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Dragon Age: Origins
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Pokey
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November 22, 2009 - 9:58 pm
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We've done about every quest in Lothering and have moved on to Denerim, hoping it will be easier than Alistair's idea of going to Redcliff. As we entered the city, Morrigan and Lelianna were chatting about clothes and shoes and planned to go shopping together. I have a nice map, which is a good thing since the city looks quite large. There are some nice shops and a palace. We may stay here for a while.[Image Can Not Be Found]

Edit...It's not all nice. Sgt Kylon keeps sending us out to dark alleys full of thugs. He is a funny guy to talk to.

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Toger
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November 24, 2009 - 1:56 pm
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We've completed the Broken Circle quest in the Mage's Tower and laid the smack-down on the Sloth demon.

Jiminy freakin' Christmas the mages in the Mages Asunder portion annoyed the hell outta me! Especially the 4 or 5 that had clustered in one room and bombed my ass with magic as soon as I opened the door. If I ran, the bastards followed me as did their spells! It took me at least 10 tries to finally get my act together and be able to carpet bomb them with my all-encompassing fire spell and take them out. "Rescuing" Morrigan from her Sloth demon-imposed nightmare was hilarious.

The mages have agreed to be part of my army to attack the arch-demon. It's possible that I'll regret this decision and wish that I'd sided with the Templars as they're more powerful, but they're also a bit too self-righteous in their "protecting the common folk from Blood Magic" ideology. Believe what you want, just don't get all up in my face about it.

We're back at Castle Redcliff to try to save Connor; however, I'm thinking I may go off to do a couple of side-quests before continuing on with the main story. Luckily, the Circle of Mages will wait for me.

I now have Zehvran, Elven Rogue Assassin, in my camp. Disapproval all around for not killing him outright. Too bad, he could have interesting stories to tell.

I miss all the cool abilities I had in the Fade for that one quest line.[Image Can Not Be Found]

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Toger
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November 26, 2009 - 1:21 pm
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We've completed Redcliff – well, except for the Urn of Sacred Ashes questline – and have moved on to Denerim since several quests point there. On the way, we met the Dalish clan on the outskirts of the Brecilian Forest. (While in the Dalish camp, we helped a couple of young lovers, much to Morrigan's chagrin. There was talk of vomiting involved.) Apparently, the forest is infested with werewolves! I'm a little hesitant to do that quest just yet as I've heard there be spiders in there. I've already come across a few in Lothering and I was squeamish; having them drop from the trees will probably kill me.

Alistair has given Ilonka a rose because he finds her beautiful amidst all the death and destruction. Awww, that's so sweet! He's also taught her a specialisation; however, for the life of me I can't remember which one it was.

I've outfitted Morrigan in light armour that's not as silly looking as her original robes. She suffers a slight fatigue hit, but not enough to keep her from hurling Cone of Ice or a fireball when needed.

At some point, I lowered the difficulty to Easy and have found it too easy. It's not nearly as satisfying when we're triumphant in battle. On the other hand, Normal was sometimes too difficult. I think the difficulty scale may be out of whack.

Tsk, tsk Lohgain. Karma is a cruel mistress.

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Steerpike
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November 27, 2009 - 7:41 pm
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Okay, screw Santa Claus. The Steam sale's siren song was too much for me; I'm downloading DA:O as we speak. I will join the conversation soon!

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Toger
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November 28, 2009 - 12:20 am
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I wonder if I get any achievements for convincing three people to buy DA:O? [Image Can Not Be Found]

Alistair and Ilonka sitting in a tree… Where was I, oh right, saving the world from the darkspawn:

We survived the gauntlet and completed the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest. All I will say is those Haven (not to be confused with Heaven) villagers are just a tiny bit… off. We encountered our first full grown dragon and were turned into shiesh kabob. We've come across several dragonlings (baby dragons) and drakes (the teenagers of dragons) wandering through the Wyrm Lair. Those suckers are fast and remind me of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park – fast, mean and capable of working in tandem.

I've picked up two more specialisations, except I'd already committed to Templar prior to receiving the other two. If I understand correctly, my companions can benefit from any specialisation I don't choose.

Alistair sees Wynne as the grandmotherly type and gets all whiny when he asks her to sew up the holes in his clothes so he won't catch cold. He thinks she'll do a better job and his clothes won't get all "puckery". She's threatened him on more than one occasion.

We met up with Alistair's half-sister in Denerium. Bitch. Ilonka was ready to put her to the sword but cooler heads prevailed. I took Zevran with me on a jaunt through Denerium thinking he'd be useful for all the locked chests we've seen… not. I will admit that he's killer (pun intended) on the battlefield, but what good is a Rogue if you can't open locked doors and/or chests? He does have a nice accent and he's easy on the eyes… except Ilonka only has eyes for Alistair.

Morrigan wants me to kill her mother. I totally get that.

On a travel day – not to be confused with game day – we did run into those accursed tree-dropping spiders. I screeched like a girl… wait, I am a girl. Still, having those evil things drop down unexpectedly imakes me all squirmy. They should announce themselves before attacking.

