How would you rate dragon age ?

[Ika]

I'm playing as an evil elf mage asshole this time around. Pretty hard to do, as all your companions are big softies. Even the golum tears up if you're too mean.

Seems to be a serious lack of evil companions in this game, compared to most of Biowares efforts. BG2/BG had lots of evil sifekicks, as did Kotor. It's almost like Bioware realized this and decided to throw in that inane "gift" system to compensate for it.

Slaughter a few peons, piss of Sten, then bribe him back with some gifts.

If only my wife was so easy.

Yeah, no kidding. It's very similar to the NPC style used in Mass Effect (I've never played KOTOR, so I don't know if it's like that too), but with the flaw that your actions affect your companions so much. It sucks that there's so few companions, too - three warriors (five if you include dog + Shale), two rogues, two mages... lame. I think it's really sad that Bioware won't be pursuing D&D ruleset-based games anymore.

 

[Arglebargle]

The idea that a D&D ruleset game is a positive draw makes me shiver...but not with anticipation.

I expect that there may be some more companions showing up in DLC. Though the fact that they have gone fully voiced makes the difficulty of doing that increase by orders of magnitude. Still, if they are adding content, they could piggyback the voice sessions needed on top of whatever else they are doing. Of course, first they'll have to work on getting the DLC to actually work well, as well.

I do plan on playing a 'non suck up' elf and dwarf at some point, but I don't usually go as a villain. Has anyone run across any major changes by going through as a baddie?

 

[zylander]

6/10

For me, Dragon Age is just, ok, in fact the only reason I am playing it is because I have nothing else to play. I feel that Dragon Age is one of BioWares weaker titles; the first KOTOR, Jade Empire and ESPECIALLY Mass Effect were all far superior to Dragon Age. The physical game is fine (graphics, sound, engine and environment) but I am not at all captivated by the story, I just dont care. I play the game when I have absolutely nothing else to do. While I am playing it I feel bored and unentertained and usually only end up playing for about 20 minutes at a time.

I honestly cant tell you why I dont like it because I should. I love RPGs in any setting and I have loved the last three RPGs from BioWare but for some reason I am just not at all into Dragon Age.

 

[coreyb]

to all the people rating it 7 and under. I'm curious what games you have rated 9 or 10 out of 10?

 

[Tequila]

I HATE lockpicking... for whatever dumbass reason I keep running in to chests that require level 4 to unlock (not available until level 12) in areas otherwise accessible to my characters at level 9-10. Those chests I am unlocking seem to contain garbage elm bows, steel small shields or rough leather armor every time... making me think it's time to dump the rogue and stick with the Allister/Sten/Morrigan/Player(mage) combo instead. The double whammy of sub par bow DPS, poor trap pathing (my NPC's like to plow on through them even if the rogue detects them) and bad rewards for lockpicking seem to make the rogue class pointless as anything but a "flavor" choice.

Agree with you on the lockpicking but as for DPS, get Momentum and your rogue turns into a blender of destruction. As long as Alistair is taunting and you are hitting from behind the DPS is amazing against single targets. Rogue is the most fun toon so far for me. A little rough starting out until you get enough skills however. Deathroot Extractfor the extra stuns, traps for AOE damage and stealth. Makes for a fun class.

But overall, I'd give this game a 7.5/10 so far. BG2 being a 10/10 and nothing even comes close to that game.

 

[exar333]

Do you think Dragon Age is a 6/10 because it is just above average out of the games you played this year or out of all the games released this year? I ask because presumably you are self-selecting only quality games to play. Of the 120+ PC games released so far this year it's surprising to me that you would put 40 of them above a game like Dragon Age which was in my top 2 across all platforms.

IMO, gamers are too critical regarding the few good games and too generous regarding all of the terrible games out there. Lots of the posters on these forums will play 20 games in a year and then score them all either 7 or 8. As a result, a grading scale based on a percentage score that leads to almost no gradiation strikes me as not useful compared to a relative ranking scale.

Personally Dragon Age is my second favorite game of the year behind Uncharted 2, and thus I give both a 10/10. I didn't enjoy either as much as I enjoyed Tie Fighter back in the day, but of hundreds of games that I've played there is room for dozens at the 10/10 mark and Dragon Age slides in towards the bottom of the 10's.

