Dragon Age: Origins Catch-All

Kehama wrote:

I was afraid it was a hardware problem but I really can't afford a hardware problem right now. btw, the card I've got is a GeForce 8800 GTX. I think I'll take lethial up on the PM offer for tinkering help so as not to derail the DA awesomeness further. Hopefully I'll be able to play this game soon. I still can't decide if I want to do my first run through as a human mage or dwarven rogue. Decisions, decisions.

Red flag!

Good luck though, hopefully it's nothing too major.

Aaron D. wrote:

I'm eager to hear 360 impressions.

I know the PC version is superior, and it sounds fantastic on that platform so far, but I don't game on PC and wonder how well all the early glowing praises trickle down, filtered through the inferior 360 port.

I was watching my girlfriend play the first hour last night and it definitely has the port feel. Graphics that should run smooth as butter drop framerate a bit in a few cut-scenes. It really makes you wonder how much effort went into it since they really are nothing spectacular. Mass Effect is a testament that Bioware has no trouble optimizing consoles but Dragon Age did not get the same love. I think it could have spent another month or two in the oven. On the other hand the gameplay seems fine being more like KOTOR while the interface is similar to Mass Effect.

If you can get by the graphics problems it looks like it has plenty of fun to offer. At least it looks better then it would run on my Macbook Pro w/ 8600GT. I may pick it up for my gaming PC down the line if there is a sale.

Edit: I should note that the text was pretty small on a 52 inch TV so it may become problematic on SDTVs.

I only got through an hour of the commoner dwarf origin story (on the 360), and so far, am really liking what I am seeing. Some minor quibbles at the moment (I sooo want to be able to pull back my PoV a bit, especially in combat) and one major annoyance (How the &^% do I change targets in combat), but I like it.

The dialogue options are different enough that I would be interested in playing it over again as a commoner dwarf just to see the reactions differ. I did notice some points where there was only one dialogue option that would advance the story

Spoiler:

at the end of the proving ground sequence

but they seem few and far in between so far.

Coldstream wrote:

I have to additionally note that the Overpower animation for the giant spiders in the Dwarven tunnels is absolutely horrifying. I was actually squirming in my chair as my character was flat on her back trying to fight off this huge, writhing, snapping spider. It's like Bioware reached into my brain and pulled out my worst nightmare. I can't decide whether the animators for DA:O should be commended or slapped. :D

Every frigg'n one of these games with the spiders, man, I swear to god.

Dear RPG Designers,

JUST STOP WITH THE SCARY SPIDERS ALREADY!!!

Sincerely,
Todd

Teneman wrote:

On another note, has anyone playing the 360 version found a hotkey for changing weapon sets? Or do you really have to go into inventory each time you want to swap from bow to melee?

Left Trigger, then go to Advanced, then 10'oclock on the radial dial. While you're there you can also press "Y" to assign the weapon into one of the radial menu slots for the right trigger just as you would anything else.

One other thing about combat strategy for those struggling with it. I have found that if I try to divide up whom my party members attack (you go here, you over there, you get that guy) that I tend to get creamed. On the other hand, if I gang up on one opponent at a time (occasionally using one guy to interrupt a more distant archer/mage) then I have *much* more success. Anyone else finding this to be the case?

Oh, and as others have mentioned you can use cover successfully when under bombardment from missile weapons.

I just want to note how smoothly everything has gone for me, experience-wise. Steam files decrypted while I ate dinner last night, used the BioWare social site to get my codes set, went into the game menus, refreshed, and everything started downloading. Easy peasy. Been great, too, since I'm not planning on using Shale in my first run-through I can just sell all his crystal implants for extra cash.

Love the interface, love the combat, mostly love the inventory, blown away by the story. Just past the 'introductory elements' of the game, couldn't be happier.

ubrakto wrote:

I have found that if I try to divide up whom my party members attack (you go here, you over there, you get that guy) that I tend to get creamed.

I've found quite the opposite, actually. I feel very rewarded for using my party members tactically. I send my tanks in to get in the face of ranged guys / attract the attention of the heavy hitters, flank my main character's opponent with my rogue, and use the mage to take out the heaviest opposition first. It's great. Really feels like Baldur's Gate Evolved, tactics and strategy like I don't usually see in a videogame.

I loved my Origin story...which is kind of weird because the general plot was not very original (I did the poor dwarf thing.) The options in the dialogue trees were just really well written, I guess. Also, as the reviews have suggested, there were very few obvious "correct" dialogue options to choose. Anyway, for a fairly cliche story, I got sucked in pretty hard.

The combat rocks! I wiped once in the origin story because I underestimated the need to micromanage. One fight in particular forced me to time my use of feats fairly precisely and guzzle a few healing pots at the right moments. This battle gave me a good sense of accomplishment when I survived it. Never been challenged like this in an intro chapter before....why not?

