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chaosapiant posted:Lore question: has there ever been presented a map or other document that shows where the five of seven Old Gods were sleeping before they were awakened by the Dark Spawn? I'm curious what that pattern would look like. I'm not sure about a map, but if my memory serves the Grey Wardens supposedly know exactly where the Old Gods are sleeping, but they can't get to them even if they wanted to because there's masses of Darkspawn in the way.
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Mar 12, 2020 19:08
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ThomasPaine posted:started playing origins again and huh this is way better than I remember it being It does a lot of little things right that people don't necessarily even notice, like the fact that it didn't have equipment bloat and it was always pretty clear what equipment did what
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Mar 12, 2020 19:14
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Vichan posted:One of my favourite characters. Carver is a gigantic piece of poo poo, actually. Dude has (well, had) two siblings that are/were "illegal" mages, and he's entirely willing to join up with not just the Templars, but the Kirkwall Templars.
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Mar 12, 2020 19:24
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Ginette Reno posted:I'm not sure about a map, but if my memory serves the Grey Wardens supposedly know exactly where the Old Gods are sleeping, but they can't get to them even if they wanted to because there's masses of Darkspawn in the way. I remember this being said but I would like to know how they know it. Man there's so much of this setting, I really wish they'd just....maybe give it to that group of ex-bioware people who went to work for WotC? Or something.
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Mar 12, 2020 19:53
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Taear posted:I remember this being said but I would like to know how they know it. Grey Wardens love guarding their secrets even when it's knowledge that, if lost, would doom the world. Look how in Origins none of the junior Wardens have any idea how to do the Joining. As to how they know who the hell knows. They must have a map. But how they would have made a map originally I have no idea.
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Mar 13, 2020 00:09
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ThomasPaine posted:started playing origins again and huh this is way better than I remember it being ive replaying origins too and it holds up surprisingly well. Sure the graphics are a bit dated and theres some jankyness but the gameplay and writing are still pretty good my favorite thing about the game that hasnt been replicated anywhere else is all the incidental quests and lore. like you go through the deep roads and find this bit of lore about an elf who fought for the dead legion and it becomes this neat little quest about finding his blade and placing it where the dude was buried. the game is filled with stuff like that and it makes exploration way more interesting babypolis fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Mar 13, 2020 |
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Mar 13, 2020 00:37
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babypolis posted:ive replaying origins too and it holds up surprisingly well. Sure the graphics are a bit dated and theres some jankyness but the gameplay and writing are still pretty good Yeah, I never really understood the Deep Roads hate. It's got all kinds of neat stuff down there, despite the admittedly very gross body horror I'd still take it over the Hinterlands or any other DAI zone
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Mar 13, 2020 01:06
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:Yeah, I never really understood the Deep Roads hate. It's got all kinds of neat stuff down there, despite the admittedly very gross body horror It's fine the first time, but it's real tedious on a replay. Same deal with the fade section of the circle imo.
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Mar 13, 2020 01:18
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Lord Cyrahzax posted:Yeah, I never really understood the Deep Roads hate. It's brown and ugly and there's a lot of it. And Oghren. I prefer any DAI setting, because they're more pleasant to look at - even the desert ones at least have sky. That's the main reason for me, but it also grates that the darkspawn are produced by a horrid but also absurdly implausible process that's so obviously just been invented to shock.
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Mar 13, 2020 01:26
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Ainsley McTree posted:It's fine the first time, but it's real tedious on a replay. Same deal with the fade section of the circle imo. I enjoy both even on replays, but I space my replays out enough that they feel at least somewhat fresh when I play again.
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Mar 13, 2020 02:04
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The Deep Roads is my favorite part of DA:O and I look forward to it on every playthrough.
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Mar 13, 2020 03:48
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The Deep Roads would be fine if they chopped out like 1/6th of it and also that stupid anvil thing with the ghosts.
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Mar 13, 2020 05:18
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Smol posted:Is the book worth the Ehh, there's a some good lore (which I already posted) but the writing is.....uneven at best. There is one great passage that definitely changes things in the setting going forward: On the surface of the walls were carved massive bas-reliefs, running in three parallel bands and disappearing into the darkness in either direction. The detail was exquisite, and Ramesh quickly realized that what he had first thought to be some kind of paint or pigmentation was, in fact, millions of tiny gemstones set into the stone. The images engraved into the stone seemed almost alive, each one a perfectly frozen moment as the actors within marched through their stories. On the topmost band, stately elven kings and queens held court, their people kneeling before them in respectful supplication. On the middle, scenes of healing and succor, of disease and injury being drawn forth from the sick and dying by elven mages. And on the bottom, aravels, far more elaborate and grandiose than any that Ramesh had ever seen, pulled by armies of halla toward distant mountains—one of which, he realized with a start, was that same mountain that they were now beneath, the three jagged peaks that twisted around each other easily distinguishable in the detailed carvings. It was, taken as a whole, magnificent—and yet, the more he stared at it, the more disquieting it became. There was something slightly off—something that set his teeth on edge and his palms itching for the comforting feel of his weapons. Not one specific thing, but a preponderance of little things all adding up to an aura of quiet, deliberate menace. The striations on the columns, random at first, began to form patterns before Ramesh’s eyes. The same symbol—the horns of a halla—repeated on each column. The symbol seemed to shift, changing in an inexplicable way that made Ramesh’s eyes water. He tore them away, focusing instead on the bas-reliefs that ran around the chamber. Yet even they, suddenly, seemed wrong. The lowest band of carvings, the halla pulling the aravel, was off. The halla were different, wrong. They had too many horns, for one, and a harder, more rounded look than was normal. A look that was almost insectile. And the horns themselves were longer and ridged. Organic, somehow. And the aravels were unlike any he had seen. The windows were barred, and they bore more resemblance to a prison-ship than anything else. The middle band, with its scenes of healing, seemed now twisted, wrong. No longer did it seem as though mages were drawing corruption and disease out of the wounded and infirm—but instead they forced it in, pushing it through and into the fallen bodies. The expressions on the faces of those elven rulers betrayed a contempt that was almost palpable, the beatific smiles edged with disgust and disdain for the creatures at their feet. And the subjects, far from kneeling in reverence as Ramesh had first thought, seemed more to be cowering in terror.
