14 réponses à ce sujet

[corey_russell]

Greetings fellow Dragon-Age players!
I've had this game for about a year, but I've had a heck of a time beating it normal level. I tried a sword & shield warrior, dual-wielding warrior, two-hand warrior, 1 rogue, and a mage. All of them got "stuck" in various key fights for various reasons. I have beat the game on easy, but I wasn't satisified with that, as indeed it was "too easy".
My previous characters would get stuck in the following parts: 1) Logain fight (whether it be the en masse or individual duels) 2) Loghain's second, the one with the Summer Sword 3) Alienage battle PRIOR to the last one, the one with the traps, mass of archers and melees that come in on all sides 4) Final fight with the Arch Demon
I decided to give it one more go - a dwarven rogue, specialising in dual-wielding (though he used his bow often, depending on the battle situations). Some things I did differently that finally allowed me to beat the game on normal:

1) Maxed Coercion - this allowed me to both avoid that problematic alienage battle and also to convince Loghain to to a one-on-one duel

2) 3 paralyze runes on my rogue's weapons - this combined with the coup de grace talent (which does backstab damage on any incapacitated enemy) with dirty fighting and riposte, often allowed him to defeat many enemies taking only a little damage himself

3) Used a ton of poison, especially the one from deathroot extract which has a chance to stun targets

4) Thanks to the paralyze runes, poison, and rogue talents, my rogue actually defeated Loghain one-on-one.

5) Crafted a ton of health poultrices and also set tactics for 50% heals instead of 25%. For Branka battle, Morrigan and Ogren got killed early, so Sten and my rogue had to take her down. I had Sten self-heal on 75%, which kept him alive without my intervention (it was needed with all of Branka's stun/knockback effects)

6) Also due to the paralyze runes, Loghain's second wasn't able to slaughter the party with that nice sword of hers (she resists the cone of cold sometimes), and that battle was won easily this time around.
As for the final fight with the Arch Demon, I had myself (rogue), Alistair, the dog and Morrigan. I made sure to use greater spirit balms and also made sure Alistair wore the corruption helmet since the dragon's ranged attacks are spirit based. I would deal with the darkspawn if they got in the way, otherwise, the party tried to get to a ballista in range of the dragon, while the other ranged and dog would stay put in case we got bothered by darkspawn. Mages were my allies in this fight (only 1 mage survived the battle). Many times I would select the entire party to turn off their tactics, both to try to get to ballistas or to get out of those vortexes. Near the end, for some reason the archdemon stayed put, allowing my main character to fix/reload the same ballista numerous times. The dragon finally got low, which Alistair and the dog meleed, I finally let Morrigan cast some spells (I kept her mana for heals and darkspawn adds), while my rogue ballista-ed away and success!

Dragon Age is challenging, and it felt good to finally beat it fair and square.

Modifié par corey_russell, 17 novembre 2011 - 11:14 .

[corey_russell]

Ivandra Ceruden wrote...

One word: use magic. I sense a lack of magic spells to back-up your party/ weaken your enemies...try to use Morrigan and Wynne more often or at least on a more regular basis. In my party, Morrigan deals about 40% off all party damage...she kills a wave of enemies with ease thanks to her frost spells and hexes Group Heal is a necessity on higher levels, too.

Edit: congratulations on beating DA:O! I hope you had fun

I do use magic, all the time in fact. I always have my magic user(s) use tactics to dish out the pain, and in the boss fights I almost always micro-manage the magic user(s) - hex, cone of cold, earthen fist, etc. I can't tell you how many times everyone but Morrigan dies (well at least in my earlier runs) and I micro-manage her to victory.

The magic just wasn't helping in the above cases. Let me give some examples:

1) Loghain + many Loghain alllies battle - I had 3 mages still lost, we were running out of mana in fact ( we didn't have very many lyrium potions for various reasons). Just recently I did this battle again and won because I used LESS magic (e.g. using our staffs to kill enemies whenever possible to conserve mana, and used mana to heal and to whittle down Loghain)
2) Loghain himself  (duel)-- for a long time could only beat him with a mage, BUT if he resisted the cone of cold the mage would get walloped/killed.
3) Alienage battle (just before the final one in there) -- my mages would get either slaughtered by the melees, despite mind blasts/dread howls, OR become pin cushions by the mass of archers, and despite area effects thrown at the archers
4) Arch Demon - this has high innate resistances to everything but nature, but even then it's not zero.  I did of course use magic on the darkspawn hordes, though.
5) Loghain's Second - when she resisted cone of cold, she would kill my mage in like two hits. In my latest run, this was less a problem since my character a rogue was paralyzing her...

