Dragon Age: Origins Level Cap?

One of the things that really got to me in Fallout 3 was that for such a large and open game, the max level I could reach was 20, without the expansion. I've read that although there is no hard level cap in DA:O, if you do everything in the game you'll reach around lvl 18-22. To complete all aspects of the game (core campaign+side quests), it will supposedly take 80+ hours. Isn't that a bit ridiculous? I mean, say I spend 90 hrs. playing the game in order to complete everything, it will take on average 4.5 hours to gain one level. Obviously at the beginning, it will be easier to level up, so towards the higher levels it could take 7-10 hrs. just to gain one level. This worries me simply because it feels like it limits how many abilities one can use, although I'm not exactly sure how the levelling works in the game. Just a thought. Why do they do this in such massive games? Why such low levels?

One of the things that really got to me in Fallout 3 was that for such a large and open game, the max level I could reach was 20, without the expansion. I've read that although there is no hard level cap in DA:O, if you do everything in the game you'll reach around lvl 18-22. To complete all aspects of the game (core campaign+side quests), it will supposedly take 80+ hours. Isn't that a bit ridiculous? I mean, say I spend 90 hrs. playing the game in order to complete everything, it will take on average 4.5 hours to gain one level. Obviously at the beginning, it will be easier to level up, so towards the higher levels it could take 7-10 hrs. just to gain one level. This worries me simply because it feels like it limits how many abilities one can use, although I'm not exactly sure how the levelling works in the game. Just a thought. Why do they do this in such massive games? Why such low levels?

InnocentThief

if you have played any of the DnD crpgs, you would know how this is going to work. in these games level matters less than understanding and mastering a certain class and its available skills. not saying Dragon Age is gonna fully resemble these games, but it's SUPPOSED to be the spiritual successor of hardcore crpg, hence the level cap.

One of the things that really got to me in Fallout 3 was that for such a large and open game, the max level I could reach was 20, without the expansion. I've read that although there is no hard level cap in DA:O, if you do everything in the game you'll reach around lvl 18-22. To complete all aspects of the game (core campaign+side quests), it will supposedly take 80+ hours. Isn't that a bit ridiculous? I mean, say I spend 90 hrs. playing the game in order to complete everything, it will take on average 4.5 hours to gain one level. Obviously at the beginning, it will be easier to level up, so towards the higher levels it could take 7-10 hrs. just to gain one level. This worries me simply because it feels like it limits how many abilities one can use, although I'm not exactly sure how the levelling works in the game. Just a thought. Why do they do this in such massive games? Why such low levels?

InnocentThief

Since when has the level cap *ever* been important in a story-driven RPG?

This isn't a free-roaming game, there probably won't be respawning enemies, so you'll be levelling at the rate the designers wanted you to level - as in, you'll hit the max level (around 20 in those old DnD RPGs) by the end of the game.

just to give you a better idea - i finished Baldur's Gate 2 with a warrior once, and by the end of the game ( which is between 50 to 80 hours long ) i was only level 14. throughout the entire game i never felt like the gameplay was limited.

with Throne of Bhaal (BG2 expansion), the level cap is raised considerably ( to around 30, i think, forgot the details ), but as you can see, these games are quite different from the regular power levelling rpgs.

just to give you a better idea - i finished Baldur's Gate 2 with a warrior once, and by the end of the game ( which is between 50 to 80 hours long ) i was only level 14. throughout the entire game i never felt like the gameplay was limited.

with Throne of Bhaal (BG2 expansion), the level cap is raised considerably ( to around 30, i think, forgot the details ), but as you can see, these games are quite different from the regular power levelling rpgs.

Jinroh_basic

And to put an even greater sense of comparison, Baldur's Gate 1 pretty much had a level cap of 7 (IIRC). I remember rolling up a wizard and seeing that her spell-book only went up to level 4 spells and going "Wait...where are all my other spells? No delayed blast fireballs? No gate spell? Not even a wail of the banshee?"

[QUOTE="Jinroh_basic"]

just to give you a better idea - i finished Baldur's Gate 2 with a warrior once, and by the end of the game ( which is between 50 to 80 hours long ) i was only level 14. throughout the entire game i never felt like the gameplay was limited.

with Throne of Bhaal (BG2 expansion), the level cap is raised considerably ( to around 30, i think, forgot the details ), but as you can see, these games are quite different from the regular power levelling rpgs.

Ein-7919

And to put an even greater sense of comparison, Baldur's Gate 1 pretty much had a level cap of 7 (IIRC). I remember rolling up a wizard and seeing that her spell-book only went up to level 4 spells and going "Wait...where are all my other spells? No delayed blast fireballs? No gate spell? Not even a wail of the banshee?"

not sure. KotOR does still have level cap.

my concern for the game is rather that, level cap won't be matter if the game itself is poor ... like Mass Effect, will I want to explore every barren planet to level up and consequently reach the cap?...absolutely NOT!

another thing is the 3 "origins"; "origins", "origins", sounds fantastic...but in RPG terms, it simply mean character cIasses. ever after Diablo 2, even Action RPG has at least 4 to 5 cIasses, a so-called BG spiritual successor only gives us original Diablo's number?

level cap is never a goal, but in good dnd CRPG, it's quite easy to reach the cap. seeking out everything possible to do, you can easily reach BG1's cap long before the final cluster of the game. the point is, are the quests and stories constructed so well that we're so wanting to keep going rather than powergaming?

btw, in dnd CRPG, it's not really "level" cap, it's experience cap since different cIasses have different xp - level progression scheme. vanilla BG's cap is 89000, Ein's poor mage can only get to lvl7 while Thief can get to lvl8.

anyway, echoing above posts, xp or level cap is for game balance...if there's no xp cap for BG, the final battle will be a cake walk; your party is "supposed" to be half alive if you win the battle...

of course, there'll always be cap remover, if a game is popular enough.

