Why can't I love Dragon Age?

[tme]

Hi,

I've been roleplaying for a good 15 years. I do the pen&paper kind, and almost no digitized version escapes my grasp. I started out with Fate: Gates of Dawn on the Amiga, continued with the Ishar series on the PC, Eye of the Beholder, Ultima Underworld, some MMOs, and of course, everything from Bioware. The way some fan boys and girls think of Blizzard, I think of Bioware. They have never disappointed, and I adored even their more unconventional titles (read: Jade Empire). And I'm madly in love with every Commander Shepard I ever created and led over both games.

When DA:O came out, it was mine quickly. The Collectors Edition looks lovely, and the first playthrough was done quickly. However, in spite of it being an really good game, now facing the second playthrough, I'm almost bored to death. And I really don't know why. I even bought all the goodies (DLC) and the addon (DA:A). So there's content I don't know yet.

So why can't I adore this game? This really puzzles me, and I've thought about that. It's a great game in almost every aspect. The game world is original (although a bit too Tolkien for my taste), the characters are fun (some more than others, wink wink) and interesting to talk to. There's levelling, classes, good dialog, gorgeous voice acting, everything you need. So why is this game so boring to me?

Mass Effect was the first game ever that I, immediately after finishing it, I wanted to start again. This never happened. I was blown away. I adored every minute of my female Shepards fight against Sovereign and (later) the Collectors. I cried with her, i sighted with her, I cursed at betrayal with her, and I triumphed with her. So why can't I do this with my DA:O character?

One of the reasons I came up with is voice acting. Every talk in DA:O is practically a monolog, and this makes it boring. I am not enthralled by the contents of the discussion, because I do not partake in it. I do not say a single word. This seems to be an even bigger problem when comparing it directly to the insanely great job that Jennifer Hale did voicing female Shepard in ME(2). I find myself bored in *the* plot device, talk. That shouldn't happen.

Another reason that could be problematic that with my advanced age, I have seen my fair share of fantasy worlds. And most of them show the same boring, tolkinien pillars: Elves are nature-loving bow-users, Humans can do everything but excel at nothing, Dwarves live underground, drink beer, dig, and make good smiths. Bah. The fantasy genre is in dire need of being kicked in the balls for every game that still employs this formula.

But that's about all the arguments I could come up with. And I'm asking you: Is there anyone of you that sees him- or herself in these arguments and can shed some light on this issue? Andbody that really really like RPGs but cannot get into DA?

Thank you for reading and best wishes,

Thomas

 

[Flishiz]

I felt the same way about it. I think the problem stems from the fact that it's the best of everything we've ever seen before. There is almost nothing that is distinctly original about the game, and much of it feels like going through the (incredibly perfected) motions, no matter how you spin it. I'm disappointed as well, I wish I could love dragon age more.

 

[Estocavio]

Its predictable, and no matter what you do, it changes nothing more than the extradition that leads to the same linear series of events.

And they sound like theyre all reading from one big book of stereotypes


Done get me wrong, it wasnt a Bad game, but i just couldnt enjoy it.

 

[KEM10]

I have the same problem. I started 5 characters trying to feel out what I would enjoy playing the most in what team, and I only finished with one. Since then I picked it up once to see what I did with the tech tree on a different character and nothing else. I also have DA:A and I just can't bring myself to start it.

I also agree with the generic Tolkien world (even though the dwarves aren't Scottish and that angered people) so you kind of know what is going to happen without it being said.

In DA2 they will have it be more like a fantasy Mass Effect when it comes to dialog. Hopefully that will help.

 

[veloper]

The encounters aren't interesting enough. Combat is still the meat of any CRPG.

It doesn't help that item progression was boring and new weapons and armor rarely had any interesting stats other than slightly bigger numbers to begin with. No immune to X or flameshield Y items.

The result is that there's not enough variables to mess around with in and before combat.

The basic idea of taking WOW-like mechanics and giving the player full party control was good enough, but it lacks the chunky feel (kinda like buttons to push, where everything you do should make a big difference).

 

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

I heard they will be implementing main character voice acting in DA2, because there will only be 2 player characters. And I kinda find it hard to pick DAO back up even though I loved it to death. The same way I have trouble picking KOTOR back up. Maybe its because I dont want to do all the work to see the differences in the ending? Thats my geuss

 

[Woodsey]

For someone who's a bit of an old-school RPGer I'm surprised one of your main complaints is a silent protagonist.

As for the genericy of the plot, I would say that it is on the surface but there's a fascinating amount of nuance if you get past the intro and into the thick of it, and don't simply write everything off as being the same old Dwarves, Elves and Humans.

 

[ecoho]

ok i love the game but i know exactly what you mean by the game being a bit boring at parts (the fade dear god the fade) but i think the only thing that the game would need to make it better is voice acting for the player.