Next stop: Orzammar, to speak with the Dwarves.

I care about these people – even prickly Morrigan. Bravo, BioWare.

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Steerpike
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November 28, 2009 - 6:36 am
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I'm a boy human noble warrior.

My in-character Mom was in my party for a while (which is awesome; my real-life Mom would totally do the same, though she may not have the same skill with a bow).

So far, the game is great - but it does suffer from the classic Bioware Dialogue Problem - i.e....

  1. As you say, Father.
  2. I want to join you and my brother at the front lines!
  3. If you don't let me fight, I'll kill you.

I shit you not.

Whatever happened to the dilemmas of Planescape Torment? I mean come on.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

Scout
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November 28, 2009 - 11:44 am
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Well, I dithered (forgot) and didn't buy DA off Steam when it was slightly cheaper so I have yet to purchase the game.

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Pokey
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November 28, 2009 - 1:17 pm
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Amazon's price is the same as the Steam sale and I got mine in two days.

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Steerpike
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November 28, 2009 - 2:31 pm
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I believe EA is also selling the game for $39.99. Go, Scout!

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

Scout
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November 28, 2009 - 7:55 pm
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Okay, I just ordered through the TR link at Amazon. I got two day free shipping by signing up for Amazon Prime. I gotta remember to cancel before the month is up so I don't get boinked for the 79.00 membership. Though I pay over that a year for Amazon shipping. Anyway, Dragon Age is coming Tuesday for 37. 49 or whatever it was.

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Toger
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November 29, 2009 - 1:36 pm
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Dwarven politics suck. We've become embroiled in their "who's really the successor to the throne" nonsense in the hopes the Dwarves will honor the old treaties. Of course, they can't commit until they have a king. Can't have a king until one of the two warring factions wins. Guess who's stuck in the middle having to pick the lesser of two equally corrupt individuals? True to form, I sided with the one where I wouldn't have to go to the proving grounds. [Image Can Not Be Found]

Wynne has taken to teasing Alistair about his relationship with Ilonka. Morrigan has been strangely silent.

Sten needs us to find his lost sword.

Leliana is flirting with Ilonka.

Zevran and Morrigan are still somewhat neutral.

I've spent 35 hours with this game and have only explored 50% of the world. Now that I'm used to having a party, I'm going to want to play Baldur's Gate, aren't I?

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Toger
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November 30, 2009 - 10:29 am
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Saw my first decapitation last night... well, not so much saw it happen as registered a falling headless body as I ran by to take out an archer. Unlike loki, my reaction was "cool!" (yes, I'm a sick puppy)

We're in Orten Thraig (Deep Roads of Orzammar) trying to track down Branka: ran into another huge Ogre (not as massive as the one in the Tower of Ishtar, but at least twice the height of anyone in my party) and since Ilonka got the kill, I got to see her run up the chest of said Ogre and deliver the coup de grace. Awesome!

effen cave spiders!

I spoke too soon about Morrigan's silence: She's back to mercilessly teasing Alistair. She's also turned her sharp tongue on Wynne regarding her age.

Ohgren, Dwarven beserker warrior, is now in my camp. Did I mention he's something of a drunk?

I'd completely forgotten to unlock Shale. I got the golem control rod just prior to heading back to Orzammar. Guess I'll head to that village after the Dwarves.

I've finally figured out why Zevran and to a lesser extent Leliana aren't opening every chest/door: since they're not actively in my party, I cannot control where their XP gets applied. The AI seems to lean more towards a battle-ready Rogue as opposed to a truly useful Rogue. That's stupid. True, I'd probably bitch and moan at the micro-management necessary to upgrade my non-participating companions but at least they'd be useful when I needed to swap them out.

Still, I love this game.

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Pokey
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November 30, 2009 - 12:17 pm
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I've come to the end of the Brecilian Forest main quest. I thought I was going to kill Witherfang, but after hearing the story, I want to side with her against Zatharian. I hope this will keep the elves on my side. It was a long trip through the forest, with a few spiders in the ruins, but they were no trouble. This last battle looks to be tough.

I've had a lot of chests that couldn't be opened but I doubt that there is much of value in them. My inventory is stuffed with ingredients for potions and poisons. I doubt I will use even 2% of them. I should just sell them. I need to buy stuff to make health and injury potions.

I still don't have a specialization for my character.

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Toger
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November 30, 2009 - 2:04 pm
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I got my first from Alistair. Have you asked him about being a Templar? He's pretty easy to get approvals. The second I got from Isabella in Denerim; the latest was after Redcliffe/Mage's Circle/Urn of Sacred Ashes quest-lines.

Yeah, I've pretty much given up worrying about what's in the locked chests or behind locked doors. For the most part. Sorta. What I have started doing is only selling to the Dwarven camp follower, that way, if I decide a piece of equipment is worth having I can buy it back from him instead of trying to remember which merchant I off-loaded my haul. I've also started selling off all the stuff for traps and poisons as I'm not running a Rogue for traps and I haven't bothered to have Morrigan make poisons.

