Evening Reading: Zombies Seven Years in the Making

A friend sent me an email about a UT2004 mod titled Out of Hell that came out a couple days back. UT2004? Really? I read a little more and he tells me that the whole thing was done by this one guy working on it for the past seven years. By that point I was like, okay, whatever. But there was a trailer so I checked it out. Glad I did. It's an impressive piece of work. We got it up on FileShack so if you're into that sorta thing go get it and have at: Out of Hell 2009 mod on FileShack

Someone asked in one of the recent threads about what happened to the reading part of Evening Reading. Uh...well, in the wake of Nick's departure I just dropped the ball. So without further ado it returns:

And now off to enjoy the rest of Wednesday evening!

From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 4, 2009 6:08 PM

    Dragon Age is one of the best RPGs I've ever played.

    Bravo Bioware.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:09 PM

      Better than: The Bard's Tale?

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:11 PM

      I just died for the first time and quit the game :(

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:12 PM

        this has happened to me a few times in LATD im a bit rusty in the gta4 xbox world

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:13 PM

          was such a mistake buying this game :(

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:21 PM

            why?

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:22 PM

            If you're dying a lot then you're making some tactical mistakes. This isn't some dumbed down shooter rpg. Don't rush into combat, lure them towards you instead.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:16 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:17 PM

          I get frustrated because I couldn't turn off combat and my AI guys chased a dude right into an ambush that I knew was there. We got fucked in the ass.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:18 PM

            [deleted]

            • reply
              November 4, 2009 6:20 PM

              I did do that. I moved them all back, switched back to my character, unpaused. They ran back to my character, stopped, and then continued running towards enemy. I repeated it again thinking I did something wrong, same results.

              I let them run into the traps and watched them burn and get arrows jacked into their faces. I then ran in to die.

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 6:20 PM

                LOL. Sorry.

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 6:23 PM

                Set their AI to passive.

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 6:25 PM

                'H' to make everyone hold position. They won't move until you give specific orders or turn it off.

                • reply
                  November 4, 2009 6:25 PM

                  but what if I just want to leave the combat and not fight those dudes right now?

                  • reply
                    November 4, 2009 6:27 PM

                    you need the "Beg for Mercy" skill and this is later boosted by the "Pussy" talent.

                  • reply
                    November 4, 2009 6:35 PM

                    if you select everyone and run them away then combat will eventually stop if there's no monsters chasing you

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 6:28 PM

                [deleted]

              • reply
                November 5, 2009 5:54 AM

                gotta change their stance or whatever from "default" to defensive or something that you like.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:22 PM

            You know you can change AI tactics right? And there is a drop down for "Behavior" so that you can change them to defensive if you don't want them to run in automatically. or "Ranged" if you want them to hang back and fire from afar. etc.

            • reply
              November 4, 2009 6:24 PM

              Yes.

              They ran in because the Emissary attacked me. He ran away to setup the ambush, and then the carnage proceeded.

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 9:26 PM

                i know the EXACT part you're talking about. I stood way back out of the aggro of the other units, turned on Hold Positions for all the units, and then took out my longbow and picked the Emissary off from afar. he didn't even retaliate! (broken?)

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 10:05 PM

                I died at that very spot about half a dozen times until I used my rogue to just kill that stupid emissary with a bow at a distance.

              • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                reply
                November 5, 2009 6:02 AM

                If you set them to Defensive they won't leave your side.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:12 PM

      I'm diggin' it. I'm surprised how nice it looks on my PC and how well it runs. I don't have FSAA on, but everything else is cranked to 11 and I've never seen any framerate dips.

