Dragon Age Thread - [Please post in new thread]

Dashui

Experience the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.

Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.

Key Features:

* Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.
* Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.
* Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.
* Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.
* Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.





You are a Grey Warden, one of the last of a legendary order of guardians. With the return of mankind's ancient foe and the kingdom engulfed in civil war, you have been chosen by fate to unite the shattered lands and slay the archdemon once and for all.

Key Features:

* Immerse yourself in a shattered world on the brink of annihiliation
* Experience complex moral decisions that have game-changing consequences
* Sculpt your hero in your own image or fantasy
* Engage in bone-crushing, visceral combat against massive and terrifying creatures


News

03/08/2011 - Dragon Age 2 is now available for purchase! And a launch trailer has been released that can be viewed at the following link: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-launch-dragon-age/711123

03/07/2011 - The high resolution texture pack has been released. You can view information and download it at the following link: http://social.bioware.com/page/da2-patches

02/22/2011 - The Dragon Age 2 demo is now available for download.

02/11/2011 - Dragon Age 2 has gone gold!

Older News

Spoiler:

02/09/2011 - A Mac version of the game has been announced, and will ship on the same disc as the PC version.

02/02/2011 - A Dragon Age 2 PC, 360 and PS3 demo will be available February 22nd, 2011. All three classes will be available to play, from the prologue up to meeting Isabella in Kirkwall. Upon completion of the demo, you'll unlock a sword to use in the full game. More information can be found at the following link: http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/demo

01/12/2011 - Dragon Age 2 is now available for pre-purchase on Steam.

10/14/2010 - The Dragon Age 2 Signature Edition has been announced. If you pre-order the game between now and January 11, 2011, your order will automatically be upgraded to the Signature Edition. It includes extra in-game weapons, a code for a new playable character, downloadable game soundtrack, and additional downloadable items. More information can be found at http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/info/order/.

09/07/2010 - The final Dragon Age: Origins DLC, Witch Hunt, is now available for purchase. You can view more information at the following link: For more information, visit the following link: http://dragonage.bioware.com/dao/witch_hunt/.

08/17/2010 - The debut trailer for Dragon Age 2 has been released. You can view it at http://dragonage.bioware.com/.

07/08/2010 - Dragon Age 2 officially announced for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360! A debut trailer will be released on August 17th, 2010.

07/06/2010 - Dragon Age: Origins - Leliana's Song addon is now available for purchase!

"Assume the role of Leliana, a young bard involved in a criminal ring that deals in political secrets. Accompanying her mentor Marjolaine on a high-risk mission, Leliana soon finds herself entangled in a game of intrigue that she cannot escape with just her beauty, charm, or stealth. The only way out of this game is to kill or be killed."

05/18/2010 - The Dragon Age: Origins - Darkspawn Chronicles addon is now available for purchase!

"You now fight as the Darkspawn! The city of Denerim, jewel of Ferelden, girds itself for war. As a hurlock vanguard, you alone hold the power to make thralls of your fellow darkspawn and drive them into the heat of battle. Heed the archdemon's call--Denerim must burn!"

03/16/2010 - Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening expansion pack is now available for purchase!

01/29/2010 - Dragon Age: Origins - Return to Ostagar addon is now available for purchase!

"Your memories of the battle of Ostagar will haunt you for years to come. It laid waste to your order and claimed the lives of many great men and women, including the brash young King Cailan and your mentor, Duncan.

Now, there are rumors that a fellow survivor of the battle has escaped from captivity and is seeking the Grey Wardens' help. The time has come for the Grey Wardens to make their return to Ostagar and exact their revenge upon the darkspawn."

11/03/2009 - Dragon Age: Origins is now available for purchase!

10/22/2009 - Dragon Age: Journeys is now available to play.

It's a 2D flash game, free to play in your browser, and set in the Dragon Age: Origins world. Playing the game will allow you to earn exclusives items for use in Dragon Age: Origins. http://www.dragonagejourneys.com/

10/13/2009 - BioWare's Social Network website is now live! http://social.bioware.com/

From here you'll be able to access friends, groups, uploaded character information, and more, as well as being able to download the Character Creator. You can make a character, save it for use with the full game, and even upload your character to the Social Network website.

You can also download the Character Editor directly from the following link: http://files.bioware.com/dragonage_cc_dl/DragonAgeOriginsCharacterCreator_en.exe

Dragon Age: Origins - PC Mods

Many of the following links and descriptions are courtesy of Ranadiel!

Spoiler:

Graphics and Atmosphere:

Improved Atmosphere -- adds more ambiance to the game world and a lot more, I highly recommend it. This mod changes a lot of things in regards to what characters wear and what they're doing in game, so you may want to read through before you install.

