Related Sections: Game Diaries
Dragon Age: health potion addiction
In some games, health potions are like your fuel. You can only go so far before you have to fill up again at a local merchant. It affects how far you can get into a dungeon. It determines your range from the nearest town. You can only go so long, so far, before you need a fix.
After the jump, read about how Dragon Age handles potion addiction.
Health potions in Dragon Age aren't called potions. They're called poultices. Which is a real word. I looked it up*. It's from the Latin word for thick paste, which makes it sound kind of gross. And it is. A poultice is a wet handful of goo you apply to a wound. The characters in Dragon Age don't seem to know this. They keep drinking the poultices. The animation shows them lifting a vial to their lips, tossing their heads back, and being infused with a healthy glow, as if they were doing shots of wheat grass. I want to tell them that's not how poultices work. You don't drink stuff like that. I'm reminded of being in kindergarten and laughing at the kid who ate paste. I'm not saying I was that kid. I don't know where you'd get that idea. And it's not very funny anyway. I just wondered what it tasted like and I did it once. It's not like I ate paint chips.
Good lord, where was I? Health potions in Dragon Age. Right. My point is that Dragon Age is a potion-centric RPG, like most RPGs, but with some important differences beyond your characters eating paste.
For starters, you don't need potions between battles. The regeneration rate outside battle is so fast that health and mana/stamina will fill up almost instantly. It's only during battles that you need potions. In fact, some of the harder battles will come down to how many potions you have. (Note that my party doesn't have anyone with healing magic, but even then, mana is replenished in battle with potions.)
You can buy potions, but it's going to be more practical to make them using the herbalism skill. In case your character isn't an outdoorsy type, don't fret. You'll meet someone early on with herbalism. To make a health potion, you just need a flask (bought cheaply from any merchant) and a piece of elfroot (harvested from easy-to-spot plants while you're adventuring). These work fine for a while. "Pish," you think, watching your characters eat paste to sustain themselves, "this is trivial."
But as you level up and your characters get more hit points and get hit harder, you're going to want to graduate to the regular sized health poultice. This takes three pieces of elfroot. At which point, you're going to burn through your supply of elfroot pretty quickly. Three times as quickly, to be precise.
And here's where I realized my party has a drinking problem. I can buy an unlimited supply of flasks from the merchant at my camp. And some merchants have a few pieces of elfroot in stock. I started making a point to buy these whenever I came across them. But even then, during a really long storyline dungeon, I ran out of health potions. I had no way to heal during battles. It was touch and go for a while. I had to play very defensively. I had to pull back my characters when they were hurt (also known as "fleeing"). There were - I'm not ashamed to admit this - a few reloads involved.
So after that dungeon, I resolved to spend some time farming elfroot. Of the places I'd been, the Brecilian forest seemed the natural place to do this. After all, elfs lived there. So you'd think it would be the best place to find elfroot. It certainly seemed more likely than the dwarf areas, or the human city, or the lake by the mage tower.
However, after running around the same area for fifteen minutes, I now have only six pieces of elfroot to show for it. Good lord. There's got to be an easier way to get elfroot. I worry that maybe I'm playing Dragon Age wrong. Maybe I'm supposed to have a cleric in tow. Maybe I used my potions too soon. Maybe I've crippled my ability to get any further. What if I have to restart? What if potions are part of some insidious microtransaction shenanigans EA is trying to pull, like they did with storage space?
As I leave the Brecilian forest with my six pieces of elfroot, I have to go through a camp of Dalish elves. They have a merchant. I wonder...
Sure enough, as you'd expect at the entrance to an elven forest, the Dalish merchant has an unlimited supply of cheap elfroot. It makes perfect sense. I'm an adventurer. I shouldn't have to farm elfroot. The elves do it for me and their merchant sells me the stuff. Cheaply, to boot. Of course a human or dwarven merchant wouldn't offer it. And of course the elven merchant doesn't have the distillation agent I need for the more advanced potions. For those, I have to visit the dwarven merchant in my camp.
It takes a fair bit of slogging through loading screens and even risking random encounters to journey to and fro across the map stocking up on supplies. But it feels right. It's the price I pay for my reliance of health potions. And it's even part of Bioware's world building.
