The last exact numbers I know about Origins is that it went Triple Platinum (3+ million sold) back in 2010. Bioware put out a press release about it. Mass Effect and Dragon Age were pretty similar in sales, and people were thrilled that Bioware had 2 hits on their hands. Unfortunately, DA2 got rushed out the door while ME2 had the time it needed to develop.
Whatever, I didn't come in here to talk numbers. Possibly my least favorite subject.
DA:I is looking good. I always tell myself that I can wait to play such-and-such game until it drops in price or that I can ask for it for a gift or something, but I never have the willpower to wait. This will probably be the same story.
I bought DA:O twice, first time in xbox second time for the PC. Replayed it over and over. Bought DA:2 on the PC and never finished it. I did like a lot of the characters but the PC gameplay was so bad I dropped it.
I also love ME:1 played that a few times on my xbox. I finished ME:2 but really didn't like the core gameplay experience. I didn't like how the mission structure worked. They pick you up in a shuttle and drop you off, you do 10-15 min of game play and it's over. Nothing was replayable. I never bought or played ME3 because of it. I will grant you that ME:2 floored me on it's intro mission. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever played through.
This is where my concern comes from. I would have put money down for anything Bioware made without even reconsidering. But the last installments in each franchise just weren't for me.
I'd recommend checking out some of the streams and footage to see if it looks good to you. I don't know how much you've been following, but the gameplay has changed a fair amount (no heal spells, for example), and watching it in action to see how it appeals would be a good first step.
I like Dragon Age 2 a lot more now than I did when I was first playing it, and that's largely because of these forums.
My initial playthrough I hit a lot of the big flaws, and it dragged, but the story was interesting and the characters were fun, and then what the fuck that ending. I was pretty happy to never play it again, compared to however many full playthroughs of Origins I had. I think 5 or 6 at the time.
Then through the discussions on here all the positives of it gradually came to outweigh the negatives, and I did another playthrough and just had a blast with it. Bump the difficulty down to casual and yeah the waves are still there but they don't matter just mow them down with ease. Knowing how everything turns out means I can enjoy the characters for how they are written and how they change along the journey rather than being disappointed in them due to my preconceptons.
I'm playing through it again right now ffs. A month before its sequel comes out. The sequel that doesn't require a save game to import. Just because someone made an offhand comment about a mage Hawke and I thought "huh, you know I never actually did that. Well why not, it'll only take about 20 hours."
What i'm saying is Dragon Age is my heroin and you all are horrible pushers.
Aistan on
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BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
I'm ripping/converting it now, so I can watch the whole thing later tonight. These streams are scheduled at a really inconvenient time for me, so I usually only catch a few minutes live.
I've played DA:O twice and DA2 once. I normally only play games once, but I replayed DA:O prior to DA2 so I could import my story instead of some premade. I was going to replay DA:O and DA2 in prep for DA:I, but then they said "No Import" and I was like "No Replay."
However, I did enjoy both of them. I honestly never noticed the waves. Maybe I was just having way too much damn fun murdering everything with my Rogue? I think part of it also is that in DA2 it felt like I could set my companions on auto-pilot better and just wing it. I love tactical games, but only when they are true turn-based, so I enjoyed the more fluid combat of DA2 over DA:O in that regard.
But nothing will ever compare to the feeling I got when I finally murdered Howe.
Well, that's not entirely true. But it was still a glorious feeling.
Just finished watching the live stream from this morning.
Looks great, but man there were some things that were WTF (in an awesome way). Like... I'm pretty sure that there is more craftable furniture available for SkyHold than there are sets of armor in all of DA2.
I find this to be a sign of progress. In 2009, BioWare needed to advertise one of its smartest RPGs ever with some of the most juvenile marketing ever (i.e. The This is the New Shit era of trailers). Five years later, they're pitching the fact that their latest grimdark, blood-spattered flagship fantasy RPG has a medieval castle interior decorator simulator as a tightly-integrated mini-game.
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BassguyGhost Ride the DragonRegistered Userregular
Just finished watching the live stream from this morning.
Looks great, but man there were some things that were WTF (in an awesome way). Like... I'm pretty sure that there is more craftable furniture available for SkyHold than there are sets of armor in all of DA2.
I find this to be a sign of progress. In 2009, BioWare needed to advertise one of its smartest RPGs ever with some of the most juvenile marketing ever (i.e. The This is the New Shit era of trailers). Five years later, they're pitching the fact that their latest grimdark, blood-spattered flagship fantasy RPG has a medieval castle interior decorator simulator as a tightly-integrated mini-game.
Marketing people do what marketing people do.
The devs were showing the intricacies to the press back then just like they're showing them off on the Twitch streams now. Streaming long-ass in-depth videos is just more common these days. We're just removing the press layer, and getting everything directly from the source.
