Topic: Dragon Age: Origins -> Update: DAO Ultimate joins GOG

[Xessive]

I haven't been able to upload my current character, only the characters I created using the Character Creator tool released previously. How do I upload from the full game?

EDIT:
Patch v1.01b released.

It apparently includes all the previous fixes plus some minor ones:

     * fixed potential corruption of character statistics
    * fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator
    * fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator
    * made Easy difficulty easier
    * slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty
    * fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays
    * fixed an issue with Dragon Age and Windows Game Explorer
    * updated Visual C runtime libraries

[Pugnate]

Should upload automatically, I should think. Ask on the forums.

Also add Que and Pyro if you haven't already.

[Quemaqua]

You can look at the full stats of characters and stuff, you know... they have a paperdoll with your dude and all the gear he's wearing and such.  I'm pretty sure it's viewable by everyone.

[Pugnate]

Just finished the Dalish portion. Was not only surprised by how meaty it was, but by how it managed to sustain quality throughout. That's very rare in an RPG.

[Xessive]

I just logged in to take a look at my profile again and it just needed a refresh to show my character

You guys should be able to see my info up there now.

So far I have Pug, Pyro, MyD, and Que on my list.

I am playing as a human rogue.. Working my way to duelist.

I also just ran into something somewhat annoying in the game menu.. When I tried to resume my game it brought up a message saying something like "the game you're trying to load has some premium content and you must log in with an account that has access to this content." Which pissed me off. I clicked quit in an irate manner and before loading up the Bioware support site to complain I decided to boot up the game again and this time it worked fine.

Still it is unnerving to see a "phone home" trick hidden in the folds of this great game.

[Pugnate]

Yea that happened to me as well once. Just set it to manual login and it should be fine. Or you can just log out and the "premium content" works OK when logged out. There seems to be some bug when you set log in on auto and it doesn't log you in. The problem seems to be isolated to those with firewalls. I'd rather leave my firewall on, and just restart the game.

So yea, whenever you start the game, log in first, and you won't have any problems. Don't log in manually after you've loaded a game. Always log in after Dragon Age starts up, and before you load.

They said it was some firewall issue, and they will patch it. Hmmmm....

I am playing as a human rogue.. Working my way to duelist.

Yea, I am an elven rogue.

Anyway to unlock the specialization classes, you have learn it from an NPC or from a tome. I like it, as it adds to the roleplaying.

Basically after you hit level 7 (or is it 9?), you get an extra point to add to your specialization. After that, you get one every three levels. In addition to that, you can get more of those points from tomes.

I started a conversation with the bard chick at camp, and worked through the dialog tree till her approval of me was locked at 25. After that I just gave her gifts (she likes some flowers from her home nation), which pushed her approval of me to 30. Then I just had some conversations with her, and told her what she wanted to hear (her approval is the easiest to gain... she will like whatever you say mostly), until I got to the point where she was ready to teach me how to be a bard... which took about 4 minutes. 

It is the same with the other NPCs. Alistar for example can teach you to be a Templar, if you are a warrior, and again if his approval of you is at 30. Morrigan can teach you to be a shape-shifter etc.

Like I said, some of the specializations can be gotten from tomes.

When you get to your camp, you will find a couple of dwarven traders that are following you around. They have the ranger tome for sale, and like I said, you can unlock the bard specialization from the redheaded NPC.

I am not sure about the duelist, but you can ask on the forums.

Anyway, I am really loving this game. The skill tree isn't bad, and certainly deeper than I expected. There are at least five or six different ways you can shape your rogue in the base tree that will totally change the way you play the game. And I am not even counting the specializations. You can be a dual wielding flamboyant fighter with lots of dexterity; you can be a stealthy assassin type who is skillful at backstabs and hiding in the shadows; you can be a dirty fighter -- the sort who regularly kicks his enemies in the family jewels; you can be a supporting archer who cripples and slows enemies down; you can be a marksmen who delivers high criticals... or you can simply choose to find a combination of all the options. I am assuming all the classes have as much depth to them.

It is something I really like about this game. They basically divided the classes into three basic ones, and then let you mix and match to create whatever you want. It is a lot more realistic that way. For example, if there is a character trained to back stab and hide in the shadows like an assassin, is there any reason why he can't learn to be very good with a longbow?

I also like that the basic skill tree -- the one that is common to all three classes -- is well fleshed out as well. While I can't say that Bioware breaks new ground with Dragon Age's skill system, I do think they presented it in a way that makes it feel logical and realistic, yet kinda exciting to work though at the same time.

