Dragon Age: Origins - Armor Games Community

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Austinn

277 posts

Nomad

Posted December 23, '09 6:51am UTC

i dont own it im kinda if-e about not sure if i should get it or not :S

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HiddenDistance

1,310 posts

Peasant

Posted December 23, '09 9:49am UTC

Yes, I own this game.

There are a ton of small, little flaws in the game that when piled together, drive me nuts. It could have been something really special, but for me, it completely flopped.

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Sire

2 posts

Nomad

Posted December 23, '09 8:09pm UTC

I don't own this game, but have been forced to play it countless times. It is minorly flawed, mostly in camera angles, but I found it quite amusing, and very enjoyable. If you enjoyed similar adventure RPGs, I would recommend it.

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oli1234

4 posts

Nomad

Posted December 23, '09 8:15pm UTC

I don't own this game, but have been forced to play it countless times. It is minorly flawed, mostly in camera angles, but I found it quite amusing, and very enjoyable. If you enjoyed similar adventure RPGs, I would recommend it.[i][b]

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Owen135731

2,123 posts

Peasant

Posted December 23, '09 8:16pm UTC

From what i've gathered, there's a game-breaking AI flaw where your teammates totally own all the enemies??

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woody_7007

2,662 posts

Peasant

Posted December 24, '09 8:41pm UTC

There are a ton of small, little flaws in the game that when piled together, drive me nuts.

Such as? I am actually really enjoying this game, although having played it on the pc, have to say it is by far the best version as the combat interfaces are much easier to use.

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Elitemagical

1,207 posts

Nomad

Posted December 24, '09 10:02pm UTC

I should be getting it tomorrow for Christmas, along with Prototype and CoD 6. I completed the first Boulders Gate, and got quite a way through the second and absolutely cannot wait to open up that present tomorrow!

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Aramaean

10 posts

Nomad

Posted December 25, '09 1:03am UTC

DA:O looks like a really good game, although I haven't had the chance to play it, I would really like to play it.

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HiddenDistance

1,310 posts

Peasant

Posted December 25, '09 8:50am UTC

Such as? I am actually really enjoying this game, although having played it on the pc, have to say it is by far the best version as the combat interfaces are much easier to use.

It's the PC version of the game that I've played.

- Loading times seem atrocious from time to time, and not for lack of power under the hood. The game seems poorly coded on that end.

- Despite the performance issues, the game isn't entirely brilliant looking. It's good, but nothing that warrants the issues.

- The in game collision mechanics seem to favour the AI instead of you; so if, say, you are wielding a 2 handed weapon and engaging an opponent, your AI teammates or opponents will literally push you out of the way to engage them with one handed weapons, putting you out of attack range from your target - it's like your character is incapable of standing their ground.

- The travel map is animated with those blood droplets that make getting from one place to another quite tedious as you have to watch the drops *slowly* crawl across the map.

- The game tries to be action as well as strategy in terms of the combat, but when it boils down to it, it's not an action RPG, and the strategic element feels quite limited.

- In a game where virtually every piece of dialogue is voiced, the main character does not speak at all.

- The difficulty in the game varies heavily. Sometimes you fight bosses with one shot kill abilities that wipes your entire party in a few attacks, other times you're fighting swarms of enemies that are completely useless in combat.

- The plot is not particularly unique, and while being one of the better parts of the game, is not spectacular in any way.

- The combat/gameplay is hugely repetitive, and unrewardingly slow.

- The whole blood *everywhere* thing post-combat gets old about the 50th time it happens.

Other then that, there's this inescapable feeling that it was a letdown from where the expectations were. I've played a lot of games like it, and it just doesn't measure up to BG2, or NW2: Mask of the Betrayer to fire off a couple of examples. Not my cup of tea. Not that 'tea' is my cup of tea either. I hate tea.

