Electronic Arts 14633195019 Video Games User Manual
Contents
1. Strength Strength increases damage and attack values for warriors For all classes it increases fortitude which measures resistance to effects like being knocked back or set aflame Dexterity Dexterity increases damage and attack values for rogues For all classes it increases the likelihood of landing a critical hit J Magic Magic increases damage and attack values for mages For all classes it increases magic resistance which absorbs a proportion of damage from magical attacks and determines the duration of hostile magical effects Cunning Cunning increases defense for all classes as well as the amount of damage inflicted by a critical hit Cunning also determines a rogue s aptitude for picking locks and disarming traps with difficulty thresholds set at 10 20 30 and 40 points Willpower Willpower increases the size of the mana pool for mages or the stamina pool for warriors and rogues Constitution Constitution increases maximum health for all classes TALENTS SPELLS Talents for warriors and rogues and spells for mages are special abilities that can be used in combat instead of a basic attack Talents or spells usually draw from the character s pool of stamina or mana although some are passive providing permanent advantages without stamina or mana expenditure A character gains one point to learn a talent or spell each level as well as at a few other points in the game The character you control2. Once you have the hang of basic combat strategy you re ready to build tactics that help the whole party work together efficiently without needing constant direction Although the Tactics screen looks complicated at first it s built around one simple idea if the first condition on the left side of the screen is true execute the corresponding action on the right side of the screen if the condition is not true check whether the next condition is You must always control the current character directly but the other members of your party follow whatever tactics you command Behavior The Behavior menu at the top of the Tactics screen controls the character s general approach to combat like when to attack what distance to try to keep from enemies when to give chase and when to switch between ranged and melee weapons Essentially behaviors are generic reactions whereas tactics are specific actions Press 8 while you have the Behavior menu selected to read a description of the current behavior Basic Tactics As your characters learn new spells and talents the preset tactics like Supporter Damager or Healer automatically populate with combinations of conditions and actions For example the Healer preset might appear empty for Bethany at first but tactics fill in automatically when she learns the Heal spell Select a tactics preset that corresponds to the sorts of actions you want the character to take The more similar abilities th
3. tell her to monitor all of your party members simultaneously and heal anyone in need Since mages are weak in close combat you can then direct a warrior to always attack enemies who are targeting the mage Enemy gt Attacking Party Member gt Attacking Bethany As your characters level up you gain more condition action slots on the screen permitting more complicated battle plans ITEMS There are hundreds of unique items in Dragon Age II corresponding to five major groups equippable items like weapons armor or accessories usable items like health potions runes that can enchant weapons or armor crafting items like recipes or resources and plot items like keys or gifts for Hawke s companions INVENTORY The inventory stores all of the usable and equippable items you purchase find or create through the crafting system The recipes and resources required for crafting however are listed in the crafting screens and plot items do not appear in the inventory To inspect an item highlight it in the inventory and press This displays the item s various properties which are explained throughout this manual If a character has another item of the same type equipped you will see a side by side comparison To equip or unequip an item highlight it in the inventory and press Gy To use a usable item press several times to return to the game itself and pull JJ to open the radial menu From the radial menu you can use items dir
4. when fighting toe to toe with enemies they deal immense amounts of damage and heal their allies when protected by the party Because they risk demonic possession mages are either persecuted or carefully supervised in most nations in Thedas Rogue Rogues are crafty combatants who wield a dagger in each hand or rain arrows from a distance They are particularly adept at tearing down individual opponents and are the only class that can pick locks or disarm traps Class Comparison Warrior Mage Rogue Starting attribute 3 strength 3 magic 3 dexterity bonuses 2 constitution 2 willpower 2 cunning 1 willpower 1 cunning 1 willpower Starting talents spells Pommel Strike Mind Blast Miasmic Flask Starting health 160 100 125 Starting stamina 105 160 130 mana Stamina mana With each kill Continuously With each hit regeneration IMPORTING THE EVENTS OF DRAGON AGE ORIGINS A few minutes into Varric s retelling his interrogator demands more specifics Did Hawke truly look as Varric describes And how was Hawke connected to the events of the Fifth Blight which ravaged Ferelden until a Grey Warden slew the archdemon atop a fortress in Denerim At this point you can import a save from Dragon Age Origins to ensure that Varric s story remains consistent with your own recollection of history Alternately choose one of three pre written histories that represent common paths through Origins You can import any save from Dragon A
5. Holla Nathan Zufelt Concept Artists Ben Huen Ville Kinnunen Steve Klit Casper Konefal Matt Rhodes Ramil Sunga Nick Thornborrow Environment Artists Ben McGrath Lead Sheila Nash Technical Lead Casey Baldwin Hayden Duvall Andrew Farrell Rohan Knuckey Boyd McKenzie Chris Ryzebol Andre Santos Lee Scheinbeim Alex Scott GUI Artists Warren Heise Lead Tyler Lee In Game Animators Clove Roy Lead Julio Alas Steve Gilmour Marc Jarvis Michael Milan Cody Paulson John Santos Technical Animators Charles Looker Lead Kevin Ng Steve Runham Technical Artists Geordie Moffatt Lead Yunus Light Balcioglu Daniel Fedor Suhwan Pak Visual Effects Artists Alim Chaarani Lead Jacky Xuan Additional Art and Animation Joy Ang Heather Cerlan BioWare Mythic Chad Emond Harvey Fong Trevor Gilday Lucas Hardi BioWare Mythic Sung Kim Terrence Kim Tohan Kim BioWare Mythic Mikko Kinnunen Nate LaMartina Tom Rhodes Rion Swanson Audio Localization and External Resources Audio Designers Michael Kent Creative Lead Jeremie Voillot Technical Lead Matt Besler Patrick Biason Steven Bigras Real Cardinal Terry Fairfield Andrew Gray Joel Green Jordan Ivey Voice Over Producer Director Caroline Livingstone External Producer John Campbell Assistant External Producers Susanne Hunka Steve Lam Localization Producer Jenny McKearney Localization Project Manager Jason Barlow A
6. Loo Idan Raichel Assaf Rinde Noah Snyder Paul Taylor Translation Albion Localisations Poland Robert B ck Germany ExeQuo France ITI Ltd Russia Synthesis International S r l Italy and Spain Florian Vanino Germany Voice Over Direction Phil Evans Damien Goodwin Ginny McSwain Voice Over Post Production Wave Generation Montreal Wolf Willow Sound Edmonton Voice Over Recording Anakan GmbH Germany ExeQuo France Pomann Sound New York Rec Games Sonido Madrid Side UK London Studiopolis Los Angeles Wolf Willow Sound Edmonton Programming Platform Optimization Mesopotamia Software Inc Real Time Rendering R amp D Jorge Jimenez Diego Gutierrez Pm Not Calling You a Liar Dragon Age Il Varric s Theme Performed by Florence and the Machine Produced by Inon Zur and Steve Schnur Mixed by Jack Joseph Puig Mastered by Bernie Grundman Written by Florence Welch Published by Goldzeal Universal Polygram Int l ASCAP Recording courtesy of Island Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises YOU PLAYED THE GAME NOW PLAY THE MUSIC EA SOUNDTRACKS AND RINGTONES AVAILABLE AT WWW EA COM EATRAX LIMITED 90 DAY WARRANTY Electronic Arts Limited Warranty Electronic Arts warrants to the original purchaser of this product that the recording medium on which the software program s are recorded the Recording Medium and the documentation that is included with t
