Dragon Age: Origins

[GrimReality]

I actually agree with Prime. I am VERY interested in how the game looks and FEELS. The screen shots really haven't done much for me. It all looks so...generic. In my own interests, I have grown beyond generic fantasy. Hopefully this pans out to be more than that.
I enjoyed Mass Effect for the sci-fi setting, action-oriented battles, and great dialog. The ridiculous amount of time spent rendering the individual characters was lost on me. I would rather have had that time spent on making the environments more organic and/or artistic. Anyway...My enjoyment of ME is the reason I am interested in Dragon Age. I'll wait and see what you all think before buying it. Then again, a lot of people liked Oblivion, and those types of games bore me to death, so...we'll see.

[Serene Prophet]

Well ive been playing it since I picked it up on Tuesday, did all the origins stories before deciding on a character, and this is an amazingly fun game.  The world is still generic fantasy, yes, but it feels more alive than many others.  Still its a fantasy setting, and one that really doesn't toss things around all that much.  I mean ill put it this way.  If you thought the Witcher mixed it up nice, then yeah this game does, if not, then no.

Obviously comparing the two beyond the setting is something I wont do since they are two different styles of gaming.

I still recommend at least picking up the pc version for 50 if your computer can play it.  Its a great game, and one im more than happy I purchased.

[Fei]

I actually agree with Prime. I am VERY interested in how the game looks and FEELS. The screen shots really haven't done much for me. It all looks so...generic. In my own interests, I have grown beyond generic fantasy. Hopefully this pans out to be more than that.
I enjoyed Mass Effect for the sci-fi setting, action-oriented battles, and great dialog. The ridiculous amount of time spent rendering the individual characters was lost on me. I would rather have had that time spent on making the environments more organic and/or artistic. Anyway...My enjoyment of ME is the reason I am interested in Dragon Age. I'll wait and see what you all think before buying it. Then again, a lot of people liked Oblivion, and those types of games bore me to death, so...we'll see.

I agree with this.  Perhaps having Star Wars' universe at Bioware's disposal spoiled them.  But when it comes down to it, I'm going to love this game, and this is all just mental masturbation.

What could be next for Bioware?  They did generic Sci Fi with ME, now generic fantasy... is the Old Republic MMO going to be their last project for a while, like World of Warcraft was with Blizzard?

[Jet16]

What could be next for Bioware?  They did generic Sci Fi with ME, now generic fantasy... is the Old Republic MMO going to be their last project for a while, like World of Warcraft was with Blizzard?

Bioware has multiple studios and Bioware Austin is the one working on the MMO, so no. The other studios will be working on Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2, the latter I don't know about for sure but it's listed on Wikipedia with a citation.

[magusgs]

In video games, I’m used to developers concentrating on one aspect or the other, and totally ignoring everything else. Many jRPGs suffer from concentrating TOO much on setting, and end up inserting generic/stock narrative. On the flipside, wRPGs suffer from concentrating TOO heavily on complex narrative, while having extremely bland or generic setting. Mass Effect is the only BioWare game I’ve played so far, and at least in that game, I felt like setting was very generic and uninspired, even the citadel.

I've gotten the exact opposite impression.  WRPGs (Bethesda games in particular) often focus overly much on setting and world building, while ignoring characters and narrative.  JRPGs focus on characters and narrative, but have settings that are often silly, simplistic, or inconsistent (insert generic fantasy RPG here).  It's the nature of an open-ended game to focus on setting, while a linear one will focus on characters and narrative.

In any case, I'd say the emphasis in Dragon Age is on characters and narrative, not setting, although they do make an effort to provide plenty of history and background on the world in the codex.  Even in those, however, the history is generally provided as tales of notable characters, not essays on particular topics.

[DM Kyle E. Miller]

Few virtual worlds have been more realistically or fully concieved as that in Dragon Age.

[Blace]

The conversation system is absolutely amazing. Even better than Mass Effect. There's times when I'm actually sort of depressed because I don't know what to pick.

[Lazlowe1984]

Great game.Really enjoying it especially the ending

[Morgenstern]

No game is perfect (except, perhaps, Okami), and DA:O is certainly no exception to that rule. The environments in the game tend to be pretty lackluster, and sometimes out-right bland. Many of the graphics belong to the last gen of gaming...the character models look great, yet move stiffly and sometimes inhumanly. The game isn't as complex as I would have liked, offering only three classes and strictly limiting the origins of particular races (Why can't I play as a human commoner? Why is my human noble a rogue?)

That being said...

I've never played a WRPG so absolutely in love with its own setting than DA:O. That is, by no means, a detriment to the game. The amount of thought that the writers put into this game shows with every sliver of dialogue, every story sequence, even every codex entry. Ferelden is a land with roots so deep it's difficult to fathom that this is only the writers' first foray into this world. From the moment I started as a human mage, to the moment I started again as a Dalish elf just to get a feel for the origin tale, etc, etc, I've never experienced a setting that has so thorouhgly hooked me from the get-go as that in DA:O.

So, in response to other posters' questions about this game's level of immersiveness, know that it is nigh unparralled if you're willing to surrender yourself to it. Read the codex. When an NPC offers to elaborate on the world's history, accept that offer! When your party wants to talk, talk to them like you woul talk to anyone. In this game, you're given the option to roleplay just about any role imaginable, despite its' meager 3 classes. Ultimately, a Human Noble warrior and a Dalish Elf warrior are worlds away, and you'll pick up on that the second the game plops you into their little slice of Fereldon.  These graphics suck, there's no way around it, but the graphics are such a small portion of this package, in comparison to characterization and setting, that you'll seldomly notice.

[Thoren]

DA:O is fucking amazing. The progression of quest from quest is incredibly deep. A character in one of the side-stories may be more or less important depending on your origin story. Unbelievable.

[Prime Mover]

About 7 hours in, just after the part where

Code:

The king and Duncan are killed

So far, I'm enjoying it, but it does feel quite bland. People are saying that you really feel for the characters, but I haven't really yet. I know that in THEORY, the progression seems quite amazing because of the non-linearity and complexity of it, but I can't say I'm enjoying it that much from moment to moment. But I spent the money, so I might as well keep playing and see if it picks up.

[Morgenstern]

About 7 hours in, just after the part where

Code:

The king and Duncan are killed

So far, I'm enjoying it, but it does feel quite bland. People are saying that you really feel for the characters, but I haven't really yet. I know that in THEORY, the progression seems quite amazing because of the non-linearity and complexity of it, but I can't say I'm enjoying it that much from moment to moment. But I spent the money, so I might as well keep playing and see if it picks up.

I thought those opening hours were pretty spectacular, myself. In all honesty, I haven't advanced much past those parts because I keep restarting to play a new origin story.

[Blace]

I've played for 25 hours so far and I'm still loving it. I spent a good 10 hours doing random sidequests and such without even touching the story. I hardly ever do that in RPGs these days because I don't have the time or patience, but Dragon Age is too good. I have been recently complaining about RPGs (mainly JRPGs) being too long, but I'm savoring every minute of this puppy.

[Parn]

My copy still hasn't arrived.  I am suddenly not happy having gone through Amazon.

[Blace]

My copy still hasn't arrived.  I am suddenly not happy having gone through Amazon.

They must be slow this time of year because I ordered a blu-ray last week (got an email saying it shipped last monday) and it still hasn't arrived.