+1. (Has any game been/will be more fun than TIE Fighter?)

It's definitely not perfect, but it's an amazing game. Sure, I can think of 10-12 games in the last 15 years that I enjoyed more, but I can also think of hundreds that are not as good.

If Bioware is guilty of anything, it was making BG/BG2 TOO GOOD. I will call myself guilty of comparing their most games with BG/BG2, and how does any game ecplise those? The same was with last year's FO3; FO and FO2 were instant classics, it's so hard to make games better than these.

I can certainly appreciate the chances Bioware took with DA:O and the scope of the game. It's an amazing game in an otherwise very bleak world of good RPGs. It's the best RPG for the computer since Oblivion (yes I loved that too) and sometimes I feel that people on here just like to bitch about games and don't like anything.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I can certainly appreciate the chances Bioware took with DA:O and the scope of the game. It's an amazing game in an otherwise very bleak world of good RPGs. It's the best RPG for the computer since Oblivion (yes I loved that too) and sometimes I feel that people on here just like to bitch about games and don't like anything.

Or, perhaps, people are just so desperate for anything decent, that when an average game finally comes along, they praise it as Game of the Year when in fact, it is very mediocre.

 

[you2]

Or, perhaps, people are just so desperate for anything decent, that when an average game finally comes along, they praise it as Game of the Year when in fact, it is very mediocre.

--

Well as noted at the start of the thread the story telling side is very good; my complaints are more with the 'game' side (mechanics/strategy). A lot, I think, depends on what you want from a game. I thought King Bounty and Space Ranger were quite good; though the story side of those two games are quite lacking. Does that make DA better or worse than (for example) King Bounty? It is a very personal thing; I had a lot of fun with King Bounty gaming portion and must have spent close to 200 hours playing. I will likely play DOa a second time as a different class; but I can't really see playing it over and over since the game portion is not that great; and after seeing most of the story it looses some of the attraction. Still two complete play throughs will be close to 120 hours (I anticipate the second pass to be a bit faster than the first).
--
My disappointment is that DA could have had better gaming mechanics and then you would have had a game with a great story (or in this case story telling) with great mechanics.

Oh well.
(naturally my comments on 'great' gaming and 'great story telling' is very subjective and your view might differ).

 

[zylander]

to all the people rating it 7 and under. I'm curious what games you have rated 9 or 10 out of 10?

If there were any game I would rate a 10 it would probably be Oblivion and Tribes 2 (super old school FPS). Other games that I would give high scores to would be; KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Borderlands, Morrowind and if you want some console games; ODST, GoW and the Prince of Persia games (Sands of Time, WW ect.).

Personally I think Mass Effect was BioWares best recent achievement. The story really pulled me in, I cared about my character and his companions. In Dragon Age I just dont care; the story is uninteresting and what little interest I do have stops at my character, I dont give a shit about my companions, hell, I just noticed that I have a new one and I dont even know where the fuck he came from. So, to iterate myself, I think Mass Effect was BioWares best recent game and I am very much looking forward to Mass Effect 2.

Dragon Age is perfect as an interim game; it provides slight entertainment in between larger titles but as soon as the next big game is released I can easily dump DA without caring to finish.

 

[exar333]

If there were any game I would rate a 10 it would probably be Oblivion and Tribes 2 (super old school FPS). Other games that I would give high scores to would be; KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Borderlands, Morrowind and if you want some console games; ODST, GoW and the Prince of Persia games (Sands of Time, WW ect.).

Personally I think Mass Effect was BioWares best recent achievement. The story really pulled me in, I cared about my character and his companions. In Dragon Age I just dont care; the story is uninteresting and what little interest I do have stops at my character, I dont give a shit about my companions, hell, I just noticed that I have a new one and I dont even know where the fuck he came from. So, to iterate myself, I think Mass Effect was BioWares best recent game and I am very much looking forward to Mass Effect 2.

Dragon Age is perfect as an interim game; it provides slight entertainment in between larger titles but as soon as the next big game is released I can easily dump DA without caring to finish.

