# The Dragon Age thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 3, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156 "2009-11-03T12:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![EastCoastPearl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/aeb1de/32.png) [@EastCoastPearl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastCoastPearl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/261 "2009-11-17T22:58:54Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > When you go from the racial starting areas to Ostagar, there is a side quest to bring a flower back from the Kokari Wilds, and give it to the kennel master. > > After the Tower of Istral (sp?) finishes, and you pick up Morrigan (she likes the jewelry gifts), you head out down the road to Lothering. On the way, the hound is offered to you as a potential party member. > > I don’t know where the second instance may be, as I never had turned down the dog on the road to Lothering. I did the initial kennel master quest but don’t remember encountering the dog on the road. But my pc was crashing a bunch at that point so I was frustrated and preoccupied with trying to get the game to run. It still crashes at random moments. I think what frustrates me more are what seem like excessively LONG loading times on transitions. The other way to get a dog is to play a human noble. The very first quest you do gives you one. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/262 "2009-11-18T00:42:43Z")
> [@EastCoastPearl](#): > > I did the initial kennel master quest but don’t remember encountering the dog on the road. But my pc was crashing a bunch at that point so I was frustrated and preoccupied with trying to get the game to run. It still crashes at random moments. I think what frustrates me more are what seem like excessively LONG loading times on transitions. I’m 60% sure this game has a memory leak issue. After playing a while my game’s loading starts to crawl (and I have 12GB RAM). How much RAM do you have? If it starts getting sluggish save, close the client, and restart. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/263 "2009-11-18T01:49:31Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I’m 60% sure this game has a memory leak issue. After playing a while my game’s loading starts to crawl (and I have 12GB RAM). How much RAM do you have? If it starts getting sluggish save, close the client, and restart. I’ve noticed the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/264 "2009-11-18T02:20:57Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I’m 60% sure this game has a memory leak issue. After playing a while my game’s loading starts to crawl (and I have 12GB RAM). How much RAM do you have? If it starts getting sluggish save, close the client, and restart. That would be because it does. The devs have admitted it, and are believed to be working on a patch for it. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/265 "2009-11-18T10:08:10Z")
Strangely I don’t have any slow-downs, but I am only at the beginning four towns and been playing for up to 2 hours each period. For those who don’t want to rely on Morrigan for crowd control, there is always the Glyph of Paralysis and Glyph of Repulsion combination which is just as good as holding enemies like Sleep does. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/266 "2009-11-18T14:57:19Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Hehe I remember in Baldur’s gate I and II you could kill an enemy still in fog of war by centering an AOE just on the edge of what was revealed, and he would just stay there bleeding to death. Heh. That was the only way I could ever finish Nalia’s quest when I would do it at the beginning of the game. Cloudkills worked on Umber Hulks and Trolls, which were two of the last fights. Better than having Minsc or Korgar eviscerate my PC because he was stunned. Which leads me to… At least when the PC is rendered unconscious, the game isn’t automatically over, like in BG. Guess in BG, clerics couldn’t raise the avatar of a dead god of murder. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/267 "2009-11-18T15:30:42Z")
Honestly, I’ve been playing and playing this… and I’m just not sure I want to go on. There’s so many cool aspects here, but so much that just plain _sucks_. I’m on the X360 (no, my computer isn’t good enough, so don’t bother to argue over it) and it’s a giant pain. The AI is atrociously bad, and the enemies scale so badly with me that I never feel as though I’m really getting stronger, because they can always kick my butt. Even in good armor, I’ve been brutally raped by archers, even to the point of being one-shotted by a lucky hit (as in, 150+ damage crits). They get such ridiculous bonuses as you level that it’s very, very hard to keep up, and it feels like I’m on the endless treadmill. Moreover, they’ve basically made a really dramatic story about complete incompetent dolts. Seriously, the Grey