Dragon Age impressions

[Hamster]

Yay! Dumbfuckery!

forced

conscription

these two might be related

Yes, because everyone happily agrees to conscription.

:hurr: :durr:

Well, that kinda defeats the whole fucking point of a draft, eh

"Excuse me sir, but I am not comfortable with this compulsory enrollment into military service"

"<s>Tough shit, faggot</s> Oh, thats ok, I was just asking"

What, do you want the option to take them on, or something? How chosen one of you.

So you really have no idea how people avoid conscription? Never heard about bribes? Fake medical documents? Connections of the rich parents?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So you really have no idea how people avoid conscription? Never heard about bribes? Fake medical documents? Connections of the rich parents?

Weren't the grey wardens incorruptible zealots?

*insert HORRIBLE MISTAEK LOL here*

They don't look like the kind of people interested in bullshit

There's also the whole "army of cybernegroes ready to gangrape your world" thing that might give them a new perspective on things

"we really need all the help we can g- oooo, shiny coins"

 

[godsend1989]

I do not need to taste shit to know it's bad. Same goes for DA, because Bioware made sure I could smell it from a mile away thanks to their marketing strategies and track record. Yes I can say something is total shit based on my impressions of it. Telling people they cannot form opinions unless they have tried something is also the stupidest thing one can say to another person. People that talk like that in regards of games are usually new to the whole thing to know how much into the shitter everything in heading, or are just trying to live in denial and trying to get the most out of what they have.

correct me if i`m wrong, you have like 100 replies at this topic and it seems that you are really interested in this game(or you have to much time to spare or you hate it),i don`t remember telling you not to form opinions is just that you are exaggerating, the game is not that bad.

 

[1eyedking]

Weren't the grey wardens incorruptible zealots?

They don't look like the kind of people interested in bullshit

There's also the whole "army of cybernegroes ready to gangrape your world" thing that might give them a new perspective on things

"we really need all the help we can g- oooo, shiny coins"

:facepalm:

 

[Twinkle]

"True, I doubt that Dragon Age stole anything from the Witcher just because DA's been in development since 2003.

However, the Witcher was based on a series of books that were released in the mid 90s. So Bioware could have (conceivably) stolen ideas from the books... if they could read Polish!"

there's nothing original in TW. Most of its shit was stolken by it from D&D, and earlier fantasy works. There is nothing special about it, and I doubt BIO woudl waste their time 'stealing' from some pathetic Polish novel when they could 'steal' from D&D, Tolkien, and other vastly superior works of fantasy fiction.

R00fles!

P.S. What is so 'original' about TW? Other than its booby cards.. then again, that basic concept, comes from earlier games too. R00fles!

You are truly enjoying being a moron.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

got the game, the warrior choices are something like zealot, dragoon, reaver, or templar.


lol

 

[Smarts]

Weren't the grey wardens incorruptible zealots?

The guys in the comic are Templars, not Grey Wardens.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

:facepalm:

I expect some super witty response like "Holy shit you don't have a brain, how do I reply to that :facepalm:" or some kiddy shit that avoids any real answer while still trying to look smart, just like in fucking third grade. Don't bother.

Seriously, stop with the 4chan shit. I mix up fictional characters, you try too hard for cool points. You're the one deserving a totally hilarious picard pic.

Weren't the grey wardens incorruptible zealots?

The guys in the comic are Templars, not Grey Wardens.

Yeah, you're right, my mistake. Still, the wiki displays them as srs biz and unlikely to take bribes, etc as well.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

HOLY SHIT

They actually went with Thedas for the world's name. For those who don't know this was a temporary name that stood for:

THE Dragon Age Setting.

original huh?

 

[whitemithrandir]

The dialogue is your standard biowarian fare, no big surprises in that department. There are some truly cringe-worthy writing, but at least the amusing British voice actors covered up the worst of it.

There does seem to be more choice and consequences this time around, and not all of them retardedly polarized, although I do wish they'd stop railroading the player once in a while.

I'm playing on nightmare difficulty right now, and you should too, unless you're a pansy. The ruleset is a jumbo'ed mess, but it works surprisingly well for turn based with pause play - much better than the d20 adaptations Bioware shoehorned to fit a couple of previous games. Encounters are sufficiently challenging and well paced for the most part... but after fighting through a one dimensional dungeon filled with clones of the same goddamn spider, I was ready to kill myself. Fortunately, it looks like these dungeon clearing sections are few and far between - and I hope it stays that way for the rest of the game.

The spellbook is lacking somewhat, and the crafting could use some streamlining, but overall it's a yet another fairly solid and average Bioware title.

