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| nobinobita 659th Post
 
Red Carpet Regular Member
  
    
    
|  "DRAGON AGE" , posted Wed 25 Nov 14:15:
I am having a ton o' fun with this game and thought it warranted it's own thread. Here's what our wise board veteran Ishmael had to say:
quote:
After I saw clip from the game of a hysterically stilted sex scene that featured New Age music and a dwarf who stares blankly into space I realized I was going to have to play the game at some point. I know I'm going to enjoy Dragon Age even if it isn't for any of the reasons the programmers intended.
That was an AWESOME clip by the way. Can't wait to get to that part of the game myself.
I'm a few hours into Dragon Age now. Here's a brief capsule of my background with RPGs. I've played D&D and other pen and paper games for years with a close group of friends. I liked late 80s and early 90s computer rpgs like Eye of the Beholder. I've never really picked up on newer (i hesitate to use this term) Western RPGs because they have a very different flavour than the books and RPGs I grew up with, but I thought I'd give Dragon Age a chance cos of all the rave reviews.
Here are things I find incredibly amusing about the game:
-Characters are constantly covered in blood. The first quest in the game involved killing rats in the pantry. This somehow resulted in an incredible bloodbath, the aftermath of which my character never bothered to wipe off his face, even when greeting his parents and guests in his home. The only time the blood goes away is in far shots, but it reappears in closeups, making it feel like a movie full of continuity errors.
-Awsomely awkward fantasy nomenclature. For instance, knights are called "ser" instead of "sir". One Knight I met was named "Ser Gerry" (say that 10 times fast--hoho!). Another Knight was named Daveth. I hope to meet a Miketh, and a Setheth down the road.
Also, instead of saying "god" they say "Maker". So people are always telling you things like "maker bless you".
-Repeated use of the word "taint". In order to join a secret brotherhood of warriors, I was peer pressured into "drinking of the taint". The all male ceremony was full of gems like "you must embrace the taint!". After fornicating with a bawdy witch, she muses "perhaps your <sexual> endurance stems from the taint within you" (as seen in the above clip).
After spending hours in the world of Dragon Age, I can't decide if this humor is intentional or not, and I don't care, cos it's great either way. The game is so consistently stilted, as if it were scripted by high school neck-beard larpers. And I mean that in a very positive way. These are good gentle people. I've lived among them; there's no malice in my words.
I usually prefer to laugh with something than to laugh at it. But Dragon Age is something special. If you can find joy in Italian Conan Knockoffs, if Troll 2 is one of your favorite movies... If you understand my high praise when I say that Dragon Age is the Quest For The Sword of videogames, then you MUST try out Dragon Age.
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Wed 25 Nov 14:17] |
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| Hagen de Merak 1044th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
 
