Dragon Age impressions

[dragonfk]

I like the new trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmYfRt-h ... _embedded#

 

[Dandelion]

Copy\paste from the news thread

Maybe even more then good.
Maybe, in the era of shitty fake-RPGs, a game that IS a RPG indeed.

Leaving aside the in-depth and difficult combat, the really good atmosphere (graphic, sound, codex, cinematic feeling), the longevity, it's a game that ALSO has an unusually valid roleplaying component, featuring tons of different dialogues (with different vo), events, quests paths determined by your choice of dialogue lines, sex\race\skills of your character, your actions (and priority of them).

This is a fucking good RPG..and I don't see one since...bloodlines?
Just preordered for 31€.

PS: the game has also optimal performances in a vast array of rigs.

 

[Monocause]

I've played a noble human rogue long enough (got to Lothering) to be able to post some more detailed impressions.

The game is simply the best done by Bioware since BG2 - compared to everything else, I'd say it's good. To those who can't decide whether to get it or not - do give it a try.

Storywise, you have the gut feeling that this is a cliche patchwork, but it's modified to an extent that it didn't curb my enjoyment. Contrary to what some posters say, there is a lot of things that are in the moral gray area. NPCs both in the game-world and in your party aren't bland. Morrigan is actually my favourite so far, and I've been wondering why did the marketing dept. hate her so much. The influence system simply works, so much that *I* was influenced by the party members to do things their way.

Graphics, like I said before, are palatable. The blood isn't terribly overused, I thought it was a nice change from the standard RPG fare - meaning, a couple of drops that instantly disappear. It adds to the feeling of combat. Character models vary in quality. Morrigan's and Alistair's are good, they fit the characters. Some NPC's however have their faces totally fuck up man - especially everyone with beards. The facial hair is p. fucked up, man.

(BTW, remember the ugly guy who got impaled on a Geth stake in the beginning of ME? I believe there's a really similar one dying in the Ostagar battle scene - I'd be thankful if someone could confirm it, may be an easter egg)

Combat is fun. You'll quickly learn to use the 'H' key which effectievely disables most of your party's AI. Micromanaging does bring the memories of IE. AI is perfectly serviceable, but you'll need more than it can offer to win some of the nastier encounter.
Auto-regen doesn't hurt. It's done well. My party died quite a few times already when I got careless.
Injuries you get when 'dying' vary. Some won't affect you much (like a warrior getting a penalty to their magic or mana-regen), some will make you use that precious injury kit in an instant (like penalties to defense or stats). Injury kits don't lurk in every chest and are quite expensive (at least in the beginning of the game), so you'll really want to avoid getting injuries.

As to the C&C department, there are C&C's. DA seems like the most C&C heavy Bioware game. There are filler dialogue choices, of course, but which game doesn't have them. At least the flavour choices here are usually done, well, with flavour.
I especially liked my City Elf telling the king that he butchered a nobleman because he raped his bride. His response was a hilarious "W-what?" :D. A flavour choice with flavour.

The bottom line is - if you're not the jaded guy who insists on taking a philosophical and vanitative approach to video games, you're probably going to like it.

EDIT: Oh, performance: It runs good on my middle-low end rig with a single-core CPU. Loading times aren't a problem. There are some minor FPS drops when there's a lot of NPC's around (in Ostagar, for example), but I barely even noticed it.

 

[relootz]

^ How does it stack up to the Witcher Monocause?

 

[Monocause]

^ How does it stack up to the Witcher Monocause?

They're too different gameplay-wise to make a useful comparison. I can only say that I like both these games a lot. TW had better graphics.

 

[Grunker]

This thread has convinced me. These forums are my home.

Where is my room?

 

[Emotional Vampire]

Room? Your cubicle is over there, as far away from the window as possible.

 

[made]

Perversely long loading times after extended periods of play time are likely due to a memory leak; restarting the game brings them back to normal, at least for me.

