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Mink Staccato

11-03-2009, 10:52 AM

Anyone else on the West coast having trouble launching this in Steam? When I click on it, I get the option to either...

Launch Dragon Age: Origins
~or~
Launch Dragon Age: Origin's Launcher

(Um... Isn't THIS the launcher?)

But when I click on either, I get a new message saying... 'Please wait while Steam unlock encrypted files'. Then that window shuts after about a second and nothing happens.

~mink~

MSUSteve

11-03-2009, 10:52 AM

It looks like it'll be November 5th for me after all. I'm bummed, but at least it'll be here before this weekend.

Hello,

I have checked our records and see that there was a delay in shipping your order. Unfortunately, the estimated shipping and delivery dates for your order have not been updated to reflect this change. It is our policy to notify customers whenever such delays occur, and I sincerely apologize that you were not notified in this case.

I'd like to offer you a $5.00 promotional certificate as an apology for the delay. This amount has been added to your account which you can use the next time you order an item shipped and sold by Amazon.com.

I can confirm that we still expect to ship your order by November 4. It should be delivered to you by November 5.

We'll send you an confirmation e-mail when your order is shipped.

Albert Woo

11-03-2009, 10:54 AM

Anyone else on the West coast having trouble launching this in Steam? When I click on it, I get the option to either...

Launch Dragon Age: Origins
~or~
Launch Dragon Age: Origin's Launcher

(Um... Isn't THIS the launcher?)

But when I click on either, I get a new message saying... 'Please wait while Steam unlock encrypted files". Then that window shuts after about a second and then nothing happens.

~mink~
Keep trying, it took a few times for me to get the decrypting progress box with the Launcher option.

Bahimiron

11-03-2009, 10:54 AM

Case

11-03-2009, 10:55 AM

It looks like it'll be November 5th for me after all. I'm bummed, but at least it'll be here before this weekend.

Yeah, this particular shipment from Amazon has been handled oddly. I always get emails from Amazon when something ships, but have seen nothing from them about Dragon Age. But when I checked the Amazon site late last night, the status of the order was "shipped."

Rock8man

11-03-2009, 10:57 AM

On the other hand, a $5 credit at Amazon sounds like a better deal to me than a delay notification from Amazon.

Mink Staccato

11-03-2009, 10:58 AM

Keep trying, it took a few times for me to get the decrypting progress box with the Launcher option.

Ah... Seems to be working now. Thanks.

~mink~

Gryndyl

11-03-2009, 10:58 AM

MSUSteve

11-03-2009, 11:00 AM

Yeah, this particular shipment from Amazon has been handled oddly. I always get emails from Amazon when something ships, but have seen nothing from them about Dragon Age. But when I checked the Amazon site late last night, the status of the order was "shipped."
I know some people have gotten shipment notifications for their CE versions of DA:O from Amazon, but I haven't seen anyone else but me post about not having his copy shipped yet. I wonder if my order is being sent from some separate fulfillment center or something. It has been strange.

On the other hand, a $5 credit at Amazon sounds like a better deal to me than a delay notification from Amazon.
Yeah, Amazon Customer Service will always pass out a $5 certificate if the experience has been less than ideal. They're pretty great really.

Mink Staccato

11-03-2009, 11:01 AM

Try restarting steam. If that doesn't do it then right click the game and have it verify game files.

Yeah, I think that's what did the trick. I jumped out of Steam and went immediately back in. Just in case anyone else is having this problem...

~mink~

Gryndyl

11-03-2009, 11:01 AM

I'm sorry, but once I see bare midriff I am out. "Better than a chainmail bikini" doesn't mean that I'll be happy to see it on my character. Luckily I should be able to just increase my strength and go with medium armor which I find much more aesthetically pleasing.

I can certainly understand not liking it from an aesthetic perspective. I can also certainly understand LIKING it from an aesthetic perspective :D

I've never minded it from a realism perspective, however, as there are plenty of historic examples of "skimpy" armor on men. Hell, the Spartans fought buck ass naked.

"THIS...IS...AWKWAAAAARD!!!"

Adam Altmann

11-03-2009, 11:09 AM

Walked into Best Buy over lunch and picked the Collector's Edition for PC up off the shelf. (I'm a sucker for cloth maps.) Would have whittapic-ed myself holding the box, but was running out of time. So, as a consolation, here's a quick one I took of the cloth map:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2687/4072208925_ab11fbd000_b.jpg

In other news, I skimmed the manual for about ten seconds. It's wafer-thin and seems to have bare-bones info.

Munky

11-03-2009, 11:13 AM

Nothing like an epic 100+ hour RPG to save you from navel-contemplation. You should be happy, now you have something to do!
Yeah. But I already have installed and unfinished Fallout 3, Sacred 2, Drakensang, The Witcher, NWN2 MoB & SoZ. Not to mention I'm not bored with Civ4 (FFH2) or The Sims 3 yet! (Let's not even get into my backlog of older unfinished games that haven't been put on the rig...)

On the upside, you can play DA all day and make taunting posts while the rest of us are stuck at our day jobs.
If only the 2-year-old would agree! I have him during the day to save on outrageous daycare bills.

Angie Gallant

11-03-2009, 11:16 AM

I can certainly understand not liking it from an aesthetic perspective. I can also certainly understand LIKING it from an aesthetic perspective :D

I've never minded it from a realism perspective, however, as there are plenty of historic examples of "skimpy" armor on men. Hell, the Spartans fought buck ass naked.

"THIS...IS...AWKWAAAAARD!!!"

I am generally far more forgiving of cheesecake if I can get some beefcake to go with it. When the male and female versions of the same armor are as different as the light armors in Dragon Age seem to be, that irks me. But I am quite pleased with the Medium and higher armors.

Enidigm

11-03-2009, 11:18 AM

I'm sorry, but once I see bare midriff I am out. "Better than a chainmail bikini" doesn't mean that I'll be happy to see it on my character. Luckily I should be able to just increase my strength and go with medium armor which I find much more aesthetically pleasing.

There's nothing wrong with a leather bikini, per se. It just shouldn't provide much or any protection. If steel thongs are giving more armor value than her starting white robes, we're in Vallejo land. Which of course, is most every role playing game today. So, i don't see why this game fires off your unrealism detector more than, say, Bayonetta. Or WoW, or Sacred 2, ect.

It's probably because some people see their avatars as themselves, while others see them as the character they're playing.

Angie Gallant

11-03-2009, 11:21 AM

This isn't me saying "OMG UNREALISM," this is me saying "In a darker setting, I prefer more coverage." For me, cheesecake and gritty don't taste good together.

Bayonetta makes me laugh, and that makes me forgive a lot. It would not be what it is without the hair and the nudity and the wtf.

WoW bothers me plenty. I got really ticked off when my battlecow was running around in a platemail garterbelt.

BleedTheFreak

11-03-2009, 11:22 AM

Anyone know how I can spend my newly purchased points on the Warden's Keep? Nothing is listed in the "Available Content" section...?

unbongwah

11-03-2009, 11:22 AM

So, i don't see why this game fires off your unrealism detector more than, say, Bayonetta.
Bayonetta is completely, ludicrously, delightfully absurd and knows it. DA wants us to take it seriously but still dips into the "HUR HUR GURLZ" fantasy cliche bucket from time to time. [See also: bitching about the sex scenes, Maxim photo spread.]

idrisz

11-03-2009, 11:25 AM

it's so much easier if you have a mage as main character, compare to my playthrough on 360 using a warrior, mage is like a breeze.

MattKeil

11-03-2009, 11:26 AM

For what it's worth, I agree with just about everything said in the Eurogamer review. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/dragon-age-origins-review)

I really don't know if I've ever said that before.

stusser

11-03-2009, 11:27 AM

Why do you say that? Is it the AE damage or the extra healing and crowd control?

Tim James

11-03-2009, 11:29 AM

But I am quite pleased with the Medium and higher armors.I thought I've asked this before, but I've always wondered if the gender neutrality of female characters being able to swing huge swords for big damage and wear heavy armor like the male characters helped mitigate the boyish silliness of the skimpy clothes, or whether they are isolated considerations.

idrisz

11-03-2009, 11:39 AM

Why do you say that? Is it the AE damage or the extra healing and crowd control?

both, having healing is freaking awesome, but one fireball usually take cares most of the ranges is even better.

Paralyze even work on boss, and last quite a long time.

Morberis

11-03-2009, 11:41 AM

Just picked up a CE from Walmart and I'm actually kinda impressed by the map. It's nice and thick but along the top and sides are those stray strings coming loose. Oddly the bottom seems to be woven so as to not have loose fibers.

Yeah the manuals wafer thin, and black and white =(

Eightball

11-03-2009, 11:45 AM

I can certainly understand not liking it from an aesthetic perspective. I can also certainly understand LIKING it from an aesthetic perspective :D

I've never minded it from a realism perspective, however, as there are plenty of historic examples of "skimpy" armor on men. Hell, the Spartans fought buck ass naked.

"THIS...IS...AWKWAAAAARD!!!"

Uh, no they didn't (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_Army#Clothing.2C_arms_and_armor). Unless your view of Spartan history is based solely on 300, of course.

zengonzo

11-03-2009, 11:49 AM

I'm OK with giving up midriffs so long as there are barrel loads of cleavage to make up for it.

MSUSteve

11-03-2009, 11:49 AM

Yeah the manuals wafer thin, and black and white =(
Sounds like a typical EA manual to me.

I just got a shipment notification from Amazon, so my CE will be here tomorrow.

idrisz

11-03-2009, 11:51 AM

I'm OK with giving up midriffs so long as there are barrel loads of cleavage to make up for it.

I'm not really master at examining cup sizes, but I think most of the female characters in DA only have like B- cup or something.

Pogue Mahone

11-03-2009, 11:52 AM

Man, I left for work this morning and noticed the Amazon box was in my mailbox. Yeahhhhhhhh, I almost turned right around, but I figured it would give me something to look forward to.

Gryndyl

11-03-2009, 11:54 AM

Uh, no they didn't (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_Army#Clothing.2C_arms_and_armor). Unless your view of Spartan history is based solely on 300, of course.

I stand corrected but that makes my joke less funny.

Nawid A

11-03-2009, 11:58 AM

Sounds like the console versions are significantly worse than the PC. Goddamnit.

zengonzo

11-03-2009, 11:58 AM

I'm not really master at examining cup sizes, but I think most of the female characters in DA only have like B- cup or something.

The chestplates still pay appropriate deference to bust emphasis, it seems.

Hopefully there will at least be a few leather thongs arcing hooker-hip-high out from metal miniskirts.

stusser

11-03-2009, 12:01 PM

Sounds like the console versions are significantly worse than the PC. Goddamnit.
The PC is the main platform, the console versions are ports. Also the PC version will have mods. It is obviously superior, yes.

And thanks, I'm definitely playing an elf mage now, then.

peterb

11-03-2009, 12:02 PM

I've never minded it from a realism perspective, however, as there are plenty of historic examples of "skimpy" armor on men. Hell, the Spartans fought buck ass naked.

