279 réponses à ce sujet

[Darkaine2]

I honestly love both games, I come from the odd position of never really enjoying RPG games until very recently...even hating Mass Effect way back when I first tried it. If I had to choose between them I would favor Dragon Age for the overall story and cut scene interactions. Again coming from never playing RPGs until these 2 games the store in DA is very enjoyable for me having never really experienced anything like this before.



The other difference for me is issues that I have with ME on my xbox that I don't have with DA on my pc. The graphics on my tv with mass effect have a lot of noticeable issues in HD that I just don't see at all on my pc. I am not sure why they are there but it drives me crazy during the cut scenes as much as I enjoy them. Everyone talks about how buggy DA is but I really haven't had any issues so I guess I am lucky.

[Little Paw]

I really hope Bioware does not listen too much to the people saying that DA was too hard. Most people do not read manuals or tinker with the game much. As soon as I took the time to understand the tactics I rarely died unless I rushed in unaware of my enemy.

DA was a breath of fresh air when it came to difficulty.

ME was so easy it was annoying. Stand still, let enemies come to, rinse, repeat.

Also, if you took the time to understand the skills in DA, you can be pretty near unbeatable in most scenarios.

[Kalfear]

Little Paw wrote...

I really hope Bioware does not listen too much to the people saying that DA was too hard. Most people do not read manuals or tinker with the game much. As soon as I took the time to understand the tactics I rarely died unless I rushed in unaware of my enemy.
DA was a breath of fresh air when it came to difficulty.
ME was so easy it was annoying. Stand still, let enemies come to, rinse, repeat.
Also, if you took the time to understand the skills in DA, you can be pretty near unbeatable in most scenarios.

Agree, I LOVE the tactics system in DA:O. Once I figured it out, combat became much easier and interesting.

I could actually handle ME2 being a mindless shooter if they have the party tactics options DA:O had for each npc party member.

[You Are Here]

I recently started ME, partially because I'd heard so many good things about it, partially because ME2 is coming out and partially because I've done just about everything I wanted to do in DA and was looking for a new experience.   If I'm reading the in-game Journal right, I'd guess I'm about 75% through Chapter 1 (trying to keep this spoiler-free).

So far, I'm not overly impressed.  It's good, but it's not Wowsers great!!!  So far, I feel no connection to the characters whatsoever, including Shepard.  Matter of fact, I'm most disappointed with Shepard.  She's wooden, emotionless, all business.  She has that horrid little furrowed-brow scowl on her face at all times.  Does she ever smile?  The party members (oh, pardon me, squad members) aren't much better.  I'm not feeling any personality from any of them.   They are just... there.  Filler.

Conversely, I felt immediate connection with all the DA characters.  With some, I had a positive connection, with others, negative (looking at you, Shale).  And I certainly had more connection with the Origins.  Well, all except the Dalish.

From an ease-of-playing standpoint, I've found DA easier to navigate.  DA's systems (menus, inventory, that sort of thing) are far from perfect, but ME's systems have made me appreciate DA's more.  No single button to access or dismiss the map?  Preposterous!

Basically, there's enough in ME to intrigue me.  I certainly intend to keep at it,  Maybe it'll get better (although I've seen the buggy-driving parts and I'm NOT looking forward to being the car).  However, so far, I don't see any reason to replay after I finish.  With DA, I felt compelled to play through again (and again and again).

Bottom line, if I had to be quarantined for a weekend and could bring just one of the two, it would be DA.  Easy choice.

[asaiasai]

I have played both DAO and ME i also have ME2 preordered and i have to disagree. In my opinion and it is just that "my opinion" DAO was far superior to ME in just about every category. I really hope that ME2 is every bit as good as DAO was, but allowing even for the age difference between ME and DAO i feel that Bioware really opened up DAO and ME seemed to limited in what i as the player could do. From what i have been reading on the ME2 forums it does appear that ME2 will be more linear than DAO was, but that is just speculation.



Asai

[Ladybright]

Darth Obvious wrote...