Obligatory niggle to prove my objectivity: The HP bar on my character portrait is pretty thin. I can't watch my feat cool-down while keeping track of my HP in my peripheral vision. This means that I have to pause frequently just to take a glance at my HP. I am playing at 2048X1152 on a 23" monitor, so the quick-bar and character portrait are pretty far away from each other. Maybe I can move them closer together...I didn't try.

I messed with the graphics settings and the texture detail didn't seem to impact the frame rate much...so I maxed it. AA gave a big hit...so I turned it off. At the resolution I am running, this didn't affect the picture much. Graphics quality also gave me a substantial frame rate hit, so I set it to medium. This gave me a frame rate in the 50s for just tooling around town and high 40s during fights. When the fights get bigger, I expect this to drop into the 30s...hopefully not lower, but I still have a lower quality setting to go to if things bog down. The monitor is less than a week old...I'm loving 2048X1152 and it is well worth the trade-off in lowering the video settings (Core 2 duo 2.6something; 8800GT; 4GB; vista32).

11/4 Dragon Age Status Thread - Serial Already In Use Issues
Published on November 4, 2009 By Zoomba
Good Morning,

Another issue that's been cropping up is users trying to activate the game but being told that their activation key is already in use.

There are two paths to activate your key to your EA account. At the moment only one of them is working.

Method 1: Bioware Social Site.
If you activated your key via the Bioware Social site FIRST, then there is a high probability that your key is in limbo at the moment. Users have reported back to me from EA support saying it's a known issue and they're working on it. Unfortunately since it's an EA system issue, you will need to engage with EA support to resolve your key.

Method 2: First time game launch after install.
The first time you run the game on a new machine you will be prompted to log in with your EA.com account and then if you don't already have an activation on the account, enter the product key into the launcher tool. If you activate this way FIRST, everything should work.

If you registered via Method 2 FIRST, and are still having issues, then post here.

-Mike
Impulse Publishing Team

One more thing....I swear that the girl that does the voice for the poor dwarf's sister is someone from one of my daughter's princess movies. Ariel? I don't know. Anyone else find that voice familiar?

I am getting NO DLC on my Digital Deluxe edition from Steam. Any ideas? I went to the bioware social page and entered the promo codes, and even registered the game at bioware's social site. But when I go in the game it still hasn't downloaded anything, it doesn't even show any DLC as an option.

@Donan talking to the mouse may help you get out of your stuck plot situation...

Stuns and knockbacks are your friend. And as a mage be sure not to conserve and use your spells. You can take stuff down quickly from range. Your shock bolt or whatever default spell can almost deal half damage to most targets. The stone fist spell is great! The first tier spell that is a point blank aoe stun is great.

Dirty fighting for melees is great...

Repeat after me, stuns and knockdowns are the bees knees!

sheared wrote:

For those of you that purchased from Impulse, but are having trouble getting DLC, check out the following forum thread:

http://forums.impulsedriven.com/3682...

Thanks! That solved it for me!

If you leave some party members back at your camp while you go out and adventure do they gain levels with you? Since you can only have 3 companions with you at a time I'll probably switch members out frequently. I wonder if I'll have to grind with them to get them adventure worthy, or if they'll scale with my main character.

Zedian wrote:

I am getting NO DLC on my Digital Deluxe edition from Steam. Any ideas? I went to the bioware social page and entered the promo codes, and even registered the game at bioware's social site. But when I go in the game it still hasn't downloaded anything, it doesn't even show any DLC as an option. :(

Check to see if the "Dragon Age Origins Updater" service is running on your computer. With the tip from Sheared for my Impulse purchase as soon as that service was set up and running the DLC downloaded for me.

sheared wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

I bought the basic version off Steam last night, and everything has been smooth for me, including loading the character I created. I downloaded some free ring. The only thing I haven't done is try to download The Stone Prisoner. Game seems to be going fine.

I may have spoken a bit too soon; the game doesn't seem to recognize my Microsoft Bluetracker's scroll wheel, and the tutorial demands that I scroll. Trying another mouse.

I had that same spot and kept lightly trying to scroll the wheel. Nothing. Then I just went to town on it and turned a LOT. It finally was enough, and passed by that section of the tutorial.

You can also just use the Page Up/Page Down keys.

Quick question about tactics. Does the character you are in control of use them, or are they mainly for controlling party members? I noticed my character wasn't taking the health pot when she was supposed to. 150 hours in FFXII taught me how to use the system but she doesn't seem to want to do it. She didn't even attack the nearest visible opponent when hers died.

Michael Zenke wrote:

Really feels like Baldur's Gate Evolved, tactics and strategy like I don't usually see in a videogame.

I hate you all. I have already promised my family that I'll wait until Christmas for this so they can actually give me a present that I want this year.

Michael Zenke wrote:
ubrakto wrote:

I have found that if I try to divide up whom my party members attack (you go here, you over there, you get that guy) that I tend to get creamed.

