I don't mind you guys expanding into solo RPG's or other such genre's in your writings and/or musings... but please at least disclose the fact that BioWare has purchased a major amount of advertising (yeah... I know... it's obviously splattered everywhere) and that may have had a direct result on an entire article written about a game that has nothing to do with your website.
The tie-in of Dragon Age with any mmo is loose at best unless you could uncover some element of cross-pollination to TOR.
Do all the commentary and editorials you want. Hey... it's your website and it's fun to read. For the sake of credibility, please just do a better job of disclosing when you are on the take.
If you would return to some code of conduct with regard to journalism and reporting... it wouldn't be a bad thing.
Fuller... I don't know which is worse. If you pitched this story yourself or whether it was assigned to you.
I will give you guys the fact that this was prolly one of the most HYPED RPG I have ever seen!!
OMG! Was it ever / is it ever.
Is it living up to the hype?
Depends upon how much you believe in hype or can make your own decision. I let some friends of mine ( who always have to have the latest shiney new game ) go and blow their hard earned cash on it first. When I STILL have not heard a peep or post from one of them and the other is just wetting himself with praise. I thought it deserved a look.
Outstanding graphics? meh
Outstanding interface? meh
Outstanding story? meh
Honest opinnion is it feels more immersive. It is subtle in its difference from the run of the mill rpg. NPC are not sitting there with a floaty over their head or highlighted or jumping up and down to get your attention. It flows better and FEELS more like watching an interactive story than actually playing a game.
Some micro-management in combat but, some people like that. I like the way the world feels and it really takes the whole Oblivion type of game to the next level of story telling. Oblivion missed the mark a bit there but the world was wonderfull. This one feels like they are using that same 4 year old game engine but, spent the time and developement on getting the story arcs, variations, and choices in and polished.
Say hello, To the things you've left behind. They are more a part of your life now that you can't touch them.
Dragon Hype...errr...Age. Two words. Memory leak. It will leak out of my memory hopefully faster than it leaked into my PC's memory. Another Lie-o-ware commercial milk run. RIP the real Bioware. Why is this console crap of an offline crpg even brought up here ffs??? Please.
What do u mean console crap, the gameplay is more like old school PC rpg like baldurs gate which I like.
Bioware hasn't done an 'old school' crpg since NWN (or BG2 really). Everything since has just been dumbed down actioned up console crap for the sheepy masses. Imo.
Originally posted by Irishoak:
Well, level design would be easy for Dune.
ROFLMFAO! >8^D
They say that right before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. That's true, even for a blind man. ^DareDevil^
Loving the game at the moment, compared to the main story arc of Neverwinter Nights, it trounces it in every way. I'm hoping that maybe they'll bring in online support for persistent worlds at a later date (else a large part of having a toolset is wasted).
I do like the way the game doesnt always take itself seriously, the trademark Bioware humour is prevalent in this game
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned the premium content thing rearing its ugly head in-game, this did kind of mar my immersion to a certain degree, and I agree that marketing should be left firmly outside of gameplay especially for a (currently) single player title (totally blame EA for this).
Minor gripes aside, from my p.o.v the game has more than lived up to the hype.
Edit. I got the impression years back that this title would have been a sequel to baldurs gate 2 or even another neverwinter title, had bioware and atari not severed ties, I guess making a non-d&d franchise title was their way of giving the "fingers-up" to the current liscence holders.
Loving the game at the moment, compared to the main story arc of Neverwinter Nights, it trounces it in every way. I'm hoping that maybe they'll bring in online support for persistent worlds at a later date (else a large part of having a toolset is wasted). I do like the way the game doesnt always take itself seriously, the trademark Bioware humour is prevalent in this game Someone earlier in this thread mentioned the premium content thing rearing its ugly head in-game, this did kind of mar my immersion to a certain degree, and I agree that marketing should be left firmly outside of gameplay especially for a (currently) single player title (totally blame EA for this). Minor gripes aside, from my p.o.v the game has more than lived up to the hype. Edit. I got the impression years back that this title would have been a sequel to baldurs gate 2 or even another neverwinter title, had bioware and atari not severed ties, I guess making a non-d&d franchise title was their way of giving the "fingers-up" to the current liscence holders.
EDIT AGAIN: "finger" singular.
Say hello, To the things you've left behind. They are more a part of your life now that you can't touch them.
As usually Bioware delivers. The game is basicly a updated Baldurs Gate. I have one issue with Dragon age and Bioware generally though; i dont know if its been covered early in this long thread, but they seem to have problem with coding a decent engine. The graphic is decent - but when you have tryed a similar instanced game like Arkham Asylum - the graphic isnt impressive. Considering how small many of the instances is - even shops and houses is instanced, it is incredible that the game have theese long loadtimes and subpar graphic. Its not only Dragon Age - most of Biowares games is extremely instanced, almost down to the point where each combat is its own instance. Bioware get away with this simply because their games have other qualities. But they need new coders in Bioware imo.
