Great Game Yes, But!

[Elrandhir]

They still have loads and loads of pointless encounters, I wish that more or less every encounter would have some purpose except for stopping the party from venturing further, like creatures popping up here and there with no real meaning what so ever.

 

Maby it would be hard doing it like that, but the more encounters that is bound to the story itself the better the game in my opinion, because you really tire of killing off whatever random monster just to get further.

 

But well, thats just what I think, maby it's hard to get everything storybased, more story based encounters, and less random crap mobs just wasting you'r time thats how I would like it.

 

Planescape Torment did this really well in my opinion, maby it was such a long time ago that I have forgotten some pointless stuff from that game also, but from what I remembered the encounters had more purpose.

 

Not saying this game is bad, ´because it's one of the best I have played since BG 2.

 

Creatures just appearing out of nowhere is also abit silly, and sure if it's ghosts or something, but hi there Lizards etc, just popping up from another dimension or something.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Elrandhir

[RustyBlade]

What encounters do you think are pointless? Most all of them affect or tell part of the story in one way or another. Lizards? There be dragons here...

[Elrandhir]

What encounters do you think are pointless? Most all of them affect or tell part of the story in one way or another. Lizards? There be dragons here...

 

It would take me all night to sum up every encounter that I feel is pointless, mobs etc spawning randomly out of nowhere, even tho the game is generally very good, there is still room for a lot of improvement, nothing I want to bring up right now tho, because I would have to write aloooot and I aint up for that right now, I also don't really want to sum everything up before I have actually played trough the game, that has been shelved for a long time because of lack of time to play.

 

For now as I said, the game is good, but there are room for a lot of improvements.

[RustyBlade]

Mobs don't randomly spawn (other than two or three mods that have engaged that effect) they are in the same spot on every playthrough. Consider them obstacles in your path designed to prevent you from achieving your goal. Since you are only on your first playthrough I shall say no more on the subject.

[ell46]

Sorry I have to ask, what does "mobs" mean?

 

There are a few quests which I refuse to do, people can go pick their own flowers and buy the rest.

 

I can't really comment on what you have said without knowing specifics and as RustyBlade said things/creatures don't spawn unless it's a dodgy mod, say no more :whistling: I would certainly like to know more about these pointless encounters when your ready to tell us, I would also like to know how far into the game you are or perhaps which of the main quests you have completed so far as people do them in a different order.

[Thandal]

Plus, from a "lore" perspective, Darkspawn are supposed to, well... spawn!

The phrase used by a survivor at one point is "... erupted out of the ground." :thumbsup:

[brokenergy]

I would rather have random encounters than that tedious length of the Deep Roads. Besides many of these encounters have to deal with quests later on or are part of the story of DA as you progress.

[DarkeWolf]

Sorry I have to ask, what does "mobs" mean?

 

There are a few quests which I refuse to do, people can go pick their own flowers and buy the rest.

 

I can't really comment on what you have said without knowing specifics and as RustyBlade said things/creatures don't spawn unless it's a dodgy mod, say no more :whistling: I would certainly like to know more about these pointless encounters when your ready to tell us, I would also like to know how far into the game you are or perhaps which of the main quests you have completed so far as people do them in a different order.

 

Ell- "mobs" is a term from waaaaaay back. The gaming industry used to refer to things as static or "stat" item/creatures or mobile, "mob" items/creatures. So basically "mob" is an abbreviation of "mobile" or something that is capable of moving around on the map hexes, not fixed in one place ;)

 

Elrand- some of the encounters are ummm... shall we say... lore from the books. Like for instance the encounters in the deep roads. In the first of the DA novels, the deep roads was ridden with DS and giant spiders. Which is why the deep roads in the game has so many encounters with them.

 

A lot of it is personal preference I think. One of the things that I didnt like about morrowind, was that encounters with unfriendlies was so far spread out. I'd end up bored off my arse running back and forth. Or... "Oh sweet! Combat!! Grrrr it's one of those damned ugly flying birds!! :verymad: "

[Herculine]

I'm still early in my first playthrough so maybe this topic is out of my league, but...

 

...I've grown accustomed to (and perhaps spoiled by) Bethesda games like Oblivion and Fallout 3/New Vegas which are more open-ended and flexible, so one of the first things I really miss while playing Dragon Age is that I can't just wander around the countryside killing monsters until I finally decide to go do a quest. I'm not as fond of games where I feel like I'm just being dragged along by the story. One of the things that turned me against the Final Fantasy franchise starting around game number 8 or 9 was that they began feeling a lot like just watching a series of fancy cut-scenes rather than actually playing (i. e. participating in) a game. I'm not saying that I totally feel this way about DA, but I am saying that I would actually like to see more of what Elrandhir is calling "meaningless encounters".

 

But as I said, I'm still in my first playthrough and can already tell that the storyline has plenty of options and alternate paths, so I'm still giving it a chance rather than putting it down.

[Thandal]

I'm still early in my first playthrough so maybe this topic is out of my league, but...

 

...I've grown accustomed to (and perhaps spoiled by) Bethesda games like Oblivion and Fallout 3/New Vegas which are more open-ended and flexible, so one of the first things I really miss while playing Dragon Age is that I can't just wander around the countryside killing monsters until I finally decide to go do a quest. I'm not as fond of games where I feel like I'm just being dragged along by the story. One of the things that turned me against the Final Fantasy franchise starting around game number 8 or 9 was that they began feeling a lot like just watching a series of fancy cut-scenes rather than actually playing (i. e. participating in) a game. I'm not saying that I totally feel this way about DA, but I am saying that I would actually like to see more of what Elrandhir is calling "meaningless encounters".

 

But as I said, I'm still in my first playthrough and can already tell that the storyline has plenty of options and alternate paths, so I'm still giving it a chance rather than putting it down.

Glad you're "giving it a chance." I think more than any other CRPG I've ever played, DA rewards patience and multiple playthroughs. You won't see/feel it as much the first time around, but if you expand your mental horizon a little beyond what's usual for a game, you discover that the "flexibilty" and "player control" is on a much broader scale (within the "narrative arc" structure.) You do "have a mission", and certain things do need to occur/be accomplished before you can achieve the goal(s). Along that main storyline, eventually you do get down to having only "what must be done" to move forward.

 

There's a lot of choice about the ORDER in which you do even those required things, and the number and timing of side-quests is almost entirely up to you. But DA is very much a story-and-character-driven adventure, as opposed to a "wander-and-wonder at the world" one. (Although there is plenty of world to wander AND wonder at!) Since decisions DO have consequences in this game, many paths get closed off, but other ones open that would still be closed if you hadn't done this-or-that.

 

So the NEXT time around, you might try something different and be totally surprised at what happens. Things you didn't even know existed might appear. People you might not have traded three words with become companions. Ferelden is a a BIG place. You can't see it all in one trip! :thumbsup: