Dragon Age: Origins.

[AndreaDraco]

Yeah, I suppose it could be a viable option. A pity it is not included

Anyway, did you know that you can side with Branka and then, after defeating Caridin, convince her that what she did was bad and that she must destry the Anvil. She commits suicide after destroying it, though. But not before she forged the crown, of course.

[DeadPoolX]

Yeah, I suppose it could be a viable option. A pity it is not included

Anyway, did you know that you can side with Branka and then, after deafeating Caridin, convince her that what she did was bad and that she must destry the Anvil. She commits suicide after destroying it, though. But not before she forged the crown, of course.

Nope, I didn't know that at all. But now I do and KNOWING is half the battle!

[Tawmis]

I believe I am playing on Medium/Normal (the default). The thing is, I took myself (Rogue), Alistar, Sten and Wynne.

Why Sten? Why?
Seriously, I don't think this is a very good party to tackle Flemeth, unless you respecced Wynne. I mean, you are going to need some good crowd-control spells to root Flemeth, paralyze her, freeze her and allow your damagers to attack her freely, without her paws and tails getting in the way of a good backstab. Cone of Cold, Glyph of Paralysis, Paralyze, Massa Paralysis, Blizzard, Force Field (even on the tank, to keep him alive, if needed): you'll need them

Well, since I am a Rogue... and I can't bring Morigan to tackle Flemeth... the entire concept of freezing Flemeth is out the window. So I brought Sten since Alistar is in pieces of Dragonbone Armor and Sten is in the Juggernaut set of armor. Figured the two of them could tank her, and keep her on them - while I back stab and Wynne heals. (I do believe I thought of one error - since Sten isn't usually in my party, I don't have any Tactics set for him - so he may not have been taunting after all).

[AndreaDraco]

Doesn't Wynne have anything to root an enemy into place? Glyphs, paralyze and so on?

I just did the battle myself with my Warden (sword & shield warrior, tank), Wynne (healing and buffs, Heroic Aura is particularly useful during the battle), Zevran (dual-wielding rogue, main damager of the party) and Leliana (archer with Ice Arrows, Rapid Shot activated and the first Bard Song, of course). It was a long fight but relatively easy, because with Scattershot (Leliana), Petrify and Glyph of Paralysis (Wynne) I was able to stun/root Flemeth a few times during the fight, allowing my Warden and Zevran to quaff a few potions and fire salves.

[DeadPoolX]

You might want to add a mod that lets you choose a second specialization for Sten. Unlike everyone else in the game, he normally gets one for some reason.

[Tawmis]

Remember last week when I mentioned Flemeth beat me? Well I haven't gone back to her yet - figured I'd press on. Well, I just took down the High Dragon with a second try - with NO ONE dying. So... I think I am going to make my way back to Flemeth and try this again.

[Tawmis]

I wish there was a mod that removed the level cap. So I could essentially keep leveling - and max out as many skills/talents as possible.

[DeadPoolX]

If you're playing on the PC, you can input cheats through the in-game console. Somewhere in there is a way give you enough points to max out your abilities.

[Rath Darkblade]

Tawm, if you're going to use the console, I'd recommend the first option on the page that DPX linked to (i.e. "using a shortcut"). After I beat the game the first time, I used that option to enable the console; despite what the "Console" webpage says, the shortcut works perfectly and doesn't break my savegames or anything.

However, the downside to leveling up faster than the game allows you to is this: as far as I know, the monsters also level up with you. So, if you thought that making yourself level 50 (or whatever) would make the monsters less challenging, then forget it.

Again, as I said before, this is only as far as I know - I might be wrong. Does anyone know for sure?

Good luck!

[Tawmis]

I may do it with the next play through I do on the PC (plan on playing a dwarf all the way through).

On the side note, though my rogue is not designed for archery - the second time around, when I went for Flemeth - I switched Rogue to archery, and took her down easily. It's the same thing I did to take down the High Dragon as well. Painfully easy that way, which I don't understand why...

[DeadPoolX]

On the side note, though my rogue is not designed for archery - the second time around, when I went for Flemeth - I switched Rogue to archery, and took her down easily. It's the same thing I did to take down the High Dragon as well. Painfully easy that way, which I don't understand why...

Yeah, some people think archery is worthless, but I found it to do an incredible amount of damage. One good archer (or better yet, two) can kill enemies really fast.

The downside is that enemies make a beeline for your archer, which can be problematic if she doesn't have the melee archery skill. Even without that, an archer is best at long-range combat, so you have to be on guard.

