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Post by mousestalker on Mar 2, 2017 19:13:30 GMT
I like to play games "as intended" by the devs, especially in a first playthrough. I assume that the money exploits really are exploits and not clever use of game mechanics as intended? If so, I will steer clear. It's nice to have meaningful decisions to make with regards to how to spend my money. The specialization manual trick sounds kinda cheesy, but at the same time I don't understand why they work that way in the first place. If they are totally free in every game after my first playthrough, then it would suggest the game economy is designed without the cost of those specializations factored in, and in that case, playing "honestly" would seem like an unfair self-imposed penalization. About the money exploits: All Dragon Age games are really stingy with money. Usually, there are some very good items your current party needs in both the original game and the Awakening expansion, and normally you have exactly ZERO chances to buy all of them. And I`m not talking about buying those shiny goody-goody items for ALL companions; just for your core 4 members party. And DA2 is even worse ... One of the two exploits is based on a clever economical observation: the buying rates for an item are particularly good at one shop, meaning a slight profit. The main raw material is available in another location, and the rest of the ingredients at the shop with the good buying rates. AND you need the skill to craft it (or one of the companions). So it`s not really an exploit. I really hate games with this kind of policy: placing many good items in shops, which you`ll never afford. Not even a few of them. You can follow the "designed" path, but you`ll afford maximum one or two of them. Which is simply a joke ... This raises a good point. It pays (literally) to pay attention to the prices set for merchants buying and selling items. Different merchants will charge different rates for the same item. In general, the prices make sense, with the items sold where an item is made or found being lower than a more distant merchant. Certain merchants sell unlimited quantities of certain items, with one exception, that's typically a good price as well. If a merchant is amazingly convenient, then his or her prices are usually pretty high. Also, if you are really concerned about money, play a dwarf noble. Played correctly, that origin sets you up to be rich the entire game, including a merchant who will pay twice as much for every item sold. For subsequent play, the DLC Golems of Amgarrak has as a reward for completion an item with decent stats but an inordinately high sale price. This shows up in your inventory at the start of every subsequent game. I refer to it as the "Stick of Sovereign Summoning"
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adrianbc
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 2, 2017 19:21:23 GMT
This raises a good point. It pays (literally) to pay attention to the prices set for merchants buying and selling items. Different merchants will charge different rates for the same item. In general, the prices make sense, with the items sold where an item is made or found being lower than a more distant merchant. Certain merchants sell unlimited quantities of certain items, with one exception, that's typically a good price as well. If a merchant is amazingly convenient, then his or her prices are usually pretty high. Also, if you are really concerned about money, play a dwarf noble. Played correctly, that origin sets you up to be rich the entire game, including a merchant who will pay twice as much for every item sold. For subsequent play, the DLC Golems of Amgarrak has as a reward for completion an item with decent stats but an inordinately high sale price. This shows up in your inventory at the start of every subsequent game. I refer to it as the "Stick of Sovereign Summoning" You are perfectly right about the dwarf noble and the Golems of Amgarrak DLC I played a dwarf noble three or more times (I lost count of my PT`s for DA:O), and s/he is indeed the richest protagonist in the game. I also played all DLC`s several times. But heindrich has no experience with DA:O yet ...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2017 20:06:37 GMT
I like to play games "as intended" by the devs, especially in a first playthrough. I assume that the money exploits really are exploits and not clever use of game mechanics as intended? If so, I will steer clear. It's nice to have meaningful decisions to make with regards to how to spend my money. The specialization manual trick sounds kinda cheesy, but at the same time I don't understand why they work that way in the first place. If they are totally free in every game after my first playthrough, then it would suggest the game economy is designed without the cost of those specializations factored in, and in that case, playing "honestly" would seem like an unfair self-imposed penalization. About the money exploits: All Dragon Age games are really stingy with money. Usually, there are some very good items your current party needs in both the original game and the Awakening expansion, and normally you have exactly ZERO chances to buy all of them. And I`m not talking about buying those shiny goody-goody items for ALL companions; just for your core 4 members party. And DA2 is even worse ... As a Blade and Soul survivor where I've greeted each of my gold pieces by name after logging in, Dragon Age felt like a bonanza. Basically, the idea is that you can buy one exceptional item. I di dnot bother in DA:)/Awakening, but in DA2 I purchased one item for my main from the Emporium, and it was a happy day. After all, we have had years and years of complaints about money just piling up higher and higher without use. So, now we do not, and those special things do feel valuable... I do like that.