The Spartans (like other hoplite-based armies) fought in a tight phalanx: each man was protected on the head with a helmet, on the body by a gigantic shield, and on his feet by a sort of low greave (actually, typically only on the "forward foot". The "fighting naked" part (I'd describe it as "fighting comparatively light compared to non-hoplite forces") was in fact a practicality: if the phalanx broke, it was crucial to be able to run like hell, and once you threw away your shield you would be able to do that. Couldn't do that if you were in full heavy armor.

The name for someone who fights without adequate armor who is NOT in a phalanx is "pincushion".

mkozlows

11-03-2009, 12:02 PM

Sounds like the console versions are significantly worse than the PC. Goddamnit.

Everyone, literally everyone, says the PC version is the best. But it's still bizarre to me, because every time they say it, they then go on to give moon-person reasons for that judgment. So far, I have heard that the PC version is better because it is harder, involves more micromanagement, and has a WOW-style UI instead of a Mass Effect-style UI.

(Well, and also it has better graphics, but that falls into the "no shit" camp.)

Sarkus

11-03-2009, 12:05 PM

So no one knows if a PS3 version of DA:O will let me use Blood Dragon armor in the 360 version of ME2?

Goddam unlocks. Aw, hell, who cares. If they've got a CE of the PS3 version, I'll make the switch.

I don't know for sure, but since Bioware is handling all the extra stuff via their site, even if you are playing on a console, I'd imagine that it should work.

For example, they have to have something in place for the unannounced PC verison of ME2, right?

Morberis

11-03-2009, 12:05 PM

So, where do I buy that DLC? I don't see anything on the Bioware Social Network, Bioware Store, or in the in-game DLC menu. The "Available DLC" menu is empty.

Ope and there it popped up after my other stuff finished downloading. I see they're going with a points system where I need to buy points to then spend on DLC....

Dan Lawrence

11-03-2009, 12:06 PM

Everyone, literally everyone, says the PC version is the best. But it's still bizarre to me, because every time they say it, they then go on to give moon-person reasons for that judgment. So far, I have heard that the PC version is better because it is harder, involves more micromanagement, and has a WOW-style UI instead of a Mass Effect-style UI.

(Well, and also it has better graphics, but that falls into the "no shit" camp.)

I think the problem is that some of us are moon people and think thats OK :)

Tim James

11-03-2009, 12:07 PM

Angie Gallant

11-03-2009, 12:07 PM

I thought I've asked this before, but I've always wondered if the gender neutrality of female characters being able to swing huge swords for big damage and wear heavy armor like the male characters helped mitigate the boyish silliness of the skimpy clothes, or whether they are isolated considerations.

At this point in time, they are isolated. I flat out wouldn't play a game that had user-driven character creation and told me I couldn't swing a huge sword because of the gender I chose no matter what the armor looked like. I know there are plenty of games where you choose from a certain number of pre-made characters and generally I am not exactly happy with the number of or type of roles the female characters get in those games, but that isn't as bad as restricting a user-generated character would be.

mkozlows

11-03-2009, 12:10 PM

I don't know for sure, but since Bioware is handling all the extra stuff via their site, even if you are playing on a console, I'd imagine that it should work.

Really? You don't just enter the code on xbox.com or on the 360 dashboard?

Murbella

11-03-2009, 12:15 PM

Backlash against long steam decrypting time!

Desslock

11-03-2009, 12:16 PM

that only apply to the main character though, none of the other characters gain tactic slot without putting points in combat tactics.

That's not true - the other characters also get tactic slots occasionally when leveling. Frequency and quantity may vary by character, however.

TheWombat

11-03-2009, 12:20 PM

Talk about frustration. Picked up a CE at BB and it won't install. Gets to the unpacking of the .rar files and quits saying it can't find a file or disk is removed. Simply will not install. Anyone have any ideas?

Enidigm

11-03-2009, 12:24 PM

... sounds like a bad disk. Bleh. Try an external DVD reader?

idrisz

11-03-2009, 12:25 PM

That's not true - the other characters also get tactic slots occasionally when leveling. Frequency and quantity may vary by character, however.

my Alistair is lvl 16 with 5 slots, that 1 extra slot is because I put 1 points in combat tactics...

Velvet Elvis

11-03-2009, 12:26 PM

Not that it really matters, but that's the most uninspired and generic fantasy world map I've ever seen.

However, I'm sure the game will be lovely and I can't wait to get home and play.

TheWombat

11-03-2009, 12:34 PM

... sounds like a bad disk. Bleh. Try an external DVD reader?

I'm trying to copy the contents to a hard drive and install from there, but it's taking forever...might indeed be a bad disk.

thinkingork

11-03-2009, 12:35 PM

Did the game bomb?

It is nowhere to be found on Steam chart.

LesJarvis

11-03-2009, 12:36 PM

Heh, I noticed that too. It's just an error related to the game becoming available I think. Prior to that the deluxe edition was first and the regular edition was third.

MSUSteve

11-03-2009, 12:38 PM

Don't forget the comfy chair.
Tom actually cited the comfy couch as a reason he decided to play the 360 version of DA:O. That and the fact that he had a free copy of the 360 version and not the PC version.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 12:40 PM

the process of entering your keys seems kind of crappy to say the least. Having trouble getting the social site to recognize my keys.

Angie Gallant

11-03-2009, 12:41 PM

I can't even get the site to load to try entering my keys.

scharmers

11-03-2009, 12:42 PM

The Spartans (like other hoplite-based armies) fought in a tight phalanx: each man was protected on the head with a helmet, on the body by a gigantic shield, and on his feet by a sort of low greave (actually, typically only on the "forward foot". The "fighting naked" part (I'd describe it as "fighting comparatively light compared to non-hoplite forces") was in fact a practicality: if the phalanx broke, it was crucial to be able to run like hell, and once you threw away your shield you would be able to do that. Couldn't do that if you were in full heavy armor.

The name for someone who fights without adequate armor who is NOT in a phalanx is "pincushion".

Most Hoplites also wore some sort of heavy torso covering. That's why skirmishers came into their own when a phalanx broke; they could run down the fleeing Hoplites -- who often were not desperately shedding that heavy armor because it represented the majority of their wealth.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 12:43 PM

yeah it is VERY slow.

when trying to redeem my promo codes (linked to when you click the redeem code button in the game) it gives me both an error and success message...
" Code not recognized, please check that you have entered it correctly.
Code successfully redeemed. "

I have to admit i find it kind of ironic that the reason i am not playing it currently is not because steam is overloaded and died, but because all DA related bioware sites are dead and i can't redeem any codes.

Oghier

11-03-2009, 12:46 PM

EA's servers are completely borked. I finally managed to register the game, but you can't get anywhere near the pages needed to get the DLC.

Buying PC games on launch day is usually a bad idea.

LesJarvis

11-03-2009, 12:48 PM

For anyone who bought the Steam deluxe (or other) editions: are the various bits of DLC included in the Steam download, or do you still have to go through EA/Bioware's login crap to claim them? I ask because I don't seem to have received the necessary codes or whatever in my e-mail, so I'm hoping it's the former.

Tim James

11-03-2009, 12:48 PM

Most Hoplites also wore some sort of heavy torso covering. That's why skirmishers came into their own when a phalanx broke; they could run down the fleeing Hoplites -- who often were not desperately shedding that heavy armor because it represented the majority of their wealth.Do continue, this nerdfight historical lesson interests me, given that I chose Super Saver shipping. :)

Albert Woo

11-03-2009, 12:50 PM

For anyone who bought the Steam deluxe (or other) editions: are the various bits of DLC included in the Steam download, or do you still have to go through EA/Bioware's login crap to claim them?
For my Steam Deluxe edition, I had to register the codes on the Bioware site before it started downloading the DLC and pre-order stuff. On my slow connection, that's another hour or so of downloading before I can continue playing.

LesJarvis

11-03-2009, 12:53 PM

Did you get the necessary code(s) through the Steam client or something? Just register the CD key?

Enidigm

11-03-2009, 12:54 PM

Can't you just play without the pre-order stuff or is it somehow not available once you start?

Murbella

11-03-2009, 12:55 PM

For my Steam Deluxe edition, I had to register the codes on the Bioware site before it started downloading the DLC and pre-order stuff. On my slow connection, that's another hour or so of downloading before I can continue playing.
You were able to register the codes on their social site? Doesn't seem to work for me personally and there are many big threads (some specifically about this) of people not being able to redeem them.

Can't even register my game. says Code is not valid for game

Albert Woo

11-03-2009, 12:57 PM

Can't you just play without the pre-order stuff or is it somehow not available once you start?
You have to register and download the pre-order stuff too.

Albert Woo

11-03-2009, 12:58 PM

Did you get the necessary code(s) through the Steam client or something? Just register the CD key?
Yeah, the Steam client shows you your CD keys. I put them all into the Bioware site, and got a weird message saying that the keys were both invalid and that I had successfully entered them. When I restarted the game, the downloads started automatically.

seventimessix

11-03-2009, 01:00 PM

My copy just arrived from Amazon. I didn't realize that you got the ME2 armor with the standard edition, that was a nice little surprise. Now to play it!

skyride

11-03-2009, 01:01 PM

Tom actually cited the comfy couch as a reason he decided to play the 360 version of DA:O. That and the fact that he had a free copy of the 360 version and not the PC version.

Comfy chair is really important for me as well. I could get a comfy chair for my PC but I still find using mouse/keyboard uncomfy, more efficient but less comfy. Maybe some people have crazy setups that lets them lean back and move around with ease while still using M&K?

Albert Woo

11-03-2009, 01:01 PM

You were able to register the codes on their social site? Doesn't seem to work for me personally and there are many big threads (some specifically about this) of people not being able to redeem them.

Can't even register my game. says Code is not valid for game
I just finished downloading all the bonus and pre-order content after redeeming the codes on the social site. I didn't have too much trouble getting onto the site.

LesJarvis

11-03-2009, 01:01 PM

Yeah, the Steam client shows you your CD keys. I put them all into the Bioware site, and got a weird message saying that the keys were both invalid and that I had successfully entered them. When I restarted the game, the downloads started automatically.

Thanks very much -- I was starting to worry that my evening was going to consist of being angry at Steam support.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 01:02 PM

Even though it seemed like nothing worked on the social site, restarting the game and checking the dlc list again shows it worked. Downloading shale & warden's keep now.

Joe M.

11-03-2009, 01:03 PM

Maybe some people have crazy setups that lets them lean back and move around with ease while still using M&K?

Or we can sit in a chair and play computer games without worrying about how our asses feel, I suppose.

Stridergg

11-03-2009, 01:04 PM

Woohoo, got my Steam copy running.

Just a quick update on the gore issue that was discussed some pages ago. The good news is that the game (at least the PC version of it) does have the option that disables "persistent gore" as the call it. I unchecked this option and my characters are not splattered with blood anymore like they took a blood bath.

BTW I unchecked it right after my first battle with rats. My chars were all covered in blood like they killed at least an elephant.

So far so good! :)

Sarkus

11-03-2009, 01:08 PM

Yeah, I'm not surprised by the problems. Even last night when I was installing the whole system was struggling. Today is just going to be that much worse. It's easy to miss, but there is a refresh page icon on that menu. I had to hit that before it recognized a lot of things.

jg93

11-03-2009, 01:10 PM

Imryll

11-03-2009, 01:10 PM

EA's servers are completely borked. I finally managed to register the game, but you can't get anywhere near the pages needed to get the DLC.

