Dragon Age: Origins Previews
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 958
The first is at GameSpy:
While I've played other games such as Dungeon Siege that allowed you to somewhat tailor the AI's abilities to your liking, I've never seen a system as complex as Dragon Age's. Since the player only controls one party member at a time, they are relying on the AI to do their best for the other party members when they aren't in direct control. To assist them the player can either choose from a host of pre-made preferences they want the character to follow -- such as putting an emphasis on healing, or always going after the strongest monster on the screen -- or they can create a custom set of preferences themselves. During my playtime the AI did splendidly, attacking enemies mostly in the way I would have done myself, and healing when appropriate. I'd love to have enough time to customize the macros myself, but the pre-built ones are definitely more than serviceable.
The second is at IGN:
We played the PC version, and if you've ever played a Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights game then you'll ease nicely into Dragon Age. The controls and the feel are pretty much lifted from those games. This isn't a Mass Effect-style RPG experience, though; there's no first-person shooting. This is good ol' hack-and-slash role-playing combat. And while you can play from a third-person perspective, we prefer the traditional top-down look; it's easier to manage the battle that way. Then again, third-person does let you get in the middle of all the carnage.
The third is at 1UP:
The reason that Laidlaw even mentioned counterspells was because of a boss battle against a powerful, angry mage. Said mage can effectively conjure other demons to make matters worse for you, and you need to use a specific counterspell against that conjuration to make it through the fight alive. Of course, when a BioWare employee who tests this very encounter for hours and hours on end is showing off his skills, the battle looks easy. The demo-er played in real-time for the whole encounter -- never pausing at all. He switched rapidly between the four party members, and used a combination of hotkeys and tactical scripting (where you create a set of rules for each party member to follow when not being directly controlled by you) to tear through the encounter.
The fourth is at GameZone:
The battle system was very fast-paced and played out in real-time, and the on-screen chaos and intensity made it feel as though the combat had more in common with a World of Warcraft raid than Baldur's Gate. The interface was also very MMO-like, using the mouse-keyboard combo and having the player select between special spells and attacks using the number keys and then selecting an enemy to start prepping the attack.
And the fifth is at G4:
...the layout of the HUD was very classic PC adventure game style, with rows of small buttons along three of the four sides that let you switch between the four characters (left side) or pick your action (bottom). The viewpoint also had a classic feel, as you could use the mouse's wheel to switch between a WarCraft-esque behind-the-character view to an aerial one that recalls Baldur's Gate.