7. all our families for your support CAST Hawke Jo Wyatt Nicholas Boulton Anders Adam Howden Aveline Joanna Roth Bethany Rebekah Staton Carver Nico Lennon Fenris Gideon Emery Isabela Victoria Kruger Meredith Jean Gilpin Merrill Eve Myles Varric Brian Bloom Additional Voices Jocelyn Ahlf Robin Atkin Downes Rachel Atkins April Banigan Mark Bazeley Riley Beach Oliver Bee Tim Bentinck Kate Binchy Shannon Blanchet Kellie Bright Lora Brovold Charlie Cameron Clinton Carew Oscar Castellanos Tom Chadbon Simon Chadwick Pandora Colin Stephane Cornicard Belinda Cornish Jon Curry Daniel Curshen Tim Dadabo Shaun Dingwall Paul Morgan Donald D C Douglas Susan Duerden Greg Ellis Keith Ferguson Paul Fox H ctor Garay Jesse Gervais Jamie Glover Christopher Godwin Zach Hanks Jonathan Harden Mark Healy Lisa Hogg Stuart Hoye Jessica Juffre Corinne Kempa Arlen Konopaki Adam Leadbeater Mark Lewis Jones Yuri Lowenthal Aoife McMahon Mark Meer Deborah Moore Kate Mulgrew Natasha Napoleao Chris Nayak Alec Newman Mary Ann O Donoghue Nicole Papadopoulos Olivia Poulet Miranda Raison Alix Wilton Regan David Rintoul Reece Ritchie Christine Roberts Mike Robertson David Rolston John Rubinow Dwight Schultz Jason Singer David Sterne Ronan Summers Keith Szarabajka Louis Tamone Fred Tatasciore Emma Tate Steve Valentine Jim Ward Rick D Wasserman Timothy Watson Danny Webb Dou
8. experienced companions Sure enough a short time into the family s escape from Lothering Hawke gains a level and can spend a few points on attributes and abilities for the first time As Hawke recruits companions they too progress in largely the same manner EXPERIENCE AND LEVELS Experience points XP are awarded whenever Hawke completes a quest or finds a codex entry anyone in the party kills an enemy in combat or a rogue in the party picks a lock or disarms a trap Once Hawke or a companion has the XP required to cross a certain threshold the character gains a new level Progress towards that threshold is shown just below the current character s name in the main interface and in the character record screens With each new level a character gains three attribute points and one ability point At levels seven and 14 Hawke alone gains a specialization point see p 4 When a character levels up you can spend the points yourself in the Attributes and Abilities screen ATTRIBUTES Hawke begins with at least 10 points in each of the six attributes which primarily determine prowess in combat both directly more constitution means more health points and indirectly equipping heavy armor requires great strength When you first see Hawke s attribute scores however some will already exceed 10 because of the class bonuses listed earlier With each level Hawke and other companions gain an additional three points to spend on attributes
9. party at once by pressing 48 and amp simultaneously In the radial menu pull JJ order your party members to hold their position instead of following the character you re currently controlling or order them to move to a specific location TARGETS AND DEFAULT ACTIONS Interact with any character creature or object that displays a name and an icon when you target it either by walking up to it or by cycling through all possible targets by pressing C To take a default action say to speak to a friendly character open a chest or a door or strike an enemy with a basic attack select the target and then press Q In combat the character you re controlling executes a basic attack maneuver each time you press Q BATTLE MENU The battle menu is comprised of six icons in two layers displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen To activate the primary shortcuts press 8 or To activate the second layer of shortcuts pull and hold and then press 8 or RADIAL MENU More advanced controls like using a special ability or consuming a health potion are controlled through the radial menu which appears when you pull and hold I The radial menu is organized into related categories of abilities items and party commands almost any of which can be assigned to a shortcut on the battle menu by highlighting the icon and pressing AREA TARGETING When you select an ability that affects a whole area rather than a si
10. whether Hawke or another companion that you have switched to uses activated abilities and sustained modes only when directed Other characters in your party use their abilities whenever appropriate or when the conditional instructions you set up in the Combat Tactics screen tell them to see p 19 When you have points to spend in the Abilities screen only the abilities highlighted in blue are currently available to learn To unlock others you need to meet the requirements listed in red by learning specific prerequisite abilities or reaching a certain level Activated Abilities The most common talents or spells are those marked activated indicated by a diamond icon These abilities vary widely some are offensive strikes against one or more enemies whereas others provide positive effects to the character or other companions Some activated abilities last for only a second while others remain active for a short time Most incur an immediate cost in stamina or mana and after you use a particular activated ability there is generally a short cooldown period before you can use it again Passive Abilities Talents or spells marked passive indicated by a circular icon are permanent effects although some only apply in particular circumstances They do not consume stamina or mana and because you don t need to activate them they do not appear in your battle menu or radial menu To review which passive abilities your character h
11. COMPLETE CONTROLS A WARNING Before playing this game read the Xbox 360 console and accessory manuals for important safety and health information Keep all manuals for future reference For replacement console and accessory manuals go to www xbox com support Important Health Warning About Playing Video Games Photosensitive seizures A very small percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images including flashing lights or patterns that may appear in video games Even people who have no history of seizures or epilepsy may have an undiagnosed condition that can cause these photosensitive epileptic seizures while watching video games These seizures may have a variety of symptoms including lightheadedness altered vision eye or face twitching jerking or shaking of arms or legs disorientation confusion or momentary loss of awareness Seizures may also cause loss of consciousness or convulsions that can lead to injury from falling down or striking nearby objects Immediately stop playing and consult a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms Parents should watch for or ask their children about the above Move character symptoms children and teenagers are more likely than adults to experience these seizures The risk of photosensitive epileptic seizures may be reduced by taking the following precautions Sit farther from the screen use a smaller screen play in a well lit room do not p
12. Teresa Meester Greta Melinchuk Administration Keri Clark Manager Tricia Cameron Kris Donado Amy Fraser Raj Grewal Nils Kuhnert Kirsten Mailhot Jeanne Marie Owens Barbara Schmid Finance Managers David Conway Vanessa Potter Human Resources Celia Ar valo BioWare Edmonton Holly Bierbaum BioWare Austin Elisabeth Boehme BioWare Edmonton Eve Brison BioWare Mythic Tammy Johnson BioWare Austin Leanne Korotash BioWare Edmonton Christopher Pangrass BioWare Edmonton Ashley Pierce BioWare Austin Laura Sowder BioWare Mythic Information Systems and Facilities Application Support Julian Karst Lead Chris Hoban Robert McKenna Desktop Support Dave McGruther Lead Shane Gaudry Neal Gray Jeff Mills Brett Tollefson Infrastructure Craig Miller Lead Sam Decker Wayne Mah Facilities Dean Crowell Manager Kelly Wambold Additional Information Systems Hanne Bjornstad Special Thanks Jessica Chobot Tom Cipolla Senior Vice President EA Felicia Day Scott Forrest Stacy Glass Nelson Housden Jens Uwe Intat Senior Vice President EA Thomas Kelty Pat LaBine Brad Margolis Kevin Martens Steve Schnur Vice President EA Todd Schull Karl Smith Nancy Smith Executive Vice President EA lain Stevens Guille Mac Walters Colin Walmsley Chris Zarmakoupis the rest of the BioWare teams in Edmonton Austin Montreal Fairfax and Galway and the rest of the team at EAGL and EA Thanks to
