Dragon Age

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Originally Posted by epmode

It's not an action game. If an enemy starts to swing at you, he's going to hit (unless the hidden accuracy die roll is unsuccessful). Same goes for arrows. Run away BEFORE they get a chance to swing.

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Running away doesn't always work, since enemies can still hit you from a distance due to the shitty collision detection.

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Press the H button to make everyone hold their ground. I'd also suggest leaving everyone at the Default behavior and instead just screw with the scripting.

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Yeah, I'll probably just put everyone on default and have them hold. I like to lure enemies into doorways to bottleneck them so I can nail them with CoC.

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And for god's sake, make sure you at least have someone who can cast Heal (if you're not a mage, go to the mage tower for a useful party member). It's very possible to get through most fights without potions.

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Which member, the old lady from the mage tower? Morrigan has her heal spell maxed out and it's good for shit.

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Originally Posted by Melf

Which member, the old lady from the mage tower?

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That's the one. Group Heal and Regeneration are so stupidly useful. I might even spec into Spirit Healing to go with Arcane Warrior.

edit: Oh hay, some Bioware guy put up an official mod that adds a storage chest to your camp. http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/8/index/132134

Sweet. I'll have to check over her magic again and see if I can swap her out for Morrigan. I still need the priestess for the romance achievement, but my dwarf has already rocked Morrigan's world.

On Wynne and Morrigan:

Actually Wynne and Morrigan are a powerful combo, earth fist + coc = instant dead enemy of white difficulty, + Petrify you have a wide arsenal of completely stopping enemies.

What epmode said. In the beginning I was dependant on poultice spamming until I got mages capable of healing, which helped out immensely on preserving my stash for the really difficult stuff.

Micromanaging goes a long way in here - particularly for the AoE effect spells like Cone of Cold. When you're controlling it and not letting it hit party members it's insanely good like the previous posters already mentioned.

Edit: Wow I'm late.

Also Sleep + Waking Nightmare = Godly as well.

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Originally Posted by VividAriah

Micromanaging goes a long way in here - particularly for the AoE effect spells like Cone of Cold.

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Yeah, it really does. I'm not sure how the console version controls exactly, or if it lets you, but I find that it works out a lot better if you just disable the AI tactics entirely. Yeah, it's a bit more work, but it's worth it -- having exact and precise control over what everyone is doing really helps.

Also, this is leagues above Mass Effect as far as I'm concerned. I am partial to the Forgotten Realms setting in BG2, but I think it's very likely that this is BioWare's best game.

Just picked this up, was only $50.

So it came with some "Fure of Shale and Blood Dragon Armor" code that people are paying $10-15 for on eBay.

Should I eBay it or is it actually worth $15?

Would be pretty tight to have only paid $35 which will be fully recuperated in 2 weeks when I eBay the game.

Shale is actually pretty awesome. One of the best characters (even though he's nothing more than a remake of HK-47).

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Originally Posted by epmode

Shale is actually pretty awesome. One of the best characters (even though he's nothing more than a remake of HK-47).

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BUT, is it worth $15. I have a hard time believing it is.

hey guys, I fucking LOVE this game. So far I've cleared Redcliffe, New Haven and the Werewolves. I CAN'T STOP.

... but i'll have to. Leaving for Germany on thursday :(

I think I want this game. PC or Zboz?... sounds like PC is already a better idea.

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Originally Posted by Rich

BUT, is it worth $15. I have a hard time believing it is.

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That's pretty subjective. I probably wouldn't spend $15 on eBay to get the code, but if I already had the code I wouldn't sell it for $15 either. Shale seems pretty righteous, and I plan to incorporate him into my party early whenever I get around to my second playthrough. In addition to just being able to use the character, there are extra sidequests and such you can get from the people you pick up.

I guess if you're legitimately excited about the game and want as much as possible out of it then hang onto it. If it was an impulse buy and you're leaning more towards indifference, may as well sell it off to hedge the price of admission.

