Ok Lets go.

I've got it for the 360.

Graphics are a little lack luster.  I like the size of the characters on the screen and the environments are cool.  But everything looks a little chunky and the colours/lighting don't pop out.  I have to say, it's dated looking.  The animations though are fairly decent and the sound effects are good and there are lots of voice dialogue.  Apparently the PS3 version has better visuals but choppier frame rate.  The PC version is best of all if you've got a good pc that can support it.

Gameplay the 360 version controls well.  If you've played KoTOR or Mass Effect on 360 then you'll feel at home.  I much prefer this then point and click as it makes the game feel more action based and I've grown to prefer that to point&click play.

Combat is more action based then previous games.  You have more freedom to run about.  You press the button to swing and the animation of the swing lets you know when you can swing again.  Alternatively you can just hold the button down with a target selected and go at it.  You have special attacks that you can attach to other buttons and trigger them as well.  You can have two weapon sets to flip between and if that's not enough you can pause combat to issue orders to your party or let the AI control them.  So far I've been letting the AI do it's thing (as I'm not particularly attached to any of them) and it's been working well enough.

Inventory management isn't bad.  It works well for handling equipment between the party but it's a little clunky looking compared to say Fallout 3, which provides more information on the screen at once.  The ability to flag items as junk though and then auto sell all your junk at once though is awesome.

The story.  Haven't played enough to really get a grip on it.  However so far it feels pretty organic.  Let me explain that.  In past Bioware games you generally knew exactly where you had to go.  Hell you practically only had one place to go.  You'd go there, they'd give you a quest, you'd go to the next pointer etc... There were very little other things to do that cropped up along the way and the whole time it felt like you were a dog on a leash.

This would be the opposite to games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 where you are basically unleashed into the world with little direction of where to go.  You stumble into quests, people proposition you for help, you are free to choose what you want to tackle and often how you want to tackle things.  The game flows very organically around you.

I'm happy to say that Dragon Age has much more of this organic feel to it.  It feels much more like a breathing world and less like a game on constant pause waiting for you to do something (that is still often the case mind you, but it doesn't feel like that).

Overall I'm very happy with Dragon Age thus far.  It's not the best looking game, not in a long shot and it's got a few rough edges.  But if things continue to progress I can easily see myself putting the 50+ hrs into this game that they say are typical for an average play.

Of the 3 (360, PS3, PC) the PC is the best version feature for feature.  It's got the best graphics, different modes of play (top down and over the shoulder) and also supports player mods.  The 360 and PS3 play the same but make trades offs between graphics and frame rate.  They also won't support player mods, but do have the official mods.  Personally I went with the 360 version because I just seem to do most of my gaming on the couch.  My computer could handle it but I find I just don't play on my computer that often.  So if I'm dropping $70 for a game I want to get it for the format I use the most.

I'm also seeing myself already playing through it again with a different character or even as the same type just to see how different choices play out.  They dialogue choices are probably some of the best I've seen in a CRPG yet.  There are some obvious good/evil responses.  But most of them are gray.  There are plenty of choices you make early on that have longer reaching results and it's awesome to see a game play out that way.

I'm playing a Dwarf Noble Warrior.  The Dwarf Nobles are a nasty group.  No wonder the Dwarfs are placed on hard times.  They are all a bunch of back stabbing bastards.  Not really any different from human nobles of the time I guess.  Only the Dwarfs have much smaller numbers and should be uniting not cutting thin.

Waiting for my copy to turn up in the post, good review though mate ansd gives me something to look forward to since im also getting the xbox360 version(pc dosent have a big enough harddrive to install it atm and i need a new monitor to get the best of the resolution).

I got it, too. I'm not impressed with the graphics and opening sequence. The ads and teasers were much, much cooler.

Seanchai

I've  been playing it a few hours a night since Tuesday (xbox too...). Just got out of the mostly linear opening arc myself.  It does rather slam you with characters early on, seeing as you can only have a party of four.

You can see its relationship to Mass Effect, but it rather pales in comparison in so many ways... not least of which is YOU never talk.

Skills are driving me a bit nuts however. Seems like you get one skill point every four levels or so, meaning if you realized you absolutely need to know how to sweet talk someone at level 5 (like I did...) you are fucking SOL for another three levels.  Given that there are some 40 odd skills and, from what I can tell a 'mere' twenty levels it just seems weak sauce.  

I've gotten massive amounts of loot, but its all crap and sells for peanuts apparently.

Not a bad game, but not quite where the trailers were at and not nearly what I'd expect to see from the people putting out Mass Effect 2 later on.

Minor irritation: I got the 'special edition' with lots of 'downloadable content'. Seeing as how there are two disks in the box I can't see why they didn't just put the 'downloadable' content on the fucking second disk?!  That is some irritating shit right there, man.

I think they didnt put it on the second disc because the special edition isnt available everywhere yet the dragon armour and stone prisoner mission are available to all and the other special stuff is just a download code(and the items arent much use really like the ones on the dragon age journeys flash game), am i right in thinking the extra disc is basically a bunch of making of's and behind the scenes crap?

