Love it, but way too easy...

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Well I finally got my hands on DA:O, and so far I've been loving it. Just recovered the ashes for arl eamon and completed most of the DLC. But one major complaint is that the game is really too easy, and I started on nightmare on my very first try. The tactics involved in almost every fight goes

1. Tank runs in, aggro, taunt
2. rogue runs in, backstab backstab backstab
3. mage cast damaging/healing/ spells

It doesnt matter if its darkspawn, human mercs, beasts...it works the same for all enemies

To have a game with the complexity of BG2 again...

Wonder if there are any mods that improve difficulty?

 

switch to tactics and control only the PC, makes the game a little different

 

Believe me it was a lot harder without the DLC's (no Blood Dragon/Warden Commander/Cailan's Set, your tank had to make do with a 20+ total armor set from early-mid game).

It also depends on which quests you picked first and if you decided to start with the harder ones. Luck also plays a minor role, for random encounters.

There should be a tactics mod for DA:O soon. It's only a matter of time.

 

I'm wary of that sort of things. Some mods that change a few things regarding difficulty (Improved Atmosphere has a component that does that but it also gives access to better items for variety so it tends to balance out).

What I would like would be a mod that increased spawns in a radical fashion. Fighting real hordes of Darkspawns would be cool indeed.

I'll keep an eye open for mods that increase difficulty.

In the meantime Mongerman I'd suggest cutting on magic (a bit more challenging) or at least cutting on healing magic and potions. Fighting without using poultices and lyrium potions or taking healing spells should make the game more challenging.

 

http://dragonagenexus.com/downloads...s/index3.php?tid=180488|:|fid=354|:|sort=DESC

Found this.

The skill updates are good. As for difficulty increase, I suggest reading through the related forum as it can be customised.

 

I'm not too keen on mods that change the way skills work, but let us know how you fare with this mod especially with the difficulty enhancing components.

 

Its possible to just install the difficulty enhancing component

 

I have read the readme and it seems to be the case. I'll look into the Area Scaling Tweak and the Creature Scaling Tweaks. Thanks for the tip Mogerman.

 

Alright, I've done origins, ostagar, lothering and circle tower with combat tweaks installed, so here are my impressions and details on changes.

If you look at the readme, combat tweaks fixes quite a few bugs as well as made minor changes to some skills. Overall the changes are hardly noticable and really subtle. Like momentum consuming more stamina but granting movement speed boost, stacking haste and momentum works etc etc...

A recommended install as far as I am concerned.

The area scaling tweak simply scales all creatures up to lvl 20 (with some exceptions), making late game encounters difficult as well. Otherwise everything is a joke past lvl 15.

Creature scaling is where you modify monsters to your taste. You can add a flat multiplier to monster's all attributes, health, level relative to yours, damage bonus, cost of using skills etc etc.

Basically, this makes all enemies stronger, have more health, and use skills more frequently.

I believe CT also alters the threat system slightly, so that enemies have a better perception of which character poses more of a threat.

On the settings I am using (you can ask me about it in more detail if you wish), I have to be really careful. No more just rushing in and beating the crap out of everyone. Any fight in which the enemy outnumbers me by more then 1 requires strategy and careful use of skills.

For example, in the tower circle fight with the desire demon and enthralled templars (about 5-6), I had to protect and heal my tank, contain aggro (since mages generate a lot more aggro now, and are also extra flimsy), debuff the demon...so on and so forth.

In short, it makes the game harder and much more fun. More strategy is involved, and at my settings I usually take around 3-5 tries to get through a tough fight. Some people over at dragonagenexus play it at even higher settings, but I am not that hardcore lol

Also, I did not use any of the DLC items. They are way too overpowered at the beginning of the game

 

Seems to me you found some great settings for a really hard game. Could you let us know what settings you're using for Creature Scaling? I'll update the mod list.

 

There are 3 files you need to download and edit, and you need GDApp to edit the files as well. All the files can be found easily at dragonagenexus

areadata_ct can be left at default, and can be found in combat tweaks

Difficulty.gda can be downloaded from improved atmosphere. Edit AIAbility to about 1.8 to 1.9 to allow enemies to use their skills more often.

autoscale_ct_tweak3 can be downloaded from combay tweaks. There are 2 values you need to edit there.

fscale - adds a multiplier to enemies all stats, stamina/mana/life etc etc. Cap it at 2 or wierd things will happen

fscale health - refer to attached comparision diagram included with the download and tweak it to your preference. I am currently using it at about 1.5x value of tweak3

 

Thanks Mongerman for all the detailed information. I took the liberty of including your comments in the mod list I posted for DAO.

 

Pick up a PS3 or XBox 360 and try DAO on Nightmare. Both console have a higher difficultly than the PC. Both consoles also are not patched like the PC and is harder if you go for a dual wielding character.

 

Funny, I've read that the PC version was harder but I guess that in any case the controls on the console are much harder to use.

 

Why would the PC one be harder? They updated it so that it would be same hard as the consoles with the first patch. The second patch updated the Dex bug and did a few other things that the consoles had.

The console recent patch made it easier for enemies to by pass amor scores with bows and a few other things that made the game harder.