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Originally Posted by Drewbacca

I think I want this game. PC or Zboz?... sounds like PC is already a better idea.

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Yeah, get it on PC if you can.

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Originally Posted by køda

I guess if you're legitimately excited about the game and want as much as possible out of it then hang onto it. If it was an impulse buy and you're leaning more towards indifference, may as well sell it off to hedge the price of admission.

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Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and sell it off. I considered selling just the Blood Dragon Armor code and keeping the Shale code, but then I thought, meh, I don't really care. I only bought the game because the commercials looked pretty sweet and I've loved everything Bioware does, but I already know I don't play games through twice over and don't bother with every sidequest anyway, so most likely I won't notice anything missing. Might as well bring the price of the game down to $35 which is likely what I'll get back when I eBay it after I finish it, making it all free. :)

Holy crap was Ozrammar a drawn-out area. I love having to work my way out to the world map to go buy more potion reagents in the middle of dungeon

I suffered through and made it without running back hah.

Also I was happy I got the chance to kill my brother though I wanted to be a little more ruthless about it.

Just started. Being a city elf is the shit.

Hell yeah, started city elf rogue and just went through the kicking human ass at the castle.

Great game so far, just need to get used to the battles and strategic management.

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Originally Posted by Despair

Hell yeah, started city elf rogue and just went through the kicking human ass at the castle.

Great game so far, just need to get used to the battles and strategic management.

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Yeah man, the city elf beginning is tight.

I went warrior route, though.

Honestly all the beginnings are pretty great, and when you come back to the results of them later you relish in it.

This game is absolutely fantastic.

I know what i'm getting after exams :3

Between left 4 dead, modern warfare, borderlands, this, Assassin's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2 i've been playing more games now, and more interested in them than ever before. I'm going to wait to get this until December, I think.

Saw my friend play and all I gotta say is holy shit, is this game ugly as all sin.

Seriously, looks like a shitty OG XBox game.

That said, it seems fun enough to play. I like that there's no longer a good/evil slider that takes into account your actions. So now you choose to respond and act in a way you find true to the characterl, rather than in a way that nets you a wanted good/bad point.

(but man - UGLY!)

It IS prettier on PC, but yeah, still not very pretty.

What version are you talking about? I wouldn't say the PC version is cutting edge or anything, but I'd say I'm generally impressed by the graphics (especially the towns compared to, say, the underground tunnels). The armor and weapons look good, lighting effects are decent. Maybe if I was stuck at the ground-level POV, but seamlessly going from skycam to 3rd-person is actually kind-of a treat.

Also, while your "goodness" isn't being inherently judged, the way you handle things will effect your companions opinion of you. I'm usually forced to ply my more unscrupulous party members with gifts since they usually disapprove of my quest and conversation outcomes.

I treat my friends well and everyone else like shit.

I treat elves and those of importance wonderfully, and regular humans like shit. Fuck them. They raped my wife!

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Originally Posted by FuryFox

What version are you talking about? I wouldn't say the PC version is cutting edge or anything, but I'd say I'm generally impressed by the graphics (especially the towns compared to, say, the underground tunnels). The armor and weapons look good, lighting effects are decent. Maybe if I was stuck at the ground-level POV, but seamlessly going from skycam to 3rd-person is actually kind-of a treat.

Also, while your "goodness" isn't being inherently judged, the way you handle things will effect your companions opinion of you. I'm usually forced to ply my more unscrupulous party members with gifts since they usually disapprove of my quest and conversation outcomes.

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That's what I found so appealing - your decisions will affect how others see you but there's no ham-fisted way of showing "you did a bad/good thing just now." Instead you have to respond, and measure reactions in a way that a real-world conversation may work.

(and yeah, it was 360 version. Ugly. As. Fuck.)

5 hours in...and my first freeze up! Happened my first time in the Fade to attack the demon with Morrigan

Also you can Les out with another character. My Dwarf has fucked Alistair, Zhevran, and Liliana Finch was subjected to the cheesey music.

