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[CBGB]

Following the No-Spoiler resource for new players, First Time Playing DAO?, here are

LOW SPOILER TIPS FOR NEW PLAYERS

• You have 8 chances to increase your Inventory (Backpack) size. Each adds 10 slots, to a max of 125 (PC. 120 on consoles). The first three vendors will go away, so grab them when you can: Ostagar Quartermaster before the Wilds, Ostagar after the Wilds, Lothering angry merchant, Party Camp the 1st time, Party Camp after, the Circle Tower Quartermaster, Varathorn at the Dalish Camp, Gorim in Denerim after the Landsmeet.
• Complete the Mabari Hound quest before becoming a Grey Warden if you want a Mabari companion and don't have one.
• 1 Skill Point in Stealing for the PC opens a fun quest line in Denerim, whatever your class. 1 point in Trap Making and Poison by any party member opens minor quests in Lothering.
• Stealing is otherwise a little-used skill. Aside from a bow held by the angry merchant in Lothering, there's little worth taking. A few items later on, maybe, but nothing crucial.
• Nature resistance is common. Demons resist fire, undead are immune toCold. Spirit resistance is rare.
• If doing the Return to Ostagar DLC, do not open the Mage's Chest on your first visit to Ostagar. The Chest gets upgraded for your Return.
• The Dwarven Merchant's Belt and the Memory Band aren't worthwhile. The Archivist's Sash is.
• Save these items for Quests: Save these items for quests; 10 Deep Mushrooms, 10 Garnets, 20 Health Poultices, 10 Lyrium Potions, and 15 Venom Extracts.
• Vendors hold things you sell them . You have to pay more to repurchase (if done later), and the first three merchants (above) disappear, but the rest hold their stock, so you can always buy it back.
• Do as many quests as you can while in Lothering to maximize your money. Everything you buy at the Party Camp your first visit becomes available again the next time, so arrive with a full wallet the first time.
• Buy Health Poultices when you can. It isn't cheaper to make them.
• Potent potions and poultices aren't worth the expense of crafting them, unless selling them at a profit. For consumption, use the lesser, standard, or greater versions.
• Archery, Shapeshifting, and 2-Handed Weapon builds are hard to build and play. It's not impossible, but those Talents aren't for newcomers who don't love them.
• For Mages, be wary of the Enhancement and Anti-Magic lines, which aren't generally as strong as the others. See my spell guide for links and details.
• You don't need to use Poisons and Traps if you find them a hassle, but if you do like traps, buy metal shards whenever you can.
• Near the end of the personal quests for Leliana and Alistair, you can influence their personalities. The optional change generally makes them stronger, and it's a one-time chance.
• The Golden Mirror gift for Morrigan is worth keeping, to maximize your romance options later.
• Sandal knows more than he lets on.

Also, the order in which you complete your quests matters. The difficulty scales within a certain level range, making it optimal to go roughly like this:
Ostagar and Korcari Wilds. (Buy a backpack, twice!)
Lothering (earn money before leaving so you can buy at Bodahn's first camp. Buy a backpack!)
Stone Prisoner/Warden's Keep (optional, but with a helpful storage chest, items, and companion)
Circle Tower
Redcliffe Village and Castle
Brecilian Forest
Haven
Denerim (some get the Mage's Collective, Chantry Board, and Blackstone quests earlier than this)
Orzammar
Landsmeet
Return to Ostagar (optional and available any time, but do here for good dialog from relevant companions)
Final Battle
Awakenings (and then Golem & WH, if doing those DLC's. DSC and LS can be done anytime)

You can definitely alter this order and  enjoy the game. This is merely one good route for reference.

For an overview of class builds and strategies, see Forum Roundup: Best of the class Guides.

Modifié par CBGB, 02 décembre 2011 - 07:57 .

[Vincentiusx]

There are more than enough backpacks in the game, you don't necessarily have to buy them everywhere

[WhiteKnyght]

One your inventory hits like 120-30 slots the backpacks from the other merchants disappear anyway. That's the limit.

Getting the right achievement for Golems of Amgarrak and unlocking The Reaper's Cudgel in Origins is a good way to get some easy coin early on in future playthroughs. 339 Sovs and 50 Silvs is a very attractive price. Especially if you use it the 'right' way. ;p

[CBGB]

That's a lot of focus on backpacks, and you're both right that there are more upgrades than you need - again, 125 is the max inventory for the PC, 120 on consoles.

