Dragon Age Origins

[mattbarton.exe]

Hi, guys. I know this isn't really a retrogame this week, but it does have connections to older hits like Baldur's Gate and NWN. At any rate, thought you might enjoy the romantic scene in the video!

[ Show youtube player ]

[cosmicfrog]

matt is what sundays are for


happy xmas matt, Looking foward to more Vids in the new year

[gimbal]

nice review again! Amazing to see a romance scene in a game, I think this is the first one I've encountered so far :s I MUST have this game. I wonder how long I can find reasons to not run to the store... Right now it is bloody snow everywhere...

[Jonathan Drain]

You could say it goes back to Dungeons & Dragons, in which case it pre-dates the Commodore 64. Now that's retro!

[jmmijo]

Thanks for the review Matt, see you when you get back

My first toon was a Dorfie, like what my main is in Lineage ][.

I just love grinding my dwarves

[mattbarton.exe]

I don't think I'll ever thinking of "grinding" in an RPG the same way again!

Have fun.

[plankton]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Amazing to see a romance scene in a game, I think this is the first one I've encountered so far :s I MUST have this game.

In addition to that, this game allows you to... havesexwithtransgenderelvesanddwarvesinawhorehouse.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by plankton

In addition to that, this game allows you to... havesexwithtransgenderelvesanddwarvesinawhorehouse.

*runs to the store*

[TCD]

Good review Matt Will wait till I have a new PC, but then Dragon Age Origins will be one of the first ones to pick up. I still have one question that none of the reviews so far answered (or I just missed it) : How linear/sandbox like is the game?

[plankton]

It's quite linear. Even more than the original baldur's gate but this is somewhat compensated with better cause/effect relation in choices. Still, that's a weakness imo.

[TCD]

Okay, thanks for the answer If the choices have an effect on the story I appreciate it. Wasn't a too big fan of Baldur's Gate tbh. Had a great story, but the actual roleplaying i.e. choosing how the story progressed was quite limited. Will have a look anyway

[Falcon Flight]

The game's AI is utterly retarded. Remember how hard it was to kill a dragon with a party of six heroes in Baldur's Gate 2? Or what about a Demi-lich (instant imprisonment, maze, meteor swarm, gelugon summon!), Beholder (paralyzation etc.), or Mind Flayer (each hit = huge intelligence drain)?

Nothing that hardcore in this game. Don't even bother; it's trash.

[onkelarie]

I picked up DAO a few days ago for the Xbox 360. So far, I enjoy the game's dialogues. However, the world itself consists of ´maps´ you travel between and thus is very linear. This setup causes that the gameworld isn´t immersive, but a set of maps you need to walk/grind through.... I can only hope the story stays strong enough to hold my attention...

[Falcon Flight]

Baldur's Gate wasn't very linear because you could travel from map to map of your own free will, in almost any order. There were some areas you could not access until you had satisfied some plot piece, though they were rare.
Baldur's Gate 2 was linear until Chapter 2 where it branched out hugely, overwhelming many players. But after Chapter 3 the game returned to being as linear as it was in the very beginning.
DAO offers nothing but linearity.

There aren't many non linear RPGs, but most notably are Morrowind and Fallout, where, if you like, you can travel straight to the end, and even defeat the game.

[onkelarie]

Originally Posted by Falcon Flight

There aren't many non linear RPGs, but most notably are Morrowind and Fallout, where, if you like, you can travel straight to the end, and even defeat the game.

sorta off-topic: Very true... Of which Fallout 3 is the strongest of the two, despite some people saying the worlds feels very 'clinical'... IMHO it was one of the most immersive RPG worlds I ever travelled....

[TCD]

Originally Posted by onkelarie

IMHO it was one of the most immersive RPG worlds I ever travelled....

That was because of the setting, not necessarily about the density of encounters or special places to visit. I really like Fallout 3, but was a bit dissapointed that they one threw in a very few interesting places and side missions. The setting had far more potential. Same with Oblivion.

