Hey,

    First off, I know this isn't a MMO but if MMORPG.com wants to advertise it on there site, might as well have a toppic in the forum.

   So I picked up the game last night, all buzzed because from everything i've seen it was epic. Got home plugged it in (playin on xbox360) and started playing it. I play'd from 6:30 to 11:30, so I think I have a fairly good grasp on what is and what isn't in the game. Now mind you, i'm not trolling on the game, just giving you my thoughts and possibly a heads up to those who want to buy.

Pro: The game is just down right epic feeling.

        Strong story line.

        Good voice acting.

        Exelent battle/controller system (stolen from Fable mind you, but still an exelent system that more companies should use)

Cons: Graphics, they are good enough to get by...but far from other current RPGs (Obivion, mass effect, fable 2)

            Get ready for LOTS of cut scenes, they are well done, but its deffinitly (from what i've seen) 30-40% of the game.

            Very VERY linier (sp?). And my main gripe with it, is that its not well reflected on the map where you can and can't go. (fable was linier, but it was easy to tell where you could and couldn't go. so you didn't waist alot of time running into dead ends)

           more cut scenes, lol I just bumped into the guy looking for the store in town, and I get a 5 second clip...EVERY time I talk to him.

Anyways like I said, not trolling but things I kinda found annoying with the game. I'm going to give it another go tonight. And hopfully the game will change into more of a RPG then a standered LOTR  movie game.

SPOILER!!

for those of you who wanted to know how far i had gotten to the game. I just lit the becon, the king just died. and I traveled to the first town to "get supplies" and what not. Does the game change much from there?

Wow. Another thread on Dragon Age. Be prepared for the fanbois.

Personally, I was very disappointed. I loved BG, NWN, and ME.

For me, there are far too many cut scenes. Look, I work 50 hours a week and have a family. I just don't find that fun. Secondly, the combat is boring. At the same time the combat is extremely overpowering. In my experience, if you didn't have gobs of poultices just give up. I didn't find it fun that every 5 seconds the tank had to use a poultice. That is not fun. That is tedious. My tank would literally die in about 20 seconds or less if I didn't keep constantly using a poultice(btw, this doesn't occur until Lothering).

Quest. C'mon is this WoW?

Linear. This to me is the biggest drawback. You can't choose where you want to go. You are lead by the hand.

I guess the reason I stopped playing was the tedious combat. I don't like to micro manage, and I certainly don't like the fact I had to use so many poultices. Those are the most important item in the game, by far.

Its really too bad, because I like the story and character customization. I just can't play a game when I find it so tedious.

I can't say I have teh same opinions about the complaints. I love cut scenes, but then again I love movies. So combining my two most favorite forms of home entertainment (games and movies) is fantastic for me.

I've beaten the game once, and on my way through it a second time. The game opens up after Lothering.

I got so fed up of my Tank getting killed that I rerolled as a Tank and all was fine :)

2H melee need help though, Sword and Board has much better abilities.

Dragon age is a good game but I really don't think it should be where some people are rating the thing at a 9 or higher it's like a 8ish. They really could of done more with it. I just hate how you can't go into most of the house's but a few it lacks content lacks, items and it has a few bugs still. They could of added more to it instead of making some DLC before the game came out.

Originally posted by brostyn

Wow. Another thread on Dragon Age. Be prepared for the fanbois.

Personally, I was very disappointed. I loved BG, NWN, and ME.

For me, there are far too many cut scenes. Look, I work 50 hours a week and have a family. I just don't find that fun. Secondly, the combat is boring. At the same time the combat is extremely overpowering. In my experience, if you didn't have gobs of poultices just give up. I didn't find it fun that every 5 seconds the tank had to use a poultice. That is not fun. That is tedious. My tank would literally die in about 20 seconds or less if I didn't keep constantly using a poultice(btw, this doesn't occur until Lothering).

Quest. C'mon is this WoW?

Linear. This to me is the biggest drawback. You can't choose where you want to go. You are lead by the hand.

I guess the reason I stopped playing was the tedious combat. I don't like to micro manage, and I certainly don't like the fact I had to use so many poultices. Those are the most important item in the game, by far.

 

Its really too bad, because I like the story and character customization. I just can't play a game when I find it so tedious.

DA is a story unfolding, as you explores a storyline.  The cut scenes are part of the story.  I love them, as I feel myself in a story, with some scenes to fill up my imagination.  Oh that is why sometimes a movie is better than a book.
 

Quests, well that is the game.  And what is wrong with WoW?

Linear yes this is my biggest gripe.  I hate the fact that there is just one road, one way to walk in each small map.  I cannot jump to death, if I am stupid enough to try.  The map thing is another issue for me.  I like an open world to walk around, I actually love WoW during the vanila days, when I create a level 1 and walk as far as I can go along the road, before I die.

Micro managemene is an option.  If I feel tired, I let them auto fight, and so long as I set the game to easy, I have a small chance of surviving.  Now, that I am bad in tactics and tired after work, I admit I lose more than I want, micro manage or not.

Originally posted by Meyithi

I got so fed up of my Tank getting killed that I rerolled as a Tank and all was fine :)

2H melee need help though, Sword and Board has much better abilities.

With good equpment the 2 handed melee does very well. I'm at the last battle (I'm sure that this is not a spoiler as it would seem likely, given that this is not a completely original story, that there would be a last battle.  ) and have really done well with my 2 hander along with Alistaire as the tank.

I I've started 2 more stories, one with a sword and board fighter (to become a reaver) and an Arcane mage.

