Who's getting Dragon Age?

[sapper_astro]

-Wait 6 months for the price to drop? =O

-And explain how Steam is a ripoff merchant please?

Thats right; the prices start dropping after six months. Seen it myself a million times, both online, overseas and in games stores. Sorry it doesn't work out that way in your neck of the woods. By waiting, you also miss out on the almost certain 'beta' version they thrust onto the public, so not only can you get it cheaper by waiting; you also miss out on testing a half finished game quite often. win/win.

Steam is a ripoff for two reasons:

As already stated, Australians pay overinflated prices for games compared to the rest of the world (read rest of thread)

Without cracks, you never own the game. It always needs steam to verify things, make sure Johnny is a good boy, etc. I play a lot of my old games, even the C64 stuff. Wanna know how many companies are left from those days? Maybe one..EA. I cannot think of any others that are still alive, Atari is a renamed company, not the original. Oh yeah, SSG, the old Australian wargame dev. Apart from that, they are all dead and buried..hence the games I still own would be useless had this copy protection been in force, because the dialler would hit a wall every time it tried to verify the game was a legit copy.

Pretty expensive for rental prices I must say. But this is my own opinion, and the reason i don't buy any game with a 'back to base' copy protection scheme.

[dare49devil]

-We'll agree to disagree, because if I wait six months to play a game I'de feel behind with the competition! (assuming it isn't a single player storyline game, then you are right, for example F.E.A.R. 2 ori. $50 was on sale for $25 at one point, etc.) I don't think I would be able to wait 6 months for Left For Dead 2 as it comes out Nov. 17th. But, I guess that is just me being impatient, then again I'm not complaining about the price, I bought it for $33.

-And when you categorize Steam as ripoff. I was thinking pricewise, because Steam is an EXCELLENT contributer to sales to games, and they provide AWESOME deals ALOT of the time. The very idea of Steam is INGENIOUS.

-And I'm not sure what you mean with all the copy protection...I have no knowledge of that area, but even if bask. games went out of business and died. The version of Eschalon will always be available for me to play...whether or not I am connected to the internet.

[CrazyBernie]

The fact that Steam increasingly requires you to be logged into your account to play multiplayer games, even for simple LAN play, is annoying as hell (COD:MW2 being the latest example). I come from a breed of old-school lan gamers... a bunch of guys in someone's garage or game room, playing on a lan that doesn't need an internet connection to enjoy some multiplayer action. Some of those guys were pretty poor and couldn't afford to upgrade their computers every year, so they had to tweak their system settings to squeeze out every ounce of performance to avoid laggy gameplay. Having an extra app running in the background has always been a big no-no for tweakers. Those types of copy protection are nothing more than reasons for us to not buy games... it's a sad thing. They say they're protecting themselves against pirates, and yet the pirates still get to play their games while the honest gamer gets the shaft. All it does is encourage more honest gamers to turn to piracy.

Also, Steam left a bad taste in my mouth ever since they lost one of my copies of Half-Life 2, and pretty much told me to go pound sand when I tried to get them to fix it... even though I physically had the keys to both copies. Granted, this was when Steam was first introduced... but first impressions are always the ones that last longest.

That's why I like Stardock's Impulse much better... they have a much less invasive form of DRM, and half the games don't even use it (none of their own games use it, you just log into your account and you can download/install the game... no need to be logged in to play the game). I'm actually thinking about picking up the Deluxe Edition of Dragon Age through Impulse, which comes with bonus DLC(The Stone Prisoner, the Warden's Keep, The Blood Armor, and 3 other in-game items).

[realmzmaster]

Dragon Age is a blast. I am having fun playing the game. The beginning is a little linear, but that is to be expected to setup the basic story. You do have a choice of one of six origins depending on the character you build. The combat is real time with a pause feature. You can customize how your henchmen perform using pull down menus. The controls are nice. Over 450,000 copies have been sold on the XBox 360 and PS3.

