Dear Darkspawn, You just don't do 'it' for me anymore.
- Thread starter Zechnophobe
- Start date
Recommended Videos
What about the Dragon Age setting was interesting? Almost all of it was WHFRP with the serial number filed off, hypersimplfied and then brought closer to Forgotten Realms. Even the name is lazy and generic. Sure it differed slightly in some ways from the generic fantasy setting but it wasn't Planescape, the whole setting was just paint by numbers DnD setting just with a much higher rate of extreme heamophilia. Sure the Darkspawn were probably the worst element but overall their blandness was par for the course within the game.
What a wonderful statement on generic high fantasy. At least, I think. The wording there is somewhat confusing at points.Normandyfoxtrot said:
Though it does not really apply to Trollocs.
I did play the game, well up until the fight with Archdemon where I decided that I was sick and tired of fighting the same trash mob over and over again especially when the game through them in halfway through a semi-interesting Boss Battle, maybe I'll go back finish it some day. But yeah I did play the game and I found the setting very bland and generic, if you disagree then back it p with some reason and logical arguements and don't just make groundless accusations.Xzi said:
I too was disappointed by how generic the setting was, especially since the main enemies were orcs with the serial numbers filed off. Just because they have a different name, reproduce differently and have a different origin, doesn't mean that they aren't the exact same thing. I don't like the idea of races that are always evil anyway, it seems like a lazy way to avoid giving them personality and encourage players to massacre them without guilt. For once I'd like to see a villain race with reasonable motivations, rather than just doing it for the evulz.
At least the sequel seems like it will focus more on the Qunari, the one halfway-interesting race in the entire game.
At least the sequel seems like it will focus more on the Qunari, the one halfway-interesting race in the entire game.
Well, they did have the Cricle Tower instead of the White tower with fraternities instead of Ajahs, templars instead of the red ajah, and the tranquil instead of the gentled and stilled.Sober Thal said:
No Aiel, but the qunari do have a few similarities with the seanchan-invading foreigners from across the sea who keep their spell users on leashes.
The darkspawn from the blight do indeed seem to be a lazy copy-paste job from Wheel of Time. Instead of trollocs we get hurlocks etc. Instead of the blight, we get the.....blight.
The rest of dragon age's setting seems to consist of standard d&d stuff with a smattering of warhammer, the visual influence of lotr, and a handful of new ideas. I don't think DA is deserving of any awards for originality anytime soon. They seem to be taking DA2 in a new direction too, for better or worse, with qunari now having horns etc, so hopefully they will be moving away from all of the pilfered source material into more original territory.
I think the biggest flaw with the darkspawn is just how hopelessly generic they play. Visually, there is literally nothing that separates them from either each other or the many others of their kind we have been slaughtering for decades. Heck, they're barely any different from the other enemies in the same game. There's no sense of dread or despair when fighting them - they're exactly who you've been killing in the back alleys. Just shapes with names saying either fighter, archer or mage and you act accordingly. You don't even recognise if they're darkspawn or upstart elves or whathaveyou.
No matter how much interesting backstory you give them, the fact that they don't inspire any particular feeling upon seeing them is a flaw in both narrative design and gameplay. If these are really tainted creatures so far beyond humanity that they can corrupt gods, then surely they should have at least some interesting gameplay quirks?
I heard that there was going to be a corruption meter that came from fighting darkspawn because of their blood which would affect your characters in some way. It was eventually taken out for overcomplicating things. This, in my opinion, is a terrible shame. Sure, most players would indeed find it overcomplicated and frustrating if normally fighting the most common enemy had negative side effects. Easy fix: don't make them the most common enemy! They are everyone's enemy and your ultimate goal is to defeat them, yes. But you can't help but notice that almost all of the story focuses on the normals! The darkspawn are only in the centre light at the beginning and at the end of the game - everywhere else, they're just thrown in to give you something to murder. Not only are they detracting from diversity of enemies (lazy design), but they're ruining their own narrative importance. Things are scarier the less you see of them.
