Back to Back: Dragon Age II

I already gave you a taste of the Dragon Age world in my last review and I also told you how much I love that game, well here is the deal: I love Dragon Age II much much more!!!!

Everybody has been saying that nothing has improved and all but that is official bullshit, because compared to the first installment, absolutely everything has improved. I have been playing both back to back or better yet side-by.side in order to see the real differences in graphic as well as game play. In both departments BioWare has made major improvements which you will see below in all the pictures.

The handling in the beginning is a little different but once you figured it out the fun starts. The fighting system is almost identical with the previous version and you can also decide on the tactics of your team. What is different are the classes and races etc. You do not get to choose what your race will be. You will always be a default human, male or female. Your name will always be Hawke. This time your character will get either a male or female voice, so your conversational options look differently this time. You can choose to develope different traits that you do not have to unlock first through certain quests.

Ability List for Mages

You can focus on a skill set or be a little bit of everything. You can also import the game data from Dragon Age Origins into the game and Dragon Age II will use the information to develop the story. This time you are a refuge who has its roots in a city named Kirkwall. Here you rise to fame and get to be the champion of Kirkwall after dealing with the Q'unari folk.

The essential storyline however is all about the war between templar and mages. Ultimately, you have to choose a side and depending on the side you choose, you have to fight against one or both of the leading citizen of Kirkwall, namelyKnight Commander Meredith or Circle or the Magi Head Orsino. Admittedly, the story itself doesn't include grand Archdemons or the darkspawn and that is probably one of the reasons why Dragon Age II went under in criticism. This storyline is more humane and takes a look at people and their decisions.

Day Map

Night Map

Another thing that might also be a bummer is the map. The whole game revolves solely around Kirkwall and its surrounding area of 4 or 5 maps. In Dragon Age Origins you had a whole freaking world to explore.....OK not a word but the are of Ferelden which included Orzamar (the dwarven underground city). Another thing that caught my attention where the type of maps that were in DA II. They constantly were repeated, meaning the same shape of map in a different place with the same decoration.

My Female Mage Hawke Character

Choosing a Companion for the Party

Conversational Options

Docks at Night

The Gallows

Q'unari Warrior

Knight Commander Meredith

Circle Headmaster Orsino

During the final Battle against Meredith

Possessed Meredith

Nevertheless, DA II is still lots of fun to play and all the bad points are being taken into consideration by the developers in order to create a better stronger and more beautiful Dragon Age 3.

Dragon Age Origins

It's been about time I blog about this game. It has been one of my favorite games back in '10 and it took up majority of my free time back then. Dragon Age Origins was refered to me by a store clerk actually, saying that that was a pretty cool game and so I bought it. I usually never buy because someone tells me to, but this time I had my spending jeans on and I just thought what the hell, I got myself a brand new PC and Imma use it to the fullest.


Said, done! The first thing that impressed me was the opening screen with this damned dragon.... Awesome graphics and a roleplaying game...that was all I could think of in the beginning. The story line was good too. In the beginning you can choose from different races and classes like in every other roleplaying game, but every race and class gives you a different storyline and background story to begin on. Some are more extensive and some are less extensive.


The game is about the great attack of the darkspawn who threaten to destroy mankind, elfkin and dwarvenkind. The darkspawn are lead by a great dragon who is the Archdemon. Once he is killed, it is said that all darkspawn will die or dissappear. In the early days, a group of fighters called the Grey Warden fought successfully against the darkspawn and will so again with your help. Your character joins the Grey Wardens and becomes the hero of Ferelden.

Archdemon

You are the decision maker in the game and the whole world alters whenever you choose something. Obviously there are only limited choices and limited cut scenes so the choices are predictable. The only problem here is that you do not get to have your own voice, just like with neverwinter nights. The style of gameplay also reminds me of a better 3D version of Neverwinter Nights.

There were however plenty of differences like the ability to have different classes at once at a certain level.
You were able to collect all the different types of sub-classes and be a mixture out of all of them. Let me give you an example with Mages. You could be a Healer, a Bloodmage, a Warlock etc and the more quests you do, the more classes you can unlock for your character to develop on.

Another great thing about this game are the romances. You can choose to develop relationships with the members of your party, whether romantic or friendshippy relationships. You are even able to have several romances at one or even have a threesome. You get more and more cut-scenes with your lover asking you stuff and being all intimate.

Combat modes are similar to regular role playing games. You can control every characters' moves and also use action slots to decide how characters are supposed to behave in certain situations. There are hotkeys for every ability you have and from then on it's just cast and heal.

I also got myself the expansion Awakening, which is a side story about the Architect and the Mother of dark spawn. It was O-K, but I'd rather not have spent money for it.

Spawn Mother from Awakening

Great Architect from Awakening

Dragon Age Origins is one of the best roleplaying games out there only succeeded by its second installment Dragon Age 2.

Minecraft Madness

As I was plotting to review all my grand roleplaying games, a thought just hit me. There are indeed gamers out there in this world who do not have sufficient ram, gigs, or graphic cards to play one of the high end games.....soooo I put this game first. MINECRAFT dadaddadaaammmmmm!!!...

Doesn't need a lot of requirements because the graphics are pixelized and all you need is an internet connection. This game can be played in single player or multiplayer mode. Multiplayer connects you online to a community of your choosing. The game basically is about MINING and CRAFTING, thus Minecraft. You mine resources such as stone, wood, sand, ore, gold etc. and craft it into items such as doors, boxes, swords, armor, food etc. 

My domicile.

Minecraft has become such a hype around the world and people started crafting the most unbelievable things such as the Enterprise Starship or the Big Ben. Whatever comes to your mind, think of Minecraft as your canvass to create. There is however also PvP and there are mobs that appear when it is dark.

The game itself has day and night cycles, and different kinds of weather such as rain, lightning storms, snow and sunshine. You can explore the deepest pits of the Minecraft universe and stumble upon lava or you could travel to another dimension called Nether where you can fight interesting mobs and collect rare resources. 

The singleplayer mode comes with a little achivement list that you can follow and the multiplayer mode just comes with everything the admins make up like actual monetary systems, cities, dungeons and so on.

The development of this game started in 2009 by Markus Persson and now the game is stilll actually in its beta mode. The only way to avail the game is by visiting the homepage and buying it and then getting the direct download. If you buy it while it is still in the beta version, you get it cheaper and you get to keep the final game too without having to pay again.

Nuff' said, let the pictures do the talking!

COW!

Multiplayer Mode

Multiplayer Universe

Crafting

Nether

Chopping Wood

Night time