Dragon Age Reviews Thread

[Volourn]

"NWN2 was better just for the fact that it had far superior party of companions compared to the henchmen of NWN1."

 

Superior party, yes, superior companions? No. Except for a couple of NWN2 companions were pretty aweosme so yeah, I'd give NWN2 OC the edge there.

 

But, 'sword up butt' ruins the good will. R00fles!

[Hurlshort]

Seriously though, what is EOTB and DF?

[Oner]

Seriously though, what is EOTB and DF?

Eye of the Beholder and http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/DF

[Purkake]

I'm going with DarkFriends.

[Hurlshort]

Maybe Daggerfall?

[Oner]

Volo's midnight quiz, fun for the whole family!

[CoM_Solaufein]

This is starting to not look like Dragon Age reviews thread.

[Maria Caliban]

My favorite BioWare game. Possibly my favorite RPG, but I'll wait for the buzz to wear out before I say that.

[vault_overseer]

Awesome thread, nice to read so many different reviews.

[Monte Carlo]

Money talks, bullsh*t walks... according to thison the Bio forums DA sold 450,000 console copies alone in D-Day +1 week.

 

Blimey.

 

Cheers

MC

[Volourn]

I wonder how much it sold on PC considering this is their first PC game that came out at the same time as a console version at minimum since NWN.

[Maria Caliban]

Between the success of ME, FO3, and DA:O, I wonder if we'll see more publishers investing in RPGs in the future?

[Monte Carlo]

^ I think we can agree on something for a change, I hope so. Sadly, I think the five year development cycle might put a lot of people off!

 

Personally, with the potential of DLC, I can see companies investing in game 'carcasses' you buy and add to as you wish, a sort of proto-MMORPG model applied to SP games. But to get there I think you need the fan base that a company like Bioware enjoys.

[Deraldin]

I wonder how much it sold on PC considering this is their first PC game that came out at the same time as a console version at minimum since NWN.

 

No actual numbers but apparently both the normal and deluxe editions came in at 1st and 2nd on Steam and D2D. D2D also had a bundle with a strategy guide that came in 3rd.

[alanschu]

The PC version was also 1st and 2nd at retail (non-Steam) according to GamaSutra.

[Spider]

In Sweden the PC version is #1 and console version is #2 in overall sales charts. Don't think they're doing any differentiating between CE or not though.

 

So yeah, Dragon Age is shifting a lot of copies.

[Monte Carlo]

Despite my usual Bioware sentiments, I am pleased for them, it's good to see developer's work credited and jobs secured.

[Guest Slinky]

Because this topic has so many reviews, I add my here too

 

The World:

 

The most hyped thing in Dragon Age: Origins was the darker and more mature world, and this is true in some parts. In earlier games from Bioware, the choices were almost always between ultimate good/ultimate bad, but in Dragon Age Bioware has improved choices a lot. There are parts in the game where you seem to have many different ways to deal with things, and the choices really aren't always easy. Often it's between bad and even worse, and sometimes the seemingly "good" choice has actually worse consequences than the seemingly "bad" choice. This is very refreshing after loads of black and white RPG's. But the choices do not really come back to haunt you during the game, which is a shame. There is a summary in the end where you get to see what happened to the people/places after the end, which is great, but I would personally would like to see something more than few lines of text. Like a camera run through a city and see for your self how things are looking good or bad with a narrator giving some fun facts.

 

As for the maturity, well, I hoped to see more of that. The world really doesn't look to me like it is in the verge of civil war and is about to get totally ravaged by the Blight. People seem to be living happily their lives. I really didn't get any feeling of hopelesness anywhere. Lots of blood and gore in some areas do not equal mature to me. Some of the choices are luckily pretty mature, which wins points from me. Although it sometimes feels strange when you first run around in this not-so gritty feeling world, and suddenly the game throws something rather dark choice to you. Bioware probably was aiming to shock people with this, but sadly it didn't really work for me.

