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Post by DaveyJoe on Dec 21, 2017 5:55:46 GMT
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Post by DaveyJoe on Dec 23, 2017 6:15:33 GMT
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Post by DaveyJoe on Dec 24, 2017 18:13:13 GMT
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Dec 24, 2017 23:04:26 GMT
I love the game, but I really can't help but feel like Assassins Creed Origins would have been a much better game without those forced "Out of the Animus sections". My god, the modern day characters are abysmal.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Dec 25, 2017 17:21:13 GMT
I love the game, but I really can't help but feel like Assassins Creed Origins would have been a much better game without those forced "Out of the Animus sections". My god, the modern day characters are abysmal. The last time it takes you out is just for a cutscene. The other ones at least actually involved some gameplay, but that last one is even more pointless. I finished the story a few days ago, and I'm still not sure how I felt about it. After you kill the four targets Aya gives, I thought it would go on for a lot longer, but I finished the story in a little over an hour. The writers of these games need to learn a thing or two about pacing. Most hilarious part is when the big bad guy is revealed, Bayek and Aya are like "we trusted him!" when he was literally only in the background for one cutscene. Neither of them even interacted with him! Plus all the bits with Caesar seem rushed as hell. It feels like they kinda gave up with the story after you kill the four targets across Egypt.
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Post by Singer of Death on Dec 25, 2017 18:33:30 GMT
The Nintendo Switch games are on sale in US, but not in Canada, WTF???
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Post by TheMadQueen on Dec 26, 2017 5:20:05 GMT
The newest Hitman game is so good! I just poisoned a guy, strangled him while he was throwing up, stuffed him in a closet, then killed a male model and pretended to be him on a runway, then went upstairs to the wife of the first guy I killed and threw a pair of scissors into her face and shoved her out a window bc she and her husband were secret terrorists. Wow.
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Dec 26, 2017 21:07:50 GMT
I love the game, but I really can't help but feel like Assassins Creed Origins would have been a much better game without those forced "Out of the Animus sections". My god, the modern day characters are abysmal. The last time it takes you out is just for a cutscene. The other ones at least actually involved some gameplay, but that last one is even more pointless. I finished the story a few days ago, and I'm still not sure how I felt about it. After you kill the four targets Aya gives, I thought it would go on for a lot longer, but I finished the story in a little over an hour. The writers of these games need to learn a thing or two about pacing. I've not finished yet, so I'm carefully treading my way around your spoiler tagged section I'm up to the part where I've just killed the four targets Cleopatra and Aya give you, so I'm not sure if that's the part you mean, and I really hope it's not because I've still got half a map left to unlock. Overall, it's a fun solid game, but the out of animus scenes have always brought the series down in every game except for one, where they actually advanced the story. I went off of AC after 2's spin off titles Brotherhood and Revelations just gave me the image the Ubisoft were only interested in cashing in on the series without really making any advancements. All the games felt too formulaic. The story of the modern world stuff became too convoluted the deeper you got. Origins brought me back in because it was a change of pace. My problem is that the Animus stuff is so forced at this point. It's a new animus that can read memories directly from a 2000 year old subject. M'kay. And the dialogue for the out of animus stuff is just terrible. It is 100% cliche exposition. "I know you don't play by the rulebook, but this time, you set the rulebook on fire!" Ugh The last out of animus cutscene I played through was just Layla talking into a phone giving nothing but exposition, speaking to a character we haven't met with no set up prior and saying "I'm done working for you" with the exact cliche 80's action film feel. The game itself is great. I love Bayek and Aya. It reminds me of Witcher 3 in the best possible way. It's a solid gameplay experience, but again, it comes back to my gripe with Assassin's Creed. There has to be a modern day tie in, and this is possibly the worst one. Worse then AC2's modern day Assassins, which much like with Origins, was a blemish on an otherwise great game. Though admittedly I'm coming into this dark. Perhaps these characters are set up in another game or side novel, but much like my gripe with Halo 5 when that released, you can't just drop characters from the extended media in out of the blue and expect people to know everything about them with no set up whatsoever, unless you also offer some sort of material in that game, like character bios or recaps, they're just nameless and often faceless individuals that the average player has no real connection to.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Dec 26, 2017 23:10:46 GMT
The last time it takes you out is just for a cutscene. The other ones at least actually involved some gameplay, but that last one is even more pointless. I finished the story a few days ago, and I'm still not sure how I felt about it. After you kill the four targets Aya gives, I thought it would go on for a lot longer, but I finished the story in a little over an hour. The writers of these games need to learn a thing or two about pacing. I've not finished yet, so I'm carefully treading my way around your spoiler tagged section I'm up to the part where I've just killed the four targets Cleopatra and Aya give you, so I'm not sure if that's the part you mean, and I really hope it's not because I've still got half a map left to unlock. Overall, it's a fun solid game, but the out of animus scenes have always brought the series down in every game except for one, where they actually advanced the story. Wish I was joking, but if you just go for the story then you could probably finish in a little over an hour. I'd gotten the four targets, then explored the whole map doing some sidequests, then returned to the main story. I was very disappointed by how little there was after that. Totally agreed on the out-of-Animus scenes though. I think it's a neat idea to have an overarching story spread over several games, but they've just been dragging it out for way too long and it's so clear they don't know where they're going with it.