With that said; ofc the game rox. Combats is fun and the CoaS( carrots on a stick) system have a perfect flow. I dont miss their typical Ad&d ruleset much, and the stat based items is a must in modern RPG, like it or not.
As usually Bioware delivers. The game is basicly a updated Baldurs Gate. I have one issue with Dragon age and Bioware generally though; i dont know if its been covered early in this long thread, but they seem to have problem with coding a decent engine. The graphic is decent - but when you have tryed a similar instanced game like Arkham Asylum - the graphic isnt impressive. Considering how small many of the instances is - even shops and houses is instanced, it is incredible that the game have theese long loadtimes and subpar graphic. Its not only Dragon Age - most of Biowares games is extremely instanced, almost down to the point where each combat is its own instance. Bioware get away with this simply because their games have other qualities. But they need new coders in Bioware imo. With that said; ofc the game rox. Combats is fun and the CoaS( carrots on a stick) system have a perfect flow. I dont miss their typical Ad&d ruleset much, and the stat based items is a must in modern RPG, like it or not.
It's a memory leak, last I heard they was working on it. When the load times and jerky lag (the lag doesn't happen for everybody) happens just save and exit to the main menu then reload.
I'll toss this in once since it's come up. We have zero idea what's on the page as far as ads go beyond what we see visiting the site like the rest of you.
Well boss I don't actually care, but I'd like to point out:
Large featured story on DA
The article brings up "what MMOs can learn from DA", which is quite a convenient segue for Bioware to hype SW TOR's primary bullet point.
Every slide on the front page has "brought to you by DA", except for the DA slide itself, of course.
There's a DA give away
Purely by coincidence, and thus not in the button list, but still having a psychological effect was the DA-related comic that I saw on loading the front page. Collectively it was DA overload.
Now maybe you don't know anything more about it than we do, and I'm generally inclined to believe that you don't on a professional level, but you do have to admit that it's a perfect storm of coincidence.
With that said I don't personally care if it is all arranged or not. I find their (apparent) attempt to connect DA's success with SW TOR quite frankly amusing.
Yes, it's a lot of Dragon Age at the same time, but there's a less sinister reason for it all...
The game launched this week. Naturally, that's when they're doing major advertising. It's also a logical time to call the makers of a single player game and talk to them.
Dana Massey Formerly of MMORPG.com Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
The Dragon Age game must have been made for a high end system since it would not run on my system Intel Dual Core 3.6, Nividia 9800, 4GB Ram, Winxp SP3. When I contacted Bioware support, they suggested I upgrade to a faster system using Windows Vista or Windows 7. If I had the money to spend would upgrade, stupid bastards.
Nope. Dual Core 2,3; Nvidia 8600, 2GB ram is enough. And I even played at top graphics without lag. Load time would become problem after nonstop gaming of FIVE TO EIGHT HOURS. And all I would have to do is spent few minutes restarting my computer. I heard many people complaining about high end system requirement, but is just seems like incompatability with something...
It runs on my wife's 10 year old computer in her office. It runs perfectly on mine and its not as nice as yours.
Stop downloading porn.
And to all the people in this thread whining about the game--if you think its so easy to do this (make a game at this standard), go do better.
DRAGON AGE IS NOT AN MMORPG. www.mmorpg.com is becomming less and less about mmorpg's and more and more about advertising for any video game with a sword and a dragon in their theme. It underscores a poor journalistic/editorial focus IMHO. MMORPG used to be specialists on MMORPG's and used to be the go-to place for MMORPG info. Now they are starting to muddy the waters and in turn muddy their own specialization... Thats not to say that Dragon Age is a bad game because it isn't. After all it was given great reviews at a real multiplatform site www.gametrailers.com who specialize in cross platform gaming. And yes I do realize that one of the reason for interest in Dragon Age by www.mmorpg.com is because Dragon Age uses what some call traditional MMORPG combat mechanics. Fine and well... but so does Fable, Gothic, Witcher etc... what we are actually talking about here is RPG mechanics not mmorpg mechanics. The MMORPG industry learned ALL of their tricks from the standard RPG platform games (not as if its a big head to head face off or anything). Its just a historical trajectory. Games with an RPG element will inspire each other...golly go figure. Hardly news...and definitively not explicitly mmorpg news.
I'll toss this in once since it's come up. We have zero idea what's on the page as far as ads go beyond what we see visiting the site like the rest of you.
Well boss I don't actually care, but I'd like to point out:
Large featured story on DA
The article brings up "what MMOs can learn from DA", which is quite a convenient segue for Bioware to hype SW TOR's primary bullet point.
Every slide on the front page has "brought to you by DA", except for the DA slide itself, of course.
