PC Gamer UK gives Dragon Age 94%

[Warbie]

There shouldn't be any grinding required in a decent story driven rpg. Grinding is never fun.

80 hours is too much for me these days and unless Dragon's Age is particularly excellent in co-op it's going to be thrown on the pile of unfinished games.

 

[VictimOfScience]

There shouldn't be any grinding required in a decent story driven rpg. Grinding is never fun.

I tend to agree with you for the most part, but for some twisted reason I LOOOOOVVVEEE grinding in the Dragon Quest games. It is completely ridiculous, but I absolutely cannot get enough of it. Its like some sick addiction.

But yeah, hopefully the story will be good enough to warrant 80 hours of play, along with side quests and such. If that is the case, I don't care if it takes me a year to finish. It is not the winning, but the playing that matters to me.

 

[Kadayi]

80 Hours? Man, it took me two years to finish Final Fantasy XII and that was the same length. Why do they do this?

Its funny I said about Borderlands at 100 hours being too long and people were like 'you STFU' yet it appears I'm not alone in getting exasperated at stupidly long games.

80 hours gaming would probably translate into about 3 months of my gaming time when broken down, and personally I'm not sure any game is going to sustain my interest for that length of time before the mechanics bore me shitless.

 

[Krynn72]

I'd rather have a good 80 hour game that I dont finish than a good 12 hour game that I do finish.

 

[Shakermaker]

Its funny I said about Borderlands at 100 hours being too long and people were like 'you STFU' yet it appears I'm not alone in getting exasperated at stupidly long games.

According to most reviews running through the game will take about 20 to 25 hours. The 100 hours was a big exaggeration.

 

[unozero]

There was a time when I thought GFWL would save PC gaming -___-

 

[the cow says moo]

Its funny I said about Borderlands at 100 hours being too long and people were like 'you STFU' yet it appears I'm not alone in getting exasperated at stupidly long games.

YOU STFU

But seriously, I was paying attention to your posts in this thread to make sure you weren't contradicting yourself. Good to see this wasn't the case.

 

[Lucid]

Jesus Christ.
You hear people complaining about games being too short and now when we start getting longer games they're complaining about that.

There's no pleasing you guys.

 

[Shyam]

Basically Pcgamer have chosen to embrace the generic fantasy whilst Eurogamer have found it wanting, personally I'm in the Eurogamer camp.

While I'm a big Bioware fan I think RPG's in a medieval fantasy setting has been done to death. I will still be picking up this game, but I am more excited about Mass Effect 2. We can't make a proper judgment until playing though.

 

[Gargantou]

There shouldn't be any grinding required in a decent story driven rpg. Grinding is never fun.

80 hours is too much for me these days and unless Dragon's Age is particularly excellent in co-op it's going to be thrown on the pile of unfinished games.

That's why I dislike many JRPGs, you're pretty much forced to grind sadly.

 

[Sparta]

Jesus Christ.
You hear people complaining about games being too short and now when we start getting longer games they're complaining about that.

There's no pleasing you guys.

I'm alright if a game's anywhere from 8 hours up. Because that's going to take me a few days to finish. 80 hours though is pretty damn absurd for people who are interested in your game but don't have the kind of time it takes to complete it. Chances are I'll lose interest before I finish or I'll have to drop the game for work commitments and end up forgetting what the hell happened earlier in the game when I do pick it back up.

 

[Paulaner]

I'm alright if a game's anywhere from 8 hours up. Because that's going to take me a few days to finish. 80 hours though is pretty damn absurd for people who are interested in your game but don't have the kind of time it takes to complete it. Chances are I'll lose interest before I finish or I'll have to drop the game for work commitments and end up forgetting what the hell happened earlier in the game when I do pick it back up.

This happens when gamers are grown ups and have a real life. I remember playing RPGs for months when I was a little kid.

 

[Kadayi]

I'd rather have a good 80 hour game that I dont finish than a good 12 hour game that I do finish.

