First Impressions

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This sounds like Fallout3, I played it once and enjoyed it a lot but have never gotten around to replaying it even though there are things I would like to do differently.

 

I clocked the game as a human warrior and am replaying as an elf mage now.

 

That I can't undestand, but will but it down to different taste for different people.
Im still on my first playthrough of DA:O, but I am allready planning my second playthrough, where I will use different NPC's, try to get a different endning, not only for the game, but for several of the quests.

Secondly I prefer the DA world over forgotten realms, forgotten realms is generally cartoonish and filled with silly high magic bs. where DA with its more dark or rather real stories and low magic feels more real to me.

 

In DA Ferelden is a content / country whereas Feraun is the the FR world. The world in DA is Thedas or something like that. From the various discussion I had with the NPCs the rest of the world of DA is not all dark like Ferelden.

As for DA it is not meant to be BG true sucessor for all CRPG gamers. It is what Bioware envisions as the next generation of CRPG that should be comparable to BG in story, NPC back stories, etc...

My current play through I have been befriending Sten instead of Alister and I have learned quite a bit about his people. Between the two plays through I have done there are many, many, many, many ways to continue the story of the NPCs and PC after completing the game. Trust me, with all the possible available future stories Bioware has at least a CRPG for each NPC if it wanted after this game.

 

This is the first game I've purchased in a long time (I game only very occasionally now), and I have to say it's a marvelous game. The world is beautiful and well thought out. The simplified (and superior to D&D IMO) rule system is great and has a lot of potential for new classes, spells and fighting styles in future additions. The level of detail in the battle animations is absolutely tent-pitching. The character creation system is the best of its kind that I've seen. And the romanceable NPCs are actually...well, pretty hot. Simply put, I'm having trouble finding things not to like about this game. I will spend much of the Christmas break on at least 2 playthroughs - finishing my first as a Human Noble Champion (tank), and then my second playthrough will be a dual-wielding Rogue Assassin/Duelist (also probably Human noble).

My only gripe about the game is there are no female Elf NPCs. Personally, I can't see playing through as an elf or a dwarf and doing one of the romances. I can't imagine either Leliana or Morrigan letting a dwarf sniff their panties, let alone fall in love with one. And the Male Elf is so much shorter than the female Humans that he looks (IMO) kind of ridiculous romancing them. I may play a female character at some point to try the Alistaire romance, but that doesn't appeal to me much.

Le sigh. Oh well...I'm sure some DLC will change this in the next year. Until then, I'm thoroughly satisfied with my game. It took everything I loved about the BG series and improved on it. I miss a little of the Forgotten Realms mythos, but when I see how detailed Ferelden is I tend to forget about it.

 

DR,
you can try the Leliana romance with an female elven character. That becomes quite scandalous actually when you meet that duelist in Denerim ...

 

Yeah, I heard about that. The gay options don't really interest me.

 

Fallout 3 gets much better with mods (and I mean much much better); you could check the mod list I've posted if you're interested in playing that game a second time. Dragon Age is different, the story is what matters.

I agree with you. Faerun is a melting pot in which everything has been poured down haphazardly. Compared to Thedas it has no coherence or cohesion. Religion and racism are dealt with in a very believable way in DA.

I've read on the official forum that we were not to expect other NPCs from DLCs, my suggestion would be to use a custom morph that changes the appearance of Leliana or Morrigan to make them look elvish. A purely cosmetic change but that may improve the game for you.

 

I was wrong. I've returned to the Mage Tower and he's there again, with a slightly larger role.

Spoiler

It seemed weird when Owain had speech to say that I was saving the tower. But no, it was this imposter!

Meeting him was quite appropriate. It was in the Fade, so who is to say whether he exists or not? Is he a subconsciousness or my alter ego?

I actually think he was a pretty good approximation to how the real me would have responded to the events. Run away screaming like a girl at first. Then eventually come to my senses and try to do the right thing. I wouldn't go charging in but would plan meticulously and make sure I had what I needed. Then I would fail miserably on account of being pathetic!

 

Yes, I realize that Ferelden is merely a nation of Thedas, and that Faerun is a continent -- the "world" is actually called Abeir-Toril (or simply Toril, for short).

The reason we're comparing a country to a continent is because while we've seen much of Faerun over the years, so far Ferelden is the only part of Thedas that we've seen in detail at this point. That said, if other places in Thedas are a bit more hopeful, that is happy news for future games. I can only take so much "darkness" in my adventure settings. I'd like to see a lot more of Orlais personally, and many hot chicks speaking with french accents!

 

I think the only reason Fereldan seems so dark is the whole situation as it is, Fereldan has recently been freed from occupation by Orlais, only to find itself as country in which the fifth Blight starts and on top of that, it's young king is killed, leaving no heir, so now the country faces civil war.

but we luckely also get to see the "happy" last kingdom (not really last, there is another) of the dwarves, which is my personal favorite part. for once the dwarves doesn't seem like some joke. They really have a rough society, in many ways because it is needed for them to survive. After all, they are constantly fighting a loosing battle against the darkspawn hordes.

 

The setting in Dragon Age is way better than FR. FR has gotten utterly cartoonish in the last few years. I am expecting all the artwork in the sourcebooks to be manga or anime, when 5th edition comes out *shudders*. Wizards of the coast did sell Pokemon cards, before they bought the d&d rights, after all. And the current monster manual looks like a bunch of cards stuffed together in a book form. "Drizzt! i chose you!"...

