3 replies to this topic

[ZippyDSMlee]

Dragon AGE thoughts
The good or at least what I found interesting

Story is good I do like the whole setup, they are doing some neat things with generic fantasy settings its nothing huge but all the lil bits put together all good.
Characters are fun and entertaining, witty banter I love it!
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Dialog
Dialog is not as er…choppy/dropy(conversations ended mid sentence) as it was in ME but conversations tend to end hard and fast and you can't restart them. Dialog sounds good like ME, not a lot of people tot talk to tho..a lot of over used dialog/sound….

When you have conversation/persuasive empowered characters you really need to see how the conversation will progress before anything is finalized( you see what dialog choices are positive and what are negative not in morels but how much you are annoying the person you are talking to so you can lead the dialog also somewhat you can see a skim sentence of the next dialog option you are pursing if you have good or better convo skills), even better to allow convo do over's, this with the elder scrolls annoyed bar would be a good way to balance things out.

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Sound/Music


Sound is ok voices are good there is only 2 or 3 worthwhile music tracks
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Equipment ,items and enchantment
Equipment and items are ok I would love for a item that wakes you up if you get knocked down in battle also you can't use an item on another character you are kinda item locked to the character using it only which is quite annoying but since you heal up fully after a battle I guess it's a lose balancing mechanism… enchantment is weak…….
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Level layout/design
Level lay outs are small…smaller than ME and don't look as well character models are good to great looking, fast travel is way over used there should be a level layout to anywhere and once you walk it once or get to a safe point you can fast travel to places you been camp or change party members fast travel should ALWAYS come with random encounters, even in a area like a city you use fast travel you will hit a random encounter. Using the random encounters to make up for lack of level design is bad form.
Cunning would be a great attribute to use to find more loot and also lower prices in stores(see below) have more loot hidden about but only cunning above 20 or so can find most of it.

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Combat

Combat is good BUT the AI/tactics got random issues sometimes commands won't go through the first time you click it, tactics are not well covered in the tut and sometimes do not work when the AI gets confused having it do 4 different attacks on any nearby enemy…… oy people…..

Traps you put down do not last between events and moving levels……its stupid….
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Skills and talents
Not that fond of the linear talent/skill progression and frankly it needs more to make it more interesting and finish the eida for they had for some trees….ranger and shape shifter are hella weak……
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Making it better

Attributes
This takes the D&D setup and makes it dumb ass easy this is all well and fine but its un refined and un polished…. Attributes are better thought out than I have seen in a D&D based thingy


Cunning: Buying and selling, 1% point per cunning point. Then add ½% point for every point over the main characters cunning attribute, but only the character with the highest cunning would be selected for this. You could add ½% for every level of persuasive you have.
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Skills and talents

Skills like stealing,herbalisim,poison,traps combat something and combat tactics(one for slots the other to use higher end talents ) these get points rarely and talents/spells which you get one every level if that's not confusing you are forced on talent trees you can start any of them but if you want the good talents you have to waste a points to get the good stuff….. this is annoying dumb and bad they use attribute and level reqs so use them a bit more with the caveat of buying most talent/spell you want once you hit level 12. This way you can get 1 talent/spell point every level and every 3 or 4 levels you get 2 more to use to buy skills, with them all using the same points you can customize your character a lot more.

Skills and talents
Not that fond of the linear talent/skill progression and frankly it needs more to make it more interesting and finish the eida for they had for some trees….ranger and shape shifter are hella weak……
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Making it better

Attributes
This takes the D&D setup and makes it dumb ass easy this is all well and fine but its un refined and un polished…. Attributes are better thought out than I have seen in a D&D based thingy


Cunning: Buying and selling, 1% point per cunning point. Then add ½% point for every point over the main characters cunning attribute, but only the character with the highest cunning would be selected for this. You could add ½% for every level of persuasive you have.
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Skills and talents

Skills like stealing,herbalisim,poison,traps combat something and combat tactics(one for slots the other to use higher end talents ) these get points rarely and talents/spells which you get one every level if that's not confusing you are forced on talent trees you can start any of them but if you want the good talents you have to waste a points to get the good stuff….. this is annoying dumb and bad they use attribute and level reqs so use them a bit more with the caveat of buying most talent/spell you want once you hit level 12. This way you can get 1 talent/spell point every level and every 3 or 4 levels you get 2 more to use to buy skills, with them all using the same points you can customize your character a lot more.

