If a living Prothean isn't "HIGHLY significant" to the story, then someone dropped the ball. The direction Bioware has been going in quality recently is a factor. Dragon Age 2 was a half-hearted sequel that had a "B-Team" quality to it. The Old Republic is just as disappointing as the movie prequels. So yes, this blatant money grab has absolutely compounded my lack of faith in ME3 being a good game.

As for Origin, EA lost my trust in providing a good service back with EA Downloader and its limited time to download. Let's not forget their several online game servers that it has shut-off.>> ^CrushBug:

>> ^HugeJerk:
However, ME3 is looking like it will be a total let down. Requiring their online service for the PC version, tacking DLC onto everything remotely associated with the series (Figurines and Art Books), as well as having day-one DLC that costs $10 and unlocks a character that should be HIGHLY significant to the storyline. If the demo for ME3 is any indication, they've dropped the ball on bothering to animate facial expressions as well.

There is a lot of misinformation around these items. Much like Steam, the Origin service can be run in offline mode, so you don't need to be online to play, except for the initial game activation, just like ME2, so not much has changed there.
The DLC thing has been confusing. Those physical goods do not include main game, singleplayer DLC. What is included is a multiplayer-only unlock. A little bit of free microcontent as a "reward" for buying and registering your ME3 physical statue and such. None of these items are for main game. The $870 comment is an overstatement and misleading.
We have had DLC available on the first day for our past 3 games. You are assuming that it is "HIGHLY significant", but you can play and complete the game with or without it, much like Kasumi from ME2. The only decision you have to make, is it worth your $10. If you don't think so, then don't purchase it. Wait for some reviews or talk to trusted friends that have it and get their opinion. Don't let the Omnidirectional Internet Rage Machine guide you .
And regardless of the above, what it comes down to is the story. If you enjoyed the story in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2, then Mass Effect 3 is going to blow your mind. It is simply the finest story-based game we have released. If you are invested in your Mass Effect characters and companions like I am (~255 hour played in ME2 over 8 playthroughs) then everything is there for you. All those stories and conflicts across the galaxy from the past 2 games all come to a head while your are dealing with the Reaper invasion. Half-way through the game, I was an emotional wreck. So much had happened. I was so thrilled to go off and do a side quest of pure combat, just to blow off some steam.
If you are unsure about the game, try the demo or wait for the reviews. If you like the Mass Effect world and games, then this is the game you have been waiting for.
Keelah Se'lai

Game isn't out yet -- this is just a trailer.

But I'm worried about whether they'll be able to deliver the goods on this one too. Dragon Age 2 was a big letdown, and I've already grown tired of SW:TOR.

However, ME1 and ME2 were both absolutely awesome. ME2 didn't have the kind of plot I expected the sequel to ME1 to have, but ME3 sounds like it's gonna bear more similarity to 1's storyline than 2's. It's also supposed to lay to rest a lot of long-running storylines (Geth vs. Quarrian conflict, the Krogan genophage, etc.), not just the Reaper/Sheppard storyline.

Lots of high expectations on this one. I hope they pull it off.

>> ^artician:

Huh. Yeah I love this series, but I'm unimpressed with the direction they took the final one. The first game had some amazing writing and promises of such an interesting universe. The last thing I really wanted to do was go back to earth and fight the same old enemies like an action hero.

Let's hope they don't ruin it like Dragon Age 2.

>> ^DerHasisttot:

quality


Quality looks, but its plot is not quality.

Thanks for the info.

http://videosift.com/video/Dragon-Age-Redemption-Nyree-Episode-4-ft-Felicia-Day

In reply to this comment by Thylan:
DA2 ep 4 is up fyi, if you want to sift it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=883SZw2FCHo

Yeah, I don't know why people are reacting badly to this. The Panderen have been part of the brewfest and we've known they exist, so no surprise they finally made them playable.
I personally don't know if it will bring me back. If Star Wars: The Old Republic sucks, then I may come back after this comes out... and I activated a free account to play with off and on for now since my regular account is deactivated.
I look forward to Diablo III more at the moment, thanks to SW:TOR, but if it wasn't for that, I would probably be more excited. I do PVE only, I don't do dungeons and certainly never raids, and hate PVP, so some of the other upcoming games are of little interest to me. WoW is the only MMO that has any appeal to solo PVE players, the others seem to favor PVP or dungeons and raids with groups (I guess one would say I should look at Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age, but I like how WoW plays more). I really wish they were releasing information on Titan this year though... even a tease would do for now, but they said they aren't ready to do anything about that yet.

Felicia day presents a Felicia Day Productions production, written by Felicia Day, starring Felicia Day in Dragon Age : Elf Cosplay.

Episode 1

>> ^Lann:

That's funny, I was JUST looking at this.