[quote]Such as? I am actually really enjoying this game, although having played it on the pc, have to say it is by far the best version as the combat interfaces are much easier to use.[/quote]\r\n\r\nIt's the PC version of the game that I've played.\r\n\r\n- Loading times seem atrocious from time to time, and not for lack of power under the hood.  The game seems poorly coded on that end.\r\n\r\n- Despite the performance issues, the game isn't entirely brilliant looking.  It's good, but nothing that warrants the issues.\r\n\r\n- The in game collision mechanics seem to favour the AI instead of you; so if, say, you are wielding a 2 handed weapon and engaging an opponent, your AI teammates or opponents will literally push you out of the way to engage them with one handed weapons, putting you out of attack range from your target - it's like your character is incapable of standing their ground.\r\n\r\n- The travel map is animated with those blood droplets that make getting from one place to another quite tedious as you have to watch the drops *slowly* crawl across the map.\r\n\r\n- The game tries to be action as well as strategy in terms of the combat, but when it boils down to it, it's not an action RPG, and the strategic element feels quite limited.\r\n\r\n- In a game where virtually every piece of dialogue is voiced, the main character does not speak at all.\r\n\r\n- The difficulty in the game varies heavily.  Sometimes you fight bosses with one shot kill abilities that wipes your entire party in a few attacks, other times you're fighting swarms of enemies that are completely useless in combat.\r\n\r\n- The plot is not particularly unique, and while being one of the better parts of the game, is not spectacular in any way.\r\n\r\n- The combat/gameplay is hugely repetitive, and unrewardingly slow.\r\n\r\n- The whole blood *everywhere* thing post-combat gets old about the 50th time it happens.\r\n\r\n\r\nOther then that, there's this inescapable feeling that it was a letdown from where the expectations were.  I've played a lot of games like it, and it just doesn't measure up to BG2, or NW2: Mask of the Betrayer to fire off a couple of examples.  Not my cup of tea.  Not that 'tea' is my cup of tea either.  I hate tea.

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CrimsonVamp

93 posts

Peasant

Posted December 25, '09 3:44pm UTC

To HiddenDistance,

- Loading times are pretty fast for me, it is true that I just got a brand new computer but that means it's a matter of hardware.

- The developers themselves wanted it to be a dark-medieval-RPG, such as Morrowind, not an exceptional colorful world full of special effects.

- You can choose what weapons they can use, and your character does the exact same. I can tell as my main is a warrior who mostly uses 2h.

- Those, what, 10-15 seconds tops didn't bother me. That's very subjective though and can't say much.

- It is not an action RPG at all. It's purely tactic, and as you can see from the difficulty settings, if you want to play realtime the only recommended setting is "easy". Precisely because it was not meant to be so.

- You can pick about 6 different voices for each gender-race combination, making a total of about 36 voices. I dare you dub them all, considering how many different lines you can pick during the game.

- True, that is because your party may be suited for a certain kind of enemy but weak against another. It is up to you to figure which combinations are best.

- It's not unique, true. But that doesn't necessarily make it bad. And being unique doesn't mean being good, either.

- Try increasing the difficulty setting. Being slow is a part of strategy RPGs, by the way.

- It contributes to realism and it obviously gets old when you're used to it, but how is that a problem? Everything gets old.

Now you may have not liked the game, but don't make up flaws that do not exist because of a subjective feeling. Not attacking you or anything, but many people are looking forward to buy this game and are seeking proper advice.

To those I can tell that it's definitely worth it, it's a strategy RPG, NOT action. So yes, expect a rather slow gameplay where fights can last for some time (compared to other similiar games that is). On higher difficulty settings it feels almost as if you were playing chess, in fact. Dialogues are much relevant and have to be carefully listened, as from them you'll choose the path your character will take.

If you're into this sort of thing, then run to the store and don't miss the occasion. It's about time we see a new RPG worthy of that name. Else, save money for something else, because you'll be bored to death after the first ten minutes of gameplay.

That said, good luck.

