Why you can't trust Dragon Age user comments/reviews

You'll find, if you go to Dragon Age threads on You Tube, or threads under video reviews and articles, or user reviews on Gamespot and many other gaming sites, that you will see many 8-10 scores and many 1-2 scores.

This is due to the fact that we really have two games in Dragon Age, on console, a Mass Effect typoe 'action-adventure, where you can fight real-time for long stretches without ever having to pause, and on PC a real RPG, like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights where you needed to pause to issue orders in a highly tactical combat system where the enemy was much harder. The interface on console and PC a differentiated by this action-rpg versus real RPG.

Whereas PC purchasers of the game seem to be loving it, console gamers do not seem happy with their version. Many console gamers also expected a Mass Effect type game with real-time action and not too deep a story or characterization. They wanted shallow, they got deep. PC gamers wanted deep and they got deep, in this area.

So when you're looking at the User Reviews, even where it's the PC section (Gamespot, for example), you see lots of obvious console players giving the game low scores and bringing down the average. With the PC users giving the game a higher score it means that averages seem to be below the PC review scores, but higher than the console review scores. This leading to PC gamers maybe thinking the game isn't so good as the reviewers say, and console owners thinking the game is better than reviwers say!

So if you're still divided about getting Dragon Age, I would say go to gaming sites that just cover your console and see what they think. because, for example, if you went to the PC review on this site and then looked at the user reviews you would se a lot of low scores and high scores and it seems very confusing!

As a PC gamer I am glad Bioware didn't dumb the game down. I also hope this means Mass Effect 2 will be more roleplaying rather than less. But I can see how, if you hadn't bought the game yet and were waiting for gamers comments, you would now be quite confused!

I would almost say, with some games, like Dragon Age and Risen, just to mention 2, that where the games are so different on PC and console, it should be mandatory for user reviews to state what machine the game was played on!!!

Some console gamers are unhappy with DA because the console versions lack depth and strategy (traits the PC version has).

I just gotta say it's a shame when a game like this comes out, and the consolites hate it because it is a story-driven game with tons of depth.....treedoor

I got the game on 360, I love how it's story/character driven. Don't always assume the worst in console players, we do enjoy good stories too. It's just the majority of PC gamers are you're typical fantasy/book/story loves, while console fans are like "LET'S SHOOT THINGS!!" type people.

[QUOTE="treedoor"]I just gotta say it's a shame when a game like this comes out, and the consolites hate it because it is a story-driven game with tons of depth.....muthsera666

And by obsessed I mean those people who are...REALLY obsessed.

I just gotta say it's a shame when a game like this comes out, and the consolites hate it because it is a story-driven game with tons of depth..... RPGs like this are a staple of the PC gaming library, but not as much so on the consoles.treedoor

Wait a minute....This is System Wars? I could have sworn that we were in GGD. :|

You can't trust the online gaming community's scores in general. Not when a game is still brand new.

You can't trust the online gaming community's scores in general. Not when a game is still brand new.

theharlemshake

I havent heard one console gamer that was dissapointed with it, i dont really know where you gathered that notion from. And on consoles its more like KotoR then Mass Effect and i'm sure the majority of console gamers knew that.

I have it for PC and have two friends that have it for PS3. I've read/watched the majority of the reviews and read the comments and the only negative comments were from people that havent played it... basically saying they wouldnt buy it.

Yes TC, that makes perfect sense. The console users are mad at the PC users! GRRRR!

I would just delete this topic from the face of existence...

lol.. You just over rate it dude.. ^^

I thought the PC and console versions were the same apart from the interface and controls. What else is different?

Many console gamers also expected a Mass Effect type game with real-time action and not too deep a story or characterization. They wanted shallow, they got deep. PC gamers wanted deep and they got deep, in this area.

Humorguy_basic

Either you're a moron or I just got trolled. Or both.

lol'd at console gamers wanting "not too deep a story or characterization." Generalizations rule. Paladin_King

I got it for the 360 and I think it's a fantastic game. Same with Mass Effect. Aside from the texture pop-in ME was amazing.

You'll find, if you go to Dragon Age threads on You Tube, or threads under video reviews and articles, or user reviews on Gamespot and many other gaming sites, that you will see many 8-10 scores and many 1-2 scores.

This is due to the fact that we really have two games in Dragon Age, on console, a Mass Effect typoe 'action-adventure, where you can fight real-time for long stretches without ever having to pause, and on PC a real RPG, like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights where you needed to pause to issue orders in a highly tactical combat system where the enemy was much harder. The interface on console and PC a differentiated by this action-rpg versus real RPG.

Whereas PC purchasers of the game seem to be loving it, console gamers do not seem happy with their version. Many console gamers also expected a Mass Effect type game with real-time action and not too deep a story or characterization. They wanted shallow, they got deep. PC gamers wanted deep and they got deep, in this area.

So when you're looking at the User Reviews, even where it's the PC section (Gamespot, for example), you see lots of obvious console players giving the game low scores and bringing down the average. With the PC users giving the game a higher score it means that averages seem to be below the PC review scores, but higher than the console review scores. This leading to PC gamers maybe thinking the game isn't so good as the reviewers say, and console owners thinking the game is better than reviwers say!

