Dragon Age: Origins - Page 2

I love how terrified Rain Dog is about buying a game. Like if it's less than fantastic something HORRIBLE might happen.

From what Desslock says this is going to be dialog heavy with not a lot of random minor fights. Instead the combat is comprised of big, complicated, difficult setpieces. Just the way I like it. I can't wait for the whole spell/counterspell/counter-counterspell madness all the while trying to manouver your ranged units away from the enemy's melee units and trying to keep your tank alive long enough to get close to the spellcasters.

As fun as RPGs like Oblivion and Fallout are I'm really looking forward to actually having to plan ahead and vary my combat actions instead of spamming the same two or three things all the way through the game.

My boss got a chance to play this game early and he thought it was pretty badass which surprised me since he doesn't even like RPGs.

Might pick this one up next year if I have time between all the other games coming out. Do you think they'll do a better job on DLC for this title than they did on Mass Effect?

Wouldn't be tough to do. They evidently have some big things planned, DLC-wise, but they're keeping mum on it for the time being. No new races or Origins, though. A new race would also mean a new Origin, which would be way too much work for DLC. It'd require all the old voice actors to come back, have new interactions with the party, and with other people. Also, there'd be all the interactions for all other NPCs that have different interactions per Origin or race, etc.

As far as announced DLC goes, there's the Stone Prisoner (Shale) and the other stuff that comes with the Limited Collector's Edition, but that's coming out on launch day. The reason it was not included on the game disc (for both of the launch-day DLCs) was that, basically, it has to do with the lockdown of content -- the Stone Prisoner is free for everyone who pre-orders, and the Warden's Keep is free for the D2D versions of the LCE (to compensate for not getting the physical goodies the retail LCE includes).

BioWare developer Fernando Melo has indicated there are NPCs who actually sell in-game DLC for the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep.

This freaks me the hell out, though:

Orson Scott Card to write Dragon Age comic book for BioWare.

In the comic, will the same-sex relationships from the game be quickly followed by a punitive twenty years in the electric chair?

That's fucking awesome, I was even going to name drop PoP as my favorite game score of the last few years in my post earlier. This game just gets me more and more amped.

Nah it's not that Brad, I just don't have as many sheckles as I'd like so a game purchase is relatively decent financial outlay on my behalf. As a consequence, a game thats either too short or just plain shit stings a bit.

When did Bioware last make a short or shit game? Ever?

Short main game? Mass Effect. (Didn't make it shitty one scintilla, though.)

No worries on the Dragon Age length-front: Game Informer says that a speed demon could probably finish the game in about 40 hours with little or no exploring, and only focusing on the main quest and skipping all the side-quests. An average first-time playthrough is estimated at around 70 hours.

This is right in Fallout 3 and Oblivion territory -- by contrast, Mass Effect's main quest only clocked in at around 17 hours, with sidequests and UNCs stretching that out to around the 40-50 range.

This is what Martha Stewart used to call A Good Thing™.

Possibly off-topic, but people who skip side-quests probably shouldn't play quest-based games.

Jade Empire was shit.

If you forgot "the" in between "was" and "shit," then yes -- totally, 100% agreed.

No it wasn't. It wasn't as great as the other games but it wasn't shit.

Most gamers only have two modes: it rocked or it sucked. Shades of gray are foreign to them.

Jade Empire is probably their weakest title, but it's still head and shoulders above most developers' best.

I never played Jade Empire, so I can't really comment on that one. I also haven't played that Sonic DS game they made, so maybe that sucked. Every Bioware game that I have played has been awesome though.

That doesn't count, it had Sonic in it.

Yup, ever since Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic's mere presence instantly sucks everything good and replaces it with Ebola. Even blowjobs cannot handle Sonic, much less games.

Nah, the two gamer modes are; you agree with me on a game or you don't.

Orson Scott Card seems to be the go to author for video game related stuff these days.