Buying PC games on launch day is usually a bad idea.

I don't think it's buying PC games on launch day that's a bad idea. It's adding to the burden of everyone trying to register with day one DLC that seems ... short-sighted.

Adam Sensoy

11-03-2009, 01:14 PM

For 360, you do all the downloading and redeeming of stuff on the XBLM, right?

greg wak

11-03-2009, 01:16 PM

I hope I can use the pre-order stuff on two rigs... I just stupidly put them on my work rig, where I'll probably never play the game. Since these codes are downloaded through the EA servers I'm wondering if their not one use apps - anyone know?

Did you just register the codes on your work rig or did you put the game on it and download the stuff as well?
I'm at work waiting for the day to end so I can go home and fire this up. I have the game here and chatted on line with EA support and they said I can enter the codes from any computer. So I did and got the same "accepted/not accepted" message that many others are getting. So I hope it's ready when I get home.

Telefrog

11-03-2009, 01:17 PM

I am purposefully not trying to get to the DLC stuff until much later in the week.

Sarkus

11-03-2009, 01:18 PM

As far as I know you redeem your codes through your Bioware/EA account, meaning it shouldn't matter which computer you used to redeem them. Everything is tied to the account, not the specific computer.

seventimessix

11-03-2009, 01:31 PM

For 360, you do all the downloading and redeeming of stuff on the XBLM, right?

I just did it through the in game menu and it worked flawlessly, although if you wanted I'm sure you could do it through the marketplace on your console or computer.

TheWombat

11-03-2009, 01:32 PM

Damn disk runs fine on my wife's machine--looks like she gets a nice CE version. We have the same SATA DVD drive, too, so I have no idea why mine won't read the disk.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 01:34 PM

The servers pushing the dlc seem EXTREMELY slow. half an hour downloading shale and warden's keep got me 10% on shale and 20% on the keep.

MrAnderson

11-03-2009, 01:35 PM

Silly DLC issues. I am not sure if its Steam , EA, or Bioware but something is amiss.

I pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe from Steam, pre-loaded, decrypted and now want to get my DLC. Steam tells me I have 3 CD keys:
Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe CD Key
Dragon Age: Origins Preorder CD Key
Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe Game CD Key

From within the game I logged, clicked on Downloadable Content and then clicked Redeem Code. That took me to the redeem code page at bioware.
I entered the first key, got a success message
Entered second key, got a "code could not be recognized" error.
Entered third key, got a success.

Went back to the game, I don't seen any DLC downloading. I expected to see something since 2 of the codes were accepted, but even after restating there is still nothing.

I have tried repeatedly to enter that second key (the preorder one) all to failures. Oh and and the other two keys now also fail; which would be expected if they had been properly accepted the first time.

And there seems to be a variety of different outcomes happening to people on the steam forums and Bioware forums. So sad.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 01:36 PM

try to restart the game MrAnderson. That is what got the game to notice i had dlc after i did the same entering thing.

Igor Muravyev

11-03-2009, 01:37 PM

When is this up on Steam?

Murbella

11-03-2009, 01:37 PM

nearly 2 hours ago.

Falcon554

11-03-2009, 01:38 PM

Yea I cant get my preorder or dlc either, keeps telling me to register again and again and again

seventimessix

11-03-2009, 01:39 PM

Went back to the game, I don't seen any DLC downloading. I expected to see something since 2 of the codes were accepted, but even after restating there is still nothing.

I realize we're playing on different systems but they may be doing the same thing in this case. After I put in my codes the two dlc entries said "Purchased" beside them but I still had to select them to download them. Again it could be totally different since I'm playing on the 360 but it's worth a shot.

Telefrog

11-03-2009, 01:43 PM

And there seems to be a variety of different outcomes happening to people on the steam forums and Bioware forums. So sad.

BioWare/EA really made their own bed on this one. By making the preorder/DLC redemption process so convoluted, they guaranteed confusion and support issues galore.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 01:45 PM

Is there a way to direct download the dlc from ea or bioware? The ingame downloader is going to take all day to download them at this rate which is laughable. I could probably download the entire game from a torrent before the dlc is done.

Falcon554

11-03-2009, 01:46 PM

Ok I got now, tho on a diff accout name for some weird reason, my saved games still there.

By the way so far the game is amazing

strategy

11-03-2009, 01:47 PM

Did anyone get the Dragon Age Journeys code? How did you get them, in that case? Lost a few e-mails last week, and wondering if they might have dissappeared along with those.

Shimarenda

11-03-2009, 01:53 PM

Maybe some people have crazy setups that lets them lean back and move around with ease while still using M&K?
I find using my solar plexus to hold my torso upright to be the most comfortable setup. Once I start slouching, I get uncomfortable no matter what I'm sitting on.

Ben Sones

11-03-2009, 01:54 PM

Comfy chair is really important for me as well. I could get a comfy chair for my PC but I still find using mouse/keyboard uncomfy, more efficient but less comfy. Maybe some people have crazy setups that lets them lean back and move around with ease while still using M&K?

You know, I find that I don't lean back and get comfy even when I'm on a couch. Watching TV? Sure. But when I'm playing a game, I'm usually sitting upright on the edge of the couch, not leaning back and lounging. Maybe other folks are different; judging from the number of people who cite "comfy couch" as a reason for preferring console games, I guess they must be. But for me, it's not really any different than playing in my computer chair. In fact, I'd say the computer chair is slightly more comfortable for gaming, since unlike the couch, it's specifically designed for sitting upright.

MrAnderson

11-03-2009, 01:56 PM

try to restart the game MrAnderson. That is what got the game to notice i had dlc after i did the same entering thing.

I have tried restarting the game, restarting steam, and restarting my computer and thus far my DLC page in game is still empty. There is definitely something wonky happening.

I suspect there are people scrambling around trying to figure out what's wrong but I just want my Warden's Keep. I think I am going to shelf this process until I get home tonight and give it another try.

John Reynolds

11-03-2009, 01:57 PM

CE box is certainly thin.

Tim James

11-03-2009, 01:58 PM

BioWare/EA really made their own bed on this one. By making the preorder/DLC redemption process so convoluted, they guaranteed confusion and support issues galore.Yeah that's more wasted overhead. I have to wonder if it made enough business sense and extra cash to bother with, though it looks like everyone here went crazy buying the special editions. There might have also been some vendor pressure to get all sorts of doodads to differentiate the preorders.

mono

11-03-2009, 01:58 PM

Silly DLC issues. I am not sure if its Steam , EA, or Bioware but something is amiss.

I pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe from Steam, pre-loaded, decrypted and now want to get my DLC. Steam tells me I have 3 CD keys:
Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe CD Key
Dragon Age: Origins Preorder CD Key
Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe Game CD Key

From within the game I logged, clicked on Downloadable Content and then clicked Redeem Code. That took me to the redeem code page at bioware.

I'm still at work, but have been accessing my PC remotely. I also bought the Deluxe Digital edition on Steam. When I click to view my Downloadable Content, it lists 4 items, Bonus Content, Deluxe CD Key, Deluxe Game CD Key, and Preorder CD Key. The aquisition method for all these items is 'Steam Store' and it informs me that all the downloadable content is automatically installed and uninstalled with the game, and will be available once I start playing the game. Am I going to be able to skip all of this registration and EA download mumbo jumbo?

Murbella

11-03-2009, 02:03 PM

Wonderful, after taking over an hour to download warden's keep (steam downloaded the game at 2mb/s...), the download failed at the end. Nice job bioware/EA!

edit: restarting it and going back to the dlc menu says it is extracting now. It seems like after every step you need to restart the game.

Adam Altmann

11-03-2009, 02:05 PM

You know, I find that I don't lean back and get comfy even when I'm on a couch. Watching TV? Sure. But when I'm playing a game, I'm usually sitting upright on the edge of the couch, not leaning back and lounging. Maybe other folks are different; judging from the number of people who cite "comfy couch" as a reason for preferring console games, I guess they must be. But for me, it's not really any different than playing in my computer chair. In fact, I'd say the computer chair is slightly more comfortable for gaming, since unlike the couch, it's specifically designed for sitting upright.

Yeah, I'm incapable of sitting back all chill while I'm trying to play a game. I try, I just can't do it. Sure, I can sit back and relax while driving to the next mission waypoint or whatever, but as soon as anything reasonably challenging pops up I'm on the edge of my seat, leaning forward, and focused.

Adam Altmann

11-03-2009, 02:08 PM

CE box is certainly thin.

I'm glad I got the cloth map, but I'm pretty bummed about the pamphlet sized manual. I guess I was expecting more. Had I known, I might have just gone with the regular version off Steam.

MrAnderson

11-03-2009, 02:18 PM

The aquisition method for all these items is 'Steam Store' and it informs me that all the downloadable content is automatically installed and uninstalled with the game, and will be available once I start playing the game. Am I going to be able to skip all of this registration and EA download mumbo jumbo?

That steam page lies, and everyone (as far as I can tell) needs to go through the EA registration/download junk; which is currently broken for some of us.

BiggerBoat

11-03-2009, 02:23 PM

Well, the DLC stuff is borked. I got the combined "Not Accepted/Accepted!" messages when I tried to enter the codes for my DLC, and it doesn't show up in the game menu and just shows up as invalid when I try to enter the code again.

Considering all of the people having problems, I don't expect to get any support on this any time soon. Can anyone tell me if the Warden's Keep content is very early in-game? I can just start playing but I don't want to restart just to play catch-up when (if?) this DLC mess ever gets sorted out.

Sigh. If they want to punish gamestop for selling used games they should just do so, rather than screwing over people who actually buy the thing new.

Stridergg

11-03-2009, 02:24 PM

All the DLC stuff worked fine for me, although I downloaded them a about 2:30 (and I did receive both fail and success messages).

You don't really need Warden's Keep and the golem DLC's right from the beginning, you know. You can add it at any time. Just play the game now and get your stuff later, better than getting frustrated over some overloaded servers.

After about 2 hours, the game is awesome!

Woolen Horde

11-03-2009, 02:26 PM

I'm about ready to tear someone's head off at EA.

My game won't activate, even though I have a totally valid code that I bought from Impulse.

And like idiots, they don't include any way in the product activation program to get help if you run into problems. I want to scream at someone on the phone, right now.

Tom Chick

11-03-2009, 02:29 PM

Warden's Keep is a big fat omnipresent quest in your camp. It does not go away. The dude stands there with the exclamation point over his head essentially saying, "Hey, buy this DLC!" Pretty annoying actually.

As for free Stone Prisoner DLC, I actually think it's a valuable quest to do early on. Shale can be a big help. It'll appear as a random encounter when you're traveling on the overland map.

-Tom

Mordrak

11-03-2009, 02:33 PM

Warden's Keep is a big fat omnipresent quest in your camp. It does not go away. The dude stands there with the exclamation point over his head essentially saying, "Hey, buy this DLC!" Pretty annoying actually.

Wait, there's an exclamation point on his head even though you don't have the DLC? What happens when you click on him then?

