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Dragon Age Dragon Age: Origins is ten years old today

anvi

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Fade was awesome, I think most people didn't understand the point of it. It was supposed to be a fun almost arcade type experience using the forms which were super powerful if used in the right places. It was ugly though. Whole thing could be done in about 40 minutes if you know where to go.
 

Roguey

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Fade was awesome, I think most people didn't understand the point of it. It was supposed to be a fun almost arcade type experience using the forms which were super powerful if used in the right places. It was ugly though. Whole thing could be done in about 40 minutes if you know where to go.
Hurts replayability because it's going to play out exactly the same way every time you go through it (fortunately there's a skip the fade mod).
 

Cael

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Nov 1, 2017
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Circle tower was great, but fuck me, the Fade was the worst part of the game. Just goes on and fucking on! The game gets way better when you actually go back to clearing out the Tower. Also, they completely botched a really good C&C for Redcliffe storyline. Bare with me because I've not played in forever, but I somewhat remember they botched this since I waited to visit the Circle.

I didn't help the Circle before visiting Redcliffe. Going back to handle the Circle should've set off a timer or something. You're asked to rush to the Tower, and if you didn't help them, you're taking a long ass time clearing it out. Redcliffe should've been destroyed. Would've been better if you had the option to kill the child instead of ever going to the Circle to begin with.

Anyways, I didn't mind the Deep Roads. The Orzamar is probably my favorite part of the whole game. The dwarves are easily the best part of Dragon Age. Also, maybe it's because the song that plays is really fucking good too.


There is a bug with that quest anyway. Even if you saved the boy using the Mage Tower route, the conclusion of the quest still thinks the mother sacrificed herself to do it. You even get a talk with Alistair back in the camp about it afterwards. DAO has several bugs like that where the wrong flag was triggered or the right flag not triggered.

The problem with the Fade that most people run into is the constant bactracking. One of the areas, IIRC, you had to go through three times. That will make things long and boring for no reason other than to solve the puzzle to go forward.
 
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Nano

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
There is a bug with that quest anyway. Even if you saved the boy using the Mage Tower route, the conclusion of the quest still thinks the mother sacrificed herself to do it. You even get a talk with Alistair back in the camp about it afterwards. DAO has several bugs like that were the wrong flag was triggered or the right flag not triggered.
Never came across that bug, nor have I heard of anyone else who has. It's just your game.
 

Lacrymas

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Pathfinder: Wrath
Redcliffe does get destroyed if you leave before defending it from the undead monsters from the lake.
 

Cael

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Redcliffe does get destroyed if you leave before defending it from the undead monsters from the lake.
No, that is not what we meant. We are talking about the part where you have saved Teagan but demon-Connor is still on the loose. Your choices are to kill the mother to enter the Fade (via blood magic; suggested by Jowan), kill Connor, or go to the mage tower to get enough lyrium and mages to open the Fade and someone enters it. If you go to the mage tower and come back with the mages, and after getting rid of the demon, the game thinks you sacrificed the mother, even though she is still there in the cutscenes and even have lines. Afterwards, the first time you go back to camp, Alistair approaches you and talks to you about what happened, and in it, he was unhappy that you sacrificed the mother or something similar. It is a minor glitch because that is the only place it happens. Everywhere else, the game continues correctly (mother lives, etc.), IIRC.

It has been a while since I played DAO. I will probably put it on the list of games to replay.
 

alyvain

Learned
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Maybe you played it without the latest official patch? I've never had this problem, although maybe I just forgot the first pre-patched playthrough.

The fact that there is no risk in going to the Tower to save Connor is dumb indeed, but the segregation between gameplay and narrative is so common in RPG, that I didn't even pay it much attention. The Blight wasn't there in Origins as well, you're free to progress at your own pace. No dynamics at all. Lothering is destroyed, but only after you've pretty much done all you can in the city. It's weird that you don't really see the devastation the Blight is causing, not in Origins, not in Awakening, although lore-wise it is adressed as something that has crippled Ferelden for years to come
 

Cael

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Maybe you played it without the latest official patch? I've never had this problem, although maybe I just forgot the first pre-patched playthrough.

The fact that there is no risk in going to the Tower to save Connor is dumb indeed, but the segregation between gameplay and narrative is so common in RPG, that I didn't even pay it much attention. The Blight wasn't there in Origins as well, you're free to progress at your own pace. No dynamics at all. Lothering is destroyed, but only after you've pretty much done all you can in the city. It's weird that you don't really see the devastation the Blight is causing, not in Origins, not in Awakening, although lore-wise it is adressed as something that has crippled Ferelden for years to come
My usual route is Lothering > Denerim > Soldier's Peak > Mage Tower > Redcliffe, so in my narrative, it makes sense.

I will have to look at the patch number. I honestly don't recall which patch I was using.
 

Absinthe

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I remember thinking the Deep Roads were annoying when I first played the game. Then I learned to git gud at DAO's combat system and now I actually enjoy the place. There are a bunch of fun encounters there.
Now get even better at it and discover it's all crap again because it's a mess of repetitive, trivially easy combat encounters that drags on far too long.

I dread both the Deep Roads and the Fade.

And then I'm reminded that areas like the Circle's tower or the path to the Sacred Ashes aren't that far off either. Ironically enough, from what I remember, Brecillian forest seems the least trashmoby.
Installing Slinks S3 Ravage mod (with related Fixpack) does a lot to spice up trash mob encounters and make it more interesting.

