21 réponses à ce sujet

[DWSmiley]

Has anyone tried to complete DA:O with as few experience points as possible?  No side quests, of course, and even on main quests avoid or talk your way out of encounters as much as possible.  No picking locks or disarming traps.  I'm thinking of trying this (yes, it means I've played too many times) to see what level I would finish the game at.  It should make it more challenging, being lower level and without the best equipment.  One exception I may make is the Fade - it makes my head hurt just thinking of trying to map a minimalist route through that maze.  Also, I won't run around unlocking areas as quickly as possible.  That would reduce the xp earned but it's just too much bother.

And I suppose there are two versions of this - with a party and, for the ultimate minimalist campaign, with a solo stealthed rogue.  I'll leave the latter for someone else as soloing is beyond me but I'd be interested in hearing if it has be done.

[soteria]

And I suppose there are two versions of this - with a party and, for the ultimate minimalist campaign, with a solo stealthed rogue. I'll leave the latter for someone else as soloing is beyond me but I'd be interested in hearing if it has be done.

...that would be an interesting challenge. Part of what makes soloing "easy" is having money to buy great gear. Playing like that would leave you pretty poor, I think. I'm really not into soloing, but I might try that. The problem of course is that DA:O is rather draconian about letting you leave combat. There's a limit to how much you could skip--sometimes you'd have to kill stuff just to zone.

[DWSmiley]

Yes, I was just skimming through the Deep Roads walkthrough on gamebanshee and it seems, for example, you can't open the exit doors in the Anvil trap rooms until you have killed the occupants. But I'm only go to try it with a party, so that won't matter to me. It's occurred to me camp will be emptier than I'm used to - no dog, Leliana or Sten. Maybe I'll start Saturday morning and try to do it in one sitting. I wonder which origin can be made the briefest...

[Aezeal]

soloing with nearly no xp? that seems.. hard. I've solo-ed but gonna pass for this one

[DWSmiley]

Aezeal wrote...

soloing with nearly no xp? that seems.. hard. I've solo-ed but gonna pass for this one

It will still require a lot of fighting, I'm sure, but I'm curious to see just how much can be avoided and how quickly the plot advances (in real time).  I'll dial it down from nightmare if I find I'm getting wiped regularly (not that I'll be soloing - hats off to anyone who manages that!).  Heavily armored opponents may be the biggest challenge.  I remember a revenant fight with a rogue party that could only do 1-2 points damage per hit that I won only by chugging many, many health pots.

[OrlesianWardenCommander]

Eh i bet you the lowest you could be is 14-15 cause the main quest make your exp bar jump not matter what.

[oyzar]

In baldurs gate there were some playthroughs where they tried to kill as few monsters as possible. Should be possible with something similar here. How many of the main quests do you have to do? Is it really necesarry to reqruit the dwarves for example?

[Aezeal]

I can understand the curiosity, and I'd wish you good luck if you are really gonna try. Personally I pass though.



Good point Oyzar, I never used any of the armies anyway so maybe you don't need to do everything.. just skip the whole deep roads, redcliff and the tower.. straight through to the dragon.



I've got a feeling some meddlers (say your companions and later the arl) will not go for that. Ow wait you need the arl to get the landsmeet at least.

[DWSmiley]

I confirmed that Eamon will not call the Landsmeet until you have all four allies - whew! Attempting the final battle at level 7 would be rather pointless, I think.

[BomimoDK]

oyzar wrote...

In baldurs gate there were some playthroughs where they tried to kill as few monsters as possible. Should be possible with something similar here. How many of the main quests do you have to do? Is it really necesarry to reqruit the dwarves for example?

a BGT solo would be OP if you ended at lvl 7-10

[soteria]

I'm pretty sure you could do the final battle at level 7, assuming it were possible to reach that point.. As far as I know, the damage from ballistas is not scaled by level. A ranger with a lot of patience could probably do it.

[DWSmiley]

soteria wrote...

I'm pretty sure you could do the final battle at level 7, assuming it were possible to reach that point.. As far as I know, the damage from ballistas is not scaled by level. A ranger with a lot of patience could probably do it.

I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it at level 7.

Just getting to the top of the tower would be too much for me, I suspect - battles such as the penultimate one against two yellow ogres and an emissary.  As it is, another interesting little twist this playthrough will provide is showing how much difference the two darkspawn generals make if you don't kill them before taking on the AD.  I wonder if it is just them who will show up on the top of the tower or if they bring additional forces, too.

[soteria]

Well, like I said, assuming you can make it that far. If you can, just calling Eamon's troops and using the ballistae should be sufficient.

[BomimoDK]

guys, i meant BG trilogy at level 7, which would be impossibe because of the xp load. but i think level 17 is realistic. then... when remembering that the last few battles are balanced for a 6-man party at level 40... well...



but, i'm going to attempt Dragon Age at level 7-10 now... you just got me up to it. do you think it's possible? i'm usually level 8 just after lothering.

[DWSmiley]

BomimoDK wrote...

guys, i meant BG trilogy at level 7, which would be impossibe because of the xp load. but i think level 17 is realistic. then... when remembering that the last few battles are balanced for a 6-man party at level 40... well...

but, i'm going to attempt Dragon Age at level 7-10 now... you just got me up to it. do you think it's possible? i'm usually level 8 just after lothering.