Tom Chick

11-03-2009, 02:35 PM

Adam Altmann

11-03-2009, 02:35 PM

Wait, there's an exclamation point on his head even though you don't have the DLC? What happens when you click on him then?

I hope he /whispers you in gold-spammery fashion.

Kael

11-03-2009, 02:36 PM

You get all the quest dialogue stuff. If you accept the text, you're prompted to download the content. Sleazy stuff. Does Fallout 3 have ingame hooks for the DLC if you don't download it? I don't think it did.

-Tom

No it definitely did not.

TheWombat

11-03-2009, 02:40 PM

Ah well, just went ahead and bought a normal edition from Steam. Some time in the future when it actually downloads and all, I'll see what all the fuss is about. From what I can tell from my wife fiddling around with it on her machine, it'll be pretty decent. :)

Telefrog

11-03-2009, 02:40 PM

Yeesh. That sucks. Does that mean going forward that future DLC for this game will have the hooks patched in?

MrAnderson

11-03-2009, 02:41 PM

My game won't activate, even though I have a totally valid code that I bought from Impulse.

And like idiots, they don't include any way in the product activation program to get help if you run into problems. I want to scream at someone on the phone, right now.

I tried to download the toolset from http://social.bioware.com/toolset.php#downloads and discovered that the social.bioware site does now know I own the game. So off I went to register it, hoping to have more luck than getting DLC.

Not the case. I tried to enter all 3 codes Steam gave me into the game registration form and all of them failed. I don't know why I am obsessing over this, I should just not worry about and simply play the game.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 02:45 PM

As far as i know, i haven't heard of someone who bought the steam game being able to register the game itself on the social site. Not sure if anyone can. I got it via steam and couldn't at all, both with or without hyphens.

It would be cool if i could edit some of the starting stats for companions (like making some of the two hander ones more shield focused).

It has now been over three hours since i started trying to get the game up and running and shale is still only at 49%, likely with another hour left to complete the download. This is with having the game preloaded. Maybe next time they won't get the bright idea to tie everything in to a website that is still in beta. Also if you're going to make dlc a huge focus in your game, for the love of god please make sure you can distribute it semi effectively!

Mordrak

11-03-2009, 02:52 PM

You get all the quest dialogue stuff. If you accept the text, you're prompted to download the content. It's basically an ingame promotion. Sleazy stuff. Does Fallout 3 have ingame hooks for the DLC if you don't download it? I don't think it did.

-Tom

Wow. I know Bioware/Black Isle helped start all this nonsense with pre-order incentive items way back in the day, but that is pretty ridiculous.

No it definitely did not.

Ya, at least bethesda has tact. What's next, literally nickel and diming you when you go to pick up loot? Hey, see this nifty rare item on this zombie corpse... you can pick it up for 25 Dragon Age Points.

Angie Gallant

11-03-2009, 02:52 PM

Did anyone get the Dragon Age Journeys code? How did you get them, in that case? Lost a few e-mails last week, and wondering if they might have dissappeared along with those.
There is no code. Any items you got from Journeys are already attached to your bioware social site account, and as soon as you log in with that account in the game it should start the download for them. It's worked for me.

John Reynolds

11-03-2009, 02:54 PM

I'm glad I got the cloth map, but I'm pretty bummed about the pamphlet sized manual. I guess I was expecting more. Had I known, I might have just gone with the regular version off Steam.

Kind of my take too. I pulled it out of the box it shipped in and said to my wife, "This is my CE?"

Ben Sones

11-03-2009, 02:59 PM

All this talk of DLC download and installation hassles, the ridiculous chart that someone posted earlier, and what looks like a CE box thin on content gave me the push to just say "screw it" and buy the regular version. I have pretty high expectations for CE versions of games these days (probably Blizzard's doing), and this one just doesn't seem worth it.

strategy

11-03-2009, 03:05 PM

stusser

11-03-2009, 03:08 PM

Shimarenda

11-03-2009, 03:10 PM

Speaking of pre-order bonuses, how are those handled? We just opened our boxes from Amazon, and there doesn't seem to be a code for the boots anywhere.

Edit: Never mind. My wife just found that they will send the code in 10 days.

Shimarenda

11-03-2009, 03:15 PM

Warden's Keep is a big fat omnipresent quest in your camp. It does not go away. The dude stands there with the exclamation point over his head essentially saying, "Hey, buy this DLC!" Pretty annoying actually.
I think I need to go tell my wife I was wrong to try to soothe her over the issue of the in-game storage. That's really cheap.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 03:20 PM

Now single player games have all of the fun of a B grade mmorpg release.

zengonzo

11-03-2009, 03:24 PM

No kidding, this is terrible business.

Those must be some shiny-ass nickels to be worth such pedestrian virtual hawking.

stusser

11-03-2009, 03:25 PM

EA is evil, news @ 11.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 03:34 PM

Any tricks to getting the big dlc to download at a reasonable rate? If i restart the game will i have to start over again and not be able to play until tomorrow?

Freezer-TPF-

11-03-2009, 03:36 PM

Is there a way to convert your credit card into an in-game inventory item? Maybe bind it to a hotkey?

Ben Sones

11-03-2009, 03:37 PM

They could even give you a little green mana/health-type bar that reflects your current bank account balance.

Edit: BTW, is there a Steam manual, or is Steam doing their usual thing and not offering it up right away?

jfletch

11-03-2009, 03:39 PM

Has anyone played both the PC and console versions? I want to get the PC one but I highly doubt I would put any more time in those than I did the last few PC games I bought (combined amount: 3 hours maybe). But then the console versions are said to be play very differently.

I just wish I had a better laptop.

Ben Sones

11-03-2009, 03:45 PM

So I'm not sure if this is a Steam-specific thing or a Windows 7 thing, but I'm downloading the game right now, and noticed that the selection box behind the Steam icon on my taskbar is slowly filling with green from right to left. It seems to be a progress bar for the download. Kind of cool.

pogozorro

11-03-2009, 03:50 PM

I was able to download the 4 gig L4D2 demo in the time it took the game to decrypt. Now comes the fun of dealing with the damn keys.

Ryan A

11-03-2009, 03:52 PM

Just got home with the game and am installing to hard drive right now. I haven't looked forward to playing a new game this much since.... maybe Myth 2 or Mech Commander 2?

Sean Tudor

11-03-2009, 03:56 PM

So is there a definitive guide on how to download the DLC for the Steam version? Seems there are a number of conflicting methods.

I assume you enter the keys into your Bioware account site (the same one I have for Mass Effect) and then login in using my same details within Dragon Age and everything starts to download automatically?

Albert Woo

11-03-2009, 03:57 PM

Bahimiron

11-03-2009, 04:08 PM

Vesper

11-03-2009, 04:14 PM

Decrypt faster, dammit!

Ryan A

11-03-2009, 04:15 PM

Grr... EA Store download service is SLOW today. I imagine it must be hammered. The 196.79 MB Stone Prisoner download is taking far too long for my level of interest in diving into the character creator!

Munky

11-03-2009, 04:23 PM

There is no code. Any items you got from Journeys are already attached to your bioware social site account, and as soon as you log in with that account in the game it should start the download for them. It's worked for me.
Feh. Nothing shows up down-loadable for me. Not the Journey's stuff, not the "in-box" DLC. A big fat zero. Multiple restarts and all that. Impulse version.

BigWeather

11-03-2009, 04:25 PM

Just got home with the game and am installing to hard drive right now. I haven't looked forward to playing a new game this much since.... maybe Myth 2 or Mech Commander 2?

If you are lucky uninstalling this one won't wipe your hard drive!

BigWeather

11-03-2009, 04:30 PM

Nawid A

11-03-2009, 04:37 PM

Everyone, literally everyone, says the PC version is the best. But it's still bizarre to me, because every time they say it, they then go on to give moon-person reasons for that judgment. So far, I have heard that the PC version is better because it is harder, involves more micromanagement, and has a WOW-style UI instead of a Mass Effect-style UI.

(Well, and also it has better graphics, but that falls into the "no shit" camp.)
I heard mostly control wise.
It's just my laptop can't run the game so I have to make the decision of getting it on consoles or waiting at least one year to play it on a decent rig.

Cubit

11-03-2009, 04:42 PM

Vesper

11-03-2009, 04:45 PM

Hot tip on registering Steam game: The CD-KEY it wants is the LAST one, listed as "Standard Game CD-Key". The one listed as "Standard CD-Key" is for DLC. You'll have to insert the dashes yourself.

BigWeather

11-03-2009, 04:46 PM

Is the "Stone Prisoner" and "Blood Dragon Armor" DLC available to non-CE non-preorder purchasers? Sheesh they make this so confusing.

Sean Tudor

11-03-2009, 04:51 PM

ARGH! The community logins for Bioware stuff are a mess. I have a login for Journeys (which has some of my bonus items), EA (which I use for their content downloader), and my old NWN account (which remembers my NWN and Mass Effect keys). And none of the accounts know about each other. Now I logged into the redeem code site and it is asking me to create a fourth account and won't accept any of my other Bioware accounts.

This is crap. @#$% Why can't they have one login like Steam?

stusser

11-03-2009, 05:02 PM

I actually managed to get the game, but their shitty ass social site won't let me give them seven bucks for the DLC. Terrible job, guys, terrible job.

Oghier

11-03-2009, 05:25 PM

Feh. Nothing shows up down-loadable for me. Not the Journey's stuff, not the "in-box" DLC. A big fat zero. Multiple restarts and all that. Impulse version.

Follow Zoomba's instructions in post 24 of this thread from the Impulse forums:

http://forums.impulsedriven.com/368287

It worked for me -- I have all my DLC, and I'm working through the origin story now.

Morberis

11-03-2009, 05:25 PM

Is the "Stone Prisoner" and "Blood Dragon Armor" DLC available to non-CE non-preorder purchasers? Sheesh they make this so confusing.

Those come with every copy of the game, unless you buy used.

BigWeather

11-03-2009, 05:29 PM

Those come with every copy of the game, unless you buy used.

Awesome, thanks! Yeah I may just buy for $57 from Amazon or wait until it enters the $40 range. I picked up six games recently -- Arkham, Ghostbusters, and Dirt 2 for $20 ea. and FO3 GotY, GTA4:Episodes, and Uncharted 2 for $33 ea. so I'm not starving for entertainment at the moment. But reading about all you guys playing is making me a tad jealous!

Bahimiron

11-03-2009, 05:37 PM

Gamespot didn't have my 360 CE. They just didn't get as many as they thought they would. So I went to Best Buy and found a PS3 CE. I went back to Gamestop and asked if I could get a PS3 non-CE instead. Got it along with the pre-order card. Then turned the game itself back in for credit, kept the card and I'm doing pretty okay for myself. I donno if it's just because no one is getting this on PS3, but I'm not having any of the issues other people are. All my codes are in and when I start up I'm apparently going to go into the game already decked out in an assload of magical crap. Hooray!

Alistair

11-03-2009, 05:40 PM

It's a Windows 7 feature, downloads with IE do this too.
It is, and in fact Steam game icons don't seem to play that well with the W7 taskbar - it seems to insist a random one of them is actually Steam for some reason.

mkozlows

11-03-2009, 05:46 PM

Man, I am so not regretting my "fuck PC gaming" stance right now. DLC downloaded just fine from XBLM, even though the game did make me create some stupid EA account before I could play.