Jade Empire II is purportedly in some stage of development for the Xbox 360, but it's apparently gotten back-burnered for the moment in favor of BioWare's other stuff on the way (DA:O, Mass Effect 2, and some little MMO about Sith or something).

And whether or not Jade Empire II even ever actually gets made, the first game is an incredibly deep work that's worth revisiting. You only get a narrow scope of the celestial bureaucracy, which intrigued me. The whole spirit-monks theme was awesome, as well as that one forest fox. The whole mythology was extremely well realized. And considering how you didn't really go anywhere in the game but a few cities, I'd love to see a sequel about how the empire is now prospering, and lets you explore outside of the first few towns you ran through.

I'd buy the sequel.

I don't really believe Jade Empire II is still in development. We'd have heard something by now. Still, I may end up being surprised.

The Sonic RPG was pretty good. I didn't get very far (where the fuck do I go now? why will no one tell me? how do I get up there? I don't care enough to do this anymore), and it was a present to the kid, but everything about it seemed real solid. Sonic being a jerk to all his stupid furry friends was good for a couple of laughs (and therefore a solid step above 75% of all game RPG dialog ever).

Jade Empire's kungfu was really fun, but damn would it really have been that expensive to get some Asian voice actors to do the damn thing in Chinese? Don't they have sweatshops for that sort of thing (I kid!)? Listening to Surfer Dude go on about evil martial arts took me out of the game more than a bit, but the setting was imaginative and the fighting technically solid.

I am extremely excited by Dragon Age, and am looking forward to the character creator that drops next week.

Yeah, I'm gonna spend some time holed up with the character-creator too (even though I'm getting the 360 version), just so's I can tinker with shit before I make my first "official" character on Xbox.

By the time the game finally hits, I'll know exactly which Origin I want to go with for my first runthrough.

I am really looking forward to this game, as BG 2 is probably my favorite RPG of all time. The idea going back to team based tactical combat vice the action oriented first person shooters that are all the rage these days has me sold. Just trying to decide to get it on the PC or PS3. I never actually played a game yet on my PS3 (bought it for a blu-ray player) but the idea of big screen gaming has me thinking about buying the game for it. My only concern is that I have a plasma, and even though there is pixel-shift, etc. I still have some concern about burn in. Plus the damn thing is like a space heater after a while. Does anyone prefer PC version to console version (or vice a versa) ?

I can't even imagine playing this one on the xbox. If it's as much a return to old-school CRPGs as they are touting it would just feel weird. I am getting the collector's edition partly for the Mass Effect 2 loot that it comes with so I'm hardly a purist.

As far as the origin stories go, I hope it's more than just window dressing for the tutorial.

Whatever happened with this one Alex? Did you change your mind or are you under an embargo or something?

I'm dying for your trusted opinion sir.

ETA: Just pre-ordered the collectors edition of the game. Now the month long wait.

Whenever there's a choice, I go with the console version. I'm sorry, but whatever extras or control schemes the PC version may have, it can't compete with lounging on my couch in front of a 50" screen and a surround system.

And keep in mind that they've designed this game with cross-platform in mind. They're not going to design a game that "feels weird" on a console.

It's not that it will feel weird, just different. From what I heard a few months ago the PC version will control like Baldurs Gate while for consoles they went for a KOTOR style which fits the gamepad better.

There's going to be free and paid DLC available on launch day for the PC version.

It's for 360 as well.

The Brood Mother. (Not to be confused with "The Broodwich.")


Yup -- "BioWare Plans Years of Dragon Age DLC", thus saith Kotaku, quoting MTV.

Looks like they learned their lesson from the Mass Effect. There's a rundown of the DLC here. But am I right in reading this, that BioWare are gonna be making Shale a free character now? Or is that just for those who get the game at launch, like originally announced? He was supposed to be $15, otherwise.


Agreed -- I no longer have the time to put up with tweaking the living shit out of my PC graphics settings on most games nowadays, if there's a perfectly fine cross-platform port available. Believe me...I can live with a "KotOR-style" control scheme. That's a total non-issue for me. And as Greg mentioned, the big screen and surround sound count for a ton.

