Dragon Age: Origins PC Update Released

[pwnophobia]

http://evavhost.com/i/news/dragonagelogo.jpg

The PC version of Dragon Age: Origins gets an update today (v1.02).

Check out the patch notes after the break.

[pwnophobia]

Update 1.02 (via Steam News (http://store.steampowered.com/news/3204/))

* Daggers now apply 0.5 points of damage per additional point in dexterity and 0.5 points of damage per additional point in strength, as originally intended. This increases dagger damage for high-dexterity characters.
* During combat, mana or stamina reserves now correctly regenerate more quickly when reserves are low. This allows players to occasionally use an talent or spell in the later stages of lengthy fights.
* When exploring, mana and stamina now regenerate more quickly at higher character levels. This reduces downtime between fights.
* The spells Force Field, Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold, and Blizzard now have shorter durations and/or longer cooldowns. This ensures that combatants can no longer stun-lock each other by repeatedly casting the same spell.
* The cooldowns for several low-level sustained abilities are now shorter. This ensures that players are not penalized for accidentally deactivating them.
* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.
* Enemy corpses now drop health poultices and money more appropriately, resulting in less clutter in the player's inventory.
* In rare cases, enemy corpses were selectable when they contained no loot. This no longer occurs.
* Party members whose combat tactics were set to defensive behavior no longer stop attacking after using a spell or talent.
* In rare cases, combat tactics conditions could fail to determine whether a character had enough mana or stamina to use an ability. This no longer occurs.
* The Rally talent no longer repeats its audio effect if it is active during certain conversations.
* The Rally talent no longer deactivates upon area transitions or conversations.
* The Shimmering Shield spell now deactivates when the character is out of mana.
* Controlling a summoned creature (like a ranger's pets) during certain special area transitions no longer results in odd behavior.
* Creating a character in a custom module did not create a folder for saves. This could result in corruption of main campaign saves. This no longer occurs.
* In some cases, the class icon was set incorrectly for characters imported from the downloadable Character Creator. This no longer occurs.
* The options menu now includes a setting to automatically download previously purchased content that is not currently installed.
* After installing new downloadable content, the game now always reminds the user to restart the game.
* The icons for some promotional downloadable content items were missing. They now appear correctly.
* Various issues could occasionally cause uploads to the online player profile to fail unexpectedly. This no longer occurs.

[Rafer]

Update 1.02 (via Steam News (http://store.steampowered.com/news/3204/))

* The spells Force Field, Crushing Prison, Cone of Cold, and Blizzard now have shorter durations and/or longer cooldowns. This ensures that combatants can no longer stun-lock each other by repeatedly casting the same spell.



Boo, there goes my entire strategy. It did make things a little too easy though, I guess I have to play the game "normally" now.

[drakkarim]

just finished the game last night finally. was hoping against all hope for a huge plot twist at the end, to make the game go another 30 hours. but alas, i'll have to settle for the 50 i got out of it.

can't wait for a retail pack of all the expansions down the line...

now maybe i can get my ass to finish fallout3...

[Orphiuchus]

Finished it last night around 60 hours. Started my first replay today.

[TalkingOctopus]

If you don't have Steam, Get the patch here:

http://files.bioware.com/dragonage/patch/1.02/DragonAge1.02.exe

[randir14]

How about fixing the memory leak instead of treating the game as if it's an MMO.

[brandonjclark]

Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights.


You don't say......

[Coldeath]

* Daggers now apply 0.5 points of damage per additional point in dexterity and 0.5 points of damage per additional point in strength, as originally intended. This increases dagger damage for high-dexterity characters.

Hmmmmm that is why my guy sucked so much....... O well not to play through with a mage (pre patch) and war (after Patch)

[Blog]

Boo, there goes my entire strategy. It did make things a little too easy though, I guess I have to play the game "normally" now.That's OK, because:* Certain battles were not scaling properly, resulting in excessively difficult fights. They now scale as intended.Isn't it great when everything just works itself out? :)

[HALO 32]

Now how about a patch for the console versions?!

[modeps]

I'll have my review up tomorrow... I'm interested to hear how some of you guys got 50+ hours out of it.

[Vulture]

So did no one else have LoS issues with bows and staffs? As in being shot and being unable to shoot the archer back? I could target them for a spell/ability but basic staff damage/arrows would be blocked!


/I ask because patch notes make no mention.

[Valkyrist]

I'll have my review up tomorrow... I'm interested to hear how some of you guys got 50+ hours out of it.

