Sacrificial Bias wrote...
Sambuque wrote...
Sacrificial Bias wrote...
On a happier note, I've decided to forego purchasing Mass Effect 2 despite having reserved the game. Also, I will not be buying any future DLC for Dragon Age. I may reconsider if this game is patched.
In all my time of playing video games, this is only one of two that's ever had enough problems that stopped me from enjoying the game.
The main problem I couldn't deal with is that this is essentially an INCOMPLETE product. The dexterity issue is a big one and should've been fixed right away. The weapon effects like messy death and weakens darkspawn don't work and either should've stopped the game from being released until they were implemented or should've been removed completely. Same with some of the tactics options(target class, jump to). It's like leaving a useless dead appendage in the game, wasting space and giving the impression that you've paid for a game in which only HALF of it actually works.
As stated by a Bioware co-founder www.destructoid.com/bioware-co-founder-jrpgs-suffer-from-lack-of-evolution--155782.phtml
He forgot to say that Bioware western rpg suffer from the lack of finition (or should I say completion)
Not 6 months have passed and there's allready an extension that raise the level gap and that probably won't fix any issue by the way.
And he clearly doesn't count FF: Dissidia FFXI:Online or The Last Remnant as "different". There are also other titles by Square Enix so carelessly left out of consideration simply because it doesn't have "Final Fantasy" in the title. Even with that said, FF12 was so "evolved" that I couldn't even get into it, and yet, they did the Gambit system better than Dragon Age did the tactics.
While it's true that JRPGs don't seem to deviate too much from the "standard" gameplay of their older titles, at least they make their games work right.
I also found it funny that both Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 have DLC that are excluded from the game itself, yet instantly available on release day. It seems they aren't even TRYING to hide the fact that they are 100% committed to separating you from the money in your wallet. And customer service is almost nonexistent. I wonder if anyone ever had a problem that was actually resolved by them.
Totally agree with your take on JRPGs. The first "RPG" I remember playing was Dragon Quest for the NES (it came free with a subscription to Nintendo Power), and here nearly 20 years later, JRPGs haven't strayed very far from their menu-driven, story-intensive model. My guess is because they don't have to. What JRPGs get right, they get very right, and what they get wrong is usually very minor details that vary from game to game. JRPGs usually deliver exactly what they promise.
In the case of Dragon Age: Origins, however, what's so disappointing about the game is not that it promised so much, but that it failed to deliver the basics before trying to reach past them and redefine the genre. Basics that have been covered here endlessly - framerate issues, missing quest rewards, choppy cinematics, enemies not registering dead (memory leaks), freezing...that's the sort of thing that breaks the illusion and takes you out of the game. Further, that's the kind of thing you're paying top dollar NOT to experience (the PS3 and XBox versions of the game cost ten dollars more than the PC version).
Western game developers seem to be "OK" with the concept of pushing a game out before it's ready then patching it later, while Japanese companies seem to be more concerned about the quality of the product and less concerned about making launch dates. Example: Reggie Fils-Aime saying that the new Zelda won't have a launch date until "the game is perfect".
Lastly, I do want to reiterate that I love Dragon Age: Origins and I still slog through it, even with all the problems and bugs. I just wish they had taken a little more time and care with the Mac and PS3 versions of the games.
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