But I have no idea what you guys are talking about regarding the inventory system in ME. Specifically how was it clunky? To me, it was far more sensible and streamlined than DA. Seriously, having to go out of your way just to get matching boots, gloves, and armor? How ridiculous is that? Half the time my guys have red boots, green gloves, silver armor, etc., etc., etc., and they end up looking like ridiculous Christmas trees, while the mages pretty much all look exactly the same. In ME (just as in KotOR) an armor set was an armor set. Simple and logical.

And "being forced to hit that omni-gel button over and over"? What in Andraste's name are you talking about?

I never, ever had to do that in ME...

I haven't played ME in a while, but I believe people are referring to the auto-gathering of loot after battles. You'd receive 12 great items or upgrades but only have space in your inventory for 3, and you couldn't go into your inventory to delete less valuable stuff to make room. You just had to turn amazingly good gear into omnigel and were stuck keeping the mildly useless pistol you'd kept to sell. Even if you didn't have to delete good loot, your character would pick up a bunch of trash, too, that you'd need to turn into omnigel.

Maybe that was 360 only, or maybe I wasn't paying attention when I was playing, but that really irritated me about ME.

In regards to the original post, I think that ME was more solid and polished, but less engaging. I greatly enjoy the world and general atmoshpere, but the characters seemed shallower. I still enjoyed it bunches, but I prefer Dragon Age -- while it seems rougher, it is much more emotionally compelling. The world interests me less (though the history nerd loves the historical basis of each country), but I do like the fact that there is wiggle room in the more loosely defined setting/plot/characters. Not everything is explained fully or well, which means that I can play around with various aspects more easily.

If there were a game that combined a ME-quality world with DA:O-quality characters... well, I'm not sure I would survive the experience.

[Abriael_CG]

To add to my previous post, Mass Effect has a big flaw, besides the fact that the story and the writing are rather flat (someone defined them "tighter", i wonder if that's another way to say "flat").

It doesn't really cause any emotion. In Dragon Age there are several emotional moments that leave you with moist eyes. In Mass Effect the only moment that gave me a bit of emotion was paradoxically bond to a secondary character, when Joker attacks the Sovereign on the Normandy followed by the whole alliance fleet. The main characters were mainly written in a very average way (besides Tali and Wrex) and don't really hold a candle to the characters in DA:O as of depth and involvment. The romanceable ladies, in particular, are an absolutely annoying extremised stereotype of a tomboy (I LIKE tomboyish characters, but Ash was stereotyped to comedic extremes, and just plain idiotic most of her remarks, the attempts to give her an "hidden soft side" were just as extremized and comedic, making for a whole mess of a character flipping between screaming and whining all the time, one of the worst written love interests in ALL the games i played), and a meek whiny pseudo-slavegirl that really didn't show anything likeable from start to end.

And since Story and Characters, but even more, the emotions they cause, are THE most important part of an RPG, you get the picture.

Add to this the absolutely boring sections on the Mako, that had me tempted to just turn off the console more than once...

So yeah. Mass Effect is a good game, good enough for me to feel the anticipation for the sequel. But DA:O simply obliterates it on basically every aspect.

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 20 janvier 2010 - 03:03 .

[Akimb0]

Dajiaocookie wrote...

 I've been a big fan since baldurs gate, nwn, etc, etc.. took a big hiatus to play the slew of MMOs, mainly the likes of Lineage 2 and WoW. Just got back into the saddle with Jade Empire, KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc, etd (courtesy of Steam X'mas Sale).

Having dabbled with all these games, Mass Effect feels like the superior of the lot, including Dragon Age Origins. Gameplay feels so much better and the pacing is way better (though if they could shorten the damn elevator rides a tad).

DAO just feels clumsy compared to Mass Effect.

ME > DAO. Yes.

[Darth Obvious]

Ladybright wrote...

I haven't played ME in a while, but I believe people are referring to the auto-gathering of loot after battles. You'd receive 12 great items or upgrades but only have space in your inventory for 3, and you couldn't go into your inventory to delete less valuable stuff to make room. You just had to turn amazingly good gear into omnigel and were stuck keeping the mildly useless pistol you'd kept to sell. Even if you didn't have to delete good loot, your character would pick up a bunch of trash, too, that you'd need to turn into omnigel.

Maybe that was 360 only, or maybe I wasn't paying attention when I was playing, but that really irritated me about ME.