Often I'd have to pry enemies off Leliana (who was my dedicated archer), which is why I gave her the Ranger specialization. I figured she could summon animals to protect her from melee opponents if I can't get to her. For the most part, it works too.

The only thing I hate about summoning animals is the way you turn off the sustainable ability. The animal groans (as if in pain) and falls to the ground, dead. Was that really necessary? I'd have preferred the animal disappear or runs away after being set free.

[AndreaDraco]

In hindsight, I gave Alistar's locket to Leliana in this play through because I already got everything there is out of Alistar, other than romancing him as a female, which I plan to eventually do as well.

Shouldn't she refuse the locket? I don't think companion-specific gifts can be given to other companions, but I may be wrong.

Anyway, when you complete the first quest up Sundermount ("Long Way Home"), let me know what you think. I had an enormous fun with it, even if I was already spoiled about what happened from my previous playthrough

[Tawmis]

In hindsight, I gave Alistar's locket to Leliana in this play through because I already got everything there is out of Alistar, other than romancing him as a female, which I plan to eventually do as well.

Shouldn't she refuse the locket? I don't think companion-specific gifts can be given to other companions, but I may be wrong.

Well I just gave her a locket with a photograph in it. I believe that's the same one that goes to Alistair. Unless there's yet another locket. I will double check, but pretty sure I gave it to her. Only gift I haven't given is Flemeth's book.

Anyway, when you complete the first quest up Sundermount ("Long Way Home"), let me know what you think. I had an enormous fun with it, even if I was already spoiled about what happened from my previous playthrough

Will do. Perhaps I will play it on Monday, my day off. (Normally today is my day off, but working 8 hours of OT... and worked 12 hours of OT last Sunday). All of this to pay for bills. Hooray.

[Maiandra]

Also, I find this post by Gaider really interesting:

My impression is that some people miss being able to get all the dialogue at once. I think there's an urge to get an immediate response for interaction-- click-reward-click-reward, etc. --until they feel they've gotten to know the character and then move onto the rest of the game

I'd like to call bull$#!+ on the portion I have in bold. Considering I am still playing Origins on the PC for my Rogue play through - the BOLD portion above that I pointed out is COMPLETE BS.

First, I am trying to romance Leliana. Every time I go to camp, I can't just unlock her dialogue. I have to physically move her approval rating up with gifts. It's not like these NPCs are sitting there - waiting to talk to you - to unlock all their dialogue. I have slowly moved her rating up with choices I have made in the game, and gifts I find along the way to unlock more and more of her dialogue. So it's not click, reward, click, reward, click reward.

And some - like Sten - won't even talk to me. Despite my best efforts to befriend him (admittedly I have not given him any gifts, because they all go towards Leliana pretty much). And Alistair won't share everything - no matter how much I talk to him. And some events, like going to Redcliff unlock more dialogue (depending on how you talk to him about what he reveals).

Well, I think he was exaggerating a bit, but depending on how often you go back to camp initially and when you do the companion quests, you can uncover a lot of dialogue fairly early on in the game and sometimes more than one section of it at a camp visit. I certainly felt like the dialogue options were exhausted earlier than I would have liked, even with Alistair and the romance. For a large part of DA:O it felt like main characters had little to say about seemingly important events.

I personally think that major events in the game should have special dialogue and that, in some ways, it is better to space it out a bit more. For the last third of DA:O or so I felt like my companions had very little to say, even when critical events occurred, which seemed odd. It's kind of difficult to allow the dialogues at camp to last for the entire game, when you don't know how many their are.

[Tawmis]

Depending on how often you go back to camp initially and when you do the companion quests, you can uncover a lot of dialogue fairly early on in the game and sometimes more than one section of it at a camp visit. I certainly felt like the dialogue options were exhausted earlier than I would have liked, even with Alistair and the romance. For a large part of DA:O it felt like main characters had little to say about seemingly important events.

I personally think that major events in the game should have special dialogue and that, in some ways, it is better to space it out a bit more. For the last third of DA:O or so I felt like my companions had very little to say, even when critical events occurred, which seemed odd. It's kind of difficult to allow the dialogues at camp to last for the entire game, when you don't know how many their are.

Strange, because I have done the Urn, the initial part of the city (name is slipping my mind because I am at work uninstalling McAfee on this guy's machine - and been on this call for over 1.5 hours) - Denerum (sp I am sure) - did the Forest with the Dalish - did Flemeth part, did the Tower, did Haven... all that's left is Redcliff to finish (initial attack done), Deep Roads, and the second half of Denerum - and I still haven't fully romanced her. (And I go to camp frequently and speak with her frequently).