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Post by fredlc on Sept 4, 2020 23:57:10 GMT
Hello there, fellas. I recently have changed my PSN account - long story - and decided to do a new playthrough of inquisition on nightmare to get the trophy again. A slow progress, as I play it in short and spaced out bursts. And I noticed a performance drop from where I was a couple years ago, when I steam rolled in nightmare with a couple challenges on. This time I had close fights that weren't close at all a couple years ago. But never mind this context. The point is that in playing a Dragon Age game again, it got me thinking of some game mechanics on the series that I feel don't work - at least I never managed to use effectively. The one that comes to mind is the "gifts" of DA Origin. I want results, I need to get online guides, or go by trial and error. Ok, there are a couple obvious ones, but many are entirely arbitrary. Is there some known way to correlate gift with recipient, or is it just random madness and nothing else? But it is in DA 2 that I saw some mechanics that are borderline bugged, or else I am an idiot that can't figure how to use them. The most egregious example is the Entropic cloud spell on the entropy tree. In lesser settings, it works fine, but in nightmare, with FF on... the only thing it does, is get my party killed, because the character's health pool is far smaller than that of enemies, and as it follows the affected foe around, you can't control its placement. So activating it creates a danger zone that scratches enemies but one-shot my team. Anyone here knows of an effective way to use that spell on nightmare difficulty? Another one that I never got working was DA2's dispel, of the spirit tree. One of the most useful spells on inquisition, I never managed to dispel any magic cast on DA2. Those damn arcane horrors seemed impervious to it. Than I remembered a Corypheous fight in witch I used a templar character, and the "silence" talent, well, didn't block his regular magic attacks, but if I recall correctly, prevented him from dropping rocks in my head. So maybe I was using dispel reactively, as it works on inquisition, but I should have used it proactively, like the silence talent, before the enemy casts anything? Anyone here can use that spell correctly and enlighten me on the matter? Thanks in advance for insights. But more than that, I'd love to know; any mechanics on the games that leave you scratching your head? Regards  . |
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Post by Buckeldemon on Sept 5, 2020 0:20:47 GMT
I don't play on higher difficulties, but as far as I'm aware, DA2's Entropic/Death Cloud is usually regarding as being horribly bugged, with effects canceling each other... I took tabs from an older mod and made a fix for my personal ability mod.
What I remember is that Dispel does affect commander-type enemies, but they must be hit after they finished setting/twirling up their support aura. If they are interrupted while twirling, they'll just start again. When reviewing passives for my mod, I noticed that some enemies are outright immune to certain effects, for example one of the regular types of humans (Raiders as I recall) are immune to knockdown, and templars have an immunity to Silence. (I kicked quite a lot of these for most generic enemies, but some scripted bosses kept theirs) I vaguely remember that Dispel can be used to get rid of the bubble shield/force field certain mage opponents create. It can also damage Meredith's statues and stun them for a comparatively decent time.
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melbella
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Post by melbella on Sept 5, 2020 4:53:02 GMT
The DAI Tempest flasks seem entirely useless for a human controlled character because the length of time they are in effect is so short. The one time I played that spec I mostly just used Thousand Cuts because by the time I'd activate a flask then get back in the fight, the effect had already worn off.  |
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fredlc
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Post by fredlc on Sept 5, 2020 9:02:11 GMT
I don't play on higher difficulties, but as far as I'm aware, DA2's Entropic/Death Cloud is usually regarding as being horribly bugged, with effects canceling each other... I took tabs from an older mod and made a fix for my personal ability mod. What I remember is that Dispel does affect commander-type enemies, but they must be hit after they finished setting/twirling up their support aura. If they are interrupted while twirling, they'll just start again. When reviewing passives for my mod, I noticed that some enemies are outright immune to certain effects, for example one of the regular types of humans (Raiders as I recall) are immune to knockdown, and templars have an immunity to Silence. (I kicked quite a lot of these for most generic enemies, but some scripted bosses kept theirs) I vaguely remember that Dispel can be used to get rid of the bubble shield/force field certain mage opponents create. It can also damage Meredith's statues and stun them for a comparatively decent time. I always recommend attempts to ramp it up in games a person likes enough to play more than once. The test of challenge and skill rejuvenates the game. I got lots more hours from both Dragon Age and Mass Effect when I upped the challenge. You don't need to go all the way to insanity/nightmare if uncomfortable for you - it's entirely about your fun after all - though I'd bet you might if the challenge bug bites. Ok, so entropic cloud is bugged because effects cancel each other; but that is exactly the reversal of my problem, in which it is a kill switch, but killing the wrong characthers - my team. Even with those bugs, it is very lethal to your characthers/party members; to the point I'd never guess it's bugged in a nightmare run... but now that you mention it, I remember considering it underwhelming in lower difficulties, with FF off. Guess I'll have to wait for other nightmare players on this one. Now, dispel; so, the way to apply it, is to use the skill on the enemy, after it was cast? For example, if an Arcane warrior shows up and I don't put it to sleep/in panic/petrified, I could use silence to prevent it from casting a death cloud, but with dispel, I'd have to wait the death cloud being up, than hit the summoner (and not the effect itself, unlike in inquisition)? Is that how to apply it?
