Wow I'm Out

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Can we watch the spoilers, please? I don't want to whine about it but I didn't know anything about fighting a certain person.

I know what you mean, I also got zinged by that one.

I don't feel connected to the game, the story the fights. I do like however how the grand political scheme opens up. But the gameplay. It has been pure willpower in some levels. And i am getting tired of darkspawns.

If i finish this its only to see the grand scheme evolves. Everything else i feel completly disconected to. I've done Redcliff, Orzammar and now i try to get the mages to join the cause. Its fun how the politics in those regions happenes and how i do make choices. But the fighting isn't fun. ANd this game is about fighting.

Hopefully i will enjoy getting back to it in a few days… Perhaps this game will be a new POR 2. A game you enjoy for 30-40 min doing some fights and then you do something else. And i love POR 2. So.. here is me hoping!

EDIT: Yeah i got a little frustrated about the fighting. I probably regret this post in a few hours!

Can we watch the spoilers

For English as second-language players, our esteemed friend means 'Take care not to reveal things, please use spoiler tags'

Sorry but for a moment I was thinking you meant 'Can we see the DAO playthrough movies by CDune?' - where 'watch' in English means 'take care with' but it also means 'look at'. Our famous English ambiguity

Peter

Mute you are asking for trouble with the RPGWatch denizens mentioning Dragon Age and POR2 in the same breath! I'm with ya though, gotta love POR2. However, I'm still enjoying Dragon Age

Originally Posted by mute
I don't feel connected to the game, the story the fights. I do like however how the grand political scheme opens up. But the gameplay. It has been pure willpower in some levels. And i am getting tired of darkspawns.

If i finish this its only to see the grand scheme evolves. Everything else i feel completly disconected to. I've done Redcliff, Orzammar and now i try to get the mages to join the cause. Its fun how the politics in those regions happenes and how i do make choices. But the fighting isn't fun. ANd this game is about fighting.

Hopefully i will enjoy getting back to it in a few days… Perhaps this game will be a new POR 2. A game you enjoy for 30-40 min doing some fights and then you do something else. And i love POR 2. So.. here is me hoping!

EDIT: Yeah i got a little frustrated about the fighting. I probably regret this post in a few hours!

My thoughts exactly (except for the PoR2 part perhaps, haven't played it). I can only stand this game in smaller doses. The combat system as such is quite OK but it often turns into such a chore slugging through room after room of orcs darkspawn and whatnot. Doesn't help that it's pretty easy, even on hard.

Originally Posted by KazikluBey
My thoughts exactly (except for the PoR2 part perhaps, haven't played it). I can only stand this game in smaller doses. The combat system as such is quite OK but it often turns into such a chore slugging through room after room of orcs darkspawn and whatnot. Doesn't help that it's pretty easy, even on hard.

Whew, it's good to know I'm not the only one who feels that way. I've only been able to play 2-3 hours a day, but I find myself not even wanting to play it more. I might just be suffering from a bit of gamers burnout though, after having finished Risen, etc, this month. I still think DA is great, but for some reason it's not grabbing me in the same way that some of Bioware's older games did.

I don't agree about it being too easy though.

Yeah, after the new, and the idea that there's a good PC RPG out when the platform has been ignored for so long, wore off, it's not grabbing me quite as well either. It's still a good game, and I'll finish it as I'm able. If my computer can handle it.

The problem for me with DA (and I AM having some fun with it, just to be clear) is in general a problem with the state of the genre itself; and that is that crpgs are far too refined now days… too cliched and predictable, so boringly "epic", and so adherent to their well established "form-factor" that the heart and soul of the genre can sometimes get ripped out.

Instead of a creshendo of delight as the magic of a well made and fresh rpg grows towards its conclution, games today more often turn into a slog of repetitious combat and over-obnoctious story line and dialogue. Smack me if I'm wrong, but remember how simple, and, lets face it, adolesent Fallout 2's dialogues could be at times? But did that really matter in the end? No, because the story was way cool and packed with style and the game was made from the heart… to be played by the player, not for the player to be taken for a wild, groovy(oooh wow!) ride by the devs. Actually, that right there is the main problem - the devs have come to fancy themselves as movie directors instead of game makers! Don't get me wrong, I know there's a lot of work that goes into the mechanics and programing and balancing of these games, I'm just suggesting this directorial approach is a trend that's happening, and its upsetting.

The funny thing is I absolutely LOVE the new graphics of todays games, the technology and beauty of these visuals really sets the stage for a great rpg experience… yet how is it that I found so much more enjoyment from those blocky, ugly, funky looking things of yesteryear? It's from over-refinement… which leads to soulessness.

I say death to Epic, death to over-reaching story line (but not simply good story), death to "improvement on tried and true"; and YES to graphics, innovation, style and, most of all, GAMEPLAY!

I think you guys have just grown old and long in the tooth. I'm still having fun here…

Nah, seriously though…- sometimes one gets gaming burnout. Too much of the same's not fun anymore.. One of the big reasons I like to vary my genres.

I'm honestly still having fun with DA tho… (Never could finish NWN2, on the other hand. *yawn* )

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm really regretting not taking Cone of Cold with Morrigan's last level up. It was a choice between that or ugrading her shape-shifting abilities. Since she's a Shape Shifter, I chose the latter. I also thought it would be cool to be able to change into a bear. Sadly, shape-shifting seems to be a bit underpowered in this game.