      It's also nice seeing in reviews that it's a 50+ hour game (probably way longer if you do sidequests like I do), means I've barely scratched the surface and that feeling is wonderful. It's also nice knowing that I can play through multiple times and get a different experience, with the different origins for each race and all of the different dialogue choices you can make. The origins thing is especially awesome.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:12 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:13 PM

      It's hard as fuck. At least one my guys always dies in battle and I just started the game. Bioware really needs to get a grasp of pacing and ramping up the difficulty. It's ridiculous.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:16 PM

        I haven't had any of my dudes drop below 50% health. Although I am playing on easy mode for 1st run through to get a deal for everything.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:17 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:18 PM

            Ahhh good tip.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:21 PM

            yeah, definitely. everyone should do this.

            • reply
              November 4, 2009 6:23 PM

              I don't have nearly enough health potions to do this. to conserve potions at this point i just let 1 or 2 die if necessary as they regain all their health fast enough after the fight.

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 9:06 PM

                You do know when they die they get injuried and have to be 'repaired' as they'll lose strength, dexterity, constitution etc.... when they die.

                • reply
                  November 4, 2009 11:27 PM

                  if only you could repair them Fallout 3 style by combining surplus henchmen with duct tape

          • reply
            November 5, 2009 5:57 AM

            I have mine set to <=10% health for health pots mgmt. my board and sword templar is always getting owned up though in battles. I think I need to examine him tonight real good.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:18 PM

        What difficulty are you playing on?

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:30 PM

          Medium. And I would've thought that was fine. Can you change difficulty mid-game?

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:32 PM

            Yeah, you can bump it down to Easy at any time.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:59 PM

            Yeah I'm playing on normal and getting fucking stomped, lolz. I even made a pure warrior type guy because in all of the Bioware games using D&D ruleset, fighter is like playing easymode (as long as you have some way of healing). I get the urge to bump it down to easy, but at the same time I kind of think I'm doing it wrong.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:32 PM

        I'm playing on Nightmare. It's perfect.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:44 PM

        I am playing as a mage specced into healing now (after failing at the other 2 classes) and it is much easier on normal now. A potion + heal will prevent any party member from dying.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:52 PM

          yeah, I've never even needed potions, pretty easy to spam heal as necessary

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 11:28 PM

          i was thinking about doing this, but it seems weird to be healing a bunch of AI henchman...is it still fun?

          • reply
            November 5, 2009 12:59 AM

            The more I play the less I think about them as "henchmen", you can take control of anyone at any time, and it's like you are that character. Basically you have to manage your whole party.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:13 PM

      I was very pleased with my first hour or so. About to load it up!

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:14 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:15 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:15 PM

      Better than The Witcher?

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:20 PM

        I'd say so. Not in every way, but in enough.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:16 PM

      I dislike turn based combat and think Oblivion is awesome. Would I like it?

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:17 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:17 PM

        It doesn't need to be turned based if you don't want it to be. You will love it George.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:17 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:21 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:26 PM

            I have a feeling there is a lot of power in the tactics, but I'm not sure when I will take the time out to learn it. :\

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:27 PM

            [deleted]

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:23 PM

          If it's anything like KOTOR I don't want anything to do with it, just not my style of gameplay at all. I really tried to like it, but meh :(

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:54 PM

            at least on PC it's a lot faster paced than the KOTOR combat that I remember. Really easy to quickly switch a few orders then go realtime and pause as necessary

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 7:21 PM

            I thought KotOR's combat was an obnoxious piece of shit, but I'm loving this.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:32 PM

        If you like games with bland repetitive gameplay, no story, no sense of pacing, whose only selling point is graphics then no you won't like Dragon Age.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:19 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:22 PM

        I'm wondering this as well.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:25 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:41 PM

        I am running a P4 3.4 GHz with 3GB RAM and a 8600gt. I have been trying to decide to buy PC or 360 version but I think my PC specs make my decision easy. I am pretty sure I have no chance in hell running this game.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:43 PM

          Dunno, it doesn't seem like much of a graphical powerhouse game to me, but I'm running a beast.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 9:16 PM

          I don't think it would be too bad. I have a three-year-old Conroe with only 2 gigs of RAM and an 8800GTS, but it still eats Dragon Age for lunch. You might have to ratchet some of the video settings down, but the PC interface is far, far superior to the console version.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:53 PM

          LOL, I would love your system compared to mine. The reason I didn't go for the PS3 version is the interface. I hate RPG games on console and the interface, which in this case is one of those radial dial things.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:50 PM

        I have a 7800GTX, Athlon 64 3700+, 2 GB RAM and it is well...okay.

