Dragon Age or FFXIII?

[Assassin Xaero]

FFXIII
Dragon Age... I dunno what happened with it. Took me a while to get into, then got really into it and logged 24 hours in 7 days, then just quit playing it...

 

[Daedalus1942]

This entire discussion is now pointless, because he's already gone with FFXIII.
So, what do we talk about now? How about the collapse of society in the western world?

I blame the pledge of allegience.
It could be doing so much more then creating a country of xenophobes.

On topic, I have DA:O for the pc but my pc broke so whilst it's getting fixed i'm on my awful laptop. (the things nearly ten years old.)
I didn't get far enough into it to make a judgement either... Will things become unbearably hard for me if I keep playing as an archer/elf?

Also is FF13 only out on consoles? I'm tempted to get a console just to get it... The downside of having a lot of money that i'm trying very hard to save up for Uni...
If so what should I get it on, PS3 or Xbox 360?

XIII is only out for consoles. I personally prefer it on PS3 as the graphics are a little bit crisper, but ultimately, there aren't any discernible differences between the two versions as a crapload of content was cut out of the ps3 version to accomodate the 360 version. Also, the 360 version probably has more than one disc. Ps3 only has one.

 

[Daedalus1942]

FFXIII
Dragon Age... I dunno what happened with it. Took me a while to get into, then got really into it and logged 24 hours in 7 days, then just quit playing it...

It starts off good, then gets quite dull up until the final battle with the Archdemon, which imo was the highlight of the game. That and acquiring Shale.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

FFXIII
Dragon Age... I dunno what happened with it. Took me a while to get into, then got really into it and logged 24 hours in 7 days, then just quit playing it...

It starts off good, then gets quite dull up until the final battle with the Archdemon, which imo was the highlight of the game. That and acquiring Shale.

Shale is pretty bad ass, and I did the Warden's Keep and Return to Whereever too. Think I had to go do something with the dwarves government or something. I think I just started to have a withdrawal of not shooting stuff and went to BioShock 2 and STALKER again.

 

[Buccura]

Dragon Age by far. But then again I have grown tired of JRPGs.

 

[Daedalus1942]

FFXIII
Dragon Age... I dunno what happened with it. Took me a while to get into, then got really into it and logged 24 hours in 7 days, then just quit playing it...

It starts off good, then gets quite dull up until the final battle with the Archdemon, which imo was the highlight of the game. That and acquiring Shale.

Shale is pretty bad ass, and I did the Warden's Keep and Return to Whereever too. Think I had to go do something with the dwarves government or something. I think I just started to have a withdrawal of not shooting stuff and went to BioShock 2 and STALKER again.

For me, Orgrimmar really ruined the game. It felt so closed in, claustrophobic, and I had a bit of trouble getting out of the tunnels to begin with (after struggling to get into them).
It felt really crammed in, and out of place for me.

 

[Xjin]

FF XIII for PS3, and if you get Dragon Age for anything other than PC is a let down.

 

[Cody211282]

For me I would say Dragon Age, I love that game, haven't tried FF13 yet but then again 12 was such a let down I don't care to try. I really did think that the character interaction and building you saw all threw the story was fantastic and they way you could influence or harden some of the people was a nice touch.

 

[john_alexander]

DA on PC. Absolutely.

If you're on PS3... I'd still say DA, but not by as large a margin.

FFXIII is very pretty, but that's all it has going for it. The characters are not nearly as cool, the story is roughly the same, but DA has more of it, and you can mold much of the story through your own actions, and the voice acting is infinitely better.

 

[pwnzerstick]

Dragon Age is awsome

 

[stok3r]

So I'm pickin up a new PS3 pretty soon and I love me some RPGs, I've seen reviews of these two and my friend who has both has told me about both of them but he's a die hard FF fan, so his opinion is obviously biased more to FF. What I want to know is which one should I pick up with my PS3? I am going to pick up FF13 no matter what eventually but should I pick it up first, or go with Dragon Age? Or is there another RPG more worth my time? Some feedback would be great because I'm really split on these two

Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy

'nuff said. Or Valkyria Chronicles

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

If your a die hard FF fan then be warned that it plays more like dragon's lair or space ace then a RPG. I would personally advice against it but i'm sure you've got your heart set already.

As to which game you should play first...it really depends on what your in the mood for. Dragon's Age is a gritty Lord of the Rings game that gives you a much more opened ended experience, while FF13 is very minimal and streamlined.

FF13 has no exploration, no shops, no puzzle solving, its just a few set battle between cut scenes. the game looks great but in my opion it barely counts as a game and you have to play for hours before the battle system is fully unlocked.

Final Fantasy 13 spends too long getting to what little it has besides visuals but on the other hand while i liked the gameplay of Dragon's Age, the world is very bleake.

I'm afraid i can't give you a fair description of story because my eyes tend to glaze over when playing FF games and 13 was no different.
As for Dragon's Age. Terrible evil, hero must unite races to fight it, along the way over comes challenges and treachery ect ect.

 

[reg42]

Dragon Age if you have the option of playing it on PC, otherwise go with FFXIII.

 

[Terry576]

Yes, the gameplay is not fantastic. To be quite frank, I loathed the battles in the Deep Roads. I just wanted to be on with the story. The fighting and leveling in FFXIII is far better in that aspect.