Dragon Age Redesigned -- Another major overhaul of the game in terms of graphics, all good in my opinion.

JB Textures -- Improves the look of the game, giving it a more high-res appearance.

Circles Be Gone -- Removes the targeting circles from the game. Makes it a hell of a lot easier to take screen shots and enjoy the view of the game.

Resized Shale -- Makes Shale a lot bigger than the original in-game model, as fitting for a gigantic stone golem. Makes some cut-scenes look silly due to un-adjusted camera angles, but still a good mod.

Shale Retextured HD -- Improves Shale's bodily textures to a high-res quality.

No Helmet Hack 1.6 - This mod makes helmets invisible "by placing helmets in the cloak slot. Each character maintains their own visibility setting. The helmets are visible on the inventory paperdoll for comparison and easy swapping."

Weapon Enchantment and Poison VFX Remover -- Removes the visual crust from weapon enchantments and poison coatings.

Weapon VFX Remover -- Removes the visual effects from Rune enchantments on weapons.

Personal Annoyance Remover -- Removes/reduces the visual effects from many of the sustained modes. Note that there is an option to download a version of Combat Tweaks with this file already installed

Character Generator:

More Hairstyles -- Adds more hairstyle options to the character generator.

Pineappletree's Vibrant Colors -- Adds more colors and tones options for the character generator.

Silent PC -- Gives you the option to select a "Silent" voice set at the character generator.

Items & Related:

Camp Chest - This adds an invaluable chest to the player camp for all the pack rats out there.

Leliana's True Sacred Ashes Armor - This mod gives you an armor for Leliana modeled after the one she wore in the Sacred Ashes CG trailer.

Gray Warden Runic Armor - This mod gives you a powerful set of armor, three shields, and several swords as a variant of the Warden armor.

Madd Gift Guide - This mod edits the item description for gifts with the name of the companion it is intended for.

Gift Guide - Awakening - This is a companion mod to Madd Gift Guide that adds support for The Stone Prisoner, Return to Ostagar and Awakening.

Gameplay & Combat:

Extra Dog Slot -- Makes Dog a permanent 5th member by allowing him to be summoned by the Warden. Keep in mind he counts as a Summon so if your Warden is a Ranger, you won't be able to have Dog and one of your summoned animals out at the same time.

Full Combatant Dog -- Improves Dog's base stats and gives him access to more abilities, making him more of a contributing party member. I was never able to get it to work exactly how it states in the description, but it works well enough for me.

Advanced Tactics -- Gives you a ton of new tactics options for setting up your AI. A must-have.

Custom Number of Tactics Slots -- Starts you out with 10 Tactics Slots and allows you to gain more per level-up depending on which exptable file you use.

Combat Tweaks -- Overhauls a lot of the spells, talents and formulas in the game. Most of the changes are well-balanced in my opinion and apply to all creatures, not just your party.

No Automatic Deactivation -- Stops the automatic deactivation of certain sustained abilities at the end of combat, such as Berserk and Blood Magic. Really useful.

Skip the Fade - Don't like the Fade mission, or just want to get through it quickly on a another playthrough? This mod teleports you directly to your companions instead of going through the entire section, as well as giving you all the attribute points, experience points, and codex entries you would have normally earned if you completed the Fade.

Lock Bash - This mod allows you to bash or force locked doors and chest opens, with a number of configuration options such as item breakage and stat requirements.

Special:

AddItem Script -- Adds a runscript additem command to the developer console. Very handy.

Console - Add Points -- Adds a runscript givepoints command to the developer console. Very handy and a great way to give spec points to characters who don't normally earn them(Shale, Dog) or ones that "forget" to start out with a spec(Sten).

Console - Respec -- Adds a runscript respec command to the developer console, allowing a quicker/lazier method of respecing your characters. Only works if you already have Character Respecialization installed.

The Winter Forge -- Adds a new crafting skill, "Enchantment" to game, to be used in conjunction with the new Winter Forge added to the campsite. A pretty in-depth system that allows you to create entirely new items or modify existing ones with custom stats, effects and abilities.

Awakening in the OC -- Adds the resources, specializations, spells, skills and talents of the Awakening campaign to the OC. Love it.

slinks s3 RAVAge -- Totally overhauls the game world, mostly in terms of combat encounters, weapons, armor and items. Definitely not for everyone, but good if you're seeking more variety in the game or a bigger challenge. Personally I love it.

Morrigan Restoration Patch Dialogue Fixpack -- Restores lines and scenes that were cut from the game before release. Fleshes her character out a lot more, making her seem less one-dimensional. Worth checking out if only just to see the missing scenes, such as ratting her out to the Templars at the Circle Tower, or the post-Flemeth encounter scene.

