Dragon Age Catch-All

lethial wrote:

If you don't mind me asking, what laptop do you have? Fallout 3's min requirement is definitely higher then DA.

IMAGE(http://www.laptoprepair.ie/stacy-left.jpg)

lethial wrote:

Just curious, what is preventing you guys from getting the PC version? If I remember correctly the system requirement of the game really isn't that high. I will find that and update OP.

In computer years, mine could join the AARP. Damn thing sounds like an asthmatic even running something like Mount & Blade.

Look on the bright side. Pretty soon your old PCs will become "classic collectibles" which you can sell for a lot of money on ebay!

lethial wrote:

If you don't mind me asking, what laptop do you have? Fallout 3's min requirement is definitely higher then DA.

Apparently this laptop (borrowing it from a friend) has more than Fallout 3's minimum requirements. It still barely runs.

CPU T2600 2.16GHz
2.0GB Ram
Windows XP
ATI Mobility Radeon X1400

lethial wrote:
Grenn wrote:

Brass Tax, if my system could run a decent ME1, could it run a decent (read middle settings) Dragon Age, you think?

Going by the system requirements published for ME, DA actually have a lower system requirement. So you should be fine.

Unless you have a small HDD.

Minimum requirements show a dual core proc. Until I can justify an upgrade I'm watching this thread like a fish tank.

Hopefully someone takes one for the team and finds that a single core is fine.

farley3k wrote:
lethial wrote:

Just curious, what is preventing you guys from getting the PC version? If I remember correctly the system requirement of the game really isn't that high. I will find that and update OP.

My wife using the PC at night for work mostly. Buying a 2nd PC isn't really an option so 99% of my gaming is on the 360. And to be honest 99% of the time (or close) it isn't a bad deal. I usually prefer the 360 versions. This game just seems to be one which is geared towards the PC.

I'm on Mac and I don't want to get into emulation to avoid complications on a machine I need for work. I wouldn't think twice about buying the 360 version of most PC games but game like Dragon Age doesn't seem a natural fit for consoles so I'm wary.

I actually tried playing an old FPS with a mouse and keyboard recently and it felt wierd and uncomfortable. I know... I think I need to turn in my Gamer card.

The only reason I am getting it for 360 is that I don't have a great PC for playing games yet and I am building one but I would rather play Dragon Age on consoles first than eventually on PC one's I finish building the one I want.

farley3k wrote:
Still. GET THE PC VERSION. There are a gazillion loading screens that you'll encounter, and on the PC the wait isn't too bad, but I shudder at the thought of all those loads on a 360 or PS3.

This makes me sad. I wonder if that is why they locked the perspective on the consoles to the over the shoulder view.

Its not like the guy actually played the console version, he is making an assumption with no data to back it up.

-Edit: I'm a skimmer, you pointed this out yourself in a later post!

lethial wrote:

Just curious, what is preventing you guys from getting the PC version? If I remember correctly the system requirement of the game really isn't that high. I will find that and update OP.

My girlfriend wants to play it, so console it is. If the mod community really takes off on the PC and I can score a good deal I could see myself picking it up down the line.

Higgledy wrote:

I wouldn't think twice about buying the 360 version of most PC games but game like Dragon Age doesn't seem a natural fit for consoles so I'm wary.

Well KoToR and Jade Empire were both great on the console and Dragon Age looks a lot more like KoToR than different. Mass Effect was the only one that stunk on consoles (from a technical perspective - the pop-in, elevator hell, and terrible inventory) So I have my fingers crossed that it will be fine and we just haven't heard much about it yet.

Your assessment of DA being more like KOTOR is accurate for console versions.

I found an old interview with Dr. Greg Zeschuk on blastmagazinethat talked about the different "feel" of the console version of the game:

BLAST: The game is multiplatform, as its on both consoles and on PC—are there any major differences between PC and console?

DGZ: It’s interesting, but the PC version, which we developed a little bit earlier, is radically different. We redid the entire interface for the console version; we had all of these incredible Talents and powers on the PC version, and we wanted to make sure console players didn’t feel like we were stripping away any of the power. You also had to make sure they had everything at their fingertips, and that was a huge, huge undertaking. Trying to give console players the opportunity to switch between 20 different spells at any time is how we got the ring structure, which, after playing with it on a console, feels very natural. Another thing on consoles that is very interesting, after playing around with balancing and the creatures, is that it’s actually much more of an action game, whereas on the PC its more natural to pull back, look at the whole battlefield, and have kind of a chess game feel to it. On the console, I think people are just going to jump right in there—everyone here is playing console today, and when you go in there, there’s a very action-oriented feel, and that really plays well to each audience. Console guys want to get right in there, while PC guys want to be more strategic.

Update on Console Interface
Gamespot UK has a video that contains PS3 game play of DA from minutes 6:30-14:30.

Difference that I noticed:
- Camera is much more zoomed in. Behind the person 3rd person view.
- No action bar. Instead you have quick access to three skills of each party member depicted as buttons (in triangular formation mimicking the formation of buttons on the controllers) on the lower right corner of the screen.
- When you bring up the Radial Menu (circular rings), which takes up the center of the screen, the game is paused. The video showed that with the Radial Menu the player could change weapon on the fly.
- "Scrolling damage text" has very big fonts.
- There are some noticeable pop-ins and very brief frame rate drops (esp. when the mage is under player control and is casting a elaborate looking spell).