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Dec 27, 2017 1:04:03 GMT
I've not finished yet, so I'm carefully treading my way around your spoiler tagged section I'm up to the part where I've just killed the four targets Cleopatra and Aya give you, so I'm not sure if that's the part you mean, and I really hope it's not because I've still got half a map left to unlock. Overall, it's a fun solid game, but the out of animus scenes have always brought the series down in every game except for one, where they actually advanced the story. Wish I was joking, but if you just go for the story then you could probably finish in a little over an hour. I'd gotten the four targets, then explored the whole map doing some sidequests, then returned to the main story. I was very disappointed by how little there was after that. Totally agreed on the out-of-Animus scenes though. I think it's a neat idea to have an overarching story spread over several games, but they've just been dragging it out for way too long and it's so clear they don't know where they're going with it. Wut? Are they planning post game DLC or something? I'll be honest, that's kind of disappointing. It still feels like the story has quite a way to go yet.
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Post by Father of Dragons on Dec 27, 2017 1:12:33 GMT
Wish I was joking, but if you just go for the story then you could probably finish in a little over an hour. I'd gotten the four targets, then explored the whole map doing some sidequests, then returned to the main story. I was very disappointed by how little there was after that. Totally agreed on the out-of-Animus scenes though. I think it's a neat idea to have an overarching story spread over several games, but they've just been dragging it out for way too long and it's so clear they don't know where they're going with it. Wut? Are they planning post game DLC or something? I'll be honest, that's kind of disappointing. It still feels like the story has quite a way to go yet. Exactly! That's what I thought too! It felt like it ended way too quickly. All these games seem have some issue with pacing. In Black Flag the four last missions are all assassinations of fairly major characters in the game. In Unity there were about two missions in a majority of the sequences: one in which you find out information about the target, and one in which you kill the target. There's about 4/5 sequences in a row which are just like that. Also I seem to recall that in AC2, there was a big time-jump at the end that kinda took me out of the moment. Off the top of my head, the only one which doesn't have weird pacing is 3, and funnily enough I found almost all the characters in the game unlikeable or totally forgettable
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Dec 27, 2017 1:53:58 GMT
Wut? Are they planning post game DLC or something? I'll be honest, that's kind of disappointing. It still feels like the story has quite a way to go yet. Exactly! That's what I thought too! It felt like it ended way too quickly. All these games seem have some issue with pacing. In Black Flag the four last missions are all assassinations of fairly major characters in the game. In Unity there were about two missions in a majority of the sequences: one in which you find out information about the target, and one in which you kill the target. There's about 4/5 sequences in a row which are just like that. Also I seem to recall that in AC2, there was a big time-jump at the end that kinda took me out of the moment. Off the top of my head, the only one which doesn't have weird pacing is 3, and funnily enough I found almost all the characters in the game unlikeable or totally forgettable I'm trying to complete all the side quests as well, so hopefully I'll still have quite a while to go before I'm fully finished. I'll definitely be better able to give a full opinion once I'm finished.