Sounds like you weren't paying attention, then. Much unlike DA, none of the levels in ME would cause you to run out of inventory space if you started the mission with a clear (or mostly clear) inventory. It worked perfectly, and the inventory lists were a breeze to deal with. I never had to turn anything into omni-gel in several playthroughs.

In regards to the original post, I think that ME was more solid and polished, but less engaging. I greatly enjoy the world and general atmoshpere, but the characters seemed shallower. 

I couldn't disagree more. While I really liked Leliana, most of the other characters in DA just seem either too predictable (Morrigan, Zevran) or just downright uninteresting (Wynne, Alistair). Sten and Oghren weren't bad, but I still feel like I didn't have much of a connection to them at all by the end even after completing all of their convos. And Alistair... for someone who is so central to the story, his personal side-quest and his convos were utterly boring.

On the other hand, in ME I found Garrus, Ash, Tali, Wrex, and even Kaiden to be more engaging and three-dimensional, and I felt a much better connection to them by the end of the story. They weren't simply tag-alongs, they were really part of your crew.

Furthermore, In DA they almost bore you to death with too many repetitive battles, and by the end you just want to get it over with. ME never had this problem, and the only real valid criticism that I can see is too many repetitive side planets. But of course, you can simply just skip some of them and that problem is solved, just like I skip some of the repetitive side-quests in DA.

[Abriael_CG]

Darth Obvious wrote...

I couldn't disagree more. While I really liked Leliana, most of the other characters in DA just seem either too predictable (Morrigan, Zevran) or just downright uninteresting (Wynne, Alistair). Sten and Oghren weren't bad, but I still feel like I didn't have much of a connection to them at all by the end even after completing all of their convos. And Alistair... for someone who is so central to the story, his personal side-quest and his convos were utterly boring.
On the other hand, in ME I found Garrus, Ash, Tali, Wrex, and even
Kaiden to be more engaging and three-dimensional, and I felt a much
better connection to them by the end of the story. They weren't simply
tag-alongs, they were really part of your crew.

Are you seriously saying that DA:O characters were predictable and that ME was better in that sense? Mass effect's characters are the absolute top of the line of stereotype and predictability. None of them really reacts in any way to your choice (other than a few lines of dialogue), and only wrex can really be lost, whatever you do.
You can hit on two girls like no tomorrow, and have the one you refuse just give up with an "oh well, but we'll still be friends" lol. Yay for realism.
besides Tali and Wrex, the whole cast of Mass Effect is made by two-dimensional stereotypes that end up being engaging and causing emotion more or less like a brick.
The "farewell" scene in DA:O simply demolishes in comparison any kind of attachment you could have to any character in Mass Effect.

Furthermore, In DA they almost bore you to death with too many repetitive battles, and by the end you just want to get it over with. ME never had this problem, and the only real valid criticism that I can see is too many repetitive side planets. But of course, you can simply just skip some of them and that problem is solved, just like I skip some of the repetitive side-quests in DA.

Again, seriously? Besides the fight with Saren and Benezia (which were VERY lackluster anyway), every single battle in Mass Effect was exactly identical to the other., this even due to the extreme asset recycling in that game (Mass effect is probably the game with the most asset recycling ever released). Every single space station or base was absolutely identical to each other, maybe with a couple crates switched around. Same tactical situation, same environment, variation zero. I find it quite amusing that you'd accuse DA of being repeatitive while championing one of the most repeatitive games of all times.

I understand you might (for some misterious reason) have connected better with ME, but there are some elements that are objective, and repeatitiveness is one of those.

Oh, and having to waste time traveling around the normandy (with that damned elevator in the middle)  to clean the TONS of crap in your inventory after each and every mission to avoid inventory overflow  was simply clumsy, and demolished the pacing of the game.

[Speet]

KCFender wrote...

Personally, I still think Jade Empire was their best game, but that's how weird I am.
It just needed to be longer.

that IS weird... JE was famously bioware's worst lol.

[Valmy]

Does it really matter? It is not like I am only allowed to play one of them.

[Darth Obvious]

Abriael_CG wrote...

Are you seriously saying that DA:O characters were predictable and that ME was better in that sense? Mass effect's characters are the absolute top of the line of stereotype and predictability.

