Dragon Age impressions

[kris]

I also laughed my ass off after killing the giant rats in the kitchen. You have a temporary partymember who basically says how every damn shitty adventure story he ever heard about starts with killing rats.

It wasn't funny, but expected in my view. To kill a rat and have your whole body smeared in blood was pretty funny though. Now the other origin stories don't have that kind of starting quest. Although the dalish elven one seems quite cliched overall.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I just won the fight because I used glorious tactics. I set the party to hold ground so they wouldn't auto-follow, then I had my two warriors stand on either side of the doorway leading to the hallway, and had my mage in the middle. Then I ran down the hallway, opened a door which pissed off the monsters which came from both sides of the hallway (You open one door and the monsters inside alert the guys in the other room) and ran back to my entrance.

When all the monsters showed up, mage did cone burning hands and warriors started chopping. Didn't have a single KO'd party member and killed all the monsters. Dragon Age is the old shit.

 

[Trash]

Aka it just makes them stronger while nerfing your party.

Again, they also become more agressive and use their abilities more. Do you even read what I wrote?

Oh really - what if I don't want to be a fucking jedi all over again?
Ah sorry I forgot this is a LARPer's game - you must pretend like things matter to your character.

[/quote]

You're reaching and acting retarded. Look up the meaning of the word "drafted". But you don't even care since your once again bitching for codex coolpoints. Fuck this.

 

[baronjohn]

Drafting is still shit because when you meet the grey warden he swears to your father that he won't draft you. Then he drafts you the next morning.

 

[kris]

Drafting is still shit because when you meet the grey warden he swears to your father that he won't draft you. Then he drafts you the next morning.

Finally someone that lies then. Overall I dont like force registring with some organisation, but it is the story they want to tell. As long as I will get real choices otherwise in the game I will be happy. Or if at least the story/presentation is great. I will see how that goes soon enough.

 

[baronjohn]

But it's not presented as any kind of lie in the game world. Basically it goes like this

grey warden: I'm here to look for recruits
father: oh look here's my daughter... wait, you're not going to invoke the power of conscription are you? Because I don't want my only daughter to die a horrible death against the undead hordes.
grey warden: I swear to you I have no intention of conscribing anyone
father: OK

then the next morning

grey warden: Wanna be a grey warden?
character: err, no
grey warden: Are you sure you don't wanna be a grey warden?
character: Look, I said no. Go away already.
grey warden: But you must help us!
character: I don't care if you all die. Now fuck off!
grey warden: Congratulations, you're now a grey warden
character: great, lets go!
father, dying: have a good trip!

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Making female NPCs always seems to be a balance act... either you make em all really pretty and it's silly and unrealistic because everybody is too pretty or you make em "realistic" and people complain about the butt-ugly NPCs. I don't envy the artists that have to make the faces.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

I just won the fight because I used glorious tactics. I set the party to hold ground so they wouldn't auto-follow, then I had my two warriors stand on either side of the doorway leading to the hallway, and had my mage in the middle. Then I ran down the hallway, opened a door which pissed off the monsters which came from both sides of the hallway (You open one door and the monsters inside alert the guys in the other room) and ran back to my entrance.

When all the monsters showed up, mage did cone burning hands and warriors started chopping. Didn't have a single KO'd party member and killed all the monsters. Dragon Age is the old shit.

Hi Dave, how's the book selling?

(kidding)

 

[kris]

Making female NPCs always seems to be a balance act... either you make em all really pretty and it's silly and unrealistic because everybody is too pretty or you make em "realistic" and people complain about the butt-ugly NPCs. I don't envy the artists that have to make the faces.

Just make some variation. I am yet to see someone with a more round face or even more heartshaped face. Or looking like they are really starving or even have a big nose. Just giving someone that looks attractive a big nose just makes them unique. right now they look all like bland. Like I said, the men seems more varied and interesting from what I seen. IMO the worst was seeing that this was just as prevalent among the dwarfs.

Mind you, I liked the game so far.

 

[ever]

Diablo, Doom, Civilization, Colonization, Master of Orion, WarCraft

The ones I left out I did because I'm not sure but Diablo = stronger enemies + more of them, Doom = more enemies, Civilization means the enemy civs get all sorts of bonuses you don't (less time for new techs, more money etc) the AI stays the same, this is also the case with master of orion and with warcraft. I think in heroes of might and magic the AI just gets an increased amount of gold per turn but I'm not too sure.

