Dragon Age 2: The Order Dictates

[Giggling Ghast]

http://images.wikia.com/dragonage/images/a/ac/Dragon_Age_II_Logo.png

Welcome to the first thread discussing the newest installment in Bioware's Dragon Age franchise! Dragon Age II follows the exploits of a humble refugee named Hawke as they rise to power in the city of Kirkwall! This sequel to Dragon Age: Origins features a new dialogue system, faster combat, a framed narrative storyline, improved (?) graphics, a 900 per cent increase in exploding torsos and severed body parts and plenty of gender-neutral underwear sex. Huzzah!

As this is still a fairly new game, please spoiler any discussion of the plot for at least the first few pages.

Also, even though this is the "Dragon Age II" thread, we welcome any discussion or questions regarding Dragon Age: Origins, the Awakening expansion or other Dragon Age-related material.

Finally, I will change the name if someone comes up with a better suggestion, so feel free to make one.

[Calemyr]

Okay, two things from the end of the last thread:

First, when it comes to saves to import into DA2, you may want to look into this (http://social.bioware.com/project/4242/). It's a program that lets you build saves to your own tastes. You need .NET 4.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9cfb2d51-5ff4-4491-b0e5-b386f32c0992) to use it apparently.

Second, has anyone found any good "armor" robes for a mage Hawke in DA2? I'm in the fourth act of the game and I'm still wearing the armor from the start of the second act, just because I'd rather not wear a "robe" robe. I shouldn't be advertising that I'm a mage in any event. If I could get something with pants (or that nifty armor from the Varrick's intro), it'd be a welcome upgrade. Seeing the gauntlets of the Void I had high hopes for that set, but the robe is still a robe. Otherwise I'm just going to have to respec and grab 9 points of STR and CON so I can wear the blood dragon armor.

And now for something completely different: has anyone seen any great combat dialogue in the game? Currently, my favorite is one of Varrick's post-KO lines: "Dear Varrick, Learn to parry. Love, your innards. Ouch."

[Arcanoi]

And now for something completely different: has anyone seen any great combat dialogue in the game? Currently, my favorite is one of Varrick's post-KO lines: "Dear Varrick, Learn to parry. Love, your innards. Ouch."

I know he says it a lot, but whenever Varric says "Bianca, you minx! That was beautiful!" it brings a smile to my face.

[Zevox]

So, did Anders get a new voice actor, or am I just being thrown off by the fact that he's being much more serious this time than he was in Awakening? Just curious. Not sure what would have prompted them to change voice actors, but he definitely sounds different.

Also, hard mode is hard. There always seems to be just one more wave of enemies coming than I can handle with relative ease, and I'm finding myself losing a bit too often. I don't want to drop back down to normal, though, as that was too easy. Anyone who has gotten fairly into the game on hard+ have a bit of advice on that? I'm currently running Hawke (Mage, blaster-focus), Aveline, Varric, and Carver, though I may replace Carver with Anders now that I have him (my only other companion option at this time is Fenris). I think one of my biggest problems is healing, as I often run out of potions, and haven't picked up any healing spells for myself yet. Anders could help with that - I upgraded his heal spell and picked up his Panacea ability with his starting skill points - but I'm worried about using two mages when they're no longer god mode.

Of course, it may also help if I start remembering that I have that "Summon Mabari" ability to put another body on my side of the battlefield...

Zevox

[Muz]

Random comment:

Did anyone else notice that Bodahn's voice actor is Reginald Barclay/Murdoc, aka Dwight Schultz?

Weird. :smallbiggrin:

[Giggling Ghast]

So, did Anders get a new voice actor, or am I just being thrown off by the fact that he's being much more serious this time than he was in Awakening? Just curious. Not sure what would have prompted them to change voice actors, but he definitely sounds different.

Yes, the new VA is Adam Howden, who also did the voice for Silas Corthwaite from Leliana's Song. The original VA was Greg Ellis.

I suspect they changed the VA because Anders is no longer quite the same person as he was in Awakening.


Did anyone else notice that Bodahn's voice actor is Reginald Barclay/Murdoc, aka Dwight Schultz?

Weird. :smallbiggrin:

I totally did not catch that, but thanks for pointing it out.

[Yora]

Wow, this is something I just had to share:

Please review the EA Community Terms of Service, particularly sections #9 and #11. There are two levels of enforcement here:

1. BioWare community bans are forum-only and can be for as little as 24 hours. These bans should have no effect on your game, only your ability to use all the features of this website/community. these bans are handed out by BioWare Moderators as the result of our travels around the forum and/or issues reported by fellow community members.

2. EA Community bans come down from a different department and are the result of someone hitting the REPORT POST button. These bans can affect access to your game and/or DLC.

Because the BioWare community now operates under the same umbrella as all EA Communities, community members here have all explicitly agreed to abide by and be governed by both sets of rules. Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow.

If there are further questions or concerns, please send them to me via private message. Thank you.

End of line.
Turns out if EA does not like what you talk in their forums, they take away your game (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1).
I thought it was some kind of misunderstanding, until a BW employee wrote the quoted post in the thread.

And now I agree with the poster. EA is the devil. :smallbiggrin:

[Giggling Ghast]

Wow, this is something I just had to share:

Turns out if EA does not like what you talk in their forums, they take away your game (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1).
I thought it was some kind of misunderstanding, until a BW employee wrote the quoted post in the thread.

Eh. It's in the terms of service, and he only got hit with that 72-hour ban for mouthing off on the forums in a particularly stupid and offensive manner. I really couldn't care less about his situation.

[Dhavaer]

Just got a weird bug: the game stopped detecting when my mouse was over a hotspot; enemies and items didn't highlight, I couldn't target area spells, etc. Fortunately I'd saved about 10 seconds before, so I'll reload in a bit and see if it's fixed itself. Anyone else had this?

[Comet]

Second, has anyone found any good "armor" robes for a mage Hawke in DA2? I'm in the fourth act of the game and I'm still wearing the armor from the start of the second act, just because I'd rather not wear a "robe" robe. I shouldn't be advertising that I'm a mage in any event. If I could get something with pants (or that nifty armor from the Varrick's intro), it'd be a welcome upgrade. Seeing the gauntlets of the Void I had high hopes for that set, but the robe is still a robe. Otherwise I'm just going to have to respec and grab 9 points of STR and CON so I can wear the blood dragon armor.


I'm using the Notorious Pirate outfit you get from the Wounded Coast in the... third act? In the act that begins with the Viscount asking you for a favour with the Arishok, at any rate.

It's equal to the Robes of the Spiral Eye in stats and it consists of pants, a brown vest thing and fancy sleeves to make you look like a proper gentleman adventurer. Suits my filthy rich scoundrel Hawke just fine.

[LordShotGun]

Not really spoliers as I do not talk about plot points at all and mostly explain some of the rogue's best talents and tips and tricks for him.

Well I finished my play through on hard in about 22 hours but I read much faster then the people in the game talk so I found myself skipping dialouge if I didn't like to hear that person talk (I always listened to Merril since shes so gosh darn cute and my first romance) so your time may be long but not by much.

My party was a rogue hawk, Tank Aveline, Controller/Debuffer Merril, and healer/damage dealer Anders (depending on if vengeance or Panacea was enabled). Occasionally I switched out Merril for Verric since Mages are no longer king and Varric has some abilities that increase his attack speed to ridiculous levels.

My character basically went for maxing out the two weapon fighting tree and maxing out the assassination specialization ASAP. This has lead my to belive that rogues may be THE MOST POWERFUL CLASS IN THE GAME. Backstab not only deals quite a bit of damage but also resets your threat meter so no need for evasion. I give this only 4 stars simply because it gets outclassed by assassin abilities.

Unending chain gives you sweet sweet critical chances which added onto my natural crit chance meant that I was constantly getting critical for around 200-300 damage on normal enemies and about 100 on bosses. Only 4 stars because later on you will be dealing criticals nearly all the time anyway but early on its awesome.

Then there is twin fangs which deal two automatic critical hits with a massive damage and knockdown bonus. 4 stars again only because it lacks a spell combo (which I will get into later) Now all that was just in the dual weapon tree. Just wait for the assassination spec.

Assassination. Oh how mighty you have become.

Mark of death as usual which by far is one of the best abilities for killing bosses as it is not magical and cannot be resisted and reduces the enemies damage reduction and increases EVERY TYPE OF DAMAGE THEY ARE HIT BY. Now this is an awesome ability but it gets better. Five Stars

Pinpoint strikes. This is a ho hum kinda talent that does shine once your mage picks up haste (Which I will get into later). Three Stars

There is feast of the fallen which gives you stamina when you kill but this is not as good as another talent in another tree which gives you more stamina every time you attack. The reason feast of the fallen is not that good is that in major boss fights like with dragons is that since you only get the extra stamina when you kill it is only good in fights when minions are involved. Two stars.

Then assassin's capstone is of course Assassinate which is in my opinion one of the best talents in the entire game even if it had no upgrades. But it gets better. Why? Because of spell combos.

Right off the bat assassinate has a base power of 600 which can be upgraded into a base power of 900. This means that this one skill can deal 900 damage PLUS YOUR NATURAL DAMAGE TWICE meaning in the final battle my mage could deal OVER 9000 OVER 10,000 DAMAGE with one skill if one condition is met.

The enemy must be brittle. This brings me to spell/talent combos. In dragon age 2 enemies can be debuffed with 3 different things. Disoriented, stunned/knockbacked (they are the same just different names for different skills), and brittle.

For assassinate brittle is needed because assassinate has one other upgrade besides the damage upgrade that makes the talent deal 400%!!! more damage to brittle targets. Now brittle is achieved with upgrade Hand of Winter or cone of cold, or petrify. Now all three are awesome spells by themselves AND THEY HAVE A CHANCE OF EFFECTING EVEN THE FINAL BOSS.

This means on my first play through I managed to freeze the final boss with hand of winter, if only for a couple seconds, (even if they are effected bosses usually shake it off faster) and have my rogue assassinate the boss. It deal 5000 damage TWICE and took a good half of of the bosses health bar off.

Now this was an extreme luck situation but having checked the mage and warrior trees, I cannot find any other skill that comes anywhere near the power of assassinate.

Now to support you very squishy melee rogue I used Aveline since she gets bodyguard in her person talent tree which takes half of the damage your character takes and gives it to her. She also has the always handy taunt skill which is now an AoE (although you will get tired of hearing THE SAME TAUNT over and over and over again).

Also since everyone will have at least one mage in the team if only to be a healer I suggest getting heroic aura and haste along with heal. Heroic aura can give a solid critical chance and damage boost and haste with a rogue is blindingly fast. Heck, varric when hasted and with his Bianca talent tree maxed out has more or less a Gatling crossbow.

Edit: Forgive my excessive use of bolds and caps. I...was a little excited.




Just got a weird bug: the game stopped detecting when my mouse was over a hotspot; enemies and items didn't highlight, I couldn't target area spells, etc. Fortunately I'd saved about 10 seconds before, so I'll reload in a bit and see if it's fixed itself. Anyone else had this?

Yeah this is quite the common bug. But usually if you just switch from controlling one character to another it fixes itself no reload required.

[Rising Phoenix]

Oh gods, just how many sidequests are there in Part 1?... They've done a fantastic job with them, not a single one is boring save for the fetch ones and those only happen if you find the lost item.

Companions are interesting, Ander's has a lot more layers, Meril's adorable :3, Fenrir's the definition of badass etc etc etc.

The roleplaying has also improved considerably dispelling my fears :D!

Having so much fun with this game :D

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Something I asked in the other thread that never got answered:

One thing I'm concerned about is the need to take sides. I want to be "a yes-man" as it were, building friendships with all my companions and generally working towards justice and peace in Kirkwall, but if what I've heard about the plot is true (my Signature Edition hasn't arrived yet, darn the postal service), eventually you're going to be forced to choose between the Chantry and the Circle. I know that whatever conflict that turns out to be is integral and whatnot, and it sounds awesome, but it doesn't really gel with the Hawke I'm imagining, who's basically a paladin at heart that wants the Chantry to trust the mages more, and for the mages to try and get along with the Chantry.

I mean, the whole reason the practice of mage Circles got started was because a bunch of mages put out the Chantry's sacred flame and then went up into the choir loft and basically went "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!" Even the rest of the Chantry thought the Revered Mother of the cathedral where this happened was overreacting when she basically called for a siege of the cathedral. Basically my Hawke feels both sides need to grow up.

[Arcanoi]

Something I asked in the other thread that never got answered:

One thing I'm concerned about is the need to take sides. I want to be "a yes-man" as it were, building friendships with all my companions and generally working towards justice and peace in Kirkwall, but if what I've heard about the plot is true (my Signature Edition hasn't arrived yet, darn the postal service), eventually you're going to be forced to choose between the Chantry and the Circle. I know that whatever conflict that turns out to be is integral and whatnot, and it sounds awesome, but it doesn't really gel with the Hawke I'm imagining, who's basically a paladin at heart that wants the Chantry to trust the mages more, and for the mages to try and get along with the Chantry.

I mean, the whole reason the practice of mage Circles got started was because a bunch of mages put out the Chantry's sacred flame and then went up into the choir loft and basically went "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!" Even the rest of the Chantry thought the Revered Mother of the cathedral where this happened was overreacting when she basically called for a siege of the cathedral. Basically my Hawke feels both sides need to grow up.

This was my initial playthrough. Try as hard as she might, however, the plot eventually railroads you into a conversation where you are forced to choose. There is a reason why you are forced to choose, and it sort of makes sense, but it's still annoying. It's actually a recurring theme in Bioware games: nothing in the main plot can be solved peacefully, ever.

I will also take this post to rant about things.

Why is it that nobody ever gives Hawke the respect (s)he deserves? Despite killing your way through dragons, spiders the size of houses, Var'terral, Ogres and every gang in the city, nobody really treats you like a threat. Despite having killed literally thousands of people, and wrecked everyone who has ever even looked at you funny, people still show up like they have some expectation of success and still try to mess with you. It would have been nice for some gratuitous respect, as opposed to just being treated as an overblown errand boy.

[Matar]

Eh. It's in the terms of service, and he only got hit with that 72-hour ban for mouthing off on the forums in a particularly stupid and offensive manner. I really couldn't care less about his situation.

I'm rather sure that a ToS and EULA are not legally binding contracts. And even if they were, they still have no right to take away something you paid for just because you said something they don't like. So yeah.

I've heard nothing but horrible things about this game, and I never found the first one all that great. Okay, sure, but not great. I'm renting the game and it should be here either tomorrow or the day after, so we'll see how it turns out. I'm not extremely picky when it comes to games, so it might be decent. Who knows.

As a bonus, from the pictures I've seen your characters Mom is totally freaking hot. Also your characters sister. WHAT THE HELL DRAGON AGE 2? Why make me think these thing!?

[Arcanoi]

I've heard nothing but horrible things about this game


Well it is pretty fun, any flaws aside.

[LordShotGun]

I remember from the last thread someone asking about crafting. Unfortunately it has been more or less removed. Now instead of you actually crafting things, you find the materials in your travels and order the items from home.

And even finding the materials is dumbed down. Now once you find an elf root or deep mushroom your crafters know where it is from now on and get it themselves. To clarify you find the materials ONCE and from then on they are available for all your crafting ordering needs. I say ordering because you only need to spend money to get these items. Which sucks because there is a VERY limited supply of money in game.


Oh gods, just how many sidequests are there in Part 1?... They've done a fantastic job with them, not a single one is boring save for the fetch ones and those only happen if you find the lost item.

Also unfortunately the game kinda dries up of side quests later on after the deep roads expedition. Later on most side quests are companion stuff while everything else is main quest stuff.

I do however have to give the game credit for making quests very easy to find and accomplish by putting huge glowing arrows on your minimap so its hard to forget to finish a quest you stated.

[Aergoth]

I'm rather sure that a ToS and EULA are not legally binding contracts. And even if they were, they still have no right to take away something you paid for just because you said something they don't like. So yeah.


In a pure legal sense they might (and there's probably legal squirrelling done there, I don't think EULA's can be legally binding unless you can view them before purchasing the product, but terms of service may very well be.) It's one of the problems with making games a service rather than a product. If you have to go through a gatekeeper (in this person's case, they have to log in) then the game has effectively become a service offered, rather than a product purchased. You can rescind a service, but you would have to physically remove the product from the customer. In this case, EA has rescinded the "service" of being able to get to the game. There are no good reasons to pirate games, but this isn't a bad one as far as I can tell.

[Rising Phoenix]

I remember from the last thread someone asking about crafting. Unfortunately it has been more or less removed. Now instead of you actually crafting things, you find the materials in your travels and order the items from home.

And even finding the materials is dumbed down. Now once you find an elf root or deep mushroom your crafters know where it is from now on and get it themselves. To clarify you find the materials ONCE and from then on they are available for all your crafting ordering needs. I say ordering because you only need to spend money to get these items. Which sucks because there is a VERY limited supply of money in game.



Also unfortunately the game kinda dries up of side quests later on after the deep roads expedition. Later on most side quests are companion stuff while everything else is main quest stuff.

I do however have to give the game credit for making quests very easy to find and accomplish by putting huge glowing arrows on your minimap so its hard to forget to finish a quest you stated.

I really don't mind the crafting being altered to the state it is now. It was fun making a crapton of potions in origins, but I can live without that. Playing currently in hard difficulty. At firs it was impossible to beat, but once you get a few levels under your bet hard difficulty is perfect for a challenge.

As for the sidequest after completing a gazillion (currently in the deep roads and I am preety sure I did all of the ones I found bar one) of them I can live with just companion ones, they haven't had much development so far anyhow.

Also does this game have the same replay value as origins? I don't think so yet, which is a big shame.

Fun game regardless.

[C-Lam]

So.... the game has been released in Europe, but I'm still on my schooltrip. I can't wait to get my hands on the game :smallbiggrin:

I think I'm gonna roll a male mage, with the default look. Dont know why, but I always go with the default look in all games

[Calemyr]

It doesn't hurt that default Hawke's appearance is pretty darn impressive.

[Gaius Marius]

can I know what kind of effect importing your DA : Awakening + Origins saves have over this game?

Geopolitical effects, maybe?

[Muz]

It doesn't hurt that default Hawke's appearance is pretty darn impressive.

Perhaps, but someone needs to give the guy a handkerchief and tell him to wipe that damned stain off his nose. :smallwink:

[Avilan the Grey]

Also unfortunately the game kinda dries up of side quests later on after the deep roads expedition. Later on most side quests are companion stuff while everything else is main quest stuff

This sounds exactly like all other Bioware games I have ever played. Only sidequests in Act I.

[VanBuren]

Perhaps, but someone needs to give the guy a handkerchief and tell him to wipe that damned stain off his nose. :smallwink:

That's preset #2. The default default face is exactly the same, only without the smudge.

[LordShotGun]

can I know what kind of effect importing your DA : Awakening + Origins saves have over this game?

Geopolitical effects, maybe?

Among other things it changes how the "hero of ferelden" is described and after you become the champion of kirkwall it decides
Who the ruler of ferelden is, who of which you speak too and talk about certain events


It also dictates some of the side quests you can go on. For example in my replay you can protect lord harrowmount ( the dwarf noble that tries to take the throne) or kill him for the carta.



Also does this game have the same replay value as origins? I don't think so yet, which is a big shame.

It really really does not. Perhaps 3 play throughs as all the classes just to see how they play out but probably not more then that at least not for a year or two.

[Gaius Marius]

It also dictates some of the side quests you can go on. For example in my replay you can protect lord harrowmount ( the dwarf noble that tries to take the throne) or kill him for the carta.


Actually, I totally supported Bhelen, my brother (You can't NOT have an Aeducan on the throne.. and after all, better have the king of Orzrammar as a strong ally, even if he's a betraying brother.. but I know he won't move against me if he knows I'm not a threath to his power. Also named my son after our father, mwahaha).

I also wiped the Circle of Magi, killed the Werewolve without much questions. Yhea, I was a political dwarven ******* :-)

So.. what would be the world like?

[Derthric]

So far I am really enjoying the game. I just hit act 3 and the reduction of side quests really bugged me, but I suppose the point of Act 1 was the side quests so you could afford to carry the main story forward. Also random Character conversations Woohoo!

I am enjoying all the companions aside from Carver, who has managed to become my most loathed Bioware character of all time, step aside Gao the Lesser.

Thoughts on the more stand out companions IMO


Carver- What a whiney little brat, he spoke a lot but all I can remember him saying is this "Waaaaaah my sisters are apostates. Waaaaah Mom listens to my older more rational sibling more Waaaaah. Waaaaaah I didn't get to go into the deep roads and that was an insult despite the fact that if anything happened I am now placed in a position of responsibility, which I wanted before but now am unsatisfied with it, I am gonna be a Templar! Take that Apostate Sister! Waaaaaaah." When He ran off to join the Templars because I didn't take him into the deep roads I just knew that put the Templars on my S List. And then I found out about the Tranquil Solution!

Varric- I love this guy, both for his embellishments in telling the story and his interactions with the rest of the group are always witty and fun. Not to mention that Bianca is one mean mother.

Merril- I want to grab her and shake her screaming "you are too cute and naive to be a blood mage!"

Avaliene- I like how she doesn't come across as a Xena rip off, is competent and level headed for the most part. Also setting her up with Donnic was touching.

Isabella- No complaints except that when I got her she had too few cunning points to open anything but simple locks, what type of pirate can't open treasure chests. And seriously the woman needs pants, the outfit is ok except that she has no pants on!

[Muz]

Silly question, but is Act I just the escape from Lothering through to your entry into Kirkwall, or does it encompass everything up to the start of the expedition? (I'm still trying to get 50 sovereigns, so no spoilers please on what happens in the next act...

[Calemyr]

I rather disagree with the "limited replay" thing. While the plot is less transparently railroaded, the interactivity of events becomes much more notable. Time strips away the illusion of choice, but your choices carry more weight.

Frankly, I find this game much more fun than DAO. The combat is more lively, mages don't own the field but rent a large part of it, and rogues are like adhd children the day after Halloween. Your allies are no less diverse and interesting, and even HAWKE provides a lot of variety in what (s)he says. There's no less freedom and a whole lot more fun to be had in the fighting.

Seriously. Look at Act II (the quest for fifty sovereigns) as the treaty arc from DAO. Big multi-part quests with allies that join and all that.

As for the companions:

Carver: Two handed weapon experts are far more useful these days and he's a poster child for that, but his rivalry with Hawke gets old pretty fast. I can see why he gets suicidally competetive with a non-mage Hawke, as he can't even get out of his sibling's shadow by joining the army.

