After waiting the 72 hours EA said it would take to get back to me, I sent them an e-mail yesterday just to remind them that I still exist and so does my problem with my downloadable content. Then I got on some forums at EA and found that I was far from the only one having similar problems. And all seem to be experiencing silence from EA, despite having "support tickets" saying they would be contacted.
Compared to what others are running into, my problem is pretty small. The game won't load games saves utilizing one item of my downloadable content unless I'm connected to the internet. Once the Xbox 360 loads the save, I can disconnect from the internet if I want. So if I really need to be online with my PC while playing Dragon Age on my 360, I can be. Moving my ethernet cable from one connection to the other is just a minor pain, and I've decided to just go forward and play the game, since EA is being very unpredictable in their respoinse time right now.
All that said, this is an AWESOME game! Apart from some minor rough edges in the graphics, the world is incredible to look at and explore. The sound effects are earthy and atmospheric. (I love the sound of my armor clanking as I move around my environment.) The characters are very well voice acted and the story is engaging.
Combat on the "Normal" difficulty is just right so far, with enough complexity to keep me on my toes, but not near enough to have me pausing and micro-managing a ton. (Which I'd rather do the second time through the game with a magic user.)
Religion in the game is an interesting animal so far. It's become almost standard in fantasy games for the chief monotheistic religion to be dominating, legalistic, hypocritical and arrogant, feeling as though the writer has a particular beef against Catholicism or Christianity in general. Meanwhile, the druids and monks, who seem modeled after Buddhism or Native American Pantheism in their doctrine, are the serene, likeable, "right" religion.
Although I haven't seen a strong Buddhist counterpart in Dragon Age yet, the chief monotheistic religion is handled well so far in character, if not in theology. And even regarding theology (apart from an odd legend involving The Maker "marrying" a mortal woman) the presentation of The Maker and his followers avoids the stereotypes common to the genre, and for the first time in a game like this I'm taking the role of a monotheist without feeling like I have to be an arrogant jerk.
Whether the religious aspect of the game interests you or not, the bottom line is that it wouldn't interest me as much either if the rest of the game weren't so well done and engaging. After just 2-3 hours with this game, I think I'm in for a wonderful experience, provided more glitches don't show up in the future...
4 comments:
I've got the PC version and am loving it as well. You've hit the religion angle pretty much right on from what I've seen, though due to my origins I haven't had too much interaction with those of religious beliefs so far, other than Allister (I started off as a City Elf).
I just finished the segment of the game after the origin story, right after the first big battle, and really look forward to seeing how the game opens up now that the main story is kicking in.
Combat is just right and the difficulty is nicely balanced on nomral on the PC as well.
Great presentation and storytelling so far.
A City Elf. Wow, I'll bet that's interesting, given their unusual status in this world! Maybe I'll have to try that next. What class are you? Rogue? Mage?
How do you know you've entered the main game? I'm about to do a test/ritual that initiates me into the Grey Wardens.(I'm a human fighter.) Have you done something similar?
It's a very sad and dark origin that really highlights the downtrodden state of the City Elf and involves a wedding gone horribly wrong.
I am playing as a Rogue, and seem to be tending down the good-hearted scoundrel path with my decisions, despite the tragic opening.
I'm about an hour or two past the test to become a grey warden, just after the big battle against the Blight.
I'm assuming it is the main story due to the events that just happened and how the choices have opened up and aren't as linear as the game has been up to now.
It will be interesting to see how being a City Elf will impact the rest of the game. Once I got to the ruins and met the King only the Quartermaster seemed to look down on me, though I deflected that rather easily.
I did run into one funny glitch with the programming of the game in that during the origin story I had equipped my character with his cousin's wedding outfit and was still wearing that when that chapter ended. But the game removed that item for me when I moved on to the ruins.
This left Duncan introducing me to the King with me wearing nothing but a loincloth! How embarrasing. ;) (Of coruse none of the characters reacted to my state of undress).
Dude, that is freakin hilarious! Had me laughing out loud there!
Thanks,
Paeter
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