There's a DA give away
Purely by coincidence, and thus not in the button list, but still having a psychological effect was the DA-related comic that I saw on loading the front page. Collectively it was DA overload.
Now maybe you don't know anything more about it than we do, and I'm generally inclined to believe that you don't on a professional level, but you do have to admit that it's a perfect storm of coincidence.
With that said I don't personally care if it is all arranged or not. I find their (apparent) attempt to connect DA's success with SW TOR quite frankly amusing.
If SW TOR is anything like DA then:
your NPC henchmen will randomly stop what they're doing and proceed to do nothing
They will randomly stop following you, forcing you to manually tell them where to go
the healers will rush face first into the front lines to attack at melee distance with their ranged weapon
rogue-types will never, ever try to get behind a mob. You must do that for them. On every. Single. #$%ing. Mob.
Ranged weapon classes will flat-out refuse to use their ranged weapons and will instead rush in to melee (unless you remove their melee weapons - yeah, Liliana is now a duel-wielding rogue.)
You will need to baby sit them during any challenging fight because of the above issues
and, in short, the scripts (or instructions) that you set up for them will - for all appearances - randomly turn off for no ryme or reason.
Mobs will rush your main character at the beginning of every fight regardless of the proximity or attacks from your henchmen until you run around for a few seconds so that your henchmen can build up hate.
You will be forced to watch (or otherwise try to skip through as quickly as possible) some long dialogue scene in order to repeat the same boss fight for the 10th time due to the above issues.
...and countless other Bioware quirks.
Bioware is as cliche as anime. The bad guy is always obvious. The betrayals are always obvious. The plot points are always the same. The same character archetypes are always used. The only thing that we're missing is the blue spikey hair.
Good thing I like anime then.
All your bullet points are user error lol!
- Forget you put them on Hold
- Dont know how to use part hold or the tactical interface
- Does not know how to operate ranged character Behaviors in the Tactical menu
-Does not know how to deploy a strategic group
Sorry sir, you are the problem. This game takes skill, L2P
If only it were as simple as yourself then there would be no bugs and no patches. We can dream.
I'll toss this in once since it's come up. We have zero idea what's on the page as far as ads go beyond what we see visiting the site like the rest of you.
Well boss I don't actually care, but I'd like to point out:
Large featured story on DA
The article brings up "what MMOs can learn from DA", which is quite a convenient segue for Bioware to hype SW TOR's primary bullet point.
Every slide on the front page has "brought to you by DA", except for the DA slide itself, of course.
There's a DA give away
Purely by coincidence, and thus not in the button list, but still having a psychological effect was the DA-related comic that I saw on loading the front page. Collectively it was DA overload.
Now maybe you don't know anything more about it than we do, and I'm generally inclined to believe that you don't on a professional level, but you do have to admit that it's a perfect storm of coincidence.
With that said I don't personally care if it is all arranged or not. I find their (apparent) attempt to connect DA's success with SW TOR quite frankly amusing.
Yes, it's a lot of Dragon Age at the same time, but there's a less sinister reason for it all...
The game launched this week. Naturally, that's when they're doing major advertising. It's also a logical time to call the makers of a single player game and talk to them.
Absolutely. Also, I just realized that my "well boss" line came across in text much ruder than I intended it to, so I'd like to apologize for that.
The timing of everything makes sense either way, but this way I get to enjoy conspiracy theories. ;D
I find the article amusing. Dragon Age copied from World of Warcraft everything but the User friendliness of its interface.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I find the article amusing. Dragon Age copied from World of Warcraft everything but the User friendliness of its interface. There is no Auto Target or Nearest Enemy Target key. So whereas in World of Warcraft you press Tab to target an enemy and then attack it with a button on your hotbar, you can't do that with Dragon Age. YOu must click the Target. You also have no Target Portrait, so you need to pause the game to try to figure out who you have targeted. If your ally is infront you...then sorry bub but you can't target anything but your ally...unless you rotate the camera in various ways to try to click the enemy you wish to attack. Other things are the Map and the Quest targets. In World of Warcraft, especially with recent user created enhancements such as quest helper, Tom Tom and Carbonite you are never at a loss for what you have to do next. However this isn't the case in Dragon Age. The Codex and Journal are cryptic messes of text that make following quests and storylines very difficult. Whereas in World of Warcraft with these mods you can bring up the overhead map and see exactly where you need to go, in Dragon Age you frequently lose track, especially traveling between cities. Some quests are given in one town, but you actually need to go somewhere else to do the quest...and then return to the town. When you return you'd better remember who gave you the quest and where they were, because unless you are on the right map you won't see the quest marker. Now let's go onto Leveling up and completing quest objectives. World of Warcraft makes it very clear when a player levels up, in fact they make it a big deal with a recognisable sound , onscreen graphic effect and text that appears at the top center of the screen, very readable and noticeable indicating you have levelled up. If you are on multiple quests, a Quest Objective tracker keeps track of the quests, multiple quests, as you do them. You can tell at a glance what you have to do next. If you put the game down for three weeks and return to it, you won't be lost. Not so with Dragon Age. Notifications are tiny and placed in the lower left of your screen, well out of the way of the focus of your eyes. You need to go back and forth to the ineffective and confusing Journal repeatedly to keep track of what you have to do. And at some points you coudl have over 20 quests in the journal. Another issue is that the User Interface does NOT SCALE. So whereas with world of warcraft if I set my resolution to 1920 x 1200 or heck..2530 x whatever I can then adjust a Scale to make everything a bit bigger and more readable...you can't do that in Dragon Age. Dragon Age's interface is the same interface style we've seen from the 1990s. So unless this Dragon Age spokesperson is saying that Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights drew on the user interface of World of Warcraft, he's full of it. World of Warcraft with its user mods are a 10/10 with regards User Interface, Dragon Age would be a 5.5/10 They do nothing new and unique, and do a lot much worse to what gamers are used to in 2009 in an RPG.
