Dragon Age impressions

[Vault Dweller]

That's because he got up after the fight. Hawhaw

 

[mediocrepoet]

They should patch in a response option, "What? Yeah he's like that all the time now. I think the battle changed him."

 

[Clockwork Knight]

What better mascot than a dead puppet? Just put him there and have someone behind the chair pretending to be him talking

 

[Overweight Manatee]

The bioware Devs said that that when you load up a level the monsters in the area are adjusted to within 5 or so levels of you. There's some level scaling. I like cause it keeps things challenging.

Where they said that?

They said rats have certain levels and when party would be above theirs level range they would be at max level. They also said some opponents have fairly large range, and large min level.

It seems most of the enemies have a rather large level range. I am not sure, but I _think_ that Grifthin is mistaken and that the actual quote is something along the lines of "enemies can level within a 5 level range." IE, a monster at 10 can exist anywhere from level 5 to level 15. Which is pretty fucking big of a range if level scaling makes you start foaming at the mouth.

That said, in DA it is bearable insofar as I am concerned. For example, when you are given the choice of which ally's to work for after lothering. Without level scaling, you don't have many options. You can make every area so its difficulty is scaled to that of a party starting out, making them piss easy after the player gains a few levels. Or you can make some areas easy and some hard, which is a horrible idea because then you have the game pretending to be nonlinear but in fact unless you follow the difficulty curve exactly the game becomes incredibly difficult.

So some form of level scaling is fine, as far as DA is using it. Its still weak enough that gaining levels gives you significant advantages but it doesn't let the game become completely braindead easy. IMO, DA becomes far too easy as it is at higher levels, enemies need some more buffs against stronger parties. Its ridiculous that the hardest part of the game is the beginning few hours.

 

[Grunker]

The bioware Devs said that that when you load up a level the monsters in the area are adjusted to within 5 or so levels of you. There's some level scaling. I like cause it keeps things challenging.

Where they said that?

They said rats have certain levels and when party would be above theirs level range they would be at max level. They also said some opponents have fairly large range, and large min level.

It seems most of the enemies have a rather large level range. I am not sure, but I _think_ that Grifthin is mistaken and that the actual quote is something along the lines of "enemies can level within a 5 level range." IE, a monster at 10 can exist anywhere from level 5 to level 15. Which is pretty fucking big of a range if level scaling makes you start foaming at the mouth.

That said, in DA it is bearable insofar as I am concerned. For example, when you are given the choice of which ally's to work for after lothering. Without level scaling, you don't have many options. You can make every area so its difficulty is scaled to that of a party starting out, making them piss easy after the player gains a few levels. Or you can make some areas easy and some hard, which is a horrible idea because then you have the game pretending to be nonlinear but in fact unless you follow the difficulty curve exactly the game becomes incredibly difficult.

So some form of level scaling is fine, as far as DA is using it. Its still weak enough that gaining levels gives you significant advantages but it doesn't let the game become completely braindead easy. IMO, DA becomes far too easy as it is at higher levels, enemies need some more buffs against stronger parties. Its ridiculous that the hardest part of the game is the beginning few hours.

Isn't it always mostly so though, with the exception of a few final bosses (the final boss in DA is dead-easy, admitted)?

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

 

[Monocause]

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

I don't think it is possible to win the game that way without massively exploiting AI flaws or reloading gazillion times. Tell me that you're playing on hard/nightmare and without the aforementioned 'techniques' and I'll call you a liar

 

[Silellak]

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

Oh, you must be the author of the previously-posted hardcore mod!

http://www.damods.com/forums/index.php?topic=28.0

Pleased to meet you. Sorry* for badmouthing your mod before!

* - not even a little sorry.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

I don't think it is possible to win the game that way without massively exploiting AI flaws or reloading gazillion times. Tell me that you're playing on hard/nightmare and without the aforementioned 'techniques' and I'll call you a liar

Nightmare difficulty. Right now I'm in redcliff with a level 10 mage/arcane warrior. I have about double the armor of Alistair so every attack does 1 damage, and I have almost as much defense as Leliana (who I used a respec mod on to un-gimp). Then I and Leliana/Alistair are all hitting for an extra 20 or so damage per hit from sustained abilities while morrigan pretty much just uses cone of cold while having a few more sustained abilities. Both me and morrigan have spellbloom so that takes care of mana pretty well. If its a fight against a hard enemy, I go in without the sustained abilities on and I spam freezing spells while Leliana auto-crits against the frozen enemys, then when I'm out of mana I pop on the sustaineds and clean up.

Amusingly, the most times I have needed to reload for a fight so far is against the peasant attack right outside Lothering. Yes, the fucking peasants.

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

Oh, you must be the author of the previously-posted hardcore mod!

http://www.damods.com/forums/index.php?topic=28.0

Pleased to meet you. Sorry* for badmouthing your mod before!