Up next: Wait, what was that thing you said about microtransaction shenanigans for storage space?
(Click here for the previous Dragon Age game diary.)
* This led me to another word: "cataplasm". That's a real word, too, for the same stuff as poultice. I like "cataplasm" better than "poultice", because "poultice" makes me think of chicken that's gone bad because I left it in the refrigerator too long. "Cataplasm" has a sci-fi feel to it. I hope they consider it for Mass Effect 2.
By Mercanis at 2:13 PM ON 10/30/09
And here I was thinking that potion addiction was going to be an actual game mechanic... Ah well.
By Setarcos at 2:17 PM ON 10/30/09
So, you can't have healing spells based on your party choices, or you just decided against using someone that way? Can't wait for the next diary. If they're requiring $5 for a building to hold my stuff, I guarantee I'll break down and buy it. I'm too big a pack rat not to. I've got $1.5 million in Borderlands in my first playthrough and I still can't stop picking up $1000 guns to sell. Thanks for putting in some good time in a genre you've stated isn't your favorite, Tom.
By dweber77 at 2:28 PM ON 10/30/09
Great write up. It's good to see someone actually praise the console version as well since most would prefer the pc version.
By unangbangkay at 2:29 PM ON 10/30/09
A "poultice" is also a term for a small bag containing that same paste (or paste-like) mixture that's rubbed or placed over the wound, not unlike a modern medicated adhesive pad.
Unfortunately for Bioware's animators, that version of a poultice is equally undrinkable.
By Slooshy at 2:52 PM ON 10/30/09
Very entertaining read
"I just wondered what it tasted like and I did it once."
I guess Tom was too busy eating paste to learn to put a comma before "and" when joining two complete sentences. ;-)
By Felipe 058 at 3:38 PM ON 10/30/09
Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec! What was that thing you said about microtransaction shenanigans for storage space?
Aaaanyways...I'm really enjoying this set of game diaries; I was excited for this pretty much since it was announced, but I'm glad it's actually turning out to be a good game.
Oh, I agree with Mercanis; the way you phrased that it seemed as though you would have to curb addiction in the game similar to the way it was done with Fallout 3's chems.
By HamBones at 3:52 PM ON 10/30/09
Methinks you would have less of a potion addiction if you had a, you know, healer in your party. =)
By Tom Chick at 3:59 PM ON 10/30/09
Slooshy, I take issue with your comma nazism and I refuse to accept it! As I just demonstrated, you don't need a comma when you have a conjunction separating two sentences. I may or may not have eaten paste when I was a kid, but I was paying attention in English.
And Mr. Bones, the thing about having a healer in your party is that there really isn't any such thing as a dedicated healer. Instead, there are mages who waste skill points on spells that do the same thing as healing potions. :)
By merryprankster at 4:40 PM ON 10/30/09
I would pick on you for running around looking for stuff to make potions...but I'm still playing Demon's Souls and running around looking for stone fragments to upgrade my gear. Ahhh, the glorious time waster that RPG's are. :)
(please note the use of ... as a crutch to avoid any real understanding of the comma)
By Slooshy at 5:20 PM ON 10/30/09
I was joking. I really don't care. And I meant no offense.
However, you see, while you were sleeping, Fowler rose from his grave, read your comment, disagreed, and rolled over (my apologies for the Oxford comma, but Fowler doesn't mind). Modern American English, philistine English elementary and high school teachers notwithstanding (toss in the odd English professor) . . .
http://www.bartleby.com/116/402.html
"It is roughly true that grammatically independent sentences should be parted by at least a semicolon"
"There are three conditions that may favour the reduction of the semicolon to a comma: (1) Those coordinating conjunctions which are most common tend in the order of their commonness to be humble, and to recognize a comma as sufficient for their dignity. The order may perhaps be given as: and, or, but, so, nor, for; conjunctions less common than these should scarcely ever be used with less than a semicolon; and many good writers would refuse to put a mere comma before for. (2) Shortness and lightness of the sentence joined on helps to lessen the need for a heavy stop. (3) Intimate connexion in thought with the preceding sentence has the same effect. Before giving our examples, which are all of undesirable commas, we point out that in the first two there are independent signs of the writers' being uneducated"
and
"It will not be irrelevant to add here, though the point has been touched upon in Understopping, that though a light and-clause may be introduced by no more than a comma, it does not follow that it need not be separated by any stop at all, as in:
When the Motor Cars Act was before the House it was suggested that these authorities should be given the right to make recommendations to the central authorities and that right was conceded.—Times."
