I purchased the Digital Deluxe Edition of DA:O over Steam yesterday, and Mel picked up the PC Collector's Edition. They're effectively identical. I'll likely get a second copy for the PS3 eventually to play with my family. I've been waiting impatiently for this game for three years, and everything I've heard about the game play sounded like a Fantasy Mass Effect. As ME is, without a doubt, the finest CRPG I've ever played, I was VERY stoked for this title. Admittedly, the screen shots and videos did little to whet my appetite. The art style is very gritty and Shadowbane-like (in style, NOT quality), and it just lacked the flash and color of even ME. All that fell by the wayside as soon as I got into the game. The art, animation, and rendering is more than good enough to be immersive, and the gritty, bloody style is perfect for the story they're telling.
Character creation is a LOT less detailed than in recent CRPGs. There's only 3 classes to choose from initially, three races, and 1 or more of 5 background choices, limited by the race and class choices. More choices than ME, but less than we've become used to in modern CRPGs. The difference here, I suspect, is that the choices you make will have a deep impact on the plot line and game play. What you select initially determines where you start and the opening story you're part of. My Noble Human Warrior and Mel's Mage (don't know the specifics) had completely different starts to the game. Probably at least an hour of game play, it was close to double that for me. It looks as though the incredible ME NPC AI and social impact of what you do in-game is present. Generating the looks of your character is extremely detailed and took me quite some time, again similar to ME but with even greater control. I do not yet have any feel for character building. The stats say what they do, but I have no numeric idea of how many points I need to put into an attribute to make them effective, or what stats I'll eventually want when it comes time to pick a sub-class.
The UI initially seems much more like a traditional CRPG than like ME. You can move by WASD or by right clicking the ground. So far I've seen a party of up to 4, and you select which character you direct via keyboard, clicking their party image, or by clicking them directly. Right clicking the ground orders them to move to that spot. Right clicking an enemy attacks. Left clicking targets and enemy or object, and left clicking a power on the quickbar uses that power on the target. Pretty straight forward. You can zoom freely out to a 3/4 view, or in to an over the shoulder view. WAY better than the horrid NWN camera setups. Still, I miss first person. Combat is real-time, but can be paused at any point to give orders just like ME. I used to prefer turn based combat, but this compromise is far superior, IMO.
I'm playing on Normal difficulty and found several of the battles quite challenging. In the opening for my character choices, my initial party included my character's mother and a war mastiff. Not sure which was a nastier piece of work.
I don't care to spoil a lot, but the storyline is quite compelling, if nothing new, and the characterizations and NPC voice acting really pulled me in. So much so that it was really hard to log off at 1:30 am last night. Mel and I were both playing and in Vent, but we spoke only rarely as we were both absorbed in the game. I heard Mel laughing quite frequently, and both our initial reactions were overwhelmingly positive.
More in the days to come.
Ariande Bard 20 • Nightfall Ranger 19
The Avatars, Argonessen Server
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Paid Expansion
According to Steam, the paid expansion for Dragonage Origins, more of a sequel than an expansion, actually, will be released on March 16. This date has already moved a couple of times though. Bioware timed things well between DA, ME2, and the expansion.
Wow
I am impressed. I thought normal was pretty tough!
The Avatars, Argonessen Server
Nightmare is Over
I managed to complete the game on Nightmare from beginning to end. Much fun and satisfaction.
finished once
So, I binged, badly, once I finally got the game. I've finished my first play-through. Great game. I only have a couple problems. One, Soldier's Peak was a big letdown. The quest was great, but then you can never go inside again. Really, I can't go inside my own keep? Two, toward the end of the game I started having a lot of slowdowns, and a couple of lock-ups, much like in games that have had memory leaks.
Overall, it has almost everything I ever liked about the Baldur's Gate or KotOR serieses. If they'd fix the freaking Keep addon so that it becomes more of a real stronghold, I'd rate this as the best CRPG ever.
Oh What a Nightmare
Very minor spoilers ahead if you haven't played the game much:
I still have not finished my first play through. However, I've played through to near the end, before starting over a number of times for various reasons (none of which would interest or surprise anybody).
