45 réponses à ce sujet

[DarkKnightHolmes]

I knew absolutely nothing about DAO when I first played it. Only played it because the ME trilogy was over and needed my Bioware fix. The story was great, the characters were great and the plot twist (Alistair's lineage, The Grey Wardens secret and Morrigans ritual) were great. I'm shamed to admit I only got into the series in 2012.

 

However, I sucked big time the first time I played and got killed at least a 100 times. Also facing the archdemon the first time was a pain because I brought little to no potions and I wasn't used to micromanaging my companions so I got destroyed loads of times.

[Jukaga]

I was disappointed at first as I was expecting more of a Baldur's Gate style stat-heavy game but I learned to love it on it's own merits. I wish Bio would make a hardcore game again. I mean I'll play and like DAI, but games like Wasteland 2, Tides of Numeria, Shadowrun Returns and Beyond Divinity are more my cup of tea.

[Khemikael]

My first character was a female city elf. When I found my dead soon-to-be husband, Nelaros, I looted the wedding ring. I think he was supposed to give it to me so I put it on my finger and played the whole game with it. This is kinda dumb because this avoided me to wear two magic rings but I felt I owed him  this. For the same reason I didn't have any romance, it would have been like cheating.

 

I remember going to Haven with Sten. I hated this character so much! he always critised my choices and never answered my questions. When he tried to take the lead I was so happy beacause I knew it was payback time. I spanked his little arse and told him to get back in line. Right after that we became the best friend forever. He's a nice guy once he opens up.

 

And I killed Zevran because he is (was) a terrible assassin, I'm still alive.

[VikingDream]

First time I played DAO i killed that pesky elf assassin zev only later to find out he could be a play companion needless to say i started a new game like 3 or 4 times until i'd worked out how I wanted to play and romance before getting all the DLCs ect DAO was one of the only times I bought a game at full price on steam and I got way more value out of it then DA2 on pre order lol

 

DAO was and still is a ground breaking game IMHO and DA2 failed to come even close to the level of content and replay ability, I think I beat the base game with 3 wardens all different classes and races, but only ever beat all the DLC and awakening with one char whom I might add was a male tart that settled for morrigan in the end and made a half demon baby and followed her through the mirror and i'm still waiting to pick up were that finished lol.

[GrinningRogue]

This is a wall of text, but I can't help myself.

 

I decided to get Origins after I played Fable. This is around 4 years ago I think. I was looking for similar RPG and I saw it on a website and decided to get it. It looked nice enough; the style looks totally realistic compared to what I've been playing up to that point. I figured it would be nice for a change, realistic instead of cartoony. Regardless, I went in blind as always, and decided to play as female Cousland, because nobility, and play as female, wow.

 

I was used to playing harvest moon, pokemon and fire emblem and other RPG where your character is male, and if there's an option to be female, it generally wouldn't matter much and you'd more likely be losing content just because you happen to play female. Choices don't usually matter that much either. Dragon age was the first game I had to actually let me choose my path and not just play as a fixed character.

 

The first big surprise was Iona. I saw flirt options (as I remember it, no game I had played before actually has dialogue that matters, so it was new) and I took it just to mess around and see what happens, and I ended up wooing her. The game actually lets me play as a girl, and woo another girl. It felt weirdly awesome. The "play as a girl" part is awesome in its own right, but then, you can woo everyone, even be in something as otherworldly as same sex relationships (from where I come from, it is otherworldly, I didn't think it was even possible). And then, Fergus found out. Yikes. He didn't make it a big deal, except saying something that sounded like "you player, congrats on scoring another", as if you are male. Then it struck me, he's your brother, and considering how peaceful the family relationship is, he probably knows what you like, even if its (from my view that time) questionable. And yet the game treated it as normal. Much revelations for me, in just a few hours. It felt like equality. It wasn't, "if you're a guy, awesome if you can sleep with everyone, but if you are a girl, screw you for being cheap".

 

And then Iona died. Followed by everyone else. I cried. Never cried from a game before. Voice acting was great, it made the story much more believable than a wall of text. And then I saw female Knight in Ostagar. Female, in armor, just one of the soldiers like it was completely normal (didn't think its THAT common. I thought I'm just exception because I played as a noble). And no skimpy armor (leather armor was a bit awkward, with the low neck, but still better than most MMO I saw). And then everyone died, again. Even the King, who was supposed to kill Howe. I felt all kinds of emotions. Playing as Cousland was heart wrenching yet very satisfying, because killing Howe and Loghain was actually personal.

