No Multiplayer in Dragon Age: Origins

I chose "No, not really" only because there wasn't a "no, not at all" option.

 

Exactly what Marceror said. Its refreshing to get a game thats not all about online online online online.

 

Totally agree with Marceror and Rawgrim. People who want multiplayer and online crap can always play Wow.

 

I actually disagree with you. No mulitplayer directly affected my decision (and my brother's) to buy this game. We play Baldur's Gate, BG2, Icewind Dale, IWD2, Neverwinter Nights and NWN2 mutliplayer together all the time. We were very excited to hear about Dragon Age and how they advertised it as "the successor to Baldur's Gate". Even Baldur's Gate has mulitplayer. It was very disappointing to find out that Dragon Age wouldn't allow us to share our gaming experience together. In fact, most of the people we used to play Baldur's Gate 2 with were disappointed upon hearing we couldn't play Dragon Age together. I don't think it affected their decisions to buy the game though because we haven't heard from some of them in awhile.

 

I've gotta wonder if the people who say "If you want to play online, go play WoW" are thinking of MMO-style online play? I think the question means online play like Black Isle games where each person controls specified members, etc. Which is a whole lot different from playing an MMO. I do miss the option, as playing with friends in IWD and BG is a ton of fun. But, in the end it didn't effect my decision to play the game, so I chose "Yes, quite a bit."

 

I agree 100%

 

What Rahkir said.

When it's said online, my first thought is also MMORPG WoW style play (which i'd hate to see in Dragon Age). But when you think about it, it could hardly be an option considering the how campaign oriented it is.

While lack of TCP/IP play hasn't affected me in the least, i do think it's regretable it isn't included.

 

Playing through Baldur's Gate with my wife generated some of my best gaming memories. We're currently splitting our gaming time between a new party in Baldur's gate and Diablo 2 with the Median XL mod. I'm definitely disappointed to see great RPGs like Dragon Age not include multiplayer.

 

I didn't miss it at all. If they had it I have some friends I would've jumped on with, but it's nice to be able to play something close to a traditional RPG for a change where just "I" am the hero. I think the fact that it's single player makes it easier for them to make such a compelling story instead of having just quests to do with other players.

 

Had Dragon Age included a multi-player option, that probably would have required that 1 or 2 developers allocated to other areas of the game be focused instead on the MP development instead. Selfishly, I am quite happy that these resources were not focused on MP development, in lieu of making other parts of the game better, richer, deeper.

As a general rule, based on my personal gaming experiences, I believe that CRPGs can only be great as either multiplayer games or single player games. When they try to offer both, one area, or worse, both areas, suffer. So why not focus on one or the other, and make them the best they can be? BG, BG2, NWN, NW2 are all examples of games where the included multi-player options all left plenty to be desired. Why? Among other reasons it's simply not practical to play through a massive compaign with other human players always attached at the hip.

About the only possible exception I can think of would be games produced by Blizzard. Blizzard doesn't do anything unless they do it exceptionally well, so they could pull this off, I'm sure. Diablo 2 is the best example that springs to mind, because it was always easy to grab a group of players, accomplish 1 or several objectives, and then wrap it up. I enjoyed multi-player Diablo 2 just about as much as I enjoyed single player.