Dragon Age: Origins Comments by Jon Blyth

Looking through the screenshots I see a lot of cinematic stuff and only 2 screenshots that shows the GOODNESS (top down camera with characters encircled by red or yellow).

Jon, shouldn't you be in bed by now?

:D

EDIT: That goes for you too disc :)

Cannot sleep when there are dragons about.

EG needs more Log.

Is swippiness a real word? Anyway, I see no reason in this hands on or anywhere else that this won't be anything but excellent.

Whoa! I was just thinking that I needed a new Baldur's gate =D Looking epic.
End of 09? Sad Panda Capn.

So it looks good.

VALKERYIE SHOT THE FOOD

Standard BioWare PC/console RPG blockbuster, vol. 4

The opposite of umbrella is showerhead.

Sounds very interesting but looks pretty dull for some reason. Also, I wouldn't worry about the interface for the console versions - Bioware seem to know what they are doing in that regard.

Hate to say it, but this is a terribly written article.

This preview seems somewhere between "pessimistic" and "cautiously optimistic", which is not usual for a preview. It's certainly doesn't make me feel enthusiastic.

By the way, wasn't this supposed to be a PC exclusive? What's all the console talk?

It's not exclusive any more, confirmed to be coming for Xbox 360 and PS3 as well. They haven't detailed what changes those versions will receive or if the game will be delayed because of those 'ports' (the game was recently delayed).

Dragon Age: Attack of the Killer Cliches.

Can someone please do a fantasy game that doesn't rely on tedious Capitalisation Of Scary Things - it's worse than cod sci fi adding meaningless apostrophes to make things sound Al'I'en. God, every sentence of description in this article screamed generic sub Tolkien dwarf-em-up. Especially when read in the afterglow of reminiscing about BG&E, which was a genuinely fresh setting. Dragon Age makes Gears look like a positively radical storytelling departure.

Is that a random rant or does it have any to do with the article and the game? I can't tell.

Why is it ALWAYS an 'Ancient Evil'?

Kids today have no drive any more.

They haven't detailed what changes those versions will receive or if the game will be delayed because of those 'ports' (the game was recently delayed)

I'm sure they said last week that the PC version has been delayed so it can be marketed together with the console versions.

What's with all the MMO lingo in the article - "aggro", "tank", "debuff"...? Also, SKU != platform.

But nitpicking aside, I'm somewhat optimistic about the game. A fresh non-D&D setting could be nice. Tapping on clichés and generics is almost inevitable when in fantasy territory, so that's not necessarily a negative point for me...

I do dislike what they've done to death in combat. If someone gets defeated, s/he shouldn't be "knocked down", just to get merrily up with nary a scratch 10 seconds later. It should mean real grisly death for the character - after all, the enemies die, too. It adds challenge and consequence, and a feeling of danger and realism, which is a good thing in an RPG. And before you counter with "It's pointless, people will just reload" - it worked well enough in Baldur's Gate.

I hope that the game will be challenging enough. NWN2 was so easy, it got boring. A common phenomenon with modern RPGs...

It has elves and mages! How is it not high fantasy?

"I'm sure they said last week that the PC version has been delayed so it can be marketed together with the console versions."

I'm fairly certain they said that was "part of the reason". Of course, if they'd said the delay had nothing to do with a simultaneous release, nobody would've believed them (and for good reason).

Even though Mass Effect and Jade Empire worked okay on PC, the actual games themselves were lacking far too much depth and content to challenge other PC RPGs. I was hoping this game would be a return to form for Bio-Ware since Mass Effect struggled to be anything above fairly good, but as soon as Dragon Age was announced for consoles I died a little inside.

@Mr_Dodger

"Why is it ALWAYS an 'Ancient Evil'?"

Because Bioware always make the same game.

I love Bioware and everything they do. This preview was based on a limited experience of the game, so it's not surprising that there's a cautious tone. Personally, I'm going to trust that Bioware know what they're doing, as always.

I would like to support a game which takes PC as lead platform, but sadly this game seems so old fashioned (in a bad way) that I have no interest in it.

