782 Weeeeeener.

I “finished” Mass Effect 2 a while back.  And I put finished in quotes because the only reason I stopped was that I ran out of content.  If there had been more there for me to do I would likely still be playing.  I played through to the end twice and had much more fun the second time because I took me a while to understand the new leveling system, combat, and what have you.  After playing 2 I’m not sure I could ever go back to playing 1.  As much as I loved Mass Effect, I loved Mass Effect 2 more.  It was by no means perfect.  I spent far too much time searching for ammunition, but on the whole it was a better, less tedious, experience.  When Mass Effect 3 appears I will be ready to put down the Reapers once and for all.

My game of choice for filling the Mass Effect void was Dragon Age: Origins.   I reasoned that Bioware would have made something similar in at least some ways.  It’s much more KOTOR than Mass Effect, which is fine.  I has the same problem with text so small I can’t read anything though.  I don’t know who is responsible for making all the text so fucking tiny, but if I ever meet him I’m going to punch his dick off.  It wasn’t so bad in Mass Effect since a lot of stuff was read aloud, but Dragon Age is not so kind.  In most missions I’m just guessing about what’s going on outside of what is presented on screen.  It just seems odd for a company to write volumes of backstory that no one can read.  Unless the rest of the world is rocking brand new televisions or some shit…

Anyway, I just kind of picked a story at random to try the game out:  Female, city dwelling, Elf, rogue.  I figured that I would be bored by the storyline but would get an idea of how the game worked and could then restart with a character and class I would like better.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it, the story for that character choice was very compelling.  I played an hour or so to get the hang of things then restarted as the same thing…

My biggest complaint is kind of weird.  It really bothers me that almost all of the armor looks terrible.  Mage gear particularly, but virtually anything you put on looks awful.   I am a long way in at this point and I’m just now finding a few bits of light armor that don’t make the cast look like a truant Renaissance faire.  This is starting to be a big problem with me in newer games.   I forgo better armor for armor that looks better in many cases.  Every so often I find something with choice powers that I can’t bring myself to inflict on the character.  I would kind of like things better if I just got items that adjusted my stats and the visual element was separate.  I don’t know who I need to write to, but this issue needs to be addressed.

Anyway, the leveling system is familiar, so I got that fairly quick.  I let the game auto level the other party members for several levels before bothering to look them over manually.  I was trying to figure out why the fighters kept getting their asses kicked every battle and it turns out the game had been choosing talents that were the exact opposite of the gear each character was wearing.   So every time they got a new skill they couldn’t use it.  Part of the reason I didn’t bother too look any of this over earlier is that I CAN’T READ THE FUCKING TEXT.  After a fair bit of squinting I was able to ascertain what the issue was and my team suddenly became a group of badasses.

Don’t take my complaining to mean I’m not enjoying myself.  I’m completely obsessed and already looking forward to playing the next game where I’ll understand what the hell is going on.  At this point I’m not sure how far off that is.  The goals are much less clear than in Mass Effect.   The ultimate goal seem to be killing a dragon, but there are a lot of jerks between he and I.

29 Comments

Small text? I assume you’re playing on console ’cause on PC it looks nice, which is why I find Dragon Age my holy grail of gaming, the story is so great.
I say this because I have Mass Effect 2 for Xbox, and My tv is a almost 15 yr old Toshiba and I found it fairly unplayable because the text was practically invisible I don’t think Superman could read it.

Small text? Are you playing on a console with an old tv or an old computer monitor?

All the newer game are designed assuming you have HD equipment. If you don’t, the resolution gets messed up.

I had this same problem with many of my 360 games until I saved the money and bought an HD tv.

And that is just part of the problem with most modern games. Hell, since the last three consoles released there have been fewer games per year released (and no better quality to make up for it, really. Better sound and graphics just make the game shinier, not more playable). Remember when component cables were first released and all the connectors had the option for that OR coaxial? Or the way the most recent three all have three and five piece component cables? The $25.00 plus HDMI cable has yet to be standardized. So why not throw in a text option? It’s like the game companies want you to spend the extra money on upgrading your entertainment center more than the people who make the game players…

Also, I have an 18 inch HD capable T.V. Text is still too small to read (although with a magnafying glass it IS clear as day…)

Whoa I would say we have gotten games in the last generation that are better quality by leaps and bounds compared to the last. Mass Effect and Dragon Age being a good example. Also what about Games like Bio Shock, Fallout 3, Portal, Uncharted, Assassins Creed, or even simple but much more artistic games like Braid, Limbo, or Flower? All of those games have major upgrades in either player interaction, game mechanics, or storytelling. And up coming games like Skyrim, the new Batman game, Bio Shock Infinite, Rage, even some Kinnect games are looking to push those boundaries of quality even further.

All in my opinion of course

I’m not saying that games aren’t more technologically advanced. That is obvious. By the same token, what band recorded Mass Effect Fever? No one? That’s right, it was Pac Man Fever. Simple, blocky graphics, and only four options (left, right, up down. Five if you happen to count stopping when you hit a wall) Simple, addictive, hundreds of my quarters stealing Pac Man (admittedly I used to hang around the Pizza Hut where the table style arcade game was located and take over after people failed to realize they got a free game for a high score).

Super Mario was a fun game not because of the boundary pushing graphics, in depth storyline, or even tight gameplay, but because it was a fun game. I will agree, Portal hit a sweet spot of playability, fun, and even the more technical stuff (graphics, sound, sweet end theme), but even if it was last generation graphic-wise, it still would have been a fun game.

