Rolander on 10/11/2009 at 15:16
How far has everyone else gone? I just went for the supposedly 2nd-hardest fight.
Without really spoiling it: that boss singled out and took out my healer mage quickly, then chewed up my fighters literally. That left my archer rogue NPC alive .... but by then the boss' lifebar was all but gone and when my archer rogue switched to dual daggers as the boss closed into melee, she managed to get in the final hit and I get the glorified dual-wield death-blow animation. Rather cheesy really.
Judith on 10/11/2009 at 15:25
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
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.
I don't know how it's in other countries but in mine so called "gaming journalists" are mostly a bunch of self-taught nerds, without any degree in writing. Their knowledge about literature and language skills are usually below college level so I guess it's not hard to impress such people.
Anywhoo, I don't read too much international reviews either, as they tend to omit important facts about the game, especially unfavorable ones. There were a few examples of that, the latest being Dirt 2 - I haven't seen a single review where there's a clear mention that this is not WRC any more, just some second league homies, who talk like they've been smoking pot for a bit too long. I would have bought the game if I hadn't played the demo.
EvaUnit02 on 10/11/2009 at 15:50
Preventing some ancient evil from returning that long ago destroyed the world and/or ruled over it. = DA's Darkspawn, ME's Reapers, NWN's Lizard people... It's Bioware storytelling by the numbers.
denisv on 10/11/2009 at 16:02
Don't forget BG's Bhaal.
gunsmoke on 10/11/2009 at 16:52
Or KotoR's Sith.
Stitch on 10/11/2009 at 17:06
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Preventing some ancient evil from returning that long ago destroyed the world and/or ruled over it. = DA's Darkspawn, ME's Reapers, NWN's Lizard people... It's Bioware storytelling by the numbers.
Yeah :cool:
I'm not very far into the game--only a few hours so far--but it's a Bioware game through and through. If that is right up your alley, and it is mine, then this is some seriously rocking shit. If not, then get over it or get out.
So, to those of you who don't mind (and even embrace) Bioware plotlines and dialogue and character development, what is there to be found here? So far, an RPG with some serious depth to combat. The last few Bioware titles I've played have been far too easy, and Dragon Age certainly dials things back to Baldur's Gate levels of making you work for it. So far so good.
The game world itself is cool and interesting and well developed and yet presented in a thoroughly bland and paint-by-genre manner. I don't inherently mind this as I'm pretty gay for the Lord of the Rings films, but it does seem like a big missed opportunity. The visuals are decent but uninspired, and the maps feel more like levels than slices of a living world. Oh well!
Actually, on the topic of the visuals: holy shit is this game graphically a mixed bag. There are some glaring problems like mediocre animations and elves with ridiculously massive hands, but for the most part the game would look fantastic if Bioware added real lighting and swapped out the occasional low res texture that pops up like a dog turd in a field of flowers. The game looks like the next gen incarnation of Neverwinter Nights, and that's hardly a good thing.
The good thing, though, is that once you get past these issues (and disable the ridiculous persistent gore) everything else about this game is pretty phenomenal. Bioware returns to the personality-driven party based fantasy RPG genre they made their name on, and it that's your type of thing then this game will be. And hey, while as an adult with responsibilities I tend to gravitate toward shorter games, the 22-year old inside me loves the concept of a game you can sink 60 hours into and still find out that you only played a good 44%.
Thumbs up.
DDL on 10/11/2009 at 17:16
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Preventing some ancient evil from returning that long ago destroyed the world and/or ruled over it. = DA's Darkspawn, ME's Reapers, NWN's Lizard people... It's Bioware storytelling by the numbers.
To be fair this could also describe a fuckton of fantasy/sci fi novels, too.
It's not a bioware thing, it's just an 'epic story' thing.
Judith on 10/11/2009 at 17:16
Quote:
Actually, on the topic of the visuals: holy shit is this game graphically a mixed bag.
Exactly. While the characters look good, the walls can be blurry, the trees and forests look awful, and some statue textures look like they were done in '99. LOD in this game is one big mess. But still it doesn't prevent me from enjoying it ;)
Malf on 10/11/2009 at 17:23
I also think the game's got a memory leak, as the longer you play, the longer the levels take to load, eventually crashing on level transition. If you restart the game, they go back to a reasonable load time.
Having experienced more advanced engines, I'm disappointed that BioWare seem to be limited to small map-based engines with separate interiors and exteriors.
nicked on 10/11/2009 at 18:59
I'd be very interested to see what Bioware could come up with if they coded RPG elements into an existing open world engine (e.g. Crysis) and then built a game on that.
Would the lack of linear paths cause them to think outside the box story-wise, or just fail at what they do best?
I'd like to see a game like Fallout 3 or Oblivion, but with 100 open world areas that actually contributed to the story, rather than ~15 main plot areas and ~85 copy-pasted pointless locations.
