Dragon Age Origins: I want to want to love it

[PhiMed]

I actually couldn't agree with you more. I know I should like this game because it's supposedly the epitome of gameplay storytelling, but I just couldn't get into it. I couldn't get past the awkward presentation. Perhaps, as some people here have stated, i didn't play it for long enough, but I don't know...

 

[Knight Templar]

Unlike say Morrowind where the world was your oyster in DA:O I could never shake the feeling that every door I opened in the game closed another one elsewhere.

Its odd that you use Morrowind as an example, a game where it isn't possible to follow every quest in a single playthrough, against Dragon Age where it is possible.

 

[Serenegoose]

I agreed with the OP, but I found that once I perservered, the game really opened up. I know, 'a game that takes a while to get good isn't a good game' but I feel that Dragon Age is an exception to that rule - it's more of a slow burner than 'bad' at the beginning, and it fouls the pacing up a bit but it's not so bad. My personal favourite origin is the female city elf, which is really, really well done, and I think I was a bit disappointed that it didn't play a more vital role in my story, but oh well.

Oh, I've tangented. *rerails*

What I mean by slow burning in this case is that in the beginning, when you don't have all your party, and those that do don't necessarily trust you, your own character feels quite limited. However, once you start getting a full party and personal quests, the game just feels so much more complete, with the way they banter at each other, or will voice concern/support for your decisions and so on - so that it actually begins to feel like more of a personal story, with the warden associating with companions that are coherent characters in their own right (the best thing about the characters is the ditching of the morality system from previous bioware efforts. Now no longer will a character be blindly lightside/darkside/neutral, but actually driven by their own ideologies - Morrigan's darwinistic pragmatism, Sten's Qun, Shale's hatred of pigeons, etc.

Oh wow, derailing hard here. Just a second.

OK, to wrap my incoherence off (it's 7am, please forgive me!) what I mean is that I think the game can be ofputting at first because it takes a while to get going, but once it does I find it a genuinely compelling story, and I like how I my actions have way more freedom than say, Shepards in Mass Effect, because it makes me feel like more of an active participant than an actor with a few lines of dialogue. If you can, push into the game, unlock the personal quests, and see what you think of it then. If you still don't like it, or it's too much to ask, then fair enough.

 

[Deshin]

Unlike say Morrowind where the world was your oyster in DA:O I could never shake the feeling that every door I opened in the game closed another one elsewhere.

Its odd that you use Morrowind as an example, a game where it isn't possible to follow every quest in a single playthrough, against Dragon Age where it is possible.

I meant in the regard that

Spoiler

In Morrowind I could run off to mess about in some other areas and parts of the map wouldn't just up and vanish on me like Lothering did.

Plus in Morrowind you could kill pretty much anyone so it's inevitable a quest would get lost here and there.

 

[Knight Templar]

Spoiler

In Morrowind I could run off to mess about in some other areas and parts of the map wouldn't just up and vanish on me like Lothering did.

So you're unhappy the world moves forward? Or were you not listening when people said that the town was going to be overrun?

 

[rt052192]

oh the double infinitive is killing me...but Dragon Age is great so good luck

 

[Deshin]

So you're unhappy the world moves forward? Or were you not listening when people said that the town was going to be overrun?

It's a game, I'm used to everyone saying *something* will happen but it never does. But despite that the whole thing still feels disjointed and makes my reload finger twitch.

I also feel somewhat cheated by the excellent trailer vids for DA:O that were not only in no way indicative of the type of gameplay that would ensue but not even the same type of aesthetic atmosphere.

I was psyched to play a tolkien-esque fantasy setting with a bit of heavy music and large scale fighting off orc-like hordes and taking down a dragon. Instead of that I get "Damn, lost the spell!" 5 times a minute to the tune of 'ye olde folke melodee' mixed with Braveheart's OST. Feels like false advertising.

 

[Knight Templar]

So you're unhappy the world moves forward? Or were you not listening when people said that the town was going to be overrun?

