Roderick

Dragon Age

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I was half-joking about being gritty and mature, really take out the sex and blood spatter and the game is not any more or less mature than Baldur's Gate or other fantasy RPGs. Don't tell BioWare that though.

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I still have yet to understand the horrible reaction some people have to Kotor 2..

Not to derail since I like to ramble on and on, hehe, but here we go with kotor2. Also I am by no means a Starwars fan, I like maybe 2 movies out of the 6 and the samurai jack star wars was pretty neat, oh and jedi outcast.

Ok, I still carry the hatred torch and really I shouldn't, it just wasn't a very good game, even though the gameplay mechanics were improved and it was essentially more Kotor.

But a few things to consider...

1. It came out a year later(shouldn't have expected much) but at that time Kotor and Sands of Time were just astonishing to me the year previous. Never playing BG before, you'd have to understand the impact Kotor had on me, I loved it about as much as I love Mass Effect now.

2. I wasn't really used to iterative sequels. I get it for franchises like madden and stuff, but at that time, in my mind, a sequel was a really big deal and deserved a lot of respect. Which means better graphics, better story, better every thing. Kotor 2 was basically more kotor in Kotor 1; which nowadays, I get and don't mind as much, but at the time didn't care for it at all.

3. The first three times I started the game a bug wouldn't allow me to continue past like 30 minutes and their were various others that pissed me off.

4. The story and characters were basically just parelleling the first game, it was not very well thoughtout, many of the the environments were shared from Kotor 1 and overall it just ruined the whole universe for me.

5. Loved the kotor 1 story at the time, loved the characters, but kotor 2 basically ignored all of it with only passing mention like they didn't want to be bothered to come up with a end game to kotor 1 but just wanted to remake the same thing, only shittier. Also that end 3/4 was pretty aweful.

So yeah, that's why I didn't like it and will at least carry the hate torch as a reminder. But I think take into consideration the age of gaming it was in(wasn't that long ago) and it was a franchise just getting its feet off the ground only to be axed right at the end. Also take into consideration if Kotor 2 didn't happen and Mass Effect was Kotor 2 how awesome Kotor would be right now?

But to be fair I think the Mass Effect universe is far superior to Kotors now, so it's all for the best.

@Tobili: Yeah I guess that's it, I didn't play it just watched a friend play it, I could tell how he could set that up and it worked, there is something about Dragon Ages I just don't get, too many options I still don't get how I can get my guys to heal if they are hurt, I tried all those health options and still nothing, so I dunno I'm retarded. enchantments!

@Groucho: Oh I see :) Yeah, I really don't mean to get on a rant here, but Bioware knows how to make a fiction I really dig myself into, I love their games to death, but they seem to be shoving this really weird and teenager view of maturity down the throat of their games since jade empire.

I just don't get how a company that does everything else so right has someone there with an agenda to get that crap in there. By all means I applaud people that just do what they want (rockstar) but theres a sophisticated way(rockstar) and a unsophisticated way(everyone but rockstar) and Bioware for some reason in that one small department is in the everyone but rockstar camp.

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I still have yet to understand the horrible reaction some people have to Kotor 2. It wasn't as good sure, and the end game wasn't all the rest of the game had built it up to be, but I still really enjoyed it.

I can't speak for anyone else, but my disappointment with Kotor 2 was largely because of unfulfilled potential. It certain could have been as good as the first one, but general bugginess and the rushed/not properly finished ending ruin it for me. Which is too bad becaus Kreia reminded me a lot of Ravel from Planescape:Torment, which, depending on my mood when you ask me, may be my favorite game of all time.

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@Erriki: Probably right :) I just have no basis of BG to say.

I was kidding though, I only played a little of KOTOR and a bit of Mass Effect so I don't know how they compare to Baldur's Gate. I think they are different in structure: in the space games you go to a planet and can do a bunch of stuff there, then move to another planet etc. but in Baldur's Gate you can move through the entire world freely (but there's also quick-travel).

