I need some Dragon Age Advice/Help

[Ganthrinor]

SOunds like you need to micro-manage your party a little better. Take it slow and try not to run into unexplored territory without being prepared for something to pop out of the bushes and try to eat your face. Also, get healing potions. Lots and lots of them.

Dragon Age LOVES to kill the player.

 

[StriderShinryu]

You're supposed to go to the Wizards tower.

And then level up.

Then go to the forest.

The game is stupid for not telling you this, sure, but still, it's what you should do

i did just fine going to the dwarves first??

Yeah, the dwarven area is commonly believed to be the hardest area to start with, but all of the areas scale with you so any can really be applicable. I believe the dwarven area starts scaling at level 10 though, or so I've heard.

 

[mexicola]

You're supposed to go to the Wizards tower.

And then level up.

Then go to the forest.

The game is stupid for not telling you this, sure, but still, it's what you should do

i did just fine going to the dwarves first??

If I remember well the game world "levels up" with you, so whichever area you choose to go to first will be the easiest. Then you gains some levels and go to the next one the monsters there will now be stronger too etc.

 

[ChocoFace]

-snip-

You are the first person i ever saw triple post. That's not a good thing.

OT: You'll get it eventually, just die some more while you find your favourite type of playing that actually allows you to win.

 

[Xanadu84]

Its difficult to say, since we don't know exactly where the problem is. Without knowing what you're doing, we don't know what can be done better. Lets see if there's some general stuff, though...

First, non potion healing is very, very important. I had some pretty powerful strategy's which made the game pretty easy initially, so I was downright shocked at how much easier life is when you have a proper, dedicated Spirit Healer. Personally, I think that a spirit healer and a wizard that at least dabbled enough to get Heal is the perfect balance (But I love spell casters). Group Heal is outstanding, and will save you from uncountable jams.

Second, try not relying on tactics. Maybe it works for some, but I find that I do a lot better when I give every order. Unpausing for less then a second is not uncommon.

Third, snares, freezes, stuns, etc are your friend. Overrunning is a common problem.

Lastly, my personal favorite trick, is one that will pretty much instantly win any battle with a numerous opposing force in a corridor, or when entering through a door. First, get Glyph of Repulsion. Then, drop an over time AoE into the enemy area (Blizzard works best). Next, cover the choke point with the Glyph. Finally, pot shot everything inside with any other AoE you get (Walking Bomb is my personal favorite.) If you can't handle those few melee enemies who sneak by the Repulsion, Blizzard, and all the other snares and AoEs, then something is seriously wrong. At one point, a had a repulsion keeping a group tightly packed, while being hit with Inferno, Blizzard, Blood Wound, Virulent Walking Bomb, Earthquake, and Fireball all at the same time, and it was amazing. Repulsion might be the single most useful Mage spell in the game, and watching an enemy bounce off your glyph repeatedly, as he slowly loses health and finally explodes, is the funniest thing ive sen in DA:O.

 

[Calatar]

There are some who believe that some areas scale better than others. I went to dwarves last and didn't have too much trouble with it. Actually, for the most part I didn't have too much trouble with anything except the early game, before I knew how to shot web and my abilities/weapons were weak.
Revenants: INSANELY difficult, especially early on. Best to leave that stone alone and come back later. EDIT: There was a Revenant outside of Redcliff Castle. Solution: armor-piercing weapons (Maces, not swords), winter's frost, reloading often. Take out the minions with AoE spells if you have 'em, don't let them pile the damage on. Have at least one mage who can heal, Wynne starts with it, Morrigan should learn it. You will die less often once you have that spell (and set it up in Tactics!)
Early game: save often. I found the more difficult parts to be when enemies from two different rooms join up to overwhelm you. This happened only about 20% of the time, but it was bad when it happened.

Actually, most things became easier after the Mage's tower. I really do recommend going there early on. Here was my quest order.
Redcliff->Mage Tower->Redcliff p2->Elven Woods->Haven->Denerim->Orzammar->Deep Roads->Denerim p2

 

[1066]

I've played the game on a friend's PS3 and rented it after for the 360 so I have some basis for comparison: The 360 version is glitchy. The one I played was, at least.

Maybe downloads fix it, I don't know, but I was hitting issues all the time. Usually dealing with the game knowing when fights end. Rather, I had to get up and get a snack or have a bathroom break after many script fights to get the post-fight dialogue to start. Most notably: after killing Arl Howe, I had talked to both prisoners and was most of the way back to the stairs before getting his 'dying words' cutscene.

