I am buy the game at lunch and then spending the next 3 days playing it like mad.
I am very paranoid when starting a game like this. Paranoid that I am going to screw up off the bat, play for 10 hours and realize I screwed up, and then start over to fix even 1 little "mistake" I made.
I am looking to play as a mage. A caster.
So any advice or tips for someone who is about to start and can be a little mental when it comes to his RPGs?
Early decisions as far as race, build, spells, etc.?
Sorry to add to the stack of annoying topics.
And thanks in advance.
I really hate to be this guy...BUT...any tips for a DA:O newb?
Débuté par
PapaJupe13
, févr. 10 2010 05:17
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#3
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:27
mousestalker
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Race doesn't matter much. For mages, gender changes a few minor things.
Good general tips:
Talk to everyone you possibly can.
Raise your Cunning stat high early. (To at least 20).
Coercion matters more than you might think.
Explore.
When you get companions, talk to them. Even if they do or do not say much at the beginning, revisit them from time to time.
The game runs more smoothly if one of your companions is a rogue. Rogues play well with high Cunning and good skills at opening locks. This is especially true if you have any tendencies to being OCD.
The more mages in your party the better.
Fighters can be handy to have as well.
NPC's will lie to you. Especially dwarven merchants. Don't believe everything you are told.
Loot everything. Several merchants sell backpacks. They can be good things to buy if you don't want to be constantly traveling back and forth to market.
Good general tips:
Talk to everyone you possibly can.
Raise your Cunning stat high early. (To at least 20).
Coercion matters more than you might think.
Explore.
When you get companions, talk to them. Even if they do or do not say much at the beginning, revisit them from time to time.
The game runs more smoothly if one of your companions is a rogue. Rogues play well with high Cunning and good skills at opening locks. This is especially true if you have any tendencies to being OCD.
The more mages in your party the better.
Fighters can be handy to have as well.
NPC's will lie to you. Especially dwarven merchants. Don't believe everything you are told.
Loot everything. Several merchants sell backpacks. They can be good things to buy if you don't want to be constantly traveling back and forth to market.
Modifié par mousestalker, 10 février 2010 - 05:28 .
#4
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:31
Sandtigress
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Best advice? Lots of save points. :-P That way you can go back and "fix" what you want without having to redo the whole game.
The other tip I would offer is talk to everyone, if you want to RP it properly, pick the choices your character would make and stick to it, and enjoy the story. You can always save before talking to someone if you want to play with conversation choices, because let's face it, you can have some pretty hilarious/awful/insightful conversations with a lot of people depending on what you choose.
For me, now, after 5 run throughs, I come into the game with a set of traits about my character that I try to stick to. My Dalish thinks a lot about conversations and isn't afraid to try alternate methods of getting the job done, she's got a good heart and wants to help people, and duty and honor are very important to her. My human noble is a white knight, concerned with justice and right and helping those less fortunate than her. My commoner dwarf sees her salvation from a life of misery in the Grey Wardens and so takes the "whatever it takes" attitude of the Wardens seriously. She's also from a rough and tumble background so she's more used to intimidating her way through than playing nice. A quick characterization like that will help you make dialog and behavior choices.
Last, don't be afraid to miss things - this is the kind of game most of us play multiple times, and its different every time. I've done it five times and this origin twice, and I'm still doing things differently and finding new things, even though I'm playing it from the perspective of the same character.
The other tip I would offer is talk to everyone, if you want to RP it properly, pick the choices your character would make and stick to it, and enjoy the story. You can always save before talking to someone if you want to play with conversation choices, because let's face it, you can have some pretty hilarious/awful/insightful conversations with a lot of people depending on what you choose.
For me, now, after 5 run throughs, I come into the game with a set of traits about my character that I try to stick to. My Dalish thinks a lot about conversations and isn't afraid to try alternate methods of getting the job done, she's got a good heart and wants to help people, and duty and honor are very important to her. My human noble is a white knight, concerned with justice and right and helping those less fortunate than her. My commoner dwarf sees her salvation from a life of misery in the Grey Wardens and so takes the "whatever it takes" attitude of the Wardens seriously. She's also from a rough and tumble background so she's more used to intimidating her way through than playing nice. A quick characterization like that will help you make dialog and behavior choices.