I remember thinking the Deep Roads were annoying when I first played the game. Then I learned to git gud at DAO's combat system and now I actually enjoy the place. There are a bunch of fun encounters there.
I dread both the Deep Roads and the Fade.

And then I'm reminded that areas like the Circle's tower or the path to the Sacred Ashes aren't that far off either. Ironically enough, from what I remember, Brecillian forest seems the least trashmoby.

During my last playthrough I've had most problems with the forest actually. It was probably due to the strange placement of quests there. On the other hand, the Deep Roads seemed like a more or less straightforward dungeon-crawling area, which was okay to get into for a few hours. The temple was indeed no better. The strangest thing in the game is the Circle. They obviously tried to add some variety with the Fade segment, but we all know how it turned out.

I played through the Fade segment once, I didn't found it that bad. Perhaps it gets really boring on subsequent playthroughs?
It was boring on my first playthrough. There's too much backtracking, everything is brown and gray, and there are lots of trash mobs. Environment design, level design, and encounter design needed some serious help there. I know it's supposed to be a maze but it barely felt like one. You just end up exploring everything and backtracking a bunch as you unlock new abilities. It probably helps if you have Faster Runspeed installed (iirc the faster combat component also undoes the dex to damage change a patch introduced) so all the walking is less painful. Otherwise you need to either have the Haste spell or Flying Swarm shape (but getting Shapeshifter spec is typically not a good idea). Reminds me of KotOR series where you want Force Speed power asap simply to remove the drudgery of slowly walking so much (although you could also use adrenal stims for movespeed).
 

Nano

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
> bumping a thread from a week ago to have another autistic meltdown about how much you hate this game
 

Absinthe

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To be honest, I never understood your enduring asspain at watching DAO get criticized, Nano. You seem to take people's opinions of your favored videogames personally.
 

Absinthe

Arcane
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Here on the Codex you are expected to develop a thick skin, honestly. If you get sore easily you're asking to get made fun of.
 

anvi

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If you get sore easy you are a passionate being, capable of great things, revolutionary, a leader of men.
 

Mark Richard

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Long, but a good vid none-the-less.....



Something it talks about which I never really paid that much mind to before, is how dark DA:O is compared to the shit sequels.

As it says, a few of Duncan's action are outright evil and Grey Wardens themselves are far from A-typical white knights.

It's spectacular just how much the franchise lost it's way after such a good, if cliche'd & flawed, start.

Great video. Now that I think about it, The Calling sounds almost exactly like The Long Walk from Judge Dredd, where Judges of retirement age venture out into the inhospitable wasteland to dispense justice to the lawless in what is basically a form of ritualistic suicide. The similarities go further because in Dragon Age The Calling is known by another name - The Long Walk. Judge Dredd is a really bleak universe, so it could be indicative of what Bioware were originally shooting for. The series definitely lost some of that grit by Inquisition.
 
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ZagorTeNej

Arcane
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
1,980
Funny people talking like 2009 was a bad year for the genre.

Risen and Knight of the Chalice alone made it very worthwhile, quality not quantity. DAO was very good too, better than the vast majority of kickstarter trash.
 

Falksi

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Nottingham
Fade was awesome, I think most people didn't understand the point of it. It was supposed to be a fun almost arcade type experience using the forms which were super powerful if used in the right places. It was ugly though. Whole thing could be done in about 40 minutes if you know where to go.

I think folk who cuss the Fade don't appreciate fully how much pacing matters in games, and how something like that was needed to break things up & keep it fresh.

I like it anyway, but regardless it was good to get away from the familiarity & dynamics of Ferelden mid-game for a bit.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

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I'm very into cock and ball torture
Fade was awesome, I think most people didn't understand the point of it. It was supposed to be a fun almost arcade type experience using the forms which were super powerful if used in the right places. It was ugly though. Whole thing could be done in about 40 minutes if you know where to go.

I think folk who cuss the Fade don't appreciate fully how much pacing matters in games, and how something like that was needed to break things up & keep it fresh.

I like it anyway, but regardless it was good to get away from the familiarity & dynamics of Ferelden mid-game for a bit.

Fade was absolutely one of the high points of the game. Suddenly you are no longer on a big plain with many npcs or in a megadungeon with thousands of enemies.
You are in a small, confined area where you cant rely on your usual tactics, solving riddles and fighting a few select enemies is puzzle style encounters with new abilties. And the rewards are amazing, so many permanent attribute raises.
Also a lot of people say the Fade was badly paced in itself, I didnt think so. Due to constantly changing your area and expanding your skillset it kept me engaged and ended before it outstayed its welcome.
 

Technomancer

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Dec 24, 2018
Messages
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The Calling sounds almost exactly like The Long Walk from Judge Dredd, where Judges of retirement age venture out into the inhospitable wasteland to dispense justice to the lawless in what is basically a form of ritualistic suicide. The similarities go further because in Dragon Age The Calling is known by another name - The Long Walk. Judge Dredd is a really bleak universe, so it could be indicative of what Bioware were originally shooting for. The series definitely lost some of that grit by Inquisition.
It lost some of its grit even before the release of the first one. The original idea for the Calling was that you succumb to it fast after joining the Wardens. They just slapped a random number as a work in progress without really thinking, but when they realized that the time frame they gave the writers (10-30 years) is too generous it was too late to change it.

The idea is still reflected in the early trailer in which young warden goes to his ritualistic suicide.

 
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