        It looks alright with everything turned to medium and v-sync off. The only annoyance are brief lockups that occur that last like 3 seconds and then the sound will overlap itself for the video to catch up. This generally only happens on cut scene dialogue, not walking around or combat.

        Definitely playable.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:21 PM

      I had Bards Tale 3 on the Commodore 64. When you loaded characters it would ask you to insert your character floppy disk. Instead of using that you could put in a disk with binary data on it, like Batman, it would try and parse character information off that and create these super characters with hit points that registered as 9999 because there wasn't enough room to display the full digit.

      My first cheat!

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:22 PM

        Shit, supposed to be a reply to the first post. Boo.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:29 PM

        I remember playing RPGs in the 80s and when you died you had pull the floppy out of the drive before the game wrote to it that your character was dead

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:05 PM

        haha, that's awesome

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 8:32 PM

        i learned how to hex edit by cheating at Ultima V

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 9:34 PM

          Man, how do kids learn these days?
          Gamefaqs will be the downfall of their generation.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:22 PM

      is it a party based rpg? I can't stand those

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:26 PM

        unless the other people in the party are your friends. Then it's a PARTY!

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:28 PM

          oh yeah, thats fine, as long as i don't have to juggle inventories, spells, health, and all manner of other shit for multiple characters. But back to my question, is a party-based rpg?

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:30 PM

            Yes.

            • reply
              November 4, 2009 6:33 PM

              You do have a shared inventory though, and can have the same item on multiple character's hotbars.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:33 PM

            you'd hate it then.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:35 PM

            juggling spells and health still exists. However, inventory is one shared spot. And when a party member leaves the party, their gear is dropped back into your inventory.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:24 PM

      Playing on hard and loving it. I love how you can customize the AI behavior. Bioware, you did not disappoint.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:28 PM

        hard must be fucking HARD.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 6:28 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:32 PM

            I need a "FUCKING STAY THE FUCK HERE" option, is that available? the tactics don't seem to work. maybe I have to remove all of them for every fight or something.

            I can't fucking manage a pull of 8 v 3 very well when people are running around like retards, and no they aren't on aggressive

            • reply
              November 4, 2009 6:34 PM

              there is a little toggle on the player column that has a hotkey of 'H' which toggles between having them stand perfectly still until you tell them to do something, or have them act on their own

              or you can set their behavior to passive or better yet flesh out their tactics more to automatically do what you want

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 6:36 PM

                automatic is working out horribly so far. they stand in a shitty place and then do something despite me choosing their LONGEST RANGE function. mages are fucking stupid, believe me I know but holy shit this mage is beyond fucking retarded

                • reply
                  November 4, 2009 6:37 PM

                  this guys knows about stupid mages

                  • reply
                    November 4, 2009 6:46 PM

                    hahah seriously. fucking mages. just make some fucking food asswipe!!!

                    it's really funny he will walk right through fire to get "LOS" to use his longest range spell, even though he already can do it if I can control him... meaning he can cast fine if I do it but automated he has to get closer or something? what.

                    as well as incinerate his team. just like old times.

                    fucking stupid dumb mages.