Traditional marketing continues to be bad at conveying nuance, and instead focuses on violence/sex/easy concepts.
This livestreaming thing is super clever. Not only does it make Bioware look legit as fuck for showing the game off, warts and all, but it must be a million times cheaper then a CGI trailer.
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
edited October 2014
Just finished Dragon Age: Awakening this morning, so I guess it's a testament to the game that it would keep me up until 3am to finish it.
I enjoy it a lot (especially for an expansion pack so feature rich) but the finale is laughably short and the epilogue happens so spontaneously it kind of felt like a joke. Great choices and consequences stuff going on.
As I imported my Warden from Origins the final boss fight was probably the only encounter I found to be difficult to any degree. My Warden bugged out doing her Reaving Storm and so she spent the entire encounter flailing her sword around on the spot and looking really goofy (even at 0 stamina), which had the side effect of clearing every wave of minions that spawned without taking much damage either.
Companions feel a little weaker to me than Origins' cast, though strangely enough I found Oghren more likeable in Awakening, Velanna was pretty adorable as the curmudgeon of the group and Sigrun was awesome too. Didn't care much for Anders or Justice too much, Nathaniel Howe is alright but I didn't care too much for the backstory itself either. Is it mandatory for every companion to participate in the Joining?
As a retrospective I am also glad that Dragon Age 2 didn't focus on the darkspawn threat at all, because after Awakening that shit should be plenty resolved, one way or another, and god knows I needed to put up with another 40 hours of dungeon crawling through maggoty pasty-faced orc-creatures
This livestreaming thing is super clever. Not only does it make Bioware look legit as fuck for showing the game off, warts and all, but it must be a million times cheaper then a CGI trailer.
Probably.
But I'll be sad if there's not a pre-rendered Blur Studios trailer for DA:I. Sacred Ashes for DA:O and Destiny for DA2 (and all their ME trailers as well) are so far from the games that they're entertainingly surreal. Unreal, even: the Destiny trailer has game footage that wasn't actually in the game.
Just finished watching the live stream from this morning.
Looks great, but man there were some things that were WTF (in an awesome way). Like... I'm pretty sure that there is more craftable furniture available for SkyHold than there are sets of armor in all of DA2.
I find this to be a sign of progress. In 2009, BioWare needed to advertise one of its smartest RPGs ever with some of the most juvenile marketing ever (i.e. The This is the New Shit era of trailers). Five years later, they're pitching the fact that their latest grimdark, blood-spattered flagship fantasy RPG has a medieval castle interior decorator simulator as a tightly-integrated mini-game.
I also love ME:1 played that a few times on my xbox. I finished ME:2 but really didn't like the core gameplay experience. I didn't like how the mission structure worked. They pick you up in a shuttle and drop you off, you do 10-15 min of game play and it's over. Nothing was replayable. I never bought or played ME3 because of it. I will grant you that ME:2 floored me on it's intro mission. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever played through.
The replayability is one of the reasons I loved ME3's multiplayer. It's some of the best levels in the game, and you're just gunning for high scores, better gear, and more classes. Messing around with friends as an all-Volus squad is hilarious.
If the multiplayer in Inquisition is anything like it was in ME3, I'll buy the game just for that.
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
The replayability of ME3 in general draws me back to the game much more than ME2 does now. There's just so many ways to build each class and they all work well, as opposed to ME2's progression which was basically constrained by "this or that".
The next game will be bringing back Mako sections again so I'm stoked to see them mix it up once more
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BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
I'm a giant whore for customization so all that skyhold decorating has me salivating.
Same here, I've been more or less on a media blackout till this weekend, and the more I see, the more excited I get.
Thankfully I have the entire release week off (for family's Thanksgiving get together, not just for DAI ), because customizing Skyhold may take me days.
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
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BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
Watching this stream thing now
That battle theme they played before starting was the bees knees.
Just finished reading The Masked Empire. Spoilers ahoy!
Goddamn but Orlais is gonna be a mess when we get there. I'm guessing the main thrust of that part of the story will be resolving the whole Celene vs. Gaspard vs. Elf rebellion thing. It actually lines up nicely with the whole three thrusts of your advisors they've got going on. Side with Celene for diplomacy, Gaspard for military might, and Briala for spy shit (via the eluvian network). I do hope we get to impress upon Gaspard that you either get with Team Inquisition or get with Team "Hunting Accident". That dude is a quality villian; like Logain-tier.
Also, I hope we can do a "reunite the Quarians and the Geth" thing and get Celene and Briala back together. I like those crazy kids. I think they can make it work.
He's a giant racist who masks his own lust for power beneath an (admittedly admirable) layer of honor! Dude's fun, but that's what makes him a great antagonist.