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adrianbc
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 2, 2017 20:42:01 GMT
This is more a bad game design for me, in both cases. Having tons of money and nothing to buy is equally bad as having tons of items to buy and no money. At least in my case. Noticing the buying/selling rates in DA:O is a legit thing to me. Acting stupidly and NOT searching for the most convenient prices is not my style. And it never was. I found out both ways to make money in DA:O by myself in my second PT, just by paying attention. I don`t use mods or console commands to "make" money in DA:O. In the case of DA2 the money issue is really stupid. Most stores have something like 50 times higher prices for their items compared to the price they re-buy the same item the next second. That`s not economics or profit. It`s just an utterly dumb way to make items in stores unaffordable, and to force the player to buy the item DLC`s. I bought them, only because they offered the only self-upgrading weapons, belts, and rings in the game. Which is another idiot thing about DA2 design. A shiny new weapon is obsolete after just a couple of levels, meaning that you have to constantly look after the next junky dagger, sword, axe or whatever you fancy to hit, skewer, roast or bleed the enemy. Self-upgrading weapons saved me the hassle. And DA2 is the only game for me to use a money-making mode, the valuable junk. It allows Hawke to buy more than a good item in the entire game. Not all those fancy and expensive ones, just some more.
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Post by capn233 on Mar 2, 2017 22:47:11 GMT
Reaper's Cudgel price might be an error, but who knows.
For Potent Lyrium Potion crafting, that at least requires a steep buy in, so might not really be an exploit. Strictly speaking it would depend on dev intention, but who knows.
There are some tricks that are probably more accurately considered bugs or glitches where you can sell and buyback items to a merchant repeatedly and gain gold (sells for 2x the buyback price IIRC).
Traps are a Girl's Best Friend is essentially an exploit if you sell more than the first three.
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Post by heindrich on Mar 3, 2017 16:41:21 GMT
I've gotten as far as Lothering and wow, yeah I see why this game is so highly rated! I didn't expect to have interesting moral decisions to make straight away in the tutorial part of the game! (I went with the human mage start). I've died once so far, in the opening harrowing dream of all places lol, but overall the difficulty is just right at the moment, and I guess I don't really want to "git gud" too quickly and make the game trivial. That ogre fight in the tower was epic. Observations/Questions: 1) Is it normal that if I didn't start as a rogue, I simply cannot open any locked chests thus far? It's been a little frustrating cos I keep wondering what I'm missing out on, but I don't see any option to pick locks like in Elder Scrolls or force locks with warriors. 2) I thought you can only unlock specializations at lv7, but Alastair was a Templar as soon as I got him. I guess that's a companion flavour "cheat"? 3) Leliana looks so much like Imoen that it makes me sad that she doesn't sound like my beloved little sister from the Sword Coast, and it's making me miss her On a related note, Leliana = Imoen, Morrigan = Viconia and Alistair = Anomen (kinda)? 4) As I understand it, armour increases fatigue, which decreases stamina and mana, which is why a pure mage type character shouldn't wear amour (plus the strength thing prevents it anyway)... but does armour affect stealth and our rogue actions? I noticed that Leliana can actually wear chainmail, I've given her studded leather so far because I'm conditioned to equip mages, warriors and rogues in certain ways from other RPGs, but are my pre-conceptions wrong in this case? 5) I am loving the banter between Alastair and Morrigan! I really hope those interactions don't stop! Shortly after entering Lothering, I manually spoke to Alastair and Morrigan for the first time, the resulting conversations resulted in me gaining 4 favours with Al and losing 10 with Morri. Do these favours matter? Will they actually leave my party if favour goes too low? I'm guess high favour is tied to romances? Do any of the companions have fixed conflicts between them that will force me to choose like in BG? 6) When Leliana joined the party, I saw the party composition interface for the first time, if I recruit more people, I guess I'll have to pick and choose 4 active members... But do the people I drop leave the party? Or can I sub companions in and out at will? If it's the latter, do inactive companions gain xp? In fact how is xp gained? Say I kill a monster worth 100 xp, if I have 4 characters active, do they each gain 100 xp, or is it shared as 25 xp each? Wow I didn't realize I had that many questions... once I got started... lol Thx for reading all that if you got this far!
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mousestalker
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Post by mousestalker on Mar 3, 2017 17:13:26 GMT
1. Yes. There is a mod that allows warriors and mages to force chests, but without it, you will need a rogue to open locks. 2. All the companions start with a specialization except Sten and Shale . 3. No comment 4. No. Despite the rattling noises, if the person can equip it, they can sneak with it. 5. Like matters. High affection opens additional options, quests and dialogue choices. There are three ways to influence your companions. You can select the correct dialogue choices, choose actions they approve of and give them bling. Certain presents affect affection for a particular companion. Others are generic. At some point you may want to check Youtube for what happens when various companions affection goes negative. I could never be that mean in game, but the videos are entertaining. As for choices, some of your decisions may result in a companion leaving or even attacking you. These decisions make sense in light of what the companion values. 6. If you are in an area that allows it, you may shuffle companions in and out as you please. You will always find all of your companions at the party camp (icon at the top right of the map). The companions will level as you level. They will stay one level below your character as the game progresses.
