|
|
|
stranger
|
stranger
Joined: Jul 2014
|
Some people are either trolling or ignore logic depending on the product?
Almost every single game has an awful story - same goes for most movies - and for most books and tv-shows.
Compared to other games D:OS actually has a great and funny story that doesnt take itself to serious. I would give the story a 8-9/10 at least from where i am now. But you have to realize that this is my score in comparison to other games storys - from a story only - point of view the score would be way lower but this would also make most games a 0-1/10 ...
To be honest these days my expectations have become so low that i am actually already pleased if the story is not utterly dumb and doesnt contradicts itself within the first few minutes of a movie or a game ... (which is sad)
Anyhow what is much more important in games than the story - is how it is beeing told and from my point of view D:OS is actually doing it pretty great.
So my point of view:
I dont see how people can rate D:OS Story low without giving almost every other game and movie a 0/10 for story ...
Last edited by Areason; 08/07/14 01:39 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
|
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2014
|
The walking dead game has amazing story telling, but you can't have a sandbox style of game when you are telling a rich story like that 
|
|
|
|
|
|
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2011
|
"There is no such thing as absolute freedom because we are still prisoners of society"
|
|
|
|
|
|
apprentice
|
|
apprentice
Joined: Jul 2014
|
...
As much as I loved games like the BG series the writing/story wasn't even better. BG2 was the typical chosen one story which was also strictly linear after act 2 and completely linear in ToB.
DA:O just as BG2 was a generic chosen one story with a minor twist in the middle and that was it. Heck the main villain was completely void of anything and could have been just as easily a giant lego brick, unlike Irenicus/Melissan for example who had some depth at least.
I could go on and bash any great game but I think I made my point. I don't think many people would call the BG story very inspired, but at least it was competently put together and didn't degrade the players with absurdly stupid player characters and situations, and the antagonists were at least memorable (though their excellent voice actors helped a lot with that, I must admit; the same dialogue performed poorly wouldn't have been very awesome, but I digress). Take the opening of D:OS. First thing you come across is some guy who killed himself because he was insane, and the conversation options your characters get is either to condemn him as crazy, or to express how happy they would've been to do the same thing... okay... Then you meet a talking shell who has been unable to reach the sea for who knows how long, despite possessing the ability to throw a huge chest at you from the ocean floor, and sitting right next to the ocean loudly whining about it to anyone who might pass by. Then you are faced with the deep moral conondrum of whether or not to follow some guards to go see the guy you're there to see... or brutally murder both of them. I found all of these situations extremely childish and stupid. When I very briefly played the beta, before deciding that I'd rather wait for release after reaching the harbor, I assumed these were just there as placeholders to give testers a taste of the system present in the game (which they did well enough)... I was very surprised to see them still there, with the same dialogue, after release. The rest of the game follows these basic formulas all the way through. All the situations are totally absurd, the characters extremely inane, and the dialogue cringeworthy enough that, honestly, I stopped reading most of it about halfway through the game if I thought I could get away with it. The main storyline makes BG's story look like a masterpiece by comparison. At least the bhaalspawn didn't stumble face-first into obvious revelation after obvious revelation only to remain totally oblivious as to his or her true nature. The D:OS characters even suffer the indignity of first having it made crystal clear to them by multiple characters that they're some sort of dieties, only to respond to random NPCs they meet in the world, who can clearly see this, with utter confusion. 'What do you mean when you say there's something special about me?', 'Why do I recognize this chest?', 'Why does my brain operate on the level of a 8-months old child?', etc. Then all the main-storyline's dialogue was all exactly the same. The story was basically told to completion after that video you see where it's explained how that stupid goddess opened the box and started fighting the void dragon (the only thing that still needs explaining is who you are, and that's heavily implied from the start as well with everyone calling you guardians). From then on, all every character in the homestead ever does is repeat the same lines over and over, just said differently. Imp historian repeats the story you already know to you. Time weaver provides the same contentless comments to everything you ask her ('that thing just is because it is because it is'. Yeah, thanks lady, that was real informative.) That shadow demon guy growls at you every time he sees you. The 4 elementals all tell you the exact same thing. Etc. God, and all the bad guy's motivations were so insulting. 'I'm not evil! I don't wanna kill anybody, I just want to destroy everything that exists'. What are you, 13? At least Sarevok and Irenicus had motivations that made sense and weren't just psuedo-nihilism given form (though Irenicus was pretty crazy, and had a high cringe-level worth of edgy as well, I gotta admit). Even the ending was insulting to the primary antagonist. You spend forever chasing her, learning about her, and then in the final fight... you kill her just like that and nobody seems to care. Not even her sister is there to lament her death. I still remember Irenicus' last words "It ends like this?", but I don't think I remember anything the primary antagonist said in D:OS... even her name, come to think of it. So I feel quite justifed in putting a number like "4/10" on the story/writing aspect of the game, mostly because the storyline was at least somewhat coherent. The game's saving grace, at least in my eyes, is that the combat is really good (if a bit uninspired), even if it did break down by the end-game. If it was made in the infinity engine, I definitely would not have continued playing it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
member
|
|
OP
member
Joined: Nov 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Jul 2014
|
...
