Same here, but I grew up on action games and fighters, so that might have greatly sullied my enjoyment of the combat engine (as I detest a combat system that's dictated almost entirely by numbers, and that goes for the KotOR games). I can't tell you how many times I was tripping over the fact that there was no roll/dodge, block, or even an attack button.
Ah, but that is not the reason I dislike the combat of Dragon Age. I have played every kind of game and I am fine with pretty much every kind of system. What I don't like is when a certain system is flawed, broken, unbalanced or has some other kind of issue that breaks the game. This is becoming increasingly more common. Close to 99% of the games nowadays have gameplay issues. Dragon Age being no exception.
Your not alone in not getting into the game. I've played it past the mandatory point where you start to have options of where to go, but I haven't gotten much father than that. It was often paying attention to the dialog and actually getting myself immersed in the story that I was finding a tad difficult. If I find a day when I can actually sink three hours into it and give a fresh start I might see something.
Back when it was released me and a buddy both got it. In the same week of time, I was just getting to the wall, or what ever that first plot point could be called(bridge? memory is failing), and my buddy had already run through most of the starting story options. I think his favorite was a Human Female Warrior, but that might of been more about having a puppy from the get go.
As for another note I read, something about Bioware games being different in their RPGs. I would think a large disconnect between this and, for sake of argument, Mass Effect is the time between first starting the game and being able to collect and choose your crew. It just seems like that took a bit much time in DA.
If I must make an argument to claim these as comparable, then it's rooted in the fact DA:O and ME1 are both trying to immerse the user in a fully new unexplained/unexplored universe.
Out of curiosity, I'd like to know what character you selected to start (seeing as how the story changes based on your beggining).
Most people (because I apparently know them SO well) tend to like Dragon Age Origins because of the characters you meet and the story. Bioware has a knack for designing believable characters with rich backstories, and the voice actors they hire are top-notch. The story itself is a little plain (you save the country from an evil force) but it gets deeper the farther into the game you go. It also helps that the game has two villains that are particularly incredible (one because you HATE him so much, the other because he may not be inherently evil at all). Also, the game is funny at times.
The game is not for everyone, though. The combat IS sluggish, though the scenery helps alleviate that a bit. Character creation is a bit lumpy, and when designing your character skills you might not put points where they should go to be effective.
Note: Dragon Age 2 makes the combat MUCH faster, but at the cost of a lack of exploration, and a story which doesn't QUITE measure up to the first.
Ok before I start I should say I love RPGs. I have played the shit out of the Final Fantasy games, lots of hours in The Elder scroll titles, and sunk my teeth into Fallout 3 a bit.
I have been playing Dragon age Origins and I honestly cannot find the appeal to this game. I have met alot of people who have spend countless hours into this game but I just can't bring myself to get that far into it. I can only get to level 5ish before getting bored as fuck.
What is the apeal on this game that just seems to draw people into it? Cause I do not see it. Maybe if someone explained it to me I might have a better time...
Myeah, level 5 is a bit early to make judgment. That being said, I was cynical about it early on too. And then I actually beat the game (which still is a good sign I guess), and my opinion didn't change. It's good enough in its own right. If only Bioware didn't have the audacity to call it a spiritual successor to Baldur's gate, because it really isn't.
(and I'll never forgive them for that 30 Seconds To Mars bullshit)
It gets better. It really does. It just doesn't get brilliant.
Story and characters are the biggest draw, if they don't move you in then there really is nothing more to explain.
But it does have a hamfisted approach of setting you into the world, they went with a grim dark theme which drops like a stone once you complete the intro mission.
Basically they slap you in the face with "save the world against unbeatable odds", every ally you had just died, you are blamed for their death, noone else will help you out, you are being hunted by the law, and none of your team mates has a fucking clue what to do, you are alone... have fun.
I am a big old school RPG fan but that transition was one tough cookie to swallow.
Every time I see a thread like this I feel a sudden urge to list every popular game I didn't like and then make a separate thread for each demanding an explanation from the world for daring to include people who have different taste in games. And then I calm down, and make a snarky post instead.
Seriously, though, is "people have different tastes" really not a good enough explanation?
I agree with you, but I kind of get why he might want to understand what people enjoyed in a game with such success. Maybe he's missing something that makes the game enjoyable, and feels left out. That's how I usually feel when I spend money on a successful game that I was "supposed to like".
Dragon Age is indeed a mediocre game. The combat was unbalanced and with a spellcaster it was way too easy. The story is a generic fantasy flick. But the thing I did like were the characters. I wouldn't say they were great or realistic. But it is still better than most games that try to give you character interaction. I think the characters were the highlight of Dragon Age.
Yeah, they were probably the best part. I did enjoy hanging out and talking with Morrigan, for example, but that by itself isn't a game. It was all the other stuff in between the good character interaction moments that dragged on too long for me. And speaking of it being too easy as a spellcaster, it probably didn't help that I accidentally picked a class you can apparently solo the entire game with (Mage->Arcane Warrior). Hold on while I stand here and never die. Heh.
I just replayed this (for probably the 15th or so time, actually) because I needed an extraction from Skyrim now that break is ending and I have to get back to school, but I still had some time to play games and wanted a familiar neighborhood to transition with - the DA titles. So I'll chime in since its fresh in my mind.
To the OP:
The first time is kinda rough. I got hooked by the story, but it seems you might not have yet. There is a LOT of trial and error, disappointments (most of which, I would argue, come from not being able to manipulate the world the way you, as a player, would really like to, because you haven't learned how everything fits together yet), and some frustration in the tedium of being THE ONLY HOPE OF THE WORLD....and still everyone's *****, apparently. It's rare in a game that the population of the game actually recognizes you as likely the only hope of avoiding disaster and that mixed the dynamic that the game still needs to make you do a bunch of small tasks all the time to level up and be an actual game seems to cause a dissonance in the message of the game to the player.
