Wow. Less fun.

[cyrano]

So the big battle finally started. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the tower where I was supposed to have my milk run job of lighting the beacon had been infiltrated by DarkSpawn. Go ahead, imagine. Done now? Okay, let's move on. The new friends specifically were the tower guard and the mage NPCs who have joined up with me for the duration of... as long as nameless NPCs last.

In order to help me focus on using the Tactics menu instead of playing moment by moment, there are some rules. Like the No Shooting Anybody rule, where if you left click on somebody to attack, you have to do it at least twice in order for it to take effect. Or the Six Inch rule, where anything taller than six inches becomes an impassable obstacle. And then there's the Two Step rule, where if you've instigated a manual attack and either you or your opponent take two steps, you have to re-instigate the attack.

But I have discovered the power of The All Might Spacebar! Stop! Collaborate! Listen! Who the hell is setting me on fire? And Alastair looks adorable in his Thane's helmet. (It's like a ski mask with goat horns on it.

Today's session was short and rather frustrating, with lots of team wipes, but at least I managed to get *inside* the tower. And then collect a bunch more team wipes in the Guest Hall. I'm thinking I'll have to go to Kindergarten Combat mode as a default in order to keep having fun.

Comments

[simonepdx.livejournal.com]

I play hard video games and first-person-shooters, but for Dragon Age I had to change my mindset to the strategy of spacebar/pause ... line up my attacks and those of the NPCs ... go ... pause ... line up attacks ... etc.

Later in the game, some of your attacks and those of your friends get so powerful that the fights don't last more than one or two rounds, especially on easy, but those early fights were scaled right to the top of what you could do at your current level / current equipment.

I really loved this game, once I learned how to actually do the fights ;-)

I hope you enjoy it enough to stick with it--and yes, putting it on its easiest setting is a great way to enjoy the mild RP aspect and storyline without getting too abused by the boss fights. Though the folks posting above are right: the ogre fight you get at the top of this tower kicked my arse repeatedly until I figured things out.