13. YOU MUST BE 13 TO REGISTER FOR AN EA ACCOUNT EA MAY RETIRE ONLINE FEATURES AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON HTTP WWW EA COM 2 SERVICE UPDATES CONNECTING Before you can use Xbox LIVE connect your Xbox 360 console to a high speed Internet connection and sign up to become an Xbox LIVE member For more information about connecting and to determine whether Xbox LIVE is available in your region go to www xbox com live countries FAMILY SETTINGS These easy and flexible tools enable parents and caregivers to decide which games young game players can access based on the content rating Parents can restrict access to mature rated content Approve who and how your family interacts with others online with the Xbox LIVE service and set time limits on how long they can play For more information go to www xbox com familysettings CREDITS BIOWARE Dragon Age II Senior Leadership Executive Producer and Project Director Mark Darrah Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw Art Director Matthew Goldman Technical Director Jacques Lebrun Project Development Director Alain Baxter Technical Development Director Adriana Lopez Quality Assurance Lead Nathan Frederick Online Producer Fernando Melo Franchise Development Director Benoit Houle Art and Animation Character Artists Shane Hawco Lead Ben Carriere Leroy Chen Jae Keum Francis Lacuna Cinematic Animators Greg Lidstone Lead Carlos Arancibia Edward Beek Tim Golem Suhas
14. agic resistance score is added to their elemental or physical resistance Just like physical or elemental resistances magic resistance counteracts a percentage of the damage that an attack would have inflicted Magic resistance also reduces the duration of hostile magical effects on a character Thus with 20 magic resistance and 10 fire resistance a character would suffer 30 less damage from magical fire attacks 20 less damage from magical cold attacks and a magical paralysis effect would last for 20 less time Damage Resistance Just as magic resistance applies to all damage inflicted by magic regardless of the elemental type damage resistance is a further layer of protection that applies to all damage of any type For magical attacks it is cumulative with magic resistance and elemental resistance or armor for non magical attacks it is cumulative with just the basic damage resistance which is usually armor Critical Hits Every attack has a small possibility of generating a critical hit as indicated by the critical chance percentage shown ona character s attributes screen When the character does succeed in landing a critical hit it inflicts bonus damage beyond what a normal attack would produce as indicated by the critical damage percentage shown on the same screen You know you ve landed a critical hit when you see an opponent s health bar flash white Flanking An attacker is more likely to score a critical hit when str
15. as learned take a look at the Abilities screen Sustained Modes Once you use a talent or spell marked as a sustained mode indicated by a hexagonal icon it remains active until you disable it However most sustained modes reserve a fixed percentage of the character s mana or stamina pool That reserve is not available for other abilities to use until you deactivate the ability After you deactivate a sustained mode there is generally a short cooldown period before you can use it again Upgrades In each school of abilities a number of small icons indicate possible upgrades to activated abilities or sustained modes These upgrades are not abilities in themselves but instead improve an existing ability Although it may seem as if an upgrade is less valuable than a completely new talent or spell the size of a character s mana or stamina pool limits the number of abilities that can be used in a single battle Upgrades can thus be much more useful than yet another new ability As well only upgraded talents and spells can lead to cross class combos see p 18 SPECIALIZATIONS Hawke can learn one specialization upon reaching level seven and another at level 14 Three specializations are available for each class Each grants a unique bonus and unlocks a new group of powerful talents or spells Hawke s companions cannot learn specializations but their personal ability schools include talents or spells that are related to the same special
16. at armor is completely ineffective against the different types of elemental damage which are instead counteracted by specific resistances Elemental Damage There are five types of elemental damage fire cold electricity nature and spirit Most offensive spells produce one of the types of elemental damage and some weapons inflict elemental damage instead of physical damage Weapons that have been enchanted by runes see p 22 may inflict several different types of damage simultaneously If you enable damage numbers in the Interface Options screen you can identify different types of damage by the color the text appears in Q Damage to your party is red no matter the type Physical damage is white Fire damage is orange Q Cold damage is blue Electricity damage is yellow Q Nature damage is medium green Spirit damage is purple Healing is bright green prefaced by a symbol Elemental Resistances Each type of elemental damage is counteracted by a specific resistance in the same way that armor counteracts physical damage For example characters with 10 fire resistance suffer 10 less fire damage As with armor party members elemental resistances change based on enemies rank and relative level If enemies have significant resistance to a certain type of damage a small shield appears next to their name whenever they re hit by that element Magic Resistance Whenever an attack s source is magical the victim s m
17. at character learns the more tactics fill in Custom Tactics You can also create your own customs sets of tactics either by modifying the presets or starting from scratch with the preset marked CUSTOM Let s say you want to add a new tactic that tells Bethany to cast Fireball whenever she sees several enemies in a small area First switch to Bethany then select a condition slot on the left side of the screen and press G From the menu that appears first select who you want the tactic to affect For this condition we re trying to scorch a number of enemies so select ENEMY Now another menu opens select CLUSTERED then CLUSTERED WITH AT LEAST 2 ENEMIES That s your first condition whenever three enemies are near each other one enemy plus two near it the game sees that this condition is true and activates the corresponding action Now you need to set up the action Select the slot on the right side of the screen next to the condition you just created and press G Select USE ABILITY and then FIREBALL That s it Tactics always evaluate from the top down so urgent requirements like healing should usually go at the top Move a tactic up or down by selecting the number in front of it and pressing Disable an individual tactic by selecting the symbol just after its number Tactics are particularly powerful when they help different party members support each other For example if Bethany is in your party and knows a healing spell
18. avin Burt Gameplay Lead Owen Borstad Mark Brockington John Fedorkiw Michael Hamilton Sebastian Hanlon Yuri Leontiev Christopher Kerr Nicolas NgManSun David Robinson Paul Roffel Paul Schultz Michael Webb Ross Gardner Initial Technical Director Tools Programmers Bryan Derksen James Goldman Scott Meadows David Mergele Curtis Onuczko James Redford Sydney Tang Jon Thompson Mika Uusnakki Additional Programming Devin Doucette George Hornmoen Matt Peters Henry Smith Quality Assurance Analysts Dieter Goetzinger Technical Lead Edward Pollard External Lead Mark Ramsden Design Lead William Brewer Compliance Lead Benjamin Blanchard Andrew Gauthier Robert Girardin Will Kuhn Allan Schumacher Allan Smith Bruce Venne Mike Wellman Stanley Woo QA Programmers Alex Lucas Lead Edward Bassett Jonathan Cooper Dave Schaefer Jay Zhou Term Testers Oliver Aguilar Luke Barrett Dave Berkes Robert Budac Kai Chen David Clifford Gary Conrad Andrew Crowe Kristin Czarny Patrick Demkiw Chad De Wolfe Dale Furutani James Guindon Alan Hildebrandt Patrick Irwin Michael Ivey Michael Lang James Leung Catherine Lundgren Isaac Matichuk Cody Ouimet Corey Owens Lee Panas Celeste Phillips Steven Rideout Tim Rideout Jo l Roy Varden Schwake Emil Sofroniev Colin Steedman Devon Wetheral Nathan Willis Additional QA Tracy Aguilar David Chung Matthew Clarke James Dang Matthew Ea