To HiddenDistance,\r\n\r\n- Loading times are pretty fast for me, it is true that I just got a brand new computer but that means it's a matter of hardware.\r\n\r\n- The developers themselves wanted it to be a dark-medieval-RPG, such as Morrowind, not an exceptional colorful world full of special effects.\r\n\r\n- You can choose what weapons they can use, and your character does the exact same. I can tell as my main is a warrior who mostly uses 2h.\r\n\r\n- Those, what, 10-15 seconds tops didn't bother me. That's very subjective though and can't say much.\r\n\r\n- It is not an action RPG at all. It's purely tactic, and as you can see from the difficulty settings, if you want to play realtime the only recommended setting is "easy". Precisely because it was not meant to be so.\r\n\r\n- You can pick about 6 different voices for each gender-race combination, making a total of about 36 voices. I dare you dub them all, considering how many different lines you can pick during the game.\r\n\r\n- True, that is because your party may be suited for a certain kind of enemy but weak against another. It is up to you to figure which combinations are best.\r\n\r\n- It's not unique, true. But that doesn't necessarily make it bad. And being unique doesn't mean being good, either.\r\n\r\n- Try increasing the difficulty setting. Being slow is a part of strategy RPGs, by the way.\r\n\r\n- It contributes to realism and it obviously gets old when you're used to it, but how is that a problem? Everything gets old.\r\n\r\nNow you may have not liked the game, but don't make up flaws that do not exist because of a subjective feeling. Not attacking you or anything, but many people are looking forward to buy this game and are seeking proper advice.\r\n\r\nTo those I can tell that it's definitely worth it, it's a strategy RPG, NOT action. So yes, expect a rather slow gameplay where fights can last for some time (compared to other similiar games that is). On higher difficulty settings it feels almost as if you were playing chess, in fact. Dialogues are much relevant and have to be carefully listened, as from them you'll choose the path your character will take.\r\n\r\nIf you're into this sort of thing, then run to the store and don't miss the occasion. It's about time we see a new RPG worthy of that name. Else, save money for something else, because you'll be bored to death after the first ten minutes of gameplay.\r\n\r\nThat said, good luck.

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Elitemagical

1,207 posts

Nomad

Posted December 26, '09 1:07am UTC

- Loading times seem atrocious from time to time, and not for lack of power under the hood. The game seems poorly coded on that end.

I have quite high-end hardware, and although it's not a particularly common occurrence, there certainly are times when I do ask myself if it has stopped responding. Walking in and out of taverns and shops seems to be quite a problem recently.

- Despite the performance issues, the game isn't entirely brilliant looking. It's good, but nothing that warrants the issues.

After playing the original versions of Boulder's Gate - not entirely, but quite thoroughly - I realise that these games are not looking for graphics. To be quite honest, I don't really want to wait another year or two for a new Oblivion or Call of Duty. The series offers great storylines, amazing gameplay, and fun combat, and that is what I want - at least the graphics are approvable and won't slow down too many systems.

- The travel map is animated with those blood droplets that make getting from one place to another quite tedious as you have to watch the drops *slowly* crawl across the map.

Like CrimsonVamp said, a few seconds are not going to irritate me as much as the long loading screens that sometimes waste my time with a spinning and intricate wheel, or a small 'Loading' sign in the bottom right hand corner that makes it hard to believe what it says it's doing.

- The game tries to be action as well as strategy in terms of the combat, but when it boils down to it, it's not an action RPG, and the strategic element feels quite limited.

While there is a great element of sending in one of your Grey Warden companions with a massive greatsword, or chucking a massive fireball at your slowly accumulating opponents, it's no way an action RPG. The pause feature is to be used wisely - as aforementioned, this game is hard, and does not give mercy to those whom have not levelled their character enough - and offers a great way to think out a plan.

- In a game where virtually every piece of dialogue is voiced, the main character does not speak at all.

