Why do many Oblivion fans tend not to like Dragon Age?

[EternalFantasy]

I bought the game as soon as it came out on Xbox and Pc and I love it.

I also don`t like that there is hardly any freedom but it is still a great game.

[sf95070]

First, I don't hate Dragon Age, but I was very disappointed with it.

 

Graphics are great and I grew to really like and really dislike some of the characters.

 

The big problem for me is that it was a 1999 game with 2009 graphics.

 

In Oblivion, if an npc attacks me with an axe, there will be an axe laying there when I kill him or her.

 

In DA, you get some random drop.

 

As noted by others, there are few free form side quests. There are no interesting areas to explore at your own pace and level up.

 

Biggest problem with DA is almost no replay value. I started a second game as a different player, but it is the same game.

 

I have the same complaint about Diablo II.

 

After being disappointed replaying DA ad Diablo, I just started a new game in Oblivion and with the rich environment, I am ending up going different places and it feels new.

 

Part of that is due to the great mod community.

 

That was another failure of DA, no modding tools or support.

 

Again, neither Diablo II nor Dragon Age was terrible. They just don't measure up to Oblivion in playability and particularly replay value.

Edited December 5, 2010 by sf95070

[Lehcar]

Good question, I'll answer from a Dragon Age hater perspective. When you have played games that have an incredible amount of freedom to move around, you tend to dislike games with invisible borders at every corner. When you've played games that allow you to swing your sword and cast spells in real time, you prefer those kinds of games. When you play games that allow you to modify it in its entirety -- that is to say landscapes, races, buildings, scripts, everything. -- you tend to stick with games like that.

 

Dragon age didn't appeal to me, it felt like KotOR II. I'm done with games that allow you to be skilless in order to win, like Dragon Age. It's heavily statistics, and little action. The choices are funny, and the characters are unique, but there is no freedom of movement. You're always chained to the main quest. I just can't get interested in a game with no landscape or exploration beyond the beaten path.

 

Once you become a slave of one of the best games in the known universe (In your own opinion, of course), you shun everything else. It's as simple as that.

 

This.

 

Oblivion's wide open sandbox world automatically wins out over the closed-spaces and small number of visitable places in Dragon Age. See, a lot of people, myself included, like doing a lot just plain old exploring in video games. So if you give players a lot of places to explore, that's a huge bonus for your game.

 

Also, Oblivion's construction set is amazing. A big thing that's kept the Oblivion community so alive over the years is the extraordinary amount of modularity it has. Dragon Age... well, its toolset has very limited capabilities, and once all is said and done there really isn't that much you can do with it. Its toolset is also extremely buggy which doesn't help matters at all.

 

Also, as has already been said, the fact that Dragon Age has a very linear, clear cut story and quest path that you're forced to follow every time is decidedly unappetizing. The great thing about Oblivion is we get variety: Lots of different quest lines with unique and interesting storylines that completely take you away from the main quest. Oblivion's side quests are amazing. Dragon Age, though, did not have too many sidequests, and those that it did have I found to be extremely bland and boring.

 

Then there was the graphics. For a game that is more than 3 years older (which is a lot for video games), Oblivion still surpasses DA when it comes to graphics and graphical capabilities. Dragon Age's graphics were... so-so, but rather bland and unremarkable by 2009 standards. That's why so many people were more than a little disappointed when they first loaded up the game and found everything didn't look anywhere near as good as it did in the trailers.

 

There's also the fact that DA's game engine was really slow and glitchy. For a game that uses such low res textures and nothing but small, closed in world spaces, it should run as fast and smooth as greased lightning, but it doesn't. Seriously, even an unpatched Oblivion was at least still playable - even with the latest patch Dragon Age still is a very unstable game and the number of game breaking bugs and crashes is astounding. I won't start going off in a tangent about the infamous memory leak bug that caused horrendously long loading times... that was just terrible. Awful.

 

Not that I'm saying I hate Dragon Age or anything. I actually quite like it. Oblvion is just a lot better. :yes:

Edited December 5, 2010 by Lehcar

[rooklv]

I like both.

 

They ARE different games. One does not equal the other. They are trying to do two very different things.

 

Dragon Age:

An epic, cinematic, highly involved story. You're not supposed to be free roaming and looking for things to do that aren't the main quest. You're in a race against time with the odds stacked against you. It's very story driven, very much about the characters and their interplay. The combat is supposed to borrow more from icewind dale and less from an FPS. The game did everything that it promised to do in all the videos and interviews. But, it is not Oblivion.