Or overhaul it altogether every talent has 2-3 levels(flame starts out as a weak burst of fire, level 1 dose more damage level 2 lasts longer on a target and level 3 is like napalm,more damage lasts longer and sticks to everything, fireball starts out as as a fireball that hits one target may knock it down and cause fire damage while elvel 2 is more like the normal fire ball that blows up a large area doing medium damage lvl 3 a super fire ball, you get 2 icons for these leveled up skills either use the less effective one with all the boosts of lvl 3 but lesser area of effect while the other is max area of effect), you can pick any of the first 3 talents before you hit level and attribute reqs. You get 2 points every level (or 6 every 5 levels)to put to skill(skills unlock greater talents or use non battle talents) or talents(most stuff used for battle)

Skills(things that go non directly to combat or a skill related to a class),needs 2 points to get, so if you get 2 points a level to spend on skill or talent. This would help slow making a super bad character after only 5 levels. Teir 4 and above require either high attributes or skill above the 3rd tier.
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Enchantment/Equipment/Poison
WHY ARE THERE ONLY 9(ok 9 with 3 or 5 levels each but still it sucks) RUNES TO ENCHANT WITH?!?!?!
WHY IN THE HELL CAN I NOT ENCHANT/POISON ARMOR AND BOWS?? DAMN LAZY ASS DEVS!!!!!!
RRWWWWRRRRWWWWWWWWW RRAAGGGEEE!!!!!!

For every attribute in green on a weapon and every spell effect/poison there should be a god damn rune…..
Ignore the poison armor ragging but what I am getting at you cannot poison arrows or bolts you cannot enchant armor (any armor), shields or bows/cross bows…… you are cramping my need to customize you lazy ass mongers ><


Here's a thought poison lasts half the time it lasts on a mellee weapon and is 30% less potent, UNLESS you have poison level 2 then you gain full potency at level 3 you get full time on it, mellee and range weapons keep poison on them independently.

Also you can't use other people's potion/poison making skills in camp..you have to leave go somewhere and make them….

Oh and for mages energy staffs if you have fire weapon or ice weapon on it it goes to the bloody staff, perhaps poison level 4 or 5 you can poison its energy shots at 50% the potency of the poison until you get the arcane staff talent with level 4 or 5 poison.
When you find a unique weapon with one or 2 enhanced atrebutes on it it should be green 3-4 yellow more than 4 red, attributes themselves should be clearly marked as such green for minor,yellow for better and red for high end, if its a negative attribute then its purple..

Oh and all the "chances of" crap should be converted into percentages so I can see if it's worth it…..
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Stat boosting
The progression of stat boosting stuff should go something like this 5-10% or 3-5 damage on the low end , 10-20% or 5-10 on the medium end and 30-50% and 10-20 on the high end this 1-2% and 2 or 3 bits of damage or to attack is stupid even more if a full suit of armor only raises you a few points more…..hell I have calculated that even 120% will mean you still get 2 or 3 points of damage since characters cannot be immune to elemental types….

Combat
Commands cannot be interrupted if they have a command put in they do it unless they die.
I would love more independent control I set some characters to not to move and some to move and would love to move the camera around more maybe up camera range by 20% every tactics skill slot you buy.
Traps should last until you pick them up them disappearing for any reason other than being sprung or picked up by you is annoying……. Also summons should last regardless of where you go….. I get all ready for a fight and my sht gets turned off…its redicoulous…
I think Dungeon Siege 1 is the better CRPG.
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Final thoughts

God I'd give me left nut for total narration give me 3 or 5 voices to chose from and let them narrate and read the codecs/journals and events that are described and not done via conversation.

Other than that like Fallout 3 it's a good enough game but god damn it needs work….