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Post by fredlc on Sept 5, 2020 9:17:09 GMT
The DAI Tempest flasks seem entirely useless for a human controlled character because the length of time they are in effect is so short. The one time I played that spec I mostly just used Thousand Cuts because by the time I'd activate a flask then get back in the fight, the effect had already worn off. I do consider the flask of lightening very powerful, as long as you - like me - don't control the character during the effect. When you keep controlling that specific character during the effect, it's visually interesting, a bullet time effect, but you shoot, like, seven arrows before it wears off. But if you activate the tactical camera, select the flask, than move to another character before letting the time flow, that tempest rogue appears as a blur, and shoots much more than that. I remember pairing it with that bows that shoots 3 arrows; when I used it against a large enemy that I could flank, and hit lengthwise with all three, plus an armor that could apply some critical effect, than flask of lightening was almost as effective as a super attack, specially when I was taking advantage of the enemy's elemental weakness. I remember totally owning one of the game's fire dragons with that strategy. But I agree; if you try using it in real time, without controlling with the time-paused tactical camera, and you stay in direct control of the characther during the effect, it's very underwhelming.
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Post by fredlc on Sept 5, 2020 9:31:35 GMT
When reviewing passives for my mod, I noticed that some enemies are outright immune to certain effects, for example one of the regular types of humans (Raiders as I recall) are immune to knockdown, and templars have an immunity to Silence. About this specific part of your reply; how do you test for these effects? I remember that, when I was playing as a blood mage in DA2, I tried that power that controls enemies, and it failed 100% of the time against elite enemies, and failed most of the time against foot soldiers, despite the 100% control chance against them on the description. I'd love to know what's up with that particular power, that I didn't include in my original question just because I was sure this one is a bug, not an obscure mechanic. In DA origins and in Mass effect 2 and 3, one of my favorite tactics is to turn an strategic enemy to my side, to break up foe's formation and attack pattern; and it always irked me that I couldn't pull it off in DA2.
