Dragon Age: Origins

[Terjyn]

Is anyone else noticing that the game seems really sluggish post-install of Awakening?

It's like my frame rate dropped to like...3.

[Beefbowl]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

Well, my question is answered by myself, at least from the outset, the map is new. Whaddya all think? I'm not far in, but the new specializations and abilities make it all worth it.

A review I saw mentioned a new origin story. I don't see it. Is there one?

I haven't had a chance to play it yet..went back to work on my Traveler trophy but far as I know there are no orgin story and no romance.

The game is sluggish during combat since I installed awakening

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by Beefbowl

I haven't had a chance to play it yet..went back to work on my Traveler trophy but far as I know there are no orgin story and no romance.

The game is sluggish during combat since I installed awakening

I haven't really noticed sluggishness in Awakening. Is it the original game that became slow?

It would be tough to have romance, as I have not been able to have meaningful conversation with party members while at The Keep. There is no party camp. The addition of a chest of personal belongings at The Keep is a welcome addition, though.

So here's a curiosity. Early one, you are met by the King of Ferelden. Will the identity of this king depend on how you played the end of the first game? Otherwise, it won't make sense for some players (or some of my characters).

[Beefbowl]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

I haven't really noticed sluggishness in Awakening. Is it the original game that became slow?

It would be tough to have romance, as I have not been able to have meaningful conversation with party members while at The Keep. There is no party camp. The addition of a chest of personal belongings at The Keep is a welcome addition, though.

So here's a curiosity. Early one, you are met by the King of Ferelden. Will the identity of this king depend on how you played the end of the first game? Otherwise, it won't make sense for some players (or some of my characters).

The orginal is slow..can't say much for awakening as I have not had a chance to play it.

I would imagine it would be different depending on how you ended the game. The only thing they mentioned was that you'll be able to bring your character back to life if he died in the original.

[jsteinhauer]

Well, played a few hours today, and it still doesn't seem any slower. But no matter. The bug that causes the radial menu to pop-up in the wrong phase (unpaused) occasionally has not been fixed.

Have to admit, for a while things were exceptionally easy (on Normal difficulty). No health poultices used and very few lesser injury kits. I had not even bothered to program the new tactics slots for my NPC's (despite levelling from 22 to 26). It also seems like way many quests are piled on in the beginning, and community members other than NPC's have much more of an appropriate reaction to the PC in response to Karmic decisions than I think they did in the first game. Reputation means something.

Anyway, it did not completely stay easy. I encountered my first boss battle right before quitting to go and paint walls and ceilings. It was a two-boss battle, at the end of the quest

[Show spoiler] in the chasm discovered by Colbert which leads to an old Thaig with darkspawn and golems, including a golem boss at the end.

My whole party died which kind of sucks. I'll have to go and program the tactics slots and perhaps go and have runes put on my weapons and some armor (which is a nice addition, as well as character ability to enchant). I also think there is a way out of the area without fighting, so I can go level up some more before returning.

[standupdad]

Couple of things...

1 - I got my traveler's trophy just before the Archdemon fight in Origins
2 - I got perfectionist after the fight and end game dialog, but because I loaded the game to see what other quests I could finish.
3 - My quests are empty, but my map seems to let me go to where I got Shale and his personal quest Tiag. They both seem emty. Did I miss something?

Lastly, should I horde all of my left over runes and items and weapons, cash them in, or what? before I load up the expansion? Just looking for some ideas to set myself on the right path before getting the expansion with my BB bucks.

Thanks in advance,

SuD

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by standupdad

Couple of things...

1 - I got my traveler's trophy just before the Archdemon fight in Origins
2 - I got perfectionist after the fight and end game dialog, but because I loaded the game to see what other quests I could finish.
3 - My quests are empty, but my map seems to let me go to where I got Shale and his personal quest Tiag. They both seem emty. Did I miss something?

Lastly, should I horde all of my left over runes and items and weapons, cash them in, or what? before I load up the expansion? Just looking for some ideas to set myself on the right path before getting the expansion with my BB bucks.

Thanks in advance,

SuD

If you intend to take an old character in the new game, keep whatever gear you might want. You get a chest to store stuff in, and you can sell it anytime. Characters can now have the ability to enchant items with runes. The gear you find tends to be tier 8 and above. You also seem to accumulate sovereigns at a quicker pace.