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Post by Gilsa on Mar 3, 2017 22:31:19 GMT
Don't worry about the locked chests. It's normal. Annoying, but normal. If you have a companion that can pick locks, awesome. Do companions have fixed conflicts that will force you to choose one or the other? No, you will not have two companions in your party at the same time that force you to pick your favorite. (I have not played BG.) A few can leave your party if approval is waaaaay too low or if they strongly disagree with a decision. Roleplay the game the way you want your warden to play. Don't cater to what your companions may or may not think. Some of the best moments in the game can come from hard choices. You said that you were surprised by interesting moral decisions early on in the game. The game is chock full of that. As long as you regularly talk to your companions in camp, approval shouldn't be too hard to raise. There will be "gifts" that you loot into your inventory. Those will raise approval if you give them to the right person. Don't sweat any disapproval you get. Can't please everyone at the same time.
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Post by heindrich on Mar 4, 2017 2:52:18 GMT
1) The Ultimate Edition contains all DLC`s. More, you can register your game content at Bioware: social.bioware.com/login.php?return_url=/user_entitlements.phpand activate some FREE items (rings, belts, armor pieces, weapons) which are of great help early on (and even later). Don`t dump the Blood Dragon Plate. It`s quite useful, and you will have the chance to buy the rest of its pieces (it`s a full set) later. Also, it looks cool on dwarfs. Most non-dwarven armor looks really bad on dwarfs, except this. I finally got around to registering my game... I don't notice any new freebies. I am pretty sure that all the DLC content was enabled anyway, but I can only see the Blood Dragon Plate that I've had from the start. Am I missing something obvious here?
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Post by heindrich on Mar 4, 2017 3:05:54 GMT
Two quick questions (I think) 1) Is there any such thing as stealing in this game? And by stealing I mean taking stuff out of containers, as opposed to the Stealing skill, which I won't use for RP reasons. For example I've been able to loot chests in plain view of people in all sorts of places. I half-expected to get attacked for theft like in BG, but nothing bad has happened yet. 2) Does the passage of time matter? In BG certain quests trigger after a certain passage of ingame time and irl time, in Avernum 3 the world burns down around you if you ignore the main story quests. If I spend too long doing side quests in DAO, are the Darkspawn gonna ruin everything before I get there? ps: mousestalker been meaning to mention for a while, but wasn't sure how to tag people... I love your profile "pic". Kinda hypnotic.
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Post by heindrich on Mar 4, 2017 3:11:06 GMT
If you love DAO and like RPGs, I strongly recommend you try it out. Baldur's Gate really is a classic, all the way out of Candlekeep in BG1 to Shadow of Amn and the Throne of Bhaal. Best experience in gaming I've had so far. I'm only trying DAO because BG got me properly into RPGs in the first place.
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mousestalker
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Post by mousestalker on Mar 4, 2017 3:32:54 GMT
Two quick questions (I think) 1) Is there any such thing as stealing in this game? And by stealing I mean taking stuff out of containers, as opposed to the Stealing skill, which I won't use for RP reasons. For example I've been able to loot chests in plain view of people in all sorts of places. I half-expected to get attacked for theft like in BG, but nothing bad has happened yet. 2) Does the passage of time matter? In BG certain quests trigger after a certain passage of ingame time and irl time, in Avernum 3 the world burns down around you if you ignore the main story quests. If I spend too long doing side quests in DAO, are the Darkspawn gonna ruin everything before I get there? ps: mousestalker been meaning to mention for a while, but wasn't sure how to tag people... I love your profile "pic". Kinda hypnotic. 1. There is pickpocketing and if you get caught doing it there can be consequences. As for taking stuff lying around, there is only one instance that I know of where someone objects. 2. The one great flaw of DAO is that time does not matter. No matter how urgent the quest may seem, the people will wait until you complete many other quests. Thank you.