So if you're still divided about getting Dragon Age, I would say go to gaming sites that just cover your console and see what they think. because, for example, if you went to the PC review on this site and then looked at the user reviews you would se a lot of low scores and high scores and it seems very confusing!

As a PC gamer I am glad Bioware didn't dumb the game down. I also hope this means Mass Effect 2 will be more roleplaying rather than less. But I can see how, if you hadn't bought the game yet and were waiting for gamers comments, you would now be quite confused!

I would almost say, with some games, like Dragon Age and Risen, just to mention 2, that where the games are so different on PC and console, it should be mandatory for user reviews to state what machine the game was played on!!!

The only differences this game has on the PC is slightly better graphics.

Thats it.

Humorguy_basic

I hated it (I owned it on PS3), but mostly because the story and world design were so dull and unoriginal that it made the whole game a slog. I got ten hours in and thought, "this is stupid", and traded it in at gamestop for Brutal Legend, which has quickly become one of my favorite games (game of the year for me, including Uncharted 2).

I like depth in gameplay and narrative just fine, thanks much. Please don't judge me based on what I play my games on. we're all gamers, whether we have a controller in our hands, or we're using a KB&mouse.thunderf00t

Unless you make certain generalisaions you can hardly have a conversation! Of cours console gamers like more straightforward games that are quick to get into! And the publishers agree! It was Bioware, after all that must have said 6 months ago:

'we need to make the console version more action based bcause that's what that market wants. We will have to set it up in such a way that a console gamer will be able to play long stretches of the game with real-time combat, never having to pause. Also, let's make sure friendly fire is switched OFF as a default, to make the game a little easier for console owners'.

You only have to look at actions by publishrs to know what the markt thinks console owners want. To look at Bioware again. Look at the RPG's Bioware made when they were just doing PC games. Games like Baldur's Gate and Nverwintr Nights were hardcore RPG with 100's of stats and attributes, let alone armour and weapons. Then the 'multi-format' markt comes along, and Bioware decide they are going to concentrate on console, with just PC conversions. What did they release for this console market predominantly? Jade Empire. Compared to what Bioware was doing for PC, there is no doubt this so-called RPG is a lot more shallow, with very little in the way of skill and attribute manipulation and about as far from Baldur's Gate II, in sophistication and depth, than chalk and cheese. PC owners complained quite loudly about this chang and reffered to it as 'dumbed down'.

What diod Bioware do next? Mass Effect. Another console orientated game with linear squad based corridor shooter quests, all action and little RPG. Again, in terms of depth and sophistication and ability to change the character, this was a lot more shallow than the ealier Baldur's Gate type RPG's. Certainly since Jade Empire Bioware have gone down the linear route more and more. No one can say Jade Empire, Mass Effect or even Dragon Age are 'sandbox' games, like Bioware titles pre Jade Empire. Other publishers, like Bethesda, have mainatined this sandbox style of gaming, while simplifying the story and making the gameworld ever smaller.

I understand perfctly wll that some console gamers want more depth in thir games, and do not like how the console version has been made as an action-RPG. There were some, my friends included that were very negative about the Mass Effect quest system. But justlike there are some 90 year old 40 a day smokers, we know, genrally, that smoking will shortern your life, as so fewer of us smoke. So it goes with this 'multi-format' market. Games on console are made more straightforward, with less sophistication and depth. The growth in the console amrket is the main reason for the growth in corridor shooters. By the same token, it is the growth in the console market that has led to fewer deep RPG's and on PC no more simulations, adventure games or sophisticated strategy games.

I have no proof of course. But in today's market, I do not beleive an X-Com or Civilization or SimCity could come to market, due to their 'sophisticated' gameplay.

Assuming there is a PC verion of the next Oblivion game, it will be interesting, after Dragon Age, a) what the game overall will be like (for example, will we except 6 voice actor's for 1000 NPC's?) and b) whether, like DA, the PC version will be more 'hardocre' and the console version more of the same?

When you see the hype for MW2 blows DA out of the water, despite the amount of hye DA got, it shows you how the coneol market loves a shooter most of all. And they are the simpliest of 'twich' games, with little in the way of 'deep thought'. Maybe even the action-orientated DA is still to sophisticated for console gamers? Sales will tell us, but it's obvious DA will not do the 10 million of a MW2, and that says something right there! Equally, whereas there are normally 8 units sold on 360 for every one game sold on PC I wouldn't be surprised, for Dragon's Age, that it's only something like 3 on 360 for every PC game sold. Time will tell on that though, and we can come back to that.

I have the 360 version of Origins and i'm lovin it.

When you see the hype for MW2 blows DA out of the water, despite the amount of hye DA got, it shows you how the coneol market loves a shooter most of all. And they are the simpliest of 'twich' games, with little in the way of 'deep thought'.Humorguy_basic

Maybe even the action-orientated DA is still to sophisticated for console gamers?Humorguy_basic