It's a game, I'm used to everyone saying *something* will happen but it never does. But despite that the whole thing still feels disjointed and makes my reload finger twitch.

That you didn't belive the game isn't really its fault.
Besides, you can play the game more than once, not every playthough needs to be a perfection run.

I also feel somewhat cheated by the excellent trailer vids for DA:O that were not only in no way indicative of the type of gameplay that would ensue but not even the same type of aesthetic atmosphere.

You didn't look at any gameplay trailers? Dev diarys? Reviews?
You shouldn't judge something by material intended to create interest, particularly if said material isn't even pretending to be in-game.

 

[Paulie92]

I liked it how some choices weren't black and white but where irreversable and damaging in at least one way. Though it has the same problem as Mass Effect, everywhere you go you are on a mission.

There is no aimless exploring, sure you may encounter the odd side quest, but it doesn't have that feeling of Morrowind where you walk off somewhere and completely forget where you were going because you find a random tomb and explore or after 20minutes of play you discover something new even though you have played through the game 20 times.

 

[Deshin]

*snip*

Well this is kind of the point of the thread. I'm not writing a "Dragon Age sucks" thing going on here, I acknowledge in its own way it's a great experience but I'm having trouble tapping into that vein of rich gaming goodness that so many people say exists. I think I'm going to give it another go but this time see if I can force myself to not instinctively reload whenever my knee-jerk reflex goes off. Perhaps that coupled with general longevity will make the game a more enjoyable experience and I'll finally get lulled into the story.


Edit: Perhaps I entered the RPG scene late and this game hits a nostalgia nerve with people who played old school MUDs and early text-based RPGs? Could that be it perhaps?

 

[ultrachicken]

The thing that really bothered me is the game's habit of blocking off armor or weaponry that I had no clue existed once I reach a certain plotpoint. That made me very angry.

I also hated how all supplies were limited in the game. I was postponing chasing after the final quest because I wanted to do all there was to do, and I ended up having to stop doing sidequests because I was out of potion-materials and all vendors were out of potions. That really pissed me off.

However, I'm on my fourth full playthrough of the game and I am still finding it somewhat entertaining.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Does anyone have any words of wisdom to aid me or has perhaps felt the same but managed to overcome it somehow?

Well, to start with DA:O is a pretty slow burning game at it's outset. You're sort of shanghai'ed into joining the Wardens no matter which race you start with and early on the characters do feel rather wooden and generic. Add to this that you went with a human character so you don't really get the initial chance to revisit what happened in your intro like some of the other races/classes can. The dwarf noble intro, for example, is a real nailbiter. The game really does get better once you start to gather your party and progress a bit farther.

As far as the animations go, they generally don't get too much less wooden but your companions personalities do open up quite a bit, particularly depending on what their relationship to you is. Unless there's a particular character you're interested in romancing, I actually wouldn't worry about conversation pluses and minuses at all. There's more than enough giftable items in game to get characters to at least like you enough for combat buffs. Plus, your in party relations are actually what I feel to be one of the strongest points in DA:O, especially as compared to ME1/2. Unlike in the ME games there really is no black and white. In DA:O you can make your own decisions and your party members will all react individually based on their own personalities. Even being the good guy isn't going to get you pluses with everyone all the time, and in some cases there just isn't a "good" answer you can pick to please everyone. If someone doesn't like your choice they will call you out for it, but there is really never a "wrong" answer and this just adds to the more organic feeling within your party.

Overall, I LOVE DA:O so I know I'm likely to be biased, but the game really does give you a lot back if you give it some time. I'll say that for as much as I love it now I was definitely a little underwhelmed at the start too.

 

[Art3rius]

I have the same problem. I feel like I should like the game, and I've put several hours into it (played all the origins, and carried one of the characters on a good few hours into the game proper) but I've come to the realisation that it's just not a very good game.

