Hey Holla Forums. I've never played a Dragon Age game before and I'm wondering if it's worth getting into...

Hey Holla Forums. I've never played a Dragon Age game before and I'm wondering if it's worth getting into. My friend tells me that 2 is better than Origins. Should I skip Origins and go straight to 2? Play Origins first?

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2 has better gameplay. Origins is full of RNG bullshit.

Inquisition > 2 >>>>>> Literal Dogshit >>>>>>> Origins

What makes Origins so bad?

All dragon ages are shit.
They're bioware games after all.

DA2 has better gameplay and Fenris, but you need to play DAO to understand the setting.

2 and Inquisition are masterpieces. Origins is pretty bad by comparison.

It's WAY too hard and complicated.

It's basically a throwback to classic RPGs way back before they knew how to streamline fucking anything and the gameplay is retardedly hard.

I spent SIX HOURS trying to complete night battle at Redcliffe, just dying over and over and over because the game expects you to fucking pause and swap characters in combat to micromanage them.

Eventually I just gave up after watching a Let's Play and found out that the ENTIRE GAME is like that.

Like what the fuck? Who designs games like that? What the fuck is the point of giving me all these characters to control?

Why can't combat just be really easy and streamlined so I can enjoy the story, like it is in 2 and inquisition?

Origins is one of the worst RPGs I've ever played, along with Fallout 1/2 and Baldur's Gate.

/thread

Kill your friend, then kill yourself.

Origins is legitimately the only good game in the series.

Sometimes this board has some golden stuff…

bait: the thread

Inquisition is 'literally the only game worth playing, all my friends think so too OP.

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I couldn't remember the name of that guy's channel, so I jewtubed "autistic food review" and it was the second result.


:^)

Well played.

origins wasn't that good to begin with. I fucked morrigan because I thought she'd lose to the power of the dick, but after fucking she was even more chuu2

and of course the thread gets immediately ruined by Holla Forums cucks
BACK TO FREECH

Well IMO, BG series are the only games that balances gameplay with crazy adventuring compared to DA series. But I wouldn't know, fam, 'cause I don't have shit taste

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Why do you have to ruin this poor user's experience by recommending him shit games

The gameplay is garbage

The story is generic shit

The further you go in the series, the more sjw and gay shit is smeared in your face

All games are fucking trash imo

Run.

Better yet, kill your friend.

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Fuck me if I've seen some recently

you need new friends.
DA:O is the only acceptable one of the 3.

origins fans pls go

i think they are pretending, user.

Not even Origins is really worth playing unless you just don't have any RPGs left in your backlog. But it's the only one that you might ever consider playing.
2 is copy paste: the game, you spend most of your time in one city and your 'dungeon crawls' are all the same cave with different sections blocked off.
Origins is unbelievably bad, not in a 'so bad it's good' way either. Watch that one video of the main character's romance scene with The Bull if you want 'so bad it's good', don't actually download the game. it's a MMO prototype repurposed into a single player game.

I swear this better be bait.

This is the most baitlogged thread on Holla Forums. That being said, I can describe the differences between Origins and DA2, and what I know of Inquisition from watching the streams at release.

Origins brought out the world of Dragon Age in an interesting way. The lore isn't Morrowind tier, but it was a strong start considering it was a single game and not an entire series with nearly a decade of lore building. The game was designed to be similar to games like Baldurs Gate in gameplay. You can play as one of three classes, with Mage being the objectively most fun in the game, and then take a specialist class or two, all of which are also pretty shit. The game has some likeable characters, but as Bioware characters, they all match up to their designated stereotypes, making Dog your best companion. It's pretty generic fantasy but does some interesting twists with it. Overall, it's no tabletop RPG, but it's worth playing.

DA2 has a couple of characters that don't suck completely. And the combat is fun for maybe five minutes. And the single dungeon map in the game is alright the first time you complete it. After that it just goes completely down the shitter.

From what I have seen about Inquisition, every character is actually unlikeable, rather than just bad. Combat is made a tedious chore with health sponge bosses. And the lore got fucked. So worst game of the series? Yes.

Not only are you a homo but you're also gay

Also yes it has RNG and RNG is shit but I'll take "passably tolerable tactical RPG combat with shitty RNG over garbage tier dumpster trash mindless button mash gameplay with zero depth to it"


Oh god no, Origins is far better than either of the sequels (not to say that Origins is any good, it's 6/10 while DA2/I are 3/10).

The main difference between all of them is that the sequels lie in the twilight zone between tactical RPG combat and action combat so it has elements of both with the advantages of neither. You don't have to think tactically at all, even on nightmare difficulty, and there is no skill required at all you just mash the button of anything not on cooldown to win.

As for the the other aspects like writing, art direction, setting, characters they are all terrible and anyone who thinks otherwise has never read a good book or played a game with a good story.

What are some games with good story in your opinion? Not arguing, just hoping to find some gems I might not have played.

The 1st one was good.
2 is shit.
3 is sjw shit.

I'm not sure I'd agree with this, although it may have been their professed goal. The gameplay was a lot more similar to something like NWN or Mass Effect. Way less tactical than BG. Also, even in Origins the lore was so-so and heavily marred by being so "edgy."

