New Dragon Age Walkthrough videos

[Tigranes]

Well, that's a different kind of 'bad writing', really. But yeah, VA & written dialogue both can really kill immersion if they go off the deep end.

 

The dialogue I've seen so far seems standard Bioware fare, like the 'filler' stuff you'd get in the BG series. The thing with, say, BG2 was though, they were interspersed with some great bits (i.e. Minsc). We shall see this time.

[Morgoth]

Bioware has consciously never really shown plot points or story revealing dialogs in videos. Fair enough. I trust DaveG & Co. to deliver a game that is the butter and bread of Bioware. I.e. a game of good ol' IE quality.

[Xard]

A good VA can always compensate for bad writing quite easy. In an IE game, bad writing would have been a game breaker to me.... But when I look at rather "mediocre" written games with full VO like Kotor, Bloodlines etc., it's not that bad because the VA supplies a lot of atmosphere and authenticity.

 

Uhh, Bloodlines has absolutely fantastic writing

[Morgoth]

A good VA can always compensate for bad writing quite easy. In an IE game, bad writing would have been a game breaker to me.... But when I look at rather "mediocre" written games with full VO like Kotor, Bloodlines etc., it's not that bad because the VA supplies a lot of atmosphere and authenticity.

 

Uhh, Bloodlines has absolutely fantastic writing

No, it was okay, but surely not fantastic. But then again, Bloodlines also put additional emphasis into the actor performance, I thought that contributed also to the personality of the NPCs. In the end, it's not purely the dialog quality that makes or breaks an RPG these days, but how well all parts (acting, VO, design, functuality) play together that make it a satisfying experience. And I think if I can survive some badass dialogs a'la Gothic and still can enjoy it, DA should be a diamond among good ol' fashioned RPG goodness.

[Xard]

A good VA can always compensate for bad writing quite easy. In an IE game, bad writing would have been a game breaker to me.... But when I look at rather "mediocre" written games with full VO like Kotor, Bloodlines etc., it's not that bad because the VA supplies a lot of atmosphere and authenticity.

 

Uhh, Bloodlines has absolutely fantastic writing

No, it was okay, but surely not fantastic. But then again, Bloodlines also put additional emphasis into the actor performance, I thought that contributed also to the personality of the NPCs. In the end, it's not purely the dialog quality that makes or breaks an RPG these days, but how well all parts (acting, VO, design, functuality) play together that make it a satisfying experience. And I think if I can survive some badass dialogs a'la Gothic and still can enjoy it, DA should be a diamond among good ol' fashioned RPG goodness.

 

I can't think of single badly written character in the game. Jeanette, Prince, Anarchs etc. were fantastically written. Even minor characters like Fat Larry (best. shopkeeper. ever) and that japanese demon hunter had a lot of character in them

 

Storytelling ranged from average to utter fail, but that's not writings fault.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Xard

[Morgoth]

Yeah, whatever, Xardosaurus.

[Xard]

lolwut, Xardosaurus?

[theslug]

xardephelia

[Moatilliatta]

The king isn't a douchebag. Anyone who thinks so is putting too much weight on his haughty voice. Edit: And his way of talking.

My thoughts on the kings is that he is the usual good guy with a problem with facing the real world and instead turns to the one from the stories.

 

I can see three way of him developing:

 

1) He goes down HARD because that's what happens to weak characters. Unlikely.

 

2) He shapes up and becomes more likable as the story goes on. Most likely.

 

3) He magically becomes a better character or nothing happens to him because Bio can't/won't do the above. Not particularly likely.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Moatilliatta

[Niten_Ryu]

The king isn't a douchebag.

 

I think DA king is even bigger douchebag then Warcraft 3 Prince Arthas. And most likely face similar fate. Being douchebag don't always mean a bad thing in context of game characters. Both Prince from Bloodlines and Uther from Disciples 2 were great douchebags

[Magister Lajciak]

The king is fine - it's the idealism of youth that speaks form him.

 

Since we are all guessing anyway, I will predict that one of the following three things will happen with the king:

 

1) He will die

2) He will survive, but the harsh experience will leave him a completely different man

3) He will become corrupted

[ramza]

I have watched the videos and I really like what I have seen so far. It looks as if Bioware has gathered up all its experience into one single game. I see a lot of similarities with BG and KOTOR (the gameplay that is). I like the fantasy setting as well, so I don't have any specific complaints.

