Let's talk Dragon Age
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I am quite displeased with how the DLC is being integrated into the game. I don't begrudge Bioware/EA for including day one DLC, Dragon Age is a massive product that doesn't seem to skimp on anything, posing far more quests/sidequests than any sane individual wants to pursue in a single game, or even multiple games. However, when you come across someone whom proposes a quest to you, and the accepting dialogue is "Yes I will do this (Purchase DLC)" it is both jarring to the games immersion and infuriating to someone who expected a full product from the get go.
I'm loving it. The Dwarf Noble origin was fantastic (and I agree with Plinglebob, I can't believe I didn't see it coming).
What happened at the ritual really put me off the Grey Wardens in a big way, though.
What happened at the ritual really put me off the Grey Wardens in a big way, though.
It's going to take some really great storytelling to make me stop wanting to kill Duncan after he killed that guy.
Yes, that merchant that shows up in your camp is a bit off-putting regarding the DLC. As I understand it, he exists within the game whether you purchase the DLC or not. I would prefer just buying the DLC, then he shows up. Or, at least, you get some quest text giving you directions to the new content.PedroSteckecilo said:
I am curious to know if there are more of these 'DLC NPCs' hidden within the vanilla game that will be 'unlocked' through patches as new DLC comes out. Or, if future game patches will include new NPCs that offer DLC.
Well I am about to start on my third god damn mage. Mage 1 was doing OK but she was beat with an ugly stick (she looked ok in creation but she didn't look very good in the real world). And I kept seeing all these locked chests so I figured I might need a skill (like stealing) to open them. So mage #2 was born. And man does he look slick. His face is just the way I imagined it (both in creation and in game) so I started giving him tons of cunning and stealing. And he still can't open a damn chest. So now I have a rogue who is classed as a mage and he must die. Bright side is I get to watch that epic battle again. Down side is I still won't get to kill Jowan
I'm in a place where I want it, but I know I should take care of my other RPGs until the price drops. I'll probably end up picking it up at Steam's boxing day sale.
Instead, I started Baldur's Gate 2 (which I've never played) yesterday. I've always had problems getting into Infinity Engine games, never having gotten past the tutorial of BG2 or the first couple of hours of Planescape: Torment. I'm stil having issues with the game, but it looks like this playthrough might bring about the breakthrough I've been waiting for.
Instead, I started Baldur's Gate 2 (which I've never played) yesterday. I've always had problems getting into Infinity Engine games, never having gotten past the tutorial of BG2 or the first couple of hours of Planescape: Torment. I'm stil having issues with the game, but it looks like this playthrough might bring about the breakthrough I've been waiting for.
I wanted to play through all of it before commenting, and having done that I can say that Good morning blues has the right idea. Baldur's Gate 2 is still unsurpassed when it comes to RPG storytelling, and Dragon Age didn't come close.
First off, I'm a huge Bioware fan and all their previous games have been enjoyable, and some of them at the very top of my list (BG2 and Mass Effect most notably).
And then they had to release this. In many ways, Dragon Age is to Bioware what "Cars" is to Pixar - a mediocre offering from the best company in the biz. There's no denying that a lot of time and effort has been put into both of them, but there's just no soul in either.
Perhaps the biggest and most sad problem with Dragon Age is the all-overshadowing "Lord of the Rings" complex it suffers from. Every little design detail SCREAMS out "omg Peter Jackson is the coolest visionary ever everything in this game must be just like in his vision of Tolkien's world!", which frankly gets pathetic after the third cutscene with flaming arrows raining down on the not-orcs-at-all. And defeating the big bad was not a moment of triumph but a huge facepalm moment as
Even the player races are limited to the Tolkien flavors - human, elf and dwarf. The only vaguely interesting (because of being original) race in the game - qunari - is unplayable.
Bioware's strength has always been the interesting NPC's, but the ones here were so lackluster I couldn't care about ANY of them. Sure, the elf and the dwarf had a couple of funny moments, but with the massive amount of semi-humorous writing crammed in it's an hit-and-miss approach, with more misses than hits. I was especially unimpressed with the option of telling the sorceress, upon her complaining about your dog leaving a dead animal among her "unmentionables", that it couldn't possible smell worse than what usually is in them.
But then I realized that it just had to be an example of the "mature writing" that was so highly touted. Seriously, the "tough moral choices" are always of the kill-or-don't-kill variety and the plot twists were so unoriginal I could anticipate every single one. It's not bragging, by the way - it's lamenting.
As for the writing, spelling "Sir" as "Ser" and "Earl" as "Arl" DOES NOT feel fresh or original. I am sure we would have understood even if they had made up entirely new titles for them - would have been no problem if they'd explained them as thoroughly as everything else they felt may have been in the slightest doubt to the average player. After all, I had no less than eight different NPC's proclaim that an "apostate" is a rogue magic user, something that has no bearing whatsoever on the main storyline.
In Mass Effect, I hunted down every last piece of lore available because I was genuinely interested in that universe and wanted to learn more. In this, all the lore was a big yawn of "been there, seen it, done that" because of the "Tolkien light" vibe and the influences from all kinds of bad fantasy writing in the same vein.