 

And then, party banter. It was nice to have followers that actually talks. Then, there's the deep roads and Hespith. I do not like horror. I didn't think it would get that dark. It was really, really tense.

 

There are a lot of things that the game openly talks about, accept as normal, and dare to question about. It was jarring, specially when my social circle didn't even discuss these things. It made me question a lot of things (I was sheltered). These are things I've never really come across in books that I read and games that I played. Dragon Age Origins effectively ruined my gaming standards. Too many firsts, I think. And emotions. And high quality. Then I went to Bioware website and found they are all about "emotionally engaging games". It ruins just about any other games that doesn't evoke the same level of emotions. Been stuck with Bioware games ever since.

 

*If anyone from Bioware is seeing this: This is all your fault. Still, thank you.

[Bhryaen]

I initially played DAO erratically, so the "first time" is not so easy to determine. The first game was with a male elf mage, but it didn't get so far because I was also way too curious about the many Origin Stories: I ended up playing through all the Origins before completing a single game (or even completing Ostagar, I believe). The final first full playthrough was with my female dwarf dual-wield dagger rogue- favorite character at the time.

 

Surprises:

 

1. Pause works. On the easiest difficulty setting I had almost decided the game was too hard for me when the Fade demon kept killing me no matter what I did... Then, oh, it plays like Baldur's Gate... Easy peasy. I was playing the hardest setting by the middle of Awakenings, continued ever since.

2. The Character Creator is tops. I still find the DAO CC to be better than any game I've ever played- even a heavily-modded Skyrim. Never used the Toolset much.

3. DAO is cool. I'd anticipated being predictably bored and disappointed given that I was an avid Baldur's Gate fan (everything else sucks!) and particularly after seeing clips of some of the voice acting that sounded like soap opera or commercial advert actors. Plus when a game is touted as the "new BG," it sounds like obnoxious hype to me. It didn't turn out to be a "new BG" in the least, but it's a great game for what the devs did with it and the voice acting turned out to be excellent, at least for the main characters. I became enthralled with the narrative, the fun gameplay, the mod options, the game environment...

4. Different origins = different games. Seemed unprecedented to me who was used to playing the same game start on replays regardless of race, class, sex, etc.

5. Humor. The banter especially surprised me. I tend to play solo in a game that has accompanying chars, avoiding NPCs (companions) whenever possible, but this game got me trying out all of them, always traveling with a group. Zev's reactions are just something else... XD

6. Finding out much too late that after getting Wade's Dragon Scale Armor you can no longer buy the best leather in the game... (*grumble*)

7. The game glitched on my first full playthrough- auto-dismissing Alistair after Landsmeet despite beheading Loghain- so I was dreading the final Archy confrontation with no one else to die but my character. I was seriously hoping Riordan would take the fall. (lol) Fortunately hasn't happened since...

8. Archy is easy. Rarely has given me difficulties in the end fight- even that first time- despite focusing more on killing the darkspawn (for XP and treasure) during the fight than on killing Archy. Still takes a while, but not so challenging. It's not really a let-down after all that miserable journey getting through the end sequence, but it's a surprise every time that my health rarely drops below half during the entire fight.

9. Companions suck at being agreeable. Seemed I could never get approval right for any of them, and I generally chose what I thought were the most reasonable responses provided (that also matched my character's tendencies). "Hey, let's save this town!" Sten and Morrigan disapprove. *rolls eyes* Later games I knew better how to manipulate them. >:-)

10. Finding out how spawnies are spawned. Very gruesome revelation. The buildup toward the revelation was also memorably and successfully unnerving... The end battle was also surprisingly easy...

11. Dwarf girls were cute. First game I'd seen with cool-looking and even sexy dwarves (or halflings or gnomes), long arms and all.

12. Elf identity was gutted. First backstory of elves I'd seen with them essentially being weak humans with pointy ears, far removed from their usual enigmatic, mystical, and even alien heritage. The elven ruins of the Dalish Origin hint at such an identity but keep humans in the equation and link to no elf in the game, not even Zathrian or the ancient disembodied one in the "Elven" Ruins you can trap forever in a stone. I'm usually an elf fan, so it wasn't a welcome surprise...

13. Cutscene arbitrary relocations. I had to learn the hard way that after the cutscene the game can place your character in the most idiotic location, forcing you to fight at a major disadvantage- such as the "caught stealing" travel encounter(s) in Denerim  where you're in maximum crossfire position and especially the end fight at the Blood Mage warehouse where you're plopped far inside the door for easy targetting.