Wardens are just _stupid_. OK, fine, you need to drink TEH EBLE BLUOD mixture… which seems to have only one upside and huge downsides which make it largely pointless. I mean, why not just make the drinky stuff optional once you hit 55 or so after a lifetime of battle? This seems to be a game where old people are incredibly badass (Duncan, Loghain, Wynne), and then they wouldn’t really lose much, if anything, from the lost years. As it is, they’re basically killing off their best warriors in their prime for _nothing_. Or even better, just don’t bother to drink it unless a Blight seems probable, 'cuz I’ve got a whole party of people who’ve bathed in Darkspawn blood 50 times over and they ain’t hurt from it yet. And then there’s Loghain. Oh don’t get me started on _him_. His “brilliant” plan was to sacrifice half his army, murder the king (his own son in law!), try to take over as regent more or less on sheer force, and blame it all on the extremely nonpolitical leaders of the battles against TEH EBLE MAJIKLE EMENY. He was then apparently _caught by surprise_ when many nobles started a civil war. Apparently, he also had no plan for dealing with the darkspawn and was mostly going to just sit around for a while until player characters happened. And Flemeth… soooo yeah. I mean seriosuly, my character is a well-educated mage of impressivve knowledge, wisdom, and power. I have no options except to blindly follow along and take somebody’s word for it or take somebody else’s word for it. Well, actually, Flemeth doesn’t even bother saying anything comprehensible, so I plan on killing her for kicks. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/268 "2009-11-18T15:45:23Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Honestly, I’ve been playing and playing this… and I’m just not sure I want to go on. There’s so many cool aspects here, but so much that just plain _sucks_. I’m on the X360 (no, my computer isn’t good enough, so don’t bother to argue over it) and it’s a giant pain. The AI is atrociously bad, and the enemies scale so badly with me that I never feel as though I’m really getting stronger, because they can always kick my butt. Even in good armor, I’ve been brutally raped by archers, even to the point of being one-shotted by a lucky hit (as in, 150+ damage crits). They get such ridiculous bonuses as you level that it’s very, very hard to keep up, and it feels like I’m on the endless treadmill. > > Moreover, they’ve basically made a really dramatic story about complete incompetent dolts. Seriously, the Grey Wardens are just _stupid_. OK, fine, you need to drink TEH EBLE BLUOD mixture… which seems to have only one upside and huge downsides which make it largely pointless. I mean, why not just make the drinky stuff optional once you hit 55 or so after a lifetime of battle? This seems to be a game where old people are incredibly badass (Duncan, Loghain, Wynne), and then they wouldn’t really lose much, if anything, from the lost years. As it is, they’re basically killing off their best warriors in their prime for _nothing_. Or even better, just don’t bother to drink it unless a Blight seems probable, 'cuz I’ve got a whole party of people who’ve bathed in Darkspawn blood 50 times over and they ain’t hurt from it yet. > > And then there’s Loghain. Oh don’t get me started on _him_. His “brilliant” plan was to sacrifice half his army, murder the king (his own son in law!), try to take over as regent more or less on sheer force, and blame it all on the extremely nonpolitical leaders of the battles against TEH EBLE MAJIKLE EMENY. He was then apparently _caught by surprise_ when many nobles started a civil war. Apparently, he also had no plan for dealing with the darkspawn and was mostly going to just sit around for a while until player characters happened. > > And Flemeth… soooo yeah. I mean seriosuly, my character is a well-educated mage of impressivve knowledge, wisdom, and power. I have no options except to blindly follow along and take somebody’s word for it or take somebody else’s word for it. Well, actually, Flemeth doesn’t even bother saying anything comprehensible, so I plan on killing her for kicks. What difficulty are you playing on? ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/269 "2009-11-18T16:28:00Z")
I’m with those who are currently enjoying Dragons Age - it has the feel of Baldur’s Gate. (Alas, I played that game night after night. With no time to play Wow, I really shouldn’t have bought this game!) The romances are quite a well done part of the game - so far I’ve been working through the Alistair romance. He’s such a smart ass. 😃 Sadly, I’d kicked Morrigan for Wynne to make this my ‘good’ run through, and I find I miss her snarky, self centered comments and constant sniping at Alistair… Does anyone know if you are you able to add additional tactic slots, or are they added automatically as the character develops? I’d ignored them at first, and am only now figuring them out. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/270 "2009-11-18T16:44:13Z")
