Dragon Age impressions

[1eyedking]

You would have that face had you found your rapist had those protrusions on her chest.

 

[Fat Dragon]

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

This is my being-raped face.

No sir, I don't like it

 

[HanoverF]

This is my being-raped face.

Is she fucking you in a coffin? I'm trying to replay as a female elf to see how that changes the one choice/consequence in the game.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Yeah, I boned morrigan. God that was an awkward scene.

 

[Dnny]

With all the cacophony going on I still can't make my mind whether I buy the game or don't.

For someone like me who'd like to play a new RPG after all those years of crap, is dragon age on Oblivion-level crap or better ? should I shell out and get some hours of fun or is it more like boringfest ?
Can someone from the KKKodex point to a review they found spot-on to their actual experience with the game ?

When I first heard about Dragon Age I thought it was going to be the only rpg worth playing for the years to come only to be disgusted and repelled by the advertisement campaign brought by EA that ridiculously focused on blood and pixel violence.

 

[Turisas]

http://social.bioware.com/project/469/

Someone cooked up a respec mod, still in beta so backup saves and so on.

 

[Grunker]

With all the cacophony going on I still can't make my mind whether I buy the game or don't.

For someone like me who'd like to play a new RPG after all those years of crap, is dragon age on Oblivion-level crap or better ? should I shell out and get some hours of fun or is it more like boringfest ?

While I don't share the massive hard-on of some people here (Bloodlines and The Witcher are miles better than this one), it is four million steps ahead of Oblivion.

The people comparing it to George R. R. Martin has fallen for the game's woos however. It's nothing like Westeros, but my god, is it trying hard to be just that. It succeeds at some points, and fails miserably at others.

But, the game is well worth it. And if there's one thing it isn't, it's boring. It's entertaining as fucking hell. But don't expect a deep and enlightening journey of soulsearching.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

With all the cacophony going on I still can't make my mind whether I buy the game or don't.

I don't think it's worth the full price. It's somewhat better than Mass Effect in the combat department, worse in some others and ME cost 13€ a year ago. And neither of them can beat Fallout 3 in gameplay, which was mostly an aggressively idiotic game. I could never have imagined what an incredibly annoying combat system they made, or, apparently, stole from WoW (ideas also stolen from modern classics like FF12, where you have to spend exp in order to have the AI control your companions better), though considering what JE and ME had, it shouldn't have been suprising.

It could be worth playing if you absolutely have to get your mediocre fantasy fix and want it with relatively new graphics, but still, for full price you can get actually good new games (or a score of old ones) so I'd think hard whether it would be better to spend your time and money on something more worthwhile.

 

[Dnny]

@Grunker
Soulsearching in RPG is overrated anyway. I like Planescape Torment but I often feel this game is praised for all the wrong reasons, its plot is riddled with holes deliberately left over so as to make the game look much deeper than what the hacky writer could actually hold in his mind, cue the mystery about the past of the nameless one still untold at the end of the game. If anything I'd say that Planescape was a fun RPG mostly because of its very original setting and despite Chris involvement, considering all the crappy games he has done since PT.
I'd kill for a new game in the Planescape setting but it is dead and the D&D license suck cocks.

Guess I'll try DO.

With all the cacophony going on I still can't make my mind whether I buy the game or don't.

I don't think it's worth the full price. It's somewhat better than Mass Effect in the combat department, worse in some others and ME cost 13€ a year ago. And neither of them can beat Fallout 3 in gameplay, which was mostly an aggressively idiotic game. I could never have imagined what an incredibly annoying combat system they made, or, apparently, stole from WoW (ideas also stolen from modern classics like FF12, where you have to spend exp in order to have the AI control your companions better), though considering what JE and ME had, it shouldn't have been suprising.

Honestly if I wanted good combat I wouldn't buy a RPG, I would go through Jagged Alliance 2 for the zillion times.