[plankton]

Oblivion feels like an engine demo, sparsely populated with bits of content. Makes me ask myself why I should bother. Sure it's non linear but also unchallenging, unrewarding and unsatisfactory. Morrowind was worse. Fallout 3 on the other hand has good moments thanks to Interplay's legacy.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by plankton

Oblivion feels like an engine demo, sparsely populated with bits of content. Makes me ask myself why I should bother. Sure it's non linear but also unchallenging, unrewarding and unsatisfactory. Morrowind was worse.

Must have played a different Morrowind then. Content wise it's in a different league than Oblivion or Fallout 3. Also it 'lacks' the auto level system of Oblivion, which might make it too easy in the later levels, but you get your a$$ handed to you if you stumble in the wrong dungeon at the start. Some will call that a feature, but I hope that sort of 'innovation' has no future. If you don't like Betheda's sandbox games that's fine, but except for the graphics Oblivion is inferior to Morrowind.

[radon_22]

Originally Posted by Falcon Flight

Don't even bother; it's trash.

Ah, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I, on the other hand, have wasted countless hours on this game and enjoyed it greatly.

It is a bit of mixture of Oblivion and Jade Empire, taken to the next level. It is a signature Bioware game: great dialogue and combat, lots of moral dilemmas and choices (much like Knights of the Old Republic), and beautiful graphics.

[Falcon Flight]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Must have played a different Morrowind then. Content wise it's in a different league than Oblivion or Fallout 3. Also it 'lacks' the auto level system of Oblivion, which might make it too easy in the later levels, but you get your a$$ handed to you if you stumble in the wrong dungeon at the start. Some will call that a feature, but I hope that sort of 'innovation' has no future. If you don't like Betheda's sandbox games that's fine, but except for the graphics Oblivion is inferior to Morrowind.

This I agree with completely. There are many fundamental problems with Oblivion that were not present in Morrowind, and I will name a few of them. It must be said that most of these issues are a result of dumbing down the game for a console audience.

First, the enemy level scaling. What is the point of levelling up your character if he or she is simply going to scale his or her enemies to the exact same level of power? To put it another way: you never find harder or easier fights in Oblivion, just the same fights with different enemies.

Second, and this goes with the first, again to please a stupider console audience. It is item scaling. What is the point of exploring a gameworld if you're only ever (apart from some Daedric quests) going to find garbage? Gone is the excitement of entering an unknown dungeon and not knowing what's gonna be there. You know you'll find so much crap at low levels, and unbeliebably powerful weapons at higher ones. And it doesn't matter that you're now wearing elven or Daedric armor: your enemies, even if they're lowly bandits, are as well.

Third, is a massive dumbing down of weapons and skills. No more assassin weapons, not even crossbows. No more spears. Oh, and no more axes: you see, they're lumped under "blunt weapons", like short blade and long blade are just "blade".

Forth, an utterly abhorrent GUI. Remember how in Morrowind you could right-click to bring up the inventory/map/stats and then drag around the windows, resize them, pin them etc.? Well, Oblivion was made for consoles that don't have a mouse, so you had to press tab and scroll down. A horrible inventory system, much like KOTOR's (another terrible Bioware game like Jade Empire and Mass Effect.) It seems ever since NWN, Bioware has had problems with fundamental things such as STACKING items in inventories.

Anyway, back to my Oblivion/Morrowind rant for one more.

Fifth and last, the guilds in Oblivion are all inclusive. That is, you can be a kind of warrior but that won't stop you rising through the ranks of every guild. Big, slow, strong, dumb Orc? You're a nimble assassin who can rise through the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guilds, and the Mages Guild.

These five things made me go completely cross-eyed when I saw their implementation. As you can imagine, I could name literally hundreds more stupid design decisions in Oblivion that carried over to Fallout 3, which, though a much better game than Oblivion, is appalling compared to the two first Fallouts in following the premise of that franschise.