> [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](#): > > Does anyone know if you are you able to add additional tactic slots, or are they added automatically as the character develops? I’d ignored them at first, and am only now figuring them out. I forget the name of the skill, but it’s the one on the bottom of the list. The first two ranks give the character 1 tatics slot each, the second two give 2. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/271 "2009-11-18T17:05:59Z")
> [@Redwing](#): > > I forget the name of the skill, but it’s the one on the bottom of the list. The first two ranks give the character 1 tatics slot each, the second two give 2. Thanks! That makes sense, it explains why some characters have more than others, I’ll look at that when I next play. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/272 "2009-11-18T17:36:41Z")
> [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](#): > > Thanks! That makes sense, it explains why some characters have more than others, I’ll look at that when I next play. 🙂 Also every few levels you get a free slot. I’m not sure how often without checking. I’d guess about 1 every four levels or so. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/273 "2009-11-18T17:47:44Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > What difficulty are you playing on? Frickin _EASY_. Although, I’m not sure that actually weakens the enemies, per se. Frankly, It’s pretty much a neccessity, since I can’t control precisely or even see where my spells will go most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/274 "2009-11-18T18:49:46Z")
Alright I’m loving this game but the auto positioning of my characters at cur scenes is driving me nuts (though it makes for a very cool challenge on hard). ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/275 "2009-11-18T19:03:08Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Frickin _EASY_. Although, I’m not sure that actually weakens the enemies, per se. Frankly, It’s pretty much a neccessity, since I can’t control precisely or even see where my spells will go most of the time. You’re doing it wrong. Align your character so the target opponent’s name shows up over its head. What else do you have? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/276 "2009-11-18T19:15:13Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > You’re doing it wrong. Align your character so the target opponent’s name shows up over its head. > > What else do you have? :rolleyes: You haven’t tried to use area-of-effect spells in any indoor environments on a console, have you? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/277 "2009-11-18T19:21:24Z")
The advantage of the PC version over the console version, if I understand correctly, is that the PC version allows you to change/rotate the camera views to any convenient perspective. If your stuck with an over the shoulder view (no matter which character’s shoulder your doing the viewing), it is more difficult to precisely land targeted AOE points of impact, or select distant targets (because there might be some terrain in the way, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/278 "2009-11-18T19:45:18Z")
Hahaha. For the first time since I started playing this game, I took the time to read the Yes/No box that pops up when you reach the exit of a zone. Love it 🙂 (for those of you who haven’t played either Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale games, you uncouth pigdogs, it refers to [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93XFxKXdbqY), which happened regularly should one of your party member get separated from the group through bad pathfinding) ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/279 "2009-11-18T19:55:56Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > :rolleyes: > > You haven’t tried to use area-of-effect spells in any indoor environments on a console, have you? All the time. The only bad thing that happens is if the area you’re cashing in is bigger than the area of the spell (or the same size), you can’t move it around. I think that’s pretty fair. I assume you can push the circle out through a doorway to mitigate that. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156/280 "2009-11-18T19:57:37Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > All the time. The only bad thing that happens is if the area you’re cashing in is bigger than the area of the spell (or the same size), you can’t move it around. I think that’s pretty fair. I assume you can push the circle out through a doorway to mitigate that. No, the camera is not capable of following the spell properly, resulting in AoE spells frequently being cast blind or partly obscured. The PC version also apparently just has plain better controls on the base of it anyhow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dragon-age-thread/516156.md?page=15)