Something else I like is that rogues get XP points for disarming traps and picking locks. During combat, whenever a character delivers a killing blow, he gains extra bonus XP, alongside the XP the entire party gains for every kill. Now, while warriors and mages benefit most from this killing blow XP, rogues don't as often because they are simply less powerful. So instead, they get their bonus XP from traps and locks, which is cool. Bioware used to have this in all of their D&D based games, but for some reason stopped with NWN. I guess it was because it was a less party focused title...

Something you guys should find handy, especially those who love to use their rogues. At the bottom of the top left menu, while playing, you guys should see two icons. One is for selecting the entire party, while the other is for turning the AI movement off. This is very useful for when you want to send your rogue scouting ahead in the shadows...

[PyroMenace]

Looks like my info has been uploaded on my profile, so you all can take a look.

I faced my first major boss fight, he was pretty tough, but once I figured out how to control my guys proper I was able to take him down. I found it much easier to select as one of the range characters and switch over to melee when needed to use a health pot or ability. I also had to turn of all my tactic commands for everybody, I really needed specific control over everybody's abilities to win. I felt really accomplished after beating him.

So I guess after him the game really opens up, Im at the first town of Lothering and man there are so many little quests and interactions with people, its a little overwhelming. Ive even met 2 more party members that I easily could have turned down. I could use a healer though, haven't found one yet. Since I'm building my dwarf to be a tank, I won't be needing Alistair that much, but Ive been putting more points in him to do more damage so he could still be of some use. Also I was curious about characters standing with you since that just opened, if you piss of a party member too much, will they leave?

[Pugnate]

Looks like my info has been uploaded on my profile, so you all can take a look.

I faced my first major boss fight, he was pretty tough, but once I figured out how to control my guys proper I was able to take him down. I found it much easier to select as one of the range characters and switch over to melee when needed to use a health pot or ability. I also had to turn of all my tactic commands for everybody, I really needed specific control over everybody's abilities to win. I felt really accomplished after beating him.

So I guess after him the game really opens up, Im at the first town of Lothering and man there are so many little quests and interactions with people, its a little overwhelming. Ive even met 2 more party members that I easily could have turned down. I could use a healer though, haven't found one yet. Since I'm building my dwarf to be a tank, I won't be needing Alistair that much, but Ive been putting more points in him to do more damage so he could still be of some use. Also I was curious about characters standing with you since that just opened, if you piss of a party member too much, will they leave?

I think you are speaking of the redheaded rogue, and that big quiet fighter guy? I kept the fighter, but dropped the rogue, because that was my class as well. Once you are done with this town Lothering, you will immediately head to camp for recuperation. That's actually the only place you can rest, and all your party members will be there to interact with, and to further their respective stories along with.

If you invest in the herbal skill, you can make your health potions. It is very simple, and you find the ingredient (elf root) all over the game. You just need to buy an empty flask in addition.

Remember that your party members will get injured with cracked skulls and open wounds etc. You either can fix those with injury kits or by resting at camps. Of course, you can just ignore the injuries, but it will make the game a touch harder.

I also had to turn of all my tactic commands for everybody, I really needed specific control over everybody's abilities to win. I felt really accomplished after beating him

To answer your question, your mage is your healer. When Morrigan levels up next, just have her learn the healing spell. I found the easiest thing (once I learned the healing spell), was to let the fighters do their thing up front and control the mage and the archer from the back etc. Make sure the mage has plenty of those blue potions when she learns higher level spells.

and man there are so many little quests and interactions with people, its a little overwhelming.

Yea man, I know how you feel. I felt a little overwhelmed initially at Lothering as well. I think at the tavern you get two quests and at the chantry you get two, followed by two more. Don't worry! All the chantry quests you can solve on the chantry map. When you do two, you go back to that crazy chantry guy, after which you can sign up for two more. I think when all the quests can be solved in the town fields.

I won't be needing Alistair that much, but Ive been putting more points in him to do more damage so he could still be of some use.

You could keep Alistar, your dwarf, the rogue chick and the mage chick...

What I did was have one fighter be more defensive (a sword and a shield, plus skill points in constitution and sword+shield skill), and then the other fighter a pure striker, with points in strength and two handed broadswords.

The rogue chick is going to be useful, because very soon, you will come across a lot of locks to open etc.

And the mage doubles as your mage and cleric.

Also I was curious about characters standing with you since that just opened, if you piss of a party member too much, will they leave?

Yea...they can just talk to them, go through their stories and tell them what they want to hear, and then give them gifts. You will come across plenty, and you can buy some as well. In your inventory you will see items with he purple label "gift". Just go to the inventory of the party member whose approval rating you want to go higher and then right click on the gift etc.