I do suggest you stick with it, because, as I will outline below, once you've played a few times, or mastered the concepts of how the game's pieces fit together the real fun begins.
MY enjoyment of the game through so so so many replays comes from being able to tell myself a different story every time. Because I know where all the awesome equipment is, because I know what dialog results in what responses, because I have become so familiar with what actions on my part yield what results I am able to construct a narrative around my character that feels so deep and vast at the same time when I play. I can't fully describe this without a lot of spoilers, and I feel the unspoiled play is so valuable I won't do that to you - but I will say that there is a reason there is so much fan fiction generated by this game - the story you tell yourself once you've got mastery of the game is a story you'll cherish. Stick with it if you can bear it.
It is a slow burn, that's true, but eventually you'll spoiler spoiler spoiler, spoiler spoiler.
I don't think that Dragon Age does anything new, per se, but it does incorporate a lot of stuff from other genres and sources and integrates them very well...which might actually be something new, dammit.
Also, that part where you spoiler spoiler with spoiler spoiler and learn that spoiler spoiler spoiler spoilered the spoilering spoiler...it's a HUGE payoff. A few amazing aspects of characters and scenarios get revealed though different playthroughs, like spoiler spoiler riverdane spoiler spoiler.
Hmmm, plays final fantasy. I wouldn't see the appeal of the console version of DAO either.
Only put up with the half-decent PC version, because tactical RPGs are so very rare.
Without RTS controls and the topdown view DAO would be unplayable for me.
The story, characters, and universe. I fell in love with them.
After a year of trying and failing to get into the game.
This is kind of a story, so I'll have a TL;DR at the end:
Back in May of 2010, after falling into some money, I finally got myself an XBox 360. I got a fuck ton of games to go with it, Dragon Age: Origins being one of them, as I like the occasional fantasy romp, and I <3 Bioware (still do, even today). When I started the game up, I was absolutely enthralled by the opening, and eventually by the characters of Alistair and Morrigan and their HILARIOUS banter. But after the battle of Ostagar, I just got bored with it. Redcliffe, at the time, utterly murdered me, and I felt bad about making my "good guy" character
sacrifice Isolde to save Connor, as I thought going to the Mage's Circle would actually effect things at Redcliffe.
I thought the beginning was amazing and the rest of it was boring standard fantasy tripe.
A few months later, I decided to give it another go, for Alistair's and Morrigan's sake. I got further (MUCH further) but once again I got bored after getting to the Brecilian Forest (which has, to date, been my least favorite part of both games, including every DLC, though I've yet to play Mark of the Assassin).
So, I gave up again.
And then, a little less than a year ago, I said "FUCK IT, one more chance. Just one." And so I started the game up, but I played a different origin. You see, before, I played the Human Noble.
This time? Dwarven Noble.
And I once again found myself enthralled. The Dwarves of Dragon Age became my favorite iteration of the race, because of their architecture, but more for their culture (from their reverence of ancestors and their Paragons to their ridiculous, sometimes hilariously so, political strifes).
Feeling much more interested in the game once more, I played through it, doing things differently here and there, and I finally found myself thoroughly enjoying most of it. But, I kinda started to grow bored again as I got to the temple that housed the Urn of Sacred Ashes. So, I took a break, and that weekend was PAX East. I met two people there.
One was an incredibly pretty girl in a Morrigan costume. We talked for a bit about the game. I very briefly explained my experience with the game. "You HAVE to finish it!" she said, "And make sure you play Witch Hunt! Spoiler warning: I may get stabbed." We had a laugh, and I told her I'd try my best.
Then the second person.
Daniel Erickson.
Lead writer of The Old Republic, and one of the writers for, you guessed it, Dragon Age: Origins.
After getting a chance to talk with him for a bit, I made a promise to beat the game. So I soldiered through.
And that's when I came to the Landsmeet. If anything. You should get through the game to that point to see everything you've done come to a culmination. After that, the final battle against the Archdemon felt even more satisfying, and a last-minute choice you have to make made me finally fall head-over-heals in love with the game.
The lesson to take out of my story, as well as the TL;DR:
It took me nearly a year to enjoy the game, because everything you do in the game feels far more important once you finally make it to the end. Fight through the boring parts and beat the game at least once. Even if you don't go on to play the DLC, Awakenings, or Dragon Age 2, it'll be worth it so you can see how that story ends.
But, it may be vastly different for you. You may end up hating it. I just feel like I've actually grown a sort of relationship with the game itself, as well as the characters and world within it, and it's the first time I've ever been able to say that.
It is a slow burn, that's true, but eventually you'll spoiler spoiler spoiler, spoiler spoiler.
I don't think that Dragon Age does anything new, per se, but it does incorporate a lot of stuff from other genres and sources and integrates them very well...which might actually be something new, dammit.
Also, that part where you spoiler spoiler with spoiler spoiler and learn that spoiler spoiler spoiler spoilered the spoilering spoiler...it's a HUGE payoff. A few amazing aspects of characters and scenarios get revealed though different playthroughs, like spoiler spoiler riverdane spoiler spoiler.
Welp, you don't like Dragon Age Origins, and that is your opinion.
The most notable thing about Dragon Age is the story. Bioware is famous for making great stories, and I must agree, Dragon Age is a REALLY slow burner. Still, I liked the story, that is what I found great about it. (And the interaction between your companions)
If this was a thread simply discussing it, that'd be groovy. As it stands, it's just another "I didn't like it despite the hype/popularity" thread, which will contain some bashing, some comparisons, a few people agreeing and far more defending said game. That'd make sense if it was something that had just been released and hadn't already been the subject of these threads.
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