 

I just hope that the DRM won't ruin such a good game...

[Magister Lajciak]

I have watched the videos and I really like what I have seen so far. It looks as if Bioware has gathered up all its experience into one single game. I see a lot of similarities with BG and KOTOR (the gameplay that is). I like the fantasy setting as well, so I don't have any specific complaints.

 

I just hope that the DRM won't ruin such a good game...

 

I agree completely and am equally concerned about the DRM. A draconian rent-a-game DRM would force me not to buy the game regardless of its other qualities, which now appear obvious.

[Monte Carlo]

I don't, on the whole, like cutscenes. I like gameplay.

 

Developers like cutscenes. They get to show off their writing skillz and pretend they're in the movie business.

 

So, cutscenes, for me = meh.

 

On the plus side, I like the way the gameplay looks. Yes, it does remind me of Gothic / Oblivion a little, but there's only so many ways to present a single-player CRPG. Personally, I'd rather play the whole thing in tactical view but that's just me.

 

On aggregate, from those videos I like the look of the game. Just hope there's less darn cut-scenes. Yes, it's generic, but so what? I'm ignoring the hype and looking at the product, which looks pretty solid to me. And I'm as far from a Bioware fanboi as you are likely to get.

 

Cheers

MC

[Azure79]

I don't, on the whole, like cutscenes. I like gameplay.

 

Developers like cutscenes. They get to show off their writing skillz and pretend they're in the movie business.

 

So, cutscenes, for me = meh.

 

On the plus side, I like the way the gameplay looks. Yes, it does remind me of Gothic / Oblivion a little, but there's only so many ways to present a single-player CRPG. Personally, I'd rather play the whole thing in tactical view but that's just me.

 

On aggregate, from those videos I like the look of the game. Just hope there's less darn cut-scenes. Yes, it's generic, but so what? I'm ignoring the hype and looking at the product, which looks pretty solid to me. And I'm as far from a Bioware fanboi as you are likely to get.

 

Cheers

MC

 

That's what I plan on doing. Playing through the game in tactical view.

 

I don't know why people keep saying game writing can't compare to movies. I'm sure its not comparable to a well written novel, but considering the majority of crap that Hollywood spews out, I actually prefer game writing and cutscenes.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Bioware has consciously never really shown plot points or story revealing dialogs in videos. Fair enough. I trust DaveG & Co. to deliver a game that is the butter and bread of Bioware. I.e. a game of good ol' IE quality.

 

Mass Effect exposed its entire plot in its marketing campaign. You could seriously know 85% of the story by the trailers and the different codex entries on their site.

 

Almost ruined the game for me, really.

[Volourn]

Yeah, Will is right. I enjoyed the game immensely, but the plot was spoiled big time. Hard to have a 'plot twist' when its revealed before hand. L0L

[mkreku]

Gamespot has a new preview of Dragon Age up:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragonage/n...p;mode=previews

 

Also a new video, but I didn't watch it so I have no idea what's it about.

[Moatilliatta]

This Gamespot video shows Bastila/Silk Fox/Liara/Morrigan

[Magister Lajciak]

Gamespot has a new preview of Dragon Age up:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragonage/n...p;mode=previews

 

Also a new video, but I didn't watch it so I have no idea what's it about.

 

Thanks for posting the link!

[Morgoth]

This Morrigan chick looks kinda hot, but the PC with the red dress has some totally awkward pigtails on her side. But hey, like in video games, it's not always about the outside...

[Moatilliatta]

This Morrigan chick looks kinda hot...

Then you should check the concept art Bio has on their site.

[Moatilliatta]

The third walkthrough video never got mentioned in this thread and wasn't out yet back when the other two were mentioned so some/nearly all of you might have missed it. It shows some close up combat and some talents in use.

 

Based on his ending comments there might very well come a fourth video as well.

[Monte Carlo]

"Morrigan plays a really key part in the story..."

 

Not in my game she won't, she's going to die very quickly because I don't like being told who to take in my party. Unless of course there's a lame deus ex machina "she can't die" mechanic because it might spoil a lovingly crafted cutscene.

[Morgoth]

Well she has nice b00bs so she will end up being in my party.