Is Dragon Age worth the hype?

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NOG/Merlanni - BG2 didn't use the "d20 system". It used the 2nd edition AD&D rules, tweaked for the PC. IWD2, used a mix of 2nd and 3rd edition rules, but implemented the skills and feats that the d20 system is known for. So it's sort of a d20 hybrid. The true d20 system was used in The Temple of Elemental Evil and the more recent versions of the Neverwinter Nights games.

 

Other way round Blades. NWN used the initial release of d20 (aka D&D 3rd edition), ToEE and NWN2 use 3.5E. That said, ToEE is probably the only truly faithful adaptation of d20, since it's the only one that's turn-based (and no, PoR 3D doesn't count)

 

Ok, excuse me, the stupid D&D system that wouldn't let my mage learn to hold a friggin sword!

 

Still a lot better as just putting XP into a skilltree. A mage can wield a sword in 3,5. Mine half elf did in NWN1 and 2. As fo bg 2, multiclass/dualclass. Kensage.

 

I prefer point-buy.

 

Eh? D&D has plenty of point-buy. Skills, stats, feats, even spells for Sorcerers and Bards.

Or did you mean point-buy as in having a skill for each weapon (or type of weapon), instead of the feats in d20?

 

A mage could learn to use a sword in 2ed too. but the bg and iwd games didn`t implement that bit.

 

I meant spending xp directly on improvements rather than waiting for a largely arbitrary collection at level-up.

 

Drakensang style?

 

I don't know, I never played Drakensang.

Imagine this scenario:
Newby character (0XP) goes out and kills a goblin. He earns 100XP. He opens his character screen and, instead of seeing some "to next level" number, you simply see "Total Earned XP" and "Available XP". Both read 100. You then go to the Character Upgrade screen and you see a whole slew of possible upgrades you can get. Things like +1 STR, +10 HP, +1 Attack, +1 Persuasion, and the spell Burning Brand. Each upgrade has it's own XP cost, and most are well above the measly 100XP he just earned, but that +10 HP costs exactly 100XP. The player chooses the +10 HP option and the "Available XP" goes down to zero, while the character's max HP increases 10 points.

Now, some of those upgrades may be one-time-only things, like the spells. Once you have it, you have it, and that's all. Others, however, may be progressive or repeating. For example, that +10 HP isn't going to be the only HP boost the character can ever get, but will likely be replaced by another HP boost, something like +20 HP for 200 XP. Or maybe even replaced with itself, so that you can always increase your HP by 10 for 100 XP. Of course, end-game that 10 HP won't mean much, but then neither will 100 XP. Another option would be to replace the set value with a percentage value, so +10 HP becomes +10% HP, and while it's replaced every time, the XP cost get's progressively higher.

 

So is this game REALLY going to be worth getting? Like someone mentioned earlier, I was actually quite excited to play NWN, and then was devastated. I hope that won't be happening here..

And also, does anyone know how super-duper a computer you'll need to play this thing?

 

It's looking excellent so far. Of course, it's impossible to say until you've actually played it, but I'm really hoping this will be up there with BG2.

As for system requirements, see this page. They're on the boxes on the right.

 

I, like many of you, have been quite skeptical about this game living up to the title of "spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate", for a variety of reasons. After I watched Giant Bomb's Quick Look of the game, many of my concerns were made that much greater by the fact that Dave (who, like most of us, is a longtime CRPG and BG/IWD series fan) preferred playing the game in third-person perspective. He had also been playing without pausing much, and with tactics (AI scripts) turned on for all but the one character he was controlling. All of this was done for the sake of keeping the video entertaining (as was later explained in the comments), but nonetheless it stirred up a lot of passion in me, as this was all contrary to how I had imagined playing the game. So I wrote a fairly long comment, which he later replied to, illustrating all of my concerns about the game.

All of that is just to give you guys the context of Dave's PM to me in response to that comment.

Now, granted, I haven't played the game for myself yet, but I felt that Dave's conciseness in responding to all of my worries spoke volumes. His opinion carries a lot of weight with me because I know that he is coming from the same place that I am.

So yeah, I'm now in the process of determining where I am going to pre-order the Collector's Edition. I wish I had known about the CE early enough to order it from Amazon, and through SP, but unfortunately I just found out about it last night.

 

If you have any concerns from teh Giantbomb video, let me point out a few things. Dave, an experienced and expert CRPGer, was playing terribly. One character wasn't leveled (his screen was apparently cropped), he had no tactics, was hardly using any abilities, got his hero killed twice, and everyone else but one tower grunt killed once, and overall stunk. Basically, he was paying much more attention to the camera time and the guy looking over his shoulder than he was to actual game. I think the video demonstrated very well how hard your typical Oblivion player will find this game, and demonstrated the game mechanics rather well, but I wouldn't worry about the over-the-shoulder view, the heavy use of AI (served him real well, didn't it?) or the lack of pausing.

 

LOL I looked over that several times after I wrote it, realizing it might be confusing. What I meant was, I wrote the comment, which illustrated my concerns about the game, and he later replied to it.

Yes, I apologize for having opened a can of worms here lol. As I said in my comment to the video, I just don't think the Quick Look was the best way to showcase the game, because a lot of sacrifices had to be made to keep it entertaining for the average viewer. Dave addressed this, and your observations, in the comments section of the video.

 

The fact that he chose "like" makes me think patched Witcher quality, at least. Sounds promising enough.

 

I am biased too about this game. The video's are telling me it is just an other rpg that invents the wheel again end does not end with the design we know and use. The usual Arpg suited for console and pc.

However a few people like gamebanshee and a magazine that has yet to steer me wrong pointed out that it has the guts it needs. Not die shaped guts, but guts non the less.

And do you need a killer oc for it? No. A late pentium 4 single core if it is not to old. A single core amd 64 athlon with enough Mhz too. Details at Bioware but read and ask, the first page of the sys requirements page is a mess.

 

From what I've been seeing (especially from recent gameplay videos), this will not be an ARPG, and I can't imagine playing it on a console (I know, there's a port to PS3 and 360, but I can't imagine it). It's looking more and more like the BG2 remake we all hoped for, only a new plot, new world, a gaming system designed for a computer instead of plastic dice, and real guts in the world (meaning hate, racism, sexism, magism, fear, distrust, politics, etc). I consider all this a good thing.

 

The only questions that remain for me are: Is it a short main campaign with buyable extra content? Or do we get a real full game with everything in it to be epic.

That it has extra content is clear, but with half a game it is theft. Lets give Bioware the benefit of the doubt.