Rake Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 The marketing may seem bad to us, but it may be pretty smart from their standpoint. Anyone that is an old school rpg fan is probably going to end up purchasing DA:O, so why market towards that crowd when you can give a false image of the game to a different crowd of gamers, and hope to catch their attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astor Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 The Dragon Age Character Creator is now available from BioWare's Dragon Age website. The Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator allows players to create and customize a player character on the PC which they can save and use when the PC game launches November 3rd. The Character Creator will allow you to: - Create your Dragon Age: Origins Character before the game comes out - The Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator provides the tools to create a character with a nearly endless amount of options. - The Character you create can then be used as your avatar in the BioWare Community Forums Thanks to leXX for pointing it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthParametric Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Was just playing with it. Seems to be an extension of the FaceGen system used in ME. Looks like they've improved some of the options, hair especially, but it's still a bit lacking to my mind. Of course it's a vast improvement from the preset character choices of yore. And with the toolset I'm sure we'll eventually see some community additions. As with ME though, they put the character in the freaking dark. I don't need "atmosphere" in the character creation process - I need to see wtf my character looks like. Doesn't look like you can select skills, which seems a bit odd given that it was supposed to let you have a bunch of premade characters ready for importing when you get the game. It also looks like their entire IT department is incompetent. Not only are all the Bioware sites overloaded with god-awful Flash, they obviously didn't learn anything from the TOR beta signup disaster the other week. Seems their authentication server has melted under the strain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astor Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Looks like they've improved some of the options, hair especially, but it's still a bit lacking to my mind. Of course it's a vast improvement from the preset character choices of yore. Agreed - it's definitely a good tool, but it doesn't have as much functionality as I would have hoped for - there's some good options, but not enough. I don't need "atmosphere" in the character creation process - I need to see wtf my character looks like. I'm with you on that - you can still see the face, but a bit more lighting would have been appreciated. Doesn't look like you can select skills, which seems a bit odd given that it was supposed to let you have a bunch of premade characters ready for importing when you get the game. That doesn't bother me too much - the characters are starting level 1, after all, but I can see why others would want to tailor their character to better suit their choices. It also looks like their entire IT department is incompetent. Not only are all the Bioware sites overloaded with god-awful Flash, they obviously didn't learn anything from the TOR beta signup disaster the other week. Seems their authentication server has melted under the strain. I must have been lucky then - I haven't had any problems with uploading characters - and it only seems to take around twenty minutes before they've been uploaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthParametric Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 That doesn't bother me too much - the characters are starting level 1, after all, but I can see why others would want to tailor their character to better suit their choices.I was under the impression that you were able to select skills at character creation (the same as starting feats in D&D). I'm not 100% sure if the new DA system actually lets you do that, but assuming it does then the character creator is broken. Assuming you can edit imported characters in the main game that won't be a huge drama I guess. I was just thinking it would be a pain to have to remake a character from scratch in the main game that you'd already made before in the character creator, rather than just importing and playing. On an unrelated, but still DA-themed, note, this gave me a laugh - http://www.cad-comic.com/comics/20091012.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leXX Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Here are the details of the Dragon Age Digital Deluxe Edition on Steam. I don't even think it's been announced yet, and I don't know a price. I got this link from a Facebook post. http://store.steampowered.com/app/901037/ Also, if anyone wants to add me to the new BSN, I'm Isania Tirend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astor Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Here are the details of the Dragon Age Digital Deluxe Edition on Steam. I don't even think it's been announced yet, and I don't know a price. I got this link from a Facebook post. http://store.steampowered.com/app/901037/ Also, if anyone wants to add me to the new BSN, I'm Isania Tirend. Originally, I was a little annoyed that the Steam version gets more goodies than the other versions - but now i'm not too bothered - after all, games usually cost more on Steam than they do if purchased from from a shop, so having a little more incentive to buy it makes sense. However, it does annoy me that Warden's Keep will come with the Steam version, while everyone who didn't buy the Steam version will have to pay extra for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leXX Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I think anyone who has listened to LucasCast will already know my views on DLC, and especially making DLC free to some and not to others, however I feel we will already be paying extra for Warden's Keep as it is the 'Deluxe Version'. All this DLC crap is a growing trend amongst the industry that I find annoying to say the least. Developers even have the bare faced cheek to announce DLC before the game is even out. Money grabbing bastards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrtoken Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I can only harken back to the days of expansion packs, where the money invested was usually guaranteed a high-quality supplement to the original game. Simple things such as additional armor or one extra map didn't qualify as worthy enough per the price, and therefore, even entire campaigns were included. Unfortunately, the attitude has shifted into a mass cash-harvest, where content can be developed and shipped in an instant, usually with little budget or manpower endowed to the developers, thus eschewing quality over pure physicality. Ergo, it sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parmenides Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Wow, marketing to the 10 year olds. "Buy here and you get this special exclusive ring!" Everything is way to gimicky. It's like the freak show at a circus. "Jump through the hoops X, Y, and Z in the character creator, and you can have your own +1 to stats ring." Wow, well, EA did admit to spending 80% of money on marketing. Oh well, I'm still excited about the game... though none of EA's marketing has done anything to get me excited. The DLC model is another aspect of the circus. I remember when Oblivion thought the DLC model was a great idea. Lot of people complained there too. Bethsoft seemed to give up on that idea after a while. Maybe sales weren't so hot. Who knows. I'd be interested in a nice long quest DLC, but none of this "new armor" or "new monster companion" garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Dravis Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Just an FYI, but if you don't want to be gouged for getting the extra DLC with the special edition you can go to Impulsedriven.com and use the coupon "SURVEY-2009" to bring the price down 20% -- which pushes it to $52, only $2 more than the normal version, and $3 cheaper than from Steam. Of course, that's only if you want the download version... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leXX Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 It's official on Steam now, the Standard Edition is £29.99 and the Digital Deluxe Version is £39.99. An extra £10 for Warden's Keep, Digital Soundtrack and Wallpapers. I DON'T THINK SO! I'm actually boycotting all DLC and Special Editions etc from now on. I'll be buying the standard version of everything. Sick and tired of all this crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Originally, I was a little annoyed that the Steam version gets more goodies than the other versions - but now i'm not too bothered - after all, games usually cost more on Steam than they do if purchased from from a shop, so having a little more incentive to buy it makes sense. However, it does annoy me that Warden's Keep will come with the Steam version, while everyone who didn't buy the Steam version will have to pay extra for it. Are Steam games really more expensive in Europe? New games are priced the same as retail games in the US and with all the sales Steam has it is definitely cheaper overall here. I hate myself for considering it, but the special edition is only $5 more on Steam... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I'm still debating between Steam and impulse, but I'm leaning to impulse just because I've had bad experiences with steam in the past. Also, sometimes the steam patches come out late, and I'm worried that some user created mods or some such won't work with the steam version. Anyone know if impulse works similar to a disc copy, download it and your done? Or do you have to sign in like steam, and it installs the game under an impulse folder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quanon Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 IIRC, Steam just keeps the number as price for Dollar and Euro, so 5$ = 5€. Though thats of course not how it should work, as the euro is more worth at the moment... Of course its been a long time since I did business with steam... and I might be very wrong. I'm rather sure I am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Dravis Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I'm still debating between Steam and impulse, but I'm leaning to impulse just because I've had bad experiences with steam in the past. Also, sometimes the steam patches come out late, and I'm worried that some user created mods or some such won't work with the steam version. Anyone know if impulse works similar to a disc copy, download it and your done? Or do you have to sign in like steam, and it installs the game under an impulse folder? A benefit to Impulse is that it doesn't require an internet connection to run, and doesn't use a Impulse-DRM additional to whatever DRM may be added by the publisher. I am extremely happy with my purchase of Sins of a Solar Empire -- No logging in, no cd-in-the-drive nonsense. The only time I actually need to start Impulse is to download game patches. Recently I got the preorder from Machinarium on Impulse rather than Steam precisely because of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthParametric Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Speaking of Steam, and thereby Valve, one thing I find funny with this whole release day DLC business is people have spent the last few months bitching and whining about Left 4 Dead 1 not getting what essentially amounts to DLC (probably most of what they wanted they expected to be free, but half the launch DA DLC is free anyway so it's a reasonable comparison) and the too soon release of L4D2 (which probably equates more to an expansion pack rather than a full new game). It does seem that devs can't win whatever decision they make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 A benefit to Impulse is that it doesn't require an internet connection to run, and doesn't use a Impulse-DRM additional to whatever DRM may be added by the publisher. I am extremely happy with my purchase of Sins of a Solar Empire -- No logging in, no cd-in-the-drive nonsense. The only time I actually need to start Impulse is to download game patches. Recently I got the preorder from Machinarium on Impulse rather than Steam precisely because of this. Must you download patches from impulse or can you say, go to filefront or the publisher's site to download a patch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthParametric Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Digital versions usually require different patches from disc-based versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Dravis Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Must you download patches from impulse or can you say, go to filefront or the publisher's site to download a patch?The only game I have from Impulse that has needed a patch (Sins of a Solar Empire) required Impulse to download it. I'm unsure about third-party programs, however; the other game I have from Impulse, Machinarium, seems to have an independent install (i.e. it looks like a non-Impulse patch would work on it, but that's just my opinion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthParametric Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Digital versions require different copy protection (due to the lack of physical media), so as I said above, disc-based patches are not going to be compatible (unless they are copy protection free - a rare occasion in this day and age). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirBoomstick91 Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Well... "Origins" comes out today. I preordered it not because I'm a big fan of the series, but simply because it's Bioware. And Bioware's the only vg company that hasn't pissed me off royal. Anyone else picking it up today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Anyone else picking it up today? I am in the process of picking it up. >_> Reviews for the game appear to be astoundingly good, with the fairly reputable PC Gamer UK going on to declare the game "RPG of the decade". Overstatement? I'd like to imagine that. Still, we'd best keep our opinions reserved till after we've finished the game. I did a quick lookover once again, and from what I see, it looks like an alright game right now, albeit I'm very impressed by the voice acting, it feels natural. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astor Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Reviews for the game appear to be astoundingly good, with the fairly reputable PC Gamer UK going on to declare the game "RPG of the decade". That'll be the same PC Gamer that declared Empire: Total War to be completely without fault, too. I did a quick lookover once again, and from what I see, it looks like an alright game right now, albeit I'm very impressed by the voice acting, it feels natural. The voice acting, and the talent behind it seems to be impressive - i'm hoping the dialogue itself will live up to that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mur'phon Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 To sumarise a norwegian review: cliche story, orgins afect little after completing them, nice steep dificulty curve, "lifelilke" companions who seem quite adept at ignoring you and chat with each other, good voice acting (especially from whoever voiced leliana). Given the diference betwen the game and the marketing campaign, this game is meant for teenagers from 1999 who somehow found their way to our time without aging. Edit: also this is a rather nice review as it seems less star-struck than others I have seen, it does however contain a somewhat major spoiler (though it's similar to how NWN2 spoiler: Show spoiler (hidden content - requires Javascript to show) mentioning that Bishop will turn on you is one , it's not as if you didn't see it comming). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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