Bethany: Beats her brother hands down. More pleasant to work with, listen to, and look at. Almost enough to make me not play a mage my first time through. Almost.

Aveline: A good, solid sword-n-board warrior with a sense of honor that doesn't veer into the preachy/self-righteous/outright hypocritical. She is everything ME2's Jacob *should* have been - a lass with minimal problems (outside of Wesley) but is still interesting. Helps that she's really good support for a mage Hawke.

Varrick: Fun, powerful, fun, fast, fun, skillful, and fun. Did I mention fun? His dialogue, his stories, his weapon, his banters with allies... the man is my number one choice for a rogue because his use of cunning makes him a good lockpicker as well as a lethal archer. Plus he's fun.

Fenris: There is no way an elven pretty-boy with a big-ass sword should talk with such a deep voice. He instantly hated my mage, which was a problem, but he's a powerful whirlwind of destruction for when Carver isn't available.

Isabella: Haven't made good use of her yet. Her trying to seduce Carver was a fun line of banters, however. Yes, she should put on pants, but that suggestion is counter to her every belief, it would seem.

Anders: Haven't made good use of him, either. Which is sad, because he, Justice, and Nathaniel were my party of choice in Awakenings. I hear he's a monster in combat, but I'm already a fire/force/healing mage, so I don't see much purpose to it.

Merril: Absolutely agree with other posters on this girl. She's way too adorable to be a blood mage. I use her as the black mage to my red and she's very useful, if a bit frustrating for a "the templar have a purpose" sort of mage like myself.

Sebastian: A bit interesting, but easily the most annoying ally I've found. His inconsistent accent, tendency to take affront to spiritual matters on almost a random basis, and the fact that he has to go up against Varrick makes him a last choice. A pity, really, because his armor is very cool and his accent can be a pleasure to hear when he opts to use it.

[Rising Phoenix]

Anyone else heard the conversation between Merril and Anders regarding ser pounce a lot?

...so cute! :3

Returning to the re-play value. Three playthroughs is whant I was aiming for. But even though there are choices and befriending/rivaling/romancing different companions it does seem more limited in scope then in origins.

I guess I will see after my first play has ended...

[LordShotGun]

Returning to the re-play value. Three playthroughs is whant I was aiming for. But even though there are choices and befriending/rivaling/romancing different companions it does seem more limited in scope then in origins.

Free tip, you're right all all counts.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

This was my initial playthrough. Try as hard as she might, however, the plot eventually railroads you into a conversation where you are forced to choose. There is a reason why you are forced to choose, and it sort of makes sense, but it's still annoying. It's actually a recurring theme in Bioware games: nothing in the main plot can be solved peacefully, ever.

That makes me leery of just which side to take, knowing one's a blood-magic-condoning jerk while the other one's an insane fanatic, especially since I'm gonna have to kill both of them in the end anyway. It's hard for me to side with the Templars though, since while BioWare tries to play up the moral ambiguity of both sides, you're still gonna feel sympathy for the mages because of Meredith's behavior and because supporting the Templars often makes you do some pretty jerkass things, like killing innocent mages and tranquilizing a kid. I desperately want to like the Templars. They're the closest thing to knights in shining armor that I like to play in the Dragon Age setting. But BioWare doesn't seem to work hard to make them seem sympathetic.

[Derthric]

As far as how I stated my game was just done with Act 2, I treated the escape from Fereldan as a prologue and your time post year of service as Act 1. And then Post Expedition to Qunari Attack as Act2.

And for companions, I hardly use Anders since my mage is a Spirit Healer, and Sebastian is ok but Varric fills the same role only with the added bonus of Awesomeness.

Some of the side and secondary quests get a bit fishy for me both from what I assume are apparent bugs and just me being oblivious I guess.

I had two in the Post expedition act that I never finished. One was to destroy tomes of forbidden knowledge and I thought I had tracked all 5 down but nothing ever came of it. And the other was "Sketchy on the details" where randomly the Elf Sketch runs by and you can kill the people chasing him, never found a follow up to that.

And this is in the Post declaration of Champion part. SO don't look if you aren't there yet.

Also now that I am post Araashok defeat, I went to Merril's (which is frustrating since she supposedly moved into the Hawke Estate) and we had a convo as if something had happened in the mirror already, implying the death of the keeper and now its removed from her old bedroom and is nowhere to be seen. Also why is it that you can't pick the nice guy dialogue option and end up with anything other than "Oh sure go ahead, you use blood magic and pre-tevinter corrupted relics I am sure it will be fine"

[LordShotGun]

Also now that I am post Araashok defeat, I went to Merril's (which is frustrating since she supposedly moved into the Hawke Estate) and we had a convo as if something had happened in the mirror already, implying the death of the keeper and now its removed from her old bedroom and is nowhere to be seen. Also why is it that you can't pick the nice guy dialogue option and end up with anything other than "Oh sure go ahead, you use blood magic and pre-tevinter corrupted relics I am sure it will be fine"


Yeah I think we both missed something concerning Merril since I remember WTFing since I had no idea what was going on with that conversation we had about the mirror right before getting the quest to go talk to her demon on the mountain and subsequently killing her keeper and entire clan. It was almost like I had accidentally skipped a cut scene or something.

But as for the moving in with you as the romance, the dwarf manservant does say several times that Merril is out visiting the Allienage and that she spends more time there then she does as your place.

[Cristo Meyers]

Finally far enough in to form a proper first impression, and I'm enjoying it more than I enjoyed Origins. We managed to tweak the settings and get the settings up to medium, so everything looks much better. I'm honestly struck by how much the first act feels like playing the first act of Baldur's Gate 2 (which was the only part of that game I could actually get through before getting bored...). They all feel like proper quests, though the environments can get painfully repetitive.

I haven't gotten all of the characters yet, but:



Bethany: I enjoyed having her around. I liked the relationship between her and Hawke a lot and she at least managed to pull her own weight in a fight, even if she was overly fond of that firestorm spell...

Merril: It's all been said before. Even in her absurd level of naivette she managed to avoid being completely annoying, and she's about the only elf that doesn't look completely absurd in the new art style.

Varric: He could be completely useless I'd carry him around for the banter. Just about everything the dwarf says is priceless. I was laughing out loud the last time he and Fenris got into it.

Fenris: Thank god he didn't turn out to be everything I'd feared at first blush. Probably helped by the merciless teasing he gets at Varric's hands. The fact that he's a walking engine of destruction doesn't hurt.

Anders: Haven't carried him around much yet. The different voice actor struck me immediately, though he doesn't seem worse for it.

Aveline: Another one I was afraid I was going to hate, but she managed to toe the line between honorable and annoyingly preachy so far.

[Arcanoi]

Yeah I think we both missed something concerning Merril since I remember WTFing since I had no idea what was going on with that conversation we had about the mirror right before getting the quest to go talk to her demon on the mountain and subsequently killing her keeper and entire clan. It was almost like I had accidentally skipped a cut scene or something.



I believe that that scene is a bug and supposed to be placed after you complete the quest where the keeper sacrifices herself by turning herself into an abomination to stop Merril from being possessed when she activates the mirror.

[Derthric]

I seem to have encountered a bug when fighting the High Dragon, it flies up to a point where it cannot be targeted and pelts my party with tracking fireballs. Reloaded a few times happens everytime, anyone else encounter this?

Edit: I completed the fight without summoning my Mabari and didn't have trouble after that.

[Zevox]

Also does this game have the same replay value as origins? I don't think so yet, which is a big shame.
Really? From what I've seen so far I'd say it probably has more than Origins. Improved combat, better character customization with a wider variety of skill options, these things can hardly help but make the game more tempting to keep playing.

Zevox

[megabyter5]

OK, I'm confused by something in the Act 2 follow-up quest involving Feynriel.

The Keeper explicitly states that killing a mage in the Fade will make them Tranquil (which I'd never have guessed, I'd have thought it would be a more physical procedure, involving copious amounts of lyrium). But two of your companions will turn on you in the fights against the Desire Demon and the Pride Demon. Fine, I'll accept the explanation that it only works on mages. Anders turns into Justice if you bring him, but what about Merril?

On another note, I've now made two Hawkes, a mage and a rogue. The latter was much more successful, because I was careful to distribute my attribute points fairly and to always look ahead when choosing new abilities. Plus, I looked up where to buy the first Tome of Technique, so that helps. But the biggest difference was the build I put into Varric.

It didn't exactly take me long to figure out that Bianca doesn't shoot very fast. So, I gave him Speed and set a tactic to always keep it on. Then I spent the extra points to get Harmony, which took a while, but really paid off. Then I added the two upgrades for Speed. Of course I had to buy Bianca's Song and Well-Oiled, which meant getting Rhyming Triplet, too. In the end, I found myself in command of a little something I dubbed the Dwarven Gatling Gun. Unfortunately, having taken every relevant ability I could find, I am at a loss as to how to get more dakka.

Also, is level 20 the cap?

[Calemyr]

OK, I'm confused by something in the Act 2 follow-up quest involving Feynriel.

The Keeper explicitly states that killing a mage in the Fade will make them Tranquil (which I'd never have guessed, I'd have thought it would be a more physical procedure, involving copious amounts of lyrium). But two of your companions will turn on you in the fights against the Desire Demon and the Pride Demon. Fine, I'll accept the explanation that it only works on mages. Anders turns into Justice if you bring him, but what about Merril?



Dying while caught in a dream, the way Feynriel is, will sever you. Using the keeper's ritual is a different story. The effect seems similar as both Aveline and Fenris were speaking oddly monotone afterwards, but it's thankfully short lived. Whoever you take is visibly shaken by the events, however, which gives you a shot at more dialogue.

For me, Pride took Fenris, convincing him that the demon could give him enough power to truly protect himself. Desire easily snared Aveline by convincing her that she could resurrect her husband. I think the two losest loyalty allies are the ones that fall, since Fenris fell first and Varrick didn't fall at all.

[Zevox]

Thought that occurred to me and scares me a bit: is gaining constitution now the only way to gain health? That would explain what I'm seeing as far as my characters' health totals go. Would make it significantly harder to optimize my ability point spread though, especially assuming the same is now true of willpower and stamina/mana.

Also, did all Dalish pick up an Irish (I think?) accent now, or is it just the one clan? Seems an odd choice if it's all of them.

Zevox

[Dienekes]

That makes me leery of just which side to take, knowing one's a blood-magic-condoning jerk while the other one's an insane fanatic, especially since I'm gonna have to kill both of them in the end anyway.

Please spoiler tag. Every time you don't spoiler tag, Anders loses another kitten.

also


It's hard for me to side with the Templars though, since while BioWare tries to play up the moral ambiguity of both sides, you're still gonna feel sympathy for the mages because of Meredith's behavior and because supporting the Templars often makes you do some pretty jerkass things, like killing innocent mages and tranquilizing a kid. I desperately want to like the Templars. They're the closest thing to knights in shining armor that I like to play in the Dragon Age setting. But BioWare doesn't seem to work hard to make them seem sympathetic.

I'd suggest not trying to look at the Templars as the "knights in shining armor" and instead just look at them as "the knights." There are some great guys in the order who truly want to help. There are some real bastards as well, unfortunately in Kirkwall the leader appears to be one of the latter. As to making them sympathetic, on the contrary most times I see a psycho blood mage and a demon I feel sympathy for them. Their goals are noble, and in the craptastic medieval setting such as Dragon Age is, I'd argue their methods are (mostly) reasonable.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Please spoiler tag. Every time you don't spoiler tag, Anders loses another kitten.
I thought everyone knew that. Doesn't everyone here read TV Tropes? :smallconfused:

I'd suggest not trying to look at the Templars as the "knights in shining armor" and instead just look at them as "the knights." There are some great guys in the order who truly want to help. There are some real bastards as well, unfortunately in Kirkwall the leader appears to be one of the latter. As to making them sympathetic, on the contrary most times I see a psycho blood mage and a demon I feel sympathy for them. Their goals are noble, and in the craptastic medieval setting such as Dragon Age is, I'd argue their methods are (mostly) reasonable.
From the quests I've read about it doesn't seem so. Killing an innocent boy in the Fade to make him Tranquil and then needing to tell his mother about it? Forcing a family to starve because the Templar in their family who is their breadwinner might be possessed? Losing access to Anders, an old friend from Awakening and an essential party member as you'll spend most of the game without Bethany and Merill can't learn healing spells?

[Zevox]

Please spoiler tag. Every time you don't spoiler tag, Anders loses another kitten.
Do as he says man. Anders deserves to have a kitten. :smallsmile:

Also, having spent some time with Merril now, ya'll are right - she's adorable. I do believe that settles who I'm going to romance. Was debating between Anders and Isabella before, but Anders went all emo the moment I tried to flirt with him, and Isabella doesn't seem the romantic type so much as the one-night-stand type, though I suppose that's completely unsurprising given what we saw of her in Origins. But yeah, Merril seems like a great alternative.


I thought everyone knew that. Doesn't everyone here read TV Tropes? :smallconfused:
No, and even those who do don't read it all the time, nor do we all read spoilers for games we intend to play. I myself only glance over the site from time to time, usually when someone else links to it (which hasn't occurred in a good while now in posts I've read), and I'd certainly avoid anything spoilered for a recent game I haven't completed yet like DA2.

Zevox

[Dienekes]

I thought everyone knew that. Doesn't everyone here read TV Tropes? :smallconfused:

I like playing rpg games like I like reading books and watching movies. Completely unspoiled so I can enjoy the twists and turns as they come. I for one did not know how it was going to end, and was rather happy I had avoided the ending you just informed me of, unlike what happened with DAO where one of the first things I was told about was the dark ritual. So, thanks for that.

And not going to read the next bit because it may contain facts I don't know about yet. See wasn't that simple?

[Derthric]

Do as he says man. Anders deserves to have a kitten. :smallsmile:
Zevox

After that ending I will have to vociferously disagree, frakking extremist bastard doesn't deserve a kitten.

And I just beat the game. All in all it was pretty good, will elaborate more in the spoiler to follow. I liked the pacing of combat and the overall presentation of the game, I think in general it is an improvement over DA:O. Some things like being able to access your entire party's inventory slots in your home base would have been nice.

Thoughts on the end, don't read unless you really really want to ruin the ending......Seriously you have been warned.


What the Frak! Orsino you moron why blood magic at that point of all things? And Anders way to break the city/church/any semblance of civilization 'hero'.

I think the final choice of Mages vs Templars was handled oh so poorly. Acts 1 and 2 were paced well and you had an idea of where it was all going and felt like your actions actually did affect the outcome. With Act 3 it felt like railroading in the extreme. There were templar's willing to overthrow Meredith, but blood mages effed that up. And if the Grand Cleric had actually been proactive and pushed you to move maybe she wouldn't have been blowed up by Anders. I guess the thing I found most frustrating was that anytime we see a mage backed into a corner in these games 95% of the time they go "oh yeah well Blood Magic in your face" and then die horribly after being possessed. So it shouldn't take a massive leap of thought to figure out its not gonna work. Just frustrating that in the end, the game gabbed you by the collar and threw you into a fight that you had next to no control over the outcome of.

Also the Leiliana reveal at the end would have worked better without her showing up in Sebastian's quest line. Also in the epilogue why was it that Isabella ended up staying with the Champion and not the actual romance Merril, stop making things up Varric.

Overall Acts 1 and 2 were great, the companions were all distinct and engaging. The gameplay was fun and challenging. Overall I recommend it. Buy it new for the Black Emporium DLC free, its not great but the dog and some of the trinkets you get are worth it. Exiled Prince, I say save the 7 bucks he doesn't fill a desperately needed role and his final quest takes the wind out of the sails of the last reveal a bit.

[Caewil]

I liked Dragon Age 1 more, frankly. In DA2, enemies tend to show up very conveniently and you can always count on a reinforcement wave. There's very few quests with stand-alone encounters. So when tracking down just one mage, you get assailed by billions of abominations and so forth. Seriously, there were more abominations, shades and demons in some places than there were in the entire circle back in DA:O.

[Rising Phoenix]

Really? From what I've seen so far I'd say it probably has more than Origins. Improved combat, better character customization with a wider variety of skill options, these things can hardly help but make the game more tempting to keep playing.

Zevox


The story and roleplaying involve a lot more rail road imo. Its still good, but it doesn't have the diversity of options found in origins...

[king.com]

Seriously. Look at Act II (the quest for fifty sovereigns) as the treaty arc from DAO. Big multi-part quests with allies that join and all that.



Ok I just saw it as the Baldur's Gate 2 Act 1 quest. Get a bunch of money and then get into the game proper.

I'm personally hating combat, its so frustrating to have the waves of enemies pop up out of thin air right next to you every...single....fight.

[Leon]

Just got a weird bug: the game stopped detecting when my mouse was over a hotspot; enemies and items didn't highlight, I couldn't target area spells, etc. Fortunately I'd saved about 10 seconds before, so I'll reload in a bit and see if it's fixed itself. Anyone else had this?

I have that problem in ME2 on a aggravatingly frequent basis

[Moklok]

I'm personally hating combat, its so frustrating to have the waves of enemies pop up out of thin air right next to you every...single....fight.

My biggest issue with DA2 so far. Everything is repetitive. Soooooooooo repetitive. Evironment is reused over and over again, fights are all the same thing(waves and waves of weak/normal fighters, with a few rogues here and there).Even bosses used the add wave event too much.....every boss fight had some add wave event every 25%. You progress through the game, you still fight in the same areas as you did right after you came out of the boat.....the game feels...stagnant. I see this as lazyness on Bioware's part. DA:O had its flaws, but I could play hours and hours and not get bored. DA2, not so much.

By the way, I couldnt get a screenshot, but so far the biggest damage I have done was around 34,000. Beat this :smallcool:

[Zevox]

The story and roleplaying involve a lot more rail road imo. Its still good, but it doesn't have the diversity of options found in origins...
Not far enough in to properly discuss that, but I'll just say that for me, that certainly doesn't mean the game would have any less replay value. Illusory "choices" are not why I play these games.

Zevox

[Name_Here]

Man money just dries up after the deeproads. Sure you're flush with cash for a good while but then you start buying trinkets and armors and your income just doesn't bother to keep up.

It's certainly a new thing to be at top level but constantly scrimping for new shinies.

[JadedDM]

Also, did all Dalish pick up an Irish (I think?) accent now, or is it just the one clan? Seems an odd choice if it's all of them.

Welsh, actually. And it's part of the redesign of the elves. All Dalish elves have Welsh accents and don't wear shoes now, sort of like how the Qunari have horns now.

[VanBuren]

Welsh, actually. And it's part of the redesign of the elves. All Dalish elves have Welsh accents and don't wear shoes now, sort of like how the Qunari have horns now.

Both, actually. They didn't have enough Welsh voice actors so they've peppered it with some Irish ones.

Also, the Qunari is a different case somewhat. The Dalish is a pure retcon, so that even the Dalish we've already seen were supposed to have those accents. In the case of the Qunari, we never saw one that was supposed to have horns; every Qunari in Origins was either a mercenary who had cut theirs off or Sten, who was born without them, marking him as an individual of destiny.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I like playing rpg games like I like reading books and watching movies. Completely unspoiled so I can enjoy the twists and turns as they come. I for one did not know how it was going to end, and was rather happy I had avoided the ending you just informed me of, unlike what happened with DAO where one of the first things I was told about was the dark ritual. So, thanks for that.

And not going to read the next bit because it may contain facts I don't know about yet. See wasn't that simple?

See, I'm different. I actively seek out spoilers so I can make the "right" decisions and have the story as a whole unfold the way I want it. It's less "I'm playing a game" and more "I'm directing a movie." I don't want to enter a quest blind when moral ambiguity's the theme because I don't want to find out too late that I did something EEEEVIL by mistake. I restarted one quest four times trying to figure out the conversation routes that would gel the best with my paladin sensibilities, complete the quest and not earn me any rivalry points with anyone.

[Zevox]

Welsh, actually. And it's part of the redesign of the elves. All Dalish elves have Welsh accents and don't wear shoes now, sort of like how the Qunari have horns now.
Not wearing shoes I can understand. The accent is just odd to me. Not one I'd ever have pegged Elves as having, is all.

Zevox

[Dienekes]

Also, the Qunari is a different case somewhat. The Dalish is a pure retcon, so that even the Dalish we've already seen were supposed to have those accents. In the case of the Qunari, we never saw one that was supposed to have horns; every Qunari in Origins was either a mercenary who had cut theirs off or Sten, who was born without them, marking him as an individual of destiny.

So what of the Qunari that Sten met in the Void, they didn't have horns either. Though I'll admit, I kind of like the Dalish accents, I think it suits them oddly.


See, I'm different. I actively seek out spoilers so I can make the "right" decisions and have the story as a whole unfold the way I want it. It's less "I'm playing a game" and more "I'm directing a movie." I don't want to enter a quest blind when moral ambiguity's the theme because I don't want to find out too late that I did something EEEEVIL by mistake. I restarted one quest four times trying to figure out the conversation routes that would gel the best with my paladin sensibilities, complete the quest and not earn me any rivalry points with anyone.

That's totally fine, and very different than me. I like my characters to have strongly defined personalities that can potentially lead to mistakes and people hating me. However I still ask that you don't actively spoil plot points when a game came out less than a week ago.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

That's totally fine, and very different than me. I like my characters to have strongly defined personalities that can potentially lead to mistakes and people hating me. However I still ask that you don't actively spoil plot points when a game came out less than a week ago.

That's the problem though. I came here LOOKING for spoilers since there don't seem to be any guides on GameFAQs that I can print out, and I can't get to a bookstore or GameStop to buy the Prima guide.

[Calemyr]

Doesn't the Dalish accent work very well, in an odd way? I can't remember why exactly, but I've got it in my head that both the Irish and the Welsh have been social outsiders at various points in history.

As for the game itself, DA2's combat style is fun, but the waves of enemies goes on just a bit too long each time and it gets increasingly tedious. It's really annoying for a mage, as no sooner do you place down some nice crowd control magic, another wave comes in while you're helpless and recharging. I mean, you either have an armload of weak spells or half a dozen powerful ones. If you're going to have waves like that, cut the cooldowns in half or so to allow them to stay involved.

I was wondering if there's anything you can do to alter the results of the Act IV quest "All That Remains". I can't shake the feeling that if I'd pushed that quest line a little earlier, things might have gone differently. As it is, even as an apostate himself, Hawke is getting very tired of mages...

