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Dragon Age - New patch released

Grifthin

Educated
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
268
Location
South-Africa
New patch for dragon age is out. Looks like they fixed some of the broken abilities. I Like this especially:The spells Force Field, Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold, and Blizzard now have shorter durations and/or longer cooldowns. This ensures that combatants can no longer stun-lock each other by repeatedly casting the same spell.

patch notes:


Dragon Age: Origins 1.02
Patch details:

Many of the fixes affecting balance, gameplay, or plot scripting are already included in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3 versions of Dragon Age: Origins.

You do not need to download patches prior to Patch 1.02. Downloading Patch 1.02 contains all previous patches. Downloading Patch 1.02 will provide you with all patch data available.
Balance

* Daggers now apply 0.5 points of damage per additional point in dexterity and 0.5 points of damage per additional point in strength, as originally intended. This increases dagger damage for high-dexterity characters.
* During combat, mana or stamina reserves now correctly regenerate more quickly when reserves are low. This allows players to occasionally use an talent or spell in the later stages of lengthy fights.
* When exploring, mana and stamina now regenerate more quickly at higher character levels. This reduces downtime between fights.
* The spells Force Field, Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold, and Blizzard now have shorter durations and/or longer cooldowns. This ensures that combatants can no longer stun-lock each other by repeatedly casting the same spell.
* The cooldowns for several low-level sustained abilities are now shorter. This ensures that players are not penalized for accidentally deactivating them.
* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.
* Enemy corpses now drop health poultices and money more appropriately, resulting in less clutter in the player's inventory.

Gameplay

* In rare cases, enemy corpses were selectable when they contained no loot. This no longer occurs.
* Party members whose combat tactics were set to defensive behavior no longer stop attacking after using a spell or talent.
* In rare cases, combat tactics conditions could fail to determine whether a character had enough mana or stamina to use an ability. This no longer occurs.
* The Rally talent no longer repeats its audio effect if it is active during certain conversations.
* The Rally talent no longer deactivates upon area transitions or conversations.
* The Shimmering Shield spell now deactivates when the character is out of mana.

Plot *Spoiler Warning*

* Promotional downloadable content items now remain in the player's inventory when standard items are removed at the end of the dwarf noble origin.
* Repeatedly talking to Duncan after gathering the vials in the Korcari Wilds but not the treaties no longer provides duplicate experience.
* Leliana's personal plot can now be completed if the player substantially increased her approval (through gifts) before talking to her.
* During the siege of Redcliffe, enemies are no longer able to spawn in locations that would break the plot.
* Bann Teagan no longer disappears when he is supposed to be accessible during Urn of Sacred Ashes.

PC Specific

* Controlling a summoned creature (like a ranger's pets) during certain special area transitions no longer results in odd behavior.
* Creating a character in a custom module did not create a folder for saves. This could result in corruption of main campaign saves. This no longer occurs.
* In some cases, the class icon was set incorrectly for characters imported from the downloadable Character Creator. This no longer occurs.
* The options menu now includes a setting to automatically download previously purchased content that is not currently installed.
* After installing new downloadable content, the game now always reminds the user to restart the game.
* The icons for some promotional downloadable content items were missing. They now appear correctly.
* The screenshot upload GUI would stop working from time to time on the client. There was a memory override that was fixed. It is a client fix. It doesn't affect the other problems we have seen on the server.

Looks good.
 

VentilatorOfDoom

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* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.

which battles were excessively difficult?

* Enemy corpses now drop health poultices and money more appropriately, resulting in less clutter in the player's inventory.

What does that mean? More gold? Less? I've always been so excited when I was looting a deep mushroom and 5 silver from the boss corpse at the end of the dungeon.

* The Shimmering Shield spell now deactivates when the character is out of mana.

The spell uses up mana pretty quickly. I guess that means one has to drink mana potions more regularily.
 

Dnny

Educated
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
470
Many of the fixes affecting balance, gameplay, or plot scripting are already included in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3 versions of Dragon Age: Origins.

THIS IS THE NEW SHIT

No wonder DA is a piece of shit, it's a console game first and a pc game second.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,666
VentilatorOfDoom said:
* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.

which battles were excessively difficult?
The high dragon and flemith fights are probably on that list. I've been playing on hard and it was really annoying on the flemith fight in particular how there is basically no room to move and her fireballs went through her house to hit you. I can't even imagine trying to do the high dragon fight on hard without two mages in the group sharing rejuv with each other and pumping out healing.

The worst is probably that demon/whatever that lives in "the smallest house that exists" in Denerim. He is an "orange" rating boss monster with high damage, stun, and aoe spells with what appeared to be an unlimited mana pool. With other tough fights I could always use some of the environment to my advantage or at least spread out my team so when the dragon sat on someone's head it didn't take the whole party to 50% and stun them.

That sidequest boss in the shitty shack is the only fight I had to leave and will go back to later (didn't have anyone with dispel). But with the level scaling in this game I have no idea if what I saw from that fight was on the easy or hard side of its scaling.
 