I don't for a second believe that you really think that. Garrus was predictable? Ashley the total smart-ass who also happens to be really religious is a stereotype? I don't even care for religion IRL, and yet the depth of a character like Ashley (or Leliana from DA) were sufficient enough for me to like them anyway. That speaks volumes.

On the other hand, characters like Morrigan, Alistair, Zevran, Wynne (and even Oghren, even though I did like the little guy) are basically no more interesting after you get to know them than they are when you first meet, regardless of how many convos you have. They are essentially completely static characters... stereotypes if I ever saw them...

None of them really reacts in any way to your choice (other than a few lines of dialogue), and only wrex can really be lost, whatever you do.
You can hit on two girls like no tomorrow, and have the one you refuse just give up with an "oh well, but we'll still be friends" lol. Yay for realism.

Well, you are the commanding officer on their ship. What are they gonna do, run away?

besides Tali and Wrex, the whole cast of Mass Effect is made by two-dimensional stereotypes that end up being engaging and causing emotion more or less like a brick.

Funny, that's how I'd describe most of the characters in DA. I easily guessed what most of them would be like as soon as I met them, but I definitely couldn't say that about ME characters. I had no idea what Ash, Garrus, Kaiden, or even Wrex would be like until I really got to know them. Tali and Liara were more predictable, I'll give you that, but they're the minority.

The "farewell" scene in DA:O simply demolishes in comparison any kind of attachment you could have to any character in Mass Effect.

One brief scene from a 72-hour game? That makes up for the mindless hours spent going through one dungeon crawl after another with very little character interaction. Really?

Again, seriously? Besides the fight with Saren and Benezia (which were VERY lackluster anyway), every single battle in Mass Effect was exactly identical to the other.,

That is completely false. Only the side-quest stuff had repetition, while the main quests were all completely different from one another. I don't know where you are getting this stuff.

this even due to the extreme asset recycling in that game (Mass effect is probably the game with the most asset recycling ever released). Every single space station or base was absolutely identical to each other, maybe with a couple crates switched around. Same tactical situation, same environment, variation zero. I find it quite amusing that you'd accuse DA of being repeatitive while championing one of the most repeatitive games of all times.

There's not much of a difference in that regard, which was my point. How are the repetitive side-quest locations any less repetitive in DA than they are in ME. They are virtually the same, and to act like there is some huge difference there is hilarious. Oh wow, another battlefield-like place with elfroots. Yay.

I understand you might (for some misterious reason) have connected better with ME, but there are some elements that are objective, and repeatitiveness is one of those.

I agree on that point, and both games suffered from this problem. The difference is that with regards to the main quests, ME was always different, while DA puts you in the same basic dungeon crawl scenario again and again and again, to the point where you just want it all over with. And just when you think you can get on with the damn Landsmeet already, you end up having to do even more dungeon crawls beforehand. Ugh....

And you really think it is mysterious that someone might connect better with ME? I have news for you pal, LOTS of people connected better with ME. To act like that's a mystery is utterly absurd.

[Maria13]

ME was a good game but I find DAO far more emotionally engaging and that's an important factor for me.

[witchking216]

I believe the ending to Dragon Age sucked.



I feel like I was ripped off after spending all those hours thinking my decisions made a difference.



There was barely any interaction at the end....just a few lines to read. What about the barbarians ???? What about Morrigan ??? What about the Anvil and Orzammar ???



All you get mostly is a few lines of dialogue and brief summaries of the events following the battle with the archdemon, which was really tough and long. There was hardly any payoff !!!! There was absolutely NOTHING interesting and NOTHING interactive about the ending !!!!



If you get dated graphics, you expect more from your achievements.

I could give some more feedback, but I feel that I should be getting paid for this.

[J.O.G]

One important plus for Mass Effect is that the rules are properly documented. DA:O lets you guess far too often, when people have to ask what the difference between two talents is, something is wrong.

A major flaw of DA:O is that the character is artificially forced to become a Grey Warden, it reminds me of a first-time P&P DM desperately trying to force his story upon his players. Yes, Mass Effect gives you even less choice but it makes much more sense story-wise. A classic "you are one of the volunteers" start would've worked much better for DA:O's story.