I finally settled on what will be my last playthrough. The interesting thing is, I found the game to be challeging enough on Normal, and I have played this one on Nightmare from the very beginning. I'm 40% of the way through the game, I've completed the prologue, Ostergard, Lothering, as many of the Denerim quests as I could including Chanters, Mercenary, Rogue, and Mages quests, found Shale, and reclaimed the Gray Warden keep. I've done 2 of the 4 main quests (Redcliff and the Circle of Mages), and killed a dragon!
For the most part, the game has been easier than when I played on Normal, partly because I've learned which spells work best for me, refined my tactics, and know what's coming. But the other reason is because I've been playing with only 1 melee character, Alistair as a Sword and Board tank, and keeping aggro on him and focus firing foes down. I also have Leiliana, who is Archery specialized, and my main character, a Mage who has the following spell lines: Mage (rank 4), Cold (rank 3), Spirit Healer (rank 2), Blood Magic (rank 3), and the line with Crushing Prison (rank 4). I have put every single stat point into Magic, and rely on potions to make up for my lack of Willpower, and healing for my lack of hit points. So far so good. Her spellpower is outrageous and her spells seem much harder to resist than my first, more balanced build. The last member of my group is somewhat fluid; I began with Sten, switched to Shale once I freed him, and swapped in Wynne once she appeared. On easier difficulty levels multiple mages may be a good idea, but on Nightmare, I have found two tanks to be almost as good as two healers. The secret to the game is making your tank tough enough to survive most aggro, and having the resources to heal him, keep certain enemies locked down until the fight can be brought under control, and to do most of your damage from range. I explore with the tank, so he picks up initial aggro, then pull the encounters back to within range of my damage dealers. AoE spells are just not good tactically because of friendly fire, the talent points are better spent elsewhere. I can focus fire any enemy other than bosses down in a few seconds. Cone of Cold is the best crowd control spell in the game (by far), which is probably a flaw, but (shrug)... that's the way it is.
Mage is the best class for the player character, in my opinion. It's not because Mages are overpowered; it's because the NPC mages, as built when you find them, are very inefficient. Alistair, Shale, Sten, Leiliana, and Zevran all have good starting talents that form a sound foundation for an effective team. Morrigan (my favorite NPC) is gimped by being a Shapeshifter and having useless abilities in the Entropy line. Wynne is better, but I would do away with her Earth spells for Cold spells if I could, and not take the Spirit Magic buffs at all, so wasted points. Still, her healing brings enough to the table to offset the problem, especially if you have two healers. I made her second specialty Arcane Warrior just so I could put Dragonscale leather armor on her which makes her much more surviveable. So far, Blood Magic is the most powerful offensive specialty I've tried in the game (and I've tried them all except Berserker and Reaver). My mage is an over-powered blend of healing, offensive magic, and the most powerful crowd control in the game. I would say, don't waste your precious spell points on the paralyze or sleep lines; they are too mana intensive. Cone of Cold, Crusing Prison, Force Field, and the Blood Mage spells is all you will need.
My final decision is whether to go with Wynne long-term or Shale. With two tanks I have more options for controlling aggro, but then my main has about 3 times the healing to do since there is no Wynne and two melee's to heal. On the other hand, Shale brings great ranged and support abilities as well, so the jury is still out. As long as Alistair gets aggro, I have found it almost easy to heal him through any fight (even with the dragon, which I did without Wynne). He has The Dragon Plate armor (made in game, not the one you start with) and the best weapon I've found so far, is full Sword and Board, and will eventually have full Templar and Champion abilities. He lays down significant damage, has decent crowd control of his own, and is incredibly resillient, and if I have two healers almost impossible to kill. The only truly challenging encounters are the ones initiated with diaglogue when the game forces my mage to walk up to the crowd of enemies before I can attack.
I'm off to take on Flemeth next; it will be interesting to see if I can beat her. I'm sure the fight will be a complete Nightmare...
Update: Flemeth = Toast
Update 2: I have decided--without a doubt--Shale is better than a second healer. The optimum group is a Sword and Board Warrior of some type, Shale, a Rogue (and I vastly prefer Leilana as an Archer/Bard/Ranger), and a Mage with Spirit Healing/Blood Magic. So the preferred NPC's are Shale, Alistair, Leilana, and Wynne, with the player replacing whichever role he duplicates. My group is:
1. Alistair: Templar-Champion, max Shield skills, Taunt and Threaten, Max Templar, rest in Champion
2. Shale: Taunt and Threaten, all Golem skills
3. Leilana: All archery, locks and traps, Ranger, rest Bard
4. Wynne: Spirit Healer/Blood Mage, all Spirit Healing, all healing, all Blood Mage, rest wherever
My choice is to replace Wynne for two reasons: first and foremost it is a horrible aspect of the game that one even has the option to make her a Blood Mage without a significant amount of work in the game and effect on the story, and secondly she has more wasted skills when you get her than any of the others.