              • reply
                November 4, 2009 6:48 PM

                but yes this is extremely helpful thank you.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 6:33 PM

            friendly fire is on in normal for the PC

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:28 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 7:59 PM

          DAO on Hard was officially accepted into HGC? I must've missed the announcement.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:34 PM

        I always customize it by turning it off entirely.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 7:04 PM

          I set them to ONLY attack enemies I'm attacking (IF "character name" is attacking enemy, THEN attack that enemy). I also have them use their skills whenever they're available on the current target so I don't have to switch back to them all the time. I always control the mage manually.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:40 PM

        I turned off hard in the beginning because it made me run out of heals. I should turn it back on now

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:27 PM

      I had no desire to play it until I found out they made it.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:29 PM

      I was looking at all of my party members approval ratings for me - predictably, most of them start off at around 50%. Then I saw that my dog loves me 100%. Sniff. Oh, dogs.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:32 PM

        I'm 8 hours in and i realized I can't make them all happy. If you're a dick in a quest someone will get pissed, same with being nice. You can't win. So if you're gonna butter one of the ladies up, concentrate on one that matches your play style.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 8:07 PM

          I am thinking that I will favor Morrigan the most, but hope she doesn't turn out to be too evil.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:33 PM

      I had to find out where I had heard Alistair's voice before. He was a magician in that episode of House. (the one who almost drowned during a trick)

      He's the one who actually had lupus lol.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:44 PM

        They should do a spin-off of house where it's always lupus.

        I'd watch it.

      • reply
        November 5, 2009 6:01 AM

        I thought it was the dick from uncharted 2.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:43 PM

      It sure is bloody

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:43 PM

      Is anyone else playing on Nightmare? It's a lot of fun!

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 6:44 PM

        lol fuck, I'm not even going to try

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:00 PM

        u r awesome gamer dood

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:04 PM

        Oh god. I'm playing on Medium, and was absolutely raped by the Sloth demon fade world in the Magi circle tower. I died so many times and cannot imagine that level on nightmare, ugh.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:33 PM

        It's going to take me significantly more than 50 hours to finish this game!

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:46 PM

      Greatest discovery I made today was the escape key for skipping dialogue. Thank FUCK.

      As much as I love voice acting, usually I end up putting on subtitles and hurrying everyone the fuck along.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 7:01 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 7:52 PM

          I enjoy it too! I don't do it all the time, but the camera angles during the dialogue is pretty terrible. I need something to do, I can only listen for so many hours straight, I guess.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 8:33 PM

        HL2 ruined voice acting for me because no other games have lip synching and facial expressions anywhere near as good

        • reply
          November 5, 2009 7:46 AM

          Yeah, plus you can fuck around with the gravity gun while listening to them. You don't have to sit in one static position, noticing how terrible their facial animation is. (it's okay, but nothing special)

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 11:16 PM

        I appreciate they don't just stand around talking all the time like in the past games. They go for a walk now and then hahaha

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 6:55 PM

      Could someone gift me the game? It's not out in the UK yet and I can PayPal you the money. Any help appreciated. <3

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 7:12 PM

      thanks to a post from a shacker about an article on arstech my DLC is almost done downloading!

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 7:32 PM

      Side quest help. Blackstone Irregulars, supposed to deliver a letter of conscription to Patter Gritch in Lothering. Where the hell is this guy? How am I supposed to find him?

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 7:44 PM

      OMFG LOL!! "A chantry says what?" "What?"

      bwahaha i lost it!

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:04 PM

      the inter-party banter is fucking awesome! best i've heard in any game like this.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:09 PM

      I'm too busy playing and enjoying Witcher now. I think I'll be too RPG'd out after it to play this :(

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:10 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:12 PM

      Any plans for a demo?

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:14 PM

      I started replaying Neverwinter Nights. :)

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:33 PM

      any consensus on ps3 vs 360? anyone other than blackcat9 playingon a macbook pro unibody? does it control well w/ the trackpad?

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 11:33 PM

        really, somebody running this under Boot Camp? my friggin' iMac struggled with Mass Effect :(

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 11:38 PM

        also, i just ordered the ps3 version...gamespot claims better textures/colour on the ps3, and there's a comparison vid on youtube that seems to back that up

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 8:34 PM

      and boo hoo to all the nay sayers because of their poor choices in promoting the game... Bioware has always delivered where it matters..

