5 réponses à ce sujet

[MzChaos]

So... there I was, about seventeen years old and one of my friends got this new-fangled game to play on his television.  It was the neatest thing I had ever seen!  We (me and a few others) played the darned thing for hours every time we went to his house.  We just couldn't get enough.  It was called "Pong."  It consisted of two thick rectangular bars (one on either side of the screen) each controlled by a player (they moved either up or down) and the goal was to hit a square blip in such a way that it slipped past the other players rectangular bar.

Let me also note that back then, computers took up entire rooms and spit out cards with various holes punched into them that had to be translated (kind of).

 

Now we have computers that can fit on a table top and can be carried from room to room and be taken and operated wherever you go and there are games like Dragon Age.  My how times have changed.

 

As I have established above, I am an old dog and as the saying goes, I have trouble learning new tricks.  I am also a person who believes that when I purchase something, it should work as expected and as promised.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the games but I wish they would come with warnings.  I have found that with Dragon Age Games, there seems to be "some assembly required" on a few of them.

 

I bought Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age Awakenings as a package deal.  When I started playing Origins, I saw no indication that Awakenings was included and assumed (gotta love that word) that it perhaps was something that added an extension, that perhaps I would have to play the full Origins game to unlock the Awakenings part.  So... I did that.

 

To my surprise, the game just ended.  No mention of these other characters that I was expecting to see, no mention of these new regions or areas, I killed the big dragon, was informed of how things went for all the folks I had come through the game with and that was it.

So I went to Google.  Google is a technotard's best friend.  Supposedly, it should have been in the "Other Campaigns" but that wasn't even highlighted for me to click on.  Other folks put up real helpful suggestions but it might just as well as have been written in Martian for all the good it did me.  So... I just rebought the darned thing through the Origins site and that tacked it on quite nicely.  The "Other Campaigns" was accessible after that and I was allowed to continue.  So I spent a few extra bucks getting something I thought I already had... it wasn't all that much and it takes a bit to ruffle my feathers.

 

Well, heck.  I had so much fun playing Origins and Awakenings... why not get Dragon Age II?  It was on sale as was Dragon Age: inquisition so I got them both at the same time.

 

Remember those feathers that don't get ruffled too easy?

 

Dragon Age Origins and Awakenings play on my laptop just fine.  My computer is only three years old after all and even though I'm not too fond of Windows 8.1... it is better than Windows 7.  Those games launch just fine without an internet connection and there's only a few (very few) instances of lag in both games.  This means I can play it wherever and all I need is electricity.  Cool.

 

Now we get to Dragon Age II.  It's jerky... and I have to be connected to the internet to launch the darned thing.  Google says it's because I have DirectX 11 and Dragon Age II needs DirectX 9.  But... the FIRST game works with DirectX 11???  Google says DirectX is connected right to the version of Windows a computer uses so I look to see which version has DirectX 9.  Windows Vista.  Seriously?  Now why would the first game in the series play better on a newer computer while the second game in the series plays so darned crappy?  This also means that should I be out and about with my laptop, I can't play the game unless I have an internet access to launch the darned thing.  Not to mention that if I play the game for any extended amount of time, all that jerkiness plays heck on the eyes, but I found that if I don't stand up too fast and walk real slow for the first few minutes, my equilibrium comes back nicely after a few moments.   

 

So... I play through that jerky game a few times and think to myself that it's time to try out Dragon Age: Inquisition.  Sure... it was a good thought.  I can only imagine the amount of lag that game would have if I could get it to play.  As near as I can figure, I get to the part just before I get to make my character and the darned thing just stops.  I even let it go for seventeen minutes, watching that little icon pulse ever so slowly in the lower right corner... and that's as far as it gets.  So... as much as I would love to play that game, it is beyond the scope of my computer.  I'm thinking it has something to do with the graphics capability of my computer.