Bioware has essentially been remaking the same game since its inception, and DA:O is no exception.

R00fles!

P.S. What is so 'original' about TW? Other than its booby cards.. then again, that basic concept, comes from earlier games too. R00fles!

What Volourn meant to say is that DA:O ripped off of Warhammer fantasy.

Essentially, a warp gate opened to the south releasing a bunch of warp beasts. The ecclesiarchy (The Chantry) sent a bunch of inquisitors who worship the The Emperor (The Maker) who sits on his golden (black) throne. If you played as a mage, then you're a sanctioned psycker feared because of your vulnerablity to the warp (fade) but nontheless recruited for the war effort.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

My dog's name is BLOBERT

 

[SerratedBiz]

HOLY SHIT

They actually went with Thedas for the world's name. For those who don't know this was a temporary name that stood for:

THE Dragon Age Setting.

original huh?

Could you be a bigger faggot?

 

[Annonchinil]

TW had cool stuff such as creatures with their own mythos, terrorist dwarves and elves, intolerant humans, a clever political agenda for each character, ambiguity as to what classifies as a monster, mystery being only gossip, etc.

I actually did not enjoy those aspects because they simply took dwarfs and elves, stripped away what made them special and made them more human. Why not simply use different races of humans instead? The same with dragon age and former slave elves. The only reason these hold as a concept because they are an opposite to Tolkien elves and they will in no way be as interesting if they existed on their own.

I always felt that games took the wrong idea of racism because in a fantasy word the races are actually different. Same with the idea of terrorism, its a modern concept that feels very forced in a low tech setting that seems there only for 'edge' points. In fact there are a lot more interesting and ambiguous concepts that they could have taken from Europe, such as the Spanish Inquisition and the evolution of anti-Judaism into antisemitism.

In general though I think that games do not handle ambiguity well. Look at many of the great writers, the situations and the characters were ambiguous but there was still a sense of right and wrong. A lot of the tragedy came from characters doing things that they knew were wrong because of their flaws. Games seem only capable of portraying moral conflicts in a practical matter, which feel very shallow because they are variations of 'ends justify the means, or do they?' In the Witcher I also felt that most of the choices were 'mystery' choices in trying to figure out who was responsible for committing what and not actual moral choices. Although I did not beat the game so cannot speak authoritatively on the matter. Still I am curious as to what kind of choices are in Dragon Age.

Edit: anybody notice how 'choices' changed from differing practical means of completing a quest based on character development to just mostly moral choices?

 

[Jaime Lannister]

HOLY SHIT

They actually went with Thedas for the world's name. For those who don't know this was a temporary name that stood for:

THE Dragon Age Setting.

original huh?

Could you be a bigger faggot?

yep, also the game crashed, looking for a patch

 

[fastpunk]

I played some more last night. At Ostagar and surrounding areas. Nothing major to report, about 80% of game time was spent hacking shit to pieces. The combat encounters have been pretty badly thought out so far. It's 2 enemies now, get a little breather, 3 enemies after that, then another breather, then another 2 enemies etc. This is not really a complaint about low difficulty, the difficulty feels adequate on hard, but I just figured I'd be doing more than just hacking shit and watching cutscenes at this point.

Also, one last observation: while dialogues are decent in terms of writing, the main chararacter's reply options are very poor and most of the time very simple. I do not remember my character saying anything resembling a complex opinion thus far. And that's despite the fact that she has high intelligence and the coercion skill.

So that's that. Will probably play some more after I get back from work.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

hacking shit and watching cutscenes at this point.

honestly i bought this to hack shit and watch (cheesy) cutscenes

instead i get crashes

 

[MetalCraze]

TW had cool stuff such as creatures with their own mythos

Even DnD ripoff that is DA has creatures with their own mythos

terrorist dwarves and elves, intolerant humans

How original

a clever political agenda for each character, ambiguity as to what classifies as a monster, mystery being only gossip, etc.

Not really, no.

They took 6 years to write all of the story, dialogue, and set the atmosphere tone? Don't make me laugh! It's been almost 3 years since The Witcher's been out, and you expect me to believe they didn't copy a thing? Such ingenuity.

TW is a big cliche itself, stop being paranoid.

 

[Volourn]

"TW had cool stuff such as creatures with their own mythos, terrorist dwarves and elves, intolerant humans, a clever political agenda for each character, ambiguity as to what classifies as a monster, mystery being only gossip, etc."

None of those are original?

Seriously, are you saying intolerant humans is soemthing that TW created? Are you fuckin' stupid?

