Dragon Age review coming
Jonah Falcon
there are too many gameplay issues (AI, inventory method) and technical
issues (memory leak, load times) that ruin some of the experience.
Will post a full review later.
Wolfing
you mentioned load times before, but I haven't experienced that at
all. I think so far the longest I've had was like 10 seconds, and I
have an old computer. Also, no memory leak that I could notice (but I
have 4GB RAM, maybe it's more noticeable if you have less). And what's
the problem with inventory? I sort of like it the way it is, a pooled
inventory.
Mike S.
Please post your system specs when you do.
WDS
Many people think the inventory limit (80 items?) is too small. It
turns out you can tweak a .ini or something to set it to whatever you want.
Wolfing
my inventory limit is 110 now with 3 backpacks. I think inventory
limit is just fine. My only complaint is the unavailability of
backpacks, I mean, a backpack??? If you miss the 2 backpacks in
Orgrammar (or whatever the name is) you'll never get them back. I'd
rather if you only had one 'backpack' slot and you could upgrade it.
That way, if you miss the 10 slot in Orgrammar, you can always buy the
20 slot somewhere else, not missing on much.
Lars Haugseth
...or just add backpacks to raise the limit by 10 items per each.
--
Lars Haugseth
Toolpackinmama
> Many people think the inventory limit (80 items?) is too small. It
> turns out you can tweak a .ini or something to set it to whatever you want.
I never had a problem with too little room until I tried playing a
rogue. My greedy little fingersmith's bags are always bulging.
Michael Cecil
wrote:
Some of the problem may be that folks are talking about two different
things but calling them both "loading". For me it takes just seconds to
load a save game, but sometimes zoning into a new area takes a while
longer for the content to load.
--
Michael Cecil
mac...@gmail.com
WDS
I think we are talking about the same thing. Save game loads are SUPER
fast and zone loads are still pretty quick (<20 seconds for me). I
suspect it is some system performance issue. Perhaps the way the
drive(s) are set up? I have SATA2 drives in a RAID 5 array. I think
some AV programs will intercept all disk I/O, too.
Jason
"WDS" <Bi...@seurer.net> wrote in message
news:hden50$d9p$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Any more info on this .ini tweaking option?
PBDepot
> "WDS" <B...@seurer.net> wrote in message
You have to use the toolset I believe.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=920668&topic=52140679
PW
<jonah...@mindspring.com> wrote:
All right guys. I don't play these modern RPG games very often. I
often get frustrated in making the wrong choice of character to play
and they usually just take up space on my hard drive (oblivion,
fallout, baulders gate...). I used to get caught up in these many,
many years ago and sometimes would call in sick to play them on my
Atari STs, etc... <g>
Any suggestions on what race, class, background would be a good start
for me? I almost always choose a warrior type class as mixing up and
casting spells always seems over my head. But I'd like to have fun
with this one.
Takes balls to do what I just did, eh? LOL!
-paulw
Jonah Falcon
People with AMD and quadcores are suffering the worst.
Jonah Falcon
"PW" <emailad...@ifIremember.com> wrote in message
news:vptmf5h9f8jpq97fd...@4ax.com...
If you're just starting out, do human noble first.
PW
<jonah...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>"PW" <emailad...@ifIremember.com> wrote in message
>news:vptmf5h9f8jpq97fd...@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:02:15 -0500, "Jonah Falcon"
>> <jonah...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I'm probably going to award it 4 stars (out of 5). It's compelling, but
>>>there are too many gameplay issues (AI, inventory method) and technical
>>>issues (memory leak, load times) that ruin some of the experience.
>>>
>>>Will post a full review later.
>>
>>
>> All right guys. I don't play these modern RPG games very often. I
>> often get frustrated in making the wrong choice of character to play
>> and they usually just take up space on my hard drive (oblivion,
>> fallout, baulders gate...). I used to get caught up in these many,
>> many years ago and sometimes would call in sick to play them on my
>> Atari STs, etc... <g>
>>
>> Any suggestions on what race, class, background would be a good start
>> for me? I almost always choose a warrior type class as mixing up and
>> casting spells always seems over my head. But I'd like to have fun
>> with this one.
>>
>> Takes balls to do what I just did, eh? LOL!
>
>If you're just starting out, do human noble first.
Will do! Can't wait until I get back home to try it.
Thanks
Wolfing
computer. I haven't seen a load longer than 20 seconds (and most are
about 5-8 seconds). It is a new Windows 7 installation so I don't
have much crap eating resources yet.
