Game News Desslock – Decline of Gaming and Dragon Age II

[Befuddled Halfling]

I'm done dealing with newfags who work hard to earn their title. It's all very typical and very predictable: "You hate every game that came out after 2000, every game that is 3D and every game that is real-time/isn't turn-based, blah blah blah". Year after year. Always. The Same. Completely .Unsupported. Bullshit. Bullshit that's proven false every time a new game comes out and again anytime a discussion about any recent game takes off. Gotta ask, do you even read the Codex at all? or just go with the popular outsider opinion of "them Codexers don't like a single game since 2000" bullshit? Not a real question, don't bother answering since the answer is obvious (and I've already pressed the Awesome KKKodeks Butan! and something awesome indeed happened). I mean, it gets tiresome to respond to such unsubstantiated bullshit after a point. Not any fun either. I myself alone can think of at least 10 games released since 2000 that enjoy relatively high opinions of Codexers. And that's excluding some console games (yes, a good amount of people here even think that some exclusively console RPGs are rather good. Hard to believe? Well that's why your opinions sucks and isn't worth a shit.)

I guess this is aimed at me in part - so for what it's worth - I started gaming on an 8088 PC and spent an entire school holiday on Ultima IV. Been playing BD&D since 1984. Lurking on the Codex since Oblivious (yeah, it only clicked then, late bloomer thing). My preferred combat system is turn based, and my dick is approximately 5.7 inches. So no awesome butans for me, despite the join date.

No-one's denying that games, and particularly RPGs, have been getting dumber since 2003 and its good that at least on the Codex, we don't just bend over and take it. And that we measure new stuff against games that had a soul, gameplay and depth, however many years ago they were released. It's not the hate per se for a new shit game that I personally am butthurt about (throwing around the accusations of nostalgia goggles). I'm just trying to understand if the criticism of DAO is rational or knee-jerk. Serious or tongue in cheek. A matter of taste, or a matter of 'fact'. In judging what are the terms of reference? Is it to the classics only? I'm trying hard to get to a point where I can understand the perspective of those calling it shit, to at least achieve an 'agree to disagree' stage...

 

[sgc_meltdown]

well old man when it was released Dragon Age Origins was voted codex game of the year with the second being Risen

I think the clown makeup wore off and the codex now sees the hideous hagbeast from babylon for what it is

or something

 

[Jasede]

One of the Codex' darkest moments. I blame chemtrails.

 

[Volourn]

"well old man when it was released Dragon Age Origins was voted codex game of the year"

Codex also had MW AS A GAME OF THE YEAR... hard to take codex seriously...


Anyways, desslock is a tool and it has little to do with his opinion on DA2. This is the same moran who claimed that NWN wasn't going to be released, and because of it, BIO would no longer exist. LMFAO What a fukkin' looser.

 

[circ]

As a result, here's my own treatise of what this anti-KKKodeks movement defending shit games can be broken down to:
snip

A shame that the perceived way to KoolKodexKredits is to unreflectively herp-derp-bash every game that came out after 2000/1995/1990 and at the same time brag about playing old games that very often sport exactly the same faults.

I'm not saying that many of the games don't deserve it either way, but it's sad that thanks to this most of the time a discussion will not go beyond even the most minimal of standards.

While I think that it's naive to hope that any major developer might take criticism from the codex to the heart, I have to somewhat agree with our hairy-footed friend here.

Then again, I'm only a 2011 newfag, so who cares?

Selective browsing much 2011 newfag? There have been plenty of games praised more or less very recently. FNV -- which I still think is shit, but that's me -- Drakensang 2, Divinity 2, and so on. All cRPG's or close enough if you think BioWare makes RPG's.

Maybe DAO and DA2 didn't get praised because WONDER OF WONDERS they were shit? You think they didn't make shitty games in 1995?

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

I think the clown makeup wore off and the codex now sees the hideous hagbeast from babylon for what it is

or something

Some posters only show up here when a new game is released and desert in the interim period between releases, hence the difference in majority opinion.

 

[Gord]

Selective browsing much 2011 newfag? There have been plenty of games praised more or less very recently. FNV -- which I still think is shit, but that's me -- Drakensang 2, Divinity 2, and so on. All cRPG's or close enough if you think BioWare makes RPG's.

Maybe DAO and DA2 didn't get praised because WONDER OF WONDERS they were shit? You think they didn't make shitty games in 1995?

Maybe more of getting selectively upset by some repeated posts that I percieve as overly biased, dear 2009wannabe-oldfag.

Mind you, never did I say that DA:O is TEH GERTEAST GAEM EVAR!!1!!11!!. In fact I did say that I only recently bought it and have not made my mind up yet.
I merely remarked that bashing the game for its horrible graphics is greatly exaggerated.

 

[Begriffenfeldt]

Wait, people still play games on computers? lol

Get with the times, asslock.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

You can play on the PC if you want to feel like you're doing your taxes with the mouse and keyboard

If you want to feel like a gamer the controller is the way to go

 

[Sad He-Man]

One of the Codex' darkest moments. I blame chemtrails.

