Dragon Age: Origins

[Dienekes]

I'm surprised this hasn't come up yet, I looked through the threads and didn't see it anyway.

What do people think about the game? I'm rather excited about it and I really like what they've done with the origin stories.

And they made elves interesting for once (sorry personal bias here, always saw elves as a race of mary sue's in just about any fantasy setting)

http://dragonage.bioware.com/agegate.html?ref=/

[Shikton]

Been a couple of threads, but they've died out because it's not gonna be released for a while. Q4 I believe, which will probably mean the end of November.

But - like you - I'm very excited about this game. It's been said that it will be sort of a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series, but that's not to say it will be good. Never the less, it certainly sounds promising!

Seen a video of gameplay, and they've at least brought back the combat system you had in Baldur's Gate and IWD, something I have missed. I just hope they made a good effort on storyline as well.

[The Evil Thing]

Oh God, if they actually bring back the BG combat system you'd have to convince me not to buy it. After fumbling my way through NWN2's expansions I'd welcome a combat system that gives you proper camera (and unit) control. It'll be a break from what amounts to playing Rome: Total War with camera locked on your general.

If it looks - and plays - something like a cross between DoW 2 and BG 2 I'll be very happy.


...wait, you weren't talking about ADnD were you?

[Terraoblivion]

The combat system of Baldur's Gate and other Infinity Engine games is quite dissimilar to that of Neverwinter Nights and other Aurora Engine games. There was no camera lock back then and you always had direct control over all your party members. I agree that Neverwinter Nights 2 had a horrible, horrible control scheme, that was actually a large part of me never getting very far in it. Baldur's Gate had a rather different and much better one, though.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I thought Neverwinter Nights 2 had an okay control scheme, but then I've played through it several times.

I am waiting on TENTERHOOKS for this! My only concern is that it might not work on my computer, which no longer seems to want to run Mass Effect. I don't get it. Mass Effect worked fine for me last summer, and now I can't even get it to start!

[warty goblin]

I loved Mass Effect to the point where, about last July, I would probably have married my own character (which incidentally makes last week's teaser for ME2 trailer rather traumatic), but somehow really can't dredge up that much enthusiasm for Dragon Age.

Mostly I think it's the bit where it has elves and dwarves and orc, er darkspawn. I've been to ElfDwarfLand many, many, many times. The whole resurging evil and beleagured ancient society are, well, ancient news to me. Sure I've also shipped out with the Space Marines more times than I care to count, but there's still the chance of seeing something new out there in the black, some new alien or planet. I just don't see that anymore for standard fantasy, darkly heroic or not.

I suppose they could do something along the lines of the Witcher, but I honestly doubt Bioware will go that way. The moral problems presented in the Witcher are just of a fundamentally different nature than those of what I've seen in KoTOR or Mass Effect. It's not even that I found them less black and white, although some of them certainly were, but that they were far more rooted in the world and setting. Deciding whether or not to save somebody from the mob is not only a pretty clear cut choice on the morality scale, but also something that is almost completely seperable from the world (I've done it in, let's see KoTOR, NWN2, ME...), but something like choosing whether or not to aid the terrorist elves against the zenophobic and violent humans...that's a real part of the setting.

Also I confess that controlling parties irritates the hell out of me, particularly when the game refuses to use an RTS style interface which has been honed over a few thousand iterations to allow for the easy control of large numbers of complex units. No, instead we get KoTOR/NWN/NWN2 control schemes, which are crimes against keyboards and mice the world over. Dragon Age looks better in this regard, but I still find controlling a large number of people to be detrimental to my ability to identify with one of them. That's another thing that the Witcher did immensely right, give me one person to control, then make controlling them interesting. ME at least let me pretty much ignore the party/control them in a believably indirect manner, which was nice and meant I could relegate them to storytelling duty, at which they excelled.

On the other hand Dragon Age does look to be doing a lot right, and I am a sucker for good dialog. Plus semi-permanent crippling injuries is the sort of gameplay feature that makes my mouth water.

[Dienekes]

Actually warty goblin I don't even really look at the races as elf/dwarf, ect.

They all seem rather obvious bases from historical cultures but some have pointy ears and some are slightly shorter.