PS:
Semi spoilers
Oh god the Branka/Caradine fight is cheap not only can't you convince shale that Membari's could be used for golems but Branka does not fight if you take on Caradine and you get 2 less golems on your side when you fight…… And when you fight Branka she gets 4 or golems plus herself and she's nearly more powerfull than everyone on the map combined….. oh and Caradine is frozen during this….. it took me dyeing 10 times to recall that if the AI fixs on one of my party get them to run all over the place.
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Rant and rave with me people or just get out teh rotten tomatoes I am use to it...and my high pitched ear bleedy whiny voice...

[ZippyDSMlee]

Shape shifter and ranger need an over haul but how to do it in the theme of the skill progression the game uses well try this, both get 2 tears of stuff to unlock the first tier is the animal itself, the 2^nd is the level of talents the animals can use, or mastery level. First off we remove master from the end of the top tier, for and could be replaced with werewolf or dragonling or dual summon the ability to have 2 summons per character, for shape shifter when you start the spell half way before its compete you start another this will give the last form you selected the talents of the last one you selected.



Now let's look at the abilities of the animals

Spider: Web, Poison spit, overwhelm

Bear: Rage, Slam, Overwhelm

Wolf: Dread Howl, Overwhelm, Shred, and Howl.

(let's get rid of swarm its stupid and hurts my head)



Ok not much to play with right? Well you are wrong first we make the starting animal about 30% weaker and reduce its sustained drain by 50%, when you unlock a tier on the "mastery" level, first one gives a 30% bonus bringing them up to normal level and drain and adds a talent,2^nd unlocks a bonus to drain (25% reduction)and a talent, 3^rd unlocks their 2ndary form for the poison/dread spider they get automatic poison spit make it a sustain ability that can be toggled on/off when it's on they can fire off a poison spit like a mage with a staff(which adds 25% drain while this mode is active), the poison spit talent then becomes poison bomb where it fires off a acid flask like shot but dose much less radius damage with it.

For Wolf and Bear the potency of their howl(more radius more likely to work ), and slam(more likely to hit and knocks down regardless of hitting or not like shield bash) goes up.

4ths unlocks more talents like overwhelm, and the final block unlocks master level changing wolf into werewolf, adding a couple of its talents with the wolf's talent plus rage, this could be a on/off talent on the animals quick bar the mode add 25% to drain. Spiders get a bonus to poison spit, poison bomb and web now hits all targets in an area, the Bears get berserk mode that doubles damage(16) and metal resistance(20).



So we just spent 6-10 points getting the sub class mastered for at least one animal.



I dunno if it could be done but Berserker, Reaver and blood made should get 20% bonus to health/mana/stamina regeneration while someone is taking damage.



Other thoughts make it so talents can be picked without having to get the talent before it, poison stuff can only be sued by people 1 level under the ability to make the poison item, there need to be more rune types and more rune enhanced items why no armor or bows?

Most of the spells need a minor version like fire ball, a mini fire ball is more like a fire flask but not as powerful, Flame needs a stronger version that dose more damage over time and in general, even control its length a bit or have a final version that bypasses friendly targets, flame/TK/frost weapons need a stronger version that works on staffs and arrow/bolts even a final version that adds the element effect to all spells(instant grease fire, or simple fire damage with a earth quake), winters grasp needs a stronger version of it that is like cone of cold on a single target. Take walking bomb make virulant its stronger version then finish it off with a area of effect virulent walking bomb.



Animate dead needs 3 lvls and a tweak, at lvl 1 you get 2 extra talents for one single undead pet, lvl 2 lets you have 2 normal (2 talent) undead pets and 3 lets you have 3 single talent undead pets.



Oh ya and level 2 force filed makes it so you can attack not just move from your position, basically adding a level or 2 to the spell to give it more or less effect , if you want to ensure some level of balance you can have 3 spells based on 1 but they all cool down together so no stun locking or whatever.

edit
uhg why did I think a tier bar is made up of 5 talents....its 4 darnit ><

[Stormwind32]

I will admit I did not read it all, but I agree with the general sentiment - The duplicity in the Branka/Caridin fight annoys me too. As for Shale, the solution is not to bring him with you.

