Dragon Age impressions

[alexl86]

Played Dragon Age:Origins for the better part of yesterday, and while I haven't gotten very far yet, I've tried all three classes and two of the races.

The character creator: The character creator is surprisingly light on content. I know Neverwinter Nights especially was bogged down with customization options for your class(being based on D&D and all). Dragon Age is fairly simple, you start out choosing Gender, Race, Class and Background in that order(all on the same screen), then type in your name, then you get a few sliders to play around with the characters appearance. Then you choose your stats, which is generated based on your race and class, but you also get 5 extra points to spend. Then it's time for skills, like Converse, Poison-making, Herbalism, etc. Not really that many of them and you might want to invest heavily into Converse as the main character. You get one at 1st level. Finally, you choose abilities and spells, two to be exact. For a Warrior, it comes down to specialization. Two weapons, two-handed weapon or shield. For a Rogue, it comes down to Two Weapons or Archery. Mages have four schools; Primal, Creation, Spirit and Entropy. In D&D terms, these would be Evocation, Conjuration, Abjuration/Transmutation and Necromancy.

There are only three races to choose from, and aside from their physical characteristics, and a slight boost in stats at the beginning, there's not much of a difference. They are Human, Elf and Dwarf. There are only three classes; Warrior, Mage and Rogue. All three are distinct and have their own abilities. After choosing a race and class, you choose a background.

This background will have a great influence on the story, as the first hour of the game is completely different depending on the background. What background you can choose is based on your racial selection first and foremost. Dwarf commoner starts out as a thug, Dwarf Nobles start out as part of a noble family and are involved in conflicts among the noble class. Humans can only choose Human Noble, where you play the son of a lord, with your brother leading the soldiers to war. Elves have Dalish Elf and City Elf. The Dalish are more fantasy, living in tribes in the woods. They are sort of mysterious and have virtually no contact with the outside world. City Elves are suppressed by the humans, they live in a part of the city that seems like it'll fall down at any moment and are most commonly servants, often subjected to racism. The final background is entirely related to class, Magi, and only available to Elves and Humans. Mages are isolated from the rest of society because of their dangerous power. They start of in a tower and governed by Templars, who cuts them down immediately if they step out of line. If you play Mage, you have to choose Magi and the Mage class is no available to Dwarves, who can't use magic.

Skills in the game are available to every class. You don't have to be a Rogue to take the thievery skill, though that skill only concerns itself with pickpocketing, not opening locks. Among the skills in the game, combat skills are the most essential since they dictate what a Rogue and Warrior can learn when leveling. You must have tier II of the combat(forget what it's called) to actually be able to learn tier II of the combat abilities. Mages don't need it though and just need the required magic stat.

Abilities works on four tiers. If you learn the tier I fire spell, you can learn tier II, then tier III and IV. The requirements escalate, either a level or a stat. You need a magic of 34, I think, to learn tier IV, while you can pretty much pick up tier I whenever you like. Don't let the tier confuse you, they are not the same spell, but new one. Tier I and tier II can be completely different, like the mages telekinesis spells. The first tier spell stuns the enemies, while the second tier is a protection spell. In some cases they are upgrades to the lower tier abilities, like in the case of the Rogue's stealth ability.

More about the game in general, the game has great voice acting. Exactly what you'd expect from BioWare. However, there is a little disconnect there, because the protagonist doesn't talk. It's a BioWare RPG, through and through. On the graphical side, it's kinda dull. Some of the effects and stuff are nice, but on a whole, the graphics aren't up to the standards, at least not on the 360(which admittedly is supposed to be the ugliest version). Also, the game plays like an MMO. You target an enemy, push the A to draw your weapons and start attacking, and use various hotkeys for special abilities. X, Y and B, and R+X, R+Y and R+B gives you 6 hotkeys in total, or you can just hold L to bring up all your abilities and inventory, kinda like in Secret of Mana.

[alexl86]

My favorite spells so far:

Fireball: The RPG standard. Large area, knocks all down and deal a good amount of damage, and more damage over time. This does tend to turn all eyes on you though.

Winter's Grasp: 8 second cooldown, freezes enemies solid, and deals damage. What's not to like?

Tempest: The mother of all lightning spells. Large area, everyone inside it takes lightning damage, and it usually lasts long enough to kill everything in it.

Walking Bomb: Deals nature damage continuously until the target dies. When the target dies, it explodes and deals a LOT of damage to everything standing besides it. I suppose this is my favorite, though it requires some set up.