Really games have always "cheated" rather than provided actual A.I

Its not necessarily a bad thing, it adds to the challenge afterall.

I found it funny you mentioned civ and master of orion, they are kinda notorious cheaters

None of these had "hand crafted" difficulty or anything. Just like HMM HOW DO MAKE THIS HARDER I KNOW 200% HEALTH AND TWICE THE ENEMIES or I KNOW LETS GIVE THEM TWICE THE RESOURCES THE PLAYER GETS

you're kidding yourself if you think games have ever been any different

 

[TNO]

So, judging by the thread, is DA:O going to be one the games we're going to mercilessly hate to keep our Kodex Kool Kred, even though it isn't really that bad?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Morrigan and Allistair aren't as annoying as I thought they would be, but they aren't particularly enjoyable yet either. I'm only now entering the "Real" game though, with access to the world map. Still having a good time, but the inventory is ridiculously limited. Need to pirate the Warden's Keep DLC so I can have a stash.

 

[Turisas]

So, judging by the thread, is DA:O going to be one the games we're going to mercilessly hate to keep our Kodex Kool Kred, even though it isn't really that bad?

I only had time to play the Mage origin last night, but so far it seems very promising, best game Bioware has made in years (and yeah yeah some might say that still doesn't amount to much, but save it).
At least in the origin story there wasn't much actual choice with the quests, but hopefully that'll change in the game proper. Game mechanics, difficulty level and all tho, very enjoyable so far.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

So, judging by the thread, is DA:O going to be one the games we're going to mercilessly hate to keep our Kodex Kool Kred, even though it isn't really that bad?

Pretty much. Combat's respectably difficult, dialog has been acceptable, and their hodge podge "Hey guys let's take all these cool ideas from fantasy games and mix them together in one setting it'll be cool trust me" setting isn't too shabby thus far. The biggest test will be how different it plays during replays, either due to different party selection, different C&C, or different origin. But even if railroads you like Mass Effect I'm having a good time for one play at least.

Been pleasantly surprised with it apart from the retarded DLC management and integrated BIOWARE SOCIAL NETWORKING shit, which I'm going to most likely disable since it doesn't even work anyway.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

These aren't choices at all, not even fake choices.

You have four dialogue lines to choose that probably lead to the same motherfucking outcome. How is it not a choice (be it a minor one) and how is it not fake? Fake choices don't operate on a yes/no axis, and this is the same kind of fake choice as Mass Effect's 'WHAT DID U SEE SHEPARD!?!?!?! - (A) BIG TROUBLE, (B) OUR DEATH, (C) NOT QUITE CLEAR' and all of that leading to 'PPLZ SLAUGHTERIN' OTHER PPLZ'.

No, in Shep's case the options apparently lead to different dialogue, while in reality its all the same, you just got tricked. Here it's completely clear that you're going to say yes no matter what (I mean, just read the options). It's not a choice at all (so you may complain that you dont have a choice, but the game isn't pretending otherwise).

Some people here apparently prefer that the game just talks for you anyway if there's not a choice available, like it's more "honest" or something. I don't see any difference between it and the game just letting me choose the tone.

Drafting is still shit because when you meet the grey warden he swears to your father that he won't draft you. Then he drafts you the next morning.

Fuck, he lied to me

I mean, lying, who the fuck does that .

But it's not presented as any kind of lie in the game world. Basically it goes like this

grey warden: I'm here to look for recruits
father: oh look here's my daughter... wait, you're not going to invoke the power of conscription are you? Because I don't want my only daughter to die a horrible death against the undead hordes.
grey warden: I swear to you I have no intention of conscribing anyone
father: OK

That's a lie, all right

then the next morning

grey warden: Wanna be a grey warden?
character: err, no
grey warden: Are you sure you don't wanna be a grey warden?
character: Look, I said no. Go away already.
grey warden: But you must help us!
character: I don't care if you all die. Now fuck off!
grey warden: Congratulations, you're now a grey warden
character: great, lets go!
father, dying: have a good trip!

I don't think you can say "no" to compulsory enrollment...the character does seem schizo, but whatever

Yes - and that's what makes the moment crappier - typical Bioware. Waterchip worked because "son we are gonna die, you gotta find the chip" and it didn't feel forced.

I didn't play it, but I'm guessing "son, we are gonna die, shitload of darkspawn incoming, help us" could also be some excuse. Can't vow for it, though.

