|
|
|
|
Author |
Topic: Dragon's Age - What do you think? (Read 564 times) |
|
Trushaft
Veteran Poster
Last On: 12/21/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 84
|
I like both sp and mp, and agree that you can rp in both. The strongest and best part about a game like DA is the story. I've been playing for hours and have just scratched the surface of the game. The story so far is very engrossing and really pulls you in. But it's all the side stuff that makes the game shine for me, and shows how much they really put into this world they've created.
I like exploring and looking at things and there's a lot here, from all the lore and history you pick up in books. You can just tell there's a lot of care put into this thing.
And they've already said they plan to keep the game alive via downloadeable content for the next 2 years.And then there's the mod community on top of that.
The strength of multiplayer is rp'ing, but a lot of mp story is really really thin. I've been in more than one mp session where the adventure/mod has been taken over by someone playing drama queen or who wants to be the star or something.
And yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath honestly for a mp version of DA. Business wise it's not really all that smart. I read somewhere that Bioware sunk something like 10 million in the development of NWN, and that was what, 7 years ago.Think what it'd cost today, and they really get very limited returns.As Mulu said, only a tiny portion of those buyers ever even got into the mp aspects, let alone the toolset or the DM client.For the kind of money it'd take now, you'd get a better ( potential ) return just making an mmo, which is what they've done I guess.
I do wish they'd included at least a co op option like in Baldur's Gate though.
But hey you never know.
Personally I'm hoping for that virtual tabletop that WoC talked about when they first introduced D&D Insider ( but there's been no mention of that for awhile) to keep mp pnp style online gaming alive.
|
|
 I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
vanya mia
Forum God
Last On: 02/09/12
View Profile
Message Player
United Kingdom
Posts: 2259
|
Speaking for myself, as I think I've said before, I probably won't get DA because it's SP. Same went for The Witcher and any number of others. I have a copy of Planescape: Torment I pursued vigorously, which sits on my desk unplayed.
My preference is to MP, but that's not because I think the SP experience has no value. It's because all the time I can justifiably spend neglecting my family is taken up with that preferred option. As we are all posting here I suspect we all feel the same, and I also think some of the opinions of SP here are down to how we each approach an SP game.
I only completed the NWN2 OC and expansions because of MP with a buddy. However I did play through the whole of the NWN1 OC solo, and completely agree with those who say you can RP in an SP game. Not to the same degree perhaps, but you can. You can decide to be driven, noble, generous, or not through conversation choices and have the game develop that way. It's minor league role play, but it's still there. Probably just as much as most PnP games.
Like a good book or movie, you can grow fond of, or learn to hate, characters and can angst over decisions. If you're inclined, of course, and some are more so than others. Hell I remember a whole guild of female players that formed ostensibly to swoon over the Valen character. I'd be the first to say that kind of thing is a little silly, but it's still there. 
The SP game plot won't move much, and the characters fighting alongside you will be limited in depth, but again... that's just like a movie or a book which doesn't stop them being fun. Besides, the MP experience can be mixed. I've been in MP sessions where the DM railroads you more severely than a well scripted SP game. I didn't hang around long, but it happens. It can also be said that some players produce PCs with less depth than NPCs, and others who act as though the rest of the MP party are henchmen anyway, so..... 
Smart Alec picked up on something I've used to explain my *cough* addiction to MP campaigns; it's like amateur dramatics where you improvise the script. Where a wimpy youth can portray a fearsome barbarian warrior and a middle aged woman can be believable (hopefully) as a flighty MI6 agent. Something you can't truly get in an SP game. That's why I put DM led MP campaigns at the top of the gaming tree, but that doesn't mean there's no RP value in an SP game.
|
| « Last Edit: on: Nov 12, 2009, 9:53AM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
egpaul
Forum God
Last On: 09/10/10
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 972
|
Just started playing on the X-Box and love it so far. It's got a very immersive story and similar to Mass Effect, you can get as "into it" as you choose. There's lots of lore and stories etc downloaded to you codex that you can spend hours reading through, or for those less patient they can charge forward into the next plot element. All in all, a great game and I do find myself very invested in my character and enjoying the roleplay/decision elements of the game.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Dekartz
Newbie Poster
Last On: 10/11/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 3
|
Ultimately, it's a matter of preference. You can't feasibly say multiplayer games are 'better' than single player games. Even if you do prefer them. I can think of plenty of singleplayer games I'd take over multiplayer games and vice versa.
On the issue of Dragon Age. I love the setting and if a DM client was made, I doubt someone would be able to craft a setting that drew my attention as much. (Over a novel's worth of backstory)
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lazybones
Forum God
Last On: 12/31/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 4695
|
on Dec 19, 2009, 4:43 PM, Dekartz wrote:| On the issue of Dragon Age. I love the setting and if a DM client was made, I doubt someone would be able to craft a setting that drew my attention as much. (Over a novel's worth of backstory) |
|
I wouldn't mind developing adventures set in the DA world, if they'd open it up to multiplayer. There are tons of hooks in the game that could be developed. After all, folks created areas outside of Waterdeep and Neverwinter in the Forgotten Realms once the official SP campaigns were done.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Moss Troll
Extreme Poster
Last On: 01/28/12
View Profile
Message Player
Canada
Posts: 439
|
on Dec 19, 2009, 4:43 PM, Dekartz wrote:| You can't feasibly say multiplayer games are 'better' than single player games. |
|
I think I can safely say that MP CRPG are 'better' than SP CRPG, simply because it's an opinion and one that I believe strongly in. In fact, for me personally, I think I can say that I believe MP games in general are 'better' than SP games simply due to the human element vs. inferior AI. Until the AI becomes smarter than your average bear you'll always be limited to what the coder allows for the game to do as opposed to the much greater range available to a human opponent.