14. Oh, yeah, and the death of Duncan and Cailan. This was actually a shock the first time I saw it. I didn't think Duncan especially was so expendable to the plot...

 

Happy moments:

 

1. Killing dragons. Even with all the graphics fails the scenes of being on a dragon's neck as it thrashes about, able to pause and look about (and take epic screenshots)... one of the best things in DAO.

2. Unlike most DAO fans I enjoyed the Fade and Deep Roads in all their length (and creativity). The happy moment though was finally emerging victorious. Also the moment when finally exitting through the main gates of Orzammar again after the DR was complete, greeted by the welcome fresh air and open skies. I did so wth Oghren, so I got the touching goodbye moment as well.

3. Acquiring Rose's Thorn at long last... Damn, that took a while...

4. Returning to Orzammar. Regardless of the brutality of the city, I was so happy to actually return there with NPC reactions reflecting my character's Origin. Similar when returning to the Alienage as a city elf in a later game. Other returns weren't as good.

5. Voice acting (for the main characters). They cast well, and the actors did a great job of setting the scene, the companions and most other major NPCs. All my Alistair-bashing tendencies aside, I thought he was funny and a great companion that first run, particularly the initial greeting. Others stand out as well- Sten's voice, Lel's actual French, Oghren's self-deprecating sorta-charm. I didn't hear Zev's humor until later games (since otherwise he's just an inferior rogue whose voice lines don't come up unless you take the time to get to know him), but that was a happy discovery.

[gnewna]

I knew that there were 'romance options' in the game, and roughly who they were (before I even knew who two of them actually were, in fact, because someone was swooning over Leiliana and Zevran on Twitter) but when I saw the approval rating system and it mentioned giving gifts to raise approval I was not expecting much. So, when my dwarf's flirtation with Alistair ended up being genuinely touching and even making me tear up a bit toward the end of the game, yeah, I was pretty blown away. Obviously the underlying mechanic is still pretty much 'insert tokens/tell them what they want to hear' but the writing and voice acting makes it work. I'm now replaying as a male city elf partly to see what Zevran's like as a LI. As well, the other companions are generally interesting and worth getting to know. I usually play Skyrim and so on with a companion, but (although I do love Jenassa if I just want an uncomplicated but cool-soundbitey NPC to make up my own dialogue with) I prefer mod-added ones which usually have a bit more character and story. It's nice to play a game that, you know, does that out of the box.

 

The very first time I played, I got fed up because I found the combat annoying, I was much more used to Bethesda type games where it's pretty much 'aim the camera at the baddy and click your mouse a lot'. I love those games, but tactical they ain't. Since then, my kid made me play the Stick of Truth, and I think that helped a lot when I decided to give DAO another go (after lots of people going on about how excited they are for DAI). I was still super impressed with the 'origins' aspect of  the game, though, I think I only actually played through the beginning for the City Elf (which is probably still my favourite beginning, although I loved my dwarf commoner and she's probably 'my canon' as it were, though I may replay her, or at least her late game, before I move on to Awakening and such). Again, much as I love Beth games, their openings are often somewhat uninspiring, at least after the first time.

 

I managed to avoid most of the major spoilers, I think. Was genuinely shocked when Duncan died. I knew what to expect at the Landsmeet because I looked up a guide as I'd realised my decisions were imported into Awakening and DA2, and I had a rough idea that my character could die at the end, but I was still quite taken aback when Riordan explained why Grey Wardens were so crucial to ending a blight. I was even a bit surprised that Alistair turned out to be Maric's son. (Which is quite ridiculous of me, looking back, not least because I'm pretty sure we'd already met Goldanna at that point, I think I assumed 'your royal father' was just her generalising about posh sorts or whatever.) 

 

Companions bantering amongst themselves. I have laughed far too hard at some of those, and had to explain to my kid what was so funny. Apparently it's not as good when I say it. 

 

Oh, and Shale. I wandered into Sulcher's Pass, wondering what it was supposed to be for, eventually made it down to Honnleath a few stages later, met Shale and was absolutely smitten. Definitely one of my favourite characters, to the extent that I've told someone today not to be too sad that they missed the free copy of DAO on Origin, because they'd have missed out on Shale. (And, yeah, Awakening is probably pretty good, I don't know, haven't played it yet, whatever...)

[Neverwinter_Knight77]

My biggest surprise was just how well done the player's dialogue choices were. In nearly every conversation, there was an option where I was like "That's exactly what I was thinking! They read my mind." I've never had a game do that before. It's like the polar opposite of Mass Effect 3 (where the choices are "unfitting choice #1" and "out of character choice #2").

