Dragon Age: Origins – Platinumed

Well it took me 5 years, a PSN name change, and a through walk through of the Traveler trophy to finally accomplish this feat!

I was originally given Dragon Age as a birthday gift in 2009 and fell in love with it. I have always been a huge fantasy fan so this game was right up my ally. I had completed the game a couple of times on my old PSN and even with some of the graphical glitches on the PS3 thought it looked great.

With the upcoming release of Dragon Age: Inquisition I decided it would be a great opportunity to reply it under my new PSN handle, Gutvik. I remembered that the Bronze Traveler trophy was a royal nuisance to unlock so before starting I found a list of all the places I needed to visit to remove the frustration.

Once I started as a Human Noble Rogue named Kristzi I was addicted for a second time. Kristzi exploits as a Grey Warden are listed below:

*Spoilers* By the time my campaign was ending the Werewolves were cured, the Mage tower restored, Harrowmont was King of the Dwarfs, the Urn was found and shared to the world, the Anvil was destroyed, and Conner was saved. The final sacrifice came down to Alistair and me, Morrigan was not to happy when I said no to her offer, and Alistair made the death blow to kill the Archdemon.

After completing my first run with Kristzi I managed to collect every trophy except Hopeless Romantic (still needed Morrigan), Archmage, and Master of Arms. I admit to getting the Archmage and Master of Arms trophies by taking advantage of the Witch Hunt DLC, but hey what’s a man with limited time to do.

I am currently working through the game a second time with a City Elf Warrior named Gutvyk. With this trek through Ferelden I plan on getting the actual ending I want when I start Dragon Age II, along with completing the Hopeless Romantic trophy.

As for my platinum quest, it was just a few nights ago that Gutvyk charmed Morrigan to get the Witches Gone Wild (and Hopeless Romantic in the process) trophy to capture my first Platinum. Even though there are no more trophies to be had I am still having a great time playing to get to the ending I want.

Once I complete Gutvyk’s campaign I plan on a little break before tackling Dragon Age II again. Perhaps a little Ratchet and Clank, DMC, or ICO for something a little different.

In a gaming rut…

It seems like I am going through a rut when it comes to gaming. When ever I turn on my PS3 I gravitate towards Netflix more than and game in my library.

I am wondering if I am getting burned outing dark, grinding, difficult games like Skyrim and Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen. I really enjoy both games but with the time required to fully get immersed is just not possible right now with two little ones.

If anyone has suggestions on a light hearted fun games please leave a comment letting me know what it is so I can check it out.

Thanks!

Knights of Pen and Paper

I have been keeping my eye on this game for a few weeks and finally picked it up about a week ago.

The game lets you select up to 5 characters and classes then puts you in the hands of a Game Master that guides you through your adventure. You get a choice of 5 classes (Paladin, Wizard, Cleric, Druid, and Rogue) to choose from to start them unlock more as you go. Also you earn in game money by adventuring and can spend it upgrading your weapons and armor or buy items for your table to boost stats.

My first group started with a Paladin, Rogue and Wizard. The trio worked well but when I unlocked the Bard class I restarted. My new group was Paladin (tank), Wizard (DPS), and Bard (healing). Using this group I saved money and quested to unlock the rest of the classes (necromancer, hunter, barbarian, and knight). Along the way I added a Knight and Hunter to my party to see how the classes work.

After unlocking the development team (5 new characters to chose from) I restarted again using those characters. My team now consists of a Necromancer, Paladin, Hunter, Cleric and Wizard. I found this combination to give me amazing balance with a tank, 3 DPS with AOE ability and a healer.

The game has a unique sense of humor having quests like Bhostguster with the quest giver maned Mill Burray. The game gives you lots of choices on how you can build your team and how you play each class. It has a simple base game that hooks you, but has a lot of good strategy hidden underneath the surface.

I am addicted, it’s on of the best games I have played this year. Best of all it’s a game you play off line so I can play it at work!

A new adventure in the Elder Scrolls universe!

Now that the house has calmed down a bit as we slowly get use to having our new Little Guy around, I decided to look through my catalog of old games (I am still interested in playing a good JRPG but just cannot justify the expenditure at this time).

After sifting through by back log the game that jumped out at me was Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I bought the game at release and played it for a while until all the bugs started popping up in the PS3 version. Now that most of the bugs have been addressed I think it’s time to head back and give it another try.

I decided to start my character again from scratch. My first adventure in Skyrim I created a Mage dealing death and distraction with fireballs and lightning, but had trouble staying alive. This time I wanted a more robust character and decided on a Dark Elf roughly based on the Shadow Warrior build I found The Skyrim Blog character building site. It uses Heavy Armor, Shields and Stealth to improve survivability.

I just hit level 10 and am loving it. I am working on leveling my stealth, illusion and block skills. Archery looks to be my biggest challenge, I have yet to get the hang of it. My next goal is to join the Bard college for the speech boost then off to become a member of the Imperial Legion.

With two little ones and a full time job this game will be a long term project, but one I think I’m up for.

Pre Order Two Worlds 2, but from where?

I have been looking for a new RPG to play while I wait for Dragon Age 2 to come out and I came across Two Worlds 2.  This game looks like it would fill the void nicely and it comes out right at the end of the holiday season (gives me time to work on Transformers: WFC plat, only 5 trophies to go).

My main question now is where to pre-order it from!  I am leaning heavily towards grabbing it at EB Games and getting the Luciendar Sword and the Labyrinth extra level, the other store that has bonus materials it Wal-Mart with the Dragon Scale Armor.  The armor sounds great and I liked the bonus armor in Dragon Age but how can you turn down an extra level.

My question to you is how do you decide where to pre-order?  Do you look for the best offer even though in the long run it usually does not matter, or do you just go to your favorite store?  Drop me a comment and let me know, I am interested in seeing if I am like everyone else and look for the best deal.

😛