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To Dragon Age, or not to Dragon Age... 
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Minor Diety
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Post To Dragon Age, or not to Dragon Age...
Okay, so this game is out. A couple of you are playing it and supposedly according to reviewers it's shit hot. Personally I don't listen to reviewers anymore, especially when they say "best RPG of the decade" which isn't saying much because RPG's are a dying breed these days.

There isn't a DA demo, and although the gameplay videos on youtube put me off completely, Ox is adamant that the game is awesome. So i'm a bit confused. Let me set aside the thing i'm looking for in an RPG and you tell me if they're in DA or not. Based on that, i'll buy up or not.

abstract:
MoW, Morrowind, Tomb Raider, L4D I liked because there was no prominent and forceful story / dialog so I could apply my own as I went along

large map:
many places to visit, takes a long time to get to either end. A vast land is more adventurous than a small one

magic-lite:
magic is overdone for me, like sci-fi. Distasteful colour and light splashing. Magic needs to be powerful, but rare and subtle (like lotr)

power:
you need to be able to gather power of force, land or coin, if you want and perhaps at a disadvantage. Some kind of sense of ownership beyond your skills and inventory.

many items
really very many, impossible to collect all, items.

origins
That there is a choice of origin, but it essentially drives your in-game contacts, start location, immediate quests, but not destiny or class. Facilitating the creation of your abstract story.

character development:
Morrowind no-class like system. Abstract and you can specialise according to periodic choices (levelling) and real time actions

combat:
the type of weapon is insignificant compared to skill but when the skill is equal, tactics is the winning factor.

travel:
travelling large distances is problematic. Decent reflection of the fatigue and perils

interface
snappy, gritty, low-3d, preferably 2d.

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:00 am
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Minor Diety
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Ok bitch, some of the stuff I can enlighten you about (given how much I played so far, which isn't that much in the greater scheme of the entire storyline)...

- maps: huge. Tons of places to visit.

-origins: the game is all aout Origins. Depending on what origin you choose, the first 2-3 hours of the game will be completely different (and they keep working through in the rest of the game). I'd tell you about my Dwarven commoner's escape from the casteless class in the dwarven captial but that'd be a spoiler. :P There are only 6 or so, but still. You can be a human noble ranger, which is Derf-style. ;)

-character development: start with a basic class that you can tweak according to the skills you choose along the way, later on you can specialize in subclasses (for fighters eg Templar, Ranger, Berserker adn Reaver. Mages and Rogues got 4 specializations too).

-graphics: it's the closest thing you'll ever come to BG2 again. Sure, it's 3D, but has a very pre-rendered look. If you zoom out to the max you have an isometric view BG2-style.

-Combat: tactics are important, weapons less so. There aren't really any seperate weapon specializations that I've seen, more weapon 'types' (two-handed, sword+ shield, etc). Combat skills and tactics are very important. I'm playing on hard, which makes the fights even more something to savor...spacebar, and the micromanagement starts. It's very BG2 old school.

-items: there isn't a diablo-like item fever, but shit, BG2 didn't have that either. There are more than enough different/special items to engross yourself into the inventory management, though.

-magic: spells are not overly superfluous. Mages and magic-users aren't very common in the world of DA, and regarded with distrust (storyline reasons for that too). There aren't 45484 spells like in IWD2 or most of the last D&D games, wich makes spell management rather intricate.

-travelling...don't really get the question :D

- power: haven't gotten there yet, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a castle or something later on in the game.


I'll add my own:

- conversations: well done. Great voice acting, believeable facial animations mostly, and good "direction" (walking while talking etc). The blood spatters can get kind ridiculous in cut-scenes, but you can turn that off if you want.

- music: very good. I've had goosebumps a few times already.

-Story: superb. Rather cliché fantasy, but so well executed.


Man, if you don't like this game, you're never gonna like another RPG again. It's the closest to BG2 we'll get in a while, and it's sweet. :)

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:52 am
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Well i disagree with Ox on the part of comparison with BG2, aside from heavy emphasis on story, slightly similiar camera LOS/POV and the fact that you adventure with a party, the similiarities end there.

The attribute system is completely different from that of BG2. The skillpoint/spellsystem is something of mix from Diablo 2 and Sacred 2. The spells are gained through leveling as you buy them with points, so at the start its just press 1, 3, wait, 1,3 wait, 1,3 wait, woohoo monies. Well its not bad since in BG2 it was magic missile and mage armor as well but there was the illusion of choice :D.