19. be removed intact applying another rune atop it destroys the first rune The effectiveness of a rune varies based on the quality of the weapon or armor it is inscribed on so save your best runes for your best equipment CRAFTING Skilled craftsmen are constantly looking for new varieties of the resources they use in their trades If Hawke discovers resources in the wild along with a recipe for how to use those resources craftsmen will happily create usable items like potions poisons bombs or runes in exchange for coin After meeting a craftsman Hawke can also order items of that type from home The craftsmen manage collection of the resources once Hawke has found the initial supply and consequently the resources themselves are not lost when the craftsmen create items But note that if Hawke doesn t discover a variety of a crafting resource someone else is sure to find it Undiscovered resources disappear as the years roll by XBOX LIVE Xbox LIVE is your connection to more games more entertainment more fun Go to www xbox com live to learn more ONLINE PASS SERIAL CODE EXPIRES MARCH 31 2012 EA ACCOUNT REGISTRATION WITH ENCLOSED SINGLE USE SERIAL CODE AND OR INTERNET CONNECTION MAY BE REQUIRED TO ACCESS ONLINE FEATURES AND SERVICES INCLUDING ONLINE PASS CONTENT SERIAL CODE IS NON TRANSFERABLE ONCE USED ADDITIONAL ONLINE PASS CODES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE EA ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE CAN BE FOUND AT WWW EA COM
20. des Dave Gerhart Bryan Featherstone Scott Horner John Lacanlale Matt Powell Jason Rasch Corey Runnalls Marketing Worldwide Director of Marketing David S Silverman Senior Director of Marketing Europe Maria Sayans Advertising Dana Marineau Dustin Shekell Leslie Shinn Online Derek Larke Manager Jeff Marvin Jesse Reid Jeff Rousell Evil Chris Priestly Victor Wachter Product Management Randall Bishop Public Relations Andrew Wong Manager Cindy Lum Video Neel Upadhye Additional Marketing Chase Boyajian Michael Brogowitz Mark Edwards Holden Hume Keith Larson Deeka Macdonald Lauren Siegel Matthew Villeneuve Studio Leadership BioWare Edmonton Studio General Manager and Vice President Electronic Arts Aaryn Flynn Senior Director Creative Development Alistair McNally Senior Director Development Operations Shauna Perry Senior Director Finance Kevin Gunderman Senior Director Operations Vince Waldon Senior Director Business Planning and Development Richard Iwaniuk Director of Human Resources Mark Kluchky Director of Programming Daniel Martin Quality Assurance Department Manager Tulay Tetiker Co Director of Production Duane Webb Assistant Director of Art and Animation Dean Andersen Assistant Director of Design Preston Watamaniuk Assistant Director of Information Systems Lee Evanochko Senior Manager of Product Planning and Development Chris Bain Executive Assistants
21. e the content you ve already downloaded INTRODUCTION Dragon Age Il tells the story of a member of the Hawke family a refugee of the Fifth Blight who became a central figure in events that would reshape Thedas The full story is not well documented and the details of how a refugee became Kirkwall s Champion are known only to a few The story is not told as it happens but long afterward And the narrator is sometimes prone to exaggeration CREATING HAWKE Varric our narrator has told this story once or twice before He has a certain way of remembering Hawke that er might not be wholly consistent with the facts After all who would you find to contradict him But there are a few basics for which even Varric can t get away with lies You can t say that a woman was actually a man or a warrior actually a mage and expect your audience to still take you seriously CLASS Hawke s class determines which abilities he or she can learn during the course of the game and has a profound effect on combat Class and gender of course also affects how characters in the story respond to Hawke Warrior Warriors are front line fighters the backbone of any party under assault Some heft an enormous two handed weapon that strikes several foes at once Others pair a one handed weapon with a shield that doubles as a bludgeon METI Mages command arcane spells and hurl bolts of magic from their staves Although mages are vulnerable
22. ectly or map them to the battle menu just like a spell or talent Stars The inventory displays between one and five stars next to each weapon piece of armor or accessory These are an approximation of the item s usefulness relative to the character s level and class Two stars indicate basic equipment for that level As characters increase in level the number of stars next to a given item will decrease suggesting that it is becoming less appropriate and should be replaced e Capacity You can only carry so much equipment once the inventory is full you have to sell or destroy items before you can pick up more To increase the inventory capacity purchase a backpack Junk When you find an item in the inventory that you don t think you ll use press to send it to the junk tab Some items that have no use only value are moved to the junk tab as soon as you pick them up Junk items still count toward your inventory capacity but when you visit a store you can sell them all with a single RARI When you re looking at the junk tab you can also destroy items to free up inventory space by pressing Y B CONTAINERS LOOT Whenever an object in the world or an enemy corpse is shimmering it contains items that you can pick up presuming you re able to open the container and have space in your inventory Many doors and chests are locked when you find them To open a lock you either need a key which doesn t always exist or a rogue to pick
23. eg Wellwood Systems Mike Iguidez Nigel Nunn Troy Thibodeau Quality Assurance EA Canada Matthew McGillivray Lead Aaron Adams Scott Balmer Corey Bussey Joel Cappelletto David Coleman Toby Copithorne Steve Coscarella Jessica Docherty Alphonse Du Timothy Duong Steve Froste Eric Hanna Dustin Harwood Henry Huang Aman Janjua Jennifer Jenkins Rahim Kara Darryl Liew Daniel Man Seth Mayer Kyle Parsons Michael Rousseau Ashton Tower Hugh Tran Steve Waldman Kristin Warren Brandon Willett Jerry Wong Trevor Wong EA Hyderabad Hemanth Reddy Battula Sravan Kumar Bommireddy Murali Sridhar Chandanada Debanand Charchi Naga Sai Harish Chavali Vikas Devarakonda Pavan Kumar Gadepally Rama Naresh Gowrisetty Sandeep Kumar Guttedar Bhanu Chander Kandi Swarna Kumar Kasarla Kulwinder Kaur Vikash Kumar Shravan Kumar Sidigum Sneha Naveen Kumar Masabathulla Abhishek Nag Bhargava Kartheek Padamati Sreekanth Pratti Sri Harsha Pydi Naga Vijaya Rao Sutari Sudhakara Vankayalapati Sai Srujan Kumar Yadavally Naveen Yamijala EXTERNAL PARTNERS Art and Animation Character Environment Art Liquid Development LLC SperaSoft Inc Ten Gun Design Inc Game Trailer Digic Pictures Audio and Localization Geopolitical Evaluation Englobe Inc Original Score Inon Zur Music Performance Aubrey Ashburn Chris Bleth The Lyris Quartet Music Production and Recording Penka Kouneva John Kurlander Tim
24. ep their defense score high e Dodging A few abilities and effects provide a percentage chance to dodge attacks Dodging is similar to defense except that it is absolute Whereas defense can be overcome with a high attack score a chance to dodge applies regardless of the aggressor s attack score DAMAGE The damage inflicted by a basic attack is a combination of the weapon s damage rating and the attacking character s primary attribute strength for warriors magic for mages and dexterity for warriors However while swings from a warrior s weapon or shots from a rogue s bow are very powertul they are also slow By contrast a rogue wielding two daggers may not cause much damage with each hit but the strikes come at blinding speed These differences are why the Attributes and Inventory screens also indicate damage per second DPS for the character s equipped weapons Weapon damage is important even for characters who concentrate on using spells or talents because damage inflicted by abilities is almost always a multiple of the character s basic attack damage Armor Armor mitigates physical damage if a character s armor is rated at 10 the character suffers 10 less damage from physical attacks than they would otherwise Like attack and defense the armor percentage is calculated relative to an opponent of the same level so the percentage degrades if characters do not continually find better armor Keep in mind th
