I got to borrow this game from my brother in exchange for my copy of Assassin's Creed II and the promise to lend my copy of Mass Effect 2 to him in the future.
To start with, if you've EVER played a game made by Bioware, you've played them all. That's just how Bioware works. I've been hooked on their games since Baldur's Gate back when I got my copy in 1999. I'm not saying that it's necessarily a bad thing that Bioware makes the same game time and time again, no. I'm saying that they use the same formula for all their games and the story is what drives you to play them.
For example, Jade Empire was an amazing game, but it was just KoTOR in fake China. Get it? No? Okay, let me try again. Every Bioware game has a Good-Bad morality system. Despite what they call it or how they try to spin it, it's always the same. Good vs Bad, light vs dark, positive moral power vs negative moral power. They do manage to spin a great story, and their combat systems are usually pretty fun.
What's different about Dragon Age: Origins (DA:O)? It's a real time RPG that uses event timing and has some fun spells. In other words, to me, it's what Neverwinter Nights should have been eight years ago. I hated NwN. I enjoyed DA:O.
DA:O has an engaging story that thrusts you into the life and culture of one of three races, with one of three classes. I love customizing. I could customize all day. DA:O removes some of that customization and focuses on getting you into the game. I feel it has bad balance of complexity and usability. You can play one of the three classes; Mages, Warriors and Rogues. Warriors are Rouges that can't pick pockets, hide in shadows, or open locks. Or, I suppose you could say Rouges are awesome warrior, and warriors... well, they get to yell. Mages, however, get dozens of spells. Many of which can be combined for some pretty wicked effects. A well built mage can be devastating to any enemy.
Personally I always go with the Rogue since they tend to be the most fun and useful class of character in any game.
One thing that every player of DA:O will notice is that they will need to specialize everyone from the get go. If you don't plan ahead, you'll have a main character who is next to useless all the time, especially if you build your own mage!
The next problem with the balance of the game is that the race, gender, and class of your character limits your ability to experience the entire game as much as it enables it. Your gender affects your ability to relate to NPCs. Your class affects what other classes can be in your party of four. If you're a rogue, you can't really afford putting Liliana or Zevran in your party, so you miss out on a lot of their dialogue. You can certainly bring them along, it just makes the missions harder.
Another thing about DA:O is that you don't ever feel like you've gone anywhere. As games get bigger, they seem to get smaller. You're captured by exploring, but there is nothing to really find. You're using the same six or seven overworld maps for a dozen missions each, so there isn't anything new. I understand it is hard to create more content like the maps, but games like this really do need more. The capitol city is made to seem like a medieval metropolis, however you visit around twelve city blocks and a few buildings. You don't feel like you're doing anything. This is a common problem in newer games for me. There is a lot to do, but the scenery doesn't change. I put hours into it and never feel like I've done anything.
It sounds like I'm saying that I don't like DA:O. Well, I wouldn't have finished the game if that were the case. There really is a LOT to do. There's a lot to find, battle, and puzzle in DA:O, it's just that most of it occurs in the same few places. The main quest takes a hours for each step. The story is entertaining, but still a little far-fetched, even for a fantasy game filled with magic.
Something DO:A doesn't allow you to do is get rich. Your money is probably always going to be in short supply. You'll need to keep a close eye on your spending at all times. If you're using tons of health potions, maybe it's time to wonder why you're doing so much dieing rather than hitting 'B' over and over.
Combat... DA:O does combat much in the same way as KoTOR. You tell people what to do and they do it, but it requires little or no skill. You can pause the game at any time by pulling in the left trigger. It will access an ability wheel from which you can navigate to any ability or usable item. Whatever you tell people to do will override what they were going to do.
DA:O uses customizable "tactics" slots for each character. I don't know who started the tactics slots but my first run-in was with FFXII's gambit system. DA:O's tactics are as simple or complex as you want them to be. They can make the game simpler or harder depending on how you tweak them. I quickly found that I loathed the tactics system. Either you needed to use all your upgrades for a ridiculously complex tactics system on each character or you had to change the tactics for each fight. Thankfully most of the time you're fighting 'darkspawn', so it's often safe to forget about the system and let them do their thing.
I never wanted to actually use the tactics since every fight is different. If it's an easy fight I don't want to have my healer casting regeneration spells, just fire away! If it's a hard fight, I want regen, and I want it now! My other problem with the tactics is there isn't a default. If you turn them off, you're guys will just stand around waiting to have their heads smashed in. Sometimes the casters and anyone with a bow will fire away, but that's not predictable.
There are a few fun tactics that work great such as freezing enemies and then trying to get crits on them to shatter them, or casting a blizzard and electrical storm at the same time (add fire and you've got insanity).
So, all in all, the combat can be fun, but it's more likely to be a frustrating experience.
The game content is limited. You'll eventually run out of 'random' encounters and missions and will be forced to continue the plot of the game. I say forced because you can't just run out into the forest to see if there is a grumpy bear with hair on his chest that resembles a rain cloud to slay for more experience. There is a lot to do, but often times not enough to do. It keeps you from really having to grind and helps the game focus on itself.
The game suffers from the same time paradoxes that most games suffer. What you understand to be an urgent error could take theoretically months of travel and nobody notices. Travel is done on an map that shows your progress across the land. I'm not sure if the game is using this time to load since random encounters seem to surprise the system. You'll be watching your team's splotch move along a road and then, "Oh crap! Monsters!". At this point the disc spins up and loads an encounter. I don't hear anything moving during the maps screen, so I have to assume this is an oversight by Bioware.
Another beef I have is that you can only travel back to selected regions, and sometimes it takes forever to get OUT of the travel locations. For instance, you can get inside of Orzammar from the main map, but you have to go through an extra two areas on the way out no matter what. Your trip out takes four times as long as the way in. Also, the Dalish city can NOT be reached via the main map. You have to travel to the forest near the main city and then walk through. It's not as bad as getting out of the dwarven city, but still pretty lame.
I noticed a lot of buzz generated by the item management system. You can only carry a certain number of items. Some are stackable (potions, arrows, etc), others aren't (armor, weapon, etc). It makes sense. The main complaint is that your team can only carry 75 things to begin the game (expandable to 125). I see this one of two ways. You can either carry infinite crap or you can carry realistic amounts of crap. Anything in between just doesn't make sense. Nobody could carry 75 chest pieces of plate armor. They could carry the one they are wearing and maybe another. So, if the game lets me carry 75, it just doesn't make sense. One could argue that it's all back at camp, but when you're in a dungeon crawl... no. Just no.
The graphics are very nice, and the frame rate is consistent (unlike KoTOR). Though my wife rightly pointed out that Orzammar is very plain and boring compared to everything else.
I have a lot of complaints for a game that should have been made 8 years ago, but still enjoyed it (with not as pretty graphics). Baldur's Gate II ruined me on RPGs and I'll probably never get a better open field RPG than BGII. There were a lot of parts that were chores more than they were fun, but overall I did enjoy the game enough to actually beat it and care about the way in which I beat it.
I seriously doubt I'll give DA:O another play through. The time commitment is just too great and payoff isn't there.
No comments:
Post a Comment