Tekforums

So AFAIK theres not been a thread on this.

Id previously dismissed it as yet another Fantasy MMORPG, only to discover it was in fact a bioware / single player RPG.

So I went and got it today (As to be fair I loved KOTOR, thought KOTOR II was alright bugs aside, and think Mass Effect is good).

Only had a chance to play it for 30 mins so far but it seems interesting. Am liking the blood effects and there is potential for it to be truly immersive and addictive which should be good.

indeed a bioware fantasy rpg aimed at the adult audience, been looking forward to it for awhile but cant afford it atm.

Its on my list of stuff to buy this week, once ive found a new car :D

Now an hour and 45 mins in and must say, Im impressed. If the 100+ hours gameplay hype is true and it keeps up this standard it really is going to be in my top games list. Just have to hope its not Tortage syndrome...

Quote from: zpyderNow an hour and 45 mins in and must say, Im impressed. If the 100+ hours gameplay hype is true and it keeps up this standard it really is going to be in my top games list. Just have to hope its not Tortage syndrome...

If your good at these games they say around 50 hours. If your an average player, taking your time at it and doing this that and the other it can be up to 100 hours.

I think itd depend on whether you just want to play the game or actually get into it properly. Things like Mass effect and KOTOR I usually almost always ended up putting the subtitles on and reading what the dialogue was and then making my choice, whilst this seems a bit more cinematic and Im actually watching and listening before making the choice. Also I think if you want to do the side quests etc its got potential to take an absolute age. Theres also the potential for people to not progress the storyline near the end and just grind, as the manual says theres no hard level cap so you could keep going...and going...and going...and then theres the level editor/user content that will surely be to come.


From what Ive seen of it so far, it beats KOTOR hands down, though its early days, and you need to love Fantasy as much as Sci-Fi!

Im finding it a dilemma between playing on normal difficulty or easy.

Normal isnt exactly hard, but the combat system is such that if youre not careful you can and will wipe out pretty often. Easy however, is, well, easy.

To elaborate, the combat system is a bit like KOTOR/ME, where you can take control of each party member and assign an action. You can also set "Tactics" which basically program the AI to act based on a mahoosive list of variables. This can range from the basic "attack nearest enemy, use healing if health low" to pretty complex sets where you can tell it to switch between tactic sets based on what youre being attacked by, and how etc. As characters level you can add more slots. The game has been designed to pretty much make use of pausing the game to get all tactical and assigning actions as and when. Unlike KOTOR you cant queue actions, so there is pretty much pausing to be done every few seconds as each action is undertaken. Im not too keen on this, as Im finding the story etc fairly cinematic and would like to play through it as a story, rather than a game where I am having to reload saves from wiping out, or pausing every 5 secs to make new commands.

I dont want to cheapen the experience though by playing through on easy, which states its for new RPG players or people that dont expect to be pausing the game lots, so its not really an issue, but meh.


This asside, choices really do seem to effect the world around you. Nothing is as polar as in other Bioware games. I let out a big giant dude who had been found guilty of murdering a famrstead to discover now the people in the village wont speak to me. Similarly Ive not done much negative in another settlement, but after returning from a quest the shopkeep wont trade with me. Not sure what I did wrong there heh.

Graphically it may not be cutting edge, but its still pretty good eye candy.

Theres a fair bit of LOTR rip-offage going on.
(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO1.jpg)

The persistent blood effects is a nice touch, not sure if its "capped" at this kind of level (I think it is), would have been good for it to potentially get to the stage of Gears of War 2 in the worm near the end of that level where youre pretty much red head to toe. You basically get blood splattered in melee combat to a degree, which sticks around for quite a while before fading away (couple of minutes I think)
(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO2.jpg)

Additionally, the "Dark Epic Fantasy" is so true. Betrayals, death and murder are left right and centre, the story developers held no punches and it does leave you feeling that you dont know who is going to be killed next etc, I dont think your party members are "safe" in that sense...

I agree about the Easy/Normal issue.

Latest patch sorts it slightly, but I still find myself playing on easy. A shame really as Ive played pretty much every RPG from the last 10 years.

Im trying to boink Claudia Blacks character, not easy though!

Hmm, that makes me feel a bit better about it. I guess play through on easy and fully appreciate the story and then play through on normal as a different race/class and fully appreciate the game :D

Ive managed to kiss Morrigan but thats it. I think I need to find some more gifts to give to her.

Any idea if theyve limited the beddable characters to just the one like in Mass Effect? Would be interesting to see if I can get a harem going in the camp...

Ive got her appreciation above 75, not tried anything yet though . . .

Quote from: zpyderThe persistent blood effects is a nice touch, not sure if its "capped" at this kind of level (I think it is), would have been good for it to potentially get to the stage of Gears of War 2 in the worm near the end of that level where youre pretty much red head to toe. You basically get blood splattered in melee combat to a degree, which sticks around for quite a while before fading away (couple of minutes I think)
http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO2.jpg

There will be a mod that changes that blood splatter to white... It is inevitable.