I do not know the PC numbers. But it seems to be selling well. I would not wait six months for the price to drop given the dearth of single player CRPGs coming out these days. In the past when more were produced you could wait on a title. But, now if a publisher does not see a return on the investment soon you may never see a sequel. Let's face it sales up front are needed to keep both designer and producer either afloat or willing to produce expansions, sequels and downloadable content.

[sapper_astro]

That's why I like Stardock's Impulse much better... they have a much less invasive form of DRM, and half the games don't even use it (none of their own games use it, you just log into your account and you can download/install the game... no need to be logged in to play the game). I'm actually thinking about picking up the Deluxe Edition of Dragon Age through Impulse, which comes with bonus DLC(The Stone Prisoner, the Warden's Keep, The Blood Armor, and 3 other in-game items).

I prefer it, but still don't like it. Again, if Stardock went out of business, you would either have to take your chances with an (illegal, haha) crack, or use your CD as a drink coaster because the game wouldn't be able to verify and would refuse to install.

I have just totally given up buying any game with a 'back-to-base' verification system as I always end up playing my old favourites again, often many years later when the company is dead/bought out/given up on whatever technology existed in the old days.

Speaking of which, the physical copy of DA doesn't have this system. Extra 5% added for this alone.

[sapper_astro]

I do not know the PC numbers. But it seems to be selling well. I would not wait six months for the price to drop given the dearth of single player CRPGs coming out these days. In the past when more were produced you could wait on a title. But, now if a publisher does not see a return on the investment soon you may never see a sequel. Let's face it sales up front are needed to keep both designer and producer either afloat or willing to produce expansions, sequels and downloadable content.

Fair enough, as from what I have heard DA doesn't have a back to base protection scheme, nor is it bug ridden and in need of copious patches that rarely are released these days...However, I still won't pay what they are asking in Australia when I can order the boxed game with all the thrills for much less from the UK online. Support the developer, definately. Support ripoff merchants in the local market when there is no quality difference? Not for me.

[Iane]

I do not know the PC numbers. But it seems to be selling well. I would not wait six months for the price to drop given the dearth of single player CRPGs coming out these days. In the past when more were produced you could wait on a title. But, now if a publisher does not see a return on the investment soon you may never see a sequel. Let's face it sales up front are needed to keep both designer and producer either afloat or willing to produce expansions, sequels and downloadable content.

Fair enough, as from what I have heard DA doesn't have a back to base protection scheme, nor is it bug ridden and in need of copious patches that rarely are released these days...However, I still won't pay what they are asking in Australia when I can order the boxed game with all the thrills for much less from the UK online. Support the developer, definately. Support ripoff merchants in the local market when there is no quality difference? Not for me.

Who in the UK do you buy from ?

[sapper_astro]

I do not know the PC numbers. But it seems to be selling well. I would not wait six months for the price to drop given the dearth of single player CRPGs coming out these days. In the past when more were produced you could wait on a title. But, now if a publisher does not see a return on the investment soon you may never see a sequel. Let's face it sales up front are needed to keep both designer and producer either afloat or willing to produce expansions, sequels and downloadable content.

Fair enough, as from what I have heard DA doesn't have a back to base protection scheme, nor is it bug ridden and in need of copious patches that rarely are released these days...However, I still won't pay what they are asking in Australia when I can order the boxed game with all the thrills for much less from the UK online. Support the developer, definately. Support ripoff merchants in the local market when there is no quality difference? Not for me.

Who in the UK do you buy from ?

Just check out Ebay. Cheaper than anything you can get in Oz. Some good deals from Thailand as well. Another place to check out is Play Asia.

[realmzmaster]

I do not understand the vast difference in price between the United States and Australia. The exchange rate difference is only 8 cents. I paid $59.99 (free shipping) for the Collector's edition from Amazon. The local WalMart has it for $64.82. The regular edition can be had for $49.99. But for 130 it would never leave the store shelf!

[Iane]

Well I'm leaning towards that this game is NO fun at all - it is Frustrating the hell outa me - Fun factor 4

[azraelck]

I picked it up, and have been enjoying it. Though I'm not sure my laptop will be able to handle it once I get further along. Which is why I'm planning on a new one, with more RAM, win7/xp mode, and a real video chipset.