But those first four upgrades don't stay around, and if you miss them, you'll can end up with 15 fewer inventory slots total, and 35 fewer for much of the game. Newcomers can't go wrong if they grab the early ones.


Beyond backpacks, the other tips are worthwhile for newcomers. It can be a pain to rustle up 10 garnets, for example, if you haven't saved them. And the '1 point in Stealing for the main character' requirement for Slim Couldry is unusual, both because the line is so fun and because the other skill-requirement quests can be opened if anyone in your party has the ability.

Grey Nayr is also right about the useful loot from Golems of Amgarrak, and I originally included a link to guide about doing it before your first playthrough. But Golems is such a terrible introduction to the game - no story and punishing combat - I didn't want any newcomers to have that spoil their enjoyment of DAO. I still recommend playing Golems after DAO, if at all, but if you are the kind of player who wants to go through only once, yet maximize all your gear, then this is for you: A Brief Guide to Golems of Amgarrak with a New Character.

Even the author doesn't love starting with Golems, which have, in his words, 'the most annoying battles' in the series. But if you must do it, there's a useful resource.

Modifié par CBGB, 07 décembre 2011 - 10:18 .

[AliceTheGiraffe]

This one I just discovered today, on my 10th playthrough of the game (on the pc):
If you drag the numbers in Tactics, you can move them up and down without having to rewrite them. Wish I knew this sooner!

[chrcol]

Alice yeah I discovered that on my 4th game, having not used it for the first 3 games.

On the xbox360 you cant drag but is a way to reorder the tactics moving them up and down.

[AnImpossibleGirl]

--->That it is far too addicting, thus ruins all other games because nothing stands up to it. In a very good way of course.

[Kaldelar]

Hmm...

- Out of all healing spells, Regeneration and Heal are the best (they have the highest spell coefficient).

- While not flashy and awe-inspiring as the Primal Tree, the Spirit Tree holds one spell that is death for spell casters: Mana Clash. Getting this early makes many fights very, very easy.

- Even though YOU have no use of generic and poor-quality gear (armour, weapons, shields) that mobs drop, these do sell for money.

- Save often.

Modifié par Kaldelar, 07 mars 2012 - 07:07 .

[Bhryaen]

Having just started DA:O about a couple months ago, things I wish I'd known before starting numerous DA:O games... and fortunately now do...