You can go to their character screens to see their approval of you. If it is at 20+ you are pretty good. If it is at 30 then you unlock bonuses like specialist classes, wild sex etc.

edit:

One piece of advise. If you think the battles are too hard, don't be afraid to push the difficulty down to EASY. This game can be tough at normal levels. Most people end up going to easy.

Also, if you install the patch, the game will get easier. They rebalanced it a bit with the patch and allowed you to do more damage. BTW, if after the patch you can't run the game, don't worry. You have to have some MS net code file installed, which most people do. You can check for a link on the forums of that social bioware site. It is a small file.

[Xessive]

So far Leliana, Morrigan, and Allister all have an approval rating of 50+, which I noticed continually unlocks bonuses i.e. with every 20 levels of approval from Leliana I get a bonus to my cunning. I've also noticed that different gifts appeal more to certain characters, Leliana likes shoes and chantry items, Morrigan likes most jewelery and certain magic items, Shale likes shiny rocks and minerals, etc. The choice affects how much approval you get by giving a gift.

So far I think my romance is gonna end up with Leliana since my character seems to agree with her ideologically. Morrigan just gets too pissy about helping people. I called her a "heartless shrew" in a discussion and that dropped her approval bar 20 points; which I earned back by showering her with gifts and jewelery. I'm beginning to see the realism in this game.

[Quemaqua]

I really haven't found the game too hard after that initial area before the first boss.  The boss was pretty tough, too.  But I've really stopped letting my dudes do what they want at this point and more or less control everyone manually except for using last-ditch healing items.  May even drop that at some point.  It's more fun pausing constantly and figuring out what your next good move might be.

I don't think that I find the game as amazing as some.  Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying it and I think it's great, but I wouldn't rate it as highly as some reviews have.  It isn't really revolutionary at all, or even all that evolutionary, really; and as far as worlds go, I think The Witcher was more intensely believable in the same kind of dark fantasy style.  Some of the music in Dragon Age even heavily reminds me of that game.  Still, it's one of the few games I've played where the party really feels like an asset both to the player and to the story.  I'm looking forward to getting to know the characters more, and am enjoying the fact that even though a lot of the stuff isn't very original, it's very well presented and they at least went to the trouble of building something extensive behind it all.  Much like Mass Effect, as I think Pyro mentioned already.  Not too original, but they did such a great job fleshing things out and trying to make it seem believable on the character level.

But you guys need to stop posting so much.  You're making me want to play, and I have no time.  =(  I gotta' hurry up and get my workout happening tonight so I can play...

[Pugnate]

You are right Que, while a lot of it isn't too original, it is about the presentation. And I don't know if it is the patch or something, but I have found the game to be a somewhat easy. Though a couple of battles have been quite hard.

Oh I haven't gotten shale yet Xessive. I take it he is a fighter class?

[MysterD]

You are right Que, while a lot of it isn't too original, it is about the presentation. And I don't know if it is the patch or something, but I have found the game to be a somewhat easy. Though a couple of battles have been quite hard.

Why didn't they keep the diffuculties and just add a new default easier difficulty called say "Newbie?"

I'm sure some gamers want a challenge, dammit.

[Pugnate]

Well, you can just play at hard then.

Parts of the game are still challenging. I just did the elven forests and then went to some werewolf infested ruins, and some of it was challenging. Everywhere you go, there are parts obviously designed to be more challenging, and are completely optional, and have no consequence on the game or its story, except they are there to be a challenge, and come with a nice reward in the shape of an item at the end.

Que, if you are still at your first town, I recommend you visit the elven forests first, if possible. 

[Quemaqua]

I already have, actually, but I'm putting it off.  It's just so.... fucking elfy.  First part of the game that's sort of turned me off due to sheer cliche, even though I spent a little time talking to a few of the characters and had fun with the little starting area.  I'll get around to it eventually, heh.  Just finished doing the Stone Prisoner DLC last night, which was better than I thought it'd be.  It was short and sort of lame in some respects, but I ended up enjoying the package in general.  The fights were big enough and pretty good, there was enough flavor, some pretty scenery, and... well, I haven't actually gotten the dude yet.  I saved right before the end.  But it has a nice climax to the adventuring part before that, in a little scene that makes you want to save someone on the one hand and totally kill them on the other.  Apparently I even hate kids in games.

[PyroMenace]

Yea so you guys keep talking how easy this all is, how fun...

I played through the next area I chose and it was nearly fucking IMPOSSIBLE. I went to Redcliffe and it was one ridiculous challenge after the next. In fact half the battle was trying to struggle with the party AI than with the actual enemies themselves. I don't know why the game seems it necessary to throw at you 2 full groups of undead on top of a boss that can wipe your party easily on its own. I almost feel Im hitting that same brickwall that Oblivion had, you have the freedom to make your characters whatever you like, but if you make them wrong, we're sorry, your just gonna have to repeat the last 10 hours again to make a new one right.

