Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age: Origins

[ItsAPaul]

I didn't expect the "when will someone make a unique fantasy" route, but its true. I'm surprised he didn't mention how a ton of the gameplay, story, and look were seemingly stolen from Dungeon Siege 2 (invasion from orc-looking guys with a random name, 4 player party with the exact same roles, yellow and orange names for harder enemies, towers everywhere for some reason, and so on).

PS - Who actually plays this type of game on a console? I didn't think for one second that doing so would be better than playing it on a pc. Hell, they had to completely change the gameplay of baldur's gate games to make them fly on whatever system you had.

 

[SantoUno]

Pretty good review, clever to have cut the credits by talking about the Game Contest winners.

 

[Liberaliterr]

Anyone else getting this error at the top of the page?

'Warning: Division by zero in /sixpack/web_ramdisk/sites/global/classes/class.ims_forums.thread.inc on line 391'

lol division by zero.

 

[Gyrefalcon]

YAAAY! I was really wondering about this game, my friends all liked it.
I have to say, I share the same disenchantment and dislike with Yahtzee over the issue of the same "elf, human, dwarf, Tolkien" concept. That actually is what made me not want to buy the game, because it looked like the definition of traditional fantasy, of which I'm bored out of my mind from. But I'm guessing, from Yahtzee and my friends, that they do it so well that it's still engrossing and enjoyable as if it was something brand new.

@Hallow's Eve: The 7 books (about to be 8) mentioned is George R.R. Martin's book series "A Song of Fire And Ice" (better known as A Game of Thrones), in which there are no elves and only one dwarf of very real-life make. I'm suspecting they turned the warring factions of humans into different races in Dragon Age. There is supposed to be a second video game based off his books so maybe that will have a different feel. But it is said that Cyanide Games picked up the rights and they plan a RTS and a RPG. I'm not sure if they partnered with Bioware or not. But given what I've heard about the PC version perhaps it is the RTS side of it. Not sure on that.

This flows like a checklist for why I only play FPSRPG's with a Sci-Fi feel. Tolkein was brilliant, but can we please innovate at least a little bit?

Tolkein based a chunk of his work off of "Des Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner (pronounced Vagner) which in turn is based of the tale of Siegfried. The dwarves are definitely coming from the Norse legends and the elves (dark and light) come from there but also from the English which might have been after the Germanic wars where they pushed for expansion. I'm not clear on that anymore. But I guess my point is that Tolkein dug around in the deeper mythologies and thus many writers/game makers follow suit. And it wouldn't be so bad if there was more in-depth stories involved instead of just a sprinkling of high fantasy flavor on top of a lot of games.

But given the clips I've seen of Dragon Age, I think there is a good chunk of the battles with the cold liches, huge dragons, and wooly mammoth creatures hiding in the game play. Indeed, it looked like they re-created battles only hinted at in the history of the books. So I am hopeful that the character depth will remain along with the rich storyline. I know it is not the same tale as the books but there is some very good epic-scale source material to draw from so I do expect the game will shine through the elf/dwarf/human veneer. (At least I hope so, because I've milked Oblivion for about all that it is worth!)

@Yahtzee: Thanks for your clear and honest review. Given that you don't tend to like fantasy RPG's having you become curious enough to play on actually says a lot. I look forward to your next review!

 

[ssgt splatter]

NICE! I actually liked the stonking great game contest rant more than dragon age orgins but good review as always.

What's going to be up next week?
Left 4 Dead 2
Assassin's Creed 2
Modern Warfare 2
All games that had prequels and that he has reviewed before. Oh, this is going to be interesting.

 

[WaderiAAA]

Seems he liked it pretty well. Personally I'm loving every minute of it, particulairly the dialogue and the choices you have to make along the way.

 

[Midniqht]

He hit it pretty spot on. Although it is a typical "fantasy" rpg game, and does have its issues, it's still fun to play and hard to put down. However, I seem to have spent most of my time in the game just trying to bang the chicks.

 

[Harvey_Danger]

I can't call Dragon Age: Origins a dark fantasy with a straight face, either. The characters are all just too funny and lovable for me to ever think about anything much other than how gorgeous the voice acting is. "'Eees not mangy!"

I like the moral choices they give you though, in that there actually isn't a good or evil choice; all the choices make sense in context and you don't get graded at the end, aside from the fact that some of your characters will or won't approve.

Perhaps it's because of the humour in the game, but I kind of got the sense that it was ticking off all the fantasy cliches deliberately, and then playing with them dungeons and dragons style, either as an homage, or as self-aware satire. Who knows? Maybe it's just the fact that it earns so many points for having such a well-rounded and unbelievably likable cast of characters that I'm completely oblivious to its flaws. Honestly, a game hasn't made me laugh this hard in this entire console generation. I could listen to Alistair and Morrigan bicker all day.

I completely agree. I could take or leave the combat... I keep playing because of the characters. I can't say no game has made me laugh this hard, but certainly no game has made me laugh so consistently and also had a decent plot to boot.

 

[loip9114]

great
Loved it when he started talking about the whole story of the thing and I just wandered off with my mind. Again great timing.

Fun as most of the time.

 

[EvilestDeath]

Pretty funny review...average and I love the mundane.

 

[Mahha]

Sweet review

sure beats "compelling"

 

[Ixal]

So, as far as my unsignificant self can say, I like (yes, present, not past form) Dragon Age so far, although I do hope that there are not only six different beginnings but also at least several possible endings and hopefully even som unique references to the specific starting-scenarios.

All major decisions affect the ending (Fallout style "X Happened because of your decision"). And there are several choices which do affect the ending in a big way.
Also, towards the end, your Origin matters again (except for mage I think. That one already matters mid game).

Pretty much yes. You have the typical bow-wielding elves from the woods, the bearded dwarves from deep below the earth who are always the first to be horribly raped when something evil comes and the humans who are practically incredibly average but pretty much awesome because of that.

Yes, elves wield bows. But considering that their only experience with warfare in the last 100 or so years are as hunters in the woods it makes sense. Its not as if they are all Legolas style superarchers. Its just the weapon they use most often (for hunting).
And you will be surprised when you enter the dwarven city when you see some not bearded dwarves (and no, they are not outcasts).
The dwarfs look more like the USA (political bickering) with a caste system thrown in. Not a really nice place to be.

And the humans being awesome...
Well, they do backstab each other to no end. Not a smart thing to do when the darkspawn knocks on the door.

 

[L4Y Duke]

He may not want to read this, but often the best way to get out of the RPG-standard bestiary is to go play a JRPG.

I imagine this presents itself as a Catch 22 for the man. On the one hand, he hates all Western RPGs that wear the Tolkien uniform (i.e. most of them not based around Star Wars) and likes their stories, but on the other hand he hates JRPGs for the stories but would probably like their assortment of non-LotR creatures.

Oh, dear.

 

[Minbad]

I hated this game so much... Took me 12 hours to figure THAT out. I am disappoint!
*goes back to some Baldur's Gate and Morrowind*

 

[tenco]

i love avenged seven fold <3

 

[Biscotti187]

this was sooo true dragon age is typical bioware + typical Fantasy and somehow it works! at least it worked well enough for me to beat it in 50 hours over 2 weeks so i guess i wasnt having sex with many girls

 

[katsa5]

Because I already bought Assassin's Creed 2, I would not be able to buy a game for a long time. Long time until I can play Dragon Age: Origin. I was hoping that your review would disillusion my enthusiasm. Great Video like always; but no disillusionment. I'm still excited! A game that kept Yatzee up all night? Wonderful! Although its nice to know the format is not 'revolutionary'.