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Mar 13, 2020 05:46
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Ainsley McTree posted:It's fine the first time, but it's real tedious on a replay. Same deal with the fade section of the circle imo. at the very least the fade is skipable with a mod on my replay the deep roads were still cool but yeah you could cut a few trash fights for sure and the weird ghost anvil fight sucks babypolis fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Mar 13, 2020 |
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Mar 13, 2020 06:35
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Taear posted:I remember this being said but I would like to know how they know it. I always presumed the oldest wardens could hear where they were, just like the darkspawn can.
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Mar 13, 2020 07:16
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Bro Dad posted:Ehh, there's a some good lore (which I already posted) but the writing is.....uneven at best. Huh. How interesting. Proof that the Blight originated with the Evanuris, and that they did trick the Magisters into entering the Fade/Black City, in order to get the Blight out of their prison?
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Mar 13, 2020 08:22
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Deep Roads is overly long but it still doesn't compare to that entire Redcliffe -> Mage Tower -> Fade -> Ashes -> Redcliffe gauntlet if you try to get the Mages to help Connor. It's generally good in stories when chapters end and there's a sense of finality to something instead of AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN for 25 hours.
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Mar 13, 2020 09:13
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I too skipped the Fade last time I've played but on the other hand it blew my mind when I've played it the first time. It's like whole other game in the middle of a huge RPG, sort of Metroidvania. It's few hours too if you are completionist about it. Made you feel like game is even bigger than you thought, it's not just a small quest that can wait for you behind every door but an entire huge ghost realm with its own gameplay. I also irrationally love DAO graphics. I know they were still made in the time when brown was considered realistic, and it still has that early fascination with bloom effects, but it has a lot of fantasy character. In my mind DAO is as strongly tied to a term "fantasy" as LotR movies. That subtle dust everywhere, everything has some magical glow, all the stuff around you is curved and smooth, and the faces felt 1 step from being photorealistic. It's like after Infiinity Engine games RPGs went into 3D that was more convinient but looked worse than 2D maps and in DAO those 3D levels finally surpassed older tech.
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Mar 13, 2020 09:29
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Origins graphics look really weird to me, like you're playing in a miniaturized diaroma of the game world instead of the world itself. I still play HoMM V and Mass Effect 1 from the same era and I don't think they've aged nearly as poorly.
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Mar 13, 2020 09:32
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I think DA:Os graphics look fine overall, but one thing I absolutely love about DA:O and DA2 is the lighting/shadowing. A lot of items and props, especially noticeable in the Deep Roads and in tower/dungones, have their shadows almost thickly painted behind them and up the walls. It's hard to explain, but it's a graphic touch I haven't noticed in many games and, despite the lower res textures, I think the aesthetic looks really really good.
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Mar 13, 2020 14:13
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Walrus Pete posted:Carver is a gigantic piece of poo poo, actually. That's exactly why he's my favourite character.
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Mar 13, 2020 14:20
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The best thing about dao's graphics these days is setting the resolution to 4k and watching the quick bar trip over itself in confusion. Of course the text doesn't scale for 4k so you need a mod for the game to be playable.
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Mar 13, 2020 14:33
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FoolyCharged posted:The best thing about dao's graphics these days is setting the resolution to 4k and watching the quick bar trip over itself in confusion. Not 4K, but all the DA games run/scale really well in 2560x1080 and look fantastic. I do wish DA:O's UI was full screen, instead of a small book graphics in the middle of the screen. I love DA2/DA:I's UI overall.
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Mar 13, 2020 14:35
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Since I'm in such a huge Dragon Age mood lately, i'm thinking of watching that Dawn of the Seeker movie. Is that any good? Do you guys enjoy watching it?
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Mar 13, 2020 16:27
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FoolyCharged posted:The best thing about dao's graphics these days is setting the resolution to 4k and watching the quick bar trip over itself in confusion. I couldn't manage to set DAO to work in 4K properly. And you need a mod to make even 1080p fonts look big enough.