sorry little johny son of a bitch, didnt realise you needed everything handed to you on a platinum platter instead of having you figure your own way out. o wait, if you played anything other then wow you might have noticed alot of games leave how much you learn up to the effort you put into learning it, like mass effect, baldurs gate, all the other games bioware has made and we as consumers have loved.
I find the article amusing. Dragon Age copied from World of Warcraft everything but the User friendliness of its interface.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
I find the article amusing. Dragon Age copied from World of Warcraft everything but the User friendliness of its interface.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
path finding?
lol
that's your beef?
Yes. BG is legends
DA is not. When you reach 0 health, you die. Why is that so hard to get for game devs? You don't magically get up after a battle where you were cut down thru the neck with a sword to the throat. And you don't don the wolverine healing factor after you get up and are able to fight at full strength 10 seconds later.
It's a dumbed down RPG to the max. In BG you paid for your mistakes and you learned from them
In DA who cares if your party dies, no emotional investment at all.
I find the article amusing. Dragon Age copied from World of Warcraft everything but the User friendliness of its interface.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
path finding?
lol
that's your beef?
Yes. BG is legends
DA is not. When you reach 0 health, you die. Why is that so hard to get for game devs? You don't magically get up after a battle where you were cut down thru the neck with a sword to the throat. And you don't don the wolverine healing factor after you get up and are able to fight at full strength 10 seconds later.
It's a dumbed down RPG to the max. In BG you paid for your mistakes and you learned from them
In DA who cares if your party dies, no emotional investment at all.
Pretty sure that's because BG/IWD/NWN etc. were fairly strict DnD rules, DA:O seems to just follow a different ruleset.
I find the article amusing. Dragon Age copied from World of Warcraft everything but the User friendliness of its interface.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
path finding?
lol
that's your beef?
Yes. BG is legends
DA is not. When you reach 0 health, you die. Why is that so hard to get for game devs? You don't magically get up after a battle where you were cut down thru the neck with a sword to the throat. And you don't don the wolverine healing factor after you get up and are able to fight at full strength 10 seconds later.
It's a dumbed down RPG to the max. In BG you paid for your mistakes and you learned from them
In DA who cares if your party dies, no emotional investment at all.
Pretty sure that's because BG/IWD/NWN etc. were fairly strict DnD rules, DA:O seems to just follow a different ruleset.
Hey I got no problem with them going a different route for a different game.
But attaching the name "baldur's gate" to this game as being anything in the same league as it, is just wrong.
If your a huge fan of DnD, and think baldur's gate is perhaps one of the best games of all time, to stray from what made it great and have something so obviously make no sense like having party members never die, in what is supposed to be an RPG...
It's so offensive to me to put the Baldur's Gate name out there, in an OBVIOUS attempt to bring in sales from old school gamers, then you don't even live up to the old school name by having game mechanics that make no fukking sense and are NOT old school.
shame on bioware for this abomination, it could have been a worthy successor to Baldur's Gate, but its clearly not.
Any solo RPG should be better than a MMO at drawing the player in and telling a story. MMO’s are made for many players; they cannot come to a conclusion. Solo rpg’s are made for you as the main protagonist and can end till the next game is released. So any solo rpg that does not do a better job than a MMO in terms of making you feel part of the story and telling a great story has really missed the boat.
Leave to to some over-indulged baby to whine about a fantastic game. I would say no offense, but I want you to take offense.
