Dragon Age

[stray]

Goodbye mama, now you can have ice cream in heavan! I'll see you again tonight when I go to bed in my head movies. But this head movie makes my eyes rain!

If only he was albino, there'd be a perfect resemblance to Yellowman.

[Segoris]

Goodbye mama, now you can have ice cream in heavan! I'll see you again tonight when I go to bed in my head movies. But this head movie makes my eyes rain!

If only he was albino, there'd be a perfect resemblance to Yellowman.

It looks almost like a perfect replica as is of yellowman at :30 into that video 

[Azazel]

The DLC plan for this game is utter bollocks.

Schild, you are not Challenging Everything and Being Bold.

Yeah, but he is right.

[rattran]

Discuss your Anime perversion in the Den.

[Bunk]

The installer crashes 100% of the time on my Vista-64 machine, right after selecting Express or Custom install (happens with both options).

*sigh*

Weird, installed fine at home on Vista 64.

[AutomaticZen]

Fuck. Steam had the Deluxe Edition mispriced for $54.99 last night.  I was pondering purchasing it...but now they've raised it the real price, $65.  Sadness.

Even if I had, they probably would've raised the price on the pre-purchase.

[Sky]

Fuck. Steam had the Deluxe Edition mispriced for $54.99 last night.  I was pondering purchasing it...but now they've raised it the real price, $65.  Sadness.

Even if I had, they probably would've raised the price on the pre-purchase.

Bah, I almost jumped on that, too.

[Lum]

I *did* jump on it. I wonder if I still get $10 off   

[AutomaticZen]

I *did* jump on it. I wonder if I still get $10 off   

I don't want to know!

Burn in hell, Lum!

[Tannhauser]

Based on the character creator I'm beginning to think DA was done by Bioware's 3rd stringers.  Still, I have a high interest in it.

[Nonentity]

After watching the Giant Bomb quicklook on it, I am somewhat interested.

[Velorath]

Based on the character creator I'm beginning to think DA was done by Bioware's 3rd stringers.

Not even getting into the obviously long development time, it seems pretty clear that the Dragon Age team has had some issues.  Producer/Director Dan Tudge for instance apparently left the team back in April to head up one of Disney's game studios, not to mention the fact the only Bioware game he has a credit on (besides a special thanks credit on Mass Effect) was the Sonic DS game.

[Merusk]

Goodbye mama, now you can have ice cream in heavan! I'll see you again tonight when I go to bed in my head movies. But this head movie makes my eyes rain!

I created a female using about the same slider settings, I think.  I forgot to save it, but it was awful.

I've read articles talking about how DA is going to be "The last great Single Player game" because nowadays Multiplayer is expected and will be focused on to the detriment of the single player experience.  Talk about going out with a gasp and a whimper.

[Tarami]

Isn't that what "they" have been saying since the late nineties?

[Malakili]

All you need to do to find a great single player game is fire up any of the latest generation of MMOs, amirite? 

[stray]

Wait umm.. this is a single player game?

I honestly have not been keeping up. I just thought the contorted Yellowman pic was worth commenting on. Oh, and ladyboys.

I thought this was an MMO, but I was kind of curious why it was in the PC/Console gaming section all this time.

[Malakili]

Wait umm.. this is a single player game?

I honestly have not been keeping up. I just thought the contorted Yellowman pic was worth commenting on. Oh, and ladyboys.

I thought this was an MMO, but I was kind of curious why it was in the PC/Console gaming section all this time.

Nope its a single player game.  Sort of Neverwinter Nights meets Baldur's Gate, from what I can tell.

[Tebonas]

Last single player game my ass. There will always be enough people that don't want to play multiplayer. Either because most online gamers are unbearable to stand for extended lenghts of time, or because ypu don't have enough time to sink into a multiplayer game. I've yet to see the Fantasy MMO that doesn't have timesinks just to extend the supscription time.

[stray]

Last single player game my ass. There will always be enough people that don't want to play multiplayer. Either because most online gamers are unbearable to stand for extended lenghts of time, or because ypu don't have enough time to sink into a multiplayer game. I've yet to see the Fantasy MMO that doesn't have timesinks just to extend the supscription time.

