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[Ferretinabun]

Oh, what the Hell. Go on then, I'll give it a whizz through.

Name: Auren Amell
class: Mage
Race: Elf
Difficulty: Nightmare
DLC: All of them except Feastday Gifts & Pranks

Added rules: When a companion falls in battle, they are dead. I will disable their tactics and get rid of them at the earliest opportunity, then tell them to leave when I next get back to camp (but in the game, they died). The exception being Wynne who may survive because of her condition, and anyone brought back to life mid-battle through Revive. This rule will only take effect from the Tower of Ishall onwards.

Let's see how this goes.

For Ferelden...

[DWSmiley]

That's more hardcore than I'm feeling up to. It's exciting enough for me trying to avoid having my warden fall. Morrigan, in particular, I find impossible to avoid several injuries with. Good luck!

[Ferretinabun]

Diary of Auren

Entry 1

I can't believe I passed my harrowing! When that dishy Cullen came to wake me in the middle of the night I thought all my Christmasses had come at once. But no, turns out he was just dragging me away for my Harrowing. Bugger.

Still, the Harrowing was a piece of cake. I know how to Heal myself and to cast a Winter's Blast, so nothing really came close to doing me harm. And now I'm a fully qualified mage. Hurrah. I wonder if this means I can get some spotty apprentice to do my chores for me?

Apparently not. Some senior mage wanted me to clear out the caves of spiders. Wondered briefly where the caves came from when we're halfway up a tower in the middle of a lake, but that's magic for you. And boy am I glad I went in there - I found items to make your eyes pop out. Sadly the only things I could equip myself were some fabulous robes, a belt and a necklace, but I'll take the rest too - just on the off-chance I find myself leading a troup of ill-equipped adventurers sometime soon. Always be prepared.

Saw Cullen in the hallway looking all dashing in his armour. I wonder if anyone's worked out I'm the one who's been doodling his name in the margins of half the books in the library?

Then Jowan pulled me aside, introduced me to his skanky ho and told me they wanted to escape the Circle and live together, free to love each other forever - so I went straight to the First Enchanter to dob them in! If I can't hook up with Cullen, then you're not going to get any either, matey! Turns out First Enchanter wants me to go along with it to catch 'em in the act. He did a bit of evil chuckling too. Am a bit scared of First Enchanter.

So off we trot to the Repository and soon we're fighting our way through. Jowan's got a great spell that makes your weapons actually burn! So I gave Lily a dagger and mace and watched her wade into battle in her chantry gown looking like a demonic harpy. Endless fun.

But turns out Jowan was a blood mage after all. Come to think of it, he does look pretty damn anemic all the time. I thought he just needed more iron. And when Gregor wanted to string me up for no reason at all First Enchanter decided to pack me off to the Grey Wardens forever! Nooo! How am I ever going to end up with my adorable, blond, broad-shoulder, socially awkward Templar if they send me away...?

Entry 2

What joy, what bliss! Have arrived at Ostagar and met Cullen's clone. Seriously, I'm going to ask him if he's got a secret brother or something.

Went to talk to a rude quatermater who thought I was a servant, and it turns out one of the weapons I've been lugging around is worth enough money to buy Orlais. And by pure chance he just happened to have a chuffing arse-load of cash on him. So that's my retirement sorted. Score.

So then I had to go out into the wilds with the other grey warden and fight darkspawn. Gave Cullen - I mean Alistair - some spiffy armour too. There was a hairy moment when an emissary was chucking fireballs around, but basically we managed to steamroller the whole thing.

Slightly concerned my spiffy equipment has kinda taken the challenge out of life. Still, let's give it a bit longer.

Sounds like I'm off on some sort of secret mission with Cullen - I mean Alistair. Sounds ominous...

[Ferretinabun]

Well that's embarrassing. Didn't even make it through the Tower of Ishall. The trap in the very first room was enough to kill me, despite my healing spells. A silly mistake, perhaps.

In any case, I was torn about my use of DLC items. They do make the early game pretty damn easy. On the other hand, I was on nightmare with the Fallen Companions Stay Dead rule, so I reasoned I was ratcheting up the difficulty for myself to compensate.

[DWSmiley]

Was it the archers or the fireball? The type of playthrough I've wasted a truly outrageous amount of time on is solo no reload with all the DLC goodies. A dw warrior finally made it and a couple of dw rogues got as far as the final battle. I've tried a mage, too. With rock armor and the DLC belt and robe it could happen but it's even less margin for error. An archer would be impossible.

[Ferretinabun]

It was the fireball. It knocked me down but I was still burning. I tried to cast Drain Life to restore some health, but there just wasn't time. Although having said that, there was a hurlock archer there too, and I think he might have chipped me down to about 80% health before I even stumbled into the damn trap.