For difficulty: I think there's something wrong the game there. The difficulty curve I faced was all over the place (I'm not just talking about bosses, or a dragon either. It was drastically different between similar enemies in the same area. I made a similar character to test and found the experiences quite different in the same areas as well). I wound up turning down the difficulty after a while. The difficulty still bounced around, but the hard parts became survivable.

 

[Calatar]

I've played the game on a friend's PS3 and rented it after for the 360 so I have some basis for comparison: The 360 version is glitchy. The one I played was, at least.

Maybe downloads fix it, I don't know, but I was hitting issues all the time. Usually dealing with the game knowing when fights end. Rather, I had to get up and get a snack or have a bathroom break after many script fights to get the post-fight dialogue to start. Most notably: after killing Arl Howe, I had talked to both prisoners and was most of the way back to the stairs before getting his 'dying words' cutscene.

For difficulty: I think there's something wrong the game there. The difficulty curve I faced was all over the place (I'm not just talking about bosses, or a dragon either. Areas were often very different from another character I made to test this who was basically identical). I wound up turning down the difficulty after a while. The difficulty still bounced around, but the hard parts became survivable.

Hahaha, I've had games do that to me before, but never Dragon Age. That's pretty funny, I guess Arl Howe was too busy to die for a few minutes. When I killed him he started talking to me in the middle of a Blizzard-Inferno-Electric Storm, which made it hard for me to even hear him over the noise. Honestly I was surprised anybody could keep talking while they would otherwise be taking like 50 damage a second.

Other people have had tremendous difficulty with parts of the game while they cakewalked through others; I think you're right about the curve being broken. In the PC version there was at least one patch that dealt with an issue of fights scaling poorly.

 

[Hawgh]

Make sure You have a mage with some healing spells, they help an awful lot.

 

[Singletap]

Now I am playing with a rouge dual wielding human and I have another question how do I get curses and stuff that are on my character off?

 

[Alarien]

Now I am playing with a rouge dual wielding human and I have another question how do I get curses and stuff that are on my character off?

No, you are not playing a rouge. You need to figure out that distinction.

If you are injured, you need to use injury kits or have one of the highest level spirit/healing AE spells to remove it.

 

[squid5580]

Now I am playing with a rouge dual wielding human and I have another question how do I get curses and stuff that are on my character off?

You mean injuries from dying? Use injury kits. Lesser will cure 1 injury and so on. Gotta do it from the radial though.

 

[high_castle]

This game is very tactical. I assume you're playing on Normal (standard setting), which on the 360 is actually quite easy compared to the same setting on the PC. For one, it eliminates the potential for friendly fire, which is how I normally get squadmates killed when I play nightmare.

This is not a hack and slash. You can't run into every battle waving your sword and ignoring your party members. You need to set intelligent tactics, and there will be battles where you need to micro-manage. So let's start with some basic tactics.

If you're playing rogue, the first thing you need to figure out is whether you're a scout rogue or a damager rogue. Scouts will probably take ranger/bard as their specs and they'll focus on lock-picking/trap-disables, while damagers will focus on assassin/duelist and dealing the most damage. These will also affect who you bring in your party. Alistair (tank) and Wynne (healer) are givens for a rookie, but the fourth spot should depend on what kind of rogue you are. A scout type rogue might bring Zev (who does some of the best damage in the game), while a damager might bring Lel until he gets his own device mastery skills up to par and then Morrigan or even Shale/Oghren for some decent DPS. Picking the right party members is half the battle.

You want your tank to draw most of the threat. He should be in the heaviest armor possible. Have him activate Threaten at the start of every battle. He should also be prepared to use Taunt whenever an enemy attacks Wynne. As tank, he should be healed constantly. I have Wynne set to use heals should his health dip below 50, and Group Heal should it dip below 25. This does wonders to keep him alive. You can also spec Alistair to Shield Bash any enemies who have grabbed a character, which is helpful for knocking you free from spiders, ogres, and other baddies that can take you down fast.