Ser Gilmore Party Member -- Brings back Ser Gilmore from the human noble origin and makes him a full-fledged, fully-voiced party member. The only thing that keeps this mod from being perfect is the fact that lacks is interactive party banter, and doesn't comment on interesting things seen by the party. Other than that it's a great mod worth checking out at least once.

Duchells Companions -- A set of face-morphs for the companions. You can pick and chose the ones you want to use. I use the Ser Gilmore V1 morph, since I can't stand gingers and it makes him look a lot more of a badass.

Dragon Age Rules Fixpack -- A set of tweaks and bug fixes, but most importantly a modified events manager file that allows it to take on more of a load without crashing the game. The tweaks and bug fix files are entirely module and don't have to be added, but the Core Files folder does need to be installed for anything to work, as it also includes the events manager files. Very useful.

Character Respecialization - "This addon allows the player to reset the base attributes, specialization points, spells, talents and skills of the hero character and any of the party members to the default values and returns the remaining points so they can be spent again. The addon takes into account every bonus point the characters receive during the game including CE and DLC items, tomes, bonus points from the Fade, etc."

Dialogue Tweaks - This mod "changes companion dialogues for consistency, bug fixing, and adds new minor options. All dialogue is voiced by original game voice actors; these are changes to scripting, text, and dialogue conditions to make use of or correct existing dialogue." The creator suggests using the following two mods in conjunction with Dialogue Tweaks:

Alistair Dialog Patch - This mod "fixes many endgame dialogue issues relating to Alistair and his status, as well as some other adjustments to Alistair's general dialogue and romance-related dialogue."

Endgame Dialogue Fixes - This mod makes "corrections to endgame dialogue issues relating to Alistair and his status, as well as optional endgame slideshow changes to expand on the original story."

Dragon Age 2 - Articles & Reviews

5/5 - The Escapist - "A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be."

94/100 - PC Gamer - "The best RPG combat ever. Not gaming's best story, but maybe it's best storytelling. Darker, sexier, better."

94/100 - Xbox360Achievements - "Manages to be the same great epic as its forebear in terms of sheer scale and ambition, while packing in superior visuals, improved gameplay and a stronger grasp on its own unique identity."

92/100 - Gametrailers - "Though it doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor when it comes to sheer breadth, Dragon Age II has quite a bit more soul."

90/100 - Official Xbox Magazine - "Next to its predecessor, Dragon Age II may be a slightly altered beast, but the minute Isabela slyly chirps "I like big boats, I cannot lie" to a Desire Demon in the murky Fade, you'll realize this game offers some of the deepest, nerdiest, most worthwhile 40 to 60 hours you'll ever love losing sleep over."

90/100 - Games Master UK - "BioWare have comprehensively hit back at detractors of the original game and Dragon Age II delivers a distinctive fantasy RPG with far broader appeal and personality than before. Mega-nerds may feel slighted that they can't dig into the mechanics quite so easily but few would argue that this slicker, more streamlined approach isn't a vast improvement."

86/100 - GamingXP - "Unfortunately, Dragon Age 2 has not met my expectations. The epic story of Dragon Age: Origins made me play the game for hours, but Dragon Age 2 lacks a gripping story. Most of the time you create bloodbaths by running through the same dull dungeons. There are some improvements like a talking main character, but it's not a new Dragon Age, it's rather a hack'n'slay with a touch of roleplaying. If you missed some action in Dragon Age: Origins, then you should get Dragon Age 2, but if you loved the atmosphere, the story and the freedom of choice, then you should expect something different."

85/100 - IGN - "The combat is more responsive and bloody, you don't need to fight the inventory system anymore, and conversations are more engaging thanks to the adapted Mass Effect wheel. There are downsides though; the semi-linear story and repetitive environments have a negative effect on what is otherwise a great role-playing game."

83/100 - 1UP - "It really seems like the biggest mistake is calling it "DA2," as it's just different enough from Dragon Age: Origins to not feel like a sequel, but more like a reboot. The different main character, the faster and more streamlined combat, and the overall structure makes it feel like a fine Dragon Age adventure, but not a direct follow-up to DAO."

83/100 - Game Informer - "Part of me was disappointed with Dragon Age II. I hoped for an improvement on the original, but it ultimately feels like a step back."

72/100 - IncGamers - "While the gameplay is far from perfect, Dragon Age II is an absolute must for anyone interested in the world, the lore and a good story - but anyone hoping for something that feels and plays like Origins might want to adjust their expectations accordingly."

70/100 - Gamer Limit - "While Dragon Age II doesn't quite measure up to it's predecessor, the streamlined approach was a solid effort - if Bioware can somehow marry the best parts of Origins and Dragon Age II, it will produce one of the best RPGs the world has ever seen."