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Post by Gilsa on Mar 4, 2017 4:51:54 GMT
If you love DAO and like RPGs, I strongly recommend you try it out. Baldur's Gate really is a classic, all the way out of Candlekeep in BG1 to Shadow of Amn and the Throne of Bhaal. Best experience in gaming I've had so far. I'm only trying DAO because BG got me properly into RPGs in the first place. Ha, I've heard good things about it. I'll take a look when my dance card is not so full. And funny story, I tried out DAO because I needed a game I could pause and walk away from in order to give a small child my full attention. It was a problem in MMOs where I felt terrible for making my very understanding friends wait for me while I dealt with a meltdown. One day we'll be able to pause cinematic scenes, but my kids may be full grown at that point. Remember to quick save before you talk to anyone, just in case. =p
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 4, 2017 6:02:37 GMT
Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition has TWO game codes: One for the main game and another for all the DLC`s, including Awakening. You need to register BOTH codes in order to have the rest of your content activated. They are installed, but NOT active until you register the SECOND code. Look again at the page containing your serial number. The main game code is usually named ACTIVATION CODE and it`s 20 characters long - 5 groups of 4 characters. The DLC activation code is 16 characters long, separated in 4 groups and is called DLC KEY. If you did not register both codes, you need to log in again to your Bioware account and register the DLC key. How to verify if all your content is activated? First, since you can play DA:O, your main game is activated. Start the game and go directly to the DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT menu. In the new window, you`ll see on the left all your extra content. If the small boxes on the right part of the left panel are checked, your extra content is active. If they are empty, your extra content in NOT active, and you cannot play it. To register your DLC`s, go to: social.bioware.com/login.php?return_url=/user_entitlements.phpEnter your e-mail and password, and after logging in choose the MY GAMES menu, and go to YOUR REGISTERED GAME CONTENT. If there is nothing there registered, your DLC`s are note active. But you`ll see some free content like "Feral Wolf Charm", "Memory Band", "Bregan`s Bow" which you can activate and download. If your DLC`s are NOT active, chose REDEEM PROMO CODE from the MY GAMES menu and enter the DLC KEY. I own two DA:O UE copies and a DVD version of DA:O with most DLC`s. So I did this several times. But not recently. I hope it helps.
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 4, 2017 6:42:02 GMT
heindrich I forgot to ask an important question: did you have your DA:O UE copy from Steam? If yes, you probably need another step to activate the DLC`s. If you bought the game directly from EA, just forget this post. If you have it with Steam, this is a small part of the "How to Fix Dragon Age: Origins (Ultimate Fix Guide" which you will find among Steam Community Guides: No DLCs; I can't see any DLCs You cannot see any of your DLCs even though you bought the Ultimate Edition. To fix this please follow these steps: - Exit Steam completely. - Close the game - Go to this folder \Steam\SteamApps\common\Dragon Age Ultimate Edition\redist and run these files in this order DAUServiceSetup_Steam.exe DAOU_UpdateAddinsXML_Steam.exe
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Post by heindrich on Mar 4, 2017 14:55:54 GMT
Thx very much adrianbc , I finally got it sorted I do indeed have DAO-UE from Steam, which appears to automatically install most of the DLCs, for example I had the Blood Dragon Plate from the start, Levi showed up at camp regarding Warden's Keep, and I got a load of free gift items from Bodahn... but I didn't have any of the promotional freebies even after registering both of the keys I got from Steam. Apparently you need to activate them separately on Bioware website and then manually download and install them via an update.exe ... tbh if u hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known I was missing anything to begin with! Which leads me to another question... Bioware's approach to itemisation in DAO is really weird. I try to play games as developers "intended", but they throw in all these DLC and promo items into the game for free, which feel like cheating, but on the other hand, it is kinda "intended". Without prior experience, I have no idea how much these items impact the difficulty curve. I don't want to make the game trivial for myself by decking out my party with op items. I really prefer how in BG, the extra content just adds extra merchants from whom you can buy new items that you still have to pay for. Edit: Oh yeah, on a related note, I can pick up a tonne of free gift items from Bodahn. I guess I could blow them all on my companions to increase favours... but am I meant to do this? Surely relationships are meant to be grown organically depending on what I do ingame? It would feel weird to just dump a load of free gifts on them to make them all love me straight away...
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 4, 2017 15:11:52 GMT
Thx very much adrianbc , I finally got it sorted I do indeed have DAO-UE from Steam, which appears to automatically install most of the DLCs, for example I had the Blood Dragon Plate from the start, Levi showed up at camp regarding Warden's Keep, and I got a load of free gift items from Bodahn... but I didn't have any of the promotional freebies even after registering both of the keys I got from Steam. Apparently you need to activate them separately on Bioware website and the manually download and install them via an update.exe ... tbh if u hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known I was missing anything to begin with! Which leads me to another question... Bioware's approach to itemisation in DAO is really weird. I try to play games as developers "intended", but they throw in all these DLC and promo items into the game for free, which feel like cheating, but on the other hand, it is kinda "intended". Without prior experience, I have no idea how much these items impact the difficulty curve. I don't want to make the game trivial for myself by decking out my party with op items. I really prefer how in BG, the extra content just adds extra merchants from whom you can buy new items that you still have to pay for. The items from DLC`s will only impact DA:O games played AFTER you finished them. There are weapons and armors permanently gained after finishing them for both DA:O and Awakening. These will just appear in your inventory when you start a new game. BUT it will not affect a DA:O game until you played those DLC`s. And the DLC`s in question are outside the original story arc. You can play them anytime as standalone mini-games. But I would recommend to play them after you have finished DA:O and Awakening first time. Since you have started to understand how to play DA:O I suggest starting a new game with a rogue character. And try to understand how the skills are used in the game. For instance, Coercion is only available to the protagonist (no companion has it) and allows the protagonist to convince other characters during dialogues. Some other skills also have quest-related importance. Since a rogue can gain new skills much faster, you can experiment by acquiring the first rank in Coercion, Trap Making, Herbalism until you reach Lothering. Rogues usually start with a first rank in Poison-Making. This way you will learn about the importance of these skills in the game.