[MysterD]

DAO - Return to Ostagar DLC announced for PC, X360, and PS3.
Planned for the "Holidays."

Dragon Age 'Return to Ostagar' DLC Announced
by Chris Faylor Nov 19, 2009 11:11am CST tags: Dragon Age: Origins, DLC, Screenshots
The first post-release downloadable expansion for Dragon Age: Origins has been announced by developer BioWare, with the content due "this holiday season."

Coming to all three platforms--PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360--"Return to Ostagar" is said to let players "exact their revenge and embark on a quest for the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan when they revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens' darkest hour, to reclaim the honor and learn the secrets of Ferelden's fallen king."

Along with battlefields "now thick with darkspawn encamped amidst the snow," players will also encounter "a second chance to add Dog to your party."

The download will go for $4.99 / 400 BioWare Points / 400 Microsoft Points in North America--a worldwide release "this holiday season" was promised, but international pricing was not disclosed. The developer has previously stated its commitment to fleshing out the fantasy RPG with extra content, noting this could last two years.

[Pugnate]

Yea so you guys keep talking how easy this all is, how fun...

I played through the next area I chose and it was nearly fucking IMPOSSIBLE. I went to Redcliffe and it was one ridiculous challenge after the next. In fact half the battle was trying to struggle with the party AI than with the actual enemies themselves. I don't know why the game seems it necessary to throw at you 2 full groups of undead on top of a boss that can wipe your party easily on its own. I almost feel Im hitting that same brickwall that Oblivion had, you have the freedom to make your characters whatever you like, but if you make them wrong, we're sorry, your just gonna have to repeat the last 10 hours again to make a new one right.

Pyro, read the following. It will help you:

*OK install patch 1.1; it will increase the average damage you do.

*Move the difficulty slider down to easy.

*The undead are really fucking hard early on. Concentrate on finding some great equipment. Go to the party camp and talk to the dwarfs and they will enchant your weapons.

*Make sure you pause the game during battle, at least at first.

*Make sure your mage learns the healing spell ASAP, and keep tons of healing potions with you. Teach the mage the herbal skill for cheap potion making. Elf roots and empty flasks are all you need. Elf roots are all over the place and flasks you can buy. As soon as you manage, learn a level 3 mage spell like ice cone. Will make battles really simple.

*Whenever the battle starts, control your mage primarily. In many ways, your mage is your general. Pause when health is going down, and use healing spells, while at the same time use the potions too. Your mage should know the lightning bolt spell.. use that for big damage. Use the disorient/daze spell (don't remember the name), and it will stun the entire enemy line.

*Do you activate the FROST WEAPONS spell? There should be a white sword on Morrigan's hot key bar. Activate it and it will start glowing. This adds frost damage to all the weapons in the party. It makes a good difference.

*CONCENTRATE FIRE ON ONE ENEMY! This is key. Make sure you take out one dude at a time. Even if an enemy is at 5-10% health, he will still hurt you the same, so take one mofo out. You will find the game remarkably easier when you start doing that. When battle begins and you concentrate fire on one enemy, they will take him out quickly, after which they will just fucking pick monsters at random... so you select ALL party members (the hot key can be located on the bottom of the top left menu) and concentrate fire again on another single enemy.

Lastly, I doubt you did anything wrong with your character creation etc.

What is more important is party balance...

*Have two fighters, one mage, and one rogue. Tank up the two fighters with insane armor and shields. Make sure your rogue is learning her crossbow/longbow skills... and make sure your mage is learning her health spells.

*Fighters that you really want to shield the group can learn the *sword and shield* skill. I have pushed Alistar's sword and shield skill up to max, and now he is very good defensively.

*Have a rogue learn the survival skills. This will show you where the enemy is on your map before you encounter them. Then, attack one and run away and only one or two should follow you. You don't have to battle an entire enemy group.

*Last advise that will HELP! Try to have enemy follow you to closer quarters where they can't flank you. Whenever someone is flanked, their attacker gains special attack bonuses that can be deadly.


Final question, Pyro, do you have the FERAL WOLF CHARM and Memory Band DLC? It so happens that I owe you, and I have the DLC codes. Do you want? PM ME NOWZZZZZZZ! These two items can help thee!

[Quemaqua]

Totally not convinced that new DLC isn't going to suck.  They have to really, really prove themselves with the new shit now before I'd even consider giving them money.  My guess is it lasts about 10 minutes and is just one big fight and maybe picking up a couple of overpowered items that break the game.  Fuck DLC.