 

[Grunker]

Room? Your cubicle is over there, as far away from the window as possible.

If I get a cubicle, where does Andhaira and Volourn live?

Anyway, my just picked up his copy. Gamestop Denmark apparently chose to ignore the release date imposed by Bioware. Will fire it up tomorrow.

 

[Nael]

^ How does it stack up to the Witcher Monocause?

I realize you didn't ask me, but if I may chime in:

As far as choice and consequence goes DA offers far more choices and more drastic consequences than The Witcher. This can obviously be good, but at times it can seem a bit overwhelming.

Spoiler

So far after just my first major task in recruiting allies for the war I've had some tough choices, not the least of which has been deciding whether or not to kill a demon possessed child in order to save a Lord who commands an army that could aid me.

I had a choice at one point before this to kill a mage that had run away from the Mages tower at the beginning of my origin (I am a mage as well), and looking back at the fact that I decided to spare him has opened about 3 or 4 different choices on how to proceed. I could:

A)Sacrifice the child's mother to save him, and the Arl.
B)Kill the child with the possible risk of also killing the Arl in the process since they have suggested that the child is keeping his sick father alive.
C)Leave the manor and proceed to the Circle of Magi who can perform the same ritual as option A, but without having to kill the mother.
D)Tell them to fuck off and die (run away)

I am under the impression that at the very least option C would not be open to me unless I were a mage, which I am.

The writing is typical Bioware fare. It's the best written since BG2, but it's still very generic in feeling. The Witcher, even though I played the english version was much better written and had slightly better twists and turns in the story, and the world was a bit more believable. As most Bioware games are, almost every minute exudes "EPICNESS!!!!". This can get old, and if you don't like the writing style of David Gaider in the slightest, then you really aren't going to like this game despite the incredible branching of storylines.

The combat is ok. It's similar to KOTOR, but more of what it should have been than a rehash. Think KOTOR meets the Infinity engine, and takes the best of both worlds and mixes them up. The tactical camera really doesn't lend itself very well to the game IMO however. It's not terrible, but it's a bit cumbersome and takes some getting used to.

Lastly, I really don't understand the whole "spiritual successor to BG" tagline that was bandied about before the release. I have really seen very few similarities. Even the writing bears very little resemblance to BG. The writing is weaker than BG. The tactical camera isn't quite as intuitive as BG. But the scope, and interaction with the world seems to be on a much larger scale than BG 1 or 2...Or really any RPG I've played recently with the possible exception of the Witcher.

All in all I'm enjoying the game. Is it the new shit? Yeah probably. Is it the best shit ever? Not by a long shot. It's serviceable if you enjoy having a lot of options at your disposal on how to solve problems, and if you can tolerate David Gaider's pedantic writing style.

 

[MetalCraze]

This thread has convinced me. These forums are my home.

Where is my room?

Go back to your ESF, we have enough decline with people praising yet another Bioware piece of shit as it is.

Think KOTOR meets the Infinity engine, and takes the best of both worlds and mixes them up

Both KotOR's and IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are - so what you are saying it's two times as bad?

 

[Solohk]

You still crying? Go play FO3.

Projecting, Volourn?

 

[Nael]

Think KOTOR meets the Infinity engine, and takes the best of both worlds and mixes them up

Both KotOR's and IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are - so what you are saying it's two times as bad?

No.. Read what I wrote. It strikes me as having been developed by the same people who learned their mistakes from previous iterations. And as I said, it's not as terrible, but it's not good either. The best aspect of the combat is that it is challenging without being frustratingly so. The problem is that it is still somewhat clunky.

 

[Silellak]

Both KotOR's and IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are - so what you are saying it's two times as bad?

And this is why there's no one left who takes you seriously.

 

[Trash]

Bioware piece of shit

Now I get it. You're Volourn's dark twin.

 

[MetalCraze]

Both KotOR's and IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are - so what you are saying it's two times as bad?