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Post by heindrich on Mar 4, 2017 15:18:04 GMT
Another weird thing Bioware did in DAO... As I understand it, specializations only need to be unlocked once to be used without restriction in future playthroughs. I wanted my main to be an Arcane Warrior, so if this was not my first playthrough and I unlocked it previously, he can become an Arcane Warrior straight away at lv7 at no cost? But because this is my first game, I'd have to do the Dalish questline to unlock it, even though RP-wise, I think it makes sense to go to the Circle of Magi (cos he is a Mage and it would make sense to seek assistance from people he has known and trusted) and Redcliffe (because Alistair trusts the Arle) first.
I don't want to cheat, but this penalty for a first time player seems very arbitrary and poorly designed, given that first-timers should be given more freedom to make mistakes, not less.
This leads to the following questions:
1) Is my above understanding correct? I was careful not to read too much, to avoid spoilers. 2) My vague guess now is that DAO story is basically: 1) Seek assistance from the Mages, Redcliffe, Elves and Dwarves. 2) Take on the big bad. Without spoiling the plot, can you tell me how much of the game is left after step 1 is done? The reason I ask is that if there is plenty more game time left after I unlock Arcane Warrior, I will just do the quests in what I feel is a sensible RP order, and save my first specialization point until I do so. If this is not the case, I am less willing to play the majority of the game with my main character not working as I intended due to an arbitrary game design constraint. 3) My PC is almost lv7 and I just reached camp for the first time. Can you give me an idea of the level progression? What level would I expect to be by the end of the game? How far along into the game would I be by lv14? I am considering saving Arcane Warrior for lv14 4) If I am willing to "cheat" to unlock Arcane Warrior, there has got to be a mod or something right? Any safe and simple options that won't mess up anything else?
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 4, 2017 15:38:18 GMT
Another weird thing Bioware did in DAO... As I understand it, specializations only need to be unlocked once to be used without restriction in future playthroughs. I wanted my main to be an Arcane Warrior, so if this was not my first playthrough and I unlocked it previously, he can become an Arcane Warrior straight away at lv7 at no cost? But because this is my first game, I'd have to do the Dalish questline to unlock it, even though RP-wise, I think it makes sense to go to the Circle of Magi (cos he is a Mage and it would make sense to seek assistance from people he has known and trusted) and Redcliffe (because Alistair trusts the Arle) first. I don't want to cheat, but this penalty for a first time player seems very arbitrary and poorly designed, given that first-timers should be given more freedom to make mistakes, not less. This leads to the following questions: 1) Is my above understanding correct? I was careful not to read too much, to avoid spoilers. 2) My vague guess now is that DAO story is basically: 1) Seek assistance from the Mages, Redcliffe, Elves and Dwarves. 2) Take on the big bad. Without spoiling the plot, can you tell me how much of the game is left after step 1 is done? The reason I ask is that if there is plenty more game time left after I unlock Arcane Warrior, I will just do the quests in what I feel is a sensible RP order, and save my first specialization point until I do so. If this is not the case, I am less willing to play the majority of the game with my main character not working as I intended due to an arbitrary game design constraint. 3) My PC is almost lv7 and I just reached camp for the first time. Can you give me an idea of the level progression? What level would I expect to be by the end of the game? How far along into the game would I be by lv14? I am considering saving Arcane Warrior for lv144) If I am willing to "cheat" to unlock Arcane Warrior, there has got to be a mod or something right? Any safe and simple options that won't mess up anything else? 1. Yes. And Arcane Warrior can only be obtained from Brecilian Forest. My suggestion? Put your mage Warden on a temporary hold, start a new DA:O game with a Dalish rogue, go straight to the Brecilian Forest, unlock the Arcane Warrior specialization and then continue with your mage and Calendan Circle quest line. 2. You can estimate roughly around 1/4 of the game for each major quest lines. Sometimes is less, sometimes more. So in Act 1 you`ll have less than 1/4 for elves, 1/4 for dwarves and more than 1/4 for humans (Redcliffe and mages combined). Then the remaining 1/4 will happen in Act 2 and 3. Act 3 is quite short but very intense. Just trust me. This sounds simplistic, but the game offers a lot of nice surprises. There are some stupid plot mistakes and inaccuracies, but these don`t really diminish the game`s value. Act 2 and 3 are quite different from Act 1. You`ll see... 3. You can expect to reach level 20 by the end of the game. Maximum level is 25, and it can be reached with no cheating if you are willing to spend some hours to gain money (there is the lyrium traffic option, which is legit but the profit is not very large, so you can expect a few hours more). 4. You don`t need a mod for that. Just start Awakening or the other self-contained DLC`s like Leliana`s Song or Which Hunt with a new mage character. The golems of Amgarrak is too brutal. But I won`t recommend it. It`s better to play a Dalish for a few hours ...
