Dragon Age: Origins

[dastein]

No topic for this one yet?
All the hype aside, this game is actually pretty good so far (about 6 hours in). Although I'm not a big fan of the combat system (I prefer real turn-based systems), the challenge rating is just about right. Presentation is top-notch, of course (and luckily the game engine scales down quite well), with interesting characters and diverse dialouge options making the story really engrossing. From what I can tell, the linearity is rather strict, but I reckon you don't expect an open game world from Bioware to begin with.
BTW: I think it's interesting to note that DA:O offers an even more limited choice of race/class combos than KotC.

[Demiath]

No topic for this one yet?
All the hype aside, this game is actually pretty good so far (about 6 hours in). Although I'm not a big fan of the combat system (I prefer real turn-based systems), the challenge rating is just about right. Presentation is top-notch, of course (and luckily the game engine scales down quite well), with interesting characters and diverse dialouge options making the story really engrossing. From what I can tell, the linearity is rather strict, but I reckon you don't expect an open game world from Bioware to begin with.

I've played about 3 hours so far, and I wouldn't be a KotC fan if I didn't agree with you on the combat system (nothing beats real turn-based combat done well), which thankfully can be a lot of fun despite the less than ideal, "pause-based" design. The presentation, however, is a mixed bag at best. While the music is some of the best I've heard in a Western RPG in years, the character models are comically stiff and look like they belong in a much, much older game. Also, the overall art design is fairly uninspired, and while Bioware have obviously tried to infuse some grittiness into it all, the effort comes off as pretty half-hearted and pales in comparison with previous attempts at dark fantasy such as The Witcher. What's worse, the endless dialogue in Dragon Age is so wooden it should come with a Flammable warning label (a problem which Mass Effect and Jade Empire suffered from as well). Although some of the story developments so far have been moderately engaging and not completely predictable, none of the actual characters I've met so far have been particularly memorable.

All that being said, I suspect the addictive combat and reasonably deep character development will be more than enough to keep my interest up for at least one playthrough. And as for the game's above average scalability, here's the game running on a computer which technically doesn't even meet the system requirements for playing in Vista:

[Demiath]

BTW: I think it's interesting to note that DA:O offers an even more limited choice of race/class combos than KotC.

By the way, it's my understanding that the class system branches out considerably through unlocking specializations later in the game (a really old school design I think I personally last saw in Wizards & Warriors).

[dastein]

the character models are comically stiff and look like they belong in a much, much older game. Also, the overall art design is fairly uninspired, and while Bioware have obviously tried to infuse some grittiness into it all, the effort comes off as pretty half-hearted and pales in comparison with previous attempts at dark fantasy such as The Witcher.

That's true, the animations are jerky and seem curiously outdated. I also agree on the somewhat forced "dark fantasy" setting, which is hardly convincing - the over-the-top blood spatters make it look like they told a high fantasy artist to come with something especially gritty.
By presentation I meant the overall design of the game's interface. One thing that annoys me, however, is that you can't zoom out enough to see further than a few steps ahead. Only way to look ahead is to zoom in all the way, which is hardly convenient. Thus, it's not a rare occasion that enemies come rushing (or worse, shooting/casting) at you from the distance with no easy way to issue commands to your party members.

What's worse, the endless dialogue in Dragon Age is so wooden it should come with a Flammable warning label (a problem which Mass Effect and Jade Empire suffered from as well). Although some of the story developments so far have been moderately engaging and not completely predictable, none of the actual characters I've met so far have been particularly memorable.

I haven't played Jade Empire (and Mass Effect only for a couple of minutes before realizing it's action-oriented nature), so I can't argue with that. I didn't find the dialogue nor the voice actors that wooden compared to other cRPGs. Then again, I have very low standards.

[dastein]

BTW: I think it's interesting to note that DA:O offers an even more limited choice of race/class combos than KotC.

By the way, it's my understanding that the class system branches out considerably through unlocking specializations later in the game (a really old school design I think I personally last saw in Wizards & Warriors).

Yes, there are four specializations available per class, and in the course of the game each character gets to choose a maximum of two of them.

[Demiath]

By presentation I meant the overall design of the game's interface.

Well, if that's what we're talking about here I agree completely. The interface is certainly very well-designed, efficient and easy to use.

I haven't played Jade Empire (and Mass Effect only for a couple of minutes before realizing it's action-oriented nature), so I can't argue with that. I didn't find the dialogue nor the voice actors that wooden compared to other cRPGs. Then again, I have very low standards.

It's true that CRPG dialogue in general isn't very exciting, but I hold Bioware to higher standards simply because they consistently show more ambition than most developers working within the genre. It's very clear from what they say during interviews (and just from the sheer amount of text in their games) that they desperately want to tell an engaging story and present likable, realistic and memorable characters, but their writers just keep churning out dialogue that's so dull and lifeless that the characters might as well be reciting the phone book. So my advice to Bioware would be this: please drop the pretentious storytelling and/or fire your writers...

[getter77]

Definitely a game rather firmly on my "to get around to buying list" though I suspect it'll be at least a matter of months and highly likely some manner of "Gold" release or some such that corrals what would seem to be indicating a rather...robust...DLC situation. That and actually having the money for it.

[Archangel]

I like it a lot. And I really like the dialogue. I do not see the problem with writers or acting.

In overall quality the game is about the same as The Witcher, both games are better at some things and worse at others.

Combat is pretty challenging which after playing NWN2 for years is something I really liked. Graphics are nice (and the game works OK on medium details on my really old computer P4 3.2ghz Prescott), sounds are nice, story is not really inspiring but I still like it more then most other RPGs that we saw in the last few years.

[Marinx]

For me DA:O just don't "feel right". Whole game is about hack and slash and dialogs with your companions. That would not be a bad thing if combat system isn't really crappy. Those skills, spells, talents are a mess. I don't like it at all. I really blame them for advertising the game - "spiritual successor to BioWare's acclaimed Baldur's Gate ". Yeah right. This isn't a mere shadow of baldur's gate, but that's just my opinion.
I' achieved level 13 in the game but i'm not playing it any more. There is nice option which is called "uninstall"

[Demiath]

I know many people have been able to play through the game without seeing any glitches or bugs at all (except perhaps some initial complications with DLC), but for me the game has quickly degenerated into a nearly unplayable state in which mandatory quests can't be completed and even something as simple as party member dialogue produce extremely weird (we're talking Might & Magic IX level of weirdness) problems, as is evident from the following video:



Although the bugs shown here don't appear to be completely show-stopping, the main quest-specific problems I've encountered which do seem to break the game will probably force me to restart the game with a new character at a later date when Bioware has produced quite a few more patches (the only patch released so far does not seem to deal with any major bugs whatsoever). Oh well, at least I can skip through the boring story bits I've already seen and perhaps develop a noticably better player character...