Dragon Age Character creation tool to be released oct13th

[CptStern]

sweet, character creation is usually one of my fave aspects of rpgs

BioWare will release the Dragon Age: Origins character creator on 13th October, affording you three weeks to pour over your hero before launch.

This is "currently" for PC users only, and will be available as a standalone download (320MB) from the Dragon Age website.

Coinciding with the character creator will be the open beta launch of the Dragon Age social community site. Better still - if you're horrendously nerdy like moi - you can upload your new character to be your avatar on the site.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/dragon-age-character-creator-dated

 

[Shakermaker]

Wow, that is pretty cool. I always love designing chars as well.

 

[Raziaar]

Does this game look promising? I don't know anything about it.

 

[CptStern]

click the link, there's a video

 

[Darkside55]

sweet, character creation is usually one of my fave aspects of rpgs

Wow, that is pretty cool. I always love designing chars as well.

That's because that's the only good part.

 

[CptStern]

I'll take that under advisement but seeing as how your taste in pretty much anything is suspect I'll probably ignore it

 

[Eejit]

That's because that's the only good part.

Modern ones maybe. In the classics there wasn't much customisation.

 

[Paulaner]

This is one of the few games I'm actually looking forward to. BioWare, don't let me down.

 

[Laivasse]

My anticipation for this game has taken some hefty body blows, plus character creation in most recent RPGs just leaves me cold, so I'm not exactly excited over this. I'll still be downloading it eagerly on the 13th, though, if only to get a feel for what still has a remote chance of living up to being the 'spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate', as it's been touted.

In other news:

...three weeks to pour over your hero before launch...

...if you're horrendously nerdy like moi...

Shouldn't nerds know how to ****ING SPELL?? It's PORE over, PORE OVER, meaning to examine closely, not frghking pour over, unless you're sitting in front of your comp actually pouring custard or mercury or liquid shit over your character for some reason. For ****'S SAKE read a book... I hate this shitting mistake, and that's coming from someone who hasn't read more than 2 books in the last 2 years.

/grandma nazi

 

[Kadayi]

/grandma nazi

:naughty:

Slip of the tongue?

I'll check out the character creator, however I can't say I'm particularly fussed about the game itself. Everything I've seen suggests generic fantasy world with all of the tropes and trappings that entails. I'm more enthusiastic for ME2, though I'm not too sure about patient Zero: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD0AdV6-rAY

who vaguely makes me think of this: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpMPFGBtE7Q

Riot Grrl!!!

 

[CR0M]

Baldur's Gothic Guild Nights 3 - Return of the Cliché.

How many times is the same game going to be made? the storyline will have to be the dogs bollox to keep the head of this one above water.

 

[Krynn72]

Seriously, they might as well make a WWII game. At least then it would be fresh and original compared to this generic fantasy setting we've seen since the beginning of video games.

 

[Paulaner]

Seriously, they might as well make a WWII game. At least then it would be fresh and original compared to this generic fantasy setting we've seen since the beginning of video games.

Define "generic".

 

[Shakermaker]

Define "generic".

Moar dwarves, more elves, more epic conflicts between good & evil. I agree with Krynn on this one.

 

[Kadayi]

I sense I'm not alone in feeling that this style of fantasy is all played out. Personally for me I feel The Witcher was a bit of a game changer, and I think Dragon Age looks positively Stone Age in comparison to that. With Sci-fi there seems to be a lot more scope for RPGs to go, as its a relatively untapped area (I don't consider the Kotor stuff as Sci-fi tbh), and the potential for freedom.

Define "generic".

Pulled out of the menagerie that is D&D in terms of inhabitants. Dwarves, Elves, Orcs (who are all irrevocably evil & must be killed without mercy), a bunch of prophesies (because hokum is essential) and people wandering around in stupidly large suits of armour all the time (because when you need to take a shit they are easy to take off). Except for the ladies who wear very little.

 

[Paulaner]

Moar dwarves, more elves, more epic conflicts between good & evil. I agree with Krynn on this one.

