Dragon Age impressions

[asper]

A patch has been released already, which makes the game easier on normal and easy difficulties.

* fixed potential corruption of character statistics
* fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator
* fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator
* made Easy difficulty easier
* slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty
* fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Wait, "exclusive abilities"? What are those?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Sure it's the ultimate evil descending upon civilization, but hey there's political intrigue and stuff too, cool.

Does it outweigh cheese like the Joining? Answer honestly.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

There's a specialization (Maybe two I guess?) with that DLC.

Speaking of specialization, just hit level 7 so I can take one, though I haven't got any unlocked so I can't. Need to find an NPC to teach me to become a berserker.

 

[Inziladun]

Sure it's the ultimate evil descending upon civilization, but hey there's political intrigue and stuff too, cool.

Does it outweigh cheese like the Joining? Answer honestly.

Yes. The Joining is by far the worst part of the game i've experienced so far. However I haven't finished the game yet, so It might get worse, I dunno.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

all coming from people who were previously baaawing for a good year about the crappy Gaider's writing, regen, terribad plot and characters, and the lack of C&C and now did a 180 backflip and started to praise those. Pathetic hypocrites.

skyway cannot comprehend the concept of liking something after trying it. If I thought it was shit at first, then it MUST be shit and that's a FACT

Can codex decline any further?

We got decline on both sides.

I hear things like "Years ago, the codex would have ripped this game a new one". Shame I wasn't here by the time, because nowadays all I see is you people managing a weak "It's shit, X game was better, next gen, buzzwords", over and over

Banalshitboring, indeed. Come up with actual, ripps-a-new-ass arguments and we'll all listen. Right now you sound like kids trying to badly imitate the cool older kids that left.

 

[Grunker]

By far the worst part in the game, that i've seen.


The whole joining scene was utterly retarded.

Yeah. Playing the start of the game, I felt like I was probably gonna end up in the Trash/Vault Dweller-camp. The Joining-scene has got me on retreat. I quit right then and there. Gonna play some more today. Hope that scene was just a little slip.

 

[baronjohn]

I hear you're making a killing! Me too! (Kill him.)

 

[Clockwork Knight]

^Probably the first guy with relatively normal facial hair I've seen

 

[baronjohn]

I shudder to think in which part of the world neckbeards are considered normal.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

colleges, etc

normal != good taste

 

[Dandelion]

"I can be friendly when I desire to. Alas, desiring to be more intelligent does not make it so."

I'm right at the start and these two are already killing me :mrgreen:

 

[Jim Cojones]

That's not what Volly has written.

It was along the lines of"You cry so hard about it now - but when it will come out you'll be the first to buy it"
And this is exactly what's happening.

If it was "Just like Volourn was right about Codex being full of hypocrites who shit on a game for 10 months straight only to buy it but still shit on it", you'd be right.

MC is probably playing the game. He's probably enjoying it. He just wants his kewl points.

Except there were massive amounts of circlejerk with "it's good for what it is", "Bethesda is improving", "The next game from Bethesda can be very good", "sounds like a good game - I'll buy it when the price drops", "oh just forget that this is a sequel to Fallout it can be enjoyable!" - all coming from lots of your typical Codexers, some even bought it on the release day (and not the ones you named), even VD gave Bethesda a pat on the back.

And every such comment was followed by a few negative responses, like:

"the fact that most quests have multiple ways to solve them is a huge fucking step-up from oblivion."

"Ok, you know, there's something I don't get. Yes, 'step up from Oblivion', but what the hell, suddenly we are giving devs (small, but still) credit for implementing something which is a basic RPG component?"

"I reckon by the time they hit TES XIX they're finally gonna include C&C and laud it as the next gen awesomeness. Prolly it'll even come with a spiffy next-gen name attached."

"it's like praising your very "special" child for actually learning something it struggled with, even though most of its buddies learned said thing a decade ago."

"credit is given for something which should be there in the first place; second step - >>INNOVASHUN!1 now stuff you do will have CONSEQUENCES, O SHIT<<"

 

[Chateaubryan]

http://www.youtube.com/user/Wogrim#p/c/ ... KBkV73dEaI

Plenty of let's play sprouting on youtube. The game's writing seems to suffer from the same flaws as Mass Effect. Having so much clichés would be bad if it wasn't for the uninspired writing.

The infamous "Joining" scene is at the end of 1.34.
The scene is so unclimatic, they probably felt they should add a little musical crescendo to wake up the player.

 

[Vibalist]

Enjoying this game very much so far. There's too much combat for my tastes, but the combat system is still solid enough. I'm very delighted with the fact that they actually went ahead and made it hard. You can't just wade through enemies or lure single opponents away from their pack anymore. It actually takes tactics now, so thanks for that Bioware.

What I've experienced so far of dialogue, story, NPC's, side quests and so on are above the level I expected. People are right when they say this is the best game since Baldurs Gate 2. For the first time in a while I'm having the same feeling as when I first played BG2, the feeling of actually finding myself in a living, breathing and atmospheric world with interesting characters and a plot line that, while not being terribly original, actually intrigues me.

And most importantly, the world responds to you. My mage background almost always gives me access to unique dialogues, you can once again ditch party members completely (instead of having them forced upon you regardless of how you talk to them), you can piss off characters to the point where their questlines become unavailable and there are almost always different ways to do quests.

This is some good shit.