When you go into big battles, it's a good idea to take out mages first since they can deal massive damage. Al's Holy Smite is good for this, as is Mana Clash on Wynne or Morrigan. Between those two effects, you can knock out most mages pretty quick, then focus on the mundanes. As a rogue, you're at your most effective from behind (melee) or in the background (ranged). If you're ranged, Arrow of Slaying can be an effective tool against bosses (it regularly does over 800 damage). Melee, get Momentum as soon as you can and learn to love it. Stealth is also handy. I like cunning rogues on the 360, and since dex is bugged, try to use a longsword or ax in your main hand instead of a dagger.

There are in-depth walkthroughs floating around. If you get real stuck, you may want to check one of them out.

 

[Altorin]

start with the circle tower, get Wynne, sleep the rest of the game.

 

[minarri]

If it's too hard, then travel around and pick off small fries until you can level up some. It's what I always do.

 

[Altorin]

If it's too hard, then travel around and pick off small fries until you can level up some. It's what I always do.

except one of the random encounters is 3 Elite Greater Shades that WILL kill you right out of Ostagar.

How I played my game was as a Human Noble Cunning Dagger Rogue. (This is a Normal setting build, I can't tell how it would do in Hard or Nightmare)

put a couple skill points in Coercion (You won't ever get enough Cunning to max out all of the Persuade options without them, you'd need 100, and at level 22 I had about 75). With 2 points, you should be able to do every Persuade, and most of the Intimidates throughout the game.

You need 20 modified strength to wear the best rogue armor (The Felon's Coat, Helm of Honnleath, Cadash Stompers, Red Jenny Sneakers). If you get the Key to the City early (a ring in Orzammar), then that means you'll need 18.

You need 24 Dexterity for Momentum. Other then that, you don't really need Dexterity, unless you want to get Evasion early.

The rest of your points you put entirely into Cunning.

Best Specializations are Bard and Assassin. Reasons might seem obvious, but in case not, here's why; Both specializations get damage bonuses based on Cunning. Assassin's get extra damage on backstabs based on Cunning, and Bards Songs are stronger the stronger your Cunning is. Don't need to get the final Assassin Talent, as this build uses very little stamina. Don't need the final Bard Talent either, it's entirely a support ability, negates use of your character, and isn't as useful as having your character available to use.

Put a point into The Deft Tools talent, because early on, you will find a lot of chests that may be beyond your skill otherwise. To unlock every chest/trap in the game, you need 70 Cunning, minus 10 for every point in Deft Tools. With this build, you shouldn't need more then 1 point.

Get Combat Movement, Coup De Gras, And Lethality ASAP. Those and Momentum are the backbone of the whole build. The game changes dramatically as you put points in Stealth, so if you're interested in that, put points in there. Not needing to put points into Deft Tools will give you plenty of room.

Alistair as tank (although with proper talenting/skills any warrior other then Dog could easily be a tank), Wynne as a healer (although if you play evil, it may be much simpler to make Morrigan your healer, as Wynne has a habit of attacking you if you do evil things. I used Shale as my fourth, primarily as a damage dealer, although I used all of their forms except for the ranged one at one point or another (even the "Stand Still and buff everyone" form.. it saved my ass on one of the dragon bosses).

For your tank's stats, throw all your points into Strength until they get about 38, then throw all the rest of your points into Dexterity. For Tank Specializations, any are good, but I would suggest Templar/Reaver. The first two Reaver talents are very useful for tanks. But other then Reaver, it's a tossup. Even Sten, with only a single specialization as Reaver would be a great tank.

For your healer, put most of your points into Willpower, and enough magic to get the spells you need. Spirit Healer is almost a must - without it, you only have 1 heal. If you are a Spirit Healer, you get 2 basic heals, a resurrect, a cleanse, and a Lifeward spell. For secondary specialization, either Battlemage or Blood Mage. Battle Mage will give your healer a bit more survivability, but blood mage gives you extra mana through using your health.. It doesn't really matter what the second one is honestly, none of them are synergistic with healers well.

 

[CoverYourHead]

The Xbox and PS3 versions have crappy controls and NO (real) squad control. Turn down the difficulty, that's the only way to make it right.

 

[Singletap]

If it's too hard, then travel around and pick off small fries until you can level up some. It's what I always do.

except one of the random encounters is 3 Elite Greater Shades that WILL kill you right out of Ostagar.

How I played my game was as a Human Noble Cunning Dagger Rogue. (This is a Normal setting build, I can't tell how it would do in Hard or Nightmare)

put a couple skill points in Coercion (You won't ever get enough Cunning to max out all of the Persuade options without them, you'd need 100, and at level 22 I had about 75). With 2 points, you should be able to do every Persuade, and most of the Intimidates throughout the game.