|
| « Last Edit: on: Dec 23, 2009, 5:31AM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Moss Troll
Extreme Poster
Last On: 01/28/12
View Profile
Message Player
Canada
Posts: 439
|
on Dec 19, 2009, 5:45 PM, Lazybones wrote:on Dec 19, 2009, 4:43 PM, Dekartz wrote:| On the issue of Dragon Age. I love the setting and if a DM client was made, I doubt someone would be able to craft a setting that drew my attention as much. (Over a novel's worth of backstory) |
|
I wouldn't mind developing adventures set in the DA world, if they'd open it up to multiplayer. There are tons of hooks in the game that could be developed. After all, folks created areas outside of Waterdeep and Neverwinter in the Forgotten Realms once the official SP campaigns were done. |
|
The world really does have a great deal of material to work with, and if a fully functional DM client was released I think many of the folks trapped with NWN1 could move forward to a nicer looking platform.
Maybe Bioware could release it as downloadable content since that seem to be the way these companies are moving. I'd pay money for an add-on like that. Who knows. If there's money involved maybe they would do it. I doubt enough people would buy it to make it profitable though.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Purple Puppy
Forum God
Last On: 04/27/10
View Profile
Message Player
Australia
Posts: 1575
|
I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm finding some things a bit restrictive though (probably because I play a lot of action games).
I'd like it if my character could walk in shallow water, or jump of a low hill, rather than be forced to tread on the path all the time. You know, that sort of thing. But anyways, it's been taking me ages to decide on a character, I've had a go at both the city elf origin and the human noble and I still haven't quite decided which to use for my first full playthrough (though at least it's narrowed down to 2).
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Quillmaster
Experienced User
Last On: 06/19/11
View Profile
Message Player
United Kingdom
Posts: 43
|
Simply put it's the best game of this genre I've played for a long time. The graphics are very good despite anything you might have heard to the contrary. Don't believe any screen caps you've seen as proof of poor quality, as many of those I've seen as supposed evidence fail to point out they include a blur effect where the camera is focusing on a different object. Animation too is very good, with individual combat moves catered for, which go as far as capturing expressions on faces during battle. While on the subject of faces, the character creation process allows for maximum customisation of how your character looks, to the point that you can even alter the angle AND expression of your character portrait.
While character classes may seem a little limited to those of you who crave the multitude of classes offered by NWN, I personally find it refreshing. There are 3 base classes, although these can be broken down further so that you specialise in a particular area, so a Mage for example may end up being a healer, or a Rogue become an Assassin.
The storyline is excellent, with an accompanying mythology refreshingly simple yet richly detailed, so you quickly find yourself becoming absorbed in the setting. Character interaction is good too, with plausible responses for the most outlandish player choices, and excellent inter party banter that is some of the best I have seen in any game.
There are a couple of minor downers, but these are easily outweighed by the positives. Item icons are very limited, while their descriptions suffer from the same lack of detail, relying instead on bland descriptions of their properties. Gone are the flowery explanations of powers you may have grown used to in NWN. Having said that, there is plenty of mythology to read up on in the codex, but I would have preferred the items themselves to offer similar descriptions.
I should also briefly mention interiors. Gone are the Tardis like buildings of NWN, now replaced with lovingly created realistic interiors that have a more mature mediaeval feel to them.
Overall the game is excellent, easily deserving a 9 out of 10 even by my standards.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lilivati
Forum God
Last On: 09/08/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 2016
|
My thoughts are pretty much like everyone else's- I love the game and the new world Bioware has created. I especially love that it's dark fantasy done well, which is a rarity in the genre overall, and a very rare bird indeed in the game industry. At the same time I also wish it were multiplayer and hope that they add this capability in a future expansion.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Forrestwolf
Forum God
Last On: 07/21/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 793
|
Purple, I don't know if you got to the dwarven storyline, but I found it to be unbelievably huge (which isn't necessarily a positive thing), and yet really, really good. When I finished up that part of the game, the rest seemed kinda bland in comparison. The shadowy voiceovers as you walk along in various storylines are chilling (when appropriate), and some cutscenes are downright LOTR-like in their scope.
Try the dwarves (not the character origin - the quests) if you haven't yet. Wow.
As far as cutscenes go, I'm just amazed how they get such good lipsyncing, gestures, and facial expressions when they're working with arbitrary main characters. I really wonder what you can pull off in the toolset - I haven't had the time to try (too busy playing through it!).
Still, they really need to get multiplayer going somehow if we here are going to get anything like what we get from NWN. And I'm very worried they can't do it.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Purple Puppy
Forum God
Last On: 04/27/10
View Profile
Message Player
Australia
Posts: 1575
|
on Feb 2, 2010, 9:16 PM, Forrestwolf wrote:Try the dwarves (not the character origin - the quests) if you haven't yet. Wow.
|
|
Really? I found the dwarven section to be the most boring part of the game. I didn't really care for the politics, and the actual main quest just kept dragging on, it felt like too much grind to me. The story part of it was better than the other factions, but it took too long to get to the good bits.
Plus, I generally felt that there was far too much combat in this game for my taste. I was particularly displeased with how most encounters seemed to rely on vastly outnumbering your party, rather than on enemy AI (smaller intelligent groups would have been preferable IMO).
The story just didn't draw me in - there was no mystery or great plot twists. The most interesting part was the setting and history itself, but not the story and plot.
I still enjoyed this game a lot, but I'm not going to get excited about DA2.
[Edit] There were also some highly visible plot holes that irked me (if they weren't such obvious ones I could have ignored them) and broke the immersion for me. but I won't go into them here since this is mostly a spoiler-free thread).
|
| « Last Edit: on: Feb 3, 2010, 12:09AM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
|
|
|
