Dragon Age Origins Difficulty

So I recently bought Dragon Age Origins and I've started playing through it. So far, it is an excellent game and the story is actually keeping me entertained. However, I am finding this game to be extremelydifficult. I don't think I'm a completely noobish gamer, but I'm starting to think I'm missing some key element of the game. I die all the time and fights with multiple waves are damn near impossible. I try to pause the game and assign different characters to different enemies to spread out the damage, but it seems like this isn't producing any results. What is my problem?

Set the difficulty on Easy.Im_single

So I recently bought Dragon Age Origins and I've started playing through it. So far, it is an excellent game and the story is actually keeping me entertained. However, I am finding this game to be extremelydifficult. I don't think I'm a completely noobish gamer, but I'm starting to think I'm missing some key element of the game. I die all the time and fights with multiple waves are damn near impossible. I try to pause the game and assign different characters to different enemies to spread out the damage, but it seems like this isn't producing any results. What is my problem?

Yoshi25

[QUOTE="Im_single"]Set the difficulty on Easy.Yoshi25

Unless you have a healer (mage) and someone with crowd control (another mage), you will most likely be unable to complete it even on easy. Bioware is force feeding their players the most generic group structure in order to beat the game. [QUOTE="Yoshi25"][QUOTE="Im_single"]Set the difficulty on Easy.Swiftstrike5

Dragon Age is extremely difficult, at least for the first few hours.

That first ogre gave me such a hard time, even on the "normal" difficulty.

It really is quite a strategic game. Depending on your party, it can be downright tedious at time. I think that is why I enjoy it; very rarely nowadays do we get a genuinely challenging game that rewards smart moves and punishes dumb ones.

from all these difficulty/ difficulty spike posts floating around since the game's release, it seems to me that anyone who has no prior experience with party base semi-turn base dnd CRPG should start the game with easy-normal (when the party is at higher level, going normal).

I've seen a a guy who calimed to be gaming for 20 yesrs but appeared clueless with the game and had difficulty with certain boss fights on easy.

it's probabaly not about how long you've been gaming, but about whether you've been playing real deal dndish games, not the extremely simpified ones, such as KotOR and Mass Effect.

Dragon Age is extremely difficult, at least for the first few hours.

That first ogre gave me such a hard time, even on the "normal" difficulty.

It really is quite a strategic game. Depending on your party, it can be downright tedious at time. I think that is why I enjoy it; very rarely nowadays do we get a genuinely challenging game that rewards smart moves and punishes dumb ones.

mrbojangles25

@MonsieruX: I'm at Redcliff now, so I guess that makes me feel a little better.

@teardropmina: This is my first game ever with this style of gameplay, so once again this makes me understand why I'm struggling a little better.

Unless you have a healer (mage) and someone with crowd control (another mage), you will most likely be unable to complete it even on easy. Bioware is force feeding their players the most generic group structure in order to beat the game. Swiftstrike5

I totally disagree. I finished it first time through with a rogue, a bard, a templar and a healer (Wynn) on normal without much trouble at all. It is completely doable without Morrigan.

[QUOTE="Swiftstrike5"]Unless you have a healer (mage) and someone with crowd control (another mage), you will most likely be unable to complete it even on easy. Bioware is force feeding their players the most generic group structure in order to beat the game. Planeforger

I totally disagree. I finished it first time through with a rogue (damage dealer), a bard (support/damage), a templar (tank) and a healer (Wynn) on normal without much trouble at all. It is completely doable without Morrigan.

Warriors can easily maintain aggro and easily tank it when they're being buffed by a bard AND a healer. There's no need for crowd control in your case. If you didn't have that bard, your tank would probably have a hard time tanking and there would be a need for another mage for crowd control. Is the game even possible without Wynn? = Bad design decision. Swiftstrike5

Ah okay, I'd agree with that.

Then again, I guess there wasn't really much else Bioware could do with the extremely limited character types they put in the game. Perhaps if they had made a warrior who was good at healing (like a cleric or druid), or...well, anything interesting or unique, there would've been a lot more variety in party composition.

Go to the Circle of Magi first to get the healer.

