Dragon Age II: The Quickening

[B_Metal]

Let me double check with my buddy, he said he would buy it last night, but I don't think he has the funds on hand. And yes, fuck a paypal.

Just let me know. Torchlight is fun as hell but I'm sure it's not the longest game ever. Also, new PC is already in the Houston area. Just a matter of time now.

[BillyG]

If you don't spend 50 hours of Torchlight I'm calling suspect.

[B_Metal]

I spent about 10 on it yesterday alone, SERIOUSLY. Got damn near all of the achievements too. LOVING IT. I just know I'll push through it because I'm enjoying it so much.

[BillyG]

Fuck it I'm not working out tonight DRAGON AGE: THE DRAGONING to get done did.

[Matt]

OK, REALLY digging the game now. I spent about 4 hours on it last night and had a blast. Rogue is DEFINITELY the class to go with, imho.

[BillyG]

Yea, rogue is amazing. I learned my lesson in the first Dragon Age with not being able to pick locks.

[Matt]

Also, I'm playing around with the different members to try and find the ideal 4 person party.

Fenris: Elven Warrior. Two handed, so he kicks ass with the pre-order sword that I got. He's a really interesting character, too.
Aveline: Human Warrior. Sword and Shield. She's ok but her personality doesn't seem to gel with what I'm going for. Also, she hates it when you try and extort money.

Fenris = MY TANK

Varric: Dwarven rogue. Decent for ranged attacks and easygoing.
Isabella: Human rogue. Decent for upclose attacks. I'm trying to woo her, so she stays in party rotation, especially in situations where I'm trying to coerce money.

Isabella = MY BACKUP ROGUE

Anders: Human mage. The healer. He's in 100% of the time. He also fits in with my playstyle in terms of dialog options go.
Bethany: Human mage. The elementalist. I rotate her with Isabella, depending upon the situation.
Merrill: Elf mage. Haven't really tried her out yet, so I don't have an opinion on her.

Anders = MY HEALER
Bethany = MY BACKUP MAGE

To summarize:
Me (rogue)
Fenris: warrior/tank
Anders: healer
Bethany or Isabella: damagers

What are you guys using so far?

[BillyG]

I don't have many members yet, just picked up Merrill. I had specced Bethany into healing, since I didn't have one yet, but if I get Anders soon I will make Bethany my nuker. I don't have Fenris either yet, but I do have Aveline, and she is running as my tank, and doing a decent job. I have a feeling I will end up just putting down the combat difficulty and running 3 DPS and 1 Healer though.

[Captain Russ]

Beat it last night.

Some epic stuff on the periphery that kind of steals the thunder of the finale, but still a much better story than "hey, this big fucking dragon needs to die KTHNXBAI."

And there are some really fucked up things some of the companion members do. Much darker than Origins.

[Matt]

3 DPS and 1 Healer

I almost did that exact thing, but then I got Fenris. Seriously, he's a really cool character: he looks cool, he has a great voice, and his 'story' is really interesting (so far). I suspect that he's going to become the breakout STAR of DA2 when all is said and done.

[Matt]

Beat it last night.

Some epic stuff on the periphery that kind of steals the thunder of the finale, but still a much better story than "hey, this big fucking dragon needs to die KTHNXBAI."

And there are some really fucked up things some of the companion members do. Much darker than Origins.

Can you give any non-spoilery suggestions?
- I'd like to know what your companion mix was.
- I'd like to know how you spec'd them.
- Who did you romance?
- What was your final amount of playtime and your level of completion?

[Captain Russ]

Varric is a bro for life.

[BillyG]

Russ is THE MACHINE.

[Matt]

Russ is THE MA-SHEEN.

fixed, because he has tiger blood™

[Captain Russ]

Can you give any non-spoilery suggestions?
- I'd like to know what your companion mix was.
- I'd like to know how you spec'd them.
- Who did you romance?

Well, when it comes to the bigger fights toward the end, I had the following:

my 2H warrior with the two hand/vanguard trees maxed with a few bits in reaver (namely the "do moar hurtin' when you're low on health" stuff)

Aveline tanking with the sword and shield tree maxed, most of the defense stats from her character specific tree maxed, and put everything else into the defense-based tree (concentrating passive nodes and getting her magic resistance topped off)

Anders as heal and buff-bot, going into his character tree to get the revive spell, and maxing out the heal/buff tree for heroic aura, and moving into the arcane tree for the shield (it makes things so easy when that's up)

and Merrill as the debuff/support damage, using curses and the earth/sky tree (with some of the CC from the bottom half of her character tree).




If the bigger bosses in the last act are trouble, make some rez potions just in case. It can save your hide when their chickenshit adds come and swarm you.

As for the finale, I took Isabela in Merrill's place for shits and giggles (as Anders' arcane shield mitigated a huge chunk of damage).

I romanced the elf, took a bit on the side from Isabela, and forever after wished I had done it all the opposite way.