Dragon Age impressions

[fastpunk]

...

:SLURP: :SLURP: :SLURP:

Redding is teh hard, eh?

 

[circ]

I don't see why you can't just call a cock a cock. Instead, like 'gaming journalists', you have to avoid the harsh words and call it a penis or some such. You're just making excuses for mediocrity, just maybe not as vigorously as GameSpot et al. GameSpot swallows and deepthroats, you just slobber it around in your mouth a bit but still swallow. As for not having played it, ugh, I don't need to play the Shivering Isles to know it's shit after having played Oblivion for some time. I could have surmised FO3 sucked badly but I did eventually try it out. That didn't change my impressions of it, in fact, it just made them worse.

 

[Ch1ef]

Im uploading more than I am Downloading...SEED guys please...let us ALL enjoy this great game...SHARE...SEED!

Because sharing is caring!

 

[Arem]

Yohoho, got the 'demo' myself. So you know what this means: first impressions time!

I played through the origin story and just became a Grey Warden. I picked a dalish elf rogue, so I got the dalish elf origin story. I'll be straight here: the whole part I played was railroad with not one choice in sight. Dialogue wise, I had one persuade check in a minor convo about my char's background, and that's about it. Most dialogue options were typical bioware fluff that leads to the same response. However, I must say that the writing is decent thus far. Some of the lore entries in the codex were quite interesting, and most dialogues were alright (though nothing spectacular, but at least nothing cringe-worthy so far). The thing is, the origin story was very bland overall. Maybe it's just my luck and this origin story isn't that well crafted, others might be better. Thus far it's about on par with NWN2's first act in terms of blandness, which isn't flattering.

I have to disagree with some people in regards to combat, which feels much closer to NWN2 than Infinity engine games. True, the DA engine lends itself to a variety of play styles, but functionally it feels like it was made with a NWN2-like control scheme in mind first and foremost (top-down view for combat, char view for exploration, keep direct control only over main char, correct the AI if need be). In fact, that's how I'm playing it and it feels very comfortable (and enjoyable I might add). Plus, the health and mana regeneration after combat has a similar effect to the permissive resting system from vanilla NWN2. Oh, and the 'death' system is also like in vanilla NWN2. It's not the ideal RTwP combat system, but it works fine.

The tech side is solid, the game runs smoothly, and I like the menus and HUD elements (journal, inventory, hotbar etc.), they feel polished and functional. The game doesn't look that good though, specially exteriors involving wild areas. The (so far at least) generic art direction doesn't help either. I'd say The Witcher looks much better, and in some instances even NWN2.

To conclude, the beginning was anemic as far as the campaign goes. However, I must stress that the engine seems like a very solid foundation for builders, which is why I'm curious what the likes of Adam Miller or Ossian Studios will do with it. And I'm obviously not tossing aside the DA:O campaign yet, I will continue to play some more. But I hope it gets better.

Thanks for the impressions!
Apparently DAO should get better after you complete the origin part.

 

[MetalCraze]

So people were comparing this game to BG? Fine I'll give you some o' dat BG.

It doesn't matter if you start each combat encounter at full strength if the combat encounters in and of themselves are individually challenging.

It does matter. Read below why

Also, you don't start every encounter at full strength. When someone "dies" and comes back at the end of combat, they take injuries.

So what? The character doesn't die. Injuries won't be there for long.

But, if there were an MMO where I could play with a 5-6 character party and jump around between party members, it might actually become enjoyable. As with regenerating health, it's not necessarily the concept itself that's flawed, just the popular implementations of it.

It's MMO in the sense that it plays like one - you basically have tanks who aggro mobs, you have DDs and you have healers. This is why I dislike IE combat too. It's boring. I like how it was done in RPGs Sir-tech developed/published where it was much more varied than that (as well as in PnP/emulated-PnP DnD games). But heh those are 10+ years old games, it's impossible to do such ancient-gen game design with current technologies.

So why DA can't be challenging? Because it isn't even on a lvl of BG (which people that bring it in as an example never played I'm sure) - and BG is far from hardkkkore. You see in BG your characters could die. I want to see my fucking characters die. I want to see them vaporized not their "head cripplied" because I've made a mistake and I want to live with that. I want to spend 40 minutes in a dungeon being raped by a bunch of low-lvl mobs just because harder ones left me crawling with only so much hp and spell casts left and because "you can't rest at this time" - and finally get out of that dungeon with the "halleluja" feeling and immediately set up a camp only to have my whole party wiped out by a bunch of spiders that jumped on my party while it was resting. Low-lvl spiders ya, no level scaling attached.
This is BG. BG can be like that on normal. DA can't be like that on hard.
I don't even ask for harder games like Wiz where you can get everyone in your party killed by your own backfired spell.

 

[Silellak]

So people were comparing this game to BG? Fine I'll give you some o' dat BG.

It doesn't matter if you start each combat encounter at full strength if the combat encounters in and of themselves are individually challenging.