25. ersonal injury even if Electronic Arts has been advised of the possibility of such damages Some states do not allow limitation as to how long an implied warranty lasts and or exclusions or limitation of incidental or consequential damages so the above limitations and or exclusion of liability may not apply to you In such jurisdictions the Electronic Arts liability shall be limited to the fullest extent permitted by law This warranty gives you specific rights You may also have other rights that vary from state to state Returns Within the 90 Day Warranty Period Please return the product along with 1 a copy of the original sales receipt showing the date of purchase 2 a brief description of the difficulty you are experiencing and 3 your name address and phone number to the address below and Electronic Arts will mail a replacement Recording Medium and or Manual to you If the product was damaged through misuse or accident this 90 day warranty is rendered void and you will need to follow the instructions for returns after the 90 day warranty period We strongly recommend that you send your products using a traceable delivery method Electronic Arts is not responsible for products not in its possession EA Warranty Information If the defect in the Recording Medium or Manual resulted from abuse mistreatment or neglect or if the Recording Medium or Manual is found to be defective after 90 days from the date of purchase choose one of the followi
26. f these effects apply to enemies but only some can apply to Hawke s party Confusion A confused enemy may attack its allies or make other irrational choices Dispel Dispel effects cancel persistent hostile magic which usually means forcibly deactivating sustained modes This affects both magic that improves enemies combat capabilities and magic that hampers the dispeller s allies Enslavement Enslaved enemies fight as Hawke s allies for the duration of the effect Obscure Obscure gives allies a partial veil from their foes This results in a significantly greater chance of dodging enemy attacks Silence Silence prevents combatants from using spells or talents although they can still move and execute basic attacks Stealth Stealth prevents a combatant from being seen by enemies Generally stealth is lost as soon as the stealthed character takes any action beyond moving Stealthed characters can still be hit by attacks that affect a whole area If stealthed enemies take damage they lose the stealth effect Stun Sleep Knockback Knockdown Paralyze Pinning These status effects all prohibit the affected combatant from taking any action and they abort their current actions The visual effects are different however Stunned enemies also forget their current target they choose a new target often the same as before once they are no longer stunned Sleeping enemies awaken as soon as they suffer further damage TACTICS
27. ge Origins the Dragon Age Origins Awakening expansion the Golems of Amgarrak stand alone downloadable content or the Witch Hunt stand alone downloadable content regardless of whether you completed the game with that save If you did not complete the game Varric will presume that the remaining events of Dragon Age Origins match the rumors he has most often heard CONVERSATIONS When it s Hawke s turn to speak in a conversation you see a dialogue wheel that offers several options for what Hawke can say The options presented often vary based on your choices earlier in the game The text you see is a short paraphrase of the longer line that Hawke will speak if you pick that option Each paraphrase is accompanied by an icon in the middle of the wheel indicating the type of response or the tone in which it is intended ICONS c Indicates that Hawke will be helpful or particularly nice Indicates that Hawke will take an agreeable tactful position Indicates that Hawke will be wry humorous or witty Indicates that Hawke will act charmingly Indicates that Hawke will speak or act aggressively e lt a Indicates that Hawke will speak directly or rudely AN M Indicates that Hawke will initiate a fight or strike kill someone in conversation X Indicates that Hawke will deputize a companion to act or speak instead Indicates that Hawke will flirt or pursue deeper romance Indicates that Hawke will permanently end a ro
28. ger switching to a rapid slashing style in order to regain space to shoot Talents in the archery school allow the rogue to control specific parts of the battlefield which widens the strategic possibilities of this weapon style Mage s Staff Mages always carry magical staves that they use to enhance their spellcasting to hurl magical projectiles for their basic attacks and to defend themselves in melee combat Unlike spells the staff does not consume mana SO a mage need not worry about being left defenseless There is no particular school of spells dedicated to staff combat rather the staff is an integral part of every school Like archers mages can strike out with the staff as a melee weapon when enemies draw near CROSS CLASS COMBOS Each class has a special status effect that can set up a cross class combo in which a character of one class uses a talent or spell to hinder an enemy with the effect before a character of another class exploits it using another talent or spell This produces a tremendously powerful attack Warriors can STAGGER enemies using any of several upgraded talents from the Vanguard and Warmonger schools Mages can exploit STAGGER using upgraded spells from the Arcane or Primal schools or rogues can do so using upgraded talents from the Dual Weapon school Mages can make enemies BRITTLE using any of several upgraded spells from the Primal and Elemental schools Warriors can exploit BRITTLE using upgraded tale
29. glas Weston James Daniel Wilson Stephanie Wolfe Scott Yakiwchuk Fred Zbryski Patricia Zentilli ELECTRONIC ARTS BioWare Group Leadership Co founder BioWare Group General Manager BioWare Group Senior Vice President EA Dr Ray Muzyka Co founder BioWare General Manager BioWare Austin Vice President EA Dr Greg Zeschuk Group Operations Officer BioWare Group Vice President EA Rob Denton Group Marketing Officer BioWare Group Vice President EA Patrick Buechner Corporate Leadership Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello Chief Operating Officer John Schappert Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Eric Brown Executive Vice President Business and Legal Affairs Joel Linzner Executive Vice President Human Resources Gabrielle Toledano Vice President Corporate Communications Jeff Brown EA Games Label Leadership President Frank Gibeau Chief Operations Officer and Senior Vice President Bryan Neider Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Mike Williams Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President Jeff Karp Chief Technology Officer and Vice President David O Connor Vice President Human Resources Mala Singh Vice President Public Relations Tammy Schachter Localization International Project Managers Claudia Serafim Sebastian Sparr Engineering Antonio Moya Project Lead Pedro Alfageme Langdon Audio Lead Danilo Warrior Guerrero Techn