Fowler is The Grammar God. Others are pretenders who corrode the English language over time with pathetic stylistic rules that one may read online or find taught in average classrooms.
Sincerely,
The Comma Nazi (who sincerely believes you may be the greatest gaming writer in the industry despite your penchant for not using commas between short independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions--and despite the fact you're more of a RTS fanpasteeater than one who enjoys, subjectively speaking, entertaining interactive fiction. Ah, the yesteryears of Infocom . . . . People seem to forget that at one time, story was king.)
P.S. "Which is a real word" is not an independent clause semantically, but I'll let it pass because you entertain me and because you and Hemmingway share a charming prose style.
Bring back Tom vs. Bruce!
By Slooshy at 5:25 PM ON 10/30/09
I forgot to mention that those few of us that know how to use a comma while constructing clauses about paste-eating are allowed to spelling Hemingway incorrectly.
By Slooshy at 5:32 PM ON 10/30/09
We are also allowed to use "spelling" instead of "spell". And we are also big fracking losers.
By the way, are you enjoying the story in Dragon Age at all? Just wondering
By Tom Chick at 5:42 PM ON 10/30/09
Slooshy, now that's the way to derail a comment section with style! Bravo! :) I approve, and I shall repent in sackcloth, and ashes.
As for the story in Dragon Age, yes, I'm quite enjoying it! More on that later, but I really like how Bioware handles their usual "good vs. evil" dichotomy this time around.
By Slooshy at 5:58 PM ON 10/30/09
I'm looking forward to your next entry, Tom.
Keep up the excellent work!
By Felipe 058 at 6:17 PM ON 10/30/09
Slooshy, if ever there where a champion of proper English grammar on the Internet, that man--or woman, as the case may be--is you. Also, you are just plain frakking (is it two Ks or a C and a K? I was under the impression that it is two Ks) awesome and quite truly hilarious.
By C. Patrick at 7:41 PM ON 10/30/09
Setarcos - " If they're requiring $5 for a building to hold my stuff, I guarantee I'll break down and buy it"
- There is a building to hold your stuff, and I think it costs $7 USD. It comes with The Warden's Keep DLC.
Excellent game diary! I laughed out loud, while ready this addition.
By Slooshy at 7:59 PM ON 10/30/09
@Felipe 058
As grammar champion on a campus in some far-off distant, nether regions, I am surrounded by future Maxim writers who genuflect before me whilst busying themselves editing articles, so as to not offend my gaming brethren, and majoring in NotGettingAny. They have all made the Dean's List and have illustrated a charming capacity to tutor anyone in NotGettingAny successfully. Some even progress to specialize and do post-graduate work in NotGettingAny. As their grammar champion, I could not be prouder.
With respect to fracking, I had hoped the Swedish connotation of fräck was implied because if anything the Swedes know how to make a frakking good Fräck. In fact, I believe William Adama enjoys peering closely at a good Fräck every morning while shaving.
@Setarcos, EA is charging $7 USD for Warden's Keep. It's also included with Deluxe Super-sized digital steaming pieces of whopper meals . . . err, downloads. Deluxe Digital Download editions
Something like that
I will express my outrage at EA for these microtransactions by purchasing Warden's Keep and by pre-ordering the Collector's Edition of Dragon Age on the PC. Why? Because I am a fracking loser.
I hope Tom tells me the $7 for Warden's Keep is worth the cost of admission.
