Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.
"This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.
Bioware always was slow to catch a trend. They decided to make their own Skyrim after Skyrim had a great success etc. They fail to see how people crave for complex, hard, yet satisfying games. Dark Souls should've give them a hint, being immensely successful even without any story just because the enjoyment after several hours of killing a single boss was nothing Bioware with their carebear "hardcore" RPGs could offer to the gamers.
To be fair here, Bioware belongs to EA, everything that comes from EA is common denominator popamole, even if Bioware wanted to do a Dark Souls, fuck that EA would allow them. Besides Dark Souls is a sucess because its publisher was smart enough to know that maybe... maybe its not a good idea to throw 200 million dollars on a game so the budget is compatible with the sales. I don't think EA has enough wisdom to realize that.
Totally.. I can feel inspiration in this game coming from several other games like Skyrim, Witcher, Clash of Clans and even World of Warcraft..
Bioware basically steals mechanics from other games based on what is popular / fun then Frankenstein's them all together in a half assed attempt - then covers it in SJW 'equality' shilling.
To be fair here, Bioware belongs to EA, everything that comes from EA is common denominator popamole, even if Bioware wanted to do a Dark Souls, fuck that EA would allow them. Besides Dark Souls is a sucess because its publisher was smart enough to know that maybe... maybe its not a good idea to throw 200 million dollars on a game so the budget is compatible with the sales. I don't think EA has enough wisdom to realize that.
EA loves money above anything else, so they may tell Bioware to "make us a Skyrim/Dark Souls!" but Bioware simply have no ability to do so. They do not understand things like high difficulty-high reward, no microtransactions, no cosmetic DLCs and I doubt the will ever understand why minecraft is so popular with such primitive graphics. It's like telling a professional painter to write a beautiful music because music is art and painting is art. No matter how great will be the reward the result will be the same.
Were they supposed to make their Skyrim clone before Skyrim was released? Making a game takes at least a few years. Skyrim was released in 2011, all the Skyrim clones should start popping up around now. See also The Witcher 3.
I'm 30 hours in now and things have gotten a little better - zones aren't as mindnumbingly boring as the Hinterlands; I just finished Crestwood, which I assume is a completely optional area; it had an interesting overrarching plot with a pretty satisfying resolution - I think this sort of self-contained story works a lot better for this game. It was a decently-sized map with some cool sights and a couple decent enemies.
including a big dragon that plays exactly like the one in Hinterlands except this one is lightning based instead of fire
I've given up on controlling my PC (he's a Reaver now), instead controlling an archer rogue and combat feels less terrible when you get to plunk at shit from a distance while your party beefcakes spam their abilities without any sense or reason. Better framerate too because the particle spam isn't as much in my face anymore. I think the passive for the archer tree isn't working properly though (the supposed 5% damage increase per subsequent attack buff). I'm using Sera but her specialization is pretty boring (it's the flask one), maybe one of the other rogues is better.
I'm now at the Emerald Graves and it looks to be similar to Crestwood in terms of size, which is good. Looks reasonably pretty too.
If the game didn't treat the player as a mongoloid, with so many baffling, third-rate plot devices like infinite mcguffins for the CHOSEN ONE (the Skyhold situation was just hilarious) and instead focused on a simpler political story it could have been interesting. Dialogues are still cringeworthy, combat is shit and rewards are still terrible.
I don't get the complaints about needing to grind Power, though - just by regularly playing the game (I'm level 14 now) I have over 60 Power, having opened every place on the war map, and haven't grinded once.
Were they supposed to make their Skyrim clone before Skyrim was released? Making a game takes at least a few years. Skyrim was released in 2011, all the Skyrim clones should start popping up around now. See also The Witcher 3.
My guess is that DA:O was originally planned as an MMO but later scrapped and reworked into a single player game. It's been in production for at least 4 years.
there is a fucking fuckton of filler combat. the marsh was loathsome. dozens of corpses rising out of the mire for no goddamn reason, most of them archers so I couldn't just AOE them down in short order.
the design does shift a lot after the first zone. as far as I've seen, other areas are more "there's one specific thing to do here then a bunch of sidestuff," which I think is better conceptually than the "run around fixing all the tiny things" design of the Hinterlands. there are still tiny things to fix, but the spaces are smaller and the sidethings are fewer. so far none of them have actually made me -care,- but. I'm doing the early ones.
in the Fade, at least if you've spared Loghain, you have the option to send Hawke to his death. I hated Hawke, but felt no pleasure in having him heroic sacrifice, and almost had a feel when Varric was being sad about it. as far as I can tell he's 100% over his sads after a couple cutscenes--even asking him about Hawke again doesn't have any unique dialogue. so that's a disappointment. but I do love Loghain--he's got an "only sane man in a world of total bullshit" thing going on, and Simon Templeman imprinted on me when he was Kain and I were a lad who hadn't yet realized vampires were the werst.
does anyone know how the Hawke/Loghain thing works out if Loghain's dead? is there another Warden with you in the Fade?
there is a fucking fuckton of filler combat. the marsh was loathsome. dozens of corpses rising out of the mire for no goddamn reason, most of them archers so I couldn't just AOE them down in short order.
there is a fucking fuckton of filler combat. the marsh was loathsome. dozens of corpses rising out of the mire for no goddamn reason, most of them archers so I couldn't just AOE them down in short order.