It took me a few secs to get what you were meaning there ><

When I was looking up on the net about the mod kit released, of course the modders have their priorities right, with topless/nude mods coming first over gameplay enhancing ones haha.

As to bedding Morrigan, Im playing through choosing the options I would if it were real life, so the ginger lass loves me now and morrigan is only "interested". Making next time through Ill play as a total dick and shell jump on me the second I punch a homeless orphaned child in the face.

******SPOLIER*********
















Got Morrigans appreciation upto 100, and killed Flemeth, still not even a kiss. /sigh.

Quote from: zpyder(Image removed from quote.)

She showed her apreciation of zpyders efforts at subtlety with a chainsaw to the codpiece area. Unluckily for him he wasnt wearing one...

Really WG?

Ive got her appreciation to about 50 I think, did the first half of her personal quest (not visited her mum yet) and have managed to bed her.

I got the impression you just have to be on good terms and have gotten so far into the personal quest before you can shag the NPCs. Youd have thought doing the deed would raise their appreciation by a fair bit. I guess morrigan is fairly shallow...a night of passionate sex = +2 appreciation, whilst a silver necklace = +4 ><

Ive tried everything, all the dialogue options at camp result in negative appreciation.

I dont fancy nobbling the ginger girl, too wishy washy for me.

I wonder if Sten fancies a go . . .  :heehaw:

Bizarre. I wonder if theres something early on where if you say something itll immediately make you unnattractive to Morrigan permanantly.

I cant seem to get anywhere with Sten. Only thing I can do it seems is give him Booze, but he still wont talk ><

26 hours in and abou 1/3 done :D

Mind you Id say 1/4 of that time has been spent reading the codexes, and 1/2 of the time watching/listening to the NPCs moaning about things and saying thanks etc.

Sten seems to respond well to short and direct conversations. Also he seems very focused on killing the archdemon, he doesnt like it when I do side quests.

Just got a good tongue sarnie with Morrigan! Didnt even try really - just said a few things she liked then the option came up to kiss her.

Now to get her pants off! :)

Ive got them both up to 100 on the scale. Started to wonder whether you can get some MILF action with Wynne ><

Interestingly Ive had a few instances where Morrigan and Leliana chat about the other being with my character, as though they dont care. I did make the mistake at one point though of clicking on morrigan by mistake and she demanded I make her choose, not before I suggested a threesome however :D

Could this thread sound any lamer about trying to shag the different NPCs?

For people that havent played it yet and are wanting some more imagery from in-game to see just what the hell were talking about:

The Claudia Black character = the one with the lowest cut top ever...
(http://zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO3.jpg)

If you go into the woods today...
(http://zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO4.jpg)
...youll find bloodthirsty werewolves and scantily clad forest spirits.

More scantily clad demonage. The fabled "Desire Demon"
(http://zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO5.jpg)

Some actual in game stuff, rather than the scripted-scenes:
(http://zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO6.jpg)
Yes, that is a player controlled character on the dragons head stabbing it.

They didnt hold back on killing children.
(http://zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO7.jpg)

And another in-game shot:
(http://zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO8.jpg)

Sure the game is a bit darker than the norm, which is great, but dunno if it warrants an 18 certificate. Mind you the potential is there for the community site to need one. Its pretty easy to mod the game and people have already gotten the all important nude mods out there even though the toolkit is only a week or two old. As the game automatically uploads screenshots from ingame to your profile, itll be interesting to see in a month or so just what people have been playing as. I predict groups of naked females uniting the land against the common foe, which I guess could also be naked females if someone is disturbed enough to re-model the enemy NPCs ><
http://social.bioware.com/browse_albums.php

Finally bonked Morrigan at about 1.30am, now her appreciation is Love (100). Pre-bonk it was Warm (100).

Have a really good chat with your party members, things they mention often come up, for example, Morrigan once had a little mirror, I found one and gave it to her causing a nice little cut scene.

Shes given me her ring too (phnarr phnarr).

Interesting...Ive boinked her a few times and have yet to be given anything. Same with the other NPCs. I get the stat/skill bonuses as their appreciation goes up, and for the special gift items Ive gotten the cutscenes, but thats it.

I only found out yesterday that Sten likes art. Bit gutted as Id been giving the art to Wynne or Alistair, and trying to get Sten wasted. And of course who likes the booze... the dwarf!

I think once the game is finished Ill give it a months break and hopefully therell be some game changing mods out there, and then Ill play through as a mage with hopefully what will be a quite different game. Im left curious how much the "origins" side of thing effects the story. I have a sneaking suspicion you just get a different intro segment which is over in all of a few hours, and then for the most part everything else is the same, apart from NPCs calling you "human/elf/dwarf" "knight/mage" etc. Will have to wait and see. Needless to say my current char couldnt get any more aligned to "good". The mage on the other hand will be so badass that the world will wish the darkspawn had won...

Quote from: zpyderCould this thread sound any lamer about trying to shag the different NPCs?

It sounds just like Leisure Suit Larry did, rather patheric TBH :P

I think Im fairly close to completing my army, just gotta do a couple more bits for the dwarves and Im sorted.