The storyline is what defines the freshness of a game, in my opinion. Dragon Age is being advertised as a game with mature, unexpected and unusual contents. Seems like something new, to me. Plus, BioWare is a trademark for stunning storytelling, so I stay confident.

 

[Darkside55]

I'll take that under advisement but seeing as how your taste in pretty much anything is suspect I'll probably ignore it

My taste in games is never suspect. Ever. My taste in anything else? Sure. But video games? And I was talking to Bioware about Dragon Age before the public had even heard about it when I was working at Wegame. Although at the time, Sonic Chronicles was just about to be released, so when Bioware was like, "Yeah we're working on this game called Dragon Age" I was like "TELL ME MORE ABOUT SONIC."

 

[Eejit]

Moar dwarves, more elves, more epic conflicts between good & evil.

I'm still interested because they've said that a lot of the options aren't simple 'good vs evil'. Should be interesting enough if that's the case.

I'm kinda hoping for a Minsc, Jan or Tiax though.

 

[Shakermaker]

I'm still interested because they've said that a lot of the options aren't simple 'good vs evil'. Should be interesting enough if that's the case.

I'm kinda hoping for a Minsc, Jan or Tiax though.

Still, it is the same ole setting. I agree with Kadayi and Krynn on this one. RPGs don't necessary have to have dwarves and elves as protagonists. New ideas like The Witcher are good to freshen up the genre.

 

[Eejit]

Of course they don't have to use such similar settings, it's just pandering to the established fanbase. At least the moral choices are meant to have a lot more grays, like the Witcher. Of course the Witcher Universe has its elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes too.

 

[Warbie]

I've no problem with a cliched d&d setting if done right. This goes for any game - ww2 and space marine fps - if the game is good, who cares?

 

[Eejit]

My main hate with the D&D system is the retarded spellcasting, though I hear they completely changed it in the newest edition anyway.

 

[Darkside55]

My main hate with the D&D system is the retarded spellcasting, though I hear they completely changed it in the newest edition anyway.

What exactly is so "retarded" about the spellcasting in D&D? You choose a spell. It has effects. You roll to see if the effect happened. Are simple instructions too hard for you?

Also 4th ed. sucks dick. Enjoy your World of Dungeons and Dragons.

 

[Eejit]

The learning, the memorisation, the casting once 'per day' per memorisation. Pointless.

 

[Darkside55]

That...that isn't how it works. You can cast a memorized spell as many times per day as your level permits, not "once per day per memorization."

Also you realize that, in a game, the 'learning' and 'memorization' parts basically amount to two seconds of you saying "these are the spells I prepare during rest," right?

Have you ever actually played D&D?

 

[Eejit]

You realise we're talking about D&D in relation to, right? See what the discussion is about; crpgs?

Have you ever actually played D&D-based computer RPGs?

 

[Darkside55]

Yes, actually. But from what it sounded like, it didn't seem as though you were talking about games so much as the 3/3.5 ed system, especially when you brought up the new edition. 4th ed. pen and paper already reduces the system to more video game-like mechanics, but the spellcasting is still basically the same.

 

[Eejit]

I realise I didn't specify that sorry, I guess I assumed context was sufficient. I was talking about adaptations of 2ed through to 3.5ed, I only brought up 4th as an aside since it seems crpg adaptations of that edition won't have so much faffing about with the 'spellbook'.

 

[Darkside55]

Nothing's currently using the 4th ed. rules but, seriously, if you want to play a 4th ed. game right now play WoW. That's exactly how the system is, and any future games based off 4th ed. are going to play exactly like that. WoW with dice rolls. So I guess if you like that...although you'll probably still need the spellbook.

 

[Laivasse]

Of course they don't have to use such similar settings, it's just pandering to the established fanbase. At least the moral choices are meant to have a lot more grays, like the Witcher. Of course the Witcher Universe has its elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes too.

