Vampirage? Ghostage? Dragonage.
When I came back with me from the UK, I brought with me Dragonage (pronounced "Dragon-ij" a bit like package). I had heard so many wonderful things about Dragonage, all sorts of friends of mine seemed to have blown huge chunks of time saving the world or some such. So I was like "Okay, fine, it's cheap, I'll get it and see what all the fuss is about".
Honestly, the sad truth is that on this one I'm disappointed. I know. And I'm sorry.
The problem with Dragonage is that it does do many things very right. A bit like the ridiculous detail in Oblivion showing up the moments where they fail miserably to hire a seventh voice actor, Dragonage suffers most from the fact that it just doesn't fill in some of the cracks. Some key moments of design stupidity:
Voice Acting.
Now this whole "let's voice act every NPC in the game" idea is all a big bit of fun. It's quite nice to see all your peon friends say hi and talk about whatever it is they talk about. There's just a few problems.
First and foremost? The main character doesn't speak. Now I know it's harder to do in multi-racial, multi-voice Dragonage than it was in Mass Effect, but when all the NPCs have fully voiced lines and your main character has no voice it sort of feels a bit one sided. I get the sensation that all the dialogue options should just be gestures and sign-language. I know it would have taken them bloody ages to voice act all that crap. But you know what? I'd rather they'd skipped most of the generic, shite NPCs (who cares if the village store guy has a few different voiced lines?) in favour of properly voice acting the main characters. As is, the game loses so much of the drama which the writers have tried to inject in the script.
Oh, and the other thing? I can never help skipping lines of dialogue in the cutscenes. I know, I know, in some ways it ruins the above point. But seriously? Did any of you really sit through ever line of dialogue, every waffly explanation of what's going on? Voice acting is all well and good, but the truth is that after you've played through a few dozen RPGs you find yourself wanting to get to the point rather faster. "Oh, you want me to go kill 15 rats in that barn over there?" - "Well yes, but as I was just explaining, it's all about trying to make sure I get the harvest grain safely stored away for the winter so that my children and grandchildren are well fed and can look after their mother and I because we..."
Seriously?
Balance.
There are certain things you just don't do. Rule 1: You just don't do that annoying thing where you insist the main character solos a huge chunk of play. Not because it's not fun. Not because it's not useful for the plot. But because no bugger has ever managed to balance the sodding level.
RPGs are about character progression, developing the character - and generally speaking that means stats and abilities. Most RPGs also include lackeys / henchmen / party members. The choices you make about your character development tend to be linked to combined tactics with these team mates. You choose the healing spells to back up your friends, or the tanking options, or the filthy glass-cannon approach.
And then some prick in his office says "Hey, what if we make the main character do this whole section of the game on their own?".
Long story short: Certain character builds will be viable on their own and certain builds will not.
Game Designers: Just stop it. Please.
On a similar theme: Long sections of game where it's impossible to restock on healing gear = the idea of a moron who needs firing.
Basic Game Functions.
If your game is split into zones, the concept of auto-saving every time you zone is not rocket science. What's maddening is that every 2D Bioware / Black Isle game did this as a matter of course.
Super Duper Menu Nesting. You have an inventory system. You use the triggers to flick pages, entirely changing theme from "Journal" to "Map" to "Inventory" etc. Fine. You use the bumpers to change party member. Fine. You use left and right to flick frame, allowing you to view separate inventory sections. Nice. But when talking to a merchant, it's the triggers which allow you to view separate inventory sections. Stop failing so hard.
Consider a game where you can only control one person at a time. When said person dies, it's useful to have the game flick you to someone else right? Sort of? No, shut up, here's a thought, pause the action for a few moments when someone dies, allowing the player to stop spamming "HEAL" and therefore not waste their last health potion on some other lackey in the group.
