Because Every Rose Has Its Video, Rosa's Vid Topic Options

[Acadian]

Woot! Getting to to peek under the hood of a different game! I've heard of this one and looked into it a little. So many games, so little time, given that when one ensnares me I tend to spend a decade or so there . . .

The characters look great and the environment looks very nice. That forest behind Morrigan and Darryl looks magically elven enough to die for!

Thanks again for sharing!

[King Coin]

What an interesting treat. I’d be happy to know what you think of this game! There are not many games that allow people access to ‘cheats’ and that’s definitely something I hope Bethesda keeps doing.

It looks to have a Dragon Age and MMO combat style, just by looking at the UI. The character designs seem nice. She’s got ears bigger than Buffy’s!

[Grits]

The Dawnguard armor is one of my very favorites, along with the steel plate. Hervor’s down-to-Nirn look has always appealed to me.

Lol, I imagine that Serana is looking at Hervor in this one. I guess Hervor’s look appeals to Serana, too!

Oh, the Forgotten Vale is gorgeous! It’s been a long time since I went through there. That’s enough to get me to do the Dawnguard questline. I can’t wait to go there with some characters who have a real camping kit!!

Hervor leads the charge! Nice armored troll. I forgot that Jerric had one with him in his long-neglected Xbox game, and when I loaded it to see where he was the damn thing scared the crap out of me. Not what you expect to see (or hear) in the streets of Riften.

Outstanding shield choice, and the helm looks awesome. Charging in 2 is my favorite, because you can see how Hervor’s war paint looks so damn fine!! Woo! *ahem*

Final showdown is a fabulous shot! The matching pose makes the contrasts between Serena and Hervor really stand out. Even the color of their blades.

Light vs. Darkness is one of those stunning shots that just looks perfect. That one will stick in my memory. Wow.

Shawarma, nice.

Kingdoms of Amalur looks beautiful. I have no experience with non-TES games, but I recognize proper elf-ears when I see them! The skank indicator arrow made me LOL.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: Kingdoms of Amalur was interesting. I did like how the characters looked too. They are much better than any vanilla ES game. But there were just too many things about it I did not like, especially the combat, so I did not stick with it for very long.


King Coin: I made a big write-up about KoA in the What Are You Playing thread. It has its good points and bad points. I just started playing Dragon Age: Origins, and I am noticing a lot of similarities between the two. It makes me wonder if the KoA people were copying from Bioware.

I have heard a lot of people say the UI looks like an MMO's. I do not play MMO's so I do not know. But to me it just looks like an RPG game. Most of the old school ones like Neverwinter Nights or Baldur's Gate had a lot more of the interface on the screen than that. Even a game as new as Dragon Age Origins is about the same. More actually, since it has all the pictures of the party going down the left side of the screen as well.


Grits: Serana was definitely showing off for someone in that pic. It might have been for the Snow Elf Paladin though...

I am not sure who dragged the troll along. Probably the animal trainer guy. Hervor never used them. I tried them once as a summoning with a previous character, and they were not much use. They spend half the time jumping up and down and beating their hands on their chests rather than fighting. It got really annoying when people were attacking me and my troll was throwing a hissy fit with his fleas.

That is a new shield I worked into my Matherian Viking Shields Lite mod. I added in three more, so now they not only replace the Iron, Steel, Banded Iron, and Hide shields, but I also made a couple of entirely new ones that I called Leather and Banded Leather (for lack of better names). I even put them in the bandit item lists, so they are being used by more than just me.

That first moment when you step through the door to the Vampire Chapel is always a great place for screenshots. The lighting in front of the door makes for dramatic looks. I recall I had another great shot there of Serana and Helregin.

Light vs. Darkness came together nicely, since Harkon had the magic sphere thing going, and Hervor's spell absorption was going off at the same time. Plus the lighting and dramatic pose really worked.

I see someone got my reference to the post-credit Avengers scene...

I liked the big elf ears in KoA too. It makes it obvious that they are elves! I do mind them small though. I can go either way with my ears.

I could not resist the skank idea. Goddess, does every female character in a video game have to be dressed like a Victoria's Secret model? I am playing Dragon Age: Origins now, and there is another character whose outfit is even worse. I cannot look at her without wanting to laugh.


