2921

Core i7 860, ATI HD5870, running Win7 64 at 1080p.

The game alt-tabs out almost as well as WoW.

Unfortunately thanks to Family Guy I am now giggling every time somebody mentions the taint. Master the taint, use the taint, fall to the taint, submit to the taint, etc. Damn juvenile sense of humor.

2922

Well, there’s always the inevitable DLC to push up into the 30ish range.

2923

It depends on how they do it. The impression I get is that Bioware thinks it would be cool to use DLC to broaden the game, creating more optional stuff that would benefit subsequent playthroughs rather then extend the main story in any sense. Think of the Fallout 3 DLC 3 without the level and story extending Broken Steel stuff.

2924

Bleh. I’d always, always much rather additional content that lets me continue an existing playthrough. The odds that I’m going to come back for a second play from the beginning are vanishingly small even for games I really like.

2925

Drinking some water and getting ready to head out to the gym. Cardio and weights should take just enough time to get out to Gamestop ~midnight to pick it up!

Hope everyone already playing is having a good time :)

2926

Crap… Are you telling me this gets release at NOON tomorrow on Steam?!?

Damn. I have not been paying enough attention. I was sitting here thinking I’d be playing in an hour. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have just purchased it.

Well, if anyone from Steam is paying attention… I love Steam, but if this becomes the norm, you can count on losing a sale from me whenever this happens.

~mink~

2927

yeah it really doesn’t make any sense when stores often sell games at midnight. It isn’t like they need people in the office to open the flood gates either.

2928

So I got my PC copy finally, it’s SO much better to play on a pc compare to 360, the interface is much smoother overall.

I start a human mage, but I agree with whomever said it earlier, human mage’s story is kind of weak.

2929

I’m pretty disappointed about the Steam thing too. It’s my preferred platform for owning games, but the fact that I don’t get to play until tomorrow afternoon is a definite annoyance. I’m a night person by nature. Oh well, I’ll live.

So, I’m not sure if anyone caught my post earlier, but any recommendations for starting difficulty? I’m pretty good at this style of game, and am looking forward to difficult, tactical combat, but at the same time I don’t want to bang my head against the same encounter for hours. I’m leaning toward hard as my starting point. Good idea?

2930

I heard normal was actually quite difficult from a number of people (unlike torchlight, for example, where you really had to start on hard). However, since you can adjust the difficulty whenever you like just go with whatever you want and adjust accordingly.

2931

Score a win for 24 hour Walmarts. :-) Just got back from picking up my copy.

Yeah, the Steam thing is pretty lame, but then so is the general limits on all digital services when it comes to new releases. The publishers basically act like they’d be screwed if they game the digital providers any advantage, such as midnight unlocks, but don’t seem to care when the brick and mortar places do midnight openings or whatever. I’m guessing that at some point that’s going to change, but for now physical retail gets the advantages of early sale.

2932

My GoGamer order for the PC CE has now shipped, too!

I feel like such a geek for being so happy about that. ;)

2933

I’ll tell ya what’s geeky - getting up every hour for the last 4 hours and trying to fall back asleep, too excited to sleep like a kid at Christmas Eve, and just giving up and posting on QT3 while the hours tick away with a big bowl of cereal. I should have just picked it up at the midnight launch and called in sick today. Sheesh.

2934

Ah decisions: should I get a retail (and cheaper copy because of discount) or go for it in Steam (about $10 more expensive)? I like Steam because I know I will lose the DVD in 5 years time… and I like to let my friends know I have a copy of legit DA:O when I launch it in Steam. Is this self serving ego deserve a $10 price? Ahhhhhhh… decisions…

2935

It is really geeky. And yes, I’m doing it too.

2936

I read Steam won’t unlock until 12 PST (3pm EST), if that info is helpful in your decision making process…

2937

Still having issues with the blood dragon armor DLC code not working, their “Bioware social networking” thing doesn’t sync to the game at all and is completely worthless, and I didn’t get the preorder goodies from the EA store, but the game itself is quite fun. It’ll take a lot more playing to get more solid opinions on the NPCs and setting and such, but the combat is entertaining.

Think I might spring for the fancy hardcover strategy guide. Since I don’t have D&D system experience to use in this due to their own system I might get more actual use from a guide than I would otherwise, plus the added bonus of all the extras to read about.

2938

I had no problem signing in from within the game, but I did have issues with redeeming the codes. Basically, it kept saying they were invalid. After several attempts I went back and refreshed the screen and they showed up in the download section. The whole thing was rather clunky. Oddly, the pay for DLC was no problem at all.

The nice thing is that you can tell it start downloading everything and then go play the game while it finishes it.

I’m glad I did this tonight, though. I think their infrastructure could very well collapse tomorrow as people try and download everything. That Shale file is pretty damn big and so is the Warden’s Keep DLC. As it is the Social Network site has been crappy all day and still is, even at 3AM PST.

I need to go to bed. :-)

2939

That’s certainly what the 3 page EG review suggests: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/dragon-age-origins-review

There’s a huge gulf between the completely mindless Easy and the demanding Normal. On the latter, you’ll either have to be a Tactics genius or prepared to pause and micro-manage frequently to get through tougher fights, and even veteran RPG players with a full command of the game’s skills will find some regular pulls or mini-bosses turning into epic wars of attrition that will drain their stocks of consumables. That’s all fair enough, of course, but without a smooth step up from Easy, it cramps what should have been an expansive middle ground for novice players who wanted to get deeper into the game. Dragon Age is either a pushover or a hardcore RPG.

The full review is worth a read. It’s got a different tone from what I expected.

Wendelius

2940

Gameplay UK still won’t ship until Friday… oh well, time to finish Torchlight. And maybe Bioware will even have its DLC issues sorted out by the time I get my copy. edit: Hey, they just shipped my copy! Just yesterday they still had the 6th as the release day.