NEVER. EVER. EVER. Waste hundreds of pounds of your customers money by putting some fat blurring effect all over a long section of the game. I did not buy a nice big LCD screen and an HDMI cable just for you to come along and make it look like my eyes are failing. Sure, it's a fun effect for five minutes but that's it, not a few hours.
Honestly, the sad truth is that on this one I'm disappointed. I know. And I'm sorry.
The problem with Dragonage is that it does do many things very right. A bit like the ridiculous detail in Oblivion showing up the moments where they fail miserably to hire a seventh voice actor, Dragonage suffers most from the fact that it just doesn't fill in some of the cracks. Some key moments of design stupidity:
Voice Acting.
Now this whole "let's voice act every NPC in the game" idea is all a big bit of fun. It's quite nice to see all your peon friends say hi and talk about whatever it is they talk about. There's just a few problems.
First and foremost? The main character doesn't speak. Now I know it's harder to do in multi-racial, multi-voice Dragonage than it was in Mass Effect, but when all the NPCs have fully voiced lines and your main character has no voice it sort of feels a bit one sided. I get the sensation that all the dialogue options should just be gestures and sign-language. I know it would have taken them bloody ages to voice act all that crap. But you know what? I'd rather they'd skipped most of the generic, shite NPCs (who cares if the village store guy has a few different voiced lines?) in favour of properly voice acting the main characters. As is, the game loses so much of the drama which the writers have tried to inject in the script.
Oh, and the other thing? I can never help skipping lines of dialogue in the cutscenes. I know, I know, in some ways it ruins the above point. But seriously? Did any of you really sit through ever line of dialogue, every waffly explanation of what's going on? Voice acting is all well and good, but the truth is that after you've played through a few dozen RPGs you find yourself wanting to get to the point rather faster. "Oh, you want me to go kill 15 rats in that barn over there?" - "Well yes, but as I was just explaining, it's all about trying to make sure I get the harvest grain safely stored away for the winter so that my children and grandchildren are well fed and can look after their mother and I because we..."
Seriously?
Balance.
There are certain things you just don't do. Rule 1: You just don't do that annoying thing where you insist the main character solos a huge chunk of play. Not because it's not fun. Not because it's not useful for the plot. But because no bugger has ever managed to balance the sodding level.
RPGs are about character progression, developing the character - and generally speaking that means stats and abilities. Most RPGs also include lackeys / henchmen / party members. The choices you make about your character development tend to be linked to combined tactics with these team mates. You choose the healing spells to back up your friends, or the tanking options, or the filthy glass-cannon approach.
And then some prick in his office says "Hey, what if we make the main character do this whole section of the game on their own?".
Long story short: Certain character builds will be viable on their own and certain builds will not.
Game Designers: Just stop it. Please.
On a similar theme: Long sections of game where it's impossible to restock on healing gear = the idea of a moron who needs firing.
Basic Game Functions.
If your game is split into zones, the concept of auto-saving every time you zone is not rocket science. What's maddening is that every 2D Bioware / Black Isle game did this as a matter of course.
Super Duper Menu Nesting. You have an inventory system. You use the triggers to flick pages, entirely changing theme from "Journal" to "Map" to "Inventory" etc. Fine. You use the bumpers to change party member. Fine. You use left and right to flick frame, allowing you to view separate inventory sections. Nice. But when talking to a merchant, it's the triggers which allow you to view separate inventory sections. Stop failing so hard.
Consider a game where you can only control one person at a time. When said person dies, it's useful to have the game flick you to someone else right? Sort of? No, shut up, here's a thought, pause the action for a few moments when someone dies, allowing the player to stop spamming "HEAL" and therefore not waste their last health potion on some other lackey in the group.
NEVER. EVER. EVER. Waste hundreds of pounds of your customers money by putting some fat blurring effect all over a long section of the game. I did not buy a nice big LCD screen and an HDMI cable just for you to come along and make it look like my eyes are failing. Sure, it's a fun effect for five minutes but that's it, not a few hours.