KoA could not hold my interest, so I fired up Dragon Age: Origins, and created a Mage. She is the short one in the middle.

Her name is Juno, can anyone guess what young up and coming actress she is based upon?

Juno finally got rid of the bright yellow quilt she was wearing and found a decent looking robe thing.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Dec 31 2013, 06:56 PM

[Acadian]

I did give DA-O a very solid try, dedicating almost six weeks to learning and playing it. Although there were certainly D&D elements that felt very familiar from the Baldurs Gate series, and the graphics for characters looked great, I just couldn’t get into it. I found trying to work the camera a constant distraction and absolutely hated the class restrictions. How dare one consider blending bow with magic! Survival seemed to force an archer to carry a blade. The concept of a scout was unworkable since there weren’t enough ‘points/mojo’ to have one character proficient with the skills necessary to skulk out front looking for foes, traps etc. I also really disliked the frequent surprise cutscenes that dropped me into having to make choices I didn’t want to make without thinking them over. So I would generally unhappily exit the game, think things over and restart from wherever I had last saved. That got pretty tedious. I’m so glad you’re getting some good use out of it though and many folks found it to be a great game.

My lack of Hollywood pop culture currency really shows as I confess that I don’t think I can name even one up and coming young actress.

The robe thing in Juno’s last shot does indeed look great!

[SubRosa]

Acadian: I know what you mean about DA:O. I have all the same complaints in fact. One thing I really dislike too is that the lighting is off in character creation, so the character you thought you make, does not look the same in the Real World. By then it is too late to do anything of course, except to sit through endless cinematics until you can go back and start all over again. *grrrr*

I don't want to give away the actress in case someone else guesses it. But I can give a hint that the character name I picked was based upon one of her roles (the one that made her famous in fact). Also, thanks to another movie of hers whenever I see the name Hurlock in the game, all I can think of are Hurl Scouts...



Out of curiosity, I made a few other characters to see what some of the other Origin stories are like. The first was Kalaratri, a Dwarven Noble Warrior.

I really love the way this armor looks. It is a shame you do not get to keep it.

I also created Nanaya, to try out a City Elf Rogue

A Hurl Scout loses his head

Ogre slayage

[Grits]

Well I think Juno looks like that actress who played Juno, but I don’t have a clue what her name is. I’d have to say she looks like that girl who was in that movie with the guy from that musical, which is a pretty typical Grits popular culture description, lol. Anyway she’s adorable.

I’ve never played DA:O, but we have it around here somewhere. My kids thought I would like it. Maybe I’ll get to it someday. I really like Nananya’s look.

[Acadian]

I'm embarrassed to report the only famous and beautiful character named Juno that I know is one of the two giant dogs that belonged to the Swiss Family Robinson - Turk and Juno. I believe they were mastiffs in the book and great danes in the movie.

I am, however, very glad to see you getting some good mileage out of DA:O. I did like the character graphics and found it very easy to make an attractive character.

Kalaratri looks smaller than a wood elf – but quite a bit sturdier.

I really like the armor on Nanaya – it looks both attractive and effective for a light skirmisher. And Grits is right; she's a neat looking elf.

Nice action shots!

[SubRosa]

Grits: Juno is the actress who played Juno: Ellen Page. She has been in other things too. Like the one with the guy who was in the thing, with all the stuff? I just rewatched Whip It yesterday (a roller derby movie!), now I am going to have to rewatch Juno as well. Seriously though, her and Jennifer Lawrence are my two favorite young new actresses. And they have both played X-Men! Ellen Page is Shadowcat/Kitty Pride, and Jennifer Lawrence plays the younger version of Mystique in X-Men First Class.


Acadian: I am getting some mileage out of DA:O. It is nice to be getting my money's worth. Today I tried doing a rogue/archer character, and I remembered why I did not get far playing DA the first time around. Archery is bugged in this game, especially when playing a rogue, who relies on Dexterity and Cunning, rather than Dex and Strength. Plus backstabbing does not work with a bow.