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 8:44 PM

        Poor choices? Doubt it. They probably successfully marketed the game to swarms of 12-14 year old retards. They knew that the hardcore fans would by it anyway based on their reputation and reviews.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 9:21 PM

          It's interesting to see quite a few comments on other forums where folks are complaining that the game isn't at all what they thought it was going to be. "WTF? This is like Baldur's Gate? Crap."

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 9:33 PM

            Hahaha, yeah. I wonder how many were expecting a button masher?

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 8:51 PM

        The only thing that got me interested was the flash game, and that preview that showed up a couple of weeks ago.

        Every other trailer released by Bioware was boring.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:03 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 5, 2009 1:39 AM

          Why does everyone always hate on Jade Empire? :\

          I loved it.. My only minor complaint was with a few balance issues.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 9:15 PM

      Man the (Elf area spoilers) Werewolf ruins are killing me. As if the dragon wasn't difficult enough I'm getting reamed by packs of angry skellies. I opened the secret door down here and got raped in the face by 3 elite shades. :(

      I'm going to have to safe this for tomorrow.. and leave the shades in that room alone for now.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 9:38 PM

      Just got the Ritual. I did not see that coming!

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 9:39 PM

      I don't think I can describe in words how fucking excited I am for this game. For a bit I was worried, due to those craptastic trailers, but after hearing all the praise, it's on.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 9:44 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 9:51 PM

          Fortunately this isn't the game for those types.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:00 PM

          Bioware. RPG. Spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate 3. 91 metacritic. This is no shackhype abberation.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:59 PM

          This quote needs to be put in our disclaimer. Seriously.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 10:04 PM

      The banter between the characters is just plain *awesome*. It's a joy to listen to it, I stop in my tracks and make sure I don't miss anything.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:07 PM

        yeah, I've been impressed by all the little side banter (lots of lessons in the mage's tower, prayers and combat lessons in the first town)

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:18 PM

        I picked up a character call Morrigan and she's awesomely sarcastic. I will keep her.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:18 PM

          call = called

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:34 PM

          Keep her? I'm going to screw her!

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 10:39 PM

            I'm going to try as well but I'm playing a female dwarf warrior so I think it might be a tough go. :(

          • reply
            November 5, 2009 6:10 AM

            haha, I've already set the tone by giving her gifts and talking with her...any small dialog with a flirty tone in it I choose she shuts me down. Maybe it's because I only have 5 gold and I'm not a specialized Warrior yet. I bet that will get her panties wet...

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 10:06 PM

      Mages: what spells do you like? So far I've got 3 ice spells and a heal, not sure where to go next.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 11:09 PM

        I have all the healing spells. I have the first 3 fire spells. I'm gonna get the last fire spell then work on the Hex line. I have the first hex spell and the rest look amazing for taking down big dudes. Basically fire covers my need to nuke lots of small dudes, and hex covers my need to take down single big guys. and healing. not sure what i'm gonna spec at level 7. Probably spirit healer. I'm not sure which of the 4 classes offered was the one based on offensive fire spells or just destructive spells in general. maybe there isn't one. blood mage sounded dumb, shape shifter was meh, and i think the last one was too combat focused or it didn't sound like i got any cool spells. not sure at this point.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 11:17 PM

          you went fire? shocker :p

          I'm pretty happy with the freezing effect rather than the DOT. In any case, I still only have the first heal, the 2nd and 3rd didn't seem as enticing yet. I was looking at the hex line though, it seemed like a good idea (or one of the spirit ones that was anti-caster stuff). I'm really unsure of my specialization too. None of them jumped out at me and I'm not sure what kind of reaction blood mage might cause anyway.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 11:41 PM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 10:08 PM

      This game is \o/ through and through, but is anyone having problems with their Dragon Age Updater Windows Service just shutting off and not coming back up?

