DAO was one of the most underwhelming experiences I've ever had. I've played a few sessions, and eventually gave up on it. The combat and controls are unbelieveably tedious and sluggish (watching a ball and chain pass through the enemies head as if it were invisible over and over is a real detriment to the element of immersion), the graphics are okay maybe for 2005. I hear some people complain about the thing being on rails, I think it's okay for some games though I do prefer more open RPGs. Morrowind >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DAO (for their particular times). Oblivion with good mod packs (not even graphics, Oblivion graphics are better 4 years later than DAO) is also a lot more interesting. The old Ultima and Might and Magic series were also a bit more open in terms of where/what you could do in what order.
Sorry to threadcrap, and I do hope DAO 2 is an improvement and not just a duplicate with new quests/characters. I just should have done more homework before spending $60 on this thing.
I don't understand the people complaining about the ME style dialogue. The point is to just show you a quick idea of what you are going to say, so you can choose a basic response based on your reaction to the situation.
Whether the response is selected the quick way, or by reading an entire sentence, you are still not really "controlling" what the character says. You are still selecting from a predefined set of responses. Also, you can probably discern which DAO responses are bad, good, or neutral, just like in ME.
Personally I prefer not having to read an entire paragraph to figure out what my response is going to be.
Sorry to threadcrap, and I do hope DAO 2 is an improvement and not just a duplicate with new quests/characters. I just should have done more homework before spending $60 on this thing.
Seconded. Not going to say it's better necessarily, but it definitely makes for more natural-feeling dialogue (outside of the one or two instances per game where what the character ends up saying isn't what I expected / wanted).
Not sure what you would have seen to keep you away from the game. It was pretty much universally well-received.
Universally? I think I've seen as many detractors as I've seen fans of Origins. Reviews being mostly positive, sure. It was heralded so intensely as the "spiritual successor" (loathe that term) to one of the greatest RPG games of our time. I think that might have had a little to do with it.
I don't understand the people complaining about the ME style dialogue. The point is to just show you a quick idea of what you are going to say, so you can choose a basic response based on your reaction to the situation.
Whether the response is selected the quick way, or by reading an entire sentence, you are still not really "controlling" what the character says. You are still selecting from a predefined set of responses. Also, you can probably discern which DAO responses are bad, good, or neutral, just like in ME.
Personally I prefer not having to read an entire paragraph to figure out what my response is going to be.
DAO was one of the most underwhelming experiences I've ever had. I've played a few sessions, and eventually gave up on it. The combat and controls are unbelieveably tedious and sluggish (watching a ball and chain pass through the enemies head as if it were invisible over and over is a real detriment to the element of immersion), the graphics are okay maybe for 2005. I hear some people complain about the thing being on rails, I think it's okay for some games though I do prefer more open RPGs. Morrowind >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DAO (for their particular times). Oblivion with good mod packs (not even graphics, Oblivion graphics are better 4 years later than DAO) is also a lot more interesting. The old Ultima and Might and Magic series were also a bit more open in terms of where/what you could do in what order.
Sorry to threadcrap, and I do hope DAO 2 is an improvement and not just a duplicate with new quests/characters. I just should have done more homework before spending $60 on this thing.
DragonAge was entertaining, but I really want to see them make it a 100% free roam game with little loading; and none of the weak "marching on the map between towns" crap.
I think one game that was really awesome to play through was Dungeon Siege 1, it wasn't fully free roam, but at least you had a sense of travelling from town to town instead of just magically getting there.
I'm waiting for another wide-open Oblivion type game personally. Anything like that coming out soon? Or is Red Dead Redemption it? I remember hearing something about a Fallout type game taking place in Las Vegas.
Morrowind was alright, but I'm not a big fan of Bethesda's style, I usually get bored long before I even start the main plot. Bioware's linear, well told stories are among the best out there, even if they're getting very combat heavy in recent years.
I am curious though, if you thought the graphics in DAO were bad, if you tried any of the enhancement mods? Since most modern RPGs are basically console ports, they really benefit from community enhancement patches to get them up to code. A slap against the developers to be certain though.
Bateluer nailed it. Maybe we can simplify it more for people. The top dialog choice will be a blue rectangle to signify a friendly, agreeable dialog choice. The middle will be a yellow rectangle which represents a cautious, inquisitive option. The bottom will be red to indicate a belligerent, hostile response. Or maybe we should make it purple, since red is traumatizing to children. And the main character could speak in simlish.
