• 8Dec 09

  Update #3: On Dragon Age: Origins

  MINOR SPOILER(S) ALERT!

  I am close to finishing Dragon Age: Origins now. My review of this game has already been concluded.

  The game is full of surprises, even those that players of RPGs would not normally foresee. Players who play multiple characters, one of which includes a rogue, would encounter one particular surprise that promises quite a bunch of valuable loot that could be sold for quite a bit of moolah.

  Also, BioWare would have officially mentioned that the game does have rather limited moolah that players can expend, and this is obvious from the crafting system. Most crafted items will never be worth more than the sum of the costs of their components, no matter how wisely players shop around. However, in true BioWare fashion, they may have intentionally or otherwise left a loophole that can be exploited to generate limitless profits! Mind you, this is not some quest loophole (though there are glitchy quests that can be exploited to provide redundant rewards).

  I will be showing a screenshot that would give readers an idea of what is one of the few ways that players can generate limitless profits in this game. It's bound to cause some chuckles.

  

  This bug is delightful, if rather repetitive, in a typical BioWare's-brand-of-laxity way. Just about every BioWare game has some bug, but this one actually requires some actual work and this one feels more... natural, rather than some odd dialogue cycle that generates lot of crap in the Log section of the Journal.

  However, I have more than a few misgivings with the game, mostly with the paid content.

  You have already heard my rants on the Stone Prisoner, so here's another on Soldier's Peak.

  

  The Warden Commander Armor, one of the real reasons people actually buy the Soldier's Peak DLC.

  Players will cringe at having to pry this exclusive armor off a rather hideous looking person, who happens to have the worst voice-over in the game. It's disgusting to listen to.

  

  One of the other real reasons players buy the Soldier's Peak DLC.

  Players will also cringe at having to pry the garbs off this geezer, who happens to have a body that is too large for his head.

  Of course, there are other stuff in the Soldier's Peak DLC, including the game's best blade weapon.

  Also, I did not know the reason for the rather large amount of money that I had to fork out to my rental store to get them to obtain a copy of this game earlier, but upon receiving the game and stamping the rental slip, I realize part of the money has gone into obtaining promotional items.

  

  The infamously awesome Blood Dragon Armor

  

  The Guildmaster's Belt makes looting more sophisticated than ever.

  (Yes, I do know that stuff like the Guildmaster's Belt is only available as pre-order. Apparently, my rental store somehow got some weird pre-order edition of Dragon Age: Origins available only in the region of the world that I am in, even though I forked out the money some time after the game has been released.)

  What do all these stuff have in common then?

  MOST OF THEM ARE SUPERIOR TO ANY CRAP YOU FIND IN THE RELEASE VERSION OF THE GAME.

  As I have mentioned in my review, BioWare has made certain that the best stuff in the game are bought, either with Thedas sovereigns or real-world cold hard cash.

  Every item in the game that has to be either bought with dozens of sovereigns (the gold coins in the game) or cash equivalent to a half-dozen or so US Dollars make every other item in the game plain lousy in comparison. Granted, some items that are obtained through quests (several suits of armor, both heavy and light, and a few late-game weapons come to mind) are too fantastic to let go in favour of these, but generally, they are way better than everything else in the game. The Blood Dragon Armor in particular is infamously overpowered.

  (As a side note, the picture of the DA:O Blood Dragon Armor shown above also shows the best blade weapon in the game, Starfang.)

  While BioWare certainly makes sure that customers get what they pay for, the existence of these tacked-on items feels cheap and contrived. I would have been happy if BioWare sold some items that have interesting properties, e.g. the special shapechanging sentient teeth (really) that Morte can get in Planescape: Torment and the sentient vampiric sword in Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. To BioWare's credit, Shale does somewhat qualify as such, but Shale is a party member character and one that obviously should have been in the retail version in the first place.

  I fear for BioWare's future, really. BioWare has already made some terrible DLCs, especially for the first Mass Effect, and all of them stank of greed that cares little for the IP that they are associated with.

  • Posted Dec 8, 2009 10:37 pm PT
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• 2Dec 09

  Update #2: Surprisingly Versatile & Amusing BUT Ultimately Cheap Characters

  The adage "you get what you pay for" best summarizes this blog post.

  I am writing on none other than Shale, the additional party member that a player can unlock by downloading and integrating the Stone Prisoner DLC for Dragon Age: Origins.