ME's major flaw is the repetitive areas and sidequests that are just fillers to make the game appear a bit longer.

Modifié par J.O.G, 20 janvier 2010 - 07:46 .

[Forest03]

@ Witchking : Barbarians... what Barbarians? o_O If you're referring to the Dead Caste, their involvement in the war depends on you finding their caste symbol and entering it into the Shaperate's Memories.



Yes, the ending was rather restrictive, but I was neither surprised nor disappointed.





@ everything else regarding character build, stereotypes, predictability.



I prefer DA:O, but only because of my familiarity and affinity for medieval fantasy, as well as the BG / IWD / NWN series.



@ JOG : You're right. The lines between Paragon and Sith Lord were very often distinct when it came to making decisions, whereas DA:O involved a lot of conjecture. The latter is my preference. Others may or may not find it as entertaining.

[josh42426]

Mass effect is clearly the better game for the masses and mainstream. Since it is a hybrid rpg more of the casual gamers will enjoy the action over storytelling and lore. Much like fallout 3 and bioshock. Although dragon age is here, games like baldurs gate will never really come back because of the lack of appeal to most gamers now days. Hell, I know football jocks that play bioware games simply because of the action they now incorporate which sacrifice story and depth.

In the end however its always going to be the hardcore rpg gamers that will favor dao and casual that favour mass effect. Many on these forums will argue that they are not casual gamers because they prefer mass effect. But simply put if you are enjoying mass effect more your enjoying the shallow, quick, adrenaline hits it gives you over a solid story in dragon age.

Modifié par josh42426, 20 janvier 2010 - 11:00 .

[Gilsa]

I love both games -- I couldn't pick one over the other!



DAO = bird's eye view since there are six roles to play with an emphasis on bettering the lives of races around you. High replayability.



ME = Much more personal experience since I'm playing one role -- the Shepard. Everything is in my face and I connect to the game more. I feel more free to pick the harsher lines since I'm basically the one that suffers for my actions.



If a game has romance options, I'll be picking it up. Titles and riches ain't nothing if you don't have someone worth saving the world for!

[Sidney]

josh42426 wrote...

Mass effect is clearly the better game for the masses and mainstream. Since it is a hybrid rpg more of the casual gamers will enjoy the action over storytelling and lore. Much like fallout 3 and bioshock. Although dragon age is here, games like baldurs gate will never really come back because of the lack of appeal to most gamers now days. Hell, I know football jocks that play bioware games simply because of the action they now incorporate which sacrifice story and depth.

In the end however its always going to be the hardcore rpg gamers that will favor dao and casual that favour mass effect.

There's no reason for action to sacrifice storyline and it doesn't. That's just some sort of elitist crap that might make you feel better. Bioshock had as much action as the next FPS but had a ton more story. ME plays in combat similar to GoW but there's a ton of story crammed into there. There's as much story wrapped into ME as JE or KoTOR or BG2 for that matter <insert BG2 leg humping denials here>.

I'm not a huge fan of the "actioning" of the RPG's not because of "loss of story" but because of the loss of my character's role. I want the skills of my character to determine outcomes and not me - hence me playing a role. That goes into other areas- unlocking stuff in Oblivion was a PiTA because no matter how much lockpick my character had I was no good at the action so I failed over and over. Same with that suck Simon game to unlock stuff in ME or the Mako combat for that matter.

[josh42426]

Sidney wrote...

josh42426 wrote...

Mass effect is clearly the better game for the masses and mainstream. Since it is a hybrid rpg more of the casual gamers will enjoy the action over storytelling and lore. Much like fallout 3 and bioshock. Although dragon age is here, games like baldurs gate will never really come back because of the lack of appeal to most gamers now days. Hell, I know football jocks that play bioware games simply because of the action they now incorporate which sacrifice story and depth.

In the end however its always going to be the hardcore rpg gamers that will favor dao and casual that favour mass effect.

There's no reason for action to sacrifice storyline and it doesn't. That's just some sort of elitist crap that might make you feel better. Bioshock had as much action as the next FPS but had a ton more story. ME plays in combat similar to GoW but there's a ton of story crammed into there. There's as much story wrapped into ME as JE or KoTOR or BG2 for that matter .