I've no problem with a cliched d&d setting if done right. This goes for any game - ww2 and space marine fps - if the game is good, who cares?

That and that.

Tbh if you were to judge from trailers, or indeed introductory cutscenes, The Witcher wouldn't have looked like any kind of deviation from the uninspired generic fantasy template - at the time it certainly didn't for me, anyhow. Anyway, personally I'm plenty happy with that 'generic' setting, since it's good escapism and there's lots of scope for creative experimentation. Due to the flexibility of the universe, when the writing's good you genuinely never know what's going to be around the next corner - talking chickens, doppelganger mind****s, child-killing dwarves, pocket dimensions full of hallucinations, etc. - which is less true of, say, the average space marine FPS (where the answer is usually 'more aliens with guns'). Whether it's compelling or not will all boil down to the writing.

What has me worried rather more are the specifics of what I've seen in all the vids so far, such as what appear to be a charmless art style, sub par voice acting, dodgy character models and juvenile slow-mo-and-gore 'grittiness', plus combat which didn't strike me as very impressive. The lack of evidence for inspiration is more worrying in light of that stuff, but I'm still withholding judgement until I experience the story, upon which the game will succeed or fail for me.

 

[Eejit]

True Laivasse, what they with the setting is the most important thing. Even though they use the same engine and ruleset the first NWN2 expansion is far, far better than the original campaign or the second expansion - simply because of the story and writing.

Nothing's currently using the 4th ed. rules but, seriously, if you want to play a 4th ed. game right now play WoW. That's exactly how the system is, and any future games based off 4th ed. are going to play exactly like that. WoW with dice rolls. So I guess if you like that...although you'll probably still need the spellbook.

I never even said I liked 4ed, or wanted to play a game based on it. Chill.

 

[Darkside55]

What'd you throw the "chill" in there for? I wasn't even angry with that last post. Just informing you of how the system is, since you actually DID say you wouldn't mind playing a D&D game as long as the spellcasting system was different. And I'm informing you it's only slightly changed and that you still require your spellbook for certain limited spells. I even had a smiley in there and everything. I was chill.

NOW I'm not.

 

[VictimOfScience]

I am extremely excited for this one as I love the Baldur's Gate games and their kind (Torment, Icewind Dale, etc.). Until Demon's Souls came out of NOWHERE and surprised the absolute shit out of me with its impeccable awesomeness, I was SURE Dragon Age would be GOTY for me. Glad I will have a couple of weeks to create a great character before it drops. The LAST thing I want to do when I get a game that I have been waiting so long for is take the time to create a character and tweak all of his/her features ad nauseam.

 

[Sainku]

The trailers for this make it look really bad. Same for Mass Effect 2. The dialogue, the music, and the unnecessary awkward looking sex scenes are all horrible. Basically it looks like what would happen if Michael Bay were to direct a generic fantasy movie, only it will be longer and have horrible animations and voice acting. I really hope these are just bad trailers though, I have been a fan of their past games.

Edited for failure to place words in the correct order in sentences.

 

[Eejit]

Aye hopefully it's just bad trailers, Bioware has a decent track record with rpgs so I'm still giving them the benefit of the doubt.

What'd you throw the "chill" in there for?

I was chill.

NOW I'm not.

:afro:

 

[Acepilotf14]

4th ed sux.

 

[Kadayi]

Of course they don't have to use such similar settings, it's just pandering to the established fanbase. At least the moral choices are meant to have a lot more grays, like the Witcher. Of course the Witcher Universe has its elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes too.

The thing with The Witcher is though that all though it used the forms it added a degree of depth to them because it explored the idea of racial unrest and distrust as a plot point. We weren't treated to the usual array of grumpy dwarves, flighty Elves etc, etc. Instead we were treated to characters some of whom had faith in us and others whom we had to convince and others ultimately we had to betray, regardless of their origin. What was even more refreshing was the fact that there was no external arbiter standing behind you assessing whether you'd been a good or naughty boy. How you felt about your actions was entirely up to you, which was quite refreshing Vs the Bioware/Lionhead approach.