I think i read that you won't be able to get to the level cap even if you do everything. But hey im not sure :P

I think i read that you won't be able to get to the level cap even if you do everything. But hey im not sure :P

KalDurenik

then what's the point of setting a level cap??

No idea but i think they said that they don't want to level it for the community when they make things with the toolset. But im not 100% sure its just what i read on their forum a long time ago. So i could remember wrong :p

I'm puzzled by some responses. I'm not really talking about a lvl cap. There is NO lvl cap, so that's not really even a problem. It's more that the level's a single character can reach seem limited. But I guess you're right, I'm comparing this to more recent rpg's and not the old D&D rpg's. (The last one I played and beat was BG2, and I don't remember it all that well.) I think the cap in Fallout 3 pissed me off and I was worried about having the same problem in DA:O, but they are totally different games I guess. So will it be something where within certain lvls you can learn various kinds of skills and magic? I'm pretty sure it was in BG where you could learn a good number of spells per level, despite the low number of lvls. (something like 3 or 4 per level?) I'm not really complaining about anything, I could care less about the actual NUMBER of levels, it's just that I have very high hopes for this game and hope there's a large amount of content for CHARACTERS, because it seems there are very few rpg's, and even less fantasy rpg's, that have this anymore.

One of the things that really got to me in Fallout 3 was that for such a large and open game, the max level I could reach was 20, without the expansion. I've read that although there is no hard level cap in DA:O, if you do everything in the game you'll reach around lvl 18-22. To complete all aspects of the game (core campaign+side quests), it will supposedly take 80+ hours. Isn't that a bit ridiculous? I mean, say I spend 90 hrs. playing the game in order to complete everything, it will take on average 4.5 hours to gain one level. Obviously at the beginning, it will be easier to level up, so towards the higher levels it could take 7-10 hrs. just to gain one level. This worries me simply because it feels like it limits how many abilities one can use, although I'm not exactly sure how the levelling works in the game. Just a thought. Why do they do this in such massive games? Why such low levels?

InnocentThief

It's up to the developers as to how far you can level. But as other members have mentioned, the number isn't that important, focus instead on stats & skills. A level number won't help you in melee, but a stat or a skill will.:)

In comparison, Mass Effect the first time through caps at Level 50, but then on subsequent games of that profile Levels 51-60 are unlocked.

what's important is not the "level" itself, it's what leveling brings to our PCs and NPCs. it's probably the most important thing to both powergaming/actionRPG and dnd CRPG. each leveling up means characters become more "powerful" (whose meaning is more complex in dnd than in actionRPG). how Bards perform their way through the adventure, they need to get xp to level up, thus improving their cIass ability.

there's huge difference between x2 and x8 backstab, a lvl4 spell and lvl9 one...and that distance seems eternity in dnd CRPG; in powergming action RPG, each leveling up you'll feel power-up and will certainly get some neat new tricks; in dnd, most of the time you're simply getting few extra Hit points and sparse stats improvement. choosing feats and attribute bouns? there's a progression table there.

as clearly in OP's mind, it's powergaming route: how many abilities, feats I can learn and how many skill and attribute points I can get wtih each leveling up.

I don't think DA:O will disappoint at this department; I think it'll be very much in line with Jade Empire and Mass Effect; with only 3 character cIasses, Bioware is going to give powergamers a joy ride.

Why are we sooooo worried about the level "cap" ? I just hope the game is great....FelipeInside

When you can do stuff like duel a member of your party to the death, that's innovative.

Or see some of your party pack up and leave because they don't like the actions you took.:P

[QUOTE="FelipeInside"]Why are we sooooo worried about the level "cap" ? I just hope the game is great....topsemag55

When you can do stuff like duel a member of your party to the death, that's innovative.

Or see some of your party pack up and leave because they don't like the actions you took.:P

1

don't know what exactly you mean?

2. in BG games and NWN2:MotB, NPCs indeed do so.

I think the universe in the game will be very restrictive!I'm not a D&D fan but i know bioware

I just hope that by level 20, I'm not a master at everything. For some reason that irks me.TheCrazed420

agreed

I don't care about the levels, aslong as the story is good, I like the setting and atmosphere, I like the overall gameplay and it's fun. Level 20 or Level 5000, doesn't matter to me.Treflis

yea, I am really looking forward to the conversations and plot.

Also, the level cap doesnt concern me simply because there is so much replayability, its insane. Whether its making a dwarf warrior with the noble backstory instead of one with the lower class backstory, or taking different companions along than you did your first time through, its going to be a game with hundreds of hours.

If it has the same replayability as KOTOR and previous RPGs, and everything hints that it will have more replayability, level cap wont matter.

DOA IS free roaming. opened ended. like oblivion but not exactly. WTF Thanx FTW LOL neverever

DOA IS free roaming. opened ended. like oblivion but not exactly. WTF Thanx FTW LOL neverever

The level cap is 25, to answer your question (Since no one else has been able to.)

/End thread