Dragon Age Origins.

[Maigrets]

Rhaegos is going for the dark and sultry look it seems.

That sounds like an epic deal with all those extras. Will keep you busy for awhile I imagine... Sometimes it can be worth waiting for Ultimate Editions and getting the extras thrown in. Or of course just buying it again.

[Fessels]

Rhaegos is going for the dark and sultry look it seems.

LoL yeah he does, but it was a preset I found and downloaded and then all I changed in game was the hair. It was originally an almost military short hair and it did not look as good on him in my opinion.

That sounds like an epic deal with all those extras. Will keep you busy for awhile I imagine... Sometimes it can be worth waiting for Ultimate Editions and getting the extras thrown in. Or of course just buying it again.

It was a great deal al right. Because when I registered the main Ultimate Edition with the things like "Wardens Keep" I found out that if I registered the DLC as well, I would get all the promotional mods. I even got a Bonus folder containing quit a few wallpapers and the complete soundtrack. The wallpapers are nice but I would not have lost any sleep if I hat not gotten them, but the complete soundtrack album is a really nice touch.

[Fessels]

Hey guys do you hear something ... uhmm Galzra what is it boy?


Ohww that is what he saw ... a big armoured Ogre with a uhmm ... lack of manners!?


Hey al we did was setting the huge signal pile on the top on fire, no need to get so angry!?

The above shots where taken during cut-scenes by the way.

Galzra has a new look as well, one that fits very well with the armour from Rhaegos.


Really?? What gave me away, where it my blue eyes!? Or maybe the shiny weapons and armour and the fact that I just killed the bandits just outside the town!!

[Fessels]

I did the "Return to Ostagar" quest line this afternoon, but by doing so I was finally able to see that Ostagar was a lot bigger then I could see the first time I was there.


And now also a lot less lively and cold.




In the Darkspawn tunnels I found ... what else huge corrupted spiders!


You will all die here Darkspawn!


Farewell to the King.

[Fessels]

Oh my ... when will these Ogres learn!?


A few meters further I found a Tombstone with Magic wards that I could leave alone. And since Rhaegos is controlled by me I disturb the Wards so ... "BOSS FIGHT!"


I assure you all, this dude has lost his marbles.


Witherfang saves his wolf brethren in the nick of time! (Damn you Witherfang. )


Creepy looking Ruins ahead ... "CHECK"


A group of adventurers foolish enough to enter the ruins ... "CHECK"


Hmm cosy atmosphere they have in here.

[Maigrets]

Really nice screenshots Yeah, you have to wonder if adventurers (in any game) are brave or stupid...

How many hours have you put in so far? It seems like a pretty long game. I might look into getting it myself and giving it another go.

[Fessels]

LoL Maigrets.

Well if I remember correctly I hat played the game with my first version of Rhaegos for I believe 60+ hours, but since at that moment the game was still new it went slower then it does with my current version of Rhaegos. I am not certain how many hours I have played with the new Rhaegos, but perhaps it is around 20 to 30 hours? ( That is estimated, since I have steam in offline mode, so I can not see how long I have played. ) I reached the same point in the game as I was with the old Rhaegos faster since I knew already how things went up till now. Well accept for the "Return to Ostagar" quest line, that is one of the things added by the Ultimate Edition.

So from now one things are unknown to me, so I have no idea how long it will take to finish the game. But considering that since I have the Ultimate Edition, I have gained a lot more things to do. And from what I was told on the forums, some quest lines can take a very long time to finish. Quest lines like the one in Orzammar to get the aid of the Dwarves against the Darkspawn and the Blight. ) And I certainly believe those people, because I already have a few quests that I got a while ago and I have still not been able to finish them.

So I am certain that personally I will be busy for a long time with DAO Ultimate Edition, but then again it can and will differ from person to person how fast a game is played out. Personally I believe the game is absolutely worth it to play, so many great things are in this game. As for having to pause the game during combat ... well if you use a mod like EMAT then you can keep the fights in real time. Using the pause function just allows you to set party members to do specific things to specific enemies. Since I started using EMAT I have used the pause button maybe 5 or 6 times. ( And I play on Hard difficulty setting. )

[Fessels]

I have played the game for quit some time now ( All together. ) and this is the first time I see and fight a real Dragon. ( A small one but a Dragon none the less. )


A ghost walking around skeletal remains ... I wonder!?