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Post by DaveyJoe on Dec 29, 2017 5:01:27 GMT
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Post by DaveyJoe on Dec 30, 2017 6:03:16 GMT
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Jan 3, 2018 21:12:07 GMT
I do more damage on Inquisition by rolling into my enemies than I do slashing them with my greatsword wtf?
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Jan 4, 2018 16:09:32 GMT
So, I'm still playing Inquisition and it's a great game, but I can't help but feel Bioware have lost what made Dragon Age great in the first place. Inquisition has a fantastic story so far, but it feels too overproduced, similar to DA2. Certain parts of the world feel too empty and hallow upon futher inspection, whereas others seem to be too full.
I'm also not a fan of the location retconning. Areas like Haven and Redcliffe are entirely unrecognisable when compared to origins. There was a lack of any effort to recreate the area, which is dissapointing. I think of Witcher 3, which recreated Kaer Morhen and Vizima's throne room beautifully based on the first game. I dunno if I'm fussing over the small details, but it's a real detractor for me.
I've saw a lot of complaints about retconning plot or lore, like the Qunari, but that isn't too bad, because DA2 had Tallis, a Ben Hassrath agent with a personality and will of her own. Plus Iron Bull is fantastic as a character, so I don't see too much of an issue padding out Qunari culture, particulalry among those more accustomed to human society, like Iron Bull. Just like in real life different people practice their beliefs differently, so not everyone HAS to be a fundementalist like Sten or the Arishok.
The overarching storytelling is great and it's extremely rewarding seeing choices I made across the other games, as Warden and Hawke paying off. Gameplay wise, it's too clunky. The gameplay, particularly in fights is probably the worst of all 3 DA games. But the story makes up for it by a nice margin, and combat isn't particularly difficult. That said, I am playing keyboard and mouse, so I may try controller when I get a chance.
As for what Dragon Age has lost, I feel that it's the rustic feel. The first Dragon Age was a real 3 arc fantasy story about a hero rising to save the world. IMO, the mage templar conflict is interesting, but Corypheus is about as interesting as he was in Legacy, which is to say, not very much. The first game wasn't meant to be a massive success. It was Bioware testing the waters for a new IP. When it succeeded, the bought the Mass Effect team in and... yeah. Dragon Age 2, whcih suffers from many of the same issues. The production value of the game is great. Beautiful scenery, sure. But what's underneath is hallow in places. There's something to be said for not giving away too much. Origins lore snippets were fantastic at building a massive world. Inquisition is showing you a lot of that world, and it doesn't really live up to the hype. Orlais was bland and generic, albeit very pretty. Ferelden is annoyingly unrecognisable and fails to recaptures the feel of Origins. The stories pacing seems off at points too. We're not being driven to a clear location, like in Origins.
Origins had a clear ending. Stop the Blight. We had three acts. Encounter the Blight, gather allies to stop Loghain, save the world. All the while, Blight slowly consumes the map. There was a sense of urgency. There was no question as to the actions needed. It was classic fantasy. That wasn't to say it wasn't without twists, or opportunities. There were even outcomes that made you question your actions. It was written by a team in charge of a world they owned and understood. Inquistion and 2 both feel like they were made by a team trying to figure out what that world is. They lack understanding of the world, or consistency in their world building. That said, I love the story of Dragon Age and the world, and I'm not gonna stop playing or anything, but it just feels like the game has come off the rails at some point.