I did some digging though and found a way to create multi-class characters using the console, as well as to change the class of an existing character. All of the codes are linked to in the little box named Console near the upper right of the page. So I went back to my first save of the archer character and changed her from a Rogue to a Warrior. Just like that her Attack Attribute went up by 10 points. You can use the console to add all the talent trees from Rogue to the Warrior, and vice-versa, including the specializations like Bard or Assassin. It still matters what class you "officially" are because that is what determines your starting stats, and how much health, stamina, etc... you get per level.

Multi-classing a mage is a bit tricker. The way the game is made Mages cannot use talents, and Warriors/Rogues cannot use spells. So you can use the console to add the Core Mage class, but it has no effect. However, you can still start with a Warrior or Rogue and use the console to add individual spells. They do not show up in your character sheet. But they do show up in the quick button bar at the bottom of the screen. You can move them around to different slots there as normal. They work just fine too, and use your stamina instead of magicka. I have not tried it, but you are supposed to be able to start with a Mage and do the same with Warrior and Rogue talents as well.

So you can create a mage who can pick locks and disarm traps, or a rogue who can cast spells, etc... I am going to play my newest character as a hybrid of all three this way, using the Warrior as a base for the better health and to hit scores. I have already added the stealth, lockpicking, and dirty fighting talent trees. I might specialize her as a ranger or a bard. I don't see her needing a lot of magic, but I might go with some healing or glyph spells.


Banba - my new Dalish elf Warrior/Rogue Arcane Archer

A profile view

She has big ears

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 8 2014, 08:44 PM

[Acadian]

Thanks for that data/info on DA:O! Now I know who to ask if I ever dust it off again.

Bambi Banba looks great! Not surprisingly, I love her big ears.

I do remember liking that Templar fellow quite a bit.

[SubRosa]

I have also been doing some digging on archery in DA:O. This page is all about how to uber out your archer and make them work. It all boils down to two things. Critical hits and high attack speed. Since many of the archer talents make your attacks take longer, it is actually better not to use them. For example, the Aim talent gives you a +10 or so to hit. But it also doubles the time it takes to shoot. You are better off shooting twice using no talents.

I just did some modding, and changed the Aim and Defensive Fire talents to remove their attack speed penalties. That should help make an archer more viable, without having to go through all of the exploits listed on the page (I don't like the idea of having to exploit bugs in the game just to make a character viable. Easier just to mod the game to make the character viable).

I am also using this mod that improves the stats of bows a little bit, but not overpoweringly so.

I am also using this mod to fix a bug with critical hits. Every character in the game has a base 3% chance of getting a critical hit. Except the player, who has zero chance. So unless the PC has a weapon that adds a critical hit modifier, it is impossible to get criticals. The mod gives the PC the same 3% chance as everyone else.


Edit: Today I found this mod, which speeds up all the bow talents to regular speed. I have not tested it with all of them yet, but I did test with Pinning Shot, Shattering Shot, and Critical Shot, and it works on those.

Thanks to this last mod, I have found that archery works well for me now. Banba is now the biggest damage dealer of the party (barely). She makes a devastating combo with Wynne, whom I gave Winter's Grasp and Cone of Cold. I start a battle with Banba stealthed, and Wynne leads off with Cone of Cold against the baddies as they charge in. That freezes several of them solid. Banba then shoots from stealth, which is an automatic critical hit. Frozen people shatter and automatically die when hit with a critical, so that scratches one baddie. By then the Cone of Cold is wearing off, so Wynne freezes another with Winter's Grasp. At the same time Banba uses the Critical Shot talent for another auto crit to shatter them. Just seconds into the battle, and two bad guys are down.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 8 2014, 02:14 AM

[King Coin]

Wow, this game looks a whole lot better than it did on Xbox. There weren’t any patterns on the robes beyond colored sections. The faces had no details like moles or pores.

I beat the game once, but played every origin.

Banba is probably my favorite character of your, based on looks only. Big ears indeed. I like the face on the guy on the right side of the picture.

[Grits]

Banba looks great! I love her ears. Her look is perfect for her name!

Thank you for the exploits page. I have a console version, so no mods for me. At least now I’ll know why my vanilla archer is terrible!

