Dragon Age impressions

[Monocause]

I'm beginning to think that a small dose of moderation for a month or so would do wonders for the Codex.

 

[am0k]

What the fuck.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I'm beginning to think that a small dose of moderation for a month or so would do wonders for the Codex.

A large dose wouldn't hurt either.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Well, Ch1ef excels at proving my point. *ponders what is going on at ITS at the moment*

 

[oldmanpaco]

One solution to the no death option would be to mod the injuries to something completely dibilitating that cannot be fixed with a health kit. Someone will mod that in I'm sure.

 

[Monocause]

One solution to the no death option would be to mod the injuries to something completely dibilitating that cannot be fixed with a health kit. Someone will mod that in I'm sure.

True, but I'm afraid that could screw up the game balance. If they used the auto-res mechanic it's quite obvious that they tailored combat and enemies to take advantage of it. Adding permadeath (or perma-injure) could make the game unwinnable unless coupled with a serious rebalance.

Maybe making the healthkits more scarce and valuable would be a solution? Seems easier and less restricting on the player.

 

[baronjohn]

That would be like removing the quest compass from Oblivion. The game wasn't designed to be played without a quest compass, none of the quest givers give detailed instructions, and you can't find shit.

Same thing with DA:O's auto-ressurection.

Banal. Shit. Boring.

 

[GarfunkeL]

What are the penalties of the injuries?

 

[ChristofferC]

What are the penalties of the injuries?

Loss of ability points, slower attack speed, that sort of stuff.

 

[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?

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.

Interesting. I usually prefer games that are very challenging, so I think I will stick with "Nightmare" difficulty, but hopefully it does not get so hard I have to restart.

Glad to hear the world map opens up after the origin story, really dont like the feel of the rail roaded start.

I have to say the dialog and voice overs are at least decent and I usually turn off speech in most games....Also dont think the faces look too bad.

Rather like combat, only thing I really hate is the auto-regen health.

 

[Imbecile]

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...

...Instead of falling back on old tropes, play it and come up with newer, more valid criticisms.

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

Agreed. Its perfectly fine to change your mind. Sometimes games seem much better or worse in retrospect. There's also an element of being persuaded by a group. I know a film always seems much better to me if I watch it with people who are enjoying it. Not sure why that is - maybe I'm one of these sheeple I hear so much about.

I do appreciate that people don't need to play a game to know its shit, I really do. But there's too much blind vitriolic hatred. Yes, yes, I know this is the codex, but the hate-all approach is just as misguided as imbecilic games reviewers who write off turn based games as outdated. And we're better than them - aren't we?

I'd just like to see a little more reasoning, and a little more logic. Instead of 20 posts alternating between "Banal Shit Boring", "<Codex>" "SLURP!", it'd be good to see a single fucking post pointing out exactly why its shit. Approaching the thing from all sides. All lucid and with good reasons and stuff.

Why does every game have to either be the best thing ever or utter shit? I know its not as much fun, but there's plenty of space for the decent and mediocre, and to be honest thats where the mainstream RPGs have been for the last few years. Rarely terrible, but rarely fantastic. Mass Effect, The Witcher, Risen (unplayed), Drakensang, Mount and Blade, Gothic 3, Fallout 3, Kings Bounty, Fable 2, The NWN2 expansions...and Dragon Age by the sound of things.

Some overly optimistic bugger said something about it being better to travel hopefully than arrive. Sure its fun to be a cynic but sometimes being cynical is just an idiots way of making himself feel smart.

 

[Livonya]

The Codex has always been a bit too ugly.

I was a visitor for quite a long time before I finally registered and started posting.

The ugly parts of the codex don't offend me, but they don't educate me either.

Arguments are one thing. I get that people aren't going to agree, but too often the arguments are replaced by mindless insults.

I have been playing computer games for nearly 30 years and it is nice to have a place to go to try to find out about games, but sometimes it seems like some of the people here don't actually like computer games.

Most of the people that have posted their first impressions gave what seemed like pretty balanced and honest perspectives on the game... only to be assaulted by people that haven't played the game.

It gets old.

 

[Starwars]

Glad to hear the world map opens up after the origin story, really dont like the feel of the rail roaded start.

Well, not quite. There is the Origin story, the Grey Warden camp (and related quests) and then one more area until the world map opens up for you to choose where to go.
I'm not crazy about it either, think it will hurt replayability a bit even though the Origin stories will help a lot generally.