* - not even a little sorry.

Not me, but its funny how that mod basically does everything I said. An extra 30% resistance to spells on everything sounds insane though. But it still leaves in the "I win" button. Or should I say "I Wynne". And if Dark Sustenance or the blood mage stuff isn't taken out you still have more then enough energy to fuel it.

 

[Monocause]

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

I don't think it is possible to win the game that way without massively exploiting AI flaws or reloading gazillion times. Tell me that you're playing on hard/nightmare and without the aforementioned 'techniques' and I'll call you a liar

Nightmare difficulty. Right now I'm in redcliff with an level 10 mage/arcane warrior. I have about double the armor of Alistair so every attack does 1 damage, and I have almost as much defense as Leliana (who I used a respec mod on to un-gimp). Then I and Leliana/Alistair are all hitting for an extra 20 or so damage per hit from sustained abilities while morrigan pretty much just uses cone of cold while having a few more sustained abilities. Both me and morrigan have spellbloom so that takes care of mana pretty well.

Perhaps the fact that you've got two mages right from the start made the game unbalanced and easy. You've got arcane warrior so you must've been to the brecilian forest. I had only Morrigan in the werewolf den and I'd really like to see the Witherfang battle done without healing or a horrible cheese smell all over the place.
Unless you decided to kill Zathrian.

 

[Silellak]

Its decently hard, but I restrict myself quite a bit. No potions, no infight healing spells, no imba force field line. Thats how men play.

I don't think it is possible to win the game that way without massively exploiting AI flaws or reloading gazillion times. Tell me that you're playing on hard/nightmare and without the aforementioned 'techniques' and I'll call you a liar

Nightmare difficulty. Right now I'm in redcliff with an level 10 mage/arcane warrior. I have about double the armor of Alistair so every attack does 1 damage, and I have almost as much defense as Leliana (who I used a respec mod on to un-gimp). Then I and Leliana/Alistair are all hitting for an extra 20 or so damage per hit from sustained abilities while morrigan pretty much just uses cone of cold while having a few more sustained abilities. Both me and morrigan have spellbloom so that takes care of mana pretty well.

Perhaps the fact that you've got two mages right from the start made the game unbalanced and easy. You've got arcane warrior so you must've been to the brecilian forest. I had only Morrigan in the werewolf den and I'd really like to see the Witherfang battle done without healing or a horrible cheese smell all over the place.
Unless you decided to kill Zathrian.

Could also be his second playthrough, since all your characters share any specializations you've unlocked.

What would killing Zathrian have to do with anything?

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Yeah, its my second play.

What would killing Zathrian have to do with anything?

I killed Witherfang. Don't know what happens when you side with the Werewolves, but I assume you get to combat Zathrian with the furries on your side. Sounds simpler than what I remember to be one of the hardest fights in the game for my party.

Nope, the werewolves will calmly stand by while you fight Zathrian. In fact, they can be harmed by AoE spells and will still stand there and wait. I dunno if they can be killed or what would happen if they were. Its pretty hard, you have something like 4 of the ghost-like enemies popup along with a few of the tree's, and Zathrian himself is a powerful mage.

In any case, you get arcane warrior well before you fight them, so I would still be overpowered by then.

 

[Monocause]

What would killing Zathrian have to do with anything?

I killed Witherfang. Don't know what happens when you side with the Werewolves, but I assume you get to combat Zathrian with the furries on your side. Sounds simpler than what I remember to be one of the hardest fights in the game for my party.

 

[Monocause]

Yeah, its my second play.

Then I take back what I said. It may be possible, considering that you know the game well.

I still think it must be a royal pain in the arse to play the game that way though

Nope, the werewolves will calmly stand by while you fight Zathrian

Spoiler

Sounds fun, gotta try it. I made a stupid assumption just like that during the fight with Ser Cauthrien when you rescue the queen before landsmeet. I wondered why the fight's so damn hard and pressed quickload whenever it was obvious that my party is going down. Only later did I learn on the IT forums that you can lose it and that there's a whole jailbreak sequence I've missed. Guess my lack of faith in Bioware still shows it's ugly horns sometimes.

 

[Volourn]

"There are to kinds of elves in the Witcher: City elves, which remain in human cities and generally do not riot or have affiliation with Scoia'tael, and wild elves, who live in remote mountain and forest areas, trying to bring back the glorious lore of the ye olde elves. On top of that, both elven kingdoms were torn down by humans, and the humans build their empire on top of it. First, making slaves of the nonhumans, later giving them free to poverty.

Now tell me how that is not EXACTLY the same as in DA:O?"

Your description makes the TW elves sound like a rip off of D&D elves.


