If anyone's beat this game yet can you give a ballpark figure of how long it is? I'm thinking of buying it due to all the positive reviews but but think I'd rather hold on to my money for awhile if I'll end up beating it in a matter of days. I went through this same dilemma with Borderlands but decided to rush out and get it anyways... I love that game and am wondering if I do the same thing with Dragon Age I'll regret it...

The game is supposed to have an 80 hour story...if that means anything to you at all about length. I'm sure you could try and rush through it but not fully enjoy it. You could also play again with a different origin or with different specialties which would lengthen the game. Then the DLC like Warden's Keep adds more gameplay time.

So would I be right in assuming this is a rather Final Fantasy-esque game? 80 hour story sold me, I just went and got it. 60% installed and pretty excited... And here we go...

I've never really played any FF game so I can't throw a comparison that way. The game allows for character customization and partner customization with weapons and clothes and growth trees with stats and spells/talents. You can set tactics for your party to follow under certain circumstances, like which type of enemy to attack or which ally to do a certain thing to. The story is where most of the emphasis lies but there are also quite a few battle scenes. Some are quite hard, like right now I am stuck in an area that I cannot avoid at all and I cannot defeat the enemies at all!

edit: got sick of dying so many times so I lowered the difficulty and beat them down...3 shades + 1 Great Shade= not fun!

Rushing through the game would be hard since the enemies do not seem to be leveled, so if you don't do some side quests to gain exp then you'll likely end up fighting enemies several levels above your own.

OH, and yes that random encounter with the shades is a killer early in the game.

Does the difficulty reset after you adjust it after dying so many times? Like I died at least seven or eight times, so I set it to casual, after I move on from that area, does it go back to normal, if not, how do I set it back?

I had no problems with difficulty on normal (I was not going to deal with friendly fire my first time through), and it took me about 40-50 hours to beat.

I've come to the conclusion that the game isn't "hard" per se. It's just that the enemies are not leveled so it's possible to end up fighting guys that are several levels ahead of you. For example, the Deep Roads were kicking my ass, but then I left, did the other quests and got up to level 15 and had a much easier time.

The game still takes some focus, you really can't breeze through most parts, but it's not as hard as I thought it was, just so long as you fight enemies at or below your own level.

quote Krantos

I've come to the conclusion that the game isn't "hard" per se. It's just that the enemies are not leveled so it's possible to end up fighting guys that are several levels ahead of you. For example, the Deep Roads were kicking my ass, but then I left, did the other quests and got up to level 15 and had a much easier time.

The game still takes some focus, you really can't breeze through most parts, but it's not as hard as I thought it was, just so long as you fight enemies at or below your own level.

LOL I tried to go to the deep roads first. I was all "I'm going to get the Dwarven allies. Short guys that like beer and hitting things wooo!" After dieing to the bounty hunters at the very beginning for about 30 min the elves became really cool sounding...

I just beat it and the my ending made me sad lol.

the game is quite long. especially if since every race and class has a different beginning that can each last an hour or so. i haven't beaten the game yet... and i've played a ton. i think i am close on the main one tho. i have done all but one of the origins, and have just started a second play thru, i like it better the second time around, i know things that make the game more fun. i'm not sure if i'll go back and finish with my first one, or just beat it with my current one since i'm liking it so much more. i'm also excited to play again as something completely different. this game replaces mass effect as my favorite current gen game. and i'm not even a fan of fantasy type settings and stories and such