Dragon Age Series

[Edwin]

I guess I'll start with a mage since there hasn't been any word yet on a patch or patch schedule. Seems like that class should be using regular attacks a lot less, even in this faster combat model as compared to DA:O.

Friend of mine had the import error bug last night. "Loghain killed the arch demon to end the blight!" when Loghain had actually been chilling in the Landsmeet chamber sans head. Gameplay impacts seem minimal so far, but lame anyway.

 

[vivisectvi]

My (PS3) import has been fine so far. I ran across a sidequest to kill some conspirators who wanted to kill the Warden Hero and the quest giver mentioned that the Warden had killed Loghain, the Archdemon and the Mother. They also mentioned King Alistar which is who I had on the throne.

 

[ViciousFish]

I guess I'll start with a mage since there hasn't been any word yet on a patch or patch schedule. Seems like that class should be using regular attacks a lot less, even in this faster combat model as compared to DA:O.

Friend of mine had the import error bug last night. "Loghain killed the arch demon to end the blight!" when Loghain had actually been chilling in the Landsmeet chamber sans head. Gameplay impacts seem minimal so far, but lame anyway.

I was actually playing my mage when my glitch happened. The CD's are long enough that I'm usually regular attacking a lot.

On the plus side my import seemed to go well.

 

[Smues]

My copy shipped today. I'm crossing my fingers that it will show up Saturday so I can install it and download the high res pack Saturday night and then play the shit out of it Sunday.

 

[sbofn]

Hey, I have two separate DA:O campaigns saved on my hard drive. Does it let you choose which "history" you load?

 

[vivisectvi]

Yes

 

[Edwin]

I guess I'll start with a mage since there hasn't been any word yet on a patch or patch schedule. Seems like that class should be using regular attacks a lot less, even in this faster combat model as compared to DA:O.

Friend of mine had the import error bug last night. "Loghain killed the arch demon to end the blight!" when Loghain had actually been chilling in the Landsmeet chamber sans head. Gameplay impacts seem minimal so far, but lame anyway.

I was actually playing my mage when my glitch happened. The CD's are long enough that I'm usually regular attacking a lot.

On the plus side my import seemed to go well.

You weren't kidding about cooldowns. I'm liking the game so far, but mages are surprisingly ineffective early. Fireball has a longer cooldown than in the first game, does less damage, and combat is faster? Puzzling. Crowd control also seems pretty non-existent--no Force Field, lots of pre-reqs for Sleep--but it looks like the Force Mage specialization may fill that niche.

The overall emphasis on damage really seems to have shifted to the cross class combos. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

 

[ViciousFish]

I'm level 10 now focusing on the Elemental tree and by now there's a lot of times I can end fights before they really start. The upgrades for the spells are really important and make a "meh" spell into something amazing.

 

[Edwin]

Time to hit the ol' respec potions, then!

 

[ViciousFish]

I usually run up (like an idiot) throw out a cone of cold, a firestorm, fireball then start picking things off after that.

 

[Mik]

I love the swarming feel of alot of these battles. I'm a warrior, not a mage. There seems to be more enemies per battle, and the more frantic pace makes it more exciting I think.

I think the warrior plays better this time out too... some of the sword/shield skills are devastating.

 

[Sabre]

Im replaying DA:O soley so i have a good save to import to DA 2. Currently rocking an Arcane warrior build and its made the game far too easy. Good armour + weapons with the added abilitys of a mage.

The circle tower quest is still annoying, that fucking Rade shit really got on my tits.

 

[Conspiracy_Victim]

Running as a Warrior with Varric and, something I'd never do in Origins, 2 mages. Bethany is my heavy hitter mage and I switch out Anders and Merrill. I don't really use Aveline since I'm running as a sword and shield, but I'm finishing up Fenris now and he looks like a pretty nice 2 hander warrior. I'm trying to find the quest to get Isabela, because I think I might like her more for my thief than Varric.

 

[Mik]

You're a lot farther than I am. I haven't bumped in to either of them yet. I'm about 6 hours in. I haven't attempted to advance the main plot one bit, but I've kept really busy with all the side quests bumping around in Kirkwall.

 

[vivisectvi]

Man, I just noticed now that you can't customize your companions armor.. only "upgrade" them. That kinda sucks. Do the upgrades at least change their appearance?

 

[ViciousFish]

Running as a Warrior with Varric and, something I'd never do in Origins, 2 mages. Bethany is my heavy hitter mage and I switch out Anders and Merrill. I don't really use Aveline since I'm running as a sword and shield, but I'm finishing up Fenris now and he looks like a pretty nice 2 hander warrior. I'm trying to find the quest to get Isabela, because I think I might like her more for my thief than Varric.

How do you keep Bethany? She died against eh ogre in my game.

Also, I wanted to like Isabela but the way the game levels her up makes her next to useless. She had less HP than my mage and just go constantly shit-hauled.

 

[Conspiracy_Victim]

Running as a Warrior with Varric and, something I'd never do in Origins, 2 mages. Bethany is my heavy hitter mage and I switch out Anders and Merrill. I don't really use Aveline since I'm running as a sword and shield, but I'm finishing up Fenris now and he looks like a pretty nice 2 hander warrior. I'm trying to find the quest to get Isabela, because I think I might like her more for my thief than Varric.

How do you keep Bethany? She died against eh ogre in my game.

Also, I wanted to like Isabela but the way the game levels her up makes her next to useless. She had less HP than my mage and just go constantly shit-hauled.

You must be playing as a mage. If you're a warrior or a rogue, Carter dies. If you're a mage, Bethany gets curbstomped.