 

[Flishiz]

For someone who's a bit of an old-school RPGer I'm surprised one of your main complaints is a silent protagonist.

As for the genericy of the plot, I would say that it is on the surface but there's a fascinating amount of nuance if you get past the intro and into the thick of it, and don't simply write everything off as being the same old Dwarves, Elves and Humans.

While I do agree quite *technically* about your point in regard to the expansive history the writers attributed to the game, the problem that remains is the origin, that being the typical fantasy world. Case in point: A boat can be made out of many things: fiberglass, wood, steel (my university built a concrete kayak just last year), but it's still a boat, it still has the same principles of physics and buoyancy applying to it, and if you're damn sick of water travel being on boats (say you fancy a submarine or a pontoon-equipped biplane), then any boat, good as it may be, will still get on your nerves.

 

[loc978]

Felt the same way... Dragon Age was engaging... for one playthrough. Generic Fantasy RPG #55,297, albeit with great writers behind it.

 

[MassiveGeek]

Well, the things that bug me the most in DA:O are these;

1. You can only marry Alistair if you're a human, female noble, which I think sucks, and while I can understand it, it just annoys me as I don't see why my awesome Arcane Warrior elf couldn't be an excellent queen.
2. If you're as talktastic as me, you'll run out of interesting things to talk to the characters about fairly quickly. Towards the last few quests, I've absolutely nothing to talk to them about, which makes no sesne to me. As we near the end of our journey, shouldn't they be bursting with "what will happen now/afterwards", "what ifs" and "how the fucks"?
3. Very classic. Almost too much so. As you, and others, say it's very Tolkien-ish and has this attitude that it either doesn't realise it, or doesn't care.
EDIT; 4. All the morally grey. Seriously, while I don't particularly like the massive line between "goodness" and "evil" in some games, there's sometimes areas that leave me really unsatisfied with whatever choice I make.

All I have right now, but that said, I really do love the game. Although I can only really appreciate playing as a human noble, since they have the most opportunities towards the end. I don't want my character too, after all she's done, be forced to slip quietly into the shadows after the great battle. If anyone deserves the crown, it's my character. >_> *Selfish-******

 

[Admiral Stukov]

Well it wold seem like Bioware are trying to fix some of the problems DO:A had, with overhauled combat, voiced main character and an overhauled artstyle (IE Qunari have horns, instead of just beeing a bit larger than normal humans for example).

But yeah I know what you meen, I had the same issue with DA:O when I played it, fun the first time, not so much the following.

 

[Lawnmooer]

I liked the game on my first playthrough, but disliked it on other playthroughs...

I found that the fact that my character never actually said anything (And alot of the replies were quite long, so after a few conversations it felt like I had been reading 5 books at once) caused me to get tired of the talking to people.

The main problem was the combat for me, mage characters didn't really get too many actual attacks (I wanted a few dark damage spells... not to use fire/ice and arcane bolt...) warriors and rogues could become the best they could from getting the +attack speed and auto-attacking with bland weapons (Sure you could enchant them... so they do more damage per hit and glow...)

 

[tme]

For someone who's a bit of an old-school RPGer I'm surprised one of your main complaints is a silent protagonist.

Well, my complaint is a silent protagonist while everybody else spills their guts.

Thank you guys, you make good arguments. The combat seems uninvolving, even compared to games with similar combat, like Baldur's Gate (2). Also, I do not seem to connect to my character in any way. And thinking of items, you're right. No item seems to have a significant impact on how the combat is going - just on how quick is the lifebar dropping, and there are no significant changes there.

Also, come to think of it, playing a blood mage seemed very much like playing a normal mage, as you are using the exact same spells, save for 3. It's not such a difference, not the way everyone is making bloodmages out to be.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with DA.

Thomas

 

[aradin24]

I would reply, but I find myself bored by the monologue of the original post. That shouldn't happen.

 

[CoL0sS]

It happened to me with a lot of games, especially recently. I get bored with most of them. Granted it happens bit further down the road in RPGs, for example it took 150+ hrs of gameplay and one awful expansion pack to make Dragon Age boring, but with Mass Effect 1 & 2 it happened after a single playthrough. Maybe I've just played through a lot of RPGs, cause I don't think I'm too old (hell I can barely be considered an adult), or maybe I'm becoming more of a casual gamer (which frankly scares the crap outta me)

 

[john_alexander]

The game is excellently written; the characters are all complex, the setting is deep...

And also generic as fuck. Despite being well-written and well-plotted, both the setting and the characters within are stale and generic. Add this to the re-used Bioware trope characters (Alistair, Sten, Shale and Morrigan are in almost every game to varying degree's, which usually isn't a problem. Except in DO:A) and you have a recipe for boring. The game never surprises.