Well, I think I've almost completed this game. I'll post where I'm at for people who've completed it and are reading this in a retrospective sort of way.
So yeah, I should go on the record as saying I don't really like RPGs. Western ones in particular. I mean, they're all fair enough, and I do like the strategy in some turn based games, but the storytelling is always long winded, the characters and setting is always cliché and the combat is either daft or boring.
I think I'd be right in saying, that Bioware saw the characters and setting clihcés, thought "there's our target market" and plowed through it at full pelt. Fair enough, if that's what people expect. You can be either a human, who are painted as arrogant, slave-trading dicks, an elf, who are tall, big eared and are either downtrodden or at one with natureand all carry bows, or you can be a short, fat dwarf who like drinking ale and fighting. Then you can pick to be either a mage, rouge or warrior. As for the story... basically, some trouble brews and Duncan recruits you to the Grey Wardens to save the country from evil dudes. The shit hits the fan and it's up to you and your comrade Alistair to save the day. You can gain new party members if you like. Or you can kill them all if you want. It doesn't really effect anything, as long as you have a party of 4 at least. You probably need a mage and should probably teach them cure though.
The combat is both entirely normal and entirely weird. You right click what you want dead and bob's your firkin. But then, as you level up, you can pick and chose different abilities and set the characters to use them when certain parameters are met while you go off and watch Veronica Mars or something. I tried doing that exact thing and died so maybe not. But you know what it reminded me of? An MMO. I mean, you put on your gear, pick a weapon, right click the target then chose when to use special abilities. It's how any MMO I've played has worked. What does that mean? Is it good or bad? Neither really. It's pretty standard.
A lot has been drummed up about the length of this game, but... most of that is optional side quests that feel kind of silly. I mean, the whole of the story is based around this upcoming war and we must hurry because we don't know when it will start. Then you're expected to go out of your way to kill some random bandits or collect some items from dead stuff? I mean, that's not really a problem, it just felt a bit unnatural to me. I think my actually playtime of the game, from start to finish, has been in the region of 40 hours. I have a habit of rushing through these sorts of games, but I've played some that have gone on for 80+ hours in what was a fast play through.
So then, what of the game as a whole? It's a very strange experience. I mean, if you were to take a battle out of context, it wouldn't feel like a fun game. But if you have a long sit down to play it, you won't be able to stop. The game is strung along by a sense of urgency that makes you want to "just do the next section". Either way, I certainly enjoyed it. Should you buy it? I would say if you have enough time to give the game a proper thrashing, I would definately pick it up. If not, you'll find it very hard to have enough time to play that while also working, eating, having friends etc.
Hmm. Not one of my best reviews. Not really planned it out, it just fell out of my mouth. Fair enough, I never plan out any of these but meh. Constructive feedback, comments on the game and disagreements on my points are welcome.
OH SHIT WAIT.
PS: Sex. After the whole controversy with Mass Effect and it's second of arse, Dragon Age went out of its way to make it possible for your character to get loved up at every turn, even to the point where there is a brothel. Actually, it's integral to the plot. Without giving too much away, you can, as they say, bang (or force a male character) to bang another character which will wildly influence the ending and how easy you find the last level. But I've heard no controversy over this one... maybe because Dragon Age is an 18 and Mass Effect was an 18, but weren't they both rated M in America? Who knows.
I'm in the main city place and there's a dragon fucking shit up. Darkspawn falling like dominoes because my party is awesome. The random dude who said he was going land the final blow on the dragon died but Morrigan fucked Alistair so apparently it's all going to be cool.
So yeah, I should go on the record as saying I don't really like RPGs. Western ones in particular. I mean, they're all fair enough, and I do like the strategy in some turn based games, but the storytelling is always long winded, the characters and setting is always cliché and the combat is either daft or boring.
I think I'd be right in saying, that Bioware saw the characters and setting clihcés, thought "there's our target market" and plowed through it at full pelt. Fair enough, if that's what people expect. You can be either a human, who are painted as arrogant, slave-trading dicks, an elf, who are tall, big eared and are either downtrodden or at one with natureand all carry bows, or you can be a short, fat dwarf who like drinking ale and fighting. Then you can pick to be either a mage, rouge or warrior. As for the story... basically, some trouble brews and Duncan recruits you to the Grey Wardens to save the country from evil dudes. The shit hits the fan and it's up to you and your comrade Alistair to save the day. You can gain new party members if you like. Or you can kill them all if you want. It doesn't really effect anything, as long as you have a party of 4 at least. You probably need a mage and should probably teach them cure though.
The combat is both entirely normal and entirely weird. You right click what you want dead and bob's your firkin. But then, as you level up, you can pick and chose different abilities and set the characters to use them when certain parameters are met while you go off and watch Veronica Mars or something. I tried doing that exact thing and died so maybe not. But you know what it reminded me of? An MMO. I mean, you put on your gear, pick a weapon, right click the target then chose when to use special abilities. It's how any MMO I've played has worked. What does that mean? Is it good or bad? Neither really. It's pretty standard.
A lot has been drummed up about the length of this game, but... most of that is optional side quests that feel kind of silly. I mean, the whole of the story is based around this upcoming war and we must hurry because we don't know when it will start. Then you're expected to go out of your way to kill some random bandits or collect some items from dead stuff? I mean, that's not really a problem, it just felt a bit unnatural to me. I think my actually playtime of the game, from start to finish, has been in the region of 40 hours. I have a habit of rushing through these sorts of games, but I've played some that have gone on for 80+ hours in what was a fast play through.
So then, what of the game as a whole? It's a very strange experience. I mean, if you were to take a battle out of context, it wouldn't feel like a fun game. But if you have a long sit down to play it, you won't be able to stop. The game is strung along by a sense of urgency that makes you want to "just do the next section". Either way, I certainly enjoyed it. Should you buy it? I would say if you have enough time to give the game a proper thrashing, I would definately pick it up. If not, you'll find it very hard to have enough time to play that while also working, eating, having friends etc.
Hmm. Not one of my best reviews. Not really planned it out, it just fell out of my mouth. Fair enough, I never plan out any of these but meh. Constructive feedback, comments on the game and disagreements on my points are welcome.
OH SHIT WAIT.
PS: Sex. After the whole controversy with Mass Effect and it's second of arse, Dragon Age went out of its way to make it possible for your character to get loved up at every turn, even to the point where there is a brothel. Actually, it's integral to the plot. Without giving too much away, you can, as they say, bang (or force a male character) to bang another character which will wildly influence the ending and how easy you find the last level. But I've heard no controversy over this one... maybe because Dragon Age is an 18 and Mass Effect was an 18, but weren't they both rated M in America? Who knows.