I'm not a huge fan of the "actioning" of the RPG's not because of "loss of story" but because of the loss of my character's role. I want the skills of my character to determine outcomes and not me - hence me playing a role. That goes into other areas- unlocking stuff in Oblivion was a PiTA because no matter how much lockpick my character had I was no good at the action so I failed over and over. Same with that suck Simon game to unlock stuff in ME or the Mako combat for that matter.

Yes, after playing through the ten hour main story of mass effect I really felt the depth...Mass effect looks impressive against games like cod but in the rpg realm its nothing more than a little mouse. Care to deny it if you wish. You loved mass effect obviously, you think its the story because you cared about what happened to your character. But they do that in hollywood and make money of people like you doing so. You cant deny that the game was simply one acion packed adrenaline rush. The drama that happened in game was not a testament to the depth of the story just another flash in the pan.

AND BY ALL MEANS DO NOT SAY THAT ME HAD AS MUCH STORY AS BALDURS GATE

Modifié par josh42426, 20 janvier 2010 - 11:10 .

[Sidney]

josh42426 wrote...
Yes, after playing through the ten hour main story of mass effect I really felt the depth...Mass effect looks impressive against games like cod but in the rpg realm its nothing more than a little mouse.

A. More time <> more content. Oblviion takes forever but there's a lot less story and depth in it than in ME depsite eons of playing. Unless you think the 23rd oblivion tower is a really all that different from the first.

B. 10 hours? You know you can blast through DAO in > 15 right - been there and done it.  Bioshock took me longer, does that make Bioshock deeper than DOA and ME?

C. You don't feel there's a depth and scope of story in ME? Really, not much I can say. There's as much depth and lore in ME as in DAO and likely more than in KoTOR.

[Abriael_CG]

[quote]Darth Obvious wrote...
I don't for a second believe that you really think that. Garrus was predictable? [/QUOTE]

The young, brash policeman with a black/white sense of justice stereotype. Oh so unpredictable!
Not really.

[quote]Ashley the total smart-ass who also happens to be really religious is a stereotype? I don't even care for religion IRL, and yet the depth of a character like Ashley (or Leliana from DA) were sufficient enough for me to like them anyway. That speaks volumes.[/quote]

Ash is not a smart ass. Bottomline, she is the farthest character i can remember from the definition of "smart".  They TRIED (code word, tried, because they didn't manage) to depict her as a fiery and assertive woman, but ended up going way overboard, turning her into a borderline psychopathic barking dog.
The poetry and religion part was an equally overexaggerated attempt to give her a soft side, turning her into a whiny puppy during those parts. In the end the result is a trainwreck with no middle ground and split personalities between a sociopath and a nun. No, not really what I would call a well designed character.

[QUOTE]
On the other hand, characters like Morrigan, Alistair, Zevran, Wynne (and even Oghren, even though I did like the little guy) are basically no more interesting after you get to know them than they are when you first meet, regardless of how many convos you have. They are essentially completely static characters... stereotypes if I ever saw them...[/QUOTE]

Static characters? lol, seriously. There's not one character that doesn't evolve in DA:O, even loghain, that stays in the group just briefly has his own evolution, for better or worse.
To make an example, Morrigan doesn't evolve? maybe you simply didn't really explore the conversations enough or simply spammed esc for the whole time. Morrigan evoves radically through the game.
A cold, uncaring power-monger doesn't need to melt in your hands to show signs of evolution. When romanced her change through the game shows in every part of her being, her hesitations, even her expression (Morrigan is one of the character that has the best facial expressiveness of the whole history of gaming). It's quite evident that while still mantaining a cold facade, she cares.

But yeah, at least in Dragon Age the characters HAVE a degree of facial expressiveness. In Mass effect they're expressive as squished tomatoes.

[quote]Well, you are the commanding officer on their ship. What are they gonna do, run away?[/quote]

You know that most of the party in mass effect just "happens" to be there tagging along? They aren't enlisted or drafted, so yeah besides Kaidan and Ashley, they could do whatever they wanted, but they don't, no matter how much you go against their beliefs.