Every time I see someone say, 'such and such didn't do anything new and blah blah' I always have to counter with: If you're such an expert on what would be new to this industry, then why aren't you out there doing it? Some of us are actually interested in getting into the industry to try to get some new ideas out there, are you? If not then you get to do two things - first, shut the hell up and second, go play something else. If all you're going to do is criticize in that oh-so common psuedo 'ima article writor!' attitude then you just need to stop because all it does is make you sound like a snob.
Nobody likes snobs. If you're having such a problem handling the controls in Dragon Age then I have to wonder how you are able to go through life. All it is is having DECENT multi-tasking skills with a bit of micro managing. You don't even have to be all that fast about it since you can freaking pause the game (spacebar for PC users). Sometimes the AI will freak out and go attack random stuff, but there are ways to change that. For instance, if you want to have your party follow the attack of whichever character you have selected then you can set that through tactics. You can even set to have certain party members follow the attacks of other party members by name.
People who complain about the controls in Dragon Age are just lazy, plain and simple. I spent maybe 15 minutes exploring all of the tactics and fell in love with the system. Which, by the way, the entire in-depth tactics system to incrementally control your party's AI is new. Other RPG's haven't had the ability to do so much with an AI. And if you're really so worried about not knowing what you have targeted then you clearly have larger problems. It's pretty obvious when a character lifts their weapon and then swings it in the EXACT direction of what they are attacking. Then on top of that damage ticks DIRECTLY over it in such a fashion that it is almost impossible to not be able to tell what is or is not taking damage.
I don't even play in the top-down camera mode which some people have claimed is the only way to effectively control everything. I set all the tactics exactly the way I need them so there is usually very little I have to do in terms of switching characters. There is so much you can do in the game it's still kind of mind boggling. There are multiple ways to handle a fight, any fight really. On my warrior character I have my part set up to the point where I can, if I want to, just power through most everything I run into. Two handed spec is almost disgustingly overpowered when combined with berzerker+templar and a set of knight-commander armor (adds a crap load of spell resist - it's beefed up templar armor). I digress though. Bottom line is that the majority of people bitching are over-indulged, lazy asses who really have no idea what they're doing and are easily confused. Here I'll say no offense because I know that's going to sound a lot more offensive than maybe I would like.
When people get confused by something that is too different than what they're used to they usually just lash out. Most of the people I know who have Dragon Age (people who aren't lazy or easily confused) have absolutely no idea what all these whine posts are talking about. I have the same problem because when people mention all these UI problems or some crap I just have no idea what they're talking about. I've maneuvered around while fighting the high dragon with each party member and I didn't have any problems....but again, I also make full use of the tactics system.
PS - Having a spirit healer and a bard around make most fights drastically easier. All the bard really needs is enough dex to use a good bow, song of valor, all the bow attacks and a bunch of cunning. Leliana is the easiest choice unless you piss her off which also means you won't be able to unlock bard. Doing everything in Dragon Age takes a long time. Meaning exploring 100% of the world and doing EVERYTHING. If all you've done in the game is just basically run through the entire blight quest without doing anything else then the chances are very good you missed a bunch of stuff. There's a lot of quests and the like you will not be able to do unless you find certain things laying around the world, some are items, some are people, some are those things you interact with.
I picked up DA:O as soon as i saw Bioware were making it, luckily i got the early access gift
So I installed it and then got teh Wardens keep DLC.
I have been hammering away at it like a dwarf hammering Lyrium, and have been having a blast, I like how the quest line kind of 'holds you hand' but then you find a mash of other stuff that you need your brain to figure out (summing ritual in Circle, Dead Legion in Dwarf, etc)
Even now I still stop what I am doing, click into the relevant section and try and figure out the quest.
I also like thats its possible to totally spanner your group by not completing subquests (the Sten quest for example)
Comments
I don't mind you guys expanding into solo RPG's or other such genre's in your writings and/or musings... but please at least disclose the fact that BioWare has purchased a major amount of advertising (yeah... I know... it's obviously splattered everywhere) and that may have had a direct result on an entire article written about a game that has nothing to do with your website.
The tie-in of Dragon Age with any mmo is loose at best unless you could uncover some element of cross-pollination to TOR.
Do all the commentary and editorials you want. Hey... it's your website and it's fun to read. For the sake of credibility, please just do a better job of disclosing when you are on the take.
If you would return to some code of conduct with regard to journalism and reporting... it wouldn't be a bad thing.
Fuller... I don't know which is worse. If you pitched this story yourself or whether it was assigned to you.
Aurelion-Ellwaen-Aulric
I will give you guys the fact that this was prolly one of the most HYPED RPG I have ever seen!!
OMG! Was it ever / is it ever.
Is it living up to the hype?
Depends upon how much you believe in hype or can make your own decision. I let some friends of mine ( who always have to have the latest shiney new game ) go and blow their hard earned cash on it first. When I STILL have not heard a peep or post from one of them and the other is just wetting himself with praise. I thought it deserved a look.