The game gets easier as you level up and get better armor, weapons and items. By the end, my guys were equipped with just about all the best gear in the game. The game was cake after that. Mages with Blood Magic and AOE make the game too easy. My rouge could solo orange mobs. Yellow was a joke. Hardest part is getting through the early levels without a healer.

My rouge at the end was wearing heavy armor and backstabbing for 100+ damage. And that's with me messing up her build.

Played on normal, in the first playthrough I got wiped out four times in total, with me as a dual wielding Warrior, Alistair, Sten and Morrigan.

Only gave Morrigan the Heal talent, and rely on Health Poultices for the rest.

Never had any real problem except with the Brecilian Forest Revenants, but that's because I wasn't even level 10 when I faced them. Not even Redcliffe gave me trouble, only Sten died because I forgot to move him away from the fire in the first part of the whole encounter.

So no, I don't think it's too difficult.

Don't know what Bioware were thinking.Nighteg

they simply took into consideration their fans back in the BG days, not simply the new horde gathered since KotOR and ME.

hard and nightmare are close to the core rule setting in BG games, and thus are sutiable for BG/dnd veterans to start the game with. the nightmare difficulty is actually much easier than the tactics mod of BG2 at core rule, which many BG2 veterans play.

I think Dragon Age: Origins became easier (on Hard) after I disabled the party AI and started to assign the commands manually for each ´party member.

[QUOTE="Swiftstrike5"]Unless you have a healer (mage) and someone with crowd control (another mage), you will most likely be unable to complete it even on easy. Bioware is force feeding their players the most generic group structure in order to beat the game. Planeforger

I totally disagree. I finished it first time through with a rogue, a bard, a templar and a healer (Wynn) on normal without much trouble at all. It is completely doable without Morrigan.

one mage is more than sufficient. on nightmare, I took out Flemeth with PC rogue, Oghren, Sten and Wynne; Branka with Oghren, Shale and Wynne.

Morrigan or one more mage (or two more) only makes the game easier.

DA:O's problem is its shallow cIass/level system which does not allow many creative party configuration from the get go: it's very hard not to be more or less generic.

Just depends on experience really. I played the game on normal from the beginning, and found it troubling without healing spells. The hardest moments in the beginning were battling that revenant on your way into redcliffe castle, or the undead invasion.

I also made the mistake of chosing to travel to Orzammar as my second Blight quest, and got stuck when I had to battle Jarvia, simply because my level really wasn't high enough. So I went out to do the Ciricle and Dalish quests, as well as most of the sidequests, netted some better equipment/spells/Wynne, and since then there has rarely been a case of me dying. The final battle with Branka was fairly easy. In fact, most of the deap roads bosses were quite simple with two mages, Alistair tanking and my rogue duel wielding some unique weapons.

I choose to micromanage all my battles, I don't like to let my party rely on tactics so much, so I'm pausing a lot. The only slots that I use are for Wynne to heal/lifeward/stonefist when paralyzed, Morrigan for Winter's Grasp on low hp enemies, and my other party members to take health poultices when they're at

[QUOTE="Nighteg"] Don't know what Bioware were thinking.teardropmina

they simply took into consideration their fans back in the BG days, not simply the new horde gathered since KotOR and ME.

hard and nightmare are close to the core rule setting in BG games, and thus are sutiable for BG/dnd veterans to start the game with. the nightmare difficulty is actually much easier than the tactics mod of BG2 at core rule, which many BG2 veterans play.

I agree. My first playthrough was on Hard. I died a lot but it brought back the feeling of the BGII days when every battle (well, almost every battle. See: Kobolds) was hard-fought and gave a good sense of accomplishment. Believe it or not, my first playthrough was with an elf wielding a 2-hander. And I ran with Dog, Alistair and Leliana. I burned through a lot of pots but it was doable: Overwhelm is a godsend.

My second run was with a DW warrior on NM, this time with Morrigan and Wynne, just to see what all the fuss about mages was about. Apart from having good experience with the game now, the mages made my life easier. Force Field FTW!

If you find this game too difficult, imagine if you played through BG2. Mages in that game were far stronger IMO [Time Stop / Contingency FTL].

I played as a dual wielding rogue the first time around, and it's not difficult at all. You just have to be focused and prepared for each battle. A little common sense is all it takes (I didn't set tactics till I was at a higher level); you know what I mean--crowd controlling with Morrigan, assisting the tank in backstabbing his foes and opening up weaknesses with Leliana...it's still pretty easy right now.