Does such a triviality concern you? Do you absolutely require your character's voice to be acted out. Loading times and technical issues - I understand the concern - but that's a silly thing to call a fault.

- The difficulty in the game varies heavily. Sometimes you fight bosses with one shot kill abilities that wipes your entire party in a few attacks, other times you're fighting swarms of enemies that are completely useless in combat.

Bah, do you want another Oblivion; where all the generous Minotaur level up with you, and every witch and fabled fighter, goblin and skeleton, bear and wolf level up at the same rate as you? BioWare are not going to give you straight-forward action with easy foes. This is a game of tactics where you choose your party based on their specialities and if you can't do something do side-quests like there's no tomorrow for better equipment.

You don't want it easy, and this is certainly not intended to be played in real-time.

- The plot is not particularly unique, and while being one of the better parts of the game, is not spectacular in any way.

Most plots aren't unique. BioWare has made a good job of creating very intriguing and deep characters, and massive lands all that contribute somehow to the story, does that not offer enough?

- The combat/gameplay is hugely repetitive, and unrewardingly slow.

What did you expect? Really.

- The whole blood *everywhere* thing post-combat gets old about the 50th time it happens.

Gah, I can't believe blood on the ground actually concerns you. Do you rip out your own hair and shout at this feature for being such a massive inconvenience to your gameplay? Furthermore, since when did people suddenly stop bleeding once you put a sturdy blade through their chest for the 50th time?

This game is both difficult at times, and sometimes frustrating if you die in the back streets of Denerim for the third time. Like I and CrimsonVamp have mentioned previously, if you're looking to own a game with fast-paced, action-packed fighting and seductively gorgeous graphics, Dragon Age: Origins is probably not - regardless of what you think - the best game you could get.

Battles take a lot of time, looking over your character's specialities and highly trained skills, their arsenal of amazing (or maybe dull and boring old nooby iron) weaponry, what type of armour they're wearing, their skill bonuses, their health and mana and their position. These are all crucial, especially when you're put up against a big dragon or whopping great ogre. If you want to look over every aspect of your character's ability and enhance their skills to follow their interests and talents then you should be getting out in the chilling Winter weather, and getting this game.

The graphics are not exactly vivid and crisp, but if this game grows on you then you will dismiss the slightly bland textures and just get on with the intriguing storyline, and complete the hundreds of side quests. I have not got very far through the game at all, but at the moment I am absolutely itching to get back to it!