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Post by Buckeldemon on Sept 5, 2020 15:29:13 GMT
Hah, good to see that I'm not the only one who doesn't like Tempest that much. I've never been a fan of short-lived self-buffs.  Also, did speed buffs ever work well in DA games? DAO's melee attack speed bonuses are bugged and can run into overflow, archery aiming time is actually increased and mages don't get anything from the much-hype Haste but some movement speed. In DA2, Haste (and Barrier) are measured against the beneficiaries' magic resistance, so they last like two secs on high-level mages.  Now, dispel; so, the way to apply it, is to use the skill on the enemy, after it was cast? For example, if an Arcane warrior shows up and I don't put it to sleep/in panic/petrified, I could use silence to prevent it from casting a death cloud, but with dispel, I'd have to wait the death cloud being up, than hit the summoner (and not the effect itself, unlike in inquisition)? Is that how to apply it? With regards to casters, I'm not entirely sure as it has been a while since I played DA2, but I would say hitting them during their channeling/charge-up of their spells to interrupt, pretty much like I would otherwise use freeze/Horror/Paralysis. Though it could be that Arcane Horrors do have that blanket dispel immunity by default. About this specific part of your reply; how do you test for these effects? I remember that, when I was playing as a blood mage in DA2, I tried that power that controls enemies, and it failed 100% of the time against elite enemies, and failed most of the time against foot soldiers, despite the 100% control chance against them on the description. I mostly looked through the game files and messed around with the passive abilities that are assigned to a specific enemy archetype/group. Templars for example have a generic magic resistance, weaknesses to both spirit and cold damage and immunity to either silence, dispel or both. I cannot remember which one. I did that two years ago on my old PC; I really should set up DA2 on my new one and migrate all the files.  As for blood magic, there is a passive in the game that grants immunity to blood control (or charm, as the game calls it if I remember right). I remember Meredith having it (due to all the scripts during the bossfight, I guess). I suspect that higher difficulty settings could also decrease the chance to apply an effect such as blood control successfully. The in-game descriptions are pretty wonky at times. As I recall, Horror shows something like "100% chance against any enemy". Game-data wise, I remember the chance value being actually 150% or something - the overkill is there to kick through the rank-dependent resistance boosts of Elites/Bosses.
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Post by Sonya on Sept 7, 2020 19:51:47 GMT
The most egregious example is the Entropic cloud spell on the entropy tree. In lesser settings, it works fine, but in nightmare, with FF on... the only thing it does, is get my party killed, because the character's health pool is far smaller than that of enemies, and as it follows the affected foe around, you can't control its placement. So activating it creates a danger zone that scratches enemies but one-shot my team. Anyone here knows of an effective way to use that spell on nightmare difficulty? Take "Force Spec" - use gravy ring/glyphs (to slower enemies down) - after entropy cloud: enemies die very quickly. Of course use "hold" for your team during that. Can add other spell meanwhile. Spirit damage in all three DA games is always the strongest and always just wipes the party out in DA2 (as it is the most difficult in DAT). Enchantment boy can help of course, but most of the time if too late to get away from spirit cloud - reload. Another one that I never got working was DA2's dispel, of the spirit tree. One of the most useful spells on inquisition, I never managed to dispel any magic cast on DA2. Those damn arcane horrors seemed impervious to it. Than I remembered a Corypheous fight in witch I used a templar character, and the "silence" talent, well, didn't block his regular magic attacks, but if I recall correctly, prevented him from dropping rocks in my head. So maybe I was using dispel reactively, as it works on inquisition, but I should have used it proactively, like the silence talent, before the enemy casts anything? Anyone here can use that spell correctly and enlighten me on the matter? Templar talent "Silence" is bugged (50/50). Templar passive to shut enemies up (forgot the name) is more useful (during Coypheous encounter with 2h templar did not let that thing do anything at all - NM + FF - was surprised myself). As for "dispel" on NM mode - using it for bosses is waste of CD and mana (health) as the period is very short. I use it in such cases as remove some aura of the Pride Demon (poison e.g. in act 3 in side quest with three scrolls). But, as for me, would not take "dispel" but need points to take two other spells, so have no choice. In any case with NM (do not know about other difficulties) the period of "dispel work" is always short. |
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Post by fredlc on Sept 9, 2020 22:28:59 GMT
With regards to casters, I'm not entirely sure as it has been a while since I played DA2, but I would say hitting them during their channeling/charge-up of their spells to interrupt, pretty much like I would otherwise use freeze/Horror/Paralysis. Though it could be that Arcane Horrors do have that blanket dispel immunity by default. I'd love to know for sure. Because I remember distinctly it failing with an Arcane Horror, true, but don't remember it actually working at all, not only with AH... I mostly looked through the game files and messed around with the passive abilities that are assigned to a specific enemy archetype/group. Templars for example have a generic magic resistance, weaknesses to both spirit and cold damage and immunity to either silence, dispel or both. I cannot remember which one. I did that two years ago on my old PC; I really should set up DA2 on my new one and migrate all the files. As for blood magic, there is a passive in the game that grants immunity to blood control (or charm, as the game calls it if I remember right). I remember Meredith having it (due to all the scripts during the bossfight, I guess). I suspect that higher difficulty settings could also decrease the chance to apply an effect such as blood control successfully. The in-game descriptions are pretty wonky at times. As I recall, Horror shows something like "100% chance against any enemy". Game-data wise, I remember the chance value being actually 150% or something - the overkill is there to kick through the rank-dependent resistance boosts of Elites/Bosses. But how do you achieve that. Some editor software that gives access to that script data? I'd assume checking it requires programming skills, so in that case, I'm out of the game... Horror, in my experience, does work 100% of the time. It was my most reliable way to manage AH; cast horror, than focus-fire and try to pull some combos to get it out of the game ASAP. You let it cast, even once, on nightmare, one of your party members will go down. More if they are clustered, all the way to one-shoting the entire team.