Got me a nice, spacious cell all lined up for him in the dungeon.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Cailan Celene is a weak ruler whose policy of codling Orlais Elves was just going to lead to weakening the Crown's authority leading to Orlais the peasants seizing undeserved power!
Cailan Celene is a weak ruler whose policy of codling Orlais Elves was just going to lead to weakening the Crown's authority leading to Orlais the peasants seizing undeserved power!
I wouldn't say believing that the elves shouldn't be treated like complete shit is coddling.
That said, and I'm only 1/4 through the book so keep that in mind, while I think Celene is better than Gaspard I don't think she's perfect.
Her problem is that she believes by setting all the right pieces in place she can lead Orlais into a period of cultural enlightenment.
I would argue that its pretty much too late. Orlesian nobility is stagnant and has become little more than a culture of exclusion and murder meant to consolidate power and maintain the status quo.
The problem isn't so much that Celene is weak. The problem is that she's trying to change a society that would rather fall under the weight of its own decadence and corruption.
Not to mention she herself is a product of that same society.
Unless I forget something, his complaints were as much about peasants getting into her university (which I'm not sure he even supported in the first place) moreso than elves
thus that whole plot line with celene's bodyguard having a forged patent of nobility.
Besides which, there was also the major plot point that Celene actually doesn't care about the elves either, except as a means of abstractly making her lover happier.
Oh I was talking about the dwarves there. I'm sure Orlais will be fine once the succession crisis is resolved. Something like that can coast by on inertia, and the only other real superpower in The DA Setting being tvinter, who has better things to do than conquer the other side of the continent
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chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
Oh I was talking about the dwarves there. I'm sure Orlais will be fine once the succession crisis is resolved. Something like that can coast by on inertia, and the only other real superpower in The DA Setting being tvinter, who has better things to do than conquer the other side of the continent
The dwarves are dead men walking with things how they are. And it's a shitty enough system that most change would be for the better by default.
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Yeah, I didn't mean to insinuate that DA didn't do well. It just didn't do the astronomical numbers ME did.
edit: Huh, I stand corrected. DA has done a lot better than I thought.
DA2 did an estimated 2.4 at retail: http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=dragon+age+II
ME1 did ~3.5 at retail (360 and PC only), ME2 did ~4.8 at retail, ME3 did ~5.3 at retail, ME Trilogy did ~.7 at retail: http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Mass+Effect
Those are ballpark numbers, and should not be taken as gospel.
The thing I missed from ME1 that was lost in ME2/3 was the feeling of traveling to random planets and just bullshitting around.
Like I would say ME1 had a more 80s Sci-Fi feel to it, you know the whole wonder if going to distant places.
While ME2/3 was more actiony.
If ME4 has the action of 2/3 with the exploration/feeling of wonder ME1 had I will love that game to bits.
Problem with estimating numbers these days is well...with digital sales its hard to know how well something really did.
And EA is pretty tight-lipped about their sale numbers and like to downplay them a lot.
Also, VGchartz is terrible.
Whatever, I didn't come in here to talk numbers. Possibly my least favorite subject.
DA:I is looking good. I always tell myself that I can wait to play such-and-such game until it drops in price or that I can ask for it for a gift or something, but I never have the willpower to wait. This will probably be the same story.
I also love ME:1 played that a few times on my xbox. I finished ME:2 but really didn't like the core gameplay experience. I didn't like how the mission structure worked. They pick you up in a shuttle and drop you off, you do 10-15 min of game play and it's over. Nothing was replayable. I never bought or played ME3 because of it. I will grant you that ME:2 floored me on it's intro mission. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever played through.
This is where my concern comes from. I would have put money down for anything Bioware made without even reconsidering. But the last installments in each franchise just weren't for me.
3DS FC: 5086-1134-6451
Shiny Code: 3837
My initial playthrough I hit a lot of the big flaws, and it dragged, but the story was interesting and the characters were fun, and then what the fuck that ending. I was pretty happy to never play it again, compared to however many full playthroughs of Origins I had. I think 5 or 6 at the time.
Then through the discussions on here all the positives of it gradually came to outweigh the negatives, and I did another playthrough and just had a blast with it. Bump the difficulty down to casual and yeah the waves are still there but they don't matter just mow them down with ease. Knowing how everything turns out means I can enjoy the characters for how they are written and how they change along the journey rather than being disappointed in them due to my preconceptons.
I'm playing through it again right now ffs. A month before its sequel comes out. The sequel that doesn't require a save game to import. Just because someone made an offhand comment about a mage Hawke and I thought "huh, you know I never actually did that. Well why not, it'll only take about 20 hours."
What i'm saying is Dragon Age is my heroin and you all are horrible pushers.