And Zousa, there is nothing wrong with spoilers, nothing at all, as long as they're hidden, either in white text or in a spoiler box. That way it's your choice to have the story spoiled for you. Otherwise, as Hawke puts it "I can't unsee that, now!"

[Zevox]

Damn. I just finished the "Sheparding Wolves" quest. (I'm still pre-expedition, for those who don't recognize the name right away.)
Sheesh, the Qunari make the Templars look downright kind. Their treatment of their mages is horrific - and it's even more horrifying to see how effective their indoctrination of them is. The more I learn about them, the less I like them.

I wound up letting the mage do as he chose though. I couldn't bring myself to force him to try freedom against his will... but damn if it wasn't tempting.

Gotta say, in general, they're doing a better job of giving you more ambiguous moral choices in these sidequests than they ever did in DA:O. This, the Magistrate's son, some of the mage-related quests; there are a lot more I've had to actually think about what I wanted to do for a bit than there ever was in Origins. Also nice to see that one kind-hearted Templar who wants to help mages (name escapes me, began with a "T"). Didn't have anyone like him in Origins.
Zevox

[Dienekes]

That's the problem though. I came here LOOKING for spoilers since there don't seem to be any guides on GameFAQs that I can print out, and I can't get to a bookstore or GameStop to buy the Prima guide.

Then go the simple route:

So guys, I have a problem with Generic Title Quest, can you help me out?
{spoiler}I've gotten to the part where I have the morally ambiguous choice and I need help making my decision. I mean should I help the little girl who might turn into a baby eating destroyer of worlds, or should I try and gain new contracts for my mine?{/spoiler}

Easy as pie.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

If I did that, I'd be quitting and restarting the game every five minutes. I tried to base my Hawke on my favorite "paladin" figure, King Arthur, and I've been trying the "What would King Arthur do?" thing at moral junctures, but the problem is that I've got no friggin' clue how King Arthur would view the Templar/Mage conflict in Kirkwall. He was a unifier, dedicated to getting the lords of Britain to stop squabbling over power and bring peace and justice to the people. But Dragon Age II forces you to take sides, one advocating incredibly dangerous forces to run free whil the other advocates the slaughter of potential innocents. There's no truly "Lawful Good" option as far as I can see for this whole thing.

[Morty]

The obvious thing to do would be to choose the option you think works better and not blame yourself for the whole world being what it is. Dragon Age isn't exactly close to an Arthurian legend.

[VanBuren]

So what of the Qunari that Sten met in the Void, they didn't have horns either. Though I'll admit, I kind of like the Dalish accents, I think it suits them oddly.

All of Sten's group were of the hornless variety. The sense I got is that while they're not common, they're not entirely rare either and so the naturally hornless tend to get sent as foreign envoys like Sten was.

The other variety are those who abandon the Qun.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

The obvious thing to do would be to choose the option you think works better and not blame yourself for the whole world being what it is. Dragon Age isn't exactly close to an Arthurian legend.

I mean, on the one hand, Arthur learned almost everything he knew from Merlin, so he respected magic, but at the same time, however, he and his knights spent a lot of time fighting evil sorcerers and stuff, like Morgan Le Fay or Mabon or The Red Knight of the Red Lands.

[Calemyr]

Well, look at my guy. He is a mage, and even so he is getting increasingly anti-mage the more he sees. Magic is such an incredible power in the hands of so many who are ill-equipped to use it responsibly. As a result he does his utmost at all times to see to it that the templar are supported, as long as their those who abuse their role are removed. In other words, he's a friend to the "good" templars and death incarnate to the "bad" ones. Where Merideth stands on that line he doesn't yet know: depending on reports, she's either a baby killing monster or a well intentioned lady trying to beat some peace into a society to thick skulled to get along.

[Arcanoi]

I mean, on the one hand, Arthur learned almost everything he knew from Merlin, so he respected magic, but at the same time, however, he and his knights spent a lot of time fighting evil sorcerers and stuff, like Morgan Le Fay or Mabon or The Red Knight of the Red Lands.

One of the intentions of Dragon Age II is to make it so things aren't quite so cut and dry as to make it easy to go through in a Lawful Good/Chaotic Evil manner. The best D&D morality analogs I can find are of the Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful/Neutral Evil varieties.

[Derthric]

Well, look at my guy. He is a mage, and even so he is getting increasingly anti-mage the more he sees. Magic is such an incredible power in the hands of so many who are ill-equipped to use it responsibly. As a result he does his utmost at all times to see to it that the templar are supported, as long as their those who abuse their role are removed. In other words, he's a friend to the "good" templars and death incarnate to the "bad" ones. Where Merideth stands on that line he doesn't yet know: depending on reports, she's either a baby killing monster or a well intentioned lady trying to beat some peace into a society to thick skulled to get along.

I think if the circle in Kirkwall had functioned like the circle in Fereldan you would have a shot at that sort of outcome. But consider that this game is the exact opposite of DA:O in that it is not open ended with a plethora of choices on how to handle the Archdemon. In this one the story is building to a titular event and basically comes down to which side you fall on during it. Of course all leaders were bouncing idiot balls around like crazy to get there.

And reading up on spoilers, I would recommend just playing the game and using your characters mindset to make decisions as you go. If you take the Lawful Good approach you will create rivals because not everyone is lawful good. But that's half the fun to see how it unfolds because of what you have done. But YMMV.

[shadow_archmagi]

I'm really enjoying Dragon Age 2! I like the symbol-coded dialogue options. In the old game, I'd always be having conversations where I'd be trying to play a pleasant character and then....


Peasant: My crops burned down!
Click: 3. That's too bad
Warden: You idiot, you don't deserve life. *kick peasant into fire*
Allister: You're a monster
Morrigan: Pointless violence again? What a waste of time.
--Reload--
Peasant: My corn burned down!
Click: 2. I'm sure new opportunities will crop up.
Warden: What a corny situation. Ho ho ho!
Leliana: You're such a jerk
Morrigan: Why are you talking to commoners? They stink of common.

[Dhavaer]

Didn't the old game write out your lines completely? That said, I do like the new system. Particularly how it changes your non-selectable lines based on what you've picked most of.

[Wabbajack]

Didn't the old game write out your lines completely? That said, I do like the new system. Particularly how it changes your non-selectable lines based on what you've picked most of.

I really like snarky she-Hawke.

[LordShotGun]

Having started to play through the game again, this time as a mage I am more certain about my opinions concerning the game.

1. They reuse ALOT of scenery which gets repetitive

2. The waves of reinforcements during almost every fight is seriously wearing on my like of the game. I mean whats the point of being a mage if you can not conduct effective strategies because 5 more enemies dropped from the roof top.

3. Rogue is a ton more fun then mage since rogue gets WAY better damage dealing talents, especially :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin: Assassination:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbig grin: which can deal over 10,000 damage (to put in comparison that is about half the final boss's health) when properly upgraded and set up.

4. Bethany is by far the better thought out and characterized of the two siblings as carver just gets on my tits about being a mage way too much.

5. Replay is much much MUCH less then DA1. In DA1 you had 6 different back stories which all were pretty much awesome and many of the dialogue choices and NPC response depended on your race and sex. DA2 has the same 3 classes and male/female but no elf or dwarf choices.

Even the classes barely change the dialogue in DA2 compared to DA1. Also, in DA1 in every treaty quest you had 2 or more choices in how to fulfill them which could change the history of ferelden significantly. In DA2 almost every quest pretty much does nothing to effect the story no matter how it is resolved.

6. Combat is pretty good for rogues, pretty bad for mages (always getting blindsided by people that just spawned) and according to my friend, warrior (at least sword and board) is very boring as you slowly poke away at people.

7. Money was a problem in DA1 but if you used a helpful bug it was never an issue. In DA2 money is always very rare and money rewards from defeated enemies and "Junk" which is by far the stupidest evolution of the loot system for dragon age, just give me flipping money if all you can do with junk is sell it.

8. Equipment. This is probably where DA2 is the worst at. Not being able to change out companion equipment is kinda sucky but I can get over it. The items themselves are very very bland. I promise you will have a dozen rings with no way to tell what they are without looking at the tool tip. There are way way WAY too many stores all selling pretty much crap.

9. Recipes and item creation. This was a massive change where now once you find a resource it is available forever and all you have to do is pay money to make them.

To sum up. Dragon Age 2 is fulfilling but a much more simplistic game that, in a complete turn around from DA1, was obviously made for consoles first and PCs second. I would give Dragon Age 2 a 7/10. Certainly worth buying but you're not missing a revolution in gameplay or storytelling and replay is quite low in my opinion.

Hopefully (almost certainly) Mass Effect 3 will be better if only because of the massively different game play styles of each class (as long as bioware doesn't drop the ball on the story resolution which is a case of the low probability scenario)

[shadow_archmagi]

8. Equipment. This is probably where DA2 is the worst at. Not being able to change out companion equipment is kinda sucky but I can get over it. The items themselves are very very bland. I promise you will have a dozen rings with no way to tell what they are without looking at the tool tip. There are way way WAY too many stores all selling pretty much crap.

Honestly, I really like not having to deal with companion equipment. It's so liberating to be able to look at a pair of pants, say "I do not want to wear those pants" and then forget about them, instead of having to say "But maybe one of my eight friends wants those pants. Let me just get back to camp and go through all their inventories... Oh, sure enough, these are an upgrade for Allister. But Allister already had pretty good pants, so I"d better give his to someone else. Time to go through everyone's inventories again..."

[Zevox]

One of the intentions of Dragon Age II is to make it so things aren't quite so cut and dry as to make it easy to go through in a Lawful Good/Chaotic Evil manner. The best D&D morality analogs I can find are of the Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful/Neutral Evil varieties.
Might be why I fit in fairly well, being as my own morality outlook tends to be along the lines of chaotic good/chaotic neutral. Of course that makes it harder for them to make things seem ambiguous to me, but as I mentioned a post or two ago, they are doing a better job of that in DA2.


Didn't the old game write out your lines completely? That said, I do like the new system. Particularly how it changes your non-selectable lines based on what you've picked most of.
It's actively doing that? I wasn't sure. I knew my Hawke had been doing some snarky lines without prompting, which I approved of, but I didn't know they'd change based on my own dialogue tendencies. That's kind of neat.

But yeah, I like the new system too. The tone indicators are more helpful than I'd thought they'd be, and having a voice actor for Hawke is a huge step up from Origins.

Zevox

[Blayze]

The voices seem far, far too quiet--I've got mine set to 10 and every volume bar on my laptop jacked up to maximum and I still need to lean in to hear anyone speak. Anyone else encountered this?

[Dhavaer]

It's actively doing that? I wasn't sure. I knew my Hawke had been doing some snarky lines without prompting, which I approved of, but I didn't know they'd change based on my own dialogue tendencies. That's kind of neat.

I don't know for sure, but I think it was brought up before the game came out, and I've gotten some very snarky unprompted lines. I gues I'll know for sure when I do my aggressive playthrough.

[Cristo Meyers]

I don't know for sure, but I think it was brought up before the game came out, and I've gotten some very snarky unprompted lines. I gues I'll know for sure when I do my aggressive playthrough.

LadyMeyers and I have noticed an occasional difference too with unprompted lines cropping up, but we tend to pick the same dialogue options so I can't be sure. I also seem to remember hearing something about the game tracking dialogue choices and changing some of the lines accordingly.

I'm loving the inter-party banter in this game: Anders and Isabella, Varric and Fenris, some of them have had us both rolling in our chairs laughing :smallbiggrin:

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Well, look at my guy. He is a mage, and even so he is getting increasingly anti-mage the more he sees. Magic is such an incredible power in the hands of so many who are ill-equipped to use it responsibly. As a result he does his utmost at all times to see to it that the templar are supported, as long as their those who abuse their role are removed. In other words, he's a friend to the "good" templars and death incarnate to the "bad" ones. Where Merideth stands on that line he doesn't yet know: depending on reports, she's either a baby killing monster or a well intentioned lady trying to beat some peace into a society to thick skulled to get along.

Where do you hear the latter interpretation of Meredith from? Everything I've seen in my own game (which isn't much since I'm in the money-collecting phase) and from videos on YouTube suggests she's a paranoid fanatic who thinks all the mages in Kirkwall are practicing blood magic in secret and that they don't deserve to exist. :smallconfused:

[Wabbajack]

According to the Dragon Age wiki:


The first dialogue choice you make sets Hawke's personality. If your first pick is a Diplomatic option, for example, Hawke's voice will adopt the Diplomatic tone in the next dialogue line that follows. As you keep choosing similar options at the dialogue wheel, they "stack". If you were to decide to change your personality later on, it would take more than twice the amount of (either Humorous or Aggressive) dialogue lines to active that version of Hawke's voice. The idea behind this system is to ensure a consistency in Hawke's delivery throughout each Act. After a certain number of specific dialogue choices, Hawke's personality is effectively crystallized.

At the start of each Act, Hawke retains his or her established personality, but the "stack" of the previous personality choices is reduced. This gives you a window of opportunity to change your dominant tone. (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Dialogue_wheel)

[Rising Phoenix]

Damn. I just finished the "Sheparding Wolves" quest. (I'm still pre-expedition, for those who don't recognize the name right away.)
Sheesh, the Qunari make the Templars look downright kind. Their treatment of their mages is horrific - and it's even more horrifying to see how effective their indoctrination of them is. The more I learn about them, the less I like them.

I wound up letting the mage do as he chose though. I couldn't bring myself to force him to try freedom against his will... but damn if it wasn't tempting.

Gotta say, in general, they're doing a better job of giving you more ambiguous moral choices in these sidequests than they ever did in DA:O. This, the Magistrate's son, some of the mage-related quests; there are a lot more I've had to actually think about what I wanted to do for a bit than there ever was in Origins. Also nice to see that one kind-hearted Templar who wants to help mages (name escapes me, began with a "T"). Didn't have anyone like him in Origins.
Zevox

Zervox I tried doing the thing you didn't want to and...

I tried forcing freedom on him and... he immolated himself because that was the thing he had to do according to quanari beliefs...:smalleek::smallfrown:

One of my fav. quests thus far

[JadedDM]

she's a paranoid fanatic who thinks all the mages in Kirkwall are practicing blood magic in secret and that they don't deserve to exist.

I don't have the game yet, but I have been watching a Let's Play, and most of what I have seen (so far) kind of suggests she's right, that Kirkwall is crawling with Blood Mages, demons, and abominations. @_@

[Zevox]

Zervox I tried doing the thing you didn't want to and...

I tried forcing freedom on him and... he immolated himself because that was the thing he had to do according to quanari beliefs...:smalleek::smallfrown:

One of my fav. quests thus far
So then the outcome doesn't change in that respect regardless of what you try. I suppose that's not surprising when you get down to it - the Qunari aren't the type to listen to others, no matter what methods you try to use to make them.
Zevox

[Guancyto]

Sweet Maker, so many demons and abominations. I think I've taken out at least a couple hundred.

There are abominations who are mooks, even!

Game is great fun, though. Snarky she-Hawke is awesome, I'm going to miss her on replays.

Also, is there a mod that gives additional skill trees to NPCs? I wanted a party of ManHawke, Carver, Varric and Anders, but Carver can't access the sword and board tree. Doesn't seem right that Aveline and Hawke are the only real tanks. :smallfrown:

[Derthric]

I don't have the game yet, but I have been watching a Let's Play, and most of what I have seen (so far) kind of suggests she's right, that Kirkwall is crawling with Blood Mages, demons, and abominations. @_@

Its quite disturbing how easily every mage you run into turns out to have been, is in the process of becoming or actually always was an abomination/blood mage. Except that one that ran away from the circle just to get laid I chock that up to poor writting on Bioware's part, it seems that without the Darkspawn to make up 80% of your enemies list they just seemed to have said "Make em all bandits and Blood Mages". At times its implied that the repression pushes the mages to desperation which leads to Blood Magic but its a forced connection.

In fact its why Orsino goes all Demon at the end because it was better to die fighting on your feet(even though you are possessed and have no free will or even truly exist anymore, but details Schmetails). And then of course Meredith turns out to be affected by the red lyrium stuff that drives people Bats*** crazy paranoid.

Honestly I think a lot of people approach the circle/templar relationship from the view presented in Origins. Where Gregor and Irving are rivals but not blood enemies and they both know their roles and don't begrudge the other theirs. That is not the case with Meredith and Orsino.

[Zevox]

So, I'm about to head out on the expedition at last. I'll be leaving two quests incomplete*, but I do believe I'm all set. I've also settled into something like a stable companion roster. Always bring Aveline and Isabella, rotate the last slot, though I tend to favor Merril. Aveline is indispensable defensely, Isabella incredible offensively, and anyone else seems to work fine as long as I have those two to back us up.

Actually, part of that's my one concern about combat balance - the importance of a tank. With only sword and shield warriors filling that role, and only Aveline using that weapon style, it seems like she'll be indispensable to any party where Hawke isn't a SnS warrior. And frankly, with the massive defense/pitiful damage style SnS warriors have, I doubt many will want to actually play it. I know it'll be the last character style I play, if I play one at all.

Of course, Origins would have suffered from this too, with Alistair being the only tank, if it weren't for mages being broken in that game, and Shale offering one alternate tank option if you downloaded her. Could nonetheless be annoying always having to use Aveline if you're playing on a difficulty above "normal" though.

*Specifically:
One where my former merc boss wants me to go kill someone he was hired to kill. Not entirely sure why he calls his group "mercenaries" when they appear to be assassins instead. In any event, I'm not going to kill someone just because he has an employer that wants them dead, so I'm not even accepting that one.

The other being the one where a Dwarf who used to be a partner of Varric's brother (name escapes me) offers to pay for the expedition for you if you'll pay him back double after. I figure I have no reason to take that when I got the money for it myself.

At times its implied that the repression pushes the mages to desperation which leads to Blood Magic but its a forced connection.
Forced? Quite the contrary, that's a perfectly logical connection, and one members on this board have been discussing/arguing since the first game and the whole incident with Uldred.

Zevox

[Rising Phoenix]

My male Hawke just

had casual sex with Isabela. Then he visited Anders just to find Isabela getting treatment for an STD... :smalleek:

It was quite funny XD

[VanBuren]

So, I'm about to head out on the expedition at last. I'll be leaving two quests incomplete*, but I do believe I'm all set. I've also settled into something like a stable companion roster. Always bring Aveline and Isabella, rotate the last slot, though I tend to favor Merril. Aveline is indispensable defensely, Isabella incredible offensively, and anyone else seems to work fine as long as I have those two to back us up.

Actually, part of that's my one concern about combat balance - the importance of a tank. With only sword and shield warriors filling that role, and only Aveline using that weapon style, it seems like she'll be indispensable to any party where Hawke isn't a SnS warrior. And frankly, with the massive defense/pitiful damage style SnS warriors have, I doubt many will want to actually play it. I know it'll be the last character style I play, if I play one at all.

Of course, Origins would have suffered from this too, with Alistair being the only tank, if it weren't for mages being broken in that game, and Shale offering one alternate tank option if you downloaded her. Could nonetheless be annoying always having to use Aveline if you're playing on a difficulty above "normal" though.

*Specifically:
One where my former merc boss wants me to go kill someone he was hired to kill. Not entirely sure why he calls his group "mercenaries" when they appear to be assassins instead. In any event, I'm not going to kill someone just because he has an employer that wants them dead, so I'm not even accepting that one.

The other being the one where a Dwarf who used to be a partner of Varric's brother (name escapes me) offers to pay for the expedition for you if you'll pay him back double after. I figure I have no reason to take that when I got the money for it myself.

Forced? Quite the contrary, that's a perfectly logical connection, and one members on this board have been discussing/arguing since the first game and the whole incident with Uldred.

Zevox

The second part of your spoiler exists as a sort of backup option for those who fritter away their loot and end up at the end of the act without enough to cover the cost. It's far from the optimum resolution long-term but it's there if you end up needing it.

It triggers if you do enough of the act without paying Bertrand.

[Muz]

YIKES!

I'm on the expedition, and I just ran into...

GRIGNAK!!*
http://bioware.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/rock-wraith.jpg
I'm playing on hard difficulting and YEEEEEEEESH! That...thing kicked my party's butt, and it wasn't pretty. (The game calls it an Ancient Rock Wraith, but I'm calling it Grignak.) Hawke's a mage, and I've got Varric, Aveline, and Fenris along with me. Barring any intervention from Tech Sergeant Chen, I could use some tips. I want to at least see if I can beat the sucker without turning the difficulty down, but right now it's like attacking a tank with a toothpick.

*If you don't get the reference, then no GeekPoints(tm) for you!


On an unrelated note, that bit with Sandal was hilarious. :smallbiggrin:

[Zevox]

The second part of your spoiler exists as a sort of backup option for those who fritter away their loot and end up at the end of the act without enough to cover the cost. It's far from the optimum resolution long-term but it's there if you end up needing it.

It triggers if you do enough of the act without paying Bertrand.
I kind of figured, which is pretty much why I chose to ignore it, since I could pay for myself anyway.

Edit: Aw, crap.
I only get to bring three companions on the expedition, and Varric is locked in?! Shoot. That's a problem. As mentioned before, I've been using Aveline/Isabella/rotating third. Thing is, if this expedition is going to be of any significant size, I think I'd want to bring Merril to continue developing my relationship with her, since I want to romance her (also, for whatever funny/adorable moments she's sure to have). But that would mean replacing Isabella (since Aveline is the more indispensable of the two), leaving me a one melee/three ranged character roster. And doing that could make fights very ugly.

This... is gonna be tough. I'll keep a save from before the expedition in case this goes sour, but I guess I'm taking Merril as my third for now.
Zevox

[LordShotGun]

YIKES!

I'm on the expedition, and I just ran into...

GRIGNAK!!*
http://bioware.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/rock-wraith.jpg
I'm playing on hard difficulting and YEEEEEEEESH! That...thing kicked my party's butt, and it wasn't pretty. (The game calls it an Ancient Rock Wraith, but I'm calling it Grignak.) Hawke's a mage, and I've got Varric, Aveline, and Fenris along with me. Barring any intervention from Tech Sergeant Chen, I could use some tips. I want to at least see if I can beat the sucker without turning the difficulty down, but right now it's like attacking a tank with a toothpick.

*If you don't get the reference, then no GeekPoints(tm) for you!


