56 replies to this topic

[Eleima]

Oh... kay. This makes me feel kinda sheepish, because I actually went from 'Normal' to 'Easy' during my first playthrough when I had to reload 50 times to overcome a particularly large group of darkspawn.... And some people are actually making the game harder. This is how I know I'm not a power gamer. That, or I'm just lazy. But yeah, like Grunker said, some people *really* like their difficulty.

That being said, I don't know about you guys, but I thought some encounters (namely in the Deep Roads, but this works elsewhere) could go from slightly challenging to really easy. What I'd do is have my party stand their ground, go in with a ranged weapon or a long range spell, attack one or two critters, and then fall back and chop up the stragglers into bits. It may be considered cheating, but it really works for some of the larger groups.

[WeeRLegion]

Oh... kay. This makes me feel kinda sheepish, because I actually went from 'Normal' to 'Easy' during my first playthrough when I had to reload 50 times to overcome a particularly large group of darkspawn.... And some people are actually making the game harder. This is how I know I'm not a power gamer. That, or I'm just lazy. But yeah, like Grunker said, some people *really* like their difficulty.

That being said, I don't know about you guys, but I thought some encounters (namely in the Deep Roads, but this works elsewhere) could go from slightly challenging to really easy. What I'd do is have my party stand their ground, go in with a ranged weapon or a long range spell, attack one or two critters, and then fall back and chop up the stragglers into bits. It may be considered cheating, but it really works for some of the larger groups.

There's that, and then there's the enemy AI being pretty damn dumb about ranged attacks coming from outside their standard enemy detection range; you only get one or two of them pissed off at a time at maximum.
In open ground you can often take down an army with just bows as long as you neither start inside nor venture into the enemies detection range. o_o

They really could do with a functional call for help script or something, just for the immersion bit.
But eh, I guess I'm not complaining, plenty enough challenge in it anyway. .p

Edited by WeeRLegion, 18 November 2009 - 07:22 AM.

[Michael]

The difficulty is really bouncy, to be honest. I started playing on Nightmare, and quickly had to adjust for some boss fights. This latest playthrough is only Nightmare, and I have to admit... it's not all that hard, so long as you do every single god damn side quest.

But even then, the difficulty is weird. It's not uncommon to go from breezing through dozens of creatures, only to run into a smaller group that just seems to laugh at your wacky antics and blow through your party, while playing some chess on the side. And even THEN, there are times when I've been on Normal or even Easy, reached a boss, had trouble, ended up switching back to Nightmare, and then easily won. So... yeah. Difficulty confuses me, but I'm 90% sure that installing the mod I linked to will make you cry hopelessly every time something spawns.

[berelinde]

Today I found out that you can use the ballista in the final battle. The darned thing was just sitting there out of reach of my mostly-melee party, and I had nothing that could hit it. But it worked, and I got 213 xp for doing it. How cool.

[Icendoan]

Yeah, I've been noticing Ballistae everywhere and seeing how they might be used, and thinking damn, why didn't I spot it earlier?


Icen

[WeeRLegion]

I've tried using them on occasion, but they never seem to hit anything (that's even when the projectiles seem to hit, or look like they SHOULD hit). xP

Edited by WeeRLegion, 19 November 2009 - 12:01 AM.

[Eleima]

I've tried using a couple in the Deep Roads, but my poor little elf must be extremely clumsy, she always missed and then Sten would get a huge shaft in his back... Oops!... The ballistae should come with a "friendly fire possible" label...

[Kulyok]

I've just discovered this: if you put into Morrigan's tactics screen this command:
Self:Any -> Winter's Grasp
Self:Any -> Lightning
...
Self:Any -> (spell name)

- then she(or your mage) will be casting Winter's Grasps and Lightnings non-stop. Me likes.

[Eleima]

Put in Petrify and Stone Fist in there, and she becomes unstoppable!!! Me likes a lot, too!