| "Re(1):DRAGON AGE" , posted Thu 26 Nov 08:09
quote:
I am having a ton o' fun with this game and thought it warranted it's own thread. Here's what our wise board veteran Ishmael had to say:
After I saw clip from the game of a hysterically stilted sex scene that featured New Age music and a dwarf who stares blankly into space I realized I was going to have to play the game at some point. I know I'm going to enjoy Dragon Age even if it isn't for any of the reasons the programmers intended.
That was an AWESOME clip by the way. Can't wait to get to that part of the game myself.
I'm a few hours into Dragon Age now. Here's a brief capsule of my background with RPGs. I've played D&D and other pen and paper games for years with a close group of friends. I liked late 80s and early 90s computer rpgs like Eye of the Beholder. I've never really picked up on newer (i hesitate to use this term) Western RPGs because they have a very different flavour than the books and RPGs I grew up with, but I thought I'd give Dragon Age a chance cos of all the rave reviews.
Here are things I find incredibly amusing about the game:
-Characters are constantly covered in blood. The first quest in the game involved killing rats in the pantry. This somehow resulted in an incredible bloodbath, the aftermath of which my character never bothered to wipe off his face, even when greeting his parents and guests in his home. The only time the blood goes away is in far shots, but it reappears in closeups, making it feel like a movie full of continuity errors.
-Awsomely awkward fantasy nomenclature. For instance, knights are called "ser" instead of "sir". One Knight I met was named "Ser Gerry" (say that 10 times fast--hoho!). Another Knight was named Daveth. I hope to meet a Miketh, and a Setheth down the road.
Also, instead of saying "god" they say "Maker". So people are always telling you things like "maker bless you".
-Repeated use of the word "taint". In order to join a secret brotherhood of warriors, I was peer pressured into "drinking of the taint". The all male ceremony was full of gems like "you must embrace the taint!". After fornicating with a bawdy witch, she muses "perhaps your <sexual> endurance stems from the taint within you" (as seen in the above clip).
After spending hours in the world of Dragon Age, I can't decide if this humor is intentional or not, and I don't care, cos it's great either way. The game is so consistently stilted, as if it were scripted by high school neck-beard larpers. And I mean that in a very positive way. These are good gentle people. I've lived among them; there's no malice in my words.
I usually prefer to laugh with something than to laugh at it. But Dragon Age is something special. If you can find joy in Italian Conan Knockoffs, if Troll 2 is one of your favorite movies... If you understand my high praise when I say that Dragon Age is the Quest For The Sword of videogames, then you MUST try out Dragon Age.
What version are you playing? I'm planning on getting the PC version, but I heard there were some minor bugs, I might wait until those are fixed. Other wise the game looks awesome.
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| Gojira 2564th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
    
   
| "Re(2):DRAGON AGE" , posted Sat 28 Nov 01:13
quote:
Bioware is one of my favourites western developers, I simply loved Jade Empire and Mass Effect but Dragon Age doesn't appeal to me much.
The problem is the setting: the usual, lame, generic heroic-epic-medieval fantasy similar to D&D and Lord Of The Rings that I find really annoying, boring, overused. I'm not complaing about the game, I trust Bioware, but fantasy is simply too similar to itself to make a really good and original setting in a game.
Isn't that kind of the point, though? Bioware plus Dungeons and Dragons equals nerd profit. Yes it's Tolkien, but blame D&D for ripping off LotR and then becoming the basis of just about every western fantasy-themed videogame RPG in the known universe.
shipoopi
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| nobinobita 659th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member
| "Re(4):DRAGON AGE" , posted Sun 29 Nov 03:44
quote:
While Dragon Age sounds amazing for all the right/wrong reasons, kitsch can only get me so far. How is the game engine? Is the battle system any good? Can I make it through the game without having to resort to an FAQ every time I want to adjust my party or equip a new pair of boots? Does the game do a good job at progression or will I have to endlessly go around talking to every damn villager in town to find my next goal?
After the kitsch wears off, you're basically left with an OK rpg. The gameplay is decent, but very simple. You can win every battle by charging in, attacking and healing people when they need to be healed. I'm playing on PS3 and I've heard the PC version has better gameplay, but I'm pretty sure that just means you can do more micromanagement in a battle, but you can probably also just power through everything as in the console version.
The flow of the game is pretty good. It's fairly clear where you need to go and what you need to do. You don't really need an FAQ to breeze through everything. It's not a hard game and the gameplay is not particularly tactical or deep.
After spending more time with Dragon Age here are my impressions:
Cons:
-The game is fugly. Almost Oblivion fugly. This makes it funny, but also makes it less immersive.
-Gameplay is very simple.
-The main character feels like a mannequin throughout the game. Although you are constantly inputing responses and commands and people respond to them, there's never really a sense that your character is even there.
Pros:
-Intentional or not, the game is hilariously kitschy. So much that it's endearing.
-Voice acting is very good, which makes the stilted dialog work.
-This game actually forces the player to "role play". The conversations and story decisions are plentiful and varied enough to give you some degree of freedom in dictating your characters personality. I am having great fun because I fashioned my character after Ron Burgundy, from anchor man. So every time there is a story decision or dramatic moral choice I think to myself "what would Ron Burgundy do?" This is very satisfying, and comes somewhat close to the feeling of playing a pen and paper RPG.
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