  

  (This here is Shale, prior to completion of the Stone Prisoner Quest. There is a reason for him being in this awkward, inert pose.)

  Shale's quest, presence in the game, dialogues and such are surprisingly well integrated into the game, as if he was supposed to be in the game after all; the fact that the DLC was available so soon after the launch also bolsters the suspicion that his portion had been deliberately separated out to be sold as DLC or as marketing gimmicks for this game. If this is true, then BioWare is very much under the thrall of its own marketing department (if the hideous tying in of the "Blood Dragon Armor" with Mass Effect 2 is not a huge enough hint already).

  Rants of being cheated of some value for having forked out money for the game's retail version aside, Shale is plenty powerful and versatile. While he does have limited equipment options (him being a golem that can't fit in most armor suits after all), these options make him tremendously handy against almost every opponent, as long as the player cares to switch around his options for enemies whose strengths/weaknesses are known.

  As for worries that him, being a golem, not being able to keep up with the rest of the party, there is no reason to fret: he's just as fast at moving around as the others - though the player does have to put up with some stomping noises, him being mass-heavy after all.

  As for skills and abilities, he does have some special and sort-of unique powers, somewhat like the Mabari Warhound, but as I have mentioned, he has way more versatility. Shale also has the main Warrior talents, which seasoned Dragon Age players will appreciate as there are some useful talents there. Shale can do just about everything a Warrior can do, and more, as he has access to "Modes" that he can switch around quite quickly (though there is a cooldown time, much like the other sustained abilities).

  These modes either turn him into a melee powerhouse, a tanker or bonus-providing aura emitter, all of which have very interesting exploits that can be abused. He does have rather low initial Willpower, however, so it will be a while before a player can develop him into a rather cheating Swiss knife.

  I already have developed some cheap tactics on my own, but perhaps the one that I can provide without spoiling too much is that his Stoneheart mode, when coupled with a certain Warrior talent, makes him a magnet for just about every enemy on-screen, including most bosses - and the player can cast Force Field on him after switching over to either aura-providing modes. I find this tactic very useful in greasing my way through tough boss fights.

  An experienced Dragon Age player will find that Shale can make a huge difference in said fights - and just for having forked out some cash for the DLC. It makes BioWare feel all the more cheap.

  Story-wise, Shale does have personal quests tied into the storyline (perhaps even tighter than the other party members'), one that is rather... surprising, as befits BioWare's track record in making gamers go "Oh my F**KING God!".

  Perhaps, the thing that would matter most about Shale - and one that players who installed the DLC would experience right away, is his very amusing personality, especially for a golem. If you have been amused by that final scene in the trailer which introduced Shale and his DLC, you would be amused even further.

  (There is an Easter Egg in the programming of the game that involves Shale: have him approach the birds in some of the locales in the game. You will notice their rather amusing behavior as Shale moves around said locales.)

  • Posted Dec 2, 2009 12:16 am PT
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• 23Nov 09

  Update#1: On Dragon Age - Origins

  FORE-WARNING: MINOR (BUT INTERESTINGLY VAGUE) SPOILERS AHEAD

  After forking out an amount of cash to allow the rental shop that I go to get this game as quickly as possible to that shop, I finally managed to rent this one.

  Firstly, be informed that I do not intend to play this game for the gameplay. I already know that some of its elements are going to be quite bland compared to, say, AD&D-themed games. Talents that seem more skills and skills that seem more like talents? Mind-boggling indeed. Having a Warrior that can pilfer others' pockets and lay down traps that he/she made are very, very uncharacteristic.

  (The systems concerning items and their usage/creation do seem interesting though, especially the tiers of equipment. I dislike the Poison/Potion Recipes feature, but then I have only come across ho-hum typical potions and traps recipes so far. From what I have read on the game, there are some very interesting combo traps, one of which is inspired by the so-awesome - and rather overpowered - Blob of Acid traps in the first Neverwinter Nights game. How I loved those!)

  I am not playing this game for the graphics either. Other than some nice special killing animations (which apparently render the killer invulnerable during that animation - which can be exploited), the graphics are just satisfactory. No dazzles and swooning aesthetics here. Even the highly publicized blood splatches and streaks on characters that survived deadly battles are nothing more than static decals that make conversations look really awkward.

  No, I am playing this game for the awesome story and the decisions that the player can make to alter it. As Tycho of Penny Arcade and some GameSpot officials have mentioned, every decision made in this game has powerful consequences, even more so than the ones in the Witcher. Consequences of particular note are those that occur if the player should fail at pickpocketing attempts, the consequences of which are usually ignored in AD&D games or simply resolved (by turning every NPC on the screen hostile - way to go for sophisticated programming, Black Isle).