So, yes, sort of, I would disagree with some of the games (Fallout 3 and on haven’t impressed me half as much as the first two. Mass Effect was contrived, awkwardly controlled, and doesn’t let me snipe like a sniper, let alone do data-encryption or stealth kills, etc despite having character options for such {also I hated the bio-psi-thingie. Didn’t like the concept. Didn’t like the execution. Didn’t like having people with that stuff in my party}. Calling a game artistic (Limbo, Braid, etc…) just seems wrong to me. Limbo was stylistic, but a basic platformer. Also note the lack of massive graphical updates in it.

And lastly, I didn’t say we DON’T get good games today. Hell, I enjoy crapfests like Splatterhouse (another I used to get free games off) I am saying that we are getting fewer games, which means fewer crapfests, but also fewer gems. I am also saying that terrific graphical work doesn’t make a shooter any more playable than an older one. Great sound design doesn’t help you catch a football in Madden. And not putting an option in for older televisions without having to pay extra (in addition to losing the ability to read text in game) is somewhere between planned obsolescence, extortion, and just plain rude.

Also read: I’m old, y’young bastard.

I got the Dragon Blood DLC armor set in Origins. I like it because it has what looks like a pair of red glowing eyes on the chest, combined with the red glowing visor in the helmet and a mostly-red paint job that makes it look vaguely like Gurren Lagann.

The text size does suck, though, a problem it shares with Dead Rising 1. I know they expect you to be playing in high definition, but the text still could be a little bit bigger.

Someone needs to teach John how to make snappy come backs.

“Well, I’m glad you admit I’d be the man in that situation.”

“I suppose the only embrace you’ll get tonight will be your own, yet again.”

“Hey man, I know you’re desperate to lose your virginity, but c’mon.”

Although I suppose you can’t teach some things.

The test in Dragon Age is small. It’s true. Even if you’re using a massive screen where you can easily read it, it’s still fairly tiny. I had the same problem with the teammates not using skills, but only at first. I auto leveled them all at the start, and I assumed that it’d give them skills for the weapon they started with, but1 doesn’t start with a weapon, and the other starts with one she can’t use. After a few battles, I noticed they weren’t doing anything, so I checked their skills.
As for the armour, I thought half of it looked stupid, and the other half looked…..a tad less stupid.
I was able to overlook that, though. What really bothered me was that I’d find a bunch of enchanted stuff, and when I’d wear them, I’d look like a heavily armoured rainbow, with one part silver, one part gold, one part red, etc., because it was all a different material.

HDTV (not necessarily full HD, 720p will do for most games) is a practical requirement for a lot of games produced now. This is part of the reason why the Wii didn’t support HD, if I remember my press releases correctly (i.e. they didn’t want developers making games that the majority would be unable to play. Now, however, the majority of the purchasing masses have HD, so it’s a counter-issue).

My problem with Dragon Age is that it didn’t feel original. It’s a poor PSO clone with an extremely generic AD&D skin on it, and it feels cheaply made. The fact that my mage started with Magic Missile and Burning Hands made me groan… if I wanted an AD&D universe, I’ll find a DM (or do it myself), and I’ll actually build a universe without anything obnoxious or trite in it (and if I want Obnoxious and/or Trite, with a lot of blood in the mix, I’ll go play HoL).

Bioware has a philosophy with taking two great things and putting them together, and they have varying degrees of success with it (Sonic Series + M&L = Chronicles, AD&D mechanics + Star Wars Universe = KOTOR, PSO mechanics + AD&D setting = Dragon’s Age). To be fair, I hate Star Wars and I rather like KotOR, I love PSO and AD&D and have Dragon’s Age, and I love Sonic and M&L and hate Chronicles, so perhaps it’s more blind edge than I’d like to believe… I’d need more research, heh.

That said, Baldur’s Gate and NWN are historic classics, and Mass Effect was an adaptation based on one of my favorite genres, and while it was built for a different type of gamer (i.e. I’m not the target audience), I can appreciate that it was trying to open the door for people who’d never heard of such things… More people need to play Starflight, if not the original, than the upgraded Genesis version~

The only other issue I have with Dragon’s Age is that 360 controllers have the shortest lifespan of any controller I’ve ever bought, usually lasting between one and three weeks. I’ve bought four new 1st party, 1 new 3rd party (gamestop, it was a points reward, heh), and 1 used (yardsale for 50 cents, and a short repair job), and they’ve all fallen apart or otherwise been unusable, which is offensive when I’ve been using my Wavebird for 8 years and my Saturn controller for almost 10. (Also, it’s not that I’m hard on my controllers, it’s that I play more than most people, usually 10 hours a day or so.)

If you’re on the PC,there are mods out there to fix the text size,and also other various game quirks.

PC doesn’t even need a mod for text increases. It’s built into the platform in Windows and Mac. If you’re running something else, mind (say, Linux), that I can’t say for certain. And no, getting at the text zoom isn’t neccesarilly easy, but it is doable.

HA HA HA ah weinrer jokes best part is my sisters last name is now weiner thank you brookies, and TOm for mqakin me giggle like a school girl

It’s not the only game that makes incredibly small text. It can be incredibly annoying, especially if you can’t afford to upgrade your tv. Honestly, I’d be happy if they just provided an option to increase the size of the text within the game.

Brooksie Makes for the tastiest Meat substitute for any meal.
Yes i meant that sexually, let those words marinate your brain with illicit images.
Mmmm delicious :9

Brooksie’s line has caused a small avalanche of strange, difficult to identify tinglies in places.

At least some small part of it is disappointment.

Oh Brooksie, between your hips and my white knight complex, you’re the only lightly toasted meat for my open-faced weener sandwich.

… I’m beginning to think my attachment to fictional characters is becoming unhealthy….

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