Just about every good experience I've had with RPG's (and most genres for that matter) is single player. I like games with compelling stories that make me push through just so I can get the rest of the story around the corner. That's about all I'm looking for with games.

And the only reason I bring up story is that multiplayer has zero chance of being on the equal level of the above. Social interaction brings about a paradigm shift... Where the game ends up focusing on your "story" in a way - and how you contribute to the rest of the game world, for better or worse. And if all games were like that, then I have no reason to play. Because I don't give a shit contributing in any way whatsoever. Or relying on anyone for that matter. I'm sort of speaking in the abstract, with what I mean by "contributing", but this site goes over this shit enough already that I don't see a need to contribute to the definition any further.  

[Kageh]

I think it originally was meant to have a pretty big multiplayer component. I remember reading an article saying they wanted this to be fully multiplayer capable, but they got cold feet and backed off when they saw what a big thing the MMO business had become. Either that or the in-house competition pulled them back to not compete with products like SW:TOR.

[Stormwaltz]

I think it originally was meant to have a pretty big multiplayer component.

As I recall, the scope of the multiplayer on DA varied over time based on who was guiding the project, and what they were playing at the time.

[stray]

Playing too much WoW is not good for the direction of other game projects.

Glad he quit.  

[Venkman]

I've read articles talking about how DA is going to be "The last great Single Player game" because nowadays. Multiplayer is expected and will be focused on to the detriment of the single player experience. 

It'd be more believable with "on the PC" added. RPGs going to MMO is sorta FPS going to CoD. Not necessarily the death of single-player fun, just more along the lines of "good enough" rather than "the reason for the game to exist".

But single-player RPGs I can see staying for a long time to come on consoles. As others have mentioned, it's the best way to make a game react to a player's actions. And both the Sony wii-wand/sphere/whatever and N'tal practically beg for the sort of RPG Molyneux will be all over. Caginess about N'tal and Fable 3 aside

[stray]

Not an accurate comparison imo. MMO's have very little in relation to the single player experience. It always takes a level of social interaction at accomplishing much of anything with them. With RPG's, it's more about just hoping I'll be given a cool story and experience - and one I can turn on and solve at will.. MY will, that is. I don't have to LFG or build Guilds or play Auctions or worry about everyone else's "will". Nor do I even have to talk to get what I want out of an RPG. I just have to play. And in the rare cases where I can just "play" an MMO and try not to worry about others, it's a drastically poor experience than a single player RPG. They're not even worth playing if you negate the social aspect.

[Venkman]

MMOs are about optional multiplayer for the masses. Yes, the core/vets know to maximize the AH, expect the group-required gates, accept the PvP for what it is. But your off-the-street WoWer wasn't joining for the chance to play with thousands of others. They joined because everyone else was, and then unlocked their dormant need to achieve. And when they hit the group-required cockblock, they either become core, or quit and go solo something else.

But yes, they are basically real crappy RPGs with imperceptible player impact except in the vague economic and guild politics realm. Except for the worldy games of course.

[Merusk]

I buy the premise they're getting at because I constantly find myself in MMO guilds surrounded by folks in their early 20s and younger.  Conversations about games always revolve around "what's the multiplayer like" and for those that don't have it, "What, no multiplayer or co-op?  Not worth my time!" 

We're the old men now, and our tastes aren't what's going to dictate the market any more than they do what's produced for the Wii.   Considering we bitch about Facebook, texting and other social media regularly in other parts of the site I'm more inclined to believe our antisocial natures wishes it weren't so more than our rational selves think it isn't so.

[tmp]

I buy the premise they're getting at because I constantly find myself in MMO guilds surrounded by folks in their early 20s and younger.  Conversations about games always revolve around "what's the multiplayer like" and for those that don't have it, "What, no multiplayer or co-op?  Not worth my time!"

Well, you meet people in player guilds in 100% multiplayer online games who are not interested in single player and/or offline experience. Going from this to conclusion this is all people in general are interested in nowadays... isn't that based on totally skewed sample?

[Venkman]

We don't need a quantitative analysis here to see the obvious. If a game is a single player only game it is either a casual download title in an industry that just got decimated by the Amazon price gouging, a Flash title that'll spread like wildfire for a week and then be forgotten, or the one or two big-ass-budget RPGs that'll launch each year.