70/100 - VideoGamer - "Despite the way narrative has been re-structured and the combat made meatier, this sequel follows the old conventions of the genre too literally to develop an individuality beyond them. Two entries down the pipe, and Dragon Age is still experiencing the growing pains of a series that's more dedicated to studying fantasy games than developing its own personality in the genre."


Dragon Age: Origins - Articles & Reviews

Witch Hunt the Penny Arcade Dragon Age comic

5/5 - Giant Bomb review - "However, as the sort of guy that has lovingly played an Infinity Engine game at least once every year for the past decade, I can think of no higher praise for this throwback than to say that Dragon Age: Origins leaves me feeling fairly confident I won't need to dig out the classics for this ritual next year."

9.5/10 - GameSpot video review - "If you're hungry for a fantastical original fantasy setting, an awesome story filled with memorable characters, and fun multi-layered questing, Dragon Age will fill you up. This is the RPG you've been waiting for, the one that's going to keep you up at night and invade your dreams."

94/100 - PC Gamer UK - "Roleplaying games now have a great deal to live up to."

9.2/10 - UK IGN PC - "Bioware’s achievements in all this are incredible. It cannot be stressed enough at the depth of the universe they have conjured. Every corner you look, there is a sense of age, of something old. Entire mythologies for multiple cultures have been brewed up, entire religions mapped out in their own belief systems, history that stretches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Cities look lived in, worn – majestic and squalid places that spill with times gone by and a sense of place. The castles look like they have been there for centuries, and truly, there is an uncertain sense that they have been. That Ferelden and its inhabitants were waiting patiently in the wings for all this time, waiting for their chance to shine. Well, like the Grey Wardens, their time has come. Let us unite then, and in the words of an old friend: We shall show those cursed Darkspawn our hearts – and then show them theirs."

92/100 - Absolute Games review - "It has everything that is sought by the most jaded fans of the genre..."

9.1/10 - Gametrailers video review

90/100 - Game Informer review - "Even more than Mass Effect, the nation of Ferelden feels like a fully realized setting with its own history, conflicts, and power groups."

8/10 - Eurogamer PC review - "In its desperation to infuse this setting with 'maturity' - be it of the sober, political kind, or the game's painfully clumsy gore and sex - BioWare has forgotten the key ingredient of any fantasy: the fantastical. Without it, you're still left with a competent, often compelling, impressively detailed and immense RPG, but it's one that casts no spell."

The People of Dragon Age: Origins – An Interview with Sten, Wynne and the Tower Guard


Dragon Age 2 - Screenshots

Spoiler:

Dragon Age: Origins - Screenshots

Spoiler:

Dragon Age 2 - PC System Requirements

Spoiler:

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
Video: NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DirectX 11: ATI 5850 or greater
DirectX 11: NVIDIA 460 or greater


Minimum:
OS: Windows XP with SP3
OS: Windows Vista with SP2
OS: Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater
RAM: 1 GB (1.5 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256 MB cards
Disc Drive: DVD ROM drive required
Hard Drive: 7 GB
Sound: Direct X 9.0c Compatible Sound Card Windows Experience Index: 4.5

Dragon Age: Origins - PC System Requirements

Spoiler:

Windows XP Minimum Specifications

* OS: Windows XP with SP3
* CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) single core running at 1.4Ghz or greater
* AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater
* RAM: 1GB or more
* Video: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater
* NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater
* DVD ROM (Physical copy)
* 20 GB HD space

Windows Vista Minimum Specifications

* OS: Windows Vista with SP1
* CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) single core running at 1.6Ghz or greater
* AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 2.2GHZ or greater
* RAM: 1.5 GB or more
* Video: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater
* NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater
* DVD ROM (Physical copy)
* 20 GB HD space

Recommended Specifications

* CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
* RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
* Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
* NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
* DVD ROM (Physical copy)
* 20 GB HD space

Maz-

woo first?
Damn that thread moved fast.

I'm 15 hours in now and I guess I'm almost done with all the sidequests in Act 1. Crazy.

Dashui

I keep hearing Merrill's quest in the second act is bugged. Does this bug prevent her companion quest from triggering, or just the talk at her house? I think I talked to her at her house in the beginning, but when can I expect her actual companion quest to trigger?

Hardtarget

oh hey, new thread.

Reposting this becausre z0re is insane!

wait Z0re what?!
list of Citadel races:
Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Slarians, Turians, Volus
list of other races:
Batarians, Collectors, Geth, Krogan. Quarians, Reapers, Vorcha
Extinct Races:
Protheans, Rachni

and I skipped a bunch of other ones. Every one of those races is extremely fleshed out and almost all of them want very very diffrent things from each other. You mention the Batarians but if anything they're one of the most boring ones!