I have practically cruised through the game on Nightmare with this group. Using Alistair to pull, Shale in Aura form, and keeping Leilana and my mage out of combat is almost too easy. You could certainly form a better dps group, or handle things other ways; but for the ability to handle any conflict pretty convincingly, I doubt there is a better group configuration.
My Mage: Max Mage, Cold, Crushing Prison, Spirit Healing (3), Blood Mage (4), rest in the Spellwisp line under spirit (has grease, and a mana regen power, forget the specifics).
My next major fight is with Branka... which was easily the toughest fight in the game my first time through. Unfortuantely, I have Ohgren instead of Leilana, (required by the game), but, if anything, I'm tougher with him, just not able to deal with traps and locks.
Oh, and I almost forgot: as far as stat point allocation goes, with this build I have put every single point on my Mage into Magic, except for a few required points in cunning to unlock desired skills; all Con into Shale, since I don't use him offensively much, enough strength into Alistair so he can use the best weapons and armor, the rest into Con, a balance to Leilana, enough Dex and Strength to use the best weapons/armor for her, enough cunning to unlock her chosen abilities, the rest divided between willpower and con.
starting this one soon
My copy is supposed to be delivered today. May not get to it right away, I'm a little busy exploring the Mines of Moria in LotRO. I'm trying not to read too much of this, so that I can explore when I get into it.
Congrats
Congrats on the finish. I still have a long way to go myself but I was just toying with the Soldier's Peak DLC. Good to know it's worth the 7 bucks.
Finis. Awesome Game
I finished DA:O a few days ago. My opinion on the game hasn't changed. It's the best CRPG I've ever played not named Mass Effect. It edges out the excellent KOTOR and finally replaced Ultima Underworld in my heart. It fails to best ME in any category, really. The lack of main character voice was a minor irritation all along. The tactical combat was quite deep and fun, once I figured things out and started experimenting with many options I'd ignored initially, but it lacked MEs tremendous interface and first/third person immersion. The story was very good, but not as tight as ME, and the characterizations were as good as any I've seen in a game. I thought the end game was very challenging and well done, though it is pretty linear once you've made the decisions that lead you into the final battle. There are lots of crossroads in this game where you can shape the final outcome of that battle; not so much how the battle goes as what the impact is of winning or losing.
For various reasons I think a Rogue is the best main character, but if you want to be most effective, go Mage. The more Mages in your group, the tougher you'll be, and they're more flexible and just as fun as the other character types. Warrior will do just fine as well, it's just that there are more good NPC warrior options in the game than Rogues and you'll likely end up controlling the Rogue as your main quite often anyway. You need every skill point you can get on your main, so they'll likely have few Tactics slots, meaning you'll be best served by keeping control over them most of the time.
I highly recommend buying the Soldier's Peak and Shale downloadable content. Both added a lot to the game for me, including the coolest sword and the coolest armor, which I'd never have had otherwise. Shale was one of my favorite NPCs. I'd hate to have missed out on him.
I'll reserve any end game spoilers until a few more folks have finished.
Late Game Impressions *** SPOILERS ***
I'm about 65% into the game now with what appears to be one more major piece to put in place before the big confrontation. This game beats the hell out of Baldur's Gate and NWN. The combat is quite fun once you start to understand the nuances. It needn't be overly repetitive, especially if you switch team members out frequently. A combination of the brilliant tactics scripting engine and frequent pauses make for a very deep tactical combat experience. The plot is very good, but the characterizations and NPC plot lines take the excellent work done in BG and push it to a whole new level, even exceeding what we saw in Mass Effect. Getting new loot, especially named loot, is exciting and there's never enough money in the game for everything you want. The character building system initially seemed to be the weakest part of the game, but it's grown on me. Most abilities have some unique value, and those that don't are useful simply because of having one more ability while the others are on cool-down.
