{"id":247,"date":"2012-10-18T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/?p=247"},"modified":"2012-10-10T15:10:55","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T22:10:55","slug":"mark-plays-dragon-age-origins-hour-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/2012\/10\/18\/mark-plays-dragon-age-origins-hour-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Plays ‘Dragon Age: Origins’: Hour 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth hour of Dragon Age: Origins<\/em>, SLOTHS. Okay, not actual<\/em> sloths, but still. Also, I couldn’t find a way to stick a Burning Man joke in here. Drat. If you’re intrigued, then it’s time for Mark to play Dragon Age: Origins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Hour Twelve<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may have taken twelve hours to get here, but I finally feel like the mechanics of gameplay in Dragon Age: Origins <\/em>don’t confuse me anymore. I’m not overwhelmed by the Tactics menu, by learning how to switch between my Shapeshifter identities, by developing solo techniques to defeat all the enemies that I face, and by being TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME.<\/p>\n

It definitely helps that this entire sequence in the Fade is so complicated and challenging that it forced me to learn real<\/em> quickly. Many times, I had to switch from Roslin to the Burning Man and then the Golem in a matter of seconds, so until I figured out that I could program them into my R2 menu. Some characters\/shapeshifters were way better at attacking certain baddies, and then I got Golem and OH MY GOD HE IS SO SATISFYING TO USE.<\/p>\n

Anyway, for the entire time I’m in the Fade, I’d like to chronicle the exact path I take through this part of the game:<\/p>\n

The Burning Tower<\/strong><\/p>\n

I figured I might as well start with the closest part of the Fade. The enemies were relatively easy to defeat, as Roslin’s electric sword and dual attack DECIMATED THEM. I kept Peter Pettigrew-ing my way into other rooms until I was able to get the Burning Man form. OH SHIT HIS SPECIAL POWERS ARE SO AMAZING. Not only can you walk through fire, you spit out a beam of fire and then you do that thing where it’s like RING OF FIRE and I swear, one day, I will learn the proper terms for these things. It’s also nice that Roslin can still<\/em> use her dual-wielding weapons, too!<\/p>\n

The Mage Asunder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Believing that I was totally<\/em> prepared for the Fade, I haughtily traveled to The Mage Asunder, ready to destroy a bunch of mages.<\/p>\n

I was killed six times<\/em> in the first sixty seconds. WELL. THAT WAS SOBERING. I realized that Mages can cast spells and hexes through the wall<\/em>. You fucking cheaters<\/em>. I think the next time I play through Dragon Age<\/em>, I want to be a mage. Their skill\/special trees are SO LARGE. Oh my god<\/em>, there’s so much you can do! So it took me being creative to take them down. First, before I even approached the door they were all hiding behind, I’d use Roslin and go into Stealth mode. I ran past the door so that they’d open it, but since I was invisible, their initial spells didn’t work. Then I snuck in the room, got behind the most powerful mage, immediately stunned him and then did my DOUBLE STUNNING BUTTSTAB OF DEATH. He’d be dead in three hits, and I could focus on the other two, wherein I’d shapeshift to Burning Man and drop a fire bomb to light them up and annihilate them.<\/p>\n

Shit. Yeah<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This area was far more complicated than the Burning Tower, and I certainly died a few times before I made it to them room with THE GOLEM POWER. OH SHIT. Now I could up the Metal Doors! And I could mass stun people<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Before that, though, I picked up the Essence of Magic, earning a permanent +1 to magic. YES. YES. I LOVE GETTING REWARDED FOR GOING INTO EVERY ROOM. Despite this, though, I then faced the most difficult villain in the game so far: Rhagos. Fourteen. That’s how many times he killed me before I finally was able to stun him enough times and combine the Golem, Burning Man, and Roslin specials to destroy him. My god, he fucked me up<\/em>. I felt rather satisfied that I beat him, though. I’m learning<\/em>. IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.<\/p>\n

But all the deaths and repetitive fights drained down my hour, and after only conquering two areas of the Fade, I was out of time. DAMN IT. MUST FIGHT BETTER TOMORROW.<\/p>\n

My Character Stats<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Strength: 24
\nDexterity: 22+14 (FUCK YEAH, LOOK HOW AWESOME I AM)
\nWillpower: 16
\nMagic: 14
\nCunning: 16
\nConstitution: 19+6 (Y’ALL ARE JEALOUS. Okay, you’re not.)<\/p>\n

Heroic Stats\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kills: 216
\nDamage dealt: 32742 (FUCK YEAH, I RULE)
\nFriendly -fire: 0
\nGreatest damage dealt: 46
\nContribution to party damage: 38
\nHit rate: 86
\nMost powerful foe slain: Abomination
\nInjuries: 4<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n

– You can follow me on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0for any updates and live commentary on upcoming reviews I\u2019m writing.
\n– You should read this\u00a0very important post<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0about supporting Mark Does Stuff!
\n–\u00a0I\u2019ve started reading\u00a0The Shoebox Project<\/em>\u00a0for Mark Reads<\/a>, the first fanfic \u201cseries\u201d I\u2019ve ever covered! Join me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth hour of Dragon Age: Origins, SLOTHS. Okay, not actual sloths, but still. Also, I couldn’t find a way to stick a Burning Man joke in here. Drat. If you’re intrigued, then it’s time for Mark to play … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[32,33,42,31],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dragon-age","tag-dragon-age-2","tag-dragon-age-origins","tag-getting-cocky-about-gameplay-that-isnt-even-that-good","tag-mark-plays-dragon-age"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}