Despite being a BioWare fan from way way back, and having perused these forums for quite some time, I've never decided to post something until now. Having once heard a developer on the Mass Effect team state that the BioWares staff pay close attention to what their customers say on these forums, I thought that I would throw something in. I'm too cynical to believe that my opinion will matter to them, or necessarily even be read, but here it is anyway.
I played the demo on PC, and let me preface this by saying that I am an RPG fan, and have played through Origins close to 20 times. I don't do that unless I really love a game.
Graphics and art: I don't mind the direction that BioWare has taken with DAII, bar a few exceptions. The hurlocks I've seen don't do it for me. They seem almost comical, where in DAO, despite being somewhat 'orc-like', they at least struck me as somewhat scary. The mixture of hurlock and genlock, and the style of both made them seem slightly different from each other, even though I'm pretty certain the models for each were the same. DAII hurlocks are a disappointing departure from those: they look identical to me, walk in a slightly silly manner, and have coifs that drive me nuts. Removal of the coifs (at least on some) would be a step in rectifying the similarity issue. I am also a little bit iffy on the colour of their skin. It contributes to them looking like an emaciated albino, instead of a soulless marauding beast. Hurlocks too were supposed to be the stronger variety of darkspawn; these ones look to me like a DAO genlock could tear them apart.
The graphics themselves are pretty good. I was expecting a little more, but graphics aren't a major deal for me, and given that the demo didn't run on DirectX 11, I'm not worried about this at all.
Characters: I think the voice acting is pretty good. Most voiced characters are done particularly well by BioWare, though there have been some spectacular failures in my opinion, like the male Commander Shepard. Male Hawke doesn't suffer from the monotone problem, which is a definite positive. Female Hawke is really something special. Though Hawke's mother is a little bit on the bland side, some people in real life are on the bland side.
As far as characters look, I think there are major positives and negatives. Bethany and her mother have insanely large breasts. Bethany's initial costume however, is very nicely done, so I don't find the oversexualisation on her model to be too distasteful. When we come to Isabela, it's a different story. The breasts at least I can understand. She seems like the sort of woman that exploits what she has to get her way. However, the lack of pants is utterly ridiculous. At first, I thought that they must be skin tight, but as I looked closer, I realised she simply wasn't wearing anything. Frankly, it's ludicrous. She's a pirate, a warrior, and she spends time in public. Happily walking around without pants doesn't symbolise pride - it symbolises borderline insanity.
Carver is particularly dull. His outfit is really quite boring, as is his voice and general appearance. I can see why BioWare felt the need to have him perish in most situations. Perhaps he'll grow on me.
Female Hawke looks fantastic, though I'm not sold on the male variant. His beard has douche written all over it. But I digress. Hawke's 'exaggerated' armour looks a little on the flashy side, but as an endgame item, it isn't bad at all. Even better are the early items we see in the regular parts of the demo. They are realistic, and on female Hawke, her armour doesn't have ridiculous boob holders. Big plus!
The speech wheel, and a voiced PC: I'm a huge Mass Effect fan, and the speech wheel is a great tool. I personally prefer to see what I'm going to be saying to the letter, but understandably this isn't possible with a fully voiced main character. This however, is where I do have a minor issue. Voicing the character brings all sorts of concerns that have probably been beaten to death by other hardcore RPG fans here, so all I will do is register my general apprehensiveness.
Combat: This is where most of my concerns lie. Some classes look fantastic to me. Warriors with a sword and shield are simply superb. It looks somewhat realistic, but improves greatly on DAO. I still wish they would attack marginally slower, as the rate of swings would seriously tire even the most fit person in an extended fight.
Rogues on the other hand, are the exact opposite. Their attacks seem quite bizarre to me. For instance, why do they roll to bridge the gaps with their targets, when running would be faster, easier, and allow them to defend themselves? Their auto-attacks don't flow particularly well; it often seems like they stop after each attack, which gives it a really disjointed feel. The blows also look like they carry no weight. The only explanation I could come up with was that if you slice some one with glancing blows enough times, they'll surely bleed to death. Given than they probably hit a target a good thirty times before they die, maybe this was the intended effect, though I doubt it. The backstab really doesn't work for me either, though it can certainly be a fun mechanic when used in the right situations.
Bows now have definite upsides to DAO, but some minor problems. They do damage and they're fun, that's the main part in my opinion. However, the animations, like a dual wielding rogue, don't really flow. I don't understand why tey spend their time in melee spin kicking every few hits either. It just looks a little bit silly, and really wears on you when you have to watch it over and over again. I found myself moving away from fights when I didn't have to, just to avoid seeing the unnecessary acrobatics.
The flask throw, like Isabela's lack of pants, is simply ridiculous. It makes no sense for a variety of reasons: kicking a flask could possibly break it, leaving its putrid, incapacitating contents all over the rogue. Furthermore, kicking a flask would require the rogue to pick it up in one hand, and throw it into the air. Why not just throw it straight at the target? I bet you can throw something the size of a DAII flask a lot further and with more precision than you could kicking it in that manner. I don't want to sound like I'm harping on about my my immersion being ruined, but call a spade a spade; when something is patently ridiculous, it sticks out like a sore thumb, even when the game contains dragons, monsters and pantsless women.
Mages are awesome. I much prefer how they've been handled now. Most of the casting animations are superb, believable, well executed. The one small problem I have with them is their auto-attack animation. It's quite silly. Why must they swing the staff around this way and that, CONSTANTLY, even going so far as doing a trickshot behind their back? It just seems a bit indulgent.
The game: The RPG elements are beginning to take a back seat to action. It seems like a trend towards the casual gamer market. As I've never been a casual gamer, I don't see the appeal, and it seems like the more traditional types just can't win due to the market shift. I liked everything about DAO. It was such a good game that bad things became endearing. That's the hallmark of something truly great in a videogame of any variety. DAII is a new direction which I don't wholly endorse, though I'm keeping an open mind and am eagerly awaiting my pre-ordered special edition. I just don't want BioWare to make the same mistakes it made with Mass Effect 2: dumbing the game down, making it flashier, and like Isabela's lack of pants, putting party members into life and death situations wearing nothing but a roll of Glad Wrap.
Traditional western RPG players are devoted and fiercely loyal to their franchises. Perhaps we are a smaller market now, a vocal minority, but I hope that BioWare won't forget about us as they move ahead to greater success. I was a fan before the EA purchase, and am still a fan after, and I'm sincerely hoping that BioWare doesn't forget its original supporters as they move into the future.
Maybe I'm just an old fogey trying to fight off the Call of Duty generation. But maybe that's the only way terrific studios like BioWare will realise that the quality, direction and feel that they originally had us all hooked on, aren't something to be thrown away at the first sight of big money. Re-invent the genre. Don't destroy it.
Retour en haut
. Really hard to get that image out of my head. And that is why retconned appearances are not a great idea, because we tend to associate faces with voices. Plus, I thought Flemeth was more bad*ss when she wasn't trying to look bad*ss.