My few complaints are the aforementioned lack of main character voice, constant looting of vendor fodder items, and no balance to the character system... mages are flat out better than everyone else. IMO, the ultimate party is Shale and 3 mages. Frankly, that last doesn't bother me much. It's just another nob on the game difficulty settings. The fewer mages you run with, the harder the game will be. However, all the characters have roles to play, many having nothing to do with their class, and in a single player game balance is less relevant than in an MMO. I have used all of the NPCs at one point or another, and bringing them along to various locations unlocks quests and storylines you'd never see otherwise, as well dialogue between characters that's not to be missed. If you listen to what they tell you and take NPCs to locations they've mentioned (often indirectly), you'll be well rewarded.
Mel pointed out the utility of the various bombs that come with Poison Making, and it's really made a difference in encounters where I choose to have only one mage. I've pretty much ignored Trap Making, but I suspect it could play a similar role in replacing a lack of spells in a group.
My main group is Ariande, Allister, Wynne, and Morrigan. I sometimes replace Allister or Morrigan with one of the others for plot purposes. I highly recommend experimenting with the other NPCs. IMO, if you stick to just one group you miss a lot of well done story work.
Oh, and I still like ME a bit better than DA:O.
*** SPOILERS ***
*** SPOILERS ***
My main is Ariande, a 17th Rogue trained as a Duelist and a Bard. Like Rick, I've chosen to RP my character to the hilt and Ariande is a do-gooder who wants to marshall every last soul to fight the blight. She gets on well with Leliana, Wynne, and Allister, as she helps anyone and everyone, driving Morrigan and Sten up a tree. I've used heavy bribery to make the other two love her anyway. She is a TWF, wielding Starfang and Topsider, both with Paralyze, resist, and elemental damage runes, and wears the Warden Commander armor from Soldier's Peak, IMO the best looking armor in the game. She has maxed Coercion, Survival, and Combat Expertise, and is third Tier in Poison Making. She has too few Tactics slots as a consequence, so I spend a lot of time running her directly. I just bought her the Lifegiver ring from Orzammar, and the +3 in combat health regen and +10 CON have made her far more durable than anyone besides Allister. I use stealth constantly for scouting, disarm traps for XP and to allow free access for Allister, and am always moving to flank. She's a melee terror that puts the THF warriors to shame.
Allister is my tank. Clad in full Juggernaut armor and wielding Arl Eamon's shield, he can withstand tons of damage from melee and spells. He has the full sword and board lines and does more than respectable damage. More importantly, he can survive with Threaten on constantly, even in the biggest battles. He also has the full Templar line and is just gained the first Champion skill. The Templar abilities are invaluable, and Holy Smite is great fun, but his real value is in his durability and stunning capabilities. Indomitable is a skill I use when I can't afford Allister to be knocked off his feat, even for a short while. That skill is the primary reason a Warrior is a btter tank than anyone else, though my Duelist Rogue has a similar passive ability, though it's less reliable.
I've built Morrigan as a combination Storm Witch (full lightning line and Winter's Grasp) and crowd controller, using Sleep and Waking Nightmare. She has a +1 Mana Regen item and virtually never runs out of mana despite frequent casting. Waking Nightmare is a fantastic spell similar to the D&D Confusion spell. It's AoE, has no friendly fire component, and causes targets to be stunned, flee, or fight their companions for a time. It's a small AoE, especially compared to Sleep, which has the same huge template as Tempest. The combination is very useful for CC'ing two flanks of a fight, and having foes turn on each other is much better than paralyzing or stunning them. Tempest, which I was initially disappointed with, has become a primary tool for initiating large fights. It can be cast around corners and does not need a living target. I start out by covering whatever defensive position the mages and archers are sitting in, and damaged foes come running right to my melees. It's great. Both Morrigan and Wynne have the Staff Expertise and Spell Power skills, and it gives a huge boost in ranged damage and getting their spells to stick. Highly recommended.
Wynne is indispensable as a Spirit Healer, but I've been a bit to focussed and she has only the first three Earth skills as damaging attack abilities (discounting the weak Arcane Bolt.) Still, the combination of Petrify and Earth Fist is outstanding. Haste is almost as big a deal to my group as it is in DDO. It speeds up the melee's attacks and movement, as well as turning to mage's stave attacks into machine guns. With Wynne's huge number of Tactics slots, I have her using her Regen and Rejuv skills constantly, especially on herself, but she still runs out of spell points all the time. In any case, Wynne is one of my favorite NPCs and I rarely go anywhere without her.