I don't like not being able to change out my NPC's armor, and I haven't gotten any mods yet so I can't really tell you if it changes their appearance or not.

 

[Mik]

That pisses me off too. Especially since the Signature Edition swag (and Blood Dragon carry-over) are so powerful. It's been not fun to pick up tons of armor that my guys can use but see they can't because it's for "Garrett Hawke only", especially when it's optimized for a rogue or mage.

 

[Edwin]

Not a fan of that either. I get why they did away with companion armor for Mass Effect 2--it would have been a pain to manage gear for a dozen teammates--but this just seems like a shortcut. If the story really does jump around in time a lot, I guess not having to manage armor across those jumps is one reason.

Similarly, I'm not too big a fan of weapons and armor being linked to multiple stats. Kinda limits your ability to try some out of the box ideas, particularly as a warrior, where you have to pump both strength and constitution just to wear armor or go weapon and shield.

Upgraded spells are awesome. Chain Reaction is stupid cool, and if you stagger enemies, the damage is obscene. 600%! Primal seems geared more to combos while Elemental is all-purpose damage.

 

[Mik]

Finally made it through the Deep Roads and the first advance of the game. I'm kinda shocked that it took me as many hours as it did (16 and change)... then I roll out of the year break and I have about 18 quests waiting for me. Loving this game.

 

[vivisectvi]

I was a little annoyed with the ending of the Deep Roads quest for Act 1..

Spoiler

I took Bethany with me, she got the taint.. but I had Anders with me, too, so we took her to become a Grey Warden and thus had to leave with them. Even if you don't take her on the expedition, the strategy guide says she somehow ends up leaving the party permanently immediately after that quest (I think the Templars come for her to tak her to the Circle).. just annoying because I spent the entire time building her as a huge damage dealing mage and plus I really liked her character.

 

[vivisectvi]

Running as a Warrior with Varric and, something I'd never do in Origins, 2 mages. Bethany is my heavy hitter mage and I switch out Anders and Merrill. I don't really use Aveline since I'm running as a sword and shield, but I'm finishing up Fenris now and he looks like a pretty nice 2 hander warrior. I'm trying to find the quest to get Isabela, because I think I might like her more for my thief than Varric.

How do you keep Bethany? She died against eh ogre in my game.

Also, I wanted to like Isabela but the way the game levels her up makes her next to useless. She had less HP than my mage and just go constantly shit-hauled.

You must be playing as a mage. If you're a warrior or a rogue, Carter dies. If you're a mage, Bethany gets curbstomped.

I don't like not being able to change out my NPC's armor, and I haven't gotten any mods yet so I can't really tell you if it changes their appearance or not.

My Merrill has 3 mods so far and no change in appearance yet. Kinda really lame on Bioware's part. Why take out a simple piece of customization? Not only that, but now you're getting all of this useless armor that is "restricted" to the main character, but he can only use a third of it since a lot of it is class specific.

That was one of my favourite parts of DAO. Customizing the armor sets for companions. You'd get a better set for your main but could keep the next best for your other characters.

Lame!

 

[Mik]

In regards to what's in the tags...that's correct.

Spoiler

She gets dragged away by Templars...gone no matter what.

 

[vivisectvi]

I'm just reading on some other gaming sites that companion appearances can change based on quest and romance outcomes.. alrighty then.

 

[Conspiracy_Victim]

Just starting Act 2 after the Deep Roads (BTW for those of you going through the Roads now, pack a lot of healing for the 2 boss fights. Seriously). I'm close with most everyone except Fenris, I guess because I like mages too much. Which is a shame because I actually like Fenris as a character, he's sarcastic and pissy with everyone. I like the interplay between the characters, and they're much more frequent than in Origins. I've finally outgrown my starting gear, but found a nice set of armor (the Fallen set) to replace it. I kind of like how this game is more personal than Origins. Rather than taking this grand epic quest to save the continent, Hawke's just trying to put his life together and figure out what's going on in his city.

One last thing is that I like how the tactics setup seems to change to integrate the skills your characters gain better than in Origins. I haven't had to adjust anything so far. Anders heals, Merrill nukes, and Fenris berserks on everyone just like I want.

 

[ViciousFish]

I fought the High Dragon. Holy shit!! It was a 20 minute fight.

 

[Edwin]

Just starting Act 2 after the Deep Roads (BTW for those of you going through the Roads now, pack a lot of healing for the 2 boss fights. Seriously). I'm close with most everyone except Fenris, I guess because I like mages too much. Which is a shame because I actually like Fenris as a character, he's sarcastic and pissy with everyone.

I really like the new friend/rival mechanic. Fenris is a natural fit for the latter for anyone playing mage. Also, he's insanely awesome. I've been using him as a pseudo-tank who draws all the threat, and then obliterates people. You can do a lot of cool things with select items from the two-handed, warmonger, and vanguard trees. Taunt + Whirlwind is disgusting, and I imagine it'll get worse once I add Cleave. Also, all mages should invest a little in the Entropy tree to get Horror and its upgrade; it's an up-to-10-second stun on any enemy, and at level 8, does over 100 spirit damage/second. More powerful than Crushing Prison in DA:O.

I have around 14 hours logged and it looks like I only have parts of two "main plot" quests left before the expedition. For those who've done it: can I go on the expedition before completing all the secondary quests? I'll probably do them for completion's sake anyway, but just checking.

 

[Mik]

You should complete them, because a lot of the secondary quests also advance/return after the story break.

 

[Edwin]

That's what I figured. Just curious about the game mechanics. I'll read all about it after I beat everything in a week or two.

 

[ViciousFish]

I'm kicking myself for skipping a few the first time through.