Don't get me wrong I'm not down on the whole Good/Evil Paragon/Renegade, I'm hoping at some point later on in the year to do a retrospective review/reassessment of Mass Effect for the site as its almost a given now that ME2 will be coming to Steam and I'm quite excited about in a lot of ways. However I just find that external judgements tend to draw me out of a game rather than into it. Novel as the dialogue wheel was in ME2 it didn't take more than a few minutes to realise that there were only ever 3 options and that opting for neutral was always the worst choice in terms of experience gain, so in other words why bother choosing it? A choice of 3 that is in reality a choice of 2. I'd of preferred it if they avoided all the red text for renegade/blue text for paragon garbage as well, because again it takes you out of the game and into the meta game of things like the achievements.

My main hate with the D&D system is the retarded spellcasting, though I hear they completely changed it in the newest edition anyway.

The entire idea of the 'learnt' spell system was derived the 'Dying Earth' novels by Jack Vance: -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Dying...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254768381&sr=8-1

The idea in itself worked very well in the novels, but the key distinction between the books and how Gygax implemented it in the game of D&D was the strength and magnitude of the power of magic. In the stories when a magician cast a spell the recipients were generally ****ed, no saving throw, no 2D6+4 damage just straight to steaming pile of ash, or instant evisceration.

D&D of course emerged out of desktop skirmish war gaming. Games were players controlled small teams of individuals in scenarios akin to the Seven Samurai (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/) rather than platoons and legions as with traditional war gaming. The idea of bringing surviving characters (heroes) across from scenarios to form narrative campaigns and rewarding them for their survival was pretty much the genesis for D&D, coupled with the adoption of fantasy settings (small historical conflicts aren't generally recorded, so naturally turning to fiction made sense). The Vancian Magic system had its appeal in that it limited the power of magicians as characters, because they had a finite pool of tricks to draw from. However even then from a mechanistic perspective the spells themselves couldn't be regarded as straight up killswitches, because they would imbalance the games. The novels were all about imbalance though which is the irony.

I've no problem with a cliched d&d setting if done right. This goes for any game - ww2 and space marine fps - if the game is good, who cares?

Why not demand the unrecognisable? Why settle for the derivative?

 

[Darkside55]

In the stories when a magician cast a spell the recipients were generally ****ed, no saving throw, no 2D6+4 damage just straight to steaming pile of ash, or instant evisceration.

However even then from a mechanistic perspective the spells themselves couldn't be regarded as straight up killswitches, because they would imbalance the games.

Disintegrate
Imprisonment
Meteor swarm
Power word: Kill
Sphere of ultimate destruction
Wail of the banshee
Weird
Wish

Fuck your saving throws and dice rolls, just die! Become obliterated by my power!

 

[Warbie]

Why not demand the unrecognisable? Why settle for the derivative?

A good game will be neither. Being inundated with traditional fantasy and ww2 games isn't the problem - it's being inundated with shite fantasy and ww2 games.

 

[Kadayi]

Disintegrate
Imprisonment
Meteor swarm
Power word: Kill
Sphere of ultimate destruction
Wail of the banshee
Weird
Wish

Fuck your saving throws and dice rolls, just die! Become obliterated by my power!

Pretty sure (even without looking at the books) none of those spells are first level. In the Vance novels a magicians power lies purely in the number of spells he can memorise, not in the power of the spells. Because they are all monumentally powerful. The big thing with Vances world was that magic items were relatively common place, to the extent that magical trinkets of one kind or another are found almost everywhere, however Vs actual learnt spells they are fairly trivial.

A good game will be neither. Being inundated with traditional fantasy and ww2 games isn't the problem - it's being inundated with shite fantasy and ww2 games.

I think it's a lot easier to deliver originality if you avoid well worn ground. If you say 'fantasy' to people invariably the instant images that tend to leap into most of their heads is of LoTR, and that's a very sad thing really.