Dragon Age's combat is rubbish!

I loved this game when I first started playing it, and i've got to level 12 and a big chunk through the game where I noticed what was at first a niggling nic pick has started to make me in a state where I can't be assed to carry on with the game anymore. The combat is crap!

I will explain.

At first it's ok, i've played Neverwinter Nights games so i'm used to it, I knew what to expect, it's got a bit of Final Fantasy 12 in there also with it's tactics system being very much like the gambit system of FF. The problem is later on in the game. The fights get way too difficult that you need to micromanage your commands way too much. The thing is it makes you micro-manage but not in a good way, it's not that your positioning your characters to strategic locations and doing a cone attack, because that would be ok, but instead your just having to constantly chug down healing potions and spam healing spells to make up for the ridiculous number of enemy that's rush you at once combined with the slightly off-balanced damage they inflict. Quite often this comes in the form of an altha strike giving you not even a quarter of a second to throw an instant heal in.

I played a caster, and I got all these nice offensive spells but I never get to cast any of them. I am forced into doing a constant heal and it totally locks down my character.

The most annoying thing of all is that the most difficult fights tend to like to stick in a bit of talk just before they start, which means by default all your chacacters are standing next to you just as the fight begins. This means you can't position or set up ambushes on the fights where you need to, but also your open to instant area effect stuns and attacks from the enemy who never fail to take advantage of the opputunity.

I can't enjoy the flow of the fight, i'm just pausing it every mini second of real time combat that passes in order to get someone to drink a heal potion or cast a heal spell. I never get to enjoy the combat narrative and one liners the party come up with because I only hear it one syllable at a time due to the fact I got to pause it so fast.

The monsters shouldn't do quite as much damage, and they shouldn't of clustered the mobs so much without giving you any chance to set up a tactic.

Worst combat i've seen yet from Bioware, can't wait until Mass Effect 2, don't need to go back here again bio, should of let it die with Neverwinter. A shame because every thing about the game is stunning, but the combat is the gameplay, it's important, should of tweaked it to flow a bit better.

I leave it to debate.

interesting. Too bad Bioware is afraid to offer demos nowadays. Which version are you playing?

Lower the difficulty?

I kind of have to agree. I just kept getting massacred during combat on my playthrough, and this was on normal level. I just couldn't get a good set of tactics going, and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing wrong to be honest. I had to set the game to Easy just to progress a bit in the story and now the game is no fun at all because everything is a breeze. I just stopped playing altogether now. I think I might wait and see if any good tactics guides go up online before starting to play again. I had a Rogue (my main character), 2 warriors, and a mage in my party if anyone is interested.

I think the other aspects of the game are quite awesome, but the combat is literally killing me.

The combat is definitely the weakest part of the game, which is sad because the rest of the game is amazing.

When i first started playing, the difficulty was on normal. I had to notch is down to easy simply because of the problems TC has stated.

I kind of have to agree. I just kept getting massacred during combat on my playthrough, and this was on normal level. I just couldn't get a good set of tactics going, and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing wrong to be honest. I had to set the game to Easy just to progress a bit in the story and now the game is no fun at all because everything is a breeze. I just stopped playing altogether now. I think I might wait and see if any good tactics guides go up online before starting to play again. I had a Rogue (my main character), 2 warriors, and a mage in my party if anyone is interested.

I think the other aspects of the game are quite awesome, but the combat is literally killing me.

I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.

You guys must be playing it on the consoles. I played it on the PC, I had problems with certain fights, sure... I died a few times... but never once did I lower it from Normal difficulty, and I beat the game in just over 60 hours. 2 mages, 2 warriors. Fireball + Blizzard + Tempest rocks face. Tactics are fine. They aren't there to allow you to cruise through every fight in the game... when you get to the harder fights, you're meant to take the time to set commands manually so you don't die.

What would be the fun in the game if your tactics could win even the harder battles for you? It wouldn't.

I didn't want to lower the difficulty because they do a silly thing with the game when you put it on easy. You can cast the powerfull AoE spells without effecting your own party, where before you had to be tacticfull when you used them. It does also reduce the damage the enermys do and so with both combined the game becomes an easy mode until the end. You get no challange out of it, everything is just killed by simple right click and stab melee attacks, it's just... blah.Evil_Saluki

First you complain that enemies do too much damage, now you complain that enemy damage is lower on easy? You claim you want a challenge and yet you complain about too many enemies. I think you really need to decide what you want. It's really simple - do you want a challenge or not? Also, the combat system has nothing to do with difficulty which is the only thing you're complaining about here.