Here are some things that annoy me (I hope there is no overlap):

1. In order to use Poisons you need poison making trained to level 1. But to use poultices you don't need any training in Herbalism! How much skill does it take to crack a bottle of poison on your sword? Its just a waste of a skill point

2. I hate that I have to have my team mates waste points on cunning (well the ones who are not rogues anyway) and waste skill points on tactic skills just to get tactic slots.

3. I hate it when you have party members you cannot get rid of. I don't like Wynne but at least I can kill her when I first speak to her. Oghren on the other hand you have no choice, he invites himself to the party and there is no way around it. Since I already have Sten configured and used the way I like, I dump Oghren right after the King is chosen, but its not soon enough! I have the same issues with Alistair. There should have been an option to leave him with Eamon after he is cured.

4. They say the game gives you Good/Evil options but that is simply not true everywhere. In the mage circle, when I told Gregoir I would cleanse the tower, I was expecting I would be able to go all "Anakin Skywalker" on everyone, including the children. But no, the only mages you can kill are Wynne and her entourage and blood mages. I could not kill Owain or Godwin. The tranquil in the great hall and the mages in the harrowing chamber cannot be killed, you can only allow them to be turned into abominations. Once I told Cullen I would kill everyone up there, and did not use the litany, but Uldred died before he could convert Irving to an abomination. I had no option to kill Irving, and I even tried going downstairs to fetch Cullen but Irving intercepted me with the usual chat dialog. It is true I can use the dialog with Gregoir to make sure the mages are imprisoned, but that is just not the same. I wish we had the same option of killing everyone we had with the Dalish.

5. "Good" choices should have consequences as well! If you decide to go to the mage tower to save Connor, he does not wreck havoc on anyone in the village or in the castle in the mean time! Going by what Teagan said, its a day's journey to the tower, so thats two days Connor spends twiddling his thumbs! By the same token, killing Kolgrim should mean that you MUST face the dragon to get to the Ashes. If you side with Kolgrim, he 'convinces' the dragon to let you pass, and if you don't the dragon does not care! As for not unlocking the reaver spec being the 'cost' of not detsroying the ashes - that is not much because you can unlock and reload. Forcing a fight with the dragon would have been much more meaningful as the cost of killing Kolgrim and not defiling the ashes.

6. Conversation ambush - I hate that some foes require you to talk to them before attacking. It completely negates tactics, stealth and positioning! If I already told the gatekeeper I didn't want to talk, I should not have to endure another conversation with the Lady of the Forest. Similarly with Tomas in Redcliffe, I should be able to tell him to **** off and not be dragged to talk to Teagan.

7. Dialogue options are largely stupid and generic. Why would my dwarf have the option to use 'Maker' in many plot dialogues instead of 'By the ancestors..."? With Avernus you have no option to discuss the current plight of the GW in Ferelden or even ask about the joining. With Alistair leaving the Grey Wardens you do not have an option to remind him of what happened to Ser Jory when he wanted to leave! Sure you can have him executed but you cannot remind him of Ser Jory in any of the dialog trees. Also, depending on your dialog choices in Ostagar you can TWICE have Duncan remind him he is not a Templar and Chantry business has nothing to do with the Grey Wardens - yet when he continues to whine about blood mages and blood magic I have no dialog option to remind him what Duncan said.

8. For two of the three races you discover a holy grail object - the anvil for the dwarves and the ashes for the humans. Nothing for the Elves. I would have even been OK for the Anvil quest to be shorter if it meant they could add more elven content.

[ZippyDSMlee]

I will admit I did not read it all, but I agree with the general sentiment -

Well it is a eye bleedy wall o text

The duplicity in the Branka/Caridin fight annoys me too. As for Shale, the solution is not to bring him with you.

Here are some things that annoy me (I hope there is no overlap):

1. In order to use Poisons you need poison making trained to level 1. But to use poultices you don't need any training in Herbalism! How much skill does it take to crack a bottle of poison on your sword? Its just a waste of a skill point

Hardly a waste in order to use poison you must understand it one lil nick and youer dead, so knowing counter measures and proper application techniques you really need your posin level below the making level in order to use them IMO.

But I also think you should get 2 points for skill and not 1.... since they come every few levels...

2. I hate that I have to have my team mates waste points on cunning (well the ones who are not rogues anyway) and waste skill points on tactic skills just to get tactic slots.

