I agree that the DA world is pretty bland and cliche-ridden. I think “mixing it up” by just making the Dwarves short Klingons and the Elves disenfranchised ex-slaves isn’t really all that awesome. I wouldn’t go so far as to say DA isn’t very good.
Personally, I’m loving DA for it’s gameplay.
If you think the story in dragon age is dull, what game did have a story you liked? Did you turn to stone when you played oblivion (the king of bland generic fantasy)?
But weirdly proportioned ape men are a staple of any high-fantasy RPG. We can’t expect Bioware to reinvent the bar on everything.
stusser
3304
I’m not playing on nightmare, as everybody said normal was freaking hard. And even with a mage, you can’t just sit back, =, rightclick on the monsters and wait for them to die like dungeon siege. You need to pause the game and play strategically, but it’s not brutally difficult.
I expect the beginning of the game is much, much, much more difficult without AE, crowd control, and healing. Later on you get morrigan and wynne, so no big deal then, although they’d both probably be mandatory party members without a mage PC.
I don’t think the story, as presented to the player, is dull at all. I think it’s engaging.
I think the backstory is dull and built on obviously simple fantasy tropes with a liberal dash of “We switched stuff up!!” As Tom pointed out, it’s backstory, so it doesn’t really get in the way of me enjoying the game.
But Bioware doesn’t really do that sort of open-world/living world thing. It’s not their bag. If you’re expecting something like Red Faction, Brutal Legend, GTAIV, or various other games that create places that “feel alive”, you’re better off playing one of those. Bethesda is really the only company I can think of that effectively crosses RPGs over into that living world concept. This is not that. This is still an old-school stat-driven party-based RPG. If that’s a “silly game” to you, you’re probably in the wrong genre. It reminds of whoever that guy was who reviewed NWN2 for 1up with the disclaimer that he didn’t like RPGs.
But I do get what you’re saying. I wish Bioware had better tech. I would love to see what they could do if they broke out of their idea of world-building as a bunch of interconnected boxes populated by awkwardly animated puppets. They have the imagination and the storytelling chops for it.
-Tom
Note sure there tech sucks, but its not state of the art for sure but DAMN is this a great game.
It’s a damn sight better than NWN 2. That hog still doesn’t run on my rig with acceptable framrates unless I disable all the shadows. In contrast, DA runs at a solid 60 fps and it looks terrific.
By ‘silly’ I meant that the characters look like marinettes while delivering thier lines. Imagine if the LoTR movies were done entirely by muppets (with the existing voice cast) on a cardboard set. It would still be a great story, but I doubt if you would have the same emotional reaction to it.
I think that games do not have to be open world to “feel alive”, they just need to suspend my disbelief so I don’t feel like I’m sitting on my couch watching a puppet show.
Joe_M
3310
Dragon Age: Puppet Show? I guess I’m too into the story, voice acting and getting through battles to worry about whether or not characters are ‘standing around like puppets’.
Haven’t played it yet but it sounds like the case where there’s so much dialogue/content that they didn’t have the resources to polish it up like Mass Effect. Rather than a step backwards, maybe it’s just a step forward on a different path? Eventually the hardcore RPGs will catch up to this generation’s slick presentation but we’re not there yet.
Of course, 5 years from now people will be talking about how they can’t feel an emotional connection to a merely well-animated and -voiced party of characters. Dang kids!
I get what you’re saying, Merry. You have to accept a lot of old-school conventions to get into Dragon Age. It’s almost as if that whole “This is the New Shit” advertising campaign was misleading. :)
Speaking of puppet shows, you know what would be the awesomest thing evar? Lego: Lord of the Rings.
-Tom
Off topic, but it completely floored me when Lego did not get the toy rights to LotR, but that cheapass brick knockoff brand did.
The old Ultima games spawned that approach - there are other modern examples, in addition to Bethesda’s games, including most European RPGs: the Gothic/Risen games by Piranha Bytes (which, like Oblivion, etc., were heavily inspired by Ultima) in particular. Also Two Worlds, and to a lesser extent the Witcher, which has NPC schedules, although it’s actually a cross between styles.
Yeah, me too. I’d give my eyeteeth (because I don’t even know what the hell those are!) for Lego: LotR!
I wonder how effective Dragon Age will be at demonstrating that good gameplay and storyline can make up for sub par graphics.
Though I haven’t played DA (thanks Gamestop!) yet, I wonder if it’d be as good – or better – with a more old school presentation to match the gameplay. At least that way the presentation wouldn’t get in the way for some people.
I don’t think it looks bad at all. At times it looks fantastic
POSSIBLE SPOILER BELOW!!!
so, does anyone have the strat guide? In the strat guide while discussing the classes and their abilities/talents, there is listed for each class a “Power of Blood School”, which has two (2) abilities. It also says it is only available via downloadable content. Do we already have that, and if so, where do we access it? And if not, when will that be available?
Just got out of the Mage origin (as an elf). I am enjoying the game quite a bit…
They would find something else to get in their way then :)