Wolfing
> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:02:15 -0500, "Jonah Falcon"
>
Thing is, this is not a game like Gothic, Risen or Oblivion. It's not
about your character. You will have a group, so it's not if your
character is or isn't a spellcaster. For most of the game, you have 4
characters in the group, nothing making your character any different
than the other 3 (except a few more stat points you get during the
game), so your selection of your character is more about how you want
your story to go (as a mage, as a rogue or as a warrior) and not of if
you want spells or not, since you will have spells (in the form of
other party members).
I have only played my main as mage and my tutorial character was a
rogue. I recommend playing mage, as healing is very useful, and your
first mage companion is not a healer at start, and the next mage
companion you'll find is like 20 hours into the game. I'm playing in
hard difficulty because I have healing.
Vincenzo Beretta
> healing.
I started with an human warrior, but I circumvented the lack of healing
spells with herbalism. You gurgle down potions very fast in combat, you
don't have to wait for the spell to cooldown before healing someone else,
and at the beginning (when the party HPs are low) even a minor potion can
restore a good chunk of health.
I'm not saying that the services of an healer are overrated - you definetly
need one as you progress. But I found this feature to be well balanced at
the lower levels. Herbalism and poison-making in DA are underrated, IMHO.
Ceowulf
Yea my machine is on par in ages with Wolfings, except I'm still using
32bit XP. My load times are also about 5-8 seconds now that I've gone to
time them (as a result from these posts).
Jonah mentioned that it was only players with AMD that were suffering
perhaps.
Ceo-
Toolpackinmama
> Any suggestions on what race, class, background would be a good start
> for me? I almost always choose a warrior type class as mixing up and
> casting spells always seems over my head. But I'd like to have fun
> with this one.
Well, I usually prefer to play a warrior, but in Dragon Age I am playing
a Dwarf Rogue and a Elf Mage, and I am really enjoying them both.
My favorite right now is actually Byuurleeve, my mage. When he hit
level 7, I opted to specialize in Spirit Magic, and to make him a
healer. I ~never~ play healers, but I am really enjoying this guy.
It's actually pretty easy to let the companions do all the fighting - I
just keep them alive. I found that I rarely need the health potions,
and his mana usage is surprisingly efficient.
It is a little irritating when he hits those situations where he is
separated from his entourage. Right now he is level 11 and trapped in
the fade by himself... and he's a little short in the offensive spells
department - but he is getting by. He's got a couple of fire spells, a
couple of ice spells and a really decent staff. So far that and his
heals have been enough.
I prefer to have fewer spells to choose from, because it CAN get kind
of complicated. Many of those spells are just toys. I don't like the
way I am forced to take some of them. After I experiment and see which
are really practical, I remove the extras from the tool-bar.
Toolpackinmama
>
> Jonah mentioned that it was only players with AMD that were suffering
> perhaps.
FWIW my computer is a dual-core AMD system and the game runs smooth as a
peeled egg for me.
Jonah Falcon
"Jonah Falcon" <jonah...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:cYKdnamsvKPE2GfX...@earthlink.com...
The story is making it hard for me to keep it at 4.
I've already spent, oh, 35 hours and I don't feel like the story is anywhere
near over. I just had to make a choice between one party member who's stayed
with me the entire game and a character who.... well, has been a major
antagonist.
True to my character, I chose redemption over petty revenge, and lost the
longstanding party member who just couldn't put it behind him, even throwing
away a clever compromise that would have... well, to say more is too much.
The text in the codex for the character says they leave, never to appear
again.
Unlike Mass Effect, where you simply chose one character to die a heroic
sacrifice, this was a far deeper cut. I love/hate the story for putting me
in a position to make THIS sacrifice, but storywise it makes sense to me,
and I'm interested in seeing where this new character takes me.
Jonah Falcon
"Toolpackinmama" <philn...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hdhf6a$kk6$2...@news.eternal-september.org...
It's quadcore, AMD or Intel, that are having serious issues. I also heard
there's a problem due to .net framework being shut off.
I just hope a patch comes soon so I don't have to fiddle too much.
Morgan
>
> "Jonah Falcon" <jonah...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:cYKdnamsvKPE2GfX...@earthlink.com...
Snip crap.
Listen to me fool. You are not a professional journalist, you do not
have the talent to be a professional journalist. This is why companies
don't send you review copies of games.
Part two of your "review" contained, what is for me, quite a a big
spoiler. This is not a review, it is your random thoughts about a game.