But, if the story of Dragon Age was good enough for me to finish that game, then for me, it must have been pretty damn good. I really didn't care for the FFXIII story or characters. And there is only so much grinding I can do before I have to hear Vanille speak again. BTW, I'm a long time FF player and have played may JRPGs, so there's no WRPG or JRPG bias here.

You are right though, it would be really hard to know what the OP is looking for since these types of opinions are very subjective. Renting to decide would probably be their best bet, and I would add, play at least a few hours of each before you decide, because neither really pick up until you get a little more into them.

This is true.
Both games take a little while to really get going. That isn't to say that either game doesn't have some good moments at the beginning, but they both do.

I think the story in DA:O was okay, if a bit contrived. But hell, FF games suffer from that as well. I cared little for the characters in DA:O myself, so that may have skewed my enjoyment of the game. None of them seemed very likable to me. Well, maybe Leliana but even then, I'm not so sure she's someone I'd want to hang with in the real world.

By contrast, I enjoyed many of the characters in FFXIII (though I'm still no fan of Hope overall and Snow is iffy). I actually liked Vanille's voice (I think I'm the only one) but I also watch plenty of anime so that type of voice has become "normal" to my ears.

Spoiler

Plus, at the beginning of the game, Vanille seems Batshit crazy! She literally prances around in dangerous areas without a care in the world. Something drew me to that

It's nice to have a calm discussion with someone with a differing opinion. I wish more people were like that on video game forums...

Maybe you just aren't talking to the right people?

I thought I liked Snow at first. Then something happened part way through and I lost my admiration for him. I still can't put my finger on what it was he did, but there was something.

I don't think it was Vanille's voice, I think it was her dialog. But I liked the voice itself. The actress who played her did a fine job.

It is interesting to me how much characters seem to be the deciding factor on how much I'll like a game. I'll play total crap sometimes just because I'm invested in a particular character.

I believe that I began to hate Snow right around when I started realizing that he was a total dick. I mean, Hope's crying right in front of him, muttering evil curses at him, and he's going around saying "ZOMG I MUST RESQ SARAH!"

Yeah. I did like Snow at first as well. Right around that point... He died. The only characters in that game who develop AT ALL are Lightning and Hope. I swore when it cut from them to freaking Sazh and Vanille. >> (Although that might be because I had no upgraded weapons except for Lightning...)

 

[Baconmonster723]

Final Fantasy XIII is only an RPG in name. It is more linear than Action Adventure games on the N64. Honestly, I felt more freedom playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time recently. It isn't really an RPG to be honest. There is an inventory system and numerous characters to choose from, that's about all that is RPGish in the game. Having said that Final Fantasy is a decent game. Didn't grab my interest enough to make me keep the game, however.

Dragon Age is exactly what you would expect from an RPG. You create your own character and you go through the world how you want to. Having said that the game can plod at points and it follows very close to normal lore (Think elves, dwarves, evil orcish baddies) with a few wrinkles thrown in. It has much more replayability and is overall very fun with very strong characters. (Shale, Sten, and Morrigan)

As for playtime of both games, FFXIII clocks in around 65 hours for the main quest line doing some "side quests", I believe around 75 hours for total completion at my pace. Taking the same pace with Dragon Age I would complete it in around 40-45 hours completing everything. Initially FFXIII is longer, however, I have logged well over 150 hours on Dragon Age over 4 playthroughs. I got much more bang for my buck out of Dragon Age than FFXIII.

Overall, regardless of platform I recommend Dragon Age. It will stick with you much more after you play it, because well, it's your story. Don't get me wrong Final Fantasy is not a bad game. I just enjoyed Dragon Age much, much more. In fact, I enjoyed the expansion for Dragon Age more than I enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII. Obviously, this is my opinion, take it for what it is, my honest assessment of both games.

Overall Ratings I would give to both games
FFXIII-8.0
Dragon Age-8.5
(Awakening Expansion-8.0)

 

[Buffoon]

It will stick with you much more after you play it, because well, it's your story.

Heh, I understand where you're coming from, but my opinion is totally different. My story sucks! I'm no fantasy writer. I'd rather be told a good story, and the well-told ones (IMO) are the ones that have stayed with me: FFVII-VIII, and the amazing Planescape: Torment. That's why the linearity of FFXIII absolutely does not bother me.

Anyway, considering the two games, they are so very, very, very different. If I could only play one, it would definitely be FFXIII, but that's me.

 

[Baconmonster723]

It will stick with you much more after you play it, because well, it's your story.

Heh, I understand where you're coming from, but my opinion is totally different. My story sucks! I'm no fantasy writer. I'd rather be told a good story, and the well-told ones (IMO) are the ones that have stayed with me: FFVII-VIII, and the amazing Planescape: Torment. That's why the linearity of FFXIII absolutely does not bother me.

Anyway, considering the two games, they are so very, very, very different. If I could only play one, it would definitely be FFXIII, but that's me.

This is what makes gaming so great. There is something for everyone. While we have differing opinions neither is punished for those opinions. Gotta love how there is always someone ready to please our wants. : )

 

[Lyri]

Not gonna lie, Dragon Age wasn't all that good.

There's a fair few flaws in that there game that bring the whole thing down, that's my opinion anyway.
It can be overlooked rather easily and replaced with frankly any other fantasy setting rpg. (Fereldan isn't that awesome folks, sorry ;_

 

[BlackndEclipse]

I'd have to say FFXIII, and not because im a biased Final Fantasy Fan, but also since its your PS3 title, FFXIII will allow you to experience the PS3's graphic system to the max.