Dragon Age 2 or the Witcher 2?

I don't even feel it's fair to compare these two games.

One is a developer's beloved and cherished child. You can see the polish and love for detail everywhere.

The other is a developer's unwanted child. It huddles in a corner, afraid to catch attention and get spanked.

[QUOTE="Whiteblade999"]

Finished it in 2008 when I did a run-through of the whole saga. Was my first time playing the first game and Throne of Bhaal and the first time actually finishing Baldur's Gate 2. Took me something like 150 or 160 hours and I loved pretty much every minute of it. It lacked strong choice and consequence but the writing was actually good and the attempts at romance were really well done, Viconia in particular.

Lets take a look at their other games ignoring ME2 and DA2 shall we?

Neverwinter Nights Original Campaign: Feels more like Diablo because the emphasis is on the action with a throw away story.

Neverwinter Nights Shadows of Undertide: Better in story but it lacks the drive of a strong RPG.

Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark: This is probably Bioware's best attempt at making another RPG. The only problem I had was the epic level DnD stuff. It felt out of place and that sort of stuff should be left out unless you can put it into perspective like Baldur's Gate 2 did.

Just a note I really like Neverwinter Nights on a whole but its more a toolset then an RPG. I'm judging these purely by how good they are as RPGs and not games. If we added user-made campaigns I would say that this one is easily their best work.

Knights of the Old Republic: This is when they started pushing the romances on you. Gone are the well done ones of Baldur's Gate 2 and instead we are left with some annoying pilot who constantly whines to my player character. After telling him to shut it he insists on continuing.

Then you have the story. I get this is supposed to be Star Wars here but try something else besides light and dark side, morality bars are NOT cool in RPGs. Its supposed to be me who decides what is right and wrong and not the game. The plot twist was something I expected and would have been better had there not been strong foreshadowing for it.

Jade Empire: Not much to say since everyone agrees this is their weakest game.

Mass Effect: Again with the forced romances that feel tacky and the morality bar. Story wasn't bad here but the braindead AI mates made the game almost unplayable. Pausing sometimes is OK but when the AI is better in Baldur's Gate 2 something is wrong.

Dragon Age: A throwback to Baldur's Gate? :lol: Laughable story (don't even get me started on the final boss), forced romances and you guessed it, the morality bar (except for it was gift based this time). Then you have how the game blatantly ripped off of Europe in some really untasteful ways and its ugh.

I would have called this a good game (I really liked the characters, writing and battles) if it wasn't for one thing. The DLC merchant. I preordered this, loaded it up, and a few hours in I see a guy in my camp offering me a quest. Of course I try to take it from him. But no, it takes me to a DLC store... Words cannot describe how pissed off this made me and I don't think I've had a worse first impression in a game except maybe Hellgate London.

I'll have to get back to you on Mass Effect 2. I'm waiting for a bundle with 2 + 3 because of how much the first one left a sour taste in my mouth with the AI.

Maroxad

I agree with your points

I am shocked and appalled.

[QUOTE="Maroxad"]

I agree with your points

SkyWard20

I am shocked and appalled.

Appalled perhaps, but I thought you already knew I have a strong dislike towards Bioware.

The fact that there are SNES games with better AI than recent Bioware games is not a particulary good sign.

[QUOTE="SkyWard20"]

[QUOTE="Maroxad"]

I agree with your points

Maroxad

I am shocked and appalled.

Appalled perhaps, but I thought you already knew I have a strong dislike towards Bioware.

Oh, really?

It's like seeing Chip & Dale high-fiving themselves for their cleverness.

[QUOTE="Maroxad"]

[QUOTE="Whiteblade999"]

Finished it in 2008 when I did a run-through of the whole saga. Was my first time playing the first game and Throne of Bhaal and the first time actually finishing Baldur's Gate 2. Took me something like 150 or 160 hours and I loved pretty much every minute of it. It lacked strong choice and consequence but the writing was actually good and the attempts at romance were really well done, Viconia in particular.

Lets take a look at their other games ignoring ME2 and DA2 shall we?

Neverwinter Nights Original Campaign: Feels more like Diablo because the emphasis is on the action with a throw away story.

Neverwinter Nights Shadows of Undertide: Better in story but it lacks the drive of a strong RPG.

Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark: This is probably Bioware's best attempt at making another RPG. The only problem I had was the epic level DnD stuff. It felt out of place and that sort of stuff should be left out unless you can put it into perspective like Baldur's Gate 2 did.

Just a note I really like Neverwinter Nights on a whole but its more a toolset then an RPG. I'm judging these purely by how good they are as RPGs and not games. If we added user-made campaigns I would say that this one is easily their best work.

