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Just completed Dragon Age: Origins

Reapa

Doom Preacher
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
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2,340
Location
Germany
the combat is incredibly formulaic tank-healer-DPS MMO crap with cooldowns
Dude, Tank-Healer-DPS formula applies to almost every party-based RPG. Cooldowns are also very common (D&D-based games didn't have cooldowns but you could get your spells back on rest so nothing really prevented you from spamming them).

D:OS - the Codex GOTY 2015 - was Tank-Healer-DPS with cooldowns. Oh yeah, it had environmental effects. Well, DA:O had spell combos. One gimmick doesn't change the whole combat system.
D:OS is also crap
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,825
You've got to be kidding. The first few hours are the *worst* parts since it's almost all scripted scenes and blathering from NPCs to set up a rather cookie-cutter story and setting.
None of it is bad. Its actually quite decent, you have the origin and then your first asigment as a future grey warden, you find out about the old alliance and fight a few decent fights until your character dies a tragic hero. Good stuff.

Once you get to experience some actual gameplay and fiddle around with the variety of spells available to the mage, it becomes an above average game
You get to experience some actual gameplay in the first few hours, after that its p. much the same shit.

although probably not quite 'good'. And credit where credit's due, the game offers up a huge number of opportunities to be a complete and utter prick.
All i remember is that rewards for being a prick were shit.

But I'm not sure how Dragon Age scored more votes than Geneforge 5?
Codex gonna codex.
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
288
DAO was OK, and it being 2009, the game seemed good. Yes, Deep roads was one of the most boring dungeon crawls ever, the Origins part was a stupid gimmick, and the recruitable characters were based on common US high school student types: goth chick, artsy chick, jock with a heart of gold etc. But even so, after Oblivion and Fallout 3 it seemed a breath of fresh air.
 

Skittles

He ruins the fun.
Joined
Apr 20, 2011
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Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,110
I remember that some enemies, like the Mother, used Glyph of Neutralisation. Uldred used Anti magic ward.
And the spells i mentioned were deadly to mages too. I stopped to use Mana Clash because that was basicly a cheat.

I don't recall anyone using neutralisation, but whatever, if it's once a game, might have missed it. Same for anti-magic ward. You can't really use an ability once per an 80 hour long game and consider it a part of it.

Mana clash wasn't the only spell that felt like cheating. Entropic death, that combo irresistible aoe cc, cone of cold, etc.

Nope. You had one casting of Sleep, which is IWIN against hordes of enemies and you had one casting of Blindness, which basically acts as a Save-or-Die against individually powerful enemies (Tarnesh, Silke, the dwarf mercenary in Beregost). Its only up from there.

Meh, those were utility spells. Sure, you could take them, but then you'd be a utility guy, and your party members would have to do the actual action. In DA:O, you have awesome damage + utility from the start, and don't really need teammates other than as meat shields in front.

This is one of those " its RTwP and I realized it after only 70h- omg its shit!" threads.
Origins is a good game, not great but not shit.
OP should have played on nightmare if he thinks combat is easy.

Hhmm, let's see... I prefer RTwP to turn-based. Origins is shiiite. And I played with my main char as a 2h warrior, with mages only for support. This actually made the Hard difficulty pretty brutal in a lot of toughter fights. Other than that, your post is pretty spot on.

DA:O being RTwP isn't necessarily a deal-breaker. The deal-breaker is that the combat is incredibly formulaic tank-healer-DPS MMO crap with cooldowns where you fight the same three horribly HP-bloated enemy types over and over and over and over again for a hundred hours or so.

The revenants were the most annoying enemies, as far as hitpoint bloat. They all came in red, with thousands of hitpoints, and hit like a truck. Every fight needed 2 healers and spent 20 potions anyway. Ugh...
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
This troll account is a step above the usual. Cheers.

Genuine opinion on it. Appreciate it won't be everyone's, but personally I'd love to sets a DAO sequel with the roots of the original still there in tact.
Think difficulty & party choice made a significant difference to the enjoyablity, but I still found myself really enjoying it with a lot of setups.
 
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HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
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Location
Disco Elysium
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
uj1A5Oq.jpg
the fact geneforge get that low vote is proof, that codex isnt that monocled as they claim to be.