Good review overall though.

Alright, none of the following are perfect but I can't think of any games with better stories than them:
Fantastic setting that does an excellent job of incorporating its art direction into its writing with an interesting political climate and philosophical main quest. Doesn't utilize the medium that well since much of the story is told through text but it's still not something that could be conveyed properly in a book which excuses it somewhat.
Great for similar reasons to Morrowind in terms of its political climate and additionally has quite a few interesting characters involved in it. However it is unfinished and doesn't tell the legion's side of the story particularly well and much of the story is told through non interactive dialogue which doesn't utilize the medium.
Each contains a simple story that isn't shoved down your throat and consistently reinforces its theme. While they are supported by text and non interactive dialogue, they rely more on environmental storytelling and gameplay which means they utilize the medium relatively well. Out of those three I do like DaS1 the most because of how it nailed the consistency in its theme about entropy, but it is also quite unfinished.
>Danganronpa 2
Truckloads of absurdly crazy plot twists. This is mostly here because of chapter 5 and outside of that chapter it has quite a few notable flaws. It definitely trades internal consistency for a lot of these crazy plot twists and some of them are pretty hard to swallow (though that's more of a problem in the first game). Chapter 3 was also an unfinished waste of potential. It's a VN so I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but it is technically a game once you're in the trials. It's also advisable to play the first game first but keep in mind the second game has noticeably better murders and even in the first game, the first chapter is much less interesting than the subsequent ones since it's easy to figure out whodunit.

Saying anything about why these are interesting is a spoiler

If anyone thinks I missed anything then let me know because I'd like to play it, but the following suggestions won't be considered:
I want to like its story but the ending is so unfinished that I can't say that I do
1 and 3 are okay and 2 is interesting but I wouldn't say it's comparable to what I listed.
All solid and well rounded but lack something to make them truly stand out (story-wise at least)
all garbage

And I have yet to play To the Moon, NWN2, BG2, Asura's Wrath, and Planescape Torment though I've heard they have good stories so they're on my backlog.

Kill yourself, fam.

Jesus user, it's like I'm reading a oped on RPS. And one written by someone who didn't even play NWN2, BG2 and Planescape Torment still in high school at that

PS:T is a proto-walking simulator and NWN2 gets shit on by NWN in every way except muh grafix. SoU and HotU in particular are better than any content found in NWN2.

Hey, like em or hate em that's your call but chances are that if you're over 20 and a "gamer" you at least played them

it's shit

I simply didn't get into video games until 5 years ago, before that it was just books and movies.


You're saying NWN is better than NWN2? I've always heard the opposite since someone told me sequels to old Bioshit games are good since they were made by Obsidian. I'm assuming "SoU and HotU" are expansions to it?

I'll add it to my backlog in front of NWN2 though, thanks for the heads up user.

I actually ended up skipping over BG1/2 until recently because the box art never interested me as a kid :^).


How far have you gotten in it? It's one of those games that I'd try to play several times, but then get 30 minutes in and drop it only to start over the next time. The beginning (tutorial) section is functionally on-rails and not at all representative of the rest of the game, but one day I decided to power through it and once you get to the meat of the game it's pretty good.

They've only done two for Biocuck, NWN2 and KotOR2, and only the latter was better. Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark are the expansion modules for NWN, but they're balanced in a way that you can just skip the main campaign (which is merely okay), create a fresh character, and by the time you finish SoU you'll be strong enough to tackle HotU. Highly recommended that you play a Sorcerer or Wizard. The magic experience in NWN is top notch.

first for
don't know how i fucked that up

Know what's the problem with your average newfag? It's not that say a redditor can't contribute to a discussion, hell he might make a well constructed and informed post. Weirder shit has happened.
The problem is that your average newfag can't pace himself. You'll see some user casually shitpost but not to the extent of actually killing the thread; same for dubs or memes. A newfag will try and emulate that and go full cancer. just look at what's happening to this fucking place

What I'm seeing more and more often around here are faggots looking for preappro/v/ed vidya and worse: preappro/v/ed opinions to repeat and ultimately militant faggots in the making. Those that for example can't see a fallout (any fallout) thread without todposting.
polite sage and all

Origins is just "spam your overpowered mage CC skills while everyone else acts as meatshield". If you aren't using a mage for whatever reason, then the combat becomes outright boring.

DA2's combat system might be broken, but at least it was more entertaining.

You'll never know the joy of hammering out world destroying spell combos where one false step means death, or the joy of landing a force shield on your warrior just as a nearby mook succumbs to virulant walking bomb chains a lethal bloodsplosion that clears the screen.
I bet you played it on console too you fucking casual

I played mage/warrior.


Yeah dropping aoe to deal with General Zapp Brannigan's battle tactics was so entertaining.

Aarklash Legacy played leagues better than any DA game.
Prove me wrong.

I assume your friend is confused enough to think that Dragon Age: Inquisition is Dragon Age 2, and did not actually mean the game called Dragon Age 2. If he meant Dragon Age 2, he might have brain damage. You might need a lobotomy to enjoy DA2 and persevere through the mind-numbingly bad gameplay compounded with the awful worldbuilding, atrocious level design, fugly art, terrible quests, and even worse plot (or lack thereof).