Stenn is clad in full Dead Legion armor and wields his soul sword. A pure THF, he dishes great damage, but requires too much healing. He might be viable in the tank role if I gave him the Juggernaut armor and Allister's items, but he'd lack the Templar resists and anti-magical abilities. Once foes start using Crushing Prison on you, you won't want to go anywhere without cleanse or a mage with Dispel. He has some great engagements with other NPCs, especially once you get him his sword.
Leliana rarely goes with me into quests. As I'm a rogue, I don't need her. Still, her story is quite cool and she looks great clad in the Ancient Elven armor set. I'm really hoping to run across her former mentor at some point.
I mainly keep Zevran around because his dialogue is amusing. I was hoping to get him to train Ariande as an Assassin, but decided she needed to be a Bard for RP reasons. He gets the cast off leather and knives.
Shale is a fantastic character. His three modes all buff the rest of the group with no need for intervention or worrying about durations, and the ability to customize him on the fly with the various crystals is really useful as well. When I take him, he replaces Allister. You really have to experiment with his stances to realize his potential, but it's well worth it. I'm looking forward to going back into the Deep Roads with him to get his memories back.
Oghren is comic relief, plain and simply. He gets the Blood Dragon armor, which I found to ugly to look at, and best TH weapons outside of Stenn's soul sword. I took him through the whole Orzammar quest line because of his attachment to Branka. It made things a bit tougher, but I got some nice cut scenes and his dialogue with Morrigan and Wynne was priceless.
On the bandwagon
In was really hoping to avoid getting this - just no time. But I faltered and now it looks like I've got a hobby for the next few months. First character is a Rogue who will hopefully morph into a Bard.
-M
Coercion Emphasis
Mine went into Combat Expertise. I wish I'd emphasized Coercion more. No need for the 4th Level of Combat Expertise until you need a 4th Tier combat talent.
Allister is focused on sword and board, as well as Templar skills.
Sten is a straight up THF killer.
I've made some mistakes with Morrigan, who was pretty screwed up when I got her. I wanted some AoE damage dealing and took the 2nd and 3rd Tier Lightning talents. The cone is not quite as good as the Fire or Ice cone attacks, and the Storm ability is MUCH bigger than the targeting template would indicate, making it very hard to use. Sleep is an excellent AoE spell, however, and it works great with Horror. Other than that, she's got the first Tier of a bunch of different abilities. Personally, I like the first Tier Fire ability, then Ice all the way up. Haven't tried Earth at all.
Coercion
My first 4 skill points on my main were all in Coercion. No regrets. Don't think I would build my character any other way. Just saying...
I have a Rogue main,
I have a Rogue main, specialized in TWF, 3 levels of open locks/traps, 1 of Coercion, and 1 of Survival. She's now a Duelist TWF. My normal group is comprised of Allister, Sten, and Morrigan. I love the interplay between Morrigan and Allister too much to let it go, and Sten is one of my favorites. I like the devout rogue a lot as well, but two rogues is too much and I've found much more heavy armor and high strength weapons than anything else. Haven't run across Wynne yet. 9th level and I've only done half of Dennerim and the forests beyond the refugee village.
We're pretty tough. I need a decent 2H weapon for Sten, better armor for Ariande, and to get at least one more level each of Coercion and Survival into my group. Hard to come by.
Finally!
Amazon finally came through with my copy (don't pre-order stuff you really want to play from them!) I have played a dwarf commoner warrior through the joining so far and thoroughly enjoyed the initial story. I have pretty much decided that I am going to go back and try a rogue before I go any further though. I found that I was actually playing the NPC rogue as my primary more than my warrior once I got out into the wilds and really I just made the warrior based on memories of what worked well for me in the Baldur's Gate series. Overall I am really enjoying it so far. Can't wait to see the rest!
What's Your Party
I am currently at 14th level, a Mage/Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer. My usual companions are Alistair, Wynne, and Laila, for two reasons. One, it is a very balanced party, and two, all of them react well to altruistic decisions (I prefer Morganna, but she would turn me into something unnatural if I allowed her to know what I'm really up to). I've built Alistair's Warrior/Sword&Board skills primarily. Wynne has maxed Spirit Healing, Healing, and Earth magic (try petrifying something, then hitting it with Stone Fist). I've maxed Laila's trapsmithing and Bard skills and intend to max her archer skills.
