Dragon Age: does it get any better?

[Jandau]

I got DA:O for Christmas this year, and since I've heard such good things about it, I tried getting into it, but atm, it feels kind of..meh =/

From the map I saw once I got out of Ostegar and all that stuff..there doesn't seem too be that much there (even after of what I've heard about this game' longevity), and I'm always up for a challenge, but almost every fight in this game seems like a fight for your life, ending up with you using up all your health poultices to keep your party alive...so does it really get any better? =/

The game's longevity is substantial, but not as long as some would like you to think. A full playthrough with all sidequests will take you 30-40 hours, mostly depending on the amount of dialogue you skip through. People claiming 80+ hour games are likely spending time running in circles and leaving the game turned on while they go out on a friday night...

It is a hard game. There's not much you can do about that, it just is. If that bothers you, I'm not sure what to suggest. Maybe read up on some of the more effective strategies and character builds, or lower the difficulty. However, once you figure out what spells work best and how to best utilize your characters (Hint: learn to use the Tactics screen), the game is piss easy on Normal and only moderately challenging on Hard. A common "for the fun of it" thing on the DA:O forums seems to be Solo Nightmare runs...

Other than that, it's a good game with a well written story and interesting characters. It has its flaws, but they are surpassed by its virtues.

 

[D-Cypher]

Near the end of Dragon Age (maybe 20 hours) I literally ran out of enemies, I wanted to buy a new dagger, guess what? Nothing to kill. Just....nothing.

That should never really happen in an RPG, much less in 20 measly hours.

Bollox your near the end in 20 hours. It took me 6-7 hours to grind through Orzammar alone. If you really have done it in 20 hours than theres NO WAY you've been everywhere and done everything.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

if you don't like it, you don't like it.

nothing we can do to change that. but the combat doesn't get better. well, except for Wynne.

 

[BENZOOKA]

Yes. It gets better. Great game, but it's not for everyone.

Without playing too many games with the same kind of group combat system, it's hard and takes time to get used to, but it's very rewarding too.

Talking about the "smallness" of this game: [insert Yahtzee's rant about sandbox games here]
This is an exceptionally well written and executed game. It just isn't like a field with stuff in it, it's more like a story you can play.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

You're not very good at this game it seems.

.

Can we not have just one thread without someone making this annoying reply?

OT:

I've been playing it for six hours on Normal and I've been enjoying it a lot. Never lost a fight yet as I just spam shield bash and precise striking, I let the team-mates do thier own thing.

The story is the best thing about it, so OP I reccomend just putting it to casual difficulty and enjoying that side of the game.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

It is pretty much devoid of the elements which made previous BioWare games such masterpieces. It is filled with bugs, it lacks RPG character development depth, it has a pretty contrived and limited story, which basically ends just the same whatever you do, and has some rather poor graphics at times. Add to that the lack of content compared with other BioWare games and you have their weakest effort to date.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

[

I hate Mass Effects dialogue

You then have missed the point of Mass Effect.

 

[Destal]

I thought the game had a few fatal flaws.

The biggest of which was the fact that enemies NEVER respawn! EVER! Which means that there is pretty much a set amount of exp and cash you can earn. Ever throw out a crappy item? That is cash you can NEVER just grind back.

It is gone. Forever, deducted from that magical "total cash earn able in this game" number.

Really bothers me.

have you ever played a bioware game before? i know that's how KOTOR worked. limited enemies, etc. i'm not surprised at all. i dunno, did Mass Effect have respawns?

I don't think so (concerning ME respawns), but Mass Effect had so much...everything. So much exploration and stuff you could never really get through ALL of it and STILL be annoyed that there wasn't enough.

Near the end of Dragon Age (maybe 20 hours) I literally ran out of enemies, I wanted to buy a new dagger, guess what? Nothing to kill. Just....nothing.

That should never really happen in an RPG, much less in 20 measly hours.

Go to a new area, I believe I ended the game making a total of over 600g and the whole play-through took 60 hrs or so with the 75% side quests completed achievement. I could have made significantly more had I actually used the stealing skill, but I didn't feel like it. I finished at level 22. The enemies also level with you, albeit it seems to a slightly lesser degree. I never found the game overall to be that difficult, however, there are fights in the game that are significantly harder than others due to the enemies fighting.