Generic medieval fantasy world & story? Check
Thinly disguised auto-attack dice roll based combat? Check
Uninspired missions & grinding to level up? Most likely

Do not want I'm afraid.

I watched the gameplay videos on Gametrailers and it doesn't look promising. But then again, I'm so starved for a RPG that I'll keep an eye out nonetheless.

Thinly disguised auto-attack dice roll based combat? Check


Let's not argue your other points right now (I don't think we have enough information about that, although I admittedly don't mind the generic fantasy* if the game's good), but I am a little bit at a loss why the stat-based combat is a negative point in your book?

*should add I am more afraid of Bioware's not so stellar writing, awkward character introductions (er, we just met, no need to deliver a monologue about your biography, thanks) and amount of camera-controlling I am afraid will be mandatory

Can't wait for Generic Age.

Hopefully they continue to make it bigger.

Oooh can you feel the mature grittiness? ooh!

Im more afraid of Bioware in story terms too. They can do RPG mechanics and gameplay fine but story not so much. Baldurs Gate 2 compared to Planescape torment.

But then again for me western rpg's still havent recovered in story/ world terms from the loss of Black Isle.

But then again in my ideal world Black Isle is recreated to be the overlord of Bioware. Black Isle creates the stories and Bioware does implementation and we finally get the game that Arcanum could have been.

(A guy can dream, alright) (And troika was made from ex black isle members)

Also including sex/ grittiness in a game does not make it immature or mature its how its handled.

You do realise PS:T was Black Isle's only saving grace in terms of story writing? Icewind Dale I and II and even F2 were bollocks in that department. BGII had a decent main story (if we cancel out the Imoen stuff), not as good as PS:T's, but then again it were the many, brilliantly worked out and well-written subquests that made BGII stood out. If Bioware can equal that then I am happy because their post-BGII works were extremely lacklustre if you like decent partybased RPG's.

Black Isle didn't even exist when Fallout came out and when Tim Cain and co left Interplay shortly afterwards to start Troika.

Your character - one of six races

There are three races available for the PC, six origin stories.

I wonder if this "mature" stuff will mean they don't stick a "Hello Stranger, I wonder if you could give me advice about my unborn child. You see my husband is dead..." side quest in, or a chick who wants to drop her knickers for you 10 minutes after you meet.

The world Bioware has created looks great, the graphics look good, the cut-scenes look fantastic and then you get to the circa 1999 gameplay..........wtf? I suppose it will appeal to some people but I moved on a long time ago from Baldurs Gate gameplay.

Interesting. Looks to me like they've done a sharp 90' turn and are following a design brief more similar to the Witcher, than Bioware's standard. That's probably a good thing.

Now if only they could at some point move away from the good/evil dichotomy, we might see actual progress.

then you get to the circa 1999 gameplay..........wtf? I suppose it will appeal to some people but I moved on a long time ago from Baldurs Gate gameplay.

You mean (more or less) turn-based, tactical combat? Nothing "dated" about that. It's certainly not more or less dated than Mass Effect's 1993 Doom gameplay (as far as the combat is concerned).

Fair enough but it just doesn't appeal to me anymore - bright circles on the floor around characters. Give me Mass Effect or Oblivions combat any day. This one isn't for me.

Well, yeah. They specifically stated from day 1 that this was a game for people who enjoy more tactical, party-based combat systems, so I am a little bit surprised about your, er, surprise.

I was surprised to be honest. When I heard that Bioware were doing a fantasy game I thought great (because I love Bioware), I thought Elder Scrolls would at last get some competition in the fantasy department, and who better than Bioware to privide it? But looking at the gameplay it's more or less the same as Baldur's Gate. I won't say anything more about the game because it doesn't appeal to me but hopefully it will be exactly what the traditional fans want.

What is annoying is that Bioware said there could never be a game with the scope and size of BG2.

Which I think is complete nonsense if they weren't so keen on having next-gen graphics up their arses. Just because all this new tech is available doesn't mean they have to always use. It is possible to make a good looking game with things that don't need 1gig memory graphic cards. Maybe use that spare power on AI, a world with greater interactivity and autonomy, etc.