It could be worth playing if you absolutely have to get your mediocre fantasy fix and want it with relatively new graphics, but still, for full price you can get actually good new games (or a score of old ones) so I'd think hard whether it would be better to spend your time and money on something more worthwhile.

I think I've played all the (good) classics as for the good new games ? where did you find this oasis of "good new games" ?

 

[Vibalist]

With all the cacophony going on I still can't make my mind whether I buy the game or don't.

For someone like me who'd like to play a new RPG after all those years of crap, is dragon age on Oblivion-level crap or better ? should I shell out and get some hours of fun or is it more like boringfest ?
Can someone from the KKKodex point to a review they found spot-on to their actual experience with the game ?

When I first heard about Dragon Age I thought it was going to be the only rpg worth playing for the years to come only to be disgusted and repelled by the advertisement campaign brought by EA that ridiculously focused on blood and pixel violence.

The universe in DA is infinitely more complex and interesting than Oblivion. I would say one of the game's biggest strengths is that the world feels alive and atmospheric, sort of in the same way Baldurs Gate 2 did. The companions are worthwhile and fun, the quests are varied and interesting and the various locations feel lived in and all have their own lore and background that you can read and learn about. And considering you pay 50 bucks for it you get more than a fair share of gameplay hours out of it, even if you only play it once. I'm about 20 hours in and I'm not even halfway done with the main quest. I'd recommend it. Can't point you to a review unfortunately, as I don't generally read them.

And the game is also worth it for the difficulty of combat. Even though I feel there is a bit much of it, at least it challenges you in ways most other recent rpg's don't. There are times when you really gotta plan your tactics.

 

[Grunker]

Soulsearching in RPG is overrated anyway. I like Planescape Torment but I often feel this game is praised for all the wrong reasons, its plot is riddled with holes deliberately left over so as to make the game look much deeper than what the hacky writer could actually hold in his mind, cue the mystery about the past of the nameless one still untold at the end of the game. If anything I'd say that Planescape was a fun RPG mostly because of its very original setting and despite Chris involvement, considering all the crappy games he has done since PT.
I'd kill for a new game in the Planescape setting but it is dead and the D&D license suck cocks.

Couldn't have said it better myself, although Planescape: Torment gets ALOT of cool points from me simply because it tries. And, although it gets nowhere near the writing strength of a good book or movie, it gets much further than any other video game.

Anyway, I guess it's a matter of taste, but I don't agree with the sentiments that this game doesn't have fun combat. It's extremely entertaining, and it sometimes surprises you in very cool ways. It's been a very long time since I've played a game in which an extremely difficult fight was turned into a piece of cake by using new strategies. It has a pretty strong tactical presence. Even though, with the amount of pausing you do in the difficult battles, they might as well have made it turnbased.

 

[Volourn]

"game until they yanked it out to sell to you separately."

Liar.

 

[Grunker]

"game until they yanked it out to sell to you separately."

Liar.

You really deserve that tag, don't you? Bioware even confirmed this. Of course, they said something along the lines of "Yeah, sure, he was in the game, but we couldn't get him out on time. Then the game got delayed so we had time to finish him. Guess what, he's still not in the game."

But he's free, so I don't give a fuck. Only Warden's Keep-tactic annoys the crap out of me, but whatever.

 

[Volourn]

No, Bio didn't confirm it, moron.

P.S. Stone Prisoner is FREE for everybody who purchases the game new. Dumbass.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

The universe in DA is NOT infinitely more complex and interesting than Oblivion. I would say NOT one of the game's biggest strengths is that the world feels NOT alive and NOT atmospheric, sort of in the same way Baldurs Gate 2 did. The companions are NOT worthwhile and NOT fun, the quests are NOT varied and NOT interesting and the various locations feel NOT lived in and all have their own lore and background that you can read and learn about. And considering you pay 50 bucks for it you DO NOT get more than a fair share of gameplay hours out of it, even if you only play it once. I'm about 20 hours in and I'm not even halfway done with the main quest. I'd NOT recommend it. Can't point you to a review unfortunately, as I don't generally read them.