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I can't speak for anyone else, but my disappointment with Kotor 2 was largely because of unfulfilled potential. It certain could have been as good as the first one, but general bugginess and the rushed/not properly finished ending ruin it for me. Which is too bad becaus Kreia reminded me a lot of Ravel from Planescape:Torment, which, depending on my mood when you ask me, may be my favorite game of all time.
This is pretty much what I feel about that game too. I think KotOR 2 could have been as good or better than the original had they been given more development time. KotOR is probably my favorite game but I am a big Chris Avellone fan and I think overall the writing was better in 2.

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theres a sophisticated way(rockstar) and a unsophisticated way(everyone but rockstar) and Bioware for some reason in that one small department is in the everyone but rockstar camp.

Of course, they're in the everyone but rockstar camp. They're not rockstar. :)

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That's not real is it? lol

Ok, sooo, I pretty much played over 12 hours straight yesterday, this is starting to get mildly depressing, so I better start it up again before I think about that.

Some had a thought that would be awesome, but might spoil it for anyone not playing as I talk about the past of one character, also had a enya musical interlude last night...it was weird.

So you have the aragorn guy along (which is actually pretty good character, reminds me of Jeremy from Peepshow) but was wonderinf if I played a women if I could try to sidle in there and play it Lady Macbeth style (or the blonde from BSG for the non shakespear crowd) where I can just start sexing him up and really tell him to go for the crown so it'll eventually happen and I could be queen.

If I could do that, I'd probably play through as a women next time, because that would just be awesome.

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I finally had the time to play some over the weekend. I could not honestly put it down. Played about 8 hrs straight, until sleep took over. I have been itching to get back to it ever since.

It's a shame really that I can only make time for it during the weekends.;( Still I have one more day to go. Planning on playing it all night, that is if my GF lets me.:shifty:

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Planning on playing it all night, that is if my GF lets me.

This made me think of a study i remember reading about how women feel about their loved ones gaming consoles. Which was fairly negative, but it also stated that a fair amount of them liked console gaming.

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So I've played for a few hours now. Feels very much like Baldur's Gate 3(D), with both the good and the bad. Including how I fail at boss battles a few times before finding some trickery to beat them (like running away with the character that is being attacked while other party members fire projectiles).

I love how seamless the perspective change feels, but it also made me miss what looked like a pretty cool finishing animation for a boss battle. As I saw it begin, I tried to get a zoom in more, but the camera ended up leaving the dying boss out of the view completely :(

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BTW. I'm past the first battle and so far it seemed that I couldn't make any really meaningful choices, besides deciding if a prisoner gets fed or not. Maybe it's just that the dialogue is done naturally enough that the points where a choice can be made aren't made as obvious as I'm used to from most similar games or maybe the consequences won't be apparent until later?

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Anyone else play this in windowed mode without problems? It seems to run fine here, at first, but then everything but the hud goes black and I have to restart.

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Aargh.. what the fuck is this Codex thing? When I picked up a note, instead of being readable from the inventory, I have to read it in the codex, where it is distinguished from other things by a number (231). The inventory doesn't even link to that, I will have to open the codex separately and find it (unless I click a notification at the exact time I get the item). What the fuck. This is worse than the 'man' command in Linux. A lot of things like this really make it seem that they haven't improved anything in the UI since Baldur's Gate II, but have made it worse.

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goddamn autosave. doesn't trigger when you go to another world map area. lost 1 and a half hours agh.

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It was too early to complain about choices. After that initial part, I seem to have more and more choices to make, and I find myself unable to decide because I'll piss off either party members. I played one scene 6 times to see what the different outcomes are and then reverted to my original choice.

Also got another party member and now I have to dump one. Is it better to accept party members and not use them or to not accept them in the first place?

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goddamn autosave. doesn't trigger when you go to another world map area. lost 1 and a half hours agh.

Funny, had the same damn thing happen to me today too, I even commented that what will it take for Bioware to make a functional autosave one of these years, this shit has been going on in every one of their games for almost a decade.

