Dragon Age restored my faith in next gen RPG

[Amateur]

Throughout my playthrough I noticed trash mobs becoming noticeably harder to kill for no apparent reason. The random encounter with wolves and bear traps was the hardest fight in the game. While far more playable than Oblivion, DA doesn't account for the increase in power, which was my primary complaint. You'd expect facing tougher variants of enemies as the game progresses, not the same enemies but with three times more health.

Complaining about it is something claiming that level scaling is worse then Oblivion is another.

Your second claim is NONSENSE, period. The level scaling in DA is is much better compared to the oblivion crap. It is still a "flaw" but at least adds fun to average encounter.

I'm done talking that crappy game, you patch it or not Oblivion is just a pile of shit...


BTW Daggerfall also had level scaling but the game was still magnificent. That game was how a free roaming gameworld should have been. From the recent sandbox games only Gothic was worth playing...

 

[sheek]

DA level scaling is pretty bad by any measure in my experience (which doesn't include Oblivion which I never touched). Doesn't break the game, but it is annoying.

 

[Vibalist]

It's one of those guys that have a nickname which describes them pretty well.
You know, like our Serious_Business and Dicksmoker.

And then there's Black, for the black eyeliner he applies every morning while getting ready for another day of emo-whining about pc games that don't meet his ridiculous expectations.

 

[King Crispy]

I remember once upon a time I also introduced myself to the Codex by espousing (an expansion to) another controversial RPG. It went well, I thought.

It's taken me almost 2000 posts to undo that sin and I don't think I'll ever be truly forgiven.

Dragon Age is yet another example of a game that starts out promising, then begins to eat itself alive. Keep playing it and you'll likely come to the same realization. Once it becomes a mind-numbing chore to get through it, you've got to step back from the built-up fanaticism and admit it sucks at that point. It's a shame, because going through the Fade at the beginning and fighting in the tower and all that - I thought this was going to turn out to be a serious contender for best RPG evar. It isn't. It's fun at first, but it now sits awaiting my attention again until I'm quite bored or some sort of major improvement to the game comes out via patch or something. I'd have to conclude also that the level scaling and the consolization/retardization of it spelled its doom.

Bah, but this is probably falling on deaf ears. Er, eyes. Or whatever.

(deaf eyes? wtf was I thinking?)

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

How so? I understand that some loots are scaled, while some are available in shops earlier. High priced items are available from the get go from shops but the DLC items are obviously imbalanced.

When you give the players freedom to pick 4 different areas to tackle at any order, it is obvious the challenge rating must be at least 'hard, but manageable' to compensate for these freedom. It's hard to predict what route the party would take honestly, I thought it was pretty messed up when no other areas sell infinite health poultice ingredients, hence for a first time player they may struggle a lot when they picked Orzammar as their first stop. I tried to go Deep Roads first on my other playthrough and got stomped by a fireball followed with a chain lightning cast in less than 5 seconds.

Worse than Oblivion is a terrible claim. Try entering a tavern at level one and see nothing but leather clad warriors, only to return after 10 levels later finding them all fully decked in neon green glass armor.

Oblivion scales like a Dungeon Master. The encounter tables shift so weaker creatures become less common and stronger creature more. I personally thought it was a terrible design. Zelda didn’t scale and everyone loved Zelda. I digressssss.... The one thing about Oblivion's scaling that I dont see as a net posative but still something that makes it more bareale than DA is that things change. The encounter table changes.

With DA the encounter tables don’t change or at least the change is not noticeable enough to matter. It’s the same creatures with more HP and the ability to deal more damage. Dragons don’t seem to scale but that’s because they are ungodly hard and you can only fight them at high lvls.

 

[JarlFrank]

Oblivion scales like a Dungeon Master. The encounter tables shift so weaker creatures become less common and stronger creature more.

No. It's not more or less common. It's "at level one, all enemies are between levels 1 and 3" and "at level 20, all enemies are between level 18 and 22". There is no probablity of a level 20 enemy appearing at level 1 at all, nor is there any probablity of even a level 12 enemy appearing at level 20. The whole game just scales around you. Every single person and item in the game has the same level as you. That's what makes it so horribly bad.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

Oblivion scales like a Dungeon Master. The encounter tables shift so weaker creatures become less common and stronger creature more.

No. It's not more or less common. It's "at level one, all enemies are between levels 1 and 3" and "at level 20, all enemies are between level 18 and 22". There is no probablity of a level 20 enemy appearing at level 1 at all, nor is there any probablity of even a level 12 enemy appearing at level 20. The whole game just scales around you. Every single person and item in the game has the same level as you. That's what makes it so horribly bad.

