So I was playing around with the re-spec stuff again and turned my dual wield / assassin into and archer / shadow / stealth.

Is in me does the archer do way more damage and have a higher survivability than a dual wield?

I started out as exclusively a DW rogue on Nightmare and then I found a really good bow and realized I should put some points into Archery as well for the DISORIENT and BRITTLE cross class combos.

I'm also considering respeccing with the talents below. I think the best build for a rogue is a mix of Archery and Dual Wield, specializing in Assassin and Shadow. In most big battles, I start out ranged, using Assasinate ranged on one of the lieutenants and set up some ccc, then close in with dual wield Backstab, Unforgiving Chain, Explosive Strike and Assassinate again.

CROSS CLASS COMBOS


ATTRIBUTES


ABILITIES

I'm thinking about picking up Dragon Age 2 for the PC considering how much better the demo was from the 360 demo. I'd like to play Dragon Age: Origins first though, is the PC version much better than the 360 version?

I've heard that console versions of Origins are pretty poor. Origins was originally supposed to be a PC only game (before it was even called "Origins"), so it plays better on PC.

This

I sold my copy of DA:O PS3 after few days then I bought the one for PC

Nice tips n' build there.

Who do you use and what skills do you use to set up the warrior stagger effect to set up the CCCs?

I'm using aveline, and I find the warrior stamina regeneration mechanic (only regenerates on enemy death) completely kills my CCC capability in prolonged fights.

I used Avelline as my tank for most of the first Act and when I got pwned by the Rock Wraith I realized that Fenris makes a better tank on Nightmare.

If you get Sunder for Fenris, it is a passive ability, so every critical has a chance to STAGGER, also the Bolster ability allows him to recharge his batteries for Shattering Blow, Scythe/Reaper and other CCC abilities.

If you are playing with Avelline as your tank, she needs either Bolster, extra points in willpower or stamina potions. Haven't tried the warrior ability you mentioned, but the Bloodlust stamina regeneration on my Rogue works well because rogues can kill smaller enemies quickly.

I think the ideal party composition on Hard or Nightmare is:
One 2H Warrior tank
One Rogue
Two Mages with points in CCC spells and at least one of them with Revive/Group heal (unless the PC is a mage, Anders is the only one who can Revive dead party members)

On Nightmare, two mages with upgraded Chain Lightning + Galvanize fries up STAGGERED enemies quickly, and it is the only AoE spell with no friendly fire.

console versions are fine, it's obviously built for a PC but if you're patient you'll be fine. I enjoyed it on 360 (in fact I'm playing through it a second time before I start DA2). the two big issues on 360 is there's no isometric viewing so it's kinda tricky with AOE attacks (but you'll get used to it pretty fast) and the graphics aren't as good. Though from what I've seen the PC's graphics aren't that much superior either.

and obviously there's not as many hotkeys (six on 360) so anything outside of the six abilities you've assigned you'll have to access through a radial menu.

on a side note
I see bioware has taken a few pointers from Cartoon network
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-dragon-age/711846

I'm sorry but that looks really stupid, even with the blood and gore it still looks like a kids show.

:lol:
Wow, terrible just terrible.

I haven't really had any problems playing Origins for the 360. The type of combat was built for the PC but it's not terrible and certainly better in certain aspects then Dragon Age 2.

The best way to deal with the Connor is to kill him, its way more satisfying than killing Isolde. See here for the lulz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsJIU5Sbl1Y keep replaying 0:12 for more lulz

I don't know what's more fun, torturing isolde by killing her kid, or making her sacrifice herself and then selling her son's souls to a demon.

DA:O or DA2?

DA2

No matter how long a game has been out, a spoiler is a spoiler, just so y'all know

The fight in DA2 was more interesting. Neither was particularly difficult. And it drops better equipment, namely the champion armor.

That spoiler can be seen from the acheivements list though. And the level up menu hints at a little something about the siblings future

I pop in the thread and see that I have to fight a high dragon again.

IN DRAGON AGE

IT'S ALL SPOILED NOW. THANKS, YOU INCONSIDERATE JERKS.

:P

Or maybe I never finished DA:O and now the ending has been spoiled for me? ( I have but it's an example, though I have yet to play awakening )

Anyone knew if ATI cards have problems with the game?

(DAO)

Eh? The high Dragon fight has nothing to do with the ending.