As much as I loved games like the BG series the writing/story wasn't even better. BG2 was the typical chosen one story which was also strictly linear after act 2 and completely linear in ToB.
DA:O just as BG2 was a generic chosen one story with a minor twist in the middle and that was it. Heck the main villain was completely void of anything and could have been just as easily a giant lego brick, unlike Irenicus/Melissan for example who had some depth at least.
I could go on and bash any great game but I think I made my point. I don't think many people would call the BG story very inspired, but at least it was competently put together and didn't degrade the players with absurdly stupid player characters and situations, and the antagonists were at least memorable (though their excellent voice actors helped a lot with that, I must admit; the same dialogue performed poorly wouldn't have been very awesome, but I digress). Take the opening of D:OS. First thing you come across is some guy who killed himself because he was insane, and the conversation options your characters get is either to condemn him as crazy, or to express how happy they would've been to do the same thing... okay... Then you meet a talking shell who has been unable to reach the sea for who knows how long, despite possessing the ability to throw a huge chest at you from the ocean floor, and sitting right next to the ocean loudly whining about it to anyone who might pass by. Then you are faced with the deep moral conondrum of whether or not to follow some guards to go see the guy you're there to see... or brutally murder both of them. I found all of these situations extremely childish and stupid. When I very briefly played the beta, before deciding that I'd rather wait for release after reaching the harbor, I assumed these were just there as placeholders to give testers a taste of the system present in the game (which they did well enough)... I was very surprised to see them still there, with the same dialogue, after release. The rest of the game follows these basic formulas all the way through. All the situations are totally absurd, the characters extremely inane, and the dialogue cringeworthy enough that, honestly, I stopped reading most of it about halfway through the game if I thought I could get away with it. The main storyline makes BG's story look like a masterpiece by comparison. At least the bhaalspawn didn't stumble face-first into obvious revelation after obvious revelation only to remain totally oblivious as to his or her true nature. The D:OS characters even suffer the indignity of first having it made crystal clear to them by multiple characters that they're some sort of dieties, only to respond to random NPCs they meet in the world, who can clearly see this, with utter confusion. 'What do you mean when you say there's something special about me?', 'Why do I recognize this chest?', 'Why does my brain operate on the level of a 8-months old child?', etc. Then all the main-storyline's dialogue was all exactly the same. The story was basically told to completion after that video you see where it's explained how that stupid goddess opened the box and started fighting the void dragon (the only thing that still needs explaining is who you are, and that's heavily implied from the start as well with everyone calling you guardians). From then on, all every character in the homestead ever does is repeat the same lines over and over, just said differently. Imp historian repeats the story you already know to you. Time weaver provides the same contentless comments to everything you ask her ('that thing just is because it is because it is'. Yeah, thanks lady, that was real informative.) That shadow demon guy growls at you every time he sees you. The 4 elementals all tell you the exact same thing. Etc. God, and all the bad guy's motivations were so insulting. 'I'm not evil! I don't wanna kill anybody, I just want to destroy everything that exists'. What are you, 13? At least Sarevok and Irenicus had motivations that made sense and weren't just psuedo-nihilism given form (though Irenicus was pretty crazy, and had a high cringe-level worth of edgy as well, I gotta admit). Even the ending was insulting to the primary antagonist. You spend forever chasing her, learning about her, and then in the final fight... you kill her just like that and nobody seems to care. Not even her sister is there to lament her death. I still remember Irenicus' last words "It ends like this?", but I don't think I remember anything the primary antagonist said in D:OS... even her name, come to think of it. So I feel quite justifed in putting a number like "4/10" on the story/writing aspect of the game, mostly because the storyline was at least somewhat coherent. The game's saving grace, at least in my eyes, is that the combat is really good (if a bit uninspired), even if it did break down by the end-game. If it was made in the infinity engine, I definitely would not have continued playing it. Um yeah, just because you feel "justified" doesn't make you "right"...
|
|
|
|
|
|
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2013
|
So my point of view:
I dont see how people can rate D:OS Story low without giving almost every other game and movie a 0/10 for story ...