On an unrelated note, that bit with Sandal was hilarious. :smallbiggrin:



When it does its glowy explosion of death you need to manually move your entire team into one the protected corners. That alone let me win on hard using Rogue Hawk (He was TWF but I switched him onto a bow since assassinate still works) Healer Anders, Tank Aveline, and of course Varric. Pretty much I had anders heal (of course) and have Aveline draw the smaller rock monsters aggro while Hawke/Varric Chipped away at it. I dunno how you can do it with the party you have

And yeah Sandal's part was pretty awesome. A good self reference to DA1.

[Muz]

When it does its glowy explosion of death you need to manually move your entire team into one the protected corners. That alone let me win on hard using Rogue Hawk (He was TWF but I switched him onto a bow since assassinate still works) Healer Anders, Tank Aveline, and of course Varric. Pretty much I had anders heal (of course) and have Aveline draw the smaller rock monsters aggro while Hawke/Varric Chipped away at it. I dunno how you can do it with the party you have


I figured it was about to do something like that when it started, and tried to run away, but I didn't do it fast enough or far enough. Are there specific protected corners, or will any corner do?



And yeah Sandal's part was pretty awesome. A good self reference to DA1.
Wild mass guessing here:
Sandal is the Maker!

...Yeah, okay, probably not. :smallwink:

[megabyter5]

So... Do any Qunari have names? Sten is apparently a title, and the only Qunari that are addressed as individuals are either The Arishok or just called Saarebas. Petrice calls him Ketojan, but he's muzzled and never confirms or denies that as being his given name.

Anyway, the Qun is stupid. They're scared of new things, so they keep everything so tightly restrained that most of them don't even know how to think for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if the Qun had a section on when they're allowed to use the bathroom.

I've only just gotten to the start of Act III, but unless something happens to change their plans, Bodahn and Sandal appear to be headed for Orlais, next. When I heard that, I immediately thought that the next game had to take place there- no way they'd make a Dragon Age game without them. This led to my theory that somehow, Sandal is integral to the overarching story of Dragon Age... Perhaps even more so than Flemeth.

Come to think of it, he did supposedly hallucinate a scary old woman near his bed... I'm just saying.

[Gralamin]

Request for Tips

Just beat him on hard with Primal/Blood Mage Hawke, Varric, Fenris, and Anders. I used Anders to heal, and used a lot of AoE's to kill his minions. Other then that, it was mostly running around avoiding his attacks manually. If you do it right, he should always be attacking a ranged character: You don't want him attacking your warriors. Your warriors DPS while your ranged guys run around, and shoot whenever they can.

When tiny lazers come, hide behind the pillars. When he vacuums, just keep attacking.

[Caewil]

The deep roads mission is pretty quick. Just bring whichever party members are the most effective and you will need tank(s) and a healer. You're also stuck with Varrick.

[Rising Phoenix]

Anyone else heard the creepy speech of Sandal whe he is in your mansion?...

[Derthric]

According to Merril all he does is watch her in the Estate. But so long as he keeps making the shiney and doesn't touch its all good.

[Dienekes]

So... Do any Qunari have names? Sten is apparently a title, and the only Qunari that are addressed as individuals are either The Arishok or just called Saarebas. Petrice calls him Ketojan, but he's muzzled and never confirms or denies that as being his given name.

Anyway, the Qun is stupid. They're scared of new things, so they keep everything so tightly restrained that most of them don't even know how to think for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if the Qun had a section on when they're allowed to use the bathroom.

I've found the Qun more interesting than stupid. Ok stupid too, but I don't think they're afraid of new things (they are the most technologically advanced society, implying some desire to change in that regard) as much as they're afraid of chaos. The Qun is about order, something I can respect even if they carry it way too far. The saarebas aren't mutilated because they are different, they're chained because if they are taken over by a demon they disrupt the order. The saarebas themselves are supposedly respected for their self sacrifice that goes beyond everyone else.

For inability to think for themselves, honestly I haven't noticed this except in response to the saarebas again. We have seen Qunari with differing personalities, but every one we have seen have been soldiers lost in a very confusing and different world, that seems hell bent on screwing with them.

[Zevox]

Expedition spoilers:
So, I might need to turn down the difficulty to normal to get through the Deep Roads. I've had a hell of a time on a number of fights so far - notably the Dragon, a Stone Golem backed up by about four waves of Shades, and the first encounter with the Profane - and now came across the Hunger Demon Abomination Rock-Wraith and the massive Rock-Wraith boss. I made the deal with the demon the first time through, got my ass handed to me thoroughly by the boss, decided to try fighting the demon the second time through, and got my ass handed to me by his Profane and Shade reinforcements (took him down fast, he's a wuss, but his friends are many).

I might be able to take the demon's allies if I keep trying, though I'm not entirely sure I should bother considering I'm having a hard time coming up with a reason agreeing to help him in exchange for his help getting out would be a particularly bad thing, since he seems content to stick down in those ruins anyway. Even if I can though, that boss... I don't think I took out so much as a third of its hit points before it got me. Plus I'm sure it has more waves of Profane reinforcements waiting to show up when it reaches certain levels of health, and the first was punishing enough.

I could reload my save from before the expedition and swap Merril for Isabella, which might help, but I don't see it helping enough against that massive Rock-Wraith. And I don't want to re-do all those other tough fights just to have to turn the difficulty down to pass that one anyway.

Sooo... anyone have any advice? Does it/the Profane have an elemental weakness I can exploit maybe? I have staves of all kinds, and between myself and Merril I think all the elements are covered with at least one spell.
Zevox

[Caewil]

Expedition spoilers:
So, I might need to turn down the difficulty to normal to get through the Deep Roads. I've had a hell of a time on a number of fights so far - notably the Dragon, a Stone Golem backed up by about four waves of Shades, and the first encounter with the Profane - and now came across the Hunger Demon Abomination Rock-Wraith and the massive Rock-Wraith boss. I made the deal with the demon the first time through, got my ass handed to me thoroughly by the boss, decided to try fighting the demon the second time through, and got my ass handed to me by his Profane and Shade reinforcements (took him down fast, he's a wuss, but his friends are many).

I might be able to take the demon's allies if I keep trying, though I'm not entirely sure I should bother considering I'm having a hard time coming up with a reason agreeing to help him in exchange for his help getting out would be a particularly bad thing, since he seems content to stick down in those ruins anyway. Even if I can though, that boss... I don't think I took out so much as a third of its hit points before it got me. Plus I'm sure it has more waves of Profane reinforcements waiting to show up when it reaches certain levels of health, and the first was punishing enough.

I could reload my save from before the expedition and swap Merril for Isabella, which might help, but I don't see it helping enough against that massive Rock-Wraith. And I don't want to re-do all those other tough fights just to have to turn the difficulty down to pass that one anyway.

Sooo... anyone have any advice? Does it/the Profane have an elemental weakness I can exploit maybe? I have staves of all kinds, and between myself and Merril I think all the elements are covered with at least one spell.
Zevox
Help:
You need to hide behind the pillars when he does his exploding trick. So keep your ranged characters behind using hold position and kill his spawnlings. Then attack him from a range and chip away at him. His ranged attack is much weaker than his melee.

Expedition Question: If you don't take the treasure by killing the demon, do you still end up in the mansion in hightown?

[Zevox]

Help:
You need to hide behind the pillars when he does his exploding trick. So keep your ranged characters behind using hold position and kill his spawnlings. Then attack him from a range and chip away at him. His ranged attack is much weaker than his melee.
I kinda figured that out right away - I happened to be in the corner when he went to do that the first time. That wasn't the problem. The problem was his wave of Profane reinforcements and him just hitting friggin' hard, while I could hardly seem to hurt him at all.
Zevox

[Callos_DeTerran]

Finished the 'Sheperding Wolves' quest and I was a bit disappointed that Saarebos wasn't going to be a new companion, and I'm a bit shocked that Sten called the Qun way of handling mages 'civilized' while the Circles weren't. Maybe that was just his inner sense of Qun telling him how whacky Fereldens are though...

In any case, I just finished the expedition to the Deep Roads myself with a team of Spirit Blood Mage Hawke, Isabela, Varric, and Aveline. Had a bit of trouble with the boss until I figured out the bit with the pillars (also because I only had three health potions to drink). So far though, really enjoying the game. I'm not sure where the story is heading yet, or why the Seeker is after Hawke (though if that Chantry b**ch thinks She-Hawk will help the Chantry, she has another thing coming...) but that idol is.....a bit ominous. I don't know if anything is actually going to come of it though.

[Calemyr]

Finished the 'Sheperding Wolves' quest and I was a bit disappointed that Saarebos wasn't going to be a new companion, and I'm a bit shocked that Sten called the Qun way of handling mages 'civilized' while the Circles weren't. Maybe that was just his inner sense of Qun telling him how whacky Fereldens are though...

In any case, I just finished the expedition to the Deep Roads myself with a team of Spirit Blood Mage Hawke, Isabela, Varric, and Aveline. Had a bit of trouble with the boss until I figured out the bit with the pillars (also because I only had three health potions to drink). So far though, really enjoying the game. I'm not sure where the story is heading yet, or why the Seeker is after Hawke (though if that Chantry b**ch thinks She-Hawk will help the Chantry, she has another thing coming...) but that idol is.....a bit ominous. I don't know if anything is actually going to come of it though.


The idol is bad news, and you should be grateful Hawke and Varric get their fortunes from elsewhere in the Thaig. Bertrand isn't that lucky, but it doesn't play a deciding role in the game. The seeker isn't interested in you for anything that happens in the Deep Roads, she's focused on how everything went to hell many years after than and Varrick's just telling how things got to that point - how Hawke became the champion, how he met his friends, etc.

This is a different kind of story - a random NPC with some ties to a defunct minor noble family manages through competence and raw will to carve a life for themselves, only to find themselves to be the only one willing to actually do something when things go to hell. And they do. Repeatedly.


Honestly, perhaps my biggest frustration with the game so far is not knowing what things I can change and what things I can fix. "Sheparding Wolves" leads to the same end from any direction, but others can vary widely depending on how you deal with them and their precursors. There are several quests I find myself wondering if the outcome would have been different if I'd done something different six quests or even an act or two ago. This is a good frustration, though - nothing like the wave mentality of the battles, which is just annoying. I modded my PC version to cut the casting time of spells in half to make up for it, and the game is a lot more playable for that one change.

As for "Sheparding Wolves" Sten says flat out that among the Qunari mages are branded, enslaved, and have their tongues cut out. In short, they are neutered and weaponized right from the start, without any of this hand-ringing and fear that the foolish humans get caught up in. The point is that the Qunari idea of "civilization" is very different from the general "live and let live" ideal practiced by humans (and it should be practiced because they are not very good at it).

[Gralamin]

I kinda figured that out right away - I happened to be in the corner when he went to do that the first time. That wasn't the problem. The problem was his wave of Profane reinforcements and him just hitting friggin' hard, while I could hardly seem to hurt him at all.
Zevox

I'm playing on Hard, and in my experience the answer is: AoE, AoE, AoE. Focus off the reinforcements with AoEs and targeting, then go after the boss. It's not like the boss doesn't have a bajillion HP anyway.

[Ildufra]

So, can this run on Mac? Since the steam versions dosen't seem to say so, but the wikipedia page does. Should I buy it retail?

[Bouregard]

So, can this run on Mac? Since the steam versions dosen't seem to say so, but the wikipedia page does. Should I buy it retail?

The retail version states it runs on any Macs with INTEL processors...

[LordShotGun]

The idol is bad news, and you should be grateful Hawke and Varric get their fortunes from elsewhere in the Thaig. Bertrand isn't that lucky, but it doesn't play a deciding role in the game.



Actually it DOES play a big part in the game. Where do you think Meredith gets her awesome pure lyrium sword? Verric does say Bertrand sold the idol to a women and she does go crazy.

[Calemyr]

Actually it DOES play a big part in the game. Where do you think Meredith gets her awesome pure lyrium sword? Verric does say Bertrand sold the idol to a women and she does go crazy.


Ah, that explains a lot, actually. Namely, how a relatively stable if overzealous templar could evolve into the psycho she becomes. Honestly, I don't think she starts out too bad - she dismissed the "Tranquil Solution" out of hand, for one thing, all the "good templar" agree that she started out well-intentioned, and - let's face it - she's mostly right: there are so many blood mages, abominations, demons, and rebel mages loose in her city that harsh action may well be deserved. Granted, it is largely because of her that there are so many hostile mages in the city (she crafts enemies like a master artisan), but she isn't responsible for the worst of them.

[Caewil]

Ah, that explains a lot, actually. Namely, how a relatively stable if overzealous templar could evolve into the psycho she becomes. Honestly, I don't think she starts out too bad - she dismissed the "Tranquil Solution" out of hand, for one thing, all the "good templar" agree that she started out well-intentioned, and - let's face it - she's mostly right: there are so many blood mages, abominations, demons, and rebel mages loose in her city that harsh action may well be deserved. Granted, it is largely because of her that there are so many hostile mages in the city (she crafts enemies like a master artisan), but she isn't responsible for the worst of them.


Still can't get over the one that cut off my mother's head. That was pretty horrifying... But where on earth do all the bodies for these animated corpses come from? Does Kirkwall have labyrinths like Paris where they just dump dead people or something?

[Zevox]

Aforementioned boss fight:
Arrg, I just came so close to beating it! I had the Ancient Rock-Wraith down to just a sliver of health when it finished me!

I went and did the fight with the Hunger Abomination/Rock Wraith, and everyone leveled up as a result, so I picked up Tempest for Hawke, upgraded Stonewall for Aveline, upgraded Tempest on Merril, and had Varric pick up Power (going for Harmony and upgrades to the Speed skill, need more points in that tree). I figure another AoE on my main, more defense on Aveline, and more power from one of Merril's spells should help. And it seems to have.

It came down to Hawke and Aveline vs it after the apparently final wave of Profane, with me exploiting the hell out of stamina potions (since I was out of healing potions) + newly-upgraded Stonewall to keep Aveline alive long enough for Hawke to regen her mana (also out of mana potions) and have her healing spell cooldown. As long as that lasted, Hawke, Aveline, and Fafnir (my Mabari) could chip away at it, and given it looks like it was out of Profane reinforcements, I thought I could win. I very nearly did. But it did one of it's teleport moves to come right next Hawke and one-hit killed her. That left Aveline solo, and she could neither deal enough damage quickly nor long survive without Hawke's healing backing her up. :smallfrown:

So, I guess I can do it, but damn is this one hell of a hard fight.

Edit: Yes! After three or four more tries, I finally beat it! Damn, that was harder than anything I faced in Origins, save perhaps for the one time I fought that spirit-making device just before the Anvil of the Void without knowing how to beat it. Quite satisfying to finally have done.
Zevox

[Avilan the Grey]

Okay, I have now restarted the game 12 times since this morning.

I. Can't. Get. The. Faces. Right.

This character editor is worse than the one in DA:O.

I guess I have to play the default two faces.

[Dienekes]

Okay, I have now restarted the game 12 times since this morning.

I. Can't. Get. The. Faces. Right.

This character editor is worse than the one in DA:O.

I guess I have to play the default two faces.

If you bought it directly use the Black Emporium. There's a face changing mechanism if you need it. Just start the game and make it to the city, after that you can fiddle to your hearts content.

[Cristo Meyers]

Anyone else heard the creepy speech of Sandal whe he is in your mansion?...

I used to think Sandal was kinda cool, like a mascot...now he's damn near the creepiest thing in the game...:smalleek:

[LordShotGun]

I used to think Sandal was kinda cool, like a mascot...now he's damn near the creepiest thing in the game...:smalleek:


What creepy speech are we talking about here?:smallconfused:

[Zevox]

So, quick question. I've seen reference to the game having four major parts to it here. Do the prologue (escaping Lothering through entering Kirkwall) and expedition count as two of those, or are one or both counted as a portion of another part? Just want to get an idea of how much more is left now that I'm past the expedition. I seem to recall it being said before the release that the story of DA2 occurred over a full decade, and so far there has only been four years worth of time skip (1 year after arriving in Kirkwall, 3 after the expedition), so I'm guessing I still have another time skip ahead, but it'd be nice to know if I'm right or setting myself up for disappointment by expecting more than one more part to the game.

Note: no spoilers please, I'm just fishing for the length of the game remaining to me.

Zevox

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Non-ethics related question here:

Are there any unique weapons given as quest rewards or something. The stuff from the promos is nice but I'm kind of like Alistair in that I'm a sucker for good tailoring. I wouldn't mind using The Lion of Orlais for my entire career, it's an awesome looking shield. Fadeshear's pretty cool too, but I'd rather have something a little less...scimitary. I'm trying to avoid spending money on weaponry since I need to save money for the expedition, and I've been told that after that money becomes scarce. There doesn't seem to be any info on equipment on the wiki apart from the promo items, so I have no clue where to look.

I have the same questions in regards to armor. Plus, how do you upgrade your companions' armor? I'm so paranoid that I might have missed one already!

[Avilan the Grey]

Finally settled on a first character:

Female Archer with default (bloodsmear) face. Because that face fits her character perfectly.

[Dienekes]

Non-ethics related question here:

Are there any unique weapons given as quest rewards or something. The stuff from the promos is nice but I'm kind of like Alistair in that I'm a sucker for good tailoring. I wouldn't mind using The Lion of Orlais for my entire career, it's an awesome looking shield. Fadeshear's pretty cool too, but I'd rather have something a little less...scimitary. I'm trying to avoid spending money on weaponry since I need to save money for the expedition, and I've been told that after that money becomes scarce. There doesn't seem to be any info on equipment on the wiki apart from the promo items, so I have no clue where to look.

I have the same questions in regards to armor. Plus, how do you upgrade your companions' armor? I'm so paranoid that I might have missed one already!

Yeah you get a lot of bonus items throughout the game. Amusingly, a lot of just normal weapons have pretty good bonuses already attached to them. As for buying items and weapons, I haven't and probably wont meaning I have over 200 gold right now that's not being used. You get items just fine, and so far the armor I'm using has been given through the main quest.

As for companions armor, different shops sell enchantment slots for them. The rest of their armor just levels up. Check around shops for them, I think they're in the Other section of sellers. You probably missed a few, depending on how far you are as I'm not sure if they carry through and I only figured this out during the third act. Overall, it's a power boost but not a game breaking loss.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Yeah you get a lot of bonus items throughout the game. Amusingly, a lot of just normal weapons have pretty good bonuses already attached to them. As for buying items and weapons, I haven't and probably wont meaning I have over 200 gold right now that's not being used. You get items just fine, and so far the armor I'm using has been given through the main quest.

As for companions armor, different shops sell enchantment slots for them. The rest of their armor just levels up. Check around shops for them, I think they're in the Other section of sellers. You probably missed a few, depending on how far you are as I'm not sure if they carry through and I only figured this out during the third act. Overall, it's a power boost but not a game breaking loss.

I'm not too far. I've only been doing sidequests to make money. I haven't done anything in the story way yet (I was just about to talk to Varric in The Hanged Man).

[Derthric]

Run around with the tab key permanently glued down and you won't miss much. There are quite a few "special" items laying about with codex entries and from what I can tell you get an armor set for Hawke in every Act. I never bought armor, a few trinkets and tomes but mostly shopped for the recipes and such. But the best rune and potion crafting recipes come from out in the field.

[LordShotGun]

So, quick question. I've seen reference to the game having four major parts to it here. Do the prologue (escaping Lothering through entering Kirkwall) and expedition count as two of those, or are one or both counted as a portion of another part? Just want to get an idea of how much more is left now that I'm past the expedition. I seem to recall it being said before the release that the story of DA2 occurred over a full decade, and so far there has only been four years worth of time skip (1 year after arriving in Kirkwall, 3 after the expedition), so I'm guessing I still have another time skip ahead, but it'd be nice to know if I'm right or setting myself up for disappointment by expecting more than one more part to the game.

Note: no spoilers please, I'm just fishing for the length of the game remaining to me.

Zevox

You are in the third "Act" I would say. Act one is the prologue and getting inside of Kirkwall. Act two is getting enough money for the expedition and going on it. Act three you are in and you should have already gotten the qunari main quests, and act four is the ending. So you are probably about halfway or 2/3rds of the way through.

A better way to put it is that you can expect to be around level 19-22 by the end if you have done the majority of the quests.

[Zevox]

You are in the third "Act" I would say. Act one is the prologue and getting inside of Kirkwall. Act two is getting enough money for the expedition and going on it. Act three you are in and you should have already gotten the qunari main quests, and act four is the ending. So you are probably about halfway or 2/3rds of the way through.

A better way to put it is that you can expect to be around level 19-22 by the end if you have done the majority of the quests.
All right, good to know. I'm currently level 13, and have just done a little chatting with my companions and Prince Sebastian's recruitment sidequest since finishing the expedition. So I have a fair way to go yet. Good - I'm not eager for the game to end.

Zevox

[VanBuren]

You are in the third "Act" I would say. Act one is the prologue and getting inside of Kirkwall. Act two is getting enough money for the expedition and going on it. Act three you are in and you should have already gotten the qunari main quests, and act four is the ending. So you are probably about halfway or 2/3rds of the way through.

A better way to put it is that you can expect to be around level 19-22 by the end if you have done the majority of the quests.

Now see, I would count the Lothering/Kirkwall entry as just the prologue with Act I starting after the timeskip, bringing it to 3 Acts.

But that's semantics.

[Zevox]

A sidequest I'm doing that I'm finding rather fascinating. (Helping the half-Elf mage boy, act 3.)
So, you enter the Fade, and if you bring Anders you get to talk to Justice while there. He actually seems much as he was, surprisingly, if a bit deeper in voice, though I imagine that's just a new voice actor.

Anyway, you help the boy resist temptations from multiple demons, and those demons will tempt your allies as well once you succeed. So far I've tried thrice, and each time a demon tried to tempt someone, it succeeded, in spite of my attempt to convince them not to accept. Merril and Fenris fell prey to a Pride demon, and Isabella to a desire demon (big surprise there, eh?). Though Isabella's was funny. It offered her a new ship, crewed by a hundred well-built men at her beck and call, and offered to bed her to boot. Her response? "What can I say? I like big boats, I cannot lie." :smallbiggrin:

I've been redoing it to try and find a way through without losing any companions - I'm not sure if dying in the Fade means dying in the real world in this case, as I was told that "killing" the boy I'm here to help would make him tranquil, though I of course doubt they'd make one of your companions tranquil. In any event, they don't revert to helping you if you win the fight, I know that much, so I'm not risking it. I've half a mind to keep a file from before it and re-do it until I see all the possible results, honestly. This one is kind of fascinating me.
Zevox

[VanBuren]

A sidequest I'm doing that I'm finding rather fascinating. (Helping the half-Elf mage boy, act 3.)
So, you enter the Fade, and if you bring Anders you get to talk to Justice while there. He actually seems much as he was, surprisingly, if a bit deeper in voice, though I imagine that's just a new voice actor.