Malakal

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
10,331
Location
Poland
The most important question is: SER CAUTHRIEN DID THEY NERF HER?
Other than that looks kinda cosmetic...
 

relootz

Scholar
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Messages
4,478
Is it possible to use this on a less then optimal version?
 

Grifthin

Educated
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
268
Location
South-Africa
I like the fact that they decreased some of the spells people where complaining where over powered. So maby nightmare is a little more difficult now.
 

Destroid

Arcane
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
16,628
Location
Australia
You guys should consider yourselves lucky, Dawn of War 2 has a bug that randomly kicks people out of multiplayer games, afftecting ~20% of games (for those effected), that has been in the game since beta.

The game has been out for 10 months now.
 
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
6,927
Yeah, except no one plays DoW2 because it's a piece of shit.

Oh wait, so is DA

My point got ruined :(
 

Lesifoere

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
4,071
relootz said:
Is it possible to use this on a less then optimal version?

If you mean what I think you mean, yes, once a new less-than-optimal version of the game's exe is out.
 

relootz

Scholar
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Messages
4,478
Lesifoere said:
relootz said:
Is it possible to use this on a less then optimal version?

If you mean what I think you mean, yes, once a new less-than-optimal version of the game's exe is out.

Are you sure Lesifoere? Because that wasnt even needed after the first patch, thats why i ask it.
 

Lesifoere

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
4,071
Oh. I've no idea, I just applied a new less-than-optimal .exe just in case.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

Notorious Internet Vandal
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Jun 1, 2008
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34,585
Location
Cell S-004
MCA Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2
J1M said:
VentilatorOfDoom said:
* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.

which battles were excessively difficult?
The high dragon and flemith fights are probably on that list.
Actually, I think it's one of the revenants in Brecilian Forest. The one under the small ruined pillar where you encounter the ogre duo always seemed way tougher than any of the others.
 

Soulforged

Scholar
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Mar 4, 2008
Messages
209
VentilatorOfDoom said:
which battles were excessively difficult?
I'm speaking for myself here. Playing as a fighter (PC character) all of the boss fights were excesivelly difficult, chaotic and generally unbalanced, in the end you had to resort to use cheesy tactics like running around acting as a decoy while the other party members peppered him with arrows and magic, which is nonsensical against intelligent NPCs, like Uldred. After Uldred I never got back to Nightmare difficulty, I would switch between hard and normal, now I'm playing on easy in fact.

When I reached the fight in the the Tower of Ishar I really could not see how many people were saying that this game was easy, this game is as hard as hell, the wrong way, it doesn't impose a balanced challenge, you're almost always outnumbered by enemies who use their abilities reasonably well, they're at most three levels less than you, or the same level as you. In Nightmare I always had to run with one character ahead atracting a small group of enemies and slaughtering them one by one, which isn't the intended way the fights should develope as far as I can see, it's just that the AI has a very big hole right there, it doesn't call for help properly. I think the AI should worry more about the latter and less about the autobalance.

EDIT:
I also do not like the fact that they make boss fights thougher by increasing their hit points artifically, many of those fights were certainly well crafted from the encounter point of view: the boss would resort to different resources to stop you as the fight progressed (using lyrium veins, converting mages into abominations, using the golems against you, dissapearing and revealing a hidden force, etc), I think that should have been enough, the revenants in general were ridiculously difficult.
 

1eyedking

Erudite
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
3,591
Location
Argentina
Sorry...what?

I'm busy replaying Arcanum; it's amazing how dumbfucks such as VD claimed DA is the best RPG since.

So, what is it you say, a patch? Oh, but you know what others say.

"Bugs can be fixed but shitty design is forever."
 

Forest Dweller

Smoking Dicks
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
12,251
poocolator said:
* The Rally talent no longer repeats its audio effect if it is active during certain conversations.
HOLY SHIT THE BEST IMPROVEMENT EVER OMG I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY HOLY FUCK FUCK IM SO EXCITED AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT I KNOW I KNOW I WANT TO I WANT TO.
HOLY SHIT THEY ARE FIXING AND TWEAKINGS THINGS I'D BETTER SAY SOMETHING FAST CODEX COOL POINTS +++++++
 

relootz

Scholar
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Messages
4,478
Lesifoere said:
Oh. I've no idea, I just applied a new less-than-optimal .exe just in case.

I just did a test. You need a new less-then-optimal .exe which is already available.
 

Soulforged

Scholar
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
209
1eyedking said:
"Bugs can be fixed but shitty design is forever."
Except that it doesn't have shitty design generally speaking, and shitty design is certainly not forever, everything can be changed in the software world, there are things that are more difficult than others, therefore the distinction between core and extensions.

All the complains I've seen you made about the game are of things that can be modded or easily configured if you know how to edit a two entry table (just get GDA editor and the toolset). Even the autoleveling can be changed (not disabled, mind you) by using it.
 