I feel the exact opposite about DA:O and Mass Effect. The story in Mass Effect was "meh" and the game was a disapointment to me. DA:O was more engaging to me on a story level. ME seemed like a "generic" Star Wars universe, and too much was rehashed from Kotor 1 and 2.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[zylander]

I feel the exact opposite about DA:O and Mass Effect. The story in Mass Effect was "meh" and the game was a disapointment to me. DA:O was more engaging to me on a story level. ME seemed like a "generic" Star Wars universe, and too much was rehashed from Kotor 1 and 2.

Different strokes for different folks.

The problem is that I SHOULD like Dragon Age, it has all the good aspects that I like in an RPG just for some reason I am not getting pulled in by the story.

 

[a123456]

The problem is that I SHOULD like Dragon Age, it has all the good aspects that I like in an RPG just for some reason I am not getting pulled in by the story.

Eh, it's how it goes. People will call me on blasphemy, but I didn't like BG2 and Planescape even though they are highly touted as awesome RPGs. I also didn't like Oblivion, FO3, and a whole bunch of other games that lots of people like. I did like Jade Empire, ME, KOTOR, and a few others. Sometimes, a game personally hooks you and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Or, perhaps, people are just so desperate for anything decent, that when an average game finally comes along, they praise it as Game of the Year when in fact, it is very mediocre.

Stop trying to tell us we don't like the games we do like. I'm entitled to my opinion, and you're being a douche.

 

[AzN]

Even a good game like Dragon Age isn't going to please anyone. Different strokes for diff. folks. The game was great. The best RPG to come out since Final Fantasy.

 

[you2]

I preferred the 'game' ME and the story telling of DA. I thought the first DLC for ME greatly improved on what was provided with the game 'ME' and i wish the entire story telling portition of ME had followed that first DLC style.

Mind you as a total package I preferred DA over ME simply because the 'story' telling (including character personalities)was more enjoyable. I felt both games were far from 'perfect' and neither were really a '9' in over all 'fun'.

I feel the exact opposite about DA:O and Mass Effect. The story in Mass Effect was "meh" and the game was a disapointment to me. DA:O was more engaging to me on a story level. ME seemed like a "generic" Star Wars universe, and too much was rehashed from Kotor 1 and 2.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

to all the people rating it 7 and under. I'm curious what games you have rated 9 or 10 out of 10?

Half Life 2, Alpha Centauri, MoO2, TF2, UT, Portal, Planescape: Torment, maybe Diablo.

 

[Arglebargle]

At halfway through, I am feeling that DA gets somewhere in the 8-9 range. It's started showing up in my dreams, usually a sign of hooks deeply set.

The games I'd rate at 9-10? Morrowind, Alpha Centauri, CivX, Moo2, Planescape:Torment.

Oblivion gets 4ish, Fallout3 around 6.

Never played BG or its successors. Tried it last year, and the interface drove me away before I could develop any interest.

 

[exar333]

At halfway through, I am feeling that DA gets somewhere in the 8-9 range. It's started showing up in my dreams, usually a sign of hooks deeply set.

The games I'd rate at 9-10? Morrowind, Alpha Centauri, CivX, Moo2, Planescape:Torment.

Oblivion gets 4ish, Fallout3 around 6.

Never played BG or its successors. Tried it last year, and the interface drove me away before I could develop any interest.

You are definitely entitled to your opinion, but it boggles my mind that so many people rate Morrowind so much higher than Oblivion. Combat in Morrowing was TERRIBLE and the leveling-up was no better than Oblivion. I think many people are just more nostalgic about it (not neccessarily you) vs. Oblivion. It almost seems "vogue" to bash Oblivion now, but it was the "second coming" when it was out. Odd huh?

 

[zylander]

I think one of the reasons people rate Morrowind higher than Oblivion is because Morrowind was a HUGE step. Oblivion didnt make the technological leap that Morrowind did. Morrowind was the first of its kind and then Oblivion was just a better looking Morrowind. I think Morrowind is amazing and the only reason I give it a 9.9 is because Oblivion is taking up the 10 spot.

