Dragon Age - it's all about choices!

[Mefi]

There's also the wider question of how, with its dozens of spells and handful of party members to control, the game will work when it's running on a console instead of a PC, and that, luckily, is where the next stop on our mini-tour of Dragon Age takes us.

By 'work', does it mean how will console kiddies' minds cope with such a plethora of choices?

 

[RK47]

I don't give a damn about console ports. It was a PC-only development when Bioware started. Somehow, 'economic conditions' forced them to rethink releasing the game to PC only and instead going for a simultaneous multi-platform release for maximum market penetration.

All those years spent and their cold tent dialogue is still pathetic. Let's hope the game really live up to their meaningful choices and don't tell us to wait for a sequel to see its consequences ala Mass Effect.

 

[bhlaab]

I've seen nothing so far to indicate that this will be Baldur's Gate 2... and them some!

In fact, it appears to be Baldur's Gate 2... minus a considerable amount!

 

[Qwinn]

You should lose an important party member during mid game or so to make it a more powerful consequence. And I'm not talking about shitty characters like Aidan or Ashley from Mass Effect, since no one ever uses them.

wut?

Qwinn

 

[Phelot]

FUCK! This shit makes me hate C&C. Hey developers, having a choice between giving a guard a boner to let you by and just killing him isn't much of a choice. Fuck you.

 

[someone else]

The Escapist: New Dragon Age Screens Are Soaked In Blood

"If you were worried that Dragon Age: Origins isn't going to be earning its M rating, you haven't seen these screenshots yet."

"Click through each image to see the screens in full, but be warned - they aren't exactly for the squeamish."

Do you dare to click on link?

 

[bhlaab]

oh no not red goop that looks less like blood than the shit in evil dead 1 video games have gone too far this time

 

[RK47]

It's just a bunch of models with drops of blood like chicken pox on their surface. Wtf is the big deal?

 

[Data4]

The Escapist: New Dragon Age Screens Are Soaked In Blood

"If you were worried that Dragon Age: Origins isn't going to be earning its M rating, you haven't seen these screenshots yet."

"Click through each image to see the screens in full, but be warned - they aren't exactly for the squeamish."

Do you dare to click on link?

lolwut

That's among the more softball depictions of blood in a game I've ever seen. Where are the sucking, festering wounds? Where's the innards spilling? These screenshots are just silly.

 

[WalterKinde]

Its EPIC!!!
Also this is EA RK47 I believe they plan to milk this sucker for all its worth and if that means forcing you to by whatever Sequel/DLC to show the Consequences of Choice then they will .

Well this is a game thats going to picked up by me when it hits bargin bin in the GOTY/The First four DLC and the game form.
For sure EA will complain that the lack of PC sales will be because of the evil pirates but considering when DA gets released the bay of pirates will be no more its going to be a tough sell for people to believe that.

 

[Apoc_Tao]

This game will be an abortion, just like Mass Effect was. As long as Bioware keeps churning out cinematic botch jobs aimed at the emo populace, I will steer away from their shit.

I don't really get why their games still get all this coverage on the codex. Better put the site down if you don't have news other than this.

 

[poocolator]

FUCK! This shit makes me hate C&C. Hey developers, having a choice between giving a guard a boner to let you by and just killing him isn't much of a choice. Fuck you.

It's the sort of (meaningless) choice that's an afterthought... something that used to be taken for granted playing older RPGs. It's as if they're reinventing the wheel or something, and gushing about it.

It's like these journalists just discovered RPGs yesterday, they're completely amazed by something that's been a staple in the genre for fucking years.

People's ignorance about RPGs always amazes me. Hell, just yesterday when I was picking up that new Call of Juarez game I overheard two kids discussing Fallout 3. One said that it was an entirely new franchise by Bethesda and that the 3 was there because the game takes place immediately after World War 3.

:weep:
And Bethesda does nothing (or the bare minimum, in passing) to counter these impressions of Fallout 3; they'd love the franchise to be their brainchild.

 

[bhlaab]

Its EPIC!!!
Also this is EA RK47 I believe they plan to milk this sucker for all its worth and if that means forcing you to by whatever Sequel/DLC to show the Consequences of Choice then they will .

Well this is a game thats going to picked up by me when it hits bargin bin in the GOTY/The First four DLC and the game form.
For sure EA will complain that the lack of PC sales will be because of the evil pirates but considering when DA gets released the bay of pirates will be no more its going to be a tough sell for people to believe that.

PSSST ea isn't the evil company anymore

 

[Darth Roxor]

The Escapist: New Dragon Age Screens Are Soaked In Blood

"If you were worried that Dragon Age: Origins isn't going to be earning its M rating, you haven't seen these screenshots yet."

"Click through each image to see the screens in full, but be warned - they aren't exactly for the squeamish."

Are you a bad enough dude to click on link?

fixed

 

[Gnidrologist]

Cookies and sex, eh? Three minutes in and it's already hard to tell which side of the Canadian border BioWare is generally found on.

Gay side?

 

[1eyedking]

It's seamlessly done: small choices making invisible ripples that spread throughout the narrative, often causing the unlikeliest of consequences. But the real kicker comes at the end of the presentation when we realise what we've been shown: two or three decisions, some made early on in the game, some playing out in conversations, significantly impacting just 10 minutes of gameplay, in a game that eventually clocks in at about 60 hours. The potential is staggering.