This isn't the ME thread so I won't actually go far into this but you are crazy if you think ME doens't have more clashing cultures than DA

aBlank

So stupid question, but is there any difference/importance to the Rumors vrs Secondary/side quest/premium content sections in the journal? I mean, side quest/premium content are sort of obvious but these rumors and secondary parts seem odd.

Angel177

Gaming-Freak wrote:
Blackjack wrote:
Gaming-Freak wrote:
Angel177 wrote:
The only way to change the look of some one is to romance them properly.

FALSE! You can get Armor upgrades from certain shops and chests during quests.

Do the upgrades actually change the appearance, though?

I mean, it's still false because Aveline changes armor from Act 1 to Act 2 if you do her quests in Act 1, so there's that, but still, do they?

No, from what I noticed, Armor upgrades don't seem to change appearances. Then again, I never found most of the armor upgrades for companions. In the end, they didn't seem to need 'em anyway.


Renzo wrote:
Are you seriously calling bullshit on a guy who tested the game?

I'm calling bullshit because I BEAT the game, and completed Isabela's romance. I KNOW it's false.

Did you complete it with the correct response's, because if you give them wrong, She stays at default look.

And Avelines armour changes from the Prolouge leather's to her guard armour, not Act 1 to Act 2. and its not an upgrade, just a plot look, as she joins Kirkwalls police force.

Preacher

aBlank wrote: »

So stupid question, but is there any difference/importance to the Rumors vrs Secondary/side quest/premium content sections in the journal? I mean, side quest/premium content are sort of obvious but these rumors and secondary parts seem odd.

Rumors only seemed to pop up in act 1 and they seemed to be situations you had to stumble across to activate, and then they would become full quests.

Z0re

Hardtarget wrote: »

oh hey, new thread.

Reposting this becausre z0re is insane!

wait Z0re what?!
list of Citadel races:
Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Slarians, Turians, Volus
list of other races:
Batarians, Collectors, Geth, Krogan. Quarians, Reapers, Vorcha
Extinct Races:
Protheans, Rachni

and I skipped a bunch of other ones. Every one of those races is extremely fleshed out and almost all of them want very very diffrent things from each other. You mention the Batarians but if anything they're one of the most boring ones!

This isn't the ME thread so I won't actually go far into this but you are crazy if you think ME doens't have more clashing cultures than DA

Let me put it more succinctly,

Dragon Age has a large group of smaller powers who could reasonably compete with each other going to war all the time. Fereldan just established its independence from Orlais, there are always tensions with the Dalish and the Elves in the Alienages, the Qunari and the Tevinter Imperium, the Tevinter Imperium and everybody else... etc.

No outside group in Mass Effect, with the obvious exception of the Reapers, can or will compete with the Citadel. The real Geth just want to hang out by themselves, and the Batarians, Krogan and Rachni are way too small to actually pose a threat. There are brushfire conflcts yes, but there needs to be an outside threat to actually disrupt the status quo.

In Dragon Age II especially we get to see a society torn apart from the inside, hatred and predjudices bubbling over into a crazy amount of violence. That... can't happen in Mass Effect.

Angel177

aBlank wrote: »

So stupid question, but is there any difference/importance to the Rumors vrs Secondary/side quest/premium content sections in the journal? I mean, side quest/premium content are sort of obvious but these rumors and secondary parts seem odd.

Rumours become quests after meeting completing other quests to confirm those rumors.

Secondary are smaller ones than flesh out the world and characters.

Hardtarget

Z0re wrote: »

Hardtarget wrote: »

oh hey, new thread.

Reposting this becausre z0re is insane!

wait Z0re what?!
list of Citadel races:
Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Slarians, Turians, Volus
list of other races:
Batarians, Collectors, Geth, Krogan. Quarians, Reapers, Vorcha
Extinct Races:
Protheans, Rachni

and I skipped a bunch of other ones. Every one of those races is extremely fleshed out and almost all of them want very very diffrent things from each other. You mention the Batarians but if anything they're one of the most boring ones!

This isn't the ME thread so I won't actually go far into this but you are crazy if you think ME doens't have more clashing cultures than DA

Let me put it more succinctly,

Dragon Age has a large group of smaller powers who could reasonably compete with each other going to war all the time. Fereldan just established its independence from Orlais, there are always tensions with the Dalish and the Elves in the Alienages, the Qunari and the Tevinter Imperium, the Tevinter Imperium and everybody else... etc.

No outside group in Mass Effect, with the obvious exception of the Reapers, can or will compete with the Citadel. The real Geth just want to hang out by themselves, and the Batarians, Krogan and Rachni are way too small to actually pose a threat. There are brushfire conflcts yes, but there needs to be an outside threat to actually disrupt the status quo.