And the game is also NOT worth it for the difficulty of combat. Even though I feel there is a bit much of it, at least it DOES NOT challenges you in ways most other recent rpg's don't. There are NOT times when you really gotta plan your tactics.

Codex-filtered it for you.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

I don't think it's worth the full price. It's somewhat better than Mass Effect in the combat department, worse in some others and ME cost 13€ a year ago. And neither of them can beat Fallout 3 in gameplay, which was mostly an aggressively idiotic game. I could never have imagined what an incredibly annoying combat system they made, or, apparently, stole from WoW (ideas also stolen from modern classics like FF12, where you have to spend exp in order to have the AI control your companions better), though considering what JE and ME had, it shouldn't have been suprising.

It could be worth playing if you absolutely have to get your mediocre fantasy fix and want it with relatively new graphics, but still, for full price you can get actually good new games (or a score of old ones) so I'd think hard whether it would be better to spend your time and money on something more worthwhile.

This first paragraph is so full of shit I'm actually gagging. The combat in FO3 was shit, and whatever your hangups on DA, the combat is easily one of it's strong suits. The tactics system is pretty meh, I'll acknowledge that, but if you want true tactical control, you pause it all the time to issue commands anyway. And as far as real time combat goes, having cooldowns for abilities just makes sense. Once again, when you bash MMOs, you tend not to bash the combat, but the fifty hours needed to have one hour of fun.

And other than Risen, I can't think of a single good RPG to come out from a mainstream developer (or at least targeted at the mainstream market) in two years. Is this game the second coming of Fallout? No. But it is a damn fine game. Anyway, I spent fifty bucks on it and I don't regret the purchase at all.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

I don't think it's worth the full price. It's somewhat better than Mass Effect in the combat department, worse in some others and ME cost 13€ a year ago. And neither of them can beat Fallout 3 in gameplay, which was mostly an aggressively idiotic game. I could never have imagined what an incredibly annoying combat system they made, or, apparently, stole from WoW (ideas also stolen from modern classics like FF12, where you have to spend exp in order to have the AI control your companions better), though considering what JE and ME had, it shouldn't have been suprising.

It could be worth playing if you absolutely have to get your mediocre fantasy fix and want it with relatively new graphics, but still, for full price you can get actually good new games (or a score of old ones) so I'd think hard whether it would be better to spend your time and money on something more worthwhile.

This first paragraph is so full of shit I'm actually gagging. The combat in FO3 was shit, and whatever your hangups on DA, the combat is easily one of it's strong suits. The tactics system is pretty meh, I'll acknowledge that, but if you want true tactical control, you pause it all the time to issue commands anyway. And as far as real time combat goes, having cooldowns for abilities just makes sense. Once again, when you bash MMOs, you tend not to bash the combat, but the fifty hours needed to have one hour of fun.

And other than Risen, I can't think of a single good RPG to come out from a mainstream developer (or at least targeted at the mainstream market) in two years. Is this game the second coming of Fallout? No. But it is a damn fine game. Anyway, I spent fifty bucks on it and I don't regret the purchase at all.

I was about to adress that post myself. Saying Fallout 3's combat is better than DA is as volly would say bullshit. And I like the tactics system because every character has a gazzilion skills and I would either have to pause the game literally every 3 seconds or not use the skills (which would result in death). I still pause really often but I'm glad the tactics system is there. Don't like it don't use it, just press a button and it's disabled. And about the regenerating health between battles I only wish it would be faster since all combat is designed with a full health party in mind and the game is damn fucking hard. Also I like it that spells and skills don't have uses per day so I don't have to worry about spending them or not (which would often lead me not to use my most powerful spells at all in other games)

 

[Berekän]

Also I like it that spells and skills don't have uses per day so I don't have to worry about spending them or not (which would often lead me not to use my most powerful spells at all in other games)

Lol, I had a lot of those in NWN, saving the best spells for 'thougher' fights that never came

 

[Stalin]

i only played through all the origin stories once each and up to the first village: then they had me going back to an area i already cleared (bandits and spiders) and magically there were wolves bears and a corpse there now so i uninstalled. I am not that daft (no i didn't buy the game)
I think it was the best voice acting i ever seen my i actually listened when that lesbian woman was putting alestair in his place and giggled. I guess 20 hours in it would be annoying but new standard was set for voice acting. Gfx ok once i turned the buffert effects off bit dark then tho. Game i missed the clear d&d rules but i can see that dropping those is a neccesity if you gonna sell the game to non nerds. My verdict its Baldurs Gate for adults without the AIDS.

