First Thoughts on Dragon Age: Legends

            As I’m sure you all know, I love Dragon Age and just about every other game made by BioWare.  So as you can imagine, I was curious when I heard about the Facebook game Dragon Age Legends.  I wasn’t really hyped or geeking out when I heard about it because Facebook games have never impressed me the way they have other people.  Maybe it’s because they’re strictly online games.  Maybe it’s because so many of them require others to effectively play.  Or maybe it’s because it takes so damn long to get anywhere in them.    Or maybe it’s all of the above.  Bottom line, I don’t like Facebook games.  Under normal conditions I wouldn’t even consider playing such a game, let alone write a review on it, but seeing as how it’s Dragon Age I decided to give my thoughts on it.

            As far as I know, this is the first time BioWare or even EA Games have made a game for Facebook.  In fact I don’t think any major video game company has before now.  It came out around the same time as Dragon Age 2 and I checked it out for about five minutes before getting bored.  In recent months, however, I’ve found myself not really wanting to play video games, (it’s something that happens for me every now and then) but got bored a few days ago and decided to take another look at it.

            From what I gather, you play as the champion of a Free Marches Viscount named Ravi.  To sum it up, weird things are happening in the lands surrounding Ravi's city and you go out investigate.  Apparently, his son is somehow involved, but I have no idea how he fits in.  As far as I am into it, that's all I've been able to gather.  This is something that I find very odd, because of the game's developers.  Even BioWare's crappier games still had decent, follow able storylines but this one doesn’t.  Maybe it gets better the further you get into it but as far as I know the plot is fairly bland and boring.

            The combat is a basic turn based system, not unlike Final Fantasy X and the abilities are very reminiscent of those of the consul Dragon Age games.  It also has a number of recognizable enemies, most notably the Darkspawn.  As usual, you can buy and sell items that you need or don’t need and said weapons and armor give you different boosters in strength as such.  You can also build a castle in it.  Yes a castle.  Now, why do you need a castle?  Well to make potions and bombs.  And that’s about it.  But still, it is pretty cool to have a castle      

After that, however, it just becomes another Facebook game.  Like all medieval Facebook games, it requires you to wait for hours for your energy to recharge in order to continue your quest.  Another annoying thing about it is your companion system.  In this game, you can only use your companions for one battle and you have to wait a number of hours before you can use them again.  This makes the game incredibly difficult and tedious, especially if you lose a fight.  For example, if you have a particular set of characters that work well for you, this makes it impossible for you to use that set more than once under two hours.  Even worse, if you screw up and die you waist said characters for a number of hours and this pisses me off beyond belief.  The most annoying thing about this game, however, is, like all Facebook games, the premium content.  While you can pick up a number of weapons and armor from battles and win them in missions, you can’t get the really good ones unless you actually buy them with real money.  This is something that all Facebook games do and it pisses me off to the point where I'm willing to disembowel Mark Zuckerberg.

So what else is there to say?  Well, I hate Facebook games.  That’s about it and all my negatives draw from that simple fact.  I just don't like them and that's where all my complaints come from.  As far as these kinds of games go however, I have to say, I do enjoy this one.  If you like Facebook games and Dragon Age, I say give this one a shot.  Odds are I’ll stop playing this game before the month ends, but other people may enjoy it.  And that’s all I have to say on the matter.          

The Illusvie One V.S. Game Informer: Dragon Age II

           Well, it's time for my first article of The Illusive One V.S. Game Informer and since I'm still fresh off Dragon Age II, I decided to make an issue of Game Informer's rating of it.  Most game reviewers gave Dragon Age II less than perfect scores but I was surprised at just how brutally Game Informer panned the game.  Like I said in my announcement, I'll be using the words of the writers of the review and saying if I thought they were right on, to brutal, not brutal enough and will be adding a few things they failed to mention.  And for legal reasons, I'm inclined to say that Game Informer's Dragon Age II Review was written by Joe Juba.  This is The Illusive One V.S. Game Informer: Dragon Age II.