WDS
>
> "Toolpackinmama" <philn...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:hdhf6a$kk6$2...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Ceowulf wrote:
>>>
>>> Jonah mentioned that it was only players with AMD that were suffering
>>> perhaps.
>>
>> FWIW my computer is a dual-core AMD system and the game runs smooth as
>> a peeled egg for me.
>
> It's quadcore, AMD or Intel, that are having serious issues.
I have a quadcore Intel and it works fine.
Vincenzo Beretta
>
> I have a quadcore Intel and it works fine.
Same here. DA loads as fast as any other game I have installed (Batman Arkam
Asylum, Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead...)
Vincenzo Beretta
> complicated. Many of those spells are just toys. I don't like the way I
> am forced to take some of them. After I experiment and see which are
> really practical, I remove the extras from the tool-bar.
Wacth out for the combos. "Vulnerability Hex" increases the effects of both
Life Drain and Mana Drain. A grease trap followed by a fireball means that
the grease will be ignited - with painful consequences for those in the AoE.
A "meh" spell in DA can be the jump-start to a deadly combo when you - by
chance or reasoning - discover it.
Jonah Falcon
> >news:cYKdnamsvKPE2GfX...@earthlink.com...
>
<snip troll>
Anyone with a real comment? I've been published in gaming magazines,
so his insistence I'm not a "real" journalist is the puffery of
someone with their head firmly buried in their own buttocks.
Werner Punz
memory leak problems, which means if you play for a long time then
the ram is filled up and the load times start to decline due to swapping.
Restarting it anew resolves that, but we are talking here from gaming
times in 10 hours or longer without a restart.
Nostromo
18:07:15 -0800 (PST), Anno Domini:
Here's a *real* comment - stop posting spoilers disguised at reviews, you
fucking hack! Is there no other place on this vast thing we call an internet
that actually wants your sorry arse, FFS!!!???
--
Nostromo
WDS
Huh. I actually let it run for several days (probably more than 10
hours of play time) as it is a nicely behaved windows program and you
can alt-tab out of it.
Morgan
How's about this one. You're not a real journalist because you're not
being paid and your ramblings are not published in any reputable place.
You are living a fantasy. You're writing doesn't even indicate that
you have any intelligence and you're a self confessed troll. A real
journalist(and most non-journalists) would know that you don't report on
major plot points in a "review". Also as you have done in the past,
insist that your opinion on a game is fact.
You're a moron, a spammer and a sell-confessed troll.
Morgan
> Here's a *real* comment - stop posting spoilers disguised at reviews, you
> fucking hack! Is there no other place on this vast thing we call an internet
> that actually wants your sorry arse, FFS!!!???
For my money Nos you can drop the word "other" out of your post and it'd
be just as legitimate.
Morgan
> It's quadcore, AMD or Intel, that are having serious issues.
Wrong. I'm running fine here on a two year old quad core. You should
check your information before presenting it as fact.
Morgan
I've not let it run for massive amounts of time but I've had no issues
at all yet. I'm running on 64bit Windows 7 BTW.
Toolpackinmama
> Jonah Falcon wrote:
>>
>> "Toolpackinmama" <philn...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:hdhf6a$kk6$2...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> FWIW my computer is a dual-core AMD system and the game runs smooth
>>> as a peeled egg for me.
>>
>> It's quadcore, AMD or Intel, that are having serious issues.
>
> I have a quadcore Intel and it works fine.
What operating system are you using?
Nostromo
Anno Domini:
That was just about the most redundant thing I've heard in a loooong time
Morgan! For everything else...there's Mastercard! :)
--
Nostromo
Nostromo
Anno Domini:
LOL - perhaps I pre-judged your sense of humour too harshly early on. I'll
keep a more open mind & funny bone when reading your posts in future ;).
--
Nostromo
Nostromo
Anno Domini:
I'm sorry guys, but I just have to do it again! :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Falcon
--
Nostromo
Nostromo
Anno Domini:
<snip far nicer, polite & more civil response than was deserved>
>Nobody cares that your Dragon Age review is "coming." Get over yourself. Tell
>us when it's _here_. And make sure it contains a spoiler warning, in the post
>*here*, if it's got spoilers.
>
>I'd ask that much of you, if you please. :^D
You Sir, are a born-again optimist, if ever there was one! I take my hat off
to thee & bow in the unworthy shadow of your oratory writing skills! ;-p
--
Nostromo
Morgan
What can I say. I like to hammer a point home. :-)
WDS
Vista/64.