 

[Hamster]

Updated impressions.
I am currently in Lothering.

Overall, game feels great so far, i don't rememver enjoying RPG like this for a long time.

Visuals: Indoor areas look great, outdoor ones are not bad too. Some moments, like weapon and armor design are indeed ugly, but, in general, impression that game will have horrible visuals turned out to be wrong.

Story: better than i expected. I am still irritated by almost every NPC bringing out Gray Warden topic, but the idea of player and Alistair being the only two surviving Gray Wardens and deciding the future of the order is a good one. Corresponding dialogue with Alistair, while discussing what to do next, was well done too. Now i feel like the game is aware of my position on Gray Warden thing and at least tries to take it into account. Good.
What worries me now, is that Loghain seems like a very shallow villain.

Dialogue: very good. Lot's of roleplaying possibilities, skill checks, some real choices starting to appear.

Companions: Good dialogue, personalities, lot's of good party banter. They feel more like real people than in any other game by Bio.

There is a problem inherited from NWN with influence system, though. I always find myself trying not to upset any of the party members and it gets ridiculous at times. If i can use persuade on bandit leader, why can't i talk some sense into my party members? I can understand that Alistair can be not interested in my explanations on why i threatened to use violence against Revered Mother, but when Morrigan gets butthurt about me solving the problem with merchant, option to explain to dumb girl that we need to sell our loot and buy stuff and we cannot do this without merchant will be nice.

Combat: Hard and entertaining so far, health re-gen indeed works good in Dragon Age.
Like one of the previous poster, i am a bit irritated by all encounters being of the "lol, you are fucked" design. I am not against hard combat, but every single encounter being a desperate fight for survival is a bit too much imho. Refugee attack especially pissed me off, when i had to reload. Now, it was not me who insisted that i should be a member of uber order fighing against evil, i was ok with being a simple low-level adventurer, it was Bio that forced membership in Gray Wardens on me. So, if i am told that i am a member of such an uber order, is it wise to make an attack by hungry refugees more dangerous than most previous encounters with Darkspawn? Shouldn't i, like, easily pwn them?


Dark, gritty and mature: this is my biggest issue with the game so far. Bioware cannot make mature stuff and shouldn't have even tried. Yeah, everybody is covered in blood and gore is everywhere. So why then voice acting and constant jokes make it look like i am in a Shrek movies? I have no problems neither with Shrek movies, nor with blood and gore, but please, Bio, choose something one, not both.

Edit: forgot about setting. It's a bit bland, but there is a lot of work put into it, your are supplied with constant stream of local lore. So far, i have that great feeling, that i am in a middle of a living world.

 

[Stalin]

Dark, gritty and mature:

If the game was Dark gritty mature it would let me massacre every single living person/goat/ chicken in Lothering.

 

[1eyedking]

Gfx ok once i turned the buffert effects off bit dark then tho.

Reverb effects in games are always needless in my opinion. How do you turn this off in DA:O?

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

If FO 3 had DA's tactics system I might prefer FO 3's combat.

Both games suffer from the 'not enough' complex.

DA is a strategic game with mediocre strategy. Its more fun than what I would normally call mediocre combat because its challenging.

