Dragon Age: Origins QuestionFollow

It's funny that you say this, because I felt the exact same way when I first played through the game. On subsequent play-throughs though, I tried to use some characters that I had neglected the first time around, and found them to be just an interesting (Sten, by the way, was ultimately my favorite).

The various endings almost necessitate that you play through a few times, since it takes some serious schmoozing with certain characters to get the really unique ones.

Just wait until you start on two and see the exact same area four different times for various unrelated quests.

Ok, I'll stick with Redcliffe then.

Everything I've heard about DA2 says it licked Hurlock sack so I passed on buying it.

I started again last night! lol

DA2 wasn't awful, imo. But it did have severe problems--for instance that there's like 3 or 4 dungeons in the whole game, that are just copied and pasted elsewhere.

But I really liked a lot of characters. I loved the increased options for Hawke on the RP end of things (insofar as the fact that there were 5 romance options, and 4 of them were for either sex). I loved that you could design Hawke to act the way you liked, even when you weren't selecting inputs for dialogue (basically, as you choose more "sarcastic/charming" options, your Hawke's dialogue will be sarcastic or charming by default. Pious/kind, aggressive/greedy as well).

And I really liked the story. It was definitely WAY less epic than the first, but that's because you aren't fighting for the fate of the world in this one.

It does seem like it'll be hugely important for DA3 though. And I've heard nothing but good things about the new DLC (which I have yet to play).

[EDIT]

And, yeah, one of the most emotional scenes I've ever found in a video game came from DA2.

Edited, Sep 14th 2011 3:55pm by idiggory

I still haven't played the last two DLC. But Return to Ostagar can give some nice closure, if you care about it. Just be sure to:

A. Go early.
and/or
B. Take characters that were there.

But it'll give you a set of really nice armor if you are using a traditional warrior tank.

The Warden's Keep DLC was fun, but largely irrelevant to the story at large. It'll give you access to a chest that you can store items in though, which is awesome. You'll also get two new (unique) abilities for the Warden, which range from great to awful.

The Stone Prisoner was great, imo. And actually has value in the game (if you have it, pick up Shale before you go to Orzammar).

I never tried Leliana's Song. But I haven't heard anything bad about it. And if you like Leliana, it might be worth it. Plus, she's likely going to be a major character in DA3, so it could be worth really investigating her back story. I might as well add that the DLC does SOUND interesting to me, it just isn't as high on my list as others (like the newest DA2 DLC, which I hear is awesome and worked to include everything people complained DA2 lacked).

Return to Ostagar is fairly light on the story, all things considered. You get it because some of the fights (while not that unique) are challenging and because the items you get from it are good (aka some of the best items in the game). Bringing Alistair, Wynne or the secret companion just add some value to it. I THINK Leliana might have some speech as well. Maybe Morrigan too.

Warden's Keep is the opposite. The number of good items it provides are pretty low. It DOES have good items, but nothin I'd consider to be best in the game (at least not if you have RtO as well). The real bonus is the chest you get access to. Which, imo, is a pretty nice feature (which becomes standard in DA2). Depending on your class, it might be useful as well. Like if you are a Mage who isn't speccing into Blood Mage, it might be somewhat useful.

I've heard that the one about Morrigan is relatively short and unsatisfying, which is unfortunate. It will potentially be important for DA3, but no way to know really. That said, it might be one of those things that you just read about when the next game comes out. Though, it's also possible that the events of it might influence the events of DA3...

Golems isn't that important, afaik. No real item or story value. I think it's just supposed to be really hard. Never really looked much into it though.

The Darkspawn Chronicles let you play through an alternate plotline where (iirc) all wardens die at Ostagar. Oh, and you play a darkspawn.

I think that's all of them.

I didn't care much for most of the characters, but I did like Alistair. I was annoyed that the game never let me ask the questions I wanted to like "How did you pop your plate mail?" and "Where are you getting that hair gel?" Bro'est medieval bro ever.

Eh, the extra reward isn't that great.

Edited, Sep 14th 2011 9:52pm by xypin

Naww, hard mode is not that hard, it's of a reasonable difficulty. I had to download a mod that made it more difficult, as my party makeup along with not relying on auto-attacking trivialized encounters.

The item itself isn't, no.

But the fuzzy feeling of an achievement (which can be hard the first couple times you try it) is cool.

I enjoy playing the "good guy" and doing an extra good job in Redcliffe is fun!

But very freaking hard without Wynne.....

Edit: I don't mean an actual achievement as in game terms, I mean, achievement as achieving that feat of doing a good job in that battle.

Edited, Sep 14th 2011 11:44pm by Lyrailis

ugh... after re-reading this thread, I went and started to download the Ultimate edition last night ($30, all the DLC campaigns, blood dragon armor, and Awakening). I already have Origins however... does my progress carry over to the Ultimate Edition? I don't care so much about my current character, but I would love to keep some of the specializations I've unlocked. Arcane Warrior especially. When I switched computers I lost all of them, which bites, but I'm hoping it'll be different if I'm just "upgrading" the version...