Also, I was used to roleplaying in multiplayer, but never had I ever been able to do it so effectively in singleplayer before DA:O. The origin stories were so interesting to me, and the ability to customize my character on such a deep level allowed me to get inside his head and really get into character, to respond to situations as he would, instead of responding as I would.

[Kenshen]

I had the game day 1 with zero spoilers.  Started a male city elf and I really enjoyed how that played out and made me curious about the others.  There were countless cool moments but from a pure shock factor that is forever etched in my head was leading up and then seeing and then fighting Broodmother!  I just wasn't ready to see that and turned out to be a really tough fight for a low level. poorly geared, no mage healer, and very very low healing pots group.  I learned many lessons on my trip to the deep roads that first game. 

[-TC1989-]

I remember... my first real play through was playing the Ultimate Edition. If I had missed Shale, and those other things... I can say my experience would have (obviously) taken a hit. But the main game itself was truly a happy time in itself. Any game that makes me take a moment and reflect after completing it finds a place in my gaming heart. I think the one moment that sticks out for me was... after hunting Loghain the entire way, and actually finding myself adding him to the team. I was kind of mind screwed during that whole sequence, what with making the most logical decisions for Ferelden, and seeing Alistair run off.... that was a time I remember. I can name dozens more, but if I had to pick one... I would go with that.

[Arisugawa]

Think back to the very, very first time you ever played DAO. What were some of your biggest surprises and happy moments in your very first run through?

 

Some thoughts as a female human noble warrior - played the Ultimate Edition.

 

I was dismayed that I could not save my mother. I wanted to drag her kicking and screaming from Highever so that I would not be the sole Cousland survivor. I was not going to leave her there to die. As a result, I was extremely resentful of Duncan as a result for pulling me out of there against my will by conscription. I did not want to be a Grey Warden, something that would become a huge point of contention being Alistair and I later.  This was also a point of contention between Wynne and I, as she kept preaching to me about what she thought a Grey Warden was, and I did not have the option in the dialogue tree to tell her I was there against my will and didn't care what the Wardens were supposed to represent.

 

Was actually very happy that Wynne was there as a player. I loved that an elder female character was a party member, and that she was one of the more useful ones to have in the party. My noble and her may not have seen eye to eye on everything, but that was fine. I admired that she refused to sit back and let everyone else fight the Blight in her stead.

 

Butted heads with Sten about women being warriors and not knowing their place. However, I was pleasantly surprised when Sten refused to describe the Qunari, given his reasons. I loved that a character refused to be a walking Codex, and from that moment on, Sten and I got along fine. Nonetheless, I never got his approval up to where he would speak to me about his sword - that was one quest I didn't actually see my first time.

 

Killed Zevran. I had no desire to question him - the Denerim cutscene told me everything I needed to know about him from a player perspective. From an in-game perspective, my Cousland noble had no intention of speaking to any of the people that had ambushed her party. She didn't care if he was sent by Loghain or Howe, or some independents like the two ambushes in Lothering near the Imperial Highway. She had lost her patience for negotiation at that point. Even to this day, I am more likely to kill him than I am to question him.

 

Was shocked when Leliana flirted with me, given how gentle the Do you like the company of other women? What if I said I did, very much in fact? part of the conversation went. The whole romance with Leliana is still one of my favorite BioWare romances, possibly the favorite one. Even when I'm not playing my human noble, I love that she will admit to my City or Dalish elves that she was wrong and has to rethink her biases - it is rare for a character to be written with such flaws, be flustered when shown them, and then later admit they are mistaken.

 

Was ambivalent about Shale the first time.

 

Morrigan and I butted heads constantly, mostly because I felt she was always in favor of the path of least resistance as opposed to doing things properly. However, we got along well enough. The moment where she referred to my human noble as a sister was, in some ways, one of the most rewarding moments of the first playthrough for me, and later when I romanced her as a Dalish rogue it was utterly unsatisfying in comparison.

 

Put Bhelan on the throne of Orzammar. As someone nobleborn, I appreciated the fact that was engaged to a Casteless woman and most of his supporters seemed to believe he would make things better for the dwarven underclass. Had no idea that he would be so brutal, at the same time, she didn't judge him for it. Peaceful change rarely comes when a monolithic agency holds power, on that she agreed with the defeated blood mage at the Circle Tower and thus spared her as well. The same applied to her opinion of Bhelan, in her opinion Bhelan recognized that change needed to happen and was willing to pay the price for it. Whether or not he did this out of some sense of enlightment towards his people or selfish ambition she didn't know and did not have the agency to discover.