In Dragon Age II especially we get to see a society torn apart from the inside, hatred and predjudices bubbling over into a crazy amount of violence. That... can't happen in Mass Effect.

I guess?
the issue is it's already happened in the ME universe and we're coming in late as humans. We've only just arrived, the ME universe has already had it's massive wars between it's various civilizations and an order has been established. this order is ready to crumble though and can! depending on the choices you make during MAss Effect 1.

Just because we aren't seeing the genecide of the krogans by the salarians doesnt' somehow make it so that it never happened. the backstory of the ME universe is insanely rich and i would say far more rich than what we get in DA which is one planet in fantasy times dealing with various city states and a dark menace that pops out every few thousand years etc

MrPsycohed

A word of warning to anyone looking to use the Maker's Breath respec potion in the Black Emporium: don't.

Not unless you want to exploit a glitch in order to get a super-powered Hawke. In that case, yeah, go nuts. I've respec'd my Hawke a couple times and recently noticed that I magically got back one of the abilities I had respec'd out of. Did a little testing and apparently if you use the potion, save, and then reload that save, some or all of the stuff you respec'd out of will be back in your list of abilites. Use the potion again, and you keep those extra points. Repeat for hilarity. This also affects specialization points, which can lead to all sorts of zanyness.

edit: Oh, I should mention that this doesn't work on companions. Just Hawke.

aBlank

Angel177 wrote: »

aBlank wrote: »

So stupid question, but is there any difference/importance to the Rumors vrs Secondary/side quest/premium content sections in the journal? I mean, side quest/premium content are sort of obvious but these rumors and secondary parts seem odd.

Rumours become quests after meeting completing other quests to confirm those rumors.

Secondary are smaller ones than flesh out the world and characters.

Thanks (everyone). Secondary still seems like a weird name. I've only gotten the one quest but I got a companion out of it... I guess maybe he's missable though. *shrug*

Z0re

Hardtarget wrote: »

Z0re wrote: »

Hardtarget wrote: »

oh hey, new thread.

Reposting this becausre z0re is insane!

wait Z0re what?!
list of Citadel races:
Asari, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Humans, Slarians, Turians, Volus
list of other races:
Batarians, Collectors, Geth, Krogan. Quarians, Reapers, Vorcha
Extinct Races:
Protheans, Rachni

and I skipped a bunch of other ones. Every one of those races is extremely fleshed out and almost all of them want very very diffrent things from each other. You mention the Batarians but if anything they're one of the most boring ones!

This isn't the ME thread so I won't actually go far into this but you are crazy if you think ME doens't have more clashing cultures than DA

Let me put it more succinctly,

Dragon Age has a large group of smaller powers who could reasonably compete with each other going to war all the time. Fereldan just established its independence from Orlais, there are always tensions with the Dalish and the Elves in the Alienages, the Qunari and the Tevinter Imperium, the Tevinter Imperium and everybody else... etc.

No outside group in Mass Effect, with the obvious exception of the Reapers, can or will compete with the Citadel. The real Geth just want to hang out by themselves, and the Batarians, Krogan and Rachni are way too small to actually pose a threat. There are brushfire conflcts yes, but there needs to be an outside threat to actually disrupt the status quo.

In Dragon Age II especially we get to see a society torn apart from the inside, hatred and predjudices bubbling over into a crazy amount of violence. That... can't happen in Mass Effect.

I guess?
the issue is it's already happened in the ME universe and we're coming in late as humans. We've only just arrived, the ME universe has already had it's massive wars between it's various civilizations and an order has been established. this order is ready to crumble though and can! depending on the choices you make during MAss Effect 1.

Just because we aren't seeing the genecide of the krogans by the salarians doesnt' somehow make it so that it never happened. the backstory of the ME universe is insanely rich and i would say far more rich than what we get in DA which is one planet in fantasy times dealing with various city states and a dark menace that pops out every few thousand years etc

I guess? I prefer games that actually let me play during those kinds of interesting times. Like a game about the Krogan rebellions would be awesome, and Bioware will never make it because it doesn't involve humans at all. Sigh.

Bethryn

To call the Mass Effect races 'extremely fleshed out' when compared to either the Elves or the Dwarves in DA:O is a bit silly. Salarians are scientists. Krogan are barbarians. Turians are warriors. That's the extent of their 'fleshing out'. Hell, you don't even meet females of half the species in the game.

Dwarves are a dichotomy of super-conservative superstitious racists fighting a losing war, creating harsh castes because they're constantly at war for their survival put against enterprising exiles who accept that what they need from the world is outside the Thaigs.

You meet a dwarf in Dragon Age, you might get an idea of what kind of character that dwarf is by where you meet them, but they'll be defined more by themself than their race. You meet a Krogan in Mass Effect, what are the chances that he's a poet in need of children or a ritualist for his species? Pretty gorramn slim.