Outstanding graphics? meh
Outstanding interface? meh
Outstanding story? meh
Honest opinnion is it feels more immersive. It is subtle in its difference from the run of the mill rpg. NPC are not sitting there with a floaty over their head or highlighted or jumping up and down to get your attention. It flows better and FEELS more like watching an interactive story than actually playing a game.
Some micro-management in combat but, some people like that. I like the way the world feels and it really takes the whole Oblivion type of game to the next level of story telling. Oblivion missed the mark a bit there but the world was wonderfull. This one feels like they are using that same 4 year old game engine but, spent the time and developement on getting the story arcs, variations, and choices in and polished.
Say hello, To the things you've left behind. They are more a part of your life now that you can't touch them.
What do u mean console crap, the gameplay is more like old school PC rpg like baldurs gate which I like.
Bioware hasn't done an 'old school' crpg since NWN (or BG2 really). Everything since has just been dumbed down actioned up console crap for the sheepy masses. Imo.
Originally posted by Irishoak:
Well, level design would be easy for Dune.
ROFLMFAO! >8^D
They say that right before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. That's true, even for a blind man. ^DareDevil^
Loving the game at the moment, compared to the main story arc of Neverwinter Nights, it trounces it in every way. I'm hoping that maybe they'll bring in online support for persistent worlds at a later date (else a large part of having a toolset is wasted).
I do like the way the game doesnt always take itself seriously, the trademark Bioware humour is prevalent in this game
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned the premium content thing rearing its ugly head in-game, this did kind of mar my immersion to a certain degree, and I agree that marketing should be left firmly outside of gameplay especially for a (currently) single player title (totally blame EA for this).
Minor gripes aside, from my p.o.v the game has more than lived up to the hype.
Edit. I got the impression years back that this title would have been a sequel to baldurs gate 2 or even another neverwinter title, had bioware and atari not severed ties, I guess making a non-d&d franchise title was their way of giving the "fingers-up" to the current liscence holders.
EDIT AGAIN: "finger" singular.
Say hello, To the things you've left behind. They are more a part of your life now that you can't touch them.
If only Bioware had right to Warhammer IP....
As usually Bioware delivers. The game is basicly a updated Baldurs Gate. I have one issue with Dragon age and Bioware generally though; i dont know if its been covered early in this long thread, but they seem to have problem with coding a decent engine. The graphic is decent - but when you have tryed a similar instanced game like Arkham Asylum - the graphic isnt impressive. Considering how small many of the instances is - even shops and houses is instanced, it is incredible that the game have theese long loadtimes and subpar graphic. Its not only Dragon Age - most of Biowares games is extremely instanced, almost down to the point where each combat is its own instance. Bioware get away with this simply because their games have other qualities. But they need new coders in Bioware imo.
With that said; ofc the game rox. Combats is fun and the CoaS( carrots on a stick) system have a perfect flow. I dont miss their typical Ad&d ruleset much, and the stat based items is a must in modern RPG, like it or not.
It's a memory leak, last I heard they was working on it. When the load times and jerky lag (the lag doesn't happen for everybody) happens just save and exit to the main menu then reload.
Well boss I don't actually care, but I'd like to point out:
Purely by coincidence, and thus not in the button list, but still having a psychological effect was the DA-related comic that I saw on loading the front page. Collectively it was DA overload.
Now maybe you don't know anything more about it than we do, and I'm generally inclined to believe that you don't on a professional level, but you do have to admit that it's a perfect storm of coincidence.
With that said I don't personally care if it is all arranged or not. I find their (apparent) attempt to connect DA's success with SW TOR quite frankly amusing.
Yes, it's a lot of Dragon Age at the same time, but there's a less sinister reason for it all...
The game launched this week. Naturally, that's when they're doing major advertising. It's also a logical time to call the makers of a single player game and talk to them.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Nope. Dual Core 2,3; Nvidia 8600, 2GB ram is enough. And I even played at top graphics without lag. Load time would become problem after nonstop gaming of FIVE TO EIGHT HOURS. And all I would have to do is spent few minutes restarting my computer. I heard many people complaining about high end system requirement, but is just seems like incompatability with something...
It runs on my wife's 10 year old computer in her office. It runs perfectly on mine and its not as nice as yours.
Stop downloading porn.
And to all the people in this thread whining about the game--if you think its so easy to do this (make a game at this standard), go do better.
Morons.
QFT
Great summary of the whole issue at hand.
It's been so long since I've played a great RPG like this.. It's almost like a perfect mix of NWN and Elder Scrolls.. I can't get enough!
Well boss I don't actually care, but I'd like to point out:
Purely by coincidence, and thus not in the button list, but still having a psychological effect was the DA-related comic that I saw on loading the front page. Collectively it was DA overload.
