DA:O ♥♥♥ David Gaider/Patrick Weekes!

Wanted to throw some serious appreciation to you guys for visiting the Watch during the creation of your masterpiece. You guys took some grief but I see hundreds of posts praising your game here. We may not love every single aspect of the game, but nearly EVERYONE here is playing it. I feel sorry for the few who don't have a powerful enough rig to play.

Great Job!

A great job indeed!!!!!

that said, i'm running it quite well on an old P4 w/ 2GB of ram & NV8800 GTS. If you think you cannot run the game, you may be pleasantly surprised...

David and Patrick had some good info for us, I'm glad they stopped in. Good job on the game, enjoying it thoroughly!

Glad you're enjoying the game. I always knew it would speak far better for itself, in the end.

crpgnut said:

You guys took some grief but I see hundreds of posts praising your game here. We may not love every single aspect of the game, but nearly EVERYONE here is playing it.

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Yep, the Watch Mindhive is starting to convert us last stragglers (Finally caved in and
ordered it, though damned if I know when I'll actually make time to play it)…

My only complaint was the delay to November, and I still have the complaint! In April I would have played it just fine. Now I'm all rushed up, with so many other RPGs and turn based strategies to play! lol (man, I don't think I've said those words in like the last 10 years)

Thanks for the great game!

Any plan concerning DA2? *whistling innocently*

wolfing said:

My only complaint was the delay to November, and I still have the complaint! In April I would have played it just fine.

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Well, no, it wouldn't have played just fine in April. I imagine you won't believe me regardless, but the fact remains that we DID need the extra time to work on the PC version — and the trade-off was that we would have to combine the PC release with the console release in order to save money with a single marketing push.

If the game had indeed been pushed out in March as originally planned, you would have played a game much less polished and far buggier than it is now. Maybe you'd be okay with that, I don't know, but there it is.

As it is, I think it's worked out nicely. Somehow we ended up releasing in a window where there were relatively few other competitors (and by this I mean games competing for the same group of players), and back in March when the delay was announced it really didn't look that way. Speaking for myself, I'm just glad to finally have it out there. If there is to be any vitriol, I'd rather it be based on what the game actually is rather than on what people fear the game might be.

vanedor said:

Any plan concerning DA2? *whistling innocently*

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There's always a plan.

I've often criticised Bioware's stories and characters but this one has sucked me in entirely. You know how much you are enjoying a game when your mind wanders at work and you start planning the next encounter...

I havent even started the game yet (CE still unwrapped on the table) but Im allready having fun reading dgaiders prequel books and playing the flash game. I really enjoyed the first book (it sucked me right in) and the second one isnt bad either. Gives a nice view into the world of the game. Next weekend is going to be busy.

Dgaider said:

If there is to be any vitriol, I'd rather it be based on what the game actually is

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Well, after playing it for about 40 hours, definitely no vitriol from me .

I may be not 100% content with every aspect of the game, but I find all aspects to be at least good, with majority being great. And Dragon Age is simply overflowing with aspects! There´s just a lot of different ways how to be entertained.
Along with the overall great attention to detail, it makes for really rich and multifaceted experience and I think that there wasn´t a game this stuffed with various kinds of well crafted content since Baldur´s Gate 2.

Probably what surprised me the most is that you guys really took no prisoners at making combat difficult at harder settings which I´m really glad for.
While I enjoy the art direction, reading codex, dialogues etc, these things are more-or-less passive kinds of entertainment so it´s really great there´s demanding combat with well designed encounters to balance it out, and the game thus doesn´t fall into the AAA interactive movie trap.

Also, based on previews I was pretty sure voice acting will be sub par and, well, now I actually think it´s best since Bloodlines . Given the sheer amount of it, this is really a remarkable feature.

Finally, since you´re the Bioware writing guy, I´d like to add that writing rocks too.
While I don´t think there´s a lot of provocative uniqueness to the characters and stories, it´s all written in a way that, as Dhruin put it, just sucks player in.
Every companion is interesting and has distinctive "voice", side quests and the main storyline feel very natural and sufficiently intriguing and, along with a boatload of lore, make for a highly immersive experience.