      Every so often I have to quit the game to reload the service to even load my game, since it's trying to bring the DLC into the game and without the service it just shits on my face :(

      Oh, and Medium isn't bad, and I love how I'm playing both over the shoulder and top-down almost seamlessly without even really thinking about it.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 10:35 PM

      Where can I find the quest to start Wardens Keep?

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:38 PM

        It's in your camp.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:51 PM

          I have a camp? I just got to my first town after the Tower of Isblablabla or whatever.

          • reply
            November 4, 2009 11:11 PM

            Lothering? You automatically go to your camp (or make it, I guess) after you finish that area.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:39 PM

        in camp

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 10:43 PM

        is this quest worth 560 points?

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:50 PM

          was wondering that too since its in my fucking quest log now :(

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 10:52 PM

          I have no idea, but, it gives you a home base after you finish it.

          • reply
            November 5, 2009 12:08 AM

            No, it doesn't.

            It gives you a small location with no interiors whatsoever that has two merchants and chest you can use to store loot. You have to travel to it normally (unlike the camp), and it's not at all a "base".

            • reply
              November 5, 2009 6:14 AM

              so does it have any advantages?

              • reply
                November 5, 2009 7:48 AM

                A chest to store your shit, and there's a weaponsmith that can craft you a unique sword out of superman's meteor rock, also which you get once you leave that area

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 10:59 PM

      just got ambushed by like 15 dudes, cone of cold saves the day

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 11:14 PM

      Oh yes. Drakensang feels a lot like it too. DAO is better though.

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 11:21 PM

      if it's as good as the Baldur's Gate series I'll have to get it.

      • reply
        November 4, 2009 11:30 PM

        It's like NVN with a better pacing and awesome UI.

        The engine is great too, supposedly the same dating from the KOTOR engine, amazing how improved it's gotten. No shortfalls that the UE3 engine of Mass Effect like texture pop in.

        • reply
          November 4, 2009 11:34 PM

          comparing it to NWN is an absolute diservice to the greatness of this game

    • reply
      November 4, 2009 11:33 PM

      Blood Dragon Armor

      Powered myself up to 38 strength, here's what it looks like: http://majuju.com/dragonarmor1.jpg

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      November 4, 2009 11:34 PM

      lol goddamn at the top of the Tower in Osgard I just fought the Ogre and he absolutely annihilated me.

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        November 5, 2009 1:28 AM

        for some reason, I had no problems with that fight. I guess I'm running a decent party make up. Mainly, me being a mage that had the heal spell by then.

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          November 5, 2009 2:05 AM

          I'm a mage too, I actually got it on my second try but the first one he just annihilated the whole party so fast. Heal isn't very useful when he's got someone in his grasp and pummels them, plus a single boulder took out like 80% of my health

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      November 4, 2009 11:40 PM

      wow. fucking awesome. I am now standing outside of the tower in ostengard about to go in during the battle. i'm sure i am playing it a lot slower than many of you, but at least I have finally gotten a grasp on the combat system and am doing well.

      this game is epic.

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      November 4, 2009 11:46 PM

      how does the pause-n-play compare to Mass Effect? i know, i know, everyone should tactical view on the PC, but I actually really liked the over-the-shoulder pause-n-play in Mass Effect. i got pretty handy at issuing orders on the fly and it was highly satisfying to un-pause and watch my companions unleash their firepower. it sounds like Dragon Age is more cerebral, which is fine too...all the stuff about combining your companions spells and skills sounds really good, like using shield bash to shatter a frozen enemy.

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        November 5, 2009 12:00 AM

        well in the first few hours of Dragon Age I've already had far more fights that required me to micro things intelligently than I did in all of Mass Effect. I felt the combat in ME played out pretty much exactly the same every time and I never had to pay attention to the enemy types really (on normal). I can't speak to the 360 controls.