As for difficulty... the game is tactical.  Think tactically and don't fall into the trap of letting the AI run the show.  For me, I've built my team around general debuffs and crowd control via paralysis or similar.  Basically my strategy in almost any fight is to cast Force Field on the biggest, most pain-in-the-ass dude I can find.  That makes him immune to damage, but also completely takes him out of the fight for about a minute.  Then I concentrate on the weak dudes.  I use Mind Blast to stun large groups with my main character, have Alistair use his two shield abilities that can stun or knock guys down, have Sten use his knockdown ability, and have Leliana (sp?) use her crotch kick and attack/move debuff.  Then my main character turns on his Miasma skill that debuffs everyone around him, and starts paralyzing larger targets while everyone focuses on removing some of the small fries quickly.  That usually gives us enough breathing room to finish the rest of the job.  Lots of ranged attackers or too many troublesome enemies can make that hard (just an enemy mage or Alpha Hurlock is fine, but a mage *and* an Alpha would be considerably harder since I couldn't use Force Field on both of them).

Also, don't let the AI fuck with you.  If it's becoming a problem, just turn it off entirely.  I generally have some basic healing automated and that's about all, otherwise I pause frequently and pick the juiciest targets when deciding who's going to get the next groin punch.  Also, I believe if you press H you'll simply force everyone to hold unless you give them a command, which I imagine would be useful if you want to hold back your warriors while ranged attackers start putting dents in right up front.  I wouldn't know because I'm fully melee.  Even as a mage I'm built to get in the fight and start disabling targets right away, then stay there and swat at them while my degen is active, letting the other melee guys continually knockdown and interrupt targets before they can do too much damage at once.  It's been working for me quite well so far.  That's what's nice about the game, though... there isn't just one viable strategy.  Just try to think about how different skills complement one another and how your characters can act as a team.

[Pugnate]

Yup, Que is right, you have to think of it like an RTS.

[Quemaqua]

Haha, I wouldn't say that.  I suck at RTS games.  I think of it more like a turn-based SRPG at times, or like Guild Wars.  My gameplan in GW is more about trying my best to keep the enemy from pulling off its best attacks.  I'm a Ranger and I have an archer hero I usually keep with me, and both of us focus somewhat heavily on interrupts.  It's less about actively interrupting for me in DA, but more about disabling the right targets at the right time so I can lower the number of enemies in a couple of smooth maneuvers before the heavy-hitters really start dishing damage.  Then I just concentrate on keeping everyone alive and staggering their knockdowns/interrupts/paralysis for maximum downtime on the biggest dudes.

[Pugnate]

Well I meant a strategic thing in general. For some reason, sometimes I say "RTS" when I mean strategy...

Off topic, but I haven't played too many RTS games where there was actual strategy involved. Most of it involves hogging the resources and getting into a tech. race. Company of Heroes was a rare exception.

As for DA, I do find most of the battles easy to manage, though I do pause quite a bit...

[PyroMenace]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think the reason why I was so frustrated was because I felt like I was underpowered because I was dying so much, like I had built the wrong character. But you guys are right, watching your pulls does help a good bit. The boss fight I was at involved a courtyard area and 2 groups of enemies, one group consisting of archers on top of the stairs and another on the other side of the courtyard with the boss. I kept trying to run in and handling everything at once, but every attempt failed, eventually I had to hold back my group, pull the archers down the stairs and take them out with the range without aggroing the other group, after that I went for the last group and boss. They were all melee undead, and it was still a bitch because the boss (Revenant) just hits so fucking hard, I basically had to down potions for every 2 hits he does on my tank. I also found out he does a sweep hit, damaging everybody in front of him, so I had to position everyone but the tank behind him. It was still a brutal fight. I also wanted to know, does the rogue do more damage when she is behind an enemy? I know how to make potions, I just need to carry a crap ton of flasks on me at all times. I have forcefield learned on Morrigan, I'll give her the healing spell next, speaking of that forcefield spell, I did play some good use during the Revenant fight. Even though you can use forcefield to crowd control baddies, I also used it on my tank while the Revenant just kept wailing away at him, letting the rest of the group take damage down on him.

Also Pug, I may be interested. What do those items do?

[Pugnate]

I have the feral wolf charm and the memory bad ring. I think they help a touch. PM me with thy e-mailst.

