# Are you looking forward to Dragon's Age? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 15, 2009, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884 "2009-10-15T08:39:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Roulette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Roulette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roulette)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/101 "2009-10-30T13:39:23Z")
The only bonus to this is that you can hopefully set it to download in the morning so you can play it when you get home. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/102 "2009-10-30T14:13:40Z")
I’m looking forward to this game, but I’m actually torn as to whether to get it for PC or XBox. The pros for getting it on PC are obvious with the mods, but (1) I’d have to stack some more RAM on my old computer, (2) I’m not as comfortable with PC controls as I was in the past, and (3) **tygre** is interested in playing as well but the PC is out for her as she’s had some recent nerve damage to her arm and has limited motion in her left hand. Thoughts from the gallery? ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/103 "2009-10-30T14:27:09Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I’m looking forward to this game, but I’m actually torn as to whether to get it for PC or XBox. The pros for getting it on PC are obvious with the mods, but (1) I’d have to stack some more RAM on my old computer, (2) I’m not as comfortable with PC controls as I was in the past, and (3) **tygre** is interested in playing as well but the PC is out for her as she’s had some recent nerve damage to her arm and has limited motion in her left hand. > > Thoughts from the gallery? Definitively PC. It may be worth a while to check if you can plug in the xbox360 controller for the PC version. That worked with Mass Effect and KOTOR series. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/104 "2009-10-30T14:38:25Z")
Controllers are supported in most Pc games now a days, but Dragon Age is an exception. The game was built for PC first and later ported to the consoles and so the interface hs been worked with mouse and keyboard in mind. Think Badur’s Gate. This is good, because you have option of playing the game as a more tactical RPG, while on the consoles, it plays a lot more like an action RPG (with the difficulty toned down to boot). However, if physical disabilities are an issue, then the console might be the way to go for you. Another thing is that you only need 2 gigs of RAM to play this game, if you don’t have that I’d worry that you might not meet all the other system requirements. If you do decide to go PC, make sure you meet the minimum reqs. ---
**Author:** ![Words\_on\_the\_Interweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Words\_on\_the\_Interweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Words_on_the_Interweb)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/105 "2009-10-30T16:27:55Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Definitively PC. I have to second this for any game that allows modding. Ultimately, you get more bang for your buck with the PC version because of mods - free campaigns in various settings, additions to the original campaign, and player-made bug fix patches for things the developers can’t be bothered to fix (see: the Unofficial Oblivion Patch) make the PC a superior gaming platform for mod-able games. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/106 "2009-10-30T17:50:43Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I’m looking forward to this game, but I’m actually torn as to whether to get it for PC or XBox. The pros for getting it on PC are obvious with the mods, but (1) I’d have to stack some more RAM on my old computer, (2) I’m not as comfortable with PC controls as I was in the past, and (3) **tygre** is interested in playing as well but the PC is out for her as she’s had some recent nerve damage to her arm and has limited motion in her left hand. > > Thoughts from the gallery? Fuck if I know. I’m getting it for the 360. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/107 "2009-10-30T19:47:43Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Adjective : spoony (comparative spoonier, superlative spooniest) > > 1. Enamored in a silly or sentimental way. > 2. Feebly sentimental; gushy. > > (it’s a reference to the English translation of one of the NES Final Fantasy games by [Ted Woolsey](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Woolseyism). It was not a bad translation, mind you. Just full of… weirdness. And euphemisms, such as the now famous “you spoony bard !”) > > ETA : oh, and of course it stuck in gamer jargon because… bards are useless. The party’s fighters hack people in two. The mage burns people alive. The cleric heals and calls down the wrath of god. The thief slits their throats. The bard sings at Evil. Sometimes plays a \*mean \*lute, too. > [@Spectralist](#): > > Spoony was on odd translation choice in the English version of FFIV. One character called another something like “you spoony bard”. It’s become a bit of a meme. I’m not sure what the line was supposed to mean, but it was something negative. > > Edit: ah beaten to it. Though it was one of the SNES games not NES. I thought it might have been Woolsey but the wikipedia page didn’t name the translator. It was definitely NOT Woolsey. > [@http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news\_index.php?story=6361](#): > > Woolsey’s first script can be seen in 1991’s Final Fantasy Legend III for the Game Boy. “I was told to review Final Fantasy II’s dismal translation,” he told us, “and make sure there were no ‘repeats’ of that mess. Talk about Manglish!” Final Fantasy II, released earlier that same year, was initially translated in Tokyo. However, faced with an almost unreadable script, Squaresoft’s American sales team spent extra man-hours trying to fix it up. “When you have the sales guy editing one file, and the finance guy doing others, and the files are not contiguous, you end up with a mess,” said Woolsey. As for Dragon Age, looks cool, but all this “preorder it and get bonus shit, preorder it at store A get extra bonus shit, preorder it at store B get different extra bonus shit” pisses me the fuck off. I wouldn’t care if it was just different box art or a soundtrack disc or something, but it’s different stuff used IN GAME. What ever happened to the game just being the game instead of different versions based on who you buy it from?:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/108 "2009-10-30T19:59:51Z")
It’s just items. None are required for the game, and none are top quality. You can find better gear in the game. It’s just a nice little extra that is exactly that: an extra. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/109 "2009-10-31T00:11:25Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > It’s just items. None are required for the game, and none are top quality. You can find better gear in the game. It’s just a nice little extra that is exactly that: an extra. Not to mention I give people two months, tops, to extract all the item codes so you can give them to yourself using the debug console. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/110 "2009-10-31T05:27:14Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > It was definitely NOT Woolsey. I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/111 "2009-10-31T09:22:10Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > It was definitely NOT Woolsey. > > As for Dragon Age, looks cool, but all this “preorder it and get bonus shit, preorder it at store A get extra bonus shit, preorder it at store B get different extra bonus shit” pisses me the fuck off. I wouldn’t care if it was just different box art or a soundtrack disc or something, but it’s different stuff used IN GAME. What ever happened to the game just being the game instead of different versions based on who you buy it from?:rolleyes: The marketing is a bit extreme; it is like proclaiming “This game is the best thing since…any RPG!” with its hype and extreme marketing. I am buying a game, not an OS! That said, as another poster has pointed out, those are just minor items. The items that came with DoW II is not very exciting actually. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/112 "2009-10-31T14:45:31Z")