@Tom, I also hope you cover Obsidian Entertainment's Alpha Protocol when it's finally released as well (I speculate someone at Sony got butt-hurt over the alleged initially challenging level design, and the game consequently failed the certification process for the PS3; but you would know better than I). I'm a pretty big fan of Black Isle's and Bioware's work, and I think you add interesting perspectives to these story-heavy works that other industry writers simply don't cover in the same fashion. But, bro, you need to cover these games on the PC where they deserve to be played (I jest . . . sort of). As you are probably aware, the PC version of Dragon Age on the default setting is tougher than the console versions. Ah, but you know what they say about console players. So, maybe it would have taken you 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 23 seconds to be challenged on the PC. Plus, you're missing out on expressing your imagination with the Dragon Age toolset if you don't use a PC. Think of all the twisted things you could create and force Bruce to play!
Have a great weekend!
By George Brof at 8:03 PM ON 10/30/09
Demon's Souls is kind of funny with herbs. You do sniff them or you take a sniff to heal. That looks so hilarious, when you are in a fight with a blue knight and the knight steps back, raises his hand to his nose and taking a sniff. I laughed, then he killed me.
By Matt Coughlan at 8:58 PM ON 10/30/09
Bah!
Grammar thwarts Style.
.
.
.
Also, elves are like the Mafia with elfroot. You think it's cheap, until you're hooked, and you're banging on the door of Ye Old Liquor Store at 3am because you've got a demon to slay, and the jackass elf behind the counter ups the price, and when you start intimidating him by smashing pottery (just a couple!), he reminds you that since elves are immortal, that he's got tons of lawyers in his family.
Then after an altercation with the night watch, and the elf smirks as you get thrown in the king's dungeon and are now awaiting trial, you've got this sinking feeling that the king is in the pocket of the elves and you are royally screwed.
So take it from me: get a freaking healer.
By joesocwork at 10:30 PM ON 10/30/09
LOL! From the title I was also expecting an essay about a possible issue of using too much potion also, like substance abuse in Fallout3. Good thing the characters don't sniff this poultice! :P Instead, it sounds like the herbalism skill is similar to alchemy skill in Oblivion.
But speaking of addiction, with the M rating & the previews so far, and I know fr experience M means different things to different games, there's going to blood, gore, and sexuality (and drug use? :P) . But how is the language? Candidly I was shocked in Fallout to hear kids freely use the F word. Is it going to be closer to Oblivion & Baldur's Gate or closer Fallout 3 & GTA:IV (which I won't play!)?
Meanwhile I'm looking forward to your next entry, I guess about the perennial RPG issue of storage space?
By Ligman at 11:37 PM ON 10/30/09
Quote: "And Mr. Bones, the thing about having a healer in your party is that there really isn't any such thing as a dedicated healer. Instead, there are mages who waste skill points on spells that do the same thing as healing potions. :)"
*****
Correction. They waste skill points on spells that do the same things as healing potions for *free*, without having to traipse all across the gameworld to purchase the ingredients at different locations, and then write a journal entry about the necessity of doing so.
I am enjoying your article on the game though. :)
By OmegaChervil at 7:50 PM ON 10/31/09
I'd like to invoke Vampire Weekend in this discussion to further derail it. Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? Moreover, isn't Oxford comma-ism itself an attempt to derail the inevitable evolution of language, the same way this discussion is an attempt to derail a conversation about a game that nearly everyone who knows the name Bioware has already made up their mind about?
By Slooshy at 1:24 AM ON 11/01/09
The Oxford comma furthers rather than "derails" bastardization. That is, the Oxford comma runs counter to the established grain; the Oxford comma is, in of itself, a deviation from the norm. And Tom didn't use the Oxford comma in my initial example.
Also, while I know the name, Bioware, I dread the name, Electronic Arts.
I also dread brussels sprouts and Britney Spears.
Up next: alliteration and why colons should usually follow independent clauses and small intestines rather than darken my posts
By joesocwork at 5:31 PM ON 11/01/09
LOL! Cognitive Dissonance exemplified: The maker of Baldur's Gate and Mass Effect under the sponsor of Sim City Societies!
joesocwork:
LOL! Cognitive Dissonance exemplified: The maker of Baldur's Gate and Mass Effect under the sponsor of Sim City So...More »