VentilatorOfDoom

Administrator
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Messages
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Soulforged said:
VentilatorOfDoom said:
which battles were excessively difficult?
I'm speaking for myself here. Playing as a fighter (PC character) all of the boss fights were excesivelly difficult, chaotic and generally unbalanced, in the end you had to resort to use cheesy tactics like running around acting as a decoy while the other party members peppered him with arrows and magic, which is nonsensical against intelligent NPCs, like Uldred. After Uldred I never got back to Nightmare difficulty, I would switch between hard and normal, now I'm playing on easy in fact.

When I reached the fight in the the Tower of Ishar I really could not see how many people were saying that this game was easy, this game is as hard as hell, the wrong way, it doesn't impose a balanced challenge, you're almost always outnumbered by enemies who use their abilities reasonably well, they're at most three levels less than you, or the same level as you. In Nightmare I always had to run with one character ahead atracting a small group of enemies and slaughtering them one by one, which isn't the intended way the fights should develope as far as I can see, it's just that the AI has a very big hole right there, it doesn't call for help properly. I think the AI should worry more about the latter and less about the autobalance.

some of the things you describe are due to the level scaling. If enemies are always approx. your level and outnumber you by factor 3 or more, you're going to have problems.
It's mainly a matter of which spells you have at your disposal and which partymembers you use. I'm playing nightmare now and I'm really having an easy time. Sten & Zevran for melee purposes, and Morrigan & Mage PC for crowd control. Sleep, Walking Nightmare, Mass paralyze. These spells open combat, and Zevran for instance is ridiculously fast at killing things if you gave him the rogue ability that turns every attack into a sneak attack if the victim is paralyzed somehow. Mages? Manaclash - zing, they're dead. The only fights that require a bit patience are vs certain bosses which resist most spells, in which case you don't have much choice but to heal the melee until they finally chopped it down.
 

Soulforged

Scholar
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Mar 4, 2008
Messages
209
relootz said:
Lesifoere said:
Oh. I've no idea, I just applied a new less-than-optimal .exe just in case.

I just did a test. You need a new less-then-optimal .exe which is already available.
You can also use a "less-than-optimal" image which serves all versions.
 

Soulforged

Scholar
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Mar 4, 2008
Messages
209
VentilatorOfDoom said:
some of the things you describe are due to the level scaling. If enemies are always approx. your level and outnumber you by factor 3 or more, you're going to have problems.
It's mainly a matter of which spells you have at your disposal and which partymembers you use. I'm playing nightmare now and I'm really having an easy time. Sten & Zevran for melee purposes, and Morrigan & Mage PC for crowd control. Sleep, Walking Nightmare, Mass paralyze. These spells open combat, and Zevran for instance is ridiculously fast at killing things if you gave him the rogue ability that turns every attack into a sneak attack if the victim is paralyzed somehow. Mages? Manaclash - zing, they're dead. The only fights that require a bit patience are vs certain bosses which resist most spells, in which case you don't have much choice but to heal the melee until they finally chopped it down.

Not everything is due to level scaling, this game uses level scaling to some extent but it also autobalanced fights to make them generelically difficult across the board using a table for autobalance, I have only one of those spells you mentioned, if the game were properly balanced I should be able to win every fight using my currently available party members intelligently rather than resorting to the same party members again and again, the second tends to make everything a chore, even more considering that sometimes you cannot choose all of your party members.
 

relootz

Scholar
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Messages
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I do agree with what you say Soulforged.

The biggest problem DA has with combat encounters is that they are not well done. They just throw a lot of opponents at you, i am constantly getting outnumbered by enemies. I dont consider this as well done combat encounters.

Also mages are stupidly overpowered especially against bosses so i am not surprised you are able to play it on nightmare Ventilator.

I play on hard but with only Morrigan as mage. I respecced her and now things are very doable but without the respec she was handicapped and the game consisted of me running around with the character that was being targetted by the orange opponent. Not really a stimulating battle tactic

For me the level scaling is too much. You encounter darkspawn when u are sublevel 5 and now at level 15 i am still meeting them but they are too high in level. They are not at all difficult but i would say that good level scaling should make me crush them like a bug at this level.
 

VentilatorOfDoom

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Soulforged said:
Not everything is due to level scaling, this game uses level scaling to some extent but it also autobalanced fights to make them generelically difficult across the board using a table for autobalance, I have only one of those spells you mentioned, if the game were properly balanced I should be able to win every fight using my currently available party members intelligently rather than resorting to the same party members again and again, the second tends to make everything a chore, even more considering that sometimes you cannot choose all of your party members.

and here we have some of the more glaring design flaws of DA: you have to stick to your spell picks/abilities even if they turn out to be suboptimal or even nigh useless + some party members are *better* than others. At least if it comes to killing stuff, and since most of the game revolves around killing stuff...
 

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