The days of console ports being utter zombie crotch-rot are long gone.

Shale is free with the purchase of a new copy of the game. So anyone who buys used will have to fork over some money, unless somehow the used version still has the free code it came with.

Ah, cool. He's going to be in my initial party anyway, one way or the other, so I know I'm covered. Amazon's supposed to be e-mailing folks the download codes within 10 days of shipment, so here's hoping.

Speaking of Amazon, it looks like they've stopping taking pre-orders on the Xbox 360 Limited Collector's Edition, evidently. Are they all spoken for now? I'm not worried...I preordered mine like three months ago (back when it was temporarily $69.99), but still, it makes you wonder if the fence-sitters are now SOL.

You make a good point, and reasons just like those are why I bought Fallout 3 and The Orange Box on the 360. I've always regretted both, and when I decided to do Left 4 Dead on the pc I was satisfied enough with my decision to not look back. It's just my opinion though. I'm not saying that there's a right or wrong answer. There are valid reasons for both sides, but for this and Borderlands I'm swinging PC.

Is Bioware releasing the dev tools like some other games such as Fallout 3, Oblivion, etc? I think every PC single player game should try to do this at all times. It keeps games in the consciousness years after they're released. People are STILL making expansions and add-ons to the Baldur's Gate series and some of the additional content for Fallout 3 and especially Oblivion have been incredible.

20 minute look at Dragon Age at Giant Bomb. Damn I want this game so much. I kept shouting instructions at the guy playing it.

Damn, that demo looks sweet, even though it's the PC version. Speaking of which, Kotaku not long ago put up a piece examining the Xbox 360's control scheme (as opposed to the mouse-driven PC build)...and it's a big "thumbs-up."

Very intuitive, logical, and smooth; taking the requirements of the Xbox configuration and adapting it in a similar fashion to how Ensemble finally nailed it with Halo Wars. I don't think we'll be regretting not picking up the PC version too much, here. Presumably, the PS3 version is gonna be boasting a similar scheme.

Can't wait for this -- only two more days before the Character Creator hits.

God fuckin damnit - as if I wasn't jonesing for this enough as it was.

I am mad that I looked at that video. It is making me want to spend money that I don't have right now.

Absolutely fantastic cutscene up at Destructoid.

http://www.destructoid.com/dragon-ag...s-151777.phtml

Holy sweet Jesus.

That's seriously one of the best game ads I've almost ever seen. In fact, that makes me wonder why we haven't had Dungeons & Dragons:The Motion Picture yet, because if that was the trailer for it I'd be in the cinema opening day.

People usually say 'that looks like it's from a video game" as a rip on a movie trailer, but that's a better trailer than 80% of trailers that Hollywood movies get these days.

Yes I believe the PC version comes with the toolset.

I wish I could forget it too.

Loved the eyeball popping!

Not a Marlon Wayans fan? I wish I could forget it too.

That trailer is pretty damned awesome. I especially loved all the different things the mage was doing, and the fact that the shitty music from all the other trailers didn't make an appearance was also a plus.

So, after watching the 20 minute preview on Giant Bomb, the combat system and game engine reminds me a lot of Dungeon Siege, but with a heavier narrative and blood. While I loved Dungeon Siege, I think if that comparison turns out to be apt, my anticipation is waning. Fucking game has me on a roller coaster of expectations.

Call me a deluded optimist, but I find it hard to fathom that this game won't have something to offer you if the premise sounds at all appealing.

Yeah, I'm not even big on fantasy and trolls and elves and shit, and I'm still probably going to buy this.

What? No. This seemed to me as far away from DS as possible. Don't be fooled by how that guy played. Although you could probably play this way, staying behind throwing a fireball or a heal every once in a while while the tanks autoattack, you'll probably get your ass kicked time and time again.

More like.. Draggin' an Age : Bore-igins.. amirite? Amirite?