Chatty-Chatty Bang-Bang. Worth: $40
based on 360 retail - special thanks to the GamerGal
Warrior, Rogue, or Mage, tongues will flap and heads will roll.
The following article is an intro to playing Dragon Age Origins, but it is not a walkthrough. It's a general guide for people who haven’t played this kind of RPG before. If you’ve played Knights of the Old Republic or Final Fantasy then you don’t need this. If you mostly play action games but have been sucked into this game by your friends, then you might get something from this.
Stuff you’ll always want to do:
Save. A lot. Save after every fight or transaction. Save before you open any door. I save every couple of minutes, sometimes every ten seconds depending on what I’m doing. The fights in the game are not leveled, meaning it is easy to walk your Level 4 party members into a Level 20 fight. Momma said knock you out.
Take the Coercion skill and level it up as soon as you can. Anybody in your party can kick ass. Only _your_ character can talk to people and persuade or intimidate them. Coercion makes the game a LOT easier and more fun.
Pace yourself. This is a long game, and while there is a lot of action, there is also a lot of talking and a lot of party management. When I need a balls-out action-fest, I play an FPS. When I want to relax and cool down, I play a big RPG like this.
Conversations
- Talk to everybody you see, everywhere you go.
- Especially talk to your party members (mostly in your Camp). Its good to get them to like you because they will fight better. Plus, you can take them back to your tent and fool around with them (the cutscenes are only PG-13).
- Faster conversations. If you can’t stand sitting through all the chit-chat, you can fast-forward by turning on subtitles so you can read what they are going to say, then hit the Skip button (Xbox = X). This speeds up the talking a lot.
Party Members
- Always take anyone who wants to join your party.
- Listen to your party members. They have conversations with each other that can be illuminating, entertaining, or both.
- Your party members have distinct personalities. Your interactions with them need to take this into account. For example, try to avoid saying anything to Sten that ends with a question mark.
Pay Attention
- Explore everywhere. BioWare loves to hide loot down back alleys or behind things. Peek at your map to see if you’ve explored everywhere.
- When something adds itself to your Codex, take a quick look when the notice "Added to Codex" appears in the lower left of your screen (Xbox = "back" button). You don’t have to read everything, but at least quickly skim it just so you know what it was.
Let yourself get the hang of it
- On your first time through, be nice to everybody. This opens up more of the game and generally makes things easier. You can be a nasty S.O.B. for your next character.
- Get used to the Action Wheel (Xbox = Left Trigger). This will pause the fight and give you time to see which party member needs health. Almost everything you "do" happens from the Action Wheel, including Poisons, Potions, and Traps. I tried using the short-cuts for a while (Xbox = X, Y, B) but since the Action Wheel holds _everything_ I find it easier to use that instead.
- Don’t run around too much during a fight. The characters can fight or move but not both. When you move you are not putting out any damage. Sometimes you have to relocate, sure, but don’t just run around for no real reason.
The Tactics Screen
Take ten minutes out of a gaming session and really figure out Tactics. Here’s a good starting point:
- Have the first Tactics slot be "If this character’s health is less than 25%, take a health potion."
- Have the second slot activate a sustained defensive ability, if available. Warriors can activate a Shield mode, Mages eventually can get Bone Armor, Rogues can activate Stealth.
- The rest of the slots depend on the character’s class. Warriors should use Taunt, then hunker down and draw as much enemy attention (aka "aggro") as possible (this strategy is known as "tanking"). This will draw enemy fire away from your lightly-armored but high-casualty-producing Mages and ranged weapon Rogues. Mages should Heal any party member whose health falls below 50%. Rogues can attack with bow and arrow.
- You could use one of your Warrior’s slots to say basically, "If an enemy is attacking my Mage (or ranged weapon Rogue), stop whatever you’re doing and attack that enemy."
What made this game fun for me
Here’s the number one thing that made this game fun for me:
Play as Morrigan. She inflicts more than twice as much damage as any other party member. She has so many great spells in her Action Wheel that it’s practically impossible to set up her Tactics to use everything, unlike a Warrior or Rogue who can be more of a fire-and-forget once you get their Tactics set up.
This meant letting go of my own character a little. I set up a Female Warrior Human (named "Jade") and have not leveled her up very well. This is typical for the first time I play an RPG. It takes me a character or two to get the hang of what’s important. For now I have Jade’s Tactics set up so she acts as a heavily armored Ranged fighter who hangs back and shoots at people. If an enemy attacks Morrigan, Jade's Tactics have her shoot at that enemy. If an enemy attacks Jade, I have one of my Warrior’s Tactics set to come and help her out.
Here’s the number two thing that made this game more fun:
Make a ton of health potions. Who needs skill when you can health up 75 times in a row? This has saved my bacon many times and let me avoid getting knocked out by Momma (see above). The merchant in your Camp has unlimited Flasks for sale, and the merchant in the Dalish Camp has unlimited Elfroot for sale (you need both). You'll need at least one party member with at least one level of Herbalism. Then you can crank out dozens of health potions for your party members to chug down during your fights.
Good luck!
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