Was Dragon age really that hard?

[Cat of Doom]

I was looking through the forums about 2 weeks ago and read a post about somebody who deemed DA:O the worst game ever due to the fact it was too hard. His not the only one, friends at school have complained it?s too hard and my sisters boyfriend can?t beat it on easy.

Then people started posting strategies and pointing out to him where he went wrong. Things like "You don?t have a tank in your party" and "your character build is wrong" were being said, and people posted what tactic to use. I have looked at the game guide and there are different strategies for each quest.

On my first play through I played on normal and didn?t set my tactics once, put no consideration into who I have in my party ( I often went it alone with morrigan) hardly used any bombs or traps and only used my three hot keyed attacks, I didn?t die once. I then played through on hard. I started using bombs and traps more regularly and died a few times, but still took with me who I wanted where I wanted and the only tactics i used was making my party heal themselves when their health drops. I think the only challenging bit was the high dragon, so for somebody to get stuck to the point in which they can?t go on bamboozles me.

Did anybody else find DA:O challenging, because after 7 playthrough's with no problem, unless I have accidentally done everything right, I can?t see how some people find it hard.

 

[mattttherman3]

I died a few times against the High Dragon and Archdemon, but that's because I didn't set my party to take Paulices, once I did that, a snap. On easy of course, I played for the story, I also did it as a Rogue so.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

If you have an understanding of how the older bioware games worked (Pre KOTOR), then you would have no problem with Dragon Age.

 

[AlternatePFG]

First playthrough was pretty difficult for me, afterwards everything became pretty easy.

 

[nokori3byo]

The tactics were initially a sticky point for me. I'd often have a party member standing there inert and waiting to be killed while the battle raged around him. Once I got that sorted out, things got a lot easier.

The expansion, Awakening, was definitely too easy. I have a feeling that they made a lot of changes to un-NERF the warrior class, in particular, with the result that my character became a death-breathing engine of eluctability who ate Eldritch Aboniations for afternoon tea. needless to say, my PC never got so much as a whiff of death.

 

[Cat of Doom]

LOL I just seem to have a tendency for making the right decisions, I got through ME2 first time and saved everybody without knowing what I was doing.

Though I made the same "mistake" of taking Wynne (the tower mage) to the ashes quest. However I call the betrayal and subsequent death of that condescending, patronising ***** a 100% positive win.

 

[Wayneguard]

First playthrough was pretty difficult for me, afterwards everything became pretty easy.

same with me. I think it was just a matter of getting used to the game. I played a sword n board tank both times on the same difficulty and my 2nd playthrough was magically easy.

 

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

LOL I just seem to have a tendency for making the right decisions, I got through ME2 first time and saved everybody without knowing what I was doing.

Though I made the same "mistake" of taking Wynne (the tower mage) to the ashes quest. However I call the betrayal and subsequent death of that condescending, patronising ***** a 100% positive win.

I just killed her right there in the tower. She bitched out cause I had morrigan and then BAM, dead party member

 

[witness51]

You could beat the entire game if yu just had three healing mages.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

My first play through was hellish because I did everything wrong. I was a mage, and a weak one at that, with all the wrong spells and I didn't do the quests in the right order which meant everywhere I went I was getting my rear end fed to me... it was a nightmare - but I made it through and then was totally crushed by the relationship factor so badly that I cried.

I started again and have played half a dozen times since and it's been cake by comparison. Hehe... it would pretty much have to be though right?

 

[CleverCover]

Once you figure out how things work, it's really a very easy game.
First playthrough was not fun. Always dying. Save was my BFF.
Second playthrough...easier. My squad had moments of stupidity though.
Third Playthrough..."Can you guys let me get in a single hit?!"

 

[nicebuffalo]

i played dragon age with a rogue archer. apparently, that was the weakest character build in the game (they forgot to mention that in the character setup). i spent the entire game relying on others for help, and felt kind of stupid. once i got to flemeth, i gave up and just switched it to easy mode. on my second playthrough, i did a human warrior. it was a walk in the park. that is exactly what's wrong with these games: one or two classes will be designated specifically for support, which consists of cheering on the sidelines and hoping alistair won't die.

 

[AlthorEnchantor]

Play a Mage.

No, really. First playthrough: rolled an Elven Mage. Maxed out the Fire tree. Spammed Fireball. Everything died. Including my companions, unfortunately, but that's only a temporary concern. They grow back.

Late game, you have Arcane Warrior, which is so powerful, it's practically cheating.

The only time I ever had trouble was when I tried to do things out of order. Just because you CAN fight a certain dragon halfway through the game doesn't mean you SHOULD. Also, from personal experience the Elven forest can be more than a bit tricky if you do it before Orzi... Orrza... before the Dwarven lands. Particularly that Wraith thing you need to kill to gain access to the aforementioned Arcane Warrior class.

Even then, I had no problem doing, say, the Mage Tower immediately following Redcliffe. Mages are just so freaking pro in this game.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

I had a difficult time once I stopped playing as a mage on normal mode, where all your AOE spells destroy everything that isn't your allies.

The thing that pissed me off the most about the game was how much difficult it seemed if you didn't get Wynne. She is the only one that starts as a healer, has a healing super ability, and a ton of mana for some reason. This made the story somewhat linear for me in that I always had to make the decision to not piss her off and try to murder me. How you can get through the game using just poultices is beyond me, unless you want to spend 5 hours doing making small amounts of gold for a tremendously tedious amount of work.

 

[King of Wei]

It wasn't hard in my opinion. Played an elf rouge with the dual blade set-up on the second hardest difficulty - I forget if it has a name or is just "hard" - and only really had a problem in the early stages of the game when I was getting used to the mechanics. After that it was smooth sailing.

My basic party set up was 1 rouge, 1 tank and 2 mages. 1 mage for offense, the other for defense. The tank would get the enemy's attention and then I would happily stab everyone in the back, simple.

 

[WarWizardFenix]

My first play through was a near constant cluster F. But i started a new game with a better idea of what i was doing and it was challenging as hell on normal but its fun i like it.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

It took a couple deaths to figure out how to play correctly, but by the second playthrough I had it down pat. But, no it never was truly "hard."

 

[SevenForce]

Basically to win a fight you cast fireball before they cast fireball. If you had any problems with DA:O, i just solved them.