So what are your thoughts on the Dragon Age series???
The roleplay aspect is very good and approximately 90% of your choices in-game affect later parts in huge ways. Dialogue is quite good and very few NPCs give you rubbish information like in Castlevania ("Let's live here together".... OK....) or Legend of Zelda (remember "I am Error"?). My favourite aspect of the DA series is the replay value, as making each character race, occupation and social standing greatly affect how the starter zone is played out and where it takes place. I love these little things that make your characters bond even faster and closer with the player.
What I hate about the game is the combat though. Spells are fantastic, but melee attacks are not only useless but also very boring. The control feels stiff and irresponsive for the most part in my opinion, and melee companions seem to be hugely better than my own character. Plus, most of the fights require no strategy at all, and are just there to make things 'interesting'.
Finally, the worlds themselves. The DA universe is great and I'd like to get a hardcover atlas of its world, but in-game it's dire. Everywhere looks like it's instanced, and there's nothing behind the walls but white space, especially in the open world rather than towns and cities. I thought by now that we'd have avoided such poor visual design. And that's another thing, the graphics aren't up to much, and become off putting after a while, however the animations are spectacular.
Overall a great classic RPG, even though it has a lot of flaws. I'd recommend it to experienced RPG players, or those who want some well-needed character depth in this genre.I only played the first game (and technically didn't finish it). I liked the story, atmosphere and characters, but I got bogged down in the dwarf city. I'm not sure why, but every fantasy story has to have the dwarves locked in a political struggle. When I had to choose who to ally myself with, I just lost interest. I love Bioware, but sometimes they go overboard with their mounds of dialogue. And, while I appreciate a game that gives me choices, when there is no clear difference between those choices, it makes me wonder why I have them at all. I hope to go back and finish it some day, but I know it will be hard considering how long I've been away from it.