30. his product the Manual are free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase If the Recording Medium or the Manual is found to be defective within 90 days from the date of purchase Electronic Arts agrees to replace the Recording Medium or Manual free of charge upon receipt of the Recording Medium or Manual at its service center postage paid with proof of purchase This warranty is limited to the Recording Medium containing the software program and the Manual that were originally provided by Electronic Arts This warranty shall not be applicable and shall be void if in the judgment of Electronic Arts the defect has arisen through abuse mistreatment or neglect This limited warranty is in lieu of all other warranties whether oral or written express or implied including any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose and no other representation of any nature shall be binding on or obligate Electronic Arts If any such warranties are incapable of exclusion then such warranties applicable to this product including implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are limited to the 90 day period described above In no event will Electronic Arts be liable for any special incidental or consequential damages resulting from possession use or malfunction of this Electronic Arts product including damage to property and to the extent permitted by law damages for p
31. ical Lead Juan Serrano Yuste Assistant Technical Lead Alberto Abad Iv n Arroyo Francisco Retuerta De Lara Ricardo Espinosa Navarro Alberto Mar n Ibanez Jose Pablo Hern ndez Cano David Rodr guez Adolfo Fern ndez Garc a Coordination Marcel Elsner Marco Nicolino Nadine Wagner Mastering Rub n Del Pozo Moreno Tomas Pedre o Recording Bruno Dos Santos Pereira Daniel Harty Localization Testing Hugo Rivalland Project Manager Philippe Ollas Charel Lead H l ne Hi re Lead Jordi Gallopin French Lead Robert L vai German Lead Cristian de Frassine Italian Lead Lukasz Srodka Polish Lead Oleksandr Lebid Russian Lead Inigo Luzuriaga Spanish Lead Koroleva Anastasiya Pierre Attali Anima Berriatua Giulia Brusaferri Ana Calvillo Rita Miriam Drago Till Dzierzon Sonja Engelhardt Nacho Gaitan Holeneva Galina Paolo Giunti Michael Glutz Izabela Godzic Dirk Kroll Kamil Cascador Kurpios Jalil Laalami Ouali Gilles Mathiaut Matthieu Montpellier Benoit Mora Sgibneva Natalia Lyutfaliev Sarkhan Angela Stockinger J r my Teyssier Martin von Cetto Alicja Warowna Angrit Wetzel Aleksandra Zrebiec Motion Capture Studio Director David Pierce Post Production Director Mike Harrison Production Manager Brad Oleksy CG Supervisor Ryan Hietanen Production Blair Leckie Lead Dave Raposo Lead Atlin Fraser Vince Hung Shelley Karakochuk Vince Ng Derek Peristy Ken Tsia Gr
32. ighting a lieutenant or boss than they are when fighting normal enemies To see the precise percentages select one of those statistics in the Attributes screen and press amp to view more details Some spell or talent descriptions also list effect chances with the note vs normal enemy The likelihood of applying those effects is much lower against a high ranking enemy THREAT Enemies choose their targets based on which character they perceive to be the greatest threat Each enemy considers three factors which character is wearing the heaviest armor who has inflicted the most damage to them personally and which character is closest to them If enemies perpetually attack characters that cannot withstand direct assault there are several spells and talents that can help characters gain or lose threat so that enemies will switch to other targets Stun effects also cause enemies to forget their targets and choose anew WEAPON STYLES If Hawke is a warrior or rogue a choice of weapon styles is available with two options per class Those weapon styles determine the speed of attacks how many foes a single strike can hit and in some cases which talents Hawke can use Mages staves perform double duty by firing magical bolts at long range and operating as a melee weapon at short range Each of Hawke s companions has already trained in their personal favorite weapon style and thus cannot make this choice Two Handed Weapon Warriors
33. iking anywhere at an opponent s back half including hits that are just slightly past the opponent s side This is true for all combatants so don t let enemies get behind your party members rd pt o B Lug amaaa 9 X z Na ve EXPLANATION Information notification Character taking damage red fog Currently controlled character hs oda H gt A P Ls x Me E V E A I3 E Ts e h ty LEA 2 E Fr ies Se P a ee e st RS eT z lt A M RS Ta gt tA aT z LI s i P x 2 4 LO e i wc om P an E T2 os x i Pe cT lt lt d a gt 7s T Ra ees n qo r i n Ld e M u Li t 1 i ay n D q 4 2 E YA Y i 4 b A Fallen character p 11 o fee Characters current action oo Character s stamina warriors and rogues ony p 11 ue 7 Fa Revenant PR iode Xi Eo Sae MAC Lio 39 P bid Av crs Minky ENE OSA Y UCET VE OC ky EXPLANATION Current target s name health Mini map of area Sustained modes affecting character REISENS ORAV E fa Buttons for battle menu shortcuts ds s Current character s XP p 7 Boi d f te x FORCE AND FORTITUDE Basic attacks and many spells or talents produce physical or elemental force Every combatant has a specific level of force they can withstand based on fortitude which is determined by a character s strength attribute and maximu
34. ion or cast a healing spell e e Injuries So long as at least one party member survives a fight those who fell in combat revive themselves once all enemies are dead but they sustain injuries that reduce their health pool At most difficulty settings it is possible for each character to sustain multiple cumulative injuries which prevents them from fully healing until the injuries are treated To remedy an injury use an injury kit on the character The party s injuries are also automatically treated whenever Hawke returns home STAMINA MANA Warriors and rogues draw from a pool of personal stamina to power many of their talents and mages use their mana for spells A few abilities however cost nothing to use Each class regenerates stamina or mana differently warriors replenish some stamina each time they kill an enemy rogues regain a small amount of stamina with each hit and mages regenerate mana continuously Certain spells and talents also allow characters to regenerate mana or stamina Because mana and stamina are limited talents and spells are special supplements to basic attacks not the focus of battle The size of the stamina or mana pool is initially determined by the character s class see p 4 It increases with each point spent on the willpower attribute ATTACK Attack is usually represented as a percentage that indicates a character s chance to hit an opponent with a basic attack This percentage is based on a flat attac
35. izations available to Hawke COMBAT The core combat mechanic in Dragon Age ll is simple a combatant s attack percentage is the chance that a basic attack will hit an opponent whereas the combatant s defense percentage is the chance to evade a basic attack Special attacks like using an activated ability or throwing a bomb almost always hit These percentages vary based on the opponent s rank and level the percentages you most often see are for a normal rank enemy of the same level as the character but percentages against enemy lieutenants and bosses are also available as explained below Assuming the attack is successful the target suffers a certain number of points of damage subtracted from current health after accounting for the target s resistance to certain types of damage However each of those statistics attack defense and damage can be modified by a number of additional factors as explained in the following pages Talents spells status effects high quality equipment and the difficulty level can further alter most statistics DIFFICULTY Dragon Age ll offers four levels of combat difficulty which can be changed at any time in the Gameplay Options screen Higher settings are meant not to punish but to challenge you with sufficient tactical planning and careful management of each party member even nightmare difficulty should be satisfying not frustrating Specifically each successive difficulty level increases e
