Dragon Age: Origins

[Felon]

So, if you have a rogue NPC, you can also tell it to scout ahead and lay traps?

 

[fba827]

So, if you have a rogue NPC, you can also tell it to scout ahead and lay traps?

Yes (presuming your NPC rogue has skill ranks put into all that).
Basically, you command your PC and the other 2 companions to hold position. Then you switch to the rogue companion and control him - move him up set traps, etc.

later, when you're ready, tell your PC and other 2 companions to stop holding position.

It takes some getting used to the controls to switch around between PCs/NPCs.

 

[Thanee]

They are on my Christmas list, so I won't be playing those immediately, in any case. My husband has heard me ranting and raving about this game for a few weeks now so I'd be very surprised if he doesn't get me Awakening.

You might want to consider DA Ultimate (it also includes the base game, which is a bit redundant for you, but on the plus side it has all the downloadable content as well (as actual downloads, apparantly, however, so it probably just contains some codes for those)). Might be worth it despite the redundancy bit.

I'm also drooling over DA II, but I can no longer justify paying full price for any video game, no matter how awesome, so I'll probably end up waiting a year or so after it comes out until it drops into the $30 price range (which is where DA:O was when I bought it).

Luckily, the games are not worse a year after they first arrived... in fact, many are better with some waiting time (like Temple of Elemental Evil).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Merkuri]

You might want to consider DA Ultimate... Might be worth it despite the redundancy bit.

Wow, yeah, I just crunched the numbers, and if I bought all of the download stuff on its own it would cost me about $40. DA Ultimate is going for a little less than $50 on Amazon.com. That's definitely worth it.

 

[Merkuri]

Okay, on my second playthrough I had some problems with the Qunari Prisoner quest...

[sblock]My first time through I managed to convince the revered mother to give me the key with no problems - the quest was barely a speed bump - but this time I had no points in persuasion (whatever that skill/talent is called) and she was just not giving it up.

No problem, I thought. I'm a rogue. I'll just pick her pocket for the key. I pick it, and the message says "Nothing to steal". What the...?

Okay, I'm still a rogue. I'll go pick the lock on his cage! I head over to Sten's cage and... there's nothing to click on aside from Sten himself. The cage is not an interactive object!

Fine, I give up. I look online for tips. The solutions are: convince the revered mother, pick her pocket, or pick the lock on the cage.

I finally managed to get him out by going for Lelliana, getting her to convince the mother, then dumping her from my party for Sten. Well, I was trying to go for more of a jerk character this time.

Any ideas why I couldn't pick the lock or the revered mother's pockets? Did that change in a patch or something? Or is it hard-wired that you have to get Lelliana first?[/sblock]

 

[Ahnehnois]

I keep meaning to get into this. So, lemme ask you guys for some advice about what class to play as.

What is a rogue going to do for me that other classes won't? It's a party-based game, right? So, even if I'm good at sneaking, other players will give our presence away.

Do mage spells duplicate (or eclipse) rogue capabilities as they often have a tendency to (q.v. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)?

I'm leaning towards mage because otherwise I would have just stuck with the console version, but I love sneaking through dungeons and setting up ambushes, so rogues have appeal as well.

Locks and traps are a big part of DA, and wizards and fighters never gain any ability to beat them. As with any class, you can get an NPC rogue to do that, but having a main character rogue allows access to more stuff sooner (and a bit of extra XP since locks and traps are worth a significant amount of XP and there are some in places where you don't have a party yet or the party is unavailable).

Pickpocketing is not essential but handy; you can basically pick one random item per NPC. This adds up to a significant money boost if you spend some effort doing it and occasionally something more useful.

I've never tried sneaking, but you can break apart from the party. Sneak attacking is very useful, because like D&D it works when you're flanking (each creature has a flanking zone indicated on the screen so it's easy to find). A combat-oriented rogue with two weapons can deal excellent damage, and nobody is immune to sneak attack in this game.

Rogues are also pretty good at getting high defense. It's hard to make monsters consistently miss you in this game but you can do it with a rogue.

Bottom line: mages don't replace rogues. There's no Open Lock or Invisibility or anything similar. Mages are special because they do area damage, better status effects, and healing.

Mages are extremely useful because there are limited NPC optoins available (for in-game reasons) and because healing is powerful in this game and because there are many very different but good spell trees. There's even ways of making a very effective "gish" (called an arcane warrior) that has constantly active self-enhancement spells.

If anything, I would say fighters make the least interesting PCs but you can build very good ones. The thing is there are a lot of decent NPC fighters, two somewhat flawed rogue options, and two decent mages (and you should have at least one rogue and two mages in your four-man party).

 

[Joshua Randall]

Rogue is my favorite class in DA:O. It's definitely not overshadowed by the mage.

Sneaking (stealth) is quite powerful as it allows you to scout out areas before a fight. With properly high stealth -- and you'll need lots of Cunning -- you can walk all around the monsters, disarm any traps, plant your own traps, and then position yourself for a devastating sneak attack on a key monster (usually an enemy spellcaster). There are few things as satisfying as sneaking into position behind an enemy, attacking (which will be a crit), then using Dirty Fighting to stun the target, then unleashing about half a dozen backstabs.

Also, don't understimate the Survival skill. It lets you see (on the mini-map) icons of the monsters up ahead, complete with their name, creature type, and level. This can give you valuable information even if you can't or won't sneak into their area. For example if you see a bunch of darkspawn up ahead, then you know to equip your anti-darkspawn items. If you see skeletons then you equip your anti-undead items. Etc.

You can also tell if you're about to face a really tough fight or a relatively easy one.

Finally, if you've got the PC version, there is a mod that allows you to bash open locked chests (at risk of destroying the contents). For when you want to channel your inner barbarian, or just don't want to carry a rogue along.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Okay, on my second playthrough I had some problems with the Qunari Prisoner quest...

[sblock]Any ideas why I couldn't pick the lock or the revered mother's pockets? Did that change in a patch or something? Or is it hard-wired that you have to get Lelliana first?[/sblock]

Sounds like a bug or glitch. I was able to
[sblock]pick the lock on Sten's cage with my PC rogue, without even approaching the reverend mother or meeting Leliana[/sblock]

 

[Piratecat]

[sblock]
Okay, I'm still a rogue. I'll go pick the lock on his cage! I head over to Sten's cage and... there's nothing to click on aside from Sten himself. The cage is not an interactive object!
[/sblock]

If it makes you feel better, I've picked that lock before - and he refuses to leave! Stupid sense of honor...

 

[Merkuri]

So, what did everyone name their dog?

When he showed up grinning, tail wagging, and covered in blood I couldn't think of a better name than Sanguine. And I still can't. I'm on my third character, and the dog's always been Sanguine.