Quick note - this piece is written from the perspective of someone that has gloriously bathed in the awesomeness that is the PC versions of Dragon Age, not whatever the console versions turned out to be. Why one would subject themselves to such a vile taint is beyond me.
Dragon Age: Origins Origins
Dragon Age: Origins was the first game since the original KotOR to have me totally seduced, and I easily sunk 60-70 hours into my first play-through of it. I loved the origin stories for each type of character, and I loved the NPC party members, and I loved the world, and I loved the art style, and I loved the music, and on and on and on.
Since that game, we've seen two further releases that were still great, even if they featured design aspects that had me scratching my head. In Awakening, I was disappointed that even if my Warden sacrificed himself in DAO, he was still inexplicably the main character in Awakening. I wished for a save import that accounted for this, in which my world was imported, but a new character was at the forefront in Awakening, as would befit a save that a featured a man that was dead. As I understand it, the development for Awakening was done by a team other than the main DAO team, and was in development prior to the release of DAO. I don't know why this issue was either overlooked or ignored, but it always bugged me, and very much broke the point of having a save import feature.
This same issue stands for all subsequent DAO DLC.
Still, I was able to grit my teeth, and somehow find a way to enjoy the hell out of the expansion and DLC (unlike the many motherless trolls that would have us believe that this issue caused them to fall on their mage staffs [ouch.])
DA2 had no such overt save import issues, even if there were some minor details that bugged out.
Still, I have two saves that feature every game, expansion, and DLC from DAO-DA2. I have my original warrior human dude (DAO) & whatever I chose for DA2, as well as a female city elf (DAO) & whatever I chose for DA2 (I think it was a mage.) My DA2 characters are one male and one female.
But I still don't have saves that account for some choices, such as letting Angry Dad (Tim Curry's character in DAO) live, so I'm wanting to prep some new saves, as well as see what that content looks like.
The Mass Effect Effect
As I stated above, I'm a geek. Because Mass Effect tends to operate off of a more binary approach to its choices, I actually have a spreadsheet I maintain that tracks these choices, so that I can track my saves and see what I chose where, and in what combination. Make fun of me, if it pleases you, but know that my ME shit is ORGANIZED.
I think I may want to crack open my Dragon Age saves, and do something similar.
Dragon Age Keep
I received some potentially terrible news a few months back.
The way that reads, it sounds like we have to manually enter the choices we made in the previous DA entries, rather than directly importing. I greatly dislike this for a number of reasons, but I'll distill it to two reasons.
1) I can't remember shit. I can't tell you how many times I've run into someone in either Kirkwall or the Citadel, have them start talking at me, and I'm like, 'oh, yeah, I do remember you now. Did we sleep together?' These are great moments, and I like the surprise of it.
2) I'm assuming that the number of choices I made in Dragon Age exceeds the number that BioWare is going to ask for. In the FAQ for Keep, it does point out that we can get as detailed as we want, so it may be alright, but if it does give me a metric fuckton of choices, I'll just point you back at #1.
However, rather than be your run of the mill BioWare Hater, I have a potential solution.
What about a means to extract our choices from our save into a file that can be fed into Keep? That would be perfect for me, and a decent compromise.
Of course, this could also be a chance to undo my accidental sex with Zevran, as well. I really didn't mean to do that. I really didn't. I just hope Leliana never finds out ...
Prepping For Dragon Age: Inquisition
When I play a roleplaying game, whether it be a classic single-player experience, or an MMO, I really roleplay the game. I create a character in my head, and really try to make choices as they would.
I have a current play-through of Dragon Age: Origins in which I'm roleplaying a very pro-Chantry mage, and that's been really interesting. I'm also planning on trying to kill Alistair at the end, or if I have to, that other Warden, but I've told Morrigan to fuck off, so I might be doomed.
I also installed Angry Daughter on the throne, which I've never done before, so I'm curious to see what ripples that creates.
I have some ideas about what I want to do in Awakening, but in DA2, I plan to continue my pro-Chantry crusade with a massacre of mages, since I've never done that before.
After that, I'll have three complete saves to import, so I plan to spend quite a bit of time with DAI later this year.
Side Quests
- I finally spent some time with the Steam streaming beta, and I'll probably post a walk-through and some thoughts up here
- the Lightning Returns reviews are coming in; about what I expected; yes, I picked it up and I don't want to talk about it
- here's a couple cool videos for Thief and Kingdom Come: Deliverance:
I leave you with some questions, as always ...
How do you feel about Dragon Age Keep?
Did you pick up Lightning Returns? Either way, what are your thoughts on it, and the general health of the Final Fantasy series?
As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see ya tomorrow!
-Blaine
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment