Originally posted by DrowNoble

Well my first question would be why is the PC version so buggy.  I expect more from Bioware, but looks like this 1st major release under the EA banner wasn't ready.

I have load times anywhere from 3-15 minutes.  Framerate is terrible even on the lowest settings.  The official forums have numerous posts about this issue, with no official word on any fix or resolution.  I can play Mass Effect, which came out only last year, on max settings with no framerate issues and load times measured in seconds.

Difficult to say about any gameplay becuase, I have haven't been able to get that far into the game yet.   Clicking on an npc to talk to only to have to wait 10-20 seconds for the dialogue to start really dampens my desire to continue playing.  The several minutes of loading pretty much kills it.

I have seen some bugs... some of the dialog repeats in "the fade", for example, but nothing game-breaking.  I do wish it autosaved more often.

Loading times are up there; I don't get nearly as long as that; usually about 20 seconds, which is high compared to most games.  Sometimes I also get unexplained delays during conversations.

Upon checking the task manager, I was surprised to find the game is using all 4 of my cores.  Sweet!

GFX are a bit inconsistent.  Character models look great, but many buildings have blurry, low res skins.  Third person zoom to overhead tactical camera is very smooth.

Story is pretty good, so far.  I like that the character backgrounds are completely separate from their class.  You have a snarky, cynical Templar, and a religious faith driven Rogue in your party, for example.

Originally posted by Bigdavo

If wish this game wasn't party-orientated, it's the only reason why I won't get it, I just simply cannot stand having other douches to bother with. I played Baldur's Gate completely solo, I'm not sure if I ever beat it, I think there was a point when I had to stop simply because it became too difficult to solo. It's the bothersome micro-management of characters I don't give a stuff about.

I guess there's my question, is it bothersome? Does the game 'flow' well or do you have pause every few bloody seconds and sort out your turdlings.

I'm playing the PC version on normal difficulty and I cannot zerg the encounters.  My group is around level 7, about 10 hours into the game.  I find that the less frequently I pause, the faster my group gets wiped out, so I pause very frequently to micro-manage and manually use my entire group's skills/spells.

The tactics system is supposed to assist with this, where you can set up custom filters for your group's behaviors depending on the circumstances/enemies, but I haven't spent too much time with it yet.  Most of the filters I saw were pretty basic and I find that I need to give a lot more attention to smaller details in order to win battles.  (Whenever I let the enemy AI fight my group's AI the enemy wins.  They usually far outnumber my group so that's not surprising.)

Typically I hate this type of gameplay (having to watch every single little aspect of a fight) but for some reason it doesn't bother me here.  I think the main reasons that it's not so annoying is because most skills are on moderately long cooldowns so they don't need to be spammed, and the party is limited to your main character and 3 groupmembers.  So you're paying attention to a lot of different things--but not so much that it's overwhelming or frustrating.

Are there alot of cinematics in game?  I just love the ones i saw and whould like to see alot more while playing the game...

I haven't run into too many glaring bugs in the PC version.  Granted there are a few but none of them have been game breaking.  to those with long load times, after you install the game, run a disc defragmenter it helped a ton for load times.

Originally posted by Bigdavo

If wish this game wasn't party-orientated, it's the only reason why I won't get it, I just simply cannot stand having other douches to bother with. I played Baldur's Gate completely solo, I'm not sure if I ever beat it, I think there was a point when I had to stop simply because it became too difficult to solo. It's the bothersome micro-management of characters I don't give a stuff about.

I guess there's my question, is it bothersome? Does the game 'flow' well or do you have pause every few bloody seconds and sort out your turdlings.

they're a good bit more independant.  You can tweak the ai, too.  commands like "ally <20% HP, cast heal", etc.  There are also presets like "defensive", "Archer", etc.  They'll do their own kiting and healing.

Another nice thing is the inventory is just group inventory.  So the tedious task of handing out healing potions and whatnot is gone.  You just drag healing potions to their task bar, and/or set the ai to use the item during a particular condition, and/or choose a preset which has that condition.

It's a good thing they're independant, too, because unless you do cheat codes, you're probably not gonna be able to solo this game.  There are a ton of mobs and often they just keep coming.  Many of the bosses are immune to certain attacks, as well.

