Dragon Age: Origins.

[Tawmis]

Since I have already beat the game - I may be inclined to do the Dog one.

[Tawmis]

Have the dog one for the PC - pretty awesome. Since the Dog is next to useless once you start picking up party members - it's cool to always have him with you. Nice mod indeed. The game should have actually been made this way.

But that said - I wanted to talk about my Mage play through I am doing right now on the X360. Some pretty cool things that it does -

In Denerim where the Blood Mage is - when you cast Fireball/Firestorm and ignite the barrels of grease (before the enemies do) - it did a little codex update that explained how to use grease and fire together to really do an awesome trap (rather than just grease to make them slip).

Then when I did the winter storm spell (forgot the name) it did ANOTHER codex entry that talked about using a spell to make the room so cold that it puts out grease fires, which are otherwise difficult to extinguish.

I thought that was pretty cool. For those that have done a mage, any other cool spell combos/areas where you can get codex entries?

[AndreaDraco]

Crushing Prison + Force Field (awesome)

Spellmight + Animate Dead

Vulnerability Hex + Drain Life/Mana

[Tawmis]

Crushing Prison + Force Field (awesome)

Spellmight + Animate Dead

Vulnerability Hex + Drain Life/Mana

I just got Force Field, don't have Crushing Prison yet.
I believe I have Animate Dead, so I will check the SpellMight+AD
And Vul Hex + Drain Life - what does that do? (Have both)

[AndreaDraco]

It increases the amount of life/mana drained to the enemy

[Tawmis]

Ah ha! I bet that's why I got the "Big Hitter" Achievement on XBOX the other night against the main guy in the Mage's Tower. I hit him Vul Hex + Drain Life (and I think Mana Clash)

[AndreaDraco]

You can look here for a complete list of spell combos and their relative codex entries

[DeadPoolX]

Everyone says Force Field is so great, but I can't understand WHY. Sure, it immobilizes the enemy, but they're invulnerable until the spell wears off. So unless you want to simply hold an enemy (or possibly use it on one of your teammates if they're surrounded) it's useless.

I have Force Field, but only because I needed to take it before getting Crushing Prison. Otherwise, I never would have even bothered with it.

I much prefer using Paralyze, Mass Paralyze, Cone of Cold and Crushing Prison. I absolutely love Mass Paralyze. It takes a LONG time to cast, but it's saved my butt numerous times.

[AndreaDraco]

Actually, I almost never use Force Field on an enemy. It's much more effective to use it on the tank. Three uses:

1. Force Field on the tank and then Inferno, Tempest, Blizzard or Storm of the Century
2. Force Field also draws a lot of threat, so it's ideal to keep an enemy busy on the tank while mages and rogues deal damage
3. Force Field on an overwhelmed character immediately interrupts the damaging effects (like Shred)

The only times I use Force Field on an enemy it's when there are two or more bosses and things could get messy, so it's easier to isolate one of them while the party takes down the first one.

[AndreaDraco]

Dragon Age Celebrates Feastday, with special gifts and pranks for the Origins companions.

[DeadPoolX]

Dragon Age Celebrates Feastday, with special gifts and pranks for the Origins companions.

I dunno... it's April 1st, so who knows if this is real.

As a side note, I've tried using Force Field and it's quite handy. I particularly enjoy the frustration my companions experience when their weapons "don't work."

BTW... is it really worth taking a spell like Blizzard? Maia's told me it's useful, but only in certain situations where the enemy stays in place or within the general area. Considering how most enemies run towards you (with the exception of archers, who're easy enough to blast with Fireball), I can't see how Blizzard would do a whole lot of good.

I haven't needed Blizzard so far and I have a lot of spells. Plus, being an Arcane Warrior REALLY helps. I've been able to save my butt quite a few times by switching into "tank mode." Combat Magic gets really good once you have Fade Shroud (and it's a passive ability, my favorite kind!) and Shimmering Shield works well too.

I don't regret taking Arcane Warrior at all. I also took Spirit Healer and the first spell you learn from it (Group Heal) really helps, especially when my companions do something stupid or the enemies target Leliana (who can't take a whole lot of damage).

[AndreaDraco]

Blizzard is useful because, other than deal damage, also freezes the enemy in place. As such, it's quite handy against archers or ranged foes, but in my opinion it works best if paired with other crowd-control, movement-imparing spells, like Grease or Earthquake.

[Tawmis]

Aside from freezing and damage, it has the chance of knocking them down as well.

So it's kind of fun (almost cheating) when you see mobs on the mini map to see if you can cast Blizzard first, then Death Cloud, then Firestorm...

So by the time they get to you, they're pretty damaged.

[DeadPoolX]

As I wrote in the "What are you playing" thread, I'm nearing completion of the game. I did encounter a bug though.

In the first part of the Denerim City Gates battle, where everyone runs around hacking at anything (you no longer have direct control of your allies), I couldn't harm anything. I tried using magic, a sword and both a crossbow and bow!

No matter how many times I blasted, whacked or shot at the enemy -- and I mean ANY enemy -- they wouldn't get hurt. If anyone else hit them, they'd get injured and die quickly.

Of course... that's WHEN my character would actually fight. Most of the time he just ran around or spun towards the enemy. I had to let my allies do all the fighting for me.

This happened AGAIN during the battle where you control the companions you left behind. Once again, I couldn't damage anything, no matter which character (Oghren, Sten, Morrigan and the dog) I tried.

Oddly enough, in any battle WITHOUT any NPCs helping, where I simply controlled my team (Alistair, Leliana, Zevran and me), I could attack, injure and kill any enemy. My problem only occurred when there were NPC soldiers around to "help" me.

I'm concerned that, during the battle with the Archdemon, where I can call on NPC help, I won't be able to do anything. That would be enough to make me stop playing the game entirely, which would be a real shame considering how far I've made it.

I've searched all over using Google. I can't find an answer because Google doesn't seem to understand what I'm asking it to find. I mostly come across people having other glitches related to this quest (which I fortunately do not have) and nothing about my problem.

So... any ideas WHY this is happening or HOW to fix it?

[Tawmis]

Have you quit all the way out and come back in?

Or go to your last save point (before Denerim) and go through it again (hopefully not that far back).