Still, it IS a Bioware game and as such it wasn't totally unenjoyable. Some quests felt a bit interesting, a couple of the backstories were not abysmal, and even if the combat AI was unreliable to say the least it could be circumvented by always controlling the mage, which saved hours as every failure leads to 30 seconds of reload time. (Every time you enter a new building, floor or even room also causes the same load time, but I found no way around that.
)
And if this is your first or second RPG, I'm sure it could be awesome as heck. But I've been gaming for 25 years now, I played pen and paper RPG's before any were available on computers, I've tried every genre of storytelling games; and from that perspective, Dragon Age simply doesn't measure up. And no amount of fanboy abuse (which will follow this soon, I wager) will change that opinion.
PS. This being advertised as "the spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate 2 might have been justified with the many references to it - but they were usually only offputting, like the load-screen advice to "If all else fails, go for the eyes [Boo]" and the most powerful enemy in the game being an undead in a nondescript city house named Gaxkang. In BG2, the most powerful enemy was an undead in a nondescript city house named Kangax, but that one at least had the decency of awarding you with something worthwhile upon slaying. Another Dragon Age mistake.)
First off, I'm a huge Bioware fan and all their previous games have been enjoyable, and some of them at the very top of my list (BG2 and Mass Effect most notably).
And then they had to release this. In many ways, Dragon Age is to Bioware what "Cars" is to Pixar - a mediocre offering from the best company in the biz. There's no denying that a lot of time and effort has been put into both of them, but there's just no soul in either.
Perhaps the biggest and most sad problem with Dragon Age is the all-overshadowing "Lord of the Rings" complex it suffers from. Every little design detail SCREAMS out "omg Peter Jackson is the coolest visionary ever everything in this game must be just like in his vision of Tolkien's world!", which frankly gets pathetic after the third cutscene with flaming arrows raining down on the not-orcs-at-all. And defeating the big bad was not a moment of triumph but a huge facepalm moment as
it led to an explosion at the top of a tower causing the desperate defenders and overwhelming foes alike to pause and look up and then the orcs (no, darkspawn, sorry) fled in panic. It was so identical to the final battle of "The Return of the King" that it wasn't even funny.
Bioware's strength has always been the interesting NPC's, but the ones here were so lackluster I couldn't care about ANY of them. Sure, the elf and the dwarf had a couple of funny moments, but with the massive amount of semi-humorous writing crammed in it's an hit-and-miss approach, with more misses than hits. I was especially unimpressed with the option of telling the sorceress, upon her complaining about your dog leaving a dead animal among her "unmentionables", that it couldn't possible smell worse than what usually is in them.
But then I realized that it just had to be an example of the "mature writing" that was so highly touted. Seriously, the "tough moral choices" are always of the kill-or-don't-kill variety and the plot twists were so unoriginal I could anticipate every single one. It's not bragging, by the way - it's lamenting.
As for the writing, spelling "Sir" as "Ser" and "Earl" as "Arl" DOES NOT feel fresh or original. I am sure we would have understood even if they had made up entirely new titles for them - would have been no problem if they'd explained them as thoroughly as everything else they felt may have been in the slightest doubt to the average player. After all, I had no less than eight different NPC's proclaim that an "apostate" is a rogue magic user, something that has no bearing whatsoever on the main storyline.
In Mass Effect, I hunted down every last piece of lore available because I was genuinely interested in that universe and wanted to learn more. In this, all the lore was a big yawn of "been there, seen it, done that" because of the "Tolkien light" vibe and the influences from all kinds of bad fantasy writing in the same vein.
Still, it IS a Bioware game and as such it wasn't totally unenjoyable. Some quests felt a bit interesting, a couple of the backstories were not abysmal, and even if the combat AI was unreliable to say the least it could be circumvented by always controlling the mage, which saved hours as every failure leads to 30 seconds of reload time. (Every time you enter a new building, floor or even room also causes the same load time, but I found no way around that.
) And if this is your first or second RPG, I'm sure it could be awesome as heck. But I've been gaming for 25 years now, I played pen and paper RPG's before any were available on computers, I've tried every genre of storytelling games; and from that perspective, Dragon Age simply doesn't measure up. And no amount of fanboy abuse (which will follow this soon, I wager) will change that opinion.
PS. This being advertised as "the spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate 2 might have been justified with the many references to it - but they were usually only offputting, like the load-screen advice to "If all else fails, go for the eyes [Boo]" and the most powerful enemy in the game being an undead in a nondescript city house named Gaxkang. In BG2, the most powerful enemy was an undead in a nondescript city house named Kangax, but that one at least had the decency of awarding you with something worthwhile upon slaying. Another Dragon Age mistake.)
Haha that was the fight that forced me to go from Hard to Normal mode, the effing dogs wouldn't DIE!Mana Fiend said:P
Got my first TPK the other day too, in Redcliff. Kicked open a door and ended up mobbed by war dogs. Probably shouldn't have led with the archer and mage...
Even tried to lure them out one at a time, but got impatient, rushed in and wiped.
The Ser thing is a reference to A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, as the Knights in Martin's world are called Ser.videot76 said:
Either way stop whining the game is fine and better than anything in the last years. So what the story is reused? it's not like BG2 is a shinning beacon of originality or Mass Effect.
