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Originally Posted by Junkenstein
That's because i am a genius.
I think that the reaction to the latest Bioware efforts is a testament to their great approach to their branch of games.
Anywhere else, you have developers who love to simplify their games and make them more and more about the looks or the adrenalin rushes than the power to take the player somewhere else. Nothing against adrenaline rushes, but even those have to be good or i get bored.
Both ME and DO have players debating their love for the characters, the decisions and the depth of the plot as much as the actual playing. And those same players approached ME2 with a religious zeal and with "IDONTWANT TOKNOWANYTHING" spirit that you see only for movies.
They got into the character of Tali, instead of the usual big boobed characters that teenage gamers have inconized in the past. A faceless alien. And all because her dialogue was natural enough to make her likeable.
The gameplay is amazing and simple enough to get you drawn into the games while still not making them simple or easy. And the story makes you feel like you HAVE to care about the characters.
Happened to me with Mass Effect 1 and 2 (maybe more 2) and it's happening again with DE. I shaped my main character exactly how i wanted him, by making him act and speak in a certain way and the virtyual world acts accordingly. Plus the characters have so many layer of depths, i dont ever know how any action will affect them or how they will act. Morrigan alone is a character of a complexity you rarely see.
Only Valve has done better with making me love a bunch of animated pixels. But.... i dont.... want... to.... think... about.... that.... (BUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUUUUUUU!!!!!)
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They've become so good at letting you define your character and making you care about his/her fate beyond just your score. Bioware manage to make 'cinematic' games that are still absolutely
games.
Funny you should mention Valve (bestdeveloperever), I think both Bioware and Valve stand as great examples of developers who have honed and perfected what they do so well it's about as close to 'auteur theory' I've seen in gaming. I have issues with auteur theory but you know when you're playing a Valve or Bioware game or when someone is attempting to ape them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Junkenstein
Dragon Age is hard to get into if you get the wrong character, and it's very slow at the beginning. First time i played, i used the human noble guy and i thought it was incredibly flat and lame.
You have to choose something different and act wildly. The game adapts to your choices in a great way, and shifts the tone completely. It's the quintessential great idea in that game and what's killing modern gaming and making it look retarded. Dragone AGe succeeds because it doesnt tell the player "either you do this action or you die or have a bad bad ending". It says "You can do this. You can do whatever you want. But everything you do will have a conseuqence. A BIG one."
Anyway, as soon as the Grey Warden initiation unfolds, it's one climax after the other. (and some sweet comic relief too. God bless Alistair)
That said, Mass Effect just made me so emotionally broken sometimes, it was weird. In the first one the dialogue with the Sovereign was the single most creepy moment i've seen in both a movie or a game. Whoever wrote those lines is a genius.
ME 2 is just an adrenaline rush. Usually i dont give a flying fuck about virtual charcters, and there i was getting angrier and angrier trying to save them all.
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Goddamn it, stop making me want to play 70 hour RPGs. I suppose I am single, may as well take advantage of my urge to hermit-up.
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Originally Posted by Kydizzle
Altitude is a blast!
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I know! I bought it in a bundle a while back but only got to it during the free weekend. Those huge 64 player games are chaotic fun and there's a surprising amount of strategic depth once you look for it.