Anyway, you help the boy resist temptations from multiple demons, and those demons will tempt your allies as well once you succeed. So far I've tried thrice, and each time a demon tried to tempt someone, it succeeded, in spite of my attempt to convince them not to accept. Merril and Fenris fell prey to a Pride demon, and Isabella to a desire demon (big surprise there, eh?). Though Isabella's was funny. It offered her a new ship, crewed by a hundred well-built men at her beck and call, and offered to bed her to boot. Her response? "What can I say? I like big boats, I cannot lie." :smallbiggrin:

I've been redoing it to try and find a way through without losing any companions - I'm not sure if dying in the Fade means dying in the real world in this case, as I was told that "killing" the boy I'm here to help would make him tranquil, though I of course doubt they'd make one of your companions tranquil. In any event, they don't revert to helping you if you win the fight, I know that much, so I'm not risking it. I've half a mind to keep a file from before it and re-do it until I see all the possible results, honestly. This one is kind of fascinating me.
Zevox

It's inevitable no matter who you take. And there are no permanent effects for them.

[Zevox]

It's inevitable no matter who you take. And there are no permanent effects for them.
It's looking like you're correct. Varric will succumb to the Pride Demon, and without Isabella around, Aveline succumbs to the Desire Demon. I can't bring Sebastian for some reason, and don't have Carver since he joined the Templars, so it looks like only Anders/Justice can't be tempted. Guess I bring my party of Aveline, Isabella, and Anders, and just accept losing Isabella to the Desire Demon temporarily. Nobody was tempted by the Pride Demon when I used that party, so at least I'll be down only one partner when I get further in that way.
Zevox

[Zevox]

(Sorry about the double post, but I wasn't sure an edit to a spoiler would be noticed, and I have a question here.) Regarding the quest I just posted about twice:
So, my reward was a book called "Tome of the Slumbering Elders" that the Keeper said had "rare magic beyond price" - but it's sitting in my "junk" section, and it doesn't appear to be letting me do anything with it. So... can I do anything with it, or is it just junk to sell? That'd be weird as hell.
Zevox

[megabyter5]

Last night I said I'd reached the start of Act III. Tonight, I've had to surrender my 360 in the middle of the last part of said Act. I'm so close to the end of the game I can taste it. And you know how it tastes? It tastes like

VIOLENCE.

On a semi-related note, people seem to be offering their "opinions" on whether DA2 has 3 or 4 Acts. There are three. This is not a subjective matter. There are actual game effects related to which Act you are in, and Act I includes everything until the Deep Roads Expedition.

[LordShotGun]

(Sorry about the double post, but I wasn't sure an edit to a spoiler would be noticed, and I have a question here.) Regarding the quest I just posted about twice:
So, my reward was a book called "Tome of the Slumbering Elders" that the Keeper said had "rare magic beyond price" - but it's sitting in my "junk" section, and it doesn't appear to be letting me do anything with it. So... can I do anything with it, or is it just junk to sell? That'd be weird as hell.
Zevox

Its junk. Just sell it. Which IMO is the WORST new feature added to dragon age 2. The junk system. Why give me 3 skeletal dog tails, 9 darkspawn wangs, and 4 cracked gems when all they are good for is to sell for cash. JUST GIVE ME THE FREAKING CASH INSTEAD!!!:smallfurious::smallfurious:

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Run around with the tab key permanently glued down and you won't miss much. There are quite a few "special" items laying about with codex entries and from what I can tell you get an armor set for Hawke in every Act. I never bought armor, a few trinkets and tomes but mostly shopped for the recipes and such. But the best rune and potion crafting recipes come from out in the field.

Good to know. What are the best runes for a sword-and-board tank like myself?

Also, is it possible to romance Merill and support the Templars? My understanding is resolving quests in support of the Templars earns rivalry points with her, and she'll turn on you in the end unless you've got high friendship with her.

[Dienekes]

and she'll turn on you in the end unless you've got high friendship with her.

Dude! What did we just talk about?

[DiabolicalFurby]

I think poor Anders just lost another cat.

[Zevox]

Its junk. Just sell it. Which IMO is the WORST new feature added to dragon age 2. The junk system. Why give me 3 skeletal dog tails, 9 darkspawn wangs, and 4 cracked gems when all they are good for is to sell for cash. JUST GIVE ME THE FREAKING CASH INSTEAD!!!:smallfurious::smallfurious:
I'd say it's better than inundating you with crap weapons, armor, etc the way the first game sometimes did (*glares at the Deep Roads*), since this at least automatically gets categorized as "junk" and can as such be sold at the push of a button at any shop; but yeah, I'd rather just find the cash. Especially since the junk rarely sells for more than a handful of silvers, often for only a few coppers each. Bit pointless that.

Edit: Okay, something about the equipment in this game is confusing the hells out of me. The star icons next to them are, according to the manual, supposed to represent how good the item in question is for your currently selected character's class and level. So why the hell does it vary for items that are identical? For instance, I just found a ring being sold in a shop that gives +2 mana/stamina regen rate. I'm also wearing a ring that does the exact same thing. The one I'm wearing is rated at 0 stars; the one in the shop is rated at 3. Also, the shop is selling its ring for 1.5 sovereigns, much more than identical rings I acquired earlier in the game were ever worth. What the hells?

Zevox

[The Rose Dragon]

The star system is... weird, for belts / amulets / rings. I have not found a rhyme or purpose to it and just choose which stats fit my build best.

I'm far more interested in what the color system means. I have so far figured out bronze weapons are junk, silver weapons are masterwork, green weapons are DLC and anything else is a named item, but it's still confusing.

Also, Cone of Cold is the coolest spell I have in the game (no pun intended). It is slightly nerfed from the Origins version, but the animation is so much fun and it freezes most enemies that I don't really care that its range is abysmal. The fire spells, on the other hand, are only good to get the tree cap and when you have no other spells to cast. If anyone knows any use for them, feel free to tell me.

One thing that annoys me is that while it is easy to win almost everyone's friendship, Fenris remains successfully elusive of my attempts to befriend him. Maybe it's because I'm a mage, but I can't even make him into a proper rival. He just sort of... is.

Also, hate Anders. I somehow managed to romance him, preventing later development with Isabela after the first night of raunchy sex, but had to let him go after he blew up the chantry with Elthina in it. Did not kill him, because he was only an idiot, so oops, off goes Sebastian. Might romance him just once more with a male Hawke to see how it goes, but right now, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna cut off at the first romance breaker I can find.

Damn Anders. Giving us mages a bad name. Though I guess once an abomination, always an abomination, regardless of what the spirit inside you is.

[Zevox]

Also, Cone of Cold is the coolest spell I have in the game (no pun intended). It is slightly nerfed from the Origins version, but the animation is so much fun and it freezes most enemies that I don't really care that its range is abysmal. The fire spells, on the other hand, are only good to get the tree cap and when you have no other spells to cast. If anyone knows any use for them, feel free to tell me.
Cone of Cold is still one of the best spells in the game it seems, yes. The slow effect that it has now is just as good as the freeze effect - makes enemies basically no threat while it's active. It's by far my most useful spell, because it gives me time to rain other spells upon enemies. And honestly, I'm not so sure the range change is a nerf. It doesn't reach as far out anymore, but it has a much wider area to either side, and I've been finding it even easier to get a lot of enemies with its new shape than I did in Origins.

The fire spells, well, Firestorm is quite useful. It hits hard, as long as your enemies stick within its area (which Cone of Cold or Aveline can make them do nicely). Fireball, less so, at least past the early stages, but it's still another AoE to toss out, so I'd say it's worth it, especially since it's a prerequisite for Firestorm and the tree cap.


One thing that annoys me is that while it is easy to win almost everyone's friendship, Fenris remains successfully elusive of my attempts to befriend him. Maybe it's because I'm a mage, but I can't even make him into a proper rival. He just sort of... is.
I suspect it's the mage thing. He made a big deal out of that when I first recruited him, gained 20 rivalry points immediately, and ever since, every time we talk, he gains 5 rivalry points. Of course, we don't talk much, since he tends to be the character I use least, but I'm not really worried about that.

Zevox

[The Rose Dragon]

Speaking of Aveline, how do I build her, anyway? The moment I buy Retaliation, her entry specialization talent, she turns from utter badass into utter idiot, because she keeps activating it at the first moment of battle and whenever she has stamina, making her as mobile as a statue of a frozen corpse. I wouldn't even mind if she used Taunt before it, but no, she doesn't even wait for enemies to get in range.

And I know I can just change the tactics to a custom one, but honestly, if she uses it at the right time, it is quite useful. I just don't know how to make her stop using it at the wrong places.

[Zevox]

Speaking of Aveline, how do I build her, anyway? The moment I buy Retaliation, her entry specialization talent, she turns from utter badass into utter idiot, because she keeps activating it at the first moment of battle and whenever she has stamina, making her as mobile as a statue of a frozen corpse. I wouldn't even mind if she used Taunt before it, but no, she doesn't even wait for enemies to get in range.

And I know I can just change the tactics to a custom one, but honestly, if she uses it at the right time, it is quite useful. I just don't know how to make her stop using it at the wrong places.
I think you mean Immovable. Retaliation just makes her counterattack melee attacks against her, according to what I'm reading.

I haven't picked that one up yet. I've been focusing on her weapon skills and defender skills, plus I gave her Rally and Pommel Strike (so I could upgrade Taunt, required two Warmonger points). Honestly, her personal skills don't look too useful to me. Well, okay, the passive ones look great, but Retaliation sounds like it'd be of minimal use since her role isn't to deal damage (plus it costs a fair amount of stamina, which she has little of), and Immovable seems like it'd make her entirely too slow to move and attack for my liking, potentially... well, causing the problems you mentioned. Which I don't want.

You could try setting her tactic to only activate it once she's surrounded by 3 or 4 enemies I'd suppose - that's what I'd do if the problem is simply her using it too soon.

Zevox

[The Rose Dragon]

No, I do mean Retaliation. Immovable slows her down while it's active, Retaliation completely immobilizes her for five or so seconds. And she uses it every time an enemy appears, even if the enemy is miles away.

Though people mentioned Aveline being the only viable tank, and that is not strictly true. While she does have better defense, she is also only good at that one thing. Fenris has a higher damage output and better crowd control, and you can build him to be a tank with the right talents, if you define tanking as generating maximum threat. Also, he is really useful against mages, especially if you friend him. It's only that Fenris is your only alternate, because Carver doesn't even get a specialization of his own and won't be there for two acts of the game.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Dude! What did we just talk about?

What?! I thought everyone would have known that by now! It's been three days and already there are Let's Plays and clips all over YouTube! I thought for sure I was the last person to get in on this discussion. Besides, if I spoil it, who'll read it? And then how will I get help? I'm currently in a state of panic because I'm just exploring and doing quests aimlessly with no clue if what the outcomes of my decisions will be, and I'm trying to go for a "perfect" ending on this so it's ready to upload when Dragon Age 3 rolls around. Be prepared. Boy Scout motto. And right now I can't prepare and I'm frustrated because when I ask questions to try and prepare I'm yelled at for not knowing that other people haven't played yet. The GameSpot guide is sketchy, the Wiki has virtually no information, no one's written any GameFaqs guides yet and I have no means of transportation so I can't go to a bookstore or GameStop and buy the Prima guide! GAAAAAAAAHHH!!! :smallfurious:

[Zevox]

No, I do mean Retaliation. Immovable slows her down while it's active, Retaliation completely immobilizes her for five or so seconds. And she uses it every time an enemy appears, even if the enemy is miles away.
Wow. Well, that makes Retaliation even more useless than I thought.


Though people mentioned Aveline being the only viable tank, and that is not strictly true. While she does have better defense, she is also only good at that one thing. Fenris has a higher damage output and better crowd control, and you can build him to be a tank with the right talents, if you define tanking as generating maximum threat. Also, he is really useful against mages, especially if you friend him. It's only that Fenris is your only alternate, because Carver doesn't even get a specialization of his own and won't be there for two acts of the game.
And why would you do that? You also need the defense to survive being attacked by most of the enemies on the field at once to manage this, and I do not see Fenris managing that. That shield and the skills associated with it really are a big help there. Defender skills are nice, but I doubt they'd cut it on their own.

Also, I'm doing Varric's companion quest post-expedition.
That was awesome - cutting to a part where you play as him alone and solo a bunch of guards like they were nothing, then confronting his brother in such a surreal and unrealistic scene, only to reveal that he was lying to the Seeker about the events here and didn't particularly want to tell her the truth. Wow.
That's the kind of thing that makes me really like the storytelling in this game. The framed narrative is a real interesting take that they're working quite well.


What?! I thought everyone would have known that by now! It's been three days and already there are Let's Plays and clips all over YouTube!
Note to Zousha: not everyone deliberately spoils themselves! Let's Plays don't mean a damn thing for those of us that aren't watching them, which is probably most of the people on this board. A good many people want to play through the game without knowing what will happen in advance. You are, in fact, in a tiny minority on that one, as far as I am aware.

Also, the less than a week that the game has been out is nowhere near sufficient to assume people have played and beaten the game. I got the game day 1 and am maybe a bit over halfway through, from what I was told earlier.


Besides, if I spoil it, who'll read it?
That's the entire point of a spoiler block, you know. So only people who have completed the game/that part of the game or spoiled themselves/don't care about spoilers will read it. And anyone who doesn't fall into one of those categories can't help you anyway.

Zevox

[The Rose Dragon]

OK, Zousha, here's the thing: there is no perfect play. Things will go to hell, no matter what you do. The game starts with Varric saying things did go to hell, and you can't exactly change that. Heads will roll (at one point, quite literally), and people will die. In fact, don't get attached to anyone but Varric, because he is the only one who is guaranteed to have a single outcome for his story.

It is fascinating, actually. Your choices do matter, but not in a way that matters to anyone else. It matters to you, and you are not the center of everyone else's universe. They are more interested in the templar / mage / qunari problems than what you had for dinner last night. And ultimately, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of Hawke.

[Arcanoi]

What?! I thought everyone would have known that by now! It's been three days and already there are Let's Plays and clips all over YouTube! I thought for sure I was the last person to get in on this discussion. Besides, if I spoil it, who'll read it? And then how will I get help? I'm currently in a state of panic because I'm just exploring and doing quests aimlessly with no clue if what the outcomes of my decisions will be, and I'm trying to go for a "perfect" ending on this so it's ready to upload when Dragon Age 3 rolls around. Be prepared. Boy Scout motto. And right now I can't prepare and I'm frustrated because when I ask questions to try and prepare I'm yelled at for not knowing that other people haven't played yet. The GameSpot guide is sketchy, the Wiki has virtually no information, no one's written any GameFaqs guides yet and I have no means of transportation so I can't go to a bookstore or GameStop and buy the Prima guide! GAAAAAAAAHHH!!! :smallfurious:

Wait, say.... six months. By then, most of the obvious bugs will be patched, all of the quest data and variables will be uploaded to the wiki, and you can work through the game at your leisure with all possible data at your fingertips.

Or you could just let the narrative run its course, do what you think is best, and hope it all works out. And save a lot. Perhaps with detailed save descriptions, so you can go back and fix things you didn't like, if you really want to.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

OK, Zousha, here's the thing: there is no perfect play. Things will go to hell, no matter what you do. The game starts with Varric saying things did go to hell, and you can't exactly change that. Heads will roll (at one point, quite literally), and people will die. In fact, don't get attached to anyone but Varric, because he is the only one who is guaranteed to have a single outcome for his story.

It is fascinating, actually. Your choices do matter, but not in a way that matters to anyone else. It matters to you, and you are not the center of everyone else's universe. They are more interested in the templar / mage / qunari problems than what you had for dinner last night. And ultimately, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of Hawke.

I'm not looking for some means to diffuse the issue. I'm looking for away to stay true to my ideals without alienating everyone around me. I know that there are certain point throughout the game where you have to take one side or the other. I want to figure out how to build friendships with my Nakama so I don't end up needing to put my companions to the sword.

You needed the following to succeed in the first game: a tank to draw enemy attention and damage, which means a sword and shield warrior (me, in this case, since I like playing the knight in shining armor). Next, you needed a rogue to open chests for you (Varric in my case). Next, you needed a Mage with the Spirit Healer specialization to keep the party alive when fighting bosses (Anders is the only NPC who can do this). The final slot could be filled by anyone, and normally is for a Mage who can give out big DPS (I'm putting Merill in here since she can't heal). The problem is, that dream party will turn against me right quick if I go forward with my plan to join the Templars, since making decisions in their favor always gets rivalry with Anders and Merill, and I wanna date Merill!

[MoelVermillion]

What?! I thought everyone would have known that by now! It's been three days and already there are Let's Plays and clips all over YouTube! I thought for sure I was the last person to get in on this discussion. Besides, if I spoil it, who'll read it? And then how will I get help?

If you put it in a well labeled spoiler tag the people who have already played past that point and therefor have enough insight on the issue to actually help you out will read it whereas the people who haven't played that far won't. This helps out both you and others, it filters those who cannot help you from those who can and it allows the people who do not want their game spoiled to avoid that. Observe:



Hey guys if anyone is up to it I just unlocked the 'Smuggler's Cove' quest and need advice:

So anyway I'm up to the bit where One-hand Pete is threatening the little girl with a flintlock pistol and we can't possibly meet his demands. I could shoot Pete first but as it turns out he is the little girls father which she is aware of but he is not. If I shoot her the little girl will be upset but I'm not sure Pete will believe me if I tell him the truth... Anyone mind helping me out here?


See, that way only people who have played through the 'Smuggler's Cove' quest will respond. You will get better answers and people will be less angry :smallsmile:.


EDIT: I guess I should say the trick is to find a label for the spoiler that doesn't spoil the plot but lets people know where you are up to, like in the previous example the name of a quest is a pretty good one to use if you can't think of anything else.

[JadedDM]

What?! I thought everyone would have known that by now! It's been three days and already there are Let's Plays and clips all over YouTube! I thought for sure I was the last person to get in on this discussion. Besides, if I spoil it, who'll read it? And then how will I get help? I'm currently in a state of panic because I'm just exploring and doing quests aimlessly with no clue if what the outcomes of my decisions will be, and I'm trying to go for a "perfect" ending on this so it's ready to upload when Dragon Age 3 rolls around. Be prepared. Boy Scout motto. And right now I can't prepare and I'm frustrated because when I ask questions to try and prepare I'm yelled at for not knowing that other people haven't played yet. The GameSpot guide is sketchy, the Wiki has virtually no information, no one's written any GameFaqs guides yet and I have no means of transportation so I can't go to a bookstore or GameStop and buy the Prima guide! GAAAAAAAAHHH!!! :smallfurious:

I can completely understand that, but why must your 'perfect' playthrough be the very first time through? It's not like DA3 is going to be in stores next month or anything. Just play the game. You'll make mistakes, most likely. But you learn, and the next time you play, you know what to expect. By the time DA3 is on the horizon, you can then do a perfect playthrough with no problem.

[Avilan the Grey]

Maker's Breath...! The bonus weapons are... slightly overpowered. I am playing on Hard (because 99% of all people I talk to tell me that is the equivalent of "Normal" in all other Bioware games). I am not far in, I am just running around town looking for quests.
There is a small quest across the street from my "home" in the slums and I tried to kill the dwarven con men before talking to mu Uncle only to get my ass whooped. 5 minutes later, after talking to him (I will kill him one of these days for doing what he did to our family!) but more importantly getting the bonus gear from the "special delivery" chest... I gibbed those dwarves in 15 seconds. The bonus bow is a monster this early in the game.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Because I'm what some might call an "obsessive completionist." I usually don't play a game twice in a row, since these games take such a long time to play, so I try to do every sidequest and plot thread, collect all the unique items, hit the EXP cap, etc my first time through. After that, I may play something else for a change of pace, and since the games I play take a long time, it may be months, or even a year before I pick Dragon Age 2 up again. It really, really, REALLY gets in my craw when I skip a quest or something, making me feel like when you're in a movie theater and you need to leave to go to the bathroom and miss something important or cool.

[Avilan the Grey]

I will have to re-think the build of Aveline; since they have added CON reqs for shields... I had planned on building her like Alistair since tanks benefited more from high DEX than high CON in DA:O.

[Xondoure]

@Zousha: When I'm on other threads I gurantee you I reflexively open spoiler tags because I don't care. So rest assured if any of the other members of this board have reading habbits remotely like my own they'll get read. That said this is one of the games on my list I have yet to obtain for various reasons so I appreciate the use of spoiler tags. Thanks :smallsmile:

[Caewil]

So, does anyone have a list of top ranking abilities? Cleave and haste have to be at the top. +100% damage, yes please. And haste turns Bianca into a gatling crossbow.

[Derthric]

As far as perfect playthroughs go, I am often surprised at which characters and playthroughs end up as my Canon. I lost my first several playthroughs of DA;O when my last computer died so I now only have my one completion and the premades. But that means that the only hero of fereldan that is mine is an Amell, which I rather like for the relation to Hawke. In ME my second playthrough of 1 was my canon until I made a fem!shep and now I consider her the canon. I know they can take a long time to complete especially with a full work/school/family schedule, but the truly really great stories are always experienced more than once.

On my second run through now with a snarky male rogue Hawke.

I am disappointed that you are effectively forced to keep Anders and Aveline in your group to optimize the roles. I had hoped that since Bethany would be around this time I could make her a healer. However since she lacks a specialization and no matter what you lose your sibling in the Deeproads interlude, that killed that plan. So its either Merril who has half the healing capacity of Anders, or "Mr. Extremism in the Defense of Liberty". I know you really had only Alister and Wynne as optimal in the same roles in DA:O but it seemed less like an imposition for some reason.

In theory you could use Fenris as a tank but the fact that he lacks the passives of the sword and shield tree and specialization, it would be a strain on healing to keep him up. And with the potion cooldowns and the base heal spell having what I consider a ridiculous cooldown that's not going to work with anyone but a Spirit Healer Hawke or Anders. And the inverse is worse, waiting on that 1 healing spell to cycle its cool down and Aveline can't pop a potion as 5-7 guys are beating her down will end a party.

Debating dropping the difficulty to the easiest level and saying "Frak it every body DPS away".