No matter how much interesting backstory you give them, the fact that they don't inspire any particular feeling upon seeing them is a flaw in both narrative design and gameplay. If these are really tainted creatures so far beyond humanity that they can corrupt gods, then surely they should have at least some interesting gameplay quirks?
I heard that there was going to be a corruption meter that came from fighting darkspawn because of their blood which would affect your characters in some way. It was eventually taken out for overcomplicating things. This, in my opinion, is a terrible shame. Sure, most players would indeed find it overcomplicated and frustrating if normally fighting the most common enemy had negative side effects. Easy fix: don't make them the most common enemy! They are everyone's enemy and your ultimate goal is to defeat them, yes. But you can't help but notice that almost all of the story focuses on the normals! The darkspawn are only in the centre light at the beginning and at the end of the game - everywhere else, they're just thrown in to give you something to murder. Not only are they detracting from diversity of enemies (lazy design), but they're ruining their own narrative importance. Things are scarier the less you see of them.
That's just not true espciallly for cRPGs and even if it were it's no excuse to not even try and have at least a new take on things. And there a difference between "been done before" and "is used as the baseline for an entire genre".Xzi said:
I read plenty of the lore, same 2nd generation Forgotton Realms ripoff I've seen plenty of times before.
When did I dismiss the game for it?
And maybe there hasn't been one with a -totally- original setting, but there's been plenty with setting very different from what we normally get. Take Planscape for example, sure it's based on the PnP setting but it's still a powerhouse of originality and creativity for Fantasy settings. Or if you want to stick just to cRPGs Arcanum takes the standard fantasy setting and puts a new spin on it by taking it through an industrial revolution, now granted a couple of PnP games have touched on that but it's still new to cRPGs. Fallout blended the traditional post-nuclear senario with retro 50's iconography. Widen the field and say Bioshock combines art deco tyle with steampunk technology, Randian philosophy and set it underwater, simply combining thing like this can easily lead to something very fresh and different.
Simply saying that things can't be totally original is should not excuse laziness on par with Dragon Age's setting, I mean look at the settings name for crying out loud!
Indeed. Darkspawn seem to be Chaotic Evil [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChaoticEvil], just delighting in causing pain and death for no real reason. They're kind of like the armies of Mordor; just mindless masses following a central big bad.Zechnophobe said:
The downside of being just a thing which loves death and torment is they're not interesting, as you said. They have no real motivation, but since DA:O is drawing on a story of men twisted by their desire for power, and their attempts to enter Heaven, they could have.
Did you like, not play Origins? Or Awakening?Zechnophobe said:
They aren't as bland as you are making them out to be. Well, I have to say they look much more bland in in the Dragon Age 2 demo, but that's just aesthetics. Awakening gave quite a bit of insight to the darkspawn, past the "mindless horde of evil" bit.
The darkspawn may be your generic baddie, but at least they're not the only thing you're killing. In a world with MMORPG's where you grind a shit ton of bugs and beetles to get that next desired ding, or even more FPS' where you shoot a host of unnamed faceless soldiers or insurgents; at least the darkspawn have SOME backstory.
Totally off-topic, the demo for DA2 is awesome and I am anxiously awaiting March 8th
Totally off-topic, the demo for DA2 is awesome and I am anxiously awaiting March 8th
Even orcs from LoTR had more depth to them IMO. They had disagreements with each other and often came to blows. Uruks didn't get along well with normal orcs, for instance. Also, every orc clan has their own unique dialect, to the point of almost being separate languages. At least in the books, anyways.Hader said:
They're a crazed rabid species that thrives in destruction. Did you play ALL the DA:O stuff? Even awakening and such?
The Darkspawn weren't really the focus of DA:O, they were simply a backdrop.
The majority of the game was spent dealing with the ramifications of a civil war, the darkspawn really only showed up at the beginning and the end.
The majority of the game was spent dealing with the ramifications of a civil war, the darkspawn really only showed up at the beginning and the end.