As for my main, I've maxed the crowd control abilities under Entropy and Spirit (just a couple spells in Spirit so far). I'm also keeping Arcane Warrior skills at max and plan to do the same with Spirit Healing. I can usually lock down groups of weaker enemies and take them out one at a time or keep the bosses locked down, barring resists. If I get mobbed, I can activate Combat magic and mix it up in melee. I obtained two bonus abilities (would be a spoiler to tell you how or where) which really make me a fun character, one is a no-mana cost damage spell with moderate range, the other is the ability to convert a small amount of health into significant mana regen. And no, I'm not a Blood Mage, I passed on the ability to even unlock Blood Magic since I'm actually role-playing this game (for once).
My main looks pretty sweet in his Grey Warden Commander full plate, especially since he's a mage. I am actually able to leave it equipped when casting. With Combat Magic off, my fatigue is about 30% (about 80% with it on), which is not too bad, especially since I have multiple ways to recoup my mana in combat (Wynne's rejuvination and mass rejuvination and my special ability; plus, I'll have rejuve and mass rejuve myself in a few levels).
My only real weakness is the inability to pour on massive damage when I need to, but that is mitigated pretty well by the ability to lock down my enemies. When I don't need a Rogue, I swap Laila out for Morganna who I've turned into an Elementalist and she really wreaks havoc on the battlefield.
There are so many ways I can see to build a party. If anybody has the time or inclination, I'd love to hear what strategy you're enjoying.
I ran a mage up the tower
I ran a mage up the tower and pretty much cleaned house. Just a bit later you can get a roug added to your group and she is a very cool character IMO. I really liked the dwarf rouge (imagine that) Nobel story and I found class with the positional tactical skills fun to play... but tossing around the spell effects won me over. though you also get a mage in your group right after the tower as well. So at some point you get redundancy or a dog. Anyway great fun, I'm just savoring the story line and playing this one nice and slow.
Agreed... Healer Mage = Easy(ier) Button
Agreed. Much like ME, the game is fairly difficult. Again, the healer mage has a ripple effect... fewer characters down at the end of each battle means fewer Injury Kits and Potions used, which in turn means you'll be much more wealthy, which leads to being tougher still. Healer mage at the begin seems to equal easy mode, and it gets even better when you hit Tier 4 Healing. OTOH, my rogue main group did better than my Mage main group, even with the crappy NPC mage you get entering the tower. YMMV.
BTW, Rogues are pretty tough in their own right. Light on armor, but much harder to hit. They are excellent in one-on-one battles as well as attacking from the rear. Duelist is looking pretty attractive.
Not Your Grandfather's CRPG
Is it just me or is this game actually HARD? I read that Normal setting on the console versions is actually the same as Easy on the PC.
Some early observations:
You pick up a Tank, Mage, and Rogue early enough in the game to wait for an NPC to fill those roles. Depending on choices you make, it may be a loooooong time before you get a Healer.
The Tank is very tough, esecially with a Healer and can make a big difference in managing a battle. However, he has a hard time holding aggro if you don't build him right or plan your battle-to-battle strategy carefully.
A stealthy Rogue is actually one of your best tools for starting a battle on YOUR terms.
The game can be played without healing; but it is MUCH harder. Potions (healing and mana) are the most valuable items in the game.
The verdict is in: there is a great deal of Strategy to the game.
Suggestion: If you want to play something other than a Mage, be sure to take the Heal spell at your first oppurtunity on your NPC mage. If you play a Mage yourself, take a Heal spell early. Otherwise, any choice for your Main Character will be great fun.
Class Balance
I've made it to the tower with all three characters. My Mage is Healer/Ice based, my Rogue is a generalist, and my Warrior is sword & board. Overall, the Mage had the easiest time of things, by far. My mage made it to the top of the tower and beat the demon on his first try. I have not attempted it with my rogue, but my warrior has had his ass handed to him 3-4 times and I haven't even reached the demon fight. Despite the lack of a rogue, it has been much easier winning battles when I can heal the other party members during battle without having to interrupt them. Also, my mage is an herbalist, so the group has plenty of potions for mana and health. It's more than possible that I built my warrior and rogue poorly, and it's likely I need to adopt a more Rick-esque micro-management of battles for the warrior main to shine, but right now it's the healing mage FTW. Any other perspectives?
