Post by gamedave on Nov 26, 2009 15:12:34 GMT -5
So, I bought DA: O last Saturday - and spent the rest of the weekend playing it. I played it Monday morning, and Monday night after preparing for the D&D session. I played it Tuesday after you guys left, until 3:30 in the morning. And I played it after I got home from work Wednesday night, and played it straight through the night, until I finally beat it around 7:30 this morning. Then I made a new character and played it for another hour or so.
How well-designed is this game? I did all that despite the fact that I don't even like quest-RPG video games. I've played a couple that were really fun for a while (Summoner, Knights of the Old Republic), then I eventually got bored, and quit less than a third of the way through. And I never stayed up all night playing any of those.
I especially liked the "Casual' play mode, for casual gamers like me, that let you assign pre-designed AI tactics for your companions, but also allows you a lot of room for tinkering, from the general (how aggressive the NPC is, and the role played - defender, controller, healer, etc) to the nitty-gritty of if-then tactics (what type of creature will be targeted with what priority with what attack).
The material on the world and background isn't, honestly, amazing, but it has some interesting and creative elements. I especially like how they portrayed dwarven culture, which is probably going to significantly influence how I portray dwarves and dwarven culture in D&D from now on. It isn't a game world I'm exactly eager to play a pen & paper RPG in, but I'd be interested, unlike some other computer RPG worlds I could mention [cough]WoW]/cough]. And, BTW, Green Ronin games is supposed to be putting out an RPG, but the release date has been pushed back from "simultaneous launch" to "Fall 2009" to "here's some design notes".
greenronin.com/dragon_age/dragon_age_faq.php
How well-designed is this game? I did all that despite the fact that I don't even like quest-RPG video games. I've played a couple that were really fun for a while (Summoner, Knights of the Old Republic), then I eventually got bored, and quit less than a third of the way through. And I never stayed up all night playing any of those.
I especially liked the "Casual' play mode, for casual gamers like me, that let you assign pre-designed AI tactics for your companions, but also allows you a lot of room for tinkering, from the general (how aggressive the NPC is, and the role played - defender, controller, healer, etc) to the nitty-gritty of if-then tactics (what type of creature will be targeted with what priority with what attack).
The material on the world and background isn't, honestly, amazing, but it has some interesting and creative elements. I especially like how they portrayed dwarven culture, which is probably going to significantly influence how I portray dwarves and dwarven culture in D&D from now on. It isn't a game world I'm exactly eager to play a pen & paper RPG in, but I'd be interested, unlike some other computer RPG worlds I could mention [cough]WoW]/cough]. And, BTW, Green Ronin games is supposed to be putting out an RPG, but the release date has been pushed back from "simultaneous launch" to "Fall 2009" to "here's some design notes".
greenronin.com/dragon_age/dragon_age_faq.php