Gaming Dragon Age: Origins Console Hands-on

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/xbox-...ole-hands-on/1

We've finally had a go on the console version of BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins lately and have seen how the game will work on a thumb-driven controller. Can a hardcore RPG be effectively controlled with a gamepad or is a mouse and keyboard the only way to go?

[sub routine]

can`t wait.

Just finished Mass effect, bioware rule.

[mjm25]

Nice to see a frank, no bull**it preview there, this is on my radar for PC but i'll wait for bits review anyway!

pretty sure there's gonna be a lot of people below who are happy chappies the PC interface isnt dumbed down to match the 360...

also:

Originally Posted by Joe M

There are four difficulty settings; Easy, Normal, Hard and Nightmare and, though Hard is definitely pretty taxing, it makes Nightmare look like a walk in the park.

doesn't that mean that "hard" makes "nightmare" seem really easy? i've read it so many times the sentence has melted into non-meaning :/

[CardJoe]

Originally Posted by mjm25

doesn't that mean that "hard" makes "nightmare" seem really easy? i've read it so many times the sentence has melted into non-meaning :/

Fixed for clarity, but basically I meant that Hard is Hard, but Nightmare is totally ****ing impossible.

[Skiddywinks]

Thanks for such an honest preview. I was looking to get this on PC only anyway, but now I know for sure. The successor to BG can not be leashed to consoles!

[Paradigm Shifter]

I was only contemplating buying this on PC anyway. I finally bought (and completed) Mass Effect... (on the 360) and while I was left deeply disappointed by the ending (far too fast, final boss boring and easy) it was a good game. Had me wanting more every time I loaded it up. Bioware do good work, but they need to stick to PC games.

Can't wait for this!

[osc8r]

No co-op, no buy. Simple as that.

[Mithyx]

That was the best article I've read on the game in a long time. I appreciate the honesty. I think every article that Joe writes makes me laugh at some point or another...

A handy analogy for comparing the two is that the PC interface is like being a kid in a candy store with some very generous parents – all you have to do is point at what you want and voilà! Point, click, get – easy. The console version is like the same situation, but this time both your arms are in a cast, your parents are only half paying attention and you’re diabetic. In short, it’s harder to get at what you want and, even when you do, you’re not really sure about it any more...

You, sir, are hilarious. It's funny and gets the point across perfectly.

[lp1988]

Originally Posted by CardJoe

Fixed for clarity, but basically I meant that Hard is Hard, but Nightmare is totally ****ing impossible.

At least they are not kiddin when they say Nightmare,

[CardJoe]

Originally Posted by lp1988

At least they are not kiddin when they say Nightmare,

Yeah, it sounds like a negative, but that's something I actually really liked. Easy should be for everyone, Medium should be how the game is meant to be played, Hard should be taxing but not impossible and Nightmare should make you want to break down and cry.

I remember the difficulties on Serious Sam. The lowest was Tourist, where enemies were really weak and your health regenerated super-quick. The hardest was Serious, where enemy health regenerated, your weapons did half damage, enemies did double damage and all the baddies were semi-invisible.

[Lepermessiah]

While this is really a no brainer regarding controls, I lost a lot of excitement and respect for Bioware when theyd elayed the PC version just for the sake of the console editions. So much for this being a Hardcore PC rpg.

[Bauul]

Originally Posted by CardJoe

I remember the difficulties on Serious Sam. The lowest was Tourist, where enemies were really weak and your health regenerated super-quick. The hardest was Serious, where enemy health regenerated, your weapons did half damage, enemies did double damage and all the baddies were semi-invisible.

Erg.... can't resist correcting Joe.... argghhh....

Actually Serious difficulty was the usual hardest difficulty, and featured all the above (apart from the phasing enemy invisibility). When you'd completed it on Serious, then Mental difficulty became available, and that was the invisible part.

I liked game difficulties that were stupid. Remember Nightmare on Doom? Came with the warning message "Are you sure? This difficulty setting isn't even remotely fair!". Enemies moved faster, had more health, and endlessly respawned.

I recall an old Megadrive game called Rocket Knight Adventures which kept adding new difficulty settings whenever you finished the game. After Hard, was "Harder", then "Much Harder" then (IIRC) "Silly Hard" or something like that. It ended up being 1 life insta-death with no continues.

Still finished the game on it though. Oooh yeah.

[Kiytan]

aye, it's nice that games are slowly making a trend back to having "****-off and die in a corner" difficulty settings (along with the norm difficulty settings)

I am looking forward to dragon age, given that i haven't played a bioware game i didn't like (a lot) but truth be told, i am sick as hell of fantasy, gimme a pulse pistol over an elf any day.

[consoloid]

isn't there any positiv aspect of the console cotrolles? (it seemed, as if you only mentioned all the negativ aspects, why not metion any positiv ones? even if there's only one? perhaps to pro-PC controlles and anti-console controlles, that you couldn't see any?)