It'd take maybe a week for one guy to do it, come on! Or just get the LD to put triggers in and make sure they god damn it properly.

edit: Monday update: (Btw, sorry for nannering on about my damn game, in a strange city where half the population doesn't speak english, so kind of need an outlet to talk about the game, lol)

Ok, this thing has demolished my weekend, I woke up this morning and just stared at my workstation where it looked like some sort makeshift altar to the gods of sloth.... just sad.

anyway, I kind of plateaued with my dwarf; he's just destroying everything, I guess I got to a high enough level and the right team combination where nothing is challanging anymore; this is really odd because the first 4-5 levels of the party was like a damn gauntlet, I mean I abandoned a city because I couldn't help it and basically traveled around until I found place I could handle(there was a lot of running)

The warrior class has kind of gotten old for me and I'm controlling the mages in the fight now, it's kind of cool, it's become more like a commander role, where I sit back watch the fight, heal a few people and deal damage from a far, rather then the complete chaos i was doing with the warrior.

After going to the elf forest, I wouldn't mind trying to play an elf, but also a mage, but it seems when you pick mage that supercedes the racial part of the game. How many times will I have to play through this game? I'd like to try a bunch of different ones, but the game is so damn big, I'll probably only do it twice over the next ten years(as it would get repetative too much)

Edited by Murdoc

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re: the elf forest

Man that place (ruins included) is *big*. How the heck am I supposed to carry all that loot? Backtracking through empty areas to go sell stuff = no fun.

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I'm about 15hrs into the game and I just looked at the statistics. What's funny is it says I have completed only 3% of the game. That could be because I spend a lot of time reading the codex entries. I wanted to know if any of you even bother about those.

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I'm about 15hrs into the game and I just looked at the statistics. What's funny is it says I have completed only 3% of the game. That could be because I spend a lot of time reading the codex entries. I wanted to know if any of you even bother about those.

I did in mass effect, read everything, not so much in dragon age. There is literalyl a book of stuff to read when your going along and the backstory is by farmore interesting then the actual story, but ready all that stuff just bores me to death when it comes to fantasy.

I think the complet-o-meter is based on everything, like every quest/etc... because I'm pretty far(at least it feels like it) and I've done side quests here and there and it says I've completed very little.

re:elf forest. No kidding, I deleted so much and left so much crap behind I need to go back. Started a mage last night and am buying backpacks left and right.

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That could be because I spend a lot of time reading the codex entries. I wanted to know if any of you even bother about those.

I did at first, but found it all to be quite lame. I talk to my party members (and NPCs) a lot to hear their back-stories and such, but after a while, I started to find the codex entries really generic and dull. Only the ones that deal with enemies and the control ones were actually useful to me, because they give you information that is actually relevant to playing the game.

I'm not against reading by any means, I do it all the time; but, I got really sick of breaking the pace of the game to read the codex. The stuff during the origin story was pretty interesting and helped to provide context for your story but after that, it's not for me.

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omgwtf! I'm playing on casual. Why am I getting continually wiped by *plot-significant-character-name*

Flemeth

? I'm about level 12 across the board, don't have DLC Golem guy or the Dwarf but I think I have everyone else. Kind of specced badly I think, I dunno. I still feel it should be doable on the wussy difficulty level, but I'm not even getting close. Like 70% life is about the best I can do. That's 70% life remaining, not I'm able to do 70% damage.

Edited by juv3nal
Apologies, Murdoc, making spoiler more clear

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omgwtf! I'm playing on casual. Why am I getting continually wiped

Ah Crap, juv3nal, could you add a bit of a lead up to what you may be spoiling there? I read it and wished I didn't(my fault, not blaming anything here, but blocking out one word it could have been "giant rat" for all I knew.

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Ah Crap, juv3nal, could you add a bit of a lead up to what you may be spoiling there? I read it and wished I didn't(my fault, not blaming anything here, but blocking out one word it could have been "giant rat" for all I knew.

I did the same thing! I felt so stupid afterward, but yeah, I thought it was just "in case you don't want to know about this crazy upcoming creature" instead of "this is super important to the story."

This also makes me feel weird about how little I've played Dragon Age. It's the kind of game I would devote all my gaming time to normally, but, ya know: holiday season + new PS3...

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