Just over 63 hours here. Finished two nights ago, about to start up another playthrough after I check the news.

[kwolf]

I'll have my review up tomorrow... I'm interested to hear how some of you guys got 50+ hours out of it.
How did you get any less? My first playthrough was probably 70 hours or more, second was about the same and I'm on my third! To get any less you must have played it on casual and/or skipped a lot of content? I'll admit I do stuff most players probably don't do ... listen to dialog, read codex entries, scour areas for hidden stuff, play on nightmare, do all the sidequests, talk my party, do their quests, etc. etc. But if you can get through it in less than 50 hours, you're flying.

[Syl]

I can't wait to try this out... in a year or so.

[wastedyears]

The 360 version is buggy as hell. Character models disappear during dialog (it looks like you are talking to a floating sword, etc.), AI characters will often ignore tactics, range chars. will stop casting/shooting arrows and rush into melee combat despite having plenty of mana or arrows equipped, melee chars will run past selected targets and attack another target... and I could go on. I usually have to save/reload and hope that this time the chars do what I tell them to do. Its a real grind. Its a game I wish I had rented first. But its from Bioware, so it will probably win a gazillion game of the year awards.

[modeps]

How did you get any less? My first playthrough was probably 70 hours or more, second was about the same and I'm on my third! To get any less you must have played it on casual and/or skipped a lot of content? I'll admit I do stuff most players probably don't do ... listen to dialog, read codex entries, scour areas for hidden stuff, play on nightmare, do all the sidequests, talk my party, do their quests, etc. etc. But if you can get through it in less than 50 hours, you're flying.

I did EVERYTHING I was given, including DLC. After completion I realized that the NPCs had more quests to give that I didn't do, but unless those add up to 25 hours worth of content... Then I guess I was flying? No, I didn't read through the codex entries, but I listened to all the dialog. I finished in 33h so I'm really not sure what else I missed unless the 360 version is light on content? I played on normal.

[BleedTheFreak]

I did EVERYTHING I was given, including DLC. After completion I realized that the NPCs had more quests to give that I didn't do, but unless those add up to 25 hours worth of content... Then I guess I was flying? No, I didn't read through the codex entries, but I listened to all the dialog. I finished in 33h so I'm really not sure what else I missed unless the 360 version is light on content? I played on normal.

The console version sounds (from what I've read) to be much easier (especially on Normal) than the PC version, with smaller scale battles and the like.

I'm playing on Hard on my second play through, and I'm approaching 60 hours and I haven't even gotten to the end part where.. stuff happens.. right before more stuff happens. I have at least 10 hours of gameplay, and I have TONS of quests still open in my log.

My first play through was right over 40 hours. I read a lot of codex entries. This second play through I've read maybe 3 codex entries and I'm very careful to quite out of the game when I'm not playing to get an accurate count of my play time. I've spent a lot of time exploring this time, and I've been rewarded by finding some AMAZING stuff and great dialog/side stuff.

The guide is a great boon for the second play through.

[drakkarim]

I'll have my review up tomorrow... I'm interested to hear how some of you guys got 50+ hours out of it.

just turning over every rock, i was surprised that the ending came at the time that it did, and then i didn't have a chance to finish up a couple quests.

funny moment came up in the end game (POSSIBLE SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED YET) probably some hard coded scripting mistake...

i didn't get to talk to allistar too much throughout the game, but a few minutes before the end fight, he comes up to me and tells me that he hears we'll be in denerim soon, and he'd like to look up his sister, warn her of the upcoming invasion and all... i didn't have the heart to tell the guy that it was a little late, so i just said "sure buddy..."

[drakkarim]

just turning over every rock, i was surprised that the ending came at the time that it did, and then i didn't have a chance to finish up a couple quests.

funny moment came up in the end game (POSSIBLE SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED YET) probably some hard coded scripting mistake...

i didn't get to talk to allistar too much throughout the game, but a few minutes before the end fight, he comes up to me and tells me that he hears we'll be in denerim soon, and he'd like to look up his sister, warn her of the upcoming invasion and all... i didn't have the heart to tell the guy that it was a little late, so i just said "sure buddy..."

forgot, i played each of the starting stories through on normal, (maybe an hour each) and then picked one and played it the whole way through on easy, noticed a very big difference in combat when playing on easy, didn't really need to do too much strategy or keep track of anyone. on normal i had to watch out what was going on like a hawk. anything higher than normal would have frustrated the frack out of me and ruined the whole experience for me, so i will never bother with it.

but i will say that the lockpicking skill was almost a waste of time, i regret picking that class in fear of missing out on some special loot, everything locked away was pretty much average at best, nothing unique. next time i'll play through as a tank like i wanted, so i can wear all the heavy armors.