To me, it reminds me more of the unending stream of free-to-play MMO's I've seen. It is pretty well polished, no real bug or glitches thus far. Which is rare.

[CrazyBernie]

Well I'm leaning towards that this game is NO fun at all - it is Frustrating the hell outa me - Fun factor 4

What difficulty level are you playing on? From what I've read, it requires a lot of micro-management since you can only queue up one task at a time per character. That and some of the random battles can be pretty overwhelming.

Here's some interesting reviews... they're from the same site. One's a quickie review that rips the game apart, and another is an official review that gives it their Editor's Choice. Two faces of the same coin??

Quick Review: http://firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle ... chid=22291 (jakob has always been a pretty harsh reviewer... but I like his honesty ^_^)

Official Review: http://www.firingsquad.com/games/dragon ... ns_review/

[Iane]

I'll have to check but yeah saving after every battle and before every battle is what I'm doing - not only that but if you are swarmed you are rooted - reload and try again is common - your Allies AI is STUPID they are worse than retarded ZOMBIES (not your party members but Allies) and here's an example of Stupidity.

At a Castle to save the Town from Zombie Hordes - there is 4 knights and 4 of us - the knights last 2 minutes and my guys just over that so now there is just me a Mage, it seems the Zombies hit harder with hands than you can with a sword or Magic I have 5 zombies running after me, I run down to the town where I know several archers are and they give a hand and we clean them out BUT wait the Knights have turned into zombies and enter the battle and are running down the hill towards us - I ready myself for the fight but WTF the archers are just Standing there in a Victory Stance thrusting Bows in AIR the Zombies are on top of me and 3 on 1 pathetic mage is not a fair fight so here I am running around 5 archers with zombies in tow who are still in Victory Stance WTF - so I run up the hill and any archer that was killed is now a Zombie and joins in the big run after the MAGE contest - I run down the hill some time later and Guess what I Trigger the archers AI - WTF - after 20 minutes of this bullshit I have 10 Zombies running after me - no mana no pots no comrades in arms but after some time and few fireballs I do get rid of them but only to be rewarded with WAVE 2 of a Zombie horde , just another Dozen or so and maybe another 30 minutes of trying to kill them - I gave up

[realmzmaster]

The game has four difficulty levels from Easy to Nightmare. Even at Normal level some of the battles are intense. The first boss (ogre) in the tower gives you a taste of things to come. You will have to make use of the pause button and customize how your party members should react to certain situations. This type of micro managing was found in the BG series. You will also have to make use of the terrain. Example if there is a wall nearby lure the enemy to wall with you party's back to it. This cuts down on sneak attacks and flanking. But you may have to charge any Archers.

Keep your group together if fighting more than one enemy. Concentrate on one at a time if you can. If only one enemy you may have to spread out. Example the ogre in the tower has a Stomp attack with acts like a concussive blast. (like the Incredible Hulk). It knocks everyone down. He will then use a grab attack. It is lights out for any member who gets caught in the grab attack.(The ogre use the other fist to pound the member in to astro turf.)

You have to keep an eye on HP, Stamina and mana for magic users. There is no Auto regen during battle or it is extremely slow. Any abilities a warrior or rogue type use will decrease stamina to maintain it. If your stamina is too low you will not be able to fight effectively, if at all. Any long lasting spells require mana upkeep. You will have to upgrade periodically your pary member's equipment. (But all of us CRPGers know that.) But a great many magic you find have benefits and deficients.

The one party member who is the easiest to care for is your faithful war dog (Fang). In fact Fang is a force to be reckon with almost as powerful as Sten and Fang will remain loyal. You will not be able to hack and slash at random in this game. Also to get certain party members will require having certain other party members in your group. This game will take patience. But YMMV. Dragon Age is not neccessarily a game for everyone.

[realmzmaster]

There is a patch 1.01a that is suppose to reduce the difficulty level in the game. Also the toolset has been released. The patch is 13MB and the toolset weighs in at 472MB. I have not patch my game yet. So I cannot comment on the new difficulty.