[Pugnate]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think the reason why I was so frustrated was because I felt like I was underpowered because I was dying so much, like I had built the wrong character. But you guys are right, watching your pulls does help a good bit. The boss fight I was at involved a courtyard area and 2 groups of enemies, one group consisting of archers on top of the stairs and another on the other side of the courtyard with the boss. I kept trying to run in and handling everything at once, but every attempt failed, eventually I had to hold back my group, pull the archers down the stairs and take them out with the range without aggroing the other group, after that I went for the last group and boss. They were all melee undead, and it was still a bitch because the boss (Revenant) just hits so fucking hard, I basically had to down potions for every 2 hits he does on my tank. I also found out he does a sweep hit, damaging everybody in front of him, so I had to position everyone but the tank behind him. It was still a brutal fight. I also wanted to know, does the rogue do more damage when she is behind an enemy? I know how to make potions, I just need to carry a crap ton of flasks on me at all times. I have forcefield learned on Morrigan, I'll give her the healing spell next, speaking of that forcefield spell, I did play some good use during the Revenant fight. Even though you can use forcefield to crowd control baddies, I also used it on my tank while the Revenant just kept wailing away at him, letting the rest of the group take damage down on him.

Gosh, that sounds awesome. Damn you, I have to work. Now I feel like loading it up again. And I haven't gotten to this part all.

The elven forests have some good battles, but none that sound so hard. I love a good scrap.

I also wanted to know, does the rogue do more damage when she is behind an enemy?

I think so, but you have to learn that back stab skill later. It is a level three skill so it will take a while.

And right, once Morrigan gets to higher levels, you will feel the game is easier. Higher level healing spells, and high level fire or ice spells will serve you well. I'd personally recommend newer players to stick with ice, as fire spells do far more friendly fire (no pun intended) damage.

[Xessive]

I'd personally recommend newer players to stick with ice, as fire spells do far more friendly fire (no pun intended) damage.

Really? I don't use spells much but with the bombs apparently only the Shock bomb seems to have a friendly fire so you have to be careful. Acid, Ice, and Fire bombs are ok though.. weird.

I only have any serious trouble against orange label enemies.

(click to show/hide)

Morrigan's companion quest involves revisiting Flemeth and either killing her or making a deal with her. I decided to fight and she shapeshifted into a dragon, which I now recognize is the dragon fight from one of the earliest videos showing off the game's combat! She's pretty frickin' tough.

Redcliffe had some tough moments. You definitely need area-effect attacks or sweeping attacks to try to hit as many enemies as possible. Pug's tips are words to live by! Some of them can even apply to reality

My current squad involves a mage, a bard, a warrior, and a rogue (myself, specialized Assassin & Duelist). I just set my mage and bard to attack from far; the mage (either Morrigan or Wynne) being my healer and artillery, the bard (Leliana) has some good buffs and is decent with a crossbow. Allistair and I rush in for the up-close-and-personal kills.

Anyone done the "Lost in a Dream" quest in the Circle's Tower yet?

[Pugnate]

hahah the last couple of lines about flanking and stuff can be good real world advise.

Actually at some point, when you gain enough skill in the 'sword & shield' skill, your enemies gain no flank bonuses against you.

[PyroMenace]

Alright so Im getting a better grip on combat, its working much better now. Im doing better than I thought I can now, the all command (ctrl+A) has done wonders.

Now Im a bit confused about the party approval system. I understand choices I make excepting quests and making certain interactions with people can affect your approval rating, and these rating increments will jump about from 2 to 5, so relatively small increments. So tell my why in the camp area does all of this sort of go out the window. I want to get a better approval rating from Morrigan, however as of now, any conversation with her will annoy her and give me FUCKING -10 APPROVAL, not only that if I try again, it will give me ANOTHER -10! I can just keep doing this until she wants to start world war III with me. Any gifts I give will increase by like +1 or +2, thats fucking it. That just seems totally broken to me. I'll just slit her throat while she sleeps, oh wait, I can't, shes the only mage, woohoo.

[Xessive]

I finally got my romance option with Morrigan.. I wasn't even aiming for it, I stopped bringing her along on missions because she generally disagrees with my disposition, but during our conversations in the camp she just kept increasingly liking me and when I did her special quest she just swooned.

Pyro, different gifts yield different approval scores from each character. For example giving Morrigan necklaces usually scores between +4 and +6. You have to pick which gifts would be most appropriate for each character.

Also, certain conversations in the camp will give you the opportunity to raise or lower approval. Each answer you give will have some on the approval score at the end of the conversation, +'s and -'s to the total score. If you get a "+1" message after the convo it usually means there's more you could have done to get them to like you. I usually quicksave before having a conversation and if I don't like the outcome or I felt they overreacted (like getting a -20 for saying "I don't want you to leave") I can always quickload and try again.

[PyroMenace]

I honestly dont know what to give anybody, since the gifts are so varied, and I thought that the flavor texts on the gifts were clues as to what to give to whom. I found a tome the detailed Arl Eamon's life, so I thought Alistair would like that since Eamon was a father to him... nope, I got +1 out of it. Also I found out giving too many gifts will do the opposite and give negative, I suck at social politics, go figure.

