39 réponses à ce sujet

[Knight of Dane]

deuce985 wrote...

I love Dog! I really liked how he was used in DA2 where he didn't take a companion slot too. They ramped up his interactions. I'd like to see even more interactions with him! Maybe even make him a 4th companion in cinematic conversations and see him interact? Growl at people he doesn't like? Maybe urinate on them and create some humorous moments!? Who could hate the adorable mabari hound? I'd like him to find me some items like DA:O when I tell him too, then feed him a treat for a job well done.

Exactly my point, a modder made it possible in DA:O why shouldn't it be in DA3?

[Wulfram]

Why should the dog get it's own special slot? Why shouldn't I be allowed to stick whoever I want in this slot?

[Knight of Dane]

Because it's dog.

[deuce985]

Knight of Dane wrote...

Because it's dog.

This. He/she should have an entire game made for him/her.

[EpicBoot2daFace]

What other breeds are there besides the Mabari?

Modifié par EpicBoot2daFace, 25 août 2012 - 07:55 .

[Foolsfolly]

Knight of Dane wrote...

Fast Jimmy wrote...

To the OP's remark about Dog being a limited companion, I totally disagree. You could level Dog up in a way that would make him completely Beast Mode (pardon the pun). As far as warrior's go, he could do monster amounts of damage and if you pumped his Con up, he could take some serious punishment.

And I agree - having the scenes in DA:O where all the different companions interacted with Dog cracked me up. I mean... who doesn't love a dog?

Any other companion could so pretty much the same - and more. The only talent except his passives that was useful over others were overwhelm, i enjoyed that greatly though. A brilliant tactic to make Dog roam against the nearest elite or mage enemy and pin him for the first few seconds while damaging him.

But else i agree. I never though Dog was as bad as other made him out to be, at least i never felt my party missed anything if i used him instead of, say, Sten or Zevran.
The extra Dog Slot mod i went over to after going to PC helped that problem though, a full party PLUS dog, whixh is awesome.

Overwhelm and his howl were his two saving graces. That howl was fantastic at crowd control the only problem is that Blood Wound is exactly it... only you could cast it at range... and it caused spirit damage a second.

So once you get a mage with Blood Wound you've completely replaced the dog's howl with something 100 times better.

To the subject at hand... I don't know.

I only used the Dog once in a run where I promised myself I'd never replace him. He doesn't stack up well with the other companions. At all. He's fast, which helps a bit, and he's got a good early crowd control... but by the time you're done with the Mage Tower (if you stop there right after Lothering) you've really moved past the dog.

In DA2 I have the dog with me constantly. Hilariously he's not as useful as he was in DA:O . But when he dies here I'm not down a man. And I get to use all my other characters too. He's an addition to the group. Not particularly powerful but like a Bard's summoned animal sometimes it gets enough attention off your team to give you breathing room.

As for having an "optional" spot open for the dog in the team (I say "optional" because if it's there and can only be used by the dog ... why wouldn't you get a fifth team member with you?)... I don't know. I'm of the feeling that if the Dog ever becomes an actual companion again and not a summonable spell then they really need to beef up the Dog. Make it different from a warrior but strong enough that you'd sometimes want to swap out a warrior for the dog.

That's a tall order.

I wouldn't mind dialogue between companions and the dog. We got a few scenes in DA2 and a funny quest in Act 3. That was enough for me. I thought the dog was simply better handled in DA2. But if they throw more at the dogI wouldn't complain. But I feel there's nothing wrong with how they handled it in DA2.

[Knight of Dane]

Foolsfolly wrote...

Knight of Dane wrote...

Fast Jimmy wrote...

To the OP's remark about Dog being a limited companion, I totally disagree. You could level Dog up in a way that would make him completely Beast Mode (pardon the pun). As far as warrior's go, he could do monster amounts of damage and if you pumped his Con up, he could take some serious punishment.

And I agree - having the scenes in DA:O where all the different companions interacted with Dog cracked me up. I mean... who doesn't love a dog?