But despite this I'm still convinced a mage is the easiest way to making it through a No Reload challenge. A basic Spirit Healer build shouldn't really have too much trouble staying alive - and even keeping compaions on their feet too (silly mistakes notwithstanding).

As I said, I am in two minds as to whether DLC goodies are just cheating. They certainly do give a tremendous advantage - especially in the early levels which are the most dangerous portion of the game. On the other hand, wading through enemies did make a nice change from the painfully slow trudge of the nightmare solo I've also got on the go.

I really don't think I've got the guts for a nightmare solo no reload run, DLC equipment or not. If I'd made it all the way to the final battle and fallen, I'd be having a temper tantrum of Biblical proportions.

[Melchom]

OK here we go

Race: Elf
class: Rogue
Origin: Dalish
Difficulty: Hard

Decided to go with a Dual Wield build. Stat-wise I started with Str & Dex of 16 after using the Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes. Talents chosen were Dual Wield Training and Dual Weapon Sweep.

Ran through the Dalish dungeon crawls quickly. Never noticed before how good Merrills robes were so promptly ensure they were donated to the Grey Warden cause before leaving the caves Remembering to save a bow for Alister I sold the excess equipment then agreed to join Duncan and leave the clan. I also tend to keep a spare set of Dalish armour for Leli assuming I make it that far.

Levels 2 & 3 gave me Dual Weapon Finese and Flurry - ever closer to Momentum. I've decided to focus on combat feats first then stealth and then locks/traps.

Reaching Ostagar I met my fellow victims/recruits and headed out into the wilds after purchasing the obligatory backpack. Never gets cheaper than this and it really helps take some of the annoyance out of inventory management.

Entering the wilds I made sure the party used their bows as much as possible to pick off the darkspawn before they got too close. Fairly standard run except the Emissary managed to fall through the bridge (!?) which is something that never happened to me before. So after killing the remaining ambushers I had to kill him by allowing the other party members to cross the bridge and autoattack him with a special attack as you couldn't target him directly. Luckily he couldn't fireball us from where he was so it was more tedious then dangerous.

At level four I picked Momemtum which makes a big difference and feels like something of a milestone.

Gazarath was next to feel our wrath and fell to our blades without causing any casualties. After mopping up the remaining Darkspawn I make it to level 5 and add two more talents - Combat Movement and Stealth.

When retrieving Rigby's box I decide to just keep what's inside.. the fool brought it on himself bringing his human religion into the wilds where it was unwanted.. At least his belongings have gone to a good cause

Back to camp after a jaunt to meet Flemish and (after buying another backpack and completing the dog quest) onward to the Joining and the Tower of Ishal!

Modifié par Melchom, 07 février 2013 - 10:00 .

[DWSmiley]

I've had the emissary-under-the-bridge. Seems to think it is a troll sometimes. I reloaded - never thought of using talents.

[gds76]

Alright I opted for the dwarven noble instead of the human one and a Str based SnS instead of a two-hander.

Origin:
No major problems here. The scout died a few times, mainly because I didn't want to waste any potions on him, but Gorim and my noble got through fine.

Ostagar/Wilds:
Surprisingly easy. Got to the Hurlock-mage before he could retreat and finished him of easily. Gazarath focused on Jory and as I didn't consider him worthy of potions he died. Also I used bombs to kill the wolves quickly.

Tower of Ishal:
The first time that I got in trouble. The mage in the first room hit bullseye with his fireball and it all went downhill from there. I think I used 15 potions on that room alone. The Ogre on the top floor grabbed Alistair and resisted my shield-bash leading to Alistairs' death. The Guard didn't survive long either, so I had to go mano-a-mano with the ogre as the mage was out of mana and therefore completely useless. I think I used another 10 potions here.

Now onwards to Lothering :happy:.

EDIT: Quick question: Does losing to Ser Cauthrien count as dieing?

Modifié par gds76, 09 février 2013 - 11:31 .

[DWSmiley]

Well, it does count as an injury. One can't earn the "Kind of a Big Deal" award if it happens. On the other hand, it does not cause a reload. So take you pick.

[Ferretinabun]

I would argue no, since that battle is not really designed to be won. And your return to life after falling in battle is accounted for within the story.

[Melchom]

Just a short update - made it through the tower and completed all the Lothering quests .. then was killed by normal wolves who ambushed me on the way to Honnleath.

I think I'm going to continue this run as a normal game as the no-reload frustration is starting to get me down

Edit: Or no I won't - the resumed autosave only took me back to a 1/4 completed Lothering so I think I'll restart. 

Modifié par Melchom, 10 février 2013 - 08:03 .