[QUOTE="Im_single"]Set the difficulty on Easy.Yoshi25

I think Dragon Age: Origins became easier (on Hard) after I disabled the party AI and started to assign the commands manually for each ´party member.

RyuRanVII

[QUOTE="Yoshi25"][QUOTE="Im_single"]Set the difficulty on Easy.gamerguy845

Everyone here is wrong, this game needs to be patched for it become playable. There's a bug in the original game which doesn't scale enemies levels appropriately.Barknip

Do you think its more difficult than BG II and NWN series?

I think the lack of DnD rules makes it easier.

Do you think its more difficult than BG II and NWN series?

I think the lack of DnD rules makes it easier.

CDudu

Unless you have a healer (mage) and someone with crowd control (another mage), you will most likely be unable to complete it even on easy. Bioware is force feeding their players the most generic group structure in order to beat the game. [QUOTE="Yoshi25"][QUOTE="Im_single"]Set the difficulty on Easy.Swiftstrike5

I found most of it to be pretty easy on normal, I tried beating it on nightmare but I couldn't get past the high dragon(optional) so I just gave up and never touched the game again.

That first ogre gave me such a hard time, even on the "normal" difficulty.

mrbojangles25

I would have killed me over and over again, but I decided to bring in WoW techniques regarding kiting and almost all bossfights became relatively straight forward afterwards.

It's about tactic I guess. Play on normal, use F5 frequently and think with who to attack first and use pause a lot in combat.

[QUOTE="Barknip"]Everyone here is wrong, this game needs to be patched for it become playable. There's a bug in the original game which doesn't scale enemies levels appropriately.dakan45

I'm playing it on hard and having fun. Having beaten the Icewind Dale series, calling this game difficult is a bit too much considering it's type of gameplay.

Crowd control + Aggro control = victory

The game requires some tactical decisions in combat which makes theit very interesting and enjoyable. I was sick of dumped down rpgs by Bioware(Mass Effect, KOTOR) so this is like fresh air.

Flame shield : I DO NOT think Mass Effect and KOTOR are bad games, they are just too easy. Don't get me wrong people.

[QUOTE="gamerguy845"][QUOTE="Yoshi25"] It's on Normal right now and I really don't want to play on a difficulty level made for a 3 year old.Yoshi25

[QUOTE="Yoshi25"][QUOTE="gamerguy845"] I played on easy and I'm five..... Seriously, don't insult lower difficulties if the one your on is "EXTREMELY Difficult"gamerguy845

To those of you who have played both Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 2, which game do you think was harder? Personally, I thought BG2 was harder, because I never really had a good understanding of the DnD rules....

To those of you who have played both Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 2, which game do you think was harder? Personally, I thought BG2 was harder, because I never really had a good understanding of the DnD rules....

Guppy507

I found BG2 harder too, especially the ones with undead that can drain levels. And Liches.

[QUOTE="Guppy507"]

To those of you who have played both Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 2, which game do you think was harder? Personally, I thought BG2 was harder, because I never really had a good understanding of the DnD rules....

kimkim01

I found BG2 harder too, especially the ones with undead that can drain levels. And Liches.

that's BG2 Vampire, which drains levels on hit.

like I said, dnd veterans will find the hard-nightmare of DA:O about the same as the core rule of BG2.

compared to BG2, DA:O is much easier. the rule set is action-RPG-ilzed (mana? talent tree?) and no really fearsome monsters to fight. 3 attribute points to spend at each level up? that's just ridiculous. when you can pump a warrior ST or a rogue's DEX to 40-50 range, they are gods yet have no god-like creatures to fight.

Well, I think I am officially stuck at the Redcliffe invasion. I turned the difficulty down to easy, but once I get informed of the invasion near the village, I hold them off for awhile and eventually die. I think this is due to my lack of a healing party member. Is there anyway to exit the invasion so I can build up a better party?

bump

Well, I think I am officially stuck at the Redcliffe invasion. I turned the difficulty down to easy, but once I get informed of the invasion near the village, I hold them off for awhile and eventually die. I think this is due to my lack of a healing party member. Is there anyway to exit the invasion so I can build up a better party?

Yoshi25