Eh what do i know i was naught but a high school junior in 2009
 

Naveen

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
1,115
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Only played a few hours of the game years ago, but I remember I laughed a lot. In my mind, it will be always associated with killing rats and then suddenly starting a scripted conversation where everyone is covered in gore and blood from tip to toe. Great game.
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,110
Meh, those were utility spells.
Let me guess, you measure your characters in DPS terms.

Not DPS per se, but I don't want to make my main char a utility toon for NPCs with bad AI. So Magic Missile all the way. ;)

Also, with the warriors being so underwhelming in DA:O, the only way I was able to complete it on Hard with a 2h Warrior main and 3 near useless support NPCs was by using the cheesiest of cheese in some key boss fights. Namely, you make Alistair cast Taunt, and then have Morrigan or Wynne cast Force Field on him, making him immune to all damage for 30 seconds or so. The enemy AI is so braindead, it will continue attacking him and ignore all other party members, allowing me to get through some tough boss fights like Jarvia, Broodmother, Branka with Golems and so on. I don't think it's possible to beat those on Hard or Insane without a well leveled mage otherwise.
 

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
You've got to be kidding. The first few hours are the *worst* parts since it's almost all scripted scenes and blathering from NPCs to set up a rather cookie-cutter story and setting.
None of it is bad. Its actually quite decent, you have the origin and then your first asigment as a future grey warden, you find out about the old alliance and fight a few decent fights until your character dies a tragic hero. Good stuff.

Meh. I didn't find the plot all that inspiring, so the first few hours of cut-scene/dialogue heavy exposition didn't really impress me.

All i remember is that rewards for being a prick were shit.

Just off the top of my head, two class specializations (Blood Mage and Reaver) can only be unlocked by performing some heinous actions. But then again, since when did tangible rewards need to be provided? The mere fact that you can bait and switch Alistar during the Landsmeet, and then tell Anora to execute him, is pretty damn hilarious.
 

Turjan

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
5,047
I still have to finish this. I think I played a bit more than half of the game. One day.

Of course, I never really liked the whole setting and story of this game in the first place, which was the first point against it.
The second was darkspawn, darkspawn and more darkspawn. Did I mention darkspawn?
The final nail was halfway self-inflicted. Although I didn't really like blood magic and the concept behind it, it was so overpowered that my main char and Wynn (or whatever her name was) had this as one of their specializations. Which didn't really prevent Wynn from whining about how evil blood magic was. Unfortunately, the game didn't let me go and tell her "Silly, don't you actually notice what you are doing all day?" But no, like the rest of the game world, she saw or noticed nothing.
At that point I sighed and stopped playing.
 

Lady_Error

█▓▒░ ░▒▓█
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1,879,250
So people actually finish games to confirm how horrible they are?
 

Turjan

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
5,047
So people actually finish games to confirm how horrible they are?
Well, how many good RPGs are there? If you don't want to play your favorites over and over again, you also have to put up with the mediocre ones from time to time. It wouldn't be the first RPG that took me nearly a decade from start to finish. After a long break, I may be able to tolerate some darkspawn again.
 

Commissar Draco

Codexia Comrade Colonel Commissar
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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
So people actually finish games to confirm how horrible they are?

Yes at-least 7 times Comrade. Personally did not thought it was as bad game then; now I played lot better and have far less time for gaming so go only after :obviously: tittles... but Comrade VD did a positive review I agree on even today. 2nd and 3rd parts were garbage though.
 

Delterius

Arcane
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Dec 12, 2012
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15,956
Location
Entre a serra e o mar.
So Magic Missile all the way.
Oh my god that 1d4 damage is so amazing compared to permanently disabling a party 4HD enemies. Or blinding the enemy spellcaster.

Much like with cRPGs, it's never about the present, but the glorious future. Eventually, that 1d4 will become a 5d4, while the sleep will only work on rats and squirrels.
Yeah, and then you stop destroying everything with Sleep and stock on Magic Missiles.
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,825
So people actually finish games to confirm how horrible they are?
To this day i cant bring myself to finish pillows. its just that horrible. DA:O is a work of art and the second coming all in one when you compare it to that thing obsidian released.
But yeah, as long as its playable and i dont feel like taking a nap every time i get into a fight or a dialogue ill eventually finish most games.
 

Frozen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
8,303
I would play pillows if it had less text...so much reading feels like school again.
If I wanted to read I would take some good book not waste my time on Sawyers pseudo-intellectual masturbation.
 

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