Anyway, the DA setting seems alot grittier. Alot more mature as well, in many ways. The magic in the world makes more sense too. No waving your hands, and a palace pops up infront of you (actuall d&d spell). Overpowered one too, actually. Just place the palace on the edge of a cliff, tilting, and watch it fall atop of your enemies. Or atop of a city.
Sometimes "less magic", is "more". I feel DA has that. You get powerfull stuff, but nothing over the top, or too "unrealistic", magic in itself being unrealistic of course, but mostly it makes more sense. like its something thats actually possible.

I think i am 80 percent done with the game now. So far I feel its the best rpg in years. Feels abit short, in some ways. Not sure if its a spiritual successor to BG2. But it deffinatly surpasses BG1. Mostly due to the NPC`s. They seem alot more fleshed out than the BG2 ones actually. Maybe too few NPC`s in DA? I would have liked a few more. Maybe an extra dwarf or elf. Can\ t have everything though. Good mix of quests too, even if I didn`t like them all. I would have liked cloaks in the game. only thing i can think of thats missing. they had cloaks in neverwinter 2, wich uses the same engine right? Should have been possible to stuff cloaks into the game. Also the Robes for spellcasters kind of...sucks. They are downright boring.
So far i will give the game an 8.5 out of 10. Hope they make this into a franchise. The setting certainly seems rich enough to hold lots of games.

Merry christmas to everyone on the site!

 

Think about all the programming that when into the game for each origin, sex of the character, and class when you play the game and how it impacts how NPCs react to you. Any more NPC and the game would have been delayed even longer.

The NPCs that you give a lot of gifts too or the ones you keep in the party will have more to say throughout the game, etc...

After playing the game twice now I still have the elf and dwarf origins left to play. I have heard more than once the best origin in the game is the City Elf. I may take that as my next character for a play through.

 

The city elf is awsome and probably the darkest of them all. The comment you can give the king, when he ask why you joined the gray wardens, is one of the best and really shuts him up.

I do however find the dwarven commoner to be the best, just because it has a rather huge impact on the whole Ozzimar part later in the game, on a rather personal level. (oh and I'm a sucker for the dwarves in this game)

 

I don't know who said it, but someone in this thread said that FR was like the melting-pot of all the fantasy stuff... I agree too!
But for me that's the whole point of what I like about FR... I really like the endless possibilities it offers, and the powerful beings that inhabit its world. I like grittiness too (is it spelled right?), but in a fantasy setting I rather prefer a little more colour, rather than too much dark stuff.

This whole thing got me thinking: for sci-fi based fiction I prefer darker things (I like the world of Warhammer 40K a lot), but for fantasy I prefer less sinister backgrounds!

By the way, I'll give DA another chance: I kept the save games and I'm reinstalling it right now

 

I doubt future games will be happier. It's part of the marketing people, they feel they'll sell more this way. So grim is in, at least until consumer sentiments change.

I like the dark setting but I can't help feeling it's not done whole heartedly. It ships with an 18 cert over here but it just has lots of cartoon blood to show for it really. Morrigan actually seems to put on underwear to make love? Maybe that's where I've been going wrong but I don't think that's right. The Witcher has the same cert but uses it properly. I'm not saying I think a game has to have plastic boobies to be enjoyable but if you're determined to make it dark and adult you should do it properly. The constant foul language used in The Witcher does really help to make it more real I think. That's how you expect real people (especially battle hardened scumbags) to talk. DAO seems rather fake in comparison. It's like the posh wannabe thugs getting shown up by Annah in Torment.

Comparing to FR I think IWD, especially 1, is an excellent example of a dark story/setting without an 18 cert. I don't see a lot different between that and DAO. TotL was incredibly bleak to me and I loved it for that, though it is only quasi-official I think.

 

I missed cloaks also. I'm wondering if with the placement of weapons and shields on your characters' backs, including cloaks maybe a much trickier thing to make work right.

 

Who doesn't?

Orlais should make Ferelden look like a pigsty. It doesn't mean that underneath the more glamorous exterior it's not going to be a lot worse. Corruption, decaying morals and decadence... What's not to like?

 

The possibilities for a second game is great. I want to know if they will continue the story of the PC and if they do, will the game play off the selection made in DA:0? If the second game would go off the selections made in DA:O the two games would have to find a way to talk to each other, etc... Hmm... I'm really looking forward to a second game now especially after completing DA:O for the second time.

Is Return to Ostagar available for download yet? I have been waiting since they announced it.

 

I feel I need to post anew on first impressions. Indeed since my first post in which I was a little disappointed, I have, thanks to the enlightened comments on this board, been able to enhance my gameplay, since I missed out on several crucial gameplay aspects (putting people on "hold position" for example...) that have since made the game a lot more enjoyable. Basically the things that really turned me off from DAO have been addressed; it's just the PS3 manual which is very much lacking in details.

My new opinion is that DAO is a very very good game. ALMOST like a BG2 in 3D. The NPC interaction is fantastic, and the tactics for NPCs are pretty well done once you get the hang of it (again here the PS3 manual is way to succinct, as this is crucial to really enjoying the game).

One of the best CRPGs I have played in a while. Don't let an under-detailed game manual get in the way of enjoying this excellent game. Really do seek out help on this forum. You won't regret it.