Last, don't be afraid to miss things - this is the kind of game most of us play multiple times, and its different every time. I've done it five times and this origin twice, and I'm still doing things differently and finding new things, even though I'm playing it from the perspective of the same character.
#5
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:32
Baalzie
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And folks remember to not add spoilers into it when You answer...
Since this is a no-spoiler area
*warning before anyone does it is smarter than complaining afterwards* ^^
Purely statwise, Elves have + in magic compared to humans and dwarves...
Otherwise You can't really "pick the wrong race" etc... And one point or 2 in magic/Spellpower makes very little difference dps wise or healing wise...
Racechoices are more important for roleplayingreasons... People WILL treat You totally different from time to time depending on race... Kinda' nice to see in a rpg ^^
And if You are after dps and ease to play, as a mage You want to go for the elemental tree of spells...
Aka the "Primal" tree...
Gives early and good crowdcontrol and aoe damage spells... *High dps aswell as aoe*
If You have 2 Primal mages You hardly need the rest of the group often...
But it sometimes get TOO easy that way, I usually try the other trees nowadays, *my 4:th mage coming up for final battle, but I have played 16 playthroughs already
*
In the end, it's YOUR character who YOU have to enjoy, noone else can really tell You what You will enjoy most... ^^
Since this is a no-spoiler area
*warning before anyone does it is smarter than complaining afterwards* ^^
Purely statwise, Elves have + in magic compared to humans and dwarves...
Otherwise You can't really "pick the wrong race" etc... And one point or 2 in magic/Spellpower makes very little difference dps wise or healing wise...
Racechoices are more important for roleplayingreasons... People WILL treat You totally different from time to time depending on race... Kinda' nice to see in a rpg ^^
And if You are after dps and ease to play, as a mage You want to go for the elemental tree of spells...
Aka the "Primal" tree...
Gives early and good crowdcontrol and aoe damage spells... *High dps aswell as aoe*
If You have 2 Primal mages You hardly need the rest of the group often...
But it sometimes get TOO easy that way, I usually try the other trees nowadays, *my 4:th mage coming up for final battle, but I have played 16 playthroughs already
*In the end, it's YOUR character who YOU have to enjoy, noone else can really tell You what You will enjoy most... ^^
#6
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:36
PapaJupe13
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Great advice. Thanks.
And I will be playing on the 360. Should have said that in first post.
And I will be playing on the 360. Should have said that in first post.
#7
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:45
Thourton
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First, accept that you will indeed make a mistake and want to start over. It may be something as simple as not liking your character's nose.
Second, decide what kind of spells you want to use. You mentioned caster so I'm assuming you'll want to stay away from Arcane Warrior and Shapeshifter (these are melee-based specializations). Primal is the best damage tree and Creation is the best support tree (healing, crowd control and buffs). Force Field, from the Spirit tree, is kind of a must (it's just a very strong, very handy spell). The first Healing spell is sort of a must as well, even if you go full damage.
Third, decide what kind of character you want to play: good, evil, mirror of yourself, etc. Even if you don't roleplay, you still need to have an idea of how your character will respond to certain situations (do you want ultimate power? true love? yada yada yada). This will also affect the race you choose -- and maybe even the specializations (like my mage was a good guy so I didn't take the Blood Magic specialization because it's a taboo magic in the game). Race-wise, Elves are the oppressed and abused race; dwarves are entrenched in tradition and deception; and humans sort run everything above ground but are corrupt with greed and power. If you're just interested in stats, Elves make the best mages and Dwarves cannot be mages (so automatically you can mark off the Dwarves).
Stat-wise, Magic is #1 -- it determines spell potency, and Willpower is #2 -- it increases your mana pool. You may want to put a few points in Constitution for more health, but it's not necessary -- in fact, many people recommend just dumping all your points into Magic.
Also, check out this excellent guide that shows potential builds for all the classes (mage is at the bottom).
Second, decide what kind of spells you want to use. You mentioned caster so I'm assuming you'll want to stay away from Arcane Warrior and Shapeshifter (these are melee-based specializations). Primal is the best damage tree and Creation is the best support tree (healing, crowd control and buffs). Force Field, from the Spirit tree, is kind of a must (it's just a very strong, very handy spell). The first Healing spell is sort of a must as well, even if you go full damage.