 

TES: Oblivion:

A very open, very sandbox, world. There is no real pressure from the game to do something before much time passes. You're free to be good or bad and either or has consequences. The game thrives on the community and not on the story, which is admittedly lack luster. The game is less about the cinematic, epic story and more about the amazing and varied combat. You are the most remarkable thing in the game, and that's ok. The game did everything that it promised to do in all the videos and interviews. But, it is not Dragon Age.

 

I like them both. I still play them both. If i'm playing DA:O, I know that it's not about the personal development. It's all about the story development. Seeing what small choices early lead to drastic, world changing events later. When I'm playing oblivion, I know it's about personal development and seeing what trouble I can get into... or stop. It's about seeing what other people have been able to carve in to the world and enjoying that for what it is. It's jumping into the sandbox.

 

To expect one to be the other is an unfortunate mistake on the part of many people. That's not to say you HAVE to like one or the other. It's just that a direct comparison is illogical. They aren't trying to be the same thing.

Edited December 5, 2010 by rooklv

[Lehcar]

Yeah but the problem is, if you force players to do the exact same thing over and over again, it's going to wear out and they'll get bored with nothing else to do in the game.

 

Besides, the whole thing was something that the DA hero character was forced into completely against their will to begin with... why is sitting back and watching everyone die not an option?

 

And being trapped in teeny little spaces all the time is still a big immersion and gameplay killer.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Lehcar

[rooklv]

Yeah but the problem is, if you force players to do the exact same thing over and over again, it's going to wear out and they'll get bored with nothing else to do in the game.

 

Besides, the whole thing was something that the DA hero character was forced into completely against their will to begin with... why is sitting back and watching everyone die not an option?

 

And being trapped in teeny little spaces all the time is still a big immersion and gameplay killer.

 

 

I don't disagree. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying your, or anyones, dislike of DA:O is unjustified. So far, people have not liked DA:O for the same reasons I like it. So, it's clear that everyone gets what flavor of kool-aid EA was selling. I just think that if you go into DA:O expecting something more like a TES game, you will be sorely disappointed. Same with either Oblivion or Morrowind. You cannot pick up either game expecting it to feel like DA:O.

 

 

It's like coffee and orange juice. Both typical breakfast drinks, right? But you will have a very hard time comparing them. :D

[Balakirev]

I don't hate it, or like it. DA is the epitome of the KotoR style RPG, linear and beautiful, with little in the way of anything to do save hear scripted dialogs, or fight. Again, there's nothing wrong with that, if you enjoy it. I tried it, found it very repetitive, and put it away. The best part of it, in my opinion, was the camp, with its many opportunities for character revelations from party members. That gives you a sense of my priorities, I expect. ;)

 

On the other hand, I really enjoyed BG2, and better still, Planescape: Torment. But there was more freedom in both those games, and a greater sense of a world. Something about DA feels very much like a movie with a fairly light script. And no, I didn't find any moral decisions to make that really affected matters down the road.

[skyler14]

Everybody here who defends Skyrim here seems to be leaving a crucial detail out. Sure we can mod the game, and give it real character development, interesting quests, and a unique taste, but shouldn't that be something bethesda does in the first place?

 

I'm not hating on Skyrim, I love it, but admittedly this game was not completed.

 

I honestly think that when you look at the mechanics of this game, you have to admit it's pretty lackluster. No real combo system, minimal development in combat, no dodging, no effective platforming, you can't even jump while sprinting. In all honesty unless we can start modding the mechanics of this game, something bethesda has made difficult to do by hard coding that part , then the gameplay argument is a moot point.

 

I really wish that TES games could spend half the effort bioware put into their characters, but clearly they leave that to the modders. Still, it would be nice if they actually took the effort to do something clearly unique themselves. Elder scrolls lore is asolutely phenomenal and the rich palette of material with which they can work with is amazing, but they just let it amount to a collection of texts on the wall.

 

TESV is a game which could have really been done a lot better, but that job is left to the modders. Whether or not you agree, at least we have a lot to play around with.

[robanybody2000]

Dragon Age is a modest somehow linear game...do this, that and this...in that order. TES games are more of your choice of style for playing it (wich i like - i usualy don't like playing hardcore warrior that jumps into fights :)-).

[Naktis]

I love Dragon Age. Especially Dragon Age: Origins. I love it even more than Oblivion. Sure huge open world and breathtaking environments are really great but for me that's pretty much the only thing that Oblivion offered.

 

Of course this is different for everyone. Some people care only for graphics, some for the open worlds so they could just go and explore, I on the other hand enjoy good storyline and well developed characters and Dragon Age: Origins has exactly what I want in a game.

 

Oblivion is a great game but the only reason why I keep it installed is because I like to take screenshots and because of mods too, as for DAO I actually play the game and keep coming back because of the brilliant story and amazing characters. Dragon Age universe itself is very interesting to me too.