- Save MAST gems for army equipment (Malachite, Amethyst, Sapphire, Topaz); don't sell those 99 mushrooms for 20 silver when you can get lots o' XP for them later
- Strip your falliable companions before losing them; (as metagamed as it is, you get more loot that way... and the cutscenes... lol)
- Chain Lightning is... a pitiful waste
- Companions can learn the skills you won't be able to (particularly poison, herbalism, trapmaking)
- Coercion is very useful, not a throw away skill as I first thought but very effective and sometimes pivotal, particularly in a dialogue-heavy game
- There are easily-installable mods to offer better hair, color, decoration options... (I discover after producing several characters that could've used them...)
- Grenades are good, especially when you have no spells (and require a point in Poison to use, only two points to make (though they're as cost-ineffective to make as health poultices))
- Opponents have plenty of HP on Hard... don't anticipate quick victories
- Running away can sometimes separate you from groups of enemies, particularly when they're only running to your general position due to scripting (metagaming ftw!)
- Firing from enough distance can usually allow you to fight one at a time (which is better than every Lothering wolf attacking at once...)
- Just like in BG, equipping everyone with a bow often is the way to win handily, particularly early on, regardless of a single point in Archery talents
- Use the Pause button... Every millisecond counts... Not sure how (if) people play this successfully in real time, particularly on Hard+
- Mages rule, warriors are mostly just helpers/ distractions until they can hit worth a damn
- Crushing Prison is great- not as effective as Mana Clash vs enemy mages, but it often does the trick and can also be used on enemy archers or any other candidates- immobilizing, damaging, and allowing you to damage while they're busy being held in spiritual damage limbo... as one discovers much later in the game when most enemy mages use the same spell on you...
- Without a rogue (or mod) you're not opening those blasted locked chests... And related, that Chantry girl from the Lothering tavern is a rogue, not a mage or *ahem* cleric (lol... learned that after having NO rogue use for half the first game... or rather having not employed her)
- You can stop at 30 Cunning if you're getting all 4 lockpickings and are primarily after chest loot- all doors/ chests now unlockable. Not sure how far you need further for maxed pickpocketing, stealth, and coercion, but it's further...
- Enemy mages are dangerous... and should be neutralized first. Then enemy archers (particularly later in the game). Those 2-handers come next...
- Enemy mages and archers know how to run away from your melee attacks. Find ways to immobilize them before trying to take them with melee or else range-attack (Fireball) them
- If you run around a corner, enemy mages and archers will come get nice and close.
- Focusing everyone on a single enemy at a time tends to kill enemies faster... Lots of hurt-but-not-dead enemies continue to hurt you, and once you're dead, those bleeding enemies all heal up just fine.
- Killing lesser enemies faster is usually better than taking lots of time killing one big bad enemy while all his friends are allowed to wail on the party unhampered.
- Enemies usually attack the first person they see and ignore the rest until later... so send in the tank first.
- The party member who makes the kill gets +2XP... (So I get greedy, thinking, "1000 enemies, 2XP each... hm..." Maybe I shouldn't have learned this...)
- Although nearly any gift will be accepted by any companion (Alistair enjoying his dog bone gift at +5), certain gifts should be reserved for particular companions
- Companions like Morrigan and Sten will get upset- really upset- if you do good things... (so...) Also, companions can be temporarily removed from the party when you're about to do good things...
- Having a good discussion with other companions when you're in a romance with one will end up costing you lots of friendliness points...
- If you're not in a romance and are friendly with Alistair, at some point he forces himself on you and then asks if that was too much... And if you say it was too much, big friendliness loss... grrr... Alistair and his ultimatums...
- Chantry Board chanters are just talking nonsense... don't bother deciphering...
- You can just pick Sten's lock open. No need to intimidate that self-righteous Chantry "mother" after all (despite doing so the first two games...)
- I have to disagree with the OP: I like pickpocketing. You can get a nice amulet from the Shaper that way, and there are some quests that can be helped along with that skill, but mostly it's a great way to accumulate free health and lyrium potions at varying qualities (neither bought, nor crafted), and of course there's the steady income and, if one uses them, trap and grenade components as well as *ahem* Shale items (which are surprisingly popular given how rare Shale is...) There are even better steals to be had when you can steal from hostile creatures apparently, but I haven't even gotten to that yet...
- What you can pickpocket from a target is typically not what you get if you kill them- i.e., it's an extra treasure past dropped loot
- Pickpocket NPCs BEFORE completing some dialogue or quest with them that makes them leave...
- It is possible to fail a pickpocket several times, but get it on the next try...
- The various build possibilities- how to add to attributes for maxed effectiveness, whether extra Magic points for my rogue, for instance, is worthwhile...
- Dwarf royalty is the poorest (gold/ items) origin story. Sell everything not needed before talking to the bro's in Trian's room since apparently they'll let you keep your coins in exile...
- Dual-wield dwarf girls... are the cutest... Jarvia the notable exception...
- Yes, save often...

The OP's general itinerary route looks about right, though there are some Orzammar and Denerim stuff worth getting earlier on, and the Brecilian Forest is essential for arcane warriors, I believe. It's not essential to complete everything or the main area quest immediately upon arrival (except for the Tower, of course...)

Modifié par Bhryaen, 07 mars 2012 - 03:39 .

[Sylvius the Mad]

I wish I'd known about the No Follower Auto-Level mod.  That way you don't need to accept BioWare's choices about what talents your companions have when you meet them.

Also, Detailed Tooltips to solve some of DAO's unfortunate lack of documentation.  And I can't find it right now, but there's a mod that does for the PC what No Follower Auto-Level does for the companions, and lets you choose that first talent rather than being stuck with Arcane Bolt.

[Sir Pounce-a-lot]

You can use the Lothering glitch to get all your characters up to 25, and you can earn as much money as you want to. In Awakenings you can get up to level 35 by using the 'basement glitch' in Vigil's Keep. After you've cleared out the basement closer to the beginning of the game, you can keep going back down, clicking on the pile of boulders blocking the path, and returning to the Keep. You get a a few thousand experience points every time you do that. To make it jive with the storyline, I think to it as gaining experience by exercising.

[Davillo]

DA:O is to be played twenty five times or more with Awakening and all DLC's.

[BelgarathMTH]

Thank you for all these great tips to everyone who wrote them out. CBGB, Faerunner, and Bhyraen appear to have spent quite a bit of time writing out some guidance for new and returning players. I'm considering a new D:AO run, and I had forgotten a lot of this stuff.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 24 mars 2012 - 06:18 .