What did you hate about Dragon Age: Origins?

[Angthoron]

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me of the things I forgot to mention. The story was poor. I guess it's emotionally engaging though, I was after all bored and boredom is an emotion.

Stemming from that is the weird villain. On one hand, yes, there seems to be some motivation, on the other hand, the guy just weakened his own country to strengthen it against an invasion? Yeah, of course, that's how a genius strategist would tackle an issue. This was discussed earlier though so I'll just say something else on the subject.

Stop showing me what the villain is up to! Make the character be present - spying, or using divination magics, or something remotely explaining why I am able to see the villain. This was done well in BG1 - the villain was remotely interesting, and the only way the player would know what Sarevok is up to is through letters and later through talking to other characters. Why change this? Why kill the mystery? Oh, and you not only got to see Loghain, oh no, you also got to see the archdemodragon, too. Yes, that's looking in on both antagonists. Good job.

Combat system = zzzz. Slow. Boring. NWN1 was fun, to me. This is not. Tons of encounters make the combat system look even worse.

 

[Data4]

I actually enjoyed the game overall, enough to play it twice even. I won't go into detail about why, nor is my liking it up for debate. This is subjective and for those of you who hated it, I'm going to do the totally non-Codexian thing of respecting your opinions.

That said, the one thing I hated about the game is Derp Roads. I saved the dwarf hub for last on my second play through because I was by no means looking forward to it.

 

[Angthoron]

If I ever replay DA, it'll be just for the sole virtue of seeing the Derp Roads that I actually didn't even get to :D

 

[Saark]

Stop showing me what the villain is up to!

This is what bugs me in most RPGs. I already can't stand knowing right from the start what enemy I am up to at the end of the game, but exactly knowing what he plans, when he is going to send an assasin after me? Thats just plain stupid. When I start my game I don't wanna be the guy who is going to fulfill the prophecy. I liked the way they did it in IWD where you began dealing with some minor issues like a missing caravan or some orc troubles. Slapping you in the face in the intro with "you are the one who has to save the world" before the game even starts... I just don't like it. Didn't like it in BG2, hated it in DA:O. Atleast you had some other shit to do besides finding Irenicus, who on the other hand had some things to handle himself while giving it to Imoen. Both the Archdemon and Loghain just sit there and wait for you to come, doing practically nothing. Waiting for you to grow in power (which is another stupid thing for some other day) till you are able to overcome the threat they're trying to be. Unfortunately, they're not threatening anybody. I really liked it when I left that village next to the castle to do some other stuff, just to come back and find everything overrun. But here is where the pretentiousness mentioned earlier kicks in, the game wants to give you a reason to hurry up, yet this is the only point in the whole game where leaving a place before you handled everything actually matters. And of course it happens in the first 2 hours of the game.

 

[baronjohn]

And of course it happens in the first 2 hours of the game.

Of course. That's how long game journalists play.

 

[SoupNazi]

Stop showing me what the villain is up to!

This is what bugs me in most RPGs. I already can't stand knowing right from the start what enemy I am up to at the end of the game, but exactly knowing what he plans, when he is going to send an assasin after me? Thats just plain stupid.

Yeah, like in Jagged Alliance 2. Annoying as fuck.

 

[Saark]

Of course. That's how long game journalists play.

I also suppose that's how long Cocks of Duty/Guiturd Hero consolefags play in singleplayer, isn't it?

 

[commie]

what wasn't there to hate?

The origins were pretty good, but it's all downhill from there.

All I played so far were the origins and also the main quest line for about 15 hours, and they were neat enough even if mostly uninspired. I took them as mini adventures. The game would be a lot more interesting and varied if they just made 6 mini RPG tales that maybe come together at the end with each character having a part to play in some final battle, rather than channeling everyone into the same banal storyline. This way maybe Bio would have made a few interesting stories(even if by accident) and not have to rely on filler crap to artificially lengthen the journey.

 

[Jools]

[removed by poster]

 

[Jack]

what wasn't there to hate?

The origins were pretty good, but it's all downhill from there.

All I played so far were the origins and also the main quest line for about 15 hours, and they were neat enough even if mostly uninspired. I took them as mini adventures. The game would be a lot more interesting and varied if they just made 6 mini RPG tales that maybe come together at the end with each character having a part to play in some final battle, rather than channeling everyone into the same banal storyline. This way maybe Bio would have made a few interesting stories(even if by accident) and not have to rely on filler crap to artificially lengthen the journey.