Still a lurker back then, I interpreted it as a vote of, well, hope directed at Bioware and fueled by the love for isometric, tatical RPGs of the past (or at least by the love for IE games) and not a vote about the quality of DA:O.

How it runed out, we can all see.

 

[Metro]

Saying Pagan is better than DAO is like saying Hepatitis is better than AIDS. You don't make a very good case for a flawed game by comparing it favorably to an even worse one.

 

[sser]

DA:O definitely had some strong encounter designs in it. IMO:

- All the bosses except the Ogres were pretty good. There were a lot of really strong boss fights in DA:O.

- Any non-Archdemon dragon fight.

- Sacred Ashes area had many great fights usually set up in large rooms. Probably the best area in the game.

- Werewolves vs. Elves.

- Revenant with skeleton archers in the forest; Revenant in the Tower; Revenant in that castle

- Multiple tricky fights in the warehouse; there is a solid beginner fight in the first tower you fight through in the game; fighting that giant spider in the caverns that would immobilize your team while it darted around from above


DA:O also had an assload of filler. I think anyone who did the Deep Roads area first would have a negative perception of the game as a whole and I could not blame them in the least. First impressions mean a fuckton to how people perceive anything, games included. I often consider that games I hate could be games I love, and vice versa, had I played them in a different mood.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

The real question is which has better combat encounters, Dragon Age Origins or Arcanum?

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

The real question is which has better combat encounters, Dragon Age Origins or Arcanum?

my vote goes to witcher 1. i fukking loved endless swamps

 

[sgc_meltdown]

fukking loved endless swamps

is it because they remind you of your country?

 

[felipepepe]

I think anyone who did the Deep Roads area first would have a negative perception of the game as a whole and I could not blame them in the least. First impressions mean a fuckton to how people perceive anything, games included. I often consider that games I hate could be games I love, and vice versa, had I played them in a different mood.

True, I did Deep Roads last, so DA:O had already gained enough respect from me.

Arcanum was the other way, as I started the game with an pure fighter character and was disapointed by the horrible combat. Only after reading some reviews and focusing to ignore the combat I found out how amazing & complex the game world is.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

is it because they remind you of your country?

you got me
fukking potato land....snow in may

 

[sgc_meltdown]

snow in may

I think you must find the wizard that cursed your land with this unnatural weather and kill him.

 

[Radisshu]

snow in may

I think you must find the wizard that cursed your land with this unnatural weather and kill him.

http://www.oglaf.com/snowbound/

(nsfw)

 

[Mangoose]

I think anyone who did the Deep Roads area first would have a negative perception of the game as a whole and I could not blame them in the least. First impressions mean a fuckton to how people perceive anything, games included. I often consider that games I hate could be games I love, and vice versa, had I played them in a different mood.

True, I did Deep Roads last, so DA:O had already gained enough respect from me.

Same, I did the Dwarf noble origin, and did Deep Roads last, and boy was there some bait and switch going on.

 

[7hm]

The combat from DA was no less mindless than 90% of the combat in the MM series, including the fantastic MM3.

Every RPG has questionable combat when you play it for hours on end. I was ok with DA's combat. Not great but not goddawful. It's not like I've seen anything incredible that wasn't turnbased... and even then it can get boring / aggravating after enough time. Wizardry 8 was pretty good.

 

[Reptilian Shapeshifter]

snow in may

I think you must find the wizard that cursed your land with this unnatural weather and kill him.

I blame chemtrails.

 

[Catalina]

Thanks to recent steam sale I'm only now playing DA:O for the first time and not very far in, but yes, there are encounters where you can see that they have been designed with some thought behind them. They are not exactly the majority as far as I can tell, but they are present. In those cases employing some tactics does actually help.
It's offset somewhat by many other combats that consist of the same few enemies, however.
Also, after reading about them in the Codex I'm dreading the Deep Roads...

Personally, I played the Deep Roads last, and thought they were all right. It was long, but there was enough atmosphere and mystery to keep it interesting enough to encourage me to push through. To me, it wasn't and endless rage-quit inducing tunnel of draining filler encounters that it gets credit for. Not compared to, say, the orc tunnels in Neverwinter Nights 2. But then again, I'm an atmosphere-fag, and don't really scrutinize combat.

What I hate in DA:O is the goddamned elf forest. It's generic, boring, nonsensical, and lasts way too fucking long.

 

[Commissar Draco]

What I hated in DAO was fade trip, forced even on magicproof dwarfa people. Deep roads were OK for most part I was more pissed on Carta dungeon which was pointless from plot angle. If they did it like an investigation with option to use her on the end it woud be more satisfing than another 15 minutes of whackamole.

 

[Shannow]

One of the Codex' darkest moments. I blame chemtrails.

Und die Kondensstreifen von Flugzeugen am Himmel sind in Wirklichkeit eine Biowaffe der Verschwörer!

Do you read SP or is that just another meme that I hadn't noticed till now?