 

[you2]

Quite frankly I did not like either Oblivion or Morrowind. I thought they were just plain mundane.

I think one of the reasons people rate Morrowind higher than Oblivion is because Morrowind was a HUGE step. Oblivion didnt make the technological leap that Morrowind did. Morrowind was the first of its kind and then Oblivion was just a better looking Morrowind. I think Morrowind is amazing and the only reason I give it a 9.9 is because Oblivion is taking up the 10 spot.

 

[Arglebargle]

You are definitely entitled to your opinion, but it boggles my mind that so many people rate Morrowind so much higher than Oblivion. Combat in Morrowing was TERRIBLE and the leveling-up was no better than Oblivion. I think many people are just more nostalgic about it (not neccessarily you) vs. Oblivion. It almost seems "vogue" to bash Oblivion now, but it was the "second coming" when it was out. Odd huh?

I rate Oblivion down heavilly because it failed to deliver what it promised. There was much ballyhooing of its AI, voice acting, etc, and they all failed. Bethesda made the mistake of having the end game being an endless repetition of the same thing: going through portals, fighting demons. It got boring.

Much of the hype was due to reviewers playing for less than ten hours. It took some play-time to come across the problems. Oblivion was also too generic for me; I liked the exotic setting of Morrowind much better. Movement and combat were better in Oblivion, but the level up thing was poorly set up. And Bethesda's continual bug ridden releases and poor record of acknowledgement and fixing of issues came into play as well. In this gaming household, Oblivion wasn't on any of the computers two months after release. Just recently did the full on mod heavy re-install of Morrowind, and it is beautiful. But the movement/combat issues are more evident.

I rate DA:O up because of a number of successful features. Great characterization, stellar voice work, depth of background, spin on the old fantasy chestnuts of elves and dwarves, etc. I am not a huge fan of fully voiced games, but DA does it well. Combat is fine by me, but I am not a fast twitch FPSer, so I can see issues if that's your favored style.

Different tastes lead to different opinions, certainly. Hell, I still fire up Moo3 on occaision, and if there was ever a double dyed dog of a game, that's it. More fun for me than solitaire though. It's an awful game and its faults are numberless, but it's still amusing personally. ;-)

 

[QuantumPion]

DAO is basically NWN2 on steroids. Generic plot, but with awesome characters and voice acting. DAO however has a very highly polished and smooth interface that works great, while NWN2 was garbage that you had to fight with constantly.

All DAO needs is some patching to fix class balance issues and an expansion pack with an original and epic story line along the lines of MOTB to be best game of the decade, IMO.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I loved Oblivion, but once I reached a certain point I realized I would never play it again no matter what. I don't think I could listen to those same three or however many voice actors they used for that game ever again. That high-elf male... ugh. But the worst was the Nord female. Holy Hell a dead pigeon could do a better job than that woman did. I read somewhere that she was the same actress that used to play Wonder Woman on tv in the 60's or 70's, and that she was actually married to one of the Betheseda producers. That at least explains why she was hired, it certainly had nothing to do with her ability/talent.

 

[JoshGuru7]

Or, perhaps, people are just so desperate for anything decent, that when an average game finally comes along, they praise it as Game of the Year when in fact, it is very mediocre.

Perhaps it's just your definitions that are annoying me but exactly half of the games that are released each year are average or better... so they "finally" come around every other release or so. I would LOVE it if Dragon Age was truly an average release this year because that would mean we would have 60 titles that were as good or better.

Half Life 2, Alpha Centauri, MoO2, TF2, UT, Portal, Planescape: Torment, maybe Diablo.

The games I'd rate at 9-10? Morrowind, Alpha Centauri, CivX, Moo2, Planescape:Torment

So of the literally thousands of games that have been released over the last decade or two, the top 20% of the rating spectrum is filled by 8 and 5 games respectively? There's nothing wrong with basing your ratings on the subset of good games that you decided to buy each year, but if you don't take that into account when working backwards you get silly results like this.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

Dragon Age gets about an 8 from me. I just go by how much fun I've had with a game. It's tied with a whole bunch of games, but there's only two that I can say are flat out better: Star Control II and Super Mario Bros. 3.