Virulent Walking Bomb: Same as above, only the explosion spreads this vile curse onto others.

Paralyze: Superb when you're fighting particularly vicious enemies. Just paralyze them and you can get off a few spells on them without fear of losing your head. Even if they resist, they'll still move slower.

Mass Paralysis: Same as above, only it works on those pesky minions too.

Flaming/Frost/Telekinetic Weapons: Get at least one of them. It will raise the party dps significantly, at least if your friends like it up close and personal.

Spells I didn't like:

Chain Lightning: This is such a let down after the awesomeness of tempest. It's damage will amount to two lightning spells if you're lucky, for three times the cost and six times the cooldown.

Glyph of Paralysis: It does exactly the same as the paralyze spell, except your enemy has to walk into it, and it has a longer cooldown(but doesn't cost as much)

Death Syphon/Death Magic: Replenishes mana and health respectively, except you have to walk to a corpse to do it. So if you need health(which means you're probably being attacked) or mana(which means you don't have any means of defense), you have to run into the thick of combat to get some more... Meh, potions aren't that hard to come by.

[zirtoc]

I was curious about Death Syphon, because I hadn't gotten any real results out of it. I haven't messed with the glyphs, because I thought it would be rather difficult to set ambushes. (I've tried with traps - the game just isn't really designed for that.) Fireball and tempest are definitely my current favorites - I have Morrigan casting Cone of Cold, and I abuse Winter's Grasp. I love the walking bombs as well.

I shapeshifted into a Spider, but I wasn't that great at dealing damage. Normal spells seem to be a lot more powerful. Perhaps the later forms work better, I don't know.

I would certainly add Wynne's Revival spell to the list. It might not be flashy, but it keeps our heroes in the fight!

I frequently Soul Drain my opponent, and cast Vulnerability Hex a lot, which can drastically amplify the damage. It's good if your characters have Frost Weapons or some other elemental equivalent.

[alexl86]

Funny you should mention the revival spell, since that's probably what saved my ass in the last fight. I only had Wynne left and she was pretty badly hurt, with 3 pretty powerful warriors left and a mage(who was an elite, I might add). Not only badly hurt, completely out of mana. So, I ran around until I regenerated enough mana to cast the revival spell. Revived my main, who in turn healed Wynne and himself(Group Heal) and killed the warriors with a well placed fireball, before paralyzing the mage. Doesn't help being an elite if you can't do anything.

The spider is pretty weak. I found the swarm to be the most useful, at least to a pure mage. I suppose the Bear is okay too, but his strength isn't on the level of Alistair or Sten, and he's not as well protected either. Personally, I see shapeshifting as a last resort. No lyrium potions and almost out of mana, entire party dead? Might as well shapeshift.

Here's my current Elf Mage

Level 14

Strength 10
Dexterity 13(a little low)
Willpower 31 + 1
Magic 35 + 3
Cunning 16
Constitution 14 + 5

Specializations: Spirit Healer, Shapeshifter

Skills:

Master Coercion
Herbalism
Combat Training
Combat Tactics

Spells:

Arcane Bolt(obviously)
Arcane Shield
Staff Focus
Arcane Mastery

Spider Shape(have tried the other forms, but not on this character)

Group Heal(not really a healer, but if the entire party is low on health)
Revive(it helps having two who can revive, even if my mage is probably the one who dies the most)

Flame Blast
Flaming Weapons(rarely use it, since it's only melee and only one in my party fights with a melee weapon)
Fireball(a spell I probably use more than I should)
Winter's Grasp
Lightning(My bread and butter spell. It gets the most usage of any of my spells)
Shock(also use this one a lot. Deals a good amount of damage and is a cone attack)
Tempest(already touched upon the awesomeness of tempest earlier)

Walking Bomb(best spell to take on level 1, but it isn't really that useful later on)

Weakness(great against big brutes, but I don't have mana to spare on anyone else)
Paralyze(everyone should have this spell, it's essential to your survival as a mage)

[zirtoc]

I have not yet taken Paralyze, and I'm still alive! I'll have to check it out, though. It could be Vulnerability Hex that makes the difference for me - I lower everybody's elemental defenses, and then hit them with Fire, Ice, and Lightning, and drain their health for good measure. I dress Alistair in the bulkiest armor I can find, and he stands in the middle and soaks up the damage.