Finished this game tonight, pretty good ending, I am most likely going to play through it again, this time with a character as a healer and putting it on hard difficulty, we'll see how long that lasts.

How long did it take you to beat the game, Thief?

I just got the game last weekend for the PC. I recently upgraded to an Intel i7 processor with 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB HD, and GeForce GTX 260. I have everything running at 2048 x 1536 4:3 resolution and it looks AMAZING.

Didnt had much time to play last night, so only got through the grey warden initiation, which was pretty brutal.

Some of the tactics are quite a bitch, since your team would either run in like crazy and get their ass kicked, or sit there and watch as you try to fight off the enemies. The first battle with the darkspawn mage, who runs in into the camp, leading your team into the traps was fun. First few tries my team mostly did retarded charging in and get slaughtered, until, the I made them charge in and stunlock the damn mage before he runs in, and then easily pick on the rest of the camp.

So the codes for the Blood Dragon Armor and Shale sold today on eBay. $17. Brings the cost of the game for me down to $33. :)

As for the game, the combat is superfluous imo. I never use any of the status skills for my warrior. Still love it, though!

My total play time was about 32 hours, probably around 40 hours including deaths though. I did around 50% of the game.

Is that all? Wow, you hauled some ass.

Potentially major spoiler: So I just killed Flemeth. Shit was awesome.

The in-game screenshot upload utility makes them look really horrible, but:
http://social.bioware.com/da_game_sc...2041954116.jpg
http://social.bioware.com/da_game_sc...2042133897.jpg
http://social.bioware.com/da_game_sc...2042335700.jpg

Hah I let her go, I'm going to kill her this time though. Also playing as a healer made the opening of this game easy as fucking shit to the point I'm tempted to up it to hard difficulty.

Holy fuck what's with the going through quests no problem only to get repeatedly slaughtered by the end boss shit?

Just went through the Tower of Mages. Shit was INTENSE. Fuck Mages.

Finished both of DLC areas, they were blast, and Shale is great (but sadly I'm having a hard time getting rid of my current party of me the rogue, Alistair, Dog and Morrigan.

Started mage tower next, and now Wynn forced her old ass into my party (but the healing is welcome), so Dog get to sit this one out :(

Dog and Shale feel pretty interchangeable to me. They both have some amazing abilities, but don't scale quite as high due to the fact that they only have two item slots.

I beat the game awhile back and I'm kinda putting around with a second playthrough now, just taking my time and trying to do things that I missed before, or go about things in a different way. I'm playing on Nightmare difficulty this time, but it feels like things are actually easier so far -- maybe just because I know what I'm doing this time around.

Mages do seem to be grossly overpowered though, I have to say. Especially going into the Arcane Warrior specialization, given that the 'Shimmering Shield' doesn't deactivate once your character runs out of mana like other abilities of this nature (Cleansing Aura, etc.) do. Not sure if that's a bug or not. Using two Arcane Warrior / Spirit Healers is just disgusting. With all the +% elemental damage items, a quick Fireball, Grease, Inferno rotation is going to lay out just about any group before they can lay a finger on me.

I don't think I could play through this again. I can barely work up the interest to keep playing as it is. I feel like I'm pretty far in, about to hit the finale mission, but my characters aren't developing in interesting ways, the equipment is super boring, and I have no patience for the storyline whatsoever. Conversations are a big chore that I key through as quickly as possible...I just piece together the gist of it from my offered responses like a 1-sided phone call.

I don't care for any of the team members, and have a team based purely on utility. Not being able to queue up commands during a pause makes the combat awkward and seems like an obvious inclusion.

The cutscene where Lelianna sings for the camp is one of the most cringe-worthy, awful things I've ever seen in a videogame.

I guess what I really wanted was a team-based dungeon crawler.

I agree that this does suffer from the typical Bioware "400 million pieces of useless equipment" syndrome. The story was excellent though, imo.

