Takuyafire's Profile

Firstly this game is one hell of a stretch for me...a major reason I got it was simply cause someone mentioned "Spiritual Successor to Baldurs Gate".

So I bought it...Me, payed for a single player game...how odd. Please dont read that as "I PIRATE ALL SP GAMES!"...its simply that I only play PC multiplayer games predominantly. While I have a fair few SP games under my belt, they aren't something I go for.

This game however...was pleasantly surprising.

As far as story goes, you are recruited to fight for a mysterious and elitist demon thwarting cult army known as the "Grey Wardens". The sole job of the Grey Wardens is to curb and burn out destruction caused by "Blights" which are generally hordes of demonic creatures led out from underground by an Arch Demon, who in this place is a dragon.

Oddly enough, every Grey Warden you meet will be clad head to toe in shiny armour, which makes me feel horribly underdressed when introducing myself to a King in light leathers with a pair of pocket knives and a hell of a lot of lock picks.

PS: You dont actually use lockpicks, nor is it an arduous process like Oblivion. Click on a box, if you have high enough lockpick and cunning, it opens...woo.

Anyway, as with any moderately based D&D game, there are various races, featuring in DA:O are:

- The emo Dwarves who have more drama and dissension among the ranks than you would expect to see in an episode of Shortland Street.
- The City Elves, basically crafty little buggers who have adapted to the life of humans.
- The Dalish Elves...google "Wood Elves" and you'll be about right.
- And of course...the charming yet chaotic Humans that cause more grief than they are good for.

You have to go on a mad mission to gather the country(worlds?) forces and combat the new blight.

But thats the boring bit...the fun bit is the side quest...like finding an Acorn for an ancient tree who only speaks in limeric form...jeez...who writes this stuff.

Actually, in my opinion what made this game so damned amazing was how "relationships" affected your party. You can only have a party of 4 at a time, but typically you will find one party that fits you perfectly, however...if you do this you have to "get along" with those members.

Else the wankers ditch you.

You have no idea how frustrating it is to give a very expensive piece of weaponry to a hireling just to share out some damage dealing capability just for them to go: "HAHAHA YOU SUCK!" and leave.

However it creating a strong relationship with your party members, they will gain bonuses based on their class...ie. A tank warrior will gain Constitution, a thief will gain Cunning etc.

At this point I'll explain the blurb...its simply impossible to make Sten happy...he's just a dick...he hates everything. You'll see if you play the game.

What was I talking about again?

Oh right gameplay. Firstly a tip. Make a Warrior, tank him up, give him dual swords and become a Berserker/Reaver combo. I was doing well into 60% of team damage. Berserker takes more damage while inflicting more damage at the same time...and Reaver does more damage based on how low your hp is.
So if you effectively manage combat...you become a whirling God of Death.
But yea...pause and play always tickles my fancy....although once you get good you dont really need to use it that much. Your joy as RTS players will come in the form of Combat tactics.
They are simple and they work...mostly.
You say: "If combatant is surrounded by x enemies...then use this skill" etc and they do it...occasionally if they have nothing else to cast they will go out of their way to cast something.
So you come across the hilarious situations where you're struggling with a horde of guys and your spell caster goes out of her way to find a room full of more guys just to mass stun them.
And they resist it.
...Ugh...
To me, this game symbolises everything an RPG should include...while it may be a relatively small world, it is highly immersive. You have to manage relationships while at the same time combating a blight that could destroy your world...which is an odd thought really.
The voice acting and lip syncing is masterfully done (mostly) and typically you wont feel the urge to slam the space bar heaps to skip all the cutscenes...because they simply are fun to watch.

Some Cons though...

- Load times...you will loathe these.
- Inconsistent partners...sometimes they love you for being an asshole, other times they just think you're an asshole.
- No Coop. I swear, this would be the game of the century if I could play even LAN coop...but I feel its too late now...if they release a patch to allow this, I have already finished the game 2.5 times...there's really no point in starting again.
- Glitchy, all too often you'll clip into walls and get stuck on irrelevant things.
- Path finding can sometimes send you on wild quests through the wrong places...so make sure you manually control your character as much as possible.
- Stats seem irrelevant...They just climb so high that the modifier must be pointless.

Anyway this review is dragging on, so I'll leave it there. It gains a 8/10 for me, a wonderful game but just lacks in current gen stuff...like coop game play and dodgy textures...

However, this game is worth playing...no doubt about it. I can personally promise 40 hours of enjoyable gameplay if you are an RPG fan.