Dragon Age Thread(Spoilers)

[Twobit Whore]

I can only assume he is talking about level design and not multiple plot points that can be done in any order.

[Jabberwhacky]

Ya sorry I did mean that primarily, but then again I also don't find it entirely 'open ended' that I can choose Planet A then B then C instead of C then A then B when they all play the same. I'm not that far through ME so I guess I shouldn't lump it in with KOTOR2, but I distinctly remember playing through KOTOR2 twice and seeing one plot point (some group of bad guys) approach me on the desert planet the first time and the water planet the second time.

Couldn't you travel all over the country side in Baldur's Gate? Couldn't you like pick locks and break into houses and stuff? Maybe it's just a case of rose-tinted glasses, but I feel like BG was a true PC game and that KOTOR and (to the extent I've played it) ME suffer from a serious case of consolitis. That was the concern I was expressing, although from what Jozu said ME did improve on KOTOR, so I guess it's fair to expect another improvement here.

[Dis]

Wish Baldur's Gate was available for Digital download. My discs are packed away in storage. I want to play it again =\

[nosf]

It isn't, but you could google for Baldurs.Gate.Compilation-Unleashed assuming you do own a copy.

[Zehn - Vhex]

I enjoy the shit out of pause/play. It really did feel like DnD in that aspect. As much as I like action RPG's these days I was never that annoyed at turn based gameplay that I never want to see it again.

It's like the past 10 years of 3D only games when 3D and 2D games should have evolved alongside eachother.

Originally Posted by Jozu

You could have done almost every single side mission before ever starting on Feros, Noveria, or Therum.

You could have, but aside from one or maybe two of them there was little to no point. Terrible loot, it's not like you needed the xp, -extremely- repetative/modular world layouts and the story told was usually pretty bland and was just your run of the mill "Go kill some rebels or something."

I may be off my rocker here but I think what helped BG1/2 in the 'non-linear' feeling department were 2 things which ME/Kotor lacked significantly.

One being that the sidequests in BG1/2 were sometimes even more interesting then the main quest. Which is quite a feat when the main quest line is either chasing after the spawn of a murder god that apparently really enjoyed fucking or the sequel chasing down Sark who stole part of your godhood.

It was hard to get excited about sidequests in ME and KOTOR because it usually involved just running and gunning your way down yet another corridor for reasons I rarely gave a shit about. Some of the sidequests in BG2 involved preventing a shadow god from returning to consume the world, facing off against a bored politician (who also happens to be a dragon) who tricks you into murdering a group of paladins because he wants to see how you'll react, helping a young innocent noble girl take back her families lands from maurading gnolls and the reward being a fucking castle (and if you really want installing a mod that gives you the option of making her your wife or just raping her and then killing her. God I love the mod community).

The second being loot. As I alluded to, in ME and Kotor both the loot was rather...meh. You basically got a gun or lightsaber and then spent the rest of hte game getting a gun +1 then the same gun +2. Same with armor and everything else. And this is spread across what, 3 loot slots on 6 characters or so?

In BG you have roughly 66 item slots to fill and they throw all kinds of strange, awesome shit at you. A ring that doubles the number of spells you get (and you could get 2 of them to double-double. Having 24 magic missile casts as a sorcerer was fun). A cloak that can transform you into a troll. So many weapons that I lamented the fact that I only had 6 characters to use them all on. Carsomyr, Twinkle (because honestly, who ~didn't~ kill Drizzt?), Flail of the Ages, Vorpal Sword and so on and so forth. And that's not even counting your quickslot items like the Deck of Many Things.

It's like comparing WoW itemization now to EQ itemization 8 years ago. Sure the items back then were laughable overpowered and there were huge gaps but it was infinitely more interesting. BG and BG2 wouldn't be nearly as memorable if all we had back then were long sword +1 followed by long sword +2. Which is what plagued Kotor and ME for me.

Having items that you could look forward to getting for doing sidequests made them interesting adventures parellel to the storyline rather then just a checklist of shit to do before you resumed the main game.

[Elerion]

Zehn, make love to me. I want your man-babies so we can breed our own development house. Shit will be dope.

[Ilex]

motherfucking red dragon armor. nuff said.

sorry, I'm shitfaced, it's 3 am and I'm in the middle of reinstalling Planescape: Torment for the first time in years. life is good.

[nosf]

Well, we can only hope for an equivalent Twisted Rune safehouse/demi-lich encounter.

[bubblegumbo]

Great Zehn, now that you've reminded us all those awesome BG2 moments we can only hope that Dragon Age will end up being a Baldur's Gate-lite to avoid disappointment -_-

I still remember how cool it was to meet up with Drizzt's party in BG2 and either saying hi or owning them, damn that was a great moment, especially if one remember how far the player character has grown since the first Baldur's Gate.

[Flight]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

I enjoy the shit out of pause/play. It really did feel like DnD in that aspect. As much as I like action RPG's these days I was never that annoyed at turn based gameplay that I never want to see it again.

It's like the past 10 years of 3D only games when 3D and 2D games should have evolved alongside eachother.