Yeah like I did not see that one coming.


I just took this one because I kind of like how it looks.

[Fessels]

I found out that I can see in game how many hours I have played with the new version of Rhaegos, and it is just over 35 hours.

[Maigrets]

I found out that I can see in game how many hours I have played with the new version of Rhaegos, and it is just over 35 hours.

Doesn't it show you in your saves like Skyrim and most other games how long you've played? Anyway, it sounds like there's plenty of good content to keep you interested, so that's a great thing.

[Fessels]

I found out that I can see in game how many hours I have played with the new version of Rhaegos, and it is just over 35 hours.

Doesn't it show you in your saves like Skyrim and most other games how long you've played? Anyway, it sounds like there's plenty of good content to keep you interested, so that's a great thing.

Hmm I actually never checked if the save games show that information in the Main menu, I will have to check that? But yeah I sometimes find quests where I did not expect it.

[Fessels]

You where correct, in the load menu the save games also show how long you have played with a character.

After having talked to Leliana she suddenly started to sing a song about parts that we talked about. ( Why I tried to take a screenshot of this I do not know ... but here it is. )


So woman ... you are a High Dragon ... oh Boy!


Rhaegos jumped on the High Dragons head to deliver the Death Blow. ( Yeah DAO has those, rare but they happen. )


A lot of blood in those High Dragons.


Charging the Darkspawn in the besieged village Honnleath.


Amalia and a ... uhmm special kind of cat standing in front of a hot and freaking annoying puzzle.


In Honnleath I gained a new companion ... yeeha I now have a Golem companion.

When Leliana started to sing I did not understand the language, but it was a beautiful song none the less. And the woman who sang the song has a very good voice. The fight with the High Dragon was surprising ... because the armour I use with Rhaegos is powerful but the High Dragon was still able to bring his health down without much problems.

As for the Golem companion Shale, well in the party camp site I looked at his skills and He/It has quit interesting skills. Also Shale uses Crystals for weapon and armour, so if you put a form of Fire armour crystal in a slot then the crystals on his/its chest and shoulder will take on a yellow/orange colour to reflect that. And the crystals on his/its hands will also change colour depending on the type of weapon crystal you give Shale. I am certainly going to take him/It along when I go to start the Soldiers Peak quest.

[Maigrets]

, for someone who normally doesn't like companions you sure are collecting them. But, I assume they have decent AI in this game, unlike Skyrim's default followers.

[Fessels]

LoL yeah but in this game they are needed, because it would be very difficult to play without them. I am pretty sure it can be done, but you would have to know the game and the creatures very well. Besides their personal stories ( With quests attached to it. ) bring a lot of depth to the game in my opinion, and the conversations between companions can be extremely funny to listen at.

And yes you can see the difference between the Skyrim followers and those in DAO very quickly and very good. Even if you only set a DAO followers behaviour then they are already much better then the default companions from Skyrim. ( In my opinion that is. ) Since you can set tactical rules for each DAO companion separately it can be great fun to watch a fight.

[Maigrets]

LoL yeah but in this game they are needed, because it would be very difficult to play without them. I am pretty sure it can be done, but you would have to know the game and the creatures very well. Besides their personal stories ( With quests attached to it. ) bring a lot of depth to the game in my opinion, and the conversations between companions can be extremely funny to listen at.

I assumed that's how it would be set up otherwise you could do everything on your own and the companions would be superfluous. It's made to make you feel part of something and connected to the world, unlike in Bethesda's games where you start as a nobody and end up a nobody.

And yes you can see the difference between the Skyrim followers and those in DAO very quickly and very good. Even if you only set a DAO followers behaviour then they are already much better then the default companions from Skyrim. ( In my opinion that is. ) Since you can set tactical rules for each DAO companion separately it can be great fun to watch a fight.

That's one of the things I love about the Inigo follower for Skyrim. He's not just a follower and in version 2.0 he has his own quest (currently incomplete) which is very good. He has depth and conversation and other surprises and because of that he feels more like a real person, as much as a computer controlled AI can anyway.