Exactly. That is what is so frustrating seeing some of these reviews. People want to put on their elitist hat and be extremely critical of D:OS, but then ignore the fact that we have had a decade or more of games that if were judged with such critical nature would score barely a few points. People can't score something like Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 3 in the 90+ and then turn around and be so critical as to give D:OS an 80's score or lower. It removes all credibility, it reeks of bias and it makes them look like an idiot. Seriously, go look at the scores from these reviewers on Metacritic. They give an 80 for D:OS after dealing out 100's to numerous garbage titles.
Last edited by Tanist; 09/07/14 04:42 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
|
member
|
|
OP
member
Joined: Nov 2010
|
Sorry but comparing BG to D:OS on story etc is pointless.
It's like comparing George RR Martin to Terry Pratchet. Both write fantasy but have a wildly different approach to it. While BG is allot more "epic" and sometimes dark fantasy D:OS is meant to be light hearted. If you've played any of Larian's other games you would know that as well.
It's completely different styles for different audiences.. So if you were expecting an epic dark fantasy you'd be disappointed with it yes.. but again that wasn't the intent of this game from the start. So the issue isn't with the game, it's with your expectations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
|
Last edited by LordCrash; 08/07/14 02:34 PM.
WOOS
|
|
|
|
|
|
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2013
|
Sorry but comparing BG to D:OS on story etc is pointless.
It's like comparing George RR Martin to Terry Pratchet. Both write fantasy but have a wildly different approach to it. While BG is allot more "epic" and sometimes dark fantasy D:OS is meant to be light hearted. If you've played any of Larian's other games you would know that as well.
It's completely different styles for different audiences.. So if you were expecting an epic dark fantasy you'd be disappointed with it yes.. but again that wasn't the intent of this game from the start. So the issue isn't with the game, it's with your expectations. Certainly, anyone who is trying to evaluate D:OS at the level of a serious story and judging it accordingly is just looking for an excuse to pan the game.
|
|
|
|
|
|
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Jul 2014
|
Sorry but comparing BG to D:OS on story etc is pointless.
It's like comparing George RR Martin to Terry Pratchet. Both write fantasy but have a wildly different approach to it. While BG is allot more "epic" and sometimes dark fantasy D:OS is meant to be light hearted. If you've played any of Larian's other games you would know that as well.
It's completely different styles for different audiences.. So if you were expecting an epic dark fantasy you'd be disappointed with it yes.. but again that wasn't the intent of this game from the start. So the issue isn't with the game, it's with your expectations. This pretty much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: May 2013
|
Looks like we got our first HACKJOB Review. They gave the game a good which sounds not bad. At least until you start to read the review. Complaints that it's only two person party system or how rock paper scissors and boulder sneaking don't fit into the GRIM (wtf) background. Also complaints about the graphics while none of the screenshots is from the release version (only old promotional material). You really have to ask if they actually played the game beyond the tutorial dungeon. Here links to the Google cache version. Those guys really don't deserve any clicks. cheatcc.com review page 1 - Google cache cheatcc.com review page 2 - Google cache
Last edited by rftl; 09/07/14 06:17 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
|
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jun 2013
|
That review is pretty clearly fake/shoddy due to the screens. They have all the place holder images.
|
|
|
|
|
|
member
|
|
member
Joined: Jun 2014
|
YAAY! The Angry Joe!!! Amazing! Wooooooo! eh, eh? :lol: And...you were notified again. I even stopped counting...