So to summarize, I definitely use magic -- lot of boss fights (and that one horrible alley ambush with like 200 bandit archers behind cover) I have found very difficult without forcefield being available, for example. If fireballs/blizzards are practical, I definitely do that.

Also, Wynne by default only comes with only a few offensive spells, so it takes a number of levels before she can help kill the enemies as much as Morrigan.

But thanks, I DID have fun, and notice I am a better player now (e.g., because I can load my other saves where I got "stuck" before, but using different tactics/strategy, I can now get past them).

[10cents]

The last few battles in Denerim prior the Landsmeet are the toughest in the game. The first battle in the alienage against the slaver elf is annoying due to the Scattershot spam - 5 archers using that will kill everything but the sturdiest companions.
The same goes for the Ser Cauthrien battle - 10 archers + mage + that beast Cauthrien calls for a tactical retreat to at least get the archers off your back...

And as Ivandra said: you'll need to use more magic to survive. Spells like Sleep, Paralysis Explosion, Blizzard are very good at turning the odds in your favor for a couple of seconds. Dont underestimate crowd control, there's nothing easier to fight than a bunch of immobile darkspawn.

[corey_russell]

10cents wrote...

The last few battles in Denerim prior the Landsmeet are the toughest in the game. The first battle in the alienage against the slaver elf is annoying due to the Scattershot spam - 5 archers using that will kill everything but the sturdiest companions.
The same goes for the Ser Cauthrien battle - 10 archers + mage + that beast Cauthrien calls for a tactical retreat to at least get the archers off your back...

And as Ivandra said: you'll need to use more magic to survive. Spells like Sleep, Paralysis Explosion, Blizzard are very good at turning the odds in your favor for a couple of seconds. Dont underestimate crowd control, there's nothing easier to fight than a bunch of immobile darkspawn.

Yes I am definitely a believer in crowd control - mind blast, dread howl, cone of cold and yes blizzard I use extensively whenever it's practical. Not familiar with sleep/paralysis explosion however. I've never used them. Perhaps I can try them out my next run.

[actionhero112]

You can blood wound the archers in the alienage, as you should have that at this point in the game. Paralysis explosion works too. if worse comes to worst, you can have a rogue lvl 4 stealth and start chucking bombs everywhere. Thats always ridiculously cheap.

Wynn can also Cleansing aura, miasma, Vessel of the spirit, and then lock herself down with forcefield.

You can do the same thing with leliana and abuse captivating song the same way.

Force field is overpowered.

[corey_russell]

actionhero112 wrote...

You can blood wound the archers in the alienage, as you should have that at this point in the game. Paralysis explosion works too. if worse comes to worst, you can have a rogue lvl 4 stealth and start chucking bombs everywhere. Thats always ridiculously cheap.

Wynn can also Cleansing aura, miasma, Vessel of the spirit, and then lock herself down with forcefield.

You can do the same thing with leliana and abuse captivating song the same way.

Force field is overpowered.

This post of yours is very interesting. For one, I am not familiar with most of the spells/abilities you mentioned. I never have picked paralysis explosion. I have tried the rogue throwing bombs...never picked cleansing aura, miasma or vessel of spirit. Leliana/captivating song/forcefield, that's interesting idea, never considered that.


I don't know how to "blood wound" the archers - is this an abilitiy or spell? I never have that in any of my games.

[actionhero112]

Its a spell that you get as a benefit of the blood mage sub-class. Its a no ff- immobilization spell with a significant dot effect. I won't go into how to get it, but I can provide a link off site.

http://dragonage.wik...d_Mage_(Origins)

Vessel of the spirit is a benefit skill which is part of developing approval with wynne. It significantly increases mana regen which allows you to use things like cleansing aura/spell might without completely ruining your manapool and grants a significant increase to spell power. Which arguably makes her the best mage in the game (even beating the warden), as she can pretty much just throw around any spell and not have to face the consequences. And with the completion of the personal quest it become laughably awesome.

http://dragonage.wik...l_of_the_Spirit

Buuuuut morrigan is hotter so its really a toss up xD.

