Dragon Age : Origins (all platforms) Review.

[Fiach]

Fiach, do you have an idea how I might get through the doors that are locked, with a message that it will take mighty force to get through?  Also, how to get through the fire barricades?  I've gone through all of the mouse holes, but there are not enough to get into some of those secret areas.

One really cool thing is that I met a Templar spirit, and he gave me the ability to change into a spirit - that sure did help on the mage island.  ;)

The Mage form is to get through doors that look out of place, like a sheet of curved glass laying against a wall. You have a spell called Crushing Prison, best spell in the game, so if you make a Mage, remember that spell and w@&k towards it :)

The Mighty doors are for Golem Form, the Fire barricades cannot be accessed until you have the Fire Form, you will need to change a fair bit while you are in there, sometimes really quickly, eg. Change into Fire form, get through a door and immediately change into another form to defeat the enemies on the other side of the door.

Keep referring to your map, if there are shaded areas, you have not gone into that area yet, maybe you are missing some forms because of that.

Theres no walkthrough I can give you, I usually start at the top of the pentagram map and w%&k clockwise if that makes sense, I dont do it for any particular reason other than its a confusing area and I try to do it as systematically as I can, just to be thorough.

I like the area (cos I've done it a bunch of times), but I hated it first time through as I hadnt a clue  on where to go or what to do, the only advice I can  give is to be thorough.

EDIT :

If you are finding it confusing (it bloody is :)), maybe try and go through the area in the direction this walkthrough suggests, that way you will miss nothing, next time you will breeze through it, once you are aware of the lay out.

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/The_Fade:_Lost_in_Dreams

[PZ]

Thanks Fiach, that was helpful - I'm just about to go in again, and will look for some of the forms I must have missed.  ;)

Is it possible to mistakenly kill the other forms and thereby be locked in the quest?

[PZ]

UPDATE: I completed the Circle of Mages! Man that was an intricate one.  ;)

[Fiach]

Yeah, it can be a pita first time, but now you know the layout, you can use and abuse it with characters for subsequent playthroughs, by pumping up stats early for tougher quests. Glad you got through it OK :)

[PZ]

Thanks - my problem was that I went through counter clockwise rather than clockwise.  Once I got the Golem and flaming man characters, it only took about 20 minutes to finish up things.  ^-^

[KingRat]

On my 3rd play through now, so time to transition the conversation over from the ME2 thread  :)

Played all the DLC except 'darkspawn' which I tried, but found it didn't interest me.

My characters so far have been human female mage & warrior and this time human male rogue.....I still haven't gotten around to micro managing the tactics screen. I will set the top bars to ie Ranged/Archer, but then stick with the rest of the presets.

Having fun with it although I think KoA:R has much better combat mechanics  :-X

Don't know what I did with the Warrior build, but it was unbeatable. Was able to keep from being captured so I missed the prison break, and took out the AD without much trouble. Something weird happened at the end of the final battle because I wound up on the same platform as the AD, as opposed to my first play where it flew to an inaccessible area?

[Fiach]

I think they were trying to make a hybrid DnD combat model, compatible with console controllers, I liked it, it seemed much more fluid.

I think the combat is KoA's strongest asset, but unfortunately its in a game that is very "easy", but it definately is the most fun combat I have ever had in a game.

Trying to finish Witcher 2 before darksiders 2 is released next week but I keep getting sidetracked by Lineage 2, which was my first MMO, now they have made it free to play with fast track levelling to get you into the higher tiers quickly for castle sieges and pvp.

Started it about 2/3 days ago and already have 4 characters (my name is Fiach and I am an alta-holic) :)

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[KingRat]

Ok, finished 4 plays with human mage, rogue, warrior 2x, and got the endings I was shooting for. King Alistair, Queen Anora, King/Queen and King/PC.....still want to do Dwarf and Elf, but I've moved on to DA2 for now and completed 1 play so I'm going to bump that thread  :-D

[Fiach]

I never played a warrior, but I seem to remember alot of the DLC was geared towards warriors which annoyed me.

[KingRat]

I went through all the dlc with my first build (mage), and Golems was the worst for that class. I liked the warrior class, and went with different builds on each. One was two-handed tank and the other sword/shield defender....give it a try when you get the time  :)

[Fiach]

I just dont like melee mate, thats why I dont bother, maybe a rogue sometimes, but I just cant get into sword charcacters really :)

[KingRat]

I just dont like melee mate, thats why I dont bother, maybe a rogue sometimes, but I just cant get into sword charcacters really :)

While I have the most fun with my Mage/Sorcerer builds, on my current play as a Dwarf noble I didn't have much choice. In KOA I switched up quite a bit, but mostly went with the Arcane Warrior type build. I'm just a casual player so I don't get beat up to bad  :-D

[Fiach]

I actually tried to mix mage and melee in KoA but it wasnt long til I went to a fateweaver and rearranged my melee points :)

[KingRat]

 
I think I let the games dictate my play style. I know with the many, many hours I put into Fallout 3 & FNV I never went with a melee build. Same with Borderlands, haven't used the hulk.....yet  :)

[Art Blade]

I can relate. I haven't used Brick yet, either. And the same with FO, always the guns  :)

[Fiach]

Always went ranged in FO myself, never used Brick either tbh.

[KingRat]

Well, it's not like I don't keep a powerfist handy for those 'special' occasions  >:D I just don't put a lot of points into melee/unarmed

[Fiach]

Played FONV at release, just picked up the Ultimate Edition for €20 (contains all DLC, even from suppliers like gamestop), so may give it a try this time around :)

[PZ]

I just can't help myself; I modded FO3 and FNV so heavily neither resemble the original game.  However, I really enjoyed the final product.  For instance, I added a radio station that played vintage radio advertisements, some from the earlier part of the 20th century.  It was great fun wandering the wasteland listening to those old commercials (some of which I remember hearing myself at the time)  :-()

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[Fiach]

I just can't help myself; I modded FO3 and FNV so heavily neither resemble the original game.  However, I really enjoyed the final product.  For instance, I added a radio station that played vintage radio advertisements, some from the earlier part of the 20th century.  It was great fun wandering the wasteland listening to those old commercials (some of which I remember hearing myself at the time)  :-()

I made a cd of the soundtrack, my kids love it! Y'know, stuff like Mr Sandman etc. :)

[Art Blade]

 :) The music sure is great in FO :-X

[PZ]

The mod author probably got their sound tracks from places like this http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/old_radio_commercials/