I've tried to put my finger on it, and come up with the following :

1. Naff Writing

Not universally (the Dwarf commoner one was quite good), but the vast majority of the writing I've encountered has been atrocious. Formulaic plots with predictable twists, hackneyed dialogue (often delivered badly), dialogue trees that only pretend to branch.

(okay, so that last part is fairly typical of Bioware, but it seems particularly egregious in DA:O)


2. Crappy Characters

None of the NPCs (or PCs) are remotely interesting or engaging. I don't have the energy to prise the backstory out of them - particularly when their backstories are uniformly clichéd and almost as cheesy as the character design.

And I'm getting sick of having Carth Onasi [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Carth_Onasi] in my party (Alistair. See Also : Kaidan in Mass Effect, and Jacob in Mass Effect 2)


3. Rubbish Combat

I really enjoyed KoTOR, which on the surface of things has the same combat system (i.e. you point your character at the bad guys and click a button now and again to use a power. If you can be bothered). But KoTOR was 7 years ago, and I've come to expect a bit more from my RPG combat.

And I've played Mass Effect since then, too. The wind-him-up-and-watch-him-go nature of Dragon Age combat just isn't any fun for me - I feel like too much of a spectator.

-

But there's still a part of me that keeps thinking "give it another go, it might suddenly get really good", and I have no idea why...

Are you sure it's not Garrus for both Mass Effect games? Though I don't exactly know what you mean. Something like the protagonist's buddy? Or maybe you mean that one annoying fool in that BioWare RPG. In which case I understand.

 

[godofallu]

Here is my advice, experiment with character types.

I started as a Dwarf Warrior and realized the combat was way too boring.

I then made an Elf Mage and played 30 hours before beating the game, and loved the story and experience.

Anyways I treated my party like real people, if they disagreed with me that just makes sense. A religious chick wouldn't like me killing a young boy, but I did what seemed necessary at the time. Shepard wouldn't give a shit if his squadmates complain, so why should this Elf?

 

[sephiroth1991]

I was the same i bought aand played it for about 6 hours then stopped for months then about three months ago i continued it and it grew on me. The first hours are the worst and some of the quest are downright terrible e.g. the Fade level.

 

[suhlEap]

i know exactly what you mean, i did the same thing. ended up selling it again after playing it for 3 or 4 hours. as much as anything else, it was boring. even the opening section defending the castle was just tedious. this was supposed to be a full fledged assault that you were trying to defend from... and it was just boring. it never got any more interesting for the hours i played it, so i just got rid.

 

[Eremiel]

It's a roleplaying game. Your choices -will- close doors as often as they will open them up. Learn to embrace that. It's what enables multiple playthroughs. It's impossible to get a "perfect" playthrough where you get everything right and everyone's happy and sunshine.

Embrace your characters mistakes and move on rather than mashing the reload button. You'll get a richer story for it.

I feel the same way about Mass Effect. Don't reload unless you die. If you dun goofed, you dun goofed. The game will still continue.

 

[Kortney]

I'm currently about 20 hours in on my first playthrough. It's a good game. I think it goes in peaks and troughs. Some times it seems brilliant and other times it lacks something.

There have been a few times so far where it has felt a chore to play.

It is worth mentioning that I hate the setting, so the fact I have managed to get a fairly enjoyable 20 hours in means Bioware must have done something right. Alastair is a big reason I'm still playing. He's dreamy.

Mass Effect is better than it in every way. It's the favourite child of Bioware that gets most attention and the better design team it seems.

 

[Jazoni89]

I thought it was a terrible game when i rented it, but i have just brought it on the cheap and surprisingly im actually getting into it now after a few hours of playtime.

The game really starts after Ostigar, when you can get on the world map and the game opens out alot more and lots of sidequests become avalible.

 

[jamesworkshop]

I've put 200 hoursa into dragon age: origins and all the extra content like awakenings
I loved it, it was exactly the kinda of game I was asking to be made and it didn't disapoint me in anyway other than the mostly naff item DLC, but Awakenings and the Stone prisioner were good