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Post by capn233 on Mar 4, 2017 16:47:54 GMT
2) I thought you can only unlock specializations at lv7, but Alastair was a Templar as soon as I got him. I guess that's a companion flavour "cheat"? ... 4) As I understand it, armour increases fatigue, which decreases stamina and mana, which is why a pure mage type character shouldn't wear amour (plus the strength thing prevents it anyway)... but does armour affect stealth and our rogue actions? I noticed that Leliana can actually wear chainmail, I've given her studded leather so far because I'm conditioned to equip mages, warriors and rogues in certain ways from other RPGs, but are my pre-conceptions wrong in this case? 2. The early game companions can be a level ahead of you when you recruit them. Which is good and bad. In general it would be good that they have more attributes and talents, but the auto-leveling scheme isn't that good. That affects the late game additions the most, where they are relatively weak because they have been leveled in less than ideal way. For instance, people commonly do the dwarf treaty towards the end (because it has higher level scaling and a ~level 12ish gating encounter*), and the companion you get there can be leveled with way too many points blown in Constitution to make sense for his weapon style and spec. This is why the respecialization mod is a popular one, so you can fix companions (or even try out new builds on the Warden**). 4. Strictly speaking, armor doesn't reduce your stamina, and in fact many armors increase stamina (listed bonus, or item set bonus). What fatigue does is increase the stamina or mana cost of your talents or spells. Worth pointing out this distinction because if I have a heavy armor set that gives me so and so fatigue, but grants stamina it may still be worth it. Also in general mana or stamina regeneration is more important than total stamina because there is a bonus to your mana / stamina regeneration rate as you get to low stamina. And one last bit is that mana and stamina regeneration bonus in this game is the same thing, so if something is listed as having one, it will work for the other (most of the good items list a bonus for both, and the true bonus is the sum of them). *There is an oversight or exploit with this where you can walk past this encounter if you are far enough to the left on the map, rendering it somewhat useless. There is however something of a second gating encounter too, but it is a little easier and can be passed with a non-combat persuade / intimidate check. **Although I don't care for companions, for the Warden the respec can lead to "impossible" builds since it will pull out all non-starting attributes and put them into a single pool. So you could spend every single non-base attribute on Strength if desired, even though some of those bonuses may have been specifically for another attribute. I personally will count up those and respend them in the right spot before apply the other attributes I got from leveling. One of the missions gives you a lot of bonus attributes (without giving it away), so those are the ones I am mainly talking about here. Two quick questions (I think) 1) Is there any such thing as stealing in this game? And by stealing I mean taking stuff out of containers, as opposed to the Stealing skill, which I won't use for RP reasons. For example I've been able to loot chests in plain view of people in all sorts of places. I half-expected to get attacked for theft like in BG, but nothing bad has happened yet. 2) Does the passage of time matter? In BG certain quests trigger after a certain passage of ingame time and irl time, in Avernum 3 the world burns down around you if you ignore the main story quests. If I spend too long doing side quests in DAO, are the Darkspawn gonna ruin everything before I get there? 1. Really when you are looting anything you are sort of stealing, but there is also a side quest in Denerim that has thievery. It requires the Warden to have either stealth talent or the stealing skill to unlock. Companions can help with it after it is unlocked though, so for non-rogue warden's you can get 1 pt in Stealing and have Leliana take care of the bulk of it for you. 2. As mentioned before, real time doesn't really matter. The in game time mostly progresses from completing the main missions, but rarely just from going to places. Another weird thing Bioware did in DAO... As I understand it, specializations only need to be unlocked once to be used without restriction in future playthroughs. I wanted my main to be an Arcane Warrior, so if this was not my first playthrough and I unlocked it previously, he can become an Arcane Warrior straight away at lv7 at no cost? But because this is my first game, I'd have to do the Dalish questline to unlock it, even though RP-wise, I think it makes sense to go to the Circle of Magi (cos he is a Mage and it would make sense to seek assistance from people he has known and trusted) and Redcliffe (because Alistair trusts the Arle) first. I don't want to cheat, but this penalty for a first time player seems very arbitrary and poorly designed, given that first-timers should be given more freedom to make mistakes, not less. This leads to the following questions: 1) Is my above understanding correct? I was careful not to read too much, to avoid spoilers. 