 

[asper]

Strange how the character models, when viewed up close during those dialogues, looked much, much better and more detailed in the Witcher.

A good thing is that your character's lines are not voiced, so you dont have to listen to someone reading the line you just picked.

Man, if this game didn't have such a cheesey storyline, much would be forgiven...

 

[Vault Dweller]

But...

Sorry, no.

 

[opium fiend]

This thread is far too long to take at once, I only need to know can you be evil not just for the sake of being evil? So far I haven't noticed, but I'm not that far into the game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Except there were massive amounts of circlejerk with "it's good for what it is"...

I think that this requires an explanation since way too many people can't understand this simple statement.

Fallout 3 is not a true sequel. It's a sandbox spin-off. This is a fact and I see no reason to ignore it, just like I see no reasons to pretend that it's a sequel and rate it as a sequel. That's what "for what it is" means.

The exactly same thing was with Mass Effect. The exactly same thing is happening with DA now - "this is the best game to come out in fucking years!"/"omg this is the first game to feature full VOs"/"regen is nicely done"/"the text is flavour but it has flavour!" - all coming from people who were previously baaawing for a good year about the crappy Gaider's writing, regen, terribad plot and characters, and the lack of C&C and now did a 180 backflip and started to praise those. Pathetic hypocrites.

Strong words from a boy who used to praise BG games, loved the romances in BG2, had faith in DA developers, and couldn't wait for the team Gizka mod.

So, tell me, Skyway, when did you stop enjoying Gaider's writing and decided that you're too cool to like it?

 

[made]

I'll say upfront that that I'm enjoying the game so far, but it's a mixed bag.

Writing quality is very inconsistent. Many facepalm moments, typical Bioware melodram that's trying too hard to be mature and serious but comes off as juvenile and laughable, predictable "archetype" NPCs with nothing worthwhile to say. But it has its rare moments of glory, like the "Connor situation" which offers several distinct resolutions, including a satisfying bargain with the demon. Or the witch Flemeth who is generally well written and has a rather interesting relationship with her daughter, again with multiple solutions how to handle the situation.
Basically you have to sift through a lot of crap to find the occasional gem.

Graphics are pretty bland and dated for the most part, but some indoor areas look decent in the isometric view at max zoom, almost like IE games of old but not quite as detailed. Unfortunately the game is unplayable in that view alone as you have to rotate the camera to look behind walls and corners so you are bound to constantly switch back and forth to the OTS camera. And then there's the gore, rivaling the worst splatter films, which isn't that noticeable in isometric but looks ridiculous when the camera switches to a closeup during dialogue, the characters dripping with blood while joking around and smiling retardedly.

Combat is actually pretty fun and rather involved compared to, say, NWN2, but I'm playing on hard with friendly fire enabled for aoe spells so there is at least some tactic required rather than dropping fireballs in the middle of the clusterfuck of friend and foe. Difficulty seems to depend a lot on party synergy. My standard group consisting of PC mage specialized in the primal tree, sword & board tank (Allister), entropy mage (Morrigan), archer rogue/bard (Imoen) is generally doing fairly well, but the lack of a dedicated healer means I have to reload now and then when I'm too careless/don't kill stuff fast enough. I replaced the gimp rogue with Wynneh (spirit healer) for a while while doing the Mage Tower liberation and it was a breeze in comparison. Overall it's not exactly hard with some preknowledge of MMO game mechanics but not trivial either. And there is always the nightmare difficulty for another playthrough with an optimized party.

Would post more thoughts, particularly about character development and world design, but I rather go play the game now. It doesn't grip me in a way that The Witcher did, but so far it's interesting enough to keep me playing. Might even be worth the money if it can hold my attention all the way through.

 

[circ]

"From this moment forth, you are a Spectre... ERR I mean Grey Warden. Shit homes, wrong game. Carry on."

They even threw in ME trippy dreams. Classy.

 

[circ]

This thread is far too long to take at once, I only need to know can you be evil not just for the sake of being evil? So far I haven't noticed, but I'm not that far into the game.

As far as I can tell, evil consists of being a total douche to everyone and killing good people or telling them to go fuck themselves occasionally. So standard shallow evil as usual it seems.

 

[Black]

I have a better explanation.
In your search for a good rpg you people played every game that was labelled as one. ME, DA, FO3, Oblivion, Jade Empire, The Witcher and so on. As a result your tastes, expectations and standards have been dumbed down.
The only people who managed to stay healthy are people like me- who refused to even give a shit any chance. We're the master race. We're Codex's only hope.
Join us!

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

But...

Sorry, no.

Mind telling me how exactly I am wrong, crusader? Inquiring mind wants to know.

 

[circ]

Fallout 3 is not a true sequel. It's a sandbox spin-off. This is a fact and I see no reason to ignore it, just like I see no reasons to pretend that it's a sequel and rate it as a sequel. That's what "for what it is" means.

Yeah ok. I'll compare this to Star Trek the remake. It's a bad Star Trek movie and an even worse sci-fi movie. Fallout 3 works the same way. I tried to come up with things I liked about FO3 like maybe exploration or jerking off to cool equipment because that can atleast kill a few minutes; but the exploration consists mostly of tiny desolate houses with a possible raider encounter and the equipment is almost non existant. So 'for what it is' doesn't even apply in my book. With an omelette with no filler you can atleast say 'for what it is' if you do it right, but FO3, no sir.