FO 3 is an action game that lacks action but it also lakes strategy. I'm quicker to forgive an RPG that uses click and roll combat mechanics for lacking action especially when it has some nice animations like DA. Its harder for me to forgive FO 3's shortcomings in its lack of strategy and action because there is a huge genre called FPS. If they weren't going to focus so heavily on the combat then there shouldn't be so much combat in the game. When I say FO 3 lacks action I'm not disregarding the fact that you can blow off legs with huge gorgeous explosions. Unfortunately thats standard FPS shit. I want real never before seen shit like wrestling with a Super Mutant, having a Super Mutant throw cars at you, being able to jump on someones back, picking up chairs, ducking under tables...

Then you have the lack of strategy in FO 3. I could live with standard fair FPS combat with half the strategy of Rainbox Six. The game is less strategic than Oblivion and FO 2. Oddly enough I still found FO 3's combat decent and if there wasnt so much of it I might not have grown so weary of how typical every gun fight is in that game.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Honestly if I wanted good combat I wouldn't buy a RPG, I would go through Jagged Alliance 2 for the zillion times.

Fair enough, but it is a major part of the game and rather than being simply boring, it's constantly annoying and very repetitive.

I think I've played all the (good) classics as for the good new games ? where did you find this oasis of "good new games" ?

Oops, my good new games list is apparently a few years old, I just somehow think of them as new. As for this year I have only tried HoI3 (was pretty broken out of the box and only good in multiplayer), Blood Bowl (again, by it's nature only good as multiplayer but sadly Cyanide fucked that up) and... Well the others are from roughly 2005-2008. But there has to be something the other genres offer even now.

This first paragraph is so full of shit I'm actually gagging. The combat in FO3 was shit, and whatever your hangups on DA, the combat is easily one of it's strong suits. The tactics system is pretty meh, I'll acknowledge that, but if you want true tactical control, you pause it all the time to issue commands anyway. And as far as real time combat goes, having cooldowns for abilities just makes sense. Once again, when you bash MMOs, you tend not to bash the combat, but the fifty hours needed to have one hour of fun.

The F3 combat was shit, but at least you control only one character, which is the maximum you should in realtime. As it doesn't have other autopause options except pause at the start of the battle, having to hammer spacebar constantly makes it tedious to control. SPACEBAR - a few swings, maybe somebody has his MMORPG cooldown finished SPACEBAR no they dont SPACEBAR swing somebody is low on health SPACEBAR oh fuck this ESC quit game. And what do you mean, of course I bash MMORPG combat, this stuff with aggro (instead of just running past someone who stabs you in the stomach with a sword - like, I don't know, an attack of opportunity? - being dangerous, it's perfectly safe but the fighter has to draw enemies to him with abilities that do nothing else - is this what is called aggro?), that dumbass way you deal with every encounter in this game you can see in advance - you sneak attack them at maximum range and hope the other enemies are too far for their AI to activate, so that only a few come after you. At least they seem to retreat when the few of them face your party, or maybe they are just tied to a certain location and can't move too far from there, but they regenerate while you are not killing them - and they run at a much faster rate than you, obviously - while you do not, since you are still in combat even while nobody is in sight, and can't sneak either. I also hate having to make estimates of when a dumbass animation is going to end and the attack/spell is going to start - unlike instantly, like in so many turnbased games, where I know exactly what I can hit. There's just a feature after feature in this game that piss me off.

And other than Risen, I can't think of a single good RPG to come out from a mainstream developer (or at least targeted at the mainstream market) in two years. Is this game the second coming of Fallout? No. But it is a damn fine game. Anyway, I spent fifty bucks on it and I don't regret the purchase at all.

Yeah, I agree, not an single good mainstream RPG in two years, mostly mediocre ones with too many crippling flaws.

And I like the tactics system because every character has a gazzilion skills and I would either have to pause the game literally every 3 seconds or not use the skills (which would result in death).

It costs exp (well, talent slots or whatever they are, the other characters seem to get them with levels) to use the AI, just think about that. Maybe DA2 will have you unlock quicksaving with a talent, or higher resolutions. Or maybe it will be even more like FF12 and play itself, letting you conveniently skip all that worthless bullshit dialogue and plot.