It does matter. Read below why

Also, you don't start every encounter at full strength. When someone "dies" and comes back at the end of combat, they take injuries.

So what? The character doesn't die. Injuries won't be there for long.

But, if there were an MMO where I could play with a 5-6 character party and jump around between party members, it might actually become enjoyable. As with regenerating health, it's not necessarily the concept itself that's flawed, just the popular implementations of it.

It's MMO in the sense that it plays like one - you basically have tanks who aggro mobs, you have DDs and you have healers. This is why I dislike IE combat too. It's boring. I like how it was done in RPGs Sir-tech developed/published where it was much more varied than that (as well as in PnP/emulated-PnP DnD games). But heh those are 10+ years old games, it's impossible to do such ancient-gen game design with current technologies.

So why DA can't be challenging? Because it isn't even on a lvl of BG (which people that bring it in as an example never played I'm sure) - and BG is far from hardkkkore. You see in BG your characters could die. I want to see my fucking characters die. I want to see them vaporized not their "head cripplied" because I've made a mistake and I want to live with that. I want to spend 40 minutes in a dungeon being raped by a bunch of low-lvl mobs just because harder ones left me crawling with only so much hp and spell casts left and because "you can't rest at this time" - and finally get out of that dungeon with the "halleluja" feeling and immediately set up a camp only to have my whole party wiped out by a bunch of spiders that jumped on my party while it was resting. Low-lvl spiders ya, no level scaling attached.
This is BG. BG can be like that on normal. DA can't be like that on hard.
I don't even ask for harder games like Wiz where you can get everyone in your party killed by your own backfired spell.

Now see? This was actually a decent post that explained your issues with DA's gameplay mechanics beyond "regenerating health and level scaling are for next-gen Codex fags who suck Bioware cock".

You should try it more often.

For the record, I agree with you, and wish DA was more akin to BG in that regard. But I'm also not going to dismiss DA entirely simply because it isn't like BG. Depending on how severe the post-"death" injuries are, how much they stack, and how difficult they are to heal, it might lead to the same "crippled-party" effect that you described from BG1. I imagine facing a dungeon boss in DA after everyone in the party has "died" 5 or 6 times will be an interesting experience.

Regarding the difficulty of the Wizardry games - it seems like a random "backfired spell" whiping out your entire party isn't "challenging" so much as "needless frustration because of a failed die roll" that just leads to "save/reload-until-it-doesn't-happen" syndrome. Without having played them though, I could be mistaken.

 

[Saxon1974]

What difficulty are you all playing?

I selected "Nightmare" knowing that most modern games are far too easy. I just got the Grey Warden camp and it hasn't been that challenging so far.

Does it get much harder once you finish the origin story?

 

[citizenx]

I don't see why you can't just call a cock a cock. As for not having played it, ugh,

Hey asshole...shut the fuck up!

You haven't played it, you decided you don't like it...good for you, now shut up. Your gay porn diatribe is worthless. If you've played post impressions...you are actually worse than the paid reviewers with glowing praise intent on keeping advertising $$$.
Grow up, get a life, use some intelligence...but by all means shut up you fucking idiot.

I'd much rather hear feedback impressions from those who have played, not from retarded punk ass bitches like you.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Ch1ef = 4chan faggot

Anyway, I picked up the game. I have class so I can't play yet, but I have a feeling if you go in not expecting PS:T quality writing and JA2 quality combat, you may end up enjoying it a bit.

Okay, anti-Codex rant time. The Codex used to be a place to get real feedback on games that sifted out all of the useless hype and hyperbole (is hype short for hyperbole? question for another topic). Now it seems like it's a caricature of itself. By most accounts this game is pretty good. Not great, but good. There are flaws without a doubt, and those flaws are worth being pointed out, which most mainstream sites will refuse to do, but pointing at a negative aspect and going "MWAHAHA TOLD YOU ITS SHIT SHIT SHIT" is counterproductive and makes this website seem like 4chan lite.

Basically, get over it you faggots. If you don't want to play the game, that's fine. However, don't look at the people that are giving informed impressions of the game to try and justify your pathetic fucking vendetta against bioware.

/volourn

 

[circ]

I don't see why you can't just call a cock a cock. As for not having played it, ugh,

Hey asshole...shut the fuck up!

You haven't played it, you decided you don't like it...good for you, now shut up. Your gay porn diatribe is worthless. If you've played post impressions...you are actually worse than the paid reviewers with glowing praise intent on keeping advertising $$$.
Grow up, get a life, use some intelligence...but by all means shut up you fucking idiot.

I'd much rather hear feedback impressions from those who have played, not from retarded punk ass bitches like you.

Alas, we have awoken the mighty BioWare fanboy hordes.

 

[ChristofferC]

What difficulty are you all playing?

I selected "Nightmare" knowing that most modern games are far too easy. I just got the Grey Warden camp and it hasn't been that challenging so far.

Does it get much harder once you finish the origin story?