Modifié par actionhero112, 17 novembre 2011 - 10:34 .

[corey_russell]

Ah no wonder I have never heard of these things. I never am able to unlock blood mage class (not that I would want to anyways), and didn't even know Wynne had a personal quest. The game tells me I've only done 75% or so, so I know that's there's still much I don't know, despite beating the game. I was thinking of doing another run, I can look into these things next time.

EDIT: I looked at your link. No wonder I never unlocked blood mage specialization. In any new RPG I play, my preferred choice is always a holy warrior. 2nd choice is warrior. My LAST preference is mages. But you can only get the specialization if the warden is a mage...So I won't be using blood wound. Thanks for the idea though.

Modifié par corey_russell, 17 novembre 2011 - 10:58 .

[actionhero112]

Yeah I understand. Considering this is a roleplaying game, its not surprising that you would want to make a purely good character as it feels righteously awesome xD. Paralysis explosion is a good replacement, and is faster than mass paralysis. But do whatever you feel is right, I'm not going to force my play style down your throat or anything.

By no means is blood wound necessary to beat the game on any difficulty.

A second play-through is usually fun. Happy gaming man.

[Wilyfox]

When I use a party, I find a great under-rated spell is Wynne auto-casting Earthquake (set to cast at a distance)... knocks the enemy down & buying time for Morrigan to be micro-managed for Storm of the Century... not usually much left after those... the fighters just wait for any survivors to stagger out and be clobbered...

[caradoc2000]

corey_russell wrote...

I never have picked paralysis explosion.

Paralysis explosion is not a spell. but a combo.

[corey_russell]

Wilyfox wrote...

When I use a party, I find a great under-rated spell is Wynne auto-casting Earthquake (set to cast at a distance)... knocks the enemy down & buying time for Morrigan to be micro-managed for Storm of the Century... not usually much left after those... the fighters just wait for any survivors to stagger out and be clobbered...

As matter of fact, I do have Wynne cast her earthquake automatically on long/medium range enemies via tactics screen. It often comes in handy. I haven't done the storm of the centry combo yet.

[CBGB]

Congratulations, Corey! You've worked out good strategies.

What a great game - there are so many tactics that can be tailored to individual play styles. I'm always amazed at the variations. I'm comfortable with all the fights, yet I use almost none of the tactics above - not paralysis runes, not earthquake, no balms, poison, miasma, blizzard, Storm of the Century. On the other hand, I always have a Spirit Healer and make frequent use of Walking Bomb, which some other players dislike. There's many paths through the game.

Control is certainly important, whether through runes, spells, or talents, and it's just a matter of finding the tools that best fit the shape of your hands. I generally find I need 2 to 3 crowd controls and 2 to 3 single-targets in my party.

corey_russell wrote...
My previous characters would get stuck
in the following parts: 1) Logain fight (whether it be the en masse or
individual duels) 2) Loghain's second, the one with the Summer Sword 3)
Alienage battle PRIOR to the last one, the one with the traps, mass of
archers and melees that come in on all sides 4) Final fight with the
Arch Demon.

Those are tough fights, each open to different tactics.

I just did the Loghain duel several times last week (trying different consequences) and by accident, I found that the excellent Paralysis Explosion combo mentioned above was outclassed there by a simple Glyph of Repulsion. Leaving it in place meant that with a little repositioning, I could keep Loghain at a distance for an embarrassing stretch, longer than fitting for a former hero of Ferelden.

Simpler games offer a few paths to success, based on a handful of items or builds. But in DAO, you can discover not only what works, but what works for you.

Modifié par CBGB, 23 novembre 2011 - 09:48 .

[corey_russell]

Thanks CBGB. My mage who was stuck at the Loghain battle, for the sake of completion, he also got past that part with my new found skills, and beat the game on normal with him as well. So Normal is now "achieve-able" for me. I started a sword and shield warrior, with the idea of having Morrigan and Wynne learn spellls that I haven't used yet to broaden my repertoire.