For what it's worth Alpha Protocol's dialogue system is basically "Mass Effect Done Right". It is so, so much better. However, the system makes sense in a game where you are constantly interrogating subjects, I'm not sure how well it would work in a fantasy RPG.
And really, these DAO complaints are silly, your weapons pass through the enemy? I'm pretty sure it's always been like that and I'd really hate to see them waste their time ensuring your weapon never visually passes through an enemy when you rolled a miss. It's fucking trite, that's all I'm saying.
Open worlds? Free roaming? Don't you people get enough of that shit: Fallout, Oblivion, Two Worlds, Risen, Gothic, and god knows how many other horrendous one's I've attempted to block out, not to mention all the other games in that exact same genre, GTA, Prototype, Mercenaries, Just Cause, Saint's Whatever, blah blah blah. Bioware's entire shtick for this game and game's like this is to provide gamers with a more traditional RPG since NOBODY IN THE WORLD is making anything similar anymore. And yet the biggest complaint is "plz make this more of the same shit I get shoveled down my throat every quarter, k thx"
I hate to vent but you'd think people would have enough .... perspective... to be able to realize what they are getting themselves into and why something might be the way it is. Do you think it's easy to build "everything between 2 towns" and still make every 10 feet seem interesting? Even if you put a dragon every 3 feet, they still get boring after awhile.
And Dungeon Siege is like a walking bad example on it's own. 90% of the game was unmemorable, the only decent dungeon was the mirror cave, which they probably assumed you'd never beat, and the desert / pyramids, only because it was so ridiculous. Besides which, it's a game without a plot or character development. I can't even recall a single memorable NPC.
Ok I feel better.
Well, it's 2010, I could see DAO being a decent game for 2004-2005 for the on-rails RPG genre, but it feels extremely dated, and it's just not my style I guess. You say that re : weapons passing invisibly through characters/enemies has always been that way, well maybe so for some types of genres, but for a new premier title to not have hit detection, it bugs me personally.
Maybe I'm too hard on it, I certainly don't begrudge anyone who enjoyed or got their money's worth with this one. I just know that I really really wanted to like this game, but it left me cold.
The vocal minority always causes a pretty big ripple, despite that, 90% of everything I've read on Dragon Age has been positive. Yes that number isn't scientific, it's just me recalling back to every thread I've read on the game. Most people loved it and I would expect them to, as far as RPGs go, it had a lot to offer. In fact, I don't think I've heard a single complaint about the game that I can even rationalize.
Incase you haven't noticed the trend over the past several years or so, reviews are mostly based on how much hype/how much marketing is put into the game. Just go to metacritic and compare user rating to real review ratings. While there's exceptions, most old games the two scores are pretty close and the newer the game gets the less likely the numbers are to match. Many many many games released these days get all 9s when they deserve 6s or 7s. What I'm mostly trying to say without specificly bashing DA:O is appealing to reviews to make a point about a game isn't very convincing these days.
I don't read official reviews unless I'm scouring for screenshots / gameplay footage. My comment was based on user community forums, such as this one, penny arcade, somethingawful, etc.
Yea except, DAO isn't "on-rails", it allows you to do a number of things in any order you please. Which, while not being fully open world, certainly removes it from the "on-rails" linear claim. It's not like it's Final Fantasy or Resident Evil or some game that is truely LINEAR. It's just that the plot does have some structure, which is a necessity if you want a plot with any sort of depth at all.
The whole "It's 2010 so I can't play a game unless it has xyz big budget bullshit" is one of the things that is wrong with gaming as a whole. I won't play this unless every little shit stain is voiced, despite the fact that voicing every character in Oblivion made my goddamn ears bleed. I won't play it unless the entire world has been visualized seamlessly, even if that makes it look like ass and the world is 90% boring forest with dungeons that aren't even memorable. I won't play it unless your animators and coders spend weeks developing a dodge and hit detection system not even rivaled by an FPS, because that's the only way I can believe I missed the monster.
That's because Dungeon Siege only has two possible directions, forward and back. The game was one really long linear path that was all about killing creatures, and had no party interaction or story worth mentioning.
Eh? I always got a pretty mixed feel on these forums.
Hey I'm not dissing your opinion of the game, just giving my honest one while respecting others. Don't put words in my mouth, for example I am completely indifferent to voice acting and would be just as happy with subtitles. Music is important to me. Graphics aren't crucial, but I think they should of course improve with time. Openness goes a long way for me, hell the real world isn't always all that interesting either, but it helps a lot, also cool to see stuff a long way off.