Game Informer's Rating
8.25/10

The Illusive One's Rating
8.5/10





                                      

  

V.S.

          
           While admittedly their isn't much of a difference between ratings, I still felt that Game Informer's review panned way to many things and ignored things that were good and legitimately wrong with it.  So without further delay, let’s get this started.

Game Informer:  BioWare's template story structure involving an intro, four main quest hubs, and a finale is nowhere to be found in Dragon Age II.  Unfortunately, no compelling story rises to take its place.

Not a compelling story?  Less compelling then the story in Origins?  Yes, but a compelling story all the same.  Hawke wasn't a person out to conquer the world or to save it.  He/she was just trying to survive in the world while making a living and in the process gets caught up in world altering events.  In truth, I thought this story, while inferior, was much more realistic then the story lines of Origins and this panning seems to be more out a dislike of BioWare's shifting from classical game storytelling than anything else.

Game Informer:  In execution, the story amounts to little more than a bunch of sidequests lashed together.  They are rarely connected to a central goal, and since the main plot has no arc, you get little sense of mounting tension or rising stakes until the climax is upon you.   

Now that's just mean but not entirely inaccurate.  Particularly during the first act, most of the missions, even the main story ones, do feel like side quests but many are actually linked to quest later in the game.  As far as tension goes, it was much more subtle but their all the same.  Through dialog, via the frame story, you learn that the world is on the brink of war in the time the story is being told and they talk about how many people Hawke killed, (or will kill in point you're at in the game), for this to happen.  And if you can't feel the tension in this I don't know what's wrong with you.

Game Informer:  The battle system was fun, but not nearly as satisfying or rewarding as Origins'.

Satisfying or rewarding as Origins'.  Let that sink into your mind for a minute.

Ok.  Now, in what brain dead, retards mind was the battle system in Origins satisfying or rewarding?  The battle system in Origins was slow, boring, and dull whereas the battle system in II was fast, fluent and fun and I honestly don't know how anyone can choose the system of Origins over II.  Just....no.

Game Informer:  Since you don't have a main antagonist until the final hours, the story pales in comparison to the original.

I've already said the story wasn't as good as the first but I feel I have to say something on the remark about a main antagonist.  As I'm sure you know, most games tend to take place within a year, two at the most with a reoccurring antagonist trying to kill the protagonist.  Can you honestly see those villains hunting the protagonist for ten years or vice versa?  That just wouldn't be logical, even for games.  As a result, the main antagonist switches after each act as years go by in-between acts.

            Before I finish this article, there are a few criticisms and praises of my own that Game informer failed to address and I feel I have to mention.  A positive they failed to mention, (but one I didn't in my review), was how cleverly they intertwined your companion's story lines with that of the main story.  Then there are the negatives they failed to mention.  As I said in my own review of Dragon Age II, the ending sucked and I don't see that mentioned anywhere in Game Informer's review.  Finally, there is one last issue that both Game Informer and I failed to mention.  This has to do with the games length.  While it took me over 36 hours to beat the game I actually felt the game was too short.  I could have dealt with all of Dragon Age II's flaws and bullshit ending if the game had one more act in it that increased its length by five to ten hours.  I know that might sound a little long but the ending failed to give any since of conclusion and an extra act may have helped with that.

            Well, that's it for my first segment of The Illusive One V.S. Game Informer.  For those of you who read this please comment and if you liked it, more will be on the way.  Until next time this is the Illusive One and I'm burning the Game Informer magazine with the Dragon Age II Review.  AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!  Later!

The Illusive One's Dragon Age: Origins Review, Part One

           Back in December I gave you a general look at the games made by the gaming company Bioware but I barely even scraped the top layer of their games and why I enjoy them so much.  With Dragon Age 2's release date rapidly approaching I decided this would be a good time to do a review of Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings, and the pieces of downloadable content that came out for it.  Rather than writing one long review, this one will be divided into seven parts so I can properly address everything.  But for now this is the Illusive One's review of Dragon Age: Origins, Part 1.