 

 

Companions:

 

There has always been companions or henchmen in Bioware's RPG's and Dragon Age is no exeption. The companions are very much like they have been in earlier games from Bioware. As in they have avarage amount of dialogue in the campsite, and they do not really open their mouths outside the campsite. This is a huge immersion braker for me. They just follow you around mostly silently. There are some hotspots in game where 2 of the companions start a short banter with each other, which is a plus, and sometimes rather rearly they chime in conversation just to say something in the lines of "I agree!" or "I do not agree!" I understand that voice acting limits the amount of dialogue, but if I could choose between 9 companions who haven't got much to say and 4 who have double the amount of dialogue, I would go for the fantastic four every time. I have always liked the backgrounds of the companions and their personalities in Bioware's games, so the small amount of dialogue feels like damn waste.

 

 

Combat:

 

If you like to slice heads off with a sword and maul thingies to bloody pulp with a two handed sledgehammer, Dragon Age is your game! There is a lot of combat and it is not run-to-that-direction-and-kill-everything-on-the-way -easy like it is in NWN2 for example. I got a my ass kicked more than once on normal difficulty. This is both a good thing and a bad thing in my opinion. On the good side, it's really fun to fight an strong foe, who might have couple friends to complicate things. You need to carefully think what to do and react to what the bad guys do. On the bad side, you often need to fight roomfull of mobs again and again, and it started to get pretty boring and frustrating for me. Only the Circle Tower had a surprise that made me forget the endless mobkilling and got a smile on my face.

 

 

Graphics/Audio:

 

I have never really cared for graphics in games, they do not much impove my gaming experience. As long they are good enough so I can see what is what, everything is fine and Dragon Age does just that. It is not exactly the prettiest game in the world, but it does good enough job. The facial expressions on people is a huge plus.

 

But what really can improve my experience and immersion is audio, and in that Dragon Age does really good job. I have a sorry arse integrated sound card, and still the clashes from shields, gurgle from violence victims and the backround voices sounds really, really good. Music has some of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, the one that plays in end credits is absolutely fantastic. Some of the songs do their job, but nothing else. Sadly there is no really epic music like in Baldur's Gate 2.

 

 

Summary:

 

In the end, Dragon Age is very traditional Bioware game. There are some steps foward, but I'm personally starting to feel like "isn't this already been done a few times over?" A big bad who wants to kill the world because it's pissed and a hero who goes about rallying humans, dwarves and elves against this irritated baddy. But is Dragon Age a bad game? Of course not, I bet many people really like it. But I personally think it would be starting to be a about damn time to somebody show a new direction for RPG's.

[Hurlshort]

^ I think we can agree on something for a change, I hope so. Sadly, I think the five year development cycle might put a lot of people off!

 

Maybe studios will work on shorter RPG's to help offset the development time? I'd be happy with a few 25 hour games to fill the gaps between Dragon Age and the Witcher type epics.

[Purkake]

^ I think we can agree on something for a change, I hope so. Sadly, I think the five year development cycle might put a lot of people off!

 

Maybe studios will work on shorter RPG's to help offset the development time? I'd be happy with a few 25 hour games to fill the gaps between Dragon Age and the Witcher type epics.

 

It would also help if they also made them good. Most budget stuff is like a square wheel: all the good stuff is balanced out by by something horrible.

[alanschu]

Speculation on my part, but I'm guessing that the long development time of DA had to do with conceptual changes and whatnot. I am skeptical that all 7 years went into adding content

[Monte Carlo]

Alan next time you get to ask (unless it would be difficult) can you ask at what point the Conan feel of the early concept art changed?

 

I remember DA concept 1.0 and it definitely felt more low fantasy / Hyborian age than the Dark Age / early medieval vibe in the end product.

[Volourn]

"People seem to be living happily their lives. I really didn't get any feeling of hopelesness anywhere"

 

Wow. Wow. Wow.

 

 

I do agree that DA is a BIo game through, and through. And, that's a good thing. Sure beats being a Bethesda game.

[Oner]

Kaytlin in Redcliffe sure got her hopes up fast when I mentioned helping her.

[entrerix]

"People seem to be living happily their lives. I really didn't get any feeling of hopelesness anywhere"

 

 

yeah i havent seen what you have i guess, my only two places (lothering and circle tower) were both filled with some pretty unhappy people. some being slaughtered and others just sitting around moaning about their misfortune. no one seemed happy except one guy who seemed really pleased that he'd found a closet to hide in while his friends were killed - he was oddly cheery about it, but i think madness had overtaken him.