 

While all this is going on, and from my many searches I learn about DLC's.  Oh Hey!  I can add stuff to my games!  Exiled Prince... got it.  Legacy... mine.  Mark of the Assassin... loaded.  Still jerky, but great fun.  And what is this?  They have them for Origins too?  Well let me get Witch Hunt.  I wanna see how the kid is doing and if the witch is treating him okay.  Maybe he's even a baby dragon... wouldn't THAT be interesting?

 

So... I go to Bioware and buy it.  I don't play it right away because I'm still experimenting and messing with the new stuff I just added to Dragon Age II.  A few days ago I decide I wanna see how that Witch Hunt affects Dragon Age II so I click on Origins.  It doesn't show "Witch Hunt" anywhere in the downloadable lists nor is it in the "Other Campaigns."  Origin doesn't even have it listed as an attachment but says I can buy it.  Maybe I just thought about buying it but forgot to.  So I add points and click on the "Buy Now" button.  Nothing.  A blank pop-up screen.  Just for shits and grins, I check my email.  Sure enough, I have a receipt from a month ago from Bioware that I in fact DID buy "Witch Hunt."  So where is it?  I can't even do what I did with Awakenings and rebuy the darned thing because the Origin site just gives me that blank pop-up. 

 

So I turn again to Google.  There's some real helpful folks that give what they assume are helpful suggestions but it's written in Martian again.  What some folks don't understand is that not every person who owns a computer is familiar with it's inner workings just as I don't assume that every one who owns a car is a mechanic.

 

I have spent quite a few dollars on three games, and addons to those games of which I can play only one satisfactorily, another only so-so and a third not at all.  Would it be too much to ask the developers to make games that don't require three different computers to play three different games and to make it so that the addons a person buys attaches themselves automatically and do not require hours searching Google to find out why things aren't working... then hours more to figure out how to and where to type in whatever these nice helpful folks are suggesting I type things in at.  I really don't want to know that much about computers.  I just want the stuff I buy to work as it should because when it comes to "some assembly required" when it concerns computers... I am just clueless.

 

Dragon Age games are fun, the ones I can play with the addons that work, but if I was to be asked to endorse them, I'm not really sure I would.  They sure are a pain in the behind to get to work as they should.  And no... I still cannot get "Witch Hunt" to work... and I cannot rebuy it hoping for a successful attachment even though I am willing.

 

*sigh*

 

 

 

[alexanderfc]

I bought Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age Awakenings as a package deal.  When I started playing Origins, I saw no indication that Awakenings was included and assumed (gotta love that word) that it perhaps was something that added an extension, that perhaps I would have to play the full Origins game to unlock the Awakenings part.  So... I did that.

 

When you click on "New Game" it should have come up with an option to start new Origin story or Awakening.

 

 

Now we get to Dragon Age II.  It's jerky... and I have to be connected to the internet to launch the darned thing.  Google says it's because I have DirectX 11 and Dragon Age II needs DirectX 9.  But... the FIRST game works with DirectX 11???  Google says DirectX is connected right to the version of Windows a computer uses so I look to see which version has DirectX 9.  Windows Vista.  Seriously?  Now why would the first game in the series play better on a newer computer while the second game in the series plays so darned crappy?  This also means that should I be out and about with my laptop, I can't play the game unless I have an internet access to launch the darned thing.  Not to mention that if I play the game for any extended amount of time, all that jerkiness plays heck on the eyes, but I found that if I don't stand up too fast and walk real slow for the first few minutes, my equilibrium comes back nicely after a few moments.   

 

So... I play through that jerky game a few times and think to myself that it's time to try out Dragon Age: Inquisition.  Sure... it was a good thought.  I can only imagine the amount of lag that game would have if I could get it to play.  As near as I can figure, I get to the part just before I get to make my character and the darned thing just stops.  I even let it go for seventeen minutes, watching that little icon pulse ever so slowly in the lower right corner... and that's as far as it gets.  So... as much as I would love to play that game, it is beyond the scope of my computer.  I'm thinking it has something to do with the graphics capability of my computer.

 

It does come down to the graphics capability, do you have a decent graphics card or just an on-board (usually Intel HD) one?