[HALO 32]

The 360 version is buggy as hell.

Try playing the Playstation 3 version; I’ve seen more of these glitches in there then the 360 version. (I have played both versions.)

[Bneezy]

How about fixing the memory leak instead of treating the game as if it's an MMO.

Oh my God, is that why the load times would start churning out at PS2 speed the longer you played? I had to keep quitting every hour or so to keep the loads from.......that's where you get the 50+ hours from!

[PopoWRX]

Oh my God, is that why the load times would start churning out at PS2 speed the longer you played? I had to keep quitting every hour or so to keep the loads from.......that's where you get the 50+ hours from!

Yea, haha, I'd have to do the same thing. I think I need to reformat my hard drive too. It really really slows down during mega fights, even with all the options turned all the way down.

That being said, I got 60 hours out of my first play through, reading most codecs, skipping over some. I am playing on PC though as I hear the difficulty is higher then that of the console version. Lots of pausing really extends fights. Haven't gotten any of the DLC either.

[net7runner]

Cone of Cold nerfed?! Say it isn't sooo...

Of course, it was beyond overpowered, and needed it. That said, there were many battles in the PC version that I survived simply due to its use. Hopefully those have been toned down. This will also have the effect of not making mages about four times as powerful as the other two classes. Hopefully.

[Bneezy]

Wow, I did almost 57 hours. I didn't realize I had put that much time into the game. I burned through it after the Landsmeet. I didn't even loot corpses after a while. Speaking of difficulty, I dumped the remainder of my fortune into the Allied Supply Crates and I didn't even know I had to manually select my forces. Beat the last battle almost entirely without them. The poor Redcliffe soldiers were fodder until the elven archers came in and mopped up. I should have bought the guide, someone could have told me to put clothes on the followers I didn't use. They were shamed during the last battle, just punching Darkspawn naked.

[randir14]

Oh my God, is that why the load times would start churning out at PS2 speed the longer you played? I had to keep quitting every hour or so to keep the loads from.......that's where you get the 50+ hours from!

Yeah, there was a big thread about it on the Bioware forum. They said they're "aware of it".

[Anenome]

I'll have my review up tomorrow... I'm interested to hear how some of you guys got 50+ hours out of it.
Elf ass, no doubt >_>

[davidj.dk]

I'll have my review up tomorrow... I'm interested to hear how some of you guys got 50+ hours out of it.

67 hours 23 minutes here on first play through.. on my second playthrough now which seem to go a lot faster..

[ascl]

I have no idea how you finished it in 33 hours modeps! I clocked up 55 hours, and am sure I missed some stuff!

[modeps]

I have no idea how you finished it in 33 hours modeps! I clocked up 55 hours, and am sure I missed some stuff!

Unless the playtime clock in the 360 version is wrong, it was 33h. People keep suggesting things to me that I may have missed and the only ones that may have been some time is the party character quests. Spoilers possibly: I did all chanter board quests, all mage quests, all crows, I missed one interested parties. I killed three large dragons (shapeshifter, mountaintop, archdemon) and even banged two party members. I brought all of the forces I could to the landsmeet and recruited all party members except for Sten and Lohgain. I've played through all but one origin story too (but that wouldn't be added to the clock). I'm sure the clock doesn't account for deaths or loads either, so maybe that would add some?

[NuK]

Now how about a patch for the console versions?!

wait, they made a console version of this? *duck*

[NuK]

console version is significantly easier, from what i've heard. My friend who has the 360 version was watching me play on pc, and he was astounded how often the game was paused (for me, about 95% of the time, honestly, especially on hard fights), and said he basically was letting tactics make decisions for him.

I'm guessing the game timer continues even when action is paused. I think that will make up for the majority of the discrepency.

[chowweekly]

yeah the console version normal has no friendly fire and less enemies. I assume it's to make it so that console gamers don't have to pause and position their guys as much. With how much I was pausing in the pc version it was like a turn based rpg pretty much.

[Anenome]

console version is significantly easier, from what i've heard. My friend who has the 360 version was watching me play on pc, and he was astounded how often the game was paused (for me, about 95% of the time, honestly, especially on hard fights), and said he basically was letting tactics make decisions for him.