Most of the time yeah, there's a dry path that you can take - but if you're off exploring anyway it doesn't matter since you're bound to step on some water eventually; my point is that for that particular section the respawning followed some kind of internal logic.
okay, fine! I just sucked. it didn't even occur to me that that line meant anything. althooough I -do- think once I lit the final beacon in the area that my PC said something like "no more corpses?" there were sooo more corpses. I wouldn't've minded so much if they were melee, 'cause Whirlwind in a stamina duration build is fucking -absurdity.-
I listen to audiobooks andor podcasts while I play and don't always pause them for incidental dialogue (curse you seductive rumble pack keeping me to a controller, really need to learn to map my global on/off button to a controller input) and didn't have subtitles on for a long time, so I've missed a lot of offhanded comments up to now.
I mean, it probably got some redeeming qualities for newbie gamers and more casual people but damn, as an RPG? What in the...I would blush less playing Sakura Spirit.
I mean, it probably got some redeeming qualities for newbie gamers and more casual people but damn, as an RPG? What in the...I would blush less playing Sakura Spirit.
it's really fine. it's not great. it's not terrible. please stop with the same moronic OMG TOO COOL TO PLAY UNIRONICALLY bullshit. it's been said a thousand times before by a thousand people just as disingenuous as you are. go, get it, think about it, come back and tell us how it made you feel and where it could've been better. this hipstrocious nonsense is not a contribution.
there is a fucking fuckton of filler combat. the marsh was loathsome. dozens of corpses rising out of the mire for no goddamn reason, most of them archers so I couldn't just AOE them down in short order.
the design does shift a lot after the first zone. as far as I've seen, other areas are more "there's one specific thing to do here then a bunch of sidestuff," which I think is better conceptually than the "run around fixing all the tiny things" design of the Hinterlands. there are still tiny things to fix, but the spaces are smaller and the sidethings are fewer. so far none of them have actually made me -care,- but. I'm doing the early ones.
in the Fade, at least if you've spared Loghain, you have the option to send Hawke to his death. I hated Hawke, but felt no pleasure in having him heroic sacrifice, and almost had a feel when Varric was being sad about it. as far as I can tell he's 100% over his sads after a couple cutscenes--even asking him about Hawke again doesn't have any unique dialogue. so that's a disappointment. but I do love Loghain--he's got an "only sane man in a world of total bullshit" thing going on, and Simon Templeman imprinted on me when he was Kain and I were a lad who hadn't yet realized vampires were the werst.
does anyone know how the Hawke/Loghain thing works out if Loghain's dead? is there another Warden with you in the Fade?
I'm 30 hours in now and things have gotten a little better - zones aren't as mindnumbingly boring as the Hinterlands; I just finished Crestwood, which I assume is a completely optional area; it had an interesting overrarching plot with a pretty satisfying resolution - I think this sort of self-contained story works a lot better for this game. It was a decently-sized map with some cool sights and a couple decent enemies.
including a big dragon that plays exactly like the one in Hinterlands except this one is lightning based instead of fire
I've given up on controlling my PC (he's a Reaver now), instead controlling an archer rogue and combat feels less terrible when you get to plunk at shit from a distance while your party beefcakes spam their abilities without any sense or reason. Better framerate too because the particle spam isn't as much in my face anymore. I think the passive for the archer tree isn't working properly though (the supposed 5% damage increase per subsequent attack buff). I'm using Sera but her specialization is pretty boring (it's the flask one), maybe one of the other rogues is better.
I'm now at the Emerald Graves and it looks to be similar to Crestwood in terms of size, which is good. Looks reasonably pretty too.
If the game didn't treat the player as a mongoloid, with so many baffling, third-rate plot devices like infinite mcguffins for the CHOSEN ONE (the Skyhold situation was just hilarious) and instead focused on a simpler political story it could have been interesting. Dialogues are still cringeworthy, combat is shit and rewards are still terrible.
I don't get the complaints about needing to grind Power, though - just by regularly playing the game (I'm level 14 now) I have over 60 Power, having opened every place on the war map, and haven't grinded once.
the late game locations get even better. Western Approach is probably best desert location i have played in long time, Exalted plains are another forest but very different from Emerald graves/hinterlands and Emprise du Lion is cool as fuck with those three colosseums and snowy mountains full of red lyrium.
There is also couple smaller locations related to side quests. Haunted mansion and knights tomb in Emerald graves, that dark elven temple with puzzles are pretty great.