We are talking about Fallouts not Bethesda shit

In Fallout 1 your guy lived in the vault before the game started. 3 is the same thing, only they feel like showing you for some reason. 1 just skipped the whole process of they deciding what the fuck they should do.

Oh really - what if I don't want to be a fucking jedi all over again?
Ah sorry I forgot this is a LARPer's game - you must pretend like things matter to your character.

You mean ignoring the main quest and keep doing sidequests forever like it's freedom of choice or something?

Also, I just got this amusing mental image of someone playing Mario and suddenly deciding they don't want to save the princess at all

 

[baronjohn]

This game isn't hard.

Combat consists of gulping potions. That's it. Seriously. You gulp potions to win. My mage only has one party buff called flaming sword, which makes my dog CATCH FIRE AND DEAL FIRE DAMAGE FUCK YEAH THIS GAME ROX

So far I haven't seen any mages, and the spell list I have available on lvl up is pathetically weak compared to D&D.

The Orge boss battle is hard because he randomly decides to grab people and beats them to death. Boss strategy: reload until he doesn't. Win.

I haven't played any Bioware games since BG2 so "it's the best Bioware in a long time" doesn't mean shit to me. DA:O is nowhere near BG2, unless it gets a thousand times better in the future.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

if this flash game was any indication it's probably better to take the mindblast line of spells than fire or lightning based spells

 

[Grifthin]

So, judging by the thread, is DA:O going to be one the games we're going to mercilessly hate to keep our Kodex Kool Kred, even though it isn't really that bad?

Pretty much. Combat's respectably difficult, dialog has been acceptable, and their hodge podge "Hey guys let's take all these cool ideas from fantasy games and mix them together in one setting it'll be cool trust me" setting isn't too shabby thus far. The biggest test will be how different it plays during replays, either due to different party selection, different C&C, or different origin. But even if railroads you like Mass Effect I'm having a good time for one play at least.

Been pleasantly surprised with it apart from the retarded DLC management and integrated BIOWARE SOCIAL NETWORKING shit, which I'm going to most likely disable since it doesn't even work anyway.

Jesus I'm fucking amazed. Someone on Codex who actually posted positive AS WELL as negative points for the game. My gods. Now I really can't wait for the game to arrive on Vriday.

 

[Inziladun]

Yeah, the game really isn't as bad as the previews and marketing suggests. Which is pretty ironic.

It's by no means a masterpiece, but if you go in expecting shit, you'll come out pleasantly surprised. Or at least I did. Just don't expect too many features of what the codex considers makes up a true rpg, and you should have fun with it.

And yeah, DLC management is by far the worst i've seen to date in any game.

It basically consists of "Oh fare journeyman, listen to my tale" (NPC proceeds to talk for 15 minutes.)

1. (download content) Yes I will help you.
2. Lemme think about it.

 

[treave]

Stop it. You guys are making me actually think Dragon Age will be a good game. I don't want that. I don't want to love anymore.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

*Spoilers for Mage Origin*



Mouse is a pussy, even if you get him the bear upgrade. I know he's actually part of the test and all that, but damn. My fragile mage was capable of weathering more blows than a spirit bear.



*End spoilers*

 

[Kthan75]

I love it how in 8 pages of a thread called "Dragon Age impressions" there are like 5 posts with actual impressions about the game...

Anyway, some thoughts:
- Character creation is not too complex, but works; many spells seem have pretty similar counterparts in DnD, they are just arranged differently, but this was to be expected I guess, doesn't really bother me. Faces actually look good (at least for men)
- The overall impression I get (from about 1 hour of playing) is that of a very polished product. From menus and interface, to lore, setting and attention to detail. We'll see if this continues
- Dialog and voice acting is not impressive, but seems acceptable, overall. We'll see.

I think it's too early for anyone to judge C&C from 2-3 hours of play.

 

[Black]

I only had time to play the Mage origin last night, but so far it seems very promising, best game Bioware has made in years (and yeah yeah some might say that still doesn't amount to much, but save it).

I only got to Megaton last night, but so far it seems very promising, best game Bethesda has made in years.

Holy dicks, it's the same shit all over again :D

 

[CrimsonAngel]

I like it so far.

It seems fun and i am willing to pay money for it when it comes out in a few days.

 

[Trash]

It's pretty much the best rpg in years. Saying that however it doesn't stand up to games like Torment, BG2 and Fallout. Doesn't mean it isn't fun to play though. I'll buy it once there is a game of the year edition with all the DLC included.