Starting DA:origins, need help

[Stew Coard]

I just put in Dragaon Age: Origins and then I remembered that my friend mentioned something about mages, and being screwed over. In order to reassure myself about an enjoyable gaming experience I'm asking you wonderful people about the smartest class to pick, and any other handy beginners tips, help a fellow out.

 

[Fappy]

Mages are gods in DA:O. I don't know what your friend is talking about... maybe he is saying not to stack mages because you will trivialize the encounters.

 

[Durgiun]

Choose Warrior. Surround yourself with an extra warrior, a mage with LOTS of mana and HEALING spells and... Either a mage with a LOT of destructive spells or another warrior.

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

 

[Fappy]

Choose Warrior. Surround yourself with an extra warrior, a mage with LOTS of mana and HEALING spells and... Either a mage with a LOT of destructive spells or another warrior.

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

Rogues are only good if you build cunning/dex with daggers and back stab the shit out of stuff. They will suck until 75% through the game and then they will destroy everything in seconds. Played a rogue during my first playthrough on Hard with a sub-optimal build and it wasn't that bad.

 

[Durgiun]

Choose Warrior. Surround yourself with an extra warrior, a mage with LOTS of mana and HEALING spells and... Either a mage with a LOT of destructive spells or another warrior.

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

Rogues are only good if you build cunning/dex with daggers and back stab the shit out of stuff. They will suck until 75% through the game and then they will destroy everything in seconds. Played a rogue during my first playthrough on Hard with a sub-optimal build and it wasn't that bad.

Suffer 75% of game only to be a Hulk in the last 25%. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Dandark]

Mage is a lot of fun, there are a lot of different magic pathes to choose as you level up, warrior can be pretty good too though.

 

[Fappy]

Choose Warrior. Surround yourself with an extra warrior, a mage with LOTS of mana and HEALING spells and... Either a mage with a LOT of destructive spells or another warrior.

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

Rogues are only good if you build cunning/dex with daggers and back stab the shit out of stuff. They will suck until 75% through the game and then they will destroy everything in seconds. Played a rogue during my first playthrough on Hard with a sub-optimal build and it wasn't that bad.

Suffer 75% of game only to be a Hulk in the last 25%. Decisions, decisions.

It's not so much suffering as it is not completely annihilating everything. If you build either of the other two classes right you're only going to get a real challenge on Nightmare (or possibly Hard if you're on PC). Archery sucks though. Period. No way you can salvage that atrocious skill tree.

 

[Durgiun]

Choose Warrior. Surround yourself with an extra warrior, a mage with LOTS of mana and HEALING spells and... Either a mage with a LOT of destructive spells or another warrior.

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

Rogues are only good if you build cunning/dex with daggers and back stab the shit out of stuff. They will suck until 75% through the game and then they will destroy everything in seconds. Played a rogue during my first playthrough on Hard with a sub-optimal build and it wasn't that bad.

Suffer 75% of game only to be a Hulk in the last 25%. Decisions, decisions.

It's not so much suffering as it is not completely annihilating everything. If you build either of the other two classes right you're only going to get a real challenge on Nightmare (or possibly Hard if you're on PC). Archery sucks though. Period. No way you can salvage that atrocious skill tree.

What do you know. Well, I think we've given Stew Coard enough tips on classes. I think we should let him experience everything else on his own.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

Not true.

You don't take a rogue with you for combat damage. You play a rogue for the Deft Hands talent, so you can disarm every trap and open every chest in the game, thus getting some phenomenal loot, and you play a rogue for stealth (there are some very clever things you can do with stealth in DA:O). Play them cleverly and you will be rewarded.

You need at least one rogue with you at all times if you want to get all the goodies. If you are the rogue, you can build the rest of your party how you like. Believe me, if you use them well, rogues are not underpowered.

 

[Weaver]

Mages are insanely powerful. Arcane Warrior + Blood Mage = unstoppable.

 

[|Sith|Eldarion]

If you're having trouble with Dragon Age Origins, then there are 2 key classes that are incredible in damage dealing and damage immunity respectively, depending on your play style.

Dual-Wielding Warrior/Champion/Templar:The goal of this class is to do as much damage as possible. Get momentum as fast as you can early on, then never have it off, because it's the only reason that this class is better than 2 handed. The incredible amount of damage allows this class to single-handedly destroy most high priority targets such as mages, which is why the Templar class is necessary. Champion is grabbed to reduce damage taken by your party in large group fights, buff them, and allows you to have a bit of crowd control on the front lines.