New DLC coming this holiday:

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Originally Posted by joystiq

Polish up your armor and prune your dialog trees: EA has announced a new Dragon Age: Origins DLC adventure, "Return to Ostagar," is coming to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this holiday season for $5. The add-on will allow your hero to "revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens' darkest hour, to reclaim the honor and learn the secrets of Ferelden's fallen king."

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The loot is definitely horrible, no question there. At least it's possible to sort it this time (WTF @ MASS EFFECT). Also, mods will help.

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Originally Posted by Melf

New DLC coming this holiday:

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Bite-sized episodic DLC sucks. Expansion pack pls. You'd think that Bioware already forgot about Throne of Bhaal.

I fully expect Bioware to offer one or two bite-sized DLC releases on consoles until 2011, and then offer one expansion before forgetting the game exists.

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Originally Posted by Melf

I fully expect Bioware to offer one or two bite-sized DLC releases on consoles until 2011, and then offer one expansion before forgetting the game exists.

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Well, there are already people working on Dragon Age 2 (Gaider and the writers, I'd assume), so I wouldn't expect them to keep rolling out expansion content for Origins after that one's been released. But yeah, supposedly their DLC roadmap spans two years.

I dont get the combat whining. You can pause and que in commands for each of the characters, or let them handle few turns while their moves/spells on cool down. It was hectic at first, but now I got ahold of how the system works, my party is truly kicking ass.

Granted I haven't gotten in that far still, but the story is fucking excellent, and even conversations havent bothered me too much yet.

You do get way too much loot, but hey its a folly of every friggin rpg in existance, say thanks its not diablo levels of loot to pick up ;) I do suffer from being stingy and not wanting to spend gold on backpacks yet, and now being stuck in the middle of 1 way dungeon and trowing away useless shit left and right.

I am all excited about more DLC content. Warden Keep and Stone Prisoner both were excellent.

I had a blast fighting Revenant mini boss at the Mage Tower. It was almost mmo experience, with me controlling all aspects of boss battle - tanking and agrro, heal rotations, rogue watching agro, and damn mages not doing too much pew pew to get them killed.

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Originally Posted by Despair

You do get way too much loot, but hey its a folly of every friggin rpg in existance, say thanks its not diablo levels of loot to pick up ;)

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The big problem isn't that you get too much of it (although that's also true), it's that the loot itself is garbage. Upgrades barely mean anything. It's pretty much the opposite of Diablo.

My problem with the loot isn't the quantity, it's just how boring it is (ah, EM beat me to it)

I do enjoy some of the big boss battles (not the 1 boss leader humanoid and 20 archers type), but the novelty of filler battles has worn off on me now. I loved this game maybe 5 gameplay hours ago; I'm just surprised how quickly it has staled on me. I think it's because earlier I kept imagining how neatly the various class skills would go together, but now that the trees are pretty much filled out, it's just the same old stuff.

I agree that the writing and dialogue are very well down (although I hate the creepy, unnatural facial animations), and the filler found in the codex is well-crafted (although I can't find a compelling reason to go through it), but the overall story is lame.

SOUNDS AWFULLY FAMILIAR!

Played about an hour last night on the 360, the graphics is ugly. WTF Bioware, ME looks a lot better than this.

Looks pretty good on a PC. Anyway, it's easier to make a glorified 10 hour game look better than something with so much content.

I would like the best of both worlds please PC?

I'm enjoying this so far. The graphics aren't that bad, I mean it could be a little more polished but it's not game breaking. I love the blood splatter effects and the storyline is brutal. People actually can and will die and/or get fucked up.

I spent like 40+ hours, and I am still only like 25% in, just really taking time to get around, do quests, and getting leveled up in the process.

I got Morrigan to shack up with me, and now working my way with the other rogue. Also, visit to the Perl was fucking amazing. I went ahead with the Surprise Me option, and next thing I found my rogue standing naked there with Oh Shit that magical dildo machine destroyed my ass look. AMAZING.