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          November 5, 2009 12:47 AM

          that sounds really good...you're right, the fights in ME quickly became routine, it was like settling into a familiar rhythym, which was fine for a sci-fi quasi-shooter...but the micro approach sounds just right for this game

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      November 5, 2009 12:10 AM

      I just got Shale tonight. He's fucking hilarious.

      I never expected to recruit a foppish golem with an amusingly dismissive attitude towards my entire party

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      November 5, 2009 12:18 AM

      [deleted]

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      November 5, 2009 12:47 AM

      Steam oddness?

      Why do I have two options for "Buy Dragon Age: Origins" and "Pre-Purchase Dragon Age: Origins"?

      http://store.steampowered.com/app/17450/

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        November 5, 2009 7:50 AM

        pre purchase, you probably get a code for it!

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      November 5, 2009 12:54 AM

      I'm 5 hours into it and only just finished the joining. Holy crap this game is going to take forever, I feel like I've barely even started.

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      November 5, 2009 1:09 AM

      The combat is almost not clunky which is pretty amazing for Bioware. It's actually good!

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        November 5, 2009 1:41 AM

        Dear god, my foundations are shaking. Is at least the pathfinding as rotten as ever?

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          November 5, 2009 1:56 AM

          Actually...yeah my characters get hung up on shit a lot trying to get to an enemy. Doesn't help that in this combat system the melee characters dance/walk around the enemies when attacking.

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            November 5, 2009 2:02 AM

            seems like they like to position themselves to attack from the rear if possible

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            November 5, 2009 6:04 AM

            my mage decided to stand in fire and shoot off spells.. i only noticed when i tried to figure out why my mage had barely any health yet wasnt even near the front lines :(

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              November 5, 2009 6:05 AM

              i have a lot of problems with my guys straying into fire. they should be more hesitant to do that.

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      November 5, 2009 1:49 AM

      So has anyone played it long enough to discuss what the world, environments, and game progression are like?

      Is the game more open, or still fairly linear like past Bioware RPGs? Are the environments empty and static, serving as pretty backdrops while you kill stuff with only a few random NPCs and loot chests to interact with? Lots of loads with small areas, or massive ones with fewer loads? Does non-linear exploration in any given area result in simply path or two that branches out and circles back eventually? Any backtracking or are you constantly going forward and visiting new places? Stuff like that, things I've never seen anyone discuss yet.

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        November 5, 2009 2:07 AM

        From what I've seen the game is more linear than open, however its a good balance as it keeps the main storyline in focus but there is plenty of optional stuff to do in explorable areas. The main quest is also a branch and it looks like you can do them in an order you choose.

        The physical layout of areas is similar to past Bioware RPGs and yeah environments are static, however there are all kinds of triggers which cause various activities such as comments from party members or storyline related events in most of the areas I've been in so far. That's one thing I've never liked about Bioware RPGs is that explorable areas were just voids from point a to point b except for plenty of monsters to fight. In DA:O exploring areas is far more interesting and rewarding. Treasure is also usually worthwhile since the game is pretty linear which allowed them to plan out the loot progression a lot better than open RPGs tend to allow.

        Can't really comment on the backtracking, probably haven't played enough to know if this is an issue or not.

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        November 5, 2009 2:09 AM

        Pretty standard as far as loading goes. You load when you enter/leave a town/building.

        As for the backdrops, they're full of life. Tons of NPCs with idle animations and chatter, giving lessons, praying, etc. And the environment affects combat in terms of line of sight and stuff, plus you've got AOE spells to worry about, along with combos/traps that affect things (ex. a grease trap knocking my whole party down, followed up promptly by an enemy fireball that had the ground burning us up for quite awhile).

        I haven't gotten far enough to say much about the branching but it feels like I'm about to get to choose which of 3-4 places I go and in what order.

        What do you want out of non-linear exploration? There're always stuff in different areas, side stuff to find if you explore that wasn't in your quest log at the outset or simply things that add codex entries/lore.

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          November 5, 2009 2:48 AM

          Thanks for the info you two. It's getting harder and harder to resist this one.

