170 replies to this topic

[WeeRLegion]

Spoiler

I'll take back all my comments about lack of adult content. If you ask Sanga (proprietor of the Pearl) to surprise you, you will (or at least can) wind up in a room with a pair of nugs. Fergawdssake, I laughed my head off. XD

[Eleima]

Yes, but fixing the romance conflicts falls into the patch category; it wouldn't really be new content, as in a feeble way they supposedly already are there somewhere. Asking anyone to pay for a patch would with certainty piss off a lot of people, me included. xP
Banterpacks though? Sure, that'd be great.

I actually disagree on that point. Adding romance conflicts would be actually adding in lines of dialog and ergo, voicing. I'd love to see it happen, but I'm not sure it's technically possible. Even though it can't be that hard to get four actors back in studio for 10 or 15 lines of text... Obviously, I'd love it if it was a patch and not DLC. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I see this happening, so I won't hold my breath.

Ooh, ooh, my Mabari War Dog just dug up a "Dirty Pair of Pantaloons"!!

Pantaloons. How many sequels do we have remaining?

I think I heard they intended to make a trilogy, but I could be wrong, so... more pantaloons? It's marked as a "gift", but I really don't know who I could give it to. Maybe Oghren who had complained earlier that my playful pooch has stolen his trousers?

Spoiler

I'll take back all my comments about lack of adult content. If you ask Sanga (proprietor of the Pearl) to surprise you, you will (or at least can) wind up in a room with a pair of nugs. Fergawdssake, I laughed my head off.

Hilarious!!! I had tested that option, and didn't get it. I'll have to keep trying to see that for myself!

[Kaeloree]

The problem with voice actors is that you can only hire them for 4-hour sessions. If you don't have enough material to fill that 4-hour session, it's a huge waste of money--so bringing them in just to record a few lines each isn't financially viable, unfortunately.

[Grayana]

I'm feeling a bit "meh" about this game... I really can't see why so many people are so in love with it. The story isn't very interesting, most of the NPC's are a bit annoying and visually it's nothing compared to BioWares previous games. To me, it's like Neverwinter Nights, only with ridiculous amounts of blood. And of couse sex.

But there are some pros too, which keep me playing:
-Doggie!
-Duncan (why can't I romance HIM?!)

Spoiler

And did they have to kill him? Arghh?!

-The magic system, I like it.

Oh well, maybe it will get better later on. I'm not saying it's not entertaining: just not what I was expecting... :)

Edited by Grayana, 22 November 2009 - 12:51 AM.

[Arkenor]

The problem with voice actors is that you can only hire them for 4-hour sessions. If you don't have enough material to fill that 4-hour session, it's a huge waste of money--so bringing them in just to record a few lines each isn't financially viable, unfortunately.

I wouldn't worry. I'm sure they recorded all the dialogue they'll need for the next years worth of DLCs at the same time as they recorded the stuff for the main game.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they have a lot of the DLCs already completed, and ready to trickle out to their adoring fans.

[WeeRLegion]

I wouldn't worry. I'm sure they recorded all the dialogue they'll need for the next years worth of DLCs at the same time as they recorded the stuff for the main game.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they have a lot of the DLCs already completed, and ready to trickle out to their adoring fans.

I think I'd actually be rather miffed to find out about it if they had spent resources a plenty on pay to play additional content while leaving the basic game as unpolished as it is. xP

[Eleima]

Speaking of unpolished... (warning spoilers ahead) I've just decided for the first time, to have

Spoiler

Anora become queen

, and Alistair still talks as if

Spoiler

he's going to be king

... Heck, even the bodyguards in Arl Eamon's castle are saying that there are a lot of them because they're guarding the Warden and his colleague,

Spoiler

the future king

... That bugged me...

[EvaineDian]

@ Eleima: I had that, too, and was worried I'd get the same ending, but it's just that bit at Redcliffe that is similar.
There are also some dialogues where Alistair talks about Duncan as if he was still alive.

[WeeRLegion]

Spoiler

You can make Anora queen AND keep Alistair in the party? Wouldn't that mean having him marry Anora or something (thus also making him the future king)? o_O

[EvaineDian]

@ WeeRLegion:

Spoiler

No, he doesn't want to be king after all. If you support Anora and kill Loghain, Alistair stays in your party and the romance continues. If you want to recruit Loghain for the Wardens, then Alistair tries to claim the throne, I think, because he wants to take revenge and kill Loghain. If I remember correctly, you can then either support Alistair or let Anora execute him. Alistair doesn't have to marry Anora at all.

Edited by EvaineDian, 22 November 2009 - 05:28 AM.

[WeeRLegion]

Um. Yes, I know. I was just confused as to what Eleima meant. Any way I can read her post, it's saying that she's somehow managed to put Anora on the throne without pissing Alistair off.
But wait, I'm just being thick here, am I not... You can actually do that, yes...

Spoiler

By agreeing to execute Loghain and then picking her as the better candidate for the throne.

Stupid me.

[Eleima]

Spoiler

By agreeing to execute Loghain and then picking her as the better candidate for the throne.

Yup, exactly that. In fact, if you have Alistair fight Loghain (have Alistair be your champion), you don't even get to choose, Alistair

Spoiler

automatically kills the guy

. Anora is reasonable enough to understand that her father has completely gone over the edge, even though she loves him (I mean, her husband did die because of that).

[Jazhara7]

I got it last Thursday.