The micromanagement is not the kind Derf is looking for i think. Well the idea is that essentially you could make the team play by itself, you get tactics or AI options in the form of: when x happens, use y ability/item/spell/weapon. If there were enough of these tactics options the party could pretty much conclude a battle on their own.

I think that Derf would hate himself less if he decides to buy it when it is cheaper.

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:36 pm
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Peltz wrote:
I think that Derf would hate himself less if he decides to buy it when it is cheaper.


You sir, are a poet. I would put that in the quotes thread if I hadn't recently done so with another. :lol:

@ Ox, you're comparing it alot to BG, and although I recognise BG as a classic, I don't hold it as high as Morrowind, so the whole BG love-fest only goes so far with me :D Infact I would hazard to say I don't quite re......


OMG ZOOLANDER IS ON TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:22 pm
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Oh you didnt just go there, lol ox is gonna pwn you in the next round of L4D.

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:27 pm
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Hehe, I was saying I didn't necessarily enjoy it more than Diablo, Divine Divinity.

And this game:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/downloadgame/306

Which i've just downloaded and will attempt to play for the first time in about 10 years.

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:47 pm
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Felix Rex
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Derf loves games about fairies? :shock:

Zoolander rocks! My favorite part was the freak gasoline fight accident.


Sat Nov 07, 2009 5:24 pm
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Lying in my bed with my laptop (hot penis-to-socket sex ftw) after something of a DA marathon, and I cannot stress enough how good this game is.

The story is involving, the world fascinating and brutish (seen some pretty rough shit already and I don't wince easily in RPG's), the atmosphere epic and the combat isn't easy. I'm playing on hard and had to do one battle a few times to beat it, but even on normal the game is, according to many, not a breeze.

Peltz, what origin are you anyway? I suggest you control your NPC's manually as much as possible and use the "free movement" option for baiting and running or your entire party always follows the person you sent somewhere (but you probably already figured that out).

Even after hours into the game I've got a 5% completion, heh. I'll post a few screens tomorrow.

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Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:07 pm
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I went with a human mage on normal Difficulty.

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Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:47 am
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Cool. I haven't met too many mages yet myself...Morrigan is working wonders for me though!

Some pics I promised, mostly to giver Derf some idea of how 3D/2D the environment is and a quick glance at the character screen/inventory.


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

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Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:15 pm
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more


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Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:17 pm
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Just about to start my own marathon session with any luck. Here's my profile not that it seems to be updating. You can view my char here though. You can view auto-taken screenshots on that first link too. I played for about an hour and a half before work yesterday and so far love the little I've seen. I've gone for a human mage who's going for heals/buffs to look after my party (when I get one) just for something different to my usual playstyle. I love the origin story for her so far.

Had one awesome run in; mages are distrusted by non-mages in the game and we're looked after by some templar type guys (forget the name... )and I was talking to one of them. Anyway came up with options such as:
1. Ok, I should go now
2. I'd like to get to know you better
3. We should go somewhere else, if you know what I mean.

I chose 2 which then led to a similar option to #3 above, so I chose that just to see what happened. The poor guy (his name was Cullen) had a stutter anyway and goes "Err... wow, ummm i i i if you're sugg gg gesting what I er... think um... i i i barely know you... " and then turned and ran away!

I won't answer the stuff in the first post til I've played it a little more, but yes I'm impressed and it takes a hell of a lot to impress me these days.

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Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:58 pm
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Ha, we are playing a similiar character then, with the exception of me being a male, well, gay looking male if you look at the character portrait :D

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Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:51 pm
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Just added you, he doesn't look gay! Well, not overly... ;) I love my portrait, the raised eyebrow is so me.

Just finished my origin story and got 2 achievements for it; one for completion and one for completion without dying. Go me! Now I'm in the Grey Wardens camp and about to set out on my 'Joining'. Seriously, not a very original name is it...

edit: just met Morrigan. She's pretty cool. I love Alistair! He's sarcastic and insults people but is good really :D I need to get a romance option with him ;)

Also on Xfire Dragon Age is 4th in the 'most played' list atm, with WoW, CoD 2 and CoD 4 beating it. It's beating Aion, CoD: WaW, CS:S, Battlefield 2, Borderlands and Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne quite comfortably.

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Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:17 pm
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Well early in the morning (about 0200 AM) I lost my first fight, not a good idea to get pissed before going to sleep. The fight was the Redcliff village, but that is as far as im going explain it without revealing stuff.

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Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:22 am
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