Instead of the old wait or rest to heal system of old, they use a more MMO style quick recovery system.  And if you fall in battle, you revive after the encounter with a debilitating wound which won't heal without an injury pack, or resting at camp.

Being an old school PnP D&D fan I never thought I'd say this... I'm glad they use their own system, now.  They no longer have to adhere to rules which are good for PnP, but may not be so good in a real time action game.

Originally posted by branko2307

 

 

Are there alot of cinematics in game?  I just love the ones i saw and whould like to see alot more while playing the game...

yes theres many, ive beat the game so i know;P I beat archdemon without healer lol...just bring pots and hes easy as hell.

Originally posted by branko2307

Are there alot of cinematics in game?  I just love the ones i saw and whould like to see alot more while playing the game...

I'm only 10 hours in but it seems to me like there are a lot.  I can remember at least 5, they usually give them to you at important parts in the story and boss encounters.  (Not counting the parts that are strictly dialog and conversation.  Those are everywhere.)

Originally posted by Syncrosonix

my rogue is currently level 10 and i haven't figured out how to use the specialization point. how do i specialize in a talent? i want to go put one point into duelist.

u have to LEARN, from someone the "class" so THEN u can spend u specialization point, normaly with partners

Originally posted by Euphoryk

Originally posted by DrowNoble

Well my first question would be why is the PC version so buggy.  I expect more from Bioware, but looks like this 1st major release under the EA banner wasn't ready.

I have load times anywhere from 3-15 minutes.  Framerate is terrible even on the lowest settings.  The official forums have numerous posts about this issue, with no official word on any fix or resolution.  I can play Mass Effect, which came out only last year, on max settings with no framerate issues and load times measured in seconds.

Difficult to say about any gameplay becuase, I have haven't been able to get that far into the game yet.   Clicking on an npc to talk to only to have to wait 10-20 seconds for the dialogue to start really dampens my desire to continue playing.  The several minutes of loading pretty much kills it.

 

No problems here and my comp is below min reqs.

Learn2config and maintain your system imo.

I know how to config, thank you for the lackluster constructive comment.
 

Even went so far as to use a muli-core utility to force my core 1 and 2 to be exclusive to DA with cores 3 and 4 for every other process.  No help with framerate or load times.

Using current video drivers, previous and beta drivers had no effect either.

Already tried turning down all settings to their minimum with no change. 

Considering I can play Mass Effect, Age of Conan, Prototype and Arkham Asylum all on max settings with smooth framerate and load times in seconds, it seems odd that DA I get load times up to 15 minutes and framerate in the low single digits.

Originally posted by Kenaoshi

Originally posted by Syncrosonix

my rogue is currently level 10 and i haven't figured out how to use the specialization point. how do i specialize in a talent? i want to go put one point into duelist.

 

u have to LEARN, from someone the "class" so THEN u can spend u specialization point, normaly with partners

Indeed, i learned shapeshifting from Morrigan at the camp. There are books also but was unable to find one. I had some problems with perfomance too. I just set the affinity to 2 processors (Task manager->processes->right click-> set Affinity ) and from that point i played at high settings. 

 Nice thread, I'm going to go and buy this game here with in the next few days.  Don't have the time to go through this whole thread but by the sounds of it there is some bugs. 

Hopefully this game lives up to what I am expecting, will report back if I have anything that needs to be said.

I've heard even though the game just launched there is already 'premium content' for sale, and an NPC in the game bugs you about buying it.

My question is what is this 'premium content' and how much does it or doesn't it impact the game?

Originally posted by DrowNoble

Well my first question would be why is the PC version so buggy.  I expect more from Bioware, but looks like this 1st major release under the EA banner wasn't ready.

I have load times anywhere from 3-15 minutes.  Framerate is terrible even on the lowest settings.  The official forums have numerous posts about this issue, with no official word on any fix or resolution.  I can play Mass Effect, which came out only last year, on max settings with no framerate issues and load times measured in seconds.

Difficult to say about any gameplay becuase, I have haven't been able to get that far into the game yet.   Clicking on an npc to talk to only to have to wait 10-20 seconds for the dialogue to start really dampens my desire to continue playing.  The several minutes of loading pretty much kills it.