[jsteinhauer]

So no one's playing this eh?

Beat my two bosses this morning. After programming tactics slots and making my party hold position at appropriate times it was stupid easy. It was almost like cheating.

[Show spoiler]I made my party hold still, moved the mage to the periphery of the room and went after the Darkspawn boss (the Lost) on my own. Once defeated, I freed everyone up to go after the Golem boss. I don't know why, but the Golem seemed unable to reach my party, while I was engaged with the Lost. After that, you needed only go and breaks some chains.

Bronze trophy from that quest as a result.

[jsteinhauer]

Beat "Awakening" today. The length of the campaign and limited replayability make this of questionable value at retail price. You can get 100% of trophies, if that floats your boat, with one playthrough plus a brief replay of one segment from a save point. While I could go back and play a character without persuasion skills or make some alternate decisions, only one of them seems to have impact on the actual game. The rest probably only impact the end notes.

This expansion is exceptionally easy. I found the original game to be well paced, challenging and fun on Normal difficulty. This was like slicing butter. It's as if the enemies were not scaled appropriately for higher level characters and weapons. I could pretty much approach any boss melee style, hack and slash, and leave my accompanying mage to keep me healthy. Furthermore, with so much loot and gold to be had, you could nearly always purchase anything you wanted. I usually had more than 200 sovereigns. But I never needed to. I never made use of runecrafting; I just took the best runes from my old weapons and put them on the newer ones. I never put runes on my armor.

Cheers!

[Beefbowl]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

Beat "Awakening" today. The length of the campaign and limited replayability make this of questionable value at retail price. You can get 100% of trophies, if that floats your boat, with one playthrough plus a brief replay of one segment from a save point. While I could go back and play a character without persuasion skills or make some alternate decisions, only one of them seems to have impact on the actual game. The rest probably only impact the end notes.

This expansion is exceptionally easy. I found the original game to be well paced, challenging and fun on Normal difficulty. This was like slicing butter. It's as if the enemies were not scaled appropriately for higher level characters and weapons. I could pretty much approach any boss melee style, hack and slash, and leave my accompanying mage to keep me healthy. Furthermore, with so much loot and gold to be had, you could nearly always purchase anything you wanted. I usually had more than 200 sovereigns. But I never needed to. I never made use of runecrafting; I just took the best runes from my old weapons and put them on the newer ones. I never put runes on my armor.

Cheers!

What level did you start the game at and what level did you finish? I finally got my traveler trophy so now I have just started awakening again. There's deifinitely a glitch as my two sword warrior is only fighting with one sword and punching with the other. lol. I looked at the runes and some of them looks pretty good. A Paragon Dwemor sounds tempting. If I can find 3 of them maybe I can get rid of my Knight Commander Plate. I was suprised at the begining when I opened my first chest and the first item was a drakeskin glove.

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by Beefbowl

What level did you start the game at and what level did you finish? I finally got my traveler trophy so now I have just started awakening again. There's deifinitely a glitch as my two sword warrior is only fighting with one sword and punching with the other. lol. I looked at the runes and some of them looks pretty good. A Paragon Dwemor sounds tempting. If I can find 3 of them maybe I can get rid of my Knight Commander Plate. I was suprised at the begining when I opened my first chest and the first item was a drakeskin glove.

Whatever level my Rogue finished the first game at. Maybe 22? Finished around 33, I think.

If you want the best runes, you will most likely need to craft them, and the best runes require all four levels of runecrafting, and you will need to acquire the materials to make them. I was not able to find very many high level runes for purchase. If you're into runecrafting, you will also most likely get rid of your plate armor for something with rune slots.

You encounter a couple of NPC's from Origins (other than the known Oghren) that won't join your party, but keep on the lookout for all of them, because I have a question, if you've finished Awakening.

[Show spoiler] Near the end, I encountered some items of Flemeth's. An not until later did I wonder, if the Broodmother was actually Flemeth, or was it even Morrigan.

[Beefbowl]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

Whatever level my Rogue finished the first game at. Maybe 22? Finished around 33, I think.

