Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 2:49 pm
How does this game not have a post here yet?
Specifics of the game:
RPG. Standard D&D rules. 4 person party, but multiple potential members. Multiple origin stories depending on your character's species and background. Each potential party member has back stories that you can talk to them about to earn more side quests. Expect to manage your inventory a lot. Lots of dialogue that seems to be a bit too wishy-washy to really specify what you might be wanting to say (at least on the "good" side).
Storyline:
You're _ a _ who _ and now you're given the opportunity to join the Grey Wardens and help to fight against the Darkspawn.
Again, those blanks get filled in based on your choices for your character.
This is an RPG along the lines of Neverwinter Nights and games like that, and it's great. This is that game that perfect when you're in the mood for a long term RPG with lots of storyline that you can immerse yourself in.
Of course, there are flaws...
I think the biggest flaw in the game, by far, is the uneven pacing. It's an open world, meaning you can go to any location right away. I believe this to be a huge mistake in games, particularly in RPGs. (We can get into that discussion another day.)
Where it really causes a problem is in the opponents you battle. Now we've all seen this sort of thing before in "open world" games, and it works great: "Well, I went left and got my ass handed to me, so I'll go right now and head back left later when I'm tougher." Here, not so much.
For example, right away on the world map the closest location to your starting point (after the hours of playtime that is your origin and the beginning of the actual storyline) is an area involving werewolves. I went there first, but got quickly bored by all the talking. I wasn't in the mood that night. Thus, I left those woods without doing the "dungeon" there (the forest), and went to another site where I was immediately in fights, which is what I craved that night. Long story short, I have completed two other huge chapters of the game and now I've returned to that forest. The werewolves don't stand a chance against me. My guys are way too high in level. Occasionally they'll get one of my characters down and overwhelm them (more on that in a minute), but for the most part I'm kicking ass.
Then I found a tombstone and a crazy man. The crazy man whooped my ass during my last 10 minutes playing last night, but I wasn't prepared for him, and with preparation I know I can beat him easily. So we'll skip him and just focus on the tombstone. Messing with the tombstone makes a few skeltons appear, and more importantly, a Revenant. He's the asshole.
Now I should note that not only is my main character a high enough level that I'm almost invincible against the werewolves in this area, but he's wearing Blood Armor, which was a special suit given via a DLC (part of the Steam package I bought) and is way better than anything else encountered in the game so far. He's also a warrior who is close to mastering shields. He is my tank.
So why can't he last 20 seconds against this Revenant? Especially when the Revenant is all physical damage! Why is there a creature here of this high a level in what is essentially a beginner's dungeon?
That's not the only example either. I have gone from walking my way through battles to a battle in the same place that takes me 12 tries and ALL of my healing potions to win. Ridiculous. I even had a random encounter while traveling once where I was attacked by enemies that
I couldn't even damage...
Now I realize the game has the pause button and it's there because in reality this is a turn based game, blah, blah, blah, but in all these battles I'm pausing the shit out of the game and shit getting manhandled. Maybe my tactics are off with my mages, but that's why I used my tank as the primary example. That's attack and defense against attack and defense. Me, a high level character in a dungeon for newbs, and I'm getting my ass kicked.
I realize the revenant might be programmed to be tougher based on my level, or maybe he was left there intentionally for a return trip later. If it was programming, it's too much. If it was left there intentionally, well that's another argument...
It seems like several places in the game and tasks require you to travel a bit too much. Almost every place I've visited so far I've had to visit again. This is fine in terms of storyline, but I've noticed vendors at different places stock "infinite" items of key ingredients for health potions and such. The vendor at this city will have flasks, and the vendor at this city will have elfroot (a key component), etc. I don't love that.
In fact, when it comes to RPGs in general, the more you make me micromanage, the faster I get bored with your game. I have to believe there is a HUGE audience for RPGs, however I have to think the audience that wants to micromanage every single item in their inventory for hours at a time is small. So can we please stop designing RPGs like that? I don't need minor, normal, and major fire resistance potions. I just need a fire resistance potion. Again, an argument for another time.
Back to DA:O, believe it or not, aside from the impossible fights, it's been great. The storyline is pretty decent, and reflects accurate human behavior (we're pretty stupid). I think they confused the story a bit too much with the DarkSpawn, the Fade, Demons, etc. because it's not clear (to where I am) whether it's all one phenomenon or a series of them.
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that while the developers do a good job of making sure the overall story is there and is told in what seems like a straight forward fashion, the side stuff goes everywhere and can confuse things. A lot like my rantings here.
Sorry, but it's a tough game to write about if one is honest. Yes, it's fantastic, but some of it's flaws could be avoided and/or seem like design decisions to make the game last longer...even if that means simply making repetitive trips to the store...
I'm not done yet, so no final review, but I wanted to get my initial thoughts out there.
If you're an RPG fan, this is a damn good purchase (so far).