Any other companion could so pretty much the same - and more. The only talent except his passives that was useful over others were overwhelm, i enjoyed that greatly though. A brilliant tactic to make Dog roam against the nearest elite or mage enemy and pin him for the first few seconds while damaging him.

But else i agree. I never though Dog was as bad as other made him out to be, at least i never felt my party missed anything if i used him instead of, say, Sten or Zevran.
The extra Dog Slot mod i went over to after going to PC helped that problem though, a full party PLUS dog, whixh is awesome.

Overwhelm and his howl were his two saving graces. That howl was fantastic at crowd control the only problem is that Blood Wound is exactly it... only you could cast it at range... and it caused spirit damage a second.

So once you get a mage with Blood Wound you've completely replaced the dog's howl with something 100 times better.

- and -

I wouldn't mind dialogue between companions and the dog. We got a few scenes in DA2 and a funny quest in Act 3. That was enough for me. I thought the dog was simply better handled in DA2. But if they throw more at the dogI wouldn't complain. But I feel there's nothing wrong with how they handled it in DA2.

Mind blast does pretty much the same in Origins too, and that first talent in the champion tree knocks them down almost as long as howl stuns them, once it's upgraded.

- and -

Well, in DA2 he's a DLC so he might not be there at all, if he has to be that again in DA3 I'll gladly py the extra bucks for him. I didn't really dislike what they did in DA2 either, i just never felt it was sufficient. We danes have a saying, i don't know if others know it too, but we say that "if you should do something, then do it right," and yes, i know that could pretty much be said for the majority of DA2, but i still always felt like the dog in combat was a whole 'nother dog than the one at home in the mantion.
I missed the encounters where he would growl at enemies like Kitty or Sophia Dryden, or interact with encounters like Zathrian and the werewolf-plagued Dalish.
I also missed that we didn't have a story. The warden either had him since childhood as a human noble, helped him in Ostagar or encountered him there once you went back for Maric's Blade. In DA2 he's just there with a few mentions from Bethany and Carver that seem to imply that he was imprinted to you shortly after Malcom's passing.

I guess what I mostly want is for dog to be something and not just be..

[wright1978]

BatmanPWNS wrote...

I want giant cat!

It would be nice to have something like that instead this time round.

[Emzamination]

I don't know if I agree... The only reason I let dog travel in my active party was out a sense of fairness which had the downside of me missing out some pretty good party banter between my other companions.I think dog either needs to remain a summons pet or as the op pointed out, have his own special slot.

[thats1evildude]

I kind of missed having Dog interject in certain convos. He didn't do a lot of it in DAO, but he had a few scenes where he either growled at someone, barked or (in one case) howled mournfully.

[Foolsfolly]

If the dog were to become a companion and an actual member of the party....

He needs to be a unique warrior type. And I think I know what role he'd play.

Apparently, and I'm not a canine expert here, dogs in combat or police situations are used entirely because it makes the enemy panic. It makes sense charging dogs biting and tearing at you really set off a primal part of your brain.

So the dog here in this theoretical game would be fast (obviously attack dogs are fast) in its running speed and it's DPS. It may not ever compare with damage per hit like a two-handed warrior but that's not the point.

I'd also throw in some passives and maybe an aura that allows it to debuff enemies. Put the fear of Dog in them that lowers their defense or perhaps armor. Throw in all the old direct damage abilities and maybe a few more. But the thing here is it's a DPS warrior with many debuffs. Making it very very attractive in any team loadout.

Of course it won't have as many abilities as a human/dwarf/elf/qunari companion would. I mean why make all the myriad of new Dog specific skill trees? But perhaps two trees wouldn't be impossible. One that focuses on debuffs and low crowd control (growls, barks, howls that cause fear and panicking perhaps? Or maybe bring back Dread Howl but shrink its area of effect because Dread Howl had a MASSIVE area of effect in Origins) and one that focused entirely on direct damage.

