Board 8 > So I'm going to start Dragon Age: Origins on the PC for the first time.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I only played the console version many moons ago, and from what I've heard it's not great compared to playing it on PC.

I got it on Steam, is there any way to mod it? I've heard there's some weird compatibility issues with mods made for the original PC version.

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Also I might give mage a shot this time. Pretty sure I played Rogue my first playthrough.

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Having played it when it came out (on my then-PC) and watching my roommate play it on 360, I can confirm that it's way better on PC.

I played mage in my first game. There's plenty of broken ways to play as mage, and it makes the early game way earlier, provided you build toward healing and CC, and let your MC be a support.

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Can't lie, mage feels kinda unfun so far (I generally never play as magic based classes in RPGs).

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TheRock1525 posted...

Can't lie, mage feels kinda unfun so far (I generally never play as magic based classes in RPGs).

That's most mages though. It starts off like that because you're squishy and don't have a lot you can do. Further in you get all the cool stuff and can throw a fireball, a stone fist, a cone of cold or crush your enemies in a prison.

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I decided to restart as a warrior swinging a big shield.

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I actually think no DA game does Warrior well, but you do you.

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Hitting things with a shield is always a treat.

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TheRock1525 posted...

I decided to restart as a warrior swinging a big shield.

DA warriors are awful. If you try to make them big hitters they drop as soon as an enemy looks at them funny, and if you try to make them a tank, they.... still go down immediately.

Meanwhile, a Rogue with high DEX can stand in the middle of a melee, dodge everything that tries to hit them, and dish out multiple attacks, most of them crits, in the time it would have taken the warrior to miss the one lumbering swing they get before taking a nap.
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I don't find having my focal character just swinging a sword the whole battle to be all that interesting. Given that energy costs are what they are, I never felt like I could do very much with warrior or rogue, and most of what I could do was just punch things a little harder, which, honestly is not normally what you need from your PoV character. You can rig your teammates to do that just fine. Let the peons go fight while you lock down multiple enemies, heal your tank, and maybe land an AE. Crushing Prison is the single most broken skill in the game.

You can say, sure, I'll do that on Morrigan or Wynne, but Morrigan wastes a whole bunch of points on shapeshifter garbage and Wynne doesn't join your party until at least level 7. By a cruel twist, the Tower of Ishal is the single hardest area in the game just because your skill set is so lacking. It's especially punishing without a mage. (Depending on your origin, you might get a temporary mage, but he's pretty terrible.)

Also, the game has 2 rogue teammates, 2 mages, and about 8 billion warriors. They really are a dime a dozen.

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Ishal was pretty easy to me.

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All these warrior haters. You can definitely make a good tank build, just watch out for magic!

But more importantly you have party members and you can control any of them so it doesn't really matter who "you" are.

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pjbasis posted...

All these warrior haters. You can definitely make a good tank build, just watch out for magic!

Yeah, this

BlackMageJawa posted...

DA warriors are awful. If you try to make them big hitters they drop as soon as an enemy looks at them funny, and if you try to make them a tank, they.... still go down immediately.

is just a bad build. Tanks are boring af to play in DA, but if you specc them correctly they do not die. In Origins you pump 'em full of Dexterity to make them dodge machines and in Inquisition you should really always have full Guard up and be nigh untouchable. You just can't do anything else other than distract enemies from you.

azuarc posted...

I never felt like I could do very much with warrior or rogue,

This is also wrong though, as Rogue gives you constant ability to open any chest or door and again, spec them right and you kill stuff way quicker than anything else (aside from aforementioned broken af Crushing Prison).

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Who plays these games for combat effectiveness? Pick the one that fits your personal playstyle the most and roll with it. I picked Rogue because backstabs are cool.

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KamikazePotato posted...

Who plays these games for combat effectiveness?

Who plays a non-Mass Effect BioWare RPG for combat?

The whole reason to play is to see how low Morrigan's approval of you can go.

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I dont pick the mage because the mage has the most boring origin story.

The mods people created for this game are pretty awesome, including the one that brings over appearances from Dragon Age II.

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I guess ultimately it doesn't matter who I play as because I always put the game down when I'm in dwarf land. That just seems to be inevitably where I run out of steam and decide not to proceed. I beat the game once, but I've played up to that point and stopped before heading to Denerim like three times.

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I decided to restart and play as a racist elf.

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are you streaming it

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Fucking nevermind, all the armor I wanted to use is all fucked up on elves.

The armor is racist!

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City Elf best origin

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So I put on a mod in that let's you skip the Fade. If I recall, wasn't it like a 2 hour segment of the game?

It certainly makes the Circle Tower much shorter!

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I never got the hate regarding the fade. Once you've done it once, it's so easy on replays.

Anyway, every major mission has a bunch of stuff you could "skip" to save 2+ hours. Imagine if you could just skip all the stuff wandering the deep roads.

Does the mod still give you the stat increases? That's one of the reasons people usually do the tower first.

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Just started playing this recently.

I thought the Fade with the transformations was fun. Wish I could still turn into a rock golem or burning man on a whim

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Aedan Cousland

azuarc posted...

Does the mod still give you the stat increases?

Yes.

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Is it bad that this game is making me want to skip it and go straight to DA2?

I just saved Connor after getting lyrium from the Circle Tower and I'm feeling kinda bored?

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I get bored of DA:O pretty easily because I've beaten it before. Never played any of the other games in the series, though.

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So yeah, I completely forgot how involved the Redcliffe quest ends up being if you do it first:

First you have to defend the village from the undead, and you can improve defenses to ensure more people survive or whatever, I don't really know.