Specifics of the game:
RPG. Standard D&D rules. 4 person party, but multiple potential members. Multiple origin stories depending on your character's species and background. Each potential party member has back stories that you can talk to them about to earn more side quests. Expect to manage your inventory a lot. Lots of dialogue that seems to be a bit too wishy-washy to really specify what you might be wanting to say (at least on the "good" side).
Storyline:
You're _ a _ who _ and now you're given the opportunity to join the Grey Wardens and help to fight against the Darkspawn.
Again, those blanks get filled in based on your choices for your character.
This is an RPG along the lines of Neverwinter Nights and games like that, and it's great. This is that game that perfect when you're in the mood for a long term RPG with lots of storyline that you can immerse yourself in.
Of course, there are flaws...
I think the biggest flaw in the game, by far, is the uneven pacing. It's an open world, meaning you can go to any location right away. I believe this to be a huge mistake in games, particularly in RPGs. (We can get into that discussion another day.)
Where it really causes a problem is in the opponents you battle. Now we've all seen this sort of thing before in "open world" games, and it works great: "Well, I went left and got my ass handed to me, so I'll go right now and head back left later when I'm tougher." Here, not so much.
For example, right away on the world map the closest location to your starting point (after the hours of playtime that is your origin and the beginning of the actual storyline) is an area involving werewolves. I went there first, but got quickly bored by all the talking. I wasn't in the mood that night. Thus, I left those woods without doing the "dungeon" there (the forest), and went to another site where I was immediately in fights, which is what I craved that night. Long story short, I have completed two other huge chapters of the game and now I've returned to that forest. The werewolves don't stand a chance against me. My guys are way too high in level. Occasionally they'll get one of my characters down and overwhelm them (more on that in a minute), but for the most part I'm kicking ass.
Then I found a tombstone and a crazy man. The crazy man whooped my ass during my last 10 minutes playing last night, but I wasn't prepared for him, and with preparation I know I can beat him easily. So we'll skip him and just focus on the tombstone. Messing with the tombstone makes a few skeltons appear, and more importantly, a Revenant. He's the asshole.
Now I should note that not only is my main character a high enough level that I'm almost invincible against the werewolves in this area, but he's wearing Blood Armor, which was a special suit given via a DLC (part of the Steam package I bought) and is way better than anything else encountered in the game so far. He's also a warrior who is close to mastering shields. He is my tank.
So why can't he last 20 seconds against this Revenant? Especially when the Revenant is all physical damage! Why is there a creature here of this high a level in what is essentially a beginner's dungeon?
That's not the only example either. I have gone from walking my way through battles to a battle in the same place that takes me 12 tries and ALL of my healing potions to win. Ridiculous. I even had a random encounter while traveling once where I was attacked by enemies that
I couldn't even damage...
Now I realize the game has the pause button and it's there because in reality this is a turn based game, blah, blah, blah, but in all these battles I'm pausing the shit out of the game and shit getting manhandled. Maybe my tactics are off with my mages, but that's why I used my tank as the primary example. That's attack and defense against attack and defense. Me, a high level character in a dungeon for newbs, and I'm getting my ass kicked.
I realize the revenant might be programmed to be tougher based on my level, or maybe he was left there intentionally for a return trip later. If it was programming, it's too much. If it was left there intentionally, well that's another argument...
It seems like several places in the game and tasks require you to travel a bit too much. Almost every place I've visited so far I've had to visit again. This is fine in terms of storyline, but I've noticed vendors at different places stock "infinite" items of key ingredients for health potions and such. The vendor at this city will have flasks, and the vendor at this city will have elfroot (a key component), etc. I don't love that.
In fact, when it comes to RPGs in general, the more you make me micromanage, the faster I get bored with your game. I have to believe there is a HUGE audience for RPGs, however I have to think the audience that wants to micromanage every single item in their inventory for hours at a time is small. So can we please stop designing RPGs like that? I don't need minor, normal, and major fire resistance potions. I just need a fire resistance potion. Again, an argument for another time.
Back to DA:O, believe it or not, aside from the impossible fights, it's been great. The storyline is pretty decent, and reflects accurate human behavior (we're pretty stupid). I think they confused the story a bit too much with the DarkSpawn, the Fade, Demons, etc. because it's not clear (to where I am) whether it's all one phenomenon or a series of them.
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that while the developers do a good job of making sure the overall story is there and is told in what seems like a straight forward fashion, the side stuff goes everywhere and can confuse things. A lot like my rantings here.
Sorry, but it's a tough game to write about if one is honest. Yes, it's fantastic, but some of it's flaws could be avoided and/or seem like design decisions to make the game last longer...even if that means simply making repetitive trips to the store...
I'm not done yet, so no final review, but I wanted to get my initial thoughts out there.
If you're an RPG fan, this is a damn good purchase (so far).