Third, decide what kind of character you want to play: good, evil, mirror of yourself, etc. Even if you don't roleplay, you still need to have an idea of how your character will respond to certain situations (do you want ultimate power? true love? yada yada yada). This will also affect the race you choose -- and maybe even the specializations (like my mage was a good guy so I didn't take the Blood Magic specialization because it's a taboo magic in the game). Race-wise, Elves are the oppressed and abused race; dwarves are entrenched in tradition and deception; and humans sort run everything above ground but are corrupt with greed and power. If you're just interested in stats, Elves make the best mages and Dwarves cannot be mages (so automatically you can mark off the Dwarves).
Stat-wise, Magic is #1 -- it determines spell potency, and Willpower is #2 -- it increases your mana pool. You may want to put a few points in Constitution for more health, but it's not necessary -- in fact, many people recommend just dumping all your points into Magic.
Also, check out this excellent guide that shows potential builds for all the classes (mage is at the bottom).
#8
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:54
Darkemorrow
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Have you looked at the mage specializations by any chance? The first thing you need to ask yourself is, what type of mage do you want to play? A melee mage, or a more traditional caster? Do you want to heal, or do you want to focus solely on damage and control?
There are a couple general tips I can give you off the bat.
1) There are only two races that can be mages, humans and elves. Humans get a bonus +1 strength, +1 dexterity, +1 magic, and +1 cunning. Elves get a bonus +2 willpower and +2 magic. This makes elves slightly better mages, though if you want to make a human for aesthetic or story reasons you shouldn't let this stop you.
2) Any mage, regardless of build or specialization, is going to have magic be their primary stat focus, so you can't go wrong putting your points there to begin with. Likewise, there is really no build of mage whatsoever that uses strength (Arcane Warrior uses magic to replace strength) so don't put any points into that whatsoever. And any build of mage is only going to want to get 16 cunning, just enough to meet skill requirements. You shouldn't actually need to spend point into cunning in order to acquire this, as I will explain below.
As for the other stats, you may want a bit of dexterity if you want to go Arcane Warrior, just for the attack and defense boost. But not too much! You already get a lot of attack and defense from Combat Magic. Mostly, however, your main stat choices as a mage are going to be between magic, willpower, and constitution. There are a lot of opinions on how to spread points between these three. As a said before, magic is your main focus first and foremost - in fact some people put points into nothing else. If you want to be a healer, you may wish to put a little bit into willpower for some extra mana, and if you want to be a Blood Mage you may wish to put extra points into constitution for more hit points. Again, I would recommend starting with magic until you figure out exactly what you want - you can't go wrong with magic on a mage!
3) I won't spoil where or how, but there is a point in the game in which you can find free stat boosts. You get a total of +4 strength, +4 dexterity, +4 willpower, +2 magic, +5 cunning, and +2 constitution (assuming you find them all). Take this into account when planning your stat points. That +5 cunning should be enough to get your cunning to 16 total, so don't spend points in cunning otherwise.
4) Its hard to give a comprehensive list of spells since there are so many different ways to build a mage. However, I can point out a few you may want to look at. The last line of the Spirit school (the one that starts with mind Blast and ends with Crushing Prison) has some of the best spells in the game. The Glyph line from the Creation school is deceptively powerful, and often overlooked by new players. The same is true of the Hex line from Entropy. And Cone of Cold from Primal is extremely useful due to the freeze and shatter effects. And if you want to be a healer, the healing spells are, of course, very useful as well. Be sure to look up Spell Combinations as well as base spells when deciding what you want.
5) One tip I have in general for all new players - USE THE TAB KEY. Hitting TAB will highlight interactable objects, which sometimes have no other indication that they exist. Hit TAB any time you enter a room to see if there is anything there. Most people end up missing a ton of stuff their first playthroughs because they don't know about this.
There are a couple general tips I can give you off the bat.
1) There are only two races that can be mages, humans and elves. Humans get a bonus +1 strength, +1 dexterity, +1 magic, and +1 cunning. Elves get a bonus +2 willpower and +2 magic. This makes elves slightly better mages, though if you want to make a human for aesthetic or story reasons you shouldn't let this stop you.