D&D had been doing well ebfore TW showed its ugly face. And, tons of stuff had the same BEFORE it.

Seriosuly, intolerant humans is special to TW? Get the fuck out.

'Terroriist' dwarves and elves is NOT new to TW.

FFS, d&D has those too.

Seriously, stop with the bullshit TW tonguebathing. It's okay to claim you like it; but it is NOT original. For the record, neither is DA. But, originality is overrated, anyways since it basically hasn't existed for centuries.

 

[Korgan]

A quick question - am I failing at backstabs, or are they useless? I tried attacking from the black section of an enemy's target circle, sneaking up on them, etc, but it's still the same measly ~10 damage.
Also, I'm going to restart as a mage, do they get any "Intuition/wisdom" diplomacy options like in Jade Empire?

 

[Volourn]

All character classes have diplomacy (either coercion or intimidation). Coercion uses cunning, and intimidation uses strength.

Haven't used a rogue yet but flanking attacks are all considered backstabs.

 

[kris]

Combat is challenging because -- 1. mobs swarm you. 2. they hit hard. There's no mention of a dynamic AI that shifts tactics depending on the situation. This can be countered by spamming a hotkey to quaff potions and/or running off to another room to regen. There doesn't seem to be any banter regarding your near death experience; 'Shit dawg, that was close, close the door fuckhead.' 'Rest up bitches.'

Unlike pretty much every other RPG ever done enemies comes from other rooms and attac you while in battle. That means you can suddenly be surrounded. Also there is near death banter. At least from Alistair.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

A quick question - am I failing at backstabs, or are they useless? I tried attacking from the black section of an enemy's target circle, sneaking up on them, etc, but it's still the same measly ~10 damage.
Also, I'm going to restart as a mage, do they get any "Intuition/wisdom" diplomacy options like in Jade Empire?

stun them and go behind them? or maybe you need stealth

it's pretty weird how everyone loves you as a noble rogue

Unlike pretty much every other RPG ever done enemies comes from other rooms and attac you while in battle. That means you can suddenly be surrounded. Also there is near death banter. At least from Alistair.

yeah it's tough, i'm playing on hard and reloading if any character dies though.

 

[MetalCraze]

Unlike pretty much every other RPG ever done enemies comes from other rooms and attac you while in battle.

Errrmmm pretty much every other RPG has it the exactly same way.

 

[1eyedking]

'Terroriist' dwarves and elves is NOT new to TW.

FFS, d&D has those too.

Source?

Even DnD ripoff that is DA has creatures with their own mythos

Yes, incredibly interesting creatures such as Goblins, Bugbears, Gnolls, Ettercaps, Gibberlings, Kobolds, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Ogres, Dire Wolves, Dire Bears, Lammasus...yawn. Filler crap.

The Witcher's bestiarium consists of monsters that had some human background or emotion associated with them, and some would only be found where certain deeds had transpired.

From the Journal: Drowners are bodies of hanged criminals thrown into lakes, the weight of their crimes causing them to return; Echinopsae grow in places where terrible crimes have been committed if the crime in question was never atoned for; Noonwraiths are born at high noon out of heat, sadness and the sweat of ploughmen and dance in vortexes until the sun sets; Nightwraiths are born of moonlight, wind and the earth cooling after the heat of the day, their victims taken into a dancing circle and forced to whirl until he expires; Barghests...well, there's a whole chapter dedicated to them; Bruxae haunt attractive young men and drink their blood; etc.

terrorist dwarves and elves, intolerant humans

How original

Actually, it was a bold move from the usual Tolkien faggotry of Elven-cock-sucking humans, and Dwarves being mere comic relief.

a clever political agenda for each character, ambiguity as to what classifies as a monster, mystery being only gossip, etc.

Not really, no.

Why The Witcher is an intelligent game.

Now, back to Dragon Crap.

 

[Junior Boy]

I just played through all the origin stories. This is a really good game so far. I like the connections you have in the world and how they differ from origin to origin, and that you usually have a friend or two that provides an emotional link. The mage one was especially cool, as it was the first one I tried, and the "fade" was a great concept that I wish they fleshed out more. There's some nice twists and the dialogue isn't terrible at all.

The only real problem I have is the sometimes superfluous dialogue options that all lead to the same thing. This is a valid complaint, and I hope it changes as the game progresses. Now I just need to decide on an origin.

Anyway, it's good, it is what it is. Most of you will probably like Risen more, but that's a different breed. I think DAO has a little more soul, whatever the hell that may mean.