Also, for kicks tried the male dwarf, and his groans and line No one can resist the dwarf was the killer.

Additionally, my team is so bloadsoaked now, that even with their clothes off, they all are bloody.

At this time I am making my way up the mountain temple in Haven. Some crazy battles there, as being ambushed by enemy packs with like 20 guys.

God how is that possible, I was at 30 hours to beat the game and 50% of the game done.

Well, I am very slow, plus I'm sure it counts pause time in for the total hour count anyways, and I have plenty of those, as I jump in and out of the game.

I know it's been said but it plays like an entirely different game on consoles. Have it on PC, rented it on xbawks for fun.

Getting close to the end, now visiting IronForge :p and doing the rogue quests in Denerim for fun. Shit' I've been playing this for almost a month now, and still not done

My party is unstoppable machine, with both Morrigan and Wynn going crazy over me, and nuking everything that comes our way, sometimes even before me, or Alistair even gets to mobs.

And I stole from every npc I've met so far.

I do miss the werewolves, and how that storyline got resolved. Dalish are the dicks.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I know it's been said but it plays like an entirely different game on consoles. Have it on PC, rented it on xbawks for fun.

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which is better?

I mean, my brother picked it up on the deal for 360 but if it will make me like it more to play it on PC I might just fucking wait.

PC

PC

PC

Depends on how you want to play. If you want to micromanage shit and play baby warcraft with 5 people on a screen get PC. If you want to run around like an asshole and every now and then deal with your AI people get xbox. I've found it more enjoyable on xbox

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Originally Posted by Chux

I've found it more enjoyable on xbox

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That's the first time I've seen anyone say that for this game.

And as for extra micromanagement, that's only there if you want it to be. Set it to Easy and never switch to isometric mode and you have the console version.

I wouldn't recommended it, considering that the combat is the game's high point. Isometric mode + mouse control = So Nice.

Did Morrigan special quest last night and visited Flemmeth. Man, that was fucking FUN. It was interesting to see if I can tackle high dps fight without having Morrigan in the party, but me, Leliana with super bow spec and and bits of magic support from Wynn did just fine. Allistair tanked like a champ, almost full shield spec helped and lol at having 3 sets of fire resist gear and not wearing one for this. Though it did come close to the fail, as Allistair got picked up and chomped on for a few secs with all of the healing on cooldown, so when he landed it had like 1 life left, but luckily was able to chug a pot.

Finding out and doing characters subquests, and few other more of hidden shit, like summoning quest at the Mage tower is fun. Spent whole evening doing that, rather than dealing with stupid dwarf civil war.

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Originally Posted by epmode

That's the first time I've seen anyone say that for this game.

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Have you played both for a while? I want to have dumb fun and it's more dumb on the xbox. Like I said they're two different games.

Doing this type of micromanagement is what makes PC version more fun to me. It was strange a bit at first, but now, pausing, queuing commands, and strategically manipulating the fights, makes even mundane encounters a great time.

Yeah, I dig that. I just wanted to run in and blow shit up with my magics instead.

check out this ADD MOTHERFUCKER

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firstblood182: I'll have you know this message kicked me out of dragon age and back into windows RIGHT as i ran in to fight an alpha Ogre and 10 archers
ChuxBuster: I'm glad, that shit won't happen on XBOX 360

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Anyone download the free armor you get with the game? Is it worth using?

The Blood Dragon armor is good but looks retarded.

Wade's Dragonscale is better though.

It's damn solid at mid-levels. Looks cool without the helmet... the helmet looks pretty horrible (like most of them).

In the end, I liked the Juggernaut set the best for my sword/board Warrior.

Never got the armor, but few other items are still used

I just finished the Landsmeet. Good riddance. I got bored as hell with this game about 2 weeks ago.

So, does your team just automatically attack all the time? I know you can kind of pause it but it doesnt seem to work like KotOR. How to you tell your mates to attack something specifically? Do you have to play as them to do it?

