Fecking Dragons!
Blimey! I'd been warned about it by my boss and pals at work, but Dragon Age has a really steep difficulty 'bump' to get over. It introduces insane boss fights when you are simply not ready for them. As my workmates have found, there are fights I simply don't seem to be able to get past, so I've gone off to do the early sections of some other quests so that I can level up a bit.
Of course, I may simply have gotten some of my tactics wrong, but there's no doubt this is a pretty hardcore game. And it doesn't help that the levelling process drags.
Other thoughts, in no particular order:
(1) The difficulty grading may be due to the four pathways off the main hub after the opening chapters. Maybe there's difficulty 'plateau' across the four main quests. They don't appear to be scaling the enemy opposition relative to the player's level, though it's hard to tell at present what the underlying architecture is like. However, I really hope the missions get a little easier as I go along.
(2) The setting is still a mess of Scrabble names and a mythology I really don't much care for. However, the worldbuilding has some real smarts behind it. Everyone has an ulterior motive and there is moral ambiguity everywhere. This seems to be a world in which it is difficult for a straight arrow to fly true. This is a little hard to take. It's not that I prefer simpler good/evil narratives, but rather Dragon Age may be a little too nasty and cynical for my taste.
(3) Everyone talks like Californians in therapy. But with English accents. It grates after a while. I still haven't come across the Tim Curry character.
(4) I'm starting to see the importance of crafting, but it's frustrating that the levels comes so slowly it's hard to reach the necessary skill levels to get at the powerful items. I'm burning through low-quality health potions at a furious rate in even the regular fights, let alone the set-pieces. I need access to the stronger stuff.
Of course, I may simply have gotten some of my tactics wrong, but there's no doubt this is a pretty hardcore game. And it doesn't help that the levelling process drags.
Other thoughts, in no particular order:
(1) The difficulty grading may be due to the four pathways off the main hub after the opening chapters. Maybe there's difficulty 'plateau' across the four main quests. They don't appear to be scaling the enemy opposition relative to the player's level, though it's hard to tell at present what the underlying architecture is like. However, I really hope the missions get a little easier as I go along.
(2) The setting is still a mess of Scrabble names and a mythology I really don't much care for. However, the worldbuilding has some real smarts behind it. Everyone has an ulterior motive and there is moral ambiguity everywhere. This seems to be a world in which it is difficult for a straight arrow to fly true. This is a little hard to take. It's not that I prefer simpler good/evil narratives, but rather Dragon Age may be a little too nasty and cynical for my taste.
(3) Everyone talks like Californians in therapy. But with English accents. It grates after a while. I still haven't come across the Tim Curry character.
(4) I'm starting to see the importance of crafting, but it's frustrating that the levels comes so slowly it's hard to reach the necessary skill levels to get at the powerful items. I'm burning through low-quality health potions at a furious rate in even the regular fights, let alone the set-pieces. I need access to the stronger stuff.