[SpardaSon21]

To be fair, I have no idea what Dragon Age is like anyways.  All I know is that BioWare is developing it.  I just hope the gameplay is similar to KOTOR or KOTORII (I loved the KOTOR games!).

[BS403]

Medieval rpg... how about Mount and Blade?  I believe its was an independent game, but its fun and well made.  Its available on Steam.  Theres a demo, so you can try it out before forking over the cash.

[General Battuta]

Why?

The writing isn't up to snuff. It looks like it was written by a bunch of teenage metal fans. I'm assuming this is because Black Isle isn't there any more, as they were with Baldur's Gate.

[Spicious]

That seems a slightly presumptuous judgement to make given how little dialogue has actually been revealed. I thought Black Isle was just the publisher for those.

[TrashMan]

The writing isn't up to snuff. It looks like it was written by a bunch of teenage metal fans. I'm assuming this is because Black Isle isn't there any more, as they were with Baldur's Gate.

WAAAAH?

You conclude that based on what? The blood and violence trailer? That one was deliberately targeted for a more general audience.

I talk to the devs on a daily basis. Trust me - this thing will be bigger than Baldurs Gate. It took one dev 60 hours with cheats to finish one playtrough, so it's big. There's more written text than in BG2.
The story and fluff/atmosphere are the hardest, if not impossible, to convery over a short trailer. From what I've gathered they really did put in a great effort into creating this new world.

[General Battuta]

Nah, I'm going off the hands-on time the gaming press has had with the games. A lot of the previews have been kind of skeptical (I believe one RockPaperShotgun person wrote on his notepad, during a romance scene: 'THIS IS EMBARRASSING.'

No telling for sure until it comes out. Don't get defensive.

[mxlm]

I talk to the devs on a daily basis. Trust me - this thing will be bigger than Baldurs Gate. It took one dev 60 hours with cheats to finish one playtrough, so it's big. There's more written text than in BG2.

What does quantity have to do with quality?

[TrashMan]

I'm saying that the game is big in every aspect. And quality? This is made from Bioware with Luv. They all wanted to make this game for a loong time. The work on the universe itself started a looong time ago.
I can see the devs really put an effort in it. Bioware games are great by the track record alone. I have no reason to doubt this one will deliver, and then some!

[Aardwolf]

Medieval...

Fantasy. Or maybe medieval fantasy. But not medieval. You'd have a hard time finding ANYTHING set in the real middle ages, except maybe something revolving around the crusades.

[Flipside]

Probably stuff like 'Total War' are about as close as you can get to 'real' games of that genre, to be honest, RPGs are more like 'Gothic' or 'Renaissance' Fantasy, since both those periods were heavily interested in Demonology, Alchemy, Fantastic Creatures and Magic, and much of the literature from that time formed the basis of modern Fantasy writing (Though it could be argued that much of THAT literature was stolen from Homer, this is not surprising if you consider the nature of the Renaissance - which was at least in part inspired by a re-interpretation of ancient Greek ideas).

That said, we all know what he meant

[Spicious]

Being defensive about it is bad yet making sweeping generalisations from a single scene is good?

[General Battuta]

Again, these are the impressions of game journalists who spent time with it, drawn from multiple sources who have proven themselves reasonably trustworthy in the past.

And as I said, there's no telling how it'll really be until we get to play it.

Honestly, Bioware have never been great writers - merely solid. Mass Effect was one of the best they've done, but as in most of their other titles, it played a heavy-handed black/white morality game even when dressed up as 'gray areas'. KOTOR I's story was just as straightforward. The best work done on 'Bioware' games has been by other studios.

They are, however, fantastic storytellers, which often makes up for their straightforward writing.

[Spicious]

They're still for the most part impressions drawn from a single scene.

The whole "don't know until you play it" thing seems a bit at odds with the idea of trusting game journalists, which itself seems to verge on being an oxymoron.

The best work done on 'Bioware' games has been by other studios.

Care to justify that?

They are, however, fantastic storytellers, which often makes up for their straightforward writing.

Which is why the game isn't looking good?

[Flipside]

Is this Dragon Age: Origins we are talking about here?

If seen some stuff on that, and it looked nice graphically, if nothing else, the story didn't leap out as something incredible (King trusts Royal Knights, General betrays king, new recruit starts on a journey of vengeance), but then, a story is never about its highlights, oddly, it's about the journey, and I'm guessing I'll have to wait for the release to find that out.

The morals system didn't look too taxing, 'kill him, don't kill him' type choices, but only a single example was given, so I can't say for certain.

There's some Videos on it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djq_nBP-aTc

Which give a nice idea of the quality of the graphics, but very little on the scope of the game or the world it takes place in.

My only concern is that it presents the game as a bit 'cutscene-riffic', but, once again, that's because the 'Gameplay Video' actually shows very little gameplay

Edit: And is it me, or does the guard at the end of Video one look like an extra from Tron?

[mxlm]

The best work done on 'Bioware' games has been by other studios.

Care to justify that?

Even unfinished, KOTOR2 was far better than KOTOR. As for Neverwinter Nights....

Baldur's Gate II was pretty damn awesome, though.

[Scotty]

Even unfinished, KOTOR2 was far better than KOTOR. As for Neverwinter Nights....

Baldur's Gate II was pretty damn awesome, though.

KOTOR2 was only better than KOTOR in the mechanics area.  It had more levels and more diverse settings, but storywise, KOTOR kicked KOTOR2s ass.

[mxlm]

You fail at life I, ah, disagree. Strongly.

Oh! I forgot about Torment. Kicked the ass of BG/BG2, used the Infinity Engine.

[Spicious]

Overall, BG2 probably was better. Maybe Bioware should get partial credit for PS:T anyway; they did provide the game engine.

[BS403]

Even unfinished, KOTOR2 was far better than KOTOR. As for Neverwinter Nights....

Baldur's Gate II was pretty damn awesome, though.

KOTOR2 was only better than KOTOR in the mechanics area.  It had more levels and more diverse settings, but storywise, KOTOR kicked KOTOR2s ass.

I agree.

Circle gets the square and the Win!!! Goodnight Everybody!

[TrashMan]

Honestly, Bioware have never been great writers - merely solid. Mass Effect was one of the best they've done, but as in most of their other titles, it played a heavy-handed black/white morality game even when dressed up as 'gray areas'. KOTOR I's story was just as straightforward. The best work done on 'Bioware' games has been by other studios.

They are, however, fantastic storytellers, which often makes up for their straightforward writing.

I would disagree with that.
I'm so glad they're doing away with D&D rules and any aligment meters whatsoever. No lightside/paragpn/LG and darkside/renagade/CE stuff. It will be more like Witcher with a lot more grey morality.
Of course, that's easier said than done. A lot of choices that seem grey to you would be clear cut to me and vice-versa. And having "surprise" bad consequences for "good" actions is just screwing the player over. I've seen games that aimed at moral ambiguity and the who dark setting thing, but ended up horribly overdoing it.

If you save a woman it turns out she's a mass murderer. If you kill her, it turns out she was a loving mother. That kind of crap where the game throws cheap shots at you.
F'course, the devs don't like to talk about it much, since such things are esentially part of the story , but fro ma few examples I have been given by them it looks very well thought out.
Basicly, available choices and consequences of the same will be logical, which is how I like it.