The direct damage abilities like Overwhelm in Origins would excel at hampering single targets. Abilities that grapple with enemies. And one big hit ability of course.

Then to compensate for the lack of abilities the Dog gets 5 attribute points each level instead of 3. (It also makes up a bit for the fact that there's no armor and weapons for Dogs. Unless they go the war paint route again... I think I'd rather have some leather or chain mail mabari armor). And then once every 2 levels you get an ability point to invest until you hit whatever level you max out the Dog's abilities with.

Modifié par Foolsfolly, 26 août 2012 - 06:57 .

[TEWR]

Pasquale1234 wrote...

Do Orlesians have dogs?

I've had the impression that dogs are largely a Fereldan thing.

Orlesians use Mabari in MotA. It really puzzled me how they could berate Ferelden for having Mabari and being close to them, and then go off and use them. It was hypocritical.

Then I remembered it was Orlais, so eh.

Though Hawke makes reference to basset hounds in MotA, so I assume they exist. And Leliana talks about her own experience with a dog, while the Ash Warriors ridicule the tiny dogs that old women keep.

Still, I'd like to see other dogs in DA, if for no other reason then variety. Saint Bernards, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Siberian Huskies, German Shepherds, poodles, etc.

Under different names for some of them of course, but still.

Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 26 août 2012 - 07:07 .

[Knight of Dane]

There is also the small dog wandering about Denerim and Amaranthine in DA:O

[Arthur Cousland]

Foolsfolly wrote...

If the dog were to become a companion and an actual member of the party....

He needs to be a unique warrior type. And I think I know what role he'd play.

Apparently, and I'm not a canine expert here, dogs in combat or police situations are used entirely because it makes the enemy panic. It makes sense charging dogs biting and tearing at you really set off a primal part of your brain.

So the dog here in this theoretical game would be fast (obviously attack dogs are fast) in its running speed and it's DPS. It may not ever compare with damage per hit like a two-handed warrior but that's not the point.

I'd also throw in some passives and maybe an aura that allows it to debuff enemies. Put the fear of Dog in them that lowers their defense or perhaps armor. Throw in all the old direct damage abilities and maybe a few more. But the thing here is it's a DPS warrior with many debuffs. Making it very very attractive in any team loadout.

Of course it won't have as many abilities as a human/dwarf/elf/qunari companion would. I mean why make all the myriad of new Dog specific skill trees? But perhaps two trees wouldn't be impossible. One that focuses on debuffs and low crowd control (growls, barks, howls that cause fear and panicking perhaps? Or maybe bring back Dread Howl but shrink its area of effect because Dread Howl had a MASSIVE area of effect in Origins) and one that focused entirely on direct damage.

The direct damage abilities like Overwhelm in Origins would excel at hampering single targets. Abilities that grapple with enemies. And one big hit ability of course.

Then to compensate for the lack of abilities the Dog gets 5 attribute points each level instead of 3. (It also makes up a bit for the fact that there's no armor and weapons for Dogs. Unless they go the war paint route again... I think I'd rather have some leather or chain mail mabari armor). And then once every 2 levels you get an ability point to invest until you hit whatever level you max out the Dog's abilities with.

Good points.  If the mabari is to be a full companion like in Origins, then I'd like for there to be better reasons to use them over the other warriors, who can use ranged weapons and equip armor.  I also like the debuff ideas.  Some kind of growl that works like the reaver's frightening apperance (Origins) would be nice.

The biggest issue for me is the lack of ranged options for the mabari.  In Origins, when fighting the dragons, anyone in melee range took a lot of aoe damage.  If the mabari isn't going to gain the ability to use bows or cast magic, then make them somehow be able to dodge the aoe sweeps of dragons and similar enemies, or at least reduce the damage taken so they aren't a drain on the healer mage's mana.

[Knight of Dane]

On the upside: The Dragons can't *grab* dog

Modifié par Knight of Dane, 26 août 2012 - 03:05 .