Hardtarget

ya I don't know, in ME1 you can choose to replace the entire council with humans and drastically alter the course of events for that universe. That's some pretty big stuff right there.

I just like how when you play a ME game there is sooo muuuch history that everybody is always referencing. So much stuff has happened.

Dragon Age is similar, and still really good and fun, but I definitely feel ME is more epic in scale. (which i guess makes sense cause it's an entire universe as opposed to a single planet)

Blackjack

Oops, didn't see the new thread. Repost go!

Angel177 wrote: »

And Avelines armour changes from the Prolouge leather's to her guard armour, not Act 1 to Act 2. and its not an upgrade, just a plot look, as she joins Kirkwalls police force.

No, if you complete her quests in Act 1 and she becomes Captain of the Guard, her armor changes again from Act 1 to Act 2. It's nicer, with shoulder guards and it loses the ugly orange cloth on the chest.

Hardtarget

sure bethryn except for the team of Salarian commandos you go to battle with in Mass Effect 1. but ya, they are all scientists.

anyways whatever, both games are good and have good backstories

trevellian

Sooo... I had a quick look at some gameplay vids on teh interwebs and they appear somehow less 'gritty' than DAO - it looks more like some arcadey button-mashing type game where enemies ezplodes when touched by a sword. Plus the character and enemy overheads during battles look cartoony and jarring.

Is that how it plays? All button-mashy and ridiculous body explosions or can it be played in a more tactical pause-n-play mode a la DAO? and is the GUI as unfitting as it looks?

Preacher

Combat is more frantic now. Even large boss fights tend to have a wave of goons that show up. Enemies explode in a shower of delicious gore and you murder so many, so so many.

I liked the UI as it only appears when it needs to be there and you don't have a constant portrait reminder of your party when you are walking around taking up the screen, way more minimal.

Z0re

trevellian wrote: »

Sooo... I had a quick look at some gameplay vids on teh interwebs and they appear somehow less 'gritty' than DAO - it looks more like some arcadey button-mashing type game where enemies ezplodes when touched by a sword. Plus the character and enemy overheads during battles look cartoony and jarring.

Is that how it plays? All button-mashy and ridiculous body explosions or can it be played in a more tactical pause-n-play mode a la DAO? and is the GUI as unfitting as it looks?

Its not really button-mashy at all, the game will kill you if you just try to smash A or right click and rewards you for being tactical. The GUI is fine in game, a lot better than Origins.

Warlock82

I think Dragon Age races are only "more fleshed out" because you could actually play as all of them (well, the main ones) in Origins, thus you could get an inside perspective for each.

Mass Effect races are still pretty fleshed out, between npcs, companions, and just reading the codex. They have a ton of history to them, with a lot of conflict. Saying "no one would attack the Citadel" is kind of dumb, because duh, the Citadel is like the united nations of the universe. They would be attacking themselves (and pretty much declaring war on every major race in the galaxy - not the smartest move). That said, weren't there quite a few quests in ME1/2 involving just that? Usually involving the Batarians (as they are not actually represented) and maybe the Geth (memory is hazy if they actually tried anything, but certainly they *would* - edit: ok, end game was technically a geth attack, tho probably more of a Reaper attack ).

Hardtarget

fyi the entire end game of ME1 was an attack on the citadel

jefe414

I love both games but I prefer spaceships and laser guns to dragons and swords.

Foolish Chaos

trevellian wrote: »

Sooo... I had a quick look at some gameplay vids on teh interwebs and they appear somehow less 'gritty' than DAO - it looks more like some arcadey button-mashing type game where enemies ezplodes when touched by a sword. Plus the character and enemy overheads during battles look cartoony and jarring.

Is that how it plays? All button-mashy and ridiculous body explosions or can it be played in a more tactical pause-n-play mode a la DAO? and is the GUI as unfitting as it looks?

On the PC at least I am pausing as much as in da:o. This is on hard though. There are definitely ridiculous body explosions, but they are awesome

And what looks wrong with the interface? I haven't had any trouble with it yet

Z0re

To get off the topic of Mass Effect, I'm going to predict the rankings in which people will like characters,


1) Varric
2) Bethany
3) Sebastian
4) Aveline
5) Carver
6) Merrill
7) Fenris
8) Isabela
9) Anders

Though pretty much everyone except Varric is going to get a lot of hate I think. Sebastian and Bethany may escape because of how vanilla they are, but the hate for everyone else is going to go insane pretty quickly.

Rizzi

Wow, 12 hours after I start playing, and I only just reached the second act.
Also, Sandal is one magnificent son of a bitch.