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Post by fredlc on Sept 9, 2020 22:40:52 GMT
Take "Force Spec" - use gravy ring/glyphs (to slower enemies down) - after entropy cloud: enemies die very quickly. Of course use "hold" for your team during that. Can add other spell meanwhile. That is actually kinda brilliant, to use the gravity ring to lock the enemy in place and let the spell do it's magic. Not sure if it is worth the pont investment, but you are right, that should work. Thanks. Damn, might feel obliged to another play through just to get it to work at least once. That always bugged me. Spirit damage in all three DA games is always the strongest and always just wipes the party out in DA2 (as it is the most difficult in DAT). Enchantment boy can help of course, but most of the time if too late to get away from spirit cloud - reload. Yeah... pretty much my strategy; to keep an eye on casters, cast horror myself ASAP, and then wipe them out before they can one-shot me. At least that part I figured out.. Templar talent "Silence" is bugged (50/50). Templar passive to shut enemies up (forgot the name) is more useful (during Coypheous encounter with 2h templar did not let that thing do anything at all - NM + FF - was surprised myself). As for "dispel" on NM mode - using it for bosses is waste of CD and mana (health) as the period is very short. I use it in such cases as remove some aura of the Pride Demon (poison e.g. in act 3 in side quest with three scrolls). But, as for me, would not take "dispel" but need points to take two other spells, so have no choice. In any case with NM (do not know about other difficulties) the period of "dispel work" is always short. I use nothing from the spirit tree on DA2. What spells do you recommend?
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Post by Sonya on Sept 10, 2020 16:32:26 GMT
That is actually kinda brilliant, to use the gravity ring to lock the enemy in place and let the spell do it's magic. Not sure if it is worth the pont investment, but you are right, that should work. Thanks. My pleasure. Force tree talents to cluster enemies and slow them down are very useful fo CCC or simle combinations like gravity ring + fireballs + firestorms + ice + electro spellc + etc. Three/two mages and enemies just melt down and simply unable to get to you. Very funny to watch actually. Even if enemies have resistance to fire, there is still force. Useful. Other Force tree talents can be useful in difficult situations (if need time to reposition, spells are on CD, low health or something like that). I use nothing from the spirit tree on DA2. What spells do you recommend? Will tell what I use. Maybe others have other ideas. 1) Spirit Bolt for CCC. But not to waste mana/health my mages use it only for Elites (use tactics for that). Two problemes: - to upgrade for CCC you need one point, hence "dispel" as mana regen (forgot the name) is really bugged. "Dispel" at least can be used; - some enemies are immune to spirit damage (shades/arcane horrors/mages). But tactics "to use it for Elites" is vey helpful (Revenants or annoying assassins e.g.). Most of the time SB is used for "not-spirit-resistant" enemies. 2) WB with two uprgrades. But it is rather difficult to use properly for CCC as the team can be busy fighting others/no STA or MANA: Cluster enemies (Force tree can help) + glyphs + Varric's Pinning Shot with upgrade (use tactics) + WB for the same enemy (I use Merrill for that and tactics) and after just order the whole team to attack that enemy and enjoy the view. Very useful but above written problems + some others like Varric used his Shot but Merrill did not as was under attack. But tactics works (one of the best thing in DA2). And the result is great. In my cases it worked about 50/50 (no-pause PT). Hope was helpful, at least some parts.
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