(Rant)Dragon Age:A Lesson in Difficulty Curve

Currently I am making my way through Dragon Age on the PC and so far it has been pretty great bar one thing…

The horrible, huge and demoralising difficulty. Even on easy this thing is out to kill you in a matter of seconds. Now I know it is more than likely user error but the fact of the matter is no matter what you do it is going to end in death and a reload in most situations. There is the “handy” pause during combat which I say “handy” cos for the life of me I haven’t found one good use for this apart from when the need to pee arises. I presume Bioware wanted people to pause during combat and then tactically make them choose what actions they wanted to happen next. Seriously just why? Like I said I found no use for it. There seems to be no reasonable tactic to deal with the fact the enemy constantly outnumbers you and just for the most time bull rushes the team. I seriously think it is just a game of luck.

For example, in one room it was just my character versus a bunch of mages. Now as soon as I enter the room this one mage at the back just launches a fireball which hurtles me on my ass for the other mages to launch their pixie dust balls at me and huzzah, dead in a matter of seconds. It took me at least 15 reloads for this one hell forsaken room and again it was dumb luck that saved me.
With all the talk of this being the RPG of the Year and other such hyperbole it should be noted that this game is a unique beast in that I am really enjoying it but I just feel it lacks any sort of structure that helps someone get through it. After the origin story you are left to your own devices and yeah that is great sometimes but in Dragon Age you are just left saying to yourself “Do I just do the main story? Or should I do side quests to level up? How hard is the story stuff?” This is where the curve comes in. The start of the game is easy as pie even on normal but after about 5 hours the game just starts throwing hard balls.

I am now about 25ish hours into Dragon Age and the constant deaths etc are just slowing me down to where it is becoming a chore sometimes to complete missions and just get anything done.
Expect a review soonish. This was just a public vent on the absurdity that this game throws out with the difficulty.

It has been too long….

Some of you may have noticed my absence from the site for a good few months. This is purely down to the real world holding me back from writing about what I love.
However now I feel I have enough time and can balance things to start writing lots more again and this time things will be different.
Instead of employing a 5 star rating, I have decided that from now on its going to be simpler. Games will be rated from Excellent, Great , Good , Average, Bad and Terrible. With a special rating of “So Bad Its Rad” for games that truly suck but at the same time are just beyond entertaining.
Want to know what games are the cream of the crop? Look for an Editor’s Choice award beside the rating. All these games will go in for the Game of the Year Awards.

Don’t expect reviews of all the newest and latest games. I am but a poor man. Though I will strive to provide new content that should still be pretty entertaining.
After I speak with the powers that be hopefully we will get the media site all sorted and we can start kicking some proper ass.

Expect the new batch of reviews and content soon folks.
Stay Classy
Al