I'm ripping/converting it now, so I can watch the whole thing later tonight. These streams are scheduled at a really inconvenient time for me, so I usually only catch a few minutes live.
However, I did enjoy both of them. I honestly never noticed the waves. Maybe I was just having way too much damn fun murdering everything with my Rogue? I think part of it also is that in DA2 it felt like I could set my companions on auto-pilot better and just wing it. I love tactical games, but only when they are true turn-based, so I enjoyed the more fluid combat of DA2 over DA:O in that regard.
But nothing will ever compare to the feeling I got when I finally murdered Howe.
Well, that's not entirely true. But it was still a glorious feeling.
Looks great, but man there were some things that were WTF (in an awesome way). Like... I'm pretty sure that there is more craftable furniture available for SkyHold than there are sets of armor in all of DA2.
I find this to be a sign of progress. In 2009, BioWare needed to advertise one of its smartest RPGs ever with some of the most juvenile marketing ever (i.e. The This is the New Shit era of trailers). Five years later, they're pitching the fact that their latest grimdark, blood-spattered flagship fantasy RPG has a medieval castle interior decorator simulator as a tightly-integrated mini-game.
The devs were showing the intricacies to the press back then just like they're showing them off on the Twitch streams now. Streaming long-ass in-depth videos is just more common these days. We're just removing the press layer, and getting everything directly from the source.
Traditional marketing continues to be bad at conveying nuance, and instead focuses on violence/sex/easy concepts.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
I enjoy it a lot (especially for an expansion pack so feature rich) but the finale is laughably short and the epilogue happens so spontaneously it kind of felt like a joke. Great choices and consequences stuff going on.
As I imported my Warden from Origins the final boss fight was probably the only encounter I found to be difficult to any degree. My Warden bugged out doing her Reaving Storm and so she spent the entire encounter flailing her sword around on the spot and looking really goofy (even at 0 stamina), which had the side effect of clearing every wave of minions that spawned without taking much damage either.
Companions feel a little weaker to me than Origins' cast, though strangely enough I found Oghren more likeable in Awakening, Velanna was pretty adorable as the curmudgeon of the group and Sigrun was awesome too. Didn't care much for Anders or Justice too much, Nathaniel Howe is alright but I didn't care too much for the backstory itself either. Is it mandatory for every companion to participate in the Joining?
As a retrospective I am also glad that Dragon Age 2 didn't focus on the darkspawn threat at all, because after Awakening that shit should be plenty resolved, one way or another, and god knows I needed to put up with another 40 hours of dungeon crawling through maggoty pasty-faced orc-creatures
Probably.
But I'll be sad if there's not a pre-rendered Blur Studios trailer for DA:I. Sacred Ashes for DA:O and Destiny for DA2 (and all their ME trailers as well) are so far from the games that they're entertainingly surreal. Unreal, even: the Destiny trailer has game footage that wasn't actually in the game.
Never forget
The replayability is one of the reasons I loved ME3's multiplayer. It's some of the best levels in the game, and you're just gunning for high scores, better gear, and more classes. Messing around with friends as an all-Volus squad is hilarious.
If the multiplayer in Inquisition is anything like it was in ME3, I'll buy the game just for that.
The next game will be bringing back Mako sections again so I'm stoked to see them mix it up once more
Same here, I've been more or less on a media blackout till this weekend, and the more I see, the more excited I get.
Thankfully I have the entire release week off (for family's Thanksgiving get together, not just for DAI
~ Buckaroo Banzai
That battle theme they played before starting was the bees knees.
Also, I hope we can do a "reunite the Quarians and the Geth" thing and get Celene and Briala back together. I like those crazy kids. I think they can make it work.
Got me a nice, spacious cell all lined up for him in the dungeon.
Fucking forums... I only clicked once.
I wouldn't say believing that the elves shouldn't be treated like complete shit is coddling.
That said, and I'm only 1/4 through the book so keep that in mind, while I think Celene is better than Gaspard I don't think she's perfect.
I would argue that its pretty much too late. Orlesian nobility is stagnant and has become little more than a culture of exclusion and murder meant to consolidate power and maintain the status quo.
The problem isn't so much that Celene is weak. The problem is that she's trying to change a society that would rather fall under the weight of its own decadence and corruption.
Not to mention she herself is a product of that same society.
Besides which, there was also the major plot point that Celene actually doesn't care about the elves either, except as a means of abstractly making her lover happier.
EDIT: I bet you guys go for behlen too :P
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Well, when Orlesian society is already falling apart at the seams I don't know if I'd call it change for changes sake.
Even if I think its too little too late, personally.
The dwarves are dead men walking with things how they are. And it's a shitty enough system that most change would be for the better by default.
Why I fear the ocean.