PixlBit

So, one thing Alex asked here was for me to run down the Bioware games. Only one problem...I've written a long piece on Jade Empire here. I've written countless blogs on both Mass Effect and Kotor. I haven't played any of their pre-Kotor games long enough to form an opinion. But wait, I haven't talked about Dragon Age! Or Sonic Chroincles I guess, but here's a rundown of that: Paper Mario meets Elite Beat Agents and make it mediocre with all the lame Sonic characters, yet Big is surprisingly pretty funny. That's all it deserves. 

Now, as for Dragon Age, my opinion as a whole is like the Thor movies. I love both Thor movies and I love two of the Dragon Age games, but I didn't enjoy Dragon Age nearly as much as Mass Effect or Kotor and I didn't enjoy Thor as much as either Captain America or The Avengers. Inquisition came closer to hitting that gaming nirvana that their other games provided me, but fell just a little short. In many ways just like Thor 1 did with Marvel.

So, here's what I like about each game in the series.

Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age was weird going into since I just heard of it the month it came out and figured since I love Bioware I might as well ask for it for my birthday. And my first playthrough, I felt the game was really meh. I played a rogue dwarf and didn't feel his combat abilities were that fun and his ones outside were that useful save unlocking stuff. Not just that, but the interface was a nightmare.

Compare that to Kotor. It had the scoundrel class, which was low on health and not great on combat. However, he could use stealth to hack computers to blow something up in a room full of enemies or plant mines before revealing himself to the enemy. I had options and had to fight smart, not hard. As a rogue in Dragon Age, I felt I had less of those options. 

Or, rather, because the game did not explain things that well. See, there are options like potions and traps, especially if you want to learn how to use and make them. I just had a hard time finding this in the 360's interface and me and crafting generally don't get along so I didn't really want to learn. I missed Kotor's easy to understand interface that gave just enough options and challenge to always stay interesting rather than DA's confusing interface with poorly explained options that made me feel limited. In fact, let's compare the two.

That menu in the left corner is controlled by the D-Pad. Everything is nice and easily divided. You have regular attacks, then special attacks, then Force powers, then grenades, then mines, then stim boosts/health packs. Using up and down on the pad lets you pick between them and if you need more time, you have a pause button which lets you still pick your commands. You can plan four whole turns with each character then watch the fun.

Compare that to this. You have three powers you can acces with buttons. Holding RT lets you pick three different powers. You can also bring up a wheel which brings you to sub-menus, so if those six aren't enough, be prepared to go here a lot. Why couldn't that bar be updated? This doesn't apply to the PC version obviously, which has an MMO style bar, but I still prefer the compactness of Kotor's option bar.

And thank god my second playthrough was on PC and as a mage. Though I'm not a fan of the mage's opening section, it was definitely better. Tons of easy to understand options, fun branches to upgrade to with plenty of options to explore, and interface was much more intuitive.

Combat still had its flaws, mainly overwhelming with enemies for challenge rather than thinking combat scenarios through. Combat in Dragon Age usually ends up exhausting me for that reason, I feel like it's designed for a party of five or six then they just decided at the last minute to give you four.  feel two warriors and two mages is almost a requirement in your party, but then rogues have their uses every now and then. I've heard of a mod that lets you have a party of four and your dog, which may let me enjoy it more. 

Another part which hurt my first playthrough was how I did not find Leliana, Sten, or Shale on my first playthrough. The first two was I just missed them, the second was EA DLC code not working. So I had a huge chunk of my party missing and didn't really feel them the first time save Morrigan. The second playthrough I enjoyed those three and discovered how hilarious Oghren was. Nowadays I feel only Wynne is a weak link in the party. Useful as hell in combat, but god is she dull.

The story is great, as Bioware usual standards. I like how it's not about the Blight (basically orcs from LotR), but the politics behind fighting it. Some think the Grey Wardens, the only ones who can defeat it, are the real enemies and only lying to gain power. It's an interesting twist, though hampered by the typical "these four areas have what you need" which doesn't really fit the same way it did with Mass Effect or Kotor. Feel its structure should have been closer to Mass Effect 3's or Jade Empire's. I will say, however, that I love how many directions the story can go in, you can have vastly different outcomes.

The pacing, however, is not that great. Every single area feels like it takes a third longer than it really should. There will be a journey to find a long lost relic to help you or an area will feel much larger than what is fun. And everywhere just has countless enemies swarming until combat gets boring. I can't play that game for hours at a time like I can with other Bioware games.

Worth playing for this fight alone

Even the sidequests feel too long. I should feel like I want to spend hours in an area, not like I have to so I can get advance the plot or flesh out the universe. That should be a bonus to the game, not the point of the game itself.

The final fight is perfect, however. You're in command of so many forces, each with their own advantage and a finite number of troops. You have to use them, but also need to be careful on which you call upon and in which areas. Then there's an epic fight against the archdemon dragon preceded by one of the funniest moments I have seen in a video game (for those who don't remember, this may jog your memory: ENCHAWNTMENT?)

Though I am hard on it, it still has what makes Bioware games great. Superb writing, a great world to explore (not as great, but then again, I hate LotR style fantasy so that I like it is nothing short of a miracle), plenty of great laughs, and leveling that always kept me wanting to see what's next. Sure, the combat was a bit too much of a miss, but that won't keep me from really enjoying this game. Part 2 on the other hand....we'll talk about that tomorrow.