I saw mud crabs and rats in the high teens and maybe 20s too which was before I moded away that shit. I dont remeber but I know I saw them after I 'earned' Adoring Fan and didnt even touch the Arena until I was in the high teens. I lmao a few times when he ran from mud crabs and there were rats in the final Thief Guild quest. You are right about low levels though.

 

[Amateur]

Things doesn't change in oblivion. You encounter ogre's (or whatever ...t they are) and no matter what level you are they are equally hard lots of other examples.

Still discussing how disgusting the game was I think that's oblivions biggest achievement....

 

[Vibalist]

Dragon Age is yet another example of a game that starts out promising, then begins to eat itself alive. Keep playing it and you'll likely come to the same realization. Once it becomes a mind-numbing chore to get through it, you've got to step back from the built-up fanaticism and admit it sucks at that point. It's a shame, because going through the Fade at the beginning and fighting in the tower and all that - I thought this was going to turn out to be a serious contender for best RPG evar. It isn't. It's fun at first, but it now sits awaiting my attention again until I'm quite bored or some sort of major improvement to the game comes out via patch or something. I'd have to conclude also that the level scaling and the consolization/retardization of it spelled its doom.

While I see your point I think it is a bit harsh. I guess it boils down to whether or not one likes the combat. If the combat is, at a minimum, tolerable for you, then there are plenty of high points and good roleplaying opportuneties to look forward to.

I myself enjoyed the Deep Roads.

 

[Black]

ridiculous expectations.

You made my day, Gaider.

 

[Vibalist]

ridiculous expectations.

You made my day, Gaider.

Good to know, Skyway. Keep fighting the good cause while being a melodramatic and crazy video game fanatic.

 

[King Crispy]

I wish there were some reward to playing the game on Hard difficulty level, like more xp or better loot (there isn't, right?)

Give me some justification for all that bad, poorly designed combat other than as obstacles in the way of the next plot arc. I'm just not that sadistic.

You've GOT to throw in some satisfying munch n' crunch of lower level enemies once in a while to empart that sense of power. Otherwise it's all punishment of the player, that and to keep the level scaling going. I'm afraid I may never finish DA, just thinking about it.

 

[Phelot]

I could only get to the first village before I got bored with the game. The story was just no good in my opinion. It reminds me of those fantasy novels you see at book stores. I like fantasy and yet these novels are so incredibly unoriginal and predictable that it makes me wonder why anyone reads them. And yet people do and they enjoy them and that's ok. Maybe these folks can just enjoy it for what they are.

DA is like one of these novels and it baffles me why it was hyped so much. Perhaps because there are so few "RPGs" coming out. Who knows.

Regardless, I remember listening to some priestess at the beginning talk about some lore and, although I was listening, I couldn't help whisper under my breathe "this sucks..." it was just uninspiring. Everything is well written, the voice acting is even ok, it's just that nothing interesting is ever being said. Nothing is bold or creative, it's all very 21st century, LOTR like.

Ahh who cares what I have to say, I already complained in other threads when DA first came out.

 

[Secretninja]

Go go 10 pages.

 

[The Village Loon]

Why is it so hyped and liked in general? Made by non-gamers for non-gamers.

All of my "casual non-gamer wow playing friends" love Dragon Age. Why? Graphix, easy story, easy to follow dialogue, easy to get into, easy to play, characters, sex.. Oddly they all play WoW and other MMOs on the PC but Dragon Age on the console. These are the people who give it 10/10 and love it to death. And I bet none (0%) of them have played Fallout 1&2 or Arcanum.

Come on. The game clearly was not designed for the JA2/XCOM/MOO2/GoldBox/Arcanum/Fallout1&2 playing gamer. FFS it is like Dr. Stranglove vs. Armageddon.

 

[Hory]

Original Poster removed my faith in next gen RPGCodexers

 

[santino27]

I wish there were some reward to playing the game on Hard difficulty level, like more xp or better loot (there isn't, right?)

Given how poor the item system was, (it's really sad when even loot acquisition -- one of the few things most RPGs manage to get right -- becomes dull and tired), I'm not sure that offering more loot on hard would help anything. And, why would you want more xp? So you can experience more of a very light character advancement scheme, while participating in the same dull combat against level scaled opponents?

Hmm. I'm also baffled at the love this game is getting. I really wanted to like it. I instead find myself wanting to rant endlessly about it. I guess that's what happens when hopes are dashed.

 

[TheCrimsonKing]

Throughout my playthrough I noticed trash mobs becoming noticeably harder to kill for no apparent reason.