Anyway, back to topic. I wasnt notified of anything. :P How long ago you stopped counting? In grade school? :lol: What was the topic? Can you even remember? ill bet five dollahs you dont :lol: :kill: 
|
|
|
|
|
|
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Jul 2014
|
9/10 from Eurogamer
Certainly, I have no hesitation in recommending Original Sin to RPG fans old and new, provided that you're up for a challenge from very early on and don't expect to romp through, Diablo-style. While Skyrim is obviously more freeform and immersive, and the likes of Mass Effect are more cinematic, Divinity: Original Sin is hands down the best classic-style RPG in years. It's obviously not Ultima 8 in name (and that's probably for the best, because the Ultima 8 we got in reality was bloody awful). It is, however, in every way that counts, the best successor ever to those classic journeys to Britannia, and a triumph on its own terms as a modern RPG with no shortage of fresh ideas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
|
9/10 from Eurogamer
Certainly, I have no hesitation in recommending Original Sin to RPG fans old and new, provided that you're up for a challenge from very early on and don't expect to romp through, Diablo-style. While Skyrim is obviously more freeform and immersive, and the likes of Mass Effect are more cinematic, Divinity: Original Sin is hands down the best classic-style RPG in years. It's obviously not Ultima 8 in name (and that's probably for the best, because the Ultima 8 we got in reality was bloody awful). It is, however, in every way that counts, the best successor ever to those classic journeys to Britannia, and a triumph on its own terms as a modern RPG with no shortage of fresh ideas. Link to the whole review: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-09-divinity-original-sin-reviewI'm so fuc.... happy for Larian! Nobody in the whole gaming industry deserved thissuccess and these fabulous reviews more than Swen and the gang.  On the other hand, the "review" from CheatCC mentioned above is just sad. It's a scam, a fake, and it's not even well done. I did my best already to call this "reviewer" out in the comments (LC there) and on twitter. Guys like this "reviewer" (aka faker) should be branded so that they can never work in gaming industry or gaming press anymore. Does anyone know how to contact metacritic to inform them about the fake review and to evaluate the issue? This horrible scam shouldn't appear as a "professional" review on metacritic...
Last edited by LordCrash; 09/07/14 05:24 PM.
WOOS
|
|
|
|
|
|
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2014
|
Metacritic is a scam itself, as well as the whole gaming "media" so... i dont see much of a point.
You wont be able to stop all that, there will be other such examples but clearly, the game is riding a different wave so it cannot be damaged by that crap.
Nice review by eurogamer there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
|
Metacritic is a scam itself, as well as the whole gaming "media" so... i dont see much of a point.
Metacritic isn't scam, it's just a site that collects reviews and gives an average score (based on more or less transparent politics). You can like that or not but that's not the same thing as a scam.
WOOS
|
|
|
|
|
|
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Jul 2014
|
Hey Garod! I'm the Senior Editor of Middle of Nowhere Gaming (MONG) and just wanted to point out that our reviewer absolutely LOVED the game -- we tend to use all points of the review scale [unlike the IGN's which will give a game a 7 just for merely working]. This is what an 8.1 would mean on our site, according to our review scale: "A great game is exactly what it sounds like: great. The game has its (sometimes obvious) flaws, but the vast majority of the game is expertly executed. The flaws may be that it has underwhelming value, that the audience is too niche, or that the story is bland. A great game would be one you would recommend to a lot of people while you may not recommend it to an everyday Joe (or possibly someone who doesn稚 enjoy the genre), you think it exemplifies what makes a great game. While it is not the best game in your collection, it is a worthy selection that is well worth the time and money." I believe the only reason it was given under a 9 was some technical issues [which will undoubtedly be patched soon!] and how it is naturally difficult for beginners to get a hang of things -- it is a great game in the genre, but not something we could actively recommend to people who may not be fans of the genre. The story was, for the most part, left out of the decision. If you have any further questions, let me know! I'll forward them to the reviewing staff member! Thanks again for taking the time to read the review, we always appreciate it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2013
|
Metacritic is a scam itself, as well as the whole gaming "media" so... i dont see much of a point.
Metacritic isn't scam, it's just a site that collects reviews and gives an average score (based on more or less transparent politics). You can like that or not but that's not the same thing as a scam. They allow people to scam it is the problem. That 78/100 review on D:OS was a fake review designed to weight the score from getting close to 90. Metacritic won't remove the score even when it is proven as fraud and so even if the next 5-10 reviews come in at 90, it will raise it a point or so at most. The review is done. The score is a mid 80's by the critics and barring a sudden rush of 95+ reviews (not likely to happen), it will stay there. So, the fraud review did its job. It curbed a score for a game and I shit you not, publishers pay people to do this stuff. The business is not a nice business, it is filled with lying backstabbing cheating frauds.
Last edited by Tanist; 09/07/14 06:33 PM.
|
|
|
Moderated by ForkTong, gbnf, Issh, Kurnster, Larian_QA, LarSeb, Lar_q, Lynn, Monodon, Raze, Stephen_Larian |
|
