Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age: Origins

[Nomanslander]

So it's a B-rated Tolkien copy/paste adventure huh....??

Yeah, as good as the game might be I'm also getting pretty tried of seeing the same old story same old.

And a bit annoyed too...=/

 

[copycatalyst]

This video mirrors my sentiment. It's a well made game, and I'm enjoying the tactical side of frantic melee combat, but the setting and story are so tired and worn out. I was even hoping the music would be like the hard rock in trailers, just for variety's sake.

 

[Dirty Apple]

The "stop credits so I could berate the Stonking Great Game Contest winner" thing was hilarious.

But something struck me during the review: load up on quests, do all of them at once, go to dungeon, kill monsters, steal their stuff, turn in quests, rinse and repeat, that sounds remarkably like World of Warcraft, doesn't it?

Generalized like that maybe, but not really, mostly every quest is intricate to the story, and mostly all of them come with cutscenes and dialogue, as opposed to wow quests which are boring and no one reads.

I definitely agree with you Zing89, but I don't think you took it far enough. This is the second time in as many weeks where I've seen someone compare DA:O to WoW. People, this comparison is flawed. I completely agree that DA:O doesn't bring anything new to the fantasy genre, but neither did WoW. Implying that WoW is some kind of originator is way off. It's just the most sucessful regurgitator.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

I don't know what to make of it. Still, he's being a bit unfair: Dragon Age has surprised me because of the lack of times it gives the usual "Good", "Bad" and "Dicksh" options in talking unless you're considering in the point of view of getting influence points from your companions. I was actually delighted that, as a mage, I could say "Fuck it" in the background and stand by my friend, while in the end of it I could put all the blame on the fucking (nazis) templars, while if you're partial towards the chantry or just more stern siding with the templars seems like the good choice there. It was a nice touch that this gave me some options afterwards.

Other thing is that this game did tweak the stereotypes quite a bit, so that's not fair either. Dwarves aren't exactly noble, and they don't all have obligatory beards (a dwarf with a 9 o'clock shadow is pretty nice) while being more concerned with politics than battle. And elves are the pariahs of society, homeless, and even the ones trying to recover their glory comes off as pathetic or hopeless. Haven't seem such a spin on them since Discworld. Not to mention that there are no functional clerics (or anything like one). My favorite passtime in the game is going about dissing other people's religion, especially with the chantry (Lilliana hates me quite a bit for continually calling her crazy for hearing voices).

 

[Booze Zombie]

I thought Dragon Age was rather non-typical, really.
For instance, not a Scottish dwarf or English elf in sight (or earshot) in this world, nor are humans paragons of virtue and honor in this, thankfully.
Of course they're not all twats either, but I digress.

The world feels somewhat more believable than a small Scot, a lanky Brit and Captain McJustice running around saving the world and dumping a ring in a volcano. *Cough* *Cough*

 

[SnowCold]

Does this only happen to me, or does the video get stuck around the end for everyone?

 

[Censorme]

(Spoiler alert level 1 for those who haven't played about 5-7 hours in)

What makes Dragon Age: Origins a "Dark Fantasy" is how brutal it is. Even someone as desensitized as you should notice that this game is not about having a happy peaceful adventure to defeat the evil brocolli king who is cruelly giving his subjects homework and chores.

The humans are killing Elves and other humans, the Dwarves are killing each other, and the Darkspawn are raping everyone. Your family dies, two members of your first questing party dies (Cut-purse and retard) your Gandal-fer, uh, grey warden master dies, your first questing village is destroyed. If it's not Elfen alienages in major cities being "purged" it's villages being attacked by zombies. Can the "Dark" still be not so clear?

I remember some games that would fill me with such joy and satisfaction after doing a quest, but not THIS one. I only find some peace at camp.

Instead of aiding the helpless ninny find his dog and bake his cake, you are instead finding the corpses of his raped family and making him a poison so he could kill himself (that is, if you convince him otherwise)

Stupid Jailbait approves +5
Mean crackwhore dissaproves -5

 

[Outlawhero]

I have to agree with him on everything.

 

[TundraWolf]

We're talking 100% commitment here, where every individual element can be taken out of context, and every single one can make your girlfriend call you a sad bastard.

Ironically, this game and the overwhelming amounts of fantasy entertain my girlfriend, who is a major Lord of the Rings fan, to the same degree as me, if not more so. I guess that's what they call "having your cake and eating it too". (Vague sexual reference not intended.)