Just FYI they have announced pre-loads on Steam starting the first. Direct 2 Drive and EA store have also announced pre-loading though I don’t know the dates. Impluse has stated no preloading. Also if you hate DRM the boxed game only comes with a CD check. ---
**Author:** ![Roulette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Roulette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roulette)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/113 "2009-11-02T14:22:01Z")
yeah, judging by the time stamp when I checked this morning, the pre-load should unlock around 4 or 5 EST tomorrow. Mine pre-loading away as we speak. Never understood why things like steam don’t unlock earlier in the day. I guess they’re working off of noon pacific time or something? Still, if I wanted, I could drive to the local best buy and get the game before then. Eh. Won’t matter to me anyway because I have to go to work and all, but it just seems wrong to my innate requirement for instant gratification. Now… the more important problem… how to split time between co-op borderlands… Dragon’s Age… and the l4f2 demo. Honestly, sometimes I hate the glurge of good games this time of year. I blitzed through batman just to clear it off my plate before this little 3 week span. ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/114 "2009-11-02T15:34:18Z")
I have Batman, Dragon Age, Borderlands and Football Manager 2010 to play. I wish they were spread out a little more but ah well. I should be happy until the new year at least. Lets forget Assassin’s Creed 2 and Drake’s Fortune 2 on the PS3. Then Starcraft 2, Final Fantasy XIII… The last half of 2009 and the first half of 2010 promise to be fantastic… Steam unlocks DA:O at around 5pm here (UK). I get home from work at 1pm, so I’ll pick it up from a shop instead. Lost sale. I got Borderlands from Steam because it unlocked at midnight. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/115 "2009-11-02T16:16:10Z")
> [@Roulette](#): > > yeah, judging by the time stamp when I checked this morning, the pre-load should unlock around 4 or 5 EST tomorrow. Mine pre-loading away as we speak. > > Never understood why things like steam don’t unlock earlier in the day. I guess they’re working off of noon pacific time or something? Still, if I wanted, I could drive to the local best buy and get the game before then. Eh. Won’t matter to me anyway because I have to go to work and all, but it just seems wrong to my innate requirement for instant gratification. Sometimes the developers issue last minute patches before the game goes gold, and Steam needs time to encrypt the executable and ensure that it works. Meanwhile, I am ready to go down to the shop where I have pre-ordered my game. Oh great, and I have yet to complete Mass Effect. Luckily I done one final boss run on Torchlight (that was grand too) ETA: Mirkwood is out on 1st Dec, Divine Divinity 2 out by Jan 2010…busy year for gamers. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/116 "2009-11-02T16:40:46Z")
A friend of mine scored a copy over the weekend and I got to check it out for a couple of hours last night. My impressions below but first, the game was played on a 26" monitor @ 1920x1200 8x AA, 16x AF, Multisampling on, all ingame settings maxed. I got to see most of the human noble origin including some gameplay in the ancient fortress of Ostagar. The dialogue (both writing and voice acting) was top notch. I got immediately sucked in and involved in the lives of the NPC’s. Even though things turned dark pretty ealry on, I was hooked enough to care about what was happening and to connect to the PC. Ostagar was when the graphics truly impressed me. Before I arrived there Castle Cousland looked great, but the environment was made up mostly very authentic looking medieval corridors and passages: narrow and detailed but nothing impressive. In Ostagar things opened up and the level of detail was breathtaking! From the distant tower where I could see birds flying about the cupola, to the crumbling remains of the ancient fortress, to the soldiers kneeling in prayer while a priest prayed over them - there was always something interesting to look at no matter where I panned the camera. Graphics look amazing with only a few low rez textures to blemish an otherwise excellent presentation. I gotta say, I’m relaly looking forward to Tuesday! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/117 "2009-11-02T17:19:48Z")
My order should arrive from Amazon tomorrow. But they sent it UPS, which means that the shitty driver has as much chance of running up to the door and just putting a sticker on it instead of actually trying to deliver the package. I hope to be playing tomorrow night, but we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Roulette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Roulette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roulette)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/118 "2009-11-02T20:01:20Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Sometimes the developers issue last minute patches before the game goes gold, and Steam needs time to encrypt the executable and ensure that it works. > > Meanwhile, I am ready to go down to the shop where I have pre-ordered my game. Oh great, and I have yet to complete Mass Effect. Luckily I done one final boss run on Torchlight (that was grand too) > > ETA: Mirkwood is out on 1st Dec, Divine Divinity 2 out by Jan 2010…busy year for gamers. yeah, but the game goes gold well before the pre-load is available, because that’s the image used to make the discs sold in stores. Any last minute patches would be handled by steam as a patch available immediately after download, not as an update to the pre-loaded configuration. Regardless, there shouldn’t be any changes in software in the hours between midnight and noon PST. Or at least, that’s how my utopian brain processes it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884/119 "2009-11-02T21:08:30Z")
Crap for some reason I was thinking the game came out today. Today would have been a great day for it to come out, I had a Wisdom tooth pulled about 4 hours ago and was thinking I could take my mind off it with a nice 24 immersive game session of DA, but I got home and realized I have to wait till tomorrow. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-looking-forward-to-dragons-age/513884.md?page=5)