It does get a bit harder. I play on hard btw.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Ch1ef = 4chan faggot

Anyway, I picked up the game. I have class so I can't play yet, but I have a feeling if you go in not expecting PS:T quality writing and JA2 quality combat, you may end up enjoying it a bit.

Okay, anti-Codex rant time. The Codex used to be a place to get real feedback on games that sifted out all of the useless hype and hyperbole (is hype short for hyperbole? question for another topic). Now it seems like it's a caricature of itself. By most accounts this game is pretty good. Not great, but good. There are flaws without a doubt, and those flaws are worth being pointed out, which most mainstream sites will refuse to do, but pointing at a negative aspect and going "MWAHAHA TOLD YOU ITS SHIT SHIT SHIT" is counterproductive and makes this website seem like 4chan lite.

Basically, get over it you faggots. If you don't want to play the game, that's fine. However, don't look at the people that are giving informed impressions of the game to try and justify your pathetic fucking vendetta against bioware.

/volourn

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic ... 026#920026

All the bitching in this thread just goes to prove what I suspected, and the reason I left this fucking place. Most of the actually intelligent people in this forum have left, all that's remaining are the posing retards that get a thrill out of being all nasty and counterculture and shit but actually don't have the critical thinking and analytical skills to walk the walk.

 

[Starwars]

What difficulty are you all playing?

I selected "Nightmare" knowing that most modern games are far too easy. I just got the Grey Warden camp and it hasn't been that challenging so far.

Does it get much harder once you finish the origin story?

I'm playing on hard. Didn't find it that hard until I finished the section that you're at now. Still don't find it too challenging, but honestly. I think it's about BG level which is what they've claimed afaik.

I just finished (well, actually it's not entirerely finished yet) one of the "hubs" after the world map opens up. Very pleased with this section. Not sure how the choices I made will affect things, or if they really will, but I know I scratched my chin for quite a while before I decided on what to do. I also really like some the characters outside the party in this game. Some of the characters that have sort of supporting roles are really nice and feel quite human.

The influence system with the companions have really left me scratching my head in a few places though. Getting some huge shifts sometimes in the opposite direction from what I would expect. Not sure if this is due to some amazing underlying depth to the characters (unlikely) or just that the characters opinions don't quite come through in some situations. Oh well.

 

[Ch1ef]

Ch1ef = 4chan faggot

Someone is pwnd you on 4chan, amirite?

 

[circ]

Come January the critique over how much DA:O sucks will start pouring in and people will start circle jerking over ME2. Sure the 'marketing' for ME2 was horrible. LOL did you see that ridiculous female 'bad-ass'? But it's fun for what it is! This is how it started with Oblivion and FO3 too, only for the sheeple later to conform to some groupthink and concede that yes, OBLIVION SUX!

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

I've been quoted by Vault Dweller. My life is complete.

 

[Ch1ef]

My god, this place is turning into Ag.ru forums :shock:

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Come January the critique over how much DA:O sucks will start pouring in and people will start circle jerking over ME2. Sure the 'marketing' for ME2 was horrible. LOL did you see that ridiculous female 'bad-ass'? But it's fun for what it is! This is how it started with Oblivion and FO3 too, only for the sheeple later to conform to some groupthink and concede that yes, OBLIVION SUX!

You know, you may be right. That may be the general trend of things. It seems to have happened with The Witcher and maybe a bit with Risen. That doesn't say much about those people though, or the Codex as a whole. I happen to still enjoy The Witcher (buggy, but it was a very good game) and Risen (Gothic IV, so it was good). If the sheeple end up drinking the Kool-Aid, so be it.

Look, there should be a frank interchange of ideas here. That's the reason this place is unmoderated (for the most part, I assume). It's not to post meatspin links and be able to use the word Nigger whenever you want, it's so you can disagree without someone editing your opinion. But it's not a frank interchange, especially in this thread. It's the same "Banal, shit, boring" argument and covering your ears and screaming "LEVEL SCALING FAGS!" I know waxing philosophical about video games gets old after awhile, and most of the arguments have probably been done to death, but when a new game comes out you get to try it all over again. Instead of falling back on old tripes, play it and come up with newer, more valid criticisms.

Meh, I'm talking to a wall with no ears.

 

[Ch1ef]

But what if this game is really banal, shit and boring? Huh?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Good God, could someone please dumbfuck Ch1ef already?

Or make him disappear like Cloaked Faggot.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Whenever you make a logical argument, you must present valid, supporting evidence. Start from there and see where you end up.

 

[Ch1ef]

Good God, could someone please dumbfuck Ch1ef already?

Or make him disappear like Cloaked Faggot.

Dumbfuck? For what?

 

[Darth Roxor]

For being a constant dumbfuck ever since you joined.

 

[Ch1ef]

Whenever you make a logical argument, you must present valid, supporting evidence. Start from there and see where you end up.

How old are you? 45? or just buthurted 20?

 

[Ch1ef]

For being a constant dumbfuck ever since you joined.

NAO THATS SOME MATURITY BITCHES
Fuck you man.