[quote]- Loading times seem atrocious from time to time, and not for lack of power under the hood.  The game seems poorly coded on that end.[/quote]\r\n\r\nI have quite high-end hardware, and although it's not a particularly common occurrence, there certainly are times when I do ask myself if it has stopped responding.  Walking in and out of taverns and shops seems to be quite a problem recently.\r\n\r\n[quote]- Despite the performance issues, the game isn't entirely brilliant looking.  It's good, but nothing that warrants the issues.[/quote]\r\n\r\nAfter playing the original versions of Boulder's Gate - not entirely, but quite thoroughly - I realise that these games are not looking for graphics.  To be quite honest, I don't really want to wait another year or two for a new Oblivion or Call of Duty.  The series offers great storylines, amazing gameplay, and fun combat, and that is what I want - at least the graphics are approvable and won't slow down too many systems.\r\n\r\n[quote]- The travel map is animated with those blood droplets that make getting from one place to another quite tedious as you have to watch the drops *slowly* crawl across the map.[/quote]\r\n\r\nLike CrimsonVamp said, a few seconds are not going to irritate me as much as the long loading screens that sometimes waste my time with a spinning and intricate wheel, or a small 'Loading' sign in the bottom right hand corner that makes it hard to believe what it says it's doing.  \r\n\r\n[quote]- The game tries to be action as well as strategy in terms of the combat, but when it boils down to it, it's not an action RPG, and the strategic element feels quite limited.[/quote]\r\n\r\nWhile there is a great element of sending in one of your Grey Warden companions with a massive greatsword, or chucking a massive fireball at your slowly accumulating opponents, it's no way an action RPG.  The pause feature is to be used wisely - as aforementioned, this game is hard, and does not give mercy to those whom have not levelled their character enough - and offers a great way to think out a plan.  \r\n\r\n[quote]- In a game where virtually every piece of dialogue is voiced, the main character does not speak at all.[/quote]\r\n\r\nDoes such a triviality concern you?  Do you absolutely [i]require[/i] your character's voice to be acted out.  Loading times and technical issues - I understand the concern - but that's a silly thing to call a fault.\r\n\r\n[quote]- The difficulty in the game varies heavily.  Sometimes you fight bosses with one shot kill abilities that wipes your entire party in a few attacks, other times you're fighting swarms of enemies that are completely useless in combat.[/quote]\r\n\r\nBah, do you want another Oblivion; where all the generous Minotaur level up with you, and every witch and fabled fighter, goblin and skeleton, bear and wolf level up at the same rate as you?  BioWare are not going to give you straight-forward action with easy foes.  This is a game of tactics where you choose your party based on their specialities and if you can't do something do side-quests like there's no tomorrow for better equipment.  \r\n\r\nYou don't want it easy, and this is certainly not intended to be played in real-time.  \r\n\r\n[quote]- The plot is not particularly unique, and while being one of the better parts of the game, is not spectacular in any way.[/quote]\r\n\r\nMost plots aren't unique.  BioWare has made a good job of creating very intriguing and deep characters, and massive lands all that contribute somehow to the story, does that not offer enough?  \r\n\r\n[quote]- The combat/gameplay is hugely repetitive, and unrewardingly slow.[/quote]\r\n\r\nWhat did you expect?  Really.\r\n\r\n[quote]- The whole blood *everywhere* thing post-combat gets old about the 50th time it happens.[/quote]\r\n\r\nGah, I can't believe blood on the ground actually concerns you.  Do you rip out your own hair and shout at this feature for being such a massive inconvenience to your gameplay?  Furthermore, since when did people suddenly stop bleeding once you put a sturdy blade through their chest for the 50th time?\r\n\r\nThis game is both difficult at times, and sometimes frustrating if you die in the back streets of Denerim for the third time.  Like I and CrimsonVamp have mentioned previously, if you're looking to own a game with fast-paced, action-packed fighting and seductively gorgeous graphics, Dragon Age: Origins is probably not - regardless of what you think - the best game you could get.\r\n\r\nBattles take a lot of time, looking over your character's specialities and highly trained skills, their arsenal of amazing (or maybe dull and boring old nooby iron) weaponry, what type of armour they're wearing, their skill bonuses, their health and mana and their position.  These are all crucial, especially when you're put up against a big dragon or whopping great ogre.  If you want to look over every aspect of your character's ability and enhance their skills to follow their interests and talents then you should be getting out in the chilling Winter weather, and getting this game.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are not exactly vivid and crisp, but if this game grows on you then you will dismiss the slightly bland textures and just get on with the intriguing storyline, and complete the hundreds of side quests.  I have not got very far through the game at all, but at the moment I am absolutely itching to get back to it!

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Elitemagical

1,207 posts

Nomad

Posted December 26, '09 1:12am UTC

That's a pretty big post, sorry if it's a bit too big. I certainly was not expecting that. :P

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Freakenstein

9,502 posts

Jester

Posted December 26, '09 8:13am UTC

If you're into shooters, try Mass Effect. Virtually the Sci-Fi version of the fantasy Dragon Age: Origins. Made by the same company too. I have both and am thoroughly enjoying them :P

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HiddenDistance

1,310 posts

Peasant

Posted December 26, '09 4:12pm UTC

The developers themselves wanted it to be a dark-medieval-RPG, such as Morrowind, not an exceptional colorful world full of special effects.