No ones suggesting 12 hour RPGs. Personally dependent on the type of game, something between 20 - 40 hours of play (or 2 weeks - a month of my spare time) is something that is desirable. Not so long that your going to get bored of it and not finish it, but not so short that your going to feel gimped for having bought it full price. Mass effect took me about a month to complete and that was just about the right amount of time.

But seriously, I was paying attention to your posts in this thread to make sure you weren't contradicting yourself. Good to see this wasn't the case.

Why would I be? I loathe not finishing games. A long game has to be pretty exceptional and compelling for me to see it through to its conclusion though. The last 60 + hour game I finished was The Witcher tbh.

While I'm a big Bioware fan I think RPG's in a medieval fantasy setting has been done to death. I will still be picking up this game, but I am more excited about Mass Effect 2. We can't make a proper judgment until playing though.

I'm in two minds about this one. If it is as good as is being said then I might jump on board (despite my reservations about the hokey setting), even though I probably won't finish it any time soon, but like you I'm really looking forward to ME2 as that offers up a lot more potential, though I did find ME a bit sterile in places (here is hoping for a lot more depth in the environments and look of the NPCs etc).

 

[Eejit]

Er, I don't suppose 80 hours might just be including huge numbers of sidequests? Just a crazy idea I thought I'd throw out to the people bitching.

 

[Gargantou]

This happens when gamers are grown ups and have a real life. I remember playing RPGs for months when I was a little kid.

You can be a grownup and still not have a real life, in fact some of the biggest achievementwhores I know are in their early to mid 30s.

But then again I guess you meant grownup on a psychological level.

 

[Sparta]

Er, I don't suppose 80 hours might just be including huge numbers of sidequests? Just a crazy idea I thought I'd throw out to the people bitching.

Well I hope thats the case. I like BioWare RPG's but I don't really need 40 hours of grinding.

 

[Kadayi]

Er, I don't suppose 80 hours might just be including huge numbers of sidequests? Just a crazy idea I thought I'd throw out to the people bitching.

Given the combat is supposed to be quite tough in places I'd say there is considerable incentive to do every side quest you can in order to maximise your level, so 80 hours is probably 80 hours. Its not bitching, its just knowing how Bioware think.

In ME to get level 50 you had to pretty much do everything in terms of side quests in order to max out until they released the first DLC.

 

[Eejit]

If that's how it is in ME it's a departure from their previous games where the enemies scale and you don't need to be anywhere near max level to finish.

 

[Acepilotf14]

In ME to get to level 50(and further, 60) you had to replay the game with a new game+, since the side quests were so ridiculously repetitive. My main is still only 57 since I couldn't bear to play through it a third time until ME2 is within reach.

Side quests are just that- side quests. They aren't necessary in any way. A good RPG should have tons of interesting side-quests that get you to play them because you WANT to, not because you HAVE to.

 

[the cow says moo]

I hate the repetitive side quests in sandbox games, such as Red Faction: Guerilla.

I like games with side quests that actually have stories, like those found in Oblivion and LoZ.

 

[MRG]

Er, I don't suppose 80 hours might just be including huge numbers of sidequests? Just a crazy idea I thought I'd throw out to the people bitching.

Well said & I would guess you are correct as well. Because if the main quest alone was 80+hrs, that's just gotta be one hell of an epic story. Think of it. 80 hrs. That 2 full standard work weeks, M-F @ 8hrs a day gaming constant. Now I'm getting all excited...

Damn...

-MRG

 

[tvharti]

just noticed that 2 german gaming mags have reviewed Dragon Age als well, the final scores are 92% and 91%. On the positive side theres pretty much everything you can ask for. It's especially noticed that DA has a fantastic storyline with lots of twists, on the other hand there seem to be quite a few bugs (no huge ones) and the environmental textures lack detail.

Verdict: Absolute Must-Buy!

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

stories, like those found in Oblivion

Oh lol

This post isn't so constructive, sorry.