I'm an explorer myself, I just love that, but I just wanted to say that you can explore within a lot of games. Even in Sacred 1, exploring was half of the fun to me !
while Dragon Age was a good game, aside from graphics and other tech-centric stuff … everything Dragon Age does, Baldur's Gate 1&2 did better.
While I really enjoyed Hordes Of The Underdark, Shadows Of Unrentide was a bit mediocre and NWN's OC was just horrible.
NWN2 was better, although not great and MoTB was excellent (thanks Obsidian!)
I won't deny that the story and presentation of Dragon Age was superb, if a bit cliché. Quite powerful considering it's a computer game.
Do you need to have finished the OC to play HoTU or SoU? I've tried to slog through the OC a few times, but I just can't do it. I have the other two though (and am considering playing Darkness over Daggerford).
Did Bioware have anything to do with NWN2? I though they were not involved.
Oh, wow. That… that means so much, coming from you! And it's already been established that I'm more a story guy than a gameplay guy.
Do you need to have finished the OC to play HoTU or SoU? I've tried to slog through the OC a few times, but I just can't do it. I have the other two though (and am considering playing Darkness over Daggerford).
Enjoy the last great Bioware game out there - as it was started a good while before they went golddigging.
It really is a terrific game all things considered, and especially if you're a story guy.
Hmm, I don't know. I also find Mass Effect a great game, so who knows, although I do think Mass Effect 2 is a little disappointing. Maybe Mass Effect 3 will be killer again with a nice Citadel-like environment to explore. Side note: from what little I read about Dragon Age 2, they're gonna implement a Mass Effect-like dialogue wheel in that game!? WHAT!? Keep that stuff in Mass Effect, I liked it there!
As far as Dragon Age: Origins goes, I just did all the preparations in Redcliffe before that big battle kicked my ass. Really did feel like a little adventure game, talking to all the characters, going through the dialogue options and role-playing that. Just like the elves in the Bracilian forest, you get a nice little self-contained place with a distinct atmosphere that sticks with you. Very nicely done!
But it clearly demonstrated a "wrong" direction, as far as I'm concerned.
ME2 was rather bland as a game
I actually agree. The first game was that rare game that made me excited and for which I dropped everything and stayed at home all night for after first starting it up. The second one… well, it's okay, but I've already stopped playing it. I'll finish it before Mass Effect 3 comes around, of course.
Last night I survived the Redcliffe battle, but I feel like I cheated. There was no chance that I could defeat *all* of the baddies head-on, so I did the old pull-retreat tactic, even pulling them through the fire at the top to burn them and have my allies there finish them off.
I was able to have scores of them killed this way, even while the rest of my crew was already dead and I was at 10% health and without health potions. That feels wrong.
You can start HoTU or SoU anytime. I'd recommend giving SoU a try to see how it improved upon the OC - I never finished it but it was more due to starting something else and forgetting about it at the time. Wasn't terrible. But HoTU was definitely much better than both the OC and SoU.
Enjoy the last great Bioware game out there - as it was started a good while before they went golddigging.
It really is a terrific game all things considered, and especially if you're a story guy.
Funny thing: I actually think it worked much better in terms of sci-fi atmosphere than the sequel. Not sure why, but it felt more interesting in most ways.
What difficulty are you playing at?
Shouldn't you be busy playing Angry Birds or another of those miracle gadget-games?
DA:O seems way too meaty for a veggie like you
Mass Effect The First had a lot more charm to it, in my opinion. The combat system was also a bit more enjoyable, more RPG-y. I'm usually not one to scream "DUMBED DOWN FOR XSHIT KIDDIES!!11!" when they downplay RPG systems, but I actually like the more stat-based approach to shooting. Half-way through ME2, I'm also missing that big Citadel building very much. I loved it when I landed there…
Normal, like I always do in games. Of course, I'm playing it on Xbox 360, because PC is much too hardc0re for a Sexbox kiddie like me. I'm sure they, uhm, "streamlined" the combat and difficulty level for people of my brain level.
I don't like Angry Birds, actually. I can play those casual games for a bit, but not for very long. I did buy a 16-bit SNES era inspired RPG called Ash yesterday that actually has decent dialogue in it! I'll probably play that for 20 minutes total on my iPad before I see something shiny in the corner of my eye.
I find it "cool" to play these games on my iPod - but when I have a modded Fallout 3 and Two Worlds 2 waiting on my PC, I just don't see the point ultimately.
My gaming on iPod Touch and iPad is dominated by games with some more 'meat'. from Puzzle Quest and Plants vs. Zombies through Command & Conquer and Tradewinds and Shining Force and Ash and so on. Return to Mysterious Island is there now. And so on.
I feel that while Angry Birds is very much on the 'high end' of games for $1, none of them are really for folks like us.
Yeah, I very much agree with you about this. I eventually tired of the Citadel - but I found the various planets quite fascinating and truly atmospheric. It also had much more mystery and I found the music MUCH superior. Even the little random bases on planets had some fantastically eerie music, that gave me a very strong feeling of being alone in strange places.
I'm just messing with you, because I sense you're not REALLY that much of a gadget-gamer - you just don't have time for anything else.
See, we're much alike here
I find it "cool" to play these games on my iPod - but when I have a modded Fallout 3 and Two Worlds 2 waiting on my PC, I just don't see the point ultimately.
This is creepy. I recognize all of that in ME (and not in ME2). Stop it, you're freaking me out. Next thing you know, I'll be talking doom about the increasing consumerism in the world and the downfall of the gaming industry.
Oh, I have time, but for some reason I'm never really interested in games (or much of anything, really) for long stretches of time. However, Dragon Age has been extremely fun every single time I've played it for the last couple of weeks (in play sessions of about 1-2 hours). I don't finish games all that much, but I feel that I could play Dragon Age a whole night through. There's just that sense of wonder and cosiness there. I wish I could have a party in some of those castle chambers…
However, I do have an irrational need to play every damn game out there, which results in huge stacks of unfinished games (Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, Final Fantasy XIII, The Witcher, Tales of Monkey Island, Sam & Max Season 3, Alan Wake, Metal Gear Solid 4, Gothic 3, Risen, Magna Carta 2, Final Fantasy 8, Valkyrie Chronicles, Planescape: Torment, Alpha Protocol, Divinity II, The Pandora Directive (!) etc.—all of which I really want to continue at one point.)
I'm probably good for the next 1000 hours, or so. Oh, yeah. Need Fallout: New Vegas and Two Worlds II as well. Shit.
I said stop it!!
Me neither, now that I'm playing Dragon Age again. However, doing some battles in Puzzle Quest in bed or in the john is still very entertaining. Nice little fact: I've played the most on my iPad. It's truly the best platform for this game and good example how a touch screen *can* add to the experience!