[Caewil]

I usually DPS the hell out of the boss whenever possible and ignore the mooks. That way you don't get DPS'd by recurring waves of them plus the elite.

[The Rose Dragon]

I will have to re-think the build of Aveline; since they have added CON reqs for shields... I had planned on building her like Alistair since tanks benefited more from high DEX than high CON in DA:O.

Note that Dexterity no longer benefits Warriors outside of giving them a higher critical chance. Not a bad thing to have, but certainly not the focus you should have, considering warriors don't deal much damage to begin with. Strength is the only Attribute that adds to damage and attack for Warriors, while Cunning adds to Defense.

[Avilan the Grey]

Note that Dexterity no longer benefits Warriors outside of giving them a higher critical chance. Not a bad thing to have, but certainly not the focus you should have, considering warriors don't deal much damage to begin with. Strength is the only Attribute that adds to damage and attack for Warriors, while Cunning adds to Defense.

Exactly; I should have paid more attention to the manual to begin with.
Oh well it's still early and I just have to pump her CON. At least she could wear the bonus DLC shield already, which increases her armor a lot.

[Dienekes]

Exactly; I should have paid more attention to the manual to begin with.
Oh well it's still early and I just have to pump her CON. At least she could wear the bonus DLC shield already, which increases her armor a lot.

Once more Black Emporium if you have it, Maker's Sigh allows you to rebuild yourself or allies. I've used it a couple times on whim just to get a quick look at what works.

For Ave, I tried to do the Cunning (which increases defense)/Str/Con path and the Con/Str path, I think Con/Str works way better since now the enemies attacks scale so for her to do decent damage and equipment she only blocks like 50% of the mook attacks and a lot less of the bosses.

Also, if you take Retribution, just switch her tactics to never use it. I really haven't found a good purpose for it.

[Avilan the Grey]

Once more Black Emporium if you have it, Maker's Sigh allows you to rebuild yourself or allies.

Not sure if I saw that one? Where is it? I only saw the mirror that changes your appearance...

[The Rose Dragon]

Also, if you take Retribution, just switch her tactics to never use it. I really haven't found a good purpose for it.

The problem with that is I have to do it every time she levels up, because once you change a default tactic, it doesn't change again until you manually do so. So, if I pick Defender and change it, it is no longer Defender, but Defender', and thus has no default level up suggestions.

I know I'm being slightly lazy, but that's no excuse to put in such a terrible suggestion.

[Dienekes]

Not sure if I saw that one? Where is it? I only saw the mirror that changes your appearance...

Hit tab when you get in. In the back there will be some shops look in the consumables section and it'll be called Maker's Sigh.


The problem with that is I have to do it every time she levels up, because once you change a default tactic, it doesn't change again until you manually do so. So, if I pick Defender and change it, it is no longer Defender, but Defender', and thus has no default level up suggestions.

I know I'm being slightly lazy, but that's no excuse to put in such a terrible suggestion.

Ahh, yeah I always fiddle with tactics (we got a lot of them this game) so this doesn't really bother me. Thanks for filling out my suggestion though.

Ok, now for my question, Elf boy: How did I miss him? I'm on Act 3 now and still no Elf boy.

[The Rose Dragon]

Ahh, yeah I always fiddle with tactics (we got a lot of them this game) so this doesn't really bother me. Thanks for filling out my suggestion though.

Just to be clear, your suggestion wasn't terrible. The game's suggestion of Retaliation is. My wording might have been unclear in that regard.


Ok, now for my question, Elf boy: How did I miss him? I'm on Act 3 now and still no Elf boy.

Elf boy? What elf boy?

Also, does anyone else find it creepy that there are no female dwarves in Dragon Age II? I have been looking around, but not a single one. What happened to them between the games?

[Avilan the Grey]

Hit tab when you get in. In the back there will be some shops look in the consumables section and it'll be called Maker's Sigh.

Will do

Oh and having 6 team members makes things very easy...
I am climbing the mountain to do the rite with the amulet. This measn that I right now have 3 companions, plus two AI controlled "helpers": Dog and Whatshername. The corpses blocking my way literary were defeated in 5 secons.

[Delusion]

Anyone has any tips for Valequnarithingy leader? Have tpk 7+ time at him so far.
My party is mage-hawke Ave, aners and Meryl. And I am playing on hard.

I usually either run up to the platform where the leader is so that the adds have group up and try to aoe them down as they come while keeping tank on the leader. I either a) ran out of aoe/mana and get swarmed by the adds or b) boss decides to blast my whole party to bits with his ligthing spell. It usually instakills most of my party straight away.

Focusing on the boss with everyone ended in same results.

[Dienekes]

Just to be clear, your suggestion wasn't terrible. The game's suggestion of Retaliation is. My wording might have been unclear in that regard.

I thought you aimed it at me, but I didn't take any offense to it. I've a thick enough skin.


Also, does anyone else find it creepy that there are no female dwarves in Dragon Age II? I have been looking around, but not a single one. What happened to them between the games?

There are actually several, however due to the beards it is hard to tell them apart.

More seriously, yeah that's odd. And by Elf boy I mean the companion you're supposed to get.


Anyone has any tips for Valequnarithingy leader? Have tpk 7+ time at him so far.
My party is mage-hawke Ave, aners and Meryl. And I am playing on hard.

I usually either run up to the platform where the leader is so that the adds have group up and try to aoe them down as they come while keeping tank on the leader. I either a) ran out of aoe/mana and get swarmed by the adds or b) boss decides to blast my whole party to bits with his ligthing spell. It usually instakills most of my party straight away.

Focusing on the boss with everyone ended in same results.

Most efficient solution? Maxed Assassination attempt. That unavailable? I beat him with the 2 tank, Varric, Anders strategy. One tank stands up to him, Anders and Varric let loose a steady stream against him as well, the other jumps between mooks getting agro, once all mooks are attacking the second tank move him/her closer to the leader then blast the hell out of everyone with AOEs and cross class combos. Also, try Crushing Prism, it's not as good as it was last game, but still fun.

[Chen]

In theory you could use Fenris as a tank but the fact that he lacks the passives of the sword and shield tree and specialization, it would be a strain on healing to keep him up. And with the potion cooldowns and the base heal spell having what I consider a ridiculous cooldown that's not going to work with anyone but a Spirit Healer Hawke or Anders. And the inverse is worse, waiting on that 1 healing spell to cycle its cool down and Aveline can't pop a potion as 5-7 guys are beating her down will end a party.

Debating dropping the difficulty to the easiest level and saying "Frak it every body DPS away".

You can play through Normal mode without a healer if Aveline is tanking. The party I beat the game with was:

Archer Hawke
Meril (Elemental focussed and the orange tree that CCs people)
Isabella
Aveline as tank

Isabella is nearly impossible to hit due to high Cunning. Aveline tanks things fine especially if you get the aura that adds 50% threat from all party members to her. For some reason despite just as high Cunning my archer and the mage would get their asses kicked if things actually got to them. Once you get the upgrade to the exploding arrow, the lance and assassinate (even before its upgrade) fights just became easy.

All tactics off and everyone set on Aggressive. This makes them go auto attack the people and not use their skills.
Step 1: Charge Meril up to the biggest group you can and Cone of Cold.
Step 2a: If multiple things get Brittle, use exploding arrow on them and gib them all.
Step 2b: If one thing gets Brittle move hawk into position and use the lance to hit it (gibbing it) and anything else you can get in a line
Step 2c: If the boss/leader etc happens to get Brittle hit him with Assassinate and laugh as he gets practically one shot
Step 3: Use Upgraded Winter's grasp to try and make something Brittle. If you succeed use whichever ability is not on cooldown from Step 2 to kill it too.
Step 4: By now Isabella has a full chain going. Get Aveline to Stagger something and have Isabella gib it with the exploding skill.
Step 5: Have Isabella backstab something then Twin Fangs it. Unless its a boss or lieutenant it will die.

After this pretty much repeat. When switching from one char to another the ones you leave alone with either tank things (Aveline) or make short work of regular mooks. As long as you micromanage your archer and mage so that they don't get surrounded and die everything just gets cut down super fast, even without your companions using their skills.

The only fight that was moderately difficult was the High Dragon. I almost ran out of healing potions for everyone but fortunately some of the adds I killed had extra pots on their bodies. In the end it was just Aveline and my Archer but at that point no more adds were spawning so it was just ensuring Aveline had enough healing potions not to die. If I Anders on that fight for AoE healing it would have been a joke.

[Name_Here]

So, does anyone have a list of top ranking abilities? Cleave and haste have to be at the top. +100% damage, yes please. And haste turns Bianca into a gatling crossbow.

Second Wind is awesome for the big bosses. You know when you don't have any mooks to kill to regain stamina? It brought my Warrior back into those fights.

[polity4life]

Sorry if this is a repost.

Overall, I have enjoyed the game but I have some reservations. The combat system is still way too buggy. In the first game, too often did I experience "Mario walking (constantly walking in place and doing nothing) or party members who did not do a single thing, even when I manually input a command. That still happens in this game, especially with Aveline, but to a lesser extent.

The uncontrolled party members stick to the tactics a bit more in this game but no where near the extent that they should. For example, Anders never casts haste despite it being set to activate when combat begins. Taken as a whole, combat can get out of hand very fast since the pace has quickened, monsters will arbitrarily spawn in places, and micromanagement of every character is at least recommended if not required.

Rogue Hawke has a tendency of jumping and backstabbing into terrible corners or keeps trying to jump over a small rock or piece of wood and doesn't make contact. Having to have to play cleanup of adds for the entire game, thanks to very wonky tanking mechanics, you can understand my frustration. More on tanking, despite passive aggro reduction and aggro reducing cooldowns, I cannot help but to draw attention of monsters (more on that below). I have not actively sought to mix/max my characters and that may very well be the problem. I may also not understand some fundamentals of battle as well (I'm still on my first playthrough). And I have experienced these problems without having Assassinate and Twin Fangs. When I respecced to up my damage, oh man...everything wants to give me a big hug and a kiss now.

There is no excuse for the healing mechanics in this game. Essentially, every fight is a dps race which compounds the aggro issues I had discussed. With cooldowns being associated to all potions and the heinous cooldown on Heal for Anders, some fights become very difficult even on normal (see late game Bone Pit quest). All that I have learned is that rez grenades are your very best friend as are the potions that remove injuries when used (can't remember their name).

My biggest complaint is this: why do we need bigger spiders? I mean, srsly? Too often I have had the unfortunate luck to backstab between two stalagmites only to pull aggro and fill my TV screen with spider mug. Eagh! Back-to-back was interrupted everytime in this particular fight, which just made the fight even worse.

[Avilan the Grey]

You can play through Normal mode without a healer if Aveline is tanking. The party I beat the game with was:

Archer Hawke
Meril (Elemental focussed and the orange tree that CCs people)
Isabella
Aveline as tank

...

All tactics off and everyone set on Aggressive.

I play on Hard, and admittedly I have not played long but it doesn't seem worse than DA:O on normal; you have no need for Wynne in your DA:O party after all.

Why would you turn off Tactics? It is one of the best features with the DA series# you can finally set the companion AIs to do the RIGHT thing. I never use default tactics, though.

[Zevox]

I am playing on Hard (because 99% of all people I talk to tell me that is the equivalent of "Normal" in all other Bioware games).
Don't know who those people are, but they're wrong. Hard mode is legitimately hard. The thing is, "Normal" difficulty is more like an easy mode than a proper normal, so hard is your best choice if you want to have some actual challenge to the game.


Ok, now for my question, Elf boy: How did I miss him? I'm on Act 3 now and still no Elf boy.
Surprisingly, you first meet Fenris from doing a side-quest that doesn't seem at all important. If I recall you got it from a letter from the leader of the group that got you into the city (if you went with the mercenaries anyway - I haven't played a second file to try the thieves yet). If you're into one of the later acts already, it's possible you missed your chance to recruit him completely. I don't know if they included any way to recruit characters you should have picked up pre-expedition later in the game.


Also, does anyone else find it creepy that there are no female dwarves in Dragon Age II? I have been looking around, but not a single one. What happened to them between the games?
Not especially, but I'm still not used to female Dwarves actually looking female. Then again, did you ever run across any female Dwarves outside Orzammar in Origins? I don't recall seeing any (yourself excluded, of course, if you played one), and as far as I've seen you don't visit any Dwarven cities in this one.

Zevox

[Douglas]

Then again, did you ever run across any female Dwarves outside Orzammar in Origins?
There's Felsi, Oghren's girlfriend. I think she only appears if you get Oghren to talk about her, though.

[Zevox]

There's Felsi, Oghren's girlfriend. I think she only appears if you get Oghren to talk about her, though.
True, but yeah, she only shows up once Oghren gives you his companion quest. Before that the tavern she works in has only humans around.

Zevox

[Avilan the Grey]

Don't know who those people are, but they're wrong. Hard mode is legitimately hard. The thing is, "Normal" difficulty is more like an easy mode than a proper normal, so hard is your best choice if you want to have some actual challenge to the game.

Well, so far it's rather easy. :smallbiggrin:

[Cristo Meyers]

There's Felsi, Oghren's girlfriend. I think she only appears if you get Oghren to talk about her, though.

I keep thinking there's one or two in Denerim, but they're not interactive NPCs and more background objects (the people that appear if you turn the graphics up)...

[Typewriter]

So the games ending is a huge disappointment:

Anders goes terrorist and blows up the chantry, making everyone hate mages. I still sided with the mages, but killed Anders for his evil act. Then the leader of the mages went crazy, so I killed him. Then they revealed that Meredith was using a blade made out of the lyrium idol, and was totally insane, so I killed her.

Then Varric told the seeker, "Then we traveled with him for a while, but eventually went our own ways".

Credits.


Took about 30-35 hours, and I did every side quest available in the game. One was bugged and undoable. My final level was 26 or 27. Starting my rogue playthrough now with a different import, but my spirit is crushed by the lackluster ending :(

[Zevox]

A question about romancing Merril:
So, does her romance start late or something? I've so far had only one chance to flirt with her, when she first arrived at her house in the Alienage, and she was oblivious to it at the time (not that that's a surprise). I've since chatted with her about my brother joining the Templars and given her a gift, a statue I purchased from the Dalish shop, and on neither occasion did I have any chance to flirt with her. Compared to the abundant opportunities I've had to pursue the other three romance options, this seems strange.

I have a very high friendship rating with her - perhaps my highest with any companion at this point - so I have that covered if it's necessary. Does it only activate after doing her companion quest or something? I'm assuming she has one, but it hasn't become active for me yet.
Zevox

[The Rose Dragon]

By the way, Aveline has a great memory. Long after I sold her first shield, she started chewing me out when I gave her a new one as a gift. Luckily, being the wonderful woman I was, I managed to get even more friendship points from her.

But the point is: don't sell Wesley's shield. In fact, to be sure, I wouldn't even sell her first sword. In fact, never sell anything Aveline equips at one time. In fact, don't sell anything.

...I'm paranoid now.


A question about romancing Merril:
So, does her romance start late or something? I've so far had only one chance to flirt with her, when she first arrived at her house in the Alienage, and she was oblivious to it at the time (not that that's a surprise). I've since chatted with her about my brother joining the Templars and given her a gift, a statue I purchased from the Dalish shop, and on neither occasion did I have any chance to flirt with her. Compared to the abundant opportunities I've had to pursue the other three romance options, this seems strange.

I have a very high friendship rating with her - perhaps my highest with any companion at this point - so I have that covered if it's necessary. Does it only activate after doing her companion quest or something? I'm assuming she has one, but it hasn't become active for me yet.
Zevox

It is entirely possible you can romance her only if you are a rival, though don't take my word on it. It is also possible that you should not romance anyone else to be able to romance her. There are several factors that determine a romance (strangely, none of which happen to be Hawke's sex).

[Dienekes]

A question about romancing Merril:
So, does her romance start late or something? I've so far had only one chance to flirt with her, when she first arrived at her house in the Alienage, and she was oblivious to it at the time (not that that's a surprise). I've since chatted with her about my brother joining the Templars and given her a gift, a statue I purchased from the Dalish shop, and on neither occasion did I have any chance to flirt with her. Compared to the abundant opportunities I've had to pursue the other three romance options, this seems strange.

I have a very high friendship rating with her - perhaps my highest with any companion at this point - so I have that covered if it's necessary. Does it only activate after doing her companion quest or something? I'm assuming she has one, but it hasn't become active for me yet.

I know there's more time to romance her in act 3 after her personal mission. I don't know how far it goes though since I did not take the option.

Got to admit I don't really see much appeal in the romance options this game. Merril seems to be walking around with an idiot ball the entire time, and Isabella, well I'd be too afraid to catch something off her.

[Chen]

Why would you turn off Tactics? It is one of the best features with the DA series# you can finally set the companion AIs to do the RIGHT thing. I never use default tactics, though.

The timing for cross-class combos just doesn't work terribly well I found. Plus the computer seems to have an abysmal time of targeting AoEs. If you keep their tactics on they tend to use their abilities too often which, while good in terms of uptime, is bad in terms of strategy. Being able to chain a bunch of abilities in a row gives great burst potential which seems far more useful than throwing them out under fixed circumstances. Switching to a character and seeing that the move you feel would be perfect for the situation is on cooldown annoyed the hell out of me. The only thing I'd consider automating would be healing if someone was really low, except that I stopped using a healer after the Deep roads.

[Zevox]

By the way, Aveline has a great memory. Long after I sold her first shield, she started chewing me out when I gave her a new one as a gift. Luckily, being the wonderful woman I was, I managed to get even more friendship points from her.

But the point is: don't sell Wesley's shield. In fact, to be sure, I wouldn't even sell her first sword. In fact, never sell anything Aveline equips at one time. In fact, don't sell anything.

...I'm paranoid now.
Huh. Lucky thing I'm weird and sentimental then - I stashed his shield in my, well, stash box, rather than sell it. It isn't worth much anyway.


It is entirely possible you can romance her only if you are a rival, though don't take my word on it. It is also possible that you should not romance anyone else to be able to romance her. There are several factors that determine a romance (strangely, none of which happen to be Hawke's sex).
Doubt you need to be a rival for her, and I'm not romancing anyone else - though that's in part because I broke off a potential romance with Anders, who I did flirt with before her, granted. Still, that's done and over worth, and was a while ago.


I know there's more time to romance her in act 3 after her personal mission. I don't know how far it goes though since I did not take the option.
Act 3 under the 3-act or 4-act model? And if you mean the 3-act model, does she have a companion quest during the part just after the expedition?


Got to admit I don't really see much appeal in the romance options this game. Merril seems to be walking around with an idiot ball the entire time, and Isabella, well I'd be too afraid to catch something off her.
Merril is adorable, she's just ignorant of other cultures, being young and never having been outside the Dalish. That's why I'm going with her. Though some of Isabella's dialogue with my other companions has made my opinion of her rise quite a bit, and made me wonder if I shouldn't have tried going for her.

Thought about romancing Anders too, just because I liked him in Awakening, but
he went all emo on me when I tried flirting with him, and both then and the next time we spoke he told me we shouldn't get attached because of what Justice might make him do. So I broke that off. Don't feel like putting up with him being whiny about Justice.

On an unrelated note: holy crap this area I've found is crazy. It's a cave near the Dalish camp involved in a sidequest, and the enemies in it all have red "boss-rank" names on them. For the last area, that means a horde of shades, several abominations, a rage demon, and a desire demon, all effectively bosses, vs your four-people-and-a-mabari party. And this is only hard, not nightmare :smalleek: . Yeah, I can't beat it as-is. I've tried several times and not even come close. I'll be leaving that one for later in the act.

Zevox

[The Rose Dragon]

Doubt you need to be a rival for her, and I'm not romancing anyone else - though that's in part because I broke off a potential romance with Anders, who I did flirt with before her, granted. Still, that's done and over worth, and was a while ago.

What I mean by romancing anyone else is choosing the heart option, ever, not a dedicated romance. It is known to screw Sebastian's romance, so might also screw others.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

By the way, Aveline has a great memory. Long after I sold her first shield, she started chewing me out when I gave her a new one as a gift. Luckily, being the wonderful woman I was, I managed to get even more friendship points from her.

But the point is: don't sell Wesley's shield. In fact, to be sure, I wouldn't even sell her first sword. In fact, never sell anything Aveline equips at one time. In fact, don't sell anything.

...I'm paranoid now.

AAAHH! I WISH I'D KNOWN THAT SOONER! NOW SHE'S GOING TO HATE ME!!!:smalleek:

[VanBuren]

Uh... that never happened in mine.

[The Rose Dragon]

AAAHH! I WISH I'D KNOWN THAT SOONER! NOW SHE'S GOING TO HATE ME!!!:smalleek:

She doesn't hate you. Like I said, with the right choices, it is possible to get more friendship points. She just flips out when you give her a gift out of sentimentality if you sell Wesley's shield, and that makes me sad and kind of impressed by her dedication to her dead husband, even after everything I did for her.

Or maybe it's just because I was charming / humorous the whole game. It is possible another tone gets another answer.

[Calemyr]

Aveline always throws a fit about the shield (I had Wesley's in my inventory at the time) - likely because she's been debating within herself whether it's time to move on or not. Just assure her that it was a thoughtful gift and not a pointed suggestion.

As for the acts of the game, there are five according to the game, four if you break it down by year:
Act I - The Quest for Sanctuary (Year 0)
Act II - The Quest for Fifty Sovereigns (Year 1)
Act III - The Quest for Big Money (Year 1)
Act IV - The Quest for a Little Freaking Peace (Year 4)
Act V - The Question of Whose Ass to Kick (Year 7)

As for the best abilities, 2h warriors get whirlwind and scythe, both of which are very handy. Rogues I don't know that well, because I favored Varric and his Bianca tree was the best of the bunch. Most of my experience has been with a mage, however, so here I go: My favorites have to be elemental, creation, and spirit healer. Creation's Valor and Haste powers are brutally handy, fire magic is great for mass combat, ice magic is better for singles combat, and spirit healer is an excellent stance to be in when your other powers are recharging. I frequently found myself fighting bosses by dumping all my offensive spells and my dog, switching to healing mode, and then just casting haste and using my staff. Made it easier to keep threat on Ave while making sure that the rest of my team never got in much danger.

As for stat builds, I went balanced STR/CON for Ave (she wasn't supposed to be the heavy damage dealer, she was supposed to just endure the punishment), DEX/CUN up to CUN=40 and then straight DEX for Varric, MAG/CON/WIL up to CON/WIL=25 then straight MAG for Merrill. It worked pretty well for me.