In short:
Console version definitely have more of a action RPG feel to it. But it is very obvious that Bioware did a very good job to make the console interface "natural" for the console. I wish more game developers did the same for PC ports...

Maxim wrote:

[S]neaky seductress Leliana and shapeshifting mage Morrigan. Both are possible romantic companions in the game, but you don't have to wait until the release date to fall in love with them. We've got exclusive photos of real-life hotties Alleykatze and Victoria Johnson who lent their sexy curves to their video game counterparts

The funny thing is... the models look nothing like their in game counterparts. Of course that could be just the artist in me picking out the fact that the eyes, mouth, cheek bones, while attractive in both RL and CG, are totally different. Its like someone took a doll and colored it with the same eye shadow, skin, eye and lip color. If Bioware paid these models, they got ripped off. (of course its not the models fault that Bioware artists weren't up to snuff or decided that generic "pretty" features were better than RL beauty)

K1 wrote:
Maxim wrote:

[S]neaky seductress Leliana and shapeshifting mage Morrigan. Both are possible romantic companions in the game, but you don't have to wait until the release date to fall in love with them. We've got exclusive photos of real-life hotties Alleykatze and Victoria Johnson who lent their sexy curves to their video game counterparts

So who modeled for the male characters?

I only look at pictures of women photoshopped to look like they're in a house of mirrors anyway.

I'll be in my bunk.

Alleykatze sounds like a pornstar name.

EvilDead wrote:

Alleykatze sounds like a pornstar name.

Yeah, well, since german Katze = cat, alley cat. You may or may not be able to solicit her at her nsfw webpage. This is the new distraction.

K1 wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Alleykatze sounds like a pornstar name.

Yeah, well, since german Katze = cat, alley cat. You may or may not be able to solicit her at her nsfw webpage. This is the new distraction.

Haha! My two favourite quotes from that page:

Experience: Experienced
Compensation: Any

Duoae wrote:
K1 wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

Alleykatze sounds like a pornstar name.

Yeah, well, since german Katze = cat, alley cat. You may or may not be able to solicit her at her nsfw webpage. This is the new distraction.

Haha! My two favourite quotes from that page:

Experience: Experienced
Compensation: Any

:D

Well, I guess Morrigan will have to wait for the second playthrough.

Rat Boy wrote:

I'll be in my bunk.

Whoa, me too.

Err, not Rat Boy's bunk. I'll be in my own bunk.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

I'll be in my bunk.

Whoa, me too.

Err, not Rat Boy's bunk. I'll be in my own bunk.

I've got the room, sadly.

This isn't going to help my marriage.

Rat Boy wrote:

I've got the room, sadly.

Thanks but I don't swing that way.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

I've got the room, sadly.

Thanks but I don't swing that way.

It was an observation, not a request.

Your gay arguing is ruining my masturbation.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

I've got the room, sadly.

Thanks but I don't swing that way.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

*Legion* wrote:

Your gay arguing is ruining my masturbation.

IMAGE(http://www.willowtreeaudio.com/images/GoAway.gif)

*Legion* wrote:

Your gay arguing is ruining my masturbation.

M-m-m-masturbation breaker!

I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed in the character creation, at least insofar as I couldn't make the character I wanted to. I was hoping for a human character but was limited to the backstory of nobility. Okay, I can go with that, I thought, and decided to make him a racist bastard who got into his share of fights with elves (and any dirty elvish symps) even though he was woefully unequipped for it, who loudly trumpeted his belief that the demons and all evil only existed because the non-human races were tolerated and that they, alongside any traitorous filth that dared to side with that genetic scum, needed to be eradicated with the same drive that the Church uses against magic users of all sorts. For that he needed to be a prematurely balding, weak chinned, beady eyed human with a few scars from his "adventures" who looked like he was kept out of jail only due to his parent's influence and status as a nobleman.

Then I discovered you couldn't make people look too old, there's no option for giving someone bad skin or pox marks or whatever, there's no stubble/beard style that mimics the "hasn't bothered to shave in the last week" look, and I can't give him scars of any sort. The beady eyes and scrawny neck with balding hair I can manage at least but still it's a bit of a letdown from Mass Effect where I created my character perfectly.

bnpederson wrote:

I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed in the character creation, at least insofar as I couldn't make the character I wanted to. I was hoping for a human character but was limited to the backstory of nobility. Okay, I can go with that, I thought, and decided to make him a racist bastard who got into his share of fights with elves (and any dirty elvish symps) even though he was woefully unequipped for it, who loudly trumpeted his belief that the demons and all evil only existed because the non-human races were tolerated and that they, alongside any traitorous filth that dared to side with that genetic scum, needed to be eradicated with the same drive that the Church uses against magic users of all sorts. For that he needed to be a prematurely balding, weak chinned, beady eyed human with a few scars from his "adventures" who looked like he was kept out of jail only due to his parent's influence and status as a nobleman.

Guess you sided with the Order in The Witcher.

Racist.