Doesn't mean the graphics have to be sub-par. This also speaks to my first point on the performance issues. I can run much better looking games on my rig with way better frame-rates. That just smacks of lazy programming.

You can choose what weapons they can use, and your character does the exact same. I can tell as my main is a warrior who mostly uses 2h.

Still no excuse for the character clipping. I should be able to outfit my team the way I want without them charging through and interrupting strikes.

It is not an action RPG at all. It's purely tactic, and as you can see from the difficulty settings, if you want to play realtime the only recommended setting is "easy". Precisely because it was not meant to be so.

You can pick about 6 different voices for each gender-race combination, making a total of about 36 voices. I dare you dub them all, considering how many different lines you can pick during the game.

Right, so instead of doing a few voices well, they do a ton of voices that just chirp off meaningless dribble. You're right - that's way better then having a primary character with a real personality. Look at the difference in Mass Effect with the voiceover.

It's not unique, true. But that doesn't necessarily make it bad. And being unique doesn't mean being good, either.

Not necessarily - but in this case it leans toward it being a bad thing. It doesn't strive to be anything exemplary - it's just pumping out a carbon-copy story; and in an RPG like this especially - story is everything.

Try increasing the difficulty setting. Being slow is a part of strategy RPGs, by the way.

Yes, and as I listed, I've played other RPGs that have a slow pace - but the difference is that they were rewarding, fun, good story, and good writing. It's not just the difficulty setting - the challenges themselves that they present require no real thought to how to approach them.

Now you may have not liked the game, but don't make up flaws that do not exist because of a subjective feeling. Not attacking you or anything, but many people are looking forward to buy this game and are seeking proper advice.

I'm not making up flaws, and I'm insulted that you think I am. Every feeling on a game is subjective as well - including yours. As for people seeking advice, maybe they want some from both ends of the spectrum, and not just "it's awesome, buy it". Not everyone is going to have the same tastes in video games and want to hear balanced perspectives - so don't rag on me just because I didn't like your baby.

[quote] The developers themselves wanted it to be a dark-medieval-RPG, such as Morrowind, not an exceptional colorful world full of special effects.[/quote]\r\n\r\nDoesn't mean the graphics have to be sub-par.  This also speaks to my first point on the performance issues.  I can run much better looking games on my rig with way better frame-rates.  That just smacks of lazy programming.\r\n\r\n[quote]You can choose what weapons they can use, and your character does the exact same. I can tell as my main is a warrior who mostly uses 2h.[/quote]\r\n\r\nStill no excuse for the character clipping.  I should be able to outfit my team the way I want without them charging through and interrupting strikes.\r\n\r\n[quote]It is not an action RPG at all. It's purely tactic, and as you can see from the difficulty settings, if you want to play realtime the only recommended setting is "easy". Precisely because it was not meant to be so.[/quote]\r\n\r\n[quote]You can pick about 6 different voices for each gender-race combination, making a total of about 36 voices. I dare you dub them all, considering how many different lines you can pick during the game.[/quote]\r\n\r\nRight, so instead of doing a few voices well, they do a ton of voices that just chirp off meaningless dribble.  You're right - that's way better then having a primary character with a real personality.  Look at the difference in Mass Effect with the voiceover.\r\n\r\n[quote] It's not unique, true. But that doesn't necessarily make it bad. And being unique doesn't mean being good, either.[/quote]\r\n\r\nNot necessarily - but in this case it leans toward it being a bad thing.  It doesn't strive to be anything exemplary - it's just pumping out a carbon-copy story; and in an RPG like this especially - story is everything.\r\n\r\n[quote]Try increasing the difficulty setting. Being slow is a part of strategy RPGs, by the way.[/quote]\r\n\r\nYes, and as I listed, I've played other RPGs that have a slow pace - but the difference is that they were rewarding, fun, good story, and good writing.  It's not just the difficulty setting - the challenges themselves that they present require no real thought to how to approach them.\r\n\r\n[quote]Now you may have not liked the game, but don't make up flaws that do not exist because of a subjective feeling. Not attacking you or anything, but many people are looking forward to buy this game and are seeking proper advice.[/quote]\r\n\r\nI'm not making up flaws, and I'm insulted that you think I am.  Every feeling on a game is subjective as well - including yours.  As for people seeking advice, maybe they want some from both ends of the spectrum, and not just "it's awesome, buy it".  Not everyone is going to have the same tastes in video games and want to hear balanced perspectives - so don't rag on me just because I didn't like your baby.