PeterGinsberg

11-03-2009, 05:47 PM

Feh. Nothing shows up down-loadable for me. Not the Journey's stuff, not the "in-box" DLC. A big fat zero. Multiple restarts and all that. Impulse version.

I'm having the same problem with the direct2drive version. I don't usually buy from them, sadly they have no equivalent to a support forum.

slikster

11-03-2009, 06:00 PM

DragonPup

11-03-2009, 06:02 PM

The Steam version won't launch for me. It gets to the decrypting files part, completes, but doesn't launch anything.

Edit: A Steam restart later it is now actually decrypting

PeterGinsberg

11-03-2009, 06:04 PM

I'm having the same problem with the direct2drive version. I don't usually buy from them, sadly they have no equivalent to a support forum.

Nevermind, I was being dumb, the instructions for the downloadable content was right there on the direct2drive account page. D2D worked pretty well all around for me actually.

Igor Muravyev

11-03-2009, 06:13 PM

Man, I am so not regretting my "fuck Steam" stance right now. DLC downloaded just fine from XBLM, even though the game did make me create some stupid EA account before I could play.

Fixed.

BTW, this is cool. I wasn't able to launch the game, validating didn't help, restarting didn't help, but deleting the NCFs did make it redownload the entire game instead of just actually making it decrypt.

Ironically when I bought HL2 I also had to redownload the entire thing (day of release) since those steps didn't help, and then I didn't end up playing it till the next day.

Last time I buy anything from Steam unless I can actually get it earlier. Plenty of people buying the boxed Dragon's Age don't have to go through the steam BS and actually got their game a day earlier to boot.

Was going to buy it from Amazon originally, but man they aren't selling the CE for some dumb reason. And didn't want to pay release-day shipping on other sites since I have prime.
------
Microsoft really needs to step in already and port Xbox Live Marketplace to Windows, like for real, not the GFW crap. Maybe then Valve will either step up their game and fix Steam or have their shitty product stomped out by the big guy.

Nawid A

11-03-2009, 06:14 PM

Because of a lack of gaming funds and the sleazy DLC stuff, I'm gonna have to file Dragon Age in my "wait a year and get the GOTY version" category. There are too many other good games that I haven't played, and they don't try to nickel and dime at the POS.
Seriously. This game is ridiculous. The idea of a collector's edition on Steam is just stupid.

MrAnderson

11-03-2009, 06:30 PM

Not sure what changed, but I have DLC now. I got home from the office and launched my game and on the DLC page it was downloading as I would have expected.

Though I still can not "register" my game on Bioware's site and download the toolset. *shrug* at least I am home now and can actually play some.

DragonPup

11-03-2009, 06:39 PM

So after taking an close to two hours to download, 20 some odd minutes to decrypt, and about 15 minutes to register and download the DLC, I can safely say that Steam has saved PC gaming.

mkozlows

11-03-2009, 06:39 PM

Fixed.

It's not just Steam. My wife can't get the DLC for her retail copy, either.

BiggerBoat

11-03-2009, 06:40 PM

Follow Zoomba's instructions in post 24 of this thread from the Impulse forums:

http://forums.impulsedriven.com/368287

It worked for me -- I have all my DLC, and I'm working through the origin story now.

This worked for me as well, but only after I:

1) Ran the service installer from a command prompt in administrator mode

2) Ran daorigins.exe as an administrator

I have the DLC now, but the experience has soured me greatly on "digital collectors editions". Why should I be jumping through these hoops?

Vesper

11-03-2009, 06:52 PM

So I just started up.. Are you guys seeing clipping issues on characters during conversations? It's not huge, but I see people's necks through clothing supposedly covering their necks in parts. (Have seen this on two elven females in the city elf starting area.) Also hair tends to clip through ears. I'm just curious if there's some driver/setting issue, or if this is just an engine limitation. The ear thing I expect, the clothing issue I do not.

Desslock

11-03-2009, 07:00 PM

There's lots of clipping in all contexts in this game - happens regularly, sometimes amusingly

Munky

11-03-2009, 07:33 PM

Murbella

11-03-2009, 07:43 PM

After finally finishing the download after an obscene time, now shale is stuck at downloaded and won't install. What is this, champions online launch day?

Much of my release day excitement is now waning due to sheer incompetence on the part of whomever designed their dlc system.

John Reynolds

11-03-2009, 07:48 PM

Murbella

11-03-2009, 07:50 PM

Well, their forums are full of people having trouble with various dlc related things so yeah...

Ben Sones

11-03-2009, 07:53 PM

Also, in case anyone was wondering: no manual available yet on Steam, or in any of the game folders after install, as far as I can tell.

[crickets chirping]

Okay, not really a surprise, I guess.

Murbella

11-03-2009, 07:56 PM

There was a full pdf manual posted on the DA forums a while ago.

Ben Sones

11-03-2009, 08:01 PM

That makes it even more absurd that they don't have it ready to go with the game download.

Sean Tudor

11-03-2009, 08:04 PM

The weird thing is, I logged into my account while the game was installing, registered my codes, and then launched the game, logged in via its menu, and d/l the DLC and all in-game items within probably 10 minutes. Why some people are having no issues and others tons of problems. . . .

I think I may have sorted out my Bioware account login mess.

The Dragon Age Journeys login seems to be using my EA Master Account.

I logged in to accounts.bioware.com and there was an option to merge my accounts. I now have two accounts listed under this merged account.

I then logged in to social.bioware.com and it allowed logging in using my EA Master Account login but it showed me logged in as one of the merged accounts listed under the Master Account. Hopefully that is the way it is meant to work.

It's still horribly confusing though and Bioware really needs to cleanup their act and present a more unified account process.

Also John did you add hyphens into the account codes? I keep getting a rejected code message.

Tim James

11-03-2009, 08:05 PM

Good review, Desslock. I laughed when I got to the part about Warcraft art design since I was ranting about it recently in the Torchlight thread (though I got over it quickly after playing for a while). Glad to see someone else is just as opinionated as I am about stuff like that.

Also appreciated the sidebar on BG2, but really groaned when I read about excessive need for TAB-highlighting. That shit is almost as bad as crate OCD. Oh well.

mono

11-03-2009, 08:15 PM

My Steam Deluxe edition downloaded all the extras just fine. Only took about 10 minutes, as John Reynolds described. I just had to register my keys on the Account page, and all items showed up in the game menu and downloaded without issue.

This game is fantastic, and great looking as well. I'm not regretting my splurge last month on the new ATI card.

SirTomster

11-03-2009, 09:11 PM

Got everything downloaded but Warden's Keep with the Steam CE. Warden's Keep sitting at 0%.

Looks interesting. More talking than anything so far. 4 hours in. About to do the Joining. So quitting now before I go to bed at 4 AM.

Too bad my profile never updates on the bioware site. Showing my player beyond the character creator.

But should not be surprised with all the issues people are having. Question is. Is this a Bioware screwup or EA screwup? If EA, well no surprise there really. if Bioware, guess they have been infected.

But still interesting so far.

Gabe Lewis

11-03-2009, 09:28 PM

So I pre-loaded this yesterday, tried to run the game when I got home. I got that weird decrypting bug and restarted steam.

It decrytped fine after that, and now it's doing what appears to be a fairly sizable update... Day 1 patch? I'm confused what is this updating nonsense?

Damien Neil

11-03-2009, 09:31 PM

Because of a lack of gaming funds and the sleazy DLC stuff, I'm gonna have to file Dragon Age in my "wait a year and get the GOTY version" category. There are too many other good games that I haven't played, and they don't try to nickel and dime at the POS.

I think I may be there as well. I'm definitely not regretting my decision to start The Witcher a few days ago, rather than waiting for Dragon Age.

merryprankster

11-03-2009, 09:56 PM

Gotta say my first impression is not real positive. There are a ton of UI oddities and that game looks pretty lousy on 360....but more than that it just kinda seems to be missing a heart and soul. It feels really flat so far and like it has no real personality. Maybe it's just cause I'm coming off Borderlands and Demon's Souls, which both have an amazing (if very different) atmosphere.

All in all I'm feeling pretty medium on this one so far. I don't hate it, so I'm gonna keep playing, but it just feels really flat.

metaphaze

11-03-2009, 10:10 PM

I was expecting problems but had very few. I had to restart Steam about 4 times before it would start Decrypting. While decrypting I went to the social webpage, logged in with my account (that I made when I used the Character Creator) and registered whatever codes the webpage would eat. Then I did the dishes while the Decrypting took like 30-40min.

Once that was done I could launch, put in the last key and goto the Download Content area (in game now). In there I forced the little things to download by right-clicking and then started the bigger Stone Prisoner. While that was downloading I started my game. It takes a good number of hours to even get out of the on rails first areas so no worries about Stone Prisoner not being done before you start.

So far I am really enjoying it.

habibi

11-03-2009, 10:15 PM

sinfony

11-03-2009, 10:25 PM

Did nobody else just buy the boxed PC DVD from Amazon? Got it all installed and running in ~20 minutes. The DLC downloaded pretty quickly as well, although it took a couple of tries running the redeem codes through before the website would take them.

Of course, my computer is old enough that it looks like ass at the settings I need to use it. So it's not all sunshine and rainbows, I guess.

MattKeil

11-03-2009, 10:50 PM

Equis

11-03-2009, 11:10 PM

scharmers

11-03-2009, 11:11 PM

Along with Borderlands, I think I'm going to wait until this one settles down a bit in both content and price.

After all, I'm currently on my first run-through ever of MotB, and it seems to be one of Bioware's finer moments.

Stridergg

11-03-2009, 11:19 PM

Jason Cross

11-03-2009, 11:52 PM

Snapped up the the last copy of the CE at my local small town walmart at the crack of noon. Don't know how many they would have had in stock.

So, I installs it. It installs Phys-X. Fuck. Really bioware? I guess my question is, will I be able to enable physx if I slap an old 8800GTS I have laying around here in? Which version of physx is needed? I have XP, so my only option is to use the last drivers nvidia released before they crippled the drivers for when ATI cards are present in the system. (Forceware 186.24?)

Colour me dissappointed that Bioware wants to punish people for buying GPUs from the other guy. (Or to put another way, reward people for buying nVidia.) Especially when concidering that there are other options comming into play soon.

Whoa whoa whoa... settle down.

As with the vast majority of games that use PhysX, this game doesn't do any of the GPU accelerated PhysX stuff. PhysX is actually fairly popular for CPU physics acceleration (especially with cross-platform titles that are shipping on consoles, too).

It doesn't really look any different on an ATI or Nvidia card, and there shouldn't be a performance impact, either.

merryprankster

11-04-2009, 12:03 AM

So Borderlands has more atmosphere than Dragon Age? I understand opinions and everything but this is such a stupid thing to say, sorry.

Infinately....Dragon Age has go to be the most generic feeling fantasy I've played in a long time. None of the characters animate with any personality, and the environments are about as bland and recycled fantasy fare as I can imagine. Plus DA has no sense of an intangiable personality. But hey, if you think DA is new/different and has some soul to it, good on you, enjoy.

merryprankster

11-04-2009, 12:06 AM

Not to mention that most recent games came with a buttload of personality: Brutal Legend, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2.