Then you have to save Connor by infiltrating the castle and finding out what the fuck is going on. Then the mage Jowan lets you know how you can save the kid, but if you want to do it without killing Isolde then you have to go to the Circle Tower. And if you didn't do that first, then you have to do the entire Tower first, which would be even longer if I had kept the Fade section in (taking a 1-2 hour section down to 10-15 minutes was much appreciated). Finally you can take the mages back to Redcliffe to finally save Connor but you're STILL not done with Redcliffe.

At which point the Arl is still sick, so you have to find the Sacred Urn of Andraste which everyone hinted at as possibly saving him, which involves going to Denerim, going to an inn outside of the Circle Tower, going back to Denerim, then going to Haven at which point you start the quest to actually get the ashes. And I completely forgot what this mission was like except that a crazy person asked you to dump blood in the ashes. I think in my first playthrough I told him to fuck off, which meant that I had to fight a dragon to get to the Urn. This time I humored him, but I wasn't risking losing my precious Leliana over some dust, so I still opted not to defile them (I'm curious what actually happens other than fighting the Guardian, I assume).

Then, finally, you're done with Redcliffe. And he mentioned another thing I forgot: The Landsmeet. Which, if I recall, once you start it you're in the end game.

Honestly I think I'm just gonna rush through this so I have a save file for Dragon Age II. I always found that game way more fascinating despite it's obvious shortcomings.

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TheRock1525 posted...

Is it bad that this game is making me want to skip it and go straight to DA2?

not really.

I think DA:O is an excellent game but imo it really shows its age.

TheRock1525 posted...

Is it bad that this game is making me want to skip it and go straight to DA2?

DA2 is a terrible game. DA: I is a blackhole that sucks in anything resembling fun and entertainment.

This series might not be for you.

azuarc posted...

I get bored of DA:O pretty easily because I've beaten it before.

I remember loving it when it was first released but felt exactly the same like you on my previous replay. It is still one of the best of the genre but it shows it's age. Same thing happened with Star Wars: KotR and Mass Effect 1. All three games rank considerably lower than when I first played those games.

Mass Effect 2, 3 and Witcher 3 are the three exceptional WRPGs that rank even higher after subsequent replays for me. Even Skyrim and Fallout 3 has fallen way down on the totem pole for me.

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

DA2 is a terrible game. DA: I is a blackhole that sucks in anything resembling fun and entertainment.

This series might not be for you.

I mean, I've played them before. I beat DA2 and got like 25 hours into DA:I. This is my first time playing the PC versions.

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To be fair, Redcliffe is the only one of the main quests that the game legitimately considers two separate quests. Typically you do Redcliffe second after the tower, and then do the second part after the elves and dwarves because of how much higher in level the place with the ashes is. Any time you're competing with Denerim on the leveling scale, you know you're dealing with endgame.

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More like dragon age BOREagins

Series is ok

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azuarc posted...

To be fair, Redcliffe is the only one of the main quests that the game legitimately considers two separate quests. Typically you do Redcliffe second after the tower, and then do the second part after the elves and dwarves because of how much higher in level the place with the ashes is. Any time you're competing with Denerim on the leveling scale, you know you're dealing with endgame.

See I thought everything was on a sort of timer, or at least saving Connor was. I figured I had get them done as soon as available. Also that would explain why getting the Sacred Ashes was tougher than expected, I had assumed that enemies just scaled with you.

Do you recall how long a somewhat 100% playthrough is? I'm probably gonna skip the DLC save Witch Hunt which I never did.

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Man, I forgot about this decision:

Bhelen or Harrowmont

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Bhelen is the much better choice, as Harrowmont is an incompetent isolationist who leads Orzammar to ruin

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Yeah, if I recall correctly Bhelen is a huge piece of shit as he's an end justifies the means type, but his end is to eliminate the caste system and establish better relations with the surface.

Harrowmont just wants to keep things the same. I think I chose him last time because he was a nicer one.

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Bhelen is a piece of shit who fucks over the Dwarf Noble origin and murders any opposition whenever he can get away with it, but yes he's a much better ruler. Harrowment isn't even any better morally, he just acts nicer - he horrifically oppresses the lower-caste dwarves if he wins.

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Yeah I literally looked on the DA wiki and saw that the first mission he sends you on (taking two notes to dwarven nobles) are actually forgeries. And apparently you can take them to "Shaperate" to show they're fake.

Also, if you choose Bhelen he decides to have every single member of House Harrowmont executed. Which leads to a mission in DA2 where you have to save the last one.

This decision sucks.

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That's politics, baby!

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I don't recall Bernie Sanders trying to murder anyone!

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Bernie Sanders also wasn't one of the final two choices for 2020 President! There were probably a few decent dwarves who would have made good leader (and were also good people) that didn't have enough support to get in the running.

My characters never had a problem siding with Bhelen but I also think dwarf society in Origins is a cesspool and needs some shaking up.

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I'm probably going to go with him this playthrough just cause I went the other way the first time.

It's weird to think about how 22 year old me played this game vs. 33 year old.

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Ah shit, I forgot to pick up Dragon Age 2 on steam while it was on sale. It's up to $30 now.

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So, uh, if I was to get EAplay then could I continue my current playthrough even though I got the game on Steam?

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I was looking at DA:I during the Steam sales and someone in the comments was mumbling otherwise, complaining about the integration of Steam into EAplay or some shit, so I dunno. I'm not trusting that comment 100% since I'm not sure I understood it correctly in the first place, but I wouldn't assume. I know that my ancient saves from when DA:O came out were still around when I installed the game via Steam in 2019. (Or at the very least, I had all the subclasses unlocked already.)

As for length, I think it's generally billed as like 40 hours? Honestly, I spent enough time in menus and stuff, and carefully managing the battles, that it was probably slower than that for me.

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Fucking Christ, I forgot about the Broodmother.

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