Dragon Age

[Knightscape]

New screen shots

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/682/682217/imgs_1.html

The 5th one really had a BG feel to it.

[Sir Goulum]

Originally Posted by SpiritWarrior Yes, but some have interesting twists and grey areas in place of the usual black and white.

And with a bioware game, it would be silly to think Dragon Age wouldn't follow suit. I just think it's silly to start making assumptions on a game that, at this point, we know very little about.

[JrKASperov]

Originally Posted by Sir Goulum Aren't all RPG's basically a cliche good vs. evil conflict?

PS:T, KOTORII, MotB and Fallout come to mind. Not entirely coincedentally, these are all superb RPG's.

[Albromor]

My concern/curiosity is based only upon the latest trailers and pics that I have seen, but I am wondering what the hardware demands are going to be for this game. I sure hope Bioware paid attention to Crytek and their Crysis game and how the vast majority of gamers didn't have the hardware to run.

It's great to be able to make a cutting edged game but when a large majority of the PC gaming community doesn't have the hardware to run it then cutting edge is moot at best and the $ flows elsewhere.

Knowing Bioware though I think they are smart enough to realize this -- anyway I am hoping they do!

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Well, the little video clip told me absolutely nothing!

Is it turn based combat? Otherwise it will su.. not be good.

[Albromor]

Originally Posted by Variol (Farseer) Elmwood Well, the little video clip told me absolutely nothing! Is it turn based combat? Otherwise it will su.. not be good.

Too true on the video clip; nothing new here that I haven't seen before from other RPG trailer offerings.

Variol, when you say turned based combat are you intending how the Might & Magic series implemented TBC or how the Baldur's Gate series implemented with the pause function?

[JrKASperov]

Originally Posted by Albromor Variol, when you say turned based combat are you intending how ... the Baldur's Gate series implemented with the pause function?

Since when was that turn based? :p

[Luvian]

My point is that the trailer was totally generic. Just good medieval guys being attacked by bad medieval guys. It didn't show anything new, unique or any reason for us to be interested in the game. Remove the name of the evil army and this trailer could be about any medieval game, novel or movie.

Basically I'm disappointed we learned nothing at all except it's going to be in an apparently typical medieval setting.

[Albromor]

Originally Posted by JrKASperov Since when was that turn based? :p

I have read a number of people over several websites that have called the type of combat in BG/NWN as a form of Turn Base. Why? I haven't a clue. I never considered it TB in the least. I just wanted to see what Variol's definition of turn based combat is.

Luvian, I couldn't agree more. I have gone over to Bioware's official DA forums to see fan reaction and unless I am missing something I have yet to read a criticism of the "monmumental" July 9 release of information.

Me thinks they may be clamping down on negativity, but this is only from my limited observation.

Edit Update from 1Up at E3 Preview:

Managing your party uses the classic BioWare pausable combat, where you stop action to queue up attacks. The party AI also allows for you to have multiple battles at once. We saw two party members in one room fighting off a beast while two others carried out another fight elsewhere. Parties will have a maximum of four players -- two fewer than the six possible in "Baldur's Gate II," which Zeschuk says is a compromise that enables them to achieve maximum "graphic fidelity" while also giving players enough "chess pieces" to move around the board. It's not, however, a result of the game design being dumbed down -- an understandable fear held by many PC enthusiasts, given BioWare's recent focus on console games. "It's a balance point," says Zeschuk. "You don't want to get overly detailed. In playtesting, we found that four was a nice number. You can mix it up with different characters but it's still easy enough to control, [yet] still detailed enough that people felt what they were doing was meaningful." Zeschuk also points out that by streamlining the number of characters players control, the team was able to focus on making other aspects of the game more epic: bigger enemies -- a room-filling ogre was shown during the demo -- as well as larger battles with dozens of combatants. "We're going to be mixing it up a little more," he says.

Conclusion:

But really, breaking new ground is not what Dragon Age is about -- and the tactical use of party-based combos, a hallmark of the Baldur's Gate series, looks amazingly fun. We saw a mage drop a grease spell across the floor of a room, which then was lit up by the group's flaming weapons, causing a stunning conflagration that engulfed the enemies. In another spot, one party member paralyzed the baddies while his cohorts picked them off one by one. It's these tactical opportunities and multitudes of different combat possibilities that gave classic RPGs such depth and replayability, and Dragon Age looks to be a truly worthy of the tradition.

[Luvian]

Euh... no. One trick combos are not the reason rpgs have replayability or depth. It's because of the story and setting as well as the numerous paths. I hope they start talking about the story and setting soon.