"A truly astonishing game. Vast, vivid and microscopically detailed. Dragon Age is the RPG of the decade"
"'But coming out the other end of an epic 80 hours first playthrough, I leave with memories that feel like more than simple events in a game.'"
"The main negative they mention is the difficulty levels. The reviewer says he had to play through some parts on easy and even then there were some incredibly tough battles."
PC Gamer France review 95%:
Quote:
Rough translation: "Old-school gameplay with a fast rhythm and a foregrounding of the story, this title mixes together the best of what BioWare has done in the last few years. The intensity of a Baldur's Gate and the depth of a good book series, what more could you ask for?"
The November issue of PC Gamer Sweden will feature a 13-page* Dragon Age review. Rumoured it's got the highest rating on a game that they have given a game on 4 years.
The reviewer summarizes his review with: "Epic roleplaying game with unsurpassed feeling."
Combined with some of the overwhelmingly positive previews of a 10 hour hands on coming out, this is looking really promising.
Damn. After getting crushed by NWN1 and 2, I so desperately wanted to be jaded and wholly uninterested in this game but the unending stream of trailers, screenshots, and now the damn character editor have done nothing if rekindle my hope....DAMMIT TO HELL MUST PREORDER NOW.
I've got a buddy with a review copy, and I see him playing it all the time over at Steam, so it must be good. He's a huge Baldur's Gate, and P&P fan. Unfortunately he lives in England now, so I can't see it myself.
I am so glad that my hype investment in this game looks like its going to pay off. Hopefully that deluge of shitty sex and violence advertising will be soon forgotten.
Even with the shitty advertising, I had no doubt that Bioware would pull it off. I have never been let down by one of their games, going all the way back to the original Baldur's Gate.
Even with the shitty advertising, I had no doubt that Bioware would pull it off. I have never been let down by one of their games, going all the way back to the original Baldur's Gate.
I can'
t help but worry that this is one of those games which gets hyped to hell by all the gaming press, but after release it turns out it's not really as good as 'they' say it is, and that all the superlative praise heaped up[on it turned out to be bought-for by the PR machine. You all know what I'm talking about here.
As for Bioware's recent track record: Jade Empire was a bust for me; initially interesting, but clunky and boring in the end. Mass Effect started much better, but was ultimate let down by it's cramped-ness (the citadel in the end felt like a tiny little section, especially compared to what it was supposed to be), repetitiveness (utterly boring and same-same-y Mako missions) and lack off replayability (well, let me put it like this: once I'd finished, I really had no motivation to play the game again; I saw what I would have missed playing through as a bad guy, and I just didn't care or think it worth another playthrough).
So even ME, massively praised, I think was worth no more than a 80%/85% score, whereas the press, high on press-junkets, gave it a logic-defying 95%-99% score.
Ah, I could go on, but I guess fanboys need high scoring reviews, and my expectation of a normal scoring curve (60% for a decent game, 80 percent for a good game, 90% and up for that uber-rare, once a year, genre defining game) is out of whack with reality.
And at the end of all that? I strill wonder if Dragon Age, asd a whole, sum-of-its-parts experience, will beat games like The Witcher or even Risen. I'm guessing it won't, hoping it will, but one thing I'm sure of: I'll have to wait for word of mouth on this, as the gaming press can't be trusted and hasn't been trustworthy for years now
And at the end of all that? I strill wonder if Dragon Age, asd a whole, sum-of-its-parts experience, will beat games like The Witcher or even Risen. I'm guessing it won't, hoping it will, but one thing I'm sure of: I'll have to wait for word of mouth on this, as the gaming press can't be trusted and hasn't been trustworthy for years now
Is Risen really THAT good? I haven't played it myself, but it looks horribly clunky and generic. Having tried playing Gothic 2 and giving up due to it's frustrating gameplay, I want to know if there is at least a great story and memorable characters behind the mess?
Well - it's hard to play a game for 80 hours and still not see the full picture of what the title has to offer. Hype is often generated by pre-release videos or from very little game playing. These reviewers seem to have used some hours on the game..
A game like Black&White had fantastic reviews, but after playing for 3-4 hours it quickly lost it's charm. It is looking good for Bioware, if they are still raving about the game after 80 hours! I played Fallout3 for many hours (not 80!) and realized some small shortcomings during play.. if you had asked me after 5 hours, then Fallout3 was the best game ever made!
"Thus begins Dragon age, one of the most enormous and astonishing of games. It's an unashamed high-fantasy RPG, rooted in the most traditional soil, yet set in a highly original world."
"This is not a game that can be simply explained. How does it begin? It begins in six completely different ways, and each of these can be met with a wildly different approach."
"Whether you play as a human, elf or dwarf, a rogue, warrior or mage, a noble or a commoner, Dragon Age requires a smart use of your wits and weapons"
"You can approach combat in a couple of ways, depending upon your personal preferences and the difficulty to which you've set the game. In theory, setting it to easy should let you fight in real-time, where you select opponents and issue instructions from a row of tiled attacks, spells and special items familiar to any MMO player, as the fight happens."
"As you and your party level up, at levels 7 and 14 you get a point to spend on a sub-specialism that opens up new talent trees. A warrior, for instance, can choose to be a berserker or champion, among others. A mage might opt for shapeshifting., allowing her to morph into an animal during battle. A superbly useful talent for a rogue is ranger, which allows you to call an animal to join your party."
"Humans are the dominant race in Ferelden. Dominant in some extremely unpleasant ways. Until a few hundred years ago elves were the slaves of humans. In theory they have been freed, but those who live in cities remain second-class citizens, forced to live in slums, either begging or finding menial work in human houses. A small number of elves broke away to live in the Dales, these "dalish" elves are attempting to recover their lost culture. Bitter and vengeful, they kill all humans who wander into their territory. The dwarves live in the Frostback Mountains. Mages are feared and loathed by all. Your first two hours playing as a human noble will have almost nothing in common with those of a dwarf commoner or Dalish elf. While you're taught the basics of combat, and introduced to party mechanics, the rest is unique."
"Whether you play as a male or female, there are various characters with whom you can fall in love. However this isn't a genderless universe, and a gay relationship will be recognised as such."
"The ending, which is different depending upon how you've played, manages to deliver on the anticipation built up, surprising you with new twists, and creating an appropriate sense of scale."
The reviewer took 80 hours (over the course of 2 months playing it) to complete it with a first playthrough. He goes on to say:
"This is the most enormously detailed game world I've experienced, its history stretching back thousands of years, its cultures vivid, beautiful and flawed, the battles enormous, the humour superb. Roleplaying games now have a great deal to live up to."
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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
The PC Gamer UK review was written by John Walker, one of the four guys behind the excellent site, Rock, Paper Shotgun. When it comes to games journalism, RPS is one of the very few places whose opinion I would trust almost intrinsically. Certainly this is still just one man's opinion, but it's almost without question a genuine opinion, and not the kind of marketing or hype driven review that we're always so wary of.