36. k score which is visible alongside the percentage in the Attributes screen For a given flat attack score the percentage varies based on the level and rank of the opponent The percentage score that you see most often is calculated in comparison to a normal rank enemy of the same level as the character To see a character s attack percentage against enemy lieutenants or bosses select ATTACK in the Attributes screen and press 8 to view more details Because the attack percentage is calculated in comparison to an enemy of the same level as the character the percentage diminishes each level unless you spend points to improve it This means that you must continually invest in the strength attribute for warriors magic for mages and dexterity for rogues Cover Arrows and crossbow bolts cannot penetrate obstacles like columns or trees Although it is possible to target and fire at opponents behind cover the shots will not hit them no matter how high the attack score is DEFENSE Defense represents a character s ability to avoid attacks entirely Defense works just like attack as described above except that defense produces the opposite effect with sufficient defense attacks glance off harmlessly or inflict minimal damage Defense like attack is usually represented as a percentage that varies based on the opponent s rank and level Consequently as characters increase in level you must continually invest in the cunning attribute to ke
37. lay when you are drowsy or fatigued If you or any of your relatives have a history of seizures or epilepsy consult a doctor before playing ESRB Game Ratings The Entertainment Software Rating Board ESRB ratings are designed to provide consumers especially parents with concise impartial guidance about the age appropriateness and content of computer and video games This information can help consumers make informed purchase decisions about which games they deem suitable for their children and families ESRB ratings have two equal parts e Rating Symbols suggest age appropriateness for the game These symbols appear on the front of virtually every game box available for retail sale or rental in the United States and Canada Content Descriptors indicate elements in a game that may have triggered a particular rating and or may be of interest or concern The descriptors appear on the back of the box next to the rating symbol ON FRONT n ON BACK z A WWW DRAGONAGE COM MATURE 17 J ADU ONL 18 VI DEO EVERYONE 10 i br 9 E ESRB CONTENT RATING www esrh org RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY 2E 32 T1 1 Cea ed Lea i Leb a Lea a For more information visit www ESRB org CHARACTER CONTROL and control character movement and camera movement respectively If you have multiple party members switch among them by pressing 4 or E3 or select your whole
38. m health which is determined by the constitution attribute When the force of an attack exceeds what the combatant can withstand physical force results in effects like knocking a character to the ground and elemental force results in effects like setting the character aflame In one way or another when combatants are overcome by force the effect interrupts their current attacks and may delay them from returning to combat for up to a few seconds Spell and talent descriptions indicate elemental or physical force with numbers like 4x That means the ability produces four times as much force as it does damage If the damage the ability inflicts is fairly small then 4x force might not be a significant effect perhaps only enough to push an enemy back for a second but for high damage abilities 4x force could easily knock an enemy completely down ENEMY RANKS As previously explained some statistics like attack defense and armor percentages are displayed relative to a normal rank enemy of the same level as the character There are five ranks of enemies although these are usually simplified to just normal foes lieutenants and bosses The length of enemy health bars indicates their relative threat normal enemies have short health bars lieutenants are somewhat longer and bosses have very long health bars Higher ranked enemies gain several advantages Notably the party s attack defense armor and resistance percentages are lower when f
39. mance or turn down a proposition Indicates that Hawke agrees or consents aI Indicates that Hawke disagrees or refuses T Indicates that Hawke is choosing one of multiple exclusive options S Indicates that Hawke is making a special choice that is only available because of Pm previous decisions p Indicates that Hawke will either extort money or pay an informant as indicated A Indicates that Hawke will lie VA Indicates that Hawke will ask a question that does not necessarily lead the conversation directly toward its conclusion The information Hawke learns however may lead to new conversation options in the future When more than one of these questions is available at the same point in the conversation they are grouped together in a special Investigate section of the wheel COMPANIONS Although it is possible for Hawke to venture out alone for most of Dragon Age Il the game is designed around a party of four combatants selected from among the many prospective companions you encounter Hawke s party members are not just important during combat they often have personal connections to the story and may ask for Hawke s help with quests of their own To change which party member you control press 48 or G or both buttons together to issue orders to all party members at once You can change the composition of your party whenever Hawke returns home or visits a companion at his or her home base COMPANIONS HOME BASES O
40. nce Hawke creates a new life in Kirkwall each companion has a location in the city where they retreat when Hawke doesn t need them Seek out these home bases and visit often once Hawke s companions are away from the stress of battle they are much more likely to relax and offer insights that they won t share on the road These conversations may lead to new quest options or for certain companions the possibility of romance FRIENDSHIP AND RIVALRY Hawke s companions have their own agendas and will react to major decisions When they support Hawke s decisions they move toward friendship when they disagree they move toward rivalry Rivalry is not necessarily bad it still indicates that Hawke s relationship with the companion is deepening albeit ina confrontational direction You can track a companion s friendship or rivalry rating in his or her character record When Hawke s relationship with the companion has progressed sufficiently along one path or the other new conversations become available in the companion s home base in Kirkwall Once Hawke attains complete friendship or rivalry with a companion a passive ability is unlocked in the companion s personal school and subsequent decisions no longer sway the companion s opinion of Hawke CHARACTER PROGRESSION To grow into the legendary figure whose story Varric is telling Hawke needs to become more powerful learn new abilities acquire advanced equipment and recruit
41. nemies health damage output attack scores and the frequency with which they use special abilities Casual Casual difficulty is best suited to players who are new to role playing games or expect to play combat in real time rather than pausing often to plan tactics Normal Normal difficulty is the recommended setting for players familiar with role playing games providing a good balance of challenge and survivability It requires moderate use of tactical pausing to plan actions during combat You will generally only need to control your main character and can allow the game to control your companions Hard Hard difficulty provides a considerably greater challenge than normal difficulty To survive most fights you will need to make sophisticated use of tactical pausing as well as clever combinations of spells and talents controlling each of your party members in turn Nightmare Nightmare difficulty is intended for tactical geniuses who found hard difficulty too easy Aim carefully At this setting errant spells and attacks will harm your allies as easily as your enemies HEALTH Whenever a character takes damage points are subtracted from a pool of total health points Maximum health is initially determined by the character s class see p 4 it increases with each point spent on the constitution attribute Lost health regenerates slowly during combat but almost immediately after a fight If you re near death use a health pot