MundaneSoul

I think personally I tend to prefer the Dragon Age universe a bit more just because there have been so many places where I've really had to pause and consider a situation before making a choice and it seems like there's rarely a "right" answer. With Mass Effect it seems mostly like, well...if I'm Paragon I'm doing this and if I'm Renegade I'm doing this.

vsove

Varric was a blast to work on, and the writer was very receptive to my crazy schemes.

Same with Sebastian. After all, I got to put (minor Sebastian Act Two Quest spoiler)

Spoiler:

implied fellatio in the game

And in the end, isn't that the greatest gift of all?

Hardtarget

I like anders

(mostly cause i liked him in awakening)

MundaneSoul

Rizzi wrote: »

Wow, 12 hours after I start playing, and I only just reached the second act.
Also, Sandal is one magnificent son of a bitch.

I must be bad at this. I'm 18 hours in and still in Act 1 with a lot to do.

MundaneSoul

Also, reposting this in the new thread:

MundaneSoul wrote: »

Heir wrote: »

It's probably been asked already, but does anyone know of a site that has a list of dragon age savegames that I could download? I beat DA:O when it first came out, but since then I've reinstalled windows and no longer have the save. I'd love to import a similar character for DA2.

Gibbed actually put out a preliminary save game generator that will let you create a DAO file with whatever flags you want to import into DA2.

Link is here. Might be something good to put in the OP.

Also, to everyone who is getting that weird A:/ drive error when you start up the game, disabling the floppy drive in your BIOS should do the trick.

trevellian

Z0re wrote: »

Its not really button-mashy at all, the game will kill you if you just try to smash A or right click and rewards you for being tactical. The GUI is fine in game, a lot better than Origins.

Yeh I didn't quite mean button-mashing in a 'hit the same button continuously to win' way - more that the combat just seemed to have been sped up by such an extent that everything just seemed to be instant. Maybe it was just the vids I saw, but there seemed to be no scope for setting-up a battle (traps, positioning people and so on) as everyone just seemed to charge into huge groups of enemies and hit the 'look how awesome I am' spell/attack and have half of them explode.

*shrug*

I still say the GUI looks like it was put together by a 6 year old using MS paint having been told they can only use bright colours..

Z0re

vsove wrote: »

Varric was a blast to work on, and the writer was very receptive to my crazy schemes.

Same with Sebastian. After all, I got to put (minor Sebastian Act Two Quest spoiler)

Spoiler:

implied fellatio in the game

And in the end, isn't that the greatest gift of all?

Woah, woah where was the

Spoiler:

Implied Fallatio?

I remember there being a scene like that out of the way in DAO, during the break Anora out bit. I do not remember that in Sebastian's quest.

Preacher

Varric was great, I didn't really use sebastion, so for my second run I'm going to have him and varric backing up my two hand warrior goddess.

Only real complaint is that meele is punished to fuck on the larger boss fights, from being able to hit the mobs in general to getting knock down rapesd as a rogue was kind of annoying.

Preacher

Z0re wrote: »

vsove wrote: »

Varric was a blast to work on, and the writer was very receptive to my crazy schemes.

Same with Sebastian. After all, I got to put (minor Sebastian Act Two Quest spoiler)

Spoiler:

implied fellatio in the game

And in the end, isn't that the greatest gift of all?

Woah, woah where was the

Spoiler:

Implied Fallatio?

I remember there being a scene like that out of the way in DAO, during the break Anora out bit. I do not remember that in Sebastian's quest.

Spoiler:

When you run across the one brother he's getting a blowjob from a hooker.

Z0re

Hardtarget wrote: »

I like anders

(mostly cause i liked him in awakening)

No one will like Anders by the end of the game.

And to be honest the list was more of a prediction of the common consensus, I like Merrill a lot and would rate her highly but she's already getting a bunch of flak. Same with Fenris and Isabela.

Hardtarget

I only just met Isabella but I'm pro boobs

Preacher

I liked Merril, avaline, and Issabella for my first play through. Though I wish I had a fifth spot just for Varric so he could comment.

vsove

Preacher wrote: »

Spoiler:

When you run across the one brother he's getting a blowjob from a hooker.

Spoiler:

That scene was originally supposed to be A) tamer and B) containing more people.

Fellatio ended up saving me about 16 hours of work. Is there anything that fellatio can't do?

Z0re

Preacher wrote: »

I liked Merril, avaline, and Issabella for my first play through. Though I wish I had a fifth spot just for Varric so he could comment.

I took that group around a lot at the end of the game, though I sometimes ditched Aveline or Isabella for Varric.

Hank_Scorpio

Just played the demo and decided I'll have to wait 3 weeks for my new computer to come in, because it looks like shit at medium settings with DX9. Everyone is raving about dx11 + hi res packs so hopefully it's a nice improvement.