Dragon Age: Origins QuestionFollow

No spoilers please, I'm just getting into the meat of the game

Anyway, the bisexual bard -- armor her or not? One of the game tips is that lightly armored characters draw less attention from mobs so I assumed that was why she's in a robe and decided not to armor her. However, she's also an idiot and gets herself into trouble and folds like a beach chair. Is it better to dump some armor on her for protection? If I do, should I strike a balance with light armor or go all in and drape her in scale/chain/whatever?

I realize I could experiment on my own but I'm at work anyway so why not solicit opinion.

Generally, Liliana works best as an archer. I know that the game starts her off with a dagger and the melee AI programming, but she's much more adept with a longbow standing at a distance.

Also, she's probably going to draw aggro regardless unless you program her to attack the same target as your tank character. The bigger issue in deciding what armor to equip her with is managing her stamina. I generally found that light armor is fine, although you may run out of stamina on longer fights.

Protip: the robe is standard uniform for Sisters of the Chantry, hence why she's wearing it when you meet her.

You have only begun to be frustrated by people standing in the fire.

FTFY.

Standing in fire is only one of the many ways in which the NPCs are daft.


The "heavier armor draws more aggro" thing is misleading. In practice, it really only affects which character the enemies will target as you step into the room. Once the fighting starts, damage aggro far exceeds armor aggro.

Edited, Sep 13th 2011 11:08am by Demea

If I recall correctly, mind you I only played through once quite awhile ago, it was best to have the Rogues arch until enemies come close(Which you can program them to do.) As far as heavy armor concerned if I recall correctly the heavier the armor the higher the fatigue. I know it effects either your max stamina/mana or the recovery rate I forget which in 1. So that why it's typically better to have your back liners or characters not taking as much damage to use lighter gear so they can use more abilities.

Yeah i loved rogue too, wish i had started as one. My first char was a mage, with a tank and 2 other ranged attackers because the melee dps was so bad. Then i made a melee rogue and **** died fast.

It was pretty easy.

It's been awhile since I played, but I seem to recall that unless you micromanage your NPC characters, they are fairly useless. I found it much easier to just let them die and take care of things myself.

I was surprised to find that the difficulty levels really aren't all that different. I think the only difference I really found between super easy and super hard is that mages start killing your party too. Constitution was a little more important as things got tougher.

It's possible to never really need to micromanage your npcs for respectable damage if you choose your team right, but then I found myself almost forced into using the same set up every time I play the game. This is something that DA2 really got right- with the exception of one or two fights, you never really needed a tank and healing mages just didn't work allowing you to use whoever you thought was cool rather than useful. Also, DA2 hard mode is actually hard.

In DA:O, I abused my mages as healers to no end, but it was also possible to fall back to potion spam if needed and in easier modes, I've made use of that allowing my mage(s) to focus their mp on destruction. Your heal spell in DA:O has a 5 second cooldown time allowing you to use it often.

In DA2, the reason healing mages don't work boils down to one reason: your heal spell has a 40 second cooldown. Potions have a similar cooldown, so healing in general, takes a big hit in DA2. There's more to it than that, but that's the primary reason. Also, please realize that even though the game has "Dragon Age" in its title, the two are so different, it's literally like night and day.

Edited, Sep 13th 2011 9:51pm by xypin

It scales to level, but some places are really tough early on and not so bad later. Or vice versa.

The mage's tower can be quite tricky at first if you aren't fully prepared, for example...

Yeah they are +/= your level depending on the mob type.

Its definitely a backwards game as far as difficulty goes. The hardest part of the game for me was the first ogre you fight in the 'intro'. The end just got really easy.

Each area has a level range that will be scale according to your level. Orzammar is the last of the main territories, so going there first is going to be tough. Redcliffe is the lowest, iirc, followed by the Mage Tower and then the Dalish lands.

But you should consider going to the MT first. You'll get some skill bonuses and be able to recruit the (perhaps arguably) best companion in the game.

Also, I made extensive use of healing mages in both DA games. Most fights became infinitely easier if you had a good, dedicated healer.

COULD you get by in both? Yes, of course. But it becomes much harder to do so at higher difficulties. And you are forced to build teams that invest a lot in avoiding/mitigating damage.

I'd imagine an Isabela, Merrill, Aveline team might be pretty strong. And any Hawke type would work with it. It also has the added bonus of coming with hilarious dialogue. Unfortunately, Varric doesn't really have the survivability for that kind of setup, imo.

[EDIT]

Oh, and you'll get some permanent stat boosts from the Mage Tower. Very useful early on, since you can stop raising the stats you only need for requirements, and focus on the more powerful ones. For instance, DW Rogues in the first game do want some Str, but not too much--just enough for armor reqs. But the earlier you have it, the eariler you will be able to wear that gear.

Edited, Sep 14th 2011 1:26pm by idiggory