Do the followers in Origins repeat themselves ad nauseum, or are their conversations always different? I don't think I could take having a group who continually said the same stupid lines over and over.

[Fessels]

I assumed that's how it would be set up otherwise you could do everything on your own and the companions would be superfluous. It's made to make you feel part of something and connected to the world, unlike in Bethesda's games where you start as a nobody and end up a nobody.

Yeah in DAO the main story slowly evolves ( Skyrim does that to, but not as deep and definitely not as great. ) and in order to get your companions to share their stories, you must improve their approval rating of your character. Since they all have different personalities, not all companions react the same to how you end a quest for instance. Also picking the wrong dialogue option during quests or when you talk to a companion in the Parties Camp site can cost you several( Or a lot. ) of approval. But you will find gifts for your companions throughout the game and some merchants also sell a few gifts. Those gifts will improve their approval from 1 point to quit a lot, it depends. But the gifts are not universal so to speak, because each companion has different gifts that He/She/It likes.

Another thing I think that adds more involvement with companions is that out of all the companions you can get into a romance with 4 of them. ( Not at the same time of course. ) And to keep the players around the world happy ... two of the companions are Heterosexual and the other two Bisexual.

That's one of the things I love about the Inigo follower for Skyrim. He's not just a follower and in version 2.0 he has his own quest (currently incomplete) which is very good. He has depth and conversation and other surprises and because of that he feels more like a real person, as much as a computer controlled AI can anyway.

I enjoyed Inigo a lot in the time I hat him with my Skyrim character, he is indeed very good and I guess it is pretty safe to say that he is the best companion mod for Skyrim.

Do the followers in Origins repeat themselves ad nauseum, or are their conversations always different? I don't think I could take having a group who continually said the same stupid lines over and over.

It does happen that they repeat certain conversations, but they appear to have more dialogue then the default Skyrim characters. So far I can not remember that companions repeated the same conversation during a gaming session so to speak. Now if you exit the game and then play it again the day after or so, then it can happen that you will hear a conversation that they also did the day before. ( But it is definitely not as bad as in other games in my opinion. )

[Fessels]

I found the song that Leliana sang in the game, it is performed by Aubrey Ashburn.

And I finally found out how to get youtube videos to work again with the youtube tags. The links on youtube are all https but if you remove the "s" so that it is http ... then it works again. Less save I agree but that way it works again here on the forums.

[Fessels]

We reached Soldiers Peak.


LoL they came up with some funny names, and at least some one knows one of the clasics of Mythology.


Sending a Shade back to where it came from.


Of course I do not understand, you want a token of Duncan!? How about Duncan's sword that you have been using the past two or three levels!? ( Shjees Alistair seems to become more annoying the further I get into the game. )


Reached Denerim, now to find that Brother Gentivi. ( Or how ever it was written in game. )


For a place called Haven it has a creepy atmosphere, and the guard was creepy to.

[Fessels]

You don't say spirit!? His family got slaughtered ... he lost his home and not to mention the pain from becoming a Grey Warden.


He also hat things to say to Wynne. ( And other companions. )


A large Hall with Ghosts on both sides ... hmm?


The Ghosts all hat something to say ... if I was able to answer their cryptic question that is. ( If not correct ... well )


A puzzle I hat to solve in order to have the bridge appear and get Rhaegos and his companions across.


Fereldens version of a Firewall.


Finally reached the Urn of Sacred Ashes.


I really did not expect that the party camp would ever get attacked. It was foolish of the Darkspawn because all companions are in the Party camp ... even those who are not currently in the group I use.


After a very ... very long time of questing Arl Eamon is finally cured.

[Maigrets]

Fereldens version of a Firewall.

That made me laugh for some reason. Firewall....

Nice screenshots. The graphics do look pretty good I must say for an older game. Are you using replacers besides the one's you've mentioned like armours and characters etc?

Now I've got Inquisition working I might think about getting Origins, but I'll wait until Steam has another sale. Although that would mean playing them out of order, but that's neither here nor there. You can transfer your characters to the new game from the previous ones though.