 

[Vault Dweller]

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...

...Instead of falling back on old tropes, play it and come up with newer, more valid criticisms.

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

Agreed. Its perfectly fine to change your mind. Sometimes games seem much better or worse in retrospect.

I don't think that's the case here. The argument above is based on Circ's assumption that since some people admitted that Oblivion was shit after awhile, people who aren't willing to bash Dragon Age "just because" will admit later that the game sucks. Hopefully, I don't need to explain why the logic is flawed.

 

[Ch1ef]

So... what difficulty are you all playing?

 

[oldmanpaco]

One solution to the no death option would be to mod the injuries to something completely dibilitating that cannot be fixed with a health kit. Someone will mod that in I'm sure.

True, but I'm afraid that could screw up the game balance. If they used the auto-res mechanic it's quite obvious that they tailored combat and enemies to take advantage of it. Adding permadeath (or perma-injure) could make the game unwinnable unless coupled with a serious rebalance.

Maybe making the healthkits more scarce and valuable would be a solution? Seems easier and less restricting on the player.

There could be an ability added to the mage skill list that fix the injuries but would cause serious penalties to the for a time after use. Something like decreased mana/health for the mage.

Of course it would have to be a skill not available right away or with a long cool-down timer to make it better than the healing kit concept. In BG if one of your chars died you either reloaded or dumped his body for the wolves but by BG2 you were raising dead. Same concept here more or less (less).

Another option would be to make the healing kits have a one hour cool-down so you can't just let some chars fall in battle after battle. This option would be much easier to add in.

Some of the major mods in BG/BG2 (and FO3/Oblivion) are realism/difficulty mods so I'm sure something is coming.

 

[GarfunkeL]

What are the penalties of the injuries?

Loss of ability points, slower attack speed, that sort of stuff.

Details please. How many ability points? How much slower attack speed? Loss of casting ability? For how long? Does it really affect the gameplay?

I mean, ability drain in IE-games didn't really hamper me that much unless it was INT on a mage or STR on a fighter. This penalty could be a gimmick Biotards worship without actually meaning anything reasonable, like the level-scaling which (if Gamestop is to be trusted) is much further ranged than the "1-5" levels some folks wishfully hoped for.

 

[Darth Roxor]

NAO THATS SOME MATURITY BITCHES
Fuck you man.

Because there's just nothing more to add - I don't think I've ever seen any of your posts being something else than shitty 4chan memes or just plain fucking retardation, you're like a Korgan that posts less but is somehow a hundred times more annoying.

 

[kosie99]

Goodness me, are you lot seriously still around?

Ah, the Codex group dynamic - "please, define me, define me!"

Anyway, I see some of you seem to have grown up a bit, but the rest.... must be new recruits.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

NAO THATS SOME MATURITY BITCHES
Fuck you man.

Because there's just nothing more to add - I don't think I've ever seen any of your posts being something else than shitty 4chan memes or just plain fucking retardation, you're like a Korgan that posts less but is somehow a hundred times more annoying.

Korgan keeps most of his dumbfuckery to GD, where it's acceptable.

 

[MapMan]

Can someone explain me why there are multiple dialogue options if there's no c&c at all?

EDIT:

Also, a spoiler if someone feels like trolling some bioware faggots.

Spoiler

The 'witch' in the wilderness is in fact a dragon that you will later fight. No idea how deep in game it is though.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Can someone explain me why there are multiple dialogue options if there's no c&c at all?

To give the illusion of choice? No clue if you get some sort of different outcome later in the game if you joined up or whatever reluctantly rather than all rah-rah (yeah, not likely), but that would at least be something. Totally fluff non-decisions are pretty darn lame.

 

[Melcar]

So, has The Codex assploded yet?

 

[Darth Roxor]

So, has The Codex assploded yet?

It's approaching critical mass.

 

[Ch1ef]

NAO THATS SOME MATURITY BITCHES
Fuck you man.

Because there's just nothing more to add - I don't think I've ever seen any of your posts being something else than shitty 4chan memes or just plain fucking retardation, you're like a Korgan that posts less but is somehow a hundred times more annoying.

Korgan keeps most of his dumbfuckery to GD, where it's acceptable.

Ohohoho i fucked your pussy haaaaard.