As for the difficulty level, I don't get what you people are whining about. Then again, I just leave difficulty at normal because I want to enjoy the story, not pull my hair out over difficulty. Normal is challenging enough to reward good builds and strategy but not difficult enough to make the perfect builds/strategies/team absolutely necessary. There's enough stupid and arbitrary frustrations in real life, why would I seek more in a video game?

Finally, I finished my first run as a mage:

When pushed to it, Hawke sided with the Templar, because Anders and Quentin's actions (and all the stupid mages before that) had convinced him that unfettered mages were a colossally dumb idea. However, he still argued to spare the non-combatants and Cullen was all to ready to listen to his suggestion. As a result, I needed to take on both Orsino and Meredith, since Meredith found my use of mercy to be proof that I wasn't to be trusted. At every turn, my belief in that course of action was justified, as blood mages and abominations popped out of every nook and cranny and Orsino not only resorts to blood magic himself, but admits to having sheltered Quentin. That alone signed his death warrant in Hawke's book. He'd gotten everyone so strongly on his side that he barely had to say a word to Merrill before everyone was siding with him and Anders made no attempt to resist him.

I'm a little curious about the Epic achievement, however. It's requirements are the same as the Lifetime Service achievements in both ME games, so I'm wondering if it has any in-game bonuses.

[Cristo Meyers]

Doubt you need to be a rival for her, and I'm not romancing anyone else - though that's in part because I broke off a potential romance with Anders, who I did flirt with before her, granted. Still, that's done and over worth, and was a while ago.


Merril's is a later starting romance tree. It doesn't really start until after the expedition and her personal mission. I remember wondering the same thing after watching LadyMeyers go through Anders' romance before Merril's even got started.

The alternate appearance she gets afterwards is great.

[Calemyr]

Yeah, her armor turns white and is rather more pleasant. Almost looks like the armor equivalent of a wedding dress or something, in my mind.

But, yeah, her relationship is a late starter. Unlike Isabella, who wants to get you in bed almost on your first meeting, Merrill is so caught up in her personal projects, racial politics, and pulling her own foot out of her mouth that things do not pick up with her until the second half of Act IV (Year 4). On the other hand, she's clumsily admitting to being attracted to you by the end of Act II (Year 1), asking Aveline if her tolerance of Hawke's actions is because Ave likes him as well. No? Pity, she would have made a great partner - all the heart and none of the blood magic and cavorting with demons... Ah, well...

Now I'm trying to decide my next run. It's either going to be a female rogue with Fenris or a male warrior with Isabella. Decisions, decisions.

[Zevox]

Merril's is a later starting romance tree. It doesn't really start until after the expedition and her personal mission. I remember wondering the same thing after watching LadyMeyers go through Anders' romance before Merril's even got started.

The alternate appearance she gets afterwards is great.
Ah, excellent, good to have that confirmed. I was getting just slightly worried that something might be up. Now I just need to wait for her companion quest to become available.


On the other hand, she's clumsily admitting to being attracted to you by the end of Act II (Year 1), asking Aveline if her tolerance of Hawke's actions is because Ave likes him as well.
Yeah, I remember that. That was one reason I wasn't overly worried that I had done something wrong, but I was at least expecting to be able to flirt with her after giving her that gift, so that caught me off-guard.

On another note, I might actually need to turn the difficulty back down to normal. All enemies being boss-ranked is apparently becoming standard at this point in hard difficulty, and dying is getting a bit excessive for my tastes. I wonder if that'll become a pattern for me: play the first half of the game on hard, the second half on normal. Seems to be just a weird difficulty curve in this game.

Zevox

[Dienekes]

Act 3 under the 3-act or 4-act model? And if you mean the 3-act model, does she have a companion quest during the part just after the expedition?

Bahh, freakin' acts. I'm pretty sure it's the last act.


Merril is adorable, she's just ignorant of other cultures, being young and never having been outside the Dalish. That's why I'm going with her. Though some of Isabella's dialogue with my other companions has made my opinion of her rise quite a bit, and made me wonder if I shouldn't have tried going for her.

To each their own. I felt like shaking her and yelling at her to stop with the Blood Magic and let go of the damnable mirror the entire time. That and I'm not really attracted to the wide eye'd naive type in real life which most definitively carried over to my gaming.

Really, the only one I was interested in was Ave, but honestly I like what they did with her more anyway.


On an unrelated note: holy crap this area I've found is crazy. It's a cave near the Dalish camp involved in a sidequest, and the enemies in it all have red "boss-rank" names on them. For the last area, that means a horde of shades, several abominations, a rage demon, and a desire demon, all effectively bosses, vs your four-people-and-a-mabari party. And this is only hard, not nightmare :smalleek: . Yeah, I can't beat it as-is. I've tried several times and not even come close. I'll be leaving that one for later in the act.

Where is this beautiful room? Do you know which sidequest it was, because I'm rearing for a challenge.

[The Rose Dragon]

From what I can tell, Bioware recognizes only three acts: Act I, which is up to the expedition, Act II, which ends with Hawke becoming the Champion, and Act III, which is the last act.

[Zevox]

Where is this beautiful room? Do you know which sidequest it was, because I'm rearing for a challenge.
The quest is called "Forbidden Knowledge."
It has you finding and destroying (or reading, or taking and I presume selling, though I haven't done those) books which contain secrets of blood magic, which are scattered around the map. One is in the Chantry, the first I found. Others seem to be in caves - one on the coast, one in the Bone Pit's outer area, and this one just near the rear exit of the first area of Sundermount, just past the Dalish camp. I don't know if it's only available in the second act or what, but it's there, and I believe you start it simply by finding that first book in the Chantry.

Also, I tried it again, and appear to have slightly underestimated the number of enemies. There are at least two Rage Demons involved, not just one.

Edit: I just switched to normal, and beat it (after still losing once :smalleek: ). It gets worse. The final reinforcements for that group are one Revenant and one Arcane Horror. I cannot imagine trying to face that fight on Nightmare. It would be insanity.
Zevox

[Name_Here]

Merril is adorable, she's just ignorant of other cultures, being young and never having been outside the Dalish. That's why I'm going with her. Though some of Isabella's dialogue with my other companions has made my opinion of her rise quite a bit, and made me wonder if I shouldn't have tried going for her.
Zevox

I think he's more concerned with the fact that Merril blithely uses blood magic and makes deals with demons as often as she likes. And then instead of knowing that the use of blood magic isn't the safest thing she proceeds to dislike you any time you say that blood magic is wrong or that demons aren't the kittens of the fade.

Hawke: (destroy the book of evil darkness)
Merril: +10 rival

[Callos_DeTerran]

If you think Merril is too naive, then just have her travel around with Isabella for a while...or don't, if those aren't the kind of things you want Merril learning. :smalltongue: Though honestly, it seems like Merril's moeness infects every member of your group except for Fenris, the broody knife-ears. (Note: I use Fenris in my main party, if only because I don't have to worry about my extortionist tendencies and criminal habits upsetting Aveline)

Right now my party tends to be Me (rogue-SheHawk ((Going into Duelist and then...I don't know)) ), Fenris, Isabella, and it USED to be Bethany...then I went on the Expedition and whatnot so now I tend to swap out Anders and Merril. Mostly Merril, cause she's useful in blood-mage related side-quests while Anders just gets angry about Templars and the rights of mages.

Also, I love that there seems to be so much more inter-party banter then in DA:O, or maybe it just happens more often and I notice it more, in any case I like it! Also enjoying combat and didn't really have too much trouble with the ARW (but then again I play on normal) once I figured out the pillars bit.

...Does Fenris' knowledge of the Quanari ways ever get explained? Just a yes or no please, because it's bugging me.

Also, could we perhaps LABEL spoilers, so we know whats in them? :smallsmile: I see a ton of spoilers and I'm terrified to open half of them for fear of spoiling things for me, the only spoilers I feel safe opening in Zevox's cause we seem to be at the same part of the game.

Zousha: I know you're all about being a yes-man for your game, but you DO know there's nothing wrong (that I've seen anyway) with your companions becoming rivals instead of friends? They still get mechanical bonuses, they don't leave (again, that I've seen), and you can still romance them even!

Also About Bethany's Fate:
I'm feeling a bit guilty about bringing her along on the Deep Roads Expedition (Bethany and my SheHawk were really close sisters and friends with one another), what happens to her if you DON'T bring her though?

[The Rose Dragon]

...Does Fenris' knowledge of the Quanari ways ever get explained? Just a yes or no please, because it's bugging me.

If you get far enough on his rival side, yes. I never managed to friend him, so I can't comment on that. It is not a huge revelation, like Isabela's avoidance of the Qunari compound, though.

[Callos_DeTerran]

If you get far enough on his rival side, yes. I never managed to friend him, so I can't comment on that. It is not a huge revelation, like Isabela's avoidance of the Qunari compound, though.

Oh good, I was wondering about her avoidance as well. Good to know that should be answered too.

Another question though, what are the Fighter Specializations? I know Rogue and Mage, but I don't know Fighter ones and my sibling wants to know what specializations he can look forward to and what they do (generally).

[Typewriter]

Merrill Romance Spoilers:

I had read that part of the point of friendship/rivalry and the way it works in relation to romances is that some characters need to be guided away from their darker impulses and shown different ways to do things.

As I played I was getting upset because I preferred Merrill but her rivalry meter kept filling, eventually to max.

Then I talked to her, and she told me that she thought I was much better than her, and that she wished she could be as strong as me, etc. etc.

Then sex.

So it's not completely that she's naive, she understands that it's a shortcut, and that it's not ideal. What you do as a rival is show her a better way.

[Guancyto]

.Does Fenris' knowledge of the Quanari ways ever get explained? Just a yes or no please, because it's bugging me.

It's not a spoiler to say that Tevinter and the Qunari have been at war for a long time. He probably picked up a thing or two.

Also, just finished the game. Spoilers ahoy!
DAMMIT Anders! You killed the only person with an actual head on her shoulders! Why would you do that? Meredith was already on the verge of being overthrown!

[Giggling Ghast]

Another question though, what are the Fighter Specializations? I know Rogue and Mage, but I don't know Fighter ones and my sibling wants to know what specializations he can look forward to and what they do (generally).

Templar, Reaver, Berserker. They generally do the same things as they did in Origins, but are a bit expanded.

The Wiki has info on all their abilities.

[Dienekes]

Another question though, what are the Fighter Specializations? I know Rogue and Mage, but I don't know Fighter ones and my sibling wants to know what specializations he can look forward to and what they do (generally).

In their most basic
Reaver: Gains life from hurting others
Templar: The anti-mage
Berserker: Constantly loose stamina to deal a lot of damage.

Rather disappointed with them really, my character was a sword and shield and I was going for the badass normal type. The Templar abilities are magic in all but name, Reaver mostly as well, and Berserker is not really all that appropriate for a tank.

[VanBuren]

If you think Merril is too naive, then just have her travel around with Isabella for a while...or don't, if those aren't the kind of things you want Merril learning. :smalltongue: Though honestly, it seems like Merril's moeness infects every member of your group except for Fenris, the broody knife-ears. (Note: I use Fenris in my main party, if only because I don't have to worry about my extortionist tendencies and criminal habits upsetting Aveline)

Right now my party tends to be Me (rogue-SheHawk ((Going into Duelist and then...I don't know)) ), Fenris, Isabella, and it USED to be Bethany...then I went on the Expedition and whatnot so now I tend to swap out Anders and Merril. Mostly Merril, cause she's useful in blood-mage related side-quests while Anders just gets angry about Templars and the rights of mages.

Also, I love that there seems to be so much more inter-party banter then in DA:O, or maybe it just happens more often and I notice it more, in any case I like it! Also enjoying combat and didn't really have too much trouble with the ARW (but then again I play on normal) once I figured out the pillars bit.

...Does Fenris' knowledge of the Quanari ways ever get explained? Just a yes or no please, because it's bugging me.

Also, could we perhaps LABEL spoilers, so we know whats in them? :smallsmile: I see a ton of spoilers and I'm terrified to open half of them for fear of spoiling things for me, the only spoilers I feel safe opening in Zevox's cause we seem to be at the same part of the game.

Zousha: I know you're all about being a yes-man for your game, but you DO know there's nothing wrong (that I've seen anyway) with your companions becoming rivals instead of friends? They still get mechanical bonuses, they don't leave (again, that I've seen), and you can still romance them even!

Also About Bethany's Fate:
I'm feeling a bit guilty about bringing her along on the Deep Roads Expedition (Bethany and my SheHawk were really close sisters and friends with one another), what happens to her if you DON'T bring her though?

She joins the Circle.

[Name_Here]

She joins the Circle.

If you bring along Anders to the deeproads he can actually find a group of grey wardens who can induct your sibling into the grey wardens. They still leave but it is a much better outcome than anything else.

[Callos_DeTerran]

She joins the Circle.

...Suddenly I'm not so guilty about taking her on the expedition, especially considering the rumors you hear about Meredith and the templars just by walking around Kirkwall.

And really? No Champion? I mean...Berserker and Reaver were the two 'dark' specializations from Origins and Champion was perfect for Sword-and-boarders. Now I'm getting the feeling that the Sword-and-Board got the short end of the staff this time around...even if it's not by much.

Another question...

Cleaning up the streets after nightfall:
You always get prompted to clean up the streets after night and that SOMEONE would be willing to pay for the service being done. This SHOULDN'T be a spoiler cause one of your party members will mention it every time you go into an area after dark. But I didn't think much about this until I got the first 'mini-quest' to clear out Lowtown. I then proceeded to do the ones for Hightown and the Docks. Now my question is...am I missing some mini-gangs I need to clear out? Where and how am I supposed to go and collect my reward for doing this?

EDIT:...And right back to feeling guilty again. But in my defense, it seemed a bit suicidal to bring two mages and two rogues into the Deep Roads.

[megabyter5]

In each of the three acts, there is a full set of three street gangs that will show up at night in the Docks, Hightown, and Lowtown. You will need to make multiple trips to kill enough of them to find the hideout. There is an NPC in the Hanged Man that will pay you each time you clear one out. Supposedly, there is a special reward if you get all nine gangs, but I missed one in Act II, so I don't know what it is.

Also, someone mentioned the quest where you look for all those evil books. When you find one of those, destroy it. Do NOT pick the other options, even once. If you destroy all of them, you unlock a hidden dungeon with lots of XP, and one last book that will give you two free attribute points. If you choose to read one of the books, you get the two attribute points from that one instead, but this option is disabled for the rest of them, and the dungeon will never be available. If you take one, it's just vendor trash, and you don't get the dungeon. So unfair.

[Zevox]

And really? No Champion? I mean...Berserker and Reaver were the two 'dark' specializations from Origins and Champion was perfect for Sword-and-boarders. Now I'm getting the feeling that the Sword-and-Board got the short end of the staff this time around...even if it's not by much.
I don't know, honestly I think the specialization stuff is if anything unnecessary this time around. I'm level 15 with my mage and still haven't taken a single specialization spell (chose Force Mage as my first one, still haven't assigned the second, though I think I'll toss it in Spirit Healer next time I level up). There are just so many skills and upgrades to go around, with relatively few of them not looking useful.

Zevox

[Callos_DeTerran]

I don't know, honestly I think the specialization stuff is if anything unnecessary this time around. I'm level 15 with my mage and still haven't taken a single specialization spell (chose Force Mage as my first one, still haven't assigned the second, though I think I'll toss it in Spirit Healer next time I level up). There are just so many skills and upgrades to go around, with relatively few of them not looking useful.

Zevox

Well that's not entirely true though. You get a passive bonus just for picking a specialization, so there IS that.

[Zevox]

Well that's not entirely true though. You get a passive bonus just for picking a specialization, so there IS that.
I said "unnecessary," not "useless." :smalltongue:

Zevox

[Dienekes]

And really? No Champion? I mean...Berserker and Reaver were the two 'dark' specializations from Origins and Champion was perfect for Sword-and-boarders. Now I'm getting the feeling that the Sword-and-Board got the short end of the staff this time around...even if it's not by much.

I'm thinking Champion got rolled into Battlemaster, which is a bit disappointing because Rally and Battle Synergy are only ok. Sure if you get everyone really close together you can give everyone +30% defense, but the party has to be really close together and your tank should be taking most the hits anyway. And to really get use out of it requires at least 4 talents+ upgrades and takes a large chunk of your stamina.

[Muz]

Just to confirm: there's no way that anyone but the PC can get the Assassinate talent, yes? (I read about it earlier in this thread, but I'm playing a mage. I was all set to get Isabella set up with it only to find that it's not available for her--that I could see.)

NOT enchantment!

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Question about Merill's romance:

I know it's possible to romance someone even if you have a rivalry, but how does that affect loyalty at the end? I want to side with the Templars, but I've heard unless Merill is friends with you, she'll betray you. Does romance cement a companion's loyalty, then? I'm trying to play my Hawke who views mages as individuals rather than as a collective to be defended or defied, which is why he cares about Bethany despite her being an apostate. She may not live in the Circle, but she has more self-control than even Kirkwall's First friggin' Enchanter. If the rivalry path with Merill means you're proving to her that she doesn't need demons or blood magic, then that's likely what my Hawke would advocate.

[Cristo Meyers]

I think he's more concerned with the fact that Merril blithely uses blood magic and makes deals with demons as often as she likes. And then instead of knowing that the use of blood magic isn't the safest thing she proceeds to dislike you any time you say that blood magic is wrong or that demons aren't the kittens of the fade.

Hawke: (destroy the book of evil darkness)
Merril: +10 rival


Ugh...no kidding. I can definitely see how some folks can get incredibly annoyed with Merril despite the naive cuteness.

After a while I was getting so annoyed that I almost cheered when Fenris literally kicked her across the room when the Pride Demon turned her on me...:smallamused:

[Rising Phoenix]

I know there's more time to romance her in act 3 after her personal mission. I don't know how far it goes though since I did not take the option.

This. I've romancced her with the above.

[Name_Here]

Ugh...no kidding. I can definitely see how some folks can get incredibly annoyed with Merril despite the naive cuteness.

After a while I was getting so annoyed that I almost cheered when Fenris literally kicked her across the room when the Pride Demon turned her on me...:smallamused:

I mean come on how do people not see that she is a burger, fries and toy short of a happy meal?

I just wish there was a recruitable mage who doesn't enjoy dabbling in blood magic. A guy who acknowledges that magic is a powerful tool but one that is inherently dangerous and shouldn't be used to play around? I mean you have Anders who reaches the edge of sanity before putting his shoulder down and blasting through that edge while Merril actively dislikes you trying to control the fact that she is flirting with every taboo that a mage has with no real safe guards.

[Calemyr]

Anders isn't a blood mage, he's a spirit healer who made the mistake of getting too friendly with a spirit. He doesn't do any blood magic near as I could tell - a bit of supercharged alchemy and a spirit that could easily be confused for a demon, but no actual blood magic. If anything, he's pretty close to Wynne, except that Faith had the sense to stay separate when Justice didn't have the luxury. So it's more a choice between a blood mage and a terrorist.
One of my favorite runs of DAO was like that, actually. Having heard Wynne's story in a previous play-through, I came to the conclusion that Valor, the spirit who aids you in the Harrowing as a mage, was bolstering Fade (my elven mage and avatar on the Bio boards) and that was the source of her Arcane Warrior and Spirit Healer specializations. The fact that the Awakenings upgrade to Arcane Shield originally made you look like a spirit really sold it.

[Name_Here]

Anders isn't a blood mage, he's a spirit healer who made the mistake of getting too friendly with a spirit. He doesn't do any blood magic near as I could tell - a bit of supercharged alchemy and a spirit that could easily be confused for a demon, but no actual blood magic. If anything, he's pretty close to Wynne, except that Faith had the sense to stay separate when Justice didn't have the luxury.

I guess the blood magic claim was a little too far but he did really annoy me. I mean come on he knows he has a dangerous spirit inside of him that drives him to severe anger and yet every single time I take him out he goes berserk and quite frankly I don't think he really has a problem with it.

I mean every time he apologizes I can't help but think he's saying it in the spirit of "I'm very sorry that you are upset."


One of my favorite runs of DAO was like that, actually. Having heard Wynne's story in a previous play-through, I came to the conclusion that Valor, the spirit who aids you in the Harrowing as a mage, was bolstering Fade (my elven mage and avatar on the Bio boards) and that was the source of her Arcane Warrior and Spirit Healer specializations. The fact that the Awakenings upgrade to Arcane Shield originally made you look like a spirit really sold it.

I wish there was a companion like Wynne in this game. A character who actually seems to realize that at the best of times mages are balanced on a razor's edge with only their willpower saving them from damnation and who even at the end they stand tall against corruption.

[Cristo Meyers]

I guess the blood magic claim was a little too far but he did really annoy me. I mean come on he knows he has a dangerous spirit inside of him that drives him to severe anger and yet every single time I take him out he goes berserk and quite frankly I don't think he really has a problem with it.

I mean every time he apologizes I can't help but think he's saying it in the spirit of "I'm very sorry that you are upset."


He only gets worse...

He was one of my most liked characters...now I just want to rip his spinal column out and beat him over the head with it.

First, a lovely jaunt into the sewers looking for crap crystals...then to the Bone Pit looking for (at least I got the feeling they were) dragon crap crystals...then finding out he lied about what they were for and letting me in on a new plan...

I've got Les Miserables on the brain recently, so I find myself thinking "What? Are we going to set up barricades all around Hightown?" Then I figure out what he's doing...and I wish barricades were what he was up to.

I'm going to kill that boy.

[LordShotGun]

Thoughts about the Mage Vs Templar conflict in both Krikwall and in general

Its really hard to find a sympathetic side in the Templars versus Mages Grudge Match. In one corner we have forced Tranquility even on mages that have passed their Harrowing and confinement to their cells for the smallest reasons imaginable, but in the other we have bloodmages and abominations coming out the woodwork with even your own mother killed by one.

Now mages that are turning to bloodmagic BECAUSE of the templars is only reasonable if that is the only option besides being forced into tranquility but this is clearly not the case due to the mission where your asked to talk down runaway mages.

I personally think the fereldens have the best idea of allowing mages to live unsupervised ONLY if they exile themselves away from the public but if they want to live and interact with society, they MUST be watched. This way people have an option of being watched rather then forced to be.

[Zevox]

Goddamn it I need to catch up with you guys so I can actually participate in these conversations.