This issue REEKS of an overuse of virtual memory.  How much memory are you running, and what are your virtual memory settings?

edit:  OS?  64bit?

Originally posted by dhayes68

I've heard even though the game just launched there is already 'premium content' for sale, and an NPC in the game bugs you about buying it.

My question is what is this 'premium content' and how much does it or doesn't it impact the game?

IIRC, there's two DLC packs available at the moment (both which come with any boxes shipped on release)

One is an armor pack and the other is to unlock a playable character which has a storyline to play through to get it I believe.

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by Bigdavo

If wish this game wasn't party-orientated, it's the only reason why I won't get it, I just simply cannot stand having other douches to bother with. I played Baldur's Gate completely solo, I'm not sure if I ever beat it, I think there was a point when I had to stop simply because it became too difficult to solo. It's the bothersome micro-management of characters I don't give a stuff about.

I guess there's my question, is it bothersome? Does the game 'flow' well or do you have pause every few bloody seconds and sort out your turdlings.

 

they're a good bit more independant.  You can tweak the ai, too.  commands like "ally <20% HP, cast heal", etc.  There are also presets like "defensive", "Archer", etc.  They'll do their own kiting and healing.

Another nice thing is the inventory is just group inventory.  So the tedious task of handing out healing potions and whatnot is gone.  You just drag healing potions to their task bar, and/or set the ai to use the item during a particular condition, and/or choose a preset which has that condition.

It's a good thing they're independant, too, because unless you do cheat codes, you're probably not gonna be able to solo this game.  There are a ton of mobs and often they just keep coming.  Many of the bosses are immune to certain attacks, as well.

Instead of the old wait or rest to heal system of old, they use a more MMO style quick recovery system.  And if you fall in battle, you revive after the encounter with a debilitating wound which won't heal without an injury pack, or resting at camp.

Being an old school PnP D&D fan I never thought I'd say this... I'm glad they use their own system, now.  They no longer have to adhere to rules which are good for PnP, but may not be so good in a real time action game.

Thanks for the good reply, as well as to royalewit. Certainly put some of my fears at ease, perhaps I will try this game.

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by DrowNoble

Well my first question would be why is the PC version so buggy.  I expect more from Bioware, but looks like this 1st major release under the EA banner wasn't ready.

I have load times anywhere from 3-15 minutes.  Framerate is terrible even on the lowest settings.  The official forums have numerous posts about this issue, with no official word on any fix or resolution.  I can play Mass Effect, which came out only last year, on max settings with no framerate issues and load times measured in seconds.

Difficult to say about any gameplay becuase, I have haven't been able to get that far into the game yet.   Clicking on an npc to talk to only to have to wait 10-20 seconds for the dialogue to start really dampens my desire to continue playing.  The several minutes of loading pretty much kills it.

 

This issue REEKS of an overuse of virtual memory.  How much memory are you running, and what are your virtual memory settings?

edit:  OS?  64bit?

Running Win7 64 bit home premium with 6 gig of pc6400 ram.  Page file is set to 12gig as that is what windows set it to automatically when the OS was installed.

I always defrag after a large installation, to ensure HDD is at optimal usage.  Tried the new nvidia beta driver, the current driver and rolled back to the 190.38 driver.  No change.  Disabled all background apps except for windows firewall.  Launched from the exe instead of the launcher.  Ran program (launcher and exe) as Administrator.   Turned all settings down to the minimum.   None of these improved the gameplay at all.

I did install the new patch, can't tell if it helped any.  I haven't gotten any 15 min load times so far, shortest was 2 mins longest was little over 8 mins.

I can play Mass Effect with all settings on max with no issues. 

MORE QUESTIONS (answer 1 or all)

1. Is there any reason to keep all the rocks/gems, wolf pelts, love letters, and stuff that gets collected in that menu? For instance, does any NPC pay heavily for junk that ends up in this menu? Or should I just sell it right away? I have a problem with having too much junk in my inventory and I have to destroy items during the quests. This annoys me to no end. Should I sell all the crafting junk?