Yeah, The list goes on and on.

Igor Muravyev

11-04-2009, 12:06 AM

Anyone know where I can find the config settings file? Need to see if I can tweak this guy to display movies instead of a black screen at 3840x1024.

slikster

11-04-2009, 12:38 AM

As with the vast majority of games that use PhysX, this game doesn't do any of the GPU accelerated PhysX stuff. PhysX is actually fairly popular for CPU physics acceleration (especially with cross-platform titles that are shipping on consoles, too).

Thanks for the clarification then. I was hoping that was the case, but one never knows for sure, unless they are smacked with a clue bat!

MattKeil

11-04-2009, 12:40 AM

After all, I'm currently on my first run-through ever of MotB, and it seems to be one of Bioware's finer moments.

Except MotB is by Obsidian.

TurinTur

11-04-2009, 12:47 AM

Sean Tudor

11-04-2009, 01:16 AM

So it seems this game has gone from whoa to no within one day - surely people here don't hate it that much? (PS. still trying to download DLC so haven't played it yet).

habibi

11-04-2009, 02:04 AM

Sarkus

11-04-2009, 02:13 AM

So it seems this game has gone from whoa to no within one day - surely people here don't hate it that much? (PS. still trying to download DLC so haven't played it yet).

Is that true? I think people have problems with the DLCs and Bioware social network and what not but that does not neccesarily mean hate the game.

Yeah, most people who've played seem to like it. It's just that right now this thread is overwhelmed by people having DLC issues and there are a few who aren't getting into it. Note that Tom in his Fydgyt diaries pretty much didn't get into it for something like 10 hours.

Personally, I'm having fun with it. Thanks to the real world, I've only been able to put about 3-4 hours into so far, but what I've seen has been pretty good. The main story hasn't really taken off yet, but there have been some nice moments and the origin I choose was pretty well done. And the combat is fun and requires some thinking. I was kind of getting by on default, pretty much just telling my PC what to do, until I hit a hard enough fight that I had to change my tactics, and that was very nice.

Vincent19

11-04-2009, 02:43 AM

So far my main problem with Dragon Age has been my inability to properly download my free addons (thanks EA!), other than that, I love it.

I can't speak for the console version, which, based on what I've been hearing, seems like a very different game, but my first six hours on the PC have been fantastic. I'll admit that the world is a bit generic and the animations are a little stiff while in the cut-scenes (otherwise I think the game animates great), but these issues hardly bother me given the rest of the game.

I've already started to grow attached to the characters. The banter between party members, notably Alistar and Morrigan at this point, is well done and humorous. Amazingly, I've actually been enjoying talking to NPCs as well, thanks to the good voice acting and subtle dialogue choices. This is particularly notable for me, as I can rarely be bothered to sit and listen while voice actors do their thing, but here I find it's really helping to make the world more immersive.

Beyond the characters, the combat, my main reason for purchasing the game, is awesome. I'm still a little clunky with the frequent pausing, but I'm already loving the tactical control it gives me over battles. As I had hoped, it feels a lot like a version of WoW where you control every character. Playing as a mage, I'm also impressed by the variety of spells available and the amount of options they bring to the table. I feel like I can build my character in a large variety of interesting, unique ways. The icing (and cherry!) on top is that the combat effects look sexy, particularly when viewed from the isometric perspective.

I can't wait to play more.

Lux

11-04-2009, 03:02 AM

So it seems this game has gone from whoa to no within one day - surely people here don't hate it that much? (PS. still trying to download DLC so haven't played it yet).

I think most of the people who love it haven't been posting since release because they're playing. This has certainly been true of me.

metta

11-04-2009, 04:07 AM

I think most of the people who love it haven't been posting since release because they're playing. This has certainly been true of me.

I love it! I've been playing on the 360 and having a blast. The voice acting is amazing, the dialogue options varied, and the writing is excellent. I'm still finding a groove with the combat, but so far I'm digging it. Also, the Elf background story is killer; I created a female Elf I intended to grow into an anti-social assassin and was shocked at how well the background detail and dialogue choices allowed and supported that choice. She was even provided a surprising option for that pesky dog.

A+

Shimarenda

11-04-2009, 04:24 AM

Link to the review please.. can't find it 3 pages before.. or maybe I am blind!
Desslock's review appears in PC Gamer. I'm hoping my copy of the magazine arrives today.

Sean Tudor

11-04-2009, 04:51 AM

I stumbled across this review from another person. It is quite eloquent ..

http://forums.gametrailers.com/thread/dragon-age-pc-gamer-uk-in-dept/947974?page=1

This is not a game that can simply be explained, how does it begin? it begins in six completely different ways and each of these can be met with a wildly different approach. an excellent portion of the game to relate would be my adventures in the Dwarven city of Orzammar, except there's little chance that you will experience the same events in the same way when you get there. The relationships you have with your party - they all form an experience unique to you.

What will be common to all is the combination of dialogue and combat. Whether you play as a human, elf or dwarf, a rogue, a warrior or mage, a noble or commoner, Dragon Age requires smart use of your wits and weapons. Combat is a combination of real time fighting and turn based handing out of orders.

This is about politics, moral philosophy and love. And about killing dragons with swords. No matter how you approach Dragon Age, combat will be your constant companion. While there are many encounters with a silver tongue that can end peacefully, you aren't going to be reasoning with the Darkspawn, enraged demons, or bandits and assassins. This is where the balance in your party is essential. The game's unfriendly difficulty settings (more on this later) don't leave much room for a gang that doesn't have at least one healer, a couple of strong melee fighters, and someone capable of combat both at range and close up. Fortunately you've got no shortage of suitable candidates.

You can approach combat a couple of ways depending upon your personal preferences and the difficulty level to which you've set the game. In theory setting it to easy should let you fight in real time, where you select opponents and issue instructions from a row of tiled attacks, spells and special items familiar to any MMO player, as the fight happens. Choose normal and you'll have to make consistent use of the spacebar to pause and jump between characters, lining up their next move. This might be used to heal themselves, change target, use a particular special attack, or aid another. Hit space again, watch how these moves play out, then pause once more. It's a form of self created turn based play that encourages enormous involvement.

Further to this are the combat tactics. Each character has a limited number of these slots (expanded through leveling up and choosing particular skills) to which you can assign specific actions to be performed in specific conditions using cascading menus.

However, in a game with few flaws, theres one flailing giant (multiheaded?) one when it comes to difficulty settings. The pop up text suggesting that switching to easy will remove the need for micromanagement during fights is lying. There are difficulty spikes at certain points where getting through a battle on easy becomes stunningly hard, and requires frenetic fine tuning. Similarly if you chose to play a dwarf rogue, you'll find yourself forced to pick easy during the opening moments of the game because you're simply incapable of surviving battles otherwise.

Later on, any class can hold their own with enough skills, But unless you're a mage with a cluster of healing spells you must be prepared to spam health poultices to get though many tough encounters.

Nothing in the game comes without an involved background or moral ambiguity. For example at any point your party can camp, which allows you to heal up, talk to your companions and trade with a couple of dwarves who appear follow you around. But even these dwarves come with a history. The younger of the two is the only mentally handicapped character i can remember encountering in a game. He's looked after by his father, and has a savant gift for enchanting weapons. Treat them as more than a shop, talk to them and the details of their past emerge, along with a surprising ethical quandary.

Dwarven culture, incidentally, is fascinating. It has a caste system where dwarves are born into the same role in life as their same sex parent. Your family will be nobles, warriors, smiths, artisans, miner, merchants or servants, and this well never change. Should a servant marry a noble woman, his son would remain a servant while his daughter would live in the upper echelons. And then, as we mentioned earlier there are the casteless. Either because of ancestral disgrace, or because they went above ground for too long, these dwarves are stripped of their identities, their ancestry removed from Dwarven history.

It's abhorrent. Exploring the city's slums is distressing. But you're an outsider (unless you're playing a dwarf, of course) so how much is it your place to object? This is question the game asks. At one point you're challenged over whether to help set up a chantry in the city of Orzammar - among a race who believe in a completely different, completely incompatible religion. But what if the chantry might offer help to the casteless? What then? At the same time you're drawn into the dirty politics of which of two deadlocked candidates should be the new king, alongside exploring the Darkspawn infested abandoned mines and townships deeper into the mountain. And that's less than half of what happens here.

Were the difficulty levels not so enormously silly, it would require sheer pickiness to find a major fault with this game. Importantly, overly difficult sequences can be powered through on easy, but this doesn't excuse it being necessary. Despite the time and investment required to cultivate relationships with party members, these still feel a little clumsy, and despite my best efforts to have a gay relationship with one party member, i found myself surprised and somewhat confused to have inadvertently accepted the advances of another. Oh, and if we're listing faults, one appalling gaff is the failure to change family members skin colour if you roleplay a non Caucasian. My main protagonist, a black Man lived as a sort of reverse 'The Jerk', where no one mentioned the fact that his mother, father and brothers were all white. Embarrassing.

But coming out of the end of an epic 80 hours first playthrough, I live with memories that feel like more than simply events in a game. the friendship i formed with fellow grey warden Alistair has an echo of a reality. His penchant for sarcasm, his sniping conversations with Morrigan as we explored, and his struggle to balance emotion and bravado, continue to resonate.

I've not only been to huge cities, but I've learned their past, their present, and been involved in shaping their future. This hasn't felt like passing through a series of checkpoints, but having experienced a world. I know enough about the religion of the chantry to preach their own chants. My connection to the grey wardens is palpable, and the part I played an honourable one.

This is the most enormously detailed game world I've experienced, its history stretching back thousand of years, its cultures vivid, beautiful and flawed, the battles enormous, the humour superb. roleplaying games now have a great deal to live up to.

Alex Hopkinson

11-04-2009, 05:12 AM

Sean Tudor - That's John Walker's PC Gamer UK review (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/11/03/pc-gamer-dragon-age-origins-review/).

Benhur

11-04-2009, 05:12 AM

I'm about three hours in and I'm loving it so far. I had high expectation coming into this one and they have so far been exceeded. I expected to play at medium settings, I'm playing on high with no problems. I expected good voice acting, I'm getting some of the best I've heard in a game. I like the new non-D&D Bioware is using (simpler, easier to understand), I like the decisions I have been given for my character, and I wholeheartedly agree that this is the spiritual successor to the BG series. I also like the little things, like how my character's head moves with my mouse cursor, the really great spell effects, the surprisingly (so far) easy-to-use tactics system (I really thought I was going to be overwhelemed with this), the character and armor models, and the spectacular vistas... (small spoiler follows) the detail and care given to the vista in the first camp you travel to with Duncan is nothing short of spectacular, it just looks so beautiful and epic, especially with the wind blowing all around you. I even took a few minutes just to wonder around the area near the cliffs just to take a look at everything around the area. Wow. So far combat is a bit of a challenge... I haven't died yet but I'm playing a mage (I never play a mage in RPG's so this is a first for me) and I really have to rely on his crowd control and debilitation spells, when usually I would build a pure damage-dealer.

Like I said, I'm only three hours in and my opinion might get soured the more I play, but this really has exceeded my expectations so far, and my expectations were pretty high going into this. I haven't been this excited about a game in a long, long time and I have not been disappointed so far.