I'm guessing the game timer continues even when action is paused. I think that will make up for the majority of the discrepency.
I suppose this explains why Modeps beat it <30 hours.

[modeps]

I suppose this explains why Modeps beat it <30 hours.

33 hours Anenome, GET IT RIGHT. :eek:

[MightyDog]

I'm not playing this stupid game until they fix this bug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDanX-beShQ

UNPLAYABLE!

[Anenome]

33 hours Anenome, GET IT RIGHT. :eek:
Are those African, or European hours? Eh, I gotcha there, huh, huh?

[AntB]

I'm not playing this stupid game until they fix this bug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDanX-beShQ

UNPLAYABLE!

That made me LOL

[murdly]

Played Xbox 360 version, 37 hours to beat it. Wasn't rushing through, in fact I basically cleared out my quest log before the end. Must be that pause on the PC version thing... the only times I had it "paused" were when I'd bring up the radial menu to get off an AoE spell.

[murdly]

Also, totally off topic, I've seriously been a member for 4 and a half years and that was my first post? I remember winning a copy of MoH and the expansion pack from a contest on this website, hah.

[Anenome]

How did you win a contest without posting? >_>

[Johan]

How did you win a contest without posting? >_>

An alt?

You wouldn't want to post too much on one account, after all. Look what happens to you! :D

: points at self :

[modeps]

Also, totally off topic, I've seriously been a member for 4 and a half years and that was my first post? I remember winning a copy of MoH and the expansion pack from a contest on this website, hah.

Every now and then, old posts are deleted to clean up the database, so no worries. Generally we're ok with low post counters unless the first post is something reallllly stupid, or you're trying to spam...

I mean, let's face it, not everyone is Johan.

I'm happy to hear we had similar experiences and time for our playthroughs, now I feel less weird.

[ascl]

I'm shocked that pause added 20 hours to my play through! Although, I did spent a fair amount of time paused during combat... but 20 hours?!?

[murdly]

How did you win a contest without posting? >_>

On one hand, I used to post a little, they must have been cleared out. On the other hand, you only had to email EA to enter the contest, you didn't have to post anything for it. But on the gripping hand, I guess I should have called it a drawing from the beginning because that's all it really was.

[Johan]

I mean, let's face it, not everyone is Johan.

Thank goodness. He's a di**. :D

[pearle]

My first play through was over 90 hours. People actually played through this game in under 50 hours on their first play through?

[Bneezy]

I'm not playing this stupid game until they fix this bug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDanX-beShQ

UNPLAYABLE!

Did anyone else notice the damn crease in the back of your head where it would meet (or not meet) your neck? Of course my character suffered from unfortunate genetics and was bald. How did QA miss that! You see the back of your own damn head through most of the dialog and cutscenes.

[Sayntin]

yeah the console version normal has no friendly fire and less enemies. I assume it's to make it so that console gamers don't have to pause and position their guys as much. With how much I was pausing in the pc version it was like a turn based rpg pretty much.

I also thought the same thing, I did so much pausing. Especially in the alley fights of Denerim. I think one of those fights had 9 archers, and another 15 bad guys including one named. Those suckers were hard, required lots of smart tactics and avoiding hits plus good spell combos. I love this game for the combat system. It was so much fun to figure out the fights. Plus acidentally burning my guys or freezing them becuse of friendly fire added to the enjoyment of making the wrong move. Thnak God PC lets you get a rooftop view of the action too. 360 version sounds pretty lame from what I have heard.

[Sayntin]

My first play through was over 90 hours. People actually played through this game in under 50 hours on their first play through?

I am sure it is a console thing, my first playthrough on PC was 79 hours, and I did everything I could (read codexs, all side quests I had).

[AspectVoid]

My first play through was over 90 hours. People actually played through this game in under 50 hours on their first play through?

I did my first play through in about 65 hours, but I skipped a LOT of side quests. I got so tied up in the main story that I didn't bother doing the mercenary side quests or the mage collective side quests, thieves side quests, Denerim guard side quests, so forth and so on.

[Methos]

I didn't think that this warranted a new thread, but Mac users can now pre-order (http://dragonage.bioware.com/game/preorder/) this Epic game in their native OS. It gives no actual release date, just "this Holiday." I know a couple of people will be happy. I'll be playing this game for years.

[drakkarim]

too bad they didn't have 2 expansions waiting for release. i have no reason to load up the game again since finishing it. did the intro stories for all the other available options, so no reason to run through, again, unless i grit my teeth and force myself to play a bastard...