You need 20 modified strength to wear the best rogue armor (The Felon's Coat, Helm of Honnleath, Cadash Stompers, Red Jenny Sneakers). If you get the Key to the City early (a ring in Orzammar), then that means you'll need 18.

You need 24 Dexterity for Momentum. Other then that, you don't really need Dexterity, unless you want to get Evasion early.

The rest of your points you put entirely into Cunning.

Best Specializations are Bard and Assassin. Reasons might seem obvious, but in case not, here's why; Both specializations get damage bonuses based on Cunning. Assassin's get extra damage on backstabs based on Cunning, and Bards Songs are stronger the stronger your Cunning is. Don't need to get the final Assassin Talent, as this build uses very little stamina. Don't need the final Bard Talent either, it's entirely a support ability, negates use of your character, and isn't as useful as having your character available to use.

Put a point into The Deft Tools talent, because early on, you will find a lot of chests that may be beyond your skill otherwise. To unlock every chest/trap in the game, you need 70 Cunning, minus 10 for every point in Deft Tools. With this build, you shouldn't need more then 1 point.

Get Combat Movement, Coup De Gras, And Lethality ASAP. Those and Momentum are the backbone of the whole build. The game changes dramatically as you put points in Stealth, so if you're interested in that, put points in there. Not needing to put points into Deft Tools will give you plenty of room.

Alistair as tank (although with proper talenting/skills any warrior other then Dog could easily be a tank), Wynne as a healer (although if you play evil, it may be much simpler to make Morrigan your healer, as Wynne has a habit of attacking you if you do evil things. I used Shale as my fourth, primarily as a damage dealer, although I used all of their forms except for the ranged one at one point or another (even the "Stand Still and buff everyone" form.. it saved my ass on one of the dragon bosses).

For your tank's stats, throw all your points into Strength until they get about 38, then throw all the rest of your points into Dexterity. For Tank Specializations, any are good, but I would suggest Templar/Reaver. The first two Reaver talents are very useful for tanks. But other then Reaver, it's a tossup. Even Sten, with only a single specialization as Reaver would be a great tank.

For your healer, put most of your points into Willpower, and enough magic to get the spells you need. Spirit Healer is almost a must - without it, you only have 1 heal. If you are a Spirit Healer, you get 2 basic heals, a resurrect, a cleanse, and a Lifeward spell. For secondary specialization, either Battlemage or Blood Mage. Battle Mage will give your healer a bit more survivability, but blood mage gives you extra mana through using your health.. It doesn't really matter what the second one is honestly, none of them are synergistic with healers well.

Wow thank you very much for this but my problem is if I don't put any points in to strength I won't do enough damage right? Also what is de gras and the other thing you were talking about? and how do you become a bard sounds interesting even though my character is a assassin. Finally should I use a dual swords or daggers?

 

[Altorin]

Wow thank you very much for this but my problem is if I don't put any points in to strength I won't do enough damage right? Also what is de gras and the other thing you were talking about? and how do you become a bard sounds interesting even though my character is a assassin. Finally should I use a dual swords or daggers?

Lethality makes Cunning your damage stat, not strength.

and definitely daggers. More attacks, higher armor penetration (Armor Penetration is pretty nice)

I'm not sure about how to legitimately become a bard, I used the exp glitch in ostagar early on and it unlocked most of my specializations for some reason (I totally do not suggest doing the glitch.. It didn't make the game any fun and it autolevelled my characters.. sucked.) But probably talking to Leliana enough will do it.

Coup De Gras makes all attacks against stunned enemies backstabs. So you can use Dirty Fighting to stun an enemy, and then just shank the hell out of them.

Lethality makes it so your Cunning is your damage stat, not strength.

COmbat Movement allows you a bit more leeway with where you can backstab from (it makes it so you can backstab from the rear-side, rather then just strictly behind)

They're all rogue talents. Lethality is in the line after Below the Belt, which i found a useless ability, but it's required for Lethality, so take it.

 

[minarri]

except one of the random encounters is 3 Elite Greater Shades that WILL kill you right out of Ostagar. ... (too many words)

What's funny is that I've played through the game completely at least 3 times and I don't know what shades you're talking about.

I do have the PC version, if you don't then that could account for some of the differing experiences here.