Anyone who bashes DA wiriting does NOT know good writing. the writing is fuckin' awesome INCLUDING *most* of the over the top stuff.

Fuck you all.

 

[Grunker]

"There are to kinds of elves in the Witcher: City elves, which remain in human cities and generally do not riot or have affiliation with Scoia'tael, and wild elves, who live in remote mountain and forest areas, trying to bring back the glorious lore of the ye olde elves. On top of that, both elven kingdoms were torn down by humans, and the humans build their empire on top of it. First, making slaves of the nonhumans, later giving them free to poverty.

Now tell me how that is not EXACTLY the same as in DA:O?"

Your description makes the TW elves sound like a rip off of D&D elves.


Anyone who bashes DA wiriting does NOt good writing. the writing is fuckin' awesome INCLUDING *most* of the over the top stuff.

Fuck you all.

D&D elves aren't nearly as fucked and usually live in good cities and their wild elves are fine with being wild elves and bleh blah buzaaa... Why I'm doing this, it's like arguing with a wall.

 

[Volourn]

"D&D elves aren't nearly as fucked and usually live in good cities and their wild elves are fine with being wild elves and bleh blah buzaaa... Why I'm doing this, it's like arguing with a wall."

Man. Such ignorance is sad. Why do you btoher agruing something you know nothing about. Perhaps you should rea dup on FR Netheril. perhaps, you should learn about the drow outside of them being 'evil'. Perhaps, you should check up on Dark Sun.

Such an embarassing tool.

 

[Grunker]

I own and have read all...

Nah. It ain't worth it.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

"There are to kinds of elves in the Witcher: City elves, which remain in human cities and generally do not riot or have affiliation with Scoia'tael, and wild elves, who live in remote mountain and forest areas, trying to bring back the glorious lore of the ye olde elves. On top of that, both elven kingdoms were torn down by humans, and the humans build their empire on top of it. First, making slaves of the nonhumans, later giving them free to poverty.

Now tell me how that is not EXACTLY the same as in DA:O?"

Your description makes the TW elves sound like a rip off of D&D elves.


Anyone who bashes DA wiriting does NOT know good writing. the writing is fuckin' awesome INCLUDING *most* of the over the top stuff.

Fuck you all.

Jesus still loves you. Tell your mother how much you care about her, give her a hug and go to church on sunday and all will be well.

 

[Arcanoix]

Anyone who bashes DA wiriting does NOT know good writing. the writing is fuckin' awesome INCLUDING *most* of the over the top stuff.

Fuck you all.

Volourn, I'm honestly starting to see you more and more to be a troll, not an actual fanboy.

This:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rP3-33TBu4 (0:45-0:47)

Same sword animation as the Witcher's sword animation found here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CaSKhrURIw [4:39-4:41])

Might I add that in the Game Development industry there is hardly anymore room to be creative. As they say - It Has All Already Been Done Before.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Jesus still loves you. Tell your mother how much you care about her, give her a hug and go to church on sunday and all will be well.

It's funny how statements like thse make me rage a little. Like, STOP BEING SO FUCKING POSITIVE, CAN'T YOU SEE I'M MAD

 

[Volourn]

I honestly don't give a shit what you see me as. Seriously? Using potential similarities of sowrd swings as 'proof' that BIo ripped off the Witcher? GTFO with that shit. Espicially since TW rips off BIO's fuckin' engine. Get over it. It's not a big deal.

 

[1eyedking]

Great arguments. How do you come with them? It appears that you simply type "average!", but surely there is more to it?

Average dialogue is average. I don't see any good writing in those three particular lines.

The 'wolves see the irony that the elves send humans to deal with them because the werewolves were originally created by the elves to deal with humans. Hence, the irony. You don't understand it when you first hear it, but it clicks later when you learn more.

I am sorry, but that is not irony. It is not incongruous, nor contradictory enough.

Irony is detonating a nuke to save the world, when it were nukes what first nearly destroyed it. Irony is desiring death above all things when you're immortal. Irony is finding out the true meaning of your epithet in Arcanum.

Black Isle/Troika could handle irony, and well. BioWare simply cannot.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Actually, I think the irony of that situation comes with the fact that the elves had been enslaved by humans, but when a problem arises they asked humans to solve it for them.

And that is pretty ironic, considering how much they hate outsiders.

 

[Grunker]

Average dialogue is average. I don't see any good writing in those three particular lines.

This argument is taken straight from the blonde in 8th grade.

Teacher: "So, class: What did you think of Hemmingway's novel?"

Blonde: "It was weird."

Teacher: "And why was it weird?"

Blonde: "It was just weird."

Substitute weird with average at your own leisure. I'm sorry my lord king, I tend to agree with in this matter, but you're very bad at this whole discussion-thing.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

God, this forum is a fucking toilet.