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Mar 13, 2020 19:30
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it's astounding to me that anyone thinks the combat looks or feels better after Origins (with some caveats, it absolutely plays better) there was a weird floaty quality to the DA:O animations but the bizarre fast-paced shounen anime style that the series used after is so much less inspired. there's no way to convey anything resembling tension or meaningful combat in that style. (except via gameplay mechanics) it's a straight up insult to good fight animation.
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Mar 13, 2020 19:58
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if its a toss up between quick and responsive combat and DAO's "lets take 15-20 minutes to finish one trash mob of three darkspawn while your OC weakly waves a wand" then I'll take quick and responsive combat any day.
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Mar 13, 2020 20:46
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I don't think DAO's sluggish animations could ever top the burning hatred in my heart for DA2's combat on the console version before they finally patched in a setting for auto-attack. 
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Mar 13, 2020 20:58
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Everyone describing DAOs combat as sluggish confuses me, because outside of boss mobs the game is rocket tag, even on nightmare. Especially when mages on either side are involved.
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Mar 13, 2020 21:05
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FoolyCharged posted:Everyone describing DAOs combat as sluggish confuses me, because outside of boss mobs the game is rocket tag, even on nightmare. Especially when mages on either side are involved. Mana Clash also immediately kills enemy mages if you've got your tactics set up right.
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Mar 13, 2020 21:23
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I tried mana clash once or twice, and either I missed, or there’s a saving throw, since it seemed to do nothing but drain my mana.
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Mar 13, 2020 22:17
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FoolyCharged posted:Everyone describing DAOs combat as sluggish confuses me, because outside of boss mobs the game is rocket tag, even on nightmare. Especially when mages on either side are involved. DA2 definitely over compensated and made things a bit too fast. But coming from DA:O it was nice to see your warrior actually do an attack after you gave them order.
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Mar 13, 2020 22:18
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I don't know why, but DA:O's combat always felt off to me. Perhaps it's an uncanny valley for me. I grew up with Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape:Torment, etc. And Origin's combat is just different enough that I could never enjoy it. I liked the combat of the ME series and the later Dragon Age games a lot better. And I also love the combat in Pillars of Eternity. But I could never get into DA:Os combat. It really did feel sluggish and unresponsive.
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Mar 13, 2020 23:37
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Torrannor posted:I don't know why, but DA:O's combat always felt off to me. Perhaps it's an uncanny valley for me. I grew up with Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape:Torment, etc. And Origin's combat is just different enough that I could never enjoy it. I liked the combat of the ME series and the later Dragon Age games a lot better. And I also love the combat in Pillars of Eternity. But I could never get into DA:Os combat. It really did feel sluggish and unresponsive. even thought I do like the combat I get you mean. It feels as if the devs were just barely able to make the system work. Its janky as hell and the whole thing feels as if its hanging from a thread. Theres tons of issues, like the uselessness of warriors, the lack of any kind of engagement mechanic, etc. As disappointing as the combat was for me in later games it does make sense that they moved away from the DAO system
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Mar 14, 2020 00:03
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babypolis posted:even thought I do like the combat I get you mean. It feels as if the devs were just barely able to make the system work. Its janky as hell and the whole thing feels as if its hanging from a thread. Theres tons of issues, like the uselessness of warriors, the lack of any kind of engagement mechanic, etc. As disappointing as the combat was for me in later games it does make sense that they moved away from the DAO system The engagement mechanic is my only real beef with DAO. The rest I like a lot, but its a system that really rewards familiarity with the game. I definitely agree that it is just on the edge of being broken, but coming from Baldur's Gate, that's nothing new.
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Mar 14, 2020 01:12
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honestly, part of it is playing dao after playing kotor, which had a bunch of lightsaber-duelling animations which looked like two people actually trying to hit each other while blocking their opponent. dao melee combat doesn't have that choreography; it looks like larping, or swinging foam swords around until a kill animation is triggered. it's either helped or hindered by how your character's head swings around when you're hit having your characters move slower in the combat stance didn't help
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Mar 14, 2020 09:41
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Oh the DAO combat shuffle and Rock-Em-Sock-Em animations are burned into my memories. Animations that have so little to do with when the game acknowledges damage should not have happened in a game from 2009z
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Mar 14, 2020 20:56
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These games would be cooler if you could just bring everybody.
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Mar 14, 2020 21:20
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Doctor Reynolds posted:These games would be cooler if you could just bring everybody. They would, since the banter and interjections are a big part of the appeal. But it also would shatter what little combat balance exists. Maybe they could do a team Fighter style assist system where non-active players provide boost or something.
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Mar 15, 2020 02:50
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exquisite tea posted:Deep Roads is overly long but it still doesn't compare to that entire Redcliffe -> Mage Tower -> Fade -> Ashes -> Redcliffe gauntlet if you try to get the Mages to help Connor. It's generally good in stories when chapters end and there's a sense of finality to something instead of AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN for 25 hours. Hold on, you don't need to go the the ashes of andraste before heading back to Redcliffe. Pretty sure you get what you need right after beating the mage tower.
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Mar 15, 2020 05:37
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