[alexl86]

Weapon styles: Warriors and Rogues

There are four weapon styles in the game in total. Shielded, Dual Weapons, Two-handed weapon and Archery. I'll look at the two warrior specific first.

Shielded: Only style that requires both Strength and Dexterity. To learn all the moves, you need 32 Strength and 26 Dexterity. Shielded has a lot of sustained modes that improves defense, and attacks that focus on neutralizing an enemy for a time. This is obviously the tank weapon talents.

Two-Handed: It's all about damage. Your primary focus is Strength and you need 40 to learn all the moves, but also get some Willpower(you wear heavy armor) and Constitution(you're gonna get hit anyway, might as well take this over Dexterity). You get a few sustained modes, like Indomitable and Powerful Swings that increase damage. You also get a few abilities to lets you bypass armor. Oh, did I mention Indomitable makes you immune to stuns and knock downs? Yeah...

Dual Weapons: This has the highest dexterity requirement of any weapon style. You need 36 to learn Dual Weapon Mastery. Ironically, that's also the ability that lets you wield weapons in both hands that require Strength, not Dexterity. If you plan on dual wielding daggers with your Rogue, this is a no brainer. Warriors can take this, but you're sacrificing a lot of strength. On the plus side, you get a dodge rate on par with a rogue and you have a very high dps. Dual Weapons have abilities that mostly focus on hitting multiple times and multiple foes.

Archery: This might be the best weapon style for a Rogue. You'll be investing heavily in Dexterity regardless and you don't really need more than 20 strength for armor purposes. Dump the rest in cunning, which will increase your damage(lethality at 8th level) and you should be able to stay out of harms way. Not sure I'd tell a warrior to get this though, since their talents are set up for melee and drawing attention, something an Archer doesn't want. Lots of movement impairing effects.

[alexl86]

Good sustained modes:

Warrior:

Threaten: For the tank, at least. Alistair should definitely have this, so he can take some of the hits for you. Upkeep is pretty low, as is the fatigue cost, which is only 2%.

Dual Striking: Dual Weapons required, you hit with both weapons instead of alternating between the two. You won't get a critical while this mode is on though, or deal backstab damage. Damage is good enough to make it worthwhile. It also raises the number of attacks you'll make. Upkeep is high, and the fatigue cost is the standard 5%.

Rapid Fire: Seems like the mode to have active for Archers. Again, like many modes that modifies attacks, this mode removes any chance of a critical hit, but increases attack speed substantially. Upkeep is low, but the fatigue cost is the standard 5%

Shield Defense: Raises defense. If you're going with shields, chances are you'll have this active all the time. Has an attack penalty, but it disappears if you also take Shield Balance. Upkeep is pretty low, fatigue cost is 5%.

Indomitable: The king of all two-handed modes. It's so good, I was considering investing points to get it without a two-handed build... which turned out to be impossible. Anyway, it makes you immune to knockdowns and stuns. Stun effects doesn't affect you at all, while knockdown just pushes you back. Has a very high upkeep though, fatigue cost is 5%.

Rogue:

Stealth: Need to disappear from battle for a quick second? Well, you need to invest some points to do that, but stealth is a good way to get around without drawing attention(obviously). Backstabbing rogues will use it to get into position, archers will use it to get out of trouble. No upkeep and 5% fatigue cost, not that it really matters that much.

Mage:

Arcane Shield: A bonus to defense, which means you'll evade more melee attacks, when those buggers run up on you. The upkeep is unnoticeable at higher levels, the fatigue is 5%.

Flaming/Frost/Telekinetic Weapons: Best for a party with two or more melee fighters, this will raise the party's damage output considerably. Upkeep is pretty high though and it has the standard 5% fatigue.

Spell Wisp: If you don't mind having a swirling light above your head, you might want to invest in Spell Wisp. It gives you a bonus to spellpower, making all your spells more powerful for the duration of the mode. The upkeep and fatigue cost are identical to Arcane shield.

Miasma: It's like the Weakness spell, only it emanates from you, instead of being targeted. That means reduced attack and defense, and a movement for all who fail a physical resistance check. Sadly, the upkeep cost is very high, which the fatigue is the standard 5%.

[zirtoc]

Cleansing Aura is excellent between battles, getting rid of all party injuries. I use Arcane Shield as well. Wynne always casts that Rock skin thing on herself, I dunno if it works well or not. I still haven't done a lot of testing with Animate Dead.