2) Any mage, regardless of build or specialization, is going to have magic be their primary stat focus, so you can't go wrong putting your points there to begin with. Likewise, there is really no build of mage whatsoever that uses strength (Arcane Warrior uses magic to replace strength) so don't put any points into that whatsoever. And any build of mage is only going to want to get 16 cunning, just enough to meet skill requirements. You shouldn't actually need to spend point into cunning in order to acquire this, as I will explain below.
As for the other stats, you may want a bit of dexterity if you want to go Arcane Warrior, just for the attack and defense boost. But not too much! You already get a lot of attack and defense from Combat Magic. Mostly, however, your main stat choices as a mage are going to be between magic, willpower, and constitution. There are a lot of opinions on how to spread points between these three. As a said before, magic is your main focus first and foremost - in fact some people put points into nothing else. If you want to be a healer, you may wish to put a little bit into willpower for some extra mana, and if you want to be a Blood Mage you may wish to put extra points into constitution for more hit points. Again, I would recommend starting with magic until you figure out exactly what you want - you can't go wrong with magic on a mage!
3) I won't spoil where or how, but there is a point in the game in which you can find free stat boosts. You get a total of +4 strength, +4 dexterity, +4 willpower, +2 magic, +5 cunning, and +2 constitution (assuming you find them all). Take this into account when planning your stat points. That +5 cunning should be enough to get your cunning to 16 total, so don't spend points in cunning otherwise.
4) Its hard to give a comprehensive list of spells since there are so many different ways to build a mage. However, I can point out a few you may want to look at. The last line of the Spirit school (the one that starts with mind Blast and ends with Crushing Prison) has some of the best spells in the game. The Glyph line from the Creation school is deceptively powerful, and often overlooked by new players. The same is true of the Hex line from Entropy. And Cone of Cold from Primal is extremely useful due to the freeze and shatter effects. And if you want to be a healer, the healing spells are, of course, very useful as well. Be sure to look up Spell Combinations as well as base spells when deciding what you want.
5) One tip I have in general for all new players - USE THE TAB KEY. Hitting TAB will highlight interactable objects, which sometimes have no other indication that they exist. Hit TAB any time you enter a room to see if there is anything there. Most people end up missing a ton of stuff their first playthroughs because they don't know about this.
#9
Guest_distinguetraces_*
Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:54
Guest_distinguetraces_*
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I'm OCD about RPGs too, but my advice this time out is ... don't stress. The game is called "Origins" for a reason -- it's designed to reward replays with different backgrounds, choices, and classes. Since you'll certainly be restarting, your first playthrough really doesn't have to be the "perfect" game you're thinking of.
#10
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Posté 10 février 2010 - 05:54
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double post for emphasis!
Modifié par distinguetraces, 10 février 2010 - 05:55 .
#11
Posté 10 février 2010 - 06:01
bussinrounds
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Only have 1 offensive mage in your party otherwise it's too easy.
#12
Posté 10 février 2010 - 06:23
Guardian4379
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After you make a decision in a side quest, you cant change your mind very often, if at all. THink out your actions, and seeing as you WILL mess up OFTEN in this game, save save save.
#13
Posté 10 février 2010 - 06:48
NetBeansAndJava
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Honestly, you can't exactly screw up beyond repair in this game... unless you do something like spend all your stat points in an attribute that you don't need. As a mage, if you're playing on normal, don't bother w/ str, dex, and con. During your first playthrough, you won't likely have access to arcane warrior, so dex and con won't be very useful. Also, on normal, the game is forgiving enough that adding nothing to con is fine.
One thing I must insist that you do is to unlock as many specializations as you can during your first playthrough. That way, you'll have much more fun during any subsequent playthroughs, as you'll be able to specialize early on. You see, unlocked specializations remain unlocked across all characters, even ones that were already started.
One thing I must insist that you do is to unlock as many specializations as you can during your first playthrough. That way, you'll have much more fun during any subsequent playthroughs, as you'll be able to specialize early on. You see, unlocked specializations remain unlocked across all characters, even ones that were already started.
#14
Posté 10 février 2010 - 06:58
PapaJupe13
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Wow. I really apprciate all the info.