More BioWare lazy crap; ME, KoTOR and BG all over again. Twitch 10-second gameplay time consequences. No "You can't get quest B because of what you did on quest A" limit imposed on the player. The exponential would be staggering.

Two PCs and two monitors is an effective way for the developer to make a point, but perhaps it's also a sign of nervousness on the part of BioWare - a move suggesting that the team isn't sure people have quite clicked with the property yet, confused by the muddle of sex and violence that's been shown so far, or unsure of what to make of the game's unusually dark take on fantasy. There's also the wider question of how, with its dozens of spells and handful of party members to control, the game will work when it's running on a console instead of a PC, and that, luckily, is where the next stop on our mini-tour of Dragon Age takes us.

No Dark Sun. No Planescape: Torment. No Witcher. Hell, even LoTR is dark fantasy.

Whatever, this is like that DA preview that is exactly like that other DA preview that is exactly like that other other DA preview that is exactly like...



I'm getting old.

 

[someone else]

The Escapist: New Dragon Age Screens Are Soaked In Blood

"If you were worried that Dragon Age: Origins isn't going to be earning its M rating, you haven't seen these screenshots yet."

"Click through each image to see the screens in full, but be warned - they aren't exactly for the squeamish."

Are you a bad enough dude to click on link?

fixed

 

[Levi King]

Is that glass armor from Oblivion in the last screenshot?

 

[Data4]

Is that glass armor from Oblivion in the last screenshot?

Well, it's hard to tell from the shockingly gruesome amount of blood and gore, but I think I see some similarities.

 

[JarlFrank]

No Dark Sun. No Planescape: Torment. No Witcher. Hell, even LoTR is dark fantasy.

Yeah, Dragon Age is more like a standard Forgotten Realms Sword Coast campaign, only that it has lots of BLOOD and VIOLENCE and SEX in order to make it more "dark" and "mature".

When did the word "mature" become a synonym to "adolescent"? It's often being used that way lately.

 

[Krash]

Rather less predictably, however, he turns out to be the softer touch of the two, choosing not to threaten the guard with violence, but bribe him with the prospect of some home-made cookies.

I cringed when I read this. Does this just sound really terrible or do you think they could actually pull it off without coming across as frickin stoopid?

If they made a whole game with this kind of craziness I'd be all for it, but how does this fit the gritty and mature setting they're creating?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

No Dark Sun. No Planescape: Torment. No Witcher. Hell, even LoTR is dark fantasy.

Yeah, Dragon Age is more like a standard Forgotten Realms Sword Coast campaign, only that it has lots of BLOOD and VIOLENCE and SEX in order to make it more "dark" and "mature".

When did the word "mature" become a synonym to "adolescent"? It's often being used that way lately.

Around the time M rating became synonymous with quality.

 

[Shannow]

No, it isn't.

No Dark Sun. No Planescape: Torment. No Witcher. Hell, even LoTR is dark fantasy.

Yeah, Dragon Age is more like a standard Forgotten Realms Sword Coast campaign, only that it has lots of BLOOD and VIOLENCE and SEX in order to make it more "dark" and "mature".

When did the word "mature" become a synonym to "adolescent"? It's often being used that way lately.

It isn't even solely dependant on setting. Even the Sword Coast can be presented in a dark and gritty way. It's only excecution and presentation that matter. But somewhere along the line Bioware ditched whatever promise they had. And clearly it is connected to catering to the perceived console crowd.

 

[Korgan]

People's ignorance about RPGs always amazes me. Hell, just yesterday when I was picking up that new Call of Juarez game I overheard two kids discussing Fallout 3. One said that it was an entirely new franchise by Bethesda and that the 3 was there because the game takes place immediately after World War 3.

Thank God I have two beers within an arm's reach right now, or I'd never get over it in my life. GULPGULPGULP.

 

[Texas Red]

From there, things get even more complicated, when both parties come across a powerful mage named Wynne further on in the tower. One of the two groups we're following is able to recruit her into the team - a bonus, as she's the most powerful healer in the entire game - while the other (it's all because of that pesky sexy sorceress again - and a couple of clumsy dialogue decisions) quickly falls out with her and has to fight her to the death. Clubbing a nice magical old lady into the ground is bad enough in any circumstances, but when Wynne finally expires, we're immediately shown a brief film detailing her potential impact on the rest of the game - what the world could have looked like, in other words, if we hadn't just put our enchanted shoe through her head. It seems we'll be missing out on quite a bit.

I'm wondering how this "film" plays out in-game (assuming it actually IS in-game, and wasn't just something shown to the reporters by Bioware). How can you see the impact a character's death will have without giving away too much of the story? I'd expect something like that at the end of the game, perhaps, but mid-game? If it's done right, that could be pretty cool - sort of like the C&C cutscenes in the Witcher, but with actual consequences (useful party member = permanently deadified).[/quote]

I vividly remember the EXACT same claim for Witcher which wasn't realized. It was a trailer about witchers coming together in their fort to make judgment on a thug. Then they pulled out a screen that showed the C&C. None of it was in the actual game.

While TW as enjoyable, the C&C sucked and I highly doubt that Biowhore can do a better job. 60 hours? That will be 40 hours of dungeon crawling and bashing chests while in TW it was more of running around, talking to NPCs and completing quests while having the occasional battle.