I hate that I'm back at work during the day. I could be playing! [Image Can Not Be Found]

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Pokey
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November 30, 2009 - 2:18 pm
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The Witherfang quest is done and the Dalish agreed to help. Heading back to camp since I hear that someone greatly approves of me. Hoping it is Alistair.

I think we will head to Redcliff next.

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Pokey
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November 30, 2009 - 11:39 pm
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We tried to go to Demerim to resupply, but Loghain had set up an ambush on the way. Must have been 20 assassins, so we changed our plans and went direct to Redcliff and prepared for the assault of the undead. That battle went on for a long time. The help seemed to disappear but we managed to win the battle anyway. Seems we are heading to the castle now. We still need supplies for potions and injury kits. Hope we make it through. [Image Can Not Be Found]

Later---Working or way through the castle wasn't too bad. The Revanent didn't give much trouble, not like the one in the Forest. We couldn't make a dent in that one and left it. Now we have a dilemma as to what to do about Connor. Looks like we are heading to the Circle of Mages for help.

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Toger
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December 1, 2009 - 10:17 am
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I should not play this game, then go directly to bed. My brain would not turn off last night attempting to complie strategies. ugh.

There are some crazy ass things and people down in the Deep Roads. Ilonka managed another kill shot on a mini boss and I was treated to her riding that thing like a bucking bronco as she slit its throat. Mildly disturbing, yet awesome. The most disturbing thing for me so far: as we're running across a cave floor to take out a magic-hurling Emissary, out of the corner of my eye I see a companion take three arrows to the chest, cry out and stumble backwards. Dismay on my part, but he kept going and we won. I've found that after some rather prolonged battles, the first thing I do is ask if everyone is all right. I ask, not Ilonka.

Met the Legion of the Dead and helped with an onslaught of wave after wave of darkspawn. Far too many ogres down here. Found Branka and she's trapped us into helping her. I'm also obliged (read: forced) to swap out a companion. (The three that I'm running + me work so well together!) I think I made the wrong choice last night and paid for it dearly. I've come to depend on Wynne for healing and Morrigan for AoE attacks. Leaving one of them behind while we're getting mobbed was not the best idea I've had. By the time we finished the gas-filled room full of golems, we'd burned through all the lyrium and health potions only to be confronted by yet another room filled with golems. I plan to reload, bite the bullet and swap out Alistair.

Note to self: finding various body parts in bags + altar in the middle of nowhere does not bode well.

“When in doubt, go for the eyes.”

Pokey, the tavern in Redcliffe has lots of supplies for potions. (I never even noticed the tavern until I came out of the castle during daylight as it's tucked away at the top of a hill)

*edit: I hit a random battle either last night or the night before with a pack of wolves. It felt like I was playing 1 vs 100 there were so many of them. Just when I thought it was safe to pick up wolf pelts they'd mount another attack. Another encounter with wolves involved traps. Funny signs on the other side of that attack.

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Pokey
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December 1, 2009 - 1:17 pm
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I had already checked out the tavern and picked up some flasks and a few deep mushrooms. No distilling agent for injury kits. Also no Lyrium, which I really need. Have you seen any Lyrium dust for concocting potions? I believe the camp had a few potions and the distilling agent.

Why do my characters look like they are on fire? They have no injuries listed and no deductions on attributes except Alistair has a -10 for nature resistance. I tried injury kits on him, but no change. They only seem totally cured when they go to camp.

Can I get supplies at the Circle of Mages? Do I have to finish that part before I can return to the castle?

Later….we are at the Circle of Mages now after a couple ambushes on the way. I see the quartermaster has supplies including lyrium dust. Added Zevran to our camp group.

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Toger
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December 1, 2009 - 3:24 pm
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Who's in your party? If I remember correctly, the red fire-like effect is a buff. I've noticed that buffs don't necessarily wear off right away and your group can walk around for hours shimmering. My group would have stars streaming from them due to Leliana's valor buff.

I've found lots of lyrium dust in Orzammar, but that won't help you now. [Image Can Not Be Found] Up until the Deep Roads, I wasn't too worried about lyrium as mana regenerated rather quickly and most squirmishes weren't huge. That all changed once I hit Orzammar. I think I also have either Wynne or Morrigan wearing an amulet or ring that bumps their mana regen ever so slightly. Running really low on mana has been a bit of a problem in the Deep Roads to where I've actually gone out and resupplied before moving on. Since I plan to reload tonight, I'll head out and restock before getting locked (literally) into the Anvil of the Vail quest.

*edit: saw your party make-up on GB and it's fair to say that one of Leliana's buffs is making you glow. As soon as I dumped her butt back to camp, we stopped glowing red or purple stars.

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Pokey
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December 1, 2009 - 6:21 pm
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That sounds like a good possibility. Glad to know it isn't damage of some kind of damage and is likely due to Leliana's buffs, though it is more like fumes rising. I thought about picking up Shale for the mage tower, but I would be stuck for a long time it it didn't work out. I may drop Leliana for Wynn when I come across her.

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