If you want the best runes, you will most likely need to craft them, and the best runes require all four levels of runecrafting, and you will need to acquire the materials to make them. I was not able to find very many high level runes for purchase. If you're into runecrafting, you will also most likely get rid of your plate armor for something with rune slots.

You encounter a couple of NPC's from Origins (other than the known Oghren) that won't join your party, but keep on the lookout for all of them, because I have a question, if you've finished Awakening.

[Show spoiler] Near the end, I encountered some items of Flemeth's. An not until later did I wonder, if the Broodmother was actually Flemeth, or was it even Morrigan.

How long was Awakening?

[caliblue15]

If you guys want Awakening get it now at the EA Store.

Use PAXEAST842 and you'll get $20 off of it, making it only $20 or half price. Best Deal you are probably going to get on this...

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by Beefbowl

How long was Awakening?

Not very long. I can't estimate gameplay time very well, but I would guess that if you took Origins, removed all DLC, removed all of the Warden treaties arcs then you might come close (just Ostagar, Lothering, Andraste's ashes and the Denerim quests seem pretty close). There are more bosses to beat, but they are not scaled up in difficulty for level 30 characters and tier 9 weapons versus level 20 characters and tier 6 weapons. There is little reason to revisit most areas more than once, and there are few transitional events between stops on the map. When you combine that with no incentive to play more than once, as I think I said above somewhere, I do not think this is a good value at the retail price.

[standupdad]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

Beat "Awakening" today.

That's a fast run. How many hours would you say that you had into it witout additional run throughs or tracking back through previous saves for trophies? I enjoyed/toiled through 60 to 80 total hours with Origins. That was worth the $40 my wife paid for it. I have some BB bucks, and was considering purchasing this one. If I can wait, I'd rather spend them on something more worthwhile since this one seemed such a quick finish.

I'm playing Demon's Souls atm. I HATE this game, and can't figure out why I can't put it down... but that's a whole 'nother episode of Oprah.

SuD

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by standupdad

That's a fast run. How many hours would you say that you had into it witout additional run throughs or tracking back through previous saves for trophies? I enjoyed/toiled through 60 to 80 total hours with Origins. That was worth the $40 my wife paid for it. I have some BB bucks, and was considering purchasing this one. If I can wait, I'd rather spend them on something more worthwhile since this one seemed such a quick finish.

I'm playing Demon's Souls atm. I HATE this game, and can't figure out why I can't put it down... but that's a whole 'nother episode of Oprah.

SuD

Never picked up Demon's Souls. It sounds good, but I've got surplus games already. I will guess, but like I said above, I'm not good at estimating this, that I played Awakening for somewheres between 10-15 hours. My wife was even surprised when I told her I was finished. I played Origins for weeks in real time. All trophies except one should be earned in a single playthrough, and you can bo back to a save point and get the last very quickly. I feel completely not compelled to play again with a different character, like I did with Origins. I don't thing the decisions that I made will change the flavor of the game much. Even the one decision that you must change to earn the final trophy did not change much except the location of some activities.

I don't regret the purchase, but if value means a lot to you, I don't think it is close to being worth an extra $40 compared to main game. I think those who have to plan their gaming budget carefully deserve to know this. $20 is perhaps reasonable.

[Beefbowl]

After 4 hrs into the game I'm liking it. More for the cool new equipment than anything else. I haven't done a whole lot of the main storyline just a bunch of side quests. Tried some runecrafting but it looks like it'll be a while before i can start making paragon runes. You were right about the difficulty as I'm pretty much breezing through the game. Not sure if it has to do with my 100% spell resistance or my high constitution.

[jsteinhauer]

Did anyone buy the April Fools DLC NPC gifts for Origins?

[Spiderbri]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

Did anyone buy the April Fools DLC NPC gifts for Origins?

yeah i did. they are cute but nothing special. however if they would be VERY helpful for the romance trophies because they give huge boost to like if you use the right ones.

anyone having trouble with the return to ostagar trophy? I kill the ogre that killed the king and the necromancer and no trophy. now I am trying it AGAIN really getting annoyed.

edit: got it. nothing different from the first time to this one but it worked. back to 100% in Dragon age.

[CrystalLake]

New DLC available early July... with Trophies!

http://www.ps3trophies.org/news/news...-Detailed.html