DA:O - official caz review *minor spoilers*
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:12 pm
Dragon Age: Origins is an ARPG with bipolar disorder, to summarize for the tl;dr crowd.
I'll start with the good, before I get to the really, really bad. Each area in DAO feels incredibly unique, and the unfolding wonder and danger around each corner keeps it interesting and engaging. Character development and NPC interaction is slow but builds ala KOTOR, and the character feature creation is far better than say, Oblivion or Fallout 3, and the characters don't have creepy vacant gazes like the other two FPS ARPGs I just mentioned, which is nice and didn't cause my girlfriend to constantly comment on how creepy it looked every time I was engaged in a conversation.
The take on dwarven and elvish culture was believable and steady throughout the game, and I think the NPCs reacted the way they should given their culture's background/history and the choices were far better than Ob/F3's "save the kittens" or "rape, murder, and eat the kittens" black and white choices. While the black and white choices exist, many dialogue sequences do make you think for a few moments about how this decision can actually affect the game, although of course, there are times where you really don't give a shit and just keep hitting "X" or the keyboard equivalent to rush the dialogue because you finished reading the subtitles before the voice acting was half over.
Some of the pop culture references were cute like the superman random encounter and the meteor ore you can get afterwards, and reminded me of Fallout 1 and 2, and the only annoyance was towards the end of the game the traveling dwarven merchant popped up about 2 times in 3.
If you enjoyed KOTOR, and possibly to a lesser extent KOTOR 2, then most likely you will be satisfied with DAO, although it's more like a double-stack fast food hamburger meal where it's tasty, but near the end you start feeling guilty and like you should've done something else with your time and money.
Okay, now if you're a fanboy, or don't want any significant spoilers, please STOP READING RIGHT NOW!!!
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...
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Okay, for those of you still here, here's the dirty, the shitty, and the just plain gay (and not in a socially acceptable way)
Once in a while, you just want a quick exit option to the world map. When you have to backtrack through a completely empty area to finish once quest by talking to one NPC or placing a plot item in a glowing, marked quest spot, and then spend another 5-8 minutes *just* running back to the entrance, it's a bit of a pain. When you get to the Mage Tower or the Dwarven Underground, you'll understand. Granted, most of that is optional, but I am guessing that most of the people who will enjoy this game are like me and want to see every quest reward and the contents of each locked chest.
The game tracks the percentage of the game you've completed, and around 75% or so, it starts getting ugly. At one point, I found a prisoner in a cell with multiple dialogue options and tried one branch of that particular dialogue tree. Not being satisified with the outcome, I reloaded and tried again, and this time, the prisoner just *snores*, but continues to go through the animations after you talk to him...very, very strange.
Clipping issues and weapons that just don't get any better. Lockpicking a chest and appearing on the other side of the wall it was pressed against, NPCs who replay a cutscene every time you talk to them, even after you have finished the quest they are a part of, and similar issues really start to show towards the endgame, like the developer was really getting their asses handed to them to finish the game on time and not properly test the bugs. I'm sure it will be rectified in a future Microsoft or PC patch...free of charge, we hope.
Speaking of free of charge, it's nice to see such a high-profile developer charging for downloadable content the day a game is released. The only way to get one joinable character, a suit of plate armor which is almost the best in the game, and the only area where you can store items for free. Now, for RPG packrats like me, an inventory limit is a disgusting thing. In our modern world with giant memory limits, why can't we have unlimited inventory? I'm the kind of person who had a ten-second loading time every time I opened the treasure chest in my home in Oblivion. Immersion just isn't when I'm backtracking out of an area two or three times just so I can sell off the junk I've picked up off of dead bodies. It works in MMOs and even certain select RPGs, but who really fucking cares if I'm carrying around an arsenal in my backpack? I've heard the arguments "It doesn't make sense if a few people can carry around fifty sets of armor!" - true, but I'm carrying around ten sets of plate armor and 99 each of crafting materials so how FUCKING BELIEVABLE IS THAT!?!?!? It's an excuse to force people to purchase DOA new/pre-order, or purchase the content later on shit that should've been in the game when it was released. Discussion finished.
Perhaps one of the most glaring issues with the game is the difficulty curve. Playing through the game on Casual and Normal, I'd like to think I have a bit of perspective on this. If someone disagrees, please say so here. Casual is pretty decent - the boss battles are still ridiculously difficult, like the Broodmother and the High Dragon, but 80% of the game is basically just walking through and hitting the attack button with a few combos thrown in. Normal is anything but - it's the opposite problem. Sometimes, you will find yourself wading through 10 enemies and barely taking a scratch, and the next battle there is a wizard with 2 enemies helping him and it'll take 5 reloads and he's not even a mini-boss! Some of the encounters are near impossible on Normal, which makes the harder difficulty a completely revolting (and frustrating, I'm sure) endeavor.
MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!!!
The final boss battle is a joke. A joke with a really stupid, really bad, really racist, really sexist, really lame punchline.
I spent *literally* 95% of the boss battle just hitting the "A" button to operate various ballistae (which firefox doesn't recognize as a real word, apparently) at each corner to hit the final boss for around 50 damage for 10 minutes or so while my three companions kept all the minions off of me. It was a protracted yet simple battle similar to any minor random encounter I ... encountered in my travels.
END OF MASSIVE SPOILER - DO NOT READ ABOVE!!!
I summarized DA:O earlier but I'll do so in a more wallet-friendly fashion: If you have a friend who bought DA:O, borrow it from them and just pay for the DLC (if you want it). If you've already purchased DA:O - let your friends borrow it and don't let them make the same mistake you (we) already did.