  Notice that I made the link to the Enhanced Edition of Witcher. That is the game one should play if he/she is not familiar with the digital game that honors Andrzej Sapkowski. The launch version sucks.)

  If you are about to play this game, just think twice before attempting to pickpocket a particularly powerful character, who tends to require the highest level of pickpocketing skill. The consequences tend to be... rather inconvenient and dangerous, but not entirely unrewarding.

  Speaking of rewards, the game does a very good job of offering different rewards for different decisions that the player makes, though some are rather oddball, e.g. calming down an enemy and successfully negotiating for a peaceful outcome will offer certain items that said enemy has but don't seem to drop when strife is opted for instead.

  Furthermore, neglecting quests or postponing them will also result in unforeseen consequences. Here is where a player's skill at predicting turns and twists in fictional stories will come in handy. Personally, I prefer having my party leave most characters alive as I have the presumption that living ones would give out quests or rewards later, but I was surprised to find out that some of the ones which my party -*ahem*- rendered dead would come back, as per threats that they have made prior to their deaths pertaining to beyond-the-grave vengeance. I found these consequences to be refreshingly amusing and intriguing - in an RPG of course.

  However, I feel that it is unfortunate and dissatisfactory that I have to resort to the approach I used for Neverwinter Nights 2, the first RPG that I played where the player character's relationship with other party members actually mattered in the long run. As conversations can be had with certain characters in the absence of other characters aligned against the former (do recall the sometimes nasty antagonism between Qara and Sand of NwN 2), I had my guy/gal acting like a dastardly chameleon of emotions and feelings, picking out dialogue options that would be most favorable to said person.

  In Dragon Age - Origins, the incentive to stay on the good side of every character is even greater, considering that said character can get actual gameplay bonuses just by having the main guy/gal suck up to them. Now, I feel that my main guy/gal for this game is even more despicable as ever, showing signs of philanthropy to philanthropically aligned characters but would certainly have conflicted with my main guy/gal's statements of severe indifference and/or brutality that would appeal to the more violently inclined characters. This extends to interactions with NPCs, of which I quick-save before and discard & replace party members accordingly (if possible and convenient at the moment) - something that I did heavily in Neverwinter Nights 2 and even more so now.

  Fortunately, the developers did take notice of this sort of exploit, and incorporated a very amusing gift-giving system that compensates for losses in approval caused by resentment against the player's actions. It made the game feel a heck lot more like some Japanese dating sim (except that dates are actually deadly quests that personally concern said characters), but it actually made good use of cash, something which is usually inconsequential in BioWare's games, where most good stuff are found, not bought.

  UPDATE #1:

  As I have mentioned earlier, I will be including some minor spoilers in this update. Read at your own risk.

  It would appear that BioWare's RPGs tend to have companions of unshakeable loyalty, or at least they stay with the player character throughout the story. In the case of Dragon Age: Origins, that's the Mabari Warhound.

  

  So here's one of my character's mutt, the one for my female Human Noble.

  The Mabari Warhound is easily one of the ugliest fictional dogs that I have ever seen. It's practically all muscle, tendon, claws and teeth. Yet, it has some of the most endearing animations that I have ever seen in BioWare RPGs, putting to shame some of the animations that Obsidian used for Neverwinter Nights' (& the second game's) animal (or animal-shaped) companions. The notion of dogs bred for war is not new to me, but this is perhaps one of the best fictional renditions thus far. It actually has a background story of its own, how Mabari Warhounds came to be (legends and facts - in the game - and all) and the game has even information on the traits of Warhounds and why they do the things they do.

  The Mabari Warhound would probably set the standard for the thematic design of animal companions or party members for Western RPGs. BioWare's effort on designing this character (and its ilk) has pretty much put to shame designs for similar characters in other games.

  Of course, certain animal companions in other games, such as the recent Torchlight, would be more useful, but as Torchlight did came out rather late into the development of Dragon Age: Origins, I believe BioWare did not have the time and leeway to change the programming for the Warhound.

  (As a side note, it is notable that there is no Human Commoner origin story. After playing through the game and seeing that Human commoners have otherwise rather mundane lives, I believe Bioware axed this origin story.)

  • Posted Nov 23, 2009 8:12 pm PT
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