I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.AciDiCa-

I hope you realize the irony of complaining about the game being hard and frustrating and then seeking a challenge on easy. Perhaps you guys want a game to be challeging but easy? Let me now when you find such a game.

The game can be brutal, and it seems, at times, that the levelscaling is drasticallyoff.

However, I've only had trouble with one fight : the fight with the Mercs outside of Orzammar. No matter how mnay times i tried, they'd butcher me, until i turned the difficulty down to easy (Was playing on Hard)

I think TC and many of you are missing an essential component of the game.

Tactics slots.

While the game can be challenging, the tactics slots are there for you to preset what is happening in combat.

TC describes having to constantly cycle through characters at level 12 to have them potion heal. You shouldn't have to do this. Potion heal should already be preset for every character to automatically self heal when they get to low health.

Just like you can preset to avoid AoE spells. And preset to attack enemy mages first. Etc.

Admittedly, it takes awhile to figure out exactly how to set up party tactics, but once you do you realize combat is much smoother and you don't have to micromanage every aspect of combat.

This is why they give you combat tactics slots. And why when you level up you might want to obtain more slots.

[QUOTE="AciDiCa-"]I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.UpInFlames

I hope you realize the irony of complaining about the game being hard and frustrating and then seeking a challenge on easy. Perhaps you guys want a game to be challeging but easy? Let me now when you find such a game.

I am managing the game, but the combat could of been better, it could of been more fluid. You shouldn't have to pause it every half a second, that's bad programming. The play / pause mechanic itself isn't a bad one, as I said before I am used to it and it worked fine with Neverwinter Nights and the Baldars Gate games. It's just done a little too much here, you don't get to enjoy the flow of the battle, you play it in tiny snippets.

Many fights I had to retry because the party was wiped out in under 3 seconds of flow time, due to the amount of mobs and the bunching up of my characters which is then followed by an area effect stun by an NPC which results in you being unable to move or react while about 8-12 baddies are hitting on you.

I think TC and many of you are missing an essential component of the game.

Tactics slots.

While the game can be challenging, the tactics slots are there for you to preset what is happening in combat.

TC describes having to constantly cycle through characters at level 12 to have them potion heal. You shouldn't have to do this. Potion heal should already be preset for every character to automatically self heal when they get to low health.

Just like you can preset to avoid AoE spells. And preset to attack enemy mages first. Etc.

Admittedly, it takes awhile to figure out exactly how to set up party tactics, but once you do you realize combat is much smoother and you don't have to micromanage every aspect of combat.

This is why they give you combat tactics slots. And why when you level up you might want to obtain more slots.

[QUOTE="AciDiCa-"]I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.UpInFlames

I hope you realize the irony of complaining about the game being hard and frustrating and then seeking a challenge on easy. Perhaps you guys want a game to be challeging but easy? Let me now when you find such a game.

Lower the difficulty?

UpInFlames

[QUOTE="AciDiCa-"]I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.UpInFlames

I hope you realize the irony of complaining about the game being hard and frustrating and then seeking a challenge on easy. Perhaps you guys want a game to be challeging but easy? Let me now when you find such a game.

I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.AciDiCa-

I hope you realize the irony of complaining about the game being hard and frustrating and then seeking a challenge on easy. Perhaps you guys want a game to be challeging but easy? Let me now when you find such a game.

I honestly think you not be doing something right. Everytime I lost a battle was because I overestimated the enemy or I missed the part during the battle when the tide turned (for example my front line was stunned so they weren't able to heal themselves, my mage had aggro'd too many of their front lines...)

I set tactics to the < than 50% health and for mages/ archers I would have them consume the lowest health item and the front lines to consume the greatest. This never failed me unless, like I said before, the enemy had incapacitated my characters, or too many foes were attacking at once.

There are so many things you can do in the game to handle any challange the game puts up.

For started use a rogue and if you can initiate the battle yourself, use traps. if you can go stealthy than check out the area first and then use a mage with an AOE spell to damage the foes through walls.

if you're stuck in a cutscene initiated battle, then use a mage with any spell that slows/stops a mass of foes quickly (glyph of paralyzation, cone of frost..ice or what ever it's called. then use a bigger AOE spell to damage them further.

Use choke points and don't be afraid to fall back to them. There are many times in buildings or cave systems where, if you use a rogue with stealth, you can aggro a bunch of the enemies and bring them to a part of the building or cave system where you can control the amount of characters that attack you at once.

use discretion. sometimes it's better to attack a boss first but other times it's better to take down the goons first and then concentrate on the boss.

traps granades and poisons are in the game for a reason. use them. I messed up with the fight against the Golems and I was still able to take out the main Golem and two other ones with just a rogue, stealth and traps.

This game has a ton of skills and feats to learn, a bunch of classes and a ton of items and characters. The problem isn't with the game it's because you're refusing to use all the tools at your disposal. it's a tactical game for a reason and the game arms you with a crapload of tactics to use against an enemy...use them

I should mention. Anyone who was thinking of playing don't be put off it by this topic. It's too good to miss. I stand by the combat being a bit of the rubbish side. It's not too difficult to me, i've overcome much harder games, i've played the gaming equivalent of masochism, like a gamer sometimes does. The problem is the game could of been much more enjoyable if they let the combat flow smoother, for reasons i've already mentioned in previous posts.

But i'll say again, don't let it put you off, it's such a good game never-the-less.

I should mention. Anyone who was thinking of playing don't be put off it by this topic. It's too good to miss. I stand by the combat being a bit of the rubbish side. It's not too difficult to me, i've overcome much harder games, i've played the gaming equivalent of masochism, like a gamer sometimes does. The problem is the game could of been much more enjoyable if they let the combat flow smoother, for reasons i've already mentioned in previous posts.

But i'll say again, don't let it put you off, it's such a good game never-the-less.

Evil_Saluki

The combat system is good enough, but there have been a couple of times where I've died and thought to myself... this never would have happened in Final Fantasy 12.

FF12's gambit system was dependable. You say "Heal when HP > 50%" and that's what happens. But even when I have healing prioritized amongst my mages, there have been times when I have watched monsters beat down one of my warriors, while my mage is casting an attack spell. It's like, wtf? Why isn't there the option to interrupt casting?

My only option has been to make my mages 100% healing, and if I want an attack spell to go and do it manually.

I'm a warrior, and I tank, so with the Taunt tactic I can keep most of the aggro off of my other characters, especially that daisy, Alistair. But there are definitely some balance issues.

That said, I haven't found the game too hard on Normal. it took some adjustments, and a good half hour in the Tactics menu getting everyone to fight the way they should (with plenty of tweaking afterwards.) And the plot/characters make it worth the occassional torment.

I couldn't imagine it on Hard or *shudder* Nightmare difficulty.

I agree. It's annoying though, when i was playing it on normal, i was finding it hard & frustrating to play the game so i put it to easy. This way, i can enjoy the game & complete it without getting annoyed, but it's not challenging one bit.AciDiCa-

I hope you realize the irony of complaining about the game being hard and frustrating and then seeking a challenge on easy. Perhaps you guys want a game to be challeging but easy? Let me now when you find such a game.

I'm just trying to figure out the game. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong to be honest. I've tried multiple times in setting up different tactics and none of them worked. I just kept getting massacred in battle on the normal level. I'm all for a challenge, but a challenge isn't watching your party get destroyed in less than 5 seconds ten times in a row. That's just frustrating. I really want to know what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't find any answers.

I'm just trying to figure out the game. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong to be honest. I've tried multiple times in setting up different tactics and none of them worked. I just kept getting massacred in battle on the normal level. I'm all for a challenge, but a challenge isn't watching your party get destroyed in less than 5 seconds ten times in a row. That's just frustrating. I really want to know what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't find any answers.

yokofox33

[QUOTE="yokofox33"]

I'm just trying to figure out the game. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong to be honest. I've tried multiple times in setting up different tactics and none of them worked. I just kept getting massacred in battle on the normal level. I'm all for a challenge, but a challenge isn't watching your party get destroyed in less than 5 seconds ten times in a row. That's just frustrating. I really want to know what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't find any answers.