Vesper

11-04-2009, 05:30 AM

I don't know what the naysayers are talking about. This is the best game I've played since... Baldur's Gate 2. It's been a long 8(?) years since I've had a game like this to play. I can see how people with no history with Infinity Engine games playing on a console could be disappointed with this, though. It's a lot different than anything they've likely played before. And I really can't imagine playing this without PC controls.

Ben Sones

11-04-2009, 05:42 AM

I have to say, I'm finding the controls to be a bit clunky. It suffers a from trying to be two different things at once--a classic, top-down RPG as well as a WoW-style, WASD + RMB mouselook game. Having to switch back and forth between the two is kind of a pain, and you sort of need to, since top-down is so much better for combat, but you miss a lot of scenery if you explore in that view. On balance, I think the top-down controls work a bit better, and I'm tempted to just stay in that view, but I'm worried that I'll be missing out on a lot of the game's visuals. They really should have just chosen one control scheme and stuck with it.

Nitpick 2: for being an all-original setting, it feels somewhat generic. It might as well be a D&D game; it even keeps the standard D&D races. I do like the concept of City Elves, though.

However...

The characters and the writing are both pretty great, and the combat is solid. It nails a lot of the basics, and that counts for a lot. So far, I'm digging it.

LesJarvis

11-04-2009, 05:45 AM

I have to say, I'm finding the controls to be a bit clunky. It suffers a from trying to be two different things at once--a classic, top-down RPG as well as a WoW-style, WASD + RMB mouselook game. Having to switch back and forth between the two is kind of a pain, and you sort of need to, since top-down is so much better for combat, but you miss a lot of scenery if you explore in that view. On balance, I think the top-down controls work a bit better, and I'm tempted to just stay in that view, but I'm worried that I'll be missing out on a lot of the game's visuals. They really should have just chosen one control scheme and stuck with it.

You...what? I mean you're right, the tactical view isn't very good for exploration, but you can switch between them instantly using the mouse scrollwheel, hardly what I'd describe as a pain. I just zoom out to the tactical view whenever I get in combat, and then zoom back in to explore.

Broadly agree with your second nitpick, though. The setting doesn't do a lot to distinguish itself up front.

Spect

11-04-2009, 05:47 AM

Having read all of the posts from 11/2 on, (that's like 10 pages!) the vibe I'm getting is that the 360 version is disappointing to people, but those that are playing the PC version are pretty happy.

My own experience is with the PC version and I'm really enjoying it. It's fairly challenging on normal difficulty, the UI is fine, the controls are good, the graphics are decent on an aging core 2 duo machine.

As for the story: it started out very generic but became pretty interesting a couple of hours in. I find plenty of character with the game. I can't believe someone feels it's inferior to Borderlands in that regard. Just listening to the banter between certain party members can be very entertaining.

I'm playing a rogue with ranged combat, and my only gripe is that most of the enemies go right for the lead character. So, it's hard to lead my group around with the rogue lest she gets surrounded every fight.

MSUSteve

11-04-2009, 05:56 AM

Went to Gamestop to get my non-CE pre-order. Turns out they didn't have any pre-order codes left. You'd think I'd have grown horns out of my head when I responded "That's cool, please just refund my $5 reserve." They tried to get me to switch it to another pre-order (what, so I can enjoy not receiving those codes?) and finally were like "Well, it still has tons of cool stuff like this quest and Mass Effect 2 armor -- and I've heard that is only in the 'first printing' copies."

I think I'm finally, truly, absolutely done with them forever.

Gamespot didn't have my 360 CE. They just didn't get as many as they thought they would.
Two great examples of why I've found it best to preorder online. It cracks me up that Gamestop sells preorders as a way to guarantee a copy of the game and yet somehow they never have enough copies to cover preorders, at least when it comes to "collector's edition" stuff. If a preorder doesn't guarantee a copy, then what the hell good is it? It seems so simply too, ya know? Order the number of copies you need to meet preorders. Isn't that why Gamestop pushes preorders to begin with? So they don't have to guess at how many copies to send out to each store?

tmastern

11-04-2009, 06:03 AM

Anybody else buy from Impulse and can't activate game at all?

Khoram

11-04-2009, 06:05 AM

It seems a lot of the complaints are from people who went with download versions. I picked up my regular pre-order from Gamestop, installed in about 20 minutes, had 1 code I had to enter twice to activate, but other than that I had all the items download quickly, Stone Prisoner downloaded easily, I paid for Warden's Keep and downloaded it in the background while I played (took about 15 min maybe). No issues at all. It even runs fine (hovers around 30 fps I would guess) on my C2D 2.4GHz/8800GTS box with settings maxed at 1650x1080.

Played 2 origin stories, dwarf noble warrior and female city elf rogue. I didn't find either one to be very generic at all. The dialogue, both spoken and the main character choices, are far better than I expected. The game is easily surpassing my expectations.

Hope you guys with the account/DLC problems get them resolved quickly. It's a shame to have a game this good leave such a bad taste in so many people's mouths the first day.

VegasRobb

11-04-2009, 06:18 AM

Enjoying the game. The little trinkets that you can earn prior to playing are neat.

Potential Spoilers below:

Spoilers below:

If I don't finish all of the quests in Korcari Wilds (Last Will and Testament / Ashes), will I get a chance to go back and finish them?

peacedog

11-04-2009, 06:39 AM

Anybody else buy from Impulse and can't activate game at all?

I got the game running no problem. No DLC, though.

jg93

11-04-2009, 06:41 AM

I love this game. Fucking phenomenal.

tmastern

11-04-2009, 06:43 AM

I got the game running no problem. No DLC, though.

Did you happen to activate the game through the link provided in the Impulse email?
It seems that the people having problems registered their keys on the social site first, as instructed in the email, but the game itself won't activate, saying the key is already in use.

Ahh, DRM sticks it in deep again!

peacedog

11-04-2009, 06:49 AM

Did you happen to activate the game through the link provided in the Impulse email?
It seems that the people having problems registered their keys on the social site first, as instructed in the email, but the game itself won't activate, saying the key is already in use.

Ahh, DRM sticks it in deep again!

Well, I went and inserted my DLC codes after I logged in with my EA account. It accepted those codes. After the game installed, I then went to register the game. I get no DLC options in game and I can't redeem the codes anymore.

I'm not sure what this has to do with DRM.

tmastern

11-04-2009, 06:52 AM

I'm not sure what this has to do with DRM.

I've got a game I bought and paid for that I can't play because some server thinks I'm a thief.....

Ben Sones

11-04-2009, 06:52 AM

BTW, for all of you people having trouble registering codes on the social site--have you tried just launching the game and looking in the DLC menu there? I was able to grab the DLC that came with my version, and I haven't registered my CD key anywhere. I just logged on to my account from within the game (lower left corner of the main menu screen), and it automatically knew which DLC I had available.

On a related note--if you registered and aren't seeing any DLC available, have you checked to make sure that you are logged onto your account in-game? It won't see any of your available downloads if you aren't logged on.

Stridergg

11-04-2009, 06:55 AM

VegasRobb - the answer to your spoiler is No. :)

I'm playing a rogue with ranged combat, and my only gripe is that most of the enemies go right for the lead character. So, it's hard to lead my group around with the rogue lest she gets surrounded every fight.

I am playing as a Rogue too and noticed that too - the enemies will run to attack whoever they see first until someone else gets their attention. It's easy to fit it though - switch to your warrior and lead with him. You just need to remember to switch back when you need to unlock some chest but the game will remind you with "unable to unlock" message :)

I am really enjoying the game after about 6 hours. It's beyond me how someone can say it doesn't have much atmosphere and personality. Yes, on the surface it's a generic tolkien-esque setting - humans, dwarves, elves, magic, demons. And if you really want to dismiss the game, you can stop there and start complaining. If you look at the setting a bit more, you will notice a lot of detail that shapes the world in this game. These are not your LOTR elves (these ones remind me a lot of The Witcher actually, probably due to the slavery). Magic is handled in a completely unique way (corruption, templars, tranquils, etc.). Humans have some great and interesting story with a lot of potential conflicts.

From the very beginning (note that I played only Human Noble origin atm), you feel how the game is building up to something big and terrible is about to happen. The game is dark fantasy (it does depend on your definition of dark fantasy though) in the sense that it makes you like some characters, allows you to grow attached to them and then it's not shy about killing them off. You get the impression that everyone can die. It's not a "my son is in the cave full of giant spiders, please resque him" happy ending kind of fantasy.

Codex is great, some of the records there are funny, some are interesting, some are sad. Voice acting is great and adds a lot to the game.

The point is if you look beyond "boo this game also has elves", the game has tons of unique and interesting atmosphere. World, history, characters, races, magic, demons, dragons - I am looking forward to get to know all this stuff better.

Angie Gallant

11-04-2009, 06:57 AM

I managed to get all but two pieces of my DLC. My Memory Band and Guildmaster's Belt remain MIA, and I've tried the Bioware-suggested fixes on their awful social site. Irritating.

I'm enjoying the game quite a bit, but I need to find Wynne fast. I enjoy talking to Alistair and Morrigan separately, much to my surprise, but their inter-party banter is driving me up the goddamn wall.

Boinkology

11-04-2009, 06:57 AM

Spoilers below:

If I don't finish all of the quests in Korcari Wilds (Last Will and Testament / Ashes), will I get a chance to go back and finish them?

Spoiler:

No. After you leave the Prelude (Ostragar/Lothering Part of the Game) and go into the Main Quests, you will no longer be able to go to the Kokari Wilds. Some of the quests end in other cities though, so you just need to do the stuff in the Kokari Wilds before you leave. i.e. Find the traveller's hidden stash, etc.

mono

11-04-2009, 06:59 AM

I've got a game I bought and paid for that I can't play because some server thinks I'm a thief.....

I didn't buy from Impulse, and don't know if it's the same issue, but someone posted a fix for Impulse problems earlier in the thread:

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1954155&postcount=3146

Storz

11-04-2009, 07:01 AM

Well, I went and inserted my DLC codes after I logged in with my EA account. It accepted those codes. After the game installed, I then went to register the game. I get no DLC options in game and I can't redeem the codes anymore.

I'm not sure what this has to do with DRM.

I have to same problem, I bought it through impulse too and tried their suggestions in impulse forum regarding updater service, I can see updater working in game, but just no DLC show up. I assume this is an EA/Bioware issue. :(

tmastern

11-04-2009, 07:02 AM

I didn't buy from Impulse, and don't know if it's the same issue, but someone posted a fix for Impulse problems earlier in the thread:

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1954155&postcount=3146

I haven't even been able to get to the point where I can worry about downloadable content.
The game won't activate, so I can't even start it........

Tacitus

11-04-2009, 07:03 AM

The social site is definitely a mess and I also spent an hour fighting to get my accounts made, registering, and actually getting the stuff to show up as available in-game.

Then, I'm excited because I see on the site that the toolset is released and ready to download so I navigate to the download and hit a 404 page. I search the forums and see that it isn't released yet and they aren't sure when it will be. Would be nice to see that mentioned on the page.