So this lucky guy has a almost full body cast of felicia day?

Congratulations! Your video, Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age II, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

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>> ^Xaielao:

He is right on every point. The combat is far worse if you ask me compared to the original. Yes it has a lot of flash and style and gibs raining everywhere but unless your a huge Soul Caliber fan you'll find battles are over so quickly and things are so chaotic that there is absolutely no tactics to them what so ever. Even the big battles with the dragons require no more thought than the random gangs that look like each other that assault you at every other point in the game. And I played it on Hard even as I had heard that it adds a bit more challenge and lets you strategize much more, but I found it just wasn't the case in all but perhaps three or four fights through the entire game.
In the end the game is a down and out failure and EA knows it. The game had zero actual plot, crack addict (or 2 year old attention span) combat, no exploration, completely linear zones, the same two dungeons for 15 different events and largely boring characters with a tenth the draw and character of the originals companions.
My biggest complaint about DA2 is the lack of content. Sure it's a fairly long game but I spent 45 hours in the game and I did every single thing there was to do. I did every quest, found every resource node, every single bit of lore to be found, all of it. Likewise I did the same with my first run through of DA:O only it took me around 200 hours for that one because it was so deep of content and rich of story that I enjoyed every second of the game. Some I'm sure (if not most of the console players) ran through the game and ignored all the little interesting bits of story you could find, lore you could discover and all the side events and cool tidbits you could gain by exploring the world and it's deep history. But I personally love that stuff so when I discovered that it was sorely lacking in the sequel I was most disappointed.
I'm not saying Origins was without fault, but as a PC game that harkened back to the golden days of cRPGs it was amazing. I understand on the console the combat wasn't very good because it lacked the camera angles and the strategy of the PC version (It was developed as a PC game, EA just forced the game to be pushed back half a year so a console version could be made). But it was easily the best cRPG from Bioware since Baulder's Gate 2. Now I just hope EA learned a lesson. You cant push a game out in 1.3 years and expect it to even remotely compete with the original and perhaps the greedy fucks will give Bioware 2-3 years to make the third game.


It's fucking EA man. I haven't trusted them since battlefield 2 recieved shocking support. Releasing new expansion packs before they'd fixed a single bug in order to cash in. Releasing packs too soon so the game didn't even find a foothold.

I said i'd never buy an EA game ever again until it had been out an entire year and everyone uniformly said it was awesome. Someone told me 5 months or so ago that EA were changing their development cycle in order to shake off the ... atrocities to gaming that they'd contributed.

Guess they didn't get round to that after all? Colour me surprised. They are the major player in the gradual degradation of games over the years. These guys are spoonfeeding people warm shit, and people are going back for more. When did expectations get so low!?

>> ^entr0py:

It always baffles me how Yahtzee often chooses to play the console versions of games when there is a PC version available the same day. That would have taken care of the gripes about auto targeting and mashing the attack button. And since the control is so much better, it does allow you to concentrate on tactics and positioning. I guess maybe he knows most viewers will be playing on consoles as well, and wants to share their pain.
Ultimately I thought the game was worthwhile because it's about 70% of what you'd expect form a Bioware game, and that's still better than most RPGs. Disappointing, but an enjoyable sort of disappointment.


I'm surprised you say that.

I felt that Dragon Age Origins was not quite there, but the best RPG released since baldur's gate/fallout (proper fallout, not oblivion wasteland fallout) days. I was very disappointed by Dragon Age 2. Felt completely rushed. If they had released more of the same (same engine) then i'd have accepted that and been happy to have it. If they improved on it, i'd be impressed. Instead, it seems they rushed out something which went counter to the brilliant setup they made for themselves with Origins.

I felt that Dragon Age Origins was 200% of what i'd expect from a "modern bioware" game, which made the game enjoyable. I felt that Dragon Age 2 was about what i'd expect from a modern bioware game, which is why i didn't play it past about 15 minutes.

By modern bioware, i mean past about 2005. Sorry, i'm not a console player, i have much higher standards and i do not accept mass effect as a good rpg. I'm a bit snooty about my rpgs, you can blame that on being spoiled by an extremely high standard of bioware/interplay rpgs when i was a kid.

Your video, Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age II, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

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>> ^entr0py:

Ultimately I thought the game was worthwhile because it's about 70% of what you'd expect form a Bioware game, and that's still better than most RPGs. Disappointing, but an enjoyable sort of disappointment.


Totally agree. I was disappointed, but only because I expected more from a Bioware game. It's still better than most of the stuff out there.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'yahtzee, ramblomatic, Dragon Age, RPG' to 'yahtzee, ramblomatic, Dragon Age, RPG, freud freud, after eight mints' - edited by calvados