Dragon Age

[JrKASperov]

Originally Posted by Luvian Then what RPG has good dialogs? In fact I think off hand these games are the only ones I can think of where you simply play through without stopping to grind levels or items. Which other rpgs do you know of where you never have to stop your progression to amass items and levels before you can proceed?

I was hoping you'd ask me that question. Two simple names which have rocked the foundation of RPG's, and I wish more people would make games by their standards:
Planescape: Torment and Fallout. Sure, you can stop to amass items and levels, but it is not necessary. Both games feature a large amount of optional combat as well, coupled with some of the best dialogues ever written. I can remember lines from Dak'kon and the Master for instance, while KOTOR/NWN/ME etc. leave me dry. BG was okay in this department, Sarevok's lines in the beginning were memorable and of course Jon Irenicus were some of the better dialogues. It is too bad that kind of quality is lacking in the rest of the games mostly.

[SecretMaster]

Ahhhh I totally forgot about the DA thread on this forum. For those who don't know yet, the release date is October 20th. System specs are:

Windows XP Minimum Specifications
OS: Windows XP with SP3
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater
AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater
RAM: 1GB or more
Video: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

Windows Vista Minimum Specifications
OS: Windows Vista with SP1
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater
AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 2.2GHZ or greater
RAM: 1.5 GB or more
Video: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

Recommended Specifications
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

[Luvian]

Originally Posted by JrKASperov I was hoping you'd ask me that question. Two simple names which have rocked the foundation of RPG's, and I wish more people would make games by their standards: Planescape: Torment and Fallout. Sure, you can stop to amass items and levels, but it is not necessary. Both games feature a large amount of optional combat as well, coupled with some of the best dialogues ever written. I can remember lines from Dak'kon and the Master for instance, while KOTOR/NWN/ME etc. leave me dry. BG was okay in this department, Sarevok's lines in the beginning were memorable and of course Jon Irenicus were some of the better dialogues. It is too bad that kind of quality is lacking in the rest of the games mostly.

Sure they are good games, but Planescape had one fixed character and so could take more liberties.

I didn't see anything special in the Master's lines. Nothing that make them stand out any more than those from Balder's Gate II. I can still hear Irenicus voice in my head, and some people still make replays just to hear the characters banter.

Fallout had plenty of random encounters while you travelled the map. And the thugs in Planescape kept respawning for example. How was that any different?

[JrKASperov]

One character in PS:T was necessary for the story. And that character had plenty of customization as 2nd ed. was concerned. Too bad you didn't like the Master's lines, but I suppose you're just saying that for the sake of argument since it is kind of hard to believe: "NORMALS? They brought nuclear death to us all".

Oh gee, a few random encounters that can be avoided with proper skills/running away and thugs that respawn a few times certainly weigh up to the endless hordes you're facing in NWN/KOTOR/ME. Yes you're certainly just saying that and not for the sake of argument. :p

[Ziroc]

Zero Multi-player. A *HUGE* no-no these days. That's gonna kill some sales for sure. Yeah it has a neat editor, but jeez, people wanna play online these days.

It just means DA's life cycle is 6 Months instead of 6 years.
With that aside, It does look kinda cool. We'll see. I'll let ya know when a demo/review copy is sent...

IF they maybe add multi-player with an add-on, I can see DA being the 'true' NWN2 maybe.

[SpiritWarrior]

I didn't even want MPer in the sense of "log on to server and play with 10 people"....just wanted some co-op, is all.

[Kyrvias]

Originally Posted by Ziroc Zero Multi-player. A *HUGE* no-no these days. That's gonna kill some sales for sure. Yeah it has a neat editor, but jeez, people wanna play online these days. It just means DA's life cycle is 6 Months instead of 6 years.

That aside, I mean, even though the BG Games had online, it wasn't really used much, that I recall. I've been party (pun intended) to a few online BG games, but they were more of a hassle than anything.

Assuming the modding community falls in love as I hope, the lifespan of Dragon Age should be long and healthy.

[JrKASperov]

That was in the days some moderate amount of effort was invested in actually making some creative gameplay.

[SpiritWarrior]

BG MPer may have been buggy and kinda unsupported ( I mean, I do recall them patching some issues with MPer back in the day) but it was in there, at least. Just the fact that they made it possible counted as an added something. I have to agree, some dev's are quite lazy and/or greedy.

They say things like "We're focusing all our time on creating an excellent and abundant single-player experience, so we'd prefer to get that right rather than have two modes of play that aren't fleshed out properly". So, then you say "Okay, makes sense, can't wait" and you buy the game, expecting an amazing adventure, and it turns out that it isn't all that. So you're stuck with an "okay" SP-game and no MP aspect, which at the very least least, may liven things up and grant some form of replayability.

Now, of course this is not the case with all develepors and designers. Some truly do deliver an excellent SP experience while omitting multiplayer. And, you feel grateful for it and forgiving because it was worth the investment and time and love that was given to the game. But I have seen the above line in one form or another on many titles and alot more so in recent years.

I do notice however, that MPer is kinda making a comeback. Not MMO play but co-op or LAN type stuff. Many upcoming titles now boast this aspect, as if they finally realized that the old package really worked. I am just surprised to not have it in Dragon Age...I thought for certain Bioware would have it in there. It won't deter me, but it will deter me from encouraging my friends to buy copies because I can't join 'em.

[Ziroc]

I'm sure because of them also making it for the fraking CONSOLE platform is why they didn't add MP. Consoles make the PC version limited many times. even down to the texture resolutions and poly counts. Many times, they game is only as good as the weakest console.

Such innovation.... limited.