(and the archdemon being a dragon is revealed during your joining. Hardly a spoiler)

The best path, to me, was going to the Mage tower and saving Connor. You have to go to the Tower anyway, so why not combine the quests. I hope you didn't let the characters BS you about how short time was to save Connor.

Its better to torture her for killing her kid since you get to punch her.

I think it must be more optimized for modern CPUs in some way.

I'm surprised how well it runs on my laptop, which has a second tier video card (AMD 5830M).

I'm about halfway into the game and I've been getting excellent frame rates at "very high" setting, 1920x1080, DX11, 16x AF, 4x AA, high res texture pack installed, high quality motion blur.

The only areas I've noticed so far where the fps drops below 30 is on Sundermount when the clouds are creating moving shadows on the ground and any cutscenes where there is a lot of fire and smoke in the background. Load times are almost non-existent thanks to SSD.

EDIT: sorry I just noticed you were asking about DAO, not DA2. DAO didn't have any problems with my AMD card, but DA2 seems to be better optimized.

Finished DA2 yesterday. There's been some discussion about the length of the game; I'll just chip in and say that I did EVERYTHING (I seriously went out of my way to complete every single sidequest I found, no matter how boring and meaningless it was (and most were just that)) and I completed it in 30 hours.

In my opinion, this game is a huge step down from DAO, and I wasn't all that excited about that one either. DAO had great companions and dialogue, which was the only thing that made me get through the whole game, because the story was so freakin' cliché I almost wanted to beat my head to the wall sometimes (a.k.a. :banghead: ).
With DA2, though, the dialogue was completely ruined, in my opinion. Both the writing (just search YouTube for the lovescenes *shivers*), and the way it's presented. In DAO, you had a list of responses where you had to decide yourself what was good or bad, or whether a character would respond farourably to what you said. In DA2, though, the dialogue system tells you exactly how the characters will respond and whether the response is good or evil. It's especially bad when pursuing a romantic relationship where the game basically tells you "here's the romance option, click it and have fun" - whereas in DAO, you had to get to know the characters to know what to say to them and give them gifts you've learned that they'd appreciate. This leads to everything in DA2 seeming flat. None of the characters seem really interesting. Also, the fact that you can only talk to them after certain plot points is frustrating. There's so little dialogue and time to get to know them that they barely even have the time to be developed into something interesting. Character roles are set in stone, too. Need a tank? Aveline. Need a healer? Anders. The companions' unique skill trees basically force you to give them predetermined roles, and if you try to steer them away from that role, all you'll get is an inferior character.

My other main gripe is the combat. EVERY SINGLE BATTLE IS THE SAME. It doesn't matter if you're battling a horde of demons or a group of mercenaries, they all die just as fast and they all come in similar numbers with a similar number of reinforcements. Only a handful of enemies even have a unique ability. Every fight in the game, except a couple of boss fights, play the same way. As a bow'n'arrow rogue I just launched AoE attacks until I ran out of stamina, then I just picked off the remaining opponens. Rinse and repeat through the whole game.

The fact that your character is the only one who can equip armor also makes 90% of the loot you pick up vendor trash. As soon as you find something you can't wear yourself you just sell it. And considering the characters in the game have such predetermined roles you usually bring the same ones with you all the time, and when they are decently equipped you just vendor all the weapons and accessories you find as well.

Also, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE, COPY-PASTE. Dungeons all look the same, armor looks are recycled and loads of items have the same name but different stats (inventory is usually a huge mess, especially the accessories tab). Even outdoor environments are recycled. You'd think that when the game is centered around such a small area (only one city and its outskirts), those areas would be varied and interesting. But no, most places are just recycled and empty. I find it amusing how the game begins by telling you how full the city is, and when you get inside, it's just really desolate.

Performance was way down from DAO, as well. I played DAO at 2560x1600 with all settings on highest and 4xAA, no lag at all. With DA2 I had to crank everything down to lowest, and it still froze from time to time. With DX11 enabled the FPS sometimes dropped to about 1 frame per 10 seconds at completely illogical places.


All in all I think this game just meandered from one mediocre part to the next mediocre part with nothing to really excite you. There was a single character in the whole game that I actually REALLY liked; He has fantastic dialogue that manages to feel both deep and stern at the same time. Of course, they killed this character off after a few minutes.