Games that existly mostly as lightly-themed game mechanics (FPS, RTS, MMO, Sports) are multiplayer-required and have been for awhile.

I don't think it has anything to do with age either. We're all still playing MMOs. And we'll solo, sure, as will anyone else. But we're there for the same opportunity at socializing as the rest.

[stray]

It might be skewed, but I observe that a lot as well. I don't play mmo's much, or join guilds, but I still observe comments like he mentions. Not all of my acquaintances play MMO's, but the ones that do sound like the above. I see the cute little Nintendo kid down the street morph into a WoW catass. His Japanese consoles collect dust these days. It's sadder than it sounds really.   Other friends who don't play MMO's still get off on the social/competitive nature of FPS's and stuff. It's hard to convince them to check out something else, when once, they played more single player games than I do. Even people I don't know.. Occasionally I might read a review of a game, and hear gamers injecting comments about lack of multiplayer or such, as if that was a negative all the time. I don't know if it's "antisocial vs social" though. I don't consider myself antisocial - I just like the richer storytelling features of single player RPG's, and I don't like depending on anyone.. Or caring for other "social" benefits of MMO's - like popularity, etc..

All that said, I believe I can sort of rest assured that I'll always have a decent pool of RPG's to play - simply because there's a whole country who prefers them and makes them themselves. These are the kind of RPG's I like to play anyways. And if you don't like JRPG's, you're probably shit out of luck. American RPG's on the other hand could very well take a backseat and be replaced with MMO's. I see that already happening and where I see the money going. That still bothers me too though. I hate see good genres die. Some of my favorite types of games suffered the same fate. Space/air combat, TBS, and hell, even Adventure - all pretty much dead.

[Tebonas]

You know I wanted to dismiss this, but then I looked over my RPG collection. And most of the recent story-driven westerm ones were either European or from Bioware.

[Zane0]

JRPGs suck. One of the greatest casualties of the MMO explosion to date is the death-spiral of the sophisticated, party-based, western SRPG. I have managed to subsume my supreme enjoyment of the infinity engine days into 5-man groups, endgame raiding, etc., but the stubborn and recalcitrant can only weep at the devolution of narrative structure, plotting, party mechanics, tactical gameplay, and just about everything else, in the typical industry-standard mmo soloing experience.

As such, although I have nothing but bitter hatred for EA's assfuck marketing campaign I am compelled to hope for the best for Dragon Age; maybe a critical success will shake up the status quo and stop the empty-minded proliferations of 'wow-clone-with-a-twist' we've had forcibly to endure for the past several years.

[stray]

JRPG's are such a broad category that I think there's a good "RPG fix" there for everyone. I can't see how they would suck that badly for someone. I wouldn't go out of my way to change anyone's mind about it either, but at the same time, I think they are shooting themselves in the foot for it. I prefer the typical JRPG's myself i.e. the ones you probably hate. But the one I'm playing now is a better "Western" RPG than anything that's come around in awhile, and it's not even western. If you have a problem with, like, anime or kawaii stuff, there's none of that here. It's a bleak, challenging game.. with plenty of old, balding guys.  

[Big Gulp]

If you have a problem with, like, anime or kawaii stuff, there's none of that here. It's a bleak, challenging game.. with plenty of old, balding guys.  

And almost certainly an incomprehensible plot filled with unnecessary angst from a taciturn, but deep down good-hearted protagonist, yeah?   

I bet you also have random battles that just pop up while you're travelling that then go into turn based "I shoot the foozle", next, "I heal" gameplay, right?  Yeah, JRPG's suck.

[schild]

I bet you also have random battles that just pop up while you're travelling that then go into turn based "I shoot the foozle", next, "I heal" gameplay, right?  Yeah, JRPG's suck.

I'm not gonna defend the gameplay of JRPGs here, but this is exactly what western RPGs are except they require more clicking and more navigation through frightening GUIs.

[Velorath]

I bet you also have random battles that just pop up while you're travelling that then go into turn based "I shoot the foozle", next, "I heal" gameplay, right?  Yeah, JRPG's suck.

I'm not gonna defend the gameplay of JRPGs here, but this is exactly what western RPGs are except they require more clicking and more navigation through frightening GUIs.

Not really.