offline

HiddenDistance

1,310 posts

Peasant

Posted December 26, '09 4:37pm UTC

Like CrimsonVamp said, a few seconds are not going to irritate me as much as the long loading screens that sometimes waste my time with a spinning and intricate wheel, or a small 'Loading' sign in the bottom right hand corner that makes it hard to believe what it says it's doing.

It's just more loading though - why waste time on animating the map when it could just be spending that time loading the next area?

I realise that these games are not looking for graphics.

Again, I cite my point that better looking games run better then this does - so it begs the question why games with superior graphics run fine when this does not, and has inferior graphics. I'm not a snob for graphics, it's just a point of confusion.

The pause feature is to be used wisely - as aforementioned, this game is hard, and does not give mercy to those whom have not levelled their character enough - and offers a great way to think out a plan.

No kidding - BG was famously difficult in the same regard, and likewise, featured pause functions. You don't think I'm trying to run and gun through this game, do you?

Does such a triviality concern you? Do you absolutely require your character's voice to be acted out. Loading times and technical issues - I understand the concern - but that's a silly thing to call a fault.

I don't see this one as a triviality. I found the voiceover provided in Mass Effect to be quite an engaging feature of the game, and similarly in many other games in this recent console generation & PC titles. Seeing as it was the same development studio, I thought they might continue with that in DAO. They did not, and I found that marginally disappointing.

Bah, do you want another Oblivion; where all the generous Minotaur level up with you, and every witch and fabled fighter, goblin and skeleton, bear and wolf level up at the same rate as you? BioWare are not going to give you straight-forward action with easy foes. This is a game of tactics where you choose your party based on their specialities and if you can't do something do side-quests like there's no tomorrow for better equipment.

No, I hated that feature in Oblivion. Still; having enemies that are capable of insta-killing an entire party in a single encounter is not 'challenging', it's overpoweringly difficult. Tactics don't enter into it when your entire party dies before you have a chance to execute the decisions you made while the game was paused.

Most plots aren't unique. BioWare has made a good job of creating very intriguing and deep characters, and massive lands all that contribute somehow to the story, does that not offer enough?

No, it doesn't offer nearly enough in this case. Just to take a look at some of the other Bioware RPGs - Mass Effect did well for it's storyline, similarly the BG saga was a great and much more unique plotline - as was NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer. With all of the accolades this game received in the form of "RPG of the decade" - yeah, you're damn right I expected more then just the same old story.

What did you expect? Really.

Something more fun then it was. Hey - NWN2 & BG delivered on fun, slow combat. Why couldn't this game?

Gah, I can't believe blood on the ground actually concerns you. Do you rip out your own hair and shout at this feature for being such a massive inconvenience to your gameplay? Furthermore, since when did people suddenly stop bleeding once you put a sturdy blade through their chest for the 50th time?

Coming into this I said very plainly that there were a lot of 'small' things that irritated me after a while, and when asked - I delivered. That was one of the small things.

Let me get something clear too - I'm not saying this is a terrible game, I'm not even saying it was bad; but it didn't live up to the expectation of all of the 10/10 reviews and raving things that everyone seemed to be saying about it. It's okay. And *just* okay doesn't cut it as far as I'm concerned if we're talking about "RPG of the decade". So - I'm cutting it down a notch. It's not as good as everyone seems to think it is.