Really happy with the actual game though. I only got to spend an hour or two, but very impressed with the voice acting. The writing is pretty decent also. I'm anxious to fiddle with the AI scripts more also.

peacedog

11-04-2009, 07:04 AM

I've got a game I bought and paid for that I can't play because some server thinks I'm a thief.....

How do you know that's what is happening? I'm taking this as an indication of incompetence, not of sekret DRM. I could be wrong.

BTW, for all of you people having trouble registering codes on the social site--have you tried just launching the game and looking in the DLC menu there? I was able to grab the DLC that came with my version, and I haven't registered my CD key anywhere. I just logged on to my account from within the game (lower left corner of the main menu screen), and it automatically knew which DLC I had available.

On a related note--if you registered and aren't seeing any DLC available, have you checked to make sure that you are logged onto your account in-game? It won't see any of your available downloads if you aren't logged on.

Done and Done, still no DLC. I'll be examining the impulse work around later.

Shimarenda

11-04-2009, 07:06 AM

Could we please take the spoilers to the spoiler thread? I haven't even installed yet.

tmastern

11-04-2009, 07:08 AM

How do you know that's what is happening? I'm taking this as an indication of incompetence, not of sekret DRM. I could be wrong.

Well, server activation is a form of DRM, no?
Regardless, it's keeping me from using what I bought....

peacedog

11-04-2009, 07:08 AM

This is the spoiler thread, I think.

TheWombat

11-04-2009, 07:08 AM

After much frustration engendered by my DVD drive's inability--for some unknown reason--to install the CE I bought at Best Buy, I did finally get up and running. I simply gave my wife the DVD version and downloaded the basic version from Steam. Unbelievably, for me at least, Steam worked pretty well. It downloaded, it installed, it ran, and I was able to actually get the Warden's Keep DLC (I simply bought it, as I didn't have a download code, having the normal edition of the game) from within the game. The only oddity is that every time I run it Steam pops up the game key telling me I'll need it, but no one has asked for it yet. Perhaps if I try to get the toolset or something? It certainly lets me play, save, have an online profile, and get DLC, so I guess it's all good.

The game itself I'm loving--it does seem generic at first as others note but really I think the tutorial stuff (at least for the Dwarf warrior from the undercaste I started) is pretty slick, and much more interesting than most. I am detecting hints of Robert Jordan, George Martin, and the like in some of the writing and plotting and setting, and the dialog and voice acting is pretty decent really.

Gameplay takes some getting used to, at least for me. I share some of Ben's discomfort with the hybrid control scheme, but I settled on running around in third-person WASD mode and zooming out for the big fights, and that seems to work. I can see that mastering the tactics for the party members will take some thought, but I love the idea. Some of the fights in the tutorial--the last one in particular--were pretty brutal, but I was able to get through it the second time by judiciously using pause. On Normal, it seems that you pretty much have to avoid a pure real-time approach for anything other than trash mobs, which suits me fine.

I like the look, even with the clipping issues, and most importantly, I didn't want to stop playing when I simply had to go to bed if I was to get up for my 8AM meeting. Now, if Steam will cooperate tonight when I get home and STILL work, I'll be happy....

peacedog

11-04-2009, 07:09 AM

Well, server activation is a form of DRM, no?
Regardless, it's keeping me from using what I bought....

Jesus pancake.

Fugitive

11-04-2009, 07:33 AM

tmastern

11-04-2009, 07:42 AM

Make sure you're not missing an "Enter Code" button somewhere. The first time I ran it, it was a bit confusing because it complained that it was not activated, with phrasing that made it seem like it thought it should have been already, but there was a button somewhere around there to enter the code (same one as from your Impulse registrations page).

Yes, that option is available, but it won't take the key, because it comes back as "key is already in use". Some people who registered through the Bioware social site (as opposed to at game start up) are havng this issue. Our EA accounts (where the game shows in my profile as registered) are not linking with the game activation request....

Telefrog

11-04-2009, 07:45 AM

I have everything registered correctly and all my DLC is showing up in the queue. My issue is that while all the stuff like the armor, rings, and belts from various offers downloaded and installed correctly, my Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep have yet to come in. They just keep failing during the download.

I think I'll just wait until the weekend to try to get those again.

tmastern

11-04-2009, 07:48 AM

From: 11/4 Dragon Age Status Thread - Serial Already In Use Issues
Published on November 4, 2009 By Zoomba
"Good Morning,

Another issue that's been cropping up is users trying to activate the game but being told that their activation key is already in use.

There are two paths to activate your key to your EA account. At the moment only one of them is working.

Method 1: Bioware Social Site.
If you activated your key via the Bioware Social site FIRST, then there is a high probability that your key is in limbo at the moment. Users have reported back to me from EA support saying it's a known issue and they're working on it. Unfortunately since it's an EA system issue, you will need to engage with EA support to resolve your key.

Method 2: First time game launch after install.
The first time you run the game on a new machine you will be prompted to log in with your EA.com account and then if you don't already have an activation on the account, enter the product key into the launcher tool. If you activate this way FIRST, everything should work.

If you registered via Method 2 FIRST, and are still having issues, then post here.

-Mike
Impulse Publishing Team"

At least they acknowledge the problem....

LesJarvis

11-04-2009, 07:48 AM

I guess I was lucky -- the Steam decryption thing taking 20 minutes caught me off guard, but other than that everything was completely smooth. It only took me about 10 minutes to download all of the deluxe edition DLC.

SirTomster

11-04-2009, 08:55 AM

After sleeping on it I can see how people can say the Mage Origin is weak. To me it is especially weak if you are an elf Magi.

I know from the Elf Origin video that elves are pretty much slaves. But Magi Origin start did not get that explained to me. I was a Magi and it barely touched on the fact that I was an elf. Granted as the game progresses I can see it because of how some people treat me because I am an Elf. But I think I would of been confused if I had not saw the Origins video. Mainly because the Elves in this universe are different than say Tolkien's.

That being said. Getting ready to stick a staff where the sun doesn't shine on all those dumb ass humans. Which I actually think is good. Its good to see that they do react to the character you choose. Because I know I would have been greeted differently as a different race. So the game knows I am an Elf and treats me as such. This makes the game more personal to my character. (or it does to me)

So Bad on the part expecting me to know the history of the Elves before I started the game so some of the options I have make better sense. But awesome because the game treats me as an elf. (so far at least) Have to see how it goes further on. Will it just treat me as an Grey Warden later? I hope not. Because if this is how the game is. Then I could have a completely different experience playing over again as another character.

VegasRobb

11-04-2009, 09:14 AM

Thanks Boinm and Strider!

Next question. I didn't do those quests. Should I consider restarting? My crew is level 8 atm.

Shimarenda

11-04-2009, 09:58 AM

This is the spoiler thread, I think.
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=55701 is the labeled spoiler thread, but all three threads on the front page now seem to container spoilers now, so I suppose you're right.

DragonPup

11-04-2009, 10:01 AM

Yea know, there's one somewhat minor scene that stuck with me

SPOILERS

At Lothering after shit got real back at the fortress you get jumped by a group of peasant refugees. The leader apologizes but says they need the bounty to feed their families and they attack you. And get slaughtered. No way to talk them out, or anything. I 'awww'd D:'.

Spect

11-04-2009, 10:03 AM

Let's talk crashes...

I've only experienced 2 crashes so far with the PC version. Once was very early on, the first time I tried to level up my dog, I got a hard lock and had to reboot with the reset button.

The second crash was just now when switching characters around in my party. This was a crash to desktop.

So far, no major issues. Nothing game breaking anyway. Anyone else encounter anything?

VegasRobb

11-04-2009, 10:04 AM

A spoiler thread seems like it would be pretty dangerous given the amount of content. I suppose it could work if folks are good in their use of spoiler tags.

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=55701 is the labeled spoiler thread, but all three threads on the front page now seem to container spoilers now, so I suppose you're right.

stusser

11-04-2009, 10:05 AM

After sleeping on it I can see how people can say the Mage Origin is weak. To me it is especially weak if you are an elf Magi.
There's another elf in the library in the mage origin that goes a bit into the race's situation. But I agree, it's not heavily emphasized.

I haven't tried the other origins yet, but I thought the mage one was rather strong.

Boinkology

11-04-2009, 10:12 AM

Thanks Boinm and Strider!

Next question. I didn't do those quests. Should I consider restarting? My crew is level 8 atm.

Nah, thats no reason to restart. However.... SPOILER BELOW....

FYI: There is a certain party member that you can only get during the Prelude. If you don't get them then, and you continue on to the main quests, you lose them forever. Because an additional party member is worth restarting for, if only because you also get their personal side quests, and it adds to the game.

END SPOILER

Enidigm

11-04-2009, 10:13 AM

The thing about the mage origin that threw me was the fork in your choices (if you have any, that is) came earlier than i had expected. I also have a very, very hard time being bad the first time through.

Kunikos

11-04-2009, 10:14 AM

I'm playing the game as a neutral with evil tendencies mage, so basically I always ask myself "What would Bender do?"

mkozlows

11-04-2009, 10:14 AM

There's another elf in the library in the mage origin that goes a bit into the race's situation. But I agree, it's not heavily emphasized.

I really like the elf mage origin, as it handles the persecution. Basically you're surrounded by people who spend a lot of time telling you how even elves are valued and nobody looks down on you due to your elfosity, and what-not, and it's this little bubble of privilege, and then you get outside of that, and people start actually being dicks right to your face.

My elf mage started out being fairly polite, but is quickly being radicalized.

Kunikos

11-04-2009, 10:15 AM

I sense that your elf will be researching how to make fantasy fertilizer bombs soon, right?

Enidigm

11-04-2009, 10:22 AM

Morgann sucks. I pretty much built my mage to half be her. It's a bit funky playing two classes that are close together.

Actually, at Hard difficulty, my mage doesn't do much but spam Arcane Bolt and toss heals around. I haven't found a magic class that clicks with my desires yet. I hate dying and want to heal up - vampiric fashion if possible, as heath stealing is always my favorite skill. But entropy doesn't seem to have an excess of direct damage spells. I need to get some blood magic going... hopefully when the hardback guide arrives tomorrow it will describe the magic in more depth.

idrisz

11-04-2009, 10:28 AM

you won't be able to score some DD from blood magic until lvl 12-14, the 3rd spell is AOE Dot/Hold

fire line is probably best line for some offensive power earlier on, you get fireball at lvl 3 if you dump all your points into magic right off the bat.

Gendal

11-04-2009, 10:29 AM

Morgann sucks.

Not playing on hard like you but at least on normal her cold spells are great. I upgraded to the cone of cold and it's invaluable for locking down lines of combatants for a few seconds, along with winters grasp.

Kunikos

11-04-2009, 10:31 AM

The stone line has a DD fist that is decent on rank 2, after getting the rank 1 stone armor (which in its own right is good). You can combo from the freeze or petrify and smash the enemy.

Can you run two sustained spells at the same time? Just curious.

idrisz

11-04-2009, 10:31 AM

The stone line has a DD fist that is decent on rank 2, after getting the rank 1 stone armor (which in its own right is good).

Can you run two sustained spells at the same time? Just curious.

you can run as many as your magic/stamina allow you.

I run flaming weapon + miasma.