[Shadowhawke]

This may be cheesy, but I found to my surprise I was taking down bosses with ease with Morrigan casting Cone of Cold every time it reloaded, freezing the boss, and then having my party of Alistair, Zevran and a rogue backstab the thing for 50+ damage per hit to death.

Some of these ideas are amazing here as well! I must try them out on my next re-run.

[WeeRLegion]

So, has anyone played much with a bloodmage?
A thought occurred to me, but I've yet to unlock the spec, so I'm asking...
If you get 2 bloodmages in your party, is it possible to go for endless healing? As in, do the effects of the heal and group heal spell exceed their casting costs?

So, basically my idea is this; whenever a part member is injured, cast group heal with PC (having second spec spirit healer), and then cast standard heal with say, Morrigan, who's picked BM as her second spec.

Or, um, would casting the group heal spell cover for the HP loss caused to the caster by the casting? That'd be a serious exploit, so I doubdt it, but eh, who knows. Or does someone?

xP

[Icendoan]

I thought about this one, and I'm going to spec Spirit Healer/Bloodmage this run and just spam everything and heal myself.

I suppose, if you just switch back to Mana and heal yourself, you'll do fine.

Icen

[Zander]

OK, question time, and probably in the wrong thread at that! (I'm good at that)

I am playing HN Male Rogue, just finishing Lothering. I have picked up Sten, but sent him to the camp. I have the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep DLC, and am wornering what order to do the rest of the game in. I tried a playthrough as a HN Male warrior, but when I started Redcliffe (First), I kept getting creamed by the undead in the village square - I gave up after about 6 hours and restarted as a rogue. So here I am, wondering. Is there a "correct" order?

Any ideas, advice?

[Choo Choo]

Rogue... hm, you'll probably want Wynne as a healer. Head to Honnleath to pick up Shale, then the Mage's tower. Once you've got Wynne, do the forest, and then go to Redcliffe. Works for me, anyway.

[WeeRLegion]

Yeah, the Mages' tower and Dalish quests are probably the easiest of the lot, and chances are that afterwards you'll be at such an level as to have developed sufficient stun and AoE damage skills to take on the undead handily.

All the enemies level with you, so there probably won't be any GREAT difference in difficulty, but the basic undead at least don't get any fancy abilities over time, so their challenge rating does sort of go down with levels.


Then again, I've had great differences in difficulty in Redcliffe even when playing with the same party composition. Which is a bit weird, really, but I suppose the extended duration of it sort of magnifies the luck factor? Or something?

[Vicen]

Blood Mage and Spirit Healer combo is quite nice...pop on the blood mage talents go to town and Mass Heal whenever need be! I am finding it alot harder to fight without a primary DPS Mage in my 3rd play through...I have myself a Dwarf Commoner (Dual Wielding Rogue) Wynne as a healer Mage...Allistar the tank and Ohgren 2 hand dps...Ive been able to beat just about everything that comes my way but it certainly has not been easy...The high dragon kicked my party's butt...I had no trouble with it when I played my Human Noble Warrior and my Human Mage...of course those parties each had a dps mage!

[Rizzen]

I haven't had too much trouble so far. Finished my first playthrough as a 2H human noble warrior. Ended up playing the majority of the game with Alistair, Morrigan and Wynne. Never needed to go below normal difficulty. Going to go for an Arcane Warrior as my main this time through. Curious as to how it will work out. Think I'll bring along Shale, Zev/Frenchie and someone else this time through.

Tactics wise, CoC and Winter's Grasp are both godly. Blizzard + Earthquake as well. Or either of those + the massive aoe death cloud(cloudkill anyone?). Other than those, Crushing Prison and Forcefield are godsends as well. Usually went about throwing those down on enemy mages while my main + Alistair mopped up the rest. Holy balls Alistair was a beast with

Spoiler

Gaxxkang's sword/board. Tossed some runes in that bitch and he was damn near the damage output of my 2H warrior. Though I never did get the ore sword...