2. Should I bother getting experience for characters that are not part of the top 4? It's not that I don't mind using all (or most all) of the characters but I don't want to end up with weak characters if there isn't enough experience to go around... Opinions?

3. There isn't any place where I can go fight baddies to level up is there? I mean eventually don't even the random encounters between towns start going away? (which is important to know for question #2)

4. Do you all get 'stealing success' and nothing appears - no money and no items?

Originally posted by Thrakk

MORE QUESTIONS (answer 1 or all)

1. Is there any reason to keep all the rocks/gems, wolf pelts, love letters, and stuff that gets collected in that menu? For instance, does any NPC pay heavily for junk that ends up in this menu? Or should I just sell it right away? I have a problem with having too much junk in my inventory and I have to destroy items during the quests. This annoys me to no end. Should I sell all the crafting junk?

2. Should I bother getting experience for characters that are not part of the top 4? It's not that I don't mind using all (or most all) of the characters but I don't want to end up with weak characters if there isn't enough experience to go around... Opinions?

3. There isn't any place where I can go fight baddies to level up is there? I mean eventually don't even the random encounters between towns start going away? (which is important to know for question #2)

4. Do you all get 'stealing success' and nothing appears - no money and no items?

 

1. Rocks/gems are kept for later when you want to donate to the war effort (after you get the support from the Dwarves to assist on the oncoming darkspawn attack), you can put em in a box in the camp, Wolf pelts... I never found out what they were for, but it's either quest-related, material-related (probably something not so good), or another donation. Love letters are quest-related, you can collect a bunch for, I believe the blackstone irregulars, and many other collectables are usually quest or donation items... You will pick some of these 'collecting' quests later on in the game if you haven't got it yet.

edit: donation items I THINK is runes (mages), pelts/skins (elves), stones/gems (dwarves), money (humans)

Destroying them? well, if you are playing easy then yes, you don't really need to donate anything because the final battle (cough) won't be as tough, but if normal or higher save em in the DLCstorage (if you don't have this- consider selling most of the junks).

2. Do not bother with getting the experience for your unused characters.. they level with you automatically, although sometimes a level behind, you won't need them... just once near the end.

3. Ergh, random encounters or anything that you missed... mobs generate their level according to yours (they will be within 5 level margin above your own), but mobs don't respawn so don't go back to places expecting more mobs.

4.I have no idea what happened there, usually it should give the money/item... Double check your money value before and after stealing, also stealing isn't such a useful tool- unless you're really desperate for petty cash- also it's used for a sidequest wayyy later on in the game, but other than that.. psh.

Originally posted by dhayes68

I've heard even though the game just launched there is already 'premium content' for sale, and an NPC in the game bugs you about buying it.

My question is what is this 'premium content' and how much does it or doesn't it impact the game?

I wouldn't say he bugs you. There is a ! over the one in the camp and he asks for your help. You can then download the content.

I did have a problem with this as I had upgraded my game with the patches. I then tried to download warden's keep and it wouldn't install correctly. Even though I tried some of the suggestions on the main forum for tech support I eventually solved it on my own.

I went to the my documents/bioware folder and found the "characters" folder. since I couldn't find a save game folder I then dragged this to my desktop.

I then uninstalled the game. I then reinstalled the game, dragged my characters back to where it was and then downloaded the content again. This time it worked and installed. I then updated to the latest patch. Now everything is hunky dory.

Originally posted by Thrakk

MORE QUESTIONS (answer 1 or all)

1. Is there any reason to keep all the rocks/gems, wolf pelts, love letters, and stuff that gets collected in that menu? For instance, does any NPC pay heavily for junk that ends up in this menu? Or should I just sell it right away? I have a problem with having too much junk in my inventory and I have to destroy items during the quests. This annoys me to no end. Should I sell all the crafting junk?

3. There isn't any place where I can go fight baddies to level up is there? I mean eventually don't even the random encounters between towns start going away? (which is important to know for question #2)

Keep crafting stuff you want to craft. I've found that lyrum potioins (mana pots) and health potions that were crafted by my group save me a LOT of money.

Also, leveling really isn't a problem. Don't approach the game like an mmo. Just play it. I have found that you will level up nicely and the game will levle the challenge accordingly.