They don't need cunning don't put it on them, don't put it on tactic skill if you feel its a waste, really after awhile(after 2 points to trap or poison ) its the only thing that is worth while enough to put points into.

3. I hate it when you have party members you cannot get rid of. I don't like Wynne but at least I can kill her when I first speak to her. Oghren on the other hand you have no choice, he invites himself to the party and there is no way around it. Since I already have Sten configured and used the way I like, I dump Oghren right after the King is chosen, but its not soon enough! I have the same issues with Alistair. There should have been an option to leave him with Eamon after he is cured.

I didn't mind that just part of the story arches nothing big and annoying.

4. They say the game gives you Good/Evil options but that is simply not true everywhere. In the mage circle, when I told Gregoir I would cleanse the tower, I was expecting I would be able to go all "Anakin Skywalker" on everyone, including the children. But no, the only mages you can kill are Wynne and her entourage and blood mages. I could not kill Owain or Godwin. The tranquil in the great hall and the mages in the harrowing chamber cannot be killed, you can only allow them to be turned into abominations. Once I told Cullen I would kill everyone up there, and did not use the litany, but Uldred died before he could convert Irving to an abomination. I had no option to kill Irving, and I even tried going downstairs to fetch Cullen but Irving intercepted me with the usual chat dialog. It is true I can use the dialog with Gregoir to make sure the mages are imprisoned, but that is just not the same. I wish we had the same option of killing everyone we had with the Dalish.

Most open games have a piss poor ability to be really good ro evil, I mean look at Fall out, TES or Fable if you go the evil path any good or neutral place should give you hell unless you are disused to go to the one bad spot in it, all of these games should have a underground almost as big as the normal towns and such. They really need to make such a dichotomy then write the story around that.....

5. "Good" choices should have consequences as well! If you decide to go to the mage tower to save Connor, he does not wreck havoc on anyone in the village or in the castle in the mean time! Going by what Teagan said, its a day's journey to the tower, so thats two days Connor spends twiddling his thumbs! By the same token, killing Kolgrim should mean that you MUST face the dragon to get to the Ashes. If you side with Kolgrim, he 'convinces' the dragon to let you pass, and if you don't the dragon does not care! As for not unlocking the reaver spec being the 'cost' of not detsroying the ashes - that is not much because you can unlock and reload. Forcing a fight with the dragon would have been much more meaningful as the cost of killing Kolgrim and not defiling the ashes.

Meh its called lulzy writing and development the console kiddies wont care so why should they?
And you can unlock it and still keep it? if you redid the save?

6. Conversation ambush - I hate that some foes require you to talk to them before attacking. It completely negates tactics, stealth and positioning! If I already told the gatekeeper I didn't want to talk, I should not have to endure another conversation with the Lady of the Forest. Similarly with Tomas in Redcliffe, I should be able to tell him to **** off and not be dragged to talk to Teagan.

I hate more is that I can not place my group or traps out before a convo.....it has to cancel everything and put me all together ....

7. Dialogue options are largely stupid and generic. Why would my dwarf have the option to use 'Maker' in many plot dialogues instead of 'By the ancestors..."? With Avernus you have no option to discuss the current plight of the GW in Ferelden or even ask about the joining. With Alistair leaving the Grey Wardens you do not have an option to remind him of what happened to Ser Jory when he wanted to leave! Sure you can have him executed but you cannot remind him of Ser Jory in any of the dialog trees. Also, depending on your dialog choices in Ostagar you can TWICE have Duncan remind him he is not a Templar and Chantry business has nothing to do with the Grey Wardens - yet when he continues to whine about blood mages and blood magic I have no dialog option to remind him what Duncan said.

Well ya the dialog tree has not evolved much, I think the convos themselves are better but when it comes down to it you need convo lead 4 options and as many end results....

8. For two of the three races you discover a holy grail object - the anvil for the dwarves and the ashes for the humans. Nothing for the Elves. I would have even been OK for the Anvil quest to be shorter if it meant they could add more elven content.

I think dealing with an age old regional curse and killing one of the oldest living elves is damn close enough.