I've found quite the opposite, actually. I feel very rewarded for using my party members tactically. I send my tanks in to get in the face of ranged guys / attract the attention of the heavy hitters, flank my main character's opponent with my rogue, and use the mage to take out the heaviest opposition first. It's great. Really feels like Baldur's Gate Evolved, tactics and strategy like I don't usually see in a videogame.

That's interesting because dividing who my tanks engage into one-on-ones wasn't at all a successful strat for me when I first played the game (got an early look last month). Although, I didn't mean to imply a total abandoning of tactics; no, no, no. Flanking works wonderfully, absolutely; I've just found that if I have my tanks split then taking out opponents takes too long and allows multiple ranged attackers (if there's more than one) to wreak havoc. If I put three guys on an opponent, with my last NPC interrupting as many ranged attackers as possible, I can take out adversaries *far* more quickly and really pretty much just mow through them. Also, should one of my party members be stunned or otherwise disabled, having two other party members on the spot helps prevent him from being gang-stomped.

This, btw, is playing on Normal difficulty (PC) -through to the point of becoming a Grey Warden- and my party has yet to be defeated. Just a few bumps and bruises for poor Alistar (sp?).

Do they understand that to give you what you want in December they have to subject you to a month and a half of pain and misery?

Pretend you really want socks and ties for god's sake!!!

Bullion Cube wrote:

If you leave some party members back at your camp while you go out and adventure do they gain levels with you? Since you can only have 3 companions with you at a time I'll probably switch members out frequently. I wonder if I'll have to grind with them to get them adventure worthy, or if they'll scale with my main character.

Yep. They do. (Or at least they're supposed to.)

Anyone figured out if you can pause cutscenes?

Shoal07 wrote:
11/4 Dragon Age Status Thread - Serial Already In Use Issues
Published on November 4, 2009 By Zoomba
Good Morning,

Another issue that's been cropping up is users trying to activate the game but being told that their activation key is already in use.

There are two paths to activate your key to your EA account. At the moment only one of them is working.

Method 1: Bioware Social Site.
If you activated your key via the Bioware Social site FIRST, then there is a high probability that your key is in limbo at the moment. Users have reported back to me from EA support saying it's a known issue and they're working on it. Unfortunately since it's an EA system issue, you will need to engage with EA support to resolve your key.

Method 2: First time game launch after install.
The first time you run the game on a new machine you will be prompted to log in with your EA.com account and then if you don't already have an activation on the account, enter the product key into the launcher tool. If you activate this way FIRST, everything should work.

If you registered via Method 2 FIRST, and are still having issues, then post here.

-Mike
Impulse Publishing Team

Thanks for the update!

I just got a reply back from Stardock regarding my ticket from last night. It was much briefer but said to contact EA support for key resolution. So I got on the live chat, explained the situation and after confirming my account information and the serial number in question they said they've escalated it to senior support and I should hear back within 24 hours.

Damn, I got bored waiting for the extremely too long extraction phase after finishing my Impulse download, and used most of my authorization codes in the Bioware social site. Crossing my fingers that I'm not borked when I get home and check on things. Really want to get into this game.

Wayfarer wrote:

Anyone figured out if you can pause cutscenes?

More to the point, is there any way to get through dialog quicker? I'm especially thinking repetitive "flavor" comments like with the quartermaster. Dude, I just told you I wanted to see what you got, please don't say the same damn phrase again for the 15th time. Or if you have to, please give me a way to skip your lines. Space didn't work, nor did TAB or SHIFT.

In general, this is a great game so far. My one nitpick is really a reflection about how good the origin story actually is.

I had a lot more, but it could be considered spoilerish, so I'll move it to that thread.

It seems that a lot of people are having problems with this game with AMD Quad Core processors. I believe that is what is causing my huge load times.

Anyone have any idea how to fix this?

For the record, this is why I enjoy console gaming so much these days.

kuddles wrote:
Teneman wrote:

On another note, has anyone playing the 360 version found a hotkey for changing weapon sets? Or do you really have to go into inventory each time you want to swap from bow to melee?

Left Trigger, then go to Advanced, then 10'oclock on the radial dial. While you're there you can also press "Y" to assign the weapon into one of the radial menu slots for the right trigger just as you would anything else.

That's what I was looking for, I figured there had to be a way to assign it to a hotbutton! Thanks.

More to the point, is there any way to get through dialog quicker? I'm especially thinking repetitive "flavor" comments like with the quartermaster. Dude, I just told you I wanted to see what you got, please don't say the same damn phrase again for the 15th time. Or if you have to, please give me a way to skip your lines. Space didn't work, nor did TAB or SHIFT.

Escape works for me.

I kinda got screwed with the DLC. I logged into my game with my EA account and when I went to try to get the DLC at the Bioware site it said my name was taken.
I then figured out AFTER I put in my codes that I put in the codes for my Neverwinter Knights login from long ago and not my master EA account.
I am already well into the game and don't want to start over because of DLC. What a horrid system. It baffles me that the two aren't tied together.