Am I the only one that thinks

Spoiler

some fights after Ostagar are just too difficult in Normal mode? I had to resort to Easy mode several times, to avoid getting slaughtered by a pack of enemies (mere commoners to boot ) in Lothering? Though I think the Wolves were a lot more difficult. Also, Alistair seems to be a Wuss. I mean, he's cute and funny, but he always loses health so quickly, even Wynne and Leliana are better at surviving fights. Oh, and which course would you recommend after Ostagar? I found that Redcliffe is a suicidal choice, the Circle of Mages is mostly alright, except for one or two tough fights (and I'm not to the end, as I'm currently a bit stuck. Though I already have a plan for this). The Brecilian Forest could be easy if you take advantage of the terrain, though those Ents are nasty, as well as that one Ogre. Haven't tried Orzammar yet, as it was warned not to go there first (with my luck, it's probably the easiest one ).

So, any suggestions for me?


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[WeeRLegion]

On my first playthrough I was feeling much the same. But now I'm thinking I might have to crank the difficulty up to hard for a challenge.
Really, it's just a great deal about being careful and using the right spells and skills at the right time.

Also, because the enemies level up with you, there really isn't any right order to do things; the challenge depends entirely on your tactics and party composition.


The party mechanics however, work a bit different from BG; it's very MMORPG stylish. I wouldn't count on soloing much ANYTHING with anyone but a mage; you must make your team work together.

I'd recommend you check out the tactics thread HERE to get some ideas on what spells you should have.


ell, a few pointers; spells that stun and hinder your enemies are quite sweet in this game. Everybody loves Cone of Cold; deal a bit of damage and freeze your opponents solid.
Other goodies are sleep, forcefield, and crushing prison. Sleep will deal with a massed enemy mob, and crushing prison and forcefield will take out single mean enemies until you've dealt with their minions and are ready to take them on by themselves.

Some also like Manaclash, I haven't tried it, but i hear it kills enemy mages almost outright, the only problem with it is that the spells that lead up to it seem quite useless.

Anyway, if you overly focus on simple direct damage spells with your mage, you'll most likely succeed in 1) getting every enemy to attack you 2) getting killed. So yeah, stun 'em and beat 'em.

And why am I preaching about mages? Well, because they do sort of own the battlefield once you've gotten the right spells for them. ^^


Also, make sure to familiarize yourself with the tactics AI options, it'll make everything much easier.

And, well, if nothing works, flip it to easy, and take it as a familiarization run, I did a few times on my playthrough

Edited by WeeRLegion, 25 November 2009 - 11:07 AM.

[Choo Choo]

I wouldn't have survived parts of the Mage's tower without Mana Clash. Especially Mage's Asunder, with like five different mages healing each other and throwing fireballs at you, I'd be dead. Instead, you kill them all in one single blow. Boom.

Yeah, the spells leading up to it are worthless but Mana Clash alone is worth it.

[WeeRLegion]

If you say so. But I guess it must be true. Most f the 4th level spells are quite a bit better than most anything from lower levels; so yeah, don't pick just what seems immediately useful think long term.
You can be wiping the field with fireballs and infernos before the end of the Ishal quest if you allocate your points right (and with those spells, wipe them ye shall; for the LORD sayeth; a fireball doest knock down enemies for time enough for you to burninate their infidel asses with a bigger firestorm still).

Oh, and the basic; focus fire, always focus fire, if you aren't certain a single party member can kick a creeps arse in 1-3 blows, focus fire.
The only reason ever to divide your damage output is to disable and hamper enemies that you can neither ignore nor conveniently take out at that particular moment.


Right now I'm playing with an all-out primal-category mage; and I've gotta say she owns. Especially in tight quarters where I can drop an Inferno on critters behind the corner.
Especially with Morrigan in tow, and therefore with Inferno + Blizzard as an opening combo; knocks them down, freezes them, and burninates them.
And if that'snot enough, I'll add an earthquake to ensure no one leaves the AoE, and a Tempest for what I think must be the highest damage-over-time AoE.
Someone still tries to leave? Toss 'em right back with a carefully palced fireball.

Ambush encounters of course are a different deal, and they do sometimes leave me wishing for more stuns and crowd control spells. But eh, double cone of cold is enough for most occasions.
Well, double CoC and the rest of the primal cones; CoC 1 (Morrigan), Fire blast (PC), Electricity blast (PC), 2nd CoC (PC), 3rd CoC (Morrigan)... And so forth.
The cheese never ends. ^^


EDIT:
@Choo Choo
Fireball + Inferno does a good enough job with Mage's Asunder IMO. Only the toughest and meanest SoaB mages come asking for more after that (there's some creeps that are immune to fire though, as there are creeps that are immune to frost (though they're elsewhere), so a bit of variation in your spell picks is required.

Edited by WeeRLegion, 25 November 2009 - 12:18 PM.

[Choo Choo]

Yeah, but I focus on cold and lightning spells rather than fire ones. (Oh, and Sleep + Horror/Waking Nightmare is my favourite ever.)

[Jazhara7]

I wouldn't have survived parts of the Mage's tower without Mana Clash. Especially Mage's Asunder, with like five different mages healing each other and throwing fireballs at you, I'd be dead. Instead, you kill them all in one single blow. Boom.

Yeah, the spells leading up to it are worthless but Mana Clash alone is worth it.

Hehe, there was that one part in Mage's Asunder where one of the Mages killed the other four with his fireball, and I only had to kill off him.


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[WeeRLegion]

I think that's a scripted event, it seems to happen always. o_o
I think a few of the mage groups will start fighting eachother if you get into hearing range but don't let them notice you.