          As for what I want out of non-linear exploration, it could be anything. From simply exploring the areas and seeing what they have to offer visually outside of whatever everyone plowing through the game will see, to finding and item or quest or NPC or sign or tough monster or whatever that's off the beaten path. Stumbling upon something interesting because you were poking around where others may not, not because you could see everything there is to see while moving from point a to point b.

          Some Bioware games it feels like the only exploring you do is choosing the path you take at a fork in an area. It might be a dead end or circle back around to where you were going anyway, but you can walk a line through the center of the zone and pretty much see everything there is to see because they are all fairly restricted and guided. Multiple playthroughs or everyone's experience through the same areas ends up being more or less the same because you are basically walking through glorified hallways, even outdoors.

          I don't really mind that sort of thing if it's done well, but I was curious to know if this game is more or less like that as far as exploring the world goes or if some areas were more open and had some freedom to them.

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      November 5, 2009 2:44 AM

      I was really expecting this to be a disappointment given the marketing clusterfuck but the hype wore me down so I preordered it on amazon, because it's released tomorrow here. I couldn't miss it when it's being compared to baldur's gate so much, I loved baldur's gate.

      Too many fucking games. :(

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      November 5, 2009 3:00 AM

      Dragon Age is a hardcore, AAA PC centric game (rare). I hope it sells A LOT.

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      November 5, 2009 3:58 AM

      This game is so damn hard! I also hit a bug in Redcliffe with infinite spawning zombies. I must have killed 50 of them before I realized they were never going to stop coming. I tried like 5 times and it happened each time. I finally beat it by not advancing and staying back and protecting the one archer who comes and tells you they're attacking the river and just killing everything until they stopped spawning, then going down and cleaning up.

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        November 5, 2009 5:19 AM

        Just remember infinite zombies = infinite experience

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      November 5, 2009 4:10 AM

      Amen brother.

      Fucking stellar job Bioware. Thanks for taking the time and doing the PC version right. (no console hud, funky controls, shitty huge Mass Effect inventory etc). Worth every penny for the Digital Deluxe Edition. Would buy again.

      Speaking of Mass Effect tho.. it's kind of strange, dunno if anyone here noticed, but the characters all seem to have that same "look" in their eyes like characters in Mass Effect did, especially noticable in the way some NPC's turn and walk away after a conversation with the player. Amusing, but strange.

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        November 5, 2009 5:47 AM

        yeah i've noticed the conversational body language is very similar to mass effect. one of the characters did a "point two fingers for emphasis" move that was exactly like one that Keith David does in Mass Effect and i got deja vu

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        November 5, 2009 5:49 AM

        If you want to buy it again, gift it to me on Steam please

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      November 5, 2009 6:14 AM

      Geez is everyone playing Mage? I'm enjoying my archery-focused Rogue.

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      November 5, 2009 6:15 AM

      I can't decide which chick in my party is gonna "get it" first...and by "get it" I mean crawl into my bearskin hut one night and play with my mace. Will it be Morrigan the hottie Shapshifter or The red headed ex Chantry Rouge who has the hottest Euro accent. Any ideas on where her accent is from?

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      November 5, 2009 6:20 AM

      The game is pretty incredible.

      One issue: Outside of Loathering I get my ass handed to me by a pack of bandits to the north of the city. Holy shit, they're just so many of them against my party one person usually dies super fast, then it's just downhill from there.

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        November 5, 2009 6:23 AM

        shit..shack tagged. Remove for spoiler.

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          November 5, 2009 6:23 AM

          Then again, it's not much of a spoiler.

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      November 5, 2009 6:48 AM

      Agree 100%, I said the same thing couple days ago, you can not go wrong with this game.

      If anyone is on the fence on weather they should buy this game here is a review along with screens if intrested:

      http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=21320469#itemanchor_21320469

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      November 5, 2009 8:27 AM

      I have to agree with this.

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