Newbie Guide

This guide is aimed for all players who are new to Dragon Age Origins or new to roleplaying games in general. The following tips are no guarantee for your success in the game but it can help you to increase the fun you have while playing.

Before you start playing you should consider moving your “My Documents” folder. Read this.

1. Read the Manual
First step. It goes over the controls & game play basics. Lots of helpful information!

2. Don’t be afraid to play on “casual.”
No one will think less of you. Normal can be challenging at times. You can change the difficulty at any time during the game via the options.

3. Pay attention to your party member’s abilities.
For example, do not give Alistair a two handed sword when all his abilities are sword & shield. That isn’t to say you can’t start giving them other specialties, but it’s better to work with what they have. Rogues do much more damage from a backstab position. Attacks from stealth = critical hits. Warriors with certain shield abilities cannot be flanked. Mage’s staffs have high armor penetration. Shields are added protection against ranged enemies.

4. Tactics are your friend
OMG! WTF? (#1 might help with this). This basically sets the AI for the party members when you aren’t controlling them. Play around with them because they will help you strategize. You can set your squad mates to be offensive, defensive, ranged, etc., and then tell them what abilities and items to use under what conditions. For example, you can set a Mage to use healing when a certain character’s health falls under 25%.

5. Have a balanced party
Two ranged & two tanks might work out really well in most cases. Have a Mage with you if you can. You’ll want some offense & defense so pay attention to character’s class (Warrior, Rogue or Mage) when choosing your party. You can vary how you use each class as well, for example, rogues can specialize in archery or two weapons. A rogue with archery you’ll want to stay ranged. A rogue with two weapons you’ll want to backstab enemies.

6. Talk to everyone
Often. Dialog is a strength of this game. Level up your speech if you want to successfully persuade or intimidate others.

7. Save the game
Often. And in multiple slots. If you happen to realize you have taken a path you did not intend or want to try out something else a savegame proves very useful. Save before initiating dialogue, entering a room or leaving an area.

8. Romance
There are four romancable characters in the game: Alistair (ladies only), Morrigan (men only), Zeveran & Leliana. I’m pretty sure they have to like you to start the romance, which is easy or hard depending if they agree with your decisions or not. If all else fails, give them gifts.

9. Buy Backpacks
These increase the amount of items you can carry. There is a merchant near the beginning of the game who sells two. Buy them both. They get expensive later on in the game. You’ll still want to buy them otherwise you’ll be making a lot of trips back to your camp.

10. Actually role play
There is no “good” or “evil” in the game, so it’s easy to play a character. You can choose if your character is religious or not, how you feel about being a Grey Warden, etc and you’ll still get to save the world! Your party members react to what you do, though. You can bring party members who agree with your decisions, or if they disagree, you can persuade them to see your side, ask them to leave or in some cases kill them.

11. Try out different attack combinations
These will sometimes do special things, like freezing an opponent and then shattering him. Play around to find awesome attack combos.

12. Be prepared to give up a lot of your free time
The game is long, 70+ hours depending how you play. And you’ll want to play again to see the other origin stories.

13. Be patient
Some fights that seem impossible will become much easier, and you’ll avoid some common frustrations if you follow the advice here.

Almost any party combo will work, although some are much more challenging than others. Whatever your party looks like, understand each character’s role in battle, and focus your attribute points where you need them. Will you be fast and impossible to hit, slow but do a lot of damage, or strictly a healer? Learn to use the entire party you have with you, not just your character.

14. Pause
Assess your surroundings, plan your attack. Use the Survival skill to spot enemies before they spot you. Look for enemy traps. Use stealth to scout areas or lure enemies into your traps. How many enemies are there, what type, and how are they positioned? What color are their names? White names are around your level and the easiest to kill, yellow/orange names are very tough, and red names can easily wipe out your entire party.

15. Use the environment
Archers need line of sight and can’t hit you around corners or behind obstacles like pillars. Keep a retreat path in mind when one is available. Lure enemies into choke points like stairs and doorways, then hit them with AoE abilities. Keep your eyes open: even the odds by picking off stragglers from a distance when possible, you can often kill a few before the fight reaches you. Keep a bow as a backup weapon on all characters (except mages) if it helps.

16. Always disrupt the enemy’s attack strategy & position
Some enemies are immune to certain types of damage, and more susceptible to others. Take note of what types of attacks/defense are being used and counter them. Is your party all being stunned when they melee attack an enemy? Then use bows instead. Surrounded? Move and split up. Interrupt spells and attacks. Use CC abilities to control the amount of incoming damage. Focus your attacks on one enemy at a time to thin their numbers more quickly. Fewer enemies means less damage.

17. Always
Flank/backstab when possible. Always be aware of friendly fire. Protect your mage.

18. Control Aggro
Doing too much damage at once will draw a lot of attention to that character. Use this to control where your enemies are attacking, then outflank them and pace your attacks carefully. Use abilities and equipment that increase or reduce enemy aggression accordingly.

19. Control your stamina/mana
Making sure you always have enough for when you need it. Use potions if you have to. The same goes for healing.

20. Use your abilities efficiently
Some abilities do more damage to stunned opponents. Frozen enemies can be shattered. Spells like Vulnerability hex increase all other types of damage. Drain health will heal the caster while doing damage to the target. Spells like grease and flame blast interact to create more powerful effects. Used properly, poisons, bombs and traps can make a huge difference.

21. Understand your equipment, stats and resistances
Tired of being knocked on your butt? Physical resistance makes you harder to knock down. Getting stunned a lot? Look for more Mental resistance. Make sure you are within your weapon’s effective range (or outside your enemy’s).

Misc:
Spread useful skills among your party members. One character doesn’t need to do everything. Each can do two things and do them well. Skills like stealing, disarming traps and lockpicking rely on cunning, not just having the required skill. Stealing is easier from behind, and is harder on characters more powerful than you, but also more rewarding. Sell whatever you don’t need and spend wisely on equipment you need. Money can be scarce as well as inventory space.

If anything obvious is missing, let us know!

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Thanks banana cave for the original draft.