To sorta sum it up, I have a strong feeling this game was created by enthusiasts who had a lot of genuine fun during a process which I consider a real wonder given the game´s AAAness.

Anyway, big thanks and thumbs up from me!

P.S.: Ditch the saboteurs from the marketing.

Yep, a big thumbs up from me!

I enjoyed the books and it is really adding to the game as I come across characters I already know. The amount of lore in this universe already is pretty staggering. I had been letting the codex entries slip in the name of combat but sat down last night and spent an hour catching up, all interesting stuff.

Really great stuff, thanks David and Patrick!

Dhruin said:

I've often criticised Bioware's stories and characters but this one has sucked me in entirely. You know how much you are enjoying a game when your mind wanders at work and you start planning the next encounter…

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Me too, DA is one of those game that made me thinking of it at work, about its memorable challenging combat encounters and wonder about what to do plan in my next play session.

Two thumbs way up from me as well.

Great acting, great story and just a fun game to play overall. Even the difficulty of the game is refreshing. I love it when a game makes you actually think about how to survive.

Reading the book before playing the game also made it quite interesting. I'm enjoying seeing some of the people and places in the game that were in the book. It makes it quite a unique experience. Especially in the beginning. I won't go into spoilers, but there were definitely some "What the hell! No way!" moments after you start to get into the main quest and some of the side quests.

Overall, one of the most fun games that I've played in a long time.

Dgaider said:

There's always a plan.

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Well, if never winter nights is to be the standard for your releases...we should see at least 2 expansion packs? Come on give the watch a little bone.

I not only love the game, but my wife and son are also enjoying it. My wife is hooked to the point she says she will do a couple more things that end up being two hours more then she expected....my main play through is now at 45 hours.

I have even had a play with the editor. Would be cool if you guys could through out some plot hooks for designers to run with...alot of these guys only know d&d so may be limited in making new stuff in your world. Oh what a world it is.

I was having a discussion with a guy from work about how I read someone thought it was alot like lord of the rings...and we came to the conclusion it wasn't the story line or even the characters...it was the art...it had that epic lord of the rings look...

skavenhorde said:

Reading the book before playing the game also made it quite interesting. I'm enjoying seeing some of the people and places in the game that were in the book. It makes it quite a unique experience.

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I agree! It's like, hmm did he just say Loghain was over in that tent?? THE Loghain Mac Tir? Maric's son, now king? pretty cool

xSamhainx said:

I agree! It's like, hmm did he just say Loghain was over in that tent?? THE Loghain Mac Tir? Maric's son, now king? pretty cool

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It was very cool but then Duncan and Loghain didn't look at all like I imagined which was a bit of a shock.

Cailan looked pretty much as I thought though.

My biggest complaint remains the marketing ... even the stuff on TV remains juvenile and geared to pull in the console action gamer kids ... and make folks like my wife detest it. Heck, I showed her the game and some fun stuff, and when she saw the commercial tonight she remarked 'that looks awful' until I mentioned that it was the game I showed ... and she was unimpressed.

So I say it is a good game DESPITE the marketing.

Yup, I visit a few other forums as well, and many, many gamers have been put off from what they saw on the marketing campaign. The sad thing is that the very people put off by it, would probably have enjoyed the game more than the console kiddies would.

Ah, well, luckily word of mouth is also very strong in the gaming world. Look at what happened with The Witcher. Hardly any pre-release marketing hype, and it initially got a mellow reception from official reviewers - but gamers thought otherwise and word soon spread that it was a cool game.

Wherever I go, I'm trying to root for this game, telling people that it's quite different from what they saw in the marketing trailers.

Anyway, I believe I already complemented mr Gaider and his colleagues in another thread, on the good writing in the game.

Dgaider said:

Glad you're enjoying the game. I always knew it would speak far better for itself, in the end.

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Must have driven you absolutely fucking nuts listening to all the ill informed whining when you knew it was this good. First class work though