Dragon Age 2 review: rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=224

Start with Origins. It's pretty much the best game of the whole series. DAI has better cinematics and engine but it's still mind-numbing fare and they fucked with the lore, implemented dull fucking combat, and made party interface a pain. Origins at least has tactical combat and somewhat interesting lore.


Git gud you worthless scrub. You could just play on an easier difficulty or set up a more decent AI if controlling your party in a party-based RPG is too hard. Not to mention Redcliff gives you a whole stack of options to make the combat easier plus it's one of the few battles that's completely optional. You could just skip town and come back later.


Only too true. Bioware went full SJW and they went retard alongside it because SJWs are some diehard casuals.


True, but the lore and setting had more potential at start. It's rather ironic that they derailed the Dragon Age setting from a dark and somewhat unjust world to a political correctness caricature.


Mages are definitely the best class in Dragon Age. The other classes become more interesting with the addition of specializations though. Pretty much any class can become OP with the right build though, and depressingly Bioware just assumed people wouldn't min-max their characters' attributes. It's pretty much a given that any decent player will max the Mage's magic stat and if you use clever spells you can get pretty OP. And if you max a Warrior or Rogue's dexterity stat you can give them a defense rating so high they'll dodge everything. Stack spell resist and your character becomes largely untouchable.

Use traps and give everyone one rank of poison-making so that they can all throw grenades. You can actually do a good bit of fun stuff with those skills. And get the less boring specializations (Ranger and Bard for Rogues, Champion and Templar for Warriors).

That is no friend. And no, neither is really worth it, both are pretty shit, with DA2 being far shittier than the first.

I managed to get through most of the game. But the last 2 areas? No, fuck off. Those areas are so shit. There are bullshit fights where you have to fight a dragonling while 10 archers and mages shoot at you. But there's no easy way of dealing with it wihout cheesing the game. The game is almost really fun but that bullshit put me off. At the end of the final boss I was so burnt out that I cheated to kill the fucker. If the sequels are anything like it, avoid the game like the plague.

unironically taking the bait
user pls

I beat it, there's cutscenes whenever you talk to someone which I would tolerate if the writing was good but it's not

Should I play the base game as well? How about NWN2?


Solution: party of 3 mages + the weird rock thing while on nightmare difficulty.

Out of curiosity, were you playing at launch like I did? I dropped it out of frustration for the same reason, found out later that the difficulty was so ridiculous at launch and getting so many complaints that they had to patch it later.

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you know its just bait right?

Well that's unfortunate. Was it just the writing that did it in for you, or also the gameplay? The combat really grew on me a few hours in.
For NWN, just play the expansions, and if you really want more, go play NWN 2's main campaign after that. NWN's main campaign is extremely generic and very long, and it takes a long-ass time for the game to start throwing interesting enemies/situations at you, unlike the expansions and 2.

Do note that all NWN games support full campaign coop, and are a blast to play. If that's your thing, NWN's main campaign is worth playing with a friend.

The combat was certainly better than what the sequels had but compared to games like Severance, DD, or even the souls games it was incredibly lacking. I did end up tolerating it though and my concern was mostly around the writing and lack of actual role playing.

Dialogue was often jank or over the top (likely because it was written in Polish first) and the characters were pretty terrible. I hated Geralt, Triss, Dandelion, and the dwarf dude quite a bit. Geralt was a 2cool4u edgelord that lacked the intense autism that grounded him in the books, Triss was just as boring as she always was, and the side characters like Dandelion were flat and underdeveloped.

The story bits ranged from somewhat interesting to standard and boring. I liked the weird direction that the ending went in with light tones of eldritch horror and some of the side quests were neat twists on celtic fairytales. However these parts were few and far between since so much of the game is either boring dialogue or backtracking.

Okay thanks for the advice!

This guy is the reason why Origins is shit. You're forced to deal with his faggotry if you wanted a decent tank that fits the story.

This.

Just put Origins on Easy and have fun. Don't bother with the others.

if you're going to play NWN, try out some of the many custom campaign modules made by users. SOU and HOTU are pretty good but IMO they don't hold a candle to something like Darkness over Daggerford.
Check neverwintervault.org/ for downloads since the old sites are no longer active. NWN was best played as a tabletop simulator, with 4-6 players and 2-3 DMs running the game for the players, but those days are unfortunately past. Playing good custom modules is as close as you can get to that.

you could play a shield warrior yourself (which is kinda dull but more interesting in combat than a 2h warrior or god, forbid, a rogue) or use Shale (admittedly he's not an optimal tank but he's usable)


I'd argue if you want to have fun with Origins easy is not the way to do it, it's really a cakewalk. Hard while you play a mage was the sweet spot for me. (any difficulties without friendly fire make playing a mage way too easy.)

SHE is my go to tank, personally. That ground pound is just too lovely to pass up.
Shale, Morrigan and Dog are the only way to go.

All dragon age games are casual garbage.