Knights of the Old Republic: This is when they started pushing the romances on you. Gone are the well done ones of Baldur's Gate 2 and instead we are left with some annoying pilot who constantly whines to my player character. After telling him to shut it he insists on continuing.

Then you have the story. I get this is supposed to be Star Wars here but try something else besides light and dark side, morality bars are NOT cool in RPGs. Its supposed to be me who decides what is right and wrong and not the game. The plot twist was something I expected and would have been better had there not been strong foreshadowing for it.

Jade Empire: Not much to say since everyone agrees this is their weakest game.

Mass Effect: Again with the forced romances that feel tacky and the morality bar. Story wasn't bad here but the braindead AI mates made the game almost unplayable. Pausing sometimes is OK but when the AI is better in Baldur's Gate 2 something is wrong.

Dragon Age: A throwback to Baldur's Gate? :lol: Laughable story (don't even get me started on the final boss), forced romances and you guessed it, the morality bar (except for it was gift based this time). Then you have how the game blatantly ripped off of Europe in some really untasteful ways and its ugh.

I would have called this a good game (I really liked the characters, writing and battles) if it wasn't for one thing. The DLC merchant. I preordered this, loaded it up, and a few hours in I see a guy in my camp offering me a quest. Of course I try to take it from him. But no, it takes me to a DLC store... Words cannot describe how pissed off this made me and I don't think I've had a worse first impression in a game except maybe Hellgate London.

I'll have to get back to you on Mass Effect 2. I'm waiting for a bundle with 2 + 3 because of how much the first one left a sour taste in my mouth with the AI.

SkyWard20

I agree with your points

I am shocked and appalled.

Whiteblade, do you actually enjoy any games at all, or do you literally pick apart everygame you play and act as the old man on the porch mad at the whole world who hates absolutely everything?

[QUOTE="Maroxad"]

Appalled perhaps, but I thought you already knew I have a strong dislike towards Bioware.

SkyWard20

Oh, really?

It's like seeing Chip & Dale high-fiving themselves for their cleverness.

Perhaps if I was a fan of David Gaider's writing and mostly black and white universes, I might have enjoyed Bioware games a bit more.

I enjoyed DA2 more (as in, I enjoyed playing the game more), but it's obvious that more effort was put into TW2.

DA2 is by no means what people make it out to be. The only objective criticism is repetitive environments, which got annoying really fast. But, that's it. Everything else is purely subjective and calling it "one of the worst RPGs of this gen" is such a hyperbole that it's ridiculous. I also noticed that TW2 does a lot of things similarly to DA2 yet gets a free pass while DA2 gets harshly criticised. Perhaps because CDPR is the "underdog" in this story and people surely love to cheer for the underdogs. And seeing titans fall is most likely really satisfying.

Whiteblade, do you actually enjoy any games at all, or do you literally pick apart everygame you play and act as the old man on the porch mad at the whole world who hates absolutely everything?

ryangcnx-2

Check his profile, there are plenty of games from this generation alone he enjoys. Such as Amnesia, Terraria, Mount&Blade, Guild Wars expansions, Witcher 2, League of Legends, Magicka and a heapload of other recent games.

[QUOTE="UnknownSniper65"]

Dragon Age 2,the ending completely ruined Witcher 2 for me.

ryangcnx-2

Finally someone else noticed that CDPR dropped the ball on the ending.

A lot of people have criticized it. For me it's not the cliffhanger, but the whole Act III felt a lot weaker than the previous two ...

Haven't played DA2, but I like both W1 and W2 more than DA:O.

Dragon Age 1 > Witcher 2 > Dragon Age 2 > Witcher 1

For me at least. I really liked Witcher 2 but I liked DA1 more and while DA2 was a big step down from DA1, I still enjoyed it somewhat. I really didn't like Witcher 1 though, haven't even finished it.

Whiteblade, do you actually enjoy any games at all, or do you literally pick apart everygame you play and act as the old man on the porch mad at the whole world who hates absolutely everything?

ryangcnx-2

Yup, I like ones that require thought and are engaging. I have a preference for RPGs because of the planning nature behind them and how good ones include choices that really make you think. Some of my favorite games are Gothic 2, Planescape Torment, STALKER, Neverwinter Nights (for mods mostly), Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Ultima Underworld 2, BG (whole saga), The Longest Journey, Xenogears, and Guild Wars. Most of them are flawed in a few ways but beats what people pay full price for today mostly, the Witcher 2 was pretty good though.

I keep my standards high because holding developers to a high standard is the only way to get a better game. If people wouldn't give Activision, SOE, Square Enix, and Cryptic money when they produce crap game after crap game then we would be seeing them either make better products or getting the hell out.