Still, I guess I can see your point. Of course, the entire fantasy genre owes a huge debt to Tolkien. Without him, we simply wouldn't have the fantasy stories that we do today. And, while I believe this is something that you do not agree with, I honestly can't think up an appropriate alternative. Maybe that's the problem in itself, that everyone is so steeped in Tolkien-esque canon that they don't want to break the mold. Still, if we're trying to stretch things in that respect, Dragon Age: Origins does that better than most, showing a diversity even amongst like races (City Elves versus Dalish Elves, Noble Dwarves versus Common Dwarves) that I haven't seen other fantasy fiction establish. That, in itself, is something to stand Dragon Age: Origins apart from the "standard fantasy fiction".

(Spoiler alert level 1 for those who haven't played about 5-7 hours in)What makes Dragon Age: Origins a "Dark Fantasy" is how brutal it is. Even someone as desensitized as you should notice that this game is not about having a happy peaceful adventure to defeat the evil brocolli king who is cruelly giving his subjects homework and chores.

The humans are killing Elves and other humans, the Dwarves are killing each other, and the Darkspawn are raping everyone. Your family dies, two members of your first questing party dies (Cut-purse and retard) your Gandal-fer, uh, grey warden master dies, your first questing village is destroyed. If it's not Elfen alienages in major cities being "purged" it's villages being attacked by zombies. Can the "Dark" still be not so clear?

I remember some games that would fill me with such joy and satisfaction after doing a quest, but not THIS one. I only find some peace at camp.

Instead of aiding the helpless ninny find his dog and bake his cake, you are instead finding the corpses of his raped family and making him a poison so he could kill himself (that is, if you convince him otherwise)

Stupid Jailbait approves +5
Mean crackwhore dissaproves -5

Oh, and this. This entire post sums up the other part of my thoughts. Bravo, sir.

 

[pneuma08]

After watching this review and reading the comments, I wonder about two things. Firstly, what Yahtzee et al think "dark fantasy" is (that is, if DA:O is not "dark fantasy", what is "dark fantasy"?), and secondly, if Yahtzee chose to kill the child.

I believe that ought to be vague enough to avoid a spoiler tag.

 

[Razorback0z]

There is a manual for cocksucking ?

I need to get a copy for my G/F!

Damn you get handy hints on this site.

Oh the review was fun too... Ill save the money I was gonna spend on Dragon Age and buy the manual for her birthday I theeenk.

 

[Gather]

Hah... He played on the X-box.

 

[The-Shining]

Love it, both the game and the review, good to see your still going strong, and its even better to see that some good games are coming out at last, before DArigins and Borderlands it was hard to find a new game to play, let alone what you have to do, find it, play it, then think of content to abuse on it, but you held on, and you made it, keep going strong Yahtzee

 

[Endocrom]

So, did Yahtzee finish another review. And having no further concern, he and his companions sought adventure in the West. Many games and feuds did Yahtzee fight. Honor and fear were heaped upon his name and, in time, he became a king by his own hand... And this story shall also be told.

 

[tragicdwarf]

Good fun review. Picking up Dragon Age for PS3 tomorrow, cant wait!!

 

[twaddle]

i find yahtzee review very interesting, but one thing i don't quite get is what is with all the cluster fucking in games lately. Also i'm surprised he is still playing the game.i figured by now he would have been like me a little bit and spoke about how he has had enough of this twaddling around bullshit and going back and forth and staring at npcs who have a personality similar to to a piece of sandpaper with sour candy sprinkled on them

 

[Teh_Doomage]

It's a shame he reviewed the console version, I think he would have enjoyed the PC version much better.

Funny as always though.

 

[Tjebbe]

I thought Dragon Age was rather non-typical, really.
For instance, not a Scottish dwarf or English elf in sight (or earshot) in this world, nor are humans paragons of virtue and honor in this, thankfully.

well the usual 'stereotypes' are that the elves are highly spiritual and nature-balanced, the dwarves are grumpy but hard-working, and humans are powerhungry bastards (with the notable exception of the Hero and his King, who of course only wants peace, everywhere, which can only be achieved by making the whole world one kingdom, his, and, hmm, wait...)

 

[Booze Zombie]

well the usual 'stereotypes' are that the elves are highly spiritual and nature-balanced, the dwarves are grumpy but hard-working, and humans are powerhungry bastards (with the notable exception of the Hero and his King, who of course only wants peace, everywhere, which can only be achieved by making the whole world one kingdom, his, and, hmm, wait...)

Really? In this elves are seemingly racist (in response to racism, mind you) and moody, dwaves are drunken and almost Japanese in their culture and humans are... violent.
Are you talking about the blonde king or the adviser guy?
If the blonde one, he was your typical young and angry character, if the adviser... well, you got me there.

But it's not just the story an characters, it's how the story is told, how deep the story goes and how deep the characters can be.

Mind you, I've got a bias, because I loved this game.

 

[JonMarvels]

25 hours and not done... I'm never gonna finish that game with my schedule x.x