[PyroMenace]

Also Im curious on the path that you guys have taken through the game, since some of you mentioned you haven't even been to Redcliffe yet. Have you just been going off the beaten path of the main quest and exploring? After Lothering, I went right to Redcliffe to find Arl Eamon and played through that whole plot which is leading me to Denerim then onto a town called Haven. I've been doing Chantry quests along the way and some quests from the Blackstone Irregulars which are a total mystery to me which I'm getting a little paranoid about.

Though through every town I come across the world of the game just keeps getting bigger and bigger, its ridiculous. I've played through other Bioware games before but this is the biggest I've ever seen them create, it almost seems like there's no end to it. I usually like to accept every quest that I come across in their RPGs like I did with Mass Effect, but there's just too many. There's quest that go against the standing of my character in the world so I turn them down. I haven't even gotten a specialization for my dwarf yet, which I'm unsure in how to get. And I keep running into new characters that could join my party, so instead of having this join one, join all attitude, I have to consider their usefulness to me. Like Sten, he barely says a word about himself, but hes this big hulking dude that can swing a bigass sword, but his origins are still a total mystery to me, I keep wondering if the guy is just gonna run off. But yea, there's just so much to the world of this game I can barely wrap my brain around it.

[Pugnate]

Alright so Im getting a better grip on combat, its working much better now. Im doing better than I thought I can now, the all command (ctrl+A) has done wonders.

Now Im a bit confused about the party approval system. I understand choices I make excepting quests and making certain interactions with people can affect your approval rating, and these rating increments will jump about from 2 to 5, so relatively small increments. So tell my why in the camp area does all of this sort of go out the window. I want to get a better approval rating from Morrigan, however as of now, any conversation with her will annoy her and give me FUCKING -10 APPROVAL, not only that if I try again, it will give me ANOTHER -10! I can just keep doing this until she wants to start world war III with me. Any gifts I give will increase by like +1 or +2, thats fucking it. That just seems totally broken to me. I'll just slit her throat while she sleeps, oh wait, I can't, shes the only mage, woohoo.

Thanks to my experience with KOTOR, KOTOR2, Baldur's Gate II, NWN and NWN2... I managed to get approval ratings of 50+ with all my party members (male or female) within 40 minutes at camp. I feel a bit ashamed of that, but whatever.

The conversation mechanics are basically the same in every Bioware game, though here there is the gift factor.

Basically, I started by saving before each conversation (in case it went totally wrong). Next I exhausted the dialog options, saying what the party member wanted to hear each time, and thus gaining their approval.

By the time I had exhausted all the first level dialog options, the party member's approval of me was standing at +20ish.

This is when I gave a couple of gifts (while there are plenty of gifts, you don't want to waste), which were just enough to unlock new dialog options. This is when I carried out these new, more personal and even deeper dialog options till the party member was eating out of my hand and had unlocked new abilities thanks to my therapeutic chit chat.

That's not to say that my method was entirely clinical.

I mean it is still possible to get Morrigan to see that settling down and having a family etc is OK, without having her get upset with you, or closing all conversation options.

It is also possible to get Sten to admit that the ways of his people aren't perfect, without having him ticked at you. You have to get them to see the error of their ways without sounding judgemental or preachy. The point is that you can still get high approvals without nodding like a yes man.

Like Sten, he barely says a word about himself, but hes this big hulking dude that can swing a bigass sword, but his origins are still a total mystery to me, I keep wondering if the guy is just gonna run off. But yea, there's just so much to the world of this game I can barely wrap my brain around it.

Yea Stean is a freakin' tank.

Once you get through to him, he turns into a bit of a chatter box. He told me about why he killed all those people at the farm, and I promised to help him.

For some reason, his approval of me is the highest amongst party members (+53). It is even higher than Morrigan, who I am currently 'romancing'. It is scary because I don't want him to come on to me; I am half his size (I mean height).

The gifts he likes are the artsy kind.

Has anyone watched the bard chick sing around the camp fire? It turns into this cutscene, and the voice is quite good, but it just brings a HUGE case of the uncanny freakin' valley. It was quite creepy.

[Xessive]

What?! You romanced Morrigan so early on? How?! The romance option only showed up after she reached +100! And even then it said "Friendly" until after the romantic escapade, now it says "Love" (which was very endearing to a hopeless romantic like me). The odd bit was that I have been trying to win over Leliana's heart the whole time but romance options never came up. But NOW, after I get it on with Morrigan, Leliana's special quest comes up and she's gradually becoming an option.. Damn it. I have to stay faithful to Morri though.. She gave me a ring and all.

