Gameplay
DAO has been lauded as BG's spiritual successor. Personally, I think it's more a KotOR successor with BG elements thrown in. The controls, the menus, the dialogues, the areas, the general gameplay; it's much more
like KotOR than NWN or BG. The big difference is obviously that you can go isometric like in BG. Incidentally, if you're going to play the console version, my guess is that you're looking more at a fantasy KotOR than anything else.
Controls-wise, I personally play it much like WoW (using WASD while holding down the RMB to turn the camera) and go isotropic when there's combat. Considering Obsidian's blunders with the camera settings in NWN2's expansions (which turned out to be a headache to configure, at least in my opinion), I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked in DAO.
I know there's a pretty big topic about the camera, and I haven't read it. With regards to any negative opinions expressed there, I must say that I think the camera works wonderfully well. If you have played KotOR or WoW (or pretty much any MMO on the market) you'll feel right at home with the zoomed-in camera. And if you've played the Infinity Engine games, you'll like the isometric view. Party play is smooth thanks to it. It's really a BG camera, not an NWN2-like mess. It's easy to use and intuitive.
I like leveling. You get to improve your attributes and spells/talents each level, and skills every couple of levels. That's a pretty nice improvement over the d20 system, in which leveling often didn't mean that much. It's also better than action RPGs where you often only get to increase one kind of attribute.
As far as quests go, you get the usual variety of fetch-and-deliver, go-talk-to-that-guy and clear-the-cellar. DAO doesn't reinvent the wheel.
I haven't met many "real" companions so far, but I like the dialogues. They're well-written, well acted for the most part, and are actually interesting. Also, BioWare created a real world there. For instance, the priests hate the mages and it's pretty obvious. It's not just a quest gimmick, it's a recurrent theme. There's also a lot of background lore and it's often referred to by the characters, so the whole thing feels like a real, breathing world.
Graphics
I'm hesitant to talk about the graphics here for two reasons. First, I know a lot of people here and elsewhere have a fetish on graphics and think that it makes or breaks a game. Second, my computer is in the mid-range at most. Considering these two premises, I don't want to induce people in error with what my game looks like and generate panic.
I'll only say this: the graphics are not as polished as some of the "next-gen" stuff out there, and the animations are not as fluid either. Bottom line, if you're looking at "raw graphics quality", games like Mass Effect win. I'd evaluate the quality as a definite step forward from NWN2, but it's not leaps and bounds away from it.
Personally, I value art direction much more than raw texture size and such. And I think DAO is extremely nice there. In that respect, it's truly a game with it's own style and atmosphere.
Finally, the game seems very stable and well-optimised. It shows that it was built from the ground up for the PC.
Conclusion
So far, it's looking good. I like the gameplay, I like the dialogues, I like the characters. Graphics are really fine, and sounds too so far. I really dig the origins, but have reserves as to the core story material. It's executed very nicely; there's no doubt that DAO is truly a role-playing game in essence, not just in name. But you have to admit that the whole "join the elite warriors to save the world from the convenient and generic horde of evil creatures" isn't the most original plot out there. We'll see how it turns out.
Overall, if you like "true" RPGs, like Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, you'll enjoy DAO. If you're more into the action variant, it might take some time for you to get used to the different pace. In any event, this really is a very polished game. It won't revolutionise gaming (it's more a refinement of existing concepts), but so far it's a lot of fun.In all honesty, it's the first time since KotOR that I'm really excited about a game.
Modifié par DarthMuffin, 03 novembre 2009 - 02:42 .
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