That would certainly add to both replayability and fun. I think it is because this game shows the worst qualities of a Bioware game. Tight corridor-like game levels, choices that doesn't mean anything, bad gamedesign, few enemies, filler combat and shitty combat mechanics all in one game.
Their other games have at least some redeeming features. Baldur's Gate for example was huge and had bearable combat, that somewhat made up for the rest of the games weaknesses. In DA we have nothing that is good, the hyped origins only had an impact on the game for about the first ten minutes or so, the writing is horrible, art-direction awkward at best and about five different enemies in tight corridors.

They had some interesting ideas, that proved more interesting on paper than ingame. Like the fear of mages and the strict laws on magic or the racial issues between humans and the rest.

 

[visions]

BROS MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE GAME WAS THAT I DECIDED NEVER TO PLAY IT LOLOLLLLOL FAGS

Same here, bro. I have little incentive to play anything that I do not think I'd enjoy.

 

[sirfink]

The fact that Bioware really wants to make movies, so they keep giving us mildly interactive RPG-lite cinematic extravaganzas and dating sims.

It's cut-scene, cut-scene, okay now fight!!, cut-scene, conversation, sex scene, now fight!, cut-scene, roll credits.

 

[Sceptic]

The game would be a lot more interesting and varied if they just made 6 mini RPG tales that maybe come together at the end with each character having a part to play in some final battle, rather than channeling everyone into the same banal storyline.

That's a... fascinating idea actually.

Or even better... the 6 mini-tales being each Origin, then rather than being an and/or affair they're all the new recruits that Duncan has been assembling... and they become the party after Ostagar. Could've had interesting stuff like the party splitting up, with say the Dwarves going to Orzammar while the human noble goes to Redcliff and the human mage goes to the circle, each one recruiting maybe temporary party members... sure it completely defies the purpose of the origins, but having them all forced on each playthrough means the game's longer so there's no need to pad it with all the filler... and if there's less replayability because all origins are required, so what? It's not as if the damn game is replayable with all the filler anyway...

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Yeah, that sounds like it could help liven up the game a lot. Basically each Origin being its own storyline that only intersects with the other Origins right before you join the wardens and at the endgame after all the work with forging the alliances has been done.

Not something I think Bioware would do, though. Can't have content locked off because of a characters Origin can we? And clearly the emotional engagement of a game is directly correlated with how many trash mobs you killed.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Guess what Vince&ITS is doing with AoD?

 

[Sceptic]

Guess what Vince&ITS is doing with AoD?

..........

 

[commie]

Yeah that's kind of how I imagined it would be: you play all the 6 characters in the same playthrough(can pick what order, as people like such false choice ), get a bit of the plot from each characters point of view, then meet up to form the Fellowship of the ring party which then spends the next third of the game adventuring together (for all the buttsex) until the BIG BAD confrontation at the end. So half f the game would be individual stories and maybe later temporary splitting up for this or that reason, and half as a traditional 'hero group'. This way you'd have maybe different challenges in combat when you're a specialist character, maybe with a handful of fodder as teammates, rather than the same hero group tactic when together.
It's strange; Bio went to the trouble to make all these Origins, and then just did a cutpasta of mostly uninspired filler for the main game with the Origins barely noticeable and making 5 of them moot for a playthrough which is idiotic. Making all the Origins mandatory and part of the same main game would have really allowed for cutting most of the crap from the main game and made for a much more varied experience.


Hmm if AoD is doing this then it's another reason that it will be the RPG of the century...(behind Grimoire which is game of the millenium)

 

[Admiral jimbob]

The game would be a lot more interesting and varied if they just made 6 mini RPG tales that maybe come together at the end with each character having a part to play in some final battle, rather than channeling everyone into the same banal storyline.

That's a... fascinating idea actually.

Live a Live for the SNES actually did this. Obviously, being from Japan, the plot was a bit more insane; the seven storylines only converged at the end, being set in entirely different time periods until then. The last playable character (first are selectable in whatever order you like) goes evil in what I have to say was a great, fun subversion of a typical high fantasy rescue-the-princess tale and decides to destroy the world. All the other characters can then team up, with your party comprised of four of your choice, and set out to stop him.
Alternately, if you didn't like them, you could select the villain to start the final chapter with and either kill them off one by one or use the armageddon spell, which did what you might expect.

That was a pretty cool game. Like Saga Frontier except not boring, and the scenarios were different and bite-sized enough (you could even totally avoid combat in one or two, with appropriate ~C&C~) not to get as immensely dull as normal JRPGs inevitably do.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

DA is way worse than Oblivion.

Agreed. The worse thing about Oblivion was the scaling. DA's scaling pimped slapped Oblivion's.

 

[racofer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_qKmrFPiXU&feature=related

I wish most of the game had an ambiance music such as this one instead of the "epic" sound tracks.