 

[Volafortis]

I dont think Mass Effect had respawns, but if you overturned every single planet for all the XP and cash to be found, you'd have to be insane, not to mention the lack of any real NEED for the money in Mass Effect. Once you get the best versions of the Spectre gear, your money is literally worthless.

However, in Dragon Age, I'm trying to grind a couple more levels, but I must agree, it seems easy to run out of enemies in DA:O. But that mainly is because you're spending over 40 hours in the same 5 or so areas for enemies (excluding roadside encounters).

 

[The DSM]

Roll a rouge, teach Shale taunts to get aggro and learn pin-point strike and momentum insta crits+ incresed speed = game breaker.

 

[mattttherman3]

I would suggest either lowering your difficulty or better yet, go to lake calenhad to get to the circle of magi, youll get a healer

 

[Nabirius]

Specifically the combat strategies are quite similar and so are the classes. Let's be clear here, I am not trying to troll here or anything of the sort. Yes WoW probably copied off of a billion other fantasy RPG's that's not the point the game is designed and set up like an MMO with no PvP or other people to steal your loot. And no by the way, not all fantasy RPG's use the set up of Tank+Healer+DPS+Rouge (only most of them). The point that I was trying to make while there are many important differences, such as no other players, an actual and relevant plot, and artistic stylization. The actual mechanics of combat one-click combat+selecting attacks and potions with the #keys are like many MMO's. The reason I say WoW is because it's the best of the MMO's, or at the very least the most popular, and most other MMO's are merely a rip off of it.

 

[Jandau]

You're not very good at this game it seems.

.

Can we not have just one thread without someone making this annoying reply?

Sure, as soon as we have a thread where someone isn't stating the game is bad just because it's hard.

 

[pope 1337]

i heard that its for gamers who would buy special gamer heroin if it helped them play

 

[Durxom]

You're not very good at this game it seems.

.

Can we not have just one thread without someone making this annoying reply?

Sure, as soon as we have a thread where someone isn't stating the game is bad just because it's hard.

I know what hard is x-x Somehow I beat all the story mode mission in F-Zero GX on very hard...that is hard!! (I think it's one of the games in Nintendo Hard on tvtropes)..and yes, I have somewhat gotten the hang of it now, but I don't think the fighting was done at a good enough learning curve, an example being, the first time you go into the wilds is your first "real" combat experience in the game, and some of the darkspawn...spawns in there are just brutal since you still barely know the combat mechanics.

 

[Shycte]

snip

I dunno. I'm finding the Dialogue pretty fun. I played the Human Noble origin, and it actually felt like I was part of that family.

I guess I just like the fantasy setting more than you do. Seeing as I prefer Oblivion and DA:O to Fallout and Mass Effect

So there IS more of us? I've always believed that I was some kind of freak. Some wierdo....

But I digress.

About the map, it does get bigger, don't give up yet.

On the diffuculty, lower it, and if that doesn't work... Get some skills?

 

[Sir Prize]

Well, I played and liked DA:Origins but I can see that it has its flaws, though the side quests do not take as long as those in Oblivion, which in my view is a good things. I guess it's a matter of taste because I can say that I liked Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and Da:Origins but I really got bored with Oblivion. This was because the other characters didn't seem to have that much of an input, they were bland.

 

[Hiphophippo]

It gets better once you start the game, and then even better every single minute you play it.

 

[Sir Prize]

I'd say it was all good until you get to the Landsmeet, then things seem a little rushed.

What I really like about this game is that all of your team mates are needed and have some personailty to them.

 

[Danpascooch]

Believe me, I definitely did everything.

I actually brought up the Dragon Age Wiki's list of quests in the game, crossed out the ones I did was left with like 4 insignificant side quests that I was no longer eligible for.

It just shouldn't end like that, it wasn't like a final fantasy type RPG where there was high level items or optional bosses to grind some more exp or gold for (I realize this isn't supposed to be like Final Fantasy, but for an RPG, the longevity of the game when completing everything possible was laughable)