DA Info

[Volourn]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=160943

 

Bland preview of DA including discussion of a npc, and origin stories.

 

 

http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?t...86&forum=84

 

Thread on BIO baord that covers a lot of stuff that BIO has disucssed. LOTS of information on the game inside it (subject to future changes, of courses).

 

 

I don't like *everything* I'm reaidng; but overall (surprise, surprise!!!)

 

 

Edited April 6, 2007 by Volourn

[Omelette]

Thanks for the info. I hadn't heard of DA before. But it seems pretty decent. Well, I'll wait until something like a couple of videos comes out. Then I'll judge it.

[Enoch]

Interesting stuff. I hadn't been following DA, so the catch-up thread helps considerably.

 

And hooray for the abolition of divine magic! The Faith Question is far too useful a mine for character & faction development to throw it all out with proveable, repeatable miracles.

[Morgoth]

What's up with that Tiberium? It's growing everywhere. Help Help!

 

The preview itself however doesn't have any new content, unfortunately. I guess after ME gets released and E3 approaches, Bio will agressively start to churn out real DA infos.

[blue]

Mucho gusto, Maria. I hope you're getting paid.

 

 

Nothing new in PC Zone piece. Just fluff that reads like a company teaser penned by a summer intern:

 

Indeed, some of BioWare's developers have been bashing each other with weapons in public places - reportedly being thrown out of a mall car park for doing so.

 

Such behaviour has helped combat production no end.

"No end." I'm convinced.

 

It's the future of role-playing and it's the new messiah. Hallelujah! And indeed: yay!

.

[Xard]

Well, in DA there will be the opportunity for someone with a high Persuade skill to talk party members into agreeing with actions they might otherwise object to. So the persuasively evil player could be doing highly questionable actions and saying to the goody-two-shoes NPC, "You gotta bust some heads to make an omelette, am I right?"

 

Oh yes

[SteveThaiBinh]

I quite like what I'm reading, too . Last time I checked in on Dragon Age there wasn't much information, and what there was seemed a bit generic. It looks like they're hoping to do something interesting with race, culture and religion, not just falling back on an imitation of other fantasy settings. The key is whether they can make it important, not just pretty background material.

 

The thing is, will having high persuade just mean that you can get away with anything? That doesn't work for me in the long term. Surely the NPC you bluffed into doing something evil will have second thoughts after the event - there should be consequences, recriminations, and defections. Well implemented, persuade could be really interesting, and I'm always a fan of non-violent ways through difficult situations, but badly implemented it's just a cheat to give you access to more options than your character really should have.

[Sand]

I shall remain skeptical. Still looks and sounds like generic fantasy to me.

[Volourn]

You obviously didn't read it all. Or, simply misread it.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Volourn

[Sand]

Oh, I read it all, and it all sounds like typical Bioware hype. Elves, Dwarves, magic, dragons, blah blah blah. Classes, second tier classes, swords, and armor, blah blah blah.

 

Oh, origin stories. that hasn't been done before. Oh, yes it has.

 

Stuff we all seen before and probably all out of proportion due to the hype. Nothing of substance there. None at all.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Sand

[Omelette]

Stuff we all seen before and probably all out of proportion due to the hype. Nothing of substance there. None at all.

 

That's why I'm waiting before I actually go and rush out for this thing. Have someone else mess around with it and then see if it's worth my time to put in God knows how many hours of my life into this game, if it's worth giving away my precious hours of life.

[Volourn]

Sand, youa r eonly pointing out half the picture.

 

Unlike 'generic fanatsy', DA doesn't have gods that you can worship and gain powers from, doesn't have sumnmong/teleportation magic, no ressurection, no insta heal potions (or even spells), magic isn't well known amongst commoners, it doesn't have vampire or even most kind of undead, and there's a host of other things.

 

Unlike typical generic fantasy, armour is habout damage reduction ala Fallout than D&D's AC. Spelclasters can wear armour nor does it effect magic.

 

 

Yup, you only read half of it.

 

*shrug*

 

Not that it matters since we both know you'll buy it, anyways.

[Sand]

I probably will be getting the game because I am a CRPG nut but I will be in no rush to get it. Right now NWN2 fulfills all my needs for a fantasy CRPG. Now if Bioware was to release a sci fi CRPG for the PC then I probably be pre-ordering it right now.

[Sand]

Sand, youa r eonly pointing out half the picture.

 

Unlike 'generic fanatsy', DA doesn't have gods that you can worship and gain powers from, doesn't have sumnmong/teleportation magic, no ressurection, no insta heal potions (or even spells), magic isn't well known amongst commoners, it doesn't have vampire or even most kind of undead, and there's a host of other things.

 

Unlike typical generic fantasy, armour is habout damage reduction ala Fallout than D&D's AC. Spelclasters can wear armour nor does it effect magic.

 

 

Yup, you only read half of it.

 

*shrug*

 

Not that it matters since we both know you'll buy it, anyways.