42. ng options to receive our replacement instructions Online http warrantyinfo ea com Automated Warranty Information You can contact our automated phone system 24 hours a day for any and all warranty questions US 1 650 628 1001 EA Warranty Mailing Address Electronic Arts Customer Warranty 9001 N I 35 Suite 110 Austin TX 78753 Notice Electronic Arts reserves the right to make improvements in the product described in this manual at anytime and without notice Technical Support Contact Info E mail and Website For instant access to all of our technical support knowledge please visit http support ea com Telephone Support Technical Support is also available from 8am to 5pm PST by calling us at 650 628 1001 No hints or codes are available from 650 628 1001 Mailing Address Electronic Arts Technical Support 9001 N 1 35 Suite 110 Austin TX 78753 2011 Electronic Arts Inc EA and the EA logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc BioWare the BioWare logo and raat Age are trademarks of EA International Studio and Publishing Ltd All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Portions of this software are included under license 2011 Scaleform Corporation All rights reserved Powered by Wwise 2006 2011 Audiokinetic Inc All rights reserved 4 Uses Bink Video 1997 2011 RAD Game Tools Inc 1950105
43. ngle target either in a circle shape or a cone the game pauses automatically for you to select a target area Depending on the size of the affected area the camera may also zoom out to a tactical view so that you can position the target effectively The game also pauses when you select an ability like a healing spell that affects your party members instead of your enemies In this case choose your target from among the characters portraits on the left side of the screen MAIN MENU The main menu is mostly self explanatory To begin playing select NEW GAME to resume your game in the future select LOAD GAME or to load your most recent saved game select RESUME These are the options that might not be as obvious SIGN IN TO DRAGON AGE SERVERS This lets you log into your EA account or create a new account so that you can track your achievements and character profile at http social bioware com To change what data is uploaded when you log in visit the Account Options screen Once you log into your EA account it is permanently associated with your Xbox 360 gamertag If you have played other EA titles including Dragon Age Origins you may find that your gamertag is already associated with your EA account In this case you will not need to enter your EA account details when you select LOG IN DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT This screen displays new content made available after the release of Dragon Age iI and also lets you manag
44. nts from the Two Handed school or rogues can do so using upgraded talents from the Archery school Rogues can DISORIENT enemies using any of several upgraded talents from the Sabotage Scoundrel and Archery schools Warriors can exploit DISORIENT using upgraded talents from the Weapon and Shield school or mages can do so using upgraded spells from the Spirit school The STAGGER BRITTLE and DISORIENT effects are lost if the enemy suffers a cross class combo This means that the additional benefits of those effects only apply before the combo is completed see Status Effects BRITTLE Enemies that a mage has made BRITTLE suffer significantly more damage from all attacks A rogue or warrior can perform a cross class combo by using a talent that has a damage bonus against BRITTLE targets DISORIENT Enemies that a rogue has DISORIENTED suffer a large penalty to defense A warrior or mage can perform a cross class combo by using a talent or spell that has a damage bonus against DISORIENTED targets STAGGER Enemies that a warrior has STAGGERED suffer penalties to both attack and defense A rogue or mage can perform a cross class combo by using a talent or spell that has a damage bonus against STAGGERED targets STATUS EFFECTS Many talents spells and items produce effects beyond simple damage Sometimes these effects are as simple as knocking opponents to the ground but the more complex effects described below persist for a time All o
45. ssistant Localization Project Manager Melanie Faulknor Localization Consultant Fausto Ceccarelli Voice Over Quality Assurance James Hamilton Design Cinematic Designers Jonathan Perry Lead Vanessa Alvarado Richard Boisvert John Ebenger Ryan Ebenger John Epler Jonathan Epp Frank Gordon Sarah Hayward Samuel Irwin James McVinnie Gameplay Designers Peter Thomas Lead Mark Acero Michael Liaw Grant Mackay Josh Stiksma Level Designers Yaron Jakobs Lead Mark Barazzuol Tony Evans Craig Graff Jason Hill Kaelin Lavallee Tony Lynch Cori May David Sims David Sitar Keith Warner Production Designers Rob Bartel Dan Lazin Aidan Scanlan Writers David Gaider Lead Ferret Baudoin Sheryl Chee Jennifer Brandes Hepler Mary Kirby Luke Kristjanson Editors Chris Corfe Carlo Lynch Karin Weekes Additional Design Noel Borstad Tonia Laird Michelle Pettit Mee Catherine Walsh Production Producers Project Managers Daniel De Freitas Derek French Joshua Langley Kevin Loh Colleen Perman Nadia Phillipchuk Heather Rabatich Homan Sanaie Kyle Scott Robyn Theberge Additional Production Randy Hildebrand Programming Audio Programmers Andrew Butcher Carson Fee David Streat Graphics Programmers Andreas Papathanasis Lead Chris Michael Smith Cody Watts Keith Yerex Localization Programmers Chris Christou Andy Desplenter Christopher Mihalick Programmers Derek Beland Lead Architect G
46. the lock All rogues are able to open simple locks but more complex mechanisms require additional points in the cunning attribute At 20 30 and 40 points of cunning rogues become able to open more difficult types of locks ITEM SETS Certain combinations of items from the same set usually bearing similar names offer an extra bonus when equipped simultaneously When you receive an item set bonus an extra passive ability appears in the character s abilities screen If you manage to find multiple sets of items that can be equipped simultaneously the bonuses are cumulative ITEM POWERS Equipment sometimes improves or even diminishes a character s statistics When inspecting an item in the inventory positive effects are colored green and negative effects are colored red These bonuses or penalties come into effect when you have the item equipped COMPANION ARMOR UPGRADES Although Hawke s companions choose their own attire a few improvements are available for their armor or robes When you find one of these upgrades the companion applies it automatically If you examine their armor in the inventory afterwards you see the upgrade listed in green RUNES High quality weapons and armor can be improved by inscribing one or more lyrium runes on the item using an enchanting apparatus Runes are rarely found but they can be created through crafting Once a rune has been inscribed its properties are added to the item and it cannot
47. who heft two handed weapons attack relatively slowly but hit every enemy in the front third of the warrior s personal space with a single swing The two handed school of weapon talents includes several attacks that sweep through even wider areas of the battlefield Weapon and Shield Warriors who opt for a one handed weapon and a shield strike more quickly than two handed warriors but only hit enemies in the front quarter of their personal space instead of the front third The shield increases the warrior s armor score of course and acts nearly like a weapon itself battering foes who get too close if the warrior makes effective use of talents from the weapon and shield school Dual Weapon Rogues who choose to fight at close range can wield a dagger in each hand This is the fastest of the weapon styles more than making up for the relatively limited damage of each hit In particular because rogues regain stamina with each strike this weapon style ensures that the rogue s energy reserves never stay depleted for long Talents in the dual weapon school focus on inflicting large amounts of damage at optimal times Archery Rogues who carry a bow can rain death from a great distance keeping them relatively safe from enemy retaliation and giving the party more flexibility in tactical positioning Arrows impact with great power but the shots are much slower than a dual weapon rogue can slash When enemies come close archers pull out a hidden dag
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