[DWSmiley]

Ouch, I know the feeling.  Completing a playthrough would be helpful and a lot of fun.  Those wolves are very dangerous for a low level group.  As expected, my two-hander plus two mages is very strong but I just had Morrigan and Wynne each pick up another injury in Ortan Thaig because I was lackadaisical.  Time to take a break.

[Melchom]

I've decided to go with a halfway house So .. a new 'no-reload' run.. but on Normal Difficulty and when (can't really say 'if' ) it fails I'll continue it as a minimal reload run instead.

Race: Dwarf
class: Warrior (2-H)
Origin: Noble

This is basically a re-run of my earlier 2-handed warrior effort. So far all stats dumped into Str - so I've got the Blood Dragon armour equipped before I slaughtered the bandit's on the bridge

Stormed through the Origin story with no problems and got some satisfaction out of slaying one of my accusers when being framed for Trian's murder. Took a bit of a risk when fighting the Ogre at the Tower of Ishal but was satisfying to strike the final blow in close combat

Lothering passed uneventfully besides a bit of inventory management as I tried to hoard everything prior to my trip to Denerim. This being the first time I'd tried out the better returns you get from Gorim if you're of the Dwarf Noble Origin story. Bought up the rest of the Blood Armour Items, the stamina regenerating belt, some equipment for dog and the Beserker book from Gorim.

[Blash]

I'm going to start another no-reload game, but usually it ends in the fade, where I'm alone.. any advices? It would be fun and quite simple if not for the damned fade..

[DarthGizka]

That's surprising, since the Fade was designed to be soloed and the four forms open lots of new tactical possibilities. Where are you having problems? What class are you playing? The strengths and weaknesses of the forms depend a lot on the Warden's stats. My warrior beat Sloth to a pulp in golem form but when my first mage tried the same thing she spent most of the time on her ass...

[Ironman Gaming]

I'm going to start a no-reload attempt as well.  I'm debating whether interrupting the attack animation should be allowed though in my play through since it's very overpowered and makes momentum useless...for a dual wielder.

 

Here's the other thread I started about that:

http://forum.bioware...ion-an-exploit/

 

Plan to use Dwarf, Noble, Rogue, Duelist/Assassin...

Solo/Nightmare.

 

One thing I've also added to make it more "fun / realistic" for me is I will try to Aggro all the reasonable mobs in a battle vs. picking them off one by one.  I used to pull/kite in my old DA:O games years ago, but started to think that was lame so for this playthrough, I will try to find ways to not have to do that...

 

This includes the Ogre and here's the vid of that...(no reload at that point)...There's a bit of pausing as I didn't want to die <laugh>

 

Anyhow, I have vids of all the other fights leading up to it so I will probably post some of the other more interesting ones.  Even without using the interrupt cheese, it's still possible to get to Lothering without it so I'd be interested to see how far one can get (actually, looking at the vids, I do a less cheesy interrupt such as moving after dirty fighting, etc...).

 

I'll post a few more videos of some tactics to fight 8 vs 1, 7 vs 1.  A lot of it involves traps (caltrops), backing in corners, trees/etc...

 

I have a few mods, mostly graphical/hair mods, but do have Improved Atmosphere where I removed all the ITEM based changes and made the origins the default again.  Also have the GT Core Rules Fixpack - BETA to fix things like magebane, etc...and the steal cooldown reduced mod.

 

A few more:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfdac1xuaUk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdVE4f-wFE0

[DarthGizka]

Nice, and it may well inspire others to try new, more aggressive tactics.

Two notes on duelling the ogre.

Small Claw Traps are cheap to make, can be dropped directly on a target, and they do good damage (100) in addition to potentially immobilising the target for 15 seconds (rank-adjusted; physical resistance against CUN).

Getting caught between a Ram and an obstacle can be deadly, because you may end up locked into a series of Rams and Smashes, or get grabbed. If you are out in the open when you see a Ram telegraphed then you can race away at a right angle to the Ram axis; that way you'll be at maximum distance from the ogre when you inevitably go down. That may even goad the ogre into trying a Hurl, which allows you to lob something at it and increase your distance even more. Sometimes the game cheats, though, by teleporting the ogre near your new location.

[Ajadea]

Starting a no-reload run. City Elf Female DW Cunning Rogue, Hard difficulty. Mods that affect crunch: Improved Atmosphere (areas only), Faster Attack Speed, GT Rules Fixpack, Grey Wardens of Ferelden Armor set, Extra Dog Slot. I've completed all the DLC except Leliana's Song, so I have all DLC-completion reward items as well as the Blood Dragon Armor Set. Yes, this includes the Reaper's Cudgel/Money Stick.

 

EDIT: Well, that didn't go far. Got mobbed by half a dozen darkspawn in the Tower of Ishal 3rd floor and died.