june gloom on 10/11/2009 at 06:16
Quote Posted by Rolander
I believe most forum readers are intelligent enough to infer it.
hahahahahaha
No seriously, if you want to avoid using profanity, DON'T USE IT. Yeesh.
nicked on 10/11/2009 at 07:32
While the asterisks severely undermine the post, he's got a point. denisv's post sounds to me like he played the game for about an hour or two, already predetermined to hate it.
In my game, I've just completed the mage tower, and I have to say it was a fantastic dungeon. What at first seems a fairly standard romp up the tower, destroying demons as you go, shortly becomes a much vaster, more interesting challenge when you meet a particularly powerful demon of Sloth, who puts you to sleep...
Also, why the hell are people complaining about the graphics? You're playing a point-and-click RPG. Would you really rather they devoted time to making super hi-res, globally-illuminated eye candy? I'm happy they spent the time developing an intricate world and compelling multi-layered dialogues instead. It's not really any worse than Fallout 3's cut-and-paste world jammed with a billion identical filing cabinets.
Koki on 10/11/2009 at 07:37
Chances are, a game that sucks will get praised.
Why?
Because this is TTLG.
Now I'm not saying that DA sucks. I didn't play it. But your inability to accept that someone - gasp - could possibly not enjoy it is getting amusing.
nicked on 10/11/2009 at 08:00
What. I'm defending the game. If someone doesn't like it, I'm hardly going to change their mind. I'm merely posting what I like about the game, so that anyone undecided who reads this thread will at least have differing opinions to base their purchasing decisions on. Sorry if that's amusing to you...
Swiss Mercenary on 10/11/2009 at 11:33
This isn't a Baldur's Gate II successor. It's a Jade Empire successor, with BG II combat. I haven't played ME, so I can't comment.
It's better then Jade Empire in nearly every imaginable way, and it made some pretty good improvements to BG II combat. Can't comment on the magic system, yet.
Yet, having gotten to the "Okay, you're in the big wide world, now, go do these five tasks, in any order" part of the storyline... It feels 100% like Jade Empire, and not at all like stepping out of the sewers into Athkanthla felt like.
Also - the 17-year old-level "contemporary philosophy" debate between my party members made me cringe. LOOK HOW HARD WE'RE TRYING TO BE EXPLORING MATURE THEMES, HERE, GUYS.
The story seems meh so far.
Can't imagine why anyone would bitch about the graphics, though.
Aerothorn on 10/11/2009 at 11:52
I still find it strange that most TTLGers (even the ones who like it) consider the story nothing special as pretty much every reviewer goes on about how incredibly deep it is. The thing is, all these game reviewers are writers - it's what they do for a living. Likely what they did during college. So you'd think they'd have a fine appreciation of what constitutes a good script.
nicked on 10/11/2009 at 13:22
I think the complaints about the story are just that it's exactly the same story Bioware have been using for 10+ years. It just happens to be a good story. If someone played Dragon Age with no experience of any other Bioware game they'd probably think it was a breath of fresh air (well maybe). I guess most reviewers are looking at it like this - logically and objectively looking at the story structure and coming to the conclusion that it's a good story. The fact that it's recycled from older games is not going to even register, much less matter, to most gamers.
Malf on 10/11/2009 at 13:34
To be honest, these days I trust forums and the people who occupy them more than the press.
There's a tendency towards needless hyperbole in the press that every outlet seems to be infected with. Aside from which, press guys are usually working to an incredibly tight schedule and can't really pass an informed judgement.
Reading forum opinions of forum guys who've fully digested a title has lead to some pleasant discoveries of games that the press doesn't recommend but turn out to be solid gold.
The trick is to have a wide array, although not so wide that everyone remains faceless. Over time, you can build up a good idea of the types of games particular forum dwellers like, and how their opinions relate to yours.
If I'm judging anything id-related, I stick to my home forum, Quake3world.
YakYak gives me a uniquely British industry-insider idea, and helps me understand what developers think is cool (the answers are sometimes depressingly mainstream).
You guys are possibly the most influential on my gaming decisions, as your tastes mirror mine most accurately, and you have guys here with very distinct genre preferences.
And finally I keep an eye on NMA, as for all their misguided hatred, they're spot on when it comes to the purist RPG viewpoint. But that is really the only genre the majority of the big personalities over there seem to understand.
With these sources affecting my hobby, I find the majority of the press to be decidedly lacking in valuable opinions. I keep an eye on most of the major outlets just to see what's new and to see the industry related news, but for reviews, I rarely trust their opinions.
The interesting crossover is RPS, where the four central personalities provide for some unique views and they do more extensive coverage of games once in a while, such as the in-depth Risen report.
Koki on 10/11/2009 at 14:22
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
It's better then Jade Empire in nearly every imaginable way
So is Superman 64. Especially the dialogues and characters.
Aerothorn on 10/11/2009 at 15:00
Quote Posted by nicked
I think the complaints about the story are just that it's exactly the same story Bioware have been using for 10+ years. It just happens to be a good story. If someone played Dragon Age with no experience of any other Bioware game they'd probably think it was a breath of fresh air (well maybe). I guess most reviewers are looking at it like this - logically and objectively looking at the story structure and coming to the conclusion that it's a good story. The fact that it's recycled from older games is not going to even register, much less matter, to most gamers.
Well, I actually WOULDN'T call the standard Bioware fare a 'good story' in the sense that it was a cliche before Bioware even existed. That said, I can't agree with the fact that it's recycling won't register with most people. The vast majority of the people playing Dragon Age must have played a previous Bioware game; your pattern recognition abilities would have to be absolute shit not to notice the parallels. I mean, maybe that IS the case for most people, I'm just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I also don't really agree with the "looking at the story structure absent of context" thing. If I made a movie that was a shot-for-shot retread of Citizen Kane (lol that thing again) with a few details changed, it wouldn't be held by the film press as one of the greatest movies of all time; it would be called the shameless rip-off it is.