EDIT: So, I played the three classes I did in hopes of figuring out which class I like to play the most. I liked all three origin stories. I think I'll try for an archer rogue for my main, though I'm unclear as to whether the rogue abilities (backstab, dirty tricks, low blow, etc.) work with a bow. I'll leave strngth low and pump DEX and Cunning, then try to get Lethality so I can use Cunning instead of Strength for damage. As for specialty, either Assassin or Bard would work. Allistair seems like a fine tank, Morrigan a more than decent mage and and I can take the dog until and unless I get someone better. But how to live without healing? It makes everything so much easier. Coercion is the one skill no NPC seems to have, so I need at least some of that. Trap making gives a chance to detect NPC traps, which seems trivial until you hit the fireball trap in the tower. Morrigan has upgraded Herbalism, I'd really like some Survival for the detection of hidden enemies. I haven't really looked at poison making. Anyone find that useful?
EDIT: I wouldn't have imagined it, with the way every fight as I went up the tower was a battle to the death with one or more casualties, but my rogue group took down the ogre demon with no losses on the first try. Amazing.
BTW, no, rogue skills do not work with ranged weapons. You need to be up close and personal. So, my rogue is a TWF.
Me Too
I also picked up the game on Tuesday. I've played through the prologue with a Warrior and a Mage. I greatly prefer the Human Noble intro to the Mages; that's more a reflection of my tastes than the merits of either intro. However, I greatly prefer the Mage (at low level at least) to the Warrior.
Combat is VERY reminiscent of Baldur's Gate (NOT Neverwinter Nights, thankfully). I have not employed the Tactics, but instead have enjoyed micro-managing combat through round by round use of the pause button. Combat is quite tactical. It's too early to rate how deep strategy is. There is nothing innovative about this game at all other than the AI tactics design which I haven't used. Classes are routine, as are skills and abilities. The graphics are very good, though nothing special to this point. Some of the art, particularly some of the characters and monsters is very well done.
Bioware has a come up with a formula and it is unchanged here, not necessarily a bad thing. If you liked Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 and Mass Effect, you will not be disappointed.
Bottom line: Incredibly fun, entirely unoriginal--but for those of us who love the formula that's two pluses...
Origins & Control
I've now played a Human-Warrior-Noble through the "Joining", an Elvish-Rogue-Dalish through to Ostragar, and an Elvish-Mage-Mage through almost to Ostragar. All of the tales were very enjoyable, very different, and all maintained the same excellent production values. The "Harrowing" was particularly cool. I haven't tried a Dwarf yet, nor a city Elf, but this game is truly addictive.
Combat controls are quite different from ME's excellent squad interface. In place of being able to give squad level order (which I loved), you have levels of automation you can apply to each NPC. I've customized most of my NPCs. For instance, my Warrior's War Dog has three AI "Tactics" slot. In the first he is told to use his offensive debuff growl whenever he engages a foe with more than 75% HP. He has an AE howl that stuns foes, and his second slot says to use it whenever he engages a target that is near to two or more other enemies. The third slot tells him to turn on my target if Eran is at less than 50% health. The more Tactics training you main character has, the more of these caveats you can add to each NPC. There are presets, like Archer, Defender, etc., and you can save any set you create. It's very slick. I think there are just too many different abilities in DA:O for the ME system to have worked well.
So each class has it's own
So each class has it's own starting story. I played part way through the same one mike is on but hit a bug (and there have been several graphical issues, some odd AI things, like your npc not switching to melee until you set them to ranged etc) that stopped me from progressing. The starting mage story is completely different and not the same back with different paint. Very cool that.
So far, bugs excepted, I am impressed with the quality and art style of the game and voice acting are all top notch. I'm a little worried that this one might not be out of the oven yet though (at least PC version wise) and fear that technical issues could get worse... I'm going to get back to playing now but this typing instead of playing is making me sad :).
Sigh. I had a credit with
Sigh. I had a credit with amazon so I pre-ordered mine from them. Of course, it isn't here yet :( I did watch my brother play his Steam copy for a little bit yesterday and I can pretty much say that I can't wait till mine gets here.