Babble: Skyrim by Bioware

I avoided the Dragon Age: Inquisition hype as best I could and I did so for multiple reasons. One of them being that Bioware has to hype this game and make it all nice and pretty and tell everyone how pretty it is. I believe they've mucked up enough in the past to have a lot riding on DA:I. And frankly, I wasn't interested in following that.

Another reason was that Dragon Age 2, while having a few profoundly bright lights, was actually quite terrible. Now there HAVE been games that picked up their standards at the third iteration of it - Far Cry 3 (although I was quite partial to the second one even though a few people weren't), Bioshock Infinite, and so on - but that doesn't necessarily make me inclined to spend money on them until I've been sufficiently convinced that things are looking up. Assassin's Creed 3 (which I avoided) was apparently an utter train smash and I hadn't liked the second one. Only massive the hype after the release of Blackflag brought me back to the franchise. And I wasn't disappointed at all.

Anyway, I'm digressing. Point is, I avoided DA:I because 'meh'. But Yahtzee's review of the game pulled my attention to it (warning, he's crude as all hell, so if you are going to watch his review, beware). It was mostly getting favourable reviews, but the thing that got me about what Yahtzee said was that he liked it more than the first Origins. Now, I can't say I am in sync with his tastes, but his feel of games isn't altogether off and so it made me turn my head a little. And so, against my stingy judgement, I purchased the newly released game and gave it a try.

And... it's okay... ish.

Let me say first that my review is mostly spoiler free, but I'm going to say that there are portals in the sky only you can plug because you have a glowy green thing stuck to your hand. That's the main thrust of the game.

I think my main problem of the game is that it doesn't feel like a Bioware game. I know Yahtzee called the protagonist 'Fantasy Commander Shepard' and I can see what he means, but if anything, it reminds me more of an the Elder Scrolls game (from now on referred to as TES) than anything else - and in particular of Skyrim.

You start off as a prisoner - like in TES.

You run around picking up ingredients every three steps - like in TES.

You fight randomly generated animals and foes - like in TES.

There are massive blue-ish giants - like in Skyrim. I haven't gotten close enough to them to see whether they could club me like a golf ball as is the case in Skyrim - which is a personal favourite feature of them, I have to admit.

There are random portals you need to close - like in TES: Oblivion.

There are massive dragons - like in... well, it is Dragon Age, so maybe I shouldn't harp on this one being like Skyrim.

And I am not really going to comment much on the story because... I've yet to discover exactly what it is even after having spent quite a few days on it. Kind of like Skyrim. I do have one nitpick. You don't take a prisoner and say 'Okay, you have the glowy thing on your hand so we'll let you make the decisions' within an hour of meeting him/her. That's a bit of a stretch, but anyhoo. I guess it would take too much time to have that progression of earning trust and naturally flowing into the leadership role.

Now none of these things are bad (with the exception of my previously mentioned nitpick). Just because I'm reminded of a completely different game, doesn't mean I'm against it or that Dragon Age hasn't done these things well. In fact, the game looks really good. The dragons are amazing and even more impressive in my opinion than in Skyrim. You don't go "Aha! A dragon! Let's go slay it!". You're reaction is more "Oh shhhhtttt!! Run!! Owww, oww, fireball, fireball, oww!"

The combat is good. They've brought back some of the elements they had chucked out in DA 2. I think the classes are reasonable. I love that they have given the player the option of playing a qunari - with or without horns. In terms of party AI, I think they've done a pretty good job. They've simplified tactics a bit. I would have liked to have more options pre-set, but you do have some options that enable you to strategise on the fly.

Dialogue is well done. They don't give you the introductory back story, which I sulked about, but they still have the interaction between party members that was one of the bright spots in DA 2. They've taken the 'if it's not broken then don't fix it' approach with the dialogue bar and kept the middle picture icons that give you an idea of the tone a particular dialogue option will be in. They have a ton of different party members to interact with - each with their own flavour and values. Your choices can affect their opinion of you, just like the previous DA games. Hawke has a cameo... he looks terrible. Spoiler perhaps, but yeah, unimpressive.

The scenery is delightful. The game LOOKS good and you can see they've spent a lot of time and attention on detail.

They've brought back customisation of weapons and armour and they've done it rather well. I can't say one really feels any need to use it seeing as you pick up a lot of excellent gear along the way. Unfortunately a lot of the great gear ends up being several levels above what you're allowed to use which can be a bit of a bummer. Maybe there's chest somewhere you can stick it into for future use, but I've yet to find something like that.

They now also have camps you can set up on your map. Going to these camps enables you to rest and heal up and replenish your healing potions for free (which the entire group shares... both positive and negative I think).

So I guess one can say all the elements are there and many will be quite satisfied with the game. I can't say that it is better than the first DA, but that's because I loved the story of the first. Was that not the case, then yes, DA:I is remarkably well done.

For some reason, however, those great elements just hasn't linked up for me. I'm still waiting for the moment where I'm going to be sucked in. After a week, I have yet to have it. I'm now at a point where I want to play the game merely to finish it (because it's bloody expensive as a new release) and I don't think that's ever the state you want your player to be in.

The game is also buggy - which makes me angry. Don't tell me there are patches. I am playing it on console and I don't have the kind of internet to stick onto it to get said patch. And don't tell me 'these things slip in'. Not when you have a glaring problem in your introductory scene. Random bandits, animals and the occasional plant you encounter while you're running through the country side have the odd tendency to disappear every now and then right before you reach them. It's an old argument, but don't put your product out there and then spend time fixing it. That's like selling someone a brand new car and telling them you'll fix up the engine later - and then shrug when they can't bring the bloody thing back to you to get fixed.

Let's be honest, I am biased against Bioware. I'm not going to deny it. There's this big dark black hole in my mind that I've gleefully chucked them into from time to time when it looks like they're miraculously managing to crawl back out, but I really still wanted to like this game. And I still really do.

And it's not that I don't exactly. It's just that it's average. There's no glue that makes me want to come back to it (except that Morrigan is apparently in it somewhere... hmm). It's just that the game is... 'meh'. At least to me. Maybe it's because I've always been one for story and I'm just not picking up on that element which is a core ingredient for me.

Love it or hate it, I don't think it's the hit Bioware was hoping for, but for a Skyrim model, it's not all that bad.