So about that DA:O post...

Look. Since I'd had heard nothing but praise about it, I had to make a post denouncing it. What's more, everything I argued against it was perfectly valid. The combat is a little like pulling teeth. I'm having a harder time on normal on a rogue than on hard as a mage. It is complete bollocks that you can only have a select few openings depending on your race/class combination. What if I want to be a human noble mage? And god forbid you don't like dialogue because they puke that shit out at you.

Yet, for all of it's...annoyances...well, there are two things that can make a game, in my eyes. One, gameplay. If a game is so exceedingly FUN, that just the combination of buttons and stuff happening on screen is so magical, it's hard to put the game down just out of sheer enjoyment. A good example that comes to mind would be Ratchet: Deadlocked. Blowing shit up is mindless fun. Doing so in creative, flashy ways is REALLY fun.

Two, story/characterization. There's a quote out there that runs along the lines, "A man who has a why to live can bear almost any how." Too many examples like this come to mind. Oh dear, sweet jesus, I played through all three Xenosaga games. I loathe turn-based games. Xenosaga is more of a goddamned movie than a game and I don't like movies very much either. The gameplay was long and boring. The puzzles take forever. I avoided enemies because the battles were worse. But damned if I didn't see that through because I wanted to see how the characters turned out. Psychonauts would be an awful game if there was no story.

So Dragon Age: Origins falls into that delicate category of having great characters and O-K gameplay. I beat it on hard as a mage, and I couldn't do it as anything else. I wonder if I could do super-hard and I don't feel like trying. But I play through it again because I want to see what happens to the characters if I pick a different option here, if I'm a douchebag there. But gigantic ball sacks on the gameplay. Maybe it's just because I have the sexbox version.

There are very few games out there that blend both of these elements. Deadlocked gives it a good shot, but it's not a serious story. That's probably the closest I can get. I'm sure that Tales of the Abyss was good, but for some reason I didn't like it that much. Oh, Trauma Center is a pretty good example. Though the gameplay is brain-rackingly difficult. But Tales of Symphonia is the best example I can think of. THe characters are wonderful and I love the combat system.

Anyways. There ya go. I'mma go play more DA:O now.

Want to tell this author what you think, but you don't want anyone else to see it? Think she's full of it and need to set her straight? Want to worship the ground she walks on? Well, good luck with that last one, but you can email Chrys at catharticgamer@yahoo.com and at least tell her what you think.

Yay, a new year!

...Only like six days late, right? No, seven...Well, obviously I haven't been paying attention to the time, eh? Well, that's probably because I haven't been in school have been suffering through so much Dragon Age: Origins, a game that has seen nothing but praise and...well, more praise. Honestly, I can't imagine how anyone would like such a game. It's a horrible, awful game!

Oh, and I've gotten my tablet back, so I should use it...so you'll get to see how terrible this game is with visual aids.

So from the start, this game has a lack of creativity. You can play as a human, elf, or dwarf. So that leaves only two choices because playing as human is horribly boring, why would I want to roleplay as me? And then you can be a - hold your breath at this creativity here folks - warrior, mage, or rogue. From there you get your (pretty much) pre-determined opening, but damn, why can't I be a city elf as a mage? Yes, yes, lore, but having six distinct openings is very limited when you like to play as, say, a mage. And when only one of those openings is the mage opening.

*Actual game graphics.

After you complete your "origin" story (which doesn't seem to have very much of an effect on the rest of the game, as well), you go on to become a Grey Warden through a series of SPOILERS. In fact, talking about anything related to the game would probably be a gigantic SPOILER, but let me tell you that story is pretty much YOU are the ONLY ONE who can SAVE THE WORLD. So instead, I'm going to talk about the combat.

You have a group of four at your disposal after a decent ways into the game. So...at it's very basics, the game is an RTS. Which means it's...not very basic. Now uh, I never got the tactics screen explained to me. I couldn't even find the damn thing for a long time. Turns out it was a "Hey, hit this button you don't normally hit in a menu to get to it at this very specific screen!". And, lemme tell you, the 360 version of this game is not very intuitive at you controlling all of your groups members at once. In conclusion...combat is complete balls until you get past a steep learning curve. Compared to Mass Effect's controls, it's a lot less intuitive.

Yeah, combat sucks.

So besides all of that, there's really only one thing to consider in this mess of a game. Dialogue. Lots and lots of dialogue.

You get some options regarding the text which basically include ", , or ". At least they're not always arranged in the same order, like they were in Mass Effect, but really, besides those options, the options are GET MORE BACKSTORY. So you can expect to spend a whole lot of time hearing about shit you couldn't really care less about. And then you'll have to listen to each of your group mates backstories because you want them to like you so they get MASSIVE stat bonuses. Not only that but you'll have to shower these guys with gifts. And honestly how do you figure out which gifts they do and do not like? It's almost like Bioware expected you to pay attention when they puked out their life's story at you.

And yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say. Don't pick this game up, it sucks, it's hard to figure out, and it's boring. Thankfully, I've gotten a better game to play, Assassin's Creed II, that I can write about at an undefined later date.

*Not

Want to tell this author what you think, but you don't want anyone else to see it? Think she's full of it and need to set her straight? Want to worship the ground she walks on? Well, good luck with that last one, but you can email Chrys at catharticgamer@yahoo.com and at least tell her what you think.