Black_Knight_00

I'm using a Rogue as my MC, 2 Warriors, and a Mage [spoiler] Sten, Allistair, and Morrigan [/spoiler] I'm currently in the Elf Village (forgot the name) and I'm trying to take out [spoiler] the werewolf infestation. Most of my problems were in RedCliffe Castle, Denerim, and Lothering though. [/spoiler] I'm playing on Easy right now, but I'd prefer it if I could formulate some strategies to play on Normal and not have it be so frustrating. I have no idea what tactics are good. I have my Mage's first priority as healing, but sometimes that's not enough. I see someone suggested using Sneak as a Rogue to scope out the area, so I could try that out. Reminds me of pulling enemies in FFXI Online. I'd like to stray away from pausing the game every 2 seconds though if I can. Thanks for any help you can give me.

PC version is fine and apparently harder then the console versions. I'm having no problems and i knew what i was getting into with this incredible game.

The combat is definitely the weakest part of this game. It's just not satisfying. I don't feel like I'm participating in a fight, I feel more like I'm watching/directing it. Everything else about the game is awesome, but the combat is just meh. If they combined dragon age's story and rpg elements and everything else this game does well with the combat of Demon's Souls it'd be near perfect.

I will definately agree that I wish I could split up my characters to ambush the enemies.

The combat is just fine, that is ridiculous to complain you are having a tough time or forced to chug down potions and cast heals. If you are using them at this rate, they are a clutch for not playing it well, especially if you play on normal. Swallow your pride and lower it to easy, that's why the option is there or start thinking outside the box and come out with new strategies.

Take a few minutes to crack down the tactics system and customize it, your experience will flow.

Have your characters use a tactic stating them to chug a potion at 25% health and put it the top priority.

Organize your mage to cast regeneration at 75%, heal at 50%. If you have a second mage, you can invest 1 point into heal as backup.

Use crowd control spells and skills, that seems to be your problem here if you chug potions like candies. Invest a few points in multiple control spells, paralyze, mass paralyze, sleep, glyph of replulsion and paralyze (together they combo into a mass paralyze), petrify, cone of cold, blizzard, earthquake, ect.

Been playing on hard and nightmare and i have very little problems with the flow of the combat, neither do i have to pause every 2 sec. On normal they barely ever resist anything you throw at them, start using crowd control.

I don't feel like I'm participating in a fight, I feel more like I'm watching/directing it.

Magnius09

yokofox33

Hello, UPDATE!

I completed the game and I must conclude.

Yep! The combat is complete and utter tripe. My interested had waned so much towards the end of the game I just shoved it on easy so I could wrap it up. Easy mode meant I could just shove Tempest, Blizzard, death cloud and earthquake over the top of my party and instant kill every mob and boss in the entire game faster then you could say 'tragic'.

I got to the point where your in a temple and your fighting drakes n stuff. The point where I just lost all interest is when I discovered the only or best means to play the game on normal mode is to simply pull the mobs one at a time, unrealisticly and like it's some kind of MMO game, because there was no other way as the things just do way way way too much damage for you to have a proper, dramatic or tacticle fight with. I mean for god sake, the drakes can take over 70% of an armored characters life away with a single hit, constantly stun them and that's only one of them! You got to fight 3! With lots of little drakes! And mages shooting you with fireballs!With traps on the floor!

The fights where you couldn't pull just boiled down to a case of reloading constantly until a vital member of the group managed to resist that opening stun which the boss or some random baddie throws at your entire party while they are all bunched up at the start, though no fault of your own.

Oh well, that's all I got to say about that anyway. My favorite thing of the game.... Making my character a complete and utter tart! She offered herself to everything. I felt so good about myself when I made that little boy suffer eternal torment just to get a bit of demon arse :P

It's WoW like, so I don't see why do you guys complain? It's about getting used to it...

The combat is definitely the weakest part of the game, which is sad because the rest of the game is amazing.

When i first started playing, the difficulty was on normal. I had to notch is down to easy simply because of the problems TC has stated.

AciDiCa-

If this was a month ago, after Gamespot (and every other site) was finishing up it's SEVEN MONTH praise-a-thon of DA, then you might be able to get away with a word like "amazing", but it's been released now - and everyone knows the truth.

Hey guys, gamefaqs has a great guide for how to build your party to make combat more effective with your character builds. It gives you more details, but basically it recommends have a tank (shield specialist), an archer rogue, and 2 mages (1 for offense and one for healing), and that the absolute best party is a tank with 3 mages. Anyhow, you can use Alistair or Shale as your tank (if your main character is not a warrior).

Hello, UPDATE!

I completed the game and I must conclude.

Yep! The combat is complete and utter tripe. My interested had waned so much towards the end of the game I just shoved it on easy so I could wrap it up. Easy mode meant I could just shove Tempest, Blizzard, death cloud and earthquake over the top of my party and instant kill every mob and boss in the entire game faster then you could say 'tragic'.

I got to the point where your in a temple and your fighting drakes n stuff. The point where I just lost all interest is when I discovered the only or best means to play the game on normal mode is to simply pull the mobs one at a time, unrealisticly and like it's some kind of MMO game, because there was no other way as the things just do way way way too much damage for you to have a proper, dramatic or tacticle fight with. I mean for god sake, the drakes can take over 70% of an armored characters life away with a single hit, constantly stun them and that's only one of them! You got to fight 3! With lots of little drakes! And mages shooting you with fireballs!With traps on the floor!

The fights where you couldn't pull just boiled down to a case of reloading constantly until a vital member of the group managed to resist that opening stun which the boss or some random baddie throws at your entire party while they are all bunched up at the start, though no fault of your own.

Oh well, that's all I got to say about that anyway. My favorite thing of the game.... Making my character a complete and utter tart! She offered herself to everything. I felt so good about myself when I made that little boy suffer eternal torment just to get a bit of demon arse :P

Evil_Saluki

you must be a really bad player,the game on normal is slighlty challenging,no need for pulling one mobs at a time,just make use of crowd control and the abilities of your character and there wont be a problem.Most probably you just clicked on a character and only auto-attacked or there is no explanation for the difficulty you faced

[QUOTE="Evil_Saluki"]

Hello, UPDATE!

I completed the game and I must conclude.

Yep! The combat is complete and utter tripe. My interested had waned so much towards the end of the game I just shoved it on easy so I could wrap it up. Easy mode meant I could just shove Tempest, Blizzard, death cloud and earthquake over the top of my party and instant kill every mob and boss in the entire game faster then you could say 'tragic'.

I got to the point where your in a temple and your fighting drakes n stuff. The point where I just lost all interest is when I discovered the only or best means to play the game on normal mode is to simply pull the mobs one at a time, unrealisticly and like it's some kind of MMO game, because there was no other way as the things just do way way way too much damage for you to have a proper, dramatic or tacticle fight with. I mean for god sake, the drakes can take over 70% of an armored characters life away with a single hit, constantly stun them and that's only one of them! You got to fight 3! With lots of little drakes! And mages shooting you with fireballs!With traps on the floor!

The fights where you couldn't pull just boiled down to a case of reloading constantly until a vital member of the group managed to resist that opening stun which the boss or some random baddie throws at your entire party while they are all bunched up at the start, though no fault of your own.

Oh well, that's all I got to say about that anyway. My favorite thing of the game.... Making my character a complete and utter tart! She offered herself to everything. I felt so good about myself when I made that little boy suffer eternal torment just to get a bit of demon arse :P

Hate_Squad

you must be a really bad player,the game on normal is slighlty challenging,no need for pulling one mobs at a time,just make use of crowd control and the abilities of your character and there wont be a problem.Most probably you just clicked on a character and only auto-attacked or there is no explanation for the difficulty you faced

I'll mention something. The best tank in the game is actually the Bearshawn or whatever you call it, that thing you get for mastering shapeshifter. Because it's a bear there is no animation for it to be grabbed ect. So verses the big baddies it can take with much less stuns and none of them nasty grapple moves. It holds aggro fine because it's damage is heavy enough, but the main thing about it is how it scales -It's easy to just pump up your magic, and with each point of magic it's armor goes up lots. It's one way of getting through normal mode once you've gained a few levels.

I was a bit late in discovering this.

The worst fight of them all, and a prime example of what I mean was the one where you can go up verses some lady named Ser Caustiean or something. You basically get a bit of narration to start, so all your characters are nice and bunched up for the enemys convienence, and then after that you up verses a two handed sword wielding character who can take off 80% of a level 19Alisters life with 33 constiution, Full juggernaught armor and shield wall stance (instant kill any mage or rogue). Meanwhile, in the same room is a elite mage who is ready to do an AoE spell on you unless you stun him first somehow, also in the same room is (i kid you not)10 archers who each do a scattering shot high damage AoE attack (on your bunched up party, thanks to the narriotion bit) which also stuns you by the way.

Now, it took me about 37 reloads to do that fight, the way I did it in the end was cheating by putting the difficulty down, even that took me a few attempts as my party was being wiped out in less then 0.75 secondsgame time.

I won't be playing a second play through of that.