I just picked up the game...but now I gotta wait until I get off work.
UGH!
I just picked up the game...but now I gotta wait until I get off work.
UGH!
#15
Posté 10 février 2010 - 09:08
aries1001
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Remember that the game is called Origins for a reason. You have to select from one of six different origins. You can play as a human mage, a dalish elf mage or a city elf mage. (check the codex for info on this). You then get access to the origins stories....if you check the spoiler forum, there's bound to be more info on thise origins which are more deeper than I'm giving you here.
Please remember that this game in an rpg, this means, as others have said: Talk to everyone. Use coercion skill to persuade or threaten your way through. As a mage you should get your coercion up a bit, before starting the game - in the character creation process, I mean.
For strategies in battle, see the gameplay forums. But here's some general tips and tricks.
Play on easy mode first, just to get used to the game...and to learn how to use the controls and such. Get a tank, a guy that takes damage, a damage dealer (both warriors), then get a rogue (for lockpicking and unlocking of traps). As a mage, have your character stay back. And let the others do the hard work --- then after they've done this, shatter your enemies with your ice/frost spells.
(remember that in DA: Origins spells can be combined). And have your rogue hit enemies eith arrows. And get herbalism early on in the game asd this will help you make healing potions (or poultices as they're called in this game.
And lastly, have fun and enjoy the story unfolding...
Please remember that this game in an rpg, this means, as others have said: Talk to everyone. Use coercion skill to persuade or threaten your way through. As a mage you should get your coercion up a bit, before starting the game - in the character creation process, I mean.
For strategies in battle, see the gameplay forums. But here's some general tips and tricks.
Play on easy mode first, just to get used to the game...and to learn how to use the controls and such. Get a tank, a guy that takes damage, a damage dealer (both warriors), then get a rogue (for lockpicking and unlocking of traps). As a mage, have your character stay back. And let the others do the hard work
--- then after they've done this, shatter your enemies with your ice/frost spells.(remember that in DA: Origins spells can be combined). And have your rogue hit enemies eith arrows. And get herbalism early on in the game asd this will help you make healing potions (or poultices as they're called in this game.
And lastly, have fun and enjoy the story unfolding...
#16
Posté 10 février 2010 - 10:04
macrocarl
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In addition to everything everyone said, go into your options and make it so your action wheel thing stays open when you use the left trigger. You can see text hovering over objects and people to interact with which helps with searching. Also, when in fights, make sure pause a lot to heal your companions.
I travel around the entire map so there are no undiscovered areas. Also try and read codexes when you pck them up. They flesh out some back story and a lot of times they give helpful hintts to unlock secrets!
Early on you'll start to get an idea how to speak to each companion. Always save before entering a conversation with a romance option. There's some tricky twists and turns and you might want to redo some of them if you mess up.
And hey, if you take your time and a couple of things don't work out, don't sweat it! There's plenty to do and lots of time to comb over anything you 'messed' up. Have fun, the game is a blast!
I travel around the entire map so there are no undiscovered areas. Also try and read codexes when you pck them up. They flesh out some back story and a lot of times they give helpful hintts to unlock secrets!
Early on you'll start to get an idea how to speak to each companion. Always save before entering a conversation with a romance option. There's some tricky twists and turns and you might want to redo some of them if you mess up.
And hey, if you take your time and a couple of things don't work out, don't sweat it! There's plenty to do and lots of time to comb over anything you 'messed' up. Have fun, the game is a blast!
#17
Posté 10 février 2010 - 10:09
Ibby1kanobi
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If you're going to play a caster, do an Arcane Mage build when the option becomes avaliable. They are completely overpowered and you get the best of both worlds (heavy casting and heavy armor/melee damage).
Talk to everyone and loot everything.
Finally: Save before embarking on a major mission and don't override it till you're done with that section, just to be safe. However, save often during the mission in other spots, so you don't have to reload from the beginning for something you screwed up near the end.
Have fun!
Talk to everyone and loot everything.
Finally: Save before embarking on a major mission and don't override it till you're done with that section, just to be safe. However, save often during the mission in other spots, so you don't have to reload from the beginning for something you screwed up near the end.
Have fun!