The Plot

            The game takes place in the medieval fantasy type world of Thedas, in the country of Ferelden.  The game features six different Origin stories for you to choose from that range from a human noble to an elf commoner, but I'll get into more details of them later. 

            Early in the game your character is recruited by a man named Duncan to join an order known as the Gray Wardens who do everything they possibly can to stop creatures known as darkspawn from overrunning Thedas.  Once every few centuries a demonic dragon know as the Arch-Demon organizes these creatures into huge armies that go on a campaign to destroy everything.  These huge armies of darkspawn are known as Blights and a new one has just begun.

            After proving your combat skills to Duncan he takes you away from whatever life you led to fight the darkspawn.  Your character and Duncan go to the fortress of Ostagar where King Cailan of Ferelden, his army, and the Gray Wardens have been successfully holding off the Blight.  Unfortunately another battle takes place after you arrive and things don't go so well.  Cailan and the Gray Wardens are betrayed by Cailan's uncle, Loghain when he pulls his forces away from the fighting and Cailan and Duncan, along with most of the Gray Wardens, are slaughtered.  Thanks to both luck and help from a mysterious witch, you survive and have to build an army to fight the darkspawn, reveal Loghain's treachery, and somehow slay the Arch-Demon.

The World of Dragon Age

            While this game did, at times, seem like a collection of all the old fantasy clichés rolled up into one game, there were several things that separated this game from the other pieces of fantasy media that I feel I have to address.  There are, however, many different things to address about the world of Dragon Age so I'll just stick to the more interesting and essential things about the world.  The first thing to note is the way mages are treated in this game.  While most fantasy stories have mages being some kind of overlords of the land, in Dragon Age just the opposite is true.  They constantly live under the shadow of the Chantry, (the church of Dragon Age), and their warriors, the Templars with their itchy sword hands who will kill any mage at the slightest sign of “evil” practicing of magic. 

             Another thing to note is the way the elves are divided in this world.  First you have your city elves that live in slums and are treated as second class citizens.  Then you have the Dalish Elves, a kind of wood elf group who live in clans, constantly wandering and are ever at odds with humans.

            Then there are the dwarves who have a strict caste system that separates the warriors, the nobles, the merchants, the blacksmiths, etc.  Unfortunately, there is also the group known as the casteless who are treated like dirt just for being born.  As a result, they often form the back bone of criminal organizations and the underworld of dwarven society.

           The last thing to note with the races is the way the Gray Wardens treat them.  To put it simply, in the eyes of the Gray Wardens, they are all equals.  If someone can fight well enough then they can join the Wardens, whether they are nobles, commoners, champions or criminals.  They also reserve the right to draft anyone into their ranks which can sometimes cause hostilities but makes the recruiting of criminals easier.

           As I mentioned, there are six different origin story lines, each adding a different subplot for  your character and determines how people will react to you throughout the game.  For starters you have your human noble origin story.  In it, you are the youngest son/daughter of a high class noble who joins the Wardens after tragic and treacherous events befall your family.  The second is the mage story where you are recruited into the wardens after helping a friend try to escape the magi tower.  The third deals with an elf commoner who is drafted into the wardens after he kills a noble.  The fourth deals with a Dalish elf who is infected with the taint of the darkspawn taint and has to join the Wardens to avoid a painful death.  In the fifth you are a dwarven prince who is forced to join the Wardens after being framed for the murder of your elder brother.  In the sixth and final you play as a casteless dwarf who proves he can fight just as well as anyone in a social class above him and is forced to join the Wardens after he kills a local criminal boss.

            And that's all I got to say about the world itself.

            Well, that's it for Dragon Age: Origins, Part One.  For info on the gameplay, characters, and my final verdict on the main game, please look at the upcoming article, Dragon Age: Origins, Part Two.