You can set a tactics slot to attack what the main character attacks

Долгострой от Bioware. Ее, если память не изменяет, объявили вскоре после первого NWN. С тех пор они успели Mass Effect объявить и сделать, а Dragon Age так и тянется - видимо слакает работающая над ним команда _

gtfo

No.

"[Dragon Age] from Bioware. It, if memory does not change, they declared soon after first NWN. Since then they had time Mass Of effect to declare and to make, and Dragon Of age so is pulled - apparently [slakaet] the working above it command _" ?

That's a pretty coherent post for a noob.

lol russian comments.

Last night my rogue had a butt sex with an assassin, right in the middle of our camp. After that I went to see Morrigan and Leliana, and all those stupid bitches could do, is bicker about me having to choose either one. So, I guess fucking another male, member of the party is ok. Awesome Bioware !!!

Also, found easter egg, epic boss in Denerim, and fucker was really hard, untill I figured out a great strategy. Having mage with Bubble spell, letting tank get enough aggro, and then bubble him, makes hard boss battles a piece of cake. and best thing about it the bubble is like 15 sec cooldown. Also, Mana Clash spell is BRUTAL against mage enemies (that is if ut doesnt get resisted), it can take 40% of life of the fucking epic boss.

Okay. So I'm terribly stuck. I'm in Orzammar and sided with Lord Harrowmont. I killed Jarvia and was assigned to retrieve the Paragone in the Deep Roads. HOWEVER , I CAN'T ACCESS THE DEEP ROADS. Any thoughts/suggestions?

have you met your party member dwarf yet? (i forget his name)

No, I haven't. How am I supposed to do that and where do I find Gimli?

Are there people blocking the entrance or something? I think you just walk in from a spot in the merchant area. You get the dwarf guy right when you enter the deep roads, not before (... i think?)

Ya on your way to the entrance to the Deep Roads (where it should be guarded by a party of stout looking Dwarves) you'll be interupted by whatever his name is saying he wants to help you.

You know I love Bioware games but I HATED Mass Effect because the combat just didn't do it for me at all. AT ALL. So I returned that without finishing it. I really hope this game doesn't disappoint me too much.

Don't feel bad. Mass Effect was poopy.

Yeah. Yeah, it kind of is poopy. It's somehow both underdeveloped and overdeveloped. And definitely poopy.

You all lie. Mass Effect is awesome.

I am surprised we haven't called it Mass Defect yet.

Anyway, I like ME, but the entire galaxy outside of the main HQ is undercooked.

Yeah I think what turned me off more than the combat was that the exploration part was just no fun. I enjoy side quests and exploration more than anything else and except for the city areas everything was boring.

Just beat this.

Let Morrigan have my demon child, Alistair appointed me as Chancellor, the urn of ashes disappeared cuz i never killed the dragon, the drawves became super secluded and racist under harrowmont and basically sealed themselves up (fuck that nigger, I wish i chose the other guy!), the circle of mages was reopened, and the elves settled but the elder stepped down.

I have no clue if you can go around visiting stuff to see the effects of the above after the end game, and I don't care. This game felt like a damn chore for the last 10-15 hours. Was so much fun to begin, too.

Finally getting close to the end. So there is still hope for me, to actually finish this by the year end lol.

Just had Broodmother fight, and shit, was intense. When at the end, Oghren jumped on her back, and started the bitch slap her fat face with his 2 hander, it was fucking EPIC. Finally that dwarf was worth something. Though, Dead Legion armor on him looks fucking awesome.

I now have 100% love with both women, and I cant initiate conversations in the camp, without bitches starting demanding their devotion to them only.

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Originally Posted by Despair

I now have 100% love with both women, and I cant initiate conversations in the camp, without bitches starting demanding their devotion to them only.

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Click for full size

I love that gif. Does he catch the short guy too? It sure looks like it.

bitch needed a talkin' to.

Why do pandas make great wives? cuz nobody notices the black eyes