I'll start with the good, before I get to the really, really bad. Each area in DAO feels incredibly unique, and the unfolding wonder and danger around each corner keeps it interesting and engaging. Character development and NPC interaction is slow but builds ala KOTOR, and the character feature creation is far better than say, Oblivion or Fallout 3, and the characters don't have creepy vacant gazes like the other two FPS ARPGs I just mentioned, which is nice and didn't cause my girlfriend to constantly comment on how creepy it looked every time I was engaged in a conversation.
The take on dwarven and elvish culture was believable and steady throughout the game, and I think the NPCs reacted the way they should given their culture's background/history and the choices were far better than Ob/F3's "save the kittens" or "rape, murder, and eat the kittens" black and white choices. While the black and white choices exist, many dialogue sequences do make you think for a few moments about how this decision can actually affect the game, although of course, there are times where you really don't give a shit and just keep hitting "X" or the keyboard equivalent to rush the dialogue because you finished reading the subtitles before the voice acting was half over.
Some of the pop culture references were cute like the superman random encounter and the meteor ore you can get afterwards, and reminded me of Fallout 1 and 2, and the only annoyance was towards the end of the game the traveling dwarven merchant popped up about 2 times in 3.
If you enjoyed KOTOR, and possibly to a lesser extent KOTOR 2, then most likely you will be satisfied with DAO, although it's more like a double-stack fast food hamburger meal where it's tasty, but near the end you start feeling guilty and like you should've done something else with your time and money.
Okay, now if you're a fanboy, or don't want any significant spoilers, please STOP READING RIGHT NOW!!!
...
...
...
Okay, for those of you still here, here's the dirty, the shitty, and the just plain gay (and not in a socially acceptable way)
Once in a while, you just want a quick exit option to the world map. When you have to backtrack through a completely empty area to finish once quest by talking to one NPC or placing a plot item in a glowing, marked quest spot, and then spend another 5-8 minutes *just* running back to the entrance, it's a bit of a pain. When you get to the Mage Tower or the Dwarven Underground, you'll understand. Granted, most of that is optional, but I am guessing that most of the people who will enjoy this game are like me and want to see every quest reward and the contents of each locked chest.
The game tracks the percentage of the game you've completed, and around 75% or so, it starts getting ugly. At one point, I found a prisoner in a cell with multiple dialogue options and tried one branch of that particular dialogue tree. Not being satisified with the outcome, I reloaded and tried again, and this time, the prisoner just *snores*, but continues to go through the animations after you talk to him...very, very strange.
Clipping issues and weapons that just don't get any better. Lockpicking a chest and appearing on the other side of the wall it was pressed against, NPCs who replay a cutscene every time you talk to them, even after you have finished the quest they are a part of, and similar issues really start to show towards the endgame, like the developer was really getting their asses handed to them to finish the game on time and not properly test the bugs. I'm sure it will be rectified in a future Microsoft or PC patch...free of charge, we hope.
Speaking of free of charge, it's nice to see such a high-profile developer charging for downloadable content the day a game is released. The only way to get one joinable character, a suit of plate armor which is almost the best in the game, and the only area where you can store items for free. Now, for RPG packrats like me, an inventory limit is a disgusting thing. In our modern world with giant memory limits, why can't we have unlimited inventory? I'm the kind of person who had a ten-second loading time every time I opened the treasure chest in my home in Oblivion. Immersion just isn't when I'm backtracking out of an area two or three times just so I can sell off the junk I've picked up off of dead bodies. It works in MMOs and even certain select RPGs, but who really fucking cares if I'm carrying around an arsenal in my backpack? I've heard the arguments "It doesn't make sense if a few people can carry around fifty sets of armor!" - true, but I'm carrying around ten sets of plate armor and 99 each of crafting materials so how FUCKING BELIEVABLE IS THAT!?!?!? It's an excuse to force people to purchase DOA new/pre-order, or purchase the content later on shit that should've been in the game when it was released. Discussion finished.
Perhaps one of the most glaring issues with the game is the difficulty curve. Playing through the game on Casual and Normal, I'd like to think I have a bit of perspective on this. If someone disagrees, please say so here. Casual is pretty decent - the boss battles are still ridiculously difficult, like the Broodmother and the High Dragon, but 80% of the game is basically just walking through and hitting the attack button with a few combos thrown in. Normal is anything but - it's the opposite problem. Sometimes, you will find yourself wading through 10 enemies and barely taking a scratch, and the next battle there is a wizard with 2 enemies helping him and it'll take 5 reloads and he's not even a mini-boss! Some of the encounters are near impossible on Normal, which makes the harder difficulty a completely revolting (and frustrating, I'm sure) endeavor.
MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!!!
The final boss battle is a joke. A joke with a really stupid, really bad, really racist, really sexist, really lame punchline.
I spent *literally* 95% of the boss battle just hitting the "A" button to operate various ballistae (which firefox doesn't recognize as a real word, apparently) at each corner to hit the final boss for around 50 damage for 10 minutes or so while my three companions kept all the minions off of me. It was a protracted yet simple battle similar to any minor random encounter I ... encountered in my travels.
END OF MASSIVE SPOILER - DO NOT READ ABOVE!!!
I summarized DA:O earlier but I'll do so in a more wallet-friendly fashion: If you have a friend who bought DA:O, borrow it from them and just pay for the DLC (if you want it). If you've already purchased DA:O - let your friends borrow it and don't let them make the same mistake you (we) already did.