 

[santino27]

I hated:
the combat
the levelling mechanics
the dialogue
the storyline
the itemization
the setting

I thought some of the characters were okay, while others sucked, but cannot say I hated them all unilaterally.

 

[Decado]

I liked the combat in DA. It was -- at first -- actually difficult. It didn't reward you for button mashing. That fight with ogre in the tower right in the beginning was fucking hard on the first playthrough. I liked that I was actually being punished for doing dumb shit.

Things I hated include:

The completely boring loot. If you roll a sword/board you basically grind out the game to keep improving your weapon/shield, but there's a defined, sequential way. You know after you get out of your Origin (human noble) go to Lothering and get Oathkeeper. Then go get Asturian's Might or Starfang or whatever. Their loot mechanics essentially made all weapons that weren't magical (and magical ones were easy to get) completely worthless. All you could do was sell them. So why bother? Why not just give out gold instead? That's all you can do with the damn things anyways.

Armor was even worse. Once you get out of Lothering you can start collecting armor sets that make everything else you come across a waste of your time. Oh shit grey iron splint mail oh wait never mind, I have a chest piece that gives Darkspawn the clap, not worth changing.

Combat is the sole determining factor behind everything, always, every time, no exceptions.

I level this criticism at a lot of games nowadays. The "role" in RPG seems to refer only to how you kill the game's mass-produced villain. You're either spitting him or hacking him or burning him or freezing him or backstabbing him. Where's that actual role playing? Why are your attributes only good for determining combat outcomes, and the occasional dialog choice that has no real effect on the game whatsoever? Don't get me wrong, I loves me some swords but christ almighty give me something else to do.

The Fade.
God in heaven I hated this.

The Story
BioWare needs to hire some actual writers (people who have been published independently) to do their stories. Most of the story was a G.R.R Martin -lite rip-off. The "politicking" was boring, one sided, completely without consequence and, worst of all, unconvincing. Why should I give a shit about Bann Nutsack's lands being taken by Darkspawn? Who cares? It has no effect on the game.

Some stuff was quite interesting, but they failed to deliver on the end product. The idea of corralling mages via the church had a lot of potential, but it mostly went undeveloped. The Dwarven caste system was also interesting, but again, it had no real effect on the game when you went to Orzammar. It was just one more bit of trivia.

Stupid mechanics

Take the lockpicking/chest part of the game. First of all, pretty much every chest was optional. There were no "must have!" items locked up in chests. Mostly they contained injury kits and jock-itch balm (did anyone use salves, btw? I beat the game on the hard difficulty level and didn't use a single fucking salve. Not one.)

So if there's nothing of real value in the chests, why bother spending the very valuable level-up points to give your rogue the ability to unlock them?

And no bash mechanic? Take Sten. We're strutting through the thousand year old temple in the middle of the woods, and seven-foot-tall Sten can't kick down a rotten fucking door? It has to be lockpicked? And the chests, those are all locked tight with Master locks? A bash mechanic would've done wonders for the game. Make the attempt dependent upon strength, weapon type, and throw in a random chance of weapon damage and/or item destruction and, bingo, I care a little bit more. I dunno, give maces an actual reason for being in the game and make them the weapon least-likely to be damaged in a bash attempt. Do SOMETHING.

Origin Stories

These were interesting. Unfortunately, when each story was done, it zero effect on game play. They were severely underutilized.


I have other complaints, those are the major ones.

 

[doctor_kaz]

The game had a lot of little problems but I could have overlooked them had it not been for the biggest one -- the level scaling. Pretty much singlehandedly ruined the game for me.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

the combat.
because it was uninteresting with half usable skill, and because it had an endless wave after wave after wave of trash mobs which were there just for slowing you.
annoying as hell, i dumped the game at the dwarves, couldn't stand it anymore.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

And no bash mechanic? Take Sten. We're strutting through the thousand year old temple in the middle of the woods, and seven-foot-tall Sten can't kick down a rotten fucking door? It has to be lockpicked? And the chests, those are all locked tight with Master locks? A bash mechanic would've done wonders for the game. Make the attempt dependent upon strength, weapon type, and throw in a random chance of weapon damage and/or item destruction and, bingo, I care a little bit more. I dunno, give maces an actual reason for being in the game and make them the weapon least-likely to be damaged in a bash attempt. Do SOMETHING.

Apparently lock bashing was planned to be in the game but they simply didn't enable them, even the chest/door bashing animations are already in the game. This mod puts bashing in including animations, and works fine (you can randomly destroy items in containers): http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=301

While the chest loot is mostly pointless, it saves you having to bring some rogue along always and adds a tiny, tiny bit of variety.