Dragon Age: Quick Question

[headshotcatcher]

Is it like the old d20 games? Like Baldur's gate where you choose your class and can multiclass? Where you choose your alignment and whatnot?

Just wondering (and please don't tell me to google it)

 

[Lyri]

Sort of, you can't brach out as widely as you could in other games.
It's more like prestige classes from NwN, something to strengthen your current choice of skills.

You dont worry about moral choices really, just how much your party likes you.

 

[Rensenhito]

Well, in short, no.

There's Warrior, Mage, and Rogue, and not a terrible amount of wiggle-room there, although Warrior and Rogue do share the Dual-Weapon talent tree and Mages can specialize as an Arcane Warrior if they so wish.

 

[Wolvaroo]

Not d20. It's not a terrible system by any means but I can definately see where it's been "toned down". The most glaring difference I noticed coming from a d20 backround was how absurdly accurate I was while dual-wielding with only the first tier talent for it. Classes are pretty stiff and the talents are quite crap.

EDIT: I feel I should distinct between the talents as in herbalism, survival, stealing, ect and not what I would more accurately describe as "abilities" being your actual combat skills, which are decent enough.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dragon+Age+Origins+Gameplay

 

[Nincompoop]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dragon+Age+Origins+Gameplay

Dude! That was so awesome! xP... I gotta check that website out LMAO!

 

[headshotcatcher]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dragon+Age+Origins+Gameplay

Haha I applaud you because you are such a friendly guy and especially very funny. Your ability to disregard common decency and the fact that you wanted to display your huge intellect really made my heart warm.
Your many friends OUTSIDE OF THE INTERNET probably concur
To all others, thanks, do you still recommend it to me? Despite the small amount of customization?
And are there any recent games which did employ the d20 stuff? I tried the older games (like Icewind Dale) but they just failed to hold my attention, sadly because the system did appeal to me..

 

[Wolvaroo]

I certainly got my $50 worth of DA:O and would recomend it. But if you're looking for something more akin to D&D and Baulder's gate and icewind dale didn't do it for you this may not either.

I don't think there has been a AAA d20 videogame for some time unfortunately. I imagine the licensing to use it is a pain.

EDIT: Starwars: Knights of the Old Republic is an older Bioware RPG that was d20 oriented. Only $10 on steam, and also a great game. But I don't think anything will be closer to a game of D&D (or other tabletop rpg) as IWD/BG/PS:T

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dragon+Age+Origins+Gameplay

Haha I applaud you because you are such a friendly guy and especially very funny. Your ability to disregard common decency and the fact that you wanted to display your huge intellect really made my heart warm.

Don't forget awesome and god-like! I'm also awesome and god-like.

Anyway, its not like I told you to google it! I was just providing a link, not my fault it googled it for you.

 

[Lyri]

To all others, thanks, do you still recommend it to me? Despite the small amount of customization?
And are there any recent games which did employ the d20 stuff? I tried the older games (like Icewind Dale) but they just failed to hold my attention, sadly because the system did appeal to me..

Sadly I don't recommend it.
I find there are too many balance issues, it's not something I normally gripe about or even notice when playing single player games.
However in DA:O's case, I found that gameplay changes drastically depending on your class. Mages are Biowares baby in this game, frankly you could solo nightmare mode by level 4 with proper selection of spells.
Melee classes you find just constantly suck potions until you can get a mage to heal for you.

It really destroyed the game for me.

 

[swytchblayd]

EDIT: Well, that was a fuckup :\ (scoots the PREVIEW button further away from POST)

To all others, thanks, do you still recommend it to me? Despite the small amount of customization?
And are there any recent games which did employ the d20 stuff? I tried the older games (like Icewind Dale) but they just failed to hold my attention, sadly because the system did appeal to me..

I would. And outside of the character classes, the amount of sheer stuff within DA:O is nearly absurd. Reading the huge amounts of lore alone will probably consume a few days of your life. And the characters do feel more alive than those in other RPGs, what with their constant bickering in the background, and (especially with a few of them) their reactions to the player.

I myself had no issues with the combat, aside from the fact that it's brutally vicious and can screw over a player faster than a fifty-cent whore, even if they're really, really careful. Seriously, you can die in the introduction before even getting a chance to save, depending upon who you start with. Once you can see beyond the difficulty curve, it's a great game all around.

 

[headshotcatcher]

To all others, thanks, do you still recommend it to me? Despite the small amount of customization?
And are there any recent games which did employ the d20 stuff? I tried the older games (like Icewind Dale) but they just failed to hold my attention, sadly because the system did appeal to me..

Sadly I don't recommend it.
I find there are too many balance issues, it's not something I normally gripe about or even notice when playing single player games.
However in DA:O's case, I found that gameplay changes drastically depending on your class. Mages are Biowares baby in this game, frankly you could solo nightmare mode by level 4 with proper selection of spells.
Melee classes you find just constantly suck potions until you can get a mage to heal for you.

It really destroyed the game for me.

Wasn't planning on playing either Mage or Melee class anyway I want to be a ranger so I guess that's a rogue. Too bad there aren't many new (known) games which employ the older system, it allows for really personal classes..

 

[WhiteRat07]

If you like RPGs ay all i say try it. I play D&D all the time and found it to be a nice distraction from my normal gaming.

 

[Wolvaroo]

Though each of those "specializations" is a mere 4 more abilities. nothing quite like what you could do with that huge list of talents and feats.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I liked the system in DA:O. ITs simple, but effective. And allows wiggle room.

 

[Wolvaroo]

My largest problem was aside from being a mage, there was absolutely no reason to pour your talents into anything but your chosen tree. as a warrior you couldn't use any abilities from the two-hander tree with any other weapon and vice-versa. As a rogue you're either ranged or not, splitting your points up wouldn't get you far. The only wiggling for non mages is your specializations, which are all pretty bland and sometimes I don't even put my points into them because the core skills are most often better.

...Maybe I'm just greedy from starting off with AD&D 2.5 player's options. I remember spending hours creating a new character that was always completely unique.

 

[swytchblayd]

(Edited last post... pardon that bit of weirdness :\ )

 

[headshotcatcher]

My largest problem was aside from being a mage, there was absolutely no reason to pour your talents into anything but your chosen tree. as a warrior you couldn't use any abilities from the two-hander tree with any other weapon and vice-versa. As a rogue you're either ranged or not, splitting your points up wouldn't get you far. The only wiggling for non mages is your specializations, which are all pretty bland and sometimes I don't even put my points into them because the core skills are most often better.

...Maybe I'm just greedy from starting off with D&D 2.5 player's options. I remember spending hours creating a new character that was always completely unique.

Oh too bad

And yeah, I spent like 3 hours getting my Icewind Dale Party xD Even worse because I didn't get hooked on the game

 

[xXErasmusXx]

I would say that the system has been dumbed down quite a bit. I personally thought that there were an absurdly small number of feats/skills/etc. The 3 classes were pretty distinct, and there was not very much crossover in skills/abilities. Mass Effect actually had more blended classes in my opinion.

It's a fun game, but when it comes down to it, Oblivion has better customization/personalization of an RPG character.

(I use other games as comparisons in order to make my post more understandable, but they may not be better games overall.)

 

[Jamienra]

All i can tell you is that it's VERY good