[SubRosa]

Acadian: Alistar is very easy to like. Bioware is good at making likeable male sidekick characters, like Carth from KOTOR 1, or Atton from Kotor 2, or Kaidan from ME1.


King Coin: I am using an HD texture mod for the faces and eyes, so that is why they look so much more detailed. The rest is all vanilla though.

So far I have tried the Mage origin with an elf, the City Elf, the Dalish Elf, and the Dwarf Noble. So I still have not done the Commoner Dwarf, or the Human Noble.

The guy on the right in that picture? Ser Jory? He was a big doofus!


Grits: Banba does look very Irish doesn't she?

You should sell that console and stick to gaming on your PC, there is so much more you can do. Like fix broken games. That last mod I found that speeds up all the bow talents fixes archers. Banba has been a lot of fun, and even when using only archer talents she is very effective.



It is hard to get pictures in DA:O so I just have two.

A close up of Banba

The rest of the Scooby Gang

[Acadian]

Yes, DA:O had a familiar Bioware feel to it that was in many ways comforting after spending so much time playing Bioware’s Baldur’s Gate II. I agree that Alister was quite flirt-worthy from Buffy’s perspective, though we didn’t get very far into the game. BG II had a paladin named Keldorn Firecam who, like Savlian Matius, was the noble, selfless and gritty real deal. Very easy to like, admire and be drawn to. His only problem for Buffy was that he was married with a daughter that was Buffy’s age! And the only romancable fellow in BG II was a total full-of-himself fop. Oh, and the BG character Minsc is legendarily memorable among those who played that game - he was strong, loyal, noble not quite as smart as the pet hamster that he carried around and talked to.

A nice close up of Banba, with those beautiful ears!

Her Scooby Gang looks like a good little group.

[King Coin]

Kaidan from ME1.

Who's that? I had Garrus!

I see what you mean about the faces and eyes. The rest of it isn't as good. You did make a pretty elf though!

Alistar's hair always bugged me. Looks out of place in a knights and magic RPG in my opinion.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: I never did play the Baldur's Gate games. I do have Icewind Dale laying around. I never got very far into it though. Maybe I will give it another whirl after DA:O though.


King Coin: Kaidan is the Biotic you start with. Garrus never did much for me. He seemed a little dull.

it is the hair on the male elves that disappoints me in DA:O. It is all too short and bland, like they are all living in the 50's. I like my elf manflesh to come with luxurious leonine manes, like Elric, not Gomer Pyle.


I am still playing DA:O, but have been thinking about continuing Persehpone. With that in mind I was looking over some outfits. But as usual, I am undecided.

Here are my top three. From left to right - Eisen Platte White, White Nightingale, and Triss Outfit.

The Eisen Platte and Nightingale have that nice exotic look that goes with a living dead adventurer. But the Triss Outfit also looks good, and has a more "just because I don't breathe, eat, sleep, or have a beating heart, it doesn't mean I am not a regular person too..." attitude.

I don't have pics with hoods on. Persephone always wears a hood when she is in town. It is how she goes 'undercover' as a living person. The Nightingale Armor has a nice hood that completely covers the head and face. Though it does look a little creepy and strange to be wearing it in town. The other two don't have anything, so I would have to come up with a matching hood from somewhere. A vampire hood or college hood might work with the Triss Outfit. The Eisen armor though, I am not sure at all. I would need to find or make a white hood or helmet somewhere.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 17 2014, 03:41 AM

[Rohirrim]

The Eisen Platte has a really nice etched Gothic look about it, an a sort of scrimshaw look as well. I say go with that.

[Acadian]

I’m not surprised that you once again hear the seductive siren call of TES.

Nice armor choices. Let’s see. . .
- Eisen Platte White – I'm with Rohirrim here. Hands down my fave for Persehpone. Classy, effective looking, and provides some contrast.

- White Nighingale - Too much of a sea of white, given Purse-Phone’s own pale coloring.

- Triss – As much as I love the Triss outfit, it very much evokes a warm-blooded elven ranger type character to me.

[King Coin]

My vote goes to Eisen Platte as well. Triss just does not suit an undead character in my opinion.