Dragon Age - the Ending? (SPOILERS)

[erilar]

Oh - one more example. I'd been reading the Gearbox forums re. AvP. Everyone was saying that the game was too easy, and that it would be too short unless you played on the Hard setting. So, I started up on Hard. One setpiece fight was all it took for me to realize these kids were full of BS. I had to put it down on Normal, and restart the game (as it doesn't let you adjust difficulty on the fly). I think we're getting old and slow...

So, "the game will be too short" translates to "you won't be doing each fight 7 times", which I guess some people like. Me, I'm half terrified the whole time I'm playing that game, and getting taken out 4 times in each fight doesn't help matters. In this game, I need to feel like I have a fighting chance against these horrible things!

[Hardcorhobbs]

I've read several places that the Dwarven lands have THE toughest boss fights in the game. As to playing on casual, Jon I used to feel the same way until I realized I don't care. I'm playing for me, not to compare how well I did with everyone else. What I want to see is the end of the game, because frankly I don't see that enough. Once I got into that mindset I had no problem turning to casual. I'll play games on normal until I start getting frustrated... and then I'll switch to an easier stetting. I played about the first 10 hours of Dragon Age on Normal, and after a particularly frustrating area I bumped it down to casual and never looked back. I did the same thing with Mass Effect, and I'm sure as I progress in Mass Effect 2 it'll be the same way.

I want to enjoy the games I play, and there are so many of them I don't want to get stuck trying to figure out some boss fight for weeks on end. I want to play through and beat a game. I *HATE* it when teenagers with nothing better to do complain that a game is too short or too easy. Lets take Dragon Age for example... I spent over 50 hours with the game. That's too long IMHO. The 40 hour mark is about right for an RPG IMHO, and 10-20 hours for other games. If the developer makes a 100 hour long epic, that's great... but I'll likely never see the end.

Anyway don't fret playing through on casual. That's what I did so you're not alone.

[Jonkga]

Thanks, guys. That certainly helps. And, moving this difficulty setting doesn't hurt nearly as much as say, Halo, where the game itself mocks you for choosing a lower difficulty setting...

[EvilGenius]

Jon, I get your pain but I too started DragonAge in Casual mode and never looked back. I'm not a huge fan of the combat system they used in DA, compared to say, KoTR1&2. I know they're mostly the same system but DA combat just didn't feel quite right to me. So I put it on Easy and played for the story.

MassEffect2 I bumped up the difficulty a little bit to Veteren or whatever (1 step above Normal). And that one seemed like it was a little too easy for most of the game. But that's because I'm a good sniper in that game.

[Jonkga]

So, I finished Dragon Age: Origins today. Great game! 70+ hours on the first play-through for me. Wow! Great ending, lots of great battle stuff going on.

To recap:
I sided with the werewolves in the forest
I sided with the mages in the mage tower
I saved the son by sacrificing the mom in Redcliff
I sided with Belen in Orzammar
I romanced Leliana

At the end:
I agreed to make an Old God baby with Morrigan
I put Anora on the throne
I killed Logain in single combat


Very cool. And, with everything going on at the end, it really does make me want to play-through again to see the stuff play out differently. Maybe not right away, but eventually.

Much fun!