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Post by Basil on Jan 4, 2018 16:58:18 GMT
The rustic feel of Dragon Age Origins is actually something that I dislike. Ferelden in Origins for the most part was a fairly unimaginative and bland medieval fantasy setting. Obviously the story was good and the characters were great, but the world was never something I was very interested in, at least not until Inquisition. I love how Inquisition uses art and architecture to showcase visiually the different cultures and civilizations in Thedas. There are so many landmarks you can discover all over the game, and most of them have some tidbit of lore attached to them, which is something that I really appreciate. I totally agree that the side content in Inquisition feels hollow. A lot of it is just busywork and fetch quests with barely any story relevant content. But there is also the incredible amount of fascinating lore you can find, fortresses and castles you can conquer for the Inquisition and secret dungeons you can discover. One of my favourite side missions is the Chateau d'Onterre in the Emerald Graves, where you have to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of the family who lived there, which turns out to be a sort of horror story with some legit creepy momens. Inquisition has some truly amazing side quests, but they are all hidden among countless unnessassary fetch quests. And that's a bummer ... though on the other hand, I can't say I'm really sad about the fact that I always have something to do in Inquisition, even if it's just pointless busywork. I agree that Corypheus himself is not a very interesting character, but he makes for a pretty good (albeit one-note) villain, in my opinion. He represents parts of the Dragon Age lore that I find incredibly interesting. And yes, he absolutely is pathetic, but that's kind of the point of his character. And as it turns out at the end, he was never really that powerful anyway, his power was never his own, which is a twist that I really love, and I can't wait to see what they do with it in Dragon Age 4. As for the battle system in Inquisition. I mean, it's not super deep, but it's flashy and it's satisfying ... and I would lie if I said that I don't fucking love it. To me, it is the best gameplay in the Dragon Age series, though I would also encourage everyone who plays Inquisition to bump up the difficulty to Nightmare. That's the only mode that really requires some strategic thinking and positioning, as well as the usage of barriers and certain other abilities that are totally redundant on normal difficulty. I also really love the war table. It gives you a sense of power and purpose, and although most of your decisions don't really matter in terms of story outcome, I still appreciate the fact that the game allows you to approach these missions in so many different ways, and that often times your reward depends on your choices. It makes you feel like you're shaping the world in a way. Origins may have a more in-depth combat system that allows for better party synergy and stuff, but it also looks clunky as hell and plays absolutely abysmal on consoles. When I play Origins, I feel like I have to put up with the gameplay just to get to the story bits that are great. I really don't like the gameplay in Origins. I also think that Inquisition has by far the best party in the Dragon Age series (Sera, Dorian, Bull ... Cassandra <3 <3 <3) - and some of the coolest story quests ever, like Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. I don't love Origins. I don't love Dragon Age 2 either. They are both good games, great even, but in a way, they are also incredibly generic fantasy. Inquisition was the first game in the series that really got me hooked on the world and on Dragon Age lore. I have replayed it many, many times ... and just talking about it makes me want to play it again.
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Jan 4, 2018 18:16:04 GMT
I think Inquisition got the big feeling right. It feels like a cumulative game. Like everything so far has been leading to this point.
The magnitude and scale are probably it's best features. Two massive nations, cultural differences, stylistic difference. It suffers from the same thing every Dragon Age game suffers from though, tedious dungeon crawling, but if that was that much of an issue to me, I wouldn't play the game in the first palce. Bringing together and organising this massive force, the Inquisition, seeing characters progress, like Leliana (which is a perfect progression from my Hardened Leliana in Origins), Cullen throughout all three games, and developing on Cassandra. Then there are all the cameos, and returning characters, like Varric, Alistair, Loghain, Hawke... Like I said, the overarching narrative is cool. They nailed that feeling.
I dunno, maybe it was because I was dissapointed with 2. I remember Origins being this really fun, open, story driven game, and when I played 2, everything felt so confined. The entire game takes place in a single city, over a span of several years. The story wasn't bad and even focused on one of my favourite elements, Mages vs Templars, but it was just too claustrophobic. Maybe that affected my perception of Inquisition going forward. I will say that Inquisition is definitely head and shoulders above 2, the dungeons and maps are all unique and fresh spaces, as opposed to 2 reusing the same cells for different locations, The Inquisitor is a more malleable RPG character than Hawke, and story progression is less restrictive. I still like origins the best, though I'm sure some of that is sentimentalism. Perhaps nostalgia is merely holding me back.
I've had more of a chance to play Inquisition lately and I'm experiencing a lot more of the world than I had before. I don't hate Inquisition quite the opposite, I just have a few gripes with it, and felt I had to vent. The positives do outweigh the negatives though. If Dragon Age 4 does eventually happen, I'm sure I'll buy it regardless.
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Post by Basil on Jan 11, 2018 18:29:54 GMT
Dark Souls Remastered has been announced for Nintendo Switch. Soon you'll be able to play Dark Souls on the toilet.
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Post by Mecha-StannisForever on Jan 11, 2018 21:51:52 GMT
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