Indeed. In my case, it only occurred four or five times in all so it wasn't too bothersome, though it's rather odd to watch a high level party demolish a boss in seconds, only to be annihilated by a bunch of frickin' wolves or poorly equipped bandits on the way to the next area.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

Things doesn't change in oblivion. You encounter ogre's (or whatever ...t they are) and no matter what level you are they are equally hard lots of other examples.

Still discussing how disgusting the game was I think that's oblivions biggest achievement....

Yes yes things definitely change and thats not a good thing but the changes arent absolute though they still go too far.

There is no reason to make dramatic changes to the encounters in a game. Really dangerous crits should be off the path, deeper in a dungeon, or less likely to rob a broke low level PC. Weaker crits & mobs should take precautions against higher level PCs. Realism is a great blueprint.

 

[Begriffenfeldt]

Worse than Oblivion is a terrible claim. Try entering a tavern at level one and see nothing but leather clad warriors, only to return after 10 levels later finding them all fully decked in neon green glass armor.

Yes, but in Dragon Age you can't fight or interact with the tavern patrons anyway. Why bother leveling them when they're only there for show?

The game lacks interactivity.

 

[doctor_kaz]

I haven't read this whole thread, but I'm about 25-30 hours into this game and I think that the level scaling really sucks. I am really surprised that even hardcore RPG fans aren't mentioning this flaw very often if at all. If you ask me, Bethesda did a better job with scaling in Fallout 3 than Bioware did with this game. Every RPG that I have ever loved has provided a great deal of satisfaction from the sensation of my lowly novice growing into a powerful machine. My guys are still only level 14 so maybe things willl feel different to me in a while, but the game completely strikes out when it comes to giving you that feeling of progression and increasing power. In this area, it's the worst Bioware game ever made. I haven't had this much of a treadmill feeling since I played Oblivion. This is why Risen is a better game than Dragon Age. This is a shame because this game has a lot going for it. Combat is fantastic and loaded with variety in the battles and tactical options. The role-playing system is excellent. One of the best ever made. I like the story and the dialog and I like the lore. I like the mini-stories in the side quests. But level scaling has become my absolute pet peeve in RPG design today. It's lazy game design and it's one of the worst trends in gaming right now. Everyone wants to brag about how big their gaming world is, but nobody wants to craft a refined experience. I'm pretty disappointed in this game, but not for the reasons that I thought I would be.

 

[bhlaab]

BTW Dragon Age has been in development for like 10 years so don't look forward to any more games like it, expect DA2 to be made for consoles specifically

 

[doctor_kaz]

I agree with whoever said that Megaton is a better RPG city than Denerim. DA suffers badlly from shitty technology. The lack of improvement to this engine over games like NWN and NWN 2 is really disappointing. The areas are small and the game doesn't appear to be able to support many NPCs on the screen at once. This really hurts the game in what is supposed to be a "big" city. The big cities in the Infinity Engine were way better. I can't wait until we can finally kick some dirt on this bowl of piss technology that has dominated PC RPGS since Neverwinter Nights came out. The Infinity Engine was a hundred times better for its day and it has aged better than any 3D Bioware games.

Also, most of the dungeons drag on for about one level too long. The dungeon to get the Urn of Sacred Ashes is a frigging marathon. Bioware hasn't been able to design interesting dungeons since Throne of Bhaal.

 

[bhlaab]

I can't wait until we can finally kick some dirt on this bowl of piss technology that has dominated PC RPGS since Neverwinter Nights came out. The Infinity Engine was a hundred times better for its day and it has aged better than any 3D Bioware games.

No, what's going to happen is we'll get the same small cities but they'll look nicer and nicer.

 

[Risine]

DA is a good game, especially compared to last big - marketing - productions like ME and other F3.
But it's stil not worth an IE game.
Main drawbacks for this game?

_ Awful visuals, characters are ok despite face expressions, but places, exteriors, are completely ugly, even compared to some 3/4 years old games. ( I find it very strange for a big AAA title, why have they done that? ).

_ No exploration as we had in BG. And the main grief I already had with NWN1&2, you just follow a narrow path, either inside or outside, surrounded by walls or hills.

_ I like the difficulty, sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's a real pain to win a battle.

_ WTF with this single inventory system ?!?????
BG inventory was clear, easy to deal with, why changing this?
Globally, BG interface was far more intuitive.

_ A little too linear to my taste, but narrative is ok, and cinematics have made some progress other NW2, cameras are not looking at the ground depending on...who knows !!!