And this is why there's no one left who takes you seriously.

What is it Silellak? Truth hurts?
Now tell me did you complete both games without constantly pausing the game during the combat?

 

[Trash]

That's why it is called RTwP, smartypants.

 

[Grunker]

I think MetalCraze deserves the *Pretty Princess* tag

 

[Darth Roxor]

IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are

r00fles!

 

[MetalCraze]

That's why it is called RTwP, smartypants.

And that's why it's shit - what's the point in having it real-time when you must constantly twitch space bar to pause the game because it's totally unplayable in that real-time? The same thing in DA - you must pause the game to control the mess where your characters attack when they wish not when you wish them to like in proper TB and RT combats. What I hate about such combat is that giving and proceeding with orders takes more time than in TB and on top of it it's clunky.

 

[Silellak]

Both KotOR's and IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are - so what you are saying it's two times as bad?

And this is why there's no one left who takes you seriously.

What is it Silellak? Truth hurts?
Now tell me did you complete both games without constantly pausing the game during the combat?

For the so-called "truth" to hurt, I'd have to give two shits about your opinion of games.

What does pausing the game have to do with those being the "worst real-time combats there are"? I define the "quality" of combat based entirely on how fun and strategic it is - these being games, after all - and in that regard, combat in the IE games and even KotoR are leaps and bounds over the crap found in Bethesda titles. I would also argue that NWN1 has the worst RTwP combat I've ever seen, if only because the inability to control multiple party members really cripples any sort of strategic aspect there might be. Finally, while I've yet to play Arcanum myself, general consensus is that the real-time combat in that game is pretty much the worst thing ever. But then, I'd hate to judge a game before playing it!

I'm also not sure how you decided that "the best aspects of both combat systems" somehow translated to "twice as bad". The point is that DA is (potentially) superior to IE because the combat system is designed from the ground-up to be RTwP-centric rather than gluing a RTwP system onto an existing turn-based ruleset.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

I think MetalCraze deserves the *Pretty Princess* tag

Should be ugly prince or something to show how they're polar opposites

 

[Trash]

Both KotOR's and IE's combats are the worst real-time combats there are - so what you are saying it's two times as bad?

And this is why there's no one left who takes you seriously.

What is it Silellak? Truth hurts?
Now tell me did you complete both games without constantly pausing the game during the combat?

This one is almost as bad as this one.

BG didn't have RTWP combat - it was turn-based there with auto-turn every 6 seconds

Almost, but not quite. Once again, Astromarine was right.

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.

 

[racofer]

 

[MetalCraze]

I define the "quality" of combat based entirely on how fun and strategic it is - these being games, after all - and in that regard, combat in the IE games and even KotoR are leaps and bounds over the crap found in Bethesda titles.

Bethesda titles are now some standard of gaming or something? I don't understand - why your kind always insists on comparing everything that overhyped crap does bad to Bethesda's games?

And no - IE combat is not strategic - it's a clusterfuck and a mess with absolutely pointless real-time implementation where you can't even play the game normally in real-time to begin with. Now let's compare it to ToEE or RoA combats - how 'bout that?

I would also argue that NWN1 has the worst RTwP combat I've ever seen, if only because the inability to control multiple party members really cripples any sort of strategic aspect there might be

NWN1 combat is exactly like KotOR's combat.

Finally, while I've yet to play Arcanum myself, general consensus is that the real-time combat in that game is pretty much the worst thing ever.

The combat is terrible there because it's a twitchfest - the opposite extreme to "this is real-time - except you can't play it in real-time and your party members will act when they will wish to". How many times I wanted to kill my own clerics because after receiving the order to heal other party members they were too busy chillin' out and reacted only 5 seconds afterwards. And lots of stuff happens in the traditional IE mess during those 5 secs.Now try and find an excuse for this one.

I'm also not sure how you decided that "the best aspects of both combat systems" somehow translated to "twice as bad".

Because there are no good aspects in both systems.