Now maybe you don't know anything more about it than we do, and I'm generally inclined to believe that you don't on a professional level, but you do have to admit that it's a perfect storm of coincidence.
With that said I don't personally care if it is all arranged or not. I find their (apparent) attempt to connect DA's success with SW TOR quite frankly amusing.
If SW TOR is anything like DA then:
Bioware is as cliche as anime. The bad guy is always obvious. The betrayals are always obvious. The plot points are always the same. The same character archetypes are always used. The only thing that we're missing is the blue spikey hair.
Good thing I like anime then.
All your bullet points are user error lol!
- Forget you put them on Hold
- Dont know how to use part hold or the tactical interface
- Does not know how to operate ranged character Behaviors in the Tactical menu
-Does not know how to deploy a strategic group
Sorry sir, you are the problem. This game takes skill, L2P
If only it were as simple as yourself then there would be no bugs and no patches. We can dream.
Well boss I don't actually care, but I'd like to point out:
Purely by coincidence, and thus not in the button list, but still having a psychological effect was the DA-related comic that I saw on loading the front page. Collectively it was DA overload.
Now maybe you don't know anything more about it than we do, and I'm generally inclined to believe that you don't on a professional level, but you do have to admit that it's a perfect storm of coincidence.
With that said I don't personally care if it is all arranged or not. I find their (apparent) attempt to connect DA's success with SW TOR quite frankly amusing.
Yes, it's a lot of Dragon Age at the same time, but there's a less sinister reason for it all...
The game launched this week. Naturally, that's when they're doing major advertising. It's also a logical time to call the makers of a single player game and talk to them.
Absolutely. Also, I just realized that my "well boss" line came across in text much ruder than I intended it to, so I'd like to apologize for that.
The timing of everything makes sense either way, but this way I get to enjoy conspiracy theories. ;D
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
To say that Dragon age copied anything from WoW is just plain moronic...and your parents should bar you from the infernetz
moronz....
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
sorry little johny son of a bitch, didnt realise you needed everything handed to you on a platinum platter instead of having you figure your own way out. o wait, if you played anything other then wow you might have noticed alot of games leave how much you learn up to the effort you put into learning it, like mass effect, baldurs gate, all the other games bioware has made and we as consumers have loved.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
path finding?
lol
that's your beef?
Yes. BG is legends
DA is not. When you reach 0 health, you die. Why is that so hard to get for game devs? You don't magically get up after a battle where you were cut down thru the neck with a sword to the throat. And you don't don the wolverine healing factor after you get up and are able to fight at full strength 10 seconds later.
It's a dumbed down RPG to the max. In BG you paid for your mistakes and you learned from them
In DA who cares if your party dies, no emotional investment at all.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
path finding?
lol
that's your beef?
Yes. BG is legends
DA is not. When you reach 0 health, you die. Why is that so hard to get for game devs? You don't magically get up after a battle where you were cut down thru the neck with a sword to the throat. And you don't don the wolverine healing factor after you get up and are able to fight at full strength 10 seconds later.
It's a dumbed down RPG to the max. In BG you paid for your mistakes and you learned from them
In DA who cares if your party dies, no emotional investment at all.
Pretty sure that's because BG/IWD/NWN etc. were fairly strict DnD rules, DA:O seems to just follow a different ruleset.
LOL
Really?
LOL
There is nothing that they copied from wow. It is much more similar to their earlier games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
Are you joking?
It's an average RPG. and highly average.
Party members don't die and you regen all your health and mana after a battle.
That alone puts the game in the average catagory.
and to put the legend "baldur's gate" in the same breath as this dumbed down RPG offends me.
Well, I played Baldur's Gate and I dont' see it as being a better game. The story is a little less boiler plate but not much. I do see it as being in the Baldur's gate family. It plays in a similar fashion.
I can't see why players not dying makes it average? What is the basis for this statement? Also, you will have to remind me, did players actually permanently die in Baldur's gate? I don't recall this.
Agree with this.
Baldurs Gate had some fucking awful pathing, firewine bridge still gives me nightmares *shudder*, BG2 wasnt much better! Legend these games may be, however maybe it is time to put the rose tinted specs back in the case.
path finding?
lol
that's your beef?
Yes. BG is legends
DA is not. When you reach 0 health, you die. Why is that so hard to get for game devs? You don't magically get up after a battle where you were cut down thru the neck with a sword to the throat. And you don't don the wolverine healing factor after you get up and are able to fight at full strength 10 seconds later.
It's a dumbed down RPG to the max. In BG you paid for your mistakes and you learned from them
In DA who cares if your party dies, no emotional investment at all.
Pretty sure that's because BG/IWD/NWN etc. were fairly strict DnD rules, DA:O seems to just follow a different ruleset.
Hey I got no problem with them going a different route for a different game.
But attaching the name "baldur's gate" to this game as being anything in the same league as it, is just wrong.