The whole mage thing is probably the most interesting part of the setting established so far, not the least of which because it can actually cause real debate and controversy among the fans, so it's great to know it's an important part of the game, but I'm not far enough along yet to talk about how this one handles it or even specifically how Anders or Merril turn out, which is making seeing ya'll starting discussions of it without me frustrating. :smallfrown:

Zevox

[Cristo Meyers]

The whole mage thing is probably the most interesting part of the setting established so far, not the least of which because it can actually cause real debate and controversy among the fans, so it's great to know it's an important part of the game, but I'm not far enough along yet to talk about how this one handles it or even specifically how Anders or Merril turn out, which is making seeing ya'll starting discussions of it without me frustrating. :smallfrown:

Even better that the game keeps throwing things at you that will definitely make you question which side you're on. Hell, at this point my Hawke is so screwed up he'd torch the city just to watch every single cursed stone crumble.

[Rising Phoenix]

Nearing the end of the game now... I am getting sick and tired of the whole templar vs mage thing so much that I want to take their swords and staves respectively and shove it in the place were the sun never shines...

And from what I hear, you cannot take a neutral position... great...

[Name_Here]

He only gets worse...

He was one of my most liked characters...now I just want to rip his spinal column out and beat him over the head with it.

First, a lovely jaunt into the sewers looking for crap crystals...then to the Bone Pit looking for (at least I got the feeling they were) dragon crap crystals...then finding out he lied about what they were for and letting me in on a new plan...

I've got Les Miserables on the brain recently, so I find myself thinking "What? Are we going to set up barricades all around Hightown?" Then I figure out what he's doing...and I wish barricades were what he was up to.

I'm going to kill that boy.

Hitting that button to execute him was almost cathartic. I mean at that point he has failed so utterly and completely that there is no coming back from it. And even worse he made me a part of it.

As for the Templars vrs. Mages debate this game makes me want to shove both sides into the gallows and burn it to the ground. The Templars a a group of power hungry jerks and the mages seem to think that everything they can get away with is just awesome. I mean Orsino was in contact and exchanging research with the guy who killed your mother. But what does he do with this dangerous apostate who is researching necromancy and killing women to harvest their body parts? Nothing, He completely ignores the pyscho instead just calmly accepting his research.

I think my cannon play through will be a drive to get as many people as possible away from Kirkwall. Cause the entire place is just crazy and will make everybody crazy.

[Zevox]

Even better that the game keeps throwing things at you that will definitely make you question which side you're on. Hell, at this point my Hawke is so screwed up he'd torch the city just to watch every single cursed stone crumble.
We'll see. That would be a rather difficult task to accomplish with me, as I have a pretty definite opinion on the matter already. Getting me to seriously consider siding with the Chantry would be quite a feat. Not impossible I suppose, but not easy.

Zevox

[Dienekes]

So I have just finished the game, and Maker damn it. It is official, I am on Thrask's side. Everyone else gets the sword. Everyone.

Maybe tomorrow I will give an overview of Nolan Hawke, Failure of Kirkwall if anyone's interested. But for now, it's time to set the game aside in mild anger at life.

[Rising Phoenix]

Maybe tomorrow I will give an overview of Nolan Hawke, Failure of Kirkwall if anyone's interested. But for now, it's time to set the game aside in mild anger at life.

You...didn't enjoy it?

[Dienekes]

You...didn't enjoy it?

I love the game, hated the characters. In a good way, it's like reading what Cersei Lannister or Joffrey Baratheon is doing in ASOIAF, if you get the reference, I loved to hate those buggers.

[Rising Phoenix]

I love the game, hated the characters. In a good way, it's like reading what Cersei Lannister or Joffrey Baratheon is doing in ASOIAF, if you get the reference, I loved to hate those buggers.

I see and agree (great books btw, can't wait for the series to air). ATM I absolutely loath Meredith, her massive skull pomelled sword does little to aleviate matters... "Its for the good of society". Yeah... right...

If I can side with Thrask, I will side with Thrask too atm.

[Calemyr]

Templars:

Far and away, the Templar are actually perfectly reasonable folk. You do have Ulrik and Meredith on the one side, but you also have Thrask and that elderly investigator and Keren (possibly) on the other, while others like Cullen and Samson are trying to ride the balance. The problem is that things are in the hands of Meredith, so things go from bad to worse to total excrement storm. Her lyrium sword only makes things get worse at an accelerated rate after she commissions it.

Personally, I strongly favor Cullen over all of them. I was afraid he'd have gone off the deep end after the Uldred rebellion, but he proved surprisingly reasonable: the mages are a threat that can never be ignored nor forgotten, but they're also people too.

Endgame addendum.

This said, however, I liked my end result as my mage. I sided with the Templar because I'd seen first hand what unleashed magi tended towards, but refused to kill non-combatants. Orsino had to die - in as painful a manner as I could arrange. Then Meredith turned on me and Cullen and Carver sided with me. End result: problem elements in both the circle and templar are eliminated, Cullen is left in charge, and I go on to be Viscount... Life is good.



By the way, has anyone compiled a list of item sets? I know the mage champion's mantle gives 3 magic, but I'd hope there's more too it than that.

[Zevox]

By the way, has anyone compiled a list of item sets? I know the mage champion's mantle gives 3 magic, but I'd hope there's more too it than that.
If you're just looking for the bonus it gives, check your abilities, in the section that has the "Summon Mabari" ability. The bonus from the one set I've had showed up there.

Anyway, companion quests, act 2, Aveline and Merril:
Finished Aveline's. That was pretty damn amusing, especially with added commentary by Isabella :smallamused: . Wasn't entirely expecting the ending there either. Aveline got rather lucky. Good for her - I hope to see things work out for her in the end, one way or another.

I'm in the middle of doing Merril's. I already fought the Vaterral once, on hard. It was surprisingly not bad. Oh, once its first wave of spider reinforcements hit Isabella and Merril went down, but me and Aveline were able to take it out on our own. Aveline's damage resistance must be astronomical with all the boosts I've piled on it now, because she was only taking single-digit damage from that thing's attacks. Meanwhile its ranged attacks, even focusing on me as often as it apparently could, were insufficient to beat my healing magic, meaning it was ultimately just a matter of time to finish it, especially after I took out its second and last reinforcement wave (on that note, ice magic rocks). Though that time was long - that thing's hp must be massive if my 400+ damage Winter's Grasp spells were putting as little dent in it as it looked.

Anyway, finished that up, then got killed by an Arcane Horror and friends on the way out of the cave, and wouldn't you know it, I forgot to save, so I get to reload the auto-save from entering the cave and do it all again tomorrow. :smallsigh:

Also, random note, but I've thought Merril's name sounded familiar since I met her, and I finally remembered why (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Marril_%28Pokemon%29). Weird. Now I'm never going to be able to get the image of Merril speaking only by repeating her name out of my mind, am I? :smallwink:

Zevox

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Got some more questions:

Equipment Question:
So, I just found something called the Gauntlets of the Fallen, in the Sundermount cave, and I think they look pretty cool, so I figured I'd go for the full Armor of the Fallen Set. Where do I find the rest of it?

Second, are there any shields better than The Lion of Orlais? It's a good shield, and basses looking to boot, but it really irks me how your weapon seems to cut through it when you're moving.

Thirdly, what's the best longsword out there besides Fadeshear? Fadeshear's okay, but it doesn't have any rune slots, and my King Arthur Hawke could go for something a bit more Excalibur-looking.

Finally, what sort of runes should I look into buying or crafting, both for armor and weapons? I know Paralyze runes were considered essential for DPSers and Dweomer runes were important for tanks, but I'm not sure where to look for those. Plus, I've got barely any idea how Armor runes function.

Quest Questions (SPOILERS for Enemies Among Us and Wayward Son):

I'm about to embark on a pair of quite polarizing quests, enemies Among Us and Wayward Son. I want to resolve them in the Templars' favor, but I fear that may not sit well with my neccessary healer, Anders, or my my DPSer and future girlfriend Merrill. Should I bring either of them? Bethany can heal in a pinch, but she's nowhere near as effective as Anders, and since she's a Mage, I fear she may hate me for it.

Companions and Romance Questions (Needless to say, SPOILERS!):

I'm still looking for whether or not Merrill will turn on you if you've romanced her but have maxed out her Rivalry rather than Friendship. I'd rather not have to kill my Hawke's lover. If you say "romance someone else then," I'm not going to listen. I crafted this so it'd have a sort of mirror image plotwise, my Dalish Warrior Warden ending Flemeth's life and romancing Morrigan, willing to follow his lover down dark roads, while Merrill returns Flemeth to life, falls in love with a human warrior, and ends up standing beside the Templars to support the man she loves. Anders and Fenris aren't gonna be this time around, as this Hawke doesn't swing that way, and Isabella seems to be more of the "buddy" sort this time around, like Varric, someone Arthur Hawke'd down a few pints with at the Hanged Man rather than romancing.

Also, I'm wondering if it's possible to become friends with everyone. Right now, the only person I'm true friends with is Bethany. Everyone else is about 20 points into Friendship or so. I want as many people to stay at the end as possible, even though I know Anders will likely be a lost cause.

Hopefully I won't step on any toes this time.

[Zevox]

Zousha:
Refresh my memory, what exactly are those two quests you're asking about? I'm quite sure I've seen the names before, but I cannot recall what exactly they were. Though since I'm sure I haven't resolved any quests in the Templars' favor when an alternative was available, I guess all I can offer is speculation.

As for befriending everyone, well, I'm basically* friends with everyone but Fenris, who is getting rivalry points out the wazoo due to me being a mage, so I'd think it should be quite possible, notwithstanding whatever happens at the end (which I don't know about).

*Technically Anders and Sebastian don't have enough friendship to have their skill from it yet, but Anders has gotten only friendship points so far, so he's headed that direction; and Sebastian is in a similar situation except for the fact that I'll probably largely ignore him, and as such expect he'll end up without significant friendship or rivalry.

Hopefully I won't step on any toes this time.
You used spoiler blocks, so no, no you won't. :smallsmile:

Zevox

[Arcanoi]

~snip~



*There's an armor set for each act. Generally, you find each piece in chests during different quests throughout the act.

*All of the DLC gear is great for the first act and will outmatch just about everything you can find. Once Act 2 rolls around, however, it will quickly become obsolete. Even Fadeshear, despite its scaling, won't match up to the Act 2 or 3 longswords that you'll find unless you're fighting demons or undead.

*Both of these quests can be solved in the manner you describe without taking any rivalry points with Bethany. Anders, however, will not like it. I'm not sure about Merril, though.

*I don't know how that will work in the endgame, as my only completed Hawke romanced Merril but sided with the Circle.

*You can generally be friends with everyone except either Fenris or Anders, as their viewpoints are usually mutually exclusive.

[Avilan the Grey]

First of all: I really called it with my MWG about the amulet.

I am a little annoyed with the game for scaling so much.
I just did Flemeth's amulet quest and I almost panicked when I came across first an Archane Horror and then a Revenant. I blew through both with a lvl 6 party in a matter of seconds. WAY too easy. Admittedly at that time I had a party of 6 instead of four (Merill and Dog).

Anyway:
Merill is the cutest most adorable little Blood Mage I have ever seen! After coming back to the city I now have an all-girl squad: Me, my sister, Evelyn and Merill. I think this setup is going to work very well and won't change for a while.

Oh and:
I have now spent a lot of time in the Black Emporium and there is no place there to reset your characters points? I can only find the mirror that allows me to change appearance.


I wish there was a companion like Wynne in this game. A character who actually seems to realize that at the best of times mages are balanced on a razor's edge with only their willpower saving them from damnation and who even at the end they stand tall against corruption.

I liked Wynne, but I usually have far more sympathy for mages than the Chantry. In this game in particular, since your very own sister (and you!) are both Apostates, and you have spent your whole childhood hiding your powers from the Templars in the village you grew up in.

[Calemyr]

Avilan:
You want the Maker's Sigh item to respec your characters. It's available in the relics shop/chest at the Black Emporium under the potions menu and will set you back a little more than a gold a pop. Still, it means you get that wasted point you start with back (does anyone see much use in mind blast/glue vial?). Be sure to check the potions menu for the crafting materials as well, by the way, as there are potions that give you extra stats and skills as well (not many, but some).

As for the Revenants/Arcane Horrors, they're a lot less dangerous this time around, but that's partly because everything has been brought into the same general lines.

I take it you're playing a rogue? If you're not, you really will want to include isabella in your all-girl team.

Oh, and trust me: before the end of this game, you'll see some darn good examples of why the templars are necessary.

[Avilan the Grey]

Thanks for the tip for where to look.

Yes, I am an archer.

[Dhavaer]

Going to start my second playthrough tonight, and looking for advice on stats for a two-handed warrior. Is it worth pumping Cunning? I'm intending to increase Str, Con and Cun 1 per level, or maybe alternate between 1 Cun 1 Con and 2 Cun until it starts levelling off.

Also, is anyone else a bit annoyed at skill trees that start with two mutually exclusive sustained talents, and don't allow you to progress without taking both?

[Bouregard]

Going to start my second playthrough tonight, and looking for advice on stats for a two-handed warrior. Is it worth pumping Cunning? I'm intending to increase Str, Con and Cun 1 per level, or maybe alternate between 1 Cun 1 Con and 2 Cun until it starts levelling off.

Also, is anyone else a bit annoyed at skill trees that start with two mutually exclusive sustained talents, and don't allow you to progress without taking both?

As someone who plays 2hand on nightmare... You shouldn't worry about damage. Think more about survival... so con is a must. Also keep in mind 2hand is primary a AOE damage line. So you should be the only friendly thing in melee range. Rush or that big first tier attack will instagib any rogue or mage.

[Dhavaer]

What the hell is wrong with Bethany's fingers? They look twice as long as they should be and half as thick, all brown and gnarled too; it's like she stole them from a darkspawn. Am I the only one seeing this?

[Avilan the Grey]

What the hell is wrong with Bethany's fingers? They look twice as long as they should be and half as thick, all brown and gnarled too; it's like she stole them from a darkspawn. Am I the only one seeing this?

I don't have that problem.

I run on DX9, though. Not sure if that makes a difference. I also use the Hi-Res texture patch.

I really recommend it, it does make a noticeable difference on DX9, and apparently really makes an impact if you can run on DX11.

[Rising Phoenix]

Finished the game...



ANDERS!!!!!!!!!! GRAAAAAAHHH!!! WHAT THE HELL MAN!? SERIOUSLY! WTF?!

and I chose to kill you too cause pretty boy Sebastian would bring an army if I didn't... and my character is a good type happy go lucky that wants everyone to get along.

Though the game was awesomely epic, it left me with a very sour taste... I really REALLY didn't want to get involved and I didn't like that it ended a cliffhanger. I hated meredith and in the end also hated the first enchanter...

Also am I wrong that the game ends the same way regardless of what side you take? (kill both sides?)

There are other issues that I hope can be solved in different directions. But I would rather figure the answer to those for myself.

Time for playthrough two... Thinking of an archer or a mage that will romance Fenris...

Edit: DA III better be good... very good...

[Chen]

Companions and Romance Questions (Needless to say, SPOILERS!):

I'm still looking for whether or not Merrill will turn on you if you've romanced her but have maxed out her Rivalry rather than Friendship. I'd rather not have to kill my Hawke's lover. If you say "romance someone else then," I'm not going to listen. I crafted this so it'd have a sort of mirror image plotwise, my Dalish Warrior Warden ending Flemeth's life and romancing Morrigan, willing to follow his lover down dark roads, while Merrill returns Flemeth to life, falls in love with a human warrior, and ends up standing beside the Templars to support the man she loves. Anders and Fenris aren't gonna be this time around, as this Hawke doesn't swing that way, and Isabella seems to be more of the "buddy" sort this time around, like Varric, someone Arthur Hawke'd down a few pints with at the Hanged Man rather than romancing.

Also, I'm wondering if it's possible to become friends with everyone. Right now, the only person I'm true friends with is Bethany. Everyone else is about 20 points into Friendship or so. I want as many people to stay at the end as possible, even though I know Anders will likely be a lost cause.

Hopefully I won't step on any toes this time.

I didn't romance Merill and was full Rival with her at the end. I sided with the Templar and she stayed with me. It seems max of either is enough to get them to follow you or at least is in Merill's case

[Blayze]

So I have just finished the game, and Maker damn it. It is official, I am on Thrask's side. Everyone else gets the sword. Everyone.

Sounds like I need to kick-start Operation Total Party Kill for this game as well. I was already debating what party to take for maximum story/continuity benefit--if it turns out even my hard-chosen party members get on my nerves, I'm afraid I might have to find some way to go solo.

I'm trying to play on Nightmare, and since I really don't want to tank that means Aveline--which means if Anders is annoying as hell I'll probably end up having to heal.

That leaves me with a rapidly-dwindling list of characters I might not want to punch in the face. Which two characters--except Aveline as she's pretty much mandatory in my party and Bethany for obvious reasons since I'm going to have to be a Mage--are the least stupid and annoying?

I get the feeling that Anders and Fenris are going to be nothing but liabilities, and Carver's already got a Deep Roads expedition with his name on it.

[polity4life]

I would like to recant some of my previous statements concerning the game. What brought about a change concerning difficulty in battle was a blanket respec of my core group and complete customization of their tactics: Rogue Hawke (Dual Weapon, Scoundrel, Shadow, and Assassin trees), Aveline (Weapon and Shield, Guardian, and Defender trees), Anders (Creation, Justice, and Spirit trees), and Merrill (Entropy and Primal Trees). Hawke was pure DPS with little passive threat mitigation and some battlefield mobility (Back-to-Back). Aveline was purely threat generation and damage mitigation. Anders was primarily a healer, offensive and defensive buffer, with a sprinkle of crowd control. Merrill was my primary crowd controller and AOE spammer.

I still ran into the same jumping issues with Rogue Hawke but by front loading some effort to improve battle outcomes, consequences of being stuck or cornered were greatly reduced. Aveline did a better job of grabbing more creatures and holding onto them. Anders actually cast haste this time around. Although the cooldowns for healing are still way too long, a proper spec, sensible companion tactics, and a triage approach to establish an ability rotation for Rogue Hawke made everything relatively easy. The final fights in the game were nothing in comparison to the Bone Pit fight, which may partially be attributed to the innate difficulty of the fights in question.

I'm still unsettled with even larger spiders but I counted only four in the game and no more encountered after my first post. What is worse though is that the ending leaves you with little. I felt that Awakening, a large-scale expansion, had a better conclusion than this full-scale second installment to the series.

[The Rose Dragon]

To be honest, Anders is the only liability. Everyone else can be opinionated, but highly tolerable (during the run of this one game), like most Bioware characters.

It is a testament to the writing of Anders that he gets such a rise out of me, actually. Whether it's good or bad, I don't know, but it's certainly impressive.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

*There's an armor set for each act. Generally, you find each piece in chests during different quests throughout the act.

*All of the DLC gear is great for the first act and will outmatch just about everything you can find. Once Act 2 rolls around, however, it will quickly become obsolete. Even Fadeshear, despite its scaling, won't match up to the Act 2 or 3 longswords that you'll find unless you're fighting demons or undead.

Chests? I found the Gauntlets in a pile of rubble. Are there any locked chests in there? I'm worried I might have missed pieces because Varric's cunning wasn't high enough to open some of the "standard" chests we've come across.

[The Rose Dragon]

Chests? I found the Gauntlets in a pile of rubble. Are there any locked chests in there? I'm worried I might have missed pieces because Varric's cunning wasn't high enough to open some of the "standard" chests we've come across.

There are three places you can find set items: locked containers, unlocked containers and enemy corpses. To make sure you don't miss anything, maxing out either Varric or Isabela's Cunning to 40 is a must (though Isabela can get away with lower if you find her the right dagger to equip).

I failed to complete the Act 2 set, for example. Also, each item set is specific to a class (you won't come up with warrior-specific items if you're playing a mage, for example), so the specific locations of each item might change.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

ARGH! I was forced to skip some chests because Varric's cunning wasn't high enough! Dammit! What do I do now?!

EDIT: Nevermind, they seem to have finally gotten some information up on the Wiki, and I haven't actually started the quests where you find the other pieces yet. I'm still good. Sorry to flip out. :smallsigh:

[The Rose Dragon]

Just say "screw it" and make sure he has Cunning 40 for the final act, because then you get the Champion set (the one you start the game with in the tutorial), and that's pretty much awesome.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Just say "screw it" and make sure he has Cunning 40 for the final act, because then you get the Champion set (the one you start the game with in the tutorial), and that's pretty much awesome.

...But it looks abominable! Not paladiny or knightly in the slightest!

[The Rose Dragon]

...But it looks abominable! Not paladiny or knightly in the slightest!

Why does it matter? Its stat bonuses are awesome.

[polity4life]

...But it looks abominable! Not paladiny or knightly in the slightest!

Then it seems you have little choice but to use inferior gear for end-game events.

The Dragon Age universe, especially viewed through the lens of DA:II, really stretches the limits of moral ambiguity. In this iteration, there really are no bona fide enlightened paths to follow that maximize a sense of objective good while punishing all that is objectively bad. The armor in this game is certainly reflective of that; the world is harsh, dangerous, intimidating, and unforgiving.

[Name_Here]

There are three places you can find set items: locked containers, unlocked containers and enemy corpses. To make sure you don't miss anything, maxing out either Varric or Isabela's Cunning to 40 is a must (though Isabela can get away with lower if you find her the right dagger to equip).

I failed to complete the Act 2 set, for example. Also, each item set is specific to a class (you won't come up with warrior-specific items if you're playing a mage, for example), so the specific locations of each item might change.

Actually the StoneHammer chest piece you need to buy from Olaf's armory in Act 3. And I don't think I found any set pieces in locked chests all I remember being in there were potions and the basic accesories and armors.

[Typewriter]

@Archpaladin Zousha

Just so you know...
Just wanted to let you know you're going to have a hard time getting any kind of a 'perfect' playthrough, especially in just one try. Choices you make early in the game that seem like good ideas can come back to cause death later in the game. Sometimes making evil choices early in the game leads to good things happening later.

As an example: At one point in the game some mages were trying to run away from the templars. I convinced them to stand down after killing their leader, and rather than kill them I convined them to surrender. Towards the end of the game they killed Thrask.

So.... good luck, but try not to get too hung up on it :P

[Avilan the Grey]

...But it looks abominable! Not paladiny or knightly in the slightest!

The alternative is the Blood Dragon Armor I presume? Or didn't you get that?