2) My vague guess now is that DAO story is basically: 1) Seek assistance from the Mages, Redcliffe, Elves and Dwarves. 2) Take on the big bad. Without spoiling the plot, can you tell me how much of the game is left after step 1 is done? The reason I ask is that if there is plenty more game time left after I unlock Arcane Warrior, I will just do the quests in what I feel is a sensible RP order, and save my first specialization point until I do so. If this is not the case, I am less willing to play the majority of the game with my main character not working as I intended due to an arbitrary game design constraint. 3) My PC is almost lv7 and I just reached camp for the first time. Can you give me an idea of the level progression? What level would I expect to be by the end of the game? How far along into the game would I be by lv14? I am considering saving Arcane Warrior for lv144) If I am willing to "cheat" to unlock Arcane Warrior, there has got to be a mod or something right? Any safe and simple options that won't mess up anything else? 1. Specialization acquisition is sort of like an achievement, and it is supposed to be a reward. I would just play your first run like you want to play it, and really vanilla mage isn't much weaker than AW, and AW is most powerful with a staff in his or her hand. I and some others don't feel like the AW tree is all that worthwhile until you get near level 14 anyway, so I would just save that point if you really want to be one in this game. Otherwise, you can get one mage spec from talking to a companion, one just from buying the manual, and the last one you have to make a specific choice in one of the missions. That is about as spoiler free as I can make those . 2. Step 1 is really the bulk of the game, as adrianbc said. It's like really 70% of your time or so most likely, especially if you do most or all of the side quests in it. And one of them unlocks another main quest that is related, nevermind that each also has at least 2 main areas to clear. 3. Well the interesting thing about this game is that for most of the missions you can bounce around places, so you wouldn't necessarily have to do everything in one treaty quest before switching to another. There are a couple exceptions, but mostly you can leave and go somewhere else. Mostly helpful for metagaming for xp and items in a solo run, but can also be helpful for a party run. I typically hit 7 around Lothering as well, I think that isn't a problem if you do most of the things without even exploiting Traps are a Girl's Best Friend. A lot of the time I will go straight to Denerim from there for 2 reasons. First is that a couple of harder early game random encounters aren't on that road, and second is that it is a good way to get some early gold. There are some side quests there that pay decently, one of which is easier if you do it before leveling up too much (when enemies will gain a couple annoying abilities). I don't remember the exact level break downs, and I have hopped around a lot in my last several runs, but you should be Level 14 with around 2.5 "major" quests left, including the one you get assigned on a treaty mission (plus maybe another level or so if you also do RtO and SP).
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 4, 2017 17:58:24 GMT
Edit: Oh yeah, on a related note, I can pick up a tonne of free gift items from Bodahn. I guess I could blow them all on my companions to increase favours... but am I meant to do this? Surely relationships are meant to be grown organically depending on what I do ingame? It would feel weird to just dump a load of free gifts on them to make them all love me straight away... Gifts are quite important in DA:O. There are many more gifts scattered all over the game - game loot from chest/bags or sold by different vendors. These are cheap items but they help a lot with your companions. You can gain approval with them also by talking, but sometimes you can lose approval during quests or after some in-game decisions. Gifts are there to balance things out. The nice thing about them (gifts are a bit cheesy) is that EACH companion has a preference for a specific kind of gift. And it`s rewarding when you are figuring out what the preference is. Just save the game before offering a gift for a companion, see the reaction and then load the save and try the same gift on another companion, to see the difference. The free content items from Bioware (those belts, amulets, rings and weapons) are worthwhile. Acquire the rights and download them from Bioware and then start daupdater.exe to install each one. It will automatically appear in your inventory, during the current game. You will like them. .