Mage/Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage:With this class, you buff until your eyes glow(literally)and take enough hits to kill a Brumak and being none the worse for it. In the beginning, chug as many points into magic and constitution as possible(about a 3/2 ratio in favor of magic)because your magic stat replaces your strength stat when you get the first perk in the Arcane Warrior tree. Once you get to level 7 and get Arcane Warrior, start investing as many points into the Arcane Warrior tree as possible, and grab Arcane Shield, Rock armor, and spell shield among other things. At this point the game becomes a bit drab, because your buffs will have made your mana pool practically nonexistent, but with some good armor, a sword and shield and decent support, you will be able to take any hit from any enemy save perhaps a high dragon. Once you get blood magic, then the fun begins, because with blood magic on, your health is your mana pool free of buff restraints. And while taking your own health seems like a bad idea, with your now formidable constitution stat and damage resilience, you can throw around spells with impunity and have little worry about dying. It's best to be careful, however, and it's best to have a spirit healer around to make sure you don't need to keep drinking health potions to keep your health up.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Mages are a lot of fun. My first character to beat the game was a mage. Warriors bore me though but rogues are a lot of fun. If you go blood/arcane mage w/ fire ball and crushing prison it is pretty much oh look elite crushing prison go blood magic blood wound the horde coming towards me the fire ball turn on arcane warrior and slash up the survivors tahdah dead enemies much more fun than just swinging around a sword as a warrior.
Edit: Oh and I love how so many people are going back to this brilliant game was da3 announced or something? well other than the ending of da2 screaming THERE'S GOING TO BE A SEQUEL!!

 

[Setrus]

I just put in Dragaon Age: Origins and then I remembered that my friend mentioned something about mages, and being screwed over. In order to reassure myself about an enjoyable gaming experience I'm asking you wonderful people about the smartest class to pick, and any other handy beginners tips, help a fellow out.

Oh I think your friend is referring to lore and story-wise, in combat a mage is a beast. Though I still prefer a rogue or warrior, simply because magic isn't my style.
Story-wise the mage origin is sort of weak, a little boring...but it's quite short on the other hand...the human noble origin is really powerful though, and ties very neatly into the finish of the main story. (it's also the way for what some call the 'best' ending...though I'd argue against that.) I also really like the elven alienage one...

As to tips...if you're going mage I'd suggest getting cone of cold and fireball ASAP. Those spells are devastating, fireball not only does a lot of damage to a large area, but knocks down those struck by it (just remember to avoid your own people!) and cone of cold freezes them solid, setting them up for a warrior to smash them apart with a heavy attack or a rogue from behind with a critical hit.

 

[RJ 17]

I just put in Dragaon Age: Origins and then I remembered that my friend mentioned something about mages, and being screwed over. In order to reassure myself about an enjoyable gaming experience I'm asking you wonderful people about the smartest class to pick, and any other handy beginners tips, help a fellow out.

I'd imagine your friend's reference to mages getting "screwed over" refers to how mages are seen in the world in which DA takes place. This isn't really a spoiler as you find it out pretty much immediately - especially if you play a mage - but you mages are feared and in some case hated. Their powers are seen as a curse and people are very untrusting of them.

They are, however, one of the easiest classes to play as. At two points you gain a specialization point which gives you a new tree of abilities. If you do go mage, I highly suggest going Blood Mage and Arcane Knight.

 

[|Sith|Eldarion]

Stop playing immediately. Go play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

It's so much better it's silly. All the fun you think you're going to have, you actually will.


No self delusion required.

There is a reason that one is a cult classic and the other is not, my sadly deluded friend. Amalur's combat is reasonably fast paced and entertaining, to be true, but Origins has excellent tactical combat, in which positioning and complementary skill building was key, which has value in both entertainment and nostalgia. The best part is that you can have a dozen abilities to a party member, all useful, and all can be used in any given situation, instead of being stuck with four and traipsing back to the skill menu to switch them out every now and then. Not to mention that in every other aspect, Origins is undeniably better. Better story, better characters, better lore, more variety in character builds, better inventory management, better art style(both in originality and reflective of a culture), and sadly enough, considering it's a Bioware game, better lip syncing. Oh, and Origins is cheaper. Cheers!

 

[Fappy]

Stop playing immediately. Go play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

It's so much better it's silly. All the fun you think you're going to have, you actually will.


No self delusion required.

There is a reason that one is a cult classic and the other is not, my sadly deluded friend. Amalur's combat is reasonably fast paced and entertaining, to be true, but Origins has excellent tactical combat, in which positioning and complementary skill building was key, which has value in both entertainment and nostalgia. The best part is that you can have a dozen abilities to a party member, all useful, and all can be used in any given situation, instead of being stuck with four and traipsing back to the skill menu to switch them out every now and then. Not to mention that in every other aspect, Origins is undeniably better. Better story, better characters, better lore, more variety in character builds, better inventory management, better art style(both in originality and reflective of a culture), and sadly enough, considering it's a Bioware game, better lip syncing. Oh, and Origins is cheaper. Cheers!

I can't believe he even tried to compare the games. Reckoning is weird TES/Fable/Mass Effect hybrid. DAO is an old school strategy RPG. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Rogue is pretty tough, but I actually prefer it because rogue = free golds, Leliana is dead weight, and Zevran is gimped (no pun intended) by poor stat allocation.

 

[Tayh]

I can recommend the Combat Tweaks mod (http://dragonage.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=354) which revises alot of the skills and make them more useful. The mod is also useful for increasing the difficulty incase Nightmare is not hard enough.

 

[an874]

Choose Warrior. Surround yourself with an extra warrior, a mage with LOTS of mana and HEALING spells and... Either a mage with a LOT of destructive spells or another warrior.

Screw the Rouge, they're useless in Origins. II's another story, though.

Actually, you're going to want a rogue to open locked things where a lot of the best loot is, plus disarm traps. If nothing else this build more experience for the party which levels up collectively over time although not completely uniform.