You could have, but aside from one or maybe two of them there was little to no point. Terrible loot, it's not like you needed the xp, -extremely- repetative/modular world layouts and the story told was usually pretty bland and was just your run of the mill "Go kill some rebels or something."

I may be off my rocker here but I think what helped BG1/2 in the 'non-linear' feeling department were 2 things which ME/Kotor lacked significantly.

One being that the sidequests in BG1/2 were sometimes even more interesting then the main quest. Which is quite a feat when the main quest line is either chasing after the spawn of a murder god that apparently really enjoyed fucking or the sequel chasing down Sark who stole part of your godhood.

It was hard to get excited about sidequests in ME and KOTOR because it usually involved just running and gunning your way down yet another corridor for reasons I rarely gave a shit about. Some of the sidequests in BG2 involved preventing a shadow god from returning to consume the world, facing off against a bored politician (who also happens to be a dragon) who tricks you into murdering a group of paladins because he wants to see how you'll react, helping a young innocent noble girl take back her families lands from maurading gnolls and the reward being a fucking castle (and if you really want installing a mod that gives you the option of making her your wife or just raping her and then killing her. God I love the mod community).

The second being loot. As I alluded to, in ME and Kotor both the loot was rather...meh. You basically got a gun or lightsaber and then spent the rest of hte game getting a gun +1 then the same gun +2. Same with armor and everything else. And this is spread across what, 3 loot slots on 6 characters or so?

In BG you have roughly 66 item slots to fill and they throw all kinds of strange, awesome shit at you. A ring that doubles the number of spells you get (and you could get 2 of them to double-double. Having 24 magic missile casts as a sorcerer was fun). A cloak that can transform you into a troll. So many weapons that I lamented the fact that I only had 6 characters to use them all on. Carsomyr, Twinkle (because honestly, who ~didn't~ kill Drizzt?), Flail of the Ages, Vorpal Sword and so on and so forth. And that's not even counting your quickslot items like the Deck of Many Things.

It's like comparing WoW itemization now to EQ itemization 8 years ago. Sure the items back then were laughable overpowered and there were huge gaps but it was infinitely more interesting. BG and BG2 wouldn't be nearly as memorable if all we had back then were long sword +1 followed by long sword +2. Which is what plagued Kotor and ME for me.

Having items that you could look forward to getting for doing sidequests made them interesting adventures parellel to the storyline rather then just a checklist of shit to do before you resumed the main game.

..........

[Zehn - Vhex]

Originally Posted by bubblegumbo

I still remember how cool it was to meet up with Drizzt's party in BG2 and either saying hi or owning them, damn that was a great moment, especially if one remember how far the player character has grown since the first Baldur's Gate.

Oh Wand of Monster Summoning, is there any problem you can't solve? Setting an entire legion of orcs and gnolls under your control against the hero of the realms while you stand back and drown him in a sea of the blood of your minions. It made the evil deep inside me giggle.

The best part is when you meet up with him a second time and he asks you what your intentions were in killing him, if it was just a misunderstanding or if perhaps you've changed your evil ways.

Nothing says, "No...I'm really just a bastard" like killing someone a second time as well as his closest friends.

[Azrayne]

Fuck you guys, I'm gonna have to go and replay BG series again now for the second time this year.

One of my favourite items would have to have been the staff of fire elemental summoning, I think from the planar stronghold quest. Sure it had a limitted number of charges, but being able to randomly bust out a few elementals that early in the game made some choice encounters much cruisier.

If Dragon Age is 1/2 of the game Baldurs Gate 2 was, it'll be amazing.

On that note, does anyone remember the name of the mod which allows you to upgrade the resolution on infinity engine games? I've purchased a significantly larger monitor since I last played through the series, and would like to get the full benefit of it.

[Soygen]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

ME vs KOTOR vs BG2 stuff

Absolutely agree. I really hope the whole "spiritual successor to BG" angle I keep hearing is more truth than hype.

[nosf]

Best way to kill Drizzt in the first one was to surround him in skeletons, then zap his ass to death / use archery. Fancy Shmancy scimtars don't work so well against skeletons apparently.

[Jozu]

You could have, but aside from one or maybe two of them there was little to no point. Terrible loot, it's not like you needed the xp, -extremely- repetative/modular world layouts and the story told was usually pretty bland and was just your run of the mill "Go kill some rebels or something."

Dunno, maybe I'm just a faggot purist or some shit, but I enjoyed the side mission's/uncharted worlds soley based off of EXPLORING the planet/system itself. It was awesome to see huge blue supergiants on the horizon, to see a huge double planet hovering in the ominous sky, to read each blurb about the parent star and surrounding planets/satellites, ect ect.

I wanted to enjoy the work Bioware put in to creating a substantive universe. I read every single codex entry as well, why? not sure, but when i was done with ME I came away thoroughly pleased despite all of the short-commings.

Obviously the repetitive, run-of-the-mill, corridor side-missions were not well thought out, or developed, but the landscapes and the lore for each uncharted world was, and I for one, can at least appreciate that.