I expect not.  OrlesianWC is probably right that we'll get to level 14-15 just from advancing the plot and doing the mandatory fights.  But the second half of the game should still be quite different without several of the best spells and talents, plus less fancy gear.  And the stealth tree can't be completed until level 12, which cuts down on the sneaking past.

@soteria - Ah, I didn't realize you were referring to just the tower top.  I was referring to everything from the city gates on.

I've decided I can't wait for Saturday morning.  As soon as I'm home Friday, it's on!

[DWSmiley]

Done!
With a party my pc Warden finished at level 16 with 89,218 xp.

I could have done it in less but not by much, I think.  You can avoid a fair bit of fighting in some main quest areas (outdoors and caves mostly) but there are a lot of xp awarded for advancing the plot, as expected.

I was imperfect in avoiding side quests.  Alistair asked to see his sister as soon as we entered Denerim and I relented.  Surprisingly, I still failed to harden him – the second conversation in camp wouldn’t trigger. In Howe’s estate I rescued the tortured son and lyrium addled brother.  I don’t like losing the Landsmeet vote but each counted as a quest.  I doubt I would have finished under level 16 anyway as I went 6,700 xp over.

The fighting was surprisingly easy – the scaling effect, of course, and also I went with the uber party of tank + 3 mages.  No choice in companions, as Oghren is the only other one available.  But by level 7 a pc mage can have fireball, cone of cold and glyph of repulsion – awesome.  I enjoyed fireball – explosions are fun and I avoided blowing up Alistair most of the time.

Equipment was very different.  I could only afford one legendary item, though better cash management would have got me another.  The second-best weapon I ever had was Deygan’s axe and only because I wanted his boots to trade to the hermit.  That was eventually topped by the axe in the spider queen’s lair.  Alistair's armor much of the way was armor of diligence, ancient elven gloves and generic helm and boots.  But inventory management was easy.  No side quests, side rooms or locked chests = light backpacks.

New events for me - I didn’t know that abandoning Redcliffe leads to fighting the corpses of the villagers and knights in the castle – nice touch, that.  I also learned that leaving the High Dragon alive results in the Urn not being recovered later…

In the final battle you cannot go straight to Fort Drakon, so I went to the Alienage first.  The general from the market district appeared on the top of the tower later without any of his ogres.  But he shows up in a really cool cloud of emerald smoke and glowing orbs!

Most importantly, it was fun, sort of like returning to a favourite book by reading just the most exciting parts.

Modifié par DWSmiley, 19 avril 2010 - 09:22 .

[Seneva]

Now do it as a rogue and stealth your way through mobgroups ^^



Think that'll be a neat playthrough for me... hm... I guess I could do that.

[DWSmiley]

Seneva wrote...

Now do it as a rogue and stealth your way through mobgroups ^^

Think that'll be a neat playthrough for me... hm... I guess I could do that.

Good luck!  Soloing is beyond me but I'd be interested in knowing what the ultimate minimalist campaign is like.

[soteria]

I'm partway through with my rogue. I'm not doing a "true" solo, since it's not necessary. What I do is stealth past enemies and then release the group off hold to get them back up with me when I'm out of combat. It's actually very frustrating, just because of the crappy stealth engine. Anyway, I've done the mage tower, redcliffe, and brecilian forest, and I'm just barely level 9. I could have saved 300 some experience if I had actually soloed the mage tower (100 exp each for rescuing companions) and there are probably a few other areas I could have skipped a few more monsters.



I wonder which grants less exp, Bhelen or Harrowmont? I'm guessing Bhelen, for me, since I can stealth up to the point where a conversation will port me to join what's his name, skipping a lot of combat.

[DWSmiley]

Aha - clever! I overlooked that your companions will teleport to you if you get far enough away. Bhelen's task should be less as you only have to help Lord Dace fight some deepstalkers and maybe he can handle them without you earning any xp. I admit I did the Proving Grounds on my run as it is more interesting.



Are you using 1.03? Qwinn said it includes some stealth fixes not listed in the patch notes.



I think I will have to try this again - more hardcore this time.

[soteria]

Well, when I say "crappy stealth engine" I'm more talking about how being in and out of combat works. It just ticks me off the way the game practically forces you to kill every last enemy, even when it would make a lot more sense from an RP perspective to stealth by them. But, I finished. It's MUCH more pleasant after getting combat stealth and haste.

I was about 75% of the way through level 13 at the end of the game. I'm sure I could have done better, but I'm also sure I couldn't have cut out an entire level. I'm pretty sure 13 is the lowest level it's possible to complete the game at because of the main quest's experience. My main regret is not having maxed out survival so I could see what level stuff was toward the end.

Equipment... wow. Until I finished Orzammar I was still wearing starting gear on pretty much everyone. If you don't open locked chests or kill anyone, it turns out not only do you not get the drops but also you don't have money to buy anything. By the time I finished with the anvil of the void, I was able to upgrade my rogue's tier 1 studded leather to tier 4 duster leather. Woo woot! I was never able to equip the legion of the dead armor because of the strength requirements, though I did manage to find a few random pieces of lower-tier massive armor.

Modifié par soteria, 27 avril 2010 - 03:13 .

[DWSmiley]

soteria wrote...

Equipment... wow. Until I finished Orzammar I was still wearing starting gear on pretty much everyone.

LOL - yeah, another reason I went with 3 mages.  I'm thinking that human noble + one extra little fight in Lothering will let me run a group of 3 rogues + dog, which will be quite different from my first run.  Though that will add the Taliesen encounter, too.