If your a huge fan of DnD, and think baldur's gate is perhaps one of the best games of all time, to stray from what made it great and have something so obviously make no sense like having party members never die, in what is supposed to be an RPG...
It's so offensive to me to put the Baldur's Gate name out there, in an OBVIOUS attempt to bring in sales from old school gamers, then you don't even live up to the old school name by having game mechanics that make no fukking sense and are NOT old school.
shame on bioware for this abomination, it could have been a worthy successor to Baldur's Gate, but its clearly not.
The casual gamer rule set by the sound of it.
Any solo RPG should be better than a MMO at drawing the player in and telling a story. MMO’s are made for many players; they cannot come to a conclusion. Solo rpg’s are made for you as the main protagonist and can end till the next game is released. So any solo rpg that does not do a better job than a MMO in terms of making you feel part of the story and telling a great story has really missed the boat.
Leave to to some over-indulged baby to whine about a fantastic game. I would say no offense, but I want you to take offense.
Every time I see someone say, 'such and such didn't do anything new and blah blah' I always have to counter with: If you're such an expert on what would be new to this industry, then why aren't you out there doing it? Some of us are actually interested in getting into the industry to try to get some new ideas out there, are you? If not then you get to do two things - first, shut the hell up and second, go play something else. If all you're going to do is criticize in that oh-so common psuedo 'ima article writor!' attitude then you just need to stop because all it does is make you sound like a snob.
Nobody likes snobs. If you're having such a problem handling the controls in Dragon Age then I have to wonder how you are able to go through life. All it is is having DECENT multi-tasking skills with a bit of micro managing. You don't even have to be all that fast about it since you can freaking pause the game (spacebar for PC users). Sometimes the AI will freak out and go attack random stuff, but there are ways to change that. For instance, if you want to have your party follow the attack of whichever character you have selected then you can set that through tactics. You can even set to have certain party members follow the attacks of other party members by name.
People who complain about the controls in Dragon Age are just lazy, plain and simple. I spent maybe 15 minutes exploring all of the tactics and fell in love with the system. Which, by the way, the entire in-depth tactics system to incrementally control your party's AI is new. Other RPG's haven't had the ability to do so much with an AI. And if you're really so worried about not knowing what you have targeted then you clearly have larger problems. It's pretty obvious when a character lifts their weapon and then swings it in the EXACT direction of what they are attacking. Then on top of that damage ticks DIRECTLY over it in such a fashion that it is almost impossible to not be able to tell what is or is not taking damage.
I don't even play in the top-down camera mode which some people have claimed is the only way to effectively control everything. I set all the tactics exactly the way I need them so there is usually very little I have to do in terms of switching characters. There is so much you can do in the game it's still kind of mind boggling. There are multiple ways to handle a fight, any fight really. On my warrior character I have my part set up to the point where I can, if I want to, just power through most everything I run into. Two handed spec is almost disgustingly overpowered when combined with berzerker+templar and a set of knight-commander armor (adds a crap load of spell resist - it's beefed up templar armor). I digress though. Bottom line is that the majority of people bitching are over-indulged, lazy asses who really have no idea what they're doing and are easily confused. Here I'll say no offense because I know that's going to sound a lot more offensive than maybe I would like.
When people get confused by something that is too different than what they're used to they usually just lash out. Most of the people I know who have Dragon Age (people who aren't lazy or easily confused) have absolutely no idea what all these whine posts are talking about. I have the same problem because when people mention all these UI problems or some crap I just have no idea what they're talking about. I've maneuvered around while fighting the high dragon with each party member and I didn't have any problems....but again, I also make full use of the tactics system.
PS - Having a spirit healer and a bard around make most fights drastically easier. All the bard really needs is enough dex to use a good bow, song of valor, all the bow attacks and a bunch of cunning. Leliana is the easiest choice unless you piss her off which also means you won't be able to unlock bard. Doing everything in Dragon Age takes a long time. Meaning exploring 100% of the world and doing EVERYTHING. If all you've done in the game is just basically run through the entire blight quest without doing anything else then the chances are very good you missed a bunch of stuff. There's a lot of quests and the like you will not be able to do unless you find certain things laying around the world, some are items, some are people, some are those things you interact with.
I picked up DA:O as soon as i saw Bioware were making it, luckily i got the early access gift
So I installed it and then got teh Wardens keep DLC.
I have been hammering away at it like a dwarf hammering Lyrium, and have been having a blast, I like how the quest line kind of 'holds you hand' but then you find a mash of other stuff that you need your brain to figure out (summing ritual in Circle, Dead Legion in Dwarf, etc)
Even now I still stop what I am doing, click into the relevant section and try and figure out the quest.
I also like thats its possible to totally spanner your group by not completing subquests (the Sten quest for example)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png