 

Been there, done that with the Ultima series and in PnP. You seem to forget that I have been doing CRPGs back in the days of Vic 20. I have seen all sorts of shapes and sizes of CRPGs. Wizard's Crown, Eternal Dagger, the Phantasie and Ultima series, and the like. Bioware is not doing anything new. hell, as for armor giving damage reduction, I have used that in my PnP campaigns and DnD has rules for that as a variant.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Sand

[Volourn]

I never said it was 'original' or 'brand new'. I thought we were discussin' 'generic fantasy'. Why are you changing the discussion all of asudden? Oh, that's easy. I know why. I showed that DA isn't just 'generic fantasy' so you decided to switch tatics and start attacking it for not being 'original'.

 

 

R00fles!

[Sand]

I never said it was 'original' or 'brand new'. I thought we were discussin' 'generic fantasy'. Why are you changing the discussion all of asudden? Oh, that's easy. I know why. I showed that DA isn't just 'generic fantasy' so you decided to switch tatics and start attacking it for not being 'original'.

 

 

R00fles!

 

No, it is still generic fantasy because it has all been done before and done so across many many many products. Something that is common and unoriginal is generic. Hell, even Oblivion has damage reduction based on armor.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Sand

[Maria Caliban]

Here are two in game screen shots. The ogre is a lovely blue. As I understand it, the 'zombie' looking gentleman is not undead but rather suffers from a nasty disease.

 

 

I'm confused as to how sand could regard the quotes in my thread as hype, given that outside of the 'Themes' section, it's mostly facts about gameplay. Unless you're suggesting there won't actually be classes, class tiers, swords, armor, and origin stories.

 

What other cRPG gives you origin stories? The closest I can think of is Arcanum, in which you picked a background and got some pluses and minuses, you never actually play through the background.

[Sand]

I am just saying, Maria, there is nothing there to get excited about. Bioware is making just another generic fantasy CRPG like they have before, like so many other game companies have done before. Its just getting tiresome.

[Volourn]

"No, it is still generic fantasy because it has all been done before and done so across many many many products. Something that is common and unoriginal is generic. Hell, even Oblivion has damage reduction based on armor."

 

Being 'generic' and being 'generic fantasy' are two completely different things. Nice try; though.

 

DA certainly has soemthings in common with 'generic fantasy'; but it certainly isn't. It's not simply FR, for exmaple, set in a different world.

 

Then again, you alreayd have the game on pre order so your opinion is funny since you are are acting like a generic RPG Codexer.

 

R00fles!

 

 

P.S. Maria is cool just like those screenshots.

 

 

P.S.S If it's ;'getting tiresome'; don't buy them. But, you will, so you obviously aren't all that tired of generic fantasy since you scooped up that within seconds. It's also funny you didn't whine too much about that being 'generic fantasy' depsite it being the very defintion of 'generic fantasy'. (not that that's a bad thing, I LOVE generic fantasy done well).

 

L0LLERZ!

Edited April 6, 2007 by Volourn

[Sand]

Generic is generic, may it be generic fantasy or generic sci fi, or whatever. Beleive what you will, Volourn, not that it matters a whole lot. No, I don't have the game on pre-order. I am going to wait for the first patch or three before buying it. Something I should have done with Jade Empire. Live and learn, I guess.

 

I will probably end up getting DA mainly because I like CRPGs and well, there aren't really enough out there on the market to be overly choosey. If I had to choose between Obsidian's Alien game or Bioware's Dragon Age, I would choose Obsidian.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Sand

[Maria Caliban]

That's why I'm waiting before I actually go and rush out for this thing. Have someone else mess around with it and then see if it's worth my time to put in God knows how many hours of my life into this game, if it's worth giving away my precious hours of life.

 

I'm waiting as well.. mostly because it won't be out this year. But, yeah, I'm going to pre-order whatever special edition they offer. I've been on the DA forum for about three years now, and have decided to put off getting a new rid until I know the system requirements of DA.

 

Like ME, everything I've heard and seen about this game suggests it will be great. Besides, given the poverty of cRPGs now-a-days, I'd end up buying it sooner or later.

[Sand]

The poverty of CRPGs is the only reason I would get DA.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Sand

[Llyranor]

Incidently, Mr. Generic there would be first in line for yet another DnD CRPG.

 

Besides, this is vaporware. We already have a STALKER thread here.

[Lare Kikkeli]

Looks like generic fantasy to me. And i'm talking about the setting, not game rules. In the end it doesn't really matter if the armor is there to make you harder to hit or reduce damage, whats important is the story, the characters and the world. Which all, knowing Bioware, will be bland, generic and based on age old cliches.

[Maria Caliban]

I am just saying, Maria, there is nothing there to get excited about. Bioware is making just another generic fantasy CRPG like they have before, like so many other game companies have done before. Its just getting tiresome.

 

Hmm, I wouldn't call Jade Empire a generic fantasy setting. Other than that, all they've done is D&D.

 

However, the tropes of generic fantasy don't bother me. A strong single player storyline, the ability to customize your character, interesting NPCs, areas to explore, and ambigous moral decisions interest me more than the backdrop.