 2 but it's so late that I have to goto bed...

Sex with Morrigan is going to be close to the highpoint of the game !

[Penner]

Before my computer broke down (18 days ago >.<), i had a character where i had 94% approval with Morrigan and 100% with Leliana, and i had sex first with Morrigan, then went straight over the camp to Leliana and slept with her too, although they did kinda force me to chose one of em..

[KrayZ33]

You can have a foursome with the woman at the Pearl who will train you how to become a duelist

[Archangel]

You can have a foursome with the woman at the Pearl who will train you how to become a duelist

Lol, Morrigan was PISSED when i tried to go down that route with her still on my team

[itadakimasu]

I finished last night. I don't play every new game that comes out... but this was one of the best games I've played in a long time. I got 90-100 hours of play time and will play it again at some point.

There's likely tons of stuff I didn't find on my first play through. I think my next time i'll diversify a little bit. I think Wynn is necessary because you need a healer, but toward the end, I went spirit healer w\ Morrigan too so that she had heal, group heal, and revive also.

9.5/10 imo.

[KrayZ33]

you can reset ur and ur party's skills with a mod if you wish too

it gives you more freedom designing your character and to choose different "main-party-members"

and u can test a lot of things.

u should consider it if you want to play it another time

[Archangel]

you can reset ur and ur party's skills with a mod if you wish too

it gives you more freedom designing your character and to choose different "main-party-members"

and u can test a lot of things.

u should consider it if you want to play it another time

Idd, i had alot of fun with that mod

[rockmanj]

I just got started...I have an elvish rogue (even though I kinda wanted a warrior mage). It keeps sucking me in, even though I was skeptical. At first I was strictly dual wielding, but lately I have taken up archery and more of a support role; seems to be working out better than I thought

[Penner]

Ye its way easier to play with a ranged character, gives you a better overview of the battlefield and much more control during fights ^_^