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Dragon Age: Thoughts On Building A Rogue
Nov. 7th, 2009 02:14 amSo, having had Dragon Age for two-and-a-half days, I'm ready to start writing down a few impressions beyond OMG I LOVE THIS GAME. I was worried that it couldn't live up to my expectations, but in some areas it's actually surpassed them. There are plenty of minor things that annoy me - helmets look ridiculous, the inventory sucks and clicking on the small area map doesn't bring up the larger one. Yet for every one of those there's an another little thing I enjoy, like as the way the game properly acknowledges my character's gender or how the injury system works. On the big things - character, story, deep tactical combat - I think it's a triumph.
I've built a human noble rogue specced as an archer, and I'm delighted with her so far. I've changed my planned build slightly to give her a couple of points in Dual Weapons after it became apparent that avoiding melee completely at all times was not going to be an option, and I have cause to be glad I did. (Anyone planning a similar character should be forewarned: there is at least one extended section of the game when you have to go toe-to-toe with warriors and monsters. Learn to love those daggers.)
I chose a human noble to begin with for two reasons. Firstly, it's kind of a default view of Ferelden; nobody is oppressing my character because she's a mage/elf or commenting on how you don't see many dwarves around the place. I think it will make the differences in future games stand out more. Also, human nobles get something I wanted very much from their origin story: a big Mabari warhound that's 100% loyal to your character though thick and thin. (I love my dog. More about him in some other post.) I quickly found other reasons to love the human noble origin story, though ...
( Minor spoilers for said origin story below cut. )
( A few thoughts on my chosen build. )
I'm delighted to find that the game is genuinely difficult when playing on Normal for the first time, because nothing bores me more in a CRPG than walking over everything. If I find that experience dulls the edges of combat, I can always turn it up to Hard for repeat play-throughs. I get a great sense of satisfaction whenever I finally win a battle that I've had to reload multiple times. What I love most about this is that every single time I've hit the wall, the answer has always been 'think harder and try something different.' In my opinion, that's how it should be.
I've built a human noble rogue specced as an archer, and I'm delighted with her so far. I've changed my planned build slightly to give her a couple of points in Dual Weapons after it became apparent that avoiding melee completely at all times was not going to be an option, and I have cause to be glad I did. (Anyone planning a similar character should be forewarned: there is at least one extended section of the game when you have to go toe-to-toe with warriors and monsters. Learn to love those daggers.)
I chose a human noble to begin with for two reasons. Firstly, it's kind of a default view of Ferelden; nobody is oppressing my character because she's a mage/elf or commenting on how you don't see many dwarves around the place. I think it will make the differences in future games stand out more. Also, human nobles get something I wanted very much from their origin story: a big Mabari warhound that's 100% loyal to your character though thick and thin. (I love my dog. More about him in some other post.) I quickly found other reasons to love the human noble origin story, though ...
( Minor spoilers for said origin story below cut. )
( A few thoughts on my chosen build. )
I'm delighted to find that the game is genuinely difficult when playing on Normal for the first time, because nothing bores me more in a CRPG than walking over everything. If I find that experience dulls the edges of combat, I can always turn it up to Hard for repeat play-throughs. I get a great sense of satisfaction whenever I finally win a battle that I've had to reload multiple times. What I love most about this is that every single time I've hit the wall, the answer has always been 'think harder and try something different.' In my opinion, that's how it should be.