After Morrigan, Sten and Leliana's approvals come in second at around +75 mark, followed by Alistair and Wynne at around +64, then Zevran and Shale around the +50 mark. Still, the most loyal member I'd argue is the dog. Doesn't change his disposition at all, just sticks with me whatever decision I make.

Pyro, I thought the same with that Arl Eamon book, but as it turns out the books in general will appeal to Wynne or Sten (can't remember which one liked it more). Leliana also appreciated the blue shoes I found. Wynne really likes wine by the way.

Here's a list I found that kinda gives a guideline as to which gifts appeal most to each character. It's not 100% accurate as it doesn't list the wine under Wynne's list (each one I gave her scored +5 and above), but it should give you an idea.

Also, here's a plot-related gift list for those gifts that are especially dear to certain characters.

[Quemaqua]

Damn it.  I want to play this so bad now.  But I have so much to do.  I hate my life.

[Pugnate]

Damn it.  I want to play this so bad now.  But I have so much to do.  I hate my life.

This is exactly my situation as well. I haven't played for nearly a week.

Also Im curious on the path that you guys have taken through the game, since some of you mentioned you haven't even been to Redcliffe yet. Have you just been going off the beaten path of the main quest and exploring? After Lothering, I went right to Redcliffe to find Arl Eamon and played through that whole plot which is leading me to Denerim then onto a town called Haven. I've been doing Chantry quests along the way and some quests from the Blackstone Irregulars which are a total mystery to me which I'm getting a little paranoid about.

Well, I decided I'd visit locations in order of proximity. After Lothering, I went to the nearest destination, which was the Elven forest. After that I hit the camp, and then saved at the beginning of the place Alistar talked about growing up at. Is that Redcliffe??

If any of you go to Redcliffe, you should probably take Alistar with you, even if only for that portion of the game, as his story -- which is part of the game's plot -- seems to take place there. I gathered this from the opening cutscene when I entered the place. But I had to save and exit.

[Pugnate]

I forgot to mention something to you Pyro. When you are adventuring, hold TAB to see all the interactive objectives highlighted. It is a good way to find loot etc. 

[MysterD]

I forgot to mention something to you Pyro. When you are adventuring, hold TAB to see all the interactive objectives highlighted. It is a good way to find loot etc. 

Many of the Bioware games have had the "Tab key" interactive thing, pretty much - like BG series and NWN series.

[Quemaqua]

Seriously?  I never fucking knew that.

[Pugnate]

Are you being sarcastic?

[Xessive]

Yeah, it's just like in NWN where the Z key would highlight everything. Handy! The good thing in DAO is that labels will show through walls and objects too so you can make sure you haven't missed anything.

[PyroMenace]

Thanks to my experience with KOTOR, KOTOR2, Baldur's Gate II, NWN and NWN2... I managed to get approval ratings of 50+ with all my party members (male or female) within 40 minutes at camp. I feel a bit ashamed of that, but whatever.

The conversation mechanics are basically the same in every Bioware game, though here there is the gift factor.

Basically, I started by saving before each conversation (in case it went totally wrong). Next I exhausted the dialog options, saying what the party member wanted to hear each time, and thus gaining their approval.

By the time I had exhausted all the first level dialog options, the party member's approval of me was standing at +20ish.

This is when I gave a couple of gifts (while there are plenty of gifts, you don't want to waste), which were just enough to unlock new dialog options. This is when I carried out these new, more personal and even deeper dialog options till the party member was eating out of my hand and had unlocked new abilities thanks to my therapeutic chit chat.

That's not to say that my method was entirely clinical.

Man you guys are machines, I don't think I'll go as far as doing that since it seems like its an exercise in patience. Its hard to tell what dialogue options is what they want to hear, hence the trial and error saves, but I've been playing the game straight in that way, at least I'll have a conversation with each character once and thats it to try not and press my luck.

Tonight I did this quest in Denerim to take out a group of blood mages. This quest made me realize how ridiculously powerful mages are. Towards the end of the quest, there were blood mages that could demolish my whole group with just 2 spells. I basically had to try to pull out enemies through rooms where I could, then sucker the mage out and any henchman they had with them. I had Morrigan learn cone of ice, its a tricky spell to use, but when it is used right, boy does it pay off. I have to basically keep those mages from firing off any spells whatsoever because anything they throw at me cause certain doom for anybody in my party. There's rarely a situation I can just rush in and try to take out opposition with brute force, when I'm indoors I retreat to a isolated room and wait till the bulk of the party hits the choke hold at the door where I use the cone of ice. The final blood mage was so powerful I had to find a way to prevent him from casting any spells whatsoever. I kinda wish I had made a mage from the beginning.