Reading the codex can be a bit dull but it really does help with a few bits and bobs.

Aye, its about where I am. Though I think Ill be making a detour to the downloadable content before going to the landsmeet thingy. Getting fed up of picking up gifts for what I presume is the Golem that is found in one of the content packs.

Just finished it, damn, its begging for me to buy an expansion that hasnt been made yet aargh!!!

So many unanswered questions, bah bloody RPGs, cant get enough of them. :)

Think I might go through as an Elven mage once Ive finished Borderlands.

I was thinking about getting this tomorrow as the advert looks pretty cool, but after reading about all the virtual dates/cyber shagging Im not sure I can be arsed with it... I just wanna kill stuff and do missions etc

The cyber-shagging is very optional. A simple dialogue choice and there is no more mention of it.

Its only been talked about so much because there are quite a few famous female voice actors (Claudia Black :wub: etc), and the shagging is about as explicit as a 15 rated film.

Some of the moral choices regarding the aforementioned joining are quite deep however, depending on the choices you make through the game.  :rock:

If you liked Baldurs Gate, IWD, or anything with dragons and swords, youll like this. It played very well on my system, the only slowdown was on one of the very last cut-scenes.

One more thing, I played through on normal difficulty for the first few hours, and got my ass handed to me. Changed to easy, and patched to latest version and there wasnt much challenge - more like a highly interactive story. Next time I will start on normal, moving up to difficult.

**edit

(http://www.sfx.co.uk/resources/sfx/claudiablack.jpg)

Now where is that babe thread we used to have . . .

If youve just finished it, am I right in thinking once you assemble the army etc thats pretty much it? bah. I thought I was like half way through >< Sounds like im nearly done too if thats the case!

Once youve got all three races to fight for you, there is probably only a couple of hours left.

I completed it in about 42 hours, with 89% done.

Damn. I guess though it really does follow the KOTOR formula of "go to 3 diff planets (races) do the main quest and side quests along the way. Once they have been done this unlocks the final arc.

Mass effect was similar I guess but they spread out the side quests more so the world felt bigger.

FYI, the 2 downloadable content packs combined probably only is about 3-4 hours gameplay total.

Aww thats a shame. I havent got the game yet (cant afford it) but been on my list for ages!

42+ hours isnt bad but I would still want more. Been playing Lost Odyssey the last week and Im on Disc 4 at 28 hours which I was surprised about (ITS 4 DVDs!)

I got to about 95% done I think and it took me what must have been 55-60 hours I think. In the scheme of things 50+ hours of gameplay for £24 is a bit better than the 6 hours or so for Modern Warfare (at least if youre like me and dont like playing FPSs online much). Combined with a second replay probably taking 30 hours, compared to another 5 hours for such a game, and it is pretty good value for money :D

Mind you this was mostly on Easy mode, which is just a little short of being as WG said, an interactive story. The biggest shame is how there is so much difference between Easy and normal mode. Easy doesnt have any form of a challenge except in what are essentially the boss fights, whilst in Normal mode pretty much every conflict will end with a party-wipe if you arent careful (at least I found this) and I dont think id have much of a chance against the bosses bar a lot of frustration and spending more time in the paused combat screen than actually fighting or even reading the codex!

Will give it a month or so (probably a few weeks) before starting a play through as a badass mage. The only thing that I think will suck is I am guessing the mages wont have the cool slow-mo finishing moves for the larger enemies...

Step surfing on an ogre
(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO9.jpg)

More dragon riding
(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO10.jpg)

(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/DAO11.jpg)

Only other gripe is that the achievements on the PC version dont tie in to the MS gamerscore thing :(

Ive started my second playthrough as a mage, didnt realise there were so few companions to choose from. Ah well, playing on Normal, only had one full wipe so far.

Must admit Im tempted to play through again already, but my main reason for waiting a while is that Im optimistic that within a month there might be a few quality mods/custom campaigns created by the users.

Im curious whether there are any New Game + modes though.

Quote from: zpyderI got to about 95% done I think and it took me what must have been 55-60 hours I think. In the scheme of things 50+ hours of gameplay for £24 is a bit better than the 6 hours or so for Modern Warfare (at least if youre like me and dont like playing FPSs online much). Combined with a second replay probably taking 30 hours, compared to another 5 hours for such a game, and it is pretty good value for money :D

Oh god yes thats why my buy list at the moment is Dragon Age > Assassins Creed 2 > MW2

Until I can afford stuff I still have the rest of Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia to work through ;)

Tried someones copy of this out. Dont like the interface, its a bit too cluttered and play could be easier too. I dont like the idea of stopping the action every 2 seconds to give out new orders, this really breaks up the flow of the game. What really shines through is the acting of the cast. Claudia Black and Kate Mulgrew being particularly identifiable as the shrew like mage and her mother.

Some of the lesser cast do overdo the acting a bit though.

If you play it on easy it turns into something akin to Torchlight/Diablo (Never played diablo but thats the impression I get of gameplay from torchlight!) - no pausing needed.