Time to report in after a weekend spent hacking and slashing my way through the kingdom of Ferelden.
Alistair regretted saying helmets were for pussies.
I’ve got mixed feelings about Dragon Age so far: The story and the character development has certainly been impressive, but it’s just not drawing me in with the same intensity as older Bioware/Black Isle titles.
A large part of this stems from Bioware’s decision to depart from the pen and paper gaming style of Baldur’s Gate, which I believe is a definite step in the wrong direction for them. It’s an issue of transparency, and how (despite their fears of it becoming a ‘math sim’) having clear and consistent systems can help create a more believable environment.
Baldur’s Gate immerses you in a world of equals, where even a lowly peasant has HP and armor class values. You know that any character, friend or foe, is working by the same rules as you. They are using spells that are available to anyone in the game world, their equipment functions the same way as yours, they have the same class/specialization limits as you, and so on.
That feeling is lost in DA:O, where it is simplified to the point of it feeling like “you vs. monsters” with NPCs as little more than a tool to help tell the story.
Small touches matter. In Baldur’s Gate you can look at any NPC, monster or even special character and take a good guess at what they have equipped. You often can tell if an item is unusual, or augmented with some kind of magic. Then (if you decide you want it badly enough) you can attempt to pick-pocket it, or even try and kill the NPC to loot it from their cooling cadaver. Almost without exception it would be there, and you could pick it up and equip it immediately. (Notable exceptions being Elminster’s hat and Sarevok’s armor. How I tried so hard for those items. 
).
Incidentally, this is where the ‘Biff The Understudy’ name of my blog originates: He’s an NPC that appears in the rare instance that you kill a core NPC (one critical to the core plot) to read their lines and continue the story. A necessary compensation for the vast freedom you have.
In Dragon Age not only is loot barely related to what your victim had equipped (kill a guy in full plate wielding a two-handed axe, he drops a chain mail codpiece and some furry gloves), you are pretty much limited to attacking things that are pre-determined to be enemies. Not only does that really hurt the immersion, it also makes playing a chaotic/evil character a whole lot less fun. What happened to luring a town guard into a dark alley and butchering him for his shiny greaves?
I miss rules being applied equally between all characters within the game: The feeling of being another person within a world, rather than constantly being reminded that I am the protagonist and having the game treat me entirely different to anyone else. Even worse than that is when the game restricts what I can do, in order to prevent me from messing with where it wants to take me.
Good old Candlekeep Inn, moments before the walls are slathered with the blood of the innocent.
Then there’s the issue of party member choice. Bioware have made your comrades too important. For example: I find that I am stuck with Alistair in my party because he has such importance to the story line that I don’t want to ditch him too often. That also means I have to watch my actions, because he’s quite the honorable type. Another strike against playing a chaotic/evil character.
Add that to the smaller party size (4 instead of 6) and having far fewer potential party members (8 instead of 24) and it starts feeling like characters are pressed upon you, reinforcing the feeling of separation. It’s not ‘you and your merry band of people you have picked up during your travels’, it’s ‘you and these other really important people’. You don’t feel like you can comfortably customise your party make-up to fit your character choice and get some fun combinations going, and you don’t really have the room to do so anyway.
Perhaps it’s just nostaligia, but I can’t help feeling dissapointed. Bioware appear to be moving away from what I know and love about their games, to appeal to a younger and more casual (growl) audience. I can’t really blame them for that decision if it’s necessary for the short term success of DA:O, but I do feel they have blown any long term shot at having another classic on their hands.
The best analogy that springs to mind would be comparing Baldur’s Gate to a classic fantasy novel, where DA:O is a slightly cheesy ‘choose your own adventure’ book. The novel might be entirely linear, but you love turning every page to discover where the epic adventure will take you next. The CYOA book gives you a kind of false freedom, providing the opportunity to have an impact on your direction at the cost of being limited to a few set actions at every step.
They called it the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate… Perhaps if Baldur’s Gate got really, really drunk, knocked back a handful of Viagra, and jumped in the sack with Mass Effect.
Filed under: Game Design, Personal | 2 Comments
Tags: Baldur's Gate, Bioware, D&D, DA:O, Dragon Age: Origins, Immersion
Good review. I especially like your tagline. I watched a person play for a bit on Xfire Live, and honestly it seemed a bit underwhelming. I mean the Mass Effect-ish cut scenes with dialogue are always BioWare impressive, but the combat part was just okay. Borderlands is keeping me busy enough for now.
I’ve read/seen a lot of good about it, where other players have a different take on the same information you quote (except the Baldur’s Gate viewpoint which seems to stem from claiming DA:O as its successor…would you change your opinion if you completely forgot about Baldur’s Gate for a few minutes?). For example, these people found the “companions” super interesting, in particular in their way to react to your action a bit later down the story. Although it is well possible that these guys missed the restriction, a bit like GW Nightfall’s requirement of certain heroes for doing missions.
I’ve watched quite a few videos and tbh I’ve got mixed feeling. It doesn’t look too bad but I’m not impressed graphically, voice sounds good though. Strong story is good but apparently gameplay difficult is high and at times too hard (in the latest PC Zone magazine the reviewer actually advices to lower the difficulty level for one particular instance … but the review gave DA:O the very high 93%).
Now onto your second DA:O post