considering getting dragon age origins

[cybill]

basically as the title says. i'm in the mood for a wee foray into an rpg. i basically just muck around in skyrim and forgive me...but after close to 300 hours...i'm kinda done.

 

i haven't really done much rpgs in the past - is this a good one to delve into? it seems quite violent and sexy - not wantin to sound weird...i am kinda in the mood for violence and sexy. also i am pretty nooblike at moddin (although happy to learn), is there any tutorials or guides out there to help me get started?

 

finally - is it gorgeous with mods? i am kinda in the mood for playin somethin georgeous.

 

any advice would be appreciated - i know nothin about this game and kind of want to go in blindish to it. i guess just have enough mods to have it set up all luvly like. eg in skyrim and fo3 i would be lost without my realistic lightin...even though that means i am frequently lost...hahaha...sorry

 

yeah - what you think?..you probably all think this is a great game though

[Thandal]

@cybill;

Dragon Age is gorgeous without mods! And it can be (fairly) violent, and (with the right mods, very) sexy!

I've played a few RPGs, (including the entire Baldur's Gate/IceWind Dale, NeverWinter Nights, and Mass Effect series) plus DA2. That said, Dragon Age: Origins has the absolute best dialogue of them all, and more of it then any three of the others!

Being able to play either gender, across three races, and six different "circumstances" to begin the story just invites re-plays. Having the choice of nine different companions (including the quadrupedal one, the one from "The Stone Prisoner" and the "Secret Companion") to make up the allowable party-of-four (five, with a certain mod) allows for a huge number of variations. Since each combination results in significantly different banter between the various Party Members, every play-thorough contains surprises! :thumbsup:

One piece of advice, PLAY WITHOUT MODS THE FIRST TIME! The game is excellent right out-of-the-box! And by doing it that way you'll have a much better appreciation of what changes you might find worthwhile, and a much better appreciation of what each mod accomplishes.

 

Exceptions (since you specifically mentioned it): If it's "sexy" you want, you'll probably need "Natural Bodies" (NB) and "Better Sex Cutscenes" (BSC). In the vanilla game the characters keep their underwear on. And yes, it looks silly. :P

For the basics about mods, see this article: "Using Dragon Age Mods for Dummies".
And when you're ready to add more, you might check this thread for some ideas: "Good Mods - Opinions"

Happy Gaming! :wink:

[cybill]

cheers for the reply....that all sounds good. that sounds like the game for me alright, somethin to get lost in. cheers for the links too, that should get me started :)

 

nudity is a must for me...it isn't because i am dirty, it is just we are naked under our clothes! and if we are goin to be filthy...well we may as well see it! on sayin that i was a bit shocked at the better sex cutscenes...crikey.

[ultimaIX]

I'd say that if you haven't played DA:O, you should definatly pick it up. IMO it's the best RPG since Baldur's Gate. It's not perfect, and the bugs/glitces have made me throw the game down in disgust more than once, but overall it is an awesome game.

 

Personally, i rank the dwarf origin story as one of the best moments in gaming. The dialogue in that section in particular always makes me both open my eyes in shock and laugh all at once.

[mcgoy]

Let's not forget to get the Ultimate version. The official DLC isn't NECESSARY, but at the current prices, it is certainly worth the extra that it adds.

[Rennn]

1. It's violent and sexy, if you mean "kill people in gory ways and then bed your preferred witch/assassin/etc". Not as sexy as the Witcher 2, but pretty close and even more bloody. It does lack some polish compared to similar games, but that's nothing to worry about if you dealt with Skyrim.

 

2. The lighting is already gorgeous without mods, but the textures could use some work.

 

3. If you haven't played many RPGs in the past, this is a good one to start with. It's deep for the RPG experts, but it's easy enough to pick up and play that anyone can finish the game and have a good time with it on normal difficulty. Harder difficulties require the player to set up advanced tactics, plan what they spend their skill points on, and manage many character's friendships and alliances, but on the lower difficulties it's equally valid to let the game handle the more complex stuff.

 

 

Now for my personal recommendations.

 

Play the game the first time with only fixes, and perhaps a nude mod like Natural Bodies if you want. The point of a fix like the Morrigan Dialogue Restoration Patch is obvious, but the nude mods will just make the game less PG during the more intimate scenes. It's always seemed kind of weird to me that you can be sexing a love interest in a tent, but you both have to wear permanent underwear, lol.

 

I appreciate what the author of JB3 textures did. His texture mod is remarkable in scope, as he edited literally thousands of textures to make them look better at higher resolutions. However, I don't use it, because even though I admire the author's dedication, I can't honestly say that I admire the mod. He increased the texture resolution by literally 4 times in many cases, while applying many sharpen filters and cloth filters. Its VRAM consumption is off the charts compared to vanilla, and it hurts performance badly for many people, even causing some crashes.

Avoid it at least for your first playthrough. After that, once you know how the game runs on your PC and you've seen the graphics for several hours in-game, then decide whether you want to use JB3 or not.

 

The official DLC is great. It's not required to understand the story or to get an experience that feels complete, but I strongly recommend that you get the Ultimate Edition anyway. It'll give you nice background information on some characters, and it'll let you continue your relationships (romantic or simply friendly) with several NPCs after the main quest ends.

[LadyHonor]

I love DAO. The DA series are the only games I play. I've never been what you would call gamer but I did use to like Tomb Raider. DAO was the first game I had ever played like. I was shocked by a lot of things. The friendships, the romances, traveling with a party were all new to me. But what blew me away the most was all the different beginnings and endings. They made it feel like an entirely new game every time I played it. As for the mods, I have a few installed that I really like. Alistair's Kiss, Jinxy's Alistairs rose and mother's amulets, and quite a few different hair mods. I think the hair is about the only thing I really hate about the vanilla. The styles are hideous. If you're wanting sexy I suggest the slender bodies armors too. Some of the vanilla armors make your female characters look like cows. Natural bodies mod is very nice but I cant use it on mine. My grandbabies are in love with Dog and like to take over playing it too much.