It's mediocre at best.

[quote]Like CrimsonVamp said, a few seconds are not going to irritate me as much as the long loading screens that sometimes waste my time with a spinning and intricate wheel, or a small 'Loading' sign in the bottom right hand corner that makes it hard to believe what it says it's doing.  [/quote]\r\n\r\nIt's just more loading though - why waste time on animating the map when it could just be spending that time loading the next area?\r\n\r\n[quote]I realise that these games are not looking for graphics.[/quote]\r\n\r\nAgain, I cite my point that better looking games run better then this does - so it begs the question why games with superior graphics run fine when this does not, and has inferior graphics.  I'm not a snob for graphics, it's just a point of confusion.\r\n\r\n[quote]The pause feature is to be used wisely - as aforementioned, this game is hard, and does not give mercy to those whom have not levelled their character enough - and offers a great way to think out a plan.  [/quote]\r\n\r\nNo kidding - BG was famously difficult in the same regard, and likewise, featured pause functions.  You don't think I'm trying to run and gun through this game, do you?\r\n\r\n[quote]Does such a triviality concern you?  Do you absolutely require your character's voice to be acted out.  Loading times and technical issues - I understand the concern - but that's a silly thing to call a fault.[/quote]\r\n\r\nI don't see this one as a triviality.  I found the voiceover provided in Mass Effect to be quite an engaging feature of the game, and similarly in many other games in this recent console generation & PC titles.  Seeing as it was the same development studio, I thought they might continue with that in DAO.  They did not, and I found that marginally disappointing.\r\n\r\n[quote]Bah, do you want another Oblivion; where all the generous Minotaur level up with you, and every witch and fabled fighter, goblin and skeleton, bear and wolf level up at the same rate as you?  BioWare are not going to give you straight-forward action with easy foes.  This is a game of tactics where you choose your party based on their specialities and if you can't do something do side-quests like there's no tomorrow for better equipment. [/quote] \r\n\r\nNo, I hated that feature in Oblivion.  Still; having enemies that are capable of insta-killing an entire party in a single encounter is not 'challenging', it's overpoweringly difficult.  Tactics don't enter into it when your entire party dies before you have a chance to execute the decisions you made while the game was paused.\r\n\r\n[quote]Most plots aren't unique.  BioWare has made a good job of creating very intriguing and deep characters, and massive lands all that contribute somehow to the story, does that not offer enough?  [/quote]\r\n\r\nNo, it doesn't offer nearly enough in this case.  Just to take a look at some of the other Bioware RPGs - Mass Effect did well for it's storyline, similarly the BG saga was a great and much more unique plotline - as was NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer.  With all of the accolades this game received in the form of "[b]RPG of the decade[/b]" - yeah, you're damn right I expected more then just the same old story.\r\n\r\n[quote]What did you expect?  Really.[/quote]\r\n\r\nSomething more fun then it was.  Hey - NWN2 & BG delivered on fun, slow combat.  Why couldn't this game?\r\n\r\n[quote]Gah, I can't believe blood on the ground actually concerns you.  Do you rip out your own hair and shout at this feature for being such a massive inconvenience to your gameplay?  Furthermore, since when did people suddenly stop bleeding once you put a sturdy blade through their chest for the 50th time?[/quote]\r\n\r\nComing into this I said very plainly that there were a lot of 'small' things that irritated me after a while, and when asked - I delivered.  That was one of the small things.\r\n\r\nLet me get something clear too - I'm not saying this is a terrible game, I'm not even saying it was bad; but it didn't live up to the expectation of all of the 10/10 reviews and raving things that everyone seemed to be saying about it.  It's okay.  And *just* okay doesn't cut it as far as I'm concerned if we're talking about "RPG of the decade".  So - I'm cutting it down a notch.  It's not as good as everyone seems to think it is.\r\n\r\nIt's mediocre at best.

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