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;342372I think they didnt put it on the second disc because the special edition isnt available everywhere yet the dragon armour and stone prisoner mission are available to all and the other special stuff is just a download code(and the items arent much use really like the ones on the dragon age journeys flash game), am i right in thinking the extra disc is basically a bunch of making of's and behind the scenes crap?

But see: I'm paying big bucks for that shit and now I've got to haul the xbox and tv across the house just to plug into live for five minutes, then BACK across the house to play...

And yeah, I got a second disc of 'features' that I couldn't care about. Like... wallpaper or some shit. Plus what you said.

funny thing is the dragon armour and stone prisoner are both on the marketplace already along with some new piece of content they want you to buy aswell so other than some pretty useless trinkets everything else is available for download for less than it costs for the special edition

Also the items sold as exclusive are due to be packaged together as downloadable content in about a month so again there wasnt much point in making them temporary exclusives really.

I just hope mass effect 2's exclusive stuff stays exclusive abit longer.

I don't know what extra content the you are getting.  But I bought retail off the shelf (not pre-order) and it came with unlock codes for the dragon armour, and the stone golem with regular game.  The only content that I have to buy currently would be some mage tower quest IIR.

Oh also for anyone interested there is a flash game at http://www.dragonagejourneys.com/ and if you play through that you can get some more item's that get attached to your EA account.  There are two medallions and a Dragon Helm.

I absolutely agree that the skill choices feel very limiting.  However the idea is that you use the party to flush it out so that the game isn't a one man show.  This game is based around a group effort not a Hero complex game.  So yes it's different but I actually enjoy it.  Before every Bioware game the group felt unimportant to the story beyond being fodder in combat.  Now the group experience feels complete.

Broken-Serenity: You missed my point. I don't keep my Xbox hooked up to the internet for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the simple fact that my modem is across the house! If nothing else, I demand the convienence that I fucking paid for.  This needing to download the shit seperately (with a code!) is not unlike ordering a pizza and having the delivery man call you and tell you its ready for pickup.  Sure, you still get pizza but that's not all you were paying for.


That said: I beat the Broken Circle quest line last night.  I've noticed Leilani can't stay alive for shit, but beyond that none of the various boss fights proved all that challenging, though the 'mage tower' portion of the Fade was brutal to get through. Large numbers of mages in rooms with no real ability to set up the fight? Tactically all the advantages belonged to the game.

Im the same with my xbox and the connection to the net in the house(not quite the other side of the house but still a fair distance) i used to use my xbox online alot but since getting the xbox 360 ive strangely become more into offline gaming on the console and avoid getting online with it except for updates and whatnot every couple weeks.

Glad to see its a good rpg though as i feared the console version would end up being changed abit to much from the pc version somehow(less rpg more dynasty warriors style action game), but it appears they kept the rpg and just tweaked the tactical stuff.

Yeah. I actually prefer NOT to go online for gaming most of the time, though if I were to list out all the Online Only games I have on my computer you'd think I was lying about that...

I frequently find other people in online gaming to be sort of 'anti-fun', playing specifically for the purpose of ruining someone elses enjoyment. I like fighters and shooters where you don't/can't build anything up for that sort of play but find it particularly asinine in 'deeper' games (eve online, freesky, etc) or even RPGs, where you may tend to identify more closely with your character to enjoy someone 'killing you' then 'teabagging' your corpse... or camping it.

I find it's silly to not have the 360 connect all the time.  I don't play any online games really.  But just so much easier to get updates, demo's, streaming video to my tv from my computer etc... It's just so easy to keep it online I fail to see why you wouldn't.  Even if you have to get a wireless adapter, seems a small price to pay for the convenience of not having to constantly move it to your hookup just to get updates and what not.

What turned me off playing online games was the realisation that alot of the people who i ran into online only baught the game for the shitty online mode and had never even bothered to play the storyline! seriously why pay whatever retail is for a videogame these days if your only gonna bother with the usually crapy online part? its like buying a dvd for the extras instead of the movie, even worse is when they try to "school" you on what the game is about even though they really dont have a clue having never bothered to play it(this was hilarious on mechassault2 for xbox).

Im kinda glad bioware and most other rpg makers refuse to add multiplayer to any of there games as it gives me a nice excuse to avoid xboxlive and online except for updates, as for mmo's i tend to avoid any pvp servers and content so rarely run into the same kind of idiots as console multiplayer modes.

I've played more of the game now. I like most of it, but the graphic are terrible, considering. They remind me of Dungeon Seige - you know, that game that came out in seven years ago.

Seanchai

Yeah the graphics are absolutely dated looking.  Also now that I'm 10+hrs into it the dialogue, while still interesting is like all previous Bioware games starting to get a little transparent.  Instead of good/netural/evile! it's become yes man, relucant, I don't wanna and I'll do what I fucking please.  Which is a 100% improvement don't get me wrong.  

Dragon Age is a lot of fun.  But I'm starting to think that Bioware's game model is getting dated and I'd be reluctant to jump on the Dragon Age 2 train if it's just essentially the same game with prettier graphics.