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Post by heindrich on Mar 4, 2017 22:06:41 GMT
Gifts are quite important in DA:O. There are many more gifts scattered all over the game - game loot from chest/bags or sold by different vendors. These are cheap items but they help a lot with your companions. You can gain approval with them also by talking, but sometimes you can lose approval during quests or after some in-game decisions. Gifts are there to balance things out. The nice thing about them (gifts are a bit cheesy) is that EACH companion has a preference for a specific kind of gift. And it`s rewarding when you are figuring out what the preference is. Just save the game before offering a gift for a companion, see the reaction and then load the save and try the same gift on another companion, to see the difference. The free content from Bioware (those belts, amulets, rings and weapons) are worthwhile. Acquire the rights and download them from Bioware and then start daupdater.exe to install each one. It will automatically appear in your inventory, during the current game. You will like them. . lol I finally got around to playing with some gifts, they are quite amusing. Just as well, every time I speak to Morrigan, I lose favors with her, so I guess I can use cakes to appease her and at least prevent her from abandoning the party lol. Btw I just want to confirm that I now do have all the DLCs active... particularly there should be 3 sidequests accessible from the main DAO campaign? These are listed under my Premium Content quests: 1) Soldier's Peak 2) King's Confidant 3) Sulcher's Pass With the whole DLC model, I have no idea if I am supposed to do these in the early game, mid game or whenever. For example Soldier's Peak seems to be related to Warden's Keep... what I don't know is whether this is like a BG2 stronghold quest like De'Arnise Keep or more of an endgame thing like Watcher's Keep?
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Post by mousestalker on Mar 4, 2017 22:16:12 GMT
I tend to want to do Sulcher's Pass and its follow up quest immediately after Lothering. I then do Soldier's Peak shortly after that. King's Confidant will keep. In fact, to a certain extent, it's better if you don't do it until you have leveled up a bit.
The above order is purely for meta game reasons to yield the maximum amusement. They all work well no matter how quickly you do them or in what order.
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Post by adrianbc on Mar 4, 2017 22:40:17 GMT
Gifts are quite important in DA:O. There are many more gifts scattered all over the game - game loot from chest/bags or sold by different vendors. These are cheap items but they help a lot with your companions. You can gain approval with them also by talking, but sometimes you can lose approval during quests or after some in-game decisions. Gifts are there to balance things out. The nice thing about them (gifts are a bit cheesy) is that EACH companion has a preference for a specific kind of gift. And it`s rewarding when you are figuring out what the preference is. Just save the game before offering a gift for a companion, see the reaction and then load the save and try the same gift on another companion, to see the difference. The free content from Bioware (those belts, amulets, rings and weapons) are worthwhile. Acquire the rights and download them from Bioware and then start daupdater.exe to install each one. It will automatically appear in your inventory, during the current game. You will like them. . lol I finally got around to playing with some gifts, they are quite amusing. Just as well, every time I speak to Morrigan, I lose favors with her, so I guess I can use cakes to appease her and at least prevent her from abandoning the party lol. Btw I just want to confirm that I now do have all the DLCs active... particularly there should be 3 sidequests accessible from the main DAO campaign? These are listed under my Premium Content quests: 1) Soldier's Peak 2) King's Confidant 3) Sulcher's Pass With the whole DLC model, I have no idea if I am supposed to do these in the early game, mid game or whenever. For example Soldier's Peak seems to be related to Warden's Keep... what I don't know is whether this is like a BG2 stronghold quest like De'Arnise Keep or more of an endgame thing like Watcher's Keep? Soldier`s Peak is related to Warden`s Peak and it`s indeed like a stronghold quest from BG2. It can be done immediately after Lothering, and the main reward (besides armors and weapons) is a storage chest, very useful to dump items you don`t need immediately, but you want to keep. Trust me, you`ll need to keep some items for a while without using them, and a storage chest is a good place. The second advantage is a character who can forge a weapon (similar to BG2) and is useful for upgrading some armors and weapons. Sulcher`s Pass is related to a nice DLC about a new companion. The first part is doable right after Lothering and ends with a possible new companion and some nice items. The second part will happen later. Maybe much later. But it will be intriguing. King`s Confidant is basically the start for the DLC Return to Ostagar. It`s harder than the previous two in some places AND it can be more interesting if you will have in your party a certain new companion. Thus I suggest postponing it a bit. It`s better to ignore going to the first place which triggers the DLC`s quest line for a bit. These three DLC`s are indeed those playable as part of the main game, together with the Blood Dragon Armor DLC, which is just an armor suit (no quest). The rest of DLC`s are playable independently, and best done AFTER the main game. It can be intriguing to start with Leliana`s Song (a story from Leliana`s past, and you will be playing her), then Awakening, and then the remaining three.
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Post by vertigomez on Mar 5, 2017 17:27:45 GMT
Everyone's answered your questions thoughtfully and thoroughly, heindrich , so I won't repeat what they've said... I just want to welcome you to the forum and the fandom. DAO took a lot of inspiration from Baldur's Gate (and Neverwinter Nights, to a lesser extent) and I hope you enjoy the game. It's always nice to see someone stumble upon this great adventure for the very first time!
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