Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[Meneldil]

Finished the game. Overall I'm not sure whether I'm disappointed or not.

The game was advertised as the new Baldur's Gate, and well, it fails to deliver. Hard.
That, and the role playing part of the game is still very much Black&White (TM). Some dialogue options don't make sense at all.
Furthermore the whole "original fantasy setting inspired by G Martin's books" is a total fail. Sure, there are some original stuffs, such as the way dwarves and elves are regarded, but that's about it. At no point during the game I thought something like "Wow, that's cool" or "Really nice plot here". And the way the supposedly grimdark universe and useless gore are down on your throat is silly as hell. Please Bioware, do not do that anymore, ever.

But, the game looked so terribad in the trailers that I have to give it credit for being quite decent, or even good, despite many flaws. It still doesn't replace BG2 in my earth, but it was fun, though honestly less fun than NWN2+MotB.

[TinCow]

The game was advertised as the new Baldur's Gate, and well, it fails to deliver. Hard.
That, and the role playing part of the game is still very much Black&White (TM). Some dialogue options don't make sense at all.
Furthermore the whole "original fantasy setting inspired by G Martin's books" is a total fail. Sure, there are some original stuffs, such as the way dwarves and elves are regarded, but that's about it. At no point during the game I thought something like "Wow, that's cool" or "Really nice plot here". And the way the supposedly grimdark universe and useless gore are down on your throat is silly as hell. Please Bioware, do not do that anymore, ever.

I'm not finished with the game yet, so I'll have to wait and see what the ending is like before commenting, but so far I do feel like DA:O is worthy of being ranked with Baldur's Gate in the RPG Hall of Fame. No, the game does not have quite the same number of dialog options as, say, PS:T or FO1/2, but I do feel it's on-par with the BG series. There are a lot of different sides to take, a lot of morally ambiguous choices to make, and the game allows you to justify your actions in ways which are far, far more varied than most RPGs ever allow.

I'm particularly impressed as well with how this game has handled two subjects that have been almost totally taboo in gaming: homosexuality and mental handicaps. The game is very up-front about the former, and the adopted dwarf sidekick of the merchant in your camp is extremely visible for the latter. Not even PS:T or FO delved into these areas much at all. Even the high-controversial Mass Effect female-alien romance option was handled with gloves by saying the alien wasn't actual female, but was both genders. Bioware should be applauded, IMHO, for handling the romance options in DA:O the way they did.

The battles are very tactical in nature and remind me greatly of the BG series (I am doing a TON of reloading, and that's just in normal difficulty). The character classes can use a bit of polishing, but all in all its not too bad. The DA universe may not be George Martin, but it's certainly a nice change of pace from the usual Forgotten Realms setting, and I'm interested to see them explore it more. I'm also very impressed with the amount of dialog and backstory that we're provided with. This isn't a Bethsoft game, where every NPC reply is 5 words long. There are some meaty conversations in this game, and that doesn't even include the monstrous Codex entries, which are very interesting to read.

Again, I'm not done with the game yet, so this is still a 'tentative' review, but so far this game gets two thumbs up for me. If it continues the way it has been so far, I do expect to end up ranking this game up there with the BG series. Keep in mind that this is just the first game in a planned series. It would be inappropriate to compare DA:O to BG/TotSC/BG2/ToB. To get a proper comparison, you should compare DA:O to BG1 vanilla. On that level, I might even put DA:O over the top.

[Vladimir]

II'm particularly impressed as well with how this game has handled two subjects that have been almost totally taboo in gaming: homosexuality and mental handicaps. The game is very up-front about the former, and the adopted dwarf sidekick of the merchant in your camp is extremely visible for the latter. Not even PS:T or FO delved into these areas much at all. Even the high-controversial Mass Effect female-alien romance option was handled with gloves by saying the alien wasn't actual female, but was both genders. Bioware should be applauded, IMHO, for handling the romance options in DA:O the way they did.

I guess you missed the anal sex scene in Final Fantasy VII.

Anyway, I believe this is more a result of their "dark" *yawn* motif. Incorporating realistic and morally flexible options. I hate to think that the incorporation of "controversial" content is a path designers will take to produce the next epic.

Besides, everyone knows elves are bi.

[al Roumi]

I'm particularly impressed as well with how this game has handled two subjects that have been almost totally taboo in gaming: homosexuality and mental handicaps. The game is very up-front about the former, and the adopted dwarf sidekick of the merchant in your camp is extremely visible for the latter. Not even PS:T or FO delved into these areas much at all. Even the high-controversial Mass Effect female-alien romance option was handled with gloves by saying the alien wasn't actual female, but was both genders. Bioware should be applauded, IMHO, for handling the romance options in DA:O the way they did.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My male dwarf commoner rogue er, enjoyed, a "massage" from Zevran last night. Worse, I got the "Easy Lover" achievement for it....

oh man, that is so corny.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Zevran is also the only NPC to have fallen for my diminutive avatar, depsite me pestering Morrigan and Leliana as much as possible.

I've had Morrigan in my party consistently (only just killed Flemeth though) and admitedely not ever used Leliana but I've been gifting them and exhausting all avenues of discussion -apparently to no avail.

Any hints?

[Greyblades]

Gifts? There are afew gifts in the game that some characters want more than the others.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

For example sten realy likes paintings for some reason.

[Meneldil]

After spending more than one hour trying to improve my influence with all my party members, I left the game to discover that my gf had been spamming me over MSN for all that time.

Alistair approves (+4)
Girlfriend disapproves (-10)

I'm still somewhat baffled by the way influence works, especially with Morrigan. You can lose 10 influence by simply asking a question and then gain 7 or so even though it looks like you're annoying her.
As for Sten, he's so annoying I'm not sure I want to improve my relations with him during this second playthrough. I don't feel like going through half a billion of "No."'s once again. First time ever I feel like a video game character is making fun of me.

[FactionHeir]

Sten is quite interesting. At the start, you get mainly +1-+3, with chances of big minuses.
Once you get him to around 25 influence via gifts, you can raise his influence by 15+ with each dialogue.

[Monk]

Sten is quite interesting. At the start, you get mainly +1-+3, with chances of big minuses.
Once you get him to around 25 influence via gifts, you can raise his influence by 15+ with each dialogue.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In the first two dialogues you have with him laugh at his "jokes", you get +8 each time. Also when he says he can't report back to his homeland tell him "Well, you can stay with us then" for a +12 boost. That should push you very close to the 25 mark, if not hit it.

An example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

What were you doing in that cage?
Sitting. As you observed.
Ha ha. Very funny.
Thank you.
Just give me an answer.
I did. We should move on.

Sten approves +8

[Beskar]

I'm still somewhat baffled by the way influence works, especially with Morrigan. You can lose 10 influence by simply asking a question and then gain 7 or so even though it looks like you're annoying her.

Because you are asking her why she is here and why won't she go. She sees it as an insult.

In short:
"Why are YOU here Meneldil? Don't you have some where else better to go?"

[Europe]

I'm particularly impressed as well with how this game has handled two subjects that have been almost totally taboo in gaming: homosexuality and mental handicaps.

Tiax rules all! You are but the grease for the wheels of his rule. Silent the squeaking of those that protest, he rules all!

[TinCow]

Tiax rules all! You are but the grease for the wheels of his rule. Silent the squeaking of those that protest, he rules all!

Tiax is not handicapped! Tiax is superior!