 

Killed Loghain and put Alistair on the throne without Anora. Although I didn't care about the slander of the Wardens as a group it was a slander against myself as a warrior in the king's service, and his complicity in the Howe coup of Highever after he promised it would be dealt with when I spoke with at Ostagar all added up to his death.

 

Took Morrigan's Dark Ritual without a second thought (the first time, I agonize over it endlessly on each subsequent playthrough). I never wanted to be a Warden, was resentful of the fact I was a Warden, didn't particularly appreciate the 30-year delayed death sentence and her offering me a way out of a much more immediate death wasn't anything I had to debate.

[ZeroPhoenix94]

I got teary-eyed during the Coronation and during Leliana's song. My most memorable and happiest moments.

The Deep Roads being so awesomely epic. My feelings of shock and disgust during the Broodmother reveal.

Morrigan dumping me caught me off guard.

Something that caught me by complete surprise was the massacre at Ostagar.

I totally thought Duncan and Cailen were going to be major characters through-out the game.

[conor7879]

First time I played I I helped jowan escape from the tower because I am gullible,  

romanced morrigan even though she hated just about every decision I made,

bhelen told me he didnt have anything to do with his brothers death and I believed him because again gullible

thought making loghain a warden seemed a smart choice, alistair going ape and leaving surprised me.

flemeth turning into a dragon surprised me, not gonna lie wasnt prepaired for that.

spared zevran because why not?

the broodmother was a little f'ed up but I thought the deep trenches were awesome

I thought cullen was going to be a companion, bit sad he wasn't.

[Silver Souls]

The beginning of the mage story with a damned spider coming down from the roof close to my screen, nearly made me fall of my chair with disgust and fright "shiver"

[rohanks]

Apart from my character and companions continually being felled by my poor choices with regard to combat, armour, skill development, and tactics? Selling Deep Mushrooms and Elfroot? Going YOLO on a no-potion solo against archie. I mean you do the math?

 

Hmmm, so many. One thing. I remember. I fell hard for Morrigan's character and errr attributes. Though my female character couldn't romance her. She got nowhere. I remember thinking WTF! It's Bioware? Finally gave up and looked her character profile up on the forums. She was not romanceable for a female warden. Foolishly read on. Something....something....demon child....something...leaves before final battle...something....something. I have had enough abandonment in real life, so placed her in the friend zone and skipped over to the Lolly zone. If you snooze you lose.

 

And then she sang. (sigh)

 

Another surprise I had that made me literally laugh out loud. When entering Denerim for the first time and Dog runs off and comes back with that child. Love the dialogue options there. Good times. Many surprises and good times with Origins.

[Greetsme]

I started a new game of Origins, but sadly I have played it that much, I must know every line and situation in the game, so no surprises for me.  I must have put a thousand hours into Origins.     I hope DAI is as good,

[cami46]

I started playing on 1/14/2014, several years late.  I played by the guide the first time, mainly but I look back and sigh.  Elissa was only level 17, I never ever put Sten in armor or gave him a weapon so I left him at the city leading my others and he fist fought everyone in his clothing from Lothering.  Shudder.  I cried when I left my parents to die, I cried when Duncan died.  Oh and I think I left Leliana in her chantry robe the entire game.  I kissed Alistair all the time, after every fight, even in the deep roads when I had not turned off persistent gore. 

 

I've gotten better since then, but it was the first "adult" game I had ever played.  I had only played Pokemon, Harvest Moon and The Darkest Faerie before then. 

[Lee T]

I remember a sense of urgency and fear of the opposition. I never went to Denerim before I absolutely had to because I thougt I would automaticaly get caught by Loghain's cronies. That also lead to Isolde's death as I thought I didnt't have the time to go to the chantry and back before something awful happened.

My first playthrough was with a duster and I got caugt by surprise by how his slum story got him cornered by Bhelen later on. I was a bit disapointed that all the origins were not as well integrated.

[stretchbl]

all i remember from first play through was a scene at the pearl told the mistress of the house to  "Surprise me"....i tell you was surprised waking up next morning and seeing a giant hammer at end of the  bed and when i clicked on it, it said  "not sure if you want  to remember what happened last night'....telll you had me busting my gut in surprise

[KCMeredith]

When Riordan said that the guy who kills the archdemon I was like "Aww **** I'll die at the end of this" and moments later my beloved Morrigan saved my ass. I went from "This is horrible" to "**** yeah" in two minutes