Reading their origins my first thoughts on all of them were
Town Elves=Medieval Jews
Dalish Elves=Steppe Barbarians
Human Nobles= Holy Roman Empire
Dwarven Nobles= British Kingdom (or obvious westeros parallel)
Dwarven Commons= Roman Plebes
And mages

I wont give anything to the blight though. Obviously raging orcs and trolls and such.

But to me this departure from the standard fantasy to a more historical context seemed vary interesting. If they follow through of course, if it turns out to be a bunch of fancy words for "Cool Ranger Elf!!" I'll be incredibly disappointed.

[Om]

I was enthusiastic about this... three years ago. I'll pay attention again when its about to be released

I loved Mass Effect to the point where, about last July, I would probably have married my own character (which incidentally makes last week's teaser for ME2 trailer rather traumatic), but somehow really can't dredge up that much enthusiasm for Dragon Age.

Tell me they're not going ahead with that plan for a Mass Effect trilogy?

[Dienekes]

Wow... 3 years? I only learned of it 2 weeks ago. Probably why I'm the only one excited by it

[warty goblin]

Actually warty goblin I don't even really look at the races as elf/dwarf, ect.

They all seem rather obvious bases from historical cultures but some have pointy ears and some are slightly shorter.

Reading their origins my first thoughts on all of them were
Town Elves=Medieval Jews
Dalish Elves=Steppe Barbarians
Human Nobles= Holy Roman Empire
Dwarven Nobles= British Kingdom (or obvious westeros parallel)
Dwarven Commons= Roman Plebes
And mages

I wont give anything to the blight though. Obviously raging orcs and trolls and such.

But to me this departure from the standard fantasy to a more historical context seemed vary interesting. If they follow through of course, if it turns out to be a bunch of fancy words for "Cool Ranger Elf!!" I'll be incredibly disappointed.

Really though, that's such a hodgepodge of different times and places, I just don't see how it's going to feel historical. It's rather like making a game featuring the British Expeditionary Force fighting Conquistadors assisted by mystical beings from Atlantis, then claiming it feels historical. It just wouldn't*.

And also, if they do in fact do things that way, why bother with the whole elf/dwarf thing anyways? Making everybody human would be a real twist to the usual formula and be a real headscrew.

Also, there's an ancient evil trying to destroy the world. I think everybody here can agree that one has been done to absolute death by now, and if there's anything interesting left to be had in the idea, I'd be surprised. Another thing the Witcher did right, less with the "You must save the world, while of course taking the time to engage in profitable side quests" deal. Granted I haven't yet finished the Witcher, and I'm sure I'll end up saving the world eventually, but it's hardly a first three minutes sort of objective. Also, given the Witcher's overall tone, I'm reasonably sure that doing so will manage to be deeply morally ambigious in some way or another since pretty much everything that didn't claw its way out of a shallow grave a few hours ago in that game tends to be at least somewhat relatable.



*Although I'd totally play it.

[Dienekes]

Technically all those things except roman plebes were around during the same time period.

[warty goblin]

Technically all those things except roman plebes were around during the same time period.

Right, over the entirety of Europe, and across some four hundred years. Plus the addition of magic. Pretty much the same as Conquistadors with Atlantis granted magic powers fighting Kitchener's Expeditionary Force, no?

Although for the sake of balance I think the Brits should get bullet time.

[Gralamin]

Dragon Age looks better in this regard, but I still find controlling a large number of people to be detrimental to my ability to identify with one of them.

Dragon Age is offering two ways to control characters. Either you can control every on their own, or you can set up an AI Script in a manner similar to FFXII's Gambit System (Note: This is Optional). So while every so often you might have to go and edit your general strategy, it lets you control your main character only very well if thats what you want to do.

The fact this game is supposed to come out soon makes me happy, since I've been waiting for it nearly as long as I've been waiting (almost in vain) for Starcraft 2.

[Dienekes]

No, actually I mean they all existed at the same time. They were not separated by 400 years. (again except the plebes, which could really be the undercity of any major capital, plebes were just the first thing that came to me).

And again, I'm not saying it's really historical. I'm saying that the societies presented are relatively fleshed out and not simply these are elves they're the same as humans BUT they get a bonus to such and such.

And agreed, Starcraft is taking way too long.