I thought Elder Scrolls would at last get some competition in the fantasy department

@polaris: I find that a little strange - you seem to favour a kind of RPG style that has been a lot more prevalent recently. The ES series has had lots of competition - the Gothic series, for example (games I rate significantly higher than any ES game). If aynthing, it's strange that it's Baldur's Gate 2 which hasn't had competition in 10 years.

because it doesn't appeal to me but hopefully it will be exactly what the traditional fans want.

One is as traditional as the other. Heck, you could argue that Oblivion is still the same as the roguelikes, with prettier graphcis. I still think you're confusing "en vogue at the moment because it's a little more casual" with "modern".

What is annoying is that Bioware said there could never be a game with the scope and size of BG2.

Which I think is complete nonsense if they weren't so keen on having next-gen graphics up their arses.

Well, and voice-acting, and whatnot. Though "they" are gamers more than Bioware. But I'd argue that Oblivion or Fallout 3, or even The Witcher, to a degree, aren't that much smaller, really.

Both her knockers virtually out you say? OK you have my attention. /finger steeple

Somehow I'm afraid BW are shooting themeslves in the knee with trying to please the vocal "nostalgia" and regular gamers at the same time. I just can't shake the feeling there's something wrong with this game, though I can't put my finger on anything specific.

On another note, I think that it looks so terribly, terribly generic because bar the dev commentary vid some time ago, we haven't seen any "action" in the game world, and after all it's the small things that happen during gameplay that build atmosphere. My biggest wish about this game is that BW actually does some noticable evolution on their storytelling templates this time around.

"Also, I wouldn't worry about the interface for the console versions - Bioware seem to know what they are doing in that regard."

Heh, Mass Effect's inventory says, hi!

Oh bugger, you may have a point:(

Well, and voice-acting, and whatnot. Though "they" are gamers more than Bioware. But I'd argue that Oblivion or Fallout 3, or even The Witcher, to a degree, aren't that much smaller, really.

The price of Oblivion's size is a static game world which almost diminishes having it so big. It doesn't have to necessarily be purely procedural in its dynamicism - SR2 manages to give the great perception of activity. BG games aren't known for their dynamic worlds but recently the games seemed to end up with very little in things to do. Mass Effect's exploration was ultimately copy-paste planets.

Now consider this, I read in the Gamespy article that you'll be raising an army in Generic Age. Not your party group, an actually army. How big will this army be? What exactly will Bioware's concept of army warfare be - if there is to be atleast one? Will we have our party fight amongst hundreds of npcs locked in combat?

@ Karstux

I get where you are coming from, death needs to be re-introduced and challenges must be clear!

however:

''I hope that the game will be challenging enough. NWN2 was so easy, it got boring. A common phenomenon with modern RPGs... ''

I assume you killed the many X-named black dragon at the entrance of the Yuan-ti temple on insane difficulty then? Or did you just wince, chicken out from the days of trying it would take you and ran for the portal?

BTW Bioware hasn't been the same since Atari came around and axed the creativity. If BG3 were made today, it would be complete and utter crap. I hope they never get their consoley fingers on my dear planescape *shudders at fallout3*.

I am pretty excited about this game, it has been so long since there has been a proper CRPG on an epic scale. The last I played was NWN2 and it just left something to be desired, though I have heard The Witcher is pretty amazing. The battles look pretty similar to BG2 which is great since I loved that style, a lot of strategy involved, lots of dying in unexpected battles. Always a lot of fun! I'm glad for the setting too, though it is a fairly well traversed area with elves, dwarves, and the orcs.. erm, darkspawn. Really, it all comes down to the storyline anyway, even if they somehow managed to revolutionize the setting. I think the thing I'm mostly excited about is the moral ambiguity of the decisions, there's no dialogue options like:

1. Murder the kid
2. Murder the kids parents
3. Steal from the kid
4. Give the kid gold and save him from certain death

I like decisions that force you to think about what you would do without necessarily knowing the direct moral outcome of something. I'd like some options that seem like "good" options really turn out some horrible consequences. Would be cool.