Well, that also the way I beat them, its quite easy, have once taken one down whit only my main (Tank/Warrior) and Morrigan, I used around 10 "lesser Health" potions and 2 lesser "mana" potions. Just have him frozen whit Cone of Cold, he will get unfrozen 1-3 sec, while cold down is on CoC, its there the health potions come in the picture.

Also two tips: Force field him in the beginning of the battle, and take down his follows, so you can focus on him. Second, disable Morrigan's tactic, so she don’t waste her "mana" on other spells.

So far I have taken down the 3 in Brecilian Forest and got the all four pieces of the Juggernaut set, (some elven spirit in the ruin’s got the 4th piece)

You guys are too cynical. I can't argue if you're not connecting with it - but for me - only The Witcher has come as close to "connecting" me in years. I'd also argue it's less "epic" than the Baldur's Gate series, in which you were the direct progeny of a god, for heaven's sake! Of course, "epic" is what BioWare does, but this has a more realistic political side, for me, which grounds some of the action.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
You guys are too cynical. I can't argue if you're not connecting with it - but for me - only The Witcher has come as close to "connecting" me in years. I'd also argue it's less "epic" than the Baldur's Gate series, in which you were the direct progeny of a god, for heaven's sake! Of course, "epic" is what BioWare does, but this has a more realistic political side, for me, which grounds some of the action.

While the concept of being a Bhaalspawn sounds epic indeed, I didn't find the games themselves to really play the "epic" chord until the Throne of Bhaal expansion. In BG (find your father's killer) and BG2 (save Imoen, revenge on Irenicus) the basic story is very personal and the Bhaal taint theme, while being the underpinnings of the story, stays largely in the background.

For DA, being elevated to the status of Grey Warden, being apparently the only one who can save the world (or close enough) screams of a game wanting to be epic to me. The lack of a personal motivation for the main character (unless you count forced conscription) is one thing that strongly hampers my "connection".

Then you should try the other Origins. Some of them offer a very good, personal reason to go forth. Personally I liked the Dwarf Noble one a lot, especially when knowing what goes on in Orzammar later on.

(Oops, Maylander responded while I was typing. This is in reply to kaziklubey)

I feel the opposite. BG wasn't too bad but BG2 didn't connect initially with me at all; it was all about other characters (Imoen, Irenicus) and I couldn't care less about Imoen. Irenicus was welcome to her, and I'll go my way, thanks. The rest of the story was pretty good, I must say, but that initial motivation failed for me.

I found the conscription in DA reasonably presented, and the Blight is clearly an issue that is hard to ignore. The Origin is quite personal and Ostagar presented a compelling picture of the world. It's as good a motivation as I can remember.

Different strokes for different folks, obviously.

I agree with Dhruin about the story and origin. I love the story, but one thing has been bugging me. In Baldur's Gate your characters didn't automatically get up after being knocked out of a fight and you didn't recharge your health in record speed. I'm not liking this part of the game one bit.

We did a poll on death/healing a while ago and at the time I really didn't think it mattered that much. I voted for perma death, but still thought it could be fun if it the death was more like NWN 2. I was wrong. That is the biggest hang up for me with this game. The battles don't matter as much. Sure they're still hard, but it's just not as much fun. It's taken out the attrition tactical element.

It's funny, but for Mass Effect I had no problem with this and had a blast all the way to the end, but for a 'true' rpg it just feels like cheating to me.

Dhruin: I didn't make myself clear, I think. I wasn't trying to say that BG or BG 2 were much better at motivation (I didn't care one whit for Imoen either), I was merely arguing against the notion that BG 1/2 were much more "epic" than DA.

I started writing a longish response expanding on why I find the main theme of "being a Warden" lacking, but I was interrupted and lost my train of thought. Maybe another time.

I would actually argue that DA feels more epic, probably due to the type of presentation that wasn't really possible back in 1998-2000.

Mind you I'm not saying DA is "better", because I certainly don't think it is.

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
I agree with Dhruin about the story and origin. I love the story, but one thing has been bugging me. In Baldur's Gate your characters didn't automatically get up after being knocked out of a fight and you didn't recharge your health in record speed. I'm not liking this part of the game one bit.

There's actually quite a few niggling things that annoy me about DA. How about the fact that you can instantly switch party members anytime anywhere? Nevermind the fact that I left those guys back at camp, I can apparently teleport them back and forth instantly!

Originally Posted by JDR13

There's actually quite a few niggling things that annoy me about DA. How about the fact that you can instantly switch party members anytime anywhere? Nevermind the fact that I left those guys back at camp, I can apparently teleport them back and forth instantly!

Eh? That hasn't been my experience. I can only switch them in 'non combat' areas like cities. Once I enter a combat zone (like, 95% of the game), I can't switch. Maybe this is part of the 'hard' difficulty?

Originally Posted by wolfing
Eh? That hasn't been my experience. I can only switch them in 'non combat' areas like cities. Once I enter a combat zone (like, 95% of the game), I can't switch. Maybe this is part of the 'hard' difficulty?

I don't think you should be able to instantly switch anywhere though, you should have to go back to camp. I didn't like that feature in KotOR and Jade Empire either.

And DA isn't anywhere near 95% combat zone.

Originally Posted by wolfing
Once I enter a combat zone (like, 95% of the game), I can't switch. Maybe this is part of the 'hard' difficulty?

It's the same on Normal difficulty as well.

Regarding the difficulty of battles in DAO, they sure got easier once I got Wynne in my party. After struggling this far without any healing magic, it's great to have a healer in the party at last. Going through the Tower of Magi with Alistair, Morrigan and Wynne accompanying my warrior character is quite easy even.