[QUOTE]
Funny, that's how I'd describe most of the characters in DA. I easily guessed what most of them would be like as soon as I met them, but I definitely couldn't say that about ME characters. I had no idea what Ash, Garrus, Kaiden, or even Wrex would be like until I really got to know them. Tali and Liara were more predictable, I'll give you that, but they're the minority.[/QUOTE]

Maybe you played Mass efffect blindfolded? I wouldn't know. because there's no reason of unpredictability in any of the characters of the game.

[QUOTE]
One brief scene from a 72-hour game? That makes up for the mindless hours spent going through one dungeon crawl after another with very little character interaction. Really?
[/QUOTE]

Very little character interaction? The more you write the more you seem not to have played the game at all. There's TONS more character interaction with the main character AND between each NPC in DA:O.
In Mass Effect the interaction with each character is extremely limited to a few new lines after each of the four main parts of the main storyline, and their personal quest (for the ones that even have a personal quest, because not all do). There's NOTHING else out there.

On the other hand in DA:O each and every character has a personal quest, and their attitude and available dialogue options vary a lot not only according to the story, but also according to their approval rating.
I can easily say that DA:O has at least three or four more times as much character interaction and companion dialogue options than Mass Effect, if not more than that.
This not even mentioning all the times the companions start talking with each other during what you defined "one dungeon crawl after another with very little character interaction." lol.
There's simply no comparison.

[QUOTE]
That is completely false. Only the side-quest stuff had repetition, while the main quests were all completely different from one another. I don't know where you are getting this stuff.[/QUOTE]

Really now. Feros and Noveria are made mostly with the same assets they used for the other worlds, they're jst arranged in a different way. Each main story world has very little variation in itself, and it's SMALL. The only one worthy of note are the prothean ruins at the end of the game. The rest is extremely limited, full of recycling, and ultimately quite lackluster.

{QUOTE]There's not much of a difference in that regard, which was my point. How are the repetitive side-quest locations any less repetitive in DA than they are in ME. They are virtually the same, and to act like there is some huge difference there is hilarious. Oh wow, another battlefield-like place with elfroots. Yay.[/QUOTE]

Really now... How funny. Dragon age has an extreme variation between it's environments. The Deep roads are completely different from the elven ruins, or the forest, or the location of the urn of sacred ashes, the anvil of the void? Denerim has nothing to do With Lothering or Redcliffe. Dragon Age has tons of environments that seem to come directly from a painting or an illustration, despite being rendered in 3D, and they're all quite unique.
Again, there's simply no comparison between the extremely extensive amount of recycling used in Mass Effect and the much more limited recycling in DA:O

[QUOTE]
And you really think it is mysterious that someone might connect better with ME? I have news for you pal, LOTS of people connected better with ME. To act like that's a mystery is utterly absurd.
[/quote]

Lots of people connect with World of Warcraft, that doesn't make it less crap.

Mass Effect is quite a bit like Oblivion (not THAT bad mind you, but much more similar to Oblivion than to Dragon Age). Lots of extremely repeatitive side quests, and a main story that spans at most 10 hours, to be generous. 10 hours that doesn't really reach THAT much depth.
Aven Assassin Creed 2 beats it hands down, story and depth-wise.

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 20 janvier 2010 - 11:28 .

[Abriael_CG]

meh, double post, sorry.

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 20 janvier 2010 - 11:34 .

[Abriael_CG]

Sidney wrote...
B. 10 hours? You know you can blast through DAO in > 15 right - been there and done it.  Bioshock took me longer, does that make Bioshock deeper than DOA and ME?

You can "blast" thorugh DAO in 15 hours if you skip all the dialogue and cutscenes. If you skip through those in ME, and do no side questing, it's unlikely it'll last you 8 hours. Very possibly less.

Sidney wrote...
A. More time more content. Oblviion takes
forever but there's a lot less story and depth in it than in ME depsite
eons of playing. Unless you think the 23rd oblivion tower is a really
all that different from the first.

Actually the dedra worlds in Oblivion were more different between each other than each and every damn starbase in Mass Effect, that shared exactly the same layout short of some crates.
Mass Effect is the prime example of utter recycling in the world of gaming.

I can hope that mass effect 2 won't share the same amount of recycling, otherwise things will be rather dire...

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 20 janvier 2010 - 11:35 .