I've found additional quests that I didn't find before as well as some additional encounters. I've also had the chance to unlock some additional dialogue that I found very interesting.

OP, the game really does open up quite a bit after lothering, though I think of lothering as a sort of cadential point from where you pick your route.

I also have to say that I love the cut scenes. All in all I"m enjoying myself. Some annoying little bugs here and there and I did run into a small problem with the memory leak but have had a good time nonetheless.

As far as micro managing, if you set your tactics correctly it really mitigates your micro managing. This is not to say you won't get odd pathing at times and I have even run into a doorway that "had" a barrier but when removed my party wouldn't follow me. I presume the barrier object had somethiing to do with that. I just brought them to the side of the door and that solved the issue.

Personally I greatly dislike DA, because of the dark story, the companions I dislike all of them and many other parts.

If I put that aside, DA is a decent game, but not the revolution some make of it. All important decision are made for you, too often I had not the choices or answers I would chose, and then I have consequences based in actions I didnt stand behind. The game is VERY linear and very much like one big tunnel, and I like more the free roaming of Fallout or Oblivion.

I hope MMOs will adapt the good storytelling however. Tho for a game the amount of dialoge and cutscenes is overdone IMO. A decent single player game, but unplayable for me, because I just can't indentify with the world, setting, story or ANY of the characters.

Originally posted by Elikal

Personally I greatly dislike DA, because of the dark story, the companions I dislike all of them and many other parts.

If I put that aside, DA is a decent game, but not the revolution some make of it. All important decision are made for you, too often I had not the choices or answers I would chose, and then I have consequences based in actions I didnt stand behind. The game is VERY linear and very much like one big tunnel, and I like more the free roaming of Fallout or Oblivion.

I hope MMOs will adapt the good storytelling however. Tho for a game the amount of dialoge and cutscenes is overdone IMO. A decent single player game, but unplayable for me, because I just can't indentify with the world, setting, story or ANY of the characters.

Why couldn't you identify with your own character, considering you could make your own choices? You can be good, you can be evil, and you can even be an opportunist. People in the game act differently based on the choices you make.

Originally posted by nate1980

Originally posted by Elikal

Personally I greatly dislike DA, because of the dark story, the companions I dislike all of them and many other parts.

If I put that aside, DA is a decent game, but not the revolution some make of it. All important decision are made for you, too often I had not the choices or answers I would chose, and then I have consequences based in actions I didnt stand behind. The game is VERY linear and very much like one big tunnel, and I like more the free roaming of Fallout or Oblivion.

I hope MMOs will adapt the good storytelling however. Tho for a game the amount of dialoge and cutscenes is overdone IMO. A decent single player game, but unplayable for me, because I just can't indentify with the world, setting, story or ANY of the characters.

 

Why couldn't you identify with your own character, considering you could make your own choices? You can be good, you can be evil, and you can even be an opportunist. People in the game act differently based on the choices you make.

I think I have an idea of what he is talking about.

There are many times where the answer I would choose is simply not there.

Sure, you get to be good, bad, and opportunistic, but you have to be DAO's version of those qualities.  To be sure, this is way ahead of most games, but it is not the freedom as promised by the earlier EA hype machine either.

The blah models does not help either.

Though, for me, such issues have not spoiled the game for me, and I am having fun with it.

well im looking into new games and dragon age does look good, however with the amount of free mmorpgs around what makes it worth the £40 or whatever ?? whats the community like?

Originally posted by allstar101

well im looking into new games and dragon age does look good, however with the amount of free mmorpgs around what makes it worth the £40 or whatever ?? whats the community like?

It is single player.

So, the community is as good as your imagination will allow.

i see so no mmo?
surprising for a new game

Originally posted by allstar101

i see so no mmo?
surprising for a new game

Yeah, it is strictly a single player game.

The conversations and opportunities you are reading about are not from a community of players, but from well written dialogue from NPCs.

If you are looking for a new MMO, Dragon Age is not the game for you, but if you want to play something new, and you don't mind single player games, it is pretty fun.

thanks :)
i do enjoy single player however tend to play pc games more for the community and guilds so ill continue my search xD

My thoughts, why post it in the MMORPG section, even though MMORPG.com has ads, we as a community can atleast put topics like this in the off topic, or in the none-mmorpg section.

agreed but i suppose forum chat about a single player game does in fact make itself a community :P even if playing together is impossible

Originally posted by Reklaw

My thoughts, why post it in the MMORPG section, even though MMORPG.com has ads, we as a community can atleast put topics like this in the off topic, or in the none-mmorpg section.

That, or maybe MMORPG.COM could create a section dedicated to genre related games that are not MMO's.

Either way, it would probably prevent some confusion.

Personally I perfer Dragon Age over all the free roaming RPGs I've played. I tried Oblivion like 3-4 times? And just couldnt get into it...I guess there was too many options and not enough direction. In Dragon Age the goal is clear and the story follows that goal exactly as I would expect. For me Dragon Age is probly the best RPG I've played, right up there with Fallout 3 and Baldors Gate. I can understand though that some many not enjoy it if they perfer more action and less talking...or as little reading as possible.

Personally I feel as if I'm in a movie when I play. I would almost go so far as to say Dragon Age feels epic to me.  The most emersive story I've been a part of to date.  :-)

Originally posted by allstar101

agreed but i suppose forum chat about a single player game does in fact make itself a community :P even if playing together is impossible

Well, some good came out of this:

It saved you from spending money on a game that doesn't offer what you are looking for.