 

This makes a massive difference, even if the graphics card isn't an amazing one. What settings did you have to use on DAO? If they were low settings then yes, you probably need to update your hardware if you want to play BBG (Big, Beautiful Games)

 

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy them, honestly I find Origins/Awakening really exciting, I would go back to it - It's an amazing game.

[MzChaos]

DAO and Awakenings are the ones that play the best on this computer and yes, I have Intel HD.  Says so on the sticker.  

 

I do like both of these games and missed quite a few of the features when I played Dragon Age II.  I missed the camp conversations and getting to know your companions better.  Heck, I bought Awakenings in part to find out more about Anders because you just don't get much of his back story in DA2. In DAO, by the time the game is over you know practically everything about everyone.  Where they came from, what they did before the blight started... 

 

In DA2 it's only Fenris who sits you down, is always completely honest with you, offers you drinks and has any kind of meaningful and informative conversations.  Anders is a hypocrite that makes you stand while you talk and uses your friendship against you to justify getting his way, Merril has conversations that consist of all of two to three sentences, Avaline talks in riddles half the time and Maker help you if you try to joke with her, Varric is the easiest one to joke with and by far the best friend.  It's too bad that Bethany can't be with you the whole game and sometimes I just wanna reach into the computer and smack Carver and Isabela isn't even the type of person I'd pal around with in real life and I'm a pretty sarcastic person that enjoys the off color remarks and jokes on occasion, but I do have standards and being greedy just isn't one of them.  And after I got Sebastian, he makes me feel so darned guilty when the grand cleric dies that I have never sided with the mages again.  Though I do love how he does his best to convert Fenris... and I'm pretty sure by the end of the game he has succeeded.

 

I just wish I could play Witch Hunt.  I was even willing to buy it again just to see if I could get it to attach and work the way it's supposed to.  It'd be nice to see how that worked out but alas that's not to be.  I'm sure any thirteen year old could get it to work.  They seem to understand computers a lot more than I do.

 

BTW... I am saving to buy a new laptop in a few months.  While there is no way I can afford anything with Nvidia graphics, Dragon Age: Inquisition implies that it works well with AMD Radeon and that is within my reach.  Jeez... all this to play games... I must be out of my mind.

[alexanderfc]

BTW... I am saving to buy a new laptop in a few months.  While there is no way I can afford anything with Nvidia graphics, Dragon Age: Inquisition implies that it works well with AMD Radeon and that is within my reach.  Jeez... all this to play games... I must be out of my mind.

 

I do A LOT of gaming on my laptop and whilst I would love to save up for a top spec Alienware or better yet, Origin EON15-X

 

I have a Dell 15r Special Edition i7:

 

http://www.cnet.com/...n-15r-se/specs/

 

The graphics card (AMD Radeon HD 7730M) Is by no means one made for gaming but it handles everything absolutely fine (bar anti-aliasing), I've just tarted Skyrim and It can handle max graphics settings.

 

I've always opted for NVidia, but there's a program that comes with AMD graphics cards called 'AMD Gaming Evolved' - this is brilliant because it will optimize games for you depending on your hardware, you can fine tune things with another program called 'Graphics Properties' where you can manually choose the setting for each game, over riding the in-game settings.

 

I certainly didn't spend a lot on this laptop, It was actually a refurb from Dell Outlet and I've had no problems whatsoever (I've had it a good 2 years at least) 

 

I'd definitely buy my next from there too - worth having a look.

[cJohnOne]

Do you have something against Desk top computers because I think you can get them cheaper if you going for more power.  I got mine at Ironside Computer.  It's a i5 with a amd I want to say r9 270X graphics card.  Whoops this post is a few days late ha ha.

[alexanderfc]

Do you have something against Desk top computers because I think you can get them cheaper if you going for more power.  I got mine at Ironside Computer.  It's a i5 with a amd I want to say r9 270X graphics card.  Whoops this post is a few days late ha ha.

 

Good grief, no. I was always "against" laptops. I used to love getting a new Shuttle barebones and building up my gaming PC, pretty sure I still have a couple somewhere. 

 

But laptops are getting better and better for gaming, without having to spend silly amounts of money.