Dragon Age: Origins

[Charlie]

Picked this up after seeing seeing Synthesthesia mention it's available for £23 form Gamestation and, though only two or three hours in, am greatly enjoying it. The graphics, it must be said, are very disappointing, especially the indoor sections (indeed it almost looks like a last-gen game compared to something like Fable II) but the dialogue and story are brilliant and certainly compensate for the game's questionable aesthetics. Not done too much fighting yet, but it seems very complex and tactical. Still undecided about the interface and menu systems, mind, they seem rather archaic and unnecessarily fiddly.

[abigsmurf]

One thing that's disappointing is that the overall story is pretty bland and lacking in surprises. There's a lot involved in the sub quests and character stories but the basic overall plot is still 'beat the bad guy who is doing evil things because he is just evil!'.

[Charlie]

The main story is the usual save the world from evil critters, yeah, but the way it unfolds is very well done, as are, as you say, the stroies behind the sub-quests. The game has great atmosphere too, thanks in no-small part to The Lord of the Rings style soundtrack.

The graphics are definately the game's main flaw, and while I'd sooner the game looks like it does rather than look pretty and suffer from an Oblivion-like framerate, I'd have much preferred it if Bioware chose to continue the same aesthetic design and style as Baldur's gate. But, alas, everything has to be 3D nowadays, whether it's to the game's benefit or, as in this case, not.

[Charlie]

After a strong beginning, this soon sunk into mediocrity in my opinion. Even the voice talent - definately one of the game's finer points - took a dive with the introduction of American actors. I know the game's set in a fantasy world, not Olde England, but seriously, American accents do NOT belong in games like this. It vexed me in Oblivion and it vexed me in this. American Elves? Please...

[abigsmurf]

The game suffers from a few things that cause it to drag: You quickly max out the abilities that suit your playstyle so that from halfway through, you're spending points on abilities you'll never use.

Not enough loot, towards the end you stop getting equiptment upgrades and only get differing stats.

Some main quests go on way way too long (deep roads are the worst).

No big optional quests. Other than character quests, the only 'optional' quests you get are paid DLC.

No twists in the main plots past the point when the game opens up. Character plots and the three main subquests twist and turn but ultimately the main plot doesn't go any further than

->Open Spoiler<-

get the people together, slay the dragon

[Charlie]

Yeah, parts did drag and that, in my opinion, is a videogame's biggest crime. We play games to be entertained and have fun, not to suffer a chore.

[FelixofMars]

I did try this but unimpressed, the game seemed quite slow and full of dialogue. As some people already said it was fluff more than anything worthwhile or rewarding. Also I felt that the wandering around parts looked dated, I was playing the xbox 360 version but from the third person camera it all felt a little dated and clunky. Funny really as the cutscenes seemed to have enough detail.

[Charlie]

Yeah, the cutscenes were welll done. Not sure being full of dialogue is a fair criticism, mind, it is an RPG afterall.

[rmoxon]

I was checking out a comparison on a website the other day, the 360 version appears to look really horrible and bland compared to the PC and even PS3 versions that just seem to feature a heck of alot more detail. Course they also said the PS3 version has alot of slowdown... so I guess you cant have everything.

[Eight Rooks]

Different strokes and all, but RockPaperShotgun giving this game of the year baffles me. I think Edge were a little hard on it, but not that much - it simply is, is, is mediocre generic fantasy and nothing anyone tells themselves will change that. It's Star Trek level storytelling at best - 'Oh, oh, but it's got the elven alienages!' Where in the game is there anything to explore the idea that this particular bit of worldbuilding is any more than racism is bad, mmmkay? And that's just one example. Same hackneyed, perpetually adolescent art design, same bland dialogue, same misplaced attempts at humour, same videogame cliches that nothing ever happens until it happens to you... I mean, Christ, I'm seriously not holding out much hope Subject Zero or whatever her name is ends up any more than a Linkin Park song made flesh.

Bioware are competent, professional developers devoid of any real imagination for more than five minutes at a time, and people love them because they ramble on, and on, and on about nothing with big words and give you fifty thousand side-quests to complete that don't amount to anything. Dragon Age was comfort food, pure and simple - serviceable, uninspired and completely forgettable.

[angelox]

Bioware are competent, professional developers devoid of any real imagination for more than five minutes at a time, and people love them because they ramble on, and on, and on about nothing with big words and give you fifty thousand side-quests to complete that don't amount to anything. Dragon Age was comfort food, pure and simple - serviceable, uninspired and completely forgettable.

Agreed - but I don't think that Bioware have lost their creative side - I just think its in a different game (ie ME2)

Subject Zero is a bit overused, but hey - its a good talking point. You hate her, or you love her - and maybe when we play the game our opinions will change or her character evolves with our actions (not much of a stretch judging it on previous games), but in a game that sounds like its drenched in nail biting drama almost the entire time, it feels like Bioware are back to form and on par with their previous awesome game, BG2.

[Eight Rooks]

I didn't like Mass Effect as much as most people, certainly not as much as Bioware fans - but I did finish it and found it a lot more interesting than Dragon Age. Not as good as it could and should have been; the only part to make me go 'oh, wow' was the final level, but it still got my attention and made me want to put the effort in. Dragon Age never came close to really impressing me, I was sleepwalking through most of it and I still haven't actually finished a game. I was that bored with it by the climax I spoilt the endings for myself, put it that way, so God knows if I'll ever actually wrap it up.

I found Demon's Souls a far, far better game and a much more inventive and engaging world even with a fraction of the text Bioware wrote and no, that's not just down to me using my imagination to fill in the blanks.

[Number45]

What's the general consensus on the console versions of the game? I'm not interested in which is better, just wanted to know if people generally feel they're worth playing for someone who's already interested in the game? I can't motivate myself to play it on the PC, so I'll pick up the PS3 version when it comes down in price.

[Daragon]

What's the general consensus on the console versions of the game? I'm not interested in which is better, just wanted to know if people generally feel they're worth playing for someone who's already interested in the game? I can't motivate myself to play it on the PC, so I'll pick up the PS3 version when it